Hazel & Ruby / Michaels Arts & Crafts Reveal Party and Blog Hop

Welcome to the Hazel & Ruby / Michaels-Arts & Crafts Reveal Party and Blog Hop!

All month long, we have been celebrating our little secret....

Michaels is now carrying the entire line of Hazel & Ruby Stencil-Masks, Wrap It Up Paper, & Pass the Tissue Paper!  Now, it’s super easy to hop on over to your local store and pick up our amazing products.  We have made DIY easy and fun for everyone!

To celebrate handmade, we have gathered together some amazingly talented bloggers whose passion is to create, make and share every day. Some of these ladies will be regular contributors as part of Hazel & Ruby's Makery team, so you will see a lot more from them in the future. Each one will share project inspiration, product tips and how-to’s to teach and inspire. We are so excited to introduce you to each one of them and get ready to be awed!

For the next 2 days, you can hop around to each of their blogs, stopping by to say Hi and Hello!  Everyone is super excited to share their project ideas with you and how they were DIY inspired.

Simply follow the Blog Hop list below as you hop from one blog to the next.  Lost?  Return to the Hazel & Ruby blog to see who is next on your hopping list!

Hazel & Ruby  http://www.hazelandruby.com/blog/
Amber Packer  http://www.amberpacker.com/
Carmen Rogge http://theflairexchange.com/
Cheryl Sorce http://www.aprettycoollife.com/
Jana Eubank  http://janaeubank.wordpress.com/
Kelly Rowe http://livelaughrowe.com/
Margie Romney-Aslett  http://www.margieromney-aslett.typepad.com/
Ronda Palazzari  http://rondapalazzari.typepad.com/
Stephanie Bryan  http://stephaniemakes.blogspot.com/ (YOU ARE HERE)
Tamara Jensen  http://tamarajensen.typepad.com/lifeisanartform/
Tammy Tutterow  http://tammytutterow.com/blog/
Thuy Bui  http://www.mypaperpinwheel.com/
Tina Walker  http://adogslife-thirteen.blogspot.com/
Hazel & Ruby  http://www.hazelandruby.com/blog/

But what’s a Blog Hop without a giveaway?  Nothing, you may ask!  ;)

In Hazel & Ruby style, we like to celebrate BIG, so we will be randomly picking a winner who will win a prize package worth $500. We will be announcing the prize package over the next couple weeks, but it will contain product from your favorite manufacturers! (we like to keep secrets, can you tell?)

What do you need to do?
Leave a comment on the Hazel & Ruby blog AND on the blog post of our talented makers telling us what you enjoyed most about their ideas.  Easy Peasy!

We will also be featuring each of these ladies on our Hazel & Ruby blog over the next 3 weeks.

We will select a winner on June 6th and stay tuned for more details on the prize package (oh the suspense!!)

Blog comments are due by midnight MST, June 5th to qualify for the drawing. Winners will be announced shortly after the end of the comment period, so be sure to check back to see if you've won.

Want more Party?  Don’t forget about our Instagram Party!  Get out those cell phones and take a trip to your local Michaels-Arts & Crafts Store.  Show us how much you love Hazel & Ruby by snapping a
picture of the Hazel & Ruby display in the store.

You know what we would love even more? Take a #selfie with our display!  Tag your IG photo with #hazelandrubyslittlesecret and share it with us on Instagram.

On June 1st, we will be selecting one (or two) winners to win the ENTIRE Hazel & Ruby collection!  How awesome is that? If you aren’t yet following Hazel & Ruby on IG…. you can find us at @hazelandrubyhandmade.  Be sure to follow us so you don’t miss out on all of the fun and creative inspiration. Remember…sharing is caring….we would love you to share our good news with your friends.

Not on Instagram?  Please share your Hazel & Ruby projects with us on Facebook.  Really and truly…one of our greatest joys is seeing what YOU create.  You never know, we may feature your project on our Blog!

Are you ready to Hop?  Let’s get started!!!

I am so honored to be a part of this Hazel & Ruby / Michaels Arts & Crafts blog hop today!!  Thank you so much for stopping by!  You probably are coming over from Ronda's amazing blog!!  Glad you are here!

When I received my lovely goodies from Hazel & Ruby, I knew I wanted to create another art journal using the stencils/masks and paper rolls.  I grabbed a few other of my favorite supplies and had so much fun putting this mixed-media art journal together!!  Let's take a look!!

My art journal is a mix of canvas, Hazel & Ruby tissue papers/wrap it up papers, glassine bags and more all bound together with book rings!  It's just a like a little piece of happiness to me!!

The building process of this book was so easy and I'm super excited to share it with you today!

The front/back covers of my book are made from an extra canvas bag I had in my stash.  I used the "My Sunshine" words from the Child's Play stencil set and some mist along the middle of my bag to create a title.  

I used another bag I had on hand to create a pouch at the end of my book.  More on that in a bit!  

While I had my stencils out, I also used a few stars to create a journaling spot on the bottom of a piece of chipboard.  

To give my book a finished look, I used my sewing machine to stitch around the edges of my cover/end page.  

I also stitched around the seam of my polka dotted pouch to create a smaller bag for my book.  Instead of trimming my bag down and trying to stitch it back together, I like to just sew around the edges and then trim the excess off.  This ensures that you have a nice straight line and your fabric stays together. 

To give my book a little more sturdiness, I decoupaged a piece of chipboard onto the back side of my cover/end page.  Originally I had planned to keep the canvas bag as one piece (as shown above) and use binder rings through my bag and pages, but my rings were too large for this.  As you will see below, I trimmed down the middle of my bag to separate the front cover from the back.

My next step was to build my album base pages.  This is my favorite part!!  I love starting with a blank space and adding on pops of color, paint, mist and ribbon.  I used a variety of techniques here including sewing, painting, misting, and decoupage.  The Hazel & Ruby tissue papers and wrap it up papers worked perfectly here!

Once all of my paint was dry, I grabbed my photos and started assembling my art journal.  I tried to let my photos direct how I used each page.  Some are a little more "artsy" and some a little more "scrapbook-y" (is that a word?). I love mixing up techniques and tend to "go with the flow" when creating!!

As I mentioned above, I trimmed my canvas bag down the middle to create a front and back back.  I love the messiness of trimmed canvas.  All the little strings hanging down add the perfect touches to my journal.

Here's a look at my art journal.  It just makes me smile looking at each page!!  

Thanks so much for joining me today on this Hazel & Ruby / Michaels Arts & Crafts Blog Hop!!  I'm so excited that you stopped by!!  Your next stop on the blog hop is Tamara's blog.  Don't forget to leave a comment along the hop, as well as over at Hazel & Ruby to be entered to win a prize package worth $500!!  How awesome is that??

Happy hopping!!