Love You / Pinkfresh Studio February Challenge

Happy Tuesday, friends!  The February Challenge is up over at Pinkfresh Studio, and I have a layout to share based on it :)  The theme is love, and the color scheme fits the new My Favorite Story collection.  I used one of the Fan Freebie Cut Files (available soon) to start my heart design and went from there.

I cut three of the beautiful hearts using three patterned papers.  I arranged them in a vertical line and arranged my photos around them.  I wanted to create a mixed media background, so I used thick white cardstock as my base.  I coated a lot of it with clear gesso first.  I used the Liquid Watercolors...mostly pinks with some reds mixed in.  I added a few yellow and blue splatters as well.  Once that dried, I glued down and machine stitched the hearts.

I used a brush mostly to apply the watercolor.  I also spritzed the color with water and let the colors run and blend together.  I toned down the pink by adding in a bit of red.  I also mixed in some white acrylic paint to soften it up even more.  I used lots of the floral elements from the My Favorite Story collection as well as this cute pennant Puffy Sticker.

I added some white tissue paper and adhesive dimensional foam behind my photos.  These flowers are all from the Die Cuts pack.  Some of them I fussy cut from larger cluster die cuts.  I also added in a few Enamel Dots and even some bling from the Essentials Jewels Mix.

I added more flowers down at the bottom of the page as well as more flowers.  I added a smaller secondary title with a Puffy Sticker.  I also added a chipboard frame beneath this photo.

I went with a small main title up at the top.  I used one of the scripty Puffy Word Stickers and a Chipboard Sticker.  I placed the "Love" sticker on some white cardstock first and then cut it out.  I think this makes it stand out a bit more here.

I love this photo of my daughter laughing <3 :="" a="" above="" added="" and="" cut="" die="" flowers="" here="" i="" it.="" nbsp="" of="" on="" overlapped="" p="" photo="" s="" she="" some="" sweetest="" the="" top="">

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

I hope this gets you excited to join in with us this month!  You can find the February Challenge HERE.  You could win a $50 Gift Card to the Pinkfresh Store...wooooooooo!!

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

Paige / Hip Kit Club

It's the weekend...yay!  Here's my newest layout for Hip Kit Club :)  I used the 2020 January Hip Kits, and I am 100% in love with them!  I don't think I have ever loved a Cardstock Kit more than this month's...the colors are just beautiful.  I used Prince Charming as my background here...and it's got this gorgeous sheen to it.  It matches the Pinkfresh Studio My Favorite Story collection perfectly.

I used one of the exclusive cut files for this month as a main design element.  This floral wreath is so pretty.  I backed it with a few of the Pinkfresh Studio papers and added more floral die cuts on top of it.  To jazz up the background, I smudged white gesso behind the cut file.  I love that hazy white it creates.  I used the stencil from the Color Kit with some modeling paste behind the cut file, and I used the Lindy's Gang Magical in Plumeria Pink.  I mixed the powder with some white acrylic paint and used a brush to paint it behind the sides of the photo.

This texture is the coolest!  I especially love how the white looks on this dark blue background.  Mixing the pink powder with the paint created a chalky look.  I splattered some of the Lindy's Starburst Spray in Yellow Rose of Texas, which is from an older Color Kit.

I added some adhesive foam behind the cut file to raise it up off the page, which creates some awesome texture.

I tucked in some matching tangled thread in a few places.  I layered the cut file & a puffy sticker on top of the photo.  Since she was on the right side of the photo, there was extra space on the left for that.

Flowers are wonderful for creating dimension.  The petals are so easy to curl up like this.

I went simple with the title and just used my daughter's name.  It fit perfectly above the photo.

A few more close-ups because I always take too many :)

 I hope this inspires you today...I loved how this turned out!  I can't wait to see what you all make with your kits :)

The process video for this is up on the Hip Kit Channel HERE.

Have a great weekend :)

Love / Shimmerz Paints

Happy Thursday, friends!  Today I'm here with a new layout for the Shimmerz Paints Education Team featuring lots of beautiful Shimmerz.  I wanted to use lots of pink and red shades for Valentine's Day, and as I went I wound up adding in some orange and blue shades.  I began this layout with the Heart Swirls cut file by Paige Evans.  I welded three hearts together on white cardstock and did all my Shimmerz work behind it.

The colors I used on this page are:

• Inklingz Gosh Garnet
• Inklingz Lover's Lips
• Blingz Gold & Roses
• Inklingz Hot Stuff
• Coloringz Peachy Keen
• Shimmerz Wed Wagon
• Shimmerz Pumpkin
• Vibez Jeni B Bleu

I used smooth white cardstock as my base, and I coated most of it with clear gesso first.  I began with the Gosh Garnet.  It sounds red, but it's actually a very deep reddish pink with a gorgeous gold shimmer.  I added some paint to the background, spritzed it with water and used a brush to help spread the paint around.  I mixed in some Lover's Lips, Gold & Roses and Hot Stuff to get lots of red & pink shades.  I wanted to leaf the cut file white so it would show against the colors.

I sorted through some patterned papers from my stash and found two floral sheets.  I cut the big flowers from a Kaiser Craft sheet and the smaller pink ones from a Vicki Boutin paper.  The larger flowers had orange in them so that inspired me to add some orange to my background.  I layered some of these flowers on top of my photo as well as under it.  I felt I need to add a pop of a contrasting color, so that's where the blue came in.

I used Peachy Keen and Pumpkin with a hint of Wed Wagon to create some orange areas.  I felt like the bigger flowers looked more at home with these few colors on the background.  Once I decided to add in the blue, I splattered a bit of Jeni B Bleu, which was the perfect matching shade.

Here you can see the amazing gold shimmer from the Gosh Garnet.  You can see it even better up close in the process video!  I added some more blue pops with some thread here.  I went very simple with the title and used a Me & My Big Ideas sticker, which I stuck to some white cardstock and then cut out.

Oranges & pinks together...yesssss!  I love it.  I also used a few Shimmerz Dotz.  There are a ton of Dotz available in the store.

Sometimes I love backing a cut file with papers and sometimes I like to just leave it as is and let the background show through it.  Shimmerz are perfect for creating that background :)

Here are a few more close-ups of all the gorgeous colors & details.

I hope this inspires you to create a fun layout for February.  I love using hearts and flowers, and I definitely love pinks!  If you don't have any of these colors, I highly recommend them!  Be sure to check out my process video to see these colors in action.  Go HERE to see it :)

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Happy New Year 2020 / Hip Kit Club

Hello again, friends!  I'm back today to share my newest layout for Hip Kit Club.  This is my first layout using the 2020 January Hip Kits...woo hoo!  They are full of beautiful Pinkfresh Studio goodies, and the colors are my favorites!

My theme for last week was to use a Hip Kit cut file & circles.  I modified one of the cut files and only used the 2020 part of it.  These are some fun photos of me and my sister on January 1st.  We worked out together, so I wanted to document this first fun thing in 2020.  I used my own different sized circle punches to create the circles.  I used several patterned papers as well as some of the Pocket Life cards. 

Did you get the Cardstock Kit this month?  The colors are just stunning, so I pulled this gorgeous shimmery grey sheet to use as my background.  I felt it was  neutral enough to make all the other colors pop and still pull the greys from the photos out.

The lighting is kind of tricky on my close-ups.  I think the grey background plus the outside lighting on this day made it difficult to get good shots.  Hopefully you can still see the true colors.  On the background, I smudged a lot of white gesso behind where all the circles are.  I used all three Lindy's Gang Magical Powders from the Color Kit.  I added some darker shades of grey, some pinks and also some green splatters.  It's very soft and subtle.  I roughed up the edges of all the circles and added adhesive foam behind them to create some dimension.

I fussy cut "happy new year" from a Pocket Life card and layered it over some yellow thread and the 2020 cut file.  I used a few Pinkfresh Studio die cuts and stickers here, which I also popped up using adhesive foam.  I decided to do a little machine stitching as well with black thread.

There are also a lot of circle elements in the Pinkfresh Studio My Favorite Story collection.  I used a few of those amongst the circles also.

I tore this Hello 2020 from another Pocket Life card.  I really love the pops of black and white with all these pretty colors.  I did machine stitch around the edges of some of the circles for extra texture and pops of black.

I wanted to add something to this circle, so I added Let's Do This using the small white puffy alphas from Pinkfresh Studio.

I added a few hearts on top of the photos.  Side note:  optical illusion...my legs are nowhere near this long...haha!  I'm only 5'2"... :D

A few more close-ups :)  I added some black splatters using some Shimmerz from my stash.

I hope this inspires you in some way.  The 2020 January Kits are sooooo good.  I am excited to dig back in my for my next page!

I do have a process video for this over on the Hip Kit Channel HERE.  My channel is still lost...somewhere out there in hacker land.  (((((Sigh))))))

Have a great day!

Sunshine / Paige Evans DT

Happy Friday, lovely friends :)  I have a new layout to share for the Paige Evans Design Team today.  I used the NEW Bloom Street collection, and it's soooooo pretty!  Just when you think you have a favorite Paige collection, BOOM she comes out with yet another one that tops the rest.  AHHHH!

I made this page using only patterned papers, a few stickers and a roll of washi tape...all from Bloom Street.  Paige sent me a few pieces of the line early to make some layouts to display at Creativation last week.  So I got busy on this one :)  I used her Butterfly Background cut file and lots of the papers.  I wanted to use lots of patterns and colors, so this was a great (and easy) way to do that.  I also used an old Martha Stewart butterfly punch from my stash to make a few more butterflies.

The background is thick white cardstock, and I coated a lot of it with clear gesso first.  I used some matching colors of Shimmerz sprays to add some color behind the butterflies. 

To add the background color, I simply sprayed the colors down and spritzed it with more water.  I let the colors spread and blend.  I also splattered the same colors using the nozzles.  I used Vibez Rip Van Periwinkle, Vibez Cotton Candy, Vibez Plum Pudding, Coloringz Well Blue Me Down & Spritz You're the Zest.  I arranged all the butterflies and glued them down.  I machine stitched through some of them using white thread.  My machine started jamming, so some of them got a little messy.

Butterflies are great to use if you like dimension...the wings just naturally want to curl up.  I just adore all of these bright spring colors!  Well done, Paige!

Bloom Street has a pack of Washi Tape, and one of them has butterflies. I rolled some of that tape onto some white cardstock and then cut the little butterflies out and used them as die cuts.  I stuck a few on top of the photos here.  My title came from the Puffy Word Stickers Sheet, and I fussy cut this flower & leaves from Paper 02.

This really is a simple design...once you have the butterflies cut, it's just a matter of scattering them around and placing your photo.

More close-ups of all the fun texture and color!

I also used a few stickers from the Butterfly Embellishment Stickers.  The more butterflies, the better, right?!

I am in love with this collection...seriously!  It's beautiful in every way.  It should be available in stores soon, and you can pre-order it now HERE!


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