Handmade, Part I

This past month I had the great pleasure of being assigned three different lines to create with for Scrapbook Studio.  Lest that sound like sarcasm: it is not.  Apparently, I am the dweebie girl who loved school so much that using the word assignment gets me all a-tither.  So getting three lines to work with was, in a word, AWESOME.  I'll share as I can, and I can't until they get posted at Scrapbook Studio's blog.  I suppose you could bypass my blog and just check out the projects there, but I'll have a couple of extra views and talk a little about the process and hurdles of the layout process. So yeah, maybe you just want to check out their blog, instead. :P

And while I'm plugging for them, I feel compelled to mention: If you are even remotely considering a Cameo purchase, NOW IS THE TIME.  I don't know how long it will last, but right now it's on sale for $269.99.  I am not a fan of paying full price for anything, but in all honesty, I think the Cameo is so worth it that I would...except why would you if you could get it on sale.  It rarely happens, so I'd hop on that while the hopping is good.

If, on the other hand, you already have a Cameo and just want to get your dander up, I'll direct you to episode 110 of Paperclipping Roundtable: Clash of the Die Cutting Machines. I left a comment, and let me just say that it took a couple of delete-and-rewrites before I managed to get the tone in the general neighborhood of civil.  I don't know why, but hearing people say not-nice things about the Cameo really upsets me. :P

So anyway, back to me. One of the lines that I had the pleasure of playing with was Lilybee Designs "Handmade".  The line has that old country feel that makes you think of spring quilts that your grandmother would make.  Reds, pale blues, pinks, yellows and a couple of pale linens.  I don't have a country aesthetic, but it's impossible to not love this particular combination of colors and prints.

Here's the layout I made with it:

First: I don't know what happened.  I used to HATE white backgrounds and for some reason I've done a couple 180 on that.  I love them. I think the white versatile and clean.  And I love that the Handmade collection has a white base.  Makes using it on white that much easier.  The collection pack has a whole bunch of heavy weight double sided patterned papers, as well as Lilybee's signature little alphas (Yay! Adore those!) and then a sheet of fun cardstock stickers with the banners that I used here.  I'm guilty of loving banners.  I know they're ubiquitous, but I don't care.  Love, plain and simple.

Of course, there's lots of Cameo love going on here: the pretty blue border on the left side, the tab, the journaling banner on the bottom, and the title:

Yes, I'm going to unapologetically beat this technique to death.  And every time I show it I'll give Nichol Magouirk credit.  I have been using one color all stacked up just for height, but I'm digging this variation using two colors.  Makes me so happy to see that color peeking out.  :)

And then here's the card I made using the line:

First, I accidentally left the Cameo off my supply list when I sent this to my design team boss. OOPS.  But I did use it - the perfectly perfect red scalloped square and the adorable fish-tail banners are both from the Silhouette store, cut on the Cameo.  And of course the adorable Lilybee letter stickers.  I love that you get SO MANY letters and such a variety of fun colors.  Those sticker sheets are such a fantastic value.  And again: the colors and designs of the paper are just so darned happy.  The card is so simple and the easy shapes and colors carry the day.

So that's that for today.  I've got one more project to share from this line.  Let's just say I'm saving the best for last.

So humor me here: What's your feeling on base cardstock colors?  Do you tend to reach for the same thing over and over?  Do you hate black or white?  Or do you use patterned paper as a base?  And if you use patterned paper as a base, do you have cardstock underneath as fortification, or do you just trust the page protectors to do their job?