It all begins with cardstock!

I doubt that many layouts begin without either cardstock or some form of patterned paper?
And whilst Sarah and Lianne are busy away at CHA sourcing gorgeous new lines for us to drool over, there is so much yummy stash already in the shop it sometimes gets overlooked, even by the true die-hard magpies amongst us!
So for this months layouts, I decided each would start life as a simple piece of white cardstock. Then each one would be coloured in some way with mediums that I have neglected over recent months…

‘Bee Happy’ uses acrylics and gelatos to create a sunburst of colour, radiating from the silhouette file bee shape.

The cute bunny which appears on the gorgeous Websters ‘April‘ paper had to be included and so with the bee die-cut, the entire layout took on an animal theme!

The ‘Love Ewe’ doodle sheep can be found on the same ‘April‘ paper and the totally adorable wooden veneer cat is from Studio Calico’s Baxter range.

Hey we are all animal lovers right? We all love magpies – for that it can be said!

‘So Pretty’ started life as a misted background, using the delicious Heidi Swapp ‘Blush‘ mist.

After having punched a scrap piece of paper to use as a mask, a one third, two third rule was applied to the white cardstock with a water-colour accent of the more pinky tones.

Focusing on the ‘May These are the Days’ paper from Websters, elements were used along with die-cuts from the ephemera pack, the rimmed tags and the plastic glitter bows, all from the Fine and Dandy collection by Dear Lizzie.

To complete the layout, I used a gorgeous chipboard gold alpha from Citrus Bliss by Pink Paislee.

Still totally in love with the I Am collection from Simple Stories,  I initially primed the based of the card stock for the ‘So Loved’ layout with gesso.

 
Colour was added with gelatos and additional texture was added with pearlised embossing powders applied with glossy accents!

I have totally adored using this collection – it’s so easily adaptable to suit so many photographs and a whitecard stock base is the perfect platform for any layout!
So it goes without saying “It all begins with cardstock!”