Maya Road Design Team

On this extra day of the year..

I figured I'd share a recent layout I created. Oh, how I envy my sisters outdoor-all-year-round-jacuzzi! The kids had great fun in the jacuzzi - in minus fifteen degrees celsius! That's 5 degrees fahrenheit to you US peeps!

I decided to do a real snowwy sort of layout. Did you know Maya Road offers lots of different snowflakes? Pictured above are the chipboard one, the white transparent ones, and the awesome vintage wooden ones. And that's not all the snowflakes Maya Road have in their assortment:

On the tags here I used the clear stamp ones as well. They're tucked into the open Kraft-envelope.
Then you have kraft snowflakes, and black transparent ones, and the coaster one, so you can create real big chipboard-snowflakes or a snowflakemini...in short..Maya Road have got lots of great wintery accessories! Speaking of the tags: I tried different approaches to these two seen here: First I stamped the snowflakes w/watermark-stamp, added white fine detail embossing powder to them and embossed the snowflakes onto the tags. Then I sprayed a mix of Popsicle Blue, Earl Gray and Silver Plated Metallic Mist spray onto the top one. The latter made the tag pretty metallic-looking, and the gray spray added shadows to it. For the bottom tag I sprayed Popsicle Blue onto a sponge, added it evenlyish to the tag then smeared white distress stain onto the whole tag, getting a mily white, lovely sheen to the whole tag. I think I really like the latter result the better!

And I adore the new Kraft owls, as well as the larger kraft tickets! I also find the 2012 Kraft Calendar quite handy! It's both informative and pretty-as-an-accessoire at the same time :) Here it's placed upon a whitepainted snowflake-chipboard. Notice the star-pins? I figured purple gemstones in the middle of them would make the whole layout a bit more exciting, breaking with the brown-white-blue colored theme :)

I dabbed some white distress stain on the vintage wooden snowflakes - the whitewashed look added to the vintage feel methinks. The chipboard ones got a coat of white gesso, before adding sugar coating glitter on them. The glitter was then sealed in by a layer of diamond glaze on the top.

Maya Road Supply List:
Maya Mists: Earl Gray, Popsicle Blue, Silver Plated Metallic Mist
Chipboard: Snowflake Chipboard Set, Jonathan Mini Alphabets
Wood: Vintage Wood Snowflakes
Transparent: Let it snowflakes - white,
Kraft: 20120 Kraft Calendar, Kraft Large Ticket Strips - white, Krafty Owls - black, Kraft envelopes - square
Trinkets: Vintage Raspberry beads - clear, Trinket Pins - Stars, Trinket Pins - Crystals, Vintage Paper Roses, Vintage Paper Posies, Gingham Point blossoms - brown & beige
Ribbons: Zipper trim - earl grey, Small organza roses - turquoise, twine - red, burlap trim

Other: Distress stain, gesso, sugar coating glitter, gems from KaiserCraft, doily, diamond glaze, papers from My Little Bicycle, Heidi Swapp heart, Glue Arts adhesives.

Happy Leap Day!

-Ania

3x Non-Christmassy Cards!

It's soon Christmas, and with that - time to wrap up those Christmas-cards!
Here's two not-too-Christmassy-cards for your inspiration...(at least I tried to make them not too Christmassy - did it work?).

I'll freely admit - I'm totally in love with the Crystal Star trinket pins...I seriously need at least two more boxes of these! It's especially perfect for cards & tags...I also love the Let It Snow Stamp Sheet & the vintage wood snowflakes..wish I found some of the Snowflake Transparencies - White - it'd be perfect here, tucked in between the doily & the tag and banner...ahwell!

Maya Road suppplies:
Trinket Pin - Crystal Star
Let It Snow Stamp Sheet
Vintage Wood Snowflakes
Wood Bingo Numbers - red

The chipboard snowflake seen here is actually from an older version - I recall ordering a whole bag of these for me and the kids to paint white, add glitter & ribbon/twine so we could use them as Christmas Tree decorations..nevertheless..the chipboard snowflakes are now available in a newer and updated design found here. But - nothing's better than using up all the older bits and pieces you have lying at home, no? Makes you feel more ok about getting newer stuff...=)

Maya Road Supplies:
(vintage =) ) Chipboard Snowflakes
Vintage Paper Posies
Love Banner Stamp Sheet (for the stamped letters & star)

Also - you've seen the Early Winter Release 2012, right? :)

Using the Scallop Frames Chipboard Set , white crackle paint and Popsicle Blue Maya Mist I made this funky looking frame...frames stuff pretty nicely, doesn't? And I love the new large Kraft Ticket Strips..such a handy size and a great addition to the regular, small ones..

Maya Road supplies:
Scallop Frames Chipboard set
Maya Mist - blue popsicle
Kraft Large Ticket Strips

Hope these cards gave you some inspiration! And as an added bonus, here's a little Christmas-gift dressed up ever so slightly!

What you'll need: Kraft paper as wrapping paper, a small doily, Kraft journaling tag, Let it snow stamp sheet, bakers twine, letterstickers, watermark-stamp & white embossing powder (get a fine detail one if you can).

1. Stamp snowflake-motif on the tag
2. Heat emboss so it stands out.
3. Attach letters (God jul means Merry Christmas in Norwegian ;) )
4. Attach the tag with 3d-foam upon the doilywrapped gift.

- have a nice, relaxed weekend! :)

-Ania

Bottle Cap Advent Calendar

Good Morning Roadies!  It's December and that means the holidays are not far away!!  I've had this idea in my head since last year and have finally gotten around to getting it done.  It is HUGE! I love how it came out. 

 I started by spray painting the 4" bottle caps a dark metallic color.  I then tied all the bottle caps together to create my base.  Because it is so larger I thought it would be best to use a dowel at the top to hang the calendar from.

For the inside of each bottle cap I created a pocket from card stock to hold the candy for that day.  I added some punched snowflakes layered with chipboard snowflakes.  I finished them off with bingo numbers for each day.  I ended up painting each number dark brown to match! 

Products Used:

Bottle Caps

Bingo Numbers

Candy Stripes Ribbon

Snowflake Chipboard

Thanks for looking!

Jen

 

Christmas Mitten Gift Sack

Hello everyone!  Now that Thanksgiving is officially behind us, it's really the time to start thinking Christmas!  I always love creating cute Christmas gifts for teachers, and I think that I've already come up with that special something!  I am beyond thrilled, let me tell you. :)

I first started dabbling with the Clear Acrylic Mitten Coaster Book and I thought I would do the traditional mini-album project.  Well, the creative juices started flowing (and that's a rarity so I have to take full advantage) and I pulled out some fabric to see what I could do.  Well, I didn't have any kind of holiday-themed fabric so I grabbed the next best thing....BURLAP!

Can you see where I am going here? :)  I simply took one of the pages from the acrylic album and cut two pieces from the burlap and quickly sewed them together...no special stitch, just a straight stitch all along the edges (minus the top!) 

I was so excited that it makes the PERFECT sized little mitten gift bag!   That is a full-sized candy cane tucked in there, and, of course, I used my favorite Maya Road products to embellish with!

One of the pieces of the Snowflake Chipboard Set fit perfectly atop my mitten for decoration. 

Also, the Ruffle Crochet Trim - Double was a perfect match for the cuff of the mitten.  I swear, it's little discoveries like these that make me just giddy!  I glued some Small Organza Roses Ribbon - Olive right along the middle of the trim

And finally I added a Vintage Alterable Trinket - Large, along with some of my favorite trinket pins, Hearts, Vintage Black Pearl, and Vintage Round Pearl.

Easy Peasy friends I promise!!!  I hope you got some great ideas from this.  I know I just love it when I can think outside the box.  :)

Melissa Sauls

Let It Snow

With the heat we have been having here in Texas, I have been counting down the days for winter. So what is the next best thing to do when you have winter on your mind... create a snowflake card. The snowflakes are from the new "Let It Snow" clear stamp set. I stamped them onto white card stock using a "1" Metallic Blue Ink Pad". This blue is the perfect shade for any winter project. 

I then accented the card using the new "Vintage Paper Posies". I am so in love with these. You can leave them white or change their color using any of the Maya Mists or Ink Pads. You can accent the stamen using "Iridescent Glitter" too if you want a little pop of sparkle. 

Hugs!

Lisa M. Pace

2012 Bottle Cap Calendar

Good Friday Roadies!  Are you getting excited seeing all the cool new stuff coming out this week for CHA?  I have a fun project featuring the new 2012 kraft calendars.  It's never too early right?

I used the 4inch bottle caps for this project.  I marked and punched holes in the bottle cap, then using ribbon I tired them together.  I matched each bottle cap to that month using bright paper and mini chipboard pieces to coordinate.  

Supplies Used:

Super Mega Bottle Caps

2012 kraft calendars

Chicago Chipboard Numbers 

Snowflake Chipboard Set (Jan & Dec)

Love words Mini Set (Feb)

Green Thumb (Mar & May)

Hows the Weather (April & Jun)

What's Cookin (Jul)

Birds with Cages (Aug)

Leaves Chipboard (Sep & Oct)

Mini Trees (Nov)

Mists:   Pomegranate Pink, Antique Silver, Lemon Metallic, Lime Metallic, Cream Metallic, Sunflower Yellow, Antique Patina, Antique Bronze Metallic, Salmon Metallic, Latte Metallic, Snow White, Black

Other Supplies:  Glossy Accents, Pattern Paper, Buttons, Twine & Ribbon.  U-Cut foam & Extreme Tac adhesives. 

 

 

 

 

Silver Tray Advent Calendar

We love advent calendars at our house.  We have one on a cookie sheet that the kids use every December to count down the days to Christmas.  Well, when I made this silver tray chalkboard last month, I thought…..gosh, I wonder if a magnet sticks to it.  Sure enough, it did.

And so, I started working on a new advent calendar for our family a while ago but then Dad went into the hospital and I put it aside until the other day.

I used lots of Maya Road chipboard snowflakes, buttons, stars, hearts ( from angel wing set), crowns, Bingo Markers, houses, scallop microchip pieces, birds and other misc. pieces.

I also used  Helmar 450 for my adhesive, silver pipe cleaners, mica flakes and Martha Stewart Microbeads and OA's Very Merry Line line.

I have made many advents over the years and the one thing that I have noticed is it is hard to get the magnet to stay stuck.

If you have ever worked with clay (maybe back in grade school) they taught you that a slick surface will not hold onto a slick surface for long.  This is true.  Every year when we get out the Halloween or Christmas advent calendar we end up having to re-glue a few magnets back on.  It’s not a big deal but my brain has been churning forever trying to come up with a solution.  Well, I think I did.

So, you take a bit of muslin or whatever left over thin fabric scraps you have laying around and make a little cover for the magnet.  This will give you a textured surface to glue down to a slick surface and then you have the fabric overlap which glues to the back of the chipboard, which holds the magnet on.  Does this make sense? Think of it as a permanent bra for your magnet.

This will also help to eliminate the magnet from scratching the painted chalkboard surface or if you are using black magnets, help to prevent scuffs.  The fabric is thin enough that there is no problem with the magnet working right through the fabric.

I’m actually quite proud of myself for thinking this up.  It took me about 4 years.  

I used some BG magnets - they are super strong and work awesome for advent calendars!

Anyway, I just wanted to share with you my Silver Tray Advent Calendar.

 

 

I hope you have a blessed Holiday.

Love,

Katie

 

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Hi Roadies,

Are you you all ready for Christmas yet?  If you're thinking of giving gift cards or cash to someone this year, then I have a quick and easy project idea for you.   Here's how you can turn your Kraft Purse Envelopes into a Santa money or gift card "ho ho ho-lder!!! :)

Begin by covering the front of the envelope (not the flap) with cardstock or patterned paper.  For this Santa, I used some embossed cardstock that I sanded and stitched first.  Add some crochet trim to the bottom of the envelope and middle section.  Then fasten a decorative brad through the center of the trim and top layer of the envelope, so you will be able to tie the envelope shut.


Cover two chipboard pieces from the Damask Chipboard Sheet with cardstock and adhere to the top edge of the envelope.  Note: If you don't have the Damask Chipboard Sheet you could always use chipboard leaves from the Leaves Chipboard  Sheet or wings from the  Wings Chipboard Sheet instead.  Next use thin strips of curled up cardstock to embellish Santa's beard, then add a small cardstock covered circle for his nose.

For the head and face of Santa, half of a scalloped oval coaster page and circle were used.  After the hat was covered with cardstock, some fur trim was added to the bottom edge. The point of the hat was bent down and a pom pom was adhered to the end.   The chipboard snowflake was sprayed with Copper Metallic Mist then embellished with some bling before it was attached to the hat.

Glue the hat and head together then attach it to the back of the envelope.  Remember to tie a little tag to Santa's hat,  so everyone knows who it's from and more importantly who it's for!    All that's left now is to add some money, or gift card and you're  all set!! :)

Happy Holidays, Roadies!!!

Jennifer

 

Maya Road Supplies:

Kraft Purse Envelope

Vintage Crochet Trim - Bubble Dots

Kraft Mini Tags

Maya Mist (Copper Metallic)

Snowflake Chipboard Set

Cupcakes Chipboard Set (hat)

Flower Petals 2 (Circle for nose)

Supernova Chipboard (Circle for head)

Damask Chipboard Sheet (for mustache)

Oval Scallop Journal Coaster Book (head)

Other Supplies Used:

Core' dinations Cardstock (Core Impressions and Gemstones)

Prima - Flower Center

Basic Grey - Large Brad

October Afternoon and Making Memories - Letter Stickers

Fur trim, pom pom, small brads (eyes) pearls, embroidery floss - Hobby Lobby

 

 

 

 

Peace Mini Banner

Maya Road Supplies:
Ornate Tags Chipboard Set
Maya Mist - Evergreen and Charcoal
Trinket Pin - Crystal Star
Kraft Doilies
Velvet Point Blossoms - red and green
Resin Blossoms - green
Wood Bingo Calendar Numbers
Trinket Buttons
Velvet Ribbons

Other Supplies:
pattern paper (Dear Lizzy American Crafts Merry Mistletoe)
Glossy Accents (Ranger)
Stickles (Ranger - Frosted Lace)
wire

1.  Spray the outside piece of your Ornate Tags with Charcoal Mist; let dry.  Apply a generous coat of Glossy Accents and allow to dry.
2.  Trace your frames on pattern paper and cut out.  Adhere Kraft Doilies on a couple pieces of the pattern paper.

3.  Attach paper to the frames and allow to dry.
4.  Add your other accent pieces (pins, flowers, bingo numbers) to to the frames.
5.  Attach wire to the back of your frames and curl ends with a pencil.  I threaded some buttons on my wire and tied some ribbon on as well!
The banner makes a great accent piece to add to your Christmas tree or garland.  You could even attach magnet pieces to the back and add it to your fridge!

I decided to use mine as a title piece on a layout...I framed the layout to add to my mantle.

Christmas Angel

 

Hi Roadies,

This is a project that I did a while ago for the CHA Summer show.  With Christmas just over a month away, I thought this would be a good time to share how it was done.  But remember, even if you don't have time to get one of these done for this season, the angel can easily be adapted to fit any time of year.

I'm showing the bare construction  of the angel first,  as I think it's a little easier to see all the parts used in the piece.

In the first picture below you can see how the Christmas Tree Layer Book was turned on it's side and then cut.

The second photo shows,  I moved the two pages on the left down slightly then added wings, a border to the dress and half circles for the shoes.  For the shoe on the right I used three layers of chipboard.

The last photo shows the head (3 layers of chipboard) and arms, all from the Supernova Chipboard Set.  Also another layer of smaller wings.

After covering all these chipboard pieces with your choice of patterned papers, piece them together and adhere them to some raw chipboard. Cut the excess chipboard away.

 
You will notice in the photo above, the head, shoes and wings were pieced together in order that they would lay flat on the chipboard backing.  Here's an example of how that was done on the shoes.

Position your pieces how you want them to fit together. Trace the area that needs to be removed, then cut out that section out with a knife. 

Next, cover the last page of the album with patterned paper and add some Crochet Trim to the edge. Use paper strips to make layers for the angels dress. (To get the paper to pleat and  fold more easily,  apply Mod Podge to the back of each strip first.)  Adhere the pieces into place on the angel.

The sleeves were also made in a similar fashion. Applying the glue to the back of the paper and then shaping them to fit the arms. Glue the arms and sleeves together then adhere them to the angel.

Continue to embellish to dress of the angel as you wish. Use half a circle to create a collar for the dress. Add a punched border strip around the curved edge and a twine bow to the center.  The face (which is part of a street sign from the Road Rage Sign Set ) was then layered on top of the collar and embellished with a chipbord heart for the mouth and pearls (or gems) for the eyes.

Above, you can see how the halo was created out of a chipboard frame (from the Foundation Chipboard Set). The frame was wrapped in twine first, then a piece of wire was added.  Small leaves were stamped onto patterned paper, cut out and then attached around the halo. Use a piercing tool  to poke a hole in the top of the angels head.  Add adhesive to the end of the wire then insert it into the hole.

Next create a banner using  Mixed Mini Pennant Banner pieces, chipboard letters and ribbon and wire.  Use the piercing tool to make small holes in the angel's hands. Then thread the wire through the holes and knot in the back.

Hardware was attached in the back  of the angel then strands of twine were added for hanging.

Here are a few pictures of the finished angel.

 See you soon,

Jennifer

Maya Road Supplies:

 Christmas Tree Layer Book

Wings Chipboard Sheet

Mixed Scallop Mini Pennant Banner Set

Borders Chipboard Sheet

Borders 2 Chipboard SheetSupernova Chipboard Set (for arms, stars and head)
Road Rage Signs (for face)

Jonathan Chipboard Alphabet Set

Velvet Point Blossoms - Red / Green

Love Mini Chipboard Set

Build A Tree Singleton Stamp (leaves)

Vintage Crochet Trim - Lace

Vintage Crochet Trim - Baby Pom Pom

Glitter -  Cherry Red

Foundations Chipboard (round frame used for halo)

Other supplies:

Collage Press (original angel) and My Minds Eye (new angel) - Patterned paper

Ribbon scraps for the banner

Wire

Twine

Raw chipboard (to hold the angel together in the back)

Embroidery floss

Cardstock for hair and skin

Gems or pearls for the eyes