EASTER FUN | GWEN WRUCK

Hi Creative Friends,

I’m back on the CUT to YOU blog today with a fun Easter themed share. Here in Australia, it is Easter Sunday and for my family, that means an Easter Egg Hunt! This photo was taken of my daughter when she was much littler and I just love how it captures the feel of our Easter mornings. Her running around in her pyjamas on the hunt for eggs; so much fun!

For my page, I’ve used the ‘Lily of the Valley‘ cut file. I’ve had this one on my list to use for some time now and I just love how the page turned out and how fitting it is for an Easter themed layout.

To start my page, I began by cutting out two of the cut files in the same size. I then went about backing the flowers in each. I’ve gone with a soft pattern paper from the new Paige Evans ‘Bloom Street’ collection. I’ve then gone ahead and backed the leaves in both of the files with a bold green print from the same collection. I’ve also used this as a border around my page edge for contrast.

Next, as the files are quite large, I wanted to lock in their position and that of the photo. I have backed the photo in a baby pink paper from the collection and then some white card stock from my stash. I’ve overlapped the two files slightly and trimmed off one of the large leaves and then re-positioned that hiding the cut piece underneath my photo.

I’ve popped everything on foam tape and locked into position so it was now time to embellish.

I have really stuck with the collection on this one, adding in some floral elements and the pretty butterflies. I also found some Epoxy Flairs from Scrappin Happy Studio (Etsy) in my stash that were perfect, so I’ve added those as well.

It was at this point that I thought the layout might be finished, but it was missing something. I felt that it really needed a title. I pulled some ‘Thickers’ from my stash and add in my title ‘Easter Fun’. I wouldn’t normally add a title so late in the design, but I’m so glad I did as it really did round out the page perfectly. I was lucky my photo had some white space for it to fit!

I’ve added in some enamel dots and puffy gold hearts at this point and then called the page complete. I hope this has inspired you to make an Easter inspired page or use our ‘Lily of the Valley’ cut file, it really is a pretty one! As always, whatever you make, please be sure to share it with me on social, I get a real kick out of seeing your projects you can tag me at #cuttoyou @cut_to_you.

Until next time,

LOVE THIS DUDE SO | LEGENDARY | GWEN WRUCK

Hey Creative friends, here today with some more scrapbook inspiration using the new ‘Legendary’ collection by Cocoa Vanilla Studio. I’ve scrapped another pic of my husband for this layout; this one was taken at one of our favourite local restaurants. For this one, I really just wanted to make a page that documents our relationship, I’m so lucky to have him!

The idea for this page actually started with my photo! I know right, that rarely happens for me! I’ve been wanting to scrap this one for a long time as it really captures my husband’s personality. I just love the colour tones in it and I knew it would be perfect for the ‘Legendary’ collection. I pulled out all of the blue and grey tones and found a stack of options, all that would go perfectly.

To start my page, I’ve created a base with some white cardstock from my stash and the ‘Brave Heart’ pattern paper. I’ve used it to create a border around my page as well as a photo mat for my picture. I’ve then gone about finding a cut file that would fit in with my ‘love’ theme. This one is called ‘TN Geo Heart‘, from CUT to YOU. They are actually for Travelers Notebooks, but as you can see, they work really well on layouts too!

I’ve backed the hearts with the dark blue and light blue blocks of the ‘Total Legend’ paper and the grey heart is the ‘All-Star’ pattern paper. Working with the darkest blue for the top heart and then the light grey for the bottom hearts.

At this point, I haven’t stuck anything down or decided on a page design. I knew I wanted to make a longer title element so I needed to sort that first. Going through the ‘Die Cut Title’ elements, I’ve decided on the title “Love this Dude So”… yep, it’s long, so I will need to be clever about how I position it on the page.

For the design of the layout, I decided on keeping everything vertical mainly because my title needed to be stacked in some way and I had the vertical style cut files. It is far easier to work with the elements you have than to try and work around them. Go with the flow I say! I simply played with the layout of the cut file, photo and title elements until I was happy focusing on things running top to bottom on the page.

With my four main elements locked in, it was now just a matter of adding in the embellishment details. For these, I like to work largest to smallest as I audition things. If you leave larger elements too late in the design process they just won’t fit, so it’s a great idea to work with them early on. The large circle piece that says ‘Authentic’ and the ticket element are both from the ‘Die Cut Ephemera’ pack.

I found this very sweet sentiment “to the moon and back” on the ‘Accessory Sticker Sheet’ which was perfect for my photo as well as the banner that says “You’re pretty Rad”. I like to add foam behind the stickers for added dimension on my page. I’ve also pulled the tab that says ‘Noteworthy’ even though it is orange. To make this work, I’ve added in some orange and blue stars from the ‘Die Cut Ephemera’ pack, I really like the small pop of orange, I think it gives the layout a bit more depth.

The page was now almost complete. I’ve added a flair from the ‘Flair Buttons’ pack and some Typed Sentiments from the ‘Accessory Sticker Sheet’. I’ve added some enamel dots in the centre of each of the star die cuts to finish off the page.

Thanks for popping by today to see my latest project. Do you have your hands on this collection yet? As always, be sure to pop into the Cocoa Vanilla Studio and CUT to YOU Facebook groups to share your pages, I love seeing what you make.

Until next time,

SO CRAFTY | GWEN WRUCK

Hey Creatives! I’m back on the CUT to YOU blog today with a new share. For today’s page, I’m working with one of the exclusive cut files from the KIT to YOU scrapbook kits. I wanted to show you a fresh idea with the kit still following along with the design and step x step instructions but also mixing things up a bit to create a fresh new looking page. These really are kits you can use over and over; they are made to help inspire you to use up that stash!

I’ve started the page by backing the cut file, this one is called ‘Mason Jar Bouquet‘. For this, I’ve used the Simple Stories ‘Hey Crafty Girl’ collection. I love the fresh colours in this line and I really liked the ombre stripe paper and thought it was perfect for the Jar part of the cut file. For the floral parts of the file I’ve used a selection of their spotty patterns, and some bright green for the leaves.

Below you can see the details in the cut file design. I made sure to choose a pattern paper that was bright and quite a saturated tone as I didn’t want to lose any of these pretty details. I’ve simply glued the file to the pattern paper and then fussy cut around the edge.

Next, I have mounted my photo in the same pretty orange/pink tone and stitched around the edge. I’ve positioned the cut file and my photo onto my background so it is now time to add in the embellishments.

This collection is for documenting all things crafty and I’ve really run with that. Keeping with the original design of the page from the kit, I’ve created a cluster near the bottom right-hand corner of my photo. To do this, I’ve really just auditioned various elements until I was happy with how it all looked. I decided to add in my title here, it worked really well layered across my photo.

I’ve also added details around the neck of the jar (similar to the kit) and some above my photo. You might notice that the placement of the title is different, I’ve just switched a few elements to suit. It really does give a totally different look to your page with very little changes from the kit instructions.

This page came together super fast with the help of a plan from the kit. As I mentioned, all I really changed up was the colours of the pattern papers and the embellishment types to suit the theme of my page. I’ve switched out a few of the elements and created a fresh new design. You really do not need to re-invent the wheel every time you create a page.

I hope this inspires you to get working with the KIT to YOU kits, and your cut files… they really are so fun to work with.

Until next time,

MY HERO | LEGENDARY | GWEN WRUCK

Hey Creative friends, here today with some more scrapbook inspiration using the new ‘Legendary’ collection by Cocoa Vanilla Studio. This photo is of my husband, taken on a recent family vacation… for those who don’t know, he is a photographer, so it’s rare that he is in front of the camera! I do try and pry it out of his hands and take some shots, so it was so good to get these fun photos scrapped.

For this page, I knew I wanted to use two photos and that they would take up quite a lot of space on my page, so the design had to be kept quite simple. I decided to go with a vertical design for the photos, and add interest to the background with a grid design. To do this, I’ve used a cut file, this one from CUT to YOU and cut it from the pattern paper ‘Brave Heart’. I’ve then arranged it on a white cardstock base. I’ve also mounted this onto the same pattern paper, to create a border for my page.

*TIP – If you aren’t a fan of backing cut files but love their look, use pattern paper to cut them out and then simply add to your page, no backing required!

I’ve then worked on the photo mats for my photos. I’ve gone with a double mount, first up using the ‘All Star’ pattern paper, and then using the ‘One Way’ paper. I am loving the pop of orange here with the blue and grey tones of the other elements. As usual, I’ve added stitching around my photos and then around the edge of the layout for detail.

Next, I’ve worked on my title. For this, I’ve used the ‘Die Cut Title pack’ and gone with the title “My Hero”, I’ve pulled out the ‘Super Star’ banner piece from the ‘Die Cut Ephemera’ pack to use as part of my title as well. I’ve also pulled out all of the elements that I could find that were either blue or orange; I’m keeping the colour palette very simple with this one.

I love this large prize ribbon element and find something round like this softens the look of the page. I’ve teamed it with a flair from the ‘Flair Buttons’ pack to create a cluster and round out the title element.

I’ve also included here some of the typed sentiments from the ‘Accessory Stickers Sheet’, added to the page with foam tape for dimension.

With my main cluster complete, I’ve added a second cluster to balance the page out. The ‘Die Cut Ephemera’ has lots of tags and tickets included and they are really fab way to build clusters and interest on your page. I’ve firstly chosen elements due to their colour, and then how they fit together to help me tell the story of the photo. The star elements here balance out and coordinate with the star image on the flair button and also balance out the pops of orange on the page.

I’ve also added some of the ‘Enamel Dots’ to my embellishment clusters to help draw the eye around the page and it finishes everything off nicely.

Thanks for popping by today to see my latest project. Do you have your hands on this collection yet? As always, be sure to pop into the Cocoa Vanilla Studio and CUT to YOU Facebook groups to share your pages, I love seeing what you make.

Until next time,

SUMMER DAYS | GWEN WRUCK

Hi Creative Friends,

I’m back on the CUT to YOU blog today with a new share and I’m still on my Summer kick! I did mention in my previous post that I’ve been going through some older pictures which has been really fun. I found this sweet little one of Miss C from a few years back now taken at our local park and teamed it with a title cut file and some bright pattern paper.

For this page, it really was all about the photo and keeping things simple. I had previously fussy cut out some of these floral elements for a previous page and thought, why not team them with one of the title cut files – this one is ‘Summer Days‘ for a quick and easy layout.

I began by backing the cut file in a pretty pattern paper. This one is from the Simple Stories ‘Hello Summer‘ collection. I’ve also used this paper to mat my photo and for the outside edge of my layout. I then positioned my title piece at the centre bottom of the page.

I’ve then gone about working on the design of the layout. I knew I wanted to use the pretty Sun and cloud stickers from the collection and with my portrait photo, thought it would be best to create a page that had a vertical design that runs down the centre of the layout. I worked on placing the largest elements first, like the chipboard banner piece, the Sun and Cloud stickers and the large floral clusters.

In my usual style, I just kept mixing and matching elements until I was happy with their placement. Once the larger elements were locked in, I progressed to the smaller ones and little details like the sentiment stickers and smaller floral elements.

I love how fast this one came together and how the title is simple, yet perfect for the page. The title cut files really are a good option over Thickers or other alphabets, and they never run out!

I hope this has inspired you in some way, and as always if it has, be sure to share it with me on social.

Until next time,