Laura Rumble - Crafter

I love this layout so really can't believe I didn't blog it at the time, but alas it has been in drafts for two years! Made with Cocoa Vanilla goodies from Lottie Loves Paper.  I call Sarah at LLP my dealer as she always gets me the good stuff! Haha! I still love the texture that sewing adds to a page... two years and that obsession is still going strong! Thanks for stopping by!

Sharing a layout I made over the weekend for one of the Lottie Loves Paper challenges.  (The challenges are still open here !)  I had a bad weekend healthwise so this was a simple layout made with shaky hands. The cut file is called Love Puzzle from Pretty My Page.  You can buy the download here or the pre-cut here . The cut file does the heavy lifting on this page.  I cut it on white and backed it on black for maximum contrast.  I picked my path through the maze (there are two ways you could go) and added lazy sewing in blue thread.  Lazy sewing is using one stitch per straight instead of the usually multiple stitches of about 6-10mm. I embellished minimally with puffy heart stickers and a stamped tag for the title.  That was the sum total of my weekend!  I consoled myself by looking at the 100+ layouts made by my scrappy friends and am so full of ideas now that I may just burst! Thanks for stopping by!

I have two super cool things to share with you today.  One is my hat - it's a panda!  Big thanks to my pet crocheter aka Mum.  Second is these tiny polymer clay pandas... (oh my goodness, I went to get the link and discovered there are penguins too!!) Anyway, the two pair together perfectly on this layout. I added a bit of the packaging technique to a 9x12 white background and followed up with a 7x10 piece of silver foiled polka dot vellum. A created a + shaped cluster with black and white snippets and added that on top of the vellum. I added sewing in black and white thread, the black stitches on the white card and vice versa.  In the photo I am wearing a pale blue hoodie.  To tie that olour in to the layout I added a blue thread nest behind my photo which was popped up on foam. I finished off with a lavish sprinkling of pandas!  There were hundreds in the pack so I can afford to be generous with them! Thanks for stopping by!

In November I was going to purchase 24 colour ink pads from the new Pink Fresh release.  These would be opened one a day in December as an advent calendar of sorts.  Well that didn't happen as they sold out super fast so the plan was shitched to Christmas a present, and then a January present...  Finally these fun cubes are back in stock and I have a Happy February present! They have made themselves at home in my 'Inky Whizz' from Cool Katz.  If you need me I'll be at my desk! On a personal note today is the 20 year anniversary of me first falling ill.  I wrote this for Facebook and I'm adding it here too, more for a reminder for me than for you, but maybe someone will come across it when they need to read it. "So here it is. 20 years to the day. The Big Anniversary of falling ill. So many things I have missed out on; GCSE'S, A levels, Uni, first proper job, leaving home, forming friendships and relationships, getting married and starting

I'm on the Pretty My Page blog today using a couple of cut files exclusive to PMP.  See you over there!

Here's my second guest layout for Lottie Loves Paper's Cyber Crop.  Join in with the fun here . Here's the sketch I was working to: As you can see I've switched the squares for rectangles. And gone all out for layers and dimension. Again, supplies are Pink Fresh Studio bought from Lottie Loves Paper. And again, I have taken too many close ups! Here's the video: I totally adore how this layout has turned out. A large part of that is down to the photo of my Mum. Thanks for stopping by!

This weekend Lottie Loves Paper are having a cyber crop in their fabulous facebook community.  I'm guest designing for a couple of challenges... First up is this sketch... Here's my process video: And a bunch of close ups... I've used goodies from Pink Fresh bought from Lottie Loves Paper, of course! And yes, I have gone overboard with the close ups again!  But I like close ups!  Tangled thread and shiny sequins are awesome! I'd love to see you over in the Lottie Loves Paper group over the weekend joining in.  I'm sure there will be lots of fun to be had and prizes tii! Thanks for stopping by!

I'm sharing another Scrap Squad lift from last weekend.  This is a take on a Sarah Jayne layout.  You might know SJ as Mrs Lottie Loves Paper... and on that note Lottie Loves paper are having a Cyber Crop this weekend. Pretty much everything on this layout is Pretty Little Studio/Zinia Redo.  The majority is from her first collection with a few heart stickers added from her second collection. You can't beat a bit of rainbow stitching!  Plus I have to justify having SO many threads - I need them to match all of the papers! Same goes for enamel dots!  I'm low on blue enamel dots so I'm seeking a mixed pack of blues... give a shout if you know of a pack as so far I've not found any. Thanks for stopping by!

I'll be honest with you, I'm not entirely sure the difference between matting, layering and clustering.  I think this is all of them! I grabbed a handful of large scraps from my white off cuts box.  This box is where all my squared off white, black, grey and vellum scraps live and multiply.  I've learnt to square them off before squirreling them away in the box as there is nothing more frustrating than trying to pull out one piece and having it bring all of its friends as their sticky out bits are intertwined! I layered up the pieces forming a large cluster to mat my photo.  (I'm sticking with all three terms!) I use foam squares behind the corners of some layers to give dimension.  There are also a few circles and a nest of gold thread tucked in amongst the layered goodness. I finished off with sequins because sequins make everything better! Thanks for looking!

This post was found in my drafts file.  Created in 2018 and not published (who knows why?!) I am sharing it now... I am sure this is a scraplift but now (2020) I cannot remember who from. Ah, CVS goodness! And absent minded doodly borders. Thanks for stopping by!

This layout started with part of a gold foiled 3x4 card from Pretty Little Studio.  I had used part of it on a layout so it had a randomly shaped piece left that I couldn't bear to part with.  I squared it off and figured I'd use it as layers somewhere along the line.  The trouble was when I tried to tuck it in as a layer it got covered up and you couldn't see its awesomeness! I created a grid of photos and my squared off pieces of gold foiled card... perfect!  None of the foiling got covered up.  I layered the grid over a cut file.  The cut file is called Wonky Hearts and is one I designed for Pretty My Page.  You can get the cut file in A4 or 12x12 as pre-cut or as a digital download. ( A4 pre-cut , A4 digi , 12x12 pre-cut , 12x12 digi )  I tried a few options for backing the cut file.  I decided blue looked best and seeing as the photos feature someone bird watching this Paige Evans bird paper seemed the perfect choice. It didn't need much embellish

Scrap Squad have been running a free cyber crop this weekend.  This layout is a scraplift of Emilie Chamel... I have used plain cardstock, inks and stamps... that is all.  I've been telling myself I need to incorporate more stamping into my layouts and this one takes it to the extreme! I've used some Concord & 9th, Crafty Jen Schow and Cocoa Vanilla Studio sets along with Altenew warm grey ink pads.  I'm awaiting the Pink Fresh ink cubes arrival in the UK - they are my Christmas present but have been out of stock for sooooo long!  When they arrive I'll be able to add more colour. Having said that I do love a monochromatic layout!  There are four shades of grey, black and the white of the card. Hey Little Magpie are running a challenge this month to use more than 5 stamps on a layout.  I've done that and some... I think there are 18 individual stamps used. Thanks for stopping by!

I've pre-ordered some of the new Cocoa Vanilla collection from Lottie Loves Paper.  You know what that means, don't you?  Yep, I'm trying to use up some of my CVS stash so the new stuff will fit in my box!! I took a sheet of mixed media experiments from last year and cut out a load of circles.  I went old school... drawing around a cotton reel and cutting them out with scissors.  Sane people would use a punch, I suppose, but hey, whatyagonnado. These circles form the base of my layout.  I also trimmed the photo into a circle.  I must have run out of luck as it was wonky and didn't look anywhere close to circular.  I got into that vicious circle of trimming... just a bit more on this side to make it more round which turned into needing a bit more on that side.  I rescued it with a die and everything returned to calm. I added lots of white sewing to the circles and to the corners of the layout.  It's subtle being mostly white on white but I do love the