If you have ever peeled the barcode strip off a 12×12 patterned paper and wondered if there is something fun you could do with it, Heidi Lewis just answered that question in the most creative way imaginable. In this layout, our talented design team member took six of those humble barcode strips from her April 2026 Main Kit papers, arranged them at a 45-degree angle across the page in rainbow order, and transformed them into jet streams – complete with adorable airplane paper clips flying in formation. The whole layout is built around three travel photos taken at an elevation of 10,947 feet, and every single design choice Heidi makes ties back to that high-altitude theme in the most satisfying way.
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What makes this project so inspiring is how Heidi proves that a stunning layout does not require a mountain of supplies. She pulled from her April 2026 Main Kit and her April 2026 Pocket Life Kit, added some clever tone-on-tone stamping, a handful of sequins, and fussy cut clouds straight from the patterned paper – and the result looks like it belongs on the cover of a magazine. This is exactly the kind of stretch-your-stash thinking that makes scrapbooking so rewarding, and Heidi walks you through every step with great tips along the way. Grab your kit scraps and let’s get into it.
Step-by-Step Tutorial
Step 1: Place Your Photos on a White Cardstock Background
Start with a smooth white cardstock base and adhere three 3×4 photos along the left side of your 12×12 page. Heidi‘s photos were taken at 10,947 feet of elevation, and that high-altitude theme shapes every decision from here on out. Get your photos exactly where you want them before moving on, since the rest of the layout builds around this anchor.
Step 2: Arrange Barcode Strips as Jet Streams
Select six barcode strips from your 12×12 patterned papers – those are the strips we all remove before we start crafting – and arrange them across the right side of your page at a 45-degree angle. Sort them in rainbow order for a bold, playful effect, then trim any excess from the edges once you are happy with the placement. This is the heart of the whole design, so take your time getting the angle and spacing just right.
Step 3: Glue Strips Down Using the Flip Trick
Use Barely Arts liquid glue to secure each strip, but here is Heidi‘s clever trick: rather than picking up the strip and risking your placement, keep it right where it is and carefully flip it over to apply the glue to the back. This preserves your perfect arrangement without any guesswork. Then tuck one additional barcode strip between your photos and the jet streams to hide any rough cuts and create a polished edge.
Step 4: Add Your Title and Group Embellishments by Color
Spell out your title using Thickers letter stickers and place them directly on the blue jet stream. Heidi‘s key rule for this layout is to keep all embellishments grouped by color – red ephemera on the red strip, purple on the purple – so the page stays visually organized without looking cluttered. Use a combination of puffy stickers and flat ephemera for variety and dimension across the color clusters.
Step 5: Test Your Stamps Before Committing to the Layout
Before you stamp on your actual page, temporarily remove the airplane clips to give yourself a flat surface to work on, and grab a spare piece of printer paper for testing. Heidi recommends matching the size of your acrylic block to the size of your stamp to get the cleanest impression, and always do a test press on scratch paper first to check your color and coverage. Once you are confident, bring those stamps onto the layout in coordinating tone-on-tone colors to help draw the eye down the page.
Step 6: Lock Down Your Airplane Clips with Glue Dots
With your stamping complete, bring the airplane paper clips back in and secure each one with a glue dot on the backside. Without that glue dot, the clips will eventually slide sideways and lose their position along the jet stream. This is a small step that makes a big difference in how the finished layout holds up over time.
Step 7: Finish with Sequins and Fussy Cut Clouds
Add sequins along the jet streams for a touch of sparkle – Heidi‘s idea was to imagine what it would look like if jet streams were actually made of sequins, and it is absolutely magical. Secure all remaining loose embellishments with liquid glue so everything stays put for the long haul. To finish, tuck fussy cut clouds from the rainbow-and-clouds patterned paper in your Main Kit around the page to echo the dramatic sky in the photos and give the whole layout that feeling of floating at the top of the world.
Products Used in This Tutorial
About the Designer
Heidi Lewis
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