Design Team: Little Yellow Bicycle's Vintage Summer Collection

Ahhh, sweet summertime!  I love these days of summer and at a recent trip to Scrapdoodles, I was able to pick several pieces from the Little Yellow Bicycle "Vintage Summer" collection.  The colors are perfect for your patriotic pages as well as general summertime gatherings and events.  I picked up several sheets of paper, the Paper Crafting Kit, Stick Pins, and Fabric Favorites from the collection.  You can see the whole thing HERE or stop by Scrapdoodles to see it in person and pick out your own treats.  I brought home my goodies and created a project and 2 layouts to share with you from this line.
For my project, I started with a plain chalkboard frame that I painted with another quick coat of black  chalkboard paint.  Then I layered several elements from LYB's fabric embellishments collection (the banner is one) and several flowers from their Paper Crafting Kit.  I love how the paper crafting kit elements were "pre-cut" but still offered lots of options in assembly and use.  The stick pins offer a fun touch to this project.  Two eyelets screwed into the top of the frame and a string allow it to be hung on a door or anywhere you need a little pick me up.  See it in person at Scrapdoodles!

My first layout starts with a dark blue cardstock base.  I cut apart some of the Patchwork Quilt paper to create my own background for this layout.  The banner is made from circles folded in half (from the Papercrafting Kit).  I layered some more elements from the collection next to the photo.  The title is chipboard letters from my stash.  Underneath it, I pleated a small strip of paper and added a brad.

My second layout uses one of the fun full sheets from the collection.  It's called "Blue Skies."

I cut off the tiniest bit of paper from the left edge and adhered a red scalloped border to the back, so just a peek of the border sticks out.  This strip was actually one of the precut/scored elements in the papercrafting pack, but I thought it would be a cute border.  I haphazardly added a few more tiny print squares from the Patchwork Quilt sheet and added a few more embellishments on top, included the cherries (cut from my die cut machine), a layered flower and one more of the fabric favorites.

This was such a fun collection to play with.  The embellishment kits will provide you with lots of coordinating materials for your projects and layouts.

Happy Crafting! ~Karen

Patriotic Picnic and Layout

I must admit I find it hard to limit myself when it comes to all the patriotic papers and embellishments put out every year by paper companies.  I just love the July 4th celebrations with all the picnics, grilling out, hanging out with family and friends, burgers and brats and hotdogs, and of course the fireworks!  It's awesome to be an American!  Right now at Scrapdoodles you can find several awesome lines of patriotic papers and embellishments.  It was hard to choose, but I took home several sheets of double sided papers and some of the layered chipboard elements from We R Memory Keepers "Red, White & Blue" line as well as a few sheets (I couldn't resist the kraft) of papers from Pebbles' "Let Freedom Ring" line.  To complement these papers, I also chose a sheet of tiny letters and phrases made by Authentique ("Glory").  What did I make with all these goodies?  LOTS!  Take a look!

First - a layout with little "Super Hannah" celebrating the hero in her life - her daddy.  I love these papers for a Father's Day layout!   I cut out some of the paper elements to create the two tags at the bottom and part of the title.  The tag and star circles are some of the coordinating layered chipboard.

Next I decided on a few projects to decorate our July 4th picnic table.  These projects were pretty easy to put together and really make your table stand out from the crowd.  I framed the Pledge of Allegiance 12x12 print (by Pebbles) (after adding just a bit of red stickles and a few confetti stars), then added the embellishments to the outside of the frame.  The firecracker element is simply a rolled bit of paper with shiny streamers (left over from some other project) glued into the roll.  For the embellishment in the upper left corner, I started with a 12 inch strip of paper that included the bar strip area to get the striped edge.  It's then just an accordion fold, spread open like a fan and glued onto a half circle on the back.  The tag is a layered chipboard embellishment and the "Let Freedom Ring" flag is, again, part of the barcode of the Pebbles paper wrapped around a toothpick and notched.  Speaking of flags, you can buy them already made by We R Memory Keepers, or go ahead and make your own, like I did, with paper scraps.  I also added some stitching and a few extras to this set of flags.  They are fun to make and a little addicting. You can use them on cupcakes or other desserts or anywhere that needs an extra little "hooray!"

But, wait! There's more!  I made a patriotic centerpiece with the papers by making accordion fold stars and medallions and adding various embellishments.  I added little flags with some of the words from the Authentique sticker sheet.  The "Honor" embellishment is one of the large layered chipboard elements from We R Memory Keepers.  I like how it stands out in my "bouquet."  The tin bucket is something I had bought at the Target dollar spot a few years ago.  I rounded off the centerpiece with some ribbons and paper strips curled around a skewer.  Everything is taped or hot-glued to wooden skewers and stuck into a piece of foam in the bucket.

Last, but certainly not least, I decided to dress up some plain condiment containers with more paper strips, a few tags (cut from the paper sheets) and ribbon.  I love how everything turned out and can't wait to celebrate our country in just a couple weeks.  Happy Birthday, America!

 

Summer and Echo Park Layouts

Love to go into Scrapdoodles and see what catches my eye.  I knew I had some summer layouts to do, and Echo Park "Happy Days" collection caught my eye.  I created these two layouts using papers and a few layered chipboard embellishments from this collection.  For my first layout, I started with plain white cardstock.  I cropped a four horizontal photos and backed them with black cardstock, then a strip of patterned paper.  I added the three strips on the right and a few embellishments.  I cut my title with my Cricut (cousins is from "Heritage" and friends is from "Create a Critter").  I thought it needed a little more so I punched out several circles and popped them up with a foam dot.  I love the white on white dimension paired with the bright colors.

I journaled on my computer and then printed it out on cardstock to add to the page.  I normally just write, but I wanted to keep the look relatively neat.

Last summer, H. really started choosing what to wear for herself and it was (and still is) an adventure in creativity.  Here she is with a tutu and camouflage cap that says "lil' Hunter".  Definitely one of a kind!  Again, all the papers are embellishments are from Echo Park.  The title is a cut from "Once Upon a Princess".  I just love how she mixes styles.  Something to learn there.