The Good Life

Hi everyone, did you know Just Nick Studio offers a cut file freebie every month?  You really should take advantage of free cut files every chance you get, okay???  This month, it's the Tic Tac Toe Background. Here's how I used it on a layout.

I chose to break the background elements apart to use as accents for the page instead of a background. This is easily done by Releasing the Compound Path and/or Ungrouping. Once everything was ungrouped, I scaled the elements to the size I wanted. Then I cut some out of the background paper and some out of complimentary pattern papers to layer on top.

I added some stitching around the squares that I cut out and added as an embellishment as well as around the lines that I cut out of the background paper so it could have definition to it.
In the end, this background file is a great take on the classic grid design!

Get the Tic Tac Toe Background for free until June 30, 2016!

Capture Beauty

Hello friends! Pinkfresh / JustNick are doing a team-up and I couldn't be more excited to be selected to participate.  I absolutely adore Pinkfresh's flair for design so I was elated to get to work with the Life Noted collection.

I love the pre-printed divided page design on this paper. It took care of my background design work.

And yay for the lovely spring colors. I decided to mix the spring-like patterns with the Just Nick Studio Delicate Florals cut file, backing with fun designs from the collection. To do this, I cut the flowers using my Silhouette CAMEO and then used water colors to add a splash of color. Then I hand traced and cut pieces that I wanted for the flowers and adhered them to the back of each petal / leaf. Then I added zig zag stitching over each stem and lastly, I added a few rubber circles to the center of the ones that needed a middle.

Make sure to head over to the Just Nick Studio blog and the Pinkfresh blog to see how her creative team integrated JustNick's files into their creative process. I think they are also doing a giveaway or two. :)

Diamond Girl

I'll be doing a Spring Break / snow skiing trip post soon but for the time being, this layout is a bit of a spoiler but Y'ALL we did something we didn't think we'd get to do as a family for a long time and not only did we do it but we excelled at it.  Stay tuned for more on that but until then here's a spoiler alert...

My girl did BLACK DIAMOND ski runs.  She had an Adaptive Sports Coach, Ty Bonnell, who was Ah-mazing and now considered a part of our family. I'll get to the details on that separately.  But on day 6, he led her down a Black with all of us there watching and skiing with her.  We snapped this photo of them pointing to "Caliente" right before we went down.

How to:  Cut diamonds from a piece of cardstock.  I used the Diamonds Forever cut file from the Just Nick store. Save one of the diamonds you cut out to use as a template for cutting the pattern papers.  Adhere some papers directly to the back and adhere others using foam squares. I used a lined pattern in one of the squares for journaling. Once complete, hand stitch around a select few of the diamonds. Then add layers under and over your photo.  I chose a frame and a speech bubble to highlight specific things in my photo.  Lastly, add a fun title and scatter embellishments.   I chose clear crystals and gold enamel dots to look like falling snow.

Sweet Generosity

Hi everyone.  Just sharing another layout I created for my guest gig with Just Nick.  If you haven't spied her cut files yet, what are you waiting for???

I love butterflies on a scrapbook page so when I saw this butterfly cut file I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

My little girl recently cut about 10” of hair to donate and I really wanted to document this incredibly sweet act of kindness.  It just so happened that she was wearing a butterfly dress and it just so happened that the new Pinkfresh Happy Things coordinated so well and Nicole’s butterfly file was just begging to be used.

To create this layout, I cut the file out of white cardstock. I hand stitched the background to the pattern paper using white embroidery floss and then I cut the file again offsetting it so it would cut the butterflies smaller than the original. I wanted to be able to see the pattern paper around the butterflies.

I used watercolors around the stitched edges to accentuate the colors in the background paper. I painted right over the white embroidery floss so that it would dye the floss.  Once dried, I adhered the butterflies to the page, added my photo, title and embellishments.  I will journal her story later this week once I get my thoughts together on what I think of her generosity.

Make sure to swing on over to the Just Nick blog to get your freebie of the cut file she created for the layout last week.  I used it to recreate the mermaid look but it's so versatile, it can be a great background for anything! It's only free until the end of this month so get over there quick.

What Matters Most

The beginning of the month brings a new Gossamer Blue kit.  The September kits are going down as one of my faves.  I know I say that a lot, which is a testament to Lori's amazing skills at putting kits together.  I especially love the Crate Paper Wonder and the Pinkfresh Happy Things that fill this kit.  See what I created with the goods and then head over to the shop to get your kits before they are gone.

Here's what I created with the Main Kit only....

The patterns on the paper made it super easy to create this layout. It practically made itself!

I just added some stitching, a few sayings, embellishments and of course my photo and some misting.  It seriously came together so quick - between work and dinner!  I'll take these kinds of layouts every day!

I used Main kit to create this layout:

Visit the Gossamer Blue store to view the add-ons before they are all SOLD OUT!

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.