Friday, June 14, 2013

Creative Card Ideas With The Crop Stop and LYB

I love the beautiful colors and gorgeous details of Simple Stories' Vintage Bliss collection.  In fact, the Couture Creations doily die cuts completely reminded of the roses and lace in this collection, so I thought I would make a card combining the products.
The Crop Stop sent me the gorgeous embossing folders I mentioned last week, but these great die cuts from Couture Creations are just as much fun, just as beautiful and worked so well with my Spellbinders Grand Calibur.
I thought this rose sticker stacker from Simple Stories was the perfect center for the two layered doilies.  I used some of the Candi Fix foam pads to separate them and add depth to the cluster.  Although the sticker stacker already had a sentiment.  I added one more " Loved." sticker to the mix to extend the thought.  Then I tied a little bit of the sheer green polka ribbon that the Crop Stop sent me into the cluster to complete the look.
The Exotic embossing folder from Couture Creations is such a great background and I love how it looks with patterned paper.  I used this newsprint paper from the Simple Stories Vintage Bliss collection and love how the vines pop right out, but allows you to still be able to see the print on the paper.

Sometimes keeping it simple is a great way to incorporate mixed media elements into a project.  I chose one of the Naturals Canvas Stickers and the Faber-Castell Mix & Match Aquarelle Watercolor Pencils as the focal point of my card.  The colors of the pencils were a perfect match for our Poppy collection.
The Naturals Canvas Stickers are very easy to color and there are so many cool designs to choose from.  I used the Whimsy group, but any of the designs in this collection would have looked great with Poppy.
The watercolor pencils were easy to apply to the canvas and filled in with vibrant color as soon as I added water with the paint brush.  I had a little bit of bleeding, but not too much and the effect is actually pretty cool.  I used some of the Tropical Gelatos to color the leaves of the flower and to add some smudging to the corners of the card.  Finished the card off with some Poppy Vellum Tape


LYB Products:
NA-CV20 Canvas Stickers - Whimsy

Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft Products:
Mix & Match Gelatos in Tropical
Mix & Match Aquarelle Watercolor Pencils

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Thursday, June 6, 2013

June Guest Designer At The Crop Stop

It is a pleasure to be invited by my friend Vicki Robertson to guest design at The Crop Stop this month.  I was pleasantly surprised at what they sent me because it made me think outside the box a little bit, which is always good for growing creativity.  I even sent Vicki a panicked email about the embossing folders, but we'll get to that in a minute...
I really enjoy creating these Life Documented Pages with many of the Simple Stories collections.  It just brings an element of efficiency to scrapbooking that does not take away from the creativity.  I'm not sure that the pages take any less time than a one page layout, but I feel like I can document an event with more completely and more easily add details, memorabilia and journaling.
The Crop Stop sent me these really fun embossing folders from Couture Creations, some mist and Flower Soft products.  It was a new adventure for me since I am not one to buy embossing folders and I am scared of anything that looks like glitter or has to dry.  I was not sure at first how to get the folders to run through my Spellbinders Grand Calibur, but after a few tries, they worked like charm.  And now after trying them out, I am hooked.  All of the materials add some fun dimension and texture to a paper craft project.  So, rather than build a project around the products, I decided to incorporate them into what I love to create with the Life Documented pages for Simple Stories.
It was so fun to run the 3 x 4 Simple Stories I Heart Summer journal card through the embossing folder.  If you look at the close up, you can see the beautiful vine pattern and how it gives the paper more dimension and texture.  I also added some of the white Flower Soft crystals to the middle of the sun for some shimmer and texture.  I have to tell you that I very much dislike any form of glitter, but the Flower Soft products do not stick to your skin and are easy to clean up.  I did not have to wear it around all day if you KWIM.
The orange Dylusions mist combined with the embossing folder also created a fun effect.  Tip, be sure to add any relevant journaling before you emboss and then add mist and stickers after.

I look forward to sharing another project next week for the Crop Stop.  Please stop by their blog and/or store for more ideas and inspiration.


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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Xyron and Bo Bunny Blog Swap

This week Xyron teamed up with Bo Bunny to showcase how well these manufacturers work together.  I was sent bits and pieces of the Bo Bunny Trail Mix collection and created this layout of my daughter from a recent camping trip.  My goal was to incorporate this highly graphic paper into a relatively clean design...

This is the Bo Bunny Trail Mix Noteworthy die cut pack.  I used this as the primary embellishment for my layout.  The tags and camping decor were especially fun.
The Xyron Create-a-Sticker machines are perfect for the Bo Bunny die cuts.  I was easily able to run the different sized die cuts through the machines and adhere them to my layout permanently.
I added a stamped sentiment to this Bo Bunny die cut tag and then ran the tag through my Xyron Create-a-Sticker to make sure it would stay in place permanently.  Then I added some of the Bo Bunny jewel stickers.
I thought a combination of Little Yellow Bicycle clear stamps and wood alphabets worked perfectly with the Bo Bunny outdoor collection.

LYB Clear Stamps

LYB Wood Alphabet Stickers
These die cut tags and border easily ran through my Create-a-Sticker.  I added a stamped sentiment and some chalk ink for a distressed look.

Please go to both the Xyron and Bo Bunny blogs for more inspiring projects and prize opportunities.

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Monday, May 20, 2013

Introducing Little Yellow Bicycle's Poppy Collection


I love the color palette of Little Yellow Bicycle's Poppy collection and thought it would be fun to document some of our vacation last year using photo pockets.  The 6 x 6 paper pad is the perfect background for the 4 x 6 and 3 x 4 pockets.  I simply trimmed the paper to size and then added photos, journal cards and embellishments to them.
The LYB Clear Word stickers are perfect for adding what looks like handwriting to a project.  Plus, I love how they easily adhere to photos.  I have yet to purchase a cameo, so I am always happy to find words and lettering in all of our LYB collections.
I added the word "LOVE" to this 3 x 4 card using the Poppy chipboard shapes and a Poppy journal card.  Easy enough to polish the look with a corner rounder punch.  The "Moments to remember" sentiment is a Clear Word sticker.
I love the script background of this green patterned paper.  I just added the to photos, clear word sticker and fresh verse sentiment for a fun mini layout.
I really enjoy creating a "layout" in the small 4 x 6 size.  I added the text to this photo in photoshop and then printed it out and cropped it to the smaller size.  Then, I created this layout design with the 6 x 6 patterned paper and clear word and fresh verse stickers.
Added it to my family vacation album and called it done.

PY-304 6X6 Paper Pack (24 sheets, 2 each of 12 designs)

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