GCD Studios

2012-02-02T00:00:00.000-08:00

It came and it went. I can't believe that CHA is already gone. I have so much to share about this event and how much GCD has grown. All our collections seemed to be a hit and we met many new friends from around the world. I can't post about everything today, but I will on Monday (next week). I have so many fun photos to share with you all.

Tomorrow, I'll be posting about our newest DT call for our 2012-2013 team search. I hope you all take the time to try out. We are always looking for new faces and talented crafty gals that are passionate about craftying. Make sure to stop by tomorrow to see all the info for the call.

Well, I'm excited for this new year and that we started the year with 8 new amazing collections. Now we just need to fill our DT spots. This year we are welcoming back...

And Abbie Nichols is our newest Teen Sponsor. You might recognize Abbie from the

Creating Keepsakes Teen Talent Contest

She is just the cutest thing and loves scrapping.

Alright, I'll see you all tomorrow and I hope all our CHA friends travel home safely. What an amazing week it's been!

Country Charm

2012-01-23T11:14:00.000-08:00

Today I have the last collection to share and it's a good one :)

Please welcome our new Country Charm.

Also, remember our papers are now on cardstock and GCD Studios has said goodbye to the linen paper.

Layout by: Heidi Sonboul

Card by: Heidi Van Laar

Isn't it so darling?

What do you think?

Flower Child

2012-01-16T08:56:00.000-08:00

Card By: Heidi Van Laar

Layout by: Heidi Sonboul

Tomorrow I'll be back with one more collection from Diane Kappa and it's my favorite. I think you'll love it too.
What do you think of Flower Child?

Story Book Collection

2012-01-14T14:17:00.000-08:00

Today I have this fun and youthful collection for you.

Donna Salazar has combined both boy and girl themes into one awesome Story Book Collection. From Pirates to tea parties, this collections works well for any childhood themed layout, birthday card or part themes.

Donna has designed her papers (front and back) to turn into 2 paged layouts.

Plus she has partnered up with Spellbinders and these two papers work perfect with their dies.

Make sure you also check out her Crafty Chronicle.
It's packed with great ideas and Spellbinders dies with with them.
So cool right?!

We would love to hear from you. What do you think?

2012-01-13T08:14:00.000-08:00

I'm back and with another beautiful collection from Diane Kappa.

I just love these blues, greens and brown together. It's perfect for a boy or girl and the basic patterns at perfect for any themed layout.

So what do you think?

Tomorrow...I'll be back with another Donna Salazar collection :)

Splendor

2012-01-10T13:22:00.000-08:00

Please Welcome
Heather Tozzi

Card By: Heidi Van Laar

I love this new collection so much! Heather is getting more and more amazing with each new collection. She made the Great out Doors, Material Girl and now Splendor for GCD Studios. Just look at these colors... they are to die for and the patterns are so vintage yummy. I hope you love this collection as much as I do, because Heather is one talented designer and a dear friend.

Layout By: Heidi Sonboul

Bio:

Having been an artist from an early age, Heather has always had an eye for color, composition and detail. It was only natural that she would make a career out of what she loved to do. In 2001, Heather graduated from Brooks College of Long Beach, California with her associate’s degree in Graphic Design. She later went on to work as a designer in multi-media advertising in the Southern California area.

Heather has played a integral roll in designing for GCD Studios since the very beginning with paper collections such as Zen Garden and Daydream Ensemble. Her proven design skills and fun, easy-going personality reflects in her work. Amazing details, fun patterns and quirky motifs are her signature design style. A style that has quickly moved her into the spotlight as one of GCD Studios premier artists.

So tell me... What do you think?
What's your favorite about the collection?

Oh Happy Day By Heidi Sonboul

2012-01-06T14:17:00.000-08:00

I'm so thrilled to be sharing this collection and am so grateful for the opportunity that GCD Studios gave me to design it. I had so much fun working on it with Mr. Sonboul and after making changes and working late into many late nights... I feel it's time to finally share it. Thanks for all your support and friendship :)

Bio:

Heidi Sonboul is our newest designer her at GCD Studios. You might know her from running the DT and blog. She started scrapbooking years ago and designing a collection of her own has been a long time dream. She has been published in many magazines and knows the "ins and outs" of this scrapbook community. She is a mother to two active boys and has been married for 10 years to the love of her life "Mr. Sonboul". She says "Scrapbooking is my life and I take part in it daily. It makes me so happy to document it and my families life in a fun scrappy way". We look forward to what she comes up with next.

First a layout

Layout by Heidi Sonboul
The "circles into square" idea came from the sweet and talented Davinie Fiero

The 12X12 pad and it also comes in a 8X8

Card By: Heidi Van Laar

12X12 Pad

Emily Rose

Myra's Pearls

Hailey

Chloe

Alicia

Savannah

Meagan

Mariah

Priscila

Abbie's Sunshine

Andrea

Amber's Avenue

Chipboard Letters

White Rimmed Brads

White Rimmed Paper Clips

Border Strips

3D Chipboard Stickers

Die Cut Tags

Sweet Tooth with Diane Kappa

2012-01-05T11:00:00.000-08:00

A few Months back we had a new designer come on board with GCD Studios and I just love her! Her name is Diane Kappa. You might know her for her bright and cheerful fabrics that can be found all over the world. Diane is so darn sweet and adorable and I can say that she is honestly a girl I look up too. Just check out her Bio and you'll see why.

Bio: From an early age, Diane fondly recalls drawing with crayons, sculpting clay, and sewing fabric. Her mother, an accomplished painter, encouraged Diane’s artistic development. Surrounded by other artists and frequent visits to museums, art became an integral part of her life.
While studying fashion design at the University of Cincinnati, Diane discovered silk painting and right away two worlds collided: a desire to paint and create pattern while continuing to work with fabric and form.
For over 11 years Diane designed for a high-end fashion retailer in addition to small, large, and specialty retailers. In 2008, she realized a long-time dream by opening her own surface design studio creatign print and pattern for apparel, home furnishings, stationery and now scrapbooking products.
Diane’s inspiration is drawn from the latest trends and life’s natural surroundings. Her style is often described as contemporary without being overly trendy. She is always researching and understanding trends, but interprets them into her own way creating a timeless look.

Isn't she sooo adorable?!
Oh plus she already currently has a GCD collection paper pad “Home for the Holidays” being sold at Michaels. Go check it out.

Now onto our 2nd collection for this week. Today I have a new cheerful and sweet collection to share. This makes me wish I had a daughter, so I can use it like crazy.

Layout by: Heidi Sonboul

Card by: Heidi Van Laar

What do you think? Isn't it so cute and girlie??!!
I think it's perfect for Spring, Summer, Valentines Day, and Birthday Celebrations :)

2012-01-04T10:29:00.000-08:00

In the scrapbook world, this is my favorite time of the year. We are weeks away from CHA and we are working hard on our booth to reclaim out title of Best booth at show. Our theme this year is going to be beautiful and I think you will all love it ;)

Now, lets get the release party started.
Up first we have the Beautiful and spirited Donna Salazar's collection

Card by: Heidi Van Laar

Donna has teamed up with Spellbinders again and this lovely alpha paper work beautifully with their "Donna's Alphas"
They can been seen at Spellbinders .com

Donna also has raw Compatible chipboard that will work with this font.

Isn't it so soft and elegant. I think it's her best collection to date.
So, what do you think of it and how would you used it?

CHA Release week

2012-01-01T05:26:00.001-08:00

We hope to see you then!

simple little decor project

2011-12-22T05:00:00.000-08:00

Merry almost Christmas to everyone! Today I thought I would show you how to make a fun and simple little decor project for your home this Holiday season.

I had the idea in my head to do a little framed stocking. For my template, I simply did an online search and got this:

You can get the full size image by clicking here. I printed it out on regular paper, and trimmed around the edge. I used this to cut a stocking out of white cardstock, then covered it with Christmas themed paper from the Rob & Bob Scandia Jul collection.

I stitched around the edges for some added texture, and to make it look a little like fabric ;)

I added some letter stickers and punched embellishments, as well as some white felt for the top of the stocking.

This project only took me about an hour from start to finish! A quick little craft. You could even do different patterns - a candy cane, gingerbread man, Christmas tree, snowflake....there are lots of possibilities!

Hope you have a blessed Holiday season!

Red and Mint Green with Tessa

2011-12-13T05:00:00.000-08:00

Red and mint green have been a favorite holiday palette of mine for a long time. Paired with the black and gold of this inspiration photo, these colors are a beautiful take on traditional Christmas hues.

I decided to make a necklace, something I might wear to a holiday party this year. I combined fabric flowers that I made myself with a pendant made with the Chip Art tool and a bird cabochon from the Sweet Surrender collection:

I stamped my initial and three doves (for my three boys) into the chipboard disc that came with the necklace. To match the color palette, I spray painted both the chipboard and the setting gold.

I love how the bird cabochon looks like it's landing in a nest of red satin and beads.

I have already added Chip Art inspired jewelry to my Christmas gift list and can't wait to experiment with more materials. The possibilities are endless and the Chip Art tools are so easy to use. Whether you combine them with the color palette that inspired me or go in your own direction, your creation will be well-received. Thanks for stopping by today!

I love advent calendars

2011-12-11T05:00:00.000-08:00

I loved advent calendars when I was a little girl. To be honest, I still love them as an adult. Every year I purchase an chocolate advent calender for my girls but this year I wanted to make one. I found a little box template online and then proceeded to created 24 of these cute little packages of happiness.

They take a little time to make but they are so worth it. Just find a box template you like and then go to town. You can even enlist your little helpers to punch out the circles and adhere them to the boxes. I add a few pieces of candy to each box and then place the boxes in order on my mantel piece.

Supplies:
Under the Big Top from Funhouse
Sweet Spot from Material Girl
Butterfly Harmony from Spring in Bloom

I hope that this will inspire you to create your own version of an advent calendar. Even though it's the 11th... you're not too late. So, just get out those papers and get crafty!

2011-12-10T05:00:00.000-08:00

Last year was no exception with our snowy filled days and not only do I love it, but Alyssa does too! She couldn't wait to dawn on her winter gear and go play in the snow! Here I created a layout that has her putting all her winter clothing on and running outside. Little did she know that it was FREEZING out there! I snapped her turning around looking at me! She kept saying it was "snow" cold out!

GCD supplies: Rob&Bob Scandia Jul Scandinavian Holiday Stripe Collection papers, Rob&Bob Scandia Jul Scandinavian Sparkle Lattice Light Green papers, Rob&Bob Scandia Jul Scandinavian die cut ornament sheets, Tina Higgins Flower Brads Sweet Surrender Collection.

So tell me friends, do you like frosty mornings too?

The Carney's
Dayv, Elizabeth, Alyssa, and puppies Jake, Kira, and Gracie
My blog
When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me". Erma Bombeck

Oh Joy it's Crafting time with Heidi Van Laar!

2011-12-08T05:00:00.000-08:00

Hello! Want to see and amazing be of inspiration?

The colors in this are so amazing, and although not typical, I think they are perfect for Christmas! I have a couple of cards to share to show you what I mean.

I broke out my Chip Art tool and some Soul Food papers to create this bright Noel card.

I hand cut the pink poinsettia from some solid colored b sides and added a jeweled brad from the Homespun Chic collection.

More solid colored B side papers from the Material Girl and Ava collections created the bow and wreath that are the focal pint of this card. And lets not forget that big beautiful Homespun Chic bling!

Material Girl and Scandia Jul proved the the paper that make up the multi- toned green background and I covered some Chip Art letters in Material Girl paper and added some glitter for holiday sparkle to finish my "JOY"

Now if only I could convince my husband that pink is a Christmas color :)

How are your holidays going?

2011-12-06T05:00:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! How are your holidays going? I've been gearing up for our big wrapping day by making holiday gift tags... enough to use on our family gifts and enough to share as gifts for teachers and neighbors.

This year my holiday gift wrapping inspiration has stemmed from this inspiration photo...

and here are my 2011 gift tags...

... and a mini tag box to keep of gift them in:)

Products: patterned paper (Soulful from Soul Food Collection, Our Family Tree from Sweet Surrender Collection, Light Green Sparkle Lattice from Scandia Jul Collection and Black Floral from Artsy Urban Collection).

What kind of crafty gift wrap are you whipping up this season?

wrapping gifts

2011-12-05T05:00:00.000-08:00

I will admit it - I am no good at wrapping gifts. My corners are not perfectly creased, I never seem to cut the right amount of wrapping paper before starting, and I tend to end up with tape sticking my fingers together. So what's a girl like me to do? Bag it. And just so that simple bag can stand up to all the pretty, perfect boxes under the tree, add an over the top gift topper.

Using scraps from the Scandia Jul collection, a few snowflake ornaments and a handful of picks from the holiday floral aisle, I whipped up these gift toppers each in a matter of minutes.

Using a striped patterned paper always makes for a great rosette. Jingle bells tied with twine are the perfect center embellishment.

A large berry pick is prettier with hand-cut, patterned paper leaves.

A large banner cut from patterned paper and laid over a smaller berry pick makes for a great "to and from" backdrop.

A thinner banner with cabochon accent is a fun addition to a feather, jingle bell pick. With fanciful gift toppers like these, I'm hoping no one notices my lack of present wrapping skills. Happy holidays!

WOOT a double Teri post in one day! Surprise!

2011-12-03T12:00:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

One of my favorite gifts to give during the holidays is gift cards.

That's because it is that one gift I don't have do any guessing for: Buy a gift card, give it to the recipient and let them decide! Translation: Happy Teri! :)

This year, I'll be giving my gift card gifts the handmade touch with a simple envelope made just for them.

They will look at a little something like this.

And like this.

These little envelopes are super easy to make and not the least bit difficult on your budget.

Here's what you need to make one of your own:

* GCD Studios patterned paper (I'm using paper from the Scandia Jul collection.)

* Small merchandise sacks (I'm using ones I found on Etsy.com.)

* A strong adhesive, paper trimmer and embellishments

Start by cutting sack down to 3" tall.

Cut a 3 1/2" x 4 1/2" piece of patterned paper.

Decorate with two additional strips of patterned paper.

Fold paper to fit around the bag. Add adhesive only on one portion of the paper. Adhere to bag.

Slide what you want inside the envelope.

Seal the envelope up by putting adhesive on the half of the paper.

Decorate envelope as you see fit.

I chose to decorate my envelopes with patterned paper, gems and a little twine. I think it would be fun to use letter stickers and diecuts as well.

Happy holidays!

terisplace.wordpress.com

Special Christmas Cards for Special People

2011-12-03T05:00:00.000-08:00

Hi GCD fans!

Say it with me: The holidays rock!

I don't know about you, but every year I send out around 100 Christmas cards to family and friends. I've got a plan this year to make it easier on myself. Rather than sending out handmade cards to everyone on my list, the majority of them will receive a printed card. I will make a few extra special handmade ones for a few extra special people on my list.

I decided the other that there was no time like the present to get going on those extra special cards and set out to make a couple shaped cards the other day.

I started by finding a little color inspiration from this picture.

Pretty, huh?

I always fall into the red and green trap when it comes to cards so I thought this combo was perfect to try out for this project: Heavy on the green, no red and little bit of gray and black.

I used the photo as a springboard to make this tree card.

The papers are all from GCD Studios' Scandia Jul collection. I cut several papers from the collection into 1" x 3" strips, folded them in half and then mounted them on cardstock to shape a tree.

The stars are from GCD Studios' Chip Art Chipboard Shapes collection. I painted each of the stars with silver paint. I added gems to some of them. Others, I added buttons from the Sweet Surrender collection.

And in case you wondering, the tree really does stand on its own. :)

I used this first card as inspiration for myself to make a second tree card.

This time, I cut a triangle card base from cardstock and then ran strips of patterned paper down it. That made it a little less time consuming than the first card.

I decorated the card similar to the first one with chipboard painted stars, buttons and gems.

This card also stands on its own, thanks to a tent-folded design.

See you again soon!

terisplace.wordpress.com

Are you a December baby?

2011-12-02T05:00:00.000-08:00

As it gets colder and colder, we tend to want to stay in and craft more. Well, at least I do :)

Today I have this winter wonderland photo as inspiration to share and our crafty Mandy has created something lovely to share.

At first when I saw this card I thought... ummm a Christmas card in Dec? and then I remember that I have 2 sibling with Birthdays in Dec. How about you? Are you a Dec baby? I love that Mandy thought of this when you using today's color challenge. So smart!

Mandy said:

I went a bit off subject with this card but I really love how the stitching mimics the branches in the inspo photo and the little blings remind me of the glares that come off the snow on the trees in winter.

Wow, just check out this cool stitching and blink. LOVE IT! Thanks Mandy for this beautiful inspiration and Happy Birthday to all you Dec babies ;)

Dec Kit Give away

2011-12-01T05:00:00.000-08:00

This months kits has fun pops of cool colors. Like minty greens, ice blues and splashes of pink! PLUS... tons of fun embellishments ;)

Later this next week I'll share how I and another DT gal used this collection.

Please welcome....

Jennifer Evans

Jennifer had the change to work with this months kit give away and she made some really adorable things. I really loved the mini album!

I love that she thought to use a zipper. How crafty cool!

And I LOVE this layout. It's soooo darn pretty!

Now leave a comment and I will pick one winner next week. This month we have TONS of beautiful projects to share and at the end of the month after Christmas we will start sharing some sneak peeks of our 2012 winter collections. We have some big surprises too ;)

I'll see you all tomorrow

Please welcome...

2011-11-30T05:00:00.000-08:00

Please welcome todays Guest designer...

Anita Recksiedler

I have been a fan of Anita's cards for some time and after meeting her in person at last years Scrapfest... I just love her! She is so delightfully fun and amazingly talented.

Thanks Anita for sharing your beautiful work using the Nov Kit of the month.

Get those fall photos scrapped :)

2011-11-26T05:00:00.000-08:00

Today I have a fun and colorful layout to share with you about our trip to the pumpkin patch this year! For my title I knew the Great Outdoors woodgrain letters would work perfectly with my theme.

Using my circle cutter, I cut a variety of sizes of circles from the right side of my page, then used the negative space to add patterned paper behind. I stitched around some of the circles and used my paper piercer on the others. Brads from the Great Outdoors collection were perfect for my layout too.

Here's the finished layout! I love the orange/brown/green color scheme, it's perfect for fall. I hope you get the chance to sit down soon and scrapbook those fall memories before the snow starts flying! :)

A beautiful fall combo

2011-11-25T05:00:00.000-08:00

I love Thanksgiving. The season. The food. The family. And when I was working on a Thanksgiving themed project to share with you today, with this lovely photo as inspiration...

.....I'll admit, the cardmaker in me was so tempted to make some simple little 'thank you' cards. But I decided to do something a little different, something I felt captured the 'Thanks' in 'Thanksgiving' a little better. ;)
Meet a boring old journal I had gathering dust in storage....

And now meet redecorated journal!

I felt a gratitude journal would be perfect, especially for me, since I have SO much to be thankful for and don't always take the time to really appreciate it.

A yummy little candy dot tops of this ribbon that can easily be slipped off...

Opening up...

To reveal a nice, thick little book to write all those nice things down. ;)

I think you should give it a try - find some old journal or book in your house, or a journal at a dollar store, redecorate, and write down all those things in life you're grateful for. :)

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Blog: bearydocardsinc.blogspot.com

******************************
She Seeks
Trail Blazer
Lanterns
Ponderosa
Woodgrain Alphabet Chipboard Stickers
Cabochons
Die Cut Borders
Glitter Candy Dots

A Cute Tree Idea

2011-11-24T17:00:00.000-08:00

I was inspired by this tree that I found on Pinterest, and decided to make one for my family for this holiday season. I thought it would make a great yearly tradition.

Supplies include:

Elementary My Dear by GCD papers
The Great Outdoors Woodgrain Alpha from GCD

Oh lama!

2011-11-24T05:00:00.000-08:00

Hello there! I have a rather um.....unique fall decor project to share today, a harvest llama. How does one come up with the idea to make a harvest llama? Well let's just say that our fearless leader here at GCD Studios, a certain Heidi Sonboul has quite the sense of humor :)

I'm not one to shy away from a challenge though and I went to work creating a harvest llama that I would be proud to display with my fall decor.

Here's how I made him.

1. Cut one left and one right facing llama from both lightweight chipboard and patterned paper.

2. Adhere the patterned paper llamas to the chipboard.

3. Cut a 2x7" strip of cardstock ( this will become the center piece that turns you llama into a box) Score 1/4" from each edge on the long sides and again 2" from each short side.

4. Fold all sides up like so.

5. Adhere to one side of llama.

6. Adhere second side of llama, making sure to line each side up.

7. Decorate and fill however you like!

Supplies:
Chipboard: (Colorbok), Patterned Paper: (8x8 Soul food Pad), Die Cut borders: (Soul Food), Floral Brads, Die cut doily) (Sweet Surrender) GCD Studios, corner rounder: We R Memory Keepers, Other: White Hemp Cord. Size: 6.5"x9.5"

I filled mine with wheat sprigs purchased at the craft store, but you could fill him with dried flowers, nuts, candies, etc., just about anything that won't destroy paper. He could be used as a centerpiece, but I'll probably add him to an autumn display I have on one of my bookcases.

I embellished him with rolled roses and one of my chrysanthemum type flowers (tutorial here) as well as a few flower brads and a die cut doily from the Sweet Surrender collection.

The patterned papers and die cut trim I used were from the Soul Food Collection.

If want to make one of these yourself, or maybe you're just a llama fan I thought I'd share the pattern I created.

Click to open, right click to save.

Hope you enjoyed my harvest llama, have a great day!

Oh my apples!

2011-11-24T00:00:00.000-08:00

I just love the colors of fall... don't you? But here in the South where I live, there aren't as many colors outside as I'd like to see, so we've got to find other ways to celebrate the season. I saw something similiar to this project on Pinterest, and thought of a fun way to decorate with an apple theme. I first used an apple punch to punch out apples from all different patterned papers in Melody Ross' Soul Food line.

Next, I took the glass out of an 8x10 frame and used the cardboard inside the frame to trace and cut out a piece of the correct size from a foam board.

I cut it out, then cut out a piece of burlap type fabric that was bigger around than the foam piece.

I ironed the fabric piece to make sure all of the wrinkles were gone, then used a stapler to staple it down on all sides of the back, pulling it as I went to make sure there would be no wrinkles in the front.

I then used a ruler and a pencil to line up the apples and attached them with foam dots to give them dimension. Finally, I stamped down the letters to the word "thankful", as it's what I truly want this and every other season to be about.

Supplies Used:
patterned paper - GCD Studios
frame - Michaels
punch - Martha Stewart
fabric, foam board - Joanns
ink - Stazon
stamps - October Afternoon

And I made this little squirrel

2011-11-23T17:00:00.000-08:00

I love the movie Up! My favorite part is the talking dog, especially how earnest and dedicated he was...until he thought he saw a squirrel.

Since I'm a high school teacher, this story is perfect for me to use in the classroom. Any time I see the students off task, I say, "Squirrel!" They know I'm pointing out their distracted attention and get back to work, after a little laughter.

This was especially helpful in my AP English class last year, a class I truly loved to teach. What a good natured bunch of kids who worked so very hard with such good humor! To remember the good year and all the times I said "Squirrel!" to them, I made this page:

And I made this little squirrel:

GCD Studios' Elementary, My Dear worked perfectly on this page to set off the blue shirts in the photo. And the perfect paper for squirrel-making is Trail Blazer from The Great Outdoors:

To make the squirrel, I used these punches and scissors:

And this ink, floss, and brad:

Plus some googly eyes. (I always love when I get a chance to add some googly eyes to my pages.)

Don't hold back if you want to add an image to your page but don't have the image on hand; rather than going shopping, paper piece the exact accent you want!

The giving acorn

2011-11-23T05:00:00.000-08:00

To help celebrate Thanksgiving this month, I thought that it would be fun to create a new tradition with my family. I decided to make a table decor project that my family could use to help share what they are thankful for.

The giving acorn:
The project is a paper acorn stuffed with leaves. Each family member takes a leaf and writes down what they are thankful for. Then we take turns reading them during dinner.

To create the acorn, I found a photo of an acorn on the internet, printed it out, and used it to make a template.

I cut two acorns out of pattern paper and glued the edges the sides and bottom together. I kept the embellishments simple, by just inking the edges and adding a swirl pattern that I fussy cut out of pattern paper, and buttons. I used my Slice to cut out different sized (and shaped) leaves.

Here is a photo of the acorn with the leaves:

I used papers from
Donna Salazar's antiquities collection
and buttons from the Sweet Surrender collection.
I hope that this project inspires you to create a new tradition with your family.

my blog

A little pop of coral pink

2011-11-22T17:00:00.000-08:00

Hi there, ready for a beauuuutiful inspiration pic?

Isn't that dreamy? We just love the creamy greys and browns and that little pop of coral pink is just perfect! Today we have 3 more designers to share their gorgeous work and up first is

I made a couple cards with this piece of inspiration, and the first is pretty literal. It's easy to see where I got the idea for the grey background, the layered papers, the clips, buttons and bit of ribbon. They all came right out of this photo.

Supplies:
Cardstock: (ivory, kraft) The Paper Co., Patterned Papers: (Trail Blazer from the Great Outdoors collection, Girlie girl from the Material Girls Collection, Soul Vine from the Soul Food collection) Lace cut Paper: (The Little Lovebirds from the Sweet Surrender collection) Embellishments: (Buttons from the Sweet Surrender collection, Rectangle Glass Paperclips from the Soul Food collection) GCD Studios, Seambinding: Scrappinkris on etsy, Twill: Paper Smooches Natural collection, Corner Rounder: We R Memory Keepers
Size: 5.5"x4.25"

I added the flowers from the Material Girl collection and lace from the Sweet Surrender collection to add just a touch more girlie to it it.

The clip from the Soul Food collection was the perfect way to add a sentiment.

Next I decided to use the colors from the inspiration to represent fall.

Supplies:
Cardstock: (ivory) The Paper Co., Patterned Papers: (Cougar, Kiss & Makeup from the Material Girls Collection; She Seeks, Soulfield from the Soul Food collection, Time for Tea from the Antiquities collection) Embellishments: (Buttons from the Sweet Surrender collection) GCD Studios, Stamp: ( Studios AE, Give Thanks by Ali Edwards) Technique Tuesday, Ink: ColorBox, Dies: (circle Nestabilities, Leaves Shapeabilities) Spellbinders, (Quilled Flower) Cuttlebug

Size: 5"x5"

Die cut leaves using papers from the Soul Food collection and flowers quilled from Material Girl papers do the job nicely.

Next up we have....

When I think of Thanksgiving, I also think of taking time to write down what I'm currently thankful for about the members of my family. These pictures of my daughter so describe her little personality and interests right now, and I love how the Materials Girls collection, along with a few Fun House embellishments, helped me create a layout that included that list I wanted for her. I used the rub-ons to wind the list around the photos.

Supplies:
cardstock - Bazzill; patterned paper, embellishments, rub-ons - GCD Studios; stamps - Hampton Arts ink - Stazon

And last we have....

GCD Studio products:

Please Be Seated - Sweet Surrender Collection by Tina Higgins

The Little Lovebirds - Sweet Surrender Collection by Tina Higgins

One Sheet Wonderful - Spring in Bloom Collection by Donna Salazar

Photo Strips - Funhouse Collection by Tina Higgins

Cabochons - Funhouse Collection by Tina Higgins

Together Forever - Sweet Surrender Collection by Tina Higgins

Flower Brads - Sweet Surrender Collection by Tina Higgins

Other products:

American Crafts cardstock, Offray ribbons, Kraft, American Crafts Dots, Glimmer Mist, Computer font DotumChe, Martha Stewart butterfly punch.

Now... wasn't that delightfully beautiful?!

I would love to see how you use these colors this week, so if you get the chance to use these colors, please do share.

Have a great day!

A fall picnic to share

2011-11-21T17:00:00.000-08:00

Today I have another inspiration to share and it's such a great fall palette. Most people think of picnics in the spring and summer, but our family loves going on a fall picnic too. Yum! So pull up a seat and enjoy today's color theme.

Now let's check our how our 3 DT gals and how they used this inspiration

I also was inspired by the loose compartmentalization and layering. Here's what I created.

Closer...

Supplies: Papers from the Great Outdoors collection and Fun House Collection. Chipboard letters: GCD Studios and American Crafts Chipboard words and brads from the Soul Food collection.

This was the color inspiration I was given this month, at first I didn´t like it, until I started looking for the possible papers, and realize there were quite nice! dark colors with only one really -shinny- one, the yellow; I totally loved this idea!!

The first card I keep it simple, I worked more with the differents shapes and words:

For some reason... I feel really confortable creating patterns, even with pattern papers! So here is my chevron pattern with some yellow embellishment:

I hope my boys will remember how they spent every Thanksgiving morning in the timber with their daddy. A suggessfully hunt or not, it's the time together that makes the best memories.

Supplies: Ponderosa - The Great Outdoors , Roughin' It - The Great Outdoors, Bandana - The Great Outdoors , Happy Camper - The Great Outdoors, Metal Rimmed Glass Brads - The Great Outdoors Collection , 3.5" x 5" Postcards - The Great Outdoors, Chipboard Stickers - The Great Outdoors

I'm so proud of our crafty girls and these beautiful projects they made from this photo. It's amazing how one photo can inspirer so many different looks and styles! Thanks Leslie, Agustina and Megan!

A cute charming house

2011-11-21T05:00:00.001-08:00

I had so much fun with the challenge given to the designers this month: make your own embellishment out of GCD Studios paper. When we first got the list I really wasn't sure what to pick so I just took the first thing on the list 1.)HOME. While I was laying in bed one night the idea for this card hit me and it was so easy to create just cut out a house shape,snip green paper for grass, and roll some scrap piece of paper fun right? YES!
Here in the closeup you can see the scrap rolls, the snipped grass and how I used the Die-cut CTRL + Click to follow link">http://gcdstudios.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=1715&category_id=22&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=144">Die-cut Ribbons - Antiquities Collection by Donna Salazar for the roof of the house.
So next time you're digging around looking for that perfect embellishment try making your own from the scraps you have laying around.

TUTORIAL
Now would y'all like to create one of these cute little houses? Well let me share with you how I recreated this little house to use on a large tag.
First I raided my GCD Studios scraps I gathered a bunch of different colors and sizes plus a border strip.
I cut drew a house onto cardstock and cut it out.
Then I adhesified the the house because when I create stuff like this i like to work in an assembly line.
Next roll those scrap papers.
Tip1 if the papers are tough use a pencil to help get them rolling.
Tip2 Put Adhesive on the edge of the paper so that your roll stays rolled up.
Arrange the rolls in the order you want then start placing them/adhering them to the house.

After all your rolls are adhered to the house you'll have some excess paper here and there go back and snip it off with your scissors.
Your house will then look something like this.
The roof is up next this is where the border strip comes in I measured the house and cut the border a smidge longer so there would be some over hang.
depending on how fancy you want it you can double up the scallop edge like i have or not. Because my border was a light color i inked it with a dark brown.
Once the ink is dry adhere to the house.
To make the grass I used a combo of a border punch and my scissors then stitched the 2 together. I also adhered them to the bottom of the house so that the rolls that are a bit jumbled at the bottom are not seen.

Embellish as you wish. I used twine, Epiphany Crafts Heart Shape Studio, a brad, chipboard tree and stickers.

gobble gobble

2011-11-13T05:00:00.000-08:00

Hey there, Ashley here! Tis the season for turkeys! In this post I am going to show you a super quick and easy way to make cute little turkey place cards. Well let's get started.

1. You will need Soul Food Collection's Brown Mod and Soulful papers, some white cardstock, foam adhesive, a 2" circle punch, a score board and some good scissors.

2. You will need to cut out your turkey feathers. You can trace them or hand draw them whichever you prefer.

3. You then will need to trim your cardstock to 2.5 x 5" and score at the 2 1/8th and 4 1/4 inch marks.

4. Fold the cardstock like you would an accordian fold.

5. Punch out a circle of the backside of the Brown Mod.

6. Put your foam adhesive on the back.

7. Adhere your feathers to the cardstock and adhere the turkey's head as well. Then place foam adhesive on the inside of the small fold.

8. Fold up the small fold to the place card.

9. Hand cut the beak and wattle of the turkey and adhere to card. Add rhinestones for eyes and spell out the name with alpha stickers. And there you have it.

Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did! Have a great day!!

Winner of Kit of the month

2011-11-12T05:00:00.000-08:00

Congrats to:

Lillian Child said...

To be the lucky winner of this set would indeed be a Halloween TREAT! Thanks for the chance!

October 31, 2011 8:13 AM

Please send me your address and we'll send you your kit.

I'm sure some of you have noticed our recent break from blogging. It was just me taking a break to enjoy my birthday and a few other things. NOw that I'm back I have so many great things to share from the DT. This month our Guest designers will be using the Oct/Nov kit we did as a give away. I hope that you find great inspiration from all the designers, because they have gone above and beyond this month.

Here is today's color inspiration. When I saw this room on Pinterest I fell in love and in fact I am designing our living room around it. The cool and warm tons blend perfectly together.

Up first is

Diana said:

I created a picture for my kitchen for Thanksgiving time. I thought it was a cute way to document how my kids have grown plus it's a fun little picture to look at.

Isn't this the cutest and easiest idea! Plus it's super cost efficient when using older, but will cute scraps. Thanks Diana for this adorable idea! Now we have Jennifer Larson with a fun Mini album:She Said:

Hello, it's Jennifer Larson, sharing some cozy colors I paired with a mini album about a family tradition. The Mall of America is a special spot for my family, most especially because my husband and I first met there. Every year we go to the Mall of America on Black Friday. It's honestly not as crazy as it sounds!

I took our pictures from last year and made a mini album using the following color combo as inspiration: The desaturated colors are warm but not to showy, perfect for my bright photos.

I loved how Jen decided to use black as the main color and then used pops of colors. I also loved all the circle shapes with bling. It is very creatively cute! Also if you noticed they both used this paper. It's also in our kit of the month.

Animal Crackers for boys Wallpaper Stripe

Enjoy these muted hues, even when scrapping a bright and wild event or cute little hands!

SUPER cool misting!!!

2011-10-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

Happy October everyone! I hope you're enjoying this wonderful time of year. I for one, love fall. And for us, that means Halloween costume time. It's so much fun for the kids to get to dressed up and it's a day all about them. Here's a layout I created about my daughter's first Halloween costume; complete with a fun how-to.
For my technique this month, I am going to share how to create a bold title using mists and chipboard letters as masks.
I used the Chip Art Chipboard Shapes: Big Alphabet Set. Love this font!

In my spray box I laid out the letters and used scrap paper to create a square around them so I could use a variety of colors.

Don't worry if that over lap a bit. That's the fun of mixing the colors.

And all of them finished up...

I wanted the "letters" to stand out a bit more, so once it was dry I used the chipboard letters and traced them with my journaling pen...

Doesn't that just make them stand out so much more?

And now that I have a fun base for my layout, it's easy to create the rest!

Have fun and Happy Creating!

Megan Klauer
meganklauerphotography
meganklauerdesign

A Ninja Halloween

2011-10-27T05:00:00.000-07:00

I pin on Pinterest and love the inspiration that I get from it. Sometimes I wonder how to translate that inspiration into a scrapbook layout. Here's one thing I did.

First, the pin from Kathleen Rogers:

SO adorable. However I found myself drawn to the cupcakes more than the flags. (Maybe I was hungry!) So I took the inspiration and created this layout:

I have the orange in the center (the pumpkin in the pin), circles (cupcakes) surrounding it, and "sprinkles" of mist all around the outside.

Here's the papers I used:

First, I used some red papers from Elementary, My Dear.

Next:

Trick Pony from Funhouse

Sunday Morning from Youthful Eggsuberance

A couple things I did to finish the page:

I stitched the circles down with a couple straight stitched, then I slowly swirled a few more stitches around the straight stitches.

And to add one more photo, I trimmed it into a circle, then cut a slightly larger circle out of the photos block to house it. I lay the journaling on top of it.

I enjoyed using this pin, not to recreate the actual craft but to take its inspiration to create an original layout. I hope you go use those pins to make a page!

Look our for that Spider Web!!!

2011-10-26T05:00:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. Not only is it fun to dress up but I also love all the yummy Halloween candy you can buy. Since we are on the topic of Halloween, I am going to show you a quick and easy way to add a spider web to your layout.

First you will need a sheet of cardstock. Lightly draw a spider web on your cardstock with a pencil.

Next spray a little bit of mist before tracing the pencil lines with a black pen. After everything has dried, gently erase any visible pencil marks.

The last thing you will need to do is to cut around the outside of your spider web and adhere it to another piece of cardstock or patterned paper. Viola! A super easy and fun spider web. I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial. Here is what the finished product looks like.

Supplies:
Soul Food Brave Soul
Sweet Surrender Envelope Cards
Sweet Surrender The Little Lovebirds
Elementary My Dear Paper Pack

Happy Creating!

Getting Crafty with Mosaic

2011-10-25T05:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, Agustina here! This was my inspiration for this month:

I love mosaic, but I never thought of making one into a card.... until now (:

First I drew the heart on the card, applying tape to all the areas and then.... just had fun with little papers (using the Soul Food Collection) and different kinds of sequins!

To add the -final touchs- with the back of a paint brush and some white paint, I made dots all around...
And... the final card:

Now, I hope you try this fun twist to mosaic work. Have a nice day!

Wedding dresses and flowers

2011-10-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

Who would ever think that wedding dresses and flowers could work for October? But, with warm beautiful colors like these they fit perfectly. For this color inspiration I asked Megan and Kay to create a layout with it and wow... they went above and beyond. Up first we have...

Megan:

Sometimes I start with an inspiration piece and even though it gives me a creative jump start, it often takes off in a completely different direction.

The color orange is what jumped out at me first and of course with it being October, I thought pumpkins! So, I pulled a photo from one of our past trips to our favorite pumpkin patch and began the creative process.

When I'm trying to stick to a specific color combination, I love to pull out my scrap drawer and grab those certain colors. It doesn't matter the theme of the paper or the design, we're strickly looking for color here. Sometimes going outside of the box is fun, ya know?
So here's what I came up with...

{Remember at the beginning I was talking about taking that inspiration in a completely different direction? Well, I ended up swapping out the green for a turquoise and that's okay! It's all about the creative jump start!}
I'm also one who very rarely throws away any scraps. I try to keep everything incase I can possibly reuse it later. Like this piece of the chipboard here...

It was originally from the RV There Yet - Layered Chipboard Stickers - The Great Outdoors Collection by Heather Tozzi. I had used the bottom half on a past layout. So save those pieces, you just never know when you might use them!
Those
Woodgrain Alphabet Chipboard Stickers - The Great Outdoors Collection by Heather Tozzi may be my all time favorites! Woodgrain....swoon!

Where does your inspiration take you? Are you one to stick strictly to the theme & colors or do you find yourself heading in a different direction at times?
Happy Creating!

And here is Kay's beautiful:

I am in love with grey, and with these colors? SWOON-WORTHY. Here is my page:

Papers and embellies are from GCD Studios- From the Soul Food line; Soul Petit Orange Paper; Funky Soul Paper; Beautiful Soul Paper; Transparent Shapes; From Homespun Chic; Die Cut Borders; Homespun Mod Flocking Paper

I love how they made these colors so light and airy and I love how they can work for Halloween theme or a girlie theme. We hope you enjoy this fun and fresh color combo this week.

Triangles oh my!

2011-10-23T05:00:00.000-07:00

Wanna see a yummy pic?

Told ya it was yummy. ;)
Besides being a very delicious looking picture, it's also very inspiring - just look at those fab napkins, and the fun color combo! I decided to make a card and envelope inspired by this trendy photo....

Love the mat (?) that the napkins, berry and bowl are on, so here's my take on that....

And the envelope (inside)...

Front....

See the brown pattern I have on the front of the envelope? I'll show you how I did that here...
(I did this same technique on the kraft cardstock on the card, but with Versamark ink, which is what I'm using in the photos)

Ink up tag....

Quickly press paper to tag...

And oila! Your own canvas like 'stamp'!

I hope you'll give this technique a try - I'd love to see what you come up with!

Blog: bearydocardsinc.blogspot.com

*************************************
Jungle
Butterfly Border
Little Leopard, Pink
Fauna Stripe, Pink
Garden Mix
Giraffe Border
Fabric Travel Tags

rich blue and typical autumn colors = a fresh combo

2011-10-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

Now that autumn is fully upon us here in Minnesota, I am fully ready to scrap the lovely rich colors of the season, not just on outdoors layouts, but anything that makes me feel warm and cozy.

Here's one of those subjects: my husband. We've been together for many years now, and he is my rock.

The other day I noticed we were both wearing similar shirts that reflected our interests, in his case his favorite activity, Dungeons and Dragons, and in my case the best TV show ever, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That inspired me to take some photos of ourselves, which my husband tried to sabotage a bit (see photo three below).

I used a digital photo strip frame from Fei-Fei's Stuff to house all the photos we took, and then I made this layout:

I was inspired by this color combo:
The bit of rich blue makes the typical autumn color combo fresh to look at.

I used the following GCD Studios papers:

Bandana from The Great Outdoors

Garden Mix from Animal Crackers for boys

Trick Pony from Funhouse

Lovely Garden from Soul Food

And just for fun, I stamped and embossed part of my title and painted behind the die cut letters:

Enjoy using this cozy color combo to scrap something that makes you warm inside!

Rosettes hanging from a line

2011-10-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

Today, I've got a fun twist on the popular rosette fad for you: Hang them on a line.

I'm going to show two cards that use hanging rosettes and I am going to show you how to make a rosette! So let's get started.

You are going to need:

* paper (GCD Studios paper, of course!)
* a strong adhesive (I prefer a good liquid glue.)
* a scoring board
* a 1" circle punch
* string

Here's what you do:
1. Start by cutting a 2" x 6" piece of patterned paper.

2. Set the paper upside down on a scoring board. Score every 1/4".

3. Flip it over and cut the strip into two 1" x 6" strips.

4. Glue the ends together.

5. Cover a 1" circle punched or cut from cardstock with glue. Press the pleated circle down on top of it. This is going to take some force. Don't be surprised if it takes a little pressure. Hold until the glue holds the rosette down.

The end result will be something like these.

6. Once you have several rosettes made, adhere them on a line of string.
Then, use the line of rosettes on a card or a scrapbook layout!
I made two lines of rosettes to use on two cards to share with you today.
Here I put circles made from scraps of patterned paper from the Elementary My Dear collection between my rosettes.

I added a little visual interest to my line by added a clip at the end.

I played things straight with this Thank You card.

I hung the rosettes on string and then just wrapped the line around the card.

I finished the card off by adding a bow to the line.
See you again soon!

terisplace.wordpress.com

Whimsical girlie mask

2011-10-19T05:00:00.000-07:00

Hi there, I have kind of a fun project and tutorial to share today and just in time for Halloween too. This whimsical girlie mask.

1. Start out with an inexpensive plastic mask.

2. I wanted a slightly different shape, so I trimmed the nose portion and bent the sides back. you can do this or leave the mask as is.

3. Use the mask as a template to cut a piece of felt. Set it aside for now, but you'll need it later.

4. Then use the mask as a template to cut the paper that will cover the front. Draw about 1/4" away from the mask edge all the way around and then cut along the line.

5. After you cut the paper generously apply Modge Podge to both side of the paper until it becomes flexible, but not soggy. I use a sheet of wax paper to protect my work surface.

6. Next, while the Modge Podge is still wet, cover the front of the mask with the paper, wrapping the edges around to the back.

7. Cut slits in the eye holes and gently wrap paper to the back, use more Modge Podge to secure it.

8. Start decorating the mask by adding an adhesive border strip to the top edge.

9. Then fussy cut some flower from patterned paper and Modge Podge them down.

10. To add a ruffle adhere a strip of crepe paper to the back of the mask, make sure to keep it away from the eye holes.

11. Pull and stretch the top edge of the crepe paper to give it an even more ruffled appearance.

12. For a little dimension, fussy cut more flowers and layer them with dimensional adhesive on top the Modge Podged flowers.

13. Embellish as much as you like. I added some chipboard stars and candy dots as finishing touches.

14. Add ties by adhering about 18 inches of ribbon to each side of the mask, cover everything up with the felt piece you cut earlier.

All finished!

I love the way this turned out! It reminds me of those old paper mache masquerade masks. I don't have any girls, but I think I might just wear this myself :)

Supplies:
Patterned Paper: (Coney Island, Come One, Come All), Chipboard Shapes, Glitter candy Dots, Assorted Borders: all from the Funhouse Collection from GCD Studios, Crepe Paper: Mon Ami Gabby, Decoupage medium: Modge Podge, Ribbon: May Arts, Other: Mask, Craft Felt

Have a great day!

Life is in the details

2011-10-18T05:00:00.000-07:00

Have you looked at the Pinterest website? Seriously, that place is loaded with tons of inspiration that you could use for your house or scrapbooking projects! I thought these paper pom-poms were adorable so I decided to make something of my own. I decided to create a fun little paper balloon for a card.

First you need to punch 6- 1-1/2'' squares from pattern papers of your choice using your Creative Memories punch.

Once you have your circles punched, fold each circle in half.

Glue each half circle side by side and use a mini clip to hold the pieces together until they are dried.

Once your pieces are dried, pull the ends so the circle is laying flat on the paper.

This is what it will look like completely dried.

And here is my card! I hope I was able to inspire you today. Please come back back because we will have more to inspire you with as the month goes on!

Supplies used: Patterned Paper: G.C.D Studios (Animal Crackers for Boys), Stamp: Catslife Press, Postage stamp rotary blade: Creative Memories.

Danielle Thompson is amazing- color inspiration

2011-10-17T05:00:00.000-07:00

It's Heidi again and man oh man do I have another YUMMY inspiration for you this month! Danielle Thompson has been inspiring us crafty ladies for a while now and when I saw this on her blog... I went nuts over it! The colors are amazing and so perfect for fall!

Now take a look and see how our two designers Gina and Tessa used this inspiration. It's good!

Up first the lovely Tessa Buys:

I love the traditional colors of fall, but throw in a juicy pink and pretty blue and I'm swooning!

Yummy, right?! This palette is perfect for a snapshot I took while at the pumpkin patch last fall:

The pink barn wood paper from the Spring in Bloom Collection by Donna Salazar was the perfect backdrop. I went with a trendy chevron pattern that I learned how to create here. Notice how I put the orange at the top (like the pumpkins in the cart), pink in the center (like the sweatshirt), and yellow at the bottom (like the pumpkin she's holding)? The colors of the design flow right into the photo and back out again.

To add interest to my chevron pattern, I tucked a string of sequins between each row. Distressing and bending the papers gave the sequins a chance to peek out.

I used the blue from the palette for my title so that it stood out from the other bold colors. I love the look of mixed alphas and used three different alpha styles for my long title.

When you scrapbook your pumpkin patch outing this year, don't be afraid to stray from the traditional orange. Throw in some pink or aqua for a fun take on a fall palette. Thanks for stopping by today!

Now for our sweet Gina Lideros and her beautiful layout:

In the month of October there are many photo opportunities to take pictures of the kids in Halloween costumes, pumpkins and fall decor. These colors are so vibrant and fun. Once I saw these colors, I knew that I had the perfect photos to go with them.

I have these photos of my daughter in her "Mad Hatter" Halloween costume last year. Her costume was so bright and cheery that I wanted to use bright colors to accentuate the photos instead of traditional Halloween colors. The papers from the Fun house and Youthful Eggsubarance collections matched perfectly. Mad Hatter layout:

Here is a detail shot:

I handcut the target symbol then used a star punch to dress it up. I added chipboard flags and twine from the fun house collection. I decided to do a fun journaling spot clustered with tickets to carry the "fun house theme"

To complete this project I used papers and embellishments from the Funhouse collection, and the youthful eggsubarance collection.
I hope this layout inspires you to scrap those Halloween photos using non- traditional colors.

Now, wasn't that so fun? So next time you craft your fall photos, try this color inspiration and give your fall album a fashion new look and pop of color.

One really cute boy projects-home decor

2011-10-16T05:00:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you but when I see boy things I tend to go a tad crazy. You see in our home it is all about our daughter, she's our only child and we love her dearly! But when I have a chance to do anything for a boy, I dive head first in not really knowing what I am accomplishing. Just enjoying the process of doing something different than the normal. Point in case, our next door neighbors just had their first baby! Of course when I found out he was a boy, I hopped on this project and went to town!

Here is the finished product:

This project is a very fast and an easy one, which works well for anyone needing a quick turn around project as a gift! I was super excited to make this for little DJ's nursery as well as create a shadow box, something I've never done!

Supplies to get you started:

1. Getting started, I took out the back of the frame. This was going to be my background paper. I cut an 8x10 square and then glued that onto the frame.

2. After the background paper was in place, I set about cutting circles using my Coluzzle circle cutter. I cut 15 of them. It was easy to use the base of the paper because it already had circles on the paper!

3. Once those were cut, I cut out a red heart from cardstock paper.

4. I then took another piece of GCD Studios papers and cut out the cute animals from the paper.

5. I then place pop dots on the 8x10 background piece of paper/frame and spaced them far enough apart to get a good effect.

6. Once I had the pop dots in place, I stuck down all of the circles.

7. I felt a space for the heart in the second row. I embellished the heart and then placed it on pop dots as well.

8. Once each of those circles and my heart was in place, I then placed the two cut outs from the GCD Studio papers on to the frame. I embellished both of them to add texture to the frame.

9. The last thing I did was add DJ's name.

10. This project took about 30 minutes from start to finish.

GCD products:

Icon Dots - Animal Crackers Boy Collection by Rob and Bob

Baby Diaper Pins - Animal Crackers Boy Collection by Rob and Bob

Giraffe Border - Animal Crackers Boy Collection by Rob and Bob

Metal Rimmed Glass Brads - Animal Crackers Boy Collection by Rob and Bob

Other products:

Pink Paislee letters, Generic buttons, Floss, Generic pop dots, Coluzzle circle and heart cutter, shadow box, American Crafts cardstock.

If you are ever in need of a cute and fast project, pick this one up!!!!

Folded Cut Flowers

2011-10-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

Hello again, it's me Ashley comin' at ya today! Well let's get right to it shall we. I was asked to create my projects for today based on folded cut flowers. Here is an example:

image via pinterest

Gorgeous no?!! Well I am not so good with cutting, but I have an amazing die cutting machine that is. So I whipped out a few flowers and here are the cards I created:

I love the flowers on this and I love that the last flower coordinated so well with the Artsy Urban Layered Flowers. So pretty!!

This card I layerd the lacy flowers and made one full and pretty flower. I just was so happy with these and they were super fast. Have a wonderful day!

Meeting Mary

2011-10-14T17:00:00.000-07:00

When scrapbooking a layout with a picture filled with flowers, I thought these papers from the Homespun Chic line were perfect to create with.

I thought it would be fun to embellish it with a homemade flower decorated with trim to really make it pop on the page. I started by cutting out a flower from the Homespun Chic line, then cutting it into a spiral pattern.

I glued it together with glue dots, creating the dimension, then glued down the trim around the edge.

I also gave the layout some more dimension with the punched out little butterflies and the chipboard painting/distressing. The end result? Lots of fun with flowers and butterflies! :)

Supplies Used:
Cardstock - Bazzill
Patterned paper, Chipboard, Buttons, Border strips - GCD Studios
Letter stickers - Sassafras Lass
Trim - Joann Fabrics
Glitter - Stickles
Jewels, Transparency - misc.

Dressing up your home with a fall owl

2011-10-14T05:00:00.000-07:00

I hope that your fall is off to a great start. I love to spend my fall months creating lots of cute home decor. Something about the cooler temps makes me want to spend my days inside dressing up my home.

I have been finding a lot of inspiration on Pinterest lately and I came across this cute owl:

I thought that it would be cute to make my own similar plush creation out of paper.
I started this project by hand drawing an owl shape onto pattern paper.

I cut out two. 1 to use as a backing and 1 to use as the front side.

I then dressed up the front side with some basic shapes that I cut using my Slice (Making Memories tool) and lots of yummy GCD papers.
Next, I used paper towels to stuff my owl, to make him plump and cute and look like a plush figure (you can also use tissues for this).

I used strong adhesive 450 quick dry glue from Helmars to close up the seams and edges as I stuffed. After he was stuffed I set him aside to dry.

Next, I chose some chipboard pieces from Melody Ross's chip art collection to use as the owl's feet.
I painted them white, then attached them to the bottom of the owl.
Here is the final project:

This owl is bright and cheery and sure to lift our spirits on a cold fall day.
to create the body I used papers from the youthful eggsuberance line by Heather Tozzi.
sunday morning paper
celebration paper:eggscellent paper:
for the eyes I used:
easter basket paper b side:
and I used two papers from the Material girls line:

the sweetest thing paper (flower shape around the eye):
For the eye (heart shape) I created custom buttons using the Epiphany Crafts heart shape studio tool and girly girl paper.
I hope this project inspires you to make a cute fall plush for your home!

Green and peach?

2011-10-13T05:00:00.000-07:00

I love a little twist to the normal color combos and for this inspiration... we took greens and a shade of peach with black. Now take a peek and see how Valerie and Nicole use this traditional color combo with a twist.

Nichole:

There are a lot of things I am grateful for but mainly, I am so very grateful for my wonderful family. I don't know what I would do without them and I really mean that... so having said that, I want to share a picture of us all together on Thanksgiving 2010.

Heidi found this photo on pinterest for our inspiration. I just love these colors! And here is now I used them

With Thanks Giving around the corner... what are you grateful for?

Supplies:
Pattern Paper: G.C.D Studios (Melody Ross);Die cuts: G.C.D Studios (Melody Ross); Lace paper: G.C.D Studios (Sweet Surrender Collection); Flower: G.D.S Studios (Sweet Surrender Collection)
Wooden word stickers: G.C.D Studios (Melody Ross); Label sticker: G.C.D Studios (Funhouse Collection); Tag: G.C.D Studios (Melody Ross)

Other:
Clear stickers: SRM Press; Paper flower: Creative Memories; Thickers: American Crafts; Dew drops: Robins Nest; Sticker alphas: Pink Paislee; Heart punch: Creative Memories; Corner rounder: Creative Memories; Epoxy Tool: Epiphany Crafts; Stamp: Pink Paislee

Valerie:

Now that my kids are older I miss all the fun and excitement of trick or treating with them, but my youngest daughter did get dressed up last year to take part in a "haunted house" for charity! We've been lucky enough to recycle this dress for several years - it's been used in plays and Renaissance fairs, and for different trick or treating looks - but last year she was a ghoul child that lived in a huge spider web! She had all the little kids screaming for their parents...LOL!!

I was inspired to make this layout using the following picture and color scheme. I made a flower that stood out on my layout (just like the inspiration picture) and I liked the graphic look of the number in the inspiration picture, so I made sure I included numbers on my layout also.

I made the 3-d pumpkin using the Chipart chipboard pieces. I simply took a round shape, which I cut the top and bottom section off of and an oval shape which I covered with patterned paper and layered it on top of the round piece to make a pumpkin. I then a rounded corner rectangular piece at an angle for the stem of the pumpkin.
After some misting and inking and adding some vines and leaves it all came together!

I used a mix of GCD Studios Collections the patterned paper from the Great Outdoors, the Soul Food, and the Homespun Chic Collections and the super fun border and glitter candy dots from the Funhouse Collection!

Other products: Martha Stewart and EK Success punches, Jenni Bowlin buttons, Maya Road pins and mist, Cosmo Cricket chipboard letters, Martha Stewart artisan tape, Studio Calico stamp, Pink Paislee brads .

Thanks for stopping by and looking!! Have a fun creating!!

Whether you use this inspiration for a jump on Thanks Giving like Nichole or for Halloween like Valerie... this twist of colors is falltasktic and we can't wait to see how you use it.

Go girlie for fall

2011-10-11T05:00:00.000-07:00

When I saw this photo, I knew we just had to have it as a color inspiration this month. The hard metals with the soft colors of pink just reminded me of fall fashion. I love wearing gold in the fall and I love to pair it with pinks and blacks. I think it's so chic and fresh and a break from all the dark colors. Now make sure to scroll down and see how Christy and Elizabeth used this color inspirations in a girlie way ;)

Up first is our newest team member Elizabeth:

Hey there Elizabeth here to talk to ya about being a girl. Yep that's right, we're going to talk about girlie stuff!!!

You see this subject is near and dear to my heart! Not just because I am a girl, that's obvious! However it's taken me quite a few years to actually embrace being a girl! I didn't really know how to be feminine, meaning I didn't really know how to embrace that or accept myself growing up. I always felt unfeminine because of a preconceived notion of what that meant and had to be.

My journey started about 5 years ago realizing that I was created as a beautiful woman and I shouldn't have any notions other than that! I can attest that being a girlie-girl is something I have embraced fully! I now love to shop for clothes, accessories, shoes, purses, and more so to embrace who I am and how I was created!

I love being a girlie-girl!

When I was choosing this color inspiration the very first thing I thought about was "pretty in pink"! I used to dislike pink a lot, but in my transformation I have learned to love it! It is one of my favorite colors today!

My girlie inspiration allowed me to create this:

{A layout of myself and my dear friend Melissa who I am very thankful is in my life and has helped me along my journey}

As luck would have it, our products are oozing with girlishness so it was easy to create a fun project! I used many different collection lines for this one and I simply love how it turned out! So pink and so me!!!!!

GCD Studio products:

Beautiful Soul - Soul Food Collection by Melody Ross

Round doilies Sweet Surrender collection by Tina Higgins

Glass Paperclips - Animal Crackers Girl Collection by Rob and Bob

Chipboard butterflies - Soul Food by Melody Ross designer collections

In Bloom - Spring in Bloom Collection by Donna Salazar

Word Stickers - Plain - Soul Food Collection by Melody Ross

A Girl's Best Friend - Material Girls collection by Heather Tozzi

Other products:

American Crafts cardstock, Fiskars punch, American Crafts Thickers, Michael's generic felt paper, computer font Arial.

Hoping that you embrace you girlie-girl side too because we are all beautiful women, be inspired!!!!

And last but not least... Our beautiful Crafty Christy:

Though fall colors are beautiful for Thanksgiving cards, I'm a pretty girly girl and I love being given a pretty girly card. I was inspired to create some cards using the color combo below that I could give to some special friends for Thanksgiving.

Drawing my shades of pink from these papers:

(Material Girls line - A Girl's Best Friend)

(Material Girls line - Pucker Up)

(Material Girls line - Girly Girl)

and using some velvet flowers from this paper,

(Soul Food line - Soulfield)

I was able to create some very feminine thank you cards that could be used for Thanksgiving, or to remind some special people how important they are to me at any other time of the year!

"Gratitude" card:

Supplies used:
Cardstock - Bazzill
Patterned paper - GCD Studios
Flowers - Prima
Brad - Making Memories
Stamp - Pink Paislee
Ribbon - misc.

"Count Your Blessings" card:

Supplies used:
Cardstock - Bazzill
Patterned paper - GCD Studios
Envelope - GCD Studios
Stamp - Wordsworth
Twine - misc.

Thanks girls for your beautiful work this month. I loved how they went "girlie" but still had our upcoming fall/Thanks Giving themes in mind.

I hope you all have a crafty day

Fall Candles and a Border punch Obsession....

2011-10-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

To say I have a slight border punch obsession would be no exaggeration...I just love border punches and the way they give my projects depth and texture!! These are just some of my punches. Let's just say I have 32+ border punches (and counting...heehee) and leave it at that ;)!

I love to decorate during the fall season , especially with candles because they smell so scrumptious - can you say pumpkin pie and apple spices?? YUM - and the colors are just so gorgeous!! I decided to use some of the beautiful fall pieces of patterned paper that are in the Elementary My Dear Collection and several of my border punches to make some fun decorations for my new (plain) candles I bought to use for my fall decor.
Let my just insert right here that for safety reasons you CANNOT burn these candles with the paper on them - they are for decoration only. If you want to burn the candles REMOVE the paper decorations from them!!
For this candle (to the left) I used one of the new EK Success Dimensional punches to make the flower and the Dotted scallop edger punch for the layered patterned papers. I also used some of the fun chipboard shapes from the Funhouse Collection as an accent at each side of the flower on the burlap.
For this candle I just punched several borders using the EK Success Morocco Lace Edger Punch
and simply layered them on top of each other switching paper patterns back and forth for each layer. After adding the burlap, I attached some metal flowers (using stick pens) and I used more of the Funhouse chipboard shapes as accents on the smaller flowers.

For the last candle (in the back center) I just punched the edges of one piece of patterned paper with the EK Success Double Crochet Lace Edger Punch, added a little bling, some burlap and a cute little chipboard piece from the Fancy Chipboard Stickers - Soul Food Collection by Melody Ross. I love the way these turned out! They smell so good and look so pretty sitting on my mantle!!

Again, let me remind you that you CANNOT burn these candles with the paper on them as the paper will catch on fire! They are for decoration only! If you want to burn the candles, REMOVE the paper from them. I attached everything with stick pins so that everything could easily be removed for burning (if I ever decide to burn them!!).
Have a great day and have fun creating!!

A quick project with Kay

2011-10-09T05:00:00.000-07:00

I just love our Kay Rogers and she is so super talented with some paper and siccors. Check out these cute little boxes she made

She said

"I made this treat boxes this month as party favors to give neighborhood kids who visit Halloween night. I used papers from GCD, and my Slice to make the pumpkins."

By just popping on a little circle tag {on the fronts of there take out boxes} turns them into a cute gift for kids. So get out the paper and your Halloween Slice cartridges ladies and get crafty this fall. These could also be so cute for Thanks Giving place cards and put fall treats in them.

Color inspiration with Windy & Diana

2011-10-08T05:00:00.000-07:00

What would Halloween be with out Orange and black? This month we challenge Windy and Diana to create their projects around this color inspiration and boy oh boy did they nail it! Take a peek at their beautiful work.

Windy's:

Hi everyone, its Windy here with a little Halloween inspiration to share today. For October I was so excited to work from this image because Halloween is my most favorite holiday! There is just something about orange and black that I absolutely love! And pumpkins are a definite fav... I'm always the first person to the pumpkin patch on the day it opens & usually amass quite a few for my porch before Halloween arrives.

So it was great to use this scheme to create a few cards. For these projects, I tried to use Halloween colors to make a non-Halloween card... a fun challenge:)

For the first card I created something that is very close to my signature style...an elegant note card. But for my second card I tried something a bit cuter... love those mustaches from the Fun House collection and have been looking for a reason to use them since I got them.

What do you think... ready to use a Halloween palette for an all occasion card?

GCD
Studios products: rub ons (Fun House collection); patterned
paper (Soul Petite Orange, Soul Food Collection); brad (Soul Food
Metal Rimmed Glass Brads). Other Products: ribbon
(Michael's Stores Inc.); cardstock (Papertrey Ink), colored/glittered
cardstock (DCWV); punches (EK Success & Fiskars), pins (Maya
Road).

And here is Diana's:

I love fall time. I love how the leaves start changing into beautiful shades of orange and reds. I love the cool crisp air. Best of all, I love the smell of homemade soup cooking on the stove. Nothing warms up the belly like a nice bowl of soup.

This month I was inspired to create a layout based on the traditional color scheme of Halloween. I just had to create a page with a picture of my first bowl of pumpkin soup for the year. I used pops of orange, black, cream, and gray. This is such a lovely color scheme and can work great with any type of layout.

Supplies:
Sweet Surrender The Little Lovebirds
Sweet Surrender Tying the Knot
Sweet Surrender Cabochons
Soul Food Transparent Shapes
Elementary My Dear Paper Pack

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Creating!

Gift tags peek-a-boo with Windy

2011-10-07T05:00:00.000-07:00

Hello! It Windy here with a little technique that I use to make my gift tags a little more interesting. If you search inspiration sites like Etsy or Pinterest you see that tags are very popular and trendy right now... especially tags that are die cut. So I thought I'd take that trend and make a recessed spot on a few tags that would serve as the perfect home for these embellies...

I love that look... want to see how I did it?

1. Start with two tags, a chipboard circle, a circle punch, foam
adhesive and a transparency shape.

2. Punch a hole near the bottom of the tag.

3. Place foam adhesive on the tag.

4. Layer with the second tag.

5. Place chipboard circle in the center of tags.

6. Embellish rest of tag.

That's it... a new twist on tags. Have a nice one!

Fifty layered butterflies

2011-10-06T05:00:00.000-07:00

When I stumbled across this image...

source

...I just knew I wanted to try something similar out of paper. What better than a few of my favorite GCD Studios papers, a pair of butterfly dies, and a styrofoam ball to bring it all together?

First I created about fifty layered butterflies. I simply die-cut a large butterfly and a smaller butterfly and stapled them together. To give the impression of flight, I bent the wings out from the center. To add the butterflies to the styrofoam ball, I used pearl head pins. If you are looking for a more permanent attachment, I suggest using glue, as well. I love the look of the pearls in the center of the butterflies, but you could use glue exclusively, too.

After playing with a few different patterns for attaching the butterflies, I realized that random was the way to go. Some face up, some face down, others face each other. To cover up any spots where the styrofoam ball was showing through, I added smaller butterfly punches. If you want to be really picky about not seeing the ball, I suggest wrapping it in fabric or ribbon, or even painting it.

To create a handle for my bouquet, I added a Magic Wand from SRM Press. I filled it with white pearl chocolates to match the pearl pins. Ribbon and tulle tied in bows at the base of the ball, as well as a coordinating tag, finish it off.

I think this kind of bouquet would be a lovely gift for a birthday, a bride-to-be, or a special get well. You could hang the ball from a ribbon for a fun variation (little girls room?), or plant the bouquet in a pot for a topiary look. You could even use flower shapes or other punches besides butterflies. Of course, pretty GCD papers are a must:

Glittered Bird Floral

Thank you for stopping by today!

Cutest gift bags ever!

2011-10-05T05:00:00.000-07:00

The kids get SO much candy on Halloween, don't they? In general we are not a big candy family (we go in more for ice cream and baked goods lol), but that only makes the kids more excited about the mountains of candy they amass on Halloween. For me, though, I like to give them a little gift bag with some fun Halloween items like a coloring book and crayons or bubbles. And to make it even more special, I try and dress up the gift bag and usually put their names on them too. Once again I looked to Pinterest for ideas on making a fun gift bag. I found these:

image from http://thepinkcouch.blogspot.com/2009/10/trick-or-treat-bags.html

I just love the ruffled crepe paper! Did you know you can get two rolls of crepe paper (one orange and one black for $1 at The Dollar Tree? Armed with my crepe paper, I pulled out some fun GCD Studios products and went to work. Here is what I came up with:

I made the big crepe paper bow by rolling it in larger and larger loops and then stapling the middle. I added a loop of tickets from the Funhouse Collection in the center as well as Chipboard Wheel and Mini Flag.

The strips of patterned paper are also From Funhouse. I mounted everything on a piece of black cardstock. The best part, though, is the mustache on a stick that I thought my kids would totally get a kick out of taking pictures with! Even little (non candy lol) gifts are more fun if you dress up the gift bag!

Supplies Used:

GCD Studios Funhouse Collection patterned paper, Mini Flag, Chipboard Wheel and ticket trim from Ribbon Spool.

Yellow, Gray and Blue... inspiration

2011-10-04T05:00:00.000-07:00

Hello there.

We have a really fabulous color inspiration to share today! We had our designer's Heidi Van Laar and Ashley Harris work with it. Take a looksy to see how they were inspired with the same combo, but in different ways.

Up first is Heidi V:

Totally swoon worthy right? these colors together are just so luxe and vibrant! I tried to do them justice with a couple of cards.

this first one is inspired by not only the colors, but the actual picture itself, I mean really, how can you NOT be inspired by that dress?!

Supplies:
Cardstock: (white) Georgia-Pacific, Patterned Papers, (8x8 Artsy Urban pad, Tying the Knot from the Sweet Surrender collection) GCD Studios, Metal Rimmed brad: (Soul Food collection) GCD Studios, Ribbon: Offray, Die: Sizzix, Border Punch Fiskars.
Size: 4.25"x5.5"

I used a border die for the flowers and cut it twice, once from patterned paper and once from white cardstock.

I used papers from the Sweet Surrender and Artsy Urban collections and a brad from the Soul Food collection.

This being the month for all things creepy and spooky, I just had to do something for Halloween too.

Supplies:
Cardstock: (white) Georgia-Pacific, Patterned Papers, (8x8 Artsy Urban pad, Something Borrowed from the Sweet Surrender collection) GCD Studios, Filigree Brads & Round Doilies:(Sweet Surrender collection) GCD Studios, Ribbon: Wrights, Circle Die: Spellbinders, Bat: handcut
Size: 5"x5"

Again, using paper from Artsy Urban and Sweet Surrender, but this time I used the colors in opposite proportions, a black, white and gray card with just a pop of yellow.

I used a die cut doily and a framed brad from the Sweet Surrender collection, but to make the brad work for my card I had to do a bit of easy altering. I removed the epoxy sticker that was originally in the center of the brad and replaced it with a piece of cardstock that I stamped a sentiment on.

Have a great day!

And now here is Ashley's:

Well Helloooooo! How are you all doing? I am doing fabulously, thanks for asking. The reason you ask? Well, I got to play with one of the happiest colors on this beautiful earth. Yellow. It was color inspiration time with GCD Studios and up above is the image that I was inspired by. Nice huh?

Here is what I created with this fabulous inspiration:

I really like the scallops on this and the fun swirly jewels that added a touch of sparkly to it.

This one is clean and graphic and I just love it! Sigh...I hope you love it too!!

InLinkz.com

Thanks for hanging out with Ashley and Heidi V today. We hope you are inspired by their beautiful work!

Oodles and oodles of buttons?

2011-10-03T05:00:00.000-07:00

Do you have oodles and oodles of buttons? If you're like me you do! I love buttons all shapes, sizes, and colors. So what's a girl to do when she has a stockpile of buttons? Use them of course! This time I decided I'd make a cute little Rainbow Purse for Miss Avery(she's my Punky Brewster child and loves color). I really love these awesome buttons by Melody Ross

And here is the fun little purse I made with them.

These little purses are really easy to create its a couple sheets of felt, buttons, ribbon, thread, and a sewing machine. Of course I didn't take photos while I made this so I'll just give you a quick rundown of how I made it.

Cut 1 sheet of felt in half. Cut the other sheet of felt a smidge smaller then what your purse will be.Sew your buttons onto the smidge smaller felt. then using a sewing machine stitch the felt with the buttons to one half of the 1st sheet of felt. stitch your ribbon handle to the inside of the purse. layer all your pieces of felt and stitch around the 3 sides leaving the opening at the top. Viol la you now have a cute little purse to give to your sweet girl!

and a closeup of all those buttons.

Not everything that is made for scrapbook has to be put on a layout so go create something off the page!Have fun!

Quilted frame

2011-10-02T05:00:00.000-07:00

Hi there! Jennifer here, and today I'm going to show you how to make a quick altered piece to decorate your home this fall. We're going to start by "quilting" a background of paper to put in a frame.

You can pick up a cheap frame, or maybe you have one lying around the house to use. You could even change it up with a little paint if you want. Remove the glass as we won't be needing it.

Use a square punch to punch out various pieces of patterned paper. I tried to stick with a fall theme.

Trim a piece of neutral colored cardstock ( I used kraft ) to the size that will fit in your frame. Adhere the squares on in any pattern you'd like. Tip: It's easier to put your adhesive on the cardstock and stick the squares on, rather than try to put adhesive on each tiny square :)

Use your sewing machine to zig-zag stitch over the seams.

Here's what your finished base will look like.

Use letter stickers to add the quote of your choice.

There you have it! A fairly quick project to enjoy in your home or give as a gift. Thanks for stopping by today! Have a good one :)

Little pencils from popsickle sticks

2011-09-30T05:00:00.000-07:00

I made this banner using products from the Elementary My Dear line by GCD, as well as some Melody Ross chipboard pieces. I thought it would be a perfect room gift for Jenna's class!

I used this album kit as the base of the banner. The holes were already punched, and I love the shape. I started by painting each of the pieces dark brown. I then embellished each with these chipboard letters that I inked black, as well as the smaller letters. I also used some chipboard stars, which I inked red and covered with yellow buttons.

Here is the finished banner:

And here are a few of the details.You can also see I used some little word stickers here and there.

And my genius sister in law helped me make this little pencils from popsickle sticks. I also fussy-cut the apples from the Elementary My Dear line.

Hope you enjoyed the banner!

Back to school Adventure

2011-09-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

Red and Aqua may be one of my absolute favorite color combinations ever. There is something so fresh and vibrant about it. My favorite thing about this combination is how it can be used on layouts about boys and girls. Since I have one of each, I struggle with finding fun fresh color combos that are not too girly and not too grungy. This one fits the bill:

Add a nice warm grey and you are thinking of Fall and Back to School time!

I pulled out some school themed papers from the GCD Studios Elementary My Dear line. I love the die cut apple sheet! Truth be told, sometimes I don't know the best way to use die cut sheets, but since I knew I wanted the apple image to represent the red from my color combination I thought layering it over a blue patterned paper and thinking of the two as one whole patterned paper made it a lot easier to use in my design. A strip of pencils as a border was a no brainer for a back to school page so I was really just looking for some grey to incorporate into my layout. I found it in a grid "B" side from The Great Outdoors collection. From the same collection I grabbed the big chipboard "Adventure" to make my title pop:

Add some stitching for that homespun feel:

and some typewritten journaling:

and you have a Back to School layout for boys, girls or both!

Supplies Used:

GCD Studios Elementary My Dear (stars, apple die cut, pencils)

GCD Studios The Great Outdoors (grid patterned paper, Adventure Chipboard)

American Crafts Alphas and apple sticker

Elle's Studio Journaling Tag

You've got to see this home decor!

2011-09-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Fall!! Today I'm sharing a fun and easy project to spruce up your home for fall. You probably have the supplies laying around your home. I certainly did. :)

Like most scrapbookers/photographers I have an abundance of table top frames, so I thought it would be fun to spell out "fall" in a textural way.

I started by assembling my GCD Studios papers with fall colors, grabbed varying sizes of chipboard letters and got busy gluing.

I used Mod Podge for gluing each element to the chipboard letter. It takes a while to dry, but no burned fingers or stringy leftovers.

Here are close ups of each letter frame. For the "f" I used little bits from a fall foliage branch.

For the "a" I used leaves ripped from a faux branch. I found that the
cheaper, less glossy accepted the glue best and would lay flat.

For the first "l" I used twigs I gathered from my friend's backyard and trimmed them to fit the chipboard.

For the last letter, I wrapped jute around the chipboard. This one was probably the most challenging. The jute needed to be secured on by sides.

Here's another look at all of them together on my entry table.

Happy Fall Y'all!!

My Blog

Simple Comforts

2011-09-27T05:00:00.000-07:00

I love the fall weather. For me it means spending lots of time in the kitchen making tasty sweets. One of our favorite comfort foods are strawberry pancakes. They are so delicious! The little strawberry pieces melt as you cook the pancakes and end up tasting almost exactly like strawberry jam! After you are done cooking them, throw them on a plate, pour on the maple syrup, and dig in!

Paper:
Material Girls It's in the Bag
Material Girls Hugs and Kisses
Material Girls Girly Girl
Material Girls A Girl's Best Friend

Just looking at this layout makes me want to rush into the kitchen and whip up a batch of these scrumptious pancakes! What type of foods are considered comfort foods in your family?

Way to go, team!

2011-09-25T05:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

When I think of September, I think of bundling up and heading out to watch soccer and football games.

I remember when I was teen-ager that no Friday night was complete without spending some time huddling with my best friends under a blanket in the stands at the local sports field. We loved cheering on our school's football and soccer teams. Win or lose, we'd always head back to high school after the games for a big dance to finish up the night.

September always brings such sweet memories of that time in life so I decided to make two sports-themed cards this month.

I drew inspiration for my two cards from this photo.

Who would think such a colorful bird would make me think of Fall, but it did. To stay a bit more in the Fall feel for my cards, I went with more of an orange color for my cards rather than something close to coral or red.

The first card I made was one for coach.

Of course, all the paper I used is from GCD Studios. :)

The gray paper from The Great Outdoors collection was especially perfect for my card. I reminds me so much of one of the sweatshirts I used to wear when I'd go to games during my teen-age days.

Such fun memories!

The second card I made is one for the team.

What sports team couldn't use a little extra cheer to help carry them through the big game?

I cut each banner flag from GCD patterned papers from the Animal Crackers for Boys, Soul Food and Elementary, My Dear collections. I added string across the top of them and then added a little ribbon (cut from cardstock) at the end of each banner.

terisplace.wordpress.com

A pumpkin filled with flowers

2011-09-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

1. Start by cutting a 3"x12" piece of paper.

2. fold it in half lengthwise.

3. starting on the folded edge, cut slits about 1/8" to 1/4" apart along the entire length of the paper.
4. once the slits have been cut, glut the un-cut edges together.

5. Adhere one end of the paper strip to a support stick, like a skewer or thin dowel.

6. Begin rolling the strip around the stick.

7. When you have rolled the entire length of the paper onto the stick glue the loos end down.

8. Start opening up you r paper flower by pulling the "petals" down one at a time startin from the outside and working toward the middle.

Your finished flower should be full, round and ready to go!

I decided to make a late summer/fall center piece for my table with my flowers and one of these carvable faux pumpkins from the craft store.

I simply cut an opening in the top and started filling it with flowers.

I created 9 flowers using papers from the Soul Food and elementary My Dear collections along with some die cut leaves and one of my paper bows (Tutorial Here) to create the finished arrangement.

I even added a couple of butterflies using stickers from the Artsy Urban collection placed on wires.

I will definitely be doing more with these flowers, because I kind of love the way they turned out :) Hope you will give them a try too.

Have a fabulous day!

What does Marilyn Monroe...have to do with football?

2011-09-23T17:00:00.000-07:00

What does Marilyn Monroe...

...have to do with football? Not much, other than the fact that this color palette led me to a picture from last fall, taken at a local high school football game.

I'm not even sure that fall had officially started yet, but football season was underway. I managed to capture this moment of auntie-nephew bliss one Friday night. Had my boys not been there, Caitlin's face would have looked more like Marilyn's in that photo above (she's not much of a football fan).

I don't often use black as a background, but the night time setting of my photo seemed to call for it. I added white mist to soften the background and mimic the stadium lights. I layered strips of paper with die-cut pieces and punched borders to contain my photo and tucked hidden journaling on a tag behind the picture. Because the papers were so busy, I opted for simple embellishments - cabochons and a fabric-covered brad.

As you scrap your photos this fall, consider using a color palette inspired by something other than the usual autumn leaves and pumpkins. You may find that Marilyn and football really do go hand in hand. Happy scrapping!
GCD Studios Supplies Used -
Cabochons
Brad
Die-cut Paper
Dark green paper
Lighter green paper
Text paper

A is for Awesome!

2011-09-23T05:00:00.000-07:00

My 5 year old daughter is all about her name whether it's writing it out a million times or picking out the letters of her name when ever she see a new word. I'm always hearing "Mom hey Mom there's an e in that word just like the e in my name. What word is that?" It's fun! This month I was inspired to create framed art of Avery's name for her room and here is the photo that inspired me.

Here is the framed art I created.

These are so simple to create a couple sheets of pattern paper, adhesive, chipboard letters misted, mini alpha stickers, a some descriptive words.

This card inspiration could be used for so many things from the family room wall to that special teacher's gift give it a try! Have fun!

An altered book cover with Gina

2011-09-22T17:00:00.000-07:00

I hope that your school year is off to a great start. My kids are always looking for covers for their school books so for my project this month I decided to make an altered book cover.

I purchased a canvas banner page at my local scrapbook store.

I decided to fold the canvas in half. Then I took out my paints, and created my own stamp by first cutting an apple in half.
Then applying a coat of paint.

I did this on the inside of the canvas page too.

After the paint dried, I added some fun GCD papers from the Elementary My Dear collection by Heather Tozzi.

Here is a up close shot of the cover:
I also added a fun mini chalkboard that I found at Joann's, and I created my own fun little pocket to hold pencils in.

and a look at the inside:
This will make a fun cover for a small book or notes.
Thanks for stopping by, I hope this inspires you to create your own alerted book cover, and make your own stamp in
process too!

My Blog

Is it spring or fall?

2011-09-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

Hello there! Agustina here and the color combination I choose this month.... is in my opinion between spring and fall colors, really soft and calm colors:

What inspired me more were those white cute flowers on the cake, that in some way I unconsciously added it my cards...

Soul food Collection papers are so beautiful and they go with almost everything. For this card I decided to use a Homespun Chic Collection paper, they match perfectly!

And for this card I used the Soul Food collection as well, but combined it with the Fun house Collection

Thanks for visiting! I hope you enjoyed my short, but sweet post today. Have a nice day (:

GCD Studios

Country Charm

Flower Child

Story Book Collection

Splendor

Oh Happy Day By Heidi Sonboul

Sweet Tooth with Diane Kappa

CHA Release week

simple little decor project

Red and Mint Green with Tessa

I love advent calendars

GCD supplies: Rob&Bob Scandia Jul Scandinavian Holiday Stripe Collection papers, Rob&Bob Scandia Jul Scandinavian Sparkle Lattice Light Green papers, Rob&Bob Scandia Jul Scandinavian die cut ornament sheets, Tina Higgins Flower Brads Sweet Surrender Collection.

Oh Joy it's Crafting time with Heidi Van Laar!

How are your holidays going?

wrapping gifts

WOOT a double Teri post in one day! Surprise!

Special Christmas Cards for Special People

Are you a December baby?

Dec Kit Give away

Please welcome...

Get those fall photos scrapped :)

A beautiful fall combo

A Cute Tree Idea

Oh lama!

Oh my apples!

And I made this little squirrel

The giving acorn

A little pop of coral pink

A fall picnic to share

A cute charming house

gobble gobble

Winner of Kit of the month

LEAVE A COMMENT TO WIN our kit of the month

SUPER cool misting!!!

A Ninja Halloween

Look our for that Spider Web!!!

Getting Crafty with Mosaic

Wedding dresses and flowers

Triangles oh my!

rich blue and typical autumn colors = a fresh combo

Rosettes hanging from a line

Whimsical girlie mask

Life is in the details

Danielle Thompson is amazing- color inspiration

One really cute boy projects-home decor

Folded Cut Flowers

Meeting Mary

Dressing up your home with a fall owl

Green and peach?

Go girlie for fall

Fall Candles and a Border punch Obsession....

A quick project with Kay

Color inspiration with Windy & Diana

Gift tags peek-a-boo with Windy

Fifty layered butterflies

Cutest gift bags ever!

Yellow, Gray and Blue... inspiration

Oodles and oodles of buttons?

Quilted frame

Little pencils from popsickle sticks

Back to school Adventure

You've got to see this home decor!

Simple Comforts

Way to go, team!

A pumpkin filled with flowers

What does Marilyn Monroe...have to do with football?

A is for Awesome!

An altered book cover with Gina

Is it spring or fall?