Hello crafty friends – Tazhiana here with Product Focus this month. I was super inspired by the Vicki Boutin stamp and die set in the Color Kit and chose to build my layout around that product.

I started by stamping flowers using Versafine black ink onto papers in the Cardstock Kit as well as the Main kit. I chose to let the papers in the Cardstock kit dictate my color scheme and then chose Main kit papers that added to the overall feel of the page.

After stamping dozens of flowers, I pulled out my Sizzix Big Kick and die cut them out and arranged them on this Maggie Holmes Willow Lane paper. I then added a thin layer of gesso to mute out some of this background and then arranged my flowers on to the backgound and stuck them down with some Scotch Tacky Glue. I was OBSESSED with the layered flowers and how beautiful the different colors looked layered over each other. This was exactly the look I was going for.

Next, I added some machine stitching in lavender and aqua threads to create a border for my layout and started to work on my photo cluster. After matting my photos on vellum and a grey PinkFresh paper from the Main Kit, I used the Maggie Holmes Willow Lane washi tape from the Embellishment Kit to create a resting spot for my photos. I then used some die cuts from the  Indigo Hills 2 ephemera pack as well as  the Indigo Hills 2 chipboard stickers to finish embellishing my photo cluster. I kept the overall embellishments pretty light to avoid detracting from the floral arrangement that was the focal element of my layout.

Finally, I added my title using the black puffy stickers included in the Main Kit. The Simple Things was the perfect title for this layout telling the story of my new sneakers that are taking me through my Crossfit journey. I added a dab of glue under each title element to keep them stuck down with all that gesso. I love the way the graphic nature of the flowers work with the scripty font of the title.

Now friends, I challenge you to try a similar layout. I challenge you to stamp and die cut a bunch of flowers and go with it! You never know – something magical might happen.

There’s a process video for this layout here if you want to watch me put the whole page together.

Till next time, keep it crafty friends.