Tuesday Tip: Back to School

I can’t believe it is that time again!  My son is starting kindergarten in the fall and I decided to create a few back to school projects to help him (and me) with the transition.

I am all about being organized, especially in the mornings.  The best way to keep routines on time is to make a visual schedule to help things along!  I found a magnetic whiteboard at my local craft store and decided to jazz it up a bit by using the Old School collection.  What do you think?

First I listed his special area classes by the day to help him remember his sneakers or library book.  Don’t you just love that the paper has the days of the week like that?  The sticker alphabet is from the Old School Collection Craft Kit.  As an added touch, I made my own magnet from the Old School metal badges.  I plan to have Nathan move it as a way to highlight the correct day. It is so easy to make, just follow the directions below!

To decorate the board, I added several border and word stickers from the sheet in the craft kit as well as glitter stickers.  Add a banner for fun, top off with the new Expression Cushies Alphabet and you are finished!

The last two projects are meant to remind him how much we love him and let him know how proud we are.  I created a note card envelope that I can slip into his lunchbox with a sweet message.  I folded a sheet of the Goody Two Shoes paper to make my envelope.  Then I added a Clear Card over the top to make it sturdy.  Decorate again with stickers and a fabulous canvas border and you have a durable envelope!

And we have to be able to hang his school work on the refridgerator! To continue with the magnet theme, I simply altered a wooden star using 6 X 6 sheets from the Old School Paper Pad and a metal badge!

I am just loving the Old School collection and I know you will too! Good way to show your school spirit!

Yellow makes me happy…

Happy Monday! Today is my day for Monochromatic Monday, and I’ve been really loving the color yellow, so I chose to mix a few of Pink Paislee’s lines together to create a “Happy-go-Lucky” page. I chose some fun pictures of my girls jumping on our trampoline. We bought one in April and weren’t sure how much they were going to use it, but they love it. As it turns out, they use it almost every day together. I love their expressions when they are jumping! In Photoshop, I chose 4 pictures I liked and put them together on one document to print out on a 4×6″ piece of photo paper.

To create my background, I misted over a Crafter’s Workshop stencil with Candlelight Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels right over the Sweetness – Pretty Lace background paper. It’s a slightly darker yellow, so it adds a nice detail to the page without overpowering the photos. It also adds a place for my journaling!

The sticker letters are from the Old School line and the stamped stars and cork buttons are from the 365 Degrees line. I used some chipboard stars from my stash and wanted to keep them gray, so I sprayed them with Graphite Glimmer Mist to make them a shade darker and pop off of the page a little more.

The star border is from the Starlight line. When I decided to go with yellow, I pulled out all of the yellow things from the lines, then narrowed down what I wanted to use.

I hope you will try a monochromatic page too!

Studio Tour Featuring Danielle Flanders

This week we are getting a very special peek into the creative corner occupied by Danielle Flanders.  In all the years I have worked with Danielle I have never before seen her space so I found it very fun to see where all that crafting genius takes place.  As I looked through these photos one thing I realized is that we probably give our Design Team members TOO MUCH STUFF.  I see that big Pink Paislee box tucked under her chair and think to myself “maybe she doesn’t have anywhere to put it.”

One thing is for sure…she is extremely organized (so are her kids…) and that ribbon drawer looks like it would be fun to just sit and look at!

About Danielle’s Space

I recently set up a desk in our basement, because I didn’t have a place to call my own! I was scrapping in our dining room for a long time and decided it would be nice to be able to have my sewing machine out and ready whenever I wanted to use it. (And then we could actually EAT at our table again too, which is a bonus!)

The 2 large bins next to my desk hold my Pink Paislee products and my Jenni Bowlin products. However, I keep the most recent Pink Paislee lines in a box right under my desk, so I can quick grab what I need!

The desk is set up right when you come down the stairs, and I share the room with my girls’ big toys, like their kitchen, lego table, art easel, etc. They love to hang out with me down there while I’m working. The easel and lego table are behind my chair.I’m lucky enough to have a storage room right next to where my scrap space is, so I have larger things like all my mini books and such stored in there.

On my desk, I have a basket for glues and holes punchers, a cup for pens/scissors, a cup for paintbrushes and a container for my Cuttlebug embossing plates/trimmer. I also leave my sewing machine up on my desk. The keyboard drawer pulls out and that’s where I store my punches for easy access.

I found these large white cubes at AC Moore. Love seeing the pretty colored cardstock! I have a drawer for flowers, ribbons, buttons, brads and bling, alphabets, and stamps and other embellishments. I bought some 12 x 12 Cropper Hoppers to store my patterned papers, rub ons, stickers and transparencies. (The papers are organized by manufacturer.)

Since I had SO many ribbons, I decided to make my own little ribbon wraps. Next to the ribbon, you can see some 12 x 12 clear file folders, those are holding my paper scraps by color.

More About Danielle

Scrapbook Style –  I would say my style is a bit on the simple side, but dimensional at the same time, with girly touches. I tend to be drawn to cleaner pages that draw your eye right to the photos! I love to focus on how to use items creatively or in a unique way also.

Inspiration – I find inspiration everywhere! A particular color palette, an ad in a magazine, techniques to play around with, new scrapbooking products, home decor and current styles/textiles all have an impact on me!

Favorite Product – My favorite Pink Paislee product right now would have to be the Artisan Swirls. They are so beautiful and dimensional. I love that you can customize them to your project by painting, misting them, etc. So much fun to work with and such a unique product!

One Wish- I hope that my girls will stay happy and healthy forever. They mean the world to me, and I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to one of them.

Favorite Movie – I love anything with Leonardo DiCaprio in it, but I think my all-time favorite was Titanic.

Guilty Pleasure – Raisinettes or Reese Peanut Butter Cups

Favorite Memory – Meeting my girls when they were born.

One Fear – Snakes.

First Job – My first job was when I was 16. I bussed tables at a restaurant called Elk Creek Steakhouse about 1 mile from our house. The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was going on when I started and on my first night, I spilled water on a scary looking motorcyclist’s lap while refilling his glass. I was so embarrassed!

Music – Love pop with an urban edge (that’s what my local station calls it!): Katy Perry, Train, Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas, Jason DeRulo, John Mayer, Usher, Kings of Leon.

Typical Day – In the summer it’s very different than the school year, we don’t really have a routine! During the school year, I wake up at 7:30, get my daughter dressed, fed and off to school, then drink my coffee and check into my scrapbooking sites on-line while I wake up. The rest of the day usually involves cleaning, making beds, dishes, laundry, and spending time with my youngest daughter. Sometimes I will sneak some scrapbooking in, but normally I wait until they go to bed to create – when it’s nice and quiet. They go to bed at 8 pm and I usually stay up until 11 or 12! I’m most definitely a night owl!

Signature Piece of Clothing – My favorite comfy Vigoss jeans and a hoodie, because most of the year here in New York, it’s chilly!

To learn more about Danielle and to visit her blog just CLICK HERE.

Take Five Friday

WooooOOOoooOOOO! (that’s my ghost sound) :) Happy Friday the 13th! In honor of this spooky day I just HAD to use the brand new Hocus Pocus collection. The great thing about this collection is how versatile it is! I used it here as an everyday boy page of my nephew.

The five products I used are:

Hocus Pocus Patterned Papers, Hocus Pocus Elements Stickers, Hocus Pocus (from the Hocus Pocus Collection Craft Kit), Hocus Pocus Clear Cards, Cocoa Expressions Cushies Alphabets, and Artisan Elements – Circles.

I used silver metallic cream rubons on the Artisan Elements to tie them in with the gray tones in the patterned papers.

I cut out the label shape from the Clear Cards and turned it over, using the silver backside of the image to anchor my title.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend!

Thursday Trend – Accordion Flowers

Hi everyone, Karola here with something trendy!
When I looking for the hot trends from CHA Summer 2010 I see a lot of interesting techniques and ideas on the sample projects. As it turns out one of the very hot trends are now accordion fold flowers. These simple and beautiful flowers can be made from any kind of paper, from vellum to the cardstock.
This is not a novelty, because since many months you can to see a real invasion of these flowers in our creations, I also did a few Pink Paislee project with these lovely flowers. But I would like to highlight it again, because it is absolutely great idea and they are a wonderful alternative to ready-made flowers. Each handmade flowers we can create in such way what we need, in any color and size.
I love this opportunity when I can make my own embellish, perfect fit to the paper which I used as background on my Lo.
Today, I made a few flowers in various sizes using Artisan Tapes – are perfect for this idea!
Today’s Lo is the story about a little treasure, which Rose found sometime ago.
This is a small stone, but for her it’s a real treasure, which holds to this day because it was considered to be valuable in some way – so adorable! My Lo have title in Polish “mały skarb” means “little treasure”. For photo colors combo I choose perfectly matched Bayberry Cottage collection, and the main decoration on the Lo is occurring today in the lead role – accordion fold flowers!
Supplies used: