Colourful Giggles

Hello All!

So it's been quite a long while since I've posted to my blog. Last summer while recording YouTube videos of my creations, I noticed my narrations were sounding more breathy and just thought I was sick. Little did I know that I was actually pregnant and I've been trying to keep up with my pregnancy let alone keep up with blog posts and YouTube videos. So now that I'm off work and preparing for those sleepless nights, I decided I have to get in as much crafting as possible before I have no time at all. I checked out Altenew's Sketch Challenge #13 and totally fell in love with the layout!! I will admit I mimicked the layout almost exactly but using different stamps and products. I couldn't justify changing too much as the inspiration layout was so beautiful! So without further ado, below is my scrapbook layout of my oldest daughter and I just sharing some giggles. I will be entering this project in the Altenew Sketch Challenge #13, the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge called Love is In the Air and in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge called Have a Heart! I know I may not have any actual hearts in the layout but my heart is that little girl there in the picture.

So while being pregnant and getting by I have been keeping up with my ordering of Altenew and SSS products and I have a bunch of stamps just sitting there waiting to be used. One set which I thought would be ideal for this is the Life Is Awesome set from Altenew. I also made a point of buying the dies for this one so I was raring to go. Some of the florals have 5 layers and some have only 3, so I chose 5 shades for each colour I chose to use based on the sketch layout. The reds were Heartbeat, Coral Berry, Coral Bliss, Pink Pearl and Peach Perfect Altenew Inks. The purples were Andromeda, Ultraviolet, Hydrangea, Wisteria and Soft Lilac Altenew Inks. The pinks were Razzleberry, Rubellite, Pinkalicious, Pink Diamond and Rose Quartz Altenew Inks. The blues were Galactic Stream, Emerald, Teal Cave, Aqualicious and Dew Drops Altenew Inks. And the greens for the leaves were done using Shadow Creek, Grass Field, Sweet Leaf and Just Green Altenew Inks.

The first thing I did was cut up some identical-sized pieces of cardstock. Then I set up my stamps in my Misti so that I could stamp out the first layer of the flowers in one colour and then switch to the next without having to remove or reposition my stamps. Then I'd move on to the next layer in each colour and this helped me stamp out all these flowers pretty quickly. For the leaves there is only one layer for each frond in this set so I did some partial stamping with a darker colour on the edges to create a two-tone image. Once complete, I was left with the images above.

Then I used the coordinating dies to cut out these images with my BigShot. The dies made it so much easier compared to fussy cutting, especially because they are such small images. I usually only buy coordinating dies for small images like this and all Lawn Fawn stamp sets. I eventually plan on getting the Brother Scan & Cut but I'm not so lucky right now. 

Then for the background I chose to use some Altenew Silver Lake Crisp Dye Ink with the Leaf Canopy stamp set. Just like the inspiration layout I left a blank circle in the middle. 

I also stamped out some little sentiments from the MFT Essential Sentiments stamp set and the Inky Antics Simple Sentiments stamp set. I used some Recollections purple, pink and blue cardstock I had laying around and Versa Mark Onyx Black Ink. 

I also had this Honey Bee "happy" large sentiment stamp I've been dying to use, which I stamped out with some VersaMark embossing ink and Altenew Rose Gold embossing powder. I don't have the die for this one so I just fussy cut it out.

Next, I cut my picture down to size and added some patterned paper behind it. I arranged my sentiments in the center behind the photo and then I was ready to add all those pretty flowers! My glue of choice was Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue. I've said this before but it really is a strong adhesive that gives you some wiggle room to adjust your images before they dry. Then I simply added my flowers in a circular pattern bit by bit as you can see below.

Then finally, I finished this layout off with the "Happy" sentiment cut earlier, some Spectrum Noir Shimmer Pen in the leaves of the background and some Nuvo Jewel Drops in Sea Breeze, Rose Water, Key Lime, Pale Periwinkle and Strawberry Coulis.

And there you have the final result! It's very similar to the inspiration image but I just loved it so much I had to do the same with different stamps. I hope you like it and are inspired somehow!