Top 16 in 2016

Happy New Year's Eve!  I hope you have had a wonderful holiday season and that you kick off 2017 inspired for the year ahead!  We are sharing our 16 favorites from 2016 at Paper Issues and I have picked a few that made me smile in 2016!

1.  Here We Go- I love circles!  This is a favorite of mine using Pink Paislee's Fancy Free. It was fun to get multiple pictures on a LO and it also has my faves messy threads, watercolors, and enamel dots.

2.  Believe- this was a spotlight for Fancy Pants Design using Merry & Bright. I love this sweet Santa pic and was thrilled to finally use it! These are free PI cut files!

3. Joy  Bella Blvd Holly Jolly Christmas and Illustrated Faith CHRISTmas  I paired this collection with a Just Nick cut file--because I love circles (and my little reindeer)!!

4.  Ry  This was for Cut It Up December-- which you still have until January 6th to play along.  Post your LO using this free cut file to our Facebook PIFF group and get another chance at winning a gift card to the store!  I used the mini collection #whatever by Simple Stories.  Playing with mixed media is always a must!

5. First Snow of the Season with Pinkfresh Studio.  Love these modern designs for the holidays and winter!

6.  Snow Day using Crate Paper Snow and Cocoa.  I have more of this in my stash and need to create with it.  I love the pinks and fun colors for winter!  More free cut files from PI on this one!

7.  Boo Crew- Bella Blvd Spooktacular collection.  This was for Scraplift Sunday at PI.  This was a lift by our fave mixed media teammate, Orange Gearle.

8.  Summer Speaks in Flowers- Pink Paislee Fancy Free, I used the circles again, but this time to showcase ombre, and I love how it turned out!

9.  You are My Fave-  Using We R High Five-- I love to use cut files and handstitch/machine stitch.  I need to do more handstitching in 2017.  I love the look of it.

10.  St. John USVI  Circles again--with handstitching!  This was inspired by a sketch by Ashley Horton.  I loved this summer collection Here We Go by Simple Stories.  I found that using the Silhouette sketch pens is a great way to create a stitching template for LOs.

11.  Love Your Sweet, Silly Smiles  Mix It Up Monday challenge at Paper Issues prompted this fun one by using the packaging technique, straws and using my long lost punches!  I love the Cute Girl collection by Crate Paper!

12. Sparkle & Shine  for the Roll the Dice challenge (6 photos!) I used Simple Stories-Posh.  I love the navy and gold in this collection.  This was a special story about my daughter donating her hair for the second time.  She is such a special girl to do this, especially with her thick hair--such a gift!

13. Hello  This was a scraplift of my star mixed media LO.  I love my fringe scissors and used them multiple times this year.  I love the ombre effect of the water colors with this fave striped paper in the Cute Girl collection from Crate Paper.

14.  Hello Sunshine & Beautiful Moments This was for an August challenge using the Echo Park summer papers.  I love this beachy vibe.  I was so thrilled when my photo tied right into the natural lines and gradient of the background paper.  I also am thrilled when I can stashbust multiple items from different collections!

15. You Are My Happy  This was for Paper Issues Amy Tangerine spotlight with her Oh Happy Life collection.  I was beyond thrilled when Amy Tan reposted this LO on her social media.  Washi tape is a fun thing to collect and hard to use up or even begin to think of ways to incorporate it at times.  This was inspired by a Maggie Holmes paper as well as a Shimelle paper.  Washi works great in as a DIY background paper design element!

16.  A Red Cup of Good Cheer  This was another Mix It Up Monday challenge.  I added the red cup circles, silver mist, silver stitched stars,  papers and acrylic piece by Elle's Studio.  I was inspired by Sherry C. last year as she scrapped a red cup and made sure I actually did a LO this year using them.  The circles were easy to cut out of the fun designs printed on the cups!  Also, need I mention CIRCLES?!!  I know it was a common theme of mine in 2016!

So that's my wrap up of some of my top 16 favorite layouts of 2016.  

It was so hard to pick my top 16 favorites from a year where I have documented with so many collections, pictures, and new techniques.  

I haven't counted how many pages I have created in the past year, but I think it's been a lot!  

I need to keep a tally of pages and cards made in 2017! 

Wishing you all the best in the year ahead!  

Thanks for hopping along with Paper Issues and checking out my blog.

As always, if you'd like to save 20% at Paper Issues, here's my code to help you save-  Stacie

Hazelwood

Today at Paper Issues, we are all about the gorgeous new American Crafts line by one canoe two! Hazelwood is so versatile! The color scheme worked well with our summer cruise photos.  I love this Forest Berry patterned paper from the collection.  The stripes could work well with so many creative page designs!

I love the script phrase Thickers that I used for my title.  They are so beautiful and made this page design work as a tone on tone layout.  The gold accents add to the pretty embellishments included in this collection.  

Check out the the new date stamp  by my journaling in the next photo.  It has a floral border that coordinates with the collection.  I stamped it in similar colored ink to make it stay with the design and I didn't want it to be the main focus.

Check out the the new date stamp  by my journaling in the photo above.  It has a floral border that coordinates with the collection.  I stamped it in similar colored ink to make it stay with the design and I didn't want it to be the main focus.

The cork embellishments add such great texture and depth to the page.  I love that I could use these as tropical flowers for my Caribbean cruise.

I love the accent stickers included in the collection for layering on photos or scattered throughout with your embellishments.  The gold touches on the stickers is perfect to coordinate with the phrase Thickers.  I layered several of the patterned papers under my photo.

Thanks for checking out my layout for our spotlight on 1 Canoe 2's Hazelwood collection for American Crafts.

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Elle's Studio Tis the Season

Today on the PI blog, we are giving you a dose of holiday cheer with the product spotlight on Elle's Studio, Tis the Season collection!  I hope you grabbed some of this earlier in the fall and are able to use it as you capture and document your December memories.  

Tis the Season for capturing sweet memories like this one of my daughter helping with the sugar cookies.

I love the bold green in the collection and backed the cut file in the green stripe paper.  I added lots of stitching and wove the machine around several times to get it giving it a wreath-like resemblance.

  I love the Christmas flair from another fave small shop Feed Your Craft,and it coordinates so well.  I love my mini stapler and added the ephemera onto the layout with the tiny attacher.

I love how the wood veneer are meant to look like the darker version of the cookies she just made.
We can't wait to see all of your layouts or paper projects that use Elle's Studio.
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December Swag Bag

It's Swag Bag time at Paper Issues!  The new December swag bag is full of golden goodness!  Have you checked it out in the store?  Here's mine-  I just received it in the mail today!

 Here's my Swag Bag layout that I created with November's, October's and September's swag bags.

I was inspired by the Paper Issues order card with the coffee quote.  The Amy Tangerine watercolor circle prompted the circle theme!  I added the background paper to my swag bag mix and I added the coffee alpha stickers.  Otherwise, all the rest of the items are included in the swag bag!

Here are a few close ups:

I love, love, love the coffee card and the sweater paper!  So perfect for winter designs (or coffee)!  The Pinkfresh gold foil hearts paper fit right with my theme of my love of coffee.

I like the pops of pink that are scattered throughout the page.  I used more pink watercolor splatters on the background.

 I snuck in the "I have issues" card to peek out of the coffee photo mats.  As in daily coffee issues!

I hope you are inspired to open up a swag bag from Paper Issues and get creative!  Cassie has the best coordinated bags each month and they never cease to amaze me!  I love to scheme layout designs and projects to use each little piece with!

Start a subscription or go month to month!  You need this!

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Photo Play Snowball Fight

Today we are showcasing the fun Photo Play collections on the Paper Issues blog.  The newest lines are so full of color and fun prints!  I went with Snowball Fight for my layout today.  The green color is beautiful to work with and it's close to the new Pantone color of the year for design!  Also, grab this free cut file from Paper Issues.  It is great for snowy pictures or so many other ideas as shown on the Cut It Up challenge this month.

I chose Snowball Fight for this fun winter memory of my daughter just wanting enough snow to build a snowman.  Instead, there wasn't enough so we snapped pictures and she headed out to play on the pond.  Isn't life always about the photo op?

Here are some close ups:

  I used vellum and some pop dots to lift the picture off of the patterned paper and messy circles free cut file background.  It gives it a softer edge and makes it feel like the snow is carried right off of the picture. Also, hello punny stickers from Photo Play!

   I wanted a bit of color on the white background cut file, so I scattered blue watercolor splatters all over it to coordinate with the snowmen paper peeking through the openings.

I love watercolor droplets and enamel dots/puffy stickers.  These are from Fancy Pants Designs and they coordinate so well with Photo Play!

I hope you stocked up during the last few sales and have Photo Play in your stash to create with this winter!  This collection makes winter and snow pictures come to life with all of the bright colors!

Thanks so much for looking!  I hope you are having an amazing week.

If you'd like to shop at Paper Issues--my code is always a great one to use:  Stacie

Mix It up- the Red Cup Edition

Today it is all about mixed media at Paper Issues for a new Mix It Up Monday with Dona!  This month she is challenging us to keep it mainly a gray, black, and white LO with a pop of color. 

I focused on using some of my Elle's Studio Tis the Season items for this layout.

Here's the quick process I did for this mixed media LO:  

 I started out by applying clear gesso on my white cardstock.  I dry it immediately with my heat gun to minimize warping. 

 Next, I applied layers of silver mist from Mr. Huey's and black ColorShine mixed with water for the packaging technique. 

 Then, I added splatters of gray and white watered-down, acrylic paint.  I added splatters of paint on my black cardstock before I cut it into circles.

I stamped my title using the fun Malia alphabet stamps from Elle's Studio.  I cut the Elle's Studio Countdown paper into smaller circles to break up the red and black.

Elle's Studio has such cute acrylic pieces to go along with their collections.  I loved this good cheer piece and how it worked so well to be part of my title.

I used some flair from Feed Your Craft.  I love the black and white love sentiments!

The stitched silver metallic thread stars were fun to sprinkle throughout.  The metallic thread is always a struggle to work with, but I love the results!

I covered up the big green Starbucks logo on the larger cup circle.  It ended up being too distracting!  Elle's Studio Countdown paper to the rescue!!

 One last close up pic!  Thanks for checking out the details on this fun Mix It Up Monday at Paper Issues!  I hope you are inspired to get messy with your projects!

I hope you find some time this holiday season to include some of the details of your December into your projects!  Upcycle a red cup, napkin, ticket stub, business card, receipt, etc...  It is fun to see these items on your projects to compare and reflect back on in a few years!

Get messy and don't forget to stock up with all the fun supplies at Paper Issues.

Sketchy Saturday

Today is a gorgeous new sketch at a Paper Issues!  Check out the Paper Issues blog today for Amy's sketch and the design team's take on this fun, multiple photo sketch.

I went with Merry and Bright by Fancy Pants Designs.  This is all about the December tradition of the elf.

I have a vintage Elf on the Shelf that was passed along to me from my grandmother.  This golden elf is named Twinkle and my youngest two think it's the funniest thing in the world to search for this elf each morning!

I mainly stuck to the sketch this month and added lots of Fancy Pants Designs Merry and Bright for easy coordination!

Here are some close ups of the beautiful Merry and Bright!

I love these Tall Tyle letters from The Cut Shoppe. I backed them and then added white papers behind it!  I loved the pack of  Merry and Bright tags and used many of them on this LO.  

These tags by Merry and Bright are the cutest.    I used some as gifts, as shown above by the LO title.

Thanks for checking out my blog today.  I hope you'll take some time this weekend to get crafty!  Use this sketch and post yours in the Sketchy Saturday thread on Facebook PIFF for a chance at a PI giftcard!

So many new collections and supplies!  Get all of it for your gifts to yourself!  Get 20% off with code: Stacie.