Love You My Girl / Pinkfresh Studio

Happy Weekend, friends!  I have a new layout to share for Pinkfresh Studio today.  It features the new Blossoms & Berries Washi Tape which was just released earlier this week.  I used that with bits and pieces from the Happy Blooms collection.

I used white textured cardstock for the background, which I coated with clear gesso.  I wanted to add a neutral color behind the photos and washi flowers, so I went with grey.  I used the Licorice & Metropolis Ink Cubes to add that color.  I scraped the ink pads onto the paper and then used a brush & water to turn it into watercolor.  The washi tape is really easy to use...I rolled it onto some white cardstock and then used the coordinating metal die to cut them out on my manual diecutting machine.  Some of them I fussy cut from clusters to add in a few places.

 

These pink flowers and strawberries are so pretty!  I tucked the photos into the wreath of flowers and leaves to begin.  I layered more flowers around them in a few areas along with some die cuts & stickers from Happy Blooms.  I popped the photos up with some adhesive foam to create some dimension and layered some white tissue paper and a bit of pink patterned paper behind them.

I fussy cut a few butterflies from a patterned paper to add in a few places and then machine stitched little trails behind them using gold metallic thread.

Here you can see the layers behind the photos and the layering of the flowers.  I did add some pink and gold to the background as well.  I used some Shimmerz sprays and some Heidi Swapp Gold Color Shine.  I also darkened up some of the grey areas with a grey Shimmerz spray.

Did I mention that the washi tape has gold foiling on it?  Look how gorgeous that is!  I mixed two thread colors together here to try and match the color of the flowers.  I sprinkled some of the Essentials Crystals around the page as well...they are my favorite!

I fussy cut this white and green scalloped circle from a patterned paper and the cut it in half to use in two places.  I searched the whole Happy Blooms collection for anything pink or green that went with what I was creating and made it work.

I love how you can see the texture from the cardstock behind the mixed media.

Here at the top I layered in a flower, a few stickers and another scalloped circle that I fussy cut from the 6x6 Paper Pad.

I went small with the title and used this "Love You" that I cut from a patterned paper.

Towards the end I decided to add another small title at the bottom using the puffy alpha stickers.

As always, I take a lot of close-ups...haha.  So here are a few more of all the pretty details :)

I hope this inspires you in some way today.  It was a lot of fun to put together, and I just love this beautiful washi tape.  There are several new styles, so go HERE to see all of them!

Also, I wanted to say that this is my last layout for Pinkfresh Studio.  I have decided to not return for the next term starting next month.  I have been with the team for 2.5 years, and I feel like it's time for me to take a break.  I absolutely love the company, the products and the amazing owners.  I'm just feeling overwhelmed lately with deadlines.  I'm finding that scrapping on demand is taking the joy out of it for me these days, and it's causing me to want to scrap less and less.  I'm trying to not stop altogether, but honestly I'm struggling to WANT to sit down and make pages.  I've been going on design teams nonstop since 2010 and it's finally catching up with me.  I do plan on remaining on the Paige Evans DT and just maybe creating for fun with some of my old hoarded stash and see how it goes.  

Anyway, I do have a process video here if you'd like to check it out!

 

 

 Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Read Books / Crafting About Reading YouTube Hop

Hello again, friends!  I'm so honored to be a part of the Crafting About Reading YouTube Hop created by my amazingly talented scrappy friend Becki Adams.  This Hop is in honor of her sweet son, Austin, who passed away unexpectedly a few years ago.  The anniversary of his passing is coming up on July 4th, and a group of designers are joining Becki to commemorate a special reading project that she and her family created.  They started a book donation program to collect books for their local library in Austin's name.  This is the sweetest thing, and if you're interested in purchasing some books to donate, you can find out all about it HERE.

I used the Paige Evans' Pick-Me-Up collection for this, and I began by cutting out a bunch of books from one of the patterned papers.  I decided to do a large title and place the books behind the letters.  I typed READ in a block font and cut it on textured white cardstock on my Silhouette Cameo.  I used smooth thick white cardstock for the base, and I coated it with clear gesso first.  I used a mix of Shimmerz sprays to get that periwinkle blue color on the background (Blue Jeans, Deep Blue Sea & Sweetheart).  Once that was done, I glued down the books.

 

Also on the background I splattered some white acrylic paint as well as some pink, orange and gold splatters using more Shimmerz sprays.  I embellished around the page using stickers from Paige's Sticker Book from a few years ago. 

Before gluing down the READ paper, I hand stitched around all the letters.  I know!  I haven't done that in FOREVER!  I used pink, orange, yellow and blue embroidery floss.  Then I added adhesive foam behind the whole thing to pop it up off the page.  I love the dimension that creates!  I had originally wanted to leave that paper white, but later decided to add some smudgy color.  I went around the edges of each letter with a bit of grey just to add some depth.  I used a grey gelato for that.  Then I used Distress Oxides to add the color around the edges of each letter.

I popped up the photos with adhesive foam, too and then added matching colors of tangled thread.  I layered a few patterned papers behind the photos, also from the Pick-Me-Up collection.

I wanted to add a smaller secondary title down here at the bottom, so I used the white foam alphas from the collection for that.  I also added a few more stickers from the Sticker Book here.

Here are a few more close-ups of all the details.  You can see how I made this whole layout in my process video down below.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  There are several other designers joining in on this Hop, so check out that list in my description box when you click on my video.  

Also, thank you to Becki for inviting me to join her.  She is the sweetest person you'll ever meet, and her work is just incredible.  She's very inspiring in so many ways <3

Have a great day, friends!

Sweet Life / Pinkfresh Studio

Hello again, friends!  I have a new layout to share for Pinkfresh Studio.  I used the Happy Blooms collection for this, and I just love the color scheme!  I wanted to use patterned papers for the background instead of cardstock, so I combined two.  The two papers are Together and Cottage.  I wanted the pink to show behind the floral paper, so I tore a big chunk of the floral paper and glued it to the pink one.  I used a lot of white gesso to fade out some of the pattern and prepare it for some watercolors.  I love doing this to enhance the photo and to make the pattern less busy.

After the gesso dried, I used some watercolors from my stash to create a blue and green area on the background.  I initially wanted to use a lot of green, but I wound up using blue as well.  I didn't use any pink watercolor since there is already so much pink everywhere else.  I layered a few of the large envelopes behind the photo and then added a few of the label-style die cuts.  I hadn't planned on using any of the fruits, but I did!  I used the strawberries & pears.  They matched so perfectly.

Don't forget that the Pinkfresh Studio Liquid Watercolors are being phased out, and whatever is left is currently on clearance.  I layered the Thistle Bloom cut file behind my photos, which I cut pretty small on some white cardstock.  I used the green puffy alphas for part of my title, but I altered the color.  I've done this before, and it's really easy.  Just use your finger to add a few coats of white gesso to the letters and then simply paint over them!  I used the same blue & green colors on these letters that I used on the background.  I paired the "sweet" with the "life" die cut.

I did use a small brush and added a bit of a brighter pink watercolor to the "life" piece to bring that bright pink color down to this area of the page.  I created a little cluster here with more of the pears, which I popped up using adhesive foam.  The smaller one is actually a sticker that I cut out.  I layered a few more label stickers down below that.  All this created the perfect little nook for my journaling.

Here you can see the awesome texture that the gesso made.  It gives some grit to the page and works so well with water colors!  I also tucked in some matching threads here for more texture :)

I love these large envelopes with the round clasp...I love the look of the string on the layout.

I used two matching butterfly puffy stickers here.

I scattered around lots of the Essentials Jewels...they are my favorite!  Such awesome texture and sparkle :)

I took lots of close-ups so take a look!

I hope this gives you some fun ideas to try today...I really love how this turned out.  And I learned that I should never rule out using items that I said I'd "never use"...like the fruit!  When I first saw those I thought I'd probably never use those.  Well here we are...haha!  You just never know :D

Here's my process video:

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

Fantastic Fun Adventures / Paige Evans DT

Happy Monday, friends!  I'm sharing my newest layout for the Paige Evans Design Team today.  I used Paige's Wonders collection along with one of her older cut files.  It's called Wonky Plaid Background, and I cut in on Paper 02 from Wonders.  I just love the rainbow colors!  I tore the paper and added parts of it to a sheet of thick white cardstock.  I coated most of the background with clear gesso to prep it for some fun mixed media :)

I used a variety of Shimmerz sprays...I used Deep Blue Sea, Jeni B Bleu, Elfin Magic, Mustard Seed, No Yoking, Pop Art Pink, Cotton Candy and Princess.  I embellished with lot of the large flowers from the Floral Die Cuts.

I just love these giant flowers.  They seemed intimidating at first, but once I started playing with them they were really fun to use.  I layered two over here on the right side and tucked in some green and blue thread.  I also used a gold foiled heart that I took off of one of the Lollies stickers.

I created another flower cluster over on the bottom right area using more of the large flowers.  I also fussy cut a few smaller ones from a tag on Paper 12.  The white spots are from some white acrylic paint that I splattered with a brush.

For the title I mixed and matched one of the Puffy Phrase Stickers with some of the little mini alphas from the 8-page Sticker Book.  I stuck the letters to some white cardstock and then cut it out so it would be one word.  I popped it up with some adhesive foam, and then I added "adventures" which I cut from Paper 12.  I mixed two blue threads here as well.

I couldn't resist making a cute banner border out of these cute Puffy Stickers.  I stuck them to some white cardstock first and then cut them out.

More big beautiful flowers over here on this side along with some orange and pink thread.  I just love how the flowers and leaves curl up like this :)

At the top of the photo I layered in a few more big journaling spot die cuts and a few more smaller flowers.

Here are a few more close-ups of all the details :)

I really had fun putting this page together...I just love using ALL the colors like this!  I hope this gives you some ideas to try on your next layout.  

Be sure to check out my process video to see the journey this page took...haha :D

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