Monday, October 31, 2016

Halloween Hulk / Simple Stories

Happy Halloween, y'all!  Hope you are having a great Monday :)  I wanted to share one of my Halloween pages I created for Simple Stories today.  I used the Happy Haunting Simple Set, and I added in a fun cut file from The Cut Shoppe.  I wanted to add some green and purple into the mix, so I did that by bringing in some watercolors.  I used some Shimmerz Dazzlerz in Marigold Digger and painted it on with a big brush so it would show through and around the cut file.  I backed some of the open spots of the cut file with papers from the collection and then came in with some green and purple watercolors.  Since this is a small collection, I used some green buttons to add to the embellishments.  My silly girl is the cutest Hulk, don't you think?  She looks all sweet and innocent, but she might go full-on Hulk at any given minute...haha! :D


Here you can see the watercolors and Dazzlerz a little better.  I cut "halloween" from a piece of the cut apart paper.  It's kind of like a crossword puzzle, but I liked how this looked as part of my title.  I fussy cut the pumpkin from patterned paper as well and added some foam under it.  That cute spider web is from the sticker sheet.  I used some of the black alphas from the Snap Bold sticker pack.


I love that this cut file has a heart at the bottom.  I wanted this to be a sweet Halloween page and not too spooky, so the heart does that :)  I added a few phrase stickers from the Sticker sheet as well as another cute bat.  I finished this area off with tangled thread and a button from my stash.


I did so some black machine stitching around the circle.  This is a great cut file; it's very versatile and it helps the design of your layout by giving your photos a place to go right inside the circle.


Here's one more look at the cut file and mixed media work.  And my shoeless little Hulk running around at school...haha!  What a silly goose!


Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a great day!


Sunday, October 30, 2016

Fall in Florida / Hip Kit Club

Hello again!  I'm back today to share another layout for Hip Kit Club.  This was my layout for last Monday, and I used the 2016 October Hip Kits.  My theme for this was Fall, so I did the best I could considering I live in Florida and we really don't get the Fall season.  We have a few days of Fall-like weather, and we don't get the beautiful changing of the leaves.  This photo was taken on Thanksgiving Day at my father-in-law's house at the lake.  It was cool enough to wear jeans, but it still looks like a Summer day instead of Fall.  The joys of being a Floridian :)

I cut a bunch of leaves on my Cameo using one of Kim Watson's cut files for this month.  Before peeling them off the sticky mat, I used multiple Shimmerz Paints to color them.  I used the two Shimmerz from this month's Color Kit...Texturez Crushed Coral & Vibez Glorious Day as well as more from my stash.  I wanted light and airy leaves in non-traditional colors.  I love how the leaves curled up when they dried.  It gives them a more realistic look.


Aren't they beautiful?  I love these soft colors.  You really can't mess up leaves no matter what color they are.  They're easy to layer and tuck, which I what I did here.  I did some gold stitching on some of them before adhering them, and I also added some teal tangled thread in the mix.  I only added some tissue paper and some light pink cardstock behind my photo.


When I first started this page, I was inspired by these pretty feathers on one of the 4x6 Project Life cards designed by Kim Watson.  I fussy cut them out and added them to the leaf mix.  I also added in a few Simple Stories gold clear stickers.  There are also a few gold rub-ons in there, too.


I made a cluster of leaves for the bottom part of the page as well.  I added in a few leaf stems from the Take Me Away gold Thickers, which acted as a dimensional piece for the other leaves.


I'm loving this texture and depth...such a fun way to embellish!


One more close-up of the title area here...I added in one of the We R Memory Keepers wood veneer pieces that matched so well.  I went simple with my title and used some of the exclusive HKC puffy alpha stickers with the WRKM small wood grain alphas.  I added my journaling right under it.


Here's my process video if you'd like to see how this all came together.  I hope you enjoy and gain some inspiration!


Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a great day!

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Little Spooks / Bella Blvd

It's the weekend, friends!  Yay!  I hope you are having a relaxing Saturday.  Today I'm sharing my newest layout for Bella Blvd.  I used the new Spooktacular collection, and it is just adorable.  I love that there is aqua mixed in with all the oranges, black and purples!  My photo is so cute...I bought these sweet little Halloween character dolls on clearance at Michael's several years ago, and they are perfect for photo props :)  I decided to use a white background and build some messy color behind my two clusters.  I used some orange acrylic paint for starters, and I smudged it on the paper using an old gift card.  Then I watered it down a bit and used my brush to splatter some around.  Then I pulled out my Blue Lagoon Shimmerz Inklingz and used the packaging technique.  It's the perfect aqua color and matches the color in the collection.


I just had to use this cute little witch.  She reminded me of the characters in the photo :)  I used some of the same orange paint as well as some Freshly Squeezed Shimmerz Coloringz behind her.  I did a little bit of black stitching to give her something to stand on, and I added a strip of the Bella Washi Stickers.  I added foam dots behind the witch as well as some black tangled thread.  I cut "spooks" on my Cameo using a purple paper from the 6x8 Paper Pad and paired it with some black Tiny Text alphas.


I created several layers behind my photo.  I used a few patterned papers, an orange vellum bag that I tore apart, a cute tag from the Paper Pieces pack and a die cut from white cardstock that I got from the Just Nick store.  I stitched a big square around it all and then added more Washi Stickers under it.


At the top of the cluster, I added one of the Tabbies and a few die cuts (the aqua cloud & bat).  I also added in one of the Designer Clips (the grey cloud).  I just tucked it in and glued it down.


Here's one more close-up of the background and layers.  I added in some aqua tangled thread and a cute little Tabbie that says "spooky friends."


I love how this came out...this collection is so much fun and has lots of possibilities.  I love that there is aqua in the mix as well as a few shades of purple.  So much fun!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Have a great weekend!

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Using Older Supplies / Hello Darling

Happy Thursday, friends!  I'm back today to share another layout in my Using Older Supplies series I'm doing on my YouTube channel.  I'm having a blast going through my older products and using them all mixed together.  I used the Studio Calico Lemon Lush paper pad for this as well as some ribbon and washi tape from my stash.  I embellished with some Crate paper chipboard, stickers & rub-ons, some Dear Lizzy Documentary stickers, some hand-painted flowers, a few Heidi Swapp goodies as well as some Tim Holtz phrase stickers.

I hand cut the large heart from some scrap cardstock and cut strips of paper to fill it up.  I cut strips of ribbon and washi as well.  I used some white gesso on my background paper before I added some Shimmerz Paints.  I didn't want to do too much mixed media work on the background since the heart was so busy & colorful.


After I got all the strips and ribbon glued down, I did some machine stitching in white and pink through a lot of it.  I also added some white gesso over some of the heart.  Here you can see the texture from the ribbon, rick rack and stitching.  I also added some tangled thread.


There is some foam under my photo so it has some dimension, and this allowed me to layer in those circle flowers pretty easily.  I punched the leaves with an old Martha Stewart punch.


I made these pretty flowers a few months ago for one of my Shimmerz Shortz videos.  I was showing how to recreate the flowers from the Illustrated Faith She Blooms collection.  I added a flair button from A Flair For Buttons here, too.  I stitched right onto my using pink thread, and I layered some blue tissue paper, green patterned paper and pink cardstock under it.  That "love" brad is from Prima.


I have been hoarding these awesome Thickers for quite a while, and I finally used one...woo hoo!  I paired "darling" with a Dear Lizzy speech bubble sticker.  I'm usually not a bow person, but this blue glittery one was too perfect to pass up!  I also added in some clear MAMBI stickers.  I have a few booklets of MAMBI clear stickers I got from Michael's.  They're perfect for little embellishments like this.


More strips, more stitching, more stickers, more ribbon...I love how this turned out.  I'm so glad I finally started using ribbon again.  I honestly don't know how I accumulated so much over the years!


Here's one last close-up.  I used an MME rub-on here.  It went on nicely over the gesso and watercolor.  This created the perfect spot for my journaling.


Here's my process video if you'd like to check it out.  I had a blast making this...I hope it gives you some fun ideas to try with your stash!



Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a great day!

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Hello Fabulous / Hip Kit Club

Hey, friends!  I hope you're enjoying your weekend.  We finally got a nice little "cold" front here in Florida...lows in the upper 50s!  I know, I know...that isn't THAT cold.  But for us it is...haha!  We're used to mid to upper 80s and low to mid 90s all the time.  It has been a nice change, and it really feels like Fall :)

I'm sharing one of my newest layouts for the Hip Kit Club today, and I used the 2016 October Hip Kits.  My theme was to maximize patterned paper, so I used one as my base and I cut another one up to create a background design.  The background paper is from the Dear Lizzy Saturday line, and the paper I cut into small strips is from Maggie Holmes Gather.  I just love all the colors in those strips, and I thought they'd make a nice vertical design.  The photo of my daughter matched so well with all the different shades of pink.  I designed the page so I could put her photo in the upper right area since she's looking down and to the left.  This way it looks like she's looking down and across the page and at whatever is beneath her.  You can find these papers in the Main & Paper Kits.


I attached all the strips and then went over a lot of the background with white gesso.  I ruffled up the edges to give a little more dimension and then came in with some Shimmerz.  I used both the Crushed Coral Texturez & Glorious Day Vibez from this month's Color Kit as well as the Echo Park stencil.  I also used the Creameez Great Fruit from last month's Color Kit and a few colors from my stash.  I couldn't resist doing some metallic gold machine stitching as well.


I decided to embellish with flowers, so I combined some of the We R Memory Keepers flower stickers with the Simple Stories Posh chipboard flowers here.  They matched very nicely, and I finished this cluster off with some tangled thread, clear stickers and enamel dots.


Lots of details going on here...I combined a gold Rub-on with a Paige Evans Take Me Away Thicker for my title.  I layered in some WRMK & Simple Stories stickers and some tangled thread.  I used some WRMK die cuts & Project Life cards as layers under my photo.  I love all the Shimmerz splatters peeking through!


Here's another flower cluster.  I love when two different brands look so pretty together!  This cluster and title placement made the perfect pocket for my journaling to the right.


Here you can see where I used the Texturez and the stencil.  I love the texture...such great detail!  I layered in a tag, another sticker and a shiny gold scalloped border die cut here as well.


Here's my process video if you'd like to see how this layout came together.  I hope you enjoy!


Thanks so much for visiting me today...have a great Sunday!

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Cute Lil Ghouls / Shimmerz Education Team

Happy Saturday, friends!  I have a fun and festive Halloween layout for the Shimmerz Education Team to share today.  I used Shimmerz products from the new Halloween set, which includes two new Coloringz (Freshly Squeezed & Vivacious Violet, two Creameez (Crow's Feet & Lettuce Get Together) and Dazzlerz in Spun Sugar.  I also added in touches of Inklingz Good As Gold.  I was inspired by my daughters' shirts for my color scheme, and I began by creating the word "ghouls" for my big title.

I cut it on my Silhouette Cameo and then painted it before removing it from the cutting mat.  I didn't use a lot of liquid so it didn't harm my mat at all.  I used a brush, my finger to smudge color and the packaging technique to apply the messy color.  I love how it turned out, and it's the perfect title for these photos :)


I used lots of washi tape from my stash to create a frame around my photos and down below them to create a darker background for my title.  I used the same colors behind my photos using the packaging technique and splatters.  The embellishments & one patterned paper came from a really old cheap pack of goodies I found at Walmart a few years ago.


I did a little bit of light background stamping with black ink and some circle stamps just to give it a little more interest.  I also used lots of matching thread.  I thought these stickers & brads were really cute and went with the theme of the page.


Here's the other side of the layout.  I added that purple spider paper under the photos for an extra pop of color against the dark backgrounds of the photos.


Here's one more close-up look at the big title area.  I added some thread under it and then stitched through it all with shiny gold thread.  I smudged some Coloringz A Shade of Gray down below it and then added my journaling.


Here's the top of the page...you can see the stamping, stitching and washi tape.  Sometimes it's fun to combine all kinds of products together :)


Here's my process video if you'd like to check it out...I hope you enjoy and get some inspiration!


Thanks so much for stopping by!  Remember to mention my name when you place an order in the Shimmerz store.  You'll get a FREE product of your choice!

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Aruba Sunset / A Flair For Buttons

Happy Wednesday, friends!  I'm back today to share a new layout for A Flair For Buttons.  Although it's technically Fall, I'm still in the mood to create Summer pages :)  This is a photo from our trip to Aruba several months ago, and I used the beautiful Simple Stories You Are Here collection.  I pulled two flair buttons from the Travel Stories 1 and Enjoy Summer 2 sets that worked beautifully.

I used a few different shades of Shimmerz Paints on the background along with some gold Color Shine.  I wanted this layout to be light and soft to match the photo.  I used two chipboard frames and machine stitched with gold thread and layered them together.  I did add some foam under my photo so it wouldn't cave once I placed it on top of them.  I did have a cute cloud already cut and just sitting on my desk, so I used that as well.  It's from The Cut Shoppe.


I love this flair button.  It reminds me of a sunset with the pretty gradient.  I fussy cut that cute little flower cluster and then layered it under the flair.  With the frames being layered, this page definitely has lots of dimension.


I layered the other flair button under the photo.  I like that it's very simple and almost serves as a secondary mini-title.  Since a lot of this area was really light, I added some light teal/mint thread under the flair to make it pop a littl more.  Those cute die cuts are from the same SS collection.


I love how this turned out!  This wood veneer palm tree is in this collection as well.  I colored it with some Shimmerz and then embossed it with clear embossing powder to make it shiny.  I love how it looks!  I added a slender piece of foam under it to raise it up to the height of the photo and added gold thread under it.  I fussy cut the camera and added a few flower stickers under it.


For my title, I combined some gold glitter Thickers with a Cameo cut.  I lightly colored the "sunset" word with Shimmerz to give it a little bit of color.  My journaling fit perfectly under the title, and I added a few more phrase stickers, more stitching and an enamel dot.


Here's a close-up of the title...I love how it turned out!  Mixing and matching fonts, colors & products for a title gives a great effect :)


Here are the flair sets I used that are available in the A Flair For Buttons store.



Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a great day.

Sunday, October 16, 2016

It's Not the Home / Hip Kit Club

Hello again, and Happy Sunday!  Today I'm back sharing a layout for Hip Kit Club using the 2016 October Hip Kits.  They are SOOOOO pretty....I can't stand it!  As soon as I saw those cute little houses from the We R Memory Keepers Honey I'm Home collection in the Embellishment Kit, I knew I had to create a home-themed layout.  I found a great quote on Pinterest and cut it on some white cardstock (from the Cardstock Kit) on my Cameo.  I created two clusters in opposite corners using those adorable house die cuts.  I used some of the Shimmerz Texturez from the Color Kit on the background as well as some of the Prima Oil Pastels from the August Color Kit to bring in some of the navy blue.  I combined goodies from Simple Stories on this page as well.


I think my favorite part about this cluster (besides the photo) is the dimension.  I added foam under it all, and it creates such a great shadow.  I added some navy blue thread, a few stickers and some shiny gold machine stitching.  That cute wood veneer piece added even more dimension...but not enough that this layout can't still fit into a page protector.


Here's the bottom cluster.  You can see those beautiful WRMK rub-ons, which go on very smoothly.  I paired that with a Simple Stories flower cluster sticker, another WRMK die cut and wood veneer heart and a piece fussy cut from a Project Life card.


Aren't these the prettiest colors?  I'm usually not one to use cutsey die cuts like this because I can never seem to make them work for me.  But these houses just blew me away and I had to use them!  Plus they are awesome for a family-type layout.


I backed all those letters individually with various patterned papers from the Main Kit & Paper Kit.  I lightly traced around the inside of each one with a pencil to make them pop a bit more.  These colors look so pretty together, and I loved using one of my favorite go-to techniques...backing a cut file with paper!


Here's one last close-up.  Again, the dimension created with the foam is really cool.  You're able to layer things a lot easier and really make things just pop off the page.


You can check out my process video if you're interested...hopefully you can get some fun ideas to do with your Hip Kits1


Thanks so much for visiting me, and have a great day!