Pretty Little Studio

You Can Never Have Too Much Happy

~ dddesignz ~ 2 Comments

These two! There may be a 5+ year gap between them, but they are thick as thieves, as the saying goes. It is lovely to see them playing together, enjoying each other’s company! My daughter captured this beautiful moment as they played on the sidelines of their sister’s tennis lesson last week.

Once again, I turned to Pretty Little Studio’s Wildflower collection to document this precious moment. The base patterned paper is called Wildflowers, and I used a coordinating Bazzill cardstock called Nixon to create the grass boundary on the bottom of the layout design. To create the border, I started by sketching borders on scrap paper and then placed them on the patterned paper to get a preview of the result. Once I was happy with sizing and positioning, I traced these patterns onto the cardstock and hand cut. Using a pair of Fringing Scissors, I cut a fringe along the rolling tops to replicate grass.

Before adhering the cardstock to the base paper, I chose several clusters of flowers from the Wildflower Stems coordinating ephemera pack. I made placement decisions for these clusters and used removable adhesive to adhere the bottom of each stem cluster to its respective grass border. The larger grass border was secured directly to the base paper, while the top grass border was added by using a layer of thin black Crafty Foam Tape from Scrapbook Adhesives. This dimension helps to accentuate the look and feel of grass and provides some texture to the overall design. NOTE: I find it very helpful to place my layout in my 12″ x 12″ Scor-pal to secure it tightly and ensure proper alignment of borders, such as those found in this layout. With the grass borders firmly adhered to the page, I placed small white 3D Foam Squares behind each flower cluster to raise them off the page and provide the illusion of flowers growing in the field.

The picture in this layout was mounted on black Precision cardstock by American Crafts. The title to the left of the photo is from the Chocolate Bunny Word Die-Cuts package belonging to the Wildflowers collection.

The three phrases above the picture belong to the Delightful Spring Word Stickers, also belonging to this paper collection. All the coordinating butterflies and bees found on the layout came from various Wildflowers coordinating ephemera packs; Garden Blooms Die-Cuts, Spring Mix Die-Cuts, and Wildflower Stems Die Cuts. The butterflies were folded down the middle and glued down the centre to the base paper using a strong, clear adhesive. The wings were lifted off the page using small 3D Foam Squares. The bees were adhered to the page using more 3D Foam Squares.

And that’s a wrap on the design process for this layout. The final product came together quite quickly. I hope you get a chance to relax on the grass this summer and soak in all the beauty around us. Wildflowers is the perfect collection for documenting these special memories!

Until next time, stay safe, stay well, and Happy Scrapping!

Rainbow Vibes

~ dddesignz ~ 2 Comments

Well, life derailed me these past three months, but I’m happy to say I’m back in my craft room and starting to get creative again! After a few false starts, I’m pleased with the results of this layout. It seemed fitting to work on a layout about rainbows after the ups and downs we’ve been through lately. This fun picture of our youngest grandson, Ben, captures the joy he was feeling at that moment. And let’s admit it, who wouldn’t want to play on that rainbow xylophone?!

I was excited to use Pretty Little Studio’s Wildflowers collection to create this layout. The background paper is called Color Palette. I paired it with a cut file from Peartree Cutfiles called Rainbow Vibes. I used black American Crafts Precision Cardstock to cut the main title and backed it with coordinating cardstock colours matching the page’s rainbow. I took the liberty of adding a soft green to mirror the colours found in a rainbow. Once I reached this stage with the title, I set it aside.

The next step was to add stitching to the rainbow on the patterned paper. A paper piercer was used to punch holes in the small white channels found between each colour of the rainbow. Each channel was stitched with a separate colour using a simple straight stitch. Seven colours were used overall, including a soft green to bring continuity to the layout. The following DMC embroidery threads were used, moving from left across the layout (718, 3689, 725, 907, 3761, 0851, 554). One exception is the teal embroidery floss; it is an Anchor product. I love the bit of texture these stitched channels add to the design. After the stitching was completed, I placed the title and photo in their respective positions. The title was elevated slightly by using Taylored Expressions Foam Sticky Strips. These strips are highly flexible and come in both black and white options.

The final steps included adding ephemera from the Wildflowers collection. Three hearts and the rainbow phrase were added from the Chocolate Bunny Word Die-Cuts package. The pink and yellow hearts were included in the package, but the third heart, teal in colour, came as a black and white image. I used a Copic marker to colour the centre to coordinate with the Rainbow Vibes title and the rainbow on the patterned paper. Doodlebug Designs “my type” stickers were used to add “Storybook Gardens”.

To complete the layout, I used more ephemera from the Wildflowers collection found in the Spring Mix Die-Cuts package. These elements include the tab above the picture where the date was stamped and the two small flag banners in the bottom right-hand corner of the completed design. Foam Sticky Stips were used to raise these two small elements.

And there you have it! Such a fun layout to design and work on as I try to get back in my creative groove! I hope it’s brought a smile to your face today. Thanks so much for checking in.

Until next time, stay safe, stay well, and Happy Scrapping!

‘Tis the Season to Sparkle

~ dddesignz ~ Leave a comment

Christmas keeps popping back onto my scrapping desk! I fell in love with this beautiful photo of my granddaughter with the Christmas lights in the background. She was with her family as they took a walk through Victoria Park after dark to enjoy all the beautiful Christmas lights and displays. It was a fun evening that I wanted to document for her scrapbook.

This layout came together quite quickly. Peartree Cutfiles, Tis the Season to Sparkle, cut file seemed like the perfect fit for the dazzling Christmas lights in the photo. I chose to cut it quite large for this layout to emphasize this point.

The paper in this layout comes from the equally named Tis the Season paper collection by Pretty Little Studio. Specifically, I used the Jack Frost paper for the layout background and Tidings – Red paper to back the words.

All of the stars found in the title were cut from Lawn Fawn‘s Holographic 2.0 paper. They were added to the layout using small foam dots to provide dimension and emphasis.

All the ephemera used to complete the layout belongs to the Tis the Season collection. The gorgeous tree limbs, holly and pinecone came from the Holiday Greenery Die-Cuts sold with this collection.

And that’s a wrap on this quick and simple, pretty little layout! Thanks for checking in and until next time, stay safe, stay well, and Happy Scrapping!

Believe

~ dddesignz ~ 6 Comments

Getting excited yet?! It’s only 17 days until Christmas! With the warm weather these past few months, it seems to have quickly snuck up on us this year. With my Christmas Cards in the mail and presents ready to go, I finally have time to do some pre-Christmas scrapbooking! Our fingers and toes are crossed that our Christmas plans won’t be altered again this year. Sadly, we await new restrictions due to the arrival of Omincron in our home town. I will choose to remain optimistic and look for every opportunity to find joy this season, regardless of how we celebrate.

The foundations for this fun page were all purchased from an online store called Scrapbook Your Joy. I highly recommend this shop! Not only is the customer service exceptional and quick, but you will also likely find some collections that rarely show up in other local scrapbooking stores. Pretty Little Studio‘s Tis the Season is an example of this. I chose the Festive plaid paper for the background of my layout and used ephemera from the coordinating Christmas Morning Vintage Die Cuts, Holiday Greenery Die Cuts, and Falala Die Cuts to embellish the page. The cute bear holding the present, found in the bottom left-hand corner, was attached using fun foam for added dimension. Additionally, two stickers were added around the corner of the picture from the coordinating Be Merry sticker pack. You can be sure you’ll see me use this collection again!

It’s rare for me to scrapbook things versus people, but the cut file A Sack Full of Presents by Peartree Cutfiles was the perfect cut file to help me document the Santa Sacks I purchased for my grandchildren. After cutting it in black cardstock, I used the offset feature in Silhouette Studio to back it with coordinating papers from the Tis the Season collection. The only exception is the centre holly and leaves. I used glitter papers from My Favorite Things (Sunset and Mermaid) to back this section.

The final touches on this layout included stitching around the outside edges of the patterned paper and adding the clear star stick pin to the sack of presents cut file. Doodlebug Designs Inc.‘s teensy type cardstock stickers were used to add the date.

I hope your Christmas planning and activities are in full swing now. I wish you and yours the very merriest of this Holiday Season! Until next time, stay safe, stay well and Happy Scrapping!