CUT to YOU | My Fave Childhood Character

Hey, hey everyone and welcome to my blog again today!!

Another share for CUT to YOU and today I am sharing a rainbow of flowers lol

So, did everyone see the gorgeous new releases this month?? I am lucky enough to have received a whole bunch of them and I just couldn't decide so I first asked in the CUT to YOU HQ group (you guys were too slow!!) and then I asked hubby and he picked this Loop Flower for me to work with. And then I got an answer on the HQ group - floral so it was decided for me!!

I stretched the cut file to fill my whole background and cut it on white cardstock - I had an idea in my head and using white meant I could PLAY with ALL the colours!! Oh, and if you buy the custom cut Gwen will cut it to fill your background too ;)

I grabbed another sheet of white cardstock (my intention was to use the not cut piece thus my reason for picking another sheet rather than leaving my cut on my mat and adding colour to the top) and got to work.

I knew I wanted to play with my Distress Oxide inks so picked out a rainbow of colours (sorry, no purple, I don't own a purple!! #sorrynotsorry) and started blending my colours, one at a time, using an ink blending tool. I started in the middle with a yellow (easier to find the centre of the page and not add too much of any particular colour) and then did the warm colours and then went back in with the cool colours. I used some washi tape to hold the cut file (now stencil) down for some of the blending but by the end I was just holding it in place and being careful as I added colour.

The colours I used (in ROYGBIV except IV order and add in pink lol) 
Picked Raspberry|Candied Apple|Spiced Marmalade|Squeezed Lemonade|Cracked Pistachio|Peacock Feathers|Mermaid Lagoon

Time for the magic to be revealed!! I lifted off the cut file/stencil and though the whole 12x12 looks great I fell in love with the cut file and it was at this point I changed how I was going to do my background! I do still have my rainbow of stencilled flowers in my stash so I'm certain it will get used!

I added some water splatters to both pieces to get that gorgeous oxide effect happening and used some paper towel to soak it up after it had sat for a few seconds.

From here my page came together super easy - I had a whole rainbow of colours to work with so matching colours wasn't a huge problem but rather than add more colour I chose some gold accents by firstly backing my photo with some gold foiled vellum and a doily. And then of course I needed some gold in my background so I splattered some gold colour shine all over my white background.

I pulled out another "vintage" gold star from Charms Creations and added that to my photo cluster. I created a tag, did some gold machine stitching through the centre of the flowers (side note - IF you want to stitch through this cut file it is WAY easier to sew when it is adhered to your background!!), grabbed some alphas and voila, one completed page.

This is a super fun page and I so love creating with a rainbow! I recently went to a class at a local scrapbooking store where I learnt some new Distress Ink techniques which lead me to give this a go!! Thanks Suzanne!

I do have a process video if you interested in seeing this come together, I do hope you enjoy!

Until next time, happy scrapping

Melinda

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CUT to YOU | Remember | Scrapbook Layout

Hey everyone and welcome to my blog today!! I am so excited to be here sharing my very first page as part of the DT with CUT to YOU!!

For those of you that perhaps may not have seen yet the very talented (and incredibly sweet) Gwen Wruck from Created By Gwen Designs has opened up her own little business designing her very own designs as cut files!! Now, if you don't own a silhouette or any other electronic cutting machine DO NOT run away!! Gwen not only offers her designs as digital downloads but also as custom cuts - in other words she will cut them, pack them and send them to you!!! How awesome is that?!?

I have used the gorgeous Floral Filled Heart 02 (the custom cut can be found here) and enlarged it to fit pretty much the whole of a 12x12 white cardstock sheet and got that cut on my mat.

I have kept this page VERY clean - there is not a single drop of mixed media to be found!!! but I wanted this beautiful cut file to make a statement so pulled some beautiful papers from my stash (to be specific it is the Prima Amelia Rose collection) and set to backing the flowers in the design. I have used mostly the darker colours for the pointier flowers and mostly the pale pink for the rounder flowers. 

For the bigger pieces I like to trace, cut and then stick.

For the smaller pieces I prefer to stick and then trim. You can also see (just) in this close up that I have strategically placed some of the patterned paper so you can see the rose gold in the centres of the rounder flowers.

After that was all done I decided to back the whole heart with some vellum and LOVE the effect it gives to the finished page. And then some white machine stitching. Though I did only do the heart and then the bigger of the flowers - it was tricky lol

I initially planned to stick the heart straight and right in the middle but I adhered my photo on way too much of an angle so decided to run the heart off the page and on an angle and I'm going to go with "it was a happy accident" - I think it was just what the page needed!

A couple of layers behind the photo, some stickers and a title and my page was done! And like I said, not a single drop (or splatter!!) of anything messy!

Make sure you head over to Gwen's store to see all of the pretties, oh, and I have a process video too!!

I hope you enjoy and until next time, happy scrapping!!

Melinda

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Stuck On You ~ GDT ~ K+ August 2018 Challenge ~ A Scrapbook Layout

Hey everyone! What a busy start to the month I have had! I hope you are keeping warm and dry wherever you are!

Today's share is my Guest DT spot for K+ Challenges August 2018 Challenge

This had me STUMPED!!! In my process video I explain how I got to my idea but here is a little run down....

Google is my friend and when I get stuck off I head! A google search for "terracotta" showed me a tonne of terracotta pots and LOTS of photos of the Terracotta Army in China. The pots got me curious as I saw a few with different cactii in them so then googled "Cactus quote" and came up with "Stuck On You" A quick word with Gwen Wruck from Created By Gwen and she shared these adorable cactii cut files she had been working on and sent them to me early to play with them! And here is my finished design

I cut my cactii on Bazzill Marshmallow cardstock and got painting with some Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolours (have I mentioned how much I LOVE these?!) and then I backed the open parts of the cut file with some scraps of patterned paper.

Then, would you believe it, I decided to use my sewing machine to stitch the cactii and pots!! This was a mission but oh my, it is so cute and I love how it looks!

I used some embellishments from the Photo Play "Stuck On You" collection and also some stickers.

Make sure you head over here to the K+ blog for lots of inspiration for this months challenge and over here for Gwen's Cut To You shop!

Until next time, happy scrapping!

Mel

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{Scrap The Boys} August 2018 Challenge ~ Angry-Octo-Cool-O-Saurus in Boots ~ A Scrapbook Layout

Hey everyone and welcome to August!!

I have a lot of things happening this month and first one up is my Scrap The Boys share for this month! This month our sponsor is the lovely Gwen from the Cut To You store. We got the very versatile Wild Geometric cut to work with - which is available both as a digital download (which is what I got) or as a custom cut - Gwen will cut it and send it to you - and I had lots of fun splattering paint and making it work for my page.

And here is the inspiration for the month! I know that my page looks nothing like it however the "Stay Wild" spoke to me and told me to use this set of photo's of my big boy from a few years ago, lol!! This child cracks me up!

I have used watercolours and plain white textured cardstock to cut and customise my cut file. 

I have also used the Oasis Tropical Leaves cut file (digital file is here and custom cut is here) to add to the whole "wild" theme.

Here are a few close ups!

I have a process video available if you would like to see my whole process

And head over here to see the rest of the amazing work the design team girls have done!!

We would love for you to play along with us this month and can't wait to see what you come up with!!

Till next time, happy scrapping!


Melinda