Carta Bella Boardwalk ~ Part 3

Hello and welcome back to the 3rd (& last) post in my series using the Carta Bella Collection Kit

 

If you missed them you can see Part 1 here and Part 2 is here!

When I originally planned to use the Carta Bella Collection Kit  I was thinking of my holiday album and the photos I had yet to scrap from a day at a Water Park. This collection has been a perfect match for my photos but it would also suit lots of other holiday destinations or you could scrap your summer days out using it.
Today I want to share with you two more 12x12 layouts, from another park ... Seaworld!! Again, Beach Boardwalk was perfect!!

When I first received the collection kit I noticed the reference to whales. Hmmm....Sea World came to mind! So, once I'd finished working on the Water Park layouts and the mini-book I found I had enough scraps for a double layout. I haven't made a double layout for a long long time and have recently been inspired by one of the other S J Crafts design team members Lisa-Jane, who creates amazing double layouts.

I had those adorable whale stickers and titles I wanted to use. Who'd have thought that I'd find whale stickers? Another reason why I love this collection so much.
 

Having a Whale of a Time at Seaworld Layout
 

All elements are from the collection kit, excluding the wood veneer hearts and arrows and the yellow bracket.

I stitched a pocket, so I am able to tuck away the journaling. Both pages have a pocket and the other one has a journaling card which the boys have written on from the entries they made in our travel journal.
 

A close up of the Whale Sticker - I love it and of course you don't have to have Whale photos to use it!

 

 

Relax & Enjoy the Show Layout
 

Using more of the kit elements & stickers this title quickly came together.
 

To bring these layouts together I wanted some elements to flow while still being able to keep the layouts individual. I placed a border on both edges and used panels of patterned papers. Each page hold's it own title while, I hope you agree, both titles complement each other. Having a Whale of a time at Seaworld - Relax and Enjoy the show. To join the two layouts together I have stitched a circle element across the pages.
 

A close up of the titles.....

 

and the stitching....

 

These layouts bring me to the end of my projects using the Carta Bella Collection Kit. In all, I have made four 12x12 layouts, one divided page with 4x6 pockets and a mini book. Not only is my holiday album filling up nicely I have layouts that I know I will enjoy for many, many years.

Thank you for stopping by and again thanks to Sarah for letting me work with a such a wonderful collection kit (have I told you how much I loved it!!).

I really do hope I have inspired you to try one of the Collection Kits in the SJ Crafts shop.

Louise x

See more of Louise's crafting at her blog: Boys, Bugs and Beautiful Buttons

Carta Bella Mini Book ~ By Louise

Hello ... Louise here again!!

Last week I shared some projects with you using the Carta Bella Beach Boardwalk Collection Kit. Today I want to show you a small mini book, created to sit between the 12x12 layouts in my holiday album.

I didn't really have a plan for this book. I just jumped straight in!!

The patterned papers I picked out of the collection Kit were very busy patterns so I made a decision not to use any Mister Huey Mists. My fingers and my dining room table were pleased with this decision!

I started with the back page cutting it roughly to 7"x8"

 

Then I made a large tag, cut roughly 7" x 5.5"

 

The top of the tag was scored so it could be lifted up to reveal the page underneath (See below)

Before cutting any more pages I worked out what photos I wanted to use....ideally I should have done this first.... sometimes though I like it when I have no plan to see what I end up with. Once the photos had been selected I added the circle page (10 x 5.5"), cutting off the overlap and scoring along the edge so that it folded over nicely.

The front flap was cut to 7 x 4" and the edge scored along so that again it folded over nicely too.

The pages are all held together with stitching. My machine did find it a little tough to go through the papers as they are a thick/good quality paper but we got there in the end.

I have used photos and titles in this book to tell the story. Let me see if I can show you what I mean.

The underneath of the tag has a pocket holding journaling cards which my three boys used to record what they liked/thought about the water park. The arrow pointing down links the tag page to the back page...

 

 

...which reads "Riding the Waves @ " with an arrow pointing to the inside of the circle page.

The inside of the circle page holds a photo of the Water Park name. Blizzard Beach. So hopefully you can see that when the pages are opened out it reads "Riding the Waves at Blizzard Beach"

The inside of the opening flap for this book holds a title to accompany the first photo on the tag page. When my son was little I used to read to him the "Harry and my Bucketful of Dinosaurs" Books. Mainly because they had his name on them but also because he loved them. When I saw this photo of him with his bucketful of ice-cream I had my title!

Here's my completed book all folded up.

I will be punching some holes along the left hand side so that it sits in my holiday album between the 12x12 layouts.

I like how this little book turned out and may well make a similar one for another of the parks we visited. If this inspires you to make your own please link up in the comments so we can come see.

Many thanks once again to Sarah for letting me have the pleasure of working with the wonderful Carta Bella Boardwalk Collection Kit.

All elements except the wood veneers hearts, arrows and camera and some of the alphas are from the Collection Kit.

I still have some more 12x12 layouts to share with you from this collection kit and will be back very soon to share them with you.

Beach Boardwalk Collection - Part 1 ~ By Louise

Hello Hello, Louise here today to share with you some of my projects made with the Carta Bella Beach Boardwalk Collection.

When Sarah emailed me to say she'd like me to work with either the Echo Park Perfect Summer or the Carta Bella Beach Boardwalk Collection Kit for my next DT project and which would I prefer .... my first thought was Echo Park please ... as I adore EP ... but then I looked at each collection a little closer and decided that the Carta Bella with it's blues and oranges was better suited to me and the photos I had in mind. Carta Bella please Sarah, I said.

I have never been more pleased ... the papers arrived and instantly I loved them. Normally I am a "B" side kinda girl, not this time the "A" sides are incredible, there are sharks, surfboards, flip-flop papers and much much more.

 

Look, see what I mean.....

Currently I am working on a holiday album. It's a mixture of 12 x 12 layouts, 12 x 12 with 4x6 pockets both horizontal and vertical and photo freedom page protectors. From this collection kit I have a mixture of projects to share with you over the next few days. I have made 12x12 layouts, a mini book and divided protectors. All using photos from a day at a Water Park.

 

First up is my layout "Fun Times With You". I want to keep a flow throughout my album and as I have used White Bazzill cardstock for my holiday layouts so far I wanted to use white again but the background needed something ... so I hooked out my Mister Huey Mists.

Selecting four of the mists which best suited the papers I set to work on the background.

As my theme is a water park I wanted waves and bubbles and droplets. I used a chevron and arrow stamp and some bubble wrap to help create this effect. After making a terrible mess, enjoying it immensely, this is what I ended up with.

All elements are from the collection pack and I've added the Studio Calico wood veneer hearts and arrows, you can find these here. (Out of stock at the moment but restocks due in soon!)

A little cose up so you can see the surf boards raised up and the dimension created by all the different textures within the cluster.

 

I moved on to a second page ..... and I thought you might like to see more of how I created the background. Again I gathered together some stamps, bubble wrap and my Mister Huey Mists.

I layered up some patterns and positioned the photo and papers onto the 12x12 white cardstock. I knew I wanted some elements in the top right hand corner and bottom left hand corner. I sprayed the middle of my chevron stamp directly with the Huey Mists and made sure that I blotted the stamp before placing it onto the cardstock. This was to get rid off the excess ink/paint and minimise the blobs of paint on the card. Spraying directly onto the bubble wrap with the yellow and stamping made for a muted effect which I liked. I knew my photo and papers would go in the centre of the cardstock I left this area clear.

Using the mists again, I created some droplets then started to layer up the papers and embellishment clusters. I added elements to the top right and mid-bottom left...with wood veneers. The wood veneers were inked for my first layout and misted for this layout. Both ways are really effective and give good coverage.

This is how  the final layout turned out ...

 

Lots of layering .... and a shark ... I adore the shark paper!

 

 

 

Top right cluster ...

You may notice that there is no journaling on these pages, this is because I saved it for the 4x6 pocket protectors. The background paper I chose here is one fantastic sheet of 12x12. I cut it into 6 4x6 rectangles and pieced them together with the photos. Again all elements are from the Collection Kit with the exception of the wood veneers.

 

Earlier in this post, I mentioned that I've also made a mini book to sit between these 12x12's .... you will need to check back here in a few days to see that! 

 

Thank you so much Sarah for letting me choose a Collection Kit that was a pleasure to work with.

 

Have a wonderful day!

 

Louise x

 

PS .... Just in case you haven't heard yet ... the new S J Crafts Bi Monthly kit has just gone on sale here!!

 

 

See more of Louise's work on her blog: Boys, Bugs and Beautiful Buttons

Projects that WOW! ... And A Giveaway for a Class Place!

Design Team member Jennifer Grace is running her first ever online class - it starts next week on Monday the 10th of June!

 

Here's what Jennifer says about the class:

Projects that WOW!’ is about making your projects stand out from the crowd. What makes you pause and look closer at a scrapbook page when you are flicking through your own albums, or looking at other people’s layouts in magazines? Which cards jump out at you from Pinterest or from envelopes when you open them? What details of paper-crafted home décor or jewellery make you stop and say ‘wow!’? It’s time to learn some of these techniques or styles and put them to use!

Class participants will receive 15 prompts (lessons) with ideas to jazz up their papercrafting! There will be over 90 project samples (scrapbooking, cardmaking, and others), from both Jennifer and a selection of Guest Contributors from around the world.
There's also going to be challenges with prizes, lots of which are some of the latest goodiess to arrive in the SJ Crafts shop!

The class runs live from Monday the 10th to Friday the 28th of June. All the prompts will still be available after the class ends - so you don't have to worry about 'keeping up'!

For more details go check out the post at Jennifer's blog HERE, where you can also sign up for the class for £10!!
There's also a chance to WIN a class place by leaving a comment there (that giveaway closes Thursday 6th June in the evening).

BUT there is another way to WIN a place on the class!!
Jennifer is kindly giving away a class place to one of you right here on the S J Crafts Blog!!

To be in with a chance, firstly leave a comment on this blog post, telling us whether you've ever taken an online class before AND then click on the Rafflecopter widget and enter your details - there are ways to earn extra entries too ... like being a follower of this blog!!
If you win the class place and you'd already signed up for the class then you'll be refunded the cost of the class place.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway closes on Sunday the 9th of June at 12am GMT - so get your entries in by Saturday night.The winner will be contacted by email on Sunday so they can join the class on Monday!

If you have any questions you can email Jennifer at jennifergrace@hotmail.co.uk.

June is going to be an exciting month!

 

National Scrapbook Day Challenge Winners

Remember, earlier this month it was National Scrapbook Day and I set you a few challenges?!

 

Thank you to everyone who played along!

I am sorry for the delay in announcing the winners but check out below to see if you have won!

Just One Manufacturer Challenge

I loved looking at all your fab entries and thought I'd show you a few ...

 

This one from Sonja

 

and a lovely layout from Furrypig

 

 

Echo Park was Lisa-Jane's choice of manufacturer for this bright page

 

 

I had a tough time choosing just one favourite ...

 .... but the winner is .....

 

Lesley G !!!

 

with her lovely layout with Crate Paper supplies

Meet the Design Team Challenge

I hope you all had fun visiting the Design Team blogs and searching for the answers!

The winner picked at random from all the entries is ....

 

Sonja!!!

Well Done to both Lesley and Sonja! if you could both please e mail me sarah at sjpapercrafts (dot) co (dot) uk with your mailing address and I'll get your prizes off to you.

Don't forget the  Sketch Challenge is open until 10pm tomorrow (Fri 31st May) so if you're quick you still have time to enter!

 

Sarah x

How I Love To Scatter - By Jennifer Grace

Hello and a very Happy Bank Holiday Monday to you!!

 

Remember a couple of weeks ago Lisa-Jane shared her current love for die cutting ... if you missed it it's right here!!

 

I'm here today to share one of my current favourite techniques with you ...

 

Scattering!!

 

Regular readers of my blog will already know  how much I like to scatter gems or sequins on my layout, but here I'm going to show you how I also applied the 'scatter' mindset to other aspects of this layout.

I wanted this page to be particularly scattered - as bits of these cakes got scattered all around my house while the kids wandered around eating them - I hadn't put enough chocolate on and they were super crumbly!

I started with a piece of paper from the DIY shop collection pack, and splattered some Mister Huey Pretty Pink mist droplets over it, keeping the drops more concentrated near the centre of the page.

 

Then I built up a photo mat, using scraps from the DIY Shop collection pack and the Maggie Holmes collection pack. Normally I'd layer a photo mat more like a frame, so the edges would be seen evenly all around the photo. But to make it look more scattered I piled them up so they stuck out a different amount each side. You can see that one scrap had a hole in it, but I knew that would not matter as it would be covered by my photo!!

When I stuck the photo mat onto the layout I only adhered it in the middle, so that I could tuck things in at the edges if I wanted to. My photo was stuck on with 3D foam pads to give some extra dimension.

I then chose a couple of journaling spots, and a date sticker, and scattered them about so the journaling wouldn't be all in one place.

 

Now comes the fun part - choosing an ecclectic mix of other items to scatter about! I used a mix of stickers and die-cuts from DIY Shop and Maggie Holmes plus some Studio Calico Wood Veneer Tiny Stars (painted pink) and Cameras (painted light blue), some sequins and gems.

And I started to scatter them all over the page! I left the gems until last, as they are harder to move about (although usually possible if you do it quick). All the other bits were stuck on with Ranger's Glossy Accents, except for the 'fun day' and 'yes, please' sentiments which were adhered with foam dots, once I was happy with their position.

I also made the title look "scattered" by off-setting the letters in 'cakes':

 

 

If you don't want to scatter things all over a layout, you could just confine them to a journaling spot or embellishment - like I've done here on the speech bubble cut from some DIY Shop paper.

 

 

Keeping the scattered elements close to to a larger element like your photo stops them getting lost on the page.

 

And having some items tucked under each other (like the flower and date sticker shown below) and some completely separate (like the 'yes, please' sticker) also helps to make things look more random.

So you end up with a lively, scatter-filled page!!

 

I hope you've enjoyed an insight into my scatter-love! If you try it out please let me know!

Jennifer x

My "Right Now" Inspiration! - By Lisa-Jane

"What's inspiring you right now?"

 

When Sarah (S J Crafts owner) asked me this recently I had to answer that I am loving using my Silhouette Cameo. It is great for lettering because I never run out of any particular letters and it is also wonderful for titles like the "Just Because" title from Heidi Swapp that i've used on my layout. I am also loving the current trend of highlighting the negative areas and so decided to create a layout where the negative space of the cut is a prominent feature of the page. I created this Star cut file myself and then cut roughly similar shapes of patterned paper to stick to the back so that they show through - kinda like a stained glass affect!

I used papers from the Snippets collection papers by Studio Calico. This layout is part of a series in my album so this one didn't need any journalling.

I really love the simplicity of the page with no other embellishments.

You could try using punches or cutting dies to get a similar affect and it's also a great way to use up all those small off cuts  and scraps of your favourite papers. 

 

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope my "Right Now" inspiration inspires you too!

 

Lisa-Jane x 

 

Don't forget to check out more of Lisa-Jane's layouts at her blog: Inside My Head