Peace, Love and Pineapples - Fluttyby Designs Guest DT

Here is my second guest design team reveal for Flutterby Designs. I've picked the pineapple themed pieces out of the Good Vibes Only release for this one, because they were just perfect for these photos of our visit to The Big Pineapple on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia.

This card from the Everyday Etc. Photo Cards pack was my inspiration for the whole layout. I loved it as soon as a I saw it. The white space in the top left was perfect for adding a couple of extra embellishments. I've used a circle from a Kaisercraft paper pad and changed the quote from 'enjoy the little things' to 'enjoy the BIG things', plus a splatter of green ink to tie it into the background.

My main embellishment cluster has a page tab and flair from the Good Vibes only range, as well as a fussy cut pineapple from the Everyday Etc. Filler Photo Cards pack. I've used two other cards from that pack to create my photo mat. The beautiful die-cut is from Couture Creations.

Up in the top cluster I've used some off-cuts of the blue from the photo mat plus a sentiment from the Sticky Quick Quotes sheet. The flair is from Accent scrapbooking.

This layout gave me so much grief because it ALMOST worked but then just didn't no matter what I tried. This was my first attempt, below. What should have been a vibrant blue to match the photo mat ended up being a teal that just looked out of place.

This led me to HANDPAINT all the drips again to turn them green. I added a couple more embellishments but then decided it was overworked. Plus, as much as I loved the colours of the big photo mat at the top, it just didn't work with the layout. 

Some of the Best Memories - Flutterby Designs GDT

I am so excited to be guest designer for March for Flutterby Designs and get the chance to work with the amazing Good Vibes Only collection. Since it's a beachy/tropical collection, I pulled out my Hawaii girl's trip photos to start working with but quickly decided on a photo of the four of us before we set of on a zip-lining tour.

I pulled out all of the green elements from the Everyday Etc. Photo Cards and Everyday Etc. Filler Photo Cards, as well as some neutral/ black and white cards for contrast. With a bit of creative cutting and positioning, I created the photo mat and title. Some washi tape and a Page Tab were added to the left side for more interest. The 'Don't Worry, Be Happy' element from the Frame 50 pack was perfect to add on the right because I was so anxious about doing this tour, given I really don't like heights!

The background is a couple of different green acrylic paints smeared over the page with a pallet knife. once that dried I use white acrylic paint to create the zig zags. Green mist was flicked over the page and gold mica flakes adhered randomly.

I used up some of the scraps from the Photo Cards  and more washi tape to create a secondary embellishment cluster in the top right to balance the layout. The quote 'always take the scenic route' was chosen because the views from the zipline were just incredible.

A couple more embellishments were added then I used a black pen to draw a loose border around the whole thing and it was done! Thanks for looking.

Relax - Kraft Plus Guest DT

Kraft+ is a fun challenge blog I follow and play along with when I get a chance. You have to use kraft-coloured paper as the star of your background, plus one extra element which changes each month. The challenge is run by the lovely Sandra and she comes up with some quite creative ideas.

At the start of March, Sandra sent me a message to ask if I was interested in being the guest design team member for April. I was beyond exited by this, as I have never previously been invited to guest anywhere! Sandra's challenge was intriguing and also a theme I had thought about doing in the past, so of course I said yes.

After creating a couple of fussy/messy layouts I wanted to go with a cleaner look for this one. I stuck with a single photo of myself and my friend taken whilst we were enjoying sunset cocktails by the beach in Hawaii and kept the embellishments simple.

I wanted the title to reflect the ocean pattern in the background paper. I achieved this by drawing some blue Gelato onto my craft matt and activating this with a couple of different blue mists. The title was then pressed into the pool of ink, which has created that variegated effect. I love the end result.

My flower cluster is very simple, just some chipboard ferns from Scrapmatts and some flowers from D-Lish Scraps. The photo matt is two pieces of burlap, with some offcut paint swatches top and bottom of the photo. I also used a couple of different paint swatches to create the ombre effect for the hearts, which have all been hand punched and then stitched down to create the background.