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Just a short break from Halloween, Christmas and Etsy.
Yesterday I did something i haven't done in months now: i scrapped a page. Just for fun and relaxation. No time pressure, no strict rules, no "it has to match the season". And a great way to use up my neverending pile of paper scraps.

Materials: Prima Sweet Fairy Collection "Blowing Kisses", Glitz Design Cashmere Dame "Chevron", glitter in gold and copper, gold glitter cardstock, washi tape, acrylic paint in gold, black and aqua


And this is the layout from the Prima blog:

Scrap365 Magazine Review

I rarely read and purchase magazines.

I used to read women's magazines when i was younger, but i'm 33 now, a married woman, and clearly don't need  the Top 10 Flirting Tips or learn  for the 7392th time how to perfectly apply lipstick and eyeshadow. I know how to shave my legs, and my closet is full of pretty dresses, so why care about fashion that looks ugly even on the model i can't afford anyway?

I love home decor, DIY, paper and fabric crafts and scrapbooking. But interesting magazines about said hobbies are a) hard to find and b) often times the content is less than exciting for someone who practically lives in an internet full of great blogs and Pinterest, of course.

So when Scrap365 had a call on their Facebook page last week, looking for 10 people to review their magazine, i got super-excited and sent my application right away. Well, i was accepted ( thanks so much!) and this is my review. I'll start with some basic information.

1. The price:
Scrap365 is a bi-monthly publication and the current price for one issue is £4.95 ( British Pound) or £29.70 for a one-year subscription. Since i'm not living on that beautiful island up there, i would have to buy a european subscription for £39.60, which is roughly 46€ and makes 7,66€ per issue.
You guys in the US and Canada have to invest $59.94 USD per year/ $9.99 per issue.

Considering that the standard price for most national monthly magazines is already 5,50€- 10,50€ nowadays, that is a very fair price to me.

2. The cover:

The cover is fantastic. One pretty photo on a white background, and the main content information below. The shades of pink, aqua and green match the photo perfectly. Very neat and organized!


3. Page 1 ( page 3 technically, but the first page inside the magazine):
I opened the magazine, and expected to see countless pages of advertisement ( hello InStyle). But believe it or not, the magazine does actually start with a note from the editor. I rarely read those, as i find them rather useless. What i do read however is the imprint, which can be found on this page as well. I guess i'm weird somehow, but i really like to know where a magazine is printed, who the publisher is, etc.

Next is the page of contents.

I usually skip those too, unless i am looking for something specific. But just like the cover, this page looks so well-organized again. The contents are sorted by topic, and the links to social media and blogs are all in one place ( no Instagram *weep*)


4. The content:
Oh, where do i start? The magazine feels quite skinny with only 98 pages, but it is full of inspiration!
All througout the magazine are numerous layouts by different designers. I'm not telling you all the details, but the first one is by Gabrielle Pollacco. Need i say more? I don't think so. Each feature contains beautiful photos, a description by the designer, a step-by-step tutorial, additional tips and tricks, and a shopping source.

Then there are the themes: for every issue, Scrap365 asks their readers to submit layouts that match given themes. The themes in this issue are "weather" ( i missed the deadline, argh) and "food". Moreover there are the PDQ's. That means "pretty darn quick" layouts that can be made in under an hour. All the submissions are a fabulous collection of different styles and colors.

That's one of the things i really, really like about the magazine in general: there is variety!! There are numerous layouts in every style for every taste. And there are so many great tips and ideas on every page.

Of course you will find advertisement too, but they are kept to a minimum. And let's face it: no magazine could ever live without sponsored ads, and the ones you can find in the Scrap365 are a helpful resource of scrapbook stores, manufacturers and stockists.

All in all, there is only one point i have to criticize. I was really looking forward to the Mini Book Special in this issue, as we took those super cute photos last week at MisterT's birthday party with some fun photo props, and my plan is to print the photos of my niece and nephews and create a mini album for my parents and sister. So i wanted to read the Special first, only to find out that the mini book projects are scattered all throughout the magazine. I don't like that! If it's a special theme, I want to see all projects in one place, without having to flip through the entire magazine. But the features itself are great, of course.


So, to sum it all up: The magazine is a fabulous source of inspiration!

But why buy it when you have the internet? Because it is real. It is paper, you can touch it, you can bookmark pages, and you have access to all the information and inspiration you need without running back and forth to the computer. Without staring at it's screen and ruining your eyes. You can read it during a t-storm when power and internet are down. You can read it in the bathtub. You can keep it until the end of your life, just like a good book.

Thanks so much, Scrap365, for letting me read and review the current issue!



P.S. This is not a sponsored post. I was sent a free magazine for review. All opinions are 100% mine and i did not receive monetary compensation for my opinion.

Pink Paislee Color Crush Challenge

...or why i am very close to throwing my stupid Cameo out of the window!

So, this page was supposed to be a quick and relaxing project after work- i calculated an hour max.

Day 1: No more daylight when i finally came home.
Day 2: I searched my stash for the PP paper i had purchased with my last shopping spree two or three weeks ago. Then, no more daylight. You can't choose paper when you can't see the actual colors, right?
Day 3: Aha, the sun was still shining. Chose the Pink Paislee Nantucket Clam Bake coordinating back as the background paper, grabbed a few rolls of washi tape, and the pack of Silhouette's adhesive cardstock.
Opened my Cameo software to create a loop border. Two hours and much yelling later i was finally ready to insert the cardstock into the machine and cut the pattern. Cut #1 big fail. Cut #2 big fail. Cut #3 big fail.
Why on earth are the default settings completely wrong?? Why the hell does that cardstock tear even on the lowest cutting speed. Why is this the most distrastrous supply ever sold??
Cut #4 came out ok. Then, no more daylight. You can't work on a color challenge properly under artificial light, can you?
Day 4: Hey, why not include some sketches with the new sketch pens? Purchased this pattern from the Silhouette Online Store , and let my machine draw. Draw#1 fail. Looks like the white pen is already dried out. Draw #2 in yellow was ok. I quickly wanted to add the words " beautiful Amaryllis", when the software crashed and the design i had worked on the last hour or so was gone. Damn it, Silhouette! Then, guess what, no more daylight-but this time all i had left to do was sticking and glueing everything to the page.
After 4 days, my one-hour project was finally finished... or so it seemed...


Once everything was done, the paper kept sticking to the cutting mat. My precious expensive paper. Not only did the mat ruin the pretty pattern, but now the page is super curly as well. Aaaargh!

I truly love my Cameo, but there are just too many flaws. The software has glitches, many of the settings are wrong, that adhesive cardstock is a catastrophe and the cutting mat is simply ridiculous. Either waaaayyyyy too sticky, so that it ruins the paper, or not sticky at all and the paper just keeps sliding around during the cutting process, which of course ruins the paper, too. Silhouette, please come up with a better solution real soon!

Anyway, i like how the page turned out. Wonderful colors!

Sketch Challenge: Sweet Little Friends

Yes, i know what you're thinking: "Another scrapbook post, really???"

Sooorry! I swear there will be "normal" DIY's real soon, so please don't leave me ;)

This month's Scrap365 sketch by Sian Fair is such a cute way to cherish family moments, if you have a house and well, a family.

We have neither; it's just us and the screechy-birds ( the last four of them), so i included a birdcage instead of a house.

This page is dedicated to our beloved sweet little feather balls, who, due to illness, spread their wings and left us to live a peaceful, happy and healthy life in rainbow-land.
Thank you for being our friends, Charly, Chaplin, Cookie, Schlumpfi, Freddy, Finni, and Rocky.

Paper: Glitz Design Sparrow Bloom ( the ccordinating back of this one)
Birdcage: Silhouette Online Store here
Frames: OTC
Ornate sticker: Ebay ( it was white; i stamped it with an aqua, pink and yellow inkpad)
Birds, border and alpha's: Heidi Grace

Glitz Design & Gossamer Blue Guest Design Contest

Last year while i was working on my wedding scrapbook album, i got the glorious idea of adding scrapbook supplies to my Etsy shop. So i purchased some paper from one of my most loved manufacturers, Glitz Design. Turned out that my idea wasn't as fabulous as i assumed; although not that bad in general, i realized that 12x12 sheets are difficult (and expensive) to ship, hence it doesn't make much sense to offer single sheets.
And now that i can't sell them but absolutely love them, i decided to use the paper for my own projects.

So, this is my contribution to the Glitz Design and Gossamer Blue Guest Design Contest:

"Oh Happy Day" ( or "wedding day fun")

The base are two 12x12 chevron sheets from the Cashmere Dame collection. The pattern is a dream and the thickness of the paper is just perfect; not too flimsy but still thin enough to easily tear, fold and bend it.
I used the blue side as the background and the chevron side as the main part of the design. I painted the chevron pattern with a golden laquer marker to add more contrast to the black and white, then i carefully tore the paper to create a "frame" for my photo and painted the ripped edges gold as well.

Next i used a simple cardboard tube and acrylic paint in aqua and gold to stamp the circles and add some paint-splatters.
I punched confetti from the Happy Travels bicycle sheets, mod-podged it to the chevron paper and once it was dry, i coated every little circle with a pearl pen, to create a dimensional effect. Then i punched two 1-inch circles, added some glitter in teal and gold and covered them with a pearl pen as well.

Now that was the most time-consuming part, the rest was easy-peasy: i added regular washi tape in black, gold and aqua, plus Bokeh Tape from the Uncharted Waters collection and Stripe Tape from the Love You Madly collection.
Lastly, i got a bit wild with all those beautiful stickers from my online shopping-spree last week ( Hoopla Glitzers, Hoopla Titels and Mint Grunge Teeny Alpha's).

Sketch Challenge: Picnic by the river

This is my contribution to the Imaginisce Sketch Contest at the Page Maps blog. It's a photo of me and MisterT from a bike trip and riverside picnic in 2008.

For the background, i used one of the sheets i purchased on Ebay last week. It is an older page from the Sparrow collection by Glitz Design, but that doesn't make it less pretty and I couldn't care less about the age of a collection.
In fact, this specific sheet of paper is the prettiest one i have ever seen! The colors and patterns are so incredibly beautiful- I could stare at it for hours.
One could stick nothing but the photo to the sheet, and already have the perfect scrapbook page, and it would also make a gorgeous wall decor for a nursery or living room if framed or glued to a canvas.

Sometimes when i receive an item that i purchased online, it looks different than it did on the website's photo, which is always a bit disappointing. But not this one; this one looks even prettier in reality and exceeded my expectations by far.

I just LOVE Glitz Design! But enough swooning...

I also included striped pink paper from the OTC, a mini clothespin covered with the same paper, yellow "Beach Bum" alphabet stickers by Fancy Pants, aqua Happy Travels Bicycle from Glitz Design, alphabet stickers from the Traditions Kit by K&Company, and i think all the birdie stickers are by Recollections.

And this is the sketch my layout is based on:

Sketch Challenge: Spring

This is my contribution to the March challenge of Scrap 365 Magazine. The layout is based on this sketch by Kim Woods:

I used a variety of patterned paper on a plain white background, as well as washi tape ( solid yellow, mint stripes and yellow chevron), dotted fabric, paper flowers, flatback pearls and cut-outs from one of my favorite designers, Heidi Grace.
The yellow morrocan-style background is a basic shape that is included in the Silhouette Cameo software.

Sketch Challenge: Above

Today i am participating in the "Ruby Rock-It sketch contest on the Page Maps blog.

This is the sketch:

My photo:

The photo was taken a few years ago in my former fabulous life as a flight attendant. It's the picture of another plane crossing our route.


And the final layout:

To create the page i used brown packaging paper and plain white paper. Both are crumpled, distressed with Tim Holtz Distress Ink Vintage Photo and sprayed with green paint and brown watercolor.
( Real mists are not in my budget right now, but acrylic paint thinned with water in a perfume spray bottle creates the same effect).

I also included paper from the Glitz Design Happy Travels collection as well as two metal signs from airplane galley containers.

Btw, i am in no way related with First Choice Airways, but isn't that the most awesome name for an airline??
LOVE it!!

Other materials  used:

- Heidi Grace border
- turquoise ink pad
- green acrylic paint
- light brown watercolor
- burlap
- cardstock
- my Silhouette Cameo
- foam stickers
- a compass stamp
- a piece of burlap
- oversized paperclip