cut file

Hey everyone, wishing you all a Happy New Year. I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas and holiday break. I am here sharing my first layout for the new year with you all, with the theme of ‘new’ in mind. This layout is featuring the beautiful Daydream collection. For today’s layout I have also ventured back into creating a 12×12” size, a layout size which I have not created in for a few years now.

Here is the layout I created:

The theme of this layout is around the word ‘new’. I decided to document the ‘new’ way of teaching and learning that we all encountered in 2020. As a teacher I had to adapt to implementing and supporting the learning of my class via online platforms – and as a Mumma I had to juggle teaching my class and supporting the learning of my own school ages children. It has certainly been a ‘new’ way of teaching and a challenging year for all in this current pandemic.

The photo in particular was taken after we had just finished a stint of remote learning and I had run an evening of successful Zoom parent/teacher teacher conferences. This online learning thing was so challenging for all, I think on this particular evening I was just so proud to have made it to the other side, still smiling! I printed the photo at around 3.5 x 4.5” in size via my Epson Picturemate in black and white. I printed the picture in black and white as this picture was taken in my classroom, which had a lot of bright colours and displays in the background. This made it easier to choose and use the Daydream collection to document this story.

The cut file in those layout is one from the Cut to You store. I loved the graphical look of the design and the ties to schooling in a pie chart and thought it would work well to document this story. I used a combination of the 6×8” paper pad papers and the 12×12” papers to back the cut file sections. I used the Garden Variety paper print in two sections as I wanted this layout to feature clusters of the gorgeous floral ephemera pieces. A love creating with a simple cut file like this as they are super easy to back but look really effective on a layout.

The ‘heaviest’ embellishment cluster I created was to the right of the photo. This cluster had a mix of floral ephemera and fussy cut florals from the Garden Variety paper. I also delved into my enamel dot stash from past CVS collections to add those finishing touches to each cluster created.

The title of the layout is ‘captured’ and created using a past collection ‘Unforgettable’s’ foam stickers. Love a bold title that contrasts on a page, so these black foam stickers were perfect. The other words within the pack of titles were not as suitable as this was not necessarily a time that would fit the title of ‘the good life’ or ‘the best’ – I thought ‘captured’ works well as it gives a title that is just documenting this moment in time.

As always I have documented my story on a typewriter and cut it into strip form. For something different though I have adhered it with a thin dimensional adhesive tape (I use an affordable Bunnings one I have featured here). I love how it has added a slight shadow underneath each strip of my story.

Another cluster was created to the bottom left of the journaling. This cluster helps to balance the heaviness of the photo and the cluster to the right of the photo. This cluster features floral ephemera and fussy cut flowers.

To the top left of the photo I added another small cluster of embellishments. This helps to balance the layout. You will find that on most layouts I work in groups of three; in embellishment clusters and small embellishments too.

Thank you so much for stopping by the CVS blog today. I hope you have found this layout inspiring.

Raquel x