Stop and smell the roses - DT layout for Fancy Pants

Hi there crafty friends,

Zsoka here with you today sharing a new layout!

It's November, the month of Thanksgiving in the States. We don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in Germany (or not that I know of anyway!) but that doesn't mean we are not thankful for many things :).

I have a lot to be thankful for this year, big and small things. I could probably mention a thousand things. But when it comes down to it, the only thing that really matters in the big scheme of things is the health of my family. And God knows we faced some terrible news this year...

For my layout however, I decided to document a lighter, easier moment I am grateful for. I am fascinated by my son's love of nature, animals and plants, all living creatures in this world! He knows so much about animals, I have no idea how he can remember all that information! Kids are amazing, aren't they?! His love of flowers he probably gets from me, because I always stop and adore them everywhere we go. He does the same. Smells each one! So I chose to create a layout dedicated to this - hence the title, Stop and smell the roses.

I worked with the beautiful Dream Big collection and chose a photo of Maxim admiring some pansies. I wasn't bothered by the photo not matching my title (ie roses)! I found this gorgeous cut file in the Silhouette Design Store and couldn't wait to use it!

I first cut the file from a light patterned paper, then created an offset which I cut from a different patterned paper to give it a bit of definition. I wanted to create a monochromatic kind of look to let my color photo shine. I more often than not use black and white photos but when they are of flowers, I obviously want to keep the color!

The flowers and leaves I cut from textured white card stock and backed them with different patterned papers. I did not glue down the outer edges so they are more airy and dimensional. I added some puffy stickers to the flower centers.

I also didn't adhere the whole text to background only the bottom of each word. Again, to add dimension and create interest. I didn't want to cover up any of the cut file, so I tucked my photo behind it at the top and only decorated around the photo using puffy stickers and die cuts!

To finish off my layout I added my journaling, date and black ink splatters. Which was a bit of a funny story, because I was watching some series and something happened that I don't remember anymore, but I stopped splattering for a second and a big blob of black paint fell on to the middle of my layout! The horror haha! I had to tear off "smell" and cut it again in a bigger font so I could cover up most of the paint! You can still see it a bit at the letter M, but it's not too bad. So probably not a good idea watching anything while having paint in your hands, not that I learnt my lesson, ha!

That's it for today!

What are you guys thankful for this year?!

Thanks for stopping by today! Till next time X 

Guesting at Pinkfresh Studio - Boys Fort

Hi there,

Not so long ago I shared with you my projects I created with the wonderful Escape the Ordinary collection as part of my guest post at Pinkfresh Studio.

Today I'm sharing projects with another awesome collection, Boys Fort. It's hard to come by great boy collections. For little boys there are a couple but a truly masculine collection that one can use for bigger boys and adults is hard to find. This one here ticks all the boxes for me. I think it's so unique and awesome! But hey, that's Pinkfresh Studio for you!

I created 3 layouts and a card with envelope (well technically 10 but they are all the same :D). 

For my first layout I created a few pinwheels from different patterned papers (Wisdom, Bold,  Wowzers, You Rule). For my background I used gray card stock, because I had a lot of different patterns in the pin wheels already. However I don't like to work with plain backgrounds, so I cut down the gray card stock, distressed its edges and added my favorite patterned paper, Tough, behind it. I cut a yellow circle out of card stock to mat my photo and just to add a little color pop. I arranged my pinwheels around this circle and glued them down. I placed a wood button in the middle of each one. I also added a few other embellies to the circle: die cuts, different stickers, fabric pennants and wood veneer. To finish it off, I added my title, date, journaling and some black ink splatters.

For my next layout I just cut five wide strips of the following patterned papers: Thumbs Up, High Five, Bold,  Wowzers, You Rule, and adhered them to the top of the Game On background paper line up next to each other. I tore the bottom of each one at a different length. I then mirrored all this at the bottom. As a next step I created a cut file (from a star cluster cut file that is available in the Silhouette Design store) to add to the top part of my layout. I backed some of the stars with yellow card stock. I placed my photo on the paper strips and tucked some embellishments behind it: wood veneer and die cuts. I attached a couple of puffy stickers to my photo and scattered a few wood buttons around. I tucked my title, for which I used the chipboard alpha stickers, behind the paper strips at the bottom, wrote up my journaling  and I was done.

For my third layout I chose to work with another favorite from the collection, actually it is the B side of my other fave (Tough) so technically it's the same favorite ha! I love to create layouts at an angle and I love big, bold titles, so I combined these two on this page. I cut the title from white card stock then backed each letter with a different paper: Thumbs Up, High Five, Bold,  Wowzers, You Rule and yellow card stock. Once done, I popped up the title with the help of foam adhesive. Before gluing this to my background I tucked both my photos behind it. Then came the embellishments: wood buttons, puffy stickers, die cuts, wood veneer and some tags. I added my journaling, some black ink splatters and stamped my date.

My son's birthday was coming up in September so I thought I'd make invites for his party. I haven't had my Cuttlebug for very long so I barely worked with dies before. I like to try new (to me) things and the Let's Celebrate stamp and die set by Inna Moreva came in handy! Since my scrapbooking style involves more patterned papers than paint, I decided to create the cards from patterned papers. I used Bold, Tough, You Rule and some white and yellow card stock. I stamped the little images on these papers and fussy cut them all. I'll tell you, this took ages haha! Well mainly because I made 10 cards...so it was a lot of fussy cutting. I don't mind though, it's kind of relaxing. I loved to do this as a child too. Then putting the cards together took no time at all! I'll be honest, since I have my Cameo I haven't bought a single envelope. So I picked a simple envelope cut file and sized it to fit my cards. I cut the lining from yellow card stock and cut "You're Invited" in it. Then glued everything in place.

I also made favor boxes with the same collection, but I didn't edit the photo yet! They turned out really cool though, every kid loved them!

That's it folks! I hope you like my projects as much as I loved working on them!

Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome day,

X

Paige Evans + Silhouette Design Team - wooohooo

Hey guys,

One can tell I have no Instagram account, I have too much time on my hands! Well, the whole story managed to ruin a perfectly happy day yesterday and left me without any mojo - so blogpost it is :D.

If you follow me on Instagram (or Paige), you probably saw that she is now designing cut files which you can get your hands on in the Silhouette Design Store. 

I'm so honored and excited to have been invited to her Design Team! You know that I'm obsessed with cut files, I love Paige's collections, so I feel like this is a great fit for me!

We all created a layout for yesterday, here's mine. I used the Half Flower cut file and Paige's wonderful new collection, Turn the Page.

I cut out the file from white textured card stock, 2 bigger and 2 smaller ones. I then started backing the bigger ones with patterned paper. I was actually planning to have a colorful layout but while I was backing the files I changed my mind. It happens a lot!

Once I was done, I also backed the smaller ones, but these only with one paper. Then I arranged my flowers the way I wanted them and adhered them to the background. I used some foam adhesive to attach the smaller ones to add a bit of dimension and interest.

I fussy cut a few butterflies in different sizes as well as flowers and combined these with a few other embellies: die cuts, puffy stickers and wood veneer and glued these on my half flowers.

I tucked my photo behind one of the flowers and added my title for which I used the chipboard alphas. 

I wrote my journaling, added the date, and I was pretty much done. Oh, and black splatters of course! 

Hope you like my layout! I'll be back with a new one next week! 

Thanks for stopping by,

X

Zsoka

Guesting at Pinkfresh Studio - Escape the Ordinary

Hi there friends,

I'm so honored to have been asked to guest at Pinkfresh Studio with their new collections! I've been a fan ever since I started scrapping! I never was one for anything mainstream and Pinkfresh Studio is anything but. I love their unique designs and color combos and all the inventive embellishments! They always come up with the coolest stuff!

The first collection I worked with was the gorgeous Escape the Ordinary collection. You can find my post following this link.

So here I will just add a couple more photos!

I will be back with projects I created with Boys Fort - the coolest boy line ever!

I'd like to take the opportunity to ask all of you to send positive vibes to Texas, Pinkfresh Studio is from Houston and they can surely use some prayers just like everyone in that area. 

I can't believe we were just there on holiday in July! 

Have a great weekend you guys!

Thanks for stopping by,

X

Dream. Dare. Do. Done - DT layout for Fancy Pants Designs

Hello friends,

I'm back with you today sharing my latest project for Fancy Pants Designs.

This might be one of the simplest layouts I have ever done! I used the ever so dreamy Dream Big collection for this. I'll be honest, I generally avoid using ready made background papers, because the layouts come together so quick, I feel like I didn't put any effort in them. Weird, ha?! :) When I first saw this paper however, I immediately knew how I wanted to use it. I wanted to take it apart and put it back together, sort of like a puzzle, but with different sized circles.

I planned to use my Cameo for cutting a background that I then place over the paper, to make things simple. But I was working on this layout at 4am and my family was asleep so I could not use the Cameo. Instead, I took a couple of different sized cups and used them as templates to draw the circles all over the page. Then I fussy cut all of them out and put them back on a white background.

Now, I prefer dimensional pages and this one was completely flat. So I added some foam behind some of the circles and my photo, to create a bit of depth.

I used very few embellies (and basically only die cuts) because I wanted this paper to stay in focus. I originally wanted to use 2 photos, but then went with only one because I wanted to keep the biggest circle with the road on it and I didn't like the photos in other spots.

For my title I chose a die cut which I adhered down with the help of pop dots. I placed this a little more further down the page so it stands out.

I wanted to add a little something to 2 other circles, but no embellishments. I stamped the date in one and wrote the journaling in the other.

I splattered black ink around the page for a bit of contrast and that was it!

This might be a bit of an unusual layout for me, no cut files and all, but I still feel like it's me.

I hope I could inspire you in some small way! Thanks so much for stopping by today!
Till next time,

X