More We R Memory Keepers divided pages

Do you see a pattern here? These pages are fun to use and make quick layouts so easy. During this busy season these are a must have!

New Eskimo Kisses by Basic Grey

If you've followed the Design Team Blog for awhile, you know how much I enjoy working with Basic Grey paper. Their patterns are often funky and cool, busy and colorful, and yet, oh so delightful to use for creative projects.

The Eskimo Kisses line that is out for the holidays is no exception. Not only is the paper exceptionally versatile, the chip board accents, and other embellies, make creating layouts, cards, and even gable boxes a snap!

And while I used this line for more traditional Christmas layouts, this paper could have many many other uses (it's not just for this holiday...anymore*).

And while I am certainly in a Glossy Accents and fine glitter phase, so I'm probably biased, I do think the extra dimension and sparkle that is added by these products is soooooo perfect for this holiday line!

Enjoy!

Anita

* You saw my "re-purpose your holiday paper challenge, right? Scroll down here...

Halloween paper for Pine Derby races?

When I issued the challenge, I had an advantage...I made this layout a month or so ago. This layout combines a few of my "loves":

• Scenic Route paper (this is last year's Halloween line). So sad they are going out of business.
• Harrison (my youngest)
• AWANA Grand Prix races (like Pine Derby races for Boy Scouts)

I adore the colors in this paper...using lime green should be "mandatory" for Halloween paper, don't you think? Sure, the other side of this paper has ghosts on it, but this side has stars, swirls, dots...all of which conveyed motion to me...perfect for racing pine derby cars!

Anita

new from SEI - Winter Song line

There seems to be only a handful of companies that contribute to the papercrafts industry that have real "staying power". SEI is one of them! (I've been loving and using SEI for 8-9 years now). The new SEI Winter Song line is no exception to how this company and their talented designers keep coming up with new, gorgeous lines!

I kept these layouts simple. A printed collage from Picasa, generous use of the Sparkling Frost Die Cut Accents, Glossy Accents and Pixie Stix glitter, Doodlebug glittery letters, some pop dots for dimension, a little bling and you're there!


This gorgeous red snowflake paper is called Starlight and is embossed and glittered in just the right places to provide an excellent, subtlely stunning backdrop for pages or cards (it's never to early to starting thinking of your Christmas card ideas, right?)



The lovely blue Snow Bubbles paper below is really cool and versatile. Each bubble on this side has patterns/prints that tie in with the entire line of paper. The other side, which I didn't use for this project is a dark red and tiny white tulip (yes, tulips!) print. How cool is that?

And finally, some cards. The Sparkling Frost Die Cut Accents and Doodlebug letters came in really handy here! The die cut accents contains so many different pieces, I know you'll be able to create and create and create with them! On the hello card above, I placed the letters on a piece of transparancy and used Glossy Accent and Pixie Dust Glitter on the back side to not only give this card sparkle but dimension!

Enjoy!

P. S. Not only will you want to go to Paper Pals to see all the new lines they have, but you'll want to see these layouts up close. Can you guess what happens when you place your finished pages on top of your car and drive off (at 10 pm in the dark and and have to retrace your "steps" to find them)? Ha!

My Mind's Eye...can you say, "oh la la"?

Seriously...the great paper lines just keep on coming into Paper Pals, don't they? These new papers from My Mind's Eye, the Oh La La line are so fabulous. You really must go to Paper Pals and give them a closer look on the spinner rack nearest the front door! Some of the designs you have seen from us lately are just the tip of the iceberg. The papers have wonderful, coordinating tag/border/embellie sheets and all you have to do is add letter stickers or chipboard, and if you're like me, Glossy Accents and fine glitter,3-D adhesive, some ribbon, and you are good to go!

Karen Foster Designs update

You have probably seen the Karen Foster Designs paper in the store and you might have underestimated the potential uses! This paper with great words and phrases about "Dad" isn't just for Father's Day specifically. Take a look...have you documented your relationship with your Dad...I know I haven't...but am inspired to do so now!

Celebrate Summer with new Moxxie and Karen Foster Designs

The new line of papers from Moxxiee here just in time for the upcoming Independence Day! The layout and cards I made here don't do the line justice. I made really really simple layouts here...anyone can do this. Each of the papers is double sided in gorgeous dark red/crimson, blue, and tan colors. And don't forget to add your prized embellishment....I used stickles and Glossy Accents of course! And, while I used this paper for a 4th of July layout, I'm heading back to the store to get more for other purposes...the paper is just so beautiful!

After fireworks and BBQs with friends, our favorite summer activities involve hot days and water. I had so much fun remembering one of Harrison's first times at the Hamilton Lowe Aquatic Center. He has never been afraid of water, and even a spray in the face couldn't keep him from the frog slide!

Can you spot my favorite embellishments and techniques in this layout??

My daughter and her friend got in on the water balloon fight and sprinkler action in our front yard with all the neighborhood boys. Aren't they adorable? In this simple layout, you might be thinking the turquoise dots (sets of 3) are brads. Nope. Stickles. Tricky, huh?

Stash Challege - Brads and Snaps

It's been fun to see the responses to the stash challenge: Ikea placemats & ribbon, paint and an old cassette tape. I have more eyelets, brads, and snaps than I think I'll ever use, unless...I start creating layouts like this one more often!

Enjoy!

Anita

New from My Mind's Eye - Pretty Please line

Have you ever seen a new paper line and began your love affair with it at first sight? Come on, be honest, you have, haven't you? That is exactly how I felt when I first saw the new Pretty Please line from My Mind's Eye. I knew instantly I had to find some photos of my pretty girl, Camryn, to use for these pages.

Right...you may not think of pink flowered paper and robin's egg blue accents when you hear "piano recital". That is...unless your piano student wore a pink dress to her recital. Ta-da...this worked perfectly! This page came together quickly using the matching embellishments page, the super cute and sparkly sticker letters, some bling, and of course some Glossy Accents.

I rarely create layouts with a "ginormous" photo like this, but my friend Heather (yes, of PPDT "fame") took Camryn to Sunshine Flowers (u-pick flowers near Pullman) a few years ago and I had never scrapbooked the photos (gasp!). I'm so glad I hadn't...because this just made me happy to look back at photos from 3 years ago. Don't forget to dig out your EK Success 3-D dots to add dimension to your embellishments.

Think outside the box...yes...add black velvet ribbon to a card that is "springy". Yes...add Glossy Accents whenever and wherever you can. Yes, mix the pattern of ribbon with the pattern on the paper...it works!

Enjoy!

New Basic Grey - Lime Rickey

The new Lime Rickey paper line from Basic Grey is oh so fabulous, bright, cheery and fun to use. Now, those of you that are "faint hearted" about patterned paper, fear not...you can do this! The paper is gorgeous, and you can get great coordinating accessories (like chipboard letters, cardstock sticker borders, etc.) and put together a page in a snap.

This page came together in about 20 minutes by using "strips" of paper, ribbon, cut-out from the patterned paper, chipboard lettters and stickers from the accessories sheet. Of course, I was compelled to use more Glossy Accent and fine glitter (my thing right now if you've been following my "trends")...these took about as long to dry as to assemble the layout.



If you are among those that have a cardinal rule about not using an entire sheet of patterned paper as a background (...smile here), you are probably shocked and amused that I did just that for this layout. I spent more time pondering what to do here than assembling the page. Once I had the idea to use 3 photos to fill the width of a page, added two strips of paper and the letters, boom...a whole 20 minutes had gone by. Again, had to add Glossy Accents and glitter...this girl loves the sparkles!

A few more accesories and scraps and look...3 cards. There is so much in this line and on the accesories sheet that I could've kept going...

If you haven't been to the store lately, you really must get there soon. The other parts of the Lime Rickey line are very different and really cool. You'll see some new layouts with that coming soon from other Design Team members!
Enjoy your weekend!

Stamping challenge...

Ha...I may have posted a "stumper" of a challenge.

Whether you own stamps or not, you can stamp on layouts and cards! You can cut simple shapes out of potatos, foam core board, apply paint to a flower or leaf (yes...saw it in a magazine), or other objects like the end of a pencil, hands/fingers, feet/toes, etc.

I entered the paper crafting world through stamping, so I have a quite a few stamps and seem to collect them still (although I should use them more!). This layout came together really quickly with an alphabet set and 2 stamps from an arrow set. The background paper is Cosmo Cricket that Paper Pals sold some time ago. I "enhanced" the stamps with stickles to help them pop (have I mentioned that I love Stickles?).

Enjoy!

Anita

Celebrate with new Creative Imaginations Paper and other goodies!

This year, we had 2 "big" birthdays in our family. My son happily turned 13 in February, and I gloomily turned 40 last September. The new Birthday papers from Creative Imaginiations were just what I needed to perk up my attitude and make me want to scrapbook the very few photos from my birthday. How can you not "get happy" with these spiral polka-dots?

I added to the mix Creative Cafe flowers in both felt and chip board, more Creative Cafe with a tag and word stickers, and lots of strategically placed lime green stickles!

Again, I used the "scraps" after making the layouts, but my favorite new embellishment is this adorable "pom-pom" ribbon from the store....they have it in many colors!

I really wanted the circles to convey a major sentiment on this layout by using both the paper and the chip board and emphasizing this design element. I was having a "Circle of Life" moment as I did these two pages (read...tear and sniffle here).

The Technique Tuesday (Fundamentals) chip board is amazing to work with (trust me, you'll love it). Big brads, colored in holes, holes with stickles all help bring out the "circle of life" vibe as well. I also tried to strategically use the paper to emphasize that Spencer turned 13 with paper-covered chipboard arrows and the journaling.

Enjoy...both the birthdays of those you love...and this new paper line!
Anita

Design Team Challenge - Pick a Color and Stick with It!

Are you ready for a challenge?

Pick 1 color...or a neutral...and go for it! A focus on the photos, journaling, and textures is a fun experiment ...I hope you enjoy it too!

The creative process that brought me to the one color (actually white isn't a color, but you know what I mean!) was interesting and this layout is certainly not what I thought I'd be doing when I sat down to scrapbook yesterday. For this layout I used Bazzill embossed paper, a beautiful pearlized vellum, pearl brads w/ white flowers, and my favorite, Doodlebug "loopy-lou" sticker letters (that I then glittered).

My other idea will become a challenge at a later date, but for now...let's see what you can do!

Anita

new Delight by Fancy Pants Designs

Oh those designers at Fancy Pants Designs...they always have something so fabulously wonderful to assist us in our creative pursuits! Add to it Ali Edwards new stamps for Technique Tuesday and you have a "delightful" pairing!

The new Delight line by Nancie Rowe Janitz was great to play with for these layouts and cards. While the papers are in, the accessories and embellishments are still on their way. To embellish these layouts and cards, I turned to my "stash" of ribbons and Creative Cafe felt flowers and chip embellies. The colors are marvelous together and this allowed me to use "something old and something new".

Technique Tuesday stamps are fantastic anyway, but now they have Ali Edwards on board? This is so awesome!

Special techniques or things to note on these layouts:

• Journaling on transparency is so easy
• After you stamp (or write) on your cards/layouts, you can always go over them with Stickles for a little pizazz!
• Add flair to the paper itself (see flowers in layout #1) with Stickles!
• You can embellish any paper by using Diamond Glaze or Glossy Accents (by Inksentials) on it... (layout #2)

What can you create with this paper, stamps and your stash?

Enjoy!

Anita

New Flower Patch by Making Memories

Making Memories has done it again with their Flower Patch line! Once again, with a few pieces of paper, some of the matching embellishments, sticker letters (or stamps) and a little bit of innovation, you can create layouts and cards that work well for Easter or spring in general. Some of the papers remind me of heritage themes or perhaps even weddings.

Special Techniques I used:

• a photo collage from Picasa (free photo editing and organizaing program...www.picasa.com)
• stickles over sticker letters for a little extra flair
• diamond glaze and ultra fine glitter over sticker letters for a little different flair
• "chalk" the page with ColorBox chalk/ink to make it look messy (like the dyed fingers in the photo)
• staple the ribbon...really stapling is OK
• trim the rounded scalloped edge off of the round piece to "boy-ize" it
• cut the pre-formed journaling card to fit your page and a whole new look
• salvage the scraps!

Take a look at these ideas for starters, but then head in to Paper Pals...there are many more patterns in this line, some more Easter-y, others just springy, still others, even more versatile...all are beautiful!

Enjoy!

Anita

Design Team Show & Tell

What you share on the PPDT blog is probably just the tip of a great big crafty iceberg. What have you been working on lately? It's time for Show and Tell!

I love making these fun and easy paper topiaries. I made several for Easter gifts last year, many as ornaments for our Christmas tree, and now this one for the February display at Paper Pals! You can find a pattern for them at Heather Bailey's blog, www.hellomynameisheather.com

I love this paper line because it has blues and black as part of the color scheme...a new twist on Valentine's paper!

New Basic Grey-Bittersweet Line

Oh how I do love Basic Grey...this company constantly amazes me and I am so thankful that Karen & Shauna love it too and keep us all stocked in the latest and greatest lines. This line, Bittersweet, is so fantastic, with lovely colors of brown, crimson, tan, pink in a delightful mixture of patterns that work really well together. The line is perfect for love/Valentine themes, but the color scheme and patterns could really work for so much more than that! I intentially created very simple layouts here that by using the line's accompanying "sticker" sheet and a little ribbon you can pull together layouts, cards and home decor items in a flash!

See what I mean?

As always, I turn to my "scraps" to make cards. I love playing with unusual shapes and sizes. The photos below don't show it, but I also used Diamond Glaze, Stickles and some fine glitter on these cards.

KI Memories and Bazzill team up for whimsical kit

How could I not love to create a kit using such wonderfully versatile and playfully whimsical colors and patterns as you'll find in this kit? KI Memories can always "bring it" and paired with Bazzill paper and embellishments, a lovely Butterfly overlay and cute button brads, you're sure to be able to create something you'll love with this kit.

I created 2 12 x 12 layouts and four cards for this kit, but trust me...you'll probably be able to stretch your "scraps" even further! the contents of this kit are generous!! The layouts were designed to create either two stand alone layouts or a double page spread.

The first layout, Thank Goodness I'm becoming more like my Mother may not appeal to everyone, so I included another journaling prompt/quote about sisters. So, you can create a layout like mine, or one about sisters (perhaps your own, your Mom and hers, grandmother, sorority sisters, etc). The second layout, Some of the Best Lessons are Learned from Kids, is designed for anyone that knows or has kids in their life (perhaps your own, your neighbors, your niece/nephew, etc.) Or, of course, choose not to use either of the journaling prompts and come up with something totally your own!

Finally, the cards are literally unusual shapes and sizes with fun "bits" of the other papers that I created from my "scraps"...a great way to use your supplies and make sure the trees that made their way into our stash get used beautifully!

I hope you enjoy the kit as much as I enjoyed creating it!
Anita

New Kimberly Polson for Fiskers...

This new line by Kimberly Polson for Fiskers is so beautiful!

While I focused primarily on the flocked/butterfly paper, the brown/blue harlequin paper is simple and gorgeous as well! This whole line is so versatile!

Special techniques used here include:

Stickles, stickles and more stickles (this product is one of my new favorites)
Use distressing ink or chalk to tone down the color on ribbon (the brown/blue ribbon was too bright for the paper until I distressed it).
Pop Dots - (I love the dimension they provide to any layout or card)
Circle punch (an old tool, dusted off and used again :)
Cover chipboard letters (or anything else) with paper for a "perfectly matched" look)

Enjoy!