100th Post Giveaway Update!

**There was a bit of confusion with the Giveaway instructions. The Giveaway post has been updated with new instructions scroll down to check them out. Thanks for your patience!

100th Post Giveaway!

Today is our 100th post! Thanks so much for sticking by us over the last 9 months. That's a good chunk of time (we could have had a baby in that time... wait, Maria did!). We wanted to do a simple recap of our 5 favorite project posts since we started the SEI Lifestyle Blog. We want to make sure that you are made aware of these amazing posts in case you missed them.

• #5- star album Josh had a video tutorial on how to create a star album. It featured Alpine Frost but can be made with any paper line anytime of the year.
• #4- mimosa leftovers Every month we feature how to use your Club SEI leftovers. With this post we provided a box, bag and flower template.
• #3- paperdoll One of our favorite projects was this paper doll. If you need a project to entertain a bored little girl on summer break, visit this post
• #2- baby blocks Anyone having a baby will love you forever with these customized baby blocks

And our number one post that everyone fell in love with was from our guest blogger, Heather Mildenstein. It was her baby tie tutorial:

baby tie tutorial

Since our CHA Sneak Peak was our #1 giveaway (with over 100 comments), we have decided to give away one more sample packet. Click here if you can't remember the contents.

GIVEAWAY PACK!

Entering the giveaway is simple. Here's how:
1. From your blog, link back to this post! See, simple.
2. Leave a comment showing your blog address.

3. Your blog must have a post containing the link below:

http://seilifestyle.blogspot.com/2009/06/100th-post-giveaway.html

• Giveaway is open until Monday, July 6th! Good luck.

Online Blog Exclusive!

earrings | pouch | dress | shoes | bathing suit
from Anthropologie

The weather just keeps getting more & more beautiful. Summer colors are my favorite. The color pallets are always so bright and lively. A few months back we finished this line, Silk Road. To me it just screams summer, and it makes all my good summer feelings come alive. This week we are doing an online exclusive. Silk Road was featured as the May Club SEI kit and we liked it so much we decided to make the papers available to purchase. This line will only be available online and we are allowing our blog readers to be the first to purchase it online.

All you have to do is click here and at checkout enter the promotional code: seiblog.The promo code will also give you 10% off your entire order. It expires a week from today, July 6th, so be sure to use it while you can.

Weekend Projects

Summer is always a great time for me to catch up on projects that have been burdening me for a while. I think it has to do with the longer days making me feel like I have all the time in the world. I love summer! I found this website today called Oliver + S. They have the cutest patterns for children's clothing. They are all under $20 and they offer both girl and boy patterns. I think I might make these one of my weekend projects. I can work on a few outfits for my nephew. Whatever you busy yourself with this weekend, have an enjoyable one. Take it slow and appreciate the small things.

Wonderful Stationary

This past week, I received a postcard from my friend Rachel addressed from Barcelona, Spain. Mandi is still in Switzerland... and I'm getting the travel bug. Since I won't be able to travel abroad anytime soon, I figured I needed to do something in my life that would make me feel better. This stationary from Paperwink hit the spot. Although I can't travel abroad and find exotic postcards, I can have personalized ones. They make me happy!
Does anyone out there have any summer escapades planned?

Fun Toys

To relax a bit I wanted to share a blog post I'd found on Black Eiffel. Right now we're in project mode here at work. With making projects I've come to appreciate simple ideas. The more simple a concept, the more ingenious it seems. These wooden cities from Muji are wonderful. They offer cities such as London, New York, Paris, Tokyo & Barcelona. Below the image I used is the World in a Bag. This combines many different cities. The blank wooden shapes allow for a child to use their imagination.


These wooden shapes reminded me of the wooden blocks that we had made for Maria's baby a few weeks ago. The wooden blocks that we made here at work have been so entertaining for Maria's two year old son. He loves stacking them and building with them. Isn't it funny how the most simple ideas can entertain a child for hours?

Independence Day, done right!

**To start off a lot of people have been asking if the new lines will be used in a Club SEI kit. The answer is yes. Christmas Mint will be featured in November's kit and Winter Song will be used in December's kit. Moravia will not be in a kit but will be available as an add-on. You can tell your local scrapbook supplier to pick it up for you at CHA next month or order online at shopsei.com in August. Now onto our project.

We wanted to give you enough time to plan for the 4th of July. I love this holiday! There's nothing about it not to love. One tradition that I've heard a lot of families have is wearing matching shirts. We have come up with a great idea to customize your own 4th of July shirts in an inexpensive way.

Did you know that SEI carries a product called Tumble Dye? It's a dye that is sprayed on and then heat set, and it dyes a lot of different surfaces. It's non-toxic, and easier to clean up than other dyes - no boiling water, pots & pans, nasty chemicals, or stained hands! That makes it a fantastic summer project to do with your kids or grandkids. And it's only $3 a bottle! We used Raggedy Ann Red & Blueberry to create the shirts below. I know the tie-dyed look might not be your favorite everyday look, but it's so fitting for the 4th of July. Here is the project along with instructions:

These cute girls belong to Lee Tibbitts

Sheryl, who works here at SEI, made these shirts.
• You can use an old white shirt that you have around the house (even one that may have a stain, you can cover it).
• First, to make the stars on the shoulder, Sheryl cut stars out of scrap paper and laid them on the shirt. She sprayed the Blueberrry Tumble Dye all around the cut outs, and then removed them, leaving white stars behind.
• Next, to achieve the "stripes", Sheryl gathered the shirt on a diagonal to create loose folds and sprayed the exposed fabric with Raggedy Ann Red Tumble Dye.

That's it! All in all, Sheryl was able to make six children's shirts, using one bottle of the red dye and a half bottle of the blue.

While you're here, tell us - what are your 4th of July traditions?

CHA Giveaway Winner!

Thank you all for entering our giveaway. We are so glad to see that you are excited about the new lines. We hope to see some of you at CHA next month. So the two lucky ladies are...


Congratulations! To claim your prize, please email us your shipping address to, seiblog(at)shopsei(dot)com. Thanks again, and stay tuned for some fun summer projects this week!

Unbelievable Giveaway!

So after oohing and ahhing over these beautiful new lines we want to share these exclusive products with you. So we're not doing 1, but 2 giveaways! You will be the first people outside of the SEI premises to own these lines (yay)! Other than the 2 lucky winners, these lines won't be available to take home until August. Each giveaway will include the following:

• 3 sheets from Moravia, 3 sheets from Winter Song
and 3 sheets from Christmas Mint
• Moravia cardstock stickers,
Winter Song die-cuts & Christmas Mint ribbon

These 9 sheets of paper will include all of the treatments being showcased in the new lines. For an up close view of the papers in the giveaway, click on the image below to enlarge.

glitter | flock | pearl
mint foil | varnish | pear foil
flock | copper foil | die cut sheet

How can these all become yours? Well here are the simple instructions:

Giveaway #1- Join as an SEI Follower. Under the followers section on the right hand side of our blog, become a follower of SEI. One winner will be chosen from our "Followers" section.

Giveaway #2- Leave a comment!

• You can enter both giveaways (one time each, please)
• Deadline is Sunday, June 21st, 2009 at midnight.
•The winner will be announced Monday, June 22nd, so be sure to check back.

See I told you it was simple! Ready, set, go! Good luck!

Thurd Thursday: Kalia

Want a quick leftover gift that says, "Thanks a bunch!"? Well we have a perfect solution on how to use flowers straight from your garden. Using our Kalia line, that is featured in our July Club SEI kit, we created mini pop up notecards. We also used the paper from Kalia to wrap a 4" inch terra cotta flower pot.
The template for the flower pot is available to all here on the blog. Just click and print the template below and simply trace and cut. The note cards featured in the above photo can be made using one of the pop-up techniques found in the July Club SEI kit.

Christmas Mint

Thanks for all the wonderful feedback with the lines so far. We're excited that they'll have good homes to go to once they leave SEI. Now here is another creation we hope you adore:

Serve up sweet holiday memories with the delicious flavors of Christmas Mint. With candy colored ornaments, luscious swirls, and yummy patterns, this collection captures the irresistible sights and smells of a cozy Christmas at home. Signature colors include meringue, three flavors of mint, and Christmas tree green, offset with cocoa and holiday red. Bright foil, pearl, and varnish paper treatments, along with designer brads, specialty ribbons, and coordinating embellishments, make the perfect ingredients for mouth-watering Christmas keepsakes.

Click photos to enlarge!

Next Up, Winter Song

Although summer is just beginning, CHA Summer is when our winter lines are released. I hope that the beautiful details of our winter lines win your hearts over. Let us know what you think about:


Reminiscent of a frosty day in the country side, SEI’s Wintersong paper collection is perfect for holiday & winter photos. Accented with warm flocking and sparkling glitter these papers also make beautiful cards and personalize gift giving.

Click photos to enlarge!

Lisa Rupp Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to everyone for entering our giveaway. Most of all thanks to Lisa for enlightening us with all her inspiration. So without anymore chit chat from me, the winner is:


Congratulations Debbie! Now in between your victory dance, please email us your shipping address to seiblog(at)shopsei(dot)com.

Sneak Peaks! Welcome Moravia...

This week is going to be filled with a lot of excitement. With CHA just a little over a month away, we have been receiving packages with our finished product in them. It's so exhilarating tearing open a new package to see lots of little finished embellishments and papers. We wanted to share these beautiful trinkets with our viewers. So each day this week we will be showcasing one new line that will be available at CHA Summer 2009. Also I won't reveal too much but I'd really recommend signing up as a follower (more details coming later this week). So first and foremost I'd like to introduce...

The rich colors and bold patterns of The Orient weave together with folk and floral motifs from Eastern Europe in this bohemian paper line. Flock and linen textures add dimension, accented by the glimmer of polished copper. Die cut pockets, wrap around belts & buckles paired with our new metal accents and brads make up unique embellishments. Stonewashed indigo, vermilion red and the honey color of antique sandalwood make a perfect ensemble for autumn cards, layouts and home decor projects.

Click photos to enlarge!

Generous Giveaway!

Hurray! I finally have a pretty recipe file like I've always wanted!
It was a lot of fun to make and the Poppy Collection is so great. I love it!!


I used these cute tabs to mark my favorite recipes.


Rubber stamps are one of my favorite things. You can beautify
any plain paper in seconds with these stamps
from the Windsor Collection!


This picture is from a recipe card that I picked up from Target.



I love how these die-cut accents aren't your ordinary recipe cards.
They're perfect for short recipes and guaranteed to make you
happy every time you pull one out!

Since my box was so big, I thought that another good way to fill it up would be to make recipe cards out of photos. Then while you're cooking, you can be reminiscing at the same time!


I made my box, but there are plenty of boxes out there that would work great for this project. My cards are approximately 3"x5" and the cards that separate them in to categories are .25" taller. I haven't labeled my dividers yet, but you can label them main dish, desserts, etc.

I liked using the Poppy 6"x6" Paper Pad for my cards because the backs are blank. This makes it easy to read the recipes. If you want to print your recipes on the back, I suggest you do it before you cut them. You can do it when they're small, but it can be tricky if you have a stubborn printer.

I love to see all of the pretty patterns, but I need to know what recipe is written on the back. To solve this problem, I made these mini labels. If you would like to use them too, you can download them FREE here.

Just print them on sticker paper, cut them out and you're ready to go!

Here are some cards I designed just for all of you. You can download them for FREE here!
I hope you enjoyed! Have a great day and good luck!

Wow! We want to thank Lisa for all the hard work she put into making this past week spectacular. The free click and prints are such a plus and we hope you all enjoy them. From Lisa to you there is one more gift. We want you all to be able to make these recipe boxes but we can only give away 1 kit that includes all the supplies Lisa used (except the box). All you need to do is leave a comment telling us what post you found to be the most inspirational, by Monday June 15th. (Please only 1 entry per person.)The winner will be announced June 16th. Here are the goodies that could be yours:

- Windsor Clear Stamps
- Stamp Block
- Poppy 6x6 Paper Pad
- Poppy Brads
- Poppy Die-Cut Accents
- Poppy Cardstock Stickers
- Poppy Foil Die Cut Sheet
- Moss Ink Block
- White Ink Block

You're Invited

Invitations, treats, friends... you've got to love parties! I sure do! I put together a few inspiration boards of some parties I would like to throw or attend. Enjoy!

COLORFUL BIRTHDAY PARTY

Dessert table by Amy Atlas via Design Mom |
Crewcuts by J Crew | party hats via Martha Stewart |
party favors via Rebecca Thuss

BRIDAL SHOWER GARDEN PARTY

Garden Party by Chelsea Fuss | Lovely Ladies by Abby Powell |
sandwiches via Design Mom | flowers via Jupiter Images |
calligraphy by Paperfinger | tree favors via Martha Stewart

My favorite spots for party inspiration:
• Oh Happy Day!
• Project Wedding
• Party Perfect
• Martha Stewart
• Once Wed
• {Frolic}

Inspired by Photographers

I'm not a professional photographer, but I do like to take pictures! Every once and a while, I can think of a creative way to take a picture on my own, but most of the time I'm inspired by photographers on the internet, books and magazines. Whenever I see a photo that I like, I keep it. I like the everyday photos, but I really like photos that are interesting to look at even when you don't know the person.


These photographs are part of a book I'm working on about my baby's first year. The idea is to capture moments and details of her life in a more artistic sort of way. I've been taking photos of her clothes, her favorite toys, the nursery, special events and her of course! I've been posting my ideas for her book on my blog. See them here.

* inspired by Flora and Henri
When my photos need a little boost, I edit them. I know... I'm a cheater! Like I said, I'm not a pro. If you don't have Photoshop, there are some really great online photo editing sites. My favorite is Picnik. It's very simple to use and it can make any photo look great!

Here is a before...

and after...

Lisa Rupp Design

I've been dreaming about my small business for three years and I'm very grateful that I'm able to do something that I love from home. While working at S.E.I., I discovered that I absolutely love designing patterns and I recently decided to make surface pattern design my focus.



I also enjoy doing freelance design for a variety of clients, from all sizes of companies to brides to be. Wedding announcements are one of my favorite things, especially when they are letterpressed! I spent a year with a company designing them every day. My wedding designs now are usually hand-drawn, font and all. See my portfolio here.



My illustrations started out as ways to show how my patterns could be used, but not all are drawn for that reason anymore. Although, I still like to incorporate my patterns into most of my illustrations.