Happy | Off the Rails Tutorial

Hi everyone!

Today I'm sharing my design team layout that I created for this month's mood board over at Off the Rails Scrapbooking, and I have some tips and techniques for getting the most out of your patterned papers!

Now I have a confession to make... I was planning on sharing a step-by-step tutorial for creating this layout, however the photos that I had taken of my procedure were on my phone which I unfortunately dropped in water last week and was unable to retrieve anything off it. I lost a few months worth of photos since I last backed them up :( The moral of the story is to back up your photos regularly!!! (I'm now using iCloud so that my photos are backed up automatically).

Here's my layout that I created for our gorgeous 'black and anything goes' mood board this month...

I must admit that I struggled a bit with this because I don't usually use black as the dominant colour on a layout, but I loved the challenge and I'm happy with the end result! The photo that I scrapped is of my eldest daughter taken when we went strawberry picking while we were on holidays last year! She was wearing a black hat and a dark floral dress, so I thought this would be perfect for this mood board!

So today I want to share some tips and techniques that I use to get the most out of my patterned papers! I used the Maggie Holmes Bloom collection for this layout. When I purchased this collection, the chipboard and ephemera were not available, so I was limited to the patterned papers and the puffy stickers, but I didn't mind, because it just meant that I had to get a bit more creative with using the patterned papers! So here are my tips...

1) Don't throw away the branding strip on your patterned papers!

I always try to think of ways that I can incorporate the branding strips onto my layouts, and on this page, I added it as a strip between the dark patterned paper and the white cardstock. I like the extra detail that this adds, and it looks like I've included more patterned paper onto my layout than I actually have!

2) Fussy Cut!

Look for elements in your patterned papers that you can fussy cut! The teacup on the bottom right hand corner of my layout was fussy cut from one of the patterned papers, as was the word 'beautiful'. I often like to use those busy floral patterned papers to fussy cut the flowers to use as embellishments for my pages.

3) Cut up your patterned papers!

I love to use my Silhouette Cameo to cut out shapes and words from my patterned papers. If you don't have a die-cutting machine, trace shapes and cut them out by hand. I didn't use my Cameo for this layout, but I did cut a little banner out of patterned paper to include on my page.

4) Don't waste!

If there are any parts of your patterned papers that are hidden, cut them off to use on a future project! For instance, on this layout I have backed my photo with patterned paper, but only a thin border is actually seen. So I cut away the middle section behind the photo, which is hidden, and I kept it to use for layering on another layout.

There are lots of ways that you can get the most out of your patterned papers! When we have to scrap on a budget this can be particularly important. I'd love to hear your tips if you have some!

Here are a few closeups of my layout so that you can see all the details...

And here's a reminder of this month's mood board...

I hope that you get a chance to play along with our mood board challenge this month! There's only 2 more days left to get your projects linked up!

Thanks so much for joining me today, and for any lovely comments that you leave!

Mandy

Nature's the Place that I love Best | The Cut Shoppe Design Team Layout

Hi everyone!

Today I'm sharing a fun layout for The Cut Shoppe using the Nature Lover cut file set!

I love this photo of my eldest daughter when we were camping a few years ago! She had created herself a bed of leaves to relax on and she had dirt on her face... I think this photo just sums up the fun that we have when we go camping!

I used one of the phrases from the Nature Lover cut file set for my title...

I wanted the title to be the main feature of the page (along with the photo of course) so I enlarged it so that it took up the whole left hand side of my layout. Once I had traced the phrase in my Silhouette software, I released the compound path so that I could play around with the words a bit. I resized some of the words so that some were bigger than others and moved them around till I was happy with their position, taking into account where I wanted to place my photo. I then cut the title out of a piece of white cardstock and backed each word with different patterned papers from the Pink Paislee Atlas collection.

I love large titles on layouts! I think they make a real impact and they take the hard work out of the design process! To embellish the page, I added a couple of felt clouds, some wood veneer pieces, and a flair button.

I added my journalling underneath the photo, and then I finished the layout off with some enamel dots and little word stickers.

Thanks for joining me today! Be sure to pop by The Cut Shoppe store to check out the new cut files that were released this week!

Mandy

Hello Sunshine | D-lish Scraps Design Team Layout

Hi friends!

I'm back with my final share for D-lish Scraps for the month, and this one is a bright and happy page featuring a photo of my youngest daughter enjoying playing on her slide...

I love the look of joy on Eleanor's face in this photo! She had just learnt how to go down her slide all on her own and she was so proud of herself!

I used some gorgeous colourful patterned paper from the Paige Evans Fancy Free collection for this layout.

Here are some closeups...

I used a wood veneer phrase from a previous Just Add Paper kit for my title. When I purchased the kit, I loved this wood veneer piece so much that I purchased an extra one, and I'm so glad that I did becuase it was perfect for this layout! Underneath the title I added two phrases, one from the orange minifetti sheet, and one from the 'Sweet Sentiments' Cardfetti sheet. These are still one of my favourite things to include on my layouts to add a little sentiment and a pop of colour to the page!

I created a flower cluster on the bottom left hand corner of my photo using an aqua Magnolia, a red Gardenia, and a yellow Hydrangea petal. I love all of the gorgeous paper flowers that are available from the D-lish Scraps store!!

Underneath the right hand side of my photo I tucked a pretty 4" lace doily, and then I created a little cluster that includes a flair button (from the Polaroid Picture set), a white cherry blossom, and a gorgeous yellow tassel.

I finished my layout off by tucking an arrow paperclip onto the top edge of the patterned paper, and scattering some D-lish enamel dots and wood veneer stars.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog, and for any lovely comments that you may leave!

Mandy

The Best Day | D-lish Scraps Design Team Layout

Hey everyone!

I'm back with another D-lish Scraps layout to share with you today, and this one features a photo of my hubby and I on our wedding day. We are celebrating our 14th wedding anniversary on Wednesday, so I thought that it was a good time to scrap one of our wedding photos! Here's my layout...

I chose some beautiful patterned papers from the Cocoa Vanilla Studio 'Love Always' collection for this layout, and I used a lovely cut file designed by Felicity Jane Studio for my title. (This cut file can be purchased from the Silhouette Design store). It was the perfect title for a layout about our wedding day!

Once I had my title in place, I then adhered a thin strip of patterned paper down the right hand side of my layout, as well as a strip of washi tape. Then I was ready to add my photo and embellishments!

Here are a few closeups...

I framed my photo with a Felicity Jane Studio frame that was created using the print and cut feature on my Cameo. Behind my photo I added a super pretty 4" lace doily! I'm loving this smaller size doily! You may have noticed that the wood veneer words are a favourite of mine, and even though I already had a large title on my layout, I couldn't help but sneak this cute wood veneer word onto my page!

I created a little flower cluster using a white azalea and a pink Kaisercraft bloom. I love how soft and pretty these two flowers look together!

I can't go past tassels at the moment! They are definitely one of my fave embellishments, and these pretty pastel ones are just gorgeous! I attached the tassel to a paperclip using some cotton twine. I also added a phrase from the 'Sweet Sentiments' Cardfetti sheet along with another word sticker from my stash.

I finished my layout off with a few black D-lish enamel dots and a couple of wooden flower buttons.

Thank you so much for popping in today to take a look at my layout! I'll be back tomorrow with my final share for D-lish Scraps for the month!

Mandy

#epic | D-lish Scraps Design Team Layout

Hello friends!

I'll be sharing my August D-lish Scraps layouts with you over the next three days. Today I'm kicking off my project shares with my take on the current Inspiration Board challenge! Here's my layout...

And here's a reminder of the August Inspiration Board, 'Geometric Crush'...

I absolutely love this colour palette, it's such a great one for scrapping the boys in our lives! Other than the colours, I was also inspired by the triangles on the inspiration board, and I used the sketch as the basis for my design (although I used one horizontal photo in place of the three vertical ones).

The photo that I scrapped is a recent one that I took when we visited the Reptile Park during the school holidays. In the entrance is this replica of a crocodile and Isaac thought that it would be fun to stick his arm in its mouth as if it was eating him! Of course I had to snap a photo to document it!

I used mostly the August Just Add Paper kit to embellish my layout. Once again Amanda has put together a spectacular kit, that just made this layout come together so easily! And as always, I have embellishments left over that I can use on future layouts! Such amazing value for $10 a kit!

To start my layout off, I trimmed my cardstock down a little and framed it with some patterned paper. I then used a piece of star punchinella as a stencil, and added some inking around the edges of the layout. If you're wanting to get your hands on some punchinella, then head on over to the store, because it has just been restocked! But be quick, because it never lasts long!

Next, I arranged the wood veneer triangles from the kit on my page in a similar design to the sketch. I backed three of them with different patterned papers for added interest. I popped my photo on top of the triangles and then I was ready to embellish!

Here are some closeups of my layout...

How awesome are the layered die cuts that Amanda created for the kit?! It's like all the hard work is done for you! I added one of them on the top right hand corner of my photo. I also added one of the flair buttons here to create a little cluster, and I wrapped some twine from the kit around the flair.

I can't tell you how much I love the wood veneer words that come in the kits! They just make the perfect titles, and they look great either left raw or jazzed up with some ink! This one is still available here until sold out, and you can find more wood veneer words in the store here. I wanted to messy mine up a bit so I simply rubbed some grey distress ink around the edges with an ink blending tool. You can also see here that I used the yellow star pick from the kit, but I took it off the pick so that I could just use it as a die-cut. I added some foam tape underneath to give it extra dimension.

Lastly, I created a little cluster down in the bottom left hand corner of the layout. This wasn't on the sketch, but I often like to do this to balance out my layouts. I used a journal spot from kit to add some basic journalling to the layout, and then I added another flair button wrapped in twine, and a die-cut arrow from my stash.

I finished my layout off with some wood veneer stars (which I am loving at the moment!) and a few Kaisercraft epoxy dots.

I hope that I've inspired you to play along with our Inspiration Board challenge this month! Link up your layout in the sidebar over on the D-lish Scraps blog by the end of the month to be in the running to win a prize!

I'll be back tomorrow with another D-lish Scraps layout to share with you! See you then!

Mandy

Celebrate | D-lish Scraps Cybercrop Challenge

Hello Scrappy friends!

This weekend D-lish Scraps is celebrating their 7th birthday!! The fun has just kicked off over in our Facebook group, The Scrap Suite with the reveal of our August Cybercrop challenges! It was my turn to set one of the challenges this month, and I decided that seeing as we are celebrating D-lish Scrap's birthday that it was a good opportunity for us all to get those birthday photos scrapped. So my challenge is to create a birthday themed layout or project (it could be as simple as a birthday card!). Here's my sample layout for my challenge...

How sweet are these photos of my three kiddies on my youngest's 1st birthday!

My layout features patterned papers from the Dear Lizzy Fine and Dandy collection. I love the pops of red teamed up with the grey, and the black and white stripes!

I started my layout off by cutting the large title and the stars on my Silhouette Cameo using cut files from The Cut Shoppe. I then added some strips of patterned paper down the right hand side of my layout and also a strip of silver glitter washi tape. I also added an arrow paperclip to the top right hand corner of my layout.

Here are a couple of closeups...

I added some layers behind my photos using a 5x7 diagonal stripe bag and a beautiful 6" lace doily. I then added a couple of wordfetti strips on top of the photos as well as a white cherry blossom.

I tucked a journal spot underneath the bottom photo to add my journalling to and I also popped a gorgeous magnolia flower next to the journal spot to create a little cluster.

I finished my layout off by adding some black ink splatters and a few wood veneer stars.

I hope that you'll come and join us in The Scrap Suite for lots of fun and great challenges this weekend! Here's a schedule of events so that you can keep track of what's happening...



Thanks so much for popping in today, and thank you for any lovely comments also!

Mandy

Making Memories | Stuck?! Sketches Design Team Layout

Hi there!

It's time for the reveal of the mid-month sketch challenge over at Stuck?! Sketches! Let's take a look at the gorgeous sketch that Laura has designed for us...

I love all of the layers and the embellishment clusters in this sketch! The photo that I wanted to scrap was vertical, so I decided to rotate the sketch 90 degrees to the right to suit the photo. Here's my layout...

I just adore this photo of my Dad and my son playing chess together! I love that my Dad takes an interest in what his grandkids are interested in, and that he always makes time for them. The chess pieces that they are playing with in this photo were actually the ones that my Dad played with when he was a child and now he has passed them onto Isaac. I think that's really special!

The patterned papers and embellishments that I've used on this layout are from the Cocoa Vanilla Studio 'Totally Rad' collection.

Here are some closeups...

I layered a couple of the Cocoa Vanilla stickers and die cuts on the top left hand corner of my photo, and I also added a 'woodie' just above the photo.

On the bottom right hand corner of my photo I added a Charms Creations arrow, and I popped a flair button on top.

I combined black alpha stickers with a wood veneer word to create my title. These are both from the Cocoa Vanilla 'Colour Me Happy' range. I then created a little cluster in the bottom right hand corner of the layout using a label, a sticker, a woodie, and a flair button (all from Cocoa Vanilla).

I added my journalling, and then finished the layout off with some black ink splatters and a few wood veneer stars.

If you haven't done so already, I hope that you'll head on over to the Stuck?! Sketches blog and take a look at the gorgeous layouts that my fellow design team members have created! We would love YOU to play along with us by creating a layout based on this sketch! Link up your layouts on the Stuck?! Sketches blog by August 29th to be in the running to win a prize from one of our very generous sponsors:

We will also be choosing a scrapbooker from each of our challenges to be a guest designer with us at a later date!

Thank you so much for visiting my blog and taking a look at my layout! Thank you to those who take the time to leave a comment as well - it is always very much appreciated!

Mandy

Wild Thing | The Cut Shoppe Design Team Layout

Hi everyone!

Today I'm sharing a layout that I created for The Cut Shoppe using two of their newest cut files available from the Etsy store!

How cute is this photo of my little Eleanor! She has the most gorgeous curly hair, and it's starting to get a bit long, so when she wakes up in the morning, she has such crazy bed hair! I love it!

The cut files that I used on this layout are from the Hul-La-Ba-Zoo set and the Oodles of Doodles set.

The first thing I did was to create the background cut file using the circle from the Oodles of Doodles set. To do this, I traced the shape and then copy and pasted in multiple time, resizing it each time so that all of the circles were various sizes. I then moved them so that each of the circles was overlapping with at least one other one, and then welded them together to create one piece. Once I had cut it out, I then backed each circle with a different patterned paper from the Cocoa Vanilla Studio 'Colour Me Happy' collection. I also added foam tape to the back of it to give it some extra dimension.

I wanted to add something to the centre of each circle, so I popped an enamel dot on some of them, and on others I added a wood veneer heart or a flair button.

Other than that I kept the embellishing fairly minimal as I didn't want it to get too busy.

To create my title I used the 'Wild Things' phrase from the Hul-La-Ba-Zoo cut file set, and just erased the 's' off the end. I thought this would be a fun title for this photo, as my daughter looks a bit wild with her crazy hair! I cut each of the words from two different patterned papers and then used the offset function to back both words with the dark grey patterned paper. I also added foam tape to the back of the title to help it to stand out more against the busy background.

Thanks so much for joining me today! Be sure to pop by The Cut Shoppe store to check out all the new cut files that are available!

Mandy

Happiness | Stuck?! Sketches August 1st Layout

Hi there!

It's time for the reveal of the August 1st challenge at Stuck?! Sketches! Let's take a look at the fabulous sketch created by our talented sketch designer Laura Whitaker...

Here is my layout based on the sketch...

My layout features photos of my daughter on her 12th birthday a month ago. I just love the look of both surprise and joy on her face as she unwrapped her presents!

The patterned papers that I used are from Close to my Heart, and I used a mix of embellishments from Charms Creations, D-lish Scraps, Crate Paper, and American Crafts. I really like how it all came together!

Here are a couple of closeups of my layout...

This little cluster consists of  a gorgeous hot pink chevron from Charms Creations, as well as a couple of small paper flowers from D-lish Scraps.

To the right of the photos I created a larger cluster that's made up of a Charms Creations Sea Green star, a crepe paper rosette from the Maggie Holmes Shine collection, a tassel from the Dear Lizzy Happy Place collection, and another flower from D-lish Scraps.

I added some puffy stickers to my layout from the Maggie Holmes Bloom collection, and then I finished my layout off by stencilling some yellow stars onto my background using a ScrapFX stencil and some Distress Ink.

If you haven't done so already, I hope that you'll head on over to the Stuck?! Sketches blog and take a look at the gorgeous layouts that my fellow design team members have created! We would love YOU to play along with us by creating a layout based on this sketch! Link up your layouts on the Stuck?! Sketches blog by August 29th to be in the running to win a prize from one of our very generous sponsors:

We will also be choosing a scrapbooker from each of our challenges to be a guest designer with us at a later date!

Thank you so much for visiting my blog and taking a look at my layout! Thank you to those who take the time to leave a comment as well - it is always very much appreciated!

Mandy

Together | Scrap the Girls August Layout

Hi friends,

Well another month has rolled by super quickly and here we are at the start of August already! Who's ready for some fresh inspiration from our favourite scrappy challenge blogs?? First up today, I'm sharing the August mood board challenge for Scrap the Girls, designed by our very own Rikki Graziani...

How pretty is this! Lots of gorgeous shades of blue!

Here's my layout inspired by the mood board...

I really enjoyed creating this layout using a photo of me with my gorgeous girl! I originally chose the photo for this challenge because my daughter was wearing a blue shirt, but then I decided to print it in black and white because I thought it contrasted nicely against the blues.

I used patterned papers from the Cocoa Vanilla Studio 'Hello Sunshine' collection as well as the Shimelle True Stories collection. I also used a cut file from The Cut Shoppe to create the large ampersand... I love how this looks!

Here are a couple of closeups of my layout...

Underneath the right hand side of my photo, I layered a pretty lace doily from D-lish Scraps and a die-cut frame from Cocoa Vanilla Studio. I also added a wood veneer word from the CVS Colour Me Happy range that I used as the title for my layout, and I added some die-cuts from the CVS Hello Sunshine collection.

Over to the left of the ampersand, I created a little cluster with some more Cocoa Vanilla 'Hello Sunshine' goodies. You can also see here the super pretty flowers that I added on the bottom left hand corner of the photo. These are a couple of my favourite paper flowers from D-lish Scraps.

Lastly, I created another little cluster in the top right hand corner of the layout, to balance the page out. I used a flair button from the CVS 'Colour Me Happy' range, and another cherry blossom from D-lish Scraps.

If you haven't done so already, I hope that you'll pop on over to the Scrap the Girls blog and take a look at the gorgeous layouts that my fellow design team members have created inspired by this mood board! I hope that you'll play along with us this month! Link up your layouts on the Scrap the Girls blog by August 31st to have a chance of winning a $25 voucher from our very generous sponsor Colour Blast!

Thanks for visiting and taking a look at my layout! Thank you to those who leave a lovely comment as well! I'll be back later today with my design team layout for Stuck?! Sketches!

Mandy