July Design Team Challenge...And the Winner is...

Skye! She created a really {sweet} 2 page layout using the cupcake themed paper from Doodle Bug. Check it out:
Congratulations Skye! Stop by Scrapbooks Plus and pick up your Gift Certificate from Debbie.

Thanks to everyone who participated in our first ever Design Team Challenge. Be sure to check by tomorrow to see the debut of the August Kit that Erin put together - it is fabulous!

For those of you wanting to participate in our August Challenge, the papers will be available at the special Design Team display in the crop room starting August 2nd.

Go to Items...

What are your scrapbooking necessities? What are the things you use constantly? One of your coworkers is just getting into scrapbooking; what are the three things that you would recommend to that person? I know when I first started scrappin’ a few years back, I was so overwhelmed. I didn’t know what I needed, I knew that there were a lot of things that looked pretty and tons of things that I just knew I “wanted” but I had NO idea what I NEEDED. After a few years of trial and error and getting rid of things and buying new things and more things I have found my three go to items. These three items I use over and over and over. I find myself constantly looking for them if I don’t have them for whatever reason.

Everybody needs a good adhesive and everybody has their preference. One thing is for sure, and it may take some time to find the one you like but once you do it is it. Nothing else will quite measure up.

For me my adhesive of choice is the ATG. I just love it, the one draw back of the ATG is that once you have it down that puppy is not coming up nicely. This can be a good thing and a bad thing.

Another item for me is the ruler. I find myself measuring things a lot more than I ever thought I would. For this I love the Tim Holtz ruler. The reason for this is because not only is it C-thru but it "0" starts at the end of the ruler, so I don't have to line anything up.

My other go to item is my trimmer. Everybody needs a 12" trimmer. I have tried all types after my beloved Creative Memories one just bit the dust. Currently my favorite 12" trimmer is the Fiskars Rotary Trimmer.

What are your go to/must have items for scrapbooking?

Don't forget the Design Team will have their new wall of goodies up on the 1st of August, stop in and look around. While you are at it, pick up some of the goodies and play along with us for the monthly challenge!

Have a great day!

Cake Tower - Take Two

With the Doodlebug cupcake paper, many of us were inspired to make cupcake-y things this month.... like the cupcake box, the cupcake-shaped gift card holder, and cake stand. I also was thinking about cake and made a cake tower of little decorated wooden boxes inspired by one I saw at GASC. I couldn't find a proper stand for my cakes, so I substituted a scallop-edged tray and pail turned upside down and glued together. These are going to make a great gift for someone!

I used my Xyron to adhere the paper to the boxes and added the ribbons and trim with Zip Dry. The scallops on the top of the larger box and cake plate are semi-free hand. I used Adirondak Dabbers to dab a circle around the edges and then followed over the design with my paintbrush to smooth it out and fill in the middle. Super easy!

thanks for stopping by!

erin

Birthday Buttons Pictures by Esther

Supplies

Button with paper ribbon added. Completed buttons - ready for the celebration!

Birthday Buttons by Esther

Pictures not posted: Sorry for the words and no pictures. The images are not being grabbed today for this blog. See the Design Team Wall at Scrapbooks Plus for the examples.

For the next birthday party I plan to make birthday buttons. They can be souvenirs for each guest to remember the celebration. These were made from the kit using various paper groupings. The pinks were used with the cupcakes for a feminine look and the green and black for a more masculine look.



Cut strips of cardstock or patterned paper a depth of about one & a half inches x length 12 inches. If the depth is too much larger the button becomes too large and bulky. This size gives about a 3" diameter button. Cut a contrasting color or pattern to 1" x 12". glue the edges of the two together to make one 12" strip. Shape the edge of one side of the larger one, if desired. I tried a small scallop.



The photo shows green with yellow attached. Now pleat the paper at one half or less inch increments. Folding must be crisp creases and as consistent as possible. If the folds are different sizes, the button will not come together good.



Overlap and glue the last pleat on each end. This forms a large unyielding form. Push the centers together and use double sided tape to hold together in a circular shape. Add more glue in center , as needed. Cut a one inch circle to place over the pleated shape. This will hold it together. Glue another circle on the back to secure the shape.



Decorate the center with a cupcake paper, candle, message, or number for the age of the person. Stickers or brads with flowers are fun too. In order to wear the button, I sewed a safety pin to a small piece of fabric that is glued on back circle. Paper strips can be added for ribbons. Cut the 1" strip about 6" in length. Fold in half and angle to look like a ribbon. The button, without the pin, can also be used as an ornament on a card.



Buttons are a fun way to celebrate a birthday! Scrapbooks Plus has a great selection of birthday papers. Le tme know if you make some of these for your next birthday celebration?

The Cutest Little Birthday Book

I just love the Basic Grey chocolate chip albums...this circle one in Milk Chocolate is especially easy to work with... and cute too! The last paper in my kit was the Doodlebug Designs paper - alot of which was PINK (which is particularly difficult for me to work with). We had a cupcake birthday party for our yellow lab puppy (who just turned one), just so I would have some material to work with this month. (I even bought her a pink tiara - being the princess that she thinks she is).
The brown of the album was easy to coordinate with the pink in the paper once I added a little brown ink. There was no need to ink the chip board because it was the perfect color already. I just cut circles from the paper with my Fiskars template and shape cutter. I punched the photos into 3 1/2" circles using the mega Marvey punch (all of these tools you can buy at Scrapbooks-Plus). Keeping the design consistent for every page makes it really easy - and fast. I used a lot of buttons (Rusty Pickle) to add some excitement to the pages.

These Basic Grey albums are super easy to decorate for any birthday - not just a dog's!

Cute Little Boxes

This time for my altered item, I made a cute little cupcake box, to make a box full of candy....

Well really it was suppose to hold a cupcake...but once I made it I realized that it was FAR too SMALL...imagine that...So I thought humm what am I going to do with this...and presto change-o I have a candy box...I had little chocolates in it but what happens with all yummy things that get left where the cute little 3 year old can get to them. They disappear...it doesn't matter if it is mommy's work...it is food to him...so it got skittles instead which if I do say so myself it turned out darn cute with all the colors of the box.

Add some ribbon so 3 year old can't get into it so easy and a little tag...perfect favor boxes :) What did you make with the paper that you got...

Happy Scrappin'

Birthday Fun

I did a several layouts of my nephew's first birthday and still had so many photos left that it was easy to fill this layout with them. He had an Elmo cake so these papers matched perfectly. One of my new favorite embellishments is the Candy Dots by Pebbles Inc. We got them in a previous kit and I've been hooked ever since! My nephew is now almost 4 and every time he comes over tries to convince me they are real candy and we should eat them. :-) They come in lots of fun colors and I find myself using them all the time. One thing I did on this layout is add a few to the red dot circle on the right-side page. I just covered a few of the printed dots with my candy dots, and voila! It just adds a little dimension that helps finish off a page. Have fun trying a new embellishment when you play today. I'm off to make cards!

Card-a-paloza!!!

I love making cards, but I rarely get time to make really really cool ones! I was excited about these because I love birthdays (even when they're not mine).

I love the white cupin' cake card! Those stickers are so super cute with the cupcake faces! I couldn't resist making them the center of attention of this card!

happy card making for all of you good luck incorporating those crazy stickers that we all have laying around.

Got Wallets?

I don't know about you, but I always take tons of pictures at birthday parties and then I want to use them all on my layouts to help me remember the events of the day.

Question: How do you get 8 pictures on 2 pages and not have it look too crowded?

Answer: Wallet sized photos!

Most photo processing services offer the option of printing wallets - approximately 2"x3" in size. I use Photoshop to layout 2 pictures on a 4"x6" before I send them to print and then just cut them in half when I get them home. (I recommend this if you have photo-editing software as it saves money and keeps you from having extra wallets laying around.)

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My 2 page layout is very easy to put together. I used 2 sheets of red cardstock as a base and then split a sheet of patterned paper in half and positioned it to create a center block in the middle of the 2 pages. I grabbed the Bo Bunny paper with the large polka dots all lined up in neat rows and cut 4 strips. I used 2 of them to frame the center block and the other 2 were used to create a border on the outside edges of the layout. Surprise! The space in between is exactly the right size for wallet sized pics! The focal image is a 5"x7" and it "jumps the gutter" between the 2 pages. I also added a 4"x6" on the left side of the center block. Final photo count - 8 pictures and still plenty of room for a very large title!

Details: Red Candy Dots and red buttons repeat the pattern found in the polka dot border strips.

I cut out a present from the KI paper and used it as a photo corner/accent.

The trusty Dymo label maker came out again along with the CLEAR tape, which I love because it makes it so easy to color coordinate!

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Thanks to everyone who participated in our Design Team Challenge this month. Entries were due on the 21st. We will announce the winner of the gift certificate to Scrapbooks Plus soon!

Through the Years Minibook

When I saw all this birthday paper I thought of different things I could do with it besides only birthday layouts. I had these Cosmo Cricket chipboard lacing cards which were eight sides front & back .... and my son just turned seven .... So I thought I'd put together a minibook of photos from every birthday (so far)!

When you're doing a minibook it helps to come up with a scheme. For this one I used the 1/3 - 2/3 approach using a piece of the Bo Bunny paper at the top with a photo at the bottom. I also decided not to cover the edges of the chipboard but leave it raw - it seemed more "boy" to me. Well, and I just love the look of raw chipboard.

I joined the pages accordian-style so that the album can stand up on it's own, making it easier to see how much my son has changed. Sigh ... they grow up so fast! You don't need lacing cards to achieve the same effect. Take your book pages and punch holes on both sides then use binder rings to hold it together.



I love this concept and I'm currently working on another one for my daughter!

Birthday Cards

The papers in this month's kit are fabulous for cards. I used Bo Bunny paper for the background - no sentiment needed! I placed the square sticker on a leftover piece of chipboard and attached it with pop dots on top of the ribbon.

And here's a trick for the ribbon: using your craft knife carefully cut a slit on each side of the card next to your patterned paper background. Thread your ribbon through the slits several times then tie the ends together in the front.

Quick Tip: Punching Notches Just Right

I am a big fan of layouts that feature those cute little partial circles punched out of the photo or patterned paper with a little circular accent inside. I love how you can see the background in that spot and how it very easily adds visual interest without adding any bulk. I'm not sure who started it first... but I know that I latched onto it after seeing it on Ali Edward's layouts. Her clean style really appeals to me.

When I first tried copying this technique, I had mixed results. More than a few times I botched my placement of my punched notch ... too far in or a little to the right... (I'm not much of a measurer after all) and had to adapt my layout to make it work. Now when I use this technique, I always get the placement right and it's so easy I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier!

First, punch all of your circles, including one circle punched from scrap paper or cardstock the size of your punched notch. Lay them out on your layout for placement, then glue your notch-sized circle to your layout only on the portion that will be punched away. On this layout that is my photo. Don't put adhesive on the part that touches the background cardstock or use repositionable adhesive for this step. Then you just pick up the photo and punch your notch using your circle as your guide.

Voila! Perfect placement everytime! I cut a little cupcake out of the Doodlebug paper to decorate my circle accent. Those little cupcakes are too cute!

Here the finished layout. The glitter paper I used was left over from last month's kit and worked perfectly with these papers. Plus there are some other great colors available... I've picked up several as they were too pretty to resist! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

erin

"FIxing" Your Designs

Ever have an idea for a page in your head that you think will be just too cool, and when you go to put it together, it just doesn't come out the way you expected? That's exactly what happened when I put this one-pager together. I thought I knew how it would look, but when I got into it, it just wasn't what I had hoped for. It had absolutely nothing to do with the gorgeous paper I selected from the kit - it had everything to do with the design! I thought the strip of birthday present paper wouldn't look so pronounced, but it did all by itself in the middle of the page, so to tone it down, I "wrapped" a present with Best Creations glitter paper and some sheer ribbon to de-emphasize the strip a bit. I didn't like the black strip in the middle once I had the layout together, but instead of starting all over again (I didn't want to waste the paper OR the photos), I added the eyelets and used the pink embroidery thread to give the black a little "umpf". I put the entire thing down for a couple of days and when I came back to it, I added a little more-the bling around the circular photo, the hand-cut present at the title, and redid the journalling to add the number "50". Lesson learned: Sometimes you can fix a layout you don't like at first with a little time, imagination, and patience.

More Cupcakes!

So this is a really bad picture, but my camera doesn't play nicely these days. I loved all the cupcake paper, and took the chance to scrap birthday cupcake pictures. Last year we surprised Leah with huge cupcake pans for her birthday and we christened them by making her cupcakes and surprising her with them. It was so much fun and I had fun with this paper. The cupcake in the corner was cut on the cricut and then ran through a paper crimper to get it to look like the cupcake paper. The frosting is actually spackle and then covered in stickles and a little bling. Enjoy! :-)

two ones!

When I started working with this paper I was making a one page lay out (the right page). I loved how it turned out! The colors were awesome with the pictures that I'd picked out! That was just luck!

Two days later I made another page using more of the paper (I did put a lot in the kit). When I finished I was happy with how it had turned out.

Later when I took it into the store I was laying them out on the table and thought that it was way better as a two page spread! I love it and it'll fit better in his book!

Good luck with your scrapping this month and don't forget about the contest! There are still tons of stuff left at the store, so get some of the cute stuff and show us what you're make of it!

Celebrating Every Day

When our kids are young, the milestones seem to come weekly, or even daily. Celebrating their developmental and social achievements just on birthdays makes the prospect of capturing it all on one single day overwhelming.

That's why I have so many pages like this one in my kids albums, (and why I have so much "birthday" paper in my personal stash).

This page came together quickly, and documents all the special qualities I see as my son marks his first decade on the planet. The photos capture two very different moods... and the journaling records those things that I value most about him during this season of our lives.

Strickly speaking, the printed paper is "birthday" related. But it's also very versitile. Here I used a collection of numbers from a bunch of different chipboard collections, stamped them with ink so they would all be the same color, and layered them on top of the numbered print.

I really like that effect. It seems to capture the movement and fun of this season with my son.
I hope it inspires you to celebrate all your seasons as well.

Loretta

Creative Process...

Last night a few fellow scrapbookers and myself were chatting about different scrap related things and it got me thinking about my creative process. I know some people can sit down with some pretty paper, adhesive and embellishments and create the most beautiful pages. I unfortunately am not one of those people. Let me explain it isn’t like I don’t think I create a nice layout from time to time, but I just can’t do with those above mentioned tools. I NEED PICTURES first then the pretty paper, and embellishments!

I cannot even begin to make a layout that I like if I don’t have pictures to start my creative process. I have tried several times and I end up not liking my layouts at all. I also have tried to use photos that I don’t like but are just photos to get a layout completed and when that happens I am not happy with the end result either. I have been really struggling with creating lately and it wasn’t until we had this conversation last night that I realized it was because I haven’t been taking pictures lately. I haven’t been paying enough attention to my world around me. Pictures inspire me, why do I fight this?

This creativity block goes beyond layouts. In fact it basically flows over to anything that I would use pictures on; layouts, mini books, altered projects, etc. I have seen some beautiful classes put together by some very talented designers, but I don’t even bother taking these classes because without pictures included for me to get the full effect I just can’t commit. I know the argument is used that the students don’t want to see the instructors photos but I say, “SHOW ME THE PICTURES.” Am I the only person who thinks or creates like this?

So, I ask you what is your creative process? Have you played around with a few ways to see which one is more natural for you or are you trying to do what you think you should do? That is the beautiful thing about creating, there is no right or wrong!

Since no post is complete without a pictures, I leave you with a beautiful picture that definitely inspires me!

Have a great day!


p..s. Are you playing along with us this month? If not, please stop by the store and pick up a few things – we can’t wait to see what you create!!!

Patterned paper

I love patterned paper. This month's kit had a great selection of different papers- so much so that it was hard to choose which one to use! I fell in love with the BO Bunny papers in the kit (plus it was perfect for the pictures I wanted to use). I decided that I wanted to challenge myself and see how many different patterned papers from Bo Bunny that I could use. So I took 4 of the papers and cut them into the same size strips. But when I put them out, I didn't get the look I wanted, so I flipped them over and decided to use the backs of some. So on 2 of the strips, I cut a piece off and flipped it over (I really liked the back as much as the front of the papers!). So in all, I used 4 different patterned papers but it looks like 6!

Try and challenge yourself this month! Don't forget to join our DT monthly challenge- you could win a gift certificate to Scrapbooks Plus for your work. Just pick up some of the papers that the DT used and show us your work!

Enjoy and good luck!
Lisa

Where are all the ladies at?

Ladies we have just one week left in our challenge, where are you at??? There is a Scrapbooks-Plus gift Certificate up for grabs don't forget to sign up.

Also have you been in the store recently to check out all the great classes that there are up for the grabs. This weekend while I was there working. There were so many classes up there to take that we are resorting to stacking them on top next to our little message board.

Also don't forget to sign up for the crops. Do it early so that you will not miss your chance to crop. Bring a friend :)

Thanks to everyone that came out for the cricut swarm this weekend.

Red Birthday Letters Needed by Esther

This was a fun challenge to use the birthday theme in red. The kit contained the Doodlebug Design & KI Memories Shimmer Papers that were mostly pink. Also, the Bo Bunny "It's My Party" papers in the kit which were red, yellow, blue and green. The American Crafts Thickers were pink. Since the clothing worn in the picture was red, I made the chipboard letters red using a rubber stamp ink & glitter powder. The first try with a red Staz-on ink only made the letters a dull reddish-pink. But a red glitter with the heat gun made the glitter shine. The Tiara glitter stickers were too cute to waste. Try changing the look of the letters you have, if a different color is desired.

See the Design Team Wall at Scrapbooks Plus for the red glitter letters and other creative ideas. Did you enter the Challenge this month?

Cupcakes!!!!!!!!

So I have joined the cupcake wagon along with Leah, her enthusiasm can be quite catching! I knew when I saw all the fun birthday paper this month, that I needed to make a cupcake box!

It's so much easier to do if you have a Cricut Die-Cutting Machine and the Cricut Design Studio. You can use the Design Studio to make your own things to cut out or you can surf the web and download files that people have already thought of, made, and uploaded! There are so many extremely talented people out there (that are much less spatially challenged than me) and are willing to share. I prefer the surfing the web for things like this- just go to your favorite search engine and type in "Cricut cut files- cupcake box (or whatever you want to search for). I found this wonderful box here: http://cricutsandbutterflies.blogspot.com/2008/03/rubys-mini-cupcake-holder-aka-laneys.html

I added acetate or transparency to create a little window on the lid and then embellished with ribbon and flowers. It's quick, easy and makes an adorable gift box to give cupcakes in! You could also just take out the cupcake holder and fill it with anything! Yum!

Cupcake tower Fun

I wanted to make a cupcake tree, but got stumped. While I was in Michaels I found these awesome cake plates and the really really cool cake separators. This was a super easy and fun project. Since the bottom layer was 14" and we didn't have cool paper that size I cut 7" squares and then lined up in the center one at a time. There is a lip on the circle so I pushed down hard on the paper to see where the circle would go and then cut it out and glued it down. IT WAS SUPER EASY!!! The separators just clipped into the top plate so it was super super easy to assemble!!!

Enjoy!

"Make A Wish!"

I couldn't believe it when I saw the papers Leah chose this month. My daughter celebrated her 11th birthday in November with a cupcake themed party and I had not gotten around to scrapping it yet. The cupcake themed papers from Doodlebug gave me the perfect opportunity!

Like Erin, I also decided to include an accordian album on my page this month. I absolutely love the Jenni Bowlin birthday mini-bingo card (mine said "Wish") so I ended up incorporating it into the title of the layout (loved the girly design of the pink canvas thickers!) and used it as the front of the accordian album.

You can see here that Erin and I were on the same wavelength again, because I also used velcro to attach it - That will make it easier for my daughter to take it out in the future and be able to access journaling on the back.

Here's a look at the book when it is open...

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the sheer dot ribbon is used to hold it closed and is sandwiched between the back cover and the last panel of the inner accordian fold. I used red-line tape to attach the front and back covers - I have found that anything that is going to be manipulated needs to have very strong adhesive.

Some other details...I started out intending to machine stitch on this layout, but I think my machine needs a trip to the doctor, because it kept skipping stitches! No worries though as I decided I liked the look - so I pulled out the thread and just ran the entire edge of the brown paper through the machine.

Another fun detail is the journaling, which I created with my Dymo labelmaker. It came with pink and blue tape, and my new favorite - CLEAR tape - which I was able to put on a piece of coordinating green cardstock and trim out.

I also cut out some of the cute presents from the KI paper to use as an embellishment on the lower right corner of the picture. One of them was already glittered. I fancied up the other two by adding some Glossy Accents to give them dimensional polka dots. I think they may be a little too subtle so the next time I will make the polka dots with markers and then add the Glossy Accents.

Finally, never underestimate the value of a simple swirl!

The page just didn't seem balanced - color or weight - so I used a bit of the BoBunny coordinating Double Dot paper in blue and a quick trip to the Accu-Cut machine in the crop room and voila - when placed in the bottom left - perfect!

Are You Feeling Challenged?

We hope so!

This is the first month of the Design Team Monthly Challenge and we hope you are as excited as we are to have you play along. The theme of this month's papers is birthdays - and who doesn't have a birthday layout they need to scrap?!?





The rules are pretty simple and there is a Scrapbooks Plus gift certificate up for grabs, so be sure to drop by the store and look over the product display in the Crop Room.





Remember, all layouts need to be submitted by July 21st - check out the original post for all the details!
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We can't wait to see what you come up with!!

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I'll be back later with a layout featuring the cupcake themed papers from Doodlebug...it seems as though somebody forgot to take pictures of her layouts!

(Keeping Track of) Birthday Wishes!

I was cleaning out my desk last week, and discovered (buried under my files and appliance warranties) a birthday card sent from a dear friend.

The card was so appropriate, and her thoughts so sweet that I had tucked the card away to keep. But here it was more than a year later, and the card had been lost to the world in the dark recesses of my filing cabinet.

That was what prompted me to use this month's kit to create a special place to store those cards and notes.

The base is a non-descript file folder you can find at any office supply. I kept the embellishment pretty simple; just white card stock and the high contrast of the black printed paper. I carried that stark contrast idea over into the lettering.

For any project like these I highly recommend using FastDry glue. It's the best glue I've found for projects like this, it dries fast, doesn't change color and cleans up easily around the salvage edges of your paper.

This project was fast, easy, and would make a great little birthday gift for that person who really doesn't want anything but warm wishes!

Happy Crafting!
Loretta

Bo Bunny Birthdays

Don't you just love these BoBunny birthday papers? When you pair them with Coredinations Cardstock, a few buttons and BoBunny glazed brads, the results are just too fun!

I even managed to make my own embellishment (with no particular idea in mind at the time) from some cardstock scraps, a few bits of patterned paper and the small glazed brads in the Bo Bunny glazed brad pack that I bought at Scrapbook-Plus that matched the line. I popped the "creation" on the page and used it to fill a gap - connect, if you will - the two photos with the rest of the layout (I had a big Copic-colored cartoon figure of "Tom" - from Tom and Jerry - planned for that spot originally but it just didn't work!). I cut out some of the words for journalling and made a visual triangle between my self-made embellishment, the words with the buttons and small embellishment on the lower left page, and the "@" sign in the title on the right. Cool, huh? That visual triangle has a great way of pulling even the most disparate layouts together (works great for two-pagers every time!)

And with my leftovers, I managed a second one-page layout of my oldest's 23rd B-Day. It's a scraplift from Becky Fleck's page maps (I wasn't feeling terribly creative, so I went with little thinking and what I know works!)

Great fun this month with all the Birthday papers...you'll see tons of different ideas up on the wall. Come check it out!!

Birthday's and More ...

Leah did a wonderful job picking these papers, I picked up this transparency out of the birthday papers in the back of Scrapbooks-plus near the 7 gypsy things...it is made by Best Creations. I didn't know what I was going to do with it when I got it originally. But I knew it would be great for something :)

I added some Tim Holtz ink to the arrows but I realize in the picture you can not really see that...and in order to attach it the secret is behind the little stars and candies on the outside. There are little tiny glue dots behind those items to insure that the transparency does not go anywhere. The 3 is a Tim Holtz grunge board, this is really fun to work with if you haven't run by the store and pick some up. ***Note, it really absorbs paint so it will require multi layers of paint.***

To get the picture exactly where I wanted it I played with it then lightly marked where I wanted it to go with a pencil. Once it was where I wanted I then glued it down. I was concentrated on getting the picture in the pre-made box, I didn't realized that it was going to give my son a "dirt streak" on his face. ***he didn't have a dirty face, he would die before he went around with a dirty face...

In my family we don't really have "birthday party's" this paper still worked. I have so many siblings and they all have kids we do family get togethers. The family brings the cake and the supplies the party spot and the rest bring food, and the fun is had within the family. What are your Birthday traditons?

We were taught the family that plays together stays together. We play together....hope our kids remember that the family that plays together stays together. Because this picture was actually taken at the Baltimore Aquarium on my DS birthday I just wrote Happy in the "B" in Birthday. Again we took a pass on the birthday party, and his Ya-Ya (greek for Grandma) and Pa-Pa did something for him.

Don't forget to join in our contest and show us your best birthday layout(s). Happy Scrappin'

July's kit chock full of birthday papers was just perfect for me, since both my kids have summer birthdays. And as luck would have it, we had a birthday party for my son at the Lego store. Now this was entirely coincidental, but the store is decorated in yellows, reds and whites - just like the Bo Bunny paper in the kit.

I ended up using white cardstock as my background and balancing out a page of photos with a page of the Bo Bunny paper. Since the paper had lots of circles I used an Autumn Leaves circular journaling stamp. Tie it all together with a small strip of paper.



The bright primary colors of the Bo Bunny line are great for boys or girls. Here's a page I made from my daughter's birthday last year:

Challenge yourself today

This month's kit had such a great variety of papers to choose from. Leah did a great job picking out different lines that would appeal to everyone. Since I only have boys, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and challenge myself by using the pastel papers in the kit.
When I sit down to scrap, I always have pictures in mind that I want to use, then I pick out the paper. This month I did the complete opposite-I picked the paper first! I did my LO and then added the pictures. Challenge your self and try to change the way to scrap.
Remember that we are now doing our DT monthly challenge. Stop by Scrapbooks Plus and pick out some of the papers that the DT used this month, make a LO and let us see it! You could win a gift certificate to the store.
Enjoy!
Lisa

More Gridwork... More Photos

Those of you who are familiar with my scrapbooking know that Erin is a one-page layout kind of girl. And those one-page layouts I make usually feature 1 or 2 photos... sometimes 3. That's just how I do it. I joke that it's because I have a small workspace... and there just isn't room on my desk for a two-page layout. When I do make myself do a two-page layout, I often only make it to 4 photos... so obviously the workspace is not the issue! {blush}

There are a lot of scrapbookers out there that are much better than me at getting as many photos as possible on a layout, while still having a neat and clean look. Since it's not my forte, I have a secret weapon to get those photos on there and still be happy with the outcome. That secret weapon is the grid.

Using a grid is nice and easy... cut everything into a square and line it up. This method also helps when you have pictures that aren't of the same subject or photos with lots of varying colors. Cutting them all to the same size and shape creates a nice, neat repetition. In this layout all my photos were cropped into 3 3/4 inch squares. My focal picture was kept as a 4x6 and was also placed on contrasting patterned paper to help in stand out. Placing the grid on dark red cardstock helped minimize the crazy color combos and didn't draw attention to the edges of the photos... which hides any slight placement or cropping imperfections.

Under the title is a removable accordian album attached to the page with regular old velcro. Inside is the guest list, menu, party info, and the story of the day. There's a lot of information on the front and the back... so having the velcro is helpful to make all of it accessible. The accordian is fine in a regular album... but up on the wall it's a little flopsy. So colored paperclips - decorated with fiber and ribbon, of course - to the rescue!

thanks for stopping by!

erin

Details, Details, Details...an Apology...& a Project!

First, let me say how happy we are that we are already getting such a great response to our new Design Team Monthly Challenge.

Second, let me apologize for not being as prepared as I should have been! I know that some of our excited blog followers have already hit the store in search of the new papers only to be disappointed that they were not yet out for purchase. Let me explain that the DT traditionally has a get together where we switch out our projects on "The Wall" and we also put out all the elements of that month's kit at the same time. For July, we chose to get together at 6pm on the 1st, so you early bird shoppers beat us to the store! I promise to be better next month about letting you know exactly when the new papers will be available!

Third, I have more specific information that I hope will answer any questions that have come up about the challenge: We have not assembled a kit. Instead, you are able to look over all of the materials that we had in our DT kit, and then choose which items you would like to purchase to create your project. Some of you may fall in love with the pretty pastels in the Cupcake line from Doodle Bug, while others may gravitate to the bold primaries in the BoBunny papers OR the shimmer & glitter of the KI papers. Let me tell you that Leah gave us so many great birthday-themed papers to choose from that there is something for everyone!

Remember when your project is ready, just leave a comment on Leah's post where she reveals the July Kit and tell us where we can go and see your creative genius! (OR you can email a picture of your project to debbie@scrapbooks-plus.com ) The winner will be awarded a Scrapbooks Plus gift certificate and the layout will be featured on our blog! (If you want to review the rules, this link will take you to my original post inviting you to play along!)

And finally, let me share something I made using this month's kit!

The papers all have a birthday theme, so I decided to make party hats - actually, party visors. (Many thanks to my models, Erin and Adrianna.)

Basically, I bought a .99 foam visor and used it as a pattern.

I used a circle punch (about 3/4" diameter) to create a scalloped border.

Then I inked the edge of the cupcake paper from Doodlebug before I adhered it to the top.

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I used my crop-o-dile to punch holes through all layers and set some eyelets, then I threaded beading elastic through the holes and used square knots to tie it off.

I think it turned out pretty cute!

It was so fun and easy I decided to make another one with the BoBunny papers - but this one has a little twist - it is also an invitation!

The BoBunny paper is actually very sturdy, double-sided cardstock, so it did not need to be lined. I created the fancy edge by adhering some red ric-rac (I used Glossy Accents as a glue because it happened to be handy and it worked great!)

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But where is the invitation? Well, the medallion on the center of the visor is actually a flap that opens to reveal the details. How did I make it? Easy...

I folded a double thickness of cardstock and placed it on top of the cutting die, but left one edge peeking out - see it at the bottom?

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After cutting you can see that edge is flat.

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When you open it, you can see how it is connected at that point.

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Then I decorated the front with a "Party!" sticker from BoBunny and added party details to the inside. Red line tape holds it on the front of the visor and a brad and a photo turn holds the flap closed.

I plan on making some of these up to use as invitations to a Jimmy Buffet party later this summer! I know they are a little big to mail, but if one of these showed up on your desk or your doorstep, wouldn't you just have to come?!?!?

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Party On, Dude! (tell me somebody gets that film reference from one of my favorite movies...)

I hope to see you around the store and I look forward to seeing what you can create! Have fun with the Challenge! Susie