Pinkfresh Studio Happy Heart - Hand Stitching

Today I have another scrapbook layout to share using the beautiful Happy Heart collection from Pinkfresh Studio. For this layout, which is inspired a great deal by a layout by Paige Evans, I used just two pieces of paper - Celebrate You (2" Squares)  and Keep Growing (Blue B Side), some words from the Ephemera Titles Pack, a few sequins and lots of hand stitching.

The sheets of 2" squares which a lot of manufacturers have started producing are very versatile and can be used in many way. You can use them in their entirety (like in this layout I created a couple of years ago using Simple Stories), use a few of the squares either whole of fussy cut as embellishments, or as I have with today's layout, use some of the squares in a grid design. You could also cut your own 2" squares from patterned papers if the collection you're using doesn't include a sheet of squares.

I started with a sheet of the pale blue Keep Growing paper and then chose 19 of the 2" squares from the Celebrate You paper which I arranged in a grid with six 2" square black and white photos. I distressed all the edges of the squares and arranged them so that the colours were evenly distributed throughout the grid. The photos were mounted on 3D foam to raise them up and make them more prominent.

I then took a few words from the Emphemera Titles Pack and with 3D foam underneath I placed these on top of some of the squares.

I almost left the layout at that but decided to do some hand stitching on the layout. Firstly I stitched over some of the designs on the squares.

Then I poked a serious of holes into the layout where I wanted to stitch grid lines and using 6 strands of pale blue embroidery thread I stitched the lines using a chain stitch. This was a real labour of love and took a long time to complete but I really like the finished effect and the added texture it gives the layout. It would have probably been easier to stitch the lines before I glued down the squares, but as the stitching was an afterthought that wasn't an option.

Finally, I added a few sequins to a couple of the squares and called the layout done.

Pinkfresh Studio Happy Heart - Beautiful Spring

Today I'm sharing another scrapbook layout using Pinkfresh Studio's Happy Heart collection and some photos taken last May. The colours in this collection are predominantly pastels and teamed with white cardstock appear very soft but, team the collection with some bright cardstock and the colours come to life.

For this layout I first created a photo collage using five photos from a day out and attached this to a piece of white cardstock onto which I had already typed my journalling and tied a piece of pink bakers twine. 

The white cardtock, which was a little larger than A4 size, was then stuck to a sheet of the Keep Growing paper.

Next to the journalling I added the title with the word 'Spring' cut from bright Pink Cardstock and the word 'Beautiful' taken from the Ephemera Titles Pack. 

The words 'at Herstmonceux' completed the title using some white Pink Paislee Foam Thickers from my stash.

To pick out the pink in the patterned paper and to add some of the bright pink colour to the top half of the layout I added a punched border above the photo collage using more of the bright pink cardstock. 

The layout was embellished using one of the Ephemera pieces and a fussy cut butterfly from the Beautiful Moments paper.