There's a Cut File for That

Explore Dublin

~ dddesignz ~ Leave a comment

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!

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!

’twas the Night Before Christmas

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I couldn’t resist scrapbooking one more Christmas page. This picture is just far too cute to leave until next season! There’s nothing quite like the build-up to Santa’s big arrival for children. Christmas Eve was so special this year. The smiling faces of my grandchildren in this picture says it all – it was a wonderfully joyous evening! It was the first year our youngest grandchild Ben understood the concept of Santa Claus. He was very excited and, when asked what he asked Santa for this year, he’d always say “a Hammer!”.

I created this layout using three separate cut files from Peartree Cutfiles. The Snowflake Background cut file was cut from white cardstock to fill the entire page. I layered it directly on top of a piece of Twill cardstock from Bazzill.

Black cardstock was used to cut the outline of the title, ’twas The Night Before Christmas. I used coordinating patterned papers from Photoplay Paper‘s Christmas Cheer collection to fill the cutout letters. I chose to backfill the word “Christmas” and used Talyored Expressions‘ Foam Sticky Strips to adhere to the word “Night”. The result provided texture and dimension to the upper section of the layout.

The third cut file used is called Stockings. I downsized the file considerably to fit my project. Doing so made backing the presents a bit tricky, but not impossible. Before cutting this file, I completed a mock-up in Silhouette Studio to ensure I would be happy with the sizing. Glitter paper backfills each of the presents and holly in this garland.

The final touches on the layout included adding some strategically placed holographic snowflakes and a couple of stickers from the Christmas Cheer patterned paper collection. The stickers were dusted with baby powder to remove the sticky side and then glued to some fun foam for dimension. The holographic snowflakes were attached using small white brads.

I couldn’t be happier with the results of this layout. It is the first time I’ve utilized three cut files on one page. Thanks for stopping by today, and until next time, stay safe, stay well and Happy Scrapping!