Hello! Doilies are a wonderful embellishment for your albums and planners. There are lots of things you can do with doilies including coloring them with paint or ink, cutting them to fit along an edge, fold in halves or quarters or in an accordion style, or crimp the edges to add a bit of distress. You can use doilies as a mask for spray inks or to back photos, journaling, and embellishment clusters. Doilies add visual interest to your documentation with their various patterns and textures. Flannel and Frost included a set of doilies in the planner kit but you can also make your own with patterned paper and a cut file or by tracing one from your stash. In addition, the techniques we have just reviewed can be applied to plain doilies in your stash to match any of our collections. Now let's take a peek at Rachel's ideas for using doilies in her documenting. "Rachel here, and I am throwing it back to last October with this memory planner spread. I don’t see much of fall here in Miami, so I was thrilled to have a chance to visit my cousin in Virginia, where I could enjoy all the fall vibes. Doilies are such a wonderful embellishment! In this memory planner spread, I used the doilies to ground my photos. I also pulled a few white doilies from my craft stash, and used mixed media to add color to them." "To build this spread, I started with flicks of water color paint around the page. I used the watercolor set that came in one of the March 2019 Kits. I have not done this before, but I love how it turned out!" "Next, I placed my photos and doilies on the page. To provide some visual interest, I varied the position of the doilies behind the photos. A note about the photos; they are printed on matte letter size photo paper from my inkjet printer. Unfortunately, my printer ran out of ink right when I started this project, which means my photos are not the greatest. While I wait for more ink, I decided to still use the photos as placeholders and lightly adhered them to the page. That way, I can easily replace them when I reprint my photos." "With the photos and doilies one the page, I began embellishing the photo clusters with die cuts from the memory keeping kits. My cousin is a born and raised Texan, so I had to use the 'Happy Fall Y’all!' for the photo of her. I love finding the perfect little embellishment for my projects!" "I fussy cut a few hexagons from one of the papers and adhered three clusters around the page. The contrast of the soft doilies with the bold hexagons gave the page some character." "Lastly, I added some journaling in the open spaces. I was thrilled to receive the Le Pen in this month’s kit. The brown ink paired so nicely with this spread. This spread really put me in the mood for fall! If you would like to see how these pages came together, I have a process video on my YouTube channel." Sequins are another embellishment that can be used in multiple ways to add texture and dimension to your documentation. Our Flannel and Frost kits included a fall sequin mix however you can use many different types and mixes of sequins from your stash. Ideas for using sequins in your layouts include stitching them down in patterns or in random spots, creating shaker pockets or shapes, and as titles or panels. Emily, our social media director, has been on a long-time crafting hiatus but stepped in to share some tips on how she is using the sequins. "I remember the first time I got sequins in a kit; I felt quite intimidated. I've since learned that's the great thing about kits, they force you out of your comfort zone. I have two ideas to help you use the sequins in the Flannel & Frost Collection." "IDEA #1: Sequins can bring a sense of order, like in this first card. The rows of shiny dots meld into a nice background for my card. I've been doing a little welcome treat for new families that have moved into our church during the pandemic, so I needed to make some cards. I loved the idea of the subtle bling sequins create. I explain my process in the video below." [embed]https://youtu.be/4zUrABvw0Rg[/embed] "Idea #2: Sequins are also a great way to create movement in a card or layout. The card below reminds me of a blustery fall day when all the leaves and bits of nature are blowing around in a small whirlwind. Sequins, by nature, reflect light and add such a fun element to any design. Again, I share my process and tips in the video below."  "You can see how easy it is to add sequins to any project. Start small when you're not comfortable with a product. Cards are a great way to test out techniques and I put both of these together from the Flannel & Frost Main Planner kit and a few vellum leaves from November 2019's Memphis Season Collection." [embed]https://youtu.be/bdzeyR-AgHY[/embed] We hope you enjoyed today's blog post and the designs we shared. Do you have memory keeping or planner designs you'd like to share with us?  You can post them in our private facebook group or if you prefer tag @cocoa_daisy on social media so that we are sure to see what you are creating. Take care! ~Robin