Head in the Clouds Layout by Phil Donahue

Hi crafty friends! Phil Donahue here back on the blog with a layout featuring two of Paige's cut files along with her beautiful Garden Shoppe collection! For this whimsical layout of my niece wearing her second birthday party dress I used Paige's Clouds Background and Balloons cut files to document one of the many photos from this event.

This particular photo didn't have the best background but I loved how she was reaching toward the sky so I decided to fussy cut out her silhouette from the photo. Choosing a background for this layout was somewhat difficult because so many papers from the collection work so well with the theme of her birthday party! I chose Paper 3 because the colorful bubbles reflected the balloons cut file beautifully. I applied gesso in the middle of the paper to fade it out a bit, leaving about a one inch border unfaded - this was to better highlight the photo and cut files while still showing some of the colorful background. I cut the Clouds Background from Paper 19 - the blue polka dot paper works so well with the background. I used white cardstock to cut out the Balloons and backed each with yellow, pink, or blue patterned papers from the 12x12 Paper Pad. I glued the clouds directly on the background then added dimensional adhesive behind the photo and the balloons cut file. I arranged the photo on the page so it looks like my niece is holding one of the strings from the balloons. I popped up some of the inner clouds around the page to add more dimension and interest. This was such an easy and effective technique I will definitely be applying to future layouts! For the title I used pinks and yellow letters from the Thickers and 8-Page Sticker Book. I embellished the page with Layered Stickers
Butterfly Stickers and pink and yellow enamel dots from my stash. I selected one balloon of each color to add tone-on-tone phrase stickers and hearts from the 8-Page Sticker Book. Final touches were splatters of white acrylic paint which finishes off many of my layouts to bring everything together!

I hope you found some inspiration in this blog post and want to try out Paige's Clouds Background and Balloons cut files on one of your layouts paired with Garden Shoppe! Thank you for stopping by and have a happy scrappy day!

SUPPLIES: Patterned papers, stickers, Thickers, die cuts, embellishments: GARDEN SHOPPE; white cardstock; Distress Oxides; gesso; Cut files: Clouds Background and Balloons by Paige Evans

Instagram // Facebook