First official DT post!

And I get to be the one to kick things off! How awesome is that :) It's me, Ilene, and I want to say hi to everyone who's reading. The DT has a lot in store to share with you guys and I hope you will all be inspired! A little bit about me - I have 2 kids and I promise you'll be seeing a lot of them :) I really can't help myself. Today I want to share two layouts that both feature my DD. She's 5, almost 6, and has quite a personality. I used the new foil papers with both layouts, and I love how it turned out. If you're afraid to try foil because it's got...well, quite a lot of shine to it, then you can try to tone it down, as I did, by only leaving small parts of it. I used it in moderation to accent parts of the layouts, and I think it added a lot of that "wow" factor and helps draw attention to the photos themselves. Well, take a look for yourselves.

The first LO is called "Art Show". I layered a lot of flowers and did some distressing. You can also cut the flowers in half, like I did in the corners for variety. Personally, I like a busy look on a page, and the more to look at, the merrier. You can do that by layering a lot and adding a lot of embellishments, and then layering the embellishments as well - for example, I placed a star-shaped crystal on the chipboard star in the upper right corner. Layering embellishments makes it that much more interesting.







Supplies: Patterned Paper: Straight From The Nest , Opposites Attract (Winter), Cardstock: Must Have Foil Stack 8"x8", Must Have Bits and Pieces 2 (Pastels), Straight From The Nest Adhesive Cardstock , Stickers, Letters and Chipboard: OverStuffed Craft Kit, Sticky Sparkly Play on Words; Flowers: Perfectly Pretty Petals; Bling: Bling Goodie Box, Ink: Inky Alphas

Here's another LO about DD, and this one is a little less busy and has more "White space". I'm not a big fan of white space so I filled some of it wish color spray. Lots of brands make color sprays, and this one is by Tattered Angels. Paint, color sprays, ink, etc are great ways to customize your patterened paper. Sometime the paper is not quite the right color, or isn't exactly what you need, no matter how great it is. But always remember - you're the artist and you can cut it up and otherwise alter it in any way you like.

Once again I layered the embellishments - the #1 on top of the thought bubble, the bling heart on the chipboard quote, etc. The arrow I got by cutting an embellishment apart. Just remember that you can do anything you like with your supplies and the more you do, the more you make them "yours".





Supplies: Patterned Paper and Adhesive Cardstock: Straight From The Nest, Cardstock: Must Have Foil Stack; Stickers: OverStuffed Craft Kit; Letters and Chipboard: Sticky Sparkly Play on Words, Bling: Bling Goodie Box

Well, thank you everyone for taking a look at my creations. I am really looking forward to sharing more with you over the coming months, and I hope you all come to love the 3Birds products as much as I do!