Hip Kit Club: Mood Board Challenge

There you are, staring at your supplies. They’re beautiful, but you’re unsure about how to get going on your next scrapbook page. Give a mood board challenge a try! Today, I’m sharing my latest layout using the May Mood Board Challenge by Hip Kit Club.

How do you use a mood board? Well, that is up to you! Look at the photos on the mood board and use the colors, shapes, and textures to guide your design decisions. In my video below, I will explain how I used the April 2023 Hip Kits and this mood board to create the ‘Mermaid Tale’ layout shown below.

MERMAID TALE

I began this page with the top three mood board photos as inspiration. I loved the purple and blue colors mixed with many florals spilling out of the baskets and buckets around the bicycle. I decided to create a column of photos surrounded by lots of soft, pretty flowers.

Before assembling my layout, I used the bottom two photos on the right as inspiration to add tonal stamping to the background paper. Here you can see where I used the Coffee Stain stamp and the Mini Postage Stamp Texture stamp (April Embellishment Kit) on the purple patterned paper.

I stacked my photos and then used florals created with the October 2022 Color Kit along with black and white floral die-cuts (April Main Kit) and clear stickers (April Embellishment Kit) to spill out from behind. (NOTE: The stamped florals were left over from my last Hip Kit Club layout – watch the video HERE if you’d like to see how I made these flowers using inks, embossing ink, and drips of water & paint.)

I also added pieces of flowers along the top-right edge of the page. The flower centers are dotted with the Lemon Twist Nuvo Drops from the April 2023 Color Kit.

To the right of my photos column, I used a 6×4 Journal Card from the April Pocket Life Kit to house my title and journaling. I was inspired by fellow design team member, Sophie Delorme, to add the Pixie Wings Nuvo Glacier Paste (April Color Kit) to the navy chipboard letters (April Main Kit) for a shimmery, mermaid feel. I also dabbed the Glacier Paste onto several of the flowers.

Below the journaling I added a section of scalloped patterned paper because it reminded me of fish scales, tying into the theme of my page.

All the elements together create a layout that makes you feel like you’re swimming through an underwater seascape. I love it!

If you haven’t picked up the April Hip Kits yet, you can find them HERE. Enjoy!

APRIL 2023 HIP KITS USED IN THIS PROJECT:

• April Main Kit
• April Cardstock Kit
• April Pocket Life Kit (6×4 Journal Card & Stamp)
• April Paper Kit
• April Color Kit (Glacier Paste and Nuvo Drops)
• April Embellishment Kit (Clear Stickers and Mini Stamp)
• April Coffee Stain Stamp
• October 2022 Color Kit (to create flowers)
• Inks from February and March Kits
• January Pocket Life Kit (date stamp)

Stashbusting Instead of Purging!

Am I the only scrapbooker who still enjoys their older supplies? While others are happily spring cleaning their studios, I am rediscovering and getting excited about supplies in my stash.

Sure, I pass along items that are no longer my style, or supplies that I have already created with and don’t feel that ‘spark’ for anymore … but there are still many things in my room I haven’t had a chance to play with yet.

Purging, to me, means getting rid of something I no longer like. When I look at my older supplies I think to myself, “I would still buy this TODAY!”

So, instead of purging, I’m going to incorporate more STASHBUSTING in my life. Who’s with me?

Today’s video features supplies from 2012. Yep! They are 11 years old and I STILL love them! Watch the video above to see my process, or check out the still shots below.

HAIRCUT EMERGENCY

This layout was created from a Studio Calico subscription kit (2012) featuring patterned papers and supplies by October Afternoon, Basic Grey, My Mind’s Eye, Authentique, and more. The office-inspired and geometric patterns are still relevant to me today and worked well for a masculine page about my son.

I even incorporated additional items from my stash: a kraft polaroid frame (Park Lane at Joann’s), twine, a tag, buttons, and star dies, to name a few. If I needed something … I found something from my stash that would work, or I made it! (Love how those star embellishments turned out!)

I’ve seen several people run tags and journaling cards through their printer with success by taping them onto a full-size sheet of paper. I’ve been wanting to try this technique; however, it was late at night, I do not own a light table, and I didn’t want to wait until the next day to use my window to line up the journaling.

I opted to print my journaling on manila-colored cardstock that matched the tag I wanted to use. It worked great, and I don’t think you will notice once the page is placed in a sheet protector.

Are you trying to make a title and are out of a certain letter? I was out of lowercase r’s for the word ‘Haircut’. My solution was to mix upper- and lowercase letters within the word. It has a bit of boyish charm, don’t you think?

Give stashbusting a try today! Sure, perfectly coordinated collections are fun and easy to work with, but there is something electric about discovering new ways of combining other supplies together. I’d love to see what you make!

Have a great week!

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Simple Stories: Jingle All the Way Banner

Are you looking for a way to brighten up a corner of a room with holiday cheer? Or maybe you need a handmade gift idea for someone who could use some additional Christmas spirit?

Christmas banners to the rescue! Banners are perfect for adding to a mantle, banister, sideboard, window, treat table, and more! I created this Jingle All the Way Banner for the Scrapbook.com Holiday Inspiration Series on their YouTube channel and wanted to share it here with you today!

Watch as I take you through my step-by-step batch process for creating focal point images by selecting a main image, adding in supporting images, connecting them all together with a shape, and then adding additional layers underneath. We start from the image to the front and work our way back to the base layer.

These concepts can be used for anything and can be applied to any type of collection! Try this process for creating a batch of cards, tags, embellishment clusters for a layout, gift bags, and more! Watch the video below!

Why not give banner making a try today?

Thanks for joining me! Happy holidays to you!

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Simple Stories: Autumn Outing

Fall is my family’s favorite time of year to be outside! Whether it’s driving through the mountains to see the colorful leaves, a visit to the pumpkin patch, or walks around the neighborhood, we can never seem to get enough of our favorite season!

The Autumn Splendor collection by Simple Stories encapsulates everything we love about autumn with its color palette and beautiful, botanical images. It was so much fun creating this page for our family album!

I fell head over heels for the coordinating stencil for this collection and decided to add it to the background paper (3×4 Elements paper). I love the way the stenciled details look peeking out from behind the Foliage Bits & Pieces. I repeated the stenciling around the page in three areas to create a visual triangle in my design and to keep your eye moving around the page.

I framed the single photo for this page with a Layered Chipboard Frame and then added layers of additional patterned papers and Foliage Bits & Pieces leaves behind for texture. This entire grouping is popped up on foam tape.

I fussy-cut the journal block from the 3×4 Elements paper and then added it to the right of my photo at a downward angle. A pair of foliage leaves and a butterfly connect the journal block to the layered photo block and add even more to the outdoorsy feel!

I combined the chipboard “AUTUMN” word with orange letters from my stash for the title. I added distress ink to the orange letters to tie them in with the inking in the background.

This beautiful collection makes me long for sunny Autumn days and fall drives in the mountains! I can’t wait for the leaves to begin changing! Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you feel inspired to scrapbook some of your fall family photos, too!

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