Little Yellow Bicycle + Maya Road...

i'm calling all Little Yellow Bicycle and Maya Road fans to the party today!

this week, the Little Yellow Bicycle and Maya Road designers have swapped products and come of with some amazing projects----tell me you've seen them on the Little Yellow Bicycle blog this week? if not, you're missing out! (psssst....there's goodies to be had over there too! don't miss out on your chance to win 'em.)

i'm so proud to be on a team with all of these amazing designers! my favorite project this layout by one of the Maya Road designers, Karen Grunberg, yesterday----oh, my, WOW! i literally gasped when i saw it! SO incredibly inspiring!

anywho.

i've been a long-time fan of everything Maya Road has to offer...i mean, who hasn't? while their chipboard pieces just beg to be covered, painted, sanded, misted, glittered, beaded, etc., i just couldn't resist leaving them raw for my project. have you ever tried it? it's been a long-time trend now, but i can't recall ever not fussing with chipboard and just using it straight from the package. something about doing that just seemed so......uh, wrong.

boy, was i in for a treat! it's so, um, effortless! and, lovely, to boot!

when thinking about what i would pair the Maya Road Mixed Blossom Mini Chipboard set with, i immediately thought of this picture of my daughter in the corn maze. the raw chipboard seemed like it would work perfect with the textures and colors in the photo. i won't lie though. i was tempted to at least stamp with versamark on them and add some clearly embossing. i resisted the temptation, however.


i also wanted to show the versatility of one of the older collections by Little Yellow Bicycle----do you remember the Clothesline collection? it's such a beauty. the grey tones and soft colors work so well with the bold colors in the photo helping it to remain the center of attention on a layout that is full of layers and dimension.

so, be challenged to use those collection intended for spring, like Clothesline and Elizabeth Park, and try using them with other seasonal photos. i bet you'll find it's not really a challenge at all!

let's talk about the details of the layout.

by using tone-on-tone alphabet stickers in a repetitive pattern along the side, i've not only echoed the sentiment in the journaling, i've also created and understated title that doubles as a design element. i think this might be my most favorite thing about the layout. i'm a huge fan of creating texture.

the combination of raw chipboard blossoms and the Maya Road Grey Felt Pearl Blossom might seem to be an odd one when looking at the packaging side by side, but on this layout, i think the felt blossom adds just the right amount of femininity without being overly frou-frou. again, i think it has everything to do with the understated chipboard--leaving them raw--and the blossom color being the same as the background paper helps appear grounded and not begging for all the attention.

lastly, i took a close-up of the journaling. this was just done by putting the journaling card right into my type-writer.

if you want the same look, but don't have a type-writer, you can:

1. Open your word processing program.
2. Adjust your margins so they fall within the measurements of your journaling card.
3. Type your journaling.
4. Print your journaling on regular printer paper.
5. Attach your journaling card directly over the printing you just printed in step 4 using temporary adhesive.
6. Put the paper back through the printer--same direction as before--and print again.

voila!

so, how about you? are you fan of raw chipboard or do you like to gussy them up!?