Nikki's papers ROCK!

Hi everyone! I'm Julie Howard and this will be my first official blog post as a Dog House Diva. Being a part of this amazing team is an unbelievable opportunity and experience. It rocks!

As does Nikki's Dan The Record Man collection of papers.

In recent months, I moved over 900 miles so that I could live closer to my family. As an aunt to two awesome teens, it's been a great pleasure to see what amazing kids they've become during the years that I wasn't around. My nephew, Chase, gave me an impromptu concert one afternoon. Not only did I discover that he's blessed with musical talent... the kid played Ozzy's Crazy Train! But I was also thrilled to see a Green Day poster hanging on his wall. 'Cause, you see, I'm like a huge Green Day fan. I mean, HUGE! So to hear my nephew playing his guitar, with the image of the Green Day poster in the background - it was a great moment for me. I'm so proud of him and who he's becoming. Plus he's got great taste in music... he's a kid after my own heart!


For the most part, it was the simplicity of the Green Day poster that inspired my layout's design... I really liked the look of the two circles with the outer rings. The largest circle is The Record die cut, without the scalloped edge. The smaller circle and the majority of my embellishments were cut from the Record Cutie Cut-Ups sheet of paper. For the background, I used Dan's Album and the green is a scrap of leftover paper from Dan's Turntable.

I really wanted to incorporate Green Day's heart grenade on the layout so I found the image online and simply printed it on photo paper. Then it was just a matter of cutting it out. As you'll notice, I do a lot of photo cutting. As long as you have the original image saved somewhere or you have duplicates, don't be afraid to cut your photos. It really helps to tell a story better if you're able to cut away distracting elements such as windows, background clutter, other people, or a messy teenage bedroom.


Another small detail that I wanted to incorporate was the "R" from the Green Day poster. For some strange teenage reason, my nephew had cut out the "R" from his poster (see, he cuts his photos too). So I just pulled the white surface away from my chipboard letter to reveal the raw chipboard beneath. Like I said, it's a small detail, but I wanted to include it as a part of the design.

I know everyone is getting really anxious for Nikki's new lines... I know I certainly am! But I also know that everyone has some of her older lines still in their stash. So while we're all waiting for the new stuff, I suggest we all pull out the old and ROCK it!!