Maya Road Design Team

Paper Airplanes

Hi everyone! Karen here. 

Today I am going to share with you a layout that uses my favorite stamp from the new release. When I saw the paper airplane stamp, I knew I had to have it. I have two boys and they love, cherish, adore paper airplanes. 

As soon as I got my hands on it, I started experimenting and after a bunch of playing around, I ended up with this layout:

It's a bit hard to see in the photos but I wanted the airplanes to be dimensional so I punched two of each and put a pop-dot between them to create the effect. I also decided that the lines the airplanes leave behind make for perfect journaling spots. 

As always, I also made myself a little layered corner on the bottom left to ensure your eyes didn't wander off the page.

And there we go. I love love love this stamp and if your kids are as big fans of paper airplanes as mine, I think this is a must-have in your home, too! 

To you, my dear sister

Hi Roadies!

Ania here with a layout about me and my sis...!

I've always loved and adored her, but hey, when we grew up, we wouldn't shy away from getting into nasty fights with each others.

But today? I feel like today we know each other in another way, a way we really didn't when we were younger.  Maybe it's because we've both grown up now. Maybe it's the distance between us (we live in each our side of the country), so whenever we see each other it's short but wonderful.

Whatever it is, I love my sister like I've always done, but maybe even more fierce, deeper and more understandingly these days.

Dear littlesis..

I love you very, very much and am so, so proud of you!

Its almost autumn!!

Hey Roadies! Its Mandy Kay Starner here, to share a sweet little project with you to get your home ready for Autumn.

I am one of those people who just LOVE autumn. Honestly, I can't get enough. The moment winter hits I am already dreaming about the next fall... the leaves turning, the smell of cool rain and burning wood in the air... I could go on and on, but I will spare you. :) Since its *almost* autumn, I am already planning and making my decorations. I have  a small hoarde of tiny wreaths and I thought making one of them into an owl would be fun. So without further ado, here she is...

I started with a little 8" grape vine wreath and layered up some Cream colored Satin Scalloped Edged Blooms,  some Vintage Burlap Roses in Sunset and Barn, some Felt Pearl Blossoms, some Fabric Leaves, and a Vintage Edge Mum. For her eyes, I started with some Flower Bottle Caps, I inked them up with a black ink pad, punched some Kraft doilies to fit inside, and I added some Wood buttons, and some Velvet Resin Blossoms to the centers. For her beak I painted a large heart from the Shot Through The Heart chipboard set. To top it all off, I added a sweet little Vintage Pearl Butterfly pin to the flowers and a bow made from the Canary Paper Twine Cording.

And now, I'm one step closer to autumn. Would it be crazy to start decorating now? :)

Thanks for stopping by the Maya Road DT blog! Have a great weekend!

A Reminder...

Hello Roadies!  It's Laura here, right off the boat (well actually a plane) from Italy!  I think last time I blogged on here I was about to leave for Italy.  Well, let me tell you... I had an AMAZING time there for almost a month and one of those weeks was spent with 23 awesome people during my 2nd Annual Creative Retreat on Lake Como!  I can't tell you how rewarding it is to bring together a group of CREATIVE people from all over the world to share in a week of inspiring classes, beautiful excursions and wonderful food!   FYI, my 3rd Annual Creative Retreat in Italy has a few more spots still open and I know of a certain Maya Road lady who is teaching next year... just saying.

So as you can imagine, I want to remember those moments as much as I can.  Since Italy has my heart, I thought I would come up with something I could put on my fridge and look at all the time.  So here's my "heart" Italy magnet.

It was super easy to make and a fun little memento that you can make to remind you of your resent summer vacation.

To start off, I wanted the Maya Road metal heart to have an aged look so I took some brown alcohol ink and inked the entire heart.  I think it softens up the look and gives it a more "Italian" feel.  Once that was dry, I found a map of Italy and cut out the shape of a heart to fit inside.  Since the heart is scalloped and I'm not the best at cutting intricate shapes, I decided to use some yellow twine to hide the edges.  

One of the things I like to do when I travel is to take a little bit of that place home with me.  So I scooped up some sand from the lake and saved it in a baggy.  I decided to put some of this sand in one of Maya Roads little glass bottles and put that on my metal heart.  I love how it looks and if the heart was a bit bigger I'd also add a little piece of pottery I found on the beach as well.  But that will have to go on another project...

Then I just added a couple other embellishments and the bottle with some liquid glue.  Lastly, I added some Maya Road trim around the outside edge.  Now I just need to put the magnet on the back and it's going on my fridge!  How cute is that?!

I hope you liked this simple project that you can make to remind you of that special trip or memory.

Have a GREAT day,

 

Pssttt....

Check them out here and enter for a chance to win some of your very one.

a little R & r

Hello Roadies!  It's Ronda here with you today to share one of my favorite layouts of late.   The title is a play on the picture and my name.  My dad has been going through old slides and stumbled across this photo of me as a toddler sleeping on the couch. 

This layout started as a color story set against the black & white photo.  I love the aqua color paired with the orangy-red color.  I added in some browns too in both the embellishments and and stamp ink. 

After selecting my colors, I started pulling together my embellishments and stamps that reinforce my story.  I love adding in bits of kraft onto the layout so I also pulled various kraft embellishments.  After painting the background with Maya Mists, I laid the embellishments out on the page. 

Once I felt I had a good placement of the pieces, I stamped some images in brown ink.  I then took the chipboard elements and painted them with Maya Mist, mixing some reds & oranges together to get the color I wanted.  I used both machine and hand stitches on the chipboard pieces, kraft pieces, and metal pieces. 

I love how the transparent camera looks on the colored background.  I used a french knot to make the button of the camera bringing the orangy-red color around the page.  I journaled in a brown ink pen adding that finishing touch. 

• Turquoise Metallic Mist
• Red Pepper Mist
• Butternut Squash Mist
• Espresso Mist
• You've Been Framed Embellishment
• Say Cheese Camera Transparencies
• Kraft Mini Tags
• Kraft Envelopes
• Vintage Lace Tapes
• Camera Metal Clips
• Fontly Yours Stamps
• Perfect Shot Arrow Stamps
• Snapshot Words Stamps
• White Clock Transparencies
• Kraft Arrow Stickers

Why not try selecting a color story and making your own Maya Road embellishment kit to create your next layout?

Life Is Better With Friends

Having waved goodbye to a very giddy Ronda just before I started this post, I really have to agree with that statement.

The Maya Road Design Team has been busy creating projects for the Summer Craft and Create this July.  Fellow DTer, Ronda Palazzari, had come over to share on particular project with me that made her bubble over with joy. She was so excited and as she was leaving, she commented on how nice it is to be back in "our routine." By that she means that the whole month of June either I was gone or she was gone. We live just five minutes from each other and will often craft together or pop over and share something. We chat every day and it's not uncommon to get a text with a photo in it of what we're working on. We email too, but joke that the emails take longer to get to each other than if we hopped in the car and just drove. They really do! Having her pop over today, I agree, I too have missed "our routine." So yes, life is better with friends! 

I made this album for my daughter using the 3x6 Landscape Binder. Every year, throughout high school, I'd taken pictures of her group of friends on the first day. They were best buds in middle school, but as high school went along, they started branching out and their friendships changed. I think the last picture was just for my benefit because I couldn't quite let go of them being friends. I know it happens, but I so wanted them to stay close for the whole four years. Oh well. They all love each other, some just aren't as close anymore, and I am trying to be OK with that. :)

I picked 5 little birds from the Home Tweet Home and Birds with Cages mini chipboard sets to represent the five friends for my album cover, stamped their wings with the houndstooth stamp, used some twine cording in Tomato Red to make wires for them to sit on, and finished off with the Lisa Lowercase and Patti alphabets sprayed with Charcoal Maya Mist and some letter stickers. I put the years they were in high school on the spine of the album, using the Jonathon Numbers sprayed with Dragon Fruit Pink (really not pink, it's the best RED ever).

 

For my interior, I put a picture from each year on the inside. I labeled each photo with one of the Wavy Layerable Chipboard Banners that I misted either Avocado Green, Summer Sun, Dragon Fruit Pink, and Dark Cornflower Blue. For the opposite page, I added more twine wires, this time using Blackberry, and hanging some banners made from Coal Black fabric tape. I finished with a few suns and clouds from the How's the Weather chipboard set that I'd sprayed with Summer Sun Yellow and White Out Maya Mists respectively.

Their Junior year was harder for them, a lot of illness, you can see a couple of the girls are missing on the first day. 

For the finishing touches, I wrapped each interior page with some of the Tomato Red Twine Cording. The outside cover got wrapped with the Coal Black fabric tape, it's a pretty nifty way to finish an edge.

And that is my Life is Better with Friends album, a way for my daughter to remember a special part of her high school years.

 

Playing Catch-Up

Hi Roadies!

Julia here with another mini album. I love minis for chronically events, art journaling and for documenting accomplishments.

When my first child graduated from elementary school, I made him a lovely 12x12 album. The problem being now is that I have four more children after him and less time as the years go by. Even though my daughter is now starting her third year of university, I decided it's never too late to create an album for her. And while her album may not be quite so large, she loves how this sweet mini album turned out making us both very happy.

I started off with the Maya Road Chipboard Flag Banner mini album and alternately covered the pages in patterned paper and in black paint. Primary colors always seem to work well for a school or childhood theme and made a sweet combination for this album.

The cover is edged with Barn Red Gingham Fabric Tape and embellished with Linen Mini Tag Pieces, a Cherry Red Tulle Flower, a Lemon Burlap Rose, Denim Pleated Trim, Gold Super Star Pins,  Double Berry Twine Cording and Vintage Leaf Beads.

Each page inside represents one year of my daughter's elementary school education. Here in Canada, we have junior and senior kindergarten, then grades one though eight all at the same school.

One this page I've added Firehouse Red Tape Measure Trim, a Denim Vintage Rose and Vintage Pearl Butterfly Trinket Pins.

Moving on a few years, I'd decorated the page with Cream Velvet Pleats, Flower Pins, Canvas Shipping Tags, and a Wood Tiny Ruler.

My last page finishes up with her graduation photo and a Linen Burlap Rose, a Red Polka Dot Envelope, Vintage Button Stick Pins and Red Velvet Pleats.

As you can see, my embellishments may have varied greatly from page to page but they all have the same look and color scheme for a cohesive whole. I love mini albums for using up bits and pieces of supplies I have on hand.

Have fun with your scrapbooking and don't take it too seriously. When you have the time you can enjoy going back and revisiting the moments. Your pictures will wait patiently for you.

The Artist Tag

Hello Roadies!  It's Ronda here to share with you a tag using some new products combined with some of my other favorite products.  I love to create tags.  They can be used in so many ways, on layouts, as decor, or on gifts for friends. 

Most, if not all, of my Maya Road tags start with Maya Road Mist on the background.  I love to use them like watercolors to bring that pop of color.  On this tag I used some gesso and a stencil to create a textured background.  I then painted it using a paint brush and Maya Mist.  I love sprinkling charcoal mist on the background. 

The butterflies were stamped on watercolor paper and painted with more mists.  I then cut them out and curled them a bit to give them some dimension.   The turquoise pin was originally the clear crystal pin that I colored using an alcohol marker. 

I just adore these burlap posies that were just released.  They add that perfect touch to any tag, layout, altered item, or card. 

I usually like to finish the bottom of my tags with trim.  This time I used a wooden ruler to give it that final touch.  I absolutely adore it on the bttom of the tag.  I could have painted it with maya mist but decided to leave it natural like the button center of the flower. 

I hope you try some mists on your tags to create a stellar backdrop!

 

Celebration Box

Hello! 

I hope that you are having a wonderful day.  In our little town in Minnesota, we are gearing up for the 4th of July and all of the celebrating that goes with it so my project today is a quick one that goes along with the festivities coming up.

This little celebration box is covered in traditional red, white, and blue and Maya Road had plenty of product for me to choose from to go with the theme.

The Fabric Tape in Gingham Barn Red certainly added a bit of American flair.  I used it to decorate the box and also to wrap around the Vintage Chunky Wood Spools which is so cute!  You'll also see that I added a Natural Wood Button onto each of the Fabric Tape strips.

The box is topped off with 3 Maya Road flowers- a Tutu Tulle Cherry Red Flower, a Vintage Edge Mum and a red Ruffle Blossom.  The Vintage Chunky Wood spools are poked into the flowers using a Vintage Round Pearl trinket pin.  Of course, an Independance Day project isn't complete without a few stars, so I add the large Super Star Gold pin and a couple of the smaller yellow  Star Pins.

I think that grandma will love her gift of a celebration box filled with a few sweet treats since she can't run out during the parade to collect the candy being handed out to the children. 

Have an amazing day of celebrating with good food, parades, family, fireworks and fun!