THREE WAY | CRAZY FOR CIRCLES

Hello everyone! Welcome to another edition of our Three Way Series, where we show you how to stretch your stash and/or share some creative ways to better use your stash.

Today I hope to inspire you to think about the power of a common design element found on many scrapbook pages : the circle !!! In today's Three Way | Crazy for Circles, we are going to have fun creating big circle statements on our pages! We will use our stash of stitches or strings, paint & ink and other tiny embellishments in creative ways on our pages. Let's get started!

Once again I’ve scoured Pinterest and scrapbook galleries and have found some great examples of circles that can be applied to our pages. Let's have a look:

First up is this gorgeous page by MonaLisa (from StudioCalico) that uses wire (or maybe it is string?) wrapped around and made into a circle shape. She further embellishes this circle with little touches of round embellishments like cork, sequins and small vellum circles.

Here's my take on this idea:

Instead of wire (or string), I used some circle stitches from the Stunning Stitches No.4 element pack as the foundation for my page. I had so much fun adding little bits and pieces, with just a touch of color to match my photo, and really working to make this circle set the stage for my photo. I love how it turned out. It's light, it's airy, and that circle certainly says "Hey you, look over here please!" :)

Next we have this pretty page by Lory (StudioCalico). I love the idea to take a round ring of ink or paint and make it into a big statement on your page. The addition of the splatters adds even more interest.

Here's my take on this idea:

I used Stamp It No.1 as the main ring of ink for my circle, duplicated it 3x and rotated to get it the way I wanted it to look, and then went to town adding in splatters of ink & paint from lots of different PRD kits! So fun. Some I left black and some I did a color overlay to a pop of color to the page. Oh and I couldn't help adding some sequins and little bits after making that first example!

And the last idea I want to share with you today is this gorgeous page by Stephanie Bryan (Glitzitnow.com). I love the soft subtle brushwork in the pastels combined to create a circle shape. She adds in a pretty little script handwriting font to do a little journaling. I think the look is just lovely and couldn't wait to give this idea a test run in the digi world!

Here's my take on this idea:

I used Stamp It No.1 as the main ring of ink for my circle again, but also added in lots & lots of other brushes and splatters. I took thin brushes from Brush Bonanza and used the transform tool to warp the line into a curve (you could also do this with the puppet warp tool depending on your version of Photoshop). Mirjam has the cutest little arrows in so many of her kits, so I had a lot of fun playing with them and went a little arrow crazy on my page. I chose to keep my page full color to match my photo, instead of the pastels in the original page by Stephanie. Then I added lots of fun little elements to make it a sort of "party in a circle" on my page!

I have to say, making these three versions of this page was so much fun. I hope you will give it a try! Which version is your favorite? I hope you are inspired to try making Circle Statements on your future pages using paints, stitches, strings and lots & lots of little embellishments! Until next time ... Happy Scrappin'!