We are so pleased to share more projects with our Paradise Collection from Cycling Team Member Kristine Berc.  She has done such a beautiful job of showcasing all of the beautiful embellishments that come with this collection.  But, let's have Kristine tell you all about it...

I'm Kris Berc and I'm so thrilled to have this opportunity to share some Paradise projects with you today!  It has been an incredible honor (and completely fun!) to design with this gorgeous collection of delightful blues, greens, and pinks.

I can't imagine a better collection than Paradise for this photo of my little girl.  She was happily running around the yard with these big sticks in her hands just being her fun and happy self.  The color combination is both outdoorsy and feminine... just perfect!

For the main embellishment cluster, I layered several Clear Cuts Shapes and Chipboard Shapes around a big dimensional flower, which, by the way, was incredibly quick and simple to make thanks to the Paper Flower Kit.  Whoever came up with the idea for those flower kits is just brilliant!  Can you see the beautiful texture and details that are included on both the clear and chipboard embellishments?  I also added some drops of pearl-colored dimensional fabric paint here and there for some extra interest.

I could not resist adding this wonderful felt sticker.  It comes layered and ready to stick!  All I did was add a few of those fabric paint dots around the flower's petals.

There were so many Chipboard Shapes and Cardstock Stickers that were just screaming to be used with this photo.  I couldn't decide which one to choose.  I ended up using several :)

You may have noticed that I layered several different sheets of the Paradise patterned paper before I even adhered the photo.  I couldn't help it... each of the papers is so pretty and I wanted to use them all!  But it is also important to me that my supplies last as long as possible, so here is what I did to get the most out of the paper:

Before I adhere my paper layers onto one another, I first cut out the centers of the papers.  The cuts don't have to be precise as they'll be covered up anyway :)  So just go in there with your scissors and cut the centers away, making sure to leave enough of the edges intact.  Now I can use each of those sheets of papers again for more projects!

See... who would have known that we had cut away the centers of the three bottom layers?

When I received Paradise I was completely excited for so many reasons, one of them being that the bright pinks included in it perfectly matched my daughter's new pink sweater.  So we got dressed and headed outside for what I had hoped would be a pretty, girly photo shoot.  Of course, she went straight for the dirt and started digging in it, as if to say, "Come on, Mommy, do you really think putting me in a pretty pink sweater that matches your scrapbook paper is going to prevent me from playing in the dirt?!"  Well okay... she had a point, and it ended up being a blessing in disguise.

One of the Paradise Fabric Favorites stickers had to have been made for moments like these!  It says "Discoveries", which you can see above along with some assembled flowers from the Paper Flower Kit (again, brilliant idea!) and a Chipboard Shape.

Apparently, the digging and sifting of the dirt wasn't enough for her, because before I could do anything about it she proceeded to put a large handful into her mouth.  Why do kids feel the need to eat dirt?  So there's the story of this layout.  In any case, in this cluster I used one of the Paper Flowers, a Chipboard Flower, an adorable bird Felt Sticker, and some of the wonderful Cardstock Sticker alphas.

My third project is this sweet little "Hi" card that will hopefully brighten a loved one's day.  The beautiful, colorful tree is one of the Chipboard Shapes, and the pretty bird is a Fabric Favorites sticker.  The only thing I did to dress her up even more was to layer on that pretty pink Fabric Favorites heart sticker.

I adhered the "Hi" Cardstock Sticker alphas (did you know those are embossed?!) with foam tape for added dimension.  Thanks to the beautifully detailed embellishments, this card came together in no time at all.

I hope you have enjoyed my Paradise projects!  Thank you to the readers for visiting Little Yellow Bicycle today, and thank you to Little Yellow Bicycle for including me on the Cycling Team!

Thank you Kristine!  We love your projects and even though you may not tell anyone, we think you bought that pink sweater for you daughter just to match our beautiful papers - Shhhhh - it's just between us!   Please visit Kristine's blog Stash of Pretty Paper for more inspiration.

We will be back later this week with some Biker Chick inspiration and another post from our Guest Designer Izzy Anderson.

Take care!

Liz

We are still busy showing off our beautiful new collections in Anaheim.  You can see that the Yellow Bicycle has been raised and we are not going home until we kick some butt and take names - LOL, which translates into lots of sales and more LYB product at your local scrapbook store.

Biker Chick Greta Hammond working with our customers and fans at our Make N' Take table.  Did you know we offer OUR visitors an opportunity to create a whole page?  Yep that's right, we love to create and we want you to create right along with us.

In this picture you can see our Saturdays Collection.  We are so excited about this collection and how much it will appeal to all the adults in your lives.

Our beautiful Paradise Collection.

This is our new Hello Spring Collection.  We took the idea of our Hello Fall! collection and made it a brand new season.  We think you will love the bright happy colors and springtime embellishments.

This is our new Canvas Mini Album decorated with our Hello Spring Collection.

We have a gorgeous new Wedding Collection called Swoon.

Our new Canvas Mini Album decorated with our Splash Collection.

Travel Journal made with The Escape Collection.

We cannot wait until you have these collections in your hands.

Thank you for stopping by today!

Liz

We are so excited to share a few more projects with our Paradise Collection from Cycling Team Member Ginny Hughes.  She has some simple ideas for putting that extra special something into a project.  But let's have Ginny tell you all about it...

My first project is this card. I am not a big cardmaker, but as soon as I saw these flowers I knew that they would make a beautiful Happy Spring card! I love that you can mix and match and make whatever you want!

This was hands down my favorite piece of paper from the collection, I just love it! So I had to use my scraps to make a card and I love the felt embellishments. They add great dimension and are fun little accents!

Ginny clustered our beautiful felt stickers with glass beads to accent her card.

My oldest daughter doesn't like pink or anything girly, so I loved that I could use these papers for a page about her and her playful side. I love the Confetti Garland, hands down one of my favorite things!!!

I also used the tag for some journaling and tucked it behind the photo.

I love that you can take bits and pieces from the flowers and use what you want. I thought the pinwheels made for a very happy page! I also used the long strip of words and cut it up to make my title fit to my page.

For me, paradise doesn't just mean the warm weather and the beach. Paradise is right out my front door! I love the colors of this line and think they are very fitting for a woodsy/lake theme page. I made a starburst pattern out of the patterned paper and added confetti and stars to keep it bright and happy!

Thank you Ginny for so many wonderful ideas and projects.  Please visit Ginny's blog 5 Little Chickens for more inspiration.

Have a great weekend!

Liz

We take our CHAs seriously and you cannot believe how much work it is to show up in a "foreign" city and set up a booth from scratch.  In case you did not know our Little Yellow Bicycle home office is in Connecticut and most of our team is scattered all over the country.  Let me take a moment to explain what it entails to get our team to Anaheim, California.

First off, our team made it there safe and sound.  Ross Zachs, our fearless leader, flew in from Connecticut.  You can see him below taking a moment from constructing the booth to eat a much needed meal of peanut butter and jelly.

Thom Petruski, our Director of Sales, flew in from Chicago (you can imagine he prefers summer CHA). In the picture below The Yellow Bike has been raised and our team is quickly making progress on the rest of the booth.

How do we get all the stuff there you might ask?  We ship it in very large wooden crates.  Our Creative Director Sharon Kropp flew to Anaheim from Colorado, but you can see how big the crate is and Sharon pulling stuff out of it to set up.

I am also from Colorado, and looking at Sharon's choice of shoes for Anaheim and laughing, because I am sure with all the snow we just got in the mountains, she was NOT wearing those in the car on the way to the airport! 

After the booth is put together, our Biker Chicks' role is to decorate the booth with beautiful and fun projects. Greta Hammond is going to be at the show working with attendants on make and takes and she is from Indiana.  Vicki Boutin is flying in from Canada and plans to spend some time in the booth with our team.  Biker Chicks who are not attending, but who have created amazing work to share with you include Renée Foss, who lives in Pennsylvania and Tania Willis, who lives in Ohio.  As I said, I live in Colorado not too far from Sharon and our Social Media Coordinator, Peg Berry lives in Connecticut. 

It's amazing how far we live from each other, but how connected our team is in putting together what you will see in the booth at the show.  I think we will have some more detailed photos of the completed booth tomorrow.  Have a great weekend!

Liz

How about some ideas for using Little Bicycle Products in your everyday albums?  Biker Chick Tania Willis has been working on her Project Life pages with LYB's gorgeous Saturdays collection.

Hello, Little Yellow Bicycle fans!

I, like a whole multitude of scrapbookers, have decided that this is the year I will tackle Project Life.  Not long ago, I made the decision to start out my project by purchasing a Core Kit---choosing the Cobalt design.

When first starting to populate the divided page protectors with photos and journaling cards I was disappointed at how visually flat everything looked. It didn’t take long for me to realize I wasn’t going to be satisfied with just photos and words on lined journaling cards.  I decided I still want all the layers and the look of dimension, just without all the bulk of my typical layouts.

So what does all that have to do with Little Yellow Bicycle?

Well, in order to add layers and visual dimension without the bulk I will be combining my Cobalt Core Kit along with some of my favorite Little Yellow Bicycle products---the Favorite Pieces & Fresh Verse sticker sheets, Patterned Papers, Tear-Out Ticket Booklets, and Clear Cut Shapes.

For Week 1, I noticed lots of beige tones along with pops of red and blue in my photos, so I decided to spice up my Core Kit pieces by pulling from the brand-new Saturdays collection.  The colors went together beautifully!

Here’s a look at the whole week together.

Now that you’ve seen the whole spread, let’s take a closer look at each side and how I was able to blend the Saturdays embellishments in without being so blatantly obvious. We’ll look at the left side of the page first.

In the overall view you can see that I tried to balance color in both the product usage and the photos so it is visually appealing.  When in doubt, scan your Little Yellow Bicycle products for neutrals like beige, cream or white tones.  These neutral colors help add visual interest, but not visual weight allowing the eyes to rest.

You can see in the image above how I added both a Fresh Verse sticker and a Clear Cut Shape, both in neutral tones to add interest to the photo without adding visual bulk.

As you’ve seen throughout all the collections Little Yellow Bicycle has released, there are always some lovely tone on tone patterns that work well outside of their intended collections.  Those are the types of papers I plan on using in the upper left corner from one week to the next.

Bits and pieces from the sticker sheets, ticket books and clear cut shapes packs are the perfect products to pull from to spice up your lined journaling cards.  You can see a little closer detail on how I’ve done that in this photo.  At the top of the photo you see the “take it easy” chipboard piece.  For some of these thicker/bulkier pieces, I am inserting the photo into the protector, and then attaching the chipboard on the outside of the protector.  That way I’m assured that the bulk isn’t going to cause a weak seam within that pocket.

Okay, let’s move to the right side details.  Here’s a closer look at the right side all together.

And let’s take a closer look at the Saturdays product in action.

Just because an embellishment is layered and dimensional in the original packaging doesn’t mean you have to totally discount it for use in your Project Life album….or any other project you want to make less dimensional for that matter.  With just a few minor alterations, you can make a layered piece flat; such as I did with this “today” banner ribbon.  It was originally sandwiched with two layers of foam, so I simply pulled apart the layers, removed the dimensional foam and reassembled it together with a thin glue dot.  Then, I even cut the banner short, removing the phrase as you see here.  The phrase is still intact and ready to use on another project.

On the photo above I could have just as easily left it plain with nothing on it, but a few little Fresh Verse stickers add just the right amount of detail.  I love that the Fresh Verse stickers always have a handful of generic phrases and words, regardless of which collection they are for, making them perfect for Project Life

When deciding on how to layer products for this spread I made to sure look specifically for empty space within the photos.  If you go back and scan through all the detail shots in this post you’ll see what I mean by that, but I think in the photo above it’s most obvious.  By embellishing the empty space you are simply covering space that has no meaning to the overall photo or memory you wish to retain.

So whether you’re on the Project Life bandwagon or just doing your own thing, I hope you’ve found the details of my Project Life:Week 1 useful for how to stretch the use of your Little Yellow Bicycle products!

Confused about Project Life?  Start here. (insert hyperlink: http://beckyhiggins.com/products/

Looking for more projects & tutorials by me?  Be sure to visit me on my blog!

(insert blog link: http://www.throughtrialsiambeingpurified.blogspot.com)

Thank you so much for stopping by today!

Liz

We are so excited to introduce our newest Cycling Team Member Kay Rogers.  Kay's clean and simple style gives our Paradise collection a fresh look.  Here is what she had to say about Paradise, "I think Paradise was so versatile because I could accomplish outdoorsy, fun, subtle, and pretty all with one line! Thanks for the opportunity to be on the Cycling Team!"

For this layout of Jenna and her cousin, I wanted the soft blues and greens to make the picture shine.  The blocks of patterned paper are a nice compliment to the photo and the simple, clear cut tag is a great journal spot.

The Clear Cut shapes, not only come with glitter accents, but they are also easy to write on and add a very different look than cardstock.

This page has one of my favorite pics of Jenna. I really wanted the layout to be more "pretty" and serene in nature to make her shine through. The plaid paper makes a great border and contrast to the black and white photo.

The Paradise garland embellishment is such a fun addition to a page or project.  Just add some pop dots and the dimension shines through.

This layout with Jenna up on the pile of hay playing was inspired by the quote on the card. She was having such a little adventure that day, and I wanted to convey the fun with a more random feel to the placement of the elements on the page.

Kay also made this adorable project with our Paradise Medley Album.

I thought the papers were perfect for a series of photos I took with my photography club kids. We were outdoors and Jenna came with us on the trip.  I snapped so many pictures that day so a mini album was perfect!

For directions, I just printed my pictures 2x3. I used the mini-album kit, and supplemented the pages with the shaped papers. I then laid out all of the LYB stickers and embellies and went to town!

Thank you Kay for so many inspirational projects with our newest collection.  I am pretty sure that you can already find Paradise in your LSS, and if not, then I bet it is on the way.  What better way to take a break from the cold snap of winter than to play with a little Paradise???

You can visit Kay's blog How Did I End Up Here for more beautiful work and inspiration from her.

Stick with us this week as we gear up for CHA and share some more projects with our new collections from our Biker Chicks and our Guest Designer Izzy Anderson.

Have a wonderful day!

Liz

We love riding with our Peloton and we have some wonderful and inspiring projects to share today!

How many of you are excited about The Super Bowl?  Do you have big plans to enjoy the day with food, friends and fun?  Well, we thought it would be a good idea to revisit our Get Your Game On collection and get all of our fans to start thinking about how to document Super Bowl Sunday for the special people in your lives who love sports and especially the Super Bowl.  That's right, we expect to see pictures of your friends and family dressed in team jerseys, eating hot wings and drinking...whatever goes with it.  We are pretty sure you can find this collection in your LSS or at online stores like Scrapbook.com, A Cherry On Top or Two Peas in a Bucket.  Below is a little inspiration from our Peloton to get the creative juices flowing.

Page by Marcia Dehn-Nix found on her blog One Scrap at a Time

Printer's Tray by Suzanne Sergi found on our blog

Page by Carolyn Lontin found on the Scrappin' Sports Stuff Blog

Page by Carolyn Lontin found on Scrappin' Sports Stuff Blog

Kickoff Gift Set by Kimberly Rae Forde found on our blog

Football Pennant  -  had to share one more project with our Canvas Colorables

We also wanted to announce our Fall/Winter Sketch Challenge Finalist.  Please congratulate Michelle Gallant for her take of my sketch with our Winter Twig collection.

Michelle, Ashley and Victoria - please email your address info to lizq@cthruruler.com and we will get your prize packs in the mail.

Remember - you can jump into our Jan/Feb Sketch Challenge right now.  And if you would like to see your projects featured on our blog, please post them online or send them to lizq@cthruruler.com.

Have a great day!

Liz

Happy Saturday all! Hope you're doing something cool and crafty today!

I'm here to share our final projects from our Hello Fall! Guest Designer Danielle Flanders - and just in time to get your craft on for Valentine's Day!  I love how once again Danielle was able to take our oh-so-fabulously-fall collection, and create a Valentine and ane everyday card! Here she is to tell you about it!

Perfect Love card:
Here I used three of the journaling cards from the Hello, Fall! line on a love themed card. I punched a heart out of one of the cards and layered it over a ticket card. I trimmed the word "perfect" from the bottom of one of the cards and used it as a tab. You could also use this card as a thank you.

Supplies used:
Hello, Fall 11.75 x 5.75" paper pad
Hello, Fall Fabric Favorites
Hello, Fall Journaling Notes
Hello, Fall Stick Pins

Happy Day card:
I used one of the papers from the 11.75 x 5.75" paper pad from Hello, Fall! and folded it in half for this card! Very easy and quick! It can be used for a birthday or congratulations, not just fall.

Supplies used:
Hello, Fall 11.75 x 5.75" paper pad
Hello, Fall Fabric Favorites

Sweet, simple, and simply marvelous! A huge thank you to our Hello Fall! Guest Designer Danielle Flanders for her fun and fabulous projects!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and we'll be back with more fun next week!

-Peg

We are so excited to introduce Izzy Anderson as our first Guest Designer for 2012.  We had a little slice of Paradise to share and who better to ask than a Southern girl from Charlotte, North Carolina.  Izzy has been a Little Yellow Bicycle fan for a long time and a participant in some of our challenges.  You probably know her as Izzy Bean and have seen her design work at Echo Park, in Magazines such as Scrapbooks Etc., Creating Keepsakes and CARDS as well as in many online galleries and blogs.  But let's have Izzy tell you all about herself...

Hi, everyone! I’m Izzy and I am super excited to be guest designing for Little Yellow Bicycle for the next four weeks with the beautiful new Paradise collection.  When Liz told me about this line and asked if I would consider designing with it, I couldn’t believe my luck.  I had already seen sneaks for it on the LYB blog and then Liz sent me the catalog. Wow.  This is one of my favorite Little Yellow Bicycle collections.  I mostly scrap my little boy and I just adored the beautiful greens, teals, browns, creams and olives in this line.  Plus, it had this great pop of pink that really made me smile. I’m not one to shy away from a bit of pink on a boy’s page.  Finally, the name of the collection reeled me in. How could I resist Paradise?!

Before we show you Izzy's first project, we had to ask her a few questions so we could all get to know her better.

LYB: What is your ‘go to’ embellishment?

IA:I love stickers. I love letter stickers, phrase stickers, icon stickers, label stickers and  journaling  stickers. I am a sticker collector!  I prefer flat stickers and I often back them with cardstock, cardboard or pop dots to give them a little dimension.  I also like to layer stickers to form an embellie cluster.

LYB: Do you prefer cardstock or patterned paper?

IA: I prefer patterned paper but I usually have a bit of cardstock somewhere on my projects so the eyes will have a place to rest.

Once I had my paper in place, I added the photo and an assortment of embellishments.   The banner at the top originally said, “Free,” but I altered that by using alphas in the collection to spell “Golf” instead. The alphas from the “Fresh Verse” stickers are the same size as the alphas on the banner, so that worked out perfectly. I love that LYB thinks ahead and makes its embellishments interchangeable like this. It makes it super easy to make a little alteration.  

Have you seen the Fabric Favorites in this line? I think they are my favorite embellies of the collection.  They look so rich and add a great texture to any project. I just had to use them.  I picked three fabric banners and turned them into golf flags by adding toothpicks as flagpoles.