Scrapbooking - Grey and Pink theme

 Here are the instructions to re-create the pages that we made in class on Saturday. I cut the 12x12 from Canford Paper so there were enough offcuts left over to make this into a double page spread.

Cut a 3 1/2 inch strip from the spotty 12x12. Cut this up into three pieces, a 2 /12 inch piece, a 3 inch piece and a 5 /12 inch piece. The bit that falls off the end isn't needed.

Stick the pieces onto the top of the 12x12 grey/brown page with a 1/2 inch gap between them. Because the decorative paper is double-sided you can flip the paper over to have different patterns showing. If you want to decorate the large rectangle (I used iris folding to decorate mine) I would suggest decorating it before you stick it to the page.

Cut another 3 1/2 inch strip from the spotty 12x12 and cut this into three pieces. Cut a 3 inch piece, a 2 1/2 inch piece and another 3 inch piece. The bit that falls off the end isn't needed.

Stick these pieces to the bottom edge of the 12x12 as shown, again leaving a 1/2 inch gap between the pieces on the left.

Stick the 6x4 piece of pink cardstock to the 12x12 as shown.

Cut a 4 inch strip from the spotty paper and cut this evenly into 3 inch pieces.

Stick one piece on the right hand side of the 12x12, in line with the plain pink card.The other 3 pieces will now be used to make the 2nd 12x12 page.

Stick together the 3 pieces of patterned card along with the piece of plain card that you have (which measures 3x4 inches) to make a border. Stick the border to the piece of grey/brown paper (which measures 12x8 inches) to make a new 12x12 page.
Place double-sided tape along the join and cover with silver-grey ribbon.

Cut a 3 inch circle from the pale pink card and a 3 1/2 inch circle from the darker pink card. Stick the circles together and then stick them onto the grey/brown paper. Cut out the circle shape again, leaving a small border showing around the pink circles.

Finish the main page by adding your decorated rectangle, the main photo which I cropped to 5 3/4 x 3 3/4 inches, a mini photo which I cropped to 2 x 3 1/2 inches and the circles. I stuck the circles on with sticky fixers and journalled in the space left with a white pen.

To finish the second page I cut around an extra photo and tucked the bottom edge just under the lip of the ribbon. I also added a large title which I made from leftovers of the patterned and plain card. Alternatively you could add a smaller title or maybe just the date and you would have room for more photos.

New Arrival - The Ebosser

The Ebosser has arrived at the Gallery and I've been able to have a play this week which has been really fun. It's just like the Cuttlebug in that it's easy to use but you can put A4 cardstock through which is a big bonus, especially for scrapbookers. The Ebosser plugs in to the mains and has a motor so there's no handle cranking to do and it has a safety feature which means it won't work if you put your hands inside. Another feature that I love is that if your 'sandwich' is too thick, the machine won't accept it so you know that something isn't quite right. One last thing, the booklet that comes with it is amazingly clear and useful, I think I will be separating the pages of ours and having them laminated.

I made this card with one of the A4 embossing folders which is really quick and easy to use, it really does make a card in one step. I folded the pearlised card along the lines when it came out of the machine and gave it a small trim at the top and bottom. Then I added punched flowers and butterflies to the design to highlight the embossing. The butterflies were punched out twice, I have 2 butterflies stacked together in each position with foam pads between the wings to give them lift.

In the middle of the card I made a slit at each side to poke the ribbon through, this ties the card shut. To cover the ribbon I embossed a scalloped design from Darice on baby blue and cut it out around the scalloped edge. Then I embossed another of the same design on white but cut further in this time so that they layer together nicely. The inside is finished off with some tiny daisies from a plier punch.

This card I made with the Cuttlebug and I embossed some Colorcore card with the stars background, which I then sanded to reveal the lighter colour inside. The decoupage design is from some Emma Ball giftwrap which has just arrived at the shop. As soon as I saw it I knew it was perfect for the bright and jolly card I had in mind!