Elle's Studio Guest Designer!

Hey everyone and happy 2018! 

I'm excited to announce that I am a guest designer over at Elle's Studio this month! I am designing three projects using their latest releases and here is my first project...

I used a piece of kraft cardstock for my background paper and placed the “I Love You More Than All The Stars In The Sky” die cut next to the photo of my husband and I, which I layered on top of the striped patterned paper from the XOXO 6″ x 6″ Paper Stack.

Next, I visually balanced out my design by using two more patterned paper pieces from the XOXO 6″ x 6″ Paper Stack and cut them to fill in the white space under my photo and the sentiment die cut piece. Since I love to layer and create embellishment clusters, I utilized the space on the patterned paper pieces under my photo for just that.

I placed several die cut and Hand Drawn Acrylic Hearts and tags from the Love You Die Cut on the patterned paper squares and I also used some of the leftover pieces from the striped patterned paper that I layered under my photo to create a pocket to house my journaling card, which I sewed onto the page.

I simply placed the piece of patterned paper onto my page and used my sewing machine to stitch around three sides of it to create a little pocket. This is a great way to add texture to your page while hiding some of your private journaling!
 

I also included several of the Star Chipboard and Hugs and Kisses Puffy Stickers to add some dimension and color pop to my design. I love how the softer colors from the XOXO 6″ x 6″ Paper Stack look paired with the pops of black and white!

You can check out my full post on the Elle's Studio blog...thanks so much for stopping by and I hope your New Year is off to a great start!

Happy Together *Shimmerz*

Hello everyone!  

I shared this layout on the Shimmerz Paints blog yesterday. I used some of my favorite summer-inspired hues of the Coloringz, Creameez, and Dazzlerz paints from Shimmerz! 

I started by lightly misting the striped patterned paper that I chose to use as my background with some Don't Citron Me Coloringz spray. 

After the spray ink dried, I used a stencil and some of the Dazzlerz Pucker Up Pink dimensional paste to create the tiny triangles that I placed across my page. I love how the Dazzlerz dimensional paste really adds some brightness and texture to my layout, with just the right amount of color pop! 

After the paste dried, I started maneuvering my photos and embellishments around until I was satisfied with their placement. I typed my journaling and printed it off to fit inside one of the die cut frames I used from Hip Kit Club and then layered even more items here and there on my page. 

I wanted to add a little more color to my background paper, so I poured a little bit of the Well Blue Me Down and Oh Say Can U Sea Coloringz mist into separate containers and used the lids to create the circle array I added to my layout. I love how simple and subtle the circular shapes came out using this technique! 

To complete my layout, I layered my title "Happy Together" toward the bottom of my page and used some Creameez Lettuce Get Together to the white "happy" phrase using a watercolor brush so I could coordinate it with my color scheme.

I love how well the color scheme on my layout turned out thanks to the Shimmerz paints I used! I hope I've given you some summer-themed inspiration for your next page and a new technique or two for you to try! 

Shimmerz Paints Used: Coloringz - Don't Citron Me, Well Blue Me Down, Oh Say Can U Sea; Creameez - Lettuce Get Together; Dazzlerz - Pucker Up Pink

Thanks so much for joining me and I hope you have a fabulous day! 

Go See Explore *Shimmerz Paints*

Hello everyone!

I'm guest designing over at Shimmerz Paints this month and I have another layout that I created using a mix of Coloringz, Creameez, and Dazzlerz dimensional paste to share with you!

I started creating this layout by misting some of the Coloringz Night Moves spray onto my background patterned paper. I just randomly picked an area to spray and added a few larger drops from the cap as well.

Next, after the mist dried completely, I used one of my favorite acrylic masks and placed it on top of the misted area and secured it using some washi tape so it wouldn't move around while I added the Dazzlerz Spun Sugar dimensional paste.

As you can see in the photo below, I didn't lay the dimensional paste on super thick because I wanted to add only a slight bit of texture and dimension.

After the paste dried, I added a 12" long strip of patterned paper that I placed my photo and page title on and adhered it using some foam tape. 

Using a watercolor brush, I added some of the Creameez Ride the Tide watercolor to the chipboard letters in my title and squirted a few drops around my entire layout to coordinate with the light blue elements in the patterned paper I chose. 

After placing a few more embellishments around my photo and adding my journaling, my page was complete! 

As I mentioned in my previous guest post, I was always a little shy about using a lot of paint and watercolors on my layouts, but the Shimmerz paints are so easy to use and I'm always amazed at how quickly they dry! 

Thanks so much for joining me and I hope you have a fabulous day! 

Shimmerz Guest Designer!

Hello everyone!

I'm so excited to be guest designing for Shimmerz over the next couple of months! I have to admit that while I love adding a touch of mist or watercolor to my layouts, sometimes I get really scared that I might end up hating or ruining my entire layout so I end up not using paint very often. I know that's really crazy, but I'm a perfectionist (to a fault) and sometimes it just scares me, lol! Anyway...I overcame all of my fears and perfectionist tendencies and created one of my all time FAVORITE layouts using some amazing products from Shimmerz!!!

I started by using a watercolor brush and dipping it into several of my favorite Shimmerz Coloringz spray mists on top of some white card stock. The Coloringz colors I used were Mandarin Mai Tai, Well Blue Me Down, Pink Stilettos, Pretty In Pink, and Don't Citron Me. I also added a few drips and splatters of each color as well.

Next, I placed some coordinating acetate phrases from Freckled Fawn on top of the color swatches. The Shimmerz Coloringz inks matched the phrases almost perfectly! 

After I placed the acetate phrases on my page, I machine-stitched them down and layered several other phrases from Heidi Swapp on top of them for added dimension and color. I colored each of the Heidi Swapp Watercolor Words using coordinating Creameez colors such as Just Peachie, Good Ol' Summer Time, and Boogie Boardin's Blue with my watercolor brush.

I finished my layout by including the funny faced photo of my daughter and some shiny sequins on top of the white card stock and then I placed the card stock on top of a rainbow chevron striped piece of patterned paper from Bella Blvd. 

If you're like me and scared of using paint, ink, and watercolors on your page then I hope I've inspired you to take the plunge and just do it! I promise that it will be worth the worry and I'm sure, just like me, you'll absolutely LOVE the results! 

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a fabulous day! 

Shimmerz Supplies Used: Coloringz - Don't Citron Me, Well Blue Me Down, Pretty In Pink, Pink Stilettos, Mandarin Mai Tai; Creameez - Just Peachie, Good Ol' Summer Time, Boogie Boardin' Blue

Bella Blvd Guest Designer!

Hi friends!

I'm so excited to be guest designing at Bella Blvd today! I used some of their very best collections, including "She Blooms", "Cute Baby Boy", and "Let's Go" to create my projects.

I have more detailed photographs of my creations and lots more info about how these pages came together on the Bella Blvd blog so be sure and head over there to check out my full post!

I loved creating with Bella Blvd's amazing products...from enamel hearts to chipboard clouds...they have it all!!! And I really love how well everything coordinated even when I wasn't using the same collection for every detail or embellishment that I added to my projects.

I couldn't help using so many bright and bold colors on my layouts, but I used a lot of aqua accents to help balance my color schemes.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful day!

JustNick Guest Designer and A Free Cut File!

Happy Friday, friends!

I'm so thrilled to be a guest designer over at JustNick today! If cut files are your jam then this is the place to go for all of your cut file needs! Seriously...there are some amazing cut files designed by my fellow Hip Kit Club DT member, Nicole Nowosad and tons of inspiration from her team on how to use them on the blog!

I created two layouts using some of her amazing files for my guest spot and the first one is titled "Lego Love"...

For this page, I used the Snowflakes cut file from her shop and the "Love" sentiment from the "That's Amore" freebie cut file that you can download for free using the code SWAKFREE at checkout by February 29th, 2016. I resized and cut out the snowflakes from a piece of white card stock and then layered it over a piece of sea foam green card stock.

I cut the snowflakes out again using a bright, aqua piece of card stock and layered several of them on top of the cut out snowflakes from the white card stock.

I used the "Love" sentiment as part of my title and placed the "Lego" foam letters on top of the heart. I really like the contrast the black and white elements give my page and the snowflakes were the perfect motif for the photos of my daughter holding her Frozen Lego castle she built all by herself.

For this next layout, I used the Brick Circle cut file and the SWAK sentiment that's also from the freebie cut file.

I enlarged the brick circle and placed various pieces of patterned paper under each brick. Then I added several of the SWAK sentiments and sized them to fit inside of the bricks.

I used black thread and my sewing machine to stitch around the entire brick circle and layered several chipboard stickers around my photos to help draw the eye around the circle.

I printed my photos off in black and white for added contrast and to coordinate with the black elements on my page. 

Please be sure and head over to the JustNick blog to download the Freebie Cut File that was designed just for my guest spot. It's perfect for all of you Valentine's Day projects or love inspired layouts!

Thanks so much for joining me here today and I want to thank Nicole for having me as a guest DT as well!

xoxo

Tree Story *The Cut Shoppe*

Happy Monday, everyone!

I'm so excited to be a guest designer over at The Cut Shoppe today!  I created this layout using The Totally Triangles cut file and made the triangles look like trees for a little festive flair...

I was so inspired by the photo of my daughter helping me hang ornaments on our Christmas tree last year that I decided to use different patterned paper pieces to back some of the triangles along a horizontal line across my page.  

Next, I added several epoxy glitter stars from Freckled Fawn to make the triangles look more like Christmas trees after I stitched the cut file down using my sewing machine and some white thread.

 

I typed my journaling on a die cut tag and layered it on top of the set of trees at the bottom that I cut apart from the original cut file.

Even though this page is fairly simple in design, adding the patterned paper pieces really made a statement and changed the whole look of the cut file! 

I want to thank Ashley and The Cut Shoppe for having me as a guest designer today! Thanks for stopping by and be sure and check out my post on The Cut Shoppe Blog!

December Documented Album Completed!

Happy Thursday!

I have the rest of my December Documented album from Hip Kit Club on their blog!  I thoroughly enjoyed working with all of their amazing kits and I'm so excited to share my December album with you today.

I used the December Documented album from Hip Kit Club for my album this year and added a few other items from my stash here and there. 

I used an 8.5x11 sized album this year and took a PL style approach to documenting the month.

I pre-designed most of my pages back in November to make it easier to keep up with.  I highly recommend this approach because if you get a little behind all you have to do is print out your photos and slip them into the pockets.

I always try to include the holiday cards I receive from friends and family each year in my album.  This year I slipped them into an 8.5x11 sized page protector and added an embellished journaling card that I machine-stitched onto the protector and placed in the back of my album.

Have you completed your December album yet?  No worries if you haven't, just remember to keep it simple and have fun with it!

Thanks for stopping by today!