Pink Paislee Fancy Free 'Today' Layout

Hi all,

Another layout to share today using the second of the two 'Paige Kits' from the Pink Paislee 'Fancy Free' collection designed by Paige Evans. I got them as part of a bundle on the Hobbycraft website which consisted of 2 of these kits, a set of thickers, puffy stickers and an ephemera pack.

As I said before, I LOVE these kits because they come with large die cut sheets just like we'd be able to cut if we were lucky enough to own a Cameo. 

The picture I used I took last week on a visit to The Deep in Hull. When you buy tickets there, they're valid for a whole year, great value and Hull is only a 30-40 min drive away so it's a good place to go if we're looking for something to do. After we looked around, we walked across the bridge and took some pictures of the building itself, I took this picture as Nathan was looking the same way the building is pointing and it looked cool. 

When I use a really colourful background like this I tend to print my picture in black and white - that way there's less deliberation to what colours to use in the layout. 

I used most of the elements from the bundle in this layout, except the thickers. I thought they were too bright to go with the background so instead I used the 'Today' chipboard that came in the page kit as my title and it looks great with my black and white photo.

I really enjoyed using this kit and I hope that all these papercraft companies take note and bring out MORE.

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily xx

Pretty Posy Projects!

Hi all,

You may recall that I won the 'Project Of The Month' from Trimcraft for July. I was sent a lovely selection of goodies - a 6x6 First Edition Pretty Posy paper pad, some resin flowers, some washi tape, little bows, enamel dots and lace ribbon.

Here are some projects I made using my prize.

The first one is my favourite card ever.

There's lots of layers and I used pink Nuvo crystal drops paint on various areas of the card.

This is a layout I made using a picture I took in York. I used a filter on the photo to make it look more vintage to fit better within the layout - the filter is one of the default settings in the Windows photos app - much less fiddly than Photoshop and keeps the quality, unlike Instagram.

I'm in two minds about this layout - I don't know if the spray ink/stencil I used ruined it or not. Oh well! It's growing on me...

And the second is a card using some layered up die cut flowers.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

More Kori Kumi Cards!

Hi all,

More cards to share today using the Santoro Kori Kumi collection from Craft Consortium.

This first one uses a stamped image and pom-poms on an aperture card.

I cut apart the little tag that was on the 8x8" paper pack and put a shaker element in the centre.

And finally a neutral one.. I was inspired by the presenter on Hochanda when this collection was being shown. He said this collection would look good in neutral tones and look all vintage... so I had a play using my watercolours. The flower die set in this collection is so good, I'm obsessed with it. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

Craft Consortium Santoro Kori Kumi ATCs!

Hi all,

Bit of a weird week. Had a lovely date with Nathan on Sunday to Meadowhall which included Wagamama, we went to Hull and The Deep on Thursday, then I got home to a parcel of Craft Consortium Kori Kumi products (yay!) and a parking ticket for somewhere I did not go (not yay).
Long story short, turns out my number plate has been cloned. The police know, I don't have to pay the fine, and I wrote to the DVLA. Stress! Thankfully my boyfriend's mum came over and sorted everything for me - very grateful!

Anyway, as I get on with more projects using the Kori Kumi goodies, here is something I made last week...

I like to think outside the box for different ways to use products instead of making just cards. One idea of mine was some ATCs (Artist Trading Cards. 2.5x3.5 inches. Super fun to make!). Stamped images look great on them, and if you're just learning some new techniques then a smaller make is so much easier to practice on.

I started out by cutting 4 ATCs from a sheet of Kori Kumi 8x8" paper. I ran around each edge with a craft knife and inked them with either red or blue ink.
I used the Kori Kumi apple embossing folder to emboss two of the ATCs and I went over one with a red ink pad to highlight the raised areas.
I stamped the images onto white cardstock, coloured them with watercolour pencils, cut them out and stuck them down.
The little tags on some of the cards are cut out from the packaging of the 8x8" paper pack.
I also stuck on some of the leafy ribbons - I love these, they're so unique and pretty.
As a finishing touch I added some machine stitching.

I hope to make more ATCs soon as I want to learn more about mixed media... Stay tuned.

Oh, and here's a little video showing you an unboxing of the new goodies I have been sent.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

York Mixed Media Layout

Hi all,

A new layout to share today using a picture I took of the River Ouse in York.

I don't normally like/use papers with a big, fussy background but with this I managed to get it to sit in the background rather than being the main focus of the picture. (If you want to find out more about the mixed media techniques I used for this layout then I've explained it a bit more in this post).

The paper is by Heidi Swapp 'September Skies' and the other papers and embellishments are My Mind's Eye 'Market Street'. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

Pink Paislee Fancy Free - 'Love You' Layout

Hey guys,

A layout to share today using the one of the 'Paige Kits' from the Pink Paislee Fancy Free collection designed by Paige Evans. I got it as part of a £15 bundle from Hobbycraft (they had other bundles too), there are 2 page kits, a set of large thickers, stickers and ephemera. If you want a closer look then there's an unboxing video here.

The picture I used is of Nathan and I at the weekend... we were just about to head out on a date to our favourite restaurant... Wagamama! He is too gorgeous for me, I know... anyway...

The 'Paige Kit' (as it says on the packaging - clever!) includes a 12x12" sheet of printed paper, a large die cut piece, 3D foam and a sheet of die cuts. These are great, more companies should sell these or just packs of large die cut geometric patterns... I'd buy them all, large die cuts are such fun to work with and as I've said before, Silhouette Cameos are eye wateringly expensive...

I wanted to do something a bit different with this kit rather than just copy what is on the packaging so I set up the sewing machine with some silver thread. The trick with this is to set the tension to 0 and it should go through without tearing the thread. (I only found this out when I was nearly done!) My little tag here is a bit wonky but once I thought to change the tension it stitched through the acetate just fine.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

Things To Alter Guest DT - Wild & Free Butterfly Layout

Hi all,

Here is my project I made for the Things To Alter guest DT. Sadly there will be no guest DT after this as the owner is concentrating on her shop, but thankfully I had the opportunity to design for the team once again for the final guest DT post.

I did have a really cool idea for my project but after a few days of working on it, it was Not Very Good. Don't worry, I haven't thrown it away, it's just waiting for me to have more mixed media practice before I have another go. 

Instead, I made a layout using MDF butterflies, masks and a frame with little circles on it.

To start with I took a strip of white cardstock, about half the width of A4 and used two MDF masks as stencils and sprayed purple and fuchsia ink through them (I covered the rest of the paper with scraps).
The butterflies are painted with Distress Paint in Picked Raspberry and then I found some cool purple... I don't know what to call it, I think it was packaging from a gift that I had saved and I stuck it to the back of the butterflies and cut around it.
The background paper is Heidi Swapp 'Wanderlust' and there is also a strip of Pink Paislee 'Take Me Away' paper on there too.

Thanks for stopping by and thank you to Jac at Things To Alter for the opportunity and for the lovely goodies I was sent.

Emily xx

Hobbycraft Haul September 2016 inc Pink Paislee Fancy Free Bundle

Craft Consortium Santoro Kori Kumi Cards!

Hi all,

So you may recall a week or so ago, I posted a video announcing that I was accepted onto the Craft Consortium design team. I went through what I had been sent in my first kit and if you haven't seen that video then you can check it out here.

The following Monday I made three cards and sent them off to CC... there was a show on Hochanda the following Monday evening (September 12th) and some samples were needed.... Very exciting stuff and I didn't want to miss out....

So on Monday evening I turned on my TV... and my cards were on there! All three were used in a slideshow and then the presenter showed one of them too.

Here are the cards I made for the show and a little more about how I made them.

I'll admit I spent a few days dithering about what I wanted to make but I took a step back and did what I do best - layering and some machine stitching.

The decoupage in the Kori Kumi collection is quite large but they look great as a centrepiece for a 6x6" card.

But if you want to do a smaller card like this then why not leave out the bottom layer of decoupage and use something else like this embossed piece of textured cardstock. (The apple embossing folder is part of this collection)

This one has a hint of glitter - I used glitter glue on her skirt and on the hearts. I also used Papermania glitter pens on the wood veneer and to outline bits of the card - you know I love a bit of sparkle!

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

You Are My Universe Scrapbook Layout

Hi all,

I have a new layout to share today combining old stash with new. It all started when I was going through my little boxes of ephemera (I used to be obsessed with buying packs of die cuts...) and I just sorted through it and told myself I would use it up. One of the sets was an astronomy themed pack (I can't remember what brand or what collection) which I loved but never really used as I never had the right picture to scrap with.... 

Until my birthday when I took this picture of Nathan in the museum gardens in York... a human sundial! Basically there's a slab in the centre with different months on, you stand on what month it is and then your shadow tells you what time it is. I was fascinated....

I started of by using the packaging technique onto some paper by Papermania (Mr Smith's Workshop). It's got a nice warm silvery wood effect and I thought it was pretty. 

The papers I used behind the photo are from the We R Memory Keepers 'Urban Chic' 6x6" pad and they went great with the ephemera I was using. 

Layouts like these are super easy to make (hence why I used to buy loads and loads of ephemera packs!) and it's fun to arrange the elements how you like it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

The Buzz Word - Mixed Media Layout

Hi all,

I finally finished a layout that has been sitting around for about a month because I didn't know what to use for the title.

But today I've been making some things, finishing stuff off and I finally came up with.... The Buzz Word...! I thought it was cool, anyway... 

I took the picture of the bee on my parents' Spirea(sp?) plant and I spent some time playing around with my camera settings to get the perfect shot...

I started off by cutting down a sheet of 12x12" plain white cardstock by a couple of centimetres each side.

I scribbled down the page with a pink gelato and smudged it with my finger.

I took a hexagon stencil and sprayed through it with Dylusions spray in Funky Fuchsia. Once I had sprayed the ink I flipped the stencil over and 'stamped' the reverse around the page. 

The flowers and leaves are from dies by Xcut. The leaves are created by using the packaging technique on some scrap white cardstock with green inks. Instead of fiddling around with tape, I stuck the die cut leaves onto this with matte medium. This worked really well because they gave the leaves a cool shiny texture, a bit like real leaves. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

Pattern Stamping

Hi all,

I spent Monday making up samples for Craft Consortium for their Hochanda shows next week (starting Monday 8pm!) and then at the weekend/yesterday I have been working on a guest design project that doesn't want to work no matter how hard I try so today I will try something different instead.
Meanwhile, here's something I made a while back, a card using pattern stamping, inspired by this video by Jennifer McGuire.

For this I used the Folk Floral stamps by docrafts and also the wooden postcard that came free with Creativity magazine a couple months ago. I don't like the docrafts stamps at all, they never want to stamp properly! I like a nice crisp image and these are all a bit faint... 

I traced the oval shape in the centre of the postcard onto cardstock and cut it out.

I arranged the stamps in a pattern around the oval shape and stamped it, then turned the block upside down and stamped on the lower half of the card.

I coloured the postcard with Artiste watercolour markers and stuck it to the stamped piece of cardstock and then stuck it to a 6x6" card blank using 3D foam dots.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

Exciting News!

Hi all, 

I don't normally post on Sundays but I had some super news last week and I am allowed to tell the world, so here goes...!

Thanks for watching!
Emily xx

Malaga Layout

Hi all,

Had a very weird week... I have some very good news to share at some point!.. maybe next week!

But it also involved a major dilemma so my mojo took a bit of a knock. I've a mixed media project on the go now though and some things I need to make regarding the 'very good news' so I have to delve into the Bank of Awesome Makes I Haven't Shared Yet for today's blog post.

Today I'm going to share a layout I made using pictures I took on a VERY rainy day in Malaga. I didn't take many pictures that day, it was so wet we had to abandon our visit when our shoes were so soaked and cold we couldn't take it any more! I would've bought a new pair as there were lots of nice shoe shops but they were the shoe shops where they have one on display and you have to ask for the other and I didn't know how to ask for the other or say '36' in Spanish, so... It was a nice city to wander around, with things we probably would have looked around had the weather been bearable, such as the Roman ruins. 

I made this layout using stickers and vellum from the Simple Stories 'True Stories' collection, the stickers and some wood veneers were in the clearance section in Hobbycraft and I loved the colours and designs so they fell into my basket... The title is from a set by Bella Blvd and I just coloured it with Sharpies to match the rest of the layout. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

Scrapped! Sketch Challenge - September 2016 + Tour De Yorkshire Layout

Hi all,

Great news - the first Scrapped challenge has begun over on Facebook!

So if you're a card maker, scrapbooker or any other type of papercrafter, come play along with us!

Anything goes and our challenge this month is to be inspired by this sketch by DT member Michelle Gower

To play along and see what our DT made, head over to our Facebook page now! 

What are you waiting for? Get inspired!

Here is my first project I have made for the challenge and it uses pictures I took when the Tour De Yorkshire ended Day 1 right here in Doncaster. I've been waiting to make this layout for ages and the sketch we are using this month was perfect!

At the event there was a little fete(?) going on with lots of different stalls, food, emergency services giving out free stuff, and the Yorkshire Bank. There was so much going on on the day and me and my dad had a lot of fun looking around and taking in the atmosphere.

Here's a close up of all the embellishments I clustered in the middle. I had so much fun arranging them all and it looks so good!

Thanks for stopping by and I do hope you'll join in with our challenge - it's not just for scrapbookers, anyone can take part, you just need to make something following our sketch. It's just a bit of fun if your mojo has taken a hike!

Emily xx