Ad Lib

Bo Bunny released some stunning paper ranges at CHA and they arrived in the shop a few weeks ago, Lou has been working with the Ad Lib range to produce some gorgeous pages which we will be sharing with you over the next few days.

"Drew has discovered that he love Mr Whippy ice cream - he discovered this rather messily one afternoon, meaning I got some super cute photos. To create this page I ripped the background paper into strips and inked them with a creamy brown ink to define the edges before sticking them onto some white card. I didn't want to overpower the photos so kept the patterned paper to a minimum choosing the Verbiage paper and giving it a light spray of cream Maya mist. I used a scallop punch to edge the layout and added some punched circles, a hand cut heart, Jenni Bowlin ticket and a date strip cut from a sheet of patterned paper. My title was made up of a combination of alpha stickers from MLS, Sassafras and Adornit. I completed the page by stamping some white hearts and circles randomly over the background."

Tight Squeeze

Sarah has put together this fantastic page kit which includes everything you need to complete this gorgeous page, including brown mist, adhesive gems, patterned and fabric papers. All you need to do is choose your photos and some alphabet stickers for your title, no paper shuffling required! You will find the kit over in the shop here.

We have had lots of gorgeous new stash arriving over the last few weeks with lots more still to come, so far there are lines from 16 different manufacturers, definitely something for everyone! You can check them all out here.
Don't forget you still have a week to enter our sketch challenge and be in with the chance of winning a £10 e-voucher, perfect to spend on some of that new stash!

Milk Carton Class

No matter how much you love scrapbooking it is always nice to have a go at creating something a bit different using your scrapping skills. For those of you who subscribe to the Sarah's Cards kit you will have seen Tracy's gorgeous milk carton, we loved it so much that we asked Tracy to show us how to create one.

Tracy finished carton is stunning, she has decorated it using scraps of Stella and Rose paper, Prima stamps, misted Tulle and some gems.

Classes

Apologies for more retreat talk but we still have so much to share with you from our weekend! We thought that those of you who didn't come might like to have a look at some of the classes that the design team put together for the occasion.
First up we have got Lou's class where the delegates got to create this amazing interactive page using lots of paint, chipboard and acetate. She used October Afternoon Seaside collection.

Nat's class using Fine And Dandy True Blue from MME was a right "hoot",she had all the delegates doing blanket stitch to create fun felt embellishments.

Vanessa used Cosmo Cricket Togetherness papers to create this stunning page which included lots of techniques that could be used again and again.

Inking techniques were the focus of Rachael's class, she created this vintage inspired layout using Fancy Pants Lilac House papers. There was also a lot of paper distressing involved which was quite traumatic for some of the class members!

The last one we have got to share with you is this stunning page created by Claire using Webster's Pages Hollywood Vogue. Her class involved lots of hand cutting, misting and creating handmade embellishments.

Don't forget our monthly sketch challenge where you could win a £10 e-voucher to spend in the shop, all the details can be found here, you still have plenty of time to take part.

Special Effects

Rachael has created this little memory box for her daughter and has created an aged, distressed effect using special effect paints.

Stash Used....
Small Box
Lily Bee Lovely Papers
Paint Dabbers
Crackle Glaze
Varnish
Lace
Bling
Butterfly punch
Flower punch

How To..
1. Paint your box all over using the colour paint that you want to show through the cracks in the top coat of paint, I have used pool. Allow the box to thoroughly dry.
2. Put a thin coat of crackle glaze over the box and again allow to dry.
3. Paint the box with your choice of top coat, make sure you don't go over areas once they are painted as it could affect the crackle on that area.
4. Once the box is throughly dry add a coat of dead flat varnish to seal and protect your box.
5. Now you are ready for for the fun stage, decorating your box!
6. Cut four strips of patterned paper to fit each side, add a length of lace to the bottom edge of each strip pleating it along the way. Stick each strip onto the sides of your box.
7. Cut a rectangle of paper slightly smaller than the lid, ink and distress the edges and add lace around the edge again pleating it as you go and stick it onto the lid.
8. Add an oval of peals to the centre of your rectangle and then decorate with punched flowers, hand cut leaves, bling and butterflies. I have die cut some felt flowers to add to the lid as well.

 9. I wanted to add some script onto the box so used a rub on along both of the long edges of the lid.

10. To finish the box off I added some punched butterflies to the sides and added a piece of paper onto the bottom of the box to make it look neat and tidy.

Retreat Challenge

At our recent retreat we set a few challenges for the delegates, one of them was a sketch challenge and the design team decided that they would all have a go at creating a layout using the sketch just for fun. They came up with some stunning pages, a lot of them used brand new stash so we thought we would share them with you.

Rachel has created this lovely page using papers from a variety of manufacturers including American Crafts and MME and she has embellished her page using American crafts delights.

Lou, the queen of misting, has created this great page using, amongst others, Sassafras Starters papers. She added stamped days of the week and circles using MME memories stamps.

As we have said before the new MME lines really were a major hit and Rachael used papers from the Hazel range to create this layout using a photo of her nephew.

Cathy's gorgeous page shows just how versatile themed papers can be, she has used American Crafts Campy Trails.

There have been some gorgeous new girlie paper ranges released and Vanessa has combined two of them to create this stunning page, Three Bugs Chloe and Echo Park Springtime. She has added some great hand made flowers to embellish her page.

American Crafts peachy keen papers were used by Claire to create this stunning page, she teamed them up with a length of Maya Road trim.

The design team really did love those MME papers! Gems has used papers from the Gertie colourway for this lovely page of her little girl. Matting the whole page on kraft paper provides a great border for the layout. 

Tracy used some Echo Park Little Boy papers to create this gorgeous page, she used a punch to create the holes around the layout and added a gem onto each gap.

It is amazing how papers from the same range can look so different, Jen has also used Echo Park Little Boy papers to create this gorgeous page of little Benjamin. The Little Boy borders makes a great background paper for her layout.

Can you guess what papers Nat has used to create her stunning page? You guessed it...MME, she has used a combination of Gertie and Hattie which work so well together. To create the background she misted applied brown and turquoise Maya Mist onto a sheet of kraft.

There are new lines arriving in the shop all the time, it was the turn of Bo Bunny today, you will find all six stunning ranges here. There has also been some gorgeous Maya Road trim and mists added to the site, if you want to try misting but don't want to purchase the large bottles there are a few new colours now available in smaller more affordable bottles which you will find here.

Also don't forget our sketch challenge, all the details can be found here.

A Rare Treat

It isn't very often that we get to show you a layout by the very talented Tracy as she is our resident card maker, however whenever we all get together she is inspired to scrap a layout or two. She created this stunning page at the retreat using gorgeous MME Stella and Rose Hazel papers.
She has also used a MME lace stamp, we were all very impressed with the lovely clean image that these stamps created and they have come up with some very usable collections. Have a look here, here and here.

Sketch Challenge

Up for another challenge? Vanessa has designed this very versatile sketch for us this month and the design team had great fun creating with it at our retreat last weekend.

Last months winner, Jemma has also joined us and created this stunning page. 

"I had a landscape and portrait photo to use with the sketch but I wanted to contrast the content of the photos rather than the shapes so I cropped them both square. The arrows along the bottom of the page were hand cut from scraps of matching paper and cardstock."

Claire created this amazing page using the brand new Sassafras Ellie's Tale, she matted the bunting stickers onto red cardstock and then cut them out to make them pop off the page.

At the retreat one of the new lines that all the design team fell in love with was MME Stella and Rose, there are three colourways stocked in the shop to choose from, Tracy has used Hattie to create this gorgeous layout using a photo from her wedding.

Cathy has used the Gertie colourway of the MME Stella and Rose collection for her lovely page.

Jen's gorgeous page has been created using a mixture of MME Hattie and Gertie papers along with a sheet of  American Crafts Hello Sunshine paper. She has added a Sassafras entwined bloom to embellish her page.

Rachael has put together her page using Sassafras Ellie's Tale papers plus a sheet of a-b-c from their starters range.

Gems has also used MME papers, I did say the design team loved them! There are some great ledger papers in these collections which make perfect background papers. Gems has added Maya mist to her page which leaves a really lovely soft effect.

Entering our challenge is simple, all you have to do is create a page or card based on Vanessa's sketch and post a link to it in the comments box on this post. You have until Monday 4th April to get your entry in and the winner will receive a £10 e-voucher to spend in the shop and the opportunity to create an example page for the May challenge. We hope you enjoy the challenge and we are looking forward to seeing your interpretations of the sketch.

Blog Give Away Winner!

As promised it is time to announce the winner of our sparkly blog give away
Using the random number generator it gave us number 7!
So it looks like our lucky winner is Carol, drop us a line with your details Carol and we will get these goodies in the post to you, we hope you enjoy using them. Thank you to everyone who took part.
If you are looking for a new challenge check back later in the week when we will be posting our new sketch .

Sketch Challenge Winner

We  have had an amazing weekend at the retreat and we have got lots to share with you over the next couple of weeks but first it is time to announce the winner of our February sketch challenge. Thank you to everyone who entered, there were some great interpretations of the sketch but as always there can only be one winner and this month it is Karen with her lovely bright page "9 go mad". Congratulations Karen, drop us a line and we will get your voucher out to you plus details of the April challenge.

Check back tomorrow when we will be announcing the winner of our sparkling blog give away!

Flower Tutorial

I am sure most of us surf the net looking for inspiration and sometimes we come across a little gem that is just too good not to share! Nat found this great idea on How About Orange blog for creating recycled gift bows and has adapted the idea to create some stunning embellishments.

"Whilst on my daily internet browse I came across this little tutorial on the How About Orange blog on making parcel bows, and naturally my mind started thinking about how this idea could be adapted to create embellishments for scrapbooking and cardmaking. Rather than continuing the layers to build the bow as in the tutorial, I began to think about how these could be replaced with punched shapes and embellishments."

"I started by cutting some double sided papers into strips, I went with 6"x1" strips making this project perfect for using up those endless scraps that we gather! Although I cut a few strips I only actually used four to make this particular flower."

"Using some double sided tape to secure them the tutorial advises you to fold the ends into the centre forming a double loop like a number 8."

"Layer the strips on top of each other and staple them together (or if your not as pushed for time as I always am you could opt for double sided tape or herma etc)"

"Finally embellish the centre of your flower  as you see fit, I started here using a spiral rose and then added a punched flower, button and pearl."

"The finished flower was the perfect topper for a simple card."

"I had a go at another two changing them slightly for different effects.
For the red flower I used narrower 1/2" strips and created a second layer of shorter strips to make the flower more full bodied. I then added a punched heart, rosebud and pins to complete it.
For the green one I stuck to the 1" strips but sniped triangle shapes out of the ends of the loops after I had assembled the flower and added a lace rosette and hand cut butterfly to the centre."

As some of you will know (and are probably coming!) the Sarah's Cards retreat is taking place this weekend at the Daresbury Park Hotel in Warrington, hopefully later on next week we will be able to let you know what we got up to and share some photos of the weekend.
While we are away don't forget our blog give away and sketch challenge, both of which close on Monday 7th March.