Gray Florals: pick 5

VIDEO: Pick 5! // Nature Fun

Hello friends and welcome back to my blog! I have a fun mixed media project to share with you this week. I think that everyone likes a little bit of a challenge to stretch their creative muscles. I like to do pick 5 challenges where I challenge myself to use things from my stash on one layout. It is an easy way to get certain items used up or tried out for the first time!

My pick 5 items this round were: Heidi Swapp gold texture paste, an Echo Park stencil, a set of green gelatos, a paper pad from Kathy Davis, and the Grace font of American Crafts Thickers designed by Amy Tangerine. It was a fun bundle of goodies! I hope you enjoy the process video and I'll explain a bit more down below!

This layout started as a plain piece of white cardstock that I later transformed into a mixed media piece. Just as a warning, gelatos were not at all easy for me to work with. That being said, I did go through three trial runs of background techniques and this is the only one I kind of liked. If you're going to buy gelatos look up some techniques on how to use them! It will save you a lot of time in the long run.

Once I was done messing around with my gelato background, I used the Echo Park stencil to add more texture. The Heidi Swapp gold texture paste does not match her color shine line (as you can see in some of the photos). However, I wouldn't say that they necessarily clash either.

I kept my embellishing very, very minimal on this layout, as I do with most layouts. I wanted the background and the photo to take center stage. Once I add my journaling it will look a little bit more full as well. This butterfly die cut piece is from the We R Memory Keepers Flower Girl collection. It was the perfect color and fit the theme wonderfully.

One of my favorite elements of this layout is the weave looking background behind my photo. If you watched the process video you'll know how I pulled off this little secret using the 6x6 paper pad. This technique will also be featured in my 6x6 Fix series on my YouTube channel.

Lastly, I created a small cluster in the bottom right. This little puffy owl sticker is the cutest! He is from EK Success and he fit so well. I hope you enjoyed this mixed media pick 5! Thanks for stopping by!

March 18, 2017
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VIDEO: Pick 5! // Welcome to the Tadpole Pond

pick 5

Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog. I'm sharing a pocket page layout (I know, it's been a while) with a different sort of layout. I've never worked with a pocket page layout like this one, but it was fun! This page protector is from We R Memory Keepers and I found a pack at Tuesday Morning for a great deal. These photos are of another Spring adventure that we took last year. This is just a snippet of what we did and I'll hopefully be finishing the other pages for this soon.

Since this was a pick 5 challenge, I wanted to select some things that were new and some that were old. Starting with the older items, I picked a mason jar stamp from Michael's, a Heidi Grace chipboard accent set, and a DCWV paper pad called "The Green Stack". Two newer items that I picked were Jen Hadfield puffy stickers and a set of Pretty Little Studio feather stickers. Let's jump in to the process of this fun pocket page spread!

This was a fun creative challenge for me to take on. As you can see, I kept the photo clusters very simple and focused mainly on the right side. I've never worked with anything in a size comparable to 6 x 12. If you're feeling in the bit of a rut, you should try a new size to give your creative juices a fun workout. At least, that helps for me a lot of the time.

I created a small cluster in the top left portion of the upper left photo. I wanted a couple little journaling spots across the layout which you'll be able to see in the full spread. This cluster starts with a strip of Scotch blue washi tape. I then layered a journaling circle from Fancy Pants Designs's Office Suite collection. On top of that I used a wood veneer heart outline from Maggie Holmes, one of the Heidi Grace chipboard pieces, and some Echo Park enamel dots. A perfect little combo for this area of negative space on a photo.

My favorite part of this layout is the cluster I created on the 6" x 12" section. I knew that I wanted the main portion to be this mason jar stamp. I took some KI Memories paper and stamped it on with Staz On black ink. I layered that on top of a Recollections doily. I knew that this section needed more color. I took the same washi tape as I mentioned before and laid a strip down as a base. I also layered another Fancy Pants die cut on top of that. I used a couple of the Jen Hadfield puffy stickers here to add dimension.

I added some more detail with the Pretty Little Studio feather stickers. They are just tucked next to the jar. I wanted something lighter in this cluster so I decided to add some Tim Holtz phrase stickers. I also managed to tuck in a small Pebbles Inc floral die cut. Layering simple things like this makes layouts very interesting to the eye.

This crazy title was fun to put together. I used a wood veneer banner from the same Maggie Holmes collection to write "welcome" on. I then used my tiny Teresa Collins stickers, then some American Crafts thickers in the font Rootbeer Float, and lastly some old sparkly foam stickers from EK Success. I love the large and playful title! Do you guys do grab 5 challenges often? Thanks for stopping by!