Nathalie DeSousa's Blog Posts

05.07.20

Hi there Simple Stories friends!

Nathalie with you today to share a fun and colorful layout all about celebrating those magical birthdays. I always think of birthdays as a cheerful day, and the new MAGICAL BIRTHDAY collection  from Simple Stories is filled with small details that will help you document your special day.    

I love the colors and designs in the papers, but the reason  i pulled this picture of my niece for the layout is all due to the eight candles that come in the 12x12 sticker combo, call it serendipity.   I used a cake cut file from Handipaper and cut it three times from white cardstock.  These were stacked and glued together so that they add dimension to the page.

All the colorful papers made it so easy to back the cut file.  I pulled the It's Your Party, Birthday Girl, 3x4 Elements, as well as the 6x8 paper pad to bring color to the cut file.  To construct the layout, i cut a 12"x5" white cardstock strip and attached it to the center of the Hey Crafty Girl basic paper.  I fussy cut a scalloped strip from the HB2U paper and layered it under the white cardstock along with the sticker border from the 12x12 sticker combo.

Embellishing this layout was so fun, literally fun.  My idea was to recreate the party in the page, so i started by adding a few of the banners at the top right corner of the layout.  That foiled star banner from the ephemera pack is amazing!  Then i added the picture (i backed the picture with some of the collection papers) then added a few more decoration to the top of the picture ( thinking of the party decor).  Then added a few stickers around the picture.  The brad was perfect to hold the stickers together and bring texture to the page.

I placed all the presents embellishments at the bottom of the cake, and then used the beautiful foil foam stickers to create my title.  A few enamel dots and gold foil stickers complete  the page.

I love how this page came together with the beautiful MAGICAL BIRTHDAY collection, it is a must for your Birthday documenting!!!

XO

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04.20.20

Hi there Simple Stories Friends!

Hope you all are safe in  your little corner of the world. Though most of us are doing our part to beat this virus, it does not stop us from reliving ( and wishing to ) our travels.  The new Simple Stories GOING PLACES collection is perfect to bring the best of those memories.

I started with a Sn@p  basic ledger paper as the background for the page.  What better way to bring happy to a page than a rainbow.  I pulled some of the Sn@p  cards with the same background design in different colors, as well as some of the collection papers.  Then cut chevrons  and hand stitch them to the top right corner of the page.

With so many bright colors in the papers, i glued a few pieces as layers behind the picture an set it at the end of the rainbow chevron.    Here is where i had fun with all the stickers, bits and pieces and even fussy cut some tags from the paper to form a cluster at the top right corner of the picture.

Did i mention this collection has so many fun embellishments?  It was so easy to combine embellishments with some stamping to bring interest and sentiment to the page.

To balance the page, i cut strips of the Happy Travels, On Our Way, 3x4 Elements and set them at the bottom of the page.  Here, i added a large cluster of ephemera at the left side of the paper strips at the same level as the picture.

 

With all the color in the page, i pulled the Black foam alpha from the Color Vibes  collection to spell the title of the page under the chevron pieces.  I added a phrase sticker from the Combo Sticker sheet to complete the title, then used the coordinating stamp to add more sentiment to the title piece.

This collection is amazing, filled with color, fun designs, and just the perfect sentiments to document your past trips, or plan the ones you will go on once we are able to do so! I hope you check the GOING PLACES collection. You are going to love it!

'til next time, keep safe!!

 

Supplies
03.16.20

Hi there,

Nathalie with you today with some inspiration on documenting yourself.  I know most of us have a hard time taking pictures of ourselves/selfies which results on the lack of your presence on your documenting.   Here is where the new Simple Stories I AM 2020 comes  in to save your day.  All the papers and  designs are just perfect to bring your story forward.  Let me show you:

I started the page by, literally, copying the design the papers created when fanned out on the page.   I used the b-side of the Blooming Paper as the background for the page; then cut papers from the 6x8 paper pad, 3x4 elements and Fierce papers to create the paper fan idea on the page.  I took my time hanstitching the edges of the paper.  

The starting point of the papers create the perfect spot for my pictures.  However the stitched edges of the papers are a great place to add embellishments, such as phrase stickers, ephemera, brads and enamel dots.  I even used the gorgeous foam gold alpha words to set my title in place along the stitched edge of the top paper.

I added a small  piece of vellum behind the picture and set it at the corner above the paper fans.  I pulled one of the journaling ephemera to anchor the cluster of embellishments to the layout and picture.   All the floral in this collection are amazing!!!

Just to balance the bottom cluster, i added a  second one to the top of the page.  To make the page cohesive, i repeated a few of the banner ideas in the cluster, and added a butterfly to each of the major clusters

I love how my crazy ideas turned into this colorful an beautiful layout all about ME.   I am sure the new I AM 2020 will become a new favorite of yours.   Remember to share with us what you created with the Simple Stories collections.

 

XO!

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