Mini Making With Colour & Pattern

I'm eagerly anticipating the start of Shimelle's Learn Something New Every Day at the weekend.I've taken part in this annual class many times and there is something wonderfully about revisiting an old favourite. One lesson that I have learnt the hard way though, is that if I don't prepare for the class, I never finish my album!

Using August's Counterfeit Kit has made it fairly easy to get started. I cut down a lot of cardstock and patterned papers to 3 x 5 inches, 'chomped' all of the corners and punched a hole in one end of each piece. To start making the base album feel a little bit more 'lived in', I've decorated the front using a little spritz of Mister Huey's Calico Shine; added a patterned paper effect with the camera stamp from Lawn Fawn's Say Cheese Too; and added a title with some Sassafras Alphas.

Inside the album, I've started to add some additional pattern with the chevron stamp from Papersmooches Geographic - it stamps wonderfully and, because it's a clear stamp, it's so easy to build up the pattern to create a fuller effect - and some extra embellishment with some of the smaller stamps from Papersmooches Teen Routine.

It's shaping up to be a fun album, full of colour and pattern - which is one reason why I love mini-albums, they really give you a chance to experiment with new ideas, products and techniques. Looks like I've started learning already!

Is anyone else planning on taking part this year? Have you done your preparation? Please let me know so that I can come and take a look. You see the best thing about starting class, is all the new friends!

Have good week! Clair x

Notts Weekend Mini Book

For the last couple of weeks, I've been working on turning my photographs from our beautiful Nottingham Weekend into a little mini-book. Lots of cutting, corner chomping, stamping and sticking later and I've finally finished. 

I very much wanted the emphasis to be on the photographs and the journalling - and I've included a lot of space for journalling, as well as adding some smaller page titles to add a bit of texture. 

There's a lot of pages packed into one little mini book, so I've kept my embellishments to a minimum, using my favourite stamps from Lawn Fawn's;Bon Voyage, Bannerific and Say Cheese Too, along with some of the smaller doily shapes from Unity's Blossom Stackers. There's some teeny bits of bling too, just to add some - but not too much - dimension and some continuity between the pages.

Day Trippers, Yeah!

Say Cheese Too! is one of my all time favourite stamp sets from Lawn Fawn because it's absolutely fantastic for scrapbooking. It includes months and numbers - making it perfect for including dates - and it has the most adorable camera stamp I have ever seen!



As soon as I started this layout, I pulled out my stamp set and added one of the sentiment stamps from the set 'A Great Snapshot Warms The Heart'. Couldn't be better for a layout about one of our first dates, right? I also added the little camera to one of my embellishment clusters. I told you it was adorable!

To tie in with the sentiment and the theme of the layout, I also used the teeny, tiny heart stamp from Cruising Through Life. Stamped, coloured and cut-out, it adds a few pops of colour and movement.



Stamps can be something we scrapbookers forget about, so if you're working on some layouts this week, have a little rummage through your Make The Day Special stamps. You might just find the perfect addition!

Sweet Little Notes

After finishing up a craft project, I often find myself with small leftovers and there is nothing more pleasing than finding a use for them! Yesterday, I ended up with a long piece of stripy kraft cardstock. I decided to cut it down into smaller pieces and create some sweet little notes using the teeny tiny stamps from Sophie's Sentiments and Say Cheese Too.

It can be all too easy to overlook some of the smaller stamps in these sets, but I think they're really versatile - and they're fun too! I also added a couple of small sentiments to the mix, by only inking up part of the larger phrases. You can see that with just a few stamps, some black ink and a little bit of time - five minutes to be exact - I ended up with something I can use in other craft projects, instead of something to add to the scrap pile.

I'm thinking gift tags, tiny journalling spots, or cute card toppers - lots of options. So, make the most of your Make The Day Special stamps by constantly looking for new ways to use them!

And, don't forget that some of the giveaways we featured as part of last week's Get 'Em While You Can Blog Hop are still open - including my own - so now's your chance to make some last minute entries.

Lots Of Little Lawn Fawns

I've been busy making little cards from all of my scraps this week and I just couldn't resist using the stamps from Lawn Fawn's Summer Release. They are just oh so lovely!



My first card features some of the leaves and a dinky little flower stamp from Blissful Botanicals and a sentiment stamp from Cruising Through Life.



The second card uses the most adorable clouds you'll ever see - they're from the Bon Voyage Set - along with the balloon stamps from Admit One and a sentiment from Blissful Botanicals.



And, last but not least, an idea for Father's Day using the sentiment stamps from Say Cheese Too and a couple of stamps from Admit One. Cute, right? Go get 'em!

You're A Star!!!

It seems that I'm on a mission to make the smallest cards imaginable. This one is simply tiny, but it packs a bit of a punch.

Using the beautiful trellis type background stamp from Unity's Quiet Essence, I covered the bottom half of the card. I then added a little bit of ribbon in a light blue as a bit of an accent. Above the ribbon I partially used one of the sentiments from the Say Cheese Too set from Lawn Fawn - it actually says 'You're A Star' but since my card is teeny, I masked it off a little.

Then I stamped the star from Unity's Learning {Year By Year} onto some light blue cardstock, cut it out and adhered to the card with a little pop dot for dimension. Don't you just love the numbers and text on the star? Gorgeous!

To finish off the card, I popped on some sparkles....we all need a little bit of sparkle every now and then!

Hope you're all having a fabulous weekend x