Elle's Project Kits

Today I get to start sharing the projects I made with the 2 awesome Elle's Studio kits for May: Everyday Moments & Here & Now:

Kits are such a lifesaver for me. I just don't have time anymore to dig through my stash mixing paper and product. Not that I don't like to do that every now and then - it's just not in the cards right now. So much so that I am contemplating purging all of my accumulated stash. But that is a post for another day....

The Elle's kits are amazing. The mix of papers is fantastic, they come with a great set of exclusive tags and then there's the stamps. Have you seen Elle's stamps? I'm not a huge stamper but the stamps in these kits are usually cool, on-trend, graphic elements that fit seamlessly into my projects.

Here's the first page I made with a combo of these 2 kits. For the background I used the Jenni Bowlin ledger sheet with some giant sized confetti (punched from one of the Echo Park papers in the kit). The kit even had some great Elle's-designed badges by Evalicious:

Here's one of the exclusive tags (and also the name of one of my favorite songs):

I trimmed up the ruffled paper and a strip of patterned paper to make a border under my photo. "Remember this" is from the stamp set in the kit:

I added a few layers here - here's a close up of the photo framing and that great pennant stamp from the kit (heat embossed with American Crafts Leaf)

Almost Friday! They announce the Gallery Idol top 20 tomorrow. Can't wait to see who is on that list. 

Back tomorrow with some more layouts - hope you have a great day!

Ready For Summer

We had a good weekend. Going back to work after a holiday is hard, but when it's Memorial Day and it's been like summer, it's extra hard. Despite the fact that we had a slight mishap while opening our pool - things got cleaned up and our kids spent the entire day yesterday swimming. I know they had a good time because they are still sleeping. I am ready for summer, and I'm sure they are too. Telling them it's time to get up for school is not going to go over well this morning.

Today I've got a page I made for the Elle's Studio sketch challenge last week. The sketch was lifted from a page by Kim Jeffress.

This page is a mish mosh of the Elle's Studio & Studio Calico kits for May, along with a handful of Elle's Studio tags. Here's a close up:

 The bottom of a large banner in the original layout looked like an upside down envelope to me - so that's what a I used under my photo cluster:

Did you play along at Elle's for the launch party? There's still time to upload projects! Have you seen the new summer product sneaks - they go on sale Thursday? Lots of good stuff to check out over at Elle's Studio this week!

Have a great day!

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day and a special thanks to the brave men & women who serve this country!

As you could probably tell from my past few posts, Elle's Studio has been keeping me very busy. I'm not complaining because I absolutely love being part of that team. I'm sad that my last month as a designer is approaching. It sure was a short, but sweet term. If you ever have the opportunity to work with Elle - take it!

Today I'll share a mini album I made for the designer gallery for May. This is a combination effort of the Take 12 Challenge from Ella Publishing and use of the Elle's Studio kits for May. Way back in January I had committed myself to the Ella Take 12 Challenge and also a specific album format. I'm one of those people that thinks consistency in albums is the rule but realized around March that I was getting a little bored and losing interest in putting the pages together. I realized that it might be just as cool to have an album loaded with a varitey of takes on the monthly challenge - the only rule being that they fit into the album's page protector and not exceed the 8 x 8 space. That's how this album came to be:

The Elle's Studio Here & Now kit came with this little striped paper bag. I used it to hold my 'album' - I knew I wanted the album to stick out of the top of the bag, with either tabs or a group of patterned papers. I decided to use a plain manila file folder as the base, covered with patterned papers from the kit. Here's a close up of the bag decoration. I used the stamp to make my own washi-style tape:

 Here's the album out of the bag. 

The twelve photos are fit into Polaroid shapes cut from a sheet of patterned paper. There are 6 on each side. (Yes, the photos are pretty boring, since March 12 was a Monday - not the most exciting day in my world!)

In the center, attached with my home-made washi on top of a Hambly transparency, is an Elle's tag to record the day's (not very exciting) activities, 

Here's a close up of this tag - ideal for the Take 12 project!

On the reverse, a brief bit of journaling and another Elle's Studio stamp (one of my faves!)

Here's a close up of my tape. Made this by painting some plain old masking tape with white gesso, then stamping on it. (Learned this very cool technique from Julie Balzer.)

Here are the last 6 photos. Each has a small caption so I remember the significance:

Looking forward not to coming up with some other creative way to document the next 12 photos for this challenge. I realized in the process, many of the products made for project life are idea for use in the Take 12 project - and Elle's Studio has lots of them!

Hope you are all having a great weekend. It's very hot here today and the hubby and I managed to open the pool ourselves this year - not without a small disaster, but happy to report all is well now :) I'm amazed every year how we go from Spring to hot Summer almost overnight. Lots of fun stuff ahead this summer including a class in NY with Kelly Purkey (where I'll get to meet some other scrapbooking Jersey girls) and CHA in July - filled in between with a big yard sale (where I hope to purge a ton of scrapbooking supplies!) and lots of family gatherings. Don't you just love the beginning of the summer?

Gallery Idol Cards

The theme for Gallery Idol this year is encouragement. Not a strong category for me but I gave it my best shot. Thought I'd share 2 more of my entries for the open call. 

I made this card with the scraps from my Elle's Studio kits for May. I swore I would not use that crepe ruffle paper when I first saw it but I used it all over the place - including here on this card. If you haven't picked up a sheet yet, you definitely should! The little arrow on this page is a K & Co. Smash item (yanked out of the May Studio Calico kit) the sticker is Cosmo Cricket.

This card features the new Studio Calico line Take Note, which I treated myself to last month, and an old Studio Calico frame stamp. I heat embossed the frame with orange Zing. Those little metal flowers are Making Memories. Another Cosmo Cricket sticker here (if I make it into Gallery Idol this year, it will have a lot to do with that sticker sheet - Life Tiny Text - which inspired many of my entries)

Now, I can't wait to see who makes the top 20! If you check out my pal Amy's blog, you can see some cool Gallery Idol stats. I'm fine with whatever happens - whether I make the cut or or not. (There is some very stiff competition in that Flickr gallery.) I really needed to start making cards again and this was the perfect jump start.

Hope you are having a great weekend!

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

I thought it would be fitting today to share a party invite I made for the SRM Stickers blog.  I was in the party supply store picking up some confetti (for non-craft related project) when I passed by the luau aisle. I knew immediately what kind of invite I wanted to make and how I'd use an SRM tube as a favor:

I used some of my American Crafts Margarita stash along with a "You're Invited" blank.invite and "The Tube". For the palm tree party favor, I downloaded and cut the palm leaves with my Silhouette and scored them down the centers to make the slight fold. Then I simply glue dotted them to the tube cap. I filled the tube with coconut M&Ms and set aside 3 of the brown ones to make the coconuts. They are glue dotted to the leaves:

For my invite, I used the You're Invited blank sticker on white cardstock and stitched around it. I attached it to the striped panel then cut the 'aloha' with my Silhouette (the font is a download called Miss Molly):

I added a few spare leaves, a little American Crafts badge with some 'Live Life - Wet & Wild' stickers and some twine courtesy of  The Twinery:

This invite and favor could easily be mass produced and would be great for any tropical themed party.

Speaking of parties, there's a big one going on at the SRM blog today - the Operation Write Home blog hop in support of our troops. I hope you will check them out - there are lots of SRM goodies up for grabs and a random winner will be selected daily for the next 3 days.

Hope you have a great day!!

Flower Week at Pebbles, Inc.

It's flowers week at Pebbles, Inc. A quick post today with a card set I made for the occasion:

I've made these flowers before (inspired by a pair of shoes I own) but this time mixed a few Pebbles, Inc. lines for the petals. Patterned papers are from the new Hip Hip Hooray and Country Picnic lines. The pennants are also Hip Hip Hooray. The sentiments Country Picnic. The twine is from The Twinery.

Speaking of country picnics - hope there are some in your future and hope you have a great, long holiday weekend! Lots more to share so I hope you'll stop by again soon.

Elle's Studio Projects

Today I've got one of the pages I made for the Elle's Studio DT gallery for May. Have you been to the new website? There are tons of giveaways this week to celebrate the launch and there's a great new message board, too. This page is a bit of a mish mosh but it's mostly Jenni Bowlin Studio. For the first time in a long time I made a project without a kit:

I'm definitely getting attached to white cardstock these days. I find myself reaching for it for layouts and cards. It's my new kraft! Here's a close up of all the strips of paper I cut for this page. I used them to frame the photos and to make a base to anchor them on, as well. That adorable pennant is from the Elle's Studio Here & Now kit. I stamped and heat embossed with American Crafts Rouge powder:

It's back to work for me today but looking forward to the long weekend. On Friday the pool gets opened. I'll be so relieved to see that blue water again! Got any great weekend plans? In between a baseball game and a party, I've got some assignments to complete and also need to begin work on a scrapbook for a retiring teacher at my children's school. I don't make big albums like that very often but it's always a thrill to see the look on the recipient's face when they see it for the first time. 

Have a great day everyone  - will be back with a cute, summery SRM project tomorrow!

I've been making so many layouts lately that I feel like I've forgotten how to make cards. Does that happen to you? I was actually a little nervous when I sat down to work on some cards for the Gallery Idol open call.

The Paper Crafts Gallery Idol open call is going on right now. You would think after 2 years of sheer torture I would refrain from submitting again. Not sure why I can't resist. This years open call theme is 'encouragement' - a theme I've seriously under-produced in. I've been wracking my brain for some clever ways to put this theme to paper and late last night came up with this little number - just thought I'd share it today.

Inspired by the color wheel and the sentiment on the sticker, I kept this card very clean and simple. I waffled back and forth about adding some sewing or other elements but decided not to. It just felt done to me. All the papers are Pebbles, Inc. The sticker is from Cosmo Cricket.

Whether it makes the cut or not, I love it. One of my faves to date. Now, if the crafty mojo could just stick with me this week, or at least today, we can get a lot accomplished!

What about you - are you submitting any projects this year for Gallery Idol? I'd love to see them, so link up if you like!

Elle's Studio Gallery for May

Happy Tuesday - I'm not a big fan of Tuesdays but we are one day closer to the weekend so I'll focus on that! Today I get to start sharing my Elle's Studio projects for the month - which also include a handful of projects I made with the new project kits. I'll start off with this page from the May Inspiration Gallery – which nearly got scrapped (and not in the good way – I’m talking thrown out). Happy to say I think I worked out the design kinks:

This is the Studio Calico kit for May (35mm)  - again, a great pair with Elle's Studio tags. The base paper on this page has a pattern of empty Polaroid frames. I decided I'd fill them up:

I have to admit that I am not a big lover of hexagons. I used them here, though. One of the things I like about getting the kits is that they force me to use products and themes I would not normally choose for myself. While I'm not a full hexagon convert, I am glad I used them here. I used the hex stamp from the kit and stamped it on a few different patterns, then pieced them together patchwork style:

a close up of my favorite Thickers of all time:

 I used the washi tape in the kit to fill in the gaps here and there:

I hope you are playing along at the Elle's Studio kick off party. The message board is active and a great place to stop for all the details. Elle's been posting some trivia questions too - Jenni has an amazing page and great challenge up on the blog right now. So much going on over there - and then there's the new inspiration gallery - so check that out, too! 

I'll be back tomorrow with more - it's going to be a busy week here on the blog.

Good luck if you are playing along at Elle's! 

Elle's Studio Launch Party Day!

Mondays are rough. Here in NJ it’s a rainy Monday – the worst kind of all unless you have the day off and can sit on the couch all day. (Unfortunately, I do not.) Good things ahead this week, though, so at least we are here and can get it out of the way, right?

Today is a big day at Elle’s Studio – it’s the day of the launch party for the new website:

There will be a lot going on and many prizes to win – I hope you get to play along and win something!

The official launch party also means the new design team gallery is almost live. Just one more day and I can start to share my projects with you – and I’ve got a lot to share.  I’ve been quite busy making projects for Elle’s Studio. I’ll start off tomorrow with the page that goes with this little sneak peek. A page that nearly wound up in the trash:

I'm off to the new Elle's Studio message board - hope I'll see you there! 

Mix & Match @ Pebbles, Inc.

I've got a set of cards today that were featured on the Pebbles, Inc. blog on Monday. I got to participate in the Mix & Match Monday challenge. 

It's not really a challenge because all the Pebbles lines seem to work very well together. I focused on 3 of them for these cards: Fresh Goods, Country Picnic and Floral Lane:

 

Here are some close ups: I embossed the background with a simple dot pattern then die cut the small flowers in a variety of prints. I added a few french knots and buttons and called it a day: 

 A complete list of all the Pebbles, Inc. products I used can be found on the blog post. You can check out Jill's awesome take on the challenge while you are there! Oh, and have you seen the preview of Sunnyside yet? Good stuff!!

An SRM Baby Calendar

Today I get a share a project I've got up on the SRM Stickers blog today!

My project is a combination of a first year calendar/mini album. I like to make projects like these for new moms who might feel overwhelmed at the prospect of launching into a full-blown scrapbook. The calendar offers a place to record a years worth of memories in a manageable, non-intimidating format. It could even be taken apart and incorporated into a larger book.

I wanted the calendar to have a clean, graphic feel so each month features a big die cut number to mark the baby's age.

I added a stamped & heat embossed Polaroid frame as a home for a little photo of the baby from that month. It's tacked (so the photo can be tucked in behind) on top of a little pocket that contains a blank tag for jotting down milestones or anything the new mom wants to remember for that matter. The pocket could even hold additional small photos from that month.

Another pocket in the back holds a collection of SRM stickers for marking special days throughout the year:

Here's what I used:
SRM products used:
Keepsake Calendar 6 x 6 48082
Baby's First Year - Baby Boy 48091
Live Life - Baby Boy 49002
Sticker Sentiments - Baby 51002
Calendar Numbers - Small 48086
We've Got Your Border - Baby Boy 57001

other materials:
Twine: The Twinery
All patterned paper, button, candy dots: Pebbles, Inc.
envelopes: Melissa Frances
Polaroid stamp: Studio Calico
Ink: Ranger
Embossing: American Crafts
Clips: Tim Holtz
Die cut numbers: Silhouette
Dies: Stampin' Up

Hope you are all having a great week so far. Will be so happy when we are over the hump tomorrow!