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!