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Lily Bee and MFT Home Decor

Hi Everyone,
I'm back today with a fun project featuring some Lily Bee Designs and My Favorite Things.  When Lisa asked me to do a home decor project featuring MFT, I immediately thought of the 7 Gypsies Photo trays that I kept eyeing in the store.   I've never done one before, and I thought it would be fun.  Here's what I came up with.

Products Used: Lily Bee Design Memorandum: 9 to 5, Payday, Lemon, White Board; Lily Bee Design Picket Fence Cottage Garden, Veranda; Lily Bee Design Head over Heels Smitten, Courting, Dreamy; Lily Bee Design Stationery Oatmeal; Canvas Corp-Canvas, burlap; Card stock -Bazzill;  Mists-Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Sunflower, Shimmerz Spritz Seafoam; Paint -Malted Milk by Jennie Bowlin; Seven Gypsies 4x6 photo tray; Ink- Distress Inks tumbled Glass; Twine- Charcoal from The Twinery; MFT Die namics - Woodgrain Fence, Sun, Flat Clouds, Leafy Flourish, Rounded Banner, Well worn Greetings label, ¼” Rosette, extra small rolled rose, Catch a Wave Border.

The pictures are from a vacation in Chatham a few years ago.  My daughter LOVED the beach!  Sand, seaweed, the waves, you name it, she had fun with it!  I used the MFT Waves, Fence, Sun and Flat Clouds to create a beachy scene.  The Sun, clouds and roses were canvas I cut with the Die namics and spritzed.  To make the fence more real looking, I "broke" one spoke, inked the embossed pattern and wrapped some wire around the spokes. The Lily Bee Design Papers were perfect for a beach theme!  I mixed and matched a few collections (it's wonderful how the colors coordinate from line to line!) including Head over Heels, Memorandum and Picket Fence.


I used the 1/4" Rosette Die namic to create these fans.  They reminded me of scallop shells.


And no project is complete without a banner.  This is the rounded banner Die namic that I attached with some Charcoal Twine from the Twinery and my Tiny Attacher Stapler.  I can't wait to hang this in my house... the pictures are so sweet and remind me of summer!  That's all for today.  I'll be back early next week with the MFT Fan Club Layout for March!

Double the Love!

Did you guys just see a pig fly by??

I think one might have... because I never do double page layouts and that is exactly what I have for you today!  When I saw that I was assigned a double pager I nearly had a heart attack.  I've probably done four or five of these over the course of my entire scrapping life.

And THEN I noticed that I got to use a sketch.  YAY! This is probably the most I have ever appreciated sketches because it made this double pager genuinely fun and easy to do.  If you are afraid (like me!) of double page layouts you should definitely give this a try.  I loved the change of pace.  And if you are a double page diva this sketch will be a breeze for you!

The sketch:


My take:


I kept my design very close to the sketch, with a few minor changes.  This is my favorite double pager ever!  It doesn't hurt that I adore these photos.  I used the fabulous Paper Heart collection from Crate Paper for pretty much everything on here, except some alphas, paint, and bits of twine. 

Here are the sides closer up:




How adorable are the Scrabble looking letter tiles from this collection??

This sketch was awesome for lots of little layers.  You can see here that I combined punched paper, stickers, chipboard, and stitching for lots of texture and depth. 





So, I more than survived this double page. In fact... with a sketch this good I may just do it again!!

Pretty Flower Packaging

I don’t know about you, but I love a pretty package. Using MFT die-namics decorative doily duo, my die-cut machine, some scraps of paper, fabric, tulle, a vintage button, some twine and a glassine bag, I created a pretty flower to go on top of a kraft gift box.

Basically, I rolled the tulle and fabric through die cut machine using the doily duo MFT die-namics and then stacked them on top of each other. I finished the flower off with a vintage button and voila, pretty package complete, and a 2-in-1 gift! I cannot tell you how excited I am that MFT die-namics can be used to cut fabric and wool felt in addition to paper. I will be using them with fabric and felt much more on my projects since it is an easy way to add texture to my layouts and crafty projects.

Supplies used: MFT Die-Namics Decorative Doily Duo, Kraft Gift Box, Pink Bakers Twine, Striped Fabric, Glassine Bag, Brown Tulle, Lily Bee Head over Heels Bubblegum Paper and Lily Bee Random Collection Textile Paper, Vintage Button

Hope that inspired you to create pretty packaging!

Cheers!

Holly

Simple Stories, Sketch Stretch!

One of the most amazing joys I have experienced in the past year, is the true unconditional love I have felt for my son, Quinn. Every single day, my heart grows bigger and bigger; and when I think I can't love him any more, my heart just melts a little more. To document my feelings, I created this "You're Absolutely Perfect" layout using the PageMaps sketch, Kathy previously shared with you.

It was fun taking this 8 1/2x11 sketch and altering it to make a 12x12 page:

To make this layout, I used Simple Stories: Baby Steps collection. When I looked at this product in the store, I knew that the sticker sheet was going to guide me to a fun page. I mean, how cute are those owls... and, all the word strip stickers?

Be sure to check back often over the next few weeks, as the design team has some great Color Challenge & additional sketch stretches in the works.

Happy scrapping!
--Cory

A Pink and Green Color Challenge

Although in the past I haven’t scrapbooked with pink too much—after completing this color challenge I think I will work in pink more often. It really goes with so many colors and since green is my favorite color I think I will be saving this color combination for more layouts to come!

My “M” layout consists of paper from Echo Park Style Essentials line (I happen to love every paper in this entire line in every color). As you may have noticed, I love scrapbooking with a plain colored background page and adding colored paper and embellishments on top. This layout is no different and the green and pink really stoodout on the white background page.

Here is my take on it:



I added some white crepe paper and cinched it up to add dimension to the layout and cut the end edges to make it look like a banner. I then added a punched out heart and a Maya Road pin to complete the homemade embellishment.

Supplies Used:

Paper: White and Green Bazzill Cardstock, Echo Park Style Essentials Green/Light Pink Quatrefoil Paper

Embellishments: White Crepe Paper, Kaisercraft Bling, Memory Box Jewel Stickers, Maya Road Pin, Pink Bakers Twine, Lullaby Thickers, Little Yellow Bicycle Canvas Sticker Borders, Bella Boulevard Sophisticates Peep & Saffron Stickers

Tools: MFT Die-Namics Dizzy Doily Duo, Heart Punch

Photos: (1) 4x6

Hope you enjoyed the color challenge so far this month! Lots of exciting design team projects to come so keep checking the blog for some more inspiration!

Cheers!

Holly

Tim Holtz Distress Markers are here...

All 37 of Tim Holtz's new Distress Markers are Here!  We're offering a special for a short time, if you purchase all 37, MSRP is $114.99...you will receive a 20% discount.  Give us a call and we'll get you all set up!

My Favorite Things Monthly Card Class Tonight...

Join Kathie tonight, Wednesday, February 15th at 6:30 PM, for our My Favorite Things Pure Innocence Year of Flowers Card class. In class we will be working with MFT's Pure Innocence stamps featuring November & December Year of Flowers Stamps. We will create with beautiful patterned papers, ribbons and more...coloring images with Copic markers. These cards are extra special just like the series. You will create four cards, two for each month.

Give us a call at 508-695-9290!

Please bring your basic tool kit to class (trimmer, scissors, adhesive), along with foam tape, and glue dots.

Copics Used:
YG93, YG95, RV35, RV39, E35, E37
YR24, Bg11, E07, E97, E43, E53, BG11, BG18, C5, 110

Please bring these or similar colors to class if you have them. If you would like any of these colors ordered for you please let us know.

Stretch that Sketch

Hi Everyone,
I'm back with another layout that I actually finished at last weekend's crop.  Lisa challenged a few of us to take an 8.5" x 11.5" PageMaps sketch and stretch it into a 12" x 12" layout.  Here's the original sketch:

And here's my version, I stretched it to 12" x 12" and I rotated it.

Supplies Used:  Patterned Papers:  Pebbles, Inc. With Love Collection; Embossed Card stock: Bazzill Two Scoops, Black; MFT Die namics:  1/4" Rosette, Crown Border; Gems:  Queen and Co. Champagne.  Alpha:  Travelling Typewriter.

I absolutely LOVE this picture of my daughter.  It truly shows her personality!  The quote is from a pencil we found while shopping one day, and has stuck with us.  The papers are from Pebbles, Inc.'s With Love Line.

I created the fan-fold flowers using MFT's 1/4" Rosette Die namic.  To get the different sizes, I trimmed the original die cut before I folded and created the flower.  The hearts were cut from one of the With Love papers.

The crown trim was created with the MFT Crown Border Die namic and I embellished it with some bling from Queen and Company. 

Well, that's it for today... I'll be back in a few days with the MFT Fan Club Sneak Peek.  Be sure to keep checking the blog to see the awesome cards, projects and layout from the Design Team Ladies.

Simple Frayed Fabric Flowers

Hi everyone!  Jess here with a quick how-to on creating simple frayed fabric flowers. I collect bits of fabric almost as much as I collect scrap papers so I am bound to have some that coordinates with whatever papers I am currently using.  Fabric is soft but adds a nice layer of texture to papercrafts.  I promise this will be painless!  You don't even NEED a sewing machine. 

I used scraps of yellow floral fabric to create the flower on this card:

 - Start with a 3/4" to 1" strip of fabric.  You can cut this or just rip the strip.  Ripping it helps begin the fraying process.



 - Pull several long strands off the frayed edge (or one of your cut sides) until you have the fringe length you like.

 - Then you can either use your machine and run a straight stitch down the length towards the non frayed side OR use a needle and thread and do it by hand.  This does not need to be precise!



 - Hold on to one of the tail threads and pull the fabric to gather it.  You can gather are tightly or loosely as you like and you will see that it starts to curl up on itself in a circle. 



 - Cut or punch a small circle of paper and glue the gathered fabric in as many rows as you like.  I did two rows for this flower and then added a round circle and a metal embellishment.  I prefer hot glue on this step because it is fast and strong but if you don't mind holding the flower you could use any wet glue. 



The papers and embellishments on this card are primarily from Crate Paper's Farmhouse collection... they go really well with the rustic, country look of the fabric flower. 

It's pretty, feminine, and adds a lot of punch without a lot of weight.  So dust off your machine (or even just your little ole needle) and give one of these super simple beauties a try!

And look out for more flower posts this month from the rest of the team!  ;-)

Grab your cup of coffee and join me on Tuesday between 10:30-3:30 for Coffee & Cards at RAH
2 cards for $5.00
See you then!
Kathie