Love Me Mini Kit

This month we have launched a beautiful love-themed Mini Kit, 'Love Me'.  It uses the beautiful papers from My Mind's Eye range of the same name and includes a great 12"x12" accessory sheet with all sorts of fun goodies.  Full details of the Kit's contents can be found on the website but below are the papers in detail and also a couple of layouts I have produced using the Kit.

 'G & C' by Kate Holliday

Our nieces' wedding last summer was a wonderful occasion and the colour theme for the wedding was red so these papers were the perfect choice.  I loved this doily paper and it made the perfect background for this wedding photo.  The lighter 'love' words paper worked as a matt for the photo so that it didn't become lost and I love the Tim Holtz key and lock which were fun to use.  I mounted the layout onto the red cardstock and distressed the edges of the patterned paper and inked the edges with 'Worn Lipstick' Distress Ink.  I machine sewed around the patterned paper and the photo which adds a little more detail and also helps to draw the eye into the photo.  I strung the Tim Holtz Key onto the pretty sheer ribbon which I then curled around the edge of the matt - you can really have fun with wedding layouts!!  With a very simple title, just using the couple's initials and one of the journaling cards from the accessories sheet held with one of the Tim Holtz pins, the layout was complete.

'You're Still the One' by Kate Holliday

This layout I have made for my husband for Valentine's Day.  I am not normally prone to lots of sentimentality but I loved this photo I took of him in the autumn, which is so very him, and these words from Shania Twain's song always make me think of him and our relationship.  The colours of the kit were once again perfect with the photo but this time I used the red and pink more as highlights rather than the main theme and teamed these with the Vanilla cardstock and black, both in the papers and with 'Black Soot' Distress Ink, which made it slightly more suited to a man.  I printed some of the lyrics from the song from the computer and cut these into strips and edged everything with the black ink.  Once again the sewing machine came out and I sewed along the thin strips and along the edge of the song lyrics.  A couple of concertina flowers and die-cuts from the accessories sheet clustered in the corner of the photo to help draw the eye to the photo area and otherwise the layout was kept quite clean and simple, again more suited to a man.

I have lots of leftovers from the Kit, certainly enough to make at least one more layout and some cards so the Kit is excellent value and because all of the papers have at least one side that is not love-themed it is perfect for use on any number of projects, but on the other hand a little bit of romance never did anyone any harm!!!

I hope you have fun with the Kit and I would love to see what you produce using it.

More with Madame Boutique

I have been having another play with our gorgeous January Kit, 'Madame Boutique'.  I just love the colours in the papers which add a wondefully modern twist on the otherwise vintage feel to this kit.  Beautiful florals, dresses and elegant ladies run throughout and the wonderfully lush feel makes it a real joy to use.

I have created another layout and a couple more cards and still have lots of bits left over so you may see yet more creations appearing!!!

 'Cherish U 3' by Kate Holliday

I love this beautiful die-cut lace paper but decided that I wanted to use it on more than one project so chose to cut a couple of pieces off it for this layout and reserved the rest for another time!  I laced the satin ribbon through the eyelet holes in the paper and matted my photos onto the pretty blue doily paper.  I then used various scraps of leftovers from other projects as a border under my photos ensuring that this lovely quote, 'Cherish the Moments for they too become Memories', came down below the border.  My simple title fitted onto one of the sticker tags (after a little trimming of the stickers) and I tucked part of the lace die-cut and my journaling in on the left side.  The whole thing was then matted onto the dark brown cardstock so that the papers and photos really stand out.  These photos were taken in 2004 and my children are now in their mid and late teens so I scrapped this with a great deal of nostalgia and my journaling does reflect this.

 'For You' Card by Kate Holliday

Making cards with this kit is a doddle, there are so many beautiful elements to use from the sticker sheet or cut from the patterned papers.  All except the die-cut paper are double sided so I was able to fold back my backing paper to reveal the design on the reverse which is the same paper as the rose and leaves are cut from so it all ties in.  The brown spotty paper revealed behind is actually just a very small scrap left over from one of the previous layouts I made but was all I needed to 'pop behind'.  I used the Martha Stewart Doily Lace Edger Punch to create the pretty lace-effect borders that run across the middle of the card and these too were scraps left over and a great deal of paper piecing went on to give the effect that they run right across the card - they don't!  I love the resin flowers that are our Add-on Kit this month and you really only need to use one at a time to be able to make a statement.  I was very pleased with how this turned out and just love the colouring.

'With Love' Card by Kate Holliday

Another card using up the leftovers (I have a lot of birthdays this month and next!).  The flower embellishment was made by cutting serveral circles in various sizes and dampening the edges and curling them into shape and then they were inked.  At the centre is another of the resin flowers from our Add-on Kit and I hand cut a couple of leaves from one of the patterned papers.  I distressed the edges of the backing paper and brown cardstock and tore the backing paper and popped a piece of lace behind that can poke out.  A very quick  but, I think, effective card, I hope you agree.

Do share any projects that you have made using the kit, I would love to see them.

Madame Boutique Kit

Well January is well and truly underway now and after having a really busy Sale at the weekend it is lovely now to be able to launch out new January Kit, 'Madame Boutique'.  This gorgeous, lush kit uses the papers from the Kaisercraft range of the same name and full details of the Kit's contents can be found on the website.  However, it is never easy to see the all the detail of the papers from the picture of the collection so please find them below:-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aren't they gorgeous!  I absolutely love the slightly unusual colour palette of mustard, chocolate and teal which I think works wonderfully together and the beautiful vintage florals and the dresses oh and the ....  OK, I am going on a bit but it has been a great Kit to work with, not only the papers but all the other beautiful elements included also so make sure you take a look at those and don't forget to download our Inspiration Sheet also to see what the Design Team got up to with the Kit.

January Sneak Peaks!

I promised you a few 'sneak peaks' of our new January Kit which will be launching this coming week and so here they are:-

As you will see, the kit is full of vintage elements and beautiful florals running through out.  The colour palette is strong and unusual but the colours work wonderfully together and it has been a joy to use.  I can't wait to share you the full details of the kit later this week.

Using up the Leftovers!

Happy New Year Everyone.  I hope you all had a great time and now that the dust has settled, the pineneedles are well and truly stuck in the carpet pile and the holly has wilted, you may be in the need of a little crafting time?!

One of my Grandad's favourite sayings was 'we have a houseful of food and nothing to eat' and when I looked at my groaning fridge and freezer a few days before Christmas I thought of him and it made me smile as I wasn't sure what we would have for dinner that night despite all the food!  You then spend the next week trying to use up all the leftover food instead of throwing it away and wasting it and I am a bit paranoid about this as I can't bear waste.

Now you could be forgiven for thinking that you have come to the wrong Blog and that this is a cookery website, well it isn't, but I like to apply similar principles to my crafting as I do with food and I can't bear waste there either.  Before I owned Bellaboo I used to subscribe to a wonderful monthly kit which gave me such joy when it arrived and I would, in time, make a couple of layouts using the kit and before I did any more with it another month would have flown by and I would have another kit to treasure and stroke and make the odd layout with.  Eventually I had all these wonderful packs of goodies that I just wasn't getting round to using and so I want to challenge you to 'use up your leftovers'!

For the November Kit, 'Sidewalks', my wonderful Design Team put together all the layouts etc and then (very sweetly) handed me their leftover bits and pieces!  The leftovers included two full pieces of patterned papers, one half piece, lots of tiny pieces, an incomplete sticker sheet, some cardstock, bits of ribbon and lace and a few brads, buttons and a couple of the Flags from the Add-on.  I loved the Kit (well I should, I chose it!) and so wanted to use it and so challenged myself to using up these leftover bits and pieces.  The results can be seen below and I still have some more bits that I can use for some simple cards or notelets etc.

'You bring such Joy' Layout

 'Birthday Boy' Card

 'Birthday Wishes' Card

 'Special Friend' Card

'Thank You' Card

The alphabet that comes with the Kit is such good value as it has so many letters on it; I still have loads left even having used the amount I did above.  Even the very simple 'Thank you' card looks effective with just the small amounts of patterned paper and I have lots of bits left to make some more similarly simple cards. 

Although the initial outlay of a kit can seem expensive, if you are clever (lots of gutting of cardstock if you layer up on layouts etc) and a bit careful you can make one kit go a very long way.  I could easily have made another couple of layouts instead of the cards but as the first three months of the year are packed with birthdays in our family, I chose to do the cards instead.

Do let me know how you get on and send in any samples you have of your thrifty side :).

'Snowfall' has arrived

But luckily that doesn't mean we are blocked in by great snowdrifts!  Thankfully what it does mean is that our gorgeous, glittery December Kit is now on sale.  The Kit is worked around the gloriously glittered paper from Bo Bunny's range of the same name and they are simply stunning and a joy to work with.  You can find full details of the Kit on the website but I know it isn't always easy to see the papers in detail from the picture so I always think it helps if I post the papers here.

As you can see they are all double-sided with the main side being beautifully glittered and I just love that colour combination of teal and chocolate.  As you would expect from a company like Bo Bunny, the papers are all cardstock weight and wondeful to work with.  You can also download our Inspiration Sheet on the website to really get you motivated!

TFL x

December Sneak Peak

We have been having a few supply problems for our latest kit so it is being launched slightly later than normal but whilst you wait I wanted to wet your appetite with a few 'sneaky peaks' at the new Kit!

As you can see lots of glitter and sparkle - perfect for this gloomy time of year.  It is a kit packed full of goodies and the papers are brand new on the market.  We had great fun producing lots of gorgeous layouts and can't wait to show you our results and the Kit in full detail when it is launched in a couple of days time so keep watching!