Top Ten of 2016 | Blog Hop

Hi everyone.  I hope you are all ready for the New Year but before we go there, I'm participating in a Top Ten Blog Hop with an amazing group of ladies.  You are sure to be inspired with all sorts of amazing ideas AND I hear there's several opportunities to WIN PRIZES along the way.

I'm giving away two $10 gift certificates to Paper Issues.  Read more about it at the end of my post.

Without further ado, here's a few of my fave layouts from the year.  I chose to limit it to all layouts but you can see more of my favorite projects here and on Instagram.

Love You More

Shine Bright My Love

So Many Reasons to be Happy

Wild & Free

Summer Adventure + Tutorial

Play + Free Cut File

Hello Sweet Girl

Ballerina Girl

Grateful Heart + Free Cut File

Embrace Life

I hope you are enjoying this hop and that you are soaking up all sorts of inspiration!  

GIVEAWAYS

I'm giving away two $10 gift certificates to Paper Issues.  Here's how to enter:

• Giveaway #1: Follow me on Instagram @heatherleopard and leave a comment on the Top Ten Post. Tag a friend in the comments for bonus entries - 1 per friend you tag. You have until December 31, 2016 at midnight CST to enter.
• Giveaway #2: Follow me here on my blog and leave a comment on this post. You have until December 31, 2016 at midnight CST to enter.

Now, it's time to visit a sweet, talented friend of mine, Rebecca Keppel.

DIY Mini Christmas Pinatas

Ho, ho, ho and Merry Christmas..  I'm so excited to show you these mini Christmas pinatas I whipped up.

 I created these for us to just have around the house as part of my Christmas decor but as I was making them, I couldn't resist the urge to fill them with candy.  I'm giving it only a few days before I break down and give them to the girls as a nice little treat.

Supplies:

• cardstock (I suggest matching to the main color of the patterned paper you choose) 
• patterned paper - NOTE: Please see the supply list at the bottom of this post for actual patterned papers used. I substituted 2 of the papers shown above. 
• paper trimmer (to cut the paper strips) 
• fringe scissors or regular scissors to make the fringe 
• shaped box cut files (I searched high and low for 3D pinata files with little success so my simple solution was to use Christmas shaped box files) 
• adhesive 
• sticky dots 

 Let's whip up a few DIY mini Christmas pinatas. First, the Christmas tree.....

1.  First, fold the cut out shape into the box form. Put them together to form the box.  You may chose to fill them with treat prior to putting them together.

2. Cut 1" strips of Christmas tree patterned paper.  Then cut small fringe from the bottom up leaving approximately 1/4" uncut at the top.

3. Wrap the fringe around the tree.  You may have to cut at the sides to keep your lines straight but you can't tell once you put it all together. Add sequin or enamel dots as decorations.

Next is the ornament...  

I used a circular box cut file and then modified it to create the topper for the ornament.

Create your box by adhering the ends of the paper strip together.  Adhere one side of the ornament to the circle. Next, fill the ornament with any treats or leave it empty if it's for home decor like me. Then adhere the other side of the ornament.

 
  Cut your paper strips into fringe as per step 2 above.

I added the fringe around the sides first and then I decided to add a circle underneath the fringe so that the red ornament would not show through the fringe.

I added fringe layers on top and then embellished with sequins. I added a coordinating pattern as the ornament topper.

 And last but not least, the candy cane...

I found a cute candy cane shaped box in the Silhouette store and made a couple of cuts.

Then it was just a matter of rolling the bottom portion into a tube and adhering it.  The top part was a bit tricky because you had to roll it while also adhering it at the right angle but it worked out good in the end, once it was covered in fringe.

Fill it with treats or leave empty like I did since it's part of my home decor.

So there you have it, folks. The most adorable DIY mini Christmas pinatas I've ever made and yes, these are the first mini Christmas pinatas I've ever made.

Supplies:
HOLLY JOLLY OH DEAR PATTERN PAPER 
HOLLY JOLLY HAPPY HOLIDAYS PATTERN PAPER 
HOLLY JOLLY GINGERBREAD PATTERN PAPER
HOLLY JOLLY EPHEMERA 
American Crafts Textured Cardstock 12"x12" - Leaf 
American Crafts Textured Cardstock 12"x12" - Crimson

Holly Jolly DIY Home Decor

Happy Holidays, everyone!  I hope you're enjoying this holiday season. I just love the holiday spirit - the excitement, the baking, the decorating, especially DIY decorating!

I thought I'd offer a tutorial to walk you through the process of creating this cute Santa display. 

Gather the following supplies:

• Trifold frame - I got mine at one of the big box stores in the fall decor
• 6 different pattern papers from the Holly Jolly collection.  See my supply list at the bottom of this post.
• Circle for the base of your wreath
• Die cuts (not pictured)
• red clothespins (not pictured)
• Foam Dots
• 2 of your favorite photos.  You can use this to display cards as well.

Cut oval shapes in two different sizes  out of the pattern paper. I cut approximately 10 large and 8 small out of each paper.

Fold each shape in half to give it leaf-like dimension.

Adhere the larger leaves to the circle, alternating them and pointing them away from the sides. It's okay if you can see the base of the wreath.  You'll soon be covering this up with the smaller leaves.

Once you've created your base layer of leaves, start adding the smaller leaves to the top, alternating them and paying close attention to ensure you don't layer the same pattern on top of each other.

  Your finished project should look similar to this.  You may have to re-bend some of the leaves as they may have flattened out during the process of adhering them.

  Add a sentiment to the top, using foam dots. Then loop paper around the top of the wreath so that it appears like it is ribbon. Hang from a red clothespin to the middle part of the frame.

  Hang your photo on the left side and add die cut embellishments.

  Repeat on the right side.

Display this fun DIY frame in your home's entryway as a welcome to guests or on your mantle.  From my family to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Supplies: HOLLY JOLLY OH DEAR PATTERN PAPER
HOLLY JOLLY MITTENS PATTERN PAPER
HOLLY JOLLY GINGERBREAD PATTERN PAPER
HOLLY JOLLY CHRISTMAS PLAID PATTERN PAPER
HOLLY JOLLY HAPPY HOLIDAYS PATTERN PAPER
HOLLY JOLLY PEPPERMINTS PATTERN PAPER
HOLLY JOLLY EPHEMERA
STICKY THUMB DIMENSIONAL ADHESIVE FOAM  

Cutest pumpkin and Free Silhouette pumpkin cut file

Hello my friends...While Halloween is all about dressing up and going out trick or treating, it's also about decorating pumpkins, whether carving or painting so I thought I'd do a layout about my daughter's Halloween party at school.  Sorry, no costumes allowed and by the way, where's the fun in that?

Anyway, today's tutorial is all about super sized die cuts. I'm sharing a few TRICKS as well as a TREAT with you today.  Keep reading for more details...

I was inspired by this cute photo of my daughter painting a pumpkin at her school last year. I decided I wanted to do a super sized pumpkin cut with fringe on the inside.  At first, I had planned to use varying colors of orange for the fringe but orange is a bit hard to find in this collection so I went back to the drawing board.  I put my thinking cap on and went ahead and cut the pumpkin out.

You can download my free Silhouette cut file HERE.

I kept both pieces and you should too if you plan to recreate this project.  Set them both aside.

As I was pondering, I realized I should mimic the colors my daughter was painting her pumpkin - blues, red, yellows, green, etc. so I set out to look for fun patterns in those colors.

Next I cut little slits about 1/4" to 1/2" apart on each strip and adhered one on top of the other use the cut out piece that I would typically throw away as the base.

Once all the layers have been added, trim around the pumpkin and lay the overlay on top.  Stitch it to the top for a pretty effect.

Pull up gently on the little strips to lift them up. You can simply lift them or roll them up over a thin pencil or like object to curl the edges.

Add a title around the top of the pumpkin.  This title is included in the free Silhouette cut file, which you can download HERE (https://app.box.com/s/hv6z56dau55dwn6omrkrl58ulqvjcj08) or you can create your own.

Add layers of pattern paper, die cuts and stickers over and under your photo. Adhere to the page using foam adhesive to lift it up.  You don't want to crush those lovely lifted strips.

To complete the layout, I added journaling below the photo and around the bottom of the pumpkin along with a smaller alpha to complete the title, even though the large title at the top works great if used alone.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Please share any projects you make using this free cut file in the comments below.

BOO, EEK...Trick or Treat Halloween Layout + Free Cut File

Happy Haunting, Pebbles friends.  There will be no tricks this Halloween, only TREATS.  Keep reading for a link to download my spider's web cut file.

This girl of mine successfully attempted to play Mal for Halloween. The only problem with playing the "bad" girl is my daughter's sweet face and personality so I thought I'd "mean" it up by making the layout a little bit creepy with all these spider webs.


I created the spider webs in my Silhouette software and I'm offering it as a free download, which is my TREAT to you today! Download it HERE. I chose to back the spider web cut-outs with coordinating pattern paper.  I used the smaller prints from the 6x6 paper pad so that the patterns would show more detail.  To get the perfect fit, I used the cut out bits as a template for each "empty" space and just left a 1/4" border around it.  It made for a perfect fit when I adhered it to the the back of each section of the web.

Next, I stitched over each and every section of the web and left the black threads to add to the creepy effect I was going for.

The webs were a bit flat feeling so I added a paper rosette to each of them.


Then, for the photo, I added more coordinating patters, die cuts, tags and stickers.

You can even pull the black tag with the spider out from behind to reveal hidden journaling. I hope you have a wonderful and safe Halloween wherever you are. Make sure to come back here when you're ready to scrapbook your photos to DOWNLOAD THE FREE CUT FILE! Happy Haunting!

Supplies: Trick or Treat 6×6 Paper Pad Trick or Treat “Creepy” Patterned Paper Trick or Treat “Black Cat” Patterned Paper Trick or Treat Puffy Stickers Trick or Treat Ephemera Die Cuts

Ballerina Girl

Hi friends, I'm here to talk to you today about layering.  I love how layers help add so much dimension to your layout and helps draw your eyes around the page.  I thought that I'd spend some time today walking you through my process for creating this layout.

To get started, select 5 - 6 coordinating pattern papers.

Trim your pattern paper to 6" long x anywhere from 1/2" to 1 1/2" high.  Lay them on the right half of the page, overlapping here and there until you are happy with how it looks.

Stitch across the middle of each paper strip. This will allow them to lift up just a little for some fun dimension. Add even more layers on the layers using embellishments like die cuts, sentiments, chipboard and more.

In the upper half of the layout, place your photo. Choose chipboard, die cuts, stickers, tags, etc. and start placing them under, around and over your photo. Start sticking it down once you like the design. I usually take a photo of the layout so that I don't have to think about the design again during this stage.  I just look at my phone and adjust here and there.

Next cut large letters for your title using the same coordinating patterns as your paper strips.  I used my Silhouette CAMEO but you could easily hand cut the letters.

Place your title down the left side of the page. Stitch them down like you did your strips. You could even add a few embellishments over your letters for even more layers.

Don't think too hard about your layers. Just start shuffling them around and around until you like how it looks and then commit.