facebook friday: Jeyatha Thangamani

Congratulations

 Jeyatha Thangamani

your layout is our 

Facebook Friday pick this week!

facebook friday: julie wolek

Congratulations

 Julie Wolek

your canvas is our 

Facebook Friday pick this week!

guest post: Connie Fong!

Library Drawer Turned Shadow Box

- Connie Fong

A couple years ago, I found the posts for Deb and Paula’s Junk Drawer Advent Calendar, and I was hooked!  Deb and Paula are designers for 7gypsies and I’ve been following their blog (http://www.2gypsygirls.com/) ever since.  I've been inspired by their many creative ideas.


So fast forward to last month when Deb asked me to create a project for the 7gypsies booth at CHA. I was full of emotions: happy, excited, nervous and scared. How fun it would be to receive a box full of 7gypsies product; but how nervous I was to create a project for them that would live up to their standards.


My assignment was to make a shadow box from the library drawer.  I felt that was doable and allowed me to focus in one area.


I have to share with you how I started the project. I layed out and sorted all the product on my kitchen table. I stared at it all day and then went to bed, not doing anything with the supplies yet, but just allowing the ideas to crystallize in my head.   In the middle of the night the ideas came to me and I got up and sketched this.

The sketch got me going and the next day I put it all together. It’s so much fun to be able to take an item and try to use it in a unique way, such as using the rulers as my dividers. 

Here's some close up shots. One of my favorite items are the apothecary bottles.

I was happy with how it came out and hoped they were, too. (we were SO happy!)


Visit Connie's blog for more fun! http://artfulplay.blogspot.com/

facebook friday: julie wolek

Congratulations

 Julie Wolek

your dreams canvas is our 

Facebook Friday pick this week!

from the studio of: ann mabee

book board village

by ann mabee

We were tickled when 7gypsies artist Ann Mabee agreed to share her inspiration behind the amazing village she recently created using the new Off the Wall and Global papers!  

Here's what she had to say:

This past June as the gypsies were preparing for CHA summer, we artists were asked to come up with some inspirational projects using the products from the new release.  We were asked to come up with projects that went beyond what we’d done in the past and ones that were unique and diverse.  They were looking for several home decor ideas or things that weren’t the typical scrapbook or papercrafting projects.  Lots of suggestions were given and one struck a chord in me as soon as I saw it.  The suggestion was a global village.  A couple of years ago I made a house for another 7gypsies trade show release, but it was larger and had to be made to collapse for ease in transporting to the shows!  And on that one, the roof came off and housed an album about my oldest granddaughter.  So I knew I could build the structures.

I have always admired and been inspired by Julie Van Oosten’s work and I often go to her online gallery to just admire her many creations.  I have always loved her little houses and house projects.  So my first idea was to do something with the new Global papers in a village type setting.  But when I saw the Off the Wall papers, my mind spun in a whole new direction.  As a kid, I LOVED black Converse high top tennis shoes.  And even now three of my granddaughters live in their own black Converse high top tennis shoes!  They are timeless to me.  I knew I had to use that paper on the front of a house.  So that was the first one I created.  It’s an asymetrical building, so I could accommodate the shoes.  And when I saw the zippers, I knew that had to be incorporated, as well.  They just went together in my mind.  The rest of the buildings just took off from there.  Each and every one of them has a personal meaning for me and you can add your own personal touch to make your village truly your own.  Of course there are seven buildings in the set...just had to be one for each of the gypsies!  Once I got started, it was easy to find just the perfect 7gypsies embellishment to add just the right touch to make each house unique, but cohesive.  When I sent my village in to gypsy headquarters, I joked with my sister gypsy, Debbie, that I should have earned an engineering degree or something for all it took to design and construct seven buildings!!

I was tickled when I watched the 7gypsies webinar that was shown to retailers just prior to CHA summer this year.  There were several comments from store owners asking if the village was going to be a new kit!  I never thought I would build another village, but when my local scrapbook store saw the project and learned that I was the one who made it, they asked me to teach a class there.  Crazily, I agreed!  So I’ve recreated the village using all Off the Wall Papers in preparation for a class in the near future.  Now the hard work comes....cutting the bookboard and kitting the class.   The fun part is putting it all together, so I hope that the class participants will get to miss the hard work and just have the pleasure to creating their own little village to sit on a shelf or a table in their own homes.  I am planning on using mine and changing the decor around the village to coincide with the seasons/holidays.

I have a blog that I am constantly behind on updating, but it’s more of a personal journal than one that I use to showcase things I’ve created.  I think that’s because I don’t think what I do is all that great for people to fuss over or for me to toot my own horn about.  I do what I do because I enjoy it and because it gives me a creative outlet to express myself and to relieve stress.  My greatest joys in life are my family...my recently retired husband, my three children and their spouses, my 10 (soon to be 11) grandkids and my siblings.  And when any of the grandkids ask to come over to make a craft project or to create a scrapbook of an event in their life, I am thrilled beyond measure to accommodate their request.  It’s mostly my granddaughters who want to be creative, but I’ve made books about my grandsons and they are sheepishly happy as can be to see themselves on paper and highlighted in an album or a book!

You can see more of Ann Mabee's work by clicking HERE.  For more information about her class you can email Ann by clicking HERE.

We'll be posting a DIY tutorial for how to assemble your own bookboard house on Thursday so make sure you stop by and check it out!

caught on film: CHAS arrivals part 1

from the studio of: vicki boutin

mixed media art board

by Vicki Boutin

This gorgeous art board is layered with several techniques and mediums.  

If you look closely you'll notice that it is an 8x8 board collaged with new off the wall papers mounted on a 12x12 board covered with 7gypsies tissue, paints and finished off with brand new color rubbings!

Vicki was awesome enough (as always!) to share her inspiration and techniques with us:

I have a thing for tissue paper.  It is one of the most versatile mediums to work with as well as being light, delicate and oh so pretty!!  One of my favorite things to do with tissue paper is to create textured backgrounds.  

When I created this art board I wanted to move beyond a basic scrapbook page and make something dimensional and textural.  I covered the 8x8 book board in patterned paper and added a thin layer of gesso to create a collage look.  For the 12x12 piece, I decoupaged tissue to the base and added some color with paint.  Once it was dry, I rubbed the surface with gold paint and added the new 7gypsies butterfly rubbings.

The tissue is a great solution for imperfect surfaces, too!!  Super fun and easy!

You can see more of Vicki's work in our online gallery or by visiting her blog at: vickiboutin.typepad.com

look what we got: off the wall

Our NEW collection has arrived and is shipping now!

Off the Wall

Did you read about the urban art inspiration behind our designs?  

Our last post was dedicated to urban art and graffiti stenciling~ click here to read if you haven't already.

Look closely at the Off the Wall collection papers and you'll see layers and layers of different elements.  Some designs have textures created from images of walls from around the world combined with vintage graphics and even clippings from previous 7gypsies papers!

You'll also notice the silhouettes on every paper~ our take on the graffiti stencil art images that inspired this collection!  

Each silhouettes represent themes that are meaningful in our lives and can be interpreted in many ways. The child over the faded clock speaks to the childhood and passing of time, birds on a wire more whimsical and quirky layered over the Times Weekly, the globe and plane are a nod to travel and exploration, the hands reaching out in adulation at a rock concert...

The paper designs come in 12x12, 8x8 and 6x6 sizes.  

The smaller versions are perfect for cards, ATC art and mini books.

We love this mini village that gypsy artist Ann Mabee created using the new 8x8 Off the Wall papers.

These new chipboard alphas & numbers coordinate with Off the Wall papers.  They are a classic newsprint and look great with just about every 7gypsies paper!  

Check out the 7G in the bottom left corner for better detail.

The Off the Wall art tags are a funky new shape and you'll love the 2x3 size.  

hint:  they look fantastic in the artist printers tray, mini library drawer, or bound together with a premium binding ring as a mini tag book.

The new papertape has got us drooling...  

The full color printing is unique and hard to find on tapes.  We also love the graph grids and stripes~ these tapes are going everywhere with us!  

Can you say new must have at all times in our paper tape stash?

Click HERE to shop the Off the Wall collection now!