Happy Camper

Hello all, it's Louise here with 4 LO's to share. A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be able to choose the stash I wanted to work with in real life rather than online. I'm so glad I did because I immediately fell in love with the Happy Camper Stew and Irish Farm House Soup ranges by Jillibean Soup. These are not something I would have been likely to look at had I have been buying online, but I really loved the colours and the designs of the papers.
I also chose a sheet of American Crafts, Cut & Paste, Heart Throb paper. I usually struggle with what embellishments to choose, but I was drawn to these Amy Tan Cut & Paste, Bits Die Cut Tags. They may seem pricey at first glance, but you get 12 good quality tags with designs that are really usable. I will definitely be buying another set before they go out of stock.

My first LO was of the three boys taken sitting on one of the fab sculptures at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. A couple of my fellow DT members said I had to use the map side of one of the papers, and it actually went really well with this photo. I cut off the water and key parts of the map, so that I was left with a woodland map. This became the perfect paper for the Sculpture Park LO.

I used the heart tag, stitching in lines and using French knots as well as running stitch. I folded over the tag and stapled the fold in position, and embellished it with washi tape and a heart cut from the Amy tan paper.

For my title I used these Die-Namics dies. They're paper thin and these were just the right size to use in my Sizzix Side Kick... which had the cobwebs blown off it and will be used much more often now I've seen some of the great dies from this company.

If you haven't used a die cutting machine before they're really easy to use.

You put the die on the cutting plate (and a spacer if needed).

Put your paper over the top of the die.

Sandwich with the other cutting mat and roll through the machine.

Ta Da! a perfectly cut title with very little effort.

You may have looked at these dies and thought that they were quite expensive, but when you think that you will have them forever, can cut titles in any coordinating colour/pattern for your LOs, never running out of the letters you need... you can see that they're a very good investment.

My second LO is of a fun photo of Drew taken in the park in the summer. We often take chalks with us to draw on the pavement, and on this day I drew him a crown to make him the prince of the park.

The rainbow swirl was created with quilling papers. I often think how pretty they are when they're all stuck together unused in the pack, so kept them together and stuck them straight down to my LO. I love the result.

I used the arrow from the dies cut tags, stitching around the outside, and creating a curve using straight lines in one corner. I added a couple of the cute little arrow stickers from the Project Life range, and used a roller phrase stamp.

I raided my stash and found some really old crown rub ons that I thought I'd never use, and added 3 to the LO.
This little pink clip has also been in my stationary collection for years, but was perfect to add just the little touch of pink needed in the corner of the LO.
I cut out the air mail detail from a sheet of paper, and added a few arrows along the edge to lead your eyes in to the LO.
A few random circles were doodled on to the LO and the hand cut hearts were doodled round with a black pen.

My next LO is another of Drew... this time with his friend 'the naughty goat' from the birds of prey park we visited in the summer. The boys (my own terrible trio and the Garratt boys) had great fun winding up the goats, and thought that it was hilarious when they stole the stamp booklets they had and ate them!!! It was definitely the highlight of Drew's day.

I used a Studio Calico days of the week snippet behind my photo (I knew I absolutely needed these moths ago when I bought them).

I punched mini stars from a card cut from one of the papers. I love how subtle they are because of their teeny size.

On this LO I used the speech bubble tag, cutting the detail from the tag and using the positive shape as a mat for the start of my title.
The negative shape was tucked behind my photo.

My final LO is of Harry. Its a just because LO of a photo taken when he was just being Harry, having fun outside. I misted the green patterned background paper with yellow and orange, splattering a few drops of the orange.

This love tag detail was cut from a sheet of patterned paper and embellished with 3 strips of tape. I also used the negative shape of the letter H from a die cut.

I stitched a chevron design in two colours onto one of the tags, leaving the ends long and fraying them for a messy look. My title was die cut from the grid paper, and also from the packaging of the tags... waste nothing I always say!   I'm really happy with these LOs created from ranges that I would have dismissed due to their names. It just goes to show you really shouldn't judge before taking a close look. I hope I've inspired you to be a Happy Camper or a Irish Farm House Soup lover.   Be sure to come back every couple of days to see what the rest of the DT have been busy creating.

We're still enjoying Halloween here on the blog..

Hi all.

I've had such a fantastic Halloween this year and I hope you all enjoyed yourselves.

This year we got invited to a fab party so we went all out on our costumes and I couldn't wait to get scrapping.

Sarah has lots of Halloween collections in the shop but for me it has to be October Afternoon Witch Hazel.

What I love about this collection is the teal as it's one of my favourite colours at the moment.

The collection has some great pieces, I particularly liked the embellishments as there are so many to choose from.

I made sure I ordered my favourite pieces and got to work on a couple of layouts, although I will be sharing the other one with you when we upload our next monthly challenge :)

The sticker sheet from the collection has this fantastic tree which i decorated with some simple washi tape bows. I chose this lovely black polka dot one from Queen & Co. The bows were simply just an inch or more of tape and twisted in the middle.

I also used some great tags I found in the shop from the Pebbles Thirty One collection and to bling my tag up I used a ball chain that are also available in the shop here.

I used a simple die cut frame and decorated it with scraps of sequin waste, liquid pearls and black glitter glue to frame my photograph.


Love Claire xx

A little Halloween project.

Hi all. Jen G here with a really quick Halloween project to make for your kids that doesn't involve sugar! You may have seen this idea on Pinterest - that place is full of great ideas - I just Halloweenified it (yes it is a word - well now it is!) It is a corner bookmark and it is super easy to make. 

Cut a piece of cardstock as shown. Each of my squares is 2"x2".

Then cut two of the squares across the diagonal like this:

Fold over one of the triangles:

  Then fold over the other triangle and stick it onto the top of the first triangle. 

 Flip the whole thing over and decorate with a square of Halloween paper.

 Flip back again and decorate the top triangle with more Halloween papers. 

Done! 

These are really quick and easy to make and my kids love them. I made one for each child at our Halloween party last week and popped them into the coordinating party bags using the Pebbles Thirty-One range.

I have plenty of the Pebbles Thirty-One range left to scrap the photos from Halloween so I'll be back at some point with one more Halloweenified post :) 

No tricks, just treats (part 2).

As promised, here's the second part of my Halloween treats ideas.

 This matchbox is the perfect size to package some chocolate skeletons, (the best kind, in my opinion.)

This one is a tag box, and can be made really quickly.

Finally just a couple of simply decorated clear card bags. I used black Stazon ink and stamped the bats border onto the larger bag.

I hope I have inspired you to get spooky this Halloween, or given you some gift bag/box ideas for other occasions, maybe Christmas?

Don't forget you have until the end of the month to join in with Octobers sketch challenge, details can be found here.

No tricks, just treats (part1).

Hi all, Tracy G here with a few non-scrapping creations. Like some of the other DT members, I have gone with a Halloween theme for my post this month. I have made with a few Halloween treat ideas for you, but of course if you don't celebrate  Halloween, you could also use some of them for other occasions using different supplies. I have chosen to work with the MME Happy Haunting range, the papers are almost cardstock weight and some have a gorgeous orange glitter on them too. I also used some stamped images from the clear stamp set.
I hope my instructions are clear enough to understand, as I was so enjoying  making the items I forgot to take photos of every step. If you do need anything clarifying, please leave a comment below and I will do my best to help.

Firstly I made a cute little witches hat, which could be used to hold little treats, or as home decor.

 Here's how I made it. (Just click on the photos to make them larger).

I then made this really simple bag/box.
  Just cut a piece of paper to 8 1/2" x 6 1/2", score every 2" on the long edge, and 2" on one end. Cut on each 2" score line up to the bottom score line to make the flaps for the base. Stick the sides and bottom flaps together, pinch the top together, punch a couple of holes in the top. Then thread and tie a piece of tulle or ribbon through the holes.

Next I made this peek-a-boo box.

This box I am calling a half cracker,  I'm sure you'll see why.

 If you're having a party, why not decorate some bottles of pop for the children?, or bottles of something a little stronger for the big children. (adults).

This sheet of paper is fabulous to use with some cheap frames, for some instant home decor.
It's not obvious on this picture, but all the orange bits are glittered.

Please come back tomorrow for part two of my Halloween creations.

Summer Fun but not quite at the Flea Market.

Hi! It is Ifa with you today. Surprised ? I am taking an early slot this month. Are you enjoying your half term ? Ours is next week.  Perhaps I will see some of you in London ?

I ordered a few products from Maggie Holmes Flea Market by Crate Paper. I have been an admirer of Maggie Holmes for ages, I just couldn't resist.  I especially love the fabric frames.  I had vision of using the whole pack on one layout but alas, I stretched to four layouts and I still have a few large frames left over. How decadent would that have been ? I also ordered the Ephemera Pack, though I was worried about all the gold embellishments.  Reminds me of peel off!

I also ordered these papers.  I love the colours, especially the mix of "blue" next to pink and yellow. Reminds me of sunny happy days, though perhaps not browsing a flea market!

I also sneaked in some Studio Calico plastic die cut stars into my order. Ever got the feeling, "I must order another pack, I never want to ever run out of this" ? Well, these stars is my go anywhere product, a scattering on a layout lifting my spirit.

I also used a pack of chipboard thickers alphabet in white that I coloured and glittered to suit my layouts, some colours in the forms of My Huey's and Gelatos and a mask for some spots.

My first layout is Love Crab, my dear J showing off his delicious looking crab. I think I had crab most days we were down in the New Forest.

I have used some embellishments from the ephemera pack. I want to draw your attention to the die cut Love and the chalkboard love, both of which are gold.  I think they look contemporary rather than old fashioned. Do you agree ?

I had to use Bingo and Found It for a layout about finding the elusive Wi-Fi in the New Forest. We were regulars at the café in the village. You might have spotted some more gold embellishments?

 

My third layout is about our trip to Thorpe Park. My dear H loves roller coaster so I went with him on The Swarm. I have used some tag shapes from one of the papers to decorate the top of my layout.

You might have noticed those plastic stars by now. Don't they make you smile ?

Another overall theme to my layouts are the spots to the top/bottom of each layouts and some orange twine. I have used a very limited range of products this month because I have had to give up my craft room for visitors.  But it was very empowering too, not permanently going back to look for other products to use.

I said four layouts, right ?  My layout for the sketch this month also used the same kit. See you next month.