Classic patterns never go out of style and thanks to the plethora of designs My Favorite Things offers, your projects will never feel dated. Join the MFT designers as we inspire you this month with trendy and innovative projects centered on the pinnacle of patterns: the time-honored stripe!
I created a striped patterned paper and a few other striped accents for this 8-inch scrap page:
To create the striped paper, I mixed MFT's All Lined Up Stencil with one of my favorite and current trendy techniques, watercolor! More details on that are shown below.
To soften the Banana Split Sun Ray Cover-up die cut a little, I covered it in another die cut from Translucent Vellum. The "sister" title was cut with By the Letters Lowercase Die-namics, from Cork Sheet (which is actually lighter than it's appearing here in my photos):
(Above) -- the "SEA" word was cut with the Bottom Line Alpha, from custom blue watercolored paper (details below), then stacked on three more layers of Grout Gray cardstock die cuts = your own custom "chipboard" letters! The letters were covered with Glitter Glaze.
(Below) -- The photos (more from our beach getaway last month!) were die cut with Pierced Rectangle and Pierced Square STAX Die-namics and popped up on foam tape, to give them a little more interest:
(Above) -- That custom striped Washi Pattern tape was stamped with Banana Split Hybrid Ink on Primitive White cardstock, then die cut with its coordinating Washi Tape Die-namics. A little bit of journaling was done in the lower left corner of the page (sorry I've cut it off in most of these photos!) with Baby Blue Copic Atyou Spica Glitter Pen.
(Below) -- The ampersand (By the Letters Lowercase) and "SAND" (Negative Dot Alphabet) were die cut from Grout Gray cardstock that I gave some sandy texture to, by using white embossing paste with the Diagonal Stripes Stencil. These pieces were also stacked with an additional three layers of cardstock behind them:
The "sun" letters are the same Die-namics used for the "sister" title (By The Letters Lowercase), cut from Banana Split cardstock and also stacked. Hopefully you can see all the dimension this page has, in this shot:
The "sand" along the bottom edge of the page is Natural cardstock, hand torn.
How To Details:
1. To create the striped watercolor background, I just pressed my Premium Dye Ink pads onto my craft sheet, diluted it a little by misting it with some water, then used a water reservoir brush to pick up the color. You can varying the intensity of the color by how much you dilute it with the water:
2. Secure the All Lined Up Stencil to the Primitive White cardstock with washi or other removable tape, then color between the lines!
3. I colored with (in this order) Natural, Berrylicious, Nightshift Blue, and Sno Cone Premium Dye inks (trying to replicate the colors of sand, ocean and sky), not caring too much if it was streaky or not -- I think that just adds to the lovley watercolor look AND the colors soften as they dry.
In the photo below you can see where I watercolored the left side of the page, the full width and height of the stencil, then moved the stencil over to the right side of the paper and repeated the process to fill up the 8" x 8" piece of paper I was working with. This is one of the great properties of a stencil!
4. To create the blue watercolor paper from which I die cut the "SEA" word, I used both Nightshift Blue Hybrid and Premium Dye inks, mixing in a little Berrylicious. I watercolored this mixture onto Primitive White cardstock:
5. For the ampersand and "SAND" word, here's a closer look at the white embossing paste (which doesn't dry too terribly white on this color of cardstock) applied to the Grout Gray cardstock. It gives the cardstock just enough interest and a bit of texture similar to sand:
Thanks so much for joining me today ... I hope this challenge inspires you to put some stripes into your next project!
Please visit the MFT Blog to find a list of the other MFT designers particpating in today's challenge blog hop!
What a great layout! The striped background almost looks like a beach towel and I love those adorable little cork thickers!
Posted by: Celeste Goff | July 22, 2014 at 05:38 AM
Very cool, Sharon. I like the idea of guided watercolor stripes. I would never be able to keep it straight otherwise. :) Very pretty page.
Posted by: Jody Morrow | July 22, 2014 at 07:40 AM
So many wonderful details Sharon. This is a gorgeous summer layout, a true keepsake!
Posted by: Chriss Blagrave | July 22, 2014 at 07:50 AM
That is GORGEOUS, Sharon! I love the idea of the watercolored look using the ink painted through the stencil.
Posted by: Kim | July 22, 2014 at 09:01 AM
I love this Sharon!! What a fantastic page!!
Posted by: Tracey | July 22, 2014 at 10:05 AM
What brilliant elements and textures, Sharon. I love the soft colors.
Posted by: Rosy Newlun | July 22, 2014 at 10:46 AM
Sharon, I'm always amazed at your pages and this one has me nearly speechless (I'm typing, so I guess that counts as something), but then you top it off so graciously with an easy to follow tutorial! So generous - you are a class act!
Posted by: Amy Rohl | July 22, 2014 at 11:00 AM
WOW! The whole page looks so simple and beautifully done. However, when you start breaking down what you did, there are just so many details, yet none take distract from what is actually happening in the photos. I love the different textures! The watercolor striped background in cool water tones just add to the beach feel. The water colored sparkled SEA and striped paste on the SAND add subtle yet bold detailing with textures. AMAZING!
Posted by: Betty | July 24, 2014 at 07:43 AM
Very cool layout, Sharon!!! Great details!!! I have pinned it to my Pinterest board. :-) Thanks for inspiration.
Posted by: Jenna | September 11, 2014 at 11:47 PM