Mixing it up!

Hey Magpies, welcome to August! Rachel here and this month I have really used a random mixture of all sorts of products. Usually I try and focus on using one collection for my blog post but I had so many different bits I wanted to use this time, I used them!
My first LO I used the super lush, Vellum Hearts from The Seven Paper Baxter line. These vellum hearts are fab, such pretty colours and there’s loads of different sizes in all the colours. I’ve used one pink and a smaller black one under my title. Ida talked about how awesome these hearts were in her last blog post and I totally agree, they’re a staple that should be in everyone’s stash!

I’ve also used some offcuts of Basic Grey – Barista, Hot Chocolate paper which I think is going to become one of my new favourite papers, I’ve used it on 3 of the LO’s here!

I used the Seven Paper – Amelia 002 paper for my background and trimmed to 8.5×11″. My title is using the fab Freckled Fawn Wood Chip Words and I went over them with a white pen. I’ve used some of the Hey Little Magpie Adhesive Gems and some of my favourite MAMBI Stickers as usual.

 
When I saw this next paper from Simple Stories – Summer Vibes, Shine On, I had to use it! And it’s very unusual for me to use a whole 12×12″ sheet as a background, it usually freaks me out a bit but this paper is so gorgeous, I had to do it! Usually if I’m using patterned paper as a background, I cut it down to 8.2×11″ but I just couldn’t cut this sheet. How lovely is it? Unfortunately it’s out of stock in the store right now, but I’m sure it will be restocked soon so sign up for an email update if you want it and you’ll get an email when it comes back into stock. I know I will be asking Sarah & Lianne to restock this one, I am sure I will want to use this more than once.

I also used the Crate Paper – Journey, Chalkboard Alphabet Sticker Book. I had originally bought the Crate Paper – Maggie Holmes Confetti, Alphabet in gold foil and I assumed this black one from Journey, would be similar. But it’s not. The gold alphabet is much smaller. But these chalkboard stickers from Journey, wow, they’re really big and have a fab chalkboard finish! They are super sticky as well so what I did was trim them from the background sheet they come on (which is usefully clear) so I could pfaff about with the positioning etc. Then I stuck them down when I was happy. But they’re a great size for a real impact title, or do what I did and have them in the background and put another word over the top. You don’t just get the alphabet in the pack either, there’s tags and labels and all sorts of useful stickers in there too.

So this LO I was so chuffed with but I think that’s all down to the background paper. It’s just stunning! I layered up the black & white striped paper which is from the Crate Paper – Confetti 6×6 pad and also used a couple of other sheets from the Simple Stories – Summer Vibes range, Teal Wood/Grid and Yellow Wood/Grid and I’ve used strips from both sides of those two papers. My title is the Journey Alpha stickers I talked about above and the ‘shine’ word and arrow come from Dear Lizzy Serendipity. I chose the title because of the background paper, I wanted to use that ‘shine’ word from my Thickers sheet and also, I’m quite shiny in the photo because it was taken on a really hot day in Auckland and we’re drinking wine, out in the sunshine on the waterfront lol!
I’ve also used the ‘choose happy’ rubber charm from the new range in the store from Pinkfresh Studios. I love that pack of rubber charms, they’re awesome! And the ‘just be you’ sticker is a puffy sticker from the same range. The fabulous flamingo chipboard is from the Pink Paislee – Citrus Twist, Chipboard Shapes pack. I’ve also used a MAMBI Chipboard Sticker, the little yellow ‘hello’ sticker is a Puffy Sticker from Crate Paper – Wonder, I’ve used an exclusive Hey Little Magpie Flair Badge and red pearls and black pearls also from Hey Little Magpie. These are great value, they come loose in a bag and for £1, they’re fab. I adhered them by touching a dot of Glossy Accents to my page and dropping a pearl on top with tweezers. It is a bit fiddly and time consuming but I find it really theraputic!

 
For my next LO I wanted to use the striped paper from a new manufacturer to Hey Little Magpie, Pinkfresh Studios. They have a fabulous line, Happy Things and I snapped up a few papers and some of the wonderful embellishments too. I generally tend to buy way more embellishments than I do paper because usually I use white backgrounds for my LO’s and only small pieces of paper, so a little goes a long way with me. So I focus on titles and embellishing a lot more. On this LO I used 4 of the Ombre Fabric Tags from Pinkfresh Studios. These are lush, there’s 6 in the pack and I couldn’t resist using 4 on this single LO because the colours were just so perfect. So I might need to invest in a second pack of these tags cause I’m sure I’ll need to use them again!

I also used the houses from the Crate Paper – Wonder, Puffy Stickers I admit, I accidentally bought 2 packets of these stickers. I’m very good at adding things to my basket twice and buying too many, which is not that great when I buy all my groceries online from Sainsbury’s lol! I’m always thinking oh, they’ve accidentally sent me two…. and then I check and no, it was me ordering things twice by mistake *red face*. This time it worked out for me because I know I will use the heck out of those cat faces in the pack, and the 6 houses fitted perfectly on this LO, so I was quite indulgent using 4 fabric tags and 6 puffy stickers but I always think, use it now, while you like it and you can always buy another pack if you need more. The puffy stickers are lush, they’re really puffy & squigey and I’m sure they’ll be a staple which pop up a lot on my LO’s, like my favourite MAMBI stickers!

My LO is quite simple really. I thought the striped Happy Words/Rustic paper was a bit intense to use all over but the colours matched my picture so well. So I gutted the middle and put white cardstock over to leave a 1″ frame. Then I used a strip of my gutted middle underneath. I also layered on some plasters mesh which you can buy at DIY stores. My title is using the ‘hello’ word from Crate Paper – Wonder, Die Cut Phrases and there’s some really cool titles in that pack. The hello is a thick wood veneer and I painted it orange. The word Venice is using Crate Paper – Craft Market, Marquee Chipboard Thickers, one of my favourite fonts in the Thickers family. Then I’ve used ric-rac and photo turns from my stash and layered the Pinkfresh Studios, Ombre Fabric Tags with the Wonder, Puffy Stickers over the top.


 
I used the fab Glitter Foam Word Stickers from Pinkfresh Studios to make the title on my next LO. These are great words and a lovely size too. I used the word ‘things’ and cut the s off the end.

I also used some of the amazing new Enamel Hearts from Hey Little Magpie. These are currently out of stock but I am sure Sarah & Lianne will restock them because they are so cool! These will definitely become an essential in my stash because there’s so many lush colours on the sheet and they’re so cute!

So this time I used some more of that awesome Hot Chocolate paper from Barista and also one of the Pinkfresh Studios papers, Botanicals/Sparkle. I embellished with lots of different bits, the great cat faces from the Wonder Puffy Stickers, some Wood Veneer Stickers from Pinkfresh Studios, MAMBI stickers and some Tiny Cat Phrase Stickers and Wood Veneer Cat Shapes from Seven Paper – Baxter. I love to do a stack of little word stickers when I think the LO needs a little something.

 
My last LO actually came together because I wanted to use the ‘awesome’ sticker from the Basic Grey – Barista, 12×12 Element Stickers sheet. I just loved it, so found something to fit and this postcard of one of the local beaches from my homeland of New Zealand was perfect! I literally threw this LO together in about 20 minutes, these stickers made it so easy!

I also used some of the exclusive Dewdrops from Hey Little Magpie. I love these things, they’re such great value for money at £1 for a bag full. I also love the loose pearls that come in the £ Range, check it out, there’s some fab bling to be had for a quid.

So here’s my last LO. I used the great Hot Chocolate paper from BG Barista as my background, cutting it down to 8.5×11″ and I also used a strip of the hessian print Mocha paper. The title sticker was from the Barista 12×12 Element Sticker sheet and the corrugated kraft Thickers are new from Crate Paper – Wonder and they’re pretty cool! I used some stickers from the BG – Barista 5×12″ Title sheet, a Hey Little Magpie exclusive Flair Badge, dotted around my Vanilla Dewdrops, some Freckled Fawn Enamel Stars and a couple of Puffy Shape Stickers from Seven Paper – Baxter and I was done!

 
So I really mixed things up this month and used all sorts of manufacturers! This is usually how I scrap, I just pick things because I like them rather than because they go and I learned to use stuff while I liked it because if you hang on to it for too long, you’ll no doubt go off it and then you’ll never use it! There’s always new products coming out too so get using that stash so you can stock up on all the new things that Sarah & Lianne have been ordering in Utah. I can’t wait to see what’s coming!