Egg Artist + Giveaway

Today is my last day on the blog and for this last post, I wanted to create a scrapbook layout using the fun spring colors in the Jocelyn line.

Easter is almost upon us and I thought I had done the smart thing by purchasing egg dying kits, tools, and plastic eggs after Easter last year at 75% off, but it has turned into a bugger, because when I dragged the Spring décor boxes out and my girls saw these items, it has been a daily hassle of saying no to “mom, can we decorate eggs?”. Ayiyiyi. Only a few more weeks left and then we’ll be doing just that.

I went through my photos at Easter time last year and dug up some fun shots of Morgan during her intense decorating session. They were the perfect colors for this layout:


And here’s a detailed shot:


Hmm. Someone thought this layout should have been about them……

Let’s try this:



I loved the glitter covered borders, and wanted to bring some detail to the page, so added stitching and a border punch, and finished it off with some fun brads.

Thanks for spending the week with me! And a huge thanks to SEI for asking me to be here. Have a great Spring! Davinie

Thank you, Davinie! We loved all the fun and pretty spring projects you shared with us this week. Now we have a lot of great ideas of how to decorate and celebrate spring this month. If you need more project ideas or inspiration, be sure to go to Davinie's blog, My Little Piece of that Azure Sky.


Readers, leave a comment on this post telling us which post was your favorite this week and you will be entered into a giveaway for a chance to win some Jocelyn products, including papers, designer brads, dimensional titles, and rub-ons.

Just leave your comment by Tuesday, March 16th at midnight and we will announce the winner Wednesday. Be sure to check back next week to see if you are the winner because if we don't hear from the winner by March 30th we will pick a new winner!

How to Make an Easter Basket

With kids and Easter and Spring in mind, I thought I’d share a quick, easy, and inexpensive way to make some fun Easter baskets for the holiday or your home décor.

All you need are a couple of pieces of cardstock weight paper, and some brads.

You need one piece of cardstock weight paper for the main body of the basket. For something fun, use white or light colored cardstock and let your kids color, paint, and draw all over it in fun festive colors and patterns.

Another choice would be to use a nice festive colored cardstock weight patterned paper. I chose a blue pattern from the Jocelyn line.

On the reverse side of the paper, draw a grid creating 9 4x4 squares.

Next, round the corners using a ruler or a corner rounder. A corner punch would be fun too.


Score all of these lines, except the two inside lines at the top and bottom of your cardstock. Trim those lines 4 inches from each side.


That square in the middle of this grid is the bottom of your easter basket. Folding the right and left sides up, create a basket shape, lining up those two rounded corners in the middle.


Next we need to make a handle to slip into each side. I used another piece of the blue pattern and trimmed a piece of paper 1x12 inches long and slipped the end between the 4x4 square and the two rounded squares.


I then took a pencil and marked a spot in the top and middle of my project, that would go through both of the side pieces and the handle when I pushed a brad through. I made a second mark an inch or so below that which also went through the 4x4 piece from the side.

I then added some fun jeweled brads.


Now do the same on the other side.

Voila! An easy easter basket for a center piece on your kitchen table, a fun décor item on your shelf, or even a place to put those hard-boiled eggs for the potluck.

Spring Garland

(a tutorial if you need one and a peek at my heart banner for Valentine’s day here)

“Each moment of the year has it’s own beauty…. A picture which has never before and shall never be seen again.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Decorate for Spring!

Spring is a great time for home décor projects. Over the years I’ve made several items that have graced my home as the grass starts to grow and the spring bulbs come up.

Every couple of years I redo a grapevine wreath I’ve had for a long time. Currently it looks like this:




(wreath published with directions to recreate in Memory Makers Magazine, March 2009)

I’ve also taken a $1 container from Michael’s and turned it into a vase for spring flowers.

One of my favorite spring projects involved my kids. When they were 1 and 3, we made Spring trees using a basic tree shape and some fun craft punches.

That is one of my all-time favorite kid projects because no matter how they did it, the trees were perfect. As I mentioned, my 1 year old participated with that one.

So welcome spring and make over your house today! :-)

Inspired by Kids Clothing

How many times have you been shopping for kids clothing and run across something so adorable, you wish it came in YOUR size? I do that all the time. Why can’t clothes that look so cute on kids look just as great on adults?

I mean really. I would adore ruffle pants in my size:

from Baby LuLu

And this romper? Heavenly! (Oh, who am I kidding. I have a long torso. A romper would never work for me).

from Chasing Fireflies

This whole ensemble screams beach fun to me! I’ll take either outfit.

from Hanna Anderson

I guess the point I’m trying to make is that kid clothing is adorable, and can also be very inspiring. If ever I’m in a rut, I need to go no further than a clothing magazine or my girls’ closet for ideas.

Particularly if I am short on time, or short on inspiration, card making is my first stop in the creative process if I just want to get my hands dirty or only have a couple of late night minutes to cut paper into bits.

The other day we were at Old Navy and I picked up this summer dress for Morgan, my 6 year old.

from Old Navy

The color palette matches the SEI Jocelyn line to a tee, so decided to pull inspiration from it and create a card inspired by the dress.




I decided to use the contrasting striped pattern in the paper for the ruffle at the top instead of making it the same color as the high waisted seam in the dress.

To create this ruffle was simple:

The creative process can be fun, like scavenger hunt. Fashion drives the paper industry so be on the lookout for your favorite clothing catalogs for inspiring ideas for your next paper projects.

Guest Blogger, Davinie Fiero

We would like to introduce next week's guest blogger, Davinie Fiero. She is a talented scrapbooker with a clean aesthetic and eye for detail. Her blog, My Little Piece of that Azure Sky is packed with layout ideas.

Hi there. My name is Davinie Fiero. I live in Central Oregon, in the high desert, not in the rain. I am married to my local firefighter and mommy to two sweet girls named Morgan and Payton.

I have been doing crafts in some form all my life, but it wasn’t until the birth of my eldest daughter that I really became fascinated with paper crafting. I love to create scrapbook layouts of our life to cherish in our albums. I also love to create cards and other paper crafted goodness. It’s a needed creative outlet for me, and it’s also a lot of fun too.

I have a blog that I update with my life and the projects that I’m working on. In 2010 I’m also hosting a scrapbook challenge to help keep those family albums updated called Project 12. I’m co-hosting this challenge with a great Canadian based magazine called Scrapbook and Cards Today on their blog here.

I am honored to be hosting the SEI blog this week and have fun things planned as we welcome in Spring. I am always inspired by the seasons, as well as my kids, so be prepared for kid related projects. My girls are very crafty (and they are 6 and almost 4!) so I’m always on the lookout for fun things to do to entertain their creative brains.

Have a great weekend! I will see you on Monday.