Happy Halloween - Simple Stories - Boo Crew Collection

Hello, it's Rebecca here with you today. I'm so excited for this month's layouts - I love, love, love Halloween and all things Halloween-related! I get so excited every year seeing all the beautiful Halloween collections, and the 'Boo Crew' Collection by Simple Stories really caught my eye. It is a very mono-chromatic collection and only really contains four colours - orange, grey, black and ivory. I couldn't wait to get stuck in with my first layout - 'Happy Halloween'.

I selected the 'Hey Pumpkin' patterned paper and drew a large pumpkin shape on it and cut it out. With a paper-piercing tool, I pierced holes in lines down the pumpkin to mimic the natural pattern of a pumpkin. I used black embroidery thread to hand-stitch along the lines. I then stuck the pumpkin to a sheet of 'Pumpkin Patch' bazzill cardstock from the Matchmaker Pack and pierced holes all around the edge of the pumpkin. Again, I hand-stitched around the edge and then trimmed the cardstock down to just leave a thin orange border around the edge of the pumpkin.

I adhered the pumpkin to the right of my layout using double-sided tape, and placed my photos to the left of it, after matting them with several layers of cardstock. I added three tags to my layout which I cut from the 'Tags' patterned paper. I absolutely love this paper - one side has tags with patterns just at the top, and the other side has full patterned tags. It is stunning! I added two behind my photos, and one which says 'Oct 31' to the right of my photos. I wanted to make the 'Oct 31' tag stand out a bit more against the 'Hey Pumpkin' patterned paper, so I distressed the edges and went around it with a Distress Ink in 'Black Soot'. I finished my tags by adding some co-ordinating Halloween Bakers Twine. 

I trimmed my entire layout down by about 1/4 inch on each side and distressed the edges before mounting it onto a border made from the 'B side' of the Hey Pumpkin patterned paper. I folded the top left hand corner over and secured it with a pumpkin brad with some black thread tangled around it.

I moved on to embellishing my layout, firstly adding my title using the 'Happy Halloween' and a row of pumpkins from the Combo Cardstock Stickers sheet. Next I added a dangling spider, some stars and some pumpkins from the Chipboard Stickers and scattered a few more stickers around including some phrase stickers and a moon in the top right corner. 

I finished my layout with an orange flair badge, and used black Nuvo Drops to draw a pumpkin face on it. 

I really hope you've enjoyed this layout as much as I enjoyed creating it. I think Halloween will be very different this year, but I'm not going to let that stop us having lots of fun and eating lots of sweets!

If you'd like to watch how this layout came together, there is a process video on my YouTube channel, which you can find Here.

I'll be back later in the month with another layout created using this fab collection.

Until then, take care.

Rebecca x

Happy Life - Cocoa Vanilla Studio - Daydream Collection

Hello, Rebecca with you today with a bonus layout created using the beautiful 'Daydream' collection by Cocoa Vanilla Studio.

I started my layout by drawing a heart onto the 'Stepping Stones' patterned paper. I sectioned the heart into a starburst effect, and then cut out every other section. I then went around all the edges with the blade of my scissors to distress them. 

I used some water-soluble art crayons mixed with water to create a mixed media background. I used different shades of blue to mimic the colour of my husband's shirt in the photo. I created my background by using the packaging technique and by adding splatters with a paintbrush. I didn't go too mad - I just covered the centre of the page so that the mixed media showed through the open starburst sections of my heart.

I used the outer edges of the same patterned paper to add a border either side of my layout. I felt like I needed to bring in some of the darker tones in the collection as areas of my photo are quite dark. I did this by matting my photo onto the dark B-side of the 'Up in the Clouds' patterned paper - and again distressing the edges.

I fixed my heart to the centre of my page at an angle using double sided tape for the centre and foam pads for the outter edges to add dimension. I placed my photo off-centre onto the heart and begun to embellish!

Most of my embellishments on this layout have been fussy-cut from the 'Garden Variety' floral patterned paper. I've also tucked in some white die-cut leaves and some co-ordinating thread tangles.

Once the larger embellishments were in place, I worked on adding some smaller elements to the layout. I used some heart stickers and phrases from the Accessory Stickers sheet, and a Flair Button tucked in among the florals and added my title using the Die-Cut Titles.

I finished my layout by adding some Nuvo Drops in co-ordinating shades of yellow and blue.

I hope you've enjoyed the layouts I've created with this collection. As I said right at the beginning of the month - it's not my usual 'style' of collection at all, but it was so pretty I wanted to use it and challenge myself to create some layouts with a different 'feel'. And I'm so glad I did!

If you have access to YouTube, and you'd like to watch this layout coming together, you can check out my process video Here.

For October, I'll be working with the new 'Boo Crew' collection by Simple Stories. I've already started creating with it, so check back later in the month to see what layouts I make!

Until then, take care.

Rebecca x

'Sweet Moments' - Cocoa Vanilla Studio 'Daydream' Collection

Good morning!

I can't believe how fast September is going. I've definitely noticed a change in the weather this week so I think that's officially summer over for another year!

It's Rebecca with you today, sharing my first layout of September. This month I am working with the stunning 'Daydream' collection by Cocoa Vanilla Studio. I surprised myself by choosing this collection - it is far from my usual choice of bright and bold colours, but it is so elegant and beautiful that I simply had to have it! 

I was instantly drawn to the A side of the 'Sweet Serenity' patterned paper. It has really soft, pastel colours and detailed sections in two of the corners, on the diagonal. I really wanted to challenge myself to use this paper as the background for my layout but I just couldn't make it work for me - I love a white background too much! So I compromised and tore a large section for the top of the page. I matted my photos onto white cardstock and then added a second layer of  'Coral Cream' bazzill cardstock from the matchmaker pack - distressing the edges as always.

Whilst arranging my photos I realised that the B side of the Sweet Serenity paper matched my son's t-shirt really well with the black specks. I wanted to try and incorporate a small amount of the B side, so cut a slit in the centre of the paper and rolled the edges back to reveal the pattern. I had to cut some of the excess off otherwise my photos would have sat too far off the page. I then added a layer of the 'Happy Place' (B side) patterned paper underneath to try and soften the divide between the Sweet Serenity paper and the white background. I still wasn't happy with the harshness of the white and so added the remaining section of the Sweet Serenity paper to the bottom of my layout, leaving just a narrow white section in the middle and I was much happier.

I created some embellishment clusters around my photos using the Die Cut Ephemera and the Accessory Stickers. I raised a lot of them up with foam pads to add dimension to the layout.

I also fussy-cut a rainbow from the 'Up in the Clouds' patterned paper.

I also created small clusters above and below my photos, finishing the top cluster with a Flair Button and some coral coloured thread.

For my title, I used the word 'Sweet' from the Die- Cut Titles and then added the word 'Moments' using thickers from my stash in a rose-gold colour. 

I completed my layout by adding a scattering of the accessory stickers and ephemera around my title to ground the page and make it look less like my title was just 'floating' at the bottom.

And that's me finished for this blog post! If you find yourself with a few spare moments after reading this, I’ve created a Process Video for this layout to show how it all came together.

I hope you've enjoyed the layout. This collection really is beautiful and I'm already looking forward to creating the next layout which I'll be sharing nearer the end of the month.

Until then, take care, 

Rebecca 

x