Monday, 29 January 2024

Simple Stories Winter Wonder - Snow Much Fun

Hello, Karen here again. Today I have a scraplift  to share with you using the Winter Wonder collection from Simple Stories as well as a page from the Discover & Create Painted Backgrounds Paper Pad from Vicki Butin.

Inspiration for this layout was this gorgeous layout created recently by Jana Eubank. I was particularly drawn to the vertical collection of embellishments down the centre of the page.


For my layout I started with a sheet of paper from the Discover & Create Painted Backgrounds Paper Pad from Vicki Butin, which had a purple design on it. The Winter Wonder collection from Simple Stories doesn't have any purple in it, but as my daughter was wearing a purple coat in my photos, I thought the Background paper was perfect. I trimmed the paper down slightly and matted it onto a sheet of pale purple Bazzill cardstock to leave a narrow border all round the edge.


Inspired by Jana's layout, I layered papers from the Winter Wonder collection on top of the background.  Using a black gel pen I outlined all the papers as well as the background paper.


On to the papers I placed my two photos which were matted with white card and tucked a tag, cut from the tag elements paper behind one of the photos. The tag was tied with some black and white twine and the twine was secured in place with some wet adhesive.


Between the two photos I placed a couple of narrow strips of patterned paper to anchor the floral bits and pieces which I cascaded down the page. I chose pieces which were black, pink and green to co-ordinate with the papers used. There are 72 die cuts in the pack of bits and pieces so there were lots to choose from!


In my stash I found some wood veneer snowflakes and stars and added these on top of and around the die cuts.


Letters die cut from a scrap of black cardstock were used for the title placed beneath one of the photos.


The date, cut from more black cardstock, was added at the bottom of the layout.


I finished the layout by scattered a few sequins from Picket Fence Studios here and there.

I hope you like this layout. I'm loving the Winter Wonder collection and will be back again soon with another layout to give you ideas for your own scrapbooking. Winter Wonder can be found here.

Take Care
Karen x x


Friday, 26 January 2024

Enjoy Yourself - Mintay Papers - The Great Outdoors Collection

Hello everyone, Rebecca with you today. I hope you've all had a good week and have lots of scrappy fun planned for the weekend. I managed to escape to my craft room for a bit this week and have created another layout with Mintay Papers' 'The Great Outdoors' collection. You can find the collection in the shop here.



For this layout, I began by cutting different sized hexagons from several of the patterned papers. After distressing the edges using my scissors, I layered them up, trying to pair a patterned paper with a more solid paper. I arranged them on the page, and added my hexagon shaped photo to the left, with a couple of patterned papers behind it. 



Using the Paper Die Cuts, I embellished the layout creating small clusters around the edges of the hexagons. I've placed foam pads behind the die cuts so that I could create some dimension on the page.



I felt like the background needing something, but I didn't want to add lots of mixed media and lose the definition of the hexagons, so I decided to add some stencilling. I selected some tree stencils from my stash, and a Distress Oxide Ink Pad in the shade 'Rustic Wilderness'. Using a blending brush, I added the colour through the stencils. I stencilled the trees overlapping and varied how hard I pressed the ink through the stencil to help create lots of depth. 



For my title. I've used an acrylic perspextive from my stash, and finished the layout off with the addition of some wooden stars.



I hope you've enjoyed the layouts I've created with this collection, and it's inspired you to try something new this year!



Thanks for reading.

Rebecca x
@preciouspagespapercraft

Wednesday, 24 January 2024

Echo Park - Winterland - Frosty Fun Together

Hello there,

Claire back with you today sharing my second layout with the Echo Park Winterland collection. You can find this beautiful collection in the shop here.



As I mentioned in my last post, I am in love with these beautiful patterned papers and colours in this collection so again I have gone for a full patterned paper background.

I absolutely loved the Snow Place Plaid paper and wanted this to make up the bulk of my page. I found two snowy pictures from a trip to Japan I took last February to an Igloo playground and cut them into circles and backed them with the Welcome Winter patterned paper.



To create a fun background, I used a cutfile to create several snowflakes, resizing from about 2" - 3.5" and cutting in several papers. I used the blue and green Bazzill cardstocks from the Matchmaker Pack and the pink b side of the Happy Polar Bears paper.

To create depth, I glued down just the centre of each snowflake, meaning once dry, I could lift the edges to create extra dimension and movement.

Once these were in place, stretching across the page, I added my photos, raising on foam to create separation.

I reached for the Element Stickers to add some fun clusters across the design. The Polar bear, wolf, trees and snowman are all from this sheet and I still have so many left! It's a great value item that'll take you through several scrapbook pages and more!



To add more depth and give the feel of ephemera, I raised each of these on foam. This also made them easier to move around the page, only removing the backing once I was happy with their final position.



I also used three snowflakes, again raising on foam and adhering them in amongst the snowflake cluster.



For that bit of extra sparkle, I applied some Nuvo Glitter Drops in White Blizzard throughout the page, and some iridescent glitter to the centre of the snowflakes.

At this point, I wanted to add some more contrast. I decided to tear off a small strip at the bottom of the page and replace with the b side of the 3x4 Journaling Cards paper. The tree pattern reminds me of the woods which fits the location of our photos, and it echos the blue tones on our clothes.  I ran some more Nuvo Glitter Drops along the torn edge and curled the edge slightly for a bit of extra texture.

The title has been created with the It's Better Together Mini Puffy Alpha. It's the perfect alpha for this collection - the colours compliment this collection so well!



My finishing touch was to add snowballs, adhered with some Distress Collage Medium and a few sequins from my stash. This medium is awesome for adhering those small fiddly bits to your page. It's been a real game changer to my scrapping so I'd encourage you to give this a go.



I've absolutely LOVED using this collection. It's dreamy and really apt for those fun, wintery photos.

I hope you've found the layouts inspiring and look forward to seeing how you'll document your winter stories.

You can check out the full collection here.

See you next month.

Claire xx
@scrappysoulmate

Monday, 22 January 2024

Simple Stories - Boho Christmas ~ Be Merry 🎄

Hi! Happy New Year! 
It’s great to be back on the Papermaze blog for a new year. 
I’m still scrapping our festive fun though, so my page I’m sharing with you today uses Simple Stories Boho Christmas, which you can find in the shop here


To create this layout I began with a sheet of white 12x12 bazzill cardstock. I then tore a piece of ‘You Better Not Pout’ and adhered it to the right hand side of the page. 


I cut out a large circle of Kraft Cardstock. I ordered an 8x12 inch photo which was taken inside a wreath, so I fussy cut around the edge of the wreath in the picture and then placed the photo inside the Kraft circle. 


I fussy cut some florals from ‘Peace, Love and Joy’ and ‘Mistletoe Wishes’ and tucked them around the outside of my photo in clusters. 


I then picked some elements from the Cardstock Stickers including my ‘be merry’ title. 


To finish, I added a few of the sentiment stickers, stars, hearts and some enamel dots. 


Thanks so much for looking! 

See you again next month using a new collection. 

Anna 
X
 

Friday, 19 January 2024

January Papermaze Kit - Part 1

 

Lynn here today, with a new kit for a new year! The January Papermaze Kit is now available in store. I have created four layouts with this kit of wintery, muted colours, here is the first pair I made.



Before looking at how the layouts were made, here are the details of what is inside the kit.


Patterned Papers: (image below shows both sides of the papers)
49 and Market - Moonlit Garden collection - Calming & Reflections
Simple Stories - Simple Vintage Essentials collection - Limited Edition
Echo Park - Wedding Bells collection - Precious Peonies
Pinkfresh Studios - Holiday Dreams collection - Under the Tree
Vicki Boutin - Discover + Create collection - Nonfiction


Bazzill Basics - Lagoon & Touch of Pink (included in the kit). Almond Cream, Date Swirl, Avalanche and Dark Olive.


Embellishments: 1 Prima flower, 6 Tim Holtz number strips ephemera, Tim Holtz number token, 12" Lace, 3 heart enamel stickers, 2 Vicki Boutin chipboard frames, selection of simple Stories foam stickers and 6 - 49 & Market chipboard words.


Disney on Ice - My nephew and his family at the O2 last month.


This layout started by stencilling onto the Avalanche Bazzill, I used two Tim Holtz Layering Stencils THS003 Rays and THS170 Spellbound and Three shades of Distress Oxide Ink (Weathered Wood, Iced Spruce and Speckled Egg).  I outlined the rays with a very fine black marker pen.



With the Holiday Dreams paper, I tore two strips across the paper, one approx. 2 1/2" deep, with the snowflake side up, was placed over the other, which was a little deeper, with the grid side up. I inked the edges of these papers. These were then trimmed to 11.5" wide and placed across the centre of the layout.


I cut a Mickey Sketched Head using a cutfile (Disney Creative Co.) and the Date Swirl Bazzill. This was placed at a slight angle in the centre of the page. I placed four small photos across the middle of the head.


For the title I used some alphabet stickers from my stash, Thickers Bonjour glitter chipboard letter stickers and Doodlebug Designs Inc. Alphabet Soup puffy letter stickers in Silver and Mint.



For embellishment I used the
3 heart enamel stickers from the kit together with sequins, pearls and gems from my stash. I also found a little Mickey paperclip in my stash.


Welcome to Our New Home - These photos take me back to the time when my sister and her family moved house.

With Avalanche Bazzill as the base for the layout, I flicked some weathered Wood Distress Oxide Spray over the Bazzill. Next, I added strips of paper cut from the remains of the 'Holiday Dreams' paper and both sides of the paper called 'Reflections', including the detail strip. These were layered up at the top and bottom of the layout leaving the centre free.



The two square photos were added to the centre of the page. Then with the Simple Stories Foam Word Stickers (included in the kit) I started the title with the words 'Home' and 'Welcome', I also used the house, hearts and flowers from this set to the page.



I finished off the title with some other stickers from my stash to spell out 'To Our New'. Then with some metallic letter stickers I aded the date below the title.



With some Baker's Twine and a Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Plaquette, which happened to be the number of the house! I tied the number to the lower part of the layout. I also looped an old key to the twine before sticking down.

That's all for today, I will be back with a pair of heritage layouts using this kit soon.
Thanks for looking
Lynn x

Thursday, 18 January 2024

First crop of 2024!

Our last crop was quite a few weeks ago, at the start of December, so I hope you are feeling creative and ready for the first crop of the year!


This month's kit has plenty of fussy cutting...



As always, we are at Otley Village Hall from 10am until 4pm with a selection of punches and dies for you to use, and a delicious range of home cooked cakes.  
Plus you can get the January sale 20% off in the shop this month!
Let me know if you would like to join us :)


Friday, 12 January 2024

Simple Stories Winter Wonder - 'Tis the Season to Sparkle

Hello, Karen here. Today I am sharing my first layout for 2024 and my first layout using the gorgeous Winter Wonder collection from Simple Stories. This collection is all about snow and is perfect for scrapbooking winter memories. The designs on the papers include snowmen, cups of hot drinks, snowflakes, snow boots, scarves, mittens, skis and much more. The collection includes  wonderful ephemera die cuts including some beautiful Floral Bits and Pieces which I've been using.

I started my layout by cutting a huge snowflake on the Silhouette Cameo from the centre of a 11.5" square of smooth white cardstock. The snowflake shaped hole was backed with a sheet of the Snow Happy Paper, which was slightly bigger than the white cardstock and left a narrow border round the edge, and then the whole layout was layered onto a 12" square sheet of dark kraft cardstock.

Using some silver metalic thread I machine stitched a straight stitch all the way round the edge of the white cardstock. My sewing machine really does not like metalic thread so this was a real labour of love.

I also stitch with the same silver thread round the outside of the snowflake and I choose to hand stich this due to the difficulty using the sewing machine. It took quite some time but I really like the end effect and it does make the finished layout sparkle.

Laying on my desk I had some kraft coloured cardstock snowflakes which were left over from making a few Christmas Cards last month. One fitted perfectly in the centre of the backed snowflake and so I decided to add this to the layout too.

My photo was printed with a white border and matted with some of the Snuggle Up paper. A piece of white pom pom trim from my stash was stuck to the bottom of the photo before the photo was added to the layout with 3D foam underneath.

Some of the Floral Bits & Pieces were tucked under the edges of the photo, specifically the green and peach coloured pieces.

In the top right corner of the layout I added some word strips cut from one of the 4x4 elements.

The date was added to the bottom of the layout using tiny alpha stickers from my stash.

Finally I scattered some silver sequins and some very, very old Card Candi around the layout.

I hope you like this layout. I enjoyed making it and am really enjoying using this new collection. I'll be back again soon with another layout but until then there will be plenty more inspiration from my talented team mates.

Take Care

Karen x x