Saturday, August 31, 2019

NEW September Shimmerz Color Kitz + a Layout

Hey, friends!  Happy Weekend!  I'm here today to share the NEW Shimmerz Paints September Color Kitz...woo hoo!  They are both really beautiful.  Up first is the Missy Kit.  The price is $18.95.

The Missy Whidden Color Kit:
  • Coloringz Well Blue Me Down
  • Shimmerz Pinko de Mayo
  • Inklingz First Blush
  • Inklingz Good as Gold
  • 3 exclusive Dotz
  • Exclusive Cut File by Paige Evans


I created this page using the Missy Kit.  I started off with thick white smooth cardstock and the ampersand cut file cut on textured white cardstock.  I wanted to leave the ampersand white and add color behind it.  I coated a lot of the background with clear gesso and let it dry.  Then I used the Well Blue Me Down with some plastic packaging to add a gorgeous aqua color wash.  I decided to add some flowers on top of the cut file, so I traced the flowers and leaves on some mixed media paper, cut painted them and then cut them out.


I used Pinko de Mayo and First Blush on the flowers to create these pink colors.  I also used a bright pink gelato on the edges once the flowers were dry.  I pulled the two green colors from last month's kit to mix with Well Blue Me Down to color the leaves.  I also added in some of the Good as Gold for extra shine.  Once they dried, I machine stitched down the centers with gold thread.


To get this purple color, I mixed Well Blue Me Down with the pinks.  I also played around with a few drops of white acrylic paint to add some lighter spots.  I also added a drop of a darker pink spray from my stash...Vibez Sweetheart.


To add a few darker aqua spots on the background, I smudged a blue gelato and blended it with my fingers.  I wanted to try and match that darker color of the Dotz with the ampersand.  I did add some adhesive foam behind most of the flowers to give them some dimension.


I added more subtle detail with some vellum flowers.  I just eyeballed it and cut them by hand to scatter around the page.  I topped the centers of them with some sequins from SpiegelMom Scraps.  Here's a look at one of the other Dotz.


Before I glued the big cut file down, I machine stitched around the edges using metallic gold thread.  I love the texture and detail stitching gives!  I went with a gold title, too.  This is a sticker from the Heidi Swapp Sticker Book, and I toned down the gold shine just a bit by smudging white gesso over it.



Here are a few close-ups of the shimmer and shine from the flowers!


Look at that gold shine!  It's really amazing in person :)


I didn't add any adhesive foam under the leaves, but they were easy to bend up so they stood off the page.


I love the soft shimmer here.


And one more.  I found a matching ampersand sticker to tuck in right here.  I finished off the design with more Good as Gold splatters.


I hope this inspires you to grab this kit...it really is beautiful.  I had a lot of fun making this, and I hope you'll check out my process video here to see even more details:


 

The Color Kit includes:
  • Spritz Practice What You Peach (NEW)
  • Vibez Palm Reader
  • Creameez In a Jam
  • Shimmerz Wisteria Lane
  • 3 Exclusive Dots
  The price of this kit is $15.95.  Stay tuned to the blog and social media to see lots of projects created with both of these kits!  Tons of inspiration coming your way :)

Go HERE to purchase one or both of these Kitz!




Thank you soooo much for stopping by!  Take care, and we'll see you soon!



Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Hello Yes It's Me / Hip Kit Club

Hello again, friends!  I'm back today with another new layout for Hip Kit Club.  I used the 2019 August Hip Kits, and our theme for this week is selfies.  I scrapped this recent picture of me on our recent trip to the Bahamas.  I chose lots of pinks and purples for this page to contrast all the blue in the photo.

I was first inspired by the long striped Pocket Life card.  I love the purple, pink and orange color scheme, so I pulled out a few more PL cards to match.  I also used a lot of the Truly Grateful florals to embellish.  I used a beautiful purple and pink ombre paper from Truly Grateful as my background.  I coated a lot of the middle area with white gesso first, and then used the Lindy's Magical Powders from the Color Kit.  I mostly used the Tea Pot Purple.  After that dried, I added some flowers over it using the floral Vicki Boutin stencil and some white acrylic paint.


I knew I wanted to use this big Hello die cut since it matched my color scheme perfectly.  I trimmed off some of the white border so it would be a bit thinner.  I chose the "yes" Epoxy Sticker mainly because of the blue color.  I liked how it brought some blue to that part of the page.  Here you can also see more of the background.  I used one of the exclusive stamps around the page...a tiny floral.


I added more of the Epoxy Stickers around the page...these little dots are the perfect accents.  I used a few of the Truly Grateful wood veneer flowers as well.  I embossed them with gold powder t make them shimmery.


I layered a few flowers under the title area as well as some yellow thread.  Before gluing everything down I machine stitched around the edges of the Pocket Life cards for some added detail.  I decided to write my journaling with a metallic gold pen to add more pops of gold down in that part of the design.


I am obsessed with these little suns from the Truly Grateful collection!  I fussy cut it from one of the patterned papers, added some adhesive foam under it along with some green thread and added it to the top of the longer PL card.  I also added a few of the Indian Summer clear stickers here...this blue watercolor splotch was perfect.


I fussy cut this flower cluster from another Pocket Life card...it's my favorite!


As usual, I took a ton of close-ups, so here are even more of all the details.






I hope this inspires you to scrap a layout about yourself :)  If you're like me, you tend to scrap about other people, so this was fun to change things up.  I am really loving the August Kits, and I hope you are, too!

Be sure to check out my process video here:



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


Saturday, August 24, 2019

Summer Scrappin' Series / Sunshine & Rainbows

It's Saturday...woo hoo!  I am so excited to be participating in the Summer Scrappin' Series again this year.  My long time scrappy friend Audrey Yeager hosts this every year, and she invited me back to play :)  This is the final week...she creates 21 layouts over the course of three weeks in June, July and August.  Each day she has a guest scrapper join her, and I am Day 19.



Here's the layout I created.  I love trying to recreate patterns in my daughters' swimsuits on my background.  This is probably my favorite little swimsuit from the past.  The top photo is of Reese from 2011, and then Paige in 2013.  I saved the suit after Reese outgrew it, and then Paige wore it.  They were both age four here, and it makes me want to cry looking at how little they were!

To recreate those rainbow stripes, I used Distress Oxides on thick white cardstock.  I first covered the cardstock with clear gesso and let it completely dry.  Then I just lightly scraped the ink pads over the paper in overlapping stripes.  I went in the same order as the colors in the suit.  Then I simply spritzed the background with water and let the colors run and blend.  I used a small acrylic block to help smoosh and drag the color along, but the oxides and the water did all the work.  You can see exactly how that happened in my process video below.



Once the oxides were dry, I used a hibiscus stencil from Michael's to create some big white flowers on the background.  I used some white acrylic paint with a foam ink blending tool to make them.  Then I cut some flowers & leaf clusters on some vellum using my Silhouette Cameo.  This cut file is an exclusive from Hip Kit Club from last summer.  I also used some flowers that I fussy cut from the Simple Stories You Are Here collection from 2016.


I also used a few chipboard frames from that Simple Stories collection because they matched so perfectly.  I added in some matching tangled thread in a few places as well.  Those enamel dots are also from Simple Stories.


I love the look of vellum on the background like this!  Subtle yet it still makes a statement without going overboard, I think.  That cute sun is from the new Paige Evans Truly Grateful collection, and I fussy cut it from a patterned paper.


I love how this title turned out!  "Sunshine" is from Truly Grateful.  I cut the word so I could stack it, and love how the top of the "h" nestles up under the curve of the "n."  (((Shout out to Jen Schow for her ability to "nestle" things beautifully!)

The smaller white foam Thickers are from Paige Evans Pick-Me-Up, and I used the Distress Oxides and my finger to smudge each one a different color.  I wrote my journaling with a gold metallic pen.


The fun thing about flowers and leaves is how they look when the edges are bent up!  The dimension makes all the difference :)





I created a cluster over on the left edge using more flowers, leaves and thread.  I wanted to pull in all the colors from the rainbow here, so I fussy cut more flowers.  I also added another of the vellum flower clusters.


The very last thing I did was splatter some Gold Heidi Color Shine!



I thoroughly enjoyed making this page!  Nothing makes me happier than starting with plain white paper and making magic out of it with color.  Have you ever tried to recreate the shapes on the clothing from your photos?  It gives you a starting point and for me, it made this design come together quickly.

A huge thank you to Audrey for having me again this year!  Love ya, girl!

Be sure to check out my process video....there are so many more details there.



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

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Hip Kit Club / Together

Happy Wednesday, friends!  I have a new layout to share today for Hip Kit Club.  I used the new 2019 August Hip Kits.  They are SO bright and colorful!  This page focuses on the Paige Evans Truly Grateful collection.  I also used a patterned paper from the Vicki Boutin Wildflowers & Honey collection.  I was first inspired by the hexagons on that paper, so I pulled out my hexagon punch to create lots of shapes.  I punched a lot of hexagons from the Truly Grateful Paper 14 and a few from the Vicki Boutin Queen Bee papers. I used a darker blue Truly Grateful paper as my background.


I knew I wanted to create a big background design with all the hexagons, but I wanted to add some mixed media behind them.  I began by adding some gesso to the blue paper.  I pulled out some the yellow and pink Lindy's Stamp Gang powders from the Color Kit.  I sprinkled some of the powder onto the background and spritzed it with water to activate it.  I mainly wanted a wash of color peeking through all the hexagons, so while it's still subtle, you can still see it's there.


I used this Truly Grateful Epoxy Sticker for my title.  It was perfect for these two rare photos of my girls in the same photos...haha.  They were throwing swim rings into the pool :)  I layered some Pocket Life cards behind the photos as well as some tangled threads.  I added a few Truly Grateful die cut flowers beneath the photos.


I wanted something light under the title sticker, so these lighter flowers did the trick.  I did add some adhesive foam under the photos to raise them up off the page a big.  I also used some of the Truly Grateful sequins from the Embellishment Pack.


I wanted to add lots of texture and detail, so I machine stitched around the edges of each hexagon.  Yes, I changed the thread colors to match...haha.  I ruffled up the edges of each hexagon to create some really awesome dimension.  I went through all the coordinating stickers and found some hearts, stars and word stickers.  I placed them tone-on-tone onto most of the hexagons.  I also added in a few of the Vicki Boutin layered butterfly stickers.


More Truly Grateful heart stickers here :)


I did add foam under each sticker...I love the effect that creates!


One of the last things I did was water down some white acrylic paint to splatter around the page.  White always shows up so nicely on a dark background like this.


One more just because :)


Okay, that's it for today!  I hope this gives you some fun ideas to try on your next page.  This was a lot of fun to create!

Check out my process video here for all the details:



Thank you so much, and I'll see you again soon!


Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Exuma Mini Album / Paige Evans DT

Hey, friends!  I'm back today with a fun mini album for the Paige Evans Design Team.  I made this very bright and summery for our recent trip to Exuma, Bahamas.  It features Paige’s new Truly Grateful. I used Paige’s Mini Album Tabbed Edges cut file as an album base and I used all five of Paige’s Stencils to add lots of texture. I just love how it turned out!


I went color crazy since I used lots of photos from a recent trip to Exuma, Bahamas. I wanted it to be thick and chunky with lots of texture and color, and this collection was perfect. This cut file was just what I needed and the tabbed edges make it so unique and interesting.


The main embellishment I used to decorate the album is flowers. I used quite a bit of those from the Floral Die Cuts. The first thing I did after cutting the album base on textured white cardstock was coat it with white gesso. I used modeling paste over different Stencils on each page and let it dry. I pulled out all the bright Shimmerz sprays and colored each page a different color. I fussy cut lots of flowers, butterflies, and leaves from the 6x8 Paper Pad to use also.


I added in a few more pages that I just traced and cut using more papers from the 6x8 Paper Pad. I adore this plaid paper. I decided to leave it as is because it’s just so beautiful on its own.


I wrote journaling on the back side of that paper and added a few Flowers. The next page has more Stencil work, photos, and Flowers.


I used the 12x12 Paper Pad to fussy cut “magical” for this page. I also decided to create a little shaker page. It was simple to do. I used packaging from stickers, cut it down, sewed the edges together, and then added sequins from the Mixed Embellishments. I love the detail and fun pop of texture this adds!


It flips just like a page since I punched holes in it. I like that you can see through it to the next page. I added pink Shimmerz to this page and machine stitched using blue thread. I used a big sun Epoxy Sticker here and added in yellow tangled thread.


This is my favorite page I think! I used white embroidery thread to stitch this heart found in the Ephemera Die Cuts - the holes are already there just waiting to be stitched! Once I stitched it, I used Shimmerz sprays to lightly color the thread. Then I used all the same colors of matching thread and created a big circle to go behind the heart to create a messy rainbow of texture. I focused on “sunshine” (from the Ephemera Die Cuts) on the second page using the Sunburst Rays Stencil, lots of yellows & oranges, and a butterfly from the Stickers. I also used yellow thread to stitch along all the rays.


More of the same for this spread: flowers, fussy cutting, stitching, and stickers.


The final pages center around all the animals we saw in the islands.  I used more fussy cut pieces, a sticker, and colorful Foam Mini Thickers from the Whimsical collection.


I sprayed the back with pink Shimmerz.


Here are a few detailed images. To add detail to the open heart, I wrapped embroidery thread around the outside edge. I also added yellow thread behind the sun.


I can’t get enough of this texture! I absolutely love Paige’s Stencils and the effects they create.


Have you ever made a sequin pocket like this? The stitching turned out a little messy, but I like it that way.


To get the rainbow colors on this originally white thread, I just lightly rubbed the nozzles of the ink sprays over it. I used my finger to smudge it in a little bit more. All the thread on the back side of it helped to pop it off the page a bit.


I love the detail that stitching adds!


Once I added the silver rings, I tied on matching ribbons from my stash. I also tied on a few of the Horizon Charms with embroidery thread. So cute!



I hope this inspires you to use the Truly Grateful collection for a bright and colorful mini album! I loved making this line work with summer photos. Be sure to check out my process video for all the details!


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