Sundays With Lorraine

Hello, my crafty friends, and welcome back to Stamp & Scrapbook Expo’s blog.  As always, it’s an honor to have the opportunity to share projects designed by some of the most talented people in our very creative industry. Here are a few projects that recently inspired me to get my creative mind moving and I hope they inspire you as well.

Summer Traveler’s Notebook Set by Heather Nichols

Have you been bitten by the Traveler’s Notebook bug? I know I have, they can be used in so many ways!  I love how Heather designed a set of notebooks for her summer activities – how clever and oh-so-organized. The summer is just beginning and she has them all ready to fill in with the memories of an amazing summer. Way to go Heather, what an inspiration you are to your fellow paper crafters.

Heather used the Petite Places: Happy Camper Mini Stamp Set which is a perfect collection of stamps and dies that make it easy to create fun scenes. If you’d like to see what other journals that the Traveler’s Journal team has designed, click here and I will escort you over to the Papertrey Ink blog so you can check them out.  Have fun my crafty friends, and I wish you all a memorable summer.

Happy Memories Junque Journal by Mandy Melville

Mixed media meets Junque Journal, what’s not to love?  This gorgeous Junque Journal spread was created using the ‘All the Good Things’ collection and various mixed media products.  For a complete list of the supplies used, click here and I will lead the way over to Vicki Boutin’s blog so you can take some notes.

Design Team member Mandy Melville creates beautiful works of art in her Junque Journal and truly is an inspiration to her fellow paper crafters.  I absolutely LOVE the color palette on this one, it just makes me smile and I hope it does the same for you.  If you are a visual person like I am, you are going to love the video tutorial that Mindy has prepared showing how easily this little work of art comes together.  Click here and I’ll take you over to Vicki Boutin’s blog for a visit.

Oxidized Silver Box by Marleen

Have you had the opportunity to play with the new Art Anthology texture sets?  I am in love with all the amazing ways to use them.  On this beautiful altered box, Marleen used the new Oxidized Silver Texture Set to transform a plain box into this little work of art.  Would you believe that the textured pattern on the sides is a piece of inexpensive plastic ribbon?  Talk about a total transformation.

I have to share my first experience with the texture sets.  I sat down to make several samples to share in the Creativity Center, and I was so engaged in the gorgeous effect that I was walking around the house looking for things to alter!  It’s pretty amazing to take an inexpensive chipboard shape and make it look like a piece of rusty metal that’s been hanging around for many years.

Here’s a picture of the sample project we created at the show.  We used a Want 2 Scraps chipboard clock and covered it using an Art Anthology Rust Texture set, can’t you almost feel the rusty texture?

I hope you’ve been inspired to give this product a try, you’ll be glad you did.  I highly recommend stopping by the Art Anthology Blog so you can check what the Dream Team designed using the texture sets.

Grilled Chicken Greek Salad

One can never have enough great salad recipes to get us through the summer, right?  This healthy Grilled Chicken Greek Salad is perfect to serve at your next craft day or for a quick and easy dinner. You’ll be happy to know that this recipe only has about 300 calories and fits easily into your Weight Watchers plan.  Big hugs to Kristen for showing us that eating healthy doesn’t have to be painful.

Thanks for stopping by, I always enjoy our creative time together.  It’s show time for me and the Stamp & Scrapbook Expo.  The summer marathon of shows has begun and with 19 shows around the nation, the question is not what show you should attend, but rather how many shows you can attend!  I’ll meet you at the Creativity Center.

Hugs to all!

Lorraine