Laura Rumble - Crafter

I had a vision for a layout.  I had a tinker around and designed a cutfile in Studio.  In my mind's eye it was cut on patterned paper so I had a long search for 'the one' and eventually picked a Pinkfresh paper I had considered much earlier in my stash dive.  I think it is Shimelle who says when you find something that works stop looking.  I did not listen. *shakes head* As I cut it it dawned on me that it was a perfect two for one cut.  The positive and the negative were equally as striking. So I set about turning them into layouts with the intention of them being very different, although obviously featuring the same cut file design. I kept one simple with ephemera with words plus a few puffy stickers, and went all out floral on the second. I don't often make floral laden layouts as they don't tend to match my photos.  This run of baby Theo photos could take the florals though, especially as the colours of the flowers enhanced the blues and yellows in the ...

 Sharing a card today... I love this card for a few reasons. Number 1 - I got to use ALL of my green inks!  Green is my favourite colour so I don't need much excuse, but I'm not sure I've used them all on one project before. Number two is a punny sentiment.  I'm a big fan of these too! Then there are the sequins.  I'm coming back to sequins after a little while away.  I seem to be wanting sequins on everything again.  I also used one my thin frame dies.  Somehow defying logic, the frame doesn't fit back in the gap it has created so I had to adapt my plan and pop it on top instead.  I think it's the pressure the gemini puts on the die/paper that is stretching the fibres of the paper... does that sound about right to you? Stamp set can be found here.

Here are the three layouts I created using Skull and Cross Buns products that you can buy from Hochanda today... Big polka dots and the Christmas Sweater stencils are firm favourites with me. "Funny" story about the above layout... M.E. brain fog has been kicking my butt recently.  I decided that I needed to show that the 6x6 stencils can be used repeatedly to fill a 12x12 page.  I decided the best way was clear glitter paste on a white background - yes, my style but... that was never going to show on TV.  So I decided to save it I would mist over the top of it.  The paste would resist the ink.  Well, yes it would resist it but it still needed to be wiped off the paste before it dried - which I failed to do.  I ended up cleaning each section of glitter paste one by one with a wet cotton bud. Sigh! Still to come today are tags and gift wrap ideas...

Hey there crafty friends! This layout is part of a video hop with the UK Scrappy YouTuber's Cooperative.  The theme is summer which is appropriate with the ridiculously hot (for the UK at least) weather.  I've used a few bits pulled from my stash - acetate, stickers and alpha stickers from Pretty Little Studio; Ice lolly motifs from a custom cards set from Crafty Templates; Stamps from Technique Tuesday, StickerKitten and Skull and Cross Buns; Ink cubes from Pinkfresh Studio; thread courtesy of my Mum's cross stitch stash! Slightly ashamed to say the month stamp is from 2012 and had never been used! I've done my lazy sewing - one stitch for each grid line.  That's about all the hand sewing I can cope with.  My sewing machine has been for it's regular clean and check.  It's the same machine that my Nanny used to make dresses for me back in the late 80's.  Still works like a dream, even better now it has been oiled and de-fluffed. Here's the process:  ...

I am honoured to have been asked to teach over at the Scrap Academy.  Here is my first lesson: https://youtu.be/zsgtrXEjvWM It's a long one but apparently I had a lot to say!! Here are the projects I made with the die cuts... This uses lots of different die cuts from both metal dies and the cut files. I've also used a metal die to emboss cardstock. And to just quickly explain the photo, this is me using phototherapy for my hayfever.  I hadn't realised how crazy it looked until I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror! And here's a little TN spread using the partial die cut I show in the lesson. It's a fun technique and I hope to explore it more soon. Thanks for stopping by!

I currently have a giveaway running on my YouTube channel celebrating the milestone of 1000 subscribers.  Check it out here: https://youtu.be/Itt7SZ1FUVY Here is my DT layout for CSI case 322 .  I've been led by the colours (peach, orange and navy) and the paint smears on the case file. I colour matched some sequins and puffy stickers.  The stickers are from Pinkfresh Studio and have been sat in my stash for a while now so I'm pleased to get a few used up. The paint smear is created with texture paste mixed with brusho crystals.  I love the variation in colour that the brusho gives. I've added some fancy zig zag sewing to attach my trimmed down white cardstock to a peach backing sheet. You can watch the video here:

I pulled out an old stamp set from W Plus 9 and had myself a little stampfest! I used ink cubes from Pinkfresh Studio - I LOVE these inks!  It is the first time I have had proper inks for stamping and I'm mad at myself for not buying some sooner.  Don't get me wrong, my Distress Oxides are still loved but they are for inking and technique based creating rather than just for stamping. I heat embossed a title using another old W Plus 9 set and some Wow! embossing powder. I cut the layout on a slant and pieced it back together leaving a sliver of colour showing and embellished with some clear sequins. One of the things I struggle with in the crafty world is the volume of new stamp sets released and the feeling of needing to keep up and use new supplies.  These two stamp sets are dated 2014 and still feel relevant and usable. Here's the video:

Here are another couple of layouts I made over the NSD weekend. This is a scraplift of Emilie Chamel for Bramble Fox. I adored Emilie's layout as soon as I saw it and love how mine turned out too. Lots of leaves and a Bramble Fox camera. This second layout uses a string of stamped, heat embossed and fusst cut bunting that I made for my Mum's birthday.  She knows me well... when she took it (and her birthday cards) down from the mantle she brought it back for me to scrap with! Seems fitting that I scrap the birthday selfies we took (the day after her birthday because I forgot on the day!) The stamps are from Simon Says and are gorgeous! Shimmerz and sequins to match, butterflies... what's not to like! Thanks for stopping by!

I put this together with the leftovers from yesterday's layout... The papers were offcuts from the 'skyscrapers' and I added in some thin washi for an extra detail. A puffy stick and stamped sentiment make the focal point (I grey ink rather than black, as there was no black elsewhere on the card) and I finished with a sprinkle of sequins.

I'm up to my old tricks again... Pinkfresh have a new collection coming soon so I need to use up my hoarded PFS stash to make space for the new goodies! This navy floral is an absolute stunner and the mint with delicate white motifs is in my top 5 ever papers.  This is the ends of my third or fourth sheet of the mint paper! The photo featured skyscrapers and I tried to echo that with my paper placement.  Columns of paper at differing heights positioned to look like a cityscape.  I also stash busted by stickers gathering all of the coral tones I could find.  I clustered them on one 'building' to look a little bit like windows. As I was using so much colour and pattern I kept the rest pretty simple with the only embellishing coming in the form of a thread nest with initial alpha sticker and four fishtail flags tucked under the photo.

Sharing this layout I made a few weeks back for a challenge in the Pinkfresh facebook group. I've used Pinkfresh stash, enamel dots from my stash and a few paints from Shimmerz. The central 6x6 piece is a flap that lifts up to reveal my journalling. I love these chipboard flair. I had to fight hard to use 6 on one page rather than hoard them!  It's worth it though, I love this design.