23 February 2012

I am so excited to be a featured designer at the Daily Digi this month!  This is my second time doing this and I am honored to have been asked back. If you don’t know about The Daily Digi, you need to haul butt over there NOW and add them to your rss feed.  If you are interested in all things digital scrapbooking , they are simply the best informational site out there.

First – I’m having a sale to celebrate! I’m going to send you over to TDD to read my feature so you can find out the details.

Next, I want to show you my kit! My kit is one of 8 this month in The Digi Files, which is free download for members, or a paid download for everyone else.  This kit is not in my shoppe, as right now it’s exclusive for TDD subscribers.  Here’s the preview – it’s called All The Small Things:

And here’s a layout I did with it.  I’ve been wanting to scrap a page about this sweet giraffe and how much my baby boy loves him, and felt this kit worked perfectly for that:

Aaaaand, if you are a fan of my Facebook page, I’ve even created 5 more bonus ATC’s for you to download now.  You can get these whether or not you’re a TDD subscriber.  I made these because I am trying to scrap in more of a Project Life sort of way ( you can see my homemade version HERE), and the list-type ones are perfect for printing as blanks and keeping on hand in case a family member wants to write something for my album:

That’s it for today.  Hope you like the new kit and the free ATC’s.  Enjoy!

20 February 2012

So, if you’re a newsletter subscriber, you might remember that two years ago I sent a newsletter saying that in next month’s newsletter, the ATC revolution was coming. I’ll show you today what I was going to show you in that next newsletter – before I said to myself  “self, no one is going to want to scrap this way”.  Ha!  Note to self:  bad call.

As you might already know, I scrap mostly ATC-sized. If you scrap ATC-sized as well (and I know a lot of you do!), then you probably do what I do – you put your cards in a 9-pocket page protector.   However, I don’t like to stick to an album full of only ATC’s.  I sometimes scrap 12×12, or 8×10, or even 4×5, and I want those in my albums as well. So, what I’ve been doing is creating my own multi-pocket page protector sleeves by altering a standard 8.5×11 page protector with my sewing machine.  Like this:

You can see  (or maybe you can’t – terrible photo) that on the right, there’s a store-bought 9 pocket sleeve.  But on the left, there’s a custom altered sleeve sized to hold a square page and three ATCs. It’s also got a cute little strip up the side since there was leftover space.  These are my albums.  Looks kind of familiar right?  Darn.  Should have sent that newsletter!  Here’s another configuration I use, for my 4×5′s and my 8×10′s:

I *think* you can buy the 4-pocket page, but I’ve always just sewn them.  Easy.  Want to see how?  Once you know, you’ll be able to create pages with any configuration of pockets.  Then you just need a binder to store them in, and you’ve got your own handmade Project album.  In this tutorial, I’ll show you how I made the page with the giraffe, up there in the first photo.

Here’s what you’ll need:

A note about the above photo:  you’ll want to make your cut lines slightly higher than the card you intened to put in there.  For example, ATCs are 3.5″ tall, and my cut line is about 3.6″ from the bottom.

Next, slide your cardboard into the sleeve, making sure it is snug to the bottom, and straight:

Here’s where your pre-drawn lines come in handy, because now you can just line a ruler up and slice. Don’t press too hard!  You want to preserve the cardboard for future use.

This next photo shows two steps in one.  First, it shows where to sew your horizontal line, just above the slice. Now you’ve got a new space up top to put photos.  To separate the spaces further, sew some vertical lines.  Here, I’ve sewn two lines to separate the bottom section into three pockets, and I’ve sewn a space up top to hold a 12×12 that I’ll print as a 7×7.  The extra space on the side is a good place for a month marker or some such. Don’t forget to remove the cardboard before you sew!

Here are a couple of tips about the sewing:

• First, to prevent the sliced page protector from being all slippery as you sew, just hold onto the far end of the slit, and pull it slightly taut and straight, as you sew. This should keep everything together and straight.  So, for example, if you look at the photo below, I started sewing on the side with the holes, and as soon as I started, I grabbed the other end, by the word “remove”, gently pulled it straight, and held onto it the whole time I was sewing. I just let the sewing machine pull it through while I held it.  Hopefully that makes sense.
• To get straight lines on the vertical, I simply folded the page protector where I wanted my lines to go, pressed with the back of my fingernail to make a crease, and that gave me a guideline along which to sew.

That’s it!  It’s so easy, and for a multi-format scrapper like me, it’s been so useful.  I must say that I am loving seeing all the Project Life stuff out there – it’s given me so many ideas for recording our daily lives. My binder albums were previously really only receptacles for my many-sized pages, but these days I am definitely inspired by the Project Life approach.  It’s inspired me to always keep a bunch of blank journal cards in the binder (see below), so that my daughter can grab one whenever she’s got something to contribute.

Perhaps you’d like to keep some on hand too?  I have no idea if these will fit with any of the Project Life stuff – they are ATC-size (2.5×3.5) and will fit in any standard 9-pocket page though.   I’ll have more of these in the shoppe this week, but for now, here’s a printable page with one style (the “awesome”one).  This is also the current fan freebie on my Facebook fan page, but will only be there for another day or two. 

And…pssst…keep an eye on my fan page for another set of these that will be an add-on to my Daily Digi featured kit in a few days.  More on that later. (In two days – not two years)

Enjoy!

12 February 2012

Why not carve a tiny stamp today? My girl is having tons of fun stamping these all over her valentines.

All you need is a new pencil, a sharp cutting blade, and a water-based marker.  Just draw a heart onto your pencil eraser, and cut everything away except the heart.  Color with a water-based marker, and stamp. Easy!

Not the best pics, but you get the idea!

Want the sticker?  Here you go!

22 January 2012

So, today I made Cake Pops….

No, this post is not about the cake pop – that vile affront to my gourmet-baking sensibilities.  Why yes! I am a baking snob –  and I can’t for the life of me figure out how anyone can eat these things.  Really?  To me, these are the Emperor’s New Clothes of the baking world.  If you are a baking snob too, you know what I mean.

Anyway I made them for my class tomorrow, as it’s our last day together. They’re in high school which means they’ll eat just about anything.  Even these.   

Some good did come of it, though.  I upcycled the cake box and the frosting container and made these:

The magnetic storage box is similar to the one I showed you how to make in my last tutorial, which you can find HERE.  Did you miss the free download for those cute labels?  Well hurry on up and check out that tutorial as I plan on expiring that link pretty soon.

The birch vases are today’s tutorial, which you can find HERE.  Aren’t they cute?

I know this post has nothing to do with digital scrapbooking, but I figured if I like it, you might too!  Happy creating!

20 january 2012

I’ve decided I should put all ridiculously long tutorials on their own page.  So that’s where this tutorial is.  It sort of goes with my new release.  The tutorial is  for making these:

And the new release is a set of those cute labels I used on the boxes.  These are PRINTABLES – they are already set up on sheets as shown.  Just open them up and print!  You can find them HERE in my shoppe.  To find the free thing, you’ll have to check out the tutorial…

Don’t they look cute as gift tags?

Anyway, if you’re interested in making these nifty fridge boxes, the tutorial is RIGHT HERE. Have fun!

No I don’t.

I don’t make resolutions.  More like suggestions.  Recommendations even.  Resolutions just equal broken promises that leave me feeling crappy about myself.  Anyway, this year, one of my suggestions to myself was that I might enjoy paying a little more attention to my blog and facebook pages.

So far, so good.

I’ve been doing a ton of crafting lately, and I am really hoping to be able to share some ideas and tutorials with you over the next few months (because if you’re here, you’re probably crafty too.)  Sigh. So many ideas, so little time.  But for now, I can show you a new product, and share a wee small freebie as well.

Here are some date stamps, which you can find both here at  SBS and at CatScrap.

And, just in case you’d like to try them first, here are the two January stamps, with my compliments.   (Freebie link has now expired) Date Everything!  (Freebie available for a limited time!)

Enjoy! 
6 January 2012

Are you doing any sort of Project 365 this year?  Then hurry on over to my Facebook Fan Page  and pick these up before they go away!  This is a pack of ATC-sized journal cards that I created for my own ATC book.   I’ve created these in two versions:

• There are 4 sheets of printable pdfs, which are great if you’re a paper scrapper or if you just need a tag with a date.
• There are also 31 separate png files with just the dates, so you can change the color or use it as a stamp on a larger page.  The rounded-corner kraft background is one separate file, and there’s a text path in psd format as well. 

 Here’s another image, so you can better see what you’re downloading:

This is a huge 85MB file, so I’ll probably take it down in a few days.

If you download it, I’d love to know if you like it.  And which format you like best.  Because even though I’ve made all 365 days for my own use, I don’t want to package them up and stick them in my shoppe if others don’t have use for them.  I just thought it would be a great way to document each day in a painless way.  Here are some ways I thought I might use them:

• on the reverse of whatever ATC I’ve made that day (I am on an ATC kick)
• as a way to quickly jot down the events of the day
• to keep a goal-reaching log
• to use as my ATC base –  scrap a photo up top, jot down some journaling on the bottom.

If you have more ideas, I’d love to know! Any feedback is appreciated as I debate putting them up in the shoppe .  Please feel free to comment over on my fan page - I don’t have comments enabled here.

Thanks and Happy New Year!

So, I am trying out this facebook fan freebie stuff, and I’ve thrown up 2 frames from a larger set I am working on.  They’re rounded-corner crayon-ish frames and I figured they’d be nice for posting pics on your blogs, like the one below.   They’re in both layered tiff and png format.  The layered tiffs have masks and make life very easy.  Instructions included for those.  Just visit my Facebook page and like me to access the free stuff.

See?  Just a simple rounded-corner frame that’s a little more interesting than just a solid line. Oh, and if you like that necklace up there, it will be in my etsy shop soon!  OK – hope you find this little gift useful. I plan on making some blog boards in this style – stay tuned for those

4 June 2011
Well it’s finally my week and it’s fitting that I’m late posting this.  I’m late because my life is chaos.  That’s what my journaling is about, throughout this 8-week journey. How to regain control over the chaos.  So far, well, maybe not so good?

First, thanks for visiting.  Here’s some word art  {click!}:

And here’s my contribution for this week, which you can find HERE at CatScrap:

If you’re new to this challenge and don’t know what the heck I am talking about, some of us over at CatScrap are hosting an Art Journaling adventure called Hopes, Dreams, Goals & Schemes.  There is a free gift each week and we’re all posting our layouts on the CatScrap gallery.  There are no rules – just use what we give you as a jumping-off point to create your own piece based on that week’s topic.  Combine the imagery to create new symbols and meaning.   Use all of  it, or none.

Aaand, now I suppose I should show you what I made with it.  before I do, let me explain my little project to you! So, I like to make journal pages – I make them all the time.  Mine are always ATC sized (2.5″x3.5″) and I like to put them in various kinds of mini albums.  At the end of these 8 weeks, I’ll post again with my completed album, which in this case is an accordian album.

My altered journal pages are really mostly just about the journaling.  Most of them I would never post here – they are either not very artistic, really stupid, or too personal.  Some reflect temporary sadnesses, already lifted just by writing it all down.  But the point is, I make them.  And it’s easy to find time in my crazy life to make them because they’re small.  I like small.  And when there’s no one around to spill it all out to, there is always Photoshop and a blank 2.5×3.5 document.  Art journaling is pretty cheap therapy.  OK, here’s what I made for week 5 – eventually I’ll post my weeks 1-4:

See?  Mostly writing.  I’ve so been enjoying seeing all the posts in the CatScrap gallery.  I hope you’ll find this one useful, and I can’t wait to see what you come up with.  Thanks for participating!

Please find the previous weeks’ links here:

Week 1 {hopes} - Fiddlette’s blog
Week 2 {hopes} - Nancie’s blog 
Week 3 {dreams}-  Creashens (Shen’s) blog
Week 4 {dreams} - Cheeky Monkey (Christine’s) blog