Summertime Fun by Cathi O'Neill

Hi, Cathi here with another project using my Couture Creations embossing folders and dies. I know it is wintertime in Australia, but up here in Ireland we have had a warmer summer than usual and have been enjoying it!! Aside from my alphas and the paper here, all of these are Couture Creations products!!

My layout design was inspired by a really fun layout, of a scrapping friend of mine, Maja Stokk. She used circles and carried her design across the paper and I loved the movement it created, so I asked her if I could do a layout based on her design and she agreed. You can see her great layout here!

I started by cutting out lots of ovals using my Scallop Oval and Oval Nesting Dies. I inked the edges of the oval papers with Vintage Photo Distress Ink using my Couture Creation Sponge Dauber.

For added texture I used my Core'dinations Whitewash Cardstock to cut out and emboss two of the oval with my Large Hepburn Embossing Folder.

I used my Couture Creations Sanding Block to bring out the design on my Core'dinations paper.

I also wanted to try cutting some felt with my Daisy Nesting Dies. I added some extra paper as a shim when I ran it through my Big Shot, and it cut just fine! I then cut a spiral into the flower die cut to make some rolled flowers, using my Couture Creations Pointy Tool to roll the flower around.

I then made some larger paper flowers with my Daisy Nesting Dies.

I used the smallest daisy die again and layered three of them together, using my Pointy Tool again to punch through the layers. To shape the flower I used a brad to hold them together, then wet the paper and scrunched the layers up to make a pretty flower. I used stamens from my stash to make the flower centers.

For my final touch I added the gorgeous Summer Dragonfly die cut. I just love dragonflies!!

I blinged mine up with Couture Creations Blue Iceberg Adhesive Gemstones.

To add a bit of dimension I used 12mm Foam Mounting Tape to attach my oval photos to their scallop oval mats. I attached all the ovals on the layout with my 18mm Double Sided Tape.

I hope you like my summery layout this month, and hope to see you sharing your work on the Couture Creations Facebook page!!!