Guest Designer - Karen Taylor

We wrap up May with another fabulous guest... please welcome Karen Taylor to our blog!

Hi, I am Karen. I live in North London where I work as a children's nanny to 3 gorgeous kiddies. I have worked in London/Surrey (originally a Hertfordshire gal) for the last 3 1/2 years but before that my home was in lovely Cornwall.
I have been scrapping for about 6 years having become addicted when I joined a card making class in Cornwall.  I am beginning to dabble a bit in mixed media, although I tend to stick to all things inky with a bit of texture paste for good luck!

For this page I used Laura's fab sketch.  As soon as I saw the ink that was it... I'm in there!

I used the packaging/smoothing technique using Tim Holtz distress spray stain in brushed pewter, Heidi Swapp colour shine in gold and Glimmer mist Tuscan Sun.  The blue crept in there from the packaging' previous use.  I then added a smidge of Heidi Swapp colour shine Sheer to give it added sparkle!

Patterned paper is mainly Simple Stories Summer Vibes with a few punched shapes using my 'scraps'!

I hope you like it :)

Thanks for joining us Karen.  You can see more of Karen here.

Goodbye, Hello & Big News

It's all change at UKSA HQ... let me fill you in!

We are sad to say goodbye to Sarah Roulston.  She is stepping aside to focus more time on growing Lottie Loves Paper.  We will still see her around in For The Love Of Pretty Paper and we'll have her back guesting for us at some point, I'm sure!

We welcome Sarah Costain to our team.  She'll be adding her first project to our YouTube channel mid-month.  By the way, we now have a custom YouTube address - youtube.com/ukscrapaddicts - so we'll always be easy to find!

And, because our National Scrapbook Day celebrations were so successful we have decided to run a monthly challenge.  Starting with June we will trial three months of challenges.  I have lined up some fabulous sponsors and we are starting off with a whopping £50 prize value.  The challenge will be to join in with our monthly theme and link up your layout on our Facebook page - Facebook.com/UKScrapAddicts/

More details on the 1st June - stay tuned...

Car Selfie | Jackie Ashton | Sketch

Hello, Jackie here using one of this month's sketches.  I love to use sketches sometimes just to get me started on a layout, others, like this one, following the design but making the layout work for me.

So here's what I did, I decided to reduce the sketch and do a 9x12 one instead.  I love that my albums have a mixture of different sized pages, as well as various pocket pages.

I used a photograph of Sheena and me on our way back from teaching a weekend workshop, hence the title.

After cutting my cardstock down to the required size, I distressed the background using a Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink Pad - Broken China, using the packaging technique - adding the ink to a piece of plastic bag and a few drops of water, before applying to the cardstock. Once dry I added a few lightly stamped lines to the background, to give it some visual texture.

I layered the photograph on patterned papers from the new collection by Amy Tangerine - Oh a Whim and added a piece of vellum under the photographs for adding texture.

The stamped image to the top of the photograph was stamped onto plain white cardstock using the same stamp I used for the background.

For the title, I had run out of Es so I used two Fs and cut down an I to form the bottoms of the Es.

To the top right of the layout, I felt that it was an empty space, so I added a few strips of patterned papers and a flair badge I found in my stash.

I finished the layout, by adding a few word stickers around the photographs area, from one of the Simple Stories Collections, wood veneer stars.

Thank you for stopping by

Guest Designer - The Tattooed Crafter

Today we welcome a guest designer known for her process videos...

Hello my lovelies, I’m Julia, a tattooed lass from England who enjoys nothing better than getting creative every chance I can. A few weeks ago I was asked to be a quest designer for May’s challenge and I feel so honoured to have been asked.  Being an ex Art Teacher, I have a natural creative flare. To be honest, there’s not that many crafts I haven’t dabbled in but my true passion over the past few years has been the traditional 12 x 12 scrapbooking and weekly Project Life.  I used to do a lot of larger scale scrapbooking many moons ago with my Great Grandma, so she was always my drive to record and capture every special moment in my life. With the help of my mum who is an amazing photographer, I have grown up in a creative household allowing my creative eye and skills to flourish.

When Laura introduced the sketches to me, I was SO excited to work with them…. it was just such a shame I could only pick one! I love to use sketches as I find them truly helpful when you are having a creative block and also when you just need to create a layout within a short amount of time. The sketches are a helpful guidance when creating layouts without any pressures. I also love to mutate the sketches so that they adapt to my personal style and creativity, so this month’s challenge wasn’t going to get off too lightly.

Now you’ll be able to see the full video on how I created this layout via YouTube but the main reason I picked this particular sketch was the fact that it was quick, easy to replicate and manipulate. The sketch didn’t require too many items from my diminishing stash and would also allow me to get quite messy. 

To create the overall layout, I worked with a series of items from a kit purchased from Rhie over on Mrs C Scraps that I have been working with recently.  She had purchased my first ever Heidi Swapp Colour Shine in Hot Pink so I knew that this was the colour I would use for this layout. As it is such a vibrant colour, I decided to print my photo in black and white allowing it not to contrast with the pink and also remain the focal feature on my page. 

Now the most “technical” part was the splashes of colour. Very simple to create, however it can become overwhelming at times due to that fact it can be quite unpredictable, so be mindful when using the “packaging technique”.  As I mentioned it is very simple to create the messy splodges, by grabbing some old plastic packaging, squirted the Heidi Shine (or any ink/paint you have in your stash) onto the plastic and starting to spread and smoosh (very technical words) this onto my white card stock.  I tend to use smaller plastic wrapping as I find this is more controllable to work with, but the overall results can be fantastic if you’re happy to get a little messy. 

If I didn’t mentioned already, I am the doily queen. No layout is complete without one, so this sketch HAD to be mutated to include one of my beautiful doilies, which I simple added behind the tag to add a little extra dimension and interest to the page. As I had backed my overall photo onto some baby pink tissue paper this allowed the photo to blend softly into the harshness of the vibrant pink ink. I love working with different textures so I try to add a variety within my layouts. Using tissue papers, lace and threads all create a variety of textures, which are very simple to add but have a major impact on the layout. Quick and simple is my motto! Matching all of this with a few words from my roller stamp in black, allowed me to add a little more curiosity to the three main areas on my layout.

As you’ll be able to see from the sketch below, there isn’t a whole range of embellishing. Adapting this sketch to add a little sparkle, I opted for some gold glittered punched hearts along with some wood veneer to warm up the page.  Complementing all that with these beautiful thickers from American Crafts called “Wild” where I used the word ENJOY. My husband wasn’t too keen to be totally messy and wildly creative that day in the photo. He is very methodical, so I knew that tagging the word “Enjoy” along side this would put a very funny spin on the situation. 

To finally mutate this sketch and make it my own, in a very simple way, I simply backed the white cardstock onto a plain blush pink 12 x 12 cardstock to help control the warping, as well as add another touch of colour to the vast white space at the top right of the paper. A few inches down I decided to create a rip allowing the blush pink to peep through adding a different aspect to the overall layout. I like to use this technique to add a splash of colour or pattern when I simply don’t want anything else too bulky on the page. My main cluster was full of colour and embellishments, that I didn’t was this rip to distract the eye from the main feature. 

And there you have it; the finished layout:

I would like to massively thank the UK Scrap Addict team for allowing me to be apart of their blog and YouTube as a guest designer. It truly has been an honour to share my work with such amazing people and I hope I have inspired you to give it a go and get creative with some sketches.  

Thanks for joining us Julia!  To see more of Julia's work check out the following links: YouTube Instagram Twitter Facebook

Snapshot | Michelle Mills (UglyBugPlans) | Sketch

I decided to go with the single page sketch from the 2 choices we had this month, I don't tend to have double page speeds ion my albums and the single sketch was adorable. You have seen it a few times already this month so I won't share the picture of the actual sketch, which was designed by the lovely Laura Rumble.

All of the products I used are from the new Stampin' Up! catalogue and I chose them because the 6x6 papers match the journalling cards, I have been suffering terribly with hay fever so I needed to keep it simple.

I chose the photo and the title as they were made perfectly, I was trying to take a really natural photo of my daughter playing the drums when she turned and poked her tongue out at me the cheeky missy! I do love how it shows her character off and I knew I wanted this is our family album this year!

You can view the complete process on the UK Scrap Addicts YouTube Channel HERE!

Thank you so much for watching/reading I cannot wait until next month! Until then you can find me on YouTube, my Blog and Instagram!

Week 38 - Pocket Pages | Sarah Toward | Sketch

Hi there

I am going to share with you today how I used a sketch to get me started on one of my Pocket Page layouts.

I quite often turn to sketches for my scrapbooking layouts, but I'd never used one to help me with my Pocket Page layouts. 

I chose to use Laura's sketch, and thought the best way to use it would be to base my title card on the sketch.

I started by using my watercolours for some random painting as the background for my main focal point to sit on.

I'd already decided which papers I was going to use on my layout so I used some of the off cuts to create the layered focal point for the layout.

To finish off the title card I added some sequins, rub-ons, chipboard and bakers twine to the layout.  I often leave my title card until last as I'm unsure on how I want it to look, using the sketch really helped me with this and meant I finished it in super quick time and was able to move onto the rest of the layout.

I'll definitely use a sketch to help me design my title card again.  This layout came together really quickly as I didn't spend hours wondering where to start.

I used the Jubilee collection by My Minds Eye which I've had in my stash untouched for sometime, it included papers, rub-ons, chipboard and photo overlays.  I supplemented it with sequins, doilies and bakers twine.

Thanks for stopping by today and supporting U.K. scrapbooking.  Come back again soon to see what we've been getting up to.

xoxo

Treasure | Jess Claire | Sketch

Hi guys,
welcome back to the UK Scrap Addicts blog, Jess here with the next instalment of our monthly topic for May which is Sketches.

You can check out my YouTube process video for this layout here

I don't use sketches very often, generally I prefer to scraplift a layout, I think its partly because I'm quite a literal person and I tend to stick quite rigidly to sketches.

I did for this one too. I chose to use Laura's sketch:

I had run out of white 12x12 card stock so I used some of this pale turquoise instead. I quite like that I had to do this, I like the colour and I think I use white a little too often.   I used a photo I took during the week I took part in Ali Edwards Week in the Life project. Its a photo of the necklace I wear every day and it was a story I wanted to tell in more detail. 

I used papers from the Cute Girl collection and I used the tag in the sketch to write my journalling on. I added enamel dots from the Cocoa Vanilla Studio - Colour Me Happy - Warm collection where there were dots on the sketch and for the back ground I used stamps instead of mixed media. I used black staz on ink and some Heidi Swapp stamps to stamp phrases over and over. I used a Heidi Swapp Gold acetate word 'Treasure' as my title.

I really enjoyed using this sketch and I love that I have created a layout that is a little different from my usual style.

That's the great thing about a sketch, it has everything planned for you so its a great starting point for a layout, no matter if you follow it like a rule book or just take one tiny idea from it.

I have loved seeing how different our layouts end up looking even from the same sketch. Make sure to check out all the other UKSA posts this month.

See you again in June :)

Sweet | Niki Rowland | Sketch

Hey there UK Scrap Addicts! Niki here with you today working with the double page sketch by Susan. Double layouts are often a challenge for me as I love a one-photo layout and one photo gets a bit lost on a double page lol.

I choose to work with the 'Wild at Heart' collection by Cocoa Vanilla Studio and fussy cut some butterflies to form the middle circle. I fussy cut flowers from one of the papers to form the strips across the bottom. I used a couple of the chipboard frames from the same collection and used wood veneer words as my title.

I have a process video for you to watch to see how it all came together:

Thanks so much for looking and watching and see you next time xx

Find me on UK Scrap Addicts, Hey Little Magpie, GoGo Getaway, Silhouette UK, Stick it Down and Freckled Fawn. Also on my own blog: Being Scrappy and on Instagram as @nikiclaire

Guest Designer - Caroline Lovett

Today we welcome our second guest for May...

Hi my name is Caroline Lovett and I am the organizer of the Scrapstars craft retreat. I live in Leeds, in the heart of Yorkshire in the UK and I’m an avid Scrapbooker. I was first introduced to scrapbooking in 2003 when I saw a demonstration. I immediately knew it was for me as I had always been the “photographer” whether that was with my family, friends and even going back to my school days. I loved the creative aspect of scrapbooking, and to be honest it was the first craft that I had ever really tried, but also I loved the idea of recording our memories. I even went as far as to have my own shop for a while, where I had the pleasure of introducing and teaching Scrapbooking to lots of people. For the past six years I have organized the retreat to get my extra crafting fix, I love the inspiration the teachers bring with them. I am constantly scrapping and have a number of albums on the go. If I have a lot of photo’s from a “big holiday” I tend to make three or four 12x12 layouts and then slot project life sleeves in to my albums, and use these to store all of the extra photo’s that I take www.scrapstars.co.uk

I was really pleased to be asked to “guest design” for UK Scrap Addicts and when I discovered I would be following a sketch challenge that put me at ease. I find following a sketch takes all the “stress” from Scrapping, all you have to do is find some nice coordinating papers and your half way there. It’s a great way to form the basics of a layout and then you can tweak it to suit yourself. I decided to follow Laura’s sketch, and started by creating a watercolour background. I had seen this effect on a layout by Tracee Provis, and then was lucky enough to be shown how to do it by Morag Cutts at Scrapstars. Take some packaging waste or a cello bag, apply ink pad straight on to it pressing about 3 times, spritz with water and then literally place the cello bag ink side down onto your cardstock, pull away quickly, or if needed press some small areas down with the tip of your finger. I also used kitchen towel, so soak away any “strong” areas.

I’m a fan of mixed media, and am getting braver all the time, I usually think to myself, the worst that can happen is I end up throwing away a piece of card. I believe it was Susan’s who mentioned Gorgeous Grunge (15th April). If you are averse to mess or always feel that spritzing goes everywhere, I can strongly recommend this set, or any other “distress” type stamps, at least the effect is placed exactly where you want it.

The sketch shows a 4x4 photo being used so I cut three coordinating papers from Maggie Holmes - Chasing Dreams, at four and a quarter inches, I inked and layered these, and then reverted to a little fussy cutting. 

Finally I added the tag as in the sketch and various bits and pieces to embellish. It was fun to fussy cut (it’s been a while) and also I dug out some old pins. I tried out a “new to me” product, Nuvo Crystal Drops, which hold there form as they dry and look much like an enamel dot (the black ones on the layout).

I hope that you like the end result, it has been great fun creating it, I hope that you feel brave and decide to splash a little ink around. Thanks for reading, Caroline.

Thanks for joining us today Caroline!  

 

Mitzi | Laura Jane Thomson | Sketch

Hi everyone, it's me again... Laura Jane and today I am working with a lovely sketch by the very talented Laura Rumble. 

For the month of May, our theme was to work with a sketch - two of the lovely members of our UK Scrap Addicts Creative Team designed great sketches for us to work with and it was a difficult decision on which one to choose.  The deciding factor for me was that Laura's sketch called for a mixed media element and lots of white space which is not something I am used to doing, so I wanted to challenge myself. 

Here is Laura's sketch that I chose to work with: 

The photograph I chose to work with is of me with my very first Long Coat Chihuahua puppy back in May 1992, this has particular significance to me as in May 2017 we welcomed our new Long Coat Chihuahua puppy into our family and having dogs in my life really changed my outlook on things for the better so it's an important photograph to me.  Also working with a May challenge, I thought that a photograph taken in May twenty-five years ago was quite fitting. 

In the photograph, I am wearing a purple top so I decided that this would be my main colour for this layout which is based on a 12x12 sheet of plain white cardstock. 

For the purple aspect behind my photograph, I decided to use watercolour paints - it was a very simple technique to use and the colour gradient almost happened by accident.  In my watercolour palette, I have three shades of purple next to each other so I just swiped the brush across all three colours before brushing onto the page so see what finish it gave and I really love how it turned out.  What do you think?

I layered my photograph onto a couple of scraps of patterned paper before adding a lilacy-pink doily and adhering to my page, also adding a tag behind the photograph in keeping with the sketch. 

I added my title, which is quite simple... "Mitzi" was the name of my little puppy in the photograph and we got her in May 1992 when this photograph was taken.  I didn't think that this photograph needed a fancy titled as I just wanted to document the moment as it is a special photograph to me.

The photograph brings back lots of memories to me as well as lots of positivity and thoughts of how she changed me, so I didn't feel that this layout needed any journalling. 

Lastly, to bring in the circle elements of the sketch, I added some small metal word embellishments and silver puffy hearts. 

I really enjoyed working with this sketch and how my layout turned out, it's also great to see the layouts from out other Creative Team members who have used the same sketch but have such a different end result.  

Our creative team add new blog posts and YouTube videos daily so don't forget to check back regularly to see some fantastic layouts and exciting inspiration!!

See you all soon!

Laura Jane xx