Born to be a Dreamer / Paige Evans DT

Hey, friends!  I have a bright & summery layout to share today for the Paige Evans DT using the Horizon collection and Paige’s Flower Heart cut file. I love scrapping photos of my girls in the pool because all of the bright colors always match with the turquoise pool water. I decided to use a rainbow variety of colors on this page.

I began by cutting the design using my Silhouette Cameo 3 on a dark blue paper, which is Horizon Paper 22. I pulled out several bright colored patterned papers and fussy cut some leaves and flowers to go on top of the cut file. I cut them a little small so the blue cut file would still be visible around the edges to show some contrast. I layered a few of them and added some adhesive foam for dimension. I used thick smooth white cardstock as my base and I coated most of the area around the heart with clear gesso. I wanted to pull in more of the turquoise color from the photos around the left side of the heart. I used a few different shades of blue ink sprays, some plastic packaging, and a brush to create a fun watercolor effect underneath the flowers and around the outside of the cut file. I also looped some coordinating colors of tangled thread around some of the flowers to add more texture.

I love the Epoxy Stickers and this one was perfect for my title. It has all the matching colors and I love how it looks under the photos here. It created a nice little area for my journaling.

I wanted to add a little something to the right of the photos, so I tucked in a large Floral Die Cut and some orange and yellow tangled thread. I added a light pink Floral Die Cut in between the photos on the left side as well. How often do you use larger cut files like this on your pages? I love doing this because it pretty much creates the layout for you. Once I had the base design finished it only took the photos and a few embellishments before it was complete. I think it helps you stretch your products also because you don’t have to use as many when you use mostly patterned papers on the layout.

I added a little bit of detail to the heart with some machine stitching.  I love how all these bright colors stand out against this darker blue.

Here are a few more shots of all the fun flowers and leaves...and awesome dimension!

I hope you guys enjoyed this! I had a blast putting it together. You can find all the details here in my process video.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and enjoy your Wednesday!

Favorite Hugs / Hip Kit Club

Happy Tuesday, friends!  I have a new layout to share for Hip Kit Club using the 2019 May Hip Kits.  I decided to focus on some of the more muted colors in the kits for this one since last week I went very rainbow bright.  I started with an intimidating patterned paper...that dark striped paper from Crate Paper (Main Kit).  I challenged myself to use it, and so I tore a chunk of it to use.  I also tore a bit of the pink paper, which is from Pinkfresh Studio.  I layered them together, glued them down onto some smooth white cardstock and smudged some white gesso on top.  I chose color photos that have mostly neutral colors in them.

I used the Color Kit on the background...mostly the Afternoon Delight Denim Magical Shaker from Lindy's Gang mixed with a bit of Deep Blue Sea Shimmerz (from an older kit).  I wanted to create a nice big blue watercolor area behind the photos since I had a lot of pink going on.

I fussy cut these large pink flowers from a Dear Lizzy paper and used those as layers around the photos.  I also fussy cut this brighter pink floral cluster from a Pocket Life card.  I love the different variations of pink with those mixed together.  I also tucked in some blue thread here as well as some exclusive sequins & heart die cut and a Crate Paper epoxy sticker.

Here on the left, I used lots of goodies.  I fussy cut another matching floral cluster and added in some die cuts, stickers and thread.  Check out this awesome bow!  There is a whole set of exclusive fabric bows in the kits, and I used this beautiful blue one here.  Also, those acetate butterflies are exclusive...aren't they SO pretty?!  I used a few of those here, and I machine stitched through the centers and bent up the wings.

You can layer these since there are solid ones and patterned ones, but I just used them by themselves.  So pretty and subtle!

One of my favorite things about torn edges is the dimension.  It's easy to curl up the edges or let them stand up a bit off the page.  And it just adds to the fun factor, I think :D

I went simple with the title.  I used a Crate Paper sticker and some of the light blue foam Thickers.  I also added in a few more Crate Paper stickers here.

One more because I love it!

What have you been creating with your May Hip Kits?  Have you used those butterflies yet?  They are so cool!  I hope this inspires you in some way...I loved making this and challenging myself to start with a paper that kind of scared me...haha.  Don't be afraid to use some different colors than you're used to...I did that and made it work for me.

Here's my process video if you're interested:

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a great week!

Crazy Sister Shenanigans / Crafty Jen Schow Stamps

Happy Friday, my friends!  I'm excited to share a layout that I created using some of Crafty Jen Schow's new stamp sets!  A huge thank you to Jen for letting my play with these...they are the best!  You can find all of these stamps HERE.

So I decided to just start with plain smooth white cardstock and use the stamps to create a background.  I pulled a rainbow variety of Distress Oxides and began stamping with some splotchy images from the Lovely Peony Stamp Set.  I honestly was just playing around and decided to turn what I made into a background.  I stamped a few shapes and then used a wet brush and some water to smudge the inks around.  I love how they ran and bled yet I could still see the shape of the stamped image.  I also sprayed a few Shimmerz to add to the watercolor effect.

Here you an see the splotchy shapes on the background.  I decided to go with three black and white photos of me and my sister making goofy faces.  That inspired my title, which I thought looked best in the middle between the photos.  I used the Adorn it Alpha Stamp Set to create the word SISTER and added some really old fabric Thickers below that.  Later on, I added CRAZY using some older Amy Tan stickers.  The "yaaas!!" stamp is from the Here For It Stamp Set, and that set is full of some really fun words and phrases.  I added lots of texture here by stitching through the Thickers and adding lots of tangled thread.

I decided to make a few embellishments using some of the phrases from Here For It, so I stamped them on some white mixed media paper and then hand drew a speech bubble around it and cut it out.  I added a bit of ink to the bottom to help it blend in with the background and popped it up with some adhesive foam.  I pulled a few more things from my older stash...some Pinkfresh Studio Puffy Heart Stickers and some really old Amy Tan Foam Thickers (the black hearts).

I also used these super cool scribble stamps from Here For It.  They are my favorite, and they add to the craziness of my background.  I stamped a few of the scribbles behind the photos to act as sort of a messy border.  I also added a few stickers from a Me & My Big Ideas pack I got a few years ago from Michael's.

I love this saying!!  I made another speech bubble with it, and I just love how it turned out.

I could go on and on, but the rest is pretty self explanatory.  It was so fun adding in all these fun details!

I hope this inspires you to get your hands on some of these stamps!  Jen Schow is a genius when it comes to designing, and she did a GREAT job on these.  I have so many other ideas flowing through my mind...hmmmm.

Be sure to check out her shop HERE.

I do have a process video for this, and here it is:

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful weekend!

Go Girl / Hip Kit Club

Hey, friends!  I'm here today with my first layout for Hip Kit Club using the new 2019 May Hip Kits…yay!  They are so gorgeous and colorful.  I started with one of this month’s exclusive title cut files and cut it on one of the bright Horizon papers from the Main Kit.  I made it pretty big, so it also serves as the main design element.  I arranged my three photos around the cut file and embellished all around them.  I went with black & white photos so all those colors would really pop.  I used this beautiful black and white star paper from the Crate Paper All Heart collection as my background, and I used all three Lindy’s Gang Magical Shakers from the Color Kit as well as some sprays from past Color Kits.

I love creating watercolor backgrounds that are visible behind a cut file.  I first added some white gesso to the background to prep the paper and to fade out some of the stars.  I used some plastic packaging and a brush to apply the color.  The powders are easy to use;  I spritzed some water down, sprinkled some powder and then used a brush to spread it around.  I popped the cut file up with some adhesive foam.

These kits have so many fun stickers!   I used several from the Crate Paper All Heart collection as well as some from the Simple Stories Oh Happy Day collection.  All of these are in the Pocket Life Kit.

I was so excited about these exclusive fabric bows!  They’re very easy to assemble, and you can mix and match them if you want.  I also used a few of the All Heart clear stickers from the Embellishment Kit, which look so awesome on backgrounds.

More fun stickers here…and a great shot of the pretty blue powder.  Here you can see where I mixed in some of the sprays from previous kits to get a few different shades of blue.  I love how the Color Kits from the past always seem to match future kits!

I added in some matching colors of tangled thread in a few places to add color and texture.

I fussy cut this rainbow from an exclusive Pocket Life card.  Don’t be afraid to cut those cards up if you see something you like on one of them!

This yellow is so pretty.  These Lindy’s Gang Shakers are the coolest.  Here I added a few more Simple Stories stickers.

This cute speech bubble is from the exclusive Die Cuts.  They match everything so perfectly!  And I love the All Heart clear stickers…they give a stamped effect.

I always take too many close-ups, but I like to show the layout from every angle.  So here are a few more.

I hope this gives you some ideas to try with your new kits!  This was a lot of fun to make, and this cut file helped this page come together pretty quickly.  Be on the lookout for it over on the website soon.  And I have a process video for this layout here, so check it out to see all the details!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a GREAT day!

Happy / Paige Evans DT

Hey, friends!  Happy Friday...yay!!  I have a new layout to share today for the Paige Evans Design Team featuring the Horizon collection. One thing I love about Paige’s cut files is how they can also be used as stencils. I wanted to create a fun textured background, so I cut the Mandala Half cut file from white cardstock using my Silhouette Cameo 3. I used thick smooth white cardstock as my background and scraped white modeling paste over the stencil. I wanted the design to cover half the background. Once it dried I used lots of ink sprays to add a colorful watercolor effect. I love how the colors spread and blended in between all the hills and valleys of the paste. The paste itself absorbed some of the color and I just love the end result.

I cut some fun flower shapes from one of the foiled papers in the 6x8 Paper Pad and scattered them around the bottom of the page around the photo. They have so many colors and I thought they made a great embellishment. I used a few tags from the Ephemera Die Cuts under my photo and added a little bit of cord through the ends. I also tucked a few other die cuts under there as well. I went simple with the title and used one of the Chipboard Stickers which I placed on top of the photo. I also had a leftover circle from my last layout that I punched from Paper 11 and adhered to the photo. I love all of the dimension here. Creating layers makes instant dimension!

Here you can see how cool the background texture is. This really was easy to do even though it looks complicated. I decided to use a black & white photo to really let all the colors shine. I used a bit of Paper 21 as a layer behind my photo.

I created a matching cluster over to the left of the page using the same fussy cut flowers. I added some sequins from my stash to the centers. I finished this area off with another fussy cut circle, an Epoxy Sticker, and tangled thread.

I added some sequins from SpiegelMom Scraps in the centers of the flowers for some added detail.  I just love how the flower petals easily pop off the page.

I tucked this blue label shaped die cut under the photo.  I had actually already cut it in half because I used the other half on another page.  Don't waste the parts of die cuts you can't see...might as well cut it and use it elsewhere.

I love how this background turned out.  It really was easy to do...the paste and ink does all the work.

Here are a few more up close shots of all the details:

I hope this inspires you to create your own stencil from one of Paige’s cut files. It’s so much fun to make your own backgrounds like this and stencils give you the opportunity to create some awesome textures! Be sure to check out my process video for even more details!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have an awesome weekend!