Summer Smiles | Lou Thompson | Tic Tac Toe

This months challenge was to use the Tic Tac Toe grid. You must take any line of 3 items from the grid, up, down or diagonal, and use these as part of your work. I have chosen the rainbows, circles and different alphas.

I thought about how I wanted to incorporate the circles and remembered these lovely wooden circles I had. I also came up with the idea of decorating the circles using papers with the colours of the rainbow. I used a circle punch to make the paper shapes and then applied to the wooden circles using double sided tape.

I wanted to further the idea of using circles so also used a Finnabair stamp set to add some more circles to my background

A selection of alphas were used to create the title for this layout

A cluster was created in the bottom right corner using ephemera, stickers, chipboards and flowers.

The wooden circles were stuck to the page to create a base for the photo. The photo was matted with some different coloured papers and then stuck to the page, careful not to stick right to the edge of the photo mat. This was so I could then tuck in stickers, chipboards, acetate, enamels and ephemera. Foam squares were applied to some pieces to add further dimension.

And here is the finished piece. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. It's a really fun, summer piece that works great with the photo. I hope you like it and see you again next month :)

Forest of Dean / Lou Thompson / 6x6 Pads

Hello everyone and welcome to a new challenge from UK Scrap Addicts. This month is all about using our 6x6 papers. 

This challenge presented a great way to use up some of my left over 6x6 pages. I pulled out what I had and noticed I had a lot of metallics and 
autumnal colours so I decided upon an autum theme. It was then that I remembered this beautiful paper I had been hoarding from Bo Bunny 
with a wonderful tree on it. I also remembered that I had a photo of my partner on a trip we made in a wax coat thats' colour suited this paper
so well.

I began my layout with some simple ink spray using the gorgeous Shimmerz spray and by stenciling some Oxide inks on top. From there it was lots of stripes, squares and punched tags from the 6x6 pads and some ephemera layered up with lots of embellisments, chipbaords and stickers.

Here are some close up  shots for you. To watch the process video visit:

https://youtu.be/NcV5oRXY4xo

Lots of old stash was used, but newer items are available from:

https://www.thompsonscraftsupplies.com/

Baby Boy Blue | Lou Thompson | One 6x4 photo

Hello scrappers and welcome to my 2nd piece for UKSA. This month's challenge was to make a layout using one 6x4 photo, so style wise, this was very much open to interpretation.

I had this gorgeous blue  and white coloured wooden board page I have been dying to use and remember this cute photo of my nephew I took when he was little. Has has the most amazing blue eyes  and a cute blue fluffy coat on so just goes great with this paper.

I have a few favourite mixed media items currently; Prima Impasto paints and Ranger Oxide inks. I chose a few paints and mixed them with modelling paste. I also took a few oxides in matching colours and used these along with the paste to add stenciling to the background. I am just loving blues and greens at the moment so really love the results.

From there it was fairly easy as I didn't want to loose all this lovely texture so kept it simple. I added die cuts and a journalling card, washi, a wooden circle, a resin flower, some stickers and chipboard alphas, a tassel and a perspex camera and word.

Here are some close ups and please so visit my YouTube channel to see the process. If you enjoy the video, please give me a thumbs up and maybe a comment so I know you like what I am doing :)

Youtube link:

https://youtu.be/beqAvtROCZM

Main Paper, star embellishments, Bramble Fox perspextives, Doodlebug stickers and other similar items available from:

http://thompsoncraftsupplies.co.uk/

It's All Black and White| Lou Thompson | Monochrome

Hello to all you scrap addicts!

I am so excited to bring you my very first project for UKSA and due to some video issues the first time, I actually have 2 projects to bring you.

The theme this month is monochrome and for my first layout, I did initially think I would choose to do shades of a bold colour like purple or pink as that is very much me, but I thought no lets actually challenge myself to use just black and white.

I am glad I did as I am really pleased with the result and it challenged me to really think about the project and be really creative with how I used items

There are 4 papers used in the layout, 1 for the main sheet and 3 matting the photo. I love the raindrop sheet as it goes so well with the theme of the photo as walks in the UK are sadly often laden with rain :)

I began by using some fabrics to create texture and added water colours on top to give some colour.

I then used 2 stamps to finish the look on the base layer. Stamping is a really great way to easily co-ordinate details on a monochrome layout.

I embossed some chipboard shapes in the same colour scheme, shades of black, white and pearl, and added these as well as stickers, thickers and Bramble Fox Perspective to finished the piece.

Here are some close up shots 

Links to items used in this piece:

Papers and stamps:

http://thompsoncraftsupplies.co.uk

Bramble Fox Perspective:

https://www.bramblefox.co.uk/product-page/currently-andtoday

Unfortunately the video for this layout was not successful so here I have a second project for you.

As I had decided on just black and white for the first project, I decided to introduce a bit of colour for the 2nd attempt. 

I just obtained a set of the Prima Finnabair Impasto Acrylic paints and was so excited to used them I decided to use on this layout

I wanted to keep the overall focus on the black and white as I had really liked that about my first layout, but I also introduced a touch of teal as an accent. I therefore decided to use 3 paints in pitch black, snow white and jade. 

I really wanted to go for texture in this layout so used fabrics, paints, stencil and different papers, art stones and washi to achieve this look.

There's lots of layering and texture to this project so if you have the time I would love you to visit the below link to the video to watch the process I followed.

Most of the items in this project can be found at:

http://thompsoncraftsupplies.co.uk

Youtube Link:

https://youtu.be/GZyUkBmZf4w

Pocket Page Layout | Michelle (UglyBugPlans) | Large Photo

Hey UK Scrap Addicts, Michelle here from UglyBugPlans with this months layout which had the theme "Large Photo".

To be totally honest I have never used such a large photo on any of my layouts before, initially I had intended to create a traditional 12x12 layout but I've been really drawn back to pocket pages lately so decided to take a risk. I am so pleased I did as it really paid off and I love the finished layout!

For a couple of week's I'd been meaning to pop to my local printers to have a photo printed off and had started to worry that I wouldn't get the chance, for some silly reason I hadn't thought of the stack of A4 photo printer sat on my desk.. once I realised that I could print it at home, from my phone I only had to decide which photo to use.

I chose a large photo of my middle daughter and then smaller pictures of my other 2 children all taken at the same birthday party that we attended a week or so ago.

The papers and journalling cards that I used are from the new Stampin' Up! catalogue and the thickers, die cuts and embellishments were from a recent shopping trip to Hobbycraft.

You can check out the process to this layout HERE!

You can find me over on my blog and YouTube where I upload 3 videos a week :) I also hand out on Instagram a lot and would love to connect with you there @uglybugplans