Tips and Techniques by Joan Bronson

Joan Bronson is featuring our September Creative Kit today with a look into her design process!

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Hello Fellow Scrappers!
Today I wanted to share with you a couple tips to aid you in scrap lifting my layouts using the September Creative kit.  As you well know - I like to use my kit up! Here is a photo of my left overs this month.

(sorry for the less than wonderful photos - with three small boys I tend to do most of my scrapping at night. It doesn't make for the best photos!). Here is a layout I was pretty creative with:

The first thing to share is how I make my kit last so long. I started by only using enough background paper I needed.

See how rather than cutting an entire rectangle I only cut part of it. Since the rest was covered I really didn't need to have the entire rectangle. I also waited until I was about finished with all my layouts to cut my circles. I made my decision on what papers to use for my circles based on what papers I had left. Lastly, I hope you like my borders at the top and bottom of the page. Check out your sticker sheet and you will find a triangle border and a bubble border. I decided to cut them out for this layout. The triangles took a little time but the bubbles at the bottom were super easy. I just cut around the bubbles. For the triangles, I first cut out the entire border from the sticker sheet (with the backing still attached). Then I cut out each triangle and laid them out on my layout as I thought I'd like them to end up. I added some pop dots to the back of some triangles (after exposing the sticky back). I admit I pulled up and restuck several triangles in order to get them just the way I wanted but I love the final look so I'm okay with the bit of work it took. Some pages just deserve a little extra work.

One more thing I really want to share with you is how I made the beautiful flowers in our kit pink! I got out my Gelatos again this month - this time to color my flowers. Here is the layout I used my pink flowers on.

First, I grabbed my craft mat, a little water (should have had it in a dish but didn't have one handy so I just dropped a little on my mat). I also grabbed the paint brush that came with my Gelatos, a pink Gelatos and of course my flowers.

I started by scribbling some Gelato on my craft mat, then I dipped my paint brush in a little water and then in the scribbled Gelato. Separate each petal of the flower and color it individually. I had to dip my brush in water and Gelato several times to complete each flower but over all coloring the flowers didn't take that much time and was fun.

When I was finished I grabbed my heat gun and sped up the drying process as I was so excited to get the flowers on my layout. Aren't they beautiful?

As a kit club member and scrap lifer for several years before joining the design team I know that sometimes designers do little things you want to copy but wonder how to do it (I still think that about the beautiful designs in the Limited Edition kit) Please feel free to visit my blog and leave me a message any time you wonder how I did something or have a comment. I'd love to have you visit. My blog: www.scrappyjoan.blogspot.com. Thanks and have fun scrapping!

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You can see more of Joan's beautiful work in our Design Team Gallery!

Here's the September Creative Kit:

We invite you to join us and experience the possibilities that our coordinated monthly kits offer. To purchase a kit, please visit our website, here.

10 Techniques You Can Use on Every Layout by Lydell Quin

Lydell Quin is featuring our September Main Kit today with lots of fun techniques that you can use on every layout!

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This Month I thought I would share some tips from the productions of this months series of Projects using the September Main Kit from My Creative Scrapbook!

 So lets jump right in.....

#1.  Handwrite a title, and cut it out.

I just used a Calligraphy pen with the flat chisel tip and then fussy cut it out leaving a small white space between.  Not difficult, but it takes a little time.  Add some sticker words and some chip alphas and you have an interesting title!

#2. Place your stickers and alphas on plastic

 I just used an empty cellophane bag.  Just hold it over your Project so you can find the right placement without pulling off individual letters a million times trying to find where it looks best!!! (and risk tearing your Paper)

#3. Make your own chevrons

I just cut a rectangle of patterned paper (with a small print)  Cut a snip in the centre of the bottom, and  cut from the corners into the centre snip to cut out two small triangles.  (Keep these they are great for arrows pointing to a focal point on your project)  Now cut an angle into that same centre point from the outside in, about 1/2 inch wide, making your first chevron piece.  Keep your eye on cutting evenly.  do the next and the next in the same manner.  Snip the top triangles off the top creating the last chevron....

You can mark the back if you like, but I like doing these fast, so I just eyeball it!

#4.  Layer die cuts

I am always looking for ways to layer die cuts.  The one above was easy.  It needed a backing to slide easily into my Project life sleeve.  But die cuts can looks so very sweet layered on top of each other.

#5.  Add stencilling in the background

This is a really simple way to add depth.  I chose a coordinating colour (green on green)  Just to add a slight pattern, and I layered several stencils.  Use a foam blending tool for a smooth and even finish.  

#6. Use Layered String

Pull off a length of string to create a frame for your focal point. Its really effective, creating a lovely soft framed look, rather than bold framing a solid frame would give.  Play with coloured strings and cottons too.

#7.  Overlap heavy chipboard alphas

Some alphas have large serifs, or long tails or tops which prevent them from sitting really close together.  Sometimes you can layer a letter on top of another to keep the kerning even (the spacing between the letters) Like the letter 'g' above.  He is actually sitting on top of the 'u' and the 'h'.  This can be difficult to secure, so I just ran it through my sewing machine.  It works perfectly in my paper machine (one reserved for crafting) Just go slowly, but you shouldn't have trouble.

#8. Try some variations of Journalling Styles

Draw wonky lines and write directly on them for an imperfect uneven style.  It still looks neat surprisingly, and can look better than trying for a perfectly aligned journalling block, and not fitting words in well.

Strip Journalling- Cut thin strips of card stock, and write on them.  Glue them on in the formation you want.

OR cut the strips into individual words and make a strip of word journalling either in a long line, around a photo or the entire page, or even just one on top of the other down the page.

Use a bullet point style.  No need to think about flowing journalling, or the perfect vocab and grammar!

#9.  Use two photos the same

This can look really interesting, and add to the design without taking away from the focal photo.  

(the other photo IS the focal photo!!!)

I played with this several times this month.  I created a collage of 4 photos on a 6x4 in Fuzel on my i-phone and then printed it out twice, so I had several cute pictures in multiples.

(App- Fuzel- I believe its free but you can buy add ons with in the app.  My collage used 4 photos and I just made the ratio 2:3 for printing as a horizontal 6x4 Print)

You can even use more than two, to create a 'stacked' feel.  Love this look!

#10.  Add Paint splatters

I use paint and ink splatters all the time.  Mostly because I love it, but when you design for a paint Company, you have loads of paint you need to use!!!!  I love the look the irregular and uneven splashes give on a page or project.  Try different colours, but black and white looks great too!  You can use mists if you have those (just take the lid off and flick the tube inside over your page)  Or mix a watery mix of water colour on an acrylic block  (or a palette) and flick that over your page.  

You can even use water based markers or distress inks.  Colour or press the colour on an acrylic block and spritz with water until it beads.  Soak your paintbrush in it and flick it over your page.

REMEMBER if you are doing this last, cover your photos with a scrap piece of paper.

For my drips and splashes I love using my copperplate dip nib calligraphy pen in India ink.  It creates really nice splatters, that are a little more 'controlled'.

So that's it from me today....  

Hope that list gave you some ideas for your next project!

Thanks for stopping in today!

VISIT MY BLOG

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You can see more of Lydell's beautiful work in our Design Team Gallery!

Here's the September Main Kit:

We invite you to join us and experience the possibilities that our coordinated monthly kits offer. To purchase a kit, please visit our website, here.

Step by Step Layout VIDEO Tutorial by Marta Lapkowska

We're in for a fab video treat today...

Marta Lapkowska has prepared another step by step video tutorial to inspire us with!

Here's the layout that Marta designs in her video:

Enjoy watching Marta work her magic!

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You can see more of Marta's beautiful work in our Design Team Gallery!

Here's the September Limited Edition Kit:

We invite you to join us and experience the possibilities that our coordinated monthly kits offer. To purchase a kit, please visit our website, here.

How to Create Fast and Beautiful Scrapbook Pages by Jodi Wilton

Jodi Wilton is up today with some handy tips featuring our September Main Kit!

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Hi everyone!  Jodi here today to share with some tips on "How to Create FAST & BEAUTIFUL Scrapbook Pages".  This is kind of a different tutorial for me, but I thought it was something that some of you might be interested in!

When I first started scrapbooking, it took me forever to scrapbook a page... literally HOURS.  I loved this hobby, and wanted the perfect pages.  Then I got the best advice! There are no mistakes in scrapbooking, and that is when I started to cut, commit, and glue! I wanted to get done as many as I could in a short period of time.  Today, it takes me 30 minutes and no more than 1 hour to complete a page. Today I would like to take you through the process.  (I used the MAIN KIT to create all my examples and each page was made in less than 30 minutes)!

TIPS:

#1:  USE A KIT!  One of my favorite things about this kit club is it does the hard work for you! It has ample of matching paper and embellishments, flowers, etc... that all match perfectly! All you need is the kit and you are off to a great start!  If I have used the majority of the kit,  I will shop in my scrapbook room and put a kit together with my own supplies.

#2  INSPIRATION:  I draw inspiration from a number of sources. Sometimes it is from a piece of paper in a kit, sometimes its from a certain embellishment.  For my example below, I loved the word  TOGETHER, and knew I wanted to document my daughter and one of her best friends relationship growing up together.  From the photo, I then picked out the papers I would use.

Other ways I get inspiration to create are from photos and I sometimes like to to draw inspiration from a new technique I might want to try! For this layout I really wanted to incorporate the 1,2,3,4,5 Gold paper pieces:

#3 Get Cutting!  Once the inspiration is there, I pick a few patterned pieces of paper, and yes I just start cutting!  Sometime I might head to pinterest to gather up some "neat" photo placements, but most of the time I just start cutting.  I continue to add strips of paper with V cuts in them if I find there isn't enough patterned paper. I have always seen people Hum and Ha about where to put things, but I think the layout always comes together once the embellishments are on.

#4 Embellishing!  Anyone who knows me, knows I am one that LOVES to embellish. I try to use A LOT without taking away from the photo! The good thing about kits, is that they all match, and they all go together! Put on as many or as little as you want!  I love to "pop" up my embellishments and LAYER on top of embellishments too! Sometimes I cut stickers down to work on the layout.  The layout below was the LAST layout I made from the kit. I simply used strips of paper that I had left and then went to town on the embellishments. I layered on top of many embellishments:

#5 Journaling: Yes I hate to journal. I usually leave it to last, but I know it tells the story in the end. I use to type up a lot of my journaling, but now to save on time, I bring out my marker! If I have a "big" story to tell, I will type it up, or I might type it up and put it on the back of my layout too.

Thanks for letting me share today! I hope this Tips and Techniques post can help you get a little more speedy on creating, without losing the "wow" factor! 

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You can see more of Jodi's beautiful work in our Design Team Gallery!

Here's the September Main Kit:

We invite you to join us and experience the possibilities that our coordinated monthly kits offer. To purchase a kit, please visit our website, here.

Layout Design Process with Heather Binnie

Heather Binnie is up today with a tutorial featuring our September Creative Kit!

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Hello everyone!

Here are my instructions/tips/techniques for September's pages from My Creative Scrapbook.

Back 2 School Today:

I chose a neutral background to match skin tone making the colors of the clothing pop more.

 

I cut down the pink tack paper to around 11x11 and then cut out the inside. This is easy to do because the other side of the paper is a graph with nice, straight lines.

I kind of arranged everything how I thought I wanted it before I sewed it down. I first inked up the edges of the paper and then used my sewing machine. I ripped and bent the pages around the sewing.

I arranged and inked up the edges of the background mats. I sometimes like to use the tear off sheet of the paper which I did in this case. I left "creative agenda" in the design.

I added "8" and "5" stickers to the corners of the photos to indicate which grade my kids were going into this year.

I decided to use part of the graph I had just cut out. I used a paper punch to make the edge.

and then I used distress ink and a dauber to rough up the edges.

After sticking down the photos, I added stickers here and there and arranged my title as shown.

Strawberry:

This was an easy page.

The photo was already printed in a sepia kind of tone. I cut each square 2.5x2.5 inches and inked each edge with a brown instead of a black to match the color of the photo.

I measured in from the top and left of background about an inch and made a pencil line so I could keep my squares straight.

Of course, it never always works out that way, so the little tiny ripped blue dot not only helps ground the picture, but it also covers over part of the squares that didn't match up perfectly.

For the title, I started the "B" right under the strawberry my daughter is holding. After setting that up, I went backwards for "straw" and added the "w" to the edge of the "B".

I poked a hole in the flower with a paper piercer and added a brad.

To make the visual triangle, I used the pink "straw" and the other two pink stickers.

Good Morning:

I never feel like a project is complete without some sort of paint or messy material thrown on it.

 The first thing I did was to paint the background a bright blue.

After the paint drys (OK, not really. I rarely wait for the paint to dry), I added the photo to the mat, rounded the corners and inked the edges. As I usually do, I tape the long edges of the mat so I can add a removable tag behind the photo for journaling. Staple a ribbon to the card.

 I used some scrap pieces to add this little cluster at the top corner. It doesn't show here, but I did use a paper piercer on the flower to add a brad as the center.

The page seemed like it still needed something, so I played off the "Good Morning" title and made some additional sun bursts. I just cut them out by hand with scissors.

And here is the biggest tip of all...Spray ink the paper before you cut them out. *sigh*. I had the great idea of misting them with glimmer ink but not until I had already cut them out.

After gluing the pieces on around the top of the frame, I pulled out a bottle of Stickles and added glitter to the title, the buttons and then made little dots of glitter around the page.

School starts tomorrow:

Each year on the last day of summer vacation, we go out to breakfast to celebrate. Usually the kids want to go to Wafflehouse (which btw, I think my daughter plans on having her wedding there) but this particular year they chose Ihop.

The pictures were really, really busy and not that good so I didn't want to add too much patterned paper to the background. I decided to emphasize the title.

I ripped off the "s" on "Days" so it was just "Day". I arranged my photos as show, and the taped them down. I very carefully moved the title around until it was just how I wanted it. I never stick the alpha stickers all the way down when deciding on title placement. Sometimes I use wax paper to temporary hold the stickers while I move them around, but after years of making sticker titles, I don't bother doing that anymore. If a sticker rips while I'm moving things around, I don't worry about it. I just think it adds character. ;)

I added other stickers to help move the eye around on the page. I really like those tack stickers.

To add just a little more detail, I used a white pen to add dots to the black font and then I used a black pen to add little dots around some of the photos.

Again, I taped down the yellow piece on the bottom on the long ends so I could add a removable tag for journaling. Staple a ribbon to the card.

That's it! Thank you everyone.

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Don't forget to visit our Design Team Gallery!

Here's the September Creative Kit:

We invite you to join us and experience the possibilities that our coordinated monthly kits offer. To purchase a kit, please visit our website, here.