Guest Designer: Becky Williams and a GIVEAWAY!

Hi everyone! I am so excited to introduce you to this week's Guest Designer Becky Williams.  Let's get to know Becky a little better ...

Describe yourself in 3 words … loyal, witty (when I want to be, my husband says), determined.

My guilty pleasure is … chocolate, without a doubt, especially Nutella or a tall hazelnut hot chocolate.

You’ll never find me without … my camera. Not very often, anyway. My husband and kids are very used to having a lens in their faces at any random moment, but I am so glad that they have pictures of so many things we've done as a family. The kids love to look at our scrapbooks and laugh at all of the old pictures.

You might be surprised to know that I … am not the best housekeeper. I do try but I would rather spend time with my family and scrap those memories than have a spotless house. The dishes and laundry can wait once in a while.

My least favorite chore is … putting away laundry. I don't mind the washing and drying and folding but it always seems to take a while for me to get it all put away.

I started scrapbooking in ... jr. high school with pictures of friends and pictures of celebrities I cut out of teen magazines. My mom is a graphic designer so I guess you could say that it's in my blood! I was on the yearbook staff in high school and it all evolved into what I do today. So, I have been scrapping off and on for about 20 years and still love it!

My favorite thing about this hobby is ... being creative and getting to know people from all over the world.

If I were a Pebbles product I would be …the cute stitched paper butterflies from the Fresh Goods line. I love 'em!

Becky created so many amazing projects for us today including this sweet layout about her littlest princess.  Here's what Becky had to say ... "On this page I used the cute new With Love kraft gift tags; the little punch outs were so fun to use and add right onto the pictures and I used one at the top right behind the picture collage. I also used some of the masking tape stickers to help adhere the toothpick flags.  I love stamps but don't use them as much as I would like so I wanted to find a way to use one of the cute With Love stamps on this page and was able to incorporate that into the title of this layout. The With Love collection has such a fun mix of embellishments!"

Pebbles supplies used:
With Love Sweetheart (751204)
With Love Love Letter (751206)
With Love You're Sweet (751208)
With Love Gift Tags (747160)
With Love Dimensional Stickers (732083)
With Love Ribbon (780014)
With Love Masking Tape Stickers (732086)
With Love Toothpick Flags (747159)
With Love Mini ABC Stickers (732087)
With Love Acrylic Stamps (747162)
Fresh Goods Flower Basket (751183)
Fresh Goods Chipboard Flowers (747155)
Fresh Goods Mini ABC Stickers (732079)

Other supplies used:
Baker's Twine
Staples


Here's what Becky had to say about her next project ... "One thing that I love about scrapbooking is being able to document the everyday moments in my life. It's the little things that we often forget but it seems that those are the things that make us smile most when we look back on them. My baby girl is growing and changing so fast that I wanted to capture this little thing - her drooling all of the time and getting her first two teeth this month.  The colors in the Fresh Goods line went so well with the colors on my daughter's shirt so I wanted to show them off by using strips of many of the papers in the collection. It's a great way to add color but not overwhelm the picture, which I wanted to be the focus of my page. I also LOVE to mix up fonts and colors on my pages as you can see here."

Pebbles supplies used:
Fresh Goods Local Market (751190)
Fresh Goods Freshly Picked (751193)
Fresh Goods Flower Basket (751183)
Fresh Goods Simple Joys (751188)
Fresh Goods Signage (751186)
Fresh Goods Daily Special (751185)
Fresh Goods Front Desk (751187)
Fresh Goods Ribbon (780013)
Fresh Goods Chipboard Buttons (747152)
Fresh Goods Chipboard Flowers (747155)
Fresh Goods Adhesive Notes (732080)
Fresh Goods Masking Tape Stickers (732078)
Fresh Goods Chips (744118)
Fresh Goods ABC Stickers (732074)
With Love ABC 2 Stickers (732082)
With Love Mini ABC Stickers (732087)

Here's what Becky had to say about her next project ... "I kept this page pretty simple, letting the pictures take center stage. I really like to add stickers to my pictures and the Fresh Goods Masking Tape Stickers were perfect for this! Also, I am very much into the chevron stripe craze that seems to be everywhere right now so I created one to go across the bottom of my layout - in green, of course, to go with the green alphas and theme of this page."

Pebbles supplies used:
Fresh Goods Come Again (751191)
Fresh Goods Flower Basket (751183)
Fresh Goods Freshly Picked (751193)
Fresh Goods ABC Stickers (732075)
Fresh Goods Dimensional Butterflies (747154)
Fresh Goods Masking Tape Stickers (732078)
With Love ABC Stickers (732081)

Other supplies used:
Border Punches (EK Success, Fiskars)
Staples

Becky also created cards for us today including this adorable mini mailbox and card set.  Here's what Becky had to say ... "When I saw the With Love line I knew I'd have to do something related to Valentine's Day so I went hunting at the craft store and found this cute little mail box. I also created some little note cards and will use this to leave messages for my husband and girls. The cards are 3x3 inches to fit in the cute kraft scalloped envelopes."

Pebbles supplies used - Mailbox:
With Love I Heart You (751203)
With Love True Love (751202)
With Love Love Letter (751206)
With Love Be Mine (751201)
With Love 12" Dimensional Border Stickers (732084)
With Love Dimensional Word Stickers (732083)
With Love ABC 2 Stickers (732082)
With Love Heart Button Candy Dots (744279)
With Love Ribbon (780014)

Other supplies used:
Paper Mache Mailbox (Craft Supply)

Pebbles supplies used - Mini Cards:
With Love Love Letter (751206)
With Love Gift Tags 747160
With Love Acrylic Stamps (747162)
With Love Scalloped Envelopes (747158)
With Love Dimensional Stickers (732083)
With Love Dimensional Hearts (747157)
With Love Decorative Twist Ties (747161)
With Love Adhesive Notes (732088)
Fresh Goods Flower Basket (751183)

Here's what Becky had to say about her next project ... "The dimensional stickers are so perfect for making cards! I used a couple of them on this quick card, added a bit of twine and it was done."

Pebbles supplies used:
Fresh Goods Mom & Pop (751194)
Fresh Goods Mini ABC Stickers (732079)
Fresh Goods Dimensional Phrase Stickers (732076)
Fresh Goods Ribbon (780013)

And finally here's what Becky had to say about her last project ... "While the twist ties are so cute and perfect for adorning treat bags I thought they would also be fun to use on this card. I used a couple of different ones here, a striped one and one with hearts and simply cut them to the length I needed and adhered them to the card. I punched out the "love" letters on the kraft tag and then put a piece of patterned paper on the back to add a bit more color."

Pebbles supplies used:
Fresh Goods Flower Basket (751183)
With Love Love Letter (751206)
With Love All Mine (751209)
With Love I Heart You (751203)
With Love Word Dimensional Stickers (732083)
With Love Mini Clothespins (744280)
With Love Decorative Twist Ties (747161)

WOW!  Talk about inspiring!  Thank you so much Becky for creating so many amazing projects with Pebbles!  And now for a GIVEAWAY!  To enter simply leave a comment on this blog post telling us which of Becky's projects was your favorite (if you can chose just one! LOL).  One lucky winner will be chosen at random to win a prize pack full of Pebbles goodies.  Submit your comments by Monday at midnight (EST).  I'll announce the winner Tuesday morning. Good luck!

Sketchy Thursday

For today's edition of "Sketchy Thursday" I asked some of our design team members to create a project based on this fabulous sketch by Becky Fleck.

Design team member Sarah Webb created this adorable layout about her son's first time ice skating.  Here's what Sarah had to say ... "Nothing like a good sketch and some of my favourite patterned papers to turn out a quick page. I've found that the Fresh Goods line is great for any kind of page and theme.  I modified the sketch slightly for two pictures instead of three and the page came together easily!"

Pebbles supplies used:
Fresh Goods Window Display (751189)
Fresh Goods Daily Special (751185)
Fresh Goods Come Again (751191)
Fresh Goods Front Desk (751187)
With Love Dear Valentine (751207)
Fresh Goods Denim ABC Stickers (732074)
Fresh Goods Dimensional Phrases & Icons Stickers (732076)
Spinach Button Candy Dots (744275)
Crimson Button Candy Dots (744266)

Other supplies used:
Cardstock (American Crafts)
Glitter Paper (American Crafts)
Metal Badge (American Crafts)
Punches (Fiskars, Martha Stewart)
Twine (The Twinery)
Note Tag (K&Company)

Design team member Valerie Mangan modified the sketch to fit her one large photo as opposed to several smaller photos.  Here's what Valerie had to say ... "While this sketch was inspiring me to use wallet-sized photos I didn't have a set of 3 either vertically or horizontally oriented. I got around that by using 1 large horizontal photo in place of the row of 3 smaller ones, then 2 detail shots in place of the vertical tree element. I used a mix of Fresh Goods and Floral Lane for this page which was perfect for the story of our Fall pumpkin picking outing."

Pebbles supplies used:
Fresh Goods Chips (74418)
Fresh Goods Embossed Masking Tape Stickers (732078)
Fresh Goods Chipboard Flowers (747155)o
Fresh Goods Chipboard Buttons (747152)
Fresh Goods Embossed Borders Stickers (732077)
Fresh Goods Mom & Pop (751194)
Fresh Goods Local Market (751190)
Floral Lane Smile Everyday (751123)
With Love ABC Stickers (732081)
With Love Mini ABC Stickers (732087)
With Love Gift Tags (747160)

Other supplies used:
Twine (Divine Twine)
Date Stamp (Office Supply)

Whip It Up Wednesday

Design team member Pearl Liu shares some step by step instructions to create these adorable Post It Note holders that can be whipped up in 30 minutes or less.  Here's what Pearl had to say ... "I was still in need of last minute Christmas gifts and decided to whip up these post-it-note holders when I found a few stacks of Post It Notes on hand."

And here are the step by step instructions:

1. Trim chosen cardstock to 7.5 x 3.5 inches.
2. Score at 3.5 and 4 inches in along the sides that are 7.5 inches. This is easiest to do with either a scoring tool (e.g., Martha Stewart's Score Board) or a paper trimmer with scoring blade.
3. Fold at score marks, up and over, and the basic structure is completed.
4. Take a stack of post it notes and glue to the bottom of the holder.
5. From here, it's really up to you how you want to decorate your holder.

Pebbles supplies used:
Welcome Christmas  Merry Christmas (751175)
Welcome Christmas  Candy Cane (751181)
Welcome Christmas  Candy Cane (751181)
Welcome Christmas  Dimensional Border Stickers (732072)
Welcome Christmas  Chipboard (732073)
Welcome Christmas  Felt Layered Embellishment (747144)
Welcome Christmas  Candy Dots  (744726)
Welcome Christmas  Wooden Button (747147)
Welcome Christmas  Ribbon (780012)
Coffee Candy Dots - Cardmaking ( 744238)
Rouge Candy Dots - Cardmaking ( 744240)

Other supplies used:
Cardstock (American Crafts)
Score Board (Martha Stewart)

Utah Warehouse Sale: 4 Days Left!

If you live in Utah (or are stopping by for a visit), be sure to make time to check out the American Crafts' warehouse sale. It's only open for a few more days.

Pebbles products are offered there, of course! And select items will feature reduced pricing. Have a great day!

How To Tuesday

Design team member Ashley Stephens shares a fun technique with us today for creating your own Christmas Advent calendar.  Here's what Ashley had to say ... "I know a lot of you are probably doing a December Daily album to document your holiday, myself included. I also wanted to have those memories in my regular album so I came up with this neat way to provide a little snapshot of Christmas - a scrapbook page advent calendar! You'll be able to capture a quick overview of the holiday without the stress of scrapping full pages of each event."  Ashley shares her step by step instructions for creating this fun holiday page below.

Here's what you'll need to get started:

Welcome Christmas Papers and Embellishments
Cardstock (any color)
Small Photos
Mini Glue Dots

First, you'll need to plan how many photos you want to include and divide your page into a grid so you'll know what size to use. I chose 12 photos - it was a nice, even number and I was able to include a large space for a title. I decided my photos would be 2" x 2" so I wanted my advent window boxes to be 2.25" x 2.25" that way I had a nice mat around the photos.

Then, you'll take the cardstock you have chosen and cut it into strips. You'll want them to be the same height as your photos (plus any extra for a mat, like I did) and double the width. So, my strips were cut to 2.25" x 4.5". I made 6 of them and 6 just 2.25" x 2.25" so I'll have a mix of  windows and just photos.

Next, you'll want to score them down the center and fold them over. You can use a scoring board like I have or just fold them regularly.

Now you'll add your photo to the right side of the strip and journaling (if you want) on the left. And last, embellish the front of the window. I've added Pebbles border stickers down each one to unify them, put dimensional stickers on some, numbered them, and included candy button dots for handles.

If you want your windows to stay closed like mine, you can use a mini glue dot. I take them between by fingers and sort of smash them a bit, just to get rid of most of the sticky. That way, you'll be able to open and close it repeatedly, without it becoming stuck permanently. You can also skip this step, especially if you'll be putting it into a page protector.  See, that WAS easy, wasn't it?

Pebbles supplies used:
Welcome Christmas No Peeking (751172)
Welcome Christmas Deck the Halls (751177)
Welcome Christmas Dimensional Stickers (732073)
Welcome Christmas Border Stickers (732072)
Welcome Christmas Candy Dots (744266)
With Love Mini ABC Stickers (732087)
With Love ABC 2 Stickers (732082)

Other supplies used:
Cardstock (American Crafts)
Thickers (American Crafts)
Die Cut Machine (Silhouette)
Baker's Twine

Mix & Match Monday

We hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend.  Today on the Pebbles blog we'll be mixing and matching some Pebbles products to show you just how well our collections can be used with one another. 

Design team member Jill Cornell created this wonderful holiday layout using both our Welcome Christmas collection and our With Love collection.  Here's what Jill had to say ... "I'm still very much in Christmas mode at my house so for my Mix & Match assignment, I mixed the bright colors of Welcome Christmas with the more muted shades of With Love. This is one of my favorite photos of my daughters from Christmas this year and I knew I wanted to create a layout about how much fun it was to watch their anticipation of Christmas events and activities."

Pebbles supplies used:

Welcome Christmas Merry Christmas Patterned Paper (751175)
Welcome Christmas Dimension Phrase Stickers (732071)
Welcome Christmas 12" Border Stickers (732072)
Welcome Christmas Jewel Candy Dots (744265)
Welcome Christmas Fabric Brads (744267)
Welcome Christmas Toothpick Flags (747146)
Welcome Christmas Ribbon (780012)
With Love Kiss Me Patterned Paper (751211)
With Love Be Mine Patterned Paper (751201)
With Love Sweetheart (751204)
With Love ABC 2 Stickers (732082)

Design team member Stephanie Baxter uses several different collections to achieve this fun and fresh color scheme.  Here's what Stephanie had to say ...  "I've seen a lot of images with a red and turquoise colour scheme recently, particularly on Pinterest, and I've always thought that particular colour combination looks so cute! So I decided to go with that colour scheme on my layout about my love and excitement for my new iPad. I pulled several papers and embellishments from across Pebbles' newest lines that worked well together and fitted the red and aqua theme. I'm always amazed at how well products from different Pebbles collections go together on a page and it definitely makes me want to mix them up more often!"

Pebbles supplies used:
With Love Love Letter (751206)
With Love Be Mine (751201)
With Love Sweetheart (751204)
With Love Dear Valentine (751207)
With Love Decorative Twist Ties (747161)
With Love Gift Tags (747160)
With Love Heart Paper Clips (744281)
With Love Button Candy Dots (744279)
Fresh Goods Flower Blanket (751183)
Fresh Goods Chips (744118)
Fresh Goods Fabric Brads (744277)
Welcome Christmas Deck the Halls (751177)
Welcome Christmas Button Candy Dots (744266)

Other supplies used:
Cardstock (American Crafts)
Thickers (American Crafts)
Pen (American Crafts)
Punches (EK Success)

More Holiday Cards with Melinda and Lynn

Design team member Melinda Spinks created created a gorgeous trio of cards perfect for the holidays.  Here's what Melinda had to say ... "I've been working on a plan for my Christmas cards this year to make my life a little easier as I've found in recent years that coming up with different cards for each person is almost impossible and I usually end up buying some to fill the gaps. This season I decided to have just a few designs and alternate the patterned papers to create a different look for each card. And I must say it has been so much easier. The 'Welcome Christmas' collection was absolutely perfect as it has twelve double sided papers which gave me a huge array of patterns to choose from and a unique spin on each card."

Pebbles supplies used:
Welcome Christmas Santa's Workshop (751176)
Welcome Christmas Deck the Halls (751177)
Welcome Christmas Sleigh Ride (751178)
Welcome Christmas Holly Jolly (751179)
Welcome Christmas Candy Cane (751181)
Welcome Christmas Cardstock White (71801)
Welcome Christmas Cardstock Crimson (71029)
Welcome Christmas Cardstock Spinach (751051)
Welcome Christmas Cardstock Pine (751057)
Welcome Christmas Duplicate Rub Ons (760276)
Welcome Christmas Ribbon (780012)
Classic Candy Dots Black (744237)

Other supplies used:
Punch (EK Success)

Next up, I (Lynn Ghahary) created a pair of festive bookmarks using designs from the Silhouette store.  When I saw these images I just couldn't resist - they were so cute! - and I knew they would be the perfect way to say "Merry Christmas" to my boys' classmates. 

Pebbles supplies used:
Welcome Christmas Merry Christmas (751175)
Welcome Christmas Santa's Workshop (751176)
Welcome Christmas Deck The Halls (751177)
welcome Christmas Santa's List (751182)
Welcome Christmas Ribbon (780012)
Welcome Christmas Crimson Button Candy Dots (744266)

Other supplies used:
Silhouette

More Holiday Cards with Kim and Elizabeth

Design team member Kim Kesti created a pair of cards demonstrating just how versatile our Welcome Christmas collection is.  Here's what Kim had to say ... "“I have to say that the Welcome Christmas collection has to be the most versatile holiday collection on the market. Today, I wanted to share how the same patterned papers can be used for totally different styles in paper crafting. The first card I made is very clean and simple, the second much more soft and cozy. It just tickles my fancy when the same papers can be made to fit many different personalities. Enjoy your holiday my crafty friends!”

Pebbles supplies used:
Welcome Christmas Trim the Tree (751171)
Welcome Christmas Christmas Gift (751173)
Welcome Christmas Merry Christmas (751175)
Welcome Christmas Santa’s Workshop (751176)
Welcome Christmas Deck the Halls (751177)
Welcome Christmas Gingerbread House (751180)
Welcome Christmas ABC Stickers (732069)
Welcome Christmas Candy Dots (744266)
Welcome Christmas Button Candy Dots (747147)
Welcome Christmas Rub ons (760276)
Welcome Christmas Ribbon (780012)

Other supplies used:
Cardstock
Twine

Design team member Elizabeth Carney created a set of holiday cards in no time at all thanks to our pre-made embellishments.  Here's what Elizabeth had to say ... "I love making Christmas cards and using the Welcome Christmas line really made creating them a snap with all the fun and colorful elements!"

Pebbles supplies used:
Welcome Christmas Merry Christmas (751175)
Welcome Christmas Santa's Workshop (751176)
Welcome Christmas Deck the Halls (751177)
Welcome Christmas Candy Cane (751181)
Welcome Christmas Crimson ABC Stickers (732069)
Welcome Christmas Welcome Christmas Stamps (747149)
Welcome Christmas 12" Border Stickers (732072)
Welcome Christmas Dimensional Phrase & Icon Stickers (732071)
Welcome Christmas Twist Ties (747148)
Welcome Christmas Crimson Button Candy Dots (744266)
Welcome Christmas Layered Embellishments (747145)
Welcome Christmas Layered Embellishments (747144)
Welcome Christmas Fabric Brads (744267)
The Mr. & Mrs. Pearl Pins (747086)

Other supplies used:
Cardstock (American Crafts)
Ink (India Black)
Floss

More Holiday Cards with Valerie and Sarah

Design team member Valerie Mangan created a set of cards with big, bold, and beautiful holiday messages.  Here's what Valerie had to say ... "With the full pressure of the holidays upon us, I was definitely feeling the need to keep things simple. With just a few of my favorite Pebbles products and some smooth white cardstock I was able to put together this set of bright and graphic cards that could be easily duplicated. The felt accents provide texture and dimension and the machine stitched silver thread adds just enough bling to frame the clean, graphic elements."

Pebbles supplies used:
Welcome Christmas Candy Cane (751181)
Welcome Christmas Crimson ABC Stickers (732069)
Welcome Christmas Layered Embellishments (747145)
Welcome Christmas Duplicate Rub Ons (760276)
Welcome Christmas Ribbon (780012)
With Love Kraft ABC Stickers (732081)

Other supplies used:
Cardstock (Bazzill Basics)
Silver thread


Design team member Sarah Webb created this gorgeous set of holiday cards using the same basic design and just mixing and matching products from our Welcome Christmas collection.  Here's what Sarah had to say ... "The great thing about using just one line (like the Welcome Christmas line) to make your cards, is that you can develop a design and then mix and match the product. For me, I love that each card is original but that my creative process is a little bit faster (yes, I am pokey ;)."

Pebbles supplies used: Card 1
Welcome Christmas Dimensional Stickers (732073)
Welcome Christmas Sleigh Ride (751178)
Welcome Christmas Christmas Gift (751173)
Welcome Christmas Ribbon (780012)
Welcome Christmas Duplicate Rub Ons  (760276)
Fresh Goods Spinach Button Candy Dots (744275)
Coffee Glitter Candy Dots (744246)


Pebbles supplies used: Card 2
Welcome Christmas Dimensional Stickers (732073)
Welcome Christmas Sleigh Ride (751178)
Welcome Christmas Santa's Workshop (751176)
Welcome Christmas Christmas Gift (751173)
Welcome Christmas Green Specialty Ribbon (58218)
Welcome Christmas Duplicate Rub Ons (760276)
Coffee Glitter Candy Dots (744246)


Pebbles supplies used: Card 3
Welcome Christmas Layered Embellishments (747144)
Welcome Christmas Sleigh Ride (751178)
Welcome Christmas Merry Christmas (751175)
Welcome Christmas Christmas Gift (751173)
Welcome Christmas Ribbon (780012)
Welcome Christmas Crimson Button Candy Dots (744266)
Welcome Christmas Duplicate Rub Ons (760276)


Other supplies used:
Cardstock (American Crafts)
Punches (Martha Stewart, Fiskars)