Tag Archives: carstock

Little Black Dress Design Team member, Ginger, submitted the Good Things 12×12 Layout. She used the Sweet Bravery Kit for January to compile this delectable layout. Check it out!

Ginger created some amaazing flowers out of pink houndstooth tissue paper strips and the vintage book page strips. The teeny extras included in the vintage embellishment packets each month will usually provide the perfect “center” for any flower. You’ll also notice that Ginger incorporated journaling in white on black cardstock. You have to appreciate the block of dark that accents the black and white photo.

And of course…you can’t miss just how gorgeous the Inspiration Card is (GCD studios Melody Ross Homespun Chic collection).

What’s your favorite part of this Sweet Bravery layout?

Need to wrap up a gift card this holiday season? Want to make that gift card seem more personal and unique? Well…here’s one way to go about it that is utterly fabulous!

The Fabulous gift Box Tutorial from Jan Hobbins using the Little Black Dress Sincerely Fond Kit (December):

It’s a birthday hat gift box! Jan admits that she gets carried away when she starts creating..but we absolutely don’t mind! In fact, we LOVE IT!

Here’s the instructions straight from Jan:

Gift Box -

1. I took a papermache round box(about 5″ in diameter), and attached a cone made of heavy brown paper or cardstock on the lid.  I used strips of gummed brown paper, but you could put white glue on brown wrapping paper or pieces cut from a paper bag , to attach the cone.

2. Next, I painted the inside of the box, bottom, and the lid rim and inside with white paint.  I then cut out another cone from the star printed paper and adhered to the cone shaped lid. I did the two layers of cone, to make it more solid.

3. Cover the outside of the box with the green paper.

4. For the paper ruffle, I cut three strips of the polka dot paper, machined stitched a large basting stitch down the middle on all three.  Then wet your paper (You need to do this so you can gather it), blot it on some paper towel, and carefully gather into a ruffle.  It does tear easy, but I find with the thicker paper, it’s not as bad.  Let the ruffle dry and then ink the edges.  I did use some crepe paper – just from one of those rolls you buy in the party supplies- and gathered that too, then dipped the edges in white glue and then dipped in glitter.  Glue the paper ruffle to the crepe paper ruffle, adhere around the cone on the rim of the lid. 

5.  I then took 1/4 strips of green paper, pleated them and glued these to the middle of the ruffle. 

6. I cut out a shape with my slice, matted, and adhered three of the jewels on it, then glued it to the cone. 

7. Gather up the tulle, stick in the top of the cone, adhere some of the orange ribbon around the top to cover and secure. 

8. For the happy birthday banner, I covered both sides of the chipboard banners, punched two little holes on the top of each, strung them together using embroidery floss, and then stuck on the small letter stickers. 

Jan says, “If I’m giving a gift card or money as a gift, I try and find or make a neat box to give it in.  It makes it feel more like a gift then!”

Hope all of you have fun making your version of Jan’s Birthday Hat Gift Box!

Amy Heller’s Having a Ball 12×12 layout is a fantastic project for many different photos and events. She pulled several different aspects of the Little Black Dress Sincerely Fond December kit together to create a great overall look for this layout!

Here you see the full layout. We love the combination of alphas (the red Thickers really stand out) and the light aqua alpha tiles are a great contrast. We also love the incorporation of various size of pendants/banners as well as the series of photos. It’s a great way to commemorate a certain event or memory or special moment. And you can’t see the page without taking notice of her method for laying out the pendant string on the top left corner of the page. Her stitching not only holds elements to the page, but it serves as the “banner.”

This close up shot shows just how much layering can add to a layouts’s look. You can also see the zig zag stitch that adds a subtle, but distinct border around the left edge of the photos.

This closeup shows the variety of trims that Amy pulled from the Little Black Dress December kit for the layout. She incorporated the aqua scalloped corrugated cardboard, the polka dot, orange scallop and the white with orange trim.

Using a “text” based paper “sideways” is sometimes not only more fun, but less distracting from the photos that and/or journaling that should immediately gain the attention on onlookers.

Notice how Amy “pops” certain elements of the page to give the layout some added dimension.

We love the layout, Amy! Thanks so much.

Watch for more projects and layouts coming soon from Amy Heller!

Hold your horses…the holidays are a busy time of year and we know you’re ready to get moving on holiday projects so you can get them successfully completed and then sit back and enjoy the roaring fire and possibly…if you’re feeling up to it…roast chestnuts at a dinner party while wearing your fanciest little black dress and your favorite teal heels. Or is that just me?

Regardless…we know you’ll want to see what Jan just sent in. Here’s the first look at a finished project using December’s Sincerely Fond Kit. Is your’s in the mail? If not…you better get a move on. They probably won’t last long.

This is Jan’s 12×12 Happy Birthday Layout. I LOVE it!

You can’t really tell by the photo, but she raised some of the letters and different squares of paper with pop-dots so that the layout is more dimensional.  The layout is of Jan’s oldest son, Reece. Isn’t he a cutie? There’s just something about birthdays, isn’t there?

I love that there’s the main photo in the center that draws the eye and the smaller photo incorporated along with the various paper squares, etc. So clever! And I love clever people. Jan…you’re definitely on my clever list.

Can’t wait to see more…and I’m sure the rest of you feel exactly the same way! Check back soon.

Well…it’s coming up on December so you’ll be getting your new Little Black Dress scrapbook kit here shortly. It’s going to be just as fun as always so you’re welcome to be excited about it! But…if you haven’t yet dug into your November kit you need to get on it! And we’ve got plenty of fabulous project ideas pouring in from the LBD Design Team members.

This is Francine’s Inspiration Banner. You won’t get exactly how fabulous it is unless you take a close look so click on the pics and get an up close look at all her little additions!

Here you’ll notice that Francine used cutout “banner” pieces made of vintage book pages between each WhatNot based section. They’re all held on by tiny paper clips (not included in the kit) and attached to a piece of twine (also not included in the kit).

Francine hung her Inspiration banner across a bookshelf. I love that it’s a versatile addition that could be added to almost any decor scheme and that it actually lives up to it’s  name. It would be a great source of inspiration on a day to day basis.

Francine combined different embellishments from the kit in a way that gave the banner a layered look without leaving them looking cluttered. Try putting together your own version and send it in so we can check it out…info @ littleblackdresskitclub.com.

This is Francine’s Every Day in November 12×12 Layout.

I really enjoy the splashes of color that seem to crop up in Francine’s scrapbook designs like in this layout the green polka page with the floral design. And above you can see how Francine used the Sold vintage piece accented by glittery green tulle and a red button (all from the November Lucky in Love kit) to provide her a journaling space on the layout.

Here’s another look at the page showing the title and the journaling.

It’s Going to be a Good Day! The title is so important for many layouts. We love that Francine combined an already complete chipboard sticker with the cream alphas included in the kit and accented it with the black flower included in the kit (many member’s favorite addition to the November kit).

Here you can check out Amy Heller’s 12×12 layout titled Christmas at 7 and Three. There’s nothing more fun than papers filled with numbers and words. They’re so versatile.

In these two pictures you can see a close up of a couple embellishments that Amy put together on the page. I love how Amy stitched a string of flowers on the layout and then worked with them to give them a 3d finished look.

This layout shows how fun the final layout can turn out when you work around your picture size and incorporate blocks of color and patterns. Amy added in different trims from the kit as well as cutouts (using a snowflake punch).

Amy’s Peace Christmas card is  one of my favorites so far this season. But then…I love the glam look she created with the gold trim finished off with the gold/black button.

The different color and pattern combinations makes it fun to create projects with the November kit. They work perfectly for Christmas projects without being too traditional leaving you feeling like you’ve come up with something that’s just the “same as always.” And it works for non-holiday projects as well.

This 12×12 layout also came from Amy Heller. It’s got a fabulous story behind it and you can garner a few details by checking out her journaling around the edge of the 12×12 layout.

The stitching around the focal point of the page is terrific as are the crystal embellishments (included in the kit).

Amy tends to work with a lot of stitching, twine and embellishments. We love how she mixes paper, fabric and brads/buttons in her embellishment clusters. It makes for a more interesting finished look!

Two Different Angles…Same Messed Up Proportions…I think we’ve all seen our fair share of interesting Christmas trees, and sometimes scrapping a story is important. And that’s just what Amy did in this layout. Don’t be scared to scrap about a story and use the pics that depict the scene whether there are “people” in the pics or not!

Have a good “story” based layout? We want to see! Send it in so we can check it out… info @ littleblackdresskitclub.com.

December kit info coming soon! Keep an eye out for details!