Kirigami box tutorial

I just love making kirigami boxes. This ancient art makes for beautiful paper crafts. Here I am using the Pion Design Studio of Memories collection. Actually, this entire project was made using ONE single sheet of 12x12 paper. The box measures about 2x2x3 inches. Half the sheet (2 - 6x6 inch pieces) for the box and the other half for the flower. I added a bit of lace and pearls and it was done.

STEP 1: You will need 2 square papers one for the top and one for the bottom of the box, scissors, adhesive and anything you wish to decorate the box with. Find the centre of your paper by aligning a ruler to the corners and marking in the middle of the side of the paper that will be on the inside). A 12x12 paper will make a 4 inch box and a 6x6 paper will make a 2 inch box.

STEP 2: Fold in corners to the middle.

STEP 3: Open up 2 opposite corner and then fold in the remaining 2 sides over again to the middle.

STEP 4: Open it all up and repeat on the other 2 sides. You will then get a square creased (top of the box) in the middle of the paper and a smaller square pattern on the rest of the paper.

STEP 5: On two opposing sides, cut up to the middle box shape (along the crease).

STEP 6: Fold in the uncut sides down like this:

STEP 7: Fold up on the crease to make the side of your box and fold in the cut flaps to look like below. You can use a piece of tape to keep the flaps together.

STEP 8: Fold the remaining pieces over the taped together flaps.

STEP 9: Secure with adhesive. This is the top of the box.

STEP 10: Repeat the entire process with another sheet of paper for the bottom of the box.

STEP 11: Decorate and assemble. I made a water distressed flower with my sugarplum flower tutorial technique, using 8 layers of different shape and size flower punches.

I hope you give this folded box a try. This is a great, quick little project that took me under half an hour to complete WITH the flower making and decorating!

Ask The Artists!

Good morning!!! Sara here today with some inside info from all of the artists here at Ideas For Scrapbookers.  We have done a segment or two like this in the past where the artists all answer the a series of qusestions.  So it was my turn to ask the question and it was tough to come up with some but I think you will like what you see.

1) Tell us how your first got involved in scrapbooking. 

Pam- I went a Creative Memories crop with a friend shortly after my son, Sean, was born in 2002/2003. From then on I was hooked. I couldn't afford any of the Creative Memories supplies so I went to a local scrapbook store and bought a bunch of scrappy supplies to get me started.

Lisa - It was my mother, because she had so many photos and was not able to tell me much about them? So I decided that I wanted to make sure that my future knew who I was talking about, when and what the photos were all about.

Nancy -  I first began scrapping when my son was almost one years old.  I had seen a few friends complete their children's baby books and decided to give it a try.  Having been a librarian, I began with using archival library supplies.

Cathy - I used to make scrapbooks as a child. They were that old style hinged book with paper pages. Most people used photo corners to attach items to them.  I've always been a hobbyist photographer and love to preserve both my photos and memories. Then after I had children, I started to create what we refer to as traditional paper scrapbook pages today.  A few years ago I got a DSLR camera. I started teaching myself Photoshop and that helped me get hooked on digital scrapbooking and designing.  I;m still totally addicted to using scissors and glue, so I do a lot of hybrid and altered art/mixed media work.

Heather -  The first scrapbook I ever made was given to me as a gift from my grandma. I put it together and threw a few of my high school photos in it and promptly lost interest. It wasn't until years later when my daughters' social workers told me about "life books" for adopted children that I really got in to scrapbooking. Once I finished my girls' life books I just kept going.

Vicky -  decided to stay home after having my children and missed the creative aspect of my marketing job. I always knew I wanted to do something special with the family photos and once I started looking at design galleries to start my new hobby... I was hooked before even touching paper, LOL.


2) Do you prefer Paper or Digi Scrapbooking? Why?

Pam - I prefer paper scrapbooking over digital scrapbooking because I like the creative process with paper better. There is something nice about using real paper and adhesive. Sometimes, I do create digi pages, especially when I see a cute digital kit I love.

Lisa -  I LOVE PAPER! It is because there is so many 3D effects and the hands on of the creation makes me feel like I gave part of me into it.

Nancy - I prefer paper scrapbooking.  While I would love to learn digital, I really love the feel of paper and all the gorgeous embellishments.

Cathy - I love the convenience of digital scrapbooking. I can do it anywhere that I can take a computer. And the eas of clean up after finishing a digital project. But some days I still need to work with "real" paper.  That's why I love hybrid crafting!  It mixes the best of both worlds for me!

Heather - I do both equally. There's nothing like getting messy and inky with a paper scrapbook page. I love the feel of the materials in my hands. I love digital because of it's portability and the quicker clean up factor. Plus, there's an UNDO button! That means no messy mistakes. I love it.


Vicky - Paper - I love the layered and distressed look... plus I think we sit for way too many hours in front of computer screens as it is.


3) If you could design for ANY manufacture who would it be?



Pam - I have sort of been there done that with companies. I have had the honor to design for some of the best companies such as GCD Studios, DCWV, Pebbles, Anna Griffin, and a few others. I am taking a break from that and concentrating on scrapping for fun and also creating projects for this blog. Sometime I may get back into that :)


Lisa -  I would design for CRICUT…. because I love all the shapes and I use it so much…I think it is a great tool that is perfect for every page.


Nancy - Right now I have so many favorites, it would be hard to choose.  I love Crate Paper, Prima, Pink Paislee...so any of those would be a dream job.


Cathy - There are too many to choose from.  I love Webster's, October Afternoon, Echo Park, Cosmo Cricket, Bo Bunny, Kaisercraft... and the list goes on.  I also love the digital designers at ScrapMatters and The Digi Chick and would love to design with them!


Heather - This is a hard one. There are so many amazing companies out there. I would say American Crafts because I am a Thicker-a-holic. You don't even WANT to know how many packs I have. 


Vicky - Prima for sure... I can't resist their flowers! But for paper, I am lucky to already design for my fave - Pion Design.


4) Share with us 3 of your favorite places to shop online for scrapbook supplies.


Pam - Scrapbook.com is pretty much the only place I shop online at. (http://www.scrapbook.com/).  I used to love to shop at Lifetime Moments but they closed and it broke my heart!

Lisa -   I don’t shop on-line…. because I’m so into instant gratification!
But if I had to it would be:
1. Scrapbook.com
http://www.scrapbook.com/
2. Joann.com
http://www.joann.com/joann/home/home.jsp
3. Two Peas in a Bucket…I hear they have so much!
http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/


Nancy -  I have been shopping a lot at Papertrey Ink http://www.papertreyink.com/, Your Memories Here, www.yourmemorieshere.com, and Blue Moon Scrapbooking http://www.bluemoonscrapbooking.com/ lately.


Cathy - 
Scrapbook.com
The Digi Chick
ScrapMatters

Heather - I would have to say Scraptastic Club for kits! She is really great at putting pretty goodies together. http://www.scraptasticclub.com/ For digital products I absolutely have to go with Jessica Sprague's site. She has absolutely fantastic designers working for her. JessicaSprague.com For general supplies I usually order from Scrapbook.com. I also hang out on the forum there as well! I'm met some really awesome people there.


Vicky - STTG - http://stores.sttg.com (great prices and service)
Etsy - www.etsy.com (awesome unique finds and good prices)
Scrapbooker's Paradise - http://www.scrapbookersparadise.com (best Canadian selection)



5) What do you do with your scrap paper and how do you store it?



Pam - I store most of my paper in vertical paper holders. I love how you can see every single sheet with ease! I store my cardstock in stackable paper trays sorted by color.


Lisa -  Oh my…I’m a total hoarder! I keep all my scraps in a huge cardboard box and when I need a piece of a specific color I dig though it till there is nothing left! Literally! Most of the time I can’t find the bottom…but I still keep it…just in case!


Nancy - I am not very good with my scraps.  I try to keep them in an old Crop in Style paper taker by color.  But mostly they just pile up.  I do try and use them to make cards and cuts with my cricut.


Cathy - My "real" papers are kept by manufacturer/collection. I store them in some of those white scrapbook storage cubes that you can get at most hobby stores.  I also have some stored in a plastic set of drawers on wheels.  For my digital papers, I set up folders for each digital designer and then sub-folders for the kit or collection.  This way it is always easy for me to find coordinating items and to give proper credit on the projects that I create.

Heather - My scrap paper is sorted by color and stored in cheap plastic page protectors. I then file it in a cropper hopper and pull pieces as needed.

Vicky - I put them in large ziplock bags by collection and store in a plastic drawer organizer. Since I make a lot of handmade flowers, I don't have a lot of scraps. Sometimes they end up with the kids for their crafts too.

Thanks for getting to know more about the artist and I hope their tips and info help you out!

Sweet Summertime Sketch

Hi everyone! It's Heather, and I'm back again to share another sketch/template. I have a lot of example layouts to post as well. I always love it when that happens! This is what the sketch looks like.

The next three example layouts feature the "Sweet Summertime" kit from Scraptastic Club. I created this page about my three bugs (kids) slip 'n sliding at my grandma's house. I even borrowed the title of the kit for my page!

Jessica made this page with photos from her niece's birthday party. I love how she eliminated one row of photos to make the sketch work for her. The way she matted the letters of the title totally rocks!

Juliann also changed the sketch so she could create an 8.5x11 page. Instead of cutting off the top photos like Jessica did, she cut the two on the side. I love the sweet photos and her stitching!

I ended up liking the way the template turned out so much that I used it for a design team assignment I did at JessicaSprague.com. I used Cosmo Cricket's Salt Air digital collection to create this page about my silly children.

Nancy made this page of her sassy & super sweet daughter posing for photos. She followed my basic design but added some really pretty embellishments.

Thanks for all of your help ladies! I appreciate it. If you are a digital scrapbooker and would like the layered template that I created in Photoshop Elements please click on the link below to download it. 

http://www.4shared.com/file/5HDkHhwU/HL_July2011Template2.html

Designer Showcase: Pets

Happy Wednesday! This week we are sharing pages about pets for our Designer Showcase. Pets have a special place in our families. So of course we include them on our scrapbook pages!

Heather shares this super cute page. I love the way she has used kraft paper as her main background. It coordinates with the coat on her precious little fur-baby! The layered green and yellow papers and elements that Heather has used above and below her photo frame it and draw your eye into the details of her page.

The subject of this page was not about my pets directly, but it shows how they are a part of our everyday life. On this page I told a story about a wild bird that had gotten caught on one of our outdoor feeders. One of my cats was thrilled with the "birds eye view" that he had!

We have a bit of a zoo at our house. 3 cats, 2 dogs and a bird. I've included them on other pages individually, but I wanted to get them all on one page together. Titling this "our Zoo" seemed just perfect!

Have you got pets? Do you feature them on your pages? We would love to see them. You can email them to me and I will include them in an upcoming Reader's Pages post. Email to me at scrappycath(at)gmail(dot)com.

Sugarplum Flower Tutorial

Here is my version of Prima's sweet little sugarplum flowers. I just can't justify price tag for these when I can so easily make them in just a few minutes, in any color I want, and at a tenth of the price! Here I used some of my Pion Design scraps from the "fairytale of spring" collection.

Materials: Three small (one-inch) punched/die cut flowers and three mini (half-inch) flowers, water to mist, glue, deco scissors, a stylus (or end of a thin paintbrush) and a foam mat (like a mouse pad). I used my EK Success retro punches but any five petal flower will do.

Step 1: Trim the very tips of the 3 larger flowers with your deco scissors.

Step 2: Very lightly water mist all 6 flowers and crumple. Do not over wet them or they will rip.

Step 3: Open them up while still damp.

Step 4: Glue the 3 larger flowers (off-set the petals) together and press into the foam mat to lift the petals.

Step 4: Glue 2 of the mini flowers (off-set the petals) in the middle and press again into the mat. It should look like this:

Step 5: Pinch together the last mini flower and glue into the middle.

Step 6: Slightly smash the center and let completely dry.

That's it! Super easy flowers and so cute on shabby layouts.

Here was my Prima inspiration, pretty close to the real thing don't you think? Mine are just a tiny bit smaller than theirs since I clipped off the ends of the petals.

Digi Tip July: Layer Thumbnails

When thinking about this month's digi tip post, I decided to share a tip that I use constantly. It may not be a way to make your scrapbook pages or photos look extra special. But it will really help you to see what you are doing.  Especially if you are like me..... I find myself needing to hold the newspaper a bit further from my eyes so that I can read it, I have reading glasses stashed in my car, my purse and just about every room in the house.  My eyes aren't getting worse, my arms are just getting shorter!  LOL

You should have seen me squinting trying to determine what was on each layer of a Photoshop project that I was working on. Those thumbnails in the layers palette give you a peak at what they are. If you can see them!  Here is how to make sure you can see what is on your layers.

The default setting is for small thumbnails.  They look like this:

If I had not renamed the layers, would you know what was on them?  I wouldn't. If you would like to see them better there are 2 settings you can choose in Photoshop (and one in Photoshop Elements which I'll cover in just a bit).  In Photoshop right click on any thumbnail in the layers palette and a selection box will appear.  Toward the bottom you can choose:

• No thumbnail
• Small thumbnails
• Medium thumbnails
• Large thumbnails

I've switched to the medium thumbnails and you can see some improvement here:

 

Hmmm, you're saying "I don't see much improvement!" You're right, there is some improvement, but not much. I'd still be reaching for the reading glasses!  But there is one more setting that you can change that will really make it better. On that same selection box, below the thumbnail size, change the bounding selection. The default is to clip thumbnails to document bounds.  Change this to "clip thumbnails to layer bounds"

This is how your layers will now appear.  Isn't that so much easier on your eyes?

If you work in Photoshop Elements, you can adjust the size of the thumbnails, but you don't have the option to clip the thumbnail to the edge of the layer.  To change the size of the thumbnail in PSE, right click in the gray area below the layers and select the size you would like for your thumbnails.

I hope this tip helps to keep you from squinting as you work!

Featured Artist Friday - Sheila Burns

Hi everyone, Sara here to introduce you to a wonderful new scrapbook blogger, Sheila Burns!  Sheila is a long time scrapbooker but a newbie to being a scrapbook blogger. I adore Sheila's unique creativity! Her hand made flowers are adorable and she has away of making something out of nothing!

Lets get to know Sheila!

Hi! I am a mom, a wife, a teacher, a crafter and a reader (in that order, I think!)  I am fairly new to the world of blogging and online scrapping challenges and such, but I am loving every minute of it!  I am inspired when I have the chance to interpret challenges to reflect my own style.  In addition to scrapbooking, I enjoy sewing, using my glue gun on anything that doesn’t move, and making flowers.  I especially like to take throwaway stuff and try to incorporate it into my layouts (old earrings, cereal boxes, etc.).  

 Today Sheila is going to show you how she took an empty Macaroni and Cheese box and make it into a mini album - Yup, you read that right!!!! Take a look!

I don't know about you,  but my kids love macaroni and cheese, cereal, and our "snack cupboard" needs restocking every few days.  I am constantly flattening these and other kinds of boxes for the recycling bin. One day, when I had an excess of the boxes, I thought:  "Hey, I am throwing away good chipboard here." I decided to make something with them. I ran them through my sizzix machine.  I covered them with coordinating papers, and here is how my mini-album turned out: 

I didn't happen to have any ring binders available, so I tied my Lowe's twine (see, I TOLD you I use it for everything) in the three little holes, and the album opens and closes just fine.  I also used twine for the center of my flower.

The album was four pieces thick. Here is a shot of the inside:

I just love how it turned out.  Then, I had one extra piece.  I wanted to make my older daughter something, because it seems like most of my scrapbook pages are about my younger daughter lately.  I made her a little "sign" to hang in her room.

To see more of Sheila's creative ideas visit her Blog!

Working with "Found Objects"

Sometimes when we are preserving memories, we would like to include "things" in addition to our photos and journaling.  Often there is memorabilia from an event that we attended, or ephemera from a certain time frame that would we like to have on our pages to conjure up our memories and emotions.

Today I'm going to share some projects that include "found objects".  One of my sons took up collecting bottle caps. It was really fun. Different places we would visit he would save bottle caps from beverages that we might have enjoyed. Some bottle caps he would find at the beach or park.  I thought it was great that he found such interest in building his collection.  He added them all to a stylish jar that he keeps in his bedroom. One day I came across an interesting bottle cap that I thought he didn't have. When I offered it to him for his collection, he told me that the jar was filled so he was done collecting!

He is rather shy, he has autism, and doesn't like to have his photo taken often.  I recently got a good photo of him. I've been wanting to record his bottle collecting for quite some time. I'm so glad that he allowed me 2 caps from his collection to include on this scrapbook page.  I adhered the caps to some copper metal that I embossed and sanded.  I also included a clothing tag from a pair of shorts that I bought him this summer. I really like the grungy, mildly distressed look of it. I added a fabric tag from Little Yellow Bicycle to it and attached it to the page as an element.

Now check out some samples from the other contributing artists.  Lisa shares a page that she made after rummaging through her husband's fishing gear.  That is real netting that she used to frame the photo.  It really adds a feeling of the sea and lots of texture!

Heather is sharing two projects with found objects. In the first, she admits her addiction to coffee. And what better way to do so than to include an actual coffee filter that she has inked brown, as well as stamped mug rings made using a real mug!

 

In her second project, I absolutely adore how Heather has expressed that even in the chaotic world of being a very busy woman, having her toes painted can make all the difference. She has included a pair of  pantyhose (complete with well earned runs) to express her emotions.

 

 Vicky has also shared some projects using found objects.  In this first one she has included some thin cork.  What a great accent this makes. Adds texture, dimension and color to the page. I'm really liking that feather too!

On this page Vicky included some twigs. Look how she used them along with rolled paper and flowers to extend the beauty of the blossoms. All of her elements keep the concentration on the natural beauty in the photo.

I find myself constantly looking at items and thinking about how they can be used on a scrapbook page or in a craft. I love to use the metal from beverage cans for making flowers, coffee filters for creating accent elements, and even using toilet paper rolls to create mini-albums.  My family has learned not to throw things out before asking me if I want to keep it for crafting. Which has created a storage challenge of sorts!  

Take a look around you. What "found objects" can use on your next project? We would love to see what you create. Email them to me at scrappycath@gmail.com with "Found Objects" as the subject and I'll include you in an upcoming "Reader's Pages" post.