January 2013 Hip Kit… Three “Love-ly” projects by Bethany Crowell….

Happy Friday!!!

Today I have a few projects that Bethany Crowell created with our January Hip Kit to share with you. There are so many amazing goodies in this kit – that it is difficult for me to say what I like the best. I do have a few favorites though… in addition to the gold polka dot vellum… I love the Fancy Pants Artist Edition Stencil Cards and the Studio Calico Darling Dear Vellum Heart & Arrow Stickers. Both of these products are unique – and I found them to be so much fun to incorporate into my projects.

All of Bethany’s projects that I am sharing with you today were created by using the “Love” Stencil Card in different ways. I hope I can challenge you to use 1 or more of your Stencil Cards from your January kit on one of your projects. We would love to see what you do – so make sure to post a photo of your finished project on our Facebook Page.

Bethany splattered the “Love” Stencil Card with mist or paint to give it some detail. Then she backed it with… how fitting is this.?… the Love paper from Crate Paper. :D When you are using a patterned paper that has a random design like this one does – here is a helpful little trick to getting it to look just right. Lay the Stencil Card on top of the patterned paper. Then move card around until you are happy with the parts of the paper that are showing in the windows of your stencil. Using a pencil lightly trace around the edge of the card. Then you can cut out the marked portion of the patterned paper & adhere it to the back of your Stencil Card. Voilà… perfection!!!

I love the way Bethany used several different arrow designs on her layout. They really draw your eye to the photo. This little stickers are a lot of fun because there are a ton of different sizes and designs. When you apply them to your projects you get a little ghosting effect from the vellum along with the nice bold outline from the printed part of the sticker.

Bethany created the “love” sentiment on this card by tracing letters from the “Love” Stencil Card onto a piece of paper. Then she cut them by hand. The font used on these cards has nice straight lines without a bunch little details – which makes them really easy to cut out.

I will tell you that Bethany is much handier with her sewing machine than I am. :D To create the sentiment on this sweet card… she used a pencil and her Stencil Card and traced “love” onto a piece of aqua cardstock. Then she carefully machine stitched around the pencil markings using colored thread. If you don’t trust yourself with your sewing machine, or if you don’t own a sewing machine… this same effect can be achieved by using a paper piercer or a needle to poke pilot holes through the cardstock. Then hand stitch the letters using thread, baker’s twine or embroidery floss. This is a bit more time consuming – but you will get a very similar result.

I hope you are feeling inspired to create a few projects using the Fancy Pants Stencil Cards & Studio Calico Vellum Stickers from your January Hip Kit. Thanks so much for visiting today! Make sure to come back again tomorrow – because we have another amazing collection of projects created with our January kit to share with you. xo – Kimberly –