Using ephemera with 5th & Monaco

Hey Magpies, it’s Rachel here, I’m back after taking some time off to try and recharge my mojo! I don’t know if it worked, I am still struggling to scrap, this spell has lasted quite a while but I think it’s probably normal, I’ve been scrapping since 2005 so it’s probably time I had a rough spell. I think we all go through it sometimes don’t we. The mojo wanes, the joy is gone. As long as it comes back again it’s all good!

I chose the 5th & Monaco collection from Pink Paislee to work with and I’ve got eight layouts to share with you over the next two months. I was drawn to this collection because of the colours, I really liked the pink and the florals and the green makes a lovely pop in this collection. The first two layouts I am sharing both use mostly the Die-Cuts Ephemera pack. I used to have a tendency to hoard ephemera and ‘keep it for that special LO’. These days I have learned, just use it up if you like it, otherwise you might end up keeping it so long you don’t like it anymore. And if you use it all up and decide you love it loads, you can always buy another pack right? So use it, it’s better off on a LO than in your stash. Use the things, use alllllllll the things!!!

My first LO came together super easily. When I get a box of stash from HLM I lay it all out and admire it. Then I usually get the ephemera out and have a look through that, if I will be working with that collection I often keep it out on my desk in a dish so I can see it and use it. So I was having a look through it and putting aside pieces I was immediately drawn to. I loved the black & white floral tag and the gold & black & white floral pieces. So I had them sitting out on a piece of white cardstock, grabbed a photo from my pile and the LO was almost done!

The floral tag wasn’t quite the same depth as my photo so I added a touch of the black & white striped washi tape from the Washi Tape Set underneath it and that did the trick. My title is from the Phrase Thickers pack and these are a very bright, yellow gold. I didn’t buy the Mixed Embellishments pack but I saw it had some photo corners in there so I used some Heidi Swapp ones I had in my stash. I don’t like using them as actual photo corners, I much prefer them as arrows! I have also used the three white flowers from the Dimensional Flowers pack on this LO. A word of warning about the flowers, they have a super sticky glue dot on the back of them and I had real trouble with the flower that is underneath my photo. All the petals curled under and stuck to the glue dot and I really struggled to get them off and uncurled again. So take care removing those flowers from the backing acetate sheet, they’re much stickier than I was expecting. It is great, they’re stuck and not going anywhere once you press them down! My final touch was a couple of the butterflies from the Puffy Stickers pack and the black scallop sticker from the 6×12 Cardstock Stickers sheet. I did have trouble with those stickers sticking, the Dimensional Flowers seem to be super sticky and the Sticker Sheet seems to be a bit dull. So I added a couple of staples to my scallop edge to keep it stuck down.

 

My second layout is very similar to the first, just pieces of the Ephemera Die Cuts poked around a photo. It is that simple! I wanted to use some of the pink in the collection since it’s what drew me to it in the first place so I started gathering a few bits together. I originally started with a white background but when I tried things on the black, wow, they really popped! So that’s another tip of mine, try a black background sometimes cause it really does make some colours pop way more than white does. I think people are sometimes a little scared of using black but give it a go, it can make a big difference to a LO.

Almost all I have used here is the ephemera but I have added in a couple of stickers from the 6×12 Sticker Sheet and also some of the lovely gems from the Gem Stickers pack. I recommend the Gem Stickers, I used them a lot. I used a couple on the LO above as well. If you know my work you will know I am a massive fan of Nuvo Drops, I use them a lot so I don’t tend to buy packs of enamel dots or gems anymore, I just use Nuvos instead. I am very glad I did buy the gems pack though, the colours are so pretty and I used them a lot. It was really easy to just pop some of them on a LO and be done, no waiting for them to dry and worrying I would wang them up! If you’re buying the 5th & Monaco collection, I definitely recommend adding the Gem Stickers to your order. I also added a couple of the Puffy Stickers too, the butterfly and a few hearts.

 

I hope you have enjoyed seeing the first of the eight layouts I have to share with the luscious 5th & Monaco collection from Pink Paislee. I am looking forward to sharing the rest with you. My next blog post will be up on the 16th and I went all grid design next time! See you then Magpies and I hope you are all safe and well. And my appreciation goes out to all those people out there that are keeping the country running right now. I am so grateful to you all, you’re amazing! And I am also grateful that Hey Little Magpie is still sending out  orders, us Magpies need our craft supplies now more than ever!!! Stay safe xXx

 

Supplies used:
Pink Paislee 5th & Monaco collection
Ephemera Die Cuts
6×12 Sticker Sheet
Gem Stickers
Dimensional Flowers
Phrase Thickers
Puffy Stickers
Washi Tape Set