June Book Club Selection - Nowhere but Home

Maybe you've been meaning to join the Pages Peeps and Bookworms Book Club - now would be a great time to do so. We think we've picked a fun book for June.

Bestselling author Liza Palmer - and local Pasadena resident - carries readers to North Star, Texas, in the amusing and poignant Nowhere But Home.

After Queenie Wake is dismissed from her restaurant job, she returns to North Star to cook meals for death row inmates. Hopeful that the bad memories of her late mother and promiscuous sister (now the mother of the captain of the high school football team) have been forgotten by the locals, Queenie discovers that some people can’t be forgotten—heartbreaker Everett Coburn—her old high-school sweetheart. When secrets from the past emerge, will Queenie be able to stick by her family or will she leave home again?

Liz Palmer’s Nowhere But Home is a funny and touching story of food, football, and fooling around.

Wednesday June 26 from 6pm - 8pm. Bring a project you're working on and enjoy an evening with lively discussion and a delicious light dinner. $10

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Doodlebug Take Note Projects

Hello Pages Peeps! This is Michelle here today. If you went to the National Scrapbook Day crop this past weekend, it was such a fun time to scrap and catch up with other peeps. If you missed it, the next crop will on May 25th from10AM - 7PM for Peeps Day. I hope to see some of you there!

The Collection
I recently worked with Doodlebug's Take Note collection, which is full of bright rainbow colors and office themed images. It is a very versatile collection which can be used for any type of photos. It is perfect for school photos or any happy occasion.

The Projects
I made three projects with Take Note - a clothespin wreath, a matchbook with refrigerator magnets and a layout.

Project#1: Clothespin Wreath
I saw some wreaths on Pinterest and wanted to make my own. The rainbow colors in the collection inspired me to make a rainbow wreath.

I bought a wire wreath form from a craft store and clothespins from Walmart. I spray painted them white.

I cut strips of paper to the size of the clothespins. 

I adhered them to the top of the clothespins with Mod Podge. I clipped the pins onto the wreath form in a ROYGBIV pattern. 

I decorated the middle with a banner that reads, "My Favorite Guest" as I will be hanging this on my guest bedroom door.

This isn't a difficult project, but it is time consuming, but the end result is worth it. 

Project#2: Refrigerator Magnet Matchbook
I had some clothespins leftover after my wreath and thought they would make cute refrigerator magnets. I added a Pencil Doodle-Pop (cardstock sticker) to the top of the clothespin and a piece of adhesive magnetic tape to the back of the clothespin. This will stick to the refrigerator and can hold papers and children's artwork.

I also thought it would look cute in a matchbook. I used a matchbook cut file from Silhouette to get the shape on white cardstock. I then decorated the cover. This would make a great gift or party favor and is much faster to make than the wreath. 

Project#3 Single Paged Layout: Me & You
When I saw this collection, the colors reminded me a heart sculpture that I saw in New Orleans. I added a digital stamp of an angel which I colored in with Copics. To incorporate it into the layout, I added some punched hearts so it would look like the angel was scattering hearts onto the photo. For more information on this layout, please see this post on my blog.

This was such a bright and fun collection to work with and was so easy to use on any project. Stop by Pages to see these projects in person, or to purchase this collection. There are so many new collections in stock at Pages right now. 

Thanks so much for stoppin' by!

New Doodlebug

Just putting Doodlebug's Fruit Stand papers and embellishments on the shelves! Doodlebug always brightens my day!!

Book Worms Meet Pages Peeps - May 1

The next meeting of the BookWorms Meet Pages Peeps book club will be Wednesday May 1 at 6pm.  The book for discussion is "Unbroken" described below.  Bring a project to work on and enjoy a fun evening!  $10 includes dinner.  The next meeting will be Wednesday May 29 and we will be picking the book selection at the May 1 meeting....so bring your suggestions!


Unbroken: A WWII Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption
Laura Hillenbrand

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.

The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini. In boyhood, he’d been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails. As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile. But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown.

Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will.

In her long-awaited new book, Laura Hillenbrand writes with the same rich and vivid narrative voice she displayed in Seabiscuit. Telling an unforgettable story of a man’s journey into extremity, Unbroken is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit.

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We R Memory's Simply Spring Collection

Hi Pages Peeps, this is Michelle back again this week with another set of projects to share with you.

The Collection

I worked with We R Memory Keeper's Simply Spring collection which features spring and Easter themed designs in subtle, pastel colors. This line is simply gorgeous, making is easy to create your own lovely projects. 

Project #1: A Banner Layout

This photo is actually from Thanksgiving but I thought the pastel background matched the pastel colors of this collection so I used a spring collection for a fall photo. If you like the colors, use the collection even if it isn't a corresponding theme. 

I used a PagesMaps sketch for the layout design with some variations. For more information about this layout, please see this post. This turned out to be quite a popular layout as it has won two online challenges that I entered. 

Project #2: Altered Easter Basket

With Easter coming up, I thought some people might want to make their own Easter baskets to give out. I started with a naked wood one that is from a craft store. I painted the wooden base with some white craft paint. 

Then I traced each side onto patterned paper, cut it out, and adhered it to the wood with Mod Podge. All four sides were covered using only one sheet of 12 x 12" paper. The basket is a reasonable size as it held the entire bag of large plastic eggs I had purchased. 

For a central decoration, I used a journaling die cut as the starting off point and layered it with some dimensional stickers, alphabet stickers and Stickles.

A child would love receiving a handmade basket, especially with all the goodies inside. 

Project #3: An Eggstraordinary Card

I wanted to make an Easter card featuring some Easter eggs, but instead of popping them up, I wanted them recessed into the card. 

I ended up popping up the front panel and embedding the Easter eggs behind the panel. 

I was going to cut out the Easter egg shapes with my Silhouette, but decided it might be faster just to do it the old fashioned way. I used the leftover egg shape from the sticker sheet as a tracing template and traced the eggs on my front panel. I then used an X-Acto knife to cut out the eggs. This made the egg windows from which the egg stickers could be seen. I used some Authentique alphabet stickers for my sentiment as they are the perfect size for cards.

I really loved working with this collection. To purchase the collection or see these projects in person, please hop on by Pages from the Heart! There are a lot of fun events and classes scheduled.

Bo Bunny Detour Collection

Hi Pages Peeps! It's Michelle here today with three projects to share with you.

The Collection
I worked with Bo Bunny's Detour collection which features travel themed designs in dark, masculine colors. More specifically, I wanted to utilize the little 6 x 6" paper pad on projects outside of a card.

Project #1: Sunburst Layout
I wanted to create a sunburst background, but the 6 x 6" size is too small to cover the entire width of a 12" cardstock. What I did was cut out a smaller piece of cardstock around 6 x 10," created the sunburst on the smaller cardstock and stitched it onto the larger background piece.

 Here is a mini tutorial on creating your own sunburst or sunrise background.

1. On a piece of scratch paper the size of your sunburst, draw out your rays. Number the sections for easier identification later. 
2. Cut along the rays to make some templates. 
3. Place your patterned paper over a piece of the ray and cut according to the template. 
4. Arrange your newly cut pieces and adhere. Stitch along the seams for a quilted look. 

This is a great way to use up all your loose scraps of papers. 

Project #2: You're a Rockstar
Even though this is a travel collection, I wanted to make something non-travel related. I wanted to use it on an easy gift item so I paired it with a can of Rockstar Energy Drink. The colors of the can matched perfectly with the colors of the Detour collection.

I used a cloth wrapped floral stem, which is found in the floral section of a craft store, as the starting off point. I attached a sign which reads, "I think you're a ..." which is completed by the name of the drink. To continue the rockstar theme, I made some star shaped flowers and attached it to the sign. The floral stem is a green color and didn't match, so to tone it down, I wrapped some black washi tape around the stem. 

I adhered the stem to a belly band that I wrapped around the drink. This would make a fun gift to give to a guy. 

Project #3: Mini-Album
For my last project, I made a travel mini-album. The cover is a piece of plain chipboard that I folded and added patterned papers and embellishments onto. I hole punched it and used two book rings to secure the inside pages.

The best part of the album is that the inside pages are made from the 6 x 6" sheets. Make a 2" fold along one edge, take two folded pieces and stitch on three sides. This will give you a pocket along the 2" fold to store tags, photos, memorabilia. 

The bonus is that there is an extra space between the pages (back to back). That is where I placed my journaling with little pull tabs. For more info., please see this post from Practical Scrapper's blog. 

Here is a view of all the pages inside. 

This is a great way to use up those 6 x 6" pads. If you don't have that, then just cut up a 12 x 12" paper and you'll have four pages to work with. I ended up placing all the memorabilia I brought back from my trip (brochures, photos, business cards, bookmarks, pins) inside the album. Otherwise, it would just be gathering dust in a forgotten drawer. 

All the projects are on display at Pages from the Heart, so you can see it in person when you come on by!

We have a busy week coming up.  This Wednesday, March 13th, at 6:30pm, Richard from Fun Stampers Journey, will be teaching his Fabulous 4 Card Class.  His classes are filled with techniques that you can use on other projects and his stamps will be available for purchase, so you can re-create to your heart's content! All this for only $30.  WooHoo!

Then on Thursday, March 14th, at 6:30pm,  Debbie will be teaching her Spring Butterfly Banner Class.  Be-jeweled butterflies, textured layered flowers, lacy doilies and flourishes adorn this five panel banner hung from pink tulle.  Made out of the Soleil Collection from Basic Grey, this collection is both serene and invigorating with its colors of soft lavender, juicy peach, tangerine, blueberry juice and watermelon.  The class fee is $23...definitely cheaper than therapy, and so much more fun!!