Simple Stories

Simple Style--Framed Art

Happy Friday everyone! And I want wish fellow Design Team member Wendy Morris a HAPPY BIRTHDAY as well! Today I have a project for you using the new Baby Steps line. I was challenged to make a project that didn't look baby-themed with this baby-themed line. It was easy! I love the soft colors and patterns of Baby Steps, but don't feel like you have to use them for baby layouts only. The project involved punching and stacking butterflies, machine stitching a grid, adding some letter stickers and finishing with my handwriting. Super easy and not baby-themed at all. I love how flexible this line is!

 

Supplies (all from Baby Steps):

Totally Adorable #1606

Expressions Cardstock Stickers #1603

Flashcards #1609

Martha Steward butterfly trio punch

EK Success black pen

 

 

Simply Creative: For You, Sweet Baby

Hello, Simple Stories Fans! I hope your July is going well! Summer is just clipping along here in my part of the world, and I'm trying to enjoy these last couple of weeks of relaxation as best I can. One of the best events of the month though has been the arrival of an adorable baby boy for one of my favorite scrapbooking buddies. And what luck! The new Baby Steps Collection debuted at CHA this past month, just in time for me to whip up a cute little gift bag for Mr. Cutie Patootie. 

We all know how great Simple Stories collections are for quick and easy scrapbook layouts. But all those pre-printed and pre-measured elements also make gift giving super quick and easy too! I was so excited when I realized how perfectly the elements would go with a simple little kraft gift bag I had picked up at my local craft store. 

I started by simply cutting a strip off of the 100% Perfect patterned paper

I then cut out the journal block shape from the Special Delivery pattern.

I wasn't really feeling the cupcake image with what I was going for on my little bag, so I started by punching out the little baby carriage from the same sheet of paper with my postage stamp punch. I love that so many of the images in the patterns fit so well inside the various sized punches. I then started layering a few stickers from the Alphabet sticker sheet.

 

Some finishing touches of texture with a few brads and buttons and voila! A perfect little bag for carrying a gift card for baby. 

Tutorial - Repurposed Wood Blocks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is where I stand up and introduce myself - "My name is Kim and I am a thrift store junkie". Seriously, there is nothing I love better than getting a bargain or finding the perfect item at the thrift store for next to nothing.  One thing that I am always on the lookout for is alterable items.  On my last trip to the Goodwill Outlet, I found these fabulous wood blocks.  I knew right away that they would be perfect to alter ---- the design stopped far enough away from the edge that it would be a breeze to cover up.  Then when I got my hands on the brand new release, Baby Steps, well......let's just say it is a match made in Heaven!

This is what I started with:

 

Then I cut 60 squares from the patterns of Baby Steps:

 

Using my chalk ink pad, I inked around all the edges:

 

Then using my favorite liquid glue, I adhered all the squares to the blocks making sure to get the glue as close to the edges of the paper as I could:

 

 

Then I punched out stars, hearts, and circles and added the alphabet stickers from this fun sticker sheet:

This is my end result - won't these look adorable in my new grandbaby's bedroom?

 

What fun things have you found at thrift stores?  I would love to hear all about your thrifty finds - even better - share with me a link of something you have created repurposing, recycling and reusing!

Supplies Used:

#1603 12 x 12 Expression Cardstock Stickers

#1605 - Sweet Dreams

#1606 - Totally Adorable

#1607 - Perfect

#1608 - So Adorable

#1609 - Flash Cards

 

Simply Creative with NEW Happy Day

I thought it would be fun to share a Simply Creative idea with the fun elements in the Brand New Happy Day Collection.  There are so many things you can do with them beyond using the Simple Stories system.

 

 

My son turned 3 this summer and he was such a ham about blowing out his candles and eating his cake.  I love how the Happy Day collection captures his personality and celebrates his big day.

These are the Happy Day materials I chose to highlight the versatility of the elements that come with this collection.  I chose three 4 x 6 journal cards and one Birthday Memories 12 x 12 patterned paper.

First, I chose this 4 x 6 jorunal card, because it mirrored the design in the 12 x 12 paper and I liked the sentiment on the journal card that is not in the 12 x 12 paper.  I decided to cut it out and pop it up over the design in the patterned paper.  See below...

It was a perfect fit over the design in the patterned paper and added a fun birthday sentiment.

Next, I took the cupcake 4 x 6 journal card and cut out the cupcake to make a cute embellishment.  It was easy to fussy cut and I just added a little chalk ink to soften the lines.

I also used a craft knife to cut the banner flags out of the patterned paper and then pop dotted them over the picture that would have covered this beautiful stream of banners.  The effect is very fun!

Finally, I took the bingo card and cut it in half and added some of it behind the 5 x 7 photo and some of it to matte the wallet-sized photo.

 

Happy Day collection Materials:

Birthday Memories #1504

Happy Day 12 x 12 Expression Cardstock Stickers #1503

4 x 6 Journaling Card Elements # 2 #1511

4 x 6 Vertical Journaling Card Elements #1512

 

Thank you so much for stopping by today -

Simple Basics // Baby, You Have My Heart

 

Hiya Simple Stories fans!!! First of all, WOWWWWWW what a past week with all the NEW CHA summer releases!  Can you believe FOUR new collections rockin' the floor at the CHA show this week ?!  Plus a cRaZy load of give-a-ways & congrats to all the winners!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!  

Simple Stories truly has MY heart!! :) (and I'm thinking it has the heart of MANY MANY fans too) :))

Well, we lucky design team members have been creating up a storm over the past week(s) & ready to thrill ya' with our projects!  LOTS of sneaky peeks have hit the blogs {clearing my throat, you can check out my blog here} and we are ready to reveal!  I truly feel it in my bones to say each collection keeps blowing me away and with my super love for stamps, the collab with Unity Stamps Company has made my heart drop to my knees!  

So, I'm gonna' share up a very special layout I created using some sweet pics of my cousin, Tyla.  This collection, "Baby Steps", will be FULLY unveiled tomorrow at the show when CHA officially jump starts...

 

 

 

"My Heart" 

12x12 Layout

 

Baby Steps Collection

• 2x12 Border & 4x12 Title Strip Elements I #1614
• Designer Cardstock - Sweet Dreams I #1605
• Designer Cardstock - 100% Perfect I #1607

Other - Studio Calico (wood hearts), Tattered Angels (Glimmer Mist - Star Fish, Olive Vine, Tattered Leather), Ranger (Ink - Archival Ink - Jet Black), Making Memories (chipboard letters), Want 2 Scrap, (bling), Prima (pearls), Clearsnap (Smooch Spritz - Vanilla Shimmer, Fairy Dust Glitter - Sugar Shimmer, Glue Gloss), Thread (Gutermann), Prima (flower), 7 Gypsies (rubons), Stamps (Technique Tuesday, Hero Arts, Stampers Anonymous).  

Congratulations to all of our WINNERS!!!

We have had such a fun week reading all of your comments as we get ready to go to CHA next week! Thank you to everyone who stopped by and left us a comment and for all of you who may have just stopped by for a visit.

With so many winners, we thought it might just be easier to announce them all in one big message! If your name is listed below, please email me at sales@simple-stories.com to claim your prize and of course give me your address:

Generations Winner:

I love the color scheme, you can use it for black and white or color photos! I also love that you now have a 6x6 paper pad. :)
xoxo,
jenny-lynn

Posted by: Jenny-Lynn | 07/11/2011 at 05:11 PM

Happy Day Winner:

Your day2 sneek is just as exciting as the first! Birthdays come around all the time and we need great things to make great pages! These products are amazing and quick too! Thanks!

Posted by: Leslie Kiley | 07/12/2011 at 09:40 PM

 Baby Steps Winner:

OMG! Cutest baby line EVER!! I love you guys!

Posted by: Ashley Rock | 07/13/2011 at 08:09 AM

25 Days of Christmas Winner:

WoW! Again! Love it :0)

Posted by: Cristie | 07/14/2011 at 08:02 AM

 100 Days of Summer Blog Hop Winner:

Fantastic blog hop, now have some great ideas to get to work on! So much inspiration in one day!

Posted by: Deb Routledge | 07/14/2011 at 11:33 AM

Next week our design team will be posting fun projects that they have been working on with the new collections, and if time permits (because our ideas are always bigger than reality) we will post some pictures from the show while we are there. 

Have a great weekend!

SNEAK PEEK - DAY 4: 25 Days of Christmas

Thank you for joining us for this week long of celebrating our new Simple Stories releases.  We've been showcasing our FOUR new collections - all designed to help you scrapbook and preserve your memories and photos in a simple and beautiful way! Hopefully you are as excited about our new lines as we are...and we can't wait to get them into your hands.  We've had a lot of questions on when you start purchasing these new lines...here's our ship date information:

Happy Day - July 25

Baby Steps - July 25

Generations - August 22

25 Days of Christmas - August 22

Once we start shipping it may take 1-2 weeks to hit your local scrapbook retailer or online retailers shelves...but VERY soon you will be able to start purchasing your brand new Simple Stories collections! If you didn' get the chance make sure you visit each of our sneak peeks and make a comment to be entered to win one of our new amazing collections.  Also a reminder that TODAY is the LAST day to post to our Simple Stories Facebook fan page to win the Generations collection!  We'll be posting winners on Friday for all of our giveaways!  Whew....lot's of giveaways, fabulous products and inspiration going on this week!

I have been so excited for our LAST sneak peek and reveal of our new collections!  This one is super exciting for us as it embraces all that is fabulous about our Simple Stories system.  We're thrilled to introduce 25 Days of Christmas, a beautiful Christmas line designed to help you countdown to that magical day in style!  Whether you're highlighting your special holiday memories, creating advent projects, designing a December Daily album or simply creating Christmas keepsakes - the 25 Days of Christmas is the perfect way to capture your magical memories!

We've added an extra fun "Countdown to Christmas" sticker sheet to this collection that will allow you to use a variety of stylish numbers to add to your journaling cards, elements or projects as you countdown to that special day - we think you'll LOVE them!! Our signature elements and countdown stickers are designed to go hand-in-hand allowing you to customize your projects for your holiday scrapbooking...we think they're fabulous and hope you do to! Without furhtuer ado...here is our 25 Days of Christmas collection:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you LOVE our 25 Days of Christmas collection...leave a comment to be entered to win the entire collection!  Thanks for joining us for our exciting sneak peek week - we can't wait to show off our new products at the CHA Sumer 2011 show in Chicago next week...and our new releases will be hitting stores very soon!

 

100 Days of Summer - BLOG HOP!

It is indeed an exciting week here at Simple Stories - not only are we showcasing our new releases during our sneak peek week...and giving away lot's prizes...we're also sponsoring a blog hop with MemoryWorks featuring our 100 Days of Summer collection.  The MemoryWorks team has already showcased some amazing projets today...if you haven't already you definately need to hop their blogs to see their fun and inspiring projects. 

MemoryWorks Blog - http://memoryworksblog.blogspot.com
Lacey Igo - http://laceybugcreations.blogspot.com
Sheri Feypel - http://www.thedesperatescrapper.blogspot.com
Susan Nichols - http://susan-nichols.blogspot.com
Jade Wilson - http://www.thescrapyardrose.com/
Sandy Zent - http://creatinginreallife.blogspot.com
Lisa  Harris - http://mykreativepursuits.blogspot.com/
Kelly Holbrook - http://kellyrholbrook.blogspot.com/
Sharon Hill - http://ascrappersmemoir.blogspot.com/
Sarah Jimerson - www.snippetsofme.net
Christy Musack - http://christymusack.blogspot.com/
Simple Stories - HERE!

Remember to leave a comment to enter to win an exciting Simple Stories prize!

Now it's our turn to showcase even more inspirational projects...and what better way than to show what YOU - our loyal and talented customers - have created.  I haven't posted a "Simple Sighting" for a while and there's no better time to highlight some amazing projects from just a few of our customers...maybe one of them is YOU!

SIMPLE SIGHTING: NERRIDA MITCHELL

The first layout is from a very talented artist from Australia - I love the layering, the flowers, the elements...everything! Check out her blog at http://forthememories-nerridamitchell.com for more inspiration...

 

A few of the close ups...LOVE her photography the really showcases the details:

 

SIMPLE SIGHTING: SONIA THOMASON

Our next simple sighting is from another talented designer in Australia.  Her project caught my eye with the beautiful embellishments, taking a fun and whimsical collecion and giving it a touch of elegance.  If you want to be completely inspired...you must visit her blog at http://soniathomason.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/05/and-another-week-slips-on-by.html!

 

A few of her close ups she shares on her blog:

 

SIMPLE SIGHTING:  MARCIE SHARP

Our last simple sighting comes from a wonderful cardmaker who worked wonders with our 100 Days of Summer collection.  I seriously LOVE her sweet, simple style - these cards are truly delightful! In fact her blog is full of inspirational cards - it's definately worth a visit to http://cardmakinchaos.blogspot.com/

 

Thank you Nerrida, Sonia and Marcie for sharing your talent and inspiration with us!  And also a HUGE thank you to the MemoryWorks TeamWorks members who have put together an amazing blog hop - hope you were inspired as much as we were! Don't forget to leave a comment on THIS BLOG POST to be entered to win a 100 Days of Summer collection pack...also today is the last day to post to our Facebook fan page to win a Generations collection...and of course check out all of our sneak peeks for our new collections and enter to win one of our new collections!  Whew...like I said...lot's going on....lot's of give aways...and lot's of amazing products and inspiration!

 

 

 

SNEAK PEEK - DAY 3: Baby Steps

Welcome to DAY 3 of our SNEAK PEEK WEEK!  Thank you for your awesome response to our Generations and Happy Day collections.  Our mission at Simple Stories is to create product to help you share your most important memories in a beautiful (or fun, or heartwarming, or meaningful....) way.  Whether it's through the dark rich traditional colors and designs of our family/heritage themed Generations collection to the bright, vivid and whimsical feel of our Happy Day line!  Thank you for embracing our Simple Stories products - we LOVE helping you share your story in a whole new way!

Today's reveal embraces all that you love about Simple Stories...with an oh-so-sweet collection to help you capture your little ones first year and those important monthly milestones in one complete simple but beautiful, breathtaking album!  We're thrilled to introduce Baby Steps...a collection designed for your totally adorable, 100% perfect, absolutely priceless little one in your life!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once again....post a comment to let us know what you love about baby steps and you'll be entered to win the entire collection!

PS - A HUGE thank you to my sister-in-law for providing our beautiful baby photos!  She's an amazing photographer with adorable kiddos.  Check out her photography website at Rahne Drop Photography.  If you're in the Seattle, WA area she does amazing work. Seriously...check out this DARLING photo...

 

Free Generations Facebook Giveaway!

 

 

Want another chance to win the GENERATIONS collection?  Simply visit our facebook fan page, post a comment, and you'll be entered to win one of two Generations collection packs.  So...not only can you win each of our collections on our Sneak Peek posts, but you also have an extra chance for the Generation goodies on our fan page!