Best Ever / Paige Evans DT

Hey there, and Happy Friday!  I'm back today with a fun layout with pretty pink hearts for the Paige Evans Design Team featuring Paige’s Go the Scenic Route & Bloom Street collections and her Dangling Hearts cut file. I wanted to get in the Valentine’s Day zone, so I wanted to use a lot of pink. 

I first used my Silhouette Cameo to cut the design and used a few patterned papers from Go the Scenic Route to trace, cut, and fill in the open hearts. Instead of backing the cut file, I glued it flat onto the background and then popped the hearts up with foam adhesive for fun dimension. I used thick white cardstock for the background, which I coated with clear gesso before adding lots of blue Shimmerz.

I sprayed the blue colors onto the background, added water, and let the colors run and blend. Once that dried, I used a palette knife to scrape on a few colors of Nuvo Crystal Drops. I love how it adds lots of subtle color and shine! I also splattered diluted white acrylic paint. Once that was dry, I adhered and machine stitched through the cut file and the hearts. I bent up the edges for extra texture and dimension.  I smudged Nuvo Silver Glimmer Paste for even more shine. I added a shiny silver "love" Cardstock Sticker here from Bloom Street.

I love how this background turned out!  Using the Nuvo Drops just gives it a whole new texture and level of shine.  I also love the look of the threads on the hearts...it just gives it a fun whimsy feel.

This is why I hardly ever glue anything down completely flat...haha.  I love bending up edges and making things look a little tattered. 

I toned down the metallic shine on this "love" sticker by smudging some white gesso over it.  It's still shiny, but a little more matte.

I love these tickets from Go the Scenic Route Paper 17. They make great small titles. I layered a few here and I also fussy cut this cute flower from the Ephemera Die Cuts. I sorted through the embellishments from Bloom Street and found a similar blank ticket from the Ephemera Die Cuts to layer here. I wanted to keep everything blue and pink to enhance these cute pool photos.

I need to use vellum more...I love the soft feel it creates.

I layered some of Go the Scenic Route Paper 16 behind the photos as well as a tiny scalloped border I cut from a die cut. I tucked in tangled thread and then decided the outer edges of the photos needed a little something. I fussy cut two hearts from vellum and stitched through them.  ellum is so awesome because it’s so soft and subtle but still adds that extra pop

Here are a few more close-ups :)

I hope this inspires you on this Valentine's Weekend!  I had fun putting it together, and you just can't go wrong with hearts.  They're always a winner :)

Be sure to check out my process video to see all the details!

Thank you for stopping in, and have a great weekend!

Love More of This / Hip Kit Club

Hello again, friends!  Today I'm sharing my newest layout for Hip Kit Club :)  I used the 2021 January Hip Kits and an exclusive cut file.  I love this big shadowy "love" design, so I cut it really big using some grey cardstock from last month's kit.  I left the inside open so I could do some watercolor behind it.  I used white textured cardstock for the background, and I coated it with clear gesso first and let it dry.  I used a lot of the Precious Posey Shimmerz to add all that beautiful purple.

I embellished around all the photos with lots of florals...chipboard stickers and die cuts mostly.  I love these colors blended with the purple.  I used some pieces from Pocket Life cards to layer behind the photos as well as some white tissue paper & adhesive foam.

I lightly traced the inside word from the cut file using a pencil.  I used those guidelines to paint the purple Shimmerz with a brush.  I did add some water to soften the edges and to lighten it up in spots.  I only wanted color on the bottom half of the word so it faded up to white at the top.  I did pop the entire cut file up with adhesive foam, and I love all the dimension and shadows!  I layered on some more flowers...some are die cuts and a few I fussy cut from a patterned paper.

To soften up the grey cardstock and give it more of a distressed and weathered effect, I smudged some white gesso over it using my fingers.

I added a puffy sticker here and some tangled thread in a few places.

I love this butterfly...and I love how it contrasts with the purple.  A color scheme I wasn't really planning on, but once I saw it I loved it :)

I used a black fine tip Sharpie to write my journaling.

I love seeing the texture from the cardstock showing through the watercolor! 

Here are a few more close-ups...

I hope this gives you some ideas to try on your next layout...it was a lot of fun to create.  I love cut files like this because it helps design your layout for you.  

Here's my process video:

Thanks for stopping by, and I'll be back tomorrow :)

Love This Girl / Pinkfresh Studio February Challenge

Happy Monday, friends!  The Pinkfresh Studio February Challenge is up, and it's all about alphas and words.  The color scheme coordinates with the new Some Days collection, which is just beautiful.  Check it out!

 

Here's what I came up with.  To create all these words, I used the Heather Lowercase Alpha Dies.  They are my favorite because you get not only the full letter with each cut, but also the thin outline of the letter. I used both on this layout, and I just love the effect.  I began by using a few of the Mini Ink Cubes that matched the Some Days collection.  I scraped each ink pad across a sheet of scrap white cardstock.  I used that to cut all the words out on my manual die cutting machine.  I wanted to create a vertical design with the words and do some matching watercolor behind that.

I used some textured white cardstock for the background, which I first coated with clear gesso to prep it for the inks.  Once that dried, I used the same ink pads to add color.  I used the packaging technique, which means I smushed the ink pad onto some plastic, added water and then pressed it down onto the paper.  I went in rainbow order.  Once that dried, I added the die cut words over it--trying to keep the colors matching.  Once I had those down, I carefully glued them all down using some of the full letters and some of the outlines.  I also machine stitched through each word to add some texture.

I fussy cut some flowers from a few patterned papers to embellish around the page and the photo.  I bent up the leaves to create more texture and dimension, and I also topped the flowers with some of the Essentials Jewels.  I used a few Chipboard Stickers and Die Cuts as well.

I created a little flower cluster down at the bottom of the layout, and I popped up some of the flowers with adhesive foam.  I just love the shadow effect that creates!

I might be obsessed with this alpha die...haha.  I love how these letters look with just the thin outline, but I also love placing the solid letters back inside the outlines.  A little off center, of course :)

I did come back in with the Liquid Watercolors here on the orange section to darken it up a bit.  I mixed the orange with the brown and it did the trick.  I used a small brush to carefully add the color since everything was already glued down.

More beautiful flowers and jewels here :)  I added some matching threads in a few places for added color and texture... my favorite!

Here are more close-up looks at the layout...

I really love how this page turned out...I think it's my favorite of the year so far :)  Be sure to join in on the February Challenge for a chance to win a $50 gift card to the Pinkfresh Store!  Definitely worth it because you NEED these alphas and jewels...woo hoo!! :D

Here's my process video where you can see exactly how I made this:

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Dream Big / Hip Kit Club

Happy Weekend, everybody!  I'm back today to share another new layout for Hip Kit Club featuring the 2021 January Hip Kits.  I went all in with purple for this page, and I love how it turned out.  I used light purple cardstock (from Cardstock Kit) for the background, and I did a lot of work on it first.  I used white gesso first...you can see it all over the place...haha.  I used the stencil from the Color Kit with some modeling paste next...that's where all that awesome bumpy texture came from.  Next, I used the Shimmerz from the Color Kit to add lots of purples and blues.  Once that was all done, I began adding everything else :)

I started the page with this Dream Big cut file and went from there.  I cut it on white cardstock and then backed BIG with some patterned papers & Pocket Life cards.  I painted "dream" using the purple Shimmerz.  It's so glittery and shimmery!  My photo fit perfectly tucked into the top of the cut file, so it was a matter of embellishing all around that.  As I was flipping through the Pocket Life cards, I noticed the cute rainbow...I love how it worked on the right side of the photo, like it was an extension of the pool side.  It just worked, so that's where I started on the embellishing.

I cut the rainbow out and used that as my color scheme for everything else.  I layered some more cards behind the photo as well as some white tissue paper and adhesive foam. I sorted through all the floral die cuts, chipboard stickers, puffy stickers...anything that matched.

I love using clouds above my photos when it feels right, but I wanted to try something different for this page.  I went with this "Magical" cloud and lots of flowers.  I also used a few of the button puffy stickers because they matched so nicely.  I love mixing and matching chipboard with puffy stickers and die cuts...such fun dimension and variety :)

I created an ombre effect here by only painting the lower portion of the title word.  It was actually kind of hard to read once it was on top of the photo, so I tucked in some tissue paper under it to give it some solid white space.  This made is more visible.

Clusters for the win!  Lots of flowers here...I love the layering and dimension.  I also added some thread here for added color & texture. 

Here's a closer look at the background texture.  I love how rough and bumpy it is.  I continued the flowers and buttons down here and added a few chipboard stickers to top of the cut file.

I also fussy cut a few of the speech bubbles from an exclusive patterned paper to use as embellishments in the clusters.

Here are a few more close-ups of all the pretty things!

Oh, I forgot to mention that I did use some metallic gold embroidery thread on the larger button stickers to give them a finished look.

I hope this inspires you in some way today.  I had a lot of fun making it, and I love how it turned out.  Color & texture are my favorite things!

Here's my process video if you're interested:

Thanks so much for stopping by!