Knittingprose

“How can I be useful, of what service can I be? There is something inside me, what can it be?” -Vincent Van Gogh

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Simple Stories…

SS_bloghopWelcome Simple Stories Blog Hoppers!!!

Those coming from Emily’s little corner of the web, I’m sure have heard all about the wonderful things happening at the Simple Stories blog.  You all have the opportunity to win a Simple Stories collection of your choice like the one I’m going to show you now!  Details below…

*Don’t forget to leave your comments here and at the Simple Stories blog for your chance to win.*

(a reader from the blog in the hop with the most comments will get a Simple Stories collection!)

Simple Stories – Happy Day…

This Simple Stories project isn’t your typical paper crafting project.  I wanted to give you an idea of how you can use these wonderful papers in a whole new way.

We celebrated Talitha’s first birthday last fall with a woodland themed birthday party, an emphasis on owls.  While there are a few owl options in the Simple Stories line, the Happy Day colors and birthday theme were perfect for our party and, ultimately, the inspiration for many of the decorations.

For this project, You’ll see a little bit of everything in the Happy Day series.  I bought one of everything before the planning even began knowing much of it would also end up in the scrapbook.  I love being able to perfectly coordinate the layouts and photos!

 

A Happy Day Birthday

party table

So here’s the main table.  You can see several Happy Day Elements here.  The photos framed in Happy Day layouts, the banner on the bottom, the paper medallion garland.

Birthday banner…

bannerThis was lots of fun.  Using my Cricut, I cut out the scallop ovals from the Happy Day Designer Cardstock Paper Pack and mounted the solid ovals and letters in the coordinating American Crafts cardstock colors.

firstTell me these aren’t adorable.  Seriously!  So cute and simple.  The “1st” tag is going in the scrapbook!

I also mounted these little wooden owls (I found for less than a dollar each!) onto the dark brown cardstock in the same collection.  You can see those hanging in the banner and around the table.

 

Paper medallion garlands…

garlandThe cardstock colors are delicious in this pack – so wonderfully foresty.  I had to do something to highlight this fact and chose a garland for a dramatic effect over the large window.  With another scallop edge, this time a Fiskars punch, I created a garland using the AC cardstock, everyday twine, and a glue stick.

medallionsGet your self a big bowl, your punch, cardstock and good movie for this project!  Punch beyond your heart’s content and you’ll eventually have enough.  Smile with tongue out

Next just glue two scallops together with the twine sandwiched in between at even intervals and you’re all done.  While a bit tedious, this project is so simple, even your little helpers could manage it.  I alternated the garland with matching crepe paper streamers.

 

A paper chain…

paperchainAnother party decoration that I absolutely loved was this colorful paper chain.  I wish I had a great picture of it in place at the party, but I couldn’t find one.  Using links of all different widths, I made the chain using the Happy Day 6×6 Paper Pad papers, the AC coordinating cardstock, and some of the Signature Elements Pack.  And a glue stick, of course!  Smile

 

Party fun & framed photo layouts…

frames

This is where the scrapbooking and party-going really start to meld.  One of the activities for the guests to participate in was to leave a love note for the birthday girl.  From the Signature Elements Pack, I cut out cute journaling boxes and photo mats for the guests to write on.  A recycled aluminum can got a treatment from the Elements pack as well to hold some scrapbooking markers.

In the photo above you can also see more of the framed photo layouts with pictures of our baby girl already mounted.  These guys can go straight into a scrapbook layout with very little effort!

craftsWith the Happy Day Flash Cards, I decorated the craft table by mounting them to these scallop edged containers that held our crafting supplies.

owlsA really fun game we played, Pin the Owl on the Tree, got the whole bunch laughing when even great grandma participated.  Again the AC cardstock served as the base for these die-cut owls.  My 10 year old daughter put these together for the party.

diecutsI had SO much fun with this project!  I still have to get it all into an album but, believe it or not, I have a ton of supplies left for that.  I’m thinking maybe a mini album just for this event is in order.

Do you have a favorite not-your-typical-paper-crafting project?  Tell me about!

Now head on over to Simple Stories team member Allison’s blog to see what cool things she’s done with the Simple Stories collections!

Don’t forget to leave a comment below!  A reader from the blog with the most comments will get a Simple Stories collection of their choice.  You can check out the other collections at the Simple Stories blog.  Don’t forget to leave a comment there for another chance to win!

*In case you get lost along the way, here’s the trail we’re hopping along!

  1. Simple Stories
  2. Welcome To Martha’s World
  3. Simple Stories Design Team Member, Kim Holmes at The Holmes Crew
  4. Pursuit of Scrappiness
  5. Scrapixie
  6. Simple Stories Design Team Member, Emily Pitts at Here I Am, Here I Am
  7. Knittingprose (ME, you’re here!)
  8. Simple Stories Design Team Member, Allison Landy at Scraps-Are-Fun
  9. Queen Kat
  10. Simple Stories Design Team Member, Wendy Morris at scrapnspire
  11. Scrappin’ –N- Crafting Princess
  12. Wild ‘n’ Krazie Memories
  13. Simple Stories Design Team Member, Liz Qualman at My Little Sketch Blook

-knittingprose


Comments

  8. You’re talent never ceases to amaze me! I absolutely LOVE those colors! Tali is a lucky girl! Brilliant! 🙂

  9. I love love love the Pin the Owl on the Tree idea! How cute!! Your little girl is really lucky!

  14. I love using scrapbook stuff for birthday party decorations, etc., you did a great job with it!

  16. Great party decorations!! Sometimes I forget these papers are for more than scrapping!! Thanks for the ideas!

  19. Your work and your blog is GORGEOUS! I certainly book marked this site to be back-what a great project, I would not have thought of that myself!

  21. Wow, what a wonderful way to use the papers, amazing how many projects you made, love the owls!

  22. You are so talented. I’ve only used that paper line for cards and LOs. thanks for the neat ideas.

  27. What a great idea! I never thought about using my scrapping supply for b-day decorationg. What a great way to use my scraps with the “Happy Day” paper line.

  32. AMAZING! Never would have thought to make bday decorations, but they are fabulous! Thx for sharing 🙂

  34. I love the note leaving for the birthday girl. And lovely and creative use of the entire line!

  36. this is wonderful totally thinking outside the box thanks for the inspiration
    upnurse at aol dot com

  37. what a very special party you held for your daughter, love the ideas especially providing little journaling cards for the guests!

  40. I love the ideas you came up with for the birthday party. I love all the colors. I really like the Simple Stories lines … they make scrapbooking my 4 grandsons so quick and easy!

  42. Wow! You are amazing! All that work. I feel a bit intimidated by it all. it’s beautiful. I love Simple Stories, but my projects are are a lot more modest. Thanks for sharing.

  45. LOVE your stuff…I am an avid scrapbooker…but way more so a paper crafter…I have the silhouettes inspiration and love it too. Keep up the great work.

  46. Your OWL theme was awesome. My MIL collects owls and now all her granddaughters are taking up the torch and collecting them too. (My youngest DD even got an owl tattoo … ahhhh!!!) Loved seeing how to use all the products in a fun and festive way!

  48. OMG! a whole party using simple stories, that’s great. i love that idea!! thanks for sharing

  53. What an awesome birthday spread!!! I would have loved to be at that party! Love the note writing center and the garland! Great work!

  57. Your projects are all amazing! What a festive atmosphere you created with all these fun Simple Stories goodies! Great job – thanks so much for letting us share in the party fun. 🙂

  59. I enjoyed this blog hop a lot and especially coming across your blog and your lovely ideas. Thanks for sharing.

  62. How wonderful to share this idea. I do love seeing layouts and cards, but sometimes we need a little nudge to the other possibilities. Amazing.

  66. Sweet! Love all your party decor and projects! Nicely done and I’m sure very memorable for the guest of honor (especially when you scrap it!) TFS! meredemaison.

  68. I think your decorations for this party were so unique that I think that OWL have to make some of these myself. Thanks for the ideas!

  70. Amazing, so many different projects! My favorite was the picture frames embellished with Simple Stories! The owls were very cute too! So many to choose from…

  72. love your nontraditional bday colorscheme and all your garlands and games. great idea to have guests do some scrappy journaling!

  73. I love the colors and the creativity you used when putting it all together. The owls were sooo cute! Your daughter will look back at all the details and love it. Simple Stories was a great choice!