Family Selfie Layout

Today, I have another layout to share with you.

 

If you saw my last layout here, you might be seeing a theme appearing!! Selfies!!

 

This photo was taken on a winter's walk - don't be deceived by the blue sky in the background but take note of the woolly hats - it was very cold!!

 

I began by layering up some patterned papers onto which I would later put my photo (which I had already matted onto white card).

 

I then cut small pieces of paper taken from a Simple Stories 6 " x 6" pad into banner shapes which I would later tuck under the left hand side.

 

Before adhering it all into place I created some faux stitching (which you can see on the black arrow paper and on the banner pieces) I used a "pokey tool" to make the holes and then joined up the holes with a white gel pen.

 

I stamped the camera and coloured it, added the clip, cork stars and a title and called it "done"!

 

Here's a few close ups:

 

 

Have you tried faux stitching or do you prefer "real" stitching?

Branscombe Beach Layout - a layout for NSD

Hello & a very happy National Scrapbooking Day (or weekend!) to you!

Officially NSD is tomorrow (2nd May) but as I am participating in a Cyber Crop over on a scrapbooking Facebook Group, which starts this evening and this layout is for one of the challenges on there, here I am posting today!

The challenge details:

 

 1 ) Use 3 (or more) photographs - can be any size

AND

2 ) Use a recently purchased item of stash - can be a new sheet of paper, a new tool or a new embellishment or something else .... whatever was your most recent purchase.

Here's my layout:

 

 

The photos were taken on our recent holiday in Devon.

We were blessed with wonderful weather - plenty of blue skies and sunshine.

 

I used a total mix of supplies - the papers are Simple Stories and American Crafts, the alphas are AC Thickers and some very old Jenni Bowlin stickers I've had for ages. There's some basic Grey chipboard pieces, wood veneers and enamel dots on there too. The lovely wood anchor is from Jennifer's Happy Scatter Etsy shop - the anchor embellishment was just perfect for this page as this beach is where the container ship Napoli ran aground back in 2007 and the ship's anchor now stands on the beach on display.

My recently purchased roller stamp was put to good use - I stamped "memories" on the top of the journaling card and added the arrows just above. I then added some more stamped elements (from a different set of stamps) with the date and the little hearts.

 

Here's some close ups:

 

 

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you get a chance to scrap this NSD weekend!

 

 

 

Scrapbook Retreat - Beach Layouts!

A few weekends ago I was away on a Scrapbook Retreat with some lovely ladies including my good friends Lisa-Jane and Jennifer, staying in a beautiful barn deep in the Dorset countryside. 

We spent our days chatting, eating yummy, home baked cakes, drinking tea/coffee/wine, enjoying leisurely strolls around the farm land and some of the ladies went in the swimming pool/hot tub/gym although I decided that wasn't really my "thing". There was much laughter and of course lots of playing with pretty papers!!

I managed 8 layouts in total over the weekend - fairly productive for me!

Today I'm sharing two of the layouts, both feature photos taken from the same day out at the beach last Summer. 

Beach Day Layout

Regular readers will know I live near the south coast and scrap rather a lot of beach photos. It's getting tricky coming up with different titles - hence the somewhat uninteresting and predictable title of "Beach day" for this page!

I'm afraid I didn't take note of the papers I used as most of them were out of my "Scraps" Box. 

I've been waiting for just the right layout to use this lovely Happy Scatter Sandcastle wood piece on and I think it fits perfectly with these photos.

I added a couple of stickers, a splatter of gold Heidi Swapp Colour Shine and a few enamel dots and it was another fabulous "Beach Day" recorded and in the album.

Little Surfer Girl

For this page I  used a photo of my daughter taken on the same beach trip as the first layout.

She loves to use her body board in the sea and will quite happily spend a whole afternoon splashing about and trying to "catch a wave"! This particular day she was using a brand new board purchased on the way to the beach as her old one had broken. It's a bigger board than her previous one and so she felt like a proper "Little Surfer Girl"

Papers and stickers are from Simple Stories "Good Day Sunshine" collection and I used my favourite Stampin Up Chevron punch to punch out the coloured chevrons from small scraps.

I'll be back soon with more layouts from the retreat.

Thanks for popping in today - please do leave me a comment to let me know you stopped by!

"Hello Santa" Layout

A few months ago I was asked to create a layout for Scrapbook Magazine on the theme "Hello Santa" .... it's in the current issue No: 85 on sale now so I'm now able to show you at last.

The lovely Jen at Wear Crafts sent me the Simple Stories Cozy Christmas collection kit to work with and it was just perfect for this theme. I knew I had to use the "Hey Santa" 3" X 4" journal card as soon as I saw it in the pack!

I started with a sheet of red cardstock onto which I layered white cardstock and then began to layer up some patterned papers and journal cards.

See the little red and white striped pieces just peeping out each side - I cut one of the 3" x 4" cards in half so I could tuck a piece in each side of the photo. This is something I often do with journal cards!

I added a little bit of sparkle with some American Crafts glitter tape and some My minds Eye gold stars.

The title is a mix of red chipboard alphas and white foam thickers.

The Simple Stories sticker sheet in the Collection pack has some lovely word stickers on it - I added "Wonder & Magic", "Ho Ho Ho" and "he's making a list" in 3 different areas of my page, adding a star and red gem to each making a visual triangle.

. 

The photo is one of my favourites of the many that I have of my daughter meeting Santa over the years. Even though it doesn't show her face, I love the twinkling lights and stacks of presents in Santa's grotto and I remember how she listened in earnest to him telling her to "make sure she goes straight to sleep on Christmas Eve!"

So, that's two layouts made with this kit (if you missed the other it's here!) and I'm already half way through a third page so I'll be back to show you that soon.

How are your Christmas preparations going?

Anyone got their tree up yet?

Changes and Christmas Scrapping

Hello! How are you?

September has been a busy month in our house.  

A month that has seen a lot of changes.

I was quite sad to finally close the S J Crafts online shop although I know it is the right thing for me and my family. My daughter started the next phase of her life as she moved up to her new secondary school and has quickly settled into her new routine and enjoying the opportunities school now offers her! And Me?! I have started a new part time job! I can't believe how lucky I have been to land myself this little job which gives me all the school holidays off!! I'm very thankful for this next phase of life for me and my little family!

Recently I was lucky enough to work with the brand new Simple Stories "Cozy Christmas" collection pack from the lovely Wear Crafts for a magazine commission. Unfortunately I can't yet show you the layout for the magazine but I can show you this layout which I created with some of the left over papers.

I started off with a row of three photographs across the middle of the page. The word "Joy" and the stars in the bottom right corner were already on the paper as was the little gold strip on the top edge so I simply used these two areas as my start point to build up the design, adding the red striped border sticker (cut into small pieces), little stars, the gold "25 Dec" and word stickers (all from the sticker sheet which is included in the collection pack). I also die cut the larger red stars and the small woodgrain stars. The "Oh what fun it is" card is cut from one of the patterned papers in the kit and I added the heart sticker to match the red heart printed on the paper next to the word "joy". 

I finished off with some metallic MME arrows, date stamp and a scattering of gems.

Here's a few close ups of the details:

And here's a look at what you get in the collection pack:

A gorgeous selection of double sided papers and journal cards in traditional reds, greens,  mixed with some woodgrain and more neutral creams and golds. The two sticker sheets have lots of really useful words and festive icons which I know I will use up on more layouts very soon.

Have you started your Christmas Crafting yet? 

A "Grid" Layout with Hello Sunshine

Recently I ran a workshop at the Wilton Crop. 

We used the lovely Pink Paislee "Hello Sunshine" Papers and a selection of journal cards from Pink Paislee and Simple Stories with a focus on a grid design to create a quick layout for multiple photos.

Here's the layout and instructions should you wish to make a similar page.

Start off by "gutting" the sheet of "Hello Sunshine" paper and saving the middle piece for use on another layout. Of course, you can use a different patterned paper if you wish. Next, trim half an inch off two sides of the white cardstock so that there is a small border of stripes showing when the cardstock is adhered centrally on top of the paper.

Decide which 3" x 4" journal cards to use and crop the photos to size (if you've not already printed them to the size you want) and work out where they will all go in your grid design before starting to stick anything down. 

On my layout I had two rows of 4" high but the top row was only 3" high - this allows for a small border around the layout. You could put a 3" high row in the middle instead but it worked better for my photos and cards to have this arrangement.

You will see from the above photo that I opted to use a 6" x 4" photograph instead of two small photos or you could have 1 small photo and 1 journal card in that space instead. You can choose which ever arrangement suits your photos and the cards you wish to use.

Before sticking everything in place I rounded the corners using a Project Life Corner Rounder and also popped a doilie (cut in half) under the photos/cards each side to add some extra interest.

Add your title - this doesn't have to be in the top centre space - originally I was going to put it in the centre spot but then decided to swap it with the photo.

I chose the title "Whatever the Weather" as my layout is about how my daughter loves to go to the beach no matter what the weather is like .... even on chilly days she will go in the water and happily play on the beach.

I will add some handwritten journalling to that card with the umbrellas and rainbows on over on the right hand side before putting it away in my album.

All that is left to do is add some embellishments. I used some "Hello Sunshine" chipboard, Simple Stories DIY Boutique Brad, Studio Calico Wood heart and arrow and cut the black banner and little black arrow from scraps of paper using the Project Life Nesting die set.

Add embellishments on top of the doilies and overlapping the edge of the photos to help draw the eye towards your main photo(s)

If you do have a go at making a grid layout, please do leave a link in the comments so I can pop over and see or post your "grid" layout to the S J Crafts facebook Page.

Before I go ... don't forget there's FREE Postage and Packing over at the shop all this weekend when you spend £15 or more!! Offer ends 10am Monday 12 May!

Sarah x

Your Undivided Attention - Part 2

Hello, Lisa-Jane here again!

Welcome back for Part 2 of the series where I'm using Simple Stories Homespun collection, which includes lots of cards to cut apart and use in divided page protectors, to make standard layouts and more. If you missed Part One check it out HERE!

This lovely subtle 12x12 paper has little bits of printed embellishment that do lots of the hard work for you. I used several of the 6x4 cards here to create a messy stack without trying to make the pieces bigger and needing to cover joins and gaps. I made sure that each layer was a good contrast to the previous one and covered up any wording that wasn't relevant etc, so aside from the journaling block the pieces act just like sections of patterned paper and not specific 6x4 cards for 6x4 pockets:

Sometimes the sentiments on the cards go right to the edge like with this journaling block which was fine for my purposes but often there is just a some wording or a printed element that can easily be disguised if it doesn't fit your theme. My title was from the chipboard elements and I added some stickers and brads from the collection, a little doily from my stash and some gorgeous enamel dots and that was all it needed:

This next layout is another example of using the larger panels in their original form and incorporating it as part of the title. This time I added an ampersand and a couple of alpha stickers to add more meaning:



I used the long ruler sticker as a border strip and the little chipboard "Let's Stick Together" was absolutely perfect for this page about my 2 great nephews. In the Homespun collection there are bigger sections as well as the 3x4 and 4x6 cards and I used these to layer up the photograph here. 

There was a cute little border on one which was ideal to use leaving it showing even though the rest of the piece is hidden. It would also have been a great place to add some stitching over the printed stitching if you like that look. If you look for colours and patterns that you want to use instead of looking at the cards as they stand alone, then you can get a lot more versatility out of them!

I punched another pinked circle from a scrap card and added it to a paperclip with a coordinating brad. With the colourful heart paper as a background it didn't need a great deal more than a couple of items from the stickers and chipboard sheets:



Some branding strips and offcuts from other cards that were tucked behind other elements, a couple more stickers and pop dots and we have a fun and cheerful page about 2 funny little chaps.



I hope you've enjoyed these ideas for using the various sections in pieces and as whole elements and there is still not a divided page protector in sight!  

I'll see you soon for the final part of the series for a couple of "off the page" projects.

If you want to get hold of some Simple Stories items in the meantime then check out the selection at SJ Crafts HERE!

Lisa-Jane x

Lisa-Jane regularly allows us a glimpse into her life and her craft room over at her fun blog Inside My Head. Go pay her a visit!



Your Undivided Attention - Part One

Hello everyone, Lisa-Jane here today!

Lots of manufacturers now are making wonderful collections aimed at people using pocket page protectors, as well as the various designs of divided page protectors themselves. Previously paper collections might have had one sheet that was designed to be cut apart but the reverse of that sheet was often a solid colour so you got the best of both worlds.  

Now though, with so many people using these divided page protectors, the reverse of the pre-designed sheets are often intended to be cut apart too. That's fine if you have that particular design of protector but what if you don't? Or, what if, like me, you love a collection but you just want to use it on standard 12x12 pages? Do we end up missing out because we don't want to use undivided protectors? I don't think so! 

In the next 3 posts I'm going to show you some designs I've made using the Simple Stories Homespun Collection which coordinates with the Simple Stories albums and protectors. However my projects in the first 2 posts fit my normal American Crafts D rings albums and protectors and the final 2 projects are "off the page" style.

Firstly I went through and cut all the sheets into their relevant sections. As I was cutting, some of the items were jumping out at me as needing to be used at their intended size and others I knew I would be happy to use in another way. This second pile that I set aside could be used for die cutting, fussy cutting, punching shapes, layering edges etc. I also took off all the branding strips and cut off the information so I was left with just the usable pieces. Making these decisions early and assembling a "kit" in this way meant that I knew exactly what I had available and also that I didn't wobble when I wanted to cut a small piece of something!

Family:

For this first layout I used one of the pieces of 12x6 as a panel just in from the left hand side. These large panels often have something you can choose to use as a title too so an alternative could have been cutting the panel along the second "plank" from the bottom. I wanted to use it in its entirety here though as I think it makes a natural home for the photo above right.

I also cut one of the 6x4 cards to make a second mat for my photo... 

I really liked the pattern and I knew I wasn't going to use the sentiment but my photo was already matted onto another 6x4 piece so I needed to do some creative patchwork!

 I cut an L shape and then adhered the piece with a small gap, then adhered the photo on top. I chose a 3x4 card from the pile I had set aside for cutting up and punched a couple of pinked circles for layering.

 The branding strips make great banners and are perfect for disguising small gaps and joins. I added some texture with stickers, chipboards and brads from the collection.  

I added the coordinating banner sticker on pop dots and I love the way it mirrors the banner on the wood grain panel.

My second layout was completed on a piece of A4 cardstock. I use the standard office page protectors for this size as they still perfectly fit the AC ring binders and add a bit of variety to the album.

Elliot:



Here I've cut down a photo to 3x4 and made a grid from 3 other 3x4 cards that I really liked. Two of the cards are decorative and the third is for journaling. I adhered them to a piece of the cardstock that I cut from the centre of the background to make a narrow frame for the grid. This helps the eye to see the grid as one whole piece and also lifts it slightly from the busier background.

I added texture and dimension with buttons, twine, bobble trim and a couple of branding strips. I also added to the printed embellishments using chipboard stickers:

The little label area on this card was a perfect home for my great nephew's name and the red alphas in the set worked perfectly with the reds I was bringing out in my colour scheme.

So lets recap - so far we've used a 6x12 panel as it is, incorporated it as a title, made photo mats with 6x4 cards, made a grid with 3x4 cards, used a 3x4 card for a journalling block and used "spare" cards and branding strips for punching shapes and making embellishments. 

Wow! Who said you could only use this collection with divided page protectors? 

And there are still 2 posts to go in this series! Join me again soon!

Lisa-Jane x

P.S. Are you loving Simple Stories right now? Check out the other Simple Stories collections in stock at SJ Crafts HERE!

Lisa-Jane shares lots of crafty creations and regularly joins in with 'What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday' over on her blog 'Inside My Head'!

Mix It Up - Different Collections!

Hi there! Its Lisa-Jane here today with a confession... I'm addicted to patterned paper!  

At the moment I am rather enamoured with Crate Paper and I can tell you that having a bit of a love affair with one particular company can really expand your options when you are making layouts. Because of the printing processes that the companies use, you'll often find that the colours are very similar across collections. I have an album in the making where I am using entirely October Afternoon products from about 10 different collections because they all go so well together and I am really finding that the same is true for Crate Paper.

Take this layout for example: beachy photos made me reach again for The Pier Collection which I am still loving to bits. But I really wanted to bring out the red in that pretty watery floral paper and the red chevron in the collection was too big for what I had in mind.  Instead I reached for a rather unusual option - Bundled Up, the recent Christmas collection! The little red triangles on the cream background were a perfect foil to the prettier piece and the subtle aquas on the reverse went really well too.

I used a few of the Splash Cut Outs, some Simple Stories Homespun alpha stickers and some American Crafts rose trim and everything came together very quickly.

For this next layout I used The Pier again but this time I wanted to really home in on the textures and colours in the photo.  I instantly reached for that glorious turquoise distressed wood paper 'Found' from Maggie Holmes Flea Market as well as adding in a couple of smaller pieces from the Flea Market 6x6 paper pad. 

 Some of the stickers here are from The Pier and I also managed to use a few more of my Simple Stories Homespun stickers too because the layout was about a family of stones that we hid in a crevice on the beach. I definitely made the most of the alpha sheets that came with Homespun as you'll see from another post coming soon!

This final layout merged The Pier with Maggie Holmes Flea Market AND Bundled Up for a very pretty subtle feel. I mounted the Bundled Up ledger paper onto pink Bazzil cardstock, added a strip of Flea Market washed out woodgrain, topped that with some floral from the Flea Market 6x6 pad and then added a couple of scallop border pieces from The Pier to highlight the aqua tones. 

I die cut the title and made the banner from the 6x6 pad too because the smaller print is perfect for these little areas. This gave me lots of room on the ledger paper to tell my story about a picnic we had there a couple of days after the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers. The photo may be from Christmas but it doesn't stop me scrapping a memory from the past which I don't have a photo of.

Mixing up collections like this gives your layouts a little spark of difference and can really extend the life of those ranges that you might normally only think of for their specific theme. Picking out the colours you want to use and choosing your papers accordingly can really open up new possibilities of coordinating patterns and shows that you really can combine beach and Christmas papers with more generic styles. 

What collections would you use together? We'd love to see!

Bye for now, Lisa-Jane

xx

You can find the Crate Paper products in the S J Crafts Shop by clicking here .... and some of them are REDUCED in the Spring Sale!!

Lisa-Jane blogs lots of scrapbook pages and life stories at her blog Inside My Head - stop by and say hello!

Heart - One Little Word for 2014!!

Hi there, its Lisa-Jane here today to share with you some of my One Little Word project. 

"One Little Word" is a workshop run by Ali Edwards which you can read more about here but basically it's about choosing a word to guide you through the year. Maybe instead of a list of resolutions that will probably be broken and then forgotten all about. There are other ways of combining your resolutions or intentions for the year with creative projects such as making a mini book of resolutions or document your thoughts for the year ahead on a layout,  but I've chosen this method as I also want to record my fortieth year over several layouts and focusing on my word will help me make some changes this year.

This year my word is heart.  

... I want to follow my heart 

... and love what I do and do what I love.  

... I want to love what I have.  

In other words, there are things that I've been neglecting or avoiding and I just have to look after those things (myself and my family) and do the things we all have to do (dreaded housework etc) with love rather than moaning about it.  I'll let you know if it works!

I wanted to have a strong colour scheme for this year long project to inspire me and give me energy in my supplies.  I wanted something with red in it too because I knew I would be using lots of love and heart motifs.  When I saw the Simple Stories Daily Grind collection it was literally an "Aha, that's it!" moment and I may have had to fan myself!!  Its funky, bold and upbeat with lots of references to days and months and the little things that we do regularly.

My project is going to be housed in a section of my normal 12x12 album so I wanted a striking title page.

The dark brown woodgrain Simple Stories paper with the printed elements in the corner was perfect for a one photo layout where I didn't actually want to journal very much.  That all comes later!  I also bought the ephemera pack, the Snap cards and the chipboard stickers to complement the project. All currently available in the shop right here! Working with all the coordinating papers and accessories like this really helps with making your supplies together, especially for a project that I will be dipping into all year.  It also make for speedy scrapping which is always a bonus in my book.

The little alpha stickers I've used for my title are in the collection pack and I've just added a few white Thickers for a bit more dimension.

I'm using one of Ali Edwards's printables to record my thoughts and intentions and attached it to my background and added a few embellishments.  A lot of the project will be in pocket page protectors but as this page is the reverse of the title page, I wanted to make it work on a standard 12x12.

The red background cardstock is the reverse of the title page piece and I matted the "Intentions" sheet onto green cardstock to help it stand out a bit from the busy speech bubbles patterned paper. 

I'm really enjoying using these colourful papers and embellishments and I've already started working on my next pocket page with some definitions and quotes about my word for the year.

Using a collection that you really, really love is important for an ongoing project because it keeps you inspired and makes you WANT to keep using it and recording your journey with it.  I'm sure I will still love using it by the end of the year too.  

You can read more about my One Little Word journey throughout the year on my blog.

How about you?  Are you scrapping your intentions for the year?  How are you getting on with your New Year's Resolutions?  Whatever your plans, I hope 2014 is a great year for you all!

Lisa-Jane

I Believe We Can Make Magic!

Hello everyone, Jennifer here today to show you a layout using rub-ons to alter chipboard stickers and alphas coloured with pen... magic in scrapbooking as well as in my photo!

At the start of each year I like to think about things I believe in or that I'm wishing for, to keep in mind throughout the year. I have a firm belief that magic is real... perhaps not the wizarding kind, but certainly the magic we can make in moments small or large, when something makes us smile and we know the moment will be remembered forever...

I Believe We Can Make Magic:

This moment is certainly one to hold on to - I was so impressed with how many people put on Disney costumes to help me and my little sister celebrate at our joint birthday party ... I grinned all night long!

The letters that spell 'believe' are some Prima White Canvas Alphas, which I coloured with a Sakura Gelly Roll Pen to make them aqua. You can also use Sharpies to colour the alphas. Just make sure you leave the letters to dry thoroughly before you touch them again or you'll get inky fingers!

I used some Jenni Bowlin Doilies Rub Ons and Tiny Trims Rub Ons to add some extra pattern to the background ledger paper:

You can also use them to add details to chipboard stickers, like I've done here by adding some Tiny Trims to a camera from the Simple Stories Daily Grind Chipboard Stickers:

And I added some more trim to this black label-style sticker from the My Mind's Eye Chalk Studio Chipboard Elements:

The rub-ons stand out best when they are on plainer backgrounds - if you try anything to patterned then they will be harder to see.

Of course a page of mine wouldn't be complete without my usual sprinkling of gems and some Studio Calico Tiny Stars Wood Veneers for magical good measure!

What do you think? Have you any beliefs or wishes that you haven't documented? Get them onto a page and make sure you link us up so we can see too!

The alphas, rub ons, daily Grind Chipboard, wood stars and chalk elements are all available to order from the S J Crafts Shop!!

Bye, Jennifer x

Jennifer is Mum to two young children and blogs regularly at Jennifer Grace Creates .... pop over there soon as she is currently running a Giveaway to celebrate her happiness at recently moving house!!