Monthly Challenge No 9 (Sept/Oct)

Thank you to everyone who entered last month, so lovely to see more scrapbookers participating!

On to our new challenge ...

Our theme this month is:

School &/Or Learning!!

And the (optional) extra is back ....include scallops somewhere on your project!!

A few ideas to start you off : scrap those "Back to school" photos or if your child started school or nursery record the specila day, You could scrap an old school photo of yourself .... what did school mean to you?Learning - scrap about baby learning to crawl or walk, to feed themselves or a toddler learning to dress themselves and do up buttons!! How about a layout about a child learning to skip or swim or another new skill....or maybe you have learnt something new.
Ideas for cards ... "Good Luck at your new school", Wise owls or an image of a character learning a new skill!!

Closing date for entries is: 17th October at 1pm

One random winner will win a beautiful selection of buttons and ribbons! Don't forget to check back to see if you are our lucky winner or you are chosen for our favourite 3 entries!!!

Please remember to check out the monthly challenge rules on the tab at the top of this blog, before entering. A quick reminder of our main rules:

Please link directly to your post & not a general link to your blog. 

You must mention and include a link back to the challenge in your entry post. No back linking please - new work only.

The winner must contact me by e mail to receive their prize. A few of our favourites will also be selected to be featured on this blog!

The final (& most important rule) is to have fun!!

As usual there is some wonderful inspiration from our Design Team!

Please do click on their name to visit their blog and leave them a comment ... I know they'd love you to pop by!

Jenny - School Letters Box

Jenny - "I've made a box to hold all those school letters that I always manage to misplace just when i need them. I've used some old MME 12 x 12 papers, Fiskers punch for the added extra of scallops and the scrabble tiles have been embossed with clear embossing powder using a versamark ink pad.

More pictures and details here!

Louise - Guitar Lessons Layout

 

Louise - " My youngest son is the only one who has shown an interest in playing the guitar. My husband loves the guitar and where he failed to be the next Jimmy Hendrix he's hoping his son will succeed! Using left over scraps and stickers from Echo Park Note To Self Kit.

Sarah - "5 Years On" Layout

Sarah - "I wanted to create a layout showing how my daughter has changed in 5 years from when she first started school. I used a mix of Fancy Pants Childish Things and Echo Park Note to Self.

Lisa-Jane - BLW Layout

Lisa-Jane - "BLW stands for Baby Led Weaning which we did with both children.  Instead of spoon feeding tghem pureed food, baby learns to feed themselves solid food from 6 months.  Its really messy but loads of fun and they learn a lot from playing with the food and throwing it about!

Papers are from an Echo Park A Boys Life 6x6 pad

Jennifer - "Dream Big" layout

A layout about my daughter's very first day at school. I've used a variety of products, including Mr Huey Calico White Mist, a Crate Paper Little Bo Peep Sticker, and the Dear Lizzy Date Stamp

We look forward to seeing your "SCHOOL and LEARNING" Projects!!

Please remember to link directly to your blog post and to include a link back to the challenge.

Good Luck and Have Fun!!

New My Minds Eye Collections!!

This week we've taken delivery of some gorgeous new goodies from My Minds Eye!

I'm loving these 6" X 6" Paper Pads from the The Sweetest Thing Collection - there are four to choose from: Honey, Lavender, Tangerine and Bluebell.

                         
                          

Rhonna Farrer has designed the gorgeous All Things Bright Collection

               

We have the Collection Kits, 6" X 6" Pads and matching accessories.

Click here to browse all the MME products!!

6 x 6 Celebration - Part 3

Hello .... and welcome to the 3rd and final part of my celebration of love for 6x6 paper pads ... I did mention I love them didn't I? ... Yes I thought so!!

Today's project is a cute little mini book project. I wasn't sure what size of book I was going to make until I saw this one by Jen Gallacher.  I used the cut-apart journalling cards from the 12 x 12 sheet in the Everyday Eclectic collection kit as the base and added in some more pages by cutting a few of the 6x6 designs down.  These double sided papers are ideal for mini books and the quality means they are pretty sturdy too.

 

I used lots of punched shapes throughout the book and I also used up lots of odds and ends from my stash such as sticky ribbons and buttons.

This minibook is about a scrapbooking retreat I went to last year and contains some of my favourite photos from the weekend.

This book is a lasting memory of some of the classes I attended and the projects I made!

I used up lots of odd gems, stickers and brads in the book too - mini books are great stash busters.

I used several different coloured mini-alphabets too similar to these.

  These teeny letters are great to use with mini books and as subtitles or for long titles etc.

I like being able to hang bits off the edges of the pages and make it really eclectic.  Try to mirror facing pages with matching off the page elements to keep continuity through your book.

I used pop dots, twine and lots of ribbons for added interest and texture.

I made a little pocket on the inside of the back page to hold the photos that I wasn't so keen on but still told part of the story.

The back page is made of strips of the different papers which looks great with the strips of different ribbons on the single book ring. Also a great way to use up all those scraps and off cuts!

Here are some close ups so you can really see how perfectly the smaller scale on the 6x6 pads works for these little projects.  Lots of lovely layered circular embellishments again and some on trend pennants.

A layered rosette for some dimension which are so easy to make from 6 x 6 papers.

Punched borders work really well on mini books and again the smaller scale makes it easy on the eye.

Little windmills are another embellishment that work so well with 6 x 6 papers - the miniaturised patterns and double sided designs are just perfect.

Mini punched butterflies make the most of every single tiny scrap of the papers and work so well with the denser patterns.  

Layering up different shaped embellishments really gives a sense of dimension without creating too much height in this kind of project.  The other fab thing about the 6x6 papers is that you can run a sheet through your die-cutting machine without having to cut it down to fit - saving time and less waste!!

I hope you can see why I love the versatility of the 6x6 paper pads and I hope that you have enjoyed this little series and seen a few ideas for using your own pads.  

If you have been inspired by anything you've seen in this post, the first part or in Part 2 then we'd love to come and see!

Want to win a prize????  

Well, all you have to do is leave a comment on any of the "6 x 6 Celebration" posts with a link to your own 6 x 6 project and  link up to the S J Crafts blog from your blog post and you'll be entered to win!

Our favourite project will be chosen to win a little prize!!

Your blog post must be dated on or after 24 August (ie the start of this series!)

Closing date for entry is Sunday 16th September!!  Good Luck!!

Lisa-Jane

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6 x 6 Celebration - Part 2

I hope your Bank Holiday weekend has been good so far!

If you are back for Part 2 of my 6 x 6 celebration, thanks so much for coming back. If you missed Part 1 ... don't worry you can catch up on that right here!

So on to today's 6 x 6 projects ...
again, for most of these projects I have used the Everyday Eclectic collection from Echo Park.

The 6x6 pads are great for making your own embellishments and layering up different sized shapes.  They are perfect to use with punches and diecutting systems because, as mentioned in the Part 1, the scaled down patterns are ideal for smaller shapes.  Layering with different patterns is a breeze when you have a ready coordinated pad.  On this layout, I have used 6 different coordinating patterns on the embellishments but there is no way I would cut into 6 different whole sheets of 12x12.  The chances of me finding 6 coordinating scraps of sufficient size is always a frustrating task too!

I've used a circle, a scalloped circle and a pinked circle and then popped a little embellishment on the top. I inked all the edges in black soot distress ink and made a title with some coordinating stickers.  I like the white space allowing the photo to do the talking, but with the little spots of colour along the circles.

Circles have always been popular but more recently manufacturers are designing papers with layered circles. I tried to create something similar using overlapping circles. I made a similar layout recently in this post using scalloped circles in rows. I used 5 different patterned papers for my circles on my "First Swimming Lesson" layout. I wouldn't have  been brave enough to cut into that many 12 x 12 complete sheets and it would have looked very different with the larger scale prints too.  The 6x6 pads work really well for pieced designs. As well as circles you could try hexagons, or perhaps a quilt design with squares or chevrons with triangles like this tutorial on the EP Blog.

The journalling cards are from the Everyday Eclectic 12x12 collection pack as are some of the stickers and alphabets.  The blue photo mat is also from the 12 x 12 collection - sometimes it works really well to use both sizes on the same layout.  The edges are inked in faded jeans distress ink to emphasis the layers.

I often turn to my 6x6 pads when I want to cut my own title or make my own flowers.  The difference in scale is perfect for creating your own lettering because sometimes the larger prints can make them difficult to read or the pattern gets lost.  Creating coordinating embellishments with the smaller scale alongside larger panels of the full sized sheets really helps to bring a layout together and adds a sense of cohesion.  You don't need to cut into a full sheet to make your embellishments and the smaller scale patterns look better on the smaller pieces - its a win/win situation!!

For this 8.5x11 layout I have mixed up the sizes and used the 6x6 pads for my flowers by layering up different sizes using the Tim Holtz tattered floral die.  I hand cut the CHEF title using a chipboard alphabet as a stencil, and of course I inked all the edges, this time using my vintage photo ink pad.

The sharp eyed among you have probably spotted the trimmings from the quadrant style layout I showed you in Part 1.  The eclectic strip borders work so well with these smaller patterns.  Nothing gets wasted in my craft room and some of these trimmings are actually the top edge of the pad with the hole punched in it because with Echo Park Papers you get the design right up to the gummed edge!

I added a sprinkling of gems and called it done.  I adore the colours in this layout which perfectly matched her cute apron and chefs hat.  I'd forgotten how much I like to hand cut things like this - its a perfect thing to do alongside the children or in front of the television!!

I hope I have given you lots of inspiration for using 6 x 6 paper pads but I've still got more ideas to share in part 3 so be sure to come back for that.

If you feel inspired to make a layout or maybe a card using 6 x 6 papers please do leave a link in the comments so the S J Crafts Design Team can pop by and see.

Also, in Part 3 there will be news of a little prize - so why not go dig out those 6 x 6 pads and make something with them!!

Lisa-Jane

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