Hello there, and Merry Christmas Eve! I wanted to jump in here today and share my second monthly layout for Simple Stories. I used the Classic Christmas collection, and it is just beautiful. I love that it has all the traditional Christmas colors like red and green, but it also has a pretty sky blue and some wood grains mixed in. I just love it!
I decided to recreate the tree from my photo on my background. I wanted it really big, so I punched 1-inch circles from several of the 6x6 Paper Pad papers. I cut a big slanted "tree" from some scrap paper I wasn't going to use and started layering the circles down. I overlapped them in a straight line, adhered them with a dot of glue and then ran each line through my sewing machine and stitched it with gold thread. I ruffled up the edges of each line of circles, and I love how it turned out! It resembles the tree in my picture really well.
I love the texture and dimension this created. Plus all the colors & patterns look so pretty together. I added some Heidi Swapp Gold Color Shine and some tangled gold thread for extra pops of shine.
I used some white gesso on my background first and then used some green Shimmerz to create the watercolor effect behind my photo & embellishments. I layered a fussy cut flower under the photo along with some red tangled thread. I combined a die cut, some stickers and some clear stickers here as well. I went simple with my title.
I also added in some chipboard pieces here. I just love the clear stickers! They always look great on a solid background. I used a few of the shiny gold ones.
Here's one more close-up of the tree area and above the photo. I love how the green Shimmerz looks on the blue background.
This was so much fun to put together. I'm so happy the circle tree turned out like I had imagined it! Sometimes that doesn't happen :)
Thanks for visiting me today, and have a very Merry Christmas, friends!
Happy Thursday, friends! Christmas is right around the corner, and I'm back today to share a new holiday layout for Simple Stories. This might be one of my most favorite pictures ever! Santa visited school, and as soon as Paige sits on his lap she tries to lick him...haha! She went through a phase where she had to taste everything...including Santa! It just makes me smile and laugh every time I see it, and I couldn't wait for the perfect collection to scrap it with. This is the gorgeous Mistletoe Kisses line, and it's so pretty!
I decided to make a large title as my big background element. I cut it in Bromello font and cut in on white cardstock. I used lots of papers from the 6x6 Paper Pad to back all the letters and then went over a lot of the area with white gesso. I used coordinating colors of Shimmerz Paints to add some watercolor around where my photo was going to go and then added splatters around the page. I tucked in a few die cut Christmas trees that I had previously cut from an exclusive Hip Kit Club cut file and then embellished with some stickers, chipboard and die cuts.
Probably the most time consuming part of this page was machine stitching all around the title. I wanted the look of stitching, but I didn't have the time to do it by hand. Using my sewing machine was definitely faster, but I had to go slow and had to carefully turn the page A LOT as I went. I love how it turned out! I absolutely love this adorable string of lights sticker! It fit perfectly right in this spot.
Down at the bottom I added this cute tree die cut from the Bits & Pieces pack and then added a few heart stickers and a sentiment sticker. I love how the shape of the tree fits right up against the "T." Sometimes shapes just fall together like that...woo hoo!
I love this chipboard tree. I layered it in here under the photo along with small pink label sticker and a few hearts. I love adding in white pieces on top of white cardstock...it gives so much interest and texture without taking away from all the other colors. And you can still see what the shape is :)
Here's one more close-up of the title. I loved sorting through all these pretty patterned papers...the colors and patterns are just so pretty. I just had to add that little bird on top of the "a"...he was too cute to pass up!
I had so much fun making this page. I hope it inspires you! Thank you for stopping by, and have a great day!
Hello again! I know I've been on a roll the past several days...I have been super busy creating projects. Today I'm sharing my newest Christmas layout for Bella Blvd featuring the super adorable Holly Jolly Christmas collection. It is full of fun and bright colors, and even though it contains lots of pinks and aquas, it still has the traditional reds & greens. The embellishments are adorable, and it's a really playfully fun line.
I started out by cutting Ho Ho Ho on my Cameo in white cardstock. I just found a font from my computer that I liked and sized one of them larger. My idea was to back the large "O" with my photo, and it worked out perfectly. I used patterned papers to back the other letters and created a vertical design with my photo in the center. I used some Shimmerz sprays on the background in aqua and pink since I knew my photo had a lot of red in it. I also used some modeling paste through a small circle stencil to create even more texture on the background. It also reminds me of snow :)
I embellished with lots of stickers, die cuts, washi stickers, punched circles and a few Tabbies on the side. I really love how it turned out!
So all the colorful little circles were punched from patterned paper using a 1/2-inch circle punch. I scattered them around like confetti for little pops of color. I used a few strips of the Washi Stickers here as well. I added a few festive stickers right onto the die cut and then added another die cut tree to the right of the photo. I did add some foam behind the big "Ho" to raise it up.
Here I combined lots of cute heart stickers with some of the Washi Stickers. You can also see the background texture and color a little closer. I did add my favorite thing....tangled thread :)
More lovely background color & texture here. I did add some green splatters as well here and there. That cute Santa circle is a washi sticker that I put white cardstock behind and then cut out.
I did not add foam to the smaller "Ho" die cuts, so I adhered them right to the background and machine stitched through them. Red is such a bold (and bloody...haha!) color, so I used it in small doses like in the thread and this little 25 sticker. Plus my photo has plenty of red in it, so I didn't want to go overboard with it.
Here's one more close-up of all the fun papers, thread and background work. This was so much fun to make!
Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a great Tuesday, friends!
Happy Monday, friends! I'm back today to share a new layout for the Hip Kit Club featuring the 2016 November Hip Kits. Our theme last week was Cut Files, so I used the "oh joy!" from Tiffany's set. You can find all the exclusive cut files on the Hip Kit website.
I love all the nontraditional colors in the these kits. I decided to scrap some cute pictures of Paige two Christmases ago when Santa brought a trampoline. She was bouncing and laughing...such a cute moment. I created somewhat of a grid design with my title in the middle. I used all three products from the Color Kit which included the Echo Park lined stencil, Shimmerz Dazzlerz Foiled Again and Shimmerz Coloringz Well Blue Me Down. I also added in some of the Glorious Day Vibez from the October Color Kit and some silver splatters. I used just a bit of patterned paper to back my photos and line the edges of the background. I also punched the large pink circles from patterned paper.
I used lots of goodies here. You can see the cut file here. I cut it on white cardstock and a few patterned papers. I used lots of the exclusive sequins, washi tape, puffy stickers, die cuts, and I did some silver machine stitching. I used some of the silver glitter Thickers in the center, and I love how big they are. I also added a bit of the Pinkfresh Studio washi tape under the title.
Here you can see the layers under the photo. I added foam under them to give them dimension. I love these little trees! I love mixing and matching products, and these just look so cute together! The gold one has foam under it. Just by adding that little bit of dimension makes such a big difference, I think. I also lightly traced around the Thickers to make them pop a little more.
Here you can see the Shimmerz paste up close. It's such a pretty shimmery silver color. I'm really becoming addicted to sequins lately...and there are more of them in the December Hip Kits...yay!
I did some machine stitching here and added in more puffy stickers and tangled thread. I just love how all of this looks together up next to the black & white photos.
I really love how machine stitching just gives a nice finishing touch to a layout. I did add in a cute exclusive flair button here as well as a few more die cuts and puffy stickers.
Here's my weekly process video if you'd like to check it out. Thanks so much for watching!
Thanks for stopping by! Have a terrific holiday week!
Hello again! I'm back today with my final project for my Guest Designer spot over at Pretty Little Studio. I want to thank Kat Benjamin for inviting me, and for everyone there for being so sweet and supportive! I had lots of fun making these projects and working with their amazing products.
I used the You & Me Love Story collection for this page. The papers have such rich and beautiful colors, and there are so many different patterns: hearts, scallops, flowers, stripes, text, dots, arrows, chevrons...you name it. It's very versatile. I used a cut file that I've had for a few years...I believe it's by Wilna Furstenberg from back in the Two Peas in a Bucket days. I cut it on white cardstock and backed all the hearts with pieces of the 6x6 patterned papers. I just love how it turned out! I used the packaging technique and some pink, aqua and yellow Shimmerz to create the background. I embellished with die cuts, stickers and flair buttons.
My sweet photo is of my little Paige getting ready to do her therapy at school. They have Hippotherapy, which is horseback riding. They always try and help the children touch and pet the horses, and she was being shy on this day. She loves sucking her thumb, and instead of touching the horse, she smiled and put her thumb in her mouth...haha. She just looks adorable with her riding helmet on, and I couldn't wait to scrap it.
I added some foam pieces behind all the hearts to give the die cut some dimension. I love how it creates shadows...so neat! I created my small title here with a piece from a small cut-apart sheet and a watercolor sticker. My journaling fit perfectly right under it. I did add a few small clear stickers and heart die cuts from the Here Comes the Sun collection.
I'm loving how this turned out...and it's a really easy technique to do. You just need some patience :) I added some tangled thread in various places and used three heart flair buttons on the layout.
I added some tissue paper behind my photo for a subtle border. This cute motivational clear sticker is from Here Comes the Sun.
I added another sticker up close to the photo. I didn't want to go overboard with embellishing since the hearts were pretty much the whole bulk of the design. Sometimes you don't need a lot of embellishments...you don't want things to get too busy and overwhelming.
I love how the background looks peeking through the cut file. Adding subtle watercolors or sprays to the background is a great way to add color, interest and just make things prettier :)
Here's my process video for this layout...it was so much fun to create! I hope you enjoy it :)
Now, I'm so excited to announce that I'm doing a GIVEAWAY! Yes! As Guest Designer, the lovely ladies at Pretty Little Studio are letting me give away FIVE of my favorite products! I had a hard time narrowing it down, but I chose five things that I worked with that were just so gorgeous! You will LOVE them!!
All you have to do is leave a comment HERE on my blog. In one week, I'll choose a winner to receive these five goodies!! Definitely worth commenting for....woo hoo!!
Thanks so much for visiting me today (and every other day), and have a wonderful week!!
Happy Saturday, friends! I'm back again with my third layout for my Guest Design spot over at Pretty Little Studio. I'm so happy with how my projects turned out! These papers, patterns, colors and embellishments are just the cutest!
Okay, so for this layout, I decided to focus on the Cactus Clear Sticker Sheet from the Here Comes the Sun collection. All the succulents are just adorable, and the colors are beautiful. I sorted through the patterned papers and chose ones with green, light blue, grey and black on them. I cut 1-inch strips from each one and created a nice and neat square. I machine stitched through each one in different colored thread and then covered a lot of the page with white gesso. I used some Shimmerz to add watercolor to the background. I decided that I needed a larger cactus on the page somewhere, so I cut two of them from the Stuck on You cut file from The Cut Shoppe and painted them green.
Here you can see the watercolor, the stitching, the die cuts and stickers. All the stickers I had here were clear, so I adhered all the cactus ones to white cardstock first and then cut them out. I wanted them to stay true to color, so the white behind them does that and you aren't able to see through them. The yellowish circle here with text is also a clear sticker, and I just stuck this one straight to the page. You can see through this one. I did add a few watercolor heart die cuts from the Higher range and a cute flair button. This die cut title fit perfectly right here, and I love how it looks. I fussy cut the "remember" sun piece from a 3x4 card.
I tried to limit myself to using only greens, blues and shades of grey for this page. I used some Shimmerz Creameez to paint these cactus die cuts, and I think it matches really nicely. Here you can see a few more of the cactus clear stickers tucked in. I also tucked in some yellow-green leaves from the same clear sticker sheet.
You can never have too many cute clouds! I layered in a few of them here with some tangled thread and then machine stitched through some of them. I love how the cactus curls up here...the paint helped it to do that when it dried, and it gives it great dimension.
Here's one more look at the top of the cactus and more clouds above them. I just love how this turned out. It was a little different for me, but it was fun using elements I never thought I'd use on a page...like a cactus!
I did film the making of this page, so here it is if you'd like to check it out!
Thank you for stopping in today, and have a great day! I'll be back again tomorrow with my final layout for this guest spot!
It's Friday...yeah! The last day before Christmas Break for the kids, and boy am I looking forward to it :) Today I'm sharing my second layout as December Guest Designer for Pretty Little Studio. I was so excited to get to work with bright Summer colors! You know they are my favorite any time of the year.
Once again, I used the Here Comes the Sun collection. I pulled a sheet of light mint cardstock from my stash to use as my background. I decided to create a large title and make it the main design element. This is the Open Letter Alpha cut file from The Cut Shoppe, which I love. I chose papers from the collection to back the letters with. I used white gesso on the background to make it look lighter and cloudy and then used my favorite Shimmerz colors to add color on top of that. Once my title was in place, I stacked and overlapped my photos on the right. She's facing the left in the pictures, so I placed them on the right side of the page to give the illusion that she's looking across the page.
How gorgeous is this die cut?! I layered it over the big title and added some foam under it for dimension. I added in more little die cuts like the cloud, the popsicle and heart. I love how everything looks watercolored! I couldn't resist adding that adorable watermelon flair!
Backing a die cut with patterned paper is probably one of my top 3 favorite techniques to do on a scrapbook layout. Although it takes some time, it's a lot of fun and totally worth it. I love how many patterns I got on the page without it being too busy. Small doses of patterns can go a long way! I added lots of tangled thread under the title and stitched through it. I added even more flair, too! They're all so cute!
Here's a close up of one of the flair. This one is from the You & Me Love Story collection, but it matches perfectly with the Here Comes the Sun line. This big M has vellum behind it instead of patterned paper. I did add some white cardstock behind it to make the vellum stay true to color once it had the mint background behind it.
Since I had so many patterns already going on in the big title, I didn't back my photos with any paper. I just used a bit of tissue paper for a subtle border. I added foam under the bottom one to raise it up and tucked the top one under it just a little bit.
I just love these colors together...they're so pretty! I love adding thread under my flair buttons, too. It just gives them a little next to sit in and gives a little pop of color around it.
I hope this has inspired you in some way...it was so much fun to put together! If you'd like to watch how I created it, here's my process video.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful day!
