Bloom | Kitaholic Kits April 2021

Hi everyone, 

Back again to share my final project for Kitaholic Kits using the April 2021 kit. This project was inspired by the Simple Stories 'Bunnies and Blooms' items that were in the kit, which had a very Spring / gardening vibe to them. I thought they would work well with some photos of one of my boys that I took when he picked his first homegrown strawberries. (He was so proud!)

I started with one of the Studio Light papers for my background featuring small spots in blue, pink and purple. I then pulled pink, blue and lilac papers (from Studio Light and Obed Marshall) from the kit to match and created some layers to go underneath my photo. I also added a piece of the teal paper to tie in with my son's shirt in the photos. Besides the papers, I also tucked in a blue paper doily and some frayed gauze from my stash. 

Once I had the papers in place, I pulled out some cut files that I had laying around. These were floral design ones that I had cut previously and had gone into my "miscut" pile. (Some had a bit of fraying, parts not cut properly, etc.) These were all subscriber exclusive cut files from a previous kit (I think November or December?)

I took the cut files and cut them into pieces with the intention of tucking them in amongst my layers. I first decided to colour them though, so I took the green Heidi Swapp chalk ink from the mixed media add-on kit, mixed it with a little water and used a brush to paint it on. I then tucked the pieces in to help frame around my photos.

For my page title, I used the large bloom word from the Simple Stories 'Bunnies & Blooms' Page Pieces pack, which I ran across the bottom edge of my photos. I then embellished around my photos using more of the die cuts from the same pack mixed with some of the coordinating 'Bunnies and Blooms' chipboard stickers. 

I also added some stickers from the Maggie Holmes 'Garden Party' sticker book and wrote my journalling on a small label in the bottom right corner of the page.

I really love how this layout turned out! (And most importantly, my son does too.) If you'd like to see how I created it, you can watch my process video here:

That's all for my April kit shares, I'll be back again soon with a fresh kit and some new projects. Until next time, happy scrapping! X

Easter '20 | Kitaholic Kits April 2021

Hi everyone,

Today I am sharing my third project using the Kitaholic Kits April 2021 kit and mixed media add-on kit. This time, I was inspired by the sweet little motifs in the Maggie Holmes 'Garden Party' sticker book, that had me thinking of sweet treats and Easter, so I decided to document some photos of my kids from Easter morning last year. 

The challenge of working with the stickers from this book on a 12x12" layout is that the stickers are a pretty small size, so I knew I had to scale things back on my page to suit them. I printed four photos, each one 3x4", to allow me to have multiple photos on the page without overwhelming it. I also knew I had to keep the focal area of my layout in relatively tight so the stickers wouldn't get lost. 

For my background, I used white cardstock and one of the Heidi Swapp chalk inks from the mixed media kit. I swiped the ink pad back and forth across my page, then used a wide brush loaded with water to blend the ink out. 

The stencilled detail was added later using a stencil from Obed Marshall (also from the mixed media kit), a sponge dauber, and my Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide.

Over the top of the ink I added a narrow, vertical piece of patterned paper to define the area where my photos would go, then tucked in some tags that I had hand cut from another paper (both of these were Obed Marshall 'Buenos Dias' papers). I also tucked in a mini doily and some small scraps of paper I had left from my previous project. My cardstock was also bordered with one of the Obed Marshall papers.

Besides the Maggie Holmes sticker book, the other embellishments on my layout were a mix of the coordinating Maggie Holmes 'Garden Party' Thickers, and gold Thickers - both also included in the kit. I finished off with some stamped phrases using a roller stamp from my stash and Teal Archival ink, and of course, a few splatters!

You can watch exactly how this layout came together in my process video:

Thanks for popping by today so I could share this with you. Until next time, happy scrapping! X

Hello Sweet Sunshine | Kitaholic Kits April 2021

Hi again everyone! It's time to share another project created for Kitaholic Kits using the fabulous April kit. For this layout, I was challenged to dust off some under-used tools from my stash so I pulled out a couple of border punches and an old stencil and combined them with my kit to create something new.

For this page I decided to document my huge love of coffee with a selfie that I took one morning with my favourite coffee cup. Because of the bold black tones in my photo, I started with the black and white checked paper from Doodlebug Design as the base for my page. I cut out a large piece from the corner that I knew wouldn't be seen and set it aside to use for another part of my page. 

Over the top of the black and white check, I added a large piece of the yellow spotted paper, which is from the Obed Marshall 'Buenos Dias' collection. I used an old Martha Stewart punch to punch the heart detail along one edge. 

For my sunburst pattern, I used the grey wood grain print from the reverse side of the black & white check. I used an old Studio Calico stencil as a template and traced the rays by hand. I then layered them over the yellow paper and positioned them so they would radiate out from the right side of my photo. Over the top of those, I used a scrap of the yellow paper and a Fiskars scallop punch to punch out some scalloped lines. These provided the lines for my gold title words, which were from the Maggie Holmes 'Garden Party' Thickers pack in the kit.

My photo was matted with a pale pink Obed Marshall paper to draw some pink into my colour palette and help soften it a bit. Behind it I added a charcoal coloured doily, and some frayed gauze for texture. Along the bottom edge I added the gold scallop to tie into the punched scallop pieces.

For my embellishments, I used a mix of the puffy icons from the 'Garden Party' Thickers pack, which included florals and the sweet little tea cup (which I figured was close enough to a coffee cup).

 I finished off with a few small stickers from the 'Garden Party' sticker book; some wood veneer hearts which I coloured black using a Sharpie; and some black splatters of Liquitex acrylic ink.

A bit of a different style for me, but I enjoyed the challenge of pulling out some punches, which is something I haven't done in a while.

If you would like to watch my process video for this page, you can see it here: 

Thanks for stopping by today. Until next time, happy scrapping! X