Mixed Media Layout 0 comments

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Hi friends! Natalie here today with a mixed media layout inspired by the gorgeous ephemera from the Kaisercraft Paradise Found collection.

Here is my YouTube video. I show my entire mixed media process and the concept behind my design.

The new distress oxide sprays give such amazing, saturated color - they're so fun to play with. I used twisted citron on this layout atop a satiny smooth gesso page which I gessoed with Art Basics clear gesso. I was pleased to see how smooth this product made my paper canvas without any discoloration!

I also used colored watercolors from Color Bursts from Ken Oliver crafts which gave such gorgeous colors, the camera can't do them justice. I used Pthalo green on this layout and depending upon the amount of water added, you can attain a range of colors from the same bottle. The texture can vary as well depending on how you apply them to your project. I defintiely recommend grabbing some of your favorite colors with which to experiment!

The Kaisercraft Paradise Found collection is so beautiful and tropical! I paired the gorgeous foliage dies from the collection with the new Sizzix dies designed by Tim Holtz called Garden Greens. These dies can add endless textures to so many projects and are perfect for layering!

A certain Disney sountrack is on repeat in my house these days, and lended inspiration for the title of my page! I used some lime alphas to pull out the lime color from the mixed media background. I love keeping smaller alphas in my stash so I can create longer titles on my pages, emphasizing just one or two words larger within the title.

I hope I've inspired you to get messy with some of your scrappy projects. It's a great way to enhance your favorite products and create unique pages in your albums.

xo Natalie - Design Team Member

Posted by Rachel Kent

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Monday, June 17, 2019

All Heart + Free Cut File 0 comments

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When I saw the All Heart collection from Crate Paper I knew I had to pick it up from A Cherry On Top. This was the perfect collection to document my girl and create some fun projects. Today I want to share my first layout using this collection. I wanted to showcase some of the different papers from the 6x8 paper pad so I thought using a cut file would be the perfect way to do that. I used the Haphazard Hexagon cut file from The Cut Shoppe. I cut it out on some American Crafts white cardstock with my Silhouette Cameo. Once it was cut out I backed it with a few different papers from the All Heart collection.

Once the cut file was backed I added some foam adhesive to the back and adhered to a piece of white card stock. I printed my photos at home with my Canon selphy and used the Pic Frame app to create the size and shape of my photos. I added some puffy stickers from the All Heart collection along with some of the ephemera pieces.

I like to add floral pieces tucked behind my photos on my layouts. I used a couple epoxy hearts from Scrappin Happy Studio as well for a different texture on my layout.

To finish off my layout I added some black splatters using india ink and used my WRMK typewriter for my journaling. Here is a look at my completed layout using the All Heart collection from Crate Paper.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

-Design Team Member Erica Thompson

Posted by Rachel Kent

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Friday, June 14, 2019

Heritage Photos - Tips & Tricks 0 comments

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With the recent passing of both my grandparents, I've had the hard task of going through their belongings. I've acquired a collection of truly amazing heritage photos in the process. Photos I want to preserve but also scrapbook and document about.

As I've been going through these photos and starting to document them, I've discovered a few tips and tricks along the way and thought I would share them with you.

1) Scan and digitize your photos! Some of my originals are in serious rough shape.. many are from as early as 1930. For the originals, I want to preserve them, so I purchased simple archival save sleeves and boxes to store them in. To digitize my photos I simply used my iPhone 8 Plus and snapped a nice, close up photo of the photo. The great thing about today's technology is that this gave me a high resolution copy of the photo easily. You can also then pull your photo into Photoshop to touch up any squidgy bits or lighting issues.

2) Journaling - many of my photos were taken way, way, way before I was born, so keep the journaling to vital statistics and how the people in the photo are related to you. Maybe a small sentence that says how you feel about the photo (ex: I love my grandmother's dress in this picture). We are often told to journal more than the who, what, where, but with photos like this, the who, what, where is the info everyone will want.

3) Choose products carefully - your photos will look odd paired with bright, modern, fresh, products. I like to use soft, light colors to offset the harsh black and white colors in most heritage photos and choose products with a vintage feel. For this layout I chose products from Prima's Fruit Paradise collection because many of the icons and designs "felt" like the right timeframe of the photo. Notice the products are vintage in feel, but not grungy looking or dark. It's hard to strike a good balance in this regard but I feel like this collection does it beautifully!