Rollercoaster

~ dddesignz ~ 3 Comments

Who’s in for a good roller coaster ride this summer? While visiting our family in Austria, we took another trip to the Prater, Vienna’s renowned amusement park. Emperor Joseph II opened the park to the public in 1766. It has been serving up smiles ever since! Our 10-year-old grandson somehow convinced his Mom to ride this wicked (lying down) roller coaster. I’m the one safely on the ground, filming for prosperity! This picture captures them as they pause before being loaded into a corkscrew lift to start their ride.

The paper selected for this layout is from Webster’s Pages and it is called Dream in Color – Drifting. It fits beautifully with my design when I rotate it upside down. I chose Peartree Cutfiles Rollercoaster cut file to document this fun event. I wanted my layout to provide the illusion of a roller coaster. To achieve this effect, I took several steps. 

First, the cut file was cut out in black to help the title stand out. Next, the letters of the title were cut in blue to match the sky in the photo. The third step included cutting the file once again in red to imitate the red steel girders of the actual roller coaster. The cut file was cut once again in yellow to mimic the yellow rails the roller coaster cars travelled on. Once all 4 colours were cut, I carefully cut the elements away that I didn’t need and glued each section into place to recreate the coaster my family was riding.

To further the illusion of the actual roller coaster, I used Taylored Expressions Black Foam Sticky Strips to back the cut file and provide dimension. Each sticky strip was cut in half lengthwise and then carefully adhered to the back of the cut file to achieve this look. While somewhat tricky and time-consuming, I am very happy with the result.

The sticker phrases and journalling box came from an older Echo Park paper collection called hello Summer. The large colour-coordinated FUN sticker is from Photoplay’s Those Summer Days paper collection. The final design element was adding brightly coloured stars in the sky. These stars are Puffy Stickers from Cocoa Vanilla Studio’s No Limits collection.

I may not be a roller coaster enthusiast myself, but I certainly had a blast documenting this ride for my family. My grandson is very excited this layout will be included in one of his scrapbooks!

Have I convinced you to get out to the amusement park this summer? Be sure to take every opportunity to enjoy this glorious summer and all the opportunities it offers! Until next time, stay safe, stay well, and Happy Scrapping!

Soak Up The Sun

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My granddaughter, Madison, had a wish for her birthday. She wanted to be in the sun, in shorts, on her birthday. Now that her family lives overseas, a quick trip to Spain was quite doable. As you can see from the picture, she got her birthday wish! Now I won’t lead you to believe that the water was warm at the time, but nothing was stopping this girl from thoroughly enjoying the sun, sand and surf!

I used the Summer Lights patterned paper from Cocoa Vanilla Sudio’s Sunkissed collection for the background of this layout. It reminded me of the bright sunny days and beautiful sunsets on the Costa Del Sol. The title cut file, Soak Up the Sun, comes from Just Nick and is now, sadly, unavailable as she has shut down her shop on Shopify. Fingers crossed she will bring it back one day! I backed this cut file with coordinating patterned papers from Lawn Fawn’s Watercolor Wishes Rainbow collection. I liked how it mirrored the changing hues in the background paper.

Just Nick also created the cut file for the Layered Waves at the bottom of the layout. I wanted these waves to look as realistic as possible. I used the backside of the Tropical Paradise patterned paper from Reminisce’s Caribbean Cruise Kit to achieve this look. To add more depth to the waves, they were each outlined in coordinating blue ink. I adhered the bottom wave directly to the page and backed the top two layers with foam to replicate wave action. The tri-coloured small crystals of water droplets were splattered around the waves to enhance the feel of the waves even further. They are a product called Baby Tear Drops from The Robin’s Nest Creative team.

Some final details to complete this layout included adding beautiful crystals to the sun in the cut file. They are from an older set of embellishments from Prima Marketing called Say it in Crystals. The Happy Life, foam letter stickers, were used to identify the location of the picture and the date.

Warmer days are just around the corner for us now. It’s time for all of us to get ready to play in the sun! Thanks for stopping by today, and until next time, stay safe, stay well, and Happy Scrapping!

Happy Happy Day

~ dddesignz ~ 1 Comment

Oh, the excitement of turning 4! Ben waited in anticipation of his 4th birthday for many weeks. When the day finally arrived, it did not disappoint! You can see his excitement in all these pictures. In fact, it was quite contagious! It’s funny how we don’t get quite this excited about our birthdays as we get older. We truly should take a lesson from these younger folk, and get the most out of every special occasion. Carpe Diem, friends!

As I began to design this double-page layout, I knew I wanted something bold, bright and reflective of Ben’s excitement. Ben was wearing a T-shirt I made for his big day. Green is his favourite colour, hence the bright lime green T-shirt! I turned to an older Doodlebug Designs paper and embellishment collection called Dragon Tails to coordinate with his T-shirt. In addition to the patterned paper, I chose to add stencilling as one technique to help offset some of the white space and also to help create the mood of the layout. I chose 3 ink colours that coordinated perfectly with the paper to achieve this look. Using one of Vicki Boutin’s Radiate Stencils, from the Color Study collection, I randomly placed these colourful images across both pages.

I created my own cut file in Silhouette Studio for the number 4 and enlarged the cut file to fit within the borders of a 12′ x 12′ piece of white cardstock. Before cutting out the number, I used the offset function to highlight the outline of the number. This outline was then turned into a stitching file. You will find an excellent tutorial on turning your cut files into stitching files here. Once the cut file was completed, I stitched the bright blue border around the number 4 using DMC thread. I then selected 8 coordinating patterned papers from the Dragon Tails collection and cut them into 1/2″ strips. Using fringe scissors, I cut across the strips leaving a 1/4″ border free at the top. Double-sided tape was added to the back of each fringed piece along the 1/4″ top border. I cut a spare piece of plain paper slightly larger than the number 4 and began adding the strips to the spare paper, overlapping them to hide the plain 1/4″ border. The completed piece was then positioned and secured to the back of the cut file. I love the dimension this resulted in!

In addition to scrapbooking, I also make approximately 150 cards a year for family and friends. Nothing makes me happier than maximizing the use of my supplies across both these paper crafting passions. This layout is an excellent example, as I utilized several stamps and die sets to complete this design. These fun balloons belong to a Simon Says Stamp! collection created by Cathy Zielske called Balloon Greetings. All of the sentiments on the balloons belong to this set with the exception of the CELEBRATE sentiment. This sentiment belongs to a Concord & 9th stamp set called POP-UP PAR-TAY. Each balloon was then inked around its edges with coordinating ink.

The word WISH was created using a die cut from My Favourite Things. This die was also part of my card-making supplies. I chose 4 coordinating patterned papers from the Dragon Tails line to create this. Craft foam was glued to the back of each of the letters in WISH and all of the balloons to create more dimension in the layout. The final touches included adhering the small colourful Sprinkletz Embellishments (called Beach Balls) from Buttons Galore & More over both pages, and adding the present to the bottom of the page. The small Beach Balls were a perfect fit to coordinate with the stencilled images. The present came from the Dragon Tails coordinating odds & ends ephemera package.

Well, that’s a wrap on my design process for this layout. I hope I’ve inspired you to try a few new techniques on your next layout. May all your celebrations be as much fun as this one was! Until next time, stay safe, stay well, and Happy Scrapping!

Explore Dublin

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Last Fall we had the good luck to travel to Ireland. We spent 4 wonderful days exploring Dublin. The history of this beautiful city is simply outstanding. This double-page layout focuses on Christ Church Cathedral, just one of many treasures in this gem of a town!

Those of you that regularly follow me, know I have an addiction to designing with Peartree Cutfiles! Therefore, this layout is no exception, as I have used two Peartree cut files to complete this design. I love the versatility of these cut files, as you can use them over and over. This is not the first layout that I’ve used the Explore cut file with, and likely not the last time either. This cut file was also an excellent fit with the paper collection used in this layout. I used Echo Park’s Getaway collection and found the backside of the Adventure patterned paper worked perfectly. The black and white compasses tied in nicely with the compass in the cut file. I used the Adventure paper to back the cut file with the exception of the compass itself. I used the backside of the Planes patterned paper for this element. A small black brad was used to complete the compass.

Drawing on the circle theme of the compass, I used one of the Radiate Stencils from Vicki Boutin’s StoryTELLER collection to stencil a random background on the right-hand side of this page. I was looking for a very subtle background for the Walnut Cream cardstock from Bazzill, and I turned to Tim Holtz’s Pumice Stone Distress Ink to achieve this overall look.

The right-hand page of this double-page layout uses the Film Strips Background cut file. It was part of the March 2023 Pearscription package. I highly recommend you investigate the Pearscription packages. You receive 5 exclusive cut files each month, and I can honestly say that I’ve never been disappointed! This cut file was the perfect way to add multiple photos with lots of detail from our visit to the Cathedral.

To balance the film strip, and draw your eye to the multiple pictures, I filled 3 separate frames with embellishments. The compass and word travel were stickers in the Getaway paper collection. The rustic star-shaped element comes from a package of Mechanicals by Finnabair and is called Steampunk Blades. I secured it to the layout with a small bronze brad. The third embellishment, Road Trip, is a glazed chipboard piece that’s been in my supplies for years. To complete the layout, I added the date with small round Doodlebug Stickers.

Thanks for stopping in today, I hope you’ve enjoyed a quick tour of Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin. Until next time, stay safe, stay well, and Happy Scrapping!

Hit the Reset Button

~ dddesignz ~ 2 Comments

I am so honoured to have a couple of layouts published in the Summer 2023 edition of Creative Scrapbooker Magazine! If you don’t subscribe, be sure to get a copy. This magazine is chock full of inspiration! This layout (found on page 122) is very special to me. It marked the official beginning of my son’s and his wife’s honeymoon last summer. They are avid campers and they headed to the mountains to decompress following their wedding. This little cabin in the woods was a perfect getaway for their first few nights away.

Peartree Cutfiles had the perfect cut file to complement this photo. The Hit the Reset Button was an excellent fit for the mood and feel of this layout.

I turned to Paper Rose’s Mountain Trek collection, once again, to create this layout. The background paper, Mountain Trek – B, provided the backdrop for this design. The cut file was backed with sections of Mountain Trek – D patterned paper. I love to incorporate stamping into my scrapbook pages and I turned to an older stamp set from Technique Tuesday, called Words We Love, to stamp the words EXPLORE and Adventure around the title. The Memory Misti is a perfect tool for stamping on your scrapbook pages. If you’re like me, you need a tool that allows you to stamp in the same place more than once!

I found some tri-coloured skeleton leaves in my scrapbooking supplies from at least a decade ago. I added a few of these leaves around the picture to help enhance the colours of the layout, provide a woodsy feel, and add some texture.

The final touches included fussy cutting the cabin and trees found on the coordinating Mountain Trek – C paper. They were simply glued directly onto the page. The date was added using Doodlebug Designs stickers.

I hope you’ve enjoyed learning about my process to create this layout. I am so grateful to have it included in the Summer 2023 edition of Creative Scrapbooker Magazine! Until next time, stay safe, stay well and Happy Scrapping!

Life is a Beautiful Ride

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When Canadian cousins get the opportunity to meet up in Austria, a good time is guaranteed! As the Nana to Ben, and the Aunt to Raquel, I have to tell you this picture gives me all the feels! It is so difficult being so far away from your family, but when you see them get together on another continent, and see the love and joy on their faces, it makes one’s heart burst! It certainly makes me count my blessings to be part of such a loving family.

If you are familiar with Peartree Cutfiles, you’ll know their tagline is “There’s a Cut File for That”. I can’t think of a better cut file for this photo than Life is a Beautiful Ride. This picture of Ben and Raquel was taken at the historic Prater Amusement Park in Vienna, Austria. (Photo credit to my talented daughter, Lindsay!) I cut the file in black using American Crafts Precision Cardstock. It was backed with gorgeous papers from Craft Consortium’s Ink Drops – Ocean collection. I loved how the hues and tones of this paper blended with the blue watercoloured background foundation page from Vicki Boutin’s Color Study Ready-to-Use Mixed Media Paper collection.

The rest of this layout came together quite easily. After adding a bit of journalling to describe the photo, I used Thickers from 3 of Vicki’s collections to embellish the layout. I pulled hearts, words, phrases, stars and an arrow from the Loving This, Stories of US, and Perfect Day Thicker collections.

Every time I look at this layout my heart, and maybe even my eyes, fill up! So much love, so much fun, so much to experience and share together. I am so thankful these two had the opportunity to make such great memories together!

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

This Life

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With Spring finally arriving it seemed an appropriate time to share this double-page layout. We have had cool and rainy days in our neck of the woods for weeks. The grass is finally growing again, and so are the dandelions! Every time I look out the window, and see the dandelions growing, I am reminded of this very special day in my life. My sweet grandson Ben, just 2 at the time, rang my doorbell holding a bouquet of dandelions. Imagine my delight, a special bouquet picked just for me! But as life would have it, that isn’t quite how the story ended.

Here’s the story I journaled on this layout: “Ben – today you showed up with some beautiful flowers you had picked in the park. Nana, these are for you!!! But as you began to hand them over, you quickly snatched them back. No, Nana – I’m going to take these home!!!” Well, either way, you made my day! I knew this precious memory needed to be documented for prosperity.

I chose the gorgeous Mamarazzi paper, cardboard stickers and paper die-cuts from Mintay Papers to document this memory. The specific papers used in this collection were numbers 02 and 04. The combination of the yellow florals and cameras made it an instant hit with me. I was attracted to the frames used in these papers and utilized them to highlight my pictures. Several elements from the paper die-cut package were added, some with a layer of fun foam to add dimension and texture.

I kept all the embellishments to a minimum. I did not want to distract from this beautiful background paper. A couple of floral clusters were added to enhance the right-hand page. Phrases from the cardboard stickers were included on both pages of the layout. And the title “This Life” and all remaining embellishments were added using Vicki Boutin’s “Stories of US” Thickers from her Fernwood collection. The date was added using Paige Evan’s “Happy Life” Thickers.

The Mamarazzi paper collection is highly versatile. I have used other papers in the collection to document some of our travel pictures and will share them with you at a future date.

Thanks for stopping in today, I hope my precious memory has provided you with a little laugh and made you smile. Until next time, stay safe, stay well, and Happy Scrapping!

Tour – Salzburg

~ dddesignz ~ 1 Comment

I’ve been having so much fun creating these past two months! Today’s layout focuses on a photo my husband took in Salzburg, Austria. Although it wasn’t one of the best weather days on our trip, the colours and perspective in this photo instantly take me back to that moment every time I look at it. Most of you would know Salzburg from the musical “The Sound of Music”. This magical city is full of breathtaking discoveries around every corner.

Before I describe the details of creating this layout, I must give a shout-out to Lisa Furtney, owner of ScrapFest. Lisa owns and operates this event-based business and hosts large and small face-to-face and virtual events throughout the year with her wonderful team. I am a member of ScrapFest Connect – a virtual membership group of fellow crafters on Facebook. ScrapFest Connect offers members several virtual events a year, plus they run a monthly challenge open to all members. I was honoured to be the March Challenge Winner this year, and I used products from my prize package to create this layout. I have plenty of leftover products from my prize package, so you can expect more designs using them. Thank you Lisa and Team for this beautiful prize package!

My prize pack included the 49 and Market 12′ x 12′ Paper Collection Pack of Vintage Artistry Everywhere and several coordinating embellishments, including the Chipboard Set, Laser Cut Elements, Epoxy Coat Sticker Embellishments and Tag Set. Absolutely perfect for all the pictures we took on our recent travels overseas! I chose the back side of the Great Big World patterned paper for the background of this layout. Each patterned paper comes with a strip at the bottom that provides details on the brand and name of the paper. In this case, the back side of this strip had a coordinating row of tickets. I decided to keep this element in my layout and therefore trimmed off the top part of the patterned paper to fit the 12″ x 12″ layout.

I used two cut files to create this layout. The first cut file comes from Peartree Cutfiles and is entitled Travel Words. I find it very helpful to use the software in Silhouette Studio to size all my files and pictures before cutting or printing. For this layout, the cut file was reduced considerably to fit the space. I backed each word with a coordinating piece of cardstock to complete the title.

The second cut file comes from Bea Valint at My Shiny Studio and is appropriately titled World Map. Bea’s file is a free download from her blog. To replicate a perfect alignment of the cut file on my page, I cut the outline of the cut file from a 12″ x 12″ piece of vellum. The vellum was then positioned over the patterned paper and used as a template to secure the cut file in place.

To complete the design, I added some epoxy coat sticker embellishments on either side of the photo, and the geotag with the “Right Here” bauble to the world map to indicate Austria. Two rubons were added to the centre of the layout for added depth and texture. The large blue geotag, “On the Bucket List” and “A Perfect Day” banners were utilized from the Chipboard Set. The final embellishment is the set of binoculars that hang off the end of the word Adventure. These were found in the Laser Cut Elements package. The location of the photo was added using Thickers “Happy Life” foam stickers. And last, but not least, I included the date by writing it on the inside of one of the date stamps on the patterned paper. It can be found to the left of the photo.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope I’ve inspired you to scrapbook a few of your own travel pictures. Until next time, stay safe, stay well, and Happy Scrapping!

Travel

~ dddesignz ~ 1 Comment

Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer. I couldn’t agree more with this statement!

Hello Friends! I’ve been absent from my blog for quite some time for good reason. Last August, my daughter and her family of 5 moved to Austria on a 3-year contract. Incredible changes for all of us, but BIG OPPORTUNITIES as well! Over the fall and winter, my husband and I have travelled twice to Austria to visit with our family and explore Europe. We feel fortunate to have the opportunity to do so, and the next trip is well underway in the planning stages.

It feels good to be back in my scrapbook room creating again, and this layout seemed the logical place to start sharing with you. It was inspired by my Aunt who asked “Do you know how many steps you’re taking on these journeys?” That question got me thinking, and when I was back home I sat down with an excel spreadsheet and my fitness tracker to figure it out. We were constantly on the go, taking advantage of every day and opportunity while we were overseas. However, I had no idea we had logged over 1,000 kilometres and almost 1 & 1/2 million steps! Of course, I had to scrapbook this accomplishment and include the beautiful places we visited during our travels.

I turned to the Designs by Reminisce collection called Take Flight to create this layout. The specific paper is called “In the Clouds“. I love how the plane’s wings stretch across the whole page, and I knew I could fill in the white space below with lots of trip details. I turned to Microsoft Word and my Canon PRO-100 to print these details directly onto the 12″ x 12″ patterned paper. Before taking this step, I printed a draft copy onto a 12″ x 12” piece of vellum, and overlay it on the patterned paper to ensure everything fit within the space available. This process allowed me to make any adjustments required without wasting the beautiful patterned paper.

Once the picture was in place, small wooden airplanes were added to emphasize that we made multiple trips during our stay. These wooden airplanes were a Dollar Store purchase. The tails on the planes were traced with a thin Sharpie Marker by utilizing the Mini Swirls & Dots stencil from The Crafters Workshop. I have owned this stencil for well over 10 years, and I don’t believe it is still available.

The globe was stamped using my 12″ by 12″ Memory MISTI. This stamp comes from a travel collection called Road Trip by Recollections and was purchased at Michaels. The sunglasses are a small wooden embellishment also purchased at the Dollar Store. They were sprayed black and then covered with Ranger’s Glossy Accents to help them stand out and look more authentic. The title phrase was added using my type cardstock stickers from Doodlebug Designs Inc., and Malaga (found below the picture) was added using black Alphabet Soup Puffy Stickers, also from Doodlebug.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my first travel post. I look forward to sharing more of our travels and our family’s adventures overseas soon. Until next time, stay safe, stay well and Happy Scrapping!

Corn Maze

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Last fall Lindsay, Bill and I had the opportunity to take Ben to the Apple Land Station Corn Maze. This outing was a big deal – Covid restrictions meant this sweet boy had missed out on many fun activities in his early years. It was a perfect autumn day to experience this with him, and Ben loved it! It didn’t take Ben long to figure out the maze, but he had fun pretending that he was confused and didn’t know the way back out. I love how this layout captures the sheer joy of being a child and the precious memories we shared that we will cherish for a lifetime.

To create this double-page layout I combined two cut files from the Silhouette Design Store. I started with the Fun Maze Game, Design ID #8489 and used my Silhouette design space to blow it up as large as possible to fit on this layout. The end result was a cut file approximately 11″ x 13 “. I then laid the maze on the white cardstock to determine the best positioning to cut it vertically. Once the maze was secured to the background of both pages, I used sticky notes to map out the path of the machine stitching to mimic physically walking through the maze. 

Next, I cut two corn stalks from three coordinating pieces of beige cardstock to create a frame for the layout. This cut file is called Corn Stalk and is Design ID #12866. Each completed corn stalk was firmly secured at the bottom, but the tops were left free to provide texture and the illusion of depth and movement. 

To put the finishing touches on this layout I used Cork Chipboard Thickers to add the Corn Maze title. I utilized my 12″ x 12″ Memory Misti to add some stamping to the design. Using an older My Favorite Things (MFT) stamp collection entitled You’re Amazing, I stamped the START, FINISH and the You’re A-maze-ing sub-title directly on the white cardstock. I had several pictures to add to this layout and still wanted to add some journalling for Ben to reflect on in the coming years. Because I didn’t want to distract from the overall design at this stage, I included hidden journaling by sliding a tag behind one of the pictures (pictured on the left-hand side of the double page). I used another MFT product entitled Scallop X-Stitch Tag to make this tag. A gold ribbon was secured to the top of the tag for easy access to the journaling card. 

These moments will be cherished for years to come. Fast forward to a year later, and this sweet boy and his family are now living in Austria. Rather than be sad about it, we’ll look for new ways to make memories when we are together!

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