2013 - A Year In Review by Maggie Armstrong

“When life offers you a dream so far beyond any of your expectations, it’s not reasonable to grieve when it comes to an end.”

 -Excerpt from Twilight-

And so my year on the Marion Smith Design Team concludes.  It has been my immeasurable pleasure and honour to be amongst those hand picked by Marion to showcase her inaugural collections.

Not only have I loved creating with her paper designs, but it’s been so exciting to see the development of her complimentary products such as the never ending gorgeous Junque Gems, the intricately designed stamps and of course the Bloom Impressions tool.

I am sure Marion will continue to forge her success in this industry,  supported by her fabulous, fit and equally talented husband Garett, and I know that I will continue to enjoy her collections, both past and present. 

So I’d like to leave you with a short video of the Marion Smith Designs projects I have enjoyed creating over the last 12 months.  Thanks to you all for your inspiring comments left on the blog and your own support of Marion’s products.  Xxx

Marion Smith Designs & Petaloo Spring Blog Hop Day 1!

Hello everyone!

Welcome to Day 1 of fantastic floral inspiration. With the extended winter weather we've been experiencing as of late Petaloo and Marion Smith Designs have teamed up to bring you a little spring inspiration. Hopefully this will force winter into hibernation and spring will bloom into season!

Both design teams have partnered in hopes of providing a very warm reception to the spring weather we have all been hoping for.  

We will be using new collections from both brands to highlight the versatility and creativity of the products used to create the design teams' projects. 

After you take a browse through our design team member's blogs make sure you hop on over to the Petaloo blog. The inspiration doesn't stop here. There is more fun, and more inspiration over there. 

Also don't forget to comment and subscribe to our blogs as we will be picking a few lucky subscribers to win some of our brand new products! Enjoy!

Here is a lovely layout by Design Team Member 

Maggie Armstrong.

Please visit Maggie's blog at  www.maggiesdoodads.blogspot.com

Maggie Used:

Petaloo Botanica flowers

Marion Smith Designs Motley Papers 12x12

Marion Smith Designs Junque and Gems Bird Nests

Marion Smith Designs Mixed Resins

Marion Smith Designs Textured Edges Stamp Set

This card was created by Design Team member

Sarah Bargo

Visit Sarah's Blog Here:www.sarahbargodesigns.blogspot.com

Sarah Used:

Petaloo Botanica Flowers

Marion Smith Designs Never Grow Up Papers

Marion Smith Designs Motley papers

Marion Smith Designs Texture stamps

Our Blog Hop with Petaloo continues tomorrow through March 28th so please come back for some more great projects! Tomorrow Collette and Angee will be in the spotlight!!

Visit Our Design Team Blogs for more inspiration and don't forget to subscribe!

Angela Carter

 http://www.alwaysangella.blogspot.com/

Maggie Armstrong

maggiesdoodads.blogspot.com

Sarah Bargo

www.sarahbargodesigns.blogspot.com

Ana Paula Leal

http://anapaulalealdarocha.blogspot.com.br/

Colette Nederhoff

http://nederhoffco.blogspot.com

Tonya Gibbs

http://www.psychomomscrapbooks.blogspot.com

Peggy Baker

 http://www.pegbaker.blogspot.com

Thank you for joining us!

A Pop Up Card

With Fathers Day coming up shortly in New Zealand, I needed to get a card ready!  The Nirvana range really does have something for everyone - so it was the perfect choice for this little project!

I love to create interesting pop-up cards and books - I think they add something quite magical to the message you are sending to the receiver.  I tend to keep the card front reasonably simple, since the surprise is on the inside.

I will be doing a tutorial for this card in the coming weeks, so if you'd like to create this card yourself - go and grab yourself the Nirvana line so you'll be ready to play along!

Thanks for stopping by!

Maggie

Making Your Own Rub Ons

Bet you never thought it was possible right?  Well, I have great news for you!  Utilising the wonderful printable items from Marion's collections, you can absolutely make your very own custom rub ons!  Let me tell you how....

You will need the following items:

• Printable images (download from here)
• Safmat paper by Letraset (http://www.letraset.com/products/124-Safmat/949-Safmat-Film-A4/).  Make sure you buy the correct Safmat for your printer type - inkjet or laser.

Then, follow these steps:

1. Open PDF file in Acrobat
2. Insert a sheet of Safmat paper into printer tray.  Be sure to place it the correct way up, the shiny side is what needs to be printed on.  The other side is just the backing sheet.
3. Under Print options, properties, Advanced - select Reverse Print.
4. Print file and allow to dry for a few seconds.
5. Cut around image and remove backing sheet - burnish on surface as you would with a rub on!
6. If you are using an inkjet printer, you may want to lightly spray the finished image with a fixative (or hairspray works just as well!).

Here is a picture of a rub on I made from the Scarlet collection.  I burnished it on to a sheet of old French text paper.  Because the Safmat is translucent, the text paper shows through slightly.  I love that!

 

  

And here I have burnished a butterfly on to a photo - I think it looks perfect!

I really hope you give this technique a go!  It's a great way to get more mileage out of your Marion Smith Printables!

Cheerio!

Maggie Armstrong

Creating Art Hybrid Style

Hi everyone!  My first post for Marion Smith Designs and I'm thrilled to bring you a hybrid layout that I designed using one of Marion's beautiful Printables.   Let's start with where this project all began.

Browsing Pinterest the other day I stumbled across this image, which just so inspired me to create something out of the ordinary.

So I combined a picture of my girl and Just My Type digital paper to begin.

 +   =

I reduced the opacity setting on the photo (top layer) to allow some of the background paper to show through subtly.

Once I had printed out the finished image I mounted it onto chipboard to give it stability. That was then mounted onto a 12 x 12 covered chipboard sheet for added dimension. (Did I tell you I love dimension??!!).

The colours/tones of the digital paper determined my choice of colours for the embellishments, and I pulled all the orange/beige/cream/brass items I could find from my stash.  From there it was just a matter of playing around with the placement of all the elements until I was satisfied with the result.  Look closely and you'll see lots of interesting elements tucked away in there!

The richness and intricacies in Marion's designs are incredible.  And they lend themselves to so much interpretation.  Looking forward to my next project!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Maggie Armstrong