In Style Stamps Sample cards

Hi Everyone,

Simone P. was nice enough to make us these beautiful samples using the new In Style stamps and I keep forgeting to show them off.  Simone has gotten quite good at her Copic coloring!

New Hero Arts! New class!

Join me Saturday May 29th as we make 6 floral cards inspired by stamp and scrap designer Jennifer McGuire. Many of you know that Tracy, Tina, and Flat Lisa recently went to a trade show in Boston. They had a blast learning and creating, and now I am happy to be bringing some of those creative ideas to you. We will be using many of the newest Hero Arts stamp release, Artists Proofs, and a few oldies but goodies too. Get ready to get inky and have fun!

Cindy

Peace, Love, and Friendship

As soon as we got the Free Spirit line in the store from Little Yellow Bicycle I knew the pictures I had to use!  The name of the line and the colors of the papers were perfect for some fun-filled photos of my daughter and her dance buddies on the chilly Ocean City beach in February for a dance competition.  Despite the cold sand and winter winds these "free-spirited" girls just had to kick their shoes off and jump for joy!  I took my favorite photo and printed it as 5x7 at the store's photo kiosk.  Then came one of my fave embellishments for a layout : Technique Tuesday's chipboard circles covered in one of the papers of the Free Spirit line. Tied with a few ribbons from my stash and it made the perfect, eye-catching frame for my picture.  My title was created using the Free Spirit Alphas (which contain both the purple and the aqua in upper and lower case!  A great buy!!) plus one of the words from the Fabric Favorites.  My journaling box came from the Journal Tablet to coordinate with the line.  I just love these photos!  Love this layout!  Oh, to be young again!!!

Flower Soft stamps

I am so looking forward to Saturday's Flower Soft class and being able to teach people not only how to use this wonderful product, but also how to mount and trim an unmounted sheet of rubber stamps. Included in the fee for this class is a full stamp set plus the EZ Mount cling cushion for mounting the stamps on. Several people have asked me recently what the stamps look like so I wanted to take the opportunity to show them to everyone via the blog. Made by Flower Soft, these stamps are high quality and beautiful. And like it says on the label, think of all the different theme possibilites you can do with these stamps.

This class is SOLD OUT!  Don't worry Cindy will have more Flower Soft Classes in the future (just not this one)

Cindy

No More Braces!!!!

Did you ever develop pictures and feel the joy emanating from them?!?! These pictures really captured my daughter's happiness on the day she finally got her braces off.....she was floating on the clouds!! I knew somehow I could work the "braces" title onto this page....I just simply put the "no more" in chipboard letters in front of it! Worked like a charm!! Don't be afraid to use a title in a different way than its obvious intended use! It worked for this layout...hope you like it. This layout can be found on top of the display that holds all our medical/dental products. See you in the store soon. Don't forget Demo Day this Saturday....lots of great projects and fun!! Lisa H.

Christmas Layout

Hi, it's me again.....hoping you like this Christmas layout. I love me some shaped papers and whenever a line has one, I must own it. In this case, I simply cut the 12-inch scalloped circle paper in half...couldn't be easier! Adds so much punch to the layout though. On the right side of the layout, notice how I made a homemade ribbon embellishment! Easy to do: take 2 strips of 1/2 inch paper and accordian-fold it over and over, secure with glue to keep your "pleats" down and viola! looks great and really fun to do. Lisa H.

Why the long face?

Any of you who know me know that I am crazy about my hounds....yes, I am one of "those people" who dress up their dogs in ridiculous get-ups, take lots of pictures of them and then actually scrapbook those pictures! My dogs really do have their own scrapbooks...no lie! They are an integral part of our family so I love to scrap their photos (usually because they are funny) especially if my big hound, Myrtle, is involved. She is a character and makes us laugh!! The picture on the top of the left page typifies her perfectly: looks so sad but really isn't!! We always say to her "why the long face, Myrtle?"....never gets old! I used some phenom papers from My Mind's Eye---matched the pics to a tee. New MME lines are coming by the way in the next few weeks.....stay tuned! Lisa H.

Field Trip to the Science Center!!

Well, this was amusing to me because I remember walking around the scrapbook, racking my brain trying to find some fun, vibrant papers to match the orange t-shirts in these pictures of my daughter's field trip to the Science Center and couldn't find anything! I was really struggling to come up with something and had given up and figured I would just put them aside til later. The next day I was rearranging some papers in the baby section of the store and ba-bam! these papers jumped out at me....and the funny thing is that they are actually all the backsides of a robot line for little boys. Worked perfect for my purpose though!! Moral: you just never know which papers will work. Think outside the box, you may surprise yourself! Lisa H.

Spiral Cut Flowers Video

Hi Everyone,

We had a new demonstrator on Demo Day. Mandy made a fun card with three spiral cut flowers. We have some kits left over from the Demo Day and Mandy was nice enough to make a video tutoral for our website. Thanks Mandy!

SIghtseeing in Newport!

Wow oh wow, sometimes photos bring back such fun memories that they actually make you smile! These photos do just that: my hubby & I took a trip to Newport, RI and did the Cliff Walk and have some great pics from that day! Anyone ever done the Cliff Walk? If you have, you remember what an awesome experience it is!! I wanted to do these pictures justice with an awesome layout. The travel papers from Creative Imaginations were a good fit....lots of the colors I was seeking:blues, browns and orange. The big ol' parathesis on the left side is chipboard that I covered in paper, sanded the rough edges, inked everything!! I love how it turned out....hope you like it too! Lisa H.

You and me...together!!

This layout came together not-so-easily for me. I love the end result but I have to admit I struggled a bit. I had the most phenom pics from the big blizzard of '10 of my dtr. Emily and my dog Daisy. I used the black and white papers from the NEW My Mind's Eye lines that are coming soon and highlighted it with light blue to make the pics pop. I loved the blue with it!! The little journaling blocks pulled the whole thing together...hope you like it too. This layout can be found on top on the white shelves next to the front windows (where the Flower Soft is housed). Check it out!! Lisa H.

My girl is a Free Spirit!

When I saw these papers, I screamed (inside,where it counts!) because I had the perfect photos in mind. Sometimes a product line is made for particular pics and I had a bunch of photos from a church retreat that my daughter attended. The tye-dye shirts were a perfect fit for the happy, hippy colors and the whole "friend" theme worked perfect also! I am so pleased with how this layout turned out. Notice in the top left corner how I have made a pull-out journaling tag again. I love to do this and find myself tucking my journaling behind a photo more often than not. It is really easy to do: just use a craft knife and mat to cut a slit (about an inch longer than the block) and make sure to hide the slit behind the photo. Use a ribbon stapled onto the top or a button as a "stopper" so the block doesn't slide back behind the photo. Try it, it's a great way to get more on your page and adds interest also because of the interactive element. See you at the store soon.....Lisa H.

Peace, Love, & Fun from Gina A

I missed Design Team last month because I was on vacation. Boo! Hoo! for me! So I was thrilled to use this month's Little Yellow Bicycle FREE SPIRIT line to create this fun layout for my daughter and her ASA Sorority sisters in their "Peace, Love, ASA" shirts! I loved how the colors and theme all came together - how cute! Using several of the papers and embellishments and adding some ribbon and silk flowers from my stash, this happy layout came together quickly. Hope you get a chance to scoop up some of these great papers for your own "groovy" layouts soon! "Hang Loose" and have fun creating!!!

Free Spirit not just for Hippies!

At first glance you may think that LYB's new line is just for flower children of the 60's, but not so! I have used some of their funky line to make a layout of photos taken at the pool. Their bright colors go great with the color of the water and toys that it was easy to choose this paper for my layout. I also tried a couple different embelishments from this line since they made so many of my favorites, like epoxy stickers, chipboard stickers, gems, and glitter stickers. Once I started playing with these goodies I couldn't have just one (like potato chips!). They work well together so it was fun to mix and match them on a layout and still have extra embellishments left to do more layouts. Of course then I needed more of that groovy bright paper! So get out your tiedied T's and feel like a Free Spirit!

Sweet fairy card

Isn't she cute?? Have you seen some of the sweet new stamps at Photo Scraps? I am not usually a "people" stamper, especially not when they are cutesy, but I like fairies and my hubby likes anime, so I guess I talked myself into buying this stamp. I am glad I did!

For the fairy, I stamped her in Memento ink then colored her in with Copic markers. And since fairies need some sparkle and shine, I colored her wings in with a mixture of water and Irridescent Green Perfect Pearls. If you like what it did on white cardstock, imagine how it glows on dark cardstock! I then layered the fairy onto some Nestie cut pieces and used a strip of LYB's Free Spirit (our Design Team line this month) to add some glitter and design to the base card. A little ribbon and some Dew Drops and I have a cute (and quick) card ready to send.

Cindy

Hello from Gina A.!

Wow! I've been a busy scrapper lately. Don't-cha love all the new paper lines that have been coming into the store??? I've been so inspired! I spent this past weekend cropping with some friends from the store... AND FLAT LISA CAME ALONG!!! She can be quite a bad influence, but she's also a lot of fun - LOL! (Watch for her blog - arriving soon! - so you can follow her adventures. I promise, it's a hoot!)

Anyway, we had a great time at the crop and as usual we laughed, we cried, we told stories ... (and yes, there was a point when I snorted milk out my nose!) In spite of that, four of us managed to create BUNCHES of layouts (check out the picture!) Aren't we lucky to have a hobby that lets us be creative, bond with friends, and produce pages that will help to tell our family stories and spur our memories for years to come?!?!?! If you haven't cropped for a while, plan now to treat yourself this May 8th to our all-day-crop for National Scrapbook Day!

Now, before I close I just have to share some of my creations from this weekend.

"Little Lady" and "Faux Hawk" were created with the new My Mind's Eye lines coming soon. Aren't these colors great? One cool thing I really love: The two-sided papers have a bracket shape of the coordinating design on the pricing strip. You know I couldn't let that "packaging" go to waste so I cut it out and used it on my Little Lady layout. I LOVE when I can use "packaging" on a layout - makes me feel so thrifty!!



"All Because Two People Fell in Love" is a Fancy Pants "My Family" line tht worked great for this picture of my sister and her family (anyone recognize Ms. Martin from Eldersburg Elementary? Now she's a Photoscraps Celebrity!!!)


"Yoga Happy" was created with papers from the Pink Paislee Queen Bee line. I just loved how it came together with these cute photos of my great nephew & niece, Connor and Chloe!


While it's great to be able to use one line of papers and embellishments to quickly create a layout, I often "mix and match" too, as I did on the "Live Bliss Happy Laugh" layout. The border stickers and words came from the K & Co. Poppyseed line. The background sheet is from Little Yellow Bicycle's "Clothesline". The gray ribbon is from Pink Paislee's Queen Bee. And all of it came together to highlight these pics of my beautiful daughter, Caitlin. It makes me happy just to look at it!


Hope all of you get to enjoy some cropping & creating time soon, too! See you in the store soon! Gina A.

Free Spirit is a great dose of spring

Little Yellow Bicycle has created a 60's vibe paper line full of bright spring colors and flowers. We just couldn't resist!

New Month! New Design Team WALL!

Lisa Hetrick here! Are you loving this gorgeous WEATHER! YEAH! I'm feeling so FREE!

I felt so inspired by the new line of Little Yellow Bicycle, FREE SPIRIT that the design team is showcasing this month. It's super fun, colorful, blingy and very, very Springy. Just what this creative girl needed after all that SNOW. Here's a little creation I put together. Just had to make some flowers using THIS. Yep. Yep. Tim Holtz Alterations, baby! LOVE this die. Tracy has it and I LOVE IT! Of course, the NEW Tim Holtz distress inks are all over these projects, too. The card uses some of the tattered florals from the die and some of my new favorite schtuff, GRUNGEPAPER. LOVE THIS STUFF! Pliable, alterable, takes the distress ink colors so well.


Enjoy the flowers. Can you smell them? Check out that super cool PEACE sign. The line of embellishments in this FREE SPIRIT line is so much fun. Here's an excellent tutorial on how to make the grunge flowers, by Beate Johns.





Peace Out, creative peeps,
Lisa :)

Another shark and flower power

Here are 2 more cards made using LYB's Free Spirit line. I don't think I can stop myself with the cute shark. You may see even more of him this month. The shark card uses the front and back sides of the paper, a little ribbon, and of course bling.

The daisy card has no stamping on it which is a rarity for me. I used both sides of the daisy paper, a Dew Drop, some ribbon, and an acetate embellishment from one of LYB's coordinating packs.

Cindy

You're fintastic!

I know I told everyone to feel groovy about LYB's Free Spirit line, but I couldn't help but feel ocean-y when I saw the backside of one of their papers. It looked like bubbles to me, hence the ocean card. It took maybe 10 minutes to make and is super cute! The stamps I used are from a large ocean set by Cornish Heritage Farms. I used 3 stamps from there plus black Memento ink, a Copic marker, Star Dust Stickles, Hero Arts smooth gemstones, and the Signo white gel pen to color in the shark's teeth. This must be the sweetest shark ever!

Cindy

Feeling groovy?

Happy April everyone! Wasn't it WONDERFUL today? The kids and I spent the day at the playground and having a picnic lunch. I even got a little bit of color on my face. I love Spring! It makes me happy. Do you know what else makes me happy? The line we are using for April's Design Team!

This month our focus is on Little Yellow Bicycle's Free Spirit line. It makes you feel all happy and groovy inside with peace signs and bright colors, flowers, glitter, and embellishments with a 70's vibe. Everything old is new again, right?

Stay posted for creations from the Photo Scraps DT or better yet, pop into the store and see them in person!

Cindy

Sneak Peek!

Here is a sneak peek of 2 (out of 3) cards that I will be teaching in the next Flower Soft class on Saturday, April 24th from 1-3. The best part about this class is that the stamp set we are using for the main image (sentiments not included) is included in the class fee!! How exciting is that! The stamps are made by Flower Soft and include the wheelbarrow plus 3 other images. We will make 3 cards as well as mount and trim your new stamps as the stamp sheet is rubber only. Space is limited and is filling up quickly so call the store as soon as possible to join me for this fun class.

Now to go and design the last card...
Here it is.

Cindy