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!   

Exploding Box & Cards

Most people love to get handmade cards and gifts. I think it is especially nice for Valentine's Day.  On Saturday, February 9th Scrapbooks-Plus will offer a class in which you'll make four Valentine-themed items using a scoring board and BoBunny’s Love Letters line. 

You’ll make an exploding box that would be a great Valentines gift for one of your loves – grandmother, mother, daugter, husband.  It looks like a box but when you open it up out pops all kinds of spaces that are decorated.  You can add messages and pictures specific to the receipient. You could even include a gift card in one of the pockets.  If you have a child away at school one of these with gift cards would be most welcome. 

In addition, we’ll make a newly popular “matchbook,” which can serve the same purpose as a card, but is oh so cute. 

 A card and matching envelope will complete our projects. 

Although these projects are great and reason enough to take a class, but the real purpose of making these is to learn about a scoring board.  After making these item, you can decide whether this is a tool you need in your papercrafting tool box.  Whatever you decide, you’ll have completed some projects, learned how to make some new items and had a fun afternoon. 

This class is part of a series I'm teaching to share new tools and techniques so that we are continuing to expand our papercrafting skills.  I always feel that I make better decisions when I get to use somehting before I buy it and you'll definately gain that experience with this class.  And you'll have a lot of fun!

The class is on February 9, 2013  from 10:30am – 2:30pm with a cost of $45.   The items are on display at the store if you'd like to look at them up close.   To sign up stop by or call Scrapbooks Plus at

703-263-9503.   Space is limited.

BoBunny Snowy Day Line

The Design Team used BoBunny’s Snowy Day line to create its January projects.  As the name conveys, the papers, journaling blocks, tags and embellishements have a snow theme.  Lots of snowflakes, mittens and snow sayings, such as "let it snow."   Typical of BoBunny, the line includes brads, cute buttons,  jewels, die cuts and chipboard shapes. 

The rich hues of blues,  browns, plums and golds provide great backgrounds for winter pictures. The Design Team added some of the BoBunny cooridinating solid papers with dots on the reverse side.  Slate Dots, Plum Dots and Curry Dots papers go especially well with the Snowy Day line  

Although the papers are perfect for snow pictures, the color combination is great for other pictures as well.  As an example of the versatility,  I made two layouts of travel pictures, without any snow in them.  Many of the prints work for a variety of pictures. 

I can’t wait to see what the Design Team has made with this versatile line.  You can check out the Design Team’s projects at ScrapbooksPlus.  Feel free to take pictures of those that give you ideas for your layouts.  While you're there you can pick up the supplies you’ll need to make some great layouts. Or you can sign up for one of January's crops and usethe Design Team Wall for ideas create your own layouts. 

Make a Wish!

With the Alora paper, it is about as easy to make a page as to make a wish.   I chose the Alora Stitches' polka dots for an a family birthday layout.  I cut a strip that said “Make a Wish” from Alora Wish for my title and inked the strip and the background with Barn Door Distress Ink.  After affixing the strip to the background, I added two horizontal  (3 ½” x 5”) and a vertical (5 x 3 ½”) photos in a grid-type layout.   All that remainded was to add a few embellishments and journaling.  I used the “Love” and “Wish” boxes from the Alora Cutouts for Journaling.  I added the date under the title with Alora Tiny Type Stickers.  I used a couple of flowers from the Alora Combo Stickers.  Strips of jewels frame the top of the photos and large jewels dot the “I” in the title and form the center of the circle.  That’s all there is to it!

Using the Alora Line to Make A Thank You Book

I warned you last month that after I found out how great it was to make a book with coordinated papers and embellishments that my altered item might be a book every month.  Two months doesn’t always make, but the BoBunny Alora line had such cute items I couldn’t resist making a book as a thank you gift.  My aunt included three extra Moms, who weren’t going to be with their children on Mother’s Day,  in the celebration that she was having with her kids.   A book with some pictures of each Mom seemed a great way to say thank you.

And since this was a thank you for inviting us to her home, a house was the perfect shape.   I made the book with a house die that is available for you to use at ScrapbooksPlus.  It is just the right size for a book.  I made both covers from chipboard and then covered them with Alora papers.  One thing I love about making your own book shape rather than using a purchased one is that you can cut the papers to cover the pages with the same die.  Oh so easy!  For the inside pages, I simply glued two pages together.  Even though the Alora papers are double-sided, I still glued them together as I didn’t think a single-sheet was quite sturdy enough.  Another alternative is to make a chipboard base for each page.  This would make your book much more durable.  (One thing I would do differently is to cut off the edge of the roof on the side that I am binding together for the book as it catches.  If you just use your trimmer to cut that side straight the pages will turn easier.  I plan on doing this when I pick mine up.)  

I encourage you to take a look at the larger dies available at ScrapbooksPlus for you to use.  You can use them while you’re at a crop at no charge.  During non-crop hours, use of the room and all the tools (including dies) is free if you spend $5.00 .  You can buy the chipboard you need at the store.  Another advantage of cutting your book at the store is you only buy what you need.

I punched holes for the ribbon to hold the book together with my Crop-a-dile and inserted We R Memory Keepers Eyelets.  Not only do they keep the holes from ripping, but they add a bling.   The turquoise ribbon that I used to hold the book together is a bit shimmery as well.

On the front and back cover, I stamped “thanks a bunch” and a heart inside a jar with a stamp available at Scrapbooks Plus.  (The stamp includes some other cute items you can include inside the jar.)   On the back cover, I wrote below the jar what the “thanks” was for with a pen, making the book like a thank you card.  I decorated the covers and pages using letters, borders and designs from ComboStickers, Tiny Type Cardstock Stickers, Alora Brads and Alora Jewels.  The Alora Jewels are practical because they include rhinestones and pearls in a variety of sizes. I love using them for flower centers.  On one page, I used a flower border sticker and put a jewel inside every flower.  I found two more  great ribbons at ScrapbooksPlus to use as accents in the book.   And I cut out Alora papers in a variety of shapes to add to the pages and serve as photo mats.  I especially like the alarm clock and fan cut with the Tim Holtz Movers & Shapers dies.

I think my aunt is going to like this a lot better than the usual thank you note. 

And as I’ve discovered, if you simply buy paper and embellishments from the same line, you can make a book quickly.   You can choose from pre-made shapes of chipboard and cover them with paper, make your own shapes as I did or simply use a square or rectangle shape.  Whatever shape you choose,  I’m confident the recipient will be happy.

Mother's Day Layout with Recipes

I created a 2-page layout to capture a special Mother’s Day that I spent with my aunt and several other mothers.  It was a potluck where everyone brought something so I thought it would be nice to include a picture of all the mothers along with the  recipes for the item each brought.  

The background is Alora Squiggles  I chose one of the less busy backfounds since I was going to have so many pictures.  I used one of the Cut Outs to make a frame for the title.  I cut off the two outer frames so it would fit my page better and used the Combo Stickers for the title.

A holder for each person’s recipe was made from Alora Wish and affixed to the background with  1/8” Wondertape so the recipe cards would fit and the tape would hold as the cards are pulled in and out.  I made the recipe cards by cutting rectangles from Blue Alora Dimples and  cutting the top with the Sizzix Tim Holtz on the Edge File Folder die.  (This die is great to make all kinds of file folders of any size you want.)   Each recipe can then be printed on white paper and glued to the recipe card. 

I put a picture of a Mom on each recipe holder and their name (made with a labelmaker) on each recipe card.  Some of the pictures were made with a circle punch and a slightly larger circle punch made the photo mat.  To call attention to the hostess I used a chipboard frame for her picture.  Each recipe holder was decorated  with a variety of Alora items – chipboard, stickers, brads, journaling cards and jewels.  I also used three different Bazzill Half the Edge strips.  These come in a package of 2 each of 10 different designs in a variety of colors.

I think with this page I'll remember the special day that my aunt hosted so that all the mothers she knew had a special Mother's Day.

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.

Easy Sports Pages using Page Map

Using the page map for this month (available at the store), I made a baseball-themed page to showcase pictures of my 8-year-old nephew throwing out the first pitch at an Arizona Diamondbacks game. I followed the page map reasonably closely except since all my pictures were vertical I replaced the four horizontal photos with three vertical ones.

The background is I Love America #IA404 paper. The flags for the banner were cut using the Cricut Celebrations cartridge and strung on Lime Twist Fly a Kite Soar Twine. I cut the letters using Sizzlits die and affixed them to the banner flags with Glossy Accents. I used two brads from the Bo Bunny Liberty Brads set to anchor the banner to the background. (I wrapped the twine around the brad a couple of times and then stuck the brad in the paper.)

The white pleated banner that divides the page horizonatally is a pre-pleated Bazzill paper strip. Called Perfectly Pleated, it reminded me of the bunting often used at ball parks for special games, especially when I added a scalloped piece of Bazzill Red Glitter paper.


For my journaling, I cut out a strip of tickets with Tim Holtz Sizzlits Ticket Strip die. I stamped them using blue ink and stamps from the Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection (Odds & Ends). Journaling in red continued the red, white and blue theme. I used glittered stars from the Bo Bunny Liberty Brads collections. Other were cut from Bazzill Glitter paper using Sixxiz dies and affixed with Glossy Accents. Although I used “I” throughout this blog, I must confess I had some help. I had some ten-year-old visitors over the holiday, who helped me. They loved using the Vagabond to cut out shapes. It is so simple to use that I just described it to them once and they cut out shapes while I did other things. Kale Barnett not only helped me finish this page, but he and his twin sister, Saige, made a page for their sports photos. As a result, I can share three variations of this month’s page map – a baseball one, a basketball one and a football one. These pages show how easy it is to use the page map as a guide and vary the page with your interests.

Scrapbooks Plus has lots of items (like the basketball brads Saige used) to make your sports page, no matter what your sport. If you don’t have a cutter or sports dies, there are plenty of items such as bats, helmets and balls that can replace those in these pages. There is also a wide variety of twine. I used the Lime Twist, which comes in a variety of colors, but Kale used the Sew Easy fancy floss (baker’s twine primary) which comes in 3-color packages.

Have fun making a page for the special athlete in your family!

Elephant Walk

I knew I wanted to scrap these pics of my son & his cousin as soon as I saw the Basic Grey papers this month. Even the exotic names were inspirational: African Nectar, Orchid Oolong, & Madagascar Mint! It just made me think of these pictures from a visit to the zoo years ago.I am afraid I got carried away decorating the elephant, but the die-cut stickers from the Marrakech line made it really easy. The peacock was such a fabulous element to add to the LO - and since it was a sticker I didn't have to do any fussy cutting!
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I must say that I love having all the resources at Scrapbooks Plus at my fingertips when I scrap. The ferns on the bottom right are from an Accu-cut die in the classroom. I decided to add a little dimension by cutting them from chipboard, which is always available at the front counter. I used the Cricut Expression to super-size the elephant and I cut the palm trees using the store's Stretch Your Imagination cartridge. It was beyond easy to find the right shades of cardstock since I was right there, and running a tab on my supplies as I worked meant it was quick, too. It goes without saying that there were all kinds of creative and friendly people around when I needed input. It was just fun!

The fancy-shmancy picture frame on the 2nd page was actually from the die-cut sticker sheet. It started out life as a journaling block. I cut out the center with an exacto knife, added some bling, mounted it on the Palace Blue paper, and popped it up over a matte of African Nectar - I just love saying the name of that paper! I do plan to add journaling when I get the LO home. It will go above and below the small picture on the far right...maybe handwritten with some metallic gold ink, which I think will really "pop" off of the Green Tea paper - the shading on this stuff is awesome!

Here's a bit of trivia - you can tell what country an elephant originated from by looking at his ears. The ears on an African elephant are shaped like the continent of Africa. The ears on an Indian elephant are smaller and similar in shape to India. Interesting...

Hello Jack - Time for your Lobotomy!

When those words popped out of my son's mouth as he started to carve his Halloween pumpkin, I cracked up. When he explained it came from a Calvin & Hobbes cartoon, I knew I had a layout in my future. Lucky for me that Lisa picked such great papers from the Creative Imaginations Trickery Line and My Mind's Eye for the Design Team kit this month!

This layout is a little different from my normal style. I was going for a collage effect. It allowed me to include lots of different elements - stamps, chipboard, ribbon, dimensional stickers, machine stitching, a charm, more stamps, more stickers - and a comic strip of course!

The comic strip was actually my starting point. I pulled out my I-kan-dee Chalks by Pebbles, Inc and used some orange to accent just the pumpkins. I also added a little ink around the edges to soften the stark white of the paper.

Next up was the chipboard pumpkin, which I colored with Stazon ink and then heat embossed with Holographic Embossing powder. I enjoyed that so much, I decided to stamp and emboss some leaves to use as a sparkly accent.

Lisa included Tim Holtz Fragments in the kit this month - something I had never played with before. I had 3 very small pieces to work with but they were the perfect match for the Creative Imaginations jack-o-lantern paper, which is covered with little Halloween themed icons. I snipped out a few, inked the edges with a touch of orange, and used Memory Mount to glue them to the fragments. What a cool and easy way to add dimension!

The die-cut mini page from Teresa Collins and the journaling block from Creative Imaginations added another eclectic touch to the collage. Bright green thread for the stitching pulled out the bits of green in the pictures and added a subtle punch of color.

I used several stamps as accents around the page...words, pumpkins, spiders...as well as the dimensional stickers from the kit.

The last item I added was the circular sticker of the trick-or-treaters. Believe it or not, it came inside a big bag of Doritos! It was a perfect find - the striped background echoed the striped paper, and the image illustrated the word stickers just above it. Serendipity!

Like I said, this was a different kind of layout for me, but it was a lot of fun and a little bit of a challenge. I think I will step outside my comfort zone more often!

The Fall Guy

I mentioned in an earlier post that I "collected" techniques. This layout has a new one I had not tried before - one that shows both sides of a double sided cardstock.

I started with the placement of the print in the upper right corner. Using my paper piercer, I carefully marked where I wanted the picture to go...making the holes about 1/4" smaller than the 5x7 print. Using my exacto knife, I sliced an "X" connecting those holes. Instead of just folding the flaps back, I decided to roll them (over a pencil) to add dimension to the layout and reveal the pattern on the back of the cardstock at the same time. I used my ATG gun to lay down stripes of adhesive to hold the rolls in place. The picture was taped to the back.

Next I pulled out my Scrapboss from Fiskars and the sampler embossing template that came with it. The metallic-looking cardstock in our kit this month was very easy to emboss and I decided to make a pattern of falling leaves. I will confess that I originally had some ideas to enhance the leaves - but the Ranger Inks and the Stazon just disappeared into the cardstock! If you look at the bottom edge of the embossed strip you might notice a colored leaf peeking out from under the picture. I started to play with my Pearl-Ex powders - but I wasn't happy with the results I was getting, so I let it go. I decided the embossing alone was strong enough for this design.

I also cut letters out of the metallic cardstock - although if you look closely, you can see that the "A" is actually cut from metal (using Sizzix "Nouveau"dies). The letters were mounted on pieces of dark cardstock and accented with the cool leaf brads that came in our kit - I really liked the variety of finishes they came in -copper, pewter, brass. The rest of the title was cut with the Cricut "Jasmine" cart.

Notice the scalloped edges Kathryn mentioned in her post - they are fun, easy and add a subtle detail.

I snipped one of the journaling blocks into 2 pieces just for visual interest, and added the double layer of ribbons, pumpkin charm, and the cool scarecrow sticker. I'll add the actual journaling when the layout comes home - my 15 year old son deserves a little privacy!

Altered - Thickers & Chipboard

My DT kit this month came with a chipboard dragonfly and a chipboard flower...but I needed a butterfly...so a snip here and a snip there and voila - Butterfly! I decided the wings needed a little extra swirl, so I snipped away at one of the Thickers Shape stickers and layered it on top.

The flourish underneath also came from the Thickers Chipboard Shapes pack...a little green acrylic paint and some white polka dots...and then I added a touch of Pearl Ex for a little shine (water pen & Future floor polish technique). Sharon is right - don't be stopped because they are plain white in the pack - they are sooooo easy to alter!!

"Poolside" Thickers - Love these Letters!

The August kit came with a pack of Thickers that I just love! The style of the letter is "Poolside". Why am I in love with them? The designer of this particular style was very clever because of how versatile the letters are.

I am sure that everyone, at some point, has had the same problem I ran into with my 2 page layout for this month...not enough of one particular letter. My title "baby brian's bouncy butt-erfly chair" meant that I needed 5 of the letter "B" but the pack only came with 3. Not a problem! Take a close look at the title below and you will see that the "B" in "brian's" and "butt-erfly" are actually the letter "G" turned upside down...

Still not impressed? Want another example? Take a look at one of my cards from this month...

Only the "H" and the "A" are really an "H" and an "A"...can you tell what letters I used for the "P" and the "Y"? If you guessed "D" and "H"...you are correct! (I actually had enough of the letter "P" but at this point I wanted to change it out just for the fun of it...and I found I like the flow of these letters a little better - the real "P" was a lot more square.)

And just look at the possibilities with the "M" amd the "W" ...oh, and the "F"... and does anybody else think the "L" looks a lot like a bracket?

I will be honest and tell you one little thing I generally do not like about Thickers. I have problems with the adhesive. The letters just don't stick very well. Of course, that is not usually an issue, because most scrapbook pages go directly into a protective sleeve and lay flat most of the time. Mine have to go up on the Design Team Wall, and gravity takes its ugly toll (grin). I am not ready to give up such a great product (I just love the texture Thickers add to my projects!) so I have already figured out a fix for the next time. I will just run them through my Xyron to add a litte more adhesive and I think that will take care of it!

My "Negative" Reaction!

I saw Lisa's 2 page layout this month (see"Summer fun" which she posted on June 11th) and I had to laugh...I loved it, but I realized that the 2 page layout I had created was the negative of hers! Where she put papers (around the edges), I put pictures, and where she put pictures (nice strong block in the center) I put papers!

I actually need to give credit for this layout design to tomiannie from the Cricut message board...I scraplifted this from one she posted several months ago. I have used this idea a few times, because it lets me use lots of pictures but doesn't leave the layout looking too busy or crowded.

The polka dot papers from Scenic Route this month were really helpful in this layout, because it is a very consistent pattern. It was very easy to decide I was going to leave 2 rows of white polka dots on the green paper all around the edge, and then have a row of red circles from the next layer of paper, before I started laying down my pictures - and everything was even! I didn't need to take out a ruler once!

I ordered some of my prints as wallets, because that is the basic building block of this layout, but I also incorporated several larger pictures trimmed to the correct width...like this one on the right that I framed with the outline of the diecut arrow journaling block

which I ALSO used, as you can see in the picture to the left! It does take a bit of fiddling around to get the pictures to fit right, but you can fill in gaps with stickers (like the "gone surfing" one).

I can't emphasize enough how easy it was to use these papers...the colors and the patterns have such energy! The stickers make it easy to add a quick punch when needed.

AND...I loved the die cut journaling blocks...and even used the remnants/edges! In addition to the arrow in this layout, did you catch that the sun in this layout provided the outline edge for the sun in my one page "dream" layout below?

I am curious...how much time do you spend deciding upon the title for your layouts? I tried to be clever with a title for this layout, discarding at least 5 or 6 ideas before I ended up with stating the obvious, "the sign said No Diving!" How important is the title for you to be satisfied with your final layout?