Thankful / Simple Stories

Hello again!  I'm back today to share my second November layout for Simple Stories.  Like my previous layout, I used the Gather Together Simple Set.  Although it's centered around Thanksgiving Dinner, I went a different route and made a layout about my grandmother and daughter.  I first began with white cardstock and a very old lined stencil.  I smudged some Shimmerz Texturez & Dazzlerz in a deep red brick color and a dark leafy green.  Once that dried, I used the packaging technique with some Shimmerz sprays in red, brown and green.  I also used some gold Heidi Swapp Color Shine.

I used patterned papers behind my photos and one of the stickers as my title.  I fussy cut the heart cluster at the bottom.  After I planned all that, I had the idea to add a cut file.  I'm so glad I did because it changed the look of the entire page for the better!  It's gorgeous....it's from the Just Nick store.  I cut it once on white cardstock and again on green patterned paper.  I trimmed the circle part off the green cut and added it to the leaves of the white cut.  I love how it looks!  I machine stitched with brown thread around the circle.

Here you can see the background texture from the paste and the lovely die cut.  I love working with circles like this because it automatically gives you somewhere to ground your photos.  And it brings your eye right to the middle.  I did add some brown tangled thread under the sides of the photos as well.

This sticker was perfect for a title.  I also added another sticker and stitched through it with gold thread.  The plaid patterned paper is really busy, so I just tore a small piece off to use as a messy layer.

I love how the leaves on the cut file curled up as I pulled them off the cutting mat.  And since I added the green paper on top of the white, it made it a little thicker and more dimensional.

I also added tangled thread under the heart cluster and stitched through it.  I love the pop of color it gives down here at the bottom.

I did film this process, so here's the video if you'd like to see how I created this from start to finish.  I hope you enjoy and are inspired!

Thanks a million for stopping by!