Maya Road Design Team

This one's for you, Grandma

Hey Roadies! Ania here with a tiny, little confession.

I've been holding on to the photos used in this mini ever since 2006. Which is a shame really, considering my dear grandma  is closing in to three digits.

Also, my mom keep reminding me to not forget to send my grandma cards and letters, and "if I don't mind, some of my altered things" as well. Apparently they make her proud,  whenever she gets guests she's quick to bring these items to the table so others can enjoy too (I just hope the guests doesn't get too bored, haha).

And isn't that why we keep creating? Part of why? Because we want our creations to bring joy and happiness to the people we make them for, which in most cases are the same people we care for? And I care for my grandma, really. I guess that's why I've been so hesitant using these photos...I wanted to make them into a perfect little keepsake for her, I wanted them to really shine, to not be overpowered by embellishments or papers, but rather have the scrapbook-elements supplement and accent the photos.

But I digress..

The time had come for me to actually put these photos into a mini...and to send the little "just because"-gift off to grandma (unfortunately I live far away from her, causing me to see her only once or twice a year).

I knew that the Sew Cute Mini Chipboard set would be the perfect accessory to this mini. Add in a piece of the Vintage Tape Measure Trim in yellow, Vintage Wood Tiny Ruler and Organza Primrose Trim in Chocolate on a piece of file/binder chipboard from the Road Rage Signs set and you have the perfect little cluster for your cover.

Add in some Twine Cording, trinket pins and Maya Mist..

The insides were kept very clean.

I adore my grandma. And I hope she'll enjoy this little mini holding memories from the day in 2006 where she pulled out the trusty, old Singer sewing machine to fix my brand new pair of jeans (the legs are always too long for me!).

Well actually. While grandma prepared the sewing machine, it was my mom who fixed the pants.

Nevertheless. I've now finally put this memory down into something grandma also can enjoy.

Now off you go. Create something that will put a smile to someone elses day. I dare you.

 

Charm and Elegance...

Hello,  I'm glad that you stopped by!  I have a fun little project to share today that can recreated by anyone using a few Maya Road goodies and a couple of  basic craft supplies.

I love topiaries... love them.   Did you know that topiaries have been  a symbol of "Charm and Elegance" for centuries?  There are so many different varieties now-- from the real or living evergreens to artificial ones.  You can find them everywhere as they have been very trendy for a good while now.  I guess those ancient Romans really knew how to decorate if we are still using some of their creative ideas today!

Here is one of my versions of a topiary.....


I made this charming little topiary with some of my very favorite Maya Road supplies.  I love that it's pink instead of the traditional green color, as it will be uplifting decor for anyone that is feeling a need for Spring.  I know that late winter in Minnesota can  bring on the "cabin fever" and makes me yearn for some pretty spring colors.


To make this I used a 3.5" Styrofoam ball for the topiary shape and the  wood pedestal base is an antique spinning spool and a metal Flower Bottle Cap.   The Styrofoam ball is covered  with Maya Road's Small Organza Roses Trim in Light Pink.  I did not prep the ball with anything-- I just hot glued the trim to the ball and made a flat spot about 1" in circumference that would be the "bottom" of the topiary ball when adhered to the base.  I tried to make sure that the outer edges of the trim (the netting that runs along either side of the roses) was not tucked under so that it helped to hide the white of the ball.

Once the entire ball was covered with the trim I wrapped some of the new Paper Twine Cording in the "Earth" color around the ball.  To me it brings in the look of nature and reminds me of a vine that has wrapped itself around the topiary.  It is glued in place in a few spots with some Vintage Paper Roses and a cluster of  flowers and Trinket Pins. 


Trinket Pins include the Hot Pink Flowers, Vintage Round Pearl (that has a Vintage Raspberry Bead slid onto it), Vintage Leaf Pin in Cream, and the new Pale Pink Pearl Balls.  The cluster of flowers includes a pink Country Gingham Posie, a Vintage Lace Silver Fox Mum, and some of the Organza Mum Trim in Forest green.

Once the ball was decorated I adhered some natural green moss that you can find in the floral section of any craft supply store,  to the bottom of the metal Flower Bottle Cap.   To prepare the Bottle Cap, I pushed the flower petals inward so that when it was turned upside down it looked like scalloped trim.  It was then painted white  and when dry I lightly sanded it to give it a distressed look.

I think that Maya Road products made this  project both charming and elegant... just as a topiary should be.  Thanks so much for visiting!

 

Bottle Cap Mini

Hey Roadies! Mandy Kay Starner here, to share one of my CHA Winter projects with you.

One of my favorite Maya Road products is the bottle caps. I have quite a stash, especially of the Jumbo caps; I love to use them for all different kinds of projects. For one, they make fantastic mini book covers.

For this mini, I started off by spray painting the outsides of my bottle caps black. I die-cut several 3 1/2" circles to cover the caps, and to use for the interior pages. (I adhered two circles back to back to make stronger pages.) And to mix it up a bit, I threw a page from one of the Canvas Star Coaster Albums in there.

To embellish my pages, I used my favorite stamps, kraft doilies and tickets, trinket pins, tulle and zipper trims. Do you see the new Varsity Letter stamps? LOVE.THEM.

That fuschia colored metal flower is one of my absolute favorite products from the Winter release. Can you spy it in the cluster below? They are so much fun and I can't wait to get my hands on more of them. For me, they are the perfect size for clustering.

And I am certain that I will be NEEDING quite a bit of yardage of that new Vintage Tape Measure Trim.

And If you have been wondering how to get those adorable little houses adhered to you projects, a few little staples seem to do the trick.

Thanks for stopping by the Maya Road Design Team Blog, I hope you've enjoyed my project.

Supplies used:

Jumbo Vintage Metal Bottle Caps

Canvas Star Coaster Album

Star Shaped Metal Bottle Cap

Shot Through The Heart Chipboard Set

Kraft Doilies

Transparent Cameras

Blackberry Twine

Tutu Tulle

Crystal Stars Trinket Pins

Flower Pins

Licorice Tulle Pleat Trim

Ocean Turquoise Double Stitch Velvet Ribbon

Just my type Stamps

Vintage Camera Singleton Stamp

Varsity Uppercase Stamps

Large Kraft Ticket Strips

Kraft Scroll Frame Labels

Love Words Mini Chipboard Set

Kraft Butterflies

Black Zipper Trim

Sea Blue Zipper Trim

Vintage Tape Measure Trim

White Small Organza Rose Trim

 

Our Home Metal

 

 

Omg srlsly?

Ania here, wanting to share a few thoughts behind some of my CHA creations with you :)

You know what makes a confirmation speech good?
When you surprise, embarass (only ever so slightly, not outright, and not in a mean way!) and make the confirmantee (is that a word? ahwell!) happy and feel loved - all in the course of a speech that doesn't make you fall asleep. My sister is pretty good at these speeches, and I loved documenting every aspect of the reactions of my niece..

Things worth noticing: LOve the exclamation stamp (which I embossed with red-orange embossing powder), the transparent camera (seriously, need lots of these!) and the embossed bubble speech stamps which interacts with the photos. Oh, and the ILY chipboard (it spells out the letters I, L and Y at once in the American Sign Language alphabet, and stands for I love you...but I'm sure everybody knows that :) ).

Now, I'll freely admit shaped chipboard albums terrifies me a teeny little bit. I'm just not really a themey scrapper, sort of, so these typically challenges me. Nevertheless, I turned this house mini book into a custom chocolate box - perfect little house warming gift mayhaps? Maya Road sure have a number of embellishments which will fit the theme perfectly, like the various key shapes and the kraft houses (there's house stamps and chipboard houses too).

Here's the inside - I believe Kinder chocolate is one of my fave chocolates! I just made a custom box formed around the bars sort of.

Love how the cream burlap trims looks here, binding the lid and box together.

Another idea for a house warming gift is to decorate the cover of the chipboard house..

And attach a towel to the back, as a mini gift.

Right! That's it for now :)

If you fancy seeing more of my CHA creations for Maya Road, feel free to drop by my blog :)

A Complicated Heart

Hello, 2013!

This is Ania wishing you a fabulous new year with many, many wonderful adventures ahead.

A colleague of mine recently underwent a heart surgery. She's got a complicated heart - at least that's what her Dr. explained to her. I knew the Maya Road Heart Canvas Coaster Album was perfect as the focal point of this little gift containing Get Well-chocolate. I've taken mine apart and used the canvas pages as centerpieces on cards and layouts. Love it :) And I know. I need to stop saying how much the Ornate Vintage Butterflies Stamp are my favorite stamp set to date from Maya Road. But really. They are.  So perfect.

I just took two plates of exclusive chocolate, traced around with my Scor-Pal so I could create this little box..then I wrapped it with grey pleated satin ribbon, added the heart and yeah well, bits and pieces of random Maya Road embellishments.

The heart was gessoed then I painted Maya Mist upon it randomly by the way. I was channeling my inner Ronda. This feels Ronda-ish..minus stencils, but still.. :) I am also totally warming up to the measurement-ribbon. So, so cool. I just curled it, attached with hot glue and made sure it stayed in place. Looks sorta artsyish curled around like this, eh?

Right!

Enjoy the new year....I mean..new year..new possibilities, right?

Like, a fixed-up heart....
And an upcoming CHA....

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays Roadies, Angella here!

It's that magical time of the year, and I do love Christmas time! but true to my word I have stuck to a more handmade christmas this year. I avoided alot of the commerical hype and didn't purchase one decoration... not even Christmas wrapping - all the presents are wrapped in butchers paper, burlap twine and holly. ( I surprise myself)

here is a couple of decorations I made for the holiday season, some very quick and simple :

4 Qty vintage memory boxes  , lisa Uppercase Alphabets, and Maya Road ink pads

I sprayed the boxes first with white paint, gave a light  sand;

I ink the letters,  then adhere  the letters onto the boxes ... ( make any word ; peace, joy or merry christmas)

Perfect as  a table decorations or gift giving! you can

Stack them

 

 

Fill them for gift giving

stunning as a table centrepeice

then I made using the same technique using the Vintage Chunky Wood spools

this little cute reindeer I covered in the twine cording

So sometimes roadies it don't take much to create with love, the simplest things in life are often the best. I think this could be the start of a new christmas tradition for me..

Wishing you all a Very blessed Safe Happy Holiday! and I look forward to creating with  you in 2013..

Merry Christmas Everyone:

It's time to trim the tree!

Hello Roadies! Mandy Kay here, to show you a couple quick ornaments, I created for teacher/co-worker gifts.

For the first ornament, I started with some Blackberry Twine, a doilie, a Natural Button, a chipboard heart from the Tiny Banner set, Bubblegum Metallic Mist, and a Large Chipboard Snowflake.

I embossed the snowflake with silver glitter embossing powder, sprayed the heart with Bubblegum Metallic Mist, layered the button, doily, and heart on top, and tied it all off with some twine.

 

And for the next ornament, I used a page from the Canvas Star Coaster Album, a Denim Rose, Cream Flower pins, Cream Organza Rose Ribbon, a Linen Tag, Blue Slushie Twine, and the alphas from the Just My Type stamp set.

Did you see that I embossed the canvas? I didn't know you could (safely) emboss the fabric until I tried it on this project. Cool huh? **I had the most success with the "Glitter" powder. I tried just a plain white powder on another piece of fabric and it didn't really do as well as the glittered.

These were so quick and easy to make, I plan to make them in bulk for gift giving. They would even look pretty as a gift topper. 

I hope I've inspired you to handmake some gifts this holiday season.

Thanks for stopping by!

Maya Road + Tombow Week Day 4

Hi Roadies! It's Julia back with another Maya Road and Tombow Swap project. I've been busy counting down the days until Christmas so this little wall hanging incorporates that in a fun way.

To create this project, I started off with a page from a Maya Road chipboard album. I don't know about you but sometimes I go a little crazy with my mini albums and have to take one out to make them fit. This is a great way to use them up.

The chipboard is easy to cover up with some holiday patterned paper and some Tombow Multi Liquid Glue. I've also adhered some leaf green zipper trim and Cinnamon Tulle Pleat Trim around the back with the super strong Power Tabs.

One of my favorite parts of the design is the glittered Star Bottle Cap. The inside of the bottle cap was filled with Mono Multi and then sprinkled with glass glitter. It's also trimmed with Red and Green Velvet Point Blossoms and trimmed with Seafoam Blue Tu-Tu Tulle.

To hang up the mini wall hanging, I've threaded a couple feet of Apple Red Mini Gingham Trim through the holes at the top of the chipboard page/base. To make it a little more festive, I've threaded on Vintage Chunky Wood Spools that have been altered with glitter and Barn Red Gingham Fabric Tape.

What's Christmas without a wreath on the door? A door from the Doorways Chipboard Set has been misted with White Out Mist and is a sweet place ot hang a little wreath made from Maya Road embellishments. A Natural Wood Button is colored green and trimmed with  Red Ruffle Edge Trim. For paper layers and light embellishments I used the new Stamp Runner Permanent Adhesive and found it really great for adding adhesive exactly where I wanted it.

I love how this project is great for counting down until Christmas. I've combined the Wood Bingo Calendar Numbers with the new Tombow Fastener Tabs. Each day the bingo number can be changed for the countdown.

 

To finish up, a sweet tag from the Canvas Shipping Tag Set is stamped with the Our Town Stamp Strip. The festive sentiment is from the Christmas Words Mini Chipboard Set and is misted with Cherry Metallic Mist before being coated with Mono Multi Adhesive and glitter.

Additional Maya Road Supplies: Let it Snowflakes White, Pink Lemonade Twine Cording, Crystal Star Trinket Pins, Hot Pink Heart Trinket Pins

 

Thanks for joining us today for our blog swap! Don't forget that you still have a chance to win our giveaway! Make sure to go read the details on this post.

A chocolatey ombre-surprise...

Hi everybody!

Ania here, late to the party as usual!
I'm talking about the ombre-party...you know, I'm one of those sitting on the fence not being sure whether this new it thing really is tha bomb or not, until I'm brainwashed enough to say yay...at which point others start to say nay.....?

Nevertheless :)

I love things that's white. It means it's just waiting to get customized...like the small organza roses ribbon in white..

All you need is a bottle of maya mist (I chose popsicle blue, love that blue hue!), spitz it in a small jar of water and dip your brush into the water. Paint the ribbons, using lots of blue in the beginning then just keep brushing the last pigment of color onto the ribbon as the brush dries up...

Then, using a heart shaped piece of chipboard (I repurposed a piece from an old memory game box), layer down your ribbons and cut into pieces, making sure to place the ribbons from light to dark.

Dress up a box of chocolate, stamp it with ornate vintage butterflies stamps and bright orange pigment ink pad and place your heart on it.

Ofcourse you should adorn your heart with little bits and trinkets, like prettified trinket pins (tip: purchase real cheap pearl necklaces so you can use the pearls for this..add a little liquid adhesive to the pin to secure the additional pearls)..run a glue tape runner all over the chipboard piece and add Maya Road gold glitter...

Not to mention - the twine cording might be thicker than regular twine, making it difficult to use it with buttons..well, if you don't have that handy little thing for sewing (I have no idea what it's called) - you can just use regular sewing threads to help you...Position the sewing thread and twine as shown.

Thread the sewing thread ends through the holes like that..

And pull the twine through. Easy peasy (and I know it's like duh, everybody knows that trick. Sure. I did too, long long time ago... but didn't think of using it with the twine cordings until like. Uh. The time I made this one. Haha. So there might be someone out there like me, not really ...uh...thinking...cough...)

Oh, and when adhering papers to boxes? Be more careful than I am. I had to cover the edge w/ruffled edge trim because I was too careless. Cough. Worked swell here, though!

If your chocolate box is openable...don't forget to decorate the insides too :) Love the kraft snowflake!

Other Maya Road products used not mentioned: Mini kraft tags, jonathan chipboard letters, antique butterflies :)

Thanks for letting me share! :)

Wrapping kit, a la Maya Road

Hello Roadies! Last year, I made a multi-purpose wrapping kit for my mother-in-law's Christmas gift. I packed it full of colorful ribbon, tags for birthdays, thank yous, and all occasions. I made some fun little pom poms using a tutorial I found on Pinterest. I added tissue papers and playful tapes. It was so much fun to put together, and as I was thinking about posts for this month, I thought how easy it would be to use Maya Road products for a wrapping kit. We have so many "mini" products, it's a natural fit!

So, without further ado, I offer you a mini wrapping kit, all products will fit into a small jewelry box, and you've got enough embellishments to decorate at least three little boxes! I went with a yellow/grey/red/natural theme. It's Christmasy, but not too. I could have used our wooden or chipboard snowflakes, but after Anja's post about using butterflies for Christmas, the idea has grown on me.

I made a butterfly medallion using our vintage wooden mini butterflies, white out mist, cream metallic mist (for the medallion), tulle pleat trim in cinnamon, and iridescent glitter.  

I fancied up another vintage wooden mini butterfly with the cream metallic mist and some more glitter, then added a tie of our twine cording in tomato red.

I wrapped three of our vintage wood spools with the twine cording, fabric tape in sun yellow, and trinkets ribbon in pebble. Between 18 inces to a yard, depending on the product.

I sprayed an upper case Lisa letter with charcoal mist, added some glitter and glued it to a kraft shipping tag.

 

And I misted some tiny banner chipboard bits with the white out mist, added some more glitter, and glued them all to a piece of the twine cording. I added some sticker letters with a liquid adhesive, because glitter is, well, glitter and doesn't like to hold stickers well.

Then I decorated some boxes up with the supplies. The possibilities are endless, but this is one way you could use the kit. You'll notice I didn't use everything, so really you could do at least a couple more simple boxes. I think this would be a fun hostess gift, perfect for your crafty freinds. This one is going to my daughter so she can wrap her friends' Christmas gifts.

Other Maya Road supplies:
super star pin–gold
linen mini tag pieces
die cut kraft doily
kraft mini tag
kraft note envelope in white polka dot 
wood mini clothes pins

Go ahead and try creating your own wrapping kit! I had a blast coming up with ideas and with Maya Road, the sky is the limit on this type of project!