Pretty Little Studio Guest Designer / Heartwarming Story + GIVEAWAY!!

Hello again!  I'm back today with my final project for my Guest Designer spot over at Pretty Little Studio.  I want to thank Kat Benjamin for inviting me, and for everyone there for being so sweet and supportive!  I had lots of fun making these projects and working with their amazing products.

I used the You & Me Love Story collection for this page.  The papers have such rich and beautiful colors, and there are so many different patterns:  hearts, scallops, flowers, stripes, text, dots, arrows, chevrons...you name it.  It's very versatile.  I used a cut file that I've had for a few years...I believe it's by Wilna Furstenberg from back in the Two Peas in a Bucket days.  I cut it on white cardstock and backed all the hearts with pieces of the 6x6 patterned papers.  I just love how it turned out!  I used the packaging technique and some pink, aqua and yellow Shimmerz to create the background.  I embellished with die cuts, stickers and flair buttons.

My sweet photo is of my little Paige getting ready to do her therapy at school.  They have Hippotherapy, which is horseback riding.  They always try and help the children touch and pet the horses, and she was being shy on this day.  She loves sucking her thumb, and instead of touching the horse, she smiled and put her thumb in her mouth...haha.  She just looks adorable with her riding helmet on, and I couldn't wait to scrap it.

I added some foam pieces behind all the hearts to give the die cut some dimension. I love how it creates shadows...so neat!  I created my small title here with a piece from a small cut-apart sheet and a watercolor sticker.  My journaling fit perfectly right under it.  I did add a few small clear stickers and heart die cuts from the Here Comes the Sun collection.

I'm loving how this turned out...and it's a really easy technique to do.  You just need some patience :)  I added some tangled thread in various places and used three heart flair buttons on the layout.

I added some tissue paper behind my photo for a subtle border.  This cute motivational clear sticker is from Here Comes the Sun.

I added another sticker up close to the photo.  I didn't want to go overboard with embellishing since the hearts were pretty much the whole bulk of the design.  Sometimes you don't need a lot of embellishments...you don't want things to get too busy and overwhelming.

I love how the background looks peeking through the cut file.  Adding subtle watercolors or sprays to the background is a great way to add color, interest and just make things prettier :)

Here's my process video for this layout...it was so much fun to create!  I hope you enjoy it :)

Now, I'm so excited to announce that I'm doing a GIVEAWAY!  Yes!  As Guest Designer, the lovely ladies at Pretty Little Studio are letting me give away FIVE of my favorite products!  I had a hard time narrowing it down, but I chose five things that I worked with that were just so gorgeous!  You will LOVE them!!

All you have to do is leave a comment HERE on my blog.  In one week, I'll choose a winner to receive these five goodies!!  Definitely worth commenting for....woo hoo!!

Thanks so much for visiting me today (and every other day), and have a wonderful week!!