Saturday, March 31, 2012

Easy Easter Basket Tutorial

Happy Saturday!


Today I was browsing around trying to get an idea for a Easter basket made out of paper. I ran across the Martha Stewart Page and seen a cute little Easter basket. However, it was a bit larger than I wanted so I changed the size around and skipped a few steps to make this basket faster and easier to make. :)



Here is the supplies you will need:
Scoring Board
Paper Trimmer
Scissors or Kraft Knife
Glue
Cardstock: Kraft, White, Green, & Any Color

First, cut a piece of kraft cardstock 6 x 6 inches and score at 2 inches and 4 inches both ways


Next, cut the corners out with a kraft knife or scissors. Then fold edges inwards.



Using the MS garden trellis punch, punch and cut white cardstock, 6 inches x2 and 9 inches x 1




Cut a piece of kraft cardstock, 1 x 6 inches. Then layer 6 inch trellis on top of each other and glue down to the kraft paper. Place aside.




Starting on the top of the edge glue down as you go wrapping the 9 inch piece of trellis all around the box. It will keep the box together.




As you can see there will be an edge. That edge will wrap around the last edge and should line up with the rest of the trellis.




Slightly curl handle and glue in the inside of the basket.



I used my fiskars small flower punch and a vine punch from Punch Bunch, but you can add premade flowers and leaves if you want....I used my scraps.... :) I placed the flowers on the side that has the finished edge and the opposite side.



Here again is the finished baskets. They are really fast to make and perfect for little gifts or table settings. Sorry I don't have any candy in them yet.....soon! You get the idea! lol



Hope you enjoyed my tutorial.....thanks for stopping by!

Friday, March 30, 2012

A new wavy line Template!

Happy Friday!  Hope you have a great weekend coming up!  I plan to get some serious scrapping time so I am looking forward to it.  Today I have a template to share that was actually inspired by a challenge I participated in at ScrapMatters.  The challenge was to create a layout based on a book cover.  That sounded interesting and I browsed through many many book cover pictures finding several I liked.  Wow, I thought, this is going to be fun.  Well I finally settled on the book cover below.

Using this book cover as my inspiration, I decided I needed lots of wavy lines to create the layout I had pictured in my mind.  Hmm...that meant I had to create a PNG file and of course that led to a template.  Here is the layout I created for the challenge.


I used a really pretty kit by Kim Broedelet called Evergreen to create this page.  The colors were perfect for the look I was after.  The wavy lines remind me of the ripples on the water's surface at the reservoir near my house.  Here is the sketch for our paper scrapbookers.  To build the waves on my page I just repeated the wavy line shape at the bottom of the page, tucking each new wavy line behind the one below it.

For our digital scrapbookers I have made the template file available at either of the two file sharing sites below.


Hope this inspires you to try some wavy lines in your layouts.  Even better, don't rule out a book cover as inspiration for your next fabulous layout!






Thursday, March 29, 2012

Pennant Shapes Galore!

It seem with every new paper line, sticker packs, die cut and punch there are pennant shapes turning up everywhere!  I must admit this is a fad I love!  I have found so many great uses for these shapes and they are easy to make yourself!

Here are two basic pennant shapes. The triangle is the basic pennant shape and the other is the boxy pennant. I love both! they are great for making little flag, banners and even using on your layouts and cards.

I have a pile of stuff to show you that I have created using the boxy pennant!

Lets get started!

I made this banner of alternating pattered papers using the boxy pennant shape! It is the most adorable banner I have made! I paired the boxy pennant shape with the frilly circular doilies to give it a springy look!


I have a dear friend who's birthday this year falls on Easter!  I made this special card for her. Notice I used another boxy pennant shape as part of my card.



Here is a layout I made with that included a double matted boxy pennant as part of my embellishments. So easy!


Here is the same idea however my boxy pennant is not as boxy as the others but still the same shape.


Here is another layout I made using again a slightly simmer boxy pennant shape.

I hope these projects have inspired you to create something fun with the boxy pennant shape!

Enjoy!

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Designer Showcase: Journaling Techniques

You've heard the quote, "a picture is worth a thousand words".  Sometimes the picture can tell the story. But often we need to include some details to help us truly capture our memories.  Especially if we want to remember for years to come.  Today's Designer Showcase is going to be about Journaling Techniques.

Let's start off with a sample from Vicky. Vicky shared that she rarely journals on her pages. She has included a cute and quick way to include a few words of journaling on your page, add a tag!  This is a great technique to use to help add some character and detail to your page. If you make your page and sometime later decide to add some journaling, using this technique to add a tag is a great way to include those words without disrupting your original design.


Dolores shares a really neat idea for incorporating your journaling into your design. On this page, she has included her journaling in the shape of a heart!  I think this is so cool!  I also like how she has colored her text to reflect the colors from the designer paper at the top of her page, and to blend in like the sheen on the wooden paper. Great stylized journaling!

This is a page that I did a few years ago for my "book of me"  Made a list of the music that I like with the reason those songs are important to me in one column. Then on the larger column I let myself ramble on about how music has touched my life and how the technology of music has changed throughout history.  I included a few images that I found on the Internet and used photo masks and brushes to create the background.

 
This two pager is from a trip we took to Andrew's Air Force Base a few years back.  To help the journaling go with the page design and topic, I wrote it like an Air Force Pilot's Log.  My boys thought that was a "cool" idea. That got them to help me with the journaling!


For this page, I wanted to record how I feel about my husband's life in the fire service.  I found this poem and decided that was enough to capture the feeling that I wanted on this page.


Cindy is great about including journaling on her pages. She is sharing several ideas to get your started on capturing your thoughts. On this page, she has created a list. She suggests making a numbered or bulleted list. You can just include a few words and don't have to get overly verbose to record the important facts.

Cindy also likes to "tel the whole story". As she puts it: "most of my layouts have several paragraphs worth of journaling on them. I almost always hand write my journaling and often directly on the page.  This layout is about the story behind our son's name".  By using your own handwriting, you are also including that as part of your design and ephemera, so to speak. When people look back at your pages years from now, they will get to see what your writing looked like. It really gives the page a personal touch as well.


This page by Cindy is a great example of how to include lots of photos AND journaling too!  Since having many photos on the page takes up space, it doesn't leave a lot of room to include journaling. But Cindy has written her journaling on strips of paper and then she can fit them in to the space available. On this particular page, she used strips of vellum.  This coordinates with the vellum circle accents behind her title and date.

If you have private journaling that you don't want to share with everyone that looks through your albums, you could write it on the back of your pages.  Or you can create layers, such as flaps and removable tags that you can write the journaling on. Then you can slip the tag into a pocket or fold over a flap and have it hidden from view.

Journaling can be as many or as few words that you want to include on your page.  You can write as paragraphs in the middle of your page, or squeeze it in by writing around the edge of your page. What ever works for you!

I hope we have inspired you to branch out and have fun journaling on your pages.



Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Reader's Pages :)

Happy Tuesday! I hope you are having a great day today. I am sharing some readers' pages from two different scrappers who were inspired by ideas shown on the blog.

Patricia created two pages based on two sketches/templates by Heather. These turned out great and utilized the sketches in such a fun way. In Patricia's first page, she used Heather's Sketch 12 for her inspiration. You can see that post here.  The colors go perfectly with those photos. Check out how great those hexagon shapes look on her page.


On Patricia's second page, she used Heather's Sketch 11 which you can visit here.  Again look at how nice her color palette is. The hexagons really make a nice border along the page with the swirlies accenting the page. For more inspiration and great ideas please visit Patricia on her blog here.



Libeeti is sharing several layouts inspired by Designer Showcase: Playing with Color which you can visit here.  The idea behind the post was showcasing projects that use black and/or white +1. Libeeti shares several great ideas utilizing this idea.  Check out how neat and unique each page turned out and how much the colors pop. I really enjoyed this designer showcase because it gave me new ideas for color palettes.





Thanks to Libeeti and Patricia for sharing your great pages!!

Monday, March 26, 2012

Designing With Arrows + Template

Happy Monday, it's Pam here and today I am sharing several ways I design with arrows for my pages. I am hoping the examples from the present and a few years ago will inspire you to create your own page ...plus I am sharing a template and sketch.
I love arrows on my pages. It is one of my favorite accents. Big or small these arrows can point to things, give movement and direction, or just look cool. First up, I will share my newest arrow template and sketch. It is based off my newest page about my dog, Ollie and how fast he is growing up.  The arrows have cut out number and also point to one of the photos of him.


Here is a preview of the template and sketch.

Here is the template link for you to use to use with Photoshop. If you haven't used clipping masks much you might want to review this tutorial.
This is a link to the digital layered template.
http://www.4shared.com/photo/P5pzao7m/file.html

Here is a preview of the sketch if you want to print it off or trace without all of the ink.



Now on to some more examples of the arrow page ideas.
1.  My first example is an old page, but I love how it gives movement to the page. I think it gives the kite great movement.
Tip on creating this: Trace out three large arrows and cut out in desired papers.


2.  My next page also gives good movement to the page. It shows how my son and husband sneaked up the playground in an angled direction.
Tip on creating this: Try to angle those arrows for a cool look. Cut out the same arrow in many different paper.


3.  My next page displays how great arrows are for pointing at stuff. Here I used it to highlight the journaling.
Tip on creating this: Try one small arrow for a big impact.


4.  My next examples highlights how to use the arrow as an accent. This page was published in CK magazine for my Page Carving article. You can download the template here.


5.  My next example shares how I cropped the photos to fit inside a large arrow. That gives it a ton of motion!
Tip on creating this: Sketching this out is easiest first. Print your photos and cut the out the desired shape.


6. My last example uses a page I have posted here before. Here is a link to the blog post. This example utilizes negative space created by arrows.


I hope these pages and template have inspired you create some arrow pages! :)

Friday, March 23, 2012

Heather's Sketch & Template #13

Hi everyone! It's Heather, and I'm back to share my last sketch and template here on Ideas For Scrapbookers. I was one of the original contributing artists when Pam first started this blog so I'm really sad to leave. I've had a wonderful time working with Pam and the other contributors have been amazing as well. I'll miss posting and hanging out with everyone. This will be the last sketch I post here. It's sketch #13. 

I based the sketch on this paper page that I made with the March Scraptastic Club kit and add on called "Celebrate Life". I used the octagon shape as a background because I wanted to try something new. The pinwheels are also a new thing for me. I've never made them before, but they were super simple to make. 

I sent this sketch to quite a few of my talented friends. They definitely didn't disappoint me! Nancy emailed me this fabulous layout about a fundraising concert that she attended with her husband. I love that she made this layout with some of her older paper. The bracket shape she used in place of the octagon looks great! 

Lesley contributed this adorable layout about her grandson's first train ride. The train embellishments are awesome. The photos really make this page stand out because you can see the wonder and amazement in his eyes. She capped her page off with some really cool rosette embellishments. 

This sunshine filled layout is by Dolores. She used some really special pictures from a recent family gathering. I really love the color combination on this page. The sun peeking from behind the octagon is a perfect way to draw attention to that corner. A very inspiring, happy layout! 

This beautifully distressed page is by Vicky! I love all of the paper tearing and the butterflies look like they are about to fly right off of the page. I think the chicken wire looks fantastic too because it makes the page more masculine. 

This last layout is mine. It's a digital page that I made with Jenni Bowlin Studio's Homespun Collection. I used the template, but I deleted the octagon layer. It gives the design a more graphic feel. 

Thank you very much for contributing to this post ladies! It has been a pleasure to work with each of you and I won't forget the friendships that I've made here. 

If anyone is interested in following my personal blog so they can continue to see my sketches and downloads please click here.

This is the download link for template #13. I hope you enjoy the free download!