Carried Away / Hip Kit Club

Happy Monday, friends!  Here's a new layout for Hip Kit Club I created last week.  I used the 2020 April Hip Kits, and I featured all the adorable hot air balloons on this page.  All of these balloons are from the Crate Paper Sweet Story collection...a combination of chipboard stickers, cardstock stickers and images I fussy cut from a patterned paper.  I used the beautiful exclusive hot air balloon cut file designed by Anett as well...you can get that for free over on the website!

I used the gorgeous Art Philosophy Watercolors from the Color Kit on the background (the yellow portion).  I used a few Lindy's Gang Starburst Sprays from older Color Kits for the blue portion.  The two mixed created the pretty green.  I decided to leave the cut file plain and just place it over the watercolor.  I love how that looks!

I used thick smooth white cardstock as my background, and I coated it with clear gesso first.  I used the plastic packaging technique to apply the watercolor, and I love how that turned out.  I love the abstract "sky" behind the cut file.  I played around with the placement of all the balloons, and I wanted them to look as real as possible.  Since they were all different sizes, it was easy to create depth with them.  I added adhesive foam behind them to pop them off the page.  I mixed and matched the two sets of Thickers in the kits to create the title.

These colors....squeal!  I might have an obsession with bright colors.  (((Shocker...haha)))  I almost backed the cut file with patterned paper, but once I laid it over the background I knew I didn't want to cover it up.  Cut files don't always have to be used in complicated ways :)

I created a fun little cluster on the far side of the photo using some fussy cut flowers, chipboard, stickers, a glittery dimensional butterfly and a floral wreath that I fussy cut from a Pocket Life card.  My photo allowed for some overlapping, so I added the "smile" right on top of it.  My daughter was swinging, and she threw her foot up just as I snapped the photo.  Her face is priceless, and I just love this perfectly imperfect shot :)

The two blue colors I used from Lindy's are Tiffani Lou Blue & Blue Hawaiian Blue.  I LOVE how they look mixed together!  I did add in some tangled thread in a few places for added texture and color.

Here's another angle of all the beautiful balloons.  This big floral one I cut from a Pocket Life card...isn't it gorgeous?!

I added some tissue paper, patterned paper and part of a Pocket Life card behind the photo for some layering.

Also, I've mentioned this before, but whenever you have metallic stickers like these here...if the shine is too much, you can mute it a little by smudging some white gesso over the letters.  I did that here, and they're still shiny, just not as much.

I hope this gives you some fun ideas to try...I had a lot of fun putting this together!  I think the April Kits have been my favorite of 2020 so far.  I just keep getting inspired every time I look at them.

Here's my process video for this:

Thank you so much for stopping by!  See you again soon, and have a great week!