Archive for June, 2011
This summer, I’ve set a date to stamp with some of my friends. We’re celebrating the season of sun with a time to meet and create. Everyone is coming with their own ideas and away we go!!!
I’m designing a Little Cowpoke pocket album of our grandsons using a Cowboy Kid set to preserve our summer memories. My album will be on a ring with the pages small and decorated on both sides. I’m ready to go!
When you scrapbook, creating each masterpiece is much like dressing up for a night out. And adding a tasteful splash of glitter can provide the perfect accent for a breathtaking piece of art.
Glitter and glitz are in style right now–from sparkly purses to glittery cards. Glitter can provide a terrific accent when used with embellishments. It can decorate up a watercolored card or add shimmer to bubbles on a birthday card.
Accents can be just about anything that you put on your page besides your main focal point, which is usually your largest photograph. Even smaller photographs can be considered accents. Accents are used to complete the look of a page. Rarely does a page look and feel finished with only a photograph on it! A few well-placed elements provide precisely what is needed to complete a look.
A good cook’s kitchen always smells delicious with all of the spices that are used.
The secret of a good scrapbooker is similar. While the basic elements (card stock and photos) are necessary, the opportunity for true artistry comes in the creation of the accents. Images and tags, brads and buttons, ribbons and fibers….the options are innumerable, and so are the possible darling designs.
Leather and suede is a stylish addition to any project, and with the swipe of an ink pad or the dab of a sponge, you can add either of these first class looks to your scrapbooking project.
To create the suede accent, choose three colors; cocoa, caramel, and a mustard craft ink for the accent. Completely ink an alphabet letter or two on a card or scrapbooking page with the cocoa, then let it dry. Follow up by applying caramel ink randomly on the accent. Don’t worry about entirely covering the letter. It’s the uneven application of ink, with some light areas and some dark areas, that creates the suede look. Finally, repeat the same step with the mustard ink. Apply embellishments as desired.
Have you ever made a tasty-looking, multilayer cake that looked good enough to eat, but the ingredients for this magnificent cake included card stock, ink, and ribbon, instead of flour, sugar, and eggs? I made this cake the other day and hid inside each piece a party favor for my guests to take home. The best part was that there were no calories!
This idea can be adapted for any occasion by substituting a different color palette and using a different stamp set or other embellishments. You can also adjust the size of the cake by adding or taking away layers. I found the idea in a magazine and constructed the cake using my own ideas.
Father’s Day provides a fantastic opportunity for you to create spectacular (and manly) projects of card making and scrapbooking for your dad. I enjoy combining stamp sets and using fun accessories.
Watercoloring is a favorite way to jazz up a project. I use a high-quality watercolor brush to add color to my images. I also sometimes use a stamp of authenticity for a fun, modern look, especially by inking the portions of the images with markers. By coloring directly on the stamp with the brush end of the dual tip markers, I can stamp multicolored images with very little effort.
As you browse through magazines and wander through craft stores, you’ll quickly see that one of the hottest trends in card making and scrapbooking is the hardware. I want to keep up with the trends, but I also want value for my money.
I’ve run across a collection of all of the pieces that I need in one kit in several different places. The pieces and brads are the same color and style, and I know at a glance that I have enough pieces to finish a project. And their is so much versatility with the things that are in the kit. The pieces can be adapted for sanding, painting, or cutting off sections to create another piece. I’ve used them for putting words in label holders and ribbon through ribbon charms. I’m sure that you’ll find other uses for them.
When my friends and I meet for scrapbooking, we each choose a theme for our individual scrapbook and create the initial page. We then rotate our scrapbook to the next person in the group; that person then completes a page for the book using the theme the scrapbook’s owner has identified. When the circle journal is completed, we all receive our own finished album full of inspiration from group members’ life experiences.
We don’t usually don’t include more than 20 members in our group because the books get too bulky and take too long to complete. If you choose a smaller group of 6 or 8, your books will take less time to complete than with a larger group, but you will have fewer pages in your album.
I love scrapbooking for a variety of reasons. Scrapbooks preserve memories and provide the opportunity for me to share my deepest feelings and life experiences on paper and with loved ones who view them. Looking at others’ scrapbooks sparks fresh inspiration for layouts and allows me to peek into their lives. With circle journals, I can record a few of my own thoughts and be inpired by the wisdom and creativity of others–all in one book.
Circle journals are a popular trend in scrapbooking, and it’s simple to get started. First, I identify a group of friends who want to participate. I like to meet with these friends, but you may just want to communicate by phone, mail, or e-mail.
To be continued……..