2-in-1 Christmas Mini Album

Hello ladies! Here is my second DT inspiration project using the papers from  Echo Park's This&That Christmas collection. My intention was to make an album using some canvas boards as front and back pages, but when I saw the KaserCraft Star Album at Paperlane, I decided to make my life easier and go with it. And I was happy with my choice because I really had fun creating this album, plus I came up with another usage of the pages, so I called this project 2-in-1 :).

The album looked something like this. Unfortunately, I could not find the exact image on the KaiserCraft website, but you will get the idea.

First I painted the sides of each star with Martha Stewart Acrylic Craft Paints and then decorated them with the papers. I used the edge distress tool by Tim Holtz to ruffle the edges, which looks as frost to me, so I really like how it turned out.

I added some Golden Stickles to the pages for a more festive look and left the pages blank waiting for the Christmas photos.

In the meantime I decided to put the pages in use as Christmas decoration:

2-in-1, I told you :).

Happy festive crafting!

Lidiya

Baby Alex and Big Sister Raya Beach Party

Hello! Today I have something really special to share with you. It's the beach party I organized for my sweet kids - Alex and Raya. It is already "winter" in Dubai, so there's no better place to be than at the beach.

I styled the party focusing on the colour scheme - red, blue and white; somehow I felt these are the right colours for my kids. Once I was happy with my choice of colours, I got busy with the party decoration.

I made a cute paper bunting to go with the flags on my two-tier stand, flag toppers in the same patterns and bright red tissue paper pom poms. I also used some tulle here and there for a little added charm. To match perfectly all elements of the set up I altered a jar to go with my theme (a tutorial is on the way) and painted two IKEA tin buckets to fit in. To make all props come together I used two white baskets as small tables and dressed them up with tulle bows. 

The treats on the dessert table included a yummy strawberry shortcake from Sweet Lane and their signature mouth-watering fruit tarts. I particularly asked for strawberries, blackberries and cranberries to match my colour theme. I added some more sweetness to the table with the truffles which were custom-made in white with red and blue lines. And since I know Raya too well, I put some fresh strawberries in the altered jar, just in case.

For the water bottles I used printables from the CD I got with Kara's Party Ideas - The book and customized them to read "Baby Alex" and "Big Sister Raya". Luckily I also found the perfect drinks colour-wise.

Here is the party in details and below are the credits. Many thanks to Ania from The Ania James Photography who made the photos for us!

What is next? Raya's birthday is just behind the corner, so the ideas are already swirling in my mind!

Credits: 

Styling and paper decorations: Lidiya 
Cake, fruit tarts and truffles: Sweet Lane
Photography: The Ania James Photography
Printables: Kara's Party Ideas - The Book.

Echo Park Christmas Card Set

Hello! Today I have to show you a set of three holiday cards which I made using Echo Park's This&That Christmas Collection. When it comes to Christmas cards I love designs that are easy to mass produce, so I limited myself to some embossing, basic stamping and paper layering. Though it sounds a lot of work, the cards came out really quickly. Let me tell you how:
 
I used green and red Hero Arts notecards which I embossed with a snowflakes embossing folder, This&That coordinating papers, one of my favourite Christmas stamps - a Hero Arts ornament stamp, some ribbon and Echo Park This&That Element Stickers. As usual, I used dimensional adhesive to assemble the cards. I just love the handmade feel it gives.

This first card was the easiest and no wonder - I used a big sticker that did all the job for me. I only had to add some ribbon and a button and the card was done in 10 minutes!

The other two cards are almost the same; I just played with the colours. The difference is in the medium I chose to help me add some shine to the focal point. 

Here I used my all-time-favourite Glossy Accents, while in the other card I applied Ranger's Rock Candy Stickles. 

I hope this easy card set has inspired you to visit Paperlane, grab some of the lovely Christmas papers and start creating!

See you soon.

Lidiya

Martha Stewart Paints Christmas Cards

Hello! I hope your Christmas preparations are at full swing.

Are you by chance tired of the old-fashioned Christmas greens and reds? I love them, but when I got the Martha Stewart Multi-surface Acrylic Craft Paints - Green Curry, Amaranth and Habanero, I liked their brightness so much that decided to give them a try for a Christmas project.

I used the paints as ink and stamped a Hero Arts poinsettia set on a snow white Hero Arts notecard. The flower stamp is just an outline, so I coloured it with the pink. It was such fun and the texture the paints gave to the card is just gorgeous.

I did get carried away, so I also tried the solid stamp from the set and here is the result:

Very unconventional Christmas cards indeed, but I really like the different and artsy look of these cards!

The full range of Martha Stewart Craft Paints is available at Paperlane - an amazing collection of 160 colours! Give them a try! 

Happy crafting!

Lidiya 

Hello Summer Art File

Hello, ladies!

It's been some time, but here I am again with another idea how to collect the sweet memories from your summer.

After I made the Summer Fresh memory file, I thought why not make something similar for the pictures my daughter and niece drew this summer. The pictures kept on coming and the pile was getting bigger and bigger, so I really needed to find a way to store and keep those sweet drawings.

I used a very simple paper file, two white papers for dividers, some photos, punched out shapes, Copic coloured images and the really colourful papers from Echo Park's Hello Summer collection.

Take a look at the file and inside:


I saved the back of the front cover to present the two artists :)).

Then I inserted two dividers to separate the girls' drawings:




And I was very happy with the result! Now I have a file which is sure to bring a smile to my face when I look at it later on.



I also made a card using the Hello Summer Collection. It's pretty simple but very colourful and fresh; just as a summer should be:


I used a circle punch, Lawn Fawn stamps, Copic markers, Glossy Accents, ribbon and some dimensional adhesive:


Well, I hope you got some inspiration from my projects.

Keep crafting and creating,

See you soon!

Lidiya

Summer Fresh Memory File

Hello crafty ladies!

Today I have something really colourful and summery for you! It's the Simple Stories' Summer Fresh collection available at Paper Lane and my Heidi Swapp-inspired memory file:

Memory files are so much fun to create and a perfect way to collect your sweet memories in one place without too much effort. The task is even easier with a collection such as Summer Fresh where you have so many ready-made journalling cards and titles that you hardly need any tools or additional embellishments. I enjoyed the collection immensely, especially in these hot days when I do feel a little lazy and easy and fun projects are by far my favourite :).


I came up with the idea to create two separate mini albums for my photos using some good quality envelopes for additional sturdiness. What I did was assemble the two albums from envelopes and then used one for the portrait photos and the other for the landscape ones. This way I created the perfect and sturdy space to stick the photos and the journaling cards and also ended up with some pockets where I can keep some other photos later on.

For this project I used a simple file I got from an office supplies store and the following Summer Fresh papers:

Bits of Summer
County Garden
Summer Fresh Flash Cards 4x6
Journaling Card Elements # 1 and 2.

I also added some ribbon, washi tape and twine and some stickers.

I hope you liked my project and will scrapbook your summer photos using Summer Fresh. There is more summer inspiration coming your way, so keep those photos piling.

Have fun!

Altered Frame

Hello! I'm popping in today to share this altered frame which I made a while ago.

Здравейте! Отбивам се днес набързо за да ви покажа тази рамка, която направих преди време.

I used a very cheap white frame and decorated it with adhesive fabric paper by DCWV, some twine and several Prima flowers.

Използвах една евтина бяла рамка, самозалепващата текстилна хартия на DCWV, малко шнур и няколко Prima цветя.

It turned out really sweet and matched my photo perfectly!

Получи се много сладко и много добре се върза със снимката, която бях избрала!

Thank you for visiting!

Благодаря, че се отбихте!

Paper Lane's First Challenge

Good morning, crafters! Have you checked the latest Paper Lane news? We have launched a crafty competition and it was my pleasure to announce the first challenge:

Create a card that has glitter or sparkle.

Easy peasy, isn't it? And the prize is definitely worth participating! Here it is:


Check all the details and my design inspiration at Paper Lane's blog or Facebook page. You have until 12 May 2012 to submit your cards either to Paper Lane's FB page or dxbcrafters@gmail.com. At the moment the challenge is open only for crafters who can personally collect the prize from the store.

I can't wait to see your cards, so keep them coming!

DCWV Accordion Fold Album

Hello! Today I will share with you an accordion fold album I made for Paper Lane using one of the latest DCWV 12x12 paper pad collections - The Playtime Stack. This pad is basically a kids collection with cute characters and lots of sparkle and glitter. The papers are adorable in their own simple way and come on my favourite kraft paper and not just on the regular white cardstock which makes them quite unique!


Здравейте! Днес ще ви покажа едно албумче тип акордеон, което направих за Paper Lane от новата колекция на DCVW The Playtime Stack. Хартиите в блокчето са с много сладки герои и много блестящи елементи и от крафт картон, което ги прави много интересни.


All I used to make the album was:

Cardstock and patterned paper: Bazzill and DCWV The Playtime Stack
Embellishments: Buttons and brads
Adhesives: Double sided tape, foam tape and Glossy Accents
Tools: Paper trimmer, Martha Steward butterfly punch, Silhouette die cut flowers
Other: Uniball Signo white gel pen.


I used the album for the photos of Raya's first sports day at school.

Подредих в албумчето снимки от първия спортен ден на Рая.



I chose the best moments of the day and now we have a wonderful keepsake of the event!

Подбрах най-интересните моменти и сега си имаме чудесен спомен от този ден!

Thanks for visiting!

Благодаря, че се отбихте!

BoBunny Ambrosia Collection

Hello, all! Today I will share with you the projects I created using the new BoBunny collection Ambrosia. The collection comes in fresh and bright colours combined with some pastel backgrounds which makes it really versatile. I just love the bright yellow, blue, purple and orange in this collection.

I found the Ambrosia Pensies paper just perfect for an altered project, so I decided to alter a notebook:

I used a cheap notebook which I “dressed up” with the BoBunny patterned paper and K&Company textile paper. I also used some Walnut Stain Distress Ink to define the cover panels.

For embellishments I coloured Dusty Attic chipboard flowers with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist and inked up the flowers in the middle with ColorBox inks. I finished off with some jewellery elements and a ribbon to make the notebook a little bit more fancy.

It came up pretty sweet, right? I just wish I have taken a picture before I started altering the book, so you could see the difference :). Altering is so much fun and the results are always unique!

When it comes to cards and busy backgrounds such as the Ambrosia Flowers paper, I like to use small strips of the paper to add a strong colourful accent to the card. I did exactly so in this card:

I stamped a Hero Arts soft green notecard with the “Thank you” background stamp in Hero Arts Soft Green Shadow Ink and layered it with an image from an American Crafts stamp set to create a stamped boarder. It all came out very soft and delicate, so I added the colourful paper strip and punched out butterflies as accents. The sentiment is from the same American Crafts set and the pearls are Hero Arts.

My BoBunny layout is using the Ambrosia Lily paper on which I did some stamping with Ranger Snow Cap acrylic paint dabber and ColorBox inks and Hero Arts stamps. Well, I just can’t help it – I have to stamp :).

To embellish the layout I chose a Cheery Lynn die cut doily, MME and K&Company stickers, Basic Grey buttons and a textile self-adhesive strip. The photo is by Tarek Hassan Photography.

I hope these projects will inspire you to try the Ambrosia collection which also features some cute butterfly stamps and even cutter buttons. You can find them all in Paper Lane.

Thanks for joining me in this DT Inspiration post and happy crafting!

It's time for Lily Pad Cards Birthday Blog Hop!

Hello everyone! Today I am joining the ladies at Lily Pad Cards in their First Birthday blog hop!

To celebrate it's first year Lily Pad will randomly award 3 prize packages and all you have to do is either “Like” Lily Pad Cards on Facebook or leave comments on the participating blogs (including Lily Pad). For each comment (one per blog, please), you will get your name entered again, so the more blogs you visit and comment, the better the chance :).

Здравейте! Днес участвам в блог хоп-а на Lily Pad Cards, които празнуват първия си рожден ден. Като част от празника, Lily Pad ще раздаде 3 награди с жребии. Можете да участвате или като "харесате" Lily Pad във Facebook или като оставите коментари в блоговете, които участват. За всеки коментар (по един на блог), името ви ще бъде включено в томболата с един глас. Ето блоговете на дамите преди мен и след мен, както и моята картичка. Успех!

You should have come here from Heather Maria's blog Stamping and Stitching.

And here is my colourful and bright card to say happy first birthday Lily Pad!


I just love how cute the owl looks with these goggle eyes :) Lawn Fawn stamps and Eco Park papers - just the perfect combination for a first birthday card!



The next stop on the hop is Isha's blog Hobby and Ideas.

If you hit a bad link, you can always go back to Lily Pad to view the master list of blog links.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Enjoy the beautiful birthday cards and leave Lily Pad and the hop hostesses some love!

А Layout Tutorial

Hello everyone! Today I have something different for you - a step-by-step layout tutorial which I made for Paperlane a while ago. Here it is and I hope you like it!

Здравейте! Днес отново ви предлагам нещо по-различно. Този път това е урок за скрапбук страничка. Ето и инструкциите стъпка по стъпка. Надявам се да ви хареса!

Supplies:

Patterned paper: DCWV The Playtime Stack, DCWV The Sweet Matstack

Photos: three photos (3.5 x 5 inch)

Die cuts: two apple die cuts, three bigger and two smaller circles

Inks: Mustard Seed, Brushed Corduroy and Forest Most Distress Stains

Other: Martha Stewart paper tape, Uniball Signo white gel pen, Ranger While Enamel

Tools: ruler


Step 1:

Prepare your photos and mat them on the trimmed patterned papers.


Step 2:

Using the paper tape decorate the white circles.


Step 3:

Colour the white apple die cuts with the Distress Stains.



Step 4:

Assemble your layout and add the embellishments. Outline the photos and draw lines for your journaling with the white gel pen.


Step 5:

Outline the apples and use some Glossy Accents on the small circles.


Step 6:

Add dots to the patterned paper with the White Enamel.

Step 7:

Add your journaling.



Thanks so much for visiting!

Благодаря, че наминахте!