* * American Crafts Daydreams * *

Hello all, it's Laura here with my first blog post for Sarah's Cards!

So for my first blog post I thought I would share with you a couple of my ideas on how to incoperate cards and envelopes into your scrapbooking layouts.

For these layouts I am going to be using the gorgeous bright and cheery 'daydreams' range by American Crafts.

Part of this range are the 'Just Write' cards and envelopes set. For just £5.99 you get 12 cards and 12 envelopes that match the Daydreams range. The cards are all A2 size which is almost 4x6 in size.

The trick is to look beyond their original purpose of being 'just' cards and envelopes and look at how they can be used as embellishments on your layouts.

Firstly... you can use the envelope as a means to store some memorablia on your page. This is particularly helpful when you want to keep several paper items from an event but you have not got room to scrap them all on your page.

I scrapped my friend's recent (and beautiful) wedding. (She had a photobooth, which as scrappers we obviously totally adored, but that is a story for another day!) I wanted the photobooth strip to be the focus picture for the layout but I also wanted to save the invitations for the wedding day itself. So I used one of the envelopes to create a pocket as part of my page and inside his envelope I slipped in the invitations. This way the details of the day will stay safe, they will stay with the layout and I know that I will love looking back on the invites in years to come.

I also used one of the card fronts as part of my title. This 'smile' card was a portrait card that I laid flat and scrapped as if it was a seperate journalling card or patterned paper/cardstock.

I also used one of my all time favourite thickers font, these fabric 'patchwork' thickers in aqua are a great colour match for the Daydreams range. I then jazzed them up a bit with a few bits of bling. (FYI: only £1 for a sheet of gems.. such great value & they will last for ages!)

Alternatively you could use your envelope to store additional photos from an event. Maybe ones that are not quite 'perfect' but you still love.

For my next layout I scrapped my little nephew's half birthday... again a story for another day, but basically he was born quite close to Christmas so we kinda skipped his first birthday last year and celebrated it in June instead!

I had a couple of 6x4 photos that I wanted to use for the page but around 5 or 6 extra ones that I liked but didn't work as well as a combo. So I popped these into an envelope and constructed my page around this element. Again once this layout ends up in my album I will know that the photos will stay together and in years to come I will be able to pull all the photos out to enjoy them.

Again for this layout I used a card front design as part of my title work but this time I also used the card for my journalling. The full sized card didn't quite work with my layout but that was easy to fix by chopping the card in half. I added my journalling inside using my all time favourite pen (American Crafts Precision Pen... 0.3) and the outlining was done with a white pen (Ranger Inkessentials)

And finally...

You could use the cards to actually write a letter.

Though of course I didn't post it but I scrapped it!

On this layout I wrote a letter to our baby and included my thoughts on becoming a parent, how I am looking forward to meeting her and how I imagine what she will look like and how that first cuddle will feel.

This time I stuck the envelope to my layout first and then the card is attached to the envelope flap. This allows the card to open up fully so that the journalling can be read easily.

The only other embellishments I used on these pages was some bakers twine. Again the aqua works really well with this range, alongside the pink twine.

And then... after three layouts completed. I still have 9 cards and envelopes left for future layouts... or I could use them to write to my friends.... or my mum.... or anyone really.