We’ve been working on a fun idea book that we are excited to share with you! For the Home is filled with fabulous projects for the kitchen, living spaces, craft area, nursery, and kids’ rooms. Here’s a sneak peek of an adorable project by Linda Auclair:
We’ll share another project tomorrow and one Thursday, and on Thursday we’ll have a free download of all three projects, with full pictures and step-by-step instructions. So check back to see more beautiful home decor projects!
And the winner of a $25 Gift Certificate to download Crystal Wilkerson’s digital kits at www.jessicasprague.com is . . .
Please contact me at js_gallacher@hotmail.com with your contact information so I can send your name on to Crystal!
Although it’s been snowing here in Utah for the past 24 hours, it really is beginning to feel like spring. But here we are, requesting projects for both a Holiday Idea Book and our September 2010 Issue. We’d love to see your best projects for the the following two calls:
Holidays Idea Book Call
Scrapbook Trends Magazine is currently looking for projects with the following themes for our Holiday Idea Book:
***PLEASE SEND A SEPARATE EMAIL FOR EACH SUBMISSION YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE CONSIDERED FOR PUBLICATION.***
Deadline: 11:59pm (Mountain Time) on Monday April 5th, 2010.
Please send submissions to submit@scrapbooktrendsmag.com
And here is the second call:
September 2010 Call
Scrapbook Trends Magazine is currently looking for layouts with the following themes for our August 2010 issue:
***PLEASE SEND A SEPARATE EMAIL FOR EACH SUBMISSION YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE CONSIDERED FOR PUBLICATION.***
Deadline: 11:59pm (Mountain Time) on Monday April 5th, 2010.
Please send submissions to submit@scrapbooktrendsmag.com
Wishing you all the best as you craft your fall and holiday projects! I can’t wait to see them in print!
The moment I laid eyes on the Texture Boutique by Sizzix, I fell in love, even before knowing what it does. But once I actually used it, I realized it was more than just an adorable purse shaped tool, it was actually a really great way to create quick and easy cards. Just like the name suggests, this cute little purse adds texture by dry embossing a pattern or shape onto cardstock, thin metal, and even acrylic. For instructions how to make this cute card, visit the Sizzix.com blog.
The Texture Boutique, however, goes beyond cards. There are dozens of different texture folders that are perfect for scrapbook layouts. The size of the folders are perfect for creating page embellishments, titles, photomats, journaling cards, and more. For this photo mat, I added glitter to some of the embossed polka dots to give it added sparkle.
Happy Birthday by Ana Cabrera
Patterned paper, border stickers: Sassafras Lass; Crepe paper: Jenni Bowlin Studio; Embossing folders: Sizzix Birthday; Tools: Texture Boutique by Sizzix; Glitter: Martha Stewart Crafts
At around $49 for the starter kit, the Texture Boutique makes a great gift, too! And speaking of gifts – leave a comment below for a chance to win a Texture Boutique by Sizzix.
Winners Circle
The winner of the Spellbinders Prize package is
Email acabrera@northridgemedia.net with your full name and address to claim your prize.
I confess! I have several die cutting machines. Four to be exact. Yes. It’s an addiction, and I realize that; but I use each and every one of them and love them all! One of the reasons that I love them is for the fun I have when I cut a die cut shape and then get decorative!
So for today’s “Work It Out Wednesday” I will show you how to take a die cut shape and decorate it to add a little more pizzaz on your project.
For this project, you will need a die cut shape, the die cutting machine that goes with your shape, the paper of your choice, and any embellishments and tools you’d like to decorate the die cut.
Step 1: Cut the die cut. I’m using The Silhouette die cutting machine, which is a digital die cut machine. Digital die machines use a machine that cuts the image and your computer to edit images. I’ve selected the following shape from the Silhouette Online Store for my project:
cute_flower_pot_C00411_20509
Step 2: Open up the image in your die cut software (or prepare die cut shape and cutting mats to cut the shape).
Because I am using a digital die cutting machine I have the added option of changing the size of my die cut. I am cutting mine slightly smaller than the open file shown above. I cut mine at 4″ tall.
Step 3: Plan ahead! Determine which shape will be cut from what paper. I want my flower pot to be brown so I selected a brown pattern paper and placed it on my cutting mat so that the pot would be cut from the brown paper.
Step 4: Continue cutting each part of the die cut shape from the paper you’ve selected. You can see my cut pieces below.
Step 5: Assemble the die cut on a background piece of cardstock or paper. Add details such as buttons to the flower centers, an additional pattern paper behind the flower pot, and inked edges on the die cut shapes to complete the decorated die cut.
When the die cut image is completely decorated, you can finish the project. I chose to create a card with my die cut. You can see the completed project below:
(Supplies: Cardstock–Core-dinations, Provo Craft; Pattern paper–Little Yellow Bicycle, Bo Bunny; Scallop Scissors–Provo Craft; Buttons–American Crafts; Twine–craft supply; Stamp–Hero Arts; Stamping ink–Inque Boutique; Ribbon–American Crafts; Swiss Dots Embossing Folder–Provo Craft; Die Cut–Quickutz; Die Cutting Machines–Silhouette, Cuttlebug for Provo Craft)
Do you have a unique way of decorating your die cuts? I’d love to see. Just leave a link to your project in our comments section below to share your ideas with our fellow blog readers.
Our friends over at Silhouette America are hosting March Madness on their blog. This contest has hundreds of dollars of prizes and tons of inspiring ideas. You won’t want to miss all the fun!
A few weeks ago Kerri Bradford showed us how to use the Silhouette Machine to add rhinestones to a project.
They have released a heat transfer material this month that is available in both smooth and flocked. It allows you to cut your shapes and create gorgeous projects on both fabric and paper. I just love this adorable little onesie!
I can hardly wait to play with this new medium. Don’t forget to swing by the Silhouette blog and let the games begin!
You knew that eventually digital would seep into other crafts besides scrapbooking, right? In fact, they really have existed side-by-side all along. So I thought for today’s challenge it would be fun to create a digital/hybrid card.
Creating a digital card doesn’t require any more effort or knowledge than a digital scrapbook page. In fact because it’s a smaller format, it makes things much quicker. Imagine creating one digital card face and printing it several times on one sheet of paper? Quick and easy, right?!!
Some things to think about when creating a digital card: a) you can design the card front to the exact dimensions (mine is 4X5) by setting the image size when you start your document; b) you can print just the card front or leave an area on the printer paper for the fold; c) a smaller card would allow you to mass print card fronts at one time; d) glossy cardstock or photo paper yields a darker, richer color saturation when printing out the final results.
I started by creating the digital card front. Here is my completed image:
At this point it’s clean and complete, and I could simply print it off and deliver it to my favorite friend. But I don’t have to stop there. I can add traditional items like buttons and twine to dress up this darling card.
Here’s the hybrid version (hybrid refers to using both digital and traditional elements to complete the project):
(Supplies: Paper No. 15, Paper No. 31, Paper No. 34, Paper No. 39, Paper No. 50 from Crystal Wilkerson’s November 2009 Paper Collection; Hoo Loves You Notebook Label, Hoo Loves You Stitches (recolored), Owl Always Love You png from Crystal Wilerson’s November collection Fall Word Art & Labels kit; Happy Owl Sticker 3 from Crystal Wilkerson’s November Collection Happy Little Owls Collection; Mustard buttons from Crystal Wilkerson’s Summertime Elements kit; all Crystal Wilkerson elements from www.jessicasprague.com; Single Stitch from Carina Gardener’s “Element-ary Stitches No. 1″ kit from www. twopeasinabucket.com; Fancy Scallops brush, and the Scallops brush from Rhonna Farrer’s “Artsy Edges” borders kit which is no longer available; Craft twine–craft supply; Buttons–American Crafts; Circle punch–McGill; blue eyelets–American Crafts; Photo Corners–Canson)
Here is an example of how you can place more than one digital card top on a sheet of printer paper for mass card production:
When I told my friend Crystal that I was using several of her kits to complete this challenge, she generously agreed to donate a fabulous prize to one lucky winner. Crystal will donate a $25 Gift Certificate towards her digital download products at www.jessicasprague.com to ONE randomly selected participant of this digital/hybrid card challenge.
CHALLENGE: To participate in this challenge, simply create a digital or hybrid card and upload it to your favorite online gallery. Then leave a link to your project in our comments section below. Challenge must be completed by Sunday, March 8, 2010 by 10 p.m. MST to qualify for drawing!
But that’s not all!! Crystal has generously agreed to offer a “Double Your Dough” special to our blog readers for the month of March! Simply purchase one (or more) of Crystal’s kits from www.jessicasprague.com and then e-mail Crystal your receipt at creativitybycrystal@yahoo.com. Crystal will then match that amount in free downloadable products from her store! (All receipts and free items must be claimed before March 31st to qualify!)
We are so excited about this week’s giveaway sponsored by Spellbinders! This stash (worth over $95) is sure to get your creativity flowing. Create exquisite decorative projects using Spellbinders’ innovative Big Scalloped Collection of die templates. These die templates will allow unlimited design opportunity and complete creative freedom.
Be sure to leave a comment below for your chance to win! (Open to US residents only)
Winners Circle
The winner of the Cosmo Cricket prize pack is
Please email your full name and address to acabrera@northridgemedia.net to claim your prize!
One of the things that I love about “Work It Out Wednesdays” is that I get to try new things too! Today I pulled out one of my recent purchases–a glue pad. I’ve been hoarding glitter for some time now. And in our very first “WOW” shown here, I taught you how to use glitter with a glue pen. But I’ve been wanting to try adding glitter to a stamped image so a glue stamp pad is a great way to do this!
For today’s project you will need: a glue pad, a stamp, a piece of paper, and some glitter.
Step 1: If your glue pad came with an extra container of glue always add glue to the pad before stamping. Glue pads dry out quickly and need to be re-glued often.
Step 2: Press the stamp onto the glue pad. (Or you can turn the stamp over and tap the glue pad onto the stamp–either way works just fine.)
Step 3: Stamp image onto paper.
Step 4: Place stamped paper onto a FOLDED sheet of scratch paper and pour glitter over the image.
Step 5: Tap off excess glitter (make sure all glitter falls onto scratch paper).
Step 6: Set stamped image aside and lift folded scratch paper. Bending so all glitter falls into fold, tip fold downward into open glitter jar. Allow all glitter to slide back into jar and close. (Scratch paper can be saved for more embossing or glittering later.)
(Note: I set my glitter with my heat embossing gun so all loose glitter would be removed and the remaining glitter would set.)
ALWAYS clean your acrylic stamps with soap and water after using a glue pad. Clean wood stamps carefully with a soapy washcloth and then dry carefully. Glue residue can cause a stamp’s rubber or acrylic to dry out and crack.
Here is my completed project. (I masked the leaf stamp so I could stamp a houndstooth background behind the leaf. If you stamp the houndstooth first, the glitter will adhere to the background and the foreground so be mindful of this when designing your project).
Supplies: Cardstock–Bazzill, Provo Craft; Pattern paper–Stampin’ Up; Stamps–Hero Arts, Technique Tuesday, American Crafts; Stamping Ink–Stampin’ Up, Hampton Arts, Inque Boutique, Versamark; Scallop Sentiment Border punch–Fiskars; Ribbon–Offray; Twine–craft supply; Button–Basic Grey)
Is there a technique you’ve yet to try? Want us to try it for you? Just leave your suggestions in our comments sections below. And if you’re used a glue pad to create a project, we’d love to see that too!!
