Playing with SRM Border Stickers

Ahh, Saturday. I love you! Today is a lovely rainy day here in NJ. We are in the lull between basketball and baseball seasons and I'm happy to say I don't really need to leave the house today if I don't want to. Don't you love those days?

Today I've got a page I made for the SRM Stickers blog to share. I've been wanting to scrapbook this photo for the longest time. It's my daughter and her grandfather reading. It's not the greatest photo, a little over exposed but I just love it. It worked perfectly with the light colors in my papers.

The page was for a challenge: to use the new We've Got Your Border stickers in a different way. I jumped right on the confetti bandwagon and cut up the dotted border, along with a small heart border to make my own confetti dot. Once I had the arrangement right I stuck them all down:

I added the yellow sentiment strip (from We've Got Your Sticker-Princess) on top of a thin yellow border sticker. Then the aqua scallop underneath. Journaling, which talks about the special relationship my daughter has with her grandpa, is on the tag in the little yellow bag. (All the materials on this page, aside from the lovely stickers) are from the Studio Calico Daydream Believer kit.

So now, I'm off to put on some comfy clothes and make my page for The Studio Challenges tomorrow. We've got another fun one on tap so I hope you'll check in and play along.
Have a great weekend!

Hip Hip Hooray!

Hip Hip Hooray! is one of the new lines from Pebbles, Inc. I got to play with it this week for the blog. What a fun collection - you can't help but be happy when working with color like this. I've heard it referred to as 'the birthday line' but it's so much more....

The bright color inspired me to make a summer page. I cut apart the pennant stickers to make a sunburst shape and made that my focal point under the photo. I stitched the title letters down within that shape:

See the sequins? They are the new version of Candy Dots and they are awesome! They are flat with adhesive on the back and I love them scattered like confetti (they come in squares, too). I mixed them here with the negative shapes I pushed out of the die cut tag:

You can see a complete list of all the product I used on this page on the Pebbles, Inc. Blog - where this week it's all about Hip Hip Hooray! So many great projects showing off this fun new line. Hope you will stop by and take a look!

And the winner is....

Thanks to everyone that stopped by and left a comment for the Elle's Studio Birthday Blog Hop and and extra special thanks to those that decided to follow my blog! So appreciate having you along for the ride. A special shout out to my 200th follower Lucia in Roma, Italia  (one of my most favorite places on the Earth!).

Here's the lucky winner of the $20 gift certificate from my blog

Lucky #7 is Rebecca of Rebecca Scraps blog. Congratulations!! Check in with me and I will let you know how to collect your awesome prize :)

If you didn't take home the prize here, remember to check the other blogs too - you might have won there!

Elle's Studio Birthday Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Elle's Studio Birthday Blog Hop!

It's  Elle's Studio's 5th birthday and we've been celebrating all month long. Every Saturday in March you can check the Elle's Studio blog for something extra special. Also, a very cool & special pen is included with every order in March. Today we've got this fun blog hop where you can visit the design team member's blogs and enter to win a $20 gift certificate at each stop!  That is 6 chances to win!! In honor of this occasion, I'd like to share my 3rd project from the gallery this month, along with a pair of birthday cards I made:

Another page with the Studio Calico kit for March.

(Definitely one of my all time faves.)

My trusty date stamp - always a perfect match with Elle's tags.
I like to cut the tags apart and mix them together. Here I cut and stacked 3 of them:

I've also got a couple of graphic birthday cards I made. A mix of Elle's Studio, the same Studio Calico kit from above and some SRM stickers. Love how the graphic elements mix with the cursive font on the stickers. I used the brand new Large Noted Journaling Tags for the circular focal point and added the Handmade Layers Birthday Pennants:

Have you seen the Elle's Studio Inspiration Gallery this month? I'm always inspired to use these tags in new and creative ways once I've gone through it. This month Paige Evans is our guest designer, making the gallery even more inspiring. So, now for the part where you can win - and you will have several chances as a winner will be picked from each blog on the list below. The prize: a $20 gift certificate to Elle's Studio. So, please leave a comment - and stop by the rest of the blogs and comment there to increase your chances. Here's a handy link list to help you on your way:

Meghann Andrew
Rahel Menig
Valerie Mangan - you are here!
Kim Jeffress

Kimberly Neddo
Ursula Schneider 

We'll be drawing winners on March 26 - make sure you stop by to see if it's you. 
Thanks for stopping by!

Elle's Studio Inspiration Gallery for March; Mini Album

Here's a little mini I made for Elle's Studio this month. It's made from leftover kraft envelopes with a clear card base as an overlay. This format that is handy when you want to include extra photos and ephemera. For me it serves as an album of some of my favorite photos from 2011.

I cut those flowers (yes, you've been seeing a lot of those lately on this blog) with my Silhouette then stitched them down to the first envelope. I took apart some Pebbles, Inc. dimensional stickers for those little red flowers. The blue grid bracket shape is a Pebbles, Inc. image for Silhouette and is placed on the clear overlay along with the Elle's tags and the Thickers:

Then I sewed the stack together with the flap sides out, and with a few Elle's Studio tags sewn into the binding as well:

Here's a view of the spine which is made from the clear overlay. It's actually a clear greeting card base that I purchased from Close To My Heart. I gave the card an extra score so it would accommodate the thickness of the book and the sticker I wanted to put in that space (SRM). The clear overlay is tacked to the book on the back:

I kept the interior simple and quick with a variety of Elle's tags, my trusty date stamp and some washi tapes:

There's plenty more inspiration in this month's design team gallery! Hope you will check it out. Also, it's Elle's Studio Anniversary/ 5th Birthday this month and there are lots of fun things going on. Stay tuned for a fun blog hop with many chances to win an awesome prize! Trust me, this one is going to be good ;) (Like 'a chance to win a $20 gift certificate to Elle's Studio on each of the participating blogs' good!)

Elle's Studio March Inspiration Gallery

It's that time again! Time for a new Elle's Studio gallery. I always look forward to seeing what the other team members make. Up first for me this month is this page I made with the Studio Calico Story Hour kit for March. (I stayed up late so I could snag both of the add-ons I wanted. I never do that. Usually I can go without but this month, I really wanted that circle stamp!) Love the combo of a kit & Elle's tags. They always seem to play so nice together. I used a few of Elle's new Anniversary releases on this page:

 Here I trimmed one of the new Noted Journal Circle Tags to fit into the stamped dotted line (I used a CM circle cutter) - you can also see a little piece of one of the new date tags from the Collected Cutouts sheet:

 Here I trimmed the words "favorite details' off of one of the new Make A List tags and used it for my title:

Did you know this month is Elle's Studio 5th Anniversary/Birthday? We are celebrating all month long so stop by the blog. Many chances to win - stay tuned for a fun blog hop this weekend!

Elle's Sneak Peeks

Very excited for a new Elle's Studio Inspiration gallery to go live and for the 5th Anniversary blog hop this Saturday. Lots of fun giveaways and specials going on at Elle's this month, along with some fun new releases. Thought I'd share a few gallery sneaks today....

...I relied heavily on the current Studio Calico kit....

and Pebbles, Inc. too....

Thanks for stopping by - So glad we are halfway through the week!

Coloring Party Favor with SRM

I mentioned I was on a roll, right? The Old Navy 'impulse buy' aisle near the cash registers was extremely fruitful the other day. I found the bracelet from yesterday's post and these 'Crazy Crayons':

I mentioned yesterday that I've been thinking about ways to embellish the outside of the SRM tubes. When I saw these crayon rings, I though they'd fit perfectly on the Magic Wand tube and they did. I put together this little crayon party favor:

Rolled up inside the tube are a few free birthday-themed coloring pages I printed from Crayola.com:

I finished it off with a very simple tag with a Birthday Sticker Sentiment and a couple of We've Got Your Border stickers at each end:

The ribbon tied near the tag holds the crayons on the tube - as does that little bit of twine. This was so simple to make and would be very easy to mass produce.

So, today it's back to school for me after a not-so-relaxing spring break. Of course, I left my homework until last minute so I was up late last night drafting. Now the actual designing part of the class can start. Glad to see I didn't forget everything I learned so far. I guess it's working!

Hope you all have a lovely day!

I'm on a roll...

I know these SRM tubes are great to fill with stuff as party favors, but I've been trying to think of clever ways to embellish the outside. While I was shopping in Old Navy yesterday, I spotted the flower slap bracelet below. I thought it might be cute wrapped around of few of the tubes because it seemed to have a pretty tight grip. 

Here is the result of my little experiment - along with a little tag I made to go along with it (my Silhouette got a workout this weekend - I've used that little sun shape dozens of times):

For the tag I used a We've Got Your Sticker sentiment and a We've Got Your Border sticker. The bracelet was the perfect size to hold 3 of the tubes tightly, even filled with assorted goodies:

My daughter already has dibs on that bracelet. My son has dibs on the Reeses Pieces. They are very excited to be the benefactors of my tube experimentation!

Another day of warm temps here in the East. I'm relieved so tomorrow is the start of spring. Now, it's back to work...
Hope you have a great week ahead!

Sunday at The Studio

This Sunday at The Studio we've got a fun Pinterest photo inspired challenge; a bright, colorful image with a geometric floral motif.

photo credit: Sarah London Textiles

 Here's how I interpreted the photo:

I found that shape in the Silhouette store - very similar to the shape in the inspiration photo. I used my Studio Calico Daydream Believer kit from last month for the pattern mix (which just happens to include some new Pebbles, Inc. Hip Hip Hooray). I added an SRM sticker to the photo in white for a subtle reference to the bright sun and overexposed photo. Here's a close up:

I hope you will play along with us this week. There's a great prize up for grabs (a $15 gift certificate to Scrapbook.com!) So stop by and show us what you've got! If you need more inspiration, we've got plenty of that for you too. Our design team really put together a great gallery this week! (Honestly, they do every week :)

Have a great day!

Spring at Pebbles, Inc.

It's all about Spring over at the Pebbles, Inc. blog this week. (It's been all about Spring here in NJ too! And we are liking it!) Anyway - back to Pebbles, Inc. - here's a simple, graphic page I made for the occasion:

This might be one of my all time favorite things I've ever done with my Silhouette - a technique I plan to use over and over in the weeks to come.  I used the text function to cut the word 'spring' out of the background, then filled the shapes with a variety of Fresh Goods patterns. This was an easy way to mix a lot of pattern and color without it getting too overwhelming. The word 'forward' was typed in a script font (Lollipop, purchased at the Silhouette store) welded, then cut from another Fresh Goods pattern. I made my page 8 1/2 x 11 because I have the original Silhouette. Up until now I've been resistant to upgrading to a Cameo but I'd love to try this technique on a 12 x 12 sheet. (I know there are ways around it with the Silhouette, I'm just enabling myself here ;) Here's a close up of the die cut type:

You can see a little more of the script type below, used for the journaling. I kept the rest of my elements bright and graphic. (Pebbles, Inc. is so good and making bright & graphic lines!)

You can find a complete list of all the Pebbles, Inc. product used on this page at the blog, along with a plethora of Spring projects posted all week from the design team.

Weather man is telling us this weekend is going to be gorgeous. I'm trying not to get my hopes up that Spring is really here but I have a feeling we really are done with winter. Did I just jinx us? I hope not!!
Back tomorrow with a fresh challenge at The Studio - it's a fun one and there is a great prize this month. Hope you'll give it a try.
Happy Saturday, all!

Easter Project with SRM Stickers

I am loving being on the SRM design team but have been seriously slacking in the 'tube' department. SRM makes these really cool clear plastic tubes (in a variety of sizes) that you can make all kinds of projects out of. They are particularly great for party favors!

I keep a few on my desk hoping that someday a crafty brainstorm will happen and I'll think of something clever to do with them. Yesterday, I finally had an idea (hopefully, an original one) and here's the result:

I wanted a way to package these pretty Easter pencils as a little gift. Eight fit snugly in the tube - but then what? These sat on my desk for weeks until it occurred to me to make the tube into a pencil. Only problem, the tube is shorter than the pencils. How do I get the cap to stay on - cut the pencils? Fake it by sticking the cap to the erasers, rendering the entire gift useless? I slept on it and came up with this idea: I call it 'franken-tube'. I cut a piece off of another tube, washi taped it to the pencil tube at the top:

I covered the washi joint with the silver paper (scored to look like the metal part of a pencil - thanks Jan!)  and voila. It worked!

To make the point, I punched a circle from kraft paper, cut a radius then shaped it into a cone. I glue dotted in together, then dipped it in black acrylic paint to make the 'lead'. When it was dry, I glued it into the base of the tube, where there happens to be a convenient little lip to hold it in place.

 For my little gift tag, I used a variety of SRM Easter themed stickers.

If you are feeling the need for some more SRM inspiration, stop by the blog. Susan and Jenyfur are always sharing tons of ways to use their cool products.

It's very warm here in New Jersey this week. Like, 'late Spring' warm. I'm trying to remind myself daily that it is still winter and the temps will surely plummet again before Spring does officially arrive. Is it warm where you are too?
Thanks for stopping by today!