Simple Stories Lavender Fields - You are Wild at Heart

Hi there,

Claire here today sharing a new layout with the Lavender Fields collection from Simple Stories. 

This collection includes several hexagon pieces and so I used this to inspire my design.

I cut a range of hexagons in various sizes from papers Wild at Heart, Sunshine & Honey and Lavender, arranging these from the right edge of my white cardstock.

To echo this design, I cut my photo to the same shape and adhered on foam for extra depth. 

To the left of the picture, I added a tag from the journal bits & pieces and layered a chipboard phrase on top, along with a smaller journal piece to create my "you are wild at heart" title. 

Next, I pulled out a range of florals from the floral ephemera and clustered these around my photo. For depth, I stuck some flat and others on foam.

I pulled out some smaller hexagons from the journal bits & pieces and chipboard, arranging these in small clusters across the design, helping to draw you eye in whilst also adding an extra pop of colour. I also added a few of those cute bees! 

As a final touch, I added a few black nuvo drops and that was the page done!

This was such a simple page to create and so much fun! Really love the end result. 

Thank you for joining me on the blog today! Until next month, happy scrapping! 

Claire xx

@scrappysoulmate

Carta Bella - Pressed Floral - Our Happy Place

Hello everyone

Today I'm sharing a layout documenting a day out to Highclere Castle (Downton Abbey). The gardens there are beautiful and this photo was the perfect inspiration to create a page filled with pretty florals.

I chose the Pressed Floral collection from Carta Bella. I immediately fell in love with the Full of Magic Floral Frame paper, but wanted a central design. I used a scalpel and scissors to cut out the frame, inverting the corners to place the floral clusters in the middle, brushing dry Distress Oxide into the centre of the page through a stencil to anchor the design. 

Using a frame from the Ephemera Frames and Tags pack, I mounted my photo, poitioning it right in the centre of the floral cluster.

Next, I wanted to add extra florals and foliage for depth. I fussy cut a selecion of flowers from the 3x4 Journalling Cards paper, complementing this further with some die cut leaves using the Fern Valley Craft die and Branch Mix Die set from Arden Creative Studio. 

I slotted some in under the floral cluster, raising some on foam for dimension. 

To create my title, I chose two phrases from the Ephemera Frames and Tags pack, aligning these along the edge of the inverted frame. 

Thank you for joining me on the blog today. I hope you've enjoyed it. You can check out the collection here. I'll be back in a few weeks with another layout for extra inspiration. 

Happy scrapping! 

Claire x

@scrappysoulmate 

Carta Bella - Christmas in the City - Smile

Hello!

Claire here today and I've been using up the last bits of my Christmas in the City collection from Carta Bella. 

I quite enjoy this time of year from a create perspective, seeing how versatile a Christmas collection can be and this one did not disappoint.

I've opted to scrap a picture from one of our walks over the festive period. It's was very cold and frosty and although we definitely weren't in a city, the papers still worked fantastically well for my photo and I love how they could be adapted for my layout theme.

So to start, I cut varying widths of papers using the mustard cardstock from the Matchmaker Pack, Merry Snowflake Sky (red) and Christmas Tree Cab (green b side). 

I began layering them vertically and horizontally but wanted to add extra framing. To create this, I cut two triangles from a square of the blue b side of the Merry Snowflake Sky paper, and layered this underneath my red paper to frame the corners. I love this bold edge - I think it helps the red paper to pop off the page. 

I also opted for a small splash of mixed media, adding dry Distress Oxide with a brush to extend the grass colours of the photo. 

I really love the Peace on Earth Pines paper - it reminds me of beautiful festive foliage so felt very  fitting as the border for my photo. I added this to my other papers with foam for extra dimension. 

Next, I raided my stash of dies and chose some snowflakes which I cut from plain white cardstock. There's an amazing choice of dies in the shop, and they're such fun to incorporate into your project. I'd highly recommend you take a peek! You can find loads of snowflake dies here. 

To the centres of each snowflake, I added a small sticker from the Element Stickers which echoes the colours of the paper into the snowflakes, making it feel more cohesive. 

I also chose to use the little pennant stickers to create a small banner cluster to the left of my photo along with the December sticker to note the month of the photo. 

I pulled some Thickers from my stash to create my Smile title, and lightly added some green watercolour pain to each letter to pull in the green colour. 

To finish, I added a small sprinkling of Pinkfresh Studio Crystals which give the slightest sparkle and help bring this frosty page to life! There are some Pinkfresh Jewels in the shop here.

I hope you've enjoyed this layout and are inspired to stretch your own Christmas collections. 

Until next month, happy scrapping! 

Claire

@scrappysoulmate

Carta Bella - Christmas in the City - Merry & Bright

Hello everyone!

The festivities are getting nearer and I've taken the opportunity to spend some time at my crafty desk scrapping memories of a Christmas shopping trip.

For this layout I'm using the Christmas in the City collection by Carta Bella. One of the icons is a red snow globe with a cityscape inside and it inspired me to create my own. 

I cut the snowglobe on my cricut using the red coordinating cardstock from the matchmaker pack. Once it was cut, I used it as a template to cut around the stunning Christmas City Scene paper. 

Before sticking anything together, I added a layer of acetate to the snowglobe and backed the edge with thick foam tape being careful not to leave any gaps. I added sequins, glittery bits and mini foam balls and then added the background paper to create a giant shaker!

I mounted my photos using the blue side of the Merry Snowflake Sky paper and adhered these to the bottom left of the globe. 

To embellish I chose a variety of stickers from the Element Stickers. I arranged them around my photograph to bring the scene to life. 

This included a big bold sticker 'Merry & Bright' which I used as my title. 

I also added a small cluster of snowflake stickers opposite the photos on the top of the globe to help balance the design. 

This was a really fun one to make that came together really quickly. It's such an inspiring collection, do drop by and check it out here, but be quick, it's proving popular! 

I hope you find some creative time this holiday and enjoy the festivities! 

Claire x

@scrappysoulmate 

Arden Creative Studio - Vintage Makers - Choose to be Happy

Hi,

Claire here today sharing another layout made with the Vintage Makers collection from Arden Creative Studio. 

I really love this collection, it's natural tones and endless possibilities to adapt it to any subject. 

Today, I'm focusing on one of my favourite techniques - repeated shapes. 

I selected three patterned papers; one from the Foundations Paper Pack and two from the Essentials Paper Pad.

As these are both 6"x8", the patterns are smaller which works really well for repeating smaller shapes. 

I've opted for rectangles, cutting strips of 1"x3". I lay these alternatively to create a herringbone pattern, raising each piece on foam to give a slight drop shadow on the page. 

To let the papers shine, I created just two clusters on this page; one around my photo in the bottom left and one to hold me title in the top right. 

For my title cluster, I selected elements from the die cuts and layered these behind the Vellum Ephemera Pack which add such a beautiful soft element to the page.

The bigger cluster is around my photo. I layered die cut leaves, butterflies and frames and some of the Film Reel Kiss Cut Tape

As a final touch, I added some black Nuvo Drops and black splatters.

This really is a fabulous collection and i've loved creating with it. You can check it out here in the shop and grab all the pieces i've used to create my layouts.

Happy Scrapping!

Claire xx

@scrappysoulmate  

Carta Bella Honeybee | Precious Moments | Rebecca Bee

 

Hello everyone! Rebecca Bee here. The weeks are whizzing by and I can't believe it's my turn again to share what I have been up to! The minute I saw the Carta Bella Honey Bee collection I knew it was for me, its SO GORGEOUS! I absolutely love it! 

The limited colour palette, the slightly vintage feel, the bee theme...its so beautiful and perfect to scrap a variety of photo themes. I absolutely adore any kind of ledger paper, so I was really attracted (like honey to the bee!) to the Bee Kind Layout paper. I used a craft knife to slice around the edge of the flowers so I could tuck my photos behind them. I them added some black ink splatters around the edge of where my photos would sit This helps bed the photos into the background paper and gives them somewhere to "sit".

I added some fussy cut honeycomb hexagons from the Honeycomb Clusters paper behind the photo and tucked some of the flower stickers from the Element Stickers sheet

I had some photos which were the perfect colour and theme for this collection- they were taken on a sunflower patch a couple of years ago. And you just know that we were intentionally wearing yellow and green because I knew I'd be scrapbooking these photos some day- you know how the mind of a scrapbooker works! 

Finally I finished the layout off with a perspex piece and some stamping to form my title. I really adore this gorgeous collection and can't wait to use it again! Until next time! Rebecca Bee aka @scrap_paper_uk

XOXO

Photoplay - Lucky Cat - Enjoy Every Moment

Hi there,

Claire here with my second layout using the Photoplay Lucky Cat collection.

Today, my layout is calm and serene as i'm scrapping photographs of one of our visits to a temple whilst in Japan.

In total contract to my first layout, I'm starting with my usual Premium White Cardstock. 

I took a circle template and brushed Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide across it to create a circle of pale blue ink to act as an anchor from which to build my design.

I added Bundled Sage Distress Oxide to a piece of the Lanterns paper (b side) to help the green pop and adhered this centrally across the circle. On top of that I layered the Lucky Cat paper which i'd cut into a fishtail.

Across the middle, I adhered three photos to the b side of the Cherry Blossoms paper, and raised on foam for extra depth between each paper layer.

I kept the embellishing simple, adding Element Stickers to each side of my photo strip.

I couldn't resist those gorgeous lanterns which I added to the top of the design, and finished with a final Sticker to create my title.

I hope you've enjoyed this calmer layout and the versatility of this collection.

I'll be back next month to share some more creative ideas, but until then, you can check out this collection in full here.

Claire xx

@scrappysoulmate

Simple Stories Book Fair- School Days Scrapbook Layout-Rebecca Bee

Hello everyone! Rebecca Bee here today aka Scrap Paper Uk and today I have a layout using Simple Stories Book Fair.

 With the new school year looming next week, this collection is absolutely perfect for documenting back to school photographs.  

I have documented two of 2024's back to school photographs in this layout. The vivid colours in the Way to Go paper were perfect for my photos and for cutting apart & rearranging as colourful striped panels on a piece of Bazzil Blue Oasis cardstock. I have punched the edge of one of the panels using a notebook edge punch to add a scholastic feel to the page.

A little foam adhesive adds some simple dimension, and some white acrylic splatters add a little contrast and texture to the deep background cardstock. For my next layout using the collection and as a self confessed book worm, I am excited to use the book imagery in this collection to track some of the great books I have read so far this year...until next time! 

I've added a perspex piece from my stash to form a title, and some twine threaded through one of the cut apart tags in the Tag Elements paper to add a layer in the clusterb to the right hand side of the page.

I hope you join me to see what I make next with this lovely colourful collection! Rebecca XOXO

Simple Stories ~ Say Cheese at the Park #2 ☁️ 🌎

Hey all, it’s Anna back on the blog today. 

I’m sharing my second layout using Simple Stories Say Cheese at the Park, which you can find in the shop here. 

For this layout, I have focused on the Fantasy at the Park part of the release, which is perfectly themed to the ‘fantasyland’ lands of the Disney theme parks. 

So what better photos to scrapbook than those of ‘It’s a Small World’…

Unusually for me, I haven’t used a white background and have instead opted for a sheet of coordinating coloured cardstock to showcase my white ‘it’s a small world’ cutfile by Paige Evans. 

As soon as I saw Paige Evans’ layout using this cutfile last year, I knew it was one I just had to create with! And with this collection comes the perfect patterned paper to use to back it - Make A Wish. 

I backed each section of the cutfile with the shapes in the paper Make a Wish, along with a few pieces of coordinating cardstock, which you could find in the matchmaker pack.

I added my photos in square format above the cutfile and added a small title using LDRS Small Puffy Alpha Stickers.

I used my cutting machine again to cut out some small clouds, which are by Peartree Cutfiles and adhered them to the top left and right of my layout. 

I added a few elements from the combo sticker sheet, including the smiling clock face sticker in the centre of the cutfile and a few of the word and floral stickers. 

Thanks so much looking! 

I am going to continue working with this collection next month, so I’ll have more to show you then! 

See you soon!

Anna

X

Echo Park ~ My favourite Easter #2

Hi all, it’s Anna back on the blog today. I’m still working with Echo Park’s My favourite Easter and I have another scrapbook layout to share with you today. 

You can find this collection in the shop here.

For this layout, I used the b side of the ‘sunny floral’ paper as my base. I then cut a honeycomb cutfile by Paige Evans, I’ve used this one before, I find it really versatile and super easy to back too!

I selected a few of the patterned papers from the collection to back the cutfile.

I selected a 6x4 photo and mounted it onto a piece of patterned paper.

I then fussy cut some floral clusters from the Easter Bouquet paper and tucked them around my photograph. 

I also cut out a few pieces from the cut apart paper - multi journaling cards - adhering them around my photo too, adding some with 3D foam pads. I also selected some chipboard accent pieces.

I added a bow from my stash to the cut apart tag and that was me done!

Thanks so much for looking. See you again soon! 

Anna 

X