Neith's Crafty Creations

To You With Love Stitchbound Album

2009-10-01T13:40:00.005-05:00

What do you get when you combine some Club Scrap papers with a book binding needle and some beads? The answer, of course, is that the sky is the limit! But you may just find yourself creating a gorgeous handmade book!

Instead of a plain stitched spine, why not have a little fun and string some beads on the outside of the spine? If you don't cover over the spine, not only does it show up beautifully when the book is closed, but between every other page you'll get a glimpse of those beads!

Of course, you can't forget the cover! Create a fun frame with extra waxed linen thread and use beads or brads as anchors at the corners, tie some more beads and charms on at the end of the threads and have fun!

Use beads on any of your pages as additional decoration! Use them as bullet points, beaded flowers, stitch them along the sides of a pocket (add these to the page or cut on page a little taller than the rest and fold over the bottom edge before stitching up the sides)!

Club Scrap: To You With Love 2/04 - TYWL Red Chalk Ink Pad, Prints and Solids; Bead & Embellishment Cup; Waxed Linen Thread; Bookbinding Needle;

For more stitchbound books using the same techniques, please check out the following blog posts!

And check out tons of other book designs through my Book Making category!

8 Layouts using 10 of Spades ALSB Idea Deck Volume 2

2009-07-30T18:49:00.004-05:00

Here is another multiple layout set, this time using the 10 of Spades card from the ALSB Idea Deck Volume 2! Each pair of layouts uses only 4 sheets of 12x12 paper plus 1 sheet of 8.5x11 paper (or three photo mattes)!

Vermont Cows - 10 of Spades Left by Neith Juch
Club Scrap: ALSB Idea Deck Vol 2 - 10 of Spades (left); Mirror Mirror 11/08 - Robin's Egg, Light Celery, Dark Celery; Hybrid Ink Pad - Earth;
Dollar Tree - Foam Alphabet Stickers;

When we visited the Ben & Jerry's factory, in Vermont, the kids couldn't get enough of the cows that were grazing past the flavor graveyard! Luckily we managed to remind them that the fence might be electric before they got too close!

Smart Car - 10 of Spades Right by Neith Juch
Club Scrap: ALSB Idea Deck Vol 2 - 10 of Spades (right); Mirror Mirror 11/08 - Robin's Egg, Light Celery, Dark Celery, Dark Celery Print; Hybrid Ink Pad - Earth;
Scrapbook Takeout: Parisian Vintage Chic 5/08 - Thickers Velvet in Cream;

My son loves spotting cool cars everywhere that we go... yet somehow it took a trip to Montreal to see our first Smart Car on the road! Of course, it was in his favorite color, lime green!

Recycled Creations - 10 of Spades Left by Neith Juch
Club Scrap: ALSB Idea Deck Vol 2 - 10 of Spades (left); Bistro - Tangerine; Science - Topaz Foil Print; Stratosphere - Green; Wheel & Sprocket - Green; Palette Hybrid Ink - Noir Black;
Scrapbook Takeout - Alphabet Stickers;

No, sadly we didn't make these wallets, but we took phoos since we loved them and want to create some! But first we have to start getting paper cartons of milk and juice! These very cool wallets are available to buy in the gift shop at the Montreal Botanical Gardens.

A Perfect Day - 10 of Spades by Neith Juch
Club Scrap: ALSB Idea Deck Vol 2 - 10 of Spades; Artifacts 2/09 - Paprika Print, Paprika Plain, Dark Aqua Print, Dark Aqua Plain, Light Aqua Plain, Stickers; Palette Hybrid Ink Pad - Noir Black;

My cousins had a blast showing one of their local playgrounds off to my children! We laughed, we swam, we climbed, and we even hunted in the marsh for cattails!

Bridging to Juniors ALSB Vol2 10 of Spades by Neith Juch
Club Scrap: ALSB Idea Deck Vol 2 - 10 of Spades; Mirror Mirror 11/09 - Robin's Egg Blue, Light Celery, UM Stamps;
Ranger: Adirondack Pigment Ink Pad - Espresso;
K & Co: Brownie Scrap Pad; Marcella by K - File Folder;

We had such a beautiful bridging ceremony for our troop as the girls progressed to Juniors! They each drew pictures of a favorite Brownie memory and these images, plus photos of the artist during brownie events, were in a slide show right before we called them up to cross them all over! For this layout, I paired up Club Scrap's Mirror Mirror kit with one reversible official Girl Scout print and made just a few extra cuts to help frame the artwork... And added in the printed folder that wasn't part of the Girl Scout line, but matched beautifully! (I've got tiny reprints of the girls' bridging certificates to tuck into the file folder on this layout!)

Easter 2009 Digital Layout by Neith Juch
Club Scrap Digital: Memoirs 7/09 - Plain2, Tag01, Tag03, BBFStamp7; Perfect Ten 6/09 - DBG4; Inked Edges Volume 1 - 4x5, 4x6c, 8x10a, 12x2, 12x12a, 12x12c;
PSE: Altered Hues/Saturation, Layer Blending Modes, Opacity;

This layout is indeed digital, but, by using transparent papers you can create a similar layout! I loved the quiet colors in the main photo and wanted to really set it off, so I took it a step further by creating three layers of the same photograph and desaturated a top layer of the photo, then used the Screen layer blending mode on that layer... then I used the Multiply layer blending mode on the middle layer and adjusted the top two layers' opacity and color until I was satisfied. Then I applied the same effects to the smaller images that share one matte.

10 Layouts Polynesian Crafter Classics

2009-07-27T08:38:00.003-05:00

There are so many wonderful Crafter Classics from Club Scrap! The designers take the original artwork from an amazing older kit and rearrange everything, adding new artwork and text, then pair it up with a mix of solid cardstock from different Club Scrap kits to create a brand new twist on old favorites! The Polynesian Kit was way before my time and I only have odds and ends from the original, but thanks to the Crafter Classics, I have the full new kit plus the coordinating Remix Unmounted Stamp Sheet with all new coordinating images!

Here are the 10 ALSB pages that you can make with the free instructions for this kit! I've just added inked edges, rotated a layout or two, and added one stamped sentiment to the butterfly page... everything other than the ink and stamp are part of the kit!

Museum Visits, 1 Paper and 3 Digital Layouts

2009-07-20T08:42:00.004-05:00

We usually keep very busy during the Summer with museum, zoo, and park visits . . . But this year we're been busy tending to sick children each week! Here's hoping that this new trend is over! Who would expect the flu and bronchitis during the Summer! Right now everyone seems on the mend and I even managed to find a little time to scrap during Club Scrap's PSL Summer Camp (Pro Scrapping League, where teams compete to score points by creating paper layouts, cards, or digital creations and earn prizes and discounts each week)!

Club Scrap: Perfect Ten - ALSB #8 (I used the same base cardstock, but with prints from the original kits instead of the Perfect Ten prints); Private Eye 10/08 - Green Print, Stencil; Gimme a Ring 1/09 - Bisque Print, Dark Maize;
Ranger: Distress Ink Pad - Brushed Corduroy; Ink Applicator Tool;

Uatchet really enjoyed scoping out the artifacts at the Boston Museum of Science with the magnifying glasses! I loved the look of this layout in the Perfect Ten Special Edition Kit, but couldn't bear to give up the prints, quite yet! Instead, I created the layout using the same ALSB instructions and the same colors of cardstock, but with their original kits' prints instead of the new Perfect Ten designs. I have a few more layouts coming that were approached in a similar manner!

Club Scrap: Concrete Jungle Digital Kit 6/09 - Template6, CSJRStencil1, EMBFiber8, EMBTag31, EMBTag32, EMBTag38, EMBTag40, EMBTag42, Sticker16; Perfect Ten Special Edition Digital Kit 6/09 - DigitalBackground1;

We took a few friends with us to the Boston Children's Museum on a Friday night and had a blast! I still can't believe that Nekhebet did a slam dunk!

Club Scrap: Private Eye 10/08 Digital - Stencil Xtras12, CS_Paper5, CS_Paper6, Paper1, Paper3, Paper5, Stamp08; PSL Summer Camp Prize - Week4_1a_1a;

Sebek and Nekhebet teamed up to examine the insects embedded in amber at the Harvard Museum of Natural History!

Club Scrap: Memoirs Digital Kit 7/09 - EMBFiber03, DigitalBackground3, Print2, Print5; Concrete Jungle Digital Kit 6/09 - Font; Artifacts Digital Kit 2/09 - Template4;

After taking a free watercolor and chalk workshop at the Peabody Essex Museum, Sebek immediately needed new supplies for the week away from home! White the girls played, met new friends, and learned new things, Sebek kept sneaking off to create!

9 More Layouts, 1 Formula, 3 of Clubs

2009-07-05T12:42:00.006-05:00

What else can you get when you combine 4 sheets of paper, 2 mattes/another sheet of paper, and one ALSB Idea Deck Card? Plenty more great layouts, of course! Here are 9 layouts that I created using the 3 of Clubs card from the ALSB Idea Deck Vol. 2! (Check out the ALSB, Assembly Line ScrapBooking, definition to the right!)

Club Scrap: ALSB Idea Deck Vol 2 - 3 of Spades; Matrix - Red Print; Cruisin' - Black; Science - Topaz Foil Print; Artifacts - Sky Blue;
Scrapbook Takeout - Red Felt Thickers;

We're still not quite sure what these people-cutouts, 80s themed workout photos, and cell phones have to do with one another, but the girls had a blast playing in the cutouts at the Montreal mall! The original ALSB design sandwiches 3 small mattes and thin strips together, but I like the thin strips to spread out a bit and to leave the three adjacent mattes uncut, for now!

Club Scrap: ALSB Idea Deck Vol 2 - 3 of Clubs (right); Common Threads 3/09 - Teal; Avant Garde 3/08 - Green; Fizzin' Blue 2008 - Green Print; Stratosphere 4/07 - Dark Blue Print, Stickers;
Scrapbook Takeout: Wonderland 3/09 - Fancy Pants Felt Shapes, KI Memories Chipboard Shapes, Punchinella Ribbon;

I have fallen head over heels for this Crochet Grocery Bag Pattern By Haley Waxberg! It's a simple combination of single crochet, chain, and slip stitches to create a wonderfully stretchy netted produce/shopping bag. I altered the pattern, just a little, in between the increasing rows, I did one less row than called for and did 12-14 of the ch5 rows as the main body.. also, I thickened my straps a little and used 100% cotton by Lily and by Bernat.

I combined the photo with some coordinating papers, earthy embellishments, and the fun punchinella ribbon, that reminds me of the bag's open pattern. I love drawing my color scheme from my photographs and really enjoy mixing and matching papers from different kits to do so! Having a handmade swatch ring of my Club Scrap cardstock is invaluable for this style of scrapping!

Club Scrap: ALSB Idea Deck Vol 2 - 3 of Clubs Left; A Study in Red Digital Kit 1/08; Milestones 12/09 Digital Kit; Digital Inked Edges Vol 1;

One of the great things about digital scrapbooking is that you can easily create 12" wide panoramic photographs without any extra expenses! Another great thing is that when you adore the rich texture of a Club Scrap paper you can go ahead and zoom in on it to really emphasize the pattern in your digital layouts!

Club Scrap: ALSB Idea Deck Vol 2 - 3 of Clubs; Great Outdoors 10/07 - Mushroom, Green Text Weight Print, Light Green, Dark Green, Dark Green Print, Light Green Tags; Hybrid Ink Pad - Earth;

Adding a lightly inked edge really helps distinguish one piece of paper from another and helps maintain the illusion of 12" long strips hiding under an overlapping matte. Just remember not to ink the edge that is hidden under or alongside the matte!

Club Scrap: ALSB Idea Deck Vol 2 - 3 of Clubs Right; Bridges Digital Kit 2/08 - CS03; Great Outdoors 10/07 - CS01, CS02, CS08; Refresh Digital Kit 2/07 - PLtBlue1; Farmer's Market Digital Kit 10/06 - CSBrown;

When working with digital scrapbooking, never be afraid to alter the hue of your elements to make them coordinate with your layout! For this layout, I loved the printed wooden bridge from the Refresh kit, but the color would have completely clashed with my layout... so I used Ctrl-U to alter the hue, saturation, and brightness of the print until it blended perfectly with my layout!

Club Scrap: ALSB Idea Deck Vol 2 - 3 of Clubs; Let Me Count the Ways Digital - Paper; Mirror Mirror Digital - Paper, Transparencies, Digital Font;

I took full advantage of digital scrapbooking in order to copy random stripes from the transparency overlay image to create borders for my photographs and "paper" strips. With the outline nature of the Mirror Mirror font images, it was easy to cut and paste some of the digital cardstock into the text to help continue the style. I also just loved how the patterns on these two prints combined in both pattern and color scheme.

Club Scrap: ALSB Idea Deck Vol 2 - 3 of Clubs Right; Pure & Simple 4/09 - Digital Kit; Digi Inked Edges Vol 1;

With digital kits you can always play with the transparency levels of your different layrs and use any color of paper as an overlay to retint a patterned paper that is underneath it. For this layout I took a nearly grayscale background paper and tinted the lighter areas green by layering up a green cardstock image over it with the overlay style. I also retinted some of the paper from lime green into a deep purple to coordinate with the flowers to try to maintain the color scheme of the photograph.

Of course, I couldn't leave you without a quick glance at the basic design for this layout formula! When you create your page, never fear to move your elements around and alter the cuts slightly to fit your needs!

9 Layouts, 1 Formula, 3 of Spades

2009-07-04T15:09:00.005-05:00

What can you get when you combine 4 sheets of paper and one ALSB Idea Deck Card? Tons of great layouts, of course! Here are 9 layouts that I created using the 3 of Spades card from the ALSB Idea Deck Vol. 2! (Check out the ALSB, Assembly Line ScrapBooking, definition to the left!)

Club Scrap: ALSB Idea Deck Vol 2 - 3 of Spades; Artifacts 2/09 - Paprika Print, Sky Blue; Matrix 7/08 - Red Print; Sparkle & Shine 12/06 - UM; Palette Hybrid - Noir Black;

I just loved using the sunburst print from Artifacts with photos of sparklers! Even though we didn't capture a great image of the burst of sparks, it was a fun moment and the print, plus the stamped title, give a picture of what was taking place!

Club Scrap: ALSB Idea Deck Vol 2 - 3 of Spades; Artifacts 2/09 - Paprika Print, Sky Blue; Matrix 7/08 - Red Print; Sparkle & Shine 12/06 - UM; Palette Hybrid - Noir Black;
Unknown Alphabet Stickers;

I have no clue was was so exciting about this kiddie ride, but the girls really adored it! All those little joys in life, eh?

Club Scrap: ALSB Idea Deck Vol 2 - 3 of Spades (right); Stratosphere 4/07 - Green, Blue Print, Green Frames; Fizz 1/07 - Dark Pink; Hybrid Ink Pad - Noir Black;

When you've got brand new wheels, what better place to go than Lynch Park? Did I mention that we're so lucky to have all three kids' birthdays within a 3 week timeframe? We can give them all coordinating gifts, like scooters, in between the birthday hooplah and have everyone playing at once!

Club Scrap: ALSB Idea Deck Vol 2 - 3 of Spades (left); Crusin' 8/08 - Black, Ribbon, Stickers; Fizz 1/07 - Dark Pink, Light Pink; Hybrid Ink Pad - Noir Black;

When the girls were ready to get their ears pierced they picked out their most fabulous dress up outfits, put on some fancy shoes, and strutted their stuff through Walmart! We set up our appointment with the nicest lady on staff and she had lollipops for them plus certificates that she'd printed at home and it was quite the event!

Club Scrap: ALSB Idea Deck Vol 2 - 3 of Spades (left); Matrix 7/08 - Red, Blue, Gold; Hybrid Ink Pad - Noir Black;
Unknown Alphabet Stickers;

Not only did the kids love the ice cream and factory tour at Ben & Jerry's, but the girls were also so proud to use their own money on souvenirs!

Club Scrap: ALSB Idea Deck Vol 2 - 3 of Spades; Great Outdoors 10/07 - Digital Kit;
Font: Concrete Shoes;

With the size of this dinosaur, he just needed to be a big and tall photo! This time I happened to scrap the layout digitally, but there's no reason why you can't spread one photo across multiple mattes on a physical layout!

Club Scrap: ALSB Idea Deck Vol 2 - 3 of Spades (right); Matrix 7/08 - Red, Blue; Stratosphere 4/07 - Fuchsia Print; Hybrid Ink Pad - Noir Black;

I really do love when my kids get to "help" out with a younger child on an outing! They loved looking after their little cousin at Boston's Children's Museum this Spring!

Club Scrap: ALSB Idea Deck Vol 2 - 3 of Spades (left); Common Threads 3/09 - Teal, Green, Lilac Print; Hybrid Ink Pad - Sapphire;

Of course, they also have fun with cousins who are the same age and a little older than they are! This time, my cousins were sharing their neighborhood park to my children before they moved away! :(

Club Scrap Digital: Common Threads 3/09 - Print10, Stamp03, QDDL6; Body & Soul 5/08 - DP03, DP04, DP11, DP14, Fbr02;
ALSB Idea Deck Volume 2 - 3 of Spades Left;

On this digital layout, I layered up elements from the Body & Soul and Common Threads kits to get my own backgrounds and overlays for the layout. Just another day at the park with everyone trying to outswing one another!

Thought I'd throw in a little peek at the basic design of the 3 of Spades card so that you can see where I rearranged things and added more to it!

10 Cards Using Herringbone and the ALCM Idea Deck

2009-06-29T10:09:00.002-05:00

Club Scrap has tons of great ideas to help you with card making! Every month the Club Stamp Rap (full color newsletter that comes with the monthly Club Stamp membership kit) includes images of 15 great cards that are often created by members, using that month's kit. There are often tips and techniques scattered throughout the Sr, Jr, Club Stamp, and Digital Raps that either deal directly with cards or translate easily to them. There is also a full set of free instructions available to members to help them make 15 cards using the optional monthly Greeting to Go side order. And then there are countless videos in the Cinema with more ideas... And finally, the awesome ALCM (Assembly line Card Making) Idea Deck which has 52 idea cards with full cutting instructions so that you can transform a few sheets of 12x12 and/or 8.5x11 papers into a set of coordinating cards! A sampling of these cards were given away for free during the last PSL (Pro Scrapping League, a multi-week challenge to work as teams to create layouts and/or cards, competing for prizes and discounts... a brand new Summer Camp PSL is opening up on July 6th)!

Today, I'm going to share 2 new cards that I made using the Herringbone Technique that was just featured in a recent CS Cinema episode and some cards that I made during the last PSL using the 5 of Hearts card from the ALCM deck and papers from the Vintage Choice Collection! Enjoy!

Club Scrap: Concrete Jungle 6/09 - Birthday CSt WM Stamp; Milestones 12/08 - Plain Paper in Soft White; Wings 7/05 - Plain Paper in Apricot, Brown, Dark Blue, Light Blue, and Mustard; Hybrid Ink Pad in Earth; Herringbone Technique;
Carpet Tape;

The Herringbone Technique was features in the Henna 5/09 Club Stamp Rap and there is also a great video up in Club Scrap's cinema that teaches the technique! Basically you take thin scraps of cardstock and adhere them to carpet tape (from the hardware store) or another equally sticky surface, and lay them out in a Herringbone-like pattern then trim away! very simple and lovely! Use plain cardstock, printed papers, or stamp all over them before cutting... use left over scraps or cut up some extra paper, anything goes! It's a really great way to use up tiny scrap from your projects! I wound up diving into my ziplock baggies with old scraps in them and trimmed the strips to some skinnier pieces!

Club Scrap: Concrete Jungle 6/09 - Birthday CSt WM Stamp; Collections 6/06 - Plain Paper in Red, Saddle Brown, Tan, and Teal;
Ranger: Adirondack Dye Ink Pad - Stream;
Carpet Tape;

Club Scrap: Idea Deck Assembly Line Card Making - 5 of Hearts; Vintage Choice Kit: DIY Green Block Print, DIY Light Tan; Extra Extra 6/04 - UM; Rhapsody 3/07 - UM; Refresh 2/07 - UM;
Ranger: Adirondack Dye Ink Pads - Latte, Starfish Green, Meadow; Distress Ink Pad - Walnut Stain;

What do two sheets of 12x12 paper do when thrown into a PSL final challenge? Why, pair up with the Assembly Line Cardmaking Idea Deck's 5 of Hearts and become a quick set of 4 cards, of course! And I love this recipe since it creates cards which fit into standard invitation sized envelopes while also working quite easily with printed papers and stamps! Or toss some simple embellishments onto the smaller rectangle to finish out the cards!

Club Scrap: Idea Deck Assembly Line Card Making - 5 of Hearts; Vintage Choice Kit: DIY Purple Print, Time & Space Mauve Dust; Ivory Elegance - UM; Chapter One UM; Unknown Flowers and Brads; FFC Ways of Stamping - UM; Palette Hybrid Ink Pad - Noir Black;
Colorbox: Unknown Purple Ink;

Stay tuned for some more ALCM Idea Deck cards, coming soon!

Trash Menagerie at PEM with 2 Digital Layouts

2009-06-25T09:44:00.004-05:00

The Peabody Essex Museum has a new and wonderful exhibit called Trash Menagerie which features an array of animal sculptures made from recycled and reclaimed materials! They have a few themed special events still coming up and the exhibit will be on display until May 1, 2010! Below are just a few pieces from the installation! http://pem.org/exhibitions/exhibition.php?id=83

Club Scrap: Concrete Jungle 6/09 - QDDL3; Digital Inked Edges Vol 1 - 4x4, 12x12c;

I layered up a border by inverting the color on the Quick Drop Digital Layout and added back the original color by pasting it over the brown version and using Ctrl-G after laying inked borders over the background.

Sulphur Blue Smeck, 2005, Michelle Stitzlein, mixed junk, 62x84x11 inches.

"Recycling is not only one of the most creative arts but it also needs some imagination and lots of skills to perfect. Michelle Stitzlein is an artist who has both these creative skills along with tons of patience. Michelle has created a dazzling “Moth” series of recycled artwork made from items including car license plates, car parts, piano keys, broken china ware, tin cans, electric wire and bottle caps among other stuff that might just be rusting in your garage." http://www.ecofriend.org/entry/eco-arts-michelle-stitzlein-s-recycled-moth-sculptures/

Club Scrap: Concrete Jungle 6/09 - Template3; Perfect Ten 2009 - Plain5, Print8, Print10, Tag22;
Font: Santana Black;

Raggedtailed Dragon Fish, 2007, David Edgar, 30 x 64 x 9 inches, mixed recycled plastic. (I still need to get the title of the larger piece.)

8 Layouts of my Son

2009-06-23T15:46:00.008-05:00

In honor of his birthday, I'm posting 8 recent layouts of my son, over the years! Please forgive me for the photos of layouts, I took them quickly when I had just made them and planned to scan them in, but I want to get them posted today! Half are paper and the other half are digital layouts, enjoy!

Club Scrap: Centennial - Classic ALSB #6;
Scrapbook Takeout - Antique Autumn 11/08 - Chipboard Stickers; Pot Pourri 7/08 - Thickers Glitter Chipboard Alphabet Roller Rink Tangerine Gold; Eclectica 6/08 - Maya Road Stitched Ribbon;

These first three layouts are from the waiting period before his little sisters were born, when he got to take a visit to my parent's house to hang out, get tattooed, and take a night visit to the beach!

Club Scrap: Retreat 2006 - Let Me Count the Way Design Classic ALSB;
Scrapbook Takeout: Antique Autumn 11/08 - Felt Bird Shapes, Basic Grey Designer Rub Ons; Eclectica 6/08 - American Crafts Vinyl Stickers in Orange Sprinkles;
Ranger: Distress Ink Pad - Frayed Burlap;

Club Scrap: Time & Space ALSB;
Scrapbook Takeout: Parisian Vintage Chic 5/08 - Thickers Velvet in Cream; Ribbon;
Basic Grey: Distressing Kit (used on photo edges to file away some of the image);

Club Scrap: Bugs Remix 08 - ALSB #12 (includes Generations, Interior Designs, Retreat Cream, plus Bugs artwork);

Sebek and his friends were busy checking out his birthday cake complete with a painted on puzzle scene and handmade chocolate critters on top! You've got to love his shushing while they sang to him!

Club Scrap Digital Kits: Common Threads 3/09 - Print1, EMBXtra1, EMBXtra2, EMBXtra3; Gimme a Ring 1/09 - Template2, EMBFiber09; Mirror Mirror 11/08 - Plain4; Serengeti 11/07 - CS06, CS08; PSL 09 Prize - 4b;

It was such an unexpected treat to hear Sebek read his essay about me in front of his entire class!

Club Scrap: Academy 8/07 Digital Kit; Digital Inked Edges Vol. 1; Assembly Line Scrapbooking Idea Deck Vol. 2 - 9 of Hearts Left;

Not only was Montreal's Botanical Gardens filled with lovely plants and butterflies, but there was a small school playset in the middle of the greenhouse and Sebek had a blast in it!

Gimme a Ring Template; Inked Edges Vol 1, Artifacts BBF;

On out last trip to Montreal we were surprised by an array of street art stenciled onto the sidewalks and crosswalks! Since Sebek is named after the Egyptian crocodile god, I had to scrap this photo right away! I used the photograph of the title as my background "paper" and added the crocodile back in, creeping over the frame from the Gimme a Ring digital template!

Club Scrap Digital: Avant Garde 3/08 - DPaper11, DPaper12, Tag63, Tag80, Tag87, Xtra74; Be Still 9/07 - Xtra02;
Font: Clingy;

On our last visit to the Boston Museum of Science, we got to perform experiments! Here's one shot where Sebek and Jay successfully floated a paperclip on top of a glass of water!

5 Layouts From my Childhood and my Children's

2009-06-22T12:54:00.006-05:00

Here are a few layouts that I completed earlier, some digital, some physical! You may notice that I create 8.5"x11" layouts for my life before kids... I just love being able to work in different sizes without having to create mini books all the time. So, years ago I decided to scrap in 12"x12" for my main albums and 8.5"x11" as my "Book of Me" and have never regretted it! Plus, for those older photos, I'll often only have one image per event or just smaller photographs!

Club Scrap: Bridges 2/08 - Dark Brown Plain; Academy 8/07 - Tan 8.5x11 Print; Autumn Splendor 10/04 - Dark Brown Plain;
Scrapbook Takeout: Journal - Scenic Route Save the Date Chipboard Circles;
Cuttlebug: Funky Circle Frames;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pad - Espresso; Distress Ink Pad - Walnut Stain;
Zig: Memory Writer - Chocolate;

When I saw the "Save the Date" and "Good Times" chipboard shapes, I just had to break out those "funky circle" die cuts and get playing! The slightly brown tinted photograph worked well with an assortment of brown cardstock, inks, and embellishments for a fun layout!

Club Scrap: Chapter One 6/07 - Blue Print, Blue Plain, Stencil;
Scrapbook Takeout: Tell Your Story 3/08 - Jenni Bowlin Printed Tickets; 7 Gypsies 97% Complete Stickers Inspiration, Heidi Swapp Journaling Spots Mini Stars and Moons;
Making Memories - Transparency;

I just loved taking this photo and layering up a frame for it, starting with a transparency and cardstock, then overlapping stickers and embellishments, and text printed and painted onto the background paper! And I worked to pick up the main colors from the photo, blues, pink, white, and grey

Club Scrap: ALSB Idea Deck Vol 2 - Jack of Spades (left); Cruisin' 8/08 - Translucent Print, Light Coral, Black, Stickers;

Forgive me for the quality of this photo, but it really helps to show off the sparkles in the papers from the Cruisin' 8/08 kit! All but the translucent paper have the full sparkles when you look at them in real life... but using them for fishing photos wasn't what I expected! However I think it worked out great! I moved the photos just a little from the plan on the ALSB recipe card and added some skinny scrap strips to echo the strips in my daughters' jackets and love how it all fell into place! And the girls always have a blast at the Cub Scout Fishing Derby, never afraid to get their hands dirty!

Club Scrap Digital Kits: Common Threads 3/09 - Plain1, Template4; Gimme a Ring 1/09 - Print6; Cruisin' 8/08 - DP05; Fizz 1/07 - Trans22; Wheel & Sprocket 8/06 - Trans25; Let Me Count the Way Digi Demo - Paper04; Digi Inked Edges Vol. 1 - 12x12b;

The template from the Common Threads 3/09 Digital Kit is SO FUN! You can alter the style of each layer and cut all kinds of papers and colors to fill them, move things all around to your heart's content! It just screamed out Hula Hoops to me! With our vibrant photos of the Hawaiian themed weekend on the ski slopes with the Girl Scouts, I just had to go bright and load on the colors! I grabbed the shadow from another photo of my daughter hula-hooping and added it in turquoise to the background, then added a few digital stamps from some favorite past kits and digitally inked edges to finish off the layout.

Club Scrap Digital: Artifacts 2/09 - Plain5; Gimme a Ring 1/09 - Plain2; Bistro 7/07 - CS07, CS08; Surf's Up! 7/06 - Trans17, Trans22; Oh Baby - Trans09, Trans24; Inked Edges Vol 1 - 12x12c;

For this layout, I was inspired by Kim B's layouts in the 3/09 DigiRaps with all of the great vertical lines and small photos with embellishments sharing on vertical strip! And with the cartoony duck photo prop, I had to get a little cartoony on my layout! I switched the photo to black and white and upped the contrast, then gave it a bold black border stroke. I found the great dotted frame from Surf's Up and selected the border for the frame, stroked it in a new layer, and moved it to the side! When I grabbed the dotted line and text images, I also applied a heavy border stroke to them in black, but chose to ink the edges of the paper strips. I grabbed the great duck stamp and "colored" it in with the background yellow paper as the final touch!

Sumi Painting ATC Cards and Display

2009-06-20T20:13:00.004-05:00

When the April 2009 Pure & Simple SR Kit came out it included a Sumi paintbrush and some instructions, in the Scrap Rap, to help you learn a few different traditional Sumi designs! I tried my hand at a few of them, and some others, and some came out great, while others were OK ;) It'll take some getting used to, but it's such a fun thing to try and the black watercolor paint is incredible for very solid abstract patterns that remind me of the Zentangles that we did at the 2008 Main Retreat! And, since the Club Stamp kit included an awesome ATC Art Display (complete with an easel and a tacky mount to stick ATCs on and off of the display whenever you feel like it), I just had to put it together! I think that I'll add a few small mirrored tiles/rhinestones to the display, but I'm loving solid black with the rich texture for now!

Now, I'm anxiously waiting for my shipment of the two brand new Crafter Classics, Nature's Wonders in vibrant fucshia, lime, and lavendar... plus Color in Black & White in bold primaries (and b&w, of course)!

Club Scrap - Pure & Simple 4/09: Niji Black Watercolor Tube, Sumi Paintbrush, SR Scrap Rap painting instructions, Borders & Backgrounds UM Stamps, CSt UM Stamps, CSt Project ATC Art Display, Spring Green, Black, Grey, and White Papers;
Ranger - Nick Bantock Collection: Chartreuse Leaf; Adirondack Dye Ink: Citrus, Lettuce; Adirondack Pigment Ink: Pitch Black;

The ICA Boston Art Lab on Concrete Jungle Digital

2009-06-03T07:06:00.004-05:00

The ICA Boston Art Lab
No trip to the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston could be complete without some time in the Art Lab! On this visit we got to experiment with family and self portraits while being inspired by the creativity of other visitors! This month's kit had the perfect designs and colors to complement our photos, from bold pop icons to vibrant color schemes, and a slightly subdued digital print created the perfect backdrop!

http://www.icaboston.org 4/25/09

Club Scrap: Concrete Jungle 6/09 Digital Sr Kit - DigiBG1, Font13, FontA2, FontC, FontI2, Font02, Print6, Sticker04, WMCS; Inked Edges Vol 1 - 12x12b;

Current FFC Kits (as of 9/10/09)

2009-05-19T10:47:00.030-05:00

Update: Two brand new Crafter Classics are out! Color in Black & White and Nature's Wonders! Check out a sneak preview on Karen's Club Scrap Blog!

I'm sorry that I don't yet have images loaded for each of these, but I'm working on it! For those that aren't already on my blog, I've linked to the Club Scrap Gallerias and blog posts of the kits wherever it is possible! If you need to see anything else, contact me because I may have some in progress, subpar, images that I can send! I'll be trying to get each of these kits up on my blog as soon as I can!

Current FFC Exclusive 6 Page ALSB Kits:

Amber Waves
Bonsai Garden
Chapter One
Desert Rose
Dream in Indigo (low stock)
Extra! Extra! (low stock)
Grape Jelly (low stock)
Musical (aka Red Holiday)
Phone a Friend
Plum & Vine (aka Sugar Plum Holiday)
Tropical Paradise (low stock)
Workbench

Current FFC Crafter Classics Kits:

Chocolate Shoppe Remix
Color in Black & White Remix
Nature's Wonders Remix
Orient Remix
Polynesian Remix
Refresh Remix
Road Trip Remix
Tuscany Remix
Unmounted Borders & Background By The Seashore Remix
Unmounted Borders & Backgrounds Chocolate Shoppe
Unmounted Borders & Backgrounds Color in Black & White
Unmounted Borders & Backgrounds Nature's Wonders
Unmounted Borders & Backgrounds Orient Remix
Unmounted Borders & Backgrounds Polynesian Remix
Unmounted Borders & Backgrounes Refresh
Unmounted Borders & Backgrounes Road Trip
Unmounted Borders & Backgrounds Tuscany Remix

Additional Current FFC Exclusives:

Hometown Design Classics 10 Page ALSB Kit (low stock)
Serengeti Sampler 12 Page ALSB Kit
Cruisin' 8/08 Greetings to Go 15 Greeting Card Kit
Basic Cardmaking Collection (low stock)
Brights Cardmaking Collection
Paper Bag Book (the current version uses the 8.5x11 Kraft print from Chapter One Sr 6/07, but I also have them in other designs)
Unmounted You're Invited Stamps

Other Available Past and/or Exclusive Kits:

A Very Groovy Christmas Bright 6 Page FFC ALSB Kit
A Very Groovy Christmas Classic 6 Page FFC ALSB Kit
Beach Party 6 Page FFC ALSB Kit
Blue Lagoon 6 Page FFC ALSB Kit
Carnival 6 Page FFC ALSB Kit (comes with County Fair Stencil)
Cherries Jubilee
Coral Reef 6 Page FFC ALSB Kit
Dancing With the Stars 6 Page FFC ALSB Kit (comes with Time & Space Stencil)
Daisy Fields 6 Page FFC ALSB Kit
Focus on the Arts #1 6 Page FFC ALSB Kit
Focus on the Arts #2 6 Page FFC ALSB Kit
Friendship I 6 Page FFC ALSB Kit
Hip to be Square 6 Page FFC ALSB Kit
Love 6 Page FFC ALSB Kit (comes with free Glimmer Mist)
Musical Interlude 6 Page FFC ALSB Kit
Red Hot! 6 Page FFC ALSB Kit
Royal Court 6 Page FFC ALSB Kit
Wings 6 Page FFC ALSB Kit

Serengeti FFC Design Classics

Centennial Collection
Down to Earth Sr 4/05 Anniversary ALSB
Extra! Extra! CSt UM Stamps
Farmer's Market JR
Vintage Choice Collection
Workbench Sr 8/05 Anniversary ALSB

Bistro 7/07 CSt Album Purse
Cutest Little Canvas in Town Kits in To You With Love and Fossils themes
Gatefold Flag Book Kits in Asian Artisan, Evergreen, Friendship, Poetic, and To You With Love themes
Perpetual Calendar Project (in assorted designs)

Updated 9/10/09

Help Kids Help Kids Charity Bazaar

2009-05-09T00:06:00.005-05:00

On Saturday, May 9th, my girls and I will be at the Help Kids Help Kids Charity Bazaar in the Framingham Circle Furniture from 10AM until 1PM! The store is at 235 Worcester Road (Rt 9W) in Framingham, MA and there will be mutliple groups of children selling their handmade items to raise money for charities of their choice! It's a wonderful way to pick up a last minute Mother's Day gift, to treat your kids to something in the midst of the Mother's Day weekend, and so much more!

Our table will feature a few dozen handmade beaded charm bracelets (mostly using acrylic, metal, and fimo beads/charms instead of glass and stone), marine life earrings and pendants, and some yummy baked goods! Maybe even a little more! My daughters and their friends designed each of the bracelets and I've been working hard to finish assembling them!

100% of the sales at our table will go to The Lowell Wish Project which is a wonderful charity that helps provide new and used goods for many other charities, homeless shelters, emergency items in the event of fires and illnesses, families transitioning to apartments from the shelters, and so much more! We felt that it was really important to try and help families that are suffering during these ever-shifting economical times and we've seen families that have benefited directly from this organization, so we knew that we had to raise money for them!

We'd love to see some of you there, or learn about the projects that you are doing in your own family to help make a difference! Thanks!

Card Donation Drive for Soldiers to Use

2009-03-10T09:58:00.009-05:00

Club Scrap: Mirror Mirror - Greetings to Go, UM Stamps; Ranger: Adirondack Inks - Espresso, Stonewashed, Pesto; Seashells Inks - Starfish Green; Glossy Paper;

My daughters and I are working on a bunch of packages to send overseas to soldiers serving the Army in Iraq! We've got three wonderful guys who are currently serving there and have promised to distribute all of our goodies to as many fellow soldiers as they can and to be sure and share with those who don't get many care packages from home. But beyond the regular treats, we thought of something else that they could really use! We're sending them unused handmade cards that they can in turn send home to their loved ones, and they don't have to pay postage, the military does!

We're looking for more people who would love to send us cards for them... Very good themes include I Miss You, ILove You, Happy Birthday, ThankYou, blank cards, etc. We'd also love a few Father's Day cards to send this month! Everything is welcome, but maybe refrain from 20 glittering pink butterflies in a row as most of the people sending these will be men who may shy away from picking those cards in front of their platoon! :) But plenty have little girls at home, still!

If we have more than these guys can handle, I'm talking to them about trying to maybe set up a basketful at their post office with a freebie sign so that everyone there can scoop them up! And we'll get the girls' Brownie troop more involved in collecting additional cards, stationary, and soldiers to help distribute in Iraq & Afghanistan! I already have a huge thank you to DanaM, Cheryl M, and Pam G for already helping!

Just send me an email at neithj@gmail.com and I'll send you out our mailing address!

Thanks!

Neith

Club Scrap: Paisley 3/06 - papers; FFC You're Invited - UM; Club Scrap Hybrid Ink Pad - Earth; Assembly Line Cardmaking - 9 of Spades;

Artifacts Digital Layouts

2009-02-02T18:53:00.003-05:00

Club Scrap: Artifacts 2/09 Digital - BBF07, Print2, Print3, Tag02, Xtra02;

Do you have any photos of a fun subject in motion, but the photo is just a tad bit dull? Pump it up in PSE by layering the photo on top of itself and using Blending Style >> Multiply on it a few times. Your colors and shadows will become more vivid and give that photo some kick! You can also apply the same tricks to the great frame style Xtra from this kit (I used Xtra02 to frame my photo) and even the prints! You can even capitalize on the art's style by applying Effects >> Drop Shadows >> Fill/Outline to a die cut section of print and text for a fun shadow!

Club Scrap: Artifacts 2/09 Digital - Plain5, Print1, Tag07, Xtra01, Xtra04-10, Xtra12, BBFont; My own inked edges;

The little framed Xtras in this month's kit are incredibly handy! Use them as backdrops for your text, layer them up with various blending styles to tone down and pump up one another, and even supersize them for incredible watercolor-style borders for your page and page elements! By using the blending modes of Multiply or Overlay, you'll wind up not only with incredible borders, but it will also help you create a more even toned layout, and let you have some fun while you are at it!

Plus, the swirls in so many of the kits elements seemed like the perfect match for this Giant African Millipede that we met recently!

Pro Scrapbookers League

2009-01-22T21:49:00.006-05:00

These are "just" 228 of the layouts that I completed in last year's PSLs! These are the only ones I managed to blog about so far!

Visit http://www.clubscrapcommunity.com/news/proscrapbookersleague to sign up for this season's Club Scrap Pro Scrapbookers League!

"What is it?
Club Scrap's® Pro Scrapbookers League™ is a fun and exciting place where everyone's a winner! We developed the league in response to papercrafters all over the world who were hoarding their fabulous Club Scrap® materials. Through the utilization of Club Scrap's® own Assembly Line Scrapbooking™ and Cardmaking this league makes scrapbooking a sport by creating teams for camaraderie, presenting weekly crafting challenges for productivity, and offering exceptional discounts and prizes for participating. Don't miss out on this incredible experience at Club Scrap®!"

Last time around, I made over 350 new layouts between two PSL sessions... some from scratch, some using previously assembled pages that needed photographs! It's a great way to inspire yourself to get to work, to sort your photos and print them, create cards, and so much more! You get to see tons of new layouts and cards each week created by so many different people... You'll get extra-credit challenges every week to help inspire you to create in new ways or just jump start your thought process. In the past there have been bonus page design guides given freely to all participants!

And... you can win discounts and free product! Or, sign up for the new non-competitive team to go at whatever pace your heart desires! There are also teams for traditional paper scrapping, digital scrapping, and card making!

I can't wait to see you there!

These are another 123 layouts that I completed during last year's PSLs... many just have blurry photos and no scans yet!

North Shore Music Theatre - Digital Layout, Freebie, & More!

2009-01-21T13:24:00.009-05:00

Club Scrap: Gimme a Ring 1/09 - Club Stamp Digital Kit;
Adobe: PSE 7.0 Cookie Cutter Shapes, Layer Effects and Styles; Altered Hues;
Font: Honey Script;

Thanks to my mother, my girls and their cousin were able to go to one of the last scheduled performances at the incredible North Shore Music Theater! After watching the High School Musical 2 show, the cast came out to request donations in a final attempt to keep the theater open and a large number of them walked around with donation buckets, while the leads gathered at a table to sign autographs and take photographs with their fans. The girls were thrilled to pose with Addi McDaniel, who played Gabriella!

It was a magical performance that was so special to them and so trendy... but feeling like a part of the effort to keep the theater open is what will keep this particular musical dear to their hearts forever!

About a week after the show, NSMT announced that they have one more performance scheduled for February 7th, 2009. It will be a stage production of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day! It may be just a hair young for us, but we can't miss it at only $10 and potentially being the final performance ever at this 55 year old not-for-profit theater in the round!

Anyhow, if you've ever enjoyed a performance at this theater or want to support it, please go to their website and help out! There is hope that enough donation will keep it afloat while it continues to provide live theatre, concerts, and more to the North Shore community, provide teacher's guides and discounted or free admission to schools, and teach theater arts directly to our youth at their academy!

On another note... I enjoyed making this layout so much that I created a free digital template from it, a 2-layer Quick Drop Digital Layout for Club Scrap's 6x6 Page Swap using their Free Digital Demo, and another layout based on the swap page!

I can't give out the layered QDDL here, since it uses Club Scrap's materials, even though they are freebies. Please grab yourself one of the kits and join the swap! Layouts are due by the end of the month! But here is a preview of it (the actual swap players will get it as two flat jpegs without a white box for a photo since I'm too anal to want to control anyone else's photo dimensions)! However, the free digital template that I've created matches this layout, but is 12x12 and saved in grayscale. Please download the full template at http://neithj.googlepages.com/NeithTemplateStarsSqr.zip!

And... here is that other layout... Unfortunately I did not use my own camera this Christmas and am still waiting for the high res copies of everyone else's photos, so I only have this grainy emailed photo for now! Rest assured, the photo will be replaced by the higher quality image as soon as I have it! This layout used my new template as well as the Club Scrap Free Digital Kit Let Me Count the Ways!

Milestones Books with Rainbow Inks

2009-01-17T11:28:00.007-05:00

To create these papers, we're going to use Ranger's Posh Impressions Rainbow Sponge Inks, but ditch the sponges! Instead we'll be monoprinting with a combination of the Rainbow Inks and the Perfect Ink Refresher and then using a brayer with the Rainbow Inks and water from a Mini Mister, we'll imitate the technique from Tag 11 of Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas 2008 but use the Rainbow Inks instead of Distress Ink Pads!

All of the juicy details, plus some step-by-step photos, can be found as a tutorial in the Ranger Ink Link Yahoo Group's files as a Guest Inkling for today! If you haven't joined yet, it's a great little group with tons of great designers, store owners, and crafters of all levels... plus tons of Ranger "experts" (including their signature artists) to help inspire you and answer any questions! Each month, I host a new challenge, sponsored by Ranger, with three random winners who get sent some awesome loot direct from Ranger! Every group member is welcome to play along and the challenges vary from product or technique to theme based challenges! And, every week, there is a new Inkling chock full of directions to create a new project or technique!

Supplies Used

Ranger: Posh Impressions Rainbow Sponge Ink Earthones in Eggplant & Butterscotch plus French Country in Kiwi; Perfect Ink Refresher; Non Stick Craft Mat; Brayer; Mini Mister; Adirondack Alcohol Inks in Denim, Eggplant, Lettuce, and Pearl; Ink Applicator Tool; Perfect Medium; Gold Embossing Powder; Heat Tool; Adirondack Dye Ink Pad in Eggplant;
Club Scrap: Milestones 12/08 Create Milsetones CSt UM Stamps, B&B UM Stamps, Digi Green Tea Print, and Boysenberry, Earl Grey, Green Tea, & Soft White Plain Cardstock;
Bind It All: 1/2" Black;
Glossy Paper;
Manila Tag;
Craft Iron;

Gloves (These are optional, but if you don't use them you will have TONS of ink all over your hands and deeply embedded in your fingernails.)

Gauntlet Gloves

2008-12-05T16:50:00.007-05:00

Club Scrap Digital Demo Kit Let Me Count The Ways 2/06;

To create this layout, I used the template from the and new Free Digital Demo Kit and chose my own papers, altered the sizes and layer styles of each element, and added inked edges to the two main papers.

We've been working hard on donations for the church fair! I coordinated and ran projects with the youth group to create a number of items to sell, made more goodies on my own, and worked with my kids to create even more! These gauntlet style gloves were inspired by both Selena Gomez's character in Wizards of Waverly Place and the clearance children's knitting machine that we found and have made tons of knit tubes from! (Note that the gloves will actually sell in matched pairs, but I needed to take a sample photo to display!) The kids probably cranked out about half of the gloves and I stitched thumb holes into them... we're also donating some cards, gift bags, crochet produce bags, and amigurumi catnip treats! Wish us luck with the sales tomorrow!

Nature's Bounty and Beauty - 3 Digital Layouts

2008-12-01T16:46:00.008-05:00

Milestones 12/08 CS DigiKit;

Really get the colors to pop on your prints by layering on another copy of the same print (or a solid) and applying the Layer Style of Overlay to it! Be sure to grab colors from your page to use for your fonts.

Sometimes a crisp and clean color block treatment is just what you need for a layout! To create a perfect color block in PSE, Click on View: Grid and use Edit: Preferences to adjust the spacing of your grid lines. You'll want to check off View: Snap To: Grid. You can resize elements to fit within the gridlines and also use the rectangular marquee tool in order to cut away anything that falls outside of the grid lines that you want to use.

Refresh 2/07 DigiGoodies; Scan of my own inked edge paper;

There are times when a photo speaks for itself and very little else is needed... and other times when you just want to add an image to a favorite quote.

Body and Soul 5/08 DigiGoodies;

I know that I have more photos of Lynch Park than I can count... but I have spent so much time there between my own childhood and sharing it with my children. I think that this is the only very low tide photo that I've scrapped though!

Embed Morse Code, Etc Into Your Layouts

2008-11-25T12:43:00.009-05:00

Are you looking for more creative ways to title your layouts? Have you thought about using a code? You could try converting your message to binary code (like my husband did with my birthday candles last night!), morse code, braille or anything you dream up! In this layout, the knotted rope spells out "ROPE" to go along with a photo where I was learning and practicing rope coiling, but had also learned morse code, knot typing, and a whole lot more at our extended field trip to Mystic Seaport!

Club Scrap: Academy 8/07 - B&B UM Stamps; Interior Designs 11/06 - Brown Plain; Retreat 2006 - Translucent Print; Wild Wild West 10/05 - Brick Plain; Scrapbook Takeout: Adventures in Altering 8/07 - Heidi Swapp Raw Chipboard Alphabet Lemonade Stand; Zig: Memory Writer - Pure Chocolate; Packing Cord (titled with a morse code pattern);

If you don't want to incorporate it into the title, what about using it for a background pattern? There are so many ways to hide messages in your art! Another cool idea is to include your message in a pattern for knitting or crocheting! Knitty Gritty had Adina Klein in Episode DKNG-410 with her Fibonacci Knitting designs. Uncommon Threads featured Barry Klein and Fayla Reiss demonstrating how they use dates, converted to numbers, to create crochet plaid patterns in episode DUCT-242.

Whimsical Stamped Photo Treatment with Gesso

2008-11-24T21:09:00.004-05:00

For a wonderfully whimsical photo treatment, grab a fun photo, zoom in on your main subject and print it out. Once the ink is dry, paint over the background with gesso, from the art supply stores. Don't worry about even coverage as you'll be collage stamping all over it! (Note: if your original background was very busy, you may wish to apply a few layers of gesso.) Once the gesso is dry, you have a primed "canvas" that is ready for stamping and painting on!

To create a custom mask for your photo's main subject, simply grab some white copy paper and a soft colored pencil, then layer the paper over your photo and lightly trace an outline of the main image. Cut out the shape, making sure to have extra paper hanging past the edge of the photo. You can hold both your photo and the mask in place with some repositionable glue before you get stamping and painting!

Grab some fun stamps and a mix of acrylic paints and ink pads to decorate your image, adding some freehand doodle-painting as you see fit!

In no time, you'll have a very fun photo for an eclectic layout!

Certain themes call for a lot of whimsy! Painting my daughter up to be a Day of the Dead dancer is certainly one of them! To create a wild layout like this one, gather up a range of embellishments, paints, and ink pads in roughly the same color palette and find a coordinating solid plus at least one large bold print. Ink the center of the cardstock with another color from your palette, stamp along the edges with a third color, and ink the edges with your darkest color. Cut out a portion of your print and then layer up your page elements!

Supplies used:

Scrapbook Takeout: April 08 Graffiti Artist - Heidie Swapp Mini Chipboard Variety Set; June 08 Eclectica - American Crafts Treehouse Chipboard Shapes, American Crafts Scalloped Ribbon; July 08 Potpourri - Unmounted Stamps; August 08 Summer Splash - Prima Flowers; October 08 Scrap Harvest - My Minds Eye Cheerful Transparency, My Minds Eye Coastal "Celebrate" Chipboard Accessories, My Minds Eye Mellow "Happy" Assortment Tags, Kaiser Craft Wooden Button Flowers; Assorted Buttons and Prima Flowers, Kaiser Craft Rhinestones, Dream Street Bella Donna Mia Bella and Marisela Paper;
Club Scrap: Musical Interlude 12/05 - Ivory; To You With Love 2/04 - Pink;
Ranger: Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber in Pool; Adirondack Pigment Ink in Pitch Black and Sunset Orange, Claudine Hellmuth Studio Gesso and Paint in Yellow Pastel and Painterly Pink; Distress Stickles in Spiced Marmalade and Worn Lipstick; Glitz Stickles in Platinum; Ink Applicator Tool;
Sizzix: Sizzlits Charms, Halloween Set 655550;
Assorted Markers;

Mirror Mirror Kit - 2 Cards and 1 DigiLayout

2008-11-21T18:47:00.009-05:00

I really adore the color combination in the newest Club Scrap kit! I've always been a big fan of greens and browns for scrapbooking... Lately, it seems my kids are always dressed in shades of browns, greens, and blues! So the colors worked wonderfully for the book that I just posted, but they also work great for all kinds of other things! Here are a few examples!

Club Scrap: 11/08 Mirror Mirror Light Celery, Dark Celery, Brown, B&B UM Stamps; 2008 Old World Christmas: Greetings UM Stamps; 2008 Holiday Projects: Holiday Collection Stencil; 6/2000 Heritage: Journaling Stencil; Club Scrap Earth Hybrid Ink Pad; ColorBox Stylus Tool; Holiday Ornament Stencil Tutorial Video;Ranger - Distress Stickles: Walnut Stain;

Club Scrap has been filling its new Cinema with loads of wonderful project and technique videos to help you create! They even have a gorgeous video to help with techniques for using the holiday ornament stencil that I used on this card! I added some Distress Stickles to the ornaments and the torn edge on my card, added lines inked through the journaling stencil, and more using the great stripes stamp from the Mirror Mirror kit, both straight on and as a second generation of stamping for the distressed background.

This cute little day and night card combines the papers from this month's Club Scrap kit with some patterned paper and stamps from Scrapbook Takeout. When you open the card, you have a little night scene off in the corner!

Scrapbook Takeout: June 08 Eclectica: Unmounted Stamps; July 08 Potpourri - Unmounted Stamps; Dream Street Cafe Chic Lounge and Fashionista Paper;
Club Scrap: Mirror Mirror 11/08 - Paper in Robins Egg Blue, Dark Celery, Light Celery, Brown, and White;
Ranger: Archival Ink Pad in Coffee;

You'd think that he was a movie star to see my children react to their cousin serving them at Starbucks! So, it seemed only proper to give him the star treatment in this layout! The Expanded Art overlay provided a wonderful, yet masculine, glam for the page! I used the magic wand to select all of the black and gray in the overlay and then used the Adjust Hue/Saturation enhancement to colorize it and turn it to a dark green. To create a colorful custom title, I cut small pieces of the printed tags to fit inside of the font!

Club Scrap: Mirror Mirror CSt Digital Kit;

Travelogue Wired Book

2008-11-20T12:36:00.009-05:00

A great way to commemorate a special trip is to create a small coffee table album! To simplify things and to unify the album, pick one color palette for your papers, embellishments, and inks or paints. Choose a small selection of stamps and use them to create accents, borders, decorative strips, etc. In no time you'll have a gorgeous little album to keep or give to whomever shared the journey with you!

I created this originally for a challenge with a specific set of embellishments and stamps to draw from, just added the inks, paints, paper, and binding! I plan to bring it with me to Thanksgiving and have my mom, grandma, and the girls add the journaling since they were all there, but I wasn't!

Supplies Used:

Scrapbook Takeout: April 08 Graffiti Artist - Heidie Swapp Mini Chipboard Variety Set; June 08 Eclectica: Unmounted Stamps, American Crafts Treehouse Chipboard Shapes, Hambly Brocade Overlay; July 08 Potpourri Works: Unmounted Stamps; August 08 Summer Splash: Maya Road Sheer Journaling Card; Prima Flowers; October 08 Scrap Harvest: My Minds Eye Everyday Journaling Card, My Minds Eye Happy Journaling Card, My Minds Eye Scroll Die Cut, My Minds Eye Happy Graph Transparency, My Minds Eye Coastal "Celebrate" Chipboard Accessories, My Minds Eye Mellow "Happy" Assortment Tags, Kaiser Craft Wooden Button Flowers; Kaiser Craft Rhinestones, Bazzill Crochet Blossom, Dream Street Cafe Chic Lounge and Venti Latte Paper;
Club Scrap: Mirror Mirror 11/08 - Beads and Paper in Robins Egg Blue, Dark Celery, Light Celery, and Brown; Wired Book Design; Waxed Linen Thread;
Ranger: Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber in Aqua and Lettuce; Adirondack Dye Ink in Ocean Aqua; Adirondack Pigment Ink in Snow White, Archival Ink Pad in Coffee; Claudine Hellmuth Studio Gesso and Paint in Yellow Pastel and Saddle Brown;
Jewelry Wire;

The College Years - 6 Layouts & 1 Postcard

2008-11-11T08:38:00.003-05:00

Ahh, college... It's a time when you have full freedom to reimagine yourself in any way that you wish. You have no permanent career or meetings with your children's school for which you have to maintain proper appearances. You can be you. I do miss feeling free to dye my hair, write and read lots of poetry, etc and may go back to it all one day, but for now, I'll scrap it!

Club Scrap: Simply Beautiful 5/07 - Green 8.5x11 Print, Green Cut Out, Rose Plain, Rose Cut Out, Lilac Print, Lilac Cut Out, Beads, Paper Flower, Mini Brad, UM Stamps; Big & Tall 2004 - UM Font; Road Trip 3/05 - UM Font;
Ranger: Adirondack Dye Ink Pad - Espresso;
Blue Moon Beads: Gold Head Pin;

Club Scrap: Generations 4/08 - Translucent Print, JR WM Stamp; Farmer's Market 10/06 - Pumpkin Plain; Paisley 3/06 - Burnt Orange Print, Olive 8.5x11 CSt Print, UM Stamps;
Scrapbook Takeout: 8/07 Adventures in Altering Kit - Maya Road Fresh Chipboard Scroll Corners; Grungeboard Alphabet (as stencil);
Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pads - Espresso, Pesto, Rust; Distress Crackle Paint - Dried Marigold;
Zig: Memory Writer - Chocolate;

Club Scrap: Egyptian 8/03 - Rollergraph Stamp, UM Stamps, Stencil;
StampFrancisco - Nebti Stamp;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink in Caramel and Latte;
Clearsnap: Fluid Chalk Ink, ColorBox Stylus Tool;

Hymn to the goddess Neith, unknown source:
Most ancient Mother
Great Radiant One,
Lady of the Stars,
Mistress of the Celestial Ocean
Highest Judge,
Fiery One who rose from the Primordial Floods,
It is Neit who reaches down from the heavens
to take the hands of each who dies,
taking them into Her arms
to place them as stars of the universe,
each to light Her perfect body
with an emerald light,
sowing mortals upon Her heavenly self,
as others sow the green plants of the fields.
Though if Her anger was provoked
She might cause the sky to crash upon the ground,
still She was Mother of All
broad winged Goddess who protects from evil,
who defends the good with bow and arrow,
as She once defended those ancient priestesses
who took Her name:
Neit Hotep,
Meryet Neit,
Her Neit,
priestess queens who ruled when Egypt was young,
when only women served at Neit's altars,
each knowing throughout her life
that she would one day glisten as a star
upon the measureless body of the Mother of Heaven.

Club Scrap: Culinary 3/04 - Frame Stamp, UM B&B Stamps, White 8.5x11 JR Print, Olive 8.5x11 JR Print, Silver Translucent 8.5x11 JR Print Green Plain, Silver Plain, Burgundy Plain;
Stayzon: Olive;
Unknown Silver Ink Pad;
Sizzix: Sizzlits Alphabet;

Club Scrap: Generations 4/08 - DP01;
Font: Keetano ATL My Gangsta;
Adobe PSE5.0: Altered Hues; Altered Contrast; Drop Shadows;

Ordeal
I promise to make you more alive than you’ve ever been.
For the first time you’ll see your pores opening
like gills of fish and you’ll hear
the noise of blood in galleries
and feel light gliding over your corneas
like the dragging of a dress across the floor.
For the first time, you’ll note gravity’s prick
like a thorn in your heel,
and your shoulder blades will hurt
from the imperative of wings.
I promise to make you so alive that
the fall of dust on furniture will deafen you,
and you’ll feel your eyebrows like two wounds forming
and your memories will seem to begin
with the creation of the world.

by Nina Cassian
translated by Michael Impey and Brian Swann

Club Scrap: 05/08 Body & Soul DigiKit - DP04; Interior Designs 11/06 - Xtra37;Font: Font Garden - FG Adrian;
Adobe PSE5.0: Altered Hues; Drop Shadows;

The Fog Horn by Ray Bradbury
(an excerpt in which McDunn speaks)

“I’ll make a voice like all of time and all the fog that
ever was; I’ll make a voice that is like an empty bed
beside you all night long, and like an empty house when
you open the door, and like trees in autumn with no
leaves. A sound like the birds flying south, crying, and a
sound like November wind and the sea on the hard, cold
shore. I’ll make a sound that’s so alone that no one
can miss it, that whoever hears it will weep in their
souls and hearths will seem warmer, and being inside
will seem better to all those who hear it in the distant
towns. I’ll make a sound and an apparatus and they’ll
call it a Fog Horn and whoever hears it will know the
sadness of eternity and the briefness of life.”

Club Scrap: Body & Soul 5/08 DigiKit - DP06; Tran08;
Font: Exocet;
Adobe PSE5.0: Altered Hues;

Scrapbook Takeout Holiday Workshop Week

2008-11-10T20:12:00.005-05:00

http://forum.scrapbooktakeout.com/index.php?showforum=108

ETA: Due to an outage, the forum was down on Tuesday morning and Francine's class has been posted to her blog, for now... http://francineclouden.typepad.com/tuesday_todo/

For the next few days there are a bunch of fun online workshops going on at Scrapbook Takeout!

Today's classes include a Paper Bag Christmas Card and Easy Evergreen Cards; Tuesday's classes include a Stacked Christmas Tree and Mini Album Tin Ornament; Wednesday's classes include a set with a Gift Bag, Tag and Gift Card Holder; Thursday's classes include chipboard ornaments; Friday's classes include Christmas Treet Boxes and a Christmas Ornament!

Please check it out, sign in, and let them know that I sent you!

Here's my quick version of Lizette's Paper Bag Christmas Card! I used only the paper bag, remnants from the FFC Exclusive Christmas Brights ALSB Kit, 2 mini brads, and one ink pad! This "card" would be perfect to fill not only with a nice big letter to a loved one, but stuff a bagged holiday drink mix inside, or some other treat that you can get relatively flat!

Scrapbook Takeout: Lizette's Paper Bag Card Class November 2008 Holiday Workshop;
Club Scrap: FFC Christmas Bright ALSB Kit Remnant Paper and Tags; Generations 4/08 - Berry Mini Brads;

The Natural and the Unnatural - 4 Digital Layouts

2008-11-08T13:36:00.005-05:00

Here are a few of my recent digital layouts for you guys!

Club Scrap: Mirror Mirror 11/08 CSDigi Sr Kit;

Uatchet in the Mirror Maze
With so many arrows to choose from, it's so easy to cut one out of a printed tag, or use the stencil shapes to cut arrows where none existed before! Layer them up, copy and paste sections of the arrows from the background print to make it overlap one of them... Add a tall and skinny photo and even borrow a natural border from the photo to help matte it! In no time you'll have the perfect layout! (Of course, if your photo also happens to be of your daughter's first adventure in a mirror maze, then things will really fall right into place!)

Private Eye CS DigiGoodies Kit 10/08;

Look! - Sebek and the Stag Beetle
Zoom in on a photo by enlarging a section of it and clipping it to fit inside the magnifying glass. Create a shaded glass overlay by duplicating the layer with the photo and using Layer Style >> Wow Plasic in Photoshop Elements.

Club Scrap: Retreat 2007 Digital Kit - PS06; Refresh 02/07 Digital Kit - PLtGreen, PTrans, Trans14, Trans18;
Fonts: CoventryGarden, Glider Girls;
Photoshop Elements 5.0: Blending Modes - Difference, Overlay; Altered Hues;

Club Scrap: Avant Garde 3/08 Digital Kit - DP; Great Outdoors 10/07 Digital Kit - Xtra66, Xtra67, Xtra68; Collections 6/06 Digital Kit - Alpha;
Adobe Photoshop Elements: Blending Mode - Multiply; Drop Shadow - Soft Edge; Altered Hues;
Personal Scan of a Tile;
Clay Sculpture by Nekhebet;

Awesome Bracelet from Swap goodies and Prizes!

2008-11-07T11:42:00.003-05:00

I just realized that I had not yet scanned the awesome bracelet that I made using Luanne's Charm Bracelet Kit, that I won in her CSChat contest, and charms from the swap that we had at the Club Scrap September 2008 Main Retreat! There are tons of cool finds in it! Luanne hand selected the Scrabble tiles to use my kids' first initials (yeah, in birth order, their initials spell a word!) and the phrase "Be Here Now" in charms along with tons of other goodies, many that I couldn't fit onto the bracelet! I also have another silver charm bracelet that just uses charms from the swap! many of the swap dangles are filled with CS beads and on my other bracelet there are a lot of CS stamps on shrink plastic! I'll have to scan that one for you all later!

Halloweens Past

2008-09-20T11:42:00.005-05:00

With Halloween right around the corner, we're getting ready to run up to my parents' store and have the girls work on their fabulous three hours per year career as models! In the meantime, here are a few photos from Halloweens past! Also, be sure to check out my previous post filled with more Halloween layouts!

Supplies Used
Club Scrap: Main Retreat 2007 - 8.5x11 ALSB Design; Egyptian 8/03 - Green Debossed 8.5 Print; Poetic 9/03 - Yellow; Hearth & Home 10/03 - Charcoal; Down to Earth 4/05 - UM Stamps;
Ranger: Antiquities Ink Pad - Frosted Crystal; Archival Ink Pad - Jet Black;
Scrapbook Takeout: Ribbon Slide;
Zig: Writer - Pure Black;

This is one of many photos from past Halloween ad shoots at my parent's store. I think this was when I was in high school!

Supplies Used
Club Scrap: Main Retreat 2007 - 8.5x11 ALSB Design & Fibers; Poetic - 9/03 Brown Print; Work Bench 8/05 - Green Embossed Plain; Rhapsody 3/07 - Rust Plain; Bridges 2/08 - Poetry Words;
Scrapbook Takeout: Harvest Feast 10/07 - 7 Gypsies Zanzibar Stickers;
Zig: Chocolate Memory Writer;

The Beverly Times used to run coloring contests each year for Halloween and Easter. Sponsoring stores picked 1-3 winners each season for their image and submitted them towards the grand prize. I'd won a few individual business prizes, like a $10 savings account, gift certificates, and the like... but in 1984, with my age listed as "almost 10", I managed not only to win $10 at the candy shop, but the grand prize! Unfortunately, coffee got spilled on the submission before I got it back, and over time the newsprint deteriorated, crinkled, etc before I managed to scan it in! believe me, the background used to be crisp while the paper bag, that I attached, was not! My winning bank account one, from one Easter, also had an add-on :) For it, I tinted a pinch of a cotton ball with a light yellow marker and put it on the baby chick who was hatching out of an egg! I can't remember everything that I won, but it included a black and white tv (that still ran when my son turned 10!), six tickets and programs to the incredible stage production in town, aka the magic show, and some more!

Safari Classics Meet Recycling

2008-09-01T21:01:00.005-05:00

Club Scrap recently had a challenge to incorporate at least 2 recycled or household items in your layouts and I managed a slew of them! When I created my ALSB for the Safari Crafter Classics (owning a zoo membership for a few years means that I do have even more zoo photos still to scrap! but, remember that plenty of other themes look great on these papers!), all but two pages wound up qualifying for the challenge!

Mostly, I went on an aluminum can frenzy after seeing the Michael Strong TV Weekly Webisode, Heavy Metal, and all of Luanne's great creations with Coke cans! But I also had a little stack of used Priority Mail box scraps (we had cut up some spent boxes in order to make over 60 handmade mini books as Valentine's Day treats and other mini books afterwards and I still had the scraps) along with some emptied pantry boxes, extra scraps of tin foil, etc. If the idea of using potentially acidic chipboard and cardboard isn't to your liking, think about going with the metal route... or some other things that I'll share soon!

If you are interested in trying your hand at scrapping with aluminum cans, you'll have a blast! Get out your die cutter as the thicker dies will cut right through them and use a rolling cutter with most low-profile dies, or run them through an embossing folder! Crack out your metal embossing tools and play away! Ink them up with alcohol inks, paints, etc! Or pick a beautifully colored section of the can and showcase it on your layouts (like the green leaves on my second layout here or the red heart on my Carnival Love Tests layout)!

And, don't forget that those gorgeous chipboard shapes make wonderful templates to cut shapes from other materials, or use the offset when you punch yours out as a more permanent stencil!

Club Scrap: Safari Crafter Classic 2007 Kit - ALSB #1, Green Print, Green Plain, Black Plain; Collections 6/06 - UM Font;
Ranger: Adirondack Dye Ink Pad - Espresso; Distress Crackle Paint - Brushed Corduroy; Stickles - Gold, Lime Green;
Scrapbook Takeout - Graffiti Artist 4/08 Preserves Kit - Heidi Swapp Mini GhostShapes; Tell Your Story 3/08 The Works Kit - Tim Holtz Grungeboard Alphabet (as a stencil)
Recycled Material: Aluminum Can (band on crown); Cereal Box (large alpha);

Club Scrap: Safari Crafter Classic Kit 2007 - ALSB #2, Black Plain, Green Plain, Green Print;
EK Success: Paper Shapers - Sunflower;
Scrapbook Takeout: Parisian Vintage Chic - Maya Road Fresh Chipboard Trees (as stencil);
Zig: Millennium - Pure Black;
Recycled Material: Aluminum Can; Cardboard Box;

Club Scrap: Safari Crafter Classic Kit 2007 - ALSB #3, Dark Orange Plain, Light Orange Print, Light Orange Plain Rhapsody 3/07 - Beads;
Darice: Jewelry Wire;
Ranger: Adirondack Alcohol Inks - Espresso, Ginger, Rust, Slate, Terra Cotta; Alcohol Ink Applicator; Adirondack Dye Ink Pad - Ginger;
Zig: Writer - Chocolate;
Recycled Material: 100 Calorie Cookies Box; Tin Foil (wrapped around box strip);

Club Scrap: Safari Crafter Classic 2007 Kit - ALSB #4; Dark Orange Plain, Light Orange 12x12 Print, Light Orange 8.5x11 Print;
Ranger: Adirondack Pigment Ink Pad - Terra Cotta; Archival Ink Pad - Sepia;
Sizzix: Sizzlits - Rat-a-Tat Alphabet;
Ten Seconds Studio: Mold B23; Metal Embossing Tools;
Recycled Material: Aluminum Can; Cereal Box;

Safari Crafter Classic Kit 2007 - ALSB #5, Dark Orange Print, Light Orange, Black; Serengeti Crafter Classic 2008 - Cut Out Journaling Block;
Ranger: Adirondack Alcohol Inks - Espresso, Ginger, Rust, Slate, Terra Cotta; Alcohol Ink Applicator;
Scrapbook Takeout: Chipboard Shapes (as stencils);
Recycled Material: Used Priority Mail Box; Tin Foil;

Club Scrap: Safari Crafter Classic 2007 Kit - ALSB #6, Dark Orange Print, Light Orange Plain, Black Plain; It's a Boy/It's a Girl 2006 - UM Font;
Leow & Cornell - Aqua Crayons;
Ranger: Adirondack Alcohol Inks - Bottle, Stream; Alcohol Ink Applicator Tool;
Sizzix: Original Die - Tickets 39-1111;
Recycled Material - Barq's Root Beer Can; Old Cork Coaster;

Club Scrap: Safari FFC Crafter Classic Kit 2007 - Light Orange 8.5x11 Print, Dark Orange Plain, Black Print, ALSB #7; Paisley 03/06 - Coral; Tonic Glass Cutting Mat;
Ranger: Adirondack Dye Ink Pad - Ginger;
Scrapbook Takeout - Tell Your Story 3/08 The Works Kit - Tim Holtz Grungeboard Alphabet (as a stencil)

Club Scrap: Safari Crafter Classic 2007 - ALSB #8, Black Print, Light Orange Plain, Dark Orange Plain;
Ranger: Adirondack Dye Ink Pad - Ginger; Adirondack Pigment Ink Pad - Terra Cotta;
Zig: Millennium Writer - Pure Black;

Club Scrap: Safari Crafter Classic 2007 - ALSB #9; Black Plain, Dark Orange Plain, Green Plain, Green Print, Light Orange Print;
Ranger: Adirondack Dye Ink Pad - Ginger;
Sizzix: Sizzlits - Rat-a-Tat Alphabet;
Recycled Item: Snack Box;

Club Scrap: Safari Crafter Classic 2007 - ALSB #10; Black Plain, Dark Orange Plain, Green Plain, Green Print; Rhapsody 3/07 - Beads;
Sizzix: Sizzlits - #654526 Latches;
Recycled Material: Tin Can (Die cut into latches); Packing Twine (left over scrap with a knot on one end from when a Cub Scout cut too much at a den meeting... I knew I had those stray pieces in the bottom of my den leader's bag!);

Going Green: Crochet Produce & Gift Bags

2008-08-31T18:39:00.005-05:00

I'm going to start to showcase some more of my crafts that don't always involve paper, stamps, or beads. And, this week I'm going to provide you all with some environmentally friendly ideas! To kick it off, here's my latest obsession, Crochet Produce Bags!

I've whipped up a bunch of these for myself and for gifts! Every time we go out shopping with our lime green bags, we get tons of attention and I can't even begin to count the number of people that I've directed to the instructions! I've consistently managed to make one bag during a single dvd viewing (including bonus features) and have made others while walking around in Boston or riding the subway and train during our day trips this month! Also, they make great gift wrap bags! You can see them here holding sets of ALSB pages that we're giving as gifts! (Think Down to Earth, Hometown, Farmer's Market, Salsa, etc!)

I absolutely adore this "donate what you can" Crochet Grocery Bag Pattern By Haley Waxberg (proceeds help pay for a woman's reconstructive surgery). It's a simple combination of single crochet, chain, and slip stitches to create a wonderfully stretchy netted produce/shopping bag.

I altered the pattern, just a little, in between the increasing rows, I did one less row than called for and did 12-14 of the ch5 rows as the main body.. also, I thickened my straps a little and used 100% cotton by Lily and by Bernat.

By The Seashore Crafter Classic ATCs

2008-08-06T10:58:00.004-05:00

To show you a little recent creation... here are two ATCs that I made using the new FFC Crafter Classic Remix By The Seashore Unmounted Stamps!

Club Scrap: By The Seashore Crafter Classic 2008 - UM Stamp Remix; Body and Soul 5/08 - Light Green; Varsity 6/05 - Green;
Ranger: Adirondack Dye Inks - Latte, Lemonade, Mushroom, Willow; Distress Inks - Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Peeled Paint;
Technique Junkies: February/March 2008 - Reinker Splash Technique;
Manila Tags;
Multigenerational Stamping;

Stay tuned and I'll have some new sample creations using the latest Crafter Classic Kits posted! Vibrant Polynesian and elegant Orient also come with the full array of papers, photo mattes, and 12x12 printed cut out along with a separate, newly created sheet of UM Stamps!

Beaded Charm Bracelet

2008-07-22T19:28:00.007-05:00

I've been so busy playing with the kids and amassing a huge stack of layouts that I need to scan! But, I've also been making jewelry! I'm in one jewelry swap that ships at the end of the month, then another charm swap to trade at the Club Scrap September Main Retreat, and making plenty of pieces for gifts!

Here is a bracelet that I made for myself using the Club Scrap Rhapsody 3/07 beads with Blue Moon findings!

Summer Camp Layouts

2008-07-18T10:25:00.003-05:00

Club Scrap still has the Camp Yah-Hey-And-So PSL Challenges running at clubscrapchat.com with plenty of prizes and challenges to jump start your creativity! This week I've been busy making a lot of "before and after" layouts but haven't had time to scan them! So, instead I'll share a few more camping layouts!

Club Scrap: Road Trip 3/05 - Peach Print, Green 8.5x11 Print, Peach Plain, Green Plain, Blue Plain, JR Cut Outs, Design Classic Yellow Print on Mosaic Twist Lemon;
Cuttlebug: Stop Sign;
Zig: Memory Writer - Denim;

Club Scrap: Pad 'O Blocks 2008 -
8.5x2.75 Inches Neutral; Collections 6/06 - Saddle Brown Plain; Pets 2003 - Horse Print;
Scrapbook Takeout: Harvest Feast 10/07 - 7 Gypsies Tag Corners; 7 Gypsies Romantique Label Sticker Book;
Heidi Grace: Punchboard Embossed Shapes - Wild Daisy Rd. #12-71187 | 27991_10;
Offray: Dashes, Dots, & Checks - 369360;

To create a hidden journaling pocket, I lifted my photo up from the matte by layering up 1/4" wide strips of coordinating cardstock scraps to create walls for the journal tag and supports for the other end of the photograph. I prefer using matching color papers or even fibers to pop my elements up over the bright white (or sometimes black) of foam mounting squares, plus the sides aren't sticky! :)

Christmas in July! 9 Layouts and a Sale!

2008-07-13T10:58:00.004-05:00

I was secretly saving these recent layouts to post in July as a Christmas in July post...

Club Scrap: PSL Scramble 2008 - ALSB #25; A Study In Red 1/08 - Black Plain, Grey Print, Red Print, Black Tag, Dark Red Tag, Mini Brads;

Club Scrap: Musical Interlude - 12/05 Maroon Print, Ivory Print; Poetic 9/03 - 8.5x11 Green Print;
Scrapbook Takeout: Celebrations 11/07 - Basic Grey Undressed Chipboard Holiday, Prima Poinsettias & Stars Mix, Heidi Swapp Cargo Ribbon;

Part of my birthday party tradition was that the overnight guests went over to Salem for the ice cream smorgasbord and took photos with Santa at the little mall there!

Apple Barrel: Acrylic Paints - Black;
Club Scrap: A Study in Red 1/08 - Plain Black; A Very Groovy Christmas 2007 - Red Print, Stencil; Salsa 11/03 - White Plain;
Provo Craft: Cuttlebug - 3x3 Funky Circles Frame;
Ranger: Adirondack Paint Dabbers - Clover, Lettuce, Silver;
Scrapbook Takeout: Celebrations 11/07 - Basic Grey Undressed Chipboard Holiday;
Zig: Millenium - Pure Black;

Club Scrap: Retreat 2007 - ALSB & Fibers; Poetic - 9/03 Brown Print; Work Bench 8/05 - Green Embossed Plain; Rhapsody 3/07 - Rust Plain; Bridges 2/08 - Brown Tag, Stickers;
Scrapbook Takeout: Harvest Feast 10/07 - 7 Gypsies Zanzibar Brad;
Zig: Chocolate Memory Writer;

For my 9th birthday, all the girls stayed overnight after decorating a float and the next morning we donned traditional clothing from all over the world to ride on a Unicef float sponsored by my parents' store!

Club Scrap: PSL Scramble ALSB 2008 #5; A Study in Red 1/08 - Red Plain; Be Still 9/07 - Brown Plain, Brown Tag, Title Strip; Culinary 3/04 - Olive 8.5x11 Print, Evergreen 12/03 - Handmade Green Plain;
Ranger: Adirondack Dye Ink - Ginger;

Each year, my daughters' Brownie troop creates a themed holiday wreath to donate within town. This year their gingerbread cookie wreaths went to the Senior Center!

Apple Barrel: Acrylic Paints - Black;
Club Scrap: Bridges 2/08 - Stonewash Plain; A Study in Red 1/08 - Plain Black; Culinary 3/04 - Olive Plain; Poetic 9/02 - Creative Imaginations Tagwear Rub Ons; Art Deco 9/02 - Plum 8.5x11 Print, Architecture Overlay Stencil;
Ranger: Inkssentials - White Pen;
Scrapbook Takeout: Adventures in Altering 8/07 - Chipboard Numbers;
Zig: Millenium - Pure Black;

Club Scrap: A Study in Red 1/08 - CS02, CS07, Fibr05, Xtra36; Sparkle 12/07 - CS09;
Adobe Photoshop: Drop Shadows; Blending Mode - Multiply; Altered Hues & Levels; Inverted Colors;
Scan of my Sofa Fabric;

Club Scrap: PSL Scramble 2008 - ALSB #3 and 4; Hannukah 2006 - Sky Print; Varsity 6/05 - Blue Plain; Evergreen 12/03 - Green 8.5x11 Print, Stickers, Plum Plain;
Ranger: Adirondack Dye Ink Pad - Denim;

Beaded and Wired Mini Book: By The Seashore Crafter Classic UM Stamps

2008-07-10T16:29:00.005-05:00

I just could not wait! I had to get my fingers all inked up and attack that By The Seashore Crafter Classic Remix UM stamp sheet! So, since the Matrix 7/08 Sr ScrapRap (the newsletter that comes with each monthly membership kit, and available on its own) shows a gorgeous CS Wired Book Project, I decided to run with that pattern and made a mini book!

I moved a little bit away from the design in the ScrapRap and skipped the hardcover, for now ;) I also used POPs (Pound of Paper, basically you can order these to come iwth your monthly kit, containing 1 pound of papers from the kit cut into small sizes, typically 3"x5", 4"x6", and 5"x7" but sometimes you get other sizes as well!) that I had on hand using the same solid papers that the By The Seashore Crafter Classic prints are on.

This mini book uses all of the stamps from the brand new FFC Crafter Exclusive By The Seashore UM Remix. I did add the overlapping retro-rectangles from the Matrix Stencil to one page, but otherwise all images come from this stamp sheet! I LOVE the the dashed semi-circle and know that I'll be using it will all manner of other stamps!

Club Scrap: By The Seashore Crafter Classic 2008 - UM Stamp Remix; Matrix 7/08 - Stencil; Body and Soul 5/08 - Light Green; Serengeti 11/07 - Light Teal, Dark Teal; Varsity 6/05 - Green; Assorted Beads; Waxed Linen Thread;
Ranger: Adirondack Dye Inks - Aqua, Bottle, Juniper, Latte, Lemonade, Mushroom, Pool, Willow; Distress Inks - Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Peeled Paint;
Technique Junkies: February/March 2008 - Reinker Splash Technique;
Manilla Tags;

By The Seashore: The newest Crafter Classic!

2008-07-10T11:36:00.006-05:00

I am so excited about the new FFC Exclusive kits! I made up the full ALSB for the new By The Seashore Crafter Classic Kit (a remix of the very extinct July 2003 kit, but on new papers and with new designs based upon the original artwork) to use as a gift... but now I also need to make myself a full batch of the ALSB pages and have another kit for freestyle scrapping! What else can a gal from coastal New England do?

Not only does this kit come with the same 20 sheets and 12 photo mattes that other Crafter Classics Deluxe kits have, but it also comes with a full 12x12 sheet of cut outs with great phrases and artwork! The prefect fit for 10 gorgeous ALSB pages! AND there is a full sheet of unmounted stamps available as well, full of images and sayings! Soon I'll post some cards or a mini book using the stamps, so that you can see them all! :)

The only thing added to the pages is my Ranger Vintage Photo Distress Ink Pad! Enjoy!

Carnival ALSB Kit - 6 Fun Summertime Layouts!

2008-07-08T11:32:00.006-05:00

Getting back into the swing of things and running around with Summer fun has been keeping me busy!

In the spirit of the Summer and to show you another great new FFC Exclusive ALSB Kit (perfect for a Summer Workshop!) I'm sharing my layouts using the Carnival FFC Exclusive ALSB Kit :) I doubled up working on them with some challenges going on at Club Scrap Chat's Camp Ya-Hey-n-So (Wisconsinisms in the title, they only kind of translate to my language!), so you'll see some recycled items in a few of them! You may recognize some of the papers from past kits as this ALSB Kit includes papers from County Fair 7/04, To You With Love 2/04, Extra! Extra! 6/04, Bridges 2/08, and more, plus the stencil from County Fair!

Club Scrap: Carnival FFC Exclusive ALSB Kit - ALSB #1 & 2, Dark Blue Plain, Red Plain, Light Blue 8.5x11 Print, Translucent 8.5x11 Print;
Cuttlebug - Paisley Dies;
Ranger: Inkssentials - White Opaque Pen;
Sizzix: Sizzlits - Boxed Brush Alphabet; Recycled Items: Cookie Box and Aluminum Can;

I just love this ALSB design and have used it in so many other ways! It's great for anywhere from 1 to 4 photos per page, or more if you wanted! I could have squeezed more in, but I think this gave a good overview ;) Right after my brother was married, we gathered his new stepchildren, neice, and my kids, plus older family and headed over to Salem Willows. At first we ate together then had the kids play games for a long time, but as everyone was ready to head out we stopped in one of the other arcades where they had a ton of 1 cent through 10 cent machines from long gone eras when it was a honeymoon destination! We made Chris and Stephanie take every possible love test and photo booth pictures before they ran off for a mini-honeymoon without the kids! Then, my girls had to take the love tests, luckily getting all sweet and innocent results.. but I must say that my husband and I scored higher than all the other couples on each test we took ;)

Here are a few examples of the same ALSB instructions used with my own mix of papers and assorted numbers of photos! Please, click on them to see them larger in their own blog article!

Club Scrap: Carnival FFC Exclusive ALSB Kit - ALSB #3 & 4, Light Green Print, Dark Green Print, Red Plain, Newsprint 8.5x11 Translucent Print;
Sizzix: Sizzlits - Boxed Brush Alphabet; Originals - Tickets;
Recycled Items: Cookie Box and Aluminum Can;

The newsprint on this layout is really perfect for our photos! It was during this Twin Day at Coney Island that my girls wound up having two separate photos run in newspapers, one in a local NYC paper and the other nationally! They also had many other newspaper and magazine photographers taking their photos, including one by the clown trash can in the second smallest photo of my layout!

Club Scrap: Carnival FFC Exclusive ALSB - Cream Print, Dark Green Print, Red Print, Stencil;
Design Originals: Tim Holtz Distressables and Doo-Dads - 0753 Toy Blocks;
Ranger: Inkssentials - Opaque White Pen;

I am not sure why I *needed* to take so many photos of this adorable little ferris wheel, but it sure worked out great for this layout! This is the first year that I let my kids split up at the school's annual Fun Fair and they had a blast going on all the rides with their friends!

Club Scrap: Bridges 2/08 - Cream Print; Workbench 8/05 - Dark Green Print; County Fair 7/04 - Red Print, Stencil;
Design Originals: Tim Holtz Distressables and Doo-Dads - 0753 Toy Blocks;
Ranger: Inkssentials - Opaque White Pen;

I am not sure who took each photo during this trip to 6 Flags with my friends Shakira and Vernell (two of the three co-owners at Scrapbook Takeout along with Vernell's sister, Francine)... I basically could only ride the Ferris Wheel and Merry Go Round with my heart problems, but I sent them on all of the fastest rides and held their bags while taking tons of photos with their cameras! I must admit that I rotated this layout since I had so many more landscape photos to include. But how great is the gridded green paper for journaling?? I can't write in a straight line to save my life, but this certainly helps!

Paris Landmarks: Le Centre Pompidou et Le Moulin Rouge

2008-06-28T14:31:00.004-05:00

Here are two more of the recent layouts I did for my "me" album! These are both from my exchange trip to France back during high school! We couldn't fire off a photo of Le Moulin Rouge because one of the other exchange students had tried, through her open car window, and the prostitutes who were working the street mobbed her car, ripping at her hair, until she gave up her film! So, we decided to skip that and just buy postcards! However, Le Centre Pompidou was easy to grab photos of!

Club Scrap: County Fair 7/04 - Yellow Raised Print, Yellow Plain, Red Plain Stickers; Poetic 9/03 - Yellow Plain;
Lion Brand: Lion Chenille - Mocha;
Michaels: Bargain Ribbon;
Ranger: Adirondack Dye Ink Pad - Espresso;

Tip: If you want to add thick lacing like this to a page, you may want to use foam tape or layers of scrap paper under the other end of any overlapping page elements! I used up the very slim trimmings that I had of the red paper from making my matte, layered them up with ATG adhesive between the layers, and used them under each corner and the center of my photo to keep it level. This way, from the side, there's also no bright white foam, but more of the coordinating colors and they are dark so they fade into the shadows!

Club Scrap: Bistro 7/07- Tangerine Print, Gold Plain, Black Plain, Grape Plain, American Crafts Thickers Black Felt Alpha, Go Have Fun CSt UM Stamps, Big City Black Crystals;
Scrapbook Takeout: Garfen Party 2/08 - Prima Say It In Crystals Centers;
Stewart Superior: Palette Ink Pad - Noir Black;
Zig: Millenium - Pure Black;
Postcard;

Four Layouts of My Son, Sebek!

2008-06-26T18:46:00.004-05:00

Since it was my son's birthday this week, it only seems fitting to share a few layouts about him! :) I'm actually working on a "Cool Dude" album for him which will be all digital layouts, printed out and adhered to a blank board book! For most of these pages I'm "messing" with the photos digitally as part of the "coolness" factor! And then there's a 2 page paper layout from an older Pinewood Derby, enjoy!

Club Scrap: Body & Soul 5/08 - DP04, Tran03, Tran20;
Scan of Korean Silk;
Adobe PSE5.0: Artistic Filter - Fresco; Feathered Edges; Drop Shadows; Altered Hues;

Club Scrap: Avant Garde 3/08 Digital Kit - DP04, DP07, DP13;
Recycled Stuff: Scan of plastic mesh bag for background; Scan of paper towel for pattern on the blue paper;
Font: Font Garden - FG Vilma;

Club Scrap: Work Bench 8/05 - ALSB #11 & 12, Red Plain, Red Print, Green Print, Translucent Plain, Measure Up Tape, Stickers;
Krylon: Silver Leading Pen;
Zig: Millennium Pure Black Pen;

Book Of Me, Blog Alerts, and More!

2008-06-24T23:11:00.006-05:00

I have two different things to share today :) One is a trio of new creations from this week, the other is an exciting new option for viewing my blog!

Now, you can subscribe to my blog! By entering your email address you can get automatic emails, instant messages, etc whenever I add a new blog post!

This week I've been working on some layouts about my own life as part of Club Scrap's PSL Camp Challenges, beginning to work on a series of challenges based on Bernie Berlin's Artist Trading Card Workshop book, and had a card to make for my son's birthday! Here are two of the layouts and a card that combines the ATC workshop and my son's card.. plus one other layout for my Book of Me that I made earlier in the month!

Club Scrap: Rhapsody 3/05 - Cream Plain; Farmer's Market 10/06 - Leaf Plain; Egyptian 8/03 - Gold Plain;
Scrapbook Takeout: Eclectica 6/08 - American Crafts Journaling Stickers, Maya Road Stitched Ribbon, Heidi Swapp Felt Flowers;
American Crafts: Galaxy Marker - Purple Nebula;
K&Co: Kimberly Hodges - Red Multi Striped Flat Paper 643077 639546;
Sizzix: Alphabars - Ransom;
Unknown: Fibers;

Club Scrap: Bridges 2/08 - Brown Plain; Science 9/05 - Gold 8.5x11 Print, Transparent Overlay;
Scrapbook Takeout: Tell Your Story 3/08 - Jenny Bowlin Die Cut Sticker;Celebrations 12/07 - 7 Gypsies Photo Turns; Wonderful Whimsy 6/07 - American Crafts Felt Punctuation; Journal Jammers 4/06 - Heidi Swapp Chipboard Alphabet, 7 Gypsies Gaffer Tape;
Zig: Writer - Chocolate;
Unknown: Decorative Brads;

Scrapbook Takeout: Eclectica 6/08 - American Crafts Treehouse Chipboard Shapes, Maya Road Stitched Ribbon,
Club Scrap: A Study in Red 1/08 - Red; Be Still 9/07 - Yellow; Collections 6/06 - UM Font; Salsa 10/03 - White;
Artist Trading Card Workshop by Bernie Berlin: Intuitive Watercolor;
Darice: Kid Concoctions - Liquid Watercolor Hot Colors;
Niji: Waterbrush;
Stewart Superior: Palette - Noir Black;
Zig: Millennium - Pure Black;

Scrapbook Takeout: Parisian Vintage 5/08 - 7 Gypsies 97% Complete Flashcard Sentiments, Maya Road Trinkets Velvet Sparkle Blossom, Manila Tag;
Club Scrap: Simply Beautiful 5/07 - Green Print, Tan Plain;
Ranger: Distress Crackle Paint - Antique Linen;
Zig: Writer - Denim;

Petal Prints Too: FFC Exclusive Kit

2008-06-20T17:55:00.009-05:00

Wow! The end of the school year and getting caught up with life has kept me so busy! I have been crafting but just not making quality scans for you guys! Here's the first in a new series of posts :)

The full kit contains twenty 12"x12" and eight 8.5"x11" sheets of printed (otherwise extinct Kit For a Cause papers) and solid cardstock along with a package of organza ribbons in 5 colors, and a full sticker sheet, complete with images, captions, and a full alphabet! In the photo above, you see 3 of the 6 completed workshop layouts along with all the extra supplies after you've made 6 layouts!

Club Scrap: Petal Prints Too 2008 FFC Exclusive ALSB Kit: Green Plain, Yellow Plain, Peach Print, Green Organza Ribbon; Kit for a Cause - UM B&B Stamps;
Ranger: Adirondack Alcohol Inks - Terra Cotta, Red Pepper; Adirondack Dye Ink Pad - Mountain Rose; Stickles - Baby Blue;
Technique Junkies: 6/08 - Alcohol Ink Float Technique;
Unknown: Faux Flowers; Circle Cutter;

I had a lot of fun adding more blooms to this layout of flowers from the Rose Garden in Lynch Park, Beverly, MA. I took some marbled paper that I'd created and cut it into circles for the flower centers then stamped an oversized block of script onto them and edged them in Stickles. Also, note that I trimmed the flowers whenever they would go under a matte... not only does this help your photos to lay flat, but you can use those petals elsewhere on the page, or on another layout!

Club Scrap: Petal Prints Too 2008 FFC Exclusive ALSB Kit: Green Plain, Yellow Plain, Peach Print, Stickers; Body & Soul 5/08 - Embellishment Pack Green Tag;
Ranger: Alcohol Inks - Lettuce, Meadow, Pesto, Oregano;
Scrapbook Takeout: Prima Flowers;
Technique Junkies: 6/08 - Alcohol Ink Float Technique;
TLC: Quick Sand Chips - Cream Square;
Unknown: Faux Flowers, Flower Punch;

I love how this kit coordinates so easily with other Club Scrap kits! Of course, Road Trip 3/05 is a perfect match to the solid papers, but much of it is extinct and it has a very different printed design. Here, I matched a printed tag/title from the Body & Soul 5/08 kit for a quick caption that helps express a little bit about our experience getting Midsommar floral wreaths made at Ikea. I have a few other layouts from this event, but here's one with the woman who taught me how to make the wreaths so that I could help them move the long line of kids that were waiting, and then she made Uatchet's wreath a little while later when it was her turn in line! I loved that they let me help out when they had a shift change and were short staffed and had such a great experience teaching the older kids to make their own and wowing my children in the process!

Club Scrap: Petal Prints Too 2008 FFC Exclusive ALSB Kit - Yellow Print, Peach Plain, Yellow Plain, Organza Ribbon, Stickers;
TLC: Quick Sand Chips - Cream;

While most layouts from the Walk for Autism Research with the 501st New England Garrison feature dark and starry prints to match the Star Wars costumes and marble backdrop... I thought that the "girl power" photos deserved a more feminine page! I loved the stickers from the kit, but the layout needed a little ornamentation with a more industrial feel without losing the femininity. I took these great matte finish colored chipboard shapes and adhered the clear printed stickers over them and then cut them out with my X-Acto blade and the Tonic Glass Cutting Mat (from Club Scrap) to create a uniform look!

Club Scrap: Petal Prints Too 2008 FFC Exclusive ALSB Kit - Yellow Print, Peach Plain, Yellow Plain, Organza Ribbon, Stickers; Kit for a Cause - UM Stamps;
Scrapbook Takeout: Parisian Vintage Chic 5/08 Kit - Maya Road Velvet Sparkle Blossoms; Garden Party 2/08 - Prima Naturally Felt Flowers;
Unknown - Faux Flowers;

My children, my cousin's children, and my brother's new stepchildren were being a little bit sneaky on Mother's Day! They were flocking to the driveway to create HUGE chalk art Mother's Day cards for all of the mothers at our family cook out! While not exactly the most lovely photos that you'll ever see, I think it went perfectly with this kit!

Club Scrap: Petal Prints Too 2008 FFC Exclusive ALSB Kit - Blue Print, Green Print, White Plain, Green Plain, Stickers; Kit for a Cause - UM Stamps; Mini Kit for a Cause - UM Stamps;
Loew Cornell: Aqua Crayons;
Niji: Waterbrush;
Ranger: Adirondack Alcohol Inks - Eggplant, Silver Mixatives, Stonewashed;
Scrapbook Takeout: Parisian Vintage Chic 5/08 - Heidi Swapp Ghost Butterflies, Basic Grey Boxer Buttons;
Stewart Superiors: Palette Ink Pad - Noir Black;
Unknown: Faux Flowers;

The clear butterflies on this page look amazing in real life! They are still translucent, but the silver alcohol ink makes them more opaque and shimmery on the actual page! I thought they were just the perfect accent for these photos of the local Audubon's Butterfly Garden, and they are perfectly customizable!

Club Scrap: Petal Prints Too FFC Exclusive Kit - ALSB #6, Blue Print, Green Print, White Plain;
Cuttlebug: Flower; Paisley;
Sizzix: Sizzlits - Skooshy Font, Flower Center & Leaf, Buttons #4;
TVWeekly: Heavy Metal;
Recycled Material: Aluminum Can; Ikea - Half Smooshed Decorative Napkin;

What princess party is complete without a stage coach? Somehow the horses rode on top for a while, then pushed from behind, but can we still call it a horse drawn carriage? For this layout, I rose to the Household Items Challenge at Club Scrap's Summer Camp Pro Scrapbookers League TM and used a recycled soda can and half crumpled napkin in my die cutter to create the flowers and caption! Learn how to prepare your recycled soda cans in Michael Strong's Heavy Metal webisode at TV Weekly!

Body & Soul: 1 Card plus 2 Digital Layouts

2008-06-09T10:47:00.004-05:00

I have such a pile building up of pages that I need to scan and add here, but today I'll go with some that are already on my computer ;) Both of the layouts were made using the Body & Soul 5/08 Club Scrap Digital Kit and the card was made by using the digital transparency images on my photograph before printing and matting it!

Photography by Audrey Schiller
Club Scrap: Body & Soul 5/08 Digital Kit - DP04, DP07, DP10, Exp02, Tag07, Tran08, Tran13, Trans21, Xtra06, Xtra29;

I created my own custom background/printed matte in Photoshop Elements by using Filter >> Texture >> Grain >> Stippled and then by layering the kit's papers and transparencies with various blending modes and deleted areas of the photo until I was happy with the results.

As soon as I saw my friend's photos of the baby ducklings in her neighborhood, I knew I had to use them with this kit! You can see more of her work at her new photography blog! http://audreysunfocused.blogspot.com/

Club Scrap: Body & Soul 5/08 Digital Kit - DP04, Tran08, Tran14; Sparkle 12/07 Digital Kit - Tran22, Xtra54;
Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0: Blending Modes - Multiply, Screen; Artistic Filters - Film Grain, Smudge Stick; Render Filter - Lens Flare;

For our very first sparkler experience, of course my camera was not ready and when I got it out I kept having to dodge the 7 kids to get a photo... winding up with just one unobscured shot, but it was blurry! What's a gal to do but mess around with the photo digitally?

Club Scrap: Body & Soul 5/08 Digital Kit - Transparencies; Painted Desert 5/06 Flower Embossed Plain Paper, Sand Plain Paper;
Stewart Superior: Palette Ink Pad - Noir Black;
Adobe Photoshop: Layer Effects - Soft Glow;

Printing text/images as part of your printed photograph can be a wonderful way to make a photographic card and add a sentiment... It's also very handy if you want to produce a lot of the same card, or just want the text to show up! You can always create a contrasting colored layer of the text under it then enlarge and soften it, add drop shadows, or add a soft glow so that it will be legible even on high contrast photos!

Digital Calendar Pages

2008-06-01T19:39:00.005-05:00

If you didn't notice, in the top left of my blog, you always see a calendar page for the current month... These pages are created with Club Scrap's Digital Calendar Kit (and sometimes a little extra from my digital stash) and work not only for my blog, but as a great printed gift to give people each year! One very affordable way to do so is to print them at around 8x10 inches at home or at a copy center, onto your cardstock, trim, and place into one of the acrylic box shaped photo frames that are always for sale at the major craft chains! Then you can give refills to your repeat recipients each year!

Here are the most recent three digital calendar pages that I've posted!

Club Scrap: 2008 Digital Calendar Kit 2008 - September Be Still Layout with June Brush; Be Still 9/07 Digital Kit - CS02, CS05, CS08, Tran02;
Font: Tribal Two;

Club Scrap: 2008 Digital Calendar Kit - February Refresh Layout with May Brush;
Scan of my own inked edge paper;

Club Scrap: 2008 Digital Calendar Kit 2008 - March Rhapsody Layout with April Brush;
Font: Belisa Plumilla Manual;

Kids At Play: 5 Layouts!

2008-05-30T13:15:00.005-05:00

Wow, this week has been family fun catch-up time for us! I'm working on some brand new layouts to post and some domino jewelry that I just need to photograph/scan... But, for now, here are a few of my favorite layouts from the recent Club Scrap Chat PSL ALSB Scramble Challenge! These are part of that batch of 40 ALSB layouts that I made in under two days, talk about speed scrapping! You've got to love how the ALSB instructions can make you a super producer!

Club Scrap: PSL ALSB #7; Bridges 2/08 - Light Brown Print, Dark Brown Plain, Sr Stickers; Bistro 7/07 - Tangerine Plain; Wings 7/06 - Apricot Plain;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pads - Espresso, Ginger;

Confession time here... I was so excited to finally scrap this favorite photo that I began trimming it as soon as it printed. Yes, that meant that the ink wasn't dry and I made a big fat palm print on the photo! But, I saved it with a strategically placed matted sticker! What is that saying, there are no mistakes, only unexpected opportunities!

Club Scrap: PSL ALSB# 17; Fizz 1/08 - Dark Pink Plain, Light Pink 8.5x11 Print, White Plain, Black Tags;
Stewart Superior: Palette Ink Pad - Noir Black;
Personal Stash: Shaped Brads, Fiber;

This was Uatchet's very first ride on her very first bike! It was a huge chore to find one short enough for my very undersized twins, but what a bonus to have a "baby seat" just like on Mom & Dad's bikes!

Club Scrap: PSL ALSB #13; Be Still 9/07 - Brown Plain; Refresh 2/07 - Dark Green Plain; Surf's Up! 7/06 - CSt Light Green 8.5x11 Print, Light Green Plain, Crest o' the Wave Cut Outs; English Garden 5/04 - UM Font;
Ranger: Distress Ink - Brushed Corduroy;

I let the colors of the turtle and wooden floors dictate the color palette for this kit... and of course felt the urge to include a wave print from the Surf's Up! 7/06 kit!

Club Scrap: PSL ALSB # 20; A Study in Red 1/08 - Grey Text Weight Plain; Bistro 7/08 - Khaki Plain; Simply Beautiful 5/07 - Translucent Print, Tan Plain, Tan GTG Die Cuts; Old South 7/02 - Tea Cup 8.5x11 Print;

Who knew that sitting on your identical twin's upside down bottom would make a perfect chair? Well, it also makes for giggles and topples! Who knows what inspired Uatchet to start sitting on Nekhebet!

Anyhow, this is another example of letting the colors in the photo dictate the papers that you use! I love the faded rug that is beneath them and used it as my inspiration, choosing muted colors and floral/vintage designs.

Club Scrap: PSL ALSB #14; Hometown Retreat 2007 - Light Green Ladies Print, Dark Blue Print; Farmer's Market 10/06 - Pumpkin Plain;
Scrapbook Takeout: Tell Your Story 3/08 - 7Gypsies Rubbings Fortunes The Story;

The girls are starting to be a part of my parent's business and are learning to work the registers and even inflate balloons! I still can't believe how many mylar balloons Nekhebet inflated that first time!

Happy Memorial Day!

2008-05-26T12:03:00.006-05:00

Happy Memorial Day! Today my kids marched with their Scout groups in our town's annual Memorial Day Parade and ceremonies... plus I have some layouts and cards to share with you from past holidays, elections, military service, and more!

Club Scrap: Freedom 2003 - Flag Print;
Ranger: Distress Ink Pad - Tea Dye;
Vintage Ephemera;

The kids and I made a series of these little Squash Books and sent them, with other gifts, to the Army soldiers that we adopted the last time that my brother was serving in Iraq.

Club Scrap Digital 1/08 A Study in Red papers, tags, and ribbons with altered hues; Font Gardens FG William computer font;
Layout is my take on Bistro's Sr ALSB Layout #1.

Journaling reads: January, 2008
Chris has only just returned to Iraq for a second tour of duty. From this photo it seems perfectly clear that the front infantry is where he has wanted to be all along. I may never understand, but it is what he wants.

Club Scrap: Surf's Up 7/06 - UM Stamp; Mosaic Twist 1/05 - Blue; Freedom 2003 - Red;
Vintage Ephemera;
Personal Stash - Fabric Flower, Mini Brad, White Ink Pad;

Club Scrap: PSL ALSB #7; Farmer's Market 11/06 - Leaf; Freedom 2003 - Flag Print , Blue Print, Red Print;
Sticker;

These recreations of National Monuments were created by my son's 4th grade class!

Club Scrap: Crafter Retreat 07 - ALSB Scramble; Academy 8/07 - Brown Plain, Tan 8.5x11 Print; Interior Designs 11/05 - Right Companion Stair Print on Brown; Collections 6/06 - UM Font; Poetic 9/03 - Blue Plain;
Ranger: Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber in Gold;

We happened upon this Flag Retirement Ceremony being given by an Eagle Scout candidate in Lynch Park. It was an amazing ceremony filled with history about our flag, beautiful music tied in, and a large Flag Retirement Ceremony for the town.

Club Scrap: Sparkle 12/07 - UM Stamps; Time & Space 12/04 - ALSB #9 & 10, Gold Plain, Star White Galaxy Print; It's a Boy/It's a Girl 2006 - UM Font;
Ranger: Archival Ink Pad - Grape;

Tripods, delayed photos, and long shutter exposures are your friends if you want to capture shots of a fireworks display! Or, call them Fireflowers, like the Korean translation for fireworks! :)

Club Scrap: Down To Earth 4/05 - Lt Green; County Fair 7/04 - Green; Workbench 8/05 - Green; Unknown - Dark Green; Americana 2001 - Stencil;
Tsukineko: Brilliance - Pearlescent Ivy, Rocket Red, Galaxy Gold;
Stippling through a stencil;

Club Scrap: Crafter Retreat 07 - ALSB Scramble; Poetic 9/03 - Brown Print, Brown Plain, Blue Plain; Heritage II 6/00 - Journaling Stencil;
Scrapbook Takeout: Clearly Speaking 7/07 - Hambly Screen Prints Rub-Ons in Vintage Motifs Black;
Stewart Superior: Memories Ink Pad in
Art Print Brown;
Zig: Millennium Pen in Pure Black;

Unfortunately, when we visited the Statue of Liberty, they weren't releasing tickets to climb up inside of her... but the kids were still in awe!

Club Scrap: PSL ALSB #8; Freedom 2003 - Flag Print , Blue Print, Red Print;
Making Memories: Alphabet Rub-Ons - Heidi Small White;

We saw this amazing display when we visited Ellis Island. At first glimpse it's just a representation of our flag, but as you pass it it transforms into photographs of Americans from all walks of life.

Club Scrap: A Study in Red 1/08 - Dark Red Plain; Sparkle 12/07 - Blue Metallic Plain; English Garden 5/04 - Library Pocket Stencil; Freedom 2003 - Blue Print, Red Print, Translucent 8.5x11 Foil Print;
Scrapbook Takeout: Adventures in Altering 8/07 - Chipboard Numbers;
American Crafts: Pigment Pro Marker - Blue;

At the time of the last presidential election, my kids were very revved up about voting from both their parents and their school! They saw everyone out holding election signs and wanted to be a part of it, especially when they saw people parking at town hall to pick kids up from school and not voting earlier in the year... So we made up very impartial signs and they got permission to hold them in front of town hall to remind people to vote, even with kids in tow! I think my kids have only missed going to the polls with us once in their lives!

Club Scrap: A Study in Red 1/08 - Dark Red Plain; Sparkle 12/07 - Blue Metallic Plain; Freedom 2003 - White Print, Translucent 8.5x11 Foil Print;

During high school, our Governor was running for President and came by a youth center where I served on the board. The photo is of him with our two exchange students! I'm sorry that this layout scanned so poorly, but it's chock full of metallic and foil finishes that don't like my scanner!

Love Is In the Air: Cards, Envelopes, FFC ALSB Kits, & Digital Layouts

2008-05-25T13:49:00.011-05:00

In honor of my little brother's 1 week wedding anniversary today and my older sister's 1 month wedding anniversary 10 days ago, today's post is all about love!

Club Scrap: Body & Soul 5/08 Digital Kit - Fbr13; Generations 4/08 Digital Kit - DPaper05, DPaper10; A Study in Red 1/08 Digital Kit - CS02, CS07, CS09; From the Heart 2008 Digital Kit - Tag30, Xtra28, Xtra29; Fiber; After 5 2008 Online Digital Event - Jac Carney's Jr Class Tutorial;

Here's a close up of the custom shadow created from the tutorial and also with the top layer getting a Bevel effect!

There are two more love related FFC Exclusive ALSB kits. The Love ALSB Kit features the now extinct FFC Host Reward Line from last year, remixed into a set of 6 ALSB pages and a slew of surprise goodies to embellish your creations with. (They all include a 12x12 sticker sheet with plenty of left over images, but the goodies vary from tags and ribbon to alphabet stickers and fibers or Glimmer Mist, and who knows what else might surprise you as your bonus!) The From The Heart ALSB Kit contains all of the papers, tags, and embellishments that you need to make the 10 ALSB Layouts from the original Club Scrap kit, but slims things down a little by not including the stamp, cards, Scrap Rap or stencil... saving you a little money while still leaving you with plenty of extra tags and embellishments to adorn several more layouts and cards!

The Love FFC ALSB Kit makes a wonderful gift for a wedding, anniversary, etc! Please click on each image to see a larger version in the same new window!

I actually used the From the Heart ALSB pages and a coordinating album as an initial wedding gift for my brother! He's currently serving with the Army in Iraq but is on his 2 weeks leave right now, so they had a very small wedding and will have a larger celebration and ceremony when he returns... at that point they'll actually have wedding colors to play with!

Here are the 10 layouts that the From the Heart FFC ALSB Kit will create and all of the leftover goodies! Please click on each to open them in a single new window! In addition to the kit supplies I used Club Scrap's From the Heart 2008 Stencil, Ranger's Adirondack Pigment Ink Pad in Pitch Black, Ranger's Distress Ink Pad in Vintage Photo, and Stewart Superior's To You With Love Red Memories Chalk Ink Pad;

This card uses the original From the Heart 2008 Kit's Wood Mounted Stamp and Greetings To Go Card along with the optional unmounted Borders and Backgrounds stamps, plus a Tag and Brads from the ALSB remnants. For ink I used the Stewart Superior Palette Noir Black Ink Pad and Loew-Cornell Aqua Crayon Sticks with my Niji Waterbrush.

Club Scrap: From the Heart 2008 - Greetings to Go Card and Panel, UM B&B Stamps, Heart Shaped Paperclip; Generatios 4/08 - CSt WM Stamp; Wings 7/05 - Lt Blue;
Leow-Cornell: Aqua Crayon Sticks;
Niji - Waterbrush;
Ranger: Adirondack Pigment Ink Pad - Pitch Black;
Staples - Transparency;

I just loved filling the open window in this card with a transparency! I also adore how the new Ranger Pigment Ink Pads can stamp and air dry on transparencies! (I also used the same pad with the stencil for the ALSB layouts and it goes on with a little Cut 'n' Dry Foam or the Ranger Ink Applicator Tool like a dream and cleans up quickly with water, leaving no trace on your tools but a gorgeous matte finish on your projects!) I painted the backside of the transparency with my watercolor crayons and it pops on the light background while looking very cool on the transparency when you have the card open!

Learn more cool Watercolor Crayon & Pencil techniques in Tricia Morris's Artist Incognito Webisode at TVWeekly!

Have you ever painted with your DigiPapers? You don't need to have intense fine art skills when you have Club Scrap's great artwork to color in! Simply create a layered image using one or more of the Transparencies on top layers, then in layers beneath them, use the Paintbrush tool to color in the images, one color per layer. Pick from all of your great textured Club Scrap DigiCardstock to Copy and select the color in the corresponding layer (use Ctrl and click on the thumbnail for that layer in the Layer Window to see the "marching ants" around everything in that layer) and you can either work right on top of the layer or in a new layer, then use Edit >> Paste Into Selection to fill the painted areas with the textured DigiCardstock! And voila! You have a cross between painting with paper and paper piecing... all in a digital format!

This Valentine's Day envelope design uses From the Heart's HeartTran08.png and HeartTran13.png along with DigiCardstock from Collections 6/06, Interior Designs 11/06, Rhapsody 3/07, and Simply Beautiful 5/07.

FFC Exclusive Star Book plus TONS (over 85) of Free Instructions from Club Scrap

2008-05-23T14:02:00.013-05:00

Today, Tricia Morris launched her webisode, You're a Star, on TVWeekly.com, featuring a wonderful new 6x6 Star Book Kit. Here is the very similar FFC Exclusive 6x6 Star Book from Club Scrap!

Star books are dynamic books with have the shape of a star when fully opened... plenty of space for hidden notes, slipped in tags, etc... and the Club Scrap books include a folding pocket on each page!

Tricia's latest webisode featured the brand new Military 6x6 Kit, but if star books aren't your thing, there are still plenty of books and papers by Club Scrap to suit your needs while scrapping about loved ones who are serving in the military! One of my favorites is the Handmade Gate Fold Flag Book using the papers from the Friendship 4/04 Kit! Please click on the images to see more photos and alternate colors that the kit is available in... and stay tuned! I have a slew of patriotic themed layouts and even a mini book that I will be showing on Memorial Day!

There are so many other Webisodes that Club Scrap has produced with TVWeekly.com, television episodes on DIY and HGTV, and more free instructions at the main Club Scrap Website! And then there are even more project or inking instructions given out with each Senior and Club Stamp Kit, as well as plenty of great digital techniques given with every Digital Kit! And... even more through FFC Crafters, like me!

Here are the links for all of the official instructions that I've found online!

Club Scrap Website

TVWeekly Webisodes - Complete with an online video and PDF guides! Note: The hosting website is no longer active for these Webisodes and PDFs. Please visit Club Scrap's Cinema to view them at http://www.clubscrapcommunity.com/main-inspiration/cinema?catid=6

DIY/HGTV Episodes featuring Tricia Morris (Instructions are in HTML or PDF for most of these, with limited photos. Many will air again with a full video showing you the projects, step by step.)

5 Digital Layouts, Featuring Blending Modes in Photoshop

2008-05-22T09:23:00.005-05:00

I've been running around a lot this week and didn't get a chance to post! (My little brother got married, my girls were in a school play, I've been meeting up with old friends, and catching up on errands that were long overdue!) I've got a big pile of layouts to scan, but here are a few newer digital pages for you all!

Club Scrap: Sparkle 12/07 Digital Kit - CS08; Refresh 2/07 - CSDrkGreen, Tran03, Xtras18;
Photoshop Elements 5.0: Altered Hues & Levels, Drop Shadows, Orange Glass Button;
Font: AquilineTwo;

This layout was created for a "scraplift" challenge and borrows from Sue C's great layout on the ClubScrapChat forum!

The following layouts were all created using the instructions from the Club Scrap Pro-Scrapping League's free ALSB instructions and by playing with blending modes in Photoshop Elements as described in the Body & Soul 4/08 DigiRap!

Club Scrap: PSL ALSB #6; Bridges 2/08 Digital Kit: CS2, CS3, CS4, CS13, CS15, Template DT3;
Font: Zero & Zero Is;
Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0: Smart Fix; Alter Hues; Blend Mode - Multiple, Overlay;
Custom Template by me;

CS: PSL ALSB 19; Retreat 2007 Digital Kit;
Font: The King and Queen;
Blending Mode: Color Burn;
Public Domain Postcards (of my hometown);

Club Scrap: PSL ALSB #2; Sparkle 12/07 - CS13; Rhapsody 3/07 Digital Kit - CS06, Trans01, Trans05, Trans06, Trans11, Trans12, Trans15, Trans22; Centennial 2007 Digital Kit - CS05; Farmer's Market 10/06 Digital Kit - CSPBrown2, CSPPumpkin;
Homemade Template by me;
Font: Belisia Plumilla Manual;
Photoshop Elements 5.0: Layer Blending Modes - Lighten, Overlay; Layer Styles - Drop Shadows; Altered Hues & Levels;

Club Scrap: PSL ALSB #23; Generations 4/08 Digital Expansion Kit - Exp14; Centennial 2007 Digital Kit - CS01, CS12, CS14, CS15, Tran08;
Font: Dali;
Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0: Blending Modes;

9 Layouts, 1 Digital Hybrid Card, and Tons of Free ALSB Instructions!

2008-05-15T13:43:00.005-05:00

I just had to share a few more creations before posting more FFC Exclusive kits!

The first is a Digital Hybrid Invitation that I made with the brand new Club Scrap After 5 Digital Kit... Log into http://clubscrapchat.com tonight at 7 PM Central for a live online class with Jacqueline Carney, using this kit!

After that, I have a bunch of layouts to share using my favorite ALSB instructions from Club Scrap's Pro Scrapbooking League Scrapper Bowl Scramble Challenge! In under two days, Club Scrap challenged us to create as many layouts as we could, using any of the 28 new ALSB designs that they released for the challenge! Download all of the layouts for free at http://www.clubscrap.com/08PSLScramble.pdf! In this post I'm just using the instructions for layouts 11, 12, 15, and 16!

Club Scrap: After 5 2008 Digital Kit - DP02, DP05, DP08, Expansion16, Expansion17, Tran03, Tran07, Tran11; Sparkle 12/07 - Brown Metallic Paper; Serengeti 11/07 - Yellow Paper;
Font: Spellbound;
Ranger: Distress Ink Pad - Walnut Ink;

Planning a fun get together? Grab a few kit elements, create an exciting layout, print it as a photo and slap it on some coordinating paper mattes, pop it in the mail, et voila! You're sure to have a full house!

Club Scrap: PSL ALSB Scramble #11; Farmer's Market 10/06 Digital Kit - CSBlue, CSLeaf, CSPBlue, CSPBrown2, CSPPumpkin Trans Sunrise;
Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0; Blend Modes - Difference, Exclusion, Overlay; Altered Hues, Sharpen; Drop Shadows;
Font: Zero & Zero Is;

Club Scrap: PSL ALSB Scramble #11; Bistro 7/07 - Gold; Chapter One 6/07 - Red; Stratosphere 4/07 - Dark Blue; Refresh 3/07 - Dark Green; DIY 2003 - UM Font;
Ranger: Adirondack Pigment Ink Pads - Pitch Black, Snow White;

Club Scrap: PSL ALSB Scramble #11; Retro 9/06 - Dark Raspberry; Wheel & Sprocket 8/06 - Black Print, Red Plain, Purple Cut Outs; Evergreen 12/03 - Green Handmade;

Note: There will be a companion page with journaling about this trip in a tow truck... the girls got official police authorization to share a seat and it got a bit funny, especially when we had a police escort in the breakdown lane during a traffic jam!

Club Scrap: PSL ALSB Scramble #12; Avant Garde 3/08 - Light Aqua Sr Print; Chapter One 6/07 - Red; Stratosphere 4/07 - Dark Blue, Jr Alphabet Stickers; Refresh 3/07 - Dark Green; DIY 2003 - UM Font;
Ranger: Adirondack Pigment Ink Pads - Pitch Black;

Club Scrap: PSL ALSB Scramble #12; Avant Garde 3/08 - UM Stamps, Starburst Stencil; Bistro 7/07 - Grape; Farmer's Market 10/06 - Blue, Leaf; Wings 7/05 - Apricot Raised Print;
Ranger: Adirondack Dye Ink Pads - Ginger, Pitch Black;

Club Scrap: PSL ALSB Scramble #16; Avant Garde 3/08 - UM Stamps; Sparkle 12/07 - Brown Metallic; Serengeti 11/07 - Brown, Dark Teal, Light Teal; Farmer's Market 10/06 - Leaf;
Ranger: Adirondack Dye Ink Pad - Pitch Black;

Club Scrap: PSL ALSB Scramble #16; Serengeti 11/07 - Yellow, Brown; Fossils 8/04 - Rust Print, Kraft Print, Green, Jr Alphabet Stickers;

Club Scrap: PSL ALSB Scramble #16; Sparkle 12/07 - Brown Metallic; Serengeti 11/07 - Brown, Dark Teal, Light Teal; Farmer's Market 10/06 - Leaf;
CTMH: Make New Friends UM Stamps;
Crayola: Watercolor Paints;
K&Co: Brownies Scrap Pad;

Note: I used up a bunch of scraps on this layout! Not only did I use tiny cuts from my Club Scrap scraps, but also unused remnants from a cardmaking event that I put on for our Brownie troop!

FFC Exclusive ALSB Kits, Salsa Spicy and Dancing With The Stars

2008-05-13T19:47:00.007-05:00

These two kits come complete with one great Club Scrap Stencil each! I've only added inks for the stenciling and paper edging, plus the title on one Dancing With the Stars layout. The inks are Ranger's Pitch Black Adirondack Pigment Ink Pad, Stewart Superior's Memories Dark Blackberry Dye & Palette Noir Black Ink Pads, and Tsukineko's Violet Ink Pad. The title was made with Club Scrap's County Fair 8/04 UM Font plus Ranger's Adirondack Pool Paint Dabber and White Inkssentials Pen.

Salsa Spicy FFC ALSB Kit

Dancing With the Stars FFC ALSB Kit

Two More FFC Exclusive ALSB Kits: Green With Envy and Glamorous in Grey

2008-05-12T14:11:00.004-05:00

I added photos and Making Memories rub on letters to two of the layouts and ink to the Glamorous in Grey papers. Please click on the thumbnails of the photoless layouts for a larger view! (Each click will load the image into the same external window.)

Green With Envy FFC Exclusive ALSB Kit

Glamorous in Grey FFC Exclusive ALSB Kit
This kit features papers from the extinct Crafter Classic Kit, From the Heart!

Happy Mother's Day! Happy Spring!

2008-05-11T08:25:00.009-05:00

Here's a little something I made last night with Spring and Mother's Day in mind... Happy Mother's Day to all the moms who read my blog... and Happy Spring to the rest of you!

Lori D inspired me to get out my stampbord and play! Check out her gorgeous mini book featuring Color in Black & White stamps on the Stampbord covers!

Also, be sure to check out Tricia Morris's Stampbord Mini Album Webisode on TvWeekly.com!

To create my pins, first I began applying the paler inks onto the Stampbord after pressing the ink pad cover onto the pad, then the Stampbord onto the damp pad... The first layer was pink with an all-over application, then I began applying additional inks with a more random approach and smoothed the ink with a piece of Cut 'n' Dry Foam. Then I stamped the dragonflies with Archival Ink and began etching out areas where I wanted white to show through. On the Believe Pin, I also inked the edges then applied the silver leafing pen to the sides and overran it a little onto the front edges.

I haven't yet decided how to complete the bottom one :) I definitely want to cover the side edges, but not sure if I want to ink the front edges or add a work or whirls, or nothing!

Club Scrap: Ivory Elegance 12/07 - UM Stamps; Centennial 2007 - UM Stamps;
Ampersand Art Supply - Stampbord; Claybord Scratch Knife;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pads - Cloudy Blue, Cool Peri, Eggplant, Pink Sherbet, Wild Plum; Archival Ink Pad - Grape; Posh - Silver Accent Pen;

Take It Out of the Album: Expandable Files and Altered Word

2008-05-10T15:30:00.004-05:00

Every month, Club Stamp includes a brand new project that often has nothing to do with scrapbooking, but uses our scrapping and stamping supplies! Today I'm sharing one of those projects, the same project with alternate papers, a project of my own, and a 6x6 beaded book based on one from the 2007 Club Scrap Main Retreat. These make wonderful gifts and also great workshop projects!

These 5"x7" Expandable Files were the project for the March 2008 Avant Garde Club Stamp Kit and feature papers from that kit. You can take it a step farther and add "feet" to the bottom, stamp on it, embellish it, add tabs, etc, the sky is the limit! The kits are now only available in ATC size in alternate colors, but I can create new kits in your choice of sizes and colors for your banquet or purchase!

Here is the same project, but it uses papers from the Simply Beautiful May 2007 Kit with tabs cut out using the Kit for a Cause Stencil.

This fun little altered sign is another great project for your banquets! I have more signs, mostly of "Bistro" and "Cafe" but also a few others! We would use a mix of textured cardstock, stamping, painting, and inking and can seal them if you wish!

Club Scrap: Mocha Java Remix 2007 Stamps; Collections 6/06 Brown; Ivory Elegance 12/06 Cream Translucent and Ivory Plain;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink in Ginger; Archival Ink in Coffee and Sepia; Distress Ink Pad in Brushed Corduroy; Distress Paint in Brushed Corduroy;
Michaels: Bistro Wooden Sign;

This little handmade book can be made in any color scheme and theme, with prints or solids! It uses the same stitch-bound binding technique as other projects that I've offered, but adds some beads to the outer spine and doesn't use a hard cover. Plus there are beads or brads added to the otherwise simple pages! Have your guests bring photos for 10 pages and the two covers to have a great workshop!

All of the photos in the book are from the Chinese New Year performances at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA. The Melody Dance Troupe and the Gund Kwok Lion Dancers were the featured performers.

Club Scrap: Generations 4/08 - Berry; Avant Garde 3/08 - Apricot, Dark Aqua, White; Study in Red 1/08 - Light Red, Dark Red, Black; Sparkle 12/07 - Brown Metallic; Serengeti 11/07 - Yellow; Retro 9/06 - Dark Raspberry; Wheel & Sprocket 8/06 - Green; Asian Artisan 1/04 - UM Font Stamps; Assorted Kits - Beads;
Making Memories: Antique Mini Brads;
Nicole: Brown Waxed Linen Thread;
Stewart Superior: Palette Ink Pad - Noir Black;

Stenciling Revisited, Tutorial

2008-05-08T09:07:00.005-05:00

This is another installment of past tutorials of mine which have lost their original host site. Enjoy!

In the past, I had a bin full of stencils gathering dust. I used to look at them mostly as a tool to use as templates or with pencils, markers, and dry embossing stylus tools. But there are so many more ways to use them and create stunning results . . . If you have stencils that coordinate with your prints or your stamps, then there are so many more ways to tie them into your finished pieces! Why not use the inks that you are already using with your stamps on the same project, but incorporate your stencils into the work, or the same embossing powders, etc?

To use your ink pads, pair them up with some wonderful tools. There's the ColorBox Stylus, Ranger's Cut 'n' Dry Foam, Ranger's Ink Applicator Tool, cosmetic sponges, Ranger's Cut 'n' Dry Nibs, Provocraft's Chizzel-It, Niji's Waterbrush, regular paintbrushes, and more! Alternately you can use liquid or dimensional paints, dry embossing tools, Ranger's Perfect Medium Marker or VersaMark's Marker and embossing powders, pigment powders, or chalks, etc.

Remember to always clean your stencil before moving it or changing colors. Using only water-based dye inks, clear embossing ink, or paints will facilitate easy cleaning of both your stencil and your tools without damaging them.

Using the ColorBox Stylus with sponge tips gives a soft but very complete image! Simply press your sponge tip gently onto a waterbased dye ink pad to pick up the color then gently press or swirl the ink through the stencil. I recommend water based dye inks because they will easily rinse off the sponges without damaging them, although darker colors may stain the sponges. Another great and similar tool is the Ranger Ink Applicator Tool. If you do not have access to these tools then you can use small pieces of Ranger's Cut 'n' Dry Foam or a cosmetic sponge for a somewhat similar look.

Ranger's Cut 'n' Dry Nibs give a very clear image and full strength color with your stencils. Simply swipe the Nib's tip across your ink pad before coloring through your stencil. You may use any ink that you desire to create a custom marker with the nib for using with your stencil or on its own! To change colors, clean your nib in the same way that you would clean your rubber stamps. If you have a hard time holding the small nibs, then simply empty a multipoint pencil and slide the Nib into the tip, a little glue will hold it in place better!

The Chizzel-It with a spinning brush tip is a great tool for creating air-brushed looks with your stencils. Delta also makes the Rubber Stampede Spin Color which works in much the same manner. To use these tools with inks (as opposed to paints) they require a little more ink than it will pick up directly from the ink pads, but a lot less than you would get from dipping it into a reinker. An easy way to work around this is to use Ranger's Adirondack, Big 'n' Juicy, Sea Brights, Sea Shells, or Stamp It Ink Pads which come in a special case, allowing you to press on the center of the closed lid to pool a small amount of ink onto the inside of the lid. Alternately, you can press your ink pads onto a slick surface like Ranger's Non-Stick Craft Sheet. In either case, simply wipe your brush, or spin it against the pooled ink or a paint of your choice and then make sure to spin the brush while working it through your stencil.

Niji's Waterbrush is a great tool whenever you wish to watercolor and it works so well with water based dye inks! It is faster than regular paint brushes with water and cleans up so quickly without requiring the dreaded open dish of water at your table! To use it with ink pads, pool your ink just like you would with the Chizzel-It, or use reinkers and simply swipe a moist brush tip through the ink and paint your stenciled image! If the brush is too moist, use a paper towel to lightly soak away excess water or add more water by gently squeezing the handle or by pressing the brush against a paper towel. You can also dilute your ink with extra water, run your inked brush across a towel before painting, or blot your painted image to lighten the result. To change colors, simply squeeze a little water through the brush and wipe it on a towel to remove the old ink from the brush. You can also use the Waterbrush with pigment ink powders like Perfect Pearls, or with traditional watercolor paints, etc. And, if you can't get the Waterbrush, go ahead and use a regular paint brush.

Paints are a wonderful medium to use with your stencils. I happened to use Radiant Pearls for this sample, but regular liquid paints (like acrylic paint) will work wonderfully. You can also take it a step further and use dimensional paints, like Delta's Texture Magic, with a palette knife to create a rich textured image.

Dry embossing is always an option with your stencils and embossing metal can be quite stunning! Ten Seconds has a great line of metal tools which can be used with any stencil or printed design in order to create great pieces of art. Using their Thick Foam Mat and the Teflon Embossing Tool, simply trace your stenciled image onto the back of your scrap metal. Flip the metal over and place on their Acrylic mat to outline your lines on the right side as a stronger border. Flip the metal back over to the wrong side and use a blending tool or Paper Thumb to "puff" the image into your Thick Foam Mat, to stabilize your embossing you may want to fill the puffed areas with light weight spackle from the hardware store. You can also choose to create 3-d designs into your stenciled area or background with any of their many freehand tools and embossing molds.

Heat embossing your image is also possible! Use Ranger's Perfect Medium Embossing Pens or Tsukineko's VersaMaker Pen to color in your stenciled image, then apply embossing powder and heat! Alternatively you may cover your inked area with Perfect Pearls, colored chalk, etc. This also is a great way to use handmade paper templates to add your own designs to your projects!

These pieces were all created with Club Scrap's The Written Word November 2005 Stencil and papers in addition to the following:

Angelwings - Radiant Pearls in Whisper Blue;
ColorBox - Stylus with Sponge Tips;
Niji - Waterbrush;
ProvoCraft - Chizzel It;
Ranger - Adirondack Alcohol Blending Solution; Adirondack Alcohol Inks in Eggplant & Stonewashed; Adirondack Dye Ink Pad in Eggplant; Antiquities Embossing Powder in Tanzanite; Cut 'n' Dry Nibs; Heat-It Craft Tool; Non-Stick Craft Sheet; Perfect Medium Embossing Pen;
Stewart Superior - Memories Dye Ink Pad in Dark Blackberry;
Ten Seconds - Acrylic Mat; Teflon Embossing Tool from Basic Kit #1; Thick Foam Mat;

These additional samples show a few finished projects that used stenciling techniques from above!

The Flag Books incorporate dimensional paint and use: Club Scrap The Written Word November 2005 Stencil & Collage Stamp, Asian Artisan January 2004 Cream Frost Paper, Time & Space December 2004 Gold Paper, Matte Board, and Bookbinding Glue; Delta Texture Magic Dimensional Paint in White (applied through stencil using a palette knife); Ranger Black Soot Distress Ink Pad; Gold Embossing Powder; Rafael Model Lace from Walmart;

The Dream Card includes distressed edges made with the ColorBox stylus and uses: Club Scrap The Written Word November 2005 Stencil, Let Me Count The Ways February 2006 GTG and Papers, Greetings For a Year Stickers, and White Notecards; ColorBox Stylus with Sponge Tip; Stewart Superior Palette Noir Ink Pad;

The Holiday Ornaments feature layered ink and masking tape together with the ColorBox Stylus and use: Club Scrap Holidays Stencil and assorted POPs Papers; ColorBox Stylus with sponge tips; Ranger Awning Green, Pool, & Purple Surf Sea Brights Dye Ink Pads and Cool Peri, Ocean Aqua, & Starfish Green Sea Shells Dye Ink Pads; Masking Tape;

Here are some links to other great stenciling guides online!

Ink Your Clay Tutorial

2008-05-04T23:20:00.003-05:00

The site where I used to have this tutorial recently went down... So I hunted to find my copy of the original to post here for you! I hope you enjoy!

Ink is for more than just paper and altered arts. Did you know that you can also use your inks to create custom colored polymer clay?

Design Originals has a great book, Clay Techniques to "DYE" for, which teaches you all kinds of ways to use Ranger inks and embossing powders to color your clay, along with over 20 projects. I took inspiration from their coloring techniques to create my own clay blend… which I then used to create a series of tube beads, a pendant, and a six-holed focal spacing bead for a bracelet modeled after Heather Powers Cuff Bracelet from Bead & Button: Beading Basics Essential Techniques and http://humblebeads.com/cuff_beads.html

UTEE is wonderful for tinting your clay to a small degree while embedding grit and variability into the piece. Translucent clay will allow the differing levels of color shine through. To tint clay with UTEE, first condition your clay by running it through your clay machine at the thickest setting until it is pliable. Pinch your clay into a pocket and add no more than 2 teaspoons per full bar of clay. Seal the pocket and run it through your clay machine, folding between each run, until the UTEE is evenly dispersed.

Even with UTEE Brightz, the clay will still be light in color when you cure it. So, at this point, you may wish to add dyes to the clay to give it a deeper color. Be sure to put on some gloves for this part because the liquid ink can get messy! Take your conditioned clay and add some drops of Archival Reinkers or To Dye For to the surface of your sheet. Spread it out with a Q-Tip and fold the clay over, keeping the inked surface covered. Run it through the clay machine, at the thickest setting, folding between runs until the color is even.

You may opt to create a faded sheet of clay by merging two colors, or go with just one. Mold your clay as you wish and then you can also color the surface of your piece by stamping on it, pressing additional embossing powders into it, using Adirondack Pigment Pens and Adirondack Dimensional Pearls paints, using Cut n' Dry Foam to apply more Archival Ink, etc. If you have too much clay left over, you may save it or use it to make a series of small beads. Cure according to the instructions on your clay package and marvel over your finished work!

One wonderful thing about using your inks, powders, and stamps to create clay pieces is that you can create gift cards or scrapbook pages with the same materials for a wonderfully coordinating set!

Supplies used on jewelry pieces:

Amaco: Bead Baking Rack; Bead Making Tool Set; Polymer Clay & Craft Oven;
Bead & Button: Beading Basics Essential Techniques;
Beadalon: 10mm Silver Plated Medium Bale;
Blue Moon: Memory Wire Bracelets;
Club Scrap: 2/07 Refresh Beads; 8/06 Wheel & Sprocket Beads; 1/06 Framed Beads; 5/03 Aromatherapy Borders & Backgrounds Unmounted Stamps;
Darice: 2" Nickel Plated Head Pins;
Design Originals: Clay Techniques to DYE for;
Fire Mountain Gems: 4.5mm Silver Plated Jump Ring; Surgical Steel Fish Hook Ball/Coil Earwire;
Ranger: Adirondack Dimensional Pearls in Lettuce; Archival Ink Pads in Library Green & Teal; Archival Reinker in Library Green; Cut n' Dry Foam; Distress Embossing Powder in Peeled Paint; To DYE For in Blue & Green; UTEE Brightz in Blue Iris, Green Zinnia, & Violet;
Sculpey: Translucent Polymer Clay;

Supplies used on card:

Club Scrap: 2/07 Refresh Dark Green & Light Green plus Water Mister; 10/06 Farmer's Market Green; 5/06 Painted Desert Stem; 3/04 Culinary Green; 5/03 Aromatherapy Borders & Backgrounds Unmounted Stamps;
Krylon: Silver Leafing Pen;
Ranger: Adirondack Alcohol Ink Metallic Mixatives in Silver; Adirondack Dimensional Pearls in Lettuce; Archival Ink Pads in Library Green & Teal; Cut n' Dry Foam; Distress Ink Pads in Peeled Paint & Shabby Shutters;

Korean Heritage Layouts

2008-05-01T07:33:00.003-05:00

I raided my husband's old photo album recently and dug up a number of photos from his childhood in South Korea to scrap! Here are a few of them!

Club Scrap: Sparkle 12/07 - Brown Metallic; The Written Word 11/05 - Stenci;, Autumn Splendor 10/04 - Medium Brown, Dark Brown; To You With Love 2/04 - Halos Snap; Hearth and Home 10/03 - Door Print; Fibers;
Ranger: Adirondack Dye Ink Pad - Ginger; Ink Applicator Tool;

This layout actually opens up to show LOTS of room for hidden journaling or additional photos behind the barn doors! The photo is of my husband at his grandparent's tobacco farm where he was raised. When I finish scrapping all of his childhood photos this will be the cover page and he's got to fill the inside with memories!

Club Scrap: Generations 4/08 Digital Kit - Paper03, Paper12, Exp01, Exp03, Trans25, Trans33;
Font: UnGungseo;

One Korean tradition is that on a child's 1st birthday, all children are dressed in traditional Korean clothing and have their photos taken. This photo is from my husband's first birthday! I also made use of two of the brand new DigiExpansion elements that Club Scrap is now creating for each new kit!

The next five layouts are digital layouts, all using the Classic half of the Centennial Kit, to see more, especially from the casual half, please click here! The digital kit is still available to order through me and, even though Club Scrap is sold out on the full original kits, I have a few that are still available for purchase or for a workshop! If you decide to ALSB the papers, you will get 26 gorgeous 12x12 layouts and have enough left over for an 8.5x11 layout or a few cards, plus embellishments and a large collage stamp for even more!

Also, I used some of the digital transparencies as a stencil to create a more stippled and antiqued appearance. To do so, apply a transparency, or even text, onto a new layer, then select the area that the image takes up and in another new layer, use the paintbrush tool to fill the image in. Choose a soft or stippled brush, or really any that you prefer, and you'll get a great effect! Then simply hide or delete the layer with the original transparency to let the background show through your stenciled work!

Club Scrap: Centennial 2007 Digital Kit - ALSB #21, Tran08;

Another Korean tradition is to celebrate your child's 100th day! (Or round things off and celebrate at their 3rd month birthday.) In the past, infant mortality rates were higher and keeping visitors away for the first 100 days of a child's life was a very smart move that Korean families made. After the 100 days had passed, if your child was healthy it was likely that the baby would survive and, instead of having a baby shower before the child was born or a pile of visitors at the hospital, it was time to celebrate! Not only do you invite everyone to visit and feed them tons of traditional foods, but it's also time for some portraits! Traditionally, boys would be nude and girls would be dressed in traditional Korean clothing, but Jay's parents went for a little modesty here... And I think my husband might not forgive me if I posted his nude baby photos on my blog!

Club Scrap: Centennial 2007 Digital Kit - ALSB #15, Tran01;

This is another photo at the family farm, on a visit from Jay's parents. Like many Korean families of the time, Jay was raised as a young child by his grandparents while his parents sought a way to move to the United States. For part of this time, his mother lived in Hawaii while serving with the Red Cross and his father worked for Korean Air.

Club Scrap: Centennial 2007 Digital Kit - ALSB #23, Tran01, Xtra41;

Club Scrap: Centennial 2007 Digital Kit - ALSB #17, Tran03, Tran24;

Club Scrap: Centennial 2007 Digital Kit - ALSB #24; Farmer's Market 10/06 Digital Kit - Tran RemChild;

These photos are of a traditional Korean drum performance and then a shot with one of the drums!

Here are a few previously posted layouts that deal with the family's Korean heritage... Please, click on each to go to the blog post with larger images and descriptions!

Digital Templates - 9 New Layouts & 1 Free Template

2008-04-27T20:13:00.006-05:00

Starting in 2008, Club Scrap has begun offering Digital Templates to use for your layouts. These are layered images that you can add any digital papers, embellishments, and photos to while using the same layout structure completely, or partially. To help visualize the process, I've included a picture of each layout's components as well as the finished layout... and at the bottom of this post you can get a free template that I created!

Club Scrap: From the Heart 2008 Digital Kit - Template #1, CS01, CS02, CS07, Fbr01, Fbr06, Tag30;
Fonts: The King & Queen; Passions Conflict;

The photos are of an installation at our favorite local art museum from last year! I used the first template in the From the Heart kit on this one and warped a few sizes, rotated and resized the inked edges to add them to the photos, and altered the hues.

Club Scrap: From the Heart 2008 Digital Kit - Template #1's inked edges; Serengeti 11/07 Digital Kit- CS05,CS06, CS07, CS08; Refresh 2/07 - Trans04, Trans05, Trans16, Trans17, Trans18;
Font: Dali;

I used only the inked edges from From the Heart 2008 DigiTemplate #1, altered hues, and "die cut" the digital papers.

The Sentinel by Thomas Frederick Hoppin c. 1851, one of the first large scale bronze sculptures case in the United States and installed at Roger Williams Parks Zoo where it is a favorite of many children. 9/17/2006

Club Scrap: A Study In Red 1/08 Digital Kit - ALSB Layout 03, CS08, CS09, Fibr05, Tag19, Xtra14; From the Heart 2008 Digital Kit - Template 10;
Font: Passions Conflict;

I combined an ALSB Layout with a different template and some additional elements to create a layout somewhere in between the two!

Club Scrap: From the Heart 2008 Digital Kit - Template #10; Be Still 9/07 Digital Kit - Trans05; Centennial 2007 Digital Kit - CS01, CS03, CS04, CS07, CS09, Fibers10, Fibers11, Trans08, Xtra47;
Aquiline Two Font;

From a Native American Festival that my mom took the kids and some Russian exchange students to... the kids & my mother made those corn husk dolls!

I borrowed the overlapping photos from the template, actually borrowing from my layered Corn Husk Doll layout, to create this insert for my coffee tumbler.

Club Scrap: From the Heart 2008 Digital Kit - DigiTemplate #7; Rhapsody 3/07 Digital Kit - CS01, CS05, CS10, Trans05, Trans06, Trans11, Trans15, Trans22;
Font: Belisa Plumilla Manual;

Club Scrap: A Study in Red 1/08 Digital Kit - CS01, CS03, CS08, Tag24; From the Heart 2008 Digital Kit - Template #5, Fbr02, Fbr05;
Font: Concrete Shoes;
Lyrics from Oreo Candy Bites Commercial, sung by Melanie Horsnell of Forever Thursday;

Club Scrap: From the Heart 2008 Digital Kit - Template #3; Surf's Up! 7/06 Digital Kit - CSBlue, CSDkGreen, CSPSalmon2, Fiber09, Trans02, Trans15;
Font: Hobby;

Club Scrap: From the Heart 2008 Digital Kit - Template #2; Sparkle 12/07 Digital Kit - CS01, CS02, CS10, CS11, Fbr03, Fbr14, Tran20, Tran22, Xtra15;
Font: Passions Conflict;

These three layouts each used templates from their respective digital kits and the details can be found in their blog post by clicking on the thumbnails above! The two from Bridges 2/08 stay fairly true to the templates, but the Avant Garde 3/08 layout only uses the chrome ring from the template.

Club Scrap: Avant Garde 3/08 Digital Kit - Apricot JR Print 05, White JR Print 06;
Font Garden: FG Amelia Computer Font;
Scan of my own hand-drawn lines;
Photoshop Elements: Distort - Warp;

This is a layout that I created using the Avant Garde 3/08 Digital Kit along with scans of my own doodles, the Distort: Wave Filter, and some drop shadows. I've included a free template for you to make this layout! Please right-click to save this link. http://neithj.googlepages.com/TemplateScribbleStrips.psd

Cub Scout Layouts with Friendship FFC ALSB Kit

2008-04-24T07:31:00.004-05:00

Here is one more FFC Exclusive ALSB Kit for you to see! This time I went with the consistent theme of Cub Scouts because I have sooo many scouting photos to scrap and the colors and theme of this kit seems perfect for them!

Each of the layouts features the Friendship FFC ALSB Kit along with some stamping from the coordinating Friendship stamps and added beading. (Club Scrap had a challenge to add beads to your layouts and, as you can see from my recent posts, I ran with it!)

Club Scrap - Friendship FFC ALSB 2007 - ALSB #1, Dark Blue Plain, Light Blue Mirror Print, Light Brown Tags, Twist Ties; Sparkle 12/07 - Beads; Be Still 9/07 - Beads; Friendship 4/04 - UM Stamps; Waxed Linen Thread;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pads - Denim, Stonewashed;

I added the beads, inks, and stamping. I also moved the twist ties around a little.

Club Scrap - Friendship FFC ALSB 2007 - ALSB #2, Dark Blue Plain, Light Blue Mirror Print, Light Brown Tags, Twist Ties; Sparkle 12/07 - Beads; Be Still 9/07 - Beads; Friendship 4/04 - UM Stamps; Waxed Linen Thread;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pads - Denim, Stonewashed;

I added the beads, inks, and stamping. I also removed the twist ties.

Club Scrap - Friendship FFC ALSB 2007 - ALSB #3, Light Blue Four-Tile Print, Medium Blue, Light Brown Tag; Sparkle 12/07 - Beads; Be Still 9/07 - Beads; Friendship 4/04 - UM Stamps; Waxed Linen Thread;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pad - Stonewashed;
Stewart Superior: Palette Ink Pad - Noir Black;

I added the beads and stamping.

Club Scrap - Friendship FFC ALSB 2007 - ALSB #4, Light Blue Four-Tile Print, Medium Blue, Light Brown Tags; Sparkle 12/07 - Beads; Be Still 9/07 - Beads; Friendship 4/04 - UM Stamps; Waxed Linen Thread;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pads - Denim, Stonewashed;

I rotated the layout, added the beads, inks, and stamps.

Club Scrap - Friendship FFC ALSB 2007 - ALSB #5, Light Brown Tile Print, Dark Blue 8.5x11 Plain, Dark Brown Embossed 8.5x11 Print, Light Blue 8.5x11 Plain, Light Brown Tag; Pad O' Blocks 2008 - Neutral; Sparkle 12/07 - Beads;
Stewart Superior: Palette Ink Pad - Noir Black;
Zig: Writer - Pure Black;

I added the tag, journaling calendar block, beads, and rotated the layout.

Club Scrap - Friendship FFC ALSB 2007 - ALSB #6, Light Brown Tile Print, Dark Blue 8.5x11 Plain, Dark Brown Embossed 8.5x11 Print, Light Blue 8.5x11 Plain; Pad O' Blocks 2008 - Neutral; Sparkle 12/07 - Beads; Be Still 9/07 - Beads; Friendship 4/04 - UM Stamps;
Stewart Superior: Palette Ink Pad - Noir Black;
Zig: Writer - Pure Black;

I added the beads, stamp, and journaling block.

15 Cards, 4 FFC Exclusive Card Kits

2008-04-21T11:46:00.005-05:00

Club Scrap has recently created four new great 15 card Frame in Frame Greeting to Go kits! There are 4 color themes, Stratosphere, Time & Space, Games, and Asian Artisan, which each contain the same 15 card, envelope and die cut components, but in alternate color schemes! Each kit has 3 sizes of cards with 5 designs per size. Simply ink some edges and add ribbon or brads as you desire and you'll wind up with 15 great cards and a slew of extra die cuts and panels that you can use as alternates or on other creations... The die cuts are pre-printed with tons of great greetings, but you can also always flip them over and stamp your own sentiments onto them!

I've made the cards according to their instructions and have scanned some from each collection, so that you can see all of the designs, but won't have to scroll through all 60 cards! With each kit you'd only get one color scheme, but all of the designs!

Stratosphere theme, 5 of 15 cards

Time & Space theme, 3 of 15 cards

Games theme, 4 of 15 cards

Asian Artisan theme, 3 of 15 cards

Stratosphere theme, remnant die cuts and panels

More FFC Exclusive Kit Layouts, Reaching Out ALSB Kit

2008-04-20T09:54:00.006-05:00

With two full sheets of tags, the Reaching Out ALSB Kit has so many options for embellishing your layouts, already within the kit! And each layout is very versatile... able to be rotated to any angle and to feature all kinds of subjects. I went with shots from romping in a playground area at a museum, living food, Pre-K graduation, electric cars and recycled car art, and finally donating food and touring our local food pantry!

Club Scrap: Reaching Out FFC ALSB Kit 2008 - ALSB #1, Rust Print, Rust Plain, Ochre Plain; Green Tags; Reaching Out 2005 - Stencil;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pad - Ginger; Ink Applicator Tool;

I added the stencil and left out a tag.

Club Scrap: Reaching Out FFC ALSB Kit 2008 - ALSB #2, Rust Print, Rust Plain, Ochre Plain, Yellow Print, Yellow Tag; Pad O' Blocks 2008 - Neutral; Friendship 4/04 - Twist Ties;
Zig: Writer - Pure Black;

I changed the tag, removed one matte, then added the journaling block, twist ties, and printed yellow paper scraps. (My mom found that little crab in her raw oyster just as she was about to swallow! Sebek actually knew what it was! A "Pea" Crab!)

Club Scrap: Reaching Out FFC ALSB Kit 2008 - ALSB #3, Green Print, Yellow Print, Rust Plain, Green Tag;

I rotated the left matte. And yes, this really is how short my girls were compared to their classmates!

Club Scrap: Reaching Out FFC ALSB Kit 2008 - ALSB #4, Green Print, Yellow Print, Rust Plain, Green Tags; Ivory Elegance 12/07 - Noble Alphabet Stencil;
Ranger: Adirondack Pigment Pen - Rust;

I cropped the left matte and added the title, also switched one of the tags.

Club Scrap: Reaching Out FFC ALSB Kit 2008 - ALSB #5, Khaki Print, Yellow Print, Yellow Tag; Bridges 2/08 - Yellow Plain; Reaching Out 2005 - Stencil; Friendship 4/04 - Twist Ties;
Niji: Waterbrush;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pad - Latte, Mushroom; Ink Applicator Tool;

I added the stencil, twist ties, and mattes, also switched the tags.

Club Scrap: Reaching Out FFC ALSB Kit 2008 - ALSB #6, Khaki Print, Yellow Print, Yellow Tag; Be Still 9/07 - Beads; Pad O' Blocks 2008 - Neutral; Reaching Out 2005 - Stencil;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pads - Latte, Mushroom;
Tonic: Thread Cutter;
Personal Stash: Fibers;

I rotated the layout, added the tag, journaling block, and stenciling. (This is Uatchet's class delivering their donations to the Food Pantry in town.)

Scrapping Out of Season & Adding Beads to Your Work: Halloween Remix Kit's 10 Layouts

2008-04-18T17:03:00.004-05:00

I have this habit of not only NOT scrapping the current season, but often one 6 months away! But the great part of it is, without looking at my blog, you'd never know just what order I did my pages in ;)

So, today, I bring you 10 layouts using the Club Scrap Halloween Remix 2007 Kit and its ALSB instructions. I've made note of anywhere that I changed the layout... but be warned, I've added beads to each and every page! There are a few different simple ways that I used them! And, for good measure, one of them has absolutely nothing to do with Halloween!

Club Scrap: Halloween Remix 2007 - ALSB #1, Green Print, Brown Plain, Green Translucent Print; Avant Garde 3/08 - Beads; Be Still 9/07- Beads; Ivory Elegance 12/06 - Noble Alphabet Stencil; Framed 1/06 - Beads; Waxed Linen Thread;
Niji: Waterbrush;
Ranger: Sea Brights Ink Pad - Mussel Black;
Personal Stash: White Wool Roving; Needle Felting Tools;

I added the slightly felted wool, beads, title, and the painting on the small rectangles.

Club Scrap: Halloween Remix 2007 - ALSB #2, Green Translucent Print, Brown Plain, Green Print; Avant Garde 3/08 - Beads; Wings 7/05 - CSt UM Stamps; Waxed Linen Thread;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pad - Espresso;

I added the beading and title.

Club Scrap: Halloween Remix 2007 - ALSB #3, Green Plain, Brown Print, Dark Orange Plain, Light Orange Plain; Avant Garde 3/08 - Beads; Be Still 9/07- Beads; Ivory Elegance 12/06 - Noble Alphabet Stencil; Framed 1/06 - Beads;
Niji Waterbrush;
Ranger: Sea Brights Ink Pad - Mussel Black;
Personal Stash: Orange Crochet Thread; Brown Waxed Linen Thread;

I added the beading and title.

Club Scrap: Halloween Remix 2007 - ALSB #4, Green Plain, Brown Print, Dark Orange Plain, Light Orange Plain; Avant Garde 3/08 - Beads; Be Still 9/07- Beads; Framed 1/06 - Beads;
TVWeekly - Building Bridges Webisode;
Stewart Superior: Palette - Noir Black;
Personal Stash - Orange Crochet Thread;

I added the inking, beading, and date.

Club Scrap: Halloween Remix 2007 - ALSB #5, Green Translucent Print, Dark Orange Plain, Light Orange Print; Avant Garde 3/08 - Beads; Be Still 9/07- Beads; Framed 1/06 - Beads;
Making Memories: Simply Stated - Heidi Small White;
Niji: Waterbrush;
Ranger: Sea Brights - Mussel Black
Personal Stash: Orange Crochet Thread;

I added the inking, beading, and title.

Club Scrap: Halloween Remix 2007 - ALSB #6, Green Translucent Print, Orange Translucent Plain, Light Orange Plain; Avant Garde 3/08 - Beads; Be Still 9/07- Beads; Retro 9/06 - B&B UM Stamps; Framed 1/06 - Beads; Waxed Linen Thread;
Stewart Superior: Palette - Noir Black;

I added the inking, stamping, and beading.

Club Scrap: Halloween Remix 2007 - ALSB #7, Green Translucent Print, Brown Plain, Orange Translucent Plain, Light Orange Print; Avant Garde 3/08 - Beads; Ivory Elegance 12/07 - Noble Alphabet Stencil; Be Still 9/07- Beads; Framed 1/06 - Beads;
TVWeekly - Building Bridges Webisode;
Niji: Waterbrush;
Ranger: Sea Brights - Mussel Black;
Stewart Superior: Palette - Noir Black;
Personal Stash - Orange Crochet Thread;

I added the inking, beading, and title.

Club Scrap: Halloween Remix 2007 - ALSB #8, Green Translucent Print, Brown Print, Dark Orange Plain, Light Orange Plain; Avant Garde 3/08 - Beads; Be Still 9/07- Beads; Framed 1/06 - Beads;
Making Memories: Simply Stated - Rummage UC Black;
Personal Stash - Orange Crochet Thread;

I added the beading and title.

Club Scrap: Halloween Remix 2007 - ALSB #9, Green Translucent Print, Dark Orange Plain, Light Orange Print; Avant Garde 3/08 - Beads; Be Still 9/07- Beads; Framed 1/06 - Beads;
Making Memories: Simply Stated - Heidi Small White;
Ranger: Sea Brights - Mussel Black
Personal Stash: Orange Crochet Thread;

I added the inking, beading, title, and painted one more jack-o-lantern onto the background.

Club Scrap: Halloween Remix 2007 - ALSB #10, Green Plain, Brown Print, Dark Orange Plain, Light Orange Print; Avant Garde 3/08 - Beads; Be Still 9/07- Beads; Framed 1/06 - Beads;
Niji: Waterbrush;
Ranger: Sea Brights - Mussel Black;
Personal Stash - Orange Crochet Thread;

I added the beading and title.

Great Outdoors: 10 Layouts & 1 Card

2008-04-16T10:33:00.005-05:00

During the Spring and Summer I love to go out exploring with the kids! We do a lot of geocaching (hunting for hidden "treasure" based on GPS coordinates and clues... with sites like http://www.geocaching.com to help us narrow the searches down to kid-friendly treks) and a little camping! So, you can guess that I'm always very happy when Club Scrap gives us a kit with an earthy palette!

Club Scrap's Great Outdoors 1/07 kit was perfect for a lot of those photos! There are many great images of trees, brush, and even moths in the papers and stamps with this kit as well as a great palette of olive greens, leaf green, mushroom, and a splash of red! (Please forgive odd patches in the scans, I have to scan in 4 parts to fit it all in, but the richly textured paper appears different to the scanner from different angles.)

Club Scrap: Great Outdoors 10/07 - Kit Papers, Stencil, UM Stamps;
Ranger: Adirondack Inks - Mushroom, Oregano, Red Pepper, Willow; Distress Inks - Brushed Corduroy;

Club Scrap: Great Outdoors 10/07 - JR ALSB #3, Outdoor Stencil, Green Text Weight, Light Green, and Red Plain;
Ranger: Ink Applicator Tool, Adirondack Ink Pad in Pesto;
Rebecca Sower: Hanging Garden Fresh Stickers;

Club Scrap: Great Outdoors 10/07 - Red Journaling Box, All Natural Stickers, Brads, Red SR Print, Mushroom Plain;
Zig: Memory Writer in Burgundy;

Granite Hill Quarry, Quincy, MA 7-25-04
Club Scrap: Great Outdoors 10/07 - Light Green Plain, Dark Green Plain, Die Cuts, & Outdoor Stencil;
Ranger: Ink Applicator Tool; Adirondack Ink Pads in Pesto & Oregano;
Zig: Memory Writer in Chocolate;

Club Scrap: Great Outdoors 10/07 - Red Journaling Box, JR Alpha Stickers, Green Text Weight Print, Light Green, Dark Green, and Red Plain;
Zig: Memory Writer in Chocolate;

Club Scrap: Great Outdoors 10/07 - Sr ALSB #1, Light Green Journaling Box, Light Green Die Cuts, Mushroom Print, Dark Green Print, Light Green Plain;
Zig: Memory Writer in Chocolate;

Club Scrap: Great Outdoors 10/07 - Jr ALSB #4, Sr Stamp, Red Plain, Dark Green Plain, Text Weight Green Print;
Zig: Memory Writer in Chocolate;

Club Scrap: Great Outdoors 10/07 - Sr ALSB #1, Text Weight Green Journaling Box, Light Green Die Cuts, Mushroom Print, Dark Green Print, Light Green Plain;
Zig: Memory Writer in Chocolate;

Club Scrap: Great Outdoors 10/07 - Sr ALSB #5, Light Green Plain, Red 8.5x11 Print, Light Green Die Cut, Mushroom Journaling Box;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pad in Mushroom;
Zig: Memory Writer in Chocolate;

Club Scrap: Great Outdoors 10/07 - Jr ALSB #5, Light Green Plain, Red Plain, Mushroom Plain, Mushroom Jr Print, Light Green Die Cut, Light Green Journaling Box, B&B UM;
EK Success: Inpirables Outdoors;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pads in Lake Mist and Mushroom;
Zig: Memory Writer in Chocolate;

Club Scrap: Great Outdoors 10/07 - Sr ALSB #7, Dark Green Print, Light Green Plain, Mushroom Plain, Light Green Journaling Box, Sr Stickers, Brads;
Die Cuts With a View: Metallic Accents Nature;
Zig: Memory Writer in Chocolate;

Bright Pages and Children Go Hand in Hand!

2008-04-13T09:43:00.003-05:00

These layouts feature a variety of kits, some ASLB (Assembly Line ScrapBooking, complete cutting plans for layouts using particular kits, provided by Club Scrap each for each and every new kit) and some free-form! While I adore the variety of earthy and neutral colors that Club Scrap offers in some kits, the bright clothing and surroundings for my kids often call for bolder color schemes and Club Scrap has some great ones available!

The first five use the Special Edition Centennial 2007 Kit which features two kits in one! These are from the Casual half of the kit, as opposed to the browns and creams of the Classic half.

Club Scrap: A Study in Red 1/08 - Puffy Velvet Fabric Marker in Black; Centennial Kit 2007 - Casual ALSB LO#2;
Stewart Superior: Palette Noir Black Ink Pad;
Zig: Millennium Pen in Pure Black;

Journaling Reads: JOY Is there anything even half as fun, for a pair of 4 year olds, as flopping out in a ball pit? Millis Pride Day 2003

Club Scrap: Centennial Kit 2007 - Casual ALSB LO#7;
Scrapbook Takeout: Wonderful Whimsy 6/07 - Elsie Roxie Trinkets Stickers, Elsie Roxie Rubons;
Stewart Superior: Palette Noir Black Ink Pad;
Zig: Millennium Pen in Pure Black;
Marvy Uchida: Puffy Velvet Fabric Marker in Light Blue;

Journaling Reads: Treasure Seekers at Sebek's 6th Birthday Party 6/29/2003

Club Scrap - Centennial Kit 2007 - Casual ALSB LO#4; Serengeti 11/07 - Leaf Solid;
Stewart Superior - Palette Noir Black Ink Pad;
Zig - Millennium Pen in Pure Black;

Journaling Reads: Racing to the end of a Treasure Map... Resting on a deserted isle... Digging into a treasure-filled cake... What more could a 6 year old pirate want? 6/29/03

Club Scrap: Centennial Kit 2007 - Casual ALSB LO#8;
Mitsubishi: White Uniball Signo Pen;
Scrapbook Takeout: Wonderful Whimsy 6/07 - Elsie Roxie Trinkets Stickers;
Stewart Superior: Palette Noir Black Ink Pad;
Zig: Millennium Pen in Pure Black;

Journaling Reads: Making magical princess wants at your 5th Birthday Party! 7-19-03

Details about this layout can be found in my Got Bugs? blog entry from October! It features the ALSB #7 from the Centennial Kit.

Club Scrap: Fizz 1/07 - Sr ALSB #5, Dark Pink Plain, Light Pink 8.5x11 Print, White Translucent Plain; Christmas 2005 - Font UM;
Ranger: Distress Ink Pad in Worn Lipstick;
Stewart Superior: Palette Ink Pad in Noir Black;

Club Scrap: Serengeti 11/07 - Brads from Embellishment Pack; Fizz 1/07 - Stencil; Mosaic Twist 1/05 - Handmade Lime/Blue/Teal, Handmade Lime 8.5x11; Salsa 11/03 Turquoise 8.5x11 Print;
American Crafts: Pigment Pro Marker - Blue;
Scrapbook Takeout: Graffiti Artist 4/08 - American Crafts Photo Turns; Winter in the Tropics 1/07 - Hambly Screen Prints Rub-Ons Twig/Dandelions Lime Green; 2/07 - Fancy Pants Biggest Chipboard Flourishes; Clearly Speaking 7/07 - Kit Heidi Swapp Bordeaux Ghost Alphabet in Lime;
Ranger: Adirondack Paint Dabber - Clover;

The girls were helping my parents weed their sidewalk when Uatchet found this shock warning tag under some weeds!

Club Scrap: Avant Garde 3/08 - Green Plain; Wheel & Sprocket 8/06 - Family Ride Stencil; Mosaic Twist 1/05 - Lemon Print, Lime 8.5x11 Handmade; Salsa 11/03 - Lime 8.5x11 Print;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pad - Bottle; Adirondack Paint Dabber - Clover;
Zig: Writer - Hunter Green;

This is from Sebek's only trip to a car race... and he got to do laps in the lime green car that he loved (even though they were guests of another driver)!

Club Scrap: Avant Garde 3/08 CSDigital Kit - Paper 01, Paper 09, Paper 10, Tag 11, Tran 24;
tweed. Computer Font;

I created a digital stencil using both the transparency and the tag shapes, then "stippled" color within the boundaries of those shapes in a new layer with the paintbrush tool.

Serengeti Design Classic Kit: 12 Great FFC Exclusive Layouts

2008-04-10T18:49:00.005-05:00

The exclusive "Crafter Classics" feature designs from long extinct kits (Architecture, Garden le Fleur, Key to My Heart, Literary, Moody Blues, Outdoor, Safari, Spice of Life, and Winter Wonderland). But, there's another FFC Exclusive Design Classic Kit that Club Scrap has created! The Serengeti Design Classic Kit uses the designs from the recent Serengeti 10/07 Kit and as a result, you can still order the stencil, stamps, and stickers which coordinate completely, as well as the same prints in the original color scheme... making this kit very expansive and easy to coordinate with!

These 12 layouts use the FFC Crafter Exclusive Serengeti Design Classic Kit (it includes the papers, tags, journaling blocks, and cut out words) and its ALSB design. I've made note of anywhere that my layouts vary from the original ALSB designs!

Club Scrap: Serengeti Crafter Classic 2008 - ALSB #1, Coral Print, Coral Plain, Coral Photo Mattes, Brown Plain, Dark Green Plain, Coral Tag, Light Green Tag; Serengeti 11/07 - Brads from Embellishment Side, Border Stencil;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pad - Ginger; Distress Ink Pad - Walnut Stain; Ink Applicator Tool;

I added a few more and different tags, brads, and stenciled strips with remnant paper from the ALSB trimmings. I also rotated the layout.

Club Scrap: Serengeti Crafter Classic 2008 - ALSB #2, Coral Plain, Coral Print, Brown Plain, Dark Green Photo Mattes, Word Cutout; Asian Artisan 1/04 - Bird & Bamboo Overlay Stencil;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pad - Ginger; Distress Ink Pad - Walnut Stain; Ink Applicator Tool;
Zig: Writer - Chocolate;

I simply added the stenciled birds (this is a multi level stencil with a guide to help you place the two layers of ink) and switched the word cutout.

Club Scrap: Serengeti Crafter Classic 2008 - ALSB #3, Light Green Print, Brown Plain, Dark Green Photo Matte, Word Cutout; Serengeti 11/07 - Border Stencil;
Ranger - Stickles - Cinnamon;

I rotated the layout, switched the word cutout, and added the stenciled glitter.

Club Scrap: Serengeti Crafter Classic 2008 - ALSB #4, Light Green 8.5x11 Print, Coral 8.5x11 Print, Brown Plain, Evergreen Handmade Plain, Light Green Photo Mattes, Light Green Tag, Word Cutout; Serengeti 11/07 - Border Stencil;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pad - Bottle;
Scrapbook Takeout - Celebrations 11/07 - Heidi Swapp Cargo Ribbon;
Staples;

I rotated the layout, then switched out the tag and word cutout, added staples, and a scrap of the coral print.

Club Scrap: Serengeti Crafter Classic 2008 - ALSB #5, Dark Green Print, Rust Plain, Rust Photo Mattes, Rust Journal Squares, Coral Tags; Serengeti 11/07 - Border Stencil;
Ranger: Distress Ink Pad - Walnut Stain; Ink Applicator Tool;

I had the two mattes swap places, changed some of the tags, added the journal blocks, and added the small strips of rust from the kit remnants as well as stenciling the rust mattes.

Club Scrap: Serengeti Crafter Classic 2008 - ALSB #6, Dark Green Plain, Dark Green Print, Coral Plain; Ivory Elegance 12/06 - Noble Alphabet Stencil;
Ranger: Adirondack Paint Dabber - Copper;
Scrapbook Takeout - Harvest Feast 10/07 - Fancy Pants True Rub-ons;

I rotated the layout, left off the journaling block, then added the title and rubons.

Club Scrap: Serengeti Crafter Classic 2008 - ALSB #7, Light Green Print, Rust Plain, Coral Plain, Coral Tag; Serengeti 11/07 - Border Stencil;
Ranger: Distress Ink Pad - Walnut Stain; Ink Applicator Tool;
Scrapbook Takeout - Celebrations 11/07 - Heidi Swapp Cargo Ribbon;

I left the word cutouts off, but added the tag, ribbon, small photo matte, and stenciling.

Club Scrap: Serengeti Crafter Classic 2008 - ALSB #8, Light Green Print, Light Green Print, Evergreen Handmade Plain, Rust Photo Matte, Rust Plain, Word Cutout; Serengeti 11/07 - Border Stencil;
Scrapbook Takeout - Celebrations 11/07 - Heidi Swapp Cargo Ribbon; Adventures in Altering 8/07 - Deluxe Designs Plain Janes brackets (as template);
Zig: Writer - Hunter Green;

I rotated the layout, added the ribbon, brackets, and stenciling, while also reducing the size of the rust photo matte to make room for the ribbons.

Club Scrap: Serengeti Crafter Classic 2008 - ALSB #9, Rust Print, Rust Plain, Dark Green Print, Coral Plain, Coral Tag; Great Outdoors 10/07 - CSt Bead Making Stencil; Stratosphere 4/07 - Stencil;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pad - Ginger; Distress Ink Pad - Walnut Stain;
Scrapbook Takeout: Tell Your Story 3/08 - 7 Gypsies 97% Complete Stickers Notebook Cahier; Passion for Paisley 3/07 - American Crafts Elements Mini Brads #84874;
Zig: Memory Writer - Chocolate;

I rotated the layout, left off the word cutouts, added one more photo, brad, and the tags.

Club Scrap: Serengeti Crafter Classic 2008 - ALSB #10, Rust Plain, Rust Print, Dark Green Print, Coral 8.5x11 Print, Coral Plain, Light Green 8.5x11 Print, Light Green Tag, Word Cutouts; Safari 3/01 - Stencil;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pads - Bottle, Ginger;
Scrapbook Takeout - Celebrations 11/07 - Heidi Swapp Cargo Ribbon;

I simply added the stenciling and the ribbon as well as switching the word cutouts.

Club Scrap: Serengeti Crafter Classic 2008 - ALSB #11, Coral Print, Coral Plain, Brown Plain Rust Journal Block, Word Cutouts; Serengeti 11/07 - Border Stencil;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pad - Ginger;
Zig: Writer - Chocolate;

I switched the cutouts and journaling square, then added the remnant piece of brown and the stenciling.

Club Scrap: Serengeti Crafter Classic 2008 - ALSB #12, Coral Plain, Coral 8.5x11 Print, Rust Plain, Word Cutouts, Rust Journaling Square; Stratosphere 4/07 - Stencil;
Zig: Writer - Chocolate;

I added the journaling square and stencil, then switched the word cutouts and cropped one matte.

FFC Exclusives, Spring Meadow ALSB, and Inking Techniques!

2008-04-08T16:46:00.005-05:00

Each of the layouts that I'm posting today was created using the FFC Exclusive Spring Meadows ALSB Kit! I wrote out each area where I strayed from the original ALSB design.

Club Scrap: FFC Spring Meadow ALSB Kit 2008 - ALSB #1, Translucent Print, Blue Plain, Aqua Plain, Dark Green Plain, Tag, Noble Alphabet Stencil; Surf's Up! 7/06 - UM Stamps, Stencil;
American Crafts: Elements Ribbon - 88256;
Niji: Waterbrush;
Ranger: Adirondack Dimensional Pearls Acrylic Paint - Bottle, Denim, Lettuce, Stream; Adirondack Ink Pad - Pool, Stream; Archival Ink Pad - Jet Black; Ink Applicator Tool;
Technique Junkies: April 2008 Newsletter - Artsy Dimension Technique;

I alternately inked my manila tag by using a technique from Technique Junkies... I basically swiped a plastic card through the paints then smeared it onto the tag and scraped it off here and there! I also added the fibers, stamp, and stencil that are listed above!

On the title, I used the alphabet stencil, but then filled in the spaces between the serifs to give it a more bubbly look!

Club Scrap: FFC Spring Meadow ALSB Kit 2008 - ALSB #2, Translucent Print, Blue Plain, Aqua Plain, Dark Green Plain, Tag, Noble Alphabet Stencil; Bugs 5/02 - UM B&B Stamps;
Bernat: Disco Yarn - Aqua Velvet;
Niji: Waterbrush;
Ranger: Adirondack Dimensional Pearls Acrylic Paint - Bottle, Denim, Lettuce, Stream; Adirondack Ink Pad - Pool, Stream; Archival Ink Pad - Jet Black; Ink Applicator Tool; Perfect Pearls - Turquoise;
Technique Junkies: April 2008 Newsletter - Artsy Dimension Technique;
Walmart: Green Ribbon;

On this layout I did alternately ink the manila tags, again, and turned them... adding the fibers and stamps that are listed!

Club Scrap: FFC Spring Meadow ALSB Kit 2008 - ALSB #3 - Light Blue Print, Green Print, Aqua Plain, Light Blue Plain; From the Heart 2008 - Stencil; Bugs 5/02 UM B&B Stamps;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pad - Pool; Archival Ink Pad - Jet Black; Ink Applicator Tool;
Zig: Memory Writer - Pure Black;

I added the light blue journaling block and stamps that are listed above.

Club Scrap: FFC Spring Meadow ALSB Kit 2008 - ALSB #4 - Light Blue Print, Green Print, Aqua Plain, Light Blue Plain; From the Heart 2008 - Stencil; Bugs 5/02 UM B&B Stamps;
Ranger: Archival Ink Pad - Jet Black; Ink Applicator Tool;
Zig: Memory Writer - Pure Black;

I rotated the layout, added the light blue journaling block, stamps, and stencil listed above.

Club Scrap: FFC Spring Meadow ALSB Kit 2008 - ALSB #5 - White Plain, Aqua 8.5x11 Print, Lime 8.5x11 Print; Surf's Up! 7/06 - Stencil;
ColorBox: Fluid Chalk Reinker: Ice Blue; Ancient Page Reinker - Leaf Green, Lime, Neptune Blue;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pad - Pool; Adirondack Pigment Pens - Bottle, Lettuce, Stream, Stonewashed; Archival Ink Pad - Jet Black; Brayer; Ink Applicator Tool; Non-Stick Craft Mat;
Technique Junkies: February/March 2008 - Reinker Splash Technique;

I rotated the layout, moved the inked tag, and added the stencil listed above. To create the wave I applied the markers to the paper within the stencil, then while the stencil was still attached I dampened my finger and rubbed the ink around.. then added one more layer of ink in the same manner.

I also alternatively inked the tag with the Reinker Splash Technique from Technique Junkies and then monoprinted onto it with more ink. I applied the reinkers to my Non-Stick Craft Mat, smooshed it with a rolled over section of the mat and brayered the layers... then laid the tag onto the ink, peeled it off and reapplied ink the same way, then with the brayer. I added the Pool ink to the cleaned off mat, spritzed it with water, then smooshed it lightly with a rolled over layer of the mat, then pressed the tag onto the droplets that formed and lifted it straight up.

Club Scrap: FFC Spring Meadow ALSB Kit 2008 - ALSB #6 - White Plain, Green Print, Aqua 8.5x11 Print, Lime 8.5x11 Print, Noble Alphabet Stencil;
ColorBox: Fluid Chalk Reinker: Ice Blue; Ancient Page Reinker - Leaf Green, Lime, Neptune Blue;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pad - Pool; Archival Ink Pad - Jet Black; Brayer; Ink Applicator Tool; Non-Stick Craft Mat;
Technique Junkies: February/March 2008 - Reinker Splash Technique;
Zig: Memory Writer - Pure Black;

I alternatively inked the tags using the same technique listed for Layout #5.

My Favorite Kit, Needle Felting, and Stencil Tutorial Links!

2008-04-06T19:54:00.009-05:00

One of my favorite Club Scrap kits has got to be Color in Black and White... it's so full of great muted tones alongside copper and with duplex prints showing a more neutral version of the full color prints. The patterns are a mix of industrial style prints and nature... both are things that I love, it's like when you find a fire hydrant in the middle of the woods, only much more beautiful! I love it so much that I made myself a needle-felted purse with the design based on one of the prints (please bear in mind that the photo is after I'd used the purse for months, but the grittiness in the pattern was intentional)!

Club Scrap: Color in Black & White 4/06 - Sr Land Duplex Print, Sr White Duplex Print, Black Solid, Stencil; Collections 6/06 Digital Kit - Paper Tan P1; Craft TV Weekly - Tricia Morris's Life and Art Webisode;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink - Currant, Ginger, Latte, Lettuce, Stream; Distress Ink - Walnut Stain; Ink Applicator Tool;
Needle Felted Purse, Inspired by Color in Black and White, created by Neith Juch;

I was creating a list of stencil tutorials for the ClubScrapChat forum because this week's PSL challenge is to create CS layouts using stencils in some manner... in doing so I took another look at the Life and Art Webisode that Tricia recorded for The Scrapbook Lounge at TVWeekly. It features the plainer color side of the Color in Black and White papers and shows you ways to customize them with Direct to Paper inking, stamping, and stenciling. What a perfect way to highlight the colors I chose for my purse!

Club Scrap: Color in Black & White 4/06 - CSt White Duplex Print, Translucent Print, Black Solid, Alpha Stickers;

I have to double check the date on this but I think it's 1976 or 77 and I'm the little blonde while my big sister is hiding her face from the camera!

Club Scrap: Color in Black & White 4/06 - Land Duplex Print, Land 8.5x11 Duplex Print, Translucent Print, Black Plain;
Jo-Ann: Silver Round Concho;
Zig: Millennium Pen in Pure Black;
Personal Swap Stash: Unknown Fibers;

This is from my 1987 week-long hiking trip with the 8th and 9th graders from my small school. I haven't found any other photos and the quality was terrible but wanted to get at least one shot in there!

Club Scrap: A Study In Red 1/08 - Palatial Trim, Black Plain; Color in Black & White 4/06 - White Print, White Plain; Musical Interlude 12/05 - Black Plain;
Sakura: Signo Uniball Pen in White;

We were at Axis, a nightclub, to watch a friend perform, and of course my best friend and I had to escape to the cheapie photo booth! I actually printed the blown up image onto the white cardstock to give it the nice canvas texture of the cardstock!

This one used 6 CS kits: Everything is Club Scrap except the inks and frame... From outside to inside, the papers are Collections 06/06 Saddle Brown Boxes 8.5 Sr Print, Paisley 3/06 Burnt Orange, Farmer's Market 10/06 Brown,and Color in Black & White 04/06 Copper Sr Duplex Print. I also used a Tan Bookplate from the Collections 6/06 Embellishment Pack Tags/Die Cuts, Mini Brads and Fibers from Rhapsody 3/07 Embellishment Pack, plus the letter drawer and "... Defining Moments" stamps from Heritage: Extra! Extra! 6/04 CSt UM Stamps. Unfortunately I don't have a list of the inks, but do know that they were Ranger! I believe I used Ginger Adirondacks (one of my favorites) along with some others!

The photo is from an awards dinner where one of my father's employees, Nella, both emceed and received an award for being an outstanding mentor to other teens... My father asked me to create something for her to display that featured the photo and I had limited random supplies already with me, but it worked out and he surprised her with it already put up at the store when she came in to work... she did get to take it home! I'm still waiting for her to write it up properly for my blog! Sorry to have to use a photo, there was no scanner available!

Club Scrap: A Study in Red 1/08 - Splendid Brocade Stencil; Color in Black & White 4/06 - Black Duplex Print, Black Solid; Mosaic Twist 1/05 - Lime & Handmade Lime;
Scrapbook Takeout: Garden Party 2/08 - Prima Clearly IOD #517809 Lime Scrapping Tape; It's A Date 12/07 - American Crafts Vinyl Shapes, Heidi Swapp Jet Tulle;
Ranger: Black Soot Distress Ink, Ink Applicator Tool;
Sakura: Gelly Roll Glaze Pen in Black;

We all have those not so glamorous photos that capture fun moments, so I went for it! I do need to find the photo we took of her pickle tasting Polaroid up on the Pickle Puss Wall and make a companion page later!

Now, onto needle felting...

Club Scrap: A Study in Red 1/08 CSDigital Kit;
The King and Queen Computer Font;

Needle Felting... What is that, you say? Oh it's a great art/craft where you take loose roving (wool is great, but many other animal fibers work... I have some that are mixes of silk, alpaca, Shetland wool, Merino wool, etc) and use dry friction to lock the fibers to each other or a base surface with a barbed needle. Animal hairs are scaley and those scales lock together... just like when your children's hair tangles into knots that can become dreadlocks if you aren't careful, or if you intend for them to! Felting is a way to take advantage of that quality and felt is actually the first manmade fabric every produced!

Needle felting takes it to another level where you can create art by using different colors and textures of roving. You can also sculpt with it and create 3 dimensional objects like this little kitten that I have begun! I actually started the kitten during the class at Yarns in the Farms which is shown above! At the class, along with my mother and both of my daughters, we were taught the basics of needle and machine felting and then began creations on a panel from an accidentally machine felted blanket and began our own 3 dimensional projects as well!

You can also machine felt these fibers by washing with a hot wash, cold rinse cycle in the washing machine and watch your sweaters (or intentional things like some of my crochet purses) shrink and get soft and fuzzy, more and more like store bought felt with each washing! There are additional techniques where you can wet felt by hand... the simplest method is to wad some roving into a ball with your hands, dip it in hot soapy water and roll and roll until you have a hard little ball that you rinse in cold water and set to dry! We made around 100 of these balls and made a bunch of little bracelets from them for Christmas gifts and used others as the "buttons" for closures on my purses! Other methods involve all kinds of things like bamboo sushi mats and bubble wrap to help with the rolling friction!

There are many books out there now about felting, plenty of episodes on Carol Duvall, Martha Stewart, Knitty Gritty, etc on the DIY Network, etc. But it's a little hard to get roving at a great price. Many local yarn shops will sell sample bags of multiple colors of roving in small bundles, ebay vendors often sell mixed lots of unknown origins where you win some, you lose some, even after making the purchase! Some local wool or Alpaca farms are known to sell uncolored or hand dyed roving (I LOVE the huge balls of hand dyed roving that I get at a great price from a local farm, Iron Horse Farm in Sherborn, MA). Clover has put out some small bundles of very smooth, uniformly colored roving packages that are available at some of the large craft chains, they also have a great needle plunger tool which makes use of 5 traditional felting needles all at once and sell refills at a good price... whenever you can catch those on sale in the chains or at joann.com it will save you money, which you can in turn spend at those local yarn stores or farms!

And the promised list of links to Stencil Tutorials! You will need to create a free account at TVWeekly in order to view the guides, but it's well worth it!

Neith's Stenciling Revisited Tutorial - My tutorial on stencils, showing the same stencil used with different techniques... ColorBox Stylus, Cut 'n' Dry Foam, Chizzel-It, Waterbrush, Paint, Metal Embossing, & Heat Embossing

Neith's Samples - My stenciled creations on this blog, you can always find these through the Blog Entries by Categories section in the left-hand margins of my blog!
Dawn's (DawnTCB) Sample Stencil Technique Tags - These tags are from a CS Retreat and Dawn's accompanied them with write upa on how to recreate them!
Jac's DIGITAL Stencil Tutorial - Instructions for how to use Transparencies or other shapes to create a digital "stencil" to brush color into, like I did on my Digital Korean Language Flashcards
Janie's (janiesagmoe) List of CS Stencils - MS Word list of all CS stencils and their kits
Luanne's Stenciled Tag Tutorial - Takes you step by step through the process to create a very cool tag, a la Tim Holtz!
Tricia's TVWeekly Webisode Serengeti Mists - Uses Memories Mists
Tricia's TVWeekly Webisode Misty-fied - Uses Glimmer Mist
Tricia's TVWeekly Webisode Life and Art - Uses the ColorBox Stylus
Tricia's TVWeekly Webisode Artist Incognito - Uses Watercolor Pencils

More Avant Garde Layouts: 8 Paper & 10 Digital!

2008-04-05T12:54:00.009-05:00

Club Scrap: Avant Garde 3/08 - Starburst Stencil, Light Aqua Cut Outs, CSt Green Print, Dark Aqua, Apricot;
Ranger: Distress Ink - Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade; Sea Brights - Muscle Black, Pool;

These are photos from when I worked as Staff in Training (I was the youngest one they had ever hired) and was a co-counselor at the Hispanic Family Camp... there's a shot of me with the kids and then of 3 kids closer in age to me that I made friends with and we hung out a few times during the school year!

I used the stencil and my ink applicator tool to add two layers of ink each to the Light Aqua and Apricot plain papers in order to replicate the printed style on some of the page elements.

Club Scrap: Avant Garde 4/08 - Jr White Print, Green Die Cuts, Apricot GTG Diecuts, Dark Aqua GTG Diecuts, Believe Sincerely Diecuts;
Scrapbook Takeout: Tell Your Story 3/08 - Sakura Gelly Roll Pen in Black; Winter in the Tropics 1/08 Preserves - Primas; It's A Date 12/07 Preserves - Heidi Swapp Frills Clear Shapes Stamps; Alphabet Soup 9/07 Firecracker Designs Stamps;
Stewart Superior: Palette Noir Black Ink;
Zig: Memory Writer in Pure Black;
Personal Stash: Silk Flowers;

My kids playing in my old childhood playground. Scraplifting Shakira's Layout at http://scrapbooktakeoutgallery.com//displayimage.php?pos=-1489

Club Scrap: Avant Garde - Light Aqua Print, Dark Aqua Plain, B&B UM Stamps, Fibers; Ivory Elegance 12/06 - Noble Alphabet Stencil;
Ranger: Sea Brights - Mussel Black
Scrapbook Takeout: Garden Party 2/08 - Prima Clearly IOD #517809 Aqua Scrapping Tape; Clearly Speaking 7/07 - Hambly Screen Print Overlays; Grungeboard Alphabet (as stencil);
Sharpie: Black Marker;

The girls wading at one of my hometown beaches.

One tip for creating mitered corners with decorative tapes is to allow the square-angled edges to overlap, then lift the corner slightly and create a diagonal cut from the outer edge to the inner edge. If your tape is too strongly adhered to itself then this won't work as you still need to peel away the excess, but if you can do it, it'll look great!

Club Scrap: Avant Garde 3/08 - Green 12x12 Print, Light Aqua Plain, Dark Aqua Plain, Green Diecuts, Light Aqua Tag;
Scrapbook Takeout: Garden Party 2/08 - Prima Clearly IOD #517809 Aqua Scrapping Tape;

Club Scrap: Avant Garde 3/08 - Apricot 12x12 Print, Apricot Cut Outs, Apricot Tag Fibers; From the Heart 2008 - Stencil; A Study in Red 1/08 - Red Plain;
Ranger: Sea Brights - Mussel Black;
Scrapbook Takeout: Inspire Me 5/07 Main Course- SEI Citrus Kick Ribbon;
Zig: Memory Writer in Pure Black;
Personal Stash: Silk Flowers

Club Scrap: Avant Garde 3/08 - Apricot 12x12 Print, Apricot Tag, Fibers; From the Heart 2008 - Stencil; Bridges 2/08 - Yellow Plain;
Ranger: Sea Brights - Mussel Black;
Scrapbook Takeout: Inspire Me 5/07 Main Course- SEI Citrus Kick Ribbon;
Personal Stash: Silk Flowers;

Club Scrap: Avant Garde 3/08 - Green 12x12 Print, Dark Aqua Cutout, Dark Aqua Border Strip, UM Stamps; The Written Word 11/06 - Dark Blackberry 12x12 Print;
Ranger: Sea Brights - Mussel Black;
Scrapbook Takeout: Garden Party 2/08 - Prima Flowers; It's A Date 12/08 - Queen & Co. Felt Fusion Black Scraoll; Passion for Paisley 3/07 - American Crafts Elements Mini Brads #84874; 2/03 Kit - Prima Flowers;
Stewart Superior - Memories Dye Ink - Dark Blackberry;

Club Scrap: Avant Garde 3/08 - Apricot Plain, Dark Aqua Plain, White Plain, Light Aqua 8.5x11 Sr Print, Believe Sincerely Apricot Die Cuts, Dark Aqua GTG Die Cuts;
Ranger: Vermillion Lacquer Nick Bantock Ink, Beach Ball Yellow Sea Brights Ink, Brayer, Non Stick Craft Sheet;
Scrapbook Takeout: Inspire Me 5/07 Main Course- SEI Citrus Kick Ribbon;
Stewart Superior: Noir Black Palette Ink;
SEI: Simple Sets Neon Blue Stickers;

I brayered the inks onto the glossy white paper and then monoprinted small dots of the red ink onto it afterwards.

Club Scrap: Avant Garde 3/08 DigiKit - Paper 02, Paper 13, Tag 28, Tag 29, Tag 31, Tag 34, Transparency 25, Xtra 56;
Font Garden: FG Amelia Computer Font;
Scan of my own inked edge paper;

I had to look for something to go with that donut quote and figured the missing tooth shot worked!

Club Scrap: Avant Garde 3/08 Digital Kit - Apricot JR Print 05, White JR Print 06;
Font Garden: FG Amelia Computer Font;
Scan of my own hand-drawn lines;
Photoshop Elements: Distort - Warp;

Club Scrap: Avant Garde 3/08 DigiKit - Paper 01, Paper 07, Paper 13, Tag 27, Xtra 52;
Photoshop Elements: Shapes - Arrows 9, 11, and 26; Drop Shadows, Altered Hues;

This one is from the Montreal Biosphere and there's going to be a LOT of layouts from that day in my album, so I'm not relisting the basics on each layout.

Club Scrap: Avant Garde 3/08 Digital Kit - Paper 2, Paper 8, Paper 13, Xtra 84; Interior Designs 11/06 Digital Kit - Dark Blue Tag 15;
Photoshop Elements: Shapes - Arrow 21; Altered Hues; Drop Shadows;
AdLib Wd Computer Font;

Club Scrap: Avant Garde 3/08 Digital Kit - ALSB #4;

Club Scrap: Avant Garde 3/08 Digital Kit - ALSB #3;
Clingy Computer Font;

Club Scrap: Avant Garde 3/08 Digital Kit - ALSB #13;

Club Scrap: Avant Garde 3/08 Digital Kit - ALSB #05, Paper 03, Paper 04, Alpha;
Photoshop Elements: Shapes; Drop Shadows;

Club Scrap: Avant Garde 3/08 Digital Kit - ALSB #6;
Clingy Computer Font;

Club Scrap: Avant Garde 3/08 Digital Kit - Fiber 01, Fiber 04, Paper 03, Paper 04, Tag 11, Transparency 29, Transparency 30;
Clingy Computer Font;