Warm Wishes – Vicki Boutin – Part 1 | Amy Kattenbelt

Hey Crafty Magpies, Amy here sharing two layouts to get you in the festive mood (it’s November so it’s allowed, right!?). I’ve been creating with Vicki Boutin’s first ever Christmas collection called Warm Wishes.

25th of December

Here’s my first example layout. I’m going to attempt to walk you through the steps to create your own circular wreath ‘more is more’ layout design. Although my example is Christmas themed, this idea would work equally as well with any season and lots of different collections. So here is how I created this layout..

Step 1: With a pencil very lightly draw a circle in the middle of a piece of 12×12 white cardstock. My circle was 8″ in diameter and I drew around a dish (using a ruler to centralise it). You could also use a compass if you prefer.
Top Tip: Using Vicki Boutin’s Foundation Paper is a real game changer when it comes to Mixed Media. Apparently it has a special coating that allows wet medium to sit on top of it for longer before sinking into the paper. This means you have longer to move the medium around on the paper and blend colours etc. It also does not warp and bend or disintegrate as easily as standard cardstock. That said, if you only have regular cardstock still give this a try and most of the mixed media ends up being covered up anyway.

Step 2: Create two areas of mixed media along the circle, following the circle but expanding the width, they will each form like a crescent moon shape. A larger area to the bottom right section (where your photo will be placed) and a smaller one to the top right to balance the layout. I used distress oxides that I stamped/pressed onto my glass work top and painted on using a paintbrush with water. You could also use watercolour inks or paints. Use at least three similar colours to get some variety, applying whilst they are each still wet so they blend. Don’t worry too much what it looks like as so much of this will end up being covered. Also add splatters around the areas too.
Top Tip: Don’t pick colours that are opposite on the colour wheel (such as red and green) because you’ll end up with a muddy brown colour. I’ve used Salvaged Patina, along with Evergreen Bough, Peeled Paint and a very small amount of Rustic Wilderness. Leave until it is totally dry.

Step 3: Using a black marker redraw your circular line several times to form the foundation of your wreath. I used two thicknesses of pens for added variety and hand drew them so the circles were deliberately wonky. Again don’t stress as most of this will be covered up anyway.
Top Tip: Draw some little zigzag shapes or crosses to look like stitches for extra detail. If you’re a whizz on a sewing machine you could even try and stitch the circles instead of drawing them!

Step 4: Using some stamps and black permanent ink stamp over some areas of the watercolour areas. I used a small ledger stamp and then snow flake stamps from the Vicki Boutin Warm Wishes stamp set. I also used the polka dot stamp from Vicki’s Color Study collection.
Top Tip: If you are using background style stamps (such as my ledges and polka dots) try stamping areas without using an acrylic block with the stamp. Slightly curl the stamp at the edges so not all the stamp makes contact with the paper for added randomness.

Step 5: Use a stencil and a texture paste on top of the mixed media areas. I used the snowflake and circles stencil from the Warm Wishes collection along with Vicki Boutin’s Gold Glaze.
Top Tip: Make sure you clean your stencil and tools asap before the texture paste dries! Leave until it’s totally dry.

Step 6: Add your main embellishments to the two areas. I am using Chipboard stars, but you could use flowers or any pieces of ephemera you wish.
Top Tip: Only add adhesive to the central parts so that you can more easily do the next step. Also this is the step where you want to add your photo to the layout. Mat the photo with a paper if you wish and again stick onto your layout in the lower right corner.

Step 7: Add foliage to your wreath. This is what really makes your wreath come to life. I have used some dies to cut Christmas foliage and leaves out of several of the patterned papers from the Warm Wishes paper pad. I also added some ephemera pieces that are foliage designs. You could also fussy cut leave shapes, or stamp and cut out foliage designs. They can be as intricate or as simple as you like.
Top Tip: Place the pieces so they they generally follow the circular direction and shape, tuck them under the main embellishment and photo, leaving the other end unstuck so they don’t lay completely flat and add dimension.

Step 8: Add some extra embellishments. I love how the bird becomes a secondary focal point of the layout, and it’s super cute. I added a bow and phrase sticker to the middle of the large stars. Another idea for a more summery theme would be to add butterflies. I also added some word stickers and a title ephemera piece.
Top Tip: Also add some smaller pieces scattered around the wreath…I used puffy gold stars and little circular dots from the Puffy Sticker sheet. But you could also try using sequins or enamel dots etc.

Step 9: Finally add some white splatter over the whole layout. This may seem scary bit I think it really finishes the layout off. I used some very watered down white acrylic paint and a medium size paintbrush. You could also use acrylic ink or maybe a gold sparkly ink. Used a piece of scrap paper to cover up your photo and any other parts you won’t want splattered (maybe your title)
Top Tip: Practise on a piece of waste paper until you find the right consistency of paint and a paint brush that produces a good splatter. Leave to dry.

In summary, here are the 9 steps to follow…

1. Draw a pencil circle.
2. Create two areas of watercolour.
3. Draw a black circle.
4. Add stamping.
5. Add texture paste.
6. Add main embellishments and photo.
7. Add lots of foliage.
8. Add smaller embellishments and a title.
9. Add white splatter.

I hope you found this useful. I really would love for you to give this a go and share your results over on the Hey Little Magpie Facebook group, where you can also contact me if you have any questions.

Christmas Day

My second layout also started with a piece of Vicki Boutin’s Foundation Paper. This time I used another stencil from the Warm Wishes set with white texture paste. This stencil is just about the prettiest geometric patterned I’ve every seen. The subtle star shapes it creates means that it has a hint of Christmas but I know its going to be super versatile in the future too. I also trimmed the cardstock down slightly and used the holly patterned paper called ‘Believe In Magic‘ to create a border around the whole layout.

When the texture paste was completely dry I painted over it with Distress Oxides. I used Tattered Rose and a small amount of Brushed Corduroy. I then let this completely dry too. I cut three tags using the largest die in the Elles Studio Tag Die Set, and the following patterned papers ‘Evergreen‘, ‘Holiday Wishes‘ and ‘Stockings‘. I picked these papers so I would have a blue tag, a green tag and a red tag. I inked the edges of each tag in a co-ordinating distress oxide and added black cardstock hole protectors (also from the Elle’s Studio Tag Die Set) and some black and white twine. I layered them up on top of my mixed media background.

I printed my two photos to fit the two frames from the Merry & Bright chipboard thickers set. I layered some ephemera pieces from both ephemera sets (Icons and Journaling) underneath the photos. My favourite has to be this cute mouse! I added a title from the puffy phrase thicker set that reads ‘Christmas Day’ and added some journalling underneath the title.

I added three of the chipboard heart pieces to the lower left corner of the layout and added the year to the largest heart. Then I added some of the small yellow stars and gold diamonds from the sticker book. Lastly I added a splattering of white in the same way as the first layout.

Thanks so much for stopping by to read how my layouts were created. I hope the instructions were useful. We would all love to see your festive layouts over on our Facebook group. Until next month, Take Care & Stay Safe,