Pretty Little Studio Guest Designer / Shine

Hey there, and Happy Thursday!  What a busy week...whew!  I've been busy creating but am just now able to share that I'm the December Guest Designer over at Pretty Little Studio!  I was so excited to do this, and I'm even more excited about the beautiful products I got to work with!

My first layout was an "All About Me" page, and I dug right into the Here Comes the Sun collection.  It's so "me," and I just love everything about it.  I printed my photo in black & white so the colors would really pop.  I pulled some of the die cut clouds, hot air balloons, a butterfly and lots of hearts for this.  The first thing that jumped out at me was the 6x6 paper with all the X stitches on it.  I immediately knew I needed to hand stitch over it, so I did!  I've been really inspired by Paige Evans and her hand stitching lately, so I pulled out several different colors and did it.  I love the texture this gives!  I cute out the random shape from the paper and used it as a big design element.

You know I love me some mixed media, so I had to do some of it on this page :)  I used another 6x6 paper with some clouds and a sun and stitched it down to my cardstock.  Then I coated a lot of the area with white gesso.  I used lots of pretty Shimmerz sprays to create the watercolor look. I used my all-time favorite colors...blue, yellow and pink!  I created lots of fun layers here with die cuts, stickers and tangled thread.

These hot air balloons are the cutest!  This one is from the sticker sheet.  I love how this large die cut butterfly blends in with my background, but he's still visible.  I wanted him to be subtle, but once you see him, you know he's there :)  And how cute are those clouds?!

Here you can see the stitching.  I did take a while, but as always, it was worth it!  I love the shades of colors, and to soften it up a little, I added a cloud of vellum over it.  I tucked it under that beautiful hot air balloon along with some tangled thread.  I added a flair button...swoon!

Here you can see the stitching up close.  I added a strip of washi tape down here at the bottom and my journaling underneath that.  I just love all these hearts!  And the fact that everything is watercolor is just amazing!

One more close-up...I honestly could create with these three colors for the rest of eternity and be completely happy :)

I have three more layouts coming up, so stay tuned for those!  And I do have a process video for this...woo hoo!  Check it out if you'd like to see how I created this page.

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