What do you have in your pocket today?  Little Yellow Bicycle includes really fun pockets in most of our collections.  We challenged our Design Team to include some of our pockets in their projects and we are pretty excited about what they came up with...

The Escape Collection Layout by Jen Chesnick

Sometimes you have to think outside of the box with your supplies.  I am huge fan of pockets and tags, but the 5 things for the Escape line just didn't fit my page.  I chose to alter the pocket by cutting the back down and using it as my major embellishment to tuck little bits into.  I used the extra flag to weigh down my title.

Jen included our 5 Things Pocket from The Escape Collection.  This is what it looked like before you altered it to fit in with her project idea.

Shop LYB Products:

ESC-105 Big City/Click - Yellow
ESC-308 5 Things Pocket - with embossing (11 pieces)
ESC-140 Cardstock Stickers - Fresh Verse - with thermography and debossing (67 pieces)
ESC-160 Vellum Tape Strips (8 pieces)
ESC-1100 Tear Out Ticket & Journaling Card Book - with embossing (24 pieces)
ESC-230 Clear Cuts Shapes (26 pieces)
ESC-133 6" x 6" Decorative Edge Double-sided Textured Cardstock - with thermography (5 pieces)
ESC-122 12" x 12" Decorative Edge Textured Cardstock - with embossing
ESC-220 Fabric Favorites - self adhesive (15 pieces)
NA-TC20 Tiny Clothespins - Words
NA-SP30 Stick Pins - Cork Flowers
NA-CW20 Canvas Words - Style 2

Pocket Gift Card Holder by Suzanne Sergi

I decided to use these pockets in a different way than they are intended. I thought they were perfect for tucking in gift  cards to a special person. I layered the Just Because journaling pocket onto two pieces of vellum that I stitched together. There is an opening at the top. Another way to enclose a card, or special treat. I also stitched along the journaling pocket to add a homemade touch.

I love the Burlap flowers, and use a large one that I used to embellish the pocket. I also pulled out the scallop canvas circles to layer chipboard hearts on top of them. First I stamped the canvas  circles to dress them up a bit. I also pulled out one of the new stamps, to include my sentiment along the bottom.

Shop LYB Products:
NA-TC20 Tiny Clothespins Words
NA-BF50 Layered Burlap Flowers-Daisy
NA-CVH10 Canvas Shapes Scallop Circles
JB-277 Stick Pins
JB-308 10 Things Pocket with embossing (17 pieces)
JB-304 6x6 Paper Pad
JB-279 Chipboard Shapes-with foil accents
CSS-104 Cling Word Stamps-Faith

Pocket Gift Card Holder by Suzanne Sergi

I pulled out my Making the Grade 6x6 paper pad, and journaling pocket for this next gift card idea. Here I dressed up this cute notebook paper bag, to layer the pocket onto. This time I embellished the inside of the pocket with the fun alphabet pattern found in the 6x6 paper pad. Tucked in some tickets from the Tear Out Ticket & Journaling Card Book. I used one of the pinwheels, and embellished with a circle that I embossed. Also found in the papercrafting kit with this collection. I dressed this bag a bit more using the chipboard banner, and the  adorable fabric owl.  I finished the edge of the bag with a red stitch, and using a punch, punched the edges to give that torn look of paper.  Now you have a gift  bag, with two different options of tucking in special items to one very lucky person!

Shop LYB Products:

MG-167 Cork Word & Shape Stickers
MG-305 Paper Crafting Kit
MG-308 5 Things Pocket with embossing
MG-304 6x6 Paper Pad
MG-230 Chipboard Shapes
MG-220 Fabric Favorites

Be sure to check out our online store for pockets to create your own wonderful project ideas!

 

How are you including our Naturals embellishments and Clear Stamps into your day to day memory keeping?  We know that everyone gets busy with life and even though many people would like to record their memories in a beautiful and elaborate scrapbook, there isn't always the time. 

 

Today we want to show you some simple ideas for using photo sleeves or divided sheet protectors and Little Yellow Bicycle products to quickly document a day in the life...  Not to mention that the Clear Stamps and Ranger Ink totally enhanced the look of this project, were easy to use, and included the right kind of sentiments.

 

This is basically a mini 4x6 layout with the Vacation Clear Stamps as the focus.  I grabbed my Makin' the Grade 6 x 6 paper pad, a fun notebook punch and some of the cork and canvas Naturals embellishments.

Album Page by Liz Qualman

On most of the stamping, I used the Ranger Archival Ink, because it is so clear and true, but on this Naturals canvas tag, I used Tim's Distress Ink in Faded Jeans for a little rougher texture and color that would go well with the whole concept of the poject.  I also had to add one of the little Ranger Idea-ology fasteners shaped like a hanger.

That blue alphabet is part of our Naturals canvas alphabets and it comes in both upper and lowercase letters.  It's so striking with the red Archival Ink.  Again, cork is such a great surface for stamping like on the little star.

These Naturals burlap hearts are so stinkin' cute!  I used some of the Tim Holtz stains to die the largest one and then stamped the sentiments on the other two with black Archival Ink and added a couple of the Idea-ology Memo Pins.

This particular sheet protector is by Becky Higgins and consists of 3x4 and 4x6 inch sleeves.  There are many different manufacturers of these types of photo sleeves, but I chose Becky's because you can order them from Amazon.com Prime, which means I had them in 2 days, free shipping, not bad.

This is a long product list, but I have so much left in each package to keep going with the same themes...

Prizes: We are going to giveaway 2 big boxes of our Naturals on each Friday of the next two weeks (March 8th and 15th).  Just leave a comment here on the blog and/or on our facebook (maybe do both just to be safe) to enter to win. Leave a comment each day and increase your chances. 

AND we are giving away a set of stamps each day on each of our social sites: Blog, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  Leave a comment at each of those sites each day and increase your chances to win some of our amazing stamps.

Also, be sure to visit our friends at Ranger Ink on their facebook page.  They have wonderful inspiration to share on their FB and blog each day.  Check it out.

Don't forget... to use all of the inspiration from our Design Team to enter our Naturals Contest.  See details HERE.

We'll be back next week with more projects.  Have a great weekend and happy crafting!

We have been so pleased with all of the wonderful creations that Guest Designer Kimberly Neddo has shared with us using our Makin' the Grade collection.  So it is a little sad that today is her last post, but maybe we will see more of Kimberly working with us again in the future...

Now, what better use of all these wonderful products, than making bookmarks! We are BIG readers in my family, we read books before we watch movies, we read together as a family every night. I am always needing more bookmarks, so I decided to make a few with this line of paper. These will work great for Olivia's school books that she reads at school. Or she can give one away to a friend too. The colors are great for both boy or girl, so that is also a plus!

Thank you so much for having me as a guest designer this month! This has been such a blast, and also an honor to work with these AWESOME products! :)

Please visit Kimberly's blog Capturing the Moments to see more of her work.

We are pleased to have Cycling Team Member Jodi Wilton wrap up the Makin' the Grade Cycling Team with some wonderful projects, but let's have Jodi tell you all about it...

Hi everyone! I am so happy to be sharing my cycling projects with you today! I have had such a blast creating with this amazing collection! It is definitely the school collection to have this year!  I have created a variety of projects to share with you today, and first up are two layouts that I created from my back to school photo shoot with my two kids.

The first layout is of my son. This year was a “BIG” year for him, as he is heading into full day school- grade one.  I fell in love with the NEW NOTEBOOK paper in this collection! I love how it was divided on the sheet and knew that this was going to be my background sheet when creating this layout.

Having such great choices in embellishments, made it easy to choose the perfect combination from the chipboard, clear accents, tags, and my personal favorite- the cork stickers.  Here are some close up shots of the embellishments:

My next project is another layout I created on my both my kiddos, on their first day back this year.  I decided to create the layout by using the cork patterned paper and cut the decorated  edge cardstock and cut it in half, and doubled it up to create a neat border!  Here is the layout:

Again, I added some embellishments from the chipboard, fabric favorites, cardstock stickers, and cork. I love to layer up on my embellishments, and I created the cute little owl in the middle:

For my next project I decided to alter a notebook for my son. Since entering Grade one, he has a lot of practice writing to do, and I wanted to make it special for him, so I altered it, to fit his fun personality:

I couldn’t make something for my son, and not for my daughter, so I found a chalkboard from the Dollar store and decided to alter that for her. She loves playing pretend teaching right now, and I thought this would be perfect for her and her little students. Here is the project:

I added paper around the edges, and the added some chipboard pieces, stickers, and clear accents.  Here is a close up: I think she will have a blast with this!

Lastly, it’s never too late to start thinking about teacher gifts! I love making homemade gifts for my kids teachers, so this holiday season, one of their teacher’s will receive a cute pencil holder. I altered four sides of the holder, all using a variety of embellishments:

Thanks so much for letting me share my Makin’ the Grade Projects with you! This collection has been awesome to design with, and  I have had an absolutely blast cycling this month.  It has truly been a honor, and can’t wait to see more from the upcoming cycling teams over the next couple of months!  Thanks for the great opportunity, Little Yellow Bicycle!

Please visit Jodi's blog Luv a Lot Land for more ideas and inspiration from her.

Have a teriffic Tuesday!

Guest Designer Kimberly Neddo has another great Makin' the Grade project to share.  She has done such a great job of documenting some of her daughter's school memories, but let's have Kimberly tell you all about it after we share just a little bit more about her...

LYB: Are you a neat scrapbooker or is your space a mess?

KN: I make a HUGE mess while I scrapbook, but have to clean it up after every project before I can start on another.

LYB: Do you have a favorite adhesive?

KN: American Craft is by far my favorite adhesive!

LYB: What’s the oddest embellishment you’ve ever used on a page?

KN: Chicken wire. I stamped with it once.

I LOVE to work with enlarged photographs. For this layout, I chose to convert the photograph to a black and white image to make the colors in the papers and embellishments pop! :)

I really love working with patterned papers and using as many as possible, with out over-doing it on a page. I created a fun border across the bottom edge like a large arrow pointing up to my focal point of the page, which is the photograph and Title. Visually, I like to create a triangle with embellishments, to help guide the viewers eye around the page, yet keep their focus on the photograph.

I really love the cork board embellishments…they are so perfect for anything having to do with school, or teenage kids. I find that it's a must to have in my kids rooms to save the walls! Ha! :)
Thank you so much for stopping by.

Giveaway - Now, come on over to my blog Capturing the Moments and leave me a comment to receive a full set of this AMAZING line for Back to School!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Biker Chick Corrie Jones had a really great layout page idea to share with our Makin' the Grade collection today, but let's have Corrie tell you all about it ...

This has been a big year for me as a mom.  My youngest started school.  Real school.  Kindergarten.  We made the decision to make her wait an extra year last year so she would be the oldest in her class instead of the youngest, which was the right thing to do, but I think it made it even harder on me.  Because I had her home with me (except for half day preschool) longer.  She is of course thriving, but I am still amazed everyday that she is big enough to walk into that school with out me, that she can carry her lunch tray all by herself and that her huge backpack doesn't swallow her.

Here she is on the first day of school, barely letting me take a zillion pictures of this big day.


An easy way to create a layout is to use a grid as the base.  The paper squares on mine are 2.5 inches.  I do not try to have them all line up perfectly so it takes a lot of the pressure off.  Then you have little boxes to embellish with all the fun stuff in the line.

She is really into owls right now so those were a MUST on this layout.  I love all the bits and pieces of school stuff in the Makin' the Grade line.  The papers are so authentically school too.  Some, like this reminding me of the old green chalkboards and clapping erasers at recess.


Makin' the Grade Supplies used:

MG-101 Alpha Block
MG-110 Brown Bag
MG-102 New Notebook
MG-103 School Bands
MG-105 Cut Here
MG-304 6x6 Paper Pad
MG-195 Dimensional Stickers
MG-167 Cork Stickers
MG-220 Fabric Favorites
MG-140 Cardstock Stickers Fresh Verse
MG-230 Clear Cut Shapes
MG-279 Chipboard Shapes
MG-277 Stick Pins
MG-1100 Tear Out Tickets

Please visit Corrie's blog You, Me & Crazy for more of her wonderful ideas.

Almost to the weekend. 

We think that Cycling Team Member Valerie Mangan has created a wonderful mini album to share today.  She has some great ideas for preserving memories with our Makin' the Grade collection.

First Days of School Mini Album
This album features photos of my children on the first day of school. The album is divided by school year, starting with pre-school, up to 5th grade.

How to:
Embellish the cover of a 6 x 6 mini album.
Add fabric border sticker and black twill ribbon to album spine.

Fit 6 x 6 sheet of stitched patterned paper into front cover and add 'this book belongs to' die cut.
Using a variety of LYB coordinating items, embellish the divider pages of the mini album for pre-school through grade 5 (7 dividers all together).

Cut kraft cardstock to 5" wide x 5 1/2" high to make section pages. Punch holes and embellish with photos, stickers and die cuts.

#1 Teacher Card

How to:
Add a 3.75 x 6.75" piece of patterned paper to a 4 x 6 white cardstock base. Stitch perimeter. Attach report card journaling card to top edge, center.  Using papercrafting kit, make green ribbon base, add cork apply with sentiment die cut on top. Secure with glue dots. Apply banners.

Please visit Valerie's blog Paper & Cookies for more details about her album and work.

Have a wonderful day!

We are so excited to share some Makin' the Grade projects from Cycling Team Member Kelly Jo Massicotte.  She does a wonderful job of spotlighting some of our embellishments, but let's have Kelly Jo tell you all about it...

This year, back to school signaled a big change in our house.  My littlest was going to preschool.  His very first, 1st day of school!

And as exciting as it was, Ben was most excited about his backpack.  The LYB backpack embellishments were perfect!  I cut a strip of backpacks out of the 'School Bands' paper and used the backpack from the dimensional stickers.  Layering with the canvas stickers, cardstock stickers and journaling cards, I created the perfect spot to tell the story.

And what's preschool without some ABCs?  The fabric favorites layered on the banner from the paper crafting kit created a perfect title spot for my page.

And I love the cork stickers!  They can be used in so many ways.  My future projects will surely have one that I've stamped on.  For this page I used the scallop circle to layer with the paper crafting kit.

And now it's time for my 2nd grader's first day of school pictures.  The Little Yellow Bicycle's clear cuts seemed to be made just for my photos.


One of my favorite ways to use the clear cuts is to 'pop' them off the page.  I cut a thin 1" long strip of plastic package material (the thick acetate that comes with most toy packages) and fold it to look like a letter 'C'.  Then I use a liquid adhesive that dries clear to glue the top of the 'C' to the back of my clear cut and the bottom to my project.  This really adds dimension and it completely blends in.


The paperclip clear cuts were adorable!  I used my craft knife to add a slit so that I could attach them to my project like a real paperclip.

I used the 5 Things pocket to have my 2nd grader do the journaling about her favorite things at school.  I love that her thoughts and hand writing (mistakes and all) have been recorded.  She was so into it that she wrote "I Love School" on an extra banner from the pocket set, which I attached to the page with a stick pin.

I love that Makin' the Grade can be used for preschool right through high school.  In fact, I think I might hoard some lockers paper until my kids reach Junior High.

Thank you, Little Yellow Bicycle, for letting me ride along as part of your cycling team for Makin' the Grade.

Please visit Kelly Jo's blog Scrappin' My Memories, One Page at a Time for more ideas from her.

Happy Monday!

Guest Designer Kimberly Neddo has another fun Makin' the Grade idea.  Here's what she said about our collection, "I am just LOVING all the fun things I can do with this line! Seriously…so much fun!"

LYB:Do you like to go to crops or prefer to scrap alone?

KN: I mostly scrap alone, but occasionally like going to crops for fun too.

LYB: Do you have a favorite die cutting system?

KN: I would say the Silhouette is my favorite. I don’t have one yet, but I’m hoping to get one soon.

LYB: What is your favorite color (or colors) to use in your pages?

KN: I love teals and oranges. I love Kraft and white. Clean and crisp colors.

I love to give my children cards through out the year, letting them know how proud I am of something great they've done. They love it too!

This Back to School line is just perfect for creating those special little notes for their accomplishments! I used the cork board letters to make the Hoo stand out in hooray.

Just a fun twist on the spelling, to draw your attention to the title and the cute little owl embellishment. I made this one for Olivia because of this AMAZING job with her first school project of the year. :)

Thank you for stopping by to check out my work.

Please visit Kimberly's blog Capturing the Moments to see more of her inspiring work!

Enjoy the weekend and get some crafting done

Today our Biker Chicks wanted to show you how you can use or mix up any of our collections to create a Fall project.  We know our fans have a lot of LYB lying around the scraproom, so we thought it would be fun to repurpose some of our older collections.

Biker Chick Robbie Herring

Living in Texas, back to school means football season! I have a million football and cheerleader photos from my kid's years in school. I thought it would be fun to mix up the Makin' the Grade collection with the Get Your Game On collection and I couldn't resist adding in a chipboard frame from the Escape collection.

The doodle stickers and flowers in the Makin' the Grade collection are some of my favorite parts of it. I decided to play up the doodling on my layout because it seems to be something that most teen girls do. It made cheer pictures seem like the right choice for pulling it all together

Tip: I made the flowers by just drawing them on white cardstock and then cutting them out. I LOVE the way that the Sakura Glaze pens work for doodling heavy. I also really love the deep black color. For the white doodles, I used the Sakura Souffle Pen. There are a few great choices for white pens, but I like the touch of texture that the Souffle Pens add.

Products Used:
MG-108 Cork Board/Brown Solid
MG-107 Pennants/Blue Solid
MG-103 School Bands/Brown Stripe
MG-110 Brown Bag/Kraft Mod Dot
MG-135 Cardstock Stickers - Favorite Pieces - with foil and embossing (30 pieces)
MG-279 Chipboard Shapes - with foil (24 pieces)
GO-101 Football Collage/Football Field
GO-3072 Mini Banners - Basketball with embossing (3 pieces & strings)
GO-1354 Favorite Pieces Stickers - Soccer - with thermography & embossing (54 pieces)
GO-1100 Tear Out Ticket Book (10 pieces)
GO-168 Chipboard Spinner Sticker
GO-279 Chipboard Shapes (4" max. size, 32 pieces)
ESC-279 Chipboard Shapes - with thermography (26 pieces)

Biker Chick Jenny Chesnick

When I think of Fall I not only think of the change in weather and colors I also think of family and FOOTBALL!  Fall is a laid back time for us and we spend a lot of Saturdays and Sundays with family.  For this layout I used the Saturdays collection to showcase this sweet photo of my friends little girl.  She is sporting her Redskins jersey and playing with her Momma in the leaves.  I love the colors of this line.  They are classic and can mix well into a lot of different themes!

Saturdays Products:

ST-101 Saturday Collage/Easy Breezy
ST-279 Chipboard Shapes - with thermography (41 pieces)
ST-133 6" x 6" Decorative Edge Double-sided Textured Cardstock - with thermography (5 pieces)
ST-220 Fabric Favorites - self adhesive (13 pieces)
ST-230 Clear Cut Shapes (24 pieces)
ST-277 Stick Pins (15 pieces)
ST-140 Cardstock Stickers - Fresh Verse™ - with thermography and debossing (72 pieces)
ST-1100 Tear-Out Ticket & Journaling Card Book - with debossing (24 pieces)
ST-306 Medley Album Kit (23 pieces)

Biker Chick Tania Willis

To make mixing and matching products between collections effortless, I just choose two or three colors as the main focus of my layout and then scan through the product choices picking out relevant embellishments that fit within those color choices.  Along the way, I also choose muted and neutral tones that will work well with any color choices. It’s very easy to brighten up fall jewel tones with pops of white and soft pastels to end up with a fun and colorful fall-themed layout.

Products Used:

HF – 279 Hello Fall Chipboard

HF – 197 Hello Fall Jewel Stickers

LYB – 302 Paper Doilies

SS – 219 Sweet Summertime Flower Button Dots

TW – 140 Twig Fresh Verse Stickers

FS – 133 Free Spirit Die-cut Papers

HC – 195 Dimensional Pop-up Stickers

HF – 222 Canvas Tape Rolls

Biker Chick Liz Qualman

Can pink be a fall color?  Why not, it's the color that a lot of kids wear and is only slightly lighter than red.  That is what I thought when I pulled out these photos of my daughter from a trip to the park a couple weeks ago.  I love all the green and brown hues in the Paradise collection, so why not add pink to the Fall palette?  In fact, pink is the new red - lol.

I mixed in some of the corrugated chipboard from our Hello Fall! collection to ground the brighter colors and add more of the Fall elements to the page.

This squirrel has got to be one of the cutest things ever!  I just added a bit of bling for the eye and added it to the page with some foam tape.

Paradise/Hello Fall! Products Used:

PD-104 Splendid Stripe/Olive Leaves

PD-109 Pleasant Plaid/Earthy Dots

PD-106 Happy Dots/All Natural

PD-133 6" x 6" Decorative Edge Double-sided Textured Cardstock - with glitter accents (5 pieces)

PD-279 Chipboard Shapes - with glitter accents (32 pieces)

PD-220 Fabric Favorites - self adhesive (23 pieces)

PD-140 Cardstock Stickers - Fresh Verse™ - with thermography and embossing (72 pieces)

HS-197 Jewel Stickers (96 pieces)

HF-276 - Corrugated Shapes (18 pieces)

Geet out some of your LYB and have a wonderful and crafty day!

We are so pleased to share Makin' the Grade projects from Cycling Team Member Audrey Pettit.  She has a few wonderful ideas to share, but let's have Audrey tell you all about it...

This is a very big school year in our household. My daughter is just starting up high school, and my son is now a big senior. This is the first time they've been together in school in six years, and it's probably the last time they will be, too. I love that they are finally together again. And love that sissy has her big brother to watch over her. I know we will have lots of wonderful school memories from this year, and it is so important to me that I document them all. Makin' the Grade is the perfect collection to help me with that!

Isn't the Makin' the Grade collection cute? I love the fun papers and all the awesome embellishments that come with this line. Makes it super easy to create pages of your favorite school memories. And I love that it works equally well for younger kids as for older, like mine. This is my two munchies on their first day of school.

This layout was quick and easy to create, thanks to all the awesome Makin' the Grade accessory pieces. I started with a simple layered background and then just added a few paper strips, banners, and canvas stickers. Voila! The fun border of books and alphabet strip on the background paper give lots of great detail with absolutely no work. Love that! The canvas stickers add instant dimension and texture, and the pleated rosette strips from the paper crafting kit make great embossed borders when used as-is. A few banners on top, a quick baker's twine tie, a few journaling strips, and my page was complete.

My daughter has become quite the artist in the last few years. She's been keeping a sketchbook in her backpack, so I thought it would be fun to make her a special art journal just for school. The smaller size makes this easy to carry around with her, and there are lots of pages to hold her drawings and doodles. And I know the cute cover will make her smile.

I covered the front of the journal with papers from the 6x6 paper pad, and once again added detail with pleated rosette strips. I made a "best in class" ribbon from more pieces from the paper crafting kit and added that to the top along with a ticket, some trim, and the cute star pins.

I cannot resist that adorable owl canvas sticker. Makes me think of the Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop commercials from back in my day. Totally makes me grin. Guess that just shows how old I am, huh?


While I had my Makin' the Grade supplies out, I made one last project. A card to celebrate the arrival of back to school time, perfect for a new teacher, or student, both.

Paper from the 6x6 pad. Cork stars, cardstock stickers, chipboard frame, and a banner flag. And an owl again. Cannot forget the owl!


I had an absolute ball Makin' the Grade with you! Thanks so much for having me!


Makin' the Grade Products:

Back 2 School layout
MG-111 Green Stripe (back) 12x12 paper
MG-112 Bookshelf (front) 12x12 paper
MG-304 6x6 Paper Pad
MG-135 Cardstock Stickers Favorite Pieces
MG-220 Fabric Favorites
MG-305 Paper Crafting Kit

School=Fun Journal
MG-304 6x6 Paper Pad
MG-140 Cardstock Stickers Fresh Verse
MG-220 Fabric Favorites
MG-277 Stick Pins
MG-305 Paper Crafting Kit
MG-1100 Tear-Out Ticket & Journaling Card Book

School Days Card
MG-304 6x6 Paper Pad
MG-135 Cardstock Stickers Favorite Pieces
MG-167 Cork Stickers
MG-279 Chipboard Shapes
MG-305 Paper Crafting Kit

Please visit Audrey's blog A Peek Into My Scrappy World to get to know her better and see more of her work.

Have an inspiration-filled day!

We are so happy to have Kimberly Neddo as our guest designer for Makin' the Grade.  If anyone would know a lot about back to school, it would be this mother of 6.  Kimberly's blog banner is tribute to all of her kids, so we thought she would be a great fit for sharing some of her school moments.  But before we share her work, we asked her a few questions to get to know her better.

LYB: What is your ‘go to’ embellishment?

KN: Twine or some kind of string. Love what it adds to a page.

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

KN: Hip hop and Pit bull…LOVE to create with Pitbull and his remixes in the background.

LYB: Do you have a favorite quote? 

KN: Integrity is doing the right thing, when no one is watching. 

We really love how Kimberly used our Makin' the Grade paper flower kit.  The sprawling flowers are great to mix with sentiments, but don't add too much clutter.

Kimberly also added one of our signature clear cut shapes to her page and made a fun banner cluster.

The grays in this collection are such a great color to ground the brighter, primary colors.  Here Kimberly paired yellow accents which pop off of the gray patterned paper and make the beautiful photo stand out front and center.

We love how personalized Kimberly's journaling is and how she uses her own handwriting on her pages.

Please visit Kimberly's blog Capturing the Moments for more about her and inspiration from her work. She'll be back next Friday with another project to share...

Have a wonderful and crafty weekend!

Our Biker Chicks have been busy creating two page spreads using our school collection Makin' the Grade.

Biker Chick Corrie Jones

I take a quick picture every morning before school of my kindergartener.  I thought it would be a fun project for this year to see her changing each day.  So far it has be hilarious to see her funny faces and moods.  This is week 3.  Making the Grade was PERFECT for these school pictures of my girl.


Makin' the Grade Products:

MG-102 New Notebook
MG-106 Cork Board
MG-304 6x6 Paper Pad
MG-167 Cork Stickers
MG-220 Fabric Favorites
MG-135 Cardstock Stickers Favorite Pieces
MG-140 Cardstock Stickers Fresh Verse
MG-230 Clear Cut Shapes
MG-195 Dimensional Stickers
MG-201 Canvas Stickers
MG-279 Chipboard Shapes
MG-277 Stick Pins

Half Way Through the Week!

We are are really excited about this project from Cycling Team Member Traci Penrod.  A Makin' the Grade mini album is a great way to share a lot of your school photos and with a special shapped album.

Although I have already scrapbooked my son's school years in a 12x12 version, I have been wanting to make a mini album using wallet-sized school photos.  I have so many of them, and thought it would be a neat way to see how he changed over the years in one fun little book.  Makin the Grade was perfect for this project because the papers and embellishments work well for pre-school or kindergarten, all the way through high school. 

I started with a fun locker album die-cut (designed by Bona Rivera-Tran for AccuCut).  I created the album so that there would be one page for each grade K-12.  Little Yellow Bicycle makes creating a project like this fun and easy because their collections include so many wonderful embellishments! 

 
I also love the small sticker alphabet letters.  For my mini album I used them as the first letter on some of my journaling cards.

I incorporate pockets in almost all of my projects.  On this page, I used the cork board themed paper to create a pocket, and tucked a journaling card inside.  The card from the "5 Things I Love" embellishment was perfect for the page about 2nd grade since it already had a 2 on the tab.  Mixing it up a bit, I used the #3 from the fabric favorites stickers for the 3rd grade page.

The 5th grade page was a lot of fun -- I used the pocket that holds the "5 Things I Love" journaling cards.
I just placed some cute embellishments over parts of the words and voila, a perfect page embellishment for 5th grade!

I had a lot to journal about for 9th grade so I decided to hide the journaling "in the lockers".  The 6x6 paper pad was perfect for this because of the smaller scale of the locker paper. I just cut three lockers out of the 6x6 sheet, adhered them to a folded card, and tucked my journaling inside with some more fun embellishments.


One of my favorite things about scrapbooking is thinking 'outside the box' to come up with creative ways to use paper and embellishments.  Thanks to Little Yellow Bicycle and Makin the Grade, I had a blast with this project!

Please visit Traci's blog Artsy Albums for more details about this project.

Have a wonderful day!

Liz

Biker Chick Tania Willis has created another wonderful Training Reel with our Makin' the Grade collection.  Be sure to click on the video below...

We love how Tania brought out the bolder colors in this collection and made our gorgeous cork pieces jump off the page.

The cardstock Favorite Pieces and Chipboard Pieces are so easy to add to a page and with a little twine makes them really stand out, but let's have Tania tell you all about it...

See the instructions for Tania's project below...

Download Learn Layout with LYB Makin' The Grade by Tania Willis

You can see more of Tania's work on her blog Whatchu Talkin' Bout Willis?

Check back tomorrow for more projects from our Cycling Team.

Happy Monday!

Liz

Check out how Biker Chick Jenny Chesnick used our Makin' the Grade collection to create a Fall sports page...

Hi LYB Fans! Jen here with another Making the Grade project. Today I wanted to showcase one of my favorites ways to create a title.  It's a hot trend right now to create titles and shapes with your die cutting machine and using that negative.  It gives the layout a unique feel and dimension.

For this sports themed school project I wanted to use the school name and mascot.  I did a simple design in my Silhouette software using Georgia font.  I cut the title directly into my background 12x12 paper then lined the backside with a contrasting color paper.  You could also line your contrasting paper with dimensional dots to give your title a 3D look.  I chose to keep it flat and instead created depth with my other elements. 

I add several layers of dimensional dots to my photo to have it stand out above my embellishments.  If you don't want to use that many dimensional dots you can also create the same look with scrap paper.  Simply fold your paper into a tri-fold leaving the paper "puffed" then simply attach it to the backside of your photo.  By making the photo the "top" element it is sure not to get lost in the among the other elements.

Makin' the Grade Products:

MG 109- Dotted Chevron/Red Alpha
MG-105 Cut Here/Yellow Stripe
MG-1100 Tear Out Ticket & Journaling Card Book
MG-167 Cork Word & Shape Stickers
MG-201 Canvas Stickers
MG-220 Fabric Favorites
MG-279 Chipboard Shapes
MG-304 6x6 Paper Pad

Please visit Jenny's blog Say Chez for more ideas and inspiration.

Have a wonderful day!

Liz

Today we wanted to show you how versatile the Makin' the Grade collection is by demonstrating how it is not just for the little guys and can easily be used for the "Big Kids" in your lives. Watch how each of our Biker Chicks Suzanne, Robbie and Heather make pages for their teens and tweens.

Biker Chick Suzanne Sergi

The journaling tickets are perfect for adding important information. You can definitely handwrite it, but if you are like me, and do not care for your handwriting, run them through your printer. With a few changes in your document, you can align the words exactly where you want them!

Makin' the Grade Products:

Grey Text 12x12, Pennants 12x12, Alpha Block 12x12, New Notebook 12x12, Cardstock Stickers, Canvas Stickers, Cork Stickers, Tear-Out Ticket & Journaling Card Book, Clear Cut Shapes, Stick Pins, Dimensional Stickers,Chipboard Shapes

Biker Chick Robbie Herring

I am LOVING this collection for my teenager layouts!  The papers and embellishments fit perfectly with these pictures.  When I saw all the lockers included in the collection, I had to go on the man hunt for this picture of my daughter and one of her friends in front of 'their' locker.

Makin' the Grade Products:
MG-105 Cut Here/Yellow Stripe
MG-277 Stick Pins (15 pieces)
MG-305 Paper Crafting Kit (48 pieces)
MG-1100 Tear Out Ticket & Journaling Card Book - with embossing (24 pieces)
MG-304 6" x 6" Paper Pad (24 pages)
MG-279 Chipboard Shapes - with foil (24 pieces)
MG-230 Clear Cuts - with foil accents (34 pieces)

Biker Chick Heather Leopard

My daughter absolutely loves school! The back 2 school excitement seems to build up for her all summer and we look for that letter they send through the mail right before school starts, which tells us her teacher assignments! It's really fun for her. What we really enjoy though is going to Meet the Teacher, which is usually the Friday before school starts. She gets to check out her classroom and meet her teachers! This layout tells that story for her from this year's festivities.

I really love all the variations of banners and pennants in the Makin' the Grade collection - from the canvas to the cork shapes, fabric favorites and so much more, I had to use them all!

To make the title, I used the Fresh Verse stickers but I had already used some of the stickers so I used the "M" and the "T" stickers and then I cut the rest of the letters out of the Alpha Block paper from the 6x6 paper pad. It worked great and gave me a fun variety of letters that still coordinate. To make the cork elements pop just a bit more, I outlined them with black pen.

This is such a great back to school line!

Makin' the Grade Products:
MG-102 New Notebook/Blue Fun Dot
MG-101 Alpha Block/Red Stripe
MG-103 School Bands/Brown Stripe
MG-104 Lockers/Grey Text
MG-111 Multi Fun Dot/Green Stripe
MG-140 Stickers - Fresh Verse
MG-167 Cork Word & Shape Stickers - Self Adhesive
MG-195 Dimensional Title Pack
MG-201 Canvas Stickers - Self Adhesive
MG-220 Fabric Favorites - Self Adhesive
MG-230 Clear Cuts Shapes
MG-279 Chipboard Shapes
MG-304 6x6 Paper Pad

The week is flying by...

Liz

We are very excited to begin sharing what our Makin' the Grade Cyling Team has been up to and to kick off the team is Shannon Morgan.  I was really intrigued by Shannon's journaling and how much of her own handwriting she puts on her pages, not to mention her flair for mixed media, but let's have Shannon tell you all about it...

Makin' the Grade is a great collection to begin with, but it becomes even better when you see beyond the everyday school scrappings...and dig a little deeper! Here's an example of how you can use it for teacher gifts! I would like to share the 12X12 canvas I created using this great line.

The embellishments and the coordinating papers make this a totally do-able thing! You can layer effortlessly with all the dimension that is found in the stickers, clear embellishments, the pop up, the fabric/canvas -- the possibilities are endless! Thank you for looking!

The first day of school is always a big one! Some of us in scrapland are already back into the swing of things, but some of you are getting back to school as we post this! Here's some first day of school inspiration using LYB's Makin' the Grade collection! It is completely versatile!

It is amazingly colorful! The papers are full of fabulous detail; they are also full of range, these papers are perfect for your Kindergartner or your High School senior! Thank you so much for looking!

Please take a look at the work on Shannon's blog Designs of a Paddymack to see more of her wonderful work and unique style.

Have a great start to your week.

Liz

Hello Friends!

Well it has taken me a little long to wrap up our giveaway from our wonderful blog hop with our friends from Epiphany Crafts! So sorry for the delay! 

But they say "good things come to those who wait," so let's get to the goodies and our lucky winners!

Congratulations to Marcia Scantlin, our first winner! You have won the Epiphany Crafts Flower 25 Shape Studio plus Flower Bubble Caps....which you may remember from Liz's project in which she made these cute starfish:

... plus some goodies from our Splash and The Escape collections!

Our next winner is Denise Daniel, who wins the Epiphany Crafts Round 25 Circle Shape Studio tool plus Bubble Caps and a package of EC Charm Settings to go with it, and of course, some goodies from our Splash and Escape collections too!

And finally, our Blog Hop winer is Jean A. Marmo! Congratulations Jean - you've won a prize pack from our latest collection, Makin' the Grade!

Congratulations to all of our winners, and thanks to everyone who played and followed along. Ladies, please send your contact info to "peg@mylyb.com" and we'll get those prizes right out to you!

Have a great weekend!

Peg

Biker Chick Robbie Herring has a Makin' the Grade project and tips to share with us today.

I have really enjoyed working with the Makin' the Grade Collection.  This is my second layout with it and I've been getting some of my daughter's senior memories down on paper.  I love that Makin' the Grade, although at first glance might look like it's only for little ones, works perfectly for teens, too!

I chose to use the Alpha Block Paper for the background border on this layout.  I really like choosing a paper with lots of colors to go with pictures that have several people in them.  Seldom do the clothes in group pictures fit just perfectly with any paper and playing up the multiple colors works well even if not every color is a match.  I then topped that multi-colored paper with a more neutral paper to allow my photo to take center stage.

If you have seen much of my work, you know that I love lots of demension in my layouts.  Don't be afraid to add foam dots to your stickers, too!  Foam dots makes clustering embellishments so easy and gives you more options for layering.

Makin' the Grade Products:
MG-101 Alpha Block/Red Stripe
MG-106 Chalkboard Doodles/Grey Test
MG-108 Cork Board/Brown Solid
MG-110 Brown Bag/Kraft Mod Dot
MG-305 Paper Crafting Kit (48 pieces)
MG-135 Cardstock Stickers - Favorite Pieces - with foil and embossing (30 pieces)
MG-1100 Tear Out Ticket & Journaling Card Book - with embossing (24 pieces)

Please visit Robbie's blog Just the Scrap for more ideas from her.

Almost to the weekend!

Liz

We have some fun ideas for making gifts for your children's teachers.  Check out how our Biker Chicks used the Makin' the Grade collection to make a few projects.

Altered Folder Cover from Biker Chick Jenny Chesnick

I remember being a kid and always have all of my 8x10 class photos in an album.  That inspired my Teacher's gift project.  I used a school binder from my local big box store and decorated the front.  For the inside I used 8.5x11 page protectors and lined them with paper for my teach to add her photos through the years!


Makin' the Grade Products:
MG-108 Cork Board/Solid Brown
MG-135 Stickers Favorite Pieces
MG-140 Stickers Fresh Verse
MG-1100 Ticket & Journaling Book
MG-308 5 Things Pocket
MG-305 Paper Crafting Kit
MG-304 6x6 Paper Pad

Bookmarks from Biker Chick Vicki Boutin

Tip: Book marks make a great gift for your childs new teacher. This is something the kids could definitely lend a hand in making!

5 Things Pocket Album by Biker Chick Greta Hammond

Tip: Use the 5 Things Pocket to make a quick mini album for your teacher to record events from the school year.

Altered Pen Set by Biker Chick Tania Willis

Teachers always need an abundance of pens, whether they be for grading papers, writing notes to send home, or to loan out to a student.  So, naturally, pens make for a great teacher’s gift.  Next time you’re at the store, grab a pack or two of clear-shell pens that have a bottom that is easily removable and you’ll be set to make your child’s teacher a set of decorative pens.  The ones I used were the R.S.V.P. style by Pentel, sold in a 2-pack for less than $1.  It’s as simple as removing the bottom and taking out the pen insert. Then, cutting your paper to 1” x 3 ¼”, rolling it tight (rolling around a skewer helps), then inserting it into the empty shell. Finally, put the pen stick back inside and replace the bottom piece.

Biker Chick Robbie Herring has a project to share tomorrow...

Liz

We have some fun Makin' the Grade project ideas from Biker Chick Heather Leopard today...

My first project is a set of cards for my daughter to give her two teachers on the 1st day of school. We like to give them a little treat on the first day, usually chocolate, because who can resist chocolate after a long, stressful day.  I made these little school house cards with my CAMEO and the Makin' the Grade collection.


Makin' the Grade Products:

MG-109 Dotted Chevron/Red Alpha

MG-105 Cut Here/Yellow Stripe

MG-304 6" x 6" Paper Pad (24 pages)

MG-305 Paper Crafting Kit (48 pieces)

My next project I'm showing you today is something I've been wanting to do for my daughter, which is to send little notes for her to find in her lunch box. The problem is that she likes to buy her lunch at school. I had an a-ha moment recently and realized I could just send them in her backpack. I'm sure she'll mostly look at them in the morning instead of for a lunch pick-me-up but either way, she'll know I'm thinking about her.

I cut these using my CAMEO and pieces them together. I can't wait for school to start so I can surprise her with these!

Makin' the Grade Products:

MG-109 Dotted Chevron/Red Alpha

MG-106 Chalkboard Doodles/Grey Test

Please visit Heather's blog The Spotted Leopard for more ideas.

Almost to the weekend -

Liz

We have a few back to school projects to share from our Biker Chicks Greta, Liz, Corrie and Robbie today.  We hope that you will feel inspired to create some keepsakes for someone special in your life or your child's life...

Biker Chick Greta Hammond created this amazing altered display of the ABCs and books.  Here is a tip from her... "I found these oversized wood letters and books at Hobby Lobby and thought they would be perfect for the Makin' the Grade line. I think the Locker paper is so fun so I started with that paper where it fit the best and then worked in a variety of other colors and patterns to make the display cohesive."

Makin' the Grade Materials:

MG-104 Lockers/Grey Text

MG-109 Dotted Chevron/Red Alpha

MG-106 Chalkboard Doodles/Grey Test

MG-103 School Bands/Brown Stripe

MG-305 Paper Crafting Kit (48 pieces)

MG-135 Cardstock Stickers - Favorite Pieces - with foil and embossing (30 pieces)

MG- 140 Cardstock Stickers - Fresh Verse - with foil and debossing (67 pieces)

MG-201 Canvas Stickers - self adhesive (14 pieces)

Biker Chick Liz Qualman (me) created an altered composition book.  I wanted to send something special to school with my daughter for her first day and I loved how the journal tag from the Tear Out Ticket book said "This book belongs to... so I made her a custom compostion book and bookmark."

I took this simple composition book and made this...

The tip to making this cover last for the entire school year is to make sure all of the paper and embellishments are flat, so I focused on the Favorite Pieces and Fresh Verse Cardstock Stickers as my main embellishments.  Then I will use strips of clear packing tape to "laminate" the design to the book.  Trust me as a teacher of many year, the packing tape is the bomb and will preserve this project pretty much forever.

It wouldn't be complete without a matching bookmark.

Makin' the Grade Products:

MG-304 6" x 6" Paper Pad (24 pages)

MG-111 Multi Fun Dot/Green Stripe

MG-107 Pennants/Blue Solid

MG-135 Cardstock Stickers - Favorite Pieces - with foil and embossing (30 pieces)

MG- 140 Cardstock Stickers - Fresh Verse - with foil and debossing (67 pieces)

Biker Chick Corrie Jones had this to say about her project... "I wanted to create a mini album to record all the important details for my kindergartener's big first year of school and Makin' the Grade has so many fun embellishments that it is going to be easy to capture those moments."

Makin' the Grade Products:

MG-106 Chalkboard Doodles
MG-135 Cardstock Stickers - Favorite Pieces
MG-140 Cardstock Stickers - Fresh Verse
MG-304 6x6 Paper Pad
MG-305 Paper Crafting Kit
MG-308 5 Things Pocket
MG-1100 Tear Out Tickets

Biker Chick Robbie Herring decided to add the altered project to her layout.  That is a real clipboard nestled in her layout.  Here is what she had to say about it, "Think about using actually school supplies on your layouts.  On this one, I used a mini clipboard as part of my design.  It is a bit thick, but not any thicker than a lot of the flowers I include on some of my pages.  If it's thicker than you would like in your book, try putting it in a shadow box.  Use foam dots to help your design sit on top of thicker pieces.

Makin' the Grade Products:

MG-102 New Notebook/Blue Fun Dot
MG-110 Brown Bag/Kraft Mod Dot
MG-305 Paper Crafting Kit (48 pieces)
MG-308 5 Things Pocket - with embossing (11 pieces)
MG-135 Cardstock Stickers - Favorite Pieces - with foil and embossing (30 pieces)
MG-1100 Tear Out Ticket & Journaling Card Book - with embossing (24 pieces)

Have a wonderful day!

Liz

We are so pleased to introduce our newest wearers of the Yellow Jersey.  We always have so much enthusiasm for Little Yellow Bicycle and were very pleased with all of the applications we received and of course it was very difficult to choose.  We said we would choose between 3-5 cycling team members per collection and this time we actually chose 6 designers. So...riding with us for our Makin' the Grade Cycling Team will be the following talented and inspiring designers.  Please click on their names to see their blogs and get to know them a little bit more.

Audrey Pettit

Shannon Morgan

Valerie Mangan

Traci Penrod

Jodi Wilton

Kelly Jo Massicotte

BUT WAIT - there's more...  Little Yellow Bicycle has 3 more new collections to release from CHA Summer.  AND...we will need a cycling team for each and every collection!  Since, each collection has a personality of its own, we are looking for designers whose style will showcase the collection.  In other words, if you were/are interested in being a cycling team member look for future calls and if your style suits the collection, we want you to come ride with us!

Stay tuned for Acorn Hollow...

Happy Monday!

Liz

Biker Chick Corrie Jones shares a more "mature" Back to School Layout with our Makin' the Grade collection...

My oldest started high school this week and it has really taken some adjusting for me.  She, of course, is loving it.  I just feel old.  It really was just yesterday that she was headed to kindergarten!  (Well, maybe that was my youngest, and it was Friday that she went, but it feels like yesterday that it was this one.)

I love making banners and for this page, the banner is a good school addition.  For this one, I used some pieces from the Paper Crafting Kit and cut smaller, but matching banner pieces out of different papers.  I decorated the banner pieces with die cuts from the paper crafting kit and star stickers.  I used adhesive to keep the banners in place and then used my sewing machine to stitch it all down and connect it.

My journalling says, " Knowing I'm not old enough to have a high schooler, I asked her to consider staying in 8th grade.  She said NO.  I'm glad at least she is ready for this."  This was a conversation we had had a few times.

Ah, the first day of the year!



Making the Grade Supplies used:

MG-101 Alpha Block
MG-102 Blue Fun Dot
MG-106 Chalkboard Doodles
MG-135 Cardstock Stickers - Favorite Pieces
MG-140 Cardstock Stickers - Fresh Verse
MG-304 6x6 Paper Pad
MG-305 Paper Crafting Kit
MG-308 5 Things Pocket
MG-1100 Tear Out Tickets

Please visit Corrie's blog You, Me & Crazy for more awesome ideas.

Liz

Here at LYB, we are ready for back to school and today our Biker Chicks are sharing projects created with our Brand NEW Makin' the Grade collection.  The bright colors of this collection grounded in kraft and cork are the perfect palette for documenting your student's first day of school or special school event.  Take a look at some layout page ideas from Biker Chicks Jenny Chesnick, Vicki Boutin and Heather Leopard.

Layout by Biker Chick Jenny Chesnick

Layout by Biker Chick Vicki Boutin

Layout by Biker Chick Heather Leopard

We will be back with another Makin' the Grade project tomorrow from Biker Chick Corrie Jones.

Today is the last day to submit an applicaton for our Makin' the Grade Cycling Team.  Please send them to cyclingteam@cthruruler.com.

Half way through the week!

Liz

 Come Ride with Us!

We are looking for designers to showcase our Makin' the Grade Collection

Here's what we're looking for:

With each new collection we like to invite a few new designers (about 3-5 per collection) to come design for us.  We ask Cycling Team members to commit to a month of designing after the collection is released. In return, we'll send you some free product and shamelessly promote you along with ourselves on our blog and facebook page.  Read the details below:

1) Make at least one project with what we send you - a layout, some cards, a mini album, an altered item...whatever makes you happy!

2) Send us some pictures of it, and a little write-up or how-to of how you created it.

3) Post it on your blog, facebook page and any online galleries you belong to. We'll put it here on our blog too, of course!

That's it!

Tryouts for this team are starting RIGHT NOW!

If you are interested, please send us three (3) samples of your best work (preferably with LYB products because that is what we like to look at most, however it's not a deal breaker if you send something else) to cyclingteam@cthruruler.com.  Also, if you have previously designed for a Cycling Team, please feel free to apply again!  Please send us your application by Wednesday, August 15th and we'll announce the NEW Makin' the Grade Cycling Team on Monday, August 20th.  Please also include your contact information (address, phone and blog) in your email.

And then we'll ask you to hop on that Little Yellow Bicycle and pedal your heart out!

Take a peek at one more project from the Makin' the Grade collection to get you thinking about joining us for this cycling team!

Hope to hear from you!

Liz

Well once again CHA summer has come to a close! I want to thank all of you for following along with our sneak peeks and for all your wonderful comments!

We're busily updating our website, but if you want to see all of the new collections up-close-and-personal, click below to view our full catalog. We'll also be posting larger images of everything from each of the collections on Facebook!

Download LYBCatalog14-Fall2012 

Keep those comments coming! I'll be picking a winner at 5PM EDT Today!

Just a quick post on this last day of CHA to share some pics of the booth before the show's over and we have to take it all down!

Do you have a favorite?

Leave a comment for another chance to win!

- Peg