Category — embellish

The last week or so has been a whirlwind of travel, fun and friends! Needless to say, I’ve been a bit behind in the blogging world! Here’s just a quick post of a little fun album for Kaylin. It is a pre-designed, chipboard mini album. The bright colors and fun look-and-feel make it the perfect gift for a 12-year old gal! Each page holds a placeholder for some of Kaylin’s favorite photos! Love it!

I’m craving some crafting so stay tuned for some upcoming exciting posts! And, my first post on the Basically Bare blog will be next week – woo hoo! Can’t wait to share a sneak peek! yay.

I’m back on the blog today with Part 2 of Jake’s birthday mini album! Isn’t he a cutie? I love his personality and fun expressions!

I’ve bragged about the cuteness factor of Baby Jacob, so I thought I’d show him off a little more. This is a cute little mini 6×6 album that I made for his one-year-old birthday. I love how you can download the hi-res versions of photos on Facebook! I secretly stole and printed these photos of Jake to surprise mom and dad with the album! Here’s part 1 of 2!

Well, I can’t take credit for this ADORABLE party theme, but I can take credit for helping with a few of our DIY Projects. Throughout my time in Hawaii, we did a lot of party-planning! What is cuter than an UNO themed birthday party. In case you don’t speak Spanish, UNO means ONE. (No, this wasn’t a Mexican theme — even though there was a pinata!) Here are a few of the projects we put together for Jake’s Uno Birthday Party!

We put together treat bags that were filled with M&Ms in red, green, blue and yellow colors. Evelyn found these adorable mini Uno cards that we added to each bag, as well.

Even Jake helped fill the goody bags!

We created an UNO pinata. This was by far the most tedious task. We covered a rectangle shaped box with tissue paper puffs. Think back to elementary school – you probably did some kind of project with tissue paper puffs. Basically, you cut the tissue into small 1×1 squares, then take the eraser side of a pencil, cover with the tissue square, dip in Elmers glue and stick it on the box. Simple, but long tedious process. To make sure the pinata looked like an UNO card, we traced the outline on the box. This was a pull-string pinata, so the bottom of the box was preferated with scissors and strings were tied to the inside of the box. Pretty simple!

Next up – We created an UNO cake as a decoration for the party. Each layer of the cake is a styrofoam cylinder. We then hot glue gunned the Uno cards around the outside of each layer. We finished off the top of the cake with birthday party blowers. The metallic ribbon added a little pizazz to the cake. Oh, and we used our favorite little mini uno cards to create a nice little border on the bottom layer. Perfecto!

Pom-Pom Tissue balls were also a fun, easy project! I had never made these before and they were pretty simple. The instructions are pretty simple. You take maybe 5 or so sheets of tissue paper about 15×15 in size (the bigger the tissue square, the bigger your pom pom), then you create a fan with the tissue. On each side of the tissue fan, round the edge so it has a nice decorative look. Fold the fan in half and use a pipe cleaner to secure the tissue in place at the crease. Then, peel back each piece of tissue and a circular pom pom will start taking shape. Feel free to fluff it up to best position the tissue paper.

We also made a card box for Jake. This is pretty much a covered and embellished box! Easy peasy.

Happy Monday! Why not kick off the week with a giveaway!!! I’m super excited to be a FINALIST for the Basically Bare Design Team! If that’s not cool enough, Basically Bare is generously giving away a huge prize pack of Basically Bare goodies! All you have to do is leave a COMMENT on this post for a chance to win!!

Have you checked out Basically Bare? They are a relatively new company that offers alterable items for paper artisans! I discovered their products at CHA Chicago last summer and have been a huge fan since! You’ve probably seen a few of my projects here on the blog – Orrin & Shawndene’s Engagement Album, Hooey’s Brag Book, Hey Cupcake, Jeff & Sue’s Anniversary Album, Baby Evanna’s Album and Kim’s Family Brag Book.   

I thought I’d share a few of my favorite Basically Bare products AND some inspiration of what you can do with these awesome products!! I’d love your ideas on what you would do with these fun products if you win the giant prize pack which includes all of their brand spankin’ new releases!

First up — Tiny Tabs Mixed Media Album! Ok – first off – this album is $4.99. Ummm… yes, please!! Ever since I first laid my eyes on this cutesy album I’ve been thinking about how it will be PERFECT for my growing obsession with Instagram photos!! (You can find me on Instagram @beckylaunder) I think it will also coordinate with Bella Blvd’s Sunshine Hapiness collection.

Meet Polly’s Pockets! This amazing little Basically Bare booklet has POCKETS. Who doesn’t love pockets? This album inspired a travel-themed album. Having little pockets for additional photos, ticket stubs and maps is not only super functional, but really cute, as well. I picked a few coordinating products from Glitz - I love the vintage-inspired travel embellishments. This album is paired with a few photos from a cruise to Mexico that we took last year.

My third Basically Bare product to show off today was a tie — I love the Betty’s Brackets booklet and embellies. I was especially drawn to Betty’s Brackets because I’m learning more about all the fun things I can do with canvas so this album really jumped out at me. The Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist works perfect with the canvas. Who doesn’t love a little “glam” on their albums?  I also LOVE the Basically Bare embellies — the “celestial” theme is adorable and will convey a bright, sunshining day! One of my favorite releases from CHA is the American Crafts Dear Lizzy Neapolitan collection with mason jars, banners and clouds – it would coordinate perfectly! For this album, I picked out a few “fun in the sun” photos from my sister’s bachelorette party last summer. Cake pops and lemon sliced jello shots- how can you resist?

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today. Don’t forget to leave a comment so you can win an awesome prize pack! Winners will be announced Friday, March 16. Also, be sure to follow Basically Bare on facebook for more inspiration and great products! Happy Crafting!!

Hello! Did you receive our email this morning? There’s a special promo enclosed! Be sure to sign up for our email newsletter to receive the latest and greatest updates on products, services and coupons! Just in case you missed it… here’s the DEAL!

Hello, beautiful! Valentine’s Day is just a few weeks away! We are excited to introduce our updated LOVE MINI ALBUM. This Embellish Creative Designs scrapbook kit includes 20 6×6 pre-designed pages featuring patterned paper in red, pink and pastel colors, stickers, cardstock, buttons, ribbons, tags and cute captions. Each page includes a cardstock colored matting for one 3×5 photo. The only thing missing are 20 of your favorite photos! Best of all, you get your choice of 12 fun designs for the hard cover of the album.

Happy Wednesday! I’m finishing up a beautiful vacation in Hawaii and thought I’d pop in for a quick update! First off, I’m SO excited to be featured over at Basically Bare again today! Woo hoo! There’s a really fun recap of a lot of the Basically Bare projects that I’ve been working on lately!

Also, I thought I’d share this ADORABLE apron that my mama made me for Christmas. Isn’t this just the cutest? I love the fashionable, halter top apron with the fun, retro colors. I’m going to have to get in the baking mood and put this apron to good use! I thought I’d have some fun modeling the apron over the holidays at our Christmas dinner. Pssst – I’ll tell you a secret. I didn’t really make the pie. Grandma did!

Isn’t my grandpa so cute? His 80th birthday is Saturday! He’s looking good!

We thought we should let mama in the photos since she made the awesome apron!

And of course – me and my sister being silly!

Oh, and cute!

After mom made me such a cute apron, I decided that I’m going to need to learn to sew. Adding it to the to-do list!

I have just a few of these little tiny chipboard albums left in my stash, so I thought I’d put together a fun little Mini Valentine’s Day album to make one lovey dovey couple happy this February 14th! I’ve posted this listing on Etsy. It’s unique and one-of-a-kind. Designed with reds, pinks and many hearts – this album is overflowing with cardstock, buttons, embellishments to create a fun look and feel. This album has 5 double-sided pages that range in width. The total album size is about 4×10.

The scrapbook is premade and ready for you to insert your favorite photos, quotes and memories! This is the perfect little brag book to purchase for Valentine’s Day or an anniversary for your love. Handmade and personalized!

Even better, there’s free Shipping on this item in the U.S. For international orders, please send me a message for pricing.

I’m SO EXCITED to share that one of my most favorite brag books is featured on the Basically Bare blog today! I absolutely LOVE their products and feel SO honored to show off this adorable engagement album made just for my good friends Orrin & Shawndene! Their engagement photos from Kristina Cazares Photography are absolutely stunning! Hop right on over to their blog and check it out! Here’s a little teaser of the eye candy over there…