Lucky / Paige Evans DT

Hello again, friends!  I have a new layout to share for the Paige Evans Design Team featuring her new Bungalow Lane collection.  This is my first layout using this new line, and I just love the colors!

I couldn’t resist creating a fun rainbow design. I started by choosing six patterned papers from the 12x12 Paper Pad. I cut arcs in each color to create the rainbow which stretches horizontally across the entire page. I decided to embellish with small pieces in a tone-on-tone manner to keep the rainbow theme flowing. I also added some matching colors of Shimmerz to create a watercolor effect on the background.

I used thick white cardstock for the base and I coated it with clear gesso first before adding any paint. I used a brush to paint the color on above the red arc and below the blue arc at the bottom. I wanted it to look like the layout was left out in the rain and the rainbow started leaking color. Once that was done, I glued down the rainbow arcs and then machine stitched through each one using matching thread. I also distressed the edges to create some texture. I splattered white acrylic paint to create a weathered effect. 

 

Once I arranged the photos, I started going through the embellishments. I tucked in a few of the Epoxy Puffy Stickers, Cardstock Stickers, Layered Stickers, pieces from the 8-Page Sticker Book, Foam Phrase Stickers, and Ephemera Die Cuts all around the photos in the color coordinated areas.

Here you can see more of the watercolor effect. For the title I used this large “Lucky” Foam Phrase Sticker. I love that it was perfect for my rainbow theme and it worked great on this white area. It has gold foiling, which is so pretty. I added more embellishments here at the bottom. I fussy cut a butterfly from one of the 2x2 Paper Pads and popped up several pieces with adhesive foam. I wrote the journaling with a black fine-tip Sharpie and tucked in a few colors of matching thread in a few places.

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It's so much fun going through all of the embellishments to pick and choose what to put where.  When you do a tone-on-tone design, it helps you narrow down your choices--meaning you only have so many blue things to add to the blue area. 

As a final touch, I hand cut a few little clouds using scrap Bazzill textured white cardstock. I distressed the edges and smudged a bit of a gray gelato to give them depth. I love adding clouds to a rainbow layout! I finished the page off with gold paint splatters.

A new addition to this collection is these Epoxy Stickers.  They are are really neat.

Sometimes I like to tone down the shine on pieces that have metallic gold foiling, so I use my finger to smudge some white gesso over it.  It's still shiny, but just a little more matte.

Here are more close-ups of all the pretty things :)

As far as the mixed media goes on this, I was very intentional about where I added the paint.  I wanted it just peeking out at the top and at the bottom, so I controlled how much I added with a brush.  Also, adding the gesso first was crucial to helping the colors blend and spread out so nicely.

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 I hope you got some fun ideas to try from this layout!  I love rainbow pages, and they always make me happy.  I'm looking forward to making more layouts using this beautiful collection :)

Here's my process video:

 

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Hello Today / Paige Evans DT

Happy Friday, friends!  I'm back today with a new mixed media layout for the Paige Evans Design Team featuring lots of hearts. I mixed Paige’s Wonders and Go the Scenic Route collections to create a fun blue, pink, and orange color scheme. I pulled a heart punch from my stash and went to work with some of the patterned papers. My design idea changed several times and I wound up trimming the hearts to make them a little smaller. I also used the trimmed outline of the hearts on the page. 

I used Wonders Paper 3 for the background and I coated a lot of it with white gesso - this helped to fade some of the pattern and prep the paper for inks and sprays. I scraped a few matching Distress Oxides across the paper and added a bit of water to make the colors run and blend.

 

I decided to stack my two photos vertically and place the hearts around them. I distressed the edges of the solid hearts, glued them all down, and then machine stitched through the centers with gold metallic thread. I also used a few matching Shimmerz sprays to add some splatters as well as some Jen Hadfield Gold Glitter Spray. I embellished around the photos with a few Wonders Ephemera Die Cuts and Epoxy Phrase Stickers.

I made sure to not glue down the entire heart pieces so the ends would bend up off the page. Here at the bottom, I added an Ephemera Die Cut onto the bottom photo and I fussy cut “home” from another piece. I added “life” from the Epoxy Phrase Stickers. I tried to keep the embellishing tone-on-tone. I added matching colored thread in each of the three color areas and then finished off with sequins from my stash.

I love how the ink colors turned out here in this area. I splattered down white acrylic paint before everything was completely dry, and I love the effect that creates. I created a small title on top of the photos. I fussy cut “hello” and “smiles” from Paper 24. The “today” is from the Go the Scenic Route Puffy Word Stickers.

 I love how the edges of the hearts pop up off the page.  Instant dimension and texture :)

I really love how the inks blended here...it looks so dreamy with these colors!  Also, if you like to use thread like I do and you don't have the exact color you want, blend two colors together.  I added some red thread here to this pink and unless you get up really close it looks like that darker pink color.

I also really love the effect of white paint splatters.  Such a small detail with a big impact.

More close-ups of all the details :)

I hope this gives you some ideas to try on your next page.  I had fun making this, even if I didn't know where it was going for a while...haha.  Just keep playing around and eventually an idea will form!

Here's my process video:

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a wonderful weekend :)

Welcome to Paradise / Cut to You 3rd Anniversary Celebration

Hello again, friends!  I have another layout to share for Cut to You as a guest designer.  July marks the 3rd Anniversary of the Cut to You cut file store, and I'm excited to be a part of the celebration!  Thank you to Gwen for inviting me to play along :)  For this page I used her Fern Foliage cut file along with the Cocoa Vanilla Studios Sunkissed collection.

And don't forget, you still have a few more days to get 20% off all cut files in the store using the code MISSY.  July 31st is the last day!  Go shop now :D

I wanted to create a tropical layout, so I went with lots of green leaves and bright flowers.  I first cut the leaves on textured white cardstock.  I coated the leaves with white gesso using my finger and then painted them with several green Shimmerz Paints (Creameez Boogie Boardin' Blue, Shimmerz Rita on the Rocks, Inklings Honey Do List, Olive U Truly & Green Goddess, Vibez Palm Reader and Spritz 4 Leaf Clover & Olive Branch).  I used thick white cardstock for the background, and I coated it with clear gesso before adding color.

I used the packaging technique on the background with some pink, orange and yellow Shimmerz sprays.  I used Vibez Sweetheart, Coloringz Peachy Keen and Vibez Mustard Seed with a bit of Spritz Ruby.  I kept adding color until I liked how it looked.  Then I used a palette knife and scraped on some Pink Opal Nuvo Glimmer Paste...I love that stuff!  I also sprinkled some white acrylic paint and some Jen Hadfield Gold Glitter Spray.  LOTS of different products!  Once everything was dry, I glued down the cut file and then added adhesive foam behind all the leaves to pop them up off the page.

I went through all of the die cut flowers from the Sunkissed collection and added them around the leaves and the photos.  I chose this die cut to use for the title here below the photo.  I popped up a lot of the flowers to add to the dimension and then topped the centers with some of the Essential Jewels from Pinkfresh Studio.  I found a Heidi Swapp stamp in my stash that I added here below the title using gold ink.

I just love how this looks!  At one point during the background process, I did use some distress oxides over a leafy stencil, but I didn't love how it looked.  I washed it out a bit with some water...you can see a few hints of that here behind the cut file.  You can see how I did all that in my video down below :)

Leaves and flowers are wonderful embellishments to use for creating depth.  The edges curl up so easily off the page.  Add some foam under them and you really get some shadowing!  Here you can also see the fun glittery finish from the Glimmer Paste.

I added some matching colors of thread in a few places for even more color and texture.

I love this treatment of a cut file...gluing it down flat to the background and then popping up the little inside pieces.  It just makes it come to life, and it's so fun to look at :)

I used a few of the Sunkissed Puffy Sticker flowers as well as some of the Clear Stickers.

Here are a few more angles to see everything :)

I hope this inspires you in some way today!  Gwen's cut files are so amazing, and you should go right now and stock up while they're 20% off!  Again, use the code MISSY at check out.  Go HERE.

Here's my process video:

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

Sweet Summer Vibes / Cut to You 3rd Anniversary Celebration

Happy Thursday, friends!  I'm excited to be a part of a fun celebration this month--Cut to You is celebrating it's 3rd Anniversary, and I was asked to take part...yay!  My wonderfully talented friend Gwen Wruck owns the online cut file store, and she makes the most amazing digital designs.  I created this layout using the Summer Vibes cut file.

Also, you can use the code MISSY to get 20% off ALL cut files during July!  Go check it out...I'm telling you there are tons of amazing cut files there!

Here is what I came up with--a summer layout (SHOCKER)...haha!  I couldn't resist the opportunity to use a shaped photo inside the sun.  It was the perfect photo for it, so I went with the idea.  I pulled out a bunch of my old stash.  I used some older Pink Paislee Citrus Bliss along with some older Echo Park and Simple Stories from 2014-2015.  I cut the Summer Vibes on textured white cardstock and went through all the papers I had.  I traced the letters onto various papers and cut them out.  For the sun, I used the inside pieces from the cut file instead of patterned papers.  I used some Shimmerz sprays to color them, and then I decided to color the actual outline of the sun as well. 

I used thick white cardstock for the background, and I coated with clear gesso first.  I wanted to create a sky and water effect, so I went with lots of blues.  I used three different blue Shimmerz sprays to create a color wash.  Once that dried, I used some Distress Oxides over a dotted stencil to create some small splatter effects.  I decided to glue the cut file down and then pop the letters up with adhesive foam.  I low how that looks, and it creates great dimension.

Here you can also see the small embellishments I used.  I tried to match up the colors, but some pieces are scattered around, like this palm tree. These are all either small die cuts, stickers or images I cut out from papers from all those older collections.

I popped up the pieces of the sun so there would be a bit of depth and shadowing.  I'm so glad I wound up coloring all the parts of the sun.  It contrasts very well with all the blue in the photo.  I used a glittery puffy "sweet" sticker and some die cuts from Pink Paislee here as well as some Simple Stories stickers.  I also added a bit of pink thread here under the photo.

I love cut files like this because it's just fun to sort through papers and decide which ones to use.  This is a great way to use up smaller scraps because you only use a small piece of the paper.  It also allows you to get lots of color & pattern on the page without it being overkill.  I found this cute little flamingo sticker here...perfect match!

I topped off all the letters with some of the Essentials Jewels from Pinkfresh Studio...they are amazing and give such great sparkle!

I found some cute cloud stickers on the Simple Stories sticker sheet, and they inspired me to cut a few white ones of my own.  I cut three small clouds from white cardstock, distressed the edges and added a smidge of grey gelato to give them some shadowing.  I also added some Jewels to those.

I added some white acrylic paint splatters and some gold spray splatters...I couldn't resist :D

Here are the rest of the close-ups...I really love how everything turned out on this!

I hope this inspires you today!  I want to thank Gwen for inviting me to be a part of her celebration.  She's the sweetest, she definitely creates some gorgeous cut files.  Don't forget to use the code MISSY to get 20% off through the end of July!

Here's my process video:

Thanks for stopping in, and I'll be back next week with another Cut to You layout :)