Simple Stories

Homespun Fun

Hello, Simple Stories friends!  You have Shellye here with you today with two projects from the Homespun Collection; one of my very favorites of the new releases! It reminds me so much of the handmade quilts and dolls that my grandmother used to make using calico prints, ginghams and plaids.  And the colors are so vibrant and cheerful...it's hard not to smile as you thumb through the papers and sweet embellishments!

First up is a mason jar mini album that I put together.  You can find the steel rule die on-line OR you can order the chipboard pre-cut, along with a template for tracing onto your patterned paper. 

The new embellishment packs called Bits & Pieces come in handy for projects such as this.  I like to add a square of foam adhesive to the back and then pop into a corner of a photo mat...that's all you need!

I either cut out  a 3X4 swatch from one of the 12X12 papers or used one of the [email protected] Cards as the mat or journaling area for each page.  In keeping with the homespun feel, I machine-stitched a zig-zag pattern around the edge.

Brads and buttons give that extra dimension and provide stability to the edges of stickers that may pop up after years of wear.  Because of this, I do like to hand-stitch my buttons on before attaching the finished page to the chipboard page.

The above pages are two examples of how I let the adorable artwork do the designing for me!  Just fluff them up with a ribbon bow or other fun embellies.

Here are two pages featuring the doily motifs found in Homespun.  Accesorize with doily-shaped die-cuts or premade doilies.  After going back and looking at the completed album, I also had a thought that some cross-stitching would look so cute as an accent with this collection!

Simple Stories Products:

Homespun Collection- Grateful Paper; Stitched Together Paper; Happy Family Paper; Beautiful Life Paper; Heart & Home Paper; Chipboard; Bits & Pieces; 4X6 Horizontal Journaling Card Elements; Insta-Squares and [email protected] Cards

When I spotted the cute apron motif, I knew that I had to pair it with the apron card die that I have on hand, which is perfect for invitations, money or recipe holders.  If you don't have access to a die such as this, you can find a template for the shape on-line (just search 'apron card' template).

After die-cutting the teal dot paper into the apron card shape, I topped it with the apron card found on the 3X4 Journaling Card Elements.  I cut the journal card down to size and then corner-rounded the top edges before applying pom pom trim to the back edge. 

Inside the pocket, I tucked in a cookie recipe and then attached it to the front of a mason jar filled with cookie mix.  I also think it would make a wonderful embellishment for the front of a recipe book!

Simple Stories Products:

Homespun Collection- Teal Dot Paper; 3X4 Journal Card Elements; Decorative Brads; Chipboard.

That puts a Homespun wrap on my blog post for today!  I know you will enjoy all of the ideas yet to come featuring  the latest and greatest from Simple Stories :)
Thanks for visiting

A Holiday Gift Package Set

I hope you have enjoyed your  Christmas Holiday so far.  Guiseppa here to share with you a cute holiday gift set I made using some of my left over papers and embellishments from the December Documented Collection.  If you are  like me, you are always scrambling at the last minute to make those gift packages or cards for the holidays.  It doens't hurt a bit to prepare for next year.  So, here is what I did and yes, I will tuck this away so I can pull it out and use it next year.

I cut out a pillow box using my Silhouette Cameo and dressed it all up with the December Documented Collection.  I also made a matching mini card to go along with it.

What will you do with your left over December Documented Collection?  Get prepared for next year and have a stash ready!  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a fabulous New Year!

 

Simple Stories Supplies:

December Documented Collection:

Special Delivery #3504

[email protected] Cuts #3526

Journaling Cards #3510

6x6 Paper Pad #3522

Decorative Brads #3527

Chipboard Stickers #3528

Expression Cardstock Stickers #3503

The Holidays with December Documented

Here we are in the midst of December! Even though the holiday season is in full swing you still have plenty of time to make some fun holiday items with the Simple Stories December Documented. 

Start with a gift card holder on a Christmas card. These are super easy to make with the fabulous coordinating [email protected] pockets.

And make a litle treat box for any Christmas colored goodies.

You can use one of the 4x6 transparencies from the December Documented Collection Kit punched into a circle to create a fun window to see the treats!

And last but not least, you can fill a 6x8 Simple Stories album with page inserts, pocket pages and more to create an album to mark each fun December day!

You may remember from THIS POST that I started the base of this album a while back .

 So, now I am just adding pictures and some extras here and there.

 But, even if you have not started a daily December album, you could quickly pull one together in a [email protected] with all the Simple Stories December Documented and [email protected] goodies!

So, for this holiday season keep it simple with Simple Stories and get your cards, gifts and albums done in a [email protected]! Happy Holidays!

Supplies Used:

 Simple Stories December Documented Collection

12 x 12 Collection Kit #3500

Cardstock Fundamental Stickers #3502

Expression Cardstock Stickers #3503

6x6 Paper Pad#3522

Chipboard #3528

Brads #3527

Simple Basics #3501

[email protected] Pages #3524

[email protected] Pockets #3525

[email protected] cards #3523

 

Your Family Layout in a [email protected]

What I really love about the new [email protected] Sets is that not only can you create Life Documented type layouts, but if you want to scrap the traditional way, you can.  Guiseppa here and I want to share with you what I created using the [email protected] Family Set.  Here's  a look at the [email protected] Family 4x6 and 3x4 cards.

Using some patterned paper  from the Smarty Pants Collection, I created a layout using mostly the 4x6 and 3x4 Cards.  This made for a quick and easy layout because the [email protected] Cards created the main embellishments for my layout.

 

 

To further accent this page I added some the the stickers from the [email protected] Family Set and few other things.

No matter what way you like to scrapbook...the [email protected] Set are perfect for fun, easy and quick layouts.  Here is a card that I made in no time also using the [email protected] Family Set.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are inspired to use your [email protected] Sets!

Simple Stories Supplies:

[email protected] Family:

4x6 Cards #4179

3x4 Cards #4180

Stickers #4178

Smarty Pants:

Blue Composition/Ledger #3419

[email protected] Collection:

Red/Ledger #2817

Teal Chevron/Mini Dot #2827

Red Chevron/Mini Dot #2829

 

 

The Daily Grind and Spellbinders

Hello there! Donna here today as your host for the blog today, and this week we have something really special to share with you. We here at Simple Stories have teamed up with Spellbinders to do a product swap. So join us all week long as members from the Simple Stories design team share their projects using Spellbinders' amazing products!

Before we get started, a confession: I was a bit intimidated by this assignment. I have a manual die-cutting machine, but I don't use it that often (I'm not sure why!) But once I got started I had a lot of fun creating! One of my first discoveries was learning about Spellbinders® M-Bossabilities™ folders. These are reversible embossing folders that have two designs, one on each side. So all you do is turn the embossing folder inside out (or right side in!) and you can create two different patterns with a single folder. I happen to think that is so very cool! My favorite was this one called Bricks and Bark:

 I used a wood colored patterned paper from Daily Grind

and embossed it with the woodgrain side of the embossing folder to create a textured background for this card:

It is a little hard to see the detail of the embossing in the image above, so here is a closer look:

After using one side of that folder I decided to use the brick pattern too:

I think this side is really fun! I love how the bricks turned out with the red patterned paper. It really did add a special touch to this simple card.

I also had a chance to work with some of Spellbinders' dies from their Nestabilities® line. I used the set called Labels One,

which is a set of six nesting classic label shaped dies. The difference between the die template sizes within a Nestabilities® set is ½", which becomes a ¼" border when layering as you can see on the card below:

Finally, for my last card I used the same label die together with another embossing folder, Simplicity, to create this card:

You'll have to forgive me because the background on this card didn't photograph very well, but I do love how it turned out. I wanted to make something very clean and simple. The embossing looks so pretty and gives just the right amount of texture to the kraft paper. I know I have said this before here on the blog, but I tend towards a more simple style of scrapbooking and cardmaking. I also tend to be a "flat" scrapper. But using these embossing folders was a very easy and straightforward way of adding dimension and interest to my projects. I think my fear of my die-cutting machine might have been eliminated in the process of making these cards! I will definitely be pulling it out more often in the future.

To see more projects using Daily Grind, check out our Daily Grind Pinterest board -

 

Thank you for stopping by the blog today. I hope you'll take the time to visit us throughout the week to see what the rest of the team has to share featuring products from Spellbinders! Have a great week!

 

Products Used from Daily Grind:

12x12 Collection Kit #3600

12 x 12 Simple Basics Kit #3601

Brads #3627

Hello, New Day #3604

Daily Flair #3609

4 x 6 Journaling Card Elements #3611

Orange Chunky Chevron/Dots #3617

Green Chunky Chevron/Dots #3618

Teal Chunky Chevron/Dots #3619

Red Chunky Chevron/Dots #3620

Yellow Chunky Chevron/Dots #3621

Back to the Daily Grind, but we love it!

Happy Hump Day...yay we are half way through the week.  Guiseppa here and I have something to get you through that Daily Grind (no pun intended).  

I am loving the new collection Daily Grind, it's just perfect for those everyday scrapbooking moments.   I love the time I have to spend with my family and Daily Grind helped me to capture that moment perfectly.

These are the people I love and I happy they are part of my Daily Grind.  They make it all worth it.

How about a card.  This collection has a ton of fun saying that come with it, making it perfect to create fun cards.

To see more projects using our Daily Grind collection, visit our Daily Grind Pinterest board -

 

 

Now, I would love to share with you a layout I made using one of the new [email protected] Sets...Him!  

I love the fact that the Him [email protected] Set was perfect to help capture my sons love for the guitar.  Yes...he truly rocks and I am not just saying that because I am his mother:)

To see more projects using our [email protected]! Sets, visit our [email protected]! Sets Pinterest board -

 

Whatever you are creating, Simple Stories has a collection that will work for you.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have enjoyed my projects using Daily Grind.

Simple Stories Supplies Used:

Daily Grind:

Green Chunky Chevron/Dots #3618

3x4 Journaling Card Elements #3610

Cuts #3626

Busy Busy #3607

Teal Chunky Chevron/Dots #3619

Red Chunky Chevron/Dots #3620

Green Chunky Chevron/Dots #3618

Chipboard Stickers #3628

Expressions Cardstock Stickers #3603

Fundamental Cardstock Stickers #3602

Bits & Pieces #3629

4x4 Quote & 6x8 Photo Mat Elements # 3613

2x12 Borders & 4x12 Title Strip Elements #3614

3x4 Journaling Card Elements #3610

[email protected] Him:

3x4 [email protected] Cards #4164

4x6 [email protected] Cards #4163

[email protected] Sticker #4162

Smarty Pants:

Bingo Cards/Stars #3416

Red Composition/Notebook #3417

 

 

Simply Loving...

the brand new [email protected]! sets! These new sets are so versatile, they really aren't just for use with Life Documented!

Tonya here today to share with you just how well these sets work for other projects. I have yet to hop on the Life Documented band wagon, so I wanted to share a layout and a card with you. Both of these projects came together really quickly using the Baby Girl set. Note another way that this set is versatile...my daughter isn't a baby anymore and so many of the images/cards work really well for feminine projects.

I used the 3x4 card set to make a grid behind my photos.

For a smidge of pizzazz I added some glitter to the heart on the camera lens and a couple of other strips pointing to my title work.

Love that floral ampersand from the sticker sheet!

 

Here's the card...once again no baby theme here!

 

I simply outlined the speech bubble with some hand stitching to make it stamd out a bit.

Hope I have given you a little bit of insight as to just how much mileage you can get out of our new [email protected]! sets.

Products:

[email protected]! Baby Girl

     3x4 cards #4160

     Stickers #4158

[email protected]! Stickers Letters #4020

[email protected]! Pink Chevron/Mini Dot Paper #2837

 

October Guest Designer Tania Willis

Hello Simple Stories fans, Layle here with you today :)

I'm excited to introduce you to our October guest designer, Tania Willis!

Here's a little bit about Tania -

Tania is a 36-year-old wife, of 18 years, to her husband, Doug and mama to two spirited girls, Ashlyn Rose and Emma Graces, ages 8 and 11.

She is currently a Lead Fiskateer, leading a community of crafting ambassadors who are crazy about the Fiskars brand. In this role, she frequently blogs tips and tutorials on their blog at www.fiskateers.com. She also finds great joy in contributing design work to Fiskars for their online content as a Crafting Expert—allowing her to create projects and write articles that feature Fiskars tools.

She has been an industry professional for the last 13 years, teaching classes, writing books, and designing for several manufacturers.  Her passion is most definitely teaching her craft to others.

She loves to make things beautifully handmade---making something from nothing. Her style is quite reflective of that, without looking crafty or homespun. She describes it as fresh and comfortable, polished and not forced, and technique driven with a strong focus on layering products. It often exhibits using products in unexpected ways, always with a touch of stitching…most often hand-stitched details. Her layouts follow basic design principles without looking graphic or linear.

Tania has created some really fun projects for us this month using our SUPER popular Say Cheese collection!

As Tania told me,

My family was lucky enough to take a trip to Disney World in July of 2012 and to be honest I’ve been rather stuck on how to deal with the massive amounts of photos we came home with.  I’m talking a couple thousand photos, all of which I consider keepers, because, experiencing Disney for the first time ever makes every moment a Kodak moment, doesn’t it? But, really, how do you scrapbook all those photos?

Well, Say Cheese is making my life so much easier when it comes to figuring out what to do with all these photos!  If you find yourself in a similar situation, let me just tell you that grabbing a 12x12 Say Cheese Collection Kit is the way to go!  I’ve created the following projects, have four more layouts in progress and *still* have GOBS of product leftover to create several more. This collection is seriously MAGIC!

This layout was designed to be the opening page of our Disney album and was created using only materials found in the Say Cheese Collection Kit. I added mist, rhinestones and floss to help pull all the details together.  While it might look like a fussy layout, it was one of the easiest layouts I’ve ever made thanks to the 6x12 Page Elements.  By cutting the sheet apart into separate 6x12 sections, half of my layout was practically finished for me. All I had to do was adhere a photo and play up the embellishing a bit on the insta-camera.

Here's that 6x12 Element Page that made this layout of Tania's so easy to put together!

The background of this next layout happened on accident. I was in the studio playing with different colors of mists and trying to see which ones would react certain ways and decided to spray onto a full sheet of cardstock that was really just going to be trashed after I was done experimenting. Turns out that it makes a very fun layout for this photo!  The mists I’ve found that match the collection best are the Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Black Velvet, Sweet Cherry, Mustard and Chartreuse.

 

This next  layout was one of those 15 minutes or less layouts!  How can you create a layout in 15 minutes or less?  With the 4x6 Vertical Journaling Card Elements, that’s how!  I laid the photos and two journaling cards on the page and filled in the remaining spaces with patterned paper, punched a few border strips using the Fiskars Postage Stamp Border Punch to add down the sides to help draw the eye to the middle of the layout design and called it good!  I kept the embellishing simple and used some of my favorite techniques to add dimension and interest to the layout.

Here's the 4x6 Vertical Journlaing Card Elements that helped Tania put her layout together in 15 quick minutes!

Lastly, I used one of the 4x6 Horiztonal Journaling Card Elements to pull together a quick card.  I cut the card base to 7” x 10” so it would give me a 5” x 7” card to build my design on.  A simple border was punched from mustard-colored cardstock using the Fiskars Up In The Clouds border punch to frill up the lower edge of the journaling card.  Additional embellishments were added directly on top of the card.

I’m a firm believer in embellishing the inside of cards, as well.  They just look so much more pulled together when you take a few extra minutes to pull elements from the card front in to the inside of the card.  I repeated the same background color as the journaling card, added the same border and same photo corners and used stickers from the Expression Cardstock Sticker sheet to mimic the sentiment on the card front.  Easy peasy, yet looks beautifully handmade!  Just my style.

Thank you so much for allowing me to share the beginnings of my family’s Disney album with you!

Thank YOU Tania for sharing your creativity with us this month and for showing how our readers can quickly and easily create with our products, such a treat!!

 

Merry Christmas Card Set

Happy Friday! It's Jill Cornell here with a couple of Christmas cards to share using the new December Documented collection and templates from Kiwi Lane.

 

On the first card, I used the wavy borders from the Sunnybrook Lane border templates to make a winter scene.

I love that cheerful snowman sticker that I tucked into the waves (snow drifts). I tied the chipboard candy canes together with a piece of baker's twine and tucked them in as well.

 

 

On my second card, I used the Tiny Brackets from Kiwi Lane as a template for the green polka dot patterned paper below the sticker sentiment.

 

 

I machine stitched the card and bracket piece for extra texture. Tiny brads were added to the present sticker.

 

 

The templates were a quick and easy way to add shapes to my cards without the hassle of using a die-cut machine.

Have a great weekend!

Simply Sweet

Happy hump day to you all, Tonya here with a layout and a card to share with you. I have so many great photos from this summer that I am just dying to scrapbook. I reached into my Simple Stories stash and pulled out one of my favorite collections...Vintage Bliss, then found a photo and went to work (Ha! If that is what you call it!).

I started by creating the base of my page in my Silhouette software. I knew that I was wanting to place strips of patterned paper behind a large cut out shape. I opted to go with a heart on this layout.

I traced the open heart onto the green card stock base and then covered the heart with varying strips of  patterned paper. When I adhered the woodgrain piece over the top I wanted it to stand out a bit so I adhered it using a bunch of 3D foam squares.

As you can see above I also cut the word "sweetest" out and then backed the negative space with a monotone patterned paper.

Finishing touches with a little bit of clustering of embellishments.

I hand stitched with aqua around the heart and then machine stitched in white around the outer edge of the woodgrain paper.

I also created a card that utilizes the positive space from the die cutting of the word "sweetness".

This was a pretty  quick and easy card. Love the cute little banner made using the chipboard banner and the little flower stickers!

Products:

Butterflies/woodgrain #3017

Teal Chevron/Lined Notebook #3018

Yellow Grid/Dictionary #3019

Pink Floral/Notebook #3020

Bingo Cards/Stripes #3016

Give Love #3009

Live Simply #3008

Laugh Dots #3005

Smile Big #3004

Decorative Brads #3026

Chipboard Stickers #3027

Expressions Cardstock Stickers #3003

Fundamental Cardstock Stickers #3002