Clique Kits – Gia Aloha

Using Haute Mess Acrylic Paints

Having just finished the Clique Kits and Bad Girls Couture team up holiday blog hop today I was reminded that I never did get to share some of the pieces I made the very first time I received some of the Haute Mess acrylic paints from Wendy La Croix, Bad Girls Couture owner almost a year ago! I am pretty sure I posted these on social media so if you have seen them already I apologize!

In this photo layout I used bright colors and a now retired Close to my Heart stamp set (the polka dot butterfly)

Gia Aloha

Some of the properties I love about Wendy’s hand mixed acrylics:

They are fast drying
They have a matte finish that is similar to a chalk paint
They are made without Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOCs) which is better for your health and environment!
They come in a full palette of colors plus some great neutrals!
They work perfectly with the haute mess gel media also.
They are super creamy and mix smoothly!

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This art journal page was so much fun to create using the glass bead gel medium from Bad Girls Couture. You can find this Paper from Ciao Bella in the Clique Kits shop!

I have really enjoyed collaborating with Wendy and we have become really close just talking shop about our common passions! I believe in her products and her vision in offering hand crafted, eco-friendly products made by and for mixed media artists.

The concept of a handmade and fully customizable art journal that has a large capacity for dimensional pages is going to resonate with other mixed media artists like it did for me! I love to collage in my art journal and travelers notebook and can never have enough paper products. Between Bad Girls paint, media, journals, and unique vintage stuff and all of the paper kits at Clique Kits what else could a Bad Girl ask for?

-xGia

Holiday Blog Hop: Clique Kits & Bad Girls Couture

Hi Everyone and welcome to our Clique Kits X Bad Girls Couture Holiday Blog Hop! You will definitely be inspired with the vast array of holiday projects that we have created…there is something for everyone. Grab your favorite cuppa, join the CLIQUE, and get ready to be a BAD GIRL maker as we take you on an AMAZING creative journey!

TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR PRIZES!!!

We have lots of store Gift Certificates to the Clique & Bad Girls Couture Shops…this way you can shop to your heart’s content and treat yourself for Christmas! Make sure you enter by following @cliquekits & @badgirlscouture2007 and tagging a friend on Instagram!

To get extra entries sign up for our newsletters @ www.badgirlscouture.com & www.cliquekits.com

Blog Hop Participants:

www.badgirlscouture.com/blog

https://funkyfreshcool.blogspot.com

www.datatar.blogspot.com

https://scrappydonna.blogspot.com

http://nicolekerrink.blogspot.com

https://lovingoutloudart.wordpress.com

https://nicolemartel.blogspot.com

www.giaaloha.com

http://cliquekitsblog.weebly.com

Here is my first project! I created an altered wood slice as a holiday decoration!

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I made a 2 minute preview video to show you some of the Clique Kits Vintage Lovers Christmas kit that I used for both of my projects as well as the Bad Girls Couture products and other things in my stash. You can find the video preview on the Clique Kits You Tube Channel here. Here is a close up!

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I used Haute Mess products including some Matte Gel Medium, Molding Paste, and Acrylic Paint in Torrid.

I also used a Joy acrylic piece by Bella Blvd. from the Clique Kits shop as my title piece. I loved how the translucency of the red acrylic piece and the resin snowflake I made with 2 part resin, a Wilton silicone candy mold, and the glass glitter in the kit complemented each other and also let light through to add more depth. (see more in the video)

Everything else you see here came from the Vintage Lovers Christmas Kit including the Simple Stories Simple Vintage Christmas paper collection, the fabric scraps, and the flowers.

For my second project I am sharing some work I have started on making my Bad Girls Couture Art Journal ( which is available in a bundle with media and paint as a starter kit in the Clique Kits shop while supplies last) into a nostalgic holiday memory album. The idea is to create a foundation to go back in during the month of December and add photos and journaling to remember the holiday season this year. The Cobblestone Lane art Journal will always be stocked and fully customizable on the Bad Girls Couture website! So many great options! While you are checking out the Bad Girls website you will definitely fall in love with all of the colors of paints!

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Here is my simple but glam cover! It has been painted white like snow and I gave an old broken Christmas ornament a new life as my cover bling. I love upcycling and making something out of something else in my artwork whether it is something sentimental to me or a found object or thrift shop find!

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The inside cover of my journal started out with a fabric pocket and in order to alter it to match my Christmas theme I simply covered over the old fabric with a red and white striped fabric scrap.( I found these rolls of self adhesive fabrics in a Japanese store in Honolulu called Daiso which is like a dollar store and they come in handy when sewing is inconvenient!) . I tucked a vintage postcard and a tea bag I made with plain, empty tea bags, stamps and ink, and paper stars from the kit stapled on with a Tim Holtz tiny attacher. The tea bags came from the Vintage Vibe ephemera pack in the Clique Kits shop. The first page in my book is made with the limited edition Kraft Booklet page from Bad Girls Couture.

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In this spread you will see repetition of a theme of kraft with the haute mess fast drying matte finish paints and some molding medium which was spread over a snowflake stencil. There are numbered Advent tags in the kit which I plan to tuck in throughout the book to loosely keep track of the festivities throughout the month leading up to the 25th. I joined the next two pages together to create 2 additional pockets for some tags. I had fun again applying paint and some bits of old book pages in the Vintage vibe ephemera pack.

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The last page I am showing today is set up for me to document my youngest baby’s list for Santa this year. It came together fast with a piece of the Altenew Gradient Lines washi tape in the Clique Kits shop. White gesso is a perfect medium to use to prep a surface for journaling later on!

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Once again, everything needed for this project can be found here or go ahead and start exploring the customization possibilities at Bad Girls Couture! Now it’s time to head over to the Clique Kits Blog for the end of the hop and wrap up post!

-xGia

Ghosts of Christmas Past, failures, and lessons learned

Throwback Thursday you guys…for today’s edition I am sharing an overview of some of my December documented albums from past years. Before I begin, let me just provide a little background. Most people are aware of the December Daily® phenomenon started by Ali Edwards and from which she grew a multi-million dollar brand. I get it. It’s brilliant. And it’s meaningful. And popular. My history of being an EPIC FAILURE on the other hand at a Day/Week in the Life ®, One Little Word®, and of course DD haunts me to this day.

So I promise you that this year I will NOT promise to do anything in the month of December, and more than likely I will never again promise to try to do anything daily ever. But that doesn’t mean I did not have tons of fun buying cute Christmas paper crafting supplies in anticipation of December scrapbooking. And yep…I did it again this year. So what could possibly go wrong?

Well, I’ll tell you what.

I could start the season with the best of intentions and then blink and it’s already New Years and everyone has moved on from December documenting to picking out a word and buying organizing stuff from Target. Then it’s time to pack up all the pretty Christmas stuff in one of those organizing things until next year when…holy smokies there is so much NEW cute stuff again and the cycle continues.
I could dedicate several crafty binges to assembling foundation pages only to get sick of the project by the time I start “living” the days I planned to document on them. So I set it aside waiting for my mojo to return and before I know it I have a pile of half done “foundations” with no photos in them.
I could struggle to take interesting pictures because none of the photo prompts I am trying to follow apply to when you live in Hawaii and they are all geared to cold climates and white Christmases.
I could take so many pictures and realize I don’t really have a plan for my album and get overwhelmed because I don’t know where to begin.

I am totally speaking from experience as these are all scenarios from my Christmas’ pasts attempting a December Daily album. Ya feel me?

This one is from 2013- do any of you remember that clipboard album from Maggie Holmes? This was the year I realized that Crate Paper Christmas collections are always going to be my favorites.

A few of the inside pages. Since this was my first album, I did number the pages by days and tried to use one “story” a day from Christmas shopping, to ornaments, to haircut day,etc It is definitely my favorite that I have done and completed.

2014 I used the first Clique into the Holidays Limited Edition kit in a 6×8 album. This time, I had made the so-called foundation pages ahead of time and ….WOOPS…did not actually insert any photos until (gasp) 2018. Yes- like a month ago. But at least I did eventually get it done!

This little guy is a handmade Instax photo album. I used an XL size Sizzix die by Eileen Hull called Passport designed to make the framework for a mini album. I used recycled chipboard and red and black buffalo plaid fabric from Wal Mart. This album has a definite junk journal feel to it. I used my Instax printer to print out mini polaroid style photos daily. I kept it simple- just a snapshot from my Instagram account each day. This was my attempt at following a photo prompt a day format.

At some point I will probably photograph and post the inside if anyone is interested. It definitely is less popular with the kids because the photos are more of “stuff” than of them.

I also have an aqua Simple Stories Snap album in 6×8 that I believe was from 2016 to show you which I will save for another day. I am sorry to be the deliverer of Bah Humbug, but yeah. This year, while not doing december daily, I think I am going to use my Clique Kits Hipster Holiday kit and other Christmas products in my 3 x8 binder from Ali Edwards. I am going to have a plan- which is to do the whole album on New Year’s Day this year. I will limit my supplies to one kit and my favorite stamps. I will create a sketch outline and rotate 4-6 page designs through the album. Repetition creates unity and cohesion. I will take pictures organically during the month of December and only think about enjoying the moment until Dday. I’ll let you know how it goes–(and maybe I’ll run into you at Target) LOL.

-xGia

November Weekend Layout

Buenos dias amigas! Today I have a 12 x 12 layout using the November Clique Kits Main Kit Seneca Falls and the November kit cut file “Weekend” designed by Clique Kits creative team graphic designer Cecily Moore- Cecily The Paper Curator! I really enjoyed creating this layout and made a process video if you would like to watch it start to finish!

Once again, go check out the video on the Clique Kits You Tube channel! Please like and subscribe to Clique Kits on You Tube and follow the amazing Clique Kits design team on the Clique Kits blog and on You Tube and follow me right here!

-xo Gia

What’s on my desk Wednesday: Gratitude Journaling 2018

My top 3 reasons to start a gratitude journal this year:

November is of course known for its association with gratitude because of the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S.
#30daysofgratitude is a thing
The Healthy Lifestyle Plan I have been following called “Bright Line Eating” makes keeping a journal-preferably a gratitude journal– mandatory to the program

I found Susan Pierce Thompson’s book “Happy, Thin, and Free” by accident in my library and did her 14 day challenge last year in January. In the first month I dropped 10 pounds and then was able to lower my cholesterol and decrease some chronic pain in my back and legs. So I kept going, and by the summer had lost a total of 25 pounds. Since July, I have been maintaining and holding steady. But I have gradually started to…well Halloween candy. Enough said!

In order to re-zoom and re-boot Dr. Thompson recommends going back to basics -commiting your food choices in advance and writing them down, journaling, weighing and measuring food, and the hardest ones: no sugar or flour AT ALL. These are the so-called bright lines that keep things very black and white and straightforward, reducing the number of decisions your brain is taxed with making every day.

It is hard enough to deal with every other kind of stress and decision, which is the main source of erosion of willpower, Dr. Thompson explains. Further, sugar and flour are not foods they are actually drugs. When removed from the natural, fiber lattice framework they grow in, grains and carbohydrates in the form of any kind of sweetening substance are highly concentrated and highly addictive! Of course, everyone has their drug of choice and not everyone is equally susceptible to every illicit substance– which includes those in processed food.

That is the very quick and dirty summary of the science behind the program. It also explains the rationale for the bright lines and how they restore your brain to its healthy, natural state when it comes to eating behavior, appetite, craving, and physical well being.

So, even though this is not a health or lifestyle blog but a scrapbooking, mixed media, and paper crafts blog I thought it might pique the interest of some of my friends and worth sharing!

One of my favorite mixed media techniques is to collage my backgrounds. I save magazine clippings of fun sayings and pictures which is a great way to also recycle!

Here are some pages I made shown “before the pen.” I used one of the Artsy Traveler’s Notebook Kits in my Etsy shop. I also used some scraps from my stash and some Tim Holtz distress oxide inks.

You can pick up the exclusive Clique Kits Travelers Notebook Insert that I designed last November here in the Clique Kits shop while supplies last- on sale for only $2.99.

Use my code GIA15 FOR AN ADDITIONAL 15% OFF YOUR PURCHASE!

-x Gia

Mixed Media Monday

Today I have a simple and sweet mixed media layout to share using the November 2018 Clique Color Kit. You can watch how I made the background and also how I put together the layout in two short videos on the Clique Kits You Tube channel here and here.

As a scrapbooker who frequently uses mixed media on my layouts I am so thrilled that Clique Kits is now providing this option as an add on to the monthly kits. You can pick up this month’s kit right here.

November Kits “Seneca Falls” are shipping now to subscribers. This kit features the Amy Tangerine Shine On collection. I really love this kit and how versatile it is. You definitely can use it for fall photos, gratitude journaling, cards or other projects. Pick up the kit a la carte here.

I will leave you with a close up of my layout. Please head over to You Tube to check out the videos and leave a comment! If you have not subscribed to the Clique Kits You Tube Channel you don’t know what you are missing. The You Tube design team is so awesome and will help you get the most out of your kits and stash!

-xGia

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

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