Archives for March 2015

Flower Die Cuts That Spring To Life

Mar

Hi Pebbles Fans! Holly here from Ribbons & Glue. Spring is officially only a few days away now. Besides Easter, Spring also means gardens. I used the Pebbles’ Happy Day collection to welcome in those Spring Gardens by making a Spring Carrot Decor project.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been much of a gardener since I moved to Southern Nevada. My postage stamp back yard full of rocks without irrigation seriously inhibits my green thumb.

Since I am unable to grow real carrots, I will resort to making paper carrots. Who am I kidding, I don’t even like carrots so I wouldn’t grow them if I could.

To make this Spring Carrot Decor, I used my Silhouette to cut out a carrot cut file to adhere on to a piece of scrap pallet wood.

I cut out the carrot stem cut file twice to give the top of the carrot fullness and dimension by curling the paper stems.

The carrot is adhered on to the piece of wood using Mod Podge then wrapped with natural cord and a green ribbon.
This Spring Carrot Decor is a perfect project to make to welcome in all those Spring Gardens with or without carrots.

Supplies:
Pebbles Inc. Happy Day Game Night
Pebbles Inc. Happy Day Blooms
Carrot Cut File
Natural Cord

Spring Flower Hoop Wreath

Mar

2 Comments

I am so glad that it is almost Spring! Soon leaves will start budding on trees and flowers will appear en masse. Fresh flower trimmings will brighten indoor spaces, but only after I scold my kids for picking all of the fresh blooms from the landscaping. Sigh.

If you are a Pebbles Blog regular, then you know that I love making home décor pieces with regular ol’ wooden embroidery hoops. Inspired by the brightly colored flowers in the Home Grown collection, I dug into my stash of embroidery hoops to create a simple piece of embroidery hoop décor. BONUS: Embroidery hoop décor also doubles as dog toys! Double sigh.

Guess what? There was a fussy cut made to create this bright, floral wreath. Yesss!

Pebbles makes flowers easy. The only supply I used to make this wreath was a package of die cut flower chips. There are 80 flowers and leaves (bonus!) in this package, which is more than enough to go the entire way around a hoop to make a more grand wreath. And they are so pretty, too.

An easy way to plan your bouquet is to trace the embroidery hoop onto a piece of cardstock and play around with the floral arrangement. This gives you the freedom to experiment and change your mind before anything becomes semi-permanent. TIP: Take a picture of your final arrangement to use as a reference when putting your flowers onto the embroidery hoop.

Layer the larger flowers with foam dots to help create a bold focal point. Rather than assemble your paper flower bouquet directly on the embroidery hoop, cut out a little piece of the circle to use as a base. This will help ensure that your bouquet follows the curve of the hoop. Trim any excess away after you have assembled your bouquet.

Add a bit of extra sparkle and dimension to your flowers by highlighting the flowers with glitter glue. Yep, the very same stuff that you hoarded as a kid is still a very useful craft supply.

Attach flowers to the front and back of the cardstock as you create your bouquet. This will add depth to your bouquet and help you get the flowers in just the right place.

After your bouquet is assembled, use foam dots throughout to add dimension to your bouquet. I used several foam dots to separate different flowers and pop up leaves to give the bouquet more depth.

Happy Spring!
Amanda

Supplies:
HOMEGROWN PRINTED CHIPBOARD PIECES 100/PKG EPHEMERA FLOWERS
ZAZZ! GLITTER GLUE .5OZ
Embroidery hoop

A St. Patrick’s Day Baby

Mar

2 Comments

Hi, Renee here today to share two St. Patrick’s Day layouts where I focus on creating flower clusters. St. Patrick’s Day is a pretty big deal at our house because we have a St. Patrick’s Day baby. Yep, our youngest daughter, Payton, was born on St. Patrick’s Day. It’s quite fun and wonderful. Payton will turn 8 years old in five days! Wow, time is flying!

(Jen Hadfield Cottage Living Alphabet Banner 68/Pkg pictured above.)

I still remember that day at the hospital. Well, I did need my husbands help to remember some things because childbirth was such a surreal experience…it was over in a blur. The main thing I remember was that I waited what seemed like forever to hold her. Payton was born with the cord wrapped around her neck. It wasn’t too tight (I was told) but it was tight enough that daddy wasn’t the one to cut the umbilical cord this time. She failed her first Apgar test and was given more oxygen and was suctioned a bit more. Her final Apgar score was a 9 out of 10 so she was fine and healthy. I was so happy to finally hold her!

Luck had nothing to do with us having Payton that St. Patrick’s Day. We were blessed to have her join our family. She was meant to be in our lives and we are so happy she is.

Happy Birth Day! Layout

For this first layout, I mostly used the Home Grown collection. How fitting right? I love the bright colors in this collection. Now, even though Payton is a St. Patrick’s Day baby, you are not going to find any shamrocks or leprechauns on these layouts. Instead I used flower clusters and butterflies. Payton loves butterflies. No worries…I did include touches of green especially here with the journaling card. This photo of Payton in the hospital is one of my favorites. It measures 3.5″ x 3.5″ and I layered the Foliage and Family pattern papers underneath it. I created a pretty and happy dreamland around her and included her birth information.

The very first thing I did was trim the Partly Cloudy pattern paper to 5 3/4″ x 12″. I used the “hello” die, a bit of Basics Washi Tape, and my Sizzix Big Shot Machine…

…to create this pretty die-cut “hello” shape in the paper. I placed this at the top half of another sheet of the Partly Cloudy pattern paper. I just used the reverse side of it.

I love it! I love the happy pop of yellow through it. I added the “sweet baby” rub-on and little dancing butterfly stickers around the page.

Ah, flowers, flowers, flowers. I’m in heaven. I love these pretty flowers. I knew I wanted to create a flower arrangement on my page (I received lots of beautiful flower bouquets at the hospital). Sometimes I have a creative block when thinking of a design.

If you find yourself stuck on a design too for a card, layout, or other project, then why not turn to the products themselves and their packaging. Simply choose a flower arrangement and create it on your project. So many different and pretty designs to help you along.

Here’s my bouquet of flowers being enjoyed by the butterflies and the adorable Mama and Baby Birds.

I love the font style of these coral foam Thickers. I used them as part of my title along with a cut word from the Cottage Living Classic Stripes pattern paper. Instead of using my own handwriting for the journaling on this page, I used the awesome From Me to You Roller Stamp for the journaling and birth information.

Supplies:
Home Grown Family Time (732800)
Home Grown Foliage (732803)
Home Grown Partly Cloudy (732805)
Home Grown Family (732808)
Home Grown Icon & Phrase Stickers (732812)
Home Grown Ephemera Flowers (732820)
Home Grown Ivy Thickers, Coral (732822)
Cottage Living Classic Stripes (732759)
Cottage Living Dies, Polaroid (732785)
We Go Together Epoxy Hearts Stickers (732737)
Special Delivery Girl Rub-Ons (732461)
From Me to You Roller Stamp (732278)
American Crafts Precision Pen .03 Point, Black (62311)
American Crafts This to That Dimensional Dots (61709)
American Crafts Dear Lizzy 5th & Frolic Roller Stamp (59162)

You + Me Layout

For this second layout, I used the Jen Hadfield Cottage Living collection. The soft color palette is perfect for a baby page. Softness is exactly what I felt as I had alone time with Payton in the hospital to bond.

I started by trimming the Floral Tapestry pattern paper to just over 6.5 ” x 12″ and placed it on the Sunrise Sunset pattern paper.

Oooo, now the fun part…misting! I laid the 12″ x 12″ Plastic Stencil right on top of my paper with no adhesive and used the Gold Glitter Color Mist…

…to create this beautiful design! I love this golden color mist because the opacity is fantastic! I tested it out on the Cottage Living Classic Stripes pattern paper and the coverage is just awesome! I did spray heavier in some spots and the paper wrinkled a bit. No biggie. You can always mount it on a piece of cardstock and smooth out the wrinkles as it dries. I don’t mind a few wrinkles because I feel it gives it a more handmade look and feel to the page.

Here’s another favorite photo from the hospital and it measures 3.5″ x 3.5″. Perfect size for the die-cut frame. I used the Polaroid die, Rounded Trellis pattern paper, and Xyron 5″ Create-a-Sticker Max machine to create my completed photo frame. I love this adhesive because there is no gloopy mess to wipe off my photo and it’s such a strong stick directly to my page.

Similar to a Mother’s Day corsage 😉 I made this lovely flower cluster using gorgeous Paper Flowers and fussy cut flowers from the Floral Tapestry pattern paper. I sprinkled some green Jewel Stickers around the page to softly celebrate this St. Patrick’s Day baby. I layered a black and Gold Dipped Tag along with a “You + Me” Sweet Greetings Gold Foil Accent Journaling Card for my title. I used the Polaroid die again for the gold hearts.

I tried to use a different pen to write my journaling. It just made my messy handwriting even messier and it did not cover the gold color mist. I wrote over it using a black Precision Pen and yay it covered the gold and just wrote beautifully over it!

Oh my goodness, I just love the shine of this Golden Glitter Color Mist! I also love the “Best Day Ever” Puffy Phrase Sticker and “I adore you” Clear Acrylic Stamp.

Hope you enjoyed these layouts.

Cheers to a very HAPPY ST. PATRICK‘S DAY!

Supplies:
Cottage Living Floral Tapestry (732750)
Cottage Living Sunrise Sunset (732760)
Cottage Living Rounded Trellis (732763)
Cottage Living Gold Foil Accent Cardstock 12″ x 12″, Sweet Greetings (732768)
Cottage Living Gold Foil Accent Cardstock 12″ x 12″, Chevron (732773)
Cottage Living Jewel Stickers (732778)
Cottage Living Gold Dipped Tags (732783)
Cottage Living Paper Flowers (732784)
Cottage Living Dies, Polaroid (732785)
Cottage Living Puffy Phrase Stickers (732791)
Cottage Living Clear Acrylic Stamps (732792)
Cottage Living Plastic Stencil 12″ x 12″ (732794)
Cottage Living Gold Glitter Color Mist (369021)
From Me to You Roller Stamp (732278)
American Crafts Precision Pen .03 Point, Black (62311)
American Crafts This to That Dimensional Dots (61709)
Crate Paper Maggie Holmes Styleboard Mixed Confetti, Dots, Butterflies & Leaves (683433)
Studio Calico Inky Black Mr. Huey’s Color Mist (331064)