Let's get ready for the New Year with a New Planner Download

Let's get creatively organized this year! Check out our brand new Gypsy Planner printable! The set comes with 45 pages and everything you need to get organized in a creative fashion! We hope you like it and please don't forget to share your projects with us!

 Grab yours here! xoxo Marion

Cherish Mini Album with Garment District by Irene Tan

Hello friends! It's Irene here and today, I would like to share with you all a mini album which I've created using the Garment District collection by Marion Smith Designs. The vintage designs in this collection is just perfect for this mini album.

Here are some pages in this album.

Supplies used:

Garment District 6 x 6 paper pad

Geared Up Junque and Gems

Love U Stamp

Resin Rose White

Thanks for dropping by and see you again in 2015!

xx Irene Tan

My MSD adventures ends

Hello everybody!

My post today is a farewell post.

Yes, my adventure with MSD has come to an end.

I would like to thank you all for the support and kind words.

Below you can see top 3 of my favorite projects for MSD:

TOP 3:

TOP 2:

TOP 1:

And at last I'm sending all of you 

my best wishes of a very merry Christmas!

Thank you for stopping by today 

and have a nice day everybody :)

xoxo

Aneta 

Mad Tea Party Last Minute Gift

Hello All!

Keri Sallee here with my last project for 2014. How crazy is that? 

Last week talked about taking a little "me" time and how it's good not only for the mind and body, but also for the projects you're trying to do. Did you try to take a little time of refreshing? I hope so.

With CHA 2015 fast approaching, I wanted to share a project that I did for the first CHA I had the privilege of making projects for Marion.

I was looking at it and I thought "WOW...this would make a perfect DIY, last-minute gift." So I thought I would share it with you today.

I simply took scraps from the "Mad Tea Party" collection and made stripes for my background.

I added a "bouquet" of rolled paper flowers (again...from scraps) and added leaves cut from canvas.

In honor of this collection being all about Alice in Wonderland, I took a quote from the original book: "Who in the World am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle." I used black sticker letters by 7Gypsies.

Easy Peasy! Depending on the number of flowers you made, you could easily make this in 30 minutes to an hour.

Don't have that much time? Cluster some ready made flowers (maybe sprayed with a little Color Lab?!) around a quote and put it in a glassless frame. This is actually an 8.5 x 11 document frame from Wal-mart that cost me about $2.

Have more time? Ink it up! Add some bling or some Junque and Gems or splashes of Color Lab. There possibilities are endless...as are the people who would enjoy a little homemade gift that features their favorite quote.

I hope you are remembering to take time for you during the crazy holiday season.

Have a blessed Christmas and I look forward to spending more time with you in 2015. 

XOXO,

KERI

Wicked Times Ornament by Erica Houghton

Happy Saturday! Can you believe it's December 20th? Where has the year gone? 

Well, despite how fast the year seems to be going, I've been taking time over the last few weeks to get into the holiday spirit. I've been decorating my home, baking sweet treats and have even attempted to create a few handmade gifts. So, today I'm sharing with you an ornament I created using the Wicked Times Collection by Marion Smith Designs.

I started with a paper mache, square ornament.

I then cut a 2.5" x 12" strip of Wicked Times pattern paper, scored it, and then 'wrapped' my ornament. I also cut two 2.5" x 2.5" squares and adhered one to the top and one to the bottom - covering the entire ornament with paper.

Using double sided tape along the top, bottom and sides I added  gold glitter.

I created a bauble using Junque & Gems; I attached the bauble to the bottom of my ornament.

Finally, I added a few flowers, ribbons and pearls to complete my ornament.

Doesn't it look pretty hanging on my tree? Simply follow the steps above and in an hour you'll have a beautiful, one-of-a-kind, handmade gift!

Paper

Marion Smith Designs, Wicked Times

Embellishments

Marion Smith Designs, Junque & Gems - bird nest

Prima Marketing - flowers

Celebrate It - ribbon, pearls

Misc., - gold glitter

Thanks for joining me today!

Erica

Quick Card with Jelissa

Hi everyone!

Have you been busy like Santa's little elf preparing for Christmas? I've been spending my time catching up with assignments, Christmas shopping and gift wrapping, baking and sending out stuff to people! So today, I have a small card for Marion Smith Designs that I would like to share with you.

I'm not typically someone who likes to make cards nor Christmas-themed projects, but you can pick up some ideas here for your own Christmas cards. I've used papers from the Posh and Garment District collections for this card, and embellished it with the resin flowers from Junque and Gems.

Adding dabs of gesso for a distressed look, and some paint in green on the ivory resin rose for some color.

A rose cabochon which I really like, tucked under a paper flower from my stash. The black doily was also die cut using one of the sheets from Garment District.

That's all I have for you today. Thank you for dropping by!

Marion Smith Designs products used:

love,

Taking Some Art Therapy time with Romance Novel Chapter 2

Hello All!

Keri Sallee here....how are your holidays going? Are you feeling stressed?

I recently was readying an article on Art Therapy and it said doing some type of creative outlet can help relieve stress in 3 main ways:

(1) Distraction: Even if it's for a few minutes and is something small like journaling or a quick sketch, taking a creative break and allowing your brain to be "distracted" from it current (stressful!) task can allow you to go back to that task later with a clearer head.

(2) Flow: Flow is the ability to hone in on a task into an almost meditative state. Some of us may call it mojo or your creative "juices" are flowing or being inspired. Whatever you call it, the process of relieves stress, much like meditation. 

(3) Self-Care: Sounds like a weird word combo, but it is so important to take time to recharge your batteries...whatever it is that does that. With the hustle and bustle of the crazy holidays, it can be easy to set "me" time aside. Don't do it! You deserve some special time and you will be less stressed when you are done. Bonus? You will have created something you are proud of, which will boost your ego...and can't we all use that? :)

Today, I decided to step outside my comfort zone when it comes to my scrapbooking style and spend a little "self-care" time trying out some new skills.

My focus has been on canvas and other "bulky" projects lately, that I haven't spent any time doing just a scrapbook layout. But...me...being me...I don't do anything simple. I wanted to take it up a notch and try something very mixed-media and messy.

Here's what I came up with:

That little nugget in the picture is my son at about 3 months old. I know flowers and pink and all that isn't suppose to be "boy", but I figured I could get away with it because it's a baby picture. Plus, since it was black and white I wanted to give it a lot of color to POP off of.

I started with Romance Novel Chapter 2 paper "Forever." To keep it from buckling as much, I glued it to a light piece of chipboard and covered it with a thin later of clear gesso.

I then layered some vintage sheet music, chevron's from the Romance Novel CH 2 Paper "Telegram" and a little white acrylic paint.

To add my colors, I brought out my COLOR LAB by Marion. I felt like a really fancy scientist mixing up my first color! 

For this project, I first made the recipe for "Cupcake" and added a bit of Pink sparkle pigment. How pretty is that PINK!!??

I also added Faber-Castell Gelatoes in Aqua Dolce, Guava and Snow Cone by scrubbing them directly on my project and smearing with my finger and a little water. I topped it off with a splatter of COLOR LAB in Cola and some a few randoms stamps of Marion's "Texture" Stamp, using Heidi Swapp's Ink in Navy.

Next, it was time to build some layers!

I cut piece from the RNC2 paper "Sweet Something" and and "My Type" to tuck around my Junque & Gem Flowers (plus a few other flowers!), J&G metal bird nest, gems & camera and Aqua MSD Stems.

I also used my water-soluble Scribe-All pencil in black to go around my edges. When you hit it with a little water, it acts similar to watercolors and you can manipulate it around the page. 

Lastly, no layout is complete without a little journaling. I used my Faber-Castell Pitt Pens in Black to write on top of my colors.

And...just for fun...here is what this little nugget looks like now...11 years later. :)

I hope you enjoyed my project today and it inspires you to take some time from your busy schedule and try something new!

XOXO,

Keri 

Christmas bauble by Yasmin Tölche

Hello everyone! Yasmin on the blog here today. So sorry for the delay but Christmas is coming faster than we want to admit and it doesn't always go the way you planned! :)

I have a Christmas Bauble made with Marion Smith Designs products I'd love to share with you :)

Even though MSD doesn't have their very own Christmas paper line, you can still find treasures that can be used as christmas paper amoung the other paper lines. I choose two papers from the "Nirvana Collection" and the "   Collection" to use in my bauble.

It's beleive it or not over a half of 12x12" paper inside the bauble. I cut thin paper strips, curl them up and press them in a small hole at the top. I've also attached a heart arrow at the end. 

These are the products I've used: 

Are you almost ready for Christmas? We'd love to see christmas projects with MSD products! Have a great evening! 

Yasmin

Altered Drawers with Nirvana by Irene Tan

Hi everyone! Today, I'm sharing with you all an altered project using the cool and beautiful Nirvana collection by Marion Smith Designs. I love the color combinations of this collection and it is perfect for this wooden drawers.

Here are more pictures on this project.

To add some dimension on the cut-out, I've layered a piece of chipboard underneath it.

Each drawer have been covered with different pattern papers from the collection.

Supplies used:

Nirvana collection

Have a great weekend!

xx Irene Tan