Zva Creative June Design Team Blog Hop

Zva Creative and my fellow Design Team members welcome you to our 
June blog hop! 
We are excited about it and look forward to be 
sharing our new work with you!

Today's Blog Hop begins at Zva Creative's blog! Be sure head on over to check it out! You will also find a complete list of all the participating blogs there (in case there is a glitch along the way).

As you know, Zva offers many beautiful color groupings for pearls, flowers and crystals.  If you like what you see along the hop you can find a list of stores and online retailers that sell Zva HERE.

I really had fun creating this card.
I was totally inspired by this week's assignment
over at The Twinery, which was to create
something using red, white & blue.

I bought the 6x6 pad 'Pride' by Authentique
on my last trip to Archivers & knew what I
wanted to start with.  I laid down my
'wallpaper' and went from there.

The focal point bling is the beautiful red
flourish from Zva Creative.  Even though
bling tends to be on the more 'sophisticated'
side, it totally works with this Americana
look, don't you think?

The burlap star is from Little Yellow Bicycle
and the sentiments are from Paper Smooches.

If you would like to play along with our design team, just follow along the blog path.  I am linking to one of the Zva designers and that designer is linking to the next and so on. Be prepared to be inspired along the way!

The Blog Hop starts today, June 24^th and runs through midnight US Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday, June 25^th.

***Prizes*** 
Hidden on FIVE of the designer's blogs is a Zva Creative prize package! Winners will be randomly chosen after the hop is over. All you need to do is leave a comment on this Blog Hop post... you do not need to leave a comment on each and every designer's blog post to qualify. However, the more times you comment along the blog hop path, the more chances you will have to win. 

The 5 winners will be announced on Wednesday, June 26^th on Zva Creative's blog. We will do our best to notify each winner, but it's best if you can pop in to Zva's blog on Wednesday to see if you are a winner! 

The blog hop begins here at Zva Creative's blog.

Your next stop is

Jolanda Meurs blog

Enjoy!

Thank you for joining us! 

P.S. Mark your calendar to join us again 

on July 29^th for our next Zva blog hop! 

And don't forget to leave a comment for your chance

to win one of those great prize packages!


Project Recipe:

Patterned Paper: Pride by Authentique

Stamps: Sentiment Sampler from Paper Smooches

Embellishments: Red Flourish {CR-06CA-107} from Zva Creative

baker's twine Silver Metallic from The Twinery

Burlap Star sticker from Little Yellow Bicycle

Tools: Banner die by Sizzix, Big Shot

 

Fall ...

Welcome back to The Open Window.

I hope you had a lovely weekend.  The temps took a real 'dip'

the past few days and inspired me to create using a lot

of fall themes, beginning with today's project for

I hope you will hop with us today because there is always

a terrific prize at the end.

If you made your way here by way of our

September Guest Designer

Wendi's blog

If not, just a couple stops back is the

EAD Designs blog

where you can get started !

This week, I enjoyed playing with the 'Fall Harvest' Stickerz from EAD.

I pulled out some beautiful paper from last season from 

Little Yellow Bicycle called 'Hello Fall' and layered

all of my elements on top.

I twisted three different baker's twines from The Twinery

in Mandarin, Honeydew and Cappuccino and tied my

tag with a 'rag' knot.

Here is the set I used

and don't forget . . . 

So great to have you come by today.

I hope you will be inspired to create for the autumn season.

It's time to send you on your way to

Liz's blog Liz's Paper Loft

Project Recipe:

Patterned Paper: Hello Fall by Little Yellow Bicycle

Embellishments: Fall Harvest by EAD Designs
baker's twine in Mandarin, Honeydew & Cappuccino

from The Twinery, gem flourish from Want2Scrap

Triple Scoop Anyone?

Happy Monday to you!

It's time for this week's blog hop with

If you are visiting from the hop, you will have come from

Judith's blog Jay Gee's Nook

If you just happened to stop by, then I invite you back to the

EAD Designs Blog

leave comments along the way and YOU could win!

We are really excited to welcome

Kate Cordero 

as our July Guest Designer too !

It's going to be a FABulous month ! ! !

It's summertime and I crave ice cream ! ! !

How about you ?

I created this 'sweet' card using 

'Strawberry-licious' & 'Random Words' 

Stickerz from EAD.

I was so glad to have the patterned paper from Bella Blvd.

It was a perfect match for the theme.

I thought I would 'glaze' that strawberry on top with a

little Stickles in Stardust.

Here are the fabby sets I used today :

I am the very last stop on the hop.

I hope you enjoyed your visit and look forward

to seeing you again soon !

Oh . . . by the way . . . ice cream triple scoop . . .

I say 'Go For It' !

Project Recipe:

Patterned Paper: Sunshine Happiness from Bella Blvd

Embellishments: Strawberry-licious & Random Words Stickerz 

by EAD Designs

baker's twine in Shore by The Twinery

Stickles in Stardust by Ranger

Rhinestones & pearls by Little Yellow Bicycle & Recollections

Tools: Apron Lace border punch by Fiskars

 

 

Fun in the Sun - Final Design Team Call

Hi hi ! ! !

A super quick post as I share with you this week's challenge

How about this amazing photo scoped out by

our color story gal, Jaclyn Miller.

I was super-excited to find this great paper from Bella Blvd

in my stash because it had pretty much all the colors I needed

(ok..and a teensy bit of one or two others too)

It was a fairly straight-forward CAS card with a rolled flower

made from scratch.  The sentiment is a cut out also from

the same Bella set.  I used Liquid Pearls, gems & a brad

for the tiny flower centers & a BIG knot of

baker's twine in Pink Sorbet from The Twinery.

I hope you will take the challenge this week.

Fun bold colors !

This is the FINAL WEEK we are accepting submissions

So if you're riding the fence, I hope you'll jump off

and take a chance.  It might be

YOU

we are waiting for !

Project Recipe:

Patterned Paper: Sunshine Happiness by Bella Blvd

Embellishments: baker's twine in Pink Sorbet by The Twinery

gems from Little Yellow Bicycle & Martha Stewart 

brad from American Crafts, Liquid Pearls by Ranger

 

Dream Big !

It's that time again!

Time for another terrific challenge with another terrific color story from

Before I forget, I wanted to make sure to let you know

that next week in The Cafe, we will be sharing a

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT ! ! !

So make sure you jot it on your calendar because you

won't want to miss it.

I have to tell you . . . I love this 'accent' set from The Craft's Meow.

It's called 'Typically Teen' and is this month's limited time

gift with purchase.  When I saw this week's color story, I

immediately knew the direction I wanted to go because these

colors work so well together as accents.

I simply used a few of my A Muse Studio inks in the matching

colors, then layered the cardstocks and embellished with

a few tiny gems and brads.

The sentiment is also from TCM.

 

This week's sponsor just happens to be

So I hope you will stop in to The Cafe and check out

all the 

FaBuLoSiTy 

from our designers

and play along!

Project Recipe:
Stamps: Typically Teen & Dads & Grads by The Craft's Meow

Inks: Slate, Blueberry & Ocean by A Muse Studio

Pumpkin Spice VersaMagic by Tsukineko

Embellishments: gems from Little Yellow Bicycle

brads from Recollections

 

True Friends ...

 Hello and welcome in to The Open Window!

I am so excited about today's post for two reasons.

Firstly, it is Day 2 of the New Release Previews for

 Each day this week, you will see a new set

revealed and have a chance to win a set each day!

The other reason  I am super excited is because my friend

and TCM Illustrator Karen Baker, is sharing her

very first stamp set today !

She is so excited and I must admit, I am so excited for her!

It's called 'Inspired by Audrey'

and is just a wonderfully elegant stamp set.

For this card, I pulled out paper from My Mind's Eye to lay the

'wallpaper' for my background.

I stamped the beautiful frame and chain on the top panel.

On a separate coordinating piece of paper, stamped the sentiment and laid

it over the oval.  I then stamped the additional flourishes from the set

and embellished with gems and pearls.

From there, it was a matter of adding the lace and seam binding

to finish dressing it up.

Can you see why I am so excited about this set?

It's a beauty and just wait till you see

the rest of this set  !!!

Make sure you pop by

 The Craft's Meow Blog

and check out the fabulous-ness

from all of the designers.

TCM is giving away a new release set

each day, so make sure you leave a comment

on the blog for a chance to win!

I am so glad you stopped by today and I hope

you will plan to come by each day this week

so you don't miss a thing!

Spring is Here Project Recipe:

Patterned Paper: So Sophie Graceful Collection by My Mind's Eye
Stamps: Inspired by Audrey by The Craft's Meow

Embellishments: gems from Martha Stewart Crafts & Little Yellow Bicycle

Lace from The Paper Studio, seam binding from Hug Snug

Guest Designing for Little Yellow Bicycle

It is inDEED a special day here at The Open Window!

You know...you know...you KNOW I am a huge fan of

Little Yellow Bicycle

and today I am honored to have an opportunity to be a

guest designer on their blog as a member of the

Swoon Cycling Team.

The package arrived from Mr. Brown and I could not

wait to tear it open...of course, being that most of it was

paper products, I had to use that 'gentle' touch!

All of my cards were inspired by my niece Cortney's upcoming wedding this summer. I am so excited for her & her fiance.
 

Creating with blacks, whites, greys and creams was out of the box for me,

but this collection made it easy.

For this 'quilt' card, I just cut 4 panels from 2 sheets of these beautifully

textured papers.  I used the coordinating patterns on each side and they

worked perfectly together.

I constructed the flowers using the 'Paper Flowers' kit.

I love the sentiment & the dove from the 'Fabric Favorites'

and the final touches were the pearls.

Continuing on the same path....

I knew I wanted to use the 'Wedding March' paper 

the minute I laid eyes on it.

I love the beautiful stick pins that come in this collection.

That tiny touch of gold was perfect!

I thought it would be good to add a 'splash' of color for this final project...

I wanted to go with the sentiment of 'With this Ring' and carry that over as

much as possible, so I used the Standard Circles die from Spellbinders

and created various sizes of in contrasting papers for the background

and layered the 'Journaling Card' on top of the Beaded Ovals die,

also from Spellbinders.

I added a little color with a peach rose from Recollections.

My favorite little addition is the bling on the bride's ring.

There are so many wonderful possibilities with this collection.

You could 'colorize' various designs and take it to a whole new level.

I sure hope you found some inspiration from your visit.

I had a blast being a guest for LYB and I hope you'll stop by their blog

and take a quick peek at my post.

A BIG thanks to my friends over at Little Yellow Bicycle !!!

Project Recipe:

Textured Cardstock, Decorative Edge Cardstocks,
Fabric Favorites, Cardstock Stickers, Clear Cuts,
Gem Stickers, Paper Flowers Kit, Stick Pins
Journaling Cards all from 'Swoon' Collection by

 Little Yellow Bicycle
Embellishments: paper rose from Recollections,
ribbon from Making Memories
Tools:  Standard Circles & Beaded Ovals die by Spellbinders, Big Shot 

Relax...Dream...Love...

Hello ....

I hope you are having a terrific week so far.

Mine has started off as a busy one and that's the way I like it!

I am super excited to share this new project with you.

If you regularly peek in at The Open Window you know I am a

huge fan of Little Yellow Bicycle

and I am so looking forward to my upcoming projects for

their Swoon Cycling Team.

Until then...I've been playing with one of my favorite collections

since 'Twig'...and that is 'Saturdays'.

I spied this great acrylic collage photo frame on one of my recent visits to

the craft store and knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.

I used a variety of elements from the 'Saturdays' collection for each of

the frames and for texture on the OUTside of many of the frames as well.

I loved the designs on each of the double-sided textured cardstocks.

I had a very limited amount of product to use I'm afraid as my trip to

Archivers proved a few days too late!  I knew this design from LYB

would be huge hit and clearly, much of it was picked over, but I made the best

of it and cut each 2"x3" very thoughtfully : )

Here is a view of the dimension this frame lends and the different textures

of both the cardstocks inside and the stickers on the outside can be 'felt'.

The additional element to this frame was the 'Twiggy Tree' from Memory Box.

Of course, no dimensional project is complete without a little bling & pearls

in just the right spots, so I added berries to the bicycle basket and LYB gems

here and there and and it just felt right to stop when I did.

Of course, this would be totally stunning if you substituted a few B&W photos

among these beautiful reds, blues & browns.  I didn't have anything chosen, 

but I thought of it the entire time...so I think I would LOVE to do 

another one with that in mind.

I sure hope you enjoyed this idea half as much as I enjoyed working on it.

You can find all the amazing products I used for this project over at LYB.

Thanks for stopping by and I will be back tomorrow night with a brand new

challenge from The Play Date Cafe.  See you then!

Project Recipe:

Textured Cardstock, Decorative Edge Cardstocks,
5 Things Envelopes Embossed Stickers, Cardstock Stickers
Tear-out Ticket Book all from 'Saturdays' Collection by

 Little Yellow Bicycle
Embellishments: Jewel Stickers from 'Hello Fall' by Little Yellow Bicycle
pearls from Recollections
Tools:  Twiggy Tree die from Memory Box, Big Shot

Beautiful...Blessed...Perfect

Happy Sunday everyone!

I have a busy week here at The Open Window with lots of projects

that will be posted, so I thought I would take today to share a layout with you.

Now you KNOW....I typically don't do layouts...I love them, I just don't

have time to do them, but my sweet friend Katrina Hunt has been

after me to scrap this photo, and I finally did it!

I have been a lover of the Little Yellow Bicycle collections for awhile

and since this photo is a 'fall' photo, I went straight to the 'Hello Fall'

collection from LYB.

I used a lot of elements from this collection.

I can't decide if my favorite is the 'Clear Cuts' acetate sentiment 'Happy'

or the 'Mini Banners' stretched to say 'BLESSED'.

Both of the elements describe this layout as it was celebrating

our 20th Anniversary at one of our favorite places.

The day was absolutely 'Beautiful' as described with the 'Cardstock Favorites'

banner on the right. I love the dimension on this page and
how it all tells the story.

Speaking of telling the story, the 'Journal Card' says it all...it was 'PERFECT'!

I hope you enjoyed your visit...and the layout.

I definitely need to do more of these and do them more often.

Hope you are having a great weekend...I will see you soon!!!

Project Recipe:

All elements from the Hello Fall Collection by

 Little Yellow Bicycle