Summer's End

Good Morning Everyone,

We we are a very long way from Summer's End and it feels even longer to Summer's start with all this awful weather we have been having in the UK. My thoughts are with all those who are flooded or have had damage from the really strong winds and I hope you are able to recover very soon.

I have a layout to share with you today which uses the Fancy Pants Design 'Summer's End'.  I love all things autumn and this range really caught my eye when it was launched.  This is one of those layouts that was a very long time in the making as it kept getting put away without being finished and then I would get it out and do a little more but for various reasons still not quite finish it.  Anyway, I finally finished it the other day and although we are not at all in autumn I thought I would share it with you.

Long Walk Up by Kate Holliday 

Left Side Close Up

 Right Side Close Up

This double page layout uses Summer's End 'Cider', 'Falling Leaves', 'Fall Frames' and 'Strips' as well as the 'Design Embellishments'.  It is all backed on to Bazzill 'Milkshake' and 'Cream Puff'.  I cut out the frames from the 'Fall Frames' paper and created a long journaling strip and then cut the remaining of the paper and 'Cider' and 'Falling Leaves' into wide strips with a flag 'v' cut into the end which leads the eye in.  

I love the colours in this range and they fitted perfectly with these photos from our autumn holiday and I was very pleased to eventually get it finished!

Hope you have a good day and stay safe and dry.

Kate xx

Timbergrove

Hello Everyone

I have a layout to share with you which was created by Nicky using the new Fancy Pants Designs 'Timbergrove' range.  This lovely 'winter season' inspired range has a wonderful, strong colour palette including teal, red, winter blue and black and many of the papers are designed to be versatile and so not exclusively for your winter photos.

Nicky has chosen some sweet photos of her daughter taken investigating her first snow fall as she is putting together an album for her daughter who is now aged 11!

Nicky has used 'Crystals', 'Play Day' and 'Sticker Fundamentals' from the Timbergrove range and edged everything with 'Fired Brick' Distress Ink to tie in with the red elements.  The lovely stars are Studio Calico Wood Veneer Stars which sadly are out of stock at the moment although we hope to be getting more in, and the layout is finished off with 'Red' and 'Seafoam' Bakers Twine and 'French Vanilla' Tulle.

I hope you are having a good day.

Happy Crafting!

Kate x

Cut & Paste Flair Mini Kit

Hi Everyone

We are very excited to be launching a new Mini Kit.  We haven't had a kit for a little while and I had forgotten what fun it is to be have all the co-ordinating papers, cardstock and fun embellishments all there to start using without having to keep jumping up to go and find an item that may or may not work for your project, so easy :).

Our new kit is called 'Cut & Paste Flair' and you can find full details of the contents over on the website together with a Gallery showing the projects we have created with the Kit. However, I know it isn't easy to see the papers in detail from the Kit photo so here they are for your delight!!!

Aren't they gorgeous!  I just love the colour palette and the on-trend ombre shading mixed together with the quirky images.  Nicky and I had such fun playing with these papers and all the other elements included in the kit (as you will see over on the website) and it is really competitively priced allowing you to treat yourself or a crafting friend without blowing your budget.  Do let us know what you think.

Happy Crafting!

Kate x

Snow Village

Hello Everyone

I promised I would share a couple of cards created with the beautiful new 'Snow Village' papers from Pink Paislee.

This first one was created by Wendy Gay and is absolutely stunning - I am not sure the picture does it full justice so you will just have to take my word for it!

It is an 8"x8" card and Wendy has used two sheets of the beautiful 'Eggnog' paper which has allowed her to cut two sets of the poinsettias and deer out giving the 3D effect.  The paper has a number of different designs incorporated in it which gives this layered effect and in addition Wendy has used the IndigoBlu 'Harlequin' stamp with 'Lancashire Rose' Megaflake.  The ribbon is faux silk ribbon in white which Wendy coloured using Distress stains so that she could get exactly the right colour and has used her own border punch for the pine needles.

This next one I created using the Snow Village 'Peppermint Patty' paper as a background, both sides.  The beautiful 'Poinsettia' stamp from IndigoBlu goes beautifully with this range and I stamped and embossed it using Gold embossing powder and then cut out and layered the flowers.  The Kraft card I tore and then inked the edges using Versamark Ink in a random way and then once again using Gold I heat embossed which gives the random effect and extra detail.  I also stamped the craft card with the IndigoBlu 'Script Background stamp' to add a little extra detail.  The sentiment is an old one from Kaisercraft which sadly is no longer available.

I hope all your Christmas preparations are going well and if you want to make a few more Christmas Cards then these beautiful papers from Pink Paislee are a joy to use.  They are also brilliant for creating your Christmas Scrapbook memories.

Have a wonderful day.

Kate xx

Getting Creative with Pink Paislee

Hello Everyone

We recently took delivery of two new Pink Paislee ranges; 'Hey Kid' which is a hip and happy collection suitable for kids of all ages and 'Snow Village' a beautiful Christmas/Winter range.  I absolutely love both ranges and couldn't wait to start getting a little creative.  Using the 'Hey Kid' range I created this layout of my nephew at his Prom.  The photo isn't brilliant quality but I wanted to record the event.

'Smarty Pants' by Kate Holliday

I used the Hey Kid 'Marco Polo' and 'Simon Says' papers and the 'Element Stickers' which includes the arrows and letters.  The chevron arrows were created using the Crafters Workshop 'Mini Chevron Arrows' Mask which I inked through using the 'Crushed Olive' and 'Peeled Paint' Distress Inks. To add a little more 'grunge' I stamped using the Tim Holtz 'Spills & Splatters' stamp set which I 'inked' with the Adirondack Paint Dabber 'Pool'.  The 'washi tape' is the new Prima 'Washi Tape Wood Mount Stamps' which are incredibly versatile as you can create 'washi tape' in any colour to match your project.  The journaling square was created using the Banana Frog 'It's all about documenting' stamp set which is another very versatile set.  I lifted various elements using 3D foam to give some depth and distressed and inked most of the edges.  I had great fun getting inky on this layout and using the fun elements from this great range.

I have a couple of cards using the 'Snow Village' range which I will share tomorrow.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Kate xx

ScrappyDayz Retreat

Hi All

Nicky and I have just spent an amazing weekend at the Scrappy Dayz Retreat which was held at a Premier Inn in North Cardiff.  The Retreat was full of lovely ladies, fabulous classes, sweet treats galore, an amazing raffle and bingo with a huge array of prizes.

We had been invited to take the shop by Penny Kafai who organises the event and runs crops in the local area too.  Penny and Elaine Corcoran ran the classes with some stunning layouts being created and it was a truly inspirational weekend.

I thought you might like to see the Bellaboo shop in all its glory...

 Some of our new Home Decor products from Artemio.

 Inks and more!

 Messy stuff!

 Some card samples made by the very talented Tracy Harris using some of our large IndigoBlu range of stamps.

 Just some of our ever increasing stamp range.

 Punches and pretties!

 More pretties and bling.

 Our Christmas table including our new Christmas range 'Snow Village' by Pink Paislee.

And Nicky slaving away over a hot crafting table :).

Anyone for Bingo?!  Our Bingo caller Sarah-Jane who did a brilliant job - it was hysterical but I do need to practice my Bingo technique, I wasn't very good!

Penny has another retreat booked for the 17th-19th January 2014 and there are still a few places left and I would really recommend coming along.  The Retreat is very reasonably priced at just £150 which includes six classes and the room is large and bright.  Acccommodation is on top of that but it is extremely well priced and the hotel and staff were excellent, can't be faulted, so what are you waiting for?!

I will be back with some of the bits Nicky and I created whilst we were away.

Have a great day,

Kate x

A bit of an apology!

Hello Everyone,

I owe a big apology to the lovely Sue Johnston who sent this beautiful layout of her daughter's Prom.  I asked if it would be ok to put it up on the Blog and she very kindly gave permission only for me to promptly forget!  So sorry Sue but thank you so much for sharing.

The paper is from Websters Pages 'Country Estate - Calm Moments' which is a stunning paper and the colours work beautifully with the photo.  Sue has added some lace, a stick pin and some die cuts to embellish the page but with the beautiful paper and stunning photo very little is needed.  Sue did some 'fiddly cut' decoupage to the flowers using a second sheet of the paper and also inked with 'Antique Linen Distress Ink' to make it less pretty - her words, not mine :D.

Thank you so much for sharing the layout Sue and my huge apologies for the oversight in not blogging it before now - blogging seems to have got away from me lately :(.  I do love to see what you all create as we all draw on inspiration from other people's work so it s lovely to share, so please do send me pictures of your creations using the Bellaboo products.

Happy Crafting!

Kate xx