Simple Stories

Simply Nostalgic

For most of you, I'm guessing springtime brings thoughts of bright days and colorful flowers. But for me, spring is always a time of reflection. My grandmother Mina passed away several years ago, and spring holidays with her by my side as we cooked and cleaned and prepared for our family were a sweet time for me. So, my thoughts drift to her memory quite a bit this time of year. My sense of nostalgia was heightened when I came across this photo of a piece of china that once held a prominent place in my grandmother's kitchen, but came to have a home by my coffee pot after her passing. I'm grateful that I have the photo because I happened to break it a few months ago which I will admit caused me to burst into tears. It was time to put the photo in its rightful place in my scrapbook. 

 I started by cropping my photo to place focus on the item itself. I then grabbed for a Simple Stories line that couldn't have fit my mood more perfectly, Documented. Documented really brings a sense of family and days of old to mind when you look at it. I also love the transparency overlays which I simply placed on top of my photo to frame it. 

I then went through some of the preprinted cards and elements and fussy cut a few pieces out. How perfect was the 'M' right there since my grandmother's name was Mina? I really wanted that initial to stand out just as my gram would, so I popped it up with some dimensional adhesive tape. 

 

A few added stickers and the look was almost complete. I also popped a couple of pieces of dimensional adhesive tape under the wings of the butterflies, just to add a little bit of movement to them. 

 

Finally, I wanted the layout to be a happy feeling. So although the Documented papers provided a great sense of nostalgia, I snagged a bright pattern from the Fabulous line to bring a little sense of joy to the layout because that's what I feel when I remember those moments here in my kitchen with my gram. 

In the end, the layout has a simple design and a simple feeling. But that's perfect because my grandma was a simple, hardworking woman, and I miss her. I bet you have someone or something in your life that causes you to think back on a happy memory. Why not grab some Documented yourself and scrap about it today? 

Supplies:

Documented Line:

Fundamental Cardstock Stickers #2302

Photo Overlays

Ever After paper #2305

Vertical Journaling Card Elements #2312

Flash Cards #2309

Photo Mat Elements #2313

Fabulous Line:

Sweet Paper #2106

Happy memory keeping! 

Simple Basics--Masking with Stickers

Hello, today for Simple Basics, I decided to try out masking with our stickers. Now if you've ever tried masking with stickers, you know there's a small chance that it won't work for one of the following reasons:

1. The stickers won't come off the page after you've misted or painted without ripping in two.
2. The stickers will come off, but they'll rip the paper.

Ever had that happen to you?  I've had it happen plenty of times, but there's usually a way to make your mistakes work, so I still use the masking technique on my pages.

Well, I am very happy to report that Simple Stories knows how to make stickers AND paper that work marvelously for masking. Not only did my stickers not rip when I pulled them off the page, the paper held up as well. No rips or tears at all. That's good stuff. And a bonus? I used mist and the stickers have a slick surface so guess what? The mist isn't absorbed into the sticker which means I can use the stickers again if I quickly wipe the mist off the sticker! Double duty stickers! You've got to love that!

First, you have to preplan your page, knowing where you'd like to put your photo helps with the design. I wanted to use the swirl stickers from the Fundamentals Cardstock Stickers (#1102) in the Life Documented line as mask. I'm not typically a swirls kind of scrapper, but they mimicked the design in the bedspread, and I knew this would be a great way to use those stickers.  Notice I also used a sticker as a place holder for the journaling spot?

When I mist, I have a small box to protect my carpet or desk. Two sides are open so I can have flexibility with the size of project I'm misting. I save this box, can you tell I've used it a lot?

I misted over 100% Real Life (#1107) from the Life Documented line with Bonny Blue Mister Huey from Studio Calico, then quickly wiped the extra mist off the stickers and carefully removed them from the background. I was very impressed by how easily this went.

Then I finished the design of my page, adding the photos, some more stickers (I even reused the two swirls and title I used as masks!), some ribbons, and some bling. I finished off with my journaling and I now have a fancy and elegant layout, with a similar feel to the hotel that we were staying at in Canada.

The Best Day Ever sticker? That's actually a star that I cut into a square so it would better fit into my design. I loved the phrase, but the star didn't have the elegant feel the page did, so I just cut it down. Remember, you don't have to use things as they are, if you can make it work for you, alter it!

 

One more thing to note, I originally planned to have my title be simply the masked letters, but with all the dark wood and swirls, I decided to put the alphabet stickers back, but slightly above and to the left of the misted title. This is an easy way to add dimension to flat stickers.

Try using our stickers as masks, I only have good things to say about the results. That's a nice thing. 

Supplies used:

Fundamentals Cardstock Stickers (#1102) from Life Documented

Expressions Cardstock Stickers (#1103) from Life Documented

100% Real Life (#1107) from Life Documented

Bling from Prima

Bonny Blue Mister Huey from Studio Calico

 

 

Simple Style: RUFFLES!

 

 

I love spending a few minutes every day searching Pinterest for unique design ideas. Lately, I've noticed a trend: ruffles! I've found them adorning shirts, aprons, pillows, and curtains, and I love the look! I have added folded ruffles to my layouts, but they don't look quite like fabric due to the fact they are made out of, well paper. However after seeing all the fun possibilities lately, I decided to try if I could make my paper ruffles look more like the fabric ruffles I'm seeing all over the place.

Enter water. Today's project is something you can easily add to a layout, a card, or an altered item. It's a straight forward technique using water and your sewing machine. Do not be afraid, water and paper do mix in this case.

1. Cut some 1.25" strips of paper, then run one under water for a few seconds. The strip should be wet, but not sopping.

2. Use a scrap strip of paper as backing, then ruffle fold the wet strip and start sewing it to the scrap. Stitch for a few stitches, stop, scrunch again, repeat until you have the length of ruffle you'd like. I made mine 8.5" long to frame my photo. I ended up using two and a half strips to make this size of ruffle. Because the paper is wet, it can tear easily. Be gentle as you are working with it. If it tears, it's not the end of the world, just start ruffling over the torn spot, it's very forgiving.

3. Let the strip dry, this takes a few hours. While still wet, you can play with the look of the ruffle, making it stick up on the edges, after it dries, it retains the wet shape really nicely.

That's it. Very easy to add a trendy look to your next project. I used the 100 Days of Summer line, but this technique would work with any of the papers from Simple Stories.

Supply list:

Simple Stories:

100 Days of Summer Line (Sweet Memories and Simple Pleasures patterned papers, 12x12 Fundamentals Cardstock Stickers, 12x12 Expressions Cardstock Stickers )