Hello Lovelies, it's Theresa here to share more ideas for our Product Focus. This week we are creating layered embellishments which are just awesome for using supplies and getting layouts completed. I am going to create four assymetrical embellishments using elements from the September Farmhouse kit, plus one layout.
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To  begin with, I chose a photo of our son Addison that I had taken recently for back to school. Addison is our oldest, going into tenth grade this year, and the wood grain, green, and yellow in this kit suit his photo well. I laid down a layer of gesso and some paint splatters onto my page, just to break up the wood grain and lighten my layout a bit.
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My photo is vertical, so I knew I wanted an assymetrical layout with photo on one side. I grabbed a few extra things from around my desk and started laying some elements around the page, and realized I could do several assymetrical layered embellishments inspired by this one layout.
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We will come back to the layout, but let's create these embellishments first! These are the items I used to create these strips:

1. punches - I have used a shaped label and a starburst, but you could also use border punches.
2. doilies - this is a boy layout so I've used kraft doilies.
3. marketing strips and other narrow patterned paper strips all from the Farmhouse kit.
4. die cuts and chipboard embellishments included in the Farmhouse kit.
5. word strips and word art from the Farmhouse kit.
6. twine - I have used dark navy twine but you could use baker's twine, hemp, anything that adds texture.
7. miscellaneous ribbon - I have used one from my stash to add another bit of texture and dimension.

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These are the four embellishment strips laid out for you to see. I created each one to be oriented in a different direction and the idea is for the strips to border on the edge of a photo or on the edge of your patterned paper. I love this idea because once they are all done I can create four different layouts!

Each strip began with the patterned paper or marketing strip from the papers in the kit. They are the home base for the embellishment cluster and everything else grew from there. For the cluster above, I added the punched starbursts underneath the strips, a leaf and banner die cut, and word art. The word art is adhered using pop dots to add dimension. I also wrapped a bit of twine around my fingers and adhered that underneath all the layers as well.
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For the next cluster, I again began with the patterned papers and a doily. This one is a vertical orientation, so I added a die cut arrow, a leaf, and some word art. Using the doily on this one gives a great home base for the horizontal word art so it doesn't look out of place. Instead of using chipboard I used one of the flair buttons included in the kit! Again the twine adds more texture to the piece.
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My third embellishment starts with patterned papers and a doily, and this time I have added a banner, the ribbon, and a chipboard piece. This one has a horizontal orientation and the photo could go above on the layout, or the cluster could go at the top of the page.
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For my layout, I chose to use a vertical cluster. This one uses two strips of patterned paper and three shaped labels punched from the yellow patterned paper. I also added a leaf, heart, and banner from the die cuts, plus a chipboard embellishment. Notice the banner overlaps the photo a bit, and the arrow on the heart points inward toward the photo. Again twine peaking out from underneath it all adds more dimension and ties all these elements in with the background.
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Of course my layout also need a title and journaling, which was so easy to add. I used the Pinkfresh Studio alphabet in the kit and repeated the vertical direction on this layout. Everything on this layout leads your eye upwards! Here is another look at the full layout.

The best part about having this layout done is knowing that I can easily create three more layouts using these embellishment clusters! How about you? Have you been creating with your Farmhouse kit this month? We would love to see, so be sure to share with us on social media and use #cliquekits.
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Aloha!! It's Hannah with you today!! I hope you all have wonderful plans this weekend. Today I am going to be using the November Cornucopia Traveler's Notebook Kit. This kit is so cheerful, these supplies really help lift my spirits. 
We have been back to school and getting into our school time routine for a little over a month now. I won't lie, I am really missing the summer and my extra free time. This time of the year though, just has something that draws me in. Preparing for the winter, getting back into a daily routine, new seasons of tv shows to watch and lots of reading and writing, are going on in my house. 
I really love the idea of documenting this big change this time of the year. I think every year I expect something a bit different, and to have that in some journaling is really nice. At the end of the year it really helps you see how far you have come. But back to school layouts and spreads really have a bad rap. Whether it's sleepy cranky faces, whether it's the change in the lighting , the lack of enthusiasm about the upcoming times, it sometimes is hard to capture this season change in a good light. 
I think for me some of it is that the info can be generic. You want to make sure you have facts on the layout. 
Hopefully today I can give you some small easy tips to make documenting your back to school and season changing that help you share your families stories. 

My first tip is to make your layout fun, whether you have little kiddos at home or some not so little kids. use a fun design to document your daily routines. Today I am going to scrap lift myself. I made this above layout 2 years ago for a back to school challenge.  I love how there are elements that point to autumn but that I used my favorite technique, layering. This design is so much fun. Scrap lifting myself means I don't have to come up with a design but can focus on other elements on my layout. 

I did lots of fussy cutting for this layout, but it meant I didn't have to raid the main kit for too many die cuts, just a few that helped tell my stories. 
My next tip is, Use your paper as embellishments. There are so many papers now days that have flowers (In fact our kits both have lots of florals and cut worthy pattern papers), or other elements to cut out. Use these pieces as embellishments to layer on your page. Whether you like a clean and simple layout or a busy layout, you can cut a lot of just a little.  This is so helpful when you have really bold patterns too. 
I used the little 2x2 squares to draw leaves and cut them out. I also fussy cut the flowers in the patterned paper in the TN kit. I got so much from just a little paper. 

My next tip is to use those word die cuts as part of your title. If you are anything like me, I struggle coming up with awesome titles. Thankfully these die cut words can help me with that. It also helps draw interest to the title when you vary the size font and font look. 
In this layout I even used one of the journaling cards with beautiful hand script words as my title.  Now my title isn't quite the same as two years ago back, you know it is a back to school layout. 

My next tip is not be afraid to use all your themed pieces together on the layout. But don't let this stop you  if you don't have themed die cuts. A couple of themed pieces go a long way mixed in with what might feel like a lot of non themed pieces. 
I know I tend to stay away from the traditional items but I don't want a really themed layout, but you know it's ok to have that kind of spread every once in a while. But by mixing themed pieces with items that don't say Back To School it really helps to balance the theme. 
Remember to mix up colors, shapes, sizes and textures. This will help draw interest to you layout. 

I had fun layering all the beautiful colors of this kit. The Main Kit's die cuts were perfect for cutting that brightness too. I also love this October CK exclusive Flair badge. It works so well. 

My last tip is to change up your journaling. This layout I decided to write it like I was talking to my kids. They may not fully understand it all now, but later years down the road, they will be able to hear my voice as they read my words to them. 
Another suggestion is to add your kids favorites, and see how they change from the beginning to the end of the school year. You could even have you r kids write their own journaling, changing the tone by them telling things about this time and how they feel about it. As a mom, we can only tell part of the story, so adding your child's voice it really can change the way they remember that day, that year. 
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Here is a finished look at my layout. I liked using my Traveler's notebook Kit for something other than my Traveler's Notebook. I love how this cheerful kit, helped my back to school layout be fun and helped captured my kids personalities. They are so playful, goofy and they really were enjoying this photo time, even if they laughed during most of the photo shoot. 
I hope I encourage you to document these special moments in a different way. Also don't forget to share with us all the layouts and projects you make with your Clique Kits!! Use the hashtag #click_connect_create and #cliquekits on social media and we will be able to see it!!
I hope you check out all the November Add Ons. They will ship out with your November Clique Kits at the beginning of the month. Use my code Hannah10 an you can get 10% off your Add Ons. 

I can't wait to see you later next week!! Until later Stay Inspired!!
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