Winter | Rebecca Bee | Simple Stories | Simple Vintage Flannel Season

Hi everyone! Rebecca Bee here again to share another layout I made inspired by the colder weather we have been having- has anyone been lucky enough to have a flurry of snow yet? None here yet! But I have been documenting some older snow day photos using the Simple Vintage Flannel Season collection. 

For this layout I have created a snowy landscape using the Frosted Fun paper cut into snowy hills and layered to create this hilltop snow scene. 

I have added a white hand stitched frame around the scene on Bazzill cardstock to help differentiate the scene from the white background cardstock. I also added some distressing to the edges of the hills as this helped to add to the texture of snow

Finally I have added some of the tag elements cut apart paper as matting layers under my two photos and I had to add these beautiful deers from the elements stickers in the foreground of my snowy scene. 

Hope you keep yourselves warm as the temperature drops and you manage some cosy time at home with some scrapbooking! 

Rebecca Bee 

XOXO

Keep Your Light Shining - Mintay Papers - Lighthouse Collection

Hi everyone, it’s Rebecca here with my final layout of the month.

Can you believe how fast July has flown by? This month, I’ve been working with the beautiful Lighthouse collection by Mintay Papers, and I’ve absolutely loved it. The deep, moody colours in this collection are so inspiring—it’s been a real joy to create with. You can find the full collection in the shop here.

For this layout, I decided to be a little brave and chose Paper 05 for my background. It’s much darker than what I usually go for, but I was really drawn to its rich shades and intricate details. I just had to give it a go!

I started by layering several papers from the 6x8 Add-On Paper Pad, carefully selecting lighter tones to contrast with the dark background. I distressed all the edges to add texture and visual interest—the white torn edges reminded me of ocean foam, which felt perfect for this coastal theme.

To enhance the beachy vibe, I incorporated some hessian, netting, and cheesecloth into my layers. These textures brought the layout to life. I used a couple of staples to secure everything, making sure to place them in the centre of the pieces so they wouldn’t be visible once the layout was complete.

No beach layout is complete without a lighthouse, right? I fussy-cut one from the 6x8 Add-On Paper Pad and nestled it into my paper layers. For the photo, I mounted it on a lighter patterned paper to help it stand out against the dark background.

Around the photo, I added embellishments using pieces from the Paper Die Cuts and Paper Elements packs. There are so many goodies in these sets! You can even stretch the collection further by fussy-cutting images from Paper 09 to create your own unique embellishments.

For the title, I chose a phrase from the Paper Stickers Words sheet and popped it up on foam pads for dimension. I placed the title in two staggered lines just beneath the photo to create a balanced look.

To finish the layout, I added lots of metallic gold and white splatters across the page. I love how the splatters help break up the dark background and bring light and energy to the design.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I’ve had such a great time creating with this stunning collection, and I hope you’ve enjoyed following along. It’s available in the store now, and I can’t wait to see what you all make with it!

Take care,
Rebecca xx 

@preciouspagespapercraft

Winter Wishes - Simple Stories - Simple Vintage Fresh Snow Collection

Hi everyone,

It’s Rebecca here, and I’m excited to share my first layout of 2025 with you today! This month, I’m working with the beautiful Simple Vintage Fresh Snow collection from Simple Stories. From the rich colours to the delicate patterns, I’m absolutely in love with everything about it. You can find the full collection in the shop here.

I’m a huge fan of woodgrain papers, and this collection includes a stunning grey woodgrain design with soft foliage accents in the corners. Naturally, it was the first paper I reached for. I cut a 6-inch wide strip, making sure to include some of the foliage at both the top and bottom. I wanted the paper to be centred on the layout but didn’t want it to extend from top to bottom. Trimming either end would have meant losing the beautiful foliage, so I decided to cut out a section from the middle and then reassemble the two pieces with tape on the back. I knew I could hide the seam with careful embellishment placement. With this done, I distressed all the edges to introduce some texture.

To complement the dark navy in my photo, I chose a darker patterned paper and tore a section to add some contrast to the lighter woodgrain. The mix of darker and lighter tones really made the page pop.

Next, I placed my 3x4-inch photo in the centre of the layout, but something about the sharp edges didn’t feel quite right. I wondered if a circular photo would balance the design better. Noticing a lot of brown tones in the embellishments, I decided to create a frame for the photo using a brown patterned paper.

Using a set of metal nesting dies, I die-cut three circles from a strip of patterned paper, making sure they were perfectly aligned. Rather than using the circles themselves, I opted to keep the negative space, which would typically be discarded. This leftover piece became the perfect frame for my photo. I adhered the photo behind the middle circle and trimmed the edge circles to leave them open. Then, I angled this strip across the layout for added interest.

With my papers and photo in place, it was time to embellish. I selected a few of my favourite pieces, including florals from the Floral Bits and Pieces and a sweet birdhouse from the Cardstock Stickers. I raised everything on foam pads to add dimension and arranged them in two clusters around the photo.

To finish, I added some Rub-Ons peeking out from behind the floral clusters. The Simple Stories rub-ons are so easy to apply and give a lovely texture to the page. I completed the layout with a couple of small hearts from the cardstock stickers.

Thanks so much for reading! I hope this layout inspires you. The Simple Vintage Fresh Snow collection is truly gorgeous, and I can’t wait to see the beautiful creations you make with it.

Take care,
Rebecca x 
@preciouspagespapercraft

Together - 49 and Market - Evergreen Season Collection

Happy New Year, Everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! It’s Rebecca here, and I’m kicking off 2025 with our first blog post of the year! After a whirlwind December, I’m finally catching up on my Christmas photos and getting them into my scrapbook. Today, I’m excited to share a layout I created using the beautiful Evergreen Season collection from 49 and Market. You can find it in the shop here.

While browsing an online scrapbooking group, I came across a challenge to incorporate something 'torn' into a layout, and it immediately sparked an idea for me. I decided to start by cutting strips ¾ inch wide from the 'Cheerful Christmas Star' patterned paper. I chose this paper because the colours perfectly complement the background of my photo. To achieve the torn effect, I used a ruler as a guide and tore the paper along its edge for a neat, yet distressed look. I further enhanced the edges with a distressing tool and added a final touch by tearing both ends of the strips, fully embracing the challenge!

Next, I adhered the torn strips flat onto a sheet of premium white cardstock. I placed my photo on top, layering some colourful elements from the Ephemera Bits behind it. These layers not only create separation between the photo and the torn strips but also make the photo pop!

For my title, I chose the word “Together” from the Ephemera Bits. It felt perfect for this layout, as I’m documenting a rare photo of the three of us taken during a recent Christmas photoshoot.

When it comes to embellishing, 49 and Market collections always have so much to offer, and I absolutely love the variety! Each pack is filled to the brim with amazing elements, which sometimes makes it tough to choose. For this layout, I selected a mix of Christmas trees in various sizes. The larger tree comes from the Laser Cut Outs - Wildflowers, while the smaller one is from the Mini Laser Cut Out Elements. These trees were a great fit above my photo, as they echoed the trees in the photo background, creating a seamless effect.

I also added some beautiful florals from the Laser Cut Outs - Wildflowers around the photo, with a few chipboard circles from the Chipboard Words nestled among them. These tiny details really help bring the layout together.

To finish the layout, I raised some of the embellishments with foam pads to add depth and texture. I also curled the petals of the poinsettias to give the page even more dimension and interest.

Thank you so much for reading! I hope this layout has inspired you to capture your own Christmas memories in a creative way.

Wishing you all a fantastic New Year ahead!

Take care,

Rebecca x  
@preciouspagespapercraft

You Are My Happy - Simple Stories - Simple Vintage Essentials Collection

Hello, it’s Rebecca back with you today, sharing my second layout created with the amazing Vintage Essentials collection from Simple Stories. I’m loving pairing this collection with some grungy mixed media so I pulled a few supplies out for this layout.

I began by cutting a couple of strips of patterned papers, one shorter than the other, and tearing along the bottom of them to introduce some texture. I machine stitched the smaller strip in place on top of the larger, and then added some zig zag stitching for effect.

After matting my photo with a darker patterned paper, I adhered it to the strips with a layer of craft foam behind it. I always like to add foam behind my photo(s) to make sure they sit raised from the page, therefore remaining the focal point.

Once I had these larger elements stuck together, I was able to mark out the area where I wanted my mixed media to sit. I began by adding some grey ink to a sheet of Bazzill Marshmallow Cardstock using a Brayer. I love the effect brayers give – they also offer lots of control so perfect if you’re a bit nervous of mess! Once this was dry, I added some script stamping using black Staz On ink. On top of this, I pressed some Nuvo Glimmer Paste through a Tim Holtz stencil. I added a dot of black acrylic paint to the paste to darken it, being careful not to lose the glitter effect. I finished the mixed media off with some black splatters.

Behind my photo, I added some white sequin waste and black netted material to bring some more texture to the layout. I love building layers using different materials.

For my title, I’ve used my all-time favourite Simple Stories product – the Foam Stickers. I am always in awe of the amazing fonts Simple Stories come up with for these stickers, and the phrases are also perfect for lots of different titles.

I finished the layout off with a few ephemera pieces from the Botanical Bits pack. This pack is fabulous - it includes 38 die cuts including florals, butterflies and dragonflies!

 

I hope you’ve enjoyed the layouts I’ve created with this collection. It has fast become my new favourite Simple Stories collection (and yes, I know I say this every time they release a new collection!).

I’ll be back later in the month with a new layout using the gorgeous Vintage Artistry Sunburst collection from 49 and Market.

Take care

Rebecca x

@preciouspagespapercraft

First Class Day - Simple Stories - Here + There Collection

Hello, it’s Rebecca back with you today sharing my second layout created with Simple Stories ‘Here + There’ collection. The photo I’m scrapping today is of my son on a heritage steam train and is the reason I chose to create with this collection this month! I thought the colours were perfect and I had my eye on that train die cut! You can find the collection here.

I began by cutting some strips from the patterned papers - one larger to anchor the page - and a couple of smaller. I cut fish tails into all the ends to turn them into banners and layered them on top of each other. 

As my son is facing slightly to the left, I decided to place my photo on the right hand side of the page so that he looks like he’s facing towards the centre of the layout. Behind it, I added two tags from the Tag Elements patterned paper. Using my crop-o-dile, I added metal eyelets to both tags. I always feel like I need to do something to tags - either add an eyelet or some thread. They just look unfinished to me if I leave them ‘naked’. 

I knew I wanted to add the train die cut from the Bits & Pieces pack but I initially struggled to find a place for it. After moving it around a bit, I settled for along the bottom of my photo. 

Using lots of florals from the Floral Bits & Pieces  pack, I created two clusters going diagonally through my photo. I layered them up further by I including some florals from the Cardstock Stickers . 

I really adored the luggage tag sticker and so really wanted to include it on this layout. I added it to the left of my photo, nestled in behind the train die cut. 

For my title, I used some alphabet stickers from my stash. I wanted to bring some of the mustard colour to the left of the page so these worked really well. 

I felt like the outer edge of the layout needed something to frame the page - so I cut out two small areas of the white cardstock, and backed it with patterned paper. It was really simple to do and really made a difference to the page. 

I finished the layout off with the addition of some sequins in three small clusters. 

Thank you for reading! If you’d like to watch this layout come together, there’s a process video over on my YouTube channel. 

Don’t forget to check out this collection in the shop! 

Rebecca x

@preciouspagespapercraft

Paige Evans ~ Blooming Wild #1 🌼

Hi all, it’s Anna here. I’m working with the beautiful Blooming Wild collection by Paige Evans this month. You can find the whole collection in the shop here. 

For my first layout I have focused on using Paper #22, the ‘b’ side of this paper has a wonderful sunburst rainbow pattern, which I really wanted to use…so I grabbed one of my favourite selfies and began creating…

I started by choosing the colours of the sunburst that coordinated best with the colours on my photo. I knew that I definitely wanted to keep the pinks and the blues. I left out some of the colours that didn’t work so well and left those sections for my white bazzill cardstock to show. 

I used my distressing tool to lightly distress the edges of each of the coloured sections. 

I mounted my photo onto the ‘b’ side of paper #2 and adhered it in the centre of my layout. I then fussy cut several of the florals from the same paper and tucked them in around my photo, layering them in two clusters. 

I then pulled out the cardstock stickers and selected butterflies, flowers and hearts to add around my clusters of florals. 

I added a title using Puffy phrase stickers from a previous Paige Evan’s collection, Wonders. 

I also found two small tags/journal spots from my stash to add the date and location of my photo.

Finally, I finished my layout by adding some Nuvo Drops along the edges of the starbursts, I used various colours of the glitter drops to do this. 

Thanks for looking! 

See you later in the month with another layout using this collection. 

Anna

X

Bee Awesome - Photoplay 'Sweet as Honey' Collection (Tulla & Norbert)

Hi everyone, Rebecca here with you today sharing my first July layout. I really can't believe we are over half way through the year already - and halfway through summer... how did that happen?!

I'm working with a new collection this month - it's one of the 'Tulla & Norbert' collections from Photoplay, and it's called 'Sweet as Honey'. Now, I have a confession to make - I'm not a fan of gnomes or gonks (ssshhhhh don't tell Tulla or Norbert!) and as much as I loved the look of this collection, I was a little worried about how I might use it. But I was worrying over nothing - yes, there are a few gnomes, but there are also plenty of bees and florals, and many of the B sides of the papers were patterns without gnomes, so it was actually a pleasure to work with and I really love a lot of the papers.

I started by selecting a couple of my favourite papers - 'Buzzing By' - which is a gorgeous woodgrain paper with really cute bees and beehives on it, with a mustard yellow honeycomb pattern on the B side, and also 'Sweet Pollen' which is a black paper with beautiful yellow, white and green floral clusters on it. I used my metal nesting Hexagon dies to cut some hexagons in three different sizes from these papers, and also cut my photo into a hexagon shape. I also pulled out some floral metal dies to make myself some embellishments from the same papers.

Using my edge distressing tool, I added some texture to the hexagons and then arranged them horizontally across the centre of my page. I added some craft foam behind them all to introduce some dimension to the layout before sticking them down with double sided tape.

I scattered the die-cut flowers around the hexagons, layering some of them up to add some interest. Above my photo, I added a little tab that says 'Bee You' - this is from the Cardstock Ephemera pack. It's a great little pack with 26 pieces in it. I also added a ticket from the same pack which says 'Bee Awesome' and I'm using this as my title. I added foam behind it to help draw the eye to it. I found some really sweet little wooden bees in my stash to I scattered a few of those on the page too.

I have a mini stencil by Creative Expressions called 'Honeycomb' which works really well with my hexagon theme, so I pulled that out along with a Distress Ink in 'Mustard Seed' and added a few individual hexagons around the patterned paper hexagons. I used a blending brush to add the colour through the stencil, and then used a black gel pen to trace the outline of the hexagon to help them 'pop'.

There is a piece in the ephemera pack with a gorgeous beehive on it that I really wanted to use, so I fussy cut the beehive and stuck it to the right of my title, dangling down, raised on foam pads.

At this point, I decided I wanted to have a border around the edge of my layout. I was going for a minimal look with plenty of white space on this layout, but I felt like the layout needing framing, and using patterned paper is a great way to do this. I always 'gut' the middle of the patterned paper to preserve that for another layout, then trim down my white cardstock by about 1/4 inch on all sides, and then adhere that to the frame. Obviously this is me - so I distress all the edges of the white cardstock too for a bit more texture. I then finished the edge of the layout off with a black doodled border.

I wanted to add a little bit of sparkle to my layout so I pulled out some sequins from my stash - they have a lovely woodgrain pattern on them to match the 'Buzzing By' patterned paper. I scattered a few around the layout and that was me finished!

Thanks for stopping by to have a read - if you'd like to watch the layout come together then there is a process video up on my YouTube channel, which you can find here.

I'll be back later in the month with another 'Sweet as Honey' layout so until then,

Take care

Rebecca x

My Boy - P13 Paper Products - Soulmate

Hello, it's Rebecca with you today sharing my first layout for April. I can't believe how fast this month is going! I had so much fun last month designing with P13's 'Beyond the Sea' that I've chosen another of their collections to work with this month - 'Soulmate'. I have to say, it is equally as beautiful and I'm really enjoying it so far!

I decided I was going to challenge myself to create another layout without white cardstock! I selected Paper #7 for my background and trimmed down Paper #6 to 8.5 inches squared to sit on top. I felt that I needed another layer between them to offer some separation so I added a layer of brown Bazzill cardstock from the Matchmaker Pack. I machine stitched around the edges of both squares with white thread to add some detail and texture to the page, and of course I distressed all the edges.

I added the same brown Bazzill cardstock behind my photo and added a second mat using Paper #7 (I'd gutted the background sheet before stitching so that it wasn't wasted!). I situated my photo in the top left corner of the layout and then set about fussy-cutting some of the papers!

These P13 collections are fantastic if you enjoy fussy-cutting! Several of the papers are made up of images that you can cut out to make fabulous embellishments. I took some time to cut some of the florals from Paper #2, along with the moths from Paper #3. But it's Paper #7 that I enjoyed cutting the most! It has so many individual images on it that once cut up, it's like having a whole pack of ephemera at your disposal!

Once I had everything cut up, I started to create some clusters around my photo. The florals were the largest elements so I positioned those first, and then slotted everything else in around them. I also added one of the circular stickers from Sticker Sheet #3 with some gold metallic thread behind it.

The collection also comes with a pack of Banner Die Cuts so I selected one of those to position behind my photo, with the fishtail visible underneath. I purposely selected the banner with the big black heart on it as I couldn't see me using it - it's a little bit 'too much' for me!! However, the heart has some flowers at the top of it too - so I ended up fussy-cutting it out and positioning it above my photo to bring some colour to that area of the page.

The bottom section of my layout needed something to balance out the page so I placed a tag from Cardstock Tags #2 which says 'Wild Heart' to the bottom left, with a circular tag from Cardstock Tags #1 beneath it. I also brought some of the gold into this cluster by threading some of the gold thread through the 'Wild Heart' tag.

The Soulmate collection comes with two sets of alpha stickers - I have Sheet #2 which is Navy (Sheet #1 is brown), but I didn't have any other navy tones on the page so they wouldn't have worked for this layout. It was a case of Paper #4 to the rescue! This patterned paper is full of letters so I was able to fussy cut some to spell 'My Boy' - and they work perfectly with the neutral tones of this layout.

I finished my layout off with a scattering of sequins to add a bit of sparkle (who can resist a bit of sparkle?!).

If you'd like to watch the process of this layout coming together, I have a video up on my YouTube channel, which you can find here.

I'll be back later in the month with another 'Soulmate' layout - but in the meantime, if you like the look of this layout then head over to the shop because it's selling out fast!

Take care,

Rebecca x