Our Love is...

There are so many great ways to combine papers from the Promise Me collection. Melissa chose papers that fit her photos. Then she punched the edges with different border punches. Layered together the papers create dimension on her layout.

The vellum heart and flower die-cut accents layer perfectly with pearls.

Sometimes a little simple journaling is all you need. Don't forget to include names and dates too.

The torn edge of the photo mat adds texture and more dimension.

SEI March Desktop Calendar

It hardly feels like winter around here, leaving us to think about spring and butterflies and picnics! Are you guys getting excited for springtime yet? Time to open the windows and let in a little sunshine.

1024 x 768   1280 x 1024   1600 x 1200   1900 x 1200   2650 x 1440
ipod 640 x 960    ipad 1024 x 1024
 

As always let us know if you have any questions and thanks for using these!

Love Layout

Amy's layout uses bits and pieces of the Promise Me collection across a textured craft paper base to create a patchwork quilt feel. Here is what she said about this sweet layout...

"I built my layout Love, on top of a misted piece of kraft paper. The tiled band across the page was a perfect use for the Promise Me Collection's tear apart sheet and 6x6 paper pack and I was able to include a bunch of my favorite patterns from the collection as a result."

"I used the Silver Valley Alpha to help tie in the beautiful silver butterfly charm from my Promise Me sundries pack and my black and white photo. My favorite part of the layout is the stitched swirl that is meant to be my butterfly's 'flight path'. I love how it ties all of the pieces together and kinda of sweeps you across all of the details on the page."

"For those of you who aren't 'Lord of the Rings' fans my journaling is a bit of a play on words from this movie. I like to add a little bit of wit to my pages about my husband and I--since laughter is the base of our relationship."

Frame Decor Baby Gift with Card

Emily created this baby gift for a friend that is having a girl. The Promise Me collection is great for baby girls! She used things she already had to make a personalized gift that didn't break the bank.

Here are her tips:
• To mix more patterned papers together without making the card too busy, punch starburst circles and tuck little patterned paper circles inside.
• Don't be afraid to use household items in your paper-crafting, this frame is perfect, and something I had just lying around.
• The word "baby" is creative. I was short one "b" so, I flipped a "d" to make a "b" and covered it with patterned paper so that it worked!
• Tie the two pieces in the set together by using the same patterned paper that's in the card in the Baby nursery decor!

Field Notes Winner

Thank you for all the comments on Heather's guest posts last week. We enjoyed having her and reading your comments too.

Now for the winner of our Field Notes giveaway...

Congratulations #130, kaw1963! Please send your e-mail to seiblog{at}shopsei{dot}com to claim your prize.

Butterfly Mini Book + GIVEAWAY!

Hi, Heather here again! I can’t believe this week went by so fast. I have had such a great time playing in my scrap room with the new SEI collections. I hope they have inspired you along the way!

For my final project, I remembered I had bought a butterfly chipboard album at Michaels for $1 several years ago so I went into my stash of alterable items hoping I didn't give it away when I cleaned out my scrap room. Of course, it was there because I keep everything.

I love the 6 x 6 paper pads for cards but you know what? They fit the mini butterfly shapes perfectly so I put the papers I wanted to use in order, traced the butterfly shapes on the back, cut them out and adhered them to each page. Once I had them all glued down, I used my Imaginisce d-stress tool to sand all the edges.

Let me walk you through my thought process as I was building each page...

Cover

I chose the newsprint album for the cover because I wanted something neutral. I knew I wanted to capture all of the Field Notes colors on the cover and anything else might have been too busy. I inked the edges of each page with cocoa ink. Then I layered the yellow punched strip die-cuts from the Sample Box, stickers, a butterfly, which I fussy cut from the Butterfly Collection paper and a rolled flower from the Arboretum paper. The sticker in the upper left corner was intentionally left blank to that I can personalize it when I am ready to give them to someone special.

Pages 2 and 3

When I started on these two pages I knew I wanted to add the frame that I had fussy cut from the Vignettes paper, however; when I laid the frame on the stripes it looked horrible so I added the coordinating green from page 2 as a background and then it all came together. Again, more die-cuts and fussy cut butterflies.

I kept page 2 more simple by adding some twine and die-cut butterflies.

Pages 4 and 5

I used the die-cut scroll from The Sample Box and then hung banners from the sticker sheet as well as hand-cut banners. I think it would be really cute to add a small photo over the banners

I love the pop of the orange flowers in the Arboretum paper so I played that up a bit by adding the orange behind the circle die-cut image and then layering the floral paper over it to make a photo frame.

Pages 6 and 7

More banners but this time it's an assortment of banners, tags, frames, flowers and buttons. I was going for the eclectic look. Mostly, I wanted something as fun as the butterfly paper on the coordinating page.

I love this butterfly paper but it can be a bit much for me is I use a lot of it at once. So, I covered the page and toned it down by adding a basic frame and a neutral rosette. Of course, it needed another butterfly to pull it all together.

Pages 8 and 9

I love the more muted tones of these papers that are in the collection. I simply layered the rosette and brad over the thin die-cut strip, offset the butterfly and left more clean space on this page.

Similar to the coordinating page, I kept this last page clean and simple. You can add a little photo or journaling to complete the album.

I didn't get a shot of the back but I covered it in this beautiful goldenrod paper in the 6 x 6 paper pad.

Thanks for sharing your week with me. I hope you enjoyed my creations.

xoxo Heather

Thank you for sharing so many great Field Notes projects this week, Heather! It was fun getting to know you and seeing all of your pinterest inspiration too!

Remember everyone, our week-long giveaway is still going. We will keep it open until Sunday, February 29th at midnight MST. To enter to win some Field Notes products, leave up to one comment on each blog post this week (Monday-Friday). That means you have up to 5 entries!

Butterfly Cards

Hi, Heather here again! I can’t believe this week is going by so fast. I have had such a great time playing in my scrap room with the new SEI collections. They are amazingly beautiful! In honor of my Pinterest post yesterday, I thought I’d share one more Pinterest find that I used as inspiration for the projects below.

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I’m calling today “Card Thursday”. I used the gorgeous Field Notes collection again because the colors are so striking and I just love the dimension I can get from the butterflies.

Spread Your Wings Card
For this first card, I used the perforated 12x12 sheet, Curated, and fussy cut the butterflies from the Butterfly sheet. I machine stitched the background and banner and then laid the sentiment across the top.

Tip: When I want to stitch on a card I like to stitch each piece before I adhere it to the card so that you can’t see the stitching on the inside of the card.

I used pop dots to raise the sentiment and to keep the butterflies from flattening out once I put the card in the envelope.

Just Be You Card
This last card was inspired by something I found when I was cleaning out my scrap space last month. Again, I wanted to do something to highlight those gorgeous butterflies and what better than a spinning card??? It really all came together because of the Vignettes 12x12 paper. When I got the collection, this paper really stood out. I immediately started cutting out the beautiful frames and I kept going back to the rectangular frame. At this point, everything just kind of came together. Here is the result...

I double layered the butterflies and added another smaller frame up at the top right. I stamped the sentiment in orange and blue ink, using silver embossing powder to accent the word “BE” so that it would match the silvery foiling on the frames. I can’t stop picking up the card and tilting it back and forth. It’s a bit addicting to watch the butterfly spin around.

Interested in making your own spinning card? I’ve posted a quick & easy 6-step photo tutorial on my blog.

Thanks so much for visiting today.

xoxo Heather
The Spotted Leopard

Heather's Pinterest

Hi there. I’m back again to share with you something that you are probably familiar with already and if you’re like me, you might be a little addicted to it. I’m talking about Pinterest. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a social bookmarking site that allows you to pin just about anything you see on the Internet.

So let’s get started...you can create your own pinboards and name them whatever you want. I’m going to share some projects from a few of my boards. Disclaimer: I haven’t tried each and every one of these items but I plan to soon. You can see all of my boards and/or follow me on Pinterest to see more of my favorite goodies.

Yumminess Board

Doesn’t this lemonade with raspberry ice cubes look refreshing?

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Baked cream cheese spaghetti casserole
I made this dish last week. It was super easy and the entire family loved it; sadly there were no leftovers for lunch the next day

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Kidlets Board

Check out these great ideas to make kid’s food more interesting. The site also includes other school lunch creative food ideas.

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Looking for fun things to do with the kids that won’t break the bank? This site has wonderful ideas…

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Junk in the Trunk Board

Chocolate chip cookies
My friend Lisa posted this recipe and I made them this weekend. Wow, they were melt in your mouth delicious!

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Rainbow cupcakes
These make me want to sing Somewhere over the Rainbow. How cute are they?

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DIY Craftiness Board
This is where I pin most of the tutorials I want to try, like handmade flowers, mini albums and so much more.

This Reverse Canvas Wall Pockets is super fab and looks easy to make.

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Photography / Photoshop Board
Every time we take family photos, I always struggle with what colors to wear and what patterns to mix.
This photographer eliminiates the guess work.

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31 days to better photos
I am soo doing this in March

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For the Home Board
I have frames sitting on the floor by my walls and staircase and struggled with the best arrangement without putting nails in the wall until I knew I’d like the arrangement. This is next on my honey-do list thanks to this inspiration.

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I saved the best for last because it just cracks me up but it has some great tips...
How to Have a {fake} immaculate house

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Those are just a few of the thousands of things I have pinned and the countless pins others have posted. If you’ve never tried Pinterest, you need to be invited to join. I have yet to figure out why but it is what it is. If you’d like an invite, leave me a comment on my blog and I’ll send you an invite. Happy Pinning!

xoxo Heather
The Spotted Leopard

Nature's Adventure

Hello, hello. I am so excited to share a layout I created using the Field Notes collection. Those who know me and/or follow my blog know that 99% of my layouts are 1-pagers and consist of 1 – 3 photos. There’s just something about expanding to that 2nd page that just throws me off. I’ve really been trying to push myself more in 2012, which includes doing more double pagers so let me share with you today, a 2-page layout and a sketch so you can play along with me.

These photos are from a family photo shoot by a wonderful photographer, Allison Schnurr (we have the copyright release). We knew there were a lot of ducks where we were taking our photos so we brought bread along but we didn’t intend to have them as part of the photo shoot. As luck would have it, we had wrapped up the shoot and rewarded the kids by feeding the ducks. Allison, being the FAB photographer that she is, snapped all these candid shots of us feeding them, running from them and just enjoying watching them.

When I pulled out the Field Notes papers and embellishments, the colors are so strikingly vivid and the foiling is so magnificent but this one color combo reminded me of some photos I had from a year ago that had yet to be scrapped. The greens, yellows and pink reminded me of the grass color variations and the redish/pink on the ducks.

Banners are still an “in” trend so I turned them sideways, added pops of pink, styled the photos and added 3 butterflies to form a triangle on the page, which I like to do to lead the eye around the layout.

Once it was time to title the page, I pulled out the cardboard alphas but they got lost in the green so I grabbed my paint and randomly blotted some color on them. I chose to use black to pull out the black from the clothing, misting and stitching.

I loved the little banner die-cuts, which tied in nicely to the large banners on the page. There were so many in the package that I decided to use them for the journaling.

It reads: We had so much fun feeding the ducks. They came out in masses – at least 30 of them – and they weren’t afraid to get up close and personal with us.

So that’s my project for the day but that’s not all I have for you. I really enjoy making sketches so I thought I’d make one for you today. If you use it, please post a link here or on my blog so I can visit your site and admire your work!

Thanks for stopping by today. Check back in tomorrow for some Pinterest inspiration.
xoxo Heather