Having the Best Time | Hip Kit Club | July 2021 Main Kit only

 

Hey everyone! Here is my latest layout for Hip Kit Club. I have used the July 2021 Kits but the Main Kit only. You can find the July kits on the Hip Kit Club website here: https://www.hipkitclub.net/july-2021.

Today I have used an enlargement photo. It is 8”x12” which is a size with which I don’t think I’ve ever scrapped before! I stuck it to a sheet of white cardstock anchored to the left side. This left me with a 4” wide white strip on the right side of the layout. I decided to use the border strips, which I have been saving specifically for this layout, to create a fun panel of pattern. I started at the bottom and layered them up, overlapping each other slightly. I carried on until I ran out of strips. I then cut off the excess and used those parts to complete the look all the way to the top.  I particularly wanted the finished and curved ends of the border strips to feature on my photo and I arranged them so they are all different lengths. To finish the top part I had to turn them upside down so I had enough finished ends. I love how it looks with the photo emerging from beneath them. Design Team member Vicki Parker also created a similar panel with these border strips on an earlier layout but she has cut hers so they are straight on each side and has used it as a decorative panel on a white background – check out her layout for more inspiration of how to use these wonderful border strips!

Once all the strips were in place I machine stitched through each one and then ran my finger under the edges to make them stand up slightly in order to add dimension.

I then added the remaining leftover border strip pieces to the top left of the page to cover up an area of the photo that had some fences in that didn’t look that nice. It is much prettier now that the border strips are in place! I added a few items of ephemera, as well as some of the beautiful acetate doilies.

I added puffy phrase stickers to the layout saying things like ‘having the best time’ ‘relax’ and ‘favorite place’. I also added a few more bits of ephemera.

To add my journaling, I cut some strips from one of the backing pieces of the packaging all the exclusive products were packaged in this month! I could have used white card but the packaging was a better colour match to the border strips and had cute pink lines on it! I handwrote my journaling on these strips and added them to the border strips.

Thank you so very much for joining me today and I have you have enjoyed seeing how I used the border strips today.

Happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates 

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Explore | Bella Blvd | Sketch and To the Moon

 

Hey everyone! I have a new layout to share today for Bella Blvd. I’m using the gorgeous and super-fun To the Moon Collection and am using it to scrap a photo of my little boy who loves rockets. I’m also playing along with one of our new sketches which are so fun to use!

I started off with a black background from the To the Moon Collection and splattered it with white paint. I cut three stars from different patterned papers in three different sizes. I also cut mounts for each, again using different papers so I ended up with a multi patterned layout. I stitched around the edge of the top three stars with black thread on my sewing machine and then layered them together with foam pads for dimension.

I mounted my photo and added it to my layout. I slotted it in between the stars. I added a title using the Explore title from the To the Moon Chipboard. This didn’t show up too well against the black background so I mounted it onto a lighter patterned paper first and fussy cut it out, leaving a narrow boarder. This gave it the lift it needed to show up against the dark background.

I fussy cut lots of planets from the Solar System patterned paper and arranged them around the layout layering some on the stars and some onto the background.

I then added smaller embellishments such as chipboard stars and star stickers. At the bottom I added some label stickers that say cute things like ‘love you to the moon and back’, ‘discover’ and ‘imagine’. I also wrote my journaling in this area with a silver pen, directly onto the black background.  

I finished off with a few enamel dots and a cute little alien from the ephemera!

Thank you so much for joining me today, I hope you like the layout, I think it’s super fun and am over the moon with how it turned out!

Happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

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Marauder's Map Harry Potter Mini Album | GoGo Getaway

 

Hi everyone! I have a new mini album to share today which I made as part of a GoGo Getaway Cybercrop challenge. The quote to be inspired by was ‘I solemnly swear that I am up to no good’. I have recently been to the Harry Potter Studios with my daughter and we had a wonderful day out . I now have soooooo many photos to scrap so I decided to put them all in one album. There are about 95 photos in this album!

I decided to make the album as the Marauder’s Map. I love this part of the books and films and I figured it would be perfect for a mini album. I created a very long concertina fold album, which I’ve worked out is approximately 60” wide! It is 9” tall. It opens out from the middle and extends a very long way!

I have used the Witches & Wizards collection by Echo Park Paper to make this mini album. I bought it when it first came out, knowing I would use it one day and I didn’t want to miss out! So I’ve been keeping it safe until the perfect time to use it. I’m delighted to see there is a Witches & Wizards 2 out now as well. As well as the papers from that collection the album base is made from cardstock. I used black cardstock for part of the album, which I covered first in tissue paper I received from the Harry Potter Studio Tour – this was a great way to include a little souvenir from the day. It is printed with newsprint…Wizard newsprint of course!

In order to get so many photos into the album I had to get creative with interactive ways to include so many. There are many pockets, flip ups, tags and cards hidden amongst the magical pages of this Marauder’s Map.

The album is bound with two ribbons and is embellished on the front with charms, several Bramble Fox stars in pretty gold colours and white. I’ve also included a journaling card of the quote from the Quote Challenge on the front cover which serves as the title of the album.

Thank you so much for joining me today and I hope you have enjoyed seeing this album.

Mischief Managed!

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

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SUMMER | Hip Kit Club | Using Cut Files

Hi everyone! Here is a new layout using the July kits and an exclusive cut file! I’ve used the Tropical Leaves cut file which you can find on the website under the July Downloads tab.

I cut the leaves quite small, multiple times on white card. My plan was to use these as additional ephemera, tucked into places around my layout.

I used the beautiful yellow paper from the July kit. It reminds me of tie-dying. I love yellow so wanted to use this as my background but the whole sheet was slightly too busy and needed an area of white space to balance it more. I therefore tore off a strip from the bottom of the paper and then mounted it onto a white background.

I mounted my photo onto a Pocket Life card and added the photo to the left side of the layout over the tear. I added some of the watercolour acetate stickers behind my photo to give the effect of mixed media – these stickers really do make mixed media very easy!

I used a large chipboard title from the June kit – I had this one leftover and it was perfect for this layout. I raised it on foam pads to give it extra dimension and stuck it right across the torn edge and my photo.

I embellished the layout with circle frames, chipboard circles and lots of little pieces of ephemera. I tucked in the white cut file Tropical Leaves to several places, I really love the layered effect they bring to the page.

I finished off with a few splatters of white paint.

Thanks so much for joining me today and happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

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Zoorassic Park Mini Album | Hip Kit Club | July 2021 Kits

 

Hey everyone! I have a new mini album to share today for Hip Kit Club, using the July 2021 Kits. You can find the July kits on the Hip Kit Club website here: https://www.hipkitclub.net/july-2021.

I wanted to make a dinosaur themed mini album because I had a series of photos from our trip to a little dinosaur exhibit at our local zoo. The July kits are very summery and I was a little concerned I might not be able to make it work with dinosaurs, but I was wrong!

I started off by drawing a rough dinosaur shape onto a piece of copy paper. I copied the basic shape from one I searched for on Google. I didn’t use a cut file or print a template (I was away on vacation when I made this so didn’t have those options!). I cut out my dino shape and that became my template. My daughter then mentioned that it looked like a turtle rather than a dinosaur so I figured I would need to do something about that!

I cut out two dinosaurs in the blue paisley paper from the July kit, and the green abstract paper. The green was to be the back cover with the blue one being the front cover. I drew a dinosaur spine/spike onto my copy paper and cut it out to use as a template. I then cut lots of these from another patterned paper. I stuck these behind the blue dinosaur all around the hump and then stuck them all onto a sheet of white card to secure all the spines in place. I then added hand stitching around the outline of the dinosaur and all the spines and trimmed off the white cardstock so there was a narrow white border all the way around.

I made the inner part of the album from navy cardstock from the July Cardstock kit, which is a simple pocket with concertina sides. This gave me a wide pocket to add all the contents of the album.

I made the album pages individually from other patterned papers. They are all semi-circle shaped. Some are single pieces, some are bound at the side so they open like a book and some fold down. I added lots of photos to these little pages and used LOADS of gorgeous embellishments from the July kits. I love the acetate doilies, and the blooms from the Build a Bloom set. I also added wood veneer pieces and made the pages interactive where possible.

Thank you so much for joining me today and I hope you have enjoyed my cute little dinosaur mini album!

Happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

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Summer Holidays | Lottie Loves paper Live Scrap | GoGo Getaway Challenge

 

Hey everyone! Today I scrapped live over on the Lottie Loves Paper Community Facebook Group with Kirei. We played along with the GoGo Getaway August Cybercrop Tic Tac Toe challenge. I also followed the sketch challenge too!

You can watch on catch up here if you missed it.

I've used the School Life collection by Simple Stories, available from Lottie Loves Paper. I've also used perspextives by Bramble Fox.

Happy scrapping

Niki xx

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Fabulous Fall | Simple Stories | Simple Vintage Country Harvest

 

Hey everyone! I’m back with a second layout today using the very beautiful Simple Vintage Country Harvest collection by Simple Stories.

I had already put a photo into one of the circular chipboard frames and wanted that to feature on this layout. I took a sheet of one of the beautiful Country Harvest patterned papers and tore off a large section for the top of the layout. My chipboard frame could then sit on there and it was perfect for a cascading design.

For my background I used a sheet from the Simple Vintage Country Harvest 12x12 basics kit. I love these papers. They are solid colours, that match the coordinating collection, and they have a very subtle print on them. I choose a white one that has subtle writing lines and notebook edges on it. These are perfect for a background.

Around my torn paper and chipboard frame I started to add lots of embellishments from the Simple Vintage Country Harvest collection. I began by adding one of the Chipboard Clusters and lots of items from the Bits and Pieces pack and Harvest Bits pack. I also added stickers, foam stickers and decorative brads.

At the bottom of the layout I wanted to use a chipboard border strip from the Decorative Brads, but the elements would have extended down beyond the bottom of the layout, so in order to raise it up a little, I added a narrow strip of patterned paper first and this worked perfectly.

For my title I used a mix of Foam Title Stickers and tile stickers from the sticker book to make it read Fabulous Fall. I finished off with a few splatters of paint.

Thank you very much for joining me today and I hope you like how this one turned out! The Simple Vintage Country Harvest collection really is beautiful and I’m excited to use more of it.

Happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates 

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Awesome Autumn | Simple Stories | Simple Vintage Country Harvest

 

Hey everyone! I am excited to be creating with the Simple Vintage Country Harvest collection today by Simple Stories. I started to really enjoy autumn collections last year and I’m really looking forward to this coming Autumn so I can use more of this beautiful collection!

For this layout I started off with one of the papers with large printed cluster of elements on the left side. It was on a dark background and I was concerned that was a little too dark for me to work on, so I decided to fussy cut around the large elements, and add a different background by slotting a new paper under the elements. I left the dark border and love the result.

I wanted to bring the printed elements to life rather than them being flat. Fussy cutting around them worked well but I took it one step further but cutting around the top sections of the individual elements, distressing the edges and adding foam pads. This gave the effect of all the elements being individual rather than one large printed section.  I also added other chipboard pieces to this side.

I wanted to mimic the large left cluster with another cluster on the right side of the page. I added a photo to a circular chipboard frame but this ended up being slightly too big so I’ve saved that for another layout. I choose one of the Chipboard Elements to go on the right, added Harvest Bits, Bits and Pieces and other foam stickers and cardstock stickers.

I added a photo at the bottom of the left cluster and my title ‘Awesome Autumn’ using a combination of a foam title sticker and a little word sticker from the Sticker Book.

I finished off the layout with some small foam stickers and decorative brads. The resulting layout is possibly a little busier than I had originally planned but I love it just the same.

Thanks so much for joining me today and happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

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Buzz | Bella Blvd | You are my Sunshine Collection

 

Hi everyone, here is my latest layout for Bella Blvd and I’m using the brand new You Are My Sunshine collection! This is my first layout with this cute new collection and I love all the happy colours!

I’m focusing on Summer today and particularly bees! My little boy loves bees and there are super cute bees in the You Are My Sunshine collection so I decided to go with that as my theme. I choose my background paper first: a yellow paper with sunshines all over it.  I trimmed it down, distressed the edges and stuck it to a sheet of white card. I added machine stitching around the edge three times.

I had two photos which I mounted onto a journaling card from the cut-apart sheet. I also cut out a card from the same sheet that has a bee on and reads ‘just be yourself and do your own sting’ I thought this was so fun and decided to feature it on my layout.

I arranged my two photos and the journaling card horizontally across the layout. I added a strip of patterned paper with bees on across the bottom together with a piece of black pom pom trim. I also added another journaling card tucked behind my photos, with hexagons all over it – of course this goes very well with my bee theme!

I then added lots of fun embellishments! In particular the bee Bella Pop. Bella Pops are layered stickers and the bee has acetate wings, so cute! I also added the sun Bella Pop too and then added all the bees I could find! I have stickers, ephemera, and puffy stickers. I love that they are all different sizes and textures and flying in different directions, they are so adorable!

I finished off with a title ‘buzz…’ in black Aria Puffy alphabet stickers and wrote my journaling onto the journaling card.

Thank you so much for joining me today and happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

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Explore | Lottie Loves Paper Sketch Challenge

 

Hi everyone! I am playing along with this week’s Sketch challenge over on Lottie Loves Paper. I’m using the Safe Travels collection by Simple Stories which is perfect for my outdoor photos.

There is a large section of colour at the top of the sketch which to me represented patterned paper. I tore off a large piece for the top of the layout, and two more strips of other patterns to layer underneath. I raised the layers on foam pads to get lots of lovely dimension.

Instead of two photos, I have one photo and one journaling card. I offset these slightly with the title which is ‘Explore’ a foam sticker from the Safe Travels Foam Stickers. I also added two tags cut from the Tags paper behind the journaling card. I tucked in another tag, upside down, below my photo.  I added a couple of tab shaped Bramble Fox Perspextives: one to the photo and one to the journaling card.

I then added lots of embellishments to the cluster areas as represented on the sketch. I love the fun elements in the Safe Travels collection: binoculars, cameras, hiking boots, sunglasses to name a few. These were a combination of Bits and Pieces, foam stickers and chipboard stickers.

I finished off with a few sequins, and some arrows and labels under my title.

Thanks so much for taking a look and enjoy the sketch!

Happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

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US | Hip Kit Club | Cut Files and July 2021 Kits

 

Hey everyone! Here is a new layout for Hip Kit Club and using the July 2021 Kits. I’m using an exclusive cut file today too.

You can find the July kits on the Hip Kit Club website here: https://www.hipkitclub.net/july-2021 and the cut file is available under the June Downloads tab: https://www.hipkitclub.net/june-2021-downloads.

I actually started off my layout today using a white background and mixed media. It turned out somewhat different to how it started! I used the July Color Kit to add colours to the background and then started building my large photo cluster on top.

I heat embossed the three Mandela cut files using a glitter embossing powder for a sparkly finish. I then used these cut files as layers for under my photo. I added beautiful Build a Bloom flowers, some of the acetate mandalas and wood veneer pieces. I also added circular frames The cluster looked lovey but didn’t seem to sit right over the mixed media. I tried to make it look better but in the end I ended up lifting the entire cluster up off the background. Thankfully it was stuck together quite well and I was able to lift it off as one piece. I decided to put it onto one of the beautiful exclusive patterned papers. I choose the peachy-coloured paper with a circular pattern on it. I cut out the middle, distressed the circle and machine stitched around it several times. I backed the paper with white and then added my cluster back onto this paper – I was soooo much happier with this background!

Thank you so much for joining me today and I hope you enjoyed this layout, even though it ended up going through quite a transformation!

Happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

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