Designer Showcase: Layouts with Quotes

Here is a really great idea to add to you page .. add a famous or not so famous quote! I have used both on my pages in past eight years. Sometimes you really just want to "quote" something family member says. Other times you want to scrap a well-known quote! Here I will show you how the contributors used various quotes on their pages!

Vicky created this stunning page with a stamped quote on the left hand side of her page. Check out how she surrounded it by bling! Great idea...

Cathy used a family quote on her page in a cool way! I especially love how she kept the focus on the cute photo and added the journal strip next to it!

Dolores created a fabulous floral page using a famous quote on the bottom! You can really see how well the quote stands out accented by all of the digital elements!

 

Check out this cool page by Lisa! She uses lingo quotes by her son! I so want to do a page like this for my son when he gets a little older! Take a peek!

Heather created two adorable digital pages using quotes that her two daughters have said! I love how creatively she documented each page! What a treasure to remember ;)

Lastly, I am sharing a very pretty page created by Sara! She uses this simple quote on her page in a cool and eye catching way! I love her design to this page as well!

Next time you scrap, consider using a quote on your scrapbook page :)

A Sketch and Template using 3 Circles

Do you every have multiple photos and can't decide which one to put in a layout.  Well I have a sketch and template to share today that is great for those days when you can't select a single picture to put on a page.  How about three photos!  I sometimes have a sequence of photos that look great together, like a child sliding down a slide at the park.  This sketch would be super for those kinds of days.  I have a friend whose daughter-in-law just had triplets--I can just see three cute photos all lined up here.  Don't rule out just an everyday event, some of the best photos I take are totally candid shots.  Here's my layout using three photos of my husband and our wonderful dogs. 

For our readers who enjoy paper scrapbooking here is the sketch.

Just right click on the picture and save the image file to your computer.  For our digital scrapbook readers I have a template that I created in Photoshop Elements.  Please click the file name below to download the PSD file.

3 circle template.psd

Hope you have fun with this one!  Don't forget that we enjoy featuring readers pages on the blog and we'd love to see some of your work!

Vintage Panty Hose Flowers

My flower inspiration was from the beautiful flowers made once again from Prima.

The collection is called Prima Flowers Poetic Whispers Flowers. I recently used them on a layout and I wanted more of quickly!

So I decided to make them myself with panty hose for the center of the flower.

Most ladies have some sort of panty hose stockings around, but if not you can always pick a pair up at the local drug store OR even cheaper (FREE) next time you go try on some shoes ? There are always stockings in the shoe stores!

Here are the supplies you will need:

Panty Hose

Pearl

Lace

Cardstock

Tulle

Hot Glue Gun

Stick

First, you cut about a six inch piece of hose and you can even cut that in half if you want to make them a bit thinner. I then wrap the hose around a stick to help make it tight. As you roll it around make sure you twist it as well and use hot glue around the way to hold it in place. When you are done pull off the stick and glue the pearl down in the center.

Second, take the tulle and fold it several times…approximately six folds and cut a circle about 2 inches wide. So you should have six circles exactly the same. If you have a punch you can use that instead…I didn’t try because I don’t have one. Hot glue them all together and place the hose center on top. The glue usually will go through all the layers at once.

Third, take a 1.5 or 2 inch round circle or scalloped circle and glue lace close to the edges. Place the tulle centerpiece in the middle and your beautiful flower is done!

Here is the finished flower…should be approximately 3 inches in size!

Hope you enjoyed!

Featured Artist Friday: Coffee Filter Flowers by Juliann M.

Hello there!! Are you ready for another day of a fabulous featured artist? I sure am! I am sharing a scrapbooker named Juliann who has this really cool tutorial to share. I love what she created ... it so innovative! Juliann creates lots of beautiful projects with so much color and creativity. While checking out her blog, I found neat altered items and pretty 8.5" by 11" pages! You can see her blog here (make sure you have a peek). Now it's time to get to know her and learn how to create coffee filter carnation flowers!!

hi scrappers i'm juliann marchant. i've been married for 14 years, and a sahm of 3 premature miracles. they are my inspiration to preserve every minute and memory i can!! i have been scrapping since 2003 and have always been a shutter bug. i got my first "real camera" a pentax when i was 8 years old. i love a good sketch or challenge to get my creative juices flowing. i also enjoy altering items and love to amke mini books!! i share something creative on my blog scrappylife (http://www.scrappylife.blogspot.com/) nearly every day. i have a degree in food and nutrition, and my other loves are baking and cooking. it's just another reason to create, and get messy! i love to come up with new cupcake recipes, or new healthy meals and share them with others! i hope you all enjoy what i have to share with you today :)

Coffee Filter Carnation Flowers by Juliann

today i'm going to share with you a really fun flower making technique.
this is what you will need:
4 coffee filters
2-3 mists or spray inks (or diluted paint in a spray)
ribbon at least 1" wide x 6"
pins (straight or safety)
*optional items: white glue, fine glitter

step 1
crumple up your 4 coffee filters

now spray with both mist colors. you don't want full coverage, you can always add more later

next find the center of your filters, pinch and twist 3 or 4 times until you have a nice full looking flower

you will notice your ribbon to tie the end of the flower you just twisted. *all of this is done while your flower is still damp from the mist. if using a safety pin this is when you will pant to place the stationary half against the flower and tie it into the ribbon.

for another look you can *when flower is dry* use fabric glue to wrap the end of the flower in the ribbon like a florist does with floral tape
and here is another technique for your flower

dip edges of flower into school glue. i smear some on my work surface and gently rub the flower in it. then sprinkle with glitter.

i hope you are all inspired to make these easy and fun flowers. my little flower and gift bag are going to be a mothers day gift for a friend.


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Thank you a bunch, Juliann, for sharing this really cool tutorial with us!

Magnetic Bookmarks

I used to have a really nice bookmark.  It was a true expression of me.  I loved having it in each book as I read along getting swept up in the story.  I was watching my son recently doing all the reading he does and noticed that he uses a scrap of paper as a book mark.  While I appreciate his recycling, I think he deserves to have a more special book mark. After all, he reads more than 30 books a year, not including school books! 

So rather than buying one for him, I decided to make one.  I'm going to show you how you can make a personalized magnetic bookmark.
Here's what you'll need:

• Digi or traditional papers of your choosing
• Trimmer, scissors or craft knife
• magnets
• adhesive

I'm using some old Basic Grey magnets that I had left over from other projects.  I've also made these by recycling some of those advertising magnets that you receive in the mail.  You know the ones with business cards, sport team schedules or small calendars attached?  You might still have some hanging on the side of your refrigerator.   You'll need two pieces of the magnet, just make sure that they will have enough attraction power to stick together with your designed paper and a book page between them.  I found that some of the magnets I recycled did not have quite enough power.

You can make your bookmark any size that you would like. For a young reader, you might want to make a slightly bigger one to make it easier for their small hands to manipulate.  You'll see that there is going to be a fold in the bookmark where it will go over the top of the page it is marking in the book.  So there is a front flap and back flap.  I decided to make my book mark 1.5" wide and I wanted the front flap to be 2.5".  I wanted the back flap to hang a bit longer than the front to make it easier to separate the magnet, so I made the total length of the bookmark 5.5".  This allows me to have a 2.5" front flap and a 3" back flap.

My bookmark is for my son who is an avid sports player.  I used some digi papers to create my book mark they are Sherwood Studio's Boy at Play Mega Kit and Quirky Twerp's Gridiron Grit.  I started in Photoshop by making a rectangle the shape and size of the bookmark and copied it.  One rectangle for the outside and one for the inside of the bookmark.

I did personalize the bookmark with my son's name on the inside piece.  In my photos, you will see a blurred area where his name is located. Sorry for this, but I'm just not comfortable putting names out on the internet.

OK here we go - print out your bookmark design and trim the pieces.  Keep in mind that while you may have designed and printed them both upright, you'll need to attach the inside piece upside down in order for it to be readable when the bookmark is folded.  You can see in the photo above that I've turned it so I don't forget to do that!

Next I scored the outside piece where I wanted the fold to fall, but I cut the inside piece at the same spot.  It just really helps the bookmark work better this way.  So you'll now have an upper and lower inside piece.

Now you can locate the magnets.  May be hard to see in the photo above, but I've actually adhered one of the magnets to the outside piece. I then placed the other magnet against this magnet so that I know where it needs to be to cause the seal.  Place some adhesive onto the exposed surface of this magnet and fold the bookmark closed.

Gently re-open the bookmark separating the two magnet and......Tada!  You've now placed the opposing magnets right where they need to be!

Apply adhesive to the upper and lower portions of the inside pieces and adhere them inside the bookmark.  And guess what?  That's it!!  You're done!

You've just created a really special personalized bookmark.  Here are a few more views of it.

Of course my son is reading a book about his favorite team!

Some other ideas for this would be to include them in greeting cards, on gift wrapping, as favors at a book group meeting or baby shower.  I hope you enjoy making them!

Designer Showcase: Simple Things

Do you share those simple things in life on your scrapbook pages? Or do you just stick the big events? I think it so important to share the little things in life. Smiling people in photos, small joys, and simple things are so important to document and remember! I am sharing a few of the contributors' pages that display this theme ... so get ready for some fabulous pages!

Vicky is sharing a page of the joys of just sitting and smelling the flowers. What a great photo and pretty memory to scrap. Do you have photos like this, get out your supplies and scrap 'em!

Next, is a beautiful page by Dolores and time she spent with her beautiful dog! Look at how absolutely precious this moment is how well she scrapped it! She will always remember how happy she was in these photos!

 

Sara is sharing a special moment between friends. Sharing little moments like this will help you reflect on what you did that day and the wonderful feelings you had with your friends!

Nancy is sharing two fabulous pages which are two photos where she celebrates the smiles in each photo. These simple themes seem simple from the outside, but actually represent a day and time in her children's development.  So, get inspired and scrap some of those great smiling photos!

 

Are you inspired? I am!! Send me your "simple things" pages and I will feature them on the blog!

Lacking to Lavish Layouts

Some of the most common things we do as new scrapbookers is put limited layers and few textures or details on our layouts. Often our design concept/composition is good but we fail to add the extras that turn them from flat to fabulous. I was no exception to this when I started this hobby (almost 3 years ago). Once a month I plan on revisiting two of my older layouts and sharing with you how a few simple changes can drastically improve the look of your project.

Here is my finished revamp of my "cute" layout:

Here is the original:

All I did was add a gorgeous Prima butterfly, some dollar store bling flourishes, four small flowers from my stash and then I made two of my large handmade shabby crinkle flowers (omitting the last step #5 - don't squish it towards the center). These few simple additions gives the layout some texture and dimension that was missing. The flowers also help "anchor" the page so to speak.

For my second layout, I updated my "bliss" layout:

Here is the original:

For this one, I simply ripped off my sad little punched flower and replaced it with a Prima flower and leaves. I also added a Prima leaf bling, butterfly and individual pearls. Adding the gold and black really gives contrast to this page and a more polished look.

I hope you enjoyed my little fun adventure. Tune in at the beginning of next month when I pick two more of my "newbie" layouts that badly need a facelift. Please note: The revised layouts were also taken with a much better quality camera (Canon Rebel T2i) that I just got for Christmas from my hubby. It takes fantastic interior shots!