Walk in the Woods | Amy Kattenbelt | Lisa Fonseca Style

 Hello UK Scrap Addicts,

Amy here, sharing my Lisa Fonseca style layout. I have to admit, this pushed me outside my comfort zone and really got me thinking. In the end I went for a paper pieced fox that I created out of 4 pieces of card and a black pen.

With my fox created, I let it lead it my other choices. I picked a woodland themed photo, and a warm earthy colour palette. I used my current favourite technique using Ecoline watercolour inks to create a band of horizontal colour across a piece of white cardstock.

In between creating this layout, i dropped a large container that had some old stash in. Whilst picking it all up, I came across the beige fabric sample and thought the colours would work well, so I layered under my photo (which I double matted using the same card as the I made my fox from). In the same tin were these reddish brown metal frame and word pieces, again a great match for my colour scheme. 

I matched these old odd bits of stash with some brand new gold puffy oak leaf stickers. My title was created from a home made 'walk' die cut and some alpha stickers from a Simple Stories Colour Vibes book. 

In the end, I love how this theme made me try something new, and the discovery that using one large focal embellishment (the fox) and a pretty mixed media background is an easy and fun way to create a beautiful layout. We would love to see your layouts over on our Facebook page, or tag us on Instagram if you’ve played along this month?

Thanks for coming to take a closer look at my layout. We are excited to share with you Octobers theme, so pop back soon!

Take care, and stay safe,

Edinburgh Castle | Stamping | Amy Kattenbelt

Good Morning UK Scrap Addicts,

Today I am sharing with you my layout using stamps. I used three floral stamps from the new 5th & Monaco collection by Pink Paislee.

Let me walk you through how I created my layout...

Firstly I used clear gesso on a piece of white cardstock, I did this because I knew I would be using a lot of wet medium on this layout. Sometimes I gesso and sometimes I don't, its all about playing around and experimenting with your card and mediums and techniques!

Next I used black Archival ink (which is permanent when dry and does not react to water), and a script stamp to add some black inking across the middle of the page. For this style of stamping, I do not use an acrylic block, and I bend the stamp in a U shape to avoid harsh edges. Experiment on a piece of scrap paper first if you haven't used this technique before.

Then, using a Versamark ink pad, I stamped the flowers across the middle of the layout in a horizontal band. The ink shows up just enough to see it to control the placement of the stamps and make sure they don't overlap.

I used white embossing powder on these stamped images and set it with my heat gun. These will now give a resist to the next layer of mixed media.

Next I added the blues, purples and pink watercolour effect band across the page. I used Ecoline liquid watercolour inks in Sky Blue, Ultramarine Violet and Magenta. I used a large round paint brush and plenty of water, painting the colours in patches but allowing them to touch and blend together to create all sorts of hues. I left this to dry naturally overnight.

I added my photo, which i had double matted in a pink and green paper also from the new 5th & Monaco collection. And added my title and the date in alphabet stickers.

I then cut out leaf shapes of various sizes by hand, in 3 colours of fun foam, and stuck them to my layout in four areas to create a branch type effect.

Lastly I splattered black ink finely in a few areas of the layout to break up the large areas of white which I felt finished it off nicely.

Thank you for taking the time to come and read about how I created this layout. I hope its given you a few more ideas about how you could use your stamps in your scrapbooking. Why not head over to the UK Scrap Addicts Facebook page and share your creations, or also ask me any questions.

Take Care and Stay Safe,

Totally Awesome | Amy Kattenbelt | More than one collection

Hi UK Scrap Addicts, Amy here sharing my layout that uses more than one collection.

This isnt something I often do these days, I find it far quicker and easier to work with just one collection at a time. But combining collections allows for more creativity and can really make your layouts unique.

I chose to use the 'boys rule' collection from Cocoa Vanilla Studio along with the Kaleidoscope collection by Vicki Boutin. I was careful in selecting papers from the same colour family - namely blues and greens. This made the job of combining the collections work well.

I feel I pretty much used half of one collection and half of the other, neither dominates the layout. I used little pops of bright magenta pink from the Vicki Boutin collection along with the pale grey starburst paper from Boys Rule.

I picked 3 circular elements, even though two are from one collection and one from the other, and added a little butterfly sticker to each.

Distressing the edges and using my tiny attacher to add some staples adds a little bit of detail on to a fairly simple layout.

I have created a process video over on the UKSA YouTube channel where you can watch this layout come together.

I hope over the last month we have inspired you to try to step out side of the comfort zone of single collection layouts and try to mix things up a bit. We will be back with you at the start of March with a new themed challenge. In the mean time why dont you head over to our Facebook group for more inspiration and also share your creations with us.

Happy Parrot | Amy Kattenbelt | Fussy Cutting

This month we focus on fussy cutting. I selected a paper from the Vicki Boutin Field Notes collection with lots of beautiful feathers. I fussy cut them and rearranged them into a heart shape. I hope this simple layout inspires beginners to give fussy cutting a go. You can sit and cut the patterned paper whilst watching TV and then create an easy layout.

Check out my quick process video to see my layout being created.

Goldies | Amy Kattenbelt | Sparkle

Today I'm sharing with you my take on a layout that has lots of Sparkle! I've used a mix of different sequins, glitter paper and glitter thickers to make my page stand out. I've also tried a new to me technique that involved sewing directly onto my page protector to create a sort of pocket border that encases a double sided 8x8 layout.

To see how this layout, or should i say layouts (as its actually double sided), was created pop over to our UKSA You Tube channel and watch the process video.

The photos don't really do the layout justice as the pocket border is obviously transparent with the sequins that move around freely when the page is turned. I love how different this looks in my album. Here is the front side...

And here is the reverse...

 Close up of the shiny glitter paper (From Shimelle's Box Of Crayons Pad...it doesn't shed glitter so isn't at all messy!!)

 And a close up of the sequins in the border shaker pocket...

Thanks for taking the time to come and look at my layout. I encourage you to give this technique a go...it really isn't as scary as you might think and creates a very special sparkly look!

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!

Explore | Punches | Amy Kattenbelt

As you might have seen, this month over on UK Scrap Addicts we are using our punches to create our layouts. I don't own many punches, I prefer to use dies as they take up less storage space. However i do own a small selction of punches from when i first started scrapbooking. It was really fun to get them out and use them again. The Martha Stewart butterfly punch used to be one of my go to items and appears on my many of my older layouts.

Punches are great to be used on scraps. I have recently sorted out all my scraps into coloured bags, so i decided to make a rainbow layout.

Do check out my process video over on our YouTube channel to see this page being created.

 Thanks for reading, and do pop on over to our Facebook group where you can share all the layouts you create this month using punches.

Family | Amy Kattenbelt | No Cardstock

Over on the UK Scrap Addicts this month, you might have seen we have been challenges to create a layout without using any cardstock. Now, this was quite a challenge for me, as recently i have been enjoying using white cardstock to create mixed media backgrounds. Let me share a few ideas I had about this challenge....

So I decided on picking a patterned paper to use as my background in replacement of a mixed media/cardstock combination. By picking this ledger style paper, that has a lot of detail and faux stamping on, i really feel that it made what was a very quick and simple layout look effective and interesting. This would also work well if you are yet to dabble in the world of mixed media (I totally understand its not for everyone, in fact I used to say it definitely wasn't for me at all until last year!...so do think about giving it a try...but i digress...). I also used a large photo to help cover up more of the page to make this challenge less daunting....and if you look at my paper choices carefully you will see that several of the papers have a very subtle pattern (watercolour wash effect) which helps stop the page being overly busy.

Other methods i had thought of using was that i could pick a very neutral plain (maybe a small repeating pattern) background and simply treat it as if it were white cardstock...maybe adding some white gesso to the centre and then working from there.

Or I thought i could create my own pattern using patterned paper if that makes sense. Using stripes of paper to create layers, or using 4 papers (maybe in 6 inch squares or 4 triangles) to create a complete 12x12 background.

Or i considered using two or three patterned papers layered horizontally. I do this a lot...i like to have 4 inches of paper at the top, then a 1 inch strip of a contrasting paper followed by 7 inches at the bottom of yet another paper.

I've done all of these ideas in the past. Please do pop over to our Facebook group and share your No Cardstock layouts with us, I would love to see your ideas.

And finally, I will leave you with my completed layout and close ups. Do also check out the process video, its only a few minutes long and you can see for yourself just how easy this type of page comes together.

WKND VIBES | Amy Kattenbelt | Grab 5

Can you believe its December already! This month the Creative team at UK Scrap Addicts are working with a Grab 5 challenge for our projects. Join me over on You Tube to watch how my scrapbook layout came together using the 5 products I picked to use, namely

1. Watercolour paints

2. A stamp set

3. Gold sequins

4. A 6x6 paper pad

5. Chipboard stickers

Its quite a summerly layout, using bright fresh colours, just the thing to liven up these long dark nights. I used a black & white square photo on my layout.

The layout involves a mixed media background with some doodling and stamping in black.

Thanks for stopping by, and like i said do check out our You Tube channel for more detailed information about how i created this layout. Merry Christmas, and I will be back with another layout in the New Year.

Happy Thoughts | Amy Kattenbelt | Stamping

Hi, I'm here today to show you my layout for November, with the theme of stamping.

This month I decided to scraplift myself as I had had so many comments about my original layout and requests to make a process video to show how it was created.

Please do check out the You Tube video to see how the layout came together.

I used a stamp set from Crate Paper called Wild Heart which has lots of different leaves. This technique would work well with lots of different stamp sets though...a floral selection in bright colours would be perfect for summer photos! 

Once my stamping is finished I add a layer of paper behind my photo, a few carefully chosen stickers and ephemera pieces, some enamel dots and a date!

We are looking forward to seeing your layouts using Stamping over on our facebook group, so do come and join us if you aren't already a member!