Explore no more - Natalie

Hi everyone,

I have my first layout with the July/ August kit to show you today.

Supplies used:

Main kit:

- Bazzill Swiss Dot 12x12 Cardstock in Black 

- Amy Tangerine Slice of Life 6x12 cardstock stickers

- Amy Tangerine Slice of Life - All Smiles Paper 

- Amy Tangerine Slice of Life - My Town Paper

- Heidi Swapp Chipboard stickers 

Lite kit:

- Amy Tangerine Slice of Life - Bold Moves Paper

- Paige Evans Truly Grateful - Paper 14

Own supplies:

- White cardstock

- Alpha stickers 

- Heart and star punches

I started off with this lovely scene paper from Amy Tangerine with all the bikes and shops. It looks very autumnal with the yellow trees but I actually used a photo taken in May. I decided to use a photo of my bike that I took after I officially declared it dead (more expensive to fix than replace) after 6 years of helping me complete errands around town, so I thought this paper would be perfect! 

I wanted to use quite a large piece of the scene paper so I cut a strip approximately 7 inches tall, and placed that on a piece of plain white cardstock. I used a rainbow strip from the Bold Moves cut apart sheet and a strip of black arrows from the B side of All smiles paper (which I think looks like bike tyre marks) between the scene paper and the white cardstock. 

I matted my photo first on white cardstock and then on the black dotted cardstock to help it stand out against the busy background. 

I used a cut apart piece with a bike on from the Bold Moves paper and placed that next to my photo. 

Next I wanted to create somewhere to journal, so I edited two pieces to make them how I wanted. The blue arrow piece is a sticker which I cut the top off as I didn't like the arrows along the top. And the yellow square is from the cut apart sheet and I cut the top off again as I didn't like the flowers. 

I used a grey pen to journal as I didn't want it to be too harsh with black ink. 

I then used a heart and star punch to punch shapes out of one of the squares from Paige Evans Truly Grateful Paper 14. This paper is brilliant as it has so many different patterns and colours, perfect for punching out shapes. I chose a yellow/ mustard coloured square to punch from, to match the trees on the scene paper. And I added a few cardstock star stickers from the Heidi Swapp pack, which matched the blues in the Amy Tan collection perfectly. 

I then worked on my title. I knew I wanted to include the "explore" phrase on the cut apart as part of the title, so I added "no more" in alphas from my stash underneath. Finally I added a little puffy bike sticker in matching blue.

See you soon with my next layout!

Natalie