I'm teaching layout classes (and a Canadian retailer for PION DESIGN!)

I am so happy that Pam Malone opened a little shop called Paper and Lace, in Strathmore Alberta,  just 20 minutes from my house!  We have teamed up to help promote her new shop and I will be teaching a May 5th layout class (featuring Prima papers) and a June 16th layout class (featuring PION DESIGN papers!!!) at the Days Inn Hotel in Strathmore.  Yup that's right, Pam is now one of the very first Pion Design retailers in Canada!!!  She is just waiting for the "For Mother" collection to arrive.


Oh... and BTW - Pam carries all the latest and greatest scrappy goodies (she has AMAZING taste!)... all at $20-25% LESS than all the scrapbook stores around.  She also bends over backwards for her customers and accepts custom order requests - still at the lowest prices around. It's like a permanent sale at her place!

The May 5th, 2012 class will be INSPIRED by my recent "desire" layout - with a few fun twists such as handmade flowers and a stamped title plate.

In my classes for Paper and Lace, you'll apply some tips and techniques such as making handmade flowers, layering, distressing, inking/paint, use of lace, adding pearls/bling, flower clustering, etc.  You'll learn how to add dimension and depth to your layouts - taking them from flat to fabulous!  Best of all, you"ll get to play with spectacular products and tools, have lots of fun, plus go home with a gorgeous project!  At the end of the class, you'll have gained skills and inspiration to create future projects and flowers on your own. Get ready to unleash your creativity and have some FUN!

Birdhouse Treat Box (Meg's Garden and Green Tara)

I modified my own template from my gingerbread house box that I made for Christmas and came up with this cute little birdhouse box and the roof is actually a card. The box is made of one 12x12 sheet of paper from the brand new "Forget Me Not" collection. Meg's Garden also sells gorgeous trims, laces and flowers (including Green Tara :)  Here I used Green Tara cherry blossoms, paper leaves, lace and trim. The bird was cut out of another paper from the collection and I watercolored it blue to match and added feathers.

Since Meg's Garden prints on long sheets, you get a 12x12 plus a 4x12 strip (single sided) with every paper in the collection. 4x12 is a perfect size for cards! I used the coordinating strip for the outside of the birdhouse roof. As you can see, the florals are a fussy cutter's heaven. The papers aren't too thick to cramp up your hands so fussy cutting is made very easy with these papers.

Here is the underside of the roof - I created a card by glueing another excess paper strip (back to back) from a different sheet in the collection - which is the inside of the card. All it needed was a stamped phrase to complete it. To attach the card just use a clamp clip to the top of the box and decorate with lace/trim.

Here are the modifications (in yellow) to my original template. You need to put the hole at the outer edge instead of third row in (window for gingerbread house) and you may want the box a little taller (optional) and the roof a little wider than the gingerbread house version too. The same for everything else though!

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek at my project today!

Life's Beautiful Card (Meg's Garden/Green Tara)

The Meg's Garden "Forget Me Not" collection includes some amazing vintage image elements sheets - this is a card maker's dream. Combined with a 4x12 paper strip from the collection, it is easy to pull together an elegant card. I added some pretty Green Tara cherry blossoms, twisted organza/pearl trim and tassel trim, plus a stamped title.

Here is the image sheet I cut the pretty picture from.

This is a view of the outside of the card. The inside is still blank (until I decide who to give it to). You can never have enough blank cards for all those unexpected occasions that seem to pop up!

Thanks for stopping by today while I share my little project.

Over 100 Dusty Attic styles in my shop

Just a head's up that the BRAND NEW Dusty Attic chipboard styles were added in my shop this morning (http://www.etsy.com/shop/vickyalberto) and are already selling fast. I have also re-stocked popular/requested items too. A total of 115 styles were listed!

Here is a little tease of the latest and greatest available: