Simple Stories | Be Thankful Always

This is a personal blog. All editorial content and projects are intellectual property of ashleyhortondesigns.com. I do receive compensation and material product from Simple Stories to develop my craft posts, but all ideas and opinions are my own.

 

I love this time of year!  November means Fall weather, Thanksgiving, spending time with family and a lot of delicious food!  It's a time to be THANKFUL.  But it doesn't mean it's the only time for us to be thankful.  We can be thankful everyday and in everything.  I wanted to document an everyday kind of thankful on these layouts that were on the Simple Stories Blog earlier this week.  These are just everyday photos, but they can easily be used with the We Are Family collection to create a thankful themed layout.
 

I started my first layout, We Are Blessed, by cutting a large arrow background from White card stock.  Then I backed the open space with the Our Story patterned paper and machine stitched around the arrows.  I wanted to use the open spaces between the arrows to place my photos, embellishments and title.

I added my two photos first, to give me a starting point for the rest of my design.  Once the photos were in place, I added my title to the top section of the arrows, using the We Are Family wood veneers mixed with a die cut word.  Then I moved on to embellishing the bottom section of the arrows, with a mix of Stickers, Bits, Enamel Dots, Wood Veneers and Bradz from the We Are Family collection.

 
After I have 95% of my layout design finished, I like to go back and add a few other touches.  I wanted to bring some embellishments to the title, so I added a small arrow Sticker, Brad and Bits & Pieces heart with an Enamel Dot in the center.  I also wanted to add a few things to the photos, to help draw your eye.  I kept it simple with a couple of Stickers and Bits & Pieces from the We Are Family collection.

On my second layout, XOXO YOU, I created a large typography graphic by welding several words together in Silhouette Studio.  I wanted to have a thankful themed text in the background of the layout.  I decided to cut the words from the Making Memories patterned paper in the We Are Family collection.  This pattern allowed me to bring in a lot of color, without using a lot of different papers.

Before I added the die cut words to the White card stock background, I created an offset design in Silhouette Studio and drew the outline of the words with a Brown Sketch Pen.  Once the words were finished drawing, I added the die cut words to the drawn image.  And before I added my photo or any embellishments to the layout, I added a few splatters with Brown spray mist.

I didn't want to cover a lot of the background words, so I placed my photo to the right hand side of the page, and added my title above it and some embellishments below it.  And I added a few of the Bits & Pieces, Wood Veneers and Enamel Dots from the We Are Family collection to the left hand side of the page to balance out the layout.

I hope these two layouts have given you inspiration for creating thankful themes, to go with your photos all year long.  The right collection, embellishments and title can bring a thankful look to any of your layouts!

 

 ETSY STORE