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 :)