Scrapropos

The Scrapbook lounge over at CraftTvWeekly.com has a new technique video posted. The almost 9 minute video demonstrates a variety of fun techniques to do with border and corner punches and features some great layouts created with the techniques.

Show description from CraftTvWeekly.com:

Tricia delivers a one-two punch with these beautiful pages. She starts with elegant cardstock and dresses it up with a corner punch. She turns that punch into a border punch creating unique borders and a stencil. When she’s done punching, Tricia assembles these elements into gorgeous pages that will knock your socks off!

scrapbooking, scrapbooking tutorials, scrapbooking videos

Organizing Your Ribbon for Scrapbooking Creating a Ribbon Box

OK…so there are a gagillion tutorials out there for making your own ribbon storage box. I like this one because (1) you could really follow the method with any similar sized and weight box and (2) it does not require any tools fancier than a hole punch and (3) the cost is low enough, even made with the recommended boxes, that you could make up a whole bunch of these.

Looking at the picture, I bet you could even take some 12×12 card stock and make something pretty cute that would work the same way. I may have to try it later.

Technorati Tags: scrapbook, scrapbooking, journaling, scrapbook layouts, scrapbook projects

I love the idea of taking photographs of all those special little projects that our kids make that we know we cannot really keep around forever. A photo is so much easier to store than a potato, carrot, pasta, and toothpick transforming robot (you laugh, but I do not make these things up. If my 5yo can figure out how, he will build a transformer out of anything). Making a scrapbook page for the project shows the kids how special you think their creations are even if they end up in the compost bin when they start to smell funny (the project, not the kids). The big questions I always see on any hobby forum where people take pictures, and seriously in our digital social networking world it seams like everyone is visually recording everything, is how to improve their pictures and what to use for a light box.

This article at Digital Scrapbooking magazine gives some great advice on making an inexpensive light box using those wire frame cube storage systems.

To add to their advice I suggest trying some of the screw in fluorescent daylight bulbs for lighting that are readily available now. You can get a 3-pack for about $10 and they last for years.  Not only are they more environmentally sound, but you are far less likely to give yourself a nasty burn when you reach in to move the subject of your photography around. I would also suggest using the cable ties to hook the wire grids together. The cable ties make for a much tighter fit and give you more versatility in how you configure the pieces.

scrapbook, scrapbooking, photography, lightbox, kids, family, parenting, memories, diy

… is my word window punch from Stampin’ Up. (It’s #5 on page 220 of the Stampin’ Up catalog.)

I gave away my first word window punch last fall, and finally just replaced it this month. (Public Service announcement: through the end of this month,receive a free stamp set with every $50 order from Stampin’ Up! see their website for details.) I’ve missed that little punch, and didn’t realize how much I used it until I had to go without. Here are some of the ways I’ve used it:

(click images to enlarge)