Maya Road Design Team

Christmas Check List: Cards

Hi There Roodies,

Hope you guys had a great and relaxing weekend! It was raining and gloomy here in Singapore so we pretty much stayed in. But on the plus side, I finally got started on my Christmas Cards (one item checked off on my ridiculously long to-do list) and sharing two of them here.

 Instead of the usual red and green colors, I opted for a shimmery yellow/gold and fushia pink (used maya mist:  mustard yellow and pomegranate pink.  And absolutely love how the colors along with the bits of white and kraft turned out. 

 For my first card here, I used the Lucky Star' Chipboard Set, along with some paper twine cording in rose to create my starry circle.  And then I completed the card using a Joy chipboard piece, vintage tape measure trim in rose, cream pearl ball pins and one of the wooden bingo pieces.

 For my second card, I got the inspiration from the snowflake transparencies and wanted them to really standout and thus I selected the kraft background for the card.  

 Once again, I stuck to the same color scheme and also the paper twine cording embellishment to complete this second one. 

That's two down for me but lots more to go still. Thanks for stopping by guys. Happy Holidays!

Playing favorites (and gushing while doing so...)

Hi Roadies!

Ania here with my personal favorite project made for the recent tradeshow!

Before you say anything - yes, I know it's not nice to play favorites. Sometimes. And other times it's just fine.

"Why, it's just a card" you may think. Well yeah. Sure it is. But look at how stuffed it is with all the Maya Road deliciousness! And oh, it's not "just" a card, it's an easel card! Look, how the Vintage Pearl Roses are just perfect both as an accent and for making the card stand up!

Not to mention, how lovely this dark chocolate brown measure trim looks (my faves are this one plus the red one..and the pink actually, although I'm not really that a fan of pink..and I must admit the regular yellow one has been growing on me)  when curled around the little star tin, which contains a piece of the Afternoon Tea Blossoms in pink inside. Oh, and one of my current favorites, the Vintage Glass Memory Vials! They come in two different, equally cute sizes..and I love using either glitter and glitter glue inside...so, so stinking cute!

Let's not forget the crisp, cool stamping from both the Font-ly Yours Border Stamp (a fave for backgrounds), or the embossed snow flakes (oldie but goldie)...

I could go on and on about all the details on this card but...one - you get the gist, and two - it's maybe not that very nice to brag about yourself sort of ...but I can't help myself, I reall, really like this card that much and can't help but gush at it myself..haha....*blush*

Right! Thanks for allowing me to get that off the chest! :D

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?

Pretending to be Art Journalish

Now, let's not get ahead of ourselves, roadies...'cause this is Ania and I'm not the art journal kind of gal...

But - it doesn't stop me from being inspired by the amazing talents out there doing art journal stuff...so today I have a little tag to share with you, slightly art-journalish-inspired....

The tag is mounted on a small card so it's ready to use...and for the background I used a mix of gesso and various Maya Mists..added mist with a sheet of plastic, dried, gessoed, dried, added more mist - stamped and added rubons and layered more gesso and such - until I was somewhat satisfied with how the tag looked...

It must be mentioned that the Maya Road clear stamps Font-ly Yours and Card Sentiment Words are genious for adding cool background effects on your projects. Wheter you want to make art journalish backgrounds or make the Kraft Butterfly more interesting...well, look no further! Other Maya Road products seen here are the versatile transparent mini ticket strips, Natural Wood Button and the Butterflies Rubons - and the background is made using different Maya Mists.

Yeah, I know. I only very slightly dipped my toe into the well of style that's filled with artjournal-ish inspiration... but hey, this tag is a start, is it not?

Have a lovely Summer!

Maya Road and Fiskars Swap, day 1

Hello there, welcome back to the Maya Road and Fiskars Swap!

This is Lia and Ania calling the shots today, ready to share brilliant inspiration (we hope!) with you using Fiskars and Maya Road products!

First out is a little box with two of the three shapes from the brilliant Fiskars 3-in-1 corner punch, Starlet. The punch creates pretty corners perfect for large squares, and is supereasy to use.  This particular shape can be used to add to a romantic, farmerish feel to any of your projects. A single Butterfly Chipboard is used as the focal point on the box, with the Clementine Orange Twine Cording as a subtle accent behind. (Oh, and Ania wants to apologize in advance here for the weird way the actually very, very cute glitter acts on her photos. She promises it's way dang cuter in real life than she manages to capture on film..eh..the camera sensor)

Nevertheless, here's another shape from the same punch, which is very, very easy to sort of turn and then the punch is ready w/another shape for you - Ania thinks it makes a cute name tag. And psst, notice the new, cute burlap posies, from the recent mid-show release.. Don't you love how it's both cute and down to earth-ish?

Now, we're not done yet - we're saving the best for the last because here comes Lia with her incredible cute little wreath!

Lia admits to loving the combination of turquoise, pink and yellow on her projects -  and that was the starting point of this wreath. After she wrapped the styrofoam wreath with three layers of bright turquoise yarn, she adhered two rounds of Tu-Tu Tulle - Ballerina Pink around the wreath.

 

She then glittered the Lisa Lowercase Alphabet chipboards, and added to a piece of patterned transparency on her wreath. She continued to embellish the wreath with a piece of painted Scroll Corners chipboard, a piece of Kraft Our Town - Black, a Vintage Kraft Boy/Girl Pin, and a Wood Bird Cage.

 

 

And let's not forget the Fiskars love. Lia professes to loving her Fiskars punches, and she even used three different punches on this wreath! The Fiskars Double Bubble Border Punch was used as the base for the Alphabet chipboards, X-Large Cloud Squeeze Punch for the white and blue clouds on the top of the wreath, and Oopsie Daisy Squeeze Punch for mini flowers clusters around the wreath. The mini flowers were also topped with Green Resin Blossoms.

 

We'll wrap this wreath up by pointing out the perfect finishing touch - the scatterings of Vintage Pale Pink Pearl Ball pins which Lia simply pushed into random spots around the styrofoam. The pale pink balls truly lights up this wreath and ties nicely colorwise with the tu-tu-tulle!

Talk about inspiration overload - and this is just the first day of the swap!

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.

Love,

Lia and Ania

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 :)

Maya Road and Jillibean Craft Swap Day 4

Hi Roadies! It's day four of the Maya Road & Jillibean Craft Swap and it's Julia here to bring you another project. But first, have you checked out the previous few days of inspiration? If you're recovering from yesterday's sugar high, well these sweet projects are just the ticket. I've been so inspired by the jaw-dropping projects and I'm sure you have been as well.

I've been busy working on a mini album combining the gorgeous Maya Road products with a fabulous Jillibean Soup line, "Grandma's Lima Bean Soup" Collection pack. What a perfect combination!

This Time of Your Life mini album was created with the Scroll Edge Chipboard Binder Album. I love how the fancy edges on the cover and edge of the pages make this album unique.

The cover was the perfect place to load up on embellishments and my color scheme is inspired by the Jillibean Soup papers. This line is full of great accents and die cuts for layering with.

I've piled up a plethora of gorgeous Maya Road embellishments and trims on this album as well. You can find many including... Antique Skeleton Key, Jonathan Mini Chipboard Alphabet Set, Vintage Paper Posies, Tomato Red Twine Cording, Denim Vintage Roses, Medium Leaves, Red Resin Blossoms, Yellow Vintage Tape Measure Trim, Lilac Pink Zipper Trim, White Time Flies Kraft Clocks, Hot Pink Flower Pins,  Krafty Owls White, Vintage Sequin Blossoms and Black Kraft Large Ticket Strips

Flexible Maya Road trims are great for covering up the spine of the album and adding a fun look.

Using every album surface is a great way to make the most of these small spaces. Here, the front cover is the perfect place to add an additional accent.

 

While I've created this fun album for my daughter, I actually didn't finish it. The pages are covered and embellished but I've left lots of room for her to make this album her own. I'm hoping that she'll fill it with lots of photos of all the wonderful times she is having away at school, working on her nursing degree. These are some of the best times of her life and I want her to make the most of them and remember them in this little album.

One of the Jillibean Soup papers cuts up into ATC sized journaling cards. I've punched these cards and added them to the album between the chipboard pages for even more memory space.

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.

Antique Alterable Scallop Trim & Maya Mists

 

Hello Roadies, Ronda here to share with you one of my favorite new releases, the antique alterable scallop trim.  This trim, like most Maya Road products, is alterable so you can create the embellishment you need to complete your piece. Of course with the trim, I just had to use Maya Mists on my projects.  Let's take a look at how I used both of these products. 

In this layout titled doorway, I used the trim on chipboard circle foundation piece to create the flower accent.  I love the vintage look to it already so i decided to keep it as is.  It echo the sentiment of my layout.  I used the mist in a couple different ways on this layout. 

1. I sprayed it direct to chipboard for the title doorway (Earl Grey).  The chipboard really soaks up the mist so beautifully. 
2. I sprinkled it on the background with those fine little drops (Earl Grey). 
3. I painted it on the door after I had coated the chipboard piece with gesso (Buttermilk Cream). 

On this layout titled Colorado Sunsets, i did alter the same trim as above using Mists (Sunflower and Butternut Squash).  I used Maya Mists in many different ways on this layout too. 

1. I painted it on the bottom half of the trim using a paint brush (Sunflower, Butternut Squash, Blueberry. 
2. I used the mists on the background with some new butterfly masks by spraying it directly on the paper (Butternut Squash). 
3. I sprinkled a few drops of Agave Blue on the background. 
4. I sprayed the chipboard directly with the Blueberry Mist. 
5. I used a combination of Buttermilk cream and glossy accents behind the sheer alphabet to give it some color. 

On this "Always" tag I used two layers of the trim on a foundation piece.  I painted the ends with Dragon Fruit Pink Maya Mist and let it dry.  This flower is bringing together the two techniques from above to create this dramatic flower.  I used Maya Mist in a couple different ways on this tag too:

1. I added an altered bingo number painted in with Maya mists (espresso & dragon fruit pink) 
2. I painted the background with the mists over a coat a gesso (sunflower, silver metallic, turquoise metallic, lime metallic, and buttermilk cream) 
3. I dripped dark cornflower mist on the top of the tag
4. I sprayed the "always" chipboard with espresso mist.  

I hope you found ways to use both alterable trim & Maya mist, together or separately, on your creations! 

The Story of US Linen Album

Hi Roadies, Ronda here.  Today i am sharing with you one of our new linen albums.  Natural fibers are really in and this linen album is so amazing.  This gorgeous linen piece is an art journal album.  I absolutely loved creating with it.

The front cover also uses a new linen heart piece.  The texture of this album is so beautiful.  I covered the heart in a little bit of gesso and lots of Maya mists.  The titles are a combination of chipboard letters, rub-on letters, and sheer letters. 

The Orange tulle pleated trim made such a lovely flower.  I decided to keep the hummingbird natural since there was so much color on the heart.  The black stitching and black letters grounds the whole cover together.  The awesome thing about this album are the pages don't bleed.  I can add tons of mists to one side and it doesn't soak through to the other side.  Here is a look at a few of  the interior pages.

There are so many uses for this little album.  It would make a great Holiday album, think Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas.  I love how it looks & feels like a book and is ready to tell your story. 

Maya Road + Authentique Paper Blog Swap Day 2!

Oy!

Ania here, to continue on the inspiring Blog Swap between Maya Road and Authentique Paper!

To my delight I saw I got to play with the Delightful collection...hm..no pun intended!

Here's what I made, using the 6x6 inch paper pad (they even made these double sided, adding solid colors to the B sides...well, solid-ish, in the way I love solid patterned papers :) ) and one of the die cut cards as well.

See the punched border? Or the chipboard-bird (from the Home Tweet Home Mini chipboard set)? Pretty, solid-ish paper :) All the sheets also got this grey polkadot-border, I liked it so decided to keep it for this layout. Gives the sheets a bit of continuity, hm?

Lots of little bits and pieces added to this cluster. Like the Daisies Vintage Lace Trim in Mauve, it's really growing on me....I wouldn't really have used it on its own, it's not really "me", but as a backing for the other flowers (here: Velvet Pleats in grey) it looks amazing methinks. Oh, and see the pearl butterfly? Cute! (One of the new things from CHA-W - looks darling alongside the Crystal trinket pins). See the "plate" the title (from the Love Words Mini Chipboard set) is adhered to?

It's made by covering the Love Chipboard Banner w/patterned paper then adhering them together upside down to a strip of scrap paper.

The Scroll Corners is covered in crackle paint, softened up w/slight dabbing of ink and backed w/Tulle Pleat Trim in Earl Grey (such a versatile color :) ) and a piece of Mums Vintage Lace Trim in Silver.

Supply list:
Chipboard: Scroll Corners chipboard set, Love Chipboard banner, Love Words Mini chipboard set, Home Tweet Home mini chipboard set, green thumb mini chipboard set
Ribbon: Mums Vintage Lace Trim (silver), Tulle Pleat Trim (Earl Grey), Daisies Vintage Lace Trim (Mauve), Ruffle Edge trim - yellow
Trinkets: Pearl Butterfly trinket pin, Crystal trinket pin, Trinket Love Hangers, Alterable Buttons, Mini tickets transparent - black, Velvet pleats (grey and yellow)
Authentique Paper: Delightful 6x6" bundle paper pad, baby girl "icons"

Made an additional card w/the things I got...using one of the die cut cards from Authentique Paper, along with some of the patterned papers.

The tag is from the Baby girl "headlines" card..I just added patterned paper over the middle where it said "Baby girl"...so the card can be used for whatever occasion.

MR Supplies used:
Tulle Pleat Trim in Earl grey, Felt beaded trinket flower (light/dark pink) and butterfly chipboard set.
Authentique Paper: Delightful 6x6 bundle paper pad, baby girl "headlines"

Thanks much for watching - and by all means, do come back tomorrow - we're not done showcasing the blog swap-projects! :)

Want more inspiration? Now go and visit Authentique Paper's blog and see what they have in store for you! And don't forget that you still have a chance to win our giveaway! Make sure to go read the details on this post.