I know that it doesn't get picked up well in the full picture, but this is a mixed media layout in my book! If you didn't watch the video, I got very, very messy. I did find the paint and gesso very fun to play with though.



Clusters are key for helping the eye move around the page. If you haven't heard of visual triangles, you've got to look it up! The idea behind it is that if you have key elements in a triangle around your piece of art, it will keep the viewers eye focused and moving around your piece with an easy flow.



That pretty much sums up this layout for me! I hope you all enjoyed my first process video from this kit! I had a blast making this layout and absolutely love the way it turned out! Thank you for stopping by!

Hello friends, thanks for stopping by. Mother's Day is right around the corner (May 8th!) and I have a unique take on how to create your Mother's Day card this year. Watercoloring can seem daunting, but no need to fear! I'll walk through how I made all of these flowers and how you can too.


Supplies:
*Purchasing through these links is part of an affiliate program and I will receive a small portion of the sale at no additional cost to you*


Tsukineko Full-Size Memento Fade Resistant Inkpad, Tuxedo Black

Hello everyone! I hope you're ready because today's layout share will be a big one! Although we're taking a break from the create a kit series, I'll have some process videos up soon! In the meantime, I started this project for a layout for a design team I was applying for, so that was where this all began. Then, I just kept rolling with it and this is what happened!

There are four layouts that all go together, one traditional and then three Project Life layouts. Now, I'll dive into the details of how I made them!



After I got that part situated, I needed something else behind my photo. I proceeded to layer a fun script piece of patterned paper (from the same pad) and some kraft paper to make my photo pop. I then added the kraft letters to spell out Buffalo at the top. I thought the layout looked a little blah, so I jazzed it up with using some white paint.

I'm not sure why, but I love using paints on layouts. I think it provides a fun texture that paper can't. Do you use paint on your layouts? Let me know in the comments!


So, as I said before, The title page was for a design team call, but since I had extra time and more photos from the occasion, I decided to do some pocket pages as well. This one features a snow leopard, two lionesses, a polar bear, and a cute giraffe!


Starting at the top left, that card is a piece of paper from the same paper pad, some teal acrylic paint (watered down), a heart doily from Wilton, and a chipboard bird from Dear Lizzy. Then, the card on the right hand side is from the Becky Higgins Project Life Kraft Foil kit. I added some teal splatters and then a cluster of scraps in the top right corner.


These gold stars are from a Heidi Swapp stickers pack and I also used some Heidi Swapp stickers directly on the photos. My favorite sticker is the one that says "head in the clouds" and I put it next to the giraffe! Ha! I'm hilarious!


Our next page features two adorable baby monkeys (one eating a grape), the cutest otter, and a yawning lion. These are some of my favorite pictures from our trip. In case you are wondering, I used a Canon Rebel T3 for all of these photos. We'll start with the top right card this time which is made from the same paper pack. Then, I used a scrap of the same doily from the last page, some gold sequins, then two letters stickers (I'll go into those in the next photo). Then the card on he left side is made from some kraft cardstock.


On the top right card I also used the watered down teal paint. I realized I didn't have much of this shade of teal in my stash so I made it to keep the story cohesive. I then used my favorite Thickers which are white foam called Rockabye. On a whim I went to my dollar store and had picked up these script words and this "fun" was perfect for the color scheme! The arrow stamped in the bottom right section of this card is from Heidi Swapp and inked in Memento black.


To complete the card on the left of the layout, I used my watered down teal paint and put it along all of the edges. It really makes the card pop out at you! Now to create more layers for this filler card, I pulled out some stamp sets. The main one I used is by Hero Arts called Birds, Trees, Messages & More. I used this large floral branch stamp and the single flower stamp to give some stark contrast beneath the Dear Lizzy floral chipboard piece. I also stamped another Heidi Swapp stamp and added a teal heart.


Are you guys tired yet?! I sure hope not! For the last page I just focused on these wonderful photos I had of the gorillas (yes, I know I wrote "monkey", but they're gorillas! I just didn't have enough letter stickers or room to spell gorilla). We'll skip the top left card for now, as I address it in the next photo, but in the middle row, the first card is from a cut apart from the Dear Lizzy Day Dreamer paper pack. I thought the nice light blue was a nice touch to all of the darker tones. Next, I made the middle filler card from the same Crate Paper pad and some kraft. I used letter stickers from Studio 112 and Sticko. Then, the last filler card in the middle row is from Theresa Collins. Last, but not least (well it might be least in my book, because I don't love the way it turned out...), I used my scraps from the prevous pages to create this filler card. The stamp is from Heidi Swapp again and I once again used the teal paint around the edges.

Supplies:
*Purchasing through these links is part of an affiliate program and I will receive a small portion of the sale at no additional cost to you*

Hello everyone! Welcome back! This is the last installment in the How to Create a Kit from your Stash series. It's a sad day, but don't worry! I have so many fun layouts to share with you all including some process videos using this kit. Eventually, I will film a Kill a Kit video once I've used up the rest of my kit. I hope you all enjoy my explanation on how you can store your kit!

I hope you all enjoyed this installment of the Create a Kit from your Stash series! One more video until we move on to the process videos! Get excited!! Thank you so much for stopping by and I'll see you guys soon!

I'm sure you found that video very informative, but there's always more to say! Plus, there's more I'd like to cover than I did in the video. As in all of the other posts thus far, I will break it up into steps or sections to simplify it and hopefully keep it concise.

1.) Stamps

When it comes to picking out stamps, I find that it completely depends on taste. Some people prefer alphabet stamps or images, so go with what feels right for you! I picked out a roller date stamp and a small stamp set with both words and icons. Now as I mention in the video, my roller date stamp has words on it that are birthday themed and I am challenging myself to use the sayings on non-birthday themed layouts. My icon stamp set is pretty easy to use on everyday layouts. So when picking out stamps, I suggest challenging yourself to maybe pick out one set and then one main image stamp (wood mounted maybe) or a roller stamp. Don't overwhelm yourself with options!

2.) Inks

As I say in the video, I only have black ink at school, but for some of you who love colored inks feel free to pick one out to go with your kit! You don't have to store it with your kit, but make sure you remember it! If you don't know which ink to pink, test stamp a few colors next to your patterned papers and see which colors look good together.

3.) Paints

Paints is a pretty broad category, but here's some tips! In my kit I decided to include some of my acrylic paints. Two is a good number, not too many, not too little. If you don't have acrylics and would rather pick out watercolors, dylusions, or other types of paints. I would recommend either a small palate of watercolors perhaps and then maybe for the dylusions or ink daubers you choose one or two. Don't feel like you have to pick something from every one of these categories. The key is to not overwhelm yourself. Start small and you can always add more!

4.) Gessos & Pastes

Gessos and pastes seem to be booming in the crafting world today. If you don't have any, don't worry about it. If you do have some, here's what you should add to your kit! In my opinion, gesso is a really great medium to use when planning on doing mixed media. This might be a no brainer to add to your kit if you are a fan of doing mixed media. As for the pastes, I doubt that you would need more than one, but if you have some colors that match beautifully, maybe you want to add two. Kits are so customizable to your taste, so roll with what you got!

5.) Sprays, Mists, & Stencils

Another big craze on scrapbooking pages are mists and sprays. I really couldn't see myself needing more than two sprays so that's all I added. I find that I would rather challenge myself to use my sprays differently than to have a bunch of colors to choose from and use them all in the same way. Again, it's totally up to you though! For the stencils, you may want two depending on their size and pattern. I would recommend picking some neglected stencils over your favorites. Making a kit from you stash is to promote the use of products that you neglect and need to use up. Make this kit a little bit of a challenge for yourself.

6.) Gelatos, Crayons, & More

There are so many other mixed media products out there that I am not very knowledgeable in. If you want to add a few gelatos to your kit by all means throw some in! It won't hurt anything! Plus, you'll feel amazing if you end up using it on a few layouts instead of letting them sit in drawers. The main point is to not overwhelm yourself with choices. You've got this!


That's it for section #4 of the series! Up next is section #5 which covers embellishments! Thanks for stopping by! If you have any questions about the things you've picked out, I would be more than happy to help! Again, thank you so much for watching/reading and I hope you enjoyed!

Welcome back for the second installment of how to create a kit from your stash! Today we'll be covering how to incorporate some of those Project Life cards we've all been hoarding. If you missed out on the first section of this series, you can check it out here! We'll wait for you right here until you get back!

Now, in this second part I will cover how I picked out some cut apart pieces and some pocket page cards out of my stash. If you don't have any PL items, don't worry! They are completely optional, just like everything else. All you really need is paper, so this is just extra goodies! I'll give you a pretty good explanation in this video, but if it doesn't make sense with all of my "uhms", I'll also have it explained down below!

Hello everyone! I'm introducing a brand new video series to help us all use our stashes! I'll be walking through each section of making a kit and how to go about picking which colors and such. My videos, as always, tend to bit a bit rambly, so if I couldn't keep it clean and simple this word explanation below should do. I hope you enjoy the video and if you have any questions at all feel free to ask! I'll be happy to assist anyone. :) Now, enjoy the show!


For those that don't know, kits are all the rage. You can become part of kit clubs and subscribe to get a monthly kit and for those of us who can't afford it or just want to use up our stash a bit more easily make our own kits. Kit making can be very intimidating if you have a very large stash, so start small. Start bashing your stash and you'll get the hang of it in no time. The purpose of our kit making isn't just to use up our stash, but to also get excited about old supplies again. There are probably several older collections or paper pads that you've forgotten about. Hopefully, this will make you fall in love with your older favorites once again.



I have attempted to simplify this process as much as possible for everyone, so below I have listed out the steps and then go into detail further. So, without further ado, let's jump into it!

#1. Pick a patterned paper to start

Pick a patterned paper that you think is so stunningly beautiful. I picked a beautiful floral pattern that has several different colors in it. This may be overwhelming to some, so you can pick a simpler color palate if you'd prefer. Once you've picked your "parent" paper, start picking which colors out of that sheet you'd like to expand upon.

#2. Pick a color scheme

As I started to mention above, you should base the color palate of your homemade kit from the first patterned paper you choose. If it doesn't have that many colors in it, build off of the one color that you have picked out. There are a lot of color schemes for inspiration on Pinterest. In my "parent" paper (or the paper you're branching off of), there are actually quite a few bright color options to choose from. I started by identifying the neutral(s) that I wanted to use. As I explain in the video, my paper naturally has white and gray tones as the neutrals. You'll want to build off of these neutrals to create cohesiveness throughout your kit. Don't worry to jump out of the box though! My paper had white, but I ended up adding another patterned piece that had cream colors, so don't worry too much about being matchy matchy!

#3. Add cardstock colors

We all seem to have a plethora of cardstock that is neglected and this is a great way to incorporate some and make room for more fun goodies! In my kit, I added four cardstock papers to be able to create layers and backgrounds. I recommend at least adding three pieces to your kit and hopefully you can use them all up! If you're wondering what colors you should pick, then start thinking about why you picked your "parent" paper to begin with. What colors really spoke to you? I picked out some really fun spring time colors for a couple different reasons. One, they were the ones that jumped out at me from my parent paper. Two, I really don't scrapbook with these colors often and thought I should give it a whirl. If you guys need help or anything like I've said before, leave me a comment or shoot me an email and I'd be more than happy to help in your personal kit adventures.

#4. Know when to stop

Everyone's kit will be different. There is no set number of how many papers you'll be better off with. You want to make sure you have enough to make a few layouts, but not too many that you're overwhelmed and not making layouts. Too many choices isn't always a good thing. So when you're comfortable with the 12x12 sheets you've picked out stop. P.S. You can always add more later on!

#5. Adding Supplementary Papers

We all have scraps, 6x6, mat stacks, 8 1/2 x 11, and more paper that we should also consider including in your kit. The more pretty papers, the merrier! Now, we don't want to overwhelm ourselves with options here either. So I only picked out four smaller sized papers (mainly because my stash didn't have much to match, but that's besides the point). If you think you conquer and use up more smaller papers than 12x12s, go for it! Throw in 6 or 8 sheets of smaller patterned papers. We want to pick these out based on colors again. Identify the neutrals and main color scheme and pick from there.

Woohoo! You've all passed the 5 step program to picking out papers! I know it was a lot of information to take in, but I'm dedicating myself to you guys and helping everyone to be able to conquer their stash through kit making. So, again, if you have any questions I would be more than happy to help! I'm only a comment or message away! All of my social media links are in the top right corner as well as in the sidebar. Don't forget to tag me in your own personal process! I'd love to see what everyone is up to!

If you still aren't into the whole kit craze here's some of the benefits of using kits! 1). They help you organize your stash into premade categories for easier, simplified scrapping. 2). It takes out the stress that some people get while scrapbooking. 3). Helps foster excitement for older supplies in your stash. 4). They can help create a theme among pages that are of a similar topic, without being themed. So, there's a little extra tidbit of information for you! Hope you all enjoyed this first installment and up next we have #2 - Picking Pocket Page Cards!

Hello everyone! Welcome back to the blog, or if you're new here, hello! I've got a very fun and different type of project for you today. Today, I conquered some scraps (and by some I mean only like one piece of 6x6 paper)! I want to share with you some unique and fun ways to use your scraps! Because let's face it, we all have way too many scraps.



Today's layout features 3 4x6 photos which is also a lot of photos on one page for me (hence the lack of paper usage). I hope you enjoy my process video and I'll also have product links, close ups, and some writing below!





Supplies:
*Purchasing through these links is part of an affiliate program and I will receive a small portion of the sale at no additional cost to you*


Dear Lizzy 5th & Frolic Paper Pad 6"X6" 36/Sheets-18 Designs/2 Each

Hello friends! Today's layout share is a sentimental one because it was the last summer before college where my friends and I stayed up all night (okay until like 5am) to help raise awareness and fundraise to win the battle against cancer. In case you haven't heard of it Relay for Life is a 12 hour event where teams set up camp to fundraise and raise awareness about cancer. There are also special ceremonies to remember those we have lost to cancer, to support those who are fighting it, and to celebrate those who have beaten cancer. It's an emotional and fun night that I recommend everyone sign up for. You can find your local Relay for Life at relayforlife.org.


Supplies:
*Purchasing through these links is part of an affiliate program and I will receive a small portion of the sale at no additional cost to you*


Project Life Value Kit 92/Pkg - Heidi Swapp - Sparkle

BUTTONS GALORE BIG BAG OF COLORFUL CRAFT & SEWING BUTTONS 5.5 OZ (APPROX 225 PCS) NAVY BLUE

Let's just face the truth, I hate cutting into pretty papers, but I knew that I couldn't use every piece of 12x12 paper as a background paper. Today, I took a leap and made a very large incision (by hand) into this gorgeous Dear Lizzy floral paper. I know what you're thinking, "she must be crazy", but let me tell you, the outcome was gorgeous!

This probably wouldn't be nearly as terrifying to someone who has a machine to cut it for them, but I eye-balled mine and it came out pretty well I'd say! You'll see how I cut it out in the video (which was a scary moment), but here's the completed layout.





Supplies: