A peek into Cameron's Nursery!

We can hardly wait! Around here it's all baby talk as we wait for my sister and her husband's baby boy to arrive! She is now 36 weeks along and the doctor says she's right on track for July 27th!

She and her husband just finished the nursery and it's so cute! They did so much work to transform this room into the cutest nursery... ever! I wish I had some before pictures because you can't even tell it's the same room - imagine... white walls, no chair rail and totally empty :)
So hard to imagine that in less than a month our lives will change forever - This will be the first time for me to be an auntie, too! Woohoo!! Can you tell I'm excited?! Eeek! She got a 4d ultrasound a couple weeks ago and we got to see his cute and chubby cheeks :) I've got to get my camera ready - lots of pictures when he's born for sure!

xo, Elle

Right around the corner!

We just wanted to post a little reminder about our 4th of July digital downloads :) The 4th of July is right around the corner! I can't believe it's already here, but we are so excited for it!

And, I wanted to let everyone know that our webguy didn't renew our SSL certificate :( - I thought this problem would be avoided since I reminded them two weeks ago:( Bummer... So, I added the 4th of July digitals to our etsy shop! If you purchase them from our etsy shop, we'll send you the download link within 12 hours of your purchase :)

Our website issue is fixed! Woohoo!! You can purchase the USA digital downloads at our site now :)
And... Remember this fun and FREE download from last year? It's still available and perfect for your celebrations! Click here to read the blog post and to download it!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
xo, Elle
p.s. We've been super busy in the studio ;) Some sneak peeks and other stuff should be ready to show you next week!

Website issue!

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are having a slight issue with our website. Our web guys are on it and it should be fixed soon!

Sorry for any inconvenience!
xo, Elle

June Blog Challenge + Winner!

Today we get to share some of the blog entries, from our June Blog Challenge, that were sent in by our readers! It's so fun to see what people are making and creating with these challenges! Here are some of the entries we had:

by Jennifer:
By Laury:
By Melanie:
By Mel:
By Jacinta:
By Laura:
Great job, everyone! Thank you so much for participating in our challenge!

The randomly drawn (from all the entries received) $30 prize goes to Jennifer!! Congrats Jennifer, please email us at info(at)shopellesstudio(dot)com to claim your prize!

Stay tuned for our next challenge! It will be posted on July 2nd!

Love you all!
xo, Elle

Come check out our new design team!

We are so excited to announce our new design team members, today, for the second half of 2010! But first we want to give a huge, HUGE THANK YOU to all that applied and your sweet and kind words! We love you all! We had over 150 applicants this time around and we had such a hard time narrowing it - so hard in fact that we decided to add an extra two members to our team, for a total of eight! So that means extra inspiration, extra creations and extra fun!

Please give a warm welcome to the following ladies who will be joining us from July to December:

Amy Heller

Anne Jo Lexander

Ann-Marie Morris

Jennifer Findlay

Lisa Andrews

Melanie Blackburn

Sheri Twing

Valerie Allen

Welcome to our team, ladies! We are so excited and honored to have you - we can't wait to see what you create! Thank you so much for joining us!
xo, Elle

June Gallery Debut

The June Inspiration Gallery is LIVE! The team has put together some really cute and creative stuff this month! Here's a little preview of what they made:

By Jenni:
By Paige:
By Samantha:
By Laurie:
By Daniela:
Make sure you check out each of their full galleries in our Inspiration Gallery! There is a ton of amazing projects that they've created for us this month :)

What a mix of emotions this last month has been! I’ve enjoyed this group of ladies so much and I was so sad to see their term end. This was our first team we’d ever put together and they were there for us for everything! Even thinking and doing things I hadn't thought of and helping with my last minute things that popped up :) This group of ladies is incredible – every month I couldn’t wait to see what amazing things they created. I love how each of their styles was so unique and special.

To our first team: Thank you so, SO much for everything you’ve done for us! The time we’ve had together has been amazing and words simply cannot express how grateful we are for the things you’ve done for us, the creations you’ve made for us and for everything that we couldn't have done without you! We love you!!

It's so bittersweet! With this being their last gallery debut, we will be announcing the new design team on Wednesday! We can't wait to announce them :) They are an awesome group of ladies and we increased the team size to eight members!

Inspiration Gallery

Just a quick note to let you know we'll be debuting the new Inspiration Gallery tomorrow...

Happy Father's Day!!

4th of July Banner, too!

We've been getting a couple questions about our Print & Create: Patriotic Banner kit so I thought today would be a good day to show you how it worked!

After you download the kit, you'll open the pdf file. There will be a file for each element: Papers, letters and stars. Choose which color scheme you want to use or use them all!
Then, cut out the papers and large stars that you want to use...
Choose the color of letters (or mix and match) and cut those out. You can use a paper punch or your scissors.
All that is left to do is to layer the items and glue them together with pop dots or glue! Then, punch two holes in the top for stringing a ribbon through and find somewhere fun to hang it!
This banner kit comes with both "Happy 4th of July" and "Let Freedom Ring"! So you could make either one, or both!

The best part about this kit is how veristile it is - you can make a simple banner, using the steps above, or turn it into amazing project, like this one below!

Sheri created this stunning piece, below, and we were so excited to share it with you today!
Amazing! We feel in love with what she put together - even the flowers are made from the papers in the kit! Thanks so much for sharing this project with us, Sheri!

We hope everyone has an amazing weekend! Thanks for stopping by today!
xo, Elle

Cupcake flags!

Cupcake flags are here!! I'm so excited about these! I was trying to find something really quick and simple to add to the tops of my cupcakes that I'm taking to my friends 4th of July get-together and I couldn't find anything! Then I decided to make something but I thought that you might want to use them, too!

They are really simple to make and you can print out as many as you need, since it is a digital download file! All you need is the Cupcake Flag file, toothpicks, scissors and glue!

Here's a little step-by-step of how they come together:

This is how the page will look after you print it out - print as many as you need.

I folded the paper in half before I cut, which made cutting them out super fast!

Now, gather your cut flags and toothpicks...

Lay the toothpick in a tiny bit of glue, the stick it to the inside of the flag. Add more glue around the edges and glue it shut!

Ta da!
Stick it in a cupcake and you're done! Super simple :)

We hope you enjoy this download! Don't forget, today through Monday it is 30% off when you use coupon code SUNNYDAYS at checkout!

Three new digitals!

Surprise! We have three new digitals in the shop!

Cupcake flags! These go great with our Patriotic Banner and Bags!

Our retired print design - XL Journaling Tags!

And, brand new, never been printed before, Vintage Number Cards!

To celebrate these three new downloads, we are giving you 30% off them today through Monday! Just use coupon code: SUNNYDAYS at checkout!

Mark your calendars - A journaling class is coming!

Mark your calendars and get ready for an amazing 3-week class as we explore how others tell their story, with tips and techniques to help you share yours on your scrapbooking projects! It all takes place here, at our blog, August 8th - 28th with a new post every day!

This class will be completely free and feature 12 wonderful and inspiring scrapbookers! Plus, we'll have tips, techniques, prompts, giveaways and MORE!

This is going to be our biggest event, ever and we can hardly wait for it to start!
xo, Elle

P.S. Big thank yous to everyone who sent and posted their comments and suggestions when we mentioned that we were planning this class, here! They were all great and we are working on incorporating them :)

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We are offering special sponsorship spots during the time of this class! If you are interested in sponsoring this event, please email us. Thank you!

Designer Spotlight: Laurie Rodick

Hello my name is Laurie Rodick. I live in Fredericksburg Virginia. I have six children Jeremy 23, Carley 20, Taylor 16, Jonah 13, Jordan 11 and Mckenzie 8. I have been married to Wayne for 25 years . I work outside my home at a beauty shop as an assistant. I did hair for 18 years, but I gave it up to be home for my kids. As the kids grew up I went back to work to feed everyone, just kidding but the extra money helps. I'm happiest when I'm at home. It's never really quite or boring, okay maybe when they are sleeping or just not home, lol! I love taking pictures, scrapbooking, and when I have time I love to quilt. My Grandmother and Mom were very crafty and they passed it to my sister and myself.

I love to cook and bake. I'm cooking more healthy now so it has been fun making new things. My daughter Carley loves to cook, too. On most days when she is home from college , you can find us in the kitchen. I love to read, I love to watch ghost hunters and criminal minds. Shemar Moore .... need I say more.
What is your favorite color combo?
I love bright colors, they just make me happy. I think my favorite colors right now are turquoise and orange. Another combo I like is pink and brown.
What is your favorite scrapbooking supply?
My favorite scrapbooking supply ...... Do I have to chose one? I have many! I love buttons, patterned paper and every kind of embellishment ! I could go on and on.
Why do you scrapbook and how did you get started?
I scrapbook to document our lives so my kids have something to share with there children. My family has all these picture of our family and we don't know who they are or any history about them I think that's sad. I'm sure there were some great stories to be told. My grandfather was quite a character. I wish I would have gotten all his memories before he passed away. I want those things for my kids, so that's why I do what I do. Besides, I just love it. Everything about it. It is something I do for myself as much as for them.

My sister and I had started stamping and making cards it was a natural progression to go to scrapbooking. I remember going into a local scrapbook store and my sister and I were totally overwhelmed. I remember asking her what do you do with this stuff . We soon caught on and I ended up teaching at a store and then working there too! Since then I have given up teaching and working at the store so I can be here with my family. Being on this design team has been wonderful experience for me! I have made some wonderful friends who are now like my family. I feel really lucky.
Who inspires you?
So many designers inspire me: Nic Howard, Nicole Samuel's, Cindy Liebel, to name a few. I love Nic's dimensional layouts they are so beautiful! Nicole's layouts have all these wonderful details and beautiful photos. When I grow up I want to be Cindy! She is an amazing designer and friend. Cindy is always amazing me with her great ideas, she does beautiful work. Carley say's "Cindy can pop out six pages in a day," lol! We will have to put her to the test.

Pictures of my kids inspire me. I love their faces and the funny things they do. I don't want to forget what they do. The older I get, the more I realize my memory is slipping, lol!
What is your favorite thing about scrapbooking?
I love so many things about scrapbooking. I love working with products,and working out my designs. I love the people I have made friends with just by doing something I love. I have made six more friends just being on this design team. I love that my family loves to look at their scrapbooks. I hope they will remember how much I have loved making them! When you make scrapbooks you are leaving a legacy for future generations. I think that it is important.

Thank you so much, Laurie, for sharing with us today! It was awesome getting to learn more about you and your family. We feel so lucky and blessed to have you apart of our design team! It's been a great six months!