Twiggy Card

Love, Love Love the Twig collection from Little Yellow Bicycle. Anything with brown in it just warms my heart!

This was an easy card to make. I also like the appearance of a 3-dimensional butterfly. To make it, I cut out several butterflies using the same punch. I used about 10 butterflies. I kept them together and stitched it together using thin twine. I made a knot in the back and cut off the excess twine. I left some of it sticking out to look like the antennae. A very easy technique that can be used on multiple projects. Be sure to have a look at it next time you are at Scrapbooks Plus. This technique can be used with hearts, flowers and other small insects like dragonflies to give the illusion of a 3-dimensional design. Have fun with it!

Family Photos Make and Take -- March 30

Take advantage of today’s Make and Take and you’ll have a two-page layout featuring family pictures done in no time. This layout uses BoBunny’s Timepiece collection, which features a variety of products in browns, maroons and black that highlight the passing of time. Using paper, buttons, chipboard and stickers, I created space for four pictures that can show the generations of your family – either showcasing your family’s history or scrapping today’s generations for the ones that will come. The other advantage is that although the layout includes many different textures, colors and embellishments it does not include complicated techniques. You only need to ink a couple of items with black ink, cut and glue. It can’t get much easier than this. As with all Make and Takes, buy the items you need to make this page and you will get the instructions and an element needed for the page free of charge. Another great reason to come on Wednesday is that you can print the coupon from the web site and get 40% off of one item (subject to a few exceptions). This coupon is only good on Wednesday so make it a point to stop by the store on Wednesday. If you can’t make it on Wednesday, you can check later in the week to see if the supplies are still available.

Inspiration

I really love the Twig line. I have to say that this line was one that once I started with it I just kept creating so many different layouts. This layout is actually one that I didn't put up in the store (but I plan on bringing in now that I've posted about it!) It was a layout that I did for a challenge on the LYB blog page (using one of their page maps). Unfortunately, I didn't get it turned in on time. But, I really love the way the layout came together.

One of my favorite parts of the whole Twig line was the incredible embellishments that came with it. Scrapbooks Plus has a great selection! I really love the 10 things pocket embellishment. For me it is a great way to journal (journaling is not one of my strengths so I keep it short and sweet) I haven't gotten a chance to journal for this layout yet, but I am going to have each of my boys write some journaling about getting our new puppy Bones- and with the different tags each one will be able to!

Enjoy!
Lisa

Cards and Tags

All the different embellishments from Little Yellow Bicycle's Twig collection make card making fun and easy. It's a great way to use some of those scraps!

Here I used a piece of the canvas borders, some corrugated shapes, and a leaf pin. I combined it with a bracket shape cut from a Tim Holtz die. I took a small scrap and stamped on it, then adhered it in a Memory Frame by Ranger. The leaf pin "holds" the memory frame on the card (although I put some adhesive on the back of the frame).

And I had more scraps, so I made a few accents for a tag. I used another corrugated shape, inking the edges. A scrap of paper was just enough to make a rosette using a Tim Holtz die.

Blue Jay Distractions

Outside my scrapbook window lies my backyard & a forest. It is lovely & I get to watch all the flora & fauna & animals who scurry about. Lately I have inadvertently become a bird watcher. I put seed on my deck & watch their antics. I have not perfected the photos as I am usually taking them through a window which is not ideal... I bought some bird feed that is specifically for blue jays & cardinals- the Princess Dianna's of the bird world as they are soooooo beautiful. Yes this is also before I found out they are the bullies of the bird world blablabla.

Ok so the layout- using the new & fabulous Tim Holtz stains I stained book paper & tore pieces of it then added it the background paper. Use a Martha Stewart fancy scallop border punch for the bottom of the photo mat, I love these punches-they add a wonderful layer & add dimension to your layouts. The title was done with American Craft puffy stickers that are very cool & slick looking.

For the second page I cut a branch using Cricut, & stained it with the easy to use THoltz stains. The leaves were cut from the paper-they look so great with the different background designs that are on them. The other embellishments are stickers from the collection. That is one of the great things about Twig, there are so many components to it. The last step was to add one of the cool new metal accents #14, from his maestro Monsieur Holtz -yes I do get sick of myself saying his name but come on- genus.

Next step-go to ScrapbooksPlus & buy some Twig & distress stains & play!

Supplies Used
Paper by My Little Yellow Bicycle Twig collection
-leaf a note, woods, pleased plaid, bird song.
-stickers by MLYB Twig collection
- Tim Holtz Distress Stains by Ranger
-scallop punch by Martha Stewart
-Letters by American Crafts
-metal plaquette, Tim Holtz for Advantus
-TPC studios, journal stamp.

Matchbook Album by Esther

The matchbook cover was sized so that a 6"x12" piece formed the cover with folds to shape it. The individual pieces comprise use of most of the cardstock patterns in the DT kit. They were assembled with holes punched on the left side and brads to keep them together. This was attached to the cover back with the Fastenator by EK Success. The last page is taped down to back cover for stability. A separate piece of cardstock was adhered over the back to cover backs of staples. Orange rhinestones by Kaiser were used at random to add glitz to the cover and center of a paper flower. Pictures were shrunk to fit the pages. The cover shows a post card view of paradise.

Cards: Hello Friend & Be Yourself

My cards this month are pretty simple. I used several pieces of the MLYB paper as my background. I also chalked the edges of my paper and picture mats and did a bit of machine stitching. In addition, I added a clear overlay to each card for to create a different effect. The embellishments used on each card are from the Twig collection and the roulette was cut using the Tim Holt’s Vagabound machine. For more card ideas make sure you check out the other DT team cards, as well as papers and coordinating accessories in the Crop Room before they are gone!

TFL, happy Friday!
Erica

Page map layout and a cool new trick!

I love page maps. They are such a great way to get inspiration on doing a layout. What is nice too it that you can use them as a starting point if you are suffering from scrapper's block. This layout came together so quickly for me- I want to say in total it took about 20 min from start to finish. It probably would have been even quicker but I came up with this:


I made a Tim Holtz rosette out of canvas fabric. I was so excited to see that it worked. I cut the rosette out of canvas with my Vagabond (which I love!). I did have to run it through 2x to make sure that it cut all the way through. I then used a product from the fabric store called Stiffy. It is a fabric stiffener that you brush on. It is super easy to use. I then let the canvas dry and did the rosette the same way you do with paper. I then sprayed it with Glimmer Mist. I love how it came out!

enjoy!
Lisa

Adding Pizzazz to Your Titles

Titles set the stage for your page. People often ask how to title pages and what can be done to make titles more interesting than just using letters. Here are two examples of how I used the subject of the page and used techniques to add pizzazz to the titles.

My first example is a page with pictures of my nephew eating ice cream. I wanted to showcase his charming face. I chose “SWEET” as the title to reflect on the ice cream he was eating and also the look on his face. I created the title using three of my favorite tools – my Cricut, grungepaper and Glimmer Glam. Here’s how I did it.

The shape of the title came from the Cricut A Word Party™ cartridge. This is a great cartridge for titles and decoration for pages featuring children. It has ice cream cones, trains, puzzles, flowers and balloons. I originally intended to do individual cones with each letter, but this would have taken too much space. Instead I used the welding feature on my Gypsy to make all the scoops of ice cream one piece by overlapping them slightly so I have one ice cream cone with five scoops of ice cream. (If you don’t have a Gypsy, you can simply layer each scoop slightly over the preceding one and glue.) I did not weld the cone to the ice cream scoops as I planned a different surface treatment and having the cone a separate piece made this easier.

I cut the ice cream scoops and cone out of grungepaper to give them more depth. I wanted the ice cream to be white, but didn’t want to paint the grungepaper as the letter cutouts were fairly small and I was concerned that the paint might make the letters less sharp. So I cut a second set of the ice cream scoops (identical to those cut out of grungepaper) out of white paper. I glued white paper ice cream scoops to the grungepaper ones. For the glistening look of real ice cream, I painted them with Chandelier Glimmer Glam.

I creating an extra scoop in the same way to add “Payton” on the page. I embossed the name with ZING embossing powder in Chesnut. This embossing powder is available in lots of colors and creates a nice raised surface.

To make the cone look more like an ice cream cone, I ran the rough side of the cone over a Tea Dye Distress Ink pad until it achieved the right color and texture.

In my second example, I had a two-page layout with many pictures of a trip to an icebar. I wanted a simple title because the page had so many pictures so I went with the straightforward title “ Icebar.” (One of the pictures on the page includes the bar’s name so I didn’t need any details in the page’s title. I used Tim Holtz Fragments from idea-ology to make it look like the title was encased in ice, much like the Bose speaker and the fire alarm were at the bar. It didn’t pop enough with just letters so I cut the letters out of the brown and turquoise, the darkest paper used on the page. I then glued them to the green paper, which made them stand out even more. The green paper had music on it, which helped to convey the music in the bar. Then I simply applied Glossy Accents to each letter (one at a time) and pushed the Fragment on top of it until the Glossy Accents covered the entire bottom of the Fragment. When dry, I cut around the Fragment. Because they are a little heavy, I also affixed them to the page using Glossy Accents (just a little so it doesn’t come out from under the block.)

These provide a couple of examples of how when you sit down with your tools and think about what you want your title to convey you can came up with new ways of making a title special. Of course, it is hard to see the full details from the pictures. To get a better look, visit Scrapbooks-Plus. Both of these pages will be displayed on the Design Team wall until April 1, 2011 as are the many other pages created by the Design Team with the TWIG line of papers. If these pages motivate you the TWIG line of paper is available by the wall so you can pick out just what you need for your pages.

Wednesday Make & Take 03-23-11

Supplies Needed:
2 BoBunny Gabrielle Paper (Brown), 12W x 12L
2 BoBunny Gabrielle Dot Paper (Cream), 10.5W x 10L
(Dot), 2W x 9L
1 BoBunny Gabrielle Flight Paper (Aqua), 4W x 10.5L
1 BoBunny Gabrielle Stripe Paper (Stripe), 4W x 11L
1 BoBunny Gabrielle Unwritten (Lt. Brown), 4W x 6L
1 Package of Cream Prima Flowers
1 Package of My Mind’s Eye Buttons
Ribbon: 1 Yard of May Arts brown/white checkered; 1 Yard of May Arts beaded lace; and 1 Yard of Prima cream lace
2 Packages of KaiserCraft Rhinestone Swirly
1 Gabrielle Chipboard
1 Gabrielle Sticker Combo

Additional Guidance:
Stitching: use sewing machine to add stitching. If you do not have a sewing machine, use a white pen or stamp to add stitching detail.
Rhinestone Swirly: cut each package in half and layout according to picture.
Chalk: add chalking or distress ink to edges of paper for additional coloring.
Free Element: I have covered mine in paper and added a ribbon to coordinate with my page.

Twig Card by Esther

My card for the Twig line by Little Yellow Bicycle is made with a solid blue color base. The Bird Song cardstock was mounted on yellow piece of cardstock to accent. Olive green rick rack was wrapped to the back on both sides. A corner of the circular paper Decorative Edge was used. A rosette with Maya Road cream flower center was used to accent the design. Blue braid and a blue button are in the top left. The sentiment is found on the sticker that says, "Hello from me". A couple of cardstock pieces with designs are sometimes all that is needed with a solid base to make an attractive card.

To the Beach!

Here is another very simple page-again totally uncharacteristic of me but I think this line from Little Yellow Bicycle lend themselves well to this style. This layout is the page map & if you look I stayed pretty true to the page map except I turned the 4 photos into one 5x7 picture. There are no hard & fast rules when it comes to page maps just a design tool to give you inspiration.
I really like this photo of my kids at the beach & wanted it to be the focus point. It was the end of the day & they had finally stopped moving & were just enjoying the tide & the waves coming in. This Twig paper is so well designed & the elements go very well together, so I didn't have to do much. After doubling matting the photo the outside mat was distressed with broken china. The photo/mat is adhered to the background paper & the other elements just put down also. As I said very simple page. The faux flower is a stamp with one of the kit stickers in the middle. That's it!

Loving Twig!

The Twig collection from Little Yellow Bicycle is so versatile and perfect for many different layouts. I like the outdoorsy fall feel to the line but it most certainly lends itself to beach layouts, boy layouts and travel pages. I had fun with the collection and it gave me an opportunity to get some photos of the family around one of our favorite trees into layouts. You can find all of the papers and the majority of the embellishments at Scrapbooks Plus. I often find the round scalloped page intimidating but found a good home by cutting it in half for my layout "Me and Dad". I did not incorporate too many techniques in my layouts, the diversity of the papers made it easy to build a beautiful layout without too much extra. Gotta love when that happens!

Page Map

Creating with Twig has been a lot of fun! I just love all the neat things that come with this line. On this layout I used the canvas border strips - which are thin enough to cut easily with your trimmer, the corrugated shapes, stick pins, cardstock stickers and journaling tags.

I used a piece of canvas to make a flower, after punching a base with a scalloped circle punch. After adding my glue, I twisted the canvas as I wound it around the base. A brad in the center and you've got a flower!

Have you joined the Copic Craze?

Have you tried Copic Markers yet?  What's all the fuss about these markers you ask.  Why do I need to take a class to learn how to color (I learned that in Kindergarten, didn't I?!?)?  Copic Markers are alcohol based markers which gives them some unique characteristics.  Just a few of these are:  bright, vibrant color that you can apply to virtually any surface, the ability to blend colors, and no paper pilling no matter how many times you color in the same spot.  If you are curious about how these markers can make your projects POP, join me on Sunday, March 27th at 12:30pm for our Copic Basic class where you'll learn the basics and we'll complete the three projects above- 2 cards and a cute bookmark. 

If you've used Copic markers before or if you are taking the Basic class, stay for our Copic Club at 2:30.  We'll be working with yellows.  This class fee includes 3 markers and new pages for the technique and color book that we create in this class and add to monthly.

I hope you'll join us on Sunday, March 27th for one or both of these classes.  Call the store to register today!

Laura

Free Tim Holtz Demo - March 23rd!

Curious about Ranger inks and stains? Wondering what all the hype about Tim is?

Join us for a free demo of Ranger's Distress Inks, brand new Distress Stain and Perfect Pearls Mist on Wednesday, March 23rd from 11 - 1 in the crop room.

We are thrilled with his new products and can't wait to show you how to use them!

Ideas

Here is a little idea journal I made... the perfect place to keep little bits of inspiration for when you have scrappers block. I had so much fun making this mini album. I made it out of the cardboard roll that my papers towels come on. I painted the outside of the roll and once it was dry I flattened it into the cover and pages of this album.

You can see here that the pages in the album each have a tabbed card that can slide in and out of the page.

The front and back covers are not pocket pages. They are glued shut sandwiching in the blue webbed ribbon that is used as the closure system for the album.

I covered the pages with the different patterned papers and then went to town embellishing them.



There are so many great embellishments in this LYB line. I used several of the sticker embellishments. Some are embossed and some are glittery, but all of them are super cute.

Wednesday Layout 3-16-11

Here is the Wednesday layout for this week. I used some Basic Grey and Graphic 45 papers and finished the design with some very cool Webster's Pages ribbon.

The sweet little butterflies are free when you purchase the other materials needed to complete the layout.

Here is the supply list and the instructions:

2 pieces Origins Refresh (green graph paper)

1 piece of each Graphic 45 Primrose Cottage, pink cardstock and green cardstock

1 Laser Journaling Tag

1/2 yard green rosette ribbon

Instructions:

Background- green graph paper

Photos- 5x7 (mat 5.5x7.5), 4x6 (mat 4.5x6.5), 3.5x5 (mat 4x5.5) matted on pink cardstock

Floral paper 4.5x12 matted on 5x12 green cardstock placed 3 inches from bottom of the layout.

Pink Text paper cut into two 3x5 pieces. Use one behind the 2x4 green cardstock for title on the left and one to mat the small Laser Journaling Tag on the bottom right corner.

Technique: To add texture to title block spray the 2x4 green cardstock with water and crinkle being careful not to rip it. Dry with heat gun before attaching to title block.

Add ribbon approx 4” piece (2 rosettes) on right and 6.5” (3 rosettes) on left side of layout. Attach butterflies.

Skagway & The Yukon

This month the design team had the opportunity to use the Twig collection from My Little Yellow Bicycle (MLYB). I love this collection’s paper colors and embellishments. Whether your scrapbook style is more girly and pretty or masculine and grunge these papers are truly versatile and will work for any style. I chose to use this collection to highlight several Alaska pictures. This past May, my husband and I took an Alaskan cruise. It was an awesome vacation; we loved the Alaskan landscape, as well as the cruise itself. I’ve been looking forward to scrapbooking this trip, but just haven’t had the time to start. The Twig collection was just perfect for my pictures; and now that I’ve started, I can’t wait to finish scrapbooking my trip!

On this 12 x 24 layout I used several pieces of the MLYB paper as my background. I also chalked the edges of my paper and picture mats and did a bit of machine stitching. The products I used include: Patterned Paper: MLYB; Solid Paper: Bazzill; Embellishments: MYLB, Making Memories, Stamping Station, and Tim Holtz; Flowers: Recollection; Swirly: Prima Say It In Pearls; Letters: Basic Grey; Ribbon: Graphic 45; Buttons: Cloud 9 Design; and Flower Pearls: Studio 112.

TFL, happy Wednesday!
Erica

Techniques Galore! Class at Crops Plus

Attending the Crops Plus crop April 8th - 10th? Well, look for ScrapbooksPlus! We'll be one of the vendors for the crop, with a make-and-take during the weekend. Karen Bearse and I will be teaching a technique class on Sunday, April 10th from 12:00 - 2 p.m.

Ready to get inky? In this class we'll be teaching you over a dozen great inking techniques you can apply to any project. You'll make a booklet of tags, complete with instructions, that you can refer back to again and again. Plus, you're class fee includes a Tim Holtz Distress Ink pad, a brand-new bottle of Tim Holtz Distress Stain, AND a specially-made surprise stamp.

We'll using products -- including the latest stamps and dies -- from Tim Holtz, Ranger and Sizzix, such as inks, alcohol inks, Distress Stains, Perfect Pearls and Perfect Pearls Mists, Texture Fades and dies. We'll also have his Vagabond die cutting machine on hand to use during the class.

The techniques will cover blending and stamping with the inks, including what to use and when;
adding a little shine via mists and powders; embossing/debossing, stamping and inking with Texture Fades; resists; and using inks with materials other than paper, such as Tissue Tape and ribbon.

Here's a sample of what we'll do:

Supplies Needed:
If you have a Ranger blending tool, please bring it with you, as well as your favorite adhesive. We'll supply the rest!

Cost: $35 for crop attendees; $40 for those not registered for the crop
Time: Sunday afternoon at 12:00

You can register at the store, call ScrapbooksPlus at (703) 263-9503 or email debbie@scrapbooks-plus.com.

CHA Memories

Karen and I were fortunate to attend CHA this past January. We walked and walked the show floor, visiting many, many booths and got blisters on our feet. We talked to companies, got lots of brochures, did a few make-and-takes, and got to watch Tim.

One of the most fun paper lines at the show was Little Yellow Bicycle's Twig line. You can see the make-and-take from their booth on the wall next to the pagemap layouts. Very cute!

So I thought it would be fun to document one day from CHA - with apologies to Karen for my blurry iPhone pics!

A Vase of Spring Blossoms

From: Kathy Bryant


I really had fun making this vase filled with paper flowers and think you will too. By adding some candy, I turned mine into an Easter Basket.

I used five varieties of flowers made from Diamond Dust paper. Each flower’s center is a button from the Lily White Assortment by Doodlebug. I love these buttons. The set includes 20 white buttons in several retro shapes. Of course, your arrangement could include flowers from coordinating papers and buttons of different colors. Doodlebug has some fun button assortments.

The flower stems are bamboo skewers. You can find these at most grocery stores. I found thin ones that work well at Harris Teeter, Giant and Wegman’s. The stems were cut in different lengths so that the flowers could be arranged in a pleasing way.

A clay pot, a bucket or a basket would make a great container for your floral arrangement. I chose a clear glass, cylinder-shaped vase and decorated it with TWIG paper, a lacey ribbon and two TWIG border stickers. You will need something in the bottom of your container to hold the skewers upright. Sand, rice, beans or rocks will work. Another alternative is floral foam, which I used.

The instructions for making each of the flowers follow. Experiment with size, colors and varieties. The possibilities are endless. The bottom line is to have fun and create an arrangement that fits your décor or the style of the recipient. Enjoy!

INSTRUCTIONS
Don’t expect perfection in your flowers. It is likely that if you examine each flower with a critical eye, you will find little imperfections – the circle isn’t quite perfect, the one petal’s fold is larger than another’s or one doesn’t lay quite right. It doesn’t matter. These variations will not detract from the overall beauty of the flowers. In fact, the variations will make each one unique as is each flower in nature.


Since both sides of the paper will be visible to some extent, you should use double-sided paper.



Flower #1

1. Cut a 3” x 6 ¼” rectangle.
2. Fold the paper lengthwise at ¼” and 3 ¼” so you have a 3” X 6” rectangle.
3. Glue the overlapping ¼” strip down.
4. Cut 8 – ⅜” strips across the short end of the rectangle to create your flower petals.
5. Punch 2 – 1 ½” circles and punch a tiny hole in the center of each. (The size of the small Crop-A-Dile™ punch is perfect.)
6. To assemble, place one of the circles on the table with the wrong side facing up. Apply glue to the circle being careful not to get any in the hole.
7. Take each petal, push the two folded ends together slightly to round the petal a little. Then lay each petal on top of the circle, arranging them approximately equally around the circle.
8. Put glue on the wrong side of the other circle (again avoiding the hole) and place it on top of the flower to hold the petals in place.
9. Stick a 7 gypsies Twistie through a button and then through the hole in the two circles. Affix the Twistie to the stem.
   

Flower #2

My arrangement contains three of these flowers. Two have petals made from 1 ½” circles. The other’s petals are 1” circles.

1. Punch 8 – 1 ½” circles.
2. To make a petal, squeeze one end of a circle together between your thumb and two fingers. Apply a drop of glue and squeeze until the glue will hold the end of the circle closed. Then put another drop of glue on the outside of the fold and fold one side down to form a pleat. Hold for a moment until the glue will hold the pleat in place.
3. Repeat with 6 more circles.
4. Punch a small hole in the center of the remaining circle.
5. Glue each of the “petals” around hole in the center. Each one needs to go slightly on top of the prior one. You may need to arrange a bit to get the look you like.
6. Affix button and flower to stem as with Flower #1.

These flowers are quite attractive and once you get the hang of it easy to make. I’d recommend that you try making one or two with scrap paper before starting your project.

Flower #3

My arrangement contains three of these flowers. The size varies slightly. To make these flowers, you create two sections and then put them together to form one flower. One section needs to be smaller than the other.

1. Cut a ¾” x 12” strip and scallop one edge.
2. Cut a 1 ¼” x 12” strip and scallop one edge.
3. Punch a 1” circle and a 1 ½” circle. Put a hole in the center of each one.
4. Start with the smaller circle. Put glue on the circle.
5. Using the smaller strip, start folding it and fastening it to the circle gradually working your way around the circle until you have a complete circle of petals. Glue the two ends together cutting any extra off.
6. Repeat with the larger circle and strip.
7. Put the small section on top of larger one.
8. Affix button and flower to stem as in Flower #1. This also holds the two sections together.

Flower #4

Four of these are in my arrangement. All are the same size.

1. Cut 3– 2” scalloped circles.
2. Put a small hole in the center of each scalloped circle.
3. Crinkle each scalloped circle individually. Don’t be afraid to crinkle too much. The more you crinkle the more texture your flower will have.
4. Stack the circles on top of each other.
5. Affix button and flower to stem as with Flower #1.

As an example of the uniqueness, I ran low on paper so one of my flowers consists of one scalloped circle and two plain circles.

Flower #5

I have just one of these in my arrangement. This flower is made with the Tim Holtz Alterations Rosette by Sizzix. This is really easy to make as the Sizzix cuts and perforates the paper, so all you have to do is fold and glue. This rosette is 2⅝”. There will soon be a die cutter to make rosettes in two additional sizes (2” and 1⅝”).

1. Cut flower petals and two circles using Sizzix. Put a hole in center of each circle.
2. Fold rosette based upon instructions and glue ends together.
3. Push the center of the circle down.
4. Once you have the rosette forming a circle, glue the circles to each side of the rosette.

This sounds harder than it is. It will make sense once you start. If you don’t have the Sizzix die cutter, you can accomplish the same thing by cutting a strip one half the size you want the flower to be by 12”. Score the strip every ¼”, alternating the score so you can fold like a fan. Follow the instructions above, beginning with gluing the ends together.

Twigs Card

The Design Team papers this month were so fun to work with!  Have you seen the Design Team wall in the Crop room this month?  Amazing!  The paper this month is Twigs from Little Yellow Bicycle.  My card this month is pretty simple.  It is a 4" x 8 1/2" card.  I used the scalloped cut out paper with a pretty flower pattern and glittery edge as my focal paper with the plaid as the background with inked edges.  The doily chain is a piece of a sticker border that came white and I inked it.  The acordian folded flower came pre-scored (bonus!).  I added some ink, a scallop punched circle and a piece of the doily border to complete the flower.  The happy birthday stamp is from my stash. Check out the papers and coordinating accessories in the Crop Room before they are gone!

Time Card

First off sorry about the photo, I will replace it asap-I had photo card melt down & lost my DT images. This was a simple little card using the Twig papers. I cut out the leaves-love those! They are all printed with different images & way cute. I stamped the clock & covered it with glossy accents to make it look like an epoxy embellishment & adhered the leaves behind it. "Be Yourself" is one of the sticker which I mounted on one of the papers & used the fun "wordy" paper as the base of my card.
Have a great day & Be Yourself!

beach life... lazy days

I think my favorite thing about this line by Little Yellow Bicycle is that it is so versatile. The papers can be used for summer or winter, boy or girl, holiday or everyday.

I like the blue in Diamond Dust and the green in the decorative edge cardstock together for a beach layout. Although they really could be used just as easily for a snow layout, or a birthday layout, or even a baby layout.

Lisa put some canvas in our kits this month and I used strips of it beneath my corrugated cardboard letters to give a beach feel to the layout. I placed blue ribbon behind the canvas to help it pop. I liked the three words with the canvas behind them but four was too much so I decided to use this floral applique instead behind the word "life." It came on a shirt I bought for my daughter. She said it itched her so I removed it from the shirt and saved it for a layout!!
The "Beach Day" checklist and "Day at the Beach" embellishments are from Tattered Angels. I used Olive Vine and Patina Glimmer Mist on the "day at the beach" piece on the right page.

On the checklist I first splattered a bit of Wicked Glimmer glaze. Then I sprayed it with Olive Vine mist and Peacock chalk. The glaze acted as a resist for the mist so where the drops of glaze were splattered the paper didn't pick up the color of the mist. I love this technique that I stumbled upon and thought it would work really well on this beach layout.








I added some of the sticker embellishments from this line around the layout saying Life, Explore and Outdoors. To finish the layout I added a rosette using the Tim Holtz Paper Rosette die that Lisa also included in the kits. The center of the rosette is the other side of the Diamond Dust paper. I love this die and use it all the time. I hope I have inspired you!

Twig PageMap Layout

This Twig Collection from Little Yellow Bicycle might be my favorite one in a long time! It has plenty of blues and browns - just wonderful together. This layout was made using the PageMap drawing as a template. I used a large 5x7 photo instead of the 4 mini photos and embellished it with doillies, the word family, and the iron gate below the photo. You will be able to find many of the embellishments associated with this collection at ScrapbooksPlus but hurry in, they are going fast!

Its fun taking a layout and moving outside the box in terms of design. Never be afraid to try something different.

time for Mimis by Esther

This is my layout for the page map presented for this month with the Little Yellow Bicycle line, Twig. The pictures I chose were taken to show one of my favorite restaurants. It is colorful and the blues were good for background. The base is Petaled (back) with a rectangle of Bird Song mounted on the right. A strip of blue Bazzill is used across the top with a metallic and blue ribbon about a third down the page.

Four pictures were placed and scanned at 50% with sides touching. These were accented with a yellow Coredinations cardstock. The rosette was placed in the left top and accented with yellow and glitter center. Stickers from the Twig line and KaiserCraft rhinestones were used as accents.
Other pieces of the Twig line were used for the leaves and the brown strip on the left. The journaling was printed on photo paper.

Wednesday Make&Take

This weeks make & take using MME papers from their Lost & Found collection. The paper is so beautiful all you need is your photos! This photo does not represent the colors well-they are rich & detailed with glitter to boot. So stop by ScrapbooksPlus & get your glitter on!

Creating an Outdoor Layout with TWIG Papers

Using the TWIG papers and the March page map(available at the store), I created a layout recapturing a quiet hour that I spent with my nephew. During a trip to the farmers market, he asked to go to the pond, which is located in the same park. I am so glad I said yes and that I had my camera!

As you know from prior blogs, I love canvas and it makes the perfect base for a set of outdoor photos near water. I used a 7 ¼” x 8 ¾” piece of canvas, leaving the edges uneven. I raveled the edges quite a bit to make it look a little more rugged. The pictures needed a little more focus so I used my current favorite technique – creating the appearance of metal with Vintage Photo Distress Powder – to make embellishments . The embellishments, two ducks and three photo corners, were cut from grungepaper. (Grunge paper provides a little more weight and texture than cardstock or paper and you can do almost anything to it.) I then pressed the objects into VersaMark™ and embossed them with Vintage Photo Distress Powder. I affixed the two ducks to a 1 ½” circle of Bird Song. I placed these five items on the canvas to draw attention to the photos.

The remainder of the page was simple. I attached the canvas to a 10” x 8 ¾” piece of Would You Be Mine Fern on which I had printed my journaling. I distressed the edges using the Tim Holtz Distressing Tool. This was affixed to an 11” x 11” piece of Pleased Plaid, which I thought was a nice boy print and a bit nautical. I also distressed the edges of the Pleased Plaid. I used the Petaled paper for the background.

To add a little decoration, a plaid ribbon was placed horizontally across the page separating the journaling from the pictures. The message on one of the TWIG stickers fit perfectly so I added the sticker to the ribbon.

With kids as in scrapbooking, I often find ‘it's the little things” that make the difference!

My Wish

Sometimes I follow the page map down to the last detail and sometimes it is just a starting point to inspire me. This layout ended somewhere in the middle. When I first looked at the page map it reminded me of a window and the lyrics to the Rascal Flatts song "My Wish" came to mind. Specifically the line "...and if one door opens to another door closed I hope you keep on walkin' til you find a window." I love this song and have been wanting to make a layout using the lyrics as my journaling.

I took this photo about a year and a half ago while I was taking Karen Russell's photography class. It is a photo of our street taken from our front yard. I know one day it will bring back memories of our new house and how different everything looked when the trees were so much smaller.


The journaling was a bit tricky. Usually when I have a lot to say I make a pocket for the journaling and tuck the pages of words away. For this particular layout I wanted the journaling to be the focus. I think that is why I hadn't ever been able to pull this layout together before. Printing it on cardstock would have taken up too much space on the layout so I decided my best option was to print the journaling on transparency paper. I was afraid the words would be hard to read on a transparency and I was right. So I decided to paint just behind the words to make them pop. I was thrilled when it worked.



I used a putty color acrylic paint on most of the lyrics then I sprayed some Patina Glimmer Mist in the paint to get the blue color. I added flecks of blue here and there and loved the results!







I used an exacto knife to cut the window out of chipboard. Then I painted it with Tattered Rose Distress crackle paint. I added some floral ribbon to the corner and made a flower out of another ribbon and a brad. I added this cute little butterfly that I had in my stash to finish the layout.