The {Paper} Trailmakers Blog Hop

Welcome to The {Paper} Trailmakers Fun in the Neighborhood Blog Hop!

We are debuting the April Kit with a Neighborhood Blog Hop and you are in for a treat! You should have arrived from Heather T's blog, in which you had an appetizer. Here, you will have drinks but don't worry, they are non-alcoholic! :)

Cherry Fruit Punch (recipe)

Also, in case you get lost, here are all the links!

Trail Makers blog-Start here

First up is our appetizer at Heather T's ...GDT for April

Going for drinks next at Amarilys' (that's me!)

Then we're off to Yara's for some salad

And the main dish at Sandi's

A scrumptious side dish at Karen's

A yummy dessert at Krystle's

An after dinner mint at Krisi's Kreations...Sponsor for April

And ending the evening playing some cards at Tanya's

Then go back to the Trail Makers blog, become a follower (if you aren't already) and tell us what you liked best about the Fun in the Neighborhood Blog Hop for a chance to win an April 2011 The Paper Trail Kit (retail value $35)! That's going to be one lucky winner!

**You have until 11PM EST on Sunday, April 3rd to complete the hop and get your comments posted!

Here is the The {Paper} Trailmakers's April Kit! Isn't wonderful? It's filled with yummy Crate paper and Prima flowers!

April 2011 Kit includes: 8 Crate Paper Neighborhood DS patterned papers, 4 sheets Bazzill cardstock, Crate Paper Neighborhood alpha stickers (12x12), Border stickers, trims, and buttons. Plus, Prima felt embroidered flowers, Prima birds, and a package of Bo Bunny Double Dot Chipboard Swirls and alphabet.

Well, without any further ado, here is my debut layout using Crate paper and inspired by my drink:


supplies-cardstock: Bazzill, Core-Dinations; patterned paper: Crate Paper Neighborhood Collection from the Trailmaker's April Kit; chipboard: Thickers; buttons: Crate; ink: Tim Holtz Vintage Photo; punch: Martha Stewart; glitter: Glimmer Mist (Frost, Olive Green, Suede), Stickles (Diamond); pens: Copics, Sharpie; other: handmade flowers and leaves, Line It Up: Templates v. 1 file (zig zag) from Krisy's Kreations, floss, 3D paint

Let me tell you, this new Crate paper collection is absolutely beautiful! I used the blue side of the paper since I was doing an outdoor layout but wanted to use some of the brighter colorful side as well. My compromise? Use a strip of yellow lace-like strip and add it to my layout.


I water distressed it to give it some texture and make it look more like lace. You can see it right under my photos.

I also made a banner out of the white banner strip. I simply used my shaped scissors and carefully cut around the triangle to make the edge. I hand sewed some floss on top to finish off the banner and used one of this collections' gorgeous button as a midpoint to add interest to the banner.

For the background, I glimmer misted in different colors to achieve an outdoorsy feel to the paper. I then distressed the edges and matted this paper on black cardstock to make it stand out. I used the circle from the drink as my inspiration for this layout. I traced the circle using my plate (yes, I still do that) and punched around it with a Martha Stewart corner punch to achieve this effect. I learned this technique some months ago and I don't remember where I learned it from but I know that Lisa has a good video tutorial for it. Anyway, I distressed the inside of the circle and applied 3D paint for added texture and interest. I wanted to use some posies on my layout, just like the ones on the drink but I didn't have any. Therefore, I designed and cut my own using my Pazzles Inspiration.


I chalked the centers of the flowers with yellow and added some brown lines inside. I finished it off with some stickles around the edges to give it some bling. Love the way these turned out! Finally, I scattered the rest of the Crate buttons around the flowers to add dimension and finish off the cluster. If you look closely, you will see a zig zag line going through the left side of my picture as well as on top of my right picture. Well, these 'zig zag' lines are actually border templates by our April Sponsor, Krisi' Kreation.

She sells wonderful digi page kits, alphabets, and word art as well as svg files for cards, flowers, borders, etc. You do not have to be a digi scrapper to use her templates.

As I said before the zig zag is actually a border file (click the picture on the right to go to it) which I shrunk down to make a zig zag stitching to add interest to my layout without having to actually sew on my pictures!



Well, now that you are done with drinks, go on to Yara's for some salad!