Welcome to week 25 of the 3 Kits 3 Ways challenge! For those of you who are new, this challenge is very simple. I choose 3 kits from the store and 3 of the creative team members then make pages using those kits. Normally, I try to find diamond in the rough products that have been in the store for awhile that you may have in your stash or may have never seen. But this week, in honor of NSD and our huge sale, I decided to use BRAND NEW products to entice you to do a little shopping (like you really need me to enable you…LOL)

So, without further adieu…here are this week’s products:

Summer Safari by Jesse Edwards

Layerd and Stapled #2 by Kellie Mize

Tagged Icons by Katie Pertiet {coming this weekend along with matching papers. }

And here are the pages for this week’s challenge:

Page by Jess Hunt
Hazel is such a love! I think these papers really go well with her coloring. In addition to the required kits, Jess used Photo Wraps No. 15, Stitching Holes - Spring and Iconic Stickers {coming this weekend} all by Katie Pertiet.

Page by Kathie Ostgulen
Kathie made these tutus for her nieces and I was thrilled to see that she used one of the photos for this challenge as they are just precious. She also used a few additional products for her page including: Tortuga Template No. 88 by Kellie Mize, Stitching Holes Brushes-n-Stamps, Drop Shadow Styles and Iconic Stickers and Papers {coming this weekend} by Katie Pertiet and Hipster Plumes No. 6by Anna Aspnes.

Page by Wendy McKeehan
My daughter and one of her best friends at her birthday party a couple weekends ago. I stayed pretty true to the 3 kits and only added a cute little ribbon from the Chill Factor kit by Lynn Grieveson.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Please join us in the challenge (after all the products go live of course) and post your pages in the 3 Kits 3 Ways Gallery.

We are going “cute” with a capital C this week, with this adorable page by carolee:

Isn’t it great? I think the key to achieving a look like this is to use high contrast colors (which, in this case, echo perfectly the colors of that polka dot bikini). White with a bright border (which pulls it all together) works wonderfully. And the whimsical, playful and childlike feel is superbly reinforced by the mixed and matched journaling technique. How many different alphas or phrase labels can you use in your title?!!

Lots of fun to lift, and I hope you will join in too. Here’s what we came up with:

Credits: layout by Tara, Clean and Serene paperpack and Summer Stuff brushes by Jesse Edwards, curled frame, border template and stitched frames by Katie Pertiet, Golden Moments brushes by MaryAnn Wise, Circle of Love kitby Kellie Mize.

Credits: Layout by Bonnie, Red Red paperpack, , Krafty Elegance kit, Tot transport 02, happy Word frames, stitched up frames, vintage flashcards, vintage flashcards 02 and vintage flashcards love, (stitching holes, clear alpha and scanty journal cards#4 all coming soon!)

Credits: layout by Amber, vinyl heart by pattie Knox, Worn stripsby Lynn Grieveson, dripped stains and Children quotes 02 by Anna Aspnes, yarn swirls, border templates 03 and vintage frames 08 by Katie Pertiet, clean and serene paper and jaded paper by Jesse Edwards.

We would love to see what you come up with. Don’t forget to post in the Saturday Scraplift gallery. I loved all the layouts there this week. I haven’t had a chance to gather them all together because today has been a bit cazy, but it is always wonderful to see them there in the gallery.

~Lynn

Make sure to checkout our Thrifty Thursday specials today.  There are 131 items marked down 30% for today only!

Check out this layout by Danielle Thompson:

Now, check out this one by Cathy Blackstone:

What do they have in common? Why a tetradic color scheme of course! Personally, I had never even heard of a tetradic color scheme before this week’s IdeaBooks4u Blog challenge, but I sure had fun trying to create a layout by using one! I hope you’ll come check out the blog to find out more about color theory and try your own hand at creating a very fun layout!

I’m sure you’re wondering what’s going on, right? Templates? What happened to “type”? Well, here’s the deal… I am now helping Katie with DD’s newest challenge every Thursday! “Terrific Templates” debuted last week and this morning I have another template challenge for you! But, what about “Just My Type” you ask? No worries… every other Wednesday, there will still be a typographical challenge! Stay tuned… “Just My Type” will be back in two weeks!

Last week’s template was a multi-photo template, featuring nine circular elements. This week’s template features off-set angular pieces of paper with a single photo. This “Terrific Template” was created by DD Designer, Kellie Mize… Tortuga Template No. 14. Be sure to checkout “Thrifty Thursdays” at Designer Digitals, too… this template will be on sale today (Thursday 4/24) only!

Melanie (britgirl) used the template for a fun, girly layout… keeping the flower element that Kellie included in the template, but eliminating the stitching lines underneath it. She added different stitches to the edges of the overlapping papers and used the journaling strips for a checklist of all the activities that Daisy’s cute boots can provide! How clever is that?!

Since her layout was about her son, Stacy (flowergirl) eliminated the flower and added felt stars… perfect! She also added a paper mat under the photo and a fastener on top. She used the journaling strips to house her quote which also acts as the title for her wonderful masculine layout!

Katrina (katrinak) took a different spin on the template… by actually spinning the layout onto its “side”! This allowed her to use her portrait-oriented photo and still keep the template elements in the same arrangement. Katrina used Kellie’s flower and, in fact, added another to the layout. She elmininated the template journaling strips, but added two other strips for her fun title! Notice how the soft background colors make that darling photo “pop”!

I also had a portrait-oriented photo but I chose to keep the template in its original orientation… I simply turned the photo layer on its side! Because this was a soccer layout, I deleted the flower and added a soccer ball, offset on the photo. I eliminated the template’s stitching, moved the journaling strips closer together and added brushes, brads and pieces of tape to accent the layout. And, isn’t Pattie’s new CLEAR alphabet the coolest? Perfect for some “air”! *wink*

As you can see, templates are incredibly versatile and fun to use! You can use templates “as is” for quick and easy layouts! Or you can take a more creative approach and turn them, flip them or choose only the elements you need or want, creating your own unique layout!

So, let’s see what y’all can do this week using Kellie’s quick and easy template! Remember to post your layouts in the “Terrific Template” challenge gallery at Designer Digitals! Can’t wait to see YOUR take on this week’s terrific template!