Winners of the Itsy Bitsy Pretty P Challenge

Folks! We are here with the winners and finalists for the ItsyBitsy Pretty P Challenge. This time we changed the methodology a bit. We invited all your fabulous entries and then opened the gallery to audience votes. The judges made their choices after considering the audience feedback as well as the number of Ps that were incorporated in the project. Bear in mind that audience feedback was not the sole deciding factor, it was used to help choose a winner.

So without any further delay, here are your winners folks! For Paper Crafting, it's Ayushi for this gorgeous and extremely girly layout! Love the quilled flowers and love that all 4 P's were incorporated in the project.

And for Jewellery Making, it's Berina for this stunning Crystal Set! Berina incorporated 3 of the 4 Ps and also garnered up a lot of audience support for it! Well Done!!!

Here are the Finalists for Paper Crafting in no Particular Order

Sathya for this awesome mosaic design card, 

Tanvi for this outstanding fridge magnet project

 Kaija for this mesmerising creation 

Charu for this perfection of Shabby Chic

Riti for this outstanding star album! Love the bloom! 

 

And Shilpi for this intricate frame! 

Here are the Finalists for Jewellery Making in no Particular Order. Since there were only 17 entries, we have chosen just 3 finalists.

 Radhika for this Quilled Chandbali Set

Anuja for this highly original ear cuff earring

Parimala for this bold and bright quilled set

Well done winners and finalists! You all have created masterpieces for us and I am sure you will be delighted with your accomplishments! We encourage all our participants to strive for originality and uniqueness in your creations. Those are really the projects that catch our eyes and will be rewarded. 

Winners, please write in to info@itsybitsy.in to claim your voucher and winners badge. Finalists please write in to info@itsybitsy.in to claim your finalist badge.

Hope you all are participating in the current challenge - Anything Goes with ItsyBitsy. Looking forward to seeing your entries. Till then, join me in congratulating all the winners and finalists for their amazing creations! Well done and Happy Crafting!!

Floral Hairbands for your Little Princess with a VIDEO TUTORIAL

As some of you may know, I have 2 little children. My son Dhruv is 4 and my daughter Kyra is 2. When I was expecting Kyra, I was really hoping for a little girl, one that I could doll up with pretty dresses, hair accessories and shoes. I was thrilled when she was born and began the dolling up almost instantly. But it is only now, when her hair has really grown long that I can devote my time to her hair accessories. I once did some hair clips using ItsyBitsy supplies which you can see here. This time I decided to make a hairband full of ItsyBitsy blooms and here's how it turned out. 

I started with a regular plastic store bought hairband which I then proceeded to wrap in floral tape from ItsyBitsy. Floral tape has this excellent property, it's sticky enough to stick to itself but generally not sticky, perfect for these kind of projects. My daughter has this lovely pink and blue dress that her grandmother bought her. I decided my hairband was going to be for that dress. After the floral tape, I  pretty much just glued down all the roses in a line and added some ribbon as a final touch. Here's a closeup.

 To see how I did it step by step, here's a video tutorial for you!

And here's little Kyra modelling the hairband. Like most little girls, she LOVES to dress up so she gladly put on the dress, happily let me brush her hair and was thrilled to have the hairband as a matching accessory. As you can see from the photos below, she was happy to pose for photos too!!

What do you think of my floral headband project? Do you think you would like to do something like this for your little girl? Leave a comment and let me know. Would love to hear from you!

Supplies Used

A Travel Scrapbook Album Packed with Photos!

I'm still in the process of putting together my holiday scrapbook album. If you want to see the first post which is the cover and binding method, click here. Now I will be sharing some of the pages of the inside of the album. Each page is dedicated to a different country that we visited and the 2 pages I am showcasing here are of Italy and Greece. 

So as you can see from the picture above, this is the Italy page. The base paper is a lovely gold theme from the DCWV Tradewinds stack. I found an extremely apt Embossed Tag titled Good Times which is perfect for journaling. I added chipboard alphabets which are heat embossed gold as the title. For the city name, I used Chipboard Lasercuts again embossed gold as the base and on it I glued  the name of city using my new favourite die - the Sizzix Doodle with Dazzle die. It's got all letters of the alphabet in upper and lower case and it has a pretty dangling star at the bottom of each letter, giving the dazzle effect. Here are some closeups.

I guess the best thing about this alphabet die is that you snip off the stars when you want something simple and straightforward. I had preserved lots of tokens from the trip and this one is a receipt for ice-cream - yummy gelato - that I went nuts on during the trip. To see the Doodle with Dazzle Die in action, check out this video tutorial!

I used the Spellbinders Fleur De Lis Borderabilities Die to frame each of the photo spaces which are all flaps allowing 3 photographs on a single space. So this page will accommodate 9 photos of Pisa.

My next page was the section devoted to Greece. In Greece we visited 2 places - Mykonos and Athens.  The top layer is for Mykonos and the inside flap is for Athens. Since Mykonos is a beach town so I used some net with shells to create the theme. The shell embellishments continued all over the Mykonos page to complete the seaside feel. Each of the phtotos are framed by a Scallop Rectangle die cut offering a pretty frill to all photos. Again this page can hold 11 photos of Mykonos. 

My Cruise Scrapbook Album is going to take a few more days to complete, 3 more countries to include and so many photos to print in different sizes. But I have to say, I am really enjoying it. I never tried this before and it truly is a pleasure to preserve all one's memories so craftily!

How do you like my album? Leave a comment and let me know! Would love to hear from you!

Supplies Used

The Anything Goes with ItsyBitsy Challenge

Folks, it's the 15th of the month and time for a brand new challenge here at ItsyBitsy. As you know ItsyBitsy is India's number one Hobby and Craft Supplies Megastore and we have literally over 15000 products to choose from. So your challenge this month is to create anything you like as long as it includes a product from ItsyBitsy. The challenge name is 'Anything Goes with ItsyBitsy because with ItsyBitsy, you can make almost anything!!! As always there will be two categories - Jewellery Making and Paper Crafting. 

And to get you started, here is some inspiration! For Paper Crafting, I created a gift set. I have to say I was extremely inspired by the submissions of last month's challenge. Mansi made a beautiful set which inspired me to make one. And Sathya created this fabulous mosaic design card which again inspired my project. Nothing gets me more excited than great new ideas and you ladies got me crafting like crazy!!

My set begins with a card inspired by the Mosaic design I mentioned earlier. I used a sheet from the DCWV Luxury Stack and cut it into little 1" by 1" squares. Then I used 2 Intricutz dies - one a flourish and one a rose to create that pretty white ornate design on top. I finished with some ItsyBitsy vintage roses, ribbon and beads. This card set the tone for my set. 

         

The next project was a coordinating gift box. I used the same mosaic design to start and added the same die cuts albeit at different locations creating a different layout. The flowers and beads continued here and the DCWV Luxury stack paper continued the colour scheme. 

Finally it was time for the gift bag with a matching tag. Here the beads became the bag handle so both the bag and the tag and devoid of beads. For some relief from the Mosaic style, I made the tag with a simple overlay of pattern paper from the same stack while the die cuts and the flowers continued the theme. 

Now on to the Jewellery Making Inspiration. Our team at ItsyBitsy really went all out to showcase our fabulous product range with this one. 

All the beads are terracotta and they have been painted using our artist acrylic colours. Isn't it just stunning!! Now that's sure to get you crafting!

Rules of the challenge:

1. For the Paper/ General crafting project, your submission can be a card, box, tag, scrapbook layout, dress, embroidery, crochet work etc - anything as long as it is handmade and
contains at least one ItsyBitsy product
2. For the jewellery making project, your submission must be some form of jewellery and once again must contain at least one ItsyBitsy product
3. Quilled jewellery or jewellery made out of paper beads will fall under the Jewellery making category.
4. Entries can be submitted until 10th November 2013.
5. Entries will be open to audience vote from 11th to 14th November 2013
6. Following this, the winners will be selected after combining both audience feedback and judges feedback.
7. In order to submit your entry, click on the inlinkz button provided at the end of this post, add your image and link to your blog post containing the submission. There is a separate button for each category.
8. If you do not have a blog, please create an album on any online photo gallery, ensure the settings are public and link it up as detailed in point 5. 
9. Each participant can submit a maximum of 3 entries within each category.
10. Submitting old projects is not permitted. All submissions have to be created after 15th October 2013
11. In your blog post, create a link back to this page - The Anything Goes with ItsyBitsy Challenge.
12. Entries are welcome from all over the world however if you are the winner, we can only ship your prize to an Indian address.
13. 2 winners will be selected, one for jewellery making and one for paper/general crafting who will each receive a voucher of Rs. 1000 each, redeemable online at 
www.itsybitsy.in.
14. In addition 3 to 6 finalists in each category will be selected all of whom will receive a badge to display on their blog.

Submissions for Paper Crafting

Submissions for Jewellery Making

Supplies Used

The Latest ItsyBitsy Store in Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi

If you're in New Delhi you will be happy to know that ItsyBitsy opened its latest store in Lajpat Nagar last weekend. It was an exciting day for the ItsyBitsy family as we extended out chain to six stores in India. Crafters, well-wishers, friends and shoppers all dropped by to explore our aisles of craft, to say hello and to enjoy fabulous discounts!!

As with all our stores the Lajpat Nagar store has a fabulous bead bar with a fabulous range of beads enough to delight any jewellery maker. The best part about the bead bar is that you can buy as many or as little as you like of each design, you pay by the gram. You can touch, feel, examine and explore on your own terms as you browse through the unending trays of beads!!!

As with most of our stores, the Lajpat Nagar branch has a fabulous little demo station intended to show how die cutting machines work, foam cutters slice and other nifty tools work. Sunita Tandon, well known crafter was kind enough to run the demos which were a massive hit with the visitors!

And how about our range of papers and card stock. Each displayed in our massive racks allowing crafters to scan through all the options and choose the ones they need.

The Lajpat Nagar store will continue to be on sale for one more week so if you're in New Delhi you really should stop by to stock up on your favourite craft supplies at your favourite craft store - ItsyBitsy!!!

Baby Shower Party Decorations with Itsy Bitsy

Those of you who have been following my last few posts know that I have been immersed in planning my dear friend Sowmya's birthday party. I made the party invitations in the shape of a diaper which you can view here, the take-away gifts in the shape of a baby bootie which you can view here and now it's time to share the decorations for the party. Once again ItsyBitsy proved to have everything I needed making the entire event quite thematic and pretty. 

My first order of business was a wall bunting made of pattern paper. I found a simple baby vest template online and then cut each paper following this template. I made about ten of them in varying designs all from the DCWV French Country Stack. I laced them together with some blue satin ribbon from Itsy Bitsy and tied a bold pretty bow in the centre of each vest. Isn't it adorable! Then using some blue tack I adhered it to the wall. The great thing about blue tac is that it doesn't leave any residue. You can just peel it off when you're done. 

Next I got to work on the table pieces. I wanted to make a flower pot with baby themed flowers. The pot itself was easy enough to do, it was just a box with a scallop edge, that I created using my rotary trimmer. For the flowers, I used varying sizes of scallop circle and plain circle die cuts, all from Itsy Bitsy. I alternated blue corrugated paper with pink card stock to make each flower. Itsy Bitsy has the most adorable baby embellishments so the centre for each circle had a different baby sticker. Some are even catered to pregnant women. A craft stick kept it in place and natural hay filled the pot. As a final touch, I added a ribbon with a floral centre for the base. I made about 5 of these and placed them on my dining table and side tables along with a rectangular doily to add to the theme. 

As a final decoration, I made some pompoms using kite paper from ItsyBitsy. I made about 15 of them and dangled them in little clusters of 3 all over the room. I have to say that my photos didn't do justice to the room, it really looked much prettier than this. 

All the guests oohed and aahhed over the decorations, marvelling at my creativity and patience, but they don't know what you, my fellow crafters know - crafting is our greatest pleasure right! Of course my husband brought me back to earth. He walked in after the party with all the decorations in place, literally dangling above his head and didn't notice anything - not a word did he say!

What are your thoughts on my baby shower decorations - I'm itching to know! Leave a comment and tell me! Till then Happy Crafting!!

Supplies Used

There's Still Time to Play in our Pretty P Challenge - Get Inspired with Baby Shower Party Favours

We're running a fun challenge this month called 'The Pretty P Challenge'. You can create anything you like as long as it has at least 2 of the four Ps - Pink, Pearls, Pattern Paper and Posy. A friend and I were hosting our dear friend Sowmya's baby shower today and I decided to create party favours keeping the Pretty P Challenge in mind. So what did I create? A party favour box, shaped like a baby shoe and filled with yummy home made chocolates!!!

Here's a look at the shoe by itself. I used some lovely designs from the French Country Stack which is full of pinks and blues, perfect for a baby project. I cut out the template by hand and then it was pretty easy to put together the shoe. Once everything was glued in place, I did not care for the join that appeared on the side, so using my magnetic twist trimmer, I glued a little strip to conceal the join. I replicated this on the other side, so that it was symmetric. I laced the shoe with ribbon with a bow at the end and finished with a rim of pearls. To comply with the 'posy' requirement, I added a pretty rose in the centre. 

I wanted to add some home made chocolates inside and was delighted to find that Itsy Bitsy had everything I needed. They had moulds to make the chocolate, paper to wrap it and convenient twists to keep the wrapping in place. They had all this in a variety of colours and of course I chose pink and blue to comply with my colour scheme. I stuffed them inside my little paper shoe with some net fabric which gave the appearance of socks peeking out of the shoe. Here's a look at the chocolates inside the shoe.

Would you like to make the shoe yourself? Here's the template I used. Cut on the lines and fold on the dotted lines, it's quite straightforward.

Still confused? No worries, I've put together a video tutorial on how I created this shoe, so watch this space for a step by step instruction set. I'm in the process of editing it and will publish it very soon. It not only shows how I made the shoe but also demonstrates how to use the Magnetic Twist Trimmer from We R Memory Keepers.

How do you like my little party favours? Would love to hear your thoughts!! Looking forward to it!

Supplies Used:

A Holiday Album Project

I had the good fortune to go on a Mediterranean Cruise in August with my husband, 2 children and parents. It was a wonderful experience, we visited 5 different countries and enjoyed fabulous food, wonderful sights and unforgettable experiences. I must have taken over 200 photographs so of course the first think I wanted to do when I got back was preserve at least some of them in a holiday album. I took some time trying to figure out the concept, but once I knew what I wanted to do, I wasted no time doing it. 

First of all, I wanted it to be large enough to accommodate pictures/ tokens and keepsakes I had preserved. So I decided to go with the standard 12" by 12" scrapbook size. Second, I wanted the papers I used to be somewhat nautical and imagine my delight when Itsy Bitsy introduced the DCWV Tradewinds Stack. It was like designed for my trip! Full of maritime themes and maps, it was just perfect for this project. The picture above is the cover of the album for which I used chipboard as the base and a fabulous ocean map pattern paper from the Tradewinds stack as the overlay. The text has been put together with chipboard alphas from Itsy Bitsy, all of which have been heat embossed using the WOW embossing powders. Here are some closeups of the heat embossing.

I was quite happy with the quality of the WOW embossing powders at Itsy Bitsy. There are so so many colours and finishes, it's so easy to find the colours that suit your project. To see them in action, check out my video tutorial below:

The next feature I wanted to incorporate in my album was a binding approach that didn't involve rings or spirals. I also wanted to avoid too many pages. Since we visited five countries, I wanted the album to have just five pages and all the pictures from each country to be viewed together. So I included a flap for every second page ensuring that each double page had in fact 5 sides for photographs. The pictures below will give you an idea of what I mean.

Here's a look at the double page when the flap is closed:

Here's a look at the double page when the flap is lifted resulting in 5 sides all of which can be viewed together. 

To see how I created this flap idea and the alternate binding approach, check out my video tutorial which provides step by step instructions.

Finally I wanted to share one particular embellishment I was thrilled to incorporate in my project. The Embossed Tags from Itsy Bitsy have always been a favourite of mine. There are so many different themes and designs, you will most likely find something that suits your project - just as I did. I found a 'Europe' tag, perfectly complimenting my Mediterranean holiday! How cool is that!! Perfect for my album and fortunately it was the right colour too!!

How do you like my project? Would love to hear your views! Leave a comment and let me know!

Supplies Used