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 Friday, February 15, 2008
Techniques from CHA class
Beth Williams, Crystal Jeffrey Rieger and I all had the opportunity to teach a class this past week at the Winter Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) trade show. In the class, we taught retailers 8 different techniques for helping their customers make the most of their scrapbook supplies (kinda like the book we pulled many of our ideas from: Making the Most of Your Scrapbook Supplies). As always, Crystal did a fabulous job of exciting the class (even at 7am on a Monday morning)--we couldn't have done it without her! Here are three of my favorite techiques from the class. (And thanks to BasicGrey, Queen & Co., Ranger, Zsiage, and Scrapbook Adhesives for the supplies for these samples and the class!)  Embellishing Felt with Glitter 1. Cut self-adhesive felt (such as Queen & Co.’s Felt Fusion) to desired length. Cover work surface with scrap paper. 2. Peel off backing from felt. Sprinkle exposed adhesive with glitter. 3. Shake excess glitter from felt onto scrap paper. Pour extra glitter back into container. 4. Adhere felt side of embellishment to layout. I used this technique for the flower head above. I actually applied a second layer of glitter to the flower by adhering it with dimensional adhesive, like Ranger's Glossy Accent. Can't get too much glitter. Adding a Glossy Effect to Ribbon 1. Cut ribbon slightly longer than desired. (This is because sometimes the ends curl and need to be trimmed.) 2. Apply dimensional adhesive (such as Glossy Accents) to ribbon surface in desired pattern. 3. Set aside to dry. Once dry, trim ribbon to desired length. This is the technique I used on the ribbon above, again adding a bit of glitter to the Glossy Accents before it dried.  Personalizing Glitter Embellishments 1. Peel yellow backing from adhesive sheet (such as those created by Scrapbook Adhesives) and apply to desired paper. 2. Cover work surface with scrap paper. Peel white backing from adhesive sheet. 3. Sprinkle glitter over exposed adhesive and shake excess onto scrap paper. Pour extra glitter back into container. 4. Use a template or draw freehand a design onto back of paper. Cut out the design with scissors. For this one, I didn't read Crystal's instructions before I started. So I cut my wave shapes from the adhesive sheet, removed the backing, placed the sticker on my paper, and then added the glitter. It was a bit tricky to remove the adhesive backing from the wave shape. But it is do-able with a little patience, and I really like the way it turned out. Hope these inspire you to bring out your glitter and glue and play a little! Until next time, Christine
2/15/2008 10:59:26 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00) 
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Thursday, February 14, 2008
Happy Valentine's Day!
Our recent project at the F+W weekly knit-a-long was a super cute heart pin (check here for the free pattern). Being the novice knitter that I am, I never did get two hearts to match up in size quite right...so...I made cards with them! Here's a tag that I plan on putting with the gift I got for my husband. Since the heart was kind of tattered looking, I decided to make it a theme by incorporating some grungy cardboard and less-than-perfect outlined acrylic letters. Definitely a gift handmade with love. (And here's a pic of two staffers getting in on the fun at last weeks gathering)   Happy Valentine's Day!!
Eileen
2/14/2008 9:12:11 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Monday, February 11, 2008
Love is in the air
Of course it's that time of year again when everything in Hallmark stores are Red, pink, and white...filled with warmth and love. Valentine's day is such a nice holiday to spend with the ones you truly appreciate and love. This will be my daughter's first Valentine's day, and although she really doesn't grasp the concept of this special day, I want her first card to be unique and obviously HANDMADE. So I gathered a bunch of scrapbook supplies and paint and created a Lucky Love card. I'm so blessed and LUCKY to have her in my life. Inspiration for the title of the card came from a four leaf clover made of hearts. Hopefully some day down the road, she'll cherish this piece of artwork and will save it for sentimental purposes. I hope this Valentine's Day treats you with lots of hugs, kisses (hershey kisses that is), and of course TLC. Kelly   
2/11/2008 10:29:39 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Thursday, February 07, 2008
V-Day Love
When everyone here on the Memory Makers team started making Valentine’s Day cards, I admit my first instinct was to make a card for my handsome hubby. But then I got to thinking about my single days, and about how much it always meant to me when a kind girlfriend would send me a little Valentine’s Day pick-me-up in the form of a card or some chocolates. We should never forget to send our friends a little V-Day love!
My inspiration for this card was the message inside of a Dove chocolate wrapper: “Sometimes one smile means more than a dozen roses.” I cut it into the shape of a heart and decided to make it the focal point of this simple design.
Whose face do you hope to bring a smile to this year on Valentine’s Day?
Happy Thursday,
Jessica
2/7/2008 11:38:21 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Wednesday, February 06, 2008
A Digital Layout Made With Love
 I recently found a quote from StoryPeople (a great source for journaling a variety of topics) that I’ve been itching to use on a page about my husband and me. We don’t typically exchange Valentine’s Day gifts, but I thought a simple digital layout with those perfectly sweet words would be a something small my husband would appreciate. I had several gorgeous papers and embellishments at my disposal for this page, but I decided to keep the layout simple so that the focus would be on the beautiful photos and heartfelt words. I followed these steps to make my photos sepia. I also added drop shadows to all my layers—a first for me. I have to say, if you stay away from digital because you don’t want your layouts to look quite so flat—reconsider! Adding drop shadows is a quick and easy way to make digital layouts pop.  To add a drop shadow in Photoshop (I used a Mac), follow these simple steps: At the top right of the screen, click on the arrow next to Styles and Effects to open the options. Change the two drop-down menus below to read Layer Styles and Drop Shadows. Then choose a drop shadow style (I used Soft Edge). You can adjust the appearance of your drop shadow by going to your layer in the Layers palette (bottom right of your screen), and double-clicking on the f. What crafty gifts do you have planned for your valentine? Share your thoughts here! And check out our other recent posts for great valentine card inspiration (click here, here, here and here) Digital Supplies:Orange paper, frame and clip: Michelle Coleman’s exclusive MM kit, Wild Sorbet, available for FREE hereGreen paper and bracket: Katie Pertiet’s Flowering Horizons kit, available exclusively with Paper + PixelsFont: Beedey, available for free from Scrappin’ FunPhotos courtesy Jennifer Disney PhotographyKristin
2/6/2008 12:50:36 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Weekend Scrap Session - Beginner Style
 This past weekend my sister Annie came in town to hang out and to tap into my stash of scrapbooking supplies. One of her friends is getting married and a scrapbook is being put together by all of the bride’s friends as a shower gift. Each girl was asked to make 2 pages to put inside the album, and Annie decided to focus her pages on a few high school memories. Now, Annie is just as creative as the next person, but before Friday, her scrapbooking background consisted of cutting letters and phrases out of magazines like YM and Cosmo…so she felt pretty intimidated when confronted with all the scrapbooking supplies available at the craft store. To ease her into creating her first official “layout”, I tried to break the process down into steps. First, we looked through her pictures and narrowed it down to the ones she wanted to use, which ended up being 3 photos for each layout. Then, I thought it would be good for her to look through some finished layouts to get a feel for what style she was drawn to, so I pulled out 601 Great Scrapbooking Ideas for her to flip through (can’t get more layouts in one book than that!). I told her to look for three-photo layouts that she liked, which helped her get ideas for how to place the photos on the page. She, like me, favored the simpler designs, and after a few hours Friday night and Saturday morning, we completed two really fun layouts.  I had such a good time getting crafty with my sister and re-introducing her to a hobby that we both loved so much when we were younger. Have you “shared the love” for scrapbooking with anyone recently? Check out our Getting Started section for tips on doing just that...or leave us a comment to share your own ideas! Eileen
2/5/2008 9:27:20 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Monday, February 04, 2008
More Valentine's Day cards
WARNING: If you are one of my sisters, my mom, or any of my employees, your Valentine's Day card is shown in this post! This weekend was dedicated to all things crafty. I needed to finish up some technique samples for a class that Beth and I are teaching at CHA (along with the fabulous Crystal Jeffrey Rieger). And because I will be at CHA until the day before Valentine's Day, I wanted to finish up all my cards as well. Lucky for me, the creativity just flowed, and I'm very happy with the results. I made two different cards: one kind for my niece and nephews and a different one for the grown-ups. For the kids, I cut a heart from a piece of patterned paper and adhered the patterened paper to cardstock. Then I filled in the cut out heart with Diamond Glaze, sprinkled on some Making Memories glitter, and let it dry. Sparkly! For the grown-up cards, I embroidered hearts onto felt, cut them out with my pinking shears, and glued each onto some Chatterbox patterened paper and then onto cardstock. I freehand embroidered the hearts, so each one has its own personality. Fun! How are your Valentine's Day cards coming along? Until next time, Christine
2/4/2008 9:39:26 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Friday, February 01, 2008
More Valentine's Day fun
Taking some inspiration from the adorable Valentine’s Eileen and Kristin posted earlier this week, I decided to make a few of my own. Remember the sweet days of elementary school when you’d decorate a shoebox with pink or red construction paper and then exchange Valentine’s with all the kids in your class? Ahhh, the days of yesteryear. Valentine’s Day can still be fun and with so many beautiful paper and sticker collections on the market right now, crafting cards or other Valentine-themed projects can be a cinch. In fact, the hardest part might be narrowing down which ones you want to use!
I’m all about hearts, pink and all things girly so crafting these cards was easy. In fact, I completed them in less than an evening while watching my favorite romantic comedy, 50 First Dates. (Yes, I know I’m a movie addict!) In the movie, the main character Lucy is an artist suffering short-term memory loss. To remember the daily details of her life (and Adam Sandler’s sweet kiss), she keeps a scrapbook journal filled with sketches, photos, memorabilia and other mementos. Kind of like us scrapbookers! (Minus the memory loss part, of course!)
 Valentine’s Day offers scores of artistic possibilities. Check out the Eileen's and Kristin's posts for more V-Day inspiration and some cool tips for working with wire.
Have a great weekend,
Amy
2/1/2008 10:59:33 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Thursday, January 31, 2008
Pleased to Meet You
I’m humbled and excited to have the opportunity to introduce myself as the new Managing Editor of Memory Makers Books. I’ve been serving as the Managing Editor of our sister imprint, North Light Craft, for almost two years now, and I look forward to broadening the scope of both my professional and my personal life to include all things scrapbooking.
I’ve always been a creative person fond of making handmade gifts for friends and family, but I was never a devoted practitioner of any particular craft before joining the North Light team. When I found myself surrounded by so many talented coworkers and authors on a regular basis, it didn’t take long for their enthusiasm for craft to be contagious. I started dabbling a bit in things I hadn’t tried in a while—card making, collage, etc. But soon I was inspired to try something new: knitting. I had always marveled at how a ball of yarn could be magically transformed into a beautiful garment. Now I was ready to learn firsthand how it was done.
A close friend of mine had just found out she was expecting her first child, and I decided a hand-knit baby blanket would be my perfect first project. A coworker helped me create a concept to make the undertaking truly a crash course in Knitting 101: I’d make a patchwork blanket, with each square being a different pattern for me to learn. Then I’d knit a border, and learn to crochet seam everything together.
It took me several months of diligent knitting to complete the project. I knit squares by my fireplace in the late winter months. I knit them on the beach in the early summer months. I knit them on road trips. I knit them on airplanes. By the time my blanket was complete, it had traveled with me from Ohio to New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. It was truly a labor of love—and I was hooked.
I have since knit several other projects—less
slowly, more advanced and with technically better results. But that
first blanket, knit with so much constant encouragement, support and
troubleshooting from my experienced coworkers, will always be my
favorite. Now, joining the Memory Makers staff, I can’t wait to see
what I’ll learn from my team members, our authors and, perhaps most of
all, from you, our readers. I’m already so inspired by all of the
contributors’ beautiful scrapbook pages we’re lucky enough to have
temporary custody of here in the office! I look forward to getting to
know you all better in the coming months.
Happy Thursday,
Jessica
1/31/2008 2:34:02 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Give Your Photos a Romantic Glow
A photographer friend recently taught me her trick for giving photos a nice sepia tone, and I’ve been wanting to try out this technique on some of my wedding photos. When I think sepia, I think soft and romantic, so what better time than Valentine’s for putting this technique to use. Here’s what I did, using Photoshop Elements 3.   Before After1. Open your photo. Go to Enhance>Color>Adjust Hue/Saturation. 2. Click on the Colorize box. Then adjust the Hue slider to the left, making sure not to make the color too red or too yellow (see Figure 1) I adjusted the Hue to 24. Adjust the Saturation and Lightness as needed. Click OK.   Figure 1 Figure 2
3. Go to Layer>Duplicate Layer. Make sure the new layer is selected and click on the drop-down menu that says Normal. Change it to Soft Light (see figure 2). Adjust the opacity as desired. I did about 50%. 4. You can stop at this point, but I always soften my photos with a little blur. To do so, go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian blur and adjust the pixels just a tad (I did .3). Go to Layer>Flatten Image, save your work and you’re done! Want more photo tips and tricks? Check out MM magazine editor GinaMarie’s recent post about adding selective color to photos. Visit the forum’s new photography thread to ask questions and share ideas about photography. And don’t forget about Paper + Pixels, which teaches all kinds of digital techniques. Check out the books blog next week for more photo tips and tricks. Kristin Original photo courtesy Jennifer Disney Photography
1/31/2008 11:04:18 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Wired - part 2
When Kristin mentioned wanting to experiment with wire, I knew I had to get in on the fun. I am a fidgety person, always twiddling something around my finger, so when I picked up a piece of wire, my first instinct was to wrap it around any object in arms reach. The lucky object nearby: a stylus. I started by wrapping the wire around the stylus a few times (see image at right). Then I carefully lifted the coiled piece off the stylus and pulled the ends to separate the coils slightly. The words were created in a very freehand manner. I made the “be” first, making sure to leave plenty of extra wire after the “e”. Then I took a separate piece of wire and spelled out “mine”, again, making sure to leave plenty of wire at the beginning and end of the word (for adding extra coils!). I combined the two words together by twisting their ends into the heart shape. The hard part actually came when I tried putting my wire creation onto paper. It just didn’t POP like I wanted it to. I decided to paint the wire white (using acrylic paint), which helped a lot, and then added some strips of cardstock to the background to give the card a little kick. Finally, I attached the wire element using strips of Therm O Web Zips. All in all, it was a fun new material that I'm excited about adding to my craft supplies! For more fun wire ideas, check out projects in Scraptastic!, Collage Lost & Found and Bead on a Wire. Warning: Also like Kristin, I found this to be highly addictive. The projects are actually quite quick, but you may find it hard to step away from the craft table! Eileen
1/30/2008 10:03:14 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Wired
In my spare time at work, I have the pleasure of proofreading some of the very cool North Light Craft books. The new book (due out in May) by collage artist Giuseppina Cirincione inspired me to try out using wire in my paper crafting. (Check out her previous book, Collage Lost and Found here.) Let me tell you: working with wire is addictive! It’s easy to work with, requires few tools and little training, you can mold it into any shape you like, and it adds such a unique twist to paper projects. Plus, with thin, light-weight gauges (like the 26-gauge I used here) it’s the perfect addition to greeting cards and album layouts.  Since it’s never too early to start making valentines, I made a couple of cards for the upcoming holiday using wire to add embellishment. First on my list was a card for my husband, one that required some not-so-girlie elements. I used an olive green as my base and added wire to create a miniature photo holder to hold my love bird icons. Withh a holiday that just calls for such girliness as pink and hearts, I also took the opportunity to make a more feminine card. Here, I used the wire to make jump rings to act as a binding for the card. Have you ever used wire in your scrapping? What about other unique materials? Share your ideas here! And look for more great Valentine’s Day projects right here on our blog. Kristin Addition to this post: To make the jump rings, simply wrap wire around a pen (or whatever object will create the size of circle you'll need) a few times. Slide the coiled wire off the pen and cut through the lenghth of wire so that you end up with several individual rings. I also used a pen to create the circles in my mini photo holder.
1/29/2008 10:07:01 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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