Weekend Fun

Hello its Melissa here for the last time with you.  Today I have a layout to share that I made with the Follow Your Heart Background Cut File.  As soon as I saw this cut file it reminded me of a spiderman heart cobweb, and when my son (now 10) was little and used to dress up in superhero costumes!!  These photos aren't Spiderman, but I think Superman can work too!  He was only 2 when I took these at what was at the time our favourite cafe in Queenstown.

I used my April Hip Kit with a couple of pieces from the March kit.  I must admit that I struggle with scrapping primary colours, especially photos like these with strong red and blue tones.

I love this cut file so much!  I wanted to let the Dear Lizzy background paper show so I only backed two of the inner hearts. 

I had fun layering embellishments that went with my masculine page!

And here is the cut file.

Thanks so much for looking!  

Finally I want to thank Ashley for the amazing year on this team, all her support and inspiration.  I'm so sad this is my last post, I adore the cut files and I've loved designing with my wonderful team mates.  I will always be so appreciative that she gave me this opportunity,  I've loved every minute of it, it was truely a dream come true! xxx

Oh Boy

Hello, its Melissa and I'm so excited to be back with you again.  Today I have a layout to share, and I set myself a challenge to scrap an older photo of my son as a baby with a relatively girly cut file.  I adore this photo, I've had it printed off for years, but I've never been inspired to scrap it.  As soon as I saw the Social Butterfly cut file I knew I had to use it for this photo.

I used the 8.5 x 11 version of this cut file with Cocoa Vanilla Studio's "Make A Wish" collection.
In order to carry on with the boy theme, I limited myself to a predominately monochromatic colour scheme of blue and white.

I wrote my journaling on a tag and hung it off one of the butterflies wings.

I love that the butterflies don't cover the entire background.  For me its a challenge to leave a cut file plain white and not backed with patterned paper, but I love how it looks!

And here is the cut file.

Thanks so much for looking

Oh Ava

Hello its Melissa here and I can't believe May is nearly over!  Its almost Winter her in the Southern Hemisphere, and my youngest is 6 months already!!

For this post I decided to focus on a layout with a big title and small photos.  I used my March Hip Kit, and in order to make this layout come together quickly I used the Paige Evans Oh My Heart paper with all the squares of patterns on it.  I cut the title with the All Caps Alpha.  When I first made it the letters were getting a little lost, so I outlined them with watercolours in corresponding colours. This layout is all about our baby girl and her love for her blanket.

I love the little bear sticker from Shimelle's Little by Little collection standing on the "A"!

I had fun layering the Oh My Heart floral die cuts.

 Here is the All Caps Alpha.

Thanks so much for looking! I'll see you soon in June.

Bible Journaling

Hello! Its Melissa here and today I'm back with you to share something thats a bit different than my usual 12x12 scrapbooking layouts.  I started Bible Journaling last year after being inspired by the ladies at Illustrated Faith.  To be honest I've been very intermittent with my journalling, however about 2-3 months ago I started reading the Bible on my iPhone in the night while I feed my baby. Being in the Word on a daily basis re-sparked my love for the Word, and just recently I've felt like creating in my Bible again.

I've been doing a devotion called "Tips on Motherhood" by Karen Stubbs, and one of the day's readings was on the importance of limiting our children on their technology use.  The scripture that accompanied the devotional was Ephesians 5:15-16, and as I read it I knew I needed to journal in my Bible.  The April Showers Cut File Set was perfect for my journaling.  I used my March Hip Kit, and Close To My Heart watercolour paints.

I love that the doodled border helps contain and highlight my journaling.  I selected my watercolour colours from the shades of colour in this Dear Lizzy paper.

The "Love" cloud was perfect to portray my love for my children, hence I need to limit their screen time.  I decided to cut the cloud on white cardstock, and back the tiny open hearts subtly with pink cardstock.

And here is the awesome cut file:

I hope I've inspired you to use these amazing cut files for projects other than scrapbook layouts too! 

Thanks for looking :)

Happy Adventure

Hello again, it's Melissa here and I'm back with you from Autumn here in the Southern Hemisphere! I must say I've been looking at lots of Spring photos on social media and wishing it was Spring here!!

Today I have a layout to share of my oldest two kids that was taken for the school calendar last year.  Its such a lovely photo of the two of them, and trust me its very hard to get a smiling and happy photo without someone pulling a face!!  Of course in the making of this layout I had to restrain myself from using hearts and words such as "love" haha!!

I used "The Half of It" Background cut file, and I turned it upside down.  Remember to always make the cut files work for you, for your layout.  I also used my February Hip Kit.

I prepared my background with my watercolours and the packaging technique.  I applied gold acrylic paint with a baby wipe.  I layered the cut file over the top so the paint would peek through.

I embellished with die cuts, a fringe butterfly and a fussy cut butterfly.

I made my title with a sticker and a chipboard word.

And here is the cut file which you can purchase here.

Thanks for looking!

Filter-Fun

Hello!  It's Melissa here, and today I have a layout featuring my favourite SnapChat filter, the adorable bunny!  I loved it so much I had to try it on all of my kids, even our sleeping baby!  I used the Bless Your Heart cut file set, and loved them so much I had to use all 4 on the one layout.  I used my January Hip Kit, featuring Maggie Holmes "Chasing Dreams".  The paper strips at the top and bottom of the page are Dear Lizzy.

I started with white cardstock and pink and gold acrylic paint.  I wanted to keep the cut file hearts white, so I painted behind each one in pink gold.  When I adhered my photos and hearts I used minimal adhesive behind the photos so that the hearts looked like they were floating.

I kept all my embellishment around each photo to one area, which enabled each cut file to shine.

This layout has minimal patterned paper, and I love how it turned out.

Here is the cut file set.

Thanks so much for looking!

You & Me

Hello!! It's Melissa here and I'm so happy to be back with you in a new month with a new layout!!  For this one I used one of the cut files from the Wreathed in Love set.  They are just gorgeous and I love scrapping with wreaths.  I used the remnants of my Cocoa Vanilla Studio "Love Always" collection, which is so beautiful!  The photo is of my son and our second daughter at a Wildlife Park a couple of years ago.  She was loving walking after him!

I made a little cluster at the top of the page to balance the photo and cluster.

I left the cut file plain, I did consider water colouring it but I decided it had more effect with the beautiful embellishments on top.

The silver sequin heart was totally hoard-able, so I was so happy to get it on this layout! 

Here is the stunning cut file set.

Thanks so much for looking!  I'll be back later in the month!

Little Moments

Hello again, its Melissa here and I'm back to share a new layout with you.  We've just had 7 weeks of Summer holidays here, and my oldest two kids just went back to school last week.  My layout today features a photo of my third child giving her baby a bath during the holidays, she's spent a lot of time watching me do baby stuff with our youngest who is now 10 weeks old.  I used my December Hip Kit and the amazing Geo Globe cut file.

I love backing large cut files with patterned paper, its therapeutic and creates a beautiful effect!

I kept my embellishment around my photo to a minimum, but did have fun with the little tassels.

I emphasised the circular geo globe by journalling in a circle around the edge.

Here is the stunning cut file.

Thanks for looking!

His Selfie Game is Strong

Hello it's Melissa here and I'm so happy to be back with you again!  If you have a son like mine  you're likely to have loads of selfies on your phone!  Sam (nearly 10) takes selfies every time he has my phone, and he leaves them as a surprise for me to find.

For this layout I used the And Then and Friends Forever cut file sets, and I used my December Hip Kit.  I choose the ampersand with stars, because I thought it really suited my son, and cut it large.  When I saw "Selfie" on the Forever Friends set I knew it was perfect for one of Sam's photos.

I went for a large title based around the "Selfie" cut file, and used a common slang phrase of today's day and age, which will be interesting to look back on in perpetuity.  I had to explain to Sam what it meant!

I love how the large ampersand looks cut from the Pink Paislee Take Me Away paper!

Here are the cut files:

There are so many other design possibilities for these cut file sets, which means more bang for your buck!

Thanks so much for looking