Technique Tidbit Thursday- Wire Letters

Article and photos By Lee Brehon

How to make your own WIRE letters:
You need: heavy gauge wire, a marker, wire cutters, paper, mini letters, glossy accents.

1. Gather your supplies

2. Wrap wire around your marker or dowel, holding one end of the wire firmly.

3. Remove the wire in one bunch and gather it all together in your wire cutters and cut.

 

4. Once you have cut your wire it should be slightly open, gently push the two ends together to form a ring. Don’t handle too much!

5. Place your lettering on your background paper, and center your wire rings around the letters.

6. Fill each ring with glossy accents. (once is good enough, but you can do two coats). Allow to dry!!!!!

 

 

7. When your letters are dry, trim around the outside of the circles.

And here is a last cool tip from Lee:

This is how I keep my glossy accents ready to go each and every time.

 

 

Would you like to submit your ideas for Technique Tidbit Thusday?  We would love for you to share your techniques with us!  Contact me at noelmika@nb.sympatico.ca if you would like to submit your article.

Scrappin’ Green~ Tips for Eco-Friendly Memory Keeping: 9th Edition

This week, we have some timely tips on recycling and reusing from Scrapbooker’s Club House member, Trina Carbert. Trina adds some super ideas to our Scrappin’ Green repertoire! Thanks for these excellent ideas. Read on… I’ll bet you hadn’t thought of some of these!

RECYCLE, REDUCE, REUSE

By~ Trina Carbert

There are many ways we can recycle, reduce and reuse while still enjoying a hobby such as Scrapbooking. I hate to waste anything so the following things are practices I use as often as possible.

*Use the packaging on your projects or as project. Really, you paid for it, so why not use it as you would any other scrapping product? I have used the cardboard backing from Making Memories letter stickers as my journaling blocks:

I have used a Prima flowers container for an idea jar:

And I have used the packaging for buttons for a photo frame (I have also seen them used as shaker boxes and as candy gifts):

Larger pieces of cardboard backing can be used for dividers for your paper storage or for keeping your unfinished works separated.

* Pizza boxes for storage: If you have finished layouts literally collecting dust in a pile somewhere consider slipping them into a pizza box to store them. (you will receive one if you order paper or a kit from SBCH… **GRIN**) This will at least protect your work from light and dust damage until they find homes in albums. I also have been known to use pizza boxes to transport my papers or projects in process to crops.
* Buttons everyone! You may be able to save a small fortune by just looking around your home for this popular embellishment. Collect buttons from old, worn out clothing, toys, or sometimes packaging. The same can be said for ribbons and zippers.
* Photo waste: When you crop a photo you can often reduce your waste by using the “waste” portion on your work as an embellishment. Or cut out letters for a title out of a blurry photo related to your project.
* Cards you have received are an excellent source of inspiration. Most of us receive cards from friends and family in the mail for Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. You can use parts of the card (or the whole card) for creating new cards or tags or for your layouts. This reuses the cards as well as saves you from having to buy new embellishments!

Another example of reusing cards:

* Your garbage is another’s treasure. Remember to ask your friends if they are interested in your scrappy stash that you no longer need. They may have the perfect use for it. And don’t forget that instead of throwing stuff out, hospitals, women’s shelters, children’s groups and schools would gladly accept your donation of crafting supplies.
* Simply recycle. Your paper scraps, cardboard backings and some plastics that you don’t use on your projects can be recycled. Keep a box or pail beside your table for your recyclable materials. I recycle as much as I possibly can. I have been amazed at how much LESS garbage I take to the trash barrel every week now!

Best wishes in your attempts to scrap green!!!

Technique Tidbit Thursday – Ceramic Tile Coasters

Ceramic Tile Coasters
By Mary Chong

Ceramic Tile Coasters are a super easy project to make. They make great gifts – given individually or as a set tied with a pretty ribbon bow. A friend of mine gives them to teachers/baby sitters and has her kids decorate and sign/date the underside of the coasters.

This is also an easy project to “assembly line” if you wanted to make a whole bunch. Once they are stamped you can take your time colouring and then top coat them all at one time.

You can also use this same technique to make fridge magnets – just buy 1×1 tiles and hot glue heavy duty magnets onto the back.

Supplies:
- unglazed 4×4 ceramic tiles (I use tumbled marble)
- stazon ink pads
- detailed stamps (rubber or acrylic)
- stazon stamp cleaner or similar
- coloured pencils or markers
- clear acrylic spray paint (ie. Krylon)
- felt/cork/rubber cushions for “feet”

 

 

Step 1 – Prepare the tiles
It is very important that the tiles you buy are unglazed so that the ink will adhere to the tile and won’t just “sit” on top
- Wash and dry thoroughly the ceramic tile to ensure there is no dust or residue.

Step 2 – Plan out your design
Stazon ink is permanent – once you’ve stamped it there is no going back so take a moment now to decide how you want your design to look. I often choose a stamp that has an antique look to it. This way it doesn’t matter if I don’t get a perfect impression when I stamp.

Step 3 – Stamp your design
- Stamp your design with the stazon ink – I like to use brown ink because it gives an antique feel especially with the tumbled marble tile.
- Tiles are a bit slick and your stamp may slip and slide so be careful and take your time.
- Don’t forget to clean your stamps afterwards to prevent staining.
- I am showing 2 versions – one done with markers and one done with pencil crayons so that you can see the difference between the 2 colouring medium.
(I’m using stamps by Stampin’ Up! and Krista Schneider for Sunshine Designs)

 

Step 3 – Colour your design
- Once the stazon ink is totally dry. Apply colour with pencil crayons, markers, or chalks.
- You can even layer your colours or layer your colouring medium together.

 

**NOTE: Some people pop their tiles into an oven at this point to cure the design – 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes OR they heat them with their embossing gun for a while and then cool overnight. Personally I’ve never done this and my tiles have weathered the test of time… Either way – continue to Step 4.

Step 4 – Protect your design
- Take your project outside (due to the paint fumes) and spray multiple light coats of clear acrylic paint, allowing the paint to dry between coats.
- An aerosol spray is preferred to a liquid paint to avoid brush strokes.
- A few light coats is better than 1 heavy coat. Be careful here too because if you spray to heavy a coat your design may run.

Step 5 – Protect your surface
- Apply bumpers/feet to the bottom of the tile so that it doesn’t scratch your table.

Here’s my finished project

We hope you like this tutorial! Drop us a comment and let us know what you think or better yet upload a photo of your finished coasters into the gallery!

Scrappin’ Green: Tips for Eco Friendly Memory Keeping- 8th Edition

Today we welcome scrapbooker Elisha Drewery. Elisha has a wonderful idea about repurposing ribbon spools! Read on if you’d like to create something beautiful!!

I am always looking for ways to repurpose or reuse an item. Since I am a self proclaimed ribbon addict, there is no shortage of ribbon spoolies at my house. I am also a lover of mini albums. So when I discovered this idea of using ribbon spoolies to create a mini album, founded by Vicki Chrisman, I had to give it a try! This ribbon spoolie album was created for my Mom and hangs proudly in her home!



To create a ribbon spoolie album separate the outer circles from the inner ring, sand the inner ring to remove any leftover glue or paper, then cover all sides with your favorite patterned paper.

Next use tacky glue to attach the inner ring back to the bottom circle, then punch four holes as shown to run your ribbon through, to attach the top circle back to the spool.

Run your ribbon through the holes, tie into bows and you will be ready to embellish!

To complete the album (shown in the top three photos of this article), attach a 12 inch ribbon to the inside bottom of the inner ring using glue. Cut 12 circles the size of the inside of the inner ring and glue the circles front to back with the ribbon sandwiched in between the circles. You will now how 6 circles, front and back, to attach your photos and embellishments to. I also tied a knot in the bottom of the ribbon and added a loop to the lid of the album so I could close the album for display.
It can also be used as a trinket box, as shown.


I also took it one step further and used the top and bottom circles of ribbon spools to create a circle mini album. I covered both fronts and backs of the circles with patterned paper and bound them together with a metal ring embellished with ribbon.

Ribbon spoolies, once taken apart, also make great circle templates.
Thank you so much for letting me share these tips with you today! I hope it gave you new ways to turn a ribbon spoolie that would have otherwise been thrown in the trash can into a treasure!

Scrappin Green~ Tips for Eco-friendly Memory Keeping, 7th Edition

This week, Scrapbooker’s Club House member Lynn Marsh provides us with some excellent ‘food for thought’ about ways we can recycle and reuse old, outdated business cards and the out-of-fashion costume jewellery that almost all of us have sitting in our jewellery boxes. Read on for some great “green” tips!

Repurposing Business Cards and Costume Jewellery as Scrapbook Embellishments

By

Lynn Marsh

My first “green” tip is about what to do with old business cards. After I left my last job, I was left with about 100 business cards that are now completely useless, but I just couldn’t throw them out. So, I thought, why not use them for tags or journaling blocks?

My first example has been corner rounded, stamped and then alcohol inked. Being that the business card has a glossy surface, the alcohol inks worked great. The entire card is “green” as it was made using all scrap materials.

My second example is a layout. I used old business cards for the journaling tags on this. I used walnut ink spray to colour them and then stamped on my journaling lines.

For my third example, another card, I again made a tag out of a business card. I just covered it in patterned paper, inked the edges and attached a ribbon with a brad.

My last tip for using business cards is actually courtesy of Ali, and another great idea. How about doing a timeline layout, using the business cards from different positions you’ve held to show your career progression and changes? I was going to attempt a layout using just this idea, but I realized that I don’t have any more business cards from my previous positions!

My second “green” topic for this article is using old jewellery…. I don’t know about you, but I have a ton of old earrings that have long since been out of fashion. How do you throw them out? On both cards shown here today, the embellishments are old, outdated earrings. I just pushed the earring post through the cardstock and bent it over in back, just like a brad.

I’m now going to clean out my jewellery box because I have a ton of old earrings, necklaces, and other things like sections of watch-bands. All of these will make great embellishments!

Thank you so much for letting me share my ideas with you. I think if we all just take a little time to think, we can all make a difference!

Please accept our appologies, this article was deleted and reposted due to technical issues… enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!

Sketch Contest #18

We would love to see what you can create with the following sketch.   We will choose a winner from all entries and you will win a prize from SBCH!  The winner chosen will then get to design an example from one of my sketches for one of the future blog sketch contests.  The deadline for the contest is Monday July 28th. A winner will then be chosen on Tuesday July 29th and I will post another sketch contest on Wednesday July 30th.  Scrapbooker’s Club House will continue to hold this contest biweekly. We hope you will give it a try!

When you have completed your Layout you can post it in the “blog contest” gallery or e-mail to me at noelmika@nb.sympatico.ca or Nicole at nicole@scrapbookersclubhouse.com. Please be sure to also name your entry with “Blog Contest #18” either in the title or description in the gallery. Finally, This contest will remain as a blog contest and not be announced on our forum, so make sure to stay tuned regularly and check our postings daily.

 

Here is your sketch:

And and awesome interpretation by Designer, Ruby Marchand!

Come on a give it a try!  We would love to see your interpretation!

Winner…Blog sketch contest #17!!

Is………SHANNON CUMMINS for this wonderful interpretation of the sketch!

 

Congratulations Shannon!  Please be sure to send us your snail mail addy so Nicole can send you your prize!  You will also be featured as a designer on one of our next sketch contests.  Details will be sent you you via email!

Technique Tidbit Thursday- Scallop Flowers

Trendwatch: Scallop Flowers

by Nicole Drewniak

You’ve seen them everywhere: those adorable little scallop flowers that you were convinced could only be had if you had the right punch. Well, fret no longer! Here is how you can have the same look with supplies you have at home.

You will need:

2 sizes of circle punches
some scrap paper
adhesive

1. Begin by punching 2 sizes of circles out of your scrap paper. I used a 1 ½ inch punch and a ¾ inch punch. You will only need 1 circle from the larger punch and several of the smaller (the amount will depend on the sizes you are using).

.
2. Turn the large circle over and using your adhesive, begin attaching your smaller circles. You may need them to overlap a bit to get the right look. Again, this will depend a bit on the sizes you are using.

3. Your flower should now look like this:

4. Add some special touches to your flower (I did some faux stitching using a paper piercer and a marker).

5. Now your flower is ready to use on a card or layout! Enjoy!

Value & Beauty Built in: “We R Memory Keepers” Albums

What do you do with page layouts that you’ve spent many happy hours creating?  Where do you store beautiful pages made of memories that are important to you and your loved ones?  Can you share them when family or friends visit??  Can you pass the album around?  Will your album “take it?”

There is a solution.

Ali reviews 12×12″ “We R Memory Keepers” Albums for us… read on!

Value and Beauty Built in: “We R Memory Keepers” Albums

[~ Alison K. MacDonald]

I’m a scrapbooker… I save memories through photos and stories. I’m making sure those memories, thoughts and information tidbits will be available to future generations.

Because I see the value in memory keeping, I’ve always had an appreciation for items that are “can’t live withouts” in my role as protector of these precious memory treasures.

I’ve discovered products that I rely on to help me safeguard what is important. These are products that I know and trust for their quality finish, richness of design, ease of use, and most especially for their sturdiness.

Today I’ve been asked to share one such product with you: the We R Memory Keepers albums made for 12×12” scrapbook page layouts. I was given one of these by my parents a few years ago as part of my Christmas gift, and wow: I was very impressed! Here’s what happened.

In 2004, I’d been scrapbooking for about two years, and intensely disliked post-bound albums. I had recently discovered the convenience and ease of 3-ring binders for my layout storage. This happened right around the time that many other scrappers had discovered the handy nature of 3–ring binders and there was a big demand for them. The binders were being made for a hasty sale and a quick buck, with poor quality materials and awful workmanship. Having to spend money on albums that were flimsy, unattractive, and made of cheap-looking materials had me discouraged. There seemed to be nothing sturdier and attractive available!

My Mom, a lifelong crafter and home economist, listened to the frustration in my complaints and asked me what would work better. Then she looked for a solution every time she shopped in craft stores. She kept me posted on her progress, and lo and behold, when Christmas arrived: she’d done it! I had never seen anything that could be called a decent 3-ring 12×12” scrapbook album until my parents happened across the WRMK ones and rescued me!

I now use the WRMK 12×12” D-ring albums exclusively to store all of my newly created layouts. I’m working on transferring the pages stored in unattractive and MUCH less sturdy 3-ring albums over to these. Once I am caught up with WRMK storage for my 3-ring pages, I will also need to transfer several of my post-bound albums, which are falling apart!

I unhesitatingly recommend WRMK albums to EVERYONE.

Let’s go over exactly what makes these albums so “special” and WHY I am such a fan. Here’s a photo of the wine coloured album…

These We R Memory Keepers albums are imported from Italy. They’re made of acid free archival materials and are readily available for purchase.

The colours are richly-toned and look classic no matter where you display them. Colours available through Scrapbooker’s Club House are: black, cinnamon, navy and wine.

As a major benefit, this is a 3-ring binder style album, so you can open the D-rings to load or move pages around. This is a convenient time-saver, meaning no need to feel that you can ‘only’ scrapbook chronologically!! The D-rings are sturdy, “sit” properly, and can be popped open and closed when you wish.

The album is roomy; more than true 12×12” in size. I measured: the closed album is = 15.5” wide x 12.5” tall.

The finish is a smooth-to-the touch yet faintly-textured faux leather that can easily be wiped clean. The album is very slightly padded.

All edges are beautifully finished with decorative, sturdy stitching.

The lining inside matches the cover & is securely stitched in place.

Album corners are tipped in durable, attractive metal. This metal has been shaped to prevent any snagging or scratching. This feature is also self-protective and keeps the album’s corners from becoming bumped or damaged.

The album spine features a timelessly attractive metal-rimmed identification holder for labeling the album’s contents. Simply change the ID tag in the holder if you change the contents of your album.

Each album retails for $36.99 at Scrapbooker’s Club House and comes complete with 10 top-loading page protectors (ie: holds 20 layouts). I counted, and currently one of my WRMK albums is filled with 30 page protectors (= 60 layouts). If your layouts are “lumpy,” I’d recommend storing no more than 40 layouts in each album. (Tip: Remember that scrapbook albums are meant to be stored standing up.)

I have also used my favourite brand of panoramic style (fold-out) page protectors in my WRMK albums, and have been thrilled with the results. They fit beautifully, fold out the way they’re meant to, and perfectly display memories that “need” to be seen together.

The Scrapbooker’s Club House store began carrying ‘We R Memory Keepers’12×12″; Three Ring Classic Leather” albums a few months ago as part of regular stock. Here is an easy way to find what you’re looking for! LINK:

 

http://www.scrapbookersclubhouse.com/oscommerce/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=38&products_id=4584

Try one: I guarantee that this will become your “go-to album” style.

Superb quality and richness make WRMK albums the only ones worth storing your precious memories in!!

A Late-Breaking Tip: If you’re into thinking about Christmas in July, why not ask a family member add this to your special list? Better yet, treat a scrapbooking family member to the value built in to this beautiful product.

 

Scrappin Green~ Tips for Eco-friendly Memory Keeping, 6th Edition

 Creating Alternative Storage for Cardstock and Paper
By Cathy Ford

Hello everyone! This idea came to me one day when I was cleaning up my scrap space. I had been keeping all my cardstock and pattern paper in a paper file….but it was busting at the seams…so I had to find another alternative. I looked online at several sites at all the ‘newest’ paper storage ideas……being a SAHM of 4 kids….money was not plenty so I devised this system.

I had recently purchased some of the newest scrapbook products I found online….so I had several priority mail boxes laying around…..{ok..back to that day when I was cleaning}….I put some paper into these empty boxes to keep it from getting bent while I was rearranging and cleaning…..and then it HIT me….I could use these to store my paper in!!

Materials Needed:

Used Priority Mail Box
Knife
Ruler
Pencil
Paint (color of choice)
Embellishment of choice

1. The box needs to be cleaned of all old labels, tape and postage.

2. Tear or cut off the flaps on the end you opened. These have perforations so they can tear but you may need to trim them up to make it a clean cut.

3. Turn the box toward you where you are looking at a narrow end. Measure from the top down 3 1/2 inches and draw a line across.

4. Turn the box to one side and from your line marked on the front of the box, draw an angled line up to the top…mine was about 6 1/2 inches. Now repeat on the other side. Note: Make sure you use the same angle so the sides will be the same height.

5. Now cut on all lines. Be careful because the boxes are thick and you could cut yourself trying to get the knife around.

6. Now make sure the box is clean and you have trimmed up all cuts to your desire…..final inspection before painting!!

7. Now you are ready to PAINT!! I used regular craft paint from a craft store…but you can also use paint from your favorite SB store. I went with a darker shade because you want to make sure you cover the markings on the boxes. You could use a lighter color, just apply more layers of paint to cover the writing.

8. You should let it dry completely before adding stickers or additional paint. I used glitter stickers…..but you could use anything…the possibilities are endless. You could even scrapbook the sides as LO’s!!

NOTE: I did two boxes and to reinforce them…I glued them together. This isn’t necessary if you are putting them on a shelf…they will stand…but it helps to glue them if you need them to free stand.

This idea would be great to hold magazines, kits, idea books. Boxes come in all shapes and sizes. Next time you get a box in the mail turn it upside down or sideways and see what ideas it will inspire!!

Thanks for letting me share my idea with ya’ll!!!