Sycamore St Scrapbook Layout: Great Grandparents

Some incredibly talented girls I know started a paper crafting challenge blog a year ago called The Paper Girls Challenge Blog.  They post challenges twice a month for fun and (sometimes) prizes.

Well, I was so honored to be asked by them to be one of two guest designers this month – so I totally know what cool challenge is coming up later this month… and no, I’m not going to tell you.  hee hee!

Anyway, today is their first challenge for February and it was:
Use Twine in Your Project!

Ta da!

Now, their challenge doesn’t have to be for a scrapbook layout – I could have done a card.  But I do cards all the time and I figured I needed the extra challenge.

So, I decided to show some quick and easy ways to use twine.  I grabbed my Island Indigo Baker’s Twine and wrapped some around all four sides of an 8.5” x 8.5” piece of River Rock cardstock.  Then I tucked some pictures under the twine – I was going for the “memo board” look.  So parts of the pictures are over the twine and some are under.

Thanks to my amazing foresight, I made sure to dress my daughter in a brightly striped shirt so that it would match great with the new Sycamore St designer paper that you can get free from the Sale-a-Bration catalog.  Ok, so this picture was from May 2012 and I totally lucked out, but I’ll take it!

I also wrapped some twine around the “G” in “Great” at the top of the page, but of course realized late last night that the top of the picture is a bit blurry.  Oops!  So, trust me, it is wrapped around the “G” and looks cute.

TIP:  If you have alphabet letters that you think are starting to blend into the background of your page like mine were.  Grab a marker (in this case, my Island Indigo Stampin’ Write marker) and with the fine tip, trace around the letter on your page.  It gives the letters a subtle border that really helps it pop!

Think you have a cool idea for using twine or just want to try to use the twine you have sitting at home?  Visit The Paper Girls Challenge Blog to see more inspiring ideas and then create your own project and add it to the challenge list.  I’d love to see what different ideas you create!

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Scrapbooking Sunday: Sparkly Christmas Layout

It all started with cleaning my craft table… I came across a 1/4” x 12” piece of designer series paper.  Being the paper hoarder I am, I thought, this is a great piece for a scrapbook page but I was afraid it would get crumpled if I stored it as a scrap.  So what did I do?  Why stopped everything and made a scrapbook layout of course!

See that thin striped designer paper at the bottom edge of the green?  That was what got this whole page started!  It was from the Candlelight Christmas specialty designer series paper pack, so I started there.  Some of the colors in that paper pack are Real Red, Early Espresso, and Lucky Limeade.  So, I went with a Real Red 12×12 base and added a 2 3/4″ strip of the Flocked flourish transparency to the left side of the page for some subtle color and texture.  Then I started building up the center panel.

I picked Lucky Limeade as my accent color and then added three panels from the Candlelight Christmas pack.  The dsp pieces are 6″ x 3 3/4″ and I figured I would use smaller 3×5 sized pictures or trimmed 4×6 pictures so that the pattern shows around the photo as matting.  I rounded the corners of the paper before glueing them down.

Then it was time to add some sparkle! I started with a strip of Champagne Glimmer paper along the top and my 1/4″ scrap of designer series paper along the bottom.  But then I thought it needed more, so I grabbed my Tags til Christmas stamp set.  First was the little oval accent that I stamped in Lucky Limeade and punched out with the small oval punch.  Then I added some Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details for the berries.  I popped them up on dimensionals so my photos could slide underneath if needed.

Then I added one more tag – the decorative label punch Dec 25th tag from the Tags til Christmas set.  I stamped it with Early Espresso and punched it out.  Then I grabbed that same Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details and outlined the oval portion.  Finally, I decided to add a tassel and took some Early Espresso baker’s twine and twisted it into a loop above the tag and then unraveled/frayed the ends to make my tassel.

Now to just get some good Christmas pictures to put in this layout!  But I’m sure I’ll have more pictures than I know what to do with.

And if you love this designer paper, just a reminder that there is only 1 month left of the Holiday catalog, and once we are into January, this paper will be gone as well.

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Tags Til Christmas Stamp set (#120847)

Split Second Digital Scrapbook Page

I love scrapbooking and I love the look of dimension on my pages; but sometimes the speed and ease of digital scrapbooking is exactly what I need!  And for the last week, Stampin’ Up! has been offering some free digital downloads and so I decided to put some of my favorite pictures together in one of the designer templates they were giving away.

The nice thing about digital templates is that everything is already laid out for you.  All I did to this was click the boxes where the photos are and picked with photos I wanted to have show up.  You can even do some cropping and minor editing of your photos once they are in the page so they layout how you like.  Add some text for your journalling and you are done!

Today is the LAST day to get your free digital downloads

– there is this scrapbook page template, a full digital kit (with stamps, designer paper, and embellishments), and a Christmas countdown set.  GET THEM HERE

You can use My Digital Studio download with any software that allows you to import images.  Or if you don’t have MDS, get the free 30 day trial to make playing with them even easier.

If you do get this download, just a tip for this journaling block:

It may be hard to see on the screen, but the template had some sketched lines right there, so I just created a text block and set the font to 18pt and line spacing at 0.7 and it fit perfectly!  Here is how it looks in MDS:

So, grab them while you can and get some of your cute pictures off your computer and into a layout you can print and enjoy looking at for years to come!

To Order Stampin’ Up! Products Anytime, click here!

Its INK-REDIBLE November!
Get a FREE set of 10 ink pads with a qualifying order or party; or get them free when you join the Stampin’ Up! family!  Learn more

Are you earning your Northwest Stamper Rewards? Every order gets you closer to your FREE stamp set! Click here to learn more!

Scrapbooking Sunday: Quick 8×8 Page Layouts

Alright, I’ve decided it is high time to resurrect Scrapbooking Sunday and there is no time like today to get started!

I thought I would share a couple layouts from my upcoming Scrapbook in a Night class that I’m holding at the end of the month.  The idea of this class is to take 1/2 of a Simply Scrappin’ Kit and with a few extra embellishments make a cute, 20 page album in no time!

So, here is the front page from the album… lets call this the title page.

Then, we’ll make a number of 2-page spreads like this one:

I have to admit, I normally am not a fan of stickers in scrapbooking but I forget that with some layering and a few Stampin’ Dimensionals, that you can come up with some fun accents.  Plus, they are super fast and easy to work with.  So, I guess I’m ok with them after all!

This class is the 8×8 format which helps you stretch your kit a bit further.  Normally I’m a 12×12 girl all the way.  But if that is you too, you could always complete the layouts and then mount them to a 12×12 piece of cardstock for your base – just step it up one step further!

So, if you are in the Seattle area, I’d love to have you join us for this class!  All the details are on my event calendar if you’d like to learn more.

If you are not local but want a kit, let me know and I’ll get you out a kit and photos of all the pages to be completed!  Email me at jennifer@nwstamper.com to confirm your spot.

Alright, well that is it for today.  Are you a scrapbooker and would like to continue seeing scrapbooking samples posted?  Leave me a comment and let me know! Hearing from you lets me know how often I should start posting my scrapbooking layout ideas.

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Scrapbooking Sunday: Mixed Bunch page

Since the end of last year, I’ve started to get on a scrapbooking kick.  I realized that I had a lot more fun and was much faster with scrapbook pages when I started from a sketch and so I started playing along with some sketch challenges.  This was a page I created based on a sketch by the very talented Kristy Lee.

Normally, I am one of those people who try to jam a million 4×6 pictures onto a 12×12 scrapbook page; so the idea of only having one picture is definitely outside of my comfort zone.  However, I loved this picture and it stood alone well for the story (Nicholas getting his first tooth) that I just went for it.

It also meant I had lots of space to fill with other elements on the page.  So I grabbed my new Mixed Bunch stamp set and matching Blossom punch from the Occasions mini and am pretty sure I used every stamp in the set!

I punched and popped up the flowers with varying heights to add some dimension to the page.  And then I added some extra accents for fun – a brad here, some dazzling details on the Tangerine Tango center of the white flower (hard to see in the picture), and some Crystal Effects on the green flower thing.

You can also kind of see in this picture how I had fun sponging the letters for my title.  I busted out my Big Shot to cut them out but thought white was too stark.  So, thanks to the awesome color matching-ness of Stampin’ Up papers and inks, I was able to pull in the colors of the papers by sponging the coordinating inks across the letters (well, I actually sponged the paper and then cut out the letters, but you get the idea).  This was a new idea for me; and I’m definitely going to have to do it again.

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First Tooth Scrapbook Page Recipe:
Stamps:  Mixed Bunch
Ink:  Old Olive classic, Tangerine Tango classic, Chocolate Chip classic, Bashful Blue classic
Paper: Old Olive designer paper, Bashful Blue textured cardstock, Chocolate Chip cs, Whisper White cs, Crumb Cake cs, Tangerine Tango cs, Old Olive cs
Accessories:  Chocolate Chip 1-1/4” striped grosgrain ribbon, Crystal Effects, Gold Brad, 3/4” circle punch, 1” circle punch, Blossom punch, sponges, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Ticket corner punch, Paper piercer, Dazzling Details, Star stickers and border from retired SS kit, Timeless Type Junior Alphabet, Big Shot