Loved - A Pretty Floral Layout with Katie Howard

Good Morning and Hello!
How are you all this morning?
Did you start the year with any scrappy type resolutions?
Personally, I am not really into the whole "New Years resolutions" thing, but I have decided
that I really need to try and use what I have in my stash more.
Mind you, that doesn't stop new things finding their way there too 😉.

With that in mind, today I am sharing a page using a slightly older Maggie Holmes collection called Gather, I only say slightly older because a couple of new ones have been released since this one (the designers are pretty prolific aren't they?!). It is very much in Maggie Holmes style with pretty florals and great basic patterns making the "B" sides just as usable as the "A" sides. So without further ado, here is my page:

I went with a vertical design for my page, with the photos overlapping strips of patterned paper on the bottom right-hand side, roughly on the bottom third cross point in the rule of thirds design. To balance this I created a small cluster at the top right, this also helped me repeat some design elements without it looking too crowded.

For my patterned papers I used - Thankful Heart, Beautiful, Jane and Kate. I also used these, or their reverse patterns, for matting my photos. By creating several thin layers behind my photos it helps to make them stand out against the busier patterns behind them. In my quest to use what I have in my stash I also pulled out an old border punch and gave the exposed edge a pattern as well as the thin middle paper, the other edges I roughed up a little too, creating some texture and interest.

After creating the basic design, all that was left to do was embellish! I pulled out the ephemera and used pieces that I could tuck in behind, and into the layers of, my photo and mats. Don't be afraid to cut things in half. It makes it easier to tuck into layers and gives you two for the price of one!

Here you can see that I added some glittery gold to my page using the title, which was from the Thicker accents that coordinate with this collection. In fact, there are many great embellishments included in this pack. How cute are the mini tassels?! I included them under my title as a way of "underlining" and drawing attention to it on the page. They are also a great way to add more texture.

This little cluster includes some bits and pieces from the ephemera and sticker sheets, as well as the word/phrase stickers. I also had the perfect place to add my date, I love using a date stamp to do this, makes it so very easy!

Finally, my top cluster, to tie it in with the main design of the page I repeated some of the paper strips, including border punching, and then used some of the die cuts, word stickers, and Thicker accents to finish it off. 

The last step was to grab some gold ink and create some splatters, I have used Liquitex gold ink as I have found the dropper included in the lid makes it really easy to get nice sized and shaped drops! Best of all it comes in all kinds of colours, because, well, you know, I am a scrapper therefore I collect things! And if I love one thing I need to have it in every colour it comes in!

I hope this inspires you to use something that you have had in your stash for a while or combine it with something new to make it all feel new and exciting! And if you haven't checked out the gorgeous Maggie Holmes collections, I suggest that you do, so many beautiful papers and pretties to use! Thanks for stopping by today and see you next time!

Katie x