Simple Stories: Fun in the Sun

Last Friday I shared a double-page layout I created for the Simple Stories Blog using the Hello Summer collection. I must have been in a summer-y mood, because I couldn’t stop … and have several more projects to share with you this week using that collection! So let’s call this the week of “Hello Summer!” 😀

See these two papers? These are the kinds of papers that get me on a roll when I am creating …

“Who’s Ready for Summer?” Paper

“Paradise Found” Paper

I LOVE a paper with large, cute titles I can cut out on my pages (I always feel like I want to use ever last one!) AND I love large adorable florals that I can cut out and use as page accents. And I use both of these on almost ever project I am going to share with you this week. ❤

FUN IN THE SUN

I love when my daughters will twin with me … I know it’s a bit goofy, but it’s still fun! My daughter and I got matching t-shirts on our trip to Hawaii a couple of summers ago and this is just a quick snapshot of us at the airport wearing them on the way home.

I used a this sketch by Laura Whitaker as inspiration for this page. I always love working with Laura’s sketches!

Everything here is from the Hello Summer collection, with the exception of the yellow solid cardstock (from my stash), and the pink diagonally striped paper. That one came from a paper pad by 3 Birds that I purchased from HSN several years ago.

See how cute those titles are on projects?! I loved making it one of the main elements of the page and then dressing it up with a few stickers … how cute are those watermelon slices with their sunglasses?! Those watermelons are twinning … just like me and my daughter are! Bwaaaahaaaa!

I’ve been pulling out my border punches lately … here I used a large, scallop one by EK Success across the bottom of the page. I tried to locate the large scallop punch on the internet, but couldn’t find it anywhere. Hopefully, you have a tool in your stash that will help you achieve something similar … or you could always use an electronic die cutting machine, or create a homemade template? I do really love the large scallop here!

I’ve used one of the fussy-cut florals (from the Paradise Found paper) in the upper left corner of this page, along with the “Hot, Hot, Hot” and mini flower die cuts from the Hello Summer Bits & Pieces pack.

SUPPLIES:

OTHER SUPPLIES:
Cardstock: Yellow, White
Patterned Paper: Pink Diagonal Stripe (3 Birds Design)
White Crochet Twine
Scallop Border Punch: EK Success
Computer/Printer for Journaling
Foam Squares/Adhesive
Trimmer/Scissors

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Last year, we held a “Let’s Flamingle” party for all of the ladies in my church in my backyard … and ever since then I have a newfound love for flamingos! I couldn’t resist adding the cute pink chipboard fella to this card … because you know what?! Life *IS* indeed so, so GOOD! 😀

LIFE IS GOOD

SUPPLIES:

OTHER SUPPLIES:
Cardstock: Black, White, Yellow
Circle Punches/Dies
Yellow Photo Corners
Blue Pearls
White Crochet Twine
Foam Squares/Adhesive
Scissors/Trimmer

Thanks for coming by! Stop by throughout the week to see the rest of my projects with the Simple Stories “Hello Summer” collection.

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Simple Stories: Hello Summer Two-Pager

Happy Friday, friends! Summer is all about beating the heat with cool treats and the Hello Summer collection by Simple Stories is the perfectly, bright and happy way to record those fun moments.

I built three embellishment clusters on this page. To make the page cohesive, I made sure each cluster contained similar colors and elements. In this case, the common denominator in all three clusters are flowers and black and white phrases.

Across the bottom of both pages I used a wide strip of the Oh Happy Day paper with it’s wave pattern. Instead of cutting the strips straight across with my paper trimmer, I used my scissors to follow along the wavy lines of the pattern.

I used several chipboard elements for my title and the decorations around my title. I used different thicknesses of foam squares to give these pieces different levels, making it more interesting to look at.

Have you scrapbooked your favorite sticky, summer treat?!

​SUPPLIES:

DCWV: Garden Charm Paper Pad

I LOVE shopping for scrapbooking supplies just as much as I love using them! One of my weekly jaunts is to my local Tuesday Morning store to see what is new in the way of scrapbook supplies. I love all the Latest-and-Greatest … but I love collecting older supplies that match my style of creating, too!

A week or so ago, I picked up the beautiful “Garden Charm” paper pad by Die Cuts with a View. It was only $5. I knew I could create a few pages with it and then be happy to pass the rest of it along to a friend for that price!

Here are the pages I created with these beautiful papers.

First, a double page layout about Memorial Day.

REMEMBER

I loved how several of the papers had a shiny coating on the pattern. The tone-on-tone glossy pattern printed on the kraft paper is so cute!

If you read my journaling, you will see that my parents purchased and had their own headstone placed next to my grandparents grave at the same time they were ordering the headstone for my grandparents. They revealed it to us this Memorial Day when we went to take flowers to my grandparents.

It really struck me as weird (don’t worry … my parents know I feel this way. Ha!) … but I also understand them wanting to prepare so that WE, their kids, won’t have to wonder what they would have wanted. My parents are great about thinking through the details of things ahead of time … but I hope I won’t have to appreciate their foresight on their headstone for MANY, MANY years.

The canvas, red, polka-dotted flowers are something that have been waiting for me to use in my stash for WAY too long. They are by Jillibean Soup and were one of the first products I purchased from that company. I’m so happy they found a home on this page. They look darling here!

The metal arrows were another recent Tuesday Morning find and work great as a page element to emphasize the title.

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While I had these supplies on my desk, I created a similar single page using the exact same color scheme and rest of the canvas, polka-dotted flowers.

ENJOYING THE WINDMILLS

I LOVE using several different letter stickers for a longer title. I don’t do it often enough, because it takes more time to make the words fit just right, but I’m always happy with the results every time I DO do it!

Those punched birds were a recent score from a local online ad. A man had a box of several McGill punches that he was selling for $2 a punch. I had never seen these birds before, and I ADORE them! I’m so happy to add this cute punch to my arsenal!

For this page, I used metal dies to add several leaves and branches around the canvas flowers, creating one large cluster. I LOVE how it turned out! And the trio of red pearls makes me happy, too!

Again, you can see the adorable tone-on-tone thermography (I think that is what it is called), on the kraft background paper. Polka dots always steal my heart!

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Okay, one last simple page with the Garden Charm papers …

GRANDMA’S BEDROOM

For this page, I pulled out the blue, kraft, and purple patterns from the paper pad and combined them together on a white patterned paper background from my stash (Pebbles – Walnut Grove – Harriet paper).

I picked up these blue flower stickers at Dollar Tree, of all places, several years ago. Blue was my grandma’s favorite color, so they were just so perfect for this page about her bedroom.

I used gold thicker letters for the title and then used a flourish/scroll metal die by Recollections to add some detail above.

Are you a bargain shopper when it comes to your scrapbook supplies? Do you collect bargains and rarely get around to using them (like me)? Maybe challenge yourself to create a few pages with your most recent finds this week! I’m glad I did!

See you again soon!

Echo Park Paper: Once Upon a Time Prince collection

I pulled out my Echo Park Paper Once Upon a Time Prince collection to scrapbook a few pages the other day. This collection was released about a year ago, but is still available in stores. It was the perfect choice for the two photos I will be working with today!

PRINCE IN TRAINING

I wish I could take credit for the title on this page, but I pulled that clever phrase off of one of the elements in the collection. It was too cute NOT to use with this photo of my son attempting to dislodge the sword in the stone at Disneyland. 😀

If you are stumped as to what to do for your title, give it a try! Look through the elements in the collection for a phrase that would coordinate with YOUR photos. The designers of these collections spend a lot of time and effort coming up with the phrases, so you may as well take advantage of their hard work! 🙂

My other tip is to try using a sketch to jump start your page design. For this page, I used one of Becky Fleck’s May 2018 sketches from PageMaps.com … however, I switched it up a bit by turning the sketch on it’s side and mirroring it (I used the sketch in the lower left corner of the PDF print out, if you’d like to see the original). Doing this allowed me to stretch outside of my comfort zone and put elements together in a way that is new to me!

I could have just stuck these arrows to the page … but somehow that little bit of stitching makes them feel “special.”

I had a lot of fun building the title for this page. I first began with the “PRINCE” word and then decided to add the flags above and below it. The flags are all stickers and die cuts from the collection. I did add other elements (chipboard pieces, letter stickers, and stickers) and strips of paper on top of several of them to make them more intreresting.

The curtain rod-looking element along the top row is from the Hero Banner Die Set. It wasn’t quite long enough, so I die cut two rods and then pieced them together behind one of the flags.

In the lower right corner of the photo, I placed a cute castle sticker, popped up with foam squares. I wanted a forest on either side of the castle, so I cut the tree sticker in half, placing one half tucked behind each side of the castle. You would never know that the tree sticker doesn’t run the full width of the castle!

SUPPLIES:

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The Once Upon a Time Prince collection was also perfect for this page of my daughter all dressed up to go to a Medieval Themed party several years ago.

MEDIEVAL PARTY

I created the banner across the top of the page using pennant punches by American Crafts and papers from the Once Upon a Time Prince 6×6 Paper Pad. I stitched them across the top using my sewing machine and then added a few glossy, pennant pieces from the Enamel Shapes.

I cut the scroll from the 4×6 Journaling Cards paper to accent the left side of the photo, and then built a little cluster of elements below it from the 6×13 Chipboard Set.

Another cluster of chipboard elements (the castle, phrase, stars, and coat of arms) accents the bottom right corner of the photo.

At the bottom of the page, I layered together several strips of patterned paper to anchor the design. The bottom strip is punched with a postage stamp patterned border punch by Fiskars.

SUPPLIES:

Thank you for coming by today!