Focus On: Halloween. Mostly.

Happy Halloween! Since we moved a few months ago, I was totally unprepared for it. I have no idea where my sewing machine is, so I'm recycling a costume for my six year old. The middlest and the biggest are not getting dressed up. Something about being too old for that... Not sure what that means. Because I love a good costume myself.

So in honor of today's festivities, we asked our designers to come up with Halloween related projects. But what if you don't celebrate Halloween? Not to worry. We've got you covered!

By Ronda Palazzari

Patterned Paper: Harvest Market: Black Licorice

Tiny Tablet: Harvest Market

Mixed Cardstock Stickers: Harvest Market

Other: Kraft diecut; Trinket pin; Fabric flowers; Black trim; Black paint; Tissue paper

Ronda shares step-by-step details on how to make these fun hats:

I found this great paper mache hat at a craft store and thought It would make a perfect Halloween center piece. I glued tissue paper to the cone of the hat to give it some texture and then painted the whole hat black.  I traced the brim of the hat on the Black Licorice paper and glued it to the hat. I used a circle scallop punch to punch out the happy Halloween and attached it to a kraft diecut. The mixed cardstock stickers were the perfect touch to the base of the hat. I used the tiny tablet paper to create the paper flower to accompany the other flowers. Lastly I added a star pin on top to complete the piece.  

By Jenni Hufford

Harvest Market: Black Licorice, Pumpkin Seeds, Peach Crisp, Squash, 6x6 Tiny Tablet, ABC Stickers, Mixed Cardstock Stickers

Memorandum: Timeclock, Mixed Cardstock Stickers

By Lisa Dickinson

Harvest Market Papers:  Hayride, Black LIcorice, Turtleneck, Peach Crisp, Harvest Blue

Harvest Market Tiny Tablet

Harvest Market Mixed Cardstock Stickers

Harvest Market ABC Stickers

Harvest Market Index Journaling Cards

And Georgia Keays created a beautiful, Fall-ish, non-Halloween layout.

Patterned Papers:

Memorandum-Payday; Harvest Market-Pumpkin Seed and Black Licorice

Index Journaling: Harvest Market

ABC Stickers: Harvest Market

Remember you still have a few days to enter our sketch challenge. More info here.

Thanks for coming by today. If you are going out later tonight, be safe and have fun! See you back tomorrow.

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Fall Grateful Card

I am so loving this fall season in Colorado.  I just love the chill that comes into the air.  This time of year also reminds me of all the blessings i have in my life. 

I love the Harvest Market paper with those warm colors and just the right shade of blue, color me happy! I used a diceut machine to punch the leaves.  Using a punched circle as my base, i began layering the leaves around the edge to create the sunflower.  Instead of gluing down ever single piece, i decided to stitch the leaves to the circle.  I took the square sticker and trimmed it in a circle to fit inside the flower.  I hope you will give it a try because it is so much fun to see the sunflower come to life!

Lily Bee Paper
Peach Crisp - Harvest Market
Hayride - Harvest Market
Pumpkin Seeds - Harvest Market
Squash - Harvest Market
Whiteboard - Memorandum

Mixed Media Stickers
Harvest

Other:
Twine
Black Cardstock

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Looking Back & Looking Ahead

August is such a transitional month for my family, as the school year begins and we head into a new routine. I always find that it's a bittersweet time-- I am sad to say goodbye to summer, yet at the same time by late August I am ready for a more structured routine!

I thought this month would be the perfect time to document my feelings about our summer (more specifically that special time I have with my kids), and also to get excited for what's ahead- fall!

In this layout, "Ode to Summer" I punched many different circles and layered them across the page with one of my favorite photos from the summer. I also used a hole-punch to punch small "confetti" to sprinkle across the page.

Lily Bee Supplies used:
Memorandum: Mixed Cardstock Stickers
This & That: Pretty Fabric, Brooch, Milk Bottle, Linens, Post Card, Tea Cup, ABC Stickers
Hello Sunshine: Blueberry Pie, Chipboard Stickers.


For this "fall themed" layout I decided to pull out a few photos from Halloween last year that I have not had the chance to scrap. I used the fabulous Harvest Market Index Journaling Cards and paired it with some papers from the Christmas Town Collection, and Stationery papers in order to create a festive (yet non-traditional in the color scheme) Halloween layout.


Lily Bee Supplies Used:
Harvest Market: Index Journaling Cards, Mixed Cardstock Stickers
Stationery: Tomato, Mushroom, Butter
Christmas Town: Sleigh Ride
Catching Fall: 12x12 Rub-Ons

I hope you are having a wonderful August and you are finding time to look back and look ahead, and document your favorite memories.

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Layering It Up!

I just can't get enough of the Catching Fall collection. The colors & patterns are just perfect & I love mixing them up and layering them together...gives so much texture & dimension to a layout or project. I've been truly inspired by layering shapes and patterns together, which is a nice change for me. So I mixed things up a bit!

I pleated my pattern papers together on 'My Lil Pumpkin' page. Instead of just using strips of patterns, pleating them added more interests & the texture I was looking for for. I really love the look of it & like how the mini photos are tucked, peeking out.

For my 'Swirl' layout, I wanted to play more on the monochromatic look, so my colorful photos were the main focus. I layered same pattern papers in circles to create a banner, to go along with the theme of the photos as my daughter spins around. Then I added them to the same pattern background and used chipboard letters in a similar color but different pattern. Added some kraft accents and layers of cardstock patterns using border punches.

Happy Creating!

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Creating a pumpkin paper piecing from Lily Bee die cuts

This layout started out with me just playing around with one of the die cuts from the new "Catching Fall" line. I cut off the petals from the flower looking one, but left a thin border of brown.

Then I cut two rough ovals from the coordinating orange paper, along with two curved strips. I inked the edges of all, and then adhered the ovals to the back of the round piece (slightly angled). The two strips went on top of the round piece, implying the ridges on a pumpkin.

The pumpkin is finished off with a couple of strips of paper tightly wound around a pencil and then adhered as vines, and a leaf & stem attached. The final touches are a couple of stick pins & a ticket from Maya Road (who were so generous with our team this month!).

(Supplies: Catching Fall line from Lily Bee Design; Stick Pins, Ticket, and Envelope flap from Maya Road; Cardstock from Core'dinations; Doily Trim from Basic Grey; Alpha stickers from Jillibean Soup.)

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Back to School

It's back to school time.

Four of my kids started back yesterday and I found myself having very mixed feelings about it. It's nice to have a little more time to get things done and to get back on schedule but I'll miss all the time I was able to spend with them this past summer.

The kids had mixed feelings as well. My teenagers were not that thrilled to go back, one of my younger ones was nervous at attending a new school but the littlest was so excited. This layout is about his Back 2 School Grin.



I love all the text in the Lily Bee lines and this makes them really great for those school themed projects. Once again I've mixed up the Hello Sunshine line with the Lovely line for a fun and unique color combo and look.

The grid elements in one of the Hello Sunshine papers and die cuts reminds me of school as well. By printing a photo directly on the subtle pattern of the die cut, you end up with a fun photo treatment.


To do this, edit your photo to the size and shape you wish to print. Run a sheet of printer paper through the printer to print a test image. Adhere the die cut paper directly over the printed photo where you wish it to print. Place the paper back into the printer and print again.

While it's pretty quiet around here these days, back to school means I can now get busy having fun with the new Lily Bee lines. I can't wait to get started!

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