Smile | Amy Kattenbelt | Moodboard

 Hello UK Scrap Addicts,

I've really enjoyed seeing everyone's creation using the moodboard I created for this months theme. I love using moodboards as inspiration, there are always so many ways to use them.

I decided to mainly be inspired by the colour theme and the rainbow, as well as the butterflies.

The new Daydream collection by Cocoa Vanilla Studio works really well with the colour palette of the moodboard, namely 2 shades of pink, 2 shades of blue and yellow. 

I used the rainbow patterned paper, and decided to keep it whole. I added stitched crosses in the edges of the arcs and lots of gold ink splashes for added shimmer and shine.

I have used two old photos because I felt the colours really matched well. I struggled with a title for a while, and finally settled on a subtle title 'smile' using foam phrase thickers. 

I then enjoyed an hour of fussy cutting, both florals out of the flower patterned paper and some butterflies from another paper from the same collection. I adhered the flowers, along with some floral die cuts, around my photos and also to the upper right corner. Finally I finished my layout by adding the 3 butterflies, using foam dots on the wings for added dimension.

Thanks for taking the time to take a closer look at my layout, Don’t forget to share your layouts over on our Facebook page, or tag us on Instagram if you’ve played along this month. I am very excited for our new September theme which will be revealed after the bank holiday weekend.

Take care, and stay safe!

Amy x

Lisa-Jane Johnson | Vertical Design | Stay Colourful

Hi scrappers!  It's Lisa-Jane from Pretty My Page here with you today with my layout for the "vertical placement" challenge.

I hope you are all keeping well and have good supplies of the important stuff... cake, tea, double sided tape, patterned paper...  At least we won't run out of things to do if we are quarantined, but if you run out of photos, or fancy a laugh, you could try taking some pictures with Snapchat filters like I did here very late one night on a retreat.

I've taken inspiration from a couple of similar layouts that I've seen on the Cocoa Vanilla social media using the striped multi-coloured papers that they usually have in each collection.  I was saving the last strip of mine so it was a good time to use it on a page rather than me sitting admiring it.

I tore it into pieces and spread them the full height of the page but I wanted to overlap them so I needed more than the 12 inches of the strip.  I mounted my base cardstock onto a coordinating border and then added in some denser patterns from the border strips - I don't throw much away!

I had some Simple Stories stickers from a planner pad that matched really well so I spread those along the rainbow with some fussy cut butterflies and die cut hearts.

Finally sprinkled some enamel shapes and dots around the rainbow and added the Stay Colourful die cut for the title.  Spelled the UK way!  Huzzah!  

I've been meaning to do a colour on colour layout for a while and I'm so pleased with how everything came together on this one.  I hope you've been inspired by the team's layouts so far!

Lisa-Jane Johnson | Favourite Photograph | Paper Folding

Hi there Scrap Addicts, it's Lisa-Jane from Pretty My Page here today and I can't believe we are already half way through the first month of a new decade!  I hope that lots of you have been setting scrappy goals for the forthcoming year and that you'll join in with lots of the monthly challenges and visit our Facebook group to keep you inspired.

With this month's challenge being paper folding, of course I used a foldie cut file!  Paper folding of most kinds works great with any shape that has a line of symmetry and you can even create new shapes using symmetry, such as the heart shaped necks that you get between two swans when they face each other. 

I chose to create some stars in a star shape and manipulated the image so that only half of each star cut through but the lines didn't join up so that pieces stayed attached.  Then I created dashed lines straight down the middle of each star so make them easier to fold.

I folded each star and added a tiny glue dot underneath to hold it in place but still give it some dimension - this creates little shadows that give a lovely depth to the layout.  I backed the small stars with dark blue and then laid the whole thing over the aqua to fill in all the rest of the large stars.  I did try and leave it without a border but I couldn't do it so I added a trim of another dark blue paper to make it pop.

I used up lots of my extensive collection of wooden stars around the paper folds and then a sprinkle of Shimmerz paint for extra interest.  I mounted my photo onto grey paper to match the Perspextive and then onto the dark blue again and popped the whole thing onto foam for more height.  The Boys Rule collection from Cocoa Vanilla is perfect for my children's previous primary school uniform.

I hope you've been inspired to try lots of different ways of paper folding and if you need an easy place to start then symmetry is your friend - remember those painted butterflies we used to make as children?!  Don't forget to tag us if you share your paper fold layouts on social media, we'd love to see!

Happy scrapping.

Create Happy Times | Zoe Hailey (Zola28) | Selfie

What a great theme for September; Selfies!

Personally,  I am not a massive selfie taker so this month I have forced myself to take more photographs of me and I have actually ended up scrapping three pages of myself! ( I have even made my layout for our December theme, which is really fun!)

With so many gorgeous new collections coming out, I'm challenging myself to use up some of my older stuff, mainly to make room for the new! So I have worked with Cocoa Vanilla Studio's gorgeous collection; Happiness. I just love this flower reef paper and I had four sheets of it, so on this page, I used two up in my layering.

If fussy cutting isn't your thing (and it isn't usually mine) then this may not be a page for you. I fussy cut two pages of the reef paper and then mounted them on black card and cut them both out again. Adding the outer reef up on foam pads, for even more dimension. I really wanted to bring in the black from my sunglasses and I am pleased with how it turned out.

Of course once I had done that on the reefs, I decided I needed to do the same on the butterflies and it really helps them stand out on a very busy colourful page. I love the shadows they create too.

I really enjoyed making this layout, I love the florals and the beautiful colour palette in the Happiness collection. I hope you enjoy scrapping a selfie or two this month and look forward to seeing your creations in our Facebook Group UK Scrap Addicts.

Zoe ( Follow me on Instagram Zola28)

Awesome Brothers | Amy Kattenbelt | Sketch

Hello Scrap Addicts. Amy here today to share my layout that I created using the fabulous sketch designed exclusively for us by the lovely Laura Rumble.

I thought this star paper from the Boys Rule collection by Cocoa Vanilla Studio would be perfect for a starting point of my layout. I cut it into a crescent moon shape that would cradle my photo and journalling. To contrast with the star paper I used a dark, wood grain, paper from the same collection as my background and added a little white paint splatter to it. I went to town distressing the edges and then stuck it to a blue patterned paper, ripping and stapling it in places for extra details. I added a chipboard title and then finished the layout with lots of matching star shaped ephemera and chipboard pieces.

Thanks for reading. I will be back next month to share another layout with you. In the mean time we would love for you to hop over to our Facebook Group UK Scrap Addicts where you can view the sketch and also share your layouts with us!