Wednesday, July 28, 2021

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!

Thursday, July 22, 2021

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 :)

Monday, July 19, 2021

Summer Hello Lovely / Paige Evans DT

Hey friends!  I'm back today with a bright new layout for the Paige Evans Design Team featuring Paige’s Wonders collection and the beautiful heart from the Acrylic Stamps. I used Distress Oxides to stamp a rainbow of hearts and then cut them out to use as my main design element on the background. I positioned them in a vertical cascade and embellished with smaller pieces in a matching tone-on-tone manner. I used thick, smooth white cardstock as the base and I coated it with clear gesso first. I used a few blue Distress Oxides to create the blue watercolor effect. I scraped the ink pads right onto the paper and activated the ink with water. I love how this turned out!

 

I used some scrap cardstock to stamp the hearts on. I did coat it with clear gesso first so the Distress Oxides would run and blend as I added water to them. The intricate design on the heart Stamp is so pretty and I wanted them to look like they had been splashed with water. After I glued them down, I machine stitched through them with white thread. I sorted through all the Wonders embellishments and chose bits and pieces that matched the hearts. Here in the blue section I used some larger hearts from the Cardstock Stickers, small gold heart Puffy Stickers, a few hearts that I fussy cut from the Ephemera Die Cuts, and a piece that I fussy cut from the 2x2 Paper Pads. I found lots of really small things to use that worked perfectly with these colors. I love how the edges of the hearts pop up off the page.

I did the same thing on the upper section of the layout with the other colors. I layered in tangled thread and more pieces that I fussy cut from smaller embellishments. I also used a Banner Sticker here that matched the pink hearts. For the title, I mixed and matched. I used some of the rainbow mini alphas from the 8-Page Sticker Book to create “summer.”  I fussy cut “hello” from a die cut, and I took apart a Lollies sticker and used the “lovely” part.
One of my favorite parts of Paige’s collections is she always makes it easy to create a rainbow. I made this adorable little banner using the Puffy Stickers. I glued them down to some gold thread and angled it here under the photo. Behind the photo I layered white tissue paper and a few papers from the 6x8 Paper Pad. I also added one heart to the right side from the Chipboard Stickers. Finally, I splattered gold paint around the page and wrote my journaling using a gold metallic pen.
I love the dimension from the hearts...so easy to have the sides curl up off the page.  I added some adhesive foam under the smaller sentiments and words here on top of the hearts to give them them some depth.
Here you can see more of the dimension. I used foam under the title pieces as well.

This is the only chipboard heart I have left in this collection.  I love the tiny intricate pattern on it.
I took a ton of close-ups, so here they are :)




This was a lot of fun to make, and I hope it inspires you in some way today :)  I highly recommend creating a big design element with a stamp!

Here's my process video:


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

Friday, July 2, 2021

Day Dreamer / Paige Evans DT

Happy Friday!  Today I'm sharing my newest layout for the Paige Evans Design Team.  I used Paige's Wonders collection and her new Sun cut file.  I love making pool photo layouts :)  As soon as I saw the big Sun cut file, I knew I wanted to cut it on Paper 14.  I wanted that pretty white pattern to be the sun's center.  I cut it again on Paper 01 to create a layer underneath it.  

For the background I used thick smooth white cardstock.  I coated it with clear gesso first and then used some blue Shimmerz sprays to create a "sky."  I used Jeni B Bleu & Snow Way Man Vibez.  I also splattered some white acrylic paint and gold glitter spray.


I didn't want to cover up too much of the sun's pattern, so I layered some embellishments close to the photo.  I fussy cut some butterflies from Paper 12 and the 6x8 Paper Pad.  I layered in some stickers from the 6x12 Cardstock Stickers, the 8-page Sticker Book and the Banner Stickers.  I also used a mandala from the Ephemera Die Cuts.

I created a cute little banner from some of the scalloped Puffy Stickers.  I layered some Epoxy Phrase Stickers here at the bottom along with a "good day" piece that I fussy cut from a die cut.  I wrote my journaling using a metallic gold pen.
I layered some patterned papers behind the photo...these pieces are from the 6x8 Paper Pad.  I love the gold foiled dots!  I added a few more butterflies here.
Whenever I have a sun and clouds I tend to want to add some clouds.  I hand cut a few from textured white cardstock here and layered them in and around the sun.  I added a little bit of shading around the edges of them with a grey gelato.  I took it a step further and decided to create a little cluster here.  I cut a few words from Paper 12 and added a pink heart, a few stickers and some blue thread.
I added some adhesive foam behind the sun here, and when I tried to flatten out my page I accidentally bent the sun.  Oh well...haha.  It adds texture :D
I just love all this dimension.  I popped the bird up, and I think it makes all the difference.
I added some large yellow sequins around the edges of this mandala die cut...those are from my stash.
I tucked in a few tags here from Paper 12.  I punched holes in the tags and then tied in some cord.
Here are a few more close-ups of all the details :)



I really love how this one turned out, and I hope it inspires you in some way today!  I do have a process video here, so check it out to see how I made it.

https://youtu.be/RDF6N9Gzy5M

 

Thanks for dropping in, and have a great weekend!