Month: February 2026

Winter Stories

~ dddesignz ~ Leave a comment

Do you remember the joy of playing in the snow when you were young and carefree? This fun photo of my grandson, captured by my daughter, brings back all those memories. The fresh snow, the thrill of the ride down the hill and the snow that gets caught between your glove and sleeve, providing a quick chill. This is fun personified for every Canadian child!

I chose the Peartree cut file, Winter Stories, from the January 2024 Pearscription, to document this special time. I love the cascading snowflakes that fall from top to bottom in this cut file. If you don’t have this cut file, you can go back and purchase the January 2024 set here. The background paper for this layout comes from the Designsbyreminisce, Winter Wonderland collection. I used the Winter Stars paper for the background, and the coordinating Snowflakes Galore to back the word Stories in the title. I was drawn to this paper because it enhanced the blues and white of my grandson’s snow-covered snowsuit.

Before I adhered this cut file to the layout, I took the time (and it did take quite a while, and a bit of patience) to back it with dimensional adhesive fun foam. I wanted the snowflakes to appear as if they were falling onto the page.

I felt the picture told most of the story in this layout, so I typed the date and details on my computer and printed them to round out the details. The arrow and the word FUN are both die-cut elements from Elizabeth Craft Designs Planner Essentials – Arrows.

The final elements to complete the layout were the addition of the smaller snowflakes at the top and bottom of the design. These snowflakes are from an older collection of die-cuts from Sizzix, made for StampinUP!

And that’s another wrap on a fun-filled layout. It came together quite easily; the only time-consuming piece was adding the dimensional fun foam behind such an intricate die-cut. I’m pleased I stuck with this process and saw it through to completion!

Thanks for stopping by today. It’s always a thrill to know I’ve encouraged fellow paper crafters to try new things. Until next time, stay safe, stay well, and Happy Scrapping!

You Are Adored

~ dddesignz ~ Leave a comment

To quote M. K. Clinton, “The world would be a nicer place if everyone had the ability to love as unconditionally as a dog.” This picture gives me all the feels. To me, it fully represents the unconditional love between a man and his dog. There’s an unspoken language in this picture, and it is the language of love. It is powerful, reassuring and comforting. It is everything we need, when we need it most. This beautiful picture, taken by my daughter-in-law, captures my son and their dog Lillie. It is a moment of everyday life that I wanted to remember and document.

This picture was the driver for creating this layout. I deliberately used patterned paper that matched the photo’s colours and mood. Additionally, the triangular shapes in the paper were a perfect match for the background wall found in the picture. This stunning and colourful paper comes from Paper Rose Studio’s Artsy collection. Specifically, it is Print – B. To further mimic the photo, I splashed Hero Arts White Acrylic Speckle across the page to replicate the light sparkles in the photo.

The “You are Adored” title for this page is a cut file from Peartree Cutfiles. It is available for purchase on their website. It was the freebie included in my February 2026 Pearscription. The Pearscription bundle is a unique set of cut files each month that are not available on the main website, but are available only by subscription. I have been a subscriber for over 4 years, and they are always a delight to receive and use. To create the title for this layout, I cut the file from black Precision Cardstock and glued the background to the layout, leaving the letters off. I used my Silhouette software to “ungroup” the file and create offset images of the letters. Once the letters were offset to make them slightly larger, they were cut from plain white cardstock. The letters were inked and blended with a combination of two Ranger/49 and Market inks – Doll Face and Sangria. This colour combination helped me achieve a close likeness to the purples in the picture and patterned paper. Once the ink blending was complete, I adhered the letters using Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam Strips to add additional dimension and texture to the layout.

I went in search of digital cut files that could replicate the style of the branches in the background of the patterned paper. I found 2 cut files in the Silhouette Design Store that fit my needs. These 2 files are Long Winter Branches Set, Design ID D-1312913, and Berry Branches Set, Design ID D-1286474. I cut all the branches from coordinating Gina K Designs cardstock. I tucked the stems of each branch under the picture and popped the leaves up with Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam Dots in small and micro sizes.  

The subtitle “love is here” is a Mintay Papers product. It comes from the Mintay Basics collection, specifically, the Words – Love & Marriage. I mounted the phrase on coordinating black cardstock and adhered it with the 3D Adhesive Strips. The final element was adding the date. I always add a date to my layouts for several reasons. When they finally make it into a book, I can sort them chronologically, and if you’re like me, after a couple of years, I draw a blank on the photo’s date if this marker isn’t included. I used Doodlebug Designs Puffy Alpha Stickers in Swimming Pool to add the date to this layout.  

And that’s a wrap on my design method and creation for this lovely layout. I hope this layout enhances the love I see and feel in this beautiful photo. To all my pet lovers out there, I hope I’ve encouraged you to scrapbook a moment like this for your scrapbook. I can assure you that as you go back and look at your layouts, a moment like this will warm your heart!

Thanks for stopping by today. Until next time, stay safe, stay well, and Happy Scrapping!

Snapshots

~ dddesignz ~ Leave a comment

Do you ever use a sketch for inspiration? They are a wonderful tool, especially if you feel you’ve hit a crafting rut. Last month, I participated in the final crop for the VIP group of Creative Scrapbooking Magazine. It was bittersweet to say goodbye to such a fabulous group of creatives. But it was a fabulous crop, hosted by Simply Stated Design, a wonderful Canadian company! One challenge was to create a layout for the crop using the provided sketch.

I immediately recognized that I owned patterned paper from Mintay Papers that would work perfectly with this sketch. This gorgeous camera lens paper is paper number 2 in the Photographer collection. It became the large circle found in the sketch. This paper really provided the heavy lifting for this layout. From there, I added three photos from our trip to Mostar last fall. Mostar, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and its bridge, Stari Most, are popular tourist destinations. It is a rebuilt 16th-century Ottoman-era bridge. The photo of the bridge deserved to take a central place in my layout. It was added to the layout with a piece of fun foam to add dimension and focus.

I used ephemera from the Photographer collection to complement the design. The female photographer and the slide frame were both inked around the edges using Altenew Ink for added dimension. Next, I slid the photographer behind the slide, making sure to keep her hat outside of the frame. I added the ‘captured moments’ phase to the bottom of the slide and sourced it from the paper stickers in the Photographer collection. Next, I added this grouping to the bottom-right portion of the lens.

The cameras and slide cluster of ephemera are a mix of 2 Mintay Papers collections: Photographer and Mamarazzi. The cameras were placed on fun foam to add further dimension.This cluster of elements was placed in the top-left corner of the lens.


The title for the layout, Snapshots, came from the Mamarazzi Die-cuts collection. It was also adhered with small pop dots.

The final elements included adding the location and date to the layout. All of these elements were completed using Doodlebug Designs Puffy Alphabet Stickers in Mint. I adhered all of them in the layout using the curve of the camera lens as a guide.

This layout came together so quickly, thanks to the sketch as my guide. The camera lens really draws your attention to the beautiful pictures from our trip. I’m very pleased with the final result. Thanks for stopping by today. Until next time, stay safe, stay well, and Happy Scrapping!