Hello, friends! Clouds can symbolize many things and are a wonderful embellishment to the stories you want to tell. For some, clouds represent change and transition, For others, clouds represent hope and gratitude (looking for the silver linings). While others may focus on the celestial nature of clouds. The Poppy Fields Collection includes a beautiful cloud motif that is featured in the patterns papers, stickers, stamps. For today's post, we asked our Memory Keeping Team to use clouds as their design focus. We love each creative take on this motif and what clouds represent in each spread. Traci is documenting new hope and silver linings in this layout. I love all the different ways clouds are represented in the layout, but due to the varying textures and styles, it doesn't look repetitive! Check out my process video to see how I put this spread together!" We love this spread and how perfectly the cloud motif compliments her story. Traci's tip of varying the texture and style of a repetitive element, like the clouds, keeps the spreads fresh and inviting.     Sometimes, it is good to change your focus to tell your story. Aimee's change in photo perspective made for the perfect cloud-themed layout! "Hi, it‚Äôs Aimee! Today we are focusing on clouds and there are a lot of them included in the Poppy Fields Collection for April! I was out pulling weeds in the garden when I looked up and saw this bright blue sky and big huge fluffy white clouds. I decided to point my camera up and take a photo of the sky and I thought this would be an excellent photo to use some cloud motifs on! I blew it up to 8.5x11 and used the photo as a backdrop for my embellishments. In this case, I selected the beautiful acetate clouds from the Poppy Fields Modern Memory Keeping Kit and lined them up in the center. I added in various labels and die-cut phrases to break up the clouds. I used the labels as an opportunity to add some stamping as well as some depth with the black ink. I used sentiments from both the Poppy Fields Traveler's Notebook Memory Keeping Kit and the Poppy Fields Modern Memory Keeping Kit stamp sets and my most favorite one of all is the ‚Äúsilver linings‚Äù stamp‚Äî how perfect for a photo about your head in the clouds. After I got everything situated I ran it through my sewing machine straight down the middle for an added textural element. I hope you are finding some fun ways to use all those clouds! Happy creating!" We love how Aimee used the acetate cloud dies as a layering element, which looks stunning on her larger cloud photo. The labels are not just for writing, as Aimee demonstrates here. Several of the sentiment stamps fit nicely on the label die cuts. This technique is a great alternative to stamping directly on a photo. Casie focuses on the clouds to document a day on the slopes. We spent a day up in the snowy mountains recently and I knew the perfect papers to document the story. The blue watercolor-like cloud pattern paper from the Poppy Field Classified: Memory Kit added dimension to the white backdrop of my snowy photos. And because I love adding interactive elements to my pages, I used clear pocket envelopes to flip up the photo to reveal another photo and journaling.¬† The black word strip stickers and chipboard were a great grounding color to the more ethereal cloud elements. I finished off the layout with a bold title on the opposite side using the large adhesive-backed alpha die-cuts from the Poppy Field Classified: Memory Kit. A wonderful snowy mountain adventure documented!" We love Casie's use of clouds to document this fun snowboarding adventure. How will you use clouds in your memory-keeping spreads? Share with us by tagging @cocoa_daisy on social media or posting to the Cocoa Daisy Fan Page.

Best,

Rachel, Memory Keeping Team Blog Coordinator