The dustbin style of scrapping

aka why throw that scrap away when you can just add it to your layout?
I am really supposed to keep my scrap area clean and tidy as it is a corner of our bedroom. (Not that the rest is that clean and tidy mind you) but sometimes I go from one project to another without really tidying up in between and so some little bits end up on my table that should really go into the bin.
But with this page somehow some of them ended up on the layout instead!

I added some grey cardstock to the kit (one of my favourite staples) and started layering up papers behind my photo. I embossed the first mat with a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder and added some washi tape around it as well.

The "love you more" portions of paper are the tear off strips from the bottom of the 12x12 Dear Lizzy paper and the white circles are some of the off cuts that were just on my desk!

I also challenged myself to use some of the paper flowers. I'm not really good at using paper flowers. So many other people seem to gather them together and make them look awesome. Not me. Mind you I am not good at arranging real flowers either... Anyway I was inspired by my daughter's flower hairband and decided to ink some of the white flowers - two were smooshed in yellow ink and one in yellow and red.

I added some little punched hearts and added some real holes and some pretend stitching. I stuck the wooden speech bubbles directly on top of my photo. As before I halved the clothes peg and this time added some of the gold ribbon around it. I echoed this by adding more of it around a large punched heart and by sprinkling some tiny gold sequins from my stash across the page

See what you can do with your leftovers as well :)

Pinteresting take two

I thought I would have another go at the Pinterest Pointers that Leo produced. And would you beleive it? It didn't turn out the way I was expecting! That was due to the fact that I couldn't find my doily stamps which would have looked lovely on the woodgrain. And as I was too impatient to pull out ALL my stamps in order to find them, decided to try something different. As I was going to be using some of the frame paper I was inspired to use a set of Waltzing Mouse label frame stamps instead. And here is the result

although I used detail white embossing powder it has a slightly more off white look. I rather like it though and to be honest this fitted in much better with my page about my boys than doilies would have done

I used the whole sheet of ledger paper as the background and splodged three different mists in green, black and (a teeny bit of) red. Too much red looks like you have cut yourself on the page. I trimmed various toning papers and played about with them a bit until I was happy with the placement and outlined them twice with black pens. I cut a strip of the chevron paper and added black lines to echo the Dennis the Menace shirt a little more. I love the pegs but don't love how they stick out so much so took off the metal bit and stuck one half down on the page (means I have another half to play with as well!)

I had run out of "n"s so had to improvise with a cut up "w". This is the second "w" I used as you have to be careful where you trim it down otherwise it is a backwards "n". She says wisely after the event. I double outlined the thickers too but they are thin and slidey and so I wouldn't bother doing that with this type again!

After adding the journalling (hurray for printed lines as well) I knew it needed something more and retrieved the leaves from the kit. Keeping the three with long stems in the little paper coil helped with sticking them down (I used glue dots). I also added some Imagine That stamps with red ink which I outlined with a thin black pen.

and added a touch of Stickles to the heart in the middle of this image which was stamped onto a circle cut from more of the woodgrain paper.

National Scrapbooking Day - Scrapbook your Creative Space

Happy Scrapbooking Day!

As it's a day to celebrate all things scrapbooking and creative I thought we could have a little Quirky Kit challenge to 'Scrap You Creative Space'. Where do you do your scrapbooking/crafting? How do you set out your supplies? Take a snapshot image of your space right now to make a scrapbook page and catalogue all the bits and pieces of you space in your journaling.

Here's the page I put together using goodies from the main kit 'Pocket Full of Posies'.

Here are a few ideas you could pull from the layout to use on other projects.
I made a mini chalkboard embellishment using one of the frames on the Amy Tangerine paper from the kit and a scrap of black cardstock. I sketched on it using a Chinagraph pencil.

 

 I added the background at an angle using the washi tape in the kit to fix it in place then trimmed it to the edges of the cardstock. I fixed the open edges down with some machine stitching.

 

The bottom strip of this Dear Lizzy paper I used to make a little extra embellishment down the edge of the page.

This scrap of Crate Paper paper I added colour to using Promarkers to work with the whole 'creative' sketchbook theme of the layout.

Are you scrapping or writing about your creative space over this weekend? I think it's a great way to commemorate Scrapbooking Day. If you have a go leave a link in the comments to where you've uploaded your project or email it to me at enquiries@craftyprincess.co.uk and I'll pop them up here on the blog to share.

Happy scrapping!
x Leo

Cardmaking Corner

I was just posting this up on my own blog but thought I'd pop it on here too. I'm sure lots of you do this too but once I'm finished playing with kits I bundle all the leftover or unused bits and pieces together in a box to use on other projects. It's a great way to use up paper scraps and it gives you ideas to mix up papers/embellishments you wouldn't have put together otherwise. :) I also tend to leave out bits and pieces from when I've been working on scrapbook projects and put them together for cards.
My last two cards for Daring Cardmakers I've been using up Quirky Kit leftovers this way:

 

 

I've mixed up goodies from the last three kits (Nov/Dec, Jan/Feb and March/April) on both cards.

How many mixed up kit leftovers can you get on one project?

*It's national scrapbooking day tomorrow and I've got a Quirky Kit challenge for you to scrapbook your creative space. Where do you scrapbook or how do you set out your supplies? Take some photos and pop back here on Scrapbooking Day, Saturday May 4th so see my page and share your creative spaces!

x Leo

New Subscription Places Now On Sale

The new subscription places to start your Quirky Kit subscription with the May/June kits are now up in the shop. The main kit for May/June is 'Candy Floss Cart' and the Lite kit is 'The Ice Cream Stall'. Both kits have got a fun fresh summery colour palette with muted and bright candy colours and I've picked out papers and embellishments to reflect current trends such as ombre, watercolour effects, chalkboard and geometric patterns. I've also added feather motifs to both kits as a contrast with to the geometric patterns. As usual they'll be papers and goodies through both kits including goodies from Elle’s Studio, (Serendipity) Studio Calico, (Sundrifter and Atlantic) Kesi-Art, LilyBee, (Pinwheel and Sweet Shoppe) Echo Park, (Here and Now, Perfect Summer and Yellow Submarine) Pretty Little Studio, (Nature Walk) and more!
New subscribers you can check out the full details and subscribe here for the main kit and here for the Lite kit. Current subscribers, remember your subscriptions are rolling so you don't need to do anything. :)

I'll add the sneak peeks over the next three weeks of the goodies in the new kits as they all arrive. Here's a first sneak peek, these cute stickers are to be part of the main kit:

x Leo

A Roly Poly page

Hi There!

What a beautiful day to share a Layout, I hope the sun is out where you are too! The sun was out when the picture for my layout was taken earlier this month, the first nice weekend of the year and we were lucky enough to be in our caravan. There is nothing that I like better than sitting outside enjoying the company of my friends, listening to all our children playing together and enjoying a beer...or two ;)

There is so much scope with this kit to get really creative, I saw a tutorial on felt pompom flowers a while back and wondered if it would work with the denim, and guess what, it did! I have posted a link to the tutorial on my blog if you would like to have a go yourself (I didn't sew it together though, I just used strong double sided tape to bind the fabric together and along the whole edge again when I rolled it up)

I used the packaging the kit came in to make a mat for my photo, after cutting it to size I punched one edge and folded it into 4 before cutting along all the folded edges again, I then arranged the 4 pieces haphardly before placing some of the tulle over the top and held it all together with a staple. This meant I had loads of room to tuck other pieces of PP in between the layers.
The triangles are a large square punch cut in 2, I used them to make photo corners too. I used my sewing machine to add texture to some of the triangles and the die cut feathers. I used distress ink to colour the little birds.

Did I miss anything? Is there anything you would like me to explain? If so then let me know in the comments, I would be happy to help if I can.

See you soon!

Nikki xxx

Pockets full of memories...

Hi there!

This is my third layout using the main kit and there's still plenty left for other projects (well apart from the Alison Kreft Woodgrain, which got eaten up by disasterous craftrobo attempts, but more of that later...)



I took inspiration from a few places for this layout, as soon as I saw this gorgeous Layout I knew I wanted to do my own version of it and this cute little idea was going to appear somewhere too. Plus I've been trying out a few new techniques, I've diligently been practising the cursive style of handwriting over the past few nights because I always think my writing makes my layouts look untidy, there's a way to go yet but I'll keep practising! Of course I couldn't go without telling you the rest of the robo saga, after finally pulling Mr Robo out of retirement (he's been languishing in a cupboard for about 5 years after failing to get to grips with him first time round) I failed miserably cutting my title with the Websters PP that I wanted to use. In the end I used copy paper, less tears if it all goes pear-shaped, and I still had to cut out all the little holes myself! Will keep practising with my robo too, there's always something to learn with this fantastic hobby isn't there?

Again, any questions you have about the layout please leave it in the comments and I'll be happy to answer it for you.

look forward to hearing from you!

Nikki xxx