Happy Halloween Minibook & a Prize Winner!

 

Happy Halloween LBH Friends!!

We have another fun Halloween project to share with you today! This project is a cute little Halloween mini-book designed by Rhonda Merry

 

 

For this little mini, I gathered some pumpkin orange and deep black cardstock and some sparkly green tulle to go along with the Carta Bella Papers.  But first to create the book I cut five 4x8 pieces of the black cards stock. Then fold them in half for your pages.  To bind I used some elastic hair ties. Like these.

Place two of the folded sheets left side of one to right side of the next and place an elastic securing the two page at the folded edges. Continue for all five folded pieces to form book.

Cut out orange and patterned squares to a 3-1/2” X 3-1/2” size, then distress and ink all edges, using Quick Quotes Orange Slice chalk ink. I used the Carta Bella cut-a-parts,some other coordinating papers and embellishments from Carta Bella- Trick or Treat and Crate Paper- After Dark collections. You can find all of these products at  The Little Blue House!

 

Here are the pages I created.

 

 

To create the ghost, punch a 1” circle and wrap a 4”x4” piece of cheese cloth around the circle and secure with an elastic band

Fussy cut Jack-o-lanterns, stamp sentiment from the Reverse Confetti stamp set-Shine Bright onto yellow cardstock. Created a pocket with the Checker paper and added a tag with some trim on the top embellished with a wood veneer bat from Crate Paper.

Added some Gold Halloween Thickers from American Crafts.

Punch and glitter a 2” yellow circle. Add two glitter pumpkins and add some Stickles Faces. A little Glossy Accents Dimensional Adhesive was added to the bat.

Title pieces were cut from the Journal Cards and the masks were added to some toothpicks.  Leaves were cut using the Reverse Confetti Leafy Confetti Cuts.

I hope you enjoyed this fun Halloween mini-book tutorial from Rhonda! Come by the LBH to see this project in person and pick up all your goodies to create with!!!!

 

Speaking of goodies.... It's time for a PRIZE!!!!

Our lucky prize winner is..... AMY C.

Congrats Amy C. Please e-mail the LBH- littlebluehouse.misstracy@gmail.com
to claim your prize!!!

 

We still have more great Halloween Projects to come....
so Keep commenting and you will be Entered in to WIN
next Week's Prize!!!!

 

Happy Halloween!!!!

 

 

Stars and Stripes Project by Susan Liles

Hi, it's me, Susan Liles here with something new to show y'all!  I'm so happy I got to play with this STARS and STRIPES paper and stickers from ECHO PARK.  It's a fun mini collection and I LOVE anything patriotic.  It was hard to keep from buying all of our red, white and blue collections up at the store!

Anyway, today I wanted to share what I made with that collection and my quick design process (sort of a tutorial) of how I created this very quickly and easily using just a couple of basic ideas for the pages.  Also, I may not show all the pages here (it's 5 decorated pages front and back!), but the sample is up at the store for all of you "touchy feel-y" types.

I started with one of those cute .99 frame stands from Ikea and 2 binder rings.  Then I started designing ONLY TWO page "types".  The first page is one of them and the second page is another.


Now I don't mean page SHAPE, although I did alternate those with 4x6's and a banner shape just for fun.  What I mean is, I stuck with just 2 general layouts and simply changed them up a bit for each page.  Look close and y'all can see that. 


"Layout 1" has a layered piece going across the bottom, a wonky rectangle, a circle element in the corner, and some other element along the left side.


"Layout 2" has a layered piece going across the top, a wonky rectangle for a picture and large elements in one or two corners only.  Once that general concept was prepared, all I had to do was embellish!


Y'all may think at first by just keeping the format simple like this, your book would be boring or repetitive.  The embellishments are what makes each page striking and different.  By using this method, this book came together fairly easy, and all I used were the papers, stickers, some ribbon and a few other "extras" that I had at my fingertips!  You could easily establish this concept with any mini book or album.  Let us know what you think, or come by and check out the "real thing" today!

Is this Layout 1 or Layout 2?  Wink!!!!

All supplies can be found either in-house at The Little Blue House or on our website: www.thelittlebluehouseonline.com

I AM...Simply Me!

Well, it's me Susan here!  Today I AM sharing a fun little project I did with the new I AM line of papers and embellishments from Simple Stories.  This collection has ME (and YOU) written all over it and I fell in love with it when I spied it at CHA in January.

I love how I was able to create the cover of my book with the gold letters I cut out from one of the papers.  I then added the "simply me" little flag banner.  That phrase has always stuck with me.  I'm not a complicated person, nor a "deep thinker", so when I saw that little snippet in my collection, I knew I had to use it on the cover!  (Now, that's not to say I'm a ding dong either...but there are times!  LOL!)  There are several encouraging pieces you could use to describe yourself others within the collection, so that you can give a personalized touch to whatever project you are using it for (bible journaling, anyone?).

I used the little flaps to hand-write words that describe my roles on one and my traits and qualities on the other.  That was fun to come up with!

Here's a closer look at how I put my book together...Yes, I took it "old-school" and created a super fast lunchbag minibook.  Most of the ones I've made in the past were a lot more pages than this one, but I wanted to keep it sweet and simple as that IS the theme of my book!

I only used two lunchbags, facing opposite directions.  I folded them together in half and then stapled the ends three times.  Then I turned each book page open and made a fold on the inside to help flatten it out and to "train" the pages to open like a book.  Now it was ready to decorate--the fun part!

Paper bag books are so fun with the little hidden side pockets that you can put "pull-out" pages and tags in!

It's been forever since I made one and now I remember why I loved them so much...just me, keepin' it simple!

One of the things I love about this collection is the fact that it incorporates a lot of black as an accent color and that makes me happy as it just makes everything pop!

So when it came time to start my book's cover, I knew I wanted to bring out that theme.  Here's what I did to create the muslin heart on the front:

I chose a coordinating acrylic paint, diluted it with a little water on my brush and painted just the front of my heart.  I then let that dry and helped it along with a little shot from my heat tool. 

Then I grabbed my SO STRIPEY stamp set from Reverse Confetti and used the large single stripe stamp and some Tuxedo Black Memento Luxe Pigment Ink (dye based ink would not be permanent and may fade) to create the black stripes on the heart.  I then heat set it once more.

I set it aside until I was ready to adhere it.  (I also used this technique on the little aqua triangle pocket on one of the inside pages.)  Here's a closer look at the cover which I also added some clear stickers, a clear overlay and more papers from the I AM collection from Simple Stories.

Ok, friends, I hope this has inspired you to be simply YOU and create using the new I AM collection from Simple Stories.  It's available at The Little Blue House and online now HERE. 

Designer Spotlight: Elaine Howell & Hilary Kern

I hope you are enjoying our Designer Spotlight Series! We have two more LBH gals to share with you today...Hilary Kern and Elaine Howell.  Hilary Kern, is our Prep Captain! Hilary works mainly "behind the scenes" at the LBH kitting and prepping all the fabulous Project Kits and Classes we have at the LBH.   Elaine Howell, is a talented designer and instructor at the LBH. She is our "in house" Silhouette Expert! 

Hilary and Elaine also happen to be Besties! When they aren't creating or prepping, you can find these two gals exercising or visiting over coffee. Read on and get to know these two besties today!

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Designer Spotlight: Hilary Kern

Hello!  I am Hilary Kern, Miss Tracy likes to tell everyone I am the Prep-Captain at The Little Blue House. I work closely with Miss Tracy behind the scenes, preparing many of the project supplies and kits for all the FABULOUS projects our designers create. It is a fun job, I just love working with such AMAZING artists!

I have always been a craft enthusiast, my mother was of the belief, “Homemade gifts are always better, it is like giving a little of yourself in each gift”.  I was the 3^rd of 6 children, but my mom still found time to sew and knit. My dad could build anything. Every year he designed and hand cut our Christmas Card for home Silk Screening. They both always encouraged us to be creative and so you might say, my love of crafting is in my DNA.

I have been married for 25years to my WONDERFUL husband Kevin, and we have 3 beautiful girls. We moved to Keller in 1995. By this time my budding photo hobby had evolved, into  the family historian through the lens of the  Mom-ographer. Looking to preserve these memories for the next ONE HUNDRED YEARS, I took up the hobby of scrapbooking. About 1998 I met my BEST friend Elaine Howell, and we quickly bonded through faith, crafting and kids.

So what do I always like to have when I go crafting?

My BEST FRIEND Elaine of course!

 My name is Elaine Howell and I am a Designer and Teacher at The Little Blue House.

This is the corner of my scrap room where I have all my cardstock. As you can see our friend Tim Holtz is watching over me.  This picture is taken from a magazine that he was in years ago - I had him sign it at a scrapbook convention. As a joke I brought him to a scrapbook retreat I attend with a group of friends -we affectionately call ourselves "the Hags". We laugh every time and have convinced 

ourselves Tim goes on retreat with us.
I love his work and am inspired by his creativity.

Here are a few more pics of my studio. The window over the tables is from the house where Dan's grandmother was born - I love the colorblock look. 

I used cardstock in the front of drawers to mimic the colorblock look
of the stained glass windows - makes it look neater too.

Here is some of the shelving in my closet.

Now for a little about me. I have been married to Dan for 35 years. We met in college and I can honestly say he drives me crazy but I love him more today than ever.

I have two grown kids - Jonathan and Kristen. I love being the Mom to adult children. 

I also have one "old man" orange and white kitty named Sunny.

My working career started in high tech electronic sales (go figure)and I did that for 25 years. After a layoff I was left with looking for something new to do. I tried a few things and then one day  I went to Anthologies with a group of friends to take a class. I met Tracy and Susan (they were the teachers) - my friends would ask me questions (I would have them over to do crafts so they knew I knew a little something) - Tracy asked me whats up with this and I explained. She asked if I would be interested in a job designing and teaching. She asked me to bring her some samples of my work - I WAS SCARED TO DEATH and SO NERVOUS. I guess she liked what she saw and the rest is history. I had always wanted to be a teacher and I am blessed that I am able to do what I love. 

 I come from a creative family - my grandmothers sewed and did needle arts.
My Mom is an amazing seamstress, needleworker and now paper crafter. 

My Dad after retiring early did beautiful word work - everything from simple wood toys to artistic spalted wood turned bowls.  I have always been involved in things creative. 

In the Spring of 1998 Hilary and I were invited to our first Creative Memories party. We were hooked!! I went through the chop your pictures into shapes phase, the sticker sneeze phase, a big paper piecing phase and then I met "Glitter"! 

I love all things that sparkle.

Today I would say my style is classic. I love details whether it's ribbon, buttons,feathers or any other kind of embellishment. I scrap 12x12 albums and I do like to make cards. With guidance from Susan Tidwell I have started to venture into Mixed Media and I must say I love to get my hands dirty! 

I have to say I LOVE MINI BOOKS - I am going to start a class called Cover to Cover where we will create various types of mini books.

  Here  a few mini books and a layout I have done.

                                      

You may have noticed these are older projects, I took a six month hiatus from designing last year because we moved. I am so glad to be settled and creating again.

I am doing the One Little Word workshop with Ali Edwards and I attended the Faith Journaling Workshop at the LBH. I am really looking forward to doing both this year.

My other new passion is the Silhouette. I love the flexibility that it gives me to create.

My blog is GlitterMeHappy stop by and check it out.

There is always something happening at The Little Blue House, stop by the website or visit us at the store to see the latest and greatest.

Tracy took this picture of me at my table - this is as clean as it will ever be...BIG LOL!!

Elaine
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Thanks for joining us today on the Blog...
Tomorrow is our final day of Designer Spotlight
make sure and tune in! :)

 

This just in.... Creating with Cattle-ist Workshop is coming up soon! Cheryl Darrow, owner and creative director at Ten Seconds Studios will be in the HouSe....
Wed. Feb. 18th 10am-1pm or 6pm-9pm
Her leather book is now on display at the LBH
Come by and Check it out & Sign Up for this Lovely Leather Workshop!!