Nathalie DeSousa's Blog Posts

02.25.19

Hello Simple Stories Friends and Fans!  

Nathalie with you today with a super fun layout that features the new Say Cheese 4 collection.  What can i say!, Simple Stories has created the perfect collection as it can be used to document your memories at the theme park as well as your every day memories.  There are so many embellishments, papers, and designs to chose from that it makes is so easy and fun to create projects.

The inspiration for this page of my Goddaughter ready to visit the most magical place on the world was her head band.

I used the stencil as a guide to create the silhouette of the mouse head on white paper.  Next i used a few paper edge punches to create the scalloped paper strips out of all the black color papers that i found in the SAY CHEESE 4 collection, basic paper pack and 6x8 paper pad.   I glued the strips together on the paper silhouette and stitched around the edge of the silhouette to hold them all together.  All the extra pieces were trimmed so that the silhouette can be easily recognized. 

To keep the focus on the head band, i drew and cut  the image  of the bow onto the b side of the 4x6 Element paper of the Say Cheese 4 collection, and use some white thread to hand stich it to a piece of white cardstock.  Once the image was completely stitched and detailed, i fussy cut the cardstock leaving a small offset around the image, and glued it straight onto the head silhouette.

The B side of the Make a Wish paper serves as the base for the page.  A bit of white acrylic paint was added as a background for the head silhouette.   Once the piece was glued to the page, i used some of the Sn@p cards to back and pictures and glued to the layout.   There are so many embellishments to  chose from that it was so easy to create clusters of stickers, ephemera around the pictures.

Now, to complete this page, i used the new Fun Large Words Metal Die to cut part of the title from 6x8 paper - i used some white cardstock die cuts to create depth on the die cut-, and then used the  Happy Words Stamp and Dies to create the word "day".  To just finish this page, i added a matching bow clip to  the title, and a few lines of journal around the mouse head silhouette.

Stylized picture

I am totally in love with this collection, and the possibilities (trust me i have created a few layouts with it already).  Whether you love the theme park or just want a fun colorful collection, the new SAY CHEESE 4 is definitely one  of the funnest releases from Simple Stories this year, and a must  for your documenting.   You can always contact me if you have questions on how this came together.

XO

Supplies
02.04.19

Hi there!

Nathalie with you today with a new layout right on time to celebrate the season of LOVE.   Well, after twenty years together, it seems my husband and I are yet to learn how to take a good picture together, but that has not stopped me from capturing us through the years.  The new Simple Stories Kissing Booth collection was the perfect mix of colors and sentiments to help capture our story.

For the background, i used the Crazy in Love paper as the base for the page, then fussy cut a piece of the banners in the 3x4 Elements paper and a large strip of the Hugs and Kisses paper and attached them to the top of the paper.

I used a bit of mixed media (VIcki Boutin Art Crayons and Gesso) to add a bit of color to the backgrond just on the areas where the title and picture will be placed.

A fussy cut a few of the florals from the Always Be True paper, while the background dried.  I layer a few 4x6 Vertical elements behind the picture and attached it to the  page using foam adhesive.  I then  decided to use the large fussy cut floral as the top cluster on the picture.

I added a few die cut roses (SIlhouette Cutfile) around the picture as well as elements from the stickers sheet, bit and pieces pack, and puffy stickers to help frame the picture.

To create the title of this page, i pulled a cut file from Just Nick Studio and backed it with papers and pieces of ephemera from the Kissing Booth collection.   I placed it at the bottom of the page and completed the title by adding a chipboard sticker and one of the phrase stickers.

I really love how this turned out!  even when our selfie is not perfect, I  still love that reflects us.  All the details and colors from the Simple Stories' Kissing Booth collection are perfect to  make the picture that much more special.  Remember to check the collection, and have a great Valentine's Day!

Supplies
01.13.19

Hello Simple Stories friends and fans!

Nathalie with you today to celebrate the arrival of Winter (here in the Northern Hemisphere) with a colorful and fun layout using the beautiful Simple Stories new line Freezin' Season.  Though, Toronto-Canada has yet to get some snow, i have so many memories of snowfalls past, and the colors in the collection were perfect to bring the fun of Winter to my scrapbook album.

To start,  a bit of white acrylic paint was added to the Hello Winter paper -this hazes the pattern in the background, while creating a whiter canvas for the layout-.  While the paint dried, the"Winter" cut file (from Paige Evans) was cut from white cardstock, and backed with papers from the Freezin' Season collection.

The cut out was placed on a slant on the background, so that it adds playfulness to the page.   The picture was backed with papers from the collection ( the element pages are a great to layer and back pictures!), and then it was nestled in between the background and the cut out.

Since the picture shows my niece holding a snowball, i decided to continue the circle motive throughout the page.   For this all the circle snowflake embellishments from the collection were used to create clusters around the picture, along with some die cuts and stickers.  Love all the colors!

To complete the title of the page, a cluster of snowflake embellishments was created at the top left corner of the cut out.   Here the the "Freezin'" chipboard was added.  In a similar manner the "Season" chipboard sticker was added at the opposite -diagonally- corner of the cut out, so that the title reads "Freezin' Winter Season".

Those circle snowflakes were perfect to create clusters around the layout.  Some were tucked under the cut out, while others are floating on the page along with sticker words and embellishments from the collection.   Just a few lines of journal and some white ink were the final touches of this page.

I hope this inspires you to check the colorful designs and colors of the Simple Stories' Freezin' Season collection.  It is  the perfect collection to document all those happy Winter memories.

XO

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