Weekend Ride / Simple Stories

Happy Tuesday, friends!  I'm here again today to share another new layout for Simple Stories using the Winter Wonderland collection.  This collection was definitely a challenge for me to use since so much of it is geared towards Winter.  Living in Florida means we have zero snow, so I can't really create true Winter pages.  I decided to pull items that seemed Fall-like and outdoorsy to create this page about riding 4-wheelers.  I think it turned out great, and you would never know that most of these products revolved around snow :)

I went minimal since I had to...so I started with white cardstock and a big title cut on my Cameo.  I used the Tall Type Alpha cut file from The Cut Shoppe and cut it on different papers from the 6x6 Paper Pad.  I had a white scribbly circle die cut in my stash, so I added it to the background for some interest and texture.  I used just a little bit of blue Shimmerz to create a subtle watercolor wash on the background.

I love using large titles like this, and these tall letters were perfect. I backed the open spots with a little bit of vellum and then used brown thread to stitch through each word.  I used a bit of foam adhesive under my photo as well as some tissue paper.  I love the pops of blue peeking out from behind the title and photo.

I combined a die cut tree from the Bits & Pieces pack with a tree sticker from the Fundamentals sticker sheet.  I love the color variation, and they worked really well layered like this.  I added a little flower and leaf sticker for a bright pop of color as well as some orange tangled thread.  I love how this creates a forest look and echos the trees in the photo.

I added another tree die cut over here and a cute tree stump sticker.  I fussy cut that little flower cluster out and added some golden yellow thread and some foam under the stump.  I love creating little clusters like this.

To finish up the top area, I hand cut a few clouds from patterned papers and stitched through the bottoms with blue thread.  I love how this turned out, and the texture is awesome since I can ruffle up the tops.

I hope this gives you some ideas on how you can use a heavily themed collection and make it work in a totally different way.  It's a challenge, for sure, but it can work if you get creative with it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Amazing & Extraordinary / Hip Kit Club

And another Monday rolls around!  Hey there, friends...I hope you had a wonderful weekend.  I'm back today to share a new layout for Hip Kit Club featuring the 2017 January Hip Kits.  I immediately fell in love with the beautiful floral paper from American Crafts One Canoe Two.  I just had to spend some time fussy cutting it out to use as a big background design element.  Once I decided how to arrange it, I placed my photo so the leaves overlapped it a little bit.  I love how this color photo looks with these colors.  I embellished with several Pink Paislee Moonstruck die cuts and some One Canoe Two cork, rub-ons and stickers.

I added some blue and a bit of pink gelatos and Shimmerz to my background to bring out more of the blue in those pretty leaves.  I also added some gold Color Shine splatters.

To get the perfect shade of blue, I mixed a little bit of a grey gelato with the blue.  I used some die cuts and Project Life cards behind my photo to add a few layers.  I love the dimension from the cork flower, and I also added some foam under my photo to raise it up a bit.  I added an exclusive heart wood veneer and a pretty butterfly rub-on here as well as some tangled thread.

I mixed and match my title, which is something I do a lot.  I love the watercolor effect on the "amazing" die cut from Pink Paislee.  The stickers are from the One Canoe Two sticker sheet, and the "extraordinary" is from the exclusive cut apart sheet in the Project Life Kit.  Isn't that butterfly just gorgeous?  I also did a bit of metallic gold machine stitching for added detail.

I also did some machine stitching on all the big leaves.  I love how it looks, and I bent up the edges for more dimension.  Stitching is a great way to add that extra pizzazz to your page without overwhelming it.

I love how this background turned out.  Very subtle yet it really helps tie all the colors together.  I added some journaling under the title area.

I highly recommend fussy cutting if you have the patience to do it :)  The result is always so pretty, and you can really make the patterned papers look totally different.

Here's my process video if you'd like to watch how I put this page together.  I hope you gain some inspiration from it!

Thank you for stopping by, and have a great Monday!  Be sure to visit the Hip Kit Club website to check out all these amazing kits & their contents!

Sweet Paige / Shimmerz Education Team

Happy Weekend, friends!  I'm back with a new layout for the Shimmerz Education Team.  I couldn't wait to use the NEW Paste-eez on a project!  Let me tell you, they are just amazing.  In case you don't know, they are our new texture paste with a flat matte finish.  The colors are beautiful, and they blend together so nicely.  That is what I did today on this page.

I used a fun stencil on white cardstock.  I used the Paste-eez in Raspberry Sherbet, Peach Fuzz, Hold the Mustard, Baby Boy Blue and Tree Hugger.  I used a palette knife to smudge the color over the stencil.  I began with the pink and then overlapped the orange and then the yellow.  I kept blending each color into the next until I liked the shades.  I went back over to the left with the green, and I just love how it turned out.  Once it dried, I used a few liquids with some plastic packaging to add some watercolor splotches.  I used Vibez Sweetheart, Jeni B Bleu & Glorious Day and Coloringz Pink Stilettos & Well Blue Me Down.  I did minimal embellishing because I thought this beautiful background was plenty.  I used a little bit of washi tape, some sequins and a few stickers.

Look at this gorgeous color!  I love how this turned out.  I'm a sucker for the rainbow look, so this is so pretty.  These pastes really did all the work here.  They dried pretty quickly with the heat gun.  You can let them dry naturally if you want; they don't take as long to dry as the Dazzlerz and Texturez.  The sequins I added are from SpeigelMom Scraps.

I decided to jazz up my white title.  I combined a Cameo die cut word with some white foam Thickers.  I used the Paste-eez to color both of these.  I used my finger to smudge the pastes on.  I also added a bit of spray to the die cut.  Here you can see some of the washi tape I used under the title.  I just chose a few rolls that matched the colors I had in the background.

I added some tissue paper and adhesive foam under my photo as well as some tangled thread.  I added a few clear MAMBI stickers here and there.  Look how cool the texture paste looks...you can really see the dimension.

I added my journaling here at the bottom and did some pink and orange machine stitching under it for added detail, color and texture.  That orange arrow is from Heidi Swapp, and that cute date washi is from Freckled Fawn.

Here's one more close-up of the beautiful Paste-eez.  You simply must try these...they are so beautiful and easy to use!

Here's my process video for this layout.  You can see how I used the Paste-eez and how easily they blend together.  I hope you enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful day!

Supplies Used:

Paste-eez--Raspeberry Sherbet, Peach Fuzz, Hold the Mustard, Tree Hugger, Baby Boy Blue

Vibez--Sweetheart, Glorious Day, Jeni B Bleu

Coloringz--Pink Stilettos, Well Blue Me Down

The Good Life / Paige Evans Design Team

It's Friday...woo hoo!  I'm so excited for a restful weekend ahead.  Today I'm back sharing my newest layout for the Paige Evans Design Team.  My assignment this week was to mix collections, so I used some goodies from all three of her beautiful lines.  I started with the new Oh My Heart collection.  Paper 06 jumped right out at me.  It's full of bright colored flowers, and I just had to fussy cut them out.  I wanted my photo to look like a flower explosion was happening behind it :)  My background paper is from Fancy Free, and I love all the pinks and corals on it.  That paper is a wonderful compliment to all those flowers, and all the blue in my photo really stands out against it.  I embellished with chipboard stickers from the Take Me Away collection.

It did take me a while to fussy cut all those flowers and leaves, but it was well worth it.  I love all the different shapes, sizes and colors.  It was fun to move them around the page until I had them just like I liked them.  For my background, I added a little bit of white gesso with a paint brush.  I came in with some blue and aqua Shimmerz sprays to add a bit of "water splashes" behind the flowers.  I like making the watercolor look like it's peeking out from behind everything.  Here you can see some of the chipboard pieces from Take Me Away, including a few leave sprigs.

I used some of the beautiful puffy stickers from Oh My Heart for my title.  I had some extra white space in my photo, so this worked out perfectly.  Don't be afraid to add stickers or embellishments right on top of your photo if there's room.  I don't do this if it's going to cover up something important or detract from the photo.  Keep these ideas in mind when you're taking your photos :)  I also added some tangled thread for more interest, texture and color.

Some of the chipboard pieces I added have shiny gold foil on them...yes, please!  To echo that, I added some splatters of Heidi Swapp Gold Color Shine.

One other thing I love about fussy cutting flowers and leaves is that you can create dimension with them.  I glued down the centers but left the leaves free to be curled up at the end.  It just gives them a bit of depth, and they really pop off the paper.

Layering all the flowers is also a great way to achieve depth.  I love how you can see just bits and pieces of the watercolor peeking through.  I didn't want it to be overwhelming, but I did want it to echo the water in the photo.  You can really see the gold Color Shine here.

I have a process video for this layout...yay!  I hope you enjoy watching and get some fun ideas to try out.  Thanks for watching!

Thank you for visiting me today...have a wonderful weekend, friends!

Love You Sweetie / NEW Bella Blvd CHA Projects

Happy Thursday, friends!  I'm back today to share two of the projects I created for Creativation 2017 (CHA) for Bella Blvd.  I used the new Make Your Mark collection to create a layout and a card.  It's full of bold and bright colors and artsy and abstract types of prints.  I just had to put all those awesome colors together and create a fun layout.

I knew a black & white photo would really pop against all those brights, so I went with that.  I used a few patterned papers to create a vertical design on the left side of the page.  I fussy cut all those little gumdrop shapes from pattern paper and created a fun little banner going from the photo to the right side of the page.  I added a little bit of white gesso on my background and then added some yellow watercolor.  I also added lots more splatters in dark grey, aqua and pink.  I hand drew and fussy cut the word LOVE and then fussy cut "you" from one of the gold foiled patterned papers.

Look how pretty that metallic shine is!  I love the fun font.  There are a few papers with gold phrases on them, and I just cut this from one of those to make my own title.  I layered a bit of patterned paepr and a gumdrop shaped die cut under my photo.  That scribbly circle is a die cut I had lying around on my desk from a previous project.  I also added some tangled thread in there.  I used some of the older Tiny Text alphas to complete my title.

I love making banners, and these little shapes were perfect.  I lightly glued them down and then went back and machine stitched through them.  I added some journaling right underneath it.

Here are a few of the die cuts from the Paper Pieces pack.  I love hearts, and this collection has them!  I also added in one of the plastic Designer Clips as a layering piece.

Adding layers is a great way to add depth to your page.  By adding the paper and die cuts as well as tissue paper and adhesive foam under my photo, it instantly gives it a little lift and adds interest.

Look at those colors!  I'm a sucker for the rainbow effect, and this is just my favorite.  You can't go wrong with these brights!  I added in a few arrows and another gold heart here.

Here's a cute card I made using this same collection.  There are a lot of these gorgeous watercolor flowers...die cuts AND puffy stickers!  Yay!  I fussy cut another "you" and then added LOVE using some of the shiny gold alpha stickers.

I added some white gesso and some Shimmerz to the background before adding the flower cluster.  I did add some foam under it.  Look at the shadow it creates!

 

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I have a fun canvas to share soon as well as a few more projects using another new Bella collection.  Stay tuned!

Have a great day!

Red Top Mtn / Simple Stories

Hey friends! I'm back today to share a new layout for Simple Stories using the Winter Wonderland collection. Have you ever had a collection really challenge you? Well, considering this line is all about Winter, snow, skiing and sledding, I was definitely challenged. I live in sunny Florida, and we are all about the sunshine, beaches and pools. So I had to get creative with my projects! This taught me to really study the collection and pull from it what works for me. I looked at the florals as more of a Fall piece and tried to play on the more neutral patterned papers. I scrapped an outdoor photo and used the pieces that helped me showcase it. Here is what I came up with.

This page is about going on a hike up a mountain in a state park in Georgia. My friend and I found this really cool structure that looked like an old stone fireplace that must’ve been from a house many years ago. I decided to recreate it using a fun Funky Rectangles cut file from Just Nick. I cut it on kraft cardstock and then backed it with the beautiful blue wood grain Warm Winter Wishes paper. I love how it looks! I fussy cut some hearts and flower clusters to layer around my photo. I also smudged some white gesso on the background and used some coordinating Shimmerz Paints colors to add some watercolor effects. I think all these neutral colors really convey nature and the outdoors really well.

I love these little hearts and flower clusters. I layered a few of them around my photo and added some tangled thread under them. I went small with my title and used the small dark brown alpha stickers from the 4x6 Sticker sheet. I really love that gorgeous blue color popping in from the background.

I added another fussy cut flower cluster to the left of the photo as well as more thread and a few brown enamel dots. I did add some foam under my photo to raise it up and create some depth. I also did some machine stitching around the photo area with some dark brown thread.

I created another small cluster for the top right of the layout just to add a little bit of interest up in that area. I also added in a label sticker.

Here’s one more look at the background cut file and they layers behind my photo. I used a few papers from the 6x6 Paper Pad behind the photo as well as a few die cuts from the Bits & Pieces pack. When you are struggling for an idea, cut files are a great way to give the papers you have a totally different look.

Thank you so much for stopping in today!  Have a wonderful Tuesday :)

Let Me Love You a Little More / A Flair For Buttons

Happy Monday, lovely friends!  I hope you all had a great weekend :)  Today I'm sharing my newest layout for A Flair For Buttons.  I began this project by choosing some of my stash to work with.  I've had the Fancy Pants Happy Place collection for a while and just haven't had the chance to use it.  So I pulled it out and sorted through my flair stash.  I chose four that matched these colors, but I only wound up using two.  I used one from the Love You set and one from the Face Flair set, which is those adorable emjoi faces.

I began with this really cool black and white text patterned paper.  I love that it's busy, but it's also neutral in color and pattern.  I decided to use it as my background, so to take out some of the busy factor I used a lot of white gesso to fade some of the center of the pattern.  I knew I wanted to create a big die cut title as part of my main design, so in order for that to stand out, I needed to take away some of the busy background text.  Once the gesso was dry, I ran the sheet through my Cameo, cutting the quote I found on Pinterest.  I used some coordinating Shimmerz Paints and the packaging technique to add lots of watercolor before I pulled the paper off my sticky mat.  Then I used mostly papers from the 6x6 Paper Pad a few of the 3x4 cards to back all the open letters.

I love how this quote turned out.  This font is called Sunrise International.  One thing I love about using big die cut quotes like this is that they take up a lot of space.  And they're in a fixed spot, so you have to work around it.  You have limited spots to place your photos and embellishments, so in a way I think it makes the layout come together quicker.  I machine stitched through each line and added a cute flower cluster die cut and a few yellow sequins from SpeigelMom Scraps.

Isn't this emjoi flair the cutest?  I layered it right onto my photo.  The way my arm curves in the photo created the perfect spot for it.  I raised my photos up a bit with adhesive foam and added a few of the 3x4 cards to add color.  I added a little next of light pink thread under the flair, and I added a fussy cut geometric heart to the right as well as a few die cut flowers and sequins.

This flair matched perfectly, too.  I love the little typewriter!  On this side, I layered in a few patterned die cut tabs, more flower die cuts and more sequins.  I love how this cluster turned out.

Here's one more close-up of the title area.  I love the mix of the navy blue.  I don't tend to use that color a lot since I usually go for bright colors, but I love the contrast here with all the other colors.  I love how the texture of the paper mixed with gesso and paint looks here.

Here are the flair sets from the store:

Face Flair

Love You Flair

I did film this process, so here's the video if you'd like to check it all out.  I hope you get some fun ideas to try!

Thank you all so much for stopping by, and have a great week!

Little Moments / Hip Kit Club

Happy Saturday, friends!  I feel like it has been forever since I posted.  It's been a slow scrappy week for me, sharing wise...mostly because I have several projects that I created for Creativation 2017 that I can't share here yet.  Hopefully next week I can show you what I made for Bella Blvd!

Until then, I'm sharing my newest layout for Hip Kit Club featuring the 2016 December Hip Kits.  This is my final page using these kits before moving on to the January Kits!  I started with this beautiful butterfly cut file that Jessica designed.  If it's not already loaded into the Hip Kit website downloads folder, it will be soon, so keep looking for it!  I cut it on the beautiful watercolor striped Take Me Away patterned paper.  On the white cardstock background, I added some clear gesso first and then used several Shimmerz Paints and some plastic packaging to create the messy watercolor splotches.  After I adhered the butterflies, I hand stitched around the edges with matching embroidery thread.  I love how it turned out!

I love how hand stitching looks...it gives such great detail and texture, plus it really made the butterflies pop off the page.  For embellishing, I didn't want to add too much since the butterflies were already pretty busy.  I used some of the exclusive die cut words designed by Kim Watson, a few of the exclusive acrylic stars, some enamel dots, some of the Amy Tangerine white foam flower stickers, and a few fussy cut leaves from one of the exclusive patterned papers.

I love these photos...Reese was just enjoying the afternoon air out on our patio and I just kept snapping away at her like we were at a photoshoot :)  Here, I used a few bits of patterned paper to layer behind the photos as well as some tissue paper.  I created the title using more of the white foam Thickers and some of the Take Me Away Thickers.  I also used some matching thread for added detail, color and texture.

I did the same thing over on this side.  I'm so happy there are purple elements in the kits!  It was fun adding that hard-to-scrap color into the mix this month.  I did add some adhesive foam under my photos to give them some depth.

I love these sketchy leaves!  I fussy cut them from one of the exclusive patterned papers.  I love the pop of black and white they give.  You could do this and even color the leaves in.  That would be pretty, too!

Here's one last close up of the top area.  I'm really happy with how this turned out!

I do have a process video for this page if you'd like to see how it came together.  I hope you enjoy and get some fun ideas!

Thank you so much for watching and stopping by today!  Have a great weekend!!