| By Michelle V. | |
 This is so easy: The instructions are as follows… Pocket: Cut a piece of pattern paper (double sided is nicer) to 3″ x 6″. Tag: Cut a piece of cardstock to match (or pp if you choose) to 2″ x 6″. Enjoy! |
By Andrea W.
Supplies for each bag…
1 – 9 X 5 piece of pattern paper
2 – 5 inch strips of ribbon
Wet adhesive
Paper Trimmer
Scoring Blade/Stylus
Hole Punch
Pencil
Ruler
Score your paper horizontally at ½, 1¼, 2, 4¾, 5½, and 6¼ inches.
Score the vertical lines at 1, 4, and 4½ inches.
Now we’ll need to create some diagonal score lines. Measure ½ inch down from the top left side. Draw a diagonal line to your 1 inch score horizontal line. Measure 3, 3 7/8, 7 3/16, and 8 inches on the top edge and draw diagonal lines to the 1 inch horizontal score.
Crease all score lines except for the 4 ½ inch vertical score (this will be used as a guide to punch our handle holes).
Punch holes at 2¾, 4, 7, and 8¼ inches along the 4 ½ inch vertical score that you didn’t crease.
Glue down diagonal folds. You should be gluing down 5 “triangle” shapes.
Glue down your ½ inch score mark.
Glue the bottom of your bag together.
Add ribbons to your punch holes and your bag is complete!
Aren’t those cobwebs just da bomb? What a clever idea! Megacrafty has a great tutorial on her blog on how to create these fantastic spiderwebs. If you have coffee filters and a craft knfe, you’re pretty much on you’re way. See the tutorial here.
By Allyson B. Meyer
Hey everyone!
I hope you enjoy this online class. This is a super-fun, easy technique that yields great results. I wish this had photographed a bit better…the tiny, glittery details are a bit hard to capture.
I’m going to teach you this technique by creating a card, but you can use this with layouts and other projects, too.
All of the supplies I used are from Scrapbooker’s Club House! You’ll need: cardstock, glimmer mist, chipboard shapes, and embellishments of your choice.
Start with a blank card cut from cardstock:
Arrange chipboard shapes on cardstock. Do not adhere.
Spray glimmer mist over chipboard shapes and card.
Let dry completely. Lift chipboard shapes off and set aside.
You now have a beautiful, metallic card background with a unique design showing where you placed your chipboard shapes.
(The photos make this look a bit more “blotchy” than it is in real life, which is metallicy goodness!
Embellish your card as desired:
As a fun bonus, your chipboard shapes will now be all glittery:
Feel free to use them on another project. Watch for my layout at the end of the month featuring these pieces!
I hope you enjoyed this fun & easy technique!
Use “Post-Its” for masking. They are sticky and thin so they work perfectly for masking…
Store your dye ink pads upside down to keep the ink at the surface of the pad. Its also easier to stamp with them that way. Just grab the bottom of the pad, pat on overturned stamp and place back on the cover which is upside down on your work space. This is easier because you can do it with one hand…
If you store your stamps in drawers, make sure that you do not stack them more than 2 inches high. Stacking them higher than this squishes the rubber on them and is not good for the stamp…
When picking a art stamp, you can choose one with a design cut evenly and deeply into the rubber. These will produce a sharper more detailed image.
By Noella A.
Alrighty ladies! I have a fun fabric flower you can make to use on a card or on a layout..You can also make lots to incorporate as many as you like to your designs.
Here are the supplies you need:
Scrap piece of Fabric
Iron
Needle and Thread
Ruler
Scissors
Buttons
Instructions:
Step 1:
Cut your fabric into 5 – 2″ x 2″ squares.
Step 2:
Iron each square shaping them into triangle peices.
Step 3:
Thread your needle with enough thread to go through all your pieces. Sewing with a very loose stitch weave your needle through the two raw edges. Pull the thread tight creating a petal and continuing onto the next 4 petals doing the same.
Step 4:
When you have finished all 5 petals, sew the two end petals together creating the flower.
Step 5:
Flip the flower over and sew on your button making sure to catch any loose fabric and making sure to catch a piece of each petal from underneath making sure of a even center of the button.
And whaa laa! There you have it..a cute little fabric flower to use on your layouts, cards or on mini albums.
You can create these flowers any size from adjusting the squares you cut out from the fabric..just as long as you keep the measurements square you can use 1″ x 1″, 2″ x 2″, 4″ x 4″ etc….
Have fun!
Today I am passing on some words of wisdom from Ali Edwards:
1. Get over what you “think” it should be and just allow it to be (“it” will be something different for every person).
2. Examine how you look through the lens of your camera . What do you really see? What are you looking for? Next time you pick up your camera let yourself play a bit more by looking up, down, to the sides, etc. of your subject. There are so many interesting things out there in the world. I am particularly interested in the ways things meet together – people, places, things.
3. White cardstock is always a solid choice for the foundation of your layout. I love it. It is my go-to color of choice.
4. Mix up your page sizes. For the last year I have been experimenting with all sorts of different sizes – this is a huge creative boost. Online lately I have seen really cool pages that are 6 inches x 12 inches, 4 inches x 12 inches, 8 inches x 8 inches, etc. Don’t limit yourself to one size.
5. Keep an inspiration journal. This is the one of the best things you can do for your creative self. Don’t judge what you write in it or put in it – just use it and abuse it and let it be a place for the things that are scrambling in your head. For a long time I have had too many of these and it began to feel way to scattered. Recently I have combined it into one notebook – forcing myself to use just one and go with it.
6. Repetition. Probably my favorite design principle: do something once and then do it two more times. Three is a very nice number. Repeat colors. Repeat shapes. Repeat accents.
7. Expand yourself. Find something else to learn about next: a new interest, a new subject. Learning stuff fills you up, gives you more to draw from when you sit down to create.
8. Note to self: there is no perfect layout. Forget about perfection; rather adopt an attitude that you will learn something from each layout you complete. Maybe it will be a new way to combine colors, create embellishments, or crop your photos. Maybe it will be that you totally dislike the way you did something. Make a mental note and move on to the next thing.
9. Alphabet stamps in classic typefaces are great for the long haul
10. Layer. When you are putting a layout together think in terms of layers: cardstock, patterned paper, transparency, stickers, stamps – what can you add on top of the last layer to make the piece more interesting?
11. Learn how to be self-critical without putting yourself down. How do you do this? As you create stuff ask yourself “does this really need this accent? Am I adding to the overall story or am I adding it just to add it?” There’s no right answer – it’s more about developing a general awareness and connection with yourself as you are creating. Be ok with stopping yourself and moving on to the next piece.
12. Just stick it down. If you have been looking at a single layout for days and days and days it is probably time to just stick it all down and move on the next. Isn’t it awesome that there is always another story to tell?
13. You can never go wrong with circle or square punches.
14. Collect stuff (and not just scrapbook supplies). Mail pieces. Tags. Bits of stuff. Cut it up. Grab a manila folder or a basket or a box (don’t make it complicated) and stick stuff in there. Regularly dip back into that spot for ideas and inspiration.
15. Read more about the Art of Finding.
16. Make sure you are in your scrapbooks. Take photos of yourself. Set your timer. Hand over your camera. Get together with friends to take photos of one another. Your kids and your family will thank you.
17. Bring your scrapbook talents into your home environment (also known as living with your art). Create collages to hang in your home. Enlarge and frame your favorite photos or layout. Create cool accents for your mantle with your supplies. There is so much that can be done with all those supplies you have collected to bring your hobby into the living areas in your home.
18. Take some time to go back over all the layouts you have created and give yourself a hug for all the stories you have told. Taking a look at the body of your work will give you a whole new perspective on what you have done and where you want to go next.
19. Create less. Rather than doing a bunch of layouts just for the sake of filling up an album, spend more time on just a few stories that really have meaning for you and your family.
20. Go make something right now. Stop whining. Stop coming up with excuses. Start now.
If you’re like me you have a pretty big stash of scraps of paper. The office supply stores have tiered paper trays and I bought a very nice metal mesh one.
It has 3 slots and the dividing walls are graduated in height. In the first slot I put 1/4 sheets of card stock, in the second slot I put 1/2 sheets but not quite full size and long odd sizes, in the 3rd slot I put a few sheets of full size card stock, metallic papers and my 8 1/2 x11 inch cutting mat. This way I always have it at hand. This has helped to keep me organized and for those little scraps of paper I keep a shoebox under my table. I throw any reasonable sized scraps of paper in there and then when it gets full (or I get in an organizing mood) I sort it out by color and dump it into the appropriate tray.
Why keep those scraps? Well sometimes you just need a small size to check for size or color and they make excellent test pieces for how color will look on it. I keep a separate envelope for shrink plastic scraps as well.
Now my table is a little clearer and I’m not accidentally ruining good full pieces of card stock.
10 Ideas For Using Your Space Effectively
by Maria Gracia
Feel like you’re running out of space for all your stuff? Here are 10 simple ideas for using your space more effectively.
INSUFFICIENT OR INEFFECTIVE. Do you have insufficient storage space or ineffective storage space? There’s a big different. Insufficient storage space means you don’t have enough space for your things. Ineffective space means you have enough space for your things, but you’re not making the best use of that space. Most closets and cabinets have the volume to hold twice as much as they are usually constructed for. And you probably have quite a few nooks and crannies for storage that you haven’t even thought of. Of course, it’s important to make sure you don’t have things you don’t like, are outdated, etc., but it is also important to have effective storage space for the things you do like and enjoy.
ADD-A-ROD. Looking for extra storage space in your closet. If you have the type of closet with two+ walls for hanging clothes, on one wall hang a rod at head height for long clothing (dresses, pants, etc.). On the other wall, hang two rods–one above the other–for shorter clothing (shirts, skirts, blazers, etc.) In other words, you’re not restricted to only one clothing rod.
INSTALL SHELVES. Most shelves can be moved up-a-notch or down-a-notch. If you have three inches of space above your linens, you may consider adjusting the shelf so the shelf below it has more space. Or, perhaps you can add another shelf in between. Plastic, multiple level shelves are wonderful for kitchen cabinets. And corner shelves are great for picture frames, knick knacks and other small treasures.
USE STORAGE UNITS. Storage units, which can be picked up from housewares or hardware stores, are great space savers. Your spices can be removed from drawers and placed on a spice rack. There are racks for canned goods that, when a can is taken from it, the next can in line rolls forward. Some of these hold over 40 cans! Ice cube trays are inexpensive storage containers for smaller items such as earrings. There are coffee tables on the market with storage space hidden inside. Under bed containers are perfect for storing quilts and linens. Be creative and make use of these great tools!
DON’T FORGET ABOUT WALL SPACE. Look around and you’re sure to find quite a bit of empty wall space. There are many uses for this new-found space. Pots and pans can be taken out of cabinets and hung on walls. Tools can be placed on pegboards. Shelves can be installed for picture frames and knick knacks. Many stores now carry corner shelves that can be installed in a snap.
PUT FREQUENTLY USED ITEMS WITHIN ARMS REACH. Whenever possible, store regularly used items where you use them most. Recently, my husband created a toilet paper holder on the back of our bathroom cabinet door, with a small dowel, 2 nails and 2 loops of rope. It holds three rolls of toilet paper, and it’s right near the area it’s needed most. You shouldn’t have to walk from one room to another to retrieve items you use every day. Store linens in the bedroom. Store videos near the television. If you use the scissors in the office area and in the sewing room, have two pairs of scissors, one in each room.
ADD-A-DRAWER OR SLIDING SHELF. Many hardware and housewares stores carry drawers that can be installed underneath a cabinet. These are great if you have a home with limited drawer space. In addition, you can also install shelves under cabinets that slide out when you need them, and slide back in when you’re finished with them.
KEEP YOUR DESK CLEAR. A clear desk is directly related to your productivity. You will get more done, if you’re not constantly under a pile of papers and files. A sturdy, full-suspension filing cabinet is a must for any home or office. Portable file boxes that hold hanging file folders also come in handy. There are plenty of storage choices for CD-roms and diskettes. Desk supplies belong in an on-the-desk caddy or in trays inside your desk.
REARRANGE. Everyone is different, and has different needs. Make your home or office work for you. One woman I know told me she never uses her dining room, not even when she has company over. And she had no intention of ever using it since her kitchen was big and elegant enough. She also said she hated her dark basement office. So, I suggested she rearrange a bit, and turn her dining room into her office. And that is exactly what she did. So think about your surroundings and make them work for you, even if they seem a little out of the ordinary.
ROTATE. You may have many items you love in your home or office, but not enough space. Rotate them. In other words, keep some things in storage for a month or two and display some of your things. Then, once that time is up, make the switch. The items on display go into storage; the items in storage go on display. What a neat idea!
by Maria Gracia – Get Organized Now!™
Want to get organized? Get your FREE Get Organized Now!™ Idea-Pak, filled with tips and ideas to help you organize your home, your office and your life, at the Get Organized Now!™ Web site
http://www.getorganizednow.com
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Tip #1:
Choose a focal-point photo. Treat other photos as “accessories” that help you to tell the rest of the story. As we read from left to right, the top-left hand corner is an excellent point for your focal-point photo when you have several photos you want to use on your layout.
Tip #2:
You don’t have to mat every single photo on your scrapbook layout, unless you want it to stand out from the background. Or mat your focal-point photo for extra emphasis.
