scrapbook layout: Christmas in the sand

This layout was published in the Winter 2021 issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today Magazine!

In 2019, my husband’s parents invited us all to join them in Sanibel Island to celebrate Christmas. This was a completely new experience for me– growing up in the northeast and marrying a midwesterner meant that every Christmas I’d experienced up until that point was cold! It was surreal to be warm, surrounded by palm trees, and spending time at the beach instead!

I thought it would be fun to capture that juxtaposition by using Paige Evans’ “Summer Wreath” cut file and backing the icons with Christmas patterns. It took quite a bit of time, I will admit, but in the end, the layout didn’t need much more embellishment once the photo was in place! I added some stickers to vary the dimension around the wreath, and I splattered gold mist and white paint on the background for texture.

I just have to say. I love everything about how this layout turned out. It is one of my favorite layouts I’ve made recently, and it really captures the feeling of the whole trip for me.

The title is inspired by the Colbie Calliat song — it was running through my mind while we were there, and also while I was making the layout!

The layout will have a home in my 2019 album, which is mostly pocket pages. For such a standout occasion, I wanted to include a full-page layout! I intend to eventually tell the whole story of our trip in a digital album project to add to my collection of beach vacation photo books.

supplies:
patterned paper: Close to My Heart “Comfort & Joy” and “Mix-In (Mar-Apr)”
cardstock: American Crafts, Close to My Heart
stickers: Close to My Heart “Comfort & Joy”
alphas: Pinkfresh Studio “My Favorite Story” puffy alpha stickers, Glitz Design Teeny Alphas – gold
cut file: Paige Evans Designs “Summer Wreath”
journaling pen: Spectrum Noir ArtLiner .005
other: Silhouette Cameo 3, Scotch ATG adhesive, craft foam, white acrylic craft paint, Heidi Swapp Color Shine – gold

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card: watercolor birthday

A dear friend of mine recently celebrated a milestone birthday, and I wanted to make a special card for her. Since books and writing are special passions of hers, I thought this cut file from Paige Evans was perfect!

In my stash of embellishments, I have some really pretty dimensional birthday stickers. I love how dainty they are — and they have a bit of sparkle! I decided to use one on this card and base my color scheme around it.

I got out my watercolors and, carefully holding my cut file above my paper every so often, added dabs of color to abstractly correspond to the flowers and leaves.

After the larger areas of color were dry, I added some tiny splashes of blue and green watercolor to add some texture and mounted the watercolor paper panel to yellow cardstock for a border.

Happy birthday, my friend!

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scrapbook layout: aquarium adventure

This layout is out of my “style comfort zone!”

I’ve had these photos out on my desk, shuffling them around as I worked on other projects, ever since I made the Dragon Boats layout (another adventure on the same day). When I saw the SCT 2021 Fall Issue recipe challenge (use a journaling card or die cut, patterned paper, an alphabet sticker and any kind of stamp), I knew it would be the perfect motivation to get this layout into my scrapbook.

I started out trying to use my “typical” grid-type arrangement of photos, and it just wasn’t working. I changed gears entirely and decided to use a fish-filled background cut file from Paige Evans, and I used watercolors on the background. This is out of my comfort zone in two ways: I don’t often do mixed media at all, let alone the whole background; also, I don’t often use themed/on-the-nose supplies for my layouts.

I made two little clusters on the page, framed by the fish. At the top, I used my two tiny photos (tiny due to the image quality) on a block of patterned paper and embellished with my stamp “ingredient”– I heat embossed cameras from two different stamp sets with white on a scrap of purple striped paper, then cut them out to add in three places around the layout.

After this particular day of adventuring, I had asked my husband to write a bit of journaling, and I gave him a couple of my leftover Project Life cards so that it would be in his own handwriting. I love that it’s his words telling the story of the fun he had with our children.

I did a bit of tricky work with the title: this is an old set of chipboard Thickers, and I didn’t have enough “A” or “U” letters to spell “aquarium.” I ended up using two “V” alphas to replace them: can you tell? 😉 I love this pop of orange as a complement to the blue/purple/teal background. It picks up on my daughter’s dress color, and it ties the color scheme with the companion Dragon Boats page.

In all honesty, I’m not loving this page right now. But I am so glad to have this story in my album, and I think it might grow on me with time!

Supplies:
cardstock: American Crafts white textured
patterned paper: Damask Love “Wild Card- Spirit Animal;” bits from my stash
alphas: American Crafts Thickers “Dots” (chipboard), Glitz Designs “Color Me Happy” Teeny Alphas (rainbow)
stamps: Shimelle “Head in the Clouds” acrylic stamps, Hampton Art “Vintologie,”
cut file: Paige Evans “Fish Background”
journal card: Project Life “Jade” edition
wood veneer: Studio Calico
other: watercolor, Liquitex clear matte gesso, print-and-cut labels, Scotch ATG, US ArtQuest PPA Matte adhesive, craft foam, Ranger Big&Bossy embossing ink, Zing embossing powder

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scrapbook layout: surprise lunch

I absolutely LOVE the way this layout turned out. Out of the four layouts that I made during the actual weekend of the January 2021 Victoria Marie virtual crop, I think this is my favorite

This layout is another attempt at learning how to include mixed media in my scrapbooking, and it was initially inspired by a challenge to use rub ons… which I totally forgot that I had– I didn’t think that I had any at all! As I was lying in bed mentally combing through my stash, I realized that I’d been glossing over these big 12×12 sheets of Lily Bee rub-ons for years — partly because they were so big, and partly because I wasn’t sure how to use them.

I ended up using almost this entire package of rub-ons on this layout.

This time, when I pulled them out, I realized that I could combine them with mixed media (I’ve been very inspired by Missy Whidden’s creations lately and have been itching to try it out). I still don’t have gesso (long story; bad packaging on Amazon’s part), so I attempted to use some thin white acrylic paint as a base/sealing coat. It was okay, but not great… I really need to get to a store and just buy some clear gesso!!

I added watercolor, rubbed on almost an entire sheet of the Lily Bee rub ons, and then I stenciled Thermoweb Metallix gel through a Paige Evans heart stencil for another layer and more texture.

background in progress

Going along with the Lily Bee theme, I realized that I also still have a number of sheets of their patterned paper and some shaped die cut mat/frames. I LOVED (and still do love!!) their patterns, so why am I holding on to them? They should be used so they can be displayed with my stories in my albums!! I pulled some out and started making a lot of layers around my photo.

I added tissue paper and a doily for extra softness. I added a flat glassine bag to the layers behind my photo to hold my journaling on a tag that pulls out. I am so very glad that I took a few minutes to write down my thoughts that day– I was able to record so many details about surprising my daughter by coming to lunch one day when she had just started kindergarten.

This layout was really, really fun to make. The end result is so satisfying and everything I hoped it would be. In addition, it has made me think about the rub-ons that I still have in my stash (oh yes, after I found these packs, I just kept finding more! I had no idea that I had acquired so many!!). I will definitely be trying the rub on+ mixed media combination again.

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Disney layout: Festival of Fantasy

I’m really pleased with how this layout turned out!

When we were in Disney World in 2016, we of course watched the Festival of Fantasy parade in Magic Kingdom. It is incredible! As it began, I told myself I should just watch and take it in… but I simply could not resist taking photos– it is so colorful and beautiful. I ended up with so many photos of the gorgeous floats and costumes, and of course I wanted to include them in my album.

I decided to use the “Pictures” cut file from Paige Evans (it was a free download in her Facebook group) to display my favorite photos from the parade.

Because I have recently been experimenting with mixed media backgrounds, I used watercolors to make a rainbow of splotches and splatters on textured white cardstock that I first coated with Mod Podge (::blush:: I still haven’t bought myself gesso…). I think the background itself is pretty gorgeous, and I love how it sets off the frames.

In order to figure out my photo placement and sizes, I opened the cut file in Silhouette Studio and used “Release Compound Path” to separate the lines. I filled each of the sections where I wanted to place photos and used the software to determine measurements–my photos needed to be slightly bigger than the openings in order for them to be adhered behind the cut file. In Lightroom’s Print module, I used “Custom Package” to add cells of those dimensions to 4″x6″ canvases that I printed-to-file to upload to Persnickety Prints for printing. (P.S. If you look closely at the main photo, you’ll see that I mis-measured one of my openings, so I’ll need to reprint that photo in a future Persnickety order!)

In the rest of the openings, I added papers from Shimelle’s Starshine collection–many of them are from the 6×6 paper pad for the tiny scale. I used two of the openings for my journaling and my title.

For my title, I used a combination of letter stickers from the Shimelle Sparkle City sticker folder and the word “fantasy,” which I cut multiple times from the same white cardstock as the cut file and then stacked for dimension.

The little tape strip openings at the top of each frame are filled with washi tape from Shimelle’s Head in the Clouds collection– I stuck the tape to strips of white cardstock and cut it to size. I embellished with stickers from the Starshine, Sparkle City, and Glitter Girl collections as well as the Shimelle #stickerbook, and I added puffy stickers from Paige Evans’ Truly Grateful collection.

Of course, because it’s a running theme on all of my layouts for this album project, I added wood veneer and enamel dots, including an enamel dot Mickey head!

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Disney layout: me & you (wonderful you)/Hollywood Studios fireworks

This is the second layout I’ve made for iNSD challenges this year.  I’m combining Shimelle’s challenge from Paige Evans’ Facebook group (use a Paige Evans cut file, Paige Evans products, and Shimelle products on one page) with Crafty Jen Schow’s Use it or Lose it Facebook challenge to use lots of layers.

I knew I wanted to do another layout for my Disney 2016 album, so I looked to see what photos were printed and ready, and this pair of photos caught my eye.  On the night we were in Hollywood Studios, we stayed by ourselves later than the rest of our group and saw the Star Wars fireworks, which were really fantastic.

This particular starry cut file by Paige Evans was perfect for the page– the stars are a nod to Star Wars, and I placed them to give the idea of fireworks.  I reduced the size of the cut file a bit, cut it from the rose gold glitter paper from the Head in the Clouds project pad, then backed the stars with vellum.

Around the photos, I added lots of tiny little paper layers to make a frame–thanks to the Crafty Use It or Lose It challenge– until I saw that challenge I was at a bit of a loss as to what I was going to do!I added the journaling in a big empty area of the lefthand photo.

The title is NOT grammatically correct, I know, but I wanted the “Truly Grateful” puffy letter phrase  to tie in with the cute Paige Evans die cut that says “wonderful you,” so I sacrificed grammar for the look of the thing 😉

At the very last minute, I decided the layout looked unbalanced and needed something more, so I tore down a bit of the upper left edge of the layout.  And then I panicked, because it looked so odd to my eye (it’s the first time I’ve ever tried this, though I’ve admired it on others’ pages)!  I added more layers behind the torn area and then to make everything tie together, I roughed-up the edges of the paper layers around the photos.

Of course as usual, there are wood veneer and enamel dots…and a hidden Mickey!

Supplies:
patterned paper: Shimelle Starshine,” My Mind’s Eye “So Sophie” 
glitter paper: Shimelle “Head in the Clouds”
embellishments: Paige Evans “Truly Grateful” puffy word stickers, Paige Evans “Oh My Heart” die cuts, Shimelle “Starshine” die cuts, Studio Calico wood veneer, vellum, enamel dots
cut file: Paige Evans PE-stars-background4
tools: Silhouette Cameo 3, Nicapa cutting mat, Fiskars star punch

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Watercolor cut file cards

Sometimes I have a hard time knowing what words to send to a friend, and in those cases, I hope that the handmade card helps to express what I’m trying to say.

For these cards, I cut a Paige Evans flower bouquet from white textured cardstock and used it to inspire the loose watercolor.  After the paint had dried, I adhered the die cut over the watercolor with a sentiment strip.

These cards were made with heartfelt love and prayers.

 

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Wedding card with floral paper-cut and watercolor

 

I wanted to hand-make a special wedding card for my cousin and his new wife, and believe it or not, this one was inspired by the ampersand card in this blog post.  I didn’t have the same cut file, but as I was looking through my collection of Paige Evans cut files, I came across this floral spray… and the wheels started turning in my brain.  The couple’s wedding invitation had a lovely floral design, and so I “inverted” the ampersand card a bit– I made the floral element the focal design and the ampersand into the accent piece.  I used watercolors to paint an abstract background for the cut file– using colors to match the invitation.

The ampersand is four layers of white cardstock, and I painted the top layer with Heidi Swapp gold ColorShine since I didn’t have any metallic paper on hand.  I added some gold droplets and gold sequins as a finishing touch.

I adhered the cut file only in the center bits so that the edges would be free and show a bit of dimensionality.

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