Mini Album: Using Sequins and Confetti

These pictures are of a mini album that I made as a present for my best friends 30th Birthday. We have been friends since primary school, I entitled the mini album '30 Years of Friendship (well, almost....)' She was absolutely thrilled with it and it gave me an opportunity to trial a load of different techniques. I had recently invested in the Fuse Tool so I knew I wanted to get some use out of that!

 

With the page above I added some red star confetti to the picture of the two of us dressed up as witches, I really liked this effect of just chucking the confetti straight in with the picture, it looked cute and added some fun interest to the page. and you'll see I also did in on the picture below but there I used some sequins from a Dovecraft sequin pack. I used quite a lot of sequins in the following pages.

 

 

 

The layout below is from my friends Hen Do, I got over excited with my circle punch and I loved the look of it, the pictures kept moving around in the pockets though which was driving me crazy so I used my Fuse tool around the outside to keep them in place. After I'd done it I decided to add a few sequins around the outside, I picked out the colours that worked with the spread and I had a lot of fun with it if I did it again I'd add some sequins under the picture before I fused it because often the sequins didn't fit past the picture so I was only able to stick a couple in to it.

 

 

I have seen lots of people on blogs and YouTube add the cool corner pockets on 2x2 layouts and I really wanted to have a go. I much preferred the 1/2 pockets with the paper in the bottom than full 2x2 squares with confetti or sequins in.

I had a lot of fun with this album, I highly recommend completing a mini album just for the fun and the opportunity to trial some new techniques for your scrapbooking. I have a couple more posts related to specific pages of the album followed by a walk-though video in a couple of days time.

 

Project Life 2015: Works Party

Hey everyone, these are some snapshots from my most recent process video, this documents a works party that I had with some collegues. All the pictures from the night were taken on my mini instax camera. It was great fun to use with all my friends and I gave loads of the film away. Before I gave them out to various people I used my phone to take some pictures of the instax prints so that I could include them in my project life album!

 

 

There were 3 cards that I had already done and finished before I even started the spread! The bottom three cards were already complete where I had tried to start the spread on a different day but just hadn't been feeling it! (sometimes that happens to me, hate those days when I lack inspiration!)

This spread has lots of little details on it like the addition of strips of washi tape and the die cut tag stamped with 'today' I had lots of fun creating this layout.

 

 

I did a full PL cards worth of journaling, I could count the number of times I've done that on my hand! So I'm pretty chuffed that I'll have more to help me remember the day in a few years time. :)

I included some of the original instax photos in this album too. I don't like to put too many in to one spread as I feel I have to use journaling cards to mount the pictures and it ends up way too busy for me!!

If you want to see my process watch the video on my YouTube channel link below:

Project Life 2015: Hadleigh Castle

This post is of a spread i did using pictures from a walk up to Hadleigh Castle. I love a good wander to clear my head on a Sunday, and as the wind was very brisk this weekend a walk definitely had the desired effect!

This is a fairly simple layout so I've kept my chit chat to a minimum! :) 

I used a printable sticker set I found on the Internet, bought some sticker paper off amazon and then cut some of the stickers apart for this spread. I'd really recommend doing this as it was cheaper and there are some nice sets available. I plan on doing a detailed post on this in a few weeks once I've found some more printable sticker sets! 

I managed to use up some stickers from some of my simple stories sets including this black and clear washi strip which I think looks really cool on this picture as it works with my zebra scarf! 

I matted the 2x2 pics on some paper from a 'falling leaves' paper pad I picked a russet coloured paper that drew from the table cloth in the picture above. 

I decided to outline the simple stories stickers from the I Am collection that said 'on my way' to really make them stand out from the backing paper. I was fairly pleased with the look that gave. 

See my YouTube video below for more details: 

 

12x12 Layout: Meeting Thea

 

Hello! Today's layout is a pretty 12x12 page for my project life album. This is the only picture that was taken the day I met my best friends baby Thea. I always use 12x12 spreads to document either my favourite pictures or the occasions when I was at some kind of event or important day where only one photo was taken. 

 

 

I used this pretty 12x12 paper from the kaleidoscope pad. It had flashes of pink, purple and teal on it. I absolutely adore the paper in this particular pad. I was also given the cute faun paper from a friend and the teal in that banner really brought out the teal in the background. I felt that all those colours together really pulled on the tones in the picture so I was pretty pleased with the outcome. I used a Becky Higgins project life card from the Fine and Dandy collection to write my journaling on, this is the kind of life event that I thought was worth a few words. The little butterfly is from the Kaiser Craft all that glitters set.

 

 

I used some off cuts of paper to die cut a selection of flowers from a sizzix set of die cutters. I decided not to layer them as such but to use them in a row along the base of the picture to add interest. Getting them out of the cutters was such a pain! I was pleased with the finished look (thank goodness, as it took about 35 mins just to get them out!!) I used some sequins to embellish the flowers and also above the photo to add interest, the 'delightful' is from my Amy Tangerine roller phrase stamp, I have now ordered another roller phrase stamp, as I tend to use this one in EVERY spread. The little arrow paperclip is from The Range it came in a set of paperclips for 50p I'd recommend checking out their stationary section as they actually had loads of different shaped paper clips that could be useful for scrapbooking.

 

 

Check out my process video below:

Project Life 2015: The Big Draw

This is one of my favourite spreads in a while, I love the colours and the way it all came together. This was from a trip to the British Museum where we took part in the #bigdraw we got involved by colouring in some masks in the Africa room, I picked the drawing of Head of an Oba, these are made out of brass and placed on the shrines of dead kings alongside ivory and other wooden and metal objects. I love the Africa section. My colouring was little more vibrant than the original as you can see from the pictures!

 

 

 

I found this die cut from my KaiserCraft Fiesta pack and couldn't believe how perfect it was for the day! 'Life is about using the whole box of crayons' and I EVEN USED CRAYONS! it was as if it were made for the spread!

 

 

 

I used this as the perfect excuse to get my sizzix out, I love these dies from the friends range it comes with 16 dies with various words and phrases including 'truth, friend, everyday, wonderful, hope, hello' and many many more! I find reason to use them in so many spreads they were such a good buy!

 

 

 

I added some journaling to this spread (in fact a little more than I normally do) I used the 4x4 card, a sticky label and a die cut shaped like a speech bubble to include some journaling of things I loved from the day.

 

 

 

I love this particular layout, these pocket pages are from We R Memory Keepers it's perfect for instagram pictures and the 4 2x2 pockets mean you can get even more pictures on to your page. Next step for these pocket pages is to work on shaker and see-through pockets (although I'm not confident I'll be able to pull these off!)

 

See my YouTube video below (It has a voice over on it!!! Took ages to work out how to do it effectively, so I'm pretty chuffed. Check it out and subscribe to my channel.)

Project Life 2015: Halloween

Here is a 2015 Project Life spread of my Halloween celebrations. I love the collection of pictures I took here and this spread was a fun one to put together. I took lots of pictures of elements of the day which is a new approach for me, my spreads normally contain lots of pictures of people, but it's fun to document the little things too like the decorations, pumpkins, our yummy midnight margaritas and my very first attempt at Pumpkin Pie (which was delicious by the way!)

 

 

I printed off all of my pictures, I use the beautiful mess app to get them in the 3x4 format, its easy for me to do with my phone and send it straight from there to my wireless printer! This way I could use lots of instagram photos too! I love the top left hand 4x6 photo I managed to get the date in too.

 

 

 

 

You'll see three of the folder label stickers which I used for journaling in this spread. I got the set pretty cheap off Amazon, I was so chuffed with this find! As you'll be able to see from the YouTube video this pack came with lots of different colours and there are hundreds of labels, this little set should do me for quite a while!!

 

 

 

The filler card is made from a Becky Higgins Project Life card, I'm afraid I have no idea which kit! I used this cute 'Week End' sticker as Halloween this year fell on a Saturday and I love these white letter stickers that I'd got off eBay - nearly run out now, definitely need to get some more of those!

 

I added lots of stickers to the layout and all of them are by Simple Stories, the tiny word sticker, and the black clear photo sticker that says 'this way to fun' as well as the small orange sticker and the grey one in the top right hand corner. I always find these sets so versatile and use them in almost every spread I do!

 

 

This final picture shows my 12x12 layout next to the standard Project Life spread (which you can view here) , I love the way they look next to each other, so pleased with the final look of this spread! Yay!

To see what I used watch the YouTube video below, don't forget to subscribe to my channel! :)

Scrapbook 12x12 Layout: Merry Go Round

A very bright layout showing a picture of my friend and I on a merry go round in Cornwall! This was one of my 1st 12x12 layouts and although it's ok, it isn't one of my favourites: 

 

 

Some things I like about the spread include the cluster of embellishments by the picture of us on the merry go round they include some simple stories stickers a die cut and wood veneer camera from studio calico. 

 

I was pleased with the thickers spelling out 'friends' it fitted the theme and really stood out on the coloured background, the wooden star buttons added lots of colour and interest (I got them from eBay, an inexpensive find) 

I liked the general idea for the journaling but I think it's too regimented the way it's level with the picture and might have be fitted from being smaller and hand written on to the spread, the washi tape was a bit of a test and perhaps in hindsight the green is too greater contrast, it really stands out and is a bit jarring!

Overall there are definitely things I would change about this layout, but that's the good thing about scrapbooking - every spread is a learning curve! 

To see the process watch my YouTube video: 

Throwback Thursday Album: Pirate Party

This spread is comprised of photos from 2007 and is part of my 'Throwback' album. I do this album every now and then, stealing pictures off my Facebook albums. This one was a party I went to at Uni so it's a pretty old one.

I picked out the Red from the pictures when choosing the additional cards to use in the album and the spread really ended up focused around Red, Black and White and I like the finished look.

I used this as a real opportunity to use up as many of the Anchor stickers I have as possible! I did a pretty good job I think, these are all from the 'I am' collection by Simple Stories, I have no idea when else I would have used these stickers but they were perfect for this!

I used a few stamps, one from a Heidi Swapp stamp set and the 'Oh Goodness' Is from an Amy Tangerine roller stamp, I love the phrases on that particular roller stamp and end up using them in almost every spread!

See my video on how to create this here:

Do you have a 'Throwback' album?

2015 Project Life: The Birthday

 

It was my 29th Birthday and I created this spread to commemorate the lovely day I had with family and friends. I got totally spoilt with flowers, cards, lots of presents, yummy dinner, cocktails and the most amazing cake that my Mum made me. It really was a great day.

 

I felt the need to use lots of bright colours in the spread and as a lot of my pictures were instagram snippets of the day I decided to use the 4x4 design pocket pages. The bright coloured sheets came from the Becky Higgins confetti range paper pad and a simple stories 6x6 paper pad. I love using the paper pads to create my own project life cards and they always prove useful when creating a 4x4 spread.

 

Once I'd got my pictures printed and the remaining spaces organised with filler cards I started on the embellishments and stamping, I used the Clearly Kelly Food Coma set the 'Big Bite' stamp came in handy for the picture of the HUGE slice of cake in the bottom right picture. The Simple Stories stickers came in handy, I was hoping to use one of the circle stickers but none looked right, so I went for the speech bubble saying 'so very lucky' as it summed up how I felt on the day and the 'Super' sticker that I used to embellish the flowers in the top left, I wanted to add some blue to bring the colour across the spread.

 

I decided to place some Journaling in to the spread, I'm not huge on journaling as I'd originally started project life with the view that it would be a photo album so writing lots about what was going on wasn't my gig. I was much more about letting the pictures do the talking, but sometimes a little journaling helps to set the scene. I settled for a list and I used the La-De-Dah journaling sheets and picked out the card titled 'Lucky because' which just happened to fit the spread perfectly! The 100% me stamp set from Clearly Kelly also proved useful with one of my favourite stamps 'Today was Awesome' I used it to form a title page in the top Right hand corner.

 

Overall I was so pleased with this finished spread, it so happy, funky and I love the bright colours. Its the kind of spread that screams 'me' and I love it!