Maniac Monday / A Flair For Buttons

Hey friends and Happy Tuesday!  Gosh, I haven't gone this long without posting in a long time!  I've been working on projects for the past week, but I can't share some of them just yet.  I do have a new layout up on the A Flair For Buttons blog today!  I love documenting photos from the classes I teach at the gym.  The members in my classes have become such treasured friends to me, and we spend a lot of time together sweating, burning and working hard. I snapped this picture back in January of about half the ladies in my class one Monday after we worked so hard in Spinning that we literally steamed up the doors!  I often refer to my Monday morning class as "Maniac Monday" since we all think we're crazy to want to work out that early on a Monday (haha!) and because one of their favorite songs is a fast run remix to the 80s song Maniac.  We have such a great time in there, and I love teaching!

I used flair from three different sets:  Just Ride, Work Out and Phrases 1.  I couldn't resist the biking flair once I saw them...they are perfect for this!  I started this page with a cut file (May Mash-Up) from The Cut Shoppe.  All the circles reminded me of the wheels on the bikes, so it was perfect.  I used some of the silver Deco Foil to distress it and make it shiny in spots.  I wanted to pull from the blue in the photo, so I used some Anchors Away Shimmerz Paint to create the messy blue behind the cut file.  I used bits & pieces from the older Simple Stories Daily Grind collection.

I used some of the flair in the centers of some of the larger circles.  I love this "Just Ride" one!  The colors matched the color scheme nicely, and I love the sentiment.  I used some large chipboard Thickers as part of the title and combined it with a scripty die cut I created using my Cameo.  I used some of the Shimmerz again to color in some of the Thickers, and I used gelatos to color the "Monday" die cut.

I wanted this cute bicycle flair to be right on the photo to emphasize what we were doing.  You know I love adding thread, so I did it here as well as under the cut file.  As you can see, I messed up the M here.  I tried coloring in the white parts with a black pen and I didn't like how it looked.  It just darkened it up too much.  So I tried painting over it with white paint....and it looks terrible.  But I didn't want to waste a Thicker, so I just made it work.  I added pop dots under that rectangle sticker...I love what it says!  Just perfect for our class!

Here you can see the fun foil on the circles.  I wanted it to look messy and worn, and it did just that.  This fun flair is from Phrases 1, and I love how versatile they are.  This one was perfect;  it was the right saying, the right color, and the messy circles on it fit just right.

Here's one more flair.  This one is from the Work Out set, and it is very appropriate for this page because we definitely get our heart rates up!  I love this one so much...I think I need another one!

Here are the sets in full:

Just Ride

Phrases 1

Work Out

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I will be back tomorrow with another layout share.  Until then, make sure you check out the A Flair For Buttons Etsy Store!  You will be amazed at how many awesome flair there are.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Seriously Sweet Sisters / Hip Kit Club

Hello again!  Today I'm back with a layout for Hip Kit Club featuring the 2016 June Hip Kits.  I used one of Kim Watson's star cut files for my background design and cut a few of them in different sizes using a few different papers.  I used lots of Shimmerz sprays and some of the Dazzlerz to create the background watercolor effect.  I mixed some of the Jeni B Bleu Vibez with the Spun Sugar Dazzlerz to create a light blue texture paste and smudged it through the exclusive stencil with a foam applicator.  Those little triangles are so fun!  I pulled pieces from all of the kits for my embellishing.

These are some cute selfies I took of me and the girls.  They aren't the best quality photos, but I absolutely love them.  They show my girls' personalities, and those are my favorite types of pictures.

I decided to create a long title combining lots of things here.  The "seriously" die cut frame is from Jillibean Soup and it's in the Color Kit.  I backed it with a green Project Life card.  "Sweet" is one of Andrea's cut files, and I used one of Kim Watson's exclusive papers to cut it.  "Lovely" is from the Dear Lizzy die cut phrases pack.  I misted it with some pink Shimmerz spray from my stash.  I used the gorgeous exclusive puffy alpha stickers for "sisters."  Those alphas are the bomb!!  The quality is outstanding, and they are the prettiest color.  I did some machine stitching on the bigger stars, and I did add enamel dots, tangled thread and some phrase stickers & die cuts.

Here's a closer look at the background work.  My three favorite colors all together...woo hoo!  I used pop dots under my photo to create some depth, and I added a few of the Simple Stories clear stickers around the page as well.

I created a little cluster down by the title.  The "Be Happy" circle is one of Kim's exclusive die cuts, and the buttons are from Paige Evans' Fancy Free collection.

Here's one final close-up of the top right.  I combined some exclusive puffy stickers with a Heidi Swapp chipboard speech bubble.  Love all those colors together!

Here's my process video if you'd like to see how this layout came together.  I hope you gain some inspiration from it!

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

Love My Little Sunshine / Bella Blvd

Hey there and Happy Tuesday!  Summer has me on such a crazy time schedule.  I have to think about what day it is...haha.  I was up on the Bella Blvd blog yesterday with a new layout!  I used several collections again to create this fun and bright page.  My focus on this was to repeat a shape over and over again.  I decided on clouds, and I used my Cameo to cut lots of them.  I also used the offset tool to create the cloud outlines, and I love how they look mixed together.

I used papers from Illustrated Faith She Blooms & Whatever is Lovely,  Simply Spring, Color Chaos, Fresh Market and Star Student.  I love mixing and matching all the fun colors & patterns together.  I popped some of them up and glued some of them flat.  I used a Heidi Swapp sunburst stencil and some No Yoking Shimmerz to create the sun rays.  I then used yellow thread and machine stitched for added detail.

If you've never tried foam dots or pop dots, I highly recommend them.  Just by raising an embellishment or your photos up a little bit gives such a great look to your page.  The shadow created is so neat, and it just makes your project look much more dimensional.  I also used some of the Cloudy Washi Tape...I just fussy cut out some of the little clouds and placed them around the page.  I fussy cut that little sun & cloud from a Fresh Market paper.

More clouds!  I am obsessed with clouds lately for some reason :)  I added blue ink splatters around the page, and I love how it looks up next to the yellows, pinks and oranges.

I added pop dots under my photos, and this made it easy to tuck some clouds under them as well as some tangled thread and stickers.  I also used a few yellow enamel hearts.

With the clouds being so colorful up top, I didn't want to make the page even busier with a large title.  So I reached for my Tiny Text sticker sheets and created a colorful yet small title.  I used a strip from a dotted Clear Cut (which is like a clear transparency) under the photos and then hand cut a scalloped border from the She Blooms paper.  I finished it off with some journaling and a few Little Bits stickers.

I hope this gives you an idea on how to use a shape over and over again on a layout.  Super fun and easy!

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

Couch Superstar / Citrus Twist Kits

Happy Weekend, friends!  I'm back today to share my final layout for Citrus Twist Kits.  After weeks of going back and forth, I have decided to step down from the Design Team.  It was a hard decision to make, but lately I have just become too busy and a bit overwhelmed.  I have a lot of DT responsibilities, and while I love them all dearly, I was just becoming stressed about getting everything completed on time.  I love scrapbooking and never want it to become a chore.  This is my therapy, and I want to love it every time I do it.  I absolutely love the Citrus Twist Kits!  I just never seemed to be able to find the time to really enjoy them.  I would always be hurrying and rushing to get a project finished, and I hate that feeling.  I felt like I wasn't being able to thoroughly enjoy the kits and create with heart.  I was just going through the motions to get a project done. And I never want to feel that way.  I feel like I owe it to the team, the company, the products to give my 100%, and I just wasn't able to.  I don't want to be chained to my desk 24/7, especially now that it's Summer and my girls are home every day.  I need more down time and some freedom to create on my own time.  So for now, I have fewer teams to create for.  And I'm perfectly content with that.

With that being said, here is the last layout I created using the 2016 June Main & Embellishment Kits for Citrus Twist.  I love these colors so much!  These fun Cocoa Vanilla acetate stars are so gorgeous, and I decided to create my entire page around them.  I used one of the exclusive papers and cut a big star to use as a big layer behind my photo.  I stitched some tissue paper behind it and added my photo and more paper & die cut layers to it.  I used a few different Shimmerz sprays and paints on my background to create a watercolor effect and then adhered the big star.

(I have edited this so many times, and my journaling keeps turning out blurry in the photo.  I have no idea why.)

I wanted to use the word "star" in my title, so I came up with Couch Superstar...haha.  Reese was all comfy on the couch being a lazy buns in this photo, so I thought it was cute :)  I used an alpha cut file from The Cut Shoppe and various patterned papers from the kit to cut the letters.  I placed all those stars on the page to accentuate the star theme.

I used a few of the exclusive die cut printables as layers here as well as one of the arrow paper clips.  I also added tangled thread in a few places.

Here's one more look at the layers, the stars, and that cute Cocoa Vanilla die cut piece that I added pop dots to.

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and thank you for always leaving your sweet comments.  I appreciate all of you and your awesome support.  It really means so much!  I'd like to give a huge thank you to Trina for having me on the CTK team.  Her kits are truly beautiful, and the exclusives are always amazing!

Have a great day!

Coolin' Off / Hip Kit Club

Happy Thursday, friends!  I hope you are all doing well on this hot July day :)  I have another layout for Hip Kit Club to share today, and I used the 2016 June Hip Kits to create it.  I have been really inspired lately by several fellow scrappers over on the Hip Kit Forum...Zsoka Marko and Laureen Wagener.  They have both recently created gorgeous layouts with big watercolor titles with hand stitching around the edges.  I immediately fell in love with this technique and had to give it a try.  I absolutely LOVE how it looks, and even though it did take a while to do all that stitching, it was worth it!

 I created the title in my Silhouette software using the Bromello font, enlarged it and then used the Sketch Pens to draw it.  I used several Shimmerz sprays from the Color Kit (and past Color Kits) and my water brush to color in the letters.  I then went through my stash of colored floss and chose colors that matched.  I used coordinating thread to stitch around each letter after using a thumb tack to punch little holes all around each letter.  Very time consuming, but I think it's worth it!  And I didn't mind it...

I used a few Project Life cards for my journaling and as layers, and I did some more fussy cutting from the Simple Stories floral paper.  I also used a few of Kim Watson's exclusive die cut flowers as well as other embellishments.

Here's a closer look at the stitching.  I think the colored thread really accentuates the watercolor, and I love the blending of the colors.  I tucked in lots of flowers around the top half and did a little bit of machine stitching for added detail.

I added in several phrase stickers from Simple Stories throughout my journaling.  I also added a brad and a Jillibean Soup wood veneer arrow.  I think I'm truly obsessed with all these bright colors together!

This little bottom cluster was fun to make.  I combined a few of Kim's exclusive puffy stickers with the "happiness" diecut, which I popped up with foam dots.  I also used a Simple Stories pink sticker and another JS wood veneer.  I tried to represent all the colors here in this area again.

I love layering embellishments over the photos' edges if there is some blank space like in this one.  The flower petals were perfect here, and they don't take away from what's happening in the photo.  That orange brad was the perfect center piece!

Here's one more look at the title...I think I could stare at it all day...haha!

Here's my process video if you'd like to check it out.  I hope you give the watercolor & stitched title idea a try.

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

Summer Sunshine / My Mind's Eye

Hey friends, and Happy Wednesday!  I feel like it has been forever since I blogged.  We've been on vacation, and I'm back now :)  Today I have a new page for My Mind's Eye to share.  I decided to dig into a few older collections and mix them up.  This is made with the Jubilee Wild Berry and Sherbet lines.  I wanted to showcase this cute summer photo of my daughter, and all these fun colors were perfect. 

I chose a fun sun cut file from The Cut Shoppe and cut it on some yellow patterned paper from Sherbet, which is full of yellows and purples.  The "summer" cut file is also from The Cut Shoppe, and I used papers from both lines to back the letters.  Wild Berry is full of bright and bold colors, and I pulled some of the darker aquas, the darker pink and peachy colors from that.  I cut "sunshine" on my Cameo using a script font...I have forgotten the name, but I can look it up if you'd like to know what it's called.  I did a bit of inking on the white cardstock with plastic packaging, and I love how that turned out.  It's a nice contrast to the big yellow sun.

I love the My Colors Cardstock...the texture is amazing!  And it holds mixed media products really well.  I added some aqua and yellow thread behind the cut files for added color & texture.  I also used a yellow gelato to color the bottom of the "sunshine." 

I combined this big floral chipboard piece from Sherbet with the bright pink floral die cut from Wild Berry.  I love layering, and these flowers look so pretty together.

I rarely use purple on a page, but this collection is full of it.  And it's so pretty mixed in with the yellows and aquas, I think.  I added a mix of floral die cuts here along with a few fussy cut leaves, thread and some enamel dots.  I also did some stitching around the sun.

Here's one more close-up of the bottom area.  I added another chipboard floral piece and enamel dots.

I hope this inspires you to pull out two collections from the same company and mix them together on a layout.  It's so interesting to see the combinations...it's like a brand new collection you've created on your own!

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

Hello Sunshine Paige / Hip Kit Club

Happy Friday, friends!  I'm back today to share another layout for Hip Kit Club using the 2016 June Hip Kits.  I was inspired by one of the weekly challenges to create a grid design, and this turned out a lot different than I originally planned (which is often the case).  I wound up doing a modified grid using my photos and a lot of fussy cut & die cut flowers.  I did stitch a grid pattern on my background and lined up the photos and big flowers on the center line.  The Simple Stories patterned paper mixed with Kim Watson's exclusive die cuts is a gorgeous combo!  I used a little bit of white gesso on the background and some of the Shimmerz sprays from the Color Kit.

The Jillibean Soup wood veneer pieces were the perfect embellishment for this page.  I love how they pick up the light kraft background and help keep a neutral effect against all that bright color.  I fussy cut "blooms" from one of Kim's exclusive papers and added some tangled thread for more pops of color.

Since I had all those wood veneer words scattered on the page and the nature of the design, I really didn't want to create a huge title.  And I just decided to use my daughter's name mixed with one of the cute phrase stickers from Simple Stories.  I am in love with those exclusive blue alphas...they are the perfect alpha.

Here's another look at the beautiful flowers...I love the texture and dimension they create!  I love how the thread looks peeking out from behind this orange flower, and the enamel dots provide even more little pops of color.

Another fussy cut word here...and I added pop dots under my photos to create some depth and allow me to tuck pieces under them.

You can check out my process video if you'd like to see how this came together...I hope you get some fun ideas to try!

Thank you so much for checking things out today...have a wonderful weekend!