Photo tray FUN!!

We've all seen the beautiful photo trays from various companies like Tim Holtz, 7 Gyspies and more.  Well, I've had one sitting around for awhile and I finally decided to give it a go and make one!

I used Teresa's beautiful Christmas Home line for this project and I LOVE how it turned out!  I decided to focus it on our three daughters and print out black and white pictures so that they would compliment the colors in this line.

At first I got out all my "Christmas Home" papers and embellishments and decided on what papers looked best together.  I always try to repeat patterns to give it a cohesive design, so you will notice I repeated the red and green papers by putting them "catty-corner" to each other.  I also found a GREAT quote online that I wanted to incorporate into my photo tray that applies to my daughters' lives and I think that's always a good idea to have a theme or statement intertwined into your design.

Next I gathered all my embellishments and played around with the design layout of each section until I liked how it looked.  I wanted my photos to "pop" out of the tray so I decided to have them overlay the sections of the tray and create a visual "triangle" in the middle of the whole project.  The triangle is pleasing to our eyes and gives our eyes an easy way to "move" through the design.  So I matted each photo and adheres some pop dots to the back of each photo to raise them up to the level of the wood sections in the photo tray.

Then it was just a matter of playing with the ribbons, flowers and trims until I told myself to stop! lol... I have a hard time knowing when to stop "fussing" with a design!  A good tip with that is to take a photo with your phone or camera and take a look at it.  Sometimes I see my design much more clearly if I see it through the "lens"...  

I made the green flower down at the bottom of the photo tray with some "bloomers" from Webster's Pages that I simply gathered into a circle and placed a vintage pearl brooch in the middle of.  Then I trimmed some red ribbon, glued that to the bottom of the tray and added the flower on top!

Adding some finishing touches to the top of the tray and the trim around the edge of the tray make the look complete and ready to display in my home!

I don't know if you can notice, but I decided to make this project "generic" enough to display all year long!  Because I have the red & green elements from the Noel line it definitely has the Christmas feel to it, but I made a point of not adding any "obvious" Christmas embellishments so that if I wanted to display this year round, I could!  

And here it is in my home right now:

This was a GREAT project to design and something I think anyone would have FUN making!  These are also great gifts for the Holidays to make for family and friends and an easy way to use some of that "stash" of miscellaneous scrappiness we've been hoarding for a while!  :)

I hope you enjoyed this project and come back to see all the wonderful CREATIONS by the lovely DT ladies this month!

Have a GREAT week,

http://akissonthechic.typepad.com/laura_mccollough_scrapboo/

Teresa Collins Design Team - Getting to know Laura McCollough

We are very excited for you to get to know design team member Laura. We asked her a few questions and here's what she had to say:

Laura McCollough

• What is your scrapbooking style? My style is very eclectic and I like to mix it up and try new techniques all the time.
• How did you start scrapbooking? My love of "scrapbooking" started back when I was a little girl and made my own little albums that I still have (my daughters laugh at them though :)
• What influences your designs? Nature is a big influence but also current fashions and colors.  I also LOVE Interior Design and watching HGTV and other home shows gives me great ideas.
• How long do you spend working on a layout? I like to start a project and then leave it on my table and come back to it.  It gives me a fresh perspective and I can tell if I like the feel of it right away.
• What does your work area look like while you are working on a project? Clean and organized? Messy and all over the place?  I'd LOVE to say clean and organized but sadly it's just the opposite. :)-
• What is your favorite color combination? I'm not one that can tell you my FAVORITE color, so this is hard...  Right now I'm liking light yellow, light turquoise and white together. 
• Do you have any other hobbies? I love to cook, used to sing a lot and play tennis but I don't have time to do much these days.  We took a year off and traveled the World with our kids some years ago and that gave us the "travel bug" so I would say traveling is a HUGE part of my life... can that be considered a hobby?  Let's say YES!  lol...

We love how Laura created this great team Pennant!

This penant is such a quick and FUN way to show your support at a game! I started with a Clear Scrap sacrylic pennant and traced the star paper with this shape and then cut it out and attached BEHIND the acrylic with Zip Dry or you could use small glue dots.

Then I took one of the Sports sayings “team” and cut it out and attached to the middle of the pennant with some pop dots. I also took some alpha stickers from American Crafts (GO) and attached on the acrylic above. 

Next I took the Tim Holtz Sizzix die and the blue paper from the sports line to create the flower.

Follow the directions to create flower and then attach to pennant. I used a circle punch to punch out the “all star” circle and attached to the top of the flower.

I added some other embellishments like “play hard”, the brad and the white trim from this line. Lastly, I took an 18” wooden dowel I bought at my local craft store and attached to the back side of the pennant with glue dots. Then I punched the two holes already in the acrylic pennant, threaded some trim through the holes and tied knots around the wooden dowel to give it even more stability.

The acrylic pennants come in a package of 7 so this would be a GREAT way to make all of them and

pass them out to show your support at a game!

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We also love Laura's Sprit Banner!

This banner was made using Clear Scraps Pennant album. I took 4 of the 7 pages and

turned it into this banner by tracing the Sports Edition II papers I wanted for each

pennant, cutting them out and attaching them to the BACKSIDE of each pennant with

Zip Dry or small glue dots.

Then I had FUN using all the die cuts and embellishments from the Sports Edition II line

to add to each pennant. I then used the Circut machine to cut out the words TEAM and

Spirit as well as the brackets on each side of “spirit”. I attached these words with pop

dots to the pennants and finished off the banner with some twill ribbon to string it all

together and hang it up!

Thank you Laura for your great creations! To see more of Laura's creations click {HERE}

Teresa Collins Designs - POSH, Mini Albums with a twist

The design girls have been super creative with their mini albums. We hope you are inspired to think outside of the box.

Team member Colette created this mini album from a suitcase she purchased online. What a cute idea! She says: I did this tea party photo shoot when we got our new puppy!  I think I used every piece of Blingage there is!  That makes me very happy!  

 Items used: Posh Papers: Butterfly script, Cameo, Butterflies, Damask, Lace Stripes, Gray Flourishes, Mr. and Mrs. Flocked Album Covers (cut down), Chic Bebe girl chipboard elements, Welcome Home chipboard elements, Clock Dies Charms, Chic Bebe Girl alphabet stickers, Blingage: Zac's bookplates, Paisley's flower, Ashley's Necklace, Ty's Stars, Taylor's clips, Maxson's crowns, Amy's Gems, Jamies Gems, Miranda's jewels. Black Coredinations cardstock, Bazzill chipboard "Tags" and "Flower" shapes, White Doilie, Felt Butterfly - Hobby Lobby, Pink Felt for heart cutout, Pink Safety pin, Pop dots, Pink Tulle, white metal rimmed tag- Office max, white Dotted swiss ribbon - Hobby Lobby, Pink Ribbon - Michaels, White suitcase-- ordered online.

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Team member Laura created this wonderful mini that she had custom made with her daughters name from Clear Scraps.

Laura used many papers and embelishments from the POSH, Timeless and Blingage lines.

Great mini albums Ladies!! We hope you are inspired to create something this special for yourself! For more inspiration please check out the newsletter HERE.

Teresa Collins Designs - POSH, Clipboards

Altering and re-purposing items have been a hot trend for some time now. We are lucky enough to have some talented altered artist on our team to help us get inspired and alter a clipboard.


Team member Colette used the Posh collection to creatively display her pictures of her cute daughter.

Products used:
Posh Papers:Pink fishnet,Black Fishnet both sides
Blingage: Jamie's Gems,Amber's Jewels,Zack's Bookplates
Other:Black Bazzill Cardstock,Martha Steward Edge Punch, Pink Ribbon - Hobby Lobby, Triple clipboard - Stampin Up

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Team member Laura created this amazing clipboard. I love the different sections she created on the clipboard.  Wow!

Products used:
Posh: Pink Fishnet, Butterfly Script, Posh Flower, Gray Flourishes
Transparency: Teresa Collins
Chipboard: Maya Road & Teresa Collins
Flowers: Prima & Pink Paislee
Carstock: Coredinations
Rub-ons: JoAnns, Creative Imaginations
Blingage: Frame, Wings, Jewels, hair clip, crown
Blingage: Stamp Set
White Cabashon: Etsy "Supplies YouNeed"
Ribbon: May Arts , Vintage Lace
Clipboard: Melissa Frances
Ink: Tsekineku





Thank you ladies for the great inspiration.  Make sure you come back tomorrow for more beautiful creations from our design team.

 

Teresa Collins Designs - POSH, Frames - Home Decor

Home decor is a hot trend right now, POSH is such a great line to create accent pieces in your home. Here the girls on the design team created cute layouts altering picture frames.

Team member Stacey created this Cameo frame for her daughters room. We love how sweet it is.

Supplies used: 

 Posh:  Butterflies Script, Butterflies, Cameo; On the Edge: Guitar; 

 Blingage: Jamie's Gems

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Team member Amanda created this frame titled "New Beginnings"  We love how she hand cut the butterflies and incorporated a mini banner.

Amanda had a great tip:

• I melted Gentry's glitter into clear embossing powder to cover them, to make sure the glitter stayed put.

Product used:  

Posh - Cameo paper B Posh - Black Lace paper A & B Posh - Butterfly Script paper A Posh - Posh Butterflies paper B 

Blingage: Gentry's Glitter, Stephanie's Gems, Jamie's Gems. Other: Frame from local discount store, silver chain from unwanted jewelry piece, embossing powder (unknown)

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Team Member Julie created this frame called "Always".  We love the way she used the pinks in the  paper to give her frame that pop of color.

Julie was kind enough to tell us her secret on making these great flowers:

• For the distressed flowers, cut 3 circles - gradually smaller - sand the edges and wrinkle them up, then glue together & add bling to center.  Prop them up next to each other a little for more dimension.

Products used: 

Teresa Collins Posh papers:Lace stripe - front, Butterfly script - both, Posh flower - back, Black lace - front, Pink fishnet - front, Butterflies - both, Cameo - back.
Blingage: Gentry's Glitter, Jesse's Jewels, Stephanie's Gems, Jamie's Gems, Alphabet Stamps

Other:  Border punch - EK Success, smaller alpha stamps - unknown, frame - bought at Thrift Store and painted black, tiny bling dots - Kaiser Crafts, Cardstock - Bazzill, Ink - Tsukineko.

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Team Member Laura created this frame.  We love how she used different elements of the papers to create her own embellishment.  Clustering the cut-out elements together are such a hot trend we are seeing everywhere. Why not create the clusters on a frame?

Products used:

Posh: Gray Flourishes, Posh: Cameo, Posh: Butterfly Script

Blingage:  Amber's Jewels

Other:  Wood Frame: JoAnns, Mini Rhinestones: Kaiser Kraft

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Thank you everyone for coming to the Teresa Collins Design Team Blog. We hope we are able to keep you inspired and help you live a creative life.  For more inspiration using the Posh line feel free to look at our newsletter. HERE.

Teresa Collins Designs - POSH, More layout inspiration

Team member Yvonne created this great layout title "Captured". We love how she cut all the flowers framing the photo of her daughter.

Items used: Posh-Butterflies A & B, Posh-Butterfly script A & B, Posh- Posh flowers A & B,  Timeless-Clocks B, Blingage-Alphabet, Blingage-Jamie's Gems, Blingage-Stephanie's Gems, Other-Bazzill, Thickers, ribbon, Thermoweb


Team member Jamie Harder created this wonderful layout using pieces of each of the new paper lines. She has such a great eye for pulling pieces together and making them all work beautifully together.

Items used: Posh: Posh Damask, Posh: Cameo, Posh: Butterfly Script, Posh: Pink Fishnet, Sports Edition: Black Numbers, Sports Edition: Shields, On the Edge: Tags, On the Edge: Distressed Dots
Timeless: Time Clocks, Blingage: Amy's Gems; Jamie's Gems; Gentry's Glitter; Stephanie's Gems

Team member Laura created this gorgeous layout. We love her great sense of humor and how she incorporates it into her layouts.

Items used: Posh: Posh Damask, Gray Flourishes, Timeless: Time Clocks, Cardstock: Coredinations Black Magic Collection Journal It Girl: Pink Ledger. Stickers: American Crafts & Making Memories Key: JoAnns Jewels: Glitz Design Blingage: Amy's Gems Flowers: Prima

Transparency: Teresa Collins Timeclocks  Glimmer Mist: Tattered Angels Lace: Vintage
Doilies

Such a great variety! Thank you ladies! For more design team inspiration check out the newsletter.

Teresa Collins Designs - POSH, Heart Wall hanging

Creative team member 

Laura McCollough created this amazing wall art in the shape of a heart.

We love how she added McKay's Gems from the blingage line to the top to hang it.

Laura started with her base which is a 12" paper mâché  heart that she had purchased at her local craft store. She hand cut the flowers from three pages of the POSH Flowers Paper cutting them in different sizes. She then glued them with white glue and started layering all her different sized flowers on top of each other to give depth and dimension. She added a stamped message framed in Zach's Book Plate and glued that on top of the hand cut flowers. She used Morgans Tear Drop on the bottom.


This is such a great project Laura thank you so much for such a unique and fun project!


For more projects and inspiration check out, our newsletter. 
 http://www.teresacollinsdesigns.com/newsletter/feb2011.pdf