Featuring Color Cast Designs │ April to August projects

While I'm on a blog roll, ha! I thought I'd also share all of the projects I made using Color Cast Design products. I've been so bad about blogging lately in general and sadly sharing the work I've done for Jessica hasn't been done like it should be. I do a good job of sharing my work on Instagram so if you follow me there you've seen these already but let me catch you up in case you don't on the last several months of work that I have done. I'll keep the commentary to a minimum but if you have specific questions please feel free to ask.

April

This month I made two pocket page spreads, this first one was using a kit that I just loved. Jessica had asked for some suggestions of what we would like to see and this set was one of my suggestions. I really love her larger icons so I thought a mixed set would be super fun. She totally nailed this set and I have two back ups, I loved it so much. Its still available and its called Punctuate This.

A little St. Patties Day spread using a lot of super cute food items from that month.

May

This was one of the first layouts I made for my Summer 2016 Notebook Mini album and what's not to love about a Pool Day! And how cute are those fish, the acrylic and the human.

This ice cream layout was super fun to make. I had to dig deep into the archives for some worthy photos but I'm so glad I did, I think it came out super cute.

Skipping ahead to July because there wasn't a release in June.

I always love when Jessica adds sports themed items to her line and this gold mirror had me all heart eye emoji! A super simple layout for a soccer tournament in my Summer notebook mini.

Holy Pineapple! I can't believe the Be Cool Pineapples are still in stock so you better grab them before I do, not to mention the gold glitter Hello Sunshine! This spread in my Summer mini had many different versions before I settled on this final product. Sometimes I push stuff around for a few days before I settle on things so if you do the same, know that you are not alone. Some things just take time. And for me, simple always wins.

I love how the images are muted in the glassine bag but then pop when you take them out.

August

And now we are current and I made three things with this release. Man was it a GOOD ONE!

Holy smokes, was I obsessed with the Olympics. Its not unusual for me to get obsessed but this year WOW! So much goodness to document and I loved that Jessica made a set for the Olympics, she'll even personalize your country name when you order. This set was the first thing I wanted to use when my box arrived.

The cards I used were a mix of free cards that Kelly Purkey sent out to her newsletter subscribers and cards that I purchased from In A Creative Bubble. I did also add in one sheet of gold star paper that is pretty old from Studio Calico.

Man I loved how this turned out!! Team USA baby. This reminds me that I also need to update the medal count card to the final numbers. Adding that to my to do list!

My next projects were spreads for my Summer notebook mini, the first was for the first day of school. Which I opted to included because its still summer and it was kind of a big deal. I used the School time set and one of the School Years wood veneers.

Jessica must have had ESP when she designed this set, the colors were perfect for my daughters back to school outfit. I did add in the hello piece from an older release.

The last one was for a hike that we took. I mixed pieces from the Take a Hike set and the Fresh Air set, that backpacker veneer is so darn cute. I kept this pretty simple with a large photo that I made sure to crop so there was room for the veneer at the bottom.

I decided to hide my journaling because this hike didn't quite go how I had planned. Leaving it hidden made more sense to me so it wouldn't take the focus away from the images. Without going into too much detail, I got dehydrated and really sick, it was too hot for me to be out that day and I paid for it big time. It was definitely a cool hike and one that I would like to repeat again one day but I would pick a 60 degree day vs. a 97 degree one.

Phew, you made it to the end! I hope you found some stuff that you loved. Make sure to check out Jessica's shop, she has so many other great sets that I didn't share here.

One last thing, Jessica is having a design team call so if you are interested in possibly joining her team, here's the info. Its a super fun team to be on and the ladies are all awesome. Think about it...

Featuring Kelly Purkey │ August Release

Hello, hello, hello! I'm really excited about Kelly Purkey's latest release. It went live yesterday and this release had some really awesome stuff in it.

This first layout was the first thing that I made. I was completely drawn to the Who Run the World? stamp in the Queen Mini Kit and knew I had to make something centered around it.

I loved how well the cards from the Queen Mini kit paired with the colors in this photo of my daughter and her friends on the first day of school. This photo was snapped by my friend DeAnna. She's an amazing photographer and we always gather the girls on the first day of school for this same pic and its been such a super fun tradition. This photo just seemed like the right choice for this sentiment, these young girls have so much ahead of them and they truly can be, and do anything they want in the future. I just love them.

I knew I wanted to stamp the word GIRLS using the Moby alpha and alternated my stamping making sure to layer over each stamping and stamp on top of the cards as I went. I used the Pink and Orange inks from the Fashion Ink Set and the colors worked perfectly with the cards. I added in a few bright yellow shipping tags to help ground and ensure the stamped sentiments really popped and two of the over sized paper clips from Pebbles to add a bit of gold into the mix. This layout will probably get displayed instead of placed right into an album, that's how much I love how this turned out.

My second project was inspired completely by an episode of the show Roadies. Do you watch it? OMG I love it! Perhaps its because of my previous life in radio (nothing glamorous, I answered the phones) but man was it fun and pretty darn exciting. Hell I met Sting my second week on the job! Anyway, so many stories that can get me sidetracked but this show brings all of that back. Plus its written and directed by Cameron Crowe and he sure knows a thing or two about the life inside rock and roll. Geez, this is really turning into a long and drawn out segue into a scrapbooking project but I promise I'll get too it. In episode three of season one Lindsey Buckingham is the guest and he has one of the best lines in this episode, "I love you Bill. Over the years I may say it less but I mean it more." This stopped me in my tracks and I just loved it, so much so that I wanted to stamp it and stamp it in gold.

The Moby alpha is seriously one of the best alpha stamps that Kelly has done. Its a classic font and can be used for just about anything. I decided this project needed a bit of drama so I made myself a black travelers notebook and used a gold metallic versa mark stamp pad for all of my stamping. Projects of this nature can be a little intimidating because I'm always afraid that I'm going to get to the bottom of the page and not have room for the rest. If I'm worried about that I usually mock it up on my computer before hand just to make sure I have enough space for all that I want to stamp. It takes some extra time but its nice for projects like this to know its all going to fit. If you are wondering how I got the foot note text on the page I used my Silhouette Cameo and the silver sketch pen to write the text on the black paper. I love using this feature of the Cameo specifically for things like this.

I added in some of the super cool plus sign stamps from the Work In Progress kit and also used the True Life stamp from that set as well. I stamped it first that then cut it out using a circle die and my Cuttlebug.

The last stamp set that I didn't have time to use is the Beach Day stamp set. Its super cute and perfect for these last days of summer.

I hope you enjoyed the newest release it sure was a good one!

See you s

Featuring Kelly Purkey │ July Release

Hello everyone! At the end of last month Kelly released her July products and because I was traveling with my family during the release I wasn't able to post any sneaks or share any projects until I got back. The release was full of awesome items that you can see here but before you head over to shop, I'd love to share what I made.

The first project focused on the I Love Big Books mini kit. This kit was so much fun to work with and if you are an avid reader, its perfect for you. 

I really loved the ombre library cards and used them for the background for this spread in my summer mini. I then printed off cover images of all of the books I have read so far this summer and layered them on top.

I added in some of the stamps and then stamped part of my title using the new Walter alpha stamp set. I did outline the stamps using the Dalton alpha set because it coordinates perfectly. The ink I used on the Summer title was an ombre ink from the Recollections brand and I love how that ombre ties in with the cards.

My second project focused on the Tastes Like Summer stamp set. I loved this stamp set because it covered so many tasty parts of summer. If you love to hit up the fruit stand or the farmers markets this stamp set is for you.

I knew I wanted a really big bold title for this spread so I cut out the word sweet using my Silhouette Cameo and stamped it with the cherry and strawberry stamps using the green ink in the Fashion ink set. I love how the color paired so well with my cardstock. It gave it just enough oomph to keep it from being too boring.

To finish off the spread I added in some more of the phrases that came in the stamp set, I mean Live Juicy, so cute! I then layered some cards that came in the Studio Calico Pool Party Documenter kit with my photo of our farm stand purchase. The strawberry card as well as the rubber strawberry were the perfect accents for this story.

There was also another really cool alpha set called Everett and I cannot wait to use this one. I have never seen anything like it and can't wait to find the perfect layout or project to use it on.

I have also heard that the pre-orders of all of the new Holiday sets should be shipping at the end of next week so if you haven't checked them out, now is the time. I'm so in love with all of these cute holiday city stamps and of course the Thanksgiving planner stamps because Thanksgiving is my favorite meal, I mean who doesn't love stuffing.

I hope you have a great week and I'll see you soon!