When Life Gives You Lemons

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. When Scrap Shotz sends you the Simple Stories, Simple Vintage Lemon Twist, you make layouts!

I have absolutely loved playing with this collection. At first I honestly was not sure I would have memories to match the style … but I was so wrong. This collection is all about fun, bright, cheery designs and colours; and I have loads of those kinda memories to document! 

Florals for the Win! 

For my first layout, I was all about showing off the amazing floral die cuts in this collection.  Flowers, butterflies and bees and all beautifully coloured and detailed. 

First I stamped the background Paper (Bazzill Cardstock, Raven) with Tim Holtz, Distress Oxide in Hickory Smoke using an older botanical Vicki Boutin stamp from my stash. Adds a few splatters too. Then I simply layered a whole bunch of die cuts up from the bottom of the page and down from the top - a layered jumble! 

The top layer serves as the anchor for my photos (which I backed in just white cardstock) and my title. The bottom layer was a good spot to feature a few phrase embellishments, stickers and a couple of bees too from the collection.  

Hexagons are my Favourite! 

For my second layout, I played on the hexagon/bee inspired elements of the collection. I cut a bunch of different pattern paper hexagons on my die cutting machine. The patterns are so pretty - wanted to show them all off! 

Before adhering any of the hexagons, I added some mixed media to the background. The black small hexagons are another Vicki Boutin stamp from my stash applied with Staz On in Jet Black. Then some packaging technique with Tim Holtz, Distress Ink in Mustard Seed, and finally splatters in more Mustard Seed and some Evergreen Bough. I finished it off with black splatters using slightly watered down Black Nouvo. 

From there I just played with the pattern paper hexagons to create a nice anchor for the photos, and then layered a bunch of title elements down the right hand side of my photos. A little lemon tucked here and there, and a couple bee embellishments and voila! I love how bright it all turned out.

All the Hearts! 

There are so many super cute hearts in this collection - sticker, cardstock and foam hearts… blue, yellow, black and pattern hearts …so many hearts. So I focused on a design that would give me an excuse to use way, way too many! 

First, I covered the bottom half of the page with the black/white plaid pattern. This is my favourite pattern in the collection so I really wanted to show it off. Then I cut a few different circles from some of the other patterns. The circles become the anchor for my photo and created a neat transition from the bottom pattern and the white cardstock (Bazzill Cardstock, Avalanche) on top. 

From there, I backed my photo in a few more pattern papers, and used the stickers sheet to create some fun tabs on the left. I also added a few splatters in Tim Holtz, Distress Ink in Mustard Seed, Evergreen Bough, and Black Soot behind the photos. 

Then it was all about the hearts! I wanted it to look like they are floating up from the love my nephew has for our dog! So focused on scattering them from the photo upwards and widening the scatter as it got close to the edge of the page. I finished it all off with a two alpha title and a little rip and extra heart at the bottom of the page. This one came together real quick - so fun! 

Strips and Stitches! 

For my final layout, I wanted to use all the pattern paper branding strips, scraps of paper and washi tape of the collection. 

First, to add a little more black to the background pattern, I used a honeycomb stencil and rubbed some Tim Holtz, Distress Oxide in Black Soot on it followed by a few sprints of water and then pressed the wet side down to the paper. This gives you a more faint and less perfect negative impression of the stencil which matched the style of the collection quite nicely. You can see it there on the top left side and near the bottom right. 

From there, I cut a bunch of strips of paper, tore each end so there were different lengths and then layered them down the left side of the page. I added a few strips of washi tape in there too for a little touch of shine. After the strips were all in place, I stitched a few with black thread on my sewing machine. I left the stitched ends loose and a little long so it looked nice and messy. 

To finish it off, I added my photo with lots of fun layered embellishments and patterns and this really long title. This collection is in the Scrap Shotz Scrapbooking Kit and included cardstock and Doodlebug alphas - these are those cute black alphas! 

Are you playing with this kit or collection - we would love to see! Tag us on social media or join the Scrap Shotz Paper Crafting Facebook Group and post up your projects! 

Photoplay "Crafting With My Gnomies"

Hello! I am pleased to be sharing projects created with the Photoplay "Crafting With My Gnomies" by Becky Moore. Often at crop events, I get so busy that I forget to take photos, but knowing that I have such an awesome line to scrapbook these photos will likely inspire me to take more.

The photos on these layouts are from the Calgary Crop & Create in April 2019.The first layout features a mix of the patterned papers layered in the center of the page. It has some popped up stickers and cut apart cards in 4x6 and 3x4. 

I stamped and colored a gnome from the cute stamp set and fussy cut him out to pop up, too.

The second layout is fun, using a lot of stickers, most of them popped up. I matted the patterned paper in the center to give it some separation from the background pattern. I used American Craft foam Thickers for my title.

 

I used Lustre Polish with the Hearts stencil to create the background for this card. Stickers and ephemera were popped up decorate it and convey the sentiments. It will be perfect to send to a crafty friend!

This photo is from 2016's Crop & Create and I am happy to finally get it on to a page! This collection is bright, beautiful and I love the black in the patterns. I matted my background paper with both black and white cardstock. I also matted the striped paper banner with black. 

I used my name tag from the event as an accent and stamped and colored a gnome in the colors of the paper. The title was stamped and die cut from a Scrapbook and Cards Today set.

The card on the left below was created with scraps of patterned paper and a bit of twine. I love that sweet gnome. The card on the right showcases the Handmade with Love stencil. Distress Oxides were used on this great stencil and I popped up some ephemera and a sticker to finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by!

P13 Summer Vibes

Not sure about you, but I am not ready to say goodbye to summer just yet. So I am extending the season by focusing only on summer themed scrapbook supplies while in my crafty space, such as P13 Summer Vibes collection. Documenting some of my favourite summer memories with these happy supplies keeps the sunshine around a little longer! 

Layout One - Hello World 

For my first layout with these watercolour summer goodies I went straight for the map pattern paper #06 - I am a sucker for a good map or globe inspired pattern. 

I wanted the pattern to do all the work, so picked just one photo and layered it up with all kinds of goodies from the P13 collection. Then used the Hickory Smoke, Distress Oxide from Tim Holtz to add some arrows and a heart from the photo to Portugal (where the photo was taken). 

I used some of the same ink to add a few splatters behind the photo cluster and some arrow stamps on the top and bottom of the page. 

The title Hello World and the 3 botanical stems are from a gray Thickers collection deep in my stash. I love how bold they look on all the white space, and they matched the stamped ink perfectly. 

Layout Two - Sweet Stripes

For my second layout, I just had to use the diagonal stripe paper #04 - the pastel colours reminded me of a yummy, sweet ice cream cone and there is no one sweeter than my wee niece! She just had to be featured on this pattern paper. 

With this layout, I again focused on creating a fun photo cluster - layering all the cute things and patterns with my photo and leaving the rest of the layout to just be colourful. 

I cut apart most of the pattern stripes and then used my distress tool to rough up the edges of each strip to give the page a bit more texture and dimension - and then glued it all down on a scrap white paper back in the same order of the pattern. 

With my P13 goodies, Scrap Shotz included the cutest, little matching paper florals from Prima Marketing (no one does florals like Prima) - I added a few these to the photo cluster too. I love the touch of feminine to this photo of her in her ‘movie watching’ seat (aka laundry basket with a blanket and stuffies). So cute! 

Layout Three - Surf's Up

For my third layout, I am all about the circles! The pattern paper #05 features gentle waves and instantly inspired me to reach for some boogie boarding photos from South Africa. My photos are not the best so I cut them in circles to try and hide the flaws - and this inspired a circle design layout! 

Once I had my photos cut in circles and scattered down the page, I just played with all the stickers and goodies from the P13 collection until I had a happy, jumbled, layered “mess”. I did add some white acrylic paint splatters on the pattern paper behind the photos as well. 

A few of the embellishments are fussy cut from pattern paper #03. I liked the combo of botanicals and cameras or sneakers on the pattern. I also added some of the die-cut chipboard pieces #08 (they look and feel like delicate wood veneer - love!) to a few spots on the page to bring a little texture to the layout. 

The ‘Surf’s Up’ title that follows along a photo - playing on the circle design - was the finishing touch.

How are your documenting your summer? 

There are still some P13 Summer Vibes goodies in the shop - pop over, grab some of these watercolour inspired designs and extend your summer!