Some Cards with the NEW Kiwi Lane Template Release!!

I'm a little late with this post, but here's the scoop anyway...

Did ya hear?!  Kiwi Lane has released 3... yes, THREE!!... new template sets.  They are all sets that are awesome for cards, but could be incorporated in any of your crafting.  Two sets (Sincerely and Delight) are card border sets and the third set is Tiny Celebrate (a mini version of the larger Celebrate accessory set).  I was giddy when I got these goodies in the mail and was itching to get to work, but a fierce cold had other plans for me.  Blurg.  After spending a few days in bed with a fever, chills, body aches, stuffy head and runny nose (sounds.... fun, huh?), I was thrilled when I was well enough to dive in to my pile of paper scraps!  Here are a few of my creations:

 Templates:

Tiny Celebrate 5T, Sincerely 2A & 2B, Tiny Shapes 2T & 7T, Tiny Strips 1/2"

Supplies:

Patterned paper (SEI); card stock (DCWV, Georgia Pacific); twine (American Crafts); jewel (Doodlebug); brads (Basic Grey); ink (Ranger, craft supply); stamp (Fiskars)

 Templates:

Tiny Celebrate 1T, 2T & 8T, Celebrate 2

Supplies:

Cardstock (DCWV, Georgia Pacific); patterned paper (SEI, Imaginisce); ink (Ranger, craft supply); brads (Basic Grey); embossing powder (EK Success); stamp (Fiskars); twine (American Crafts)

 Templates:

Tiny Accents 3T, Tiny Celebrate 7T, Sincerely 3A & 3B

Supplies:

Cardstock (Bazzill, Georgia Pacific), patterned paper (SEI), brad (SEI), enamel dots (Teresa Collins), ink (Ranger), stamp (Studio G), wahsi tape (WRMK)

Templates:

Delight 4, Tiny Nature 1T, Tiny Shapes 7T

Supplies:

Cardstock (Georgia Pacific, DCWV, Provo Craft); patterned paper (3 Bugs in a Rug); stamp (American Crafts); ink (Ranger)

Aren't you just in love with that mustache card?!  I am, and I'm the one who made it!!  While there's not a Kiwi Lane Template for a mustache, you can easily make one using the leaf from the Tiny Nature Accessory set- just flip it back to back (overlap the stem part of the leaf) and trace two and that's it!  Easy, right?

So if you have some time, I'd strongly suggest you head on over to the Kiwi Lane blog to see all the beautiful samples they have for the new releases.  And you could even buy them, if you feel so inclined. ;)

February Blog Hop Winner Winner!!

Good morning!  Just thought I'd hop on here really quick and announce the winner of the additional prize from the Kiwi Lane Blog hop last weekend since... well, since I said I would today.  And I try really hard to do what I say I will.  :)

The winner of a set of templates from me is.....

 Robin B. said...

Cute layout! I love the colors along with the shell and flower. Thanks for sharing. Our favorite vacation spot is Young State Park, we camp there every year.

Congrats Robin!  Please send me an email at glo_owens(at)msn(dot)com by 11:59 p.m. MST on Thursday, February 27, 2014 letting me know that you are the blog hop winner from my blog.  I'll let you choose your fave template set from my stash- sound good?  I thought so!

That's it for today- have a great day and happy scrapping!

Ideas to Inspire with Kiwi Lane and Hemptique

Happy Wednesday!  I feel like I was just doing a blog post... maybe because this is my third one in four weeks... a rarity, for sure!  Hope you're not too tired of me yet! ;)

For this installment of Ideas to Inspire for Kiwi Lane, I was given the opportunity to work with a company I've never worked with before. Gasp!  What?  A crafting company whose product I don't already have in my stash?!  Seriously.  It happens.  And much more often than people may think.  Especially after they view my wall-o-supplies that lines the dining area in our house.  One day I should share that with the world.  But not today.  Today, I get to share with you wonderful product from Hemptique!

I was, oh, so happy when I was sent some of Hemptique's metallic hemp cord!  This is what it looks like:

I had lots of visions of the billions of projects I could do with it, but then realized that I had to narrow it down just a bit.... to one project, to be more accurate.  So I decided to use it like I would use embroidery floss and stitch on a layout.  Hemp cord is a little bit thicker and stiffer than embroidery floss, but it's still fairly easy to work with.  Here's the layout I came up with:

I framed my page using the Kiwi Lane Templates:

And then after I traced, cut, inked and replaced:

Supplies: patterned paper, cardstock stickers (My Mind's Eye); sequins (Teresa Collins Design); cord (Hemptique); stitching template, letter stickers (American Crafts); paper flowers (Prima); pen (Staedtler); ink (Ranger)

(I used My Mind's Eye's Lucky in Love collection.... and yes, I changed my mind about the background paper after I had everything laid out- it happens a lot.  One of the advantages of using the templates!)

I started working with my Hemptique cord and realized that it wasn't quite the color I wanted- all the hemp was natural color and the metallic strings are intertwined.  I knew I wanted the metallic, but decided to see if the hemp would take color.  So I conducted a little experiment- I put a length of cord in a plastic baggie and sprayed some ink in the bag and squished the cord around in the ink.  And it worked!  A little too well, actually.  I ended up rinsing the cord to remove some of the blue color because it was so dark it looked almost black- pretty, but not quite right for my project.

So what was I going to stitch?  I wasn't sure, but then I saw an advertisement for a sale on fabric at a craft store.  Muslin and tulle.  I thought that they would be fairly easy to cut and stitch, so off to the store I went!  I made my huge purchase of 12" of white muslin and 12" of pink tulle (a whoppin' 56 cents worth of fabric) and ran home to get to work!  Seriously, kids, I don't remember the last time I was this excited to work with fabric and string.... probably never.

I started by tracing the flower shape from the Sweetheart accessory set onto the muslin, cut it out, then realized that I didn't really want to stitch around a flower shape.  That's too complicated.  ;)  So I opted to use the larger circle in the Shapes Tiny Accessory template set.  I cut a layer of muslin and a layer of tulle (netting) and also a circle of pink lightweight cardstock to add some stability.  I used the smaller circle from the same set to pierce holes to stitch through.  Towards the end of stitching the circle, I thought it would be fun to make the circle into a shaker box... sort of.  So I threw some sequins in between the muslin and tulle and finished stitching.  The circle became the middle of the large flower.  I tore strips of the white muslin to run through the entire layout and stitched some pink x's on the border.

While I never would have thought to use hemp cording on a scrapbook page before this, I'm certainly glad I got to try it!  I love the way it turned out!!  Hemptique makes other cording, string and yarn out of natural fibers like cotton and bamboo- some are natural colored and some are dyed.  They even have some cute looking bamboo bakers twine that I'm looking forward to getting my hands on some!

Thanks for stopping by and happy scrapping!  Don't forget to come back tomorrow for the announcement of the winner from the Kiwi Lane blog hop!

Templates used:

• Sweetheart 1, 3
• Clara 1A, 1B, 3A, 3B
• Tiny Shapes 3T, 7T
• Thoughtful 2A, 2B
• Strips
• Photos
• Tiny Photos

February Blog Hop with Kiwi Lane

Happy Blog Hop Weekend!!  I hope you've been having fun along this hop and have been gathering lots and lots of scrapbooking inspiration.  You should have made your way here through Kristy's blog.  If you happened to wander over from another location, I highly suggest you mosey on back to the Kiwi Lane blog and start from the beginning- I'd hate for you to miss any ideas!  Here's the line-up if you get lost along the way:

1. Kiwi Lane 
2. Charissa Miller 
3. Claire Spielman
4. Lissa Mitchell
5. Kristy MacKeen 
6. Gail Owens (You are HERE!!)
7. Arin Flynn 
8. Holly Gagnon 
9. Jennifer Blomquist
10. Christine Meyer

Don't forget- there's a prize involved in this blog hop!  One random commenter from ONE of the blogs on the hop (including the Kiwi Lane blog) will win a $25 gift certificate to the Kiwi Lane Shop.  You have until Sunday night (February 9, 2014) at 11:59 p.m. MST to comment.  The winner will be announced on the Kiwi Lane blog on Thursday, February 13th.

Alrighty... here's what I came up with for my project:

Supplies:  patterned paper, journaling cards, title, stickers, brads, washi tape (My Mind's Eye); cardstock (craft supply); flower (Doodlebug Design); flower punch (American Crafts); black pen (Staedler); white pen (Signo); ink, glitter glue (Ranger).

These photos were taken at the beach on Tybee Island in Georgia a few years ago.  It was really misty and cool the morning we went, so all my photos turned out gray and tan.  I decided to use the subtle blue, gray and greens of My Mind's Eye's The Sweetest Thing- Bluebell collection.  I layered the border designer templates on the bottom of the layout to echo the water meeting the sand.  I used a navy blue cardstock to mat my photos and really have them pop- did it work?  I think it did! ;)  And I used some accessory templates from both the Paradise and Sweetheart sets to add a few embellishments. 

 I find that sometimes outlining the template shapes helps to add another layer of dimension without adding bulk to a page, so I outlined the blue shapes (the swirl on the left page and the splat on the right) with just a white pen.  I outlined the flower and shell shapes with the same white pen, but I also did an outline with a black pen on top of the white when it dried (not right on top of the white line, but close) and then some "Frosted Lace" Stickles on top of the pen outlines.  Sounds kind of complicated, but it's really a fast and simple way to add some more interest to your pages- give it a try sometime!

Templates used: 

Clara Lane 1A & 1B
Abbie Road 3A & 3B
Aspen Court 3A & 3B
Sweetheart 4
Tiny Sweetheart 1T
1/2" Strips
Paradise 3, 4, 5, 6

I hope you enjoyed my layout today!  Don't forget to leave a comment on my blog before you leave- you could win a $25 gift code to the Kiwi Lane Shop, remember?  And next on your hop is the blog of the ever so talented Arin Flynn!  

How would you like a chance to win another prize?  I have a few sets of templates hanging around my craft table and I would love to give one of those sets away to one random commenter on this blog post.  Just tell me where your favorite vacation spot is, and you'll be entered to win.  That's it- easy peasy!  Your vacation spot comment doesn't have to be a separate comment.  I will choose a random commenter to win their choice of templates from my desk.  You have until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, February 9, 2014 to leave a comment and I will choose a winner on Monday, February 10th.  Don't forget to check back to see if you've won!  Or, better yet, follow my blog!!

Have a great day and happy scrapping!