April Challenge Favourites and A Winner!

Hello everyone! Jennifer here to show you a few of our favourites from the April Mood Board Challenge entries... and to tell you the winner of the prize too of course!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered, there were so many beautiful pages that have been giving us lots of ideas, and showing us how many different ways the mood board could be interpreted! You guys rock!

At the end of the post I'll tell you the randomly picked winner, but now here are our favourites...

Trina:

Trina uploaded her layout to our Facebook Page, it captures the springtime spirit of the moodboard so well with beautiful pinks and greens, flowers and butterflies!

Marie:

Marie put the March Kit to great use on her layout, we love the different textures she's created!

Laura:

Laura incorporated lots of ideas from the moodboard, including the composition and the glitter stripes! 

And the winner of the Spring Themed Prize is...

That's Laura! Congratulations Laura! Please contact us at sarah(at)sjpapercrafts(dot)co(dot)uk so we can get your prize out to you!

Thank you again to everyone who entered. The May Challenge is Bingo! You have until the 31st of May to enter, and there will be another mystery prize to one winner!

Bye for now, Jennifer x

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!



May Challenge - Bingo!

Hello and welcome to our May challenge! 

Did you know it's (Inter)National Scrapbooking Day (otherwise known as NSD!) tomorrow on the 3rd of May? Happy National Scrapbooking Day to you, we hope this challenge will give you some inspiration if you are crafting this weekend, and there's a chance to win a small prize if you enter!

Thank you to everyone who took part in our April Challenge, we loved looking at the entries, and we'll announce a few of our favourites and a winner here on the blog soon!

If you haven't seen our challenges so far this year, then here's how it works. Each month throughout 2014 we will set a challenge and we'd love it if you would play along. Each month the challenge will vary - sometimes we'll have a sketch, sometimes a colour palette, a photo inspiration or a "recipe" of stash to use or maybe a technique.

At the end of this post there is "linky tool" for you to link up your challenge entry so we can pop along and see and we will feature a few of our favourite projects next month. 

This time it's a BINGO Challenge!

Here's how to play ...

Select 3 boxes from the grid in a line (horizontal/vertical or diagonal) and include the items or technique in those 3 boxes on your project!

Eg: you may choose Ink, Metal, Bow (diagonal line) .... OR .... Transparent, Metal, Stamp (horizontal) but you couldn't select Transparent, Metal, Torn Paper as they are not next to each other in a line!

Here's some inspiration from the Design Team:

Louise:

 Louise was inspired by the top row of the bingo grid. She used Mr Huey Mist, a border punch across the bottom and a 1" circle punch. All supplies are from the March kit which included lots of the 7 Dots Studio "Illumination" Collection, with the addition of a blue cardstock, file tab, cotton and badge. 

Jenny:

Jenny also used the top row from the bingo grid: ink /mist, border punch, and circles. Her products include Kraft card, Distress ink (Weathered Wood), Glossy Accents, and Stickles.

Lisa-Jane:

Lisa-Jane selected the middle row: Transparent - Metal - Stamping 

Her supplies include stamps by Hero Arts, papers, stars, vellum and ephemera pack by Crate Paper Boyz Rule, enamel dots by Studio Calico and kraft cardstock.

Jemma:

Jemma's page features holiday snaps of her daughter playing in the "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids" playground at Disney! She also chose the middle row:

Transparent stickers from a pack of Simple Stories Insta Clear Word Stickers, a Metal word by Prima, and Stamps from her stash.  

The rest of the supplies are 7 Dots Studio products

(Acceptance , Connections, Balance, Element Stickers, Word Stickers, and the Die Cut Sheet).

Annie:

Annie went for the middle vertical row and used a border punch, metal embellishment (staples), and torn paper - but in fact she ended up using mixed alphas and circles too, so it could just as well be the diagonal row bottom left to top right!

Her supplies include patterned papers, stickers and diecuts from the 7 Dots Illuminations collection, Studio Calico wood veneers, Simple Stories DIY Typeset stickers and Burlap Stickers, Prima Alphas in black and one of the Prima stitched diecuts from the March kit.   

Jennifer:

Jennifer chose a diagonal line from top left to bottom right on the bingo grid (Mist, a Metal Embellishment, a Knot). Her products include Heidi Swapp's Navy Color Shine Mist, Crate Paper's Boys Rule collection Zap & Top Score paper and some Wood Embellishments and Ephemera pieces, and some Studio Calico Cork Stars. Her metal embellies are an old key and some metal rimmed brads, and she has two knots - one in string under the title and one in bakers twine on the key.

We'll have a little mystery prize this month for one entry picked at random from all those who link up! The winner will be announced after the challenge has closed along with a few of our favourites! 

So, will you take up our challenge this month?

Use the linky tool below to add a link to the blog post (or your gallery) with your layout or card and a link back to this post is much appreciated.

You will need to ensure your link is added by the 31st of May (11.59pm).

Enjoy!