Special Guest Blogger: Amanda Probst

Hey there! I’m Amanda Probst, contributing writer with Creating Keepsakes. Happy as pie to be guest blogging here today. (Yeah, I don’t know how happy pie is either, but my boys tell me it’s pretty dang happy.) Given the date, I figured I’d share a fun little Fourth of July layout with you…a layout that happens to sport some of my favorite things lately.

“Ooh aah” by Amanda Probst. Supplies Cardstock: Prism Papers; Die-cutting machine: Silhouette by QuicKutz; Font: VNI-HLThuphap; Glimmer mist: Tattered Angels; Ink: Close To My Heart; Stamp: Cornish Heritage Farms; Crimper & punch: Fiskars; Label-maker: Dymo; Pen: American Crafts Precision Pen; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L (E-Z Dots, 3D Foam Squares), Scotch double-sided tape.

1. To start, I used my Silhouette to cut out my title. (I love that!) I stuck it to my cardstock with removable adhesive (not something I use all that often, but it comes in quite handy for things like this).

2. Then, I used my awesome Candy Apple Red Glimmer Mist to spray randomly around the title. (I did this outside because I just find that easier, though I have a mat for doing it indoors.) Peeled off the cardstock title, and voila!

3. Next, I added my big blue star to the layout using scrap strips of cardstock. There’s no magic about this; I simply stuck them down where it looked right.

4. Along the top, I added the photos, and I used my Dymo label-maker for the strip of journaling.

5. For the star accents, I stamped a scrap of white cardstock with a dot pattern then put that through my handy-dandy Fiskars crimper that I picked up a couple weeks ago. (I can’t believe I’ve lived this long without one!)

5. I then punched stars out of the crimped paper and used foam squares to adhere those to punched circles of red cardstock. I added those to the layout.

6. The “final” touch here was to trim the kraft cardstock to 11.5″ x 11.5″ and mount that on a full sheet of white cardstock. I did this partially to tie in with the white of the stars and partially (mostly) to help flatten out the warping cardstock after having been misted. I added a simple black pen line because I can’t seem to help myself.

There you have it. And, true to my norm, it’s an almost entirely cardstock-only layout. If you’d like to see other star embellishment ideas, check out my Monthly To-Dos column in the July issue of Creating Keepsakes or see the July chapter in my book, Month by Month Scrapbooking. (Sorry, couldn’t help myself with the plugs there, LOL!)

In the meantime, have a fantastic and safe weekend, okay?

Amanda Probst

Check out Amanda’s blog for even more inspiring ideas you can try this summer!