Paper Trail Blog Hop - Celebrating La Belle Vie!

Welcome to the paper trail blog hop. You probably arrived here from Vicki's blog. If this is your first stop, I hope you'll continue on with the hop.

I loved playing with this paper pack. I liked the classy colors that work well for my daughter and use pink without being babyish. To celebrate, I created two layouts about her birthday using patterns from the Make it From Your Heart book.

This pattern made me nervous at first because of the five small photos, but my friend Kerrie inspired me to use it. I am happy with the way it turned out. Cropping the photos smaller can help draw attention to certain elements and hide my sometimes flawed photos. (Check back Friday for some suggestions about cropping photos in this way.)

This paper seemed to call for bling and sparkle. I used the black sparkle flourishes some fussy cut flowers and Stardust Glitz.

I used a sentiment stamp intended for cards for the title and subtitle on this layout. Because I was able to include so many small photos to tell the story, my journaling could be very brief. I tucked the thoughts into the right hand flourish.

The second layout I created focuses on one gift my daughter received. This one also uses a pattern from the Make if From Your Heart book. I love using the patterns in this book because I can modify them to suit my layouts and style. Here I added two additional photos by using two 4X6 photos on the left page rather than a 5X7 and adding an additional photo cropped on the right page.

I used the same black sparkle flourishes (one pack was enough to create both layouts) and Startdust Glitz to embellish this layout. Once I find supplies that work well together I love to create multiple layouts using the same set. It saves me time making decisions!

For this layout I also used some word and definition stamps as embellishments. A variation on the rock and roll technique let me stamp the words in black and the definitions in grey so that the embellishment didn't overpower the layout.



 Thanks for stopping by! Remember to check Friday for some suggestions on cropping photos.

Your next stop is Karen's blog. I'm sure you'll love what she created.

Projects #5 and #6 (and an offer)

Many of my 36 projects so far have been gifts. Lately, however, I've made a couple of things to decorate my own space. When I saw the Autumn/Winter idea book from CTMH I fell in love with some of their new off the page projects and supplies. The My Creations Bracket Frame and the My Creations Star in particular caught my eye. I ordered them immediately and set to work figuring out what to do with them.












I used the same supplies on each: paper from the Avonlea pack, Opaques flourishes and stamped words. Here is what I came up with:

The paper rosettes fit with the style of the frame and the paper. They also paired very nicely with the Opaques Flourishes. The frame can  be used as a shadow box so I was even able to include flourishes and paper rosettes on the inside of the frame near the photo.

The star:

This was even easier to put together than the frame - a one evening project with time to spare.

One tip (that I learned the hard way) do all of your stamping as well as inking of the edges before you attach the paper!

Are you interested in making these projects yourself? My September class will provide you with a kit to create either of these projects for just $20. Buy both kits (or two of either one) for just $35. Check the Classes page for more information. Not local to me? Can't make the class? No problem! I would be happy to ship your kit (anywhere in the US) for $5 extra.