Paper Piecings by Nikki: 1/1/12

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Ringing in the New Year Paper Piecings Blog Hop

Welcome to the "Ringing in the New Year Paper Piecings Blog Hop"! We are so glad you have decided to hop with us today :) This is a one day hop to inspire all of your creations for 2012! We have quite a group of talented ladies in our lineup so you are in for a REAL treat and I just know that you will be inspired as you start another year of crafting!

Each of these wonderful ladies has prepared a project that incorporates some kind of paper piecings :) For those of you who may not know what paper piecing is (and believe me you have no idea how many times I get asked "What is paper piecing"?), if you have ever used a cricut or other cutting machine or even cut something out by hand and glued it together to put on a page, you made a paper piecing :) Usually they are shapes, characters, letters or titles (among others). It is a very fun and addicting hobby!! I can almost guarantee that as soon as you do it once, you will have to keep doing it! It's so much fun to cut out all of your pieces and watch your little characters come to life :) I teach online classes on how to paper piece over on Betterfly if you want to learn how to do it step by step. There is a link on my website to sign up for one of my classes if you are interested :)

For the hop today, I have designed a digital layout with one of my new paper piecing pattern sets (no title yet), not yet released. I used Photoshop CS5 and Illustrator CS5 to make this layout. I love designing and drawing on my Mac! Everything I need is right in front of me and the only space I need is my lap (that is if my kids aren't aching to see what I'm doing...LOL)! This layout is in memory of my Momma <3 We lost her 4 years ago, very suddenly, on the 22nd of this month, so it only seemed fitting to design something for her. She LOVED giraffes and ever since she died, I find giraffes everywhere!! It's ridiculous, the amount of giraffes I see all around me all the time! I just know that it's her, smiling down on me and saying "Hello" :)

Love you Momma <3 Save a seat for me right next to you ok :)

If you haven't ever designed a layout digitally, it is really just as much fun as physical scrapbooking once you get the hang of it :) Drag and drop all of your elements and photos onto your workspace and Wahla!! You've got your layout to print and slip into your book :)

I design all of my own digital elements, paper piecing patterns and PNG clipart :) Stop by my store to see all of my pattern sets and clipart available for download :)

I will be giving away blog candy and will pick a winner and announce the winner on Monday. To be entered to win my blog candy you MUST:

1. Follow my blog and subscribe to my blog via email

2. Head over to my Facebook Fanpage and click on "Like" to be sure you don't miss out on my new patterns, digital scrapbooking images and clipart :)

Follow these directions and you will be entered to win my blog candy of $25.00 worth of paper piecing patterns from my store!

Thanks for hopping with us today! You are in for a treat! We have a very talented group of ladies who can't wait to share their ideas to inspire your creations for the New Year!!

Be sure to follow the lineup as it appears below so you don't get lost along the way :)

Your next stop is Mandy!

Have fun and thanks for hopping!!