Friends at CHA and Something from Little Yellow Bicycle

Myself with Madison and Jody from Echo Park

While I was walking around at CHA yesterday I ran into some of the most talented and nicest people. Had to stop by the Echo Park booth before they got swarmed by the masses for a photo with Madison and Jody. Their new collections For the Record and Springtime will be just as popular as the others. I can't wait to play with them.

Suzanne Sergi and Miss Carolee herself from Adornit

It was so much fun to visit the Adornit Booth. Carolee and her girls were so sweet and they displayed all the work my friends and I did for the mini blog hop back in December. I also got to hang out with my friend Suzanne Sergi who is probably a long lost sister, because I think we laughed the entire time. I feel very fortunate to have met so many wonderful people through this hobby.

Vintage Groove Cards sitting on a Vintage Groove Quilt

The booth is delightful and I was so tickled to see my cards sitting on the matching fabric. All of Carolee's daughters work with her in the Adornit Company and they are one of the most talented families I have met. Below is Alison or many of you know her on facebook as Ali Rae and she does much of the graphic work. Wait until you see her Easter collection - so sweet.

Myself and Ali Rae Lindhardt

Last night I also spent some time with my friends at Little Yellow Bicycle, but will have to get photos later today. We ate Sushi and it was really dark in the restaurant, so I will have to take some photos of the crew today. However, I can start to share some of the work I have done with the Twig collection, which is probably one of the most wonderful collections I have ever worked with.

My son Henry is such a little ham these days and will finally look at the camera (kind of) for photos. Captured these pictures of him over the holidays at a nearby park. I love how the earthy greens and browns look with the blue - perfect for boys or girls.

The dimensional butterflies that come with this collection are so pretty. Here you can see the layers of paper that make them look like they will fly off the page. I just added some bling for good measure. The chipboard letters are really old Kurio letters I found at Walmart (literally years ago) and were bright green, but I covered them with a dark brown metallic chalk and am happy with the "new" color.

It wouldn't be Little Yellow Bicycle if they did not include fun journal cards, chipboard and cardstock sitckers. LYB truly does the most amazing embellishments and the button flowers are the bomb!

The canvas borders come in these fun banners this. I cut them to angle my banners just a bit on the project and then pop-dotted them to make them stand out just a bit more.

I have one more day to explore and will share more photos later today or tomorrow. Thank you for stopping by -

Here at CHA and Something from Imaginisce

I made it to Los Angeles without any glitches.  Touched down, got to my hotel and then got my butt over to the convention center to see some of the booths being set up.  I'll post photos later today of many of your favorites.  I spent some time with the Imaginisce group at dinner last night.  We had a lovely meal at the Magnolia Restaurant in downtown Los Angeles.

Robyn, Bridget, Erin, Lori, Courtney, Christina, Jeff and Shemanine

We chatted about all kinds of stuff including some top secret product ideas coming in the near future.

Erin Bassett and Lori Allred

Myself and Robyn Schaub

So fun to meet up with the people you chat with online and the Imaginisce Group is such a creative, fun and energetic bunch.  I will post more pictures of the booth and other members of the crew later today.  Below are a couple of projects from the Brand New Berrylicious collection that will be revealed from the design team very soon.  I think this is my new favorite Imaginisce collection!

My daughter is such the little model.  She recently told me that we have to do "Style Fashion Sundays" and that this is her favorite hat to wear.  I know she will be doing something creative with clothes very soon.  The theme of the Berrylicious collection is super sweet and perfect for summer.  I know you will all love it.

Who doesn't love a lemonade in the summer?  One of the things I love about the Berrylicious collection is the ability to go super bright or super soft.  The colors in the papers are gorgeous and you will want to add this to your must have list!

Thank you so much for checking in - will be back soon -

On My Way to CHA and Something from Nikki Sivils

I'm sitting at the airport waiting for my flight to Los Angeles and getting really excited to see so many of my scrapbook friends and all of the wonderful new things at the trade show. It's a beautiful day here in Colorado and hoping that the weather is just as nice in LA. Nikki Sivils just told our Design Team that we could start revealing our work for her Winter Debut and below are a couple of projects I created with her brand new and amazing collection called It's Raining, It's Pouring.

I don't usually alter, but I was completely inspired by this gorgeous collection to create this birdhouse. The little turtle with the umbrella made the perfect resident and I had so much fun making the scalloped raindrop roof.

I used my Cricut Plantin Schoolbook cartridge to cut the scallops and shadow scallops to create this effect on the rook. I also pop-dotted some of the cardstock stickers in Nikki's collection to make them stand out just a bit more.

It's Raining, It's Pouring was the perfect collection to preserve these photos of my son playing in the rain last summer. He had so much fun jumping in the huge puddle and was tickled when his grandfather showed him the proper technique.

It's really fun to mix and match the sticker letters that come with Nikki's collections. I also love to mix the upper and lower case letters for a fun and whimsical feel. If you look close, you can see the detailed mini stitching that Nikki added to her stickers for this release.

I love all of the cutouts that Nikki also includes in her collections. I used a combination of cardstock stickers and cutouts to add this sentiment.
The most exciting thing about this layout is that Nikki Sivils used it to teach a class in Los Angeles last night and said it went really well. Above are the instructions I sent her that anyone is welcome to use to create a similar project.

I am going out to dinner with the Imaginisce Team tonight and will probably have photos and/or video to share later this evening. Keep checking back for updates and projects from the show!

Thank you so much for stopping by -

Getting Ready for CHA & Something from Echo Park

I have to apologize for being MIA for a bit.  It has been a very hectic month with my real job as well as preparing for "The Greatest Show on Earth".  I'm heading to Los Angeles tomorrow to work with some of my favorite manufacturers and see all of the latest and greatest that the craft industry has to offer at CHA.  I'm very excited and will definitely post pictures from the show.  Please check back over the weekend to see what myself and many of your favorite designers and manufacturers are up to. 

Below is a project I worked on from Echo Park - Love how my little boy looks with their Little Boy...

I love primary colors for little boys and the Little Boy collection not only includes primary colors, but it also grounds them in navy, which in my book is a perfect recipe for the little guys in your life.

I used my Epiphany Crafts Button Studio to make this fun button embellishment with the plaid paper from the Echo Park Little Boy Collection.  Custom buttons are an awesome way to create a unique embellishment on a project.  Please check out Epiphany Crafts to see what they are up to with their buttons and shapes.  I am going to see Tricia at CHA, so watch for photos over the weekend.

Journal cards are a must and I love the planes, trains and automobiles theme of this collection, much better than the Steve Martin/John Candy movie (although a classic).  I just added some Scenic Route chipboard stars for more dimension.

Echo Park makes some of the best stickers around and I love how they also include extra large designs that easily become a focal point of a project.  I used this one for my title and added some pop dots for good measure.

Thank you so much for stopping by and I will be sending posts live from Los Angeles starting tomorrow and through the weekend.

It's all Animal Crackers at Imaginisce this Week!

It's time to unveil the newest Imaginisce collection called Animal Crackers.  I think it is one of the most fun collections released to date.  You can't help but smile at all the possibilities this collection presents.  I had a blast creating a few projects and will share a some throughout the week.

Today on the Imaginisce blog it is all about cards.   To create this one, I used some of the Animal Tricks Die Cuts and the All Aboard! Borders along with some Loop de Loop Ribbon.  Aren't those little banner adorable?  I just pop-dotted them to make them stand out a bit more.

Be sure to hop over to the Imaginisce blog for more ideas with this collection from the other super talented design team members (this being our first official release with the new team) and if I know Imagnisce a chance to win some of this amazing collection.

Thank you so much for stopping by -

January Sketch Challenge at Little Yellow Bicycle

Hey everyone, I am featuring another sketch for a challenge over at Little Yellow Bicycle this month. This time it is a single page layout. I was inspired by a design my friend Aphra created a couple months ago and had to try a similar technique of blocking photos and patterned paper. Hope you will all jump into the challenge. The folks at Little Yellow Bicycle would love to see a page with their newest collection Cupcake Love, but you can use any of their collections with the sketch. I think this sketch is very versatile and could be used in many ways. See some of the fun I had below...

Since Little Yellow Bicycle makes some of the best embellishments in the industry, I thought it would be fun to create a page with almost entirely all embellishments. For this project, I only used one piece of patterned paper for the background and everything else is an embellishment from the Cupcake Love collection. I think the effect really highlights the beautiful photos of my daughter.

These banners are absolutely adorable! I love the sentiment and how they come pre pop-dotted. That is a huge bonus in my book because they add such wonderful dimension.

The chipboard cupcakes and heart stick pins are to die for in this collection. They add some really fun elements, texture and colors to a project. I just tied on a gingham bow to dress it up a bit and to ground my stick pin.

The title is created from Cupcake Love chipboard letters and a dimensional sticker. I also threw in some tiny alphabets from Adornit because the colors were a perfect match and the tiny alphas add a whimsical element to the title.

For this layout, I turned the sketch on its side and varied the angles of my photos to reflect the "Free Spirit" sentiment. My daughter is such a little ham and loves to make funny faces for the camera. I thought the Free Spirit collection from Little Yellow Bicycle perfectly captured the feeling. I also used my Epiphany Crafts Button Studio to make my own buttons.

The design on this button is really from a flower in one of the patterned papers from this collection. I just used the button studio to crop the part of the flower I wanted in the design of my custom buttons. Isn't it so fun??? This is a tool I highly recommend!

Go through your stash and renew some of your older collections. I bought the entire Love Letters collection by LYB from their Little Yellow Bargains site and thought is was totally fun to give this "retired" collection a face lift with my sketch. I used my Cricut Birthday Bash cartridge to cut the little banners and then added many of the fun Chipbard accents to dress up my blocks of patterned paper. You get some much in this serious bargain that I have enough product left to create a slew of cards for my sweethearts this February!

Please pop over to the Little Yellow Bicycle Blog for more details and be sure to link your pages to their facebook page. LYB is always so generous with their prizes and this time they will be sending out TWIG prize packs. Here is a little sneak peek of a project I created with it.... You will want to get your hands on this collection as soon as you can!
Thank you so much for stopping by today -

Imaginisce in Review

It's a new year full of new possibilities and I am really excited to be spending 2011 with the Imaginisce Design Team.  All of this week, we will be introducing the newest additions to our team along with some things you didn't know about the returning members like myself.  If I know Imaginisce, I'm sure there will be some kind of prize opportunity, so head over to the Imaginisce blog to see what they are cooking up today and all of this week.  Also - we will be revealing the newest Imaginisce collection Animal Crackers next week, so be sure to stick around for another amazing line.

Below are just a few of my favorite projects from many of the 2010 collections -

Imaginsice Polar Expressions Collection

Imaginisce Let's Roll Collection

Imaginisce Scooter's Vacation Collection

Imaginisce Live Loud Collection

Imaginisce Lucy Bird Collection

Imaginisce Birthday Bash Collection

Imaginisce Dino Roar Collection

Imaginisce Enchanted Collection

Thank you so much for stopping by -