I love paper punches but some in my collection get more love than others! ;) I decided last weekend to create a layout with my flower punch-the less loved one in my collection. Punches are great to use to create a background for layouts. I did that on this layout of my daughter, Synai. But first I punched out a lot of flowers:

I added a cluster of photos througout the layout to make a background. Some flowers are outlined in black for definition and to add a little flair I added some bling on several flowers.

I hope you will get out your old forgotten punches and have fun creating a new project with them!

Have a great weekend! xo

 

Products used: Cardstock:Bazzill; Embellishmennts: Heidi Swapp,Jenni Bowlin;Jewels:Heidi Swapp; Pen: American Crafts Pigment Pro; Punch: McGill; Misc: Paint and telephonebook page 

 

 

 

 

I am always looking for ways to make journaling on my layouts quicker and easier but still look interesting and cool.  I have found that journaling directly on my photographs while I'm editing them saves me so much time.  I just simply print out the photos and start scrapbooking.  I really like the way it looks too. Here is one of my favorite examples:



Here is a close up.  I made sure that I reduced the opacity of my photograph before applying the type.  This works best with busy photos.  With simple portraits or landscapes you most likely won't have to that.  Try white type on top of dark clothing or customize your font color to match your papers.  I cut this photo to fit on a die cut tag and the look adds interest to the page.   I also like to use a handwriting font to sign the end of my journaling.  You can always save this step and sign or date on photographs using a Slick Writer.



Thank you for taking the time to view my layout.  I am really looking forward to journaling on an 8x10 photograph and scrapbooking with that.  Can't wait to see how that will turn out.  I hope if you try this technique that you like it and finds it saves you some time.  Please send me a link to your layouts.  I would love to see them!    Enjoy! Love, Melissa

We have a major case of the sickies here at my house...I really don't like this time of year!  It seems like every year, right around this time we suffer through bouts of stomach viruses and colds - it's miserable!  It makes me long for Spring, that's for sure.  To cheer myself up I stopped by the gallery here and browsed through the Spring and Summer type layouts - and I'd love to share a few of my favorites with you!

This layout by Becky Cutshaw just screams warmer days and the scent of fresh cut grass!  I love the bright colors, flourishes and all the scalloped edges!

I just love this layout by Nzingha - it made me long for bare feet and warm Spring days even more!

I so loved this layout by Tricia S, what says Spring better than Little League?! 

And last but certainly not least - this incredible layout by Jeanet Almhoej!  The colors, the design, all of it just makes me happy!

I hope you all enjoyed these layouts as much as I did!  Come on Spring!

Here are the last of the pages from my Nature mini album. Keitha posted a question about lining up the punched peek-a-boo circles, the best way to line up your punched circles is to cut a scrap piece of transparency to fit your page and draw a circle over the part of your page that you want the peek-a-boo window to be. Then cut the circle out of the transparency and use it as a template on the page that will have the window punched from it. Hope that helps Keitha!

This is one of my favorite pages :)

and this is my other favorite

Have a wonderful week! Christine

Supplies: Album, Recycled print shop paper sample book. Bingo card, Jenni Bowlin. Bookplate, Making Memories. Border Tape, Heidi Swapp. Brad, K&Company. Button, Basic Grey. Cardstock, Bazzill. Chipboard die cuts, Scenic Route. Circle Cutter, Coluzzle. Date Stamp, Staples. Elastic Band, 7gypsies. Font, Journal tags, Collage Press. Lace Cardstock, KI Memories. Overlays, Hambly, My Mind's Eye. Paint, Making Memories, Ranger Ind. Patterned Paper, 7gypsies, American Crafts, Anna Griffin, Chatterbox, Collage Press, Daisy D's, gcd, Hambly, Jenni Bowlin, KI Memories, Making Memories, My Mind's Eye, October Afternoon, Scenic Route. Punches, EK Success, Fiskars, Martha Stewart. Quote die cut, My Mind's Eye. Stamp, Label Tulip. Transparency, 3M. Misc. found book paper, leaf stamp, time tickets.

Good Saturday morning!
Have you seen the March/April issue of Memory Makers yet?
It is a great issue so go pick up a copy if you haven't already!

I want to share my layout from the Masterpieces column here and then show you a few easy techniques from it that you can use too.

My layout is about my cute yardboy (aka my husband).

Supplies: Patterned paper (October Afternoon, My Minds Eye, Prima), Cardstock (Prism), Alphabet stickers (Doodlebug, Making Memories), Chipboard (Fancy Pants), Pen (American Crafts), Misc (notebook paper, paint, embroidery floss)

And here are some super-easy techniques that I used on this layout:

1.
I created somewhat of a "grassy" border by tearing patterned paper and layering it over the torn edges of notebook paper (I messily painted the notebook paper edges first). Then I added some random hand-stitching with green embroidery floss and a few flowers cut out of patterned paper.  

2.
I like to add a different paper in the spaces behind alphabet letters. This adds a pop of color to the title and it helps the letters stand out better against a busy background.

3.
When I have several pictures lined up next to each other, I like to sand the edges to create a subtle white border to give the pictures some distinction so they don't get lost next to each other.

I hope this gives you some easy ideas that you can use the next time you are scrapbooking.

Have a great weekend!
{and happy scrappin'!}
gretchen

Ever start a layout, not sure where it's going?  That happens to me all the time.  Or do you ever have the picture of a project in your mind, start to craft and the project takes a completely different direction?  This also happens to me, often.  Do you ever think you're doing with a layout, revisit it and think, "Oh my!  Now, that needs some work to get it to that happy place!"

This is what happened with the "I Wish" layout on my Master's entry, as seen in MM's Jan/Feb '09 magazine.  I had the layout done almost a year before I decided to enter the contest.  When reviewing layouts to consider for entry, I thought this was a good candidate; however, it definitely needed some spicing up.  Here is the before and after..

Have you ever revisited a layout like this?  Granted, often in the digital world it may be a little easier to manipulate older work; however, sometimes the simple addition of an embellishment, stitching or photo can change the entire look and feel of a piece of work.  Try it out!

Create a fun decorative wrapping accent for your next gift with scraps of paper, wire, a punch and eyelets. I used a star punch on my project but think how cute this could be with a heart punch, a variety of circles or even flowers. Simply punch a bunch of shapes from your scraps of paper. Then punch holes and add eyelets. I used floral wire from the craft store cut in various lengths. Then I attached stars to both ends of the wire. I wrapped the wire around the wine bottle and then curled the wire around a pencil.

Create a matching gift tag with your extras punched shapes.

 

Viola ...

 

(Supplies Used: Paper from SEI, Punch from EK Success, Stamp from Stampin Up, Eyelets from Heidi Swapp, Ribbon from Stampin Up and Ink from Versafine)

Happy Valentines Day ~ Summer