Bloom and Grow | Kirei Baldwin | Fussy Cutting

Hi UK Scrap Addicts!

Kirei here with my layout for this month's 'fussy cutting' theme....

Now I love fussy cutting so this was perfect for me! I used more of the lovely Cocoa Vanilla Studio 'Midnight' collection that I have been hoarding... I used the 12" x 12" paper called 'Sophisticated' which was perfect for some fussy cutting as it was covered in sketchy flowers in black and white.

I sat in front of the TV and fussy cut most of the flowers from it, and then I painted most of them with some of the pretty Shimmerz paints picking colours that matched the 'Midnight' collection. A little tip when fussy cutting, leave a little white border around your image, it's easier to cut and looks finished.

I cut the centre from the striped 'Bloom & Grow' paper then trimmed it to 11 1/2" and mounted it onto a frame cut from the 'Shine Bright' paper. Then I backed it all with a piece of white cardstock.

I added the fussy cut flowers in a wreath around the cut out circle, only sticking them in the centre so that I could curl up the edges to add dimension.

My photo was mounted onto a mix of the patterned papers and tucked in under the right side of the wreath. I added some matching embellishments and a title and finished off with some splatters of white paint.

I hope you have been inspired by this month's 'fussy cutting' theme... whether cutting just a few images to add to your layout or cutting lots to make it a feature like I have done. Please don't forget to share your layouts over on the UK Scrap Addicts Facebook page as we love to see them!

Thanks for looking and happy scrapping!

Smile, Laugh, Play | Sheena Rowlands | Fussy Cutting

Hi there UK Scrap Addicts x Sheena here again.

Our challenge this month is Fussy Cutting. When I think of fussy cutting I think of cutting flowers from patterned papers so I wanted to do something different for this challenge.

I had a root through some of the patterned papers in my stash and found this one by Pink Paislee for Paige Evans and felt it had potential so I got fussy cutting.

Smile, Laugh, Play.

From the patterned paper I cut out all the 5 full scalloped circles with a little white border to help them stay whole.I tend to do this type of fussy cutting in front of the TV but with a tray on my lap to catch the bits!!

Once cut I positioned them one at a time on the patterned paper background machine stitching them down. Once they were all sewn down I curled the scallops a little.

I added a small photo and embellished around it with Paige Evans die cuts from a number of different ranges.

I hope you are inspired to do some fussy cutting and please share with us on our UK Scrap Addicts Facebook group.

Till next time x

All that glitters is not gold…

Hi Everyone

Sam here, with my first layout as a DT member of the UKSA team…

If you hadn’t already noticed, the theme for April is ‘Sparkle’.

Now, I can’t deny that I have a real phobia of glitter – I think it’s because it reminds me of sand. Like sand, it gets everywhere, so it’s a scrapbooking product that I tend to avoid like the plague! I simply couldn’t face using any, so my ‘Sparkle’ was going to have to be introduce via some other means…

I found I’d got some Starlights paint, including White Gold, which I knew gave a true shimmery effect, so I decided that my layout would incorporate gold elements along with some co-ordinating sequins from my stash.

My eldest step-daughter is in New Zealand currently where this photo was taken. I thought the quirky seat on the wall that had become a painted swing was fabulous, along with the cupid and combinations of greens, teals and hot yellow. It’s not a colour combination that I’d usually scrap with, but was so inspired by it, I decided to dig deep into my scrapbooking stash and see what I could find.

To my delight, I realize that the Maggie Holmes ‘Carousel’ collection featured some of these tones. And, I’m sure that you can relate to just ‘saving a piece of paper’ because it’s too nice to use syndrome? I’d been suffering with that over the big top paper, but as it was just black and white, it meant that I could paint it to complement the photo and add sparkly details too!

I tend to mix white gesso with paint when I’m creating a background on a printed design, as it works in much the say way as preparing a background that’s going to be subjected to techniques such as the packaging one.

After fussy cutting the kites and the scallop detail for the big tops, I used sequins to add detail, with little French knots to each centre.

I found I’d got an unopened set of enamel charms, both of which were set into a gold metal, so this added to the sparkle along with my title.

Until next month…

Love and sparkles

Sam X

Happy | Sheena Rowlands | Sparkle

Hi there UK Scrap Addicts x Sheena here again.

Our challenge this month is to use Sparkle on your scrapbook page. This challenge can be interpreted any way you like and I chose to use sequins on my layout to create some Sparkle.

I used a cut file as the basis of my page, I added foam pads to the back of the cut file to add some depth then I used Simple Stories Forever Fall paper to back all the leaf cut outs. Before I stuck them all down I added acetate behind 8 cut file leaves and built them into mini shaker boxes with foam pads. I chose the sequins for each shaker box depending on the colour of the paper below them. I really like the delicate effect this creates.

Once I was happy with the cut file I mounted it onto my layout base using foam pads. I trimmed my photo and matted it on various scraps of Forever Fall papers and attached it with foam pads just overlapping the cut file.

I tucked in leaf and flower stickers and die cuts either side of my photo then added a Perspective over the photo after I'd added some thread to it in complimentary colours. My title was also off the sticker sheet.

I hope you are inspired to add a little Sparkle to your pages. Please share with us over at the UK Scrap Addicts Facebook page.

Till next time x

Leave a Little Sparkle | Claire (ScrappyNerdUK) | Sparkle

Hey friends.


My layout turned out to be covering both last months theme of black cardstock and this months theme of sparkles - happy accident I say!!

I thought about how I could use a black cardstock background to do something different on my layout and decided to make like a chalk board effect with using a white gel pen. So I printed off a quote from the internet (which happened to contain the word Sparkle!) and traced it using a pencil, onto some velum ( please use tracing paper as velum is the expensive option and I only used this as I had no tracing paper on hand). Then I traced the reverse of these letters again to get the lead onto the back of the velum.

I then laid this down onto the black cardstock and traced it again to create a faint outline for me to be able to go over with my white pen. I loved how the finished effect turned out.

I added in a photo of me (I love scrapping selfies - I know I'm not the only one!). And decided it was
time to use up some older stash so grabbed out the Chasing Dreams collection by Maggie Holmes and added in the lady chipboard piece (which was never going to be used on any other project) and added in some fussy cut butterflies and a few other chipboard pieces from the Thickers pack.

Finally - because my title contained the work Sparkle I added in some sequins and I had these go from the top left to the bottom right of my page, creating a natural direction for your eye to follow to the photo.

I'm definitely going to try this technique again!

If you want to watch the process video then it's linked here. And be sure to head on over to our Facebook group and come and share what you have made for this months theme of Sparkle!

Howdy Partner / Jackie Ashton / Black Background

Hi crafter, Jackie here with my take on this months theme - using black cardstock.  I think using black cardstock allows my photographs to lift off the page more - if that makes sense.

I have a series of photographs taken last year when we watched the Wild West Show at Disneyland Paris and had already decided that when working with these photographs I would use black cardstock.  So this months theme was perfect for me to get another layout completed for my son’s album.

Howdy Partner

I used Carta Bella - Cowboy Country collection, which is just perfect for all these photographs of the Wild West Show.

I kept the layout very simple, adding a simple paper matt underneath my square photograph.

I also added a border to the top of the cardstock, using two different patterned papers, and border punched one of them.  After gluing the border in place, I added some hand-stitch details over the top.  Using a star stencil from my stash and  Tim Holtz squeezed lemonade oxide ink,  I added a few star details to break up the dark background, the coloured in ink looks cream on the black cardstock and not yellow.

I choose 3 tags from the collection and intertwined them together with black crocheting thread.

I added various die cuts from the collection, and some punched ‘Mickey head’ which I added white line around the edge for added definition against the black cardstock.

I added the title using Jillibean Soup alphabets and added some machine stitching over the top for added details.

I added some stenciled star and used Tim Holtz squeezed lemonade oxide ink, which looks cream on the black cardstock and not yellow.

Don’t forget to stop by our Facebook page and share with us what you are doing, we would love to see.

Till next time

Happy scrapping

Dream It - Do It | Karen Moss | Black Background

Hello, hello - Karen here with my black background layout.

I have been wanting to recreate a page similar to this one, which I had seen on the Paper Artsy blog.  Unfortunately, it hasn't been linked to the original designer so I am unable to credit them.

I loved how they have used paint to merge the photo into the background and this was the effect I was aiming for.

I have also added some texture past dots and butterflies (making a right mess in the process).

If you would like to see how I created my page then grab a cuppa and pop on over to our YouTube channel where you will find my process video.

Don't forget to check back to see what the other awesome UK Scrap Addicts ladies have been making this month.

Karen x

Remember | Amy Kattenbelt | Black Backgrounds

I'm here this month to share my layout created on a black background. This was a big challenge for me as I usualy use white cardstock backgrounds. I decided to try and treat the black background just like i would the white! I've created a Mixed Media background using paints and stamps, then built up layers behind my photo.

Watch the whole thing being created in the process video here!

Feeling All The Feels | ScrappyNerdUK (Claire) | Punches

I almost gave myself a triple challenge this month. Not only did I use punches (which is our theme this month) but I also challenged myself to use up scraps and incorporate more than one shape in my layout.

Here is how I got on.

I pulled out 4 circle punches for this one. I used a 3inch, 2 inch, 1 inch and 1/2 inch. From my scraps I punched first the largest and then used the next size down until all of my scraps were punched.






I then arranged this down the left side of the page. It was apparent that I didn't have enough larger circles and so I also punched out a couple of circles from vellum which is a great alternative to help fill up blank areas.




Next I chose my photo. This is generally how I scrap and tend to get started with my layout before I then choose my photo. I chose a snapchat picture of me and a friend and just loved all the pretty pinks  from the Dream Big collection from Simple Stories that I knew this photo was right for my layout.

I added in some stickers from the sticker sheet, a few tiny word stickers mainly. I also added in some chipboard stickers from an older Dear Lizzy collection.

So that's 2 challenges done, punches and scraps. Next up was bringing in another shape to work alongside the circles. I chose to go with a square as my photo was square. I decided to use the little 2x2 cut apart from the Dream Big collection and nestled 3 of these into the circle layers.

Finally was my title. I again used a different collection for these. I used the Thicker stickers from Amy Tangerine On A Whim collection and just love the sentiment "Feeling All The Feels".

And a few little flourishes with stickers and chipboard pieces and these layout was finished in about half an hour!!

Thanks for joining me here - be sure to watch the process video for this layout too - Link here:

Claire x

Love Forever / Jackie Ashton / Punches

Hi scrappers, Jackie here with my layout for this month using punches.  I do have a passion for punches especially circle punches, but I decided to step away from ones that I use on a regular basis, and chose another design, so I choose to use some of my heart punches.

As it February and we have just had Valentine's Day, I decided that I would do a ‘love layout’ of my hubby, son and myself.

I’ve used a heart punch, which I punched the heart shapes out of several patterned paper, and layered them together.  

To give them some dimension I only stuck the paper down in the centre, so that the outside edges could be raised off the page.

I added some hand stitching down the centre and left the ends of the thread trailing down.

I also added machine stitching in gold thread on my white cardstock, behind where I placed the hearts, and added some 'xo' wood veneers and puffy hearts in-between the paper hearts.

I had the perfect title from Bramble Fox prespextive, which I added some patterned paper to the back to allow the word to be more readable on top of my photograph.

That all from me for this month, don't forget we would love to see your layouts using punches over on our Facebook page.

Thanks for stopping by..

Happy scrapping ...