Cosmo Cricket BOYFRIEND!!!

When I got my packet to work on for Design Team I was thrilled! I adore the Cosmo Cricket Boyfriend line! It is just the kind of paper product I love; colorful, original, with lots and lots of variety of pattern that isn't too "matchy, matchy". It has a mixture of all kinds of things that I really like, Test paper and excellent journaling paper, the paper airplane paper was beautiful, the funky spots and the clothesline, awesome! I could have just kept rolling out the lay-outs non stop! You can use it for Valentines, for Babies, for boys or girls or teenagers or anything. I could of even used it for the olden days ie: Pictures when I was a kid. It is so stink'en fun!

BASIC GREY

I used Basic Grey the Curio line on my heritage page.

I layered the paper and cut the Scalloped piece with the Cricket. The setting I used was fit to page. It cut it 12 x 12. I like to ink all my edges it makes them look antiqued. I cut the paper flower out of the Tim Holtz Paper Rosette, it is Sizzix cartridge.

The large rose and butterfly are die cuts that match the paper. Its a fun line, it went great with the picture of my grandfather and his siblings.

Meet Design Team Member, Leah Candler!

I'm happy to introduce to you the newest member of the Design Team, Leah Candler!

Leah is a local gal-- raised right here in Pullman. Currently she lives in Genesee.

She has been scrapbooking for about 15 years, starting with die-cuts and stickers and getting as many pictures on a page as she could. As the years have gone by, she's changed up her style a bit.  "Now I embelish so much I am lucky to get 1 or 2 photos on a 12 X12 page! "

Leah's favorite paper line is My Minds Eye. "However I LOVE Tim Holtz. His embelishments rock, I use lot of them to make jewelry...another passion of mine!"

Lately, she has been making clocks. "I get one of those chip board boxes, the one in the photo is a wine box, I have also used a regular square box, it turned out great." What a creative way to make some great home decor, Leah! 

Leah's favorite thing about Paper Pals would be the great selection of products that they have. "I can always find what I need there."

It's great to meet you Leah, and we are looking forward to more of your great designs in the months ahead!

Next week:  meet Deb!

My Mind's Eye "State of the Heart"

Woo hoo-- I got to work with products from my favorite manufacturer, My Minds Eye!  One of their valentines lines this year is called "State of the Heart" and includes some great patterns.

For this round of projects, I pulled out my sewing machine for some stitching. If I get the machine out, I stitch on everything! (It's probably good that it's a rare event.)

I also went with a paper doll/folded hearts theme. It is still snowflake season, so I joined in the fun with my kids using folded paper and scissors to cut out shapes. Mine were hearts and paper dolls. How would you incorporate these handcut elements (snoflakes, hearts or paper dolls) into your papercrafting?

My first layout is a hybrid layout. I took a digi class through JessicaSprague.com and created her digital layout (posted on my blog here) and then modified it for this valentines layout.

I created a second layout of my daughter and her sweet friend. The idea of adding paper dolls came while I was cutting out folded hearts. I remember as a young girl cutting paper dolls and decorating each to look like my friends. Such a little girl thing, huh?

And, with all my heart cutouts and sewing machine I made up several valentines cards, too.

What will you do for valentines papercrafting this year?

Meet Design Team Member, Judy!

Here she is: Judy Pilcher, Design Team Member at Paper Pals!

Judy is the VETERAN member of the team-- she started designing when Paper Pals was a new store almost 7 years ago!

Judy was born and raised in southern Idaho and she graduated in Elementary Education from the University of Idaho. After 3 years living on both coasts of the US while her husband was in the Navy, the two returned to Moscow to live, work, and raise their three children. Judy taught Kindergarten in the Moscow Public Schools for 17 years---"a super fun job! 5 year olds are such fun little people, it was a joy to go to work every day."
Judy retired early 9 years ago when her first two grandchildren were on their way. "I LOVE being wife to Jim, Mom to three great kids---a nurse practioner, a PGA golf professional and a development officer for the University of Idaho, AND... "Nana" to 6 adorable little grandchildren, 3 girls and 3 boys ranging in age from 9 to 5 months. They are, more often than not, the "subject" of my scrapbooking!"


A recent project that she's done is pictured here:

"Every Christmas I make checkbook-size datebooks for gifts. I have carried one of these in my purse for several years and couldn't get along without it. I enter all important dates...doctor appts., hair-cuts, birthdays, sporting events at the University, vacations, etc., in my datebook. I know that I could enter them in my iPhone calendar, but I guess I'm just a "hard copy" kind of person." Judy buys these calendars at the office supply store and then alters the covers. "This year I used some printed paper with months and then I used a doodled quote by Stepha nie Ackerman, of "Homegrown Hospitality" blog fame. (I took her doodling class via the internet this fall, and I have been practicing, but I'm not accomplished enough to do anything like that yet!)"

Judy has been scrapbooking for a long time. "I still have "scrapbooks" I made in high school with dance programs, birthday cards, and all those treasures that teenage girls love to keep." She scrapbooks now for fun. "I LOVE to play with all the beautiful patterned papers, cardstock and all the other fun "goodies" that go along with scrapbooking-- and, to journal and record the life of my family. Besides scrapbooking for my children and grandchildren, I also do layouts for my "Book of Me"...I would love to have a scrapbook that my Mom had done with pictures and journaling about her daily life."

"I also make scrapbooks for gifts. It's so rewarding for me to see the response they get when someone opens a scrapbook that was made especially for them."

Judy is influenced by so many scrapbookers. "Along the side of my blog I have links to many of their blogs. Among my "favorite" scrapbookers are Ali Edwards , Cathy Zielske , Stephanie Ackerman , Susie Plantamura, and SO many more!"

Judy's favorite thing about Paper Pals can be summed up in two words: Karen and Shawna! "They do amazing job of keeping the shelves at Paper Pals stocked with the latest and greatest in scrapbooking!!! I've been to MANY scrapbook stores and I always think to myself "this store could take a lesson from Paper Pals!"

Thanks, Judy for your dedication and creativity!

Come back next week to meet Leah Candler.

"Be My Valentine" by We R Memory Keepers

Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and Paper Pals is ready for the big day!  We R Memory Keepers Valentine line "Be My Valentine" is in the store now.  I had lots of fun with these papers...they are bright, colorful,  two-sided cardstock papers with so many great designs!

(Pictures on the Princess Party layout by Amber Anderson, photographer.)

Meet Design Team Member, Leah Larson!

Here she is: Leah Larson, Paper Pals Design Team Member!

Leah is a returning member to the Design Team. She's great at incorporating sewing into her projects and has the kind of handwriting that should be made into a font. No journaling disasters for this gal!

Leah is originally from Canada. She has now been in the states for over 15 years, but she's managed to hold on to her accent. :) Leah formally worked as a Labor and Delivery nurse in Seattle. "We moved from Bellevue, WA to Pullman 4 years ago. After my daughter was born I really didn’t want to go back to work and leave her in someone else's care, so my husband and I decided to move to Pullman where my stepsons live."

Leah has been scrapbooking for 10 years now.  She says, "The more I do it the more I love it. I am sure I will be a scrapbooker for the rest of my life." There are many things that inspire Leah when it comes to papercrafting. "I love the stories and the photos. Not to mention the paper, stickers, embellishments, stamps… I am driven to record the everyday things that happen to us. It would be wonderful to see all these kind of details about my Grandmother’s life. Just a simple photo of what was in her cupboards would be fascinating to me."

When it comes to the pros, Ali Edwards is a “life artist” that she truly admires. She loves her clean and artistic style and the fun projects to share.  She also regularly keeps tabs on  Becky Higgins’ blog. Leah is currently doing Becky's "Project Life" and she is "totally in love. This is the first time since starting scrapbooking were I have been caught up on the current year."

One of Leah's favorite product lines is Cosmo Cricket-- available at Paper Pals! She's drawn to the manufacturer's cute designs.


One recent project she has worked on was for her daughter's birthday. Isn't that robot just the cutest? And what a unique idea for a little girl's birthday!

You can see more of Leah's work and keep up with her creative scrappiness at her personal blog, Confessions of a Scraplifter.

Leah had a hard time picking just one thing that she loves most about Paper Pals. "There are so many things that I love. Karen and Shawna make the store what it is. They greet you when you walk in. How nice is that? It is truly a treat to go in there. I love looking at all the wonderful products and dreaming. You could look in there all day and still see new stuff. The smell in there is so delicious. It even comes home on the paper you buy. The products they sell are good quality. I just can’t say enough. "
 
Go visit the store yourself to experience what Leah loves!
 
And come back here next week to meet Design Team Member, Judy!

My Mind's Eye-Fine and Dandy

My latest project was with the My Mind's Eye-fine and dandy line.  I got to work with the True Blue paper,stickers and banner stickers.  I love the colors.  My favorite was the orange honey comb paper on this card.  The banner stickers are perfect for creating banners, stars or flowers.  I especially liked the letter stickers.

 I just love those little owls.  So adorable.

 I have wanted to try a layout with a banner and it was easy.  I did embroider the tops of the banner stickers only because I knew my sewing machine would get gummed up with the stickers. 

This kind of paper is so easy to create a layout on.  Basically you just add your photos and it is done.  I made openings in the paper and placed my photos behind.  The two owls are already on the paper but I wanted them to pop so I added the owl stickers from the True Blue Layered Stickers.  I embroidered around the clouds and stitched around the photos.

Meet Design Team Member, Angela!

This is Angela Lenssen, Paper Pals Design Team Member and Blog Coordinator.

Angela is starting into her third year on Design Team and she's excited about the chance to share more about the products and inspirational people at Paper Pals.

She has lived in Pullman for almost 7 years and is a stay at home mom for her three kids. Outside of scrapping, Angela loves photography, singing and event planning/marketing/graphic design (in fact, she's seeking a position in these areas if you know of a job opening!). She ran her first 5K in 2010 and hopes to keep up training for more in the future.

Her favorite reason to scrap is her three kids. "I want them to not only have a visual reminder of the events that happened in their lives, but I also hope to include stories in those layouts that share memories of the relationships they have with me and others as they grow up." She started scrapbooking at a young age with her mom, but started "modern" scrapbooking 10 years ago with the birth of her first child. Angela's inspiration in the scrappy world comes from a variety of places, but mostly she's inspired by blogs. Three of her favorites are listed here:

Cathy Zielske

Noel Culbertson

Elizabeth Kartchner

A favorite project she did recently was for her daughter's golden birthday in October. She turned 10 on 10.10.10 and Angela created a layout as well as party decor and invites with the "Perfect 10" theme. Here's a couple of photos of what she made here, and you can find more details about it on her blog post here. 

She says "I love these projects because they celebrated a huge birthday for my daughter. The bright colors made it playful and inviting. I had fun with a couple new techniques on it too-- making a triangle banner and using glittered cardstock for the part of the title and embellishements."

She enjoys posting a variety of creative projects on her blog, Mom-e-Memoirs when they are beyond the projects she does for Paper Pals. Stop by her blog and say hello!

Angela's favorite thing about Paper Pals is the fact that she can get great quality products for scrapbooking locally. "Stopping in at Paper Pals makes me feel like I'm in a big city scrapbook store for product selection and inspiration-- yet with the small town local service! It's perfect."

Come back next week to meet anther member of the Paper Pals Design Team, Leah Larson!