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, Dream, Dream / Jackie Ashton / Paint

Hi Crafters,

Jackie here with my layout for this months theme - Paint.  I decided to do a mixture of two inks on my background.  

To add the colour to my background paper, I added oxide ink to a plastic sheet and then added water to the ink which turns it into a colour wash, which can then be added either by using the packaging technique, turning the plastic sheet over and placing it onto the cardstock or by using a paint brush.  The ink colours I used were Twisted Citron (green) Mustard Seed (yellow) and a small amount of Tumbled Glass (blue).

I kept my photo to the right of my page, so that the colour wash was visible.

I used Maggie Holmes - Willow Lane Collection that you can find at Hey Little Magpie, and added a Flair Badge also Hey Little Magpie.

The mini word stickers are from Simple Stories,

This is an easy technique to add some additional colour to your background, without the background details taking over the page.

See you next month

Good Times | Giselle Homer | 6 x 6 paper

Hi again everyone,

Today I'm sharing my version of a layout designed using 6" x 6" patterned paper. If you're like me, you'll have lots of these in your stash, so hopefully this month's theme will encourage you to use them!





Using Cocoa Vanilla's collection 'Boys Rule', I started by placing the 6" square in the centre of my background cardstock but it looked a bit small so I added the green border. I had this fun montage of selfies taken by my Grandson which I backed with two different papers and I added a clear sticker to it as well. I placed this over the square slightly beneath the lower edge. As the page still looked a bit empty I cut a frame measuring 0.5" wide and placed it over the background. I found some wild flower cut files in my Silhouette library, design number 79681, by Nic Squirrel - who's my favourite British cut file designer - to add to the right of the photo.





The title is from Bramble Fox who make lovely perspex word and phrases like this one.





I added more embellishments, word stickers and a flair from the 'Boys Rule' collection on either side of the photo and at the top left. A few enamel dots finished it off nicely!





I look forward to seeing your layouts on UKSA's Facebook page and hope this has inspired you to dig out all those 6" x 6" paper pads.

Till next month, happy scrapping!

NSD Winners

Thank you so much for your participation in our National Scrapbooking Day challenges.  Here is the post you have all been waiting for... it's time for the winners!

Challenge 1 - Single sketch sponsored by Lottie Loves Paper
The winner is Michelle Jeffrey

Challenge 2 - Double Sketch sponsored by Mind The Scrap
The winner is Courtney Grace Hirst

Challenge 3 - Mandala cut file sponsored by Hey Little Magpie
The winner is Sarah Kentzer

Challenge 4 - Flowers cut file sponsored by Pretty My Page
The winner is Cathalyn de Jong

Challenge 5 - Fleur cut file sponsored by Craft Consortium
The winner is Sandra Daly

Challenge 6 - Words cut file sponsored by Crafty Ribbons
The winner is Ally O'Neill

Challenge 7 - Scraplift our Whispers sponsored by Lollipop Box Club
The winner is Gemma Steele

Challenge 8 -Instaloop sponsored by UglyBugDesigns - The winner is Jo Boland

Challenge 9 - Moodboard sponsored by Crafty Templates
The winner is Natalie Nelson

And for the RAK's from my wonderful creative team;

Maria chose Cathalyn's take on the Scrapbook Whispers Challenge

Roxy chose Jo Drury's comment from the Scrapbook Fails post;

"The Worst Scrapbooking Fail EVER!!!!!!

We had a challenge at a retreat to use spare alphas. My idea was epic... I completely covered 2 pieces of card stock with random chipboard alphas of all sizes, it was a beautiful jigsaw of alphas covering every inch of the card from top to bottom. I painstakingly painted the entire thing black with acrylic paint so that they both looked like a blackboard with lovely embossed letters on the background. It took 3 coats of paint and the entire thing took nearly 24 hours from start to finish. I used them to back a fab picture of each of my twin nephews with school awards that they had recently won. It was a true labour of love... but it looked absolutely amazing!! I proudly hung them on the wall and was chuffed to bits when it was voted the challenge winner at the retreat.... I proudly walked up to collect my prize and Lorraine our crop organiser whispered with a sad face and a big sigh.....

You didn't cut the manufacturers strip off on either page.....

Epic fail! Although I can laugh about it now they still don't fit in my page protectors or album and I still haven't figured out a way to fix it!!! And it's still a topic of conversation at the crops whenever I start a new layout.. lol"

And Pol chose Leo from the Scrapbook Fails post;

"My biggest scrapbook fail was making an album - I make quite a lot of albums so it wasn't like I didn't know what I was doing but I think that's where the problem started - over confidence! This one was going to be a 9x12 size. I spent hours padding the chipboard bases, gluing and cutting some very precious fabric, (like Japanese import stuff quilting shops sell for ££) putting in the spine, riveting etc etc. Really cuffed to bits with it - go to put my page protectors in.... oh no, I made the album 9x12 perfectly totally forgetting about the page protectors being larger for the spine bits. doh doh doh!" 

And lastly, I (Laura) chose Wendy's layout for the sketch challenge because it includes Sussex Pond Pudding!!

Winners! - Please can you send an email with your name and address to ukscrapaddicts@gmail.com and we will sort out your prizes!  You have until 23rd May to claim your prize, any remaining prizes will be re drawn on the 24th May.

We would like to say a huge thank you to our wonderful sponsors for the generous prizes, and another huge thank you to all who entered!  See you again next year!!

NSD Sponsor | Hey Little Magpie

Revealing the next of our National Scrapbooking Day sponsors and prizes...

You can find Hey Little Magpie here:

Shop blog Facebook Instagram Pinterest

All the details, how-tos and when-bys will be announced on the 6th May on this blog - see you there!