Thursday, November 25, 2010

Check out this Lil' Miss Sweet Thang!

If she's an unfamiliar face to you, her name is Steph Devlin and she's from the land down under (Australia).  She has been one of my all-time favorite scrapbooking artists and is our Guest Designer for November and December and I feel SO incredibly lucky to have her on board!  You can get to know her a little better by checking out her blog HERE.
This month she is sharing an awesome pictorial with us to show us how she made the flowers on this gorgeous layout of hers.

 Step 1 - Cut a Patterned Paper Strip, 12 inches wide by 1.5 inches. This gives you the size medallion you see on my layout (using the blue paper). Grab your Martha Stewart Border Punch and punch across the top.

Step 2 - Next you will need to score. I gauged where to score from the pattern on the punch - in this case the Martha Stewart Daisy Punch. Have a good look at the example below, you will see I scored in the middle of the daisy and in the centre between each daisy. Once you have scored the length of paper, fold it in an accordian-like fashion.
 
Step 3 - Take the ends of the folded pieces of patterned paper and adhere to each other, so that the pattern overlaps the end pattern perfectly. You can use glue, double sided tape, glue dots or even staples to adhere the ends. You will find that you end up with the shape below - once the ends have been stuck together - you are ready for the next step.

Step 4 - Get your hand and push down on the medallion from the center to flatten out the medallion. Don't panic whatever you do if they play up, you can always count on the fact that tutorials make it sound so easy, but when you go to do it, everything stuffs up. Take it from somebody who frequently experiences that. For the rest of you lucky ducks, it should flatten beautifully.

Step 5 - Punch a circle and lather (I mean really cover well in glue) and place the medallion on top. I have turned my medallion upside down here, so you can see what size circle you will need to use. It will all depend on the size of your medallion. You will need to hold it down for a couple of minutes depending on what glue you have, until the glue takes hold. Sometimes depending on how stubborn your medallion is to set, I pop a little glue in the middle, so it knows who's boss!

Step 6 - Punch a 1" circle and adhere to the front center of the medallion to hold it together securely..... and there you have it .... wholla!!! A gorgeous beautiful medallion. They really are easy to make and look so lush and gorgeous on your layouts and cards. You can try layering different size medallions with different textures, there really is no end to the possibilities.  Try it and have fun!

p.s.  Don't forget to play along to our November challenges to try to win the big prize package from our sponsor BlueMoonScrapbooking.  You have less than a week now to get your submissions in.


Tuesday, November 16, 2010

My Dirty Little Secret Challenge

November is usually the month people GIVE THANKS.  It's the month we count our blessing and share what we are thankful for.  Although we Lollipop Girls at C.S.D. are thankful for so many different things, we would like to throw a curveball your way and we're hoping you won't dodge.

Instead of sharing what we are thankful for this season, we want to share our secrets with you all.  In return, we hope you share yours as well.  There's no shame to this game!

Check out what the Lollipop Girls did for this challenge....

As a child she rode her bike everyday and loved it.  But, when you don't do it for years (say 20) it's NOT TRUE when they say you always know how.  Here she is on vacation this past summer when her daughter begged her to go bike riding.  Although she couldn't and was AFRAID and embarrassed they took pictures of her on the bike anyway to laugh about later. 
AFRAID TO RIDE A BIKE?
by KitKat a.k.a. Kate Blue

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Ever since her dad spent some time in the ICU a couple of years ago she's had a hard time being away from him.  She never had issues being a apart from her parents as a kid and even though her father is healthy now, she's contantly worried about him.
SEPERATION ANXIETY 
by Foreign Chocolate Correspondant a.k.a. Kimmy Jaster

True Confessions...
Hoping this is just a phase...afraid to admit that her marriage is not in good health...and not even sure she wants to work on it...
ALL ALONE 
by Lil' Mint Mocha a.k.a. Maureen Kao

As far as she can remember, her Mother has used name calling, insults and critisism constantly with her since she was just 4 years old.  Not totally understanding the Lord's decision on making this woman her Mother, she still finds it in her heart to love her and hopes one day of having a healthy mother-daughter relationship that is free of pain.  
EMOTION 4 SALE
by Suga Plum a.k.a. Tajanee White

This Lollipop Girl thinks of "Girly Nights" where you share all those dirty little secrets and she'll be having one this weekend and the weekend after to spill the beans.
TIME FOR A GIRLY NIGHT 
by Lush Liquorice a.k.a. Jeanette Almgren

Yes, she sleeps with a baby blankie.  Sadly, no, this isn't the blanket from her childhood.  She actually dropped the whole blankie stage at a normal age (whatever you would consider a "normal age" to be).  Once she had kids she thought that blankies were the best thing....for mamas too!  So, she bought her daughter a cheetah print blanket knowing that she wouldn't want any other blanket than the one she was attached to.  So now, she gets to keep the blanket and it goes with her EVERYWHERE!
BABY BLANKIE 
by Sour Patch Chick a.k.a. Ally Serrato

Just like the rest of the Lollipop Girls, it was hard for me to admit this secret I keep...
"I am a Mother to 4 children (2 boys and 2 girls)." 
You often see bio's and random facts about me stating this.  It's because I think the more I say it, the more I'll believe it.  It's hard for me to label myself "a Mother" when I share custody of my 2 sons with my ex-husband (who has them most of the time).  When their not with me, I feel...
HALF EMPTY 
by Cherry Lolita a.k.a. Lynnette Davis

Share your dirty little secrets with us for your chance to win this... 
You have until the last day of this month (Tuesday, November 30, 2010) to link up your creations in the top left sidebar of this challenge blog with the rest of the November submissions.

Don't forget to leave a comment below this post too.  The Lollipop Girls love to hear what you think!

If you're playing along with us this month please mention Candy Shoppe Designs and our Sponsor, BlueMoonScrapbooking, wherever you post your creation.  Get extra kuddo's for being a Sweetheart (Follower) and for displaying our Link Badge on your blogs.  *You do not need to have a blog to participate.

You may still play along to our previous Animal-Themed challenge to better your chances at winning this months prize package.

Monday, November 1, 2010

We are women, hear us ROAR!

We want ALL you ladies to share the wild side in yourselves by using animal prints, animal shapes or pictures of actual animals/pets.  Feel free to make this challenge suit you but please stick to the "animal theme."  As always, you can create anything.  Whether it be a scrapbook layout, card, altered item, mini book, atc, etc.  Whatevers clever dude!


To help inspire you, check out what the Lollipop Girls did for this challenge:


Here's KitKat a.k.a. Kate Blue (as a cute little baby) in what she thought was a cage.  Poor child!

Here's a take by one of our NEW Lollipop Girls, Foreign Chocolate Correspondent a.k.a. Kimmy Jaster, using some of her OLD Hambly in her stash.

Here's another take by one of our NEW Lollipop Girls, Pumpkin Sue a.k.a. Kristin Powell.  She also used some OLD elements in her creation.  The leopard fabric is from an old pair of Seven jeans, the chain from an old top and she definately showed us how wild she can get!  She added hidden journaling too because as you all know....what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas! LOL

Another creation by one of our NEW Lollipop Girls....Here's Lil' Mint Mocha a.k.a. Maureen Kao sharing a Circus layout of her and the kiddos.  Don't you just love how she mixed in zebra print with leopard print?  Who else can do that and get away with it?  Too cool!

NEW Lollipop Girl, Suga Plum a.k.a. Tajanee White, created this clever layout using a cutout of a deer and titled her layout "Such a dear!" 

NEW Lollipop Girl -or- should I say Party Animal a.k.a. Lush Liquorice a.k.a. Jeanette Tettiz is showing us her wild side in this first layout of hers.  Watch out Sweethearts!

One of our previous Lollipop Girls, Lemon Zinger a.k.a. Christina Aiton, shared a layout of her pet cat.

Another previous Lollipop Girl, Pop Rocks a.k.a. Dana Tatar played off the title of our challenge name and created this...

Sour Patch Chick a.k.a. Ally Serrato is a bad mamajama.  Here she is downing a bottle of wine while out with her bridesmaids.  You go girl!

Ally was SO inspired by this challenge that she created not 1 but 2 layouts to help inspire you.  Here's the other....

Here, Lollipop Girl Brown Sugar a.k.a. Myia Manghum, used animal embellishments to suit her tastes.  Look at all those characters!

And last but definately not least, we have Snap Crackle Pop a.k.a. Amy Oxford sharing a special moment in her life.  I just love the torn paper bag effect.  Wild ha?

So, now it's your turn!

We want you all to try your chance at winning this awesome prize this month....

You all have until the last day of November (Tuesday, November 30, 2010) to leave DIRECT LINKS to your "Animal-Themed" creations in the top left sidebar.  Don't forget to leave a comment below this post too!  The Lollipop Girls love your comments!

When playing along to our challenges this month, you MUST mention Candy Shoppe Designs and our sponsor, BlueMoonScrapbooking.  Get extra kuddo's by becomming a Sweetheart (Follower) and post our C.S.D. Link Badge on your blogs too!  It excites us everytime we see the sweet a$$ badge on your blogs!

Thanks kiddos Sweethearts!

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