Happy Goofballs

Thickers may just be my favorite American Crafts products ever but super-sized giant Thickers blow my mind! I created this layout with Thickers taking a predominant place on the page.

 How to:

• Cut the transparent doilies from the transparent sheet and arrange on your background paper, without adhering.
• Using your Silhouette, measure the placement of your doilies and cut circles out of a white piece of cardstock.
• Layer the cardstock with cut out circles over a white sheet of cardstock and adhere the doilies within the circles. 
• Stitch around the outside of the circles.
• Add a fun border to the top and bottom of the page.
• Add your photo and a super-sized title using the large Thickers. 
• Machine stitch additional elements to your heart’s desire.

I used Gesso and some glitter to give the Thickers even more dimension. 

 Supplies: Rootbeer Float Thickers (370554) – chipboard letter stickers, Rise & Shine collection: (370001) – Chloe Paper, (370015) – Lana Paper, (370018) – Sophia Transparent Paper, (370032) – Remarks Accent & Phrase Stickers, (370035) – Remarks Alpha Stickers, (370038) – Bits Die Cut Cardstock Shapes, (370045) – Ticket Memo Pad, (370054) – Chipboard Frames, (370038) – Bits Die Cut Cardstock Shapes, white cardstock, (370050) – Kara Rotary Phrase stamp

She Brings Her Own Sunshine

I had an amazing month guesting over on the October Afternoon blog!!! Thanks so much to Suz for inviting me to share over there.  Before I say goodbye, I have a fun layout and process video to share using the Saturday Mornings collection.


Most of you know that I have a fondness for creating visual backgrounds for my base pages. I had some scraps of paper and 3x4 journal cards and just kind of cut away at them to create the background. Then I created some fun designs in small, medium and large circles along the horizontal and vertical axises of the background.


I share a tip in the video below for cutting a photo into a perfect circle when you don't have a punch or die that fits perfectly. I used it for the hexagon photo in the blog post immediately before this one and explained "hot to" in the video as I cut the circle photo for this layout.

This little girl definitely sparkles and shines wherever she goes so I thought it only fitting to title this "She brings her own Sunshine". I chose to focus only on the gorgeous blues and yellows (with a small bit of brown) from the Saturday Mornings collection help accentuate the story.

So there you have it, my final layout as guest designer.  Please head over to the October Afternoon blog to say hi and then you can watch the video over there.  Or here, whatever strikes your fancy.

The layout came together, relatively fast and easy.  Oh and I'd love to connect with you on Instagram @heatherleopard!


Thanks again to October Afternoon for having me this month!

Breakfast for Dinner | October Afternoon Guest Designer

I'm so excited to be featured on the October Afternoon blog today.   I thought I'd share a layout I made that embraces my love for patterns using the Saturday Mornings collection.

So who's with me and agrees that breakfast for dinner is one of the most fun dinners to have, especially for the kiddos?!?! We don't do it very often but when we do, my girls get a kick out of it every. single. time. And it's even better when someone else is cooking!


As you may or may not know, I am obsessed with patterns. I love to mix and match them to create visual backgrounds and designs to help tell the story of my photos. Today is no exception.

Visit my Instagram (@heatherleopard) today to see a Flipogram of how this layout came together.



This look can be easily achieved with a triangle punch or by hand cutting the triangles. Just make sure to include 6 even sides so they line up properly. BUT, if you have a Silhouette, you are in luck.  I created a cut file. If you want to re-create this layout for yourself, you can DOWNLOAD THE FREE CUT FILE.



To create this layout, I cut each of the triangles and octagons and then pieced them together.  I chose to leave some of the octagons empty so I could add octagon shaped photos in those spots.



For the title I played with the font colors so that it could read at least 3 different ways - "Breakfast for dinner" 'cause that's what it was, "Break for dinner" 'cause I was catching a break by not having to cook dinner and "Fast dinner" 'cause it came out speedy quick.

Many thanks again to October Afternoon for having me guest today. Stop by next Friday to see my process for creating backgrounds. 

Lucky Me

This layout was featured on the American Crafts blog last Friday during LUCKY week but I thought I'd save it and post it on St. Patrick's Day today.  It may just be my favorite layout that I've created in a LONG time.  I love the subject of the layout and the design was just to fun to create.

I definitely got lucky in love with my Mister and I love documenting it so my girls know how much in love their mommy & daddy are.

Supplies: Serendipity collection: (370095) – Clear shapes, (370087) – Printed Cardstock Phrases & Accents, (370091) – Accent & Phrase Stickers, (370096) – Plastic Bows, (370099) – Die Cut Cardstock Shapes; Rise & Shine collection: (370044) – Shaped Paper Clips, (370027) – Grace Foam Stickers

How to:

• Cut 4 hearts with the tips facing each other and multiple circles using your electronic die cut machine.
• Use the tiny cut out circles to create a border around the negative circles and stitch over them to create a border around the page.
• Choose a photo to insert in one of the hearts. 
• Add embellishments in and around the remaining hearts.
• Add pattern paper under the border of the layout.
• Add your title to the top right hand of the page.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope I've inspired you in some way.

The Best Day | Gossamer Blue Inspiration Blog Hop

It's time again for the Gossamer Blue Design Team blog hop. I'm telling you, the Gossamer Blue kits are amaze-balls and this amazing team of scrapbookers, pocket pagers and card makers are so freaking talented. I just love gazing through the gallery for inspiration and I especially love this hop, which makes it super easy to see a sampling from each designer along the way!

Here's a layout I created with the March kit, using lots of goodies from My Mind's Eye and Pink Paislee.

I just added wonky cut layer upon wonky cut layer upon wonky cut layer, stitching between each layer. How awesome are the exclusive Gossamer Blue stamps? I used part of mine to stamp on the little tag.

And next is the adorably cute photo and embellishments. My journaling is written on the hidden noteworthy insert right under the photo.

So that's it for me today. Now it's time to see what the beautiful Miss Jessica Lohof created. Enjoy!

My Hair Had a Party Last Night | October Afternoon Guest Designer

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I am SUPER DUPER EXCITED to be guest designing for October Afternoon again!  This time, I'm playing with the Saturday Mornings collection and today I'm talking on their blog about layering.

I have a question for you...do you suffer from bed head or know someone who does?  My littlest suffers from it in the worst way.  She goes to bed a beauty queen and when she wakes up it's as if her hair got in a terrible fight. I snapped this photo of her the other morning, with her hair in a more mild state but still a mess.

With her hair a tangled mess, I thought it only fitting to include lots of layers on this layout.  Care to know how I created this layout?  I walked through the process and did a little step x step how-to tutorial for creating it on the October Afternoon blog today.

Layers and layers on Saturday Morning goodness and a funny song title.

She definitely saves her drama for her mama!

I'll be back on the October Afternoon blog every Friday in March so please STAY TUNED and check back often!

Life is Good

Hi everyone! This month's Gossamer Blue kit is absolutely stunning. It's filled with the latest CHA goodies. I was immediately drawn to the Pinkfresh Studios papers in this month’s kit.  I was especially drawn to the paper I used for this month’s pattern play on the Gossamer Blue blog because of the repeating circles so I figured I'd talk about working with repetition and busy patterns.  

Since the background is soo busy, I at first thought I’d cut the paper in half and pair it with a paper with little to no pattern. Then I stared at it a little while longer and decided to embrace them all.  Here’s the result and how to…..

Supplies: March Main kit, Main add-on, Main Add-on 2, Life Pages Main Kit

How to:

Since the layout had 6 circles across and 6 circles down, I decided to used 6 circle photos. The pre-printed circles are ~2″ so I printed my photos at 1 3/4″.

Start by adding the photos around the page until you like where they are placed. I originally placed them on the solid circles but quickly realized the patterned circles were just too busy so, 4 of the 6 are now covering the pattern circles.

I still felt like the pre-printed pattern circles were a bit too distracting so I applied gesso over many of them.  This really softened them up quite a bit.

Next I stitched circles over several of the gesso and solid circles ’cause this girl loves to stitch on her layouts.

Once I started embellishing, I moved the pieces around again until everything was just right.  I often describe my process as basically pushing paper (and embellishments) around and around and around.

The banner was a perfect title and then I journaled in one of the plain circles to finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by today.