I Love the USA Blog Hop~

When I was given the choice to participate in this blog hop or not, I jumped at the chance and said yes. I love a challenge. It's not often a Canadian designer  really gets to create with red, white and blue and a patriotic theme. All of the other designers come from all walks of crafty life. Most of them with loads of experience working with fabric. I will admit, as a paper crafter...not often do I work with fabric. Those who know me will tell you that sewing machines and I do NOT get along. I am here to tell you that there is a product out there that paper crafters are going to love!

Here are some of the I Love the USA Blog Hop sponsors:

• General Fabrics~ America the Beautiful designed by Laura Kelly
• Plaid
• Fiskars
• Coats and Clark
• Buttons Galore & More
• Joann Stores
• Cre8Time

The I Love the USA blog hop is co hosted by Laura Kelly of LauraKellyDesigns.com and Jen Goode of 100Directions.com

So, there it is in the photo below in all it's glory...Phoomph. What is Phoomph you may ask? Simply put, it is a dense felt with a strong adhesive on the back and front. You can adhere fabric of your choice on one side (or both sides) and then using scissors or your paper trimmer you can cut the fabric into any shape you wish. Fantastic right? The other good news is that it comes in all sorts of colors. I just happened to use red, white and blue on my projects.

For my first project, I stayed with what I know best...scrapbooking. This is the layout I created with some of the fantastic products we were provided. Laura Kelly was kind enough to supply me with some great 4th of July photos.

I knew right away when I saw Laura Kelly's fabric that I wanted to create a great ruffle border for my layout. Make sure you use a good strong adhesive before attempting. Hot glue would work best.

I used Phoomph and a section of Laura Kelly's fabric for the title banner. I cut it out with scissors and followed the design itself.

The great red, white and blue button mix from Buttons Galore & More provided the perfect accent. I used the white embroidery floss to string each button, and the red and blue thread to tie knots on some of the buttons.

Something I love to do with paper is create mitered frames with patterned paper. Phoomph allowed me to do this with Laura Kelly's fabric.

My second project is a table display for a 4th of July BBQ. I simply added strips of fabric to the tray itself and knots of frayed fabric on the handles.

One tin holds drink labels and the Laura Kelly doodling marker by Sharpie.

The next tin holds napkin wrapped utensils tied with strips of frayed fabric.

The third tin holds sparkler cards. Simple cards of layered cardstock with a slit where the sparklers feed through. I added a small Phoomph border of fabric and I cut out the sweet little dog. Then I tied another strip of frayed fabric around the whole card.

Thank you for stopping by during the I Love the USA blog hop. I hope all that you've seen has inspired you to get a little crafty for your 4th of July celebration!

Your next stop while hopping should be Laura Bray's blog, http://laurabraydesigns.com/sit-upon

For a complete list of the Blog Hop participants be sure to check in at Laura Kelly Designs or 100 Directions