Step by Step Layout Tutorial by Guest Designer Stacia Brandt

Guest Designer Stacia Brandt is featuring our December Creative Kit today with a step by step layout tutorial!

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I was able to get 4 layouts out of the Creative Kit this month and thought I would share a step-by-step tutorial of how I put it together.   To start off, here is the finished layout.

As you can see, it is a fairly clean and simple layout.  The majority of goodies are from the kit, so you can easily put this one together yourself.  I only added some pen, some ink, pop dots and some pearl pen dots for a it of finishing.  I also added the solid red and solid white cardstock as a background for this page.

So, lets' get started, First I took the white cardstock and cut it down to about 6x8 (give or take).

And then I laid my photos down on top of it to see where I wanted to place things.  My photos are about 3in long by 2in wide.  So I wanted to space them to be off the white....I moved the white paper over to about 1 inch from the right side and centered it from top to bottom.

Step 2.  I outlined the white paper with some doodling and cut the red paper with the words down to be about 2 1/2 by 10. I left a little more space at the top of the paper strip when I put the photos on it, than I did at the bottom.  I knew I was going to top it off with something, so I wanted it even on the two sides and the bottom when centering my photos on the strip.  I also outlined/doodled around the red printed paper.

In this step, I placed two other patterned paper strips down next to my photo strip ... I made one smaller than the photo strip, and one slightly larger and cut them in banner shapes.  I also outlined those with some doodling.  (at this point, they are not glued down....this photo just shows the sizing I used.)  In step 4, I glued the larger of the two strips about 1/2 inch in from the right side of the white paper.  This one is almost the exact length as the 12 inch cardstock. 

In Step 5, I took the smaller strip and spaced it about an inch to the left of the first banner strip...then glued it down as well.

Step 6.... Glue down your photo strip on top of the two banner pieces (centering)

I then turned the page on its side to do my title placement.  I first put the white thickers down to form the word gifts, working from right to left and spelling the word backward.  I placed the tag on the layout just for spacing.  Then I started on the left side of the white cardstock and formed the word Opening. Adhere the letters once they are spaced as you like them.  I left space in the middle to form the rest of my title with the mini letters in the kit. (step 8 below)

Step 9 - I wrote my journaling on the tag and inked the edges before gluing it into place. The end of it just lays up against the paper strip so you can see the red inking on that end of the tag

The bow in step 10 is not through the tag hole....I wanted the tag to lay flat and the bow to form properly, so I used some Zip Dry to adhere a pre-tied bow from the ribbon in the kit.  I simply glued it down where the hole in the tag is.  

Step 11 and 12 - I used the adorable Penguin piece, and as seen in the step 11 photo, I used pop dots to give it dimension and placed it above the photos.  (Step 12)

Grab the little presents and pop dot them in the bottom right of the layout near your bottom photo. (step 13)

Then, I adhered a 1 inch strip of patterned paper to the left side of the layout.  I outlined it to give it some definition...and also because I love to doodle! 

I made a smaller banner with one of the other patterned paper and outlined that one as well.  I chose the "all I want for Christmas" stack of presents for the bottom left area of the layout.  I put those on with pop dots as well....Next to doodling, I love dimension as well!!  The banner is just slightly larger than the sticker. 

And last, Step 16....Add the finishing touches. 

 Added some faux stitching in white pen next to the white cardstock.  I also added some pearl pen dots for a little bit of visual interest. In addition, I tossed a few of the cardstock snowflakes among my embellishment clusters for a little pop of color against the red.

And, once again, the finished product!!!

There you have it!!! Step by step how I created this cute layout!  I hope you loved it and would love to see your "lifted" layout!!! 

Thanks for joining me today, 

Stacia

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

Here's the December Creative Kit:

For full descriptions of our kits, subscription information, and more, visit our website at MyCreativeScrapbook.com

Step by Step Layout Tutorial by Brenda Cazes

Brenda Cazes is kicking off our December tips and tricks with a step by step layout tutorial featuring this month's main kit!

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Hi everyone!  I was so excited to get my kit this month.  Christmas is my favorite time of the year and I just love creating holiday layouts.  When I saw the hexagon paper in the kit, I immediately started cutting them apart.  I wasn’t even sure yet what I was going to do with them, but I knew they had to be cut apart.  So this is what I came up with.

To create the background, I first gathered my supplies – my background paper, distress inks (Frayed Burlap and Tea Dye), spray mist (Tattered Angels – Tattered Leather, Mister Huey’s – Opaque White, and Heidi Swapp Color Shine – Gold), and a stencil.

The first thing I did was ink all the edges of my background paper with the Frayed Burlap.

Next, I inked the hexagon shape from my stencil in three different areas.

Then, I splattered some ink over the areas I just stenciled.  To do this, I unscrew the cap and then flick it at the paper.  If I want bigger spots, I’ll dip it into the bottle and let the ink fall onto the paper.  Originally, I had only planned on using the dark brown, but then decided it need a bit more, so I added in the gold and the white.



After cutting apart the hexagons, I inked all the edges with the frayed burlap and adhered them in a random pattern over the stenciled areas.



Next, I cut a rectangle (8½“ x 9¾“) out of the solid red paper and inked the edges with the frayed burlap ink.  Then using a white pen and a ruler, I pen-stitched around the rectangle.  For the triangle border on the left side, I cut that off the bar code strip at the bottom of one of the papers and notched out the triangles.



Cut a strip (8 ½ “ x 2”) out of the snowflake paper, a strip (8” x 1 ¼ “) out of the green Merry Christmas paper, and a strip (8½ “ x 3/8”) out of the green and red strip paper.  Notch out the bottom of each strip and then ink all the edges using the frayed burlap ink.  Adhere all three strips as shown.



For the tag, I wanted to incorporate the gold color onto my page, but there wasn’t a gold colored tag on the tag paper, so I created my own.  To do this, I cut out a tag from the tag paper and traced it onto my paper and cut it out.  Then, I cut the green part from the top of the tag off the existing tag and glued it to mine and then punched a hole through it.  To get the journaling lines on my tag, I ran it through my printer.  Ink the edges using the frayed burlap ink and tie some ribbon at the top.

Glue the tag to the red rectangle and add in a few more of the hexagon shapes as shown.

Add the photos and the title along the right hand side of the red rectangle.



Next, I added my journaling and few embellishments, and all done!  



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

Here's the December Main Kit:

For full descriptions of our kits, subscription information, and more, visit our website at MyCreativeScrapbook.com

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December Kit Reveal + New DT Member + Guest Designer

It's REVEAL TIME!

We are so excited to share our spectacular lineup of December kits.

Our designers had a wonderful time creating with these holiday-themed kits. We can't wait to get the kits into your hands!

Presenting our December 2014 kits:

Our December Main kit features the beautiful Carta Bella Christmas Time papers and embellishments and is complemented with Simple Stories brads, Bo Bunny petals, and pretty ribbons.

Our December Creative kit features a darling combination of American Crafts Be Merry and Pebbles Home for Christmas along with Echo Park Washi Tape, wood snowflakes, Thickers, ribbons, and trims.

Our December Limited Edition kit features the gorgeous Kaisercraft Yuletide collection and so much more, including My Mind's Eye Joyous papers and stickers, Teresa Collins Tinsel & Company chipboard elements and stickers, 3 different packages of gorgeous Petaloo flowers, Prima resins, Thickers, and trims. 

Our December Album kit features Echo Park Christmas Cheer papers and embellishments.  Also included are Pink Paislee Merry & Bright glitter stickers, Prima lace stickers and pearl crystal, a house-shaped chipboard album, and more. There are even gold bells! This kit is perfect for capturing your holiday memories.

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Details about subscribing to any of our kits can be found on our website at MyCreativeScrapbook.com.  There are several membership options to choose from. Kits are available in limited quantities, so don't delay!

While you're on our website, we encourage you to visit our incredible design team gallery to see all of the absolutely amazing creations that our designers have prepared with our kits.

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We're also excited to tell you about our December Memories kit:

Let us help you get your December memories recorded using this new kit. Papers, embellishments, flowers, trims and so much more. This kit is full of all the Christmas items that you love, just in time to record those everyday events.

You can find this amazing kit on our Add-ons page.
Limited quantities!

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We're thrilled to announce a new addition to our Design Team!

Michelle McDonald

Michelle guest designed with us last month and we are very happy to have her join our team.

Hi! My name is Michelle, and I’m beyond thrilled to be joining My Creative Scrapbook. I live in a small town in Tennessee with my wonderfully supportive husband John, and our daughter Makara. My family feature throughout my work, they are my world. My addiction to scrapbooking began about 2 years ago. I began because I think it's a beautiful way to display photos while documenting our everyday moments, and it's the perfect creative outlet for me - there are so many different techniques, styles and yummy supplies to play with! I enjoy creating a variety of projects including layouts, cards, tags, off the page projects, and the occasional mini album. I’m really looking forward to sharing some of my creations with you. You can find me at http://michellesscrapdesigns.blogspot.com/

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We're also excited to announce this month's guest designer!

Stacia Brandt

Stacia has created some darling layouts to inspire you with using our December Creative kit. Watch our blog for her tutorial soon! Stacia's blog can be found at www.scrapstuffzbystacia.blogspot.com

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We hope you will continue to visit our blog throughout the month to see all of the wonderful tips, techniques, and tutorials that our designers have prepared just for you!

Don't forget about our sketch challenge... we have a terrific sketch and a fabulous prize package to give away. Visit our sketch blog for all of the details!

December Sneak Peeks

It's time for our December sneak peeks!

Get ready to scrap lots of HOLIDAY photos!

We are very excited for you to see the kits that are coming your way this month. Pam has filled each one to the brim with beautiful items to scrap all of your favorite holiday memories.

Have a little look at our December Main Kit:

and because we just can't help ourselves... here are a couple of the layouts that our DT girls created with the Main Kit:

by Brenda Cazes

by Lynn Shaffer

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Take a peek at our December Creative Kit:

okay, sure! We can show you a couple of the DT girls' Creative Kit layouts:

by Kristin Greenwood

by Izzy Anderson

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Here are our December Limited Edition Kit sneaks!

and some of the Limited Edition Kit layouts created by our Design Team:

by Kris Berc

by Marta Lapkowska

by Michelle McDonald

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Take a peek at our December Album kit:

and here's a great big peek at the album!

by Kristin Greenwood

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It's hard to believe that this is the last sneak peeks post of 2014. Just wait until you see what the New Year is going to bring to My Creative Scrapbook and to YOU!

*** Don't forget to reserve your kits ***

Visit MyCreativeScrapbook.com for more information.

See you for the full reveal on the 5th!

Photo Collage Tutorial by Guest Designer Elisa Delora

Guest Designer Elisa Delora is featuring our November Main Kit today with instructions for creating a printable photo collage to use on your layouts!

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Hi everyone!

I just wanted to share a few things I've learned to make my scrappy life easier. If you know these little tricks, you know what I mean. I've not really gotten on board with Project Life yet- I did write yet- as I haven't been able to take the time to streamline the process enough to get started. I have started scrapping some PL inspired grids lately and I do love the effect. What I also love from Project Life is the simplicity in scrapping a few smaller photos, with small journalling cards and a few embellishments- an amazing way to tell a story. One of next year's resolutions is to incorporate more grids an PL type elements into my scrapping.

One of the things I really love about Project Life is the smaller photos (more of them!) to tell a story. Sometimes it's so hard to choose the best photo of a same event. Why choose? Sometimes, they all have a little something!

My tutorial is all about how to print smaller photos on a single 4x6 photo. It's clean, no fussing, no cutting. The photos are seamless as they have been placed in the grid before printing... And they obviously can be cut for placement...

Here is how:

I downloaded the free photo editing software Picmonkey. You choose collage in the tools over the picture, just to the right of the monkey.

As directed, I imported 3 photos I had previously changed to Black & White with the regular editing function.

The photo size is ALL WRONG to print a real 4x6 photo, so the size can be modified with the releasing the small padlock under the grid. 

To print a real 4x6 photo with a grid on it, the measurements should be 1800 x 1200, not the initial square 2000 x 2000. You can incorporate either 2 or 3 photos. Just click the "x" over the unwanted photo element to remove it.

Then the photos that were downloaded can be dragged into each square.

Save, print and use on a clean line layout!

This layout was created with the November Main Kit:

Obviously I didn't invent this process. This is what I found works easiest and fastest for a busy scrapper Mom like me, and I just wanted to share!

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

Here's the November 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.