Maggie Holmes Mini Book!

Here's a closer look at the mini book Maggie Holmes made for our Inspiration Gallery this month! It's so cute and ready for pictures!!

Thanks, Maggie for the creative inspiration!!
xo, Elle

The 2010 Calendars are up!

We just posted the 2010 calendars, along with a couple of other things here! This launch is pretty small compared to our other ones, because we wanted to get the calendars up as soon as possible :)

There are brand new vintage calendars in circles, 3 x 3 inch and 5 x 5! They have the perfect vintage look to them and are so much fun! We reworked the Chic Calendars and brought back the calendar circles, too!

We hope you enjoy them! We'll be showing fun things to make with them leading up to the new year: Christmas presents, journaling books and more!

Happy creating!
xo, Elle

Birthday Pixy Stix Project - Free download!

We put a spin on the 4th of July project for birthdays! How fun would this be to receive as either a present topper or with a simple card?! It's perfect for kids and super easy to create, too!

The pdf file has complete instructions and template - click below to download the file! The only thing this download does not include is the center circle. They aren't required and you could certainly use something else, like a chipboard letter or other embellishment. If you want to use the greeting circles, they are available here.

{the free download is a pdf file that requires Adobe Acrobat to open. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader you can download it here for free}

We hope you enjoy this project! Happy creating, everyone!
xo, Elle

Sneak peek of what's coming soon!

Over the past couple of months we’ve been receiving a ton of requests to launch our 2010 calendars extra early this year so everyone can get a head start on their Christmas gifts. I am so excited to announce that we can, and are planning to this Thursday, June 25^th!

There's going to be two completely brand new designs {sneak peek of one of those above}, the Chic calendar designs have been redesigned and we will be carrying the small circle calendars again for 2010!

Make sure you are signed up for our newsletter (click here to sign up). We’ll be sending one out soon to announce when the calendars are up for sale and it will contain a special for our newsletter subscribers only!!

Xo, Elle

Fun 4th of July Free Project Download!

This project is super fun and something kids would really enjoy! Or, if you don't have kids, they would make a great decoration for around the house!

We made it using a Giant Pixy Stix, but you could use any stick candy and shrink our pattern, while printing, to make it fit! Or, if you don't want to use candy, you could us a painted wood dowel.
We've made this project into a download-able pdf with a full supply list, directions and cut outs! You can use the pieces as is or you could use them as a template to trace and cut out of other paper you have. You can also decorate it any way you'd like - we used crepe paper, glitter, our star stamp and a Martha Stewart border punch!

Here's a little peek at the download:

{the free download is a pdf file that requires Adobe Acrobat to open. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader you can download it here for free}

The only thing our download does not include is the center star we stamped in red ink. That stamp is not required, but if you'd like to use it, we have it available here.

We hope you all enjoy this free download! We love how it turned out and how vintage it looks! It just reminds me of something you'd see kids carrying in parades ages ago - that's why we named the project Pixy Stix Parade!

We'll have another spin on this project that would be perfect for birthdays coming next week :)

Happy creating, everyone!
xo, Elle

A tip from Maggie Holmes!

Maggie used the circle tags and cut them in half to create a custom scalloped border. This would also be fun to do with the ones that are all different colors to create a multi-colored border! Plus you can keep the other halves and create a second border on another layout!
The border is super simple to make, but adds so much to your layout! Simply take your tags and cut them exactly in half.
Glue the halves side by side and add a strip of paper over the top to create a finished edge!Adorable! Thanks so much, Maggie, for the inspiration! We love how you added little white flowers on the border, too!

Tin Can Flower Vase Tutorial!

Here's a fun idea we had to reuse a tin can (from our canned beets we had the other night for dinner) and to spice it up a bit, too!
You'll need a tin can, hole puncher (we used our 1/16), scissors, ribbon, and a tag!
The hardest part for us was deciding on what tag to use! It took us awhile but we finally decided on using a Granny's Doily Tag! Once you have your tag, you'll need to punch holes up both sides of the tag. The number of holes you'll need to punch depends on the size of the tag you're using. A good rule of thumb is to punch holes about every 1/2 inch. Try to line up the holes so they are even with each other from side to side.
Now for the lacing ... it can get a bit complicated, but it is basically like lacing a shoe, except you bring the ribbon behind the tin can.

Start by putting the ribbon behind the can and bring it up through the bottom holes that you punched on the tag.
The easiest way we found is to lace one end of the ribbon at a time. This allows you to get the ribbon as tight as possible.
Tip! Cut the end of your ribbon into a point. This makes it very easy to pull through the small holes.
Once you have one side of the ribbon laced, go back a lace the other side.
Bring both ends to the back and tie a bow! You can also tie the bow in the front center or off to the side.
Here's a front view before I decided to add some letters.
And, here is the tin can complete and ready for flowers!
It looks so cute on our table! And the laced ribbon makes it look so elegant, too! I think I'll give this one to my mom and maybe make another out of the tiny tin can for my button storage!

We'll have some more fun tutorials coming this week - we hope you enjoy them :)

xo, Elle

Retailers list updated!

A quick note to let you know that we just updated our Retailers List - look for the "Click here to view a list of our Retailers" image.

We are so thankful for each one of our retailers and encourage you to check them out and see what they have in their store!

Happy weekend :)
xo, Elle

We're back!

We want to give a huge THANK YOU to everyone who stopped by our booth - The Farm Chick show was beyond words! Terri and Serena put together such a fabulous event! The displays were amazing and the people were the sweetest! The mix of vintage + crafts was perfect. Plus, all the great people we met and got to chat with - It couldn’t have been better!

For our first show, everything went really smoothly! The only bump in the road we hit was that we forgot some of our tools, which our neighbor, The Barn House Boys, helped us out tremendously - I am forever grateful for them!

We were so, SO happy and honored to be a vendor at this event! We are already discussing plans for next years show and things we’ll be doing for it.

We’re going to finish this week with some good rest and we’ll be back to blogging next week with some fun summer projects and an exciting little announcement about some new things that will be coming to the store very soon :) Can’t wait!!

Last, but not least! We have two winners to announce from this post! The randomly picked winners are:
Shirley @ June 4, 2009 10:52 PM
Hope@ June 5, 2009 11:44 AM

Please email us your three picks from the store + address and we’ll get your goodies shipped asap!

Love you all!

xo, Elle

Retailer of the Month - Brunsons Papper & Scrapbooks!

Brunsons Papper & Scrapbooks is a cute little pink scrapbooking shop in Halmstad (Sweden) and it’s owned by me. Sara and I run the shop with my great friend and co-worker Sanna. The shop opened in August 2005 by a girl, Asa, and it was the first real physical scrapbooking shop in Halmstad. I’ve always, since I was little, loved to do my own cards and send them to my family and friends so I started off with teaching classes in cardmaking in the shop in March 200. I loved every minute of it. Now I have classes in both cardmaking and scrapbooking. Since the summer of 2006 I have worked part-time in the shop. In September 2008 Asa decided to sell the shop and it was a matter of course for me to take over Brunsons. I have put together a design team of 11 scrapbookers and cardmakers. They are a great importance to the shop and they inspire our customers and have made the shop what it is today! Without Sanna and my great designteam it would have been hard for me to carry on with Brunsons. I’m so happy to have them by my side!

We offer a wide selection of products for your paper crafts and we’re always looking around for new brands that are not so usual in Sweden, the shop. Elle´s journaling cards are one product that is very popular with our customers and they also fit well into the shops image! We also like to find out new things to do in the shop for our customers.

Our classes in cardmaking and scrapbooking are an important part of Brunsons. The newest thing now is that we can come home to our customers and have classes. Our customers have the opportunity to personally create classes which we teach in the comfortableness of their homes.

The shop is located in Halmstad city in a charming house called ‘Fattighuset’. Our address is Brunsons Papper & Scrapbooks, Bankgatan 5, S-302 43 Halmstad, Sweden.Visit us on the internet at www.brunsons.se

For the entire month of June we will be offering 10% off all Elle's Studio products! Make sure you stop by and check it out! Plus, our design team will be working with Elle's tags all month long, check out their designs on our blog!

Brunsons philosophy is ‘Do something creative today’ ♥

Welcome to us and our little pink shop!

Sara & Sanna

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Every month we will be highlighting one of our retailers who has a store special just for you! We feel honored to be able to support our retails and encourage you to check them out!

P.S. If you haven't entered our giveaway in the post below, do so now! We'll be drawing the name soon :)