#3...Ooooo CHOCOLATE!

After covering the 8 tags of LOVE with the K&Company embossed paper...Cut and Paste Chocolate Lovers...I had the decadent chocolate desserts remaining. What was I going to do with those? Now if it had been the actual desserts there would be no question...I firmly believe life is short...eat dessert first! But when they are about one inch square, and made of paper...I had to come up with another idea...a card...how about a collage...yea, that's the ticket...a chocolate collage card! I started with the Pink Pasilee "Love Potion" tiny white hearts patterned paper...then added a layer of the reverse side, red with the lacy print. The edges were distressed with "Tattered Rose" ink. I played around with the placement of the chocolate images until I found the right "look"...the dessert dishes were embellished with the MAGIC PEN. I used one of the Crafty Secrets Heartwarming Vintage Cut...Pink Pasilee green glitter brad...the red flower is cut from Mystic Paper lace.

That's my 3 design team projects...now for the big question...which is your favorite...dark chocolate OR milk chocolate?

The 8 tags of LOVE

Tim Holtz has his 12 Tags of Christmas...I have my 8 tags of LOVE!
For my second Mystic Paper Design Team Project I covered shipping tags with the K andCompany "Cut and Paste Chocolate Lovers" paper. The pattern on this paper has kind of a Shabby Chic vintage look to it...

all the tags were distressed with Ranger "Tattered Rose" ink and then spritz with "Vintage Pink" Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist...

each tag has a Crafty Secrets Heartwarming Vintage Cut...embellished with a "Clear Star" Sakura Jelly Roll pen...better know as the MAGIC PEN.

wooden hearts are covered in "Fruit Punch" Stickels...the ribbons, lace and braid come from Mystic...

A 12x12 piece of mat board was covered with the Pink Pasilee "Bow and Arrow" blue with tiny white hearts patterned paper...sanded a bit around the edges...distressed with ink...springy green lace was added to the top and bottom of the paper... pink lace flowers...with Kaiser Scrapbook blue rhinestones in the center.

The 8 LOVE shipping tags were mounted to the background.

When I turned the project in, I was awarded with a "stinkin' cute" by Jennifer!

Two projects down...one more to show...

The first of three...

This time I made three projects with my Mystic Paper Design Team kit...
This card is made from the reverse side of the tiny off white hearts Pink Paislee Love Potion patterned paper. When we picked this paper out for the kit I really didn't pay much attention to the opposite side...this red with the "lacey" print screamed Valentines Day. I cut a heart shape out of the MF "Paige" patterned paper...and outlined it with Stickels...lace was gathered and adhered on back the heart. The pink flowers are made from pink lace found off the "ribbon wall" at Mystic Paper and a red glittery brads are from Pink Paislee's Bella Brads...all topped off with a Crafty Secrets Heartwarming Vintage Cuts.
I have two other projects to share with you...
while you are waiting...click on over to Sheri, Jenna and Holly's blogs and check out the fun projects they created.

LOVE

The Mystic Paper design team had the month of December off. With the next big holiday in mind...Valentines Day...Jennifer and I put together the January design team kits with the theme of "LOVE".
I got Crafty Secrets Heartwarming Vintage Cuts...with a Victorian look. Two sheets of Pink Paislee patterned paper ..."Bow and Arrow", blue with tiny white hearts and "Love Potion", distressed white with tiny white hearts. A sheet of Melissa Frances patterned paper..."Paige", pink on pink dots. Also in the kit is a fun sheet of K&Company embossed paper..."Cut and Paste Chocolate Lover".
A "springy green" lace and a couple of small wooden hearts.

Hearts, lace, chocolate and vintage looking Victorian images...looks like Valentines to me! Now what to do with all these fun treasures?

Oh By The Way...

Jennifer has had some requests for me to teach my

Heritage Scrapbook class again. This is the beginning class to get you organized, how to copying old photos, what to do with ephemera and the answers to many more questions you may have. You will receive a note book full of information to get you started on your family history.

This class is the 15th of January 4:30 to 6:30. You can call

Mystic Paper to sign up.

Cards, Banners and Magic Pens

Have you ever heard of a "magic pen". It has probably been out for ever, and I have just discovered it. Jennifer added a "magic pen" to each of the Mystic Paper Design Team kits...it is wonderful! It's a Sakura brand Gelly Roll pen...Clear Star...it's just like a magic wand full of fairy dust.
I used it to out line every image on the vintage post cards for my Design Team project. The easy choice was to make Christmas card. Along with the "magic pen" I embellished the cards with red, green and crystal Stickels.

The cards were fun to make...but I needed more of a challenge. What to do with all the postcards. I thought about my designer friend Melissa... she creates these amazing banners. Maybe I could make a Christmas Banner...I have never made a banner before...how do I even start a banner? Having no clue as to what I was doing...I made a banner.

Once again ever image was embellished with the "magic pen" and Stickels...

Remember the bag of berries from the shopping spree at Savers?

Those got used too...

When I turned the Christmas Banner into Jennifer, I got a "that's stinkin' cute"...

which everyone that plays at Mystic knows that's high praise indeed.

And talk about "great minds running in the same gutter"...Sheri's design team project was a banner too...it's wonderful! Jenna's design team was a unique twist for Christmas...very impressive. I haven't seen Holly's or Surina's projects yet, but I'm sure they are great.

With the design team project turned in, I can now get started designing this years Christmas cards...

I still have a few weeks don't I?

Savers Shopping Spree

I went in to Savers the other day. I only went in for one item...a blue table cloth. I wasn't going to wander up and down the aisles checking out all the treasures...I was only going in for a blue table cloth...Okay a blue table cloth and a pillow...
That happened to be the day they had tons of "cool junk"...and a 20% discount. Every where I looked were wonderful items, with all kinds of design possibilities!

Before I even got up to the check out counter I had come up with a half dozen ways to alter this Styrofoam head. Just looking at it you are coming up with some ideas too...I'm right aren't I?

I have no idea what this was meant to be...but for 69 cents, minus the 20%...

once I snipped the lace off the pillow thingy...I have all this great lace and a couple of ribbon flowers.

I must have pick up and put back the plastic bag of Christmas berries 3 or 4 times. I was sure I had some at home. Besides what was I going to do with a

Bag 'O Christmas Berries?

AH HA! I have a Mystic Paper Design Team project due the end of the week...

a CHRISTMAS PROJECT!

Vintage Post Cards

This season's Mystic Paper Design Team all got together for a meet and greet in the downstairs class room at Mystic. It was fun to meet all the designers. Design Team kits were passed out...always a good thing! The day before the meeting, Jennifer and I went through the shop and picked out paper, ribbon and embellishments for each designer. We all will be creating a project of our choice with Christmas paper. My kit had flower ribbon, Crystal Stickels (one of my favorites!), a gorgeous shade of red card stock and... a huge sheet of Cavallini "Holiday Postcard" paper. I love vintage post cards...but what am I going to do with a whole sheet if them?

There are all kinds of different Santa post cards...

With Santa Claus dressed in his famous red suit with fur trim...

This Santa must not have got the memo about NO SMOKING...

Some of the post cards on the sheet are of snowmen...

Snowmen are fun... except this one...I don't know, he looks like he should be part of a Christmas project of Mike's at Jack and Cat Curio..spooky!

There are 25 vintage post cards on a sheet...does this mean I have to design 25 projects? You know how fast Sheri is. She probably has her project finished and turned in already...of course it will be very cute!

This will be the first project for the new design team members, Holly, Jenna and Surina. It will be fun to see what wonderful designs they create.

Sometimes you just need to play!

Last night at the Heritage Scrapbooking Workshop, Mary asked if I would like her to take pictures of the class...That would have been nice, but I forgot my camera! The nights I do remember the camera...I forget to take pictures. I really must get my act together. All the ladies are working on different types of Heritage projects and are encouraging each other along the way. Ann has amazing family stories, ephemera and photos which she is using to design some impressive layouts. Mary is working on a book honoring her mother-in-law, who was a poet. It is fun to see the wonderful pages they have created. We were joined by Cynthia, whose mother made a marvelous scrapbook back in the 1950s. It has been well loved and the cover is coming apart, so Cynthia is "remaking" the book.
During the class I taught different ways on how to use "Transparencies". I had a photo left over from the demo I designed for the class. With the extra photo I decided to play!
I printed a photo of Grandma Mabel at age 3 on clear adhesive film (transparency with an adhesive back), I love this stuff! You don't have to worry about how you are going to adhere the image to your project. Where do I get it you ask...Mystic Paper of course! I placed the transparency on a patterned paper that looked like an old letter. At that point I pulled out all my boxes of lace and fabric. Most of them got a "bath" in tea to give them an aged look. When they dried, I started layering.

From there I dumped out the jar of old jewelery and I found some pieces that if you squint...might look vintage. For a pop of color I added a few posies.

It turned out kind of cool...I will have to play more often!

OBTW:

If you feel like you missed out on all the fun last night...I have another Heritage Workshop this Friday the 25 of September- 4:30 to 6:30. You can sign up for the class by calling Mystic Paper.

Another OBTW:
Congratulations to the Mystic Paper new Design Team. Holly, Jenna and Surina. All very talented ladies. You can see their 12x12 entries on the Mystic blog site. Every team needs a captain...and Mystic Paper has asked me to be the Design Team captain. I'm looking forward to working with the new team. I have some very big shoes to fill...Sheri was an awesome DTC.

Friday Night Post

Looking at this picture you would think the ladies at the Wednesday night Heritage Scrapbook Workshop didn't get much accomplished...actually I forgot to take photos until they were all cleaning up. They have all accomplished a lot with their projects. Lisa has posted some of the pages from the recipe book she designed on her blog...House of Hullabaloo. Ann has great old photos and family stories and her layouts are wonderful. Mary is working on a book with a few photos and a lot of poems written by her mother-in-law. I'm impressed with each book these ladies are designing.

If you are ready to get all your old family photos out of a box and into a scrapbook and aren't quite sure were to begin, call Mystic Paper and sign up for the Heritage Scrapbook class on Saturday the 15th of August. This class will break it all down for you and help you get started.

Did you notice something was missing from my blog? There is no Design Team project for this month. It has been a year since I joined Mystic Paper Design Team and our term is now up. Mystic has a call out for a new design team.
I have had so much fun with each and every project that Fearless Leader...Design Team Captain Sheri pick out. I got a chance to play with all the fun toys at Mystic and the opportunity to met some very talented designers while hanging out there.
Earlier this year Kim and Jennifer asked if I would be interested in teaching classes at Mystic. I have appreciated the offer and it has a great experience to be able to share thoughts and ideas with so many people.

Christmas in July

I was surprised how easily the Mystic Paper Christmas in July Design Team
project went together. I'm not sure it was so much the theme, as it was the Basic Gray patterned paper...hey it's no secret, I am a Basic Gray girl!
With names like "Winterberry", "Merry Happy", "Brandy Butter" and "Spruce" how can you not create wonderful Christmas layouts. Basic Gray knew what they were doing when they created the "Wassail" line...this paper would be great for non holiday pages too. I really did have a good time with the Element stickers. I mounted a few of them on chipboard to give the layout some dimension. The journaling was printed on white vellum.I haven't played with that in a while.
The Vellum Glue Dots make it much easier to apply the vellum to layouts. If you are not using vellum because it's to annoying to figure out how to make it stick to you page, try the Vellum Glue Dots... they are great.
Not sure where to find the dots...Mystic has them!
Of course I added"Old Paper" distress ink and some "Star Dust" Sitckels.

My new favorite paper is the "Brandy Butter". This is a lovely shade of yellow with hints of red distressing. The Element Sticker page had some fantastic borders that I layered. The distress ink on this layout was "Tattered Rose".

What to do with the Daisy Ds Picture Hanger?

I wanted something unexpected...but couldn't come up with any ideas. Sometimes you need a little bit of creative help... I scrap-swiped this idea from the Internet. I can't remember were, so thank you to who ever came up with such a fun idea!

With the last little bit of paper and stickers I designed a Christmas card. After all what is Christmas with out Christmas cards?

I'm going to click over to see what Sheri, Lindsey and Yasu designed with their Christmas in July kits...want to come with me...just click!

Another "Oh by the way"...

Wednesday night I had great Heritage Scrapbooking class at Mystic. Lots of information and ideas to get the ladies started with all their old family photos, letters and memorabilia. If you are still wondering what to do with all your family treasures, call Mystic and sign up for the next class. It will be Saturday the 15th of August. Don't you think it's time to get your grandma out of a box and into a Heritage Scrapbook album?

168 Days till Christmas

It is difficult to even think about Christmas when the temperature here is above 100f and getting hotter every day. But that is just what the Mystic Paper Design Team is doing for their July projects. My first thought when I opened my DT kit and saw all the wonderful Basic Gray pattered paper was Hooray...I haven't had my all time favorite paper in a while.

Then I took a second look...it was the Christmas line "Wassail". Was there some mistake? Did DT Captain Sheri really intend to give me Christmas paper? Seeing the confused look on my face, Kim told me it was for Christmas in July. With a tear in my eye at the very thought that "yes...soon...too soon, it will be that time again"

I pulled the rest of the Christmas goodies out of my bag.

Besides all the wonderful paper there was a page of Basic Gray Elements stickers, they are always a great addition to any layout, a yard of holiday green striped ribbon and some Daisy Ds picture hangers.

So to get me in the holiday mood I have set my Air Conditioning very low, and have Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas" from the CD player...I am designing Christmas in July. You would think with this much warning I would start designing my Christmas Cards...naaaa, I'll wait until December!

I wonder what Lindsey, Yasu and Sheri got in their kits?

Oh by the way!

I had a great class last night at Mystic Paper. It was a workshop for Heritage Scrapbooking. Lisa and Ann came with all their treasures and wonderful ideas. They both have photos, ephemera and fantastic stories for the albums that they are working on. Want to join in the fun? I am teaching the Heritage Scrapbooking Class again next week at Mystic on Wednesday the 15th of July from 3:30 to 5:30. This class is full of information to get you started and will prepare you to join Lisa, Ann and I the following Wednesday on July 22nd from 3:30 to 5:30 for the continuing Heritage Scrapbooking workshops. All you have to do is call Mystic Paper and sign up.

Here comes the Bride

Have you been wondering what I created for my Mystic Paper Design Team project...?
All that luscious Cosmo Cricket "Everafter" patterned paper and stickers became a bride mini book...

Using a handmade book, I added the paper...

remember it's double sided so the possibilities are just about endless.

I used vintage bride and wedding party images...

and made about a half dozen different kinds of flowers to embellish the pages...
along with the stickers I added a tag, buttons, ribbon, lace, jewelry, rhinestones, Stickles glitter, beads, distress ink and a dove...

After all June is the traditional month for weddings!

Yasu is traveling, but have you taken a look at what Lindsey and Sheri created?