Guest Designer Spotlight: Ronda Palazzari

I am pleased to introduce our April Guest Designer, Ronda Palazzari!

We are so thrilled to have Ronda here with us this month.  She is a fabulous designer and teacher.   I adore her artsy style and her ability to layer pieces in her work.   Her layouts always inspires me to try new techniques!  Ronda is the author of a fabulous book, Art of Layers (which we are giving away in this post!).  She also currently designs for Maya Road, My Minds Eye, and  Antiquated Collection.  I know you will love her work, make sure to stop by Ronda’s gallery to see her full projects.  Thank you so much for joining us this month, Ronda.

name: Ronda Palazzari
location: the burbs of Denver, Colorado
blog: HelpMeRonda
twitter: Ronda Palazzari
Favorite Elle’s Studio products: Day to Day cutouts, Day to Day tidbits, Happy Moments Stamp


Why did you start scrapbooking and how did you get started?

I feel like I have always been scrapbooking, especially since I was on the newspaper staff at my high school.  After high school I bought a scrapbook, the old fashion kind with the craft thin papers in it.  I cut out my articles from the high school paper and glued them in there.  I would add photos of friends and things like movie tickets, etc.  But when my daughter was born, I really got into it so around 1993. I found creative memories and did that for awhile.  I was always pushing the traditional ways and wanted to find my voice.  Blessedly I found my path and throughly enjoy it.


What are three products you can’t live without?
Spray inks or paint, stamps, tags, stencils and gesso.   You did say 5 right?
Where do you scrapbook?  
I have a beautiful studio in my home that has a view of the mountains.  It is painted in a light aqua color and very reflective of me.  It’s filled with open shelving and inspiration boards.  It’s my retreat!
What do you listen to/watch while scrapbooking?
I almost always have music playing in the background I have different playlists based on my needs like Get Moving, Easy Going, the currents, etc.  My favorite current songs are Flowers in Your Hair by the Lumineers, Hello my Heart by the Oh Hello’s, Radioactive by Imagine Dragons, Such Great Heights by the Postal Service, and Anna Sun by Walk the Moon.


What is your favorite color combination?

Right now, aqua, yellow, and light grey.

What/Who inspires you?

I think life inspires me.  I love roaming around this world and seeing the all the beauty in it.  I am inspired by the colors of nature, a window display, an act of kindness, a postcard, fashion, or a loving family member.  I just want to keep my eyes open and see it all.

Do you record every moment or just special ones?

Simple every day life.  I actually don’t do too many events or holidays, rather day to day and emotions. The way I see it is I want to convey my emotions, thoughts, and feelings on the events and everyday moments for when I am long gone, they will linger on.   I can pick up old photographs of my granny and her friends and I want to know the thoughts behind the day.  What was so special about the items in the photos.  What do the people in the photograph mean to her.  So that’s why I scrap the way I do.

Do you have a scrapbooking goal?

My goals are industry based. I would lot to do more License Design work, especially a stamp line.

What are three facts about you that others might not know?

I am an introvert and when I was younger I was painfully shy.  I have a two tattoos: a trinity symbol in heart and butterfly in remembrance of my sister.  My first job was at Kmart.   I worked the blue light and I was the Icee bear for them because I fit the small costume.

We are giving away Ronda’s favorite Elle’s Studio Products, to one winner

and a copy of her book, Art of Layers to one winner!

We will draw and post the winners Saturday April 13th.

37 Comments | Share This

Project Spotlight – April 7th


Congrats to this week’s Project Spotlight winner, ginalideros! Check your email for your $10 Elle’s Studio gift certificate to use in our shop! Her Love That Smile layout is awesome, we were so impressed with how she incorporated our Day To Day Collection! Such a fun page! Head on over to her gallery to check it out and you can even add it to your favorites by logging into your account and clicking on the “I (heart) this!” button. 

You never know when your project will be chosen to be spotlighted! Each week we pick a new project out of our member gallery to spotlight. For your chance to be spotlighted and to win a $10 Elle’s Studio gift certificate, just upload your project to our member gallery and tag the Elle’s Studio item(s) used!

1 Comment | Share This

Sketch Thursday

Hello and happy Thursday! Today we have a great banner layout inspired by our guest designer, Ronda.


I love this artsy layout Ronda created using a whole bunch of pennants and tags:

Colorful. Simple. Artsy. Funky… What will you create with this week’s sketch?! For your chance to win a $10 gift card to the Elle’s Studio Store tell us what you think or post a link to your project here. 


Last week’s randomly selected winner is… Julie Tucker-Wolek.

Congratulations!! Please email michelle@shopellesstudio.com the following info:
Name/Address:

Contest: Sketch 03.28.13
Prize: $10 Elle’s Studio gift certificate
17 Comments | Share This

Challenge Time

It’s that time!  Are you ready for another Challenge?

Here’s how it works: Every other week (on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of every month) we will give you a layout example and a short description of what to do/use for the particular challenge. Complete the challenge and upload it to our member gallery or your blog to be entered to WIN! The winner will receive a $10 Elle’s Studio Gift Certificate to use in our shop (winners will be announced during next Challenge post).

This week’s Challenge was inspired by a layout created by Lexi Bridges for our CHA booth using the Elle’s Studio You & Me Collection:


The Challenge is to use our tabbed tags as a frame in your layout!

Design Team members, Sarah and Katie, played along too!  Check out what they created:

by: Katie Gordon

Are you ready to play along? Entries are due by April 16nd, 2013 and the winner will be announced on April 3rd, 2013.  Here’s how to enter:
  • Complete a project based off our challenge to “using our tabbed tags as a frame”
  • Upload your project to our member gallery, OR your blog 
  • Tag all Elle’s Studio items used when uploading to our member gallery
  • Write in the description that this is for the April 3 Challenge (very important so we see it’s an entry)
  • Come back here and post a link to your project in this post.

Congrats to our winner for the last challenge:  Stampinmindy!!!

Please contact michelle@shopellesstudio.com with the following info

Name:
Contest: March 20 Mist Challenge
Prize: $10 GC

We can’t wait to see what you make!

9 Comments | Share This

Project Life

This week’s Project Life covers the week of March 11-17.
Activities this week included an eye appointment, a discovered shellfish allergy, a new/old kitchen table, a birthday, the library, learning to sew, and a strep throat diagnosis.  Just another full week in our household.

Did you see the vellum pieces used in the left page?  I am IN LOVE with this limited edition vellum found only in the Elle’s Studio shop.   I used it for my title/date page and also stamped on a vellum label on the photo with the baby chick.   Don’t miss out on these exclusive pieces!

As I mentioned, we discovered that my son likely has a shellfish allergy this week.   It is a noteworthy thing to document, however I obviously didn’t have any photos to go along with this discovery.  I did some searching on the internet and found this shellfish allergy button and printed it out.

This week I made an effort to adding a specific shape within my spread– circles!    I had various photos that featured circles and also circular “found items”.  I love how the repetition pulls it all together.

We want to feature your Project Life album!  During the last week of each month we will be featuring a couple Project Life spreads that caught our eye in the Member Gallery.  If your spread is featured we will be sending you a $5 gift card to use in our store.   Good Luck!

Project Life was created by Becky Higgins as a way to simplify how you document life and preserve memories. Photo pockets used in my Project Life album are created by Becky and can be found here.  You can read of all the Elle’s Studio Project Life posts here.

4 Comments | Share This

April’s Inspiration Gallery is LIVE!

Are you ready for another gallery packed full of amazing inspiration? Our April gallery is here and now live! Come check out all the amazing projects our design team and special guest designer have put together for you this month, with their main focus being on our new collection, Serendipity!

We are very excited to welcome Ronda Palazzari to our team this month as our special guest for April! Her work has always inspired me and we love how she also uses mixed media on her layouts! Look for her Q&A post in a couple days.

So, don’t wait any longer! Head on over the design team gallery and get inspired! Log in and leave some love for our design team, and don’t forget you can click the heart to bookmark layouts you love!

1 Comment | Share This

Project Spotlight – March 31st

Congrats to this week’s Project Spotlight winner, StampinMindy! Check your email for your $10 Elle’s Studio gift certificate to use in our shop! Mindy’s Smile layout is so cute, we love how she used the Photo Notes tag from our You And Me Cut-outs. And the layering she did is awesome! Head on over to her gallery to check it out and you can even add it to your favorites by logging into your account and clicking on the “I (heart) this!” button. 

You never know when your project will be chosen to be spotlighted! Each week we pick a new project out of our member gallery to spotlight. For your chance to be spotlighted and to win a $10 Elle’s Studio gift certificate, just upload your project to our member gallery and tag the Elle’s Studio item(s) used!

2 Comments | Share This

Our new collection has arrived – Serendipity is now in-stock!

We are so, SO excited to announce the arrival of our new collection, that is perfect for spring, called Serendipity! This new collection includes 12 x 12 papers, journaling and embellishment tags, and a stamp, and we’ve put together a blog hop today to celebrate!

If you are looking for the Serendipity collection online, you can purchase the entire collection at: Two Peas in a Bucket, Scrapbook.com, A Cherry on Top, Blue Moon Scrapbooking, and of course, in our shop today! You’ll also want to check your local scrapbook store, too!

We also have a very fun surprise for this launch! We have stocked a special, limited edition pack that includes two sheets of exclusive printed vellum and 5 exclusive, fun tag designs that would make a great spring mini book and more! Once these are sold out, we will not be restocking and you can only find this special set in our shop!

Here’s a close up peek:
And the fun continues today with a blog hop! At each stop you’ll get to see a fun project that was created just for this hop and a chance to win everyone’s favorite part of the Serendipity collection – so make sure you check out every stop:
Elle’s Studio <– You are here!
Christa Paustenbaugh
Holly Humbert
Jenni Calma
Jenni Hufford
Kate Vickers
Katie Gordon
Keri Babbitt
Megan Klauer
Sarah Webb

Thanks for joining us on this amazing and exciting day!

 

43 Comments | Share This

sketch thursday

Hello there! I’m happy to be back with another fun sketch for you today! This one is inspired by our guest designer, Emily Pitts.



Our current DT member, Sarah Hill played along with the sketch and came up with this amazing layout! I love how she did a lot of little banners instead of two big ones!!
“I was inspired by the pennants on the sketch. I still wanted to use them but have some fun with them. I decided to layer the pennants with Elle’s label tags and that adorable chevron-like paper. Since I used a photo of myself I wanted to layout to be simple, yet have a small design element.“

Supplies:

What inspires you?? For a chance to win a $10 gift card to the Elle’s Studio Store tell us what you think or post a link to your project here. 

Last week’s randomly selected winner is… 
sandi said…

Love the sketch and the lo looks fabulous too!
MARCH 22, 2013 AT 6:07 AM

Congratulations, Sandi!! Please email michelle@shopellesstudio.com the following info to claim your prize:

Name/Address:

Contest: Sketch 03.21.13

Prize: $10 Elle’s Studio gift certificate

9 Comments | Share This

spring cards


Hello everyone! We’re back with another edition of fun with cards. Today, we are featuring the Large & Medium Journaling tags on spring(y) cards. I love these. They can be used as elements, embellishments or as the base card itself! I’ll show you a few samples:

 so proud of you: on this card I used two journaling cards. I cut the flowers from one to use as embellishments and put them on a medium sized one. I softened the grid look by adding a piece of vellum, then used a lil’ snippet as the sentiment.


 thank you very much: this an example of how you can use a journaling card as a card base. It even has a spot for the sentiment (which I typed with my typewriter)! Love 🙂 I used my die cut machine to cut a flower vase, then added string and flower brads to finish it off.


so lucky to have you: This journaling card has a beautiful, subtle floral pattern in it. I decided I needed to embellish it without covering it. To do so, I added a big 3d flower big enough to make a statement, yet not so big that it will still show some of the background.  A simple doily and some brads added the perfect final touches.

supplies:

3 Comments | Share This