Thursday, April 22, 2021

Hello There / Paige Evans DT

Happy Thursday, friends!  I'm back today with a new layout for the Paige Evans Design Team featuring all the beautiful Washi Tape from Paige’s new Wonders collection. I used all the designs to create a fun and colorful background along with mixed media to match. I used thick smooth white cardstock for the base and I started by simply sticking strips of Washi Tape down starting from the top of the page. I originally went about half way down but then after adding the blue watercolor kept going all the way to the bottom. After applying the tapes, I coated the page with clear gesso before adding any watercolors. I softened up the tapes by smudging a bit of white gesso over some areas and then splattering white acrylic paint using a brush.


Here you can see how the white gesso fades out some of the color & pattern.  I love that cloudy look!  I also attempted to add some yellow gelato here above the photo, but I didn't like how it looked.  I just wiped it off, and most of it came up, but you can still see some of it.  Oh well....haha...keep going!

The Washi Tapes are all so beautiful I couldn’t choose a favorite. Once they were down, I machine stitched along each strip with a deep turquoise thread. I think this makes the tapes stand out a bit more and creates texture. I added a few 6x12 Cardstock Stickers in places which I popped up using adhesive foam.
I layered a few fussy cut tags from Paper 12 behind the photo. I distressed the edges and tied a twine bow on the end. I had already decided to use this big “Hello There” Chipboard Sticker before I even applied the Washi Tape, so I knew where it was going to go. I added several different sized flowers from the Floral Die Cuts around the photo as well as above and below it.
I created my own little journaling piece here by using the outline of a sticker I used on the page.  I fussy cut it out, stuck it to white cardstock, cut it again and then added my journaling.  I popped it up using adhesive foam.
I used a blue Shimmerz spray to create the blue watercolor area. My thought was since I had so much color & pattern from all the Washi Tape, a solid blue area would help balance everything out.  I kept the blue area open to give the eye a place to rest.  I added some orange thread here under the title.
It was after adding the blue that I decided to continue to washi strips down the bottom of the layout. I popped up some of the flowers with adhesive foam to create more dimension and I added in a few colors of tangled thread in a few areas for even more texture and color.
Do you use adhesive foam on a regular basis?  I use it on every layout...I just love how it brings such wonderful depth to the project.  I think this large flower looks so good popped up while the small blue one is flat.  You get that awesome shadow effect.  The pink flower is chipboard, so it was already dimensional.
Here come more close-ups...I always take a ton!





That's it!  I hope this inspires you in some way today.  These washi tapes are a WIN for sure!  You could do this type of design with any style of washi tape, or even strips of paper.  Give it a go :)

Here's my process video:


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


Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Current Mood / Pinkfresh Studio

Hey there, friends!  I have a new layout to share for Pinkfresh Studio.  I started out wanting to make a circle themed page, but my plans changed and I wound up making a soft summer pool page.  I used the Keeping it Real collection to showcase these cute photos of my daughter.

I decided to create a "sky" background.  I did some stencil work on the smooth thick white cardstock.  First I coated it with clear gesso.  I created the clouds using the Cloud Builder stencil.  It looks complicated, but it's really easy!  You just smudge some ink over the edge of it and it instantly creates a line of clouds.  I used the Ink Cubes to do that with an ink blending tool.  I created the yellow sun using the Layered Sunburst Stencil.  It contains three stencils, but I just used one.  Once that was done, I used  a bit of water on a brush to blend some of the color, giving it that "left out in the rain" look.  I used the same color inks to add some color below the photos.  I just scraped the actual ink pad across the paper and used water to blend it.

 

I used some of the floral die cuts to embellish around the photos, and I layered a few patterned papers behind them.  I love using blue on pool layout backgrounds because it looks like water, and these colors matched the photos perfectly.

I used some of the puffy alpha word stickers for the title.  I changed the color of them a bit by smudging some white gesso over them and then a few of the pink ink pads.  Worked great!  I also added "happy" in a few places.  I used the Heather Lowercase Dies to create them on white cardstock.  I machine stitched through it using blue thread and then created a small cluster of flowers below it.
I love these pretty spring colors.  I used some of the Essentials Jewels & Crystals to add a few spots of sparkle & shine.  They make excellent center pieces for flowers, too!
I added two more "happy" pieces at the top along with a few clouds that I fussy cut from white cardstock.  I used the Cloud Builder stencil and inks again and then cut a few out.  I wanted the top of the layout to be a little more dimensional, so these did the trick.  I machine stitched through them and added some of the Jewels.

I love all this wonderful dimension!  Here you can see the difference in the smooth background cardstock and the textured cardstock I used for the clouds.  A little texture makes a big difference :)
Here are some more close-ups of all the details :)




I hope this inspires you in some way today.  It was a lot of fun to make, and even though I had a different idea when I first started, I love how it evolved into this design.  Sometimes you just have to go with what you're feeling at the time.

Here's my process video:


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

Tuesday, April 6, 2021

This is My Favorite / Pinkfresh Studio April Challenge

Happy Monday, friends!  I'm back today to share the Pinkfresh Studio April Challenge over on the blog.  The color scheme is gorgeous, and the theme is GOLD!  Yesssss!  As always, if you join us, you could win a $50 gift card to the Pinkfresh Store!  Check it out:

Here is what I came up with.  I immediately thought of the beautiful new washi tapes for this challenge because they have gold foiling on them.  I have the Anemone Magic, English Garden & Joyful Bouquet tapes.  I started with those and cut a strip of each one on my manual die cutting machine.  I stuck them to white cardstock and it cuts easily.  I decided to create a gold mixed media background to enhance all the gold in the flowers.  I used some metallic gold craft paint and gold stitching.  I used bits and pieces from the two new collections Keeping it Real and Some Days.

 

I used a color photo strip and went with a sort of vertical design.  I layered lots of the washi flowers on both sides of the photo strip and then also tucked in some die cut flowers.

I used the packaging technique for the background, meaning I squirted some paint onto some plastic packaging, added some water to dilute it and then smushed the plastic on to the paper.  (I did use clear gesso first).  I also used a brush to add splatters using the paint.  Once that dried, I went back and forth with my sewing machine to add all that fun stitching texture.  Here you can see the shine on the flowers!
I layered some torn patterned paper, a few cut apart pieces & one of the large envelopes behind the photos.  I did pop all of that up with some adhesive foam.  Here you can see some of the die cut flowers and even puffy sticker flower down here with the washi flowers.  I also added some of the Essentials Jewels & Crystals around the page.
I fussy cut this cute circle from a patterned paper and popped it up.  In addition to the gold splatters, I used a few of the blue Ink Cubes to add some blue splatters.  I just smushed the pads onto some plastic, added water and then splattered it around like watercolor.
For the title, I fussy cut this piece from the same cut apart sheet.  I also machine stitched on that with the same gold thread, and I textured up the edges.  I just had to add this "good for the soul" sticker...it was too perfect.
I tucked in some of the die cut leaves as well as some tangled thread in a few places.
I took lots of close-ups, so here are the rest of them :)







I hope this inspires you to come join us!  Get out your gold goodies and make something shiny! I love how this turned out.

Be sure to check out my process video to see how I made it:


Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful day :)

Sunday, April 4, 2021

So Much Fun / Paige Evans DT

Hello, friends!  Long time no scrap :)  I'm here today with a layout for the Paige Evans Design Team.  It's my first layout featuring Paige’s new Wonders collection and I couldn’t be more excited! It’s so colorful and full of beautiful patterns & designs. After staring at all the papers for days, I finally decided to cut into Paper 1 and create a background design using all of the bright mandala shapes. I also wanted to use the pretty yellow backside for my background. I used the mandala side from the 12x12 Paper Pad and fussy cut them all out and then arranged them on the yellow paper. I wanted a kaleidoscope of colors, so I filled the top part of the page with the mandalas and then created a smaller cluster of them at the bottom. I used a pool photo that pops against all those colors and I also used Paige’s Doily Stencil to add fun texture to the background.

Since I had so many colors in these mandalas to work with, I wanted to look for smaller embellishments from the collection to tuck in here and there.  I popped up some of the mandalas with adhesive foam to create some dimension.  I love that effect :)

To create this background texture, I first used white gesso on the yellow background. I used white to blend out a bit of the yellow and to create white space. I scraped modeling paste over the Doily Stencil using a palette knife in three places and let it dry. Next I sprayed aqua and blue Shimmerz over it and then sprayed lots of Jen Hadfield Gold Glitter Spray. I wanted gold shine on the page and this was perfect. I love how the color makes the texture from the stencil come to life and jump right off the page!
I added a few of the Cardstock Stickers in the bottom cluster of mandalas.  I popped them up and tucked in some purple tangled thread.  I used a metallic gold pen for the journaling.
I decided to go with a smaller title and my photo had the perfect open area for that. I stuck these Puffy Phrase Stickers right onto the photo and then machine stitched through them using metallic gold thread. I layered tissue paper behind the photo and a sliver of a darker blue paper from the 6x8 Paper Pad. I wanted a darker color to separate the photo from the background and this paper did that. I also tucked in bright pink thread.

There is a whole sheet of gold metallic mandala shapes in the Sticker Book, and I used a few of these.  I stuck them to white cardstock and then cut them out so I could move them around the page.
I just love looking at these bright and beautiful colors!
Colors + textures + dimension = my fave!
I didn’t want to add too many embellishments and I did add a few circle & metallic mandala stickers from the 8-Page Sticker Book and a few Chipboard Stickers. I also fussy cut another mandala from one of the 2x2 Paper Pads to add to the bottom cluster.
A few more close-ups of all the pretty things :)


 I hope you are inspired by this in some way, and that it gives you an idea or two to try on your next page.  Do you have this collection yet?  The possibilities are endless, and I can't wait to create with it again.

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


 

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