Studio Calico Ephemera

I often surf my way though products in the shop, and hover over an interesting-looking embellishment product but decide not to add it to my virtual basket as it's hard to be exactly sure what is included in the packet from the little thumbnail released by the manufacturers. This month though, such curiosity got the better of me, and I ordered myself a pack of the Ephemera from Studio Calico's Heyday range. I wasn't sure what to expect, but was really pleased when the packet arrived, and excitedly set to playing with my new goodies, so thought I'd share with you what I created.

I was pleased that, at £3.99, the pack was excellent value for money. It was teaming with lots of really usable die cuts that could work with lots of recent ranges from a variety of manufacturers. I coupled my pack with the gorgeous new Soleil release from Basic Grey, and some new Everyday Eclectic and For The Record Documented from Echo Park, all of which were perfect for recording some summer evening memories; but I can see that the oranges, pinks and turquoises working equally well with any of the pastel/brights releases we have seen over the past few seasons. This makes the pack a perfect, purse-friendly answer for a spot of stash busting - something new to add a twist to your existing papers.

Being the good Samaritan that I am, here's a scanned close up of the Heyday Ephemera packaging to give you a good idea of what is included, a whopping 71 pieces in all:

It was a pleasing surprise to find that you actually get two of each of the resin flower brads, and five of each of the pearlescent butterfly sequins.

Here's my first page:

 

I used one of the journalling tags as a mat for my title, but to ensure that the MLS newsprint alpha stickers showed clearly I added a trip of grey MME washi tape and some of the pretty new teal striped tap from Bella Blvd:

I completed my title with some mini alphas, and the little "photo" tag from the Ephemera. Another tag from the pack nestled above it to add another layer of texture and interest.

I find it hard to create a page that doesn't have a cluster of embellishments of some sort, and here some different washi tapes from MME, Bella Blvd and Queen and Co and a scalloped circle and strip tag (that I added some journalling to with a Slick Writer pen), make the base for some pins, two of the flower brads and some wood veneer shapes.

Returning to the pack of ephemera, I added a couple of the cloud shapes to the top of my photos, anchoring them with a spot of faux stitching, and layered one of the butterfly sequins on top of a diecut one before slipping it under a corner.

My second page contains some snaps from the fun fair:

 

With my pictures/theme in mind, I was instantly drawn to this off-kilter pink diecut, and decided to utilise it as a mat for my title; using the diagonal pattern as a guide for placing the Newsprint alphas. 

I always find it hard to break against some deep, inexplicable need to create straight-lined designs when I scrap, but was able to convince myself that as it fitted the topsy-turvy funfair ride theme, I could do it.......(maybe just this once though *twitch twitch*) 

To make the whole thing stand out further, I nestled on top of three of the banner tags, strung together with some grey twine:

I found the perfect journalling spot in the pack - the red and yellow circle design seen here reminded me of the flashing bulb lights on the mechanical arms of the ride, as did the star and arrow die cuts that I added next to it..........

For the final touch, I added the girls' initials to two of the balloon diecuts, and popped them in the top left hand corner of the page, and an image of two little children holding hands in the bottom right.

I really dug into the pack and added them quite liberally to my two pages here, but still have a whole load of embellishments left to use again. The pack really is versatile and excellent value for money - and I have a feeling that my days of deliberating are over and I may find myself going with that urge to "click" rather than "hover" again in the future - try it, you may be pleasantly surprised!

My supplies included:

Studio Calico Heyday Ephemera	Basic Grey Soleil	Basic Grey Soleil	Basic Grey Soleil
Echo Park Everyday Eclectic	EP For the Record 2 Documented	Echo Park Everyday Eclectic	Bella Blvd Designer Tape
Bella blvd Designer Tape	MME Sweetest Thing Decorative Tape	Queen & Co Pink Polka Dot Tape	American Crafts - Amy Tangerine - Mixtape 2
Studio Calico - Abroad - Wood Veneer Shapes - Cameras	Studio Calico Wood Veneer Stars	Studio Calico - Wood Veneer Shapes - People	MLS Vintage Shop
Pink Paislee Bitty Block Alphas	American Crafts Slick Writers

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Roll Up, Roll Up!!

Following CHA, the shop is being flooded with exciting new products - it's hard to choose what to buy first!! But as soon as I saw the new releases in stock from My Little Shoebox, I immediately fell in love with the Roll Up Flower die cut sheets and new they'd be top of my purchase list!

The sheets consist of die cut shapes, which easily roll up to create fabulous flowers, as well as some bonus ultra-trendy cloud and pennant shapes to add to your pages too. There's a sheet for each of the five new lines released at CHA, including the Playtime & Destination lines pictured below, so there's  a colour way to match any project.

I decided to use the beautiful Audrey line to create a page; the feminine colours and bow motifs were a perfect match for an old photo of my Grandmother that I'd received the very same week as my goodies arrived.

The Roll Up die cut flowers couldn't be easier to create:

1. You start by popping your chosen shape out from the sheet and carefully separating the spiral (it's joined together in places by tiny little paper dots).

2. Begin rolling your flower up - starting from the outside working in to the centre. I found that rolling the paper around a cocktail stick helped to get me started and made it easier to hold while rolling it up.

3. As you roll, you should start to see the flower forming as you roll:

4. As you get towards the end, you will see that you are left with a disc shape that can't be rolled - add some adhesive here,

5. Then press your rolled paper onto your adhesive and admire your finished flower!

6. You'll see that the sheet also has some plain die-cut flowers, which can be used on their own or layered together with the Roll Ups to create custom designs, mixing and matching the colours and patterns however you wish:

Here's a selection of flowers I made with the Audrey sheet. When you consider I have half of the die cut sheet still left in the packet it really is excellent value for money at £2.99 - you have lots to play with!

When you begin to think about adding beads, buttons, and bling to the flowers too, the possibilities are endless. The completed flowers are really pretty and add a great deal of dimension to your projects, as you can see here:

I couldn't wait to use the flowers on a page, so together with some of the matching Audrey papers, created this:

Please click on any of the following photos to view a larger image

I chose to use the pretty Funny Face paper as a base for my page, and created clusters at the bottom corners of my photo using the Roll Up flowers, together with cameo faces and bows cut from the My Fair Lady and Breakfast at Tiffany's papers.

I used a clear glaze pen to add a glossy shine to the cameos and popped a small adhesive pearl in Bubblegum Pink to them to add more detail:

I handcut a border from the Breakfast at Tiffany's paper to run along the top of my photo, along with some more of the pearls and a pretty little Jenni Bowlin bow embellishment - which not only matched the bow motifs in the papers but I later realised echoed the bows on my Grandmother's pretty silk scarf in the photo - bonus!!

I created my title using Thickers which I popped on to die cut pennants from the Roll Up sheet, and strung them together using some pink Bakers Twine. I added a little pearlescent detail to the Thickers and punched butterflies (and all around the edge of the patterned paper to highlight the artisan-label shape), using Liquid Pearls...another product that is super useful and incredible value for money - it lasts for ages!

Thanks, as always, for stopping by xxx

Growing Our Own by Nat

Nat created some gorgeous layouts for us with the new Jillibean Soup releases. Here's one, but check back soon for more! Nat explains how she made the page:

Growing Our Own:
I wanted to keep this page pretty simple to reflect the idea of getting back to basics by growing our own apples. I used the “Brown sugar” paper as my base, and layered a small piece of the “minced shallots” paper, just wider than my photo, on top. I then stapled a thin slice of “green peas” and some ribbon on top, before adding my photo. I created a mat for my title by popping two circles cut from the “Portobello” paper under my photo and created my title using mini alphas from My Little Shoebox, and my own handwriting. To finish the page, I embellished it simply using an AC Flair badge, and the top layer of the Scrap FX chipboard bee in the lower left hand corner of my page.