Fancy Pants Designs

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

Fun in the Sun!

The Fun in the Sun cut file was provided with the Clique Kits July Kits: Regatta. I have been doing a lot of white backgrounds lately and almost always start with a white cardstock base when designing a layout but this time I challenged myself to try a different approach! The red white and blue naturally work together and I just had to use some of the super playful die cut embellishments from the Fancy Pants Designs Poolside ephemera. How cute are those swimming girls!

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A smaller amount of green and pink accents balanced the french nautical palette in the background.

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Last but not least I really love the flair in the kit this month designed by Cecily Moore! Her style is modern and fun and she has been an amazing addition to the Clique Kits graphic design team this term. The Clique Kits exclusives add a unique touch to every kit! I love to see what everyone in The Clique does with them, don’t you?

-xGia

Adventure! Clique Kits July Main Kit Regatta

Hi lovely scrapbooking friends! I have another layout to share today using the amazing, inspiring Clique Kits July Main kit! The papers in this kit from Fancy Pants Designs Poolside collection and the Kesi-Art papers coordinate so well. That is the beauty of a curated kit subscription– the job of finding supplies that work together is done for you giving you more time to enjoy the design process!

This is another cut file I used my Scan N Cut machine to create. I love how the kit papers look backing this cut. Here is a close up!

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The first thing my daughter did on her visit home from the mainland was jump in the water! She is living and going to college in a place without the ocean nearby and she misses the endless summer and lifestyle of living in paradise! I would be more than thrilled if she moves back to Hawaii once she finishes her degree. I have so many photos of beachy fun and am definitely getting close to killing my July kit with them! Thanks for visiting today!

-xGia

Take 5 Challenge for Traveler’s Notebook Layouts

Hi everybody! Today I am channeling my inner minimalist in my traveler’s notebook and wanted to share with you my take on a challenge I saw online somewhere-only instead of using it for full size layouts I am applying it to my recent traveler’s notebook spreads. You are probably familiar with some variation of the concept of selecting a handful of things from a list and limiting yourself to just those items in a layout. Yeah…that’s the one. Here are the 5 items I chose!

Ephemera
Washi Tape
Stickers
Stamp Sets
Patterned paper pads

I did not “count” things that I consider to be staple supplies like something to write with, adhesive, and ink for the stamp sets, but otherwise I was fully compliant!

So first up I have a “divider” spread where I used washi tape to add a vellum page to serve as my marker for a new section ( and also because of its general prettiness.)

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I tend to be all over the spectrum from minimalist to maximalist in style depending on the day and the mood on my layouts but it never ceases to amaze me that when I do the simplest things to just get the memory documented I realize how much time is spent adding extra stuff to the essentials- a great photo, a caption or title, and a little bit of color to make it pop.

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This spread is shown pre- handwritten journaling- and did not end up quite this sparse but almost.

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And this last one only uses paper and one sticker, and yet I still love how it looks and how it conveys the memory perfectly. I mean, I will always know who, what, and when this memory happened. And that is the truly the essential part of scrapbooking.

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My overall assessment of this challenge and what I learned:

I love to strip back to the essentials sometimes because it gives me a chance to really focus on the overall design of the layout. You know those elements and principles of design we use all the time but sometimes we are not as intentional about? Thinking about things like unity, rhythm, balance, proportion, variety, emphasis, and movement. Simple exercises like this help to practice, practice practice design.

I learned that sometimes I am so focused on how a page looks that I forget to record the crucial little details that will prompt the memory 10 or 20 years from now. (Trust me, I thought I would not need those things until I started looking back at layouts from 20 years ago and really wanted to kick myself!)

So what’s the down side? At this rate I will never go through even a tiny fraction of my stash by the end of the year. How will I possibly justify buying all the new pretty stuff that comes out? First world problems, I know.

-xGia

Clique Kits August Pep Rally

Well, it’s official. I no longer post on this blog unless it’s a Pep Rally day! How sad is that? Still, I am really grateful that this monthly event for my kit club Clique Kits happens, or I just might let this passion-scrapbooking- totally disappear from my life! I really hope I can carve out more time to create and blog- it is so much fun to be part of this online community of creative friends around the world.

This month we are sharing projects using the August kit: Rio. It was kind of fun to have a kit whose name was inspired by an ancient global sports competition that only happens every 4 years! Rio was one of my favorite kits this year. Details on winning prizes can be found on the Clique Kits blog post (see link below). If you are a blogger who enjoys doing blog hops and posting your creations online, I highly recommend you visit the Clique Kits website where you can read about the many benefits of subscribing.

August 2016 Line-Up

If you get lost or need info go back here—->Clique Kits
Gia Lau <—-You are here
Go here next—->Erica Thompson
*Kat Benjamin
*Marcia Dehn-Nix
Kim Allen
*Maryam Perez
*Caroli Schulz
*Melissa Vining
*Leeann Pearce
Sara Mishler
Donna Espiritu
Leigh Ann Odynski

An Instax Mini Album

First let me say that I have had an Instax Mini 8 camera since Christmas. The thought of spending $1.00 per print (that is approximately how much the “film” costs) -I’m not gonna lie-made me really hesitant to snap a lot of the time! What if it didn’t come out as expected? What if I end up with lots of wasted time and money? The camera sat on the shelf except at birthday parties when my kids would take it out for their impromptu photo booths. At least they could have fun, because they didn’t think about the cost!

Then I decided to try the Instax Share printer, which I finally got for my birthday this August- which uses the same film to produce mini polaroids, but prints images directly from a source- such as my iphone! Yay! I love this so much better, and did not hesitate to print out an album full of pics, knowing in advance how the photos would turn out!

Disclaimer**

If you cringe at the thought of a somewhat corny, lovey-d0vey album featuring two “old people’s ridiculous selfies” –that is a direct quote from my teenagers– then you might want to skip to the next blog (Ahem. You have been warned.)

Everything I used to fill the pages came from the August kit Rio , plus a couple of store item add ons (the Amy Tangerine rubber embellishments , the blue acrylic heart on the cover, and one pineapple die cut from the Clique into Summer kit)

I just love a little chunky mini that fits in the palm of my hand and is FULL of memories. Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy the rest of the hop!

-xoGia