scrapbook layout

Change of Address

~ dddesignz ~ 2 Comments

As 2023 draws to a close, it’s that time of year when we begin to take stock of our accomplishments. While the list can be long, few will stand out as a life event. This year has been full of life events for my son and his wife. And while these life events were all challenging in their own right, causing much discomfort and soul-searching, they all had a happy ending! This layout celebrates purchasing their first home – a real milestone in any couple’s relationship!

The cut files for this layout come from Jennifer Edwardson Creative. They are named Moving Cut File Bundle. I chose three cut files (For Sale, SOLD, and Change of Address) within this bundle to create this page. Most patterned papers and embellishments come from Carta Bella, primarily the Gather at Home collection. The Paired with Plaid patterned paper provided the background for this page.

I cut the For Sale sign from a soft grey cardstock. The white weather wood pattern paper was just the look I was seeking. Once created, I adhered it to the background paper using Scrapbook Adhesives Crafty Foam Tape. This dimension helped provide an illusion of movement in the hanging sign. I cut the letters for the SOLD sign using a coordinating patterned paper called Pitcher Perfect from the Gather at Home collection. The completed cut file was also adhered to the background using foam adhesive, enhancing the effect of resting on the top of the For Sale sign. The final cut file I used from this bundle was the Change of Address. I used a dark coordinating patterned paper in the Gather at Home collection to cut the letters. I adhered these letters to grey cardstock that matched the For Sale sign. 

In creating the left-hand side of this page, I used four coordinating patterned papers from the Gather at Home collection. They included Fresh Floral (top and bottom) and the back side of the following: 3×4 Journaling Cards,  4×4 Journaling Cards, and Time for Dinner. Each paper was cut 4″ in width and then randomly placed down the page at different lengths. I hand-stitched using two coordinating DMC embroidery flosses (black & 564) to ease the transition between papers. The two stickers in this section belong to Carta Bella’s Home Again collection. They were a perfect fit and matched with the Gather at Home collection. In completing the left-hand side of the page, I added the coordinating Home is Where Your Story Begins strip. This strip helps provide a soft transition to the main section of the layout.

I adore this photo of Sean, Tanis and their dog Lillie. I don’t know about you, but I think the dog has the biggest smile in the picture! You can see and feel the excitement in each of them. I placed the word HAPPY from the coordinating Home Again Chipboard Accents on the photo. I used Doodlebug Designs Alphabet Soup Puffy Stickers to add the date. 

I am so glad to have this milestone documented for posterity. I know that as the years progress and they look back at this moment, they will marvel at all the changes they’ve made to their new home. Let the fun begin!

Thanks for joining me today. I hope I’ve nudged you to document this year’s accomplishments and milestones! Until next time, stay safe, stay well, and Happy Scrapping!

The Best Gift

~ dddesignz ~ 1 Comment

I am extremely excited to share my first project as a Guest Designer for Paige Evans Christmas Cut & Stitching Files for 2023! Here’s where you can purchase each bundle: 25 Christmas Stitching Cut Files https://bit.ly/25christmasstitchingcutfiles, 25 Christmas Cut Files https://bit.ly/25christmascutfiles. Any of these cut files can also be purchased separately in Paige’s shop: https://bit.ly/digitalcutfiles. With the release of these beautiful bundles, Paige is releasing a free cut or stitching file every day from December 1 – 25th, so don’t miss out on all these beautiful designs. This stitching file is one of Paige’s freebies, and you can grab it from her Happy Scrappy Place Facebook Group.

Embroidery and cross-stitching have been part of my crafting adventure for decades. I jump at any chance to incorporate these skills into a scrapbook layout! This cut file is called Christmas Tree Circles for Stitching. And it’s yours free at https://www.facebook.com/groups/happyscrappyplace! To begin this project, I cut the plain white cardstock to 11 & 1/2″ x 11 & 1/2″, and cut the stitch cut file using my Silhouette Cameo. I chose non-traditional colours for the tree and selected coordinating hues of pink, red and white DMC pearl cotton floss to stitch the tree.

I used a simple back stitch technique, alternating the reds and pinks as I worked through the circles in this cut file. I used the white pearl cotton floss on the smaller circles and filled in the circles using a string art technique. To create a string art effect, randomly stitch your thread from one point to another, working in opposite directions and inserting in another point anywhere to create the effect. Make sure you pass the floss through each point in the pattern. I like the completed result. It made these circles look like 3D ornaments on the tree and integrated more texture into the overall layout. I used this same string art technique on the gold start at the top of the tree. I used a chain stitch in brown floss around the tree trunk. This stitch helped provide a sturdy look to the large tree.

I turned to Paige’s magical Sugarplum Wishes Collection to create this whimsical layout. Sugarplum Wishes transport me to a world of wonder and enchantment. How fitting for the Christmas Season! Once I completed the stitching I centred and adhered the page to the bright red candy cane paper (paper 7) from the collection. My photo was also matted on this bright, fun paper. To build the title for the design, I used coordinating Christmas Sweater Thickers and the red foil letters found in the generous sticker pack.

I used a combination of embellishments from the Sugarplum Wishes collection to complete this layout. In addition to placing several poinsettias from the Floral & Snow Flake Die Cuts package to frame the design, I used the Santa and sweater from the collection of Ephemera Die Cuts to add to the page. I love adding texture and dimension to my layouts, and one of the poinsettias and Santa were backed with fun foam to achieve this effect. I randomly filled the centres of the poinsettias with enamel dots from the Sugarplum Wishes collection and added a small white pompom to Santa’s hat to further enhance this effect.

The presents below the tree belong to the Sugarplum Wishes Foam Stickers sheet. I punched the number 25 found on coordinating patterned paper in the collection (paper 8) and adhered it to the layout using more fun foam. I “hung” the remaining ornaments (penguin, candy canes, gingerbread men & reindeer) on the tree using matching puffy stickers.

Be sure to visit Paige’s Happy Scrappy Place Facebook Group to collect the free Christmas Cut File each day (December 1 – 25)! Thanks for joining me today and I hope I’ve inspired you to try some stitching and playing with Paige’s fabulous products! Stay tuned for another one of my layouts from these incredible cut files next week. Until then, stay safe, stay well, and Happy Scrapping!

Summer

~ dddesignz ~ Leave a comment

Cottage season is over, and crafting season is back on! While I love summer and the cottage, I am always happy to get back into my craft room. It seemed fitting to share a summer layout with you as I get back into my crafting groove.

This summer, my son Sean, and his fiancé Tanis traveled from out west to our cottage in Muskoka. It was Sean’s first trip back in six years and his first trip to bring Tanis. We had a wonderful week with them and loved introducing Tanis to everything we love to do in the summer at the cottage. Tanis had a go at tubing and enjoyed a fun-filled, action-packed ride with Maddie and Owen! This picture represents the fun they all had!

To document this moment I used the FREE SUMMER SVG cut file from Marcy Milly SVG.

I selected a photo of our dock to backfill the cut file. You can accomplish this effect in two different ways. You can trace the outline of the cut file onto your photo and then fussy cut, or you can open the photo in Silhouette software and then open the SVG cut file over the top. This positioning allows you to move the cut file exactly where you want it cut. To achieve this, release the compound path of the cut file and remove the outline of the cut file and any extra inside pieces. This isolates the six letters that spell SUMMER. Then create a slight offset of the individual letters (0.05 works well) and delete the original (internal letters) before you cut. The result gives you a slightly larger backing to securely adhere the letters to the back of the cut file. The following pictures provide some close-ups of the title.

This layout was designed using Cocoa Vanilla Studio’s Boys Rule collection. The specific paper was called Entitled, and I used stickers, word phrases and chipboard embellishments from the collection to complete the layout.

Thickers Happy Life foam letter stickers were used to add the subtitle Tubing with Auntie Tanis and the date.

We had such a lovely summer this year and made exceptional memories that I look forward to documenting this winter. I hope you all have wonderful summer memories to get you through the long cold winter ahead. Thanks for visiting, and until next time, stay safe, stay well and Happy Scrapping!

Master Gardener

~ dddesignz ~ Leave a comment

Let me introduce you to my Grandpa, Harold Russell. He was a gifted carpenter by trade, but a master gardener in his retirement. My grandparents lived in Mississauga in a house he built. They lived at the end of a dead-end street with a huge lot to the left of the house that Grandpa turned into a massive vegetable garden. I often spent a couple of weeks with my grandparents during the summer months when I was young. My memories of these times included lots of time in the garden with Grandpa and watching my Nana cooking, canning and freezing all the bounty that resulted from his hard labour. Grandpa built a large cold cellar in the house and it was always fun to get inside to see all the filled jars from Nana’s canning efforts.

My favourite memories of Grandpa’s garden were visits in June when we were allowed to pick fresh strawberries ourselves, and later in the season when we picked fresh carrots. There’s nothing quite like a freshly picked carrot washed under the garden hose! It was one of my favourite treats from his garden! I also remember baskets of fruit and vegetables begin loaded into our car before we returned to London after a visit. Grandpa was a kind and patient man, and he treated his treasured vegetable garden with as much love and tenderness that he afforded his grandchildren. You can see how proud he was of his produce in these pictures. That squash! I wish I knew how many pounds it weighed, but you can see the delight on his face with the result. Grandpa introduced us to many new vegetables that we have never experienced before. Spaghetti squash was our favourite of all.

Marcy and Milly SVG‘s #freebiefriday cut file called Garden Words Background was the perfect file to document this story. You can find all the free cut files on the Marcy Milly SVG Facebook page. Once the file was sized to my liking for the layout, I created an offset of the cut file using Silhouette Studio software. The small sections that made up the centres cutouts of all of the letters were removed to provide a solid base. Then both sections of the cut file were cut on respective green and black cardstock. I chose not to centre the cut file on the offset background, and offset it slightly to the right to provide a more dramatic effect.

Simple Stories recent Simple Vintage Farmhouse Garden collection worked beautifully to help tell this story. Not only did I love the colour graphics in The Sweet Life patterned paper, but I loved the subtle pictures of garden vegetables in the rest of the paper. I used various pieces to embellish this layout from the coordinating Bits and Pieces and Garden Bits ephemera packs. The From the Garden sticker, seen in the photo with the large squash, came from the Cardstock Stickers found in the 12×12 Collection Kit. The title – Master Gardener – was added using doodlebug designs inc my type cardstock stickers.

I had a great time working on this layout and going down memory lane! So pleased to have a cut file that fit my Grandpa’s passion perfectly! Be sure to follow the Marcy Milly SVG page on Facebook to grab this #freebiefriday cut file and many more! Also, look for the post announcing a new monthly newsletter to keep informed on new monthly cut files. Sign up is via email. For all my gardening friends out there, I wish you the best growing season yet! Until next time, stay safe, stay well and Happy Scrapping!

Wish

~ dddesignz ~ Leave a comment

Do you remember the joy of turning 10 and feeling so special because you now have 2 digits to represent your age, instead of 1?! This February marked Madison’s 10 birthday, and as excited as she was to be turning 10, it also came with some sadness that she wouldn’t get to celebrate with her friends due to Covid. Thankfully, my daughter and her husband went all out in putting up decorations to celebrate this special day. You can see the joy in Maddie’s face as she took in all garlands, streamers and balloons. Take that Covid! We can still find excitement and joy in these quiet celebrations!

I wanted to create a layout for Maddie using the same papers used in creating her Tower Explosion Box. These papers came from Echo Park’s It’s Your Birthday paper collection pack. For the red background, I used Echo Park’s Party Time patterned papers. It’s difficult to see in the pictures, but this red background paper has very subtle red stars throughout each page.

Two digital cut files from Peartree Cutfiles were featured to create this double page layout. The main title, Wish, is part of the larger Wish cut file from March’s Pearscription. I utilized the other portions of this cut file in the Big Comfy Couch layout back in March. The second cut file is entitled Stack of Presents.

Both of these files have stars in them which further coordinated with the background paper. Each file was backed with coordinating patterned papers from the It’s Your Birthday paper collection. The stars were all backed with silver glitter cardstock. I also cut additional stars to add to the background to heighten the overall party effect.

One of the design elements that I wanted to pull into this layout, was the replication of the garland that Maddie is standing under in the larger picture. To accomplish this I cut multiple circles from coordinating patterned paper using the smallest die in Lawn Fawn’s Large Stitched Circle Stackables. Before adhering them to the page, I ran a dark black line with a Sharpie to connect them. The upper portions of each page were filled with various pieces of confetti that came from two Silhouette Design Store cut files. Both cut files were designed by Sophie Gallo. One is called Confetti – Design ID 17667 – and the other is called Cute Confetti – Design ID 42203. A third Silhouette cut file called Elegant Alpha – Numbers were used to create the number 10. Kolette Hall is the designer and you will find it under Design ID 35756. I removed the scrolls found on each number before cutting. The following two pictures provide a closer look at the garland, confetti and the number 10.

The final touches on the layout included adding 3 die cut cardstock pieces from the It’s Your Birthday Ephemera pack, and scattering the additional stars throughout the layout. And that’s a wrap on Birthday #10 for this sweet girl! I hope her next 10 years are as much fun as the first!

I hope you have all found creative ways to celebrate birthdays during this global pandemic. I know we will come through this to better days when we can celebrate in person with family and friends! In the meantime, stay safe, stay well and Happy Scrapping!

You Are Some Bunny Special

~ dddesignz ~ Leave a comment

Did you know the Easter Bunny is 6′ tall and that he has a kind and generous heart equally as large? I am very lucky to have a dear friend Gerry, who rented an Easter Bunny costume to spread some joy to young and old this past Easter. He offered to come and surprise our grandchildren and even brought the chocolate eggs to spread more cheer! We were very honoured to be on his list of visits this past Easter. Maddy and Owen couldn’t figure out who was in the costume. Owen asked me where he came from and I replied that I found him hopping around in my backyard. Owen quickly responded with “No Nana, he drove here – I can see his van in your driveway!”. That boy doesn’t miss a trick! Ben was quite taken with the Easter Bunny. After the visit was over, he kept asking his Mom if the Easter Bunny could come to Easter Dinner! Wouldn’t that be something to see!

Coordinating papers from 3 separate Doodlebug Designs collections were used to complete this layout; Springtime, Hello Spring and Easter Parade. Two cut files were used to create this fun page. The large title cut file comes from Cut to You and is called Some Bunny Special. You can find it here https://createdbygwen.com.au/product/some-bunny-special-title-cut-file/. I selected 5 coordinating patterned papers from the 3 collections listed above to back the title and add further whimsy to the layout.

The bunny cut file in the bottom left comes from Peartree Cutfiles and is called Floral Bunny Ears https://www.peartreecutfiles.co.uk/product/floral-bunny-ears/.

I only wanted to use the head and ears of this file and did not want the floral sections. To achieve this and minimize wasted paper, I positioned the cut file at the bottom of the white cardstock, leaving the floral portion outside the cutting area of the Silhouette mat. Hopefully, this tip will have you looking at some of your cut files a bit differently and get you thinking about how you can manipulate them to fit the vision of your project. The bunny ears were cut from white cardstock and backed with a soft textured white cardstock and coordinating pink patterned paper. This picture provides a closer look.

The banner in the top right of the layout was made by cutting 5 triangles from coordinating patterned papers. Each of these was backed with fun foam to add some dimension to the project.

The finishing touches on the layout included adding sticker hearts (between the bunny ears) and sticker arrows to the left of the word SPECIAL in the title. The photo was matted with 2 coordinating patterned papers. The journaling found in the bottom right was printed on white cardstock and cut to size. These strips were also backed with fun foam. The 3 hearts found at the end of the journaling come from the Rainbow Hearts Shape Sprinkles by Doodlebug Designs. The date was added using Doodlebug stickers called Sunshine.

It has been such a tough year with COVID, the ongoing restrictions, and multiple lockdowns. Thank you Gerry for providing a welcome diversion from our current situation. Your kindness and generosity were so deeply appreciated! This visit by the Easter Bunny was such a bright spot this Spring and a reminder of better times to come. Maybe next year the Easter Bunny will get to come to Easter Dinner! Until next time, stay safe, stay well, and Happy Scrapping!