Hello Today with ATDML

 

We look forward to you joining us for a year long project with ATDML featuring Simple Stories Hello Today collection. Each month we will scrap our 2021 memories  and lets focus on the little things until we can do the big things again!. 

Some of the design team will be joining in too and sharing their pages made with the kit.

Until then lets enjoy these last few days of 2020 and close what has been quite the peculiar year that non of us could have imagined.

Jingle all the Way

Hi Everyone - Dolly here and I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas. Sadly not the Christmas many wanted but a season of celebration anyway. 

 I am loving playing with Simple Stories Jingle all the Way. It is such a rich coloured traditional collection, which I love. At heart I am a very traditional sort of girl. 

I recently lost my two 17 year old Bengal cats, Kira ad Fiki and we are utterly devastated. So I was thrilled to receive a very surprise gift int he post fromt he lovely Ann Freeman - two wooden cats with their names engraved on. 

At last, after all these years, they can LEGITIMATELY be in the tree. 

I had great fun fussy gitting the poinsettias and trees

Do checkout the collection in store because it is wonderful. You can find it here 

December Virtual crop with Tricia - Bo Bunny Winter wishes

Good morning Campers and welcome to the last class of the day.  

I'll be using Bo bunny 'Winter wishes' collection to scrap some Christmas events both old and new!

The papers are full of icy greys and blues and frosty pinks, perfect for this time of year.  We are teaming them up with some chipboard snowflakes and white alphas which are perfect for customising to match your layout.

For the first layout I have created 15 decorated baubles to showcase my photos from our Christmas tree farm visit.  I doodled on each bauble to make them unique but if baubles don't work for you pick another shape like stars or hearts. 

On the second layout I have created pine cone trees with snowflakes.  It's a great opportunity to make them your own.  

If you want to see all three layouts click here to download the instructions.

Happy Christmas and have a great Hogmany! 

Tricia 

December 2020 Virtual Crop Class 2 with Mel

 Hello everyone and welcome to my final Virtual Crop class of the year. I can't say that 2020 has been a great year overall but one of the good things has been the way our scrapping community has come together to make the isolated days a little brighter.

I knew I had this wintery kit to use this month so I was really pleased at the start of the month when we had a flurry of snow and I could get some photos of Olivia in the snow. She was pleased as it was her first day of isolation as a contact of someone with covid so there was no school for her and she could get out into the garden for a quick play before online lessons started!

My Timehop App that very same day came up with the photos I had taken exactly a decade previously of the girls in the snow so I decided to do a "Then and Now" style page.

To see the other page and for full instructions click HERE.

Come back at 2pm to see what Tricia has made with her kt.

December Virtual Crop class with Ann & G45

Welcome to you all on this out last virtual crop of 2020.  We hope you will join in when you can be that today or at somepoint over the Christmas period.

My class todays uses Winter Wonderland papers from G45 in traditional festive colours of red and green. Whilst these papers can be intimidating if you are a "less is more" scrapbooker or have a more graphic style like myself but hopefully you can be inspired either by the papers themselves or my two pages.

You will have lots left for more pages too and we hope you will share them with us.

Instructions for my two layouts can be found >> here <<.

Merry Christmas to you all, whatever that may look like this year.

Stay safe x

Jingle All the Way with Simple Stories

Hello everyone, I wanted to share a few festive layouts made with Simple Stories Jingle All the Way.  It is a beautiful mix of traditional colours and modern prints, plus it has the gorgeous Tags paper in it - these are becoming a firm favourite with me - cards, presents, layouts...endless uses!  I also had the chance to play with some of the chipboard frames which are gorgeous and a selphy 3 by 4 print fits perfectly behind the double frames.

For this page I went with strips of the different patterns and then added some silver mist.  I punched out some snowflakes from vellum and added crystals in the centre to cover up the glue.  I raided my embellishments for some of the little studio calico veneer stars and I hid my journalling on a tag behind the photo.

For my next layout I started with some gold mist, then dug out the dinner plates for the circles.  I used my 1" circle punch to add a scalloped edge to the large circles.  Another chipboard frame, then stickers and crystals with a few stars to finish it off.  Here are some close ups of the elements.  Wishing you all a lovely Christmas, do come and share your festive layouts over in our Facebook group ATDML#Create.

November Virtual Crop Class by Debs

 Afternoon all, I hope you have had a productively scrappy kind of Sunday so far. 

For this class we will be working with the sumptuous Pink Paislee 5th & Monaco range and fussy cutting these patterned papers to create bold but feminine pages.

Full instructions on how to pull these pages together can be found here. As usual we would love to see what you do so please share your pages with us on our ATDML # Create Facebook page here.

Have a blissful afternoon

Debs ❤️

November VC Class by Guest Designer Helen Howden

Helen has previously done some guest DT work for us and we love her style (and her amazing handwriting) so we were very happy when she kindly agreed to put together a class for us working with the Crafternoon collection from Kaisercraft. 

She has made a whopping FIVE layouts from her kit which featured papers and the versatile stickers from this collection.

Click Here to see the full instructions and the other four pages she made. Don't forget to share your creations on the ATDML # Create Facebook page and join us again at 2pm When Debs will be sharing her class.

Virtual Crop Class by Karen Leahy

 Hi everyone and welcome to the penultimate crop classes of 2020. Where HAS the year gone? And what a year it has been for us all. Thank goodness we are crafters and have a hobby that we love that helps us keep some sort of balance. 

I loved the colours of this kit - the soft pinks and greens with the striking black and white - just made for some great combinations. 

I loved that they were versatile too and will suit a whole range of photos. And don't get me started on those flairs .... oh my goodness they were gorgeous. 

I have designed three class pages and there is plenty left over too. I hope that you enjoy them and I can't wait to see what you make. Do share your work in our facebook group so we can all see them. 

You can see one of the pages and sneaks of another.

Have fun and you can find the instrudtions HERE

Autumnal Layouts with Simple Stories' Cozy Days

 

Hello everyone, I wanted to share a couple of pages that I have made using Simple Stories new Autumn line - Cozy Days - the colours are really pretty and it has some fantastic little embellishments and stickers to compliment it.

One of my favourite sheets of paper is a page just of tags, I love the colours and on one side they have pictures and phrases and the other you can add journalling.  I started with the tags as the background for my page and also used the navy floral paper from the line.  As the patterns were quite busy together I added a layer of white gesso just to matt the area around where my photo was and then I added a few flicks of paint around.  I created a few little embellishment clusters using the stickers and a little bit of gold cotton to add a bit of sparkle to the page!

For my next page I dug out my paints and created patches that pulled out the colours in the papers, and then a lot more sprinkling of paint around it afterwards as well!  I used lots of the sticker embellishments on this page to link my photos together and I cut out one of the 6 by 4" cards, layering it on some vellum to add some title-ish words to the page.

Do share your pages and creations over in our Facebook group - we'd love to see your Autumnal snaps!

Scraplift the DT - November

 Hello lovely people - how is your Friday?

I hope many of you will have continued playing along with our Trick or Retreat classes and challenges from last weekend, but if you are looking for more inspiration why not scraplift the DT?

Here is this week's page - we post a new one every Friday to kick start a weekend of creating.

TRICK OR RETREAT CHALLENGE 9 - BAT BINGO

 And just like that we have reached the last challenge of this event - Bat Bingo

CHALLENGE 9 - BAT BINGO

Pick a line of items from the Bat Bingo Board below and use on your layout.

You can pick any of the three horizontal lines, any of the three vertical lines, or go diagonal or maybe... just maybe go batty and use all 9 prompts!! 

Upload your page to the challenge 9 gallery on Facebook my midday next Sunday 8th of November.

That's it from us for this weekend.... or is it?

TRICK OR RETREAT CLASS 13 WITH TRICIA SUTHERLAND

Hi All

I'm back to round off the weekend with a class using Simple Stories Apron strings.  I hope you have enjoyed all the classes this weekend and have been able to take part in some of the challenges too.

The simple stories range is perfect for all those lockdown cooking challenges you have taken on over the last few months.  The kits have both ephemera and stickers giving you plenty of scope and the opportunity to personalise both the layouts in todays classes and create more of your own.

So grab your kit and click here for instructions and don't forget to upload your version to our facebook galleries.

Live Make n Take with Ann at 3pm

Hi folks, thought in true retreat weekend style we should maybe have a couple of make and takes over the weekend. Join me live on Facebook in the ATDML at 3pm for a make and take where I'll be showing you how to make a couple of different style paper baubles.

For this you will need:

• Bauble 1
• 8 strips of patterned paper ¾” wide by 5” long
• Paper piercer and two brads

• Bauble 2
• Circle punch (any size but smaller will be more fiddly)
• 12 pattern paper circles using your punch
• stapler or tiny attacher & glue dots

• Bauble 3
• Circle punch again
• 8 pattern paper circles, 4 of each from 2 papers 
• Adhesive and small piece of thread/twine

See you then - but before then you have your Sunday 2pm class with Tricia.

And don't worry, you can always watch the live back later in your own time

TRICK OR RETREAT - CHALLENGE 8 - MONSTER MASH

 

CHALLENGE 8 - MONSTER MASH

A photography challenge for you this time just to change it up a bit.

Share with us your favourite monster photo, be these your little furry monsters, your kids, your friends, family or neighbours!!

LET'S SEE YOUR MONSTERS! Share them with us in the Challenge 8 gallery - you can then add them to a layout if you like and share that toooooooooohhhhoooo!

Katherine made a great Monster page for some inspiration if you do end up scrapping your monsters

Trick or ReTreat Class 12 with Mel

 Hello, and welcome to the penultimate class of the weekend. For this class I used the lovely Pinkfresh Office Hours products but my layouts are not at all "work" themed.

For this page I really enjoyed the monochrome palette for the paper and embellishments and matching them predominantly tone on tone

To see the other layouts and t download the instructions click here

Join us again at 2pm for Tricia's last class of the weekend.

Trick or Retreat Class 11 with Guest Designer Tracy Annunziato

When Mel asked me if I would be happy to teach at the Autumn Retreat, I was so ridiculously happy and excited (Ann can validate by the squeals down the phone!) so I was obviously beyond disappointed when it was clear it would not be going ahead…  then Mel asked if I would still do the class for the Trick or Retreat Virtual event, so here I am!  Super excited to share with you my first class! 

 Jen Hadfield’s The Avenue range caught my eye with its little houses (which have so many possibilities at the moment) and the gold foiling on the emphemera is really nice!

 

I took inspiration from the brick pattern on the papers and I wanted to use a nice size piece of the text paper.  This first layout came together quite quickly and is a nice simple example of how to get a lot out of two sheets of paper.

For my second layout I surprised myself, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the blue flowers and how much I wished they were in the ephemera pack!  Cutting them out was the only solution!  

I had so much fun choosing papers and putting these layouts together; I hope you love them. Instructions can be downloaded from HERE

Next Class at Noon with Mel  - in the meantime I hope you enjoy this one.

CHALLENGE 7 - PUMPKIN PIE

 

CHALLENGE 7 - 🎃 PIE

Good morning and a happy Sunday to you all. Your next challenge is here ready for you - Pumpkin Pie (and it might be morning but I am drooling at the thought of a nice warm slice with cream!) 

This is a nice easy challenge, use orange on your layout.. It doesn't have to be a pumpkin.. But it can be if you like 🎃 As always upload your layout to the challenge 7 gallery and then join us back here for Class 11 with guest designer Tracy Annunziato - a retreat regular.

Karen has shared a lovely orange layout for you to be inspired by as well

Trick or Retreat Class 10 with Ann and Simple Stories I Am

You will be very pleased I am not going live with this class as by the time this is posted I will be likely half asleep (well harder to resist my bed at home than when I am away at retreat where I am known to be one of the night owls!)

I will leave you with my Class 10 layouts - a pair made using the extremely versatile Simple Stories I AM papers. Again these should be pretty easy to scraplift with your own papers too so please do join in even if you were not able to secure a class kit. Instructions can be downloaded from HERE.

That's it for tonight and day 2 of our Trick or Retreat event, but fear not, we are back tomorrow at 9am with Challenge #7 - Pumpkin Pie. Until then mwahahahahaha!!

Trick or Retreat Class 9 with Katherine

 

Hello everyone, I hope you are enjoying the classes so far.  I am missing being at the retreat with you all and hope you are all keeping well.  For my class it's time to dig out some travel photos and have a play with the Vintage Traveller range from Simple Stories.  Going with that vintage vibe I've also used plenty of brown ink and distressed the edge of almost every piece of paper!  There are 2 pages in this class, all multi-photo so you can tell a story about your adventures.

You can find the class here

Do come and chat on Facebook and share your pages.  Don't forget to come back at 10pm for a late night class with Ann.

TRICK OR RETREAT CHALLENGE 6 - HAUNTED HOUSE

 

CHALLENGE 6 - HAUNTED HOUSE

For this challenge, nice and simple, you must feature a house or houses on your page.

This can be in the photograph, on the patterned paper, maybe stamped or an house embellishment. Please upload your challenge layout to Challenge 6 gallery on Facebook and then join us back here at 8pm for your next class with Katherine. 

See you then

TRICK OR RETREAT CLASS 8 WITH TRICIA

Good afternoon Campers 

I hope you are enjoying the Retreat so far and are getting the opportunity to take part in all the challenges too.  It's been lovely to see what has been created so far.

This class will be using Art Walk by Heidi Swapp to create pages with all the fun of painty effects with none of the mess.  

So grab your kit or chosen papers and click here to see the class instructions and don't forget to pop back for Katherine's Vintage Traveller class next!

Class 07 with Guest Designer Antonia Sturt-Hammond

What could be better for a 4pm class than Amy Tangerine’s Late Afternoon collection! When Mel asked if I’d like to design a class for the Trick or Retreat and showed me the beautiful papers, I was thrilled.

I love the bright, cheerful colours; such a tonic on a grey autumn day. The kit’s packed with vivid papers, pretty washi and a great, co-ordinated set of alphas. It would be perfect for fall photos, but I wanted to show the versatility of the papers and chose to avoid autumnal pictures.

I know we are all really fed up to be missing our second ATDML retreat of 2020 and are longing to get together to scrap again. Fingers crossed for 2021! In the meantime, I can’t wait to see your layouts……

Click Here for Instructions

Class 6 with Mel using Kaisercraft Grand Bazaar

 Welcome back to my second class of the weekend this time using the Kaisercraft Grand Bazaar collection. I was drawn to this collection as it offered the opportunity to create pages with lots to look at and a "collagey" appearance but with lots of the work done for you!

I made three pages for this class and you can find the instructions here.

Join us at 4pm for the next class which is the first of our two Guest Designer classes, this one is designed by Antonia Sturt-Hammond who has kindly designed our Friday bonus retreat class for the past couple of years which always goes down a treat!

TRICK OR RETREAT CHALLENGE 5 - GHOSTLY WHITE

 

CHALLENGE 5

GHOSTLY WHITE

This challenge we seek your white space layouts and a black and white photo.

At least 50% of your page must be empty of decoration, therefore 'white space' though this doesn't have to be white.

Your next class is with Mel at 2pm - see you then!

Class 5 with Ann using Vicki Boutin Storyteller

Welcome to my second class of the weekend - trust you are all having fun so far with our classes and challenges.

For this class I have used the latest release from Vicki Boutin - the absolutely gorgeous Storyteller collection and I hope you will love these papers as much as I do - I just couldn't stop making pages but I warn you, there is A LOT of fussy cutting, I spent almost 3 hours preparing the elements for these - some take less time than others but I hope you enjoy them.

Download instructions for my class HERE which features 5 layouts! or scraplift away with your own papers. We hope you will share your projects with us in the Facebook group so we can leave some love.

After this grab a quick bit to eat as challenge 5 - Ghostly White is up next at 1pm

Trick or Retreat Class 4 by Karen Leahy

Hello everyyone and I hope you are enjoying the idea of a virtual crop this weekend, which I know is nothing like being away all together and having retreat fun, but I hope is still something you will all enjoy. 

I have a class with three pages for you today and using gorgeous Laquarelle papers from a fab 6" x 6" pad. The papers are very diverse with one side giving you all the brights you could want and one side offering more subtle tones, and the beauty of such a stuffed pad is that you can use the class pages with any of the papers so you give the pages your own twist - or you can just use the same ones as I have used. 

I have tried to keep fussy cutting to a minimum this month (of course there is some!!!) and I hope you enjoy playing along. 

We would love you to share your creations on our facebook group page. 

You can find the class instructions HERE. 

 Next class is at Noon with Ann.