Featured Artist Friday: From Start to Finish by Hannah

Well, happy Friday! I hope you having a great week. Ideas for Scrapbooks is sharing another great featured artist post from a scrapbooker named Hannah! She is from Scotland and has a totally cool online store where she sells the latest and greatest scrapbook products. You can visit the link here.  You can also see all of Hannah's gorgeous scrapbook projects such as altered items and neat scrapbook pages at her blog here: http://handmade-hannah.blogspot.com/ .  She has a fun and pretty style and I enjoyed looking at on her blog. Make sure you take time time to visit her blog, I know you will love it! Also I will be posting her "start to finish" post shortly after we get to know her :)

My name is Hannah and I live in Edinburgh, Scotland with my husband and two daughters, aged 1 and 3. I am a secondary school teacher and enjoy all types of crafts, but papercrafting, and in particular, scrapbooking has become my favourite. I made a resolution this year to do something creative each day and so far it is working! I tend to craft in the evenings when my children are in bed. I have come a long way from my first scrapbook layouts which featured photos and stickers just floating on the page. I now love trying to layer elements on my pages using dimension and texture. I have recently opened a new scrapbook supplies store on line, called Handmade Hannah, which is great fun and hard work, but at least I get to use all of the lovely products! I post layouts daily on my blog, Handmade Hannah, and love nothing more than reading other people's blogs and being inspired by their creativity.

A Layout From Start To Finish by Hannah

Today I want to share the creative process behind one of my layouts. I love using 3 x 2 inch black and white photographs and like to group them on 12 x 12 scrapbook pages.  I thought that I would do a short tutorial showing the steps I took to create this 'block' type layout which I seem to favour at the moment. The first step was to select some China AC cardstock and arrange the photographs.

 

I then selected some patterned paper and measured it up against the photos:

Using the reverse side of the same patterned paper I cut a piece for the top of the layout and then inked the edges of both.

I wanted to create a messy stitched border for this layout so used my sewing machine to create a double frame:

The next stage was the lay the photos out and add in a ruffle trim to unite the two pieces of patterned paper:

I then selected a journalling card which had a strong colour so that it wouldn't get lost on the very busy patterned paper at the base of the layout. I also added in a yellow scalloped border to sit underneath the ruffle trim:

You can see I placed the card below the line of the paper to create interest and to make it stand out and then added some of the red scalloped edging up the side of the card.

I added a button with twine to the edge of the journaling card and so I needed to balance this out with something similar in the top left hand corner. I used the red and blue scalloped card that I cut before and added 2 buttons and more twine. Here is the final layout complete with title and journaling. Here is the final layout once I had added the title:

 

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Thanks you so much, Hannah, for sharing your start to finish layout!!

Boys Will Be Boys Template/Sketch

Hi everyone! I'm back with my second sketch and template in April. (Well, the third if you count the designers' showcase.) I finished two example layouts to share with the template this time around.

Here's the sketch and template preview! Feel free to right click on the image and then click "Save As" to save it to your computer for inspiration.

This is the first layout I came up with. It's a digital page and I used the layered digital template that's available for download at the end of this post. I did a lot of distressing using watercolor brushes and some extraction. All of the supplies I used came from JessicaSprague.com.

I used Echo Park's Little Boy paper pack to create the paper layout that I made with the sketch. It's a relatively simple layout because I wanted to keep the focus on the photo that I love so much.

Here's the link to download the layered digital template that I created in Photoshop Elements if you're a digital scrapper...

http://www.4shared.com/file/eEK-1m1e/HL_AprilTemp2.html

Designer Showcase: Projects Using Transparencies!

I love using transparencies over my pages. I usually use them to overlay the entire page or just as an embellishment. My favorite thing about them is you can see through them even when they are covering up something up! I love that!!

I am going to share my page first to point these things I love out and then I will post contributor's ideas using transparencies! :) On my page I used a background transparency over a plain yellow polka dot paper. I love how well it blends with rest of the page. I also used transparent candles on my page from Fancy pants!

Next up is two pages by Lisa! On Lisa's first page she used a transparent tree and flower on her page. They look gorgeous, can you spot them? On Lisa's second page she used a transparency on the dress instead of putting it directly on chipboard ... and this turned out such a cool effect!

Sara is sharing a super cute page using a transparency with the white the flowers over the large yellow paper! Check out how much this looks like pre-made patterned paper! Love this effect!

Cathy is sharing a totally cool project idea. One I have tried in the past and I love the final outcome! she used a transparent cover to her album. What is so cool about this? You can get a sneak peek of what is inside!

Next up is a great example of using a transparency by Nancy! She used an entire sheet of transparency that had the title and the brushed images on it. The background turned out so cool and fits in perfectly with her page.. check out her layout!

Vicky is sharing a gorgeous page using large transparency as most of her page! I love this effect so much, It really frames that adorable photo well!

Lastly, I am sharing a couple of neat pages by Heather using this theme! On her first page, Heather has transparency leaves on the left and black glittery flowers on transparencies on the lower right side. See what a cool effect this is! On her second page, one the flower above the photo on the right is a transparency for a pretty look :)

If you have any layouts with transparencies you would like to share, send them to scrappingpam73@yahoo.com and I will feature them!

An Easy 5 petal flower to make!

I have a really easy flower to show your today.  I was experimenting with my punches and came up with this cute flower that you can put together in minutes. 

You will need card stock, a spray water bottle, Glimmer Mist (optional), Stickles (optional) and Distress ink (optional.)

To make this flower you will need a 5 petal flower punch and a snowflake punch.  Here are the ones I used.

My flower punch is 1 5/8 inches across.  The snowflake punch is an EK Success punch I have had quite a while.  I decided it could double as the stamens in my flower. You will need to punch two flowers and one snowflake in a coordinating color. 

I started with light pink cardstock for the flowers and yellow cardstock to punch the snowflake.  First I set my flowers out on a craft sheet and sprayed them with Black Cherry Glimmer Mist.   At this point you can use just plain water and if you are working with pretty paper and you don't want to alter the color.

I am always trying to make the most of my scrapbook time, so I tend to look for ways to make things go faster.  With my flowers I pick them up with tweezers and use a blow dryer to speed along my drying time.  I want my flowers to be just a tiny bit damp.  That will make them easy to shape, so don't dry them all the way yet.  When you can handle the petals easily, curl each petal over a round pencil, paintbrush or other tool.

When you have a nice curl to all petals, then use your blow dryer to finish the drying process.  The flowers will hold their shape well when completely dry.

Here is an optional step.  When I am working with a solid color sometimes I like to distress the edges of my petals to give them more definition.  The flowers are pretty stiff when dry, so I use a cosmetic applicator to apply the distress ink.

Now that your petals are curled and distressed we need to do just a little more shaping so they will lay nicely.  Pick up each flower and bend each petal at the base toward you (the opposite direction of the curl).

I just hold the flower with my thumb at the base of the petal and bend the petal upward.  Now that we have adjusted the petals we can stack and glue our two flowers together . 

After the glue dries I try to work a little bit with the petals to make the flower look as realistic as I can.  I tend to like my top petals curled a little bit more than the bottom petals.  Now we can add our stamens.

At this point you can make some additions to your stamens.  I like to add Stickles to the tips or distress the tips to produce a color change.  Here I used yellow Stickles.

Curl the stamens up leaving the center flat so we can easily glue it to the flower.

After the glue dries, slightly bend the tips of your stamens back to expose better the ends.   Add a pretty center such as a pearl or brad and your flower is complete.

I did some experimenting and made a few examples to give you some inspiration.  Don't hesitate to stamp your cardstock with solvent based ink for a nice pattern or pull out those gel sparkle pens to add some shine to the stamens.   Have fun!

Digi Tip April 2011: Using Glue on Digi Scrapping!

What??  The best part about digi scrapping is that there is no adhesive!  Well, at least to me that's one of my favorite parts. I never run out of adhesive, and if I change my mind about where I've placed something on the page, I just click and drag it to a new location, no messy adhesive to un-do.

Sometimes when you are digi-scrapping you wish you could "glue" things together.  So for this months Digi-Tip, I'm going to show you 2 types of "glue" you can use in your digi scrapping.

Just like in traditional scrapping, digi scrapping has both a permanent adhesive and a temporary adhesive. 

I'm using two of the elements in the above layout as my example today. The angel and the wings in the lower right corner.

They are 2 separate elements and therefore 2 separate layers in my Photoshop file.

If you want to "stick" things together, but you don't want to permanently alter them, you can link them in the digi world. To do this, in the layers palette click on one of the layers, then Ctrl+click on the second and any subsequent layers that you want "stuck" together.  Once you have all the appropriate layers selected, click on the chain link to "link" these layers together.  You'll see the chain link show up next to the layer thumbnails in the layers palette. Now if you move, or resize the linked layers, they will all move and resize together.  Even though these layers are linked together, you can still apply styles such as drop shadows to them individually.  You can see in the above sample, the angel (top layer) has a shadow that is cast on the wings (lower layer).

If you need to manipulate just one of those layers, just click on that layer in the layers palette to make that layer active, then click on the chain link and it will un-link that layer. To un-link all of the layers, select them all and then click the chain link.

If you want to permanently "glue" layers together, you can "merge-layers". This will actually combine the selected layers together and make them into one single flattened layer. To do this Ctrl+click to select the appropriate layers in the layers palette.  Then right click and select "Merge Layers" from the drop down menu that opens.  Notice in the above image that there is now just one layer. So you can see now that there is no shadow cast for the angel individually, but rather for the angel AND wings as a flattened layer. You no longer see the shadow of her arms cast on the wings.  If you need to un-do the merge, you can use the Edit>Undo. But once you continue to work with your project, that option will no longer be available for you. This is much more permanent, so really give thought to how you want your final project to appear before you decide to merge layers.

So there you have it, you can make things sticky in digi-scrapping!

Featured Artist Friday: Doodling On Your Page by Pia

Happy Friday! Hope you are having a nice Friday, can you believe it is almost Easter!
Today, I am sharing a scrapbooker I have admired from scrapbook.com for a while! She creates these amazing scrapbook pages with tons of techniques, neat page designs and cool photography. Her name is Pia and she is from Sweden! You have to visit her blog for her FABULOUS ideas and gorgeous scrapbook pages! Here is a link to her blog: http://piasdoodling.blogspot.com/ (you can also see Pia's sketches here for even more ideas).  Get ready for a fabulous post about doodling! I know you will be inspired!!  First let's get to know Pia :)

 

Hello, my name is Pia Åstrand and I come from Halmstad, Sweden.
I´m so honoured to be the featured artist here at Ideas For Scrapbookers!
I´ve been scrapbooking since 2007 and I love all the fun techniques and different mediums involved in Scrapbooking.
As some of you might know I love to doodle, and I can´t create anything without my inks and pens.
I´m going to show you some of my work featuring a lot of simple doodling for you to try out.

Doodling on your pages by Pia

First off, I want to tell you that the pens have to be high quality pens to get the perfect results. My favorite pens are: Zig Writers and the Signo White Uniball pen.
These are the pens shown in the majority of my work.

When I layer my papers on the layout I always doodle a border on the papers, mainly stitches and lines (no ruler for me!).

Don´t be afraid of using your own handwriting on your pages, it gives a nice and personal look to it. The key word here is practice! These´s no shortcut to nice handwriting. And here´s another close-up on the borders on the patterned papers.

You can also doodle with other mediums, the title on the above layout is painted with acrylic paint. The next one here has also a handwritten title with brown acrylic paint.

On the next layout I have doodled two stitched borders with my all time favorite white pen "Signo White Uniball". I think I´ve tried all white pens in the world, but there´s no one that compares with this awesome pen! The title is also written with this pen!

The last page I want to show you is one of my own favorites right now! I love layouts that are in black and white, and I love it when everything matches, even my ds´s sweater! lol!
On this one I have doodled the white stitches and the butterfly trails.

I hope this will inspire you to use your pens a little more often and as I already said don´t be afraid of writing with your own handwriting!
If you want to see more of my work, please take a look in my blog: http://piasdoodling.blogspot.com

Happy scrappin´all! /Pia


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Thanks a bunch, Pia, for sharing all of your neat ways to doodle!!