Further Challenges

The challenges continued on our weekend away and another was to create a layout without a photograph!  This threw me for a bit but then remembered that my lovely husband (he did really well in 2012 for presents - can't wait to see how he tops them for 2013!!!) took me to Cliveden Hotel for my birthday as a surprise (Cliveden is in Berkshire and the stunning grounds are owned by the National Trust and my husband and I frequently visit and always promise ourselves a stay in the beautiful hotel one day!).  I was told that we were just going out to dinner and so I hadn't bothered taking my camera and hadn't even bothered taking my phone - my husband had his - and as it was August I only had on a sundress that had no pockets and as I didn't intend paying for dinner I didn't have my handbag to put it in either!

Anyway to cut a long story short we stayed in a beautiful hotel for the night and had a stunning room and it was a fabulous experience but I have no photos!  My husband took some on his phone but a little while later his phone broke and we even lost those so it just wasn't meant to be.  I did, however, want to remember this really special occasion and had lots of memorabilia from the hotel (no dressing gowns or towels honest!) - menus, welcome letters etc - and so this occasion fitted the challenge perfectly and this is what I created.

 'Best Kept Secret' by Kate Holliday

I used the beautiful 'Country Garden' range of papers from Bo Bunny and also a sheet of cream cardstock.  Using various stamps from the IndigoBlu 'Wild Meadow Stamp Set' I stamped on to the background cardstock to give a delicate background and then created a large pocket on the front and used a small strip at the top.  I used a border punch to add a bit of interest.  From one of the patterned papers I cut the butterflies out, curled them and stuck them on using Silicone Adhesive so that they have a 3D effect. 

The flower was created using a Tim Holtz Die I have in my stash.  Using a piece of left-over patterned paper I created a journaling card which I stamped lines onto and 'The Story' at the top using the Technique Tuesday Stamp Set 'Today You by Ali Edwards' which gives me somewhere to journal.  As you will see from the photo below the large pocket allows plenty of room to fit all the memorabilia in that I collected from our stay which would normally lay getting creased and damaged at the bottom of a drawer.

I was so overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness of my husband and the effort he had gone to in keeping the stay a secret (down to packing a bag and hiding it in the boot of his car and buying me a new toothbrush so I wouldn't suspect when mine was missing!!!) that now I feel I have done it justice by having created something special to remember it all by.

Have you created layouts without photos?  I would love it if you shared them with us.

Have a great day.

Kate xx

Weekend Challenges

As promised a layout from one of the challenges from our weekend away.

'Douglas' by Kate Holliday

This year it was the turn of Martina and Tracy to put together the challenges, one of which was to use a new technique on a layout.  Now whilst I can hardly claim to have tried all possible techniques I have tried a number and was struggling to come up with an idea.  However, as you will have seen from the layouts I create (and yesterday's 'A Day to Remember' is a good example) they are usually full of patterned paper (my favourite scrapbooking product!), distressing, inking and generally quite full-on and it is what I love to create.  So I decided that my new technique would be to create a 'clean & simple' layout.

My 'Douglas' layout is about a small sculpture that my husband bought me for Christmas which I had seen and admired in an Art Gallery in Windsor and he had secretly gone back to buy.  I wanted to portray the love that I have for this cute little guy but, more importantly, for my husband and this act of kindness and generosity and the effort he had gone to.  So the hearts seemed the perfect embellishment and I used the Crafters Workshop mask 'Mix & Match Hearts' to create the different hearts on the layout.  Some are inked through on to white cardstock using 'Fired Brick' Distress Ink with an Ink Blending tool and others I merely used the hearts as a template onto scraps of patterend paper.  Behind the photo I used the mini 'Chicken Wire' mask with 'Black Soot' Distress Ink to give some depth and to add extra focus to the photo and I also used scraps of paper behind the photo (it was a great way to use up some scraps!).

I have to say that I really enjoyed creating something very different from my usual style although the stress of trying to keep a piece of white card pristine was almost too much!!!  Whilst I still love my usual style with lots of ink, edge curling and distressing and layering going on I will definetely give this another go :).

Go on, challenge yourself to move out of your comfort zone and share with us how you get on!

Happy Crafting,

Kate xx

Getting Away!

Hi Everyone

I was lucky enough to go away for the weekend a week or so ago with my lovely Scrapbooking friends Nicky, Martina, Deb and Tracy.  It is something we do annually and have done so for about the last six years.  We all love scrapbooking and so that is what we do ...... all weekend!  Well, we do fit in a bit of eating and maybe the odd glass of wine (!) but primarily we scrap.  It is just such a wonderful feeling to wake up and know that you are just going to be able to play, I can highly recommend it :).

We take it in turns each year to set some challenges and over the next few days I will tell you some more about these and share a few of the layouts I created.  I say a few because I am not a very fast scrapper and therefore not very prolific in the number of layouts I create which has, in the past, stressed me out a little especially as 1 or 2 of us (and they will remain nameless!) create absolutely loads over the weekend.  However, this year I very much went with the idea of just enjoying the creative aspect and not to worry about quantity and it certainlty helped.

I started off by finishing a layout I had started a few weeks before at one of the Bellaboo Crops.  Apart from the fact that I have a collection of unfinished projects, I thought it would make me feel better if I had at least finished something quite quickly!  It is a double-page layout and uses the beautiful Websters Pages collection 'Country Estate'.

A Day to Remember - Left hand side of layout

A Day to Remember - Right hand side

The pictures are from a day spent at Savill Gardens in Windsor Great Park with my mum and a close family friend on the anniversary of my dad's death.  The flowers were absolutely stunning, especially the rose garden, and it was such a beautiful and peaceful day, just what we needed.  The beautiful floral 'Sentimental Journey' seemed the perfect paper to give the feel of how beautiful the flowers were and I also used 'Calm Moments'.

I layered various peices of the papers including small strips that were left over which gave some dimention and I also cut a couple of tags; one has journaling the the other is purely decorative.

Thank you for looking and I will be back soon with the other layouts I created.

Kate xx

Scrapstars 2013!

I am really excited to announce that Bellaboo will once again be going along to the Scrapstars Retreat.

This is taking place from the 1st to 3rd March in Bramhope, Nr Leeds and really is a fabulous event.  There is a fantastic line-up of wonderful teachers to ensure a brilliant weekend of crafting and I can vouch that the previous two events which we also attended were really inspiring, with lots of laughs.  If you cannot attend for the whole weekend then you are able to book up as a day delegate but whichever way you do it I cannot recommend it more highly.  Do contact Caroline (caroline@scrapstars.co.uk) to find out more.

As well as organising fantastic retreats, Caroline is also a very talented scrapbooker in her own right and I am delighted that she has agreed to do some design work for Bellaboo.  You may have seen the wonderful file folder she created using the Check-In Mini Kit on a previous post and here we have a stunning layout using the Serenade mini kit.

"I used Serenade 'Sunshine' as my background page, although I gutted a small square out of it first so that I had a small piece of the black dragonfly design on the reverse to use later. Next I did a little "fussy cutting" and cut the long red boarder from the Serenade Stripes paper.  Then I cut the large Dragonfly from the Serenade Dragonfly sheet and backed this onto some spare card to make it a little thicker and more 3D. I cut out a whole bunch of flowers from the Serenade poppies paper and a large flower (leaving the leaves attached) from the Serenade 'Garden' paper. I cut a 6" x 6.5" piece from the 'Garden' paper and stuck this down on three sides (leaving a pocket to the right) over the hole I had made in the Serenade 'Sunshine' paper (my background). I used three of the die cut embellishments, some ribbon, flowers, tags and crystals from the kit cut out a couple of small yellow flowers and a couple of small dragonflies from the reverse of the Serenade Sunshine small square that I had gutted out at the beginning to complete the layout. The rest is just assembly, I added a small strip of red paper which I distressed to the right hand side to add a little interest. You can follow the photograph or mix it up a little and make it your own, I haven't added a title or journaling as I would prefer you to be inspired by your own thoughts and photographs. Enjoy."            

I am really thrilled that Caroline is managing to fit in some design work with us despite being so busy organising Scrapstars and we will be seeing more from her over the coming weeks.

Happy Crafting!

Kate xx

More with Craftsman

I promised some more creations by Tracy using the Prima 'Craftsman' range and here they are...

Using the 'Mechanic' Paper from the Craftsman range and the 'Grand Tour I' Stamp Set from IndigoBlu.  Although it doesn't show up very well on the picture, Tracy has cleverly gone over the balloon's 'ropes' with 'Glossy Accents' which gives texture as well as emphasising the picture brilliantly.  With the addition of words and images from the Grand Tour Set and a few co-ordinating buttons this is a fun card full of interest and perfect for men or anyone going off travelling.

The next card is really fun; I love cards that do something slightly unexpected and this one has a double opening which really adds to the interest and reveals a message inside.

The papers are 'Widgets' from the Craftsman range and the sentiment on the front comes from the IndigoBlu 'Wild Meadow' stamp set and the other stamped images are from the 'Craftsman Clear Stamps #1'.  The inks used are 'Black Soot' and 'Rusty Hinge' Distress Inks.  

I hope you've enjoyed Tracy's lovely creations.

Happy Crafting :).

Kate xx

Prima's Craftsman

Last week I shared with you the beautiful card created by Tracy Harris using the free stamp from the February Craft Stamper magazine.  Well Tracy has been very busy creating some more gorgeous cards, this time using the Prima 'Craftsman' range of papers with a selection of stamps etc.  'Craftsman' is a brilliant range of masculine inspired designs in a colour palette of browns, reds, blues and yellows and has co-ordinating stamps and wooden embellishments.

This fun card uses the 'Mechanic' Paper from the Craftsman Range for the background squares and the stamps are from the IndigoBlu 'Alice II' Stamp Collection.  The words and the Mad Hatter images are stamped onto cream cardstock and then a mask put over the top leaving just a small border exposed and the swirl stamp from the collection is used to create a co-ordinating decorative border which is very effective.  The inks used are all Distress Inks; Aged Mahogany, Black Soot and Walnut Stain.  Tracy used some of her own stash to complete the look.

This card uses the 'Black Box' paper from the Craftsman range and the words are from the 'Engineer' Paper.  The images are a combination of the IndigoBlu 'Grand Tour I' and Prima's 'Craftsman' stamps and the inks used are 'Walnut Stain' and 'Aged Mahogany' Distress Inks.  

And lastly today is this card which has a very different look.  The paper is 'Engineer' from the Craftsman range again and is used in conjunction with the 'Craftsman' stamp and also 'It's a date' stamp by Technique Tuesday.  The inks are 'Aged Mahogany' and 'Stormy Skies' Distress Inks.  Once again Tracy has used a masking technique but this time on the background of the card that the paper is matted onto creating a great co-ordinating design.

All these cards are perfect for the men in your lives and we know how difficult it is to create cards for them so it is wonderful to have this inspiration.  The Craftsman range of papers can be bought individually as 12"x12" or as a 6"x6" pad.

I will be back tomorrow to share some more of Tracy's wonderful creations.

Happy Crafting :).

Kate xx