Geek Lab – Shine Like the Stars

Hello scrappers and welcome back to the blog! Today I have a fun layout to share using the June Aquarelle Main Kit. I am in love with the colors in this kit – from the soft blue tones to the watercolor accents. This kit is stunning!

Here is the layout I made using this fantastic kit along with the exclusive Clique Kits “Shine Like the Stars” cut file to serve as my title.

I love using cut files as a way to create interesting titles and accents. And to be honest, I am sort of a lazy scrapper and I rely heavily on tools like cut files as a short cut to creating fabulous layouts!

I cut this digital cut file using my Silhouette Cameo (suitable to cut with other electronic cutting machines such as a Cricut). Because of the delicate detail of this file, I adjusted the cut settings in Silhouette Studio to a speed of 2 and to a thickness of 31. This ensured that the middle words “like the” would cut without issue.

I initially cut this image on dark blue card stock but I just didn’t like the look of it once I placed it on the layout. I wanted the cut file to mimic the navy blue watercolor accents that are featured in the die cuts and frames that I used on the layout. To remedy this, I cut the file a second time on white American Crafts Textured Cardstock and painted the cut file with Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors to create a navy blue ombre effect.

I used extra water to spread the paint, starting with a dark shade of navy blue at the bottom of the cut file and working my way up.

Once I finished painting the image, I used a heat tool to dry the cut file. When the cut file was completely dry, I adhered it to my layout using Tombo Mono Aqua Liquid Glue.

The result is a stunning title that coordinates perfectly with the accents featured on this layout!

Using cut files is a simple way to add high impact to a scrapbook layout without much effort!

Once the title was in position, the remaining accents of this layout came together rather quickly.

 

Haven’t tried a Clique Kits exclusive cut file? Wait no more! Head on over to the CK store, download a few cut files and give them a try! Until next time, make it a great scrappy day!

Geek Lab – Favorite

Hello, everyone. Enza here to share a fun layout featuring the awesome May Sorbet kit.

Paper punches are a great tool when it comes to give your pages a more unique look. I love using them, but rarely do anymore, as my die-cutting machine does all the work for me 😉 It felt like a nice change to take out my big box of punches and think of different ways to use them.

For my layout today, I picked three circular punches in different sizes (one of them has scalloped edges), and cut out several circles from a variety of patterned papers.

I then folded them in half, but didn’t glue them together. The idea was to create dimensional petals.  I used the colorful buttons in the Pink Fresh Studio Dream On collection for the inside of the flowers and tucked all the folded circles underneath them.

The smaller picture fit perfectly in between the flowers. A few layers of patterned papers and ephemera pieces were used to give the photo a more finished look.

For my title, I used the “Favorite” die cut included in the May Sorbet Kit. Simple and easy, but still bold enough to create some contrast with the rest of the colors.

I finished the layout with a couple of fun and colorful strips of washi tape at the bottom of the page and puffy stickers scattered all over the page.

Thank you for stopping by. Don’t forget to visit the Clique store for all your crafty needs. We also have a few challenges going on in the Clique Facebook group. You have until May 31^st to play along for a chance to win a gift certificate to the store.

Have a lovely day!

Enza

Clique Kits – Geek Lab – Sweet Valentines

Hello there, Clique friends! First of all, Happy New Year! I’m so ready and excited to see what this 2017 will bring!

Today I want to show you a fun project I created using the gorgeous Hey, Sugar January Kit.

One of my goals this year is to get more organized and plan in advance. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I thought it would be useful to start making little Valentines for my kids’ classmates and friends. Both the Crate Paper Heart Day and Simple Stories Love & Adore collections are perfect for this. I’m also going to use the January printables and the Crate Paper ephemera pack included in the Limited Edition Love Always Valentine’s Day Kit.

Last week, our super talented Magali showed you how to use a scoring board to make beautiful rosettes. I’m going to use the same tool to make little envelopes to go with my kids’ Valentine’s Day cards. The Crate Paper 6×6 paper pad, which is one of the add-ons this month, is the best option as the envelopes only measure 3.5” x 2.5”.

First thing you want to do is cut a 5”x5” piece of patterned paper. I normally don’t use the envelope guide that came with the scoring board, but it can be helpful to make sure your lines are straight. Place your cut piece of paper on the board as shown in the picture below. The two opposite corners are touching the 3.5” marks on the top and left side of the board.

Score at 1.75” in mark and turn the paper 90 degrees, then score at 2.25” and turn the paper again, until all the sides are scored. Two opposite sides are scored at 1.75” and the other two at 2.25”.

Cut out the little corners between scores and fold the flaps inward.

I like the look of sharp corners on my envelopes, but you can certainly round the corner of the inside flap, as well as the one on the outside.

Use adhesive to seal the edges and you are done!

Here are the envelopes, all decorated and ready to go.

And here are the coordinating Valentines.

I used many of the January exclusive printables, as well as the Doughnut cut file available to subscribers. I also added some of the exclusive stickers designed by Claudia van Rooijen included in the December Wonderland Kit.

Some close ups:

I really enjoyed making these Valentines. The papers and embellishments in the Hey, Sugar January Kit and add-ons are beautiful. If you are looking to make more Valentine’s Day projects don’t miss out on the Limited Edition Love Always Kit.

Until next time. Have a great day!

XO, Enza

Geek Lab : Bow Die

Hello there! Caroli here again and today I want to tell you about a little tool I love: my bow die!

There was a time when my Bigshot was my fave tool and I had a ton of dies of all kinds, then, the electronic cutter appeared in my life and the poor Bigshot was almost forgotten…. Nevertheless, some years later I discovered the new thin dies and started playing with it again 😀

One of my favorite dies at this moment is a bow die by My Favorite Things, it is so cute and girly, perfect for projects of my little girl.

 Here is a layout I made using it:

 

As you can see our March kit is so versatile, I used lot of pink this time just to make this layout extra girly, and loved the contrast with black and neon ❤

This paper with lots of words handwritten on it was asking me for some fussy cutting!

 

I love this die so much I even got inspired enough to make a card, don’t you just love those black doilies included on the kit? I do! 😀

In summary, if you ask me, I fully recomend to have a bow die, certainly it’s a great addition because it adds volume and variety to our projects, and who doesn’t love bows?! 🙂  Have a great day!