Featuring Color Cast Designs │ my last projects

Its been long overdue that I share some of my work using products from Color Cast Designs. These projects were from the April release and I cannot believe I haven't shared them before now. I didn't realize at the time that I made these that they would be my last projects as part of the Color Cast Design team but due to various circumstances it ended up being that way.  I have enjoyed the past two years as part of this team and I will miss being part of it a lot. I decided to step down because it was just time for me to move on to focus on new projects and new responsibilities. I know Jessica will be announcing her new team very soon and I know they will have as much fun on the team as I have. Working for small business owners, especially women small business owners is a pretty wonderful experience. Watching her grow her businesses in a kind and upfront and honest way is so inspiriting. I'm a better person for working with Jessica and I will forever be a fan and customer of her products.

This first project was a travelers notebook spread that I made completely inspired by the floral set that Jessica designed. I made one flower into a paper clip just by gluing it on top of a paperclip and backing the glue with a small piece of paper. I created a stamped image of flowers leaving space so that I could add in the actual acrylic pieces. The colors of the acrylic really popped and I just love how bright and happy this is.

My second project was a mix of two sets, the Weekdays acrylic set, which sadly is sold out, but she may just bring it back since she hasn't removed it from the shop just yet. This set is so ingenious because you can stamp on the space or add little Highlights wood veneer pieces that are sized perfectly to match. So Cool!  I also added in a piece from the Ate This acrylic set which is still available. The rest of the pieces I used on this spread are pretty old but that's the beauty of Jessica's sets. Hang on to what you don't use because you can usually find a place for them on something else down the road.

I wish the new team at Color Cast Designs all the best and the same for Jessica, she and her company will always have a very special place in my heart and within my scrapbook pages.

Featuring Kelly Purkey │ May Release

Hello, hello, hello! So excited to share my Kelly Purkey Shop projects for May. This release was big, the main kit and four additional stamp sets. I loved the theme of the kit, its called Celebrate and its not just good for birthday's, you can totally use it to celebrate all kinds of good things in life.

Here is my first project that I made with the main kit.

Its a simple half page pocket page that I plan on adding into my daughters album. I loved all the pink tones but also loved the vibrant cards too and there were plenty of them.

I stamped the Celebrate using a silver ink right onto my photo and then added in the nine using the new Kent alpha. Its a really cool outline alpha stamp. Its similar to Shoreditch if you have that one, this one is just a bit taller and skinnier and more sharp edges in case you were wondering about the difference.

I love stamping on the lined cards that Kelly makes, the Hey, Hey Party People fit perfecting in the lines. In the image below I pulled the pink candle out of the multi colored candle card using Photoshop Elements and repeated it nine times on top of the eat cake card that I cut in half.

My second project was a mix of a large 9x12 page and a small 6x8 page. I love mixing page sizes in my albums so I'm looking forward to slipping this into my 2017 album. I love how the kit cards have multiple color ways making the main kit cards coordinate really well with all of the stamp sets. These green cards were begging for some outdoor photos and the Garden Girl stamp set. I love that this set covers so many topics of plant love since I'm not much of an in home plant lover. We do love the outdoors a lot so it totally works for me.

I decided to cut the leaf stamp apart from the work this so I could use it separately. I can still put it back together if needed so snipping stamps apart is totally okay to do. I hand drew the branch which for someone who can barely draw stick people was kind of huge for me. I varied the tones of green ink to give it some variety. I printed my main photo on Claudine Helmuth canvas paper and I love the texture it gives this photo. It really does look like a painting in person. This is one of the products I love to play with on occasion. I even printed patches for a Halloween costume once and they looked so realistic.

I used the Kent alpha again and a few of the other outdoor themed stamps from the stamp set. I used Brilliance Moonlight White ink directly onto my photos.

There were two other stamp sets this month, Papa Bear which coordinates with the Mama Bear set if you picked that one up and Bride & Groom, perfect for wedding season.

I hope you enjoy this months release, I just love the variety of the themes this month, I hope you did too.

See you soon,