wish

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!

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!