Tuesday 22 February 2022

One Of A Kind || Step-by-step My Creative Scrapbook Layout

Hello friends! Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today. For My Creative Scrapbook I've put together another step-by-step tutorial for one of my layouts. This month I received the February Creative Kit to play with, featuring the Hearth and Home collection from Simple Stories combined with stamps from Amy Tangerine, which I loved!  

This is the layout for which I wrote my step-by-step instructions: 


Last month I showed you how I created the white gesso background using the transfer technique using a piece of plastic packaging. So I thought that for today I would show you how I created this background using a small (inexpensive) plastic card (i.e. a hotel room card). 

First I unpacked this month's kit, the February Creative Kit. Look how beautiful! 


Next I cut one of the awesome free subscriber cut files from a sheet of black cardstock. I chose "one of a kind":


For my layout I chose the patterned paper called "Seasoned with love" for my background. I cut off a 1" strip of the paper from the right side and from the top and adhered the resulting 11" x 11" paper on a sheet of white cardstock:


I got out a tube of white gesso and a hotel room card:


I applied a thin row of white gesso at the top of my layout: 


And I used the hotel room card to spread the gesso (not so) evenly over my page:


The gesso needed to dry for a while (I used my heat gun for a bit) before I could continue. 
I selected a photo and decided on the place where to put my cut file. Next I selected three tags of the sheet with the 15 fabulous tags that is included in this collection. This wasn't easy as there are so many of them: 


I placed the photo on the left side of the cut file, partly on the cut file and placed two of the tags at the top of the photo and one of the right side. I loved the text on this tag and wanted to give it a prominent place on my page: 


Next I embellished my page with die-cuts, stickers and some twine: 


Of course I added some machine stitching. This doesn't only make my layout look better, but also ensures nothing will fall off later (in a couple of years). 


After stamping the date (twice) and noting where the photo was taken my layout was done!

Here are some close-ups:





Thank you so much for stopping by the blog today! I hope I've been able to inspire you to give this kit a try (don't forget to share if you do!)! 

Here's a photo of the February Creative Kit I used: 


For more information about this kit (and the other 3 kits of this month) please visit the My Creative Scrapbook website and if you want to see the photos of all projects created by the design team with the various kits, please visit the Design Team Gallery.

Wishing you all a wonderful day! 

xxx Monique

Saturday 5 February 2022

Round-up January Creative Kit layouts || My Creative Scrapbook Kit Club

 Hi friends! Hope you're all doing well! I'm a little under the weather, but I'm sure that will pass too. I thought I would share my other three layouts created with the January Creative Kit from My Creative Scrapbook here as well. You can always find all my layouts on my Insta account if you're looking for them! 

I really loved the January Creative Kit with the Day in Life collection from Echo Park with a few sheets from Vicki Boutin thown in as well! 



Hope you like them! 

Thanks for taking the time to stop by! Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Hugs,

Monique

Friday 4 February 2022

Summer || Pretty Little Studio

Hi friends! Today I've got another layout using the beautiful "Grateful Heart" collection from Pretty Little Studio. 

Here's the layout I made:


A page of my daughter and her partner. I loved how the colors of her jacket matched the colors of the hearts paper (called "How Blessed"). 


On the right side of the photo I placed a journaling card with a small tag beside it and stapled a few die-cuts in the bottom right corner. I just adore that coffee mug!


I placed a large cut file title over the entire page. This was in first instance white, but I decided to paint it purple. Love the result! On top of the "u" I placed a cluster of die-cuts:


With a few lines of handwritten journaling my page was almost done:


I stamped the date below the journaling and adhered a few small stickers. With several rows of machine stitching and a few drops of silver ink my page was finished! 



Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by the blog today! Don't forget to visit the Pretty Little Studio shop for this collection or one of the many other collections. 


Wednesday 2 February 2022

A Tour of My Craft Room

Hello crafty friends! For My Creative Scrapbook's blog I wrote a totally different blog post then you're normally used to see from me and today I thought I would publish it here too. Here's a little tour of my craft space, the space where I have been crafting for the last 15 years or so. 

I have never had my own craft room and have been scrapping in the annexe of our living room. I have never minded not having a dedicated craft room as I have loved sitting in the same room as my kids while scrapping. When I was scrapping they were doing their homework often at the same table. But now that they have grown up I think I would love a room of my own (and would love to have a less cluttered living room!). As it happens, my daughter has just moved out of the house and into an appartment of her own, so my own craft room is suddenly a very real possibility! But until then I'm still happily scrapping away in the annexe. 

Let me show you my little crafting nook in our house: 


This is the place where you can find me most of the time. I scrap, work, eat and watch television sitting at this table. It has a view of the garden (forgot to take a photo, I'm sorry) and has two skylights, so it has lots of natural light (which you definitely need living in the Netherlands, where it's so often cloudy!). 

When I sit at the table I have a small sidetable behind me where I have my typewriter, sewing machine and Big Shot, all within reach. Below these I have a couple of baskets holding various paper collections and a wire basket holding my Thicker collection.



In a little corner hidden away I have an antique English roll top desk I inherited from my mom:


Here I have another typewriter, electrical this time, lots of containers with pens, a French dish with washi tapes, a stamp holder carousel filled with roller stamps and some other items I love:


Sitting at the table I have two Ikea Kallax units on my left:


These units hold everything I have to have within reach while scrapping, like my case with pens and scissors, a bag with adhesives, a box with ink pads, etc. As I never have enough storage I also have several plastic drawer units on wheels. These I roll near whenever I need them. 


This one holds a wire basket on top with travel notebooks, my Project Life cards in the top drawer, my Nuvo materials in the middle drawer and December Daily stuff in the bottom drawer.


On the other side of the annexe (when I sit at the table, on my right side) I have an antique paper cupboard (another heirloom from my mom). Here I store both paper collections (mostly Simple Stories and Bella Blvd) and cardstock:


On the left I have my Canon printers, as I print almost all the photos I scrap myself. Above my printers there's a wire basket holding the most recent Pretty Little Studio collections. On top of the paper cupboard I have a couple of Felicity Jane boxes as I love how these boxes look (one box holds four collections). 

Behind the paper cupboard there's an Ikea drawer unit:


Here I store stamps and dies:


How I love to collect stamps! Now I just have to start using them! 

Because the annexe is not large enough to hold all of my crafting stuff, I have more places in the living room where I store my crafting treasures. This corner is situated just before you enter the annexe:


Here you find another cupboard with drawers and more plastic drawer units on wheels. 
Almost all of the wooden drawers are filled with Doodlebug products:


One of the drawers holds something else though: my inks:


On top of the cupboard I've another wire basket filled with paper collections (mostly Amy Tangerine) and on the little hooks I have more Doodlebug products. Not all of them as I'm worried their color will fade with the skylights above. 


In the plastic roller units I have my DT stuff for My Creative Scrapbook and Pretty Little Studio. On top more Felicity Jane boxes and more stamps, mostly from Heidi Swapp. 


This concludes my tour of my craft room. As you can see I love antique furniture and this makes me realise I forgot to show you my antique type writers! Next time I hope!

Hope you liked it! When I move into my own craft room I'll do another tour for you (if you wish). 

Wishing you a wonderful week! 
Hugs,
Monique