SCT Magazine: Scrapbooking with Metal Dies

Hello, my paper peeps! Today I am up on the Scrapbook & Cards Today Magazine blog and YouTube channel with a Technique Tuesday video. I love to die-cut! Today I am showing you how you can use metal dies in your scrapbooking. Check it out!

Creating titles and embellishments using metal dies is a great way to customize a scrapbook page to coordinate with your photos. The best part is that you can achieve different looks with each die set simply by changing the colors and patterns of the paper you use to cut the designs.

Today I used bright, cheerful colors to create a Disneyland Main Street on the following scrapbook page. You can see the Process Video by CLICKING HERE if that is something you are interested in.

MAIN STREET MEMORIES

I fell in LOVE with the Sunny Lanes Homes 1 and Sunny Lanes Homes 2 die sets the minute I saw them pop up in the Scrapbook.com store. Today I am using them on this layout to showcase these photos of my family posing on Main Street in Disneyland. Aren’t these dies PERFECT for this?! I know, right?

Before starting my page, I used the Little Clouds stencil, a Jumbo Sponge Dauber, and Tumbled Glass Distress Ink to add clouds along the bottom of my Mint cardstock. The clouds make the perfect background for building my Main Street scene!

Next, I used both sets of the Sunny Lanes Homes dies to cut out each piece for the houses using solid cardstock colors. I chose to use a mixture of colors from the Sherbet, Floral, and Playful 6×8 Pads from Scrapbook.com.

Each building die features indentations on the main piece. I used alcohol markers in coordinating colors to darken the embossed designs, bringing out the brick details. Then, comes the FUN part! Putting each of the houses together. They come together just like a puzzle. The intricate details of each house make me smile!

Next, I lined all of the houses up along the bottom of my layout creating a colorful Main Street scene. I added tiny white flower accents using the Sunny Lane Florals dies. This die set features flowers in various sizes, perfect for accenting any type of project!

I also used the Happy Little Sentiments stamp to add a phrase strip across the bottom of the yellow house.

I used the Nested Flag Banners dies and the Sunny Lane A2 Paper Pad to frame each of my three photos. I stitched around the edges of each banner using my sewing machine, punched holes in the top, then strung them together using baker’s twine.

It’s time to add my title to the top of the page! I used the Basic Bold Uppercase dies for the word ‘Main Street’ and the Modern Lowercase dies for ‘Memories’. 

I wanted the word ‘Main Street’ to stand out, so I added an offset shadow layer behind each letter by cutting them again with navy cardstock from the Playful 6×8 pad. Dots of White Pops of Color on each letter created a marquise sign effect. SO CUTE!

Finally, I fussy-cut tiny butterflies from one of the Sunny Lane A2 papers to sprinkle around the page. They add that perfect ‘magical’ finishing touch!

Creating your own titles and embellishments using metal dies is so much FUN! And the best part is that you can use them over and over again, creating different looks with different colors and patterns. I’m already dreaming of using the Sunny Lane Homes 1 & Sunny Lane Homes 2 dies to create a gingerbread Christmas village this winter!

If you’d like to see a scrapbook process video of this page, be sure to stop by the SCT Magazine YouTube channel!

Have fun creating!

SUPPLIES USED IN THIS PROJECT:

STASHBUSTING: WILDERNESS LODGE LAYOUT

I’ve been making a point to dig into my stash lately and put a few older supplies to good use. Today I am sharing a layout with a 2017 Jillibean Soup collection called Farmhouse Stew. The warm woodgrain planks combined with the bright ‘B’ sides were perfect for this layout of my husband and I staying at the Wilderness Lodge and Disney World for our 20th wedding anniversary.

WILDERNESS LODGE

I wanted a collection that had the bright colors of Disney World, but the outdoorsy feel of the Wilderness Lodge. This Jillibean Soup collection fits the bill perfectly! I focused on using the ‘B’ sides of the paper, for the base design of the page.

After selecting the collection to work with, I shopped my stash for embellishments with the same colors. I used chipboard frames from Freckle Fawn, teal puffy phrases from Elle’s Studio, and wood veneer hearts.

I dug deep into my stash for the letters for my title. This Heidi Swapp chipboard set is one of the very first alphabet sets I ever purchased when I started scrapbooking and it’s high time I got them used up! I used to use brown A LOT when I first started scrapbooking, but now I only reach for it occasionally. The brown letters look great with the woodgrain background on this page.

I added a brown cardstock scallop across the top of the page to repeat the brown color of the chipboard letters.

My favorite part of this page was fussy-cutting the floral clusters, then adding die-cut flowers and leaves over the printed design to give it more dimension. The flower comes from the Spellbinders ‘I Dance’ set currently on the market. I added a brown-orange gem to the center of each flower as a sparkly accent.

I added a sprinkling of wood veneer hearts around my fussy-cut butterflies. The hearts work well since this is an anniversary layout.

I matted each photo on its own patterned paper, simply because I liked how each photo looked with those colors.

I used up these bright Freckled Fawn chipboard frames from my stash by cutting them in half and tucking them behind the floral clusters. I love the pop of pattern and texture they add!

This page turned out so pretty and it was so much FUN to make. I especially loved adding the die-cut flowers and leaves to the fussy-cut floral clusters to make them feel more ‘alive’ and dimensional. Flowers are ALWAYS fun to work with!

Wishing you a happy day!

SUPPLIES USED IN THIS PROJECT:
Jillibean Soup ‘Farmhouse Stew’ collection (2017)
Solid Cardstock: Simple Stories Color Vibe
Chipboard Letters: Heidi Swapp
Wood Veneer Hearts: Unknown, I think they might be from Felicity Jane?
Chipboard Frames: Freckled Fawn
Teal Puffy Phrases: Elle’s Studio
Gems: KaiserCraft
Flower Die: Spellbinders ‘I Dance’ Die Set

Pinkfresh Studio Flower Market: Fools for Jazz

This was one of those layouts that I struggled through. I didn’t have a plan, so it took me a while to find a flow. However, I’m glad I stuck with it because in the end I am SO HAPPY with the way that it came out!

Hi Friends! Happy Saturday! Today I am sharing another page created with the beautiful Pinkfresh Studio Flower Market collection.

FOOLS FOR JAZZ

Each year our local high school puts on an event called ‘Fools for Jazz’. It’s a night of dinner and swing dancing as the Jazz Band plays several numbers. The community all joins in and it’s a great night of fun and fund-raising.

My daughter and her friend looked great as they dressed the part for the evening. I snapped a few pictures of them in the backyard before they left.

Usually, I have a general idea of what I am going to do on a layout before I begin. For this one, I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do. As I shuffled the photos and die-cuts around, I finally settled on a diagonal design of circles starting in the upper-left corner and leading down through the bottom-right corner.

After layering together the circles from corner to corner, simply arrange your photos and die-cuts along the diagonal line.

I placed the flowers along the diagonal line beginning with a cluster of die-cut Ephemera and Floral Ephemera in the top-left corner of the page. I added a bit of white twine to the key fob die-cut for additional texture.

I stitched around each circle, as well as the perimeter of the page. You can see that I added zig-zag stitching across the top and bottom edges, but used straight stitching on the sides.

The journaling and title are placed in the open corners of the page design. I used background stamps and small butterflies from my stash to create butterflies to dot around the page. I feel like this added to the springtime feel of the page and helped to fill in the empty spots.

Remember that I used twine in the top-left corner of the page? To balance that element, I tucked a few tags behind the right edge of the photo in the bottom-right corner, then added twine to the top of the tags. You can see a close-up in the photo above.

I recently purchased the Stitched Foliage Dies from Kat Scrappiness and found that they were perfect for filling out each of the floral clusters throughout this page. Be sure to check out the Christmas Foliage and Autumn Foliage dies on their website as well. They are all so beautiful and I can see myself reaching for these dies again and again!

I am in love with the patterns and florals of the Pinkfresh Studio Flower Market collection. The soft hues with cheerful florals were the perfect choice for this page about my daughter. Have you tried a diagonal design flow on a layout recently? Give it a try this weekend while you are working on your next layout. It was a lot of fun to create!

Enjoy!

SUPPLIES USED IN THIS PROJECT:

Stitched Foliage Dies by Kat Scrappiness

Hip Kit Club February 2023 Kit: True Love

Hi Friends! I’m back with another scrapbook page using the beautiful February 2023 Hip Kits. One of the perks of subscribing to the Hip Kit Club is that you have access to FREE cut files that coordinate with each of the monthly kits. Today I am using the Heart Puzzle Solid cut file for the background, and the butterflies from the Love Story cut file. Check it out below!

TRUE LOVE

My husband and I went on a Caribbean cruise last year to celebrate our 25th anniversary. I used the Sea Foam cardstock as the base because I love the way it picked up the aqua color of the tropical water in my photo.

First, I selected the patterned papers that I wanted to use to create the heart puzzle. I opened up the file in my silhouette program and used the fill tool to color in each piece, making sure that I was balancing the colors throughout. Once I was happy with the way it looked, I pulled the puzzle pieces apart and grouped them according to color to cut from each of the patterns.

After assembling the background I used my sewing machine to stitch an outline around the entire heart with black thread.

The chipboard floral stickers and puffy hearts from the Embellishment kit look so pretty adorning each corner of the heart. I also added white leaf stems cut using the Hoop & Floral metal die set.

I used the largest embroidery hoop die from the Hoop & Floral metal die set to frame my photo. I love that the hoop dies are wide enough to stitch on. They are also great for making shakers, too!

A couple of small butterflies from the Love Story cut file adorn the right side of the heart above the photo.

I added a larger butterfly from the same Love Story cut file to the left of the journal tag (Embellishment Kit).

The journal tag is stamped with a phrase from the stamp included with the February Pocket Life Kit. I also added several vellum die-cuts from the Main Kit. The date is stamped with the date stamp from the January Pocket Life Kit.

Included in the February Main Kit was this GORGEOUS acrylic piece. I created a shadow layer for it with vellum. It made the perfect title!

Finally, I added a sprinkle of white acrylic paint over the design to tie everything together. I LOVE the way this page turned out!

Let me know if you have any questions about my design! For daily scrapbooking inspiration be sure to follow the Hip Kit Club Instagram page, Facebook Group, and YouTube channel.

FEBRUARY 2023 HIP KITS USED IN THIS PROJECT:

• February Main Kit
• February Pocket Life Kit
• February Cardstock Kit
• February Embellishment Kit
• February Exclusive Subscriber Cut Files
• February Hoop & Floral Metal Die
• January Pocket Life Kit

See you again soon!