Thursday, June 27, 2013

Embossed Glassine Treat Bags With The Crop Stop

This is my final project as June guest designer for The Crop Stop.  It has been a great month of inspiration.  They sent me some fun items to try out and incorporate into my projects.

I have a large stash of Glassine bags lying around because you can order them in bulk at a good price and they are really convenient for gift ideas and craft projects.  My friend Robbie Herring gave me a fantastic idea and told me I should try embossing the bags to see what they look like.  Have to say that this was a great suggestion seeing how The Crop Stop sent me 3 fabulous embossing folders from Couture Creations.
I decided to use Little Yellow Bicycle's brand new Vintage Summer collection and Couture Creation's Nuevo embossing folder to create this fun, summery treat bag.      Little Yellow Bicycle's bright collection, looks fabulous with the bag full of M & Ms, and the chambrays and cherry reds are such a sweet reminder of summer.
If you look closely, you can see how the three different embossing folders look on the glassine bags.  It's so easy to run them through the machine.  I used my Spellbinders Grand Calibur with a little bit of tweaking the cutting plates to get this effect and it was so fast.  Probably could make a ton of them in just a few minutes.
I also used some of my Spellbinders Grand Nestabilities die cuts to make the top of the treat bag.  I chose two patterned papers from the Vintage Summer collection, including the one with the beautiful song birds and then cut them at two different sizes so they would overlap nicely and create a pretty border.
For the tag, I used the Couture Creations large doily die cut.  Then I added a Vintage Summer journal card with the Candi Fix foam pads for spacing and dimension.  Next, I added one of the Vintage Summer Fabric Favorites flowers and a chipboard tag for the center of the cluster.
I also got out the Flower Soft products and mixed together both the white and the blue that was sent to me and glued it to the center of the Fabric Favorites flower.  It has just the right amount of fluff that easily stays put and creates a wonderful dimension and shine to the cluster.  Did I mention that this stuff is way better than glitter - you don't have to wear it around after you use it.   Finally, I added two stick pins to dress it up a bit more.

Thank you for stopping by!

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

LYB, Xyron & May Arts Blog Hop



I thought it would be fun to make an altered birdhouse for this exciting 3 Company Blog Hop since Little Yellow Bicycle's Poppy collection had birdhouses and birds as part of the design. And I was particularly inspired by the May Arts gingham, ruffled ribbon.
I found the little birdhouse below in the craft section of our local Walmart.  It was too cute and cheap to pass up.  So it has been sitting on my shelf for months, only to be rescued and used for this project.
It was a little tricky to attach the May Arts gingham ruffle trim to the house, but with a little Xyron Mega Runner and a lot of perseverance, I was able to make it stick.  The new Xyron adhesive dots are also a life saver and great on projects like these.
The ruffle trim made a fantastic statement and was easily blended into the Little Yellow Bicycle patterned paper and embellishments.  Tip - for the gingham ribbon on the bottom of the birdhouse, you can actually run the ribbon through the smaller Xyron sticker makers and then easily attach to the project.
This little flower pot and flowers are just too cute for words.  I added a tiny bit of blue gingham ribbon to the bottom of the stained birdhouse to make the fun cluster of Little Yellow Bicycle Embellishments stand out more.
This is really a chipboard banner that made a fashionable chimney for the little birdhouse.  I added a clear cut swirl to create a smoke effect from the chimney and used the Xyron adhesive dots to attach both.
I love my 5" Creative Station and 2.5" Create-a-Sticker.  It makes it so easy to permanently adhere things to projects.  These were both great for attaching the patterned paper to the sides of the birdhouse.

Be sure to visit all three company blogs today for more inspiration and prize opportunities.



Thank you so much for stopping by! 

Friday, June 21, 2013

Altered Photo Frame With The Crop Stop & LYB

It has been so much fun to play along as the guest designer this month at the Crop Stop.  I’m still scratching my head each week trying to figure out how to use the fun supplies and I have to say that this week is probably my favorite so far.  Vicki Robertson at the Crop Stop actually put me onto this idea when she told me that canvas was easy to emboss with the folders and that I should try using them with the Little Yellow Bicycle Naturals collection.  Talk about a fun idea, I got right to work...

I had this wooden ArtMinds frame from Michaels lying around and thought it would be fun to alter because of the unique heart shaped photo. 

So, basically I ran with Vicki’s idea and grabbed one of the Little Yellow Bicycle white canvas layered Daisy flowers.  They easily come apart and go back together just as well.  I carefully pulled off the adhesive pop dots and then ran the flowers right through the Couture Creations Exotic embossing folder.  You can clearly see the beautiful vine pattern and I love the added dimension.

Then, I quickly reassembled the flower and sprayed with with some of the Dylusions Pure Sunshine Ink Spray that the Crop Stop sent me and a little bit of Little Yellow Bicycle’s Art C Green Gold Glimmer Mist.

The frame was altered with Little Yellow Bicycle’s Poppy collection and the white canvas flower, now has a beautiful yellow color and sheen the perfectly coordinates with the cluster of embellishments from the Poppy collection.

This beautiful vine pattern from the Couture Creations Exotic Embossing Folder is a wonderful print for this bold spring/summer collection of colors and embellishments in the LYB Poppy collection.  The sentiment “LOVE” is a canvas word from the collection.

I actually sprayed the bottom part of the canvas flower with more ink than the top to give it more color underneath and a splattered look on the surface.  This canvas blends perfectly with the Fabric Favorite flowers in the Poppy collection.  The two little stick pins are a fun addition to the cluster.

It’s fun to look at the cluster and photo in the frame from another angle and see the dimensions.  That little butterfly is sitting on a foam pad and the blue canvas flower is hinged to the red one with a foam pad too.

It’s fun to use foam dots to emphasize elements and create dimension.  I used some of the Craftwork Cards Candi Fix Foam Pads to add a little more depth to this little cluster in the top right corner of the frame.

Thank you for stopping by -

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

Thank you for stopping by -

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.


Thank you for stopping by -

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.

Thank you for stopping by today!