Masking and Lace by Marilyn Rivera

Today My Creative Scrapbook Design Team member Marilyn Rivera is here to share her masking technique topped with lace that she used on her layout featuring our January Limited Edition kit.

Here's Marilyn...

Hello!!! Marilyn here to show you how I worked the beautiful lace from the Limited Edition Kit... I made the half circle with lace and mask in this page...

 

This is how I made it: 

 

Now is time to place the photos and to decorate with all the beautiful embellishments and flowers from the Limited Edition kit.
Until Next time!!!!
Marilyn  

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 Marilyn Rivera

My Creative Scrapbook Design Team member

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Check out more of Marilyn's beautiful creations using our January Limited Edition kit!

Take a peek at our Design Team Gallery for even more layouts, cards, and projects from our designers!

We invite you to join us and experience all of the fun and excitement that we have planned for 2013.  Click here to find the My Creative Scrapbook kits.

Mixed Media Background Techniques by Kaori Fujimoto

Today My Creative Scrapbook Design Team member Kaori Fujimoto is here sharing an awesome mixed media technique that she used on her layout featuring our January Limited Edition kit.

Here's Kaori...

I will show you the easy transparency effect.

Step 1. Prepare some Alcohol inks (or Copic) and transparency sheet or vinyl.

Step 2. Drip the inks onto a sheet.

Step 3. Let dry and cut out.

Step 4. Add to your layout!

Thank you,

Kaori

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 Kaori Fujimoto

My Creative Scrapbook Design Team member

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We'd love to share more of Kaori's beautiful creations using our January Limited Edition kit:

Take a peek at our Design Team Gallery for even more layouts, cards, and projects from our designers!

We invite you to join us and experience all of the fun and excitement that we have planned for 2013.  Click here to find the My Creative Scrapbook kits.

Making Your Own Washi Tape by Shell Carman

Today we have My Creative Scrapbook Design Team member Shell Carman here sharing how she made her own washi tape for her layout using our January Main Kit.

Here's Shell...

Hi There! Washi Tape seems to be one of those 'in' products to use at the moment! The best thing is , it is so easy to make your own! I created my own washi tape on this page

All you need is some masking tape & some stamps & ink.

I just simply ripped some masking tape off the roll. stuck it down on some acetate sheet (so you can easily pull it back up & stick on your page when your done)

Choose which stamps you want to use. I have used a simple script stamp & some brown ink for a vintage look. Stamp the image on the masking tape then pull it off the acetate sheet & stick on your page!

Here is a closeup of how it looks

Once I had stuck the tape down I used a different stamp & stamped over the top of part of the tape & some of the paper

You can stamp all kinds of images or styles onto tape to suit any page!

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Shell Carman

My Creative Scrapbook Design Team member

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We'd love to share more of Shell's beautiful creations using our January Main kit:

Take a peek at our Design Team Gallery for even more layouts, cards, and projects from our designers!

We invite you to join us and experience all of the fun and excitement that we have planned for 2013.  Click here to find the My Creative Scrapbook kits.

Creating Texture with Mixed Media by Jodi Baune

My Creative Scrapbook Design Team member Jodi Baune is here today to share some mixed media texture techniques that she used on her work with our January Main Kit.

Here's Jodi...

 

I want to share with you how I added a bit of life and texture to my fence. First I cut the Victorian Picket Fence from Cheery Lynn Designs (any chipboard fence would work too).

 

I added a bit of color by using pouncers and Ranger Distress Inks in Vintage Photo and Pumice Stone.

 

Next, I added a touch of Ranger Distress Paint in Picket Fence color. The distress inks blend into the paint for a softer look.

  

After the paint dried, I followed up with a touch of Ranger Distress Paint in Clear Rock Candy for more distressing and texture. Here is a close up of the result.

Dies used: Victorian Picket Fence, Darling Daisies, Build a Flower #1, Build a Flower #2, Build a Flower Embellishment #2, Olive Branches, Stacker Flower #1 Leaf, Mini Dimensional Butterflies, Exotic Mini Butterfly, Lace Light Deco Border

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Jodi Baune

My Creative Scrapbook Design Team member

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We'd love to share more of Jodi's beautiful creations using our January Main kit:

Have a look at our Design Team Gallery for even more layouts, cards, and projects from our designers!

We invite you to join us and experience all of the fun and excitement that we have planned for 2013.  Click here to find the My Creative Scrapbook kits.

Modifying Letter Stickers and Hand Stitching by Nicole Doiron

My Creative Scrapbook Guest Designer Nicole Doiron is back today with more wonderful tips using our January Limited Edition Kit.

Here's Nicole...

Along with the LE kit came a big sheet of Basic Grey letter stickers. I wanted to modify them a bit to give them a little pizzazz and make them match my 'Mom' layout a bit more.

I used Snow-Tex (any modeling paste or even embossing powder would do the same - anything that will give your letters some added texture), acrylic paint and SmoochGlitz.

I covered each letter needed with a generous coat of Snow-Tex and then let it dry completely. If you're impatient like me, you can use a heat gun to make the drying go much faster.

I then painted my letters and reached for my heat gun again.

I finished with a coat of SmoochGlitz to add some shine!

And here is the end result!

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Anyone who is familiar with my creations knows that I absolutely adore stitching on any of my projects. Having never learned how to properly use a sewing machine, I do all my stitching by hand. Can you say 'Carpal Tunnel Syndrome'?! hehehe

Here's how I stitched the swirly pattern on my 'Summer Love' double-page layout.

With a pencil, I lightly drew on my layout the pattern to stitch.

I always have a sturdy piece of styrofoam handy in my scraproom (you could say it's the MOST used and and at the same time the cheapest tool I own!) and I could never do without my paper piercer either.

Placing the styrofoam underneath my layout, I used the paper piercer to pierce evenly spaced holes on the drawn lines. When I want to make stitches in a straight line, I simply place a ruler up against where I want my line to run and firmly holding the ruler in place, I pierce my holes using the marks on the ruler as a guideline.

After all my holes were pierced, I erased all pencil markings off my layout.

I stitched through each hole with embroidery floss (3 threads thick in this case) following the desired pattern.

Using scotchtape, I made sure to tape all the ends of the floss in place on the back of my layout to stop the stitches from coming apart.

Now you try stitching ANY pattern on your next project! Trust me, it will look great! You'll probably get lots of comments like 'MY! I can't believe how patient you are!!' as I always do - hehe Well, I won't lie, adding handmade stitches on all my layouts does take time and can get quite hard on the hands, but I just love the stitched look so much that I cannot help it! It's one of those cases where you can say 'No pain, no gain!'

Thank you and happy creating!!!

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Nicole Doiron

My Creative Scrapbook Guest Designer

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Nicole also created a lovely card set with the January Limited Edition Kit:

 
Have a look at our Design Team Gallery for even more layouts, cards, and projects from our designers!

We invite you to join us and experience all of the fun and excitement that we have planned for 2013.  Click here to find the My Creative Scrapbook kits.

Paper Daisy and Ribbon Flower Tutorials by Nicole Doiron

My Creative Scrapbook Guest Designer Nicole Doiron is here today with not one but two wonderful flower tutorials using our January Limited Edition Kit.

Here's Nicole...

Tutorial #1 - Paper Daisies

Although MCS kits are always full of beautiful blooms, sometimes if you're an embellishment addict like me, you just can't ever get enough and you need a little more to make your project complete. It's quite simple to make your own.

In my Sew Easy layout, I made some paper daisies using part of the packaging material that came with my kit.

 

I used 2 different flower punches, big and small and punched out some flowers out of the cardstock.

For each daisy, I used 3 large flowers and 2 smaller ones.

I crunched up each flower between my fingers, making sure to crinkle them completely to make the paper more malleable and then straightened them out again.

Using GlueDots, I attached the flowers together, 3 big ones on the bottom and the 2 smaller ones on top.

I crunched up the flower again in between my fingers folding the petals upward to give the flower more dimension and then opening each petal.

I then covered the flower with SmoochGlitz. You can use any type of glitter, mist or ink you want.

After the glitter on each flower was dry, I added a large dot of gold Liquid Pearl in the center.

 

And there you go! An easy peasy paper daisy!!!

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Tutorial #2 - Lace Ribbon Flower

It's also quite easy to create a very delicate and fancy flower using any type of lace ribbon, as I did for my 'Mom' layout.

I used a piece of ribbon approx. 8" long, some thread and a needle.

I then used the gathering stitch technique. The gathering stitch consists basically of making many stitches, at about every 1/4 inch, along the edge of the ribbon, leaving at least a 6-inch length of thread at the beginning and at the end.

After I was done stitching all along the edge of the ribbon, I took the two strands of fabric at each end and tugged on them gently to fold the piece of ribbon in a circle.

I then carefully tied a tight knot to close the circle.

I then proceeded to stitch along the edges of both ends of the ribbon to attach them together. Depending on the ribbon that you are using, you might not need to do this if you are already satisfied with the look of your flower.

I then used up the rest of the thread making a few backstitches to make sure that the flower was attached tightly.

I then decorated the center of the flower with a cut-up button sticker from the kit and a little embroidery floss. You can use a brad, a gem or even a real button for the center too.

After you begin to make your own lacy flowers, I guarantee you, you will never look at a piece of lace ribbon the same ever again! Oh, the creative possibilities!!! 

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Nicole Doiron

My Creative Scrapbook Guest Designer

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Stop by again tomorrow for more tips and techniques from Nicole using our January Limited Edition kit.  In the meantime, have a look at our Design Team Gallery for even more layouts, cards, and projects from our designers!

We invite you to join us and experience all of the fun and excitement that we have planned for 2013.  Click here to find the My Creative Scrapbook kits.