Keep them coming

As you know, we're always asking for you to share with us your creations from the monthly kits or other goodies you've been tempted into .. well, a thank you to Jo, for these lovely layouts created with March's For the Record kit.

Thank you Jo very much ... but we'll want to see what you achieve with next months kit too :)

I'll be back later on in the week with more customer layouts to share with you.  These, however will be next on the shop site.

It's Just Scraps

So, it's nearly the end of the month. Have you finished up your kit yet? I have a few bits left:

 

and I've been thinking of ways to use up the scraps.

First, I pulled out a fresh sheet of white cardstock (next time I think I might need to order more matching colour - a great way to stretch your kit). Choose one photo only and cut narrow strips from what is left of your patterned paper, to the width of your picture.

Layer them up.

Add texture and interest to a simple design like this with stitching, punched shapes or what is left from that beautiful sticker sheet.

Finally, check for charm. It's the finishing touch. Look at your layout and see what there is about it to charm your viewer. Is there something to make them smile? Something to make them say "Ooh! Look!"? Add a special piece. Here I used a Bumpy Road punch to make the top of my page look like a frothy head of Guinness. Finished.

Made with the add-on

Ok, so the title on the layout says made with love ...but it was actually made with the add-on papers from March's kit

The story behind it; is that I really need to get a move on, if the goal I set myself for this year was to start and finish a quilt this year.

But I must say, that the kit really was one of my all time favs ... although saying that, I'm pretty much in love with April's kit :)

For the Record Layout

Well someone was quick of the mark, that's for sure.  Thank you Denise for sending this lovely layout over to me, for the blog and the site - it was created using March's For the Record kit .... of which only a very small number are left :) Its such a lovely layout - although I have my eye on those yummy cakes LOL.

Do pop over and say hello to Denise, trust me, once you see her blog, you'll be visiting again and again.

Don't forget to send over any projects you make with the kits or products - we'd love to showcase them here or link to your blog in the comments, and we'll visit.

I've got some wonderful Prima flowers which I'm about to upload onto the shop, so keep checking.

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!

Reach For A Rosette (Or Two)

Your kits will be arriving with you soon, and I'm sure you've got plans for them! I used my scraps to make a few more rosettes and today I thought I'd show you how I did it. It's an easy way to add dimension to a page, and a great base to use for a bit of layering







To start, cut your paper into strips about 2 inches wide and 6 inches long (any longer and it becomes too stiff to cut through). Punch a decorative pattern along the two long sides, or use scalloped scissors. Leaving it plain looks good too, but the scallops make it easy to do your folding

Make concertina folds backwards and forwards evenly along the strip, then hold it folded in your hand and cut a little notch in the middle on each of the long sides. Make sure it's in the centre or your rosette will be lopsided

Tie string tightly around the centre of your folded piece using the notches as a guide, then gently unfold and open up your rosette. Form it into a circle and glue the edges together.

Now use your rosette as a start to create a unique embellishment, layering up stickers or little punched shapes. The Echo Park papers are double sided, so check which side you prefer before you start. The two in the background here are For The Record, the one in the front is with a thinner Jenni Bowlin paper which folds up really nicely. Try it!

Simple! If you decide to add one to a layout this month, leave us a link. We'd love to see.

For The Record - March's Kit

I loved this kit! I've been really looking forward to showing you what I made with the beautiful For The Record papers. And that sticker sheet? It's gorgeous. I layered up lots of stickers on my layouts, but I still have plenty left - it goes a long way. Let me show you..

I made this one:

For this one I handcut roses from a piece of patterend paper and layered them around my photos. I added a row of stitching to draw your eye to the embellishment cluster and used one of the stickers as a title.

and then I did this one:

I made room for lots of journaling on this one about a family newspaper I started many years ago

and because I didn't want to stop, I made this one as well. I think it might be my favourite!

On this one I layered up lots of stickers and added some dimension with that little rosette. Come back on Monday and I'll show you how easy it is to do

 What about you? What ideas do you have for your kit? I'd love to know..

It's all go!

Just a reminder that the March kit will be going on sale tomorrow at around 7pm, and of course I love all the kits but I have to say ... this one, well it's GORGEOUS :) .. and oh my what Sian has done with it ..oohhh I'm so excited.

Plus on another point - I've had a little holiday, nowhere very exciting - but I'm now back and raring to go and I've got ideas bursting out of my head ... as well as yummy stock all on order, and here's a couple of boxes that I need to start adding to the site soon, and more on the way. 

I'd also like to say a huge thank you to the LOVELY design team for all your support, and to all you lovely readers and customers - you've been so supportive of me, so thank you so much.  I've got such fabulous things planned for you all :)

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

March Sneak Peeks

So, who's ready for a peek at this month's kit, then? I just know you are going to love it. Sandra has packed it full of brand new paper - lots of it! All double-sided, with red and green and yellow for Spring.

There's a dashing pop of black, too. And if you like the papers, wait til you see what's in the add-on. I think it's a must-have.

Any ideas? To see if you are right, head over to the articles section in the shop. While you are there, you can pick up a hint about April's kit too..

March kit on sale from Friday 11th at 7.00pm.

Motivation to scrap part 4

The layout that I have created today to illustrate dimension (although not handmade elements) is below. I have used some lovely Prima paper from Gotta Craft. You will see that I have cut out some of the labels or shapes on the back of this paper to use as a focal point to frame my photo. I used some deep blue script paper from the Prima Reflections range as a backing paper for this layout. You will see that I have added a dress form and opposite, some of the ostentatious new blooms from Prima. These dimnsional elements have corresponding colours and balance each other out. There is no real opportunity for much journalling on this layout, so I have just used it as a means of recording Lily aged 10 months.

Don't be afraid about buying or making dimensional elements. You can use chipboard that you have run through your die cutting machine which you can then paint and stamp or cover with patterned paper and sand. Flowers are an obvious place to start with this idea, but make sure that you don't overload your layout with too much of a good thing. In the same respect try not to have a dimensional element just 'hanging about' - make sure it has some kind of relationship with the other pieces on your page. It doesn't have to match the other colours, but if you are not sure, have a look at the colour wheel tutorial I did on yesterday's blog for some tips.


Texture can be created from many things that you already have in your stash - ribbon being one of the best starting points. If you are like me, then you will have reels of ribbons just waiting to be used, pleated and tied, but you never do, do you? I bet you have a box or clear jar full to the brim with beautiful satins, grosgrains that have been bought with the best of intentions, yet still never used. I really like some of the tutorials here. You will see on the layout below that I have used a similar technique to ruche some grosgrain ribbon

In the same layout I have added some handmade silk and tulle flowers. These were made just by folding and twirling the fabric around itself. You will need some fabric glue (or better still a hot glue gun) and then use Glossy Accents to adhere it to your cardstock or paper.

Another idea is to layer up flat accents such as chipboard shapes, buttons, etc to create a more dimensional look. On this layout I have layered a hear shaped piece of corrugated card, a scalloped piece of patterned paper, a felt heart and a button.

On this layout I have die cut a rosette and added a few buttons

One of my favourite ways to create dimension is with paper rolls. This technique is so simple and a brilliant way to use up your scraps. I have added a velvet ribbon on the layout below to group them all together.

 

This will be the last post on the Gotta Craft Shop Blog on how to get motivated to scrap again. You can hop over to my blog for the rest of the week for some more ideas.

Motivation to scrap part 3

Morning all. Today I thought we could explore colour combination and dimension on scrapbook layouts. I have always struggled with matching colours, although I have always known that 'red and green should never be seen' (unless at Christmas). I often find that if I buy a stack of papers in a pack then it is much easier to coordinate layouts. All the papers are deisgned to work with each other (duh....I only just realised this!). I love the Echo Park ranges that have been coming out recently as they contain some lovely pinks and greens - one of my favourite colour combinations. I also love grey and pink. Anyway, after having bought myself a colour wheel I am now completely clued up on what goes and doesn't. I would like to share this with you today and hope this makes choosing complimentary papers and embellishments easier and so make your layouts look good.

Colour wheel image taken from The Style and Beauty Doctor blog

So here's how it works: colors opposite each other (like violet and yellow), colors next to each other (like green and yellow-green) and colors that form right angles (like yellow and red-orange) are all colors that will look good together. Look at this card that I made yesterday, it uses colours that are at right angles to each other (yellow and blue). The colours contrast but don't jar:

 

Sorry about the shadow - I got the angle of the light wrong. The Prima blooms used in this card are from Gotta Craft. You'll see that the card base is orange and that works too because the yellow and orange are next to each other on the colour wheel. One thing you need to be careful of is using all three colours in the same proportions as this will mean that they are all competing with each other. You would be better selecting one main bold colour (blue) and then accenting with two others (orange and yellow). 

This can be a good rule of thumb too - if you select 4/5 colours that are next to each other on the wheel then this is also pleasing to the eye. One last tip with the colour combination is one I like to use a lot  - select one colour and use various tones. This is a great way to make your layouts look 'together'.

 This layout I did a few weeks ago shows how using patterned paper from the same range makes life easier (and cheaper in the long run). Layouts can look a bit more coherent.

 

 You can also use some of your own handmade embellishments like I have in the next layout in order to compliment the colours in your project

All of the papers in the layout above are by American Crafts and their Dear Lizzy range. It would seem that as I have used polka dot, floral and bunting style papers that all the patterns and colours would jar, but they don't. This is because all the colours compliment each other. So, next time you are looking for the perfect colour to match your favourite papers, look at the other papers in that range - the hard work has been done for you by the manufacturers. That said, if you want to go and choose individual papers then buy them with colour matches in mind. Refer back to the colour wheel above to help you when you are shopping on line. It might just save you frustration, time and money!
I think I'll save dimension for tomorrow as I have droned on a bit about colour today! See you back here tomorrow for more tips and ideas to help you get motivated and creating layouts that you like again!

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.