Featuring Bahama Blue Grid Paper and the new Circle Frame and Flowers Set dies

Baby Loves Bling!

The bright Bahama Blue Grid paper is a great go to color for all your summer pages, today, I’m using it for some beach photos. The Circle Frame and Flowers Die Set will help us bring the bling. My story today isn’t really about the beach, just about my granddaughter Cecily and her love of beads and bling.

So how is that a story to tell? Well, as a young mother I thought I’d never forget all the little stories about each of my children. I thought remembering their favorite things, books, words and actions would never escape me. I was wrong.

Now it’s all the things about my grandchildren I want to remember and be able to tell them for the future. Now, I can write things down in a journal, but some stories are best said with pictures. Don’t you agree? That’s how we get to the beach to tell Cecily’s story.

This baby loves bling! Yes, she does. Every day she arrives in her jammies and her necklaces so I shouldn’t be surprised when on a trip to the beach she was all decked out in two of her best!

Here’s the journaling I’ve included on the page to tell her story:

 

I’ve used a large 4×6 space to take some cardstock and emboss it with We R Memory Keepers folder “Tide” for a nice added water texture to the page. The journaling uses CK Diva font for the story. The block is cut to 3”x 5”and I used a teal cardstock mat with a 1/8” exposure to draw the focus to the story.

STORY TIPS:
You may not have a baby story to tell that you want to remember, but maybe you’d like to keep track of your children’s artwork, you can always take several of the best and photograph or scan and print on photo paper and tell a story. The favorite blanket, toy or book make excellent subjects for a special remembrance page and tell the story…was it a gift, a hand-me-down or family heirloom? Capture the story with some photos and add the journaling!

THE DIE
This set includes a Circle Frame Die that will cover a 4×4 block area. There is an additional 2×2 die, the Flower Set, that will cut a flower square, a flower outline, the flower and a large circle center, a separate large leaf die works with this flower. Two small flowers and two small leaves are also included with this set.

 

Although the Circle Frame Die set is a nice way to frame a special photo, the additional flower set that is included helps to add a spot for additional bling in the centers of the flowers. Using a combination of patterned paper, cardstock and Irridescent Bubbles Blue from Queen & Co I’m able to add bling for the theme and decorate the circle frame too. The small flowers were also used on page two in the 1” squares along the side. The inner narrow circle frame is used in a contrasting color and draws your eye to the photo.

Because it was a beach page I added both dies from the Sand Play Die set, a castle and sand pail. I’ve cut both of these pieces from the watercolor paper from Lawn Fawn. The watercolor paper gives a nice life-like look to the pail and sand castle and the Wink of Stella adds a layer of clear sparkle on the sand. By cutting several pails in three colors I was able to piece together a cornerstone tile with distinctive parts.

The background for each of the cornerstone dies is a strip from Recollections Turq Waves. I’ve used Doodlebug Designs waves for all the horizontal squares on both pages and a variety of coordinating cardstock for all the remaining mats and double mats.

PRINTING TIP:
For the four photos in the squares I printed them out on a 4×6 photo paper using the contact sheet setting. To use our smallest square die to cut these photos was going to take away more than I wanted to for these spots, so I used EK Success 1.75” punch to crop just the right amount.

This Circle Frame die set is a fine addition to the other circle frame dies that we have that cover 3×3, 2×2 and 1” squares. Unique to this circle die is the narrow inner frame that gives the appearance of a double mat. Why not add it to your collection and be prepared for every opportunity to add a circle frame!

Andrea Fisher