Naughty or Nice | Kirei Baldwin | Embossing Folders

 Hi UK Scrap Addicts!

It's Kirei here wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, I hope Santa has been good to you this year!

I am sharing a layout for this month's fun challenge which was to use embossing folders on your layout, now I definitely hadn't used them for quite some time so was good to pull them out and have a play. I had this idea in my head to make some baubles and add different embossing details to each one before embellishing and I am really happy with the end result!

I firstly drew the baubles and then cut them out before putting each shape through my Big Shot to emboss them with different patterns. I took some ephemera and small pieces of patterned papers to decorate each bauble and then added gold stitching. 

I took a 11 1/2" piece of white cardstock, distressed the edges and then stuck it to a frame of patterned paper before stitching a border with gold thread. I worked out where I wanted each bauble to go on the layout and then added gold stitching to represent the hanger for each bauble.

Then each bauble was stuck down, some of them on foam pads to create dimension. 

The two cute photos of my nephews from last Christmas were mounted on patterned papers and stuck down with foam pads on the top edges. Keeping the bottom of the photos flat to the layout makes it easier to add embellishments around them. 

I then added a title and some journaling to finish my layout off....

Thanks for popping by the blog, wishing you all the best for the rest of the festive season! 

Happy Scrapping!

 

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,

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.

Wonder | Lisa-Jane Johnson | More than one collection

Hi there Scrap Addicts!  It's Lisa-Jane from Pretty My Page here with you today with my take on this month's challenge. 

When I first started scrapbooking I used to use individual papers and put them together from any old manufacturer.  Then I started using collections and packs because I was scrapbooking more away from home so it was easier to have coordinating packs rather than making up my own kit.  More recently though, I've fallen back in love with switching things up because some of the manufacturers I love don't create collection packs or have far too many papers for me to purchase all of them. 

I store my papers by collection when I first buy them but then I sort them into manufacturers if / when I don't have too many left.  I really loved the Paige Evans Truly Grateful collection when it came out and I wanted to scrap lots of pics of us on a dog walk in the New Forest with it but actually there's a lot of pink and purple in it and not much in the way of greens and autumnal colours! 

I went to my stash of other Paige Evans papers to see what I had that would work with Truly Grateful.  Manufacturers tend to use the same colours in the printing process so there is often a good overlap between collections even if the subject matter and style is quite different.  This is great for stashbusting and stretching your stash and making your pages individual.  Some of the leaves in this layout (using a Paige Evans pre-cut cut file) are backed with Truly Grateful but the ones backed with the mustardy colour, dark green and red papers are all from Pick me Up.

I nearly used a backing piece from Horizon because I fell in love with the bright green but it was too strong so I went with the green stripe from Truly grateful instead.  I couldn't leave it border-less though and I keep a stash of sheets for backing fragile layouts so I used the reverse of one of those.  This is a sheet from an old Amy Tangerine collection that I fell out of love with but it works great as a plain sheet of white instead.

  

So that's 3 different collections I used really, which isn't much for how I used to scrap actually but it's more than I tended to use recently.  I've definitely got the bug for it again now though!

Lisa-Jane Johnson | Favourite Photograph | Paper Folding

Hi there Scrap Addicts, it's Lisa-Jane from Pretty My Page here today and I can't believe we are already half way through the first month of a new decade!  I hope that lots of you have been setting scrappy goals for the forthcoming year and that you'll join in with lots of the monthly challenges and visit our Facebook group to keep you inspired.

With this month's challenge being paper folding, of course I used a foldie cut file!  Paper folding of most kinds works great with any shape that has a line of symmetry and you can even create new shapes using symmetry, such as the heart shaped necks that you get between two swans when they face each other. 

I chose to create some stars in a star shape and manipulated the image so that only half of each star cut through but the lines didn't join up so that pieces stayed attached.  Then I created dashed lines straight down the middle of each star so make them easier to fold.

I folded each star and added a tiny glue dot underneath to hold it in place but still give it some dimension - this creates little shadows that give a lovely depth to the layout.  I backed the small stars with dark blue and then laid the whole thing over the aqua to fill in all the rest of the large stars.  I did try and leave it without a border but I couldn't do it so I added a trim of another dark blue paper to make it pop.

I used up lots of my extensive collection of wooden stars around the paper folds and then a sprinkle of Shimmerz paint for extra interest.  I mounted my photo onto grey paper to match the Perspextive and then onto the dark blue again and popped the whole thing onto foam for more height.  The Boys Rule collection from Cocoa Vanilla is perfect for my children's previous primary school uniform.

I hope you've been inspired to try lots of different ways of paper folding and if you need an easy place to start then symmetry is your friend - remember those painted butterflies we used to make as children?!  Don't forget to tag us if you share your paper fold layouts on social media, we'd love to see!

Happy scrapping.

Super Star | Lisa-Jane Johnson | Masculine Layout

Hi everyone, it's Lisa-Jane from Pretty My Page here today with my masculine layout for this month's challenge. I have a 13 year old boy and a fair bit of boy themed stash so it was a perfect challenge for me.

I busted out my Cocoa Vanilla Boys Rule collection and some mixed media for this layout.  I was using up some old cut files and some odd photos that hadn't made it to another layout so it came together really quickly,

I love how the texture paste stars pop on the dark background and give some interest around the cut file.  The colours in this collection are so perfect for any age of the chaps in your lives.

You can also see the addition of some lime green paint smudges on the background cardstock.  I confess this was an accident after I tried some mixed media on the reverse and didn't realise I had swiped it on the back too.  A happy accident though :-)

We look forward to seeing all your masculine layouts over on our Facebook page and on Instagram so don't forget to tag us!

Best wishes

ROFL | Lisa-Jane Johnson | Multi photos

Hi everyone, it's Lisa-Jane from Pretty My Page here with my layout for this month's challenge of using lots of photos.

Yes the actual photos are blurry - but there's a story to tell!

I tend to get my photos printed in 6x4 and then chop them down where needed which is always a bit awkward if the subject fills the whole frame.  Thankfully I was in such a rush to capture my friend collapsing into giggles that I had no chance to take a decent photo and they worked a lot better chopped down.

I knew that the Simple Stories Emoji Love collection was perfect to document this story but the papers are quite busy so I backed all my photos in white and then black to give enough contrast against the colourful patterned paper.

I raised some of the photos onto foam pads and arranged them haphazardly across the page to create a border.  I added another strip of paper along the bottom of the layout with a contrasting torn border underneath for even more colour and chaos.

I sprinkled some of the chipboard pieces and die cut pieces around the page and finished off with a few enamel dots (of course).

Thanks for joining me and I hope to see some of your multiple photo layouts in the group, blurry photos or not

Me, Myself and I | Kirei Baldwin | Selfie

Hi UK Scrap Addicts!

Kirei here with my take on this month's challenge which was to scrap a selfie of yourself. As a scrapbooker I know how easy it is to be behind the camera and not in front of it, so I do try to make sure that I get a good selfie whether with someone else or on my own. I'm also a fan of Snapchat filters as you can see from the photos I used on my layout!

For my layout I used the fab 'All Heart' collection from Crate Paper as it had great positive words that I thought went really well with this layout.

I added small embellishment clusters around my photos using the coordinating stickers, metal charms and tassels, along with some enamel dots from my stash.

And then finished off with a title using Thickers from the Amy Tangerine 'Stay Sweet' collection. I actually stuck the letters onto some of the patterned paper first and then cut round each word as it didn't show up quite so well when the letters were stuck straight to the photos.

So why don't you get scrapping a selfie and share your layout over on the UK Scrap Addicts Facebook group. If you want some more inspiration just check out what the rest of the fab Creative Team have been sharing on the blog this month... and I'll see you next month for another challenge!

Happy Scrapping!

If I Could | Kirei Baldwin | Sketch

Hi UK Scrap Addicts!

Kirei here again with my take on the challenge this month which was to use a sketch designed by the lovely Laura Rumble!

I love a sketch as they are a great way to kick start a layout particularly if you have lost your mojo! I often flip a sketch but this time I stuck with the original design.

I had a fab cut file called 'Spring Floral' from Cut to You that followed the curve of stars in the sketch so decided to use that as the main element of my layout.

Firstly I backed the cut file with a mix of patterned papers from the Dear Lizzy 'It's All Good' collection and then attached it with foam pads to the left side of the spotty coordinating paper. Then I layered up a square photo with more of the patterned papers.

I added a cluster of the matching embellishments to the bottom left and right of the photo and finished off by adding a title using a mix of different alphas.

Do go and check out all the fab layouts on the blog from the rest of the Creative Team this month to see their take on the sketch.. hopefully you've been inspired to use it! And don't forget to share your layout using the sketch over on the UK Scrap Addicts Facebook page. See you next month for another challenge...

Happy scrapping!