Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Farmhouse Style

I don't know about you, but I am obsessed with the HGTV show, Fixer Upper! I love the style highlighted by the show, and have tried to channel my inner Joanna Gaines when decorating various areas of my home. When I poured out the pack of Pebbles' Jen Hadfield Simple Life ephemera, from My Creative Scrapbooks' Main kit for March, my mind went straight to that farmhouse style that I try to emulate, and a page idea was born.

Choosing some of my favorite die-cuts from the pack, I arranged them here and there on the top half of a plain piece of cardstock. I did not adhere anything yet, as I was still playing with the design.


Next, I sorted through the kit's patterned papers (also from Pebbles' Jen Hadfield Simple Life collection) for a contrasting bottom piece. I was a bit indecisive at first, so I snapped a photo of my favorite two choices, toggled back and forth, and ultimately chose the leafy woodgrain (B-side of the Music paper), pictured in the upper left hand photo. Feeling the need for a top border, I tried out both prints again, and opted for the chicken wire print (B-side of Growing Floral), pictured on the bottom right.


Finally, I got out my adhesive and committed to the design, adding the 1/2-inch (chicken wire) strip to the top of my cardstock, the 5-inch (woodgrain floral) strip to the bottom, and the tear strip (stars) from the Music paper along the middle.

Now it was time to attach those die-cuts. I inked edges, arranged and overlapped the many pieces, and popped up several more with foam dots.


On to the bottom part of the page! With the idea of adding my photo on the left, I decided to make a unique embellishment for the right, a dimensional heart. Materials needed were few: A snippet of patterned paper, a paintbrush, white acrylic paint, and a small piece of the priority box in which my kit was delivered.


When the paper was torn off of one side of the piece of box, a layer of corrugated cardboard is revealed. White paint brushed onto this layer gave it a cool, rustic look:


Once dry, I cut out a heart shape from the painted corrugated cardboard, then adhered fussy cut flowers from the Poppies patterned paper:


Before attaching my corrugated heart, I dabbed ink on the paper underneath. This contrast helped to set off my handmade embellishment against the woodgrain floral. The word "home" from the kit's foil phrase stickers fits my theme perfectly.


Finally, I added my photo and title lettering, Pink Paislee white and black letter stickers, layered as shown below, and outlined the white letters with a fine point black pen. 


The result: a little "Fixer Upper" style page that would make Joanna Gaines proud! ;)

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