Hi Minnie | Jackie Ashton | Sewing

Hi crafter, Jackie here with my take on this months theme - stitching.  I decided to go with hand stitching on my layout, and used a stitched template I've had in my stash for ages.

Hi Minnie

I chose 3 different patterned papers, which I cut to 6 inches and added punch details to each of the strips, each patterned paper had the same border punch detail.

I then arranged the strips down the left hand side of the cardstock.  Once these was struck down I added some hand stitched details over the each of the red patterned papers.

On the white cardstock I added the stencil detail to the right hand side to fill the 'white space' on the layout.  I used red oxide ink and a black pen for the outline.

For my title I used these alphabets stickers by Jellibean Soup, outlining them with my black pen. 

Adding stitching just gave my page some extra detail, I hope you can get some inspiration from it.

Don't forget to share your layouts over on our Facebook page we would love to see them.

Till next time

Happy scrapping

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

Iridescent Wedding | Black background | RamblingsofGeo

Hello everyone,

I have followed this month's theme with a 12x12 black cardstock, i have used the Vicki Boutin Iridescent texture paste, along with some Black texture paste and pushed it through a Vicki Boutin stencil from the most recent Mind the scrap mixed media Kit.

The texture paste is beautiful in person, there is large chunks of glitter along with very fine particles making a lovely shimmery effect.

I hope you find inspiration from this layout, and carry on to show your creations within the UKSA facebook group!

Create Your Own Dream | Karen Moss | Small Photos

Hello, hello lovely crafters.  I have my small photo layout to show you today.  I have to admit that this is my most favourite layout that I have made this year which was a surprise to me as I don't usually like Graphic 45 paper!

I used Graphic 45 Imagine and absolutely love the peach and blue combination.   I started with the 'B' side of a piece of Castles in the Air, trimming a quarter of an inch from the top and one side and then adding to a piece of cream cardstock. I then used a stencil and some texture paste mixed with pearl acrylic paint (from The Range) to add some shimmery texture to my page.

I then added four 3 x 4 cards, adding my two photos to the middle two, using the top card as my title and the bottom one for journaling.

Finally I fussy cut clusters of balloons and cogs from Create Yourself, flowers from Beautiful Dreamer and butterflies from Spread Your Wings.  I added these to my page to finish it.

You can see a process video on how my page came together here.

Why don't you grab a cup of tea/coffee and some bikkies and spend a while browsing the blog and our YouTube channel to see what the other ultra-talented ladies have made this month x

Surprise Party | Lisa-Jane Johnson | One 6x4 photo

Hi there scrappers!  It's Lisa-Jane from Pretty My Page here today with my take on the single 6x4 challenge.  I scrap with single 6x4 photos most often because I tend to get them printed in batches.  I just send bulk orders off and then when I have them in my hand I can see if I think they might be better in a different format or perhaps in black and white etc.  Any photos I don't use I can give to my daughter to scrap book and when I'm paying 5p a print I don't really mind not using them all!

For this layout I was trying to use up some of the final precious remains of my Simple Stories Love and Adore collection that I have been using to scrap my surprise 40th birthday party.  I was getting short of larger pieces for backgrounds so I added in this pretty bow paper from a big paper pad onto a frame that I had left over from using the middle section on another layout.  Of course I had to have a border - I always have to have a border at the moment.  

I wanted to try out a new stencil so I added some butterflies to the bottom of where I intended my photo stack to go and some gorgeous script towards the top left.  I love how it adds a subtle layer and a bit of interest.

I tend to shy away from glitter without their being a good reason for it and I kinda think a surprise party is definitely a good enough reason so I embraced the glitter alphabet!  

I mounted my actual photos in fairly plain papers from the paper pad so I wasn't wasting the best patterns under the photo - please tell me I'm not the only one who does this?  That way I could use the dwindling Simple Stories pieces for bigger impact elsewhere.  Some stickers and chipboard from the range, matching enamel dots (they do match, those red ones are actually pink in real life...) and then some vibrant pink twine helped to bring it all together.  I really was led by the pieces I had left over on this layout but I love the way it turned out.  Now it's over to you!

Happy scrapping!

Right Now | Elaine King | Monochrome

Good morning Everyone

Thanks for joining me on my first blog post since becoming a member of the UKScrap Addicts Creative Team.

Today I am bringing you a layout using a monochrome colours. There was some discussion in the team as to how we would define Monochrome, but essentially we all agreed that using just one colour, regardless of how many tones there were, and, if you would like to, adding in a tiny amount of black in amongst the colour was the definition. I hope that helps?

So, here is my layout.

For this I decided to use one of my all time favourite collections from Kaisercraft that I originally sourced from Merly Impressions, one of the leading Kaisercraft suppliers in the UK. This collection is called  Indigo Skies and, of course, is predominantly blue! Lol

To start my layout, I used a starry stencil using texture paste that I had added a little denim coloured distress ink too. 

I then used a 3" piece of the collection paper to pace at the left hand side where I then added two further strips of paper too. I then set about fussy cutting several flowers from the patterned papers and created a cluster at the bottom left of the photo and added a tag and some strips of paper on the right.

I added several enamel dots and a twirl of blue and white bakers twine in amongst the cluster and added a couple of wood veneers that I had coloured with distress ink too. 

One of my favourite 'techniques' and one that gets overlooked a lot, is to literally take a few 'chomps' of punched edge from the sides too. Once I had done this I trimmed the paper down to 11" x 11" and backed it onto a piece of blue cardstock too. 

I do hope you will join in our challenge this month..especially as we are in the month of National Scrapbooking Day too! Go on! Have some fun and do let us know what you've been up to. 

Traveler's Notebook | Michelle Mills (UglyBugPlans) | Journalling

Hello scrap addicts, I hope that you re all keeping well? It's Michelle here from UglyBugPlans with my take on this months topic of journalling. I have a bit of a different video that just a process where I've included a chatty element at the beginning where I explain how and where I do most of my journalling and some different habits that I have and I show you a couple of examples of this.

The process part of the video is rather short with my focus on the actual journalling which I created using some Tim Holtz Big Chat stickers. I knew the kind of sentence that I wanted to create and then chose random word stickers to emphasise and give my journalling an interesting element.

Because I knew the page with the journalling would look cluttered if I tried to embellish too much I decided that it would be the perfect place to use the stencil from this months sponsor Pretty My Page, my original thought had been to use some embossing paste to give the page texture but then I wanted my journalling to be quite fluid so I used a coordinating stamping pad which gave the pattern a lovely depth.

I really hope that you enjoy this video and that if you haven't already subscribed to the UK Scrap Addicts blog and YouTube that you will consider doing so.

https://youtu.be/e1HJFVYC4ts

You can find more from me over on my personal blog www.uglybugplans.com and YouTube channel www.youtube.com/c/uglybugplans

To purchase a stencil like the one in the video and many more paper craft goodies please check out PrettyMyPage

Much Love
Michelle xx

Epic Fail | Lisa-Jane Johnson | Journalling

It's Lisa-Jane from Pretty My Page here today with my take on getting some journalling onto our layouts.  I'm the first to admit that although I believe scrapbooking should be about the story as much as anything else, sometimes there just isn't a story to tell, and that's fine.  Other times there is a story and we plan to come back to it and add it, but we don't, and that's fine too (there are no scrapbooking police thank goodness!) I am definitely guilty of this!  So for this challenge I chose a photo that had a definite story attached and I made sure I got it down on the page!

I didn't actually have a plan in mind when I was pulling out some papers to go with the photo.  Then I came across this Pink Paislee paper with the diagonal hand writing on and I was inspired to create something similar with my journalling.  I didn't intend to use the actual paper as it was the wrong sort of grey but I'm glad I happened across it.

I wanted to create the journalling on a slight diagonal like the paper but of course you can't do that with a 12x12 piece as you need a bit of extra real estate to allow for the slant.  Luckily the pattern in the paper worked in any direction so I was able to rotate it slightly to give me enough to cover right across.  I trimmed off the corners and then matched up the top and bottom, and voila - I have a diagonal piece that stretches right the way across.  

I wanted to add a contrasting strip in above and below the main piece but it obviously meant I would have the same problem with it not reaching.  The pattern on this piece couldn't be cut on an angle so I broke the strips and stuck the ends down first which left me with a little strategically placed gap to cover up.  I also added some stencilling to add another subtle layer.  I used the Ranger blending tool and the Grunge stencil from the Pretty My Page shop with some Tim Holtz Pumice Stone Distress Ink because the story was partly about the mess in the house during our first lot of renovations.

Before I set to work on the journalling, I wanted to add in any base layers for the clusters so that I knew how much room I had to work with.  I didn't add the rest of the embellishments until afterwards so I could write without being impeded or getting enamel dots stuck to my elbow...  The dots and hearts are from the Pretty My Page shop and the stick pins and metal studs are very old bits from my stash which always makes me feel good :-)

Typically on the day I did the journalling, my arthritis was quite bad in my hands and they did not want to be flexible and allow me to write neatly at all!  I didn't keep to the right slant on the stop half either and I considered redoing the background but, you know, life's too short!  And anyway, the whole story was to do with mess and chaos things being out of place so it's quite fitting really!  In the picture I was taking a moment to try and focus on the positives of the renovations which hadn't gone very well.  We were almost at the point of getting the bath in so I posted this picture on Facebook to say "yay, we are getting somewhere, it's not so bad, etc".

Then 5 minutes later the children were charging around and not heeding my warnings and consequently tipped over the bath bashing them both on the head and trapping them underneath! My son ended up with a huge egg on his head and my daughter was fine until she realised her big brother was getting all the attention and she started howling too!  I do think it is important to journal the not so good things about life too, don't you?!  The journalling here blends with the design because it was intentional in it's placement and the grey background means that the writing doesn't stick out.  I wish my writing was neater but here it becomes part of the design and I'm happy with that.  

Don't forget to enter the journalling challenge on our Facebook page to be in with a chance of winning the prize draw for vouchers for the Pretty My Page shop and as always, we'd love to see what you create so don't forget to hash tag us!

 Now go forth and make pretty pages!

It will be OK sweetpea | Laura Rumble | Journalling

Hi there, Laura here with my journalling layout.  First though I have some news to share.

I took on the task of setting up UK Scrap Addicts in February/March of this year.  It has come a long way since then but I don't have the energy to continue the work.  The team I have collated are looking to carry on without me.  I want to say a huge thank you to each of them, and the girls who have been a part of the team over the last 6 months how ever briefly, and wish them all the best.  My priority now is my health but hopefully you'll still see me around on facebook and instagram.  It will be ok sweetpea!

I'm not the biggest fan of journalling.  I think it stems from not being very good at English at school and has just hung around and become a thing.  I worry about what people will think when they read what I write.  So I side stepped this months topic and made my journalling unreadable!

I wrote over the top of my words several times.  I got what was inside out and worked it through and I don't have to worry about being marked or judged and I created a really cool background to work on top of!

To add a little raised texture on top of the writing block I used a stencil from this month's sponsor Pretty My Page along with some texture paste.

I added a wood word, a few little wood flowers and some puffy stickers from an old Felicity Jane kit designed by Suse Fish.

You can enjoy the video here: https://youtu.be/oFKXeS1jYbw

Thanks for looking,

Sweet Child of Mine | Pol Prince | Journalling

Hi scrappy friends! Pol here today with a new layout I created with this months theme in mind - journaling. 

I'm a bit hit and miss with journaling usually, I tend to add it after I've taken photos of my page since most of my pages are for design team work and will be viewed by a larger audience. Journaling is usually an afterthought for me, because I scrap more for the process and the art. I would like to try and include more journaling on my pages as a record for my children. With this in mind I've created a layout that not only tells a story, but even the photo itself is 'journaling'.

This page documents the sweet and funny messages my 17 year old son and 14 yr old daughter wrote in their Father's Day card to their step dad. We absolutely fell about laughing when we read it!

This month we were given some stencils to try from Lisa-Jane Johnson, who owns the Pretty My Page shop on Facebook, with an exciting new website coming very soon. 

My border paper is Websters Pages - an older collection that I brought up to date with the addition of some mixed media and colourful flair. 

To start with, after I had matted my white card to the border paper, I used the packaging technique to lightly add some light green Distress Ink to the top of my page. I gently sponged a darker shade of Distress Ink through one of the stencils a few times, then applied white texture paste through one of the stencils, gradually building up my base layers.

I matted my photo onto the same paper as my border, and punched out the ripped tap effect at the top. I then used foam tape to adhere my photo and mat over the inky area at the top of my page. 

I used pink and blue Distress Inks to gently sponge through two different stencils onto white cardstock, and cut them out to use as ephemera around my photo. I added enamel dots to the centres, which were also from Lisa-Jane's Pretty My Page shop.

I used three main clusters around my photo area which I defined using white thread. I added Cocoa Vanilla and Elle's Studio woodgrain shapes, fussy cut butterflies from the Kaisercraft Wildflower collection, Heidi Swapp word stickers, and flair from Cutz2luv.

I used blue Bella Blvd puffy heart stickers around my page, peeking out from behind layers. 

I absolutely love the black Pinkfresh alphas that I used for my title, in fact I love them so much I bought four packets! They last ages too because they come with lots of vowels.

I'm a massive fan of using song lyrics for my page titles, so you'll often come across a song title on my layouts!

Finally, last but not least, I wrote my journaling under my title, and splatted black ink around the page to tie it all together. 

Please do have a go at this months challenge featuring journaling, it's a great way to tell a story you've been meaning to write down, or even create a page without photos. Thanks for reading, see you all soon!