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

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!

New Prima Papers

Prima always produce beautiful papers and the new ranges stocked in the shop are no exception. I have been busy with some papers from their Madeline, Reflections and Botanical ranges. First is this layout, the colours and patterns in the papers are so soft and delicate, perfect for girly layouts.

I added some flowers made from the patterned papers along with some punched butterflies and a bird cage cut on my Craft Robo (you can download the cutting file here which is also suitable for Silhouette machines).


I also made this birthday card with the papers, with some more curled paper flowers and a Prima brad and some ribbon from my stash to finish it off.

 

 Thanks for stopping by, have a great weekend x

Motivation to scrap part 2

Morning all. Yesterday I started you off with a few tips to get you motivated to scrap. Today I am going to talk about composition. Now I am no artist or graphic designer, but I think I know what looks good on a layout and what maybe could look better.  Not every layout I do is anywhere near perfect, and sometimes you have to have the courage to stop, walk away from your project for 20 minutes or more and then return and either start again or look at the layout with a fresh pair of eyes and remove, add or move elements.

Today's layout is a case in point. It started off very differently, but I think this was the best I could do. I love using plain cardstock as a base for my layouts as sometimes I find that a busy patterned paper just throws me and my layout idea due to its busyness. A way around this is to literally start with a blank canvas. I chose a piece of the lovely Songbird paper from Prima. I tried several ideas for layouts on the beautiful paper on the other side, but in the end I plumped for the grey plain side. This meant that I was in control of the layout, not the paper. Here is the layout

 You can see that I have chosen to position the photo to the left and then added paper elements that are the same width and length. The symmetrical appearance is pleasing to the eye. I have added a shocking pink ruffle ribbon in the centre to draw the eye's attention to both the photo and the journalling. I have added some Prima paper to the bottom which contains some more pink to tie the elements together. You will see that I have used pink fabric Thickers to correspond to the other pink elements on the page. I have punched a small butterfly to add to the top corner of the photo and added a pearl which relates to the pearl border underneath the journalling. You will also notice the pearls around the date. All of these similar elements tie the layout together and lead your eye from the top left to the middle and then the top right. This is how we read and why I think this composition works.

I thought I would recap on the tips I have given you so far about how to motivate you to scrap successfully and enjoy it once again:

1. Try using black and white or sepia toned photos.

2. Try to compose your layouts in a symmetrical way as this is simple technique to start with and pleasing to the eye. Have a look at this other layout I did to see what I mean.

3. If you are using a colour photo, pick out one or two of the colours and use those to help you choose your patterned papers and embellishments.

4. Try using plain cardstock as a base rather than patterned paper - that way you can control the layout. Kraft, black, white, cream and grey are great bases.

5. Use the same or similar accents across your layouts in order to tie all of the elements together.

You can get the vast majority of the papers and embellishments that I use from Gotta Craft. Here is the sketch that I had in my mind when trying to create the layout today.

 

I would love to hear what you think about any of the tips I have given so far or anything you may be struggling with that I or the DT be able to help you with. Back tomorrow with another layout that will help with colour choices and adding dimensional elements.

Hello everyone. All over blog and forum land I am reading about people losing their impetus to create layouts, finish them and be happy with them. I really understand this frustration - you can sit staring at your stash for what seems like hours and nothing seems to jump out at you. You look through magazines and blogs and feel even more down about the fact that you think you will never be able to re-create what you see. Even when you start to scrap and stick your elements down, you realise that you don't like your layout and decide that what will help you is to go out and buy more stash, which if you are honest with yourself, will just get stored away until your mojo returns. 

We have all been there or are there now. The answer is not to go out and spend hundreds of pounds on every Prima flower just released or 50 sheets of patterned paper with all the matching accessories. You will never use these things unless you address why you feel you can't start or finish a layout that you are happy with. I feel I can say this because this is exactly how I felt and what I did until recently. I thought I would share some top tips with you this week to get you motivated to scrap. I will obviously include layouts that I have completed following that day's tip. I thought I would show you what I do to get myself going. I try to think about 3 or 4 layouts at a time. I gather up all of the elements I like and think will complement my photo or patterned paper I want to use and place them near each other on my table.

Okay, so today's tip to get your mojo kick started is to print your photos out in various sizes and in black and white only. If you haven't done this before you will be amazed how much easier the whole process of laying out all of your elements can become. By using black and white or sepia even, you will not have the difficulty of matching colour elements in your photo to patterned paper that you don't own. That said, if you do love colour photos then select a key colour from the photo and use that as your starting point for selecting colours of your cardstock and papers. Here is my layout for today:

 

 This paper is from the Prima Melody collection and has a lovely frame which is a great starting point to help you arrange the elements on your page. I have selected an 8x6 photo which will ensure that it is the main element on my page. I wanted to frame the picture so I used some coordinating Prima flowers and then some AC ruffle ribbon. I have added some large pearl brads and Prima pebbles. You can see that all the elements on the page coordinate and have a 'relationship' with each other. The frame I have made with the flowers and butterfly leads the eye around the page and the rub ons (Lily Bee) provide some balance to the layout as a whole. There is no real journalling on this page but I don't think it's necessary here. The photo says it all. I'll be back tomorrow with tips on composition and dimension.  Here is the sketch I had in my mind when I was creating this simple layout. If you want to see some more examples of my layouts then hop pver to my blog for some ideas.

 

Pretty Prima Papers

Prima have some gorgeous papers and I've used two different ranges for my two layouts. The first one uses papers from the 'Indeed' range, my base paper has an image on an ornate gate on it which I cut around with a craft knife so I could slip my photos underneath it. I then used some Prima Flowers to embellish the page, layering them up with punched flowers to give more dimension.

 The second layout uses papers from the 'Animal Bash' range (apologies for the quality of the photo - there was no daylight today to allow a half decent photo!)

The flowers are really simple to make, they start off as simple circles of paper which you distress a little, spray with water, scrunch up and then flatten out before sticking together. I also inked the edges with a little Tim Holtz distress ink.

Thanks for stopping by.
Clare x

More inspiration...

Welcome to the weekend, I hope everyone has got something nice in store, whether it's chilling on the sofa, a nice walk in the fresh air or some retail therapy! If you haven't already you will want to check out the sale, there are lots of amazing prices there so a good time to stock up. Here are a couple more projects, the first is a layout, using Fancy Pants 'On a Whimsy' These papers are great as some of  them already have a pretty background on them which make a good basis for your layout.

This card uses the same papers (the more muted back of the papers) along with some pretty Flower Stickers from Me and My Big Ideas. I love working with stickers but to make my life easier I like to stick them onto some thin card or paper first which means I can play around with then design and also I can add foam pads for a bit of height which is what I did with some of the flowers on my card. To finish off I used some Liquid Pearls to add some random swirls amongst the flowers, and some pearls to finish off the centres of some of the flowers.

I hope these projects give you some inspiration, I'll be back soon with more!

Clare x

All Gone

I can't say it enough! I'm so sorry - the kit sold out in record time tonight.  So next month, I'm going to try my best and do double the number for those who have missed out. 

I'm going to have to show you though the amazing layout Sian created with the papers, it really is beautiful