Wide Open Places Collection by Creative Memories

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Add Some Country Flair to Your Scrapbook Pages

It is always so amazing to me how Creative Memories NAILS our new products over and over. It crossed my mind that Wide Open Places, with its cowboy boots and southwestern flair, would be great for New Mexico jaunts this summer. On closer inspection, this line is beautiful and PERFECT for so much more. What immediately came to mind as I flipped through the gorgeous papers was all those Facebook posts of brides posed in front of those big red barns. The rustic weddings are IN and have been for several seasons. This line may be just what is needed to give the right feel for your wedding or rehearsal dinner layouts at venues/themes like this.

My youngest daughter Reagan got married last year and where did she and her bridesmaids go?

NASHVILLE!

She was so STINKING CUTE in her white cowboy hat. She typically does not wear cowboy hats but while in Nashville? It was the RIGHT thing to do. Wide Open Places would have been perfect for those photos which, well, I have already SCRAPPED! (Ha, makes me want to do them again!)

Reagan and her gorgeous maid of honor (her sister, of course, second row, far left), and other bridesmaids: her NEW sisters (both are on the right side), cousins(both are on the front row, bottom left), and best friends (the three behind the cowboy hat!) in Nashville!

This layout uses both texture papers and designer papers (see the dirt in the background? I love, love, love texture!), stickers with some foam pads to give them a POP, a laser mat, and some journal mats from the variety mat pack.

*Too cute, huh? For those of you that got your Secret Boxes, you got some vellum in there! That is what I used to make the cowboy boots and the title to POP on the busy print.*

I LOVE country music and if I get to go see Blake Shelton or Luke Bryan this summer? YOU BETTER BELIEVE I will want this line to help me make my page spreads more interesting with that COUNTRY FLAIR.

I met a new client at my last retreat and what does she do for fun? LINE DANCING! I can’t wait to show her how cute this line will be to celebrate her and her friends at their line dancing events.

So whether you live on a ranch, live in the country, are a REAL COWBOY or COWGIRL, are planning a vacation this summer to the southwestern parts of our beautiful country, OR you consider yourself a little bit country in other ways, WIDE OPEN SPACES is something you need to take a good look at!

What’s Included

This Wide Open Places line is a robust line that includes TWO paper packs. One with just designer prints and the other one is a TEXTURE pack with grass, dirt, a tin roof, and more. This pack is perfect for so many things and I can’t imagine anyone not needing it! In addition to the two paper packs, it has stickers, laser-cut borders (TEN different ones in the pack, so I always recommend getting two of them for double-page spreads), laser mats, and the typical variety mat pack with mats for photos and journal boxes and embellishment options.

Some other new products that were released with this line were the Wildflowers and Field Fence Border Punches. Take a look at how gorgeous this combination is together. To do the variegated flowers as I have done, make sure you punch your first flower border with green for the leaves and stems, and then pick 1 or more other colors for your flower blossoms and cut a few more borders (or partial borders) for your color. This punch has many of the flowers CONNECTED so snipping off the flower trios and flower doubles is easy with our micro tip Scissors! Need a lesson on this? Here is a demo I did on YouTube not too long ago. By watching, if you haven’t already done so, you will get ANOTHER layout idea not pictured here!

If you checked out the video above, you learned also how to use the new embossed hexagon punch so that the embossing is prominent. That is what I used to make this fun embellishment on this layout below. I love the detail that this punch creates.

I used a larger hexagon as the base for this embellishment group by using the gemstone cutting patterns (this is a great pick to add to your circle and oval cutting system!) and then layered several embossed hexagons with the hexagon punch and used some foam pads for a pop. It is JUST enough. You can also see part of a laser-cut BORDER that comes with this line and a STICKER that I have popped on the edge of a journal box to give this page depth.

By the way, people are always asking what I do to get rid of the stickiness on my sticker before putting a foam pad on it to pop it. Years ago, I would dip in cornstarch before applying. However, these days, I use NOTHING. I find that the foam pads are enough to keep the stickiness away from my page and it has been a lifesaver to do it this way since it saves time and mess.

Another newer punch just released that I incorporated into my next layout below was the Infinity Heart Border Punch. This one is a MUST have punch because it does SO much. The punch is easy and makes a beautiful border just like it is but you can also do variations like this. Sometimes, I feel that God pops cool things in my head. (God has so much to do these days that I feel shallow even saying that He cares about the ideas that I share but I honestly believe He does!) At my last crop, while I was showing how to make this page, an even more gorgeous idea developed. Though this concept is not hard to do at all, it is hard to explain so you’ll want to watch the video at the top of this page if you haven’t already done so to figure it out.

It was at a crop when I was demonstrating this idea that I stumbled across another idea that I loved
even better! Make sure you watch the YouTube video attached at the top of this blog to learn
this technique and the ones shown below. You may even want to see if any other of your border punches will do something cool like this.

And POW. Look at what you can also do. The border ABOVE on the left was created using a 3/4 inch WASTE strip attached to your border punch and the one on the right used a 1/2-inch waste strip. The photo to the left of this, shows you how great the two sizes look together. By using the technique taught in the video, the “heart” part of this punch becomes so it is not attached making it easy to fold back to reveal a super interesting look without even cutting anything. To do the fold back borders, make sure you like BOTH sides of your designer print together.

Well, that is all I have today. Sorry I have been M.I.A. It has been my goal to do at least ONE blog a month and LIFE kind of got in my way. I can’t wait to work on my next one. Juices are flowing.

I appreciate, as always, those of you that continue to follow me on YouTube and enjoy my Tuesday Tips. You all have been so kind to me while I am “learning” all of the technology. It warms my heart when I read all of your sweet comments about my presentations, PETS, and family. Your prayers for my husband, while he continues to battle back pain, have made my heart so grateful, too. (Keep them coming!)

Keep browsing below for the full page spreads of the layouts above and one more bonus layout. Remember that you can use my ideas as “sketches” and use whatever paper collections you have on hand to duplicate.

Thanks again for reading.

Blessings to you,

Beckie Belote

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*If you have another Creative Memories advisor, they would appreciate your order so much. Ask them for THEIR link to shop.

Features laser borders (two wagon wheels, one wheat, and one fence), mats from a variety mat pack used for embellishments, and journal box.

features mats from mat pack for journaling and for matting a photo plus a LASER cut mat, two pairs of STICKER border strips where I popped one of them with foam squares, and other stickers.

features a “foldover page” built on charcoal cardstock with a fun border that I created with infinity heart border punch. Mats for variety mat pack (one for journal block with half of a laser border on the bottom for added interest and one to just mat a photo on), some popped stickers, and the other mats are beautiful and I cut them out of a piece of paper in the texture paper pack.

features a hand-torn border at the bottom, mats from the mat pack, sticker clusters, brown Sans Serif letters, a pair of laser borders on top, and some vellum.

features a pair of laser-cut borders, a couple of mats from the laser mat pack for journaling (the one on the right was CUT OUT OF the textured looking one on the left), the barbed wire laser mate (love love), and the embossed hexagon punch. I also used the deckle blade to trim the base paper. I love how that creates even MORE texture on our textured paper.

features the field fence and wildflower border punches, a laser mat, and a journal mat from the variety mat pack.

Beckie Belote Scrapbooking Tips and Inspiration

About Beckie Belote

Beckie Belote has worked in direct sales for more than 20 years helping other women live more creative, meaningful, and fun-filled lives through scrapbooking workshops and retreats. As a Creative Memories advisor, she also helps her teammates across the country to build successful businesses. Becke is a cheer coach and part-time teacher. She lives in Newport News, Virginia with her husband, has two amazing daughters, two rotten dogs, and one bird.

About Creative Memories

Creative Memories offers you ways to enjoy and share your photos with friends and family through do-it-yourself scrapbook albums as well as Fast2Fab quick and easy albums. Shop CreativeMemories.com to find bookcloth scrapbook albums, seasonal embellishments, unique border makers, and more.

2 thoughts on “Wide Open Places Collection by Creative Memories”

Diana

October 13, 2022 at 10:47 am

I love all your tips and layouts. Today ive followed 2 blogs.
You are amazingly creative in every way!
Your grandaughter Shelly introduced me to Creative Memories. Now I know her talents came from her family. She is a wonderful scrapbooking friend, mostly virtual since the pandemic started.
- Beckie Belote
  
  October 13, 2022 at 7:36 pm
  
  so sweet Diana… but just so you know, I do not have any grandchildren 😉 You must be mixing me up with someone else.