Maya Road Design Team

Haunted House

Greetings, Roadies! Jess here today with a little Halloween fun. I get more excited to gear up for Halloween than I do for any other holiday! I love creating little home decor pieces each year to add to my collection of spooky and whimsical decorations. 

This year I created this fun Halloween haunted house from a cheap Target Christmas house that I found in the dollar spot last year.  Sometimes you just have to look beyond the packaging to see new possibilities!


I covered the house in acrylic paint and Halloween themed paper to start. I used punched strips for the roof. All of this served as a base for adding all kinds of fun embellishments.  I started with adding the gray lace crochet tape to the bottom and hot gluing the avocado green glitter tulle to the underside so it flares out and looks like grass below the house.


I added the Maya Road wood protractor above the door, painted the same green so it would blend in.  I love the metal clock charm above the door. But my favorite tiny addition in the adorable set of metal keys hung up in the entrance. Watch out... you don't know who lives in there!

I created the windows from a set of ornate resin frames and some trimmed up chipboard houses. Again I had to think creatively for the window panes but I love coming up with new shapes from my chipboard pieces. 

And how cute is that little stack of mini wood slices?! I layered them into a tree stump for my paper raven.  A sprinkling of paper roses along the base completed the lower embellishment area.


The chimney was a perfect anchor for the large bottle cap moon I added.  I also fussy cut two bats and added them with foam tape (on the bottle cap) and a length of twisted wire (free floating). I used a chunk of cork glued to the back side of the bottle cap to secure the two star pins. 


Finally, I managed to carve out the bottom enough to slip a battery operated tea light under the doorway.  It's a super cute touch to have it glowing on my mantel!

Thanks for joining me today... Happy Haunting!

Maya Road Supplies:
- Measure Once, Cut Twice Wood Embellishments
- Ken Oliver Clocks and Hands
- Vintage Metal Key Ring Charms
- Avocado Green Pleated Glitter Tulle
- Vintage Lace Tape: Fog
- Ornate Resin Frame: Grey
- Welcome Home Chipboard Set
- Mixed Mini Wood Slices
- Small Vintage Paper Flowers: White
- Jumbo Bottle Cap
- Yellow Star Pins

A Mason Jar Holiday

Hi Roadies! Julia here with a last minute holiday project that you can put together with some Maya Road products. I'm a huge fan of mason jars. They are a simple classic that are great for storage, holding gifts or even altering into crafting projects. Today I'm excited to try out a little shabby chic mason jar holiday snow scene to decorate with this Christmas season.

First of all you need a mason jar and lid to create this project. I've used 16 oz. wide mouth jar but the shorter ones work too. I do recommend the wide mouth variety though to allow you room to work and place your little scene at the bottom of the jar.

To create the scene in the jar, I created a little metal base to adhere the items onto by flipping over a 2" Mega Bottlecap. Sweet little bottle brush tress, Oh Deer Resin Charms and an Our Town Transparency were adhered to it and then placed into the jar. To add in a snowy look, I used some faux snow sprinkled in over the top once everything was in the jar.

To embellish the top of the mason jar, I punched out a circle from patterned paper and adhered it to the jar lid insert. It's also layered with gesso painted chipboard, and an altered star bottle cap. The bottle cap painted with gesso and then was filled with a strong liquid adhesive. While the adhesive is wet, place the wood spool in the center and then sprinkle the rest of the adhesive with glass glitter. To finish off the sides of the mason jar ring, I painted it lightly with gesso and then adhered Silver Sparkle Trim and Mini Banner Alterable Crochet Trim.

I thought it would be fun to add a little light option to this sweet jar. It lights it up so nicely in the evenings. I simply used a little LED tea light and then adhered it to the lid with a large glue dot. The glue dot will adhere it but also allow you to remove the light to switch it on and off.

Hoping this gives you a little holiday inspiration and Merry Christmas from me to you!

Maya Road Supplies:

Star Bottlecap

2" Mega Bottlecap

White Bottlebrush Trees

Silver Sparkle Trim

Vintage Wood Spools

Sky Blue Oh Deer Resin Charms

Our Town Transparencies White

Jute Cording Natural

Mini Banner Alterable Crochet Trim

Round Jeweled Centers

 

Spooktacular Halloween

It's almost Halloween and we've been getting spooky and fun here at Maya Road! I love this time of year and get a real kick out of creating whimsical décor to fit the mood.  It may not be out for long but I look forward to decorating for Halloween more than I do for any other holiday.

Today I bring you something Spooktacular!


It started out as a wood tray from the Dollar Spot at Target (who doesn't love Target!?) and I added a variety of chip shapes, trims, flowers, and metal.


The right side is a little village scene created from the Our Home chipboard houses.  I popped them with foam tape to give depth and added details like the tiny chipboard Cameo head behind the window, open door, and Decorative Filigree Frame.


I used a double layer of trim, including the mocha Tulle Pleat trim, on the bottom of the frame to give the impression of the dry autumn ground.


The left side is the foreground and I got sparkly on this side! The large moon is simply a Jumbo Bottle Cap that was covered in paper and glittered around the edges.  Now that's a Harvest Moon!

The tree branches from the chipboard Birds of a Feather set were painted black and rubbed with pearl dust. I hung a couple of pearl charms from the branches as well.


The chipboard cage got gilded in glitter, as did the raven in the tree. I tucked a Vintage Linen Burlap Rose and a few other flowers into the corner for a bit more nature.

I wrapped the tray up in a fun black and white striped ribbon with a bow on top.



Maya Road Products:
Decorative Filigree Frame
Our Home Chipboard
Cameos Mini Chipboard
Tulle Pleat Trim - mocha
Jumbo Bottle Cap
Birds of a Feather Chipboard
Canvas Flower
Chipboard Birdcage
Vintage Linen Burlap Rose

Thanks for stopping by today. Have a spooktacular Halloween!

 

Lovely Layers

One of my favorite things to do with paper is to layer it. By layering lots of textures, colors and prints together it always creates a unique and interesting design. It shouldn't be much of a surprise then that I also love layering embellishments. If one is good, then two or three must be great!

I have a few cards to share with you today that layer embellishments. Maya Road makes that super easy with their vast array of stunning embellishments. Just when I think they can't get any better, they come out with something new. These cards feature some of the latest Maya Road releases all mixed up with some of the classics. It just goes to show you how well it all mixes and matches and gives you that wonderful, unique Maya Road look.

As with layering paper, layering embellishments is an easy technique. Actually I'm not even sure you can call it a technique. I like to combine different colors and textures together to add a lot of visual interest to a design.

By using a larger embellishment on the bottom and then working up, it clusters the embellishments together. There's nothing worse than "embellishment sneeze" which has random dots of embellishments all over the place. Arrange your product together to get a visual feel of the design before adhering it all together.

Speaking of adhesives, the best one I use for adhering a lot of dimensional embellishments is the simple hot glue gun. It easily bonds metal, wood, fabric, trim etc. together and will hold up for a long long time. The newer low temp hot glue guns are much easier on the fingers and work just as well. Make sure you are sure of placement before you apply it as this glue is not going anywhere once it's there.

When putting together embellishments, it may seem like a random mix of color and items but often I draw inspiration and a color scheme from the patterned paper on the project. In this card I've pulled the colors - pink, red, green and cream from the paper layers. It was also the inspiration for the style as the paper made me think of a vintage country style.

So there you have it...lots of lovely layers and embellishments. Have fun making your own custom accents by combining lots of wonderful product into a fabulous focal point.

Maya Road Supplies:

Party Pink Sparkle Sequins Bow

Glimmer Green Sparkle Sequins Bow

Oh Deer Resin Charms Cream

Kraft Parcel Tags

Wood Love Tokens

Framed Sayings Transparency Sayings Black

Wood Bingo Motifs

Cream Pearl Ball Pins

You are My Sunshine Wood Buttons

Sunshine Yellow Mini Pom Pom Trim

Butterflies Vintage Lace Trim

Country Fair Wood Buttons

Wood Cinnabutton

Metal Bottlecap

 

handmade Christmas tree ornaments

Hello Roadies! Kimberly here today with fun and simple handmade ornaments using great supplies from Maya Road!

I love making my own ornaments for my tree each year and with all the fun supplies, who could resist? I started by spray painting Star Bottle Caps with chalkboard paint.

Once the paint dried, I added touches with a chalk marker. Cool part about having a blank slate is being able to customize these anyway you want!

I didn't want to mess around with drilling holes to hang the ornaments, so when I grabbed my Cherry Red Cording, I had an idea.

It was a simple idea, but it worked. I cut a short piece of cording and folded it in half. Then I adhered the two ends to the back of the Star Bottle Cap. Be sure and use a strong adhesive.

One last touch was added to each of the ornaments, a Stained Wood Star Button. Because well, I cannot resist anything with a wood finish! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Kimberly Crawford

Supplies:

Star Bottle Cap

Twine Cording Solids-Cherry Red

Stained Wood Star Buttons

Back to school teacher's gifts

Hey there Roadies! Mandy Kay Starner here to share a quick and easy way to sweeten the first day back to school for your child's teacher(s). 

I started with some cardboard sleeves from my local Starbucks(I have a small hoard of them for times like these)...

I pulled one apart and used it as a template to cut my patterned paper. 

I wrapped the sleeves with my papers, cut a strip of a contrasting paper, and then wrapped the sleeves with some Solid Twine Cording.

To decorate my Bottle Caps, I chose papers and embellishments that best fit the recipient.  The social studies teacher got map paper in the back, a Kraft Vintage Just My Type Typewriter, and a gold Wood Star Button, along with his initial and the STEM teacher got a numbered paper for the background with a stamped beaker from the Nerd Love Stamp Set. To give the embellishments support to stay flush with the edge of the bottle caps, I had to layer about 3 pop dots under them for the Super Mega Bottle Cap and two for the Flower Shaped Bottle Cap. Here's a photo of what I am talking about...

After my bottle caps were decorated how I wanted them, I attached them to the front of the coffee sleeves. I then, filled the cups with candy and a gift card so they can start their first day back with a sweet treat and a cup of their favorite tea or coffee.

 Other supplies used:

Lisa Uppercase Chipboard Alphas

Flower Garden Wood Buttons

White Vintage Butterfly Transparency

 

Thanks for stopping by the Maya Road DT Blog today!

Puppy Love

Hi Roadies! If you were at CHA in January you may have seen this lttle guy. He may not be as much fun as a real puppy, but he sure was a lot of fun to create. Here's how it was done.

1. Begin by removing the lid from a Vintage Memory Box. Turn the box upside down and cover with patterned paper. Next, cut a recycled cardboard tube to about 5" and cover with paper, as well. Make a hole big enough, to insert the tube in the center of the box then glue the tube in place. For the tail, I used a small finial that I had. But a wood dowel would work just as well. Make a small hole for the tail and insert it into the body.
2. Next, take a second Memory Box and cut a hole in the bottom, the size of the tube.
3. Using part of a small paper mache box, the jaw of the pup was made. Holes were cut on each side of the jaw to fit two Glass Memory Vials. A Wood Shipping Tag with chipboard strips glued to the sides, was then used to create the muzzle.
4. Assemble (but don't glue) the jaw and muzzle together to make sure everything fits. Then mark the position of the vials on the box and cut holes, so the vials can go though.
5. Cover the box, jaw and muzzle with patterned paper, then glue the pieces together. Notice I also added transparent clocks to the sides of the jaw, at this point.
6. Use a sharp knife to cut a wood camera into shape, as shown. Then add a bingo chip on top, for his nose. Cover an oval chipboard tag with some paper, for the tongue, add glue then insert into mouth.
7. Small wood tags and brads were used to create the eyes. As you can see they were cut to fit around the muzzle.
8.  The puppy's ears were made from small kraft envelope flaps, that were folded into shape and glued in place.
9. Chipboard pieces and large bottle caps were covered with patterned paper, then layered together to create the wheels. The wheels were then glued to the sides of the box.

 After adhering the wheels in place, I found my puppy was a little unstable. To help with that, I added the rectanglar part of a paper clip, the back. You can also see my favorite part of the puppy at this angle - his antena! For that I used part of a Vintage Love Paper Clip. After cutting it with some pliers, I poked a small hole at the top of the puppy's head and glued it in place. A small bead was then added to finish it off.

From there you can embellish the puppy as you like. I chose to use some cork frames, chipboard arrows, wood buttons and hearts. Just have fun with it!! See you soon, Roadies.

Maya Road Supplies
Vintage Love Heart Clips, Wood Heart Buttons, Wood Star Buttons, Wood Large Round Buttons,  Chipboard arrows, Time Flies Transparencies, Say Cheese Mini Pieces, Wood Shipping Tags, Mini Love You Heart Pieces, Heart Box Keys, Time Flies Kraft Clocks, Kraft Note Envelopes (brown polka dot), Alterable Bingo Motifs, Glass Memory Vials, Vintage Metal Bottle Caps 3" and 4", Mini Chipboard Tags, Lucky Stars Set, Sparkle Silver Twine Cording, 2 - 3" Vintage Memory Boxes, metal ball chain (from mini album).

Other supplies:
Patterned Paper - Basic Grey (Hey Boy)
Other - cork frames, brads, jump rings, a red bead, small wood finial, cardboard tube, part of a paper mache box, paper clip and paint.

 

A Forest of Maya Road Trees.....

I had such a great time creating this forest of trees using Maya Road trims and other goodies for CHA-Winter this year! I know the Christmas season has passed but I thought I would share them with you to showcase all the incredible Maya Road products I used! These trees would be great for any season and color scheme. The base of each of these trees was made using old candle holders turned upside down and a Large Maya Road Bottlecap. You can see how to make one HERE!

First up is the elegant off white, gold, and burlap trees!

I used some paper-mache cone trees from my local craft store for all of the trees. The first tree on the left I wrapped with Vintage Lace Tape and then added some metal butterflies using a Vintage Round Pearl Pin to keep them in place. A wooden doily with a Vintage Beaded Center finished off the front of this beauty! On top a kraft doily.

The second tree I wrapped in Afternoon Tea Trim in Milk. On the bottom are Burlap Posies, next are Antique Skeleton keys being held in place with Crystal Trinket Pins, and the top was finished off with another burlap posy with Snowflake Transparency and some Kraft Tickets.

The final tree in this group was made by wrapping burlap around the cone base and then wrapping Maya Road Twine in Khaki and creating a bow on top. I finished this tree off by gluing a Maya Road Linen Burlap Rose onto a Wooden Doily and added a bit of Maya Road Pleated Tulle!

 

The second set of trees I created are my Pink and Green trees. I like to think that even though there were for Christmas you could adapt them to any holiday or color theme you want!

These trees are ALL about the trim!!!! The first tree I painstakingly wound Maya Road twine around the top half of the cone. Next I wound Maya Road Sparkle Trim on the lower half. I placed a piece of silver pipe-cleaner  around the middle to break up the two trims and glued the gorgeous Mini Antique Metal Roses in Lime Green above that. I misted a wooden doilie using Maya Mist in Lime and added another of the Vintage Beaded Center.

Tree two I first wrapped completely with Maya Road Paper Twine Cording in Rose and then added some fringed strips of Vintage Tape Measure in Rose Pink. I glued some Mini Sparkle and Shine Resin Flowers on the tree and added a small wooden spool wrapped with more twine and attached to the tree with a Crystal Star pin.

Tree three was completely wrapped in the Maya Road Sparkle Trim. I added Maya Road black Bingo pieces and then wrapped a piece of silver pipe-cleaners around each piece. A little silver glitter added to the Maya Road Wooden bird and some more Maya Road Sparkle trim to finish off this tree.

The last three trees were my favorites!

The tree on the left was first covered in old maps and some Modge Podge. Next I strung Maya Road twine around the cone and created a bow on top. Next I took Maya Road Fabric Tape in Sky Blue and made flags with it. I put those flags on a pin and stuck them into the cone. I also used Maya Road Vintage Kraft Arrows and did the same thing. I Maya Road Bottle cap and another Bingo piece and this tree was done.

The next tree was again made with Modge Podge and some old sheet music. Maya Road Alterable Crochet Trim-Double Dot and some Mini Antique Metal Roses in Turquoise completed this adorable little tree.

The last tree was again a labor of love in the winding of Maya Road Twine around the cone base. I then glued Maya Road Wooden Buttons around the tree. Zipper trim on the bottom to give it a finished look and then I strung some Maya Road Mini Pennant Canvas Banners on some floss to complete the look.

 I hope my little forest of trees has inspired you to use Maya Road vast array of trims and trinkets in fun and exciting ways! Happy creating!

Maya Road Products Used:

Tree 1-3: Vintage lace tape, Metal butterflies, Vintage Round Pearl pins, Wooden doily, Vintage beaded center, Kraft doily, Afternoon Tea trim (Milk), Burlap Posey, Antique Skeleton Key, Crystal Trinket Pins, Snowflake Transparency, Kraft Tickets, Maya Road Twine, Linen Burlap Rose, Pleated Tulle.

Tree 4-6:Twine, Sparkle Trim, Mini Antique Metal Roses, Maya Mist, Vintage Beaded Center, Paper Twine Cording, Vintage Tape Measure Trim, Mini Sparkle and Shine Resing Flowers, Crystal Star pin, Bingo piece, Wooden Bird.

Tree 7-9: Twine, Fabric Tape in Sky Blue, Vintage Kraft Arrows, Bingo piece, Alterable Crochet Teim-Double Dot, Mini Antique Metal Roses, Wooden Buttons, Zipper Trim, Mini Pennant Canvas Banner.

 

Merry Christmas from Maya Road!

 Merry Christmas from all of us here at Maya Road! We hope you all have a safe and blessed holiday! Speaking of Christmas...you can't have it without a tree. Today I am sharing with you how to make a very unique tree using  products from Maya Road.

 

 This tree was created with Glassine bags, Maya Mist, and some fabulous sparkly trim all from Maya Road!

 To create this tree you will need a package of theses glassine bags from Maya Road and a here I used a paper mache cone found at my local craft store. I first painted the cone with Maya Mist in Lime Metallic. I saturated a cotton pad and painted the mist on by hand.

Next, as you can see here, I simply cut off the top of the opening to the bag so the opening was even and then cut strips in the bag. I stopped where the fold ended on the other end of the bag.

 

To color the fringed bags I sprayed them with Lime Metallic Maya Mist and added a bit of glitter. I used a cotton pad once again to paint my bags. Once the bags were dry you are ready to adhere around the tree. I started in the middle and worked my way around. I simply trimmed the excess off the bottom and then topped the tree off with some beautiful trim, pipe cleaners (in silver) and a clear star. To make the stand I took a wooden candle holder from a second hand store, painted it white, and then sanded it to look vintage. Next add a Jumbo Bottle Cap from Maya Road (upside down) and glue it to your candle holder base!

There you have it! A fun and quirky Christmas tree! Just fill in any spots with extra pieces of your colored fringed glassine bags. I hope this post will inspire you to use Maya Road's products in fun and unique ways. That is one of the things I love most about Maya Road....how versatile and inspiring they are. Happy creating and Merry Christmas!

Maya Road products used:

Glassine Bags

Lime Metallic Maya Mist

Sparkle Trim: Party Pink

 Crystal Star

Jumbo Bottle Cap

 

 

 

The travel suitcase - to the one who has everything

Hello, roadies!

Ania here with an idea for those of you who might be giving someone a trip or vacation :)

You see, my brother in law recently turned 40, and the family figured it'd be nice to send both him and his wife off on a plane as a birthday gift. (Ayeap. I'd say turning 40 sounds awesome when you can get such gifts :p)

Now, what better but to give him the news in a mini suitcase? This little lunchbox, which previously held some of the larger Maya Road chipboard letters, was perfect for the purpose. I just decorated the metal surface with patterned paper and made a little focal cluster on the front of the box using a mix of metal, canvas (love how easily it is to stamp on the tags) and kraft embellishments.

I also made a little card/booklet, stating the destination of the trip (using the chiboard letters that was in the box - I *think* it was the chicago lowercase letters - silly me placed patterned paper in front of the text/info on the back..), and there's room in the box for the flight & hotel print out and even a little bag of candy.

Hope you liked this little travel gift card idea :)