Scrapropos

Several weeks ago, I gave instructions for papering these letters. Now that the recipient of this gift has received it, I can finish this entry.

Once you’ve papered and sanded the letters, and inked the edges if you desire that effect, it’s time to embellish! Choose ribbons, buttons, brads, jewels, charms, rub-ons, mini-frames… the possibilities are really endless. I made this set based on a sample in one of the Memory Makers’ “Decorate Life” books: Home Decor. (My local Target carries this book in the scrapbook aisle.)

I made letters for two other friends, too, but I forgot to take photos before I wrapped them for Christmas. One of them featured a crystal that hung from the top of the “C”. Glue Dots are great for adhering embellishments like buttons and metals to your letters. Tie on charms with bits of ribbon or embroidery floss. Mostly, just have fun embellishing.

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Someone asked about using Mod Podge instead of watered-down glue. I prefer Aleene’s Tacky Glue mixed with a bit of water. Mod Podge always seems to wrinkle my paper, and unless you’re decoupaging and planning to give your paper a top coat of Mod Podge, I’ve found that it doesn’t hold as well, either. Experiment and decide which works best for your needs.

Yesterday I rewarded myself by digging this Basic Grey ornament kit out from under all the piles of scrapbook paper and ribbon and doodads, and assembling three kicky ornaments. I wanted something to hang from my chandelier in the front room… something not “cutesy”, and something that wouldn’t break the bank, which has all of about $28 in it right now.

These ornaments fit the bill. At only $5.50 per kit, (which includes THREE ornaments), how can you go wrong? I found mine at my local Recollections. A google search showed dozens of pages featuring online retailers that stock them.

The first ornament took me about an hour to create, but after figuring out how to get that very last tab tucked in and glued, the other two took considerably less time. (The trick? There is no trick. You just have to wrestle with it and use something long and skinny to help press it down. I used a stylus. You’ll see what I mean when you get to that point.)

Embellish with buttons to hide the small hole that’s leftover, and VOILA! The coolest thing? When people ask, “Where’d you get these beautiful ornaments?”, you can answer, “I made ‘em!” Consider inking the edges and using Stickles to customize them even more.

I have a new tool in my scraproom. Jenner’s comment on my previous post made me think, “Yah! Why not?” I sprinted upstairs, grabbed the iron, bounded back down the stairs, set up a makeshift “ironing board” on my desk using a broken-down-ready-for-recycle cardboard box, removed the photos from the paper, laid the paper face down on the cardboard, set the iron on LOW, and just went for it. And guess what? It worked!

The wavy disformed paper pretty much went back to normal. Not perfect, but certainly good enough to lie flat on the page if I used enough adhesive.

So… word to the Mommas: your iron. It’s a handy scrapbooking tool. Who knew?

Graffiti. That’s one art form I’ve never tried my hand at. But last night, I was working with some photos that absolutely SCREAMED for a graffiti title. I had the perfect paper. I had the perfect pen. (My Zig Opaque Writer.) I went to TOWN.

All was well until the pen decided to hiccup. Not once, not twice, but three times in succession. All was STILL well after I used the excess blobs of ink to color in the graffiti art rather than leave it an outline.

All was well until this afternoon, when I discovered that all that ink dried my paper to a nice, unacceptable ripple. ARGH! No more of this paper. Layout must be mailed tomorrow morning. Must fix tonight. Grrrrrr.

I found this silly scrapbooking quiz while surfing for inspiration.

Apparently, I am fiber.

You are Fibers!Fun and crazy at times. You are a warm fuzzy kind of person. You run around getting things done but still find time for fun! You have so many diverse interests that it is often hard to pin you down to any one thing. People love your friendly attitude and carefree ways. You often brighten other people’s days. But Fibers Beware - Sometimes people don’t take you seriously because of your happy-go-lucky ways. Sometimes you find yourself feeling left out from decision making that could directly affect you. Even though you like to be happy and cheerful, make sure others know that you can also be serious and in tune with reality.

What are you?

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For years, I stressed to people in my scrapbook classes the importance of being caught up. For years, I stayed caught up with my own albums. Guess what? I’M OVER IT!!

I’m having so much more fun these days than I did back then.
My pages are alive with more of my personality and more of my faith and more of my life.
Why? Because I allow myself more time with each layout.
Before, I powered through the pages just to be able to say they were done. The victory was in the quantity. Now, the victory is in the process. I’ve given myself permission to be behind, and that has been so FREEING. Gone is the stress of scrapbooking, and ALIVE with PASSION is the JOY of scrapbooking!

Go ahead. Give yourself permission to NOT be caught up.
Just scrap in the moment.
Don’t worry.
Don’t sweat it.
Live it.
Photograph it.
Enjoy it.
Scrap it.

Even if it happened yesterday and your album is still stuck in 2003.

LET. IT. GO.
Be free!

One of my favorite things each year is designing our family Christmas card. This year, I had a brilliant plan and I started early. I bought these cool vellum sleeves at Joanns, and envelopes to fit, and staged the photo way ahead of time. I designed the “Year in Review” part of the card in Publisher (an idea I borrowed from the gallery at 2Peas). As soon as the Christmas lights were up on our house, we took the photo. I addressed all the envelopes. Then I had the photo printed.

Gak! It was way too dark! You couldn’t even see the house or Darren and me in the background. It was all black. So I tweaked the photo and printed again. Then I started printing the sleeves.

Gak! The printer kept eating the vellum and wrinkling it. Sometimes the vellum came out all smeared and torn. There was a catfight going on inside my printer and there was nothing I could do to stop it. After wasting 18 vellum sleeves trying different tricks and techniques to get the dumb things to print, I finally threw up my hands in disgust and said, “I’m going to Staples!”, where I bought a pack of plain vellum sheets and a tin of shortbread cookies, which I won’t be tempted by, but it felt good to buy. *sigh*

Four hours later, 75 cards are printed, assembled, stamped and ready for tomorrow’s mail.

Don’tcha hate it when your perfect picture is horizontal and you need something vertical? Me too. Thank goodness for digital cropping.

(For the star, I used Creative Memories’ Star Maker and “Star Dust” Stickles, which I painted on with a foam brush.)

So you’re scrapping along, and come to the right-hand side of a spread. But ALAS! Next up is a two-page spread that needs to start on the left-hand side. So you flip the page and have at it.

What do you do when you’ve got a blank page in the middle of your album, and no idea how to fill it?
Try these ideas on for size:

(Click photo to see larger image)

I’ve decided to begin yet another scrapbook. YAY! lol

This one will be titled “Big Fat Loser”, and it’ll chronicle my weight loss journey.

As of today, I’ve lost 10 of the 140 pounds I want to lose.

Every ten pounds, I’ll take a photo of me holding something that represents that ten pounds. Today, Darren will accompany me on a hot date to the grocery store where we’ll shoot pictures of me holding a 10# bag of potatoes.

Just imagine: at the end of this journey, I’ll be holding a whole ADULT PERSON! Wowza!

It’s gonna be a great book. ANd it’ll be a neat reward every ten pounds to get to make a new page.

The holidays are my favorite thing to scrap each year. In fact, I have albums dedicated to just Thanksgiving and Christmas! Our Holiday albums come off the bookcase each year and become part of the holiday décor, taking center stage on top of the piano. It’s fun to look back over past holidays and reminisce! Every event and activity we participate in each year gets a place in the album, from decorating the tree to baking cookies to caroling around the piano. But aside from the activities I highlight in the scrapbook, there are several other traditions I’ve included. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Recipes With the pictures of Christmas dinner (don’t forget to get photos of everyone scurrying around the kitchen in preparation, and of the table before everyone digs in!), I always include a recipe of one of the dishes. If I can get it in my Mom’s handwriting, or an Aunt’s, that’s even better! Christmas cookie recipes go in as well, sometimes on the baking cookies page, and sometimes on the Christmas Eve page, alongside a photo of the cookies we leave out for Santa.

2. Christmas Cards Making and sending Christmas cards is one of my favorite things about the season! The card we send out always gets a layout all to itself, along with the postage stamp we used that year. It’s also fun to include a layout of all the Christmas card photo rejects!

3.The cards we receive get scrapped, too. If you include a photograph in your card, it goes in our album! I cut out the signatures and personal notes from the cards and mount them next to the photos. Every once in a while, if there is an exceptionally sentimental note written in a card, even if it doesn’t include a photo, it goes in as well. And I always make room for my favorite card we received that year…uncut. Some years it’s a whimsical Santa Claus-y card, and sometimes it’s a reverent Christian card. Either way, it’s always fun to look back at the cards we received!

4. Dear Santa The first time I let Dani write in one of our scrapbooks, I was a nervous wreck! She was writing crooked, and misspelling words, and I about hyperventilated! I’m so glad I learned to chill out about things like that, because that first page was a letter to Santa. And even with its misspelled words and crooked lines, I wouldn’t change it for the world! Aidan is old enough this year to write his own letter. He won’t believe it when I tell him he gets to write it in The Book!

5. GIFTS Some of my favorite pages are about the presents we give. Since my husband and I both come from large families, we started drawing Secret Santa names years ago. I like to journal about what we gave our Secret Santa each year, along with their reaction to the gift. And of course, it’s nice to look back and be thankful for what we received as well. Some years I include receipts for the gifts we bought - it’ll be interesting to future generations!

6. Our house in lights. It’s a little different every year, because every year we add a little something extra. I know it’ll be fun to look back on in years to come. I only hope we don’t say, “Whoa. The neighbors weren’t kidding when they called us ‘The Griswolds’!”

I hope this inspires you to start a new scrapbook tradition or two this year! Keep your digital batteries charged and have fun taking pictures. Don’t skip photographing the annual traditions “because we do it every year”. That’s what makes your traditions YOURS. Celebrate them!

Merry Christmas, and Happy Scrapping.

If you haven’t stumbled on this artist yet, check her out NOW.

Her creations are amazing and fun, and they’ve inspired me to whip up a layout. Just today, I mentioned to friends while having coffee that I had this idea in my head. I had no idea how I’d do it when I spoke to them 7 hours ago, but after viewing Claudine’s artwork, I am totally and completely inspired and I can’t wait to start! I think I’ll do the layout, and then also do a second piece of the same layout, on canvas. It’ll be a Christmas gift for Dani, my 15-year old daughter.

I’m so excited to start, I can hardly STAND it.

See? Inspiration can be found anywhere.
What unlikely place did YOU find inspiration lately?

I recently created a Christmas gift using wooden letters from Making Memories (found at my local Target), coordinated paper and fibers (also Making Memories), and assorted embellishments.

Covering the letters in paper is easier than you think. Here’s how:

Supplies needed:
Your letter
scrapbooking paper
glue (I use Alene’s)
water
foam brush
craft blade or scissors
bone folder, popsicle stick, or other smooth rubbing tool (I used the round barrel of my blade)
sanding pad

1. PAINT THE GLUE ONTO YOUR LETTER.
Squirt a liberal amount of glue onto a plate or paint tray. Dip your foam brush into water, then rub it into your glue, thinning out the glue. Paint the glue onto the entire top surface of your letter. You don’t want the glue too runny. (If it has bubbles in it when you paint it on, it’s too runny. Just brush the bubbles out.) You also don’t want it too thick, because then it doesn’t spread evenly.

2. PAINT THE GLUE ONTO THE BACK OF YOUR PAPER.
In this case, I used pre-cut 6×6 paper, which was the perfect size for my letters. Don’t worry about cutting your paper in the shape of your letter. Just cut it in a square or rectangle slightly larger than your letter. It’s especially important here to make sure the glue isn’t too runny, because it will make your paper buckle and wave. Spread the glue evenly over the back of the paper you’re using to cover the letter. You don’t need a heavy coating of glue - on the paper, the thinner, the better.

3. ADHERE PAPER TO YOUR LETTER
Carefully place the paper on top of your letter, being careful to line up the paper so that the entire surface of the letter is covered. Using a smoothing tool (I used the round barrel of my craft blade), smooth the paper and press it into the letter. You’re almost “ironing” the paper down to the letter. Make sure there are no bubbles, wrinkles, or unglued edges. Let dry.

4. CUT INTO CORNERS AND CURVES
Once the glue is completely dry, cut into the corners and curves of your letter using scissors or a blade. You’re not trying to cut around the letter - you’re simply cutting a straight line from the outside edge of the paper to the edge of the letter. Like so:

5. SAND OFF THE PAPER
This is the coolest part! Using your sanding pad (or a piece of fine sand paper), start on the straightest edge of your letter and begin sanding the edge of the paper. The paper will begin to fold along the edge of the letter (see above photo) and the sanding will eventually cut the paper off. Work your sanding pad into the corners and curves of your letter until all edges are smooth and clean.

Sometimes, there are little paper stragglers left after you’ve sanded off the bulk of the paper. Just go back with your sanding pad and sand them off. They shouldn’t be stuck to your letter, because the glue dried on the back of the paper before you began sanding. You can also carefully tear the paper off, but make sure to tear AWAY from the letter, not toward it.

VOILA! You’ve got a perfectly papered letter.
From here, you can ink the edges, add fibers and ribbons, photos, baubles and embellishments, etc. Have fun!

I’ll post part two of this series next week, after the recipient has received her gift.

More magazine inspiration:

From the December issue of Creating Keepsakes, tucked inside the “Embrace Your Space” on page 157, this idea for storing your foam stamps:

I immediately pulled my stamps from their plastic shoe box and cut magnet strips for the back of them all. Then I cleared space on my magnet board and VOILA! Instant access!

I’m all about instant access. Realized last night while reading Stacy Julian’s blog that if I could make more of my stuff “instant access”, my space would stay neater. I think. There’s always a chance.

People often ask where I get my inspiration. The answers are too numerous to write about in one column, so I’ll focus on one today: magazine ads.

I have a stack of magazine ads that I’ve torn out; they’re hanging on my magnet board waiting for the right pictures.

Different aspects of the ads draw me in and make me think it would work in my scrapbooks. Sometimes it’s the layout of the ad, sometimes it’s the colors, and sometimes it’s the words. For instance, I had an ad on my board for a really long time that featured the word “spunk” and its definition. I just liked the page and figured I could someday use it somehow for my 15-year old. Sure enough, one day I was looking at it and I thought, “Her school picture!”. The colors were perfect. I used part of the actual ad in my layout.

One of the ads on my board features a paragraph titled “Lessons from the porch swing”. It was sent to me by a friend in California (hi Martha!) who knows that I have a Porch Swing album rolling around in my head. I’ll use that paragraph when I finally get to that album!

Once you start looking at ads with a scrapbooker’s eye, you’ll realize that before long, it becomes a habit. You’ll actually start noticing the layouts and colors in the ad before you notice the merchandise! Look at ads with these things in mind:

1. Layout. How could you incorporate your own photos into this layout? Is it doable? Does the layout have something interesting about it? What is your eye first drawn to?

2. Color. Sometimes, even if the layout isn’t interesting, the color combinations might be. The first time I scrapped browns and reds together, it was a direct result of seeing those colors in an ad and LOVING the look. Sure enough, soon those colors were everywhere. Ads are often on the cutting edge of new trends.

3. Words. Spunk. Porch Swings. You never know what you’ll come across when skimming through a magazine! I always keep a blank journal (a Moleskine) in my purse. When I’m in doctor’s offices, or sitting in the carpool lane, or lounging at Barnes and Noble, I’m always able to jot down title ideas and journaling prompts that I get from magazines. It never fails - if I think I’ll remember it when I get home, I won’t. Write it down! Magazines are full of punny titles and plays on words that work great as page titles in your albums.

Finally…. two layouts I’ve done using ads as inspiration. Try it! It’s fun, it’s easy, and it justifies your need to buy that cool magazine you look at every time you’re in line at the grocery store.