Just Hangin' / Pinkfresh Studio

Happy Monday, friends!  I'm so excited to share my newest layout for Pinkfresh Studio because I just love it so much!  Surprise surprise...another rainbow page...haha :D  I can't help myself.  This layout was inspired by the 3x4 rainbow card that is part of a 12x12 patterned paper in the Let's Stay Home collection.  I wanted to use it as a starting point to extend the rainbow using inks and watercolors.

I first coated the white cardstock background with clear gesso.  I decided where the card was going to go and then used a pencil to lightly draw the rainbow arcs on both sides of the card.  I used the Mini Ink Cubes to add color.  I just scraped each color right onto the paper and then used a water brush to lightly add water and make the inks run and blend.  I added a bit of the Liquid Watercolors as well to tweak the colors.  Once that dried, I machine stitched through each arc using matching thread. 

I added some sparkle to the rainbow with the Essentials Jewels Mix...these are beautiful flat-backed rhinestones that are the perfect little embellishment.  I matched up the colors and glued those down.  Each color has three different sizes.  I added a blue card behind the rainbow card here and distressed the edges.  I also added adhesive foam underneath to raise it up off the page.

I used the Intricate Mandala Die here.  I cut it on a yellow patterned paper and tucked in two of those.  I went through all the Let's Stay Home stickers and die cuts and used some of those in various places.  I tucked in some tangled thread in matching colors as well.

Ahhhh this just makes me happy!  Rainbows...watercolor...sparkly jewels...my favorite!

I went back and forth with what to add to the open area of the photo here.  I finally settled on this Slow Days die cut.  I actually trimmed it and cut it apart so I could rearrange it for the space here.  I didn't want it too close to her face, so I ran it off the side of the photo.  I created another little cluster here with more stickers as well as some small hearts that I fussy cut from a patterned paper.

I decided to give the rainbow a little bit of a sky, so I again used the Mini Inks and Liquid Watercolors to do that.  I thought the big yellow die piece resembled a sun :)  I free hand cut some cute wonky clouds and popped them up with adhesive foam.  I also added a touch of the watercolor to the edges.

I love how the rainbow extends from the card.  Do you ever get inspired by a single piece on a patterned paper?  Or a die cut?  That is where most of my ideas are generated.  I see one thing and think, "how can I use watercolors or inks to enhance this?"  And thus this rainbow was born :)

I used the small puffy alphas to created my title.  I used pink and light blue since I had yellow and dark blue here in this area.  I used a gold metallic pen for my journaling.

Here are a few more close-ups because I always take a lot :)

I love this Mandala Die...so pretty and detailed!  It  makes a great layer, and in this case....a great sun!

I hope this inspires you in some way today and gives you some ideas to try on your next project.  If you're struggling to come up with an idea, look closely at your papers & embellishments.  See if there's something that sparks interest and build from that.  This entire page started from that little 3x4 rainbow card!

Here's my process video:

Thanks for stopping by, and I'll see you soon!

Favorite Always / Paige Evans DT

Hey friends! Happy Friday...yay!  I'm here with a bright and fun layout for the Paige Evans Design Team featuring another one of Paige’s new 20 Summer-Themed Cut Files. This one is Summer Tags and I dug into my older stash of Paige’s collections and used some Fancy Free. I also mixed in a few bits from Bloom Street, Truly Grateful, and Pick-Me-Up.

On my background I used Paige’s Sunburst Rays, Polka Dots and Fish Stencils. I started out by cutting four of the six tags on white cardstock. I used a few Fancy Free papers to back them. I used gelatos and Shimmerz sprays to add extra color to them and then added machine stitching. I used thick smooth white cardstock as my background, and after coating it with clear gesso, I used a rainbow variety of Distress Oxides to create the watercolor effect. I scraped the ink pads directly onto the paper and spritzed it with water. After that dried, I used modeling paste paste over the Stencils to create some awesome texture.

This layout took a while because there were so many parts to it.  I made the tags first and then moved on to the background.  It was fun digging into some older collections, too!  I combined this Fancy Free puffy sticker with some of the Pick-Me-Up mini alphas to create my title.  I thought this "favorite" sticker was perfect for this spot because it fades from blue to green exactly like the background.

I love adding embellishments in a tone-on-tone fashion.  I mixed and matched more Fancy Free here with some Bloom Street stickers and some Truly Grateful sequins.  And look at the background texture from the stencils and paste!  My favorite!!

I actually hadn't planned on having any purple on this page, but when the colors blended that way here in this area, I went with it.  I added a few bits from Bloom Street, and I'm so glad I did!  I love how it turned out.  Sometimes accidents turn into the best part of the page :)

I'm going to say it...I will never get tired of creating rainbow layouts.  Slap me silly if I ever say otherwise...haha.  I added some gold splatters at the end after writing my journaling with a gold metallic pen.

I popped up all the tags with adhesive foam and then began sorting through embellishments to add. I tried to stick to the tone-on-tone idea. I fussy cut a few Fancy Free flowers as well as some circles from the 6x6 Paper Pad. I used a few stickers from the Bloom Street 4-Page Sticker Book as well as a few heart stickers and sequins from the Truly Grateful Mixed Embellishments. Here you can see the background texture as well as the detail on the tags. I went around the edges on them with the Distress Oxides and a foam blending tool. I also tucked in matching thread in several places.

To back the sun tag, I sprayed a few yellow Shimmerz onto scrap cardstock. I went over the rest of the sun rays with the yellow Distress Oxide and then machine stitched through them with yellow thread.

I'm so glad I didn't leave this palm tree tag white.  I decided to add a bit of "sky" to it by lightly painting on some blue Shimmerz.  I went around all the edges of all the tags with the Distress Oxides and the foam blending tool.

Here are a few more looks at all the details :)

I love how you can create a fun little scene with this palm tree tag.  I used brown and gold gelatos to create the trunks. I fussy cut tiny flowers from Fancy Free Paper 11 to add to a few places. To finish off the tags, I added string through the holes.

I really had fun making this layout! I hope it inspires you to try out this Summer Tags cut file from the 20 Days of Summer Cut Files. There are six tags included, so the possibilities are endless. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Here is my process video for this:

See you again soon, and have a great weekend!

This Life / Hip Kit Club

Happy Thursday, friends!  I hope you are all still hanging in there.  I have a new layout to share for Hip Kit Club featuring the 2020 June Hip Kits.  I went a little stamp crazy to make this background :)  I am loving these exclusive stamps, and I used the circle "This is Life" stamp to create my own patterned paper background. 

I used textured white cardstock as my base, and I first coated it with clear gesso.  After it dried, I used the Ink Philosophy Ink Pads from the Color Kit (pink and light blue) as well as the three ink pads from The Stamp Market from last month's Color Kit.  I stamped the circles in a big cluster design and then used a water brush to add a little bit of water to make the colors bleed and spread.  I wound up adding the darker blue color later.  I pulled out Shimmerz Frost Bite from a previous Color Kit and stamped with it.

I love how this turned out!  I love the "this looks like it got left out in the rain" effect.  The key to this technique is using gesso first.  I even did a bit more stamping here using another exclusive "memories" stamp.  I love that the cardstock's texture is visible through it.  I used some die cuts and stickers from Pinkfresh Studio Let's Stay Home here.

I used some exclusive Pocket Life cards as layers behind the photos.  I distressed the edges to give them a bit more interest and texture.  I used some of the exclusive die cut tags behind the photos as well.  I added some cord to them to finish them off.

I fussy cut a few colored circles from a Stamp Market paper and tucked them in a few places.  I also added some matching colors of tangled thread.

I used more of the exclusive die cuts for my title and layered more die cuts around it.  I was nervous about stamping directly onto the page here, but it turned out perfectly.

I even used some of the bright yellow tissue paper that the kits were wrapped in here.  It's too pretty to not use on a layout!

Here are a few more close-ups...

I hope this made you smile today...it sure was fun to make!  Making these fun stamped backgrounds is my new obsession...haha.  Be sure to check out my process video here:

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I'll see you again tomorrow!

That Lockdown Life / Hip Kit Club

Happy Weekend, friends!  I have a new layout to share for Hip Kit Club today using the 2020 June Hip Kits.  I used one of the exclusive cut files for this...the numbers instantly made me think of the quarantine and how many days this has been going on.  It feels like FOREVER, am I right?!  That theme paired with the kits was perfect, so I went with it.

I cut the numbers a few times in different sizes on textured white cardstock.  I wound up gluing them together to make one large cut file.  I used a Stamp Market patterned paper as my background.  I coated most of it with white gesso to fade out some of the black dots.  My only issue with using white gesso on white paper is it looks kind of yellow.  The whites are hard to match up.  I used a mix of a few Lindy's Starburst Sprays from older Color Kits with the blue and pink Color Philosophy Ink Pads from the July Color Kit to create a big watercolor area behind the cut file. 

There are so many cute exclusive die cuts that coordinate with the Pinkfresh Studio Let's Stay Home collection.  Perfect for quarantine or lockdown photos, which is what I used here.  Pictures of my daughter going nuts during bedtime...haha!  We've gone crazy over here :D  I printed my photos smaller and backed them with some of the Pocket Life cards & bits of patterned papers.  I used a few of the cute house & heart die cuts along with some Pinkfresh Studio chipboard circles here.  I also used a few of the exclusive stamps.

I popped up the die cut and the photos using adhesive foam to create some dimension.  I love the shadow effect this creates!  I also tucked in some matching threads in a few places.

Looking back on this page, I kind of wished I would've added a bit of color to the numbers.  This turned out way whiter than I wanted.  Maybe I should've extended the background color out a little more.

I do love how the title turned out.  I struggled with it at first.  I tried to add the letters directly to the numbers and they got lost and weren't very clear to read.  So I removed them and attached them to some scrap cardstock.  I cut the whole title out and machine stitched through them.  Once I placed it back onto the numbers, it was easily visible.

Here's another photos cluster...more die cuts ad stickers.  I also fussy cut a few tiny hearts from a Pinkfresh Studio patterned paper to use as small die cuts.

Here are a few more close-ups...

I get asked often about the black pen I use for journaling.  It's a fine tip Sharpie :)  I get them at Walmart.

And that's it!  I have to admit...this isn't my most favorite layout.  It didn't turn out as great as I'd hoped.  And that's okay.  All layouts can't be your favorite, right?  I still love this cut file, the colors, the theme and the title.  I just think it needs less white...haha.  I hope you at least got some ideas from this...take them and make them your own and have fun!

Here's my process video:

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful weekend :)