I hope you are all enjoying some nice weather wherever you are today, the sun is shining here and it's nice to see it!

I have one more layout to show using the May kit, if you haven't got one already it's now sold out but you can still buy the papers and stickers separately here.

I used some of the square stickers from the sheet inlcluded in the kit combined with some squares of patterned  paper and then made some bunting with the triangular stickers. The flowers were plain white which I coloured with scattered straw Distress Ink.

I also made a birthday card with the kit, I punched the butterflies from some different papers and then layered them up. The stickers behind the butterflies were also from the kit.

More from the May Kit...

I'm back with another layout to share from the May kit. This layout features a photo of my Dad and my Uncle enjoying a trip to the beach when they were young boys. I think you can tell from their grins they must have been having a great time digging in the sand!

I only used a little bit of the patterned paper on this layout and added some of the Teresa Collins die-cuts that came in the kit. I coloured some white foam letter stickers with ink to change their colour for my title, a technique I saw in a recent edition of Scrap365.

Lily Bee also has some other lovely new ranges out at the moment which you can check out in the shop.

May Kit

It's kit time again (where does the time go?) and this month the kit contains papers from Lily Bee in pretty spring-like colours - blues, yellows and soft greys as well as some coordinating stickers and die-cuts from Teresa Collins. This is my first layout with the kit, the photo is my niece dressed up as an explorer (sadly I can't take credit for the lovely photo it was taken by a talented friend of my sister).

I had fun working out how to construct the folded chevrons/zig-zags for my page, I was pleased at how they turned out and they add dimension without being too bulky. I also used some zig-zags cut from card as a mask before spraying over some glimmer mists.

March Kit

If you haven't seen it yet the March kit contains a lovely mix of papers from MME's Miss Caroline collection. I realy like the wood effect papers as a background for layout, so for this one I used the paper with the printed cluster of flowers in the corner and designd my layout around that.

I used some white embroidery thread to stitch around the edge of my circle and to add a flourish. The letter stickers are from Echo Park.

I also made a quick birthday card using a some scraps of papers and some plain black card.

There are still kits available to buy in the shop if you would like to try one, and if you would like to get a kit sent to you every month I see that Sandra has subscriptions available at the moment....

Sorry Clare ... jumping in again, on your post :) .... just to say that the April kit, will be on sale - Wednesday 11th.

New from Echo Park......

You may have noticed that Sandra has been uploading lots of newly released papers and other goodies in the shop over the last couple of weeks. Amongst many things that have caught my eye were some papers from Echo Park called This and That, so I have been using  papers from the Graceful collection to make a layout and card.

I have used several of the patterened papers on the layout along with some of the matching brads, chipboard pieces and stickers.

I love the green and pink colour combination so I also made a birthday card, the bird cage came from the sticker sheet and I cut a little bird from patterned paper to perch on the outside.

 

Although there is a lot of pink in the papers there are also some more neutral colours so I think they could work with a slightly more masculine page too, watch this space!

Not Just for Girls.....

The February kit was full of lots of pretty papers and I have to say all of my layouts made with it up until to now have featured my daughter and have been very feminine and soft. Being that I have a son as well I decided to see if I could use the papers in a masculine way to scrap a photo of him, so I teamed the Echo Park papers from the kit with some extra  kraft card to make this layout.

I used the sides of the papers that featured the geometric patterns, and the 'starburst' design on the layout was inspired by this project that I saw on 2 Peas recently. The letter stickers are Thickers from American Crafts. Despite the temptation to add a couple of flowers I went for some banner type embellishments instead!

Cards vs. Layouts

Which do you do make first when you get a kit? Even though I love making both I probably go for layouts first and then see what I've got left over afterwards to make cards.

So following on from my layouts using the February kit I have some cards to share as well. For the first one I used one of the Glitz Design Whatnots from the kit with a pretty rose design, trimmed around it and then mounted it onto some card. I added texture to the white backing card with an embossing folder before colouring it with Distress Inks.

The next card I've already shared on the Gottacraft Facebook page, its a mix of pretty greys and greens and uses another one of the Glitz Design Whatnots. I used some plastic packaging for the centre of the frame which I embossed first.

This next card is quite simple, just some punched circles and a bit of patterned paper and finished off with some layered flowers. These were cut from plain card and then spritzed with some glimmer mists before adding some buttons from the kit to the centres. All I added was some kraft card from my own stash.

The last card is made up with some squares of the Echo Park papers left from the kit (there's not much of mine left now!) I added some sparkly vellum and used some punches to make a quick Anniversary card - I like to keep a couple of these at hand for those last minute panics!

I hope these cards give you some inspiration for ways to use the kit, let us see what you've created if you have been busy with your kits too. Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Valentine's Day....

If you like papers with a touch of romance then the February kit will be right up your street. This month it features patterned papers from Glitz Design's Beautiful Dreamer and Echo Park Upscale. As usual Sandra has added lots of co-ordinating embellies including amongst other things some Glitz Design Whotnots, an alphabet sheet and some pretty lace.

The little letter stickers are from Authentique as are the phrase stickers which are underneath my rosettes.

 

As we've seen some fantastic layouts recently from you using the monthly kits we'd love to see what you make from the kit this month......

I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far, hopefully tucked up in the warm somewhere....

I was cutting out some journalling shapes the other day on my Cameo and when I had removed them all from the card it occurred to me that maybe I could use the bit left behind on a layout. So armed with some pretty papers from the Authentique Gathering range I set about filling the gaps with papers and photos. As I only needed very tiny pictures I printed some small photos using the mosaic function on Picasa.

Some of the photos and papers are adhered directly to the frames and the others I stuck to the base paper to add a different dimension. Behind the whole thing is a lot of foam tape!

I cut my title from kraft card using my cutting machine and added some journalling printed onto small strips of paper. If you don't have a cutting machine you could do something similar with a circle cutter (or a craft knife and a steady hand) which would look good too.

Flutterbys Card

I hope everyone had a good weekend, it certainly wasn't the best weather but a good excuse to stay inside and craft!

Following on from my layout that I posted last week I have made a quick card using some more of the Flutterbys from American Crafts. I have used them as a border at the top and bottom of the card, raising them up on foam pads to add dimension.  The rest of the card was put together with scraps of patterned paper and some flower punches.

Don't forget to leave a comment on Emma's post from the 20th Jan for a chance to win some, you have until the end of the week...

A packet of the Flutterbys from American Crafts came fluttering my way last week and I couldn't wait to add them to a layout of my DD (this is one of my favourite photos of her when she was little). I decided to add some glitter to the edges of each butterfly and then attached each one separately with a glue dot behind so they stayed securely in place. The papers are from Fancy Pants Love Story. I cut the heart envelope on my Craft Robo using a file from the Silhouette store.

The flowers were die-cut from plain white card using a Tim Holtz die and then spritzed with several different glimmer mists, scrunched up and when dry I layered them up and finished with more glitter.

Don't forget the draw for a packet of Flutterbys on the post below, just become a follower of the blog if you're not already and then add your comment with your suggestion of a design you'd like to see.....

Using up those scraps....

I'm sure most people reading this are probably the same as me when it comes to throwing away those little scraps of pretty papers - I just have to keep them! Occasionally I feel the need to try and use them and for these scraps I had left over from Authentique's Blissful 6x6 papers I decided to make a patchwork effect background for my card. I cut a circle from scrap paper, covered it in glue and then stuck my scraps on randomly (making sure they were all cut with right-angled corners so they lined up) When I had covered the entire circle I turned it over and trimmed back the overhanging edges, and then added some faux zig-zag stitching with a black fine line pen.

I made some flowers to embellish the card using plain card spritzed with glimmer mists layered with more of the paper scraps.

Thanks for stopping by.

October Kit - Pink Paislee Phantom

This month's kit is filled with lots of lovely Pink Paislee Phantom - perfect to get your Halloween photos scrapped or maybe make a mini album? I love the glittery orange alphabet that comes with the kit and there are lots of letters on there to keep you going!

This is my mini album, I based the design on one I saw here and as you can see there are lots of pages to decorate, here are just a few of them here -

 I tied the whole album up and secured it with the ribbon that comes in the kit, I used some black Distress Ink to make it darker.

You will find that the papers are quite versatile and they also work fantastically with your non-Halloween layouts and cards too. Most of the papers have some glazing on them, making them feel very luxurious!

To see another card and a layout created with the kit you can check out the Gottacraft Facebook page here.

Crate is Great!

The lastest monthly kit from the shop featured papers the Farmhouse paper range from Crate Paper. The kit has now sold out but Sandra has the papers available singly as well as a cute 6x6 pad. I've made a couple of projects using the 6x6 papers, which are mini versions of the bigger papers.

On my layout I used some of the papers as a mat for my photo and some smaller squares and a punched strip raised up on scrap card to frame the edges.

I made the flowers by folding up strips of paper concertina style and then finished them off with a button. I used pinking shears on the outer edge first to give a frilly edge.

To embellish my card I made some flowers using a Tim Holtz dies, they were cut from cream card and then sprayed with glimmer mists before finishing them off with an adhesive pearl. The Happy Birthday stamp is one I've had for ages, I stamped it using Distress Ink in Fired Brick which was the perfect match for the red and orange tones of the papers and the flowers.

Very Victorian.....

Echo Park have brought out another lovely range of papers called Victorian Gardens. The papers are fresh, bright and summery - perfect for those summer photos....

With a background of kraft Bazzill (something I can't live without!) I have used lots of different papers on my layout and used punches and die-cutting on them along with a Tim Holtz die for my layered flowers. There is also a sticker sheet and journalling tag sheet available for the finishing touches.

I used the same die but in a different way for the flowers on my card, I cut them from plain cream card and then coloured them with glimmer mists, scrunched them up and then layered them up when they were dry and finishing off with a pearl. The bird and cage are another Tim Holtz die, again coloured with glimmer mists.

You can check out the Gottacraft Facebook page for more ideas and inspiration with this range here.

Thanks for stopping by, Clare x

A little more Authentique

I hope everyone is looking forward to the weekend, maybe even with some scrapping time planned? (I know that's my plan!)

Following on from Sian's pretty layout I have also been busy with some of the new Authentique papers from the Blissful pad and this is what I've come up with.

By coincidence I have also made a background grid of the papers on my layout like Sian, there are plenty of different patterns in the pad to mix and match. I die-cut some flowers from plain card, scrunched them up a bit and then distressed them with Tim Holtz inks (I used Scattered Straw and Tea Die on mine) I then layered them up and added buttons to the centres. I also die-cut the little bird and cage from some of the papers and finished off with a mist of some glimmer mists that toned with the papers.

My other project is a card, made using the Uncommon pad. This card is definitely quite girly - but I do love a bit of pink!

It was a quick card to put together, I cut one of the papers into 3 for my background and then die cut some scallop circles and punched some flowers that I then layered up and glittered before adding Prima pearls to the centres. I finished it by adding a ribbon and a stampted sentiment.

 

Have a great weekend x

Out With the Old

When I get new papers I'm happy to dive straight in with the scissors and start chopping away but after that initial enthusiasm I will ususally put the rest of the papers neatly away and move on to the next exciting arrival! So every now and then I make a point of digging out papers I've had for a while and make something. So this weekend with that in mind I dug out the lovely Glitz Design Hoopla papers that came in a kit back in November (the papers are still available singly if here you missed out on the kit).

I added letters, ribbon, gems and buttons from my own stash, and used smaller bits of paper to make the flowers and the paper ruffle under my circle (thanks to Sian for the inspiration/method for making these!)

So for those of you who have half-used kits lurking in the back of the cupboard, how about digging them out and getting them used up? As a bonus I think you can definitely justify buying more new stuff if you've used up the old!!

Ok ... sorry to butt into your post Clare ... but as I adore this gorgeous layout, and if you guys want to play along - Glitz Hoopla goodies are now our weekly special and until Sunday 3rd July - you'll find them with a yummy 50% off :)

Girls Paperie

Girls Paperie have brought out some lovely ranges of papers and embellishments recently which you can find in the shop here. The ranges have a pretty vintage feel to them and they mix and match really well.

I've been busy with some of the papers, die-cut embellishments and stickers and came up with this layout.

I really like using kraft Bazzill as a background as it provides a neutral backdrop to patterned papers, and on this layout I also punched some strips from it to add to my page. I inked the edges of my papers with Distress ink  to add definition.

The flowers were made using some of the die-cut shapes from the Crafting Kit along with some other flowers cut from pages of an old book. I used the die-cuts as a template, inked the edges, scrunched them up and then layered them up before finishing off with a button from the kit and an adhesive pearl.

If you get hold of some (or all!) of the ranges on offer we would love to see what you have created with them.

Thanks for stopping by, Clare x

April Kit Ideas

Well, I could hardly just leave you hanging on with that little sneaky peek, could I ... so here is the full and gorgeous layout from Clare, using the April's kit



More Prima.....

Following on from my last post here are a couple more layouts made with papers from the lovely Botanical, Madeline and Reflections ranges from Prima.

A lot of the Prima papers are crying out to be cut to make frames and that's exactly what I did with this layout using the Beloved paper from the Botanical range. I backed the whole thing with some Bazzill kraft card and then matted and layered in the centre with various papers and some pink Bazzill.

For my flower embellishments I punched some retro flowers from offcuts of the papers in 2 sizes, sprayed them with some water and then 'scrunched' them up a bit. When they were dry I chalked the edges of the petals. Sandra has a lovely selection of Prima bling in the shop, I used them for both the centres of the flowers and also for the swirl on the right hand side.

The second layout uses the Sweetheart paper from the Botanical range, I cut the centre out of it and backed it with the centre of the Beloved paper from the other layout. I distressed the edges of the 'aperture' by folding them over, letting them tear a little and then using some distress ink to finish off.

I then die-cut some swirls and punched some butterflies and added them to the page along with some rolled paper roses inked with distress ink and finished in the centres with Prima pearls.

I hope this gives you some inspiration for using the Prima Papers, they mix and match so well and if you grab yourself a little collection from the shop you won't be disappointed!