the CLASSroom

Spring Scrapbooking by Sharon Harnist

Happy weekend, everyone!  I was in the mood to get scrappy today and decided I needed an updated Spring scrappy magnet page to spruce up my fridge, so here ya go!

(Click on any photo to enlarge)

I adore the huge variety of dies Ellen carries -- they make any kind of papercrafting project so easy and professional looking!  Today I used a great sized (approximately 1/2") classic font die from Memory Box that worked well on my 6x6 sized page and are also a great size for creating your own sentiments for cards, Typewriter Lower Alphabet & Typewriter Number Set.  I started my project with all these pretty coordinating patterned papers from My Mind's Eye Memorable 6x6 pad, from which my title and year were also die cut.

For small/thin/narrow die cuts like these, I like to use Zig's 2-Way Glue Squeeze & Roll pen to adhere them and EK Success' precision Tweezer Bees are wonderful to use when trying to get die cut placement just right!  I adhered the year die cuts to My Favorite Things cute Say What? Die-namics speech bubble die.

The pretty flower was made with My Favorite Things, Winter Rose die and the wavy border is MFT's Jumbo Ric Rac cut in half. Have you noticed the sequin trend in papercrafting lately?  Well, Ellen has you covered, with her own Essentials by Ellen line of sequins in just about any color you could need ... check them out here!  I used the Cool White Sequins on my flower center (held in place with a Craft Glue Dot) and to dot the "i" in my "spring" title.

I adhered my page to Ellen's Craft-a-Board, backed it with Inchie Magnets and ta-da, I have a cute and unique big magnet for my fridge! I certainly Spring has come to your part of the country by now! ~ Sharon

{Supplies}

My Mind's Eye 6x6, Memorable	Memory Box Dies, Typewriter Number Set	Memory Box Dies, Typewriter Lower Alphabet	My Favorite Things Die-namics, Jumbo Ric Rac
My Favorite Things Die-namics, Say What? (Die Only)	My Favorite Things Die-namics, Winter Rose	Essentials by Ellen Sequins, Cool White	Zig 2 Way Glue Pen, Squeeze & Roll
Tweezer Bee	High Tack Double-Sided Foam Mounting Tape, 1/2"	Essentials by Ellen: Craft-a-Board 6x12, 12pk	Inchie Magnets

InLinkz.com

Snow Smiles by Julia Stainton

Christmas is over and life is slowly returning to normal. Cleaning up my craft room, I decided to pack up all my holiday craft supplies until next year. Mid-way through I just had to stop myself though. All those beautiful snowflake products shouldn't be put away yet. They aren't just for the holidays. I decided instead to think of ways to use them now.

We were thankful to get some snow just in time for Christmas and while it's not a lot, it's enough to have fun in. Before my daughter left to go back to school, she was kind enough to give in to my nagging and let me take some pictures of her before she left.

One of my crafting resolutions for the new year is to get back to doing more scrapbooking. I'm sure I'll be sharing some of my layouts in the CLASSroom this year and hope they inspire you to try your hand at it.

Most of my layouts use a lot of patterned paper but I wanted to keep with the idea of the beautiful simplicity of snow and nature. Plain cardstock can be a little boring but mists and stamping make it easy to punch it up a little. I've misted this kraft cardstock with a Calico White opaque mist and then stamped on some random white snowflakes. I'm glad I didn't put that holiday set away!

Next came the process of adding my photos and creating a design. It's a simple layout with the embellishments added in around the photos. When creating a layout, it's best to pick one photo as the focal point. You can do this by making one of them a little larger than the others.

White and Kraft always look beautiful together and they work well for a winter themed layout as well.

Some Jenni Bowlin flag stickers make a great place to add in the date of the photo shoot.

After creating the layout, I went back and added pearl stickers to the centers of the stamped snowflakes to make them stand out.

 Finally, the title is adhered over a journaling tag. My journaling is added below the accent photos with a Copic Multi-liner Marker.

Thanks for joining me today in the CLASSroom! Wishing you a very creative 2013!

 

Supplies:

 

InLinkz.com

Photo Transfer to Canvas by Sharon Harnist

Hello and welcome to the CLASSroom! With Valentine's Day approaching, I wanted to do something "love" or Valentine themed with some recent photos I had taken of my daughters.  After stumbling across a photo transfer to canvas technique, I decided to combine the two ideas into this fun home decor craft!

(Photo credit: Susan Karlsson from Five Days Later Studio)

You will need these supplies:

1. A photograph copied or LASER toner printed (NOT home inkjet printed) onto regular 20 lb. copier paper. It is the toner in regular (or color) copiers and laser printers that makes this transfer technique work. Just remember the photo will be reversed, once transferred, so if you want your canvas to turn out exactly like the photo, you will need to print the photo in reverse.
2. Stretched canvas on a 1.50" wood frame, any size you wish to work with -- Ellen has several to choose from. I used the triple primed (white) kind like these 4x4 Pair. Ellen also carries these sizes 10x10, 4x6, 5x7 of natural canvas (unprimed). I have to assume they would work just as well since I know this technique also works on the same type of natural canvas FABRIC (See **Note at the bottom of this post).
3. Claudine Hellmuth's Studio Multi-Medium Matte (or I used Gloss) 
4. Paint brush,
5. Scraper to smooth out any bubbles 
6. Mister filled with water
7. Sponge, soft cloth or your fingers!

Since I was going for a Valentine look, I turned my photos a sepia color and then re-colored the red accents so they would stand out. (You can find a quick tutorial for that here). You can use sepia, black & white or full color photos -- whatever you like, it doesn't matter.

Once you have the photo copied and trimmed to the size you want transferred, paint a generous amout of the gel Multi-Medium all over the canvas.  You want enough gel so that the photo is thoroughly saturated, but not so much that it's dripping down the canvas!

Next, place the photo face down onto the Multi-Medium and smooth out any bubbles or wrinkles from the center, out, with the scraper. Be careful not to pull or tug too much, as the thin copier paper might tear easily. Make sure all areas of the photo are "adhered" to the canvas well (click on any photo for a larger view):

My original photo is on the right above, left is the canvas painted with Multi-Medium and the photocopied photo smoothed and "adhered" to the canvas.
A word of warning here: If your scraper picks up any gel Multi-Medium that may ooze out from under the edges of the paper, wipe the scraper off and DO NOT spread it around on TOP of the copied photo! With gel medium on top AND under your photo, this will cause a white spot where the paper is really "glued" to your canvas (I had a few of those spots)!

Then, let dry!  It will probably take a few hours, depending on the size of your photo and how much gel medium you used. To be safe, I let it dry overnight.

Once the Multi-Medium is dry, generously mist the paper with water and start to carefully wipe/peel away the paper with a soft cloth, sponge or your fingers -- whichever works best for you. But "carefully" is the keyword here -- if you rub too hard, you will rub off the photo! But having some of the photo rub off isn't the end of the world -- I think it makes the canvas look like it is a real "painted" look and some of the image missing gives the canvas character!

I started with a soft cloth in the first step but then switched to my fingers in later repeated rubbing (see below).

Water is your friend here -- if the paper is stubborn and doesn't want to peel off easily, re-wet it and let the water soak in, then try gently rubbing the paper off again. Let the canvas dry again.  

If it dries looking "cloudy" (like the photo above) you may have to repeat the process a few more times, to work off all the layers of paper (this is where my fingers could feel the paper better and work it off easier, so not to rub off the photo!).

Once thoroughly dry and you are satisfied with your results, paint a final protective sealing coat of the Multi-Medium over the top of the canvas. Don't worry, it will dry clear!

I added my girls names with painted chipboard letters. To do this, I painted the letters with a base coat of Claudine's Studio Painterly Pink acrylic paint (that's my drying canvas in the top of the photo below!):

Then I used Claudine Hellmuth's Modern Red acrylic paint (it's a little more on the peachy orange end of the red scale), because it matched the red colors in my photos:

and painted it onto Hero Arts Antique Brocade Cling Stamp and stamped over the pink painted letters, for a two-toned pattern look:

The finished letters were glued onto the canvas with Glossy Accents (you can also see the great canvas texture you get with this technique!):

Here are close-ups of the completed canvases -- oldest daughter:

And youngest daughter:

NOTE: For a different look, try using Claudine Hellmuth's acrylic paint COLORS for this transfer technique ... Claudine says they work, too! You can find a tutorial Claudine did HERE.

** NOTE: After completing my project, I discovered both Julia and Ellen have used this same basic technique here in the CLASSroom before (great minds think alike)! You can find Julia's Dec 2009 project HERE where she used a black & white photo on a FABRIC canvas album for a lovely vintage look. And Ellen created an adorable photo pennant banner HERE with fabric canvas -- she had success using a color copy of her photo she printed with her home inkjet printer!

I hope you'll have as much fun with this technique as I did!

~ Sharon

Additional Supplies:
Maya Road David chipboard letters,
Claudine Hellmuth Painterly Pink & Modern Red Studio Acrylic Paint
Hero Arts Cling Stamp-Antique Brocade,
Ranger Glossy Accents,
 

Believe Canvas Layout by Julia Stainton

Have you ever created a project on something besides paper?

How about canvas?

This gorgeous canvas Mistable sheet was in my stash and just begging to be used. It's a fabulous surface for so many techniques. I've used a few today such as misting, stamping and embossing so why not join me for the tutorial? It's fun and do you know what I love most about it? Every time it turns out just a little different. I love the journey to the end result.

Today's layout is for my daughter. She's off to school this fall and I really miss her. Scrapbooking is a great way to relive those memories and hold your loved ones close.

This is what the canvas sheet looks like to start out with. It's already gorgeous plain but I thought I'd add a little color.

First of all I started off with embossing some designs on the canvas. Simply stamp in Versamark Ink and then emboss with clear embossing powder. If you do this on paper, you will form a resist. Because fabric is a little more porous, it usually doesn't resist too well but gives a great batik look and subtle design to the canvas.

Next up I added some misting to the design with Glimmer Mist. I love adding two or three colors together for a beautiful variation in the background. If you're in a hurry to continue, you can dry the canvas with a heat gun.

Adding some colored stamping to the canvas added a little more interest. I've used Aquamarine Archival ink by Ranger here. The Archival Inks are the best I've found for stamping on fabric.

Next step was to add some Stickles Glitter Glue to highlight the border of the design. This is the step that you won't want to rush to dry. Leave it and take a break for an hour.

My favorite part of creating is always adding in the embellishments. This flower is misted like the background to coordinate. The blue Prima Heart Trinket is simply stunning.

Canvas tags and butterflies are the perfect addition for this layout. A great way to adhere the buttons to the canvas is with Ranger Glossy Accents.

Finally, the title is made up of some very cool Wood Tiles. I've misted them as well to make them tone in with the layout.

 Have fun pulling out your mists and canvas and explore the possibilities!

Thanks for stopping by the CLASSroom!

 

Supplies: Mistables Canvas V by Prima Marketing, Eclectric Blue Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels, Coffee Shop Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels, Meadow Green Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels, twine, Basic Grey Sweet Threads stamps by Hero Arts, Aquamarine Archival ink by Ranger, Doily Transparency by Maya Road, Vintage Green Pearl Trinket Pins by Maya Road, Buttons by Basic Grey, Glossy Accents by Ranger, Turquoise Stickles by Ranger, Snow Peony Innoscence Flower by Prima Marketing, Hearts Vintage Trinkets by Prima, Tiny Attacher by Advantus, Curio Canvas Tags by Basic Grey, Clear Embossing Powder by Ranger, Heat Gun, Butterfly - Romantique Reflections by Prima, Wood Alphabet Tiles, Antique Silver Keys

 

Altered Canvas Using Unity Stamps by Eva Dobilas

It is such a pleasure to welcome Eva Dobilas to the CLASSroom today! Eva is a true gem and I have absolutely loved getting to know her sweet, bubbly spirit. With all the happenings in life this past month I was BEHIND and when I asked her at the very last moment for her help showcasing the Unity Stamps this month, she so graciously accepted and knocked it out the park with her project today!

Eva lives in Southern California and has been an avid scrapbooker and cardmaker for the past 14 years! She loves to create elegant, classy, sometimes dreamy cards, layouts and 3D projects. You may have seen her work in Cardmaker and Scrap and Stamp Arts Magazine.

She loves using stamps, paint and dies on her projects and amongst current Design Team responsibilities she is happily designing for Creative Imaginations, Unity Stamp Co., My Favorite Things and Samantha Walker. You will find Eva teaching in California scrapbook stores. During her classes she shares the love of crafting with lots of tips and techniques. As well you will find so many inspiring and beautiful projects on her blog For the Love of Life.

We would appreciate so much if you would head over to Eva's blog and help us thank her for sharing her ideas here in the CLASSroom. Please leave your comment on her post about being a guest here --- you will have a chance to win some of the fabulous products used in this post! A winner will be randomly selected from the comments left on Eva's blog For the Love of Life, before midnight PDT, Wednesday, August 17th and announced on Thursday, August 18th.

Once again an enormous thanks to Eva for sharing this beautiful project with these wonderful tips and techniques!

-Ellen

ETA: Congratulations to the winner of this blog candy is:

 
please contact us at customerservice@ellenhutson.com with your snail mail address! Thank you to all who visited Eva's blog and shared some love with her and thank you again to Eva for this beautiful creation and instructions!

Altered Canvas Using Unity Stamps by Eva Dobilas

 

There are lots of layers and textures on this canvas, but there are two products I wanted to highlight in particular other than Unity Stamps and those are Creative Imaginations Real Wood Paper and Clearly for Art Blackout Modeling Film by Art Parts.  First let me show you the products I used.

 

And here are additional products I used including two Unity Stamp sets.  One is a newly released Simple Stories Co-brand set called Generations and the other one is an IOD Co-brand set called Provencial Collection – My Dear.  The canvas size I worked with is 6”x6”.

 

Using Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Sizzix die, I cut out my flowers from the modeling film, and using Versamark Dazzle, Champagne color ink stamp the images on the two biggest flowers.  Using a heat gun heat the die cut and stamped modeling film and once it gets hot, I molded them into the shape I wanted.  I just wanted to achieve more dimension on my flowers.

   

Next I ran my strip of Real Wood piece through my Tim Holtz Texture Fades Patchwork Embossing folder.

  

Using white acrylic paint and a foam brush, paint the raised parts of the embossed image.

  

I sprayed my canvas with three different color Glimmer Mists to get the background effect I wanted to work with.

  

While my canvas was drying I started to stamp my images onto Simple Stories 100 days of Summer paper line and started layering my products on my canvas.  I also added some pretty May Arts ribbon and lace I had on hand.  To finish my black flower I wanted to add some interest for the middle, so I stamped one of the doily images from the Generations stamp set and cut out the middle part of it and added a button to the middle of it.

  

Here is what my finished flower looks like.

 

And finally I inked up our photo with Vintage Photo Distress ink and  added it to the canvas using a Tim Holtz Memo Pin.  Here is a close up angle of my canvas, so you can see all the layers on this. 

   

 

Unity Stamps -  Simple Stories Co-brand: Generations

Unity Stamps – IOD Co-brand: Provencial Collection, My Dear

Papers:  Simple Stories – 100 Days of Summer (Simple Stories papers are coming soon to Ellen Hutson LLC), Creative Imaginations Real Wood Paper

Ink:  Champagne Versamark Dazzle,  Noir Palette and Ranger Vintage Photo and Barn Door Distress Inks

Paint:  Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber, Snow Cap

Glimmer Mist: Caribbean Blue, Gold and Candy Apple Red

Art Part Clearly for Art Blackout modeling film

Tim Holtz Texture Fades Patchwork Embossing Folder

Tim Holtz, Sizzix Tattered Florals Die

Tim Holtz Memo Pin

May Arts Ribbon

Lace from my stash

Buttons by Clear and Simple Stamps

Twine, Jute

Prima Crystals

Flowers and Borders with Patter Cross

Welcome Patter! Thank you for taking time out of your BUSY schedule to create such a beautiful project to inspire all of us and get us busy making some scrappy pages! You will definitely want to take some time today to visit Patter's blogs. The many organizational tips she shares are fantastic! As well, you will find videos showcasing how to use the Memory Box dies in your diecutting machine and so much more. 

Once again we would like to invite you to share some kind words with Patter on either or both of her blogs! (By leaving a comment on each of her blogs your chances of winning our lovely prize package are doubled ;-D) So head over to Create x3 and/or Triple the Scraps and look for the post with a sneak peek of the project shown below, as well as a photo of our little goodie box and leave some words of kindness for Patter! We will do a random drawing and announce the winner together with Patter on Friday, June 17th.

Patter, thank you once again for sharing your talents with us here in the CLASSroom! -Ellen

Flowers and Borders with Patter Cross

Today I wanted to share an 8x8 layout with you using Memory Box papers, stamps, pearls, and dies. I will be showing you how I like to layer flowers and borders to create fun embellishments for a scrapbook page or card. So, let’s get started!

The Flowers

I love to layer the Memory Box Gorgeous Bloom and Gorgeous Mini Bloom stamps to create distressed flowers. First, I stamped the Gorgeous Bloom twice onto Memory Box Brioche paper using Tim Holtz barn door distress ink. Then I stamped the Gorgeous Mini Bloom three times onto the same paper.

 
I then cut them out. When cutting the Gorgeous Blooms, I cut the first image on the outside lines. The second image I cut on the inner lines so that I would have a slightly smaller flower to layer. Here you can see two cut Gorgeous Blooms and one cut Gorgeous Mini Bloom. These three pieces will create one flower.

Once they are cut out, I used my Tim Holtz paper distresser to distress the edge of the flowers. Then I spritzed with water and crumpled each flower up. To dry them, I opened them slightly and used my heat tool. Here you can see one dry flower and two still crumpled up.

Then I layered the flowers from large to small and finished with a button. Here is the finished flower:

The remaining two Gorgeous Mini Blooms I cut out on the outer edge, distressed, and used them as single flowers on my page.

The Border

Another fun embellishment for a scrapbook page or card is a layered border. I used the new Memory Box Classis Scallop die to create a layered border. First I cut three borders using Memory Box Brioche, licorice, and licorice dot cardstocks.

 
I then layered them to create a fun border on my page.  Here is how my page turned out with the flowers and border:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, I hope you will have fun creating these fun embellishments for your scrapbook pages and cards.  They certainly do add some fun details to a page!

 
Memory Box Papers: Brioche 6x6 Cardstock, Licorice cardstock, Licorice Dot, Pool Gingham

Memory Box Stamps: Gorgeous Bloom, Gorgeous Mini Bloom

Stamp Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink Barn Door and pumice stone

Tools: Tim Holtz Paper Distresser, Memory Box Scalloped Circle die, Memory Box Classic Scallop die,

Embellishments: Memory Box berry pearl stickers, Jenni Bowlin mini chalkboard alpha, Pink Paislee holly doodle alpha, Tim Holtz tiny attacher and adage tickets, Heidi Swapp Center of Attention chipboard alpha, misc. ruler twill, Creative Café buttons, rustic twine, sewing machine

Spring Photo Tray by Sharon Harnist

Time for an update of my seasonal Photo Tray for Spring & Summer!  You can find my other seasonal Photo Trays here (Fall) and here (Christmas), if you care to get some other ideas of how this tray can be used.  I use temporary adhesive on each of the 4" x 6" panels within each tray section, so they can be removed and the tray used over and over again!  I used this gorgeous new Prima 6x6 paper pad-Madeline, for an easily coordinated tray.

In the top left section, I used Spellbinders largest Labels Large Nestabilities die to cut the photo of my oldest daughter (showing off her new glasses!) -- notice that pretty embossed edge of the photo!  I love using dies to cut my photos into unexpected shapes -- I think it gives my scrapbooking a nice professional touch.  

The flower accent was cut from coordinating Madeline paper using Tim Holt Bigz Die-Tattered Florals.  It's quick and easy to cut all the coordinating flower pieces you need in just one die!  I stacked the pieces together with 3D Foam Squares, and accented the center with a Hero Arts Medium accent pearl.

In the upper center section, the bird cage was die cut from a sheet of cork that was backed with a sheet of Be Creative tape:

Then I just cut away pieces of the adhesive backing from where I wanted the cork to adhere to the butterfly patterned paper in a curved dimensional shape.  The adhesive sheet helps give the cork more stability, to retain its curved shape and makes it super easy to adhere to the paper.  Then I just trimmed the patterned paper around the cage and laced it up with Brown Twine, and walah . . . caged butterflies!

This Tim Holtz Caged Bird die contains two images:

Here's how I used the bird in the upper right section:

For this sweet bird die cut, I adhered Creative Imaginations Real Cherry Wood Cherry to Craft-a-Board to give it more stability and then die cut it -- I love the texture!  It's popped up on foam tape.  I loved this wonderful scalloped sentiment piece that is from another piece of the Madeline paper. It says: "True beauty lies within. I know that yours will shine so brilliant it will be blinding."  Something I hope my beautiful daughters learn in life.

 
My favorite section is fabulous dress I created!  I used Tim Holt's Bigz Die-Sewing Room dress form to cut Craft-a-Board, which was then sponged with Antique Linen & Brushed Corduroy Distress Inks:

Then I adhered a large Prima Cherry Rose Trim to the dress form -- one flower was all that was needed of this gorgeous trim:

I trimmed the flowers to fit the dress form, and then finished it with a Hero Arts Small Accent Pearls necklace.  My oldest daughter said she wants a dress like this!

The final two sections on the lower right were accented with huge Spellbinders Nested Butterfly die cuts.  I cut the largest butterfly in half and adhered the halves in each section and then topped it with the middle butterfly die that was adhered on top of the section divider and finished with Hero Arts Medium accent pearls.  Some Maya Road Cream Small Organza Rose trim was used in each section, to help tie them together.  In the left section, I used pieces of the fuschia Tattered Flowers die cuts that were left over from the top left section, topped with one of the small organza roses.  The small label cut out in the left section is from another piece of the Madeline paper, cut in half:

The photo of my youngest daughter was cut with a circle die.  I hope this tray helps to give you some ideas of different ways you can use this wonderful 7 Gypsies Black Photo Tray!

~ Sharon Harnist

Paper: Prima 6x6 paper pad-Madeline, Magenta Cork sheet, Essentials by Ellen Craft-a-Board, Creative Imaginations Real Wood Cherry-Thin,
Ink: Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Inks-Antique Linen & Brushed Corduroy, Ink Blending Tool; 
Tools: Sizzix Tim Holt Bigz Die-Tattered Florals, Caged Bird & Sewing Room; Spellbinders Nested Butterfly, Labels Large Nestabilities & Circle Nestabilities die sets
Accessories: 7 Gypsies Black Photo Tray, Prima Cherry Rose Trim, Hero Arts Medium & Small Accent Pearls, Maya Road Cream Small Organza Roses, Jillibean Soup Brown Twine, Be Creative (Sookwang) Sheet adhesive, Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam Squares, Glue Glider Pro Repositionable tape, 

The Courage to Imagine by Julia Stainton

It's amazing at all the opportunities that come our way. Each special season of life is worth documenting and journaling about.Whether they are big or small, we all have dreams and they are all important.

Last term at school my daughter had the most fantastic highschool co-op opportunity. We had the courage to imagine something wonderful but this was beyond our wildest dreams. Heather spent each afternoon of the entire semester at the hospital in the Organ Transplant Unit. To say we were thrilled would be an understatement. Her experiences ranged from hospital tours to transplant surgeries, data entry to ambulance and airplane rides. She made some lifetime friends but most importantly knows what she wants to spend her life doing.

I decided to find a little courage and try out something a little more artsy for a layout design on this project. The new Tim Holtz Kraft Resist Paper Stash looked like so much fun, I just had to try it out! This paper is a beautiful heavy weight kraft paper that is perfect for layouts or cards.

I wanted the beautiful resist to pop out on this design and immediately thought of my new Faber-Castell Gelatos. The color is so easy to apply and pops on the kraft background.

As you can see, I didn't try to be perfect. I actually wanted the color to go outside the lines so othat the resist would show up. You can leave the Gelato colored as is or blend it in a bit with your finger for a softer look. I love how it adds interest to a monochromatic background.

To continue my artsy look, I created my own collage title block with some great Tim Holtz stamps, some Glimmer Mist and Distress Ink. I've stamped them onto an Arturo Note Card cut into half. I love the texture of this paper and how it takes the ink. Beautiful!

As always, I love to cluster my embellishments together for a pretty collage look.

Journaling is always an important part of scrapbooking. If you like to keep things private, an envelope and tag approach is always a great idea and pretty too! This envelope is the new Tim Holtz Kraft Glassine Envelopes and is a really cool product.

Supplies: Arturo Soft White Card, Wedding Shoes flower by Prima, twine, tag, Crystal Star Trinket Pin by Maya Road, Neutral & Metallic Gelatos by Faber-Castell, Wood Bingo Motifs by Maya Road, Assorted Doilies from Essentials by Ellen, Kraft Glassine Envelopes by Tim Holtz, Kraft Resist Paper Stash by Tim Holtz, Shabby French stamp set & Stuff to Say stamp set by Stampers Anonymous, Sketchbook Tissue Tape by Advantus, Receipt Mini Ephemera by 7 Gypsies, Jet Black Archival Ink by Ranger, Worn Lipstick Distress Ink by Ranger, Sepia Archival Ink by Ranger, Coffee Shop Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels

Hope this layout inspires you to have some creative fun and try something new!

Thanks for stopping by the CLASSroom and have a fabulous weekend!

 

Sweet Sisters~Sweet Moments by Sharon Harnist

 

A very merry Christmas to all of you!  Today I wanted to share a scrapbook page of my sweet daughters that make the holiday season worth every sweet moment!  Webster's Pages Sweet Season papers were a perfect match this time of year, but a lot of this Sweet Season 12x12 Paper Pack can be tweaked for any time of the year, as I've done here today!

 

I used the beautiful round scalloped sheet of roses & "Christmas" tree paper from this pack, cut it up and used it in two different spots on top of the dress form paper.  It's covering a few candy canes at the top of the page and I used the rest of it to frame the photo with more roses!  The purple of the "Christmas" tree now blends in and works well to compliment the purple boa my oldest daughter is wearing.

A Cosmo Cricket Buck Naked Alpha Buttons, letter "S" was covered with a smaller scale pink print from Webster's Petite Paper Pad-Waiting For Santa & Sweet Season.  Basic Grey's Precision File Set makes it easy to sand and file the edges of any type of chipboard, especially this curvy letter S!  I've had my set of files for about 5 years and it's still holding up very well -- most of the tools are metal and should last you through a lifetime of papercrafting!  The chipboard S was tied with some beautiful green velvet ribbon from Webster's Sweet Season & Waiting For Santa Trim Collection.  The letter is popped up on top of one of Ellen's fabulous white Small Doilies -- this pack contains some great sizes that are perfect for small accents on scrap pages or cards!  The rest of my page title was created with the bright pink stickers that are included with this paper pack -- makes for quick & easy scrapping!

 

I used Tonic's Retractable Craft Knife to cut around part of the dress form, so I could slip the photo underneath it and help frame the photo.  The photo was framed with the "candy striped" paper from this pack -- love all the bright colors! 

The butterfly is another sticker included in this paper pack -- I adhered it to green cardstock and trimmed around it, then popped it up on foam tape.  The lower right corner contains a Sweet Season Journaling Card, where I noted my girls ages and date the photo was taken.  Journaling was done with Copic's Multiliner-Black .05 -- it's a great permanent acid-free pen that won't fade and will last ages!

 

Wishing all of you a very sweet holiday!  We'll back in the Classroom on Sunday, December 26 to begin the 12 Days of Christmas!  ~ Sharon

 
Paper: Webster's Pages Sweet Season 12x12 Paper Pack & Petite Paper Pad-Waiting For Santa & Sweet Season, Sweet Season Journaling Cards
Ink: Copic Multiliner-Black .05,
Accessories: Webster's Pages Sweet Season & Waiting For Santa Trim Collection, Essentials by Ellen Small Doilies, Cosmo Cricket Buck Naked Alpha Buttons, Basic Grey Precision File Set, Glue Glider Pro with Perma Tac Cartridge, EK Success 3D-Dots, Tonic Retractable Craft Knife,

Fall Scrap Page by Sharon Harnist

I decided it was time for another one of my 6-inch scrapbooking-for-the-fridge magnets, especially since Fall, with its changing leaves, is one of my very favorite times of the year!

 

I've had a piece of corregated cardboard box torn up and waiting for a great idea to hit me on how to use it and I wondered if it could be die cut.  The answer -- most definitely yes!

To start, just cut up any regular old cardboard box into pieces that will fit through your die cut machine, and then peel the layers apart, to reveal the corregation on the inside layers.

Next, I inked the ridges of my piece of cardboard with white pigment ink, just to give it some color variation, and let it dry.  Then I tried die cutting it with Spellbinders Nested Maple Leaf (largest) die: 

 

At first, I thought the sandwich might be too tight and took out the magnetic spacer (or white cutting plate, depending on your Wizard model) piece of my Wizard sandwich but sure enough, it was needed (but a bit tight).  The result was a wonderfully embossed and very well cut leaf!

 

After die cutting and inking the edges of the cardboard leaf with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink, I cut a piece of Basic Grey Pyrus patterned paper with the middle-sized Nested Maple Leaf die to layer on top of the cardboard leaf.  I sanded the embossed edges of the paper leaf, after inking the edges -- I love this look!  A Hero Arts Fancy Felt Flower and a button tied with twine finish the leaf embellishement.

To finish my page (6 inches, cut from olive Basic Grey Pyrus patterned paper), I added a Jenni Bowlin Vintage Mini Bingo Card and FALL letters die cut with the Sizzix Tim Holtz Vintage Market Alpha die from more Pyrus patterned paper. 

 

TIP: Outline your die cuts with a Copic marker -- this will really help define them and make them jump off your page, instead of blending in, unnoticed!  Here, I used 110-Special Black.  Zig 2-Way Fine Tip Glue Pen makes it easy to glue down small die cuts.

Since I've become addicted to glittered embellishments, I added a scalloped edge on the left side that was made by using Martha Stewart's Scallop Dot edger punch to punch a piece of paper covered with Glitter Ritz Opaque Micro Fine Glitter in Spice Brown!  Hopefully you can see the gorgeous coppery color of the glitter here (although there was some glare on the photos!):

 

Oh, and I can't forget the film strip of photos I printed of my sweet (most of the time!) daughters!  By adhering Inchie Arts Inchie Magnets on the back of my 6-inch page, it becomes refrigerator art, holding the school lunch menu or other important school papers we refer to each day!  When the season is over, place the page in a brag book album.

Thanks for stopping by the CLASSroom today ... I hope Fall is on the way to wherever you live! ~ Sharon

 
Paper: Basic Grey Pyrus patterned papers, Jenni Bowlin Mini Bingo Cards-Vintage,
Ink: Ranger Adirondack Snow Cap Pigment ink pad & Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink; Copic 110-Special Black
Accessories: Spellbinders Nested Maple Leaf die set, Sizzix Tim Holtz Vintage Market Alpha dies, Martha Stewart Scallop Dot edger punch, Hero Arts Fancy Felt Flowers-Neutral, Glitter Ritz Opaque Micro Fine Glitter-Spice Brown, Jillibean Soup Twine-Brown, Zig 2-Way Fine Tip Glue Pen, Inchie Arts Inchie Magnets, Sanding Block, Button,
Other: corregated cardboard box

Cherish Layout by Julia Stainton

We all have those special people in our lives that make celebrations special. The ones who are family or might as well be, and the ones that we truly cherish. Today's layout is about those special people. My family.

It's important to scrapbook those special people and moments to have something to remember them by.

I started out this layout with a really fabulous embossed cardstock by Jenni Bowlin for Coredinations. I just love the texture these cardstocks add to a project. This is great if you want a textured look but don't have embossing folders or especially if you want a large embossed area. The package comes with four different patterns in five colors each.

The cardstock has been sanded to reveal the inner white core. You can sand these cardstocks as much or as little as you wish. They are beautiful without sanding as well. Regular sandpaper works well but I really love using the Tim Holtz Sanding Block for ease.

The new Togetherness line from Cosmo Cricket is absolutely adorable and worked perfectly with my theme. Who can resist those darling birds? The large circles were diecut with a large Circles Nestability Die.

Banners are all the rage and I added a sweet mini one here for dimension. The Mixed Scallop Triangle Banner Mini Chipboard set is so darling. It comes with two pieces of chipboard for each pennant. The Snowcap Adirondak Paint Dabber made it easy to apply white paint to the bottom scalloped pennant. Each top triangle was covered with Togetherness paper.

Supplies: Jenni Bowlin Embossed Cardstock by Coredinations, Togetherness Paper Crafting Kit & Ready Set Chip Stickers by Cosmo Cricket, Tim Holtz Sanding Block & Tiny Attacher by Advantus, Snowcap Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber by Ranger, Mixed Scallop Triangle Banner Mini Chipboard set by Maya Road, twine, Ivory Alphabet by Prima Marketing, Turquoise Leaf Trinket Pins & Green Leaf Trinket Pins by Maya Road, 0.3 Black Multiliner by Copic, buttons by Cosmo Cricket

Thanks for stopping by the CLASSroom and have a creative day!

 

Fall Photo Tray Decor by Sharon Harnist

 

I've been wanting to alter this 7 Gypsies Black Photo Tray for quite some time now and finally decided on just the project for it ... a seasonal home decor piece!  So you are likely to see this tray again, just revamped for each season!  I adhered each 4" x 6" panel in place with repositionable adhesive, so the panels can be changed out easily.  Overall, this tray measures approximately 13" square.

I began by selecting the pieces of Basic Grey's new Pyrus 12" collection I wanted to use, since this collection contains some fabulous Fall colors and images!  For the top "home" banner, I covered four of Maya Road's Mixed Scallop Mini Triangle Banner chipboard pieces with rusty brown and olive solid pieces of the Basic Grey papers (using a glue stick), sanded the edges and then adhered Maya Road's Noah Chipboard Alphabet letters that had been glittered to the triangles:

 

Here are some tips for glittering chipboard:  First, I started by coloring the chipboard pieces with Copic markers that closely match the color of glitter I wanted to use (including the edges) -- this just helps to prevent the gray chipboard from showing through the glitter and it also finishes the edges of the chipboard pieces nicely.  See how well the Copic markers color the chipboard:

 

The Copics I used here were E08 and YG03.  You could just use the letters like this, but wait -- glitter makes everything better, in my opinion, and is my favorite thing lately, so let's glitter up these babies!  To do so, I ran the colored chipboard letters through my Xyron Sticker Maker and then covered the letters with Glitter Ritz Microfine Glitters in Chartreuse and Spice Brown.  The triangles were strung together with twine to form a banner.

 

The large bird on the left is a Maya Road Song Bird Coaster, covered in more Basic Grey Pyrus paper.  The edges were also sanded and the tail tied with twine.  The teal flower on the top right was cut from some of the Pyrus patterned papers and a yellow gemstone crystal added to the center.

 

The "sweet" word was made with Maya Road's Noah Chipboard Alphabet, colored with BG13 Copic marker and then covered with Ice Blue Glitter Ritz microfine glitter:

 

The pumpkin and maple leaf were cut from more Pyrus paper with Spellbinders dies, then sanded to bring out the embossed edges.  Both are tied with twine.  The bottom "home" word was created with Maya Road's David Chipboard Alphabet and the heart is from Maya's Love Mini Chipboard Set:

 

This photo was taken in the bright sunshine -- hopefully you can see how gorgeous the glitter is, in a closer view (click on any photo for a closer view).

I hope this gives you some ideas on how you can use this fabulous photo tray -- you can even tuck in a few family photos as the season goes along.  Then I'm thinking each of these 4" x 6" removable panels can then be taken out of the tray after the season ends and put into a scrapbook!

Thanks for visiting the CLASSroom today!   ~ Sharon

 
Paper: Basic Grey Pyrus 12" collection
Ink: Copic markers E08, YG03 & BG13
Accessories: 7 Gypsies Black Photo Tray; Maya Road Song Bird Coaster, David Chipboard Alphabet, Noah Chipboard Alphabet, Love Mini Chipboard Set, & Mixed Scallop Mini Triangle Banner chipboard sets; Spellbinders Nested Pumpkin & Nested Maple Leaf die sets; Glitter Ritz Microfine Glitters-Chartreuse, Ice Blue & Spice Brown, Sanding Block, Glue Glider Pro Repositionable Adhesive Cartridge, yellow gemstone crystal
Other: Xyron Sticker Maker, glue stick, twine

U Make Me Happy Layout by Julia Stainton

Do you have products that you love but have been hoarding for that special project? I'm certainly guilty of that and if you're honest, I bet you are too. How about ideas in your head that you're going to try "someday"? How about photos that you love that are hidden away in an old box? You too, right?

Since I've been guilty of all three, I thought it would be fun to challenge myself to tackle a few of these things in one layout.

The technique I've been meaning to try out is spritzing the beautiful embossed cardstock that is the base for my layout.

Isn't that a darling little picture of my daughter? It was hidden away in a box. If you're behind in your scrapbooking or have no idea where to start, let me tell you a secret. You don't have to scrap every photo you own and you definitely do not have to work chronologically. Do what inspires you and makes you happy and leave all that stress behind. Scrapbooking is supposed to be fun.

The third thing I wanted to work into my layout was some super cool embellishments. The die cut felt is stunning and that trim, well, I think I want to wear it. It's way too pretty to hide away in a drawer so it's time I used it.

To show you how I created the background, here's a few photos to guide you through the steps...

 

The beautiful embossed cardstock starts off looking like this with a beautiful glossy pattern finish.
 

Spray the chipboard with some Glimmer Mist and wipe off excess.

 

To get a layered splatter that uses a different color, spray again with Glimmer Mist and allow the droplets to dry well before removing any excess spray on the design. It makes a beautiful artistic look.

Thanks for visiting us in the CLASSroom today. I hope you find yourself inspired to try out a few ideas that you've been putting off! Have you started working on any projects for Monday's Floral Blog Parade? Join us then for a lot of inspiration and fun!

Supplies: Invisibles Ornate Art Chipboard Sheets by Advantus, sewing machine, Basic White 12x12 Paper Pack by Basic Grey, Buck-Naked Chipboard Buttons by Cosmo Cricket, Crystal Trinket Pins by Maya Road, Bloomer Deluxe Trim by Webster's Pages, Tim Holtz Film Strip Ribbon by Advantus, twine, Paper Doilies by Little Yellow Bicycle, Broken China Distress Crackle Paint by Ranger, Canvas Button by Prima Marketing, Divine Rose Bush Felt Stem by Prima, Tiny Attacher by Advantus, Viva Pink Glimmer Mist Spray and Peacock Chalkboard Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels, chipboard letters, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, Kraft Ticket by Maya Road, hi princess sentiment from Magic Castle stamp set by Hero Arts

Sweet Sweet Summer by Julia Stainton

What do you love about summer? I love so many things but a lot of the favorite memories of summer seem to revolve around food. Fresh corn on the cob, strawberries, tomatoes and hamburgers top my list. The long summer days and beautiful weather make it a great time to get together with family and friends.

The Graphic 45 Domestic Goddess line celebrates home life and the other day I came across the beautiful Domestic Goddess Farmer's Market paper in my stash and it just begged to be created with. Inspired by the beautiful vintage food labels, I created this layout. Feel free to click on the photo to enlarge it and get a better look.

Instead of layering photos on top of patterned paper, I wanted to make them an integral part of the design and designed a more graphic styled layout. You may also know this technique as color blocking. I started off with a 12x12 sheet of Basic Grey Basic Manilla paper. The warm tones go well with the vintage look of the labels and the lines add some subtle interest as well as making lining up the grid straight easy to do. I had a rough layout idea in my mind and decided where to place the photos first. It's much easier to start with the photos, rather than trying to fit them in last.

The ledger lines of this paper were great horizontal markers and I chose a line for the top and bottom of my design area. The right and left margins were lightly drawn in with pencil. This makes it easy to get a nice clean block for the design. I love creating layouts on the Basic Grey Magnetic Precision Mat Kit as it makes lining up paper perfectly so easy to do.

Here is the work in progress. I've cut apart the Farmer's Market sheet and added in my favorite labels. A few of them overlap slightly and a few have been trimmed to fit well. Place the largest ones first to make it easiest.

You'll notice I have three empty spaces left at this point. Normally I would fill these in with pieces of patterned paper but three empty spaces makes a great visual triangle so I decided they would be great spaces for my embellishments to fill.

The title and journaling was designed to be a vertical block of type on the left side of the design. Black Tiny Type combined with the Prima Ivory Alphabet makes up the title. This alphabet has a beautiful canvas-like textured surface and takes ink well. The Admit One accent is a Maya Road Kraft Ticket that has been trimmed to size and stapled with the Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher.

Over one of the spaces on the design, I've layered some beautiful textured Prima embellishments. The White Mulberry Rose Leaves have been sponged with Shabby Shutters Distress Ink by Ranger. The black flourish is a snippet of French Swirl Voila die cut felt and the fabric flower is the Prima Calcutta Minis Seashell Flowers.

 

My buttons details consist of twine, Tim Holtz Tissue Tape, Farmer's Market Cherry Twist twine, Jenni Bowlin Chipboard Buttons and a sweet Maya Road Heart Trinket Pin.

Do you have timeless summer memories? Have fun keeping those special memories by designing them into a special layout. Thanks for joining me today in the CLASSroom!

Glitter Baby Page by Sharon Harnist

 

I decided to make a traditional 6-inch scrap page today and used an element I'm in love with at the moment ... glitter!  It's a good thing I have little girls who appreciate glitter and bling, too!  :D  To make this page, I started by stamping three different background stamps onto three different colors of Memory Box Cardstock: Taffy, Granny Smith & Iris:

 

The CHF Backgrounders I used were: Geometric Flowers II, Polka Dot Large & AlphaNumber.  I used Ranger Distress Inks in Worn Lipstick, Sabby Shutters & Tumbled Glass.  Next, I cut a piece of white cardstock 5.75" square and used this as my base to piece the stamped colored cardstock in an arrangement I liked, and rounded the corners with the 1/2" side of my Crop-a-Dile Corner Chomper.

Next, I used Spellbinders Big Scalloped Square Nestabilities die (largest die in the small set) and cut four pieces of Sweet Corn Memory Box cardstock.  Then I layered all four scalloped die cuts behind the colored scrap page base, overlapping one scallop -- this created a perfect 6.25" frame for my page!

To create the photo frame, I used Spellbinders Big Scalloped Oval Nestabilities dies-Lg and Classic Oval Nestabilities dies-Sm and layered them together on my magnetic cut mat, to cut a piece of the Sweet Corn cardstock:

 

Next, I used The Essential Glue Pad to ink up the Polka Dot Large background stamp and stamped the frame with it, then covered the dots with Martha Stewart's Essential Colors Crystal Fine Glitter:

 

Hopefully you can see the pretty sparkly surrounding my sweet oldest daughter's face when she was 5 months old (click on photo for a larger view):

 

The frame is popped up with foam tape over the photo.  Prima E-Line 4 Petal & 5 Petal flowers adorn the upper right corner and Zva Crystals accent the flower center and line dividing two of the stamped cardstocks.

The "baby" title was made from Maya Road's Chipboard Alpha-Noah letters.  I gave them a coating of Adirondack Pigment Ink in Snow Cap:

 

(The letter "b" on the left wasn't covered yet, so you can see the difference it made).  While the ink was still wet, I sprinkled the Crystal Fine glitter over the letters and let it dry:

Here's how the letters turned out:

 

The little tag was cut with the smallest Spellbinders Tags Trio die from Lavender Memory Box cardstock and then I made a rub-on with my daughter's name, age & date by using Grafix Rub Onz ... this was the first time I had used this product and I can see all the fabulous possibilities it possesses!  A little bit of white silk ribbon finishes this page.

Thanks for stopping by!  -Sharon

 
Stamps: Cornish Heritage Farms Backgrounders-Geometric Flowers II, Polka Dot Large, AlphaNumber
Paper: Memory Box Cardstock-Taffy, Granny Smith, Iris, Lavender & Sweet Corn
Ink: Ranger Distress Inks-Sabby Shutters, Tumbled Glass, Worn Lipstick & Adirondack Pigment Ink Pad-Snow Cap; Tsukineko The Essential Glue Pad
Accessories: Spellbinders Big Scalloped Oval Nestabilities dies-Lg, Classic Oval Nestabilities dies-Sm, Big Scalloped Square Nestabilities-Sm, Tags Trio; Maya Road Chipboard Alpha-Noah, Martha Stewart Essential Colors Glitter-Crystal Fine; WRM Crop-a-Dile Corner Chomper, Grafix Rub Onz, Zva Crystals, Prima E-Line Flowers-4 Petal & 5 Petal

Summer Canvas by Sharon Harnist

 

Summer is definitely in full swing here in Texas and I realized I didn't have any summer "refrigerator art" for my fridge!  So I decided to remedy that with this 6" x 6" Summer canvas.  I began by printing my 4" x 6" photo on Claudine Hellmuth's Studio Sticky Back Canvas.  This was the first time I tried printing a photo on the canvas and was pleasantly surprised at the photo quality:

 

(These were my girls, ready to hit the swimming pool on the first day of Summer!)  Then I adhered the canvas to a 6" x 6" piece of Ellen's Craft-a-Board, to give it stability.  Next, I painted the Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz-Floral Tattoo stamp with Claudine Hellmuth's Studio Paint in Classic Teal and stamped onto the canvas:

 

Then I painted the top and lower edges of the canvas and Craft-a-Board with Yellow Pastel Studio Paint (the color is really a prettier soft yellow in person -- my camera was just having trouble with it!):

 

I was pleasantly surprised at how well Ellen's Craft-a-Board took the paint along the lower edge, without peeling or buckling -- this was the first time I had tried paint on it!

Next, Maya Road's Mini Alphabet Chipboard-Noah "summer" letters were painted with Sky Blue Studio Paint and then sprinkled with turquoise Martha Stewart glitter while the paint was still wet:

 

Ranger's Glossy Accents was used to adhere the sparkly chipboard letters to the top of the canvas:

 

To finish the bottom of the canvas, I airbrushed white Prima Tamera lace with Copic BG45 Sketch marker (I thought the lace resembled water waves!): 

 

and added a Zva crystal swirl:

 

This canvas has magnets on the back and as I said, will decorate my refrigerator this summer with my two cuties!  You could also display this canvas on an easel in your home or attach a ribbon hanger to it and either hang it on a wall or doorknob.  When you are finished displaying it, it can then be tucked into a scrapbook album.  I hope you'll have fun with this technique of printing your photos on the Sticky Back Canvas ... it was lots of fun to play with!

 
Stamps: Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz-Floral Tattoo
Paper: Claudine Hellmuth Studio Sticky Back Canvas 8-1/2"x11"
Ink: Copic BG45 Sketch marker
Accessories: Essentials by Ellen Craft-a-Board; Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paint-Classic Teal, Sky Blue & Yellow Pastel; Maya Road Mini Alphabet Chipboard-Noah; Martha Stewart Essential Colors Glitter Set-Turquoise; Ranger Glossy Accents; Prima Tamera Lace; Copic Airbrush System; Zva crystal swirl
Other: HP inkjet printer

Vintage Page by Kim Hughes

I don't make nearly as many layouts as I used to, so I decided to dabble a bit.  Creating scrapbook layouts really are so fulfilling to me and I plan to create many more this month.  I pulled out products that spoke to me first and searched for a coordinating photo.  I know that many designers work in the opposite direction.  They start with the fun photo and coordinate around that.  I love creating that way as well..there is no right and wrong way and everyone can scrapbook, seriously.  So, if you are new to it, maybe you could start with a 6 x 6 size and work your way up to 12 x 12.

Supplies:

Inchie + Squares, White

Ranger: Adirondack Dye Ink Pad, Lettuce, Adirondack Dye Ink Pad, Espresso

Jenni Bowlin: Rhinestone Buttons, Black

Studio 490, Art from the Heart, Studio 490, Art Rules

Maya Road: Trinket Pins, Vintage Pearl

Graphic 45: Le' Romantique, My Beloved, Le' Romantique, Tender Missives, Le' Romantique, Loves Labyrinth, Botanicabella, Tags, Botanicabella, Secret Garden, Botanicabella, Garden Suite

Pearls, Champagne

Cut-N-Dry Stamp Pad Foam

I started out with the decision that I would create a "frame" for my small photo to give it more of an impact.  Inchies are perfect tiles that can easily be customized to coordinate with any project, plus they add dimension.

 

I inked up the large stamp first, alligned up my frame and pressed the stamp onto the squares at the same time.
 

I then added a soft touch to the edges with brown ink.  It gives them a vintage look, but they also look "clean" because they are not overly distressed.
 

I chose some scraps for accent papers (the edges are inked as well)  Scraps from 12 x 12 layouts are wonderful to use on a card....always keep that in mind.
 

I decided to cut down the polka dots a bit by dding a large mat to the bottom of the page.  I cut a decorative edge in the top to add interest. 
 

I then pushed the papers and tag accents around until I was please with each placement.
 

Before I adhered my paper and accents, I stamped a fun border
 

Graphic 45 has the most gorgeous rosebud paper, so I decided to cut some out to use as accents.
 

Once I added my cut flowers to the page, I embellished my tag with twine and a push pin.
 

Finishing touches include pearl stickers and a vintage button
 

I added touches to the top of the page to balance it out.

I added a touch of glitter with a glitter pen, and before it could set, I rubbed it around with my finger, the result is subtle, but sweet in person.

I will go back and add my title and journal at a later time.  This s a photo of my Mom, who is dear to me, so I will keep the details private.  I hope that I have encouraged you to create a scrapbook page.

Have you thought about creating pages as a gift.  leave a frame for a photo, include letter stickers, a journal block and pen maybe?  You could add to their album through the year and have them "fill in the blanks"

Thanks for stopping by :)

Stuck on You Part Four - Dry Adhesive Ideas by Julia Stainton

Adhering your project together well is an integral part of a good design. Over the past four weeks I've been showcasing different adhesives and some ideas on how you might use them in your projects. I think my favorite adhesives have to be the so-called "dry" adhesives. This means that the adhesives is not in a liquid or wet form. This usually includes glue dots, adhesive squares and tape dispensing style adhesive cartridges.

I love dry adhesives as they are very easy to apply, there is little mess and there is no drying time involved. For me the higher cost of dry adhesives is off-set by how well they work and how quickly things go together. All dry adhesives are not equal though. Some are much stickier than others and hold up better over time. After years of experimenting and trying different  kinds, I now have my favorites. I encourage you to do the same and see what works for you.

Since I first tried out the Glue Glider Pro, I've been hooked. Seriously...I don't think I've created a project in months without it. I love how much adhesive there is on a roll, how easy it is to switch out the cartridges, how easy it is on my wrist but most of all, how well it sticks. After all, an adhesive is only as good as its staying power.

 

For this project I used the Glue Glider Pro to adhere my paper and photos and some of the embellishments as well. Here's a look at the start of my project.

I started off with a 12x12 piece of white cardstock. This layout could easily be adapted for an 8x8 size or even an 8.5x11 layout. I want my layouts to last for years and years to pass down to my family so using an adhesive that is acid free and also will work well is important to me. The Glue Glide works great for this and doesn't ripple the photos. For this project I've adhered two 3.5" square photos and a piece of 6x6 paper by Webster's Pages.

 

Next I wanted to add a fun embellishment technique using adhesive glue strips. You can use slim or wide strips of adhesive for this but for this project, I chose the 1/4" size. Making sure to apply the adhesive in a straight line, I applied it to my paper and then pressed well.

 

After the backing is removed, sprinkle glitter over the surface and coat well. Shake to remove excess.

 

Repeat along bottom of layout. To get a perfectly straight line that is exactly on grid, I used the Basic Grey Precision Mat. I love this product for getting things lined up each and every time. The magnets are great for keeping the layout in place as well making it an ideal work surface. Repeat until you have the amount of  glitter strips you wish for on your project. For this layout, I've used the Martha Stewart Glitter in the Golden Beryl, Turquoise and Verdilite shades.

You can also use this technique to attach embossing powder, beads, flocking and other small items to your projects.

The Invisibles Alphabet Stickers are a fun product to work with. I love the pre-embossed pattern and they can be customized to any shade you wish by sponging on ink. I used Shabby Shutters, Worn Lipstick and Broken China Distress Inks to create my "always" title.

 

To create straight lines for my journaling, once again the Magnetic Mat comes in handy. The magnetic ruler that comes with it makes it easy to line up and draw parallel lines in pencil.

 

The journaling was written with a Copic Multiliner and then I erased the lines.

Glue Dots can also but used to add glitter accents to your project. You can add them one at a time or as for this project, add them in a line. To get the spacing and application in a perfect row, simply tear off the length of strip you need to cover and apply them to the paper. Press well before removing backing.

 

Here's what the glue dots look like and then you cover them with glitter.

 

Because this layout was about the passage of time, I added in some supporting embellishments. Maya Road Black and White Clocks and Days of the Week Cards by Webster's Pages are a fun addition. I've also added in some Jenni Bowlin Chipboard Buttons, and flowers for extra detail.

The pretty vintage button is also by Jenni Bowlin and accents the title. You may notice that while stamping is not the key focus on this design, I've tucked in some sweet sentiments and images from the Wedding Centers and Botanical Bliss stamp sets by Cornish Heritage Farms.

This has been part four of the Stuck on You series on adhesives. If you're looking for the previous tutorials you can find them at part one, part two and part three. While there are many ways to use adhesives and adhere layers to your designs, I hope this has given you a few ideas on different methods you can try.

Thanks for stopping by the CLASSroom and happy creating!

Lockhart Window Photo Album by Sharon Harnist

 

Today I have a photo album cover to share with you.  I made this to hold 6-inch scrapbook pages that I hope to fill with pages of my daughters to give to their grandmother for Mother's Day!  I'm hoping if I get an early enough start on it, I might finish it in time!  This beautiful Basic Grey Origins 6x6 paper was begging me to be used and I thought it would be perfect for this special keepsake album.

I started by cutting two pieces of  6-1/4" square Craft-A-Board to use as my album cover base.  Then I adhered the paper to the front and rounded the corners with Zutter's special corner rounder tool that cuts through chipboard like butter!  The edges of the album cover were inked with Antique Linen Distress ink.

Karen Lockhart's Tulips in the Window was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink onto Neenah Natural White cardstock and then cut out.  The center pots of tulips were carefully trimmed away and this left a nice sized (1-1/4" x 1-3/4") opening to have a photo of my girls peeking through!

The window was softly colored with the Copic markers listed below.  Copic Melon Spica glitter pen was used to color the tiny leaves and then Summer Flower Soft applied to make some flowers on the vines (you can click on the photo for a larger view).  The window was popped up on thick foam tape over the photo that I printed at about 2" x 3" in sepia tones.

 

I used Becky's Trend Watch Tuesday-Text advice from this week and stamped CHF's Vintage Text Scrapblock with black ink onto Natural cardstock and then die cut it with Nested Dahlia dies.  The flowers were wrinkled up, the edges inked with Antique Linen Distress ink, and then layered together with foam tape.  A black tied button finishes the center of the flower.

I used my Bind-It-All and 1-inch black Owire to bind my covers and scrapbook page protectors together.  Wide ivory silk ribbon finishes this album cover ... quick & easy!  Now to fill it!  I hope to show you a few scrapbook pages I prepare for this album over the next few months.  Thanks for stopping by today!

 

 
Stamps:  Lockhart Tulips in the Window, CHF Scrapblock-Vintage Text
Paper:  Basic Grey Origins 6x6, Neenah Natural White
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Ranger Antique Linen Distress ink. Copic markers: YR31 custom lighter, YR31, YR21, E40, E31, T2 & Melon Spica Glitter Pen
Accessories: Craft-A-Board, Bind-It-All, BIA 1" Black OWire, Round-It-All 1/2" corner rounder, Flower Soft Floral Bouquet Color Collection (Summer), Spellbinders Nested Dahlia die set, Button, May Arts1-1/4" Ivory Silk Ribbon

12 Days of Christmas - Day 7: Alterable Items, Canvas Album Part Four by Julia Stainton

One of the fabulous things about the Prima Canvas Album is all the wonderful techniques and ways you can alter it. For this page, I've had a lot of fun with altering surfaces with paint and trying out a really fun way to give your photos an easy and unique look. Thanks for joining me.

For this page, I thought it would be fun to create a page without paper. Actually, if you look closely, the flowers are made from paper but for the rest of the design...it's paper free. And that includes the photo. I started off by painting my own background right on the canvas. You don't need to do anything to the surface first, just brush on your paint. I've used brush strokes in Blank Canvas, Painterly Pink and a tiny touch of Landscape Green to create this artistic styled background. To get this effect, use a dry brush and brush on the paint with horizontal and vertical strokes until you've built up the color the way you want it.

 

Allow paint to dry well.

My second step was to add a stamped Bracket Block Scrapblock to the canvas page. This helps anchor the design. The Adirondack Paint Dabbers are really great for applying paint to rubber stamps and give a beautiful impression much different from the look you would get with ink. On this page I've used Hazelnut. The paint also works really well on top of the painted background layer.

After the paint has dried well, the next step was to add the photo.You can either use a digital photo or like me, scan in a vintage photo, edit and then print directly onto Claudine Hellmuth Sticky Back Canvas. The 8.5 x 11 sheets fit perfectly into your printer and print. I used a black and white image but color images also print well on this canvas. An ink jet printer will work well with this technique as well as a laser printer.

 

As you can see, it gives the photo a lovely texture and the detail comes out well on this surface. I used my Tonic Guillotine Paper Trimmer to cut out the canvas as it works well on heavy paper and other surfaces.
 

To create my own custom embellishment, I used Craft-a-Board and die cut it with the Spellbinders Nested Bird die, medium size.
 

A really easy way to cover chipboard and Craft-a-Board is alter it with Distress Crackle Paint. I used Shabby Shutters and then while wet, sprinkled it with Martha Stewart Glitter.

After it's dry, you can see how it gives a great textured look  and a touch of shine. I had scraps of Sticky Back Canvas left over after trimming my photo and used it to make an easy pleated ribbon here. I also grouped together Confetti Cake White Flowers, a sweet Basic Grey Button and the gorgeous Say it in Studs Pastels bling embellishment.

 

A third way I used Sticky Back Canvas on this project was to stamp a sentiment on it. Love is the key comes from the Key Expressions stamp set by CHF.

Here's how I added it in along with some of the Shire ribbon lace  I've been using on each page. I love how easy the sticky back canvas is to adhere to your project.

 

Here's a close-up of the other flower cluster. It uses another Say it with Studs embellishment and some Basic Grey Bling.

A close-up of the final project...

 

If you're just joining us and would like to see the other Canvas Album Pages, you can find there at Part One, Part Two and Part Three.

Thanks so much for stopping by the CLASSroom! We hope you are enjoying the 12 days of Christmas.

SEVENTH DAY BLOG CANDY

On the seventh day of Christmas my goodie box could be:

• Seven Alterable Items (Canvas Album, Clear Buttons, White and Cream Art Flowers, Manila #8 Tag Set, 8"x8" Crystal Clear Plastic, 8 1/2" x 11" Crystal Clear Medium-Weight Plastic, Craft-a-Board)

To participate in this random drawing please leave your answer to the following question as a comment to this post. Please limit yourself to one comment only. The last day to submit a comment to this post will be January 6th at Midnight. We will post the winners (which will be drawn using a Random Number Generator) for all twelve days on January 7th.

As you can probably tell we enjoy trying different things here in the CLASSroom along with carrying different products in our store. It is so very important to us that we educate you fully, showing you how to use the products we carry. Please tell us below which products (products we carry ) you would like to see more education on.

Don't forget the following 12 Days of Christmas blog candy drawings --- be certain to answer the question on each individual post to be included in that drawing!

• Favorite Scoring Tools
• Two Soldeirng Starters
• Three Inchie Art Packets
• Four Cournish Stamps
• Five Fab Fine Art Fixings
• Six Dies for Cutting

Hero Arts Preview Party Day 3 by Sharon Harnist

 
Hello -- we are thrilled you are here again today with us for Hero Arts' 2010 catalog preview party!  Most of us naturally think of cards when we think of stamps, but I'd like reiterate today how well stamps can work with your scrapbooking, too!  I used Hero Arts Clings-Heart Flourishes background stamp and a ClearDesign-Truly Appreciated sentiment to create this 6-inch scrapbook page. 

This sentiment originally read "Sending you lots of hugs" but I just inked the "lots of hugs" part and used that.  This way, the sentiment feels a little less like it should be on a card and a little more appropriate for a scrap page. 

I like to use some of my 6-inch pages as a magnet for my refrigerator, so I backed my page with Ellen's Craft-A-Board and Inchie Magnets, so I can put these sweet faces on my fridge to look at every day!  Here's how the rest of this project came together:

I have a nice selection of Memory Box notecards and wanted to share how I utilize these for larger projects.  I opened up the lighter pink Begonia notecard and stamped it with the Heart Flourishes background, using Adirondack Mountain Rose ink (which matches the darker pink Begonia notecard!).  Then I trimmed it to 4.75" square.

I also opened up the Begonia notecard and punched it along the 8.50" edges with Martha Stewart's Simple Scallop.  This allowed me to trim the scalloped pieces to 1-inch wide and 6-inches long. Then I placed the scalloped strips on the edges of the 6-inch piece of Craft-A-Board and mitered the corners where the scalloped pieces meet.

Next, I used Copic marker R20 to color in the hearts on the background stamp.  I printed my photo in sepia tones and trimmed it to 3.50" x 4".  I rounded the corners with Zutter's 1/2" corner rounder and layered the photo onto more of the Begonia notecard.  The edges were inked with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink.

The sentiment was stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa ink onto more Begonia notecard and die cut with Spellbinders Ribbon Tags Trio Two die.  Then beautiful light pink May Arts 1-1/4" silk ribbon was run through the ribbon slots.  Some Hero Arts pearls were added to the corners, to finish it all off.

I think I might know what Grandma will be getting for Christmas <wink>!!  We hope you've enjoyed all the new Hero Arts previews here on the CLASSroom!  ~Sharon

 
Stamps: Hero Arts Clings-Heart Flourishes, ClearDesign-Truly Appreciated,
Paper: Memory Box Begonia & Peony notecards,
Ink: Ranger Adirondack Mountain Rose dye ink pad & Brushed Corduroy Distress ink pad, Memento Rich Cocoa ink pad, R20 Copic marker
Accessories: Craft-A-Board, Inchie Arts Inchie Magnets, Spellbinders Ribbon Tags Trio Two die, Hero Arts Small Accent Pearls, Martha Stewart Simple Scallop Edger Punch, Zutter Round It All 1/2" Corner Rounder, Ranger Ink Blending Tool, May Arts Pink 1-1/4" wide satin ribbon

door hang gift idea by Kim Hughes

Have you created some hand crafted gift items for Christmas yet?  Here's your chance to make something special that is super easy to create.  This would make a great gift for just about anyone.  Hang this on a door, bulletin board or a refrigerator. 

Supplies:

Adirondack Dye Ink Pad, Cranberry

Basic Grey Bling It Individual Rhinestone Squares, Nutmeg/Curry, I used some Basic Grey from my stash, but this product would be a great alternative: Basic Grey Bling It Rhinestones Lotus, Tangerine, Basic Grey Take Note, Indian Summer, Basic Grey 6x6 Patterned Paper Pad, Nook and Pantry

Twill, White

Backgrounder, Leaves

Martha Stewart Craft Punch, Classic Butterfly

Start by punching a hole in the transparency and die cut paper and then punching a ring out of yellow paper to go at the top.  You can use a die cutting machine or punches, but keep in mind that your punch may not go through the transparency, so you may need to cut the circle out with scissors.

Mat the photo with green paper.  I chose green so that it would stand out from the other colors.  It has the same tones as the others, so it blends well.

 

Tuck the photo under the punched circle and cut off the area that is sticking out.
 

adhere the photo to the paper base.
 

add a punched butterfly accent and some Basic Grey bling to the center of the flower and circles on the transparency.
 

Ink the leaf patterned stamp and press the twill onto it.  Press it onto the stamp with your fingers.
 

move down the stamp and ink a long strip of twill.  The good thing about this is that you can easily see where the ink left off.  Continue down the entire stamp.
 

your customized leaf twill will look like this.
 

String it through and tie a bow. 
 

Lastly, punch another butterfly and add to the knot in the bow.

Instead of making a door hang, add this creation to a 6 x 6 piece of paper for a mini scrapbook page.  make one with all of your kids and give them to family members.  Add a wedding photo and give it as a mini gift.  The whole pack of Basic Grey "Take Notes" are wonderful to use for this gift idea.

Canvas Album Part One by Julia Stainton

I love making small albums to cherish the special moments of our lives. The Prima 8x8 Canvas Album just "spoke" to me the minute I saw it. The fabric is incredible, the possibilities endless and the 8x8 size is just right so as not to be overwhelming. 

The canvas album has a beautiful canvas cover and inside are 5 canvas inserts and 5 page protector inserts. 

 

Over the next few weeks I'm going to be exploring a lot of fabulous techniques and I hope you'll join me. Each page will be unique and you can create an album the same as mine or use it for a jumping off point for your own ideas. I'll give you a few more details on that at the end of this post.

I'm starting off my album with the first idea that came to me looking at the canvas album. Fabric is great for stitching on. My album is going to be a tribute album of my mom. I've been wanting to go back and do this for a while now and it's a wonderful way for me to remember my mom.

To start working on a page, first remove the canvas from the album. The album is held together with ribbons through the grommet holes.

I pulled out a gorgeous assortment of ribbon, twill and trims to stitch onto my page. Because I have small black and white photos and this page is of my mom as a little girl, I chose soft muted trims that really highlight the beauty of their textures. I then cut them to the size I wanted and laid out a design that I liked on the canvas.

The canvas pages are a stitched double weight but I was really impressed with how easy it was to stitch on my trim. I used a soft ecru thread and zig zag stitched the trim in place.

Now I know that some will have questions on the reverse of the canvas. Those stitching lines. I actually like the soft texture and pattern they add the reverse and don't feel as though they will take away from my design on the other side. If you don't care for this look, don't worry, I have a few solutions for you in some upcoming tutorials.

The last part of my project was to stitch on the photos and then embellish the page. The Webster's Pages Whimsy Threads and Silhouettes added just the right soft vintage flavor to work with my design.

 

If you're looking to get started on this album, start by gathering the photos you wish to use. Perhaps a heritage, baby, wedding or even Christmas album would be wonderful. If you plan on using old photos, I suggest you scan or have them reprinted. It's always a good idea to keep those treasured originals somewhere safe.

To give you time to gather materials if you wish to join me, I'll be posting the Canvas Album Part two Tutorial, two weeks from today. Over the next few posts, I'll be using some Studio Paint in a couple of coordinating colors, Multi-Medium Gloss, & Sticky Back Canvas.

Thanks for stopping by the CLASSroom and happy creating!

Scrapbook Art by Sharon Harnist

Supplies:

• Paper: Webster's Journaling Cards-Hello Beautiful, Memory Box Vanilla Bean cardstock, Neenah Classic Creamcardstock
• Ink: Copic Sketch marker BG05 
• Accessories: Webster's Classic Trim Collection, Neutral Art Flowers, Summer Card Buttons, Martha Stewart Solid Baker's Twine, Basic Grey Bling It Rhinestone Swirls, Sanding Block, Craft-a-Board, Inchie Magnets

• Tools: Spellbinders Classic Lace Large Border, Tim Holtz Paper Distresser

I thought it was time for some new refrigerator art, and had been editing some recent vacation photos when I came across this one I knew I wanted to do something with.  My youngest (6 years) struck this pose for me, totally unsolicited ... ahhh, melts my heart! 

I decided to try printing the photo in sepia tones directly onto my cardstock (in this case, a 4.75" x 5.50" Journaling Card by Webster's Pages).  To accomplish this, I measured the space where I wanted my photo to be, so I would know what size to make the print (you can adjust the size in the print feature of your printer or software -- I use Photoshop Elements).  My software also allows for positioning the printed photo from the top and side edges of the paper, so once again I got those measurements from the Journaling Card.

Then I printed the photo onto regular printer paper.  Next, I positioned the Journaling Card over the printed image and held it up to the light to make sure the photo was positioned correctly.  I secured the Journaling Card to the printer paper with repositionable/removable adhesive and then ran the sheet back through my printer again to print the photo onto the Journaling Card.  Try this with different colors and textures of cardstock -- you'll be surprised at what a stunning difference cardstock can make to your printed photos!

I sanded the edges of the photo a little bit, to soften them.  I adhered the Journaling Card/photo to a piece of 5-7/8"" x 5-3/8" Vanilla Bean (brown) cardstock that I distressed the edges.  Then I adhered that to a piece of 6" x 5.50" Cream cardstock.  Next, I die cut and embossed the Large Lace Border from more Vanilla Bean cardstock and also lightly sanded the embossed areas. 

TIP: Since Memory Box cardstock has a white core/back, sanding it on the colored side takes off the color, revealing the white core. I adhered the die-cut Lace Border on the left edge of the Journaling Card photo, so that some of the lace extends off the left edge of the page.

I added Webster's blue pom-pom trim to the bottom of the page . . . isn't that quote printed on the Webster's Journaling Card wonderful?  If it's hard to see in the photo, it says: "Beauty ... is not in the face. It is a light in the heart. I will let my light shine."

Flowers with a tied button and rhinestone swirl bling at the top finish off this scrap page.  I used clear rhinestones and tinted them to match the blue in the Journaling Card and pom-pom trim with BG05 Copic Sketch marker.

I backed the page with Craft-a-Board to make it sturdy, and then adhered some Inchie Magnets to the back so this page can be displayed on our refrigerator.  Alternately, you could display this art on an easel or adhere a ribbon hanger on the back, to make this a door hanger or wall art.  And since our theme here in the CLASSroom this month is Christmas in July, wouldn't these pieces of scrapbook art make some great Christmas presents for your family?!!

Spring Fling Challenge by Sharon Harnist

When asked to choose a stamp from Karen Lockhart's latest release that would have something to do with my Mother, I immediately said this Wicker Chair.  The house I grew up in had a screened-in patio/sun room on the back that had a table and wicker chairs just like this one!  I have lots of fond memories of just sitting & chatting, drinking iced tea with my family.  Although those chairs had bright orange cushions (hey, it was the 70's, LOL!), I paper pieced these with pretty pink patterned paper:

Above is the portion of my project that fits with the sketch we were challenged to use.  It started out as a card, but not with much of the pretty patterned paper showing, so I decided to expand it to 6-inches and it grew into this scrapbook-type of frame that I'll be giving my Mom for Mother's Day!  The BasicGrey Urban Prairie papers I chose carried out the color portion of our challenge -- this floral pattern has all the colors in it.  Here's the full project:

(Sorry for the strange angle -- both pages are 6-inches square, but I couldn't get a good photo of the picture without tilting to this strange angle to prevent glare!).  

The scalloped frame on the left side was made with Spellbinders Scalloped Edge Frame die set which is approximately 5-1/8" x 4" but I cut two of the frames and spliced some extra pieces into the sides of one, to make it 5-1/8" x 5-3/4".  (It appears you all scooped up the last of this die set while I was making my project, but I'll update here if Ellen expects to get more into the store.)  The crystal gemstones are covering the cuts on the left and right sides; gems were also added to the top and bottom to balance out the project.

I used the patterned paper that I cut the cushions out of as a mask when I airbrushed BG13 and YG03 for the sky and grass.  Then I colored the rest of the image with the Copic markers listed in my supply list below:

I used the new Chocolate Copic Spica Glitter Pen (available soon!) over E31 Copic marker for the sides of the chair -- I love the bit of sparkle it added!  Summer Art Flowers and an Urban Prairie button carry out the circle element of the sketch.

The right side of my frame was made with the negative space left when I die cut one of the large Scalloped Edge Frames:

I added "grandma's" with Kim Hughes' Playful Alphabet and Worn Lipstick Distress Ink, then I went over it with Pink Spica Glitter Pen.  The "girls" was made with a stamp from Kim's Little Gal stamp set that said "girly" ... I just used a marker to selectively ink just a portion of the "y" to make it into an "s"!  Then I went over it with Copic's new Baby Blue Spica Glitter Pen (available soon!). 

"Girls" was die cut with Classic Circle Nestabilities and then framed with Classic Scalloped Circle Nestabilities (one cut from the same floral patterned paper as under the chair and one cut from the same turquoise paper as the scalloped lace).  The lace was cut with Martha Stewart's Doily Lace Edger Punch (which was still showing in the store when I started this project, but appears you all scooped it up with the sale this weekend!  I'm sure it will be back in stock soon).

I backed each of the 6-inch pages with Craft-A-Board and covered the backs with more paper from this same Urban Prairie collection (yellow is my Mom's favorite color!):

 

The Round It All 1/2" Corner Rounder easily cuts through these two layers of paper and the Craft-A-Board, to round the outside corners.  Holes were punched and tied with ribbon, so the two pieces will stay together and form their own stand.

I'm glad I'm all ready for Mother's Day a little early and can't wait to see what the other girls did with the challenges!

Supplies:

• Stamps: Lockhart Wicker Chair, Kim Hughes Playful Alphabet & Little Gal
• Paper: BasicGrey Urban Prairie, Neenah Natural White
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Ranger Distress Inks: Worn Lipstick & Shabby Shutters 
• Copic Markers: RV17, RV34, YG03, YG17, BG13, E31, E55, E57, YR31, W1
• Copic Spica Glitter Pens: Chocolate & Baby Blue (coming soon!); Pink
• Spellbinders Dies: Classic & Classic Scalloped Circle Nestabilities, Small & Large Labels, Scalloped Edge Frame (Which appears to be out of stock at the moment.  You could substitute either of these frames).
• Accessories: Copic Airbrush System, Craft-A-Board, Martha Stewart Doily Lace Edger Punch, Round It All 1/2" Corner Rounder, Summer Art Flowers, BasicGrey Urban Prairie Buttons, Clear Crystal Gemstones,

Flower Soft Spring Trees by Sharon Harnist

 

Welcome back for another seasonal installment of my scrappy refrigerator magnets -- if you all are getting tired of them, just let me know!  As in the past, this is a 6-inch scrapbook page with Inchie Magnets on the back that I like to display on my fridge.  It does double-duty and holds all of those elementary school important papers and lunch menu that we reference quite frequently.  It is made sturdy by backing it with Craft-a-Board.

I thought this new Sweetbay patterned paper from Memory Box was a great start for a spring page and Kim Hughes' Spring Trees were a nice accent.  I stamped the trees with Memento Rich Cocoa ink onto Memory Box Kraft cardstock.  I knew I wanted to use Flower Soft on the trees and decided a soft green would go well with the paper.  I didn't have a plain green color but I did have Ivory, so my trusty Copic Airbrush System came to the rescue!

First, I applied the Flower Soft Glue to the open tree area, then sprinkled the fluffed Ivory Flower Soft onto the glue and pressed gently.  Once the glue was dry, I pulled out the Copic sketch marker I had that most closely matched the leaves in the patterned paper (YG03 Copic Sketch):

 

The Flower Soft took the airbrushing wonderfully and I was able to give it a little bit of shading by spraying heavier in some areas!  I popped this one treetop up over its tree trunk that I colored with Copic E27 marker.  The other tree trunks were left the natural Kraft color, for a little variation.  Here's a closeup of how they turned out:

 

I love the texture of the Flower Soft (you can click on the picture for a closer look)!  The "Welcome Spring" tag was made with a sentiment stamp from the same Spring Trees Kim Hughes set -- again, stamped onto Memory Box Kraft cardstock.  I cut the tag with Spellbinders Tags Five die and cut another matching tag from Craft-a-Board and glued them together.  I wanted the tag to have some extra sturdiness, since it would be hanging off the page.

 

The Craft-a-Board also gives a wonderful dimension to the tag.  I cut out a leaf from the patterned paper and applied it to the edge of the tag, for more added dimension.  Clear Spica Glitter Pen was traced over the Spring lettering -- hopefully you can see it in the closer view above.  Shabby Shutters Distress Ink was sponged on the edges of the tag.

In keeping with the circle theme of my page, I cut my daughters' photo with the largest of the Large set of Classic Circle Nestabilities.  I didn't want to cover up any of the pretty leaf pattern in the paper with the photo, so I cut around the pattern with my craft knife and slipped the photo underneath the leaves -- they fit in perfectly with this photo I took of my girls in the park a few years ago, with the trees in the background!

I rounded the corners of my page with Zutter's 1/2-inch Corner Rounder -- it makes cutting through layers of Craft-a-Board and patterned paper a breeze!  A few ribbon tabs complete my page.  Remember, this project can be downsized if you'd rather have a smaller magnet on your refrigerator.  By using Craft-a-Board as your base, your shape and size possibilities are endless!

Scrapping my "Sassy Sisters"

My favorite Disney park is Epcot. I have to admit that I love roaming from "country" to "country" and studying the architecture and tile work. I also enjoy listening to the diversity of the languages spoken and music played. Mostly though, I enjoy taking pictures of my girls in each unique setting. So here are my two "Sassy Sisters."

 

As we toured Epcot on our last trip back in November 2007 I was particularly taken with the tile work in both Morroco and Mexico. I snapped these pictures knowing that someday I wanted to add them to an album of some sort. I also knew that this style of art would someday be made popular, especially with Henna and Tattoo art what it is right now. So when I arrived at the Basic Grey booth in Anaheim I nearly started jumping up and down when I saw the Marrakech line! I knew exactly what I wanted those papers for - these scrapbook pages Ü

 

To create this two page layout I began by printing my photos on to Sticky Back Canvas. I felt that the texture would add a raw, natural feel to these pages. I then cut out the pictures and pulled the threads away from the edge of the canvas pieces to give it a slightly frayed appearance.

Next I needed to determine my layout. I am most certainly not a very good scrapper and so I took out a sketch pad and quickly tried to figure out a layout that would work for two photos. I lucked in to the fact that my girls are actually facing one another in these pictures and this helped make it easier to determine a layout.

I decided to use the same sketch on my layouts, only changing the direction of the accent papers. By placing Trina's papers horizontally it left a nice spot for my journal box. I added just a slight amount of color to the flower on the box using my Prismacolor pencils. I am always self-conscious about my handwriting, but decided that my printing was OK to use. How many of you wish that you wrote cursive more often? If you don't use it I think perhaps you lose it - at least that's what I am finding. Being I type so fast I typically will type things and so I am finding that my handwriting needs some practice Ü

I discovered that the Meadow Art Flowers look fabulous with the Marrakech line and so I added a glazed brad together with flowers to finish the visual triangle on this page.

 

I worked on these pages simultaneously and I must admit that I like the strength of this triangle so much more than the previous one. Needless to say I think that I still have a learning curve to overcome on my scrap pages Ü

Tip: Alter what you have! Using some chipboard letters added strength to the title. Being the red color just wasn't right and I had no other letters that were the correct size I did what all good papercrafters do - I altered what I had. I simply sanded the bright red off the surface of these letters, grabbed my Studio paints and mixed up the correct color. I then painted my letters to coordinate beautifully. Believe it or not, this took less than five minutes! I love the fact that I can just quickly alter what I need now that I have these paints at my finger tips.

Adding a couple more glazed brads together with flowers and my pages were complete. I am so thrilled with them that I am thinking of hanging them on my office wall. It is sorely lacking decor! I think it is due time for some frames that I can change out my scrappy artwork on a whim Ü

Thanks for joining me in this new little adventure of 6"x6" page layouts. It is something I have been wanting to do, especially because I do have such "sassy" little picture takers in my home - LOL! I would love to hear from you! Would you like for me to continue doing scrappy pages now and then, or would you prefer that I stick to cards? It's two projects in a row (the other is on Inchie INKlings) that I have shared pages and I most definitely do not want to disappoint you when you come to read my posts.