We are so excited to welcome a new guest designer to the SCT blog today, Amanda Baldwin! Amanda’s gorgeously detailed layouts feature beautiful mixed-media techniques, saturated colours, and plenty of white space to help everything POP, and we think you’ll love what she created with our July cut file! Don’t forget to download it AND scroll all of the ways down to the post so that you can follow Amanda, too! 

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Hi SCT Friends and fans! Happy Tuesday! 

It’s Amanda here, aka @happy_arty_days, and today I’m sharing some cut file inspiration with the fabulous Summer Stitching cut file designed by the lovely Paige Evans. We love seeing what you create with our exclusive FREE cut files, so be sure to tag #sctmagazine in your socials so we can check out your amazing talents! Here’s a look-see at this month’s freebie:

Download this month’s cut file HERE

Isn’t this fun?! I love a good stitching file, and this one is just perfect for documenting those sweet Summer moments! 

Here’s the layout that I created: 

Supplies | Cardstock: American Crafts; Patterned paper: Elle’s Studio Good Times paper stack; Die cuts: Elle’s Studio June 2021 kit; Stickers: Jen Hadfield Reaching Out Phrase Thickers, Elle’s Studio Yellow Parker Acetate Alphabet Stickers, Tiny Shapes and Dots Puffy Stickers – Warm Tones; Other: sequins and embroidery thread 

So much fun for summer! Let’s take a closer look:

 

Hello, summer, and hello stitching frenzy! When it comes to hand sewing, I’m no embroidery queen or needlework magician! In fact, I’m far too impatient to hand sew regularly, but the ease of this cut file having all the stitch holes in place made it really easy to give this trending technique a try! I opted for a simple chain stitch as it’s a perfect ‘beginners’ level embroidery stitch, and has that lovely ‘chunky’ thread look. I loved the thicker chain stitches as they really emphasized the outline of the letters and made that big title pop even more! 

Tip: Google ‘how-to chain stitch videos’ if you’re not familiar with this sewing technique. You’ll be surprised by how easy it is! 

Big titles always leave a big impression, but they also reduce the amount of space in which to create. To ensure my photos remained the focus of my layout, I enlarged them to 8 x 10 inches and used them to back a number of the cut file letters. 

Tip: When creating with a reduced size or limited canvas, use contrasting colors to maximize impact. With so much blue in my photographs, I stitched & embellished my page with warm yellow and orange tones—it’s simple but so effective!

Another tip for embellishing pages with large cut file words is to create sequin shaker pockets! I filled two glassine bags with a mix of sequins, adhered them to the back of the cut-out letters, and then backed these transparent shaker pockets with the Elle’s Studio repeated suns pattern paper from the Good Times paper stack

Less is always more when it comes to large title pages, so it seemed a no-brainer to limit my color scheme, as well the number and type of embellishments featured. A couple of Elle’s Studio  June 2021 kit die cuts and a few dominant foam stickers from Jen Hadfield’s Reaching Out Phrase Thickers (mainly to hide a sewing imperfection) were the perfect adornments to my layout. Yellow and orange were the key colors, and suns and hearts were the go-to icons. 

For the finishing touches, I trimmed the base of my layout with the phrase “Sea, Sand, Surf” using the Yellow Parker Acetate Alphabet Stickers from Elle’s Studio. Again, a super simple and restrained approach, but really effective. I hope it inspired you!

I wonder how you’ll use this fabulous summer stitching cut file in your memory keeping? Be sure to share your creations using this cut file by tagging #sctmagazine so we can see them all! 

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Find more of Amanda’s work here: Instagram | You Tube | Blog | Pinterest | Facebook