I Love Tulips

Hello friends! I am back today with another layout that I created for My Creative Scrapbook with the May Creative Kit. This is probably one of my favorite kits that I have had the privilege to create with. The colors are totally me.

This layout came together rather quickly and it was the seventh layout that I created with the kit. There were only bits and pieces of papers and puffy stickers left and when I saw a sketch designed by Summer Fullerton, I thought that it was the perfect way to use up my paper scraps from the kit.

I simply took a white 12X12 piece of white card stock and about a quarter of the way down the page, I began adhering the paper pieces down working from left to right and only applying adhesive to the top of each piece of paper. As I worked down the page, I tucked and layered the paper pieces and then machine stitched them down near the bottom edge of the papers. I machine stitched three rows with pink thread for some added texture and interest and them bent up the bottom edges to give more dimension.

I didn't have all the alphas I needed to create the word "love" in my title out of the white chipboard or pink alpha stickers so I decided to use a heart paper punch that I have and punched out three heart shapes from three colors of papers, stacked them on top of each other and machine stitched down the center of the heart and then added the "love" phrase sticker on top of the stitched heart. I added the letter "i"  from the white glitter chipboard letters and the word "tulips" from the pink alpha stickers and there was a green wavy sticker left in the kit so I added it below the title to complete the title.

I knew I wanted to add more stickers and and embellishments to the page, so I fussy cut some butterflies and flowers and popped them up with some foam adhesive strips to add more layers. I had a few puffy stickers and glittered triangle stickers left in my kit so I added those as well tucking the glittered triangle stickers here and there. On the top area of the page where the white card stock is showing, I added the remainder of the pink and blue ribbon behind the photo and machine stitched them with pink thread. 

My photo was matted on a piece of the green patterned paper. I glued the "hello spring" phrase sticker to the top right of the photo and the fussy cut tulip to the bottom right of the photo.  I used some soft pink enamel dots that were in my stash to direct the eyes to the photo and placed them in a triangle.

The photos below show the layering and dimension that was achieved on my page.

I hope you are inspired to use your paper scraps from the kit. Be sure and order your May Creative Kit, or the three other kits, today at My Creative Scrapbook.

Thanks for stopping by once again and I hope you have a great day!

Easter Family Memories

Hello friends! I hope you had a good weekend and were able to spend some time doing what you love and if you are a scrapbooker, I hope you were able to partake in some of the International Scrapbook Day festivities that were happening everywhere.

Today I wanted to share another layout from the May Creative Kit at My Creative Scrapbook.

For this particular layout, I used the negative of the Alphabet Cut File, a download that is included in the May kits. I cut this large title out on my electronic die cutting machine on a 12X12 piece of textured white card stock and using the negative part of the cut file to create an extra layout.

I added some clear gesso around each large alpha, let it dry and then watercolored around the edge of each alpha with coordinating watercolors in pink, yellow, peach, teal, green and pink. 

With my paper trimmer, I cut lots and lots of paper strips and glued them down onto the backside of the large letters making sure that there were no two papers the same beside each other. 

Once all the large alphas were done, I drew around each letter with a ruler and a fine tip black marker to make the letters of the title stand out even more.

To add the white paint splatters, I covered up the photo with a piece of scrap paper and flicked some watered down white acrylic paint with a paint brush onto the layout to give it more texture and interest.

To make some extra embellishments for this page, I fussy cut some flowers, butterflies and eggs from some of the papers included in the kit. 

The adorable bunny, chick and egg buttons that were included in the kit were placed on the center of some of the large alphas. These were glued down with some glue dots.

Puffy stickers and a  pink heart shaped sticker from the pink alpha sticker sheet were added.

The word "family" was added just above the word "memories" and then I machine stitched it down with some pink thread. When different mediums such as gesso, inks and paints are used I find that stickers don't seem to adhere well and stay put so I often stitch them down to make sure that they aren't going anywhere.

There are some really cute phrase stickers included in the kit that come in mint, light pink and dark pink that I added to the layout.

Here are some more closeups

Well there you have it. A layout using the negative piece of a cut file to create a large title that is watercolored and backed with lots and lots of leftover paper strips.

I hope you are inspired to give this technique a try. It's a great way to stretch a cut file and your kit further.

Be sure and check out all the details on how you can purchase your own kit from My Creative Scrapbook. There are four kits each month so there is always one that will suit your style. Happy scrapping!

Family Are Better Together

Hello! Happy National Scrapbook Day? Hopefully you are able to do some scrapbooking. Today I am sharing this layout over at Just Nick Digital Cut Files of my hubby, kids and parents.

For this layout I used two cut files from Just Nick and combined them to create one cut file.  I began with the Basic Hearts cut file and chose one of the hearts, traced it and enlarged it in Silhouette Studio, this is the software that is for the Silhouette Cameo.

I then opened the Borders 1 cut file and merged it with the heart.  I had to duplicate the Borders 1 cut file three times to fit inside the heart by placing them below each other.  I then grouped them, placed them over the heart and clicked "crop".  Once this was done I backed the heart with several polka dot patterned papers and then grabbed my embroidery floss and stitched in several colors alternating colors to give it a rainbow effect. I also added some plus signs in alternating colors around the page to give it more texture and interest.

Next came the embellishing.  I added my title from foam phrases from American Crafts. I like to use a pop of black on my layouts whenever I can. I think layouts need the contrast. I also added some word stickers, chipboard pieces, enamel dots and hearts around the layout.

I really cherish photos like these of my family because it isn't very often that we can be together. It made Easter fantastic.

There are some free cut files for National Scrapbook Day.  For my layout, the Borders 1 Cut File will be free today only in the Just Nick shop.  Simply add the code BORDERFREE at checkout. Actually, there are four cut files that are free today as four of the design team members, including myself, will be sharing projects with the cut files below.  Be sure and check out the Just Nick blog to see more inspiration.

MOM code: MOMFREE 
Borders 1 code: BORDERFREE (My layout)
Floral Ring 2 code: RINGFREE
Dreamcatcher1 code: DREAM2FREE

Thanks for stopping by and happy scrapping!

Cut Files On My Layout

Basic Hearts

Borders 1

Spring Makes Me Happy!

Happy International Scrapbook Day! The first Saturday of May is officially recognized as International Scrapbook Day and this special day is celebrated by scrapbookers all over the world. There are plenty of crops, challenges and prizes. I hope all of you paper crafters worldwide have a chance to participate in all the happenings and challenges that are taking place today. I can't wait to get busy creating and entering a few challenges!

I thought I would share another layout that I created with the May Creative Kit at My Creative Scrapbook. This layout was one of my favorites out of the six layouts that I created with this kit. I have a thing for layouts that have circles or are circular.

For my layout I took three dinner plates in large, medium, and small from my kitchen and beginning with the largest plate, I centered it on the piece of 12X12 white card stock and went ahead and traced around it with a pencil. I then put the medium dinner plate, that was slightly smaller, placed it inside the large circle, centered it and traced it with a pencil. Then I took the smallest dinner plate and centered it in the medium circle and traced it with a pencil.  You should have three circles that almost look like a target. You could also do this with your Silhouette Cameo by drawing three circles in Silhouette Studio and sketching it with a sketch pen or pencil.

I used a piece of packaging (cellophane) that I had from the kit and with my watercolor paints and some water I "stamped" with the packaging and dabbed the white cardstock with some pink, green, yellow and teal mixed with a bit of white to tone the colors down and soften it. Once it was dry I added my title and fussy cut some feather shapes from the feather patterned paper that came in the kit. I machine stitched twice around the large circle with pink thread to secure my title and then layered some more flower stickers on top.



On the middle circle, I machine stitched twice around with pink thread and fussy cut some butterflies from the butterfly patterned paper and added some dimension by popping them up with foam adhesive tape.

On the smallest circle, I fussy cut a lot of the feathers from the feather patterned paper in the kit and adhered them with some a little temporary adhesive so I could get the placement the way I wanted it and then machine stitched them twice with pink thread. 

When the three circles were stitched, I took a white eraser and erased the pencil lines so that the stitching would only be visible.  I then cut one of the tags "Happy Spring" from the sheet with the tags and used some pink ribbon from the kit and adhered it to the right side of my photo. I went ahead and fussy cut three butterflies and added them to the middle circle.  With the puffy stickers in the kit, I added some small flower puffy stickers to the top left and bottom right corner of the photo. To complete the layout I machine stitched about 1/4 inch from the outside edge of the cardstock with pink thread.

This is the beautiful kit that I used to create this layout.  It is the May Creative Kit with papers and stickers from the Hello Spring Collection by American Crafts, puffy stickers from We R Memory Keepers, chipboard alphas from American Crafts, phrase stickers from Pebbles, Easter buttons from Doodlebug Designs and some pink alpha stickers from Doodlebug Designs.

Be sure and pop by the blog at My Creative Scrapbook and order your May kits today before they are gone. 

I hope you are inspired to create a circular layout. Happy scrapping!

It's Reveal Day At My Creative Scrapbook

Hello friends! It's reveal day at My Creative Scrapbook and what a fabulous reveal it is! Be sure and order yours today here before they are gone. They are surely going to sell out quickly because they are all so gorgeous.  Here they are:

May Main Kit

May Creative Kit

May LE Kit

May Album Kit

I created six layouts with the fabulous May Creative Kit. I LOVED creating with this kit. It is totally my colors and style. The patterned papers are all from the American Crafts Hello Spring Collection. Here is one of my layouts with this kit:

There is a LOT of fussy cutting on this layout. 

1. To create this layout I began by adding clear gesso onto the white cardstock and when it was dry I splattered the white card stock with white acrylic paint thinned down with a touch of water and a paint brush. I watercolored with yellow, orange, pink, green and teal. 
2. Once it was dry, I trimmed the white card stock to 10 inches wide by 12 inches long and backed it with a sheet of the floral paper above and then machine stitched it on both sides with pink thread.  
3. After I matted the photo, I machine stitched around the mat and placed it on the white cardstock. 
4. Next came all the embellishing. I placed my fussy cut eggs (for these I used one of the egg stickers from the sticker sheet as a template, traced around it, and cut out the shape on several sheets of patterned paper), flowers and butterflies around the photo trying to layer and alternate the shapes. I also added some dimensional foam tape that I adhered to the back of the shapes to give the shapes more layering and dimension. 
5. Finally I added some stickers from the kit that I popped up with foam tape as well and added the dot stickers around the page.

Also, an extra tip I have is when I add patterned paper behind the white card stock on my layouts, I try to conserve my patterned paper so I can stretch the kit further so I usually use my circle cutter and cut out a large circle and use it for another project. You would never know because nobody sees the backside of the layout and I hate to waste such gorgeous paper. 

Thanks for staying with me here to the end of my blog post. Be sure and order your kits before they are out of stock. They go fast and also check out the design team gallery for inspiration on all four of the kits.

Check back later this month as I share five more layouts from this kit.  Have an awesome day!