Ideas for Scrapbookers

Designer Showcase: Chipboard

2012-02-15T08:00:00.007-05:00

Hello! Welcome to another Designer Showcase Wednesday. Today we are sharing some projects using chipboard. Chipboard is a great way to add texture and dimension to your projects. You can get chipboard that is precut into all sorts of shapes, including alphanumeric. Or you can get raw chipboard and cut it into shapes.

You can cover your chipboard with paper, ink it, paint it, mist it, or dress it up however you see fit.

You can also make your own chipboard. By layering several pieces of recycled packaging, like a cereal box, you can make chipboard in the depth that you desire!

Let's take a look at the projects the Contributing Artists have shared today.

This jaw-dropping beauty was made by Vicky. The fence, lamppost and frame create such a neat scene. The roses at the bottom and the vintage photo behind, really turn that frame into a window.

On this gorgeous page, Vicky has inked the flourishes, clock and title piece. The flourishes flow from the flowers like leaves. They look great on this page!

There is so much to drool over on this page by Heather! She included the chipboard hearts and chipboard thickers in her title work. She misted the heart with metallic mist. It gives a great sparkly effect. I also adore the the black and white treatment of the photo. It contrast so well with the Valentine pinks and reds of the accent papers.

Cindy shares a neat tip for the use of chipboard alphas on her page. She has used both the positive and negative to create her nifty title! She also used a heart shaped brad to attached the chipboard house, making a really cute embellishment.

Pam shares 2 pages with us this week. In this first one, I really like the simplicity of the chipboard flowers and title work. They really blend well with the super cool conversation bubbles.

On this second page, Pam uses a similar color scheme and more sweet chipboard accents. I love the glitter, polka dots and added color. I also really like the way she has accentuated the flow of her floral design by having her journal strips line up along the edge of it.

Chipboard is also great to use for making mini albums. In this first example, I had used an old license plate to create the cover for a mini album of a trip to the Jersey Shore. I cut chipboard to make the pages of the album.

This mini album was plain chipboard. I painted, inked and sparkled it up to create this piece for a friend having a new baby.

We hope these give you some ideas for using chipboard on your projects.

Butterfly Tutorial

2012-02-14T08:00:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone, Nancy here today with a fun fan folded butterfly tutorial. I love all the rosettes that everyone is making and decided to try to add butterflies to the mix.

I began with two 2 1/2 inch squares

I scored and folded on the diagonal at 1/4 inch

folded each in half and glued the centers together

then added some glue on the underside to keep my folds together.

and I had my butterfly.

a close up.....

I added a little wire for antenae to finish off my butterfly.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs.

Nancy

Heather's Sketch/Template 11

2012-02-13T05:41:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone! It's Heather, and I'm back to share another sketch with everyone. I also have a free template, a free .svg file, and some awesome example pages from a few friends to share. Let's get going! Please feel free to download the sketch image to your computer by right clicking on the image and then clicking "Save As". This sketch was inspired by the hexagons that are popping up all over the internet. I'm hopping aboard the latest scrappy trend and you can too!

The first example page is by fellow IFS contributing artist Nancy. I love the photo of her with her husband and the quote she used as a title is just perfect! She used fabric hexagons and they turned out wonderfully. All in all, this page is super sweet!

The next page is by Juliann Marchant. She's on the Scraptastic Club design team with me and she used the awesome "A Boy's Life" kit to create this layout. Juliann used a polka dot mask instead of hexagons and she did some wonderful stitching to draw the eye around her page. Her photo is so fun too!

Thank you for the example pages Juliann and Nancy! I always appreciate the creative help.

I created an example page as well. I used the Scraptastic Club Hearts A Flutter kit and add on. I cut the hexagons on my Cricut using Sure Cuts A Lot software and the free .svg file that I'll link below. I usually make a digital example as well but I ran out of time before the post was due.

This is what the .svg file looks like. It's sized at 8.5x11 inches but it's easily resized. You can also use the negative space between the cuts as chicken wire if you cut some of the edges off. I love it when you can use one file for two different applications.

Here's the download link for the free hexagon .svg file. http://www.box.com/s/z49motgaiyboz1ph2sr3

This is the link for the free layered digital template. http://www.box.com/s/c84p1pmcciq625q4oy06

Don't forget to email the pages you create to Pam so we can feature you in future readers' pages posts! We love seeing what you make.

Coloring Flowers for Versatility and Economy

2012-02-10T07:47:00.005-05:00

Do you ever have the color of flowers that you need? Me either. As an economical measure, I have solved my problem by buying only white flowers and adding color. Usually, patterned paper is realitively inexpensive, but you can run up a bill quickly buying accessories so I make most of my own.

For flowers, I use anything that will stain the colors I need. Mulberry flowers like Vicky used on her IFS post last Thursday take coloring the best. http://ideasforscrapbookers.blogspot.com/2012/02/soft-petal-flowers.html In the example included here, I had a few sheets of a couple different paper collections from My Mind's Eye and no matching embellishments. One flower was painted, using different shades of acrylic pink paint. Acrylic paints are inexpensive and a few bottles of basic colors allow you to blend whatever color you need. For the top coat I used a dry mustache brush (no idea where I got it) to strafe the lighter color on top of the dark color. Made a mistake? No big deal, just re-paint it!

The teal flowers were colored using alcohol ink. I applied the ink to a dabber, then added some alcohol with a medicine dropper to lighten up the color. You can buy alcohol ink medium where ever the inks are sold, but it is ordinary rubbing alcohol and costs a lot more than the quart bottle of alcohol at your local discount store. I like to streak the colors for depth but an even color is also easily accomplished. For the following layout the flowers were looking a little drab so I finished them off with glossy Modge Podge.

I used Pam Callaghan (IFS)'s Big Heart Template. I loved her page and had to use the sketch . http://ideasforscrapbookers.blogspot.com/2011/11/new-big-heart-sketch.html.

I have also used a direct ink pad to flower method as well as the new distress ink pads. Another favorite technique is to stamp a design which adds interest and color. Since I live five hours from a scrapbook store, improvise is my middle name. There is not much you can do to color a flower than can't be undone or re-done so don't be afraid to try what you have on hand.

Kids Valentines Day Idea

2012-02-09T01:58:00.002-05:00

Its almost Valentines Day and that means your little one's will need to have a stash of valentines to hand out to their friends at school. I have never sent Cole with a box of valentines from the store, he says he prefers the ones we make.

This year I wanted to give something besides candy with their valentines, here is what I came up with.

These are so easy to whip up of you have a cricut!

Here is what you need to make your own. I found a heart shape I like in my library of cricut cartridges and cut it at 3 1/4 inch out of red cardstock. Then I typed the sentiment up on word and changed the font to something I like and the font color to red. Then I cut them out and put little angled cuts on the ends to make them look like a banner. You will need to get pencils and a large size hole punch.

Punch two holes for on opposite corner for the pencil to slide through.

Push the pencil through the holes. My holes were smaller than the pencil so I had to be careful not to rip the heart but It worked!

Lastly attached the sentiment banner to the front! There is plenty of room on the back side to write the To & From info.

Very easy! Enjoy!

Designer Showcase: Valentine's

2012-02-08T08:00:00.014-05:00

February is the month of Valentine's and Love. So today, for our Designer Showcase, we'd like to share some projects with this theme to help inspire you.

When I think of Valentine's, I think of vintage. Vicky's style is wonderful for this theme. In her first project. she has amazing distressing and special touches that add a great nostalgic feel. I love the contrast of the dark distressed edges and crumpled map with the softness of the netting flowers.

On this project Vicky adds some shabby colors and textures. This layout is so sweet with the flowers, hearts and pearls. I really like the border below the photo that Vicky created using individual flower petals. Neat idea!

The colors on this page just scream Valentine! The red, pinks, cream and black are so classic. Yet Heather has included some cute elements that keep the layout up-to-date. The photos are so brilliant, I can almost smell the flowers!

Cindy shares three layouts about love. This first is about her love for her son. She gets straight to the point in her title/message! The three photos on the side really add motion and emotion to the page. I also think it is incredible how well she matched the paper colors to their outfits!

On this page, Cindy highlights the two loves of her life, her husband and her son. I think it is really great that she included photos over time. The way she has attached the tag adds to the classy feel of this page.

Cindy made this page about the love notes that her husband leaves hidden for her. This is just precious! This is a great "life" page. It's about some of those little moments in life, that really make a big impact. Not all memories have a photo with people in them, some don't even have a photo. The important part is just getting it recorded.

This digital page by Dolores would be an amazing gift for Valentine's Day. Not only has she created a beautiful page with a wonderful photo, she has also included a lovely note to her husband. Writing a letter or note is a great way to journal your feelings. Dolores has also included a scripture passage. Another great way to journal! I am in love with that pretty, swirly heart in the background!

Who would not want to sneak a little love note into this gorgeous mail box? Nancy created this to do just that, hold love notes. Oh my, this is just beautiful. Even the little flag is decorated.

All the little details really make this project shine! Check out the gold edges to the flowers. Beautiful!

This is a Valentine gift box that I created. I recycled an empty ribbon spool to create it. The lid opens and small treats can be placed inside.

We will leave you with the classic Valentine, a card. This card is made using digital papers that I printed and cut into the shapes. The flower is made from seam binding. Cards for Valentines day are a great craft project to do with the kids.

Now that is a lot of lovely inspiration for Valentines! We hope you have fun creating!

A New Double Bracket Template!

2012-02-07T05:00:00.002-05:00

I am trying not to think about the 19 inches of snow we got over the weekend. It's going to take a while for all of that to melt. So, I am focusing on the upcoming Valentine holiday and thinking about hearts and flowers instead. I created a template to share which really can be used for any occasion, I just had to put some life into the layout. Here is my page titled Together Always.

I must have started this layout three times, each time changing the colors. I just kept wishing for bright colors and flowers, so a bright page is what I got. I ended up using a kit by Misty Cato called Blueberry Lane and threw in some fun green leaves I photographed. Here is the sketch of this page.

I have a template to share that I created in PhotoShop. It can be downloaded from either of the two file sharing sites below.

MediaFire: ds-double-bracket-template.psd

4Shared: ds-double-bracket-template.psd

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you enjoy the template.

Photo Titles

2012-02-06T05:00:00.008-05:00

When our family went to Legoland recently, Trevor and I posed in front of the entrance sign, like just about everyone else does.

I printed 12 of our photos from the day, including this one, to use for my 2-page layout. When I started arranging the pictures on the page, I realized that the Legoland sign in my photo was large and bold enough to serve as my title. I grouped some colorful accents both above and to the left of the photo to draw the eye. I added a third color grouping by my journaling. It forms a visual triangle that leads right back to the title. I think it works.

To contrast, let me show you a layout with a photo used as a title that doesn't work. This is from our cruise to Hawaii three years ago. Look closely in the middle left where I'm using a photo of a Hawaii sign as my title.

This layout does not work for a number of reasons. The title recedes into the background because it is not large or bold enough. My fussy cut flower accents form a visual triangle, but that triangle doesn't center on the title. There is nothing to lead the eye to the appropriate location. This is a case where I knew I was creating a layout that didn't work, but I couldn't figure out how to fix it and finally just gave up. Now in hindsight, it's so obvious to me why it didn't work!

Using a photo as a title can work well in a multi-picture layout. Just be sure that the title is large and bold enough, then use your embellishments to lead the eye to the title. Have you used a photo as a title? I'd love to see what you made!

Designer Gift Card Purse

2012-02-05T13:59:00.003-05:00

Good Morning!

Hope everyone has a safe an fun "Superbowl" day! I watch parts of the game, but I'm not a huge football girl....So I will get the afternoon to play in my scraproom again! :)

Over at scrapbook.com in the challenges this month there is a purse card....so I looked up online to see how to make one...never made one before...I came across Dawn's tutorial at Stampin Up and it is fabulous! You can see it HERE. So I followed the basics of the card and added some extras and tweaked it a bit to make my Coco Chanel inspired Gift Card Purse.

So who wouldn't love to have this purse? lol

I just used my son's family discount card from Target.... :)

Here is what you need:

Black and White Smooth Cardstock

26 gauge wire-silver

3 pearls

Martha Stewart Scoring Board

Spellbinders-Labels 20

Round Velcro

Black Ribbon

Skewer

First, cut a 6x6 inch cardstock in black and fold in half. Using the largest Labels 20 die cut in black cardstock. Place die cut over the folded black cardstock and mark with pencil where it meets. That will be your line to cut and line up at an angle and cut from pencil line to corner.

Next, cut white paper 5.5 inches x 2.5 inches, follow the same cutting as the black paper. Do this twice. One for the front of the purse and one for the back. Die cut 2nd to the largest Spellbinders Labels 20 in white cardstock. Using the Martha Stewart Scoring Board, place all the pieces of the white cardstock at and angle and score every half inch until you have a criss- cross pattern. If you have the embossing template, that will work too! I don't have it....but it is pretty fast to do by hand if you don't either. :) Also make a score lines on top x 2 about .25 inches apart. (Shown above in black)

Glue White cardstock on the black cardstock as shown in finished card. Leave the top of the purse off until after the handle is done.

Using the 26 gauge wire wrap it around something very thin....I used a skewer for mine. Then wrap black satin ribbon around the wire. Approximately 8.5 inches long, give or take. Punch holes on top of purse and put wired ribbon through each hole and crimp wire together in the center. You should be able to do this with your fingers. Glue down back of purse to the back.

On the inside top place the Velcro and line it up with the bottom...place clear baggie inside for gift card and add 3 white pearls to the front and last but not least the Coco Chanel inspired signature! I used my cricut, George Basics, cut .75 inch "C's" x 2 and glue them together.

This adorable little purse will certainly be the talk of the town....

Hope you enjoyed!

Scrapbooking the Hard Time/Events

2012-02-03T09:00:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone it's Pam here sharing a post idea that I think pertains to everyone. I know that scrapbooking is great for capturing the good times. All those good memories with happy titles, smiles, and fun is what you see mostly in the scrapword, especially in my gallery... you would think everything was great all of the time. But of course it's not, like every other person in the world. I really wanted to do a post on scrapbooking those hard time and events, because they are so important to look back on and remember what happened. I know I don't do enough of this, because sometimes it can be painful, but consider doing a page once in a while. I have gotten help from the contributors today for ideas on how capture those hard times. Each layout is very special to each person as you will see..

I am sharing a page about losing my dog, Daphne, who was a wonderful part of our family. Rather than using dark colors I chose the palette of soft colors to represent her beautiful personality (or dogonality). This page was hard to do, but I wanted to finally get it done and I like how it turned out. I surrounded her in sewn heart and went with the title, "In Our Hearts". Here is my page.

Heather's page is an excellant example of scrapping the hard time. This is a page about her daughter and the struggles that she has. I am so proud of Heather for capturing this and scrapbooking, as it so important to document those hard time. Seeing this page makes my heart go out to her family. The journaling reads, "Seeing you so down and depressed breaks my heart. When we're out in public you put on a different face. You smile and pretend to be happy, but when we're home you feel safe enough to let it all out. Sometimes your mood swings disrupt the whole house. We try to understand that it's your bipolar disorder that makes you act this way."

Vicky created a beautiful layout in remembering the passing of her grandmother. This photo was the last photo taken before her grandmother passed away. As you can see, this layout is scrapped with love and affection and really reflects the love she had for her grandmother!

Marlene created a page about when she visited Oklahoma City and took photo remembering the events that happened here. Again another hard page to scrapbook, but Marlene did such a great job of capturing those hard times. Notice her color palette and the use of the pink rose on her page. Here is what Marlene had to say about the event,"P. Murrah Memorial, Oklahoma City, OK. There is engraving over the entry that says "We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort, peace, hope and serenity". My journaling reads: This monument marks the place where 168 people (including 19 children) were killed by domestic terrorists on April 19, 1995. The strength and honor of this site is moving, unforgettable and a fitting tribute to the loss of so many innocent lives. For the Old Page Maps 26 challenge Sketch #1"

Cathy is sharing another hard event with us. Her page is about losing her job and how it affected not only her but the small company she worked for. I think not using photos is a great way to go about scrapping this page. This is what Cathy had to say about her layout, "I seriously threw this page together. I needed to create, to help me feel good about myself, to document and to begin to move on. I packed a whole lot of symbolism into this page. It's made on an old piece of cardboard, (probably one that scrapbook supplies came on!) I distressed the cardboard and inked it.... but you'll see that I used some green ink over the "torn" spots to represent healing. There had to be lots of green on the page since that is my fav color and means "life" to me. The trees represent strength, growth and consistency, the little button with the new tree is like starting over, the owl is my higher power keeping watch over me and my family. And the journal paper is actually from a pad that we used at work for marketing projects. I crumpled it up and inked it to distress it, then purposely placed it behind the trees. The tree with the fruit on it has the 3 things that I can not function without; Faith, Family and Spirit. I journaled about each of these on the page and placed a small brad next to those words to be like a seed to sprout new growth. Spirit got a green one to show how that is a major force in allowing me to move forward. And the forest is representative that I am not alone. There are many in this boat with me. Not a good thing, bad for the economy and bad for all of those trying to find a job, but I do realize that while I am unique, I am not alone. The journaling reads:
Changes in life, sometimes we find ourselves on a path we did not select... it is those times that the strengths in our lives will help see us through. Faith gives me hope and the belief that there will be an open window. Family is my whole reason. There is nothing more important. Spirit - no matter what life brings me, I will get through it. I will be smarter, I will be stronger. I may have lost my job, but I did not lose my spirit. I truly believe I am right where I am supposed to be."

Last but not least there is a layout by Cindy dealing with when her husband's workplace burned down. She did an amazing job of capturing the terrible event with photos! I also like how she ties her hard time into a blessing in disguise! This is what Cindy had to say about her page, "Here's a layout I made in 2006. My husband's workplace burned to the ground. When he returned to his office after the ATF investigators left, he recovered a few charred quarters and nothing else. The fire was devastating, but there was a silver lining for us. Steve was able to work from home full time while the company rebuilt. Trevor was an infant, so Steve was there when he learned to sit up, learned tp crawl, learned to walk- all things he might have missed if he'd been gone 10+ hours a day like before. It turned out that the blessing in disguise was short-lived, as the company struggled significantly after the fire and ended up laying him off about 9 months later."

Do you have hard times pages that you would like this share? Send them to me at scrappingpam73@yahoo.com and I will feature them.

Soft Petal Flowers

2012-02-02T06:00:00.009-05:00

Almost all plain economical scrapbooking flowers are made from mulberry paper. With a simple technique you can turn them into a fabulous layered creation with whispery edges.

They look like pretty fancy flowers but all I used was 4 layers of Green Tara white petals (2 of each style shown below) and a decorative centre. You can use other brands/styles (like Prima or Petaloo) than I chose but you'll want the flower to be a big size (at least 2 inches/5 cm) with wide petals. This won't work very well with daisy style flowers.

You will need:
- 4 mulberry scrapbook flowers layers
- a Q-tip
- warm water
- firm toothbrush
- decorative centre

Bottom layers - 2 that are similar to this:

Top layers - 2 that are similar to this:

Decorative center (your can use anything to match your project style!)

Instructions:

Step 1: Working with one flower at a time, take a wet Q-tip and "paint" the only the very edge of each petal with warm water. Do this to the 2 bottom layers and 1 of the top layers.

Step 2: With dry fingers, pull off the wet edge of the petals in 3-4 small tugs of each petal. Let dry without damaging the fuzzy edge you just created. HINT: I left one of the top layers plain (didn't fuzz the edge) to have contrast since my flower is all white.

Step 3: Once the 3 fuzzy layers are dry. Brush them with the firm toothbrush bristles to fuzz them even more. Stroke the bristles from the middle of the flower outwards.

Step 4: Glue your layers together and add the decorative center.

That's it! So simple yet so elegant and expensive looking. Another alternative is using your flower punches/dies to make your own petal layers too. Green Tara sells all kinds of beautiful mulberry paper in any color imaginable.

For another kind of mulberry flower, check out my Fuzzy Lollipop Flowers.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Designer Showcase: Multi-Photo Pages

2012-02-01T08:00:00.002-05:00

Welcome to another Wednesday and Designer Showcase! And Welcome to February!! Today we are serving up some multi-photo pages to inspire you!

Up first is a page by Pam. This page really highlights the happiness in her sons face. It is really neat how she selected some close-up and some more full view photos. Pam is really great at using shapes on her pages. I love the way she has included 2 circles on the page, like the lenses of glasses! The blocked layout also looks awesome matted by the bracket shape.

Pam's use of shapes is wonderful on this page too. Those clipped strips of paper remind me of flags flying in the breeze. This is a neat way to display multiple photos. The vertical strip of blue paper acts as a divider to the page and Pam has located one focal photo on one side and the 2 close-up photos on the other side. It helps to move your eye across the page to take in all those really neat details.

Vicky shares this beautiful page with us. In addition to all the wonderful shabbiness of this page, the placement of the photos is perfect. With the photos looking in toward each other, it keeps your focus. It also looks like 2 babies having a conversation, doesn't it?

Next up is Nancy. This is such a cool idea for the layout of multiple photos of the same subject on a page. Nancy has book-ended two smaller photos in black and white on either side of the larger color photo. So cute!

Here's another page by Nancy that uses another great way to include multiple photos, a film strip. Nancy does a great job of making use of the negative space on this layout too. The big title flows right into the photo strip and the sweet circular elements really make it pop.

On this page, I used a photo strip as well. In this example, I've displayed photos in a time sequence to help tell the story about the waves crashing over my photo subjects! The smaller film strip photos compliment the 2 larger focal photos.

Here's another way to include many pictures on a page. Use the focal photo as a background. On this page, I blended the large photo with a digital paper to create the background for this layout. The blocking of the smaller photos is always a great way to include lots of photos on a page.

Another way to use blocked photos is to put small numbers or elements that tie the photo to your journaling. On this page I placed the journaling down one side. I put tiny numbers on several of the photos and at the relevant spot in my journaling.

Cindy is amazing at getting a lot of photos on her layouts. She does a great job of including journaling as well without her pages looking crowded. On this page she includes a focal photo and several other photos that cover an entire summer of swimming lessons. I like how she has split the title and date on either side of the photo block.

These are some additional examples of Cindy's talent. She has worked these designs out to include both vertical and horizontal photos. It's pretty cool to be able to look at a one or 2-page layout and see so many memories captured.

Dolores is sharing a few layouts with multiple photos as well. The photos on this page are so cute. How could you possible choose to include only one of these? Dolores has accented them each with an elegant stamp behind the photo mat and well as sweet flowers on top.

This page from Dolores is so very elegant. The touches of lace and delicate flowers are beautiful. Dolores has placed her photos in the design triangle. This really keeps your eye moving about her page and soaking up all the wonderful details.

For some scrappers, creating multiple photo layouts can be a real challenge. For others, it's the only way they create a page. Which are you? Are multiple photo layout scrapper or a single photo layout scrapper? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Heather's Sketch & Template # 10

2012-01-31T05:46:00.006-05:00

Hi everyone! It's Heather, and I'm back to share another sketch/template with you. I included room for a vertical 5x7 photo, but you could also put several smaller photos in the same space. If you would like to save the sketch to your computer, feel free to right click on the image and then click "Save As".

I asked the wonderful contributors here at Ideas For Scrapbookers to create example pages with the sketch. I was grateful that several of the ladies offered their assistance. Dolores sent me this beautiful page with a photo of her sweet dog! I love the color combination that she used, and the way she kept the scalloped circle accents.

Marlene made a very frosty, fun page! I love how she substituted the photos inside of the scalloped circles. It's a great way to include more photos in the design. I also love the journaling on her page. It tells such a fun story! I'm a big fan of never growing up.

Nancy made this beautiful scrapbook page with four photos instead of one large focal photo. I love the floral accents and the spool of twine. I think her take on the sketch is a great reminder that a sketch is only a suggestion or jumping off point. Changing things up or making different design choices is a neat way to make the sketch uniquely yours!

I made two examples with the sketch. This is a digital page that I created with supplies from Elle's Studio. (They're available at Jessica Sprague's website.) I stayed pretty true to the sketch but I added some swirls and a big cluster of flowers. I also didn't journal around the edges as indicated on the sketch.

This is a paper page that I made with a Scraptastic Club kit. I loved the patterned paper with the banners on it, so I chose to fussy cut and use them on my page. The writing on the photo was done digitally in Photoshop Elements before I printed it out to scrapbook.

Thank you very much to all of the lovely ladies who helped me provide example pages for this post! I really appreciate your help and creativity.

I didn't forget the freebie! Please click on the link below if you would like to download the layered template that I created in Photoshop Elements.

http://www.box.com/s/i6gd33f1p6m87m3aagga

Serendipity Heart Banner

2012-01-30T05:00:00.021-05:00

Serendipity Squares have been popular with scrapbookers and cardmakers for many years. They're beautiful, fun and so easy- all you need are scraps, a base piece of paper, and some sort of adhesive. You simply choose some scraps that look good together, tear them into small pieces, and glue them randomly on the page. When you cut the paper into squares, you end up with pretty squares that look great together.

I made my own version- Serendipity Hearts! I started by pulling out pinks (and a few purples) from my HUGE collection of scraps.

I won a bottle of gold Shimmer Mod Podge recently and wanted to try it out, so that's what I used for my adhesive. I used watercolor paper as our base. Here is my paper after I mod podged my scraps:

When the paper was dry, I turned it over and traced hearts all over.

Then I cut out the hearts and added a single dot of gold Stickles to each. Aren't they pretty? Scraps never looked so good!

I used Glue Lines to attach the hearts to a piece of gold ribbon to make a banner.

Here's a closeup:

I love how my banner has dressed up the house for Valentine's Day. I'd encourage you to give Serendipity Hearts a try!

Reader's Pages!

2012-01-27T09:47:00.000-05:00

As you know I love reader's pages and I have a few great pages to share with you from some of the readers of the blog! Remember if you have a project using ideas, templates, tutorials, or anything you see from the blog, send me an email at scrappingpam73@yahoo.com and I will happily feature it!

The first page I have is a wonderful double page layout using my Big Heart Template (download it here) by a scrapper named Theresa! She used the template for the left side of the page, which is such a cool idea!! I also love how she scrapped the right side, it goes so well with the template side ;). She created her page using a kit called Twitterpated (which you can find here) by A-Manda Creations. Let's check out Theresa's page!

The next fabulous page was created by Patricia using a template by Heather called Template #9 (you can download it here). The way she used the template is great, the color combinations are great as well as the fun photos! Here is Patricia's page. This page can also be seen on her blog here.

Last, but not least, we have two pages by a scrapbooker named Kelly! She used two of Dolores' templates to create her beautiful page. The first page features Dolores' latest template called Paper Strips Template (you can download it here). I love the color scheme she chose and the way she used those gorgeous paper strips! She used a kit called My Girl by Tami Miller Designs (you can find the kit here). Check this out :)

The second page by Kelly features Dolores' All Aboard Template (you can download it here). Again, Kelly used that gorgeous color scheme and created this lovely page. :)

I enjoyed these so much, I hope you did too!! Have a great Friday!!

Multiple Photos In A Layout

2012-01-26T01:30:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone! Its Sara here today and I am excited to share a few layouts with you. If you follow much of my work you probably have noticed I tend to stick with one photo per layout, its just my style. In 2011 I pushed myself to try and use more than one photo on layouts. It was a bit of a struggle for me but I did do some and I really love how they turned out.

Here they are!

I found it easier to use more than one photo when they were turned black and white. This made these 'flow' better for me when creating my layout.

Although, there is more than one photo on this page I did feel like one photo still needed to be the focal point. Therefor, I like to highlight the 'main' photo, in this case with the frame.

I was pleasantly surprised with this layout. I really had a hard time placing them on the page until I clumped them together!

Ok, this is the same photo but there are three of them, this counts as more than one photo right? :) I really loved using the same photo multiple times, especially if it was a small size.

I knew when I printed these photos that I had to do a layout that showcased them all. So I was sure to get wallet sizes prints to accompany one large photo.

Lastly this one was a challenge! I was only trying to use up some scraps on this layout. I really love how the simplicity of the layout makes each photo sand out on its own.

So, this is how I go out of my comfort zone! Be sure to push yourself once an a while. Try something new!

Designer Showcase: Capturing Life

2012-01-25T08:00:00.042-05:00

As the new year gets off to a start, scrapbookers all around the world have turned up their focus on capturing the story of their life. Some have done Project 365, Project 52, or Project Life to record the days and weeks as they fly by. Others have taken to focusing their journaling on One Little Word as introduced by Ali Edwards. And other crafters are setting resolutions and hoping that they can stick to them! Still others are looking back over the past year and putting together year-in-review pages.

What ever you have set out to accomplish during this upcoming year, know that all of us at Ideas For Scrapbookers want to help keep you motivated and inspired. We have several Designer Showcase Wednesdays planned throughout the year that will re-visit the projects to help you tell your story, keep you focused on your one little word, your resolutions, and encourage you to meet your goals.

Today we have a few projects to share and some really great resources to keep you motivated.

Cindy is sharing this tag that she created with her OLW (One Little Word) for 2012. Cindy posted about the OLW project in this post on December 15, 2011. Cindy started following the OLW project idea at the beginning of 2011. To keep her motivated and committed, Cindy created a banner. She has the banner hanging in her craft area. Each year, she creates a new tag with that years One Little Word. I love this idea! It's there in front of her, everyday, to help her concentrate and reflect on those areas of her life.

These two projects are Year-In-Review projects that I did for 2010 (top) and 2011 (bottom). Yeah I know, it says 2012 on it, I used it as the cover for our calendar this year, but the photos are from 2011, one from each month. They are both digital designs that I then printed out. On the top one I included 132 photos! These two examples really show how you can make this type of project quite simple; or more involved.

This is a cool idea for a Year-In-Review page. Pam has recorded a number of things from a past year, in alphabetic order! The blocked layout is amazing and must have taken a good deal of planning. It really allows for a lot of journaling and photo content to be included on this 2 pager.

This Year-In-Review page by Sara lists a few thoughts that she wanted to jot down. They include things she accomplished as well as things she wants to get done. I love the design of her page, the way her photo is facing in toward the page gives a strong positive vibe, The butterflies are very uplifting. And I absolutely love her final thought "I am honestly happy with my life". What a powerful statement!

This beautiful page was created by Dolores, digitally. She has listed her resolutions, clearly and neatly. No avoiding them! They are even stitched down! Now that is resolved!! The blooms throughout the page are pretty and show such promise for the coming year! I really like that date line that Dolores included too, it shows all the months. This is a year long commitment.

This page is a traditional paper page that I did at the beginning of 2010. The last time I actually made a list of resolutions! They are things that I continue to work on year after year. Since this was made to go in my Book of Me album, I included a photo of myself at the time.

You don't have to include photos at all. You could make an art journal page that lists your resolutions or One Little Word. What ever helps keep you on task. Let's take a look at some great examples both digital and traditional.

Heather created this art journal page digitally. This just shouts confidence! The distressing on the page gives me the impression of the struggles that life can present. But the strength and beauty of the lines, circles, angles, images, and font show that this woman can handle it all!

Nancy created this art journal page using a mix of media. I see some paints, mediums, stamps, rub-ons, chipboard, doodles, and photos. I love the way she built up her page. It starts out somewhat free-form and then gains a bit more defined space. Just as her phrase, "organize and purge," is promising. What a beautiful way to remind yourself that finding order and letting go of a few things, can really bring tranquility to life.

Throughout the year, the Contributing Artists here at Ideas For Scrapbookers will continue to provide you with all sorts of creative inspiration, ideas, tips and techniques. You can use any of these to keep you moving forward in capturing all the wonderful moments, big and small, in your life. Here are some other resources that might help you with journaling and recording your life:

One Little Word: If you are interested in One Little Word, check out Ali Edwards OLW blog, sign up for her newsletter, or sign up for her class at Big Picture Classes.

Project Life: If you are interested in Project Life, check out Becky Higgins Project Life blog, as well as the physical products, and digital products (available from JessicaSprague.com) to help you organize and record your life.

Tell Your Story Everyday: Looking for some inspiration, tips and tricks to help you journal, photograph and record your life? Check out this new site Tell Your Story Every Day.

Are you doing OLW, Project Life, Project 365/52? We'd love to know about it! Leaves us a comment about how you are telling your story. If you'd like your life project to be featured on Ideas For Scrapbookers on a Readers Pages post, email me at scrappycath(at)gmail(dot)com.

Create a background from Strips of paper!

2012-01-24T06:00:00.004-05:00

There are days when I can't decide what paper to use in a layout and I just want to use all of the choices in front of me. I probably have more fun choosing the paper for my layouts than the embellishments, which somehow seems backwards to me. Anyway, I thought of using strips of paper to build a background so I could include all the pretty papers I wanted. Here is the layout I came up with using strips.

I have four different papers here all coordinating colors, but could easily have used even a greater variety. I like the rich colors in these papers that have a touch of softness. This is actually digital layout even though when I started out with this idea my plan was to raid my scraps (I have a whole file of them) and do a paper layout. The kit is called "love yourself" and it is a collaboration by the Scrap Matters Design Team. If you love paper scrapping, working with strips is perfect for using up those scraps. Here is my sketch.

For those of you who would like to experiment with strips digitally, I have a template to share. You may download it at either of the two file sharing sites below.

4Shared: Paper Strips template

MediaFire: Paper Strips template

Hope you look at your scraps differently and give this a try. If you are a digital scrapper, don't rule out strips of paper when creating those great pages!

Retro Scrapping

2012-01-23T08:01:00.003-05:00

Although, I admire chronologicial scrappers, I am an all-over-the-place scrapper. I didn't start scrapbooking until my kids were merging into adulthood so a lot of my projects are Retro (as opposed to Heritage which would be from a different era). My scrapbooks reflect my scattered approach, most of them are a potpourri of my work mixing old and new pictures. The exception is an ongoing project of pages that reflect my kids' "cute-isms".

Needless to say, since I often scrap backwards a picture of the specific event is not available. Another problem I encounter is that my twenty something kids' childhoods were pre-digital cameras, film and development expenses meant that we didn't take as many pictures as we do now. It would be nice to be able to jump in the time machine and go back for the perfect shot, if you hear of a way to do that please let me know. On the possible side, when remembering something cute, don't let missing an exact photo from the event stop you. Just find a photo from same period of time and use journaling to tell the story. The picture on the first layout is from about the same time as the subject matter.

Slide out journaling reads: To help prepare Kyle for the arrival of a sibling I took him to a prenatal visit. The doctor let Kyle hear the baby's heartbeat and asked what he thought. Kyle said, "I remember being in my mama's belly". The doctor asked what did you do in there? Without hesitation Kyle replied "think".

The next example uses a picture of the exact day, but you can't always have a camera ready for the money shot - use what you do have.

The last example is from an incident that I did have a camera at the perfect time and place and the picture tells the story.

If you spend time with small kids, take a few seconds to WRITE DOWN their cute-isms, they are easy to forget. Save up those pearls because Retro Scrapping is an excellent way to reminisce.

Collection Kit Versatility (Scrapping on a Budget)

2012-01-20T00:39:00.004-05:00

Hey everyone, it's Pam again posting another topic about saving money or scrapping on a budget. As I might have mentioned before I am on a scrap budget. It is a pretty tight one and I sometimes go to my local Hobby Lobby to find some great deals. I purchased For the Record collection kit by Echo Park while I was there with an idea to make my money stretch! Here is an image of what I purchased. You don't need to purchase this kit to play along, just purchase one based on something you think you can use for a variety of pages.

Echo Park - For The Record Collection - 12 x 12 Collection Kit
Scrapbook.com

I am going to share with you four layouts with different styles and different themes so you can see how I made my supplies stretch and I still have leftovers!!

I used the papers for a Renaissance Festival, my son, my dog, and a family photo. How cool is that?

1. My first page called Nine Years is about my son. This collection works well for boyish pages. When picking out a kit or paper pack that you want to make last, chose something with some neutral papers like I used here. For instance, I have not used anything floral on this page which is fitting for this theme. I used letters I cut out to make this even more boyish, plus the number paper strip works great for the age theme. (extras on page: Bazzill Kraft cardstock and My Minds Eye die cut)

2. On my second page, I went with a different style and a different theme. This paper works really great for vintage or renaissance photos, which is what I did here. Just creating this leaf theme enhances the whole feel earthy to the page. I used the same collection as above but this has a completely different look! The swirlie and flower elements really go great with my page style. (extras on page: Bazzill cardstock)

3. For my third page, I changed up the style again completely! I went with a more free flowing page but I used the same exact paper line. Adding rounded corners and swirles really changes up the mood of this page. I knew that I wanted a less graphic page and a more lovey dovey page. The floral tag really dressed up my page! (extras on page: Jenni Bowlin butterfly, American Crafts letter stickers and flower)

4. My last page is of my new puppy, Ollie. Again, I used a completely different look and theme. Adding the large flower gives this a slightly more soft look for my "new puppy" theme. I used three main colors from the kit that would make my photos pop even more. The banner gives my page that playful look which also goes along with a puppy theme. (extras on page: Bazzill Kraft cardstock, Epiphany Crafts buttons, American Crafts letters, and Jenni Bowlin butterfly)

So, now it's your turn.. next time you are shopping, consider buying a collection kit and creating lots of different looks and themes with your kit. You will save money and have fun in the process!

Embossed Goodie Demo

2012-01-19T01:20:00.006-05:00

I have a love for paper bags! Yup, the kind you get at the grocery store or pack your kids lunch in. The come in a verity of sizes and their kraft color makes them usable for EVERYTHING!

Today I am going to show you a few things you can do with your paper bag to make them in to something fun! The bag I am making happens to be for Valentines Day - one of my little loves will get this bag filled with sweet treats.

First thing I love doing to my bags is embossing them! Use can use a verity of embossing machines, for my demo I am using my Sizzix Big Shot with the polk-a-dot embossing plate.

Put your bag bottom in the crease of the embossing plate. The bag is taller than the embossing plate so we want to be sure to emboss from the bottom up.

Once you have embossed the bag use you trimmer and cut off the un-embossed part of the bag.

Next gather your favorite boarder punch so that we can enhance the top of our bag. NOTE - keep the top part of the bag you cut off that is not embossed- we will use this!

Start your punch in the center of the top of your bag and then work your way to each side. Be sure your bag is still closed so that you get the punch on both sides of the bag.

Now its time for you to put your personal touch on the bag. I added some double matted paper and some sheer ribbon to start my 'love' look.

Now its time to make use of that top part of the bag we cut off that was not embossed. Take a scallop or any circular punch and put it though the bag. Be sure the bag is closed and you will get 2 of the same shape.

Adhere one scallop on top of the other and then put an embellishment (flower, button, brad) in the middle an then push the top layer scallop towards the center of your embellishment to give it a wrinkled look.

Lastly all you need to so is finish decorating your bag! You will never look at a paper lunch sack the same way again!

Designer Showcase: Fussy Cutting

2012-01-18T08:00:00.001-05:00

Break out those scissors! This week we are sharing some Fussy Cutting projects as part of our Designer Showcase. Haven't fussy cut before? There's nothing to fear! Fussy cutting is when you cut around parts of patterned paper to use as elements on your page or project. I know, sometimes it's just so hard to bring yourself to cut apart that beautiful paper. But I think you'll find these examples very inspiring!

Marlene says she doesn't do much fussy cutting. "But this paper was begging for it". I have to agree! The bold floral pattern of this paper was perfect to be cut and used on her page!

Cindy likes to fussy cut and says she does it all the time! On this first layout she cut that large floral design (behind her focal photo) from a paper. It looks so perfect there!

In this one, Cindy cut the pumpkins from patterned paper. They look like elements you would buy already made like that!

On this card, Cindy cut that cute little critter from patterned paper! She also hand cut the balloon! Cindy has some real talent with scissors!

On this page, Heather cut that cute banner from a patterned paper. So adorable!

Now instead of staring at all those beautiful patterned papers you have collected, why don't you try some fussy cutting? It just may help you use up some of the paper you've been ~~hoarding~~ collecting! Fussy cutting is also a great way to make one piece of patterned paper stretch to be used on multiple pages/projects.

Heather's Sketch & Template #9

2012-01-17T05:39:00.025-05:00

Good morning everyone! It's Heather again, and I'm here to share a sketch and free template with you. I asked a few of my friends to contribute inspirational layouts for this post. I ended up liking the sketch so much that I made a few pages to share as well. You will find the sketch below. Please feel free to right click on the image and then click "Save As" if you would like to save the .jpg to your computer for later use.

Michelle contributed this page of her kids playing in the snow. I really love how she changed the sketch to work with the photos she had. I also love the misting on the blue paper and the super adorable snowmen!

The next page is by Amanda Johnson. She stayed pretty close to the sketch design, but she enlarged the title and that makes it have so much more impact! I also really like the way she added the brad to the wooden banner in the upper left corner.

Juliann did a wonderful job converting the sketch to 8.5 x 11 so it would work with her scrappy style. I think the way she overlapped the letters is really neat. I also love how she double matted the photos!

I am inspired by the way Jessica left the centers in the alphabet letters. Her design choice really helps them stand out a little more on her blue background. She also cut a flower diecut so it would look like a cloud. That's such a good idea!

Thank you all very much for using my sketch! I really appreciate your help and creativity.

I created the next three pages. The first one is a paper page. (*All of the paper layouts in this post were created with supplies from Scraptastic Club kits!) I loved being able to use lots of different embellishments on this layout. The Prima flower was my favorite accent. It's just so pretty!

I also created two digital layouts using products from Becky Higgins and the other fabulous designers at Jessica Sprague's website. This page was for my Project Life last year, I was able to fit seven photos on one page!

This is the second page. Again, it was a page that I included in my Project Life. I used it twice because it was an awesome way to cram a ton of photos on one page. Don't worry, I didn't put them side by side in my book so no one will ever notice!

I followed the sketch and template pretty closely on my pages. It made scrapping go much quicker. That's one of the reasons why I love sketches and templates so much!

If you're a digital scrapbooker and you would like to download the layered template freebie, you can click on either of the links below to download.

4shared OR Box

New Year Resolutions???

2012-01-13T07:00:00.002-05:00

Do you make resolutions for the New Year? Do you keep them? This year I made my first resolution on New Year's Eve (first one ever!) and then I scrapped about it using a sketch challenge from Once Upon a Sketch.

Journaling on the back reads: "This is me 3 years ago, the last time I didn't mind being photographed. As the years go by it is inevitable that more lines start appearing on our faces. I'd like to say that I have more laugh lines now... but the truth is the frown lines seem to be more prominent. My motto for 2012 is more laugh lines, less frown lines. This means some changes in my lifestyle will need to occur. I don't do well with change - but life is too short to not have the time to truly enjoy the moments that make you smile".

Happy New Year!

My Very First Sketch

2012-01-12T05:00:00.009-05:00

I love creating layouts from sketches. Using a sketch designed by someone else sparks my creativity, challenges me to go beyond my comfort zone, and helps push me to try new things. They often serve as a jumping-off point for me to make something totally unique.

I've wanted to try making sketches of my own for awhile now. But I had no idea how to go about translating my pen-on-paper sketches into the 'real' sketches that actual sketch artists make. So I asked the ladies what software they use to make their sketches. I learned that Cathy uses Photoshop CS4. Dolores uses Photoshop CS5. Pam and Heather both use Photoshop Elements. I don't have any of those. Is it possible, I wondered, to make a sketch using an ordinary program everyone already has? Fortunately, the answer is yes.

I started with the OpenOffice version of Word (Writer). At the bottom left of the screen, there is a nice assortment of shapes.

In a short amount of time, it was fairly easy to translate my pen/paper sketch into something that looked more professional. I printed out my sketch- it looked good! But when I went to blog about it, I ran into trouble. There was no way to export the document into the jpg, gif, or png that Blogger requires. I tried a variety of things before deciding that the amount of effort I was putting into changing a .doc into a .jpg was exceeding the amount of time I'd spent making the sketch! Unacceptable.

So I ditched Writer and tried the OpenOffice version of Paint (Draw). The control panel looks similar to the one in Writer but with a few extras.

I set about recreating the sketch I'd already made in Writer. It wasn't too difficult. Best of all, it just took one click to export the file as a .png, which I was then able to upload to Blogger.

And here it is- my very first sketch!

It's nothing fancy, but I like it. For those of you who don't have Photoshop, you can create a perfectly acceptable sketch using Microsoft Paint or OpenOffice Draw. I'd encourage you to give it a try!

Designer Showcase: Favorite Layouts/Projects from 2011 - pt 2

2012-01-11T08:04:00.002-05:00

Didn't you love the post about the contributor's favorite pages of 2011 last week? I have more to share of the 2nd half of the group today. It is really cool to see favorites since scrapbookers usually create a bunch of stuff in a year.

Dolores is up first today and sharing her favorites! Here style is this cool whimsical and sometimes graphic. Her favorites truly represent her beautiful style. I admire the time and effort she puts into her pages! Check these out!

Sara is sharing three amazing favorites. She creates bright, colorful and technical pages that really and eye-catching. You can tell a lot of time and effort goes into these.. here are a few of her favorites!

Cindy is up next sharing a few favorites. With her beautiful simple style, Cindy creates some great pages documenting special parts of her life. I really enjoy reading her journaling. Let's look at her favorites!

Marlene has three pages also to share which are really tell great stories with each page. She also uses great colors and designs to tie together the whole story of each page. I can see why these are her favorites! Check these out!

What about you? Have you picked out favorites yet? Have a great Wednesday!!

Create a pretty punched border for your layouts!

2012-01-10T06:00:00.027-05:00

I absolutely love paper punches. I don't even know how many I own any more, after 11 years of scrapbooking I have lost count! I think they are one of my favorite tools because they have so many possibilities. Today I want to share how to make a pretty frame for your layout using a simple border punch. I have a few of the punches that Martha Steward came out with that are called "punch around the page" punch sets. They are a corner and side punch and the results are lovely. However, you really don't have to have a corner punch to get a beautiful look. I used a single EK Success border punch to create the pretty bright pink frame in my layout below.

It only takes a little planning to get good results. I think it is easier to understand how to measure your starting piece of paper if you know how the process works. Therefore, here is how I went about creating the frame. Let's start with a diagram of how we are going to punch our paper.

As you can see from this picture, we never actually punch our border completely down one side of the paper. First we measure how deep the design is that is punched from the paper. I took a piece of scrap paper and punched a design on it. I then measured the depth of my design (see below).

My design was 1/2 inch deep. Our first punch on our square is going to start 1/2 inch from the edge of the paper. I take my piece of paper and mark in pencil a line 1/2 inch in from the side, be sure to make your line long enough to be seen in your punch.

Now hold your punch upside down so that you can view the bottom of the punch. Slide your paper into the punch and line the pencil line you made up with the side of your pattern. Your pencil line should be visible where where you see the blue arrow below. Now punch one shape while holding the punch upside down.

Your punched shape should look something like the picture below.

Turn your paper over and continue punching the rest of this side of your square paper. Make sure you punched all the way to the edge. Your paper should look something like the picture below.

We have one side punched but now we have to turn the corner. You are going to turn your punch upside down again. This time we are going to make sure when we slide our paper into the punch that our pretty punched edge is just outside the visible window of the punched pattern. In the picture you can't see any of the decorative design I punched on the previous edge.

After you punch your corner you may have a stray piece of paper that you want to remove. With the particular punch I choose I had this little tiny piece I didn't want in my finished frame (see the blue arrow below), so I just clipped it off with my scissors.

Continue around your square (or rectangle) keeping your design on each corner just outside your punch pattern. You should have an easy time getting all the way around your shape.

To turn the shape with your punched edge into a frame, just decide on the width our your frame, mark a square and cut out the center of your paper using a rotary cutter, scissors or knife cutting tool. My frame was a little over 1/2 in deep (including the design edge).

I want to give you a helpful hint on how to measure your paper if you are using a punch that has an even pattern that repeats. Your frame will have corners that look the same when you size your paper to fit the size of your punch. Now that you have seen how the process works it is just a matter of doing the math to figure out the starting size of your square. One side of your paper needs to be the length that is equal to one depth of your punch (in my case 1/2 inch) plus the length of the number of punches you want to make (in my case 4 punches). So the square that I stared with was 1/2 inch plus (4 punches x 2 inches long) 8 inches for a total of an 8.5 inches square.

Hope you will give this a try and add a pretty punched frame to your next layout!

Create You OWN Kit!!

2012-01-08T22:55:00.002-05:00

Happy Monday, it's Pam here. Ok, I am posting this a bit early.. but I thought I would just post it now!
I adore KITS!! I honestly would love to join a kit club, but lately haven't had the money to commit to one. I love the way they put kits together at places like Studio Calico, Scraptastic Club, and My Scrapbook Nook. I so want to buy at least one kit this year from a kit club :).

I thought it would be fun to create my very own kit while shopping at A Cherry On Top, a scrapbook store which I love. I wanted to scrap those fall photos that I love and I thought it would be fun to coordinate my own kit to see how I would do. I picked out the following:

Three sheets of Kraft paper, three sheets of white Bazzill cardstock, three sheets of Little Yellow Bicycle Hello Fall papers, a few sheets of Crate Paper Farmhouse papers, two sheets of Bella Boulevard Finally Fall papers, two other sheets of patterned paper, Little Yellow Bicycle Hello Fall die cuts, Studio Calico Autumn Press Chipboard Butterflies, and We R Memories Keepers Autumn Splendor Chipboard Accents.
I also used a few other items from my stash such as scraps or minor embellishments.

I made my items go a long way on these three new pages. Note: I have also used stuff from my kit on other pages as well. I have been so inspired by Pinterest lately and I KNOW you will see this in my designs. Here are tips to each page I completed.

1. My latest page is titled Ann Arbor. I think you will see that I really took advantage of repetition and circles. I almost thought this was too busy, but it has grown on me. I cut the circle design using my Coluzzle. I cut a ton of circles of the patterned paper and accented my page with journaling strips and chipboard butterflies!

2. In my next page I was inspired once again by Pinterest. This was inspired by a pin I saw in passing, and I forgot to pin it! Bummer. Anyways, I created the template for this in PSE 5.0, printed it and traced it over kraft paper, patterned papers and photos. It was actually easy and fun to do. I might share the template in the upcoming weeks!

3. My third is page all about circles.. yes again, lol. I have always been into circles but lately, I have been going a little circle crazy :). This is another page where I used my coluzzle to create the design. Unlike page number 1, I put photos in the circles which made it quite different.

I hope to create one or two more pages using the extra scraps b/c I really LOVE how well all of these papers coordinated!!
So have you ever created your own kit? If so tell me about it in the comment section. Have a great day!

Friday Template/sketch: Circle Rays

2012-01-06T08:12:00.001-05:00

Happy Friday to you all! I am super glad it is Friday, are you feeling this way today? ;)
The template (and also a sketch) I am sharing today is a little bit different and complicating looking BUT I made it super easy to follow and use. Please go over clipping masks 1 and clipping masks 2 if you haven't had a chance. I have split up the template in easy to use pieces so all you will have to do it use clipping masks on each layer (some of the layers have two pieces where I thought the same paper or cardstock should be used.

First here is my example of the sketch/template.

Here is a preview of the digital layered template!

Here is a link to the digital layered template!
4shared:
http://www.4shared.com/photo/B21yw2_v/pc_circle_rays_template.html

Media Fire
http://www.mediafire.com/i/?26f1zcv4l4oubj8

Traditional scrappers, I have something for you too! I created a sketch with the blocking in case you want to print this off. You won't waste so much ink!

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions!

50 Things and 1 Sketch/Template

2012-01-05T07:00:00.001-05:00

There is so much energy in the air with the start of the New Year! Can you feel it? All the resolutions that people commit to, the goals they set, the new chapters they open in their lives, this all gives off a tremendous amount of electricity. Grab hold of it and let it re-charge your batteries!

In the crafting community people have just finished up their December Daily albums, are revisiting their Project 365/Project 52 attempts and commitments from last year. They are finalizing their P365/52 or OLW (One Little Word) or Project Life plans for 2012. I commend those of you that were able to stick with it! I didn't even start! I did however get this really cool app for my brand new iPhone. It's called Photo365. I've been keeping up with snapping a photo a day using my phone and capturing it on that app. Someday I'll get around to turning that into a project I can hold in my hand and share with others.

All this energy was swirling around me as the New Year started. It made me look back over my life. I wanted to capture things about me. Just stuff. Little things. Items that might change over time, some things that might remain the same. But just a bunch of those everyday kind of things that you don't really think about, mixed with a few big things. And I wanted to get it captured NOW! That is what inspired me to create this page.

I listed things that I have accomplished as well as things that I enjoy or are important to me. I threw in some of my favorites like foods, music, books. I noted some special traditions that I cherish, places that I have visited or dream of visiting. I made sure to list some of the most fond memories that I have. My life has been so abundantly blessed that I could easily have done many more of these pages. But I limited myself to 50 items and one page just so I would get this done!

I created it digitally. Which is really fantastic, because I can easily re-use the base as a template to create the next page. That should help speed things along! And since I created the template, I'm going to share it with you too!

You can simply right click on the image above and save it to use as a sketch for creating your own paper scrapbook page. Or for the digi-scrappers, You can click HERE to download the layered .psd file as well as the sketch.

Happy New Year!

Designer Showcase: Favorite Layouts/Projects from 2011

2012-01-04T09:04:00.004-05:00

Happy Wednesday, it's Pam here and this is my first post here on this blog in 2012! Yay! I am doing the designer showcase for a very special post. I posted my favorite layouts from 2011 a couple of weeks ago here. If you haven't yet, you really should go through you own projects and layouts and find your favorites from last year, it is sooo fun!
I asked the contributors to share some of their favorite layouts/projects from 2011 and today, for the designers showcase, I will be sharing their pages. I will share half and then next week I will share the other half!

Heather send me three great pages. I think you will why see why each page is special to her. The way she captures each moment is great and inspired me! Here are Heather's favorite pages from last year!

Cathy is sharing some of her favorite layouts and projects. I love looking at the work people have created in the past and I adore these projects. Each one is special and unique and captures her cool style perfectly! :)

Vicky is sharing some favorites layouts/projects as well that really capture her style and range of scrapbooking! I think it's easy to understand why these are her favorites as they have such beautiful qualities to each one!

Last for today are four favorite layouts by Nancy. I think you will enjoy seeing all of the techniques she used on her four favorites! I can see why these are her favorites... they capture her children in an amazing way!

Don't forget to tune in next week when I share more contributor favorites! Have a great day!

"Where Should we Eat?"

2012-01-03T05:00:00.000-05:00

From the time Trevor was a baby, his favorite restaurant has been the local Mongolian BBQ place, Dynasty. He loves to watch the chef cook our food on the giant grill surface, so it should be no surprise that he started calling the restaurant "The Place that Cooks Your Food." And it shouldn't come as any surprise to you parents out there that we now call it the same thing. None of us have called it Dynasty in about 4 years.

Over a period of about six months, I took photos of Trevor's favorite restaurants (The Place that Cooks Your Food, The Volcano Place, The Peanut Place, and Chevy's) as we visited them. I wasn't sure what the resulting layout would look like, but I knew I'd want a lot of journaling to tell the stories of where he loves to eat and what names he's given to each restaurant. Here's what I made:

It's not the most beautiful layout ever, but I love that I've recorded these memories for Trevor. I wish I had pictures and stories about my favorite restaurants from when I was a kid. Have any of you scrapped your family's favorite restaurants? Give it a try- I'm really glad I did.

Just a Little Post Before 2012!!

2011-12-30T22:19:00.002-05:00

Hi all!! It's almost 2012, can you believe it??? Well, I just wanted to say how thankful I am for having this blog and it's AMAZING contributors! Seriously, they have produced some of the best posts I have seen anywhere in the blog scrap world. Do you agree or what? Each person brings something different and cool the blog. So, to the contributors: Heather, Cathy, Dolores, Nancy, Lisa, Sara, Vicky, Cindy and Marlene, thank you so much for each and every post and for being so creative.

When I created this blog and had the idea of adding contributors, I never wanted it it to be stressful so created a guideline rather than rules for the contributors. I wanted them to be equals on the blog not my design team. During this time I have developed some great friendships for the ladies! I also wanted to thank them for being there when I needed it. You can read about my health concerns on my regular blog here. They have been there when I really needed support and friendship. Thank you ladies for keeping my spirits up during that time!

If you have time, please leave a comment for the contributors after all of the hard work they have done in the past!! I can't wait to see what they have in store for the future posts here at IFS..

Merry Christmas from IFS!!

2011-12-25T15:41:00.003-05:00

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas today!! IFS is taking a some time off during Christmas and New Years and we will be back in a week or so!
Hope you have a wonderful New Years as well!!

A Striped Christmas Tree Template!

2011-12-23T06:00:00.008-05:00

I have been enjoying the Christmas Holidays even though I have been so busy. The joy of the season seems to keep my spirits up even when there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in a day. One of the things that really gets the whole Christmas feeling started at our house is decorating the Christmas tree and listening to Christmas carols. As a result, I decided to do a Christmas template that has a big four part tree that you can create to show off those great holiday papers. Here is my layout using the template.

I had to put snowflakes in my page even if they are a color other than white. It has snowed some this week, so we're going to have a white Christmas this year. I always love it when we do. I created this layout with a fun kit full of natural looking papers and elements by Kristin Cronin-Barrow called Deck the Halls-Natural. Here is the sketch of my layout.

For our paper scrapbookers I have put the basic tree shapes in an image file so you can trace and cut out the tree. Here is that file.

For our digital scrapbookers I have a PSD file created in PhotoShop that you can download for one of the two file sharing sites below.

4Shared: ds-stripe_christmas_tree_template.psd

MediaFire: ds-stripe_christmas_tree_template.psd

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Vintage style ornament

2011-12-22T06:00:00.002-05:00

I made 5 of these pretties for my Christmas tree. The round crochet doilies and foam balls I had bought on clearance from Michaels last Winter and the cameos are The Girl's Paperie. The cameos are actually buttons, so I threaded the seam binding through and tied a bow - no glue required! I bought the vintage coloured crinkle seam binding off Etsy at http://www.etsy.com/shop/Bluebirdlane.

So easy to make and I love them. They didn't cost me much more than $3 each to make either. I'm, thinking these would look really pretty with Bo Bunny or Prima Trinkets too! Hmm, now to find more doilies :)

Heather's Sketch 5 (Designers' Showcase)

2011-12-21T06:09:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone! It's Heather again, and I'm back to share another sketch/template with you. This is sketch #5. I know, I've posted them out of order but you're in for a treat! I finished this sketch a few months ago and sent it out to the ladies here at Ideas For Scrapbookers. They were kind enough to make some example pages so we could do a designers' showcase with a sketch. Please feel free to right click on the image below and then click on "Save As" to save the image to your computer for later use.

Nancy is sharing a very colorful and fun page. I love the way she changed the sketch to suit her photos and I think the title work on the couch embellishment is an inspired addition. The alphabet looks like eggs too! How perfect is that?

Cindy told me that my sketch was a lot busier than her usual style. I really admired how she used two colors and no patterned paper to calm the sketch down a bit. She really made it work within her comfort zone!

Dolores made a page with the layered digital template. I love how she tucked snowflakes into her design and her photography is really wonderful. Her color choices are perfect too!

I love the fact that Marlene used guest checks from a restaurant to do the journaling on her page about her son's cooking. She did a wonderful job incorporating cooking themed embellishments and I love the little boy die cut.

Cathy's digital page about her collection of Christmas decorations really made me smile. I love the title and the greenery she tucked in next to it. The hanging ornaments totally finish it off. Such a pretty Christmas-themed layout!

I made two pages to share as well. This page is digital and I made it with Cosmo Cricket's Dear Mr. Claus collection. I really had fun with all of the different banner shapes that I put into this layered template.

Last but not least, this is the paper layout that inspired the sketch. I used a ton of scraps from one of my Scraptastic Club kits to create this page. I'm a very budget conscious scrapper and I always try to use as many scraps as I can!

Thank you to all of the girls who contributed to this post! I think it's great to see so many different takes on one design.

If you're a digital scrapbooker, don't forget to grab the layered digital template that I created in Photoshop Elements! You can download it here...

http://www.4shared.com/zip/o0KuZWk9/HL_Sketch_Template_5.html

or here...

http://www.box.com/s/mp61lzoxr0nf4zpezrpz

If you create a page using my sketch or any of the sketches here on Ideas For Scrapbookers, feel free to email them to Pammy so we can feature you on the blog!

Digi Tip December: Spell Check

2011-12-19T08:16:00.003-05:00

Ever get done creating a wonderful digital layout with really terrific journaling, print it out or publish the layout, only to find that you have a misspelled word or words? Today I'm going to share some ways to spell check your journaling, even if your software does not have a spell checker.

If you are using Photoshop (full version):
Photoshop has a spell checker built in! This is one of the little known facts about the software. Since Photoshop is not considered a word processor, it is not a main feature. But it is really simple to use.

First, be certain that you have the correct language selected for your text. You can do this when you are typing your text. In the Character panel at the lower left is the language drop down box. Select the appropriate language here.

Once you have all of your text layers completed, simply choose Edit > Check Spelling. Or you can check individual parts of text by highlighting them first and then choosing Edit > Check Spelling.

A dialog box will open that will locate all the misspelled words and give you the option to correct them.

The most likely correction will be displayed in the box "change to:" you can select that choice by clicking "change" or you can choose one of the suggested words from the list by clicking on it and then click "change". After all the misspelled words are corrected, click OK to close the spell checker.

If you are using software that does not have a spell checker:
Many photo editing software are not word processors and do not have built in spell checkers. But you can still check your text. One way would be to type the text in your word processing software (such as Word) and spell check it there, then copy and paste it to a text layer in your photo editing software. If you are working on a machine that does not have a lot of memory, you can use a web based spell checker. It will not hog as much computer resources as having a word processor running in addition to your graphic intense layout design in your photo editor. One that you might give a try is SpellCheck.Net.

Simply copy (Ctrl-c) and paste (Ctrl-v) your text into the block. Then click on the "Spell Check" button, on the left under the text box.

A dialog box will open with choices. Simply select the correct spelling and click "change to". Then copy and paste your text back into the text layer of your photo editing software.

Now you can be assured that you've got the correct spelling before you print or publish your digi layouts.

Christmas Door and Wreath Tutorial

2011-12-18T17:34:00.002-05:00

Hi Ladies,

Im here today to share a quick Christmas card to make if you haven't started or finished them yet this year! Like me!!! lol...I have seen these around some sites and well this is my version of how to make these fabulous, fast christmas doors with wreaths.

First, I cut 2 (2x2) white paper squares and 2 (2x4) white paper rectangles for my standard white

5 x 6 1/2 card that can be bought in bulk at your local Michael's store..pks of 50 for 10.00....or if you have a coupon even better! I then distressed the squares to give it a bit dimension.

Secondly, the most important part is to have a branch punch. It is approximately 1 1/4 inches. You can use any clear glue and cut out a circle 2 1/2 inches. Punch out several pieces on branches in green cardstock.

Thirdly, you just layer the branches back and forth in and out of the circle till you go all the way around.

Lastly, you glue down the white panels of the door and using pop dots behind the wreath to give it more dimension. Fluff up the branches and add embellishments. I added a old bell, red ribbon, flower soft and a brad for the door knob. EASY and It really looks like you put a lot of work into this....should take about 30-45 minutes to make :)

Hope you enjoyed!

My favorite layouts from 2011 - what are yours?

2011-12-17T00:28:00.002-05:00

Hi, it is Pam here again. It's almost the end of the year.. can you believe it? Goodbye 2011, hello 2012 in a couple weeks. I know we still have 2 weeks and still time to make more projects, but IFS is taking a break in about a week for the holidays.

I really wanted to share my favorite layouts that I have made from the year.. and also find out what your favorite layout(s) are. In the comment section of this post.. please link your favorite layout(s) or projects so we can all see and visit your projects. Because I do 99% layouts, I am just sharing those!

I have four pages that I really love from last year..
4. This is a brand new page I just completed, but it features my favorite colors, favorite season, and favorite shapes (circles). I drew my design onto my computer and then printed and used my Coluzzle and also hand cut the circle shapes out. This also features lots of great scraps!

3. My third favorite layout is very very special to me because it is Kevin and I around our 13th anniversary. I created this heart layout with lots of color and a graphic design. Remember you can download this template here.

2. My second favorite layout was created based on a sketch by our very own contributor Heather Landry. I soooo love how this turned out because it is perfect for my style ;) You can also download or use the template here.. so make sure you check it out!

1. My favorite layout was posted yesterday.. in my paper inspiration post. I will post it again if you are interested. I like this layout because it flows well and also is a bunch of rings of circles.. what can be better than that!!

Remember to post a link to your favorite projects below so I can see them. I can't wait.

Design Tip: Paper Inspiration

2011-12-16T07:00:00.017-05:00

Hello all and happy Friday once again! Today I am sharing another design tip with you all. I first introduced this tip in my "Step Out of Your Comfort Zone" post. You can read it here. Number 10 on the list is one technique I love to do! It is using patterned paper to inspire your design and I do this all the time. Patterned paper is such a great thing for inspiration. It has shapes, colors, and neat images! I just created two brand new pages this week using this design technique which I will share below.

My first example is using a piece of Studio Calico paper and cutting shapes which fit exactly inside each ray. First let me show you the paper before I explain how I did it.

Studio Calico - Classic Calico Collection - 12 x 12 Double Sided Paper - Plano
Scrapbook.com

As you can see this is sort of a grid-like sun ray paper. I measured, traced and cut out pieces of paper that would fit into five sections of the rays. Here I used the entire paper as my inspiration. My whole design was a result of this super cool patterned paper. Thanks Studio Calico for making this neat paper. Here's my scrapbook page!

In my second example I used a piece of patterned paper as my main inspiration. I really haven't done a large scale banner page yet and have been wanting to soooo badly. Here is my inspiration!!

Crate Paper - School Spirit Collection - 12 x 12 Double Sided Paper - Pep Rally
Scrapbook.com

In my page below you will see I extended my banner all the way across, although I used a little bit more curves in my banner. I also used colors similar to this paper to create my page. I had a blast creating this page because it was a bit more freestyle than my normal graphic style.

So, have you used paper to inspire your pages yet? You really should! Send me examples of this if you like at scrappingpam73@yahoo.com . Have a great day and weekend!!!!!!!

One Little Word

2011-12-15T05:00:00.006-05:00

It has been five years since Ali Edwards first introduced scrapbookers to "One Little Word." The basic idea is that you select one word to focus on and strive toward during the coming year. Ali says:

It can be something tangible or intangible. It could be a thought or a feeling or an emotion. It can be singular or plural. The key is to find something that has personal meaning for you. This is not your mother’s word or your spouse’s word or your child’s word – this is YOUR word. One little word can have big meaning in your life if you allow yourself to be open to the possibilities...

I'd read about One Little Word for several years, but never felt moved to join in until last year. As I read Ali's post at the beginning of January 2011, I felt a strong sense that my One Little Word was supposed to be "balance."

For years I've struggled with balance. I am a mom, wife, daughter, sister, aunt, cousin, niece, godmother, goddaughter, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, and friend. I am a scrapbooker, card maker and crafter. I am a Contributing Artist, Design Team member, and Fiskateer. I am a classroom volunteer, a board member, a playgroup coordinator, church member, and a blogger. A lot of different things fight for my attention and time. Too often I give 100% to a few areas and don't spend enough time on others.

As we come to the end of 2011, I've been reflecting on how balance has played a role in my life during the past year. I've also been thinking about what I want my 2012 word to be. While I have a concept in mind, I haven't chosen my One Little Word yet. But I did realize that I am not done with my journey toward balance. I'd like to continue to find a way to balance my various commitments and roles.

So I decided to make this:

It hangs on the wall of my scraproom. Each year I will add the new One Little Word, but I will never remove an old one. I'm hoping that displaying all my words will help keep them in mind. I've added a blank tag, which will eventually display my One Little Word for 2012.

Did any of you choose One Little Word for 2011? Have you chosen your word for 2012? I'd love to hear!

Designer Showcase: Disney Pages

2011-12-14T07:00:00.010-05:00

When you think of Disney what comes to mind? Magic? Mickey? Of course! And what else? There are so many facets to Disney, and enough options for scrapping your Disney memories that you could take your projects "to infinity and beyond!" Sorry, just had to say that! For this weeks Designer Showcase we are sharing some Disney pages and projects with you.

Cindy starts us off by getting right to the heart of it. The characters! This page is really great how it captures the fun that was had in greeting many of the different characters. She lets the photos tell the story and keeps the embellishments to a minimum.

I just love how Cindy worked in all these photos, yet kept them large enough to enjoy. AND she included journaling too. This is such a great page. Here is what Cindy had to say about it: "We go once a year, so my challenge is to try to keep each layout fresh and not a repeat of what I did the previous year. I know many people make entire Disney albums, but I limit myself to two total pages (usually one 2-page spread) per trip. It's hard, but it forces me to look more critically at my pictures to tell the story of the trip." Wow! I have even greater respect for the work that went into Cindy's page. I know when we go to Disney I take hundreds of photos. I'm impressed with how she condensed her memories on to this amazing 2-pager!

Here is a page by Marlene. She was creating a page about funny things her kids say. I love that she accentuated the "goofy" lyrics! These Jungle book character embellies are just perfect on this page!

This digital page from Dolores really displays the happiness and joy of a visit to Disney. The background looks so much like Minnie's dress! The swag of flowers and foliage is beautiful and works really well as a base for her photos. Her shadowing is just amazing! And the title is perfect! I love the scattered Mickey's too! This is really making me wish I had a trip to Disney planned soon!!!

This page is the start of a few that I have to share with you. My family and I are big Disney fans. One of the things we love to do when we visit Disney is to look for "hidden Mickeys". So in each Disney page I create, I always hide a few Mickeys! I chose the above page to start off with since the Mickeys on that page are rather obvious! On most of my pages they are harder to find. I write a note on the back of each page with the number and location of each hidden Mickey on the page so that I can keep track of them myself.

Even if you don't have a lot of Disney themed embellishments, you can make it look very Disney by using red, yellow, white and black colors as well as circles, scallops and star shapes. This works well whether your page is digital (top) or paper (bottom).

Sometimes a photo expresses everything and needs no embellishment. I absolutely love Cinderella's castle in Walt Disney World when it is dressed up for the holidays!

I wanted to share at least one non-scrapbook project for Disney with you today as well. We are pin-traders at Disney. It's a very fun way to engage with other vacationers and Cast Members. Sometimes we get pins that we just don't want to trade, we want to collect them instead. So I created this shadowbox using scrapbook supplies to show off those pins. This is an older picture of it. The box is nearly filled now! Perhaps I'll need to make another one?!

I hope you've found some magical inspiration for recording your Disney memories!

Gift Ideas

2011-12-13T01:00:00.000-05:00

Well, its official I am addicted to making banners :) I am running out of ideas for making banners for myself (at least for piratical purposes) so I decided to make a few as Christmas gifts!

This is not exactly a banner but more of a sign. I made this sign for my sons teacher! I just LOVE it! I used 2 sheets of heavy cardboard and glued them together to give make it sturdy. I used the the Hometown Summer collection from Pink Paislee to make this sign. I just adore these little kids.

These two banners were made for some special little girls that are friends of our family. It was really fun to go all girly on some banners!

Its not to late if you need a quick crafty gift someone special! Here are few ideas to get you started one someone special you could make one for:

*Teacher
*Daycare Provider
*Nieces or Nephew
*Co-Worker

The banner/sign could say 'Welcome' or the families last name. So many options!

Happy Crafting!

Getting Creative With Stamps & Pencils

2011-12-12T07:57:00.001-05:00

Hi, Marlene here, taking a break from Christmas preparations to do a non-holiday scrapbook page. I am showing a technique that I learned from a Close to My Heart rep. It's a great way to put your acrylic stamps to good use for layouts and cards. So far, I cannot bring myself to spend $6 on a marker and have been learning to use Prisma Color pencils. At around $1.50, Prisma pencils are soft and blend together well, I love the colors. Markers or pencils will make no difference, I will say "pencil" because that's what I used. I admit to not being the best at shading but the good news is that it gets better with practice. The main point of this tutorial, while I will attempt to explain shading some, is really about stamping on the image twice to create a crisp edge over colors.
For this project you will need:
white cardstock
acrylic stamp (s) with block (a non see through stamp would be very difficult - read impossible - to use for this)
3 shades of the same color - markers or pencils if using pencils - odorless paint thinner
Qtips
light colored stamp pad ( I used Brilliance Platinum Planet pigment ink)
dark colored stamp pad ( I used Staz On Jet Black solvent ink)

With the light colored ink pad, stamp the image onto white cardstock. Since I knew that I would be cutting the image from the larger page, I outlined the block. It's a good idea to leave the stamp on the block for the time being, that will make it easier to line up later, especially with the outline. Firstly, with the lightest color pencil fill in the image. Try to imagine your image as 3D, so the high points will be lighter than edges. With the medium color begin shading in your low spots and with the darkest color shade even more. Go over the whole image again with the lightest color pencil. If you are using pencils, applying paint thinner with a Qtip will blend the colors together without taking away the shading. Allow to dry. For the final step, apply the dark ink pad to your stamp then align the stamp back over the original stamped image and lightly apply the ink. The second stamping is tricky, check that all sides of the stamp are lined up with the original print. You can color in small areas to finish if you were slightly off.

I really like the effect of the double stamping, I think the 3 little monsters created with stamps are almost as cute as the one in the photo.

Something I learned unintentionally while creating this page: the title was slightly too large so I put pop dots under 3 letters so I could squeeze the other letters together, add dimension and keep with my "messy" look.

Lump of Coal Cookie Packaging

2011-12-11T10:57:00.004-05:00

Hi, It’s been quite some time since I last had a post here…sorry. Last weekend, I went to my annual cookie exchange party and I knew exactly how I was going to wrap the cookies. Martha Stewart’s Gift Coal Boxes inspired me last year and I decided to make my version to accommodate the cookies.

First, the supplies:

6 inch Cookie Tins any color…I bought mine at the dollar store.

Black Cardstock

Black Glitter Cardstock….2 sheets at Target for 99 cents

Electrical Tape

Paper Trimmer

Scissors

Fabric Starch

Glue

Ruler

Ribbon

Tags…I made mine with Cricut and Microsoft word

Second, cut 6 strips of black cardstock 2 ½ inches wide. Two of these pieces will be to wrap around the bottom of the tin. Glue them together. I also used foil and placed my cookies inside.

Third, crumble up the 4 pieces of black cardstock and tape it down with electrical tape on the lid.

Fourth, spray black glitter paper lightly on the OPPOSITE side of glitter paper with fabric starch and wipe off excess. DON’T over spray or it will rip the paper…..I made that mistake! Lol Then, wrap on top of the lid and crunch it up a bit. It dries super fast, no need to wait and no mess.

Lastly, add ribbon and tag. That’s it! I also added the recipe to the back of the tag. :)

Here is another view of your Lump of Coal.

Hope your enjoyed!

Heather's Sketch 8

2011-12-10T05:46:00.020-05:00

Hi everyone! It's Heather again. I'm back to share another sketch and layered template. I know this template/sketch is a little bit brighter than usual but I've changed my design palette. Here's the preview of the sketch. Feel free to right click on the image and then click on "save as" to save the file to your computer for later use.

I based the sketch on a page that I made earlier this month. I used my Scraptastic Club December kit called "Little Black Dress". The page is about my tenth anniversary celebration with my husband.

I didn't forget the digital girls! Please click on the file below to download the free layered template that I created in Photoshop Elements.

http://www.box.com/s/b46u98n7a3tikgr0o483

If you use the template be sure to email your pages to Pammy so we can feature them here on the Ideas For Scrapbookers Blog!

For The Love Of Paper!!!

2011-12-09T01:00:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite thing to do is create with paper! I pretty sure that is what got me in to scrapbooking to begin with. I think its fun and challenging to take a sheet of paper and create a dimensional and unique embellishment. With just a little time and patience you can create so many of your own home made embellishments!

Today I want to share a layout with you that I made with ALL paper with the exception of 1 button.

Here you can see I took circles and folded them in until the sides met in the center to create this green boarder. I then cut circles in half and fan folded them to create the flower.

I use a veriety of circle and scalloped punches to along with pop-dots to created this layered flower. Finally at the top I cut circles in haft and lined them up edge to edge with pop-dots on the back side.

Here is a second layout that is almost all paper!

With this layout I cut random size strip of paper and glued them to the back ground paper. Then I cut out a large paper heart from my cricut and laid it on top of my strips of paper and then applied glimmer mist to the whole page. once it was well misted I removed the large paper heard and where it laid on the page their was no mist the original paper colors showed through. Next I stitched the outline of the heart shape to help it sand out more.

Make things with paper is very easy and very good for your scrap stash!

Advent Calendar

2011-12-08T07:00:00.002-05:00

Advent is a period of preparation for Christmas. In the church calendar, it includes the 4 Sundays that precede Christmas Day. A typical Advent Calendar counts down the days from December 1st through Christmas Eve.

I made an Advent Calendar a part of our family holiday tradition when my children were very young. It was a real help especially for my kids with special needs. It helped them manage their anticipation and kept them on track as to what to expect. They were easily upset by changes in routine, and there are certainly a lot of those during the holidays! We've kept up the tradition of using an Advent Calendar each year.

The one that we had been using is a bit "young" for us now. This year I decided that I wanted a new way to count down the days that was more suited to my family. So I created this Advent Calendar using digital scrapbook papers, traditional scrapbook elements, recycled cardboard and curtain trim.

I recycled two pieces of cardboard that some scrapbook papers shipped on as the base for the calendar. I attached them to each other and created the hanger using recycled curtain trim. I printed out digital papers from the Comfort and Joy Collection by Sugarplum Paperie. I then created pockets and tags using the papers.

Then I adorned each pocket with holiday goodies from my crafting stash. I added ribbon to each of the tags and slipped them into a coordinating pocket. I adhered the pockets to the cardboard base. 12 pockets on each piece. I must confess, of all the crafty things that I collect, I seem to be very attracted to Christmas items. I love Christmas papers and elements! So this really helped me use up some of that stash that has been accumulating!

Rather than pre-print each tag with an activity, I got some holiday colored paper and re-positional adhesive (like the kind used on Post-it notes). I write an activity on those papers and adhere them to a tag. This gives me a lot of flexibility. If the night that we planned to take a stroll to view holiday lights ends up raining, I can just switch it for a different day.

I hope this gives you some ideas for creating an Advent Calendar for you and your family!

Happy Holidays!

Designer Showcase: Girls Pages

2011-12-07T07:00:00.001-05:00

What are little girls made of?

Sugar and spice

and everything nice

That's what little girls are made of!

Last week we shared a bunch of boy pages. So this week we are going to spotlight girl pages! Let's get started with two pages from Vicky.

Vicky really knows how to do up the girl pages! Her layering and distressing is amazing. She incorporates flowers, lace, doilies and some really neat chip wood pieces. I really like how she leaves the edges of her papers and some elements lifted. It adds to the light, airy feel to her pages. These two examples are great. The first seems so filled with layers and elements compared to the second. Yet they each have many details that could hold your attention as you ~~drool all over her work~~ appreciate the time and work that she puts into capturing each memory!

Check out how Cindy created this page. She replicated her goddaughters dress! She reversed the colors, so to speak, by making the purple dominant and used white and lighter colors for the punched edge and journal spot. I really like the simply work bits used for the journaling. What a positive way to boost her goddaughters self-esteem by showing her how she feels about her!

Marlene also used a dress to help create her page. This is a handmade dress that is being modeled. I love how the pose is so similar to the American Girl image that she used as an element. The lacy butterflies and the gorgeous trim on the tag are all great girly elements too. I also like the twisted twine on top of the border punched strip. Great way to add dimension and texture to the page.

Doesn't this page from Nancy look like a bouquet of flowers? So neat the way she has them sprayed across the page with the most special bloom, her daughter, in the center. Look at all the details in there! There are blossoms, gems, rhinestones, more blooms, lace, butterflies and a birdhouse on there! I can not image how much time it must have taken to put this page together! A real labor of love!

I hope you've enjoyed the pages for the girls this week. I've really enjoyed them and I think I've cleaned up all my drool!

What are your favorite elements to include on a girl page? Leave us a comment to let us know.

Kissing Ball

2011-12-06T05:00:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone, Nancy here with a fun holiday project for you.

As I am sure you know that when you step under the mistletoe you are inviting a kiss; but did you ever wonder where the tradition came from? Like many of our current traditions, this one comes from the middle ages, but was updated during the reign of Queen Victoria. I found a detailed story here if you are interested, but here is an excerpt....

People would take a potato or apple and tie a pretty ribbon around it as a hanger. Then they would stick sprigs of evergreen, holly and sweet herbs into the potato or apple until it bristled with them.

The herbs in the sweet ball took on the highly romanticized symbolism common to the Victorian area. Simon and Garfunkel weren't the only ones singing about "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme". Each of those herbs plus dozens and dozens more flowers, herbs and plants spoke a unique and private symbolic language to Victorians. The choice of herbs, flowers and boughs could state love, affection, charity, piety and more.

I decided to create my own version of a kissing ball using some beautiful flowers, distress inks, glimmer mist, a bit of seam binding and a styrofoam ball.

I used Festive Berries from the Tim Holtz LE Winter Distress Inks to color each flower. (a handful of flowers was all I needed.)

And then spritzed them with a bit of Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Mist to give them some sparkle and shine.

I cut a few holly leaves with my Sizzix....

And inked them with the other two colors of Distress Ink that were in the kit, Evergreen Bough and Iced Spruce. (hint, a quick fold down the middle, run the fold directly over the pad, and you get a nice vein)

I attached the flowers to the ball using liquid glue. I find liquid glue works best when gluing items that may still be a bit damp.

To finish off my project I ran a bit of seam binding across the Evergreen Bough, and added a coordinating rose. A few pearls in the center of each flower and my kissing ball was ready to hang.

I hope I have inspired you to create a little holiday magic in your home this season.

Hugs.

Crafting with a Warming Tray

2011-12-05T05:00:00.021-05:00

Do any of you recognize this?

It's a warming tray, circa 1970. I love this thing. It used to belong to my mom, but I don't remember her ever using it to warm food. I only remember using it to melt crayons onto paper, which I did often as a kid. When I was a teacher, I used to borrow it from Mom a couple of times a year for my students to use. Eventually, she must have gotten tired of me borrowing it so often and let me keep it.

I keep bags of broken, peeled crayons with the warmer. To use it, simply plug it in and wait about two minutes. It will get very warm, but not so hot that you can burn yourself unless you deliberately try. The first time Trevor used it at age 2, I put gloves on his hands so that if he touched the warm surface it wouldn't hurt him. I didn't bother with gloves once he turned 4 and his skin was less sensitive and he understood not to deliberately touch the surface.

Once the tray is warm, put a piece of paper on top and draw with the crayons. The wax goes on creamy smooth and acts almost like paint. You can swirl, blend and layer the colors. When you remove the paper, the wax is instantly dry.

Here's a stocking that Trevor made:

And here's mine:

I made this tree too:

We also made a bunch of ornament-shaped gift tags by melting stripes and globs of color on a sheet of paper then punching out circles.

Here is a small sampling of our tags. I made the three on the top and Trevor made the three on the bottom:

And here's a close-up. The 'hanger' is a rectangle of silver cardstock and a piece of silver thread, glued to the back of the circle.

If you have a warming tray, dig it out and give it a try! The results are super cute and really fun!

Design Tip: Repetition

2011-12-02T08:11:00.001-05:00

Hi there, it's Pam here sharing and a design tip with you that I love to do. Sometimes when I get in a scrap rut, i just need to go back to some of my favorite design techniques, repetition! This is when I use a shape or element over and over to create a design. I will often use a photo or two to replace the shape. You might have used this before, but here are a few examples by me of repetition!

My first page is using circles over and over in a row to create a stoplight like feeling to my page. This goes along with my soccer theme and how soccer is like stop and go sometimes. I used my Coluzzle to cut out large and small circles and used a few photo in the middle of the circles.

In this next example, I was inspired by a Studio Calico stamp and also Amy Butler paper - two companies that I LOVEEE!!. I created my design and cut it out with scissors. I also replaced some of the shapes with photos.

My next page is an oldie but a goodie! Created back in 2006, I use strips of paper over and over in the background to make make my main photo pop! I like the effects of small strips of paper!

Here is another page created a while back in 2007 using repeating photos in the top and the bottom. This is a digital page which I really don't do to much of anymore, but still a favorite layout from back then!!

Here is one more repetition using both paper and photos. I created the text squares in photoshop and printed them off. I also used photos intermixed with the squares.

My last example is a layout (there is a link to the template here) where I used repeated the flower design over and over all over the layout. This created a neat place to "peek" my photo from!

I hope you have enjoyed this tip that I used! :) Have a great weekend!!

A Four Point Scallop Template!

2011-12-01T06:00:00.001-05:00

This week I have been getting back into my normal routine. Thanksgiving was such a great day, I always look forward to it. Now it's time to focus again on some other fun stuff - scrapbooking! Today I have a template to share with a big border. I am calling it my "Four Point Scallop Template" for lack of a better description. Here is a layout I did with the template called "Love finds a way."

On Thanksgiving I was thinking of all the things I am thankful for over the past year. It's been a tough year for us with a job layoff and moving. But we have made it through with lot of hope and prayers. Relationships are tested during tough times and I am thankful our love has held us together. This page was created with a beautiful kit full of bold colors by Sherwood Studio called The Stars Above. Here is a sketch of the page.

To make it easy for our paper scrapbookers to trace the border, here is the basic border shape.

For our digi scrapbookers I have created a template in PhotoShop. You can download it from one of the two file sharing sites below.

4Shared: ds-four-point-scallop-template.psd

Media Fire: ds-four-point-scallop-template.psd

Enjoy the template and create some great pages!

Designer Showcase: Boy Pages

2011-11-30T07:00:00.024-05:00

What are little boys made of?

Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails

That's what little boys are made of!

Today's Designer Showcase is bringing on the "boy" pages. And you'll see that they are not just snips and snails! For a long time the scrapbooking industry seemed to be overlooking that we have guys in our lives that we want to scrap too. Recently several companies have introduced lines that work well for more masculine pages and projects. As mom to 3 boys, that sure makes me happy! Let's have a look at all the great inspiration from the Contributing Artists.

Heather has 2 pages to share today. This first one is a digital page that she did about her son. I love the bright colors and wonderful shapes. A couple of things to point out on this page, the use of both circles and squares, they really work well together. And did you notice that the photo is black and white? I really like how it stands out so well.

In this paper scrap page that Heather is sharing, we can see how she made flowers and flourishes work on a guy page! Love it! There's just enough frill to be pretty and yet enough edgy stuff to be manly! The touches of dark colors, string and tags really help add to that balance. I love the way there are 2 intersecting design triangles on her page with both bring your focus to the picture. Do you see them? The 3 flower clusters are the points of one triangle. The 3 tied up tag ends are the points of the other triangle. Cool!

Here is a page by Nancy that shows off her son. I love how she pumped up the masculine paper patterns by distressing them with inks. Check out the rough edges on the banner. Just the simplest details, but taking that extra time to do that really enhances the layout!

Nancy really made this a guy page. Love the colors that she chose. All the different textures, edges and shapes go so well with the grungy background paper. The question mark in her title is perfect. Seriously? This is studying?!

Cindy's pages always pack a lot of memories. But her story behind this page is a testament to her dedication to capturing those memories. She told me that the photos on this page span more than 2 years. Every time she took a cute sports photo she would accumulate them in an envelope with plans to make this page! That's dedication! Cindy used a sketch by Helen Croft for inspiration in her design. The uniform size and shape of the photos is really cool. I also like the off set partial circles.

Both of these pages are by Vicky. They are both filled with yummy embellishments. I love the way she has made flowers, bling, doilies, butterflies and lacy edge punches work on these guy pages. She does this with the color combinations, the distressed edges (which are so realistically worn!) and the selection of elements and patterns. I really like the clock shapes in both pages. They have a masculine feel and also pull at our heart strings. We can imagine that these photos have captured a moment in time, a giggle, a shared memory. Great representation.

Wow, check out this digital page by Dolores. She has captured the great outdoors in her photo and on her page. The colors of her papers and elements are an extension of her photo. I really like the way she tucked the tree behind the frame made of twigs. It just flows! The light stamped images on her background paper add fine details that bring your eye back into her beautiful photo. She even has a little bit of bling scattered on her page.

This is a page I did with photos from a trip to Old Town San Diego. Love it there! The old west atmosphere was perfect for some photos of the guys. I used some distressing, inks, ripped paper edges and a bit of twine to add to the masculine feel.

Hope you've enjoyed this showcase of some pages for the guys. Be sure to come back next week when we feature some girl pages!

Develop Your Own Polaroid

2011-11-29T01:00:00.000-05:00

Sara here today to show you how to make your own fake Polaroid pictures! I remember growing up we only had a Polaroid camera and then as year went by and Polaroid became a think of the past. But now the fake Polaroid look is very popular on our layouts.

Start by cutting your photos so they are square or just about square (mine are off my my 1/4 inch). Then adhere them on white or cream cardstock paper as I have above. You want to be sure the left edge of the paper is a thin boarder and the bottom is wide border.

Cut off the top of the paper leaving the same thin boarder as you did on the left side.

Repeat the same thin boarder by cutting the right side.

Lastly, because I was doing 2 photos at once I has to cut them apart leaving the same thin boarder on each of them and now you have 2 Polaroid photos!

Here are my 2 Polaroids in action! These were so easy to make and give such a fun look to any layout. Keep in mind these can be any size, I think mini Polaroids would be adroable!

Digi Tip November: Fonts

2011-11-28T07:00:00.126-05:00

Playing with fonts can be so much fun! They can liven up a layout, be a part of the feeling that you are conveying, and help to express your journaling.

But where to find those fonts? And which fonts to use? If you are like me, this has been one thing that trips me up in getting my layouts done quickly. I can waste hours browsing through my fonts looking for just the right font.

Today I've got a bunch of great font examples to share. You can bookmark this post as a reference so you don't have to spend hours searching for the font that you want to use!

I've created each of the previews of the fonts using that font at 24 points. This will help you to be able to compare their styles and sizes. Each preview is linked to the site where you can download that font.

Let's start off with some great fonts for titles.

Now that you've got your title font selected, it's time to select a journaling font. While you can be quite fancy with your title font, typically you will want your journaling font to be more simple and clear. This will help to make it easy to read, even at a small size. I've previewed these fonts in 24 point to make them easy to see. Each font image is linked to the site for download.

Century Gothic font typically comes with Microsoft and Adobe software

Now that's a whole lot of fonts to digest! There are lots more out there too. A simple search for "free scrapbooking fonts" will turn up a lot more fonts that you may like. If you have a go to font that you like for your titles or journaling, we'd like to know about it. Please leave a comment on this post with what you're favorite fonts are.

Heather's Sketch 7

2011-11-25T06:00:00.004-05:00

Hi everyone. It's Heather and I'm here to share a freebie with you on the busiest shopping day of the year. Happy Black Friday! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving too. As usual, I have a sketch and layered digital template to share. I based this sketch on a paper page that I made earlier this month. Feel free to right click on the image then click on "Save As" to save the sketch to your computer for later use.

This is the page I used as inspiration. I chose the photo because the retro colors in the blanket worked so well with the Scraptastic Club "Home Sweet Home" kit.

I also had time to create a digital example this month. I changed my design a bit and used a plain strip of paper instead of the diamond fussy cut edge. The template contains the original diamond edge. Click here for supply credits.

Here's the link to the free, layered template for my digital girls. I hope you enjoy it!

http://www.4shared.com/file/CphZa9Uc/HL_Sketch_Template_7.html

Christmas Display

2011-11-24T06:00:00.013-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gearing into the holidays, I always like to have a display "layout" on my mantle. This one I created based on a page I did last year, as a gift for a friend of mine. Same design, just based on each of our home's color schemes during the holidays. It is not too often I recreate the same page but... after giving the first one away, I really wanted this design for myself.

My page was created with the new Pion Design Waiting For Santa 2 papers. My home is very shabby chic with vintage red and rose during the holidays.

The one I made for my friend last year was created with the Creative Imaginations IOD Night Divine collection. She is planning on putting a family photo in it for display on her mantle this year. Her home is done up in forest green and burgundy during the holidays.

Just a quick post today to share some festive layouts, thanks for stopping by!

Designer Showcase: Food!

2011-11-23T07:00:00.007-05:00

Today in many homes across America, there is a bunch of cooking that has started in preparation for the big Thanksgiving feast tomorrow. So we thought this would be a great time to share some food layouts and projects with you. These have no calories, so you can indulge as much as you'd like without hurting your diet!

Now this is how to get a feast started! Look at all that food! Cindy used a punch to clip all the photos of the food served at her wedding. What a great idea! I love how the photos are so colorful. Cindy really let them shine by keeping her background simple and elegant. That little place setting is impeccable!

In this page, Nancy has captured her son cooking. I love how she has used florals and flourishes on this page and yet it still has a masculine feel to it. I also find it amazing that the food, papers and elements all coordinate with the curtains in the background of the picture! It's really neat how she has clustered the three photos together and woven the flourishes around them. It adds so much dimension to Nancy page.

Keeping our favorite recipes handy helps us to cook, but also allows us to highlight memories of those dishes and prepare our recipes for passing on to generations to come. I've had this American Crafts 6x6 album for a few years. I've been wanting to make a book of my families favorite recipes. I finally got started on the cover last week. I used Recipe Box Kit a digital kit by Etc. by Danyale to adorn the cover. I'm not done yet. I will be adding more to the inside and the covers as I go. I'm leaving room with each recipe to record some memories that we associate with each dish.

Many of the favorite recipes that we cook are served at the holidays. In the above pages I captured some of our favorite holiday baking. This is a mini album about our Christmas traditions. We do a lot of cookie baking. And my one son and I spend a day each holiday season baking a special bread from our heritage called Vanocka. We take it for granted that we will be doing this each year. But life is getting more complicated. He is now attending college. I'm sure the day is coming soon when he will not be able to devote the full day that is required to make this bread. I hope that is not for a long time to come yet. That's one reason that I take pictures of this process every year!

No feast is complete without dessert. This project is made with paper, ribbon, cardboard, some flowers, brads and a cherry on top! Well actually the cherry is a wooden bead. It looks like a cupcake, but it is a gift card holder. Who can resist a cupcake? Interested in making one for yourself? I've shared a tutorial on my blog. You can find it here.

So, are you ready for the big turkey dinner tomorrow? I've still got some cooking yet to do. As I make the stuffing using my grandmother's recipe, I'll be thinking of her and the fun times I had in her kitchen. Lots of sensory things like smells and tastes can evoke memories. So why not record the foods in your life as you capture your memories!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fun Ideas For Making Your Season Decorations

2011-11-22T01:30:00.000-05:00

The Holidays are quickly approaching and I have been busy creating some fun new paper craft decorations! We already have so many supplies to create home decorations with, it seems still to buy certin decorations.

First up is an Advent Banner!

This was really fun to make! I love to have an advent calendar for my son and we have done a few different things but I think this is my favorite. I had these little paper bags left over from my Christmas Card project and I use some wonderful new dies to create the lovely circles for the bags. I put binder clips on the banner to easily get the bags on and off so that I can reuse this. I cant wait to fill this with a few mini lego people, arcade tokens and candy for my son!

Holiday Birdhouses

I have had this bare wooden birdhouses for a while now and I new I wanted to decorate them for the Holidays and this Prima line was just right! I painted the small edges first and then decorated the sides and roof with the paper. It was fun to accent them with the garland, flower and blue gems that came in the kit. This will be a great addition to my Holiday decorations.

Changeable Framed Sign

I purchased this frame at Wal-mart for $8 and made these three inserts for it just using my Circut, paper and glue!!

This one will be displayed during the non-holiday seasons. I used the Sans Serif Font Cricut Cartridge to create this saying.

This one will be for Christmas time! The paper already had this lovely tree on it and I new I wanted to use it as a display piece for the holidays so I added the Merry Christmas using the Story Book Font Cricut Cartridge.

This one is currently on display! I used the Plattin School Book Font Cricut Cartridge and the Gypsy Wanderings for the pumpkin.

I hope this post will inspire you to create your own Holiday decorations!

My Sew RibbonTutorial!

2011-11-21T07:56:00.003-05:00

I am a tool junkie. I love to try out new gizmos, especially the relatively inexpensive ones. My Sew Easy was a natural addition to my arsenal, so I thought the Sew Ribbon was worth a look. I bought Scallop and Shoelace. The tool is in three pieces: a top and bottom with a cutting blade. The blade handily fits in the handle of the template. You insert a piece of paper between the templates, then it is held together and automatically lines up with magnets.

Scallop is a breeze to use, with the help of a T-square and pencil line it is easy to get a straight line.

Shoelace is very hard to use. It is hard to get the blade into the insert. After a couple of failed attempts I finally looked at a YouTube video which shows that you line the cutter up at a 90% angle to the template it is easier to insert.

Although, I do like the results of Shoelace, I will not be buying anymore shapes. Both cutters require a bit of pressure to insert into the template, I would not recommend this tool for anyone who has any strength or mobility issues with their hands (I have carpal tunnel problems).

I think the addition of the button flowers absolutely set this page off. They were made according to a reader's submission, Bev Code, on IFS last week. http://ideasforscrapbookers.blogspot.com/2011/11/readers-pages-and-button-flowers.html

Heather's Sketch 6

2011-11-18T06:00:00.051-05:00

Hi everyone! It's Heather, and I'm here to share another sketch/template with you. This sketch is based on a page that I made earlier this month. The idea for the diamond shaped edge came from the pretty diamond pattern in the Crate Paper Farmhouse collection. Feel free to right click on the sketch and then click "save as" to save the sketch for later use.

Here's the paper example page that I created. See what I mean about the diamond patterned paper? I used old photos of me and my brother. We were such camera hams! All of the supplies for this page came from the November Scraptastic Club kit and add on.

I also made a digital page with the layered template. I used the new Pink Paislee digital supplies from Jessica Sprague's website and some fun photos of my kids on the zip line at the pumpkin patch.

I didn't forget the digital girls! Here's the link to the free layered digital template that I created in Photoshop Elements. Don't forget to email your layouts to Pammy if you use the sketch/template! We're always looking for reader's pages to feature.

http://www.4shared.com/file/GKv3EFrQ/HL_Sketch_Template6.html