The Little Things | Simple Stories | The Little Things Collection

 

Hello everyone, here is a new layout for Simple Stories using the gorgeous The Little Things Collection. I’m loving this collection, it is quite generic and very versatile and easy to use, full of pretty colours and florals, it is a really lovely collection to work with.

I adore scrapbooking with yellow – it’s just a bright happy colour that makes me happy, so I decided to use that beautiful yellow floral print as a large part of my background. It’s quite busy so I wanted to pair it with some white space, so I trimmed it down to 8½” wide so there was a large white area on either side. I paired this with the lilac patterned paper from The Little Things collection which is what I mounted my photo with, and I also added torn strips of this down each edge of my yellow floral paper.

I created three clusters on this layout, each contain similar repeating elements: flowers, butterflies, and phrases from the Always Remember paper. I fussy cut several of those phrases, distressed the edges of all and raised them up on foam pads. I love the contrast of black against the yellow and lilac, it really makes them pop off the page!

For my title I used ‘the little things’ from the Bits & Pieces pack. Again, I distressed the edges and raised this on foam pads. This helped it stand out against the busy floral background. I added a few Decorative Brads, handwrote my journaling down the right side of the layout and then splattered the clusters with black paint – again that pop of black contrasts so well with the bright yellow, I love the result of this combination!

Thanks so much for joining me today and happy scrapping!

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

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Camp | Simple Stories | Trail Mix

 

Hi everyone! Here is another layout I have made for Simple Stories using the Trail Mix collection. For this layout I decided to make a camping ‘scene’ on my layout and to actually make a tent!

I started off by sketching out my idea onto some scrap paper and then when I was feeling confident, I lightly drew the basic shape of the tent onto a piece of patterned paper. After a few attempts and when I was finally happy with it, I cut it out and distressed the edges. I created another layer around the canopy with some leftover yellow paper from my previous Trail Mix layout. I distressed the edges of this too, and I added some machine stitching around the edges of both. I then layered them together and added them to a white card background.

I then decided to add the two large triangles cut away from the top of the tent – I turned these over and immediately loved the green background with the butterflies and moths. I hadn’t planned on adding a background to the tent, I figured I’d just leave it white, but the triangles worked perfectly and I’m so pleased I thought of this!

I used one of the Trail Mix Chipboard frames for one of my photos, and I mounted the other on a yellow journaling card. I positioned these on the left side of my layout and added the title ‘camp’ from the Foam Stickers on the right side of the layout.

I then added a number of smaller details: the ‘camp’ hanging sign at the top of the tent, a couple of tree Cardstock Stickers, ‘camp’ flag, tent, camera, log, camping lamp. I love all these cute little details that all work so well together to create a scene! My photos are actually of my children inside a blanket fort, rather than actually outside in a tent, but hey, I think it works!!

I added some Decorative Brads to the clusters, handwrote my journaling and finished off with some splatters of white paint. I absolute love how this one turned out, it is so cute!

Thank you so much for joining me today and happy scrapping!

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

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Explore | Simple Stories | Trail Mix Collection

 

Hi everyone! Here is a new layout for Simple Stories, using the awesome Trail Mix collection! Now, my family aren’t really campers, but this collection makes me wish we were! It’s packed full of fun prints and icons that are outdoorsy and camping themed. The colours are just gorgeous, fun plaid prints with some muted colours, coupled with pops of bright! I love everything about it.

For this layout I choose one of those gorgeous plaid prints for my background. I trimmed it down a little and added it to a sheet of white. I splattered white paint onto the background and set it aside to dry.  I then selected another patterned paper, a multi coloured plaid print with flower clusters. I cut this into a circle and cut a small circle out from the middle. I then cut it into pieces, so I had a divided circle. I distressed the edges of each piece and then reassembled it back into a circle shape on my background.

I cut my photo into a segment shape and added it to one of the segments. I then added some of the Patches Bits to the circle. I arranged these in clusters, one above my photo and one to the bottom right of the circle. As well as the Patches Bits, I also added some floral clusters from the Cardstock Stickers, Foam Stickers and Decorative Brads to each cluster.

I used ‘Explore’ from the Foam Stickers as my title. I love the size, font and fun colours on this! I added a few more stickers from the Cardstock Stickers – some of the phrases, which I distressed the edges of and raised on foam pads.

I also used the long cardstock boarder sticker from the Cardstock Stickers, which I cut into two pieces and added to both side of my layout, offset and unequal, just to give a bit of added interest to the side edges of my layout. I finished off by handwriting my journaling.

Thanks so much for joining me today and happy scrapping!

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

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Rainbow Run Mini Album | Cocoa Vanilla Studio Guest Design | Happy Days

 

Hey everyone! I’m excited to be back with another project Guest Designing for Cocoa Vanilla Studio! This time I have made a mini album. It is a box in the shape of a rainbow, with an arch shaped mini album inside!

To make the box, I started with the front and back covers. I hand drew a rainbow onto a piece of scrap cardstock and cut it out and then used this as a template. I traced around it onto lots of different papers from the A5 paper stack and cut them all out, then distressed the edges and layered them all together. I then mounted this onto a piece of white card and cut out leaving a white border. I added pink hand stitching around the edge using embroidery thread I did all this twice so I had identical rainbows, one for the front of the box and one for the back.

To make the clouds I did the same: hand-drew a cloud onto a piece of scrap cardstock and cut it out to use as a template. I drew around it onto that super-cute ditsy heart print which I cut out and mounted onto white card. I added pick stitching around all of the clouds, then added them to my rainbows.

To make the inside part of the box, I used yellow cardstock to make an insert. I make these really simple, just two pieces of cardstock cut and folded – you can see more details on the process video.

With the box assembled, I moved on to making the mini album itself. I again created a template from white cardstock for the pages and cut that out. I then used this as a template for all pages. I drew them onto more papers from the A5 Paper Stack and cut them out. I then stuck them all together, back to back, to make a super-easy album, which I secured around the outside with ribbon.

I embellished the front of the box with a Chipboard Title, a few pieces of Floral Ephemera, a fussy cut butterfly and some phrase stickers. I also added the title ‘Rainbow Run’ using those adorable Mini Puffy Alphabet Stickers, to one of the clouds.

To embellish the album itself, I wanted to include the wooden medal from the Rainbow Run (this mini album is all about a sponsored run I took part in) and the actual ribbons from the medals at the event. I managed to incorporate those onto the front page and the ribbons are what tie the album together I think it’s really great to include momentums like that within albums if possible and these were perfect!

The album itself is quite interactive – I have 40 photos to include, so it had to be! Some pages have photos that flip up or flip out, there is a ball-chain containing 11 photos, there is also a pocket page. On one of the pages, I made a shaker pocket: I cut a piece of acetate to the same size as the page, pierced holes all the way around the edge and chain stitched with the same pink thread used for the album covers, trapping the sequins inside. I love how this looks!

I used more papers from the A5 paper stack throughout the album to decorate the pages and mount my photos. I’ve also used lots of Floral Ephemera,  Phrase Stickers and several of the puffy heart stitchers throughout the album. I also used some of the other Chipboard Titles to make feature pages.

I absolutely love how this turned out, it is just adorable and so pretty to look at and I had the perfect photos for a rainbow album! I really hope you have enjoyed it too.

Happy scrapping

Niki

@nikiclairecreates

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Beach Vibes | Simple Stories | Color Vibe Boho & Woods

Hey everyone, here is a layout using the new Boho Color Vibe collection by Simple Stories. Color Vibe products are divided into collections, and this is a new one called ‘Boho’. I’ve also used the new Color Vibe ‘Woods’ too. In all the Color Vibe collections there are papers, buttons, Enamel Dots, Floral Bits and Chipboard Shapes. The best thing about them is that they all coordinate beautifully, making them very easy to use and create with!

For this layout I used all six of the papers from the Boho collection. I cut a large circle from each, and then cut wedges from each one. Of course I distressed the edges and then I arranged them onto the background. I chose one of the ‘Woods’ papers, but I used the reverse side which was a white grid pattern.

I added my photo to the centre, and then I added loads of flowers. First of all I pinched all the petals and scrunched them up a bit to give them lots of dimension. I layered them together and also added centres to each – either an Enamel Dot or a Button tied through with coordinating embroidery thread.

For my title I used some of the Woods Alpha Stickers in the whitewashed woodgrain pattern – how fabulous are these!!

I then added lots of Boho Chipboard Shapes: hearts and arrows. I finished off the layout with my journaling and lots of splatters of white paint!

Thank you so much for joining me and happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

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My Sunshine | Cocoa Vanilla Studio Guest Design | Happy Days

 

Hello again everyone! I’m so excited to be sharing my third layout as a Guest Designer for Cocoa Vanilla Studio today!

For this layout I wanted to feature the Specialty paper which consists of beautiful foiled gold frames on white card. Inside all the frames are also gold foiled icons – all TOTALLY perfect for fussy cutting! I cut out a few of the frames and cut the middles out too. I then added two of the tiny journaling cards from the A5 Paper Stack inside the frames. They were the perfect size. They needed mounting onto a piece of scrap card first so that the frame had something to stick to (as they were exactly perfect for the apertures). I raised he frames on foam pads. The two cards I chose were the two rainbow ones – these look gorgeous inside the gold foiled frames.

I chose to use the yellow check side of the Feel Good paper for my background. I trimmed this down a bit, distressed the edges and added it to a sheet of white card. I then arranged my frames and my photo onto the yellow background.

I embellished the frames with Floral Ephemera and with the gold foiled icons fussy cut from within the frames – these are amazing as extra embellishments! I added some other little bits of Die Cut Ephemera to my clusters and added some small Puffy Heart Stickers too.

I added a title using ‘my sunshine’ from the Chipboard Title Stickers – I love this font! And the white letters stood out beautifully against my yellow background.

I finished off by handwriting my journaling and splattering my embellishment clusters with white paint!

I hope you have enjoyed seeing this layout, I loved making it!

Happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

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Let the Adventure Begin | For the Love of Pretty Paper July Sketch

 

Hey everyone! Here is a layout I have made playing along with the July sketch over at For the Love of Pretty Paper. I've used the Here & There collection by Simple Stories. I've really enjoyed creating with this collection. I used a couple of photo strips on the layouts and lots of layers and embellishments!

Happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

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