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 :)

Discover | Kirsteen | Clustering

Hello, it's Kirsteen here on the UK Scrap Addicts blog today and this month we are talking; clustering. Love it or hate it? For an embellishment junkie like me, clustering is seventh heaven. I usually stick to circles but I wanted to try something different. Inspired by a layout I saw online (and have promptly forgotten to take note of the maker) I decided to give creating a page with a rectangular cluster going from one side of the page to another, a go.  

I have created layouts for friends and family using Simple Stories 'You Are Here' but I've not used it for any of our scrapbooks and I really wanted to make something for us. I decided to go with this photo, taken of my youngest son Noah last Summer on Ellie Beach on the East Neuk of Fife in Scotland. He is in his element enjoying his first trip to the beach.

I popped the photo in place and used a steel rule to position the embellishments. Just like circles, it is a lot of fun fitting in all of the embellishments and very satisfying when they fit perfectly.

When you've had so much fun creating one cluster, you might as well create a couple more, right? As all of the detail on my page was central I decided to add a cluster to the top and bottom of my layout. Starting with the Happy Place die cut I added some more embellishments behind and on top to create another focal point for my layout. Doing the same again at the top of the page only on a much smaller scale as there was less white space to play with and I managed to fit in two separate clusters.

I always try to use a mix of die cuts, stickers, chipboard, wood veneers, brads and enamel dots as I think it gives your page more depth and a more tactile feel. If it's feeling a little flat you can always pimp up a sticker or die cut piece with some foam pads.

Lastly, I added some hand-drawn lines for journaling and a couple of die cut flowers to tie it all together.  

I hope you have enjoyed today's layout, I was absolutely in my Happy Place creating it! Thanks for stopping by.

Sweet Girl | Roxy C (scrapbunny94 | Moodboard

Hey all, Roxy here again! xo 

I'm so excited to show you my layout!

I have never used a moodboard before and I got the chance to create the lovely pastel, sparkly one! It makes me so happy to see all the team's layouts! 

I hope you'll take inspiration too! 

Here is the process video for my layout  https://youtu.be/hWeiFmyHMRU
Don't forget to carry on reading to see the up close and personal pictures! Those sequins are so sparkly! 

I decided that I wanted to use a photo from a childhood holiday, so the sequins could stand out and match the glistening water in the background of the photo. Also so I could use all those beautiful flowers!! 

I decided to start of creating a pastel background to match the sequins and flowers. Derwent artbars came in handy for this. They are like watercolours, but so much easier to use. All you need is the artbars, water and your fingers! Just scribble on to your page, spray with water and blend, blend, blend! 

I backed my photo with pastel papers from the Oh My Heart 6x6 paper pad. Then went crazy with the ephemra from the same collection. I'd be so happy if they just came out with a pack of flower die cuts! One can dream...

Lastly I went crazy adding dots of glossy accents and sticking a variety of sequins on. You can never add enough sparkle!!

Thanks for reading! I hope you'll give the moodboard a whirl!