Maya Road Design Team: Lovely Layers

One of my favorite things to do with paper is to layer it. By layering lots of textures, colors and prints together it always creates a unique and interesting design. It shouldn't be much of a surprise then that I also love layering embellishments. If one is good, then two or three must be great!

I have a few cards to share with you today that layer embellishments. Maya Road makes that super easy with their vast array of stunning embellishments. Just when I think they can't get any better, they come out with something new. These cards feature some of the latest Maya Road releases all mixed up with some of the classics. It just goes to show you how well it all mixes and matches and gives you that wonderful, unique Maya Road look.

As with layering paper, layering embellishments is an easy technique. Actually I'm not even sure you can call it a technique. I like to combine different colors and textures together to add a lot of visual interest to a design.

By using a larger embellishment on the bottom and then working up, it clusters the embellishments together. There's nothing worse than "embellishment sneeze" which has random dots of embellishments all over the place. Arrange your product together to get a visual feel of the design before adhering it all together.

Speaking of adhesives, the best one I use for adhering a lot of dimensional embellishments is the simple hot glue gun. It easily bonds metal, wood, fabric, trim etc. together and will hold up for a long long time. The newer low temp hot glue guns are much easier on the fingers and work just as well. Make sure you are sure of placement before you apply it as this glue is not going anywhere once it's there.

When putting together embellishments, it may seem like a random mix of color and items but often I draw inspiration and a color scheme from the patterned paper on the project. In this card I've pulled the colors - pink, red, green and cream from the paper layers. It was also the inspiration for the style as the paper made me think of a vintage country style.

So there you have it...lots of lovely layers and embellishments. Have fun making your own custom accents by combining lots of wonderful product into a fabulous focal point.