Built Tough Layout

It's my first day as a Sassy Lady Design Team Member! This is Kate from Sassy and Scrappy, and I'm so excited to share this layout with you today.

I was inspired to create this layout from a work day at my parents house. We removed some cement from their backyard that has caused some water issues in their basement in the past. My brothers, sister's-in-law, nephew, and myself all helped my parents out. We managed to get our work done and I even got to use a jack hammer for the first time! I wasn't sure that I would be able to do it since I'm on the petite side, 5', but let me just say, it was pretty cool.

I started my layout by designing it in my Gypsy. I used the 12x24 mat to lay it all out and get an idea where I want things to be. Below you can see my sketch.









After my layout was designed I grouped my items onto 4 different pages to cut out on my Expression. I was able to use 5 different cartridges on these 2 pages. That is a huge reason I love my Gypsy so much! It's so easy to find the design elements I want to use and really utilize all of my cartridges. Here's what I used:

Boys Will Be Boys-title, truck, and hammer (I actually didn't end up using the hammer, but I did cut one out)
Everyday Paper Dolls-shovels
Create A Critter and Plantin Schoolbook-grass
H2O-sun

Here are all of the assembled pieces before adhering them to my background pages.










I inked around the edges of my photo mats and title using Papertrey Ink Chai and Chamomille. I decided to double mat my pictures so I cut them at 4 1/4 x 6 1/4 and 4 1/2 x 6 1/2. I inked the grass with Green Galore and Glorious Green, and the sun with Only Orange, all from Stampin' UP! I also used my white Sakura Gelly Roll pen to do some doodling on my truck. And lots of Basic Grey buttons!

I also added some stitching around two of the background papers. This is the first time I've actually sewn on a project, so I wanted a stitch that would be forgiving, such as the zig zag. It also has more of a rugged feel to it, I think. The journal tag is a die cut from Papertrey Ink.













Another first for me is the Martha Stewart Metallic Glass Microbeads. I added these, as you can see above, to the top layer of my dump truck. I attached a piece of Scor-Tape to the top of the truck and then dipped it into the beads. I also placed the truck bed in the tray and rolled more beads over the adhesive and applied some pressure with my fingers to help them stick. I thought the beads would add a nice texture to the truck, as well as simulating gravel...but much cuter of course!





























I used dimensional adhesives to pop up both layers of the title, the shovels, truck and sun. I applied glossy accents to the back of the buttons to glue them on the background paper. For whatever reason I don't feel like glue dots stick very well. I know, I'm the only one in the crafting world who doesn't love them! They tend to "pop up" when I use them, which I don't like, so I use liquid glue instead.






































I really appreciate all of your patience and support as I begin my journey as a Sassy Lady Design Team Member! Thank you.