ormolu

Custom Flair

I have to tell you that I have had some custom flair sitting in my Ormolu bin for a while now.  Let's be honest, I've been hoarding it.  I love this flair and should probably get more for my hoarding drawer.  I love the fact that Kaitlin gives the option of not only letters, phrases and images, but also the option of 16 colors too.  So for this layout I busted out the "E" for miss Ella and I'm so glad I broke down and finally used it!

I just love that blue color and it was perfect for these swimming photos with all the blue water and suit!  I simply layered it on top of a Fact or Fiction Dots N Spots, then again on a chipboard ribbon, which again was perfect for the theme of the layout!

I dug into my Fact or Fiction Swatches too and experimented a bit with some rub ons.  They went on like butter I tell you!  I thought there might be some issues with it fully sticking to fabric, but it was not a problem at all!  Love how it turned out in the end!

So I encourage you to dig into those custom flair buttons and use them on your next project!  They are absolutely perfect for layouts and cards too.  If you haven't ordered any you must head on over and grab some up!  They are amazing!

InLinkz.com

Christmas Giving

Now that I work in an office full of people, I'm pressed to find holdiay gifts that won't break the bank and will still impress. This year I had almost sold myself on doing a layered cookie jar, then decided after seeing an article in All You, to go with Coconut-Cranberry Granola instead. Fortunately, I had just bought a GIANT bag of Craisins at Costco and had mason jars left over from a baby shower earlier in the year that were begging to be gifted.

I simply printed out a sheet of the Merry Maker Advent Package Tags, which are downloadable, meaning you can print as many tags as you need for all of your gift-giving this season. I then spritzed them with a little mist, punched holes in the top, then added a few paper scraps and some Merry Maker Dots n' Spots. Super simple, quick and easy.

 

Here's the recipe if you'd like to make your own granola gifts:

Ingredients

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
• 1 cup sliced almonds, roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup dried cranberries

Preparation

• 1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. In a bowl, mix oats, coconut and almonds. In a microwave-safe bowl, mix honey, brown sugar, oil, cinnamon and salt; microwave on high until sugar begins to dissolve, about 30 seconds. Stir into oat mixture.
• 2. Spread mixture on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake, stirring twice, until granola is golden brown and toasted, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. Let cool, stirring occasionally. Toss in cranberries.

All You - DECEMBER 2011

 

I hope you enjoy this recipe and an idea on simple gift giving this Christmas.

-Stephanie

 

InLinkz.com

More Gift Tags

I know that Amanda brought you some tags earlier this week, but I see that scrappy minds think alike and here I am to put the spotlight on the Merry Makers and show you some more tags!  Luckily, we have 2 different color schemes between our tags!

All the Merry Maker products are perfect for making cute tags for either decor or for gifts to give this season.  I paired these with some Echo Park holiday papers for my tags.

The reds in the Echo Park papers highlighted the tags and circles in the Merry Maker set.  I added a bit of yellow and black and voila-colorful tags!

I used 2 larger tags that I had in my stash and at first I had a little trouble, then just treated them as a mini layout and it came together quickly after that.

I'm in love with the fabric swatches!  It adhered to the tag easily, but I added a bit of stitching to set it apart and well, it's fabric, so why not?!

Now I have a head start on some tags for all the gifts that will still need to be wrapped in 3 weeks!

 

InLinkz.com

Scrapping Photos from Your Phone

One of the things I dislike about scrapbooking is that I have trained myself to not want to use any photo that hasn't been edited. Enter my handy-dandy new iPhone. I love that I can take photos, no matter where I am, email them to myself, edited and ready to go.

I took this photo outside the window of the break room at work a few weeks ago:

And turned it into a layout, using the Here and Now button from the Fact or Fiction line and the now discontinued (and much hoarded by me) Soft Petals tags:

So take that photo you randomly took on your way to work, or at home and scrap it!

InLinkz.com

-Stephanie

Can't Quit It: Fact or Fiction

So I just can't quit it: the new line, Fact or Fiction. I love the colors - the yellows, reds, greys and oranges, and the patterns that never go out of style: arrows, circles, stripes and ledgers.

It's been a while since I scrapped my cute kittens, Alli and Gracie, so after taking some Instagram photos of them over the weekend, I thought I'd scrap a page!

I chose the yellow chevron paper because it matched so well with the Fact or Fiction Dots n' Spots. As per usual, I wanted to keep my layout simple, so I used a few circles and threw in a little Fact or Fiction Flapper for good measure, topped by an ancient Heidi Swapp chipboard heart (one of my favorites).

And last but not least, I had to set off my Thickers with the super-cute ampersand in the Fact or Fiction Flair set. The little piece of red just sets the page off, in my opinion. I finished it off with a few drops of mist, a border sticker and a few scraps of paper!

So are you loving the new line as much as I am? I can't wait to try more pieces of the collection, especially the printables that Amanda mentioned in her previous post. Hope this lends you some inspiration! Happy Friday!

- Stephanie

 

ORMOLU PRODUCTS USED

Fact or Fiction Flappers

Fact or Fiction Flair

Fact or Fiction Dots n Spots

More Fact or Fiction

I know Marti just shared a layout with the fabulous new Fact or Fiction line on Monday, but it's so good that I couldn't help but follow suit. :) So. Here's my layout using some of the new goodies:

I really had fun with the flappers on this one...folding them over the string (from the Negative Number Package Tags), stapling them and even trimming one. Buntings are so "in" right now and the Ormolu flappers make them easy to do yourself! I loved, too, how I could still slide the "flags" to where I wanted them after I'd folded them over. In the end, I secured one of the middle flags to the page with foam squares, just to anchor the line...the rest are just floating there. (And, by the way, it was very hard to resist cutting more/all of the flappers once I got started. I'm envisioning future layouts with flappers and decorative edged scissors becoming close friends.)

I also loved the Printable StoryTellers here! Since they're a digital product, I opened up the two I chose in PhotoShop, added my text and then printed them onto off-white cardstock. Voila. Because it worked for this layout, I left them their original size but already have thoughts of making a layout using a bunch of miniaturized storytellers...

Oh, and did you see the sweet flair on top of the dots n spots? I love how these products work so darn well together!

So. What will you do with your Fact or Fiction? ;)

- Amanda
 

ORMOLU PRODUCTS USED: 

Fact or Fiction Flappers

Fact or Fiction People, Places, Things Flair

Fact or Fiction Dots n Spots

Fact or Fiction Storytellers (digital)

Fact or Fiction

Good morning! I hope you had a fabulous weekend. I thought I'd begin the week spotlighting a few of the products from the new Fact or Fiction line. I always say this, but I just loved this release. The colors and designs are just wonderful. My husband even commented on how much he liked it, as well.

Last spring we took the kidlets on a 2-week vacation to Florida. We chose to begin the trip at
Walt Disney World. After flying all day from Denver to Orlando, we were ready to get out and walk when we arrived so we headed over to the Magic Kingdom. The kidlets were really excited to be there (it was Katie's first trip, and Brendan hadn't been there since his 2nd Birthday), and they began walking together very quickly, trying to take in all of the sights. I hung back and snapped this picture of them:

 

Anyone who has more than one child knows that photo-ops such as this one are a rarity. :) To be honest, out of the hundreds of pictures I took during that trip, this is one of my very favorites.

Here are some close-ups of the Fact or Fiction products I used:

 

 Ormolu Products Used:

Flappers
Trims & Charms
Dots & Spots

GO Product Spotlight

Today I am excited to show you a little mini journal that features the GO line and the cardstock. Have you heard of geocaching? Basically it is a real life treasure hunt. When I typed my zipcode, there were surprisingly a lot of geocaches in my area. We are waiting for a little bit cooler weather and then we will go on a little adventure, so I thought I would be prepared and put together a little journal we can take with us to jot down notes and then I can add pictures when we are back home.

I am loving the cardstock! It is such a great weight! To create the journal, I took 3 pieces of cardstock and cut them in half, so that they measured 8.5x5.5 inches. I folded them in half, opened up them up and stitched down the center crease. Make sure that you do a little reverse stitching at the top and bottom to reinforce the book.

I typed a litle note card on to a word document and printed this out 11 times on the white cardstock. Then I trimmed it down and adhered it on the left side of every page. I added a little embellishment, slightly overlapping the note card. On the right side of the page, I added a little embellishment to the top right corner of the page. I will add pictures on this page, so that will cover the stitching from the back of the page;)
I pretty much followed the same format for continuity throughout the book, so here's a peek at the rest of the pages:

So there you go!  I can't wait to take this on our first geocaching adventure!

Thanks for taking a peek!
Pam

Supplies:
Cardstock Pack

GO Button Embellishments

GO Fabric Swatches

GO Dots N Spots

TreeHugger Flappers