Friday, September 6, 2013

Making a 4"x 6" Project Life Card out of Scraps

Since I've started PL I've accumulated a lot of "must have" kits and probably have enough for several years of scrapbooking but today I wanted to share how to make your own filler or journaling  cards out of scraps (as with most scrapbooker's I have a mountain of scraps).

I started with a larger piece of scrap grungy design paper (Basic Grey) leftover from a layout.


 I then cut it into 4x6 and 3x4 cards


I found this sheet of vellum baby quotes in my scrap box so I decided to use the top left one.
 Since my "baby" is 16 years old I didn't want the card to be baby-ish, I'm going to work with colors and items that are more suited to a 16 year old boy. I started stamping some background stamps and flags on the bottom left corner in a navy ink.


Next I adhered the vellum quote to the bottom of the card and decided I needed a bit more stamping so I added the arrows in the top right to balance  the design.


Although I could have left it at this point I went further and added a punched border from scrap navy cardstock and being a grungy looking card I tore out some of the pieces along the edge. I then adhered it to the card at an angle and trimmed off the excess.


Next I rounded the corners with a 3/8" corner rounder and inked the edges. Done!






Products used:
Basic Grey paper -Ambrosia-rind
Recollections navy cardstock
Stamps from- Stampers Anonymous- Tim Holtz, MME- Lost & Found 2- flag, Studio Calico- arrows
Ink- Stampin Up-Night of Navy
Crop-o-dile corner chomper-3/8"
EK Success border punch

Trying to get my crafting on....

Don't you just hate those days where you want to make something but you just don't know what? That's how I feel today. I've gotten up from staring at my computer screen several times now, stood at my craft table and just draw a blank. Yes I could finish one of the hundred projects I have started but I'm just wanting to try something new or well....just something else. If I scrapbook should I work on last years pics or should I work on my this years album? Maybe I should paint or.....no I don't think I want to sew today. My desk is a mess right now. Maybe I should clean that up first. I seem to be more inspired when things are clean. Hope I can get it together before the day is over :)


My work table is calling



my desk is not :P


Thursday, September 5, 2013

Mixed Media Layout

In this layout I have been practicing with mixed media so I'll run down a bit of what I did on this layout.`
-First I tore strips from the FabScraps paper and adhered it in the top left and bottom right corner. -Next I took cream paint and dry brushed over parts of the pattern paper to tone it down a bit.
-Let dry.
-I then used a chicken wire and circle medallion stencil, applied the gel medium over top in various places on the layout.
-Let dry.
-Khaki and Indian Corn were sprayed over the whole layout in random patches. Again dry.
-I painted the trinkets, flowers, crystals, and dry brushed the buttons in cream paint.
-Next I sprayed the crystals in Indian Corn mist (it blended too much into the layout in cream).
-For the script stamp I dipped it in paint (you must wash your stamp immediately after) and stamped randomly in the empty spaces.
-Last I adhered the embellishments, lace and photo on my page.



Products used
yellow/cream cardstock
black cardstock
Indian corn Glimmer Mist
Cream craft paint
Khaki Glimmer Mist
Black Kaiser Craft lace
Decorative buttons
Gel medium
Say It in Crystals- painted cream and misted in Indian Corn
Crafter's Workshop Stencils
FabScraps Paper- Classic Rhythm
FabScraps Paper- Trinkets
Color me Crazy white flowers, painted and misted
Stampin Up French Script background stamp
Spellbinders die for card

Monday, September 2, 2013

Thin Die Storage

Today I wanted to share with you how I store my thin dies like Spellbinders, Cheery Lynn, MFT and Hot Off the Press.

Supplies:
-zippered binder, the thickness will depend on how many dies you have. Inside pockets are good for storing accessories.
-8 1/2"x 11" magnetic sheets ( I bought mine from Walmart in the craft isle)
-8 1/2"x 11" chipboard ( I used 12"x12" black chipboard from Grafix cut down)
-something to punch holes through the magnet and chipboard (I used my Cinch)
-plastic page dividers (Walmart again, office supply isle)

Adhere magnetic sheets to both sides of the chipboard. Mark the holes using the page dividers as a template for placement. Punch holes one at a time using whatever you have to get through the chipboard (you may have to use the old eyelet setter and a hammer) If you are using the Crop-o-dile you may have to punch several holes to get them big enough for the rings in the binder.

That's all there is to it. Make as many pages as you need to fit your collection.

Here is a video showing how I make mine :)


Friday, August 16, 2013

Canadian Scrapbooker

Yesterday when I opened my email I was so excited to read that Canadian Scrapbooker wanted to share my craft room on their blog this morning! For those who don't know about this magazine you need to check it out. It is filled with techniques, inspiration and new products. Here is a link to the article but check out the other wonderful things on their blog


                                                                           Jen

Friday, July 19, 2013

Country Good Times Mini Album and a Card

It's been awhile since I've listed anything on my Etsy store and these items have been sitting around for too long waiting for me to get to it. The album is available for $45.00 CAD and the card is available for $4.00 CAD



Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Finished Quilt

Remember back when I posted these pictures?



Here is the finished quilt. The pattern is called Daybreak by Me and My Sister Designs. The fabric is Cosmopolitan.


And.....Tammy and Barb just got back from Quilt Market and brought me back something a little special


A fat quarter from Tim Holtz's new line of fabric Eclectic Elements. Thank you Tammy, Barb and Tim!

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

New Albums and A Tutorial In My Etsy Store

For the last month and a half I have been working on some mini albums and as I was making them I thought I would try and make a tutorial in PDF form to sell in my Etsy store as well. I'm really happy how it turned out.


These are the albums for sale

Butterfly Mini Album








Blossoms Mini Album







Blue Rose Mini Album








This is the tutorial that's for sale as well. You can make all kinds variations of these albums (as seen above and the video below) using this tutorial by changing the paper, embellishments, using dies and punches to get different looks. The tutorial is $7.00 CAD and will be emailed to you after purchase.


Watch the video below to see more :)




Monday, February 25, 2013

Storage Solution-Embossing Folders


Over the years I have collected quite a few embossing folders and gone through changes as to how I store them. This is my current storage. Hope it helps :)


Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Project Life First Week

At the beginning of January I had wanted to start a Project Life album for 2013. My format was going to be taking a couple of pictures a week to highlight that week and each week would get one page in my album. I didn't realize what a challenge this would be. It's so easy to just let life carry on and I found it difficult to remember to take pictures every week. Also I'm now trying to back track and remember what the reason behind certain photos were. I'm finding that difficult. I'm sure that it is a learning curve that I'll get better with as time goes on and be able to record things as I take the pictures and be more organized.

So today I stopped procrastinating and dug into the photos I had for week one. Other than trying to figure out what sizes I should print my photos I can definitely see why this method of scrapbooking is rising in popularity. It is really fun and could be potentially really easy (because I'm a beginner I'm still trying to figure things out and hopefully will find it easier as I go).

Another thing that's great about scrapbooking this way is it works through my paper stash (I'm determined NOT to buy more stuff for this) and uses my scraps! Because your working with smaller layouts within a large one you can cut your scraps to fit the pockets plus make journaling tags, little flag banners, and all kinds of little embellishments out of the smaller pieces.

Here is my Week 1- Jan 1-6. (sorry for the glare)


I'm using We R Memory Keepers divided page protectors. This one has a pocket that is 4"x 12" and (4) 4"x6" pockets. I printed my pictures just under 2"x3" so I could fit quite a few on this layout. I also printed a couple of thumbnail size photos. The paper was from my stash (yay!) Andrea Victoria by My Mind's Eye. I had bought a paper pack that had some die cuts with it. I plan to use this paper as far as it will go. The alpha stickers are Lily Bee designs. I cut the 2013 numbers with my electronic die cut machine.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Craft Room Reveal....finally!

Well I finally got it done (at least as far as I'm going to right now). After starting to paint in the beginning of January till now the room is finally ready to show. There are a few things that I still find cluttered and an eye sore but those things will have to wait a little longer. I want to get back to crafting so I am declaring it done!
















Here is a video tour of the room broken down into the areas I have for each hobby and it's supplies


Part 1



Part 2


Friday, February 15, 2013

What Am I Doing Today?

After trying once to film a video tour of my craft room I decided I didn't like the way my magazines were looking on the shelf. I had many magazine file holders but they were all mismatched and still looked messy and cluttered to me so this is the project I'm tackling today. I'm covering the existing Staples file holders with fabric and then I will use one as a template and make a few more to hold all the books and magazines. Kind of daunting but the two I finished look great!


Wednesday, January 23, 2013

New Quilt in the Works

This is the project I started today. Love this fabric! Cosmopolitan by Northcott. I got all my pieces cut and you'll just have to stay tuned as to what quilt this will become ;)






Girly Valentine's Card- Tutorial

It feels good to get back to crafting in my craft room  although I will miss the fantastic large window views I had in the living room especially now that the deer have been walking across our yard almost every day. I'll also miss watching sunrises and sunsets while I craft.

 Anyways here is another Valentine's Day card I made. This year I am trying to challenge myself to use what I have and not run out and buy what I think I need. For the paper I dug really deep into my stash and found three different pink papers, two of which I think are from the very first paper I ever bought over 12 years ago. Also a while ago I made myself these cute supply challenge sticks with a punched scallop circle on top where I wrote different paper company names or general color way, embellishment categories, and technique mediums. So I randomly picked an embellishment stick and a technique stick ( I knew I wanted my paper to be pink and from old stash so I didn't pick a paper one) and came up with using my Stampin' wheel (which I hadn't used in years from Stampin' Up)  and die cuts. I did use some other things as well such as ribbon, lace, other stamps and embossing powder.



For the first step I cut my pink paper (the plainest) to 4"x 5.25", inked up my wheel with Versamark then starting on one side I rolled the wheel across my paper then trying to get as close to my stamping as possible rolled the wheel across again to cover the whole paper with pattern.


I used Ranger's Puffs white embossing powder to give a slightly raised design and then heat it with my heat tool. It's really cool because it puffs up as you heat it. 



While I still had my embossing powder out I stamped a doily image (My Mind's Eye "the Sweetest Thing" stamp set) onto a gingham pattern paper and cut it out around the edges. The Puffs embossing powder really gives the look and feel of real lace.


Next I adhered my background paper to my card base (5.5"x 8.5" scored @ 4.25 and folded).



I cut a off white piece of cardstock with a Spellbinder's die (Lattice Rectangles) and a heart out of a linen pattern pink paper (because I still haven't bought a heart punch, it forced me to use my electronic die cutting machine which is good since I paid good money for that thing, lol).



Attach the die cut rectangle to the upper right corner of the base leaving about a quarter inch from the top and right side of the pink background paper. Add a strip of lace to the bottom of the card.


Using 3D dots adhere to the back of doily cutout and attach to lower left corner of the card


I stapled some looped satin ribbon to the back of the heart and then attached it to the doily with 3D dots. Stamp your sentiment (mine was Happy Valentine's Day from Stampin' Up) to the rectangle in a matching ink and your card is done :)