Day Dreamer

This little girl loves nature.  She especially loves picking flowers. I snapped a photo of her while we were taking a break from biking one day and it's one of my faves of her because she's just sitting and taking it all in.  I used the Gossamer Blue December Main kit to document this moment.

I loved this background paper by Any Tangerine for American Crafts and just knew it had to be used but I also knew I had to keep it simple so I just added a few circles behind, around and above the photo.

It came together super quick and it was soo easy that I feel like I cheated but I LOVE it!
Thanks for stopping by today.

Happy New Year

I realize that it's not quite Christmas yet and the New Year is a little over a week away but I just had to share this layout I created (and can be seen on the American Crafts blog today). We celebrated the new year as a family, with photo booth props, poppers, confetti, sparkling grape juice and more. Celebrating the New Year with little ones exudes a new level of excitement. We had fun with confetti this last New Years and this photo really captured the pure joy.

How to: Using white cardstock as your base, adhere the gold dot vellum paper to the top 1/2 of the page.  Adhere the Little Things paper to the bottom 1/2 of the page.  Add a 1 1/2" border using the Little Things B side of the paper above the seam. Adhere the gold scallop border over the 1 1/2" border. Stitch the papers along the seams.  Hand cut the banners from the Ooh La La paper and adhere to the top of the page.  Add a pleather bow in the upper right where the banners connect.  Scatter enamel dots like confetti over some of the gold vellum dots.Create a photo mat/frame from coordinating papers, including the gold dot vellum.  Cut a chalkboard frame from the Chalkboard paper pad.  Journal with a gold pen and embellish to your liking.  Add a fun and flirty title by mixing alphas.

Supplies: 

DIY Shop collection: 369025 - Gold Dot on Vellum Paper, 369060 - Permanent Chalk Markers - Gold, Chalkboard collection – 369079 12x12 Paper Pad, Dear Lizzy Serendipity collection: 369181 – Little Things Paper, 369199 Ooh La La Paper, 369185 Hello Beautiful Paper, 369187 One Fine Day Paper, 369207 – Printed Chipboard Letter Stickers Thickers, 369209 – Printed Foil Letter Stickers Thickers, 369210 – Phrase and Letter Stickers, 369213 – Puffy Stickers, 369215 – Enamel Dots, 369217 – Pleather Bows, 369218 – Die Cut Cardstock Shapes

Christmas Tags

When it comes to Christmas cards, I'm more of a Christmas tags kind of girl. I just love the look they add to the overall packaging / gift giving experience. Using the same tags as a base and similar types of embellishments (die cuts, doilies) makes it easier to create pretty little tags quickly.

 

Merry Christmas Tag

Cut your background paper to the width and desired length for your tag and adhere to the tag.  Add a scallop border to the top and bottom of the background paper.  Add a die cut sentiment over a gold doily and adhere to the tag. Top with additional embellishments as you please.

 

Joy Tag

Cut your background paper to the width and desired length and adhere to the tag.  Add gold glitter tape to the top and bottom of the background paper.  Add a die cut sentiment over a gold doily and add Gold Zazz! glitter glue for more sparkle.

 

Christmas Tree Tag

Cut your background paper to the width and desired length for your tag and adhere to the tag.  I chose a paper with sentiments printed since I was using a die cut that did not include a sentiment. Cut a small gold doily in half and wrap around so the ends meet in the center. Cover the back of the tag with a coordinating paper to cover the doily seams in the back..  Wrap the Christmas tree die cut with gold twine to resemble strands of tinsel on a tree. Adhere the tree to the tag and voila!

 

Supplies: Be Merry Collection - 368911 Checking it Twice Paper, 368916 Stockings Paper, 368920 Candy Cane Lane Paper, 368926 Accent and Phrase Stickers, 368931 Cardstock Die Cuts; DIY Shop collection - 369055 Gold Twine, 369056 Gold Glitter Tape, 369047 Mercantile Tags; Other: 27451 Gold Zazz! Glitter Glue, 31862 Studio Calico Gold Paper Doilies

Let It Go

Hi friends!  It's been a fabulous year working with Simple Stories and I am thankful for the opportunity to delight you all with inspiring projects using their incredible collections.  For my final design team project, I am soo excited to show you a fun layout I created using the Snow Fun collection.  It's doesn't get snowy here in the part of Texas where we live but this collection was PERFECT for documenting this year's Halloween, which was all about Frozen, for my my 6 year old.

How to: Cut and stitch the "Do you want to build a snowman?" card to the front of the "mountain top" card so that it creates a pocket for journaling.  Add a frame around your photo using the Frostbite and dark blue papers from the Collection Kit. Apply the pocket and the photo in the middle of the "Flurries" background paper, slightly offset from each other.

Cut the letters "LET IT" from the Elements #1 paper and adhere it over the journaling pocket. To complete the title, cut a super sized "Go" using your electronic die cut machine. I used the offset function to create a white background to ensure the word "GO" stands out on the page. Lastly, decorate the pre-printed snowflakes with enamel dots, brads and other embellishments.

Many thanks to Simple Stories for an amazing year!

Christmas Countdown Project

My kids love to count the days 'til Christmas, which we start doing right after Thanksgiving here in the States. The DIY Shop frames and the Be Merry collection were a perfect pairing for a Christmas Countdown DIY project. 

How to: Cut an 8.5"x8.5" block of wood and paint it black. Distress the edges. Cut your background paper to 8"x8" and adhere to the wood block using ModPodge or the adhesive of your choice.  Apply glitter tape around the border of the paper to serve as a frame.  Next, add a colored frame from the DIY Shop collection and embellish around the frame with die cuts.  Cut the words "Days 'til Christmas" in a bold color that will stand out against your background paper. I cut my words to fit into a 3"x6" space. Last but not least, start your daily countdown and enjoy!

Supplies: DIY Shop collection: 369012 Color Framed Boards, 369056 Gold Glitter Tape; Be Merry Collection: 368920 Candy Cane Lane Paper, 368931 Cardstock Die Cuts

Love These Two

Hello friends. I've been playing with the December Gossamer Blue kits and wanted to show you a fun way to change the original design of a paper and transform it into something new by giving it a little twist.

 

I just love the Gramercy Road West Seventh paper included in this month's kit but I wanted to add a little white space to the page and change the downward motion of the paper. I also didn't want the green in the paper because it clashed with the green in my photo.

 

 

To do this, I simply cut along the edge of the chevron design where the blue and green met and then cut it again with my remaining piece of my paper, removing the green color again.  That left me with two large triangle pieces to use as my background.  I mentioned earlier that I wanted to change the direction so I lined one up in the top right and then flipped the other over and adhered it to the bottom left of the page.  

 

I framed my photo and then placed it directly under the top right triangle. 

 

 

I then placed my title above the bottom left triangle. I chose to use a super sized heart as my "O" in the work LOVE. I placed the photo and title like this in an attempt to draw the eye to the most important bits of the page.

 

I sprinkled the layout with rub-on clouds, hearts and stitching and added cork, wood, sequins and cardstock embellishments to bring it even more to life. I love the transformation and I hope you do too!

 

Supplies: Gossamer Blue Main kit, Main add-on, Main Add-on 2, Life Pages kit.