Simple Stories Winter Wonder - Hello Winter

I have one final layout made for the Scrap, Paper, Scissors blog using Winter Wonder from Simple Stories. 

I began the layout by layering sheets of white and kraft cardstock on top of each other. Careful gutting of the cardstock beforehand meant that I was able to use only one sheet of each colour.

Once I had created the base for my layout I machine stitched with white thread a straight stitch round the edges of two of the pieces of cardstock. I love adding machine stitching to my layouts. It give the layout more texture and interest.

I cut five 3x4 cards from the 2x2/4x4 Elements paper and one from a piece of the Brr Brr Brr paper.  I rounded the corners of the cards with a paper punch and then attached them in a grid design onto the background with the B sides upmost.

From some white glitter cardstock I die cut some snowflakes and placed these in a row horizontally across the middle of the layout and machine stitched through them all.

I attached photos to four of the cards with 3D foam underneath and tag from the Tag Elements paper onto another. I then set about embellishing the cards with die cuts from the Floral Bits and Pieces pack. I chose the pink flowers to co-ordinate with the tag.

More glittery die cut snowflakes were added too.

I strung the tag with some white twine and added some words cut from the 2x2/4x4 Elements paper as a title.

Using some pale pink watercolour paint, I picked out a few of the phrases on the card made from the Brr Brr Brr paper. It's quite subtle, but brings some pink to that part of the layout.

Finally, I scattered a few sequins here and there.

Simple Stories Winter Wonder - Let it Snow

Today I have another layout using the gorgeous Winter Wonder collection from Simple Stories. This is a winter themed collection, and whilst we seldom get much snow in the area I live, when we do I always take lots of photos. So I always have photos to use with winter themed collections.

I started this layout by layering a piece of the Comfy.Cozy.Cuddly paper onto a sheet of black cardstock leaving a narrow border and then using white thread I machine stitched a straight stitch round the edges.

Twelve of the tags from the Tag Elements paper were then arranged in three rows horizontally in the middle of the layout. The tags were strung onto white twine and glued in place. My photo was matted with some black cardstock and placed on the right of the layout, on top of the tags, with some 3D foam underneath.

From the pack of Floral Bits and Pieces I chose some of the blue flowers and leaves and tucked these under the edges of the photos.  Some of the flowers are quite big so they fill up quite a bit of the open space on the layout.

In my stash I found some wood veneer snowflakes and added these to the flower clusters.

On the Silhouette Cameo, using a cut file from the Silhouette Store, I cut the title and nestled this beneath the photo. I really like how the S in the word 'Snow' cuddles the words 'Let It'.  Another blue flower from the Bits and Pieces pack was used to embellish the title.

From the Brr Brr Brr paper I cut a word strip and placed this below the photo.

Finally I added the date at the bottom of the layout with some teeny tiny stickers ...

.... and scattered a few iridescent sequins from one of the Picket Fence Studio sequin mixes here and there to give the layout some sparkle.

Simple Stories Winter Wonder - Snow Much Fun

Today I have a scraplift  to share using the Winter Wonder collection from Simple Stories as well as a page from the Discover & Create Painted Backgrounds Paper Pad from Vicki Butin.

Inspiration for this layout was this gorgeous layout created recently by Jana Eubank. I was particularly drawn to the vertical collection of embellishments down the centre of the page.

For my layout I started with a sheet of paper from the Discover & Create Painted Backgrounds Paper Pad from Vicki Butin, which had a purple design on it. The Winter Wonder collection from Simple Stories doesn't have any purple in it, but as my daughter was wearing a purple coat in my photos, I thought the Background paper was perfect. I trimmed the paper down slightly and matted it onto a sheet of pale purple Bazzill cardstock to leave a narrow border all round the edge.

Inspired by Jana's layout, I layered papers from the Winter Wonder collection on top of the background.  Using a black gel pen I outlined all the papers as well as the background paper.

On to the papers I placed my two photos which were matted with white card and tucked a tag, cut from the tag elements paper behind one of the photos. The tag was tied with some black and white twine and the twine was secured in place with some wet adhesive.

Between the two photos I placed a couple of narrow strips of patterned paper to anchor the floral bits and pieces which I cascaded down the page. I chose pieces which were black, pink and green to co-ordinate with the papers used. There are 72 die cuts in the pack of bits and pieces so there were lots to choose from!

In my stash I found some wood veneer snowflakes and stars and added these on top of and around the die cuts.

Letters die cut from a scrap of black cardstock were used for the title placed beneath one of the photos.

The date, cut from more black cardstock, was added at the bottom of the layout.

I finished the layout by scattered a few sequins from Picket Fence Studios here and there.

Simple Stories Winter Wonder - 'Tis the Season to Sparkle

Today on the Scrap, Paper Scissors blog I'm sharing a layout using the gorgeous Winter Wonder collection from Simple Stories. This collection is all about snow and is perfect for scrapbooking winter memories. The designs on the papers include snowmen, cups of hot drinks, snowflakes, snow boots, scarves, mittens, skis and much more. The collection includes  wonderful ephemera die cuts including some beautiful Floral Bits and Pieces which I've been using.

I started my layout by cutting a huge snowflake on the Silhouette Cameo from the centre of a 11.5" square of smooth white cardstock. The snowflake shaped hole was backed with a sheet of the Snow Happy Paper, which was slightly bigger than the white cardstock and left a narrow border round the edge, and then the whole layout was layered onto a 12" square sheet of dark kraft cardstock.

Using some silver metalic thread I machine stitched a straight stitch all the way round the edge of the white cardstock. My sewing machine really does not like metalic thread so this was a real labour of love.

I also stitch with the same silver thread round the outside of the snowflake and I choose to hand stich this due to the difficulty using the sewing machine. It took quite some time but I really like the end effect and it does make the finished layout sparkle.

Laying on my desk I had some kraft coloured cardstock snowflakes which were left over from making a few Christmas Cards last month. One fitted perfectly in the centre of the backed snowflake and so I decided to add this to the layout too.

My photo was printed with a white border and matted with some of the Snuggle Up paper. A piece of white pom pom trim was stuck to the bottom of the photo before the photo was added to the layout with 3D foam underneath.

Some of the Floral Bits & Pieces were tucked under the edges of the photo, specifically the green and peach coloured pieces.

In the top right corner of the layout I added some word strips cut from one of the 4x4 elements.

The date was added to the bottom of the layout using tiny alpha stickers from my stash.

Finally I scattered some silver sequins and some very, very old Card Candi around the layout.

Favourite Layouts of 2023

I thought I would post my favourite 9 layouts of 2023. Its been several years since I did an 'End of Year Favourite Layouts' posts, so here it is.

Happy New Year.

Vicki Boutin Peppermint Kisses - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

This is my final layout using Vicki Boutin's Peppermint Kisses collection which is also my final layout for 2023.

I've been working with the 12x12 paper pad this month and started my layout by layering the red candy cane striped paper and text paper onto a sheet of white 12x12 cardstock with another layer of white cardstock between.

With white thread I machine stitched a straight stitch round the edges of the papers. This is quite a flat layout, so the stitching added some texture. Before adding any elements, I also splattered some gold ink onto the background

Using some of the green papers from the collection I cut four simple triangular Christmas Tree shapes and punched some holes in a couple of them. After machine stitching round the edges of the trees, the trees were glued to the centre of the layout in a row.

I die cut some stars from gold card and added one to the top of each tree.

A piece of gold ribbon (from a recent gift) was stuck horizontally across the bottom of the layout. Three small photos, from Christmases past, were matted with more of the red striped paper and placed at the bottom of the trees.

To create a title I took the phrase 'Merry Christmas' from a sheet of Mintay Papers Chippies Christmas Words and cut it in half. Using embossing powder I transformed the bare chipboard into gold and added the two words to the layout.

The other words in the title were made by die cutting letters from gold card which I backed with some self-adhesive foam. 

At the top of the layout I placed a phrase from the pack of Journaling Ephemera and also added some phrase strips from my stash. 

The layout was finished with a scattering of gold sequins to add some Christmassy sparkle.

Vicki Boutin Peppermint Kisses - 'Twas the Night Before Christmas

As we are getting closer to Christmas I have been playing with Vicki Boutin's Peppermint Kisses collection form American Crafts. 

I started by layering a trimmed down a sheet of the Winter Magic paper onto a sheet of the Sweet Holiday Wishes paper leaving a narrow border round the edges. I made sure to gut the pink paper before attaching the teal paper so that I had paper left to mat my photos.

Using a cut file from Peartree Cutfiles I cut my title from smooth white cardstock and attached this to the top half of the layout. 

I thought of backing the cut file or even creating a shaker pocket from it, but in the end decided instead to simply embellish it with sequins. I took some white, blue and pink sequins, which matched the colours in the paper, and glued a few inside each letter of the title. I like the sparkle the sequins add to the layout.

I then took four small photos and matted these with the remaining Sweet Holiday Wishes paper. Two of the matted photos were placed at the top of the layout either side of the title with 3D foam underneath, and two photos were attached to the front of a couple of tags cut from the sheet of tags. The tags were placed at the bottom of the layout with more 3D foam beneath.

Through the holes in the tags I threaded a piece of white twine.

Underneath the tags I placed a couple of die cut phrase strips from the pack of Journaling Ephemera. 

At the top of the page I added another die cut phrase strip to one of the photos and some Puffy Phrase Stickers.

To add more texture to the layout I took some silver embroidery floss and stitched onto the Christmas Tree images at the bottom of the page. I used a simple back stitch on one of the trees .....

.... and chain stitch on the other. More sequins were used to embellish the trees as well as some enamel dots.

Finally I printed some journalling strips on the computer and placed these in the bottom right corner of the layout and dotted some more white sequins around the layout.