How I created my Y is for Yarn page - Linda

We chose to use Bo Bunny's Country Garden papers for our class kit this month
- a limited number of kits available via Cardinal Colours, please contact us for further details.

I used the Country Garden Stripe as my base page and gutted the centre. Seeds was trimmed to 11.5" and distressed around the edges then added to the base. In trimming I had a piece of the "stitched" effect left over so I cut it out and suck it back on.

Various mats were cut from stripes and blocks from the cut-out sheet which were also distressed, inked and placed on the page. I machine stitched around the photograph.

I punched a border with an EK Success large hole punch and placed along the bottom of the mats, then looped string along fixing with extra tacky glue. The picket fence panels were cut with the Cricut and added with 3d foam. The hanging sign for journalling was cut with Lynn's Tim Holtz die.

Lynn spent ages cutting seed packets, flower pots and tools for this kit and I have used them in a stack to one side, she also printed all the little lables - Thanks!

The flowers in the pot were punched with a Martha Stewart multi punch and added dimensionally with liquid pearls in the centres.

Various blooms were added randomly below the photo along with a plant stem with leaves.

Pearls were added for centres.

In the top panel I cut out the words from the cut-outs sheet and added with 3d foam then added a large butterfly also from the sheet. The smaller butterflies were on one of the panels along with the "count your blessings" sentiment which is also on 3d foam.

A reminder of the original page by Gabrielle and our sketch.

Still time to enter the challenge - closing date 5th August.

How I Made My July Layout

This layout shows my daughter Emily dressed for a dance show.

 This month we are scraplifting Gabrielle Polloco and challenging you to use YARN on your layout. Here is Gabrielle's original layout using Bo Bunny's Country Garden papers ...

 .. and our sketch

I also used Bo Bunny papers and selected seeds, stripe and cut outs.

Here is what I did:

Cut green garden stripe paper, to leave a 1” border frame, distress and ink the outer edges.

I used Seeds paper cut down to 11.5” x 11.5” by taking some off more than two sides to keep the parts of design I wanted. I didn't worry about cutting off stitches as I planned to add them back in later. Distress and ink the edges. Stick blue paper to green border centrally, giving a border of 0.25” all round.

Decorate with some brown machine stitches.

Distress and ink the edges of photo and mount onto green paper leaving a very thin border. Machine stitch in white round the photo edges, starting and beginning at the bottom as this will be hidden. Distress and ink the edges of green paper.

Cut stripe paper vertically as wide as you can and approx. 6” long. Distress, ink and stitch around three sides. Select two panels from ‘Cut Out sheet and treat as stripe. Stick stripe piece lightly on layout about 3” down from top and 1.75” in from the left.

Draw a 6.8” circle very lightly in pencil, and zig-zag stitch around the lines (start and stop where the stitches won’t show). If pencil lines show, carefully rub away. Stick other panels into place.

POTTED PLANT - Cut flower pot in Kraft Bazzill using QuicKutz die. Shade with chalk inks. Add top to pot with 3D foam pads. Cut ‘stick’ from brown Bazzill using Cricut and 'Doodlecharms' cartridge at 3” and add to pot.

Use pink coloured section of spare patterend papers and punch out lots of petals with Martha Stewart ‘Hydranga’ punch. Ink in pink and layer up on stick to make potted hydrangea. Decorate the centres with stickles, perfect pearls or flat backed pearls. Stick plan to left of layout.

BRANCH - Cut 2” branch and leaves from brown and green Bazzill using ‘Straight from the Nest’ Cricut Cartridge. Add to top left of page and add blossoms cut and prepared in the same way as the Hydrangea.

BANNER - Cut ‘Believe in Yourself’ banner from ‘cut out ‘ sheet, ink the edges and add over banner on layout wit 3D foam pads.

FLOWER BED / FENCE - Cut flower bed from brown Bazzill using template provided. Stick along base of photo. Cut two fence panels at 1.5” using white Bazzill and Paper Dolls Dress Up Cartridge for Cricut. Ink, overlap and stick together to make one longer fence. Stick with 3D foam pads towards bas of flower bed.

Make 9  mini seed packs using QK die and Kraft Bazzill. Draw some tiny seed pack images. Cut out and stick images to packets. Cut some spare Brown Bazzill into thin strips to make sticks to add to seed packets. Arrange in flower bed, slightly behind fence so the peep over the top.
Add garden twine to fence twisting and looping along the way.

I drew the little seed packet images and coloured them with my Promarkers. Because Linda and I make up kits which we sell via Cradinal Colours I made these images available in black and white as well as colour for the kits. I am aslo happy to send your the images to anyone who wants them - just drop me an email.

Cut butterflies from patterned paper and arrange on layout.

Add some blossoms and flat backed pearls for centres.

Use Cricut and ‘George and Basic Shapes’ cartridge cut a title 1” high with shadow using brown and green Bazzill. Add title to top right of layout.

Write journalling on one of the panels beside the photo.

And it's finished!

Thanks for looking. Please pop back to the 'Y is for Yarn' post for more details of the challenge and prize.

How I made my March Layout III

The Blossom Babes at or Debden retreat 2011

Karen took this photo and Anita took one which included Karen, so I cut and pasted Karen into the space she had been standing in before being photographer!

Here is how I made my March layout which was a scraplift of a layout by talented DT member Anita.

This is a reminder of her beautiful original layout and the sketch.

These are the Bo Bunny's Garden Girl Collection

papers we used:

Die Cut

Garden Girl 

Cut Outs 

First of all the 'Die Cut' sheet had to be prepared, by cutting along the thick brown inner line. You are left with a scalloped frame and an orange square with decorative corners.

Stick the frame piece centrally onto the purple cardstock.

Build up the centre with double sided foam tape, and stick the orange piece back in position. 

Lots of careful cutting of the 'Cut Outs' sheet helps to make a decorative surround for the photo. Cut a quote for the top right hand corner of the layout.

I wanted slightly different words to those on the wide strip Anita used, so I used my computer and a font called Rivanna, I used two sizes and colours. First of all I cut the two butterflies and all the flowers I needed from the floral side of the 'Garden Girl' paper, then I printed onto a strip of the green side.

True friends are priceless treasures

Now take the butterflies and flowers, carefully ink and curve with scissors and add to layout with 3D foam pads as shown on the photo.

Then the fun begins, add tons of glitter with the stickles!
I also added flower stamen to the butterflies for antennae.

Thanks Anita x

How I made my March layout

Here is my layout from this month's design team gallery, using this photo of sweet little Esme.

The layout was made with these ingredients:
K & Company green letter stickers.
Prima pink songbird vine
Bo Bunny Love Bandit collection - Birdie die cut, Bee mine, Nuts 4 U.
Stampin’ Up Aviary stamp set.
Stampin’ Up ink pads in Calypso Coral, Island Indigo, Pool Party, Lucky Limeade and Rose Red.
Journalling block stamp - custom made
4 x 6” landscape photo
Stickles – crystal and lime green
Gems

Here is how I made the layout:
Gut the green side of ‘Bee Mine’ paper so you have a 12” x 12” - 1” frame, stick the ‘Birdie Die Cut’ sheet centrally over the green frame.

I Stamped bird cages in a variety of colours across the centre of the Die cut Sheet, add birds to the cages. Stamp more birds and cages onto smooth white card, and cut out leaving a fine white border around each image.

Using a Technique Tuesday Template, cut the outer shape from the pink side of ‘Be Mine’ and the inner, smaller shape from white side of ‘Nuts 4 U’.

Ink the edges and mount the white shape centrally onto the pink shape. Build this up with 3D foam pads and mount into the centre of the layout. Mount photo onto a piece of the green side of ‘Nuts 4U’. Mount the photo towards the top of the Big shape.

Stamp a circular Journalling block and mount this onto a circle of green paper. Add the journalling details and stick to the top right of the layout overlapping the photo slightly with 3D foam pads. Arrange a selection of bird cages around the journalingl block, some raised and some directly onto the layout.

Arrange the vine down the left side of the layout. Add a cage to the top branch so it appears to be hanging from the vine. Trim off a couple of flowers and add to the journaling block..

Add title with the glitter stickers under the photo. Then add stickles and gems to the cages and flowers.

Here is the original layout by the very talented Anita:

Here is a reminder of the sketch. 

If you would like to join in the challenge please go back to the 'G is for Glitter' post on this blog

Thanks for the inspiration Anita x

G is for Glitter

This month we have chosen to scraplift this colourful, glittery layout by our very own, very talented, team member Anita.

Here is our sketch...

.... and here are the Design Team's layouts. Please click on their names to view their blogs.

LYNN 

LINDA

KAREN

SANDRA

ALISON

LINDA

 LYNN

ANITA

DEIRDRE

Our Guest designer this month is Katherine Sutton, better known as

SUTTY 

please follow link to view Katherine's blog.

*** Thanks for creating this beautifully cute layout for us Sutty ***

Prize Time

This month Jill of Cardinal Colours is offering 10 stickles, so you can get really glittery on your cards and layouts! Prize available to UK residents.

Our grateful thanks as always to Jill, to this month's guest Sutty and Anita.

How I made my October Scraplift Page

A few tips on how I made my layout for the October Scraplift Challenge.


The little girl in the photos is my daughter Emily when she was 8 years old, on Old Town Beach, St Marys, Isles of Scilly. August 2000.

I used 2 sheets of navy Bazzill and Bo Bunny, Barefoot and Bliss papers all from Cardinal Colours.

Beach Bag

Surf

Stripe

Bubbles

Cutouts

Here is how the layout was made:

1. Cutting
a) Gut a 12 x 12” sheet Navy Bazzill to leave a 1” frame.
b) Cut blue side of ‘Surf’ paper to 11 x 11” and gut to make a 2” frame.
c) Cut a piece of navy Bazzill to 9 x 9” and gut with a 1” frame.
d) Cut variegated side of ‘Stripe’ paper 8 ¾ x 8 ¾”.
e) Cut navy Bazzill to 1 ¾ x 9 ¾”.
f) Cut blue side of ‘Bubbles’ paper to 1 ½ x 9 ½”.
g) Cut navy Bazzill to 7 ¼ x 6 ¼” and 3 ¼ x 6 ¼”.
h) Cut white side of ‘Beach Bag’ to 7 x 6” and 3 x 6”.
i) Cut out ‘Dive into summer’ and ‘another day in paradise’ from Cut –outs sheet. Mount these onto navy Bazzill and trim to show a narrow border.
j) Mount photo/s (total size approx 4 x 6”) onto navy Bazzill (approx. 4 ¼ x 6 ¼”).
k) Keep all the scraps of Navy Bazzill for title letters and smaller mounts.

2. Placement of papers.
Ink the edges and stick b centrally onto a.
Stick d centrally onto c and c centrally onto b.
Stick f onto e and place against the top edge of the layout about 3” in from the left.
Stick both pieces cut in step h onto both pieces cut in step g. Place smaller piece about 1” up from bottom of layout, about 4 ½” in from left. Place the larger piece so it overlaps the bottom piece by about 1”, make sure it is not stick down along the bottom edge allowing embellishments to be tucked underneath later.
Add mounted photo and cut-outs as shown on sketch, flowery side of ‘Dive into summer’ showing on the left of the blue strip. Stick the ‘Another Day in Paradise’ to right of layout.

3. Embellishment
Using scraps of navy Bazzill cut lettering for title using ‘Life is a Beach’ Cartridge.
With scraps of patterned paper cut plumeria flower and leaf at 1 ¾” and 1 ¼”, ink the edges and arrange onto layout.
Tuck paper flowers and doilies under pocket made g and h. Place more flowers to left of floral panel.
Punch label with Stampin' Up punch and mount onto navy Bazzill and trim to leave a narrow border. Attach where required.
Write journaling onto scraps of patterned paper, trim and add to left side of layout with 3D foam pads.

You have until 5th November to enter this month's challenge. Check back to the 'B is for Borders' post for more details of the challenge.

How I made my August Challenge Page

My version is called 'First Born' ... son of Charles and Margaret Banks 1933 - that's my Dad - Robert Charles. I love this old photo of him as a baby boy in his beautiful lacy gown.

To make this layout from the sketch I used:
3 Sheets Bazzill cardstock, Pinecone, Just Peachy and Patina.

2 sheets 12” x 12”, double-sided Bo Bunny Gabrielle papers -

Cameo & 

Promenade 

1m Ribbon 1/2" brown organza from Hobbycraft.
1m DMC embroidery cotton # 502
6 Flat backed pearls from Quixotic Paperie
Various chalk Inks and a black Memento ink pad,
Jumbo, large and small Retro daisy punches, pine branch punch
Gold glitter spray,
Bo Bunny - Gabrielle Butterfly stamps

Sizzix and Boxed Brush alphabet sizzlets
Glossy Accents.

I used the Patina Bazzill as my base cardstock, and cut papers in the following dimensions:
1. Promenade (white side) 2x4"
2. Cameo (white side) 9x9"
3. Promenade (peach side) 4x4"
4. Cameo (mint side) 8x3"
5. Promenade (white side) 4x5"
6. Promenade (peach side) 2x7"

I distressed and inked the edges of all these pieces and stuck down to the base cardstock. Then I added the 4x6" photo, also distressed and inked.

Using a template I drew an 11" circle lightly in pencil where I wanted the ribbon circle to be.

Next I made the flowers. Two large and one small peachy, and the same in pinecone Bazzill.
For each flower I punched two Jumbo, two large and two medium retro daisies.  Then I made them damp.  Then while damp I shaped them, I pleated each petal using tweezers to prevent damaging the surface of the paper too much.  Once they were completely dry, and this doesn't take long. I layered the flowers off-setting the petals as I stuck them together in the centres with a wet glue. As each layer is added they appear to come to life and become three dimensional. Once completed, I sprayed them with gold glitter spray for a subtle sparkle, then glued large flat backed pearls into the centre of each finished blossom.
Anita showed me how to make these flowers originally, and Linda will be explaining this in more detail on this blog blog in a few days, with a slightly different method. There is another excellent tutorial HERE from Gabrielle Pollocco, again slightly different method.
I arranged the blossoms on the circle where I wanted them and stuck them down.

The next stage was to do the ribbon work on the areas of the circle not covered by blossoms. I pierced holes at approximately 1" intervals around the circle. Then attached the ribbon firmly with a stitch out of sight under one of the blossoms. With the needle and DMC thread I came up through each hole, caught the ribbon down and went back through the same hole. I repeated this for every hole until the ribbon was attached all around the circle. Stopping and starting again to avoid the blossoms. I finished off much as I started with a few stitches hidden under a blossom.

I cut my title using the Boxed Sizzlets and the Sizzix, and Pinecone Bazzill. I arranged them and stuck them in place and added a little Glossy Accents to make them shine.

For the butterflies I stamped them directly onto the layout with Rich Cocoa Memento dye based ink. Then I stamped them again onto the scraps of patterned paper. I cut out the second set of butterflies, inked the edges and attached them by the bodies only over the butterflies on the layout. I folded up the wings, so you can see the butterfly images underneath.

Finally I punched a few pine branches from scraps of patterned papers and added these to the blossoms.

If you fancy having a go at entering our challenge by creating your own layout following this sketch, pop over to the 'R is for Ribbon' post on this blog for more details and check out the prize post too.