Thursday, January 27, 2011

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.

Monday, January 17, 2011

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 -

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

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 -


Monday, January 10, 2011

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 -