Lost in Summer / Hip Kit Club

Happy Weekend!  I have a new layout to share today for Hip Kit Club :)  This is my first layout using the new 2020 May Hip Kits, and let me just say WOW!  They are sooooo good!!  As soon as I saw this Vicki Boutin sunburst paper in the Main Kit I  squealed and knew I had to use it immediately.  I originally imagined designing this page with the sunbursts situated horizontally instead of vertically.  Once I had them down, I liked the way it looked like this, so I went with it.

I began by cutting along the lines of each sunburst up to the edge of the paper.  I distressed the edges so I could curl them up and give them texture.  I wanted some of the white background to show through.  I added a few borders along the right edges of the sunbursts using a bit of black & white striped paper and some of the rainbow washi tape.  I glued the sunbursts down and then machine stitched along the edges of each one using matching thread colors.

I smudged a little bit of white gesso along the center of the sunbursts to soften up the color around the photo.  Here you can see how it's a little faded there.  I also used watered down white acrylic paint to add some splatters.

I used several of the Dear Lizzy floral and tropical leaf stickers around the photo.  I also used a bird sticker...it was just too gorgeous not to use.  I used a few of the glittery Amy Tangerine puffy stickers and some of the exclusive floral cut files this month.  I cut a few flowers on white cardstock and used them as die cuts here.

I left the bottom right area of the page white.  I created a small cluster below the title using more stickers, blue thread and more of the floral cut file pieces.

I wanted some color behind the photo, so I used the Stamp Market ink pads from the Color Kit.  I stamped the red and orange pads onto some plastic packaging.  I spritzed it with water and then smushed the plastic down.  I tend to use blue on my backgrounds when scrapping pool photos, so I thought I'd go a different route and use some warm colors.  I wanted to achieve that bold red/orange look, so I had to work with it a bit to add a few layers of color.  I also used some gelatos from my stash.  I mixed and matched the title.  I fussy cut "lost in" from a Stamp Market paper and paired it some of the pink puffy Thickers.

I layered some blue behind the photo...a Pocket Life card and a blue frame die cut.  I like how the blue separates the photo from the background colors.  I also used more of the Dear Lizzy stickers on this side.

I added a few black & white butterfly stickers from Pink Paislee around the page as well.

And here are more close-ups...I am so in love with these colors and all the texture & dimension :)

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I had so much fun making this...everything was just so gorgeous!  It was so hard to pick and choose what to use.  You really can't go wrong.  I hope you love the kits as much as I do :)

Here's my process video:

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

You Are Colorful / Shimmerz Paints

Hey, friends!  It's the last day of school here...yay!  I have a new layout for Shimmerz Paints to share featuring some beautiful Shimmerz along with a cut file.  I was inspired to put this color scheme together by the "Colorful" title sticker.  It's from Vicki Boutin, and I love the rich rainbow colors.  This Poppy Frame cut file is from Just Nick, and it was the perfect overlay for my colorful background.

The colors I used are:

• Shimmerz Pip Pip Cherry-O
• Shimmerz Wed Wagon
• Shimmerz Iris My Case
• Inklingz Old Yeller
• Inklingz Blue Lagoon

I used white cardstock to cut the cut file and also as my background.  I started by coating the background with clear gesso.  I wanted to create a rainbow color wash behind where the cut file would go, giving instant life to the open flowers.  I added a bit of each color using a brush and then spritzed it all with water.  I used a brush to help spread and blend the colors around.  I added more water and less color as I got lower on the page to make it lighter and more faded.  Once it dried, I glued the cut file down over it.  Instant beauty!

I only glued the cut file down along the edges.  I popped up the flowers a bit by adding tiny bits of adhesive foam under them.  Here you can see the beautiful shimmer from the color.

All of the embellishments I used are from Vicki Boutin Color Kaleidoscope.  I used some cut bird & flower stickers and some flower die cuts.  I popped most of them up using adhesive foam.

I created a little floral cluster down at the bottom using the same colors and then added in a few chipboard word pieces.  I tucked some yellow orange tangled thread under the large pink flower.

I love this little bird...he looks like he's looking at the photo.  I placed some smaller flowers around the top part of the layout as well.

How beautiful is this title sticker?!  I loved creating the background to match.

I thought these two cameras were so cute, so I layered them together.

I really love these deep rich colors.

Here are few more close-ups of all the beautiful shimmery colors and details :)

I hope this inspires you in some way today.  How often do you create a color scheme around one single item?  I usually create a color scheme first and then hunt for embellishments to match.  This layout was the opposite.  Sometimes it's fun to search through your stash and become inspired by something you forgot you had...haha!

Here's the process video for this page:

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Hello Summer / Paige Evans DT

Hey friends!  Happy Tuesday :)  I'm here with a fun & bright layout for the Paige Evans Design Team featuring Paige’s new 6x6 Fish Stencil. It’s perfect for summer pages! I combined it with Paige’s Fish Background cut file. I mixed and matched a few of her collections including Bloom Street, Truly Grateful, and Horizon.

My pool photos were a great match for my design idea. I began by covering the smooth white cardstock with clear gesso. Then I scraped some modeling paste over the Fish Stencil on the bottom of the page. The “water” was going to take up the bottom half, and once the fish were dry, I mixed Distress Oxides with Shimmerz to create all the blue area. I cut the Fish Background cut file from Horizon Paper 12 to get every bright color of fish.

Once the blue area was dry, I wanted to enhance some of the textured fish. I used a foam ink blending tool to lightly smudge white acrylic paint over some of them. I love how this makes some of the fish more visible and also looks like bubbles in the water. I added quite a few of the die cut fish all through the water. I added adhesive foam behind some of them and I arranged them in different directions. I used a few Truly Grateful Cardstock Stickers as layers around my photos and I tucked in a few colors of tangled thread for added color & texture.

I wanted my title to be as bright as the fish, so I mixed and matched Bloom Street Puffy Vinyl Stickers with the Truly Grateful Thickers. I fussy cut a floral cluster from a Bloom Street 2x2 Paper Pad and added it beside the title along with tangled blue thread.

It was so fun to mix collections together...even though the Truly Grateful collection is more of a Fall collection, it has amazing Summer colors.  These scallops were perfect.

How perfect is this Horizon paper for these fish?  It was super easy to get a ton of colorful fish just by using this one paper.  Here you can see how the white paint made some of the fish really pop.

I added yellow Distress Oxides and Shimmerz above the photo to mimic the sunshine. I added a big puffy sun from the Truly Grateful Epoxy Stickers, which I popped up for dimension. I also looped yellow thread under it. I added in a matching Bloom Street Cardstock Sticker above the photo.

I didn't even think about my journaling until the layout was almost finished.  I realized the only spot left for it was up top, and I hardly ever write anything in that area on my layouts.  However, there was no space down below.  I actually think it looks okay up here.

Here are a few more close-ups of all the color and texture!

I love how this page turned out so much! If you love making summer layouts you must get your hands on this Fish Stencil. You can find all of her stencils including all 7 new ones HERE. I hope you are inspired by this! Bright summer colors are my favorite!

Here is my process video showing how I made this from start to finish:

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Using Older Supplies / Hey Paige

Hey, friends!  I'm so excited to share a new layout I made just for fun :)  I pulled out some old My Mind's Eye collections to play with.  I have so much stash on my shelves because I'm a hoarder...haha.  Now that my channel is back, I want to get back into using some older supplies.  I used the Jubilee, Now & Then and Cut & Paste collections...mostly Jubilee.  Everything is from 2013-2014, and I have it all stored together.  I just pulled it all out and picked out some things that jumped out at me.

Right away I saw a color scheme I loved.  I chose a black & white patterned paper to use as a background.  I coated a lot of it with white gesso to blend out some of the pattern and give me some white space to work with.  I was in the mood to play with an older chevron stencil, so I pulled that out and smudged some gelatos over it.  I used my fingers to smudge the color along with a water brush.  This helped my background get started and helped me decide where I wanted everything to go.  I used the gelatos with some plastic packaging to add some watercolor splotches, so some of the chevrons were blended out.

I used lots of different kinds of things...die cuts, 3x4 cards, chipboard, plastic overlays, patterned papers, brads and even rub-ons.  I just chose items that were either pink, orange and aqua.  I also chose items with black and white.  I placed my photo on top of the mixed media area and then just started placing the pieces around it.  I thought the ice cream cones were cute, and they matched.  I fussy cut this hello cloud from a bigger die cut.  I used a few papers behind the photos as well as the edges of a plastic overlay.  My title stickers are from an older Bella Blvd sticker sheet.

At the bottom, I layered in several word and phrase stickers.  I was so pleasantly surprised that these rub-ons still worked all these years later!  I used the loopy loop one down here.  These hears are from a plastic overlay.  I just trimmed them out and placed them around the layout.

I love this pink scalloped chipboard piece.  I placed it under the photo.  The "hey" chipboard piece matched and it was the right size, so it worked down in the corner of the photo.  I found some tiny heart pieces that worked.  Here you can also see the machine stitching I did using black thread.  I stitched on the background before I added anything to it, and then I stitched under this sticker after I glued it down.

I found a few chipboard buttons in this collection, so I used those here on the left side of the photo.  I even used a few brads...woo hoo!  I had forgotten about brads...they're so fun!  I punched a few pink and aqua circles from some 6x6 patterned papers and placed those around the page as well.

I love all these textures and products mixed together!

I didn't mention earlier, but I also used some Shimmerz on the background.  I sprayed a few colors including Pink Stilettos, Sweetheart, Well Blue Me Down and Mango Tango.  The black splatters are Shimmerz Night Moves.

I created a small cluster on the top right area using stickers and punched circles.  I fussy cut "love" from a larger sticker.  I decided the sides of the layout needed something, so I used a black & white striped MME paper along the edges.

I popped up some of the circles to add some dimension.

I hope this inspires you in some way.  It felt so great to use up some older goodies that I've been saving (err...hoarding) for so long.  I encourage you to dig around and see what you've got and make it look new again.  This was so fun!

Here's the process video for this layout:

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Hope you all have a great weekend :)

Summer Days / Hip Kit Club

Hey, friends!  Here's my newest layout for Hip Kit Club.  This is my sixth page using the 2020 April Hip Kits.  I wanted to create a page using the summer color scheme from the Carta Bella Summer Market sticker sheet.  It includes some colors I usually tend to shy away from...mainly reds and greens.  However, I loved how summery they looked mixed with the yellow, soft pink and light blue.  So I just went for it!

I also used one of the exclusive free cut files for this month.  I began by cutting the butterflies on various patterned papers and one on white cardstock.  I used a Summer Market paper as my background...I love the yellow and white gingham print.  I covered a lot of it with white acrylic paint and then white gesso.  This blurs out a lot of the print and gives me some white space to work with.  I wanted the pattern to show mostly around the edges.

I used the Art Philosophy Watercolors from the Color Kit along with a few blue Lindy's sprays from previous kits.

I knew I wanted to use this Summer banner sticker to pull all the colors together.  I popped it up with some adhesive foam and added DAYS using the pink foam Thickers.  I fussy cut a few flowers to create a small floral cluster here.  I like the pop of red it brings to this part of the page.

I scattered the butterflies at the top of the layout so it looked like they were flying out from behind the photos.  I glued the centers down and then machine stitched through them creating some trails.

I was so excited when I found these photos of my daughter wearing a swimsuit with these same colors!  They were a perfect match.  I used a few stickers here to create another cluster along with some blue tangled thread.

I used matching thread to stitch through each butterfly.  I love how the wings just float up off the page!

I used the plastic packaging technique to apply the color as well as just spraying it directly onto the paper.  I used a brush and extra water to help it blend and spread.  I added splatters as well.

Here are more close-ups :)

I definitely went out of my comfort zone using some of these colors, but it was a fun challenge.  Even some of your least favorite colors can look great when paired with other colors.  It also helped that my photos had all those colors, too.  I hope this gives you some inspiration today!

Be sure to check out my process video here if you're interested:

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I'll see you again soon!