Archives for April 2012

Guest Designer: Laura Vegas and a GIVEAWAY!

Apr

Hi everyone! I am so excited to introduce you to this week’s Guest Designer Laura Vegas. Let’s get to know Laura a little better …

Describe yourself in 3 words … sarcastic, procrastinator, multi-tasker.

My guilty pleasure is … Starbucks Java Chip Frappacino, which is a must have every day.

You’ll never find me without … my IPod Touch. I love to use it to quickly check on emails, and I’m very addicted to Words With Friends.

You might be surprised to know that I … have been changing diapers for almost 16 years straight, even though my daughters are almost 13 and 16 years old. I started doing daycare in my home when my youngest was only 2 years old, and have always had babies and toddlers here. I’ve never had a gap in time when I wasn’t changing diapers, and I don’t see one in sight.

My least favorite chore is … cleaning the kitchen. I avoid cleaning the stove, microwave, sink, etc, unless I absolutely have too.

I started scrapbooking in … 1995. Does that date me? 😉 I started shortly before my first daughter was born, and I never looked back.

My favorite thing about this hobby is … playing with fun products and making pretty projects. Scrapbooking is very much a creative release for me, and I enjoy the entire process.

If I were a Pebbles product, I would be … the pink glitter alpha stickers from the Hip Hip Hooray collection. I love having just a little bit of sparkle in life, and these do just that on my projects!

“I knew this happy and fun birthday collection would be perfect to finally get my youngest daughter’s 11th birthday party photos scrapped. We have lots of swimming birthday parties, and it’s not always easy to find birthday themed products that work with pool photos. I love the little banner stickers, and wanted to carry the same banner idea into my title. I used my Silhouette machine, to cut a banner shaped “Birthday” from the Woo Hoo patterned paper, and then used the Pink Glitter alpha stickers to add on the “Happy” to complete the title.”

Pebbles supplies used:
Hip Hip Hooray Party Time
Hip Hip Hooray Woo Hoo
Hip Hip Hooray Pink Glitter ABC Stickers
Hip Hip Hooray Glitter Flag Banners
Hip Hip Hooray Pinwheels
Hip Hip Hooray Twist Ties
Hip Hip Hooray Candy Dots Circle Sequins
Country Picnic Blush Mini ABC Stickers

“I am always in need of birthday cards, and yet they are the one kind of card that I never seem to have on hand. While I had my supplies out from working on the layout, I decided to use up a lot of my scraps to make a set of birthday cards. For the smaller strips of pattern paper along the bottom of the cards, I used the UPC strips from different patterned papers. I love that a piece that you might normally cut off and throw away, can be put to good use just by flipping it around and using the design on the backside.”

Pebbles supplies used:
Hip Hip Hooray Party Time
Hip Hip Hooray Woo Hoo
Hip Hip Hooray Good Times
Hip Hip Hooray Celebration
Hip Hip Hooray Pink Glitter ABC Stickers
Hip Hip Hooray Glitter Flag Banners
Hip Hip Hooray Stitched Dimensional Circles
Hip Hip Hooray Dimensional Flowers
Hip Hip Hooray Candy Dots Square Sequins

“I love the fresh and clean colors of the Country Picnic collection, and right away, I thought about these photos I had taken of my friends daughter. I love to layer my pattern paper, to create “frames” around my layout. While it look like I used 3 full sheets of pattern paper for this layout, I actually cut out the insides of both the green embossed dot paper and the white hearts paper, so that I only used what would show when I layered them together. Now I have the insides of both paper left over, to use on other projects. I love the Masking Tape stickers, and layered a few together along the sides of my photos, adding some staples to each one.”

Pebbles supplies used:
Country Picnic Greenhouse
Country Picnic Back Porch
Country Picnic Meadow
Country Picnic Cobblestone Kraft
Country Picnic Spinach Corrugated ABC Stickers
Country Picnic Blush Mini ABC Stickers
Country Picnic Dimensional Flowers
Country Picnic Embossed Masking Tape Stickers

“When I saw the Layered Kraft Tags, I knew they would be perfect for some quick cards. The layering is so detailed, and makes it appear that you put a lot of time and effort into making the tag. I love products that do all the hard work for you! I started with my white card base, and added a strip of patter paper along the bottom of each card, and a punched strip of cardstock along the sides. Then I simply adhered a tag to each card, adding a few Masking Tape stickers to the side of the tags, and using a mini staple to hold down the tag strings.”

Pebbles supplies used:
Country Picnic Secret Garden
Country Picnic Meadow
Country Picnic Layered Kraft Tags
Country Picnic Embossed Masking Tape Stickers

WOW! Thank you so much Laura for creating so many amazing projects with Pebbles! And now for a GIVEAWAY! To enter simply leave a comment on this blog post telling us which of Laura’s projects was your favorite. One lucky winner will be chosen at random to win a prize pack full of Pebbles goodies. Submit your comments by Monday at midnight (EST). I’ll announce the winner Tuesday morning. Good luck!

Sketchy Thursday

Apr

3 Comments

For today’s edition of “Sketchy Thursday” we asked some of our design team members to create a project based on this fabulous sketch by Becky Fleck.

“This sketch was perfect for showcasing this photo of my brand new nephew John (who we call Jack). I kept the design very similar except I replaced the tickets with a large ‘J’ cut with my Silhouette for my title. I have been waiting to use this calendar paper from the New Addition collection and celebrating Jack’s arrival was the perfect occasion!” – Lynn Ghahary, Pebbles Design Team Member

Pebbles supplies used:
New Addition Calendar (751151)
New Addition It’s A Boy (751152)
New Addition Little Prince (751161)
New Addition Special Delivery (751066)
New Addition Dimensional Phrases & Icons Stickers (732065)
New Addition Dimensional Border Stickers (732066)
New Addition Chips (744116)

“I love using sketches as starting points for my layouts and this was no exception. I definitely changed it to meet my needs, but the bare bones are based on the sketch. I used two photos instead of one and used tags instead of ticket embellishments. I layered several papers on the top, and added more journaling at the bottom. That’s why I love sketches … once you get started, you always “make it your own,” so even if you used the same sketch 10 times, each layout would look different! (Also, I am loving this new Country Picnic collection – I can’t stop using it!!)” – Wendy Sue Anderson, Pebbles Design Team Member

Pebbles supplies used:
Country Picnic Courtyard (751242)
Country Picnic Picket Fence (751241)
Country Picnic Orchard (751249)
Country Picnic Terrace (751246)
Country Picnic Meadow (751243)
Country Picnic Gift Tags (747173)
Country Picnic Masking Tape Stickers (732100)
Country Picnic Layered Paper Flowers (747172)
Country Picnic Mini ABC Stickers (732099)
Country Picnic ABC Stickers (732094)
Country Picnic ABC Stickers (732097)

“I love to work with sketches because I feel like half of the work is already done. For this layout I changed the tickets for little hearts that I sewed to the page. I love the bright green and pink combination that you can get mixing the Hip Hip Hooray and the Country Picnic lines.” – Eva Pizarro, Pebbles Design Team Member

Pebbles Supplies used:
Country Picnic Courtyard (751242)
Country Picnic Patio (751245)
Country Picnic Back Porch (751248)
Country Picnic Dimensional Stickers (732101)
Country Picnic ABC Stickers (732094)
Hip Hip Hooray Let’s Party (751227)
Hip Hip Hooray Good Times (751228)
Hip Hip Hooray Surprise (751235)
Hip Hip Hooray Dimensional Flowers (747165)
With Love I Heart You (751203)

Dear Pebbles

Apr

7 Comments

Good morning everyone! Today we are featuring cards created by some of our design team members using their favorite Pebbles products.

“I love how the bright, sunny colors of the Hip Hip Hooray line contrast against white. It inspired me to make these clean, graphic cards with a focus on the playful patterns. You can’t help but make cheerful, happy cards with this fun line!” – Valerie Mangan, Pebbles Design Team Member

Pebbles supplies used:
Hip Hip Hooray Cheers (751229)
Hip Hip Hooray Let’s Party (751227)
Hip Hip Hooray Surprise (751235)
Hip Hip Hooray Good Times (751228)
Hip Hip Hooray Happy Day (751232)
Country Picnic Masking Tape Stickers (732100)
Lollipop Button Candy Dots (74113)
Yellow Button Candy Dots

“I just adore how easy it is to whip up a batch of cards with the Hip Hip Hooray collection. Our family has tons of April birthdays, so it feels awesome to stock the stash a little bit. All three of my cards start with the same basic white card base – just adding different patterned paper strips and embellishments make each card look different and unique. I think the name of one of our papers says it all ‘Woo Hoo’!” – Kim Kesti, Pebbles Design Team Member

Pebbles supplies used:
Hip Hip Hooray Happy Day (751232)
Hip Hip Hooray Celebration (751231)
Hip Hip Hooray Woo Hoo (751236)
Hip Hip Hooray Pinwheel Flags (747168)
Hip Hip Hooray Dimensional Flowers (747165)
Hip Hip Hooray Dimensional Circles (744290)
Hip Hip Hooray Clear Stamps (747170)
Hip Hip Hooray Mini Clothespins (744287)
Hip Hip Hooray Sequin Candy Dots (744285)
Hip Hip Hooray Stickers (732091)
Hip Hip Hooray Banner Kit (747163)

How To Tuesday

Apr

4 Comments

“I love making use of paper scraps and creating my own custom embellishments. Here’s a fun way that utilizes what we already have to create something new. Using a paper border punch or chain punch, you can quickly transform paper into what I call a paper collar embellishment – a base for which you can add ready made dimensional embellies on top of it or a layered base to add a floral embellishment. So many possibilities once you get started!” – Pearl Liu, Pebbles Design Team Member

To start, using a lace border punch design of your choice, punch out a strip of paper chain/border with at least 4-6 segments.

Cut your paper chain into 4 whole segments. I trim my border strip to a width of about 1/2″ when using a border design.

Glue the first 3 segments as shown here, at right angles to each other. I used my tape runner for adhesive but liquid glue is also fine.

Here’s how it looks with 4 pieces all adhered.

Add your embellishment of choice on top of your paper collar for a fun new layered look. Pebbles papers are two sided so you have the happy option of choosing one of 2 colors to match your project.

Experiment with different border punch designs to get more out of your Pebbles’ paper scraps and border punches! And here are my quickly altered wooden clothes pegs that I’ve made with my new embellies.

Pebbles supplies used:
Country Picnic Meadow ( 751243)
Floral Lane My Darling ( 751126)
Hip Hip Hooray Dimensional Circles (744290)
Country Picnic Layered Paper Flowers ( 747172)
Floral Lane Dimensional Sticker Flower ( 732056)

Mix & Match Monday

Apr

3 Comments

It’s Monday again, which means we’ll be mixing and matching some Pebbles products to show you just how well our collections can be used with one another.

“With bits from various collections, I was able to expand on the Hip Hip Hooray collection. I seem to always be in the search of Birthday cards, so I took this opportunity to create a trio of cards to keep on hand. I had a couple of sheets left from With Love, and Country Picnic that I chose to use as the background for a couple of the cards. I pulled in embellishments from Fresh Goods, and With Love collection, too. Love how easy these came together!Pebbles continues to create products that blend well together nicely, making the design process fun, and super simple!” – Suzanne Sergi, Pebbles Design Team Member

Pebbles supplies used:
Country Picnic Back Porch (751248)
With Love XOXO (751210)
With Love Gift tags (747160)
Fresh Goods Toothpick Flags (747153)
Hip Hip Hooray Party Time (751225)
Hip Hip Hooray Celebration (751231)
Hip Hip Hooray Surprise (751235)
Hip Hip Hooray Woo Hoo (751236)
Hip Hip Hooray Confetti (751233)
Hip Hip Hooray Stitched Dimensional Circles (744290)
Hip Hip Hooray Pinwheels (747168)
Hip Hip Hooray Flag Banner Kit (747163)

“I created these two quick and easy cards for an excuse to drop a line to some girlfriends I haven’t spoken to in a while. By using papers with a similar feel (in both pattern and color tone) I was able to use three different Pebbles lines for one cohesive design, and the kraft elements help to tie it all together. I slightly changed the colors in the second card just for some variation.” – Ashley Stephens, Pebbles Design Team Member

Pebbles supplies used:
Fresh Goods Front Desk (751187)
Fresh Goods Mom & Pop (751194)
Country Picnic Courtyard (751242)
Country Picnic Stamps (747171)
Hip Hip Hooray Confetti (751233)
Hip Hip Hooray Surprise (751235)
Hip Hip Hooray Stitched Dimensional Circles (744290)