Scenic Route Metropolis

Here are the papers from the Scenic Route Metropolis range I used for this layout.... and the Paint Dabber too...

I took the first sheet of paper, Broadway Street and cut a square to 10 1/2x 10 1/2 inches. This I cut into a frame, by cutting out the middle 9 1/2x 9 1/2 square.

I love the Kraft background papers from Scenic Route- the one I used is Kraft Stars. To add extra dimension to the page, and make the best use of patterned this base cardstock, I decided to tuck the frame behind the stars.
To do this, I lay the frame I had just cut over the Kraft card, to see where I would need to cut the stars so they could overlap the frame.

I used a paper piercer to mark where I needed to cut, the carefully joined these marks cutting along the edges of the stars.
Then I tucked the frame behind the stars to make sure it all fitted and there were no adjustments to make.

I matted the photo onto a piece of the Simmons Street paper.

Using the reverse of the same paper, I cut a strip to fit across the page- this was just the width of my ruler. This too would tuck under the stars, and the frame, so I stuck this into place with double sided tape.

Now I don't generally like using paint on my layouts.
Firstly I just don't like mess; and secondly it worries me applying paint directly to the page just incase something goes wrong that I can't undo.
I tried a little of the paint on the cut off strip off the bottom of the craft card, and it gave such a strong clear colour that I had to be brave and give it a go.
Whenever I've tried the dry brushing technique it has never quite worked, so I decided to go for the bubble wrap printing technique instead.
Applying paint to the bubble wrap using the sponge applicator on the top of the bottle was really easy, and it meant that the paint only stayed on the top of the bubbles, and didn't go between into the gaps- so should give a good sharp result.

I carefully turned the painted bubble wrap upside down and lay it onto my layout.

I applied firm pressure onto it, but had to take card not to move the wrap around or the paint would smudge.

It was then time to carefully peel back the bubblewrap to reveal the printed pattern.

Once that was dry, I added the frame to the layout, taking care to tuck it behind all the cut sections of the stars.

I love adding touches of doodling to my layouts in quite a reserved way- I tend to add lots of dots around the edges of shapes and of the whole page.

A few embellishments add some extra interest- these buttons I had in my button box, along with a strip of bling border.

On top of the bubble wrap print, I lightly drew around a couple of chipboard stars, then coloured over the top with a white pen. This stands out particuarly well on the Kraft background.

For the title I used American Crafts Daiquiri Black foam Thickers.

I finished the title with Making memories Tiny Alpha Stickers...

I also painted the edges of a couple of acetate stars,.... and after a touch more dotty doodling the page was finished!
Hope you like it :o)
I'll be back again on Friday with another page.



*edited to add* we sell white pens in the shop, but we did a blog post about white pens and the different ones you can use. Click here to see the post, in the post are the links to the white pens we sell.

October Afternoon HomeTown

In some ways these papers are very me, and in others very not me.
The simple style and bold patterns really appeal- and they are also great quality heavyweight papers.
However the colours are not quite what I'd usually go for- I mean- that is a very bright yellow!
The whole Hometown range can be seen in the shop HERE

These are the items I used to make my layout....

First of all I took the County Fair paper, and drew around the Jenni Bowlin 12x12 Die Cut paper as a template.

Using my craft knife I then carefully cut along my drawn line. I was going to use both portions of the paper for this layout, so cutting with the craft knife would leave a better edge than trying to cut it out with scissors.

Next I turned the outer piece over, this was going to make a frame around the edge of my layout.
I then cut the inner piece in half- I only use one half of this.

The next paper I used is the Depot Park sheet. I cut a piece 6x6 inches square, inked the edges and fixed it to the bottom left corner of the white background cardstock.

I then inked the outer and inner edges of the frame, and stuck lots of little 3D foam pads to the back of it.

This was then stuck onto the base. It was going to be quite fiddly as the frame was quite narrow... the best way I found to do it was actually to carefully lower the cardstock down onto the frame.

Using foam pads lifts it from the page a little and emphasises the frame effect.

The reverse of the Depot Park paper is a very bright yellow with white dots pattern.
I decided to use this as a border strip across the page, and used the Threading Water punch from Fiskars to decorate the edges of this.

I stuck the shaped half into the page, then added the yellow band across the page with 3D tape to raise the height to the same as the frame.

Using the unused shaped half as a template, I then cut a 6x6 square of the yellow paper- then cut this into just an edge strip, about half an inch wide. Add this to the page.
I also embellished across the border strip with some lace I had.

Now I was ready to add the photo- I matted it onto the KM Building paper- the light blue ledger side. I then also double matted onto the dark blue cardstock to make it pop from the page even more.

Once the photo was added to the page, I could start adding a few embellishments from the Die Cut Shapes sheet, such as photo corners, a speech bubble, tag and book plate.

That was the main body of the page assembled- all that was left was to add the title and a little journaling.

For the title I used American Crafts Sprinkles Glitter Thickers in Green

I cut thin strips from a page fom the Making Memories Paperie Spiral Notebook, and mounted these on a tag... this was finished with my journaling and some thin ric rac.

And here is the finished page....

I'll be back on Wednesday to share another page and step by step instructions with you.

Setting the record straight!

Someone in the shop yesterday commented how busy I had been playing with the new distress stickles, as seen on this blog. And then the penny dropped! I have failed to give credit where credit is due, so I just wanted to post and set the record straight! The post about the new stickles was done by our resident Ranger/Tim Holtz expert Carol. It has my name at the bottom because I had trouble uploading her original post so I had to copy and paste it into a new post - and of course I completely forget that her name wouldn't show! So apologies to Carol - and thank you for trying out the new goodies for us!

On my to do list!

I am really bad at saving different projects, cards and layouts that i see around the internet that i love, saving them and then not actually lifting them!

One of my 'new years resolutions for 2009 was to slowly go though the list and make some of them.

So for January here is my first one! A tag frame.

The first thing i had to do was to decided on the theme of the tags, and after about an hour of humming and not being sure one idea kept coming into my mind. Things that i love right now. I am always doing layouts and projects about my son and what he is doing and what he loves that sometimes i forget about me. And as this particular project was going to be hung in my scrapbooking room i went with things that mean alot to me. But i have to tell you starting this project was a bit intimidating, just trying to figure out how i was going to do each tag!, do i use the same paper line or match different ones together! but i finally got there!

I then made a list of what i was going to put on the eight tags. And let me tell you when you just sit down and think about it these things where hard to think off!!!!

1.Scrapbooking (obviously!)
2.Son
3.Husband
4.Extended family
5.camera
6.Friends
7.Wardrobe/clothes
8.My job

Now some of these may seems a bit weird to you like the clothes, but i will explain them later on in the post.

Because this project is made up from different seperate tags, i needed to keep some of the features on all of them the same to make sure that when you looked up them they visually all came together. So after completing my first tag and making sure i was happy with it i picked different elements that i duplicated over and over again on the other tags.


The first tag is - friends.
I am not a person who makes friends easily as i am fairly shy, so the friends that i do have mean so much to me.

Supplies -
Pattern paper - October afternoon, Scenic Route,Sandylion.
Cardstock - Bazzill white, kraft and dotted green.
Brads - Basic Grey
Gems
Lettering - Making Memories



I used the October Afternoon paper with the newspaper print on it as the base for this tag and then built the tag onto it. For the big flower i drew out the shape of the petal that i wanted, cut that out four times and stuck them on a small circle to make the shape i wanted then adhered to the tag.
It may be hard to see but the scalloped edges are not stuck down and i just lifted them up to create a dimensional effect.


Tag two - My husband. This one is obvious huh!! lol as to why it is in my frame.

Supplies -
Pattern Paper - October afternoon, Basic Grey, Sandylion

For the tags with people in it i wanted to make sure that i had a photograph on it. So i found my favourite photo of my dh and then printed it out to fit on the tag.


Tag three - Family

I am lucky to live near the majority of my family, especially my grandparents who need looking after.

Supplies -
Pattern paper - Basic grey, Sandylion
Cardstock - Bazzill Basic brown and white.
Bling - Prima
For the butterfly shape i used the butterfly chipbard shapes from Scenic Route. I had run out of the actual butterfly shapes, but i kept the remaining chipbard to use as a template as i love the shape of the butterflies.



Tag four - Work.

For a long while i was on sick leave and i was unable to work and was stuck in doors and the only person i would see during the day was the postman. So now that i am able to work again it is very important to me. Having work friends, a bit independence and getting out of the house. So hence why it is on my frame.

Supplies -
Pattern paper - Sandylion, October Afternoon
Cardstock- Bazzill Basics
Bling
Lettering - Heidi Swapp

Before i added everything onto my tag i ran the tag base (which i used kraft) though the cuttlebug dotted embossing folder. And then layered the rest of the paper on top.

Tag five - Clothes.
Some of you who have read my personal blog know that over the year of 2008 i was on weight watchers. Over this period i lost 3 stone. It was hard work and something that i am really proud of. Now when i go clothes shopping or i pull my clothes out of the wardrobe they are a size 10!!!!

THis is a big deal to me and something that i am still proud of hence why it is in my frame.

Supplies -
Pattern Paper - Basic Grey, Sandylion
Cardstock - Bazzill Basics
Lettering - Making Memories, Glitter American Crafts THickers
Embellishments - Maya Road


Tag six - My camera.
I know that every scrapbooker loves and cannot live without their camera and i am no exception. For a few months last year my camera had to go back to Nikon to be fixed and it wasnt until i was without it i realised how much i used and valued it.

I loved the combination of the aqua,pink and brown with a smidge of black and white thrown in. In fact this seems to be my favourite colour combination at the moment.



Tag seven - My son.

This one was a given really!!! lol. But i wanted to make sure that i used a photo of my son on this tag. So i picked out my favourite photo from christmas day and used that as the basis of the tag. I kept this tag fairly simple and left the focus on the photo.



Tag eight - Scrapbooking.
I know that this is just a hobby, but when i was stuck at home the online friendships that i made helped me thorough and this hobby kept me busy when the housework is done! as there is only so much i am willing to iron during the day lol!!!!! I have met a lot of good friends local and far away though this hobby so it means alot to me.


I wanted to keep this tag simple just like the extended family tag.

Here is the finished product.




I had so much fun making this frame. I was not able to find a box frame locally that was the right size so i had to order one, but when it comes it is going on my wall in my scrapbooking room for me to see everyday.
I was going to post the sizes of the tags, but really if you do it, it will be a different size depending on the size of the frame, photos or embellishments you want to use on them.

Any questions please ask :)

Thanks for looking!!!!!