To the Moon and Back: Ad-spiration Challenge

I am up on the Paper Issues blog today to show you how this Ad-spiration challenge came together!

The dark background was a fun depature into space and away from the normal light or white cardstock base!

Here's the stunning ad for the October challenge:

I love that you could also be inspired by the books, 

stars, reading quote, night sky, latern light,  and colors!

 I took in the night sky vibe and went with it! 

 I layered mix media swirls on the background, splattered paints, and then topped it off with gold thread machine stitching!

So many swirls of stitching! 

 My machine did not like the tacky surface of the paint and

 I ended up re-threading the machine so many times! 

But, in the end, I think the effect of golden circles was worth the extra effort!

 If you haven't tried using a dark background recently, 

I challenge you to try this out-of-this-world background with an outer space vibe!

Thank you for stopping by the PI blog and playing along in the Facebook group with this month's challenges.  The Monster Bash Fall Crop is this week-- are you joining in on the fun?

Crop details here in the Facebook Group

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

Use code: Stacie

Grab the new October kit while you are shopping!

Traveler's Notebook Summer Travels

Hello!  It's my parent's 50th Anniversary today and we just got back

 from celebrating on vacation with them! 

It was definitely a must to document and I am sharing two TN pages

 for 52 Favorites on the Paper Issues blog today-scroll down to see both!

It's so easy to pack a few supplies and document as you go!

This is week 31! Post on social media with #52favorites

I absolutely love the Pinkfresh mini puffy alpha and they are always my go-to for titles in my TN spreads!

I used the Kaisecraft little dots stamp that was included in the PI July Flyover States Scrapbook kit! 

 I love the subtle look it adds to the background! 

Added to the dots was an Amy Tangerine heart stamp to the background.

I took apart the Pinkfresh layered hearts embellishments to add the word together. 

The cut file connected  hearts are from the TN pages free cut file coming soon to the shop. 

Here's the second using a map that I grabbed from a travel brochure 

and the free PI cut file TN Pages Let's Talk about Love!

  

The best part of documenting as you travel??  You can photograph your pages right in the place you are visiting! That's right- set it right on the beach like I did, hold it up to the sun, capture the foliage around you, it's a fun way to remember the actual details you are journaling about!

 The tiny Pretty Little Studio star stickers are from July's Flyover States scrapbook kit! Perfect for noting details and places on a map. The background papers are from PI Kits as well, get the trend here??--all things that come in the kits get used!! 

Did you see that Paper Issues now offers a "Tell Your Story" TN kit as well?  If you are in need of an amazing kit that is ready to go for travels as I used mine or to document your life at home!  It is a perfect thing to try for bite-size memory keeping!! Check the new traveler's notebook kit out here!

I hope you are inspired to play along with all of the new August challenges posted in our Facebook group!  Check out the August fun on FB here!

Need a few things? The store now offers Sezzle for payment plans! Shop now and make payments!
Save 20% on alllllllll the things in the Paper Issues store--including all of the kits!
Code: Stacie 

Thanks for visiting today. Make today great! Create a life you LOVE!

You Color My World

Hello! Brian and I just celebrated our 20th anniversary yesterday and it was the perfect inspiration to document a picture of the two of us last summer!  Today I am up on the Paper Issues blog with my take on this month's ad to inspire- Ad-spiration challenge.
I was so inspired when I saw the McDonalds ad with the paint strips.  My Jillibean Soup stash was immediately put to use!

The print ad from McDonald's that  I was inspired by:

I kept close to the main design elements including using the "golden arch color" for my border!

I started with the cloudy paper by Pretty Little Studio that is included in the July Kit. 

The color matching with acrylic paints was a fun Netflix watching activity! Anyone else like to mix up paint colors until it's almost perfectly matching?!  

Easier way--just buy the Jillibean paints that are in the PI store!

Then I stitched on the "paint strip" papers and layered my photo and title.

 I love all of Jillibean's foam letter/phase stickers! We even have these black foam phrases in the shop! Grab some before they're gone! I love that Jillibean coordinates their colors so collections are mixable!

I love adding dimension to my photo layers and background elements with foam dot adhesive or foam sheets from the kid's craft section.

Thanks for stopping by today!

I hope you are inspired to join in the July challenges!

 There is still time to play along! 

Try out Ad-spiration and show me your interpretation of the ad.

July Challenges are posted in the Facebook group right here!

As always save 20%  on all of your purchases at Paper Issues!

Code to save: Stacie

Shine Bright

Hello from the heartland! It is sunny and I am feeling the summer vibes for the Paper Issues June Challenge: Crowning Achievement.  I wanted to use the June Scrapbook Kit: Pontoon and this paper just jumped out at me to document how they got to SHINE in this sweet moment during their dad's speech for the school staff!

Check out that Pretty Little Studio bold yellow paper in the June kit!

 It's from the Bohemian Dreams collection and they called it tie dye, but I will stick with sunburst!!

It looked like the perfect sun paper and the other kit papers from June and April worked as layers.

To add texture to the patterned paper, I machined stitched around the circle layers.

Do you have the tiny Pinkfresh alphas? They worked so well as a mini tone on tone title.

The May Swag Bag kit called Summer Camp provided all of the embellishments for the photo cluster. It had lots of perfect pieces for this sunny-color combination!

A close up of the crazy stitching and the picture.

  Not the best picture, but the memory sure is!!

 Look at his little flip flop feet! 

 I love his nervous look and how he's holding his brother's hand during the speech! So very sweet!

Thanks for stopping by today!

I hope you are inspired to try a new June challenge including Crowning Achievement in the Paper Issues Friends and Fans Facebook group.  All June challenges are open until July 1st.

Have you tried a Paper Issues monthly kit?  If not, go grab the scrapbook  kit or swag bag kit-you'll be so happy that you did!  They are seriously full of amazing products each month!

Don't forget to save 20% on your whole purchase.  Code: stacie

April Showers: Dream and Wonder Wanderlust

Here's a look at the April Showers challenge this month at Paper Issues. I was inspired by this challenge to find some fluffy clouds and document a sweet moment with my littlest!

I love when you find the paper that coordinates with your photo, looks like you got messy, and really all you did was color match embellishments.  The Vicki Boutin watercolor background is so beautiful!

My littlest was fascinated with the sea birds that were landing and flying near the beach, so he decided to follow them for miles down the beach and back.  My friend and I ran behind him and captured so many sweet pictures.

I wanted to go for lots of textures to bring in the soft clouds and the mix of water along the beach, so the torn paper edges, messy threads, and soft color palette was my mission!

I love the Vicki Boutin Color Kaleidoscope mixed media paper pad and that was the perfect watercolor base for this beach photo. The colors were so much fun to coordinate threads in several blues, paper layers, and soft vellum to back the cut file clouds from the PI free file: Sky's the Limit. 

I used the April Paper Issues Bohemian Rhapsody kit for the sticker title Wanderlust and for paper mat layers! The PI kits always have just the perfect embellishments or papers that I need to finish off so many design projects!

Thanks for stopping by the blog today. 

I hope you join in on the final days of April challenges and

 post them  in the Friends and Fans FB group. 

Have you shopped at Paper Issues?  If not, go check it now for new kits,

 free cut files, and lots of new releases!

Save 20% with my code:

Stacie

Tag us on Social Media--we love seeing what you create!

If you use a PI cut file, use #picutfile and #PaperIssues 

Here's what I used:

Sky's the Limit cut file