Spring Has Sprung || Scrapbook Layout || Dovecraft Blooming Lovely

Hi all,

I have a layout to share today using a photo of the gorgeous flowers in the Museum Gardens in York. I took my boyfriend's new camera and it takes brilliant shots and I love it. I only use my own camera now for project photography. 

I used the Dovecraft 'Blooming Lovely' collection to make this layout and here is a step by step guide:

1. Stick an 8x8” sheet of patterned paper in the centre of a 12x12” sheet of patterned paper.
2. Cut a 7” square of vellum and stick in the centre of the 8x8” sheet.
3. Print a photograph and mount twice.
4. Cut a wooden frame in half. Stick one half behind the top right of the photograph and stick the other half on the left side of the 8x8” sheet.
5. Cut  a coloured doily in half. Stick one behind the top right of the photograph and one behind the bottom left.
6. Cut a length of washi tape just wider than the 8x8” sheet and stick towards the bottom of the 8x8” sheet.
7. Cut adhesive banners in half and stick on the left and right of the tape.
8. Add a length of ribbon above the left side of the tape.
9. Stick down your mounted photograph on the right side of the layout.
10. Stamp ‘Spring Has Sprung’ onto white cardstock, cut out and stick behind a wooden frame. Fill in the gaps with patterned paper and washi tape. Stick on the bottom left of the photograph.
11. Add a line of buttons along the still visible parts of the washi tape.  
12. Add floral stickers, die cut butterflies and flowers to finish off the layout.

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily xx

Spring || 8x8" Scrapbook Layout || Dovecraft Painted Blooms

Hi all,

Spring is in full swing now, I am obsessed with taking pictures of all the gorgeous flowers in our village. There's something so uplifting about the yellows and purples, even under a cloudy sky.

Here is some inspiration for those of you who are 8x8" scrappers. I loved 8x8" scrapbooking when I first started out, the smaller size is less imposing and you can put together a page in less than half an hour, so it's great if you don't have as much time to craft.

This layout uses the Dovecraft 'Painted Blooms' collection by Trimcraft and you can find step by step instructions on my Trimcraft gallery (link)

(Top tip, little easels are fantastic for photographing smaller layouts and you can pick them up from The Works)

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

Spring || Scrapbook Layout || Dovecraft Painted Blooms

Hi all,

I have a layout to share using the Dovecraft Painted Blooms collection from Trimcraft.

When I first saw the floral stamps (before I got my mitts on them) I knew I wanted to make a layout stamping them over coloured watercolour patches....

Here it is!

When I got my hands on the stamps, this project was the first thing I tried but it took three attempts to get right. The first time, I used cardstock that absorbed the water too well and the second time I used too much paint and the result was a brightly coloured Kandinsky-inspired mess.

Fast forward a couple weeks I had another go. Initially I started out using my 'Artiste' watercolour markers I have from my Docrafts days but a few circles in they decided to stop giving out ink. Instead, I bravely got my Reeves watercolour tubes out and squeezed a tiny bit of my chosen colours onto my clear acrylic block. I painted a circle of water and then dropped in a tiny bit of the paint for each circle. The paint spreads out into the wet area but you can help it along with a brush if you like. Once it was all completely dry I added the stamping.

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

Love Always Scrapbook Layout

Hi all,

A new layout to share today.

Lately I've been using a lot of things I was sent through winning competitions etc. Not necessarily things I would have chosen myself but I enjoyed using them nonetheless. But sometimes, you have to treat yo'self and order some things you absolutely adore. I was browsing the Hey Little Magpie site last week and I placed an order. One of the collections I ordered from was the Love Always collection by Cocoa Vanilla Studio. They are my favourite scrapbooking brand and this collection is stunning. I got a cut apart sheet, a pack of die cut ephemera, a pack of little bits and bobs like buttons, sequins, bows, and then a cardstock sticker sheet.

I came up with this, using a selfie Nathan and I took at a posh family dinner last weekend.

I'm sure you're wondering...

Where the hell did she get that background?!

Well let me tell you... I painted it. 

I was just browsing on Facebook and I saw someone had done an art journal page with these huge flowers... so I had a go in my Moleskine and came up with this. I've learnt to always have a practise before doing something on a sheet of 12x12", I get so mad if I ruin a sheet! I scribbled purple gelato onto an acrylic block and picked it up with a wet brush and painted it, then drew in the middle with some pink gelato and went over the top with brush marker and my silver Sharpie. 

Great! I was so happy with how it turned out, so then I got a sheet of 12x12" and drew out the flowers properly. As you may know I'm a perfectionist so out came the compass and I drew circles where I wanted the flowers to be so the petals were even. In those areas I used the packaging technique with an aqua gelato (scribble onto packaging, use a wet brush). Once it dried I tried what I had done before with the purple and pink gelatos. 

You know what?

I absolutely hated it. (The aqua colour showed through the pink and purple and it was a mess! Even after going around it with my brush marker.)

So much so that I shut the door on it for the night, annoyed that I'd wasted a lovely smooth sheet of quality cardstock. 

But in the morning I tried something different. White and a little crimson acrylic paint, and then stripes of pure white down each petal. I love the colour and it looked pretty with the black brush marker. I spattered the centre of each with spray ink.

Once the paint dried I added some sequins, from the 'Life Is Beautiful' collection also by Cocoa Vanilla Studio.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

Daisy Cards!

Hi all,

I've made a couple of cards using the gorgeous daisy stamp that came free with the April issue of Craft Stamper.

The first one I took inspiration from the ideas for the stamp in the magazine.

The next one I thought was dire but my friend said it was lovely, so it was saved from the trash... maybe if I hadn't used the wood effect stamp...  It looks a lot better than it did and now I understand the technique of layering stamps I'm definitely going to have another go!

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

Cambridge Floral Stamped Layout

Hi all

Another project made using the docrafts Papermania Folk Floral collection.

In the spring we spent the day in Cambridge, and in a park were lots of flower beds, I couldn't resist photographing them.

The Folk Floral stamp set features lots of little flowers and leaves so you can arrange them however you wish on your clear block before stamping.

Then once stamped and the ink is dry, just colour in! Easy peasy.

To find out more, head over to the docrafts website where you can see a step by step guide (X) 

Thanks for stopping by!

Daffodils

Last week I treated myself to some stuff from Craftie-Charlie.. it arrived on Saturday and I'm so pleased. It's all stuff I've been uhm-ing and ahh-ing over for a while, particularly the Kaisercraft cherry blossom collection. ahhhhh.... 

Spent the morning on a page using a photo I took over the weekend of some daffodils along the main road in the sunshine. 

I've seen a lot of layouts on Pinterest that use frames, and as I'd just bought some, I used one with my daffodil photo. Another thing I've seen more of recently is painted backgrounds... I had a practice with my watercolours and thought it looked fab. I used heavier paper from a sketchbook so it didn't wrinkle when wet. I also recorded this in timelapse, and the video is at the bottom of this post. 

Products used:

-Reeves watercolour paint

-Recollections The Sweetest Thing paper

-DCWV coloured paper stack printed vellum frames and arrows

-Crate Paper chipboard frame

-My Mind's Eye 'Find Your Wings and Fly' layered stickers

-adhesive gems

-Webster's Pages stickers

-Grace Taylor die cut shapes

-American Craft thickers

-coloured ink pads

-E-Z rub ons 

-Papermania metallic butterflies

-coloured brads

Happy Monday! 

Spent my morning making this page. I had a picture of Nathan being silly that I really wanted to use... and some close ups of the flowers in the garden... I die cut the photos into circles (to look like bubbles) and layered them up. 

-Papermania Botanicals papers/Vintage Notes bloomers
-Xcut scalloped circle dies
-K&Co borders and tags
-brads, ribbon, iridescent gems, rose charms