Hi friends! Hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!

We're back today with another amazing project from our Tiny Princess and Baby Saurus Guest Designer Laura Vegas! She's made the cutest little altered monogram letter and I'm going to show it to you in just a minute ... 

...after a little more Q&A with Laura!

LYB: Are you a chronological or out of order scrapbooker?

Laura:  Out of order. I tend to scrap with whatever photos are inspiring me at the moment, or what photos work with the colors and products I'm using. That might mean photos from this year, from 2 years ago, or even 10 years ago.

LYB:  Are you an "events" or "moments" scrapbooker?

Laura:  I do both. I think most of my layouts are about the "moments", using favorite photos to help tell the story. But I also love doing "event" layouts. There's something very rewarding about taking an entire event, working a ton of photos onto a layout, documenting the day, and knowing it's in the books and done.

LYB:  Are you a sit down or stand up scrapbooker?

Laura:  I've gone back and forth on this, as my scrap space has moved around in the house. Right now, I'm a sit down scrapper. But I am constantly standing up, the entire time I scrap, to dig around for supplies I want.

LYB: Do you have a favorite quote?

Laura:  "It is what it is." I have lived by this quote for years now. Even when things aren't going my way, and life isn't what I might want it to be, "it is what it is." Accept it, and learn to make the most of it.

Great quote. And now - here's Laura!

Babysaurus Altered Monogram

I have seen these large paper mache letters so many times in the craft store, and finally decided to try altering one of them. I knew the adorable Baby Saurus collection would be perfect for making a monogram letter for a baby's nursery. I choose the letter "Z", for my daycare baby, Zachary. These letters are nice and chunky, and are almost 12 inches in height.

I started out by painting the edges of my letter with some acrylic paint. I made sure to get a little bit of paint overlapping onto the top edges. There's no reason to paint the entire front of the letter, since I was adhering patterned paper to the front. Once the paint was dry, I traced the letter onto a piece of pattern paper. Since the letters is almost 12 inches in height, one sheet of pattern paper will cover the letter entirely. When I cut out the letter from the paper, I cut it about 1/4 inch in from my traced lines. This made my paper letter a tad bit smaller than the actual paper mache letter, so that a little bit of the painted edge would show. I adhered the paper to the front of the letter, using some strong adhesive. You could always decopauge the paper, if you wanted an even better hold.

Then I had fun picking out embellishments to decorate my letter. I went with the lines on the "Z" shape, so i mainly added my embellishments to the top and bottom of the letter. I used some Chipboard Stickers, and Favorite Pieces stickers. I thought the trees and cute little dinosaurs would be cute in Zachary's nursery. I wanted to tie a few ribbons around the middle section of the "Z", and the ribbons from Little Yellow Bicycle's Pack Your Bags collection coordinated perfectly.

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I'm in love with this little "Z" monogram! So cute. (I'm sure those day care parents love the little bonuses they get by having Laura as their day care provider.) Lucky Zachary! It will be adorable in his nursery!

Thanks Laura!

I'll be back with a final post from Laura later in the week, and hey - guess what? Soon we'll be shipping Sweet Summertime! Get ready for more fun.

Meanwhile, be sure to check out Laura's Blog, and tell her how much you're loving these projects she has created for us!

Wanted to let you in on some specials going on at Little Yellow Bargains in honor of Memorial Day weekend.

So happy to welcome back our Baby Saurus and Tiny Princess Guest Designer Laura Vegas! Who didn't love her cutie cute cute Tiny Princess cards from the last post?

Today, she's sharing a 12" X 12" layout featuring Zachary (a little boy she watches for her daycare business). Love this layout. But first, a little more LYB Q&A with Laura!

LYB:  What is the funniest topic you've used for a scrapbook page?

Laura:  I scrapped a favorite photo of my youngest daughter,Sarah, that was taken just minutes after she was born. The nurses were cleaning her off, and one of their hands was around Sarah's neck to help hold her up. Sarah has always looked at that photo, and said that "I was cooked in a pot." It really did look like they were dunking her in a pot. I just had to get that on a layout.

LYB:   Computer or handwritten journaling? 

Laura:  I really do prefer computer journaling on my layouts, as my first choice. But every now and then, I will hand journal. Usually, it's when I run out of room for any computer journaling.

LYB: What is your favorite color to use in your pages?

Laura:  My favorite colors to scrap with are red, brown, green, and turquoise. I've also been loving orange lately.

LYB:   How long does it typically take you to complete a layout?

Laura:  I used to be a super slow scrapper, but have gotten a lot quicker the last year or so. I take a lot of breaks while I scrap, and also work on numerous layouts at once. But I would guess to say a layout takes me about 1-2 hours on average.

LYB:   Do you use any tools that are not specifically designed for scrapbooking?

Laura:  Nope. Not that I can think of. I'm not really an outside-of-the-box type of person. I guess I'm even that way with my tools, and use everything just like the directions tell me ;)

LYB:  What is the oddest embellishment you used on a page?

Laura:  I'm not sure this is very odd. But I created a layout a few years ago about my love for Tim McGraw. I cut up all the little photos on the back of his calendar to use on my layout, along with my fan club badge, lanyard, and a charm from a necklace!

And now, here's Laura with her layout!

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Hi everyone! It’s Laura Vegas here again, with a new Baby Saurus project to share with you. While I have two older daughters of my own, I am lucky enough to still have a lot of little babies and toddlers around to scrap about. I am a daycare provider, and I love to create layouts about the children that I watch.

The new Baby Saurus collection is perfect for the little boy I watch, Zachary. Right away, I knew I wanted to use the chipboard sticker slider accent.

I knew I would be pointing that arrow towards “crawling”, and scrapping a few photos of Zachary from the first time he crawled. That accent piece is really what I built my entire layout around.

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Thanks Laura! That Zachary is such a cutie! I love how Laura used the Canvas Border in her layout, accented with Fabric Favorites Buttons! Other materials used include:

- Dino Parade/Tiny Yellow Stripes Paper
- Little Dino Dots Paper
- Dino Words Paper (cut into a semicircle)
- Tiny Orange Stripes Paper (cut into a slightly larger semicircle)
- Chipboard Sticker Embellishments

We'll be back soon with more from Laura! And remember you can follow her blog by clicking here - and be sure to tell her how much LYB loves her!

Congratulations to "Erin T.!" - randomly selected comment #224!

You are the lucky winner of the fabulous Maya Road and Little Yellow Bicycle prize pack from last week's blog swap! What are you getting? Well I'll name a few - the Maya Road Teapot chipboard album, the "Play" chipboard album, an adorable Mason Jar chipboard album, plus all of the amazing felt, fabric and chipboard flowers you saw in last week's posts - as well as a slew of goodies from my favorite LYB collections. This prize pack will keep you busy for quite a while!

Please send your mailing information to me at "peg@cthruruler.com" so we can get that prize pack out to you!

Thanks to everyone for all your lovely comments. We hope you had as much fun with the blog swap as we did! Remember even if you didn't win a prize, if you try some of the projects our design teams shared with you, you're a winner too!

We have more fun planned for this week - our next post by Tiny Princess & Baby Saurus Guest Designer Laura Vegas! Woot!

Happy Monday everyone!

Peg

Hi all! Happy weekend!

It's time to announce some WINNERS!!!

Congratulations! The winners of the Maya Road Teapot Album and the Savor prize pack from our Wednesday Post and Facebook Wednesday Challenge are:

From Facebook: 

Kathy Perry

And from the blog:

Kristin McCall

Hooray! Congratulations ladies! We hope you'll show us what you make with your prize!

To get your loot: Please send your mailing info to "peg@cthruruler.com" with "Teapot Album/Savor Winner" in the subject line!

Thanks for playing and have a great weekend!

Usually (like the rest of the world), I LOVE Fridays. But of course today marks the end of our Blog Swap week with the wonderful team at Maya Road, so today I'm saying "TBIF" ... Too Bad it's Friday.

It's been so much fun seeing and sharing the projects our wonderful Design Teams have created!  Of course it's not over yet -- today we have one more project for you and then later today I'll be picking a winner from Wednesday's Teapot Banner post, and then this weekend we'll be picking even more winners. So stick around ... it's far from over!

For now, here's our final project from Biker Chick Tania Willis!

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Hello to all my Little Yellow Bicycle and Maya Road fans!  The projects this week have been incredible, have they not!?  I'm so proud to be on a team with all of these amazing designers!  Did you see that layout on the Maya Road blog from Karen Grunberg on Wednesday----oh, my, WOW!  I literally gasped when I saw it!  SO incredibly inspiring!

Anywho.  I've also been a long-time fan of everything Maya Road has to offer...I mean, who hasn't?  While their chipboard pieces just beg to be covered, painted, sanded, misted, glittered, beaded, etc., I just couldn't resist leaving them raw for my project.  Have you ever tried it?  It's been a long-time trend now, but I can't recall ever not fussing with chipboard and just using it straight from the package.  Something about doing that just seemed so......uh, wrong.  Boy, was I in for a treat!  It's so, um, effortless! And, lovely, to boot!

When thinking about what I would pair the Maya Road Mixed Blossom Mini Chipboard set with, I immediately thought of this picture of my daughter in the corn maze.  The raw chipboard seemed like it would work perfect with the textures and colors in the photo.  I won't lie though.  I was tempted to at least stamp with versamark on them and add some clearly embossing.  I resisted the temptation, however.

I also wanted to show the versitility of one of the older collections by Little Yellow Bicycle----do you remember the Clothesline collection?  It's such a beauty.  The grey tones and soft colors work so well with the bold colors in the photo helping it to remain the center of attention on a layout that is full of layers and dimension. 

So, be challenged to use those collections intended for spring, like Clothesline and Elizabeth Park, and try using them with other seasonal photos.  I bet you'll find it's not really a challenge at all!

Let's talk about the details of the layout.

By using tone-on-tone alphabet stickers in a repetitive pattern along the side, I've not only echoed the sentiment in the journaling, I've also created an understated title that doubles as a design element.  I think this might be my most favorite thing about the layout.  I'm a huge fan of creating texture.

The combination of raw chipboard blossoms and the Maya Road Grey Felt Pearl Blossom might seem to be an odd one when looking at the packaging side by side, but on this layout, I think the felt blossom adds just the right amount of femininity without being overly frou-frou.  Again, I think it has everything to do with the understated chipboard--leaving them raw--and the blossom color being the same as the background paper helps appear grounded and not begging for all the attention.

Lastly, I took a close-up of the journaling.  This was just done by putting the journaling card right into my type-writer.  If you want the same look, but don't have a type-writer, you can:

1. Open your word processing program.

2. Adjust your margins so they fall within the measurements of your journaling card.

3. Type your journaling.

4. Print your journaling on regular printer paper.

5. Attach your journaling card directly over the printing you just printed in step 4 using temporary adhesive.

6. Put the paper back through the printer--same direction as before--and print again.

Voila!

So, what do you think?  Are you fan of raw chipboard or do you like to gussy them up!?

Willis, out! LOL.

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Thanks Tania! Beautiful layout! Don't forget to leave a comment! For more from Tania, you can find her blog by following this link (leave some love and tell her we sent you!).

And ... keep your eye out for the next post from Maya Road, coming out later today! Their Design Team is so talented. I love to ooh and aah over their work. Also check out Maya Road Partner Caroline Lau's Blog, Maya Road and Me. You'll find demos for lots of cool and unique ways to use their cool and unique products!! [My favorite at the moment is Caroline's Spiral Zipper Trim Flower video tutorial, which you can see if you follow the link and then scroll down ... wow I've GOT to try that!]

Thanks for visiting! Watch for winners later!!!

Peg

Hi guys! Back again with more inspiration from the combined Maya Road and Little Yellow Bicycle Design Teams. These women are so talented, don't you think? So much fun reading your posts about your favorite projects ... clearly there's a little something for everyone ... which makes this blog swapping so much fun!

Hey sorry about the confusion ... LYB and Maya Road are in very different time zones ... and they blog 3X/week and we blog...well... randomly but mostly every day during blog swaps :)  so it's been a little difficult to coordinate posting times! So don't worry if you don't see something new! We'll do our best to clue you in when the posts are up! If you missed yesterday's, follow this link to see a fantastic Heart Canvas Heart Coaster Album by Maya Road Designer Shelley Haganmann and a gorgous layout by Maya Road Designer Karen Grunberg. Don't miss them.

Now for today's post, let me introduce you to LYB Biker Chick Mari Aartun!  Mari is expecting a new baby later this year, and she created an adorable mini album for her ultrasound pictures ... plus a layout!

Here's Mari!

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I have to say, recieving the package from Maya Road put a big smile on my face!

I LOVE all those different flowers, and that so many of them were in "boyish"-colors:)

I had some ultrasound pictures I wanted to put into a mini album, and since we are expecting a boy, I thought those lovely green and blue colors in the Twig collection fit perfectly!

I used the "Play" chipboardalbum from Maya Road, and removed the two Play pages. I painted all the pages with gesso, and started to decorate. I also used two envelopes from the Twig Envelope Album, which I just reduced in size for it to fit inside the album.

I colored some of the chipboard Mini blossoms from Maya Road with chalk, and put some glitter Stickles on top for some glittery finish.

Materials used for the mini: different patterned papers from Twig, minibanner, fabric favorites, favorite pieces stickers, fresh verse stickers, crepe paper lace stickers and chipboard shapes ith glitter. Maya Road products: "Play" chipboard album, Felt Pearl Blossoms, Gingham Fabric Blossoms (brown and green) and Candy Stripes blossoms.

Well, I needed a layout too with an ultrasound picture, didn't I?

Here I have used Diamond Dust patterned paper from Twig, together with Espresso Knots. The small piece of paper to the right is a leftover from the envelope album, stuck behind one of the fabric frames (which I think I already mentioned that I LOOOVE!?)

I made a flower cluster with 3 Gingham Flowers from Maya Road, on top of some corrugated shapes pieces from Twig. To top it off, I put some stick pins in there too:)

Thank you Maya Road, for providing us with such gorgeous stuff!!

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Thank YOU Mari for your amazing work. If you want to see more from Mari, you can follow her blog here! Be sure to leave a comment!

Speaking of comments ... Don't forget to leave one here for another chance to win the Maya Road and Little Yellow Bicycle prize pack at the end of the week. Plus we're giving away two Teapot Chipboard Albums plus a Savor Prize Pack for those of you who comment on yesterday's blog (and/or on the LYB Facebook page under our "Wednesday Challenge"! And of course, head on over to Maya Road's blog and Facebook page and don't forget to tell them we sent you ... and how much we love them!

Thanks for stopping by ... see you tomorrow!

Peg

Before you read this post ... go make yourself a cup of tea!

No really.

Go ahead.

I just did.

Don't worry - I'll still be here when you get back - sippin' away!

Personally I'm a coffee person. Got to have my cuppa joe (or three!) in the morning, but lately I've taken to enjoying a cup of tea every day. I think in our hurry-up world with our too-much-to-do lists, the coffee culture contributes a little extra caffeinated craziness to our everyday rush.

[Think about it ... the very act of placing an order at Starbucks can be stress-inducing to some people ... "I'll have a decaf-non-fat-double-tall-latte-no-foam-no-syrup-extra-hot ... please"!]

On the other hand, a cup of tea says:

"Take a moment. Relax. Enjoy. Appreciate."

Not to mention it's loaded with antioxidants, so it's good for you too. Tea makes you happy. I guess that's why the Maya Road chipboard teapot makes me so happy. For instance, didn't you love how Liz used it on the cover of her album in yesterday's post?

Well guess what? It's back again today! Biker Chick Greta Hammond used it to make a beautiful banner! So scroll down to take a peek, and then at the end of this post, find out how to win Your OWN Maya Road Teapot Chipboard Album - plus a perfect pairing of Little Yellow Bicycle goodies!

Here's Greta!

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I’ve always been a big fan of Maya Road and was thrilled to be a part of this Swap! I loved the little Maya Road Teapot Chipboard Album we received and immediately thought of LYB’s Elizabeth Park and a springtime theme. I covered three of the teapot pages and then layered them on top of 6x6 decorative edge papers from the EP line to create the base for this spring banner.

I also used the little tea cups on top of some journaling cards to fit in between the larger pieces.

To embellish, I started with paper doilies for texture and then layered on embellishments including the felt and candy striped blossoms from Maya Road, chipboard, dimensional butterflies and fresh verse stickers from Elizabeth Park. 

The combination of products provided some great variety in texture and dimension to the project!

Thank you Maya Road for letting me play with your fabulous product!

Greta

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Love it Greta! So pretty!

OK so here's your chance to win...two actually...Leave a comment telling us your favorite project that we've shown so far in the blog swap (...now don't worry about offending anyone...they're all amazing but you're allowed to have a favorite ... or if you can't choose a favorite, tell us which one you're most likely to try to make yourself!). For your second chance to win, leave another comment on our Facebook page too!

Wonderful Maya Road sent us a few extra Teapot Chipboard Albums ... and when I first saw them, I thought of our Savor collection. So leave your comments and on Friday I'll pick TWO random winners (one from the Facebook comments and one from the blog comments) who will win a Teapot Chipboard Album PLUS some fabulous goodies from the Savor collection.

Now go enjoy that cup of tea!

And don't forget to check out Maya Road's blog for their post a little later today!

Peg

It's Little Yellow Bicycle/Maya Road Blog Swap Week Day 2, and I have some GREAT projects to show you ... this time created by Biker Chick Liz Qualman!

But first, let me thank everyone who has left a comment here and on our Facebook page! And very special thanks and welcome to our new friends and fans from Maya Road. We love how Maya Road's products add beauty and rich texture to our projects - and it's so much fun teaming them up with our favorite Little Yellow Bicycle collections!

Don't forget to leave a comment on the blog for a chance to win some wonderful Maya Road and LYB goodies! We'll be picking a winner at the end of our Blog Swap Week. And while you're hopping, be sure to hop over to Liz's blog, and check that out too [maybe tell her we sent you ;) ]!

You're going to love how Liz combined Maya Road's albums and embellishments with the whimsical Twig collection to make some must-have cards and an album cover too!

So let's take a peek! Here's Liz...

After looking through the gorgeous loot that Maya Road sent to the team, I thought it would be fun to play with some TWIG.  I like to keep the design of my cards simple with the focus on the sentiment and major embellishment.  This card is a simple 6 x 6 inch base with two of the Twig patterned papers (Leaf A Note/Topsy Turvey and Woods/Pleased Plaid) along with some of the Paper Lace Stickers, Fabric Favorites and Fresh Verse Stickers.  The sentiment steals the show, but I added the fabric leaves and the Maya Road Candy Stripe Blossoms to frame it for a dramatic effect.

I just adore the Twig Bird Song paper and thought it would be a fun element to add to another simple card.  You can see all of the lovely and decadent design in the paper along with the beautiful birds.  To complete the look I added a Twig Canvas Sticker Border, Chipboard Stickers w/ Glitter, Epoxy Stickers and the Maya Road Felt Pearl Blossoms.  Super easy to make and such a lovely card to send to a special friend.

Maya Road also sent us this adorable Tea Pot Chipboard Album.  Instead of making the mini album, I decided to incorporate it into this larger Maya Road 8 x 8 album.  I thought the Twig Bird Song paper looked like porcelain and was perfect for the tea pot. 

I added a combination of Twig patterned papers, Fresh Verse, Paper Lace, Favorite Pieces stickers, Paper Doilies, Fabric Favorites, Bag of Feathers and a Maya Road Gingham Fabric Blossom in brown.

The Chipboard Tea Pot was a nice way to add some dimension and character to the project, plus it looks gorgeous in Twig. 

All of the element layer so well together, it was almost as if these Maya Road blossoms were made especially for the Twig collection.

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Thanks Liz! I think I'm going to make some of these cards TONIGHT!!! But wait! There's a BONUS!

Liz also made this adorable card, using elements from LYB's Tiny Princess collection - accented by a Maya Road gingham flower! So cute!

See you tomorrow with more goodies!

And don't forget to leave a comment for more chances to win!

Peg

Here at Little Yellow Bicycle, we are huge fans of Maya Road. HUGE! So the thought of taking our Little Yellow Bicycle for a journey down Maya Road was too exciting for words! So we swapped some yummy goodies and set our Design Teams to work!

All this week, we'll be sharing the fantastic projects created by LYB and Maya Road's talented teams of designers. Lucky YOU! And even LUCKIER you ... you get TWO chances to win! Just leave a comment on our blogs this week, and then hop over to Maya Road's blog and leave a comment there too! We'll pick a winner at the end of the week, and you'll win a fantastic prize pack filled with Maya Road's awesome chipboard albums and embellishments, plus some of your favorite LYB goodies too!

Below is our first project - from Biker Chick Renee Foss!

Hello again from rainy Pittsburgh, PA! Today I’d like to share with you a Mother’s Day mini-album that I made for my mom (and in keeping with my ‘why celebrate a holiday on its ACTUAL date’ theme this will be even later than the birthday cards I made my sisters last month). But better late than never right?

This month we did our product exchange with Maya Road, another of my very favorite companies. I remember seeing them at their very first CHA many years back and I could just tell that they would be big someday—and now they are and I am truly happy for them! Thanks to Caroline and the crew for all the fun goodies to work with on this project. I used a chipboard album that also has envelope inserts. The album originally had four pages/four inserts but I took one of each out as my album was getting a bit bulky with all four.

It works out well seeing as I have three kids so I did one page/one envelope per child. Once the album was completed the kids each wrote a letter to tuck into the envelopes for their Grammi.In addition to the Maya Road products I used product from the LYB Elizabeth Park collection, as well as some beads and glitter from Art-C mixed media products. I cut Fuschia Flower paper to fit the covers as well as the spine and inked all edges with black ink. I added a scalloped 6x6 decorative cardstock and a ‘beautiful’ canvas sticker word to the cover. In the corner I tucked two Maya Road grey felt flowers, two Maya Road trinket pins and a Maya Road chipboard flower that I had covered in green glitter with a blue bead center.

I finished off the cover by setting a large eyelet in the front and back covers and tying a ribbon through to close the book. Hint: after trimming the ribbon to the correct length I added a little bit of clear drying glue to the raw edges to prevent the ribbon from fraying.

On to the inner chipboard pages: each page was covered with a different patterned paper and edges inked with black ink. I then decorated each page with an assortment of papers, embellishments and stickers from the Elizabeth Park collection.

I also used several Maya Road chipboard flowers with had been coated in glitter (I use a clear drying dimensional glue for the glitter and added the bead centers while the glue was still wet. This kind of glue really holds that glitter in place but you need to think ahead and do these the day before you do the album to allow ample dry time).

For the envelopes, I decorated the front of each very minimally, and used a Dymo label maker to add a caption to each (ie, ‘a note from olivia’). The back of the envelope has a photo of the first child plus the next child up in the book to give it a nice continuity. The back of the last envelope has all three of my lovely little ones.

On the back of the second envelope I used a glittered chipboard flower, a gingham fabric flower and two brown leaf shaped pins grouped together as an accent, all from Maya Road. 

I made little cards for the kids to write their notes to Grammi and voila! A sweet little personalized Mother’s Day gift. Hope you like (hope she likes too, still haven’t mailed it out LOL).

 
A great big THANKS to the super people over at Maya Road! Signing off…

Renée

Maya Road producuts:

Felt Pearl Blossoms: Pink & Grey

Gingham Fabric Blossoms: Green & Pink/Blue

Mixed Blossom Mini Chipboard Set

Long Binder with Envelopes album

Trinket Pins-Vintage Peark

Trinket Pins—Leaf (brown)

LYB products:

EP-101 Spring Song I/Spring Song II paper

EP-103 Birds on a Wire/Tiny Lattice-Teal paper

EP-104 Flutter By/Fuschia Flower paper

EP-105 Teal Dots/Teal Daisy paper

EP-133  6x6 Decorative Edge Cardstock

EP-220  Fabric Favorites

EP-277 Stick Pins

EP-301  Fabric Frames

EP-135  Favorite Pieces

EP-140 Fresh Verse

EP-161  Crepe Paper Lace Stickers

EP-165  Chipboard Sticker Embellishments

EP-185  Epoxy Stickers

EP-195 Dimensional Stickers

EP-197  Jewel Stickers

EP-202  Canvas Stickers-Words

Art-C products:

ATC-702  Bead Mix, Blue

ATC-601  Glitter Mix, Green

ATC-602  Glitter Mix, Blue

ATC-603  Glitter Mix, Violet

Other:

Black ink

Thanks Renee! Beautiful! Now don't forget to leave a comment here, and then head over to Maya Road's Blog to see projects by the awesome Jen Chesnick, and leave a little love for her too.

And if you're on Facebook and you're not already a fan, go over and "like" Maya Road and tell them we sent you! Then come back for more great prizes and more chances to win!

Happy crafting!

Peg

Hello~

I'm sitting in my garden with a cup of coffee, listening to the birds twittering their delight over the long-awaited sunny weather. Oh, and you're all here with me too, as I pour over your clever and creative comments on organization! It's great connecting with you all this way, sharing ideas~  And I've picked a winner.....

..... it's SABINE NIEUWENHUIZEN from the Netherlands! Sabine, I love your idea of keeping all of your embellishments in little jars with magnets glued to the lids, displayed and accessible on a big magnet board. Not only are they easy to see and select, but I'm sure all of the colorful goodies are just delightful to look at, too! Art, in their own way! I'm going to try this idea out, for sure! ENJOY THE BOOK! (Please email 'peg@cthruruler.com' so we can coordinate with CK to get it off to you)

Thanks for all of the other innovative ideas, Ladies! You can get free shipping on the book HERE, using promo code SPACESBB, but today's the last day for that special! It's really a great, inspiring read, and I'm happy to share my space with you all there....

See you in the studio!

Sharon 

Hi everyone! Happy Saturday! I am so happy to share this amazing cardset from our Tiny Princess/Baby Saurus Guest Designer Laura Vegas!

When you see the amazing cards she has created for us, you're going to want to pull your supplies out and get BUSY!!!

But...before we show you the cards, here's a little more LYB Q&A with Laura!

LYB:  Any unique tips or techniques you use?

Laura:  When I use stickers, regular or cardstock stickers, I like to adhere the sticker to white cardstock first. Then I cut out around the edges, and use pop dots to adhere them to my layouts. Just a quick way to add more dimension to your projects.

LYB:   Biggest scrapbooking ‘mishap’?

Laura:  I havn't had any bad accidents in the scraproom. But anything with glitter will turn into a "mishap" with me. Even if it's pre-glittered product.

LYB:   Favorite scrapbook magazines? 

Laura:  Creating Keepsakes, of course :)

[NOTE: Laura is a member of CK's Dream Team - and her studio is also featured in CK's new Creative Spaces special issue. You can see some of Laura's work for CK by clicking this link!]

LYB:  Favorite die cutting system?

Laura:  The only die cutting system that I have worked with over the last few years has been the Making Memories Slice. Which is a great machine! I recently purchased the Silhouette, and am really loving it!

LYB:  Morning bird or night owl?

Laura:  Complete night owl. You will never find me in bed before 1:00 am, no matter how early I have to get up the next day.

(Makes me yawn just to think about it!) Thanks Laura! And now, here are those cards I told you about!

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Thanks again Laura! Have fun making those cards everyone! And don't forget to head over to Laura's blog and send her some love!

How do you follow up a whirlwind weekend that included NSD, Mother's Day and many many giveaways?

...With a Guest Designer, of course!

We thought Laura Vegas would be the perfect Guest Designer for our Tiny Princess and Baby Saurus collections, and we were thrilled when she agreed!

We'll be posting fun ideas and projects from Laura for the next month ... starting tomorrow! But for now, here's a little about Laura so you can get to know her a bit better!

Hi there! I'm Laura Vegas, from Northern California, where I live with my husband Joe, and my two gorgeous daughters, Alyssa (14) and Sarah (11). I have been scrapbooking for over 15 years now. I started right before my first daughter was born, and have not slowed down since. I scrapbook mostly about my girls and our family, but like to mix it up now and then, by scrapping photos and stories about my daycare kids and family friends as well. I am lucky enough to design for Making Memories, Jillibean Soup, and Pebbles. I have been published in Creating Keepsakes, Scrapbooks Etc, Scrapbook Trends, Cards, Paper Trends, Papercrafts, and PaperKuts magazines. I am proudly a member of the 2010 & 2011 Creating Keepsakes Dream Team. 

And a little LYB Q&A with Laura!

LYB:   What is your ‘go to’ embellishment? 

Laura:  That would have to be ribbon. I pull out ribbon for just about every layout I make. It's usually just a long strand, stapled onto the page.

LYB:   Cardstock or patterned paper?  

Laura:  I have to have both to scrap. I am really big on patterned paper, and like to use several patterns on every layout. And I use a little bit of cardstock to help balance it all out.

LYB:   What kind of music gets you in the scrappin’ mood?

Laura:  I have a very wide variety of music, that I usually play while scrapping. It ranges from country music, to pop music, a little rock music, to lots of Glee songs, and even a bunch of Disney channel music.

LYB:  Crops or scrap alone?

Laura:  I only scrap when I'm home, and am usually by myself. I have never packed up my stuff to go to a crop, no matter how hard my friends try and get me to go.

LYB:  What are your avorite types of projects—pages, mini albums, cards, altered projects, etc.?

Laura:  Layouts are, first and foremost, my favorite type of project to make. I do enjoy making cards every now and then as well.

LYB:  What's your favorite scrapbooking snack?

Laura:  I'm not a big snacker when I scrapbook. Although having a Starbucks Frappuccino really does help my creative juices flow.

Thanks Laura! We'll be back with Laura's first project tomorrow ... I can't wait to see what she's made for us, can you?  Meanwhile, you can see Laura's blog here!

.... Welcome to my studio! I'm giving you just a little peak into my creative space, a little carriage-shed-turned-cottage-studio nestled in the back yard behind my house, where I escape to do my work~ It's featured, along with 40-some other wonderfully inspiring spaces of some of our other designer friends in the industry, in CK's special issue, "CREATIVE SPACES", out TODAY!

You can see a peek here, or order it here (use coupon code SPACESBB for free shipping in the US, expires 5/27/11), and keep reading for a chance to WIN A COPY!!!  

Here are a few more little tidbits of inspiration that I like to surround myself with as I work....

                         ... because words inspire me....

                          
                                     .... and beauty inspires me.........

... and being reminded that I've been CREATING for as long as I can remember inspires me to keep doing what I was born to do.  

To see the rest of the space, you'll have to buy the book, but WOW, you will love it!! Seeing how others organize, personalize and utilize their spaces, big and small, is simply fascinating and motivating! It's an amazing and very inspiring read. 

So, about that chance to win a copy....... Leave a comment on this post sharing one of your best, most industrious, clever tips for organization in your scrap space! I'll pick one lucky winner (EVEN OUR INTERNATIONAL FRIENDS CAN ENTER!) to receive the freebie! Be sure to leave your email address so we can get back to you!

GOOD LUCK and GO GET YOUR COPY! 

'til next time~
Sharon 

Finally getting to choosing and posting our winners for our National Scrapbook Day and Mother's Day giveaways!

Thanks everyone for posting! It's always so much fun to read your posts!

The winner of our National Scrapbook Day giveaway is Melinda Duke Maierhoffer, who spent National Scrapbook Day making cards for our troops. Her goal was 1000, and with her husband's help :) ... she got very close to her goal. Now we select our winners by randomly generating numbers, but I was so happy to see that Melinda won. What a wonderful thing to do on NSD!!! Thanks Melinda!

And the winner of our Mother's Day giveaway was Donna Rahal, who wrote: "My girls make me know that I have made the world a better place for everyone!  They are the greatest sunshine with feet." So sweet. Donna we hope you enjoy our "Mom's Favorites" goodies!

Ladies, please email your contact information to "peg@cthruruler.com" and we'll get those prizes right out to you. Thanks again to everyone who participated!

Hi everyone! Wow what an exciting weekend it's been. So much inspiration around the scrapbooking community with all the posts and challenges for National Scrapbook Day ... and hopefully all the moms out there received some much needed rest and appreciation yesterday on Mother's Day! We will be picking the lucky winners of all the LYB loot later today, so keep watching!!

Now we're back with an all-new Training Reel featuring Biker Chick Liz Qualman and the Tiny Princess collection!

Here's Liz to talk about the project!

Are there are a lot of babies being born in your life like there are in mine?  In the last few months I have gotten both a niece and a nephew and it seems like my family is exponentially growing.  If you are like me and on the hook for a few gifts...how about a quick and easy project to create a set of baby gift cards that are on hand and ready to go.  The Little Yellow Bicycle Tiny Princess or Baby Saurus collections are the perfect materials for creating this custom set of cards that will wow all of the new mommies in your life.

This card was made with a unique template for creating the cute little onesie, which is available for download at the end of this post.  It also includes the gorgeous Tiny Princess Favorite Pieces cardstock stickers and Jewel Pieces.  The warm, bright colors really draw a lot of attention to the card and will bring a smile to your friends and family.

It was so easy to create one card, that a set of four cards was a simple addition.  Now I have a few cards ready to send with a gift and no need to stop by the store.  The video tutorial below explains each of the steps in the process for creating these cards and there is also a PDF with the complete written instructions.  Please feel free to download the template that I used to create the onesie and sentiment on my cards, or download the blank template to create your very own sentiment.

Thanks Liz! Love these little cards! Remember, you can mix and match with the Baby Saurus collection to turn these little girl cards into perfect cards for baby boys!

And if you're expecting your own bundle of joy, it's easy to adapt these cards into adorable and original baby announcements! Just use the blank onesie template Liz provided (below), and make it your own!

Here are the instructions, and the templates!

Download InstructionsTICardSet_Qualman

Download OnesieTemplate

Download OnesieTemplateBlank

Have fun with these adorable collections!

So much excitement for National Scrapbook Day! So many people were so creative. What a great excuse to take a little time for yourself and soak up all the inspiration. I couldn't believe how many great classes, challenges, and tutorials were available - and most of them for free! I hope many of you took advantage of the Big Picture Classes All-Day Crop and Challenge (and giveaways!)!

And now to follow it up ... Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

We have TWO special Mother's Day treats for you! First, our very own Sharon Kropp (who is a mother of four herself) was asked to be a guest blogger for Creating Keepsakes' blog today! Sharon made a beautiful layout to share for Mother's Day...and we thought it would be fun to do a little giveaway with Creating Keepsakes! So we put together a big goodie bag, filled with "Mom's Favorites" -- papers and embellishments from some of your favorite collections: Savor, Fresh Print Clothesline and Elizabeth Park (the collection Sharon used for her Mother's Day layout)! It looks a little something like this:

The prize, silly, not the layout (you have to go over to the CK blog to see that!) What a lovely Mother's Day gift for YOU!

And then we thought ... well why let Creating Keepsakes have all the fun? So we decided to give one away too!

So here's how you can win. FIRST, follow the link to hop over to Sharon's blog post at Creating Keepsakes, and follow the instructions for a chance to win. SECOND, leave a comment on THIS blog (or our Facebook page), telling us either (1) Why you love being a mom, or (2) One thing you love about your own mom [or both, if you wish ;) of course].

CK will pick one winner, and we'll pick the other. And don't forget there's still time to enter our National Scrapbook Day giveway by leaving a comment on yesterday's blog!

Winners will be announced Monday! Plus on Monday we'll be back with an all-new Training Reel featuring Biker Chick Liz Qualman and the Tiny Princess collection! The fun and creativity just keeps coming!

Finally, we wish you a very happy, restful, and creative Mother's Day!

OK well it's not quite National Scrapbook Day yet but ... hey ... close enough, right? Plus we have a lot to tell you so we figured we'd better start early.

First up ... two chances to win THIS:

(I know, pretty cool, huh?) In case you can't see too well, it's LOADED (and I mean loaded...I loaded it myself!) with fantastic papers and embellishments from Not ONE but TWO Little Yellow Bicycle collections: Elizabeth Park and Boardwalk! A little something for Spring and a little something for Summer! So here's ONE way you can win:

Post a comment here on the blog or on our Facebook Page telling us ONE THING creative you did for National Scrapbook Day. It can be something you made, photos you took, something you organized ... but it has to be Scrapbooking related!!! (It's National Scrapbook Day, after all!). Better yet...post a photo of that ONE THING on our Facebook Page (or email a photo to peg@cthruruler.com and I'll post it). Cool. You have until Sunday at midnight to make your post - after all, we know you'll be too busy scrapbooking tomorrow and you may not get to it :)

NOW. Chance #2 to win. Head over to our friends at Big Picture Classes. (Did you know we're a partner? More on that later in another blog...) They have an AMAZING 12-hour National Scrapbook Day event planned, full of inspiration, challenges, chats and more! Best of all? It's FREE FREE FREE!!! (Who doesn't love free???!!!) And there are lots of chances to win prizes from lots of manufacturers. Including that bag you saw up there from Little Yellow Bicycle. Follow the link and reserve your (free) spot!! It runs from 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. PDT.

Finally, have you gotten your LYB Tote Bag? No? Well ALL DAY Saturday (until midnight EDT), you'll get a FREE LYB tote bag with ANY purchase over at LittleYellowBargains.com. FREE! (One bag per household, while supplies last.) Here's a pic of the tote we're giving away tomorrow:

Don'tcha want one? I know you do. Did I mention it's FREE?!!

(With any purchase Saturday only over at Little Yellow Bargains!)

Now GO! Get in on the freebies!! (And don't forget to leave a comment! We'll announce the winner on Monday!)

Finally ... Happy National Scrapbook Day from your friends at Little Yellow Bicycle. We sincerely thank you for your support. We hope you find a little time for yourself tomorrow to do something creative!

Well ... I know you already saw this lovely layout from Biker Chick Tania Willis ...

....but what I TOTALLY forgot was ... Tania actually sent step-by-step, illustrated instructions and I totally forgot to post them!! So here they are, with apologies to Tania, and apolgies to you!

(Take it away Tania...)

_____________________________

After working on these projects this week, I've rediscovered my love for May Arts ribbons.  They are simply irresistible!  I have a strong liking for the Green Twill ribbon, in particular, and got all sorts of giddy when I was playing around with how it would look gathered on my layout.  Sure, it looks adorable, just flat on the page so you can see the intended pattern, and I already used it that way on the card I shared a few days ago, but take a yard of it along with a long running stitch down the middle and you have what i call perfection!  Take a look at the end result here on this layout, then give it a try for yourself!  I think it matches beautifully with Elizabeth Park, don't you?

Supplies:

EP101 Sing Song I

EP104 Fuchsia Flower Dot

EP103 Tiny Lattice Teal

EP102 Bloom Bands

EP201 Canvas Border Stickers

EP135 Favorite Pieces Stickers

EP140 Fresh Verse Stickers

EP134 Journaling Cards

EP220 Fabric Favorites

EP165 Chipboard Sticker Embellishments

EP197 Jewel Stickers

EP195 Dimensional Butterfly Stickers

EP185 Epoxy Stickers

1 yard Green Twill Ribbon (May Arts)

1 yard Orange Solid Center Stitches Ribbon (May Arts)

1 Gingham Fabric Blossom - Green (Maya Road)

needle

green thread

Directions:

1. Cut 1/2" x 12" strip of EP104 Fuchsia Flower Dot and adhere to bottom of EP103 Tiny Lattice Teal.

2. Cut butterfly strip from EP102 Bloom Bands and adhere directly above Fuchsia Flower Dot.

3. Cut yellow strip from EP102 Bloom Bands and adhere directly above butterfly strip.

4. Cut 7" x 7" square from lower right section of EP101 Spring Song I and adhere above yellow strip, right aligned.

5. Adhere 5" x 7" photo above yellow strip, left aligned.

6. Adhere white/grey scalloped border from EP201 Canvas Sticker Borders above photo.

7. Layer quote sticker strip from EP140 Fresh Verse Stickers along the straight edge of canvas border.

8. Adhere pink scalloped journaling card from EP134 along lower right corner of photo.

9. Layer stickers onto top of pink scalloped journaling card from EP135 Favorite Pieces, EP140 Fresh Verse Stickers, and EP220 Fabric Favorites.

10. Embellish further with tiny dot stickers from EP185 Epoxy Stickers.

11. Gather 1 yard of May Arts Green Twill ribbon down to 12" long using lime green thread and a long running stitch.   

12. Adhere gathered ribbon along the top edge of the yellow strip of patterned paper using Tacky Tape.

13. Adhere May Arts Green Gingham Fabric Blossom.

14. Embellish EP101 Spring Song paper with additional stickers from EP185 Epoxy Stickers as shown.

15. Adhere "love" sticker to the pre-printed bracket along the far right edge of layout from EP135 Favorite Pieces.

16. Double up 1 yard of May Arts Orange Solid Center Stitches ribbon and wrap around top of layout overlapping the grey/white scalloped canvas border. Tie in bow, trim ends.

17. Embellish the butterfly strip along bottom edge. Butterflies from EP195 Dimensional Butterfly Stickers, EP165 Chipboard Sticker Embellishments and EP140 Favorite Pieces.

18. Embellish butterfly bodies and upper right corner of layout with rhinestone stickers from EP197 Jewel Stickers.

__________________________

Wow. Love it even more now!

How fitting that the end of May Arts week should come on the first day of MAY!! Happy May everyone!

A HUGE thank you shout out to May Arts for providing such beautiful ribbons to play with, create with, inspire and ... yes...hoard!

Secondly we must thank to our marvelous Biker Chick Design Team! Mari Aartun, Renee Foss, Liz Qualman and Tania Willis never cease to amaze me with their talents. (Notice I linked to their blogs here ... well except for Renee ... we're still working on her!) Feel free to go over to their blogs and show them some love!

A third great big thank you goes out to the awesome design team over at May Arts. Those lucky gals get to play with ribbon every day (imagine what their stash must look like!).

And now, finally, the winner!!

LUCKY YOU Samantha Taylor! You're the winner! You have won a supply of each of the ribbons you have seen in the posts in this blog all week (plus a few more), plus some LYB goodies to boot!  Samantha's comment was picked thanks to random.org.

Thanks to everyone who played along and followed our blog (and May Arts' blog) this week.

Here's the NEW CHALLENGE!!

Now if you're feeling all inspired, and not quite sure what to do with all that creativity...perhaps you should head over to Two Peas in a Bucket, where the Little Yellow Bicycle is running a Manufacturer Challenge for the month of May! Use any of our Spring Collections (Twig, Elizabeth Park, Tiny Princess or Baby Saurus) in any layout or project for a chance to win an LYB tote stuffed with fantastic prizes (maybe we'll even toss in some May Arts ribbon, LOL!)! Entries must be posted by midnight May 31, 2011. Good Luck!