Happy Thursday!

Have you noticed many manufacturer blogs have lots of projects with custom die-cut words, titles and shapes.  Many of these elements have been cut using a Silhouette or other automated die-cut machine, which can be really quite expensive.  Jillibean Soup created these fabulous Wiseword stickers that give that “Silhouette” look without the expense of having to purchase a costly die cut  machine.  We included a sheet of these stickers in our March 2013 Hip Kit. 
Stamping directly onto your layouts is also a really popular trend. I One thing that I have never had much luck with is stamping my title directly onto my page.  I never seem to space the letters correctly, and getting a good impression can be difficult if your layout contains a lot of layering.  The Amy Tangerine – Yes Please – Remarks Alphabet Stickers are translucent and when you add them to your projects they look as if they have been stamped.  Our March 2013 Embellishment Add-On Kit includes a package of these awesome alphabet.  This one package includes 4 different colors of translucent alphabet stickers, with almost 450 stickers in all.   Imagine how many titles and captions you could create with this one set of alphabet stickers…  these will go a really long way.

Cindy Stevens used both the Wiseword stickers and the Yes Please alphabet stickers on her layout.  The “you” and “me” next to the photo are from the Wiseword sticker sheet.  Don’t they look exactly like she cut it out with a Silhouette?  Nope, they are just stickers and they are quicker, easier and a lot less expensive. :D  Cindy used the aqua Yes Please Remarks Alphabet Stickers to create the “Selfie 2013” title.  They look as if they were stamped directly onto her layout.  I adore these stickers!!!

This layout by Bethany Crowell also includes the Yes Please alphabet stickers.  She used the aqua and orange (both from the same package).  One of the things that I like about these alphas is that there are subtle differences in color saturation of each alphabet.  Notice how the “m” is lighter than the “s” and the “r” is darker than the “n”.  Also when you layer them over one another you can see the mixed color, much like you would if you had stamped them with ink.  So cute!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I hope you are inspired to pull out your March Hip Kit and create some amazing pages of your own.  Make sure to visit us again tomorrow for more creative inspiration.  Have a scrappy day!  xo – Kimberly -

Happy Sunday!

I hope you are having a good weekend so far.  Here in the Seattle area it is almost 80 degrees and sunny.  Today I have a collection of great “sunny” projects created by our amazing designers using our March Hip Kit & Add-On Kits.  Enjoy!!!

Bethany Crowell created these two cheery cards.  She has a knack for cardmaking…  each and every one of her cards are have a perfect combination of papers and accents.  How happy would you be if you got one of these sweet cards in your mailbox?

This layout is by Cindy Stevens.  I love the bright cheery colors and the whimsical design.  Using a black and white photo is a great idea when you are using colorful products.  This little trick allows your photo to stand out and be the focus of your page.Notice how Cindy added the white Jillibean diecut Placemat to the white cardstock to create an interesting foundation for her page.  She also hand stitched around the inside perimeter of a few of the honeycomb shapes with white floss.  This is a nice detail that adds a little extra texture to her page.The Amy Tangerine Daybook (from our March Embellishment Add-On Kit) has lots of interesting pages that can easily be used as accent layers on your scrapbook layouts and cards.  The chevron stripe vellum page layered under the photo is one of the pages from that book.

Mel Blackburn created this next layout using another sweet photo of her baby girl.  Mel’s pages always have an artistic flair to them.  I love the patchwork background and the machine stitching gives it a nice finished look.

Thanks for visiting again today!  I hope you are feeling inspired to do some creating of your own today.  Tomorrow I will have another collection of projects created with our March Hip Kit to share with you.  So, make sure to stop by to check them out.  Have a scrappy day!  xo – Kimberly -

Happy National Scrapbook Day!!!

For those of you who are scrapping today, I have a few layouts to share with you that were created by our fabulous design team members with our amazing March 2013 Hip Kit.  If you aren’t scrapping today, perhaps these awesome pages might inspire you to carve some time out of your day to scrap a little bit.  ;-)

This first one was created by Cindy Stevens, and she does an amazing job at layering and adding lots of great little details to her  projects.  I love that she combined the Jillibean Wiseword “today” sticker along with the Yes Please Remarks Alphabet Stickers make her title.  So cute!!!The Amy Tangerine Yes Please Remarks Sticker Book has so many great icons and words in it… and Cindy used several of them throughout her page.Cindy used the Maya Road Fabric Tape to create the little pennant banner.  The Amy Tangerine Yes Please Daybook from our March Embellishment Add-On Kit is full of cute die cut pages that will make creating a mini album a breeze.  However, if mini albums aren’t your thing, don’t shy away from this little gem, because the pages can be torn out and used to embellish your traditional scrapbook pages.  Cindy tore the blue ledger page out of her Daybook, folded it in half and layered it behind one of her photos – this gave her layout a nice detail and some great texture.

This sweet layout is by Mel Blackburn.  I love how she clusters and layers her embellishments together and leaves a lot of white space on her pages.  Even though there is a lot going on, the photo of her precious baby girl remains the focus of her layout.The combination of stickers, buttons, Thickers, chipboard accents…  give a ton of dimension and texture.   All of the layers draw your eye deeper and deeper into the page. 

This layout is by Bethany Crowell.  She started with a sheet of Fountain cardstock and used used the Jillibean Soup Diecut Placemat as a mask along with some aqua mist to create this great monochromatic honeycomb background page.Don’t forget to save the UPC borders at the bottom of your patterned papers.  Often times they  have little sentiments or decorative borders on them that can be used to embellish your projects.  The “You Make My Heart Sing” border at the bottom of her layout is one of these little strips.  Bethany used several stickers from the Amy Tangerine Yes Please Remarks Sticker Book to embellish her page.  She added pop dots behind a few of the flat stickers to make them more interesting.  This is a great way to make an inexpensive dimensional embellishment.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I hope you are feeling inspired to get a little scrappy today. Tomorrow I will have another collection of amazing layouts created with our March Hip Kit to share with you.  You definitely won’t want to miss them – so make sure to visit again so you can check them out  Until then, have a scrappy day! xo Kimberly

Happy Thursday!

Boy, where has this week gone?  :)  Life here at the Hutchison house has been really busy.  As many of you already know – we celebrate our three daughters’ birthdays between March 19th & April 1st.  Yep, that is three birthdays in 12 days.  It is insane!!!  haha…  On March 19th our middle daughter turned 17, on Sunday our oldest daughter turned 20 and on Monday, April 1st our youngest daughter turned 15.  I will have some pages to share in the upcoming weeks with photos from each of their special days – which were a lot of fun.

Today I have an awesome layout and card created by Cindy Stevens using our February Hip Kit to share with you.  Cindy does an amazing job at clustering her embellishments and adding layers and lots of little details to her projects.  I love that about these two pieces.

There are so many little elements in the upper right hand corner of her layout.  Sometimes the smallest things make all the difference.  If you look closely you can see the little coral chevron tab at the top, and the staples that attach it and the “this is the life” label sticker.  The threaded button and stitching around the heart and along the edge of the white cardstock give nice texture to her page.I am not sure if she machine stitched around the heart… but if so, she did an amazing job.  There is no way I could machine stitch that precisely around the edge of a shape like that.  I would have to go around twice to have it look like I intentionally wanted it to look messy.  Great job, Cin!!!
I love how Cindy repeated the circles on her layout, subtly with the white on white punched circles, the “Happy Day” circle sticker and the star flair button.  :D
This is an awesome card!!!  I think it is a lot more difficult to make cards for men, and this is an excellent example of a card that could easily be given to a man.  :D  I love the contrast between the woodgrain, black and white and the bright yellow hearts.  The string tied around the top give it that perfect finishing touch.  So cute!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today to see our latest projects created with our February Hip Kit.  :D  I hope you are feeling inspired to do something crafty today.  Make sure to visit again tomorrow to see our next projects created with our amazing February kit.  Have a scrappy day!  xo – Kimberly -

Happy Thursday!

Boy it has been busy around here.  Our spring soccer and high school track seasons are in full swing.  Both Madeleine and Mackenzie are doing both sports.  Needless to say, I spend a lot of my afternoons and evenings taking them to and picking them up from their various practices.  I am getting ready to head out to a track meet right now.  But, before I go I wanted to share a few more projects created with our February 2013 Hip Kit.

This first layout was created by Cindy Stevens.  I love how she used a circle punch to cut out the days of the week from the Glitz Color Me Happy Bits & Pieces Paper.  Those little circles along with the Studio Calico Snippets Chipboard Arrows walk you through her entire page.  :D  Cindy included a polaroid frame and some journaling for Thursday.  I love that she didn’t skip Thursday because she didn’t happen to take a photo that day.  For all of the Project Runway enthusiasts…  that was a “make it work” moment.

Backing the lower part of the polaroid die cut frame with yellow washi tape, really makes that little arrow detail stand out.  Very clever!!!

This next layout was created by Melanie Blackburn.  Notice how she used the Elle’s Studio Day to Day paper…  She turned the paper 90* to the right, so that the label was on the right side of the paper and the stripe was along the top.  I LOVE that!!! Mel’s projects always have lots and lots of texture and interesting elements.  I love the number die cut that she created using her Silhouette.  The paper doily adds a lot of texture to her page.  If you look closely you can see the little phrases that she stamped on her layout using the Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm Roller Stamp from our Embellishment Add-On Kit.  This is one of my FAVORITE new tools!

I hope Cindy & Mel’s layouts have inspired you to get scrapping with your February Hip Kit.  Thanks for visiting today!  Make sure to stop by again tomorrow to see the next great projects created with our February Hip Kit.  Have a scrappy day!  xo – Kimberly -

Happy Thursday!

I hope you are all having a great day.  Today I have a couple of wonderful layouts by Cindy Stevens to share with you.  She used our fabulous February 2013 Hip Kit to create her pages, which includes great patterned papers from Elle’s Studio, Glitz Designs, Dear Lizzy, Amy Tangerine & Fancy Pants.  I love how Cindy combined all of the papers to make two very different pages.

Our February main kit included a great cut-apart sheet and package of die cuts from the Color Me Happy collection from Glitz designs.  On this page, Cindy hand cut the “love this” title from the cut-apart sheet.  Since it is so delicate, she adhered it to her page with liquid glue.The Yes Please Puffy Stickers  & Studio Calico Snippets Journaling Cards from our Project Life Add-On Kit can easily be incorporated into your scrapbook layouts.  I love how Cindy added the “today” card and the “playful” puffy sticker to her page – which gave her project both detail and dimension.The black polka dot border on her layout was made using the Pebbles Washi Tape from our Embellishment Add-On Kit.  I love the contrast that it adds.
The Studio Calico Sundrifter Wood Veneer Accents have little captions engraved into them.  This is a great way to add interest and dimension to your page.

This next page was also made with our February Hip Kit – but it has such a different feel to it.  I know I always say this… but I LOVE the Amy Tangerine Yes Please wood grain paper.  It works so nicely as the background for Cindy’s layout.If you look closely you can see the “you are loved” sentiment that she stamped on her page using the Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm Phrase Roller Stamp from our Embellishment Add-On Kit.  It is great having a roller stamp with just a variety of phrases – rather than both phrases and dates. The puffy stickers from our Project Life Add-On Kit are perfect for adding little details to your pages or Project Life layouts.Cindy used a circle punch to cut the “today” out of the Color Me Happy cut-apart sheet.  She added a pop dot behind it to give it dimension.  I love the addition of white string – it gave her page a nice finished look.  :D

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you are feeling inspired to do something scrappy this weekend.  I have another amazing collection of projects created with our February Hip Kit that I will be sharing tomorrow… so make sure to come back and check them out.  Have a scrappy day!  xo – Kimberly -

Happy Saturday!

Tonight I want to share a couple of sweet cards created with Cindy Stevens using our amazing January 2013 Hip Kit.  Cindy’s cards make me feel like spring is just around the corner.  I hope they inspire you to pull out your January Hip Kit and create something wonderful.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Tomorrow I will have another collection of projects to share with you – so make sure to come back and check them out.  Have a scrappy day!  xo – Kimberly -