ormolu

Bungalow Flappers & Day 4 Giveaway!

Good morning! Today I am introducing you to a very important little guy - my grandson, Landry. Landry and Mimi (that is what he calls me) are great pals, and I miss him terribly (he lives 5-1/2 hours away). He isn't this tiny any more - he is a rip-roaring 20 month-old now - but I have been holding onto this photo since he was born. It is one of my very favorites of him. 

When I first spied the Tag Sale Fabric Tag Sheet, this particular tag just screamed "clip me!" for some reason. I sewed down the center of it, then snipped each little rectangle so the tag is now a bit feathery and has more movement.

I used just the square portion of the "This is Big - Little Labels" sheet, then added a Bungalow Flapper to the top of it using foam tape. I added 3 Dots & Spots, a Flair Button (all from the Bungalow Collection), a title, and I was done! 

This is going into a special album I am making for Landry - with random pictures and thoughts I want to remember to share with him in the years ahead. 

Kaitlin is being very generous and wants to share a set of Bungalow Flappers with one of you lucky blog-readers! So, leave a quick comment on this post and she will draw a name and mail one of you a set of these! Good luck!

 

 

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And the winner of yesterday's giveaway for the set of Bungalow Flair is: 

Jenny, please contact Kaitlin at ormoludesign(at)gmail(dot)com so we can get those out to you! 

Thanks for all of the comments everyone!

_________________________________________________________________

And the winner of the Bungalow Flappers is: 

Jessica, please contact Kaitlin at ormoludesign(at)gmail(dot)com so we can get those out to you. 

New Release | Bungalow & Tag Sale

BUNGALOW 

I love this new line. In fact, I got really carried away with it and had to stop myself from making more items for it. It's perfect for Project Life because most of what we document is our home life. There are coordinating flair (lots of designs!), fabric sheets to cut up, Dots n' Spots, Flappers and many little journaling cards and labels. 

These- oh, my. I love them. They ended up becoming more costly of an endeavor than many other projects so I am offering them as a Silhouette Print & Cut file as well as a physical version. 

They are quite lovely though and they fit into Project Life journaling pockets. I want to print a bunch of smaller photos for my pockets to put these little frames around them. I love how some of the words are cut out so part of your photo (or a piece of patterned paper) will show up behind it. 

And that negative space that the photo shows through? 

It is filled with two little die cut labels. So not only do you get eight gorgeous little polaroid-esque frames but also sixteen little labels to write on. 

But there is one more (smaller) line of product besides Bungalow...

Tag Sale

Tag Sale is great for almost any type of layout. There are two different flair buttons, little labels, little flags with twisty ties and some fabric tags to cut out. I love how the fabric tags add texture to a page. I want to ruffle them up as I feed them through my sewing machine. 

I would spend more time going into detail- but there is SO much more in the shop right now that I would rather you check it all out...and then come back and let me know what you think.  It's been about five months in the making on some of these items so I need a little reassurance ;) 

Travel Mini Albums

 

 

I love mini albums. I like the idea of keeping record of an event, trip or subject in a small, maneagable format.

A few years ago, I found an idea via the internet to make mini travel albums with Moleskine journals. I made a journal of a trip to Chicago and New York City, and loved how much information I could pack into such a small book.

Since my husband and I are planning a trip to Seattle and Portland this fall, I thought it might be a good time to get started on my albums!

 

Working on the covers is probably my favorite part. I like to use airport codes (PDX and SEA) for the city, so I can know at a quick glance which album I want to flip through.

On my Portland album, I layered fabric, different patterned papers, stamps, Thickers and the cute little car button from the Go Flair set. On my Seattle set, I used the cute grey and yellow arrow from the Go Dots n' Spots set. I tried to keep the same color theme, and the Ormolu products coordinated perfectly.

In my Portland and Seattle albums, I also lined my pages with cardstock. This gives the otherwise thin pages some heft, and will allow me to journal on the lined pages during and after my trip. I am also leaving room to include memorabilia as well as a few embellishments.
 

I can't wait to go on my trip, print out some tiny photos and drop them into my pre-made album. Hope this inspires you to make a little album yourself!

xoxo,

Stephanie

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Marti | 4.13.12

 

Spring!

Life is full of lots of excitement and new beginnings for one group in particular: Graduates.

Graduates come in all ages: Kindergarten, Elementary School, Junior High, High school, and College. It seems like everyone is moving on to something new and wonderful. And it also seems that there will be a string of graduation ceremonies all the way through the entire month of May. In honor of this, I decided to create a quick Graduation card using the Go! Tags. There are so many fun things you can do with these! You could use the arrows and title it "Onward & Upward!", or the Go tag and title it "Go forward in the direction of your dreams.". The possibilities are endless.

So get a jump on your Graduation cards now - before the rush hits next month.

 

 

 

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A new twist on the gold star

 

Remember those charts where you'd earn a gold star when you did something good? And usually you'd get a prize when you got to the end of the row or to a certain number of stars, right? Well, my project today is a bit of a twist on that...making a paper chain to reach a fitness goal. 

You see, I'm managing to do okay (miraculously) sticking with my running plan. But. I know I need some strength training mixed in there and just utterly lack the motivation to follow through. So. I figured I'd make myself a pretty little way to track my progress. I made up 15 paper chain strips (numbered so I can count down). Each time I do the strength training, I get to add a link. When my chain is 15 links long, I get a prize. ;) Here are the strips:

I just took bits and pieces of my Ormolu stash and...voila! When I complete a day (and I'm just starting out so I apologize that it's not longer), I'm writing what I did and a brief message (the first one says "oy!" lol). I've got the other strips in a pretty goblet and will end with "hip, hip, hooray!"

What do you think? Suppose this will motivate me like those little gold star charts work for kids? What goal are you working toward right now?

 

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Project Life: Getting Ready

I'm pretty bad at long, drawn out projects, like December Dailies, 365 photos, and other popular projects. I have a difficult time setting aside time every day, week or month for documentation. That's why it's March 6th and I have yet to finish my second page of Project Life.

Part of me is disappointed, bummed that most people are on week eight and I've barely stuck my toe into the water. Then I stop and realize that it's not my style to craft every day, or get a project done simply to check it off my list. For me, these projects are how I feel about scrapbooking in general---quality, not quantity.

So this post isn't about my fifth, sixth or seventh week into Project Life, it's about my beginning.

I hoarded the silhouette tag from the Vignette line, and used it on my cover page:

And I'm sprinkling in a few Fact or Fiction Flappers, and Fact or Fiction Dots n' Spots:

And I think this is a great opportunity to throw in a few Fact or Fiction Flair Buttons:

And I'm fully planning on using a few Fact or Fiction Storytellers from the digital downloads section of the shop. This will make it easier to have a cohesive look and be able to print off as many tags as I want.

So don't get discouraged when it comes to project timelines. Take it easy and enjoy the process!

xoxo,
Stephanie

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Scrapping with Instagram shots

Since finally getting an iPhone last Spring, I've been bitten by the Instagram bug, and I'm thoroughly hooked on it. I was an avid Flickr user before I discovered IG, and even went so far as to try and complete a 365 by posting there everyday. However, that fell by the wayside sometime around mid-May,  and I decided to give it up, as I just didn't have time to sit and edit photos on a daily basis. Enter IG- it was a perfect alternative to my big DSLR, and so easy to snap a quick photo and edit it  in camera using the various overlays. Also, since my kids are at an age where they are strongly *ahem* opposed to me taking their photo, this seems to be a more subtle approach, as they sometimes don't even realize they're having their photo taken. ;)  I'm enjoying the 'everyday' type shots I get, and the absolute practicality of not having to drag the big camera everywhere I go. The print quality is obviously not as good as my Nikon, but I don't mind sacrificing that as a trade off. Here's a layout I did last week, using a favourite shot of my son and his BFF ( I like to call him my 3rd son, as he's here pretty much 24/7) hanging out on a summer afternoon. This is such a typical scene in my home, and I'm happy I had my phone handy. ( Although, if you're anything like me, your iphone rarely leaves your side, LOL).

Post your link to a page you've done using your IG shots ( or any phone shot, if you don't happen to have an iPhone) and I'll draw a name for a chance to win a package of these sweet '2-Day Hooray' buttons that I have doubles of:

These are perfect for everyday shots like mine, or for those of you who have embarked on PL, n'est pas? :)

 Good luck, I can't wait to see your layouts! I'll post the ( random) winner on Wednesday, February 8th.

* It is not necessary to use Ormolu products to participate in the challenge :) 

 

**** Updated with my random.org pick... Kristy G, you're the lucky recipient of those cute buttons! Please email me at melaniedotlouetteatgmaildotcom with your mailing info. Thanks to all who played along!

 -Melanie

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This fact.

Just catching up a bit now that the holidays are over...finally finished this layout about my first 10K last November. :) (Shhh! We'll just ignore the many other layouts that remain unscrapped, lol!)

I love how smoothly this layout came together by simply tweaking the bits and pieces of Ormolu products that I had sitting on my desk. In particular, I cut the arrow out of a fabric swatch and stapled that on a trimmed package tag...curved the top of a negative number tag (just for fun)...and added a piece of flair to a flapper which sits above a remnant from that trimmed package tag and has a scrap of paper chain.

My favorite parts are the trimmed fabric arrow and the kraft on kraft number package tag (subtle but impactful when popped up on foam dots). What are your favorite ways to tweak Ormolu products?

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Stephanie | 1/17

With Valentine's Day coming up, I took a little time over the weekend to get an early start on a few cards. My husband and I don't really spend money on each other on Valentine's, but I always do my best to make him a card.

For this, I took a few Line & Letter Chevron tags, cut them in half, alternated them on the card, then layered elements from the Fact or Fiction Dots n' Spots, the Fact or Fiction Flappers and Line & Letter Mix Tags.

I misted, added a few staples and a Tim Holtz film transparency. Then I cut the edges along with the Chevron pattern for a little added element.

The card turned out masculine, which is the look I was going for. I had fun putting it together and I think my sweetie will be pleased to receive it!

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getting your groove back

I don't know if any of you have been feeling this way, but I've been in a pretty huge scrapping slump since the holidays. I ended up being super, crazy busy with work & family all throughout Christmas, and it left me feeling pretty burnt out creatively, to the point where I had no inspiration or energy to sit down and scrap.  So, in order to kickstart myself,  I decided to look through my albums, and scraplift a favourite layout of mine, pictured below:

 

 

 

 

 

and today's version:

The end result may not be the most creative layout I've ever done, but it gave me an easy solution to pushing around paper, and feeling like I was wasting my time trying to come up with something new.  And I'm totally fine with that!  I chose a layout that I made a few years ago, took the same basic design and theme, and just updated it. I also added some more personal journaling in the back.  In my case, it was an easy way to find the spark to get me moving again- I'm now feeling motivated to tackle the last half of my December Daily, which is going to be my priority in the next few weeks. 

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