Spooky | Simple Stories | Spooky Nights

Monday 27 September 2021

 

Hey again everyone, I’m back with my second layout of the day for Simple Stories, using the fabBOOlous Spooky Nights Collection!

I have used a Simple Stories cut file, available from Silhouette Design Store, called ‘Spiderweb and spider’. I cut five webs from different papers from the 6x8” paper pad. I cut these in varying sizes. I also cut backing pieces from black cardstock and a couple of spiders.

I assembled the five spiderwebs and then arranged them onto my background. I choose a black paper with dotted chevrons. I attempted to create a ‘glow’ around the webs by applying two colours of Distress Oxide to the areas where the webs would be. I used a yellow and a coral, blended together to make an orange colour. This mostly showed up on the white dots but did create a lighter area on the black too.

I added a large title from the Foam Stickers. I also added lots of smaller foam titles such as ‘eeeek!’, ‘trick or treat’, ‘boo’, ‘danger’. I also added some fun chipboard pieces, decorative brads and my two cut file spiders.

I finished off with a few stars from the Foam Stickers and Chipboard and some splatters of ink.

Thank you very much for joining me today and make sure you check out the totally awesome Spooky Nights Collection, it is so much fun!

Happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

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EEEEK! | Simple Stories | Spooky Nights


Hi everyone, here is my latest layout for Simple Stories using the spooktacular Spooky Nights collection. I absolutely love to make Halloween layouts and this collection was a delight to create with.

I started off with my favourite paper from the collection, it has a black background and has multi coloured stars on it. I trimmed this down, distressed the edges and stuck it onto a sheet of black cardstock.

I created a large cluster containing my two photos at the bottom of the layout. I layered these up with three journaling cards cut from one of the Spooky Nights papers. I then added the ‘eeeek!’ title from the Foam Stickers.

I added lots of fun stickers and ephemera from the Bits & Pieces pack, 12x12 Cardstock Stickers and Foam Stickers. I also added some label stickers – they have the cutest phrases – and some decorative brads.

I balanced out the large cluster at the bottom of the layout with a smaller one at the top. I used large solid pieces so they stood out well against the patterned paper background.

Thank you so very much for joining me today for this super spooky layout!
Happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

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Perfect | Bella Blvd | Autumn & To the Moon

Thursday 23 September 2021

 


Hey everyone! Today I have a new layout to share for Bella Blvd. I’ve used the To the Moon collection to create a fall layout.

I have mainly focused on the To The Moon Bella Besties Collection Pack. I pulled out papers in Orange, Bell Pepper (yellow) and Pickle Juice (green). I also pulled out papers from the To the Moon collection that would also work: the wide striped paper, a green polka dot paper and a yellow paper with orange circles.

I cut up the striped paper and selected the stripes I wanted. I distressed the edges of each and stuck these to my background which is the Orange ombre paper. I also trimmed down my background, distressed the edges of that too and stuck this to a piece of white cardstock.

I wanted to make some origami corn embellishments as my photo is of my children eating corn at a recent trip to a sunflower farm. I found a great tutorial on YouTube which is here if you would like to watch it too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USRrASMTjB0.  I made these from green paper and yellow paper. For the green leaves I used the plain side but for the yellow side I used the hearts – they reminded me of the kernels on the corn! I made three of these, two big ones and one small.

I then used some cut files leaves, which I cut using my Silhouette Machine. I used the remaining part of the ombre green and yellow papers to cut leaves in varying sizes and shapes, and apples and pears too. All the cut files I used are by Bella Blvd and are linked below.

I stitched through all the leaves using gold thread and my sewing machine. I arranged these onto the layout around my photo together with the apples, pears and three corn embellishments that I made. I then added Heart Hugs in greens and kraft. I finished off with Trinkets Puffy Stickers and an acrylic title ‘perfect’ and a few splatters of paint.

Thank you very much for joining me today, I hope you have enjoyed this layout

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

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Haunted House MIni Album | Simple Stories | Spooky Nights

Tuesday 21 September 2021

 


Hey everyone! I have a really cute teeny tiny mini album to share today for Simple Stories using the Spooky Nights collection.

I was really inspired by the 2x2” squares on the 2x2/4x4 Elements paper. I cut them all into squares and distressed the edges of each. These became the pages of my mini album. I wanted to intersperse some plain pages amongst the patterned squares so I cut some squares from black card the same size.

To make the album I took a long piece of ribbon and laid it out flat on the table. I then applied tape to the squares and sandwiched the ribbon between them. I left a small gap between each square to allow for the to be concertina folded. Upon adding the black squares, I also attached vellum overlays to these squares.

I machine stitched around each square using black thread on my sewing machine. This is decorative but also serves to hold the ribbon securely in place.

To make the front cover I used the haunted house ephemera piece from the Bits and Pieces pack. I decorated it with gold glitter detail and I backed it with black card. I attached one of the squares to the front cover. At this point I also had to attach a second length of ribbon to act as the closure. I made a back cover too by sticking two more pieces of ephemera back to back. These were from the Journal Bits pack.

To decorate my little pages I added all the small things I could find: enamel dots, small chipboard pieces, and Cardstock Stickers. The pages are so tiny that they didn’t need too much embellishing! I added my photos to the flip-up pages and either added more photos to the overlays or embellished those as well. There are eight photos in this cute book!

I really hope you have enjoyed seeing this teeny tiny mini book come together, it is super cute!
Happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

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Back to School | Stepping Up YouTube Hop

Saturday 18 September 2021


Hi everyone! I’m delighted to be taking part in the Stepping Up YouTube hop today! I have made a Back to School themed layout using School Life collection by Simple Stories.

I chose to go for a white background and use lots of patterned from the 6x8 paper pad. I cut four layers, all different sizes and I used my notebook border punch along the top edge of each. I also distressed the edges of each one. I layered them up together with my photo which I had first mounted into a chipboard frame. I added a large title ‘back to school’ from the foam phrase stickers under the photo – firstly mounting the red letters onto white card so they stood out better against the paper layers.

I added a few 2x2 squares from one of the Elements papers from the School Life collection. I then added a large banner sticker at the top, and several smaller embellishment: puffy stickers, chipboard, Bits n Pieces and Decorative Brads.
I finished off with a few splatters either side of the layout and added my journaling on the orange paper next to the photo.

I hope you enjoy my layout and the amazing YouTube Hop – check out the line up on my video description.

Happy scrapping

Niki xx 

@nikiclairecreates  

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You Make Me Smile | Lottie Loves Paper Sketch Challenge

Thursday 16 September 2021

 


Hey everyone! I’m playing along with the Lottie Loves Paper Sketch challenge today! This week’s sketch is a little different from the others and is out of my comfort zone! But sometimes having a challenge like this can result in a fun project that is different from my usual style and often results in my best work! I do really like how this layout turned out and I’m so pleased I played along with this sketch!

I’ve used Bungalow Lane by Paige Evans for this layout and opted to use the scalloped paper to create rows of bunting across my layout to represent the lines on the sketch. I cut these out and arranged them onto the layout with my four little photos. I drew around the positioning of the photos and then took everything off again. I used my new Distress Oxides (new to me!) from Lottie Loves Paper to create areas of colour under where my photos would be. I used several different colours, blended together to create colours that matched the Bungalow Lane collection. I splashed the areas with water, splatters of the same colours and then also splattered with white paint. I love the effect.

I then stuck my bunting to the layout together with my photos, machine stitched along the bunting with teal thread, and added lots of embellishments: chipboard, epoxy stickers, foam stickers and gorgeous crepe paper leaves.

I finished off with my journaling and distressed the edges of my layout. I really love how this turned out, even though it was totally out of my comfort zone and different to my usual style!

Thanks so much for joining me today and happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates  

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Bounce | Hip Kit Club | Moodboard Inspired

Tuesday 14 September 2021

 



Hi everyone! Here is my latest layout for Hip Kit Club. Today I have been inspired by the moodboard by Sophie Delorme and I have used the August kits. You can find the August kits on the website here: https://www.hipkitclub.net/august-2021.

There are lots of colours on the moodboard so I decided to make this layout very colourful, and there are lots of circles so I decided to have circles feature heavily on this layout. I was itching to use the Vicki Boutin paper with the color wheel so headed straight for that. I cut it out and then cut up all the shards. I distressed the edges of each and arranged them onto a piece of white card. I added machine stitching to the middle of the circle.

I mounted my photo onto a black journaling card from the Vicki Boutin cut apart sheet. I really loved those chipboard flowers and layered all three under my photo. This gave me somewhere to put my photo and it acted as good separation between the photo and the colourful background.

I then added colour on colour embellishments mostly using Simple Stories chipboard and ephemera, Vicki Boutin Stickers and Amy Tangerine Thickers.

I finished off with doodles and I drew extra lines using a ruler to extend the shards of the circle, as well as a few black splatters.

Thank you so much for joining me today – how will you be inspired by the September moodboard?

Happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

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Beautiful | Lottie Loves Paper | Paige Evans Bungalow Lane

Monday 13 September 2021


Hi everyone, here is another layout using the beautiful Bungalow Lane collection by Paige Evans from Lottie Loves Paper.

I choose to use a fairly dark patterned paper background – it was slightly too dark for my comfort zone but I decided to go with it and I actually love how it turned out! I splattered it with some white paint to lighten it a little and I also ended up mounting it on white card and curling up the edges to reveal some of the white. This helped enormously to lighten it.

I have gone with a circle theme today. The Bungalow Lane collection struck me as having lots of circles in so I decided to make a feature of them. I framed my photo with a gold chipboard frame and I cut lots of circles from patterned paper and also from the stunning Speciality Acetate from the Bungalow Lane collection. To cut the circles I used a mixture of metal dies and punches. The acetate didn’t quite cut through even with added pressure but the dies made enough of an indent for me to easily cut around with scissors. I positioned the circles all over the top left corner of the layout and arranged them cascading down towards the bottom.

I created another smaller area over on the right side of the layout which holds a few more circles and my title, which is a yellow Bramble Fox arrow that says ‘beautiful’. I’ve added small circles form the chipboard to this cluster as well as some epoxy stickers. I have added a few Bramble Fox bees on this layout and some hearts too.

I added a few words from the phrase Thickers, embellishing my circles with them. I finned in some of the gaps with sequins and other small foam hearts.

I finished off by machine stitching around the edge of the layout. I really love how this one turned out even though it is slightly outside my comfort zone.

Thanks so much for joining me today and happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

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Be a Rainbow | Bella Blvd | You are my Sunshine Collection

Friday 10 September 2021

 


Hey everyone! Here is my latest layout for Bella Blvd using the You are My Sunshine Collection. It’s so bright and happy, I love it so much!

I really wanted to use the rainbow paper but it is a little tricky to use as a background because it has lots of small repeating rainbows on a white background. I was determined to use it as a background though so in order to do that I had to create some white space.

I cut a large circle in the middle of the paper. I distressed the edges and planned to mount it on white. This provided with me a large white aperture in the middle of the layout. It didn’t quite work because the white background of the rainbow paper blended too much with the white circle. So I took it apart again and added a pink circle layer too – this was perfect!

I then made a few colourful rosettes using You Are My Sunshine papers. I simply cut different width strips, used a border punch along one long edge of some, then scored every quarter inch. I concertina folded and glued the ends together. I then flattened them into rosettes and glued them with a paper circle on the back. I arranged these around my layout and stuck them in place.

I cut my photo to a circle too and layered this on top of the rosettes. On the middle of each rosettes I added flowers from the ephemera. I added my title using beautiful Aria puffy stickers in rainbow colours! I also used Florence alphabet stickers too.

I added two Bella Pops: the sun and the rainbow. The rainbow is extra special as it comes with enamel detailing on the rainbow and two enamel clouds!

I finished off by stitching through my title with machine stitching and I also added a few of the cute puffy hearts from the Aria stickers.

Thank you so much for joining me today and happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

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