Hello Summer Giveaway + Open Road Layout by Christine Middlecamp

Looking ahead and jumping into Summer, Crate Paper is reigning in the sunshine and warm weather with an early Summer Giveaway! To help you get started with your Summer Scrapbooking Adventures, we have up for grabs an OPEN ROAD goodie box - stickers, chipboard, alpha's and all!

Tell us your BIG plans for the Summer! Whether camping upstate or spending the days outside in the backyard with kiddo's-in-tow, we want to hear how you'll be enjoying Summer this year. Leave your response in the comment area below and we'll choose a winner on Friday, June 6th. Make sure to include your location (City/State) when registering your comment for verification purposes. If you want to chat up your summer bucket list, we're open to that as well!

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And now an extra special 'Summer' Open Road project from Crate Paper Design Team Coordinator, Christine Middlecamp.

 For me, this Summer is about pushing ahead, forging a new path into design and making waves at the pool with my little guy, Ethan. In between, I'm crafting like the rest and diving straight way into my scrapbook stash, including the latest Open Road collection from Crate Paper.

Just this last week, I sorted through my Open Road contents and organized them in preparation for a new layout. As is often the case, I paced the creative process so that I could carefully consider the details. There were more than enough to go around this time. ;) Open Road gave me plenty of options to choose from and in the end, I was optimally happy with the final project.

I was pleasantly surprised by this collection's color palette. Even though most it's weight is on the pastel end, there is no shortage of rich, vibrant color. The key is to break away from "just white", a very popular trend taking the craft arena by storm right now. Personally, I'm a color gal all the way. The more, the merrier.

For pops of color here, I placed a great deal of emphasis on the lively hue, 'Cherry Red'. I paired it with pink, mint, olivine, yellow and black - a fave color combo of mine. Red typically stands out more because of it's intensity. I even went so far as to make the page's title red to instigate priority amongst a busy layout.

I occasionally go out of my way to challenge a product to look entirely different from it's original form. As a collage artist, I work in 'bit-mode'. I love to cut things up and toss itty-bitty pieces around until I find that perfect match. It's like a puzzle to me every time I'm faced with a pile of patterned paper and embellishments. I take great satisfaction in disassembling and reassembling while never knowing what to expect in the end. This badge is made from a total of nine layers using Open Road's chipboard assortment, stickers, patterned paper and more. 

Right next store to the '66' badge is a petite 'Courage' framed square. Again, lots of surprises inside from stickers to a small trim of the 'number 10' playing card {journaling card lot}.

I'm a big fan of my gold gel pen. Let me tell you, it works like magic for bringing about a hint of metallic gold. I typically use my gold gel pen to create borders around things, or outlines. It's a quick fix for sprucing up ordinary embellishments, too!

Lime Green & Black/White - and that CUTE camera! Seriously Crate, you leave me speechless!

Them fancy stitched borders aren't always an easy embellishment to conquer, but when paired with tabs and other minuscule borders of colored paper, they can save on a lot of work and time in avoiding the whole sewing machine thing. Considering that I was once a quilter, I can appreciate pre-stitched embellishments.

And now for my favorite fixture - fancy gold sequins, yellow epoxy dots and vanilla rhinestones, all on top an Open Road 'peach label sticker' and 'pink chipboard arrow'. It'll put a smile on anyone who loves tiny plastic additions.

Finally, even though I'm a proud owner of a Silhouette Cameo machine, I'm not afraid to pull out my exact-o knife and craft a design from scratch. I first drew radiating lines from the layout's main focal point, the photo, and then carefully trimmed away every other section with my exact-o knife and ruler. I placed behind the open areas a large sheet of 'pink polka-dot' patterned paper {Mae's Cafe}. I intentionally left some of the black outline to remain visible to endorse a quirky, less-than-perfect feel.

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A brief reminder, there is a GIVEAWAY in full swing and you have the entire week to chime in with two cents worth of Summer happiness! Submit a comment as instructed above and be ready to find out if you're a WINNER this Friday, June 6th! Good Luck Crate Fans!

Comments

[Anastasiya Karunnaya]

My summer plan is a trip to the Spain with my lovely husband.
Russia/Klin

[deb pereira]

This summer we are taking a family vacation to the next level and inviting my entire immediate family to include spouses and children. A 4 night ocean stay for 46 people and 4 dogs!!!

[Kayla F.]

My summer plans involve lots of live music. This year were are going on a road trip to a music festival a few states away. Four days and nights of camping, socializing, and good music! It's going to be so much fun! The Open Road would be a perfect collection to document it all!

[Megan]

This summer we are focusing on hiking as much as possible. End of summer goal is to finish one of the more difficult hikes in the mountains!
Thanks for the chance to win!
Vancouver, Canada

[Karen]

I'm looking forward to a summer road trip with my daughter to go rock climbing in Joshua Tree.
Goleta/CA

[Cynthia B.]

This summer, we had planned to fly to Virginia Beach to meet up with friends, then go over to Washington DC with our kids. BUT...we just adopted a dog...so now we're thinking a road trip closer to home (Texas), so all of us can go in the car. :)
Thanks for the chance to win! Road Trip is awesome!!

[Court's Crafts]

We have a ton of houseguests coming and will be enjoying the summer mostly from our home with our two daughters: 3 months and 22 months.... except for when my husband leaves us behind while he goes on business trips to.. like... Sweden which he is doing this weekend!

[Wendi R]

Our big plans are probably going to be moving this summer, a family reunion and I'm hoping to get lots of time outdoors and in the sunshine.

[Romy]

It's such an amazing lay-out and a really beautiful paper collection!
My biggest plan for this summer is a trip to Copenhagen with my family. Can't wait!

[Maeghan M.]

My biggest plan is to go to San Diego for a few days, but there's going to be lots of relaxing and lemonade in my schedule all summer long! TFS!!!

LA,CA

[terryk]

We ride motorcycles here in Alberta, Canada so hopefully we will have plenty of sunny days! This new line will be perfect to scrap our trip to Arizona via Needles on Route 66! The cactus and road sign are great!

[theCook]

Beautiful page! I plan to work this summer...
I'm in Paris, France.

[Stokely]

This will be my first summer in a new home. So I plan moving and organizing new space. It should have craft area for me, yay!
Russia, Moscow

[Renee Howard]

Due to our recent high school graduate and tuition, it will be a stay-cation for us. Our local park and the neighboring beach will be our summer. No complaints couldn't be any prouder of my last dependent, but who happy to go in debt for the next 4years and no new shoes to show for it. Long Beach, CA

[Laura Turcotte]

I am not eligible for paid vacation time this year (started a new job in March)but we are planning to take some time off at my expense and perhaps taking a short trip somewhere, preferably by train. Other than that, my youngest will be in day camp; my 2 oldest will be at home, most likely in the pool all day. BBQ's, bird watching, boating, bug catching, butterfly watching, gardening, hiking are all part of our plans! Morin-Heights, Quebec, Canada.

[PrinzessinN]

We do not have big plans for this summer. My husband and I love to spend the time here. Of course we will spend a lot of time outside...at the lake...on the bike...

Zurich, Switzerland.

[Julia]

This Layout ist adorable!! :) Love the little cute details.
My summer plans are planning new planting ideas for our backyard and reorganizing my scrapspace. Always a lot of fun.
Neuwied, Germany :)

[Amanda L.]

Looking forward to a trip to Branson and LOTS of pool time!!!!
Love Open Road...thanks for the chance to win some goodies!
Little Rock, Arkansas

[Linda E]

I have a cruise to the Caribbean planned for this summer.

[Tanya W]

Beach holidays! But as we live in Australia and winter has just begun, I have a long wait :)

Tanya, Queensland, Australia