How to Make Your Own Doilies with a Corner Punch by Nicole Doiron

My Creative Scrapbook design team member Nicole Doiron is up today with some tips featuring our October Creative Kit!

Here's Nicole:

Did you notice the doily-like circle paper that I used as the background of my 'Us in Love' layout created with the beautiful Creative kit?

Are you like me... you love doilies and you love the way they look on layouts?  But you don't always have actual paper doilies that match exactly the size and the look that you're looking for?

Well, I will share with you today a quick step-by-step on how to make your own doilies of any size with any corner punch.

Start with cutting a circle (any size) out of regular cardstock or patterned paper.  For my layout, I used cardstock and knowing that I didn't need the complete circle, I cut off one of the edges, that way saving some leftover cardstock for later.  You then choose a corner punch, most specifically with an intricate design.

 Now, lining your corner punch with the edge of your circle, you turn your punch around to see the back of it and see exactly where you will be punching.

 

As seen below, it is better to line up the punch so that you can see the edge of the paper through the empty space.  Take note of how long the space is from the edge of your paper to the punched design so that you can align your paper accordingly with every punch as you go around your circle.  You have to be able to see the end of your last punch to be able to align the next.

 

When you're done punching around the circle, you will most likely end with an uneven part, but that's no problem.  If you're working with part of a circle as I am, just cut out the excess paper.  If you are going full circle, you can always hide the unevenly punched part with any embellishments you will later add on to  your page.

Here is my finished doily.

Take a closer look at the punched edge.  You see that by turning over the punch enables you to better see and control where you're punching, resulting in  more even edge.

With my leftover cardstock, I was able to make another smaller doily for my layout.

I hope you find this short and sweet tutorial helpful in your future crafty projects!

To see more of my creations, visit my blog at http://scrap-utopia.blogspot.ca/.

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Be sure to take a look at Nicole's beautiful work in our Design Team Gallery!

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 Tutorial by Shell Carman

My Creative Scrapbook design team member Shell Carman is up today with a step by step layout tutorial featuring our October Main kit!

Here's Shell:

Hi There! Today I have a step by step tutorial on how I created this page

1. Use "The Avenues" paper as the background. Cut off the strip

2. Tear "The Stripe" paper approx 2"X7" & .5"X7", MME "Sky's the limit, flowers for you" paper 1.5"X7" & .5" X 7". You can do this by hand or use a tearing tool. Place tape along the top of each strip only.

3. Adhere left side, middle of The Avenues

Roses side up

Brown Chevron

Lace on top of Brown Chevron/Pink Chevron on top of lace

Stripe

Pink Chevron

Lace

4. On the right side of the page (starting higher than the left side)

Lace

Stripe Brown Chevron Lace Roses

5.From the "Up & Away Be Awesome" paper fussy cut the doily/don't forget to be awesome image

6. Use Foam tape to adhere fussy cut doily etc just left of centre

7. Paint both chipboard circles with gesso. Once dry stamp with a script stamp in dark brown ink

8. Adhere small circle with tape/glue in bottom right corner. Use Foam tape to adhere the large circle so it overlaps smaller circle

9. Distress edges of your photo. Use foam tape to adhere just right of center of page

10. Fussy Cut bird & bird cage from Noteworthy. Ink edges. Adhere Cage first with bird on top with foam tape right of photo

11. Make a double bow from organza ribbon. Adhere pink rose on top of bow. Stick below bird cage.

12. Adhere white flower, blue & green rose on the bottom left corner of the photo

13. Cut X2 Flourishes from the flourish border on the sticker sheet. Adhere under white & blue/ green flowers

14. Use alphas from sticker sheet & stick title on top of big circle & bottom of small circle

15. Ink edges of page

I hope you enjoyed today's tutorial!

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Be sure to take a look at Shell's beautiful work in our Design Team Gallery!

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 Customize Resist Border Strips by Liz Chidester

My Creative Scrapbook design team member Liz Chidester is up today with some tips featuring our October Main kit!

Here's Liz:

Hello, Liz here to share a few ways to use the new Prima Resist borders from this month's Main kit. You will love these borders, you can customize them to whatever color you want, using whatever color medium you have on hand.

• The top border strip was sprayed with a yellow shimmer ink.
• The middle strip was painted teal with an acrylic paint which I diluted down with just a tad of water.
• The bottom border strip was inked with a blue chalk pigment ink.

As you can see they all turned out great no matter what medium I used. Just be sure to have a paper towel handy to wipe off the extra color from the resist portions of the borders. Here are a few close-up shots of these fantastic borders in use:

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Be sure to take a look at Liz's beautiful work in our Design Team Gallery!

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.

Quick Tips to Try by Joan Bronson

My Creative Scrapbook design team member Joan Bronson is up today with some tips featuring our October Album Kit!

Here's Joan:

This month I have a few quick tips for you to try with your layouts.

Turning an ordinary circle into a decorative die cut circle
Don’t have a die cutting machine but want the look of a decorative die cut?  If you have a corner punch you can achieve the same look.   First, cut out a circle in your desired size then use the corner punch to create a decorative punch, rotate the circle and punch again.  Continue punching until you’ve went around the circle.   You might like making each punch close together like I did or space it further apart for different look.

Check out the red decorative circle in my layout.



Altering decorated chipboard and more

I was so excited to try something new when I purchased my Viva Decor Inka Gold in orange about a year ago but once I got home with it I got scared off.  Now I can’t believe what I’ve been missing out on.  I finally gave it a try when I decided that as much as I loved the chipboard letters included in the kit needed more color on my layout.  The Inka Gold is a thick paste like substance with a beautiful shimmer.  To alter the letters I started by sanding them.  Once I sanded my letters, I used my fingers to paint them with the Inka Gold.  Since it is so thick it really covers the letters.  It also dries very quickly.  Once I finished the Inka Gold washed off my hands completely.  It was so easy.

Now that I used it once, I had to try it out in some other ways.  I used my fingers again to rub the tips of my burlap pedals in the same layout.

Lastly, I used the end of a paint brush (not the brush) to add speckles of orange to the Thankful layout.  Even on dark colored paper the Viva Decor Inka-Gold really shimmers.

Now I’m addicted!  I adding Viva Decor Inka-Gold in all colors to my wish list . 

Scrap your professional photos!

Do you include your professional photos in your scrapbook?  Once you replace them with an updated photo what do you do with them?  When my oldest was born I went overboard with the professional pictures.  Every month I had his photo taken at some photography store.  I loved them but quickly ran out of space for all of them.  Even though I wanted to include them in his scrapbook I was concerned about adhering them to the page.  What if I needed that photo again someday?  I hated the thought of tearing up a scrapbook page or worse -ruining the photo.  If you are like me and want to include your professional photos in your scrapbook but still be able to remove the photos I recommend using photo corner (I typically use clear photo corners) or for a fancier look, use a photo corner punch like I did in the Tino layout. The great thing about using an 8x10 photo on a layout is that it doesn’t take much to create the layout.  Just add a photo, a few embellishments, and your layout is finished. 

I hope you'll try out some of these techniques on your layouts too.  If you ever have any questions for me on how I did something in the gallery feel free to leave me a message on my blog www.scrappyjoan.blogspot.com

and I'll be happy to respond.

Joan

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Be sure to take a look at Joan's beautiful work in our Design Team Gallery!

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.

Getting the Most out of Diecut Embellishments and Border Strips by Lydell Quin

My Creative Scrapbook design team member Lydell Quin is up today with some tips featuring our October Main kit!

Here's Lydell:

Welcome to My October Tutorial for My Creative Scrapbook.

This month I thought I would have a play with Die cut Embellishments and border strips.  

This month there is a pack of Noteworthy Die cuts from Bo Bunny, and a packet of Canvas borders from Prima in your Main Kit.  They were fun to create with.  Die cuts dont have to be flat and boring!!!

 I began by pulling out the Cardstock die cuts from Bo Bunny and the canvas resist strips....

I sorted through them all and took a look at what I could layer together and add to.  So here are some of the things I did up front.

Distressing edges and adding inks is the first thing I did.  It adds dimension and texture to an other wise flat item.  Really easy to do and adds a lot with not much effort.

I used the distress tool from Prima by Ingvild Bolme

The next thing to do that instantly adds texture is sewing.

I love adding stitching to any little elements, as it makes them so much more dimensional. 

.....add ink and your tiny little boring embellishment has a totally new look!

 I also look for symmetrical elements I can cut in half and layer behind other things, to make them appear larger....great as photo mats in my Project Life!

The next thing I looked for were little areas I could make interactive.

This pack has these little window/door/shutter elements which are perfect to 'open up'.

I popped my journalling under this little open window for my LO this month

I saw a few that I could accent with Glossy Accents, to pick out and highlight a pattern.

This is easy, and really effective!

The other thing I often do, is look at the border strips.  I dont use them as borders, but rather cut them apart and use them as smaller accents.  These little pieces were perfect for that.  Here is one cut apart.

 You can see them featured in my pages in the images to the left,  The little mustard coloured accents, was once a border strip, as was the little white canvas tag!!

And a step further,  I drew on top of the pattern with an embossing pen and then brushed on Perfect Pearls.

This is a lovely, yet easy technique with great results.

The tiny little circles in the pack make cute little flower centres, after I pulled apart the Prima roses, to make them less bulky for my Layouts.  Ink and add a foam dot for dimension.

Which brings me to the next step.  

The next thing is to see what accents can be layered to create more dramatic elements. 

 Foam tape and ink is a must here, to highlight the layering. 

 I have all these lovely little bits and pieces to create with.  Some can be slipped directly onto pages, sneaking them in around flower arrangements, and added to existing embellishing, creating cute little 'groupings' on your project, but some are perfect to layer together creating an entire layered accent to add directly as one piece to a project.

And here are some of the Canvas Border strips getting some they are cut apart, with an eyelet added with string and recoloured with spray ink/paint.

and here they are 'snuck' in around my projects......

This is a great way to make use of co-ordinating die cuts in Kits, and really get your moneys worth out of your Kit.  You can create many Layouts and cards with the one kit, using everything in the pack.  You just keep going until you have run out!  And you feel good about using your stash, ready for next months kit!!!!

Have a fantastic October!

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Be sure to take a look at Lydell's beautiful work in our Design Team Gallery!

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.