Maya Road Design Team

Wreath Inspiration: denim and gingham

Hi, Roadies! Leah checking in with a little bit of wreath inspiration for you today!

I have loved yellow for a long time, and it's so fun to have lots of products available to use in this sunny, mood boosting color! I know a lot of you are experiencing an extra long and cold winter and could use a bit of extra sun!

Start by wrapping a styrofoam wreath from the craft supply store in sun yellow gingham fabric tape.

To alter the canvas butterflies, just give them a coating a gesso, shape them a bit to bend and "float", allow to dry  and then spritz with Summer Sun Yellow  maya mist.

The paper twine cording can be a fun to add a bit of dimension to your projects when you untwist and fluff into loops or a bow.

Frayed Edge Pleated denim trim gathers well for the perfect accent to all of our yellow.

And I couldn't resist leading one stray butterfly off the edge touching the pretty yellow velvet pleated flower.

Hope your day is bright and sunny!

Wreath Inspiration: Shabby Spring

Hi Roadies! It's Julia back with some more wreath inspiration for you today. My wreath is a shabby-style wreath that's just a little out of the box. Inspired by some wreaths I found on Pinterest, I decided to use an old picture frame as a wreath. This suited me perfectly as I love taking an old unused object and putting a new spin on it.

This wreath/frame has actually seen many different uses. First off it was a white baby frame, next it became a black frame that held a wood initial for our last name. Here's my latest take on it turned into a wreath...

 

To give the frame a shabby style, it's been misted with lots of White Out Maya Mist. I love the opacity to this mist. It's also been layered with some printed tissue paper and stamped with white acrylic paint and Maya Road Vintage Wallpaper Stamp Sheet.

 

My favorite part of any project is always adding in the embellishments. Maya Road makes it so easy to add a beautiful array of florals and trims. They've all been hot-glued on after the background is well dried. Embellishments used: Pink Felt Beaded Flowers, Vintage Pale Pink Pearl Ball Pins, Hot Pink Vintage Gauze Blossoms, Camellia Pink Velvet Double Stitched Ribbon, Pink Velvet Point Blossoms, Wood Bird Cage Embellishments, Vintage Raspberry Beads, Vintage Linen Burlap Roses, Medium Fabric Leaves & Wood Vintage Doilies

To hang up my wreath, some Linen Burlap Trim was a great addition. It's accented with a Chipboard Butterfly, an Antique Room Key and an Alterable Wood Button.

Be inspired to take something old and breathe new life into it!

Wreath Inspiration: I LOVE YOU

Hi Roadies! It's Lia here today to share with you a wreath I created for Maya Road's Wreath Inspirations! This is my first ever wreath, and I have a feeling that I'll be creating more after this!

Honestly, I was bitten by the wreath-ing bug after I saw Caroline's gorgeous wreaths but because I wasn't confident of creating one, my first wreath is a mere 7" wide circle. It ended up looking really adorable!

I wrapped my styrofoam wreath with three layers of excess yarn I had in my yarns stash. The three layers really helped to cover any white styrofoam from showing in the final product.

I love creating embellishments clusters on my projects and for this wreath, I created two main clusters - one of Maya Road Linen Banners, and the other of Maya Road blossoms.

I attached the Linen Banners to the wreath using Clear Jewel Trinket Pins, and embellished with glittered Patti Mini Alphabet Chipboards. I also added a couple of die-cut felt clouds behind the Linen Banners.

Next I worked on the Blossoms cluster. I glued a Felt Pearl Blossom, a Ruffle Blossom, and Velvet Pleat Blossoms, with some Maya Road Leaves. I also added a painted Butterfly Chipboard, embellished with a Teardrop Pearl Center. By now, my wreath was looking rather Spring-y!

I wanted to add a type-written sentiment on my wreath, and to bring further attention to it I also inserted a piece of Our Home Metal Vintage Trinket and a Time Flies Kraft Clock into the Blossoms cluster.

I finished off my wreath with a loop and bow made out of Brown Candy Stripes Ribbon. Now the wreath is all done and ready to enjoy.

I hope you've enjoyed this wreath and stay tuned for more inspirational wreaths from the rest of the Maya Road Design Team.

Maya Road Wreath Fun Begins Now!

Hi Roadies, it's Caroline here to kick off our Wreath Inspirations! We hope you will be inspired to take your scrapbook and paper crafting supplies and see them in a whole new light! Each of our designers is creating a unique wreath to share with you. I am here to share one I created documenting one of my family's favorite places  - the beach!

My family loves the beach. While we don't get a lot of visits to the beach often since we live in Dallas, we savor our beach trips any chance we get. 

I started this wreath by using a 8" diameter styrofoam wreath. I wrapped some of our Ecru Crochet Trim to cover the whole wreath and held the trim on with a glue gun.

Next  I stamped some of our Wooden Feathered Friends  with our Art Journaling Stamps. I then added the Grass Paper Twine Cording (some of it left as is and some of it unraveled) to the base of the wreath and then I added some fishing net to get that beach feel. Next, I added some Aqua Satin Scallop Trim to the top of the netting and added the Feathered friend and some seashelles we had from our last beach trip. Finally I added an Antique Gem Pin to the back to finish it all off.

And with that I was done! I am going to display this wreath along with our other treasures from the sea - some bits of sand and shells and driftwood we found.

I hope you have enjoyed this wreath!

 

What's Coming Up This Week On The Maya Road DT Blog!

We have some fun things starting tomorrow on the MR design team blog! We hope you will join us!

How To: Be Tag

I love the warm colors of this Be tag.  The pop of blue against the fiery colors suggests both my easy going but passionate personality.   Maya Road Mists make it easy to bring colors to life.  Their embellishments are so much fun to add in layers.   Here's a quick look at how to create this tag.

1. Cover tag with book paper and seal it with matte medium.
2. Add drops of Maya Mists.  Here I used Dragon Fruit Pink, Pomegranate Pink, and Sunflower Yellow.  Using short blasts of compressed air, move the mists around the tag. Let it dry.
3. Add drops of White Out Maya Mist to the background and spray kraft butterfly with same mist.
4. Layer kraft butterfly on the kraft doily.  Add blue ruffle blossom flower and trinket heart stick pins to the butterfly.
5. Using scallop scissors, cut the vintage measuring tape trim & add to the bottom of the tag.
6. Wrap vintage hotel key with floss and add to the tag near bottom.
7. Spray "be" chipboard letters with espresso brown Maya Mist and adhere to tag.  Tie gingham brown bow to the top to finish the tag. 

I Love when you Laugh and Hug

Hi everyone!

This is Karen and I am back with another layout. Since I am usually a white-background scrapper, this one was a stretch for me  but I loved these photos of my sons and they were both wearing white so I decided I needed a non-white background so the photos would pop more.

 

I love love love the wood pieces cause they are so easy to color and can be stitched through and just add so much nice dimension. I especially love these birdcages.

 

same for the polaroid frames! see how I stitched right through them?! Super easy and fun.

I also love using the little envelopes as photo inserts. I like to make it look like my pictures are coming out of them. It breaks up the photos a bit and gives my layout some more dimension.

I made sure to paint the little wooden branch on the bottom right corner, too. A bunch of fabric tape and I had a lovely layout with pops of color. 

Thank you for letting me share my layout. I'd love for you to link me up to one of your latest layouts, too!

Hello Italy... Click Click!

Hi there Roodies!  Hope you guys had a great weekend and Piradee here to kick start the week with a mini album inspiration using some of the new products released...

First off are these super (super) cute camera and polarid frame chipboards. Seriously these are so adorable and love how there are little bits that you play around around with. 

On the cover, I used a couple of cameras that I paint with white paint and misted some of the other little bits to create a constrast.  I then layered those chipboard pieces over the misted shipping tag chipboards for more constrast; as I opted to leave mini ablum base "raw".

For my mini album I used the 5-Ring Tab Album, where I also included some kraft cardstock pages along with a few envelopes here and there; which allows me to store all those keepsakes that I collected during the trip. 

And here's some close up and full page pictures of some of the pages. Mostly on the chipboard tab pages, I went crazy with chipboard and embellishments whereas on the kraft cardstock pages, I kept these clean and simple with pictures and captions from our trip to Italy. 

On this chipboard tab page here,  I had a fun time creating a little scenary for all those wonderful sunny days that we had on our trip and also using the new butterly clip and one of the wood embellishment from the wood measure once, cut twice set.

And on these pages here, I used the awesome camera images from the new Krafty Say Cheese Camera collection ... these come in both black and white images. 

And on my last page here, I had  fun time layering all the different pieces and elements... from the new kraft DIY butterfly sticker, to the anitque ornate frame and antique filigree butterfly vintage findings.

Thanks everyone for stopping by and hope you guys have a great creative week ahead! Also don't forget to stop by the Maya Road website for the full details on all the new products being released this season HERE.

Insta Chicago Mini Starring the Picture Perfect Camera Stamps

Hello Roadies!

Emily on deck today with, yes, another mini album. This one is all about our day trips into Chicago last summer while the Maya Road team was at CHA. I had just purchased my first camera phone and, like any new camera phone user, I was having fun learning Instagram. So I put together a mini album of the two trips into the city.

I cut out some feathers, embossed a LOT, did a fun technique to cover the chipboard, and used elements that I wouldn't normally pair, but I think it really worked.  And I used this stamp set, the Picture Perfect Camera Stamps A LOT. It's a very fun and useful set, I highly recommend it.

 

For the cover and inside pages of the new 4x6 2-Ringed Round Tab Chipboard Journal Book , I painted them bright school bus yellow. I added some dimension to the cover with an extra thick layer of paint, and then stamping the word HELLO from the Picture Perfect Stamp Set over and over in the still wet paint and letting it dry.

Once all surfaces were dry, I sprayed the chipboard with Antique Bronze Maya Mist and then rubbed it off with a paper towel. It gives a cool grungy look perfect for a city mini ablum. 

A few places, I rubbed too hard and pulled some of the paint off, so I sprayed with more mist and you get this really awesome look.

I also used the Varsity Uppercase Letters Stamp Set. I think this is going to be another of my go-to alphas, such a fun size and you get a great image every time!

I made my own cut file to add a few extra pages to the album and to title each day trip.

I used the new Say Cheese Camera Transparencies in both Black and White. I love them! I also used a few different colors of the new Paper Twine, that is such a fun product, it can be unrolled like the raffia of the 80s, or tied like this, or well, the possibilities are endless. 

I stamped and embossed a lot. The Spool Sentiments Stamp Sheet reminded me of a passport stamp, so I used that freely in the book. The sentiments work surprisingly well for a travel mini album. Also, I like having different shapes in my mini albums, that set is a great way to bring in a circle!

The new Perfect Shot Arrow Stamp Strip has nine different kinds of arrows. I could not get enough of that set! I think I may need to order an extra set, it's so versatile!

The new Say Cheese Mini Chipboard Set has the cutest little cameras and polaroid type images, I love how you can personalize them because the cut outs pop out and back in! I also used the new What's the Good Word Stamp Strip. It has some awesome speech bubbles in the set, so you can be right on trend!

I kept the star theme going throughout the book by using the My Star Singleton Stamp Set. I loved all the variety one little set can offer!

I like to add unexpected elements to my designs, I used a single bead from the 8 mm Peal Bead Chain

for each of my feathers in the album. I used some small pliers to bend the wire to get each bead off the chain. Super easy and it adds such a fun bit of surprise to the album.

For each day, I stamped on a Kraft Large Ticket the date of our excursion.

To maintain the arrow theme, I cut up bits from the Yellow Vintage Tape Measure Trim and mixed those with another color. I love how much movement it adds!

Maya road has so many great camera stamp sets, I used the Vintage Camera Singleton Stamp here on the left and the transparency of the same design on the right.

That's the boss lady, waiting for the train back to our hotel on the last day of our week in Chicago.

And here's the back cover, just as on the front, I used the unstitched Linen Star Piece as a base for my design, it adds such a nice cozy feel I think. 

It took me forever to put together, but I really am happy with how it turned out!

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.