Aubrey Plays
Two Blondes and a Sewing Machine
A Jennuine Life
Izzy and Ivy Designs
Holly and Company {That's Me!}
Elle Lee and Me
Lilly Shine Boutique
Simple Life Pattern Co
SewSohpieLynn
Happiness in the Making
MADE Everyday
Little Bit Funky
Sew and Tell Project

 To showcase this amazing bundle, I made two projects with the bundle. One of my favorite parts of working at Fort Worth Fabric Studio, was helping brainstorm ideas for bundle names. I decided to keep with the theme name and make some items for a lemonade stand. A party banner and a coin purse.


 Today, I have the tutorial for the party banner. It is also perfect for decorating a girl's room or a birthday party. I still have some leftover fabric to blend into my stash or make something else, maybe a table runner.


Supplies:

• Pink Lemonade Fat Quarter Bundle
• Rotary Cutter & Mat
• Ruler
• Sewing Machine
• Pinking Shears (optional)

 Make bias tape from strips by sewing diagonally along matched up corners of each strip. I use a bias tape maker to fold the fabric while I iron it. You can also fold and iron by hand.

 You should have 32 triangles. Match the triangles with the same fabric, place wrong sides together. Stitch along two sides. Repeat until you have 16 completed triangles. (Discard one triangle, you only need 15 for this project.)

 Use pinking shears to trim the sewn edges of the triangles.

 Open the bias tape and insert the triangle, matching the markings.{All unfinished edges of the triangle and bias tape should be tucked inside the fold.}Place clover clip on top of all layers, along the center point.

Awhile back I was asked to guest post at Tatertots + Jello, for her Summer of Paper series. I realized I never posted my project on my own blog! Read on for the full tutorial.

When I saw this collection, I knew the chalkboard paper would be so fun to use with metallic pens and markers. The matte black surface is a perfect blank slate for creativity. I decided paper crowns would be a perfect way to use that blank slate.



Supplies:

• Pebbles Home+Made 12x12 Paper Pad
• Pebbles Home+Made adhesive backed flowers
• Pebbles Home+Made jewel stickers
• Metallic Markers
• Gold glitter tape 
• scissors or electronic die cutter (I used a Silhouette SD)

For the first time in a long time, I went scrapbook shopping. With so many new and gorgeous products coming out - I just couldn't resist. I visited two of my favorite online stores, Elle's Studio and Paper Issues. I've been on Design Teams for both stores before, and was always impressed with Elle and Cassie, their respective owners. Customer service and shipping is second to none! I would highly recommend both stores.

1. Shop sales and coupons - Obvious right? Besides the tradition holiday sales times (Christmas, Labor Day, Memorial Day, etc) scrapbooking stores have big sales right around CHA time (December-January and June-July) They are clearing out last CHA's product to make way for the new stuff. Also, look for  promotions during National Scrapbooking Day (May)

Don't forget to watch for photo printing deals, Snapfish and Shutterfly offer lots of great promotions throughout the year.
*Beware of buying just because it's on sale. You can blow through your craft budget with products you're not really in love with*

2. DIY - Some products are easier than other to re-create, but many are easy to replicate with a little time and a trip to the office supply store/printer. The best part about DIY embellishments is that you have more freedom with colors, themes, and amounts.

Here are some tutorials I've made replicating popular scrapbooking products.
DIY Transparency Alphabets
DIY Foldover Tabs
DIY Stitched pockets

Page using the DIY transparency alphas

3. Check big box stores - Joann's and Michael's only carry certain name brands, but with their weekly coupons, you can get some great products and tools for cheap! I tend to use those for staple products, cardstock, ink pads, colored cardstock, paper cutter blades, etc.
* Don't forget your coupons!*

4. Warehouse Sales - If you have a favorite brand, check out their blogs or Facebook pages to see if they do a yearly box sale. Most of the companies offer a great discount and a partial list of what may be included. Some also have brick and mortar places set up, where you can pick and choose which products you want.  * My favorite warehouse sale is the American Crafts. It's located in Utah every years and is open from Thanksgiving to New Year's. If you have an opportunity to go, I would highly recommend it. Not just because of the great prices but because they have four different brands located there (Crate Paper, American Crafts, Studio Calico, Pebbles) We shall see what 2014 brings with their recent acquisition of Pink Paislee and Imaginesce*

5. Be Picky - When a new line rolls out that I am in love with, I have a tendency to want every.single.piece of it, especially the papers (my weakness) Logistically, that is impossible to afford and store in my less than 1000 sq. feet apartment. I tend to window shop the line. Review each piece over and over online and narrow down my selections. I usually end up with 3-5 papers and 1-3 embellishments. This cost is at most $20, which is much for affordable then the $75+ of the entire line. Also, Before making an embellishment purchase (meaning anything other than patterned paper), I ask myself, "How long with this last me?" For example, I can spend $4 on a roll of washi or a pack of decorative brads. Depending on the colors, themes etc, one will probably last me way more than the other.
*Try to buy products that can be used for more than one event/category/holiday.*

6. Tools - In the short run, tools cost more, sometimes a lot. Over the course of a year or more, they can save you lots of $$$. Specifically, an electronic diecutting machine (Cricut, Silhouette, etc) can allow you to make alphabets, stencils, even your own patterned papers, which reduces your need to buy. Color mists and inks can also help you create unique backgrounds, change embellishments and enhance products your already have.
* Tools are great for DIY embellishments.*

7. Sell/Share - There are Facebook groups and message boards where you can sell your unused products and boost your craft budget by a little. You can also try to sell locally on Craigslist or at your local scrapbook store. Also, you can sign up for swaps or share a pack of embellishments with a friend.

8. Buy with a project in mind - Mindlessly buying can lead to unused products and wasted money. I used to do this. It's cute, I'll buy it. I'm much more conscious of what products I'll be using for which projects. This stops me from buying just because it's cute or trendy.

9. Know Thyself - Go back through your scrapbooks and look at what products your gravitate towards. Think about what you're always running out of, or your favorite things to add to a page. Stick to those things. If there are certain products that you love, but rarely end up using on a page, keep those purchases to a minimum or not at all. For example, I have a hard time using ribbon. I love it, it's pretty, but it rarely makes it onto a page. Once I realized this, I stopped buying ribbon. 
*If you are new to scrapbooking and aren't sure what products to use or which ones you like the best, I would recommend purchasing from a kit club which will allow you to try a sampling of products without a huge financial commitment. *

10. Splurge - Every once in awhile, a product comes along that I am just dying to use. It doesn't follow my 9 previous rules, but for whatever reason, I just can't talk myself out of it.  Save up your craft budget and spend it on that thing you've been dying to have. The reason I say this is actually a mental thing. Budgeting can be hard. Giving up freely spending isn't fun. And rather than try to supplement with products and DIY's that aren't going to satisfy you, it's ok to splurge every once in a while.

With smartphone cameras being comparable to a point and shoot camera quality, we carry a camera with us the majority of the time. But even then, not all stories we want to tell, get captured on camera. Over the years I've found three good ways to scrapbook without photos.

1. Fill the page with text.

Whether it's handwriting, typewriter or a newspaper article, words are the foundation of stories. Don't be shy, add lots of details and adjectives to document on your pages.

I wanted to document all my childhood Christmas traditions, but because we spent most of those moments together participating, there was no photo to go along with it. I used a calendar page, filled in some of the square with patterned paper and then made small blurbs randomly, about each tradition.


2. Use supplies to tell your story.

Use patterned paper, stickers, stamps, colors, even typography to help recreate the occasion. Just looking at the page and you can already catch a glimpse of what story you are telling

I used a map on a patterned paper to document all the places I've been and what brought me to each place. I used twine and printed labels to easily identify each place with a quick look. 

Do you ever scrapbook without photos? I would love to hear your experiences.

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

I came up with the project just a few weeks before we were planning to move. Not a great time to start a time intensive project, however, most of it was completed while sitting at the splash park while Zoe played, or on the long drive to California for a wedding reception.

Materials:

• Funnel Cake Digital Stamp from Studio Calico (The template I used was a limited time digital stamp, and is no longer for sale. However, you could use a digital map template and free hand the letters, or watch for the actual digital stamp to be returned, sometimes Studio Calico will put old stamps back on sale for short periods of time.)
• Needle
• 6 colors of embroidery floss.
• 6" embroidery hoop
• flour sack towel
• 12x18 canvas 
• graphite pencil/water soluble pen
• staple or glue gun.

Tracing took about an hour. I did not trace all the fun accents for this project because I wanted to be able to clearly read the states and I was worried about the small spaces. I was right in this assumption and I'm glad I didn't add them, even though they are awesome!

I started stitching with Kansas. I started in the middle so that I could make sure I had a good color spread. Six colors was enough to make sure there were never two colors touching, but it did take some planning. If you are worried, I would add in one or two more colors.