Little Yellow Bicycle

Hello Spring 2 Page Layout Ideas with our Biker Chicks

We are more than excited about our newest collection Hello Spring and we will be bringing you inspirational ideas all month long.  Today our Biker Chicks would like to share some Two-Page Layout Ideas, because we are sure you probably have a lot of Spring or Easter photos in your stash that need to be scrapped.

Biker Chick Liz Qualman (me) created this more traditional two page layout to preserve the memory of this year's Easter Egg Hunt.  I did not want to cover up the beautiful pattern of flowers and birds on the bottom of the Teal Tweets patterned paper, so I planned most of the design from the middle of the paper and made the long strip of plaid paper as the anchor.  The wallet-sized photos were intentionally placed around the birds and flowers.  The felt flowers in this collection are really fun and I love how bright the clear cut shapes are in this collection.

 

Hello Spring Collection Products:

HS-108 Teal Tweets/Green Grass Linen

HS-109 Pretty in Plaid/Tulip Linen

HS-103 Spring Story/Poppy Linen

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

HS-279 Chipboard Shapes - with glitter accents (35 pieces)

HS-220 Fabric Favorites - self adhesive (14 pieces)

HS-222 Felt & Fabric Flower Stickers (4 pieces)

HS-230 Clear Cut Shapes - with glitter accents (34 pieces)

HS-135 Cardstock Stickers - Favorite Pieces - with glitter and embossing (50 pieces)

HS-140 Cardstock Stickers - Fresh Verse™ - with glitter and debossing (72 pieces)

HS-1100 Tear-out Ticket & Journaling Book - with glitter accents (24 pieces)

Biker Chick Corrie Jones created this fresh take on a 2 Page Layout about a day picking strawberries.  The colors in this collection are beautifully coordinated to allow almost any combination and still end up with a great design.

 

Hello Spring Collection Products:

HS-104 Flutterby/Sunshine Dots

HS-106 Bloom & Grow/Sweet Pea Vine

HS-279 Chipboard Shapes - with glitter accents (35 pieces)

HS-122 12" x 12" Decorative Edge Textured Cardstock

HS-230 Clear Cut Shapes - with glitter accents (34 pieces)

HS-135 Cardstock Stickers - Favorite Pieces - with glitter and embossing (50 pieces)

HS-140 Cardstock Stickers - Fresh Verse™ - with glitter and debossing (72 pieces)

HS-1100 Tear-out Ticket & Journaling Book - with glitter accents (24 pieces)
Clear Cut Shapes

HS-304 6" x 6" Paper Pad (24 pieces)

 

Biker Chick Heather Leopard created this adorable two page project with the collection signature paper.  So many fun elements to embellish the project.  We also love how Heather, like Corrie paired two different background papers together for the project.

 

Tip from Heather: "When I am creating a layout I like to add at least one element that enhances the original product design.  In this case, I stitched over the tree trunk in a slightly lighter shade of brown. I started by machine sewing a heart on the trunk and then stitched around it and through the branches.  I think it offers a slightly more realistic edge to it."

 

Hello Spring Collection Products:

HS-101 Blossom Breeze - single-sided with glitter accents

HS-109 Pretty in Plaid/Tulip Linen

HS-106 Bloom & Grow/Sweet Pea Vine

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

HS-230 Clear Cut Shapes - with glitter accents (34 pieces)

HS-135 Cardstock Stickers - Favorite Pieces - with glitter and embossing (50 pieces)

HS-140 Cardstock Stickers - Fresh Verse™ - with glitter and debossing (72 pieces)

HS-1100 Tear-out Ticket & Journaling Book - with glitter accents (24 pieces)

 

We would love to see some fun 2 page projects from our fans.  Please share them on our Facebook Page.

 

Happy Crafting!

 

Liz

Evolution of a Wedding Collection with our Biker Chicks

We have some fun pages to share from our Biker Chicks with our Swoon collection.  We want to show you how you can use the collection for a traditional wedding page to something much more practical and everyday.  We have eached used papers and embellishments in common, but the themes of our pages are drastically different...

Biker Chick Liz Qualman (me) worked on a traditional page of getting ceremony and wedding party photos scrapped on the same page.  I also added a photo of my husband and I signing the marriage certificate to "seal the deal."  I love the foiling on this background paper with the "Happily Ever After" banner and wanted to make sure that I did not cover it up, so I blocked my photos in a square pattern below the sentiment.  The pop of color from the photos really stands out nicely from this creamy monotone collection.

I wanted to tie the green colors from my wedding party into the page, so I added some green velvet floss from RG to my page.  I used my Martha Stewart Cherish punch to create the border and since it already has tiny holes punched into the border, it was easy to add the stitching.

 

Swoon Products:

SW-102 Happily Ever After - single-sided with foil accents

SW-109 Wedding Words/Modern Elegance

SW-104 Kiss the Bride/Kiss the Groom

SW-279 Chipboard Shapes (30 pieces)

SW-134 Journaling Cards - with thermography (10 pieces)

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

SW-195 Dimensional Stickers (9 pieces)

SW-197 Pearl & Jewel Stickers (60 pieces)

 

Biker Chick Vicki Boutin took the same "Happily Ever After" sentiment and created a fun, child-focused page where the subject is playing dress up.  The chipboard pieces work very well with the idea for this page and the addition of the black and white photo provides an "old timey" twist to this contemporary photo.

 

Swoon Products:

SW-102 Happily Ever After - single-sided with foil accents

SW-106 Wedding March/Elopement

SW-109 Wedding Words/Modern Elegance

SW-104 Kiss the Bride/Kiss the Groom

SW-279 Chipboard Shapes (30 pieces)

SW-195 Dimensional Stickers (9 pieces)

SW-197 Pearl & Jewel Stickers (60 pieces)

SW - 277 Stick Pins (15 Pieces)

 

Biker Chick Greta Hammond also worked with the child-focused theme, but with the very elegant and regal event of her daughter's piano recital.  She said the music sheet paper made her think of the photos and the striped patterned paper made her think of piano keys.  It is such a great background for the pop of red in her photos. Greta also used the same music paper as Vicki.


Greta added a fun layered cluster of journal cards, chipboard and dimensional stickers.

 

Swoon Products:

SW-106 Wedding March/Elopement

SW-109 Wedding Words/Modern Elegance

SW-108 Black Tie Stripe/Special Day

SW-279 Chipboard Shapes (30 pieces)

SW-134 Journaling Cards - with thermography (10 pieces)

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

SW-195 Dimensional Stickers (9 pieces)

SW-197 Pearl & Jewel Stickers (60 pieces)

SW-220 Fabric Favorites - self adhesive (28 pieces)

 

Hope you have some ideas on how to stretch your gorgeous wedding collection into themes beyond the obvious.

 

Have a very crafty day!

 

Liz

Swooning a Bit More with Cycling Team Member Kristine Berc

We are so pleased with the versatility of our wedding collection Swoon.  No matter who makes a project with this collection of blacks, grays, whites and creams, they all seem to be spectacular.  Today is no excpetion.  We invited back Cycling Team member Kristine Berc to play with some of the beautiful collection.  But let's have her tell you a little more about it...

I waited almost 7 years to scrap this wedding photo!  I'm really picky about the papers that I use for my pages, and I hadn't found the right ones to use for this photo until I recently got my hands on Swoon.  The collection looks beautiful online... but in person... woooooooooooooooooow... perfectly gorgeous!

I LOVE the paper flower kit which I used several pieces of along with some pretty cardstock stickers.

The self-adhesive jewels and pearls made it so easy to dress the flowers up, and I love that so many of them come in the package.

With the help of an embossing folder, a couple of metal dies, a border punch, satin ribbon, and Stickles, this card came together in no time.

I love the sophistication of Swoon!

 

Please visit Kristine's blog A Stash of Pretty Paper for more beautiful and inspiring ideas.  We love to see what she does with our collections!

 

Thank you for stopping by!

 

Liz

Our Last Swoon with Guest Designer Stacey Michaud

We have one more lovely project to share with our Swoon Collection from guest designer Stacey Michaud.  We are always amazed at how Stacey makes her projects look clean and simple, even though they include many fun details within the design.

 

What fun I have had designing with the Swoon collection!  I have been scrapping wedding layouts for a special friend and these colors as well as all the embellishments make this a perfect choice.  Swoon is neutral so your photos will pop, yet each layout will maintain a level of elegance and class.

 

This page captures a special moment in any bride’s evening, the cake cutting ritual.  I was super inspired by the lovely dimensional sticker of a tiered cake.  It resembled the shape of the cake in the photos.  I framed it with a die-cut to draw attention to the theme and the photos. 

I decided to jazz the cake up with some of the sparkling embellishments in the collection.  I grabbed three heart stick pins and placed them at the top of the cake, just like the real cake in the photograph.  Did I tell you how much I love the stick pins??  I also added a row of rectangular sequins.

I prefer clean designs that have interest and this collection allows for that style.  I wanted a few more touches, but nothing heavy.  I simply added a transparency and some pearl bling.  It reminds me of the simple detail on Trish’s dress. 

Thank you Little Yellow Bicycle and Liz for this amazing opportunity!  Your products have made me swoon!

 

Please be sure to visit Stacey's blog It's Just Paper for more inspiring projects from her.

 

Have a wonderful and creative weekend!

 

Liz

February / March Sketch Challenge Winners

Wow... was this race close!  We have a grand prize winner by a super slim margin, so kudos to all of the sketch finalists because obviously each of your pages are brilliant.  Special congratulations to Laura Drahozal for her Saturdays Page.  We are awarding Laura, the grand prize winner, a $50 prize pack and the two runner ups, Ellen and Wendy, a $25 prize pack.   Please email your mailing address to [email protected] and we will get those prizes out soon.

 

Saturdays Page by Laura Drahozal

Grand Prize Winner

 

Winter Twig Page by Ellen Gegetskas

Runner Up

 

Paradise Page by Wendy Crowe

Runner Up

 

Please look for more challenges in the near future.  We will post another sketch challenge soon and there are some other challenge options on the horizon.

 

Have a wonderful and crafty day!

 

Liz

 

One More Saturdays Ride with Cycling Team Member Sarah de Guzman

We are so excited to share these fun projects with Saturdays Cycling Team Member Sarah de Guzman.  Sarah's style along with her adorable furry friends makes a winning combination.  Let's have Sarah tell you a little more about it.

 

When I first received my box of goodies from LYB, I was swooning for days. This Saturdays line is more than just perfect for all of your projects; it's gorgeous and elegant as well. The deep, rich colors of this line make it easy to use with any of your photos. In the layouts that I created, I used both people and pet photos, and it worked out great on all layouts!

Oh, and if you haven't seen LYB's coordinating embellishments for the Saturdays line, you need to check them all out. There's a good handle of them to work with. My favorite ones in this line were the Fabric Favorites and the Paper Flower Kit. (I have detail shots of some of these items). Both are so simple, but they add so much "wow" to your projects! All of the coordinating stickers are also fun to work with.

Overall, one of my favorite LYB lines.

Please visit Sarah's blog Red Oak Lines for more inspiration from her.

 

Check back tomorrow for more Swoon inspiration from Guest Designer Stacey Michaud.

 

Have a wonderful day!

 

Liz

More to Swoon Over with Guest Designer Stacey Michaud

We are happy to share another wonderful layout page with our Swoon collection from guest designer Stacey Michaud.  But first we have a few more questions to help our fans get to know Stacey a little bit more.

-

LYB: What is your ‘go to’ embellishment?

SM: I would have to say chipboard.  I love the dimension and interest it adds to any project.

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

SM: I definitely prefer to scrap alone.  I work full time and have two  young children so I crave quiet time.  Scrapping when they go to sleep is my favorite time to be creative, quiet and calm.

LYB: Describe your biggest scrapbooking ‘mishap’?

SM: I once applied too much mist to a page after my elements were already glued down.  I hated how the background looked.  I had to cut the page elements off the cardstock and start over with a new piece.  It worked out, but it was a pain.

 

Hi everyone!  I am here to share another layout with you today!  It is quite obvious that the Swoon collection is designed to celebrate weddings.  I decided to use it a bit differently today and go with the idea of love.  There are many little elements that can fit more generic themes like the chipboard shapes and the dimensional stickers.  I enjoyed fishing for those little touches that fit my layout topic.

I went in this direction because I had this adorable photo of my daughter wearing a full purple outfit.  It is hard to find paper to match that much purple so I went with black, white and gray.  There is a powerful trend occurring in the scrappy world that involves these neutrals to create a monochromatic feel.  Swoon is perfect for that!

I used the Truly Smitten paper as my base here.  It has a slight texture on the bottom.  I simply added a chipboard border and a stripe of gray on gray from the Kiss the Bride sheet of paper.  To connect my journaling to the photos, I used the curved cardstock die-cut and flag banner.  I created the flower using the paper flower kit.  I cut a piece of the decorative edge cardstock to hold the LOVE title.  I finished the details with the chipboard butterfly, heart pins and “Just Because” dimensional sticker.

As you can see, Swoon is so versatile and makes a wonderful base for colorful photos of all kinds.

 

Thank you Stacey for another wonderful layout page idea!  Please visit Stacey's blog It's Just Paper for more ideas. She will be back next week with another project idea.

 

Have creative weekend!

 

Liz

 

Projects from the Peloton

We are always happy when our fans email us their work and this week we had a few people share some amazing projects from both our Paradise and Saturdays collections.  Tammy at the Scraproom Kit Club emailed me to let us know that they featured both Paradise and Saturdays in their March Flavors of the Month Kit and we have a few projects from her design team to share.

Saturdays Page by Jennifer Moore

Saturdays Page by Tammy Harp

Saturdays Page by Melanie Call

Paradise Page by Aphra Bolyer

Paradise Page by Frances Sylvia

 

 

We also had some of our Peloton email us their projects to share.

Saturdays Page by Julie LaKose

Paradise Page by Savi Ostrozny

 

We look forward to featuring work from our fans every week, so please keep posting to our Facebook Wall, emailing us, loading work in online galleries or adding Little Yellow Bicycle as a label on your blog and we will find your work.  You can contact me [email protected].

 

Have a great week!

 

Liz

Introducing Swoon Guest Designer Stacey Michaud

We are so excited to introduce our New Guest Designer Stacey Michaud.  She is going spend the next couple weeks showing us some great ideas with our Swoon collection.  Stacey has a unique style that seems simple at first, but upon a closer look is full of fun details. But, we want Stacey to tell you all about it...

-

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

SM: Hands downs, I am a layout girl.  Cards don’t come naturally to me so I end up pushing paper around for a hour.  Layouts just kind of flow!

LYB: Any unique tips or techniques you use?

SM: I try to use the paper as my muse.  Before I start, I look for patterns that I can hand cut or repeat on the project.  I try to use supplies in a clever way, keeping an open mind when I am exploring them.

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

SM: I match the colors of my photos so I am pretty open.  I don’t really love to use brights as they are hard on my eyes.  In my opinion, every page should have a pop of red or orange.

 

Hi all!  I am so thrilled to be guest designing for Little Yellow Bicycle!  LYB products are among the first I scrapped with when I started this hobby.  They have been perennial favorites!  One of my favorite products is the Clear Cut Shapes.  I ripped the box open and knew these would have a starring role on a layout.   Turns out, I made two layouts, each featuring the different shapes in the collections.

 

First, I was drawn to the rectangular Clear Cut Shapes.  I love the ornate frames and thought they would make a great mat for my photo.  I started layering and liked that it looked like a deconstructed grid.  I included my photo as one of the rectangles.

I added balance by placing ½ of a frame along the top.  The dark Bridesmaid sticker grounded the frame and added a bit of black.  To give the layout a feminine touch, I layered several of the paper flowers and dimensional flowers to the right of the photo. 

 

Finally, I created a banner to add a bit more curve to offset all the rectangles.  I used the cardstock stickers and a pretty silver dimensional flower.

I used the Swoon Kiss the Bride and Paisley Smitten patterned papers, Clear Cut Shapes, Dimensional Stickers, Cardstock Stickers, and Chipboard Shapes.

 

After playing with rectangles, I decided to give circles an equal chance!  Again, my first instinct was to grab the Clear Cut Shapes.  I also fell in love with the pretty curved chipboard frame on the layout below.  I actually placed it above one of my photos, which is a bit of a turn for me.  From there, the idea was born to have graduated circles in different sizes.  The use of confetti is a huge trend right now and this is my interpretation.

The circles and little bits of bling give the layout a dreamy feel that matches the photo.  I am scrapping these pictures for a friend so I want to make an impact without using too many words or journaling. 

 

I love how the little sticker has the word swoon on it, sums up the feel of that moment.  I love the rich gray in the Swoon collection.  It is so elegant.

To create this page, I used the Swoon Modern Elegance paper, die-cut border from the page kit, Clear Cut Shapes, Chipboard Shapes, Cardstock Stickers and Dimensional Stickers.  For the final touches, I used the Pearl and Jewel Stickers and stick pins.

 

There are so many wonderful bits in this collection, I felt like I could scrap forever. 

 

Thank you so much Stacey for sharing your wonderful talent with us!  Please visit Stacey's blog It's Just Paper to see more of her inspiring work.

 

Have a wonderful and creative weekend!

 

Liz

 

Projects from the Peloton

We have some wonderful projects to share from our Peloton (you know, the larger pack of riders in a bicycle race).  They never disappoint and it is really a treat to scour the world wide web looking for projects featuring Little Yellow Bicycle. 

Saturdays Page by Hilde Aaslund found on our Facebook Page

Saturdays Mini Album by Renee Zwirek found at Scrapbook.com

Saturdays Mini Album by Vanessa Menhorn found at Two Peas in a Bucket

 
Saturdays Page by Ros Madey found on her blog Not Every Picturez Perfect

Paradise Page by Kerys Sharrock found on our Facebook Page

Lucky Me and Paradise Treats by Izzy Anderson found on our Facebook Page

If you would like to see your project featured on our blog, please email it to Liz at [email protected]

Happy Monday!

 

Liz

Let's Take a Moment to Swoon with Biker Chick Vicki Boutin

We have a fun and inspirational project to share from Biker Chick Vicki Boutin.  She used our NEW Swoon collection, but we want Vicki to tell you all about it...

 

I absolutely love SWOON!!  It is a traditional wedding line with beautiful satin finishes and the patterns on the papers are so gorgeous!  The other thing I love about swoon is the monochromatic colour palette!  What a perfect line to go with ANY wedding or anniversary photos but then you can simply throw any colour in to personalize it to fit your wedding colours.  With that being said, I went in a totally different direction!!!  I chose to play up the neutral palette and then "POP" up a play on colour!!!  Here is the page…

I layered all of those gorgeous greys, whites and blacks to create a base.  The decorative edge paper, glitter clear cuts, paper flowers and stickers.  Then I did something I LOVE to do with vibrant coloured photos…I matched them with a neutral palette.  The result was photos that pop off the page instead of competing with the colours on the page.  They work well together.

I layered the glitter clear cuts and flowers on the page and then added the colour.  I created a circle mask slightly smaller than the flower, layered it right on the page and misted through it with the orange spray ink.

I like that the colour accents the neutral base rather than over powering it.  Fun!  And you have to look at this font up close…

I LOVE these letters!!!!

Well that's it for me folks!  I hope this projects makes you look at SWOON beyond just a wedding/Anniversary/prom line!!!  Have fun with it!

 

Thank you for the ideas and tips Vicki.  Please visit Vicki's blog for more ideas and a peek at her new book called Creative Foundations.  As you can see, she is full of fresh ideas.

 

Have a wonderful day!

 

Liz

 

 

Check out How Cycling Team Member Delaina Burns Spends Her Saturdays

We are very happy to bring you some inspiring Saturdays projects from Cycling Team Member Delaina Burns. We love how Delaina takes layers and clustering to new "heights."  Be sure to look closely at all of her details. 

I just have to say how much I loved playing with the Saturday Collection. From the colors, and design on the papers to the awesome embellishments. It's a must have for almost any photo. It's such a versatile line and so easy to scrap with.

I love to add layers and dimension to my pages and the parts and pieces included in the embellishment collection are perfect to achieve that. I used 3 photos here of my son...one is a 4X6 and 2 wallet size. I cut strips from the paper, cutting a V-shaped angle from the end of a couple of them.

I added a piece of cardboard from a shipping box to the back of the blue strip to add plenty of dimension. I then wrapped twine around a few times and tied a bow at the top before adhering it down onto the other strips.

As I adhere each strip, I used a sing trail of glue down the center, as to have room to tuck pieces and parts for extra interesting layers. I am a stickler for threading buttons, so I used the twine to thread the chipboard buttons before scattering them around the page.

I began this LO with a bunch of paper flowers that I fussy cut from the Pick-a-Posy paper.... I find fussy cutting relaxing. It adds a layer of dimension and beauty to any page.

The beautiful felt flowers were a perfect addition to the clusters created around the photo. I used one of the paper flowers as a trim near the bottom of the photo by folding it on the scored lines and adhering it to a strip of paper to hold it in place. The thick dimension was created by using small pieces of cardboard from a shipping box to level the pieces and adhered them on top of one another.

I added white cardstock to this page and stitched around with white floss.

At the top left, I added a few loopy stitches by simply hand sketching a few loops with a light pencil mark before piercing the holes for stitching.

I punched holes in the chipboard banner pieces and strung them with a long piece of red jute. The Red pattern paper piece was cut from one of the Decorative Edge Cardstock. I again used one of the paper flowers as a trim by folding it and adhering it to a strip of paper.

Thank you Delaina for sharing your wonderful talent with Little Yellow Bicycle and our fans!  Please visit Delaina's blog Embellished Memories for more amazing projects from her.

 

We will be back later this week with a Biker Chick Project Inspiration post.  Thank you for stopping by today!

 

Liz

One More Saturday with Guest Designer Corrie Jones

We are so pleased and a little sad to have one more post from Guest Designer Corrie Jones with our Saturdays collection.  We think this collection fit her style and personality perfectly.  Here is Corrie with a description of her final project that we think you will enjoy.

 

Hi all!  It is me, Corrie, one last time to show another project I have created with the really awesome Saturday's collection!  I cannot believe it went so fast!

I am really a layout girl, so I definitely wanted to create another layout using this incredible collection.  I decided to tackle a double page spread.  Honestly, double pagers are not my favorite, but they definitely have their place!  So I have figured out a way to make double page layouts a lot of fun for me.  To start, here is mine.

I had a bunch of pictures of one of my daughters from our beach trip last summer that never got scrapbooked.  I decided they all needed to be scrapped fast and a double page spread is the easiest way to do that.  More space for more pictures, right?!?  But a 12X24 inch canvas is just so much to work with, so when I work on a double page spread I usually take it down to 11X17, so 2 - 8.5X11 inch pages.

Besides the size of a double page spread, the other part that I have struggled with is the matchy-matchiness of them.  Instead of having the same background and design, I like to create my double pagers as coordinating, but able to stand alone as well.

See, each side could be its own page!  This "technique" really makes it so much easier (and fun!) for me to get multiple photos scrapbooked at once, and I never feel overwhelmed or frustrated with having to decorate so much space!



This Saturdays collection was perfect for these photos too.  I knew that even though these unique colors were perfect for adult pages, they really work well for a grungy teen page as well.

For this double page layout I used the Saturday Collage, Pants & Patches, Pattern Play and Well Worn Wood papers.  I included the chipboard shapes, decorative edge double sided textured cardstock, the fabric favorites, stick pins, cardstock stickers, tear-out tickets, clear cut shapes and pieces of the medley album kit.

Thanks so much for the opportunity to show some fun projects using this great collection!  I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have!

 

We have been so amazed by all of Corrie's amazing projects.  I get so excited to open the emails from our Biker Chicks, Cycling Team Member and Guest Designers to see their projects and Corrie's emails have certainly been a treat, plus she is just about as sweet as the Georgia Peaches in her home state (bet you haven't heard that before Corrie:)

 

Please visit her blog You, Me & Crazy for more ideas and inspiration.

 

Also have a wonderful weekend!

 

Liz

Layout Inspiration with Biker Chick Tania Willis

Biker Chick Tania Willis shares some gorgeous projects with our Paradise Collection.  Please look closely at the detail Tania has added to her pages with some of our many embellishments.  She is a master at the little things that really pull a project together, but we'll let Tania tell you all about it.

Be You Layout by Tania Willis



The Paradise Collection pretty much scraps itself, don't you agree? I love how the bright pops of
magenta contrast against the light wash of aqua. In this layout I wanted to include a wide variety of
embellishments yet keep it looking like there aren't many extras added. The subtle tones and patterns
with the soft greens and aqua colors really help add texture and dimension without visual bulk. Of
course, I couldn't resist making a huge statement with flowers made from the Paper Flower Kit. But
the embellishment that has stolen my heart from this collection? That would be the confetti garland.
Happy Sigh.

Paradise Layout by Tania Willis

For this layout, I wanted to keep a strong vertical presence to the layout and feel I accomplished that by
right-aligning the photo and the majority of the embellishments. I first adhered my photo and then built
layers above and below. Sprinkling & layering small clusters of embellishments on the left side of the
layout helped to balance out the weight on the right.

Even though there are lots of layers of stickers & embellishments, I've used the magenta patterned
paper to create a visual triangle by adding small bits of border punched paper.

I love how seamlessly the journaling blends in with the embellishments since it was typed directly onto
the patterned paper & a ticket stub from the tear out ticket book.

In the cluster of clouds, I hand cut a cloud from a glittered foam to a different texture and dimension to
the mix of chipboard and clear cut shapes.

 

Thank you for stopping by today!

 

Liz

Breezy Paradise with Cycling Team Member Guiseppa Gubler

Happy Valentine's Day to all of our friends!  Hope you are enjoying delicious dinners and lots and lots of chocolate...indulge for just one day!  Today, we would love to share some really fantastic projects from Paradise Cycling Team member Guiseppa Gubler.  She has done some amazing work with and we can't wait for you to see it.  Let's have Guiseppa tell you all about it!

Breathe it in....Paradise - I am really digging the look of burlap, so I decided I wanted to try it out on this layout.  First off, I layered pattered paper, cardstock and burlap.  This gave the layout a outdoorsy, Caribbean feel to it.  The burlap kind of reminds me of the bark on the palm trees.  I wanted to bring back the feelings I felt while in the Caribbean when I looked at this layout.  I then continued with the layering. 

I used foam adhesive to  give the pictures lift.  I continued adding foam adhesive under my embellishments and then clustering them. 

The title as well as the confetti garland were lifted up with the foam adhesive. I love fussy cutting, so I cut a little flower, leaf sprig, heart and leaf cluster and added them into the cluster of flower embellishments.  Finally I added journaling strips.  As you can see in the close up pictures, the foam adhesive gives dimension and life to the layout. 

Easy Breezy Page - I love the design of this layout.  It gives the eyes so much to look at.  I love simplicity in a layout and then adding embellishments to make it pop.  I believe I made this layout come to life by using a simple design and then added embellishments.

I first decided on my background paper.  I then cut up the decorative edge die cut paper from the Paradise Collection and used it as a background to highlight my pictures.  I placed this on two separate sides of the layout so that your eyes can gaze around the whole layout.  Once again, I used foam adhesive to lift the decorative edge die cut paper and pictures. 

I added a fun little pleat to the bottom of both of the decorative edge die cut papers and then a flag fabric embellishment on one and a border on the other (keep in mind that all of my embellishments and patterned papers are from the Paradise Collection).   I added the title, flowers and some more fussy cutting and lifted those up using foam adhesive.  Finally, I added the journaling strips.  If you are wondering...I do go through huge amounts of foam adhesive.

Let's Get Lost Card
I have really grown to love cardmaking.  In the past, I have refused to make cards because it was just one more thing I knew I would love doing and there isn't enough time to do all the things I love as it is.  Well, as you can see...I have caved in.  In fact, I have had more cards published than anything else, so I guess I have a knack for them...who knew!  When I make cards, I love creating ones that are a little different. 

So, I decided to make this card a pocket card.  I picked my patterend paper and attached a back and a front together by sewing it.  This is a good way to hold the pocket together, plus it looks good.  I then added some flowers, chipboard, stickers and fabric stickers (all from the Paradise Collection) and arranged them on my card.  Yep...you guessed it, I did use more foam adhesive to give the card a layered and lifted look.  Lastly, I added some twine and made a bow around the flower.


I can't get enough of the Paradise Collection.  I am going to have to order some more or see if my local scrapbooking store gets it in because it is perfect for my a lot of my summery, outdoorsy pictures and it is so easy to use.  The papers and embellishments make my projects just pop with color and dimension.  Thanks Little Yellow Bicycle for letting me use this fabulous collection!

 

Thank you Guiseppa for some really beautiful projects.  You can visit Guiseppa's blog My Creations from more inspiration from her.

 

We have a special announcement to make on the blog tomorrow, so be sure to check back with us later in the day.

 

Take care and Happy Valentine's Day!

 

Liz

Projects from the Peloton

It's another Monday on the blog and we are very happy to share some more projects from our Peloton.  In case you are new to our Monday post, the peloton is the large pack of riders in a bicycle race and we happen to have a lot of fans riding in our Peloton and we love to show case their work on our blog.

Paradise Page by Kelly Foster found on our Facebook Page

Paradise Page by Luz Maria Bruna found on her blog Luzma's Scrap Place

Paradise Card by Izzy Anderson emailed to us

Looking for some Paradise?  We found this photo from the Paper Trail Store in Fayetteville, NC.

 

Ever wonder how we find the projects???  We google the name of our collections to see what comes up, so if you are mentioning Little Yellow Bicycle on your blog or web page, chances are, we will find you.  We also love to feature projects linked to our Facebook Page or emailed to us - [email protected].

 

Thank you for stopping by today!

 

Liz

Paradise Revisited with Cycling Team Member Kristine Berc

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

Take care!

 

Liz

A Little Bit of Paradise with Cycling Team Member Kay Rogers

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

Have a wonderful day!

 

Liz

Projects from the Peloton and Sketch Challenge Winners

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

 

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

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

 

Printer's Tray by Suzanne Sergi found on our blog

 

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

 

Page by Carolyn Lontin found on Scrappin' Sports Stuff Blog

 

Kickoff Gift Set by Kimberly Rae Forde found on our blog

 

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

 

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

Michelle, Ashley and Victoria - please email your address info to [email protected] and we will get your prize packs in the mail.

 

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

 

Have a great day!

 

Liz

How About a Slice of Paradise with our Guest Designer Izzy Anderson

 

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

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

 

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

 

LYB: What is your ‘go to’ embellishment?

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

LYB: Do you prefer cardstock or patterned paper?

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

LYB: Do you have a favorite scrapbooking snack?

 IA: I tend to scrap in short bursts of time due to work and family obligations, so I’m not usually scrapping long enough at one sitting to have a snack!

LYB: Are you a morning bird or night owl?

 IA: I’m a morning person by nature. I never need an alarm clock to start my day.  But I usually scrapbook late at night. There are no distractions then and it’s a relaxing way to end the day.

Now let's get back to Izzy and her first project - When I opened my box, the first thing that caught my eye was a fun patterned paper called “Pleasant Plaid.” It made me think of madras pants that golfers wear and I knew I had a photo on my iphone of my toddler playing miniature golf.  So the plaid became the base for my page and I began building on that, layering papers together.

 

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

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

Paradise Products Used:

PD-101 Paradise /Petit Pom Poms

PD-102 Bird in Paradise/Plenty

PD-106 Happy Dots/All Natural

PD-109 Pleasant Plaid/Earthy Dots

 

PD-220 Fabric Favorites

PD-279 Chipboard Shapes

PD-1100 Tear-Out Ticket Book

PD-306 Paper Flower Kit

PD-135 Cardstock Stickers (favorite pieces)

PD-140 Cardstock Stickers (fresh verse)

 

Please visit Izzy's blog Write Snap Scrap to learn more about her and see a few more details about this project.  We will be back next Friday with another project from her.

Have a wondeful day!

Liz

Final Winter Twig Post from Guest Designer Jenny Chesnick

 

Well here I am with the final post for Winter Twig Guest Designer Jenny Chesnick :( ...  Here in CT winter has finally set in. Not too much snow yet since the big fall snowstorm (not that I'm complaining), but we did get a little bit of the white stuff yesterday - the perfect setting for some scrapping with Winter Twig!

Jenny has another layout to share with us today, but I will start you out with a few more Q&A for Jenny!

 

LYB:  Do you have a favorite quote?

JC:  Nope, again that would be along the same lines as journaling.

 

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

JC:  It starts clean, but when I am on a roll it looks like a bomb has gone off!

 

LYB:  What is your best time or money saving tip? 

JC:  USE PAPER! There are so many things you can do and make out of paper.  Embellishments can eat up your budget, so be picky and be creative and incorporate some of your own.

 

LYB:  Do you have a favorite adhesive? 

JC:  American Crafts This to That Dots.

 

LYB:  Describe your style. 

JC:  Clean and Simple with a little cluster of goodies.

 

Now here's Jenny to tell you about her layout!

 

Layout, All Bundled Up:

Last year we visited Ice at the Gaylord National here in Washington D.C.  They have you wear these massive puffy coats to stay warm in the below zero rooms.  The title I used from the chipboard words set was perfect for this photo.  I layered the photo with craft foam to give it some depth then tied off my ice skate to give the illusion of a hanging ornament.

 

 

 

Products Used:

TG-107- Winter Words/Brown Skate Scratch

TG-104- Winter Woods/Winter Wishful

TG-279- Chipboard Shapes

TG-165- Chipboard Words

TG-133- 6x6 Decorative Edge double-sided cardstock

TG-134- Journaling Cards

TG-230- Clear Cuts Shapes

TG-309- Confetti Garland

TG-135- Cardstock Stickers

TG-201- Canvas Borders

 

________________________________

Thanks so much to the amazing and talented Jenny Chesnick for sharing her ideas and inspiration for the Winter Twig collection with us! If you haven't already, be sure to stop by Jenny's blog to thank her!

 

Hope you have a great weekend! We'll be back next week with more inspiration and more CHA sneak peeks ... plus we begin shipping the beautiful Paradise collection!

 

-Peg

Another Look at Hello Fall! with Guest Designer Danielle Flanders

I always love it when a designer takes a collection that has been designed for one purpose and uses it for something entirely different. That's just what we have here from our Hello Fall! Guest Designer Danielle Flanders.

 

So even though this collection hit your LSS in the fall, we've got the cutest Valentine's Day layout to share with you today!

 

Here's Danielle to tell you about it.

 

 

10 Things I Love About You layout:

I loved this little pocket from the Hello Fall! line and changed out the word "fall" for the word "you". I scrapped some pictures from last Valentine's Day of my daughter Kati.

Supplies used:
Hello Fall 11.75 x 5.75" paper pad
Hello Fall Fabric Favorites
Hello Fall 10 Things Pocket
Hello Fall Crepe Paper Lace Stickers
Hello Fall Jewel Stickers

 

 

_______________________

Cute kid and cute layout! Thanks Danielle! Be sure to stop by Danielle's blog and leave some love!

 

Happy Tuesday!

 

-Peg

A Winter Twig Layout from Guest Designer Jenny Chesnick!

 

Hello All! Hope you're enjoying the winter holidays, and maybe squeezing a little crafty R&R in the process?

 

I'm back today with another fun and frosty project from our Winter Twig Guest Designer Jenny Chesnick!

 

Before I share that layout with you, though I want to continue on with some LYB Q&A to help you learn a little more about Mrs. Chez!

 

LYB:  Describe your biggest scrapbooking ‘mishap’? 

JC:  I once spilled a very dark mist all over my carpet, not once but twice.  Needless to say I had to rip the carpet out.

 

LYB:  What are your favorite scrapbook magazines? 

JC:   Scrapbook Trends and Simply Handmade.

 

LYB:  Do you have a favorite die cutting system? 

JC:   Silhouette Cameo.  I want to marry it!

 

LYB:  Are you a morning bird or night owl? 

JC:  Both! I like to get up early and get things done before the hubs gets up.  Sometimes I stay up late on a Friday too.

 

LYB:  What is the funniest topic you’ve ever had for a scrapbook page?

JC:  One CHA my friends and I had this pig that was like our roaming gnome.  It took photos with everyone (Even Tim and Heidi) I ended up making a mini out of its photos.  Believe it or not it was published they loved it so much.  We still take him to shows today.

 

LYB:   Computer or handwritten journaling?

JC:   Neither, I hardly ever journal.  I know, so bad.

 

 

And now, on to Jenny's layout!

 

 

Nothing says fun like a ton of snow! This photo of my friend’s daughter is just too much.  She reminds me of a snowman in her little snow suit.  I kept the paper layout simple so the stand out was the snowman layered with chipboard words for a title.  I punched holes in the cardstock sticker to create my own banner. 

 

 

I topped off the banner with a sweet little bow.

Products Used:

TG-108- Winter Plaid/Mocha Java

TG-107- Winter Words/Brown Skate Scratch

TG-165- Chipboard Words

TG-279- Chipboard Shapes

TG-201- Canvas Borders

TG-305- Paper Snowflakes

TG-145- Cardstock Stickers

TG-219- Snowflake Button Dots

 

_________________________________

 

Thanks so much Jenny for another awesome project! Be sur to stop by Jenny's blog for more projects and inspiration!

 

Plus a couple of reminders for our blog readers!

1) Don't forget that our SKETCH CHALLENGE ends on Saturday (that's New Year's Eve), at midnight! Post your entries to our Facebook page or email them to "[email protected]" to be entered. Click the link for more details!

 

2) Have you heard about the 12 Days of Giveaways over at Little Yellow Bargains? Every day through January 6th, we're giving away a freebie with your $25 purchase. To find out about the freebies, either check out the Little Yellow Bargains Facebook page, or go to our website to sign up for email alerts!

 

Be well!

-Peg

Final Wonder & Wishes Post from Guest Designer Cindy Tobey

 

Well all good things must come to an end, and today is our final post from our Wonderful Wonder & Wishes Guest Designer Cindy Tobey!

 

I want to take this opportunity to thank Cindy for agreeing to Guest Design for us. We hope her work inspired you during this busy holiday season!

 

Here's Cindy to tell you about her last project ... a Christmas layout!

____________________________

 

In the Tobey house we normally have good intentions to put our tree up right after Thanksgiving, however it somehow always gets pushed into December. Not this year! We actually put our tree up and even decorated it the day after Thanksgiving! I thought it would be fun to create a scrapbook page with just a few photos to mark the occasion.

 

Celebrate Christmas layout Supplies:

Christmas Village Paper (WO-109)

Christmas Text Paper (WO-102)

Dots on Green Paper (WO-104)

Twine (WO-302)

Canvas Tape Roll (WO-222)

Stick Pins (WO-277)

Corrugated Shapes (WO-276)

Chipboard Mini Frames Photo Ornaments (WO-221)

Chipboard Stickers Words (WO-165)

Cardstock Stickers Favorite Pieces (WO-135)

The Chipboard and Corrugated ornament shapes are perfect for pages about Christmas tree decorating! I was going to use all three Chipboard Ornament Frames for photos but then thought it would be fun to add a dimensional paper ball embellishment to one of them instead. 

 

 

I love the fun pop of dimension it adds to my page! If you want to keep the dimensional aspect once it’s placed in your album, simply cut a circular hole in your page protector for the paper ball to come through. The embellishment will act like a mini pop-up in your album! 

 

1. Punch 6 circles from patterned paper. I punched 1 ¼” circles.
2. Fold each circle in half. If you want the colors to alternate, make sure to fold half with green on the inside and half with red on the inside.
3. Take two circles (one green and one red) and adhere them back to back.
4. Continue adhering the rest of the circles, alternating colors as you go. Add finished paper ball to your layout.

_____________________

I love the pop up ball, don't you? So cute!

 

Thanks again to Cindy for riding along with LYB this month! And if you haven't already done so, go on over and check out her blog!

 

-Peg

 

 

Dreaming of Snowflakes with Cycling Team Member Katrina Hunt

We have another stellar day on the blog with the latest creations from Cycling Team member Katrina Hunt.  She has some super nifty crafting ideas with Winter Twig to put in your back pocket... but let's have Katrina tell you all about them!

 

Katrina Hunt here and I am SO excited to be part of the Winter Twig Cycling Team.  This is such a dream come true for me!  I have LOTS to share with you today, including some instructions for making a couple of the projects that I did!

 

Looking for a fun banner that you can hang all year?  Well, look no further, because the Winter Twig collection is perfect for making that winter banner to hang all season long!  I also have a PDF that you can download with instructions and supplies to create the banner if you like.

Download K_HuntWinter Twig BannerInstructions

Here are some close up images of each piece of the banner, to make it easier to recreate. 

The tree on this piece comes from an add-on sketch over at Sketch Support.

Here is a close up of that Medley Album envelope that I sized down.

 

And here is a close up of the medallions that I put between each banner piece on the ribbon.

My complete supply list is located on the PDF for the banner, including additional items I used to complete the project.

 

Next up, I found an adorable snowman project on Archiver’s  website.  I thought he would be cute with the papers from Winter Twig, so I got started on him!  He is a little blue, but he is fun for something other than white!  Here is the link for his instructions:  SNOWMAN

As soon as I decided on doing him and saw he had a pipe, I knew the Clear Cut swirl shape would be the perfect thing for smoke out of the pipe!

And just a shot from above, so you can see his hat! 

Winter Twig Supply List:

TG-101 - Snowy Window/Ski Sweater

TG-102 - Frosty Diamond Dust/Blue Tea

TG-103 - Winter Twig/Snowy Aspen

TG-104 - Winter Woods/Winter Wishful

TG-105 - Skate Scratch/Winter Blue

TG-106 - Winter Stripe/Wood You Be Winter

TG-107 - Winter Words/Brown Skate Scratch

TG-108 - Winter Plaid/Mocha Java Sweater

TG-109 - Blue Forest/Winter Pom Pom

TG-279 - Chipboard Shapes - with glitter accents (24 pieces)

TG-230 - Clear Cuts Shapes (18 pieces)

TG-302 - Mini Pom Poms (40 pieces)

TG-305 - Paper Snowflakes Kit (48 pieces)

Additional Supplies: Brown, Orange, White cardstock, Scor-Tape, Buttons, Hot glue, Fabri-tac, Ribbon, Cardboard circle, Angel Cloud fibers.

 

Then, I have had this picture since last Christmas (last Christmas, I gave you my heart…sorry, Christmas songs on the radio!) and had not found the perfect paper to do a layout with it.  Along comes Winter Twig!

I hid the journaling tag, but attached it with twine, so that it could be pulled out from the back of the picture.  I also used some of the Cardstock Stickers for that snowflake and just bent the edges of the top layer.

I didn’t want all my letters to be the same color.  I had thought about painting some of them white.  Then as I was sanding them down to paint, I liked the way they looked, so I decided to leave them just as they were.

Winter Twig Supply List:

TG-101 - Snowy Window/Ski Sweater

TG-103 - Winter Twig/Snowy Aspen

TG-107 - Winter Words/Brown Skate Scratch

TG-108 - Winter Plaid/Mocha Java Sweater

TG-279 - Chipboard Shapes - with glitter accents (24 pieces)

TG-280 - Chipboard Alphabet - with thermography (62 pieces)

TG-201 - Canvas Borders – self adhesive (6 pieces)

TG-134 - Journaling Cards - with thermography (10 pieces)

TG-309 - Confetti Garland - 30" long

TG-135 - Cardstock Stickers - Favorite Pieces - with glitter accents and embossing

TG-140 - Cardstock Stickers - Fresh Verse - with thermography and embossing

Additional Supplies: Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page set, Tim Holtz Sander, Fabri-tac, Scotch, and Scrapbook Adhesives.

 

Last but not least, I had to make a card with this fun collection!  I am not a sparkly, glitter type of girl, but the Winter Twig collection has a little sparkle that is just the right amount for me!

Winter Twig Supply List:

TG-108 - Winter Plaid/Mocha Java Sweater

TG-133 - 6" x 6" Decorative Edge double-sided textured cardstock w/glitter accents

TG-230 - Clear Cuts Shapes

TG-145 - Cardstock Stickers - Labels - with buttons

TG-219 - Snowflake Button Dots - layered with buttons

TG-180 - Paper Pad - to fit LYB Chipboard Album

Additional Supplies: Cardstock, Ribbon, Fabri-tac, Scotch, and Scrapbook Adhesives.

 

Please visit Katrina's blog Paper Scissors & Glue for more inspiration.  I for one am seriously considering making the snowman!  I need more opportunities to use my new scoring tool and Katrina just gave me one.

 

Thank you for stopping by today!

 

Liz

 

 

 

A Chilly Day on the Blog with NEW Winter Twig and the Biker Chicks

We are very excited about our NEW Winter Twig collection! It's perfectly chilly in every way and the winter wonderland cousin to our Twig collection from last sping.   We think the frost factor of this collection is about as cute as it gets and we can't wait to show you what our Biker Chicks have created for this amazing collection!

Biker Chick Renée Foss kicks off our reveal with this brrrr-tiful page!  We love how happy and chilly this page feels and Renée did a fabulous job with the Paper Snowflake Kit - this is a must have item!

Biker Chick Greta Hammond created this gorgeous winter wreath showcasing the patterned papers in this collection. Greta also created a cool cluster of Decorative Edge Cardstock, Favorite Pieces Stickers and Pom, Poms.

Greta - also created this adorable mini with our Winter Twig Medley Album to record winter month activities and festivities.  Bet there is a picture of someone drinking cocoa in there somewhere.

Biker Chick Tania Willis created these beautiful winter cards.  I think the mitten theme and the winter people are adorable.  These are such cute ideas!

Biker Chick Vicki Boutin created a happy page with Winter Twig.  I love how cold the colors and elements feel, but how happy they look combined with winter memories.  Vicki spotlighted the Chipboard Shapes with Glitter Accents.

Vicki also made this happy card with the fun wintertime sentiment.  The Canvas Borders are alwasys a great emebellishment for pages and cards.

Biker Chick Liz Qualman (me) took a stab at creating the little mittens with my Cricut as part of a banner, mostly because I am in love with the miniature clothespins.

This makes a fun little project to hang up for a special winter event.

I also created this page of my daughter playing in the snow.  I love the patterned paper with all of the winter words as the background. Plus I had to add the I'd Melt With You sentiment mostly because I am a product of the 80s and loved Modern English...remember that song - LOL.

Renée made these adorable little block to add as a home décor item for this time of year.

 

We will have more Winter Twig projects from our Cycling Team and a NEW Guest Designer.  Stay tuned!

 

Thank you for stopping by -

 

Liz

New Paradise Collection Sneak Peek and a Call for More Cycling Team Members

We are so excited to announce our newest collection called Paradise!  It is the perfect blend of bright pinks and blues with serene greens, and like its name makes you want to visit warm, far off places or just make your own home a Paradise.  The Biker Chicks have a few sneak peeks from our CHA projects and I am pretty sure that there is a catolog with some of our newest collections circulating out there....

 

We also want to ask a few more designers to join our Cycling Team and take a spin with the new Paradise collection.  Details for the call are at the end of this post.

It just wouldn't be Little Yellow Bicycle if we didn't have a flower kit in our collections and as you can see the Paradise Flower Kit is full of bright, beautiful colors that are grounded in a warm and natural greens.

Biker Chick Greta Hammond made this darling page using many of the lovely patterned papers and cardstock stickers from the Paradise collection.  Love the little bits of lace she incorporated with the Little Yellow Bicycle Paper Doiles and her punch.

Look at the pretty details and the faded denim patterned paper.  It's such a perfect blend of brights and naturals.

Greta also created this adorable printer's tray project highlighting the 5 Things Pocket in the Paradise collection.

Biker Chick Vicki Boutin created this beautiful card.  Vicki incorporated some of the patterned paper from our Paradise Album Kit into her card which is a great shape and pattern for the beautiful flowers.

Love how Vicki also used the theme of the Paradise collection to show how her family is her Paradise.  She really captured the sentiment of happy with the black and white photos paired with some of the brighter elements in the collection.

Biker Chick Liz Qualman (me) created this page of a recent visit with some of my girlfriends to San Diego.  I thought the sentiments of the cardstock stickers perfectly captured the occasion.  I also highlighted the Flower Kit and dressed it up with LYB Jewel Stickers.

I just love how adding a few pop dots to the cardstock stickers makes them jump off the page.  The "free" sentiment paired with the bird sticker shows how my friends and I "left" our families at home so we could enjoy a girls weekend out.

I also created these bookmarks to take along on a trip to mark places to visit.  I saw a similar idea with felt on Pinterest and thought patterned paper and cardstock stickers would make great bookmarks too.

Biker Chick Renée Foss created this soft and beautiful page.  She also used the Happy Girls are the Prettiest cardstock sentiment which is perfect for this page!

Paradise Cycling Team Call

 Come Ride with Us!

 

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 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 [email protected].  Also, if you have previously designed for a Cycling Team, please feel free to apply again!  We'll announce the NEW Paradise Cycling Team on December 23rd.  Please 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!

 

Hope to hear from you!

 

Liz

Introducing Cindy Tobey ... Guest Designer for Wonder & Wishes!

 

Hello friends!

 

Well I don't know about you, but I am positively overwhelmed at all the wonderful projects our Biker Chicks, Cycling Teams, and Guest Designers have been churning out over the last few weeks. But after all ... that is our goal ... to provide you with inspiration that makes you say "Hey! I can make that!" and come along for the ride.

So with that in mind, I proudly announce our Guest Designer for the Wonder & Wishes collection, the fabulously talented Cindy Tobey! 

 

Here's Cindy to tell you a little bit about herself!

 

Hi there! I’m Cindy Tobey, a graphic designer turned stay-at-home-mom, turned paper craft designer. Creating art has been a huge part of my life since I was a child and I feel so blessed to be able to do everyday what I love so much. When I'm not creating something with paper, paint, fabric, beads, or fiber, you can find me spending time with my hubby, playing with my kids, taking photos, reading a novel, or in the middle of a reorganization project around the house. I’m a 2008 CK Hall of Famer, a 2009-2010 Creating Keepsakes Dream Team member, and currently a contributing writer for CK. I am also on the American Crafts design team. I live in West Michigan with my husband, Allan, daughter, Moya and son, Elijah.

 

LYB: What is your ‘go to’ embellishment?

CT: Machine stitching or using some type of fiber – I really love baker’s twine right now. I also use buttons and brads quite often.

 

LYB: Do you prefer cardstock or patterned paper?

CT: I love patterned paper! But I almost always pair it with cardstock – cardstock really helps make  patterns pop!

 

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

CT: I prefer to scrap alone and meet my friends for coffee or coffee and knitting. I never get anything done when I try to scrap with friends. Of course that might be because I talk too much!

 

LYB: What are your favorite scrapbook magazines?

CT: Creating Keepsakes of course!

 

LYB: Do you have a favorite die cutting system?

CT: Silhouette SD – I love mine and don’t know why I waited so long to purchase one!

 

LYB: Are you a morning bird or night owl?

CT: Night owl, but the older I get, the harder those late nights are to recover from…I still have to get up early most days…something about getting the kids off to school…

 

We'll have more Q&A with Cindy on later posts ...for now, on to this super fun layout from Cindy!

 

My inspiration for this layout totally came from the Wonder & Wishes Confetti Garland. I’ve stitched my own garland in the past, but let’s face it – that can be very time consuming! I loved being able to pull it off the card and just add it to my layout. I cut the garland into two separate pieces and layered them. The Mini Pom Poms were just asking to be strung onto some thread, so I did, and added my strand of pom poms amongst the Confetti Garland. I then selected my title from the Chipboard Words Stickers and machine stitched the letters creating a garland title. 

 

 

Be Merry Supplies:

Red Flourish Paper (WO-108)

Dots on Green (WO-104)

10 x 5.25 Paper Pad (WO-180)

6 x 6 Decorative Edge Cardstock (WO-133)

Mini Pom Poms (WO-302)

Confetti Garland (WO-309)

Chipboard Stickers Words (WO-165)

Cardstock Stickers Fresh Verse (WO-140)

Canvas Tape Rolls (WO-222)

Felt Flowers (WO-304)

Journaling Cards (WO-134)

Corrugated Shapes (WO-276)

Clear Cuts Shapes (WO-230)

 

______________________________________

 

Adorable, isn't it? Thanks so much Cindy! Please make sure to stop by Cindy's blog and send her some love! (Tell her LYB sent you!) I'll be back next week with another project from Cindy. Betcha can't wait!

Have a great day!

 

- Peg

 

Our Wonder & Wishes Collection Biker Chick Style and a Sketch Challenge Reminder

Here at Little Yellow Bicycle our Biker Chicks are busy, busy, busy.  Right now you can find many of us working on "top secret" projects that we will share at a later date (a.k.a. Winter CHA).  But, today we would love to share some of the beautiful projects our merry little band of Biker Chicks created for our gorgeous Wonder & Wishes collection, mostly because "these are a few of our favorite things."  Feel free to break into song... you know you want to...or maybe just hum as you read.

Biker Chick Vicki Boutin created this beautiful family page highlighting our Wonder & Wishes 10 Things Present.  There is so much detail in both the papers and the embellishments that you can easily personalize a page about loved ones.

WO-308 - 10 Things Present - with glitter accents (11 pieces)

Biker Chick Greta Hammond created this divine wreath highlighting some of the beautiful Wonder & Wishes patterned papers.  Greta also added just the right amount of sparkle to the gorgeous red bow and her pom pom holly berries are the perfect accent.

WO-103 - Merry Little Berries/Green Poinsettia

Biker Chick Renée Foss created this gorgeous altered star banner highlighting the stunning Wonder & Wishes Felt Flowers.  Love how Renée added some beautiful accents with the white bows.  This will be so pretty hanging up for the holidays.

WO-304 - Felt Flowers - self adhesive with glass beads (4 pieces)

Biker Chick Liz Qualman (me) created this page of my daughter and her American Girl highlighting our Wonder & Wishes Favorite Pieces Cardstock Stickers and used some of the Mini Pom Poms and Twine Spools to tie the ornament stickers to the page.  I love how you can easily layer the stickers to add dimension to a page.

WO-135 - Cardstock Stickers - Favorite Pieces - with glitter accents and matte foil (28 pieces)

 

Biker Chick Tania Willis will be back soon with an exciting new Training Reel featuring the Wonder & Wishes or Winter Twig collection, so be sure to stay tuned!

 

Don't forget there is still time to enter our sketch challenge this month.  Please link your project to the sketch album on our facebook page HERE or send your entry to Peg at [email protected].  The DEADLINE is 12/31/11 so there is still plenty of time and we cannot wait to see all of your gorgeous work with our collections.  See this blog post for official rules and more details.

 Thank you so much for stopping by today!

Liz

Two New Projects from the Hello Fall Cycling Team! Introducing Ashley Horton!

 

Hello all! No post yesterday - thought I'd give you a day to take in the wonderful apple tree centerpiece from Shellye McDaniel. Whew! Pretty cool, huh? In case you missed it, you can find it here.

 

And today, I'm back with two equally wonderful Hello Fall! projects from the very talented Ashley Horton! These yummy layouts will be absolutely perfect for your fun fall memories.

 

So let's get right to it, why don't we? Here's Ashley!

 

_______________________________

 

"A Harvest of Fun"

One of the great things about working with coordinating products, is how quick and easy your pages can be.  You don't have to sit for hours trying to pick out the products you want to use and and lose time working on your pages!!  That's what I loved about this fun page, using the Hello Fall line from Little Yellow Bicycle!  It took less than an hour to get my page completed.  I started by cutting a scalloped frame in the Burnt Orange Knit paper and attaching it to my background Autumn Tree paper.  I then cut 5 inch squares from Golden Flourish, Harvest Rings, Green Splendor, and Walnut Knit.  Then I inked the edges of each of the papers to add a little more definition.  I created a grid with the 5 inch squares and then placed my photos in the center of the layout.  There were a few scraps of paper after cutting, and I used those to create a few border strips under my photos.  There are some adorable alphas included in the Family Tree kit I received, and they were perfect for using in my title.  I adhered each letter to a scrap piece of the Walnut Knit paper to make them stand out a little more against my background paper. 

 

Finally, I started adding some of the adorable embellishments in the Hello Fall line.  The Chipboard Shapes worked great on the right hand side of my page, and I decided to add a little bling to my border strips with the Jewel Stickers.  I finished my title off with the word "Fun", which was included in the Chipboard Sticker Words package.  There are so many fun banners and penants also included in this line, and I decided to balance out the left side of my page by adding several of the pennants. 

 

For a little fun touch, I added one of the Clear Cuts Shapes to the center of the yellow pennant and attached it with a brad. 

 

 

For my journaling strips, I just used a Desktop Publishing program to type up my journaling and printed it out on a scrap piece of the Autumn Tree paper.

 

Products Used:

HF-101  Autumn Tree

HF-106  Golden Flourish

             Harvest Rings

HF-103  Green Splendor

HF-105  Burnt Orange Knit

HF-104  Walnut Knit

HF-279  Chipboard Shapes

HF-310  Family Tree Kit (Letters)

HF-135  Cardstock Favorite Pieces

HF-308  10 Things Pocket (Pennants)

HF-165  Chipboard Sticker Words

HF-197  Jewel Stickers

HF-230  Clear Cut Shapes

 

Other: 

Font:  Plantagenet Cherokee

Brads:  The Paper Studio

Pen:  Zig

Ink:  Memento

 

"Little Pumpkin Picker"

 

Since I had so many fun products to work with from Hello Fall, I decided to do a double page layout for my second project.  I began this page by getting my papers cut and layered.  For the background paper, I chose Delicious Autumn Text and then used Burnt Orange Knit, Golden Flourish, Harvest Rings, and Walnut Knit for layering.  Then I placed my photos and added the title and journaling area.  There are some great shapes and embellies in the Clear Cut Shapes package and I used two of the orange flourishes near my title and journaling block. 

 

 

Since the flourish on the right hand side was over the Orange Knit paper, I decided to add the Golden Flourish paper behind it, to help it stand out.  I used some of the cute little leaves from the Cardstock Favorite Pieces package to scatter across the two pages and I outlined thiem with a brown Zig pen for more definition.  I decided to add a little bit of Baker's Twine, in matching colors, to give another fun element across the layout.  There are some adorable banners in the Mini Banner package and I LOVE the little owls that are included here and there in this line.  This banner was the only one I had and it was only 12 inches, so I decided to use part of it under the photos on the left side of my page and then used the remainder, for a little emphasis, under the landscape photo on the right side of my page.  I finished off the layout by adding the cute little acorn and tree from the Chipboard Shapes package.

 

 

 

Products Used:

HF-107  Delicious Autumn Text

HF-105  Burnt Orange Knit

HF-106  Golden Flourishes

             Harvest Rings

HF-104  Walnut Knit

HF-161  Crepe Paper Lace Stickers

HF-279  Chipboard Shapes

HF-134  Journaling Cards

HF-309  5 Things Envelope

HF-310  Family Tree Kit

HF-230  Clear Cuts Shapes

HF-135  Cardstock Favorite Pieces

HF-307  Mini Banners

 

Other:

Pen:  Zig

Baker's Twine:  The Twinery

Thickers:  American Crafts

 

____________________

 

Just beautiful, aren't they? Oh I meant layouts ... but those kids are adorable too! Thanks so much to Ashley Horton for sharing her talent with us today! Be sure to hop over to Ashley's blog and leave her some love!

 

Can't wait to see what this Cycling Team dreams up next! And oh, by the way, it's one week 'til Thanksgiving...will YOU be making an Apple Tree Centerpiece?

 

Happy Thursday!

 

Peg

Time for a New Sketch Challenge from Biker Chick Liz Qualman! Enter by December 31, 2011!

 

Hi everyone! Are you ready for another Sketch Challenge from Liz Qualman? I hope so! This challenge starts NOW, and will run through the end of December - to give you plenty of time to work on it during the busy holidays!

 

Liz used the perfectly sporty Get Your Game On collection for her sketch - but you can use ANY of our Fall and Winter collections:  Head of the Class, Get Your Game On, Hello Fall!, Wonder & Wishes, or Winter Twig!

 

Here's Liz to tell you all about it ... and be sure to read to the bottom for details on how to enter!

______________________________

 

I love how the Get Your Game On collection provides four different sports to capture your memories.  Even though my son is not old enough to play sports competitively, he still likes to get outside and kick the ball around.  It was great to use the soccer papers and embellishments to capture this moment of my son and husband playing together.

 

I especially like the idea of how you can use the Get Your Game On collection for any sports related memories.  Wouldn't it be fun to use the papers and embellishments for a memory about tailgating with the "MVP" being the last person standing (if you know what I mean)?  The stars are the limit with this super fun collection.  Can't wait to see what some of you create with my sketch!

_____________________________________

 

Here's the sketch:

 

Here's the rules:

1.  You may use the sketch any way you please (turn it upside down or on its side, or use it as is).

2.  You must use at least 75% Little Yellow Bicycle product, from any of our current Fall or Winter collections [Head of the Class, Get Your Game On, Hello Fall!, Wonder & Wishes, and Winter Twig].

3.  Your work must be your own! ;)

 

Here's how to enter:

1. You may enter by posting your layout to LYB's Facebook Page - please post it in the Album titled "Fall/Winter Collection Sketch Challenge". 

2. If you're not a Facebook user, you still may enter, by emailing a photo of your entry to [email protected]. Please include your mailing address - so we have it in case you win!

3.  All entries must be received by midnight EST on Saturday, December 31, 2011.

 

Here's the fun part ... the prizes!

1.  Liz will select THREE finalists. All of the finalists will win a prize.

2.  We will post the finalists to our Facebook Page and Blog for you to VOTE on your favorites.

3.  You'll have a week to vote (one vote per person). Voting will end at midnight on Saturday, January 7, 2012.

4.  The grand prize winner will win $50 in LYB product. The runners up will each receive $25 in LYB product!

 

Sound good? OK everyone! Get creating!  

 

-Peg

 

[P.S. if you love sketches, be sure to follow the link to Liz's blog - she has tons of 'em!]

Cycling Team Inspiration from Carol Monson

 

Hello all! Hope you have lots of fun, family time, and crafting planned for the weekend. To inspire you, I'm back with another project from our Get Your Game On Cycling Team, this time the incredibly talented Carol Monson! If you haven't seen Carol's blog, go check it out! You will love her style - her stitching is really cool - and her photographs are amazing!

 

Here's Carol to tell you about her layouts:

 

GO Nathan

The subject matter of this layout immediately made me want to include a repetitive circle pattern somehow.

To keep things moving and fun I decided to punch a bunch of circles and then punch out the middles on most to keep things light.  

 

I pieced them together before attaching them to my layout so I could stitch around some of the circles.  I find it easier to sew a circle pattern on smaller pieces rather than on the layout as a whole.  Once those were done I glued them down to my finished layout and topped them off with a few chipboard stars.

 

 

 

 

He's our All Star

This product line has so many fun elements and papers in it that I really wanted to highlight a few of my favorite things.

I loved the sunburst patterns on the sports themed papers so I cut a portion of one out and emphasized that theme with stitching along each ray.  I had one really great picture that needed to shine on its own and I thought that was a great way to do it.  

 

 

I also loved all the different chipboards and sticker elements.  I took one of the banners apart and switched things up by adding stickers and different paper patterns to it.  I finished things off with several of the chipboard pieces layered together to make my title.

 

 

 

Thanks again so much for giving me this opportunity......I so appreciate it!!!

Loved working with your products.

 

____________________________

Thanks so much Carol for sharing your beautiful layouts with us! Don't forget to check out her blog!

 

Tomorrow I'll be back with two more projects from the Get Your Game On and Head of the Class Collections and next week .... it's all Hello Fall!

 

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

 

-Peg

Crazy Storm in CT! Crazy Week! Update and a Project from Suzanne Sergi!

Phew! What a week it has been here in Connecticut. Don't know if you have heard, but much of the state was without power for a week or more, and many (including our headquarters in Bloomfield, CT) are into their 11th day without power. As you can imagine, it hasn't been easy! We appreciate your patience as we get things moving as quickly as we can!

 

Just to give you a quick glimpse, I'm going to share a couple of photos from my town. We received between 1-2 feet of snow on Saturday 10/29. The entire town (and many others) lost power. Any street that had overhead power lines lost at least a few. Branches came down. Trees came down. Telephone poles came down. Here are some pics:

 

About 2' of snow in my back yard:

 

Branches and trees down everywhere (taken from my car) - most streets looked like this for several days after the storm - you just drive under the tree, gun it and pray:

Lots of destruction:

 

These poor people just replaced their roof last spring! Notice also the branch went right through the front window:

 

Even trick-or-treating was cancelled due to dangerous conditions.

 

Snow-covered pumpkin:

 

Snow pumpkin:

 

Once the power is restored, there will still be a huge clean-up job but we are hardy New Englanders and I believe we are up to the task.

 

A few things I have learned:

1) Neighbors are a blessing. Neighbors who have generators are a greater blessing.

2) I can never thank my husband enough for purchasing the generator!

3) No matter how often you tell yourself "The power is still out," you will still always flip the light switch when you go into the bathroom.

4) After a week without power, even vacuuming and doing laundry is "fun," and almost nothing beats the sound of a toilet flushing.

5) Each of us, some day, may be dependent on the kindness of strangers. This is important to remember when we have an opportunity to be kind. Be kind. You never know.

 

On the positive side, because we had a generator, I had the opportunity to spend wonderful quality time with my kids and get to know many of my neighbors better.

 

Sometimes it's the little things. I ran into a friend who hadn't had a warm shower in 3 days - so I invited her over to shower. I know I made her day. But interestingly, being able to invite her made my day too.

 

On the negative side ... I am SO BEHIND with blog posts! So today I am going to post Suzanne Sergi's final Guest Designer post featuring the Get Your Game On collection ... and I'll be back with more projects from the Cycling Teams for the rest of the week!

 

Here's Suzanne!

________________________

Hi, everyone!

 

Suzanne here with another scrapbook page using the Get Your Game On Collection. I cannot tell you how much I have enjoyed working with these papers. They make creating your pages so simple. The canvas has already been decided, and with a few added details you can complete your sports pages in no time! I have so many sport photos that need to be scrapbooked, so this collection helps me to document them quickly.

 

I used the Baseball Collage paper as the background to document this photo of my son holding the coveted Game Ball! I cannot tell you how his eyes would light up as the coach would begin his speech as to who the lucky recepient would be! He was secretly wishing each time, it would be him! On this day, he was the lucky one, and I wish I had been quicker to document his expression. It was priceless! However, he did agree to pose for a photo afterward.

 

 

Plus here's a bonus football card from Suzanne!

So cool.

_____________________________

Thanks Suzanne! So nice to think about WARM things like baseball and paper crafting...maybe by the fire...

 

You can follow Suzanne's blog by clicking here.

See you tomorrow with more inspiration ...and don't forget our call for NEW Winter Twig and Wonder & Wishes Cycling Team Members! If you haven't sent your stuff in, THERE'S STILL TIME! We'll announce the new team members on Thursday, Nov. 10!! Send your submissions to [email protected]!

 

Have a happy day!

 

Peg

Twinery Blog Swap Day #5 - Layouts with Biker Chicks Tania Willis and Liz Qualman!

 

 

Hello everyone and welcome to the fifth and final day of our fabulous blog swap with our friends over at The Twinery! I guess it's true what they say, all good things must come to an end. We are sad to see this week end. But hey ... before it does, I have a couple more projects to share with you from the Biker Chicks, prizes to give away (later today) ... and next week I'll be back with more inspiration from our wonderful Head of the Class, Get Your Game On, and Hello Fall! Cycling Teams!

 

So I promise ... the fun never ends here on the LYB blog!

 

Let's get to the projects!

 

First up is Biker Chick Tania Willis with a layout featuring the Hello Fall! collection and, of course, some baker's twine from The Twinery!

 

_________________________________

 

The colorful bundle of twine in the assortment pack had me at hello!  The colors are so fun and playful and just the right shades of color.  For my “I Love Fall” layout, I wanted to play off the Fresh Verse Cardstock die cut that says “piles of smiles” and literally piled a bunch of snapshots in the middle of the page. 

 

 

From there, I started adding pops of color in clusters by layering several types of embellishments from the collection, then kicked it up a notch with the addition of the twine. I love that the twine is a playful twist of light and dark, as the white is twisted with a color.  It keeps the embellishment light and not too dense for the eye. Love that. 

 

 

For the next cluster, I layered Fresh Verse die cuts, a journaling tag, flowers from the layered flowers pack and a chipboard button from the Fabric Pieces.  Before adhering the button, I pulled off the foam dimensional tape and strung two layers of twine through the eyelets.

 

 

Lastly, I wanted a bold punch of color in the center of the layout to draw the eye to the photos first.  I just added several loops of twine to the felt flower, near the felt leaves to resemble another leaf on the flower. Such an easy addition that helps add more visual weight to the flower embellishment.

 

 

I want to give a HUGE thanks to The Twinery for the generous supply of twine that was sent for our team to complete these projects this week!

 

Tania

 

Supplies:

Lemondrop Baker’s Twine by The Twinery

Mandarin Baker’s Twine by Twinery Twine

Honeydew Baker’s Twine by Twinery Twine

HF – 104 Walnut Knit Paper

HF – 220 Fabric Favorites

HF – 140 Fresh Verse Cardstock Die-cuts

HF – 135 Favorite Pieces Cardstock Die-cuts

HF – 223 Felt Flowers

HF – 134 Journaling Cards

HF – 305 Paper Flower Kit

HF – 277 Stick Pins

HF – 308 Favorite Things Pocket

 

____________________________________

 

Thanks Tania! Love this layout! And YOU can catch more ideas from Tania by following her blog ... just click this link right here to get there!

 

Next up - another layout from Liz!

 

_____________________________________

 

Naughty or Nice Page

 

Just a funny page of my daughter hamming it up for the camera.  It reminded me of how she is always thinking about what is going to be on her list for Santa and how hard she tries to "make it happen."  Adding pop dots to the cardstock stickers is a great way to give them dimension and accent the page.  I cannot help but tuck a decorative edged cardstock piece on all of my pages and the patterns on the Wonder & Wishes pices are lovely.

 

Wonder and Wishes Collection Materials:

WO-104 - Christmas Plaid/Dots on Green

WO-133 - 6" x 6" Decorative Edge double-sided textured cardstock with glitter accents (5 pieces)

WO-279 - Chipboard Shapes - with glitter accents (20 pieces)

WO-165 - Chipboard Stickers - Words - with debossing (16 pieces)

WO-276 - Corrugated Shapes (22 pieces)

WO-135 - Cardstock Stickers - Favorite Pieces - with glitter accents and matte foil (28 pieces) WO-140 - Cardstock Stickers - Fresh Verse - with debossing (28 pieces)

WO-197 - Jewel Stickers (96 pieces)

WO-219 - Flower Button Dots - layered with buttons

 

Twinery - Maraschino Twine 15 Yards

_____________________________

Thanks Liz! Here's the link to Liz's blog too!

 

Now go on over to The Twinery's blog, to see what they've made for you today! As usual, don't forget to leave comments here, there and everywhere (LYB's Facebook Page, The Twinery's Facebook Page), for more chances to win! I will be choosing two winners of a LOVELY prize pack from our Hello Fall collection, plus a sampler pack from The Twinery!

 

Thanks for visiting and GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!

 

-Peg

It's Blog Swap Week with The Twinery!

 

Don't you just love a little bit of baker's twine on your layout or paper project? To me it just says "happy" - maybe it's the long ago association with goodies from the bakery - who knows? But when the opportunity to do a blog swap with The Twinery ... creators of baker's twine in the loveliest colors ... we jumped on it!

 

In case you're not familiar with a blog swap - here's what we did: we sent their Design Team papers and embellishments from the Hello Fall! collection, and they sent our Design Team a box of baker's twine in every color of the rainbow and then some! Then our teams got to work, and you get to enjoy what they've created!

 

Each day this week, both The Twinery and LYB will share a project or two from our Design Teams which we hope will inspire you.

 

PLUS ... as usual ... there's blog swag involved! YOU have a chance to win some gorgeous goodies! Be sure to head over to The Twinery's Blog and Facebook Page every day to see what their fabulous Designers have created. Don't forget to leave a comment - and tell them we sent you. Comment every day on both blogs and Facebook pages for more chances to win. At the end of the week, we'll each pick winners from our Facebook and Blog comments - and the winners will win a sampler pack of Twinery Twine plus some goodies from Little Yellow Bicycle's Hello Fall! collection!

 

What's not to love? Let's get started!

 

Our first projects are created by the very very talented Biker Chick Renee Foss!

 

Piles of Smiles Layout - Using The Twinery Twine and Little Yellow Bicycle's Hello Fall! Collection

 

To begin I dyed the red/white baker’s twine to make it more harmonious with the fall colors of this layout. I mixed water and the two colors of alcohol ink and soaked my twine in it for about a half an hour. Make sure the mixture is a lot darker than the color you want the twine to end up. After soaking, rinse the twine with clear water and squeeze out excess. Allow to dry before using.

 

For layout, I color-blocked two different patterned papers on red cardstock. The photo and ‘piles of smiles’ are matted on orange cardstock. All edges were inked with brown stamping ink. I grouped the large brown branch and two leaf chipboard pieces as shown and tied my prepared twine several times around the entire red cardstock piece before adhering this to the background [kraft] paper. I removed the foam backing from one of the Fabric Favorites button pieces and punched two small holes. I added this piece over the chipboard pieces and tied the twine in a bow through the button. HINT: add a small dot of clear drying glue to the knot to keep it secure. I also tie small knots in the ends of the twine to keep them from unraveling. As a finishing touch I added two green leaf pins behind the button. I hand stitched the zigzag down the side of the journaling card before adhering to the layout and finished off with a small bow, and then sprinkled some green jewel stickers around the layout for a little sparkle.

 

Supplies used:

HF-103  Autumn Medley/Green Splendor paper

HF-105  Little Leaf Pile/Burnt Orange Knit paper

HF-279  Chipboard Shapes w/ Glitter Accents

HF-220  Fabric Favorites

HF-134  Journaling Cards

HF-135  Cardstock Die Cuts—Favorite Pieces

HF-140  Cardstock Die Cuts—Fresh Verse

HF-277  Stick Pins

HF-197 Jewel Stickers

The Twinery Maraschino baker’s twine

Cardstock: kraft, red and orange

Brown ink

Alcohol ink: red and brown

 

Holiday Cards - Using The Twinery Twine and Little Yellow Bicycle's Wonder & Wishes Collection

Card 1—Stitched Tree

Cut a label die cut using die cut system from white cardstock. If you don’t have one, just cut a rectangle of white cardstock to 4” x 5.25”. Dye Honeydew twine with celery/green alcohol ink as described for layout above. Pre-punch holes for tree in prepared label/cardstock and stitch tree.

 

 

Add a small piece of brown cardstock for trunk and a chipboard star at the top of the tree [I colored the star using Versamark ink and red embossing power, heat embossed]. Make card from white cardstock [4.25” x 5.5”] and cut a piece of ‘Joy & Peace’ paper for the front panel. Ink edges with green ink and adhere to card front. Add tree panel to card using foam adhesive. If desired, heat emboss edges of tree panel with red embossing powder [or color with red pen or ink w/ red stamping ink].

 

Card 2—Peace & Joy Present

Make card base from white cardstock [half of a 8.5” x 11” sheet folded in half]. Add Red Check Paper to card front, ink edges with brown ink. Cut patterned strips from remaining ‘Home for Christmas’ paper [note: the red pattern and green geometric border are next to one another on the paper but to get the other green border along the red patterned strip you need to cut that separately]. Ink edges with brown ink and add to card as shown. Ink edges of corrugated frame [leave inside of frame intact!] and add to card as shown. Cut off bow and small ribbon ‘bumps’ from chipboard present die cut. Wrap dyed Maraschino baker’s twine around twice both ways and secure in back. Tuck a mistletoe clear die cut under twine and secure. Make a bow from a double length of the same twine  and adhere to present as shown. Add present to card with foam adhesive. Add ‘peace & joy’ clear sticker as shown.

 

Supplies used [cards]

WO-101 Home for Christmas/Red Check paper

WO-106 Joy & Peace/Little Red Hot Dot paper

WO-279 Chipboard Shapes

WO-190 Clear Stickers for Cardmaking

WO-276 Corrugated Shapes

WO-230 Clear Cut Shapes

The Twinery baker’s twine in Maraschino and Honeydew

Chipboard star

Versamark ink

Red embossing powder

White cardstock

Brown stamping ink

Green stamping ink

Small scrap of brown cardstock

Foam adhesive

Alcohol inks: red and celery

Die cutting system and label die

 

I want to send a HUGE shout out to The Twinery for their generosity – they sent soooo product in a rainbow of colors! Thank you so much, I can’t wait to entwine all my projects!

_______________________________

 

Thanks to you Renee! 

 

Now hop on over to The Twinery's Blog to see what their Designers have cooked up for today! And don't forget to check back tomorrow - I'll have another post featuring Biker Chick Liz Qualman!

 

Oh and ... in case you forgot ... leave a comment!!

 

- Peg

 

Two More Cycling Team Projects with Samantha Taylor and Rhonda Van Ginkel

 

Hello all! It's Peg back again with two more inspiring projects from our Get Your Game On and Head of the Class Cycling Teams! And how about Jamie's projects yesterday? Pretty cool, huh?  If you missed it, be sure to go take a look! Everyone's talking about the Jamie's Crayon Collage. Amazing...

 

Today we're sharing Samantha Taylor's Get Your Game On Canvas Colorables and a layout from Rhonda Van Ginkel. Let's get right to it.

 

Samantha Taylor's Canvas Colorables

Hello! I so excited to share my project with you today. One of my favorite things about LYB is how amazing the embellishments are that go with a line. When I got Get Your Game On, I knew I wanted to find a way to used the fun Canvas Colorables and play with all the embellishments at the same time. I decided to make a trio of framed art for my son's bedroom wall.

 

If you're not someone who works a lot with canvas or altered art, have no fear: Game On Canvas Colorables are really easy to work with. I experimented a lot to find out what would work (and more importantly what wouldn't) and here's what I learned. Anything permanent (paint, paint pens, alcohol inks, mists, alcohol base markers (think Copics), even Sharpie Markers) seem to work really well. Anything not so permanent (water based inks and markers) tend not to work, as they don't dry completely or smear when touched.  The plus side to using Copics is that they cover very well, give nice bright colors, and allow the original print work on the canvas to show through.

 

If you're looking to do the same thing with a more antiqued look, I would suggest trying to sponge or brush on alcohol inks. Paints, paint pens, and Sharpies work well, but don't allow the underlying artwork to show through. If you're not sure if an ink will work, flip the canvas over and test it out on the back side first. 

 

 

 

I used Copic Markers to color the canvases, and then sponged on a very light shade of alcohol ink to add a bit of age to the canvases.

 

I especially concentrated the alcohol ink on the edges of the canvas and the figures of the players. If you're not terribly artistic when it comes to things like coloring and shading (and I'm one of those people who's not), this is still a really easy thing to do. There is a pre-printed shading on the canvases already. I just followed where the players were already shaded and enhanced it a bit.

 

After I colored my canvases, I layered them on an 8" x 10" piece of matching Game On paper. Then, I added embellishments (stickers, chipboard, and banners) to the paper and canvas. You can attach embellishments to the canvas really easily with a nice sticky adhesive like Glue Dots®. The artwork then went into an 8" x 10" shadowbox style frame.

 

I added more embellishments to the frame and glass.

 

 

I like adding embellishments to the outside and inside of a frame as a way to add extra depth and interest to the project.

 

Then all you need to do is find a wall to hang them on. My son is thrilled to have these for his room!

 

Supplies:

Frame - 3 - 8 x 10 shadowbox style frames

Canvases - Get Your Game On (Football, Baseball, Basketball)

Paper - Get Your Game On (Football Collage, Baseball Collage, Basketball Collage)

Accessories - Get Your Game On (Stickers Favorite Pieces (Basketball, Baseball, Football), Chipboard Shapes, Mini Banners (football)), Copic Markers, Alcohol Ink

Tools - Sponge Daubers

____________________________

Wow...love these Samantha! What young sports fan wouldn't want them for his room? I think they'd also look great in a rec room, or as a gift for a special coach. Thanks so much. You can follow Samantha's blog by clicking this link!

 

And now for Rhonda's "Spare Me" Layout!

 

I love how one designer can look at a collection and create something beautiful ... and then another designer can look at the same elements and see something completely different. I think that's one of the coolest things about this hobby!

 

So tell me ... how many of you look at the Head of the Class collection and think "sports"? I know I didn't, but check out Rhonda's layout!

 

Wow. Love it! Here's Rhonda!

 

I absolutely loved the Head of the Class collection!  The bright fun colors of the papers and classic design made this such a joy to work with!!!  Thank you so very much to Little Yellow Bicycle for the honor of designing for you.

 

The moment I saw the fun diamond shaped pattern paper with the number "10" in the headpin position, I knew I was going to turn this collection into a bowling page!  I always enjoy looking beyond the intent of a collection and try to use it in a different or unusual way.

 

For my project I had a series of three photos, but I didn't really want to crop them too much to compromise their composition.  The solution:  Create a built in flip book built on the page.  It was very simple, I just stitched the left side down.  I attached the bottom photo leaving a pocket to tuck in my Good Job journaling spot.

 

Keeping my banner theme for the page, I added a few horizontal banners into the main photo mat.  I created a few custom star buttons using the papers and my Epiphany Star 25 tool.  For my bowling ball and pin, I used my Cricut Expression and the Nifty Fifties cartridge.  A little glossy accents on the bowling ball was the finishing touch.

 

 

Thanks for coming along with me for a little cycling tour of my Spare Me! page today! 

~ Rhonda

 

__________________________

Thanks for joining us today! You can see more of Rhonda's work by clicking on this link to her blog!

 

I'll be back later this evening with the winners of my Sweet Summertime giveaway (finally, right?)...and we'll be inspiring you all weekend long with more Game On and Head of the Class projects. And all next week...blog swap with the Twinery! Woot!

-Peg

New Cycling Team Post - Head of the Class Projects by Jamie Cripps

Hi everyone! It's been a while since I have posted - phew life passes so quickly sometimes. But we have so much creativity floating around over here I am positively overwhelmed!

 

And...well...you will be too when you see these absolutely amazingly creative projects!

 

I'm so pleased to present the work of our latest Cycling Team Member, Jamie Cripps. If you are not one of her MANY blog followers, you should be! She is a talented crafty woman!

 

First up ... a fun and totally cool twist on classroom art:

 

 

I am still trying to figure out how she cut those crayons so they would fit perfectly into the "M". Just wow. Here is another angle:

 

 

Next from Jamie, a simple, neat and handy teacher gift:

 

 

Are there any teachers who couldn't use a few extra pencils? Here's a peek at the top:

 

 

And finally, a layout:

 

 

A little detail:

 

 

 

Fabric stars layered over a Clear Cut shape makes for a fun title!

 

 

But my absolute favorite is how Jamie punched her daughter's name out of the Practice your ABC's paper and layered them for extra depth. What a great idea! 

 

 

Thanks so much to Cycling Team member Jamie Cripps for the inspiration!

And I'll be back tomorrow with more projects from the Cycling Team!

 

Oh, and by they way ... I still haven't announced the winners from our Sweet Summertime giveaway. I'll be doing that tomorrow too!

;)  Peg

Hello Fall! Family Tree Layout Training Reel featuring Biker Chick Liz Qualman

Hello everyone and, may I say...Hello Fall! Fall is definitely here in the northeast, and I'm happy to report that the beautiful Hello Fall! collection from LYB is making its way to a LSS near you.

 

This warm and colorful collection features a "Family Tree" kit that you can make into either a two-page layout or two single-page layouts. It's quick and easy and perfect for family reunions, Thanksgiving pages, or just documenting your family history.

 

So here's Biker Chick Liz Qualman with the latest LYB Training Reel! She has taken this kit and given it her own special twist! 

_____________________________________

 

Sometimes it is fun to follow instructions that have already been created for you and add your own embellishments, style and photos.  That is how I feel about the Little Yellow Bicycle Hello Fall Family Tree Page Kit.  It is such a great design and idea, that I only needed to add a few more embellishment ideas from the Hello Fall! collection and my own photos.  This is a must have item!

 

 

Thanks so much Liz for another inspiring project!

Here are a few close ups from Liz's project:

 

 

Those felt flowers are so cool!

 

And the instructions:

Download FamilyTreeKitInstruction_LizQualman

 

Hope you have fun making this layout! For more great ideas from Liz, be sure to check out her blog by clicking here!

 

Watch the blog this week for more inspiration from our Guest Designers, plus I'm picking a winner from my Sweet Summertime giveaway! 

 

Peg

New Training Reel - Game On Baseball Layout by Biker Chick Tania Willis! [And Don't Forget About the Sweet Summertime Giveaway!]

Hi folks!

 

It's Monday again and that means it's time for another LYB Training Reel featuring the always amazing Biker Chick Tania Willis and the perfectly sporty Game On collection (which happens to be available at your LSS now)!

 

You are going to have so much fun making this layout and learning new painting techniques (wait 'til you see what Tania can do with bubble wrap. SAVE THAT BUBBLE WRAP people! Don't be tempted to pop it!!) There are a lot of kids in my area playing "Fall Ball" ... and this layout is perfect for those of you with baseball-playing kids.

 

But here's what I love about the Game On collection. You can take any layout (like this awesome one right here), and just "swap out" the materials to make the layout you want in the sport you need! My son is not a baseball kid ... but I do coach his U13 Travel Soccer Team (Go Canton Warriors!) So if I need a soccer layout...no problemo! I'm going to scraplift this layout and use the soccer papers and embellishments, and make a soccer one with it. Maybe I'll even show it to you when I'm done!

 

So here we go people. Pick a sport ... any sport ... we have four of them for you...and GET YOUR GAME ON with Tania!

 

 

 

Here are a few more close-ups of Tania's layout:

 

(bubble wrap!!!)

 

(more bubble wrap!)

 

What will this Biker Chick come up with next? Who knows, but I'm sure of one thing ... it will be CREATIVE!

 

Here are the instructions for this home run of a layout:

Download PDF Baseball Layout Instructions by Tania Willis

 

We have so much more to share with you this week ... we'll have a BRAND NEW Sketch Challenge from our very own Liz Qualman, plus more from Game On Guest Designer Suzanne Sergi!

 

And in case you missed my Summer's Last Hurrah post last week, head over there and leave a comment for your chance to win some Sweet Summertime! I'll be picking a winner later this week!

 

Have Fun!

Peg

Sweet Summer's Last Hurrah... [inspiration and a chance to win some Sweet Summertime goodies!]

Sigh... I guess it's time to admit it's finally over.

Summer that is.

Autumnal equinox and all.

 

In spite of the morning chill in the air I have been digging in my heels and holding on to summer for all I'm worth. Who cares that the kids are back in school! Who cares that I've had to pull out the jeans and sweaters once or twice! It's still summer until ... well...today.

 

The leaves have been turning here in CT for weeks, but now that the calendar is turning, I have to get with the program and move on to Fall already. Now don't get me wrong. I really do love Fall. Here in the Northeast I love the colors, crisp sunny days, savory cooking [not to mention our new Hello Fall! collection ;) ... who wouldn't love fall with that around, huh? ]

 

And then I just say to myself ... just wait a minute here ... not so fast! Let's have a little last hurrah for summer! If you're like me, you'll be scrappin' those summer pictures well into 2012 [in fact, I think there's something special about scrapping the beach pics when the snow is falling outside!].

 

So today I'm going to share some Sweet Summertime goodness from the Biker Chicks! For one last hurrah!

 

[And read on dear blog followers! There's a chance for you to win some Sweet Summertime goodness for yourself at the end of this post!] 

 

So let's get started, why don't we? First up, this adorable little layout from Biker Chick Liz Qualman. There's something about boys and boats...isn't there?

 

 

And a few close up shots:

 

Next up, Biker Chick Renee Foss shared this amazing shadowbox just full of great summer memories!

 

 

... and a detail shot:

....swoon.. Love this!

 

And last but certainly not least, Tania Willis posted these two awesome Sweet Summertime layouts on her blog earlier this summer and I've been meaning to share them with you. But I kept forgetting! Shame on me! 

Here's the first. You can't beat the photo of that cutie Emma, and I love how Tania kept it simple ... but simply perfect! Check out that sun!

 

 

And the details:

 

 

 

And next up, how cute are these two muggin' it up for the camera? And how cool is it that Tania used this versatile summery collection on a page that really isn't summery at all? Love this!

 

And a couple close ups to show all the detail and dimesion!

 

 

 

 

If you want to scraplift this layout (and who wouldn't? ... though for finding the big wax lips I must tell you ... you are on your own!) just follow the link I posted above for detailed instructions!

 

Three cheers for the Biker Chicks! You guys are great!

 

And now for the LOOT!

 

I personally went over to our warehouse and raided - RAIDED I tell you! - that Sweet Summertime collection. I have two AMAZING prize packs to share with two people who leave a comment. We're talking papers, stickers, and embellies galore people! Who wants 'em???

 

Just tell me about YOUR last hurrah of summer.

 Here is mine...I decided to run the Hartford Half Marathon in a couple weeks. This is big for me and I'm not quite sure I'm ready but there's only one way to find out. And let me tell you, running in the CT humidity today ... it sure felt like summer to me! So now that I think about it - bring on that cool weather already! I'm wilting like steamed spinach out there!

 

Can't wait to hear YOUR story!

 

-Peg

Introducing Suzanne Sergi - Game On Guest Designer!

OK, OK I know Lowri McNabb is already rockin' the Guest Designer blog for LYB but what can we do? We're shipping the brand new Get Your Game On collection as we speak (actually as I type...) and so, since it's so perfectly sporty ... we decided to Double Team you!!! That's right ... two Guest Designers for a little extra inspiration. And who can't use a little extra inspiration? Gotta love it!

 

So allow me to introduce our OTHER Guest Designer - for Game On - the awesome, fun, and of course talented Suzanne Sergi! I was introduced to Suzanne at CHA-W by our very own Biker Chick Liz Qualman. As I recall, Liz told me something like "You have to check out her work..." and so I did, and knew then and there we needed to ask her to guest design for us (click the link above to her blog and you'll see why as well!).

 

Suzanne hails from beautiful Orange County in Southern California, where she lives with her husband Steven and three children Gabriela (almost 13), Roman (8) and Macie (6). Suzanne has been scrapbooking for about 12 years. Like many of us, she tripped into this hobby when Gabriela was born when she ventured into a scrapbook store to look for an album ... and fell in love with all the possibilities. Suzanne scrapbooks mostly about her family and the special moments in their lives. She loves papers and embellishments and tells us she is "all about the details on (her) papercrafts ... (her) favorite part of the scrapbooking process." She designs for several manufacturers, and has been published in Scrapbook Trends magazine... and we are so lucky to have her!

 

And now... here's Suzanne!

_________________________________

 

Hi, everyone! Suzanne here, and I am very excited to be one of the guest designers this month! I love papercrafting, and I am a big fan of Little Yellow Bicycleʼs products. One of my favorite things about their products is that you will not see only paper, and a few embellishments. No, you are going to have so many possibilities, and a wide variety of embellishments to choose from. A couple of my favorites are the transparency overlays, and I love their journaling notebooks. Their product fits my style of scrapbooking, and makes designing pages fast, and fun to create with.

 

I had the opportunity to work with the Get your Game On collection. With a few athletes in our household, I am always inspired to document their special “winning” moments. Today, I have my first project to share with you. A scrapbook page featuring my son with a couple of his teammates. My son seems to enjoy all sports from football, soccer, baseball, to basketball. Luckily, LYB has paper for all of these fun sports. I decided to create a basketball page to slip into my sonʼs sports album. This page came together very quickly.

 

I began with the basketball collage paper for my background. This paper has the large graphic in the upper right hand corner, so it needed very little extra paper. I used a small strip from the grey Bleachers patterned paper, layered on top of the red All Star paper. I also used one of the tear-out tickets for my title. I loved it, and thought it told the story of the photo perfectly. I did cut it so I could use the top portion at the top of the photo. The bottom half of the ticket holds my journaling that I ran through the computer. Love it when you can get more out of an embellishment! Here is a closer look at the cluster of embellishments I created in the lower right hand corner of the page.

I used two more tear-out tickets (these are starting to become my favorite). They are perfect to stand alone, when your page just needs a little something. They are also great to layer more fun embellishments underneath or on top of them. I punched different size circles to layer on top of the tickets. I used some of the chipboard embellishments as well. The #1 element I left alone, but I did add more texture to the chipboard basketball by running it through an embossing folder. This page has a bit of grunge to it, so I used my embossing folders to the circles, too. I simply love texture on my pages, and embossing is definitely my “go to” technique every time I scrapbook! This cluster of embellishments helped to add movement to the page.

 

Another item that I really enjoyed were the ticket stickers. I used one as an added detail on one of the tear-out tickets. They reminded me of a decorative tape, and I adhered it with a small staple on the page.

 

In this final detail photograph, you can also see a cluster of the chipboard stars, and do you recognize the brad?

 

It is from the Zachʼs Life collection, and this is still one of my favorites. Thought it tied well with the page!

 

Supplies Used:  

- Get Your Game On Basketball Collage/Basketball Court

-Get Your Game On Game Day Words Blue/Grey Bleachers

- Get Your Game On All Star Red/Field Dirt

- Get Your Game On Chipboard Shapes

- Get Your Game On Tear-Out Ticket Book

- Get Your Game On Stickers

 

____________________________

Thanks so much for this fun layout Suzanne! I'll be back during the next few weeks with more projects from Suzanne, featuring the Game On collection ... plus some fun LYB Q&A with Suzanne!

 

For now, if you haven't already, why not go check out Suzanne's blog for some more inspiration, and tell her how much you love her work (tell her we sent you ;P)

 

Peg 

1 biker chick + 1 LYB collection = 2 great back to school layouts

 

Hello Friday,

Are you ready for some basic math?

Talented Tania Willis + Head of the Class = 2 great back to school layouts!  4 U.

 

I have to ask you, what could be cuter than a kindergartener in pig tails?  May I answer my own question? A kindergartener in pig tails with yellow polka dot bows. 

Go to Tania's blog and find basic instructions for these great back to school layouts. I think you'll find her blog encouraging. And honest.  I do. 

See the Learn and Discover journaling card behind the photo pocket on left side. Cool idea. Interactive. I like.

I appreciate the journaling on this page. I like what it says. I like knowing that we all have an opportunity to recognize and share the good things that we notice about our child's day.  

To note: My favorite journaling card in the collection is:  IF LOST, PLEASE CALL MY TEACHER. 

Be thinking about journaling prompts you might like to share for next week's Wednesday Challenge.

We'll be shipping Head of the Class next week. We are excited to get this out to you.   I so enjoyed reading your school memories on this weeks Wednesday challenge.   I laughed. I laughed out loud even.  I was sad reading some of them as well.  Looking back and pressing on is good. Thank you for sharing.  I'll announce winners on Wednesday along with new Wednesday challenge.

 

Have a great long weekend.

Lori

 

 

New Training Reel - Plus a Bonus Sketch! "Best Recess" Layout by Biker Chick Liz Qualman ... Just in Time for Back-to-School!

Hello Friends!

It's that time of year again ... Back-to-School! And you're going to love the new Head of the Class collection from LYB! Packed with primary colors, cool geometric patterns and a teeny bit of grunge - Head of the Class easily accommodates school-themed layouts and projects for students of all ages. (Follow the links above to preview the entire collection ... which you should begin to see at your LSS later next week!)

 

So...ask pretty much any kid what's their favorite subject, and odds are, they'll quickly reply "RECESS!" ... which is why this fun layout from Biker Chick Liz Qualman will make you AND the kids happy - and be a perfect back-to-school addition to your scrapbook!

 

 

You can put together this awesome layout by following Liz's Training Reel right here:

 

 

 

But wait! There's more! Full instructions, a few close-ups ... and a sketch! 

 

Just to get a closer look at the details. Liz mounted the "Recess" sticker and inked the edges with black. What a nice way to coordinate it with the "Best" banner!

 

 

Chipboard and a little bit of bling!

 

Want to make it your own? Liz added a sketch! Have fun! (And send us your creations!)

 

We hope you have fun with this layout and sketch! Click below to download the full instructions!

 

Download Best Recess Layout Instructions _2_

If you just can't get enough of Biker Chick Liz Qualman and her super sketches ... follow this link to her blog for more!

 

Be sure to come back next week for another Training Reel from Little Yellow Bicycle ... and good luck to all the kiddos with their new school adventures!

 

-Peg