Hoppin' Along with The Twinery and My Little Shoebox

Have you heard? All this week The Twinery and My Little Shoebox have teamed up for a blog hop using their products. Of course, I'm a fan of both, and I had so much fun playing along.

Diamonds are a girl's best friend, right?

To create this layout, I used the Keepsake line from My Little Shoebox and cut some diamond shapes from the various papers with my Silhouette Cameo. Then I used the cuts as a template to trim my photos to the same shape and size.

I arranged all my diamonds on the layout and used three different colors of twine from The Twinery to mark the borders between the rows.

One of the reasons that I love The Twinery's products are because of the bright colors, and these were no exception. I secured the twine to the page with my Tiny Attacher and finished the page with a few embellishment stickers (also from the Keepsake line).

Don't miss a chance to comment on each blog to be entered to win our fantastic prizes! Here's the hop order and links you need to follow:

The Twinery
My Little Shoebox
Carolyn King
Robyn Schaub <<---YOU ARE HERE
Lauren Brewer
Liz Chidester
Monika Wright
Monique Liedtke
Tifany DeGough

Details on the prizes are on the My Little Shoebox blog and The Twinery blog...and they are GREAT prizes, so be sure to take a look!

In order to be entered to win a prize you must:

• Comment on each particpating blog on the hop throughout the week
• Follow the My Little Shoebox & The Twinery blogs
• Follow the My Little Shoebox & The Twinery Facebook pages

Deadline to comment will be Midnight Eastern Time, Sunday, June 24th. Winners will be announced Monday, June 25th on each company's blog.

Now head on over to Lauren Brewer's blog to see what she has to share today. 


And be sure to check the My Little Shoebox blog every day this week for the day's blog list!!

The Tacky Tie Challenge

In honor of Fathers' Day, The Little Blue House is hosting a Tacky Tie challenge. When I received this tie in the mail from Tracy, I was a little stumped as to what to do:

Yikes! Pretty ugly, right??

So I did what I normally do when I have no idea what to make: I procrastinate. Or to be politically correct: I wait for inspiration to hit.

Fast forward to Friday night. The blog post is due Saturday. I'm in Tacky Tie Panic Mode. Fortunately, I was at The Little Blue House for Studio Night, surrounded by all kinds of inspirational supplies. I pulled some papers and a package of buttons that I loved and started ripping my tie apart.

Guess what! The back side of that tie was full-on gorgeous! And I discovered that the fabric would rip perfectly with a little bit of fraying along the edge. (Though I got some wild looks and "WHAT are you doing?!" comments from my cropping friends while I was ripping.)

The end result: 

Who'd have thought a tacky tie could turn into a pretty little card? Not me. But hey...it works!

Check out The Little Blue House blog for more ideas and links to the other designers' posts. And have a wonderful weekend!

Cards for the Troops - Operation Write Home

Happy Flag Day to my fellow U.S. friends! I know it's not a holiday that everyone celebrates, but when it comes around each year, I always think the timing is perfect because it's smack between Memorial Day and Independence Day. So really, you should just have your flags out for the entire month of June, right?


Another way you can show your pride and patriotism in June is by making a few cards for Operation Write Home.

We R Memory Keepers has teamed up with Operation Write Home to collect 50,000 cards -- and we need your help! It's very easy to get involved. Simply create a few handmade greeting cards and send them to We R Memory Keepers by July 24. These cards are then sent to the troops so they can write home to their family and loved ones.
 
Cards can be submitted up until Tuesday July 24, 2012 at midnight.

Aside from the fact that you're doing something wonderful for the troops and their families, you also have a chance to win PRIZES! Each week, We R Memory Keepers will pick cards to receive prizes on our Facebook page. 

We'll also pick the top 50 cards (at the end of the contest) to be voted on by Facebook fans in several rounds until a final winner is chosen.
 

Top 25 cards will receive a Power Punch
Top 10 cards will receive a Lucky 8 Punch
Top 5 cards will receive a Love 2 Craft collection
Top Card – We R Memory Keepers Product - up to $1,000 in product (prize value for top card will depend on the number of cards collected)

To learn more about Operation Write Home, check out all the details here: http://www.weronthenet.com/Operation_Write_Home

Front Porch Friday

Life's been a bit of a whirlwind for the past few weeks. The girls finished the school year and my husband and I celebrated our 10th anniversary with a trip to Hawaii. So I guess you could say it's been a little busy around here. But back to the blog...it's Front Porch Friday, and if you've come over from The Little Blue House blog, welcome!

Today I'm going to share some details on how I created this layout with the Sew Artsy Kit from Front Porch Kits:

My Granny is a quilter. I have memories of the back bedroom of her house being completely overtaken by a quilt frame for months at a time. But my favorite part was always the piecing. She'd let me help her by gathering together pieces of fabric for the blocks and securing them with a pin.

When I got my Sew Artsy Kit, I was reminded of all those vintage fabrics Granny used. So I decided to create my own quilt-pieced background.

I'd been pinning some quilting patterns on a Pinterest board, and I found this one that I thought would be easy and fun to recreate.

Source: http://www.honeybearlane.com/2011/08/pinterest-inspired-project-pinwheel-quilt.html

I started by cutting the fabric into squares. Then I folded each square in half and cut down the middle to create two triangles.

Then I placed the triangles side by side (alternating the fabrics) to create a square "pinwheel" piecing and adhered it to a piece of cardstock. Those "blocks" became the background for the left side of the layout.

It was a fun way to incorporate fabric and the idea of quilting into my layout.

If you haven't snagged a Sew Artsy kit yet, better hurry! Last I heard there were only a few left and I bet they will sell out in the next few days. And I know you'll find some fun ways to use it!

Have a great weekend!