Happy Days | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone!

It's Sue Plumb here with you today and I am so excited to be joining Kylie and the rest of the Scrapping Clearly team as this month's guest designer.

For my first project I thought I would start with what I know best - a 12x12" scrapbook layout to document some photos that were taken at the Cocoa Vanilla Studio retreat back in May.

I began my page with a sheet of Bazzill 'Marshmallow' Smooth Heavyweight cardstock; choosing the heavier weight cardstock because I was going to be applying wet media to add some subtle watercolour detail to my background.

I started with Ranger 'Stormy Sky' and 'Tumbled Glass' Distress Oxide ink pads, which I swiped onto my non-stick craft then spritzed with water until large droplets had formed. I then used my fingertip to swirl the water through the inks, blending them together in a few places before laying the cardstock over the top and smoothing it down to absorb the ink.

I set my background aside to dry whilst I turned my attention to the patterned papers. The ones I had chosen to work with were all from the gorgeous 13Arts 'Blue Magnolia' collection. I cut a large piece of the striped Evening Letters paper and added it to the right hand side of my page, leaving my watercolour work visible on the left side of the page.

Next, I added a small piece of teal paper as a mat for my photos. I used the reverse side of the Forever in My Heart paper from the Simple Stories Heart collection and then added my photos on top using some cardboard underneath to pop them up from the page. 

Now it was time for some fussy cutting! I took the Flowery Day paper (also from the 13Arts Blue Magnolia collection), which is full of gorgeous elements to cut out. I cut a few floral pieces and added them to my page with foam tape so that they formed a "visual triangle" around my photos. I also used black cotton thread in each cluster to add some soft texture to my page. 

In the bottom right corner I added a fussy cut branch with a sweet little bird perched on it; then three butterflies (also cut from the same sheet) which I placed around my page to form a secondary visual triangle.

For my title piece, I used the happy days die cut from the Pinkfresh Studio 'Boys Fort' Collection Ephemera Pack, which I also applied using foam tape for dimension.

Next, I added a simple doodled border using a black Fude Ball pen; a small strip of paper along the bottom edge to record the details about my photos; and finally, a scattering of black and white sequins from the Teresa Collins Urban Market Sequins. To finish off, I couldn't resist a few tiny black splatters of Indian Ink.

Thanks so much for stopping by, I will be back next week with another project to share with you.