Photoplay - Christmas Junque - Oh Christmas Tree

Today is the eve of Epiphany, which means the Christmas decorations are coming down tomorrow! 🎄 To say a proper goodbye to the season, I’ve created a new layout featuring my Christmas tree. I used the gorgeous Christmas Junque collection by Photoplay, which I think was the perfect match for the photo.

I started with a sheet of  Mrs. Claus Bakery paper. While I originally saved this for a festive food-themed layout, I realised that by layering embelishments to hide the 'Bakery' reference, I could use the entire sheet for this tree layout instead.

After printing my photo slightly smaller than A4, I double-matted it using Christmas Time paper and gold mirror card. I then stuck it to the right-hand side of my layout.

From the Collage Cut Out Sheets I fussy cut several images, matted them with gold card and used them to embellish the photo. Stars from more gold card were also included.

A fussy cut arrow was used to pinpoint a favourite ornament in the photo.

To cover the 'Mrs. Claus’ Bakery' text, I used a cut-out piece as a pocket. I secured it to the layout using gold brads, which added a touch more gold to the layout and also hid the original paper's theme.

I printed my journalling onto a tag, created a red tag top, threaded it with some red and white twine and tucked it into the pocket.

Tucking a few additional cut-outs into the pocket created a layered, cluster effect that gave more interest to the layout.

At the top of the layout I added a die cut title and finished it off with a scattering of gold sequins and punched cardstock stars which carry the gold theme across the whole layout.

Vicki Boutin's Bold & Bright for American Crafts - Magic Moments

My layout today uses the Picnic Blanket paper from Vicki Boutin's Bold & Bright collection and lots of fussy cut elements, phrase Thickers and puffy stickers. The layout is a very clean, graphic, grid design that uses all the colours in the collection.

I started by printing my journalling onto a sheet of 12x12 smooth white cardstock. I wanted the journalling to run round the outside edge of a grid, so I created my journalling on an MSWord document. I drew a 10" square in the centre of the document and then, using WordArt, I added my journalling to the outside edges of the square. Finally I deleted the square, leaving just the words, and printed the journalling on my computer.

Using a 2" square punch I punched 16 squares from the Picnic Blanket paper. The squares were arranged in a 4 x 4 grid and using a black gel pen I drew grid lines between the squares. The paper squares were already printed with faux stitching lines so there was no need for real stitching on this layout.

I double matted my 3x4 photo with green paper and white cardstock and placed this at an angle in the bottom right corner of the layout.

I took the word 'Moments' from the sheet of Puffy Title Thickers  and the word 'Magic' from a sheet of  Paige Evans Adventurous collection Phrase Thickers and added them to the bottom of the layout.

Then came the fun part of embellishing the layout and I choose to embellish tone-on-tone. I added fussy cut butterflies from the Smile Bright Paper to some of the squares. I glued the body of the butterfly to the layout and put 3d foam pads underneath the wings to add some dimension.

The sheet of mini puffy stickers has 101 tiny stickers (butterflies, hearts, stars, dots and words) so some of those were added too.

In my stash I found enamel dots in all the colours and dotted a few of these on each square.

Words were cut from the 3x4 tags sheet of paper and used on some squares.

I trimmed the white card down slightly and matted this onto a sheet of black cardstock leaving a narrow border.

Tiny heart stickers were placed in the corners and then with a black gel pen I drew lines round the outside of the layout.

Vicki Boutin's Bold & Bright for American Crafts - Take the Pictures

Today I have another layout using Vicki Boutin's gorgeous Bold & Bright collection which is perfect for scrapbooking sunny, summer photos. The title on today's layout is a Foam Phrase Thickers from the collection which says 'Take the Pictures to Capture the Memories', and that is so true. 

I started my layout with a sheet of smooth white 12x12 cardstock and in the middle I smooshed some aqua blue acrylic paint. I then trimmed the cardstock down slightly, distressed the edges and matted it onto a sheet of Ocean blue Bazzill cardstock.

I  cut random sized rectangles from the Light of Day, Mixed Tags, Spinning Wheels and Picnic Blanket papers distressed the edges and layered them in the centre of the layout. I used the B sides which have smaller all over designs on them.

Using black thread I machine stitched a straight stitch round the edges of all the papers and the layout.

Onto the paper layers I placed my 6x4 photo which I matted with white cardstock.

I fussy cut some of the blue and green wheels from the Spinning Wheels paper, distressed the edges and tucked these under the paper layers.

One of the Foam Phrase Thickers overlaps the corner of the photo.

The branding strip from the Smile Bright paper has black arrows on it. I cut the branding strip into pieces and used this to embellish the top and bottom of the layout.

My journalling was printed as word strips and stuck below the photo.

Finally I scattered some sequins and enamel dots around the layout.

American Crafts Paige Evans - Adventurous - Smile, it looks good on you

Today I have another layout to share using the gorgeous Adventurous collection by Paige Evans for American Crafts.

For this layout I started by cutting a 10" square from the centre of paper #14. The B side of this paper has an all over cloud design and was the perfect background for a layout using a photo of my daughter and I taken on a sunny summers day. The 10" paper square was matted on pink 'Fussy' Bazzill cardstock, placed onto an 11.5" square of white cardstock and then placed back on top of the sheet of paper #14 which I had cut the original square from.

With white thread I machine stitched a straight stitch around the edge of the square.

Using an old Paige Evans sunburst stencil and some white gesso and yellow watercolour paint, I added a sunburst to the top left corner of the layout. 

I printed my photo in black and white and matted it on white card and then onto a piece of paper #19. I fussy cut a whole bunch of labels & tickets from paper #21 and these, together with some pieces from the pack of Journalling Ephemera and the photo were strung onto some black and white bakers twine across the layout. 

I added one of the cut aparts from paper #1 amongst the labels, played around with the order of the labels, etc until I was happy with the placement and distribution of the colours and then stuck them to the layout with 3D foam underneath.

Beaneath the photo I added the title using stickers from the Phrase Stickers Sheet and an older sheet of Vicki Boutin Phrase Stickers. 

Vellum flowers from the pack of Icon Ephemera were tucked under the top and bottom of the photo.

Journaling was added to one of the tickets and the layout was completed with splatters of gold ink and a scattering of gold sequins.

Pretty Little Studio - Good Vibrations - You are Awesome

Another project using the Good Vibrations collection from Pretty Little Studio. 

For the layout I'm sharing today I started by trimming a sheet of the starry eyed paper  and matted this on a 12" x 12" sheet of smooth black cardstock leaving a narrow border round the edges. 

The packaging of the 12 x 12 single sided paper pack includes front and back cover sheets. The back cover sheet shows small preview squares of all the papers in the pack in a 4x4 grid, and so I trimmed this and placed onto the layout. It was perfect for creating a simple grid layout.

My photo, which was just under 5x7, was matted onto black cardstock and placed in the bottom right corner of the layout, covering 6 of the printed squares, and with 3D foam underneath to create some dimension.

I then set about embellishing the layout with pieces from the Seize the Day Die Cut pack and Wildflower Die Cut pack. The packs contains multicoloured phrases, stars & flowers and I chose some which were appropriate for a layout about my son.

The die cuts were raised on 3D foam so that they stood out from the otherwise flat background.

I also added texture with machine stitching round the outside edges of the paper/card layers.

Yellow Enamel dots were dotted here and there.

Finally I printed some details about the photo onto a paper strip and attached this below the photo.

Pretty Little Studio - Good Vibrations - This is Our Happy Place

Today I've a layout to share using the new Good Vibrations collection from Pretty Little Studio. This collection was created by Ashley Horton and is all about feeling good. With bright cheerful colours, hearts, flowers and happy phrases it is perfect for summer scrapbooking.

For my layout today I used one sheet of paper from the 12x12 single sided paper pack and die cuts from the wildflower and frames packs plus a flair button and some enamel dots.

I started by trimming ¼" from each edge of the Play it Cool paper and matted this onto a sheet of 12x12 smooth white cardstock. On top of the paper I placed my large 11½" by 8½"  photo and then using white thread I machine stitched round the edges of the paper and the photo.

From white cardstock I die cut my title on the Silhouette Cameo using a cut file from the Silhouette Store. My title was attached to the top of the layout with 3D foam underneath.

Two embellishment clusters were created on opposite corners of the photo with all the elements raised on more 3D foam. In the bottom corner I used yellow/brown die cuts to echo the sand in the photo and in the top corner I used blue, to echo the sky.

I cut one of the Picture Day Die Cut Frames in half and used one half in each cluster. Phrases from the Seize the Day Die Cuts and frames pack were also added.

The Wildflower Die Cuts contain lots of circular flowers so I pulled out the yellow/brown and blue ones and added them to the layout. In the Be Seeing Ya Flair Buttons there was a blue heart which was the perfect addition.

Finally I scattered a few brown and blue enamel dots into the clusters.

Mintay Papers - Playtime - Beach Buddies

This is my final project using Mintay's Playtime collection. I only had a few papers left from my design team kit but the less busy B sides were perfect for a scrapbook layout using a beach photo of my brother and I taken many years ago.

I started by trimming a sheet of 12" x 12" Bazzill smooth white cardstock and matted this on a 12" x 12" sheet of Bazzill Aqua cardstock leaving a narrow border round the edges.

In the centre of the layout I placed pieces of papers #1, #3 & #4 and using white thread, machine stitched a straight stitch around the edges of all the papers and around the edge of the whole layout. The pieces of paper measured roughly 6" x 10", 8" x 6.5" and 4" x 8".

My 6x4 photo was matted onto white cardstock and placed on top of the papers with 3D foam underneath to add some dimension. Using some fringing scissors, I created three fringed border strips from some white cardstock, layered these on top of each other and then tucked them underneath the bottom edge of the photo. Using my fingertips I ruffled up the fringes to create some depth and shadows. I think the fringe adds a playful touch to the layout.

On my Silhouette Cameo I cut from white cardstock the 'Day at the Beach' cut file from Confessions of a Paper Addict. With scraps from the collection and some kraft cardstock I backed the cut file and then placed this in the bottom right corner of the layout, overlapping the patterned papers and the fringed border strips. 3D foam was placed underneath the cut file.

In the top right of the layout I created a pennant from more scraps of patterned paper and added a small fringe border to echo the larger fringed border created earlier.

Letters, die cut from more of the paper, were used for the title.

The date and place were printed onto a piece of white card on the computer and stuck to the bottom of the layout.

Finally I splattered some yellow watercolour paint onto the layout and scattered some aqua coloured enamel dots and sequins here and there.