So Sweet: My Girl

Today at Paper Issues for Free File Friday we are focused on Thankful.  Allllllllll the people, things, and places that we are thankful for. I love the leaves and glow that autumn brings.  My daughter was captured in this perfect sun flare and it was perfect for some Maggie Holmes Carousel!

I love the leaf from the November Grateful Leaves cut file.  This is one of the original cut files that Paper Issues offered. Grab it for yourself!  I welded the leaves together in groups of two and three.

I kept it quite monochromatic and added gold gelatos to the roses in the paper as well as the chipboard. I am always a fan of black and white! 

The Maggie Holmes' bows are a fave of mine

 (psst--grab some they are still in the shop!)

I added a second project to my post since it was just Thanksgiving!  Here's my little guy with his colorful turkey.  I was nostalgic as this was our favorite thing to do as kids back in the day waiting for Thanksgiving dinner. 

Cocoa Vanilla Studio Bohemian Dream and the Fall is my Favorite cut file brought this design together.  I added watercolors to the background and to some of the cut file words.

Have a wonderful weekend!  Thanks for stopping by the blog today. 

Don't forget to shop small at Paper Issues this weekend.

Fall's Finest Moments

Today it's all about the circles for Try It Tuesday at Paper Issues. 

I wanted the look of coffee rings/coffee stains on a napkin for my background. 

 I dipped a circle cup into watered-down tan Mr. Huey's mist.

I used Maggie Holmes for Crate Paper.  I love her new Carousel line. 

The colors worked with the fall feel I was going for. 

The puffy Thicker phrases, chipboard pieces, and stickers all add details and dimension to the design.

I love the Kraft Chipboard Thickers for a page all about coffee and fall!

A close up at the "cup rings" for a coffee background minus the caffeine!  I added the Maggie Holmes Carousel woodgrain background paper edge to balance the brown touches. The gold plaid paper is a total fave. It just pops with fall tones!

Splatters and banners.  Coffee is totally worth celebrating in my book! 

I wanted my stitching to stand out a bit more, so I kept in white thread, but added a bobbin of black thread which makes the stitch have just a point of color showing through.

Repeated colors and journaling to finish it off. Don't forget a bow!

Go grab Carousel in the shop and start creating some fun projects! 

 It doesn't have to just be used for fair pages or adventure parks with zoo animals!

Try out this month's Try It Out with a fun circle theme.  

Post your new projects in Paper Issues Facebook group.

Save 20% on all things in the Paper Issues store.  

Get your shop on soon--new things have been arriving!!

Pawsitively Pets March

Pawsitively Pets is on the blog at Paper Issues for the March challenge.  We are all about the pets and we used the paw print cut file that is free in the PI store.  I used Heidi Swapp Magnolia Jane for the outdoorsy feel of this pic of Ryan and Ranger.

 Ranger is our "cousin" dog.  Ryan  loves when he gets to play with Ranger.  I love when photos have lots of negative space.  I was able to layer part of the title in the evergreen trees and then the Maggie Holmes gold puffy alpha worked perfectly against the snowfall.  Check out the vintage and distressed Dashing green background paper from Heidi Swapp.

I love to pop things up for dimension and this layout was no different!  I popped up with foam dots the paw print and layers of the photo mat are popped up.  I forgot to pack mist or watercolor paints along on vacay when I made this LO, so I had to improvise with the journaling pen scribbles on packaging and lightly misting it to give me marker droplets to work with!

You can find all of the cut files in the Paper Issues store.  Go grab them all and use them in your next project.  I can't wait to see what you create!

I can't wait to see what you make with your favorite pet pics--don't forget they could be a stuffed animal or zoo picture as well!!
 Go check out all of Heidi Swapp's Magnolia Jane.  It is so beautiful to work with!  Save 20% on it all with code: Stacie

March Sketchy Saturday

Hello! Amy has inspired us once again with a lovely sketch to lift!
I used Maggie Holmes Chasing Dreams collection.

These beautiful papers and embellishments can be found at Paper Issues online store.  I love layering the stickers and ephemera with foam dots for dimension.

The pink washi tape sentiment paper is a total favorite.  It is perfect how soft it looks and works well with florals.

 I love all of the gold that is included in this collection, It adds just the right amount of shine!  The cut apart tag paper is absolutely a must to have to layer and add to your projects and greeting cards!

 The Chasing Dreams collection worked so well with my daughter's photos.

Save20% on everything with code: Stacie

Paper Issues

Sketchy Saturday January

I love starting off with a sketch.  This is so helpful when you are down on creative mojo!  This month's sketch from Amy Coose has so much to love.  Check out the PI blog to be inspired by design team members.

I am in full stashbusting mode knowing that many amazing new paper collections are being shipped out in the next few weeks.  It was great to cut into several more Maggie Holmes papers.  I love the picture of my daughter and niece in the matching pink tulle dresses that their grandmother made them!  The pink On Point dance paper was a perfect fit for this layout.

I love the Blessed chipboard Thickers and chipboard that was included in the Maggie Holmes Gather collection.  The pieces worked so well as the sketch elements for layering clusters.

More close ups: 

Layers  of pink!

The new date stamp is included in Hazelwood collection by American Crafts designed by 1canoe2, the floral border around it makes it a perfect match for Maggie's papers and prints.  Love the pops of gold glitter on the chipboard pieces.

Grab all of Gather by Crate Paper or anything else that makes you happy! Save 20% with my code: Stacie

Loved Today With You

Today I am on the Paper Issues blog sharing my autumn project using Gather by Maggie Holmes.  This Crate Paper line doesn't disappoint with stunning papers and so many fun embellishments.

I loved the two ephemera leaves that were included in the Gather ephemera pack.  I wanted to make a leaf wreath, so I used the beautiful text paper from Gather and started tracing the leaves onto the text paper.

After fussy cutting out each of the leaves, I used my gelatos to mix colors that mimicked the Gather ephemera leaves and painted parts of each leaf.  After they were dry, I used my black pen to trace around the edges.

I placed the leaves in a circular wreath shape and kept text in the upright position to keep it uniform in the background.  I loved that the aqua background Sunshine paper already had the mixed media vibe and saved me the time of creating one for this project!

I stitched around the leaves multiple times with my sewing machine to add texture to the leaves. I love how the gelatos curled up the leaves to create that freshly-collected leaf look! 

 I used a gold patterned vellum under our family photo.  I made our photo vintage looking with a filter to mute the bright colors for this layout.

I added chipboard pieces and ephemera from Gather to the top and lower corners of the wreath and photo.  I love the phrase Thickers that came with the collection.  The glittered elements prompted the splatters of gold mist, white acrylic paint, and leftover gelato colors.

I love the Gather  mini gold script puffy alphas.  They are so pretty for adding smaller title words or phrases.

I hope you are able to create something with this beautiful collection and join us on Facebook with a chance to win a monthly giftcard prize!

Save 20% off of everything you find at Paper Issues shopping!  Use my code: Stacie each time you visit!

Capture: Pawsitively Pets at PI

Pawsitively Pets is on the Paper Issues blog today!  October's focus is making fun titles with multiple fonts (2 or more) with your pet or animal pictures.

I wanted a cohesive look that would come together quickly for me, so I broke into my new Maggie Holmes Gather collection by Crate Paper!  It was a perfect mix of stencil letters, gold dipped letters, script, and black foam Thickers.

I love that my sister's family took these precious family photos in early November last year when daylight was at a premium and the fall weather was still holding out to create a beautiful backdrop for them.  These photos capture the love of their family and dear pup, Max.  These were taken just three days before they had to say their goodbyes to Max after having him for close to 12 years.  The Maggie Holmes papers were perfect for pulling colors in and not overwhelming the serene photo.

I love the Pure Joy angled stripe paper for the background.  I turned it on its side to make it work with the water colors from the pond in the photo. I built up layers for the photo with the gorgeous Details rectangular stripes paper and the Magical soft peachy heart paper.

The Gather chipboard pieces and ephemera pack helped me to layer and finish off my title wrapping the perimeter of the photo.  So many gorgeous tags, florals, and bits to connect it all together.
Thank you for checking out the layout details!  I can't wait to see what you create with your creature/pet/animal pictures and extra fun titles!  Save 20% at the Paper Issues store with code: Stacie

Digging the Beach

Playing along with the July sketch at Creative Scrappers.

The cut file I used is from Just Nick Studios called the chopsticks background. I selected just a section of it to work with the sketch.

I used several Crate Paper Maggie Holmes papers from Shine to coordinate with this sandy picture. The Thickers and cork embelishments played into the sand color vibe as well!

Always fun to document summer photos of family at the beach. They spent so much time digging and burying each other in the sand! This quote went well with this moment!

Go See Do

The cut files from Scrapbook Circle offered for NSD 2016 on their Facebook group inspired this. I welded the three circles together. I added stitching around the three circles and added journaling.

Next, I made a cluster of embellies from Maggie Holmes' Shine/Bloom collections and Crate Paper Craft Market. I'm always destashing my fave collections!!

I added stitching to the border and embellishments. Foam adhesive is always a must to add dimension! Water fun in action with this LO!