Follow your heart

Hello friends! Today I would like to share this layout with you. I used the Reagan Kit from 

Felicity-Jane. I have never used their products before and I thought it high time that I should try them out. And guess what, I loved it! I adore the stamp set! It is full of phrases about new beginnings. 

I have been scrapping my own baby photos lately and I came across this little photo of me, I have no idea how old I am in that photo, I guess I was around a year old. I was on a beach and clearly strutting my stuff. It looks like I'm on a mission. So I took a picture of the small original photo that that had turned a bit yellowish over time and turned it to black and white in PicMonkey. And I like it!

As you all know I love fussy cutting flowers, so I immediately took the floral pattern paper and started fussy cutting the flower without even knowing what I was going to do in the layout. Sometimes jumping right in without really knowing what you are doing is the best way to get started!

I had a good look at the stamps and decided I wanted to create a background with the stamps. Now, let me tel you, I am not a stamper. I have never stamped anything on a layout, I never stamped the cards I made a couple of years ago, I just never took to stamping, and I cannot tell you why. But I tried these stamps, and I absolutely loved it! I was so easy! I have no idea why I was so scared of stamping. As a result of my non-interest in stamping I only have black ink and a dark brown, so I couldn't go wild with colours. But I went wild with the black ink I do have! 

As you can see I clustered the words and phrases behind the photo in the bottom right quadrant of the 12x12 white card stock. I found some lost and lonesome little stamps in my stash and I added them to the mix. Those being the heart stamp, the little envelope and the two words, ' Explore' and 'Dream'. I also layered some of the coloured card stock behind the photo. And finally, as you can see I did end up using some of those fussy cut flowers as layers behind the photo. 

I absolutely love this kit!  

Here are some close-ups!  

Wild & free

Hi friends! Today I would like to share this layout I made for the Swanky Swatches Challenge over on the Paper Issues Facebook Page. I used the beautiful 'Lovely Day' collection from Shimelle.

Here is the Swatch,

Don't you just love the rich warm colours combined with the colder neutral grays? 

I have to admit, this was truly a challenge for me. I usually stick to many different colours, and I haven't really scrapped with so much red before. But here it is. I did it! 

I worked on this for almost a whole day. I first started with a vertical layout, I didn't like it, so I tried a diagonal layout, I didn't like that either. So I walked away and made myself a lovely cup of coffee and took a wee break. When I finally got the courage to try again, I looked at all the papers again to get some inspiration. And I got stuck on the page with all the hot air balloons. 

So I decided that I will paper piece a hot air balloon in the swatch colours. 

And this is the result. I also fussy cut the flowers from one of the other pages in the collection as well as the paper with all the phrases and words. Hope you get some inspiration from this!!

Remember, all the products I used in this layout is available in the Paper Issues online shop, use the coupon code, 'Leslie' for a 20 % discount.

Have a fab weekend!