XYRON! A Fond Farewell, and Game Day Decorations!

Good Morning! Today is a bittersweet day for me, as it is officially my last post for Xyron Adhesives. I have had a complete blast sharing everything that I have made with all of you. I will forever cherish the time that I spent working for a fabulous company, and alongside some super-talented ladies. 

Even amongst the bitter part, it will be a fantastic weekend this weekend. For starters, today is my birthday! While I'm not going to tell you how old I am, I will say that I'm younger than the Seattle Seahawks who are going to the Super Bowl this weekend!!

Since I was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, it's a pretty big deal that our Seahawks are playing on Sunday. We watch every Hawks game, and usually my husband attends at least one a year. While our family usually watches the big game, no matter who plays, we don't usually decorate. This year... All bets are off (at least on the decoration side of things!)

I really love this banner. It's fun, and because I didn't use the team name, only a PNG of the Hawks logo, I could break it out again later if I chose to.

My husband was gifted these quite a few years ago, and we get to decorate with them finally! Just a little bit of vintage Seahawks!
For the food picks and the larger logo, I just found a PNG file of the logo online. THIS is the version that I used for this project. My crafty friend Brenda shared with me a fantastic tutorial on how to use your Silhouette's Print and Cut feature. There really are quit a few out there, and this one just worked for me. Once those were all cut, I used my Xyron 1.5" Create-a-Sticker to adhere the logos to a scalloped rectangle that I sized just for this.

Once the logos were adhered to the rectangles, I simply attached some popsicle sticks that I cut in half (and made pointy!) with a couple of Xyron Adhesive Solutions 3/8" Dots.  Now I'm ready to spear some amazing game snacks!

The banner was really easy too! I took a football shape from the Silhouette store, and cut it in both kraft paper for the football, and white for the laces. I cut the title with cardstock, then offset the letters so that I could use a contrasting color with each letter. I then ran both the laces and the blue letters through my Xyron 3" Sticker Maker. I think that the 3" is my favorite Xyron tool.

Once the laces were attached to the footballs, and the blue letters were attached to the offset green ones, I needed to attach the title to each of the football pieces. Using the Xyron Adhesive Solutions 3/8" Dots, each of the letters was easily attached.

Once all of the letters were attached, I used a hole punch to create a place to use my grey twine and string up the banner.  

I'm kind of in love with the whole effect. Now all I need is some football snacks and one amazing game! GO HAWKS!

Supplies Used:
Xyron Adhesive Dots in 3/8", Xyron 1.5" Create-a-Sticker, Xyron 3" Sticker Maker, American Crafts Cardstock, Neenah Solar White Cover, Silhouette Cameo, Twinery Twine, printer, popsicle sticks. Pin It

AUTHENTIQUE: Leaky Shed Chipboard!!

Hello! Today's post over at Authentique Paper uses some amazing chipboard by Leaky Shed Studios! This is a cute mini book that I created using Leaky Shed's Camera Scrapbook Album. The great part of this mini, is that all of the sections are separate, so that it is really easy to cover with various papers and then glue down to create some amazing dimension.

For the cover of this mini, I started with Expedition, then covered the middle sections with Touring. Lastly, I used the amazingly inky black paper from the back of the Voyage. I love how black that paper is. The large sticker is from the Details sheet and Elements stickers for the letters. I just love that this mini reminds me of the boat pictures inside by using the May Arts Cord to make it look like a life ring. 

My second project is a sweet Valentine heart decor. I found a paper heart, painted it with acrylic paints, then added pieces from the Smitten Collection (Promise and Components papers) along with Leaky Shed's fantastic Watch Parts.

I really liked how the gears look like they are making the heart run.

Supplies Used:

Authentique Paper: Abroad Collection: Expedition, Touring, Voyage, Details, Elements; Smitten Collection: Promise, Components

Leaky Shed Studio: Camera Scrapbook Album, Watch Parts

Other Supplies: paper heart, acrylic paint, Xyron High Tack Adhesive Dots, Xyron Maya Road Trinket Pins, May Arts Ribbons and Cording Pin It

Back to Scrapping, and My One Little Word

The past few weeks have been extremely busy, although I'm not sure I did much at all. Christmas was a blur, we hosted for the very first time. I made an amazing dinner of turkey, all of the traditional sides, and multiple deserts including Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls and a Yule log. Seriously, an amazing feast.

Regardless, I've had a thought throughout this season that I was overdoing it. So my word* for this year is Simplify. I really want to focus on what is really important, for myself, my family, my work, and my life. I feel that although I like to take on the world, I don't need to in order to prove that I am good enough.

Part of Simplying my life was upholding the promise that I made to myself concerning my wonderful Gossamer Blue  kits. I had to cancel my Monthly Main Kit. I had made a deal with myself that I was going to participate each month in their Album Challenge and create at least for layouts by the 14th. Come December 14th, I hadn't finished my four layouts and honored my word. I didn't want to give up completely (mainly because Gossamer Blue puts out some amazing kits, and one day I would like to re-sub again!!!), and instead joined Gossamer Blue's Life Pages kit. I wanted a Simple way to document life, and wanted unique products to create with still. I will still create layouts, just by using my large stash of awesome products.

This was my first layout in awhile not using a pre-fabbed kit. I used my Crate Paper DIY Shop kit that I snagged from ScrapbookSteals right before September's Crop in Utah. I loved pairing the soft hues with these beautiful pics of my girls. I even used the Iolite #6 sketch from ScrapbookSteals.

 

*The One Little Word is part of the Ali Edwards brand and philosophy. While I am not currently doing her class, I am taking a personal look at life using a bit of this philosophy. I'm not sure yet if adding another project within this would truly Simplify my life right now... Maybe in Summer! If you want more information on both Ali's classes and information, please see her 2014 post on her blog. Thanks!

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AUTHENTIQUE PAPER: Sweet Little Girls and the Smitten Collection

Today this wonderfully sweet layout is being featured on the Authentique Blog. I love the pinks, reds and browns especially in the Smitten Collection by Authentique Paper. I even used a  Kiwi Lane DT Doodles. I love sketches. They take out all of the second guessing, and sometimes, that is exactly what I need. For this layout, I only used one page from the Week 43 Doodle.

Check it out today! And tomorrow I will update you on some CHA news, my One Little Word for this year, and a very brief update on my hiatus from the blog. Not completely intentional :)

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Lawnscaping Winter Blog Hop!!!!!

Welcome to the Lawnscaping Winter Blog Hop!! I was SO excited to be ready and willing to share my love for Lawnscaping Challenges with you this morning. Some of you may know, that Lawn Fawn has become a new addiction to me. So have the Lawnscaping Challenges! Too often I don't get mine photographed in time, or life gets in the way to finish a thought, but this one I have been planning for a few weeks now and am SO excited to finally share it with you!

 

You should be coming here from Lenny. Her coloring is crazy-amazing!! I am super excited to see what she created this morning!! If you are just starting here, make sure that you head to the Lawnscaping Challenges Blog as there are a TON of prizes and sponsor information over there.  

Here is my project for the hop! I'm super excited about it. I chose to use two of my favorite stamp sets: Gnome Sweet Gnome and Into the Woods. I still cannot get over how cute that fox is, and had to "winterize" him for this card. I also had a blast playing with some of the Into the Woods papers and the Peace Joy Love Mixed Sequins.  

To start this card, I used a Silhouette cut that I altered to better suit what I was going to do with it. I cut off the side with the snowman. Then, I cut the front from Neenah Solar White paper, and the snowglobe itself from a sheet of Into the Woods paper. LOVE the woodgrain! The globe is actually packaging from a set of diecuts! Each of the sequins are stuck to the acetate using Xyron's 3/8" Adhesive Dots. They are perfect for sequins!! I also used my Xyron 9" Creative Station on both the snowglobe and the white and colored sections of the card. It made it SO much easier to piece all of the sections together. 

The background is a mix of Distress Inks in Tumbled Glass and Broken China, with a bit of Colorbox in Midnight. The snowbanks were cut using Kiwi Lane Templates in Paisley Place and a little bit of the Distress Ink makes them pop. The gnome, now Santa! and fox are both colored using Spectrum Noir markers. Although I did add a little bit of colored pencil on his face. The key was also colored using the markers.

I am SO glad that you were able to visit and hop along today!! Head on over to see the work by the amazing Christine Drogt now!!!

  
Supplies Used:
Lawn Fawn (Into the Woods stamps and paper, Gnome Sweet Gnome stamps, Peace Joy Love Mixed Sequins), Distress Inks (Broken China, Tumbled Glass), Spectrum Noir markers, Xyron Adhesive Dots, Xyron 9" Creative Station, Neenah coverstock (Solar White), Memento Ink (Tuxedo Black), American Crafts (dark kraft paper), Silhouette Cameo and Online Store, acetate Pin It

Christmas Fun with Xyron and Heidi Swapp!!

Good morning Xyron and Heidi Swapp fans!! I love this season. Seriously, I wait all year for Christmas to come and miss it once it's gone. I love the gifts, the tradition, and of course all of the fun that you can have with decoration and gift wrap. Today I'm going to share a little bit of both.

Meet our resident elf, Stella. She is the perfect foil for the fantastic papers and embellishments from Heidi Swapp's Believe line. I took three pieces of from the 12x12 Paper Pack and layered them all together 1/2" smaller than each other using my Xyron Mega Runner. The Color Magic Jumbo Pennants were each sprayed with a mix of Color Shine in both Chartreuse and Gold Lame.

To make the photograph pop, I added a Believe Banner Delight using the  Xyron's High Tack Adhesive Dots in 3/16".

I then punched out one of the Joy to the World sentiments from one of the sheets of the 12x12 Paper Pack, and added my journaling and faux stitching with a Signo pen. 

Lastly, I used Gold Lame Color Shine on the Color Magic Striped Alphabet. I love the little hashtag, and it works perfectly with the Instagram pic I used!

My second project using Heidi Swapp's Believe line is a decorative bow that I cut using my Silhouette.

Once I cut all of the pieces of the outside of the bow...

...I sprayed a second sheet with the Chartreuse Color Shine, then cut the base of each of pieces.

I ran each of the outside pieces through my Xyron 1.5" Sticker Maker.

Once all of the outer pieces were attached to the second set of pieces, I attached them all with a long brad. See how the Color Shine on the inside of the bow covers the white paper?

Make sure that the brad is opened on the inside.

To create the banner that will wrap around the CD case, I cut a border, ran that through my Xyron 3" Sticker Maker, then attached that to a slightly larger version and attached it to the case.

Lastly, I used a few more of the High Tack Adhesive Dots in 3/16" to attach it to the case. 

Now it's ready for packing up a fun present!!


Products Used:

Xyron: Xyron Mega Runner, Xyron Adhesive Solutions 3/16" Dots, Xyron 3" Sticker Maker, Xyron 1.5" Create-a-Sticker

Heidi Swapp: Believe Collection (12x12 Paper Pad, Banner Delights), Color Magic (Striped Alphabet, Jumbo Pennants), Color Shine (Gold Lame, Chartreuse) 

Other Supplies: Silhouette, Signo Uniball pen, CD case, circle punch, brad

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Xyron's 30 days of Holiday Projects: Easy Wrapping Ideas

Good Morning Xyron fans! Today I have a great way to wrap up those fun presents. Last year, I bought a crazy-huge roll of kraft paper. My thought was that I could wrap all of the presents in that paper, and decorate with pretty bows and other fun embellishments for whatever holiday or season they were for. Today I combined the kraft paper with some gorgeous American Crafts papers, twine and embellishments from Studio Calico and Imaginisce.

These were super easy to make. For this set, I used my Silhouette to create the fun snowflakes using American Craft's Peppermint Express patterned paper in Ornamint. If you don't have a die cut machine, simply use thinner paper and cut out snowflakes like you used to when you were little. Have the kiddos help for this too!

Start by wrapping your presents. You can see how plain they really look at the moment. Not too exciting, but that's super easy to change! After cutting out my snowflakes with my Silhouette, I ran those through my Xyron 9" Creative Station. 

 

I stuck the new snowflake stickers to the packages, then added green and white twine.

The tags were also cut using my Silhouette. I used the same Snowflake Tag Set for the tags and Imaginisce Colors of Christmas paper in Vintage Ornaments. I cut the snowflake from Neenah cover in Solar White, then attached each snowflake using Xyron's High Tack Adhesive Dots in 3/16". Once the snowflake was attached, I used the bling and Studio Calico's Magical Adhesive Banners to create a few sentiments.

Now, they are each packaged just a little differently from each other, and have so much more interest.
I color coordinate all presents that are heading to a specific destination (I tend to forget/lose things otherwise...) and this is one more solution I have in my gift-wrapping arsenal.

Products Used:

Xyron 9" Creative Station, Xyron Adhesive Solutions 3/16" Dots, American Crafts: Peppermint Express (Ornamint), Imaginisce: Colors of Christmas (Vintage Ornaments, Bling), Studio Calico: Magical (Adhesive Banners), Twinery twine (Peapod), kraft wrapping paper, Silhouette, Neenah coverstock (Solar White)

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