Moonlight | ScrappyNerdUK (Claire) | Paper Folding

Happy New Year to you all. 

I am so excited about this months theme which is paper folding. We are going to bring you lots of different techniques that you can incorporate into your scrapbooking pages. 

So without further ado, I am first up. I love making 3d paper folded stars and so thought I would share this with you here.

 The technique is very simple when you know how.

So, first you need to die cut our hand cut out a star. I have used a die through my Sizzix Big Shot and for a little variety I cut a mixture of sizes.

I then used a score board (but you can use most paper trimmers to do this too - be sure to watch the Youtube video linked below for a tutorial on this) and I score from the top of each point to the bottom of each point. I do this for each of the 5 points.

 I also die cut my photo into a star to give this a little more interest too.

Next I folded each of the score lines using a mountain and valley style technique. This meant that the mountain fold was each point of the star. The valley folds will naturally happen when you follow these steps.

I then burnished each score line to help define the star shape.

To adhere these stars to your page you will need to add some dimension into the middle of the star (underneath of course). I stacked 2 small foam pads for my stars as I didn't want them to be too dimensional - us scrapbookers know that dimension is not our friends when trying to squeeze our layouts into albums!!

If you are making these for something like a box frame or off the page project them add more height if you wish.

I then added some double sided tape to each of the 5 points of the star and adhered these to my patterned paper.

My title came from a quote from Lord of the Rings and it worked so well with the style and theme of my photo. I used some small gold glitter alphas (called Happy) and added these on top of the stars. They stick very well as they are foam and bend well over the folds. I wouldn't suggest using puffy or chipboard alphas for this - stick to the foam ones!!

I then added some final flourishes with embellishments from Cocoa Vanilla Studios and some Heidi Swapp colour shine in Gold, Rose and Sweet Mint.

Be sure to head on over to watch the process video here - 

Adventure | Zoe Hailey | Sparkle

Hi there scrap addicts, Zoe here with my first layout as part of the UKSA creative team and I'm really excited to share this page with you all.

Honestly 'sparkle' was a perfect theme for me, glitter and sparkle are part of my DNA! I had a fair bit of loose glitter in my stash so I wanted to try and put it to good use in this layout.

I made a star pocket shaker (mixing sequins and glitter) , I just cut this out of some old plastic packaging (It's completely see through but hard to photograph like that so it appears here with a white background). I used my Cricut to cut the star from my card but a good old fashioned pair of scissors would do the trick too! I stitched through the star and then sewed onto my cardstock.

I added some extra sparkle to my background using my Minc machine to foil some splats and blobs!  ( I used the Minc reactive mist for the first time and I wasn't that patient in letting it dry). I worked with the Color Fresh collection from Heidi Swapp which is a fun, vibrant collection and perfect for scrapping photos of my youngest children.

White on white stitching

Sequin cluster

I layered my photos in the bottom right of my layout clustering some beautiful ephemera and acetate pieces ( I find the Xyron is the best tool for attaching these small pieces and the tape lasts forever). And then of course, I needed even more sequins so I scattered more blue sequins around the layout to bring out the colour of the snow tube in the photograph. I used to find myself spending ages debating the position of sequins on my page.... now I have a rule; stick where they land!

I had lots of fun making this layout and it was a great way to use up some of that glitter!!

Zoe

Happy | Amy Kattenbelt | Paints

Hi, Amy here with this months take on our September theme of  'Paints'.

I've created a layout using my watercolour paints to create this rainbow effect background around a heart. I just used a cheap set of watercolours with ready mixed colours, and a good thick white cardstock, but i didn't use gesso or anything. I used plenty of water to make the colours blend into one another, the trick was to not scrub at the paper with the brush, just use light touches to move the colour around. I then let it dry naturally.

Once i had created my background i sketched around the white heart shape that was left on the cardstock to hid the imperfect lines. After i had created this background i became a little stuck in how to finish it. Eventually i stumbled across a floral acetate from Heidi Swapp, which i loved but was also struggling to use. When i layered it up i loved how the flowers seem to fit the heart shape. It took my layout in a totally different direct but i really like the result.

Because the layout's backgrounf is so busy, i just layered my photo with some neutral coloured papers and added a few emblisshments including some brown gem swirls which to be honest, came in a grab bag, and i didnt think were my taste. I love them! Shows how good it is to try new things!

I hope that my layout shows you that you dont need expensive products to use paints on a layout, and you dont need mush skill either! So please, be brave and give it a go....you might just love it!!

We would love to see what you are creating this month, especially those projects involving paints, so do come and join us over on our Facebook group. If you want to watch this layout being created then head over to our UKSA YoutTube channel and watch my short process video.

Thanks for reading, have a great September, and keep your eye out for some amazing painty layouts from the rest of the UK Scrap Addicts Creative Team!

Superstar | Elaine King | 6" Paper Pad

Good morning all. 

My turn up on the blog today showing you my way to use up 6" paper pads. These can be very versatile to use for scrapbooking as they are, of course, already perfectly co-ordinated and even have nice little pop out ephemera all ready to use. 

To start with I found a photo I was keen to scrap, (my Mum and I back in March at her birthday celebration.) She was, conveniently, wearing a black sequin top and I too had a jumper with a silver star all in sequins too. How handy was that? 

Anyway, I went through my, not inconsiderable, collection of pads and found this one from Heidi Swapp which had pale blue, black and dotty papers that I knew would work with my photo. I found this pad at TK Maxx when they used to stock a decent range of craft supplies. 

I 

I then matted my photo onto some black card that I got from Crafts4Eternity. Michele who runs the group stocks very good card stock that is brilliant for mixed media too. 

Once I had done this I took several sheets of the pad and cut them into 3/4" strips which I then cut further into 2" blocks ready for the herringbone piecing. I then inked all of the edges for definition. This was my practice run

To start I tried all of the pieces on the background card to make sure I had tried all the combinations to form my herringbone pattern. When I was happy I then took to sticking them all down. 

TIP: Use wet glue at this stage as it gives you more 'wriggle room' than DST or tape runners. 

Here it is.. almost straight! lol 

When they were all stuck down and dried I trimmed the overhang off the black card stock from C4E too. I then mounted the photo. 

To finish I added some die cut stars and sequin stars to embellish finishing off with some silver alphas for the title. 

I do hope the team are inspiring you this month to start using up those long hoarded paper pads. I know they are me! 

Thanks for stopping by, do remember to let us know you've visited. 

'til later

Jonah | Amy Kattenbelt | One 6x4 Photo

Hi, Its Amy here, I'm bringing you my layout on this months theme of using a single 6x4 photo on a page. This is something I used to do all the time up until last year when i bought a decent home photo printer. Up until then I would send off my photos in bulk and get them all printed out in 6x4. Recently, i have switched to mainly using smaller sized or square photos, although this is not always true. I still believe that using a photo 6x4 sized means it will be the focal point of the layout and not get lost amongst all the embellishments and patterns.

I tried to keep this layout very simple, and if you head over to our YouTube channel and check out the process video you can see it coming together step by step, and I really hope you might feel inspired to scraplift this layout, especially if you are fairly new to scrapbooking, as you really don't need any special tools to create this layout....its all about the torn edges!

My very favourite colour combinations right now are soft pastels, especially pinks and aquas (also mint green and yellows) with pops of black and white. I used a 2015 Heidi Swapp 12x12 paper pad which I love, not least because its double sided....a paper pad that's double sided! 

After i had layered up my torn papers and matted the photo i embellished the page using fussy cut florals, word stickers, labels and finished it off with sequins and fine splatters of black ink.

I hope you like this layout, be sure to head over to our facebook group and share your layouts that use a single 6x4 photo or any other projects you have been working on recently. See you again next month!