Lily Bee Finds

Contrast

Lately I have enjoyed approaching layouts with the focus of "contrast" as I brainstorm my layout topic, journaling, and the overall design.

Lily Bee Products used
Picket Fence: Cottage Garden, ABC Alphas
Three Little Birds: Just Relax, Die cut frames, Accent Rub Ons
Lovely: Charm, Chipboard Stickers

So often I document the who, what, when, where, and why-- these are some of my favorite pages and memories. But I love to challenge myself and think deeper in terms of topics and journaling.

For instance, this page above does not really have a who, what, when, where, "story"; however the story I am telling has to do with my children and their relationships as siblings. I use contrast by showing and comparing visual differences of each year's photos (it's crazy how much they change in a few short years!). I also used "contrast" as a journaling prompt to share how although very different, their strengths bring out the best in one another.

As I was designing this layout, I decided to keep it simple and continue with the theme of contrast. I used one white cardstock page and one pattern paper page and connected the photos across the layout. By using two black and white photos, and one color photo, there was visual contrast and the most recent photo is highlighted in color.

The wonderful thing about Lily Bee is that so many collections bring out the best in one another! I used three different collections in this layout (Picket Fence, Three Little Birds, and Lovely).

I hope this inspires you to think outside the box next time you sit down to create a layout. Look for ways to contrast photos and design-- and of course don't forget to reach for Lily Bee!

Big Picture Colour Class Winner!

Congrats to
Melissa, June 24, 2011 3:03 PM

I'd love to win a spot in this class! Thanks for the chance!

Please email kristenATlilybeedesign.com so we can get you set up. Class starts today June 30th!

An Adventure...

It's always an adventure for me whenever I design a page for Lily Bee. I am an embellishment and hand cutting patterned paper Junkie... but I am addicted to Lily Bee.. why? Because it is a perfect match for my dies!! The patterns are just the right size for you to see it even in intricately cut shapes such as the clock here. And the colors blend in so beautifully that all you need are scraps of Lily Bee papers and a few of your favorite dies or paper shapers to create detailed and embellishment filled Lily Bee pages.








Thanks for your visit today!
Iris

Focus On: Vacation Pages

Hello there! Happy Monday! It's officially summer here in the Northern Hemisphere, and we are all thinking vacation. So we asked some of our designers to share some vacation pages with us.

Cindy Liebel used a diecut machine and a Polaroid die to create this adorable page about the mini-trips she took with her children over the summer. Love how she used the ABC Stickers to describe each photo.

OUT FOR PUBLICATION

Lily Bee Supplies:
Stationery: Tangerine
This & That: Cardstock Stickers, ABC Stickers, Brooch & Milk Bottle
Picket Fence: Seize the Day, ABC Stickers & Cardstock Stickers
Happily Lost: Cardstock Stickers & ABC Stickers
Lovely: 12x12 Rub-ons
Three Little Birds: 12x12 Rub-ons
Christmas Town: Chipboard Stickers

Lisa Dickinson highlighted her vacation photos with super cool palm trees (also from a diecut system). She also misted her patterned papers to create a match between the papers and her photos. Clever!

Lily Bee supplies:

Happily Lost patterned papers: Good Book, Amazing Views, Sun Soaked, VIlla

Happily Lost ABC Stickers

Aren't these pretty and colorful? Totally making me want to go to a beach or a pool right now! We hope you enjoyed them. And please do share your Lily Bee projects with us (Summer or Winter!) by posting it in our Facebook page. We love seeing your work!

Thanks Coach Cards...

Happy Thursday! This is Lisa Day and today I wanted to share with you some quick cards I made for my son to give to his baseball coaches to thank them for a great season and for all of their hard work!

Our team colors are black and yellow and the This & That collection worked prefect for these cards. I love the color of the yellow. It's the perfect shade! And those ABC stickers...swoon!! They are the perfect size for adding a sentiment to the front of a card!

Lily Bee Supplies Used:

This & That Patterned Paper - Brooch

This & That Patterned Paper - Pretty Fabric

This & That Patterned Paper - Teacup

This & That ABC Stickers

This & That 6x6 Tiny Tablet

Big Picture Color Class Spot Giveaway!

Big Picture Classes is giving away a spot in their upcoming Color Class with Instructor Nic Howard. Simply leave us a comment no later than next Wednesday, June 29th to have a chance at winning this class. Class starts Thursday June 30th and runs to August 10th. A $39.00 value!

Happily Lost In Details

Hi Everyone,

I'm back to share my second installment of my trip to Luang Prabang, Laos. I'm still in love with this small town and I can't seem get over how the simple things there made me so happy! For example, enjoying a local breakfast in the hotel courtyard area as the monk passes by for their morning alms or taking a short dip in a freshing crystal clear waterfall. But its definitely the temples and buddha statues that had captivated me most... so much details, so much history, so much culture.



In creating this layout, the pattern papers and stickers from the Happily Lost Collection were just perfect to help me tell my story.



And to add abit of fun to the layout, I did a bit of misting on the top and bottom parts of the layout; by using another piece of cardstock to cover the areas that I didn't want misted. Also when misting, I prefer to spray the ink unevenly - to get that thinner coat aginst the solid parts.



Then on this side of the layout, I stampled the circles using one of the stamps from Happily Lost Stamp Set. The catch here was that I had already stuck the stickers onto the page but I still wanted the stamp image to appear behind the stickers. Therefore I grabbed another must have handy supply - post it notes - to cover up the sticker piece before stamping.



Supplies used include:
Happily Lost Pattern Paper - Good Books
Happily Lost Pattern Paper - Hammock
Happily Lost Pattern Paper - Stroll
Happily Lost Mixed Cardstock Stickers
Happily Lost Acrylic Stamp
Happily Lost ABC Stickers
Stationery Pattern Paper - Slushie

Thanks again for stopping by everyone and don't forget to link us up to your creations with these collections.

Fruity?

Happy Tuesday everyone! I want to share a Layout today that I've made about my son's love of fruit. I know, i know...I'm very lucky that he loves it so much, but I also have a daughter that eats no fruit at all! How can siblings turn out so differently?

For the Layout I've mixed and matched a couple of Lily Bee collections which is really easy as they all go together so well.
The word 'Juicy' was cut with my Silhouette using 'Oatmeal' Stationery Cardstock.
I wanted my banners to be a bit more dimensional so I've adhered the Banner Stickers to cardboard before attaching them to the page. I've also added some white paint to ground all the different colors and some stitching for added texture. This project came together very easily with all the beautiful Lily Bee papers!





Lily Bee Supplies:
Happily Lost: 'Amazing Views' paper
Happily Lost: 'Stroll' paper
Happily Lost: 6x6 Tiny Tablet
Happily Lost: Mixed Cardstock Stickers
Happily Lost: ABC Stickers
This & That: 'Teacup' paper
This & That: 6 x 6 Tiny Tablet
Picket Fence: 'Seize the Day' paper

Focus On: Children ' s Projects

School is out for the summer in most places around the Northern Hemisphere. Here in the US, the days are getting longer and warmer. And while we all love having our children home, pretty soon, they start complaining about getting bored... You know how that goes.

No problem! Lily Bee design team to the rescue. Three of our team members are here to share four easy crafts you can create with your kids!

Project 1 by Kim Arnold:
(Kim lives in Australia, so the temps are dropping over there. But hey, these projects are good for Winter breaks too.)

Benson and I sat down and made some simple paper pinwheels together using some of the lovely Lily Bee double sided papers.  I let Benson pick the patterned paper that he wanted to use – nice big polka dots with a great contrasting patterned on the other side.  He also picked the brads that we used to put the pinwheels together.

I cut the paper down to 4x4 inches and then lightly drew pencil lines diagonally from corner to corner, marking where to stop cutting in the centre.  Benson then cut along the lines for me. 

I used a Crop-a-dile to punch holes in the paddle pop stick that we mounted the pin wheels on and the corners and centre of the pinwheels.  We then put the pinwheels together using a brad through the middle. 

Benson loved this simple craft and now he has a couple of pretty pinwheels to give to his teachers!

Lily Bee supplies:

This & That Patterned paper: Linens

Thanks Kim and Benson!

Project 2 by Kay Rogers:

One of the toughest things for me to do is to come up with projects that Jenna and I can do together in the summer. On this rainy day, she and I decided to make a canvas using the Happily Lost Collection from Lily Bee.

I had these 11x14 canvases that I got on sale at Michaels. First, I cut strips of paper in random widths to cover the frame, and centered a square in the middle. Jenna used a glue stick and placed the strips on the canvas.

  After all the strips were in place, the next step was to Mod Podge the entire canvas. It was by far Jenna's favorite part! I drew little stitch marks on the papers with a black pen because we wanted it to look somewhat like a quilt.

As the canvas dried, we went to work on a flower for the center. I had a Tim Holtz die for a flower, so we used it with some paper scraps. Jenna ran it though the die cutter to cut, then added texture to the petals. She then inked the edges.

Jenna then attached a brad to the center of the flower.

Here is the final canvas

And a closeup of the flower detail:

Lily Bee supplies:

Happily Lost patterned papers:

• Good Book
• Amazing Views
• Hammock
• Villa
• Stroll
• Sunsoaked

Thank you, Kay and Jenna!

Project 3 by Virginia Tillery:

Lobster Prints:

(Choose whichever steps you feel like your kids can do themselves- then you do the other parts!) 

1. Punch out circles from strips of blue shades of Lily Bee Patterned paper (I used This & That- Milk Bottle, Picket Fence- Veranda, Stationery- Slushie). Do them off of the edge, so that they create whimsical waves. Adhere them to a piece of kraft cardstock. 

2. Paint the bottom of one foot with red acrylic paint. WARNING: this is likely to be giggle inducing. Stamp it "upside down" on the page, on top of the waves, Keep lots of wipes handy to clean it off when you're done "stamping" with their foot. 

3. Paint hands with red paint and press them down on the page too. Paint on "arms" to attach the hands to the foot. 

4. Have your kiddos draw lines along the body, and glue on black punched circles and googly eyes. A fun beachy craft!

Project 4 by Virginia Tillery:

Summer Reading Bookmark Monster:

1. Cut a rectangle out of patterned paper (the Lily Bee Stationery line is perfect for this!). Fold into a triangle, and flip over. 

2. Decorate as you desire- we created "Monsters," but you can make a pretty one for yourself, too! 

3. Googly eyes make everything cuter. Trust me. 

4. Tuck on the corner of a favorite book and enjoy!

 

Lily Bee supplies used for bookmarks: 

Stationery: Pear, Slushie, Tangerine, Cotton Candy

This & That: Pretty Fabric

Happily Lost Mixed Cardstock Stickers

 

Thank you, Virginia, Emerson, Atticus, Sabriel, and Ariana!

Aren't you seriously in love with all of these? I am. I can't wait for my kids to get out of school later this week, so we can work on these projects together.

Have a great and fun week!

Sometimes we forget...

Happy Saturday everyone! I have one of my favourite layouts to share today and as I started this blog post it suddenly struck me how differently I scrap each of my children. Lucy's pages seem to be very formal, Archie's are messy and Eliza is such a bubbly little thing I love using bright colour combinations for layouts about her. I wonder if anyone else does this?

I took a heap of pics of Eliza recently and as soon as I downloaded them onto my computer I was struck with how very grown up she looks. My girls are only a year apart so we often forget just how big Eliza is getting.

There isn't actually a lot of colour in my photo so I could afford to really let loose with my choice of papers. I just adore this particular combination of papers and find myself using it again and again.

Supplies

Happily Lost paper - Hammock

Happily Lost paper - Sun Soaked

Stationery paper - Slushie

Happily Lost ABC stickers

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend and manage to get some creative time in!

Beachin '

Good Thursday morning everyone! Now that summer is upon us, that means lots of summertime fun with plenty of photo ops. I thoroughly enjoy spending summer days on the beach; who doesn't?! I love looking back at past years trips to the beach & getting inspired to pack our beach bag, cooler & road trip to the coast.

My layout share for today showcases one of my favorite photos I made last year. Spending a wonderful time chillin' on the beach while my two little's had an amazing time catching waves.


To create this layout, I layered two decorative border strips together, creating a slim band in the middle. I embellished the area with bits of chipboard shapes, rub-ons & a single flower. I didn't want to overwhelm the page with too many embellishments, but I also wanted some impact to the design.

I was originally going to use just the one large 5" x 7" photo on the page & add journaling strips, but it didn't seem complete enough to me. So, I printed out extra photos & used my circle cutter to finish my page. Added the tiny ABC stickers & the 12" journaling photo strip at the bottom, topping it off with a decorative border just for fun. I like how the circles through the page balances with splashes of blues tones throughout.

White creating this layout, I got the urge to plan several trips to the beach this summer. I even called up my parents letting them know of our plans for a visit & to beware of all the sand that will be invading their home this summer, once again.

Have a wonderful week, Cheers!

Lily Bee Supplies:
This & That Pretty Fabric
This & That ABC Stickers
Picket Fence Mixed Cardstock Stickers
Picket Fence ABC Stickers
Christmas Town Chipboard Stickers
Three Little Birds Laugh 12x12 Rub-Ons

Other Supplies:
Petaloo Floral Embellishment

Laughter: Start to Finish

Supplies:
Picket Fence: Veranda
Stationary: Mushroom
Lovely: Bonjour
Lovely: Trinket
Three Little Birds: Rub-ons
Light Blue Spray Ink
Grey Spray Ink
Stencil
Pop-Up Adhesive
Punches
Ribbon
Sewing Machine

Hello Everyone! I thought i would show you today a layout from start to finish. This particular layout started with a photo from CHA & a color scheme. I saw a magazine page with the colors of pink, grey, blue, & green. I thought it was so pretty i wrote it down on a sticky note & tacked it to my inspiration board.

I started with this photo of Linda Barber, Stacey Cohen, Kristen, Myself, & Piradee standing in the Lily Bee Booth at CHA. Even though Kristen is blinking, i still wanted to use this photo since this is the only picture i had of us. Using photoshop, i soften the tones of the photo before printing.

Next i grabbed a creamy cardstock as my background & one of my favorite stencils. I used a mini mister with the light blue spray ink for better control. As you can see in the second photo only parts of the butterflies have been misted.

Next after shaking up the grey spray ink, i removed the cap to drip the ink on the page. Carefully shake the nozzle with an up & down motion to get little drops on mists on your background. Repeat it all around the page.

I printed the photo 4 x 6. I punched the edges using a Corner Round punch to give it a softer look. It really can change the look of a photo.

Next i cut strips of pink, grey, blue, & green from various Lily Bee paper lines. These strips were only 5 inches in length so they would be just a tiny bit shorter than my photo. This would make the photo stand out on the page. I varied the width of the pieces of patterned paper, some being 1.25" to 1.5".

Next i punched out a few shapes from the leftover strip of green patterned paper & the pink Patterned paper. I used my anywhere punches as the shapes were solid & a bit larger than my other punches.

I knew i was putting the photo & strips of patterned paper on the right side of the page. I wanted to add a bit of balance to the left side but nothing too overwhelming. I love the Lily Bee Rub-ons so it was a perfect fit for the left side. I anchored the rub-on with a tiny strip of the same grey patterned paper (Stationary: Mushroom) using the backside.

Here's how the layout looked near the finish. I wanted to have something accenting each strip of patterned paper so i used punches, bling embellishments, and ribbon. You can see a trinket pin in the photo that i was trying to use but it just wasn't working so i left it off.

I decided that the punches need to be emphasized more. I was thinking about inking the edges but i really didn't want to add any color to them. I opted then for some foam squares to pop up the punches. This way you get to see the punches but the color all stays the same. it adds that bit of visual interest to the strips.

Before gluing everything down (punches, embellishments, etc) i added in some zig-zag stitched lines between the patterned paper strips to really anchor them to each other. I liked the look so much i also stitched the photo.

So to bring all the elements together & to have a place to journal, i penciled in lines about .25" around the 3 sides of the layout. After writing out my journaling, i then go back and erase those lines.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.
Lots of Love

Focus On: School Year Wrap Up

It's that time of the year. Kids getting out of school. Or maybe you are getting out of school. We asked three of our designers to come up with projects that look back on the school year. Highlights, happy or sad memories, maybe interview their children or themselves. Here are the gorgeous projects they came up with.

Jenni Hufford created this layout with an overview of the year in a hidden tag, and included a photo of the first day and the last day of the school year.  She cleverly created contrast with the background of the two pages to signify two schools.

Lily Bee supplies:

This & That- Linens, Pretty Fabric, Postcard

This & That ABC Stickers

Hello Sunshine- Savannnah

Three Little Birds- Double Dutch

Katja Schneider used her daughter's stellar year end report as journaling in this beautiful layout. She highlighted some words by using ABC Stickers in various colors.

Lily Bee supplies:

Stationery Cardstock - Mushroom

This & That - 'Milk Bottle' paper

This & That - 'Postcard' paper

This & That - ABC Stickers

Hello Sunshine - 12x12 Rub ons

Hello Sunshine - Chipboard Stickers

Ronda Palazzari jotted down some thoughts from the heart about the last year her children will spend together in the same school. Her oldest has graduated high school and is now off to college. 

Lily Bee supplies:

Stationery patterned papers: Butter, Pear

Picket Fence patterned paper: Cottage

Catching Fall patterned paper: Cider

Christmas Town patterned paper: Sleigh Ride

Hello Sunshine patterned papers: Fly a Kite, Posies, Savannah, Picnic

Hello Sunshine Die-Cut Frames

This & That Mixed Cardstock Stickers

We hope you enjoy this Monday's Focus On. As always, we'd love to see your projects using Lily Bee. Please share them with us via Facebook. See you tomorrow!

Afternoons & Coffee Spoons

It's officially summer here and like most of you, I'm spending more time away from the scrap table and more time with the kiddos - at the park, in the pool, and on the playground!

But a busy summer schedule doesn't mean you have to give up scrapping all together. Here's a quick and easy card that won't take you long to create. It's a perfect all-occasion card (and would make a great holder for a Starbucks gift card!)



Lily Bee supplies:
Picket Fence patterned papers: Al Fresco, Seize the Day
This & That Tiny Tablet

1. Create a 5.5 x 4.25 card from kraft cardstock. Stamp background with overlapping coffee stain stamp.
2. Trim a piece of Al Fresco paper 5.5 x 1 and adhere to bottom edge of card.
3. Use die cut machine or hand cut coffee cup shape from Tiny Tablet paper. Add striped Seize the Day paper to cup rim. Adhere with foam squares.
4. Use glue pen to adhere twine in swirls above cup to mimic steam. Tie twine across top of card.
5. Print sentiment on white cardstock. Trim to fit card and adhere.

And you're done! Now go grab an iced coffee and enjoy that summer weather !

Challenge: Scrap a School Memory!

For many of us, the school year for our kids has just wound down and we're moving into summertime fun activities.

Before we totally transition into vacation mode, though, I wanted to challenge you to scrap a school memory while they're still fresh on your mind!

My daughter wrote this sweet Mother's Day poem in school, and I love the barely legible little kindergarten handwriting. I definitely wanted to preserve that, along with this photo of me and her from a school event.
Since I wanted the poem to be center stage, I accented it with just a few pops of color and an obvious visual triangle with my three circles, to draw your eye around it.
Just to keep things interesting, I painted on a little bit of mist around the edges of the white paper.
Lily Bee Items Used:

This and That- Milk Bottle Patterned Paper, Mixed Cardstock Stickers, ABC Stickers

Stationery- Butter Patterned Paper, Slushie Patterned Paper

Picket Fence- Al Fresco

Petaloo generously donated our design team some flowers, and I used their Jeweled Florettes in white.

I hope you join in on this challenge with me!

So, here are the specific details for this challenge:

1) focus your layout on a school memory, whether it's yours from your childhood, or another family member's memory!
2) use at least one Lily Bee product (any kind)

To be entered into the contest please post you layout on our Facebook page (please include the title Lily Bee Challenge: School Memories) -OR- include a link to your project in the comments of this post.

I will draw one winner on Wednesday June 15, 9:00 p.m. EST. The winner will receive a box of Lily Bee goodies.