Mix It Up Monday- XOXO Arrows

Today we are up on the Paper Issues blog for Mix It Up Monday.  This month Orange is challenging us to try embossing with mixed media!
I gathered up my stash of arrow stamps and embossed them before adding watercolors. I also had some floral stamps that I embossed and painted as well!  Love a good watercolor resist project!

The Simple Stories Love & Adore collection is so easy to work with!  I love the colors in it and that pop of yellow is just my favorite! See the embossed arrows peeking in the top corner? They were so much fun to create a pattern with on the top and bottom of the page.

I added watercolor to the chipboard Love in my title.  I love the mix of ephemera, 4x6 stickers, chipboard, and cardstock stickers included in the Love & Adore collection that worked perfectly with this page.

I added the embossed florals at the top corner of the LO and lower corner of my photo.  See the shine of the embossed arrows at the top edge?!  I love the black, shiny glitter embossing with this collection.  I love the paper elements patterned paper for quick strips of paper to add to a LO.  The polka dots paper add that pop of bold color to draw the eye to the photo.

I hope you will mix it up this month and join us on PIFF for a chance to win a PI giftcard.  Embossing on a project is so much fun to try out.  I have used this technique a few times and it is always fun (think crayon resist art as a child!!)  I love the look it creates.

Save 20% on all the things at Paper Issues.  There are soooo many new things calling your name.

Snow in Love

Today we are on the Paper Issues blog showing off the newest Bella Blvd and Illustrated Faith releases!  They are truly versatile and can be used for more than one theme!
I used two Illustrated Faith collections for my project: Bright and Brave and You Are Loved.

I love that I could make a winter page with products that were not winter specific! 

The You are Loved collection bits worked well with my title and I loved the banner bits/die cut pieces from the November swag bag and You Are Loved sticker sheet.

I loved all of the tabbies that were included in this month's swag bag.  The Bright and Brave tabbies had the snowflake looking one which matched the papers and I loved it for this snowy LO.

My fave alpha stamps are showing off way in the back of this photo.  Get these Homespun alphas for the handcut letter look.  I stamped these on cardstock and quickly fussy-cut them out.  I love how it turned out!

Layers of gorgeous prints!  I adore this Bright and Brave side B "Typed" paper that looks like colorful snowflakes. Get these pretty papers now in the shop!  They have the mixed media look on some of them like my background "The Heavens" paper.  It makes for a quick layout when you don't have to wait for paint splatters to dry!

Thanks for checking out our product spotlight on all of the new Bella Blvd & Illustrated Faith collections!

Save 20% with my code: Stacie

Get shopping at Paper Issues and link up your Bella projects that you create.  Tag us so we can see your work on Instagram.  Post your work on our Facebook group to be eligible for prizes!

Beautiful Smile

Today it's all about getting messy at Paper Issues with a new Mix It Up Monday.
The challenge this month is stamping and using stamping in a variety of ways.

This process was fun and tiring all in one.  I would stamp a few images and then quickly add the embossing powder and run over to my heat wand.  A few times I had to emboss the circles a second time as they were too faint..  I added messy stripes of water color to match with colors in Amy Tangerine's collection.

I embossed two different circles stamps.  The Amy Tangerine stamp crosshatch circle and the other was from my stash.

I painted and mixed the gelatos over the letters on the white foam Thicker title.  I love the red polka dot paper (side B) of the Around Town paper from this collection.

I added ephemera and clear acetate pieces since haven't used many of them, I challenged myself to put them in the design.  I also used clear stickers from the sticker booklet for the rest of the design details.  Since the painted and stamped background is busy, I kept the rest at a minimum!

Isn't this the cutest?  The dragonfly landed on his shoulder and stayed there for the longest time!

I hope you are inspired to try some new techniques with your stamps and mixed media on your projects!  Share with us on Instagram or in our Facebook PIFF group!  We'd love to see what you create!

Personalize Your Pages

Hello!  I am excited to have my first blog post up today on the Paper Issues blog.  I love to find new ways to use the things I buy and today I am sharing how to personalize your projects with title details and background ideas!

It is sometimes hard to use up all of the ephemera pieces that come with a collection.  I wanted to use several pieces from the new Amy Tangerine Oh Happy Life collection to add details and interest throughout my layout.  Since my daughter was looking over the top of her glasses at the newly fallen hail after a summer storm, I put the glasses from the ephemera in the word 'Look'.  I also used the acetate word crazy as it still allows you to see the hand stitched cloud below it.

I bought the Amy Tangerine stamps and wanted to use the cloud as a background paper design.  I used her 11AM patterned paper as a guide to picking my ink colors and making the white on white stitched clouds as a texture and fun design element to mix up the stamping.  I stamped a cloud on a scrap and cut it out to create my template for where to poke holes for stitching.  I use the Amy Tangerine Embroidery kit to poke the holes and love the foam pad that goes under the paper I am working on.

Stitching is great to do while catching up on your favorite tv series or movie!  It does take a bit of time, but I love the added look they give a layout.

I used the die cut tag as a layer under my photo as a pop of white to draw the eye into the photo detail of the hail.  I added several clear stickers throughout the page from the sticker booklet. I also added a little bitty puffy cloud sticker up at the top to draw attention to the top of the title.  Using a mix of fonts, textures, and alpha stickers can bring colors from the layout together and create a unique look.

Thanks for taking a peek today at how I add to my pages and use my supplies to personalize my page to my photos!  Get all of these Amy Tangerine products and more at Paper Issues with my 20% off 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

This is the Heart of Summer

I was in love with the colors and summer vibe in the new Pinspired Mood Board at Paper Issues.

My new stash of papers included Simple Stories Summer Vibes. The background paper was perfect for a sunburst style cut file. This one is from The Cut Shoppe called String Art.

Using the paper as my guide for colors, I watercolored to match the patterned paper.

To help lessen the warping in the paper, I stitched down the center of each ray. I used the heart as my cutting template for my pool pictures and tucked them in. I stamped sentiments on the rays in similar color inks.

Happy summer! Enjoy these sweet days!

4th of July

I was excited to try out my new SC stamp set for the Make It Big class by Paige Evans. 

The inside is a mix of star stamps by MAMBI and Elle's Studio.

This card will link up to Paper Issues Red, White, and Blue Issue. I also linked this Instagram photo collage LO:

Love You Two

This was for Big Picture Classes Rainbow class. I adjusted Jen Chapin's pretty 8.5x11 page to a 12x12. I stamped the Kelly Purkey Sketchbook stamps for the kids names. 

I went with bold black Thickers to draw your eye into the photos. 

I added dimension to some elements and added tone on tone stamps as well as flair. Hope your day is bright and full of color!

Tropical Smoothie Love

Each vacation we take to warm locations, the kids can't wait to order special fruit smoothies. The pineapple stamp from the Studio Calico Far Far Away Card Kit was begging to become patterned paper! 

First I stamped and used embossing powder in pastel yellow to help keep the watercolors in check and minimize paper warping.

Next, I watercolored the yellow, added the gold, and used two greens for depth.

I added the mega title and SC cut file love. I am definitely seeing more pineapple projects in my future!

Two

A grid page to tackle several Instagram square photos. I used a mini roller stamp from Glitz Design to add movement to the center of the page.

Lots of numbers are always a good idea for a birthday page! This goes perfect with Paper Issues current link party.

Hello Fall Love

Studio Calico's October Walden Scrapbook kit was mainly used. I adore the colorful vellum leaves that were included along with the chevron and hello stamps. The clouds are Studio Calico cut files. The scripty love cloud is one of Paige Evans  designs for Studio Calico. Maggie Holmes Open Book mini card- I love everything about this sums up our beautiful fall day. You four loved laughing as you collected piles of leaves at Lochness Park and threw them in the air on cue! The cloud paper from Studio Calico is just a favorite of mine and perfect for the colors in these pictures.