Roll the Dice February: State Fair Time

Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope you are off to a sweet start on your day!  We are Rolling the Dice at Paper Issues today and Rachel rolled 5 photos and 3 circles.

I went with Sweet Nothings by Fancy Pants Designs to celebrate this day of LOVE!  This page documents a trip to the MN State Fair.  We love the fair food and the Super Slide!

I went with a banner style layout design to incorporate 5 little pictures in a way different than I normally do--use a photo collage print!  The scraps and strips of Fancy Pants Sweet Nothings paper came in handy to cut at a diagonal and layer!  I added pop dots under them to add dimension above the bold stripe FP paper!

 I played by the original roll and only used three circles!  The rest were the awesome puffy sticker hearts that I absolutely love!  They are so much fun to sprinkle all over!  The black puffy alpha stickers are a classic font that is so pretty!

I added a few bits of ephemera and sprinkled India ink all around the background.  It's the fair--it better have  a fun vibe to it!

We are looking forward to your creative ways to sneak in 5 photos and 3 or more circles.  I hope you play along with Rachel and Roll the Dice!  Post your new projects between now and March 5th to have an entry at the PI gift cards.

 Don't forget Friday, Feb 17th is another edition of Scrap n Chat on Facebook!  We are excited to see you online!  Make plans to chat it up, play the game and complete the challenge!

Have you checked out all of the new bliss in the PI store?  I am loving all of the new things that Cassie has in stock!

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Stacie

Happy Valentine's Day!  Happy Galentine's Day!  Happy Friendship Day!  Enjoy!

Love the Life You Live

Today we reveal the new quote of the month for the Notable Quotable challenge at Paper Issues. Love this quote and knew I had to bust out the older collection by Amy Tangerine that had this quote on the PL card set.  I mixed this with new Amy Tangerine's On A Whim.  The background is by Simple Stories that I had made in advance with extra acrylic paint I had mixed up.

Here are a few close ups-- I started with the painted background and then carried the color into the gold embossed watercolor tag from Amy Tangerine's On a Whim collection. Also check out the washi!

The quote card was hoarded and in my stash from Amy's Plus One collection. It got s fresh look with the clear gold stickers on it!

The Do Your Thing sticker was easy to tie into the design by matting it on patterned papers.




Thanks for stopping by! I hope you are super inspired to use the quote Michelle
selected for the month!
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Sweet Nothings Love You

Check out the weekly product spotlight at Paper Issues.  The gorgeous Sweet Nothings by Fancy Pants Designs is our focus today!  It has such pretty colors and patterned papers to use beyond Valentine's Day!

I used two free cut files from the Paper Issues store.  The wreaths cut file includes 4 wreaths and this is one of them.  I backed many of the heart leaves and left a few open. 

 The puffy stickers include many sequin stickers so I placed those throughout the layout along with the paper sequins included in the ephemera bits and pieces pack.

India ink splatters are a fave of mine.  I love the shine it has after it dries.

The puffy hearts are a total must have!  I love the funky shapes and the assortment of solid and patterns!  Great for layering on ephemera, too!

Have a lovely day!  

I hope you are able to stop by the Paper Issues store to check out all of the new collections and free cut files.  These files make for an easy page design once they are cut out!  Be sure to tag us when you use things from Paper Issues!  We'd love to see what creative ideas you have!

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Swag Bag Snowflake

Today we are up on the Paper Issues blog rocking the amazing PI Swag Bags.  I love the Paper Issues monthly Swag Bag kits that Cassie curates and coordinates so perfectly!  Here's another LO using the December Swag Bag.  I love that this is already the third layout I have made with embellishments, papers, and amazing bits!  I made a different variation of the paper snowflake that was inspired by TillyandArthur on Instagram last year.  This time I altered the shape of the snowflake.

I cut three 3x4 swag bag cards that I wanted to use for this project into 1/2 inch strips.  These are then cut down to the size needed to be the 'v's on the snowflake.  I cut one 4x6 card into 1/2 in. strips as well and these are the snowflake arms that come outward.  

I placed the pieces down with minimal adhesive and then added stitching.  Some spots shifted when I was stitching--so it's a good idea to add more adhesive to avoid the lack of alignment!!  When I finished sewing, I always find it's so hard to cover any of the design up!! 

I layered the photo of my daughter with several beautiful gold 3x4 cards included in the swag bag.  I popped this photo up using foam adhesive.

I love the sequins, Simple Stories clear stickers, gold paper clip, and Fancy Pants Merry & Bright ephemera (all included in the SWAG BAG!!) that worked so perfectly with my LO.  

Just one more close up-- I love the pops of gold scattered throughout this design!  I lifted up the paper strips to add dimension against the snowy Simple Stories Winter Wonderland (similar) paper.

I hope you are keeping your eyes on the Paper Issues store for monthly swag bag releases....or that you sign up for a six month subscription for a monthly swag bag!  

Also, many of the new CHA releases are coming this week! 

Stock up and save 20% off of everything you buy with my code: Stacie

You can't beat Paper Issues amazing service and shipping.

November Sketchy Saturday: Wonder Fall

Today is a new sketch for the month at Paper Issues.  Check out this fun sketch by Amy Coose:

Here's my take using Echo Park Fall Is In The Air:

I love this background wood grain paper with the collection. 

The acorn paper prompted me to get the acorn cut file that I bought last year from The Cut Shoppe and put it to use in the embellishment spots on the sketch.  I also used the leaves from The Cut Shoppe and watercolored and misted them. 

I added photo mat papers from the same Echo Park collection.  I backed the acorn cut files with the rich brown patterned paper which is the side B to the acorn patterned paper.

I stitched around the patterned papers before I layered them to add texture

 and interest to the design.

I scanned in my handwriting for the title

 and turned it into a cut file for this "wonderful" leaf page.

The background wood planks paper is such a fave of mine with fall pictures!  I hope you join us in using the sketch for November and post it in our Facebook group for a chance to win!

Save 20% off everything you buy at Paper Issues!  My code to share with you to save: Stacie

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

Pawsitively Pets at Paper Issues

Thank you for stopping by to check out Pawsitively Pets at Paper Issues. For anyone that knows me, you know we do not have pets! However, we have many family and friends who give us plenty of animal loving time so we aren't left out!  For this challenge, I stuck with our giraffe pictures from the Naples, FL Zoo.  We loved watching the kids feed the giraffes their lettuce!

For this challenge, you are to use something you've been hoarding in your stash, and something new to you!  I used the new Amy Tangerine Oh Happy Life collection for the paper elements and the coordinating stamp to do an embossing technique with a gold watercolor wash.  This enabled me to create my own patterned paper to mimic the look of giraffe spots.

After stamping and embossing the giraffes on the white cardstock, I flipped over the cardstock and added gesso in the area of the stamped giraffes.  *Important this is added on the backside of the paper not over the top of your stamped images! This helps to create a barrier for the paper and decreases the warping of the paper.  Next, was adding the watercoloring:  

I love how the water beads up over the embossed image giving the giraffe spots!  I stitched down the bold chevron/angled paper next.

I also added the foam Thickers, ephemera, stickers, and even the packaging flap for the sticker booklet became a layer for my picture.  The "Remember" is from an Amy Tangerine Better Together transparency that I finally cut into and used!  Also, the roller stamp is the cutest with the rows of hearts!

I hope you'll check out the Paper Issues blog post and play along at Paper Issues Fans and Friends on Facebook.  We would love to see your pet or animal inspired layouts mixed with the challenge details!

If you want to try a project using Amy Tangerine's new collection Oh Happy Life, Cassie has it in the Paper Issues store.  You can get it for 20% off using my code: Stacie