Play | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends,

It's Tarrah back with you and today I am sharing a new back to school themed layout using one of the Freebie Friyay cut files called Uncharted Territory.  

Uncharted Territory cut file

I cut out the design from white textured cardstock and then chose some older coloured papers by Bella Blvd to back the cut file with. I used red on the very outside, then came in to yellow and then used the light blue/aqua colour in the centre.  Once the cut file was backed I adhered it to the centre of another piece of textured white cardstock.

I matted my photo using a star paper and adhered it slightly to the right of the design. I didn't want to cover up all the blue from backing the cut file. I added the strip of paper with the apples under my photo, I then used this as a place to adhere my acrylic title 'Play'. 

I used a mixture of embellishments including a felt bow, stickers, chipboard stickers, puffy stickers, die-cuts, enamel dots and shapes, a flair button and wood veneer.  I placed the felt bow under the apple paper strip, I love that pop of yellow here. Over to the right of my photo, I placed the backpack die-cut and then layered a Back to School flair button over the top. 

Thank you for stopping by today! Make sure to check out The Cut Shoppe store for amazing cut file designs for all types of projects!

Happy creating!

Dec 25 | Tarrah McLean

Merry Christmas creative friends!

It's Tarrah back with you and today I am sharing a new Christmas layout using the 12 Days of Christmas 'Dec 25' freebie!

The Dec 25 freebie...find all the 12 Days of Christmas cut files in the store here

I decided on a red, black and white colour palette for this layout, I am not normally a plaid person but I love how the red and black plaid looked backed in the '25'. I decided on the pretty black floral for the 'Dec'.

Once I had backed the entire cut file, I added craft foam underneath and popped it up on to the small back spot paper. I often pop up cut files from the background paper to allow for tucking in embellishments as well as layering them on top of the cut file.

I added my photo on top of the '5' and layered a black doily and one of the frames from the collection. I added some wood veneer embellishments as well as die-cuts and stickers to finish off my page. Overall this layout came together pretty quickly once I had my cut file backed and ready to go.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I do hope you have a wonderful day celebrating Christmas with your loved ones!

Happy creating!

Comfort Food with Kira

Hey there!  It's Kira and I am back with another 8.5x11 scrapbook layout using the Eat Beat digital from The Cut Shoppe! I love the digital stamps for their versatility, so today I used one of the stamps as a cut file title!  Here's a look at my layout:

I started with these two photos of my kids at the zoo.  We received an annual pass to the zoo from my mother in law for Christmas last year, so we try to get a lot of use out of it.  One of the traditions we have going to the zoo, is buying the kids popcorn and animal crackers.  So I wanted to document this and the Eat Beat stamp works perfectly for this!

I created a "popcorn bucket" out of some patterned paper and used a flower punch as my popcorn.  Some pieces I popped up on foam to add dimension.  I also sprinkled in some sequins for a bit more texture.

I cut "comfort food" out on white cardstock, and attached it to my layout with some foam adhesive.  I positioned my photos so they looked like they were falling out of the popcorn bucket.

I finished off the layout with some embellishments.  Here's another look at the full layout:

Thanks for stopping by!

Back to School with Kira

Hey there!  It's Kira and I am back with a layout in my son's school album.  My oldest son started kindergarten this year!  It's a very exciting time for all of us, but probably none more than Fish.  I got a ton of pictures on his first day, and am trying to narrow them down so I don't have entire album of his first day.  Ha!

I really wanted to use the School Days cut file.  So many of The Cut Shoppe's designers have already used it, so I thought it would be fun to alter it a bit! 

I started by cutting the cut file on white cardstock at 7.5" high (I am working in a 6x8 album for my son's school album). 

After the cut file was cut, I knew I wanted it to look like my photo was hanging out of the lower backpack pocket.  So I cut off the zipper part of the pocket, and folded it down like it was just falling open. 

Then I cut a thin strip of white cardstock, and added it to where I felt the "inner lining" of the backpack would stop.  Then I backed my cardstock with patterned papers, making sure I left the pocket as an actual pocket so I could stuff my photo inside. 

After adding my photo, I added three clusters around my page.  I kept with a blue and yellow color scheme using yellow and blue flowers and other elements from the September Citrus Twist LC kit.  I decided against adding a title to this page since I will probably add a coordinating pocket page in the future. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Back to School | Marsha Farris

Hey friends!  Marsha here today sharing a traveler's notebook layout.  I used the Background Check cut file from The Cut Shoppe.

When this cut file was added to the shop, I knew I wanted to create a layout documenting my sons' first day of school last year.  It is such a perfect cut file to use in a traveler's notebook, too!

To begin my layout, I cut out the cut file using white cardstock.  I backed the numbers three and nine using some patterned paper from my stash.  I chose to only back those two numbers, making them stand out from the background.  I then adhered the entire cut file to a piece of patterned paper.  To embellish this page, I added a few puffy stickers and used some alpha stamps to stamp my sons' names.

For the other side of the spread, I layered some patterned papers behind my photo and then used some ephemera pieces and puffy stickers to embellish the page.

I used some white puffy alpha stickers and alpha stamps to add the title.  I just love how this layout turned out using this cut file!

Thank you for joining me today!  I hope you will stop by The Cut Shoppe store and check out all of the fun cut files that are currently available!

Teacher Gift with Kira

Well, it's that time of the year again.  Kids are heading back to school!  Or in the case of some, heading to school for the first time.  I have my very first kindergartner!  I can barely believe it!  Since I wanted to start this school year off right, I decided to create a little teacher appreciation gift for our first week of school.  I included some snacks, a bath bomb, a stamp set and this:

This is a super easy project to make, and requires very limited supplies.  I started with a Jillibean Soup rustic white frame.  I removed the white board from it and painted it black to give it the look of a chalkboard. 

Then I used my Cricut and some cut files from The Cut Shoppe to plan out my design.  I used the Write On Alpha for "Mrs. Pena".  I sized it to 7.5" wide so it would take up the majority of the frame's width. 

I used the pencil from the School Rules cut file below the teacher's name and sized it to about 7" wide.  I cut the cut files out from white vinyl and placed it on the black board. 

Then I replaced the frame and ta-da!  The perfect teacher's gift! 

Thanks for stopping by!

"Adventure" with Kira

Hey there!  It's Kira and I am back with another 8.5x11 scrapbook layout using a cut file from The Cut Shoppe.  Here's a look at my layout:

I started with a photo of my youngest son on one of our daily adventures around the duck pond.  We go so often that he got into the routine of going a certain way every time.  So when I was choosing my cut file, I decided to go with Going My Way. 

I cut it on white cardstock and then adhered it to a pale pink ombre background.  I positioned it slightly off center, just to add some more visual interest. 

I positioned my photo towards the lower half of my layout, and then built an embellishment cluster to the left of it. 

I added my title on top of the cluster and added some feathers below it, since we were looking at the ducks in the photo. 

I added a second embellishment cluster in the top right.  I finished off the entire layout with some black splatters. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

"Skateboard" with Kira

Hey there!  It's Kira and I am back with another 8.5x11 scrapbook layout using a cut file from The Cut Shoppe.  I've been in a creative funk lately so I really wanted to use a product that excited me.  I realized I hadn't used the Secret Garden cut file yet, so I knew that needed to make it's way onto a layout!

I started by cutting the cut file out on white cardstock (for a really bold design, see how Erica used this cut file in black!).  I pulled out a few patterned papers in some colors I thought worked well together.  Since my photos are pretty neutral, I didn't feel like I was limited by a certain color scheme and just chose what made me happy, which ended up being pink, yellow and a bright lime green.

I sized my cut file at 10" wide, because I knew I wanted part of it to hang off the page.  I backed the entire cut file with foam and then adhered it so the right side was hanging off the page just a bit.

I had a few photos of my son playing at a skate park (he for sure doesn't realize it's a skate park and seems to think it's some sort of slide playground for littles, ha!), so I printed one photo at 3x4 and the others as 2" squares.  I tucked the larger photo under the cut file, and scattered the smaller ones underneath.

I added my title "Who needs a skateboard" with some woodgrain chipboard alphas, and added a few embellishments around the page.  I finished it off with some typed journaling strips.

Thanks for stopping by!

Kira