Chocolate Nation - DT layout for Paige Evans

Hello there crafty friends,

I'm back today with a new layout for the Paige Evans Design Team! It feels like I rarely scrapbook anymore so I'm always excited and happy when I actually have something to share ha!

I started out with the Bloom Street collection but ended up mixing it with lots of Horizon papers! I haven't used Horizon in ages so this makes me super happy! 

This gorgeous floral paper from Bloom Street is one of my favorites from the collection and I haven't used it yet, so I was determined to do so on this layout! I picked out this super cool cut file, Heart Swirls (Design ID: 321567) which kind of reminded me of rainbows, so I backed it in that manner! 

It turned out to be a bit too busy for the floral paper so I only used a wider strip at the top and a thin strip at the bottom. I thought it paired well with the pink/yellow watercolor paper from Bloom Street. I added foam to the cut file and adhered it to the background. 

I layered some tissue paper behind my photo as well as a tag, then glued it down. I documented a photo from our summer holiday last year, we took the kids (my best friend's twins and Maxim) to Chocolate Nation in Antwerp. This is the coolest and most fun museum we've been to! Well to be fair we don't go to museums all that often, but all of us loved this one so much! It's interactive, the way you're guided through each room is awesome. Super entertaining, the kids were glued to their headphones. And of course, there were several stops where you can try all kinds of chocolates. My goodness, heaven! Belgian chocolate is my favorite, so yeah, I didn't mind going hehe! They also showed us how to make pralines and we could try them too. There were photo booths with props, for instance there was this one where you could "fake" lift a huge jute bag filled with cocoa beans (it was hanging from an invisible thread and you just moved it to the height you wanted) in a tropical kind of setting - the kids loved posing for photos! At the very end there was a room filled with all kinds of melted chocolate from white to dark and everything in between! And you could eat as much as you wanted! I will say though, even taking a tea spoon full from each (and I haven't tried the super dark ones) you felt full. And there was ruby chocolate OMG! Have you ever tried it?! It's super hard to find it still but it's so worth it. It's pink, fruity, reminds me of raspberry. It's all natural though, so no artificial fruit flavor. God it's so good! Then of course there's a shop as you exit the museum and you can buy so many things, we spent ages there. The kids picked up some S'mores kit to try and they were so happy they were allowed to barbecue alone. If you're ever in Antwerp, definitely check it out!

Phew that was a long story, sorry for getting off track! Back to the layout now :)

I used the white mini alpha stickers from the Pick Me Up collection to create my title following the curve of the cut file. I wrote my journaling on the opposite side.

For embellishments I mostly used floral die cuts which I layered next to the photo, alternating between liquid and foam adhesive to create some dimension. I then cut out some colorful sentiments from one of the patterned papers and adhered these down too. Last but not least, some white glitter enamel dots, they are sooo pretty!

That's it! I hope I could inspire you in one way or another with my layout today!

Thank you for stopping by! Happy scrapping!

X

SUPPLIES:

Bloom Street collection: Paper 13, Paper 22, Paper 23, Enamel Dots, Floral Die Cuts

Truly Grateful collection: Paper 16

Horizon Collection: Paper 1, Paper 2, Paper 4, Paper 5, Paper 10, Paper 14, Paper 15, Paper 22, Paper 23, 

Pick Me up collection: Mini foam alpha thickers

Fresh Air - DT layout for Paige Evans

Hello there crafty friends,

I'm stopping by to share a new layout I've made for the Paige Evans Design Team. I've used the beautiful Bloom Street collection on this page.

I started out by looking for a cut file that resonated with me in that moment. We just went out for our first family walk under quarantine the day before and everything was in full bloom, absolutely gorgeous. So I definitely wanted to use a floral cut file! I ended up choosing the Flower Hill cut file (Design ID: 300592). I cut it from white card stock then backed it with various patterned papers I had scraps of. This is really the perfect way to use up those small scraps!

Apropos scraps. Another thing I find myself doing a lot when I don't have a full sheet of paper to use for background: go with 2 (or occasionally more) bigger pieces to create my background. If I'm honest, it's not my favorite thing to do, but I find it practical so I go with it. Especially when I only have one paper left of a certain design - I hate using up my last full 12x12!

Anyway, once I was done with the cut file, I adhered it to the background. I layered some tissue papers behind my photo, tucked this stack behind the cut file and glued it all down. I added a few embellishments, though not many: some butterflies and phrases. For my title I used the gorgeous alpha stickers from the collection. Aren't they so pretty?! To finish off my page, I added my journaling and stamped my date onto a label which I tucked behind my photo. That's it!

How are you guys coping with the quarantine? Do you craft more or less than normal? I find I am not very creative these days. I'm not super sad about it though, there's so many other things I find to do at home! Honestly, I never get bored. Actually by the time this is published, we may not have quarantine anymore, who knows. We are just taking it day by day! I hope you all are well!

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Have a wonderful day!

X

SUPPLIES:

Bloom Street collection: Paper 21, Paper 19, Paper 18, Paper 13, Paper 12, Paper 9, Paper 7, Paper 6,  Paper 5, Paper 4, Paper 3, Ephemera Die Cuts, Floral Foam Thickers, Layered Butterfly Stickers

In the spotlight: Spellbinders Small and Large Die of the Month kits - May 2020

Hi there crafty peeps,

It's that time again! The Spellbinders May Club Kits are here! I can't believe another month went by...For some weird reason I'm busier now during the quarantine than before hmmm. I hope you guys are doing well and hanging in there!

As a reminder, Spellbinders have several monthly kits, which are really great! You can subscribe to:

• Small Die of the Month
• Large Die of the Month
• Card Kit of the Month
• Stamp of the Month
• Amazing Paper Grace Die of the Month
• Glimmer Hot Foil Kit of the Month

You can find all necessary information about these kits here.

As always, I'm sharing projects with the Large and the Small Die Kits of the month. I'll start with the Large Die kit. As you see this is a layering die set - there are two-three layers to each element. Well except the big label, that is!

For my first card I die cut all my layers from different Alexandra Renke patterned papers, then layered them up and glued them together. I used a 5.5x4.25" top folding, white card base. I put adhesive on the frame, but only in the middle of each element, so I have a bit more dimension on the card. I then die cut the big label for the middle - this has holes around the edge, so I decided to add some hand stitching and a bow. The holes were big enough to use twine instead of embroidery floss.

To finish off this card, I added my sentiment and some gold crystals. The sentiment is from the Yana's sentiments Glimmer Hot Foil Plate & Die set. I love this set so much, I had to buy it, now that it's available here in Germany at Alexandra Renke! These are small sentiments that come with coordinating dies - love the font, love the whole idea. Make sure to foil tons of them at once and then you always have sentiments ready to go! I absolutely hate stamping sentiments on strips, I can't for the life of me stamp straight OR cut straight, none of my trimmers seem to cut straight seriously.  I have another sentiment set, the Everyday Sentiments II Glimmer Hot Foil Plate Set, and a few weeks ago I foiled a loooot of these in various colors! Since then, I pretty much only add those sentiments to my cards haha! This second set is also available at Alexandra Renke. By the way, I used the Gold Glimmer Hot Foil Roll on these sentiments.

My second card is much simpler! I covered my 5.5x4.25" top folding card base in patterned paper. I then die cut a label from white card stock and again, I stitched around the edge with white twine. There's a smaller layering set in this die kit too, which is what I used here in the middle.

I again finished off the card with a gold foiled sentiment and some gold crystals.

Next up, the Small Die kit! This time you'll get a few different border dies that you can mix and match however you want to, to build your own unique patterns. There's also a large Thank You sentiment die.

There's a sample card design in the kit and I liked it so much, I lifted it for one of my cards.

This pretty lace pattern is created with 3 of the dies and then die cut twice, on both sides of the paper. It's really easy to line them up! Use washi tape on the back to hold them together! I only attached this panel to my card base in the middle so it looks light and airy, like lace. I added a strip of patterned paper in the middle, for interest.

To finish off this card, I added my sentiment on foam adhesive and some pearls too. By the way, this is the foiled sentiment I mentioned above! See, I'm not kidding, I use these on all my cards these days hahaha! Like any metallics, it's super hard to photograph from above as you see in my first picture :D.

For my next card I actually used the same set of dies, but this time I die cut this pattern from two different patterned papers and added them like I would add lace trimmings, if that makes sense! I only glued down the top bit to create some dimension.

I added some patterned paper at the top of my card base, then tied a twine bow above my lace borders. A gold foiled sentiment and pearls finish off this card as well!

So today I had really basic cards for you, but I hope I could still inspire you in some way!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Have an awesome day!

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