December Guest Designer: Zsoka Marko

Hello everyone! First, let us wish you all a Merry Christmas! Hope you are all having a fun celebration with your family and friends.

We have a lovely treat for you – another guest designer is sharing her incredible talent with us. Please welcome the fantastic Zsoka Marko as our December Guest Designer! You must have already seen her amazing creations all over Instagram and if you have not, you are missing some major eye candy! Hop on over to Zsoka's Instagram to have a quick look at her work. She is amazing! An all-rounder! She can turn a patterned paper into a card or a layout without much effort. Today, she is sharing a ton of projects with us, so grab a cuppa and let's hear what Zsoka has to say.

Get to know Zsoka!

Hey lovelies,

Zsoka here with you today! I'm so excited and honored to be guesting here on the Altenew scrapbook blog! Thank you, Altenew, for this awesome opportunity!

I am a Hungarian living in Germany with my Dutch boyfriend and our 10-year-old son. I've been crafting ever since I can remember. I tried every craft under the sun, from glass/porcelain/silk painting, bead weaving, mosaic in all form, to cake/cookie decorating and lots more. I need to craft to keep sane! Scrapbooking has been my main focus since early 2015 and, this year, I've added card making to the mix as well. I love love love patterned papers and all colors of the rainbow, so you won't be seeing me use a lot of white and solids, except maybe on cards!

Zsoka's “Paris” Layout

For this blog post, I've made 2 layouts and a bunch of cards that are similar in design yet all a bit different. I've worked with the Reflection Scrapbook Kit, which is my favorite from Altenew – so much so that I am on my second kit now!

For my first layout, I've embossed a lot of flowers from the gorgeous Frosted Garden Stamp Set. I used the Pure White Crisp Embossing Powder on 2 different patterned papers from the kit, then using the Frosted Garden Die Set I die cut them all. 

I then created my background. This is one of my go-to designs – 2 partial wreaths/circles on opposite sides of the layout. I chose a black and white striped paper and added some white cardstock at the top and one of the patterned papers from the Reflection Kit at the bottom. I covered up the edges with flowers.

Next, I placed my photo inside the bigger wreath and decorated this area with a few wooden buttons, stickers, tags and chipboard pieces. I also added my title and journaling here. 

I was actually planning to add my journaling in the bottom wreath but then I found this chipboard about traveling which was the perfect fit for my page, so I glued that down there instead. I also stamped my date here. Done!

Zsoka's “Harvest” Layout

I wanted to go green with my second layout because I haven't made a green layout with this kit before. I started out by covering a heavyweight white cardstock with the Dotted Washi Tape. I've never been a huge washi tape fan, as in, I haven't used them often on my pages. But ever since Altenew came out with these wide washi tapes, I'm hooked. They are so versatile! I believe this is my first time using one on a layout though.

I then cut green stripes from one of the patterned papers and covered the bottom of my page with them. I distressed the edges a bit to give them some dimension. I don't like flat layouts, I'm all about dimension and texture. I fussy cut out lots and lots of roses from two patterned papers and layered them on top of the green stripes. I used different adhesives to do this, liquid and foam, again, to create a more dimensional look.

I tucked my photo behind the roses. It seems I forgot to add the date even though I specifically asked my aunt when this photo of me and my cousin was taken, ha! We were 4 and a half years old! One of my favorite childhood memories – harvests at my grandparents' vineyard. Since I've been living in Germany, I've only been able to go once… Anyway. Back to the layout! To finish off my page, I added my title and a few chipboard and wood veneer pieces as well as some wooden buttons.

As for my cards. I love love love the Mega Alphabet Dies so I thought I'd make some cards with one of them. Namely, the B. I thought I'd make some birthday cards because, for some reason, I never find any when I need one! But of course, I don't have a single Happy Birthday sentiment from Altenew, haha! So, I went through all my stamp sets to find sentiments that make sense with the letter B :). Here's what I've come up with:

Zsoka's Gilded Card Duo

All 6 cards are A2-sized and top fold. On my first two, I used the Watercolor Stripes and the Cross Stitch Canvas cover dies. The stripes I backed with a purple patterned paper and glued it on my card base. The other one I left white. I then covered some white cardstock with the stunning Gilded Ombre and Glitter Flurries Washi Tapes. I fussy cut out lots of flowers and die cut two letter B's.

I added some foam tape to one of my B's and before gluing it down, I tucked some washi tape flowers under it. I white embossed a tiny sentiment which I then placed on my B, using foam adhesive. On my other card, I used a liquid adhesive to glue down my B and layered some flowers over it, at the bottom. I embossed my sentiment on patterned paper and added it on top of the flowers.

Zsoka's Cozy Peach Gold Card Duo

For my next duo, I used the Peach Gold Washi Tape, a black and white floral patterned paper from the Reflection Scrapbook Kit, the Cozy Flannel cover die and the Cross Stitch Canvas cover die, and last but not least, my favorite Layered Floral Elements Die Set. These are products I use a lot because they are so versatile. 

As you see, I pretty much did the same thing as before, just decorated my letters with different supplies.

Zsoka's Reflection Scrapbook Kit Card Duo

On my last duo, I used my favorite patterned paper from the Reflection Scrapbook Kit to create the card fronts. I had plenty of fussy cut roses left from my layout, so I used those here. And I used the Dotted Washi Tape to cover my letters.

For a little “something, something” I added some gold metallic tangled thread behind the letters.

That's it guys! I hope I could inspire you in some small way! Should you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask, I'm always happy to help!

Thank you for stopping by today! Have a wonderful day!

~Zsoka

OH MY GOODNESS! Zsoka! You outdid yourself! Such amazing creations, still picking up our jaw off the floor! Thank you for being our Guest Designer for December. We were honored to have you and it has been so much fun!

Please leave tons of love for our lovely Zsoka in the comments. You can follow her on her Instagram and also check out her blog. Let her know how much we appreciate her!

~SUPPLY LIST~

Reflection Scrapbook Collection [ ALTN ] Frosted Garden Stamp Set [ ALTN ] Frosted Garden Die Set [ ALTN ] Cozy Flannel Cover Die [ ALTN ] Cross Stitch Canvas Die [ ALTN ] Gilded Ombre Washi Tape [ ALTN ] Dotted Washi Tape [ ALTN ] Glitter Flurries Washi Tape [ ALTN ] Peach Gold Washi Tape [ ALTN ] Pure White Crisp Embossing Powder [ ALTN ] Layered Floral Elements Die Set [ ALTN ] Mega Alphabet B Die [ ALTN ] Watercolor Stripes Cover Die [ ALTN ]