Welcome to the blog today as we kick off our 19th birthday week! We can hardly believe that it has been 19 years of creativity, community, and partnerships—we have had so much fun that the time has flown by! This week we will celebrate in a BIG way with birthday-themed inspiration from our amazing creative team members, freebies, and giveaways from our wonderful partners! Let’s start the week with a fun and happy layout by Brianna Estrella and a free cut file from our Creative Editor, Paige Evans! Don’t miss the giveaways at the end of the post, too! You only have to leave a comment to enter to win!

Hey friends! It’s Brianna Estrella here and I’m so happy to be sharing my first layout for SCT using a beautiful cut file designed by Paige Evans along with the Echo Park Hip Hip Hooray collection. We are celebrating SCT’s 19th birthday and what better way to celebrate than with a birthday-themed layout? First, let’s take a look at the FREE cut file that you can download today to re-create my page:

Click HERE to download this FREE birthday cut file!

And here’s the layout I created using it:

Supplies | Echo Park Hip Hip Hooray collection: Collection Kit, Solids Paper Pack, Ephemera; Ranger Distress Oxide Inks: Salvaged Patina, Chipped Sapphire, Mustard Seed, Picked Raspberry, Candied Apple; Ranger: Dina Wakley Gloss Spray; Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L: E-Z Runner Grand; American Crafts: Cardstock; Tombow USA: Liquid Glue

I absolutely love working with cut files! There are so many possibilities when using them. You can size them to fit your design, you can back them with patterned paper, cardstock, mixed media, etc. And they really add so much more to your projects. This specific cut file allowed me to get very creative with it. I decided to back the large cake piece using papers from the Solids Paper Pack because I wanted the cake to look a bit more realistic. In staying with that theme, I added some ink blending to each piece of the cake portion to give each one some depth and I’m really happy with how it turned out. For the candles in the cut file, I backed each one using papers from the Collection Kit. There are a lot of fun patterns in this collection!

Once my entire cut file was backed, I set it aside and took a piece of textured white cardstock and trimmed it down to an 11×11. I was going to matte it using one of the patterned papers from the collection kit. I wanted a bit of mixed media behind my beautiful cake, so I ink blended on some circles using a few Distress Oxide Ink pads from my stash. I chose colors that coordinated with the collection and it really brought everything together. I traced a few simple circles onto the ink blending and then added a doodled border around the edge of my cardstock. I then adhered it to the base and then got to work on the rest of my page.

The cut file includes three phrases and I chose two for this page. You can size these words to fit inside your cake or you can do what I did and have them adhered to your layout. I backed the word ‘Happy’ using the same papers I used for the candles and the ‘birthday’ phrase, I did more ink blending in an ombre look using one of the Distress Ink Pads. 

Next, I started embellishing using a few more Ephemera pieces as well as some of the cardstock stickers in the Collection Kit. I went through and included a lot of smaller stickers and it really brought everything together! These photos are of my daughter’s first birthday last year and they really coordinate with this collection. 

Ready to see how this page came together? Check out my process video below by clicking the ‘watch on YouTube’ button so that you can open the video in a new tab, hit the thumbs up, leave a comment and subscribe to the SCT Magazine YouTube channel!

Thank you so much for stopping by today, and I hope that I’ve inspired you in some way! Do you love working with cut files? I know I do! I can’t wait to see what you create with this one, there are so many ways to use it and I hope you’ll tag me on social media so that I can see! See you in my next post friends! Happy 19th birthday, SCT!

Find more of Brianna’s work here: Blog | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube 

What a gorgeous layout Brianna created! Don’t forget to download the cut file to document your celebrations! Now, let’s check out our first day of giveaways! We have four amazing giveaways up for grabs from our partners today. To enter to win one of today’s prizes, leave a comment on this post by midnight Eastern time on Wednesday, March 26th, telling us which birthday in your life has been the most significant. A comment will be selected at random and all birthday week winners will be announced here on the blog on Friday, March 28th. Let’s see what you’re commenting to win today!

GIVEAWAY 01: ECHO PARK PAPER

Add a vibrant touch to your birthday projects, like Brianna’s above layout with the Hip Hip Hooray collection from Echo Park! This prize package includes a Hip Hip Hooray collection kit, featuring 12 double-sided patterned papers and a 12″ x 12″ cardstock sticker sheet packed with coordinating elements, the solids paper pack, and ephemera, featuring 34 colorful die-cut embellishments, including cakes, balloons, and festive sentiments!

Click HERE to see the full Hip Hip Hooray collection!

GIVEAWAY 02: GINA K. DESIGNS

The Intri-Cut die Cutting and Embossing Machine from Gina K. Designs is just the tool for crafters looking to get consistent results on the most intricate of dies. It’s easy-glide handle and stabilizing surface suction will help to make die-cutting and embossing effortless. 

Switch back and forth between die cutting and embossing with the turn of a dial. No complicated plate sandwiches! Dial in to make the machine tighter or looser for difficult dies and embossing folders.

Die Cutting, 2-D Embossing, 3-D Embossing, Letterpress, Hot Foiling compatible, and more!

Click HERE to learn more about the Intri-Cut and shop in the GKD store!

GIVEAWAY 03: THERM O WEB

Happy Birthday, SCT! To celebrate, we would love to gift one lucky reader with our brand-new Deco Foil release, shown here, plus a few other goodies perfect for springtime cardmaking. The retail value of this prize package is $50 USD and includes Deco Foil Toner Card Fronts, Toner Sentiments, Transfer Foils, and Craft & Carrier Sheets, as well as our best-selling refillable XL Memory Tape Runner. Thank you, Catherine and team, for all these years of creativity, fun, and community!

– your friends at Therm O Web

Click HERE to shop Therm O Web’s amazing products!

GIVEAWAY 04: TRINITY STAMPS

We are so excited to celebrate this birthday milestone with Scrapbook & Cards Today Magazine! Congratulations SCT on 19 amazing years of providing so much inspiration and education to crafters around the world!

Click HERE to discover Trinity Stamps!

GIVEAWAY 05: PICKET FENCE STUDIOS

Click here to start your Picket Fence Studios shopping list!

Day two will be just as wonderful as today! Don’t forget to download your free cut file, and be sure to share what you create with us by tagging @sctmagazine on social media and using the #sctmagazine hashtag! We will see you back here tomorrow, friends!