November's Demo Day card

Demo Day is a week earlier in November...don't forget!  Here is the card we will be making at my table.  It is quick and easy and lovely (I think so at least).  The card features a gorgeous stamp from Penny Black, a beautiful paper from Authentique, a border punch, and an embellishment using the fabulous Spellbinders Layered Poinsettia die.

I look forward to seeing you on November 12th!
Cindy

LYB Wonder & Wishes

Hi from Lisa C.

Who doesn't love the holiday season? With its brightly wrapped packages, stockings full of treasures and smiles on the children's faces, I know I sure do. I began this layout with two peices of Festive Red Flourish paper turned so that the thin stripes ran perpindicularly and the red flourish accents were in the outer upper corners. I further accented the flourishes with Stickles, bling and paper flowers from the Embellishment Kit. I layered several other printed papers from the line as the bases for my photos. From the Fabric Stickers I used a circle frame around one of my favorite photos and strung the adorable stockings across the first page. I added names to the stockings and lots of bling! The "Signs of the Season" title and journaling tag each came from We R Memory Keepers new line Peppermint Twist. The two lines complement each other beautifully!!! Playing with these festive lines is certainly getting me in the spirit!

Gina A. FALLS in love with LYB!

Hi everyone!
I was so excited to see Little Yellow Bicycle's new fall line, "Hello FALL!".

I immediately loved the "Autumn Tree" paper and thought it would be perfect for some pics from my day at Baugher's this past weekend. I had SOOOOO much fun embellishing the tree! First I used some of the die-cut leaves from the line's accompanying embellishment pack, pop-dotting them over the printed leaves on the paper. Then I added some buttons. Then, because I haven't "blinged"... um "blung?"... (LOL!) lately, I added some sparkle to the leaves... I just LOVE how it turned out!

The title "one Fall day" came from a stash of old orange letter stickers paired with the F-A-L-L letters in the embellishment pack (with a little more "bling" added!). (If you look closely you'll see I didn't have any "a's" or "d's" left among my orange letters so two "p's" (one with the stem cut off) fill the need.

In placing the photos I slit a couple of leaves on the tree with an exacto knife so I could slide the photo under. On the accompanying page I used some wallet-size pics to "set the scene". I use wallet-size photos often when I want to include more details or show sequence in a layout. I like matting them together as I did here, but remember to leave a little white space or matting around the photos so your eye can rest from all the busyness.

(Oh, by the way, if you visit Baugher's this season and would like to share my leftover wallet-size photos, next time you're in the store just ask! I have some on the shelf behind the front desk - my gift to you!)

If you're a paper-crafter who only dabbles in scrapbooking preferring cardmaking, etc., consider taking my 101 class to learn how you can make the leap into page design or the 102 class to take your scrapbooking to the next level and learn to use embellishments more!

Can't tell you how pleased I was when I brought this layout into the store and Lisa C. RAVED!! As I tell my 101 students, you should create for your own pleasure and to your own taste... but doesn't it feel good when someone else loves your work as much as you do???? :-)

Hope you all FALL in love with LYB's line this month!
Have fun!
Gina A.

Pretty little poinsettia

This is a super quick card I made last week using LYB's Christmas line and a new Spellbinders die called Layered Poinsettia.  The LYB paper is just fantastic and the die is to die for!  No pun intended :)  This is one of those rare cards of mine that has no stamping, but I don't think stamping was even needed.  My poinsettia uses all but one of the available die petals and the leaf petal.  I gently curled my petals around a pencil to give them a dimensional look, and instead of die cutting my flower center, I used gold pearls. 

Please call the store ASAP to special order the die if you want it.  It is so popular this holiday season that it keeps walking out the door with a happy customer has soon as it comes in.  Like all other Spellbinders dies, you can cut out the shapes then go back in and emboss for extra detail. 

Remember to to look at the projects in person while you are shopping!

See you soon,
Cindy

The card:

The die set by Spellbinders:

Game On from Little Yellow Bicycle

Basketball by Lisa Castaneda

I don't know about you but I just LOVE sports lines! Between my three kids I have so many sports layouts to catch up on. Little Yellow Bicycle's new Game On collection was barely out of the shipping box when I was buying EVERYTHING to take home! This sports collection has things for Baseball, Football, Soccer and Basketball.

My first layout is from several years ago of my son's basketball all-star game. The paper is so beautifully designed that I felt there was little I had to do to make a great layout! I used a fun technique that I too often don't turn to . . . I painted the edges of my two favorite photos and the edges of the border I cut from one of the printed papers. What a quick & easy way to add a little pop! The mini-banners already had "All Star" printed on them so that made a no-brainer title. I used the stickers to embellish including the score board where I put the actual game's final score with the numbers included on the sticker sheet. The Tear-Out Ticket book gave me a fun journaling spot. Love, love, love this line! You have to come in to see it for yourself! (Plus, the Fab-O school line!)

October and LYB

October is always one of my favorite months of the year even though my allergies will totally disagree with me. Is anyone else out there as miserable with allergies as I am?? Enough about allergies and onto the Design Team's pick for October, Little Yellow Bicycle (LYB).

This month we are focusing on 2 lines from LYB, their Christmas line called Wonder Wishes and their Autumn line called Hello, Fall. First, I must say that I adore LYB. Their papers are strong and sturdy, their patterns playful, and their colors always appeal to me. I picked a little paper from both lines and am sharing with you 2 cards I've made from the Christmas line.

My first card uses the front and back sides of one piece of paper. I already threw away the strip that had the name on it (sorry!) but it has the poinsettia pattern on one side and the words to "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" on the flip side. I probably say this every month and in every single one of my classes, but I love words! I love the look of writing in every font imaginable and can never get enough of paper (or stamps for that matter) with words on it. For this card I used a sketch with lots of layers to give it depth and then added a simple sentiment by Hero Arts. This lovely Christmas stamp is from HA's newest release . The set is called "Very Merry Christmas" #CL543 and is a must for any stamper's holiday collection. It is a clear set with a bunch of Christmas sayings on it and while I have only had mine for a couple of months, I have already used it a ton of times. This sentiment is actually one of the long horizontal ones on the set. I cut so that I could make it stacked. Don't be afraid to cut your clear stamps! I stamped the sentiment in Black Cherry Staz On, my all-time favorite red ink. I added 1/2 of a die cut (Tim Holtz Ornamental die, a favorite of mine!), some pearls and some ribbon. I love love love the layout of this card and will probably be using it in an upcoming class.

My second card uses patterns from 2 different sheets of paper from LYB, but I loved how they matched up so well together. Because of the busy pattern on my die cut (Tim's Ornamental die again) I wanted something more simple for my background. My sentiment is from...you guessed it...the same Hero Arts set I used on my first card and is stamped in the same Staz On ink. The poinsettia is from Prima and the bling in the center of the flower is metallic decor from Hero Arts.

Does the layout of my 2nd card look familiar? I used it quite a few months ago for a Demo Day card. I always preach how you can use the same sketch over and over again for any occasion by changing up the paper and the stamps. This card is a great example of what I always talk about. And with having a sketch to follow, it made creating my card quick and easy.

Remember to check out all the great projects and pick up some of the Design Team's monthly pick the next time you are in the store.

I look forward to seeing you soon!

Cindy

My October Demo Day card

Hi everyone! I missed you all for September's Demo Day and am happy to be back for October. Here is the card we will be making at my table. This is a great card for any occasion and just perfect for the Fall season too.

I look forward to seeing you all on Saturday the 15th for Demo Day!

Cindy

A Star is Born

Jillibean's Christmas Eve Chowder collection is so cute and happy just like my neice Tori. In the layout "A Star is Born" Tori (at age 3) starred in her very own Christmas pageant on Christmas Eve at my sister's house. The best part of the "show" is that Tori convinced her brothers and cousins (up to age 17!!) to participate. It was such a gift for all of us to watch!

For the layout I combined some Bazzill dot paper and cardstock with Jillibean's whimsical prints. The journaling cards came right from the Bite Size Bits Uncut Sheet. I cut another penguin from the paper to layer on the one journal card so he popped right off the page. The borders on page two and other embellies came from the Pea Pod Diecuts sheet. The three borders can be used together as I did or separated. I chose to again use foam dots to raise one of the borders. The beautiful green ribbon is new from Webster's Pages and available by the yard. The "believe" sparkly word is from KI Memories.

Christmas card photo shoot!

I love me some JilliBean! Their new lines are uber-fab....stay tuned to see what I have whipped up with the Halloween line. This Christmas line was too darn cute for words....I just love it! The happy tone of the papers was perfect for the mood of the pictures from last year's Christmas card photo shoot.....it is always a miracle when there is success with these pictures (between the goofy kids and crazed hound dogs!!). Lots of pop dots, mixing and matching of decorative papers, some ribbon, bling,etc. make these pages fun and lively. Hope this inspires you to scrap some Christmas pictures of your own. Enjoy the (finally) nice weather....Lisa H. :)