Time for a blog swap! What's that, you ask? Two companies share products with each other, and then they swap projects to share with their readers. Oh, and there's a giveaway too! (at the bottom of both posts)

Check out the projects inspired from Ella eBooks that are made with the Cosmo Cricket products.

* Using the newest line, Delovely, from Cosmo Cricket, design team member Wendy Sue Anderson used Stretch Your Sketches as inspiration for her project.



"I was so excited to participate in this swap with Ella Publishing!  Because I'm a lover of sketches myself, I chose the book "Stretch Your Sketches" by Donna Jannuzzi.  It has 32 pages of inspiration to draw from...and more than 30 sketches!  It was hard to choose just one sketch to start with, but I ended up choosing the sketch on page 19 to inspire my layout.  I am actually planning on printing this e-book so I can use it as a reference more easily - I'm sure it will be a great resource to have!"
* To see the rest of the Cosmo design team projects inspired from Ella eBooks check out their blog.

* Now for projects by some Ella friends. They all used the Text Tricks eBook as their inspiration.

Featuring the Joy Ride line

First up is Katie Scott.


Journaling reads "Allison's Allowance: We recently gave the kids the
opportunity to earn a weekly allowance.  At first, Ally wanted to bank
it, but during a trip to Ikea - she found this tube & Igloo!"

(maybe next week we'll bank it - since we match the dollars they bank).





Designer Notes:

* I find Cosmo Cricket's products very user friendly - they are inviting and cute and because they are so versatile, they are just easy to use.  I love the inclusion of the 12x12 sheet of journaling blocks.
 
* I know that turquoise / aqua is supposed to be the it color this year and there was lots of that color in this line and I find that color to be a happy and fun color to use in scrapbooking, so yes the colors worked well.  Plus I liked that there was a neutral color along with black and/or white in almost every page so that I would be able to mix in other supplies from other manufacturers very easily.
 
* I have the kit out on my scrapbooking desk and even though I've made several layouts, I'm still really enjoying "Joy Ride" and plan to make many more layouts from this same kit.
 
P.S.  The only thing that I possibly don't like about Cosmo Cricket is that their products are two sided so that if I like both sides, often times, I don't want to "waste" the back side so I often times do a layout on the back too.
 
Also: I like that their paper is sturdy enough to use as the base of a page (instead of cardstock).

Monica McNeil is next


Even though these pictures span an entire month & could tell several different stories, when I saw the clock in the set of cardstock stickers I knew I wanted to pull them together to tell the story of how my family came together to watch my son the first month I went back to work. Text tricks had so many fun ideas I couldn't pick just one! I planned my title around the clock that originally inspired me, then I incorporated the title into my journaling & I used the a sketch as the base for my layout.

Supplies: Cardstock (Studio Calico) + Patterned Paper ( Cosmo Cricket Joyride: Detour, Round About, Fast Lane, Are We There Yet, Borders) + Cardstock Stickers ( Cosmo Cricket Joyride) + Chipboard Letters (Cosmo Cricket Joyride: Redline)

Now featuring the Material Girl line

Next is Barb Wong



Supplies: cardstock (Bazzill) + patterned paper (Cosmo Cricket) + chipboard embellishments (Cosmo Cricket) + letter stickers (Cosmo Cricket) + sticker embellishments (Cosmo Cricket) + ink pad (Tsukineko) + ribbon, adhesive pearls and staples (unknown source)

Designer Notes:
* The design tip I used from the Text Tricks eBook is "journal on tags." The Material Girl elements paper provided lots of fun journalling tags with a mix of good colours and designs–they inspired me to recall these fun, never-before-documented pregnancy facts on my layout.
* I inked the edges of all the patterned paper I used on this page to give the different elements a cohesive look. The colour black is actually repeated all throughout the page: the thin black photo mats, the journaling done with a black pen, the black cross-stitching, the black ribbon and my black hair in the photos.
* I was worried that the page would look "too full" so I left some breathing space along the top, bottom and left edges of the page. The common margins between the main block and the journaling tags on the side provide a visual resting place as well.
oh and I made and posted a card from my scraps

Moon Ko used The Material Girl line also


journaling reads:
You are a loser of teeth. Not a loser in life. No, that title would belong to me when I quickly realized I couldn’t pull the loose tooth out of your head. You came home to show me your tooth that was barely hanging on to your fleshy gums. All it seemed like it needed was a good pull to get it out. We got the string, wrapped it around your tooth and then ...nothing. I couldn’t do it. We tried for hours and every time we tried (and failed), I would get more freaked out. By the time Daddy got home, I was a ball of nerves. He yanked it once and out it came. So let’s just chalk pulling teeth on to my ever- growing list of things I can’t do.
 
supply list:
8.5x11 layout pattern papers (Cosmo Cricket Material Girl) + stickers (Cosmo Cricket) + letter stickers (Cosmo Cricket) + chipboard (Cosmo Cricket) + kraft paper + font (Arabic Typesetting)

Giveaway:
* Cosmo Cricket has generously offered to giveaway three goody boxes to three lucky Ella blog readers. To participate, leave a comment and share what you are looking forward to most this upcoming summer. The giveaway closes, Wednesday, May 19th at noon MST.

* Visit the Cosmo blog to see projects by Ella Friend Linda Barber



Never browsed an Ella eBook before? Download our free sampler to see what they are like.

The winners have been notified and are listed below
mklsutiger
alwayscharlie 
wonderdaisy