Whimsical Layout using Accent Essentials

Please bear with me as this is my first Guest Designer gig. :) I am so honored that Pam asked me to join in with her and these other incredibly talented Designers. I am Nicole Smith, aka NicoleSmith on the MB. :p As you're looking at my projects, you'll find that I'm not much into general papercrafting. I'm pretty strictly a scrapbooker working on layouts for 4 different albums I'm currently putting together - my son's, my daughter's, one for me from when I was a kid and a Heritage album contaning my Grandparent's story. I have been making cards recently since I see all of the incredible work on the MB! You'll also find that my style is very basic and simple. I very rarely do anything intricate. I'm a student of the K.I.S.S. school of life - Keep It Sweet n Simple. :)

Anyway, on with my project for today. I used the Acent Essentials cart to put some whimsical designs on the background paper for this very simple layout of me with my daughter. This is one of my favorite photos of us together.

I started with three designs from the Accent Essentials cartridge. I chose Accent 19, Accent 20 and Accent 24. Here they are laid out on my G screen. I divided the designs into quarters on the mat and changed up the sizes of each one. I wanted them all to be different so no two are the same size. Accent 20 is made of two pieces. I decided that I wanted them to be welded together so I used an "I" from George to connect the bottom of the "heart".




I found four colors that went along with my photo and laid them out on the quarters of my mat.



After I put all of the designs down on my layout I realized that I should have gone back and taken some pics of the in between, but I had already glued them down. Sorry! To prepare the cutouts for the layout, I very lightly brushed a bit of color over them. I chose a coordinating plain piece of Bazzil Cardstock and placed the designs randomly around the cardstock.


Here are some closeups of the cutouts. I used Stickles (who doesn't love, love, love Stickles!!) to add a bit of bling on each design. I also used some gems I've had laying around forever for the center of the flowers.

One rule that I make myself adhere to with all of my layouts is that I try to use my own handwriting on each one. I dislike my own handwriting, but I think it is a very personal touch to add to each layout. I absolutely love looking at my Grandmother's handwriting and it brings back wonderful memories of her. I hope that my kids will look back at their scrapbooks and feel the same way with this little touch. :)

Here is the completed layout! I am very happy with how it turned out. Very simple and basic - just my style. :)

So, there you have it! My first post as a Guest Designer on a Blog. I hope everyone enjoys my layout! Please let me know what you think. I'm always looking for comments to help me grow as a designer. Leave me some love and come to visit me at my very new blog - http://weremakinmemorieshere.blogspot.com/ Until next time....... :)