Always a Dreamer / Paige Evans DT

Happy Weekend, friends!  I'm back today with a new and bright layout for the Paige Evans Design Team featuring Paige’s Go the Scenic Route. I’ve been eyeing Paper 11 for a while, and I wanted to use it in a different way. I decided to fussy cut lots of the diamond shapes and use them as a main design element. As always with this collection I couldn’t narrow down which colors to use, so I just used them ALL…haha! 

I covered a sheet of thick white cardstock with clear gesso and then used a rainbow variety of Distress Oxides and Shimmerz sprays to add watercolor areas behind the diamonds. My photo helped determine where to place all the diamonds because it appears that she is looking up toward them sparkling in the sky. I popped up the diamonds to create dimension and then added embellishments around the photo.

I adore these beautiful, rich colors so much. I randomly scattered the diamonds mostly on the right half of the background. I overlapped a lot of them and tried not to make them too ordered. I made sure to scatter the colors around. I splattered the Shimmerz sprays in a few areas as well.

I love using little pieces like this because it allows you to use a lot of color & pattern without it being too overwhelming. 

I created a cluster of goodies below the photo. I didn’t want a large title, so I fussy cut a few tickets from Paper 17. They make a perfect smaller title. I added in a few of the Enamel Dots, Puffy Phrase Stickers, a Puffy Word Sticker, and a few Cardstock Stickers. I wanted to echo all the colors from the diamonds, so I made sure to use items with different colors and shapes. I tucked in orange and dark blue thread here, too.

Once the layout was almost finished, I decided there was just too much white space on the left side. I cut a crooked strip from the background and backed it with a sliver of Paper 17. I think that livened up that side of the page. I distressed the edge of the cardstock to give it some texture and I love how that detail added so much more to the layout. I felt like the diamonds needed a bit of sparkle, so I smudged Nuvo Glimmer Paste on most of them.

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

I had lots of fun making this page, and I hope it gives you some ideas to try on your next project! I’ve seen other designers use Paper 17 to create circles, so I wanted to try diamonds. It’s fun to try something different with a popular paper and see if you can use it in new way! 

 Here's my process video if you're interested in seeing how I put this together:

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a great weekend!

You Are Magical / Hip Kit Club

Hello, friends!  I'm back today to share my newest layout for Hip Kit Club.  This is my first page using the 2021 January Hip Kits, and they are so beautiful!  I started with a few of the rolled flower die cuts. They come plain and are meant to be painted or colored.  I coated them with clear gesso first and then used the Precious Posey Shimmerz from the Color Kithttps://www.hipkitclub.net/january-2021-color-kit to paint them.  I also used some of the Snow Way Man Vibez as well as the Naughty or Nice from last month's kit.  I loosely rolled them into a flower shape, and I love how pretty they turned out!  

I sorted through all of the embellishments and decided to use a few rainbow pieces as well as lots more flowers.  I used textured white cardstock from the Cardstock Kit for the background, and I coated it with clear gesso before adding color.  Again, I used the Precious Posey on the lower half and for the sky area, I mixed the Snow Way Man with a green Lindy's Gang spray we received in an older kit.

 

I love how dimensional these flowers are, and I love how shimmery they are here!  I decided to arrange all of the embellishments in a horizontal line around my photo.  These colors together are so pretty!  I popped up a lot of the die cuts to create some depth, and I also added in a few chipboard stickers.

I started with the rainbows and then added in the flowers kind of like a puzzle.  I love making clusters like this.  There are a lot of pretty flower die cuts in the kits, and I like that there are different sizes.  I added in a little bit of colored thread, too.

For some reason, I was feeling like this page needed a sky, so I created one :)  I hand cut some cute clouds for that space, and I popped them up with some adhesive foam.  I like to add some shadowing to clouds, so I used a metallic silver gelato for that.  I show how I did that in my video.

This die cut was perfect for my title, and it matched perfectly.  I created another little phrase cluster under it using a few of the chipboard phrase stickers.  I also used a small piece of the stitched clear stickers.  They're perfect for adding that stitched look on your page without having to use a sewing machine!

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

I love this texture!

I love how dreamy this turned out!  I hope it inspires you...at first I was intimidated by the rolled flowers because I wasn't sure how to roll them...haha.  I just played around with them until I liked how they looked.  I'm sure you could roll them tighter for an even more realistic looking flower with even more dimension!

Here's my process video:

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I'll be back tomorrow...yay!

Funny & Cute / Hip Kit Club

Happy Saturday, friends :)  Here's another layout I created using for Hip Kit Club using the 2020 December Hip Kits.  I decided to fussy cut lots of flowers from one of the exclusive patterned papers and start there.  I added some pops of blue by using a few small circle punches on a blue paper in the kits.  I wanted to make my own mixed media background, so I pulled out a sheet of textured white cardstock from the Cardstock Kit and coated it with clear gesso.  I used the Christmas Cheer & Naughty or Nice Shimmerz from the Color Kit to create a watercolor effect behind the photos.

I decided to arrange the photos in a crooked vertical pattern above and below the photos.  Here you can see the different heights of the flowers--I popped some of them up with adhesive foam.  It makes such a big impact, I think :)  I added in a few puffy stickers and used the black puffy alphas for the title.  I used a black fine tip Sharpie for the journaling.

Lots of layering behind the photo...some tissue paper, a Pocket Life Card, a chipboard frame and a chipboard tag.  I actually cut the frame in half and used the other half on the other side.  I tied some cord into the tag's hole to finish it off and then tucked some thread under the photo.

I started with the Shimmerz Christmas Cheer on the background.  It's a beautiful shimmery gold color.  I used the packaging technique to start and then later added in some of the Naughty or Nice.  Here on the top part of the page I used more popped up flowers, puffy stickers and blue thread.

I love this dimension...I think it just makes the page come to life!  I distressed the edges of all the flowers and then accidentally added some Shimmerz to them.  What I mean by that is when I was painting on the pink color in between the already glued down flowers, I accidentally got some on one of the coral flowers.  I loved how it added a bit of a darker edge, so I went ahead and kept painting it on the rest of the flowers...haha.  I think it made all the difference!

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

I love how the title looks wedged in the flowers here...a perfect fit.

I hope this inspires you today...I love when happy accidents actually make the page so much better!  I hadn't planned on adding color to the flowers, but I'm so glad I did!

Here's my process video:

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Love My Girl / Pinkfresh Studio

Hello again, friends!  Here's my newest layout for Pinkfresh Studio.  I used the Celebrate collection while I await the arrival of the new releases!  I used the Intricate Mandala Die to create these beautiful circles from a few patterned papers, and I arranged them in a vertical design.  I used smooth white cardstock for the background, I wanted to do some stamping on it.  I coated it with clear gesso first, and the I used the Straight Stripes Cling Rubber Stamp with the Rocky Slope Mini Ink to create some wonky stripes.  I stamped them down and then used a wet brush to blur some of the lines.  I love that "left out in the rain" look.  I also used the Licorice Liquid Watercolor to add more grey areas behind the photo and circles.

I fussy cut some flowers and leaves from another patterned paper to use as layers behind the circles.  I hadn't planned on adding any green to this page, but I tried it and I liked it.  I added in a few green leafy die cuts and some green thread.  I used the Heather Lowercase Alpha Die Set for half of the title.  I love these dies because you get two letters each time--the solid letter and the thin outline.  I used both here.  I paired that with some smaller puffy alphas from the Super Cool collection.

I love this color scheme so much.  The grey was the perfect addition to this, especially since I used a black and white photo.  I layered some white tissue paper under it as well as a pink square die cut.  The small pink flowers are from a patterned paper that I cut out.

I added some orange thread on this side of the photo and finished everything off with some of the Essentials Crystals.  They are the perfect addition for texture, dimension and sparkle.  I used the dark grey, green and pink ones.

Here are more close-ups of all the details.

The detail on this die is amazing...all those little cut out pieces!

I hope this inspires you in some way today...I sure had fun making it!  I love how something like a die can totally jump start an idea and basically create the design for you.  This one is a fave!

Be sure to check out my process video here for all the details:

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful week!

Fun Party on the Couch / Hip Kit Club

Happy Saturday, friends!  I have another layout to share for Hip Kit Club featuring the 2020 December Hip Kits.  I used several patterned papers from the Main Kit to create some strips to start the design.  I loved the all the colors together, so I layered the strips, glued them down and machine stitched through them before doing anything else.  I used textured white cardstock for the base, and then I coated the white areas with clear gesso.  I wasn't sure how much mixed media I was going to do, so I went ahead and prepped the paper just in case :)

Also, side note...I am learning how to edit my photos in Photoshop...yikes!  I have never used it before (I know...it's 2021...what's my deal?!) so hopefully these photos are okay as far as editing and visibility goes.  Photoshop is overwhelming to me!

I used all three Shimmerz colors from the Color Kit and the exclusive stamps to create these cute hearts.  I just painted the Shimmerz onto the heart stamp using a brush and then stamped it onto some scrap white cardstock.  So easy!  I cut them out and used them as embellishments.

I mixed and matched the title using some chipboard pieces and the small blue puffy alphas.  I wanted the papers to have a faded look, so I did smudged some white gesso over them.  I also did that to this dark blue chipboard "party" circle.  I used a few of the clear fireworks stickers and then added some white splatters using white acrylic paint.

Here you can see more of the details.  I distressed the edges of the papers before gluing them down.  I added some white tissue paper behind my photos for a subtle layer and then popped them up with some adhesive foam.  I used a black fine-tip Sharpie for my journaling.

I love how these hearts turned out!  I used the Naughty or Nice Shimmerz here on the background.  It matched this chipboard frame perfectly.  I added some of the stamped hearts and some blue thread.

More chipboard pieces, clear stickers and stamped hearts on this part of the page.

I had to have at least one of the paper strips look a little wonky, so I tore the edges...haha :D  I do love order, but I also love chaos on my pages :)

And I also love the phrases on these exclusive puffy stickers.  I used a few of those on the layout.

More close-ups of all the details :)

I hope this gives you some ideas to try on your next layout!  It's so interesting how each of my pages gets started.  Sometimes I start with the photo. Sometimes I start with papers...sometimes a sticker.  It just depends on the vibes of each process :)  These papers just jumped out at me, so I let them lead the way.

Here's my process video, so check it out if you want to see how I put this together:

Thank you so much for stopping by!  Have a fantastic weekend!