Pink Paislee National Scrapbook Day!

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

Happy National Scrapbook Day!!  I hope you're enjoying NSD and that you're playing along with some fun challenges!  I'm here to bring you an NSD Challenge for Pink Paislee.  I have a thing for backgrounds, especially when it comes to creating my own custom backgrounds.  So here's my challenge to you:  Use Patterned Paper Strips to Create Your Own Background.

This technique is a great way to make use of the cute manufacturer strips at the bottom of your 12x12 patterned papers.  I started my layout, by cutting the manufacturer strips from the Fancy Free 12x12 papers.  I also cut the same size strips from some of the patterned papers in the collection.  Then I began placing them around the layout, working in a maze like design around the page.  I used a White cardstock as my base, to make the colors from the patterned paper strips stand out.

The paper strips created a center square on my layout, which was the perfect spot for my photo.  I clustered my title and embellishments around the photo to help it stand out, and to allow for my background design to show.  And I can't resist the cute buttons from the Fancy Free collection, so I placed two of them diagonally on the layout, to complete a couple of my clusters.

I hope you will play along and create a background design with patterned paper strips!  You can use my layout as inspiration or come up with your own idea.  And we would love to see what you create, so make sure you share on Social Media and use the hashtag #ppNSD2016.  You could win some awesome Pink Paislee goodies just for playing along!

ETSY STORE

Hip Kit Club | & Then This Happened

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

It's time to share my new layout this week for Hip Kit Club, using the April 2016 Hip Kit & Add-On Kits!  I decided to do something a little different with Kim Watson's April Subscriber cut file and use it as a stitching template.

I used the Silhouette Sketch Pens to draw the outline of the ampersand on one of the Amy Tangerine patterned papers from American Crafts, included in the April 2016 Main Kit and the April 2016 Paper Add-On Kit. After I hand-stitched with Black embroidery floss, I added my title with the Amy Tangerine letter stickers and the Elle's Studio letter stickers from the April 2016 Project Life Kit. Before adding more embellishments, I journaled around the outside of the ampersand shape, to tell the story behind my photo.

Then I thought it would be fun to fill in the rest of the ampersand with embellishments from ‪Simple Stories, My Mind's Eye, Pinkfresh Studio and Shimelle. I also added in some of the Amy Tangerine rub-ons from the April 2016 Main Kit. I finished things up with a little fringe action! I used the ‪Elle's Studio‬ Ombre patterned paper with my fringe scissors to create a fringe border at the top and bottom of my layout.

This was a fun layout to put together, and I hope I inspired you with some new ideas for your next layout!  And if you would like to see my process video for this layout, you can check it out here!

And one more thing before you go...Hip Kit Club has a fun weekend planned for NSD 2016!  You can join us in the Hip Kit Club member forum on Facebook for challenges, giveaways and inspiration.  Here's a look at the schedule of all of the challenges for Saturday and Sunday!

ETSY STORE

Crate Paper | Everyday Is Mother's Day

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

Mother's Day is almost here, and the Crate Paper Design Team is sharing Mother's Day projects this week on the Blog.  I know that all of us appreciate our mothers and celebrate Mother’s Day one way or another. I must admit though, that almost every year, I forget to take a photo with the kids on Mother’s Day. I know…such a horrible confession from a scrapbooker! But that doesn’t mean that I don’t have plenty of photos of me with the kids, or as a family. That led me to use a photo of all of us together, which was miraculously taken last year on Mother’s Day on a trip to Niagara Falls.

Even though there is one day set aside each year as Mother’s Day, I think it’s definitely okay to use a photo from any time throughout the year on a mother themed layout. If you are a mom, then you are a mom all year long…and you have a mom of your own, who is also a mom all year long. So don’t feel like you can’t create a Mother’s Day layout, if you don’t have a photo taken specifically on Mother’s Day.

When I thought about what I wanted to do for the design of this layout, I kept thinking hearts. I wanted to do something interesting in the background, so I decided to browse Pinterest for ideas. I came across a super cute quilt design, which was perfect for including several patterned papers from the Bloom collection. I followed the quilt design and chose neutral patterns from the Bloom 6x6 paper pad that I cut around 1.75x1.75 inches. Then I chose various shades of pink from the 6x6 paper pad for the heart shape.

For the next step, I placed all of the squares onto a White cardstock background, following the pattern of the quilt design. Once I had all of the squares in place, I machine stitched around the heart shape with Black thread. This helped add to the quilt feel of the layout and made the heart shape stand out a bit more.

I layered my photo, title and a few embellishments from the Bloom collection over the heart design. I love the Gold Happy Thickers, so I used those for the title of the layout. Next I added a few wood veneers that I painted with acrylic paint and one of the Fringe Hearts to add more texture to the layout.

I hope I’ve inspired you today to create your own mother themed layout, whether you’re using a photo of you with your kids or a photo of you and your mom. And remember, you don’t have to use a photo specifically taken on Mother’s Day. Look through some of your photos taken over the years, and I’m sure you will find the perfect photo or photos for your layout!

ETSY STORE

Snapshots Digital Scrapbook Collection by ME!!

I've always thought it would be fun to design my own Scrapbook Collection, and I've been thinking about it for a while now.  I don't have the resources to create a printed collection, but since I own and design for The Cut Shoppe, I decided to just go for it and create the Snapshots Collection as the first Digital Scrapbook Collection in The Cut Shoppe Etsy Store!

The Snapshots Collection is a full digital downloadable collection.  This collection is perfect for your everyday photos and can be used for masculine or feminine layouts.  Here's a look at everything included in the Snapshots collection.

10 Digital/Printable 12x12 Patterned Papers:

5 DIGITAL/PRINTABLE SOLID PAPERS:

1 12x12 DIGITAL/PRINTABLE JOURNALING SHEET (3X4 & 4X6 SIZES):

2 DIGITAL/PRINTABLE ALPHA SETS:

1 DIGITAL/PRINTABLE CUT APART SHEET:

1 DIGITAL/PRINTABLE EPHEMERA PIECES SHEET:

Here are some of the great benefits of a Digital Scrapbook Collection:

*  You can use the collection with your digital or hybrid scrapbooking, or print the items on your home printer.

*  Because it's a Digital Collection, you never have to worry about running out of any of your favorite products or having space to store physical product.  Just use or print, when needed!

*You can easily resize the collection images.

*Use the papers and embellishments with the Print & Cut feature on the Silhouette Cameo for designing and cutting.

The Snapshots collection is now available for purchase in The Cut Shoppe Etsy Store.  With your purchase you will receive all pieces of the collection in two Zip folders and a PDF file is also included as one of the downloads. 

There is a giveaway on The Cut Shoppe Instagram, so make sure you head over to tag a friend for the chance for both of you to win the Snapshots collection!!

ETSY STORE 

Pink Paislee | Sugar & Spice

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

It's Flowers week on the Pink Paislee Blog!  If you love using flowers on your layouts, then you definitely need to check out the projects created by the Design Team this week.  I knew I had to use the gorgeous flower patterned paper in the Fancy Free collection by Paige Evans, and fussy cut the flowers for my layout.

I've had a floral ampersand pinned to my Pinterest boards for a while, and it inspired the design for this layout. I also cut a large floral die cut on my Cameo, to layer behind the ampersand.  I cut the ampersand from cardstock and then layered the fussy cut flowers over the shape.  Once all of the flowers were in place, I machine stitched around the ampersand to add a bit more definition and texture.

The die cut floral background was a perfect way to separate the ampersand from the polka dot background.  I also added pop dots behind the ampersand to make it stand out and add dimension to the layout.

 

Since I placed the ampersand in the center of the layout, I decided to use the Paige Thickers across the center of the layout to create the title “Sugar & Spice”. And I thought it would be fun to alternate my photo with one of the embellishments from the chipboard sheet. I also wanted to add another pop to the flowers on the ampersand so I used several of the colored Fancy Free Buttons in the center of the flowers.

Flowers can be used in so many different ways on your layouts and projects!  I hope I've inspired you with some ideas for using flowers on your next project!

 

 

ETSY STORE

Hip Kit Club | What If You Fly

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

Today I have a new layout to share for Hip Kit Club, using the April 2016 Hip Kit & Add-On Kits!  I took inspiration from our April Mood Board. I wanted to fussy cut those cute butterflies from the Crate Paper patterned paper, included in the April Main Kit and the April Paper Add-On Kit. They were just the right size, to add them to the open spaces of the April In the Stars cut file. And I had several other open spaces on the cut file, so I added some of the Simple Stories heart wood veneers from the April Embellishment Kit.

I also wanted to use a lot of Yellow on the layout, inspired by one of the Mood Board images, so I pulled the Oh Yeah flair button from the April Embellishment Kit and some Shimelle stickers from the April Project Life Kit. 

For a finishing touch I placed a My Mind's Eye enamel dot in the center of each star, around the die cut, to make them stand out a bit more.  And I also have a new Process Video to go along with my layout!  You can check it out on my YouTube channel.

I love finding different ways to use the Kit products with cut files each week! I hope you've been inspired to use your April Hip Kits!

Before you go, check out the info. for the Hip Kit Club National Scrapbook Day Crop!  This is an annual event and we have so much fun every year!!

ETSY STORE

A Flair for Buttons | Celebrate Spring

Last year, I didn't get a lot of photos from Easter weekend onto layouts.  This year, I'm trying to use some of the 2015 photos and make sure I document some of our 2016 photos, too.  The Hello Spring Flair set is perfect for spring photos, and I still had several left over from the recent AFFB and The Cut Shoppe product swap.  I chose three buttons from the set, and decided that the Happy Place collection from Fancy Pants would coordinate well with the Flair and the colors in my photo.

I chose the Happy Place collection based on the color scheme, even though I knew I didn't have a lot of embellishments left after using it so many times.  So I decided to do a less is more look on this layout.  The Flair Buttons from the Hello Spring set were the perfect substitute for the lack of embellishments I had to go with the collection, and I also mixed in several die cuts.

 
I wanted each of the Flair Buttons to have their own spot on the layout, so I welded several messy circle die cuts together to create the die cut background.  The smallest circles on the die cut were just the right size for the Flair.  And I made sure to adhere a contrasting patterned paper behind each of the small circles, so the Flair buttons would stand out.

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

Next time you have a collection that you want to use that's short on embellishments, take a look at your Flair Buttons, and find coordinating colors or designs.  And if you're interested in picking up the Hello Spring Flair set, you can visit the A Flair for Buttons shop and find it HERE!



 

ETSY STORE