XOXO - Sending you some Hugs & Kisses

Hello Pages Peeps! This is Michelle here today. How is your summer going thus far? I went on a Teddy Bear Picnic with my nephew over at Pages from the Heart as part of the SoCal Shop Hop. I hope you are having fun hoppin' around too.

The Reveal

This is my last project for July and is the bonus card I mentioned. I call it a bonus item because I didn't use any of the patterned papers or embellishments that I've featured in my other July projects. Instead I wanted to highlight the under appreciated cardstock by sticking with a minimal amount of supplies so the cardstock could be the star. 

I cut out a square window from the center of the card and strung three strands of twine across the card. 

I cut out eighteen .75" squares with my paper cutter and punched out nine X's and nine O's with a hand punch. If you don't have a punch, you can use alphabet stickers. I adhered the X's and O's to the squares and adhered two squares back to back onto the twine. 

The finished squares are actually double sided on the card and can flip around when touched. I wanted to cover up the ends of the twine inside the card, so I adhered some white cardstock strips around the edges of the card. 

I wrote my sentiment using Kraft colored alphabet stickers so it would blend into the Kraft colored cardstock, and not compete with the tic tac toe design in the center. 

The Supplies

Cardstock: CutCardStock

Envelope: CutCardStock

Punch: Martha Stewart

Twine: The Twinery

Ink: Prima Chalk Edger

Sticker Alphabet: Jillibean Soup

Have a great summer and see you in August! 

Thanks so much for stoppin' by,

Michelle

LIFE IS A PICNIC AT PAGES...

We find life to always be a picnic here at Pages From the Heart! These two pages are our take n' makes for the 2012 Shop Hop! Come by for yours before they are gone! Happy Hopping!

Design Team: Jeans Pocket Card

Shop Hop
Hello Pages Peeps, this is Michelle here today. Are you ready for the 2012 SoCal Shop Hop which begins tomorrow? There are 41 stores participating from San Diego to Bakersfield. Passport holders get 20% off at each store including Pages from the Heart, plus there are lots of games and giveaways. Each store has their own pin and make and takes, that matches their Wacky Holiday theme. Pages has some super cute items to match their Teddy Bear Picnic holiday. So come and join the fun. I have my route planned out, do you?

The Reveal
This is the last in my series of projects featuring Echo Park's This & That Charming collection. Since this is a boy themed collection, I wanted to pay homage to the theme without specifically making a boy project. I decided on making something related to jeans which reminded me of a boy, but can also be used for a girl.

Jeans Pocket Card

I used some dark blue cardstock that looked like the color of dark washed demin, plus yellow thread and a sewing machine for the base. I added pieces from This & That collection for the accents.

The Details
I wanted an iconic jeans pocket so I went with a Levis 501 look. I found out the design is called a gull wing pocket with a red tab logo fabric, which you can read about here. I really felt like a seamstress as there was a lot of stitching and replicating the parts. I cut out a pocket and drew in the stitching lines with a pencil. I sewed most of the lines first, only attaching it to the card base with the outlining stitch along the edges minus the one on the top so the pocket has a top opening.

I punched out a yellow tab using a tab hand punch, wrote a sentiment instead of a brand and adhered it to the side where the red label would go. 

I stitched some belt lines across the top. I cut out some narrow rectangles and stitched around them for two belt loops. I also cut out a design from the patterned papers to make a larger label. 

I thought the pocket would be a good place to put money or a gift card for the recipient, especially if the gift card is from Gap or some other place that sells jeans. I placed a sticker the size of a gift card to show the use of the pocket for display purposes. As a finishing touch, I distressed the card with some chalk ink to simulate some wear on the fabric. 

You can make a pocket card based on your favorite brand or item of clothing, you don't have to stick with jeans. You can make a really cute girl version using patterned papers and ribbons. Let your creativity be your guide. 

The Supplies

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics

Patterned Paper: Echo Park

Sticker: Echo Park

Tab Punch: Fiskars

Chalk Ink: Prima

Thread: Coats & Clark

Sewing Machine: Singer

Thanks so much for stoppin' by,

Michelle

Deisgn Team: Beach Boy Layout

Hello Pages Peeps, this is Michelle back again to show you my second project for July. I highlighted a vacation mini-album already, today I'm featuring a layout and I will be revealing two cards next. Hopefully there will be something for everyone.


The Reveal
Since I received the boy version, of Echo Park's This & That collection, I wanted to make a boy layout so I could utilized all the fun chipboard and cardstock stickers in the collection.

Beach Boy Layout

I used six 3 x 3" squares for the central portion of my layout. This is a good porportion for a page when designing a layout as the squares take up 9" across a 12" page, leaving 1" margins on each side and 1/2" margins between photos. You can use all six squares for photos or any combination depending on your need. I liked the balance of 3 photos and 3 decorative boxes.

The Details

One super cute component in this collection is the pack of layered chipboard stickers. They really add some dimension to an otherwise flat looking page. 

I decided to feature the boy banner chipboard in my "Boy oh Boy" title. The chipboard stickers comprise the smaller boy banner and I recreated the larger boy banner using cardstock, my Silhouette Cameo and some glittered Thickers. 

For each letter, I cut out the banner 4 times in 4 sizes and 3 colors to replicate the look of the original. If you would like the downloadable banner cut file for your Silhouette Cameo, I've included it below. 

Download: Banner Silhouette Cut File

I layered journaling strips over some cardstock stickers and accented it with a Pearl Pen. 

To continue the look of the journaling strips, I cut up a border sticker into smaller strips and layered that behind a chipboard sticker.

There was a large sentiment sticker that was wider than my 3" box, so I also cut that into smaller strips so it fit the look and fit the box.

Feel free to adjust embellishments to fit your scale or recreate your own to complement existing ones.

The Collection

For all the patterned papers and stickers, I used Echo Park's This & That, Charming version. The blue, green and yellow palette lends itself well to outdoor nature themed photos along with boy themed photos. 

Echo Park's This & That collection

Supplies

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics

Patterned Papers: Echo Park

Stickers: Echo Park

Alphabet Letters: American Crafts

Brads: Making Memories

Ribbon: May Arts

Chalk Ink: Prima

Paint Pen: Viva Decor

Glitter Glue: Stickles by Ranger Ink

Thanks so much for stoppin' by,
Michelle

Design Team: Vacation Envelope Mini-Album

Hello Pages Peeps, this is Michelle here to share with you my July projects. I made three projects, plus a bonus card that I'll be revealing over the course of next week.

The Collection

I worked with two Echo Park collections for my projects. The first one is entitled, This & That. There are two versions, a This & That Graceful which is geared toward girls and a This & That Charming which is geared toward boys. The Graceful version has more reds and pinks in it, while the Charming has more blues and greens in it. I worked with the Charming version. 

Echo Park's This & That Collection

The second collection I used is Enjoy the Ride, which features a travel theme. It is also part of their new Mini Themes series. A regular collection kit contains 12 sheets of papers and 2 sheets of stickers, while a mini collection contains 6 sheets of papers and a 1/2 sheet of stickers. This would be good for smaller projects where you don't want to end up with too many leftover pieces.

Echo Park's Enjoy the Ride Mini Collection

The Reveal

With summer in full swing, I wanted to make a vacation mini-album. For my cover, I bought a $2.00 mini 3-ring binder from Big Lots. I decorated the exterior with the papers and stickers from the collections above. Plus I incorporated three photos into the filmstrip stickers and added Glossy Accents on top to give it a sheen. 

Album Cover

For the inside pages, I used A7 envelopes (5 x 7") with a matching folded card inside. This will yield 6 surfaces to work with - front and back of the envelope, front and back of the card, and the inside double panel of the card. 

Unadorned Envelope Pages

I used each card and envelope page to scrap one attraction from my trip. Here is the same brown bag envelope and card decorated.

Finished Envelope & Card Page

Here are all six panels of one page. I utilized 8 photos, 1 entrance ticket, 1 postcard, 1 journaling card, 2 brochure cut outs, 2 souvenirs and my regular patterned papers and embellishments on one card & envelope set. As you can see, each page holds a lot of information and memories from the trip.

Views of all Six Sections on a Page

The Interior

The inside cover has the itinerary for the week plus two photos I didn't make a page for. This gives the reader a quick overview of the album. 

Inside Cover

There are 7 pages total in the album, but I will just walk through one page here. Even though each page looks very different from the others, I had some unifying features to make it easier on me to design and on the viewers when browsing through the album.

One of the attractions I visited was Discovery Cove in Orlando, Florida. On the front of the envelope, which is what the viewer will see first, I placed the name of the attraction, which is usually a cut out from a brochure, an identifying photo and the ticket. In this case, I received an ID tag with a lanyard which I cut up and adhered as a ribbon banner.

Front of Envelope

On each inside flap of the envelope, I adhered a 3 x 4" journaling card which I had to cut in half to make it fit. I brought the journaling cards with me and filled out one a day during the trip. I'm really glad I did so I remembered the details while it was fresh in my mind. Later, I didn't feel like journaling when I was busy designing each page. The front of the card is also a good place for a 5 x 7" photo, which I did trim down a bit to make room for the hole punches for the rings.

Interior of Envelope with Card Front

On the inside of the card, I put a map of the attraction. Since this map was smaller, I had room for four more 2 x 3" photos, plus more of my lanyard.

Interior of Card

The back of the envelope has a description and photo from the brochure and the back of the card has a photo collage. 

Back of Envelope and Card

I ended up using most of photos and memorabilia from my trip. Anything leftover went in a special envelope at the back of the album. Everything else was tossed since realistically I would never get to it again. 

Last Chance Envelope

Unused Memorabilia

On previous trips, I'd collect a bunch of little things for scrapping purposes and never get to them or they would look too busy on a 12 x 12" page so I chose not to use them. I'd feel bad throwing them away but I never knew what to do with these items. By making a mini-album, these items were utilized since the layout design is secondary to preserving memories. Also, an envelope album lends itself well to housing a lot of memorabilia and has a more fun and casual air.

The Supplies

Featuring Echo Park's This & That Charming collection and Enjoy the Ride collection

5 x 9" Binder: unmarked from Big Lots

Brown Bag Envelopes: CutCardStock.com

Brown Bag Folded Card: CutCardStock.com

Cardstock: CutCardStock.com

Patterned Papers: Echo Park

Alphabet Stickers: Echo Park

Stickers: Echo Park

Ribbon: May Arts

Chalk Ink: Prima

Other: brochures, souvenirs 

You can use any card envelope you have already and just cut cardstock to fit inside and find a binder to fit. You can make this for any other theme, not just for a vacation. It is a fun and interactive album and it took a lot less time than a 12 x 12" album. If you'd like to see the rest of the pages, please visit Pages from the Heart. I also have a bonus page up on my blog which I didn't turn in to Pages as the alligator teeth I used seemed too fragile for display purposes. 

Thanks so much for stoppin' by, 

Michelle

BTW, if you signed up for the Shop Hop through Pages, I hope to see you all at Page's Shop Hop dinner which starts at 5PM tonight! (Saturday, July 14th)

Design Team: Red, White and Blue 3D Projects

Hello Pages Peeps!

Lauren here again today with some more Red, White & Blue!

I know Independence Day is over but that doesn't mean we should put away the red, white & blue!
There are two projects I have for you today - one that you can use for a cute handout at your next Independence Day bash and one that can be used as decoration for next year or maybe the Olympics coming up!

First I have a 4th of July game packet:

Really, you could use this for an Olympic party if you just change the date. ;) This is a great party favor or can be used as a card for someone who would love to do a patriotic word search.

Supplies

We R Memory Keepers Red, White and Blue

 - Summertime Fun

 - Light Red Textured Cardstock

 - White Textured Cardstock

 - Mini Badges

4th of July Stamps

Red ink

Blue ink

Corner rounder

Here's the second project I made using the super cute BINGO rectangle!

This would make a great decoration or you could even make fun markers like above and play a small game of Bingo! This was made for decoration and I made a little stand for it out of cardboard:

Here's a little closeup of the markers I made using paper and buttons:

Supplies

We R Memory Keepers Red, White and Blue

 - Celebration

 - Summertime Fun

 - Dark Blue Textured Cardstock

Blue buttons

White button

Corner rounder

I hope you enjoyed these red, white and blue projects!

Until next time,

Lauren

Design Team: Red, White and Blue Layout

Hello Pages Peeps!

Design Team Member Lauren here with you today to share with you some fun projects! :)

I hope you all had an amazing 4th of July! Are you ready to scrapbook your memories?

I made this layout from We R Memory Keepers' Red, White and Blue line. Isn't it the cutest? I absolutely LOVE the background paper because it came pretty much scrapbook ready. All I added was some squares for photos and some embellishments. See the photo below to see it before:

Here are some close up photos of my embellishments:

I hope this page inspires you to start scrapbooking your Independence Day fun!

Lauren

Supplies
We R Memory Keepers Red, White and Blue
 - Confetti
 - Celebration
 - Summertime Fun
 - Dark Blue Textured Cardstock
 - Light Red Textured Cardstock
 - White Textured Cardstock
 - Mini Badges
Pearls
Gold ribbon
Label maker

Design Team: An Authentique Mini-Album

Hi Peeps!

Becky here again with a mini-album for you made from Authentique's "Carefree" collection. Even after making yesterday's card and this mini-album, I still want to make more with my kit! The colors are so fun and I still have tons of stickers left on my Details sheet.

Hidden tag with journaling!

Pinwheels!

Supplies
Authentique Carefree collection - "Radiant," "Easygoing," "Content" Authentique Carefree collection - Details stickers
Authentique - Classic Type stickers Black cardstock Brads Toothpicks

I started with a chipboard album that I had in my collection (although you could make it out of cardstock). Once I had covered each panel, it was easy to embellish using the Details sticker sheet. I also made pinwheels to go with the summery theme. To make them I cut a 1 1/4 square. I cut a line from each to corner stopping short of the center. I folded every other panel up and secured them with a brad. It's an easy and quick embellishment that can be made with scraps!


If you'd like to see any of the projects made by the Design Team, they are currently on display at Pages From the Heart. Thank you for reading!

Have a happy and safe 4th of July!

XOXO,
Becky