Goals and Dreams Bullet Journal

Today I’m sharing a goals and dreams bullet journal I created for my daughter who begins her first day of high school Monday.  My idea for this was to create a way for her to document ideas about what she hopes her future holds.  I may even add a few of my own thoughts for her future.  I think it would be fun to include this in a time capsule with other things from her childhood.

I thought the llama paper was not only fun but I often say, “save the drama for your llama” and we all know high school can be full of drama.  Perhaps this will turn into a way for her to journal that right out of her system. Ha!

So the first thing I did was cover a Traveler’s Notebook with the adorable little llamas from the My Bright Life collection.  I think they’re so adorable striking their poses with the flowers in their hair. Soo cute. To cover this, I applied Sticky Thumb tape runner to the cover of the notebook and then laid it down on the back of the paper. Then I applied adhesive to the spine and the back cover and folded the paper over leaving paper hanging slightly over on the front and a bit more on the back. Same for the top and bottom.  I did this because if you trim the paper to what you think the measurements are for the notebook, odds are you’ll be just a bit off.  It’s much easier to do it this way and then trim around the edges with scissors. Trust me on that one.

I knew what I wanted for the main theme of the journal to be but we’ll get to that in a moment.  I also wanted to add some inspiring words and the 2″ x 3″ cut apart cards in the 6″ x 6″ paper pad had exactly what I wanted. I just needed to choose which one I loved the most.

“You Can Totally Do This” was it so I cut that one out and adhered it with some foam adhesive over a dark contrasting patterned paper.  I used the same colors and flowers as the llama and her pretty little flowers.

Now it’s time to go back to my main theme, “MAKE IT HAPPEN”. I love that you are in charge of your destiny and it’s all up to you to make it happen. I used gold foam Thickers and placed them over the flowers. Then I decided we needed more gold so I added a layer of gold plaid patterned paper.

It’s time to put it all together. I used tape runner adhesive again and left enough room on the edges to hang over just slightly and then just trimmed it up with scissors again.

So there you have it.  I also sprinkled additional 2″ x 2″ and 2″ x 3″ notecards, die cuts and small puffy stickers to some of the inside pages.  I’ll make sure to include more embellishments and papers in the package when I give this goals and dreams bullet journal to her so she can decorate the inside pages.

xoxo, Heather
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Supplies:

My Bright Life Lovely Llamas Patterned Paper 733874My Bright Life Flower Pop Patterned Paper 733868
My Bright Life 6×6 Paper Pad 733892My Bright Life Ephemera Die-cuts with Gold Foil 733884
My Bright Life Puffy Stickers Icons 733886American Crafts Thickers with Gold Foil- Bryn 733888Sticky Thumb Marathon Runner and Refill 342038

School Lunch Notes

Hi everyone. With the first day of school just 3 weeks away, I’m getting a jump start on school lunch prep.  No, I’m not prepping the actual meals because that would be just gross; I’m talking about school lunch notes.  I don’t care how old your kids are, including a little note in their lunch kit will make their day!

I don’t care how old your kids are, including a little note in their lunch kit will make their day! Shoot, maybe I’ll make my own lunch notes. Just kidding, kind of.

I knew that I was going to use the 2″ x 3″ cards so I downloaded a Silhouette file and sized it so that the notes would perfectly fit in them.  I was able to cut multiple of these at a time which sped up the process.  You could also make these without a machine pretty easily.  Just apply a bit of adhesive to the edges, fold over and you’ve got your pocket.

There’s also this little flap that you can fold down. You can tuck these in or out depending on your mood.  I folded most of mine out like you see pictured above and look how the flowers align so well.

Next, add a simply embellishment to the front of the card.  You could also add a sentiment but then again, the sentiment is in the lunch note, right?

The cards I chose were from the 6″ x 6″ paper pad, which was great because the backs were white. That’s perfect for adding a personal note to each of them. I also added a small puffy sticker or two to each note. It just needed a little pop of something.

Once the personal note is written, just insert the card in the pocket and stash them away so you have them ready to go when you pack their lunches.  I think I’ll make or alter a cute little box to store these in…

So there you have it. School Lunch Notes ready to go.  Super fun and super easy!

xoxo, Heather
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Supplies:
My Bright Life Lemons Patterned Paper 733860My Bright Life Flower Rows Patterned Paper 733862
My Bright Life Daisy Quilt Patterned Paper 733863My Bright Life My Tweets Patterned Paper 733864
My Bright Life 6×6 Paper Pad 733892My Bright Life Ephemera Die-cuts with Gold Foil 733884
My Bright Life Puffy Stickers Icons 733886Precision Pen .03 Point 62311Sticky Thumb Marathon Runner and Refill 342038

Embroidered Scrapbooking Layout | Challenge Yourself

Hi everyone, this week over on the Pebbles blog is all about challenging ourselves. I went about tackling this by doing something relatively new to me – Mixed Media – and something I LOVE to do but never make the time to do – Hand Stitching.  Take a look at this embroidered scrapbooking layout and then keep reading to see how it all came together.

As you can see, I did not shy away from this challenge. I just fell in love with the floral patterned paper and absolutely HAD to create an embroidered scrapbooking layout.

To get started, I trimmed the upper right and lower left triangles of my layout. If I had been machine stitching a pattern, I would normally have stitched the entire thing but I knew I didn’t want to embroider something that I would have to cut apart. I added a small cluster of die cut flowers and a wood embellishment to the top portion of the layout.  Just a little since the embroidered patterned paper was quite busy enough.

This is the lower half. As you can see, I spent way too many hours poking holes and threading the needle doing what I refer to as a regular stitch and french knots. If you are thinking about doing this, I suggest finding a comfy spot of the couch and binge watching your favorite show. Or if you have a road trip (and your the passenger) or a long flight.

I added two photos to the layout. I was originally going to tuck them both under the pretty embroidered patterned paper so I wouldn’t have to cover any of it up but it didn’t look right so I tucked one under and another over. That’s when it felt right!  I also added some layers of patterned paper and vellum and die cuts, 3D stickers and regular stickers.

Oh, the mixed media…I added white gesso to the yellow patterned paper background and then applied watered down mist to the gesso. I just needed to soften up the background slightly and add a few pops of color. All I need to do now is add my journaling – private words to my daughters will be written on those lines above!

There you have it – my labor of love, literally and figuratively!  I hope you have enjoyed seeing how I challenged myself this month and hope you will try something just a bit outside of your comfort zone very soon!

xoxo, Heather
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Supplies:
My Bright Life Bright Life Patterned Paper 733858My Bright Life Stitched Flowers Patterned Paper 733859
My Bright Life Fresh Picked Patterned Paper 733859My Bright Life 6×6 Paper Pad 733892My Bright Life Ephemera Die-cuts with Gold Foil 733884
My Bright Life Cardstock Stickers 733882My Bright Life Dimensional Stickers with Gold Foil Accents 733883

Hawaiian Luau Party Decor

Aloha everyone, I'm here and with summer fully upon us here in the States, I’ve been daydreaming about Hawaii. I figured why not throw a little Hawaiian party on a random Friday?!?!

The new My Bright Life collection has the perfect mix of colors to pull this Hawaiian Luau Party off. The decor I created includes garland I cut and strung, cupcake holders and toppers to resemble a pineapple and a few goody bags. Let’s take a look at how it came together

Lei inspired garland

The backdrop features a lei inspired garland. To get this look, I cut plumeria flowers out of two different patterned papers as well as palm leaves in two different sizes and then large yellow circles. I created 7 garland strips each containing 10 pieces (a mix of flowers, leaves and circles). Once I had 10 pieces for each strand, I ran them through my sewing machine with a straight stitched until I got to the end. I repeated that process 6 more times.

Pineapple cupcakes

So I cheated with store bought cupcakes and they’re a mix of chocolate and vanilla – not pineapple but I dressed them up as pineapples.  Using a cut file I purchased, I simply cut cupcake wrappers and pineapple toppers using my electronic die cut machine.

The wrappers have little cuts in them and when you bend them back slightly, it resembles a pineapple.

The pineapple toppers can be inserted right into the icing. So easy and oh so cute!

Goody Bags

Since Hawaii is known as the rainbow state and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World” by Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwo`ole is one of my all time favorite songs, I made Rainbow tags for the goody bags.

They are cut into squares and feature a scallop circle and “Mahalo”, the Hawaiian word for Thank You. I decided to add some palm leaves and a flowers as well.

I hope this mini Hawaiian Luau party I am hosting for my girls this weekend has you daydreaming of Hawaii as well.

Mahalo,

Heather

Supplies:
My Bright Life Stitched Flowers Patterned Paper(733859)
My Bright Life Field of Flowers Patterned Paper (733879)
My Bright Life Bright Stripes Patterned Paper (733869)
My Bright Life Flower Rows Patterned Paper (733862)
My Bright Life Fresh Picked Patterned Paper (733875)
My Bright Life 12×12 Paper Pad

Time Saver Tips | Butterflies Scrapbooking Layout

Hi everyone. Heather Leopard is here with a multi-dimensional butterflies scrapbooking layout! This was super fun and it was super easy to put together. While it was relatively quick to create in about an hour to an hour and a half, the speed scrappers could forgo the multiple layers and sewing and really whip this out quickly. Let’s take a look and I’ll share some TIME SAVER TIPS…

To make this layout really come to life, this butterflies scrapbooking page includes mixed media, a die cut, layers of die cut “fillers” and machine stitching!

Let’s get started

I knew the page was going to be slightly busy so I chose a patterned paper background that was a bit more simple.  I wanted to wash it out just a bit more so I applied white gesso. Once dry, I added teal and gold mist that I sprayed and dabbed around the page using plastic packaging material. TIME SAVER TIP: skip this step and save on drying time. Just make sure to avoid a busy background for a more appealing design.

While the background dried, I cut the butterfly cut file from Paige Evans out of white cardstock. Although it’s quite subtle, I applied clear gesso and pink spray to the white butterfly cardstock once it was cut out. While that was drying, I disassembled the cut file and cut the inside “fillers” out of multiple patterned papers. I cut double the amount needed so I could double layer many of them, as seen in the photo above. TIME SAVER TIP: save time by not adding the additional gesso over the die cut and only cutting one layer of butterflies.

I applied the butterfly cut file only in the middle because I wanted the cut file to lift up here and there. I knew I’d be stitching over it soon enough anyway.  I then added the butterflies to the background with just a little dab of liquid adhesive so they’d stay in place in the sewing machine. I stitched each and every butterfly; some as a straight stitch and others with a zig zag. TIME SAVER TIP: adhere the butterflies with more adhesive and skip the sewing.

Lift the butterfly wings up to reveal the multiple levels. The butterfly cut file lifts ever so slightly, then the bottom wing lifts to reveal the background pattern and the top wings lift to reveal the lower wings! I suggest adding foam adhesive under the wings to keep them popped up.

Next, I added my photo. I kept layers around it to a minimum because hello….butterfly layers galore! Then I finished it off with a title, a few more butterflies here and there around the page and journaling.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you enjoyed this butterflies scrapbooking layout and the TIME SAVER TIPS I shared today!

xoxo, Heather
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Patio Party Supplies:
Patio Party 6 x 6 Paper Pad with Foil Accents (733775)
Patio Party Breezy (733050)
Patio Party Flutterflies (732965)Patio Party Thickers – Wood Words (932777)
Patio Party Butterfly Stickers (733053)Sticky Thumb Adhesive Foam Dots (340272)
Textured Cardstock White (71081)

Little Cutie Floral Wreath Scrapbooking Layout

Hi friends! I am here today with a labor of love with this floral wreath scrapbooking layout.  If you like fussy cutting and if you like mixing and matching die cuts and flowers, this is a layout for you.  Take a look at the project and then check back next week for the process video I created for this project.



All those flowers came from one gorgeous piece of patterned paper from the Patio Party collection. That's a lot of fussy cutting, don't you think? Want to know a little secret??? I didn't actually fussy cut all those flowers. I used my Silhouette CAMEO and Pixscan to trace and cut all those flowers.  I can't say it really saved that much time since I had to set it up and trace it, clean it up, cut and weed it but it sure did save my hands from getting tired.



To create this floral wreath layout, I used two pieces of patterned paper for the base, cutting an 8" circle from the middle of the top sheet and layering it over the 2nd paper.  Then, I applied gesso and spray mists to give the background a bit of texture and color. Once dried, I stitched around the circle 3 times.



I also used a cute file from Paige Evans. It's an adorable floral / leaf bundle, which I cut out of white cardstock and backed the leaves with green patterned paper while keeping the flowers plain.  I did that because I knew I was going to stack the fussy cut flowers over the top. I like the mix of materials here.  I also added a few fussy cut gold butterflies to the mix.



I left plenty of room to add a title and journaling and then sprinkled a few gold hearts around the openly stitched areas so they wouldn't feel lonely. Please check back next week for my follow up blog post, which will include the process video, showing how I scanned the flowers all the way through the finishing touches.

Thanks for stopping by today.
xoxo, Heather
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You can shop these product using my affiliate links below:

Pebble Patio Party paper and embellishments at Scrapbook.com http://shrsl.com/szbx (full list below)

Thickers Foil Foam Letter Stickers (Pebbles - Night Night Collection) http://shrsl.com/szck

Sticky Thumb Adhesive Foam Dots http://shrsl.com/szcb

Textured Cardstock White (71081)

Silhouette CAMEO 3 http://amzn.to/2HJhjjX
Cricut Maker  http://amzn.to/2ooYvhL
Cricut Explore Air 2 http://amzn.to/2GIjtyO

*You don't pay extra for using these links, but I get a percentage of your sale. Thanks for your support!

Masculine Cards

Hi everyone.  I'm here to share a few Masculine cards for the men in your life.

Yes, there’s a bow or two and even a flower but these were made with men in mind so they are Masculine-ish. I mean men often bring their ladies flowers, am I right?!?!

For the first card, I selected three 2″ x 2″ cards with sentiments that remind me of every day with the father of my children.  They are perfect for this with their wood grain, grey concrete like backgrounds. I alternated them placing two on the left at the top and bottom and one on the right in the middle.

Next…bugs!  I added elements in the blank spaces, including a dragon fly, bees and a bow.

Here’s the final card.  I love how simple, yet detailed it is.

For the next thing, I covered the card with a blue background and used a 3″x4″ wood-grained card, backed with a patterned paper.  I then added the stringed lights banner to the card using 3D foam for dimension and added a bow.  I thought I was done with the card at that point but I decided to cover the white flowers printed under “stay awhile” with colorful flowers, also adhered with 3D foam.

Thinking back on it, I think this card could be more masculine by not adding that colored flower and sticking with the white printed flower cluster but I also love this version and many guys wear pink with confidence!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.

xoxo, Heather
YouTube | Blog  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest

Supplies:
Patio Party Shady Spot (732910)
Patio Party From Me To You (732960)
Patio Party Patio Life (732966)
Patio Party Breezy (733050)
Patio Party Accent Stickers (733781)
Sticky Thumb Adhesive Foam Dots (340272)American Crafts Premium Ribbon
Textured Cardstock White (71081)