Niki Rowland

About Niki Rowland

I’m Niki, I live in the UK with my creatively challenged husband and my three children. I’m a pretty paper addict who makes the occasional cupcake and likes coffee and shortbread biscuits. I love turning bright colours and floral ephemera, into scrapbook layouts, with a few mini albums along the way too. I currently create for GoGo Getaway, which is my own scrapbooking retreat business. That keeps me pretty busy but because I wouldn’t want to get bored, I also am a governor at my children’s school and somehow, I also ended up leading the PTA as well…so now I can add ‘fundraising’ to my list of skills too! Creating feeds my soul and I try to do something creative every day. I hope you enjoy my creations.

Posts by Niki Rowland:

Road Trip | Travel Layout with Great Escape by Niki Rowland

 

Hey everyone! This is Niki (@nikiclairecreates) back with a new layout and video using the Great Escape Collection. I opted to attempt a more minimal-style layout than my usual which is a bit out of my comfort zone because usually I like to use ALL the things,! But it was fun to try something different and I do love the result!

I began with two strips of patterned paper from the A5 paper stack. I trimmed a photo to match the width and stuck my photo to one of the strips – I was attempting to make it look like part of the design rather than a separate photo stuck on top, and I think I did achieve that.

I then created two areas of embellishments, made up of Floral Ephemera from the Heart & Home collection, and some Chipboard Stickers and Accessory Stickers from Great Escape. I added a ‘glow’ of green ink under my two embellishment clusters to add a bit of colour to the white background.

I also fussy cut some of the flags and added those to the layout. For my title, I opted to use one of the Puffy Title Stickers and I added that vertically along the paper strip.

I then added a third strip of patterned paper, a bit narrower than the others. This gave the effect of a completed central square on the layout and balanced out the design somewhat.

I then added a few small stars and some sequins and a few splatters of black paint.

This layout is a little different from my usual style, but I’m trying out something a bit different here as sometimes I feel that I do so much scrapbooking that I repeat the same designs over and over. It is great to try for something a bit different and I love the result!

Happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

You Make Me Smile | Using a Cut File & Storyteller |Niki Rowland

Hey everyone, this is Niki here (@nikiclairecreates) with a new layout and video using the Storyteller collection. I adored this collection when it came out a few years ago and I still love it now!

I have used a cut file for this layout – I don’t use cut files very often because I have a technical issue with my Silhouette machine but I have managed to cut this one! It is called ‘Geometric heart cut file’ and can be purchased and downloaded on the Cocoa Vanilla Studio website: https://cocoavanilla.com.au/Cut-Files-c161548809

I cut the cut file in white, and then back filled it using lots of patterns from the Storyteller A5 Paper Stack. I tried to stick to blues, greens and yellow patterns.

 

Once back filled, I placed my heart onto a white background. I added some areas of dark blue ink under the areas where my photo, title and embellishments would go. I then added lots of fussy cut flowers and Floral Ephemera and my title from the foam stickers ‘you make me smile’.

I also added a wooden button, some Chipboard Stickers and some phrase stickers from the Accessory Stickers.

I finished off with some black foam hearts, some little puffy hearts, handwritten journaling and some splatters of black paint.

I love how this layout turned out, it was lovely to use Storyteller again, and to use a cut file! I hope you like it too.

Happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

The Great Outdoors | Great Escape Collection by Niki Rowland

Hey again everyone! This is Niki (@nikiclairecreates) back today with another layout and process video using the Great Escape Collection. For this layout I was inspired by the banner shapes in this collection and decided to make a banner design.

I used white for my background and then made three different sized banners out of patterned papers. I chose two solid-ish patterns for the larger ones (green compasses, and orange zig zags) and then took a risk and made a stripy one for the smaller one. The reason it’s a risk, is because there are white stripes in-between the colours, and multiple colours, so it may not have looked as defined as the other two, but after distressing the edges and put some orange trim around the bottom edge, I think it looks ok!

I distressed the edges of all banners, and added strings for ‘hangings’. I usually would have used brads for them to ‘hang’ from, but I didn’t have any (I was scrapping away from home) so I just stitched them in place with a single stitch using cotton.  I also added contrasting coloured strips to the top of each banner.

I added one single photo, a landscape one, which is a bit unusual for me, but it worked perfectly with this design. I added two large embellishment clusters, comprising of Floral Ephemera from the Heart & Home collection (which goes beautifully with the colours in Great Escape by the way!) and multiple other Ephemera pieces from Great Escape. I also added chipboard, which I always enjoy adding because it gives a different texture to my layouts.

For my title I used ‘the great outdoors’ from the Puffy Title Stickers, which I positioned on the diagonal lines of the banners. Again this is a bit different for me, so I was a bit out of my comfort zone with this layout! But I love how the title looks!

I finished off with small embellishments: stars from the Puffy Title Stickers, Enamel Dots and sequins! I also added a few phrase strips from the Accessory Stickers.

I adore how this layout turned out, it’s so fun and I love the oversized banners!
Happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

Wild by Nature | Grid Design with Great Escape by Niki Rowland

Hey everyone, this is Niki (@nikiclairecreates) here with my latest layout and process video using the Great Escape Collection. For this layout I decided to feature the wonderful journaling cards from the cut -apart sheet. I chose four cards and arranged them in a grid design together with two photos. I mounted the two photos onto some of the papers from the A5 Paper Stack.

I made the journaling cards and the mounted photos all the same size and distressed the edges of all. I arranged them onto my white card background and then I started to add some fabulous embellishments – my favourite part!

I used Floral Ephemera from the Heart & Home collection as the base for each of my clusters. I tucked them under some of the cards in three distinct areas. I added Great Escape Ephemera to the clusters, mostly smaller items, including stars, banners and arrows.

For my title I used the Wild by Nature title from the Puffy Title Stickers which I added to one of the journaling cards. I love these titles, there are so many totally awesome options!  I added some Ephemera words: ‘explore’, ‘roam’ and ‘adventure’ to my layout too and added word strips from the Accessory Stickers. I finished off with my journaling and splatters of black paint!

Thanks so much for joining me today and happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

Volcanic Adventure | Great Escape | Niki Rowland

Let’s go on an adventure up a volcano! This is Niki (@nikiclairecreates) and The Great Escape collection was perfect for these photos of our recent visit to Timanfaya National Park & Fire Mountains. My little boy absolutely loves volcanos and it was great to be able to take him to one! There is a process video for this layout which can be found below.

I wanted to replicate the slant of the volcano on my page so cut a diagonal piece of the Adventurer patterned paper. I love the semi circles on this paper with all the different colours. I gave it a border by adding a strip of green paper also along the diagonal. This helped to contain the busy pattern and gave my photos some white space to breathe.

I mounted my photos using the A5 paper stack and added them to the layout together with my title ‘adventure’ from the Chipboard Stickers. I added the word ‘volcanic’ using the Mini Alphabet stickers from the Heart & Home collection.

I then added all my embellishments: I particularly wanted to use the camp fire icons, one from the Ephemera and one from the Chipboard stickers as there was fire in my photos! I also added wooden rounds, flags, stars both fussy cut and chipboard, and some of the small journaling cards from the A5 Paper Stack. My photos and journaling card ended up in a horizontal line across the page which contrasts nicely with the steep diagonal on the background!

I finished off with some journaling which I wrote along the green diagonal border, I added some sequins and Puffy Stickers and some splatters of black paint. I absolutely love how this one turned out and it feels great to have documented this fabulous adventure! I hope you enjoy the process video below xx

Happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

Live the Wild Life with Great Escape & Niki Rowland

Live the Wild Life with the Great Escape collection! This is Niki (@nikiclairecreates) and for this layout and process video I have chosen an orange and yellow colour scheme. I therefore focused on picking out all the bits from the Great Escape collection that had those colours.

I started with a white background that I trimmed down and added to the yellow sun Great Escape paper. I then set to work using the orange zigzag side of the Happy Camper paper. I originally envisaged having a large block of this paper on my background but last minute decided to cut zigzag strips instead! I cut a few rows, trimmed them down so I had various lengths, distressed all the edges, and then arranged them onto my background.

I mounted my photo using one of the yellow papers from the A5 Paper Stack and tucked this into the zigzags. I then added all the embellishments I could find in the yellow and orange colours. I used some Floral Ephemera from the Heart & Home collection too, as well as Ephemera from the Great Escape, Chipboard Stickers, Accessory Stickers and some pieces from the Cut Apart sheet too.

For my title, I used an acrylic Perspextive title by Bramble Fox and a little yellow arrow that matches. I finished off with a few sequins and some splatters of black paint. I also hand wrote my journaling along one of the zigzag lines.

Thanks so much for joining me today and happy scrapping! The process video for this layout is below – enjoy x

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

Adventure | Great Escape | Niki Rowland

Hey everyone! This is Niki (@nikiclairecreates) with another layout made using the Great Escape collection! I adore the bright stripey paper and decided to make a feature out of that. I started off by cutting a large block of it to go across the layout which I paired with a narrow strip of yellow sun paper to go along the top.

I cut one of the border strips from the cut apart sheet, the one with the rainbow scallops, and added this strip as a boarder along the bottom of the stripes. I love the bright colours!

I mounted my photo onto a piece of navy blue paper from the A5 paper stack to make it stand out against the stripes and added it to the lower horizontal line. I already had two layered stars made that I had leftover from my previous layout so I added those to the layout too, tucked behind the photo.

 

I added my title ‘adventure’ from the puffy title stickers across the top of my photo together with the word ‘play’ from the cut apart paper. I also added a little label sticker from the Accessory Stickers to the bottom of the photo that says ‘so much fun’.

I then embellished the layout with several pieces of ephemera from the Die Cut Ephemera pack, Chipboard stickers, Puffy Stickers and more Accessory Stickers. I finished off with a few sequins and splatters of black paint!

I love how bright, happy and colourful this layout turned out!

Happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

Fun Times | Great Escape | Niki Rowland

 

Hey everyone! This is Niki (@nikiclairecreates) with a new layout and process video using the fabulous Great Escape Collection! This layout actually started off as a scraplift as the monthly challenge over on the Cocoa Vanilla Studio Community Group is to scraplift a layout of one of the Design Team. There is an example by Josefine that has layered hearts in a grid design, so I decided to do the same thing with stars.

I set about using my Big Shot and metal nesting star dies to cut lots of different sized stars from lots of patterns from the A5 paper stack. I layered them together and stitched down the middle of each one. I made some smaller than others and each star has at least three layers.

But it turns out that arranging stars in a grid design doesn’t really work because they are very pointy! They would have to be really small to fit several across the page! So I continued to use my layered stars but the grid design was out the window!

I prepared my background using the beautiful white wash woodgrain paper which I trimmed down, distressed the edges and stuck onto a sheet of white card. I then splattered this with black paint.

I arranged my photo onto the background with four of the layered stars. They are all clustered together across the top part of the layout and this worked really well. I couldn’t cut my photo into a star shape so I’ve kept it as a rectangle and slotted it in-between two stars with some overlap.

I added ‘Fun Times’ as my title from the puffy title stickers pack and then added just a few simple embellishments to the layout: a couple of Chipboard Stickers, some little phrase stickers from the Accessory Stickers and some little star stickers: some from the Puffy Stickers set, and some from the Puffy Title Stickers pack. I finished off with some sequins and some splatters of black paint!

Thanks so much for joining me today and happy scrapping!

Niki xx

@nikiclaircreates

Mr Lava Lava | Great Escape | Niki Rowland

Hey everyone, this is Niki (@nikiclairecreates) with my first layout and process video using the new Great Escape Collection! I had a little story to tell about my little boy, and the paper with the mountain skyline was just perfect so I went straight for that!

I trimmed the paper down and placed it on a white background. I framed it with two dark blue strips that I cut from the A5 Paper Stack, this was to give that middle piece some definition against the white background.

I added my photo together with some mountain ephemera from the Die Cut Ephemera pack and a cute little journaling card from the A5 Paper Stack. I added some Chipboard Stickers and some more ephemera: a star and a compass.

On the other side, I made another large cluster using a small piece of paper, several Accessory Stickers, some Chipboard Stickers and more pieces from the Die Cut Ephemera. I stapled some ribbon onto the tag sticker and this was initially where I thought I could write my journaling. I actually ended up adding small embellishments and the date and writing my journaling below the title instead.

I added ‘let’s explore’ title from the Puffy Titles pack – how awesome are these! And I handwrote my journaling below this. I wanted to add my own title to this layout which went with my story, so I reached for the Mini Puffy Alphabet stickers from the Heart & Home collection. The colours match really well and I was able add my ‘Mr Lava Lava’ title!

My mountain skyline was looking a little flat, so after I’d stuck everything down, I decided to attempt to give them some dimension! I managed to lift up the paper, slide my cutting mat underneath and carefully cut along the mountains. I then added foam pads – I love how this turned out!

Finally I added some splatters of black paint and some sequins!

I loved using the Great Escape collection and have made loads more layouts with it since so keep checking back for those!
Happy scrapping
Niki xx

@nikiclairecrates

Unique Moments with Happy Days | Niki Rowland

Hi everyone, this is Niki (@nikiclairecreates) with a new layout and Process Video using Happy Days! I focused on the colourful striped paper from the A5 Paper Stack and wanted to make a feature out of it on four sides of my layout.

I started off with wide strips of the stripes, and then I cut them into ‘steps’. The offcuts made for interesting step shapes too! I arranged these onto my layout but they didn’t quite look right on the far edges. So I drew a frame using a black pen, leaving a wide boarder, then I arranged the ‘step’ shapes around this frame. That worked really well.

I mounted my photo onto a rainbow sheet from the A5 Paper Stack so that it had a really colourful boarder to match the rest of the layout and slotted the photo into the step shapes on the left side of the layout.

I then began adding small areas of embellishments. I used Floral Ephemera in various places, some of the Die Cut Ephemera too. I also fussy cut some words from the Definitive Paper and added one to each of the four main ‘steps’. I also extended each of the words by adding a second word from the Mini Alphabet Stickers. So ‘Unique’ became ‘unique moments’, and ‘perfect’ became ‘perfect day’ etc.

I finished off with sequins by Spiegelmom Scraps, my handwritten journaling, and splatters of black paint which was a great contrast to all the bright colours in the layout! I love how this one turned out and it was super fun to make! Enjoy the process video below.

Happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

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