It's a Giveaway......

My very talented friend Lou Collins is offering a huge Giveaway on her blog......pop over and have a peek....you'll be glad you did :)

Lou's Blog is here..

While I'm here, I can show the Christmas layout I completed at the Papermaze December crop. Vanessa always puts together a "Challenge Kit" for us to do with as we please....no example LO to follow. Everyone who had a kit put their names in a hat for a prize...sadly it wasn't me. 

Ah well there's always next year :)

My layout features my girls from 2000, back in the days when we had photos taken to put in Christmas cards for friends and family who didn't see them regularly....Before the "facebook" days of course.

The only addition to the kit was the American craft thickers.

........and a photo from this year..... !

Thanks for stopping by

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a bright and happy New Year xx

Karen x

Papermaze Christmas Blog Hop......

Welcome to my blog and the Papermaze Christmas blog hop........

You may have arrived here from Carol , but if you didn't, the complete list of blogs taking part is shown at the bottom so you won't miss any! don't forget to leave a comment here as well as all the other blogs for a chance to win a December Scrapbook kit from Papermaze.

 You have from 1st- 8th December to leave your comments.

 

This is the great value December Kit priced at only £10 . Details of the contents can be seen here .

 

 

For my Christmas themed projects I decided to stick to the  traditional red and green colour scheme and picked out these papers from the Christmas Eve Chowder   range by Jillibean Soup. I added some red gingham ribbon, decorative pins, red dew drops, red mini brads, green crystal stickers and Black Bazzil card stock.

My 8.5 x 11 layout is called "Waiting for Christmas", It shows my daughter and her cousin at an amazing shop at Snape Maltings in suffolk, which we visited in October half term. To say it was fully loaded with everything anyone would ever need or want at Christmas time, is an under statement ! We were there browsing for ages, and the 2 girls really felt like Christmas was just around the corner :)

 

 

With the double sided patterned papers that were left over, I made  a simple Star Garland.

All you need is a punch or star template, and a sewing machine.

 punch out the stars in groups of 3

 Feed each stack of 3 into the sewing machine, leaving a small gap between each set

 open out the layers along the stitching line, to make a 3D star

 hang up.....

and admire your efforts !

You can of course use any shaped image you like, and mix and match them along the garland. I haven't embellished my stars at all, but you could add glitter, inks, bling, ribbon or anything you fancy and really go to town to coordinate with your Christmas decorations.

I hope you are enjoying the Hop....please visit Lisa next for some more Christmas  inspiration.

Thank you so much for visiting.

Karen x

Here is the full list as promised,

 

Papermaze blog - http://scrappaperscissors.blogspot.co.uk/

Wendy - http://wendymckee.blogspot.co.uk/

Carol - http://www.kraftypieces.blogspot.co.uk/

Karen - http://apapergallery.blogspot.co.uk/

Lisa - http://scrappyfairies.blogspot.co.uk/

Lou - http://prettypaperandchipboard.blogspot.co.uk/

Anna - http://mycreations-anna.blogspot.co.uk/

Back to Papermaze again - http://scrappaperscissors.blogspot.co.uk/

Simple Symmetry......

I didn't set out to create a symmetrical layout , I'm usually thinking vaguely about visual triangles, or rules of thirds which don't lend themselves to symmetry !

 I wanted to continue using the Sept Papermaze kit supplies and wanted to keep things simple....So here's the result..

The wooden hearts and thickers were the only additions to the kit, oh and a touch of brown chalk ink.

The photo was taken by my eldest daughter while we were staying in Oklahoma with my sister in the summer. Nigel is a rescue dog and has found numerous clever/naughty ways of finding and finishing up the cat's food, one of which involved climbing up onto furniture, window sills and the ironing board!! Amazing since his legs are only 3" long :)

  He absolutely deserves his "Legend " Nickname.

I still have loads of papers left from the kit....and 9 more dogs to scrap!

Thanks for stopping by

Karen x

Kit and crop.....

I made it to the Papermaze crop  on  Saturday, armed with nothing more than the September Kit - (now sold out but shown here.) Since I got up late and hadn't got anything organised :)

So, after a good deal of chatting ,eating cake and nosing at what everyone else was doing I completed this layout....using Websters Pages and Papers,wooden ticket and flowers by Prima, Tando chipboard butterfly, Kaiserkraft cream pearl swirl, My Little Shoebox white alphabet stickers- coloured with chalk ink.

I even started a second layout...but that will have to wait till next time :)

Thanks for stopping by

Karen x

A little bit of Prima....

Sometime ago my sister asked me to make some Vintage inspired "hang tags" ( she does live in America!)  which would serve as business cards, attached to her gift wrapping for the up and coming Blythe Doll convention in Dallas, where she was planning to have a stall.

Well, after some research on Pinterest and the like, I soon realised that Prima was the way to go .

Off to Papermaze  I went with my list... Nature Garden- patterned papers, Essential petals and Flutter bits - all ready coordinated for my projects.

I made 100 tags in total and all different! and thoroughly enjoyed myself :)

I added some paper doilies, lace and ribbon trim, buttons, copper glimermist ,punched hearts,leaves and flowers and brown chalk ink to finish off.  I left Abi to add the ribbon !

Here is a small selection....

Prima papers are not generally the style I choose for my Scrapbooking, but it was lovely to make something different...

Abi's shop....

Thanks for stopping by

Karen x

October already.....

Not sure what happened to September...... :)

Anyway, now that issue 67 of the Scrapbook Magazine has hit the shops I can share the layouts I created for it.

The sketch challenge is always a favourite of mine...to produce 2 different layouts from the same sketch. 

I always love the process of finding patterned papers to coordinate with my photos, I have to get a good match and can't cope with "random".

 I was lucky ( or unlucky - depending on how you look at it..) with both these layouts as I didn't have to buy a single new thing, everything was already in my stash... just waiting for the "right " photo.

So, having just said that, my 2nd commission was to take part in the 4 ways challenge.  I was sent the kit to use along with 3 other designers, to show how we all come up with something different, using the same supplies.....

An easy way out would have been to use a black and white photo, but I took the plunge and went with a close up of  my dog Bazzil .   Not exactly the right colours - but near enough!

Thanks for stopping by

Karen x

PAPERMAZE BLOG HOP ..........

Hello and welcome to my blog.... and the first ever Papermaze Blog Hop :)

You may have arrived here from Carol , but if you didn't the complete list of blogs taking part is shown at the bottom so you won't miss any! don't forget to leave a comment here as well as all the other blogs for a chance to win an August Scrapbook kit from Papermaze. You have from  6th - 10th Aug to leave your comments and the winner will be picked over the weekend.

We are all showcasing the August kit with our projects this week, and are hoping to inspire you to create some feel-good summery layouts. 

I completed two 8 1/2" x 11" layouts with the kit, and there's still plenty more stash to use, so at £10 for a kit it's super value, you can also buy a cardstock add-on pack for £1.75!

 "Menorcan Sea"

This Sunburst design makes the most of the double sided patterned papers, and was very easy to do once I had drawn a template!

I filled in some gaps that were too big by cutting down the template pieces that I hadn't used.

The 3D border around the photo was created very simply by using 2 sizes of circle punch and overlapping them at the back of the photo.

The only supplies I added to the kit were the gems and lettering.

" Hello Sunshine"

I simply adore this photo of my little sister taken in 1972...I scanned the original photo, had it printed into a regular 6x4 photo, then cut it down to 4x4. I haven't used my corner rounder in ages, but  I'm glad I used it here!

I used a Martha Stewart "all over the page" punch to create the butterfly apertures, and layered the patterned paper pieces behind the layout with foam pads.

This was the first time I had tried this technique and it's so incredibly easy, I'll definitely be doing it again!

The title was included as ready cut letters, as were the very delicate vellum butterflies.

The only addition to the kit was some stickles glitter glue.

I hope you are enjoying the Hop....please visit Lisa next for some more Kit inspiration.

Thank you so much for visiting.

Karen x

Here is the full list as promised,

Papermaze blog -

Papermaze blog - http://scrappaerscissors.blogspot.co.uk/

Amanda - http://blog.amandajonesdesigns.com/

Wendy - http://wendymckee.blogspot.co.uk/

Carol - http://www.kraftypieces.blogspot.co.uk/

Karen - http://apapergallery.blogspot.co.uk/

Lisa - http://scrappyfairies.blogspot.co.uk/

Lou - http://prettypaperandchipboard.blogspot.co.uk/

Anna - http://mycreations-anna.blogspot.co.uk/

Back to Papermaze again - http://scrappaperscissors.blogspot.co.uk/

 

"Aqua Park"......

Now that Summer has finally arrived - and in time for the school holidays - it feels good to see lots of Summer Holiday layouts in blogland.

We had a glorious hot holiday last year and this layout featured in the current issue of The Scrapbook Magazine shows what fun the girls had at the water park. They love the water and really made the most of our day there.

The papers are appropriately called "Splash" from Echo park!

I drew the water splat from an image I "googled" and highlighted it with blue and white pens to give it a 3D look. I love how the dew drops look like water drops too.

Hope you all get to enjoy some sun this week.

Thanks for stopping by ,

Karen x

Scrapology part 2....

As June's invited Guest Designer for the Scrapology blog I had 2 challenges - A layout and a card.

 The card challenge was set by Hels Sheridan here, and was to create a "Vintage" style card.

You'll see a whole host of lovely creations by the design team for inspiration and as usual there is a fabulous prize on offer this month.

The patterned papers are  Nature Garden by Prima which you can see Here 

 and I used a printed Kraft cardstock by My Minds eye as the card base.

If, like me, you thought Vintage was difficult and not your style, have a look at the Prima papers and embellishments to coordinate, and you may be surprised at what you come up with! 

Thanks for stopping by

Karen x

Scrapology....

I was delighted to be asked to take part in the current " Scrapology " challenge as a Guest Designer. 

There is always a super prize available, so it's really worth having a go and sending in a layout!  For this month's challenge there is a layout to lift, with a sketch to help and the technique to use is "White space".  

Here's my version,

 

The Scrapology challenge for June is HERE.

As you can see I rotated the sketch to fit my 8.5 x11 layout and used a selection of October Afternoon and Jillibean papers and stickers.  I didn't have 2 small photos, but cutting 1 4 x 6 in half worked just as well.  I tried very hard to leave some white space......not easy, but i think I got away with it !

Thanks for stopping by,

Karen x

Snowy family fun.....

Now that the sunshine has arrived, I decide to share a snowy layout!!

This was another great crop kit from Papermaze, and matched my photo perfectly - how often does that happen?

The papers are from " Authentique" found here and have a gorgeous texture to them.

 I used my new Stampin' Up Embosslits Die for the 1st time to make the layered butterflies, and was pleased how they turned out.

Now I must go and find some sunny photos to scrap........

Thanks for stopping by

Karen x

3 layouts...!

The " Webster's Pages" feature in the most recent issue of the Scrapbook magazine (63) was my first attempt at a full article......

I was sent a selection of papers and embellishments to work with, and tried really hard to come up with 3 different layouts to show case the papers.  

supplies used:

 “Let’s celebrate” and “ All about me”classic lines, which included double sided patterned papers, die cut patterned pages,  deluxe journaling cards,  designer trims, Storyteller alpha stickers and 2 princess petals (flower embellishments).

I was so happy to see that the backs of the papers featured  completely different styles and colours to the fronts, which I found slightly easier to use!

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Karen x

Dolls and more...

Although my scrapbooking has been a little slow of late, I have been creating original accessories for Blythe doll Collectors.

I had never heard of this doll until recently, when my sister Abi ( now resident in Oklahoma) started designing and making unique clothing  to sell in her Etsy Shop which you'll find here. 

The Dolls have a huge world wide following and as i discovered, there's a high demand for "customised" dolls, with hand made clothes, shoes and accessories.

My little card stock accessories can be worn in the hair or on clothing, some have hair slides attached and others have dress clips. I'm not very good at " Blowing my own trumpet" but when Abi lists the clips in her shop, I do smile at her description of me!

here's a few of Abi's very cute photos, showing her "Taylor Couture" designs with some of my flower and butterfly accessories.

The flowers and butterflies are punched, covered with Modpodge for durability and layered up with brads. I  use a hot glue gun to fix the clips to the back.

 I think the Scrapbooking paper looks amazing when its coordinated with the clothing, and has been a lot of fun to do!

Thanks for stopping by

Karen x

With a little help from my friends.........

Have you ever had an image of a layout in your head that just won't go away? 

 Well I knew that I had seen a layout somewhere which was made from 1 colour card and loads of border punches....I just didn't know where!

 I did see this card on pinterest, which uses the same technique here and was determined to give it a go. 

One slight problem...I only have 2 border punches.....

Undeterred, I went to my local crop run by Papermaze in Otley and asked round the very busy room if anyone had any punches I could borrow...I was overwhelmed with the response!

So, with 20 punches and some Kraft cardstock I ended up with this.......

I have to thank Vanessa, Lesley, Lynn, Karen, Janina, Diane, Anna, 

Sadie and Tim for lending me their punches.

Oh, I eventually found the original layout in Issue 52 of the Scrapbook magazine!!  

It was a 12" x 12" page by Jackie Payne, who was a runner up in the Scrapbooker of the year 2010 competition. 

It's a good job I don't throw my old magazines away...!?!

Thanks for stopping by

Karen x

" Country Cousins" ....

I was lucky enough to be sent a selection of supplies from The Scrapbook Magazine, to take part in the Four Ways Challenge. ( 4 scrapbookers and the same supplies)

 It was great to see all 4 layouts in the current issue no.62 to see how different they all are.

We all used " Madame Boutique" by Kaisercraft.
Here's mine....

I loved the way the Tab shaped stickers made a lovely border when left flat and lined up. I used the flat alpha stickers supplied, for my title, but inked the edges and alternated them with foam pads to give a 3D effect.

Thanks for stopping by

Karen x