Living an Inspired Life: December 2023

Dec 17, 2023

SUGAR & SPICE - Doodlebug Design

We are so close to celebrating the happiest day of the year! And we each have family traditions to document. The new GINGERBREAD KISSES collection is perfect to document all those sweet memories, in our case that means building gingerbread houses.

I had a set of pictures from last year's gingerbread building day, and wanted to frame it in this page. My thought was about using a circle for the focus of the layout.

First, I cut a circle frame from the Berry Floral paper, and backed it with the Baking Spirits Bright paper. A bit of foam adhesive helps to add dimension to the page. I adhered it to the back of the Cookies for Santa Paper.

Next, I adhered the photos to cardstock, and then add them to the center of the circle. I made sure that the photos did not reach outside of the circle.

I decided to add just a few embellishments to the top corners of the photos, so that they stay within the top line of the photos. There are so many cute embellishments to choose from that it was so easy to get it all done!

When it came to creating the title, I started by adding a large cluster of Odds & Ends below the photos. All those gingerbread houses in this collection are so cute! Next, I cut a strip of Holiday Sprinkles paper and glued it to the bottom of the page. The matching border sticker just soften the edge. Then it was all about adding a few pieces of Chit Chat, and done!

I just love how this turned out! I hope it inspires you to use the beautiful GINGERBREAD KISSES collection for your next project,

Have a Merry Christmas. and may 2024 be just full of love and peace!

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SUPPLIES

Gingerbread Kisses collection

Textured Cardstock Assortment

Sprinkles

Dec 13, 2023

Altenew December 2023 Inks & Marvelous Monthly Series Blog Hop + Giveaway ($300 in Total Prizes!)

Hi there!
Welcome to ALTENEW DECEMBER 2023 INKS & MARVELOUS MONTHLY SERIES BLOG HOP. We are celebrating the last release of the year with lots of inspiration and prizes. You can check all the participants at the bottom of this post for your convenience.

With so much to choose from it was hard and easy to put quite a few projects together. Let's start with this month's new Ink Releases:

I am using the new GLACIER CAVES FRESH DYE INK SET along with the Mini Delight Deco Elements for the card panel (the new STAMPWHEEL SQUARE GRID FLIP PLATE made it easy to have the linear elements lined up for the stamping).

These two layouts feature a few of the new Fresh Dye Ink Colors. These new re-released colors and new color ink sets are a must in your stash!

Now, let's take a look at some of the new inks in action with some of the new products:

This card features the new SNOWY STARS 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER, and a a few of the new FRESH DYE INKS .

The new SWEATER PATTERN BUILDER STENCIL and the new FOREST TRAILS FRESH DYE INK were used for this card.

I used the new THROUGH THE WINDOW DIE set to help me create this new spread in my Gratitude Journal.

Now, let's take a look at this month's Marvelous Monthly Subscription products in action:

I love the new BUILD-A-GARDEN: BLOSSOMING FREESIA was perfect to frame the pictures in this layout.

One of my favorites from this release is the new CRAFT-A-FLOWER: CALLA LILLY... It was my grandma's favorite flower, so I used it in this layout about a past memory.

I used the last SPARK JOY: ORNAMENTAL BOUQUET for this pocket page layout in my Family Journal. I used some of the new FRESH DYE INKS to color the flower.

I used the new CRAFT YOUR LIFE PROJECT KIT: LOVING YOU to create this card. Remember you can only get this set through the subscription program.

I love butterflies, and the new MINI DELIGHT: DELICATE BUTTERFLY was a great way to create this pocket page spread in my Gratitude Journal.

Finally, the new DYNAMIC DUO: DAINTY ROSES is probably one of my favorites of this release. I used it to create this spread following the colors in the package.

That was quite a bit to go through, but there was just so many beautiful products to work with.

Now it is time for a giveaway:

$300 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $100 gift certificate to 1 lucky winner and a $50 gift certificate to 4 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 12/19/2023 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 5 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 12/21/2023.

*The winner of the $100 gift certificate will be chosen from comments left on the Altenew blog.

Now it is time to continue the hop, thanks for stopping by!

Dec 11, 2023

Pinkfresh Studio December 2023 Press Plate Release

Hi there!

Welcome to PINKFRESH STUDIO DECEMBER 2023 PRESS PLATE RELEASE. Today, we are celebrating the release of all the new Press Plates and Glitter paper with Inspiration and Prizes

It was so hard to pick a few products to work with, but I finally chose the Floral Octagon Frame and the Beautiful Roses Press Plates and Dies for my project:

I love how the page turned out, but let's take a closer look:

I used the Beautiful Roses Press Plate and Detail Black Ink to create all the impressions on watercolor paper, then used watercolors in tones of pink and green to detail the flowers.

While the florals dried, I pulled the inks from the Amalfi Coast Premium Dye ink set to create a few of the frames using the Floral Octagon Frame Press Plate and Die. I set this on white cardstock with a bit of foam adhesive. Each stripe of frames corresponds to a color of ink, then trimmed the cardstock to 9.5x11in, then placed it on vanilla cardstock.

I set my image in the bottom half of the page, and made sure that the Beautiful Roses run from behind the picture to the left and right of the page. A few extra embellishments from the Lovely Blooms collection, a few embossed Small Butterflies and Gold Metallic Pearls complete the page.

I just love how this turned out, and I hope it inspires you to check the rest of the inspiration.

Of course we are celebrating the release with a giveaway

Pinkfresh Studio is giving away the entire release in their blog and YouTube channel
They are also giving away TEN $25 gift certificate to comments left along the blog posts.

All the winners will be announced on December 19, 2023 in their Giveaway Page. If you are a winner, then you will have up to 2 weeks to claim your prize!

I hope this inspires you, and thanks for stopping by

Dec 3, 2023

GINGERBREAD COOKIES FOR SANTA - Doodlebug Design

It is the most magical time of the year! And the new GINGERBREAD KISSES collection is just perfect to document those magical memories. The theme and color palette in this collection is ideal for a few pictures of my little nephew creating his gingerbread house for Santa.

It all started with the new Gingerbread Lane Doodle Cuts die. I wanted to create this layered design as a featured in my page, then build the rest around it.

I used Petite Prints, Gingerbread Kisses Patterned paper and coordinating solid cardstock to create the Gingerbread house and the small gingerbread men, I pulled a few sprinkles to add the decoration to the house. This was just so much to put together.

To build the page around the house die cut, my choice was to create a paper fold using the Sugarplums paper. However, I added a piece of the Cookies for Santa as part of the fold, since the patterned helped with the overall design of the page. Once the house was secured, I added extra decorations, and a title using Chit Chat pieces.

I backed the empty space created by the fold with cardstock and a piece of the Baking Spirits Bright paper. The angle of the fold created the perfect placement for the photos. Then it was all about adding a few extra embellishments using Bits and PIeces, puffy stickers, and Sprinkles.

I love how this turned out, and I hope that this inspires you to check the new GINGERBREAD KISSES collection. You will love it!