At the County Fair

Did you catch some good photos at your favorite carnival or fair this year? I sure did... and I couldn't wait to scrap them! And Reminisce created the perfect paper and stickers for you to create some great pages to remember your visit this year. The vivid colors of the line just SCREAM "carnival" and "fun"!

I built two layouts of my kids enjoying the NW Washington Fair-- our favorite! I used the Reminisce paper (it was two sided--words and stripes) and stickers, and added Bazzill cardstock and chipboard, pom pon ribbon and rick rack from the store. To add a little more creativity, I did some stitching, added some fabric and buttons, and did a little painting on the photos and photo mats too.


Anyone for a funnel cake and a spin on the Tilt-A-Whirl? Mmmmm....

Super Sweet, not at all Spooky Halloween papers

There is no need to be spooked by a little pattern paper and funky colors for Halloween! You really must hurry to the store before all the Halloween paper is gone and check out the options.

This line, from My Mind's Eye was fantastic to work with. The accompanying sheet of cardstock tags and borders made these pages and cards come together really quickly. Be sure to think outside the box...some Halloween embellishments lend very well to general fall themed projects, cards and pages and vice-versa.

Here's to a photo-laden Halloween and many fabulous projects afterward to prove it!
Anita

As you can tell, I used transparencies...again...yes...I just love this technique for journaling and titles. Also, the really small photos on the Halloween through the years layout are from the photo "kiosk" at Rite Aid...you can choose the collage feature and print several photos on one 4 x 6...perfect for pages and projects like this!

Mr. Campy loves camping

Creating with the Mr Campy Line from Cosmo Cricket was breath taking like so many of those camping trips that we all venture on during the summer months. I chose this time to make an altered project along with a layout and cards because I thought it would be fun to take this scrap booking line along with us on those future camping trips. For the altered project I went to the Dollar Store and got a puzzle box and made it in to a First Aid Kit box. I inked around the edges and used the rub-ons that go along with the line of paper. For my layout this is an original, for those of you that know me I love to scrap lift from lots of different places but this time I couldn't find anything that I loved so I decided to go it alone and do a Nikki original. I used a title strip for the sheet of Mr Campy's Striptease and the journaling box is from the sheet of Mr. Campy's Journaling Cards, which both sheets are very easy to use. I added some more of the rub-ons and some twill around the plaid strip of paper and Wow it was done and looks good. For my cards I loved the rub-ons in the pack so decided to find more that would work on the cards that I made. What an awesome line to play and create with.

Love is In the Air

This Paper from Pebbles Etc. was so easy to use. The pink and red is the perfect fit for all your Valentine and Sweetheart pictures. It also makes some of the cutest cards to give out during the Valentine holiday. To embellish the layout and cards I used some of Jolee's boutique stickers, ribbon from the store, and a Bazzill flower with a pink brad.

Mmm... More Memory Mixer!

Most of my papercrafting is inspired by others... I "scraplift" an idea here or an idea there... but this time I decided to pretty much duplicate a layout from Creating Keepsakes magazine that was created by Elizabeth Karchner. (She's brilliant-- check out her blog to see more of her creations!)


The main difference? Elizabeth made her layout mostly by traditional paper scrapping. I did a majority of my layout by creating it digitally in Memory Mixer. Here's a photo of the digital page alone:


Then I added some fun traditional embellishments (Bazzill brads and cardstock, pattern paper scraps, pop dots). Those really made the page come alive with texture, color and style. Here's the final product:


It was fun to try and make a digital layout look so much like a traditionally created page. Would you have known it's a Memory Mixers page?

Memory Mixer Creations

Here are a couple of unrelated projects... one of cards I made and one of a digital layout.

The Harvest cards are hybrid... mostly using Paper Pals products (My Minds Eye patterned paper, Bazzill cardstocks, transparency, brads, circle punch and twine) but adding in just a touch of digital by printing a photo and text on transparency. Memory Mixer is simple enough to use for those of you interested in sticking to mostly paper scrapping with the occasional digital element.

The 8 1/2 by 11 layout is all digital-- created entirely in Memory Mixer. I used elements that come with the program: a light colored background paper, photo frame, flourishes... Then I used fonts that were already on my computer (Fabulous 50s and CK Curly Girl) and photos that I took. Memory Mixer gave me the option of printing a photo as a background with journaling on top-- which is a big draw for digital scrapping. I think the digital page turned out great "as is", but could also have more embellishments added with products from the store.

You can use this software to create your paper projects with as much or as little computer generated pieces as you want!

Let it snow

If you have been scrapbooking for very long you can probably look through your books and find trends in your techniques. You know, the paper tearing phase, the eyelet phase, the brad phase, the black-and-white phase, the bling-n-ink phase. You get the idea. Some of these things become part of your personal style, some don't.

I've been in an ink phase for quite a while now.

When I first started using ink in my scrapbooking, my hands were always covered with different colors that would not wash off. Friends and even total strangers would come up and say, "What is wrong with your hands?" like I had some sort of contagious disease and they might need to grab their kids and run. I thought that with time I would learn how to use the ink without getting it all over myself. I was wrong. I still get it all over my hands. So if you see me with normal, clean hands, you better tell me to get busy because I probably am not scrapbooking or paper crafting enough.

One of my favorite inking tools is the Ranger Inkssentials blending tool. The package says it gives better control of your ink -- "no more inky fingers!" which might be true for you, but totally isn't for me -- but even though I still get ink all over myself, I don't know how I ever lived without it. It has foam pads that stick on with Velcro, and they work great to blend and apply ink. I keep one pad for each different color. It's so easy and fun to use that I ink random things just to be inking. (Paper, gems, my craft table, my fingers, my sleeves, the floor, the cat...)

That's how this snow sign came about. Karen showed me the cute little Bazzill snowflake chips, and I thought, hey...I could ink those!

The Bazzill chips are white, textured on one side, and they take ink very well. I added lots of sparkles to them and then hung them on wire I had beaded with seed beads. I spiraled the wire to give it a little bounce. The Bazzill chips also come in trees, candy canes and light bulbs. There is also a very cute little gingerbread chipboard house at the store that is calling out my name!

I wanted my project to feel wintry so I used lots of cool blue ink, white paint, blue Bazzill card stock, and one of the newer Bazzill Just-the-Edge borders. I put gems and Hero Arts pearls randomly on the sign around the letters to look like ice or glittery little snowflakes. I really like the way the pearls look, and I love how they can be colored with Copic markers (and the gems can, too).

One thing I thought about but didn't do -- though it could look really cool -- is to use some Stickels to make a little "snow" on the sign.

For the lettering, I used various chipboard and Thickers brand letters. They are all painted white and have Broken China colored Ranger ink on them to add some depth. The "W "is from the Tim Holtz line of grunge board, which is really cool to work with because it is completely flexible and you can paint, ink, or sand it. Each box is full of several different fonts and sizes. If you haven't seen the grunge board yet you should really check it out. I'm sure there are more ways to use it than I have discovered -- if you have a fun technique you use on it, leave me a comment, I'd love to hear!

~Malinda

Halloween Banner

Thank you Shawna and Karen for letting me make this banner. I love the way it turned out. I love all the new Halloween papers so much that I bought some for my circle book that was on the blog last week. Two things that I am really into right now are the color orange (you might have noticed), and shiny things (perhaps I was a raccoon in a former life?). I got to use both on this fun banner.

I used Rangers crackle paint in dried marigold on the letters to spell the word BOO. It was the first time I have used the paint and I really liked the way it turned out. After it was dry I used Rangers spiced marmalade ink and covered the letters with it. This makes the cracks get darker and show up better and it doesn't really change the color of the paint.

After covering the chipboard pennants I glued down the letters and then I used Judikins Diamond Glaze on top of the letters to give them lots of shine and dimension. Then of course, I added lots of Gems that I colored with my Copic markers. I really like these markers, they are alcohol based and you can blend colors and color on things like transparencies and gems! I glued some ribbon along the top of the pennants with glue lines and tied them all together with some cute ribbon.

You can find everything you need to make one of these at Paper Pals. And if you go in to check the back side of this banner you will find a bonus! I had so much fun and so many cute things left over that I decorated both sides. And still I had plenty left over things to keep making things.

Have fun with the Holiday papers, they make them cuter every year.

Cleary Fun! Hambly Transparencies & Rubons!

Deb rocked the Hambly transparencies by making an awesome mini album that incorporates paint, Hambly chandelier rub-ons, and several of the Hambly Transparencies! The theme of her album is about being a mom and the journaling inside is sure to touch your heart!

Deb's second project is this stunning layout that is built with a transparency as the base page (so it is really clear and not white as it shows in the photo), additional transparency layers, ghost shapes, grungeboard, and more paint!

My Mind's Eye...Christmas is coming!

The new line from My Mind's Eye is so versatile and whimsical! The paper really had me thinking. Dig up some old or extra photos and enjoy the creative process combined with reminiscing about times gone by....it really won't hurt anything if you scrap out of order will it? So my challenge to you is to have fun with scrapping Christmas and winter...whenever you feel like it!

I was able to make 3 layouts and 3 cards each reflecting a different "vibe" that the paper can so easily help to convey.

First, the gorgeous snowflake paper...yes, in a lovely sage green. I love the feel of the elements on this page with the paper...



















Next, a "blue Christmas"...anyone who knows me knows how very much I love blue... so, you'll have to stop by the store to see the "fine print" on this page. I printed the photos on a transparency to convey the idea that these memories are faint, fuzzy, fleeting (these photos are from 3+ years ago).



















I used traditional "red/green" for my "Remember" Christmas page. This line comes wtih a sheet of die cut elements that make putting together pages like these a snap. It was really fun digging up some old photos and reflecting on them in a new way...

Finally, the cards...with the elements left after the pages, I was able to create 3 (and there could've been more, but alas, I should've been sleeping:), fun and fresh cards.

















Tricks and Techniques used:

*print photos and journaling on transparency
*paint chipboard letters and then coat with Diamond Glaze
*cut the tiny strip from the end of the paper (where "My Mind's Eye" is printed) and use it for yet another page element
*use Diamond Glaze to accent parts of an element and sprinkle with glitter (on the snowflake card)


You'll love this line...give it a try!
Anita