I have designed 2 layouts for you this week, one for a girly layout and one for the boys. There are kits available for each class on our website containing everything which you need to create the layouts.

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She’s Blooming
I have concentrated on 3D layering to add dimension using images cut from pattern paper. This is a technique you can use for a variety of themes and with a variety of papers, there is a lot of cutting involved so grab a pair of small scissors and take your time, I like to veg out in front of the TV whilst cutting!
I have used the sheet of Basic Grey Romani Dragonfly as the base of the layout. To begin with I cut a 1 inch strip, a 2 inch strip and a 3 inch strip of Gypsy Pooro pattern paper, I then inked all the edges of the 3 strips with a dark pink ink pad. I then adhered them to the base cardstock in intervals, placing the 1 inch strip near the top, the 3 inch strip towards the middle and the 2 inch strip close to the bottom edge.
I then cut a strip from the Romani Hippie pattern paper carefully cutting round the flowers, this was attached at the bottom of the layout overlapping the 2 inch strip of Pooro paper.
I used a small black and white photograph and a larger colour photograph of my daughter, Layla, both photographs are the same, you could use different ones, it’s up to you. I matted the photographs on the sheet of Romani Caravan pattern paper. See the layout for the placement of the photographs.
I chose “shes blooming” as my title, again—you could change the title to suit your photographs, I used the sheet of Gypsy Mini Monograms for my tile and inked the edges of each letter with the dark pink ink. I used double sided foam pads to attach the title creating dimension to the layout.
Now for the fun part, the cutting out! I used the sheet of Romani Romany and Romani Hippie pattern papers, and cut out various flowers, I picked out 2 clusters of flowers with leaves from the Romany paper and placed these to te right hand side of the main photograph. Attach the flowers with foam pads and layer a smaller flower on top of a larger one. See the finished layout for placement of the flowers or just play until you are happy with the positions. I also used the Angel Kisses paper flowers, I layered some of the cut out flowers on top of the Angel Kisses, and then attached the flower gems to the centres of some of the flowers. I also cut out some of the leaves from the sheet of Romany and added these where I found a space.
There are 3 lengths of ribbon in the kit and I knotted each ribbon, trimmed the ends and attached them to the top right hand side of the smaller photograph.
And that’s it! Have fun with this layout, the flowers look beautiful when layered up and really give the layout a lot of dimension.

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Our Son
This class is one for the boys, the techniques are the same as for the She’s Blooming layout, in the way that we are cutting elements from pattern papers and layering them.
For the base of the layout I have used the sheet of black cardstock. I cut 3 strips from the Toad In The Hole pattern paper and inked the edges of each strip with a red ink pad. The strips were attached to the black cardstock as shown in the layout. I used 2 photographs, both the same photographs, one larger and one smaller. I chose to use 2 black and white photographs in-keeping with the monochromatic scheme but you could use colour photographs if you wish.
I matted the large photograph with red cardstock and made the right hand side matt large enough to attach a strip of ribbon to. I used some of the paisleys from the sticker sheet on the actual photograph and also doodled around the subject, in my case– my son, Ali and wrote the date and “our son Ali” directly onto the photograph. I also doodled around Ali in the smaller photograph and instead of matting it I wrapped some red ribbon around 2 of the corners to add some interest
To match the paisley theme of the stickers I drew freehand a large paisley shape on the Meat n Tatty’s pattern paper and inked the edges with red ink, this was then attached to the top right hand side of the layout with foam pads to add dimension. I then stuck some of the larger paisley stickers onto pieces of the red cardstock and pieces of any scraps of the pattern papers, they were then added on top of the larger paisley shape and over-lapping the edges, again, attached with foam pads.
A large paisley shape was then cut from red cardstock and I used this shape to draw a slightly smaller paisley on the black cardstock. Before attaching the black paisley to the red one (again, use foam pads) doodle small paisley shapes around the edge of the red paisley, I use the sticker sheet to help me doodle the paisleys. I then stuck paisleys from the sticker sheet onto scraps of red cardstock and pattern paper and attached them with foal pads. Cut hearts from the Bangers & Mash pattern paper and add these to the large paisley shape and also to the layout (see layout for placement). On top of some of the hearts add knotted lengths of ribbon.
Print your chosen title onto red cardstock and attach to the layout. For a finishing touch I stuck a length of the paisley ribbon to the bottom of the layout.
The stickers are a little fiddly to cut out but well worth it. I hope you have enjoyed this class.

I hope you have enjoyed creating your layout(s) as much as I did and if you have any questions you can email me at caroline@carolinezcraftz.co.uk Kits for these layouts are available on the Carolinez Crafts website.