How are you celebrating National Scrapbooking Day?

Over on the Heidi Swapp blog we are celebrating National Scrapbooking Day (May 4 - THIS Saturday!) with some new layouts and some of our favorite older layouts!

Today I'm sharing a layout I made to celebrate my daughter's 10th birthday...

As soon as I took this photo I knew just the colors I wanted to use for my layout...the Color Pop Grey Pop paper was just perfect for my background. I knew some Georgia Peach accents would be fantastic to highlight Kate's strawberry-blonde hair...so I taped off a section of the Grey Pop with some wide washi tape and sprayed just that small area with the GP Color Shine. I love how it provides a base/mat for my photo...

I added a No Limits Maps paper banner from the No Limits Paper Pad under my photo and a length of black & white striped Color Pop Banner Delights over the photo...a few scallops of Color Magic Ribbon sprayed with Mustard Color Shine and the Epoxy word "love" finish off my photo embellishments.

For the journaling on my layout I grabbed a scrap of Vintage Chic Bookkeeping paper and wrote a list of 10 things about Kate right now. I stapled the acrylic "frame" that once housed a Clear Pop Tag over my list...I love the way it adds another layer of texture without being overwhelming.

I found a little scrap from a print-out of the {Mo}tography class that Heidi taught with Jessica Sprague that was the perfect color orange...so I added it to my layout. But something was missing...that side of the page needed something else, so I started searching through my stash and found this awesome gold star stencil/embellishment/placemat (from Pink Paislee's LUXE collection), cut it down to size and added it over the orange scrap. I adore the way it looks and I love love love the gold!

I knew I needed more stars (because you always do, right?) so I cut a few from some parchment paper  (and a scrap of Vintage Chic Textbook paper) with a punch - stapled them together and adhered them to a small wood stick...then I simply stapled the stick to the page. Again, I felt that I just needed a little something more so I took a Color Magic Star, sprayed it with Tropicana Teal Color Shine (I love the pop of blue against all of the other more muted colors!) and added it to the top of my other stars.

The Clear Pop Alphabet in Grey is the absolute BOMB! I stapled the letters KATE and the @ symbol to the page and used some Color Magic Chipboard letters (to spell out TEN) colored with Georgia Peach Color Shine to finish my page.

I have to say...I am LOVING the colors on this page...I think I want to work with some the orange/grey/gold combo again...it makes me so happy! And I really love how all of Heidi's collections work together so seamlessly...I never have to worry about keeping within them to create a project I'm proud of...

What will you be doing for NSD? Me? I'll be working with more Clear Pop, Color Pop and Color Shine. The possibilities with these are endless! No go! Create! Make Pretty Stuff! And don't forget to Google "National Scrapbooking Day" to find out about tons of fun things going on this weekend!

Products used in this layout:

New DETAILZ dies by Lifestyle Crafts!

Lifestyle Crafts has just introduced the next big thing in dies!

And, you guys, these new DETAILZ dies are sooo cool!

With these new dies you can cut, emboss & stencil! What?!?

This is what the dies look like...

And this is how they work...

You just cut the shape out with your die cutter (I used the new Lifestyle Crafts Genius Ultimate Platform [it's MAGNETIC! so that your dies don't slip around...awesome] and some Letterpress Paper to cut my shapes with my Epic die cutter...) and color in at the stencil lines...it's THAT EASY!

**NOTE: The new DETAILZ dies will emboss at the same time the shape is cut as long as you are using thicker paper - like the Letterpress Paper. In order to cut and emboss thinner paper at the same time you need to use an extra rubber mat during your cut**

Last week was Kinsley's birthday, and I put together these fantastic cupcake toppers and this little card for her...

First I sprayed some Lifestyle Crafts Letterpress Paper with some Heidi Swapp Color Shine (in Georgia Peach, Tropicana Teal & Mint Green)...

...then I simply ran the paper through my Epic die cutter, folded the banner around a toothpick, adhered the two sides  and look what I got!

See the embossing? Cool...

AND, as you can see on the cake die-cut above, you can also use these dies to STENCIL your die-cut! Before you remove your paper from the die, you simply color in the "open" spaces on the die and voila!

I made this little card using the candle die...I simply cut the candle out and then colored it in...

The little banner ("happy 10th birthday") under the candles was made using the same die as the flag cupcake toppers above. I added the black outline around the shape using the stencil marks on the die...

I love love love the look of the soft colors on the embossing...

So, what do you think? Pretty awesome, huh???

These new DETAILZ dies are available in 10 different sets...perfect for any spring or summer occasion! And, as always, use the promo code MIDWESTERN to get 20% off your entire purchase (including sale items!)...woo hoo!!!