Ways to use that tulle

Happy weekend all! I've so enjoyed the March kit so far, as I'm sure you will early next week. In this kit you'll find some black and some red tulle. So, I thought I'd show you a few different ways you can use it.

I made three layouts and used it three different ways: I stapled it randomly:


I tied it around some paper strips:



Finally, I sewed it on using big embroidery floss stitches:




Hope you'll find some fun ways to use that tulle! Happy Scrapping!

March Kit Ideas >>>Are you Ready to Get Your Kit?

I finally had some time to play with our upcoming March kit today.

Here's a look at the layout ideas I came up with.

Here I filled in a few of the circles on the tree sticker with the Bazzill jewels. One can never have enough sparkle.

This layout used 2 of the Pebbles papers, 1 of the Jillibean papers, a Jillibean journaling sprout, Pebbles sticker, Bazzill jewels, tulle and the Pink Paislee alpha. Everything is included in the kit.

One this layout I used the 3 Pink Paislee Fascinating papers, 2 of the Jillibean papers, Pebbles stickers, Kaiser rub-on and brad and a Pink Paislee sticker. Everything on this layout is also from the March kit!

The kits will be shipping next week, so reserve one while you can!

Removing Rub-Ons...Did You Know?

This week while I was reading my January 2009 issue of Creating Keepsakes Magazine (getting inspiration from my favorite paper crafting magazines is something that I love to do when the weather is so cold (yes, it's still cold where I am!) and I most often opt to spend my time indoors staying cozy and warm) I stumbled upon a useful tip that I just had to share.

One of my favorite, must-have tools when paper crafting is the Adhesive Pick-Up (available at many craft stores) that is manufactured by Therm O Web. It's saved many projects from going awry when I somehow had gotten adhesive somewhere (like on a photo on a scrapbook layout). All you do is use the Adhesive Pick-Up just as you would an eraser, "erasing" the adhesive. Well, now the even more exciting news, is that you can use it to erase rub-ons as well! I can't tell you how many times I have used rub-ons and the transfer didn't end up being complete and I had to just toss the whole project or start over somehow covering up my mistake. Well, now with my Adhesive Pick-Up that will no loner be an issue, I can just "erase" my rub-on!

March Peeks are Here!

We are so excited to share our upcoming March kit with you!

Subscriber's kits will ship next week. Any extra kits will go up for sale on March 1.

tip of the day....

have you ever wondered what to do with all of those baby, wedding, & graduation announcements?  I just reorganized my space AGAIN, and have all of these announcements I don't want to throw them away, they mean something to me, but I didn't want to make a mini scrapbook about them either.  Then I remembered this WONDERFUL album I saw on a blog (inkysmiles) (if you e-mail her she will send you a PDF file!)

She used hers to make a card holding organizer (which is AWESOME, I made one a while back and gave it away as a gift.)  Click HERE for FULL instructions.

 

Just a PHASE?

Happy Saturday all,

I like to scrap 'out of the box' sometimes and capture moments and feelings as much as possible, in addition to all the 'events' in life. So, I'm working on a layout to represent some of the PHASES and CRAZES I have in my life. Here is my challenge to you: Scrap a page about some things that you are really into right now. For me it is these large Sudoku puzzles (25 by 25) and eating vanilla yogurt with granola and cut up fruit. YUM! It's a phase -- I know in a few months I'll have completely forgotten all about my yummy creation and those puzzles will look like a waste of time. BUT, not right now.

What are some CRAZES and PHASES you are into? Let's see those layouts. (You'll have to wait until next week for mine! I'm still working on it!).

Flex Your Creative Muscles

Happy Friday! Did you know you can boost your creativity by flexing your creative muscles? Yep! For a lot of us, this means going outside of our regular sources of inspiration. For me, that would mean beyond scrapbook magazines! There are many resources to motivate you creatively, but today I'm speaking specifically of books.

SARK has many books on creativity and a fabulous site as well. One of my favorite book by SARK is

• SARK's New Creative Companion: Ways to Free Your Creative Spirit.

Other books you might find fun are:

• Living Out Loud: Activities to Fuel a Creative Life by Keri Smith

• The Creative License: Gibing Yourself Permission to Be the Artist You Truly Are by Danny Gregory

• Spilling Open: The Art of Becoming Yourself by Sabrina Ward Harrison

• Caffeine for the Creative Mind: 250 Exercises to Wake Up Your Brain by Stefan Mumaw and Wendy Lee Oldfield

• A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative by Roger von Oech

One of my greatest challenges when it comes to scrapping is journaling. I really want to leave behind a story, but I can never figure out what to say. I want my journaling to have real meaning. If you struggle with this too or if you're interested in expanding your love of writing, here are some books you might find helpful:

• Daybook: The Journal of an Artist by Anne Truitt

• Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper: Gifting the World With Your Words and Stories, and Creating the Time and Energy to Actually Do It by SARK

• Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg

• Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous weekend.

The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself.-Alan Alda

Life's Moments

Since my son has been asking me so many random questions lately, things only a four year old would ask, I've been trying to write them down. Usually I write them on a post it note or something I have laying around the house. But recently I was reading the awesome Ali Edwards blog and saw the journal she made...check it out here. I just wanted something simple that I could carry in my purse or keep near me in the house so that I can record the fun and interesting moments from our family life. I think I will take it on our upcoming vacation to California...going to Lego Land should be quite interesting with my bunch!

Once I am ready to scrap a layout I can then use my journal for a quick reference! It is so so easy....I bought a small paper notebook from the clearance section of Target, cut my selected card stock accordingly and embellished the cover!!! Simple, easy and perfect way to keep life's moments close!!!

Have a great day and Happy Scappin'!!!

Jennifer Y

Sketch Inspiration

Sometimes a sketch is just the thing that I need to get started in on a layout...there are times when I really want to scrapbook but I just don't know where it is that I should start. I've discovered that a sketch gets me to the jumping off place that I need to be at to get scrapping! The other day I posted a question about where everyone finds their inspirational sketches on the Scrapbook Circle Messege Board and this is what was shared. Please feel free to join in on the conversation and please, if you have any additional sites or publications where you find your favorite sketches, please share! For the layout above I used a sketch from Pencil Lines, one of my new favorite sketch sites!

Happy Scrapping (and Sketching)!

Jen Davis

Monthly Scrapbooking Kits X 2

One of the things I love about our monthly scrapbooking kits is the varied combination of products you get in each kit. Something that can be even more fun than creating with one kit is combining two of your kits to create one layout.

Here I combined the U Rock (January Kit) with the Will U Be Mine? (February Kit) to create this layout. I was surprised at how well the two different kits coordinated.

Here's the list of goodies used from each kit:

January Kit
2 of the Collage Press papers
Tim Holtz "Play" ticket
Prima Epoxy Sitckers: the star and awesome stickers

February Kit
Fancy Pants blue paper for background
Making Memories XOXOXO sticker
Doodlebug Black/White Polka Dot paper
Fancy Pants Transparency Frame

Since we really work hard to pack as much as possible into each kit, it is our hope that it is easy for you to combine embellishments and paper with other kits and things in your stash.

We would love to see how you combine two (or more!) of your kits. Post your photos in our community. We love seeing how you use your scrapbook kits.

a little mini

We needed to make a birthday card for Grandma today. I just got a new die cut shape (the "Top Note" die from Stampin' Up) and I still have lots of adorable papers and stickers from the Feb. kit "Will You Be Mine?" So, I pulled out my Cuttlebug, some blue foam, my Feb. kit, a couple of photos and my Bind-It-All. Here's the "little mini" we made for Grandma:




It's not perfect (note to self: work on the binding spacing), but it's a fun little "card/mini album" to include in her birthday package!

tips of the day.....

**To remove the “permanent” ink of StazOn Pads from your fingers and some surfaces by clean them with rubbing alcohol on a paper towel.

**to remove stray rubons: Use double sided tape to "peel" a misplaced or skewed rub on from your photo or paper.

**Glitter and dry embossing clean up: The dry Swiffer pads are great for cleaning up stray glitter and embossing powder.

**Did you know you can clean sticky adhesive off scissor blades with rubbing alcohol and a paper towel? Be careful as you rub the blades...

Customize Your Cards

This adorable set of cards is in the Will U Be Mine? February Kit.

I wanted to use the card with the little birds at the bottom of the page for a birthday card for my niece, but wanted it to say "Happy Birthday" instead of "You're So Tweet!"

So I decided to cuts hearts from this piece of paper from the kit:
I used the hearts to cover the message on the card and wrote the new message on the hearts.

I also used the red rainbow transparency from the Fancy Pants transparency sheet in the kit along with a few other paper scraps and a glittered Doodblebug sticker.
Here's a look at the finished card:

February kit put to full use...

Coming off a wonderful weekend crop...I had so much fun and thought the challenges were fabulous! I loved putting my sewing machine to use with Jen Davis' challenge. I used the remaining papers of my February kit and really tried to stretch what I had left.
The Fancy Pants paper in this kit ROCKS!!! The Valentine's paper, with a framed "TO" and "FROM" on the back were perfect for my small photos I wanted to use in this layout.
I simply covered the writing on the back of the card, placed heart and star embellishments on the corners to cover the remaining text and it became the perfect frame for my pictures! When you don't have a lot left in your kits because you have created so many wondeful layouts...really try to think outside the box and put your remaining pieces to use!
One of my goals this next week is to make those AMAZING flowers Diana showcased on her blog post this week....they are super cute and look fun to make!!!
Have a great weekend!
Happy Scrappin!

Valentine Mail

When I saw some little metal mailboxes in the dollar section at Target, I knew I had to get them!

I picked up one for each of my kids. Using the February Kit, I covered them with lots of paper, alphas, glitter stickers and valentine cards.



My kids love them and can't wait to see what they get in them for Valentine's day.

PLAY!

Play with your kit scraps... play with your old kits (mix them up a little, a pp from Feb. with embellies from Dec.)... play with new techniques (see Diana's gorgeous flowers in the post below)... PLAY and enjoy your stash! I have a confession... sometimes I just don't feel like scrapping... but I almost always feel like creating. So, that's when I might make some handmade embellies or cards. During our Chick Flick Crop, I went back and used some products and handmade embellies from the October kit (one of my all time favorite kits):
The crop last weekend was a blast! I encourage you to take a peek at the photos over in the Community. Some really cool layouts and cards were created for the challenges, which are a great starting point if you are feeling uninspired. Even if scrapping a layout seems too daunting (read: I just don't have time to get out all my stuff to scrap today...), consider taking a little time to make a card, or make some pretty flowers or other embellishment. Creative PLAY is fun and good for the soul!

tip of the day....

I was asked how I made my paper flowers, I hope that the following steps will give you and idea of how to do just that or even come up with something on your own.

I used my cricut (walk in my garden) for cutting these particular flowers out but you can do these by hand too. I also used thicker cardstock, if you use thinner paper you can cut more flowers.

1. start with 8 flowers 4 large (2 1/2"), 4 small (2")2. distress flower front and back3. crumple the flowers.

4. fold each flower in half, put a bit of glue to hold it in half.

5. pick the spot you want your flower and glue half of your larger flower down. Next glue the other half to make your full flower.

6. glue your next layer with your "seam" facing going the other direction.

7. continue layering until your flower is finished. I finished this flower with a button but you can put a jewel, or you may cut another smaller flower to cover the seam (of course distress the flower before adhering to your final project.)

Good luck and enjoy!

CHICK FLICK online Crop official rules:

Whether you are a “Maid in Manhattan” or “Under the Tuscan Sun”, just put your favorite chick flick in the DVD player, pull out your scrapbook supplies and have fun with us. You might not “Win a Date with Tad Hamilton”, but you could win a free kit! So, be like “The Wedding Planner” and plan your schedules accordingly, because this crop is “As good as it gets!”

These are the OFFICIAL rules:

*All participants must sign in HERE

*Crop begins 8am MST on Friday February 6, and ends 4pm MST on February 8th.  Please have all of your challenges posted to the gallery at that time.

 *Completed challenges will earn you 1 ticket.  Those tickets will be put in a drawing for a grand prize which will be chosen at the end of the crop.  So the more tickets you have the more chances you have to win! The grand prize is a February kit, (if you already own the February kit another kit may be chosen) 

*If a participant uses any Scrapbook Circle kit they can earn 1 extra ticket for the whole crop to be placed in the drawing.

*Hybrid Scrappers are welcome.  

 *All participants must complete all of the challenges before repeating challenges.

 *For our challenges 

    ---for your challenges to count they must be linked back to the original challenge thread.

    ---all questions regarding a challenge should be asked and answered in the challenge thread.

    ---each layout MUST have 5 elements of the listed:

cardstock

photo

pattern paper

title

journaling

acetate/acrylic

chipboard

staples

stitching (hand or machine)

distress/sanding

ribbon

rubon

bling

stickers

stamp

paint

ink

fabric

buttons

RAK's: There will be 1 RAK per challenge, which will be determined by the Design Team member running that challenge.

*GAMES---

     ---there will be games played throughout the crop; these are for fun, so please feel free to participate when you can.

Thanks for stopping by and we hope that you enjoy yourself!

THE SCRAPBOOK CIRCLE TEAM

A Valentine Card for your sweetie...

I LOVED the look of these foam letters from Heidi Swapp...but really didn't want to incorporate this color in the card...So I took all the awesome patterns from the February Kit and put them to use. I basically traced the letters on the back side of the patterned papers, cut them out and adhered them to the foam letters. Here are a few closeups:

I took the doodle frames on the back of the "Fancy Pants Valentines" paper, cut them out and used foam pop dots for added dimension. "Yellow Bicycle Black Flocked Alpha" completed the look I was going for.

I added a few embellishment details with some of the remaining pieces from the kit and there you have a quick and easy Valentine that your significant other will love

Can't wait to see what everyone creates for this weekends "Chick-Flick Crop!" Hope you join us for lots of fun challenges and prizes!!!

Jennifer Y.

Quick & Easy Valentines for Kids!

Being a parent of a little one, I know that there are times when quick & easy is the exact route that I want to take...especially with the busy week that I've been having this week! Thinking about making elaborate Valentine goodies for my daughter's class just isn't going to happen this year. So, if you are like me and find yourself in a bit of a pinch and still want to send your son or daughter off with some super cute little Valentine's for them to give away to friends, check out this super easy craft project.

Using the adorable patterned paper from Fancy Pants, I cut the Valentine's out and adhered a piece of color coordinated cardstock to the back of each. I then used decorative scissors to cut around the edges (your child could totally help you out with this part!). That's it! I'm going to have my daughter write out her Valentine wishes on the back of each one and we will stick them in a little baggie with some Twizzler sticks and some stickers and she's set! Super easy and super fun and best of all, super cute!

February Kit layout & a tip

For this layout from the cute February kit, I wanted to save some of the beautiful Little Yellow Bicycle paper that was my base. Here's what I did. Instead of adhering the MM shaped paper onto the whole sheet of paper, I cut out the middle to use on a future project.

This is one reason I will always keep one of my "cheaper" trimmers around - you can lift the arm and start trimming in the middle of your paper!

Other details about "wHOOPS": I used the Jan. Bonus sketch from Inspired Blueprints and I made the yo-yo flower, which you can learn to make here: Fabric Yo-Yo Instructions.

Don't forget about our online crop coming up later this week over in the Scrapbook Circle Community! Stay tuned for details!

February Kits are Shipping Today

If you've ordered one of our sweet February kits, it will be on it's way to you today!

Hope you have as much fun with this kit as I've been having.

Here's a look at one of my February layouts:The flowers were really fast and easy to make. I just used my circle punches in a couple of sizes to punch the paper. Then used an edge distressor around the edges of the circle and then layered them on top of each other.

Hope you have a wonderful week!

valentine's card & sneak peek for crop

Hey all,

Here is a card I made with the February kit. It was lifted off a design I saw at CHA. There is a little twist to this card -- it opens twice (there are three sides to the card).

So, to make this card, start with a 12 x 5 1/2 inch piece of paper and fold it in 3s (so the end shape is 4 x 5/1/5 -- the size of a standard scrapbook card. Now, just decorate away! I think this is going to be the basis for my card challenge "You've Got Mail" for our upcoming Chick Flick Crop this weekend -- so for those of you who read this blog -- here is your little sneak peek! Enjoy!