Simple Stories Summer Fresh

Hi all Jen G here. It seems a little depressing that the gorgeous range I worked with this month of June is called “Summer Fresh” due to the distinct lack of summer here in the UK! The papers are so summery they really make you pine for summer – so come on weatherman do your best!

When I saw the images of these papers online I immediately knew what I wanted to do with them. There are several sheets of patterned paper that are made up of “Flash Cards” or 6x4 “Journaling Cards” which are perfect for those of you who are doing Project Life. They are also a great source of inspiration for those of us who are not joining in with Project Life. I saw each one of those Flash cards and Journaling cards as mini layouts begging to be recreated in a larger size – much like following a sketch. The top right Journaling Card on this sheet was begging to be made into a layout – it is very similar to the amazing class Jen N produced for the last retreat.

My eyes settled on the card with the red background – middle left. So, using the reverse of the “Summer Quilt” sheet:

I made this:

I then added some of the “Fundamental” and “Expressions” stickers along with my photo for a simple page about my 3 year old and his beloved new balance bike. 

Moving on to look at the flash cards I was desperate to recreate the little window and window box (middle right):

But none of my photos really lent themselves to this page so I have filed that under “to do” in my busy brain! Instead I chose the top right card as I knew it would work for a photo I did have in my “to scrap” pile. Using a strip of the “Easy Breezy” paper and some card scraps I recreated the flash card in A4 size and again added some of the “Expressions” and “Fundamental” stickers along with my photo and journaling.

Again this is a simple page but I’m all for simplicity as a busy mum with little “spare” time!

The third page I created was from the flash cards again. This time I chose the image second from the left on the bottom row:

This card had a pinwheel on it so I set to work on recreating one. I have made them dozens of times with children. If you haven’t there are really simple instructions here. As I wanted the pinwheel to have 4 different coloured blades I started by piecing together 4 triangles of card like this:

Once positioned, I stuck them down on to a small 1”x1” scrap of card to hold them together in the centre. I then folded one point of each triangle into the centre and fastened them with a brad. Once secure I attached it to my page with plenty of Tombo glue and used scraps of card again to make the stick and flags. I used the reverse side of the Denim patterned paper as it has a clean, simple grid on it. Once again I used the “Expressions” stickers and the gorgeous alphabet stickers that come on that same sheet. My son loves this page of him pulling those ridiculous faces!

After 3 layouts using this gorgeous range, there is still more than enough left over to create several more pages. I am on a mission to take some photos for that window frame page... watch this space!

InLinkz.com