Friday, June 29, 2012

Lily Bee blog hop.

Lily Bee has a brand new blog! If you arrived here from Cindy's blog, then you are on the right track for the hop. If you are just starting, you'll want to start at Lily Bee. I made a little gift basket to share with you today with Lily Bee papers and stickers.

First, I used some of the papers to create my own gift basket. I followed the same technique that I used to make these little boxes, but this time, I cut the papers 4" wide to make a larger one.

Then I cut out 2 shapes to cover the front and back with a Mega Mat Stack 4 die by Papertrey Ink out of Sky Blue paper from Lily Bee's Handmade Collection and attached these to the front and back of my basket. The basket is about 4" x 4". I used Richmond Row (dark pink), Wortley Village (light pink) and Grand Theatre - green (all from Lily Bee's Victoria Park collection) to create the flower on the front, cutting out the flower with a Lovely Layers die. A Victoria Park sticker tops off the flower.

Inside the little gift basket, I added some shredded kraft paper, and some rolled flowers that I made myself with burlap and felt. The felt flowers are made by die cutting rickrack borders and just rolling them up. I tucked a little 3x3" envelope inside for a gift card or money.

Here you can see the rolled flowers. I plan on attaching these to little hair clips for a friend!
Lily Bee will be giving away a $50 Visa card. To be eligible, you must visit and comment on all of the blogs on the hop. Comments will be open until Monday, July 2nd midnight EST. Don't forget to change your blog feed to Lily Bee's new address: www.lilybee.typepad.com.

Next up, visit the talented Ania-Maria!




Wednesday, June 27, 2012

SCT summer issue is here!

Scrapbook and Cards Today magazine has a new issue out right now, and it's free - stop over to get your copy of the current issue! I was asked to participate in the "3 Designer challenge" on page 16. We were all sent the same supplies...American Crafts papers, Ormolu flair buttons, Maya Road butterfly flags, Bazzill cardstock, Queen and Company goosebump gems, a Stampin' Up! butterfly punch and some fun Bella Blvd stickers!

I went crazy with the stickers and created a list of some of the things we love about summer in a rainbow pattern with the colors.
Because the left side of the layout was so busy, I kept the right side of the page to a minimum...journaling and a picture of my daughter Taylor with her friend from our neighborhood. They had just gotten out of the pool that day (a few years ago) and I quick took a snapshot!

I do have an extra hard copy of the magazine to give away, so leave me a note if you are interested, and I'll choose a random winner soon. :)
ONE more fun thing to share with you today...

Lily Bee Designs has a brand new look! Check out their new blog here: www.lilybee.typepad.com. And join us all this week for inspiration, sneak peeks and giveaways.


Monday, June 25, 2012

Celebrate summer...

One of our favorite things to do in the summer is our annual visit to the ocean, so I thought I would scrapbook a couple of pictures of Kati at the beach! (Stars work for anything, don't they? So versatile.)
I used Pink Paislee's Declaration line for my page. I love how these Pink Paislee Wood Shop alphas have a natural wood color to them and are just pretty just plain like that with the reds and blues in the Declaration line.
I used the banner stickers to create a star and then covered up the messy center where the flags came together with a cut out from the Pinwheels paper.
Now for the fun part - you can download a PDF with a ton of ideas using this line by the Pink Paislee team right HERE! And guess what? It's FREE!  Enjoy!



More party pics.

Who knew some pvc pipes, pool noodles and sponges could be so much fun?! Kati had her 7th birthday this weekend, and I saw a neat idea on the Family Fun website (after hearing from a fellow Papertrey Ink friend about hers that she made!) to make a "kiddie car wash". The girls loved it, kept them quite busy!
Here is the link if you'd like to make your own kiddie car wash! Took a couple of hours to put together (and a couple of trips to the store to return the wrong pieces that I grabbed), but it turned out really cute. The pool noodles and sponges were from the dollar store and we added some colorful duct tape across the tops. I think we'll be playing with this for the entire summer!
We did an ice cream bar complete with a variety of toppings -- strawberry/chocolate/butterscotch syrup, cookie dough bites, M&M's, marshmallows, sprinkles, etc. (I promise we had healthy snacks too.:))



(Her friend Brooke gives her birthday spankings as we sing happy birthday. ha)
Between the car wash, swing set, parachute and trampoline, they were quite content. I am always worried on how to entertain them when I have a house party, but I really didn't have to!
We had a strawberry theme, after Kati saw my strawberry patch basket from one of my previous projects, she really wanted to do that for her party! I used the Strawberry Patch stamps and dies to make goodie bags with little notebooks that I made for the girls, pencil toppers, headbands and rings made out of felt with the strawberry dies, and strawberry candy and Pixie Stix. I tried my hand at making strawberry cookies with a heart-shaped cookie cutter.

Here is the birthday girl opening her gifts!
This month has been nuts for us with graduations, birthdays, end of school things, field trips, etc. So now that most of that is done, I will hopefully be creating more again soon. I do have some layouts to share with you next! Thanks for visiting!



Wednesday, June 20, 2012

A berry sweet party.

I'm gearing up for Kati's birthday this weekend and thought I'd pop in to show you the invitations I've made. We are doing a "strawberry theme" this year, as you might have seen in a previous post of mine here. :) Kati can hardly wait for the party! I just hope the weather holds out for us and doesn't rain. 13 seven year olds might get a little rowdy inside the house!
To make the invitation background, I used LilyBee paper (polkadot) and some Crate paper I believe (woodgrain) with the Card Base-ics #2 die. I stamped the lines with a stamp from By Invitation. The polka dots stamped in the background are Polka Dot Basics II. "Berry sweet" is from Strawberry Patch Sentiments and "party" is from Happy Day. The strawberry is made with the Strawberry Patch stamps and dies.
I couldn't help but to stamp the envelopes too.
Since Kati is not big on cake, we are doing an ice cream bar with several toppings from them to choose from, but I am making mini cupcakes (with strawberry frosting) to top off our ice cream for those who do like cake! I will try and update with more pictures after the party. Thanks for reading today,



Friday, June 15, 2012

Release day.

It's the 15th, and that means we get to share all of our Papertrey Ink creations for the month! This was the first card I made when my goodies arrived. I LOVE the hexagons and can see a serious addiction forming!

I used the Hexagon Cover Plate with Soft Stone cardstock. I left some of the Soft Stone hexagons in and added other stamped hexagons with the Happy Hexagons stamp set!
Happy Birthday card:
STAMPS: Happy Hexagons
INK: Spring Moss, Pure Poppy, Harvest Gold, Orange Zest, True Black, Blueberry Sky
PAPER: white and Soft Stone cardstock
DIES: Cover Plate: Hexagon
OTHER: rustic twine, dimensional adhesive.
_______

And because I couldn't stop playing with the hexagons, I made this.


Way to Go card:
STAMPS: Happy Hexagons, Think Big Favorites #17
INK: Sweet Blush, Spring Moss,Winter Wisteria, Plum Pudding
PAPER: White cardstock, Soft Stone cardstock
DIES: Cover Plate: Hexagon, Eyelet Lace Die
OTHER: floral pin, Smash Tape, pearl, Papertrey Ink felt, dimensional adhesive.
_______

The next card was made with the new Lovely Layers stamps and dies. I was feeling the purple again.
I used two 3" envelopes as the card base, punched two tiny holes and tied them together with twine. The new Limitless Layers 2.25" Square die fits right in the pocket! I cut it from Soft Stone cardstock and added some teal felt leaves with a pin.  (You can add an earring back to the pin if you are worried about the recipient being poked. Or just trim the end off with scissors to remove the point.)
On the inside, I tucked another little note with the Limitless Layers die again. I embossed some sayings on the envelope and added some hexagons for color.
So Grateful for You card:
STAMPS: Lovely Layers, Happy Hexagons
INK: Fresh Snow, True Black,Sweet Blush, Lavender Moon, Plum Pudding
PAPER: white, Soft Stone cardstock
DIES: Lovely Layers, Cover Plate: Hexagon, Limitless Layers 2.25" Square
OTHER: True Black ribbon, Aqua Mist felt, 3" envelopes by PTI, True Black button, pearls, Maya Road pin.
_______

Here is the new Framed Out #5 stamps and die in action. I cut the frame from the Fine Linen Pattern Pack and used Sweet Blush, Pure Poppy inks for the flowers and sentiment, and yellow (Harvest Gold) for the leaves. Who says leaves have to be green? :)


Wishing You Well card:
STAMPS: Framed Out #5, Natural Beauties
INK: Sweet Blush, Pure Poppy, Harvest Gold, Fine Linen
PAPER: Rustic White, Sweet Blush
DIES: Framed Out #5
OTHER:Seam binding.
______

Next is Background Basics: Rainbows and a We Go Together sentiment.
I started by stamping the Pure Poppy ones with Orange Zest in the middles, then the Summer Sunrise ones with Harvest Gold centers. The clouds are cut with a die and the heart is cut with the Tiny Tags die. Love these happy little rainbows!
You Make Me Happy card:
STAMPS: Background Basics: Rainbows, We Go Together (sentiment)
INK: Pure Poppy, Orange Zest, Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold, True Black
PAPER: Pure Poppy Pattern Pack (heart), My Mind's Eye (gray), Harvest Gold and Rustic White cardstock
DIES: Clouds die, Tiny Tags
OTHER: staple, floss.
______

This one is made with Military Stars and another We Go Together sentiment. I used Spring Moss, Spring Rain, Blueberry Sky and Soft Stone for the background circles.
A Harvest Gold star is popped up with dimension. I thought to add the file folder tab at the top to go with the saying "for the record".

For the Record card:
STAMPS: We Go Together, Military Stars
INK: Spring Moss, Spring Rain, Blueberry Sky, Harvest Gold, Soft Stone, True Black
PAPER: Fine Linen Pattern Pack, Aqua Mist Pattern Pack
DIES: Desktop File: Left die
OTHER: Fiskars star punch.
______

Here is Military Stars with Military Hero sentiments.

I used Spring Moss, Spring Rain and Harvest Gold for the stars in the background, then stamped the sun rays over the top with Soft Stone ink (from Hello Sunshine).

Our Hero card:
STAMPS: Military Hero (sentiment), Military Stars, Hello Sunshine
INK: Spring Moss, Spring Rain, Harvest Gold, Blueberry Sky, Pure Poppy
PAPER: White cardstock, Simply Chartruese Pattern Pack
DIES: none
OTHER: pinking shears, star punch by Fiskars.
______

The last card features the little banners and saying from Heart-2-Heart #5. I actually used the big star from Military Stars (yellow one) to stamp all over the card. Then I cut the little banners out and stamped them in all different colors, and placed them over the top of the big stars to form my own little patchwork looking stars! In other words, I used the large stamped stars as a guideline to build stars with banner shapes!
I added a Super Stars Border Die cut from Summer Sunrise paper.
Celebrate Star card:
STAMPS: Heart-2-Heart #5, Military Stars
INK: True Black, Pure Poppy, Spring Moss, Sweet Blush, Harvest Gold, Spring Rain
PAPER: White and kraft cardstock,
DIES: Heart-2-Heart #, Super Stars Borders Die
OTHER: Pure Poppy ribbon.
______

That's it for me. I hope you enjoyed the projects today. I have to say this was one of my favorite months ever at Papertrey Ink! Visit the rest of the team to see more samples with these products, and be sure to grab the products tonight beginning at 10 pm EST at Papertrey Ink!