A Look Inside the February Mini Album by Kristin Greenwood

Kristin Greenwood is featuring our February Album Kit today with a look inside her beautiful love-filled mini album!

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I fell in love with the Album kit this month!  It is full of flowers and hearts, so I decided to make a mini album that will have photos of my husband and I!  My poor hubby just doesn't make it to many of my scrapbook projects, so this was a fun project to create!

I wanted to add something to my album to make it a little more personal, so I decided to add a few quotes that I had pinned on Pinterest (I knew the hours of searching and pinning would be beneficial some day)!  After I embellished each page I added a quote

The cool thing about the album that comes in the kit is that it already has this cool checked paper on it!  To dress it up a little I used a stencil with a pen to add just a little detail on it!  I titled my album LOVE and added the girl an boy potty people since it is about my hubby and I! 

This is the layout for the entire album, a photo mat on the left, with a cluster of embellishments and a quote on the right!

Layering embellishments is very easy with this kit, since there is so much product in it!!

Some of the pages I fussy cut out of the pattern paper, like the banner here!

I love the way the handwritten quotes look in this album, it really does give it that personal touch I was going for!

I can't wait to add my photos!

This album kit could just as easily be used for photos of your kids, grandkids or pets!!  So hurry and get yours before they are gone!!
My Creative Scrapbook Kits!



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Please visit our Design Team Gallery to view more of Kristin’s beautiful work.

Here's the February Album Kit:

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

How to Make Your Photos Work with Your Scrapbook Paper by Lynn Shaffer

Lynn Shaffer is featuring our February Main Kit today with a tip for making your photos work with your scrapbook paper!

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Hello crafty friends, 

My tutorial is a little different this month. Making your pictures work with your layouts. I have so many pictures printed ready to be scrapbooked. But sometimes the background of the picture does not go with the papers I have fallen in love with. With February's amazing kit I fell in love with all the love themed papers from the Crush Collection from Authentique. 

I also loved the fabulous Christmas pictures my photographer took, that I did not have the chance to scrap. 

So I took a chance. I fussy cut the chair and my son out from the picture. 

I then matted the picture against a black background. I choose the black because it would match my letters and the very awesome pattern paper.  

To make things flow I added stars and and inked my hearts in black in to bring the picture and layout together. 

I will admit it was a little scary for me cutting pictures (I made sure I had copies) but I love the effect. Here is a sneak at another project in which I dared cut my middle son from the background. 

Hope this tutorial helps you step out of your comfort zone and try something a little different. 

Don't forget to stop off at the My Creative Scrapbook website and check out all the amazing kits being offered! 

Have a great day!

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Please visit our Design Team Gallery to view more of Lynn’s beautiful work.

Here's the February Main Kit:

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

Step by Step Mixed Media Layout Video Tutorial by Marta Lapkowska

Marta Lapkowska is treating us to a step by step video tutorial today!

Sit back and enjoy as you watch Marta design her gorgeous mixed media layout featuring our February Limited Edition Kit.

Please visit our Design Team Gallery to view more of Marta’s beautiful work.

Here's the February Limited Edition Kit:

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

Step by Step Mixed Media Layout Video Tutorial by Marilyn Rivera

Marilyn Rivera is inspiring us in time for the weekend with a step by step video tutorial!

Sit back and enjoy as you watch Marilyn design her festive mixed media layout featuring our February Limited Edition Kit.



Please visit our Design Team Gallery to view more of Marilyn’s beautiful work.

Here's the February Limited Edition Kit:

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

How to Make the Most of Stickers by Nicole Doiron

Nicole Doiron is featuring our February Main Kit today with tips for turning stickers into layered embellishments!

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For my tutorial this month, I will show you how I make the most of the stickers which often come bountiful with My Creative Scrapbook kits!

Because I like the layered look, I very rarely stick a sticker directly on my page. I normally like to pop them up, to give them dimension, almost as if they were chipboard pieces.

And to do so, here is what I do!

I stick the sticker on a piece of paper scrap.

I then cut around it using scissors.  The cut doesn't have to be perfect underneath the sticker, just as long as the scrap paper edges do not show. 

To make this title piece, I cut a heart out of pink cardstock and added some 3D foam squares on the back to stick it to my altered sticker.

You can see how I cut the 'You make my heart skip a beat' to align the pieces so that the cardstock heart takes place of the word 'heart'.

I also added 3D foam squares on the back of my original piece so that when I put the whole thing on my page, it created 3 layer depths: the background, the blue sticker and the heart.

I then repeated step 1 with this cute ice cream sticker.

As you can see, when I cut around the sticker, I normally don't bother being precise (as I often don't have the patience - hehe).  The important thing is that the scrap paper does not overlay the edges of the sticker!

Here you can see the top left corner of the picture of my beautiful niece Ella that I used on my page.  My brother, Ella's father, sneaked in the background and even though I love my brother dearly, I don't think he fits exactly on my page!

So I used the ice cream sticker to hide him!

Again, I used 3D foam squares to adhere the sticker and also the die-cut.

Now, for my last example...

And there you go!

I added a few layers to my background with the journaling tag, followed by the rainbow sticker and topped by the heart.

Let's take a look at this finished layout!

And here are close-ups of the layered effect done using different stickers and 3D foam!

Hope you learned a little something creative today!  ;)

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Please visit our Design Team Gallery to view more of Nicole’s beautiful work.

Here's the February Main Kit:

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

February Sketch Challenge

Our February sketch challenge has begun and we'd love for everyone to join in the fun.  Have a look at this month's prize package:

We are excited to get this beautiful prize into the hands of our randomly selected sketch challenge winner!

Here's the February sketch:

For a chance to win the prize package, create a layout based on this sketch using any products that you'd like to use.  The challenge is open to everyone, everywhere (you do not need to be a kit club member!) and ends at midnight Eastern time on March 14th.

All of the details plus DT samples can be found on the My Creative Sketches blog >>> HERE<<<

We can't wait to see what you create!

Step by Step Layout Tutorial by Sandi Clarkson

Sandi Clarkson is featuring our February Limited Edition Kit today with a step by step layout tutorial!

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Hello, everyone! Sandi here with you today to share how I created my "Memories" layout from the gorgeous February Limited Kit.  I wanted to try a bit of a different "look" for me. I rarely use black and white or cream in this ratio but I thought it might look really cool with this photo that my son-in-law took during a recent trip to NYC.  It is a street photo taken near the New York library. 

So, first I gathered up the papers and most of the flowers and supplies that I was certain that I would use. I already had my "doily" paper nearby, knowing that I was going to be fussy cutting those doilies. I also loved all the great frames in this kit. There are so many ways that they can be used! Be sure to check the Design Team gallery for loads of ideas! 

Next, I used my Martha Stewart Deep-edged Scroll Heart punch on just one edge.

I prepped my paper with clear gesso, then using a stencil (Art is) from my stash, I've applied some molding paste for texture. I took a bit of Lindy's Stamp Gang mist and using just the uptake nozzle, dribbled mist down my page. 

Because the width of my black paper was narrower than I wanted, I split in two and spread it apart and then layered my khaki paper over it. 

Next, I simply began building up my layers. Adding in those doilies, tucking in the flowers and gold trim. There is loads of chipboard and stickers in this kit! 

You can see in the final photo above that I did continue after after daylight, adding in and changing .. as often seems to happen. When my layout was done, I went over everything with gesso to blend. 

Here are a couple of close-ups: 

Thanks for coming by! 

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Please visit our Design Team Gallery to view more of Sandi’s beautiful work.

Here's the February Limited Edition Kit:

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

Layout Tips and Tricks by Brenda Cazes

Brenda Cazes is featuring our February Main Kit today with a handful of terrific tips and techniques!

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Hi everyone!  Today I’m going to share with you some tips and tricks I used when creating my layouts this month with the Main Kit.

When I opened the kit and saw the Bella Blvd sticker sheet, the first sticker that caught my eye was the “I mustache you to be my Valentine” one.  I knew I had the perfect photos to use with this sticker and it would be perfect for the title.  However, I didn’t want to just stick it to the bottom corner of my page.  I didn’t think it was strong enough as is to be used as a title.  So, I cut apart each word and used the black letter stickers for the word “valentine” to really help draw the eye to the title.

Another thing I did on this layout (as I do on a lot of my layouts) is the pen-stitching.  I think it just adds a little bit of whimsy to a layout and you don’t need a sewing machine to do it.

For the red heart, I added the white lace that was included in the kit around the heart.  To do this, I used my tape runner around the back of the heart (just around the edges) and stuck the lace to it.  However, the glue will only temporarily hold the lace, so to permanently adhere the lace, I used my sewing machine to sew around the heart.  Hand sewing would work as well.



For this layout, I only had one “e” left on my black letter sticker sheet, but I really wanted to use them for my title.  So to create another “e”, I took a letter “c” and then cut the bottom part of the letter “k” off and attached it to the letter “c” to create an “e”.  If you look closely at my layout, you will be able to see it on the second “e” in the word “valentine”.  I find this happens a lot, and always use this trick to create an extra “e”.

When I finished this layout, I decided it needed a touch more black on it, so I cut 4 thin strip of black cardstock and tucked them under the red background paper.  Originally, I wanted the red square to look like it was matted with black, but the red paper was already glued down.  So I put the black strips under the red and was going to do a mitre cut in each corner so that it looked like I had a slightly larger black square under the red one.  However, I liked the look of the overlapping black strips, so I kept it that way. This trick is great if you don’t want to waste a whole sheet of cardstock just for matting or if you don’t have a whole sheet in the color you need.



For this layout, I wanted to create an interesting background.  So I used a heart punch and punched out about 30 hearts out of cardstock.  Then I randomly arranged them on my paper.  Once I had them where I wanted them, I used a temporary tape runner to adhere them to my background paper.
(This step is very important because if you don’t adhere them, they will move when you spray the background paper.  Unfortunately, I learned this the hard way.)

Then, I sprayed the whole background with opaque white spray – my favorite is Mister Huey’s Opaque White.  Then I removed the hearts and added the smaller pink hearts with pen-stitching, which were also created using a punch.  I felt the background still didn’t look complete yet and wanted to mat it onto the striped pink paper, but I didn’t have a full sheet of it, so I used the same trick as I did on the “Will You Be My Valentine?” layout and just cut 4 strips and placed them around the edges and mitred the corners.

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Please visit our Design Team Gallery to view more of Brenda’s beautiful work.

Here's the February Main Kit:

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

Step by Step Layout Video Tutorial by Michelle McDonald

Michelle McDonald is inspiring us in time for the weekend with a step by step video tutorial!

Sit back and enjoy as you watch Michelle design a beautiful, heartwarming layout featuring our February Main Kit.

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Please visit our Design Team Gallery to view more of Michelle’s beautiful work.

Here's the February Main Kit:

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