Valentine's Day Cards

Valentine's Day Cards from BoBunny Love Letters

With Valentine’s Day nearly here, now is the time to get your Valentine’s Day cards made.  ScrapbooksPlus has some great papers for your projects. 

I especially loved BoBunny’s Love Letters line.  It has pinks and turquoises and just makes you happy to look at.  For my Valentine’s Day card, I used the Airmail paper, which has stamps on one side that are ohh so cute and the Love Letters, which has fun stripes.  I made a standard-sized horizontal card with these two papers.  For the trim and a handmade envelope, I used BoBunny Island Mist Vintage.  This turquoise-mottled paper (with gold polka dots on one side) made an envelope that popped, especially when I added a little trim and hearts from Love Letters.  (If you haven't checked out this line of paper, I encourage you to do so.  Similar to the BoBunny dots, this paper comes in a variety of colors  -- all vintage and all with gold dots on one side -- that can be used with all kinds of paper.  I love the browns and blues.)

I also made a little matchbook using the same papers as the card.  I added a Valentine's Day message so it could serve as a unique card. 

Stop by ScrapbooksPlus and check these out.  I am not sure that the picture does them justice.  While you’re there, you can get the supplies you need to make these.  You can also check out other Valentine's Day papers, such as Basic Grey's True Love, which includes little mini bottle caps!

ScrapbooksPlus will be offering a class to make these three items plus a Valentine’s Day exploding box.  Not only will you make these great items, but you’ll learn how to use a scoring board.  So whether you want to make t hese items or to learn how to use a scoring board, sign up now as space is limited by calling ScrapbooksPlus at 703.263.9503.  The class will be held on Saturday, February 9, 2013 from 10:30am – 2:30pm for a cost of $45.  I hope to see you there!   

Make & Take: Memories of 2012

With cold weather and hurricanes, I needed something to cheer  me up so I designed this week’s Make & Take, “Sweet Memories of 2012,” with Basic Grey’s Plumeria line.  Flowers with lavender, creams and greens were so cheery to work with.   The embellishments come from the Plumeria chipboard or stickers.  One thing I love about this line is that the letters are chipboard, rather than stickers, and there are lots of them so you have plenty to spell whatever you want.  You can make Sweet Memories of almost anything.  A few I thought of were of Love, My Daughter, Spring, Weddings, Vacation.  Really anything that you have pictures of.  Of course, you’re not limited to  “Sweet”  you could substitute another word or just start with “Memories.”   The layered “Memories” is the free element for this week’s Make & Take.  Add a few self-sticking pearls of cream and lavender and you are done!

For those of you not familiar with how Make & Takes work, every Wednesday one of Scrapbook Plus’s designers creates a two-page layout specially for you to copy.  It is displayed at the cash register, the items you need to make the page are displayed together so it is easy for you to get just what you need, written instructions are provided,  and we give you a free element.   It’s your choice whether you make the page at the store so you can use the actual sample or take the items home and make using the instructions, which include a picture.  Either way this is a great way to make a page a week and get that stash of pictures on pages.

There are limited supplies this week so be sure to get to Scrapbooks Plus as soon as you can.  And you’ll have lots of extra chipboard so pick up a few extra pieces of paper and you’ll be able to make another layout or two.  The variety is great so you’re layouts won’t look the same.

Sewing Themed Card

Since my sister is a seamstress, I tend to buy scrapbooking supplies that have a sewing theme but then don't use them.  The Handmade Quilt paper of the Clippings Line seemed the perfect paper to make use of these.   I combined the paper and its matching buttons, which look like spools, with some stamps I had and presto a sewing themed card. 

 

I used some white cardstock for the card.  For accents, I used Handmade Quilt and Cotton Dress papers.  I cut a message box using a Tim Holtz  Sizzix Mover & Shaper Styled Label die.   Inside I used Technique Tuesday border stamps to add buttons and stitches to border the message.   The message and border were stamped with Black Stazon ink and the some of the pieces were inked with Forest Moss Distress ink. 

French Desserts

Scrapping the pictures from a French cooking class in my French apartment was lots of fun.  And the Basic Grey Clippings line has such variety that this picture doesn't look anything like the other items I made.  This is an easy layout that you could use for a wide variety of pictures.  The flowers of Cotton Dress and the orange dots of Flannel Suit reminded me of a French country kitchen, but they also reminded me of my grandmothers or a little girl.  Moreover, you could simply use four different pieces of paper and have an entire different look.

The background is Trench Coat and the photo mat is from Cotton Dress.   On the right side it is  7 ½” x 11 and on the left 7 ½” x 5 ½”.  I added a strip of Flannel Suit on the bottom and top of the photo mat, indenting it about 1” from each side.  (Prior to applying I inked it with Mango Mai Tai Powder Puff Ink.)  I scalloped a 2” x 12” of Cotton Dress and glued the bottom to a Bazzill White Perfectly Pleated Strip.  I glued this on top of the Flannel Suit Strip.   You can either cut for right and left before you glue down or afterwards.  Then figure out what pictures fit in the space that you had.  As you can see I cut some of them to new sizes.  I had one to fit inside the Chipboard frame that came in the Printed Chipboard and Alpha set.   I used the unique Clippings Sticker Titles shaped like tags and tied with white/tan twine to fill in some of the space between my pictures.

For title, I used letters cut with the Tim Holtz alpha set.  I stamped them with a stamp of tiny French words and the Mai Tai ink.  For my journaling, I used a piece of Typewriter and brown ink.  Since we made, four desserts, I used this as an opportunity to use numbers made the same as the title.  I framed the journaling piece with Cotton Dress.  I added strips of Cotton Dress and Flannel Suit on the left side.  (They look angled but I used straight strips and glued at an angle.)  I added a brad from the Mixed Brad set and a sticker from the Sticker Title set for emphasis.

Fast, Mini Album

Page of Mini-Album: Note "Family" Tag on Side

On the 12^th, I blogged about the ScrapFile I made for the family reunion and promised to write about how to make the little mini-photo album I included on the inside. 

 To make this album, you need only one piece of Chronicle paper.  (Do not cut label trim off.)   Cut the  Chronicle paper in half vertically.  (So you have two pieces 6” x 12” plus about ½” of trim.)  Put the trim at the bottom and score 4” from the top.  (Choose which side you want to be the cover of your album before you score and score accordingly.)  Score the opposite direction 4” further.  (You should now have a three-part accordion with the label at the bottom.) Score the opposite direction where the label joins the paper.  With the 2^nd page, put the label at the top, and affix to 1^st piece of paper so that the decorated portion of each label shows at the bottom or top of one page.    (This sounds complicated, but when you do it you’ll see it is quite easy.)  Then continue scoring and folding every 4.”



Cover of Mini-Album



When you finish, you will have 12 surfaces to decorate, including front and back.  Since I wanted something that went with my folder layout , I stamped the “cover” with the Tim Holtz “Generations” stamp using Fired Brick Distress Ink. 

Page of Mini-Album: Decorated with Stickers & Garland

I added a picture on the bottom of the cover and at least one on each of the remaining 11 pages.  I expressed appropriate sentiments with stamped messages.  I decorated the pages with tabs, labels  and spools from the Elements Sticker set and a bit of Garland that I had left over. 

That’s all there is to it.  I put the photo album in the pocket of the ScrapFile.  These would also be great to do as a little photo album to share some photos and say thank you.  And they are a great way to use left over embellishments. 

More Basic Grey!

This was a super simple card to make with Basic Grey's Clippings.  I cut half of the above paper- paper bag colored with red outline flowers paper lengthwise.  I eyeballed where to score based on a very slight overlap of my upper flap.  I used a 1 inch circle punch and red eyelets to create my closure- finished off with red and white twine.    I cut out another flower from elsewhere on the same paper and popped it up on the front of my card to add some interest.

The inside is made up of various cuts of left over Clippings papers.  Some are cut with my Cricut and some are punched.  The Thanks label is from the Clippings coordinating stickers.  What can you create with this fun paper line?

Scrap Folders for Special Events

Not enough time to scrapbook all the pictures you want.  Scrap Folders may be jsut what you need.  I was excited to try this  new technique that I'd been reading about.  They are a lot like Scrapbooks except instead of many pages for a single event, you make a folder per event and include lots of places to store extra pictures and memorabilia.  I chose to make my first attempt with the Basic Grey Clippings line and pictures from last year’s family reunion.  I think it turned out pretty well.  And in addition, to what you see in the pictures, I have a photo album in a pocket, two files for extra stuff and a CD with all the pictures in a pocket. 

You start with a basic file folder -- like the ones you use for normal filing.  You can use one and decorate both sides.  I used two to make it a little sturdier and to allow me to use brads. (Although I didn’t end up using any.) When you use two, you make one the inside and one the outside and then glue together. 

I figured out how I wanted the inside of the folder to look and that I wanted two pockets – one for a photo CD and one to hold a small photo album and extra memorabilia.  When I had this figured out, I cut out the pieces of paper to fit the folders.  It is not necessary to do this exactly as you can trim afer gluing down.   On the bottom left side, I used two pieces of Novella, so that the pocket totally blends into the page.  For the right pocket (for a photo CD)  I cut out a design out of the Flannel Suit paper and turned it upside down. I stitched the two pockets to the paper..  (If you’re not into sewing, it would work just as well to attach the paper forming the pocket with RedScor Tape or other strong tape.)  Before covering the sides, I put a strip down the center with crease where needed for folder to fold.  Then I put the paper (with pockets on each side) and affixed a strip along the right edge.  I affixed all of these with a glue stick and a brayer.   I needed to trim some of the edges a little.  Also, I inked various pieces and edges of file folders with Fired Brick, Vintage Photo and Peeled Paint Distress Ink.

The  “Generations” you see in the photo is a small hoto album.  (I’ll blog on how to make it on the 14^th.)  I used a large letter “K” to represent the family name.   I love these letters and you  get them in a few different colors at ScrapbooksPlus.  They add a lot and are very inexpensive.    

I used a variety of Clippings items to decorate the inside, the outside and the photo album, including Sticker Titles, Stickers Elements, Printed Chipboard and Alphas, and Garland.  Just get a pack of each and you’ll have plenty of embellishments for a few files.  (I cut the “2011” from the Typewriter paper with a small circle punch.)  I added a picture and mat to the plain black box on the CD pocket and using those great Clippings Alpha letters I added title.  The banner at the top is held on with Tim Holtz Muse Tokens.  

Then I covered the outside of the other folder using Gazette and Typewriter.   I knew from the beginning that I wanted to spell something with the letters from the 5^th Avenue paper.  So I spelled “Family.” To make the letters a little more interesting.  After distressing the edges of each letter, I embossed the edges with Stampendous Aged Taupe Embossing Powder.   I “inked” the edges with VersaMark.  Like with inking I didn’t make it even, I simply rubbed the edges with the VersaMarc so it is thicker in some places than others.  I then sprinkled the edges with the embossing powder and heat embossed.  This embossing powder includes a variety of granules so it can create interesting textures.   (I just learned that with this embossing powder it is better if you heat from the bottom.   I just heated from the top as usual.  Try it both ways and see which you like best. ) I also used it to emboss the word “Photographs” on the cover.  I added a picture and some strips along the bottom.  To make it sturdier, I covered the outside with a couple of coats of Modge Podge. Then I added two large Tim Holtz Word Keys.  (Note: Because of the shape of folders, I used you see a good portion of the inside right across the top of the top when closed.)   

Once the outside and inside were done,  I fastened the two folders together along the outer edges.  As a result I have two large areas to store memorabilia, etc. I made two smaller file folders made from Drafting Table paper and the tabs from the Tim Holtz Sizzix On the Edge Folders to keep some additional photos or memorabilia.  You can see tabs in the photo. 

This is one of the most fun projects, I’ve done in a while.  I encourage you to try to make a Scrap Folder for some of your precious memories. 

Rat Pack Themed Layout

I love it when I can design layouts the reflect the essence of my pictures.  Although it wasn't mmediately obvious when I saw the Basic Grey Clippings line, upon review I discovered that the grey herringbone and red houndstooth paper worked well to create a perfect layout for pictures from a Rat Pack-themed party at a famous nightclub in San Fran.

Here’s how to make this page.  Start with a background of Novella.  Add a 5” x 12” piece of Handmade Quilt on the top.  Affix a strip of shiny black ribbon (available at ScrapbooksPlus) where the papers meet.

Cut 6 ¼ ” X 10 ¼ ” piece of white cardstock; print or write message in right bottom corner.  Add two  4” x 6” pictures (one horizontal and one vertical).

To make the sign and the flourish, you use one of my favorite techniques.  Using the Tim Holtz Sizzix Hanging Sign Die cut sign hangar from chipboard.  Cover hangar with VersaMark by pressing into VersaMark pad, emboss with Zing black embossing powder.  The texture created is wonderful.  Put eyelets in holes.  The flourish was cut with the Tim Holtz Mover & Shapers Mini Flourish die.  To make the sign, glue a 5” x 3” piece of Novella to a piece of chipboard. (For this purpose I use a glue stick and even out with brayer.  Because of how you are cutting you need every bit of the paper glued to the chipboard and this is a great way to do it.)  Cut out sign using same die as you used for hangar. Put eyelets in holes.  Affix sign to hangar using Tim Holtz Jump Rings or Clasp Clips.

Put title on sign using alphabet from Printed Chipboard & Alpha Set.  I love this set of alpha for several reasons.  A couple are that they give you lots of letters and even have a apostrophe’s. 

In bottom right and left corners, embellish with  Clippings Brads and Wooden Buttons.  I put Memory Thread in the holes of the buttons.   This set of brads gives you lots of options and the buttons are really fun.

Clippings from Basic Grey

I love Clippings from Basic Grey.  The line has the look that's so trendy now featuring vintage look library cards, ledger paper, etc.  I can't seem to get enough of this type of look.  I've even picked up a few 'real vintage' ledger papers in thrift stores lately to use in my projects.  But you don't have to scour thrift stores for these finds when you can just head to Scrapbooks Plus and pick up Clippings from Basic Grey!  It was tough to decide what to use for my projects this month because I loved all the paper and all the embellishments!  Usually a few things in the kit 'speak to me' but this month-- they were all yelling at me so I had to choose!! 


I created a one page layout using a page map which I pinned on Pinterest for inspiration.  I used paper garlands and lots of chipboard shapes that coordinate with the Clippings line.  The C and S I used for the title were cut out on my Cricut.  The other letters are from the Clippings chipboard pack.

Hot July Make & Take

This week’s Make & Take, using Basic Grey’s pb&j line, provides space for three 4” x 6” pictures.  Your free element is  a metallic & blue vintage fan made with Tim Holtz Sizzix Movers and Shapers die,  In addition you use five colors of twine (the big spool kind so you can buy just what you need) and wooden buttons.  As designed the page is for “Hot July” memories, but use your letters to make a different title and the layout’s bright summer colors are great for a birthday, spring, garden, pet, family, life or love layout.  This layout gives you lots of flexibility so I’m sure you have some important memories to scrap that will be perfect on this page. 

Friendship Card Set

This month's Scrapbooks-Plus DT kit is from Basic Grey.  There are a variety of colors in this line of papers but I chose those pages with purple in them to create some fun everyday cards.  These are great to have on hand when you just need to write a quick note for someone special.

Of course, I had to do something other than a card set so I added a box to put my cards in.  Wouldn't this make a great gift for that special friend?

A Little Glitz, A Little Glamour and Presto A Lovely Book

I never make books, but this month’s Basic Grey Plumeria papers and embellishments seemed perfect to fill a little book.  So I made one.  I think it would make a great gift to thank someone for their involvement in a special day, such as bridesmaids.  This paper reminds me of weddings while avoiding the usual white and silver.

I started with a BoBunny Chipboard book.  I simply glued coordinating papers to the back and front of each chipboard page with a glue stick and a brayer.  (Okay, I first decided what color and embellishments would go on the front and the ¾” of each odd page that showed.  Because so little of each page would show, I was able to use some pages that didn’t seem to go together.   For example, I loved  Moonstone and Budding Lavender, but with the orange  they didn’t seem  to go with the cover’s grape color.   But by using turquoise on the ¾” that showed and only using the orange on the parts of the page that didn’t, I was able to use Moonstone and Budding Lavender.) 

Then I decorated each page with ribbons, lace, buttons, chipboard, rhinestones, and other embellishments.  As I was working on the pages, I thought this is my favorite page and then I’d complete another one and it was my favorite page. 

I used a variety of punches to cut photo mats and accents.  I used a scalloped circle punch, a circle punch a Martha Stewart punch around page, a Sizzix library die, a Tim Holtz Mini Labels die, a Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers Flourish die, and a Tim Holtz On the Edge Brackets die.

For my embellishments (and I used lots) I started with the letters and chipboard designs from the Basic Grey Plumeria line   I especially loved the stamps and butterflies.  For one butterfly, I created antennas by using stickpins with gold pearl hearts on top.  (The set of stickpins includes white hearts and gold and white orb shapes.)   I used lots of rhinestones and pearls from BoBunny French Market Collection.  On the cover, I used them to add a little glitz as accents on the flowers.   Two of the KaiserCraft wooden doilies added nice touch.  I used lace and six different ribbons available at ScrapbooksPlus.   I also used Tim Holtz Hangar Clips, Bazzill Flowers, and Bazzill Jewels. Elements buttons are used on a few pages.   I really did just start with the background and then piled on the fun embellishments.

When all pages were complete, I punched holes through the paper  (the book comes with holes in the chipboard) and put the book together with ivory rings and tied lots of ribbons on them.  

If you want to copy my book, the store staff can help you locate the items you need.  Most will be displayed in the back of the store near the Design Team Wall.  While there, you can take a really close look at the book.  I liked doing this so much I think you’ll see more books from me in the future.

A Snowy Valentine's Day Card

I really wanted to make a Valentine’s Day card this month but when I saw the papers with blues, greens and browns, it appeared that this was not going to work.  Then I saw one of the Cardstock Stickers in the set  said “I’d Melt for You.”  Presto I had a Valentine’s Day card idea.    

To make the card, just like I did you cut out two  6 ¼” x 4 ½” pieces of cardstock, score and glue them together so you have the Winter Plaid on the outside and the Snowy Aspen on the inside for writing.  Look carefully before you cut as there are some nice white designs on the plaid that you may want to place on the edge of your card.  Cut a 6 ¼” x 2 ¼” strip of Skate Scratch and put a small a strip of Brown Snowy Scratch cut with a scallop punch on each side.  Affix to the center of the card.      

Stamp a snowman on the Snowy Aspen paper with VersaMark.  I used the Basic Grey Snowman but any stamp would work.   Emboss with Chestnut Zing Embossing Powder and cut out.  Make a hat using the same technique.  Stamp three little hearts with VersaMark and emboss with Barn Door Embossing Powder.   Paint the snowman with Chandalier Glimmer Glam.    (You could also use small heart buttons or cut small hearts from a pretty paper. If you are affixing something to the snowman, paint with Glimmer Glam and then affix objects.)  Draw a face on the snowman with a pen.  Fastened the snowman to the right side of the card with pop dots.  Glue three chocolate hearts in red and silver foil to the left side using Glossy Accents.

Paint the Cardstock Sticker that says “I’d Melt for You” with Chandalier Glimmer Glam.  Stick the sticker on a piece of Brown Snowy Scratch and cut around the edge leaving a small border.  To make the card a little more Valentiney, make the word “Melt” red.  I used Claudine Hellumuth’s dash of red acrylic paint.  The tip on the bottle is so tiny that I was able to fill in the tiny word directly from the bottle.   Affix the Cardstock Sticker to the card.  

Stamp your Valentine’s message inside the card. 

Creating More Journaling Space

Sometimes things fall into place when you just go with the flow.  I was struggling with the school theme of this month’s papers.  I really liked the papers but I didn’t have any school pictures to scrapbook.  After much thought, I decided that I would use the paper with books and just use a title about learning, such as “Learning Outside the Classroom” and started to work on a page with pictures from a August trip to Springfield, Illinois.  As I was working on the page it dawned on me that the paper fit perfectly – our favorite place was the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.  No need for special title.  Simply the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. 

For the most part the two-page layout is fairly straight-forward so I’ll just highlight a few things. I used the Life Documented Flash Cards for journaling.  One titled “Life Documented” for the place, city  and date.   I used Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type for the actual words.  I love using these as they are small enough they don’t take up too much space and I don’t have to worry about handwriting.  To list the things we saw in Springfield, I used a flash card with numbers.  These Life Documented Flash Cards have many uses.  I urge you to get a page or two before they are gone.

However, I still did not have enough space to tell the story of the day and display all the pictures that I wanted so I created a journaling flap. To make the flap, I used a plain piece of cardstock for the page base.  On the right side, I affixed strips of Study Hall & Letterman’s Jacket.  I then attached a 12” x 9 3/4” piece of the Fencing paper on the left side of the cardstock, affixing the top, bottom and left edge.  On the right edge, I affixed the piece of the Fencing paper only 2” from top and bottom, thus creating a flap in which to insert the journaling.  

For the journaling, I typed it on a piece of Oxford Dean’s List.  I folded it in half so it would be a little more durable and trimmed to size needed.  You could of course add more pictures on this.  I made two tabs for the journaling page using two pieces of ribbon (also folded in half).  I affixed these with Tim Holtz snaps.  You might prefer to use your stapler as the stamps are a little thick when inside the flap.  The ribbon shows when the flaps inserted.  This ribbon came from ScrapbooksPlus and is so elegant.  With other papers, twine would work well also.  That’s how simple it is to make extra space for that precious journaling of special moments.

I embellished the page with pencil stickers and Tim Holtz Idea-ology philosophy tags.   I used ones to express meaning.  I threaded a double string of brown floss through holes and tied.  (I used threaded needle to get the thread in the holes.) I affixed with Glossy Accents.  As usual,  I inked things liberally.  For this page, I used Black Soot Distress Ink.

Basic Grey Papers & Flowers for Special Memory

I had a special picture of my cousins from our annual family reunion.  As with all pictures with a lot of people, it is hard to know what to do with them.  I know from trying to sort out old pictures of my Mom’s that it is important to name the people because even though today we may be able to identify them all, 50 years from now people will say who is that?

Rather than simply putting boring labels at the bottom, I decided to put each person’s name on a flower stem. (The stems were cut from Oxford Deans List. The person’s name was written on it with a pen.)  I then used flowers (made in a variety of ways) to identify to which family each person belonged and where in the picture they are.  Let me explain.

My sister and I are flowers made from Tim Holtz Sizzix Tattered Flower die cut from Basic Grey paper.   (Both flowers are the same; the die contains four flowers.)  My Uncle Dick’s kids are also represented by flowers made using the Tim Holtz Sizzix Tattered Flower die, but I used a different paper and flower.   All my Aunt Joann’s kids are all Bazzill Paper Flowers 1.5 Primula French Vanilla.  (These flowers are great and ScrapbooksPlus has them in  lots of fun colors and different sizes.) My Aunt Marilyn’s kids are all blue BoBunny buttons and Uncle Tom’s are tan BoBunny Buttons.   (Smaller buttons the centers of  the flowers.)  I tied a knot in each of the buttons with blue sewing floss.  The flowers are placed vertically and horizontally to correspond to where the person is in the picture.  For example, my cousin Tommy is in the back row and the furthest to the left so his flower is one of the tallest and on the left side of the page.

I also used symbolism to enhance the meaning of the page.   For example, the #19 represents the total number of cousins.  It is from the Pink Paislee Daily Junque Mini Note & Label set, which contains 43 embellishments.  l  also used two cards from this set on the right side to provide balance.  In the upper right, I used a Kaisercraft Wood Flourishes leave to  provide two leaves to represent the two cousins who are no longer with us.  

This page was a lot of fun to make and will provide special memoires for years to come.

Making Holiday Tags with Oxford Paper

I know it is only September but if we are going to hand make things for the holidays now is the time to do it so we have time to enjoy the holidays.   I liked the Oxford paper, but didn’t have any  school related pictures to scrap.  The burgundy and green colors made me think of Christmas so I made extra large tags.  These could be used in several ways --  for those really big boxes that a small tag just doesn’t do the trick, on cards or as decorations.  Another thing I love about making your own tags is that you can mix and match what you have and they all coordinate.

Reindeer

I cut the tag and a cooridinating shadow tag with the Cricut using Oxford paper.   Christmas needs a little shine in my view so I spritzed both the tag and shadow tag with Sun Sisters Glimmer Mist.  I cut a tree and painted it with Dirty Martini Glimmer Glam.   Using plain cardstock I cut out a reindeer and a star for the top of the tree..  I embossed it three times with gold embossing powder.  I added BoBunny Zoology Jewels for eye and collar.  You could also use jewels or buttons to decorate the tree. Tie with a ribbon and you are done.  You could make several of these in no time at all.

Snowman

The approach was similar to the reindeer tag except I used Silver Glimmer Mist on the tag, shadow and the snowman.  I  left the tree plain.  I embossed the snowman’s hat.  The eyes and buttons same from the Bo Bunny Jewel set.  The Bo Bunny Father Christmas buttons would also be great.  There are hearts in the set that would be adorable on a snowman.  Again, add a ribbon and you are done.  Scrapbooks Plus has a great supply of ribbon. 

Since I’m in France now, I may decide to carry the French theme all the way to Christmas and make some holiday tags with the Eiffel Tower!  Another idea is to add a picture of that special person.  That’s the advantage of making your own tags – they can be uniquely yours.

Stars of My Life

This month’s page map gives you lots of options for how to make it your own.    You have 9 squares in the center.  It is up to you whether you use them all for pictures, all for decorations or a combination of pictures and decorations.  My squares included some with pictures, some with embellishments and some words.   My page includes a picture of me with each of my aunts and uncles when I was young.  Since I have only four, that left me five squares to use as accents.   

I used the Oxford Frat House paper for the background.  To bring the focus to the center where the pictures are, I made a large photo mat (10” x 10”) to hold all the pictures and other décor. I printed 3” x 3” pictures and placed them equally on the grid.  I cut 3” x 3” squares from coordinating paper.  In the center square, I placed a subtitle made from letters cut from Oxford Fencing paper. Instead of a square in the upper left, I used a journaling block from Life Documented Flash Cards.  I inked it with Peeled Paint Distress Ink.  All squares were inked with Peeled Paint Distress Ink.  

 I inked ribbon (available atScrapbooksPlus) and Tim Holtz idea-ology trimming lavish flower ribbon with Peeled Paint Distress Stain and used the ribbon to decorate the squares.  If you haven’t tried Distress Stain, you really should.  It is so easy to make items the color you want .  I added a heart stamp and some flowers cut with Tim Holtz Tattered Flowers Sizzix die. 

Since I had some chipboard stars, I titled this page “Stars of My Life.”  (I apologize that the picture makes it difficult to read the title. ) Although it goes with the embellishments, it is also true – my aunts and uncles played a significant role in my life.  They continue to today.) I used  a large chipboard star for the title.  I covered it with Versamark and embossed it with Peeled Paint Distress Powder.  The remainder of the title was made with Pink Paislee Daily Junque wood alphabet.  

This month’s page map is one that  is easy to adjust to the pictures that you want to scrap.  Simply gather the 3” x 3” pictures.  Once you have these selected and placed, pick paper and embellishments for the other squares that reflect the theme.  You can make them frilly and pink for a girly girl, bold and modern for a hip look, fill with sports symbols for the big game, or since it is September you could use a school theme with a back to school picture of each of your kids.   

Basic Grey 2 page layout

I just love Basic Grey!  It has been really fun working with the Oxford papers this month and they inspired me to start thinking about back to school a little early!  So I pulled out some old photos of my son when he went to 2nd grade.  Boy, does time fly!!

I had a fun time working with the stickers, chipboard, and embellishments that match this fun paper!  The quote I used is from the Basic Grey paper and is a quote from "Calvin and Hobbes" one of our family's favorite comic strips!  Very appropriate!

I also used photos in a series at the bottom of the page.  The apple is a piece of chipboard covered with perfectly colored paper for an apple!  The pencils are stickers from Basic Grey that match the papers.  Now that we have the kids back in school, I hope this fun paper and the Design Team's layouts inspire you to scrapbook your photos soon!

Birthday Pictures Make & Take

This week’s Make & Take will help you scrap those many birthday pictures you have. The fun design and bright colors make it perfect for boys or girls of any age. Stop by the store on Wednesday to get all the products you need and the instructions to make this fun layout using Basic Grey’s Life of the Party Line. Your free element is a birthday cake with icing.

Springtime Make & Take -- February 23rd

Tired of winter? Me, too. That’s why I wanted today’s Make and Take at Scrapbook Plus to bring Spring to mind. Using Basic Grey’s Marjolaine line, I created a “Springtime” page. I love the flowers and the blues and greens of this line. with some added bling, the page pops.

As with all Wednesday Make and Takes when you purchase the supplies to make the layout, you’ll receive a free element that you need to complete the layout. This week’s free element is the “Treasure” box that you need for the message “Treasure Springtime.”

This is a quick layout to make with two 4 x 6 pictures and two 6 x 4. In a short time you can have a gorgeous layout with your favorite Spring memories. I plan on including pictures of the things I love about Spring – baseball, flowers, BBQs and golf. Whether you want to scrap spring break, spring fever or just some favorite spring memories, this page will work.

While you’re at the store you can pick up some extra paper from this line. For those that are curious, marjolaine means marjoram in French. Each paper design in this line (and there are lots of them) is named after foods. For example, there is black forest strata, éclair, fudge truffle and buttercream just to name a few. Despite the food names, the primary blue, green and brown papers include flowers, mod designs and classic designs (like plaids, argyle) so there’s something for everyone.