The Best Easter Present Ever!

Spring played a trick on us this week. We had a blizzard yesterday and received about 12"-14" of snow! But before it snowed I was able to see our little tulip bulbs shyly emerging from the ground. So that must mean that spring is here, and with spring comes Easter- the most innocent and beautiful holiday. Eggs galore: boiling, painting & egg hunts. Easter baskets, filled with simple goodies. Baby animals, new plants! It's a celebration of life and it's a wonderful time to celebrate children. Introducing our Paper Doll!



A few years ago we had a paper doll that I had made for a CHA show. It was when we introduced Chick-a-dee. We found it here a few weeks ago and thought what a cute Easter present it would make. So I took the time to trace it and make templates of the outfits that she has available. She comes in her skivvies so you're able to dress her up as much as you want. I printed her outfits onto Ana's Bananas & Tiny Bubbles papers. You can make 9 different outfits with just 3 sheets of paper. The tabs on the clothes have a strip that is made to attach the 2 shoulder tabs with tape. Click here to print an 8.5 x 11" sheet of clothing.


The fun thing with this doll is that you can personalize her by adding the photo of the recipient. I'm actually half Salvadoran so for me I wanted to diversify some skin tones. So there's three options to choose from. My coloring is between the #2 & #3 skin tone. I know they're pretty broad but look at the image below and you can choose from #1, #2 or #3. (<--- Just click these numbers).
I needed to give my doll a home and so I found a tin box and just lined it with chick-a-dee paper. Inside I used the chick-a-dee scalloped ribbon. With some craft wiring I made little hangers for the clothes and hung them off of the ribbon.

I will say that it's not as flattering with adults pictures. I was going to post my paper doll but I looked about 60 lbs heavier, haha. But try this as a project to do with the kids at home or while you're babysitting. It's so much fun picking out the different papers and feeling a little like a fashion designer. No one has ever emailed me pictures of their completed projects, but if you do, I'll post them online.

If you have any questions, please post them and I'll help you in anyway I can. Hope you love this as much as I do!

Love,
Dorthea

Fresh Spring Layout Ideas

We are so excited that spring has finally arrived! What a great time to liven up your scrapbook pages with some bright colors and fresh ideas. Here are two 1-page layouts we designed to show off the yummy colors in our new Mimosa and Bridgeport lines.

shopping list: cosmos pearl paper, guava cardstock paper, pink lady pearl paper, shimmer accents, rub-ons, rub-on words, cardstock stickers, epoxy stickers, frames & tags, designer brads, petals, & ribbons

shopping list: tennis court varnish paper, springside varnish paper (back), clover textured cardstock, pearl accents, rub-ons, rub-on words, designer brads, petals, & varnished chiplets

Quick Reminder!

Don't forget to come visit us at the Scrapbook Expo in Sandy today or tomorrow! We have classes, a booth, club and more! Utah Word of Mouth (one of the sponsors) has a 2$ off coupon on their site so there is no excuse! If you're in the area, we'd love to see you.

Mimosa leftovers are yummy!

We had quite a few requests to show you what we could make with all the little scraps that might be leftover in a Club SEI kit. What will be leftover in April's kit is mainly paper so we made some fun paper projects! This makes it easy because you can make these projects with any papers that you might have lying around and make multiples.

The first project is a set of adorable scalloped boxes. You can make them with just one lid, but I thought it was cute to add another lid to the bottom. I made a scalloped box template that includes both lids. The template is for an 8.5" x 11" sheet, and be sure to print on the side that will go on the inside of the box so that the print lines are hidden. The papers I used for the pink & orange box were Mimosa & Mango. The green box was made from the Chartreuse & Key Lime papers. Just cut all the solid lines and then fold on the dotted ones. Place glue on the sections that are marked with the dot and close in all sides. The final size of the box ends up being about 2" x 2". Just finish it off by filling it with your favorite candy or a small surprise.

The little roses would be an easy project to do with children. I got the idea from the Dozi Design's Flikr page. You should really browse through her images. Her ideas are so beautiful and inventive! She explains how to make these flowers better than I ever could. Once I was finished with them I punched them into a piece of styrofoam with a t-pin and placed them in a tea cup. (Isn't the tea cup cute? It was an Anthropologie gift from my friend Rachel)

Lastly, the candy bags toppers were really simple. You can print the quotes onto an 8.5" x 11" sheet. Use the extra scraps of paper that you will have leftover from other projects. Just fold over a strip of paper and staple the candy bag closed. Done!

These ideas are great for Mother's Day. These projects were made for one of the most wonderful gifts we all have, our mothers. Hope you like these projects! And let me know if you have any questions.

-Dorthea

Mixing it up!

Wow! Is it ever going snow crazy in Logan. Hopefully you're all cuddled under a warm blanket with some soup, or at least thinking about it like us.

We've had some requests that we do ideas on mixing our old and new papers together. It's a cool concept, and really, why not use all those lovely, older papers? Incorporating them can be a lot easier than you think, too!

Winnies Walls has some of the most adorable designs, so I grabbed a few papers to make cards with.


That first dainty pull out card combines blooming buds, Lovebird's lovey dovey back, Oasis's caspia cardstock, and a Mimosa glitter chiplet. A quick and easy way to say hi!

Those graphic little flowers on the second card make a great statement, especially with that yummy green chiplet against the pink! The paper is playful pansies, and the chiplet is from Mimosa.


Nothing about this layout feels dated with a subdued combination of papers and elements. The background is Madera Island's iluvia back, with a strip of Penelope's Potpourri perfect petals. The yellow seersucker is oceanfront from Bridgeport, and gazebo for the photo mat. Embellishments are a bird die-cut from Lovebirds (that one is blue), velvet ribbon from Chick-A-Doo, coaster tag from Madera Island, and flower and tag from Bridgeport. The brads are from Poppy!

We would love to see what you guys have come up with! E-mail us (seiblog@shopsei.com) or drop us a link in the comments with your results. We hope these have inspired you!

St. Patty's Day Partay!

We had a request from one of our favorite commenters, NanaBeth, for our holiday posts to be up a little earlier. That way you can have more time to plan for projects. We completely agree and so although St. Patrick's Day is 2 weeks away, we wanted to share some ideas with you. Thanks NanaBeth!

Aren't the projects above just the cutest? Well they were really simple as well. St. Patrick's Day has always been a quirky holiday to me. I remember during younger school days, piling on as much green clothing as possible, no matter how ridiculous I looked. To celebrate St. Patty's Day as an adult, I didn't want just any boring party hats. They need to have character and personality. Thus the dunce and flat hatty's were born.

The make the dunce hat I printed this template onto the Glitzmas' All is Merry & Bright paper. For the ties, I punched two holes in the hat after I assembled it and pulled some Glitzmas ribbon through. I cut some tissue paper into strips and left a 1/2 inch border in tact to glue to the edge of the hat. Lastly I cut some clovers out and using glue dots, glued them onto some craft wire. I used glue dots again to secure the craft wire to the inside of the hat. I included clovers on the template but found it easier to cut some out free hand instead since they are so small.

For the flat hat, I used this template and printed it on the Morning Meadows Clover paper (fitting, huh?). With the template I just folded over the two ends until it was the size I wanted. I thought it looked cute being a little flat. I added some rick-rack to the edging of the hat along with two holes and some ribbon for tie downs. For the cute little tassle on the top I cut a 9"x4" doubled over piece of green tissue paper. I cut random strips down about 3" inches down the rectangle and left about an 1" at the bottom. Using a pencil I rolled the rectangle up into a tube and secured the end with tape and removed the pencil. I stuck the tassle through the hole in the top of the hat and taped the end to the inside of the hat. With the little clover that came on the template, I cut it out of our Oasis paper and Ta-dah, we're done!

Check out our matchbox tutorial on how to create these sweet little party favor boxes. We used the Tennis Court and Clover papers from our Bridgeport line. The die-cut accents are a great embellishment to finish off your St. Patrick's Day fiasco!

E-mail some pictures of your St. Patrick's Day party, and enter a chance to win a feature on our blog! Look forward to seeing some ideas, let's get to work!
seiblog@shopsei.com