Scrap365 Blog Hop

It's coming... and now I can share!!

My name is Kim, and I'm a proud member of the design team for Scrap365, a new UK scrapbooking magazine launching this November 18th.

Li'll old me...

A Little Bit About Me!

I've been papercrafting for many moons now - I started by selling cards to local shops. Now? I teach scrapbooking classes to some lovely ladies here in Bristol, and in any spare time that I have, I create (what I hope) are beautiful things out of paper, from mini books to wall decor... basically, if it can be made out of paper, you'll find it in my house!

I was lucky enough to win Craft Stamper's Scrapbooker of the Year competition this year, and now I'm on the magazine's design team. I'm also affiliated with Crafty Individuals - a UK stamp making company. Stamping is something you'll see on lots of my work, as I love the versatility of it.

Some Of My Favourite Creations This Year.

A corsage, made from canvas and dies.

A layout of my lovely girl - you'll see lots of them!

mmmmm... the things you can do with old dictionary paper!

My two beautiful step-daughters.

A little wall canvas.

As you can see, my style is quite 'shabby chic'... but I like to shake it up every once in a while!

Want To Win A Prize?

Now... would you like to win a prize from Scrap365? Yes? OK! All you have to do, is leave a comment on all the designers blogs from this hop, (and one on the Scrap365 blog - go here). You could win a years subscription to Craft Stamper magazine, and over £20 worth of stamps!

We're all very excited to be part of a new venture, and are sure you're going to love it! To continue on your hop, go to Lisa's blog next; another amazing gal on the design team. Thanks for stopping by!

Ta Da!!!

Yesterday, I shared some Fimo cameos that I had made. I mentioned that they need 'jazzing' up a little:

Pretty heh? Some of the effects are quite subtle... just a little metallic rub on the flowers for example. One word of advise... if you want to paint the base, you'll need a teeny weeny brush... and a VERY steady hand! Hope you like! xxx

A Little Cameo..... or Two...

I've recently discovered that Fimo is actually NOT a child's plaything... but something to be revered in the papercrafting world:

Aren't they pretty? I've recently been making cute little Fimo flowers (you know - the kind that certain manufacturer's of scrapbooking supplies will have you believe you should pay a FORTUNE for), for only pennies each. I found these molds on Ebay (just type into the search engine 'silicone cameo molds') at a very reasonable price - not much more, in fact then a pack of cameos from once of those afore mentioned companies would cost! I will, obviously, paint the bases of some of them to give them a more 'authentic' look; but I couldn't wait to share! Hope you like! xxx

Me!

I seem to be on a roll with my scrap booking at the moment... 3 layouts in as many days! This one was very therapeutic... I never scrap about me!

I printed the journalling on vellum, as I didn't want to lose the pattern on the paper behind. Note how I've left some space in the journalling block, to allow me to stamp the word 'remember'. This is a great way of jazzing up what you have to say! The title down the right hand side has been cut with my Cricut, the camera embellies and the circular ones have all been stamped, cut out and added in a visual triangle, hopefully drawing the eye to the photo!
I think my fave part of this layout is the Studio Calico Coffee Stain stamp (top right, centre left and bottom right). So grungy! So come on... scrap about YOU for a change... I bet, like me, that you never do!
Hope you like. xxx

Pretty as a Picture...

So, I don't usually work from a sketch - I'm more of a 'spend hours going through your stash, and then more hours rearranging it on the page' kinda gal. But for once, I though I'd give it a try. Here's the sketch I came up with:

It only took a few minutes to draw, and for a first attempt, I thought it MIGHT work!  Ok, so the finished article doesn't EXACTLY follow the sketch, but that's the idea isn't it?! There's certainly enough similarities to see that I used it! And I have to admit, it cut down my creation time by at least an hour! So, if you, like me, tend to 'go with the flow' when creating your pages, give a sketch a go (this one if you like), betcha you like the end result! xxx

A Few fancy Things...

It's been a busy few days here! Firstly, a friend's birthday, so here's a little card and broach I made for her:

I used the new MME Lost and Found Two (Breeze) paper pad for the card, and added a couple of stamped tags, punched butterflies and a cameo to give it a little interest. I love those alpha stickers by Basic Grey (micro monos). So useful and available in so many colours.
The broach is made out of thin canvas - I found the Tim Holtz Rosette die didn't cut the perforations on this! Lots of stamping, misting and a few tiny beads finished it off. The leaves are cut from a Sizzix original die.

Next, a 25th wedding anniversary card for another friend:

A simple, (but hopefully effective!) design. The flocked paper is from an old collection - GCD Paris Nights. The hearts are from a bumper pack of die cut's that I ordered from QVC, thinking I would never use them - how wrong could I be (see next photo!). The seam binding double bow started life as dull white - a little misting soon sorted that! Lastly the little metal flowers are from Making memories - cute!

Finally, the daughter of the friend receiving the wedding anniversary card asked me to make them an album - here it is:

Though the colours aren't traditionally 'silver wedding', I wanted the photos to suit the pages... and, sadly, as we are all children of the 70's, the colours in the photos were pretty brown and orange! So I used a collection by Prima - Reflections. As their's was an autumn wedding, the theme of the papers seemed to tie in quite nicely with this too. I won't bore you with the inside pages, but suffice to say that there's an awful lot more of those QVC die cuts in there! I found that they worked brilliantly (once inked and misted) as photo mats and added extra's tucked under the photos to give more dimension. I also used my Cricut to cut out all of the page titles and the '25 years' on the front cover, I have to say, though I don't use it a huge amount, it really comes into it's own when creating an album.
So there you go! Off to focus on a few jobs for Craft Stamper now... well, I say Craft Stamper.. watch this space for some HUGE news! Hope you like! xxx

Pretty...

It's been a while since I blogged anything that I've created it seems! For my birthday, I received the Tim Holtz rosette die, and tattered banner die. Now. I've made many rosettes in my time... fiddly little things... certainly not so time consuming with this die, however, not sure I'm liking the perforations it puts into each fold - more than a little distressing and they have trouble holding up! The end result is pretty tho:

I used dictionary paper, sprayed with a little chalkboard (another birthday acquisition!), then popped a little die cut and tattered banner on top - cute! there's no sewing involved here, the sheer material is simply gathered on the back using double sided tape and a little hot glue. With the piece of gauze left over, I created the 'beribboned' rosette. The seam binding has been sprayed and dried in a crinkly fashion, before being fashioned into a double messy bow. Hope you like! xxx

What a Lucky Girl!

So, today, I am officially past it... 40, by 4 years that is. I'm blessed with a very generous family, who love to pander to my every crafty need... look at the wonderful stash I've received this year:

The small child wasn't a birthday gift - I received her 13 years ago on Mother's day! I think the most exciting gift has to be the Cinch v.2 - guess what I shall be doing all afternoon! xxx

Look What I've Got!!

So, I figure that I don't know ANY paper crafters that don't love ledger paper... whilst browsing around on the web, looking at lovely stash, I stumbled upon this:

it's the new Ledger Paper Pad from Prima. This is Pad 1, and is full of beautiful pastel pages. There is also a second pad which is much more primary in it's colours. Of course, I NEED them both, (and at £14.99 they are good value for 48 pages!) but this is the only one I can find in the UK at the moment. I found it at emerald crafts.co.uk - great shipping charges too. Go grab one!