August Monthly Set Up

 

 Everyone needs a little magic in their life, and nothing says magic like unicorns. This month I took the stickers from the Unicorn Sky collection and created two layouts, the first which is this monthly layout. I love mixing and matching craft supplies I already have and I found an old set of papers and ephemera pieces from a collection I bought ages ago from a local store and paired it Anna's stickers to create something I think is fun and whimsical and enjoyable to look at.

 

 

 

 

 There's nothing like creating layers on a planning page and it's been ages since I used scrapbooking papers to do so. I love the mix of the commercial products and Anna's illustrations to provide 

contrast.

   

 I hope this provides you with some ideas to just play in your planner. There are no rules, no right ways to create magic. 

Be inspired and inspire yourself constantly! 

 Stef

https://novelteacorner.com/

Watercolour Flowers

Recently Anna posted one of her gorgeous pieces of art on Instagram, and I was hopeful it would be one of the Patreon collage sheets for this month.

It was! But even better than that, it was the feature of one of the Patreon videos with a tutorial on how to create a similar page. As a result, I was able to create these pages using the same techniques:

I hope you like them and you get involved by checking out Anna's Patreon which includes all of Anna's beautiful collage sheets including these gorgeous pages as well as art tutorials such as this one.  Anna has recently changed her tiers on Patreon to provide even greater value for money, so if you're not a Patreon, now is a great time to join us. 

You can find more of my art here, on my blog, or on Instagram.

August 2018 Brimbles Box Unboxing

Here is my unboxing of the Brimbles Box for August 2018. The Brimbles Box is my monthly planner / journal box. It is used and loved by creative planners as well as memory keepers and creative journallers.

Monthly subscriptions are also back! If you would like to sign up for the next Brimbles Box you can do so here: https://www.mrsbrimbles.co.uk/product-category/brands/mrsbrimbles/brimblesbox/
Boxes on subscription are £18 including postage wherever you are in the World. One off boxes are £15.00 plus postage so if you are international it would work out cheaper to subscribe wink wink! You can also subscribe via my Patreon which also gives you access to my online content in addition to the box: https://www.patreon.com/mrsbrimbles

Wave-tastic Vibes

Well no one can say that Summer isn't here, with all this...err glorious? sunshine! I'm definitely not a hot weather girl so I'm properly hermitting away in the house, with the curtains drawn and windows thrown open. I will also admit to sitting in front of the fan and producing a robot voice, on more than one occasion....ways to fill the hours, eh?

My creativity has taken a bit of a hiatus, since the construction of the cabin commenced and I'm so glad to have finally moved the motherlode of craft supplies in. I still need to insulate the roof so at the minute it is doubling up as sauna. Rather suits one of Anna's themes for this month's Patreon collage sheets, minus the beach and the sea...near enough!

(Excuse the half dead lily.....it is a victim of the Craft Cabin Sauna!)

I was itching to get creating when Anna sent over this months collage sheets, although to be fair that is true for most months, but I have a real tie to the seaside so I was extra eager! There is always such a variety of artwork and differing styles in Anna's content, something for everyone, but the beach themed sheets were calling me. 

As soon as I saw the girls and ice creams I knew exactly where I was headed with them. I have (well now did have) a framed photo collage above our bed that I made back many moons ago of J and I's first holiday away together as a couple. We stayed in my cousin's holiday house up in Thornaby. With Redcar beach about a 15 minute drive away we spent much of the holiday at the beach, chilling in the day and misty walks in the evening. The photograph is of Redcar beach, facing towards the town of Redcar, if you face the opposite direction you look at a Redcar Steel Plant. Quite a juxtaposition.

I decided since it is beginning to look tatty I would repurpose some of the photos. I still have the negatives so I can always have them reprinted if I miss them....haha! 

I began by pulling Anna's artwork into the Silhouette Studio and set about resizing them so they would be roughly in the proportions I was after. A bit of grumbling at my machine and an emergency ink cartridge change and ta dah!! Ephemera appeared!

I also cut out the journal tags Anna added in this months sheets. I'm so happy she included them as I do love to layer them throughout my journaling but they also work as fantastic prompts for layouts. When I'm stuck for inspiration I'll flip through my phrase ephemera and usually something will jump out at me. They can really change the direction you thought you were going in!

I try to keep my ephemera and bits and bobs I'm looking to scrap or journal with in a pot next to me, as far too often they end up mixed with the offcuts and scraps headed for the bin. Cue frustrated searching and much muttering. I clearly didn't follow my own method below...and ended up with a pile of rubbish and ephemera. 

I pulled out my latest 12x12 paper acquisition, the Beach Life Collection and saw how perfect Anna's artwork looked alongside them!

I spent some time pulling out other bits that fitted with the layout I was going for. As it has been such a long time since I last sat down to scrap a 12x12 layout it felt a little daunting. I felt like I didn't have enough things, so there was a lot of rejected items (which I've still actually resort and put away ha!). I also wanted to include some of the buckets, starfish and clams from the other papers, so took some time fussy cutting a few out to dot around the page.

I cut a strip of the beach huts from one of the papers in the pack and placed it towards the bottom of the page. I took this as my line from which to build. I backed my photo on yet another paper from the collection. I wanted something bright to contrast with the green woodgrain effect as without the backing the photo felt a little dull and lost. 

I sat moving the pieces around the page trying to find a natural fit. It is quite different working on a much larger scale again, kind of awkward. When I was happy with the visual I took a quick snapshot on my phone, so that once I started moving pieces off to stick things down I wouldn't forget where I put them. 

To further pull the photo into focus and add some depth I stuck it down on foam tabs. This, however meant my original plan had to be altered slightly to accommodate the additional height. Both the bucket and the girl's legs needed lifting, so I cut small slithers of foam and popped them up to the same height as the photo.  

I LOVE how this little guy looks, he is from Anna's mermaid ephemera pack from the Mermaid Waves collection back in May last year I think? I knew he would be perfect so out he came. I made two small snips into his claws so I could slip the ice cream and ice lolly pieces in, giving the illusion that he is holding them..or running off with them I'm not sure.

The title is a bit of a hit and miss for me. I'm happy with the wording but not necessarily the alphas I chose. They could do with being a tad taller and maybe not glittery! Although, in saying that they do remind me of funfair lights you sometimes see on piers. I think the pearl dots help some with that too!

It's not too bad a layout to say I've not scrapped in about five or six years...there's a few things I might tweak. The bottom half I'm pleased with, but the top right hand corner and title I'm still undecided. I think I'll add a smidge of journalling in and see how it looks!

So that's me for this month, I've really enjoyed working my way back to scrapping again and in time hope to improve. Anna's artwork is so versatile and easy to use, it piques the creative in me and I find myself working away on something before I know it! 

Till next time guys! x

Jeni

Imagine a messy desk with just about enough space for the keyboard. That’s my desk, so the idea of sitting at my desk to journal or create anything more than the odd scribble has been a challenge. Working hasn’t exactly been easy with no space on the desk but it’s worked in it’s own way! Back in May we went to Paris for the weekend and then to Disneyland Paris for a week. I’d spent all week collecting train tickets, paper place mats from the restaurants and photos galore to then journal about it when I got home. Just like I’ve done with so many other trips. Well, we arrived back on the Sunday evening in theory ready to go back to normal life, however at the end of our trip, my son Jaxon had gone down with Chicken Pox. While my husband went back to normal life, Jaxon and I were sort of in quarantine. This is where working for myself comes in handy but between one thing and another journaling about our trip was getting further and further down the list. It’s now the middle of July and I’m writing this post. Jaxon is in bed and Chris has gone out for the evening (I have a Bear Grylls series playing on my iPad – now that’s a crazy adventure there!). Now some people are doing One Book July this month and it did cross my mind to join in, but it’s only now that I sort of have a plan in place. (About time right?) Passion Planner



For months maybe even years it had crossed my mind to get a Passion Planner but having not got on with other hourly based planners I wasn’t sure it was right for me so kept putting it off. When I sat down with another independent business owner here in Bedford and I saw what her Passion Planner looked like, I was convinced – I’d print off the tester PDFs from the website and see how it would go. Well that lasted all of the time it took me to fill in the next few weeks – I decided to order the undated version and get on with it. Well the classic is a bit big (it’s A4) but works wonders! When my stickers arrived from July’s Sticker Club, I carried them around tucked in my planner for  a few days and got a few ideas together like alternating the sticker washi with normal washi tape. Then when Chris was out at the church youth group and Jaxon was in bed, I attempted to get some filming done before it got too gloomy. I’m not sure it’s my best recording but it was fun to have the camera out for the first time in a while.

 

Journaling



 When you consider all the delays about writing about the Paris trip, I think I got further and further away from wanting to journal about the trip because there was more time that had past since we had got back. In the end I sat down and did it. I knew by getting on with it, I’d actually be able to clear both some of my messy desk and the pile that was growing underneath my desk (and would regularly get kicked and messed up!) Also I’ve been collect items since our holiday so they are taking up more space too! My go to for journaling is usually some kind of TN insert, for a long time I’ve been in a TN but something recently has taken me away from that and I’m not entirely sure what it is that has put me off. I’ve been working my way through the notebooks and inserts I already have. Some are as big as A5 and others are smaller size TN inserts. My current notebook is a Midori MD A5 notebook with grid pages. I’ve used some of the collage sheet from previous Patreon collections from Anna to decorate the outside and then used some of July’s Patreon collage sheets to decorate where I’m starting in the notebook. This will be a bit like a bullet journal in that it will carry my to do lists but it will also work as my journal to write about what we’ve been up to and how I’m feeling etc. Also it will be a bit of a “catch all” so there might be photos and things too along the way (maybe a flip through will follow at the end of the book). I’m hoping now that I have this plan, I can clear my desk a bit, I can feel a bit more clearer in my head and come up with a plan to move forward. After all what’s the point in getting caught up in all the decorative planning if you don’t actually get any plans done?

Hannah You can find me here: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Blog.

How many pages can you get out of one sticker kit?

I thought I would share with you today a look at how many planner pages and journal pages I personally can get out of one of my sticker kits. My kits are made up of 4 A5 sheets. I use a B6 insert that I designed and made myself. I am sharing this to give you some inspiration on how you can use the stickers yourself.

You can find out more about my sticker kits here: https://www.mrsbrimbles.co.uk/product-category/brands/mrsbrimbles/brimbles-sticker-club-kits/

The video I mention talking about how I use planner stickers is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD6dK5_XCNg&t=1761s

How I am preparing for the Summer Holidays (Arts & Crafts)

Today I have a little vlog about how I am preparing for the school summer holidays from an art and craft perspective. I hope you enjoy!

Bright & Cheerful planner pages

Hi friends!

What do you do when the weather turns grey and miserable? (Shh, it's Winter here in Australia!)

Me, I like to make things as bright and cheerful as possible in my planner to try and take my mind off the fact that it's gotten pretty icy outside.

This week I dug out the remains of my Hop To It sticker collection and put it to good use along with some washi tapes from my collection.

Every now and then I like to just play with washi tape - layering it up and tearing it to create different effects, and this week was no different. I love how it turned out with different patterns and colours contrasting with one another to create a look that a single washi tape on it's own couldn't do.

My tip to you all is don't get stuck doing things the way you've always done them - it's so much fun to change things up and just play. And if we can't play in our planners, where can we?

Check out my planner video below to watch how this layout came together, and scroll down for more close-up photos of the pages.

As always, feel free to follow me on Instagram or Youtube for more planner inspiration.

Until next time, happy planning!

Stef xx

Summer Sale

SUMMER SALE!

It's my the Hot Hot Hot Summer sale time again :D

Use coupon code: watermelon to take 40% off, yes a whopping 40% off your order. The sale is valid right through to 16th July over at https://www.mrsbrimbles.co.uk/shop/ ALSO.... did you know that the sale is store wide so that means you can also use the code not just on physical products but also on any of my online courses.
Thank you and happy shopping!
x

The online courses, events and workshops are available here: https://www.mrsbrimbles.co.uk/…/bran…/mrsbrimbles/workshops/

Small Print:

No minimum order quantity - order as much or as little as you like. Please make sure you use the coupon at time of purchase as the discount cannot be given after the transaction has been made. Excludes items already in the sale section. Available internationally. Available until 16th May 2018- remember we are UK based so this is GMT! Coupon cannot be used in conjunction with any other code or coupon. Phew! That's that done lol!

Shipping

Please note items purchased during this sale will not be shipped at our usual 3-5 business days. Please allow 2-3 weeks for your order to be processed and shipped. Our usual shipping policy if you need it is here: https://www.mrsbrimbles.co.uk/about/refund-shipping-policy/
Please share with your friends :D
p.s. if you prefer to shop on Etsy, you can get 25% off store wide there (no coupon code needed).

Sorry it has taken so long to film and upload this for you! Anyhooooo here is a look at what inserts I have in my travelers notebook and how I use them etc.

A New journal

I was sent a beautiful new something to share with you. Spoiler alert....it's lovely ha ha! If you would like to check out this company you can find them at: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/rkivejournals or https://www.instagram.com/r_kivejournals/

PLEASE NOTE: I was given this / these product(s) in exchange for my honest review and opinion, the fact that I was given these does not alter my opinion in anyway. This review is my own personal opinion on the product / company, given in good faith and has not be sponsored or endorsed. None of the links are affiliate links. Unless otherwise stated, all photography is my own

Art journaling about me

I've been working on some art journal pages about me recently. I've been wanted to record some thoughts about motherhood and my journey to get there so that my little girl can read about it later when she's older. Her journey to us was a complicated one and so writing it down in a visual way helps to break that complexity down a little. As part of this journaling I wanted to write some lists - they're an easy way to record thoughts and record moments in time.

 As soon as I saw one of Anna's collage sheets from this month's patreon I knew it would be perfect for my list pages. I ripped them up (I find paper glues better if it's ripped rather than cut), swiped some acrylic paint on the page and journalled around them. Simple and effective. I also used the same paper as a piece of writing paper when I wrote to my penal, just printed it out and wrote my letter on the plain side. How would you use this collage sheet?

 

Don't forget to check out Anna's Patreon which includes all of Anna's beautiful collage sheets including these gorgeous pages as well as art tutorials. You can find more of my art here, on my blog, or on Instagram.

Why Mrs Brimbles?

I haven’t done a Mrs Brimbles post for a little while. This is because I currently have had so much going on and sitting down to create is few and far between. So instead of showing you what I’ve been up to, as there hasn’t really been a great deal of creativity, I thought instead I would list why I love Mrs Brimbles products. I’m forever starting my posts by saying the products are so easy to work and create with but I never elaborate on this point.



I fully stand by what I say, it’s really easy to get creative with Mrs Brimbles products. I recently attended the EBDUK meet up and Anna had her stall there. The nature of the day was to have a lot of crafting between talks and workshops. It was so nice to have Anna’s stall right there, if I had any inspiration or ideas, I would pop over to the stall and purchase stickers, vellum, scrapbook paper, ephemera, whatever I needed, it was there waiting to be bought and used. So from my point of view, this is why I think Mrs Brimbles products are amazing: Easy to work with The products are very versatile, they can be used for creative journaling, planning, happy mail, pocket letters, art journal work, the list goes on. For me personally, being in a creative journal slump this is where I really appreciate these products. Simply placing different elements on a page will stir my creativity, they’re that easy to work with. The inspiration is right there for you.

 

Colour schemes and size of artwork

Yey Anna has brought the Brimbles box back! This means you can appreciate a kit that’s been carefully put together. The kits now feature all of Anna’s own artwork. I’ve found that the size of the products works well, the ephemera for example is created to a decent size. Some kits offer small ephemera that can be tricky to use on a creative spread. Anna’s ephemera gets you past the fear of white space and makes it more possible to visually pull a page together. If you’re a mum like me with no time but really want to create, Anna’s work makes this possible.



Unique

 I love how unique Anna’s artwork. It’s Anna’s own style, you can see it’s hers as soon as you look at it. It’s clean and bold. It’s timeless design, I’ve been buying Mrs Brimbles products since 2015 and will continue to do so. The designs from that year are still fresh today.



Always available 

You can still buy Anna’s artwork even after the box month has passed. There are other boxes out there that once the months theme has passed, you can no longer buy that box or the contents. This means there are groups on Facebook where people will post ‘ISO - in search of’ posts. If they are lucky, they will be able to get ahold of that pack of ephemera from March 2017 that they have been desperate for. If they are lucky that pack will remain untouched and it’s contents will be intact. IF they are lucky they won’t have to pay a small fortune for it, higher than what it would have been at the original price and definitely higher than it’s manufacturing price. There is no need for this with Anna’s work, if you see something you like that she has created, there is a good change you can visit her shop and find what you’re looking for, brand new (this excludes the Mrs Brimbles Planners and any other limited edition items). Another point, as this area of accessibility to stock is a huge bonus, is the fact that you can avoid hoarding your stash! I am a typical buyer who will then obsess over how I will use the artwork. I have creation fear, I know that once it’s used in a journal or created into a dashboard in a planner, that’s it. This can sometimes hold me back from using something ‘just in case’. Being able to buy the product again if I want to makes me create, knowing it’s not the only version I can get of this particular item.



Quality and value for money

 All of Anna’s products are made to a high standard whilst being kind to your wallet, you get your money’s worth. Anna is meticulous with how things look and the end product. You can be confident that what you buy will be the best material she can find, the card isn’t flimsy, the sticker paper is good quality, the print is bold and bursting with colour. The artwork alone is a process, Anna works very hard and takes time to choose drawings and designs that she wants people to enjoy working with. So if I’ve swayed you to have a look at some of Mrs Brimbles products, click here to visit the shop and happy creating!

 Kelly xxx

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