Our talented technique blog hop team team is at it again creating projects just for you using a variety of Close to My Heart products. 
Normally, I have some how-to photos or a short video to view for these technique hops, but right now my craft space looks like a paper factory blew up as I balance crafting with a huge renovation project in the front yard, so, today we are going to keep it simple as I show you a few of the techniques I used on my Sweet Summer Bunch layout and give you a few tips for Paper Piecing stamped images.
I chose to make this layout as bright and as colorful and as lively as the children in the photos – my little summer bunch. In the year 2000, our children were 1, 3, 5, and 6 which made each day quite the adventure.
To match the vivid, childish, “bunch” theme, I chose to use the little girl image from the July stamp of the month. She is so sweet and full of color and perfect for paper piecing.♥
After stamping the entire image onto White Daisy cardstock, I stamped the dress portion onto some pink plaid Blue Skies paper and the flowers onto some vellum which was heat-embossed. I shaded the flowers using matching Tri-Blend markers then got to work on paper piecing.
When you are cutting images out for paper piecing, you will want cut outside the stamped line (most of the time). By cutting outside the line, your stamped image appears continuous. Now, I did say “most of the time” because, on this image, I also cut inside the black line around the stems of the flowers. This allowed the stamped portion of the stems to pop through and look three-dimensional.
When you look at the image up-close, you can see where I cut the pattern paper and the vellum. Layering those papers onto this stamped image gives it such a unique look. I like how to vellum softens the darker tones of the flowers to match the soft tones of the Mix-In papers I used in the background.
The remaining portions of my layout were created using a variety of products I had on hand. My goal this year is to “use what I have” as I create my scrapbook pages. You will probably see one or two little retired items, but almost everything on this layout is current – just not all from the same paper suite.
The title was created using some stickers that I had leftover from a Story By Stacy mini-album, a Cricut cut from the Summer Vibes collection, and letters stamped using the Chronicle Type stamp set. I embellished the title with a vellum flower cut from Stitched Together which I dry embossed with polka-dots.
All three flowers have polka-dots and wooden buttons in the center. I love the whimsical look they create.
The photo was embellished with leftover tags, another Story By Stacy item, and some Summer Vibes paper and stickers. Mixing and matching various paper suites is easy to do when you stick to the same color scheme and add a few basics to balance the clusters.
I hope you enjoyed today’s Paper Piecing project and you were inspired to try something new. Now ‘Hop” on over to Lauren Moore’s Blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their blogs to get some great crafting tips and other fun ideas for using Paper Piecing on your projects.
Don’t forget, the July Stamp of the Month is only available through July 31st. If you wish to recreate this design, stop by my website and find out how you can get it for only $5.00.
