Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Trend Report: Vellum

Trend Report: Sprinkles Vellum by Doodlebug
 
Susan Tidwell here to share some tips about using vellum.
Vellum has been around a long time, but is making a comeback! Doodlebug has this beautiful polka-dot Sprinkles Vellum that comes in pretty spring colors (available at LBH or online).
 
The one problem with using vellum is that adhesive shows through the translucent paper. The best tip if you must use adhesive is to completely cover the vellum with a double-sided tape sheet cut to fit so that there are no hard lines of where the adhesive stops and starts. The LBH is carrying a new double-sided adhesive sheet called Stick-It which comes in two sizes and is perfect for this application. What I love most about this product is that you can apply it to the back of your surface and then die-cut intricate shapes without the need of fussy gluing the back to adhere it!
 
Here are some additional tips for attaching vellum to your projects without glue or tape. These solutions also add a decorative element to your project.
1. Use brads or eyelets
2. Use staples
3. Punch holes and tie ribbon through
4. Sew either by hand or machine
5. Add buttons, sewing through the vellum and base project as you sew through the button
6. Washi tape or other decorative tapes
7. Punch slots to hold it
8. Photo corners or paper frame
9. Completely cover base and fold over to back, using glue on back OR just fold over top so it hangs loose over front
 
In the Easter frame I recently created for the LBH Bunny Blog Hop, I used two strips of the limeade Doodlebug Sprinkles Vellum to simulate grass.
I fringed one edge of both strips with scissors, “curled” the fringe with a skewer and overlapped the strips when taping them into the bottom of the frame. I used Scor Tape for this as I placed it the full length of the strip so it doesn’t show much.

 
 
 
I hope you will try using vellum - it gives a beautiful finish to a project and can be used in a variety of ways!
 
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Nat here with my personal review of the new Sprinkles Vellum by Doodlebug Designs.
In short, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this product. I love the softness that it creates for a project.  
Working with vellum can be tricky in that it's hard to find an adhesive that will work and not show through.  Since there is a tint of color to this vellum as well as an overall pattern, I feel that does a lot to hide the adhesive lines that are created from behind. Of course, I didn't cover every inch of the vellum in adhesive either. But I don't think you need to be "as" cautious with this as you do with traditional vellum in regards to adhesive.  I wanted to see how this product would work with intricate and detailed die cuts.  I used the "happy" die from the "Think Happy Thoughts" stamp/die set from Taylored Expressions.  It created a wonderful, clean cut. I also used the "Stitched Hillside" borders from Lawn Fan to create the green grass border at the bottom of my tag.  The Sprinkles Vellum comes in a rainbow of fun and bright colors. I can't wait to get my hands on all of the colors!
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Hey everyone, it's me Susan Liles here and I'm sharing a cute little tag I made to adorn a small gift bag that could hold some sweet Easter goodies for someone special. 
The main feature of my tag centers around the use of the new Doodlebug Sprinkles Vellum we have available at the store or online HERE
What's so fun about this vellum is that it's got the cute "Swiss dots" embossed right onto to colored vellum (the dots are shiny--even cuter!), and it comes in 7 colors! 
TIP:  Vellum can be cut using your steel dies through a Cuttlebug or Big Shot, no problem! 
That's what I did with it here.  I cut the pink and yellow both with the Doin' the Wave Die from Reverse Confetti.  Just be sure if there's a "front and back" to your vellum that you cut it accordingly.
I then diecut my tag and prepared my Easter egg "window" for the vellum to show through using more Reverse Confetti Confetti Cuts dies.  Once that was all done, I alternated the vellum to create my wavy striped egg.  Another TIP:  Vellum can sometimes be tricky when trying to adhere it without your glue or tape showing.  Think of using your vellum especially when you might adhere something that will be hidden.  Like in this instance, the "glue" is sandwiched between the tag's layers around the outside edge of the egg where you can't see it. A fun technique with any paper or washi tape, but ideal for vellum! 
To finish off my project, I simply added the cute organdy rose embellishment (then left my hot glue gun on by accident overnight!), clipped it onto my folded over bag, and added a row of the scalloped stickers from the Fancy Frills Sticker Sheet.  Very simple on the bag, but the tag could also be a fun layout embellishment or would look sweet on a card!
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Lindsey here with my Vellum Trend Report: Vellum is such a wonderful product, it can be so versatile and create such a beautiful effect.  I love mixing the different colors and creating a third color with vellum.  The Doodlebug vellum is particularly great for the texture.  The polk-a-dot texture is glossy without being too bumpy for layering. I layered yellow paper underneath the Doodlebug tangerine vellum to create this Easter effect.  Finding the right glue can be tricky, for this application I used glossy accents but it showed through and slightly warped the paper.
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More great trend reports and tutorials on how to use vellum will be on the blog tomorrow!! Leave us a comment on what kind of glue you prefer to use when creating with vellum?

Saturday, March 28, 2015

"Craft Market" Crate Paper Project and Review by Valerie Bishop

I have been a huge fan of Crate Paper products for a long long time so I was thrilled when I received some beautiful goodies from their new line "Craft Market" to create with! The colors of this line include teal, pink and GOLD - one of my favorite color palettes to use right now. The fun mix of embellishments - from the puffy gold stickers, the accent stickers, to the wood veneer pieces - are perfect for my style of creating layers on my layouts.
I used a couple of the journal cards cut from the "Project Glitter Paper" piece to start my layering, then after deciding where I wanted my photo to be I added the additional textures.
 I used some of the stickers flat and then used pop dots to give some of them dimension. I bunched up some gold thread and layered it under one of the popped up stickers.
I used the puffy stickers as accents on the flat stickers - the hearts on the bicycle tires and on the center of the camera.
The large wood veneer ampersand added just the right pop of color to my title to catch the eye and lead right to the photo
which is where I think the most important part of my layout is. That's me with my younger daughter!! This line of paper crafting goodies makes my very happy!! :)

Here's a list of supplies I used 

You can order all of these and so much more from The Little Blue House online store

I hope you have a fabulous and creative day!!

Hugs, Valerie

Friday, March 27, 2015

Craft Market Paper Rosette Ribbon Tutorial

Hey there, it's Lindsey here with a quick tutorial using Crate Papers new line,  Craft market to make a fun paper rosette award style embellishment.

Gather your supplies....

White Pen- Sakura Gelly roll
Foam Tape

Step 1.  Using the pink and gold paper, cut approximately 7 stripes out.  I had the "V" pointed down and cut from the right hand, bottom side


Step 2.  Gather the 4 longer pieces, discard the shorter pieces.  Also cut 3/4 in strip of Doodlebug Vellum and add to the pieces. 


Step 3.  Dovetail all the pieces, I just eyeballed this with scissors.  


Step 4.  Trace the wooden loop and cut out.  Play with the lengths until you like what you see, The longest for mine was 4 inches and the shortest 3 inches.  


Step 5.  Write a sentiment on the chalkboard sticker.  I used a Sakura white gelly roll pen in my faux-calligraphy handwriting. TIP:  Don't be afraid to lightly pencil out the sentiment, once the pen has dried its very easy to go back and erase.   I let things over-dry, nothing frustrates me more than smeared pen.  ( As a lefty, I am too familiar with it)


Step 6.  Using glossy accents glue the wood hoop to the paper circle you cut out in step 4.


Step 7.  Add some foam tape behind the chalkboard sticker 


Step 8.  Place chalkboard sticker in the center-ish. 


Step 9.  Select arrow from the puffy stickers and cut in half.


Step 10.  Trim the excess ribbon off the pink rose and glue using glossy accents or hot glue.  Place the pieces from the arrow on either side.  


Step 11.  I added a few more words in my handwriting to finish it off.




I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, its a fun little piece to make with all the graduations coming up- it could be added to a card, put a pin on the back and have the grad wear it.... possibilities are endless!

Thanks for stopping by, all the products used are available at the Little Blue House!

Best wishes, Lindsey

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

"Happy, Happy Day" Layout Tutorial with Susan Tidwell

 
"HAPPY, HAPPY DAY" LAYOUT
Crate Paper- Craft Market
 


Hi everyone, Susan T. here with a layout tutorial for you using the lovely "Craft Market" papers from Crate Paper. 
 I love the soft hues of this collection and it suited my photos of the day our newest grandson came home and his 2-year-old brother finally got to meet him.
I used an easy watercolor technique on the background using the new Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink. This new color is beautiful and matches this paper line so well.
Take a medium-size acrylic block and smoosh (technical term!)
the ink pad on it and then spritz it with water until it beads up.


"Stamp" with the inked block randomly over the "Craftsman" paper. Press down harder if you want more coverage; press lightly to get a droplet effect. Repeat this until you have the desired coverage. So much easier than painting with a brush!


Here you can see that I started where my photos would be to practice first. It gets "patchier" toward the outer edges.


I added a torn strip of Doodlebug Bubble Gum Sprinkles Vellum by machine-stitching it over a few paper elements. This eliminated the need for adhesive which will show through the vellum.
Here you can see the envelope piece cut from the "Project w/ Gold" paper and a strip of the "Thrifty" paper
(I think that paper is my favorite of all the collection!)


I continued to layer cut and torn pieces of several of the papers ("Studio," "Inspired w/ Gold", and "Thrifty") and added stickers from the Journaling and Title Accent Sticker Sheet.  
After adding my photos I embellished with the Puffy Gold Stickers (stars, hearts and arrows).


In this photo you can see a portion of the Wood Veneer Hoop that I added over the larger photo to highlight my two cute little grandsons.  I loved that it looked like a real wooden hoop so I used it as is.  I also used one of the paper strips to fold over an American Craft Paper Straw to make a flag.  The polka dot strip came from Craft Market- Studio Paper at the very bottom of this photo is actually a barcode strip from one of the papers - I love that some manufacturers add these patterns and I use them frequently!


Here you can see one of the Wood Veneer Tags w/ Gold Glitter Accents. I added number stickers from the sticker sheet for the year, added a scrap of printed paper to cover the hole of the tag and embellished with another heart puffy sticker.  I used the Wood Veneer Circle w/ Gold Glitter Accents in the upper right corner of my layout, adding the date of the photos with a gold Uniball Signo pen.

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial and love these papers and embellishments as much as I do. It's a versatile, pretty paper collection and it's available now at The Little Blue House or
online here!



Susan Tidwell
 

Bunny Hop Recap & a Prize Winner!!

 
We hope you enjoyed our Bunny Blog Hop!!!
Here is a Recap of all the "Egg"cellent Projects our team designed!!












Now it's Time to Announce our Bunny Hop Winner........
 
STEFANIE WOODARD!!!!
please contact the LBH to claim your Basket of Goodies!!!
 
Thank you everyone for hopping along with us!
 
Hoppy Easter,
Kristyn