Laura Vegas

Today, over on the Bella Blvd blog, our August project sheet went up. For this month's layout, I was asked to use the brand new Fresh Market collection, circles, and Clear Cuts transparencies. The first photos that popped into my head for this layout were these adorable shots I took years ago of Miranda, a previous daycare cutie of mine. I had so many different photos to choose from, all with different facial expressions, and had to have a friend of mine help me narrow them down to just four photos.

I printed these photos on my photo printer, and basically printed two photos, which each having 2 photos side by side. That way I only had to adhere two "photos" across the page, instead of four individual photos. I didn't really notice how those two center photos combined until I was editing the photos of my layout, otherwise I probably would have swapped them around.

For the circles part of my challenge, I knew I wanted to arrange some patterned paper circles on the top half of the page, above my row of photos. To work in the Clear Cut transparency, I layered a piece of the Pickle Juice Confetti over my white cardstock background. It added more to the "circle" theme, and added some interest to my white background, without overwhelming the page.

That yellow/orange "I was made for sunny days" circle started out as a 4×4" card on the Daily Details patterned paper. I was able to cut a circle from it, without losing any of the fun image.

I usually use my old Creative Memories circle cutter when cutting circles for my projects. It's super handy, and less work than taking out my Silhouette for something as basic as circles. I cut a larger circle, from both the black/white polka dot patterned paper and white cardstock, to hold my title.

I cut a few smaller circles from the black/white polka dot patterned paper, along with a few circles from the aqua scalloped border patterned paper. I arranged them along the top of the page, and then added some pink enamel dots and some stickers.

The majority of my patterned paper strips on this page came from the Borders patterned paper sheet. The striped border along the top and bottom of the page, the aqua dotted borders above and below the photos, and the pink gingham border along the top of the page, all came from the Borders sheet. I'm a huge fan of the scalloped border stickers on the Treasures & Text sticker sheets, so I use those a ton on my pages.

And you know I had to add lots of machine stitching, right? I rarely do a layout or card without it these days. I just love how much it adds to projects, and it also helps secure everything in place, should adhesive give out down the road. For all of the circles, I did my machine stitching before adhering them to the page. Just easier when you're working with circles.

You can download our August project sheet, complete with supply list and step-by-step instructions, RIGHT HERE.