What Matters Most Giveaway

We have a fabulous class to giveaway today to one of our blog readers! This class is taught by one of our own design team members - Lisa Day. This new Big Picture Classes workshop is going on now so we will drawing a winner on Saturday evening. This is the perfect class to start off the new year! Leave us a comment by 6pm Eastern on Saturday (12/31/11) for your chance to win!

ABOUT JOURNEY TO HAPPINESS - WHAT MATTERS MOST
In Lisa Day’s latest workshop, you’ll spend four weeks setting up creative action plans to make sustainable changes that will help you focus on and stay true to what matters most. In class you will create two layouts and two mini albums which can be used as a guide to creating and celebrating a life – never losing sight of what matters most.

Do you want to make some changes in your life so that you can experience greater happiness and really focus on the things that truly matter to you? The journey to happiness is an on-going process, but with a clear focus, you can enjoy that journey every step of the way.

Learn more here.

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Studio Peek - Georgia Keays

Hi Everyone, Georgia here to answer some questions from the lovely Linda about myself and my scrap space:

1. Do you have a dedicated scrap space?

Um, sort of... Just under 5 years ago we moved into our dream home where we plan to stay until our kids move out. We spent many months thinking, planning and trying to cover every possible scenario to come up with a design which would suit us for the next 20 years. Six months after we moved in I started scrapping and it's been musical rooms ever since.

Last month when Linda first asked me to share some photos my space I was using the study...

which left my husband, who does quite a bit of work from home, in the games room in the noisiest part of the house. The kids are getting older now so we have decided to turn the playroom into a scrapbooking / homework room for the kids and I to share and my husband can have his study back!

This is the playroom at the moment, I'm really excited about getting it set up.

2. When do you scrap?

I'm almost exclusively a night scrapper. Normally a couple of times a week I'll sit down after the kids are in bed and scrap until the wee hours. If I'm lucky I can sometimes squeeze in a bit of scrap time on the weekends too.

3. Would you say you are a fast or slow scrapper?

Definitely slow. A single layout will take me around 4 or 5 hours to complete.

4. How do you organise your stash?

I sort all my paper by manufacturer and then by collection and my embellishments by type. I have this weird ability to remember not only which manufacturer and line each embellishment belongs to but also when and where I bought it. I'm pretty sure that and old song lyrics account for around 90% of my memory.

5. Do you listen to music while you scrap?

I can't scrap without music but I MUST have dead silence when I am journalling.

6. What is your dream travel destination?

I love to travel, pretty much anywhere will do - so long as I need my passport I'm happy!

7. What SuperHero power would you like to have?

What I really want is a cone of silence like they had on Get Smart. I have three gorgeous, beautiful, LOUD children so a few moments of quiet now and then would be lovely.

8. Favourite colour combo?

Probably yellow and navy blue - with black of course!

9. Perfect weekend?

Spent with family around the pool.

10. Favourite family picture?

I'm really bad about getting in from of the camera so I don't have a pic of us all together but this is a recent one of the kids I like.

11. Favourite Lily Bee layout?

This is a really old layout but still one of my favourites.

12. Is there one last thing you'd like to share?

I'm always a bit intimidated when I see pictures of scrap studios because I am a very messy scrapper. Just in case anyone else feels the same I thought I'd share a photo of my scrap desk right now...

I hope it makes someone feel better about their own!

Thanks Linda, that was fun! I'll make sure to take some more photos to share once I have my new space set up - before it gets too messy!

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It's Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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Day 24 - A Holiday Wreath (plus a Sketch Winner!)

Hey there! Can you believe it is Christmas Eve? Insane, right? I'm suffering from a mix of elation, giddiness, and apprehension. The last because I haven't wrapped anything yet. I'm dreading the hours I'll be spending tonight. But it's all worth it in the end, right? I love this time spent with family, enjoying each other's company.

So here we are on the last day of Holiday Countdown. And today, I made a super easy wreath that can easily be adapted to other seasons and occasions.

It's basically a yarn-wrapped wreath with a patterned paper detail. Easy peasy. Wrapping the yarn around the foam wreath took me the longest. But I was watching a movie while doing it, so it was all good!

So here is what you will need:

• Foam wreath (you can get it at any craft store in varying sizes, this one is 10")
• Yarn in the colors of your choice (get the cheapest acrylic variety, not only is it super affordable, but you won't have to worry about moths eating it)
• Little pompoms
• Lily Bee Tiny Tablets
• Glue (I used quick dry wet glue)
• Scissors
• and coffee if you are working on it early in the morning (like I did) or late at night (maybe a cup of decaf then?)

The yarn wrapping part is super duper easy. I start with a little wet glue (quick dry is best), and stick a portion of the yarn to the foam wreath. Once it's dry, I just start wrapping it round and round and round, changing colors as needed. Once I reach the end, I apply more glue, hold the end bit of the yarn a bit, and it's done. This would be a super project to do with kids!

Then it starts the even more fun part! Choosing what you'll create with paper to decorate the wreath. I choose a little paper bird. I found this pattern online. It took only one sheet of our Tiny Tablet. One. I'm thinking I'll make a bunch of them and make an Easter wreath too!

Once the bird was done, I cut (freehand) two little holy leaves (out of another sheet of our Tiny Tablet), glued them to the bird's neck, and added three teeny pompoms.

To attach the bird to the wreath, I used white thread and put a stitch on top of the bird, and sewed the other end to the yarn.

Wrap a piece of ribbon around the whole wreath to hang, and wham, you are done!

Other ideas for decorating the wreath (in case you are not into birds), flowers, leaves, hearts, stars. The possibilities are endless!

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In our excitement to post our Holiday Countdown, we totally forgot to pick a winner for our last Sketch Challenge. Oops! Sorry! But we have one now.

ERICA HETTWER

Congratulations, Erica! Please email me your mailing info milesofpaper [at] gmail [dot] com.

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We'll be taking a little break to hang out with our families. But do come back on December 28 when we'll get a peek inside designer Georgia Keays' studio. We have exciting things coming up in January. New challenges, guest designers, and we'll debut our new paper lines!


THANK YOU for a great year! We here at Lily Bee want to wish you a fantastic holiday season, and a healthy new year filled with love and scrapbooking!

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Day 23 - Thank You Cards...

WOW! Has December flown by or what?! I can't believe Christmas is almost here! I bought my last Christmas present today!!

Something I try to do every year is send Thank You's out right after the holidays, but that doesn't always happen! This year I'm making my cards ahead of time so I have no excuse!

I created a design that would be easy to replicate so I can create a handful at a time!

The Lily Bee 6x6 Tiny Tablets are perfect for creating cards!

 

Lily Bee supplies:Patterned Papers: Jingle - Tiny Tablet
ABC Stickers: Jingle

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Day 22 - Joy Holiday Gift Bag

Are you counting down to the big day yet? Just three more sleeps till Christmas!

If you're not done your holiday wrapping yet, that's OK. There's still time and there's still time to create a quick holiday gift bag to wrap things up in as well.


I love wrapping with custom gift bags. First of all, gift bags are so easy to wrap with and they are very quick and easy to make. You can keep them super simple by just adhering some pretty patterned paper on the front of a kraft gift bag or you can add a little more pizazz by creating a fun holiday scene.


To create a scene, I always love to start with easy shapes. A house can be built with a square and a triangle but for this design, I've cut out some wavy snow banks and some triangle shapes evergreens. A star punch makes for a super quick tree topper. And I seriously love how all the tiny dots on the Jingle line papers looks like a pretty snowfall.


When you're working with numerous papers to create a scene, I like to adhere them to some coordinating scrap paper. By building the scene on the paper, you can get everything just right and then adhere the final piece to the front of the gift bag. This also lets you add some stitching details if you wish to.


The Lily Bee ABC Stickers are perfect for adding in a little holiday cheer sentiment.


Finally, top off your bag with some ribbon and embellishments you have on hand.

Lily Bee supplies:
Patterned Papers: Jingle - Merry and Bright, Tinsel, Frost
ABC Stickers: Jingle

Thanks for joining me for this holiday project and may the gifts you receive this year be joy, love and peace.

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Day 21 - Holiday Traditions Layout

Hello Everyone.  I hope you have been enjoying our 24 days of inspiration.  The design team has some really fantastic creations for you & you still have a few more days left!  Today i am showing you some details of a layout i used to capture & record some of our Christmas traditions.

This layout was created using the Jingle line to capture one of our favorite traditions, baking cookies.  These cookies are some of my favorite, gingerbread cookies with chocolate hugs in the center.  The Jingle Index cards is an easy way to document our recipes.  Are there certain recipes you make every year? 

I knew i wanted to use the Jingle stamps on my layout, especially those trees.  I stamped the tree in grey and trimmed it out.  I then took some liquid glue, filled in the snowflake image and added German glass glitter to give it some sparkle.  I also stamped grey snowflakes around the page using the naked chipboard as inspiration.  I love the colors in the jingle line to complement my photos.  The stickers with the baker's twine brought the right amount of colors to the layout. 

So don't forget to document your traditions this season remembering to photograph the smallest events.

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Day 20 - Cookie Cutter Ornaments

Hey everyone, Cindy here sharing a project that is completely inspired by Martha Stewart. There is a bundle of inspiration you can find on her website, such as these cookie cutter ornaments. I am all about creating simple, fast & easy crafty projects around the holidays, especially ornaments.


All you need is your favorite holiday paper, such as the Jingle Collection & super cheap cookie cutters. I've had these colorful cookie cutters for a long while & have been buying really nice cookie cutters lately & thought it would be fun to up cycle my old ones. They are super easy to create.


Punch a hole at the top of each cookie cutter using a hole punch. The cookie cutters I used are super thin, which made it easy to punch a hole.


Use the thicker side of the cookie cutter & trace the outside of cookie cutter onto pattern paper & hand-cut. Add glue around edges of cookie cutter & adhere to cut out. Use a craft knife or scissors to remove excess.


Thread both ends of thick rope or string through the holes of each cookie cutter & tie a knot at the end to secure. Embellish using chipboard accents, cardstock stickers & rub-ons.




I love how they turned out & look really nice on our Christmas tree. You can easily use your favorite photos & give as gifts to your love ones.


Lily Bee Supplies:
Jingle Pattern Paper-Tinsel, Mistletoe & Egg Nog
Jingle-Mixed Cardstock Stickers
Christmas Town-Chipboard Stickers
Christmas Town-Rub-ons

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Day 19 Rosette Christmas Tree

In getting ready for Christmas and the festive celebrations, I’ve been putting up little decorations here and there and everywhere around our apartment which also includes these cute and super easy to create rosette Christmas trees.

All you need to create this little tree is some of the Jingle Collection Pattern Papers, the insides of the toilet paper rolls, glitter, star pins (or any other items that you might want to deck the tree with), scoring board (optional but super helpful) and a handy trimmer...

I first started out by cutting strips of the various pattern papers in different thicknesses – ranging from 0.75” to 1.5”. Then using the scoring board, I quickly created the creases that I needed for the rosette flowers...

Once I had the completed all the rosette flowers, I applied liquid glue on the edges and sprinkled some glitter on the sides. Then I lined up the three different sized rosette flowers and poked the star pin through the middle (you might also want to apply some glue in between the flowers to help keep everything together). Next, I started working on the bottom part of the tree and found that the toilet roll was just the right size that I needed. Therefore, I cut a piece of the roll and wrapped some pattern paper around it before gluing it onto the bottom most rosette flower; finishing off my little rosette Christmas tree.

Hope this inspires to you create some of your own Christmas decorations and if you have already been creating them, would love to see what you’ve done. Thanks for stopping by everyone and wishing a you a super Merry Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year!!
Piradee

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Day 18: A Quick Layout

As the days fly by and the countdown to Christmas gets closer, I find there just isn't a lot of time for scrapping.  I'm too busy wrapping gifts, shopping for those last-minute deals, and most importantly, spending time with family. But that doesn't mean I forgo creative time altogether - I just have to be more efficient at it!

For this page about Christmas joy, I selected six photos from the many that I've taken over the past few weeks. I didn't make this a big process - I just picked six horizontal shots that gave a good overview of some recent festivities.  I printed them 2.75" x 1.75".

Lily Bee Supplies:

Jingle Patterned Paper - Tinsel, Cranberry

Jingle 6 x 6 Tiny Table

Jingle ABC Stickers

Jingle Index Journaling Cards

Then I copied journaling from a recent blog post and edited it to fit on my page. This is a huge time saver!  If you don't have a blog post that works, you could always use something equally easy - lyrics from a Christmas carol, a child's letter to Santa, or a holiday recipe you love making.  The idea is just to use something that's already complete, so you're not starting from scratch!

So carve out 30 minutes to make a page today - I guarantee it will help you find the holiday joy!

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Day 17: Favorite Ornaments

Hi everyone-  It's Jenni here welcoming you to Day 17!  It's hard to believe how fast December is flying by!!!

One of my very favorite Holiday traditions is pulling out the box of ornaments from our storage room.   Our Christmas tree is very eclectic-- many mix matched ornaments that represent an event, milestone, travel destination, or memory.   It's almost as if each ornament has a story of it's own and I love nothing more than pulling out each and every ornament and "revisiting" those stories.  In the end our tree hangs with ornaments that tell many stories and memories-- and it truly makes my heart happy.

I thought today I would share with you a simple layout I made that helps me tell the "story" of our ornaments.  It will be great to look back at this throughout the year!!   The front shows 11 ornament photos that are punched with 2" square punch and placed in a grid.   I used the Jingle ABC stickers  to number the ornaments.  Instead of adhering the photos directly to the kraft cardstock, I actually trimmed a regular office supply file folder down to an 8.5" x 6.5" file and placed the photos on the front of the file folder.

I then covered the interior portion of the file folder with papers from the Memorandum line.   This gave me plenty of room to journal the background and stories of each ornament.  I LOVE that I have this written down and it can be passed down for a long time.

I actually photographed the ornaments last Christmas, and I am SO glad I did, because one of my favorite ones broke as I took down the tree last year.  I was heartbroken, but so thankful I at least have a photo memory of the ornament and now the story behind it written down.

I know you are super-busy right now, but this is just a friendly reminder to take photos of your ornaments on the tree!  This is a project you can complete well after Christmas and enjoy throughout the whole year.

Lily Bee Supplies Used:
Jingle: ABC Stickers, Mixed Cardstock Stickers, Mistletoe
Memorandum: Grapefruit, Payday, ABC Stickers,
Christmas Town: Night Divine, Chipboard Stickers.

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