Happy New Year everyone!

After a very busy and hectic holiday season, I am so glad to be back with a new layout share.  Over on the Facebook group Mercy Tiara's 27 Day Scrappy Challenge, we were challenged to use three new-to-us techniques on a layout in the month of January to get this year started out on the right creative foot.  I am grateful to Tracy for challenging us to change things up, and feel brimming with renewed energy and creativity.  I can't wait to get into my craft room and create more!

I have been watching Paige Evans' scrapbooking process videos lately and drooling over her bold, brightly coloured designs and have been wanting to harness some of that inspiration.  I have also been lusting after the beautiful look of layouts made with white cardstock and silhouette cut files.  However, I don't own a top of the line die cutting machine (I know, poor me).  I decided to play around with how I could get a similar look and I truly love how it turned out.


I created this background using two simple supplies; a paper punch and a sheet of 8.5" x 11" cardstock.  I used my Martha Stewart heart punch, but you could try this with any shape.  I want to try it next with a butterfly punch!  To ensure that each heart was lined up perfectly and spaced apart evenly, I inserted the paper all the way into the punch until it hit the back, then lined up the edge of the punch with the last punched heart.  When the full row of hearts were punched, I trimmed it into a strip and started again.  I backed each heart with patterned paper, arranged the strips on my background, and then stitched them down with my sewing machine.

The rest of the layout came together very quickly because I just let go of everything I usually do, and gave myself complete the freedom to create.  Instead of adding large layers of patterned paper as I usually do, I used small scraps of a few of the patterns that appear backing the heart and created small layers around the photo.  Some Heidi Swapp embellishments, buttons, resin flowers, and gold colour shine mist, and this one is finished.



Thank you so much for stopping by for this layout share!