Mix it Up Challenge: Christmas Village by Mendi

Hello Doodlebugs!  It's Mendi today with one last project for Christmas featuring a mixture of some darling papers from several of my favorite Doodlebug collections.  

I have been wanting to create a Christmas village ever since I received these sweet Sizzix Village dies earlier this year.  I knew if I didn't do something with them now they might become buried under a pile of other things on my rapidly growing "someday" list.  

Knowing these would take some a bit of time to create and wanting them to last year after year, I started by first cutting my houses from some heavy weight chipboard.  I then cut them again from some of my favorite Doodlebug Petite prints and other small prints from various 6x6 paper pads.  Because of the thickness of the chipboard, I needed to cut my patterned papers apart at the corner seams so that the windows and other openings would line up properly on all four sides.  To get around this, I matched the patterns with a corner piece that I created for each corner using a small piece of paper, scored and folded in half.

To add a fun detail to my roofs, I turned to various scalloped border dies in my stash, cutting them from 1/2" wide strips of patterned paper.  To keep the layers from blending together, I inked each edge with a bit of distress ink using a foam applicator.

One of the die sets come with the pieces to cut the snowy rooftops.  I started by cutting them all from white cardstock and then coated them with a Marvy Uchida Snow Marker.  Before heating them with my heat gun to puff them up and make them look real, I sprinkled them with Doodlebug's Lily White Sugar Coating Glitter.  When heated, the glitter becomes permanently adhered and it left them looking so sparkly and pretty! I completed my houses, with simple wreaths created with a couple metallic pipe cleaners wrapped around a pencil and adhered with a little liquid glue. I love how they added a touch of green and added even more sparkle to my scene!

To complete my scene I picked up some miniature trees and an iridescent garland at my local craft store to act as a filler in the background, while hiding my miniature strand of battery powered lights.

I hope I've inspired you to think outside the box and mix papers from different Doodlebug collections on your next project.  ;) To create my village I mixed the following papers:

• Dragon Tails 6x6 pad (stone print)
• Milk & Cookies 6x6 pad (brick print)
• Ladybug Daisy-Stripe Petite Prints
• Beetle Black Dot-Grid Petite Prints
• Bon Bon gingham-linen petite prints
• Stone Gray gingham-linen petite prints

Before I go, I would like to thank everyone at Doodlebug for allowing me the sincere pleasure of sharing projects using their adorable products for these past four years.  It has been a dream of mine since I first discovered Doodlebug back in 2003 and I while I must step away for now, I hope to be back again someday soon.  They are truly the best of the best and I feel so fortunate to have been given this opportunity!  

Twas the Night Before Christmas by Mendi

Hello Doodlebugs!  It's Mendi here today with a fun layout mixing a variety of cut files and cute embellishments from the darling Milk & Cookies collection.

I was so happy when I stumbled across these photos of my daughter getting ready for Santa a few year's back because they are a perfect compliment to these adorable papers!  I started by opening up each of the cut files in my Silhouette software and then setting my screen to view them at 100%.  I then could hold up my various die-cuts and stickers to decide on sizing and see how everything would fit together.

When all my pieces were cut and assembled, I added touches of stitching using my sewing machine and embellished my scene with various sprinkles to help the scene come alive!  As a final finishing touch, I paired the Christmas word die-cut from the odds & ends pack with the Love Letter alphabet stickers to complete my title. I just love how it all came together and the over-sized 12x12 clipboard is the perfect frame to display my finished work of art.

To create my scene today, I used the following cut files:

• Milk & Cookies Fireplace- available HERE or HERE
• Milk & Cookies Santa In Chair- available HERE or HERE
• Milk & Cookies Tree- available HERE

I hope I've inspired you to mix some cut files with your other embellishments on a future project.  It's seriously so much fun!  ;)

Thankful For Challenge: Thanksgiving Treat Bags by Mendi

Hello Doodlebugs!  It's Mendi here today with a quick and easy project using the darling Flea Market collection from last fall.  I designed these sweet treat bags so that I could have one at each place setting to dress up our Thanksgiving table and let my family know how much they mean to me.

To keep thing from being too busy, I chose prints that had a good solid tone-on-tone print on one of the sides.  I alternated which type of print I put on the outside and which faced inward and then set to work cutting them out using Lawn Fawn's Tote Bag die.  For the bags that were more solid outside, I dressed them up with some icon stickers from the collection.

To reinforce my thankful theme, I stamped the 'thankful for you' phrase using some stamps from my stash onto tags from Doodlebug's labels and tags pack.  I then tied a bow through the top of the tags with baker's twine and adhered them to my treat bags with some mini clothespins to match.

I truly love that this project is simple enough to mass produce for everyone on your Thanksgiving guest list.  I hope I've inspired you to pull out some of your favorite Doodlebug papers to create some party favors of your own.  :)

Washi Tape Challenge: Christmas Cards by Mendi

Hello Doodlebugs!  It's Mendi here today with a trio of cards showcasing some fun ways to incorporate washi tape into your holiday cardmaking!

For my first card, I quickly covered the front of a 5.5" x 4.25" card with the darling tapes from the Milk & Cookies collection, as well as a few fun basic polka-dots.  After my card front was covered, I die-cut a circle from the front and inserted a cute little sticker in the open space.  This card design is perfect for mass producing and is great for mailing because it's very flat.

For my second card, I wanted to show off the translucent qualities of the washi tape so I adhered the adorable milk & cookies tape to a piece of clear acetate, alternating with the basic thin gingham and polka-dot washi tapes.   I left a little space between the tapes to see through to the inside of the card and then cut a 4x4 inch window from the center of my card front.  I then sandwiched the clear acetate between my front card panel and my card base, covering the seam with the scalloped aqua frame.  To finish my card I heat embossed a stamped sentiment onto a die-cut circle and added the darling milk and cookie stickers from the icon sticker sheet.

My last card of the day uses the super cute gingerbread washi tape with the same techniques utilized on my second card.  When my frames were in place, I embellished the outside with the adorable little gingerbread stickers popped up with foam tape and a sentiment from the This & That sticker sheet.  I thought the heart sprinkles were a great finishing touch to tie the pink colors in with the rest of my card.

I hope I've inspired you to pull out your washi tapes (or pick up some of these darling ones) to incorporate with your Christmas cards this year.  Thanks so much for visiting and I hope you have a wonderful day.  :)

Milk & Cookies Collection: Surgary Sweet Layout by Mendi

Hello Doodlebugs!  It's Mendi here today with a couple happy holiday layouts using Doodlebug's adorable Milk & Cookies collection.

For my first layout, I went bright and airy, using many of the candy embellishments from the collection.  I thought it would be fun to substitute a few of the polka-dots in my paper for peppermints.  To help them stand out, I popped them up with foam dots and then layered them with the coordinating epoxy sprinkles from the collection.

I repeated the idea of layering, taking the holly berry sprinkles and layering them over my patterned paper border.   These photos of my daughter were taken on our sofa so I couldn't resist sneaking in my favorite image from the collection with the little Santa in the big overstuffed chair.  It makes me smile every time I see it.  ;)  For my gumdrop border I layered the clear acrylic gumdrops from the Odds & Ends pack with the gumdrops from the Icon Sticker sheet.  Love how the two look when mixed together!  

For my title I turned to the new Abigail alphabet stickers to spell out the word "favorite" and paired them with a word sticker from the This & That sticker sheet.  Since it was a bit tiny, I helped it stand out by mounting it on a banner and a little heart sprinkle.  Love how it all came together!

For my second layout today I couldn't resist using all the adorable gingerbread men from the collection to document our annual tradition of making a cookie gingerbread inspired house that my husband brings back from Japan each year.

I dressed up my gingerbread men using some of the tiny heart sprinkles found in the Milk & Cookies sprinkle set and paired the "sweet" word from the icon stickers with the word "tradition" spelled out with more of the cute Abigail alphabet stickers. To give my page a little color and an extra touch of sweetness, I create a patchwork scalloped border (using THIS die).  You could also achieve similar results by cutting apart a scalloped border from different prints and piecing it back together.  When I had it adhered to my page, I added a zig-zag stitch between each piece to continue the fun homespun feel.

I hope you will pull out that box of Christmas photos from years past and document some of your sweet holiday memories.  Thanks so much for stopping by today.  :)

Booville Collection: Halloween Scrapbook Pages by Mendi

Hello Doodlebugs!  It's Mendi here today with three fun layouts using Doodlebug's newest collection for Halloween called Booville!  Every year I fall more head over heals in love with the latest Halloween line and this year is no different.  I was so excited by the addition of the color pink that I couldn't resist scrapbooking several pages using photos I've been holding onto for years.

For my first page I isolated the purple, green and aqua papers from the collection to match these photos of my oldest daughter.  She dressed up as a classic comic book character so I created a simple grid design to ground my focal point images and cute stickers.

This collection includes some super cute eye sprinkles which look cute all on their own, but even cuter when layered over critter stickers and doodle pops like I did for the little bat and frog.

For my next layout, I kept things simple.  Sometimes I have some pages where it's more about getting my pictures into albums for us to enjoy and not spending endless hours on my embellishments.  This was the case with these, but thanks to all the adorable papers and die-cuts in the collection my page can still be cute.

For my little patch of pumpkins I mixed the die-cuts from the odds and ends pack with two doodle pop pumpkins.  A custom title with the new Abigail alphabet stickers completed my page.

For my last page I was inspired by all the houses dressed up for Halloween in the border along the top of my layout.  I recreated the scene on a larger scale on the bottom of my page using the cute die-cut houses from the odds & ends pack.

I typed up my journaling on my computer and printed it out on vellum so that it could be fairly invisible on my page.  I then layered it with the cute trick or treating boy and girl and hand stitched a simple line to hang my spider sprinkle from.

All of these pages came together super quick and could be easily recreated in an evening.  I hope I've inspired you to pick up this adorable collection and get some of your favorite Halloween memories recorded too.  Thanks so much for stopping by today.

All About Me Challenge: Mendi's Woman Cave

Hello Doodlebugs!  It's Mendi here with a layout showcasing one of my favorite rooms of the house... My woman cave as my family affectionately likes to call it.  

I keep an album filled with all the layouts I've created about myself as a special keepsake for my girls and I've actually scrapbooked quite a few over the years.  However, when we were asked to create a project about ourselves this month I realized I had never documented about where I spend the majority of my waking hours.

I thought Doodlebug's Yankee Doodle collection was a great collection to turn to because the blues are the perfect compliment to my walls--In fact I used a piece of Doodlebug cardstock that I took to the paint store for them to match when we built our house.  ;)  I was super happy when I realized the cute jars from the collection would also be perfect for a layout about my space. For my title I paired the Skinny alphabet stickers with some words cut out from red vinyl on my Silhouette Cameo.

As a finishing touch I added the "home sweet home" sticker from the 12x12 this & that sticker sheet.  I literally squealed when I saw it because it couldn't have been more perfect.

I hope I've inspired you to document and scrapbook some favorite spots where you live.  My Mom took some photos of me sitting in the middle of my messy room as a kid and they are some of my favorite pictures.  They are a fun peek into my childhood with all the memories that flooded back of toys I had completely forgotten about. 

Off the Page Challenge: Wood Letter Decor by Mendi

Hello Doodlebugs!  It's Mendi here today with a fun idea for kid's room decor using Doodlebug's adorable Fairy Tales collection!   I bought these 12" high wood monogram letters at my local craft store just over five years ago when we moved to a new home, but sadly the project kept getting pushed to the back burner.  I decided it was time to finally decorate them for my daughter before she's too old to enjoy them or leaves home.  ;)

For all of my letters, I started by tracing them face down onto the backside of the papers I wanted to use.  I then fussy cut them out and stitched around the borders of them before adhering them to the wood piece with liquid adhesive.

I wanted to have each letter be embellished in a unique way, but have them come together in one cohesive project.  For the letter "A" I pulled out bits of ribbon from my stash and wrapped the pieces around to the back of my paper cutout before adhering them to the wood.

Three simple, yet completely adorable flower buttons dress up my letter "Y".

For my "L" I die-cut 4 diamonds from my favorite petite prints and stitched around them before adhering them to my piece to form an argyle print.  I then used some of the adorable sprinkles from the collection to embellish them.

For my letter "E" I used a swiss dot print with some of the darling icon sticker balloons and the unicorn from the odds & ends pack.  Before adhering the letter to the wood, I poked holes on either side of the balloons and stitched around them using an embroidery needle to give the appearance the baker twine strings are tied on.

I kept my last letter fairly simple since the print had a lot going on visually.  I added some random glitter sprinkles from the collection to give the polka-dots extra interest.  I love the way they look!

This collection makes this 80's girl with her rainbow heart skip a beat!  I hope I've inspired you to use some of your favorite Doodlebug papers for a home decor project too!  

Stitching Challenge: School Girl Layout by Mendi

Hello Doodlebugs!  It's Mendi here today with a fun layout using hand-stitching with baker's twine.  As we transition to back to school I thought it would be fun to document some photos from a few years back.  

I took my inspiration from a cherry sequined top my daughter is wearing and die-cut just the cherry portion from the background of my page using THIS cutting file.  I then cut a generous piece of red cardstock an inch or two larger than the cherries.  I covered the entire piece of cardstock with adhesive using my ATG gun and added rows of Doodlebug's ladybug sequins, leaving the outside edge without sequins so I could adhered it to the back of my page.

When I was done, I added the remaining die-cut pieces cut using Doodlebug's Petite Prints papers and stitched around the outside edges with green and red baker's twine.  

To create my title I first printed it out in Microsoft Word using the Clicker Script font.  I then used some washi tape to temporarily adhere it to my layout and "traced" around it using my paper-piercer to form my stitching holes.

Here's a finished look at my title using Doodlebug's solid white baker's twine. I learned as I went that it helps to make the spacing between your holes a little larger and deeper to keep the thread from getting stuck and to keep the paper from tearing.  If my paper ever tore, I simply added some packing tape to the back and re-stitched that spot.  ;)

Thanks so much for visiting the blog today.  I hope I've inspired you to try some hand-stitching on your own projects.  It's seriously addicting!