Hip Kit Club - Best Day Ever December 2015 Kits

I have been creating a lot of Christmas layouts recently so I decided to document another celebration, my daughters third birthday from October which I have not yet documented. When I saw Ashley’s recent weekly sketch challenge I knew this would be a perfect way to incorporate it.

Here is the sketch, the challenge closed on the Forum but you are still free to use it as inspiration like I have.

And here is my layout. I have adapted the two photos into one large 5×7″ photo. I have also put the three line title together at the top of the page rather than separated by the photo. I am really happy with how it turned out.

I have recently seen Nancy altering wood veneer by masking off sections and painting them. I was inspired to give this a go with my favourite gold embossing powder. It worked a treat and I am so happy with how it turned out!

I also embossed a couple of the diamond shaped veneer and scattered those and the crosses in a diagonal direction across the page. I added a couple of Heidi Swapp star rub ons and a splattering of Gold Lame Colour Shine.

As I have embellished the top right of the page, I felt I needed to balance the bottom left. I did this with an embellishment cluster of mainly the gorgeous shine ephemera.

To create the love heart I used the exclusive heart background cut file by Ashley and cut it so that I only had the one heart. I then enlarged it to take up approx. a 10″ space. Once backed each section with the four sections in the gorgeous patterned paper by Seven Paper from the Goldie collection.

I hope this layout has given you some inspiration today. I will have a process video uploaded to my You Tube channel soon, so it you don’t subscribe already you can follow me here

Jot Magazine - Issue 12 Available Now

Hey everyone

A quick update to share that incase you missed it the latest issue of Jot Magazine is now out! And it is AH-mazing! The issues really do just keep getting better and better.

Click the cover below to read it! 

Heres a sneak of some of my work you can find within it. 

Enjoy the mag! 

Raquel xx

Pink Paislee - Countdown to Christmas Day 12

I'm here today to share Day 12 in the countdown to christmas! We are having great fun in our household at the moment with the escapades of a little elf! On this particular day Chippy our Elf hid ten candy canes around our house. I had taken quite a few photos so in todays post I show you a way to add a little flap to your journal so you can add extra photos or journaling. 

I decided to type the journaling in a block. To do this I simply measured the width of the space I wanted to fill and cut the card stock to size. This gave me a guide to how much journaling I could also type to fit within the space.

I layered a few different elements onto this photo mat. I added some vellum from my stash and also a tag from the ephemera pack. The sweet treats tag was perfect for the theme of this page, and the cute candy cane embellishments, they were just made for this layout!

This was the first time I had used these gorgeous large alphabet, I love the statement that they make!

How cute is this little candy cane from the enamel pack!?!

This photo is showing my little girl sharing how many candy canes she had found so far she was so proud! Here to the right of the photo you can see the tree clip, this is holding the flap containing more photos together.

Here is what is under the flap. more pics of the kiddies enjoying their candy cane hunt. It was both their first time eating candy canes. Yum yum!

To get to the hidden photos, all you simply need to do is remove the clip and lift the flap. So much fun, and a great interactive element to add to a page.

I hope my post today has given you another idea for how to incorporate more photos into a daily spread. Its so fun and easy to make!
Don't forget to continue to visit the Pink Paislee blog this month for more inspiration from the design team. Each and every post so far has blown me away and provided me with so many tips and tricks!

Raquel x

Collection Used: Yuletide

Hip Kit Club - Trim the Tree using the November kits

Hey everyone, I am here here today sharing with you a fun layout I created using the November kits. My design was very much inspired by Nicole's exclusive cut files, the tree in particular, which helped form one of the main elements of the page.

The ombre teal paper which was exclusive to the kit and designed by Kim Watson was perfect to use and back behind the cut file tree. I love the effect it gives. The tree was small in size on the initial cut file, the silhouette gives you so much design opportunities that instead of it being a small accent on a page it can be made into a main feature. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my silhouette?!?

I also cut some of Nicoles files onto the wood grain printed paper also designed by Kim Watson. I love the combination of the teal, woodgrain and silver together. I also love that the stars in the foam glittered stickers match the cut files. It made them perfect to layer on top of each other. Another one of Nicole's cut files, that was shaped like a streamer, I used to replicate tinsel on the tree.

How cute is this little bear…I just had to cut him out from one of my scraps of a Pinkfresh Studio paper. I love that he is holding a present and I have placed him in front of the tree where presents will be placed. I added the 2015 glittered stickers to the bottom of the tree.

The title for this page is 'trim the tree; however I added the word 'Joy' also from the exclusive cut files. This was cut using the woodgrain paper and backed with the teal ombre paper. I also added pops of the exclusive wood veneer into the layout, to continue to tie that woodgrain look in.

There is so much dimension added to this page through adhering the main tree and the photo cluster to the page with foam. I love the look this gives.

 I am currently waiting for the gorgeous December kit, I can't wait to get creating with it!

Raquel x

Documenting our December - Day 2

Hey everyone, Raquel Bowman here today to share with you ‘Day 2’of the Christmas Countdown. This is my first time to document December in this format and I am so excited to be using the gorgeous Pink Paislee Journal and the rest of the Yuletide collection to do it. If you have not seen this collection in detail yet, I filmed a video sharing the journal and coordinating pieces on you tube, you can see it here.

The first thing I did to complete my page was to print out my photos on my epson picturemate and gather my supplies.

The base for this page came together quite quickly once I had laid my photos down and added a few paper and embellishment layers.

Typewritten journaling is my absolute favourite thing and I love the finished look it gives to a page. Plus it is super quick to do too!

Once I have typed my journaling I will generally cut it into strips and adhere it in strip form.

Here is my finished spread…..now to look at each part in more detail!

I have decorated my house in the traditional christmas colours of red, green and gold, so this collection being very traditional in colour and elements is perfect for me. This photo has a combination of paper layers, ephemera and do you see that gorgeous enamel candy cane?

These red foil numbers are perfect to add to signify each day of the countdown. They were made to fit beautifully within that space within the journal.

I love using a few different materials within my layers, paper, vellum etc. Here I have layered up the acetate tag from the ephemera and finished it with some cute red and white twine.

We have ‘Chippy’ visiting our house for the first time this year. My daughter is beyond excited about him so I am planning on adding his daily adventures in the journal too. I have highlighted him in the picture below by stapling on the acetate frame from the ephemera pack to him.

I wanted to include a few photos of what Chippy brought Charlotte on this particular morning. Its a fun Santa countdown where Charlotte gets to glue a cotton wool ball onto Santas beard each day. I just had to include these three photos, especially that last smiley face! To do this I adhered them in a row, overlapping them slightly to look like a photo strip. I then layered them up with some paper and a few embellishments and called it done!

Well, I seemed to have started documenting my December strong! Lots of photos were taken and I am looking forward to having a complete project at the end of it. My craft room, I will admit, contains a number of unfinished mini albums. Hopefully this isn't one to add to that list!

Raquel x