'Uniquely You'......... Serendipity by Blue Fern Studios

 I have been playing with some fabulous papers from Blue Fern Studios. This is the first time I have worked with these papers and I just cannot get over the wonderful quality of each sheet and the stunning designs on them, what a pleasure it's been ( I can see a new obsession brewing here!)

The photo's of our youngest were taken on a sports award night that she attended and was awarded Sportswoman of the Year. The photos were taken before the ceremony and so I will now also be having to scrap the photos of her with the awards too!

I started off with a sheet of Serendipity - Chronicle as the background and took a sheet of Serendipity - Imagination which I cut a random wavy edge around and also inked up the entire edge with a dark brown ink pad.
 On the right hand side I tore a line in towards the centre of the page and then rolled the edges back.  I chopped up the sheet of  Serendipity Calling Cards, chose the ones I wanted for this page and gently inked the edges. These were then used up for layering around the photos

In my kit I had a sheet of Bazill Cardstock called Lagoon and because of the small tints of blue in the actual papers, I thought I would use the cardstock to create some flowers to adorn the page. I punched out several flowers, spray misted the die cuts with water and allowed them to soak in for a while, before then scrunching each one up and putting to one side to dry for using later.

Once they had dried out I layered them up and stuck a nice big flat backed gem in the centre ( I LOVE a bit of bling!)

I don't know about you but I really love using chipboard embellishments on my pages, they are so versatile and can be left plain as they come or can be inked, painted, glittered etc to dress them up. I took these Blue Fern Studio Berry Stems dabbed them with an Aqua Acrylic Dabber and then gently sponged some tiny patches with some gold acrylic paint. I also added some little crystal bling on some of the berries.

I quite often like to add butterflies to my pages, so I printed out some onto white card and then coated with Sprinkled Sugar Stickles. 
I also used a beautiful chipboard Romantic Page Dangle which I painted in brown and over dabbed with some gold acrylic paint. Using some jute twine I criss crossed stitched across the torn section on the right hand side of the page and layered the chipboard dangle over the top, adding crystals, a butterfly and also another handmade blossom.

 I finished the page off by adding a few crystals here and there and also using a bottle of Mercury Glass Stickles , I used various round items as a stencil and dotted the Stickles in blobs around them.

I enjoyed using these products so much and cannot wait to play with them some more, if you pop over to Papermaze you can see all the products I have used , especially the beautiful papers in the Blue Fern Studios ranges.

Thanks so much for looking at this post, I hope you have a super scrappy week.
Warmest wishes
Anita x

Loved Always .........

Hello....... a post I made a few weeks ago has just been up on the Papermaze blog using the lovely papers from Prima, Tales of You and Me range.
I have been wanting to scrap this photo of my wonderful parents and both of our lovely daughters for a long time. It was taken 4 and half years ago after having a lovely meal out to celebrate our eldest daughters 17th Birthday. Sadly we lost my Dad a few short months after this was taken. I am so grateful that being a scrapper means I probably have so many more photos of precious people than I would if I didn't do this wonderful hobby!
This layout, card and tag are all made using 1 whole sheet of paper and cardstock and then just the left overs from my previous layout and mirror which can be found HERE.

I randomly cut a wavy edge around the entire sheet of paper and gently inked it, placed it on the cardstock and also inked the edges of that too. I had a strip of leftover paper and popped that across the centre of the layout and sewed along the top and bottom edge using twine. I used a beautiful chipboard flourish from Dusty Attic, which I covered in Stickles 
I also added various blossoms, a couple of brads and also some Dew Drops sprinkled about.

I used the left over lace to frame the photograph and then decided I loved the colour of the Stickles so much that I would add sparkle to everything that didn't move!!! So the lace has raised dots, the blossoms have liberal splatterings and the bodies of the butterflies are Stickles too!

I was then left with literally just a few little scraps of paper, so not wanting to waste them I made a 6 x 6 card and also a little gift tag.   I couldn't put the Stickles away without using it again now could I??

I have really enjoyed using this range to create with, it's pretty and very versatile. Prima have recently released a few new collections and you can find them here at the shop.
Happy Scrapping....... Anita xx

H is for Hand Stitching!

Over at Scrapology this month we have had the pleasure of lifting the work of Delaina Farr Burns, please do pop over and take a look at her blog, it's truly inspirational.
 We were challenged to use Hand Stitching on our pages....and, as always, had a sketch to work from. Here is my layout that I created for the DT this month.

I have been wanting to scrap this photo of my hubby and daughters for a while now and with these lovely papers by 'My Minds Eye' from their 'On The Bright Side' collection and some garden twine I created a layout that I am really happy with :)
I flipped the original sketch onto it side for my layout.

I took the photo on the beach at Camber Sands whilst on holiday there last year, we had a fair few giggles whilst trying to get them all in the air at the same time lol.
I had previously bought a natural cotton shower scrunchie, which I cut apart and inked slightly and then layered it under the photo and pennants.

I thought the garden twine was a good idea at the time....but it was an absolute devil to sew with as it kept ripping the paper....however it was worth it in the end and I do think that it worked well with the weathered wood look paper.

OOpps....sorry, I forgot to flip the sketch back round again.....but anyway, this is the sketch that we used and would like you to use if you decide to join in our challenge....which we hope you do.
And this is Delaina's beautiful layout that inspired this challenge in the first place....gorgeous isn't it!

So, if you would like to play along, you have until June the 5th to enter the challenge, using Hand Stitching on your page and bouncing off of the sketch above......we are all really looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
Why not pop over to Scrapology and see what the rest of the DT have created.....we have lots of layouts to look at :)
Warmest wishes Anita xx

Follow your heart!

A few weeks ago, when these lush papers hit the UK, I just HAD to have them and made a couple of layouts straight away. Now I LOVE most of the more recent MME ( My Minds Eye) papers and these are definately no exception. The Follow Your Heart ranges come in 2 colourways, the blue range is called 'Be Amazing' and the pink range is 'Be Happy'. I love them both and really enjoyed scrapping with them.

This is my layout using some of the 'Be Amazing' range. The pics were taken in Sept last year, on our 19th wedding anniversary ( I met Dale on his dinner break from work and we had a picnic by the local pond ;) )


The sheet of 'Honey Blue' paper in the range is covered in beautiful hexagons of various colours and patterns. Rather than use them all as whole hexagons I thought I would partially pop them behind the centre circle of the layout to create a different border. I even used the cut off strip ( turq) that you normally throw away ( it has the manufacturer and paper name on the back)

And the teeny little banner that says Follow Your Heart was on the same throw away strip! Too nice not to use eh :)
Then I just added a few pearls, some garden twine and punched some butterflies with a Martha Stewart punch.
I LLLLOOOVVVEEE these papers....have I already mentioned that???
I will blog my pink page in my next post.

Thanks for looking, have a super Sunday...xxxxx