Inspiration can be the sweetest thing...

Hi girls, where have these months gone? It's my turn to share some scrapbooking love with you already! Naturally I was thrilled to receive from Adrienne a beautiful selection from My Minds Eye The Sweetest Thing Bluebell collection, I love that fact that it's blue and flowery, so great for not only little girls pages but also for those sweet little men too! This range is still available in store so get your hands on it before it fly's.. hope you like this sweet wee page of Master Louie and his gorgeous cousins.

Products used: Bluebell Bright Paper Blossom B-side, Bluebell Everyday Garden, Bluebell Playful Layered Stickers, Bluebell Remember Buttons, Bluebell Remember Title Card, Bazzill Kraft.

Love Belinda

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Clippings by Basic Grey

There are some very exciting new products in store, and one of my favorites is definitely Clippings by Basic Grey. Here is a wee sample of what I've created...

Products used: Clippings Paper Drafting Table, Clippings Paper 5th Avenue, Clippings Title Stickers, 7 Gypsies First Stamp

Love Bee

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Lilybee Design Step by Step

Hi girls. Hope you all had a great weekend and those who went to Heidi's Album class had a fab time with this talented girl. It is great to see the sun yet again though I find myself stuck inside glued to the TV watching the Olympics Opening Ceremony. Wasn't it great! Rowan Atkinson was definitely my highlight.

So with the last of my kit, I focused on what I had remaining of the LilyBee Design Buttercup range. I had also done a layout with this line which featured in the last newsletter, hope you liked it.

So here we go...

1. At the moment with a lot of my pages, I matt with a contrasting card stock. Here I used black as my base then trimmed half a cm off each side of the white card stock add painted around the edges slightly with an off-white paint to soften the edges. Then adhering the white onto the black being sure to leave an even boarder.

2. Now cut 3 strips, 2 1/2 inches wide from your patterned papers the make your tags. I used Buttercup Flower Pot, Buttercup Robins Egg, and Buttercup Puddles. 2 of these strips need to be 8" long and 1 at 9 1/2" (my longer one is the Flower Pot paper). Pinch these 3 strips in half at one end to create an even fold to cut along your 'V' at the end of your tags. I then painted around the edge with my off white paint as you would when inking. Set aside to dry.

3. Cut square of white card stock 9" by 7 1/2" and crumple up. I have done this to create depth and texture to the page, then sew onto the base of your layout in the bottom left hand corner just under an inch from left side and bottom. I stuck it down with tape first to hold it in place whilst sewing.

4. Adhere the tags to the layout over your crumpled piece as shown. The tag on the left is slightly overlapping the middle and is adhered with foam tape. Then the horizontal piece slips under the middle and is also adhered with foam tape. I have done this due to the uneven surface they are adhered to though you may choose not to. Place then your 4" x 2 1/2" photos on your tags.

5. I found the boarder stickers from the Crate Paper's Storyteller, and Little Boy Blue to co-ordinate really well with the Buttercup line, and adhered the chosen stickers along the bottom of the horizontal tag and down right side of middle tag.

6. I then gathered other co-ordinating embellishments such as brads from Crate Paper Little Boy Blue, MME layered stickers, and title stickers from Simple Stories. I then made a small bunting from LilyBee Designs Double Dutch card stock stickers which I adhered with foam tape and looped then fine twine around other embellishments.

I really hope you enjoy this Layout, I think its really fun and Im pleased the way the papers match my wee mans first swim photos!

Love Belinda

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Inspiration from October Afternoon

Hi girls, well this is my first post from my July kit that I received with great excitement, and Im really pleased with what came from product I probably would not have looked at in the shop. I really believe it goes to show that you could use any product and adapt it to your own personal style, and challenge yourself...GO ON! Look twice at other ranges outside your comfort zone, you may be pleasantly surprised...

So with this LO my product focus was on October Afternoon's 9-5 Range. Wood grains are so in at the moment and the Boardroom paper was fantastic to use as my base. I then cut strips from Dictation, the B side of Steno Pad, and Boardroom along with a luggage tag I had and used these as the geometric base under my 2 6"x4" photos. The B side of Boardroom had a great co-ordinating pattern which I cut into small flag tags but curled the edges of these to make them pop out a bit more from the background. I finished off the LO using sticker embellishments from the range, Echo Park brads and Simple Stories alpha stickers and Amy Tangerine Thickers for my title. At the bottom of my design you will see a chipboard bracket that just completes the page, Adrienne has a wide range of these chipboard shapes starting at just 40c!!!OMG! So I hope you like, I had lots of fun with this range, check it out...

love Belinda

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Let it Snow!!! Well not quite yet!!

Why is it that I always have difficulty with 'snow' photos? Is it the printing? Do I put too much pressure on myself because the images are so special? Who knows, anyhow it makes it a load easier when manufactures like Fancy Pants create stories like 'Winterland' to give me a bit of inspiration, I needed it!!

So I used the backside of 'Snow Angel', for my base then embossed a few snowflake stamps in a clear embossing powder to add a bit more "oommph" to the paper. After curling the edges and inking with Pinecone, I used 'Below Zero' on the bottom 2/3 of the layout, also curling the edges and inking. I think the inking just helps lift the design when using such muted colours. After adhering my photo, I had cut the little mittens from 'Row of Mittens' to create my own embellishments and sewed them to the 2 top corners of the photo.

I then did a zig-zag stitch around a strip that I cut from the 'Strips' paper, embossed this and adhered under the photo, as a subtle title. I think sometimes its cool not to have a big title on your page, and with the muted colours of the layout, I thought a bit title might be a bit over powering. 

Using my trusty Cuttlebug, I cut a few snowflake shapes to add to the embellishments, and also the cute wee buttons from October Afternoon's Farmhouse range, the colours matched perfectly!

I backed my layout with Bazzil, my new thing, and journaled straight onto the patterned paper! Scary eh! And there you have it! A bit of Snow inspiration for you all, lets hope we don't need to use them too soon!!

Love Bee

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Technique with transparencies

Hmmmm, transparency's. We all love them, but they really are so one dimensional aren't they?! So I really had to think out of the circle for this one. First one was adhering, lets try something different from gluing down, into sewing at the moment, so lets try that! And it worked, giving the transparency a new dimension. Simple Stories have this gorgeous baby range called Baby Steps, and do co-ordinating 6x4 transparencies.

Another embellishment I'm into at the moment, as you would've seen from my other posts, is making rosettes with the Tim Holtz die. I cut the transparency in half length ways and hot glued the ends together making sure to do so on patterned areas so the glue would not show. Also add glue to the centre of the rosette to ensure it stays together.

 I wasn't sure how the plastic would go through the die, but after securing the transparency to the die with double sided tape, I put the die through the cuttlebug several times until it had cut through. A bit of added pressure was needed here so I added a layer or 2 of cardstock to the B plates. Once cut, fold along the scoring as though making a fan. To attach the two ends together you can use hot glue, though I did have problems with this, or a wee bit of double sided tape, again in a patterned area to disguise the adhesive.

I then used flower punches to adhere to the middle of the rosette to cover the glued centre of the rosette. I love the way they look being clear. You could paint around the edges of these too if you wished.

I then completed the layout using Simple Stories Baby Steps Boarder and Title Strips Elements paper for my bracket, hot air balloon, and bracket strip. I curled the edges of the ledger bracket and adhered the bracket strip with foam squares for added dimension. The Little Yellow Bicycle 12 month cards worked well as a subtle layer underneath.

So I hope these techniques that I have used for the transparencies will make you think differently next time you pick up one of these pieces of acetate and think "how will I use this?" rather than just over a photo. I sure will look at them differently!

Love Belinda

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school photos, the good, the bad, and the down right ugly!

Every year I have them printed, and every year I get a bit stuck on how to scrap them. This year, James will not be having his scrapped, he looks like a lunatic! So here is my sweet cherub face James, when he was innocent and adorable!

Basic Grey's Oxford range again came to my rescue as the elements on the sticker sheet lend themselves to many embellishments for a layout.

I used Basic Greys Deans List as my base, the perfect ledger sheet, and attached coloured twine across the top of the page with Basic Grey brads. I then used my scraps from Frat House to make little tags which I stitched around, matted a shield sticker with Study Hall, both of which are from the Oxford range too. I also used other bits and bobs I had to complete the banner look. A great way to use up some odd pieces you may have at home.

I then layered a couple of label stickers from the sticker sheet as part of my title, and embellished the side with these gorgeous wee pencil stickers, again from the sticker sheet, and used dimensional magic on them to create a point of difference.

Journalling straight onto the patterned paper is a bit out of my comfort zone, but I think it looks ok.

So anyway, thanks for looking guys, I hope this inspires you to get some of those old class photos out to scrap, the old retro ones could be fun too!!!

.... love Belinda

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Some Basic Grey Inspiration coming your way...

Hi guys, well with Autumn well and truly here, and the richness of colors of the season, Basic Greys "Oxford" range seems a perfect way to start my entries to the Scrappin Patch blog...exciting!!

It's great to break from the 6"x4" rutt, and try printing your photos smaller. This will not only add interest to your albums but great to get lots of images on your 12x12 rather than doing a double layout.

The Basic Grey's papers always complement each other so well so I stuck to this range to make my own embellishments, the rosettes, using Tim Holtz Alterations Paper Rosettes Die. I use this so so much and is an inexpensive way to use up your scraps and jazz up layouts. I have used the under side of 'Study Hall' for the mini rosette, the front side of 'Study Hall' for the rosette on the top and 'Sorority' for the bottom rosette. Then using the 'Oxford' stickers, embellished the rosettes, using also the brads from the collection.

The base paper is the underside of 'Ivy League' and the wide strip down the side is 'Frat House'. I have also used scraps to create tags under the title. The sticker sheet also proved very useful to cut up and make smaller tags with heaps and heaps left over. The papers are great masculine colors too so will use up my scraps with lots of cards for the men in my life... love Belinda

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March Sketch Challenge

Hi Everyone,

Its my turn for the sketch challenge this month, and I chose to use a sketch from Monika at monma.blogspot.com
Monika does some amazing sketches and you can see the rest of them on her blog by clicking on the link at the top of the home page, on her blog.  She also happens to be the owner of one of Swedens biggest online forums Allt om Scrap.

Megan's Layout

I loved the simplicity of the layout too and you get to add layers without making looking too overloaded.  Ive been a tad predictable :) and used my favourite papers from Prima Printery range and some flowers from my stash, and a  Dusty Attic clock face.  The metal clock face is Tim's and Ive turned the clock hands to the time the quake struck.  This photo was taken on top of the Port Hills by someone else - I found it on Rise Up Christchurch facebook page.

Belinda's Layout

Hi Girls, this layout I really enjoyed as though it is a simple design, there is a lot of room to make it your own. For this I have embraced the Amy Tangerine range that Adrienne has in, it is so funky! Using white Bazzil as my base, then a scrap of Pink Paislee Vintage Moon distressed on top for contrast, I then layered Amy Tangerine Fabric Paper at the top and bottom of my photo. Using Amy Tangerine Wishing and All Together Stickers to embellish along with Amy Tangerine Hello Thickers for my title... fun eh!!

Hope you all enjoy the sketch and Im looking forward to see what you come up with!

Happy scrapping!

Megan

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February Sketch

Well it's a funny thing when you have a sleeping baby...you actually get things done!! Thank you Master L for making this layout possible!

This is a layout I've done using the February Sketch so I hope you all are busy getting yours ready to submit by the 29th...

products I have used are MME Lime Twist Out of the Blue "Family" "Remember" and Fly a Kite "Soar", and Prima Alphabets

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