Altered Book

I was delighted to receive these pictures on an email yesterday from the very talented Caroline Lovett.  Caroline has created this gorgeous open altered book using more of the Madame Boutique Kit.

There are so many gorgeous elements to this kit which you can really go to town with and these are also able to enhance and stretch your papers etc.  As you can see, Caroline has not only used the die cut elements that come with the kit but also used punches and dies to create flowers and butterlies and some sweet rolled roses.

Caroline has created a stunning display item for her home and I certainly feel inspired!  Thank you for sharing.

Have a great day,

Kate xxx

Alora Mini Book

When I first saw the Bo Bunny 'Alora' range I instantly fell for it.  I have a bit of a weakness for funky birds and I loved the bright colour palette that is a feature of this range.  When my daughter asked me to create a mini book as a gift for her best friend's 18th birthday I thought hard about which paper range to use and as her friend is definetely not a 'pink' fan this range seemed perfect - fun and a little bit girly without being too much!

I decided on a 6" x 6" mini book because that means that you can get four pages from one 12"x12" sheet but is also big enough (almost) for a 6"x4" photo and I was also using the 6"x6" mini book so I was being practical!  I had some chipboard sheets that I collect from the backs of paper packs and cut them all to size. The book is bound with just a couple of book rings, so very simple, and I tied lots of co-ordinating ribbons around the rings.  For the front and back cover I have used the Alora 'Cut Outs' sheet which have these lovely 6x6 designs on them.  The lettering is a mixture of various alpha sets that I found that co-ordinated.

Front Cover 

A selection of the inner pagers. 

My daughter chose the photos of herself and her friend through their friendship together since they met when they first started primary school and I added some pockets and flip pages where there were quite a few photos on one subject.  It was great fun to do and her friend was absolutely delighted with the finished book - something I think she will treasure.

I hope you have a great week.

Kate xx

March Giveaway and a little Card

Hi Everyone

We are introducing a monthly blog candi giveaway with the chance to win a £15 e-voucher to spend on any product of your choice online.  All you have to do to be in for a chance to win is to follow us on the Blog and  become a member; simple as that!  It is really easy to join, just click on the 'Join this Site' bar at the top right of the Blog and follow the instructions.  We will be choosing the lucky winner on the last day of each month using Random.org so make sure you sign up before then.

Now I have a lovely card to share with you sent in by the very talented Wendy Gay.

This beautiful 18th Birthday Card that Wendy has created uses the Pink Paislee 'London Market' Range and the 'Addington' and 'Kensington' papers.  The calendar in the middle is the Technique Tuesday stamp 'Its a Date' and Wendy has highlighted lots of the images on the papers using Stickles and has covered the bee with Glossy Accents.  The flowers, ribbon, corner details and sentiment are Wendy's own.

Thank you for sharing your beautiful creation with us Wendy.

Have a great day!

Kate xx

Tired but happy!

We are back from the Scrapstars Retreat and we had a wonderful time.  As always Caroline Lovett organised a fabulous event and the weekend went seamlessly; the teachers - Kathy Rogers, Penny Kafai, Louise Collins and Emma Trout - were inspiring and we are all taking beautiful projects home with us and lots of techniques and ideas to inspire our future work.  I cannot recommend this Retreat more highly and as soon as the next date is announced we will let you know so that you can come along and join in the fun :).  Nicky and I just about managed to squeeze the shop into the car and we were so grateful to all the ladies who helped us unload and set up when we arrived and pack up again at the end.  It really has been a fabulous weekend and although we feel a little weary around the edges today it was definetely worth it!

Caroline Lovett is not only a very wonderful organiser of Retreats but also a very talented Scrapbooker in her own right and I am delighted that she has, once again, produced this beautiful layout, this time using the 'Madame Boutique' Kit.

For this page I just found the papers so beautiful and the patterns so intricate it seemed a waste to do anything too fussy.  But I do enjoy a bit of cutting so I didn't go over the top, I just cut the lady and some flowers from the Lingerie paper (on the left), and also the large Rose with some of its stem etc from the Corset paper (which has the large flowers on it).  The rest was quite straight forward as Bellaboo's kit has so many die cuts and embellishments in it, you don't need anything else. I cut a quote from the Bloomers paper and I have mounted this on dimensionals in the left hand corner.  The rose and heart that are underneath it are from the bag of diecuts as are the little flowers, I love those with the long wires that you can twist and add texture.  I made a rosette with the cream cotton lace; Kate always provides a number of coordinating ribbons with the kits, it's hard to choose what to use.  I also used the manikin chipboard embellishment from a pack of two that is included in the kit.  Because I used the doily paper, I decided to triple matt my photograph, as the papers are so gorgeous and I wanted to add them to the layout.  I rolled the corner of these for effect.  I so wanted to cut the doily paper in half so that I could use it on my next layout, but it just leant itself to staying whole for this page.  There is so much left of this kit, whole sheets of paper I haven't cut into yet, so watch out for more projects made with Madame Boutique!

We don't have that many of the 'Madame Boutique' Kits left so if you have been inspired by Caroline's gorgeous layout you may want to get your hands on a kit fast :).

Happy Crafting!

Kate xx