Gia Lau

Clique Kits October TN Kit & Exclusives

As the month of October comes to a close I thought I would share one more layout using my October Clique Kits Gather. Every month each one of the kits includes a cut-it-yourself page of exclusive designs. For this layout, the TN exclusive inspired me to make a page of my son’s “Top 3” this month–his birthday month. It has adorable little number banners and lots of little journaling spots which I used for my story.

Even though it is called the “traveler’s notebook” kit, this monthly subscription kit with a slightly lower price point and smaller scale is totally usable for any kind of project- including 12 x 12 layouts.

Another fun thing I made for this layout is a sequin shaker out of some ephemera leftover from my main kit. Shakers are a great way to recycle the plastic packaging from supplies.

The washi tape and the botanical ephemera pieces were in the TN kit, while the sequin mixture and the tiny paper clips were an add on this month. You wont run out of supplies all month long with either one of Clique Kits’ subscriptions but if you are like me and a sucker for saving $ on shipping it really pays to check out the Monthly Releases each time a new kit is revealed.

-xGia

Halloween Layout

This is a Halloween layout using the Halloween sampler kit from my Etsy shop. A sampler kit is like a bag of swag from a variety of collections that work well together and are an economical way to supplement your stash with theme supplies without breaking the bank or ending up with way more than you need. The Halloween papers are from Paperhouse productions and American Crafts products. The common theme is plaids combined with bold and modern black and white Halloween patterns. My favorite is the cut apart journaling cards from Pebbles Midnight Haunting. The kit also includes paper and ephemera from the brand new Pebbles collection Spooky Boo.

Here you can see how I used the spider web doilies in the kit as you would use a cut file! This was kind of a time saving hack for this layout if I’m being honest!

Here are some more closeups:

I had so much fun putting together some of my recent Halloween faves and I hope you have a blast celebrating Halloween!

-xGia

Clique Kits October Pep Rally

Aloha friends! Happy fall y’all! Clique Kits has been creating with some amazing products geared toward the beautiful sights, sounds, and tastes (Pumpkin Spice yeah!) of autumn and the October kit was appropriately named “Gather”.

Today is the day we celebrate with an Instagram Hop and share all of the projects we made in October as we get a glimpse of the upcoming November Kit reveal! YAY!

The Instagram Hop Lineup

Donna – @iampinay25
Sara – @sara.scraps
Kayla – @kaylawebber88
Hannah – @dandalion2002
Marsha – @heymarshamakes
Rachel – rachellowe____
Cristina – cristina__sales
Sue – @suesmith7900
Gia – @giaaloha
Raechelle – @raebellus
Riri – @riri.creates
Theresa – @larkindesigntm
Khristina – @khristinasorge

Simply like and comment on these amazing posts and participants for a chance to win a prize from Clique Kits! Tag your friends to play along!

For this layout I used a new (to me) stamp and die set from Ink Road Stamps. It is called Bella Flora and I used black ink to stamp and then used the outline dies to cut some 2D flowers to layer with those gorgeous 3D flowers in the kit! You also might recognize that this layout follows the Clique Kits October sketch!

Here are some sneak peeks at the November Kits! They are called “Seneca Falls” which is considered the birthplace of women’s suffrage because the first ever convention on women’s right to vote took place there in 1848. This is very important to us Clique Kits girls because November 6th Election Day is right around the corner and we really want to encourage ALL of our followers to get out and use that right to vote that women once fought and died to get!

This kit features designer in the spotlight Amy Tangerine and her new collection Shine On! Loving the colors and patterns in this one! So while you stalk your mail-person don’t forget to get out there and vote in the Midterm elections!

-xo Gia

Mixed Media Monday:Wilna Furstenberg Artful Layouts Class

Posting another layout inspired by the Wilna Furstenberg class on Bluprint today- if you missed the first one just scroll down or check here. In this lesson we created a background of bright color with gelatos and water and layered texture paste for a title using a cut file as a stencil (cut file technique 1). Last, we used a butterfly cut file (technique 2) to make layered dimensional embellishments using black and white words paper. The same butterflies were cut out of plain white paper and a Studio Calico paper I had in my stash. I learned a lot in this class so far and more importantly I have been trying to find my mojo again.

This class not only includes the instructional videos which are fantastic–it also includes numerous digitals including cut files and printable art work which can be used to create backgrounds and titles. I am currently pretty far from where I would like to be in terms of creative productivity but sometimes just doing something is better than nothing! Do you ever get in a creative funk? What brings you out of it?

-xGia

Mixed Media Monday

Hi crafty friends! Today I am excited to post about this layout because it was so much fun to make and was inspired by my new Bluprint membership and the “Fresh Techniques for Artful Layouts” class taught by Wilna Furstenberg. How did I stumble upon this?

With the constant overload of stimulation on You Tube I often wondered if I would ever feel I am in the know when it comes to the latest and greatest “stuff” for the hobby I am so passionate about. How do you sort through all the information on Instagram to find the content that will resonate with you and where you are in your journey? How does one go about separating the wheat from the chaff on social media? Enter on the scene: the Bluprint platform with so many artists and makers I admire and follow in one space- I am able to find what I am looking for and make sure that I use my time wisely without getting sucked into a bottomless pit of low yield content. The classes I have previewed so far have been A.Maz.Ing!

So getting back to Wilna’s class…I followed along one lesson which covered creating layers with patterned paper, gelatos used with water, rub ons, ribbon, and making frames by stamping in air dry clay. WOW- that is a lot of objectives for one class- and yet it was very simple and super fun!

Screen Shot 2018-10-07 at 10.58.38 PM

The patterned paper I used was from the Bloom Kit from The Paper Curator. The stamp set that I used to create the frames were from Altenew. I used these because they worked with my photos and layout and made it my own even though they were different from the ones Wilna used in the class.

After rolling out the air dry clay like dough the frames are “stamped” into the clay and cut out with a craft knife.

After adhering some paper to the middle of a white cardstock I scribbled on and off the paper with gelatos, added water with paint brushes, and then once dry, layered on a bunch of rub ons from my stash. I did not have as many rub ons that worked well as Wilna did so I ended up doing a little stamping too.

And there is one last look at my final layout! I know that I am going to use all of the ideas I learned in other layouts too. Thanks so much for stopping by!

-xGia

Other products used: Pink Paislee Auburn Lane rub ons from the October 2018 Clique Kits Travelers Notebook kit, and the acrylic Memories title piece from Bella Blvd which was in the June 2018 Clique Kits Main kit. The velvet ribbon was also in the October 2018 Clique Kit. Stamps from Ali Edwards and additional rub ons from Pinkfresh Studio.

Clique Kits September Pep Rally and a Winner!

This month the Clique Kits Pep Rally is taking place over on Instagram! There is a great lineup of inspiration using the September Kits (Farmhouse) and you can find them using the following hashtags: #click_create_connect #ckpeprally #cliquekits #ckseptember2018 and #ckfarmhouse. You can find mine too @giaaloha. In addition to my layout I also promised to announce the winner of my first Instagram giveaway!

Giveaway! (1)

The winner of the Maggie Holmes Willow Lane Bundle is @piros01 (Czako-Radvanyi Piroska)

She commented that her favorite thing about fall is “all the beautiful colors.” If you are she please email info@cliquekits.com as I will need your shipping address! This announcement will also be posted on Instagram in case you missed it here!

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And now a little bit more about this layout!

I started with the stencil that came in the Farmhouse travelers notebook kit and had fun creating a messy background for my first layer of the layout.

I used the patterned papers in the Magnolia Moments add on paper pad to back the Autumn Wreath cut file from Clique Kits.

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Here is a close up- lots of ephemera and bits and pieces from my main and travelers notebook kits were filled in over and under the wreath to create lots of layering and different textures. The finishing touch- that adorable deer– was a leftover from a previous kit that had featured the Maggie Holmes Flourish collection. We often see deer families running through our yard so it was the perfect embellishment for this photo of my daughter in our backyard at our lemon tree.

Thanks so much for visiting- I hope you will head over to Instagram and comment on all of the stops along the hop!IG Hop participants as there is a chance to win a prize from Clique Kits:

@Giaaloha (me)
@sara.scraps
@paper_glitter
@rachellowe____
@dandalion2002
@Nupur2728
@heartpeonies
@cheekypapercreations
@cristina__sales
@iampinay25
@larkindesigntm
@khristinasorge

-Hugs, Gia

Multi-Photo Layout using Farmhouse

Today I am sharing a layout using my September Clique Kits Farmhouse kit (Main Kit). I have found that there are two main ways to incorporate a large number of photos on a single page layout. The first way is to create a grid design with photos of a uniform size. The second way is to use a cut file where the design includes frames suitable for multiple photos. For this layout, I obviously chose the latter technique.

I customized this cut file by duplicating it and then making the duplicate a mirror image just below it on the 12 x 12 cutting space.

This file had an additional layer which I cut from a different contrasting color pattern paper. It was interesting to use a vector file that was designed to use in laser cutting wood- for my purpose it worked well for paper too!

First I created a simple background with just a little bit of the black and white papers in the kit keeping it simple stitching triangular shaped borders at the top and bottom of the page. Then I used some gesso and acrylic paint to create a distressed painted background. I wanted to tie together the blue-grey siding on my parent’s house which shows in most of the photos because they were taken on the front porch.

I printed all of my photos on one page by creating a collage of different sized and shaped photos to be cropped as closely as possible to the dimensions in the frame. They did not need to be exact because I was able to trim them when backing the cut file to just the right size.

I loved the black word/phrase stickers in the kit because they allowed me to use them for journaling without distracting from a layout where there is already quite a bit going on. This family reunion was the first time in years that my siblings and I were all together with our children and my parents had almost all of their grandchildren in the house at the same time! Actually, 3 out of 17 were missing, which is pretty amazing considering we live all around the world and came together for just 1 week around my father’s birthday. I will probably make a mini album using all of the candid photos from the reunion but wanted to include a 12 x 12 layout with these special “posed” pictures to document all of the cousins together at this once in a lifetime event.

I feel like the September Farmhouse kit was perfect for this layout because it is totally a kit that is all about family and home and simple pleasures of loved ones gathering together. If you are not a Clique Kits subscriber you can pick up one of the Farmhouse kits a la carte but in order to ensure you get a kit every month the best way is to become a subscriber!

-xGia

A Mini Album using the Meadow Kit

Aloha everyone…today I am sharing a teeny tiny mini mini album that I made officially killing my Clique Kits August Meadow kit. At least I do not think I can squeeze out anymore projects but you never know- I still might. LOL. I really don’t want to say goodbye to summer, do you?

For this project I used the little glassine bags that kit contents are sometimes packaged in as a base for the album. I stacked them on top of eachother alternating which end is the open end and then stitched straight down the middle at the fold. The bags were 2.5 x 4 inches I think so the final album measured 2 x 2.5 inches- so cute and teeny tiny!

The embellishments basically all came from the exclusive cut apart sheet included in the Meadow kit (and might look familiar to you since it consists of my designs some of which I have shared on this blog) I love that these exclusive print and cut sheets are included in kits now and do not require you to download and print anything (I almost never have enough color ink to do them justice)

I also used what remained of the die cut ephemera in the kit which included all of the title phrases I used on my album pages. By using this sheet and the matching ephemera it kept the mini album simple and cohesive. Here it is:

In each of the pockets I was able to tuck in a small card with additional photos and journaling to complete my album. I tied it closed with a natural jute ribbon and tucked it inside a small canvas bag for safe keeping. The photos I used for this mini were all from the month of August and reflected nature in our environment. It’s good to slow down and notice things like wildflowers and little creatures living all around us.

-xGia

August Pep Rally

Welcome to my blog and the Clique Kits August Pep Rally. Here is the lineup of talent for you to be inspired by in this hop!

—-> You came from here Clique Kits – (http://cliquekitsblog.weebly.com/)
Gia Lau – (https://giaaloha.com/) <—- You are here
Go here next!—->Lacey Gasper – (https://www.laceyann.com/)
Donna Espiritu – (https://scrappydonna.blogspot.com/)
Nupur Patel – (http://nupurpatel27.blogspot.com/)
Rachel Lowe – (http://inmyworld-scrapbookingourjourney.blogspot.com/)
Jasmin Paar – (https://www.paperandglitter.net/)
Heather Doolittle – (http://craftyscrapbooker.blogspot.com/)
Jackie Howell – (https://www.instagram.com/cheekypapercreations/)
Cristina Sales – (https://larcadellastellapiumata.blogspot.com/)

And don’t forget to search our hashtags on Instagram also for even more great projects!

#CliqueKits

#CKPepRally

#CKMeadow

#CKAugust2018

#Click_connect_create

My project today is a 4×4 mini album using the August Meadow Travelers Notebook Kit. I wanted to create a special memory book to document my family’s recent trip to New York City. This kit was perfect!

The little black and white pockets in the kit were perfect for holding tickets and other memorabilia from the trip. The only additional supplies used were the album itself from Close to My Heart and the black and white acetate squares also from CTMH. I have had them in my stash just waiting for the perfect project! My favorite part of the TN kit this month were the black and white Crate Paper Here and There puffy stickers. I was inspired by the B & W theme to create some stamped backgrounds also using a painterly pattern making stamp by Ashley Goldberg.

Leave some love on all the blogs for a chance to win a prize from Clique Kits! And don’t forget to check out the release of the September kit: Farmhouse happening today!

-xGia

Using a Sketch

This layout is based on a sketch of the month from Clique Kits several months back:

It was the perfect design for me to use this wreath paper in the August Main kit Meadow. To add more depth to the wreath, I layered some of the twigs from the August cut file:

Here is a close up showing how this looks.

Its hard to see in this photo but I used some copper embossing powder to coat one of the wood veneer butterflies in the kit. As opposed to most kits where I use white cardstock as a background and then do lots of cutting with patterned papers in the kit, this kit inspired me to use almost every paper as a background base.

Thanks for stopping by and if you have not used this sketch yet give it a try!

-xGia