Scrapwest

# 70 Paper, punching and buttons!

 

#70  Paper,punching and buttons!

 

I have used materials which everybody will certainly have in their stash. I always love using buttons in my Layouts as I think they really have a striking effect on paper. I saw the punching technique on one layer of paper matted on to a second layer in a BAZZIL advert in a magazine and thought it was a great way to introduce a design without using patterned paper. I hope you all enjoy this one.

Ruthx

 

Materials –

                    2 contrasting sheets of cardstock.

                    Selection of co ordinating buttons

                                 Hole puncher

Pen/pencil

Glue

Alphabet letters 

 

1. Trim ½” off the 4 edges of the darker cardstock.

2. For placement of the different elements lay your photo, buttons in a flower shape and buttons to frame photo on the darker cardstock.( see Layout) DO NOT stick anything down yet. This is simply to give you an idea of where to put your punched flowers.

3. Mark with dots of pen/pencil the shapes of the petals for 2 flowers in the upper left of the LO. (See LAYOUT)

4. Punch holes through with paper puncher.

5. If you wish to contrast further the colour under the punched image layer a different colour cardstock under the top layer of cardstock before you stick it all together. I have done this in the pattern under the photo.

6. Add your title.

#69 - What I Love About You

This weeks class is by Noelle, check out her blog http://nadoohans.blogspot.com

What I used

1   5” x 7” photo trimmed to 4” x 5¼”
7   2” x 2” photos – detail punched with 1½” scalloped heart punch
1 piece 12 x 12 cardstock (any colour as it’s going to be completely covered)
1 Basic Grey Phoebe Embarcadero
1 Basic Grey Phoebe Golden Gate Bridge Park
1 Basic Gery Phoebe Coit Tower
1 A4 sheet multi-coloured funky foam ( you could use a solid colour, or use felt or cardstock or even patterned paper to match your photos)
Color Box Fluid Chalk Inkpad in Dark Brown
Curlie Girlie Sizzlets (or any Alphabet you like, rub – ons, stickers, etc)
Black Zig Journalling Pen
1½” Heart Punch
Sissors
Trimmer

For the Embellished Hearts

Scraps of chipboard or cardboard or cereal packet etc (I used scraps left over from the envelope backs used for Kate’s class a few weeks ago)
Sharp Sissors or Craft Knife
Glossy Accents
Sequins and/or Accent Beads and/or Mini Gems and/or Glitter  (I used all 4) I choose colours to match the colours in my photographs.

Method

I made the embellished hearts first.  I drew 4 heart shapes on the scrap chipboard and cut them out with a sharp sissors

Next I covered one of the hearts with glossy accents, stuck sequins onto it and let dry. I covered a second heart with glossy accents and sprinkled different coloured accent beads on top and put aside to dry. I covered the third heart with glossy accents and sprinkled different coloured glitter on top and left to dry. I covered the fourth heart with glossy accents and arranged mini gems on top and left to dry.

Next I took my funky foam (I thought the colours matched the scraf in my photos) and drew a large heart shape on it and cut this out with my sissors, then I cut around the inside to leave a heart outline.  (If you have a craft robo or similar you could cut a heart shape with it, or use a heart template, I just did it free hand).

I used my Curlie Girlie Sizzlets to cut out the word LOVE from some of the left over funky foam.

I cropped my main photo to approx 4” x 5¼” and inked the edges with dark brown ink. I punched out the detail I wanted to use from the 2” x 2” photos using my scalloped heart punch and inked the edges.

I made 2  mats  for the main photo using the Coit Tower paper, approx 5” x 7” and the Golden Gate Bridge Park paper, approx 7¼” x 8½”.  I inked the edge of the mats using the dark brown inkpad.  I left the Embarcadero paper at 12 x 12 and inked the edges of it too.  I stuck to embarcadero paper to a sheet of cardstock to strengthen it.

I punched 15 heart shapes from the remainder of the Coit Tower and Golden Gate Bridge Park paper, 7 of one and 8 of the other and inked the edges.

I used seven of these heart shapes to mat the 7 punched heart shaped photos and arranged them around the bottom right hand side of the LO. I matted the main photo onto the Coit Tower mat and then onto the Golden Gate Bridge Park paper and positioned this near the top left of the LO.  I placed the funky foam heart around the main photo and stuck it down with glue dots. Using the Zig journaling pen I wrote "What I" on one of the remaining punched heart shapes and "About You" on another, I matted these onto 2 more of the punched heart shapes and positioned them around the main photo with the funky foam "LOVE" in between. I used the remaining heart shapes to write some journaling. I stuck the embellished hearts onto the LO using glue dots.

Have a go!!

#68 - Hidden Message Criss Cross Card

This weeks Scrapwest Tutorial is by Jackie:

Hidden Message Criss-Cross Card.

This card is great for all occasions and once you make your first one it is so easy and can be adapted for all styles, Valentine, Baby, thank you, Wedding, vintage style, you can dress it up or keep It simple, the possibilities are endless so let us see your take on it, you can leave a bloglink in the comments section here to share your card.

For more criss- cross sample cards visit my Blog

http://jackies-space.blogspot.com/

Materials. 

1: 12 x12 Card for your base card and belt.,

2: Co-ordinating card/paper for front flaps and decorating.

3: White card for insert.

Ribbon, brads, flowers etc for decorating your card.

Basic materials; double sided tape, Glue stick, ruler, pencil, scoring board and cutter.

The two red 4 1/4 x 11 pieces are the main card, the 1½ by12 piece is the belt.

I have used embossed white card for the 4x5 pieces but any co-ordinating paper/card  can be used. The plain white 3 ¾ x 5 card is the insert for your hidden message.

If you cut all your pieces out first it is easier for assembling your card.

Score both red main pieces at 5 ½ inches and fold.

Put double sided tape on centre of one piece of card

Two pieces will only fit properly unless you are using paper/card with both front and back the same .

Use very thin tape for this part or your insert will not fit.

This is optional, you can skip this step and leave your card open.

Mark the correct belt size with a pencil and score.

Fasten strip around card with double sided tape put join to back of card.

Finished card .

#67 My Favourite Food Layout

Class  By Audrey Barrett

Although this tutorial gives you the measurements and instructions for the layout shown, what you really need to think about is the subject matter. I hate cooking, but love eating, and I’m very lucky   to have a wonderful man who cooks for me all the time. I really appreciate how lucky I am, and often think if he ever wasn’t here I wouldn’t know how he made all the wonderful dishes he serves me. So the real thought behind this Layout is to celebrate the time and effort that Joe puts into feeding me.

Materials:

·         12” x 12” card stock (brown)

·         3 x double-sided co-ordinating patterned papers ( We R Memory Keepers – Urban Window Collection)

·         1 x A4 sheet plain paper (cream or white)

·         Chipboard Letters “FooD”

Photos:

·         1 – 10 x 15 cm

·         4 – 5 x 7 cm         

Instructions:

·         Trim Patterned Paper as follows

o   PP1 – 19 x 30 cm

o   PP2 – 8 x 30cm

o   PP3 – 18 x 30cm (score in the middle = 9 x 30cm each side)

·         Matt the large photo with the on the remaining PP3 paper with 0.5 cm border all round

·         Matt the smaller photos in a row on PP2 – with approx 0.5 cm border between images and 1.5cm top & bottom

·         Layer PP2 (with photos) on one side of PP3 – to show a border of 0.5cm top  and bottom

·         Print the recipe onto A4 paper – landscape and trim to fit 2 strips 6 x 28cm, ink edges if desired

·         Adhere recipe strips to inside of folded PP3

·         Create Text Box in MS Word – (4 x 14 cm)

o    type “Favourite” in Font ‘Bradley Hand ITC’ point size 48

o   Set text colour to white

o   Set text box fill colour to brown

o   Print on remaining strip of A4 paper

·         Adhere PP1 – 1cm from left side of page

·         Adhere PP2 – 2 cm from bottom of page

·         Arrange and adhere large matted photo and text box on PP1 as suitable

·         Glue Chipboard letters on brown cardstock just above PP3 strip on right side of page

Thanks for taking part in the class, and don’t forget we’d love to see your work or here your stories on this subject so don’t forget to add a link in the comments section!

Audrey

XX

#66 Altered Canvas Class

ALTERING A CANVAS

It's easy to pick up those inexpensive canvasses in discount stores and they make a great gift for loved ones. This week I'll show you how to alter a canvas and make a valentines or birthday gift - incorporating a scrapbook layout.

PREPARING THE CANVAS

Take a basic white canvas and if you wish to add texture first, apply a layer of gesso onto the canvas using a knife or old credit card. It should be at least as thick as butter on bread but it can be applied thicker, which creates further texture. In some of my canvasses I apply gel medium with microbeads for extra effect. Allow to dry -this can take anything from a few hours to overnight depending on how thick the gesso is applied.

DECORATING THE CANVAS

PAINT

You can skip the gesso stage completely for a flatter background and just apply acrylic paint (or dauber) onto the canvas. Blob a few dots of acrylic paint  and use a sponge or baby wipe to apply. Let it dry in for a few minutes.

STAMP

Optional stage -using a patterned background rubber or acrylic stamp and white or black ink, create a border pattern on just two sides (eg bottom and right hand side). This creates added texture to the canvas.

PATTERNED PAPER

Choose your photo (preferably large photo(s) for effect). Choose co-ordinating patterned papers and layer onto the canvas using double sided tape to secure. Adhere photos onto patterned paper and embellish with chipboard alphabets, blossoms, tags and ribbons as appropriate. It is useful to apply some brads discreetly in blossom or the corners of the photos to secure the papers.Here are some examples of canvasses I have altered recently which shows these techniques in practice.

So grab a canvas and some paint - what are you waiting for!As always feel free to join in and leave a link to your work in the comments section :-)

LAINEY

xx

#65 Dream

There’s really only a few main things that you need for this mini book and the rest are just bits that I’m sure you all have in your stash.

So lets go I used the backs of envelopes for my mini book you could also use the back of an A4 jotter, any cardboard that has the thickness of chipboard, you’ll be covering it anyway so it doesn’t have to be plain.

1. First thing is pick out your word. I chose “Dream” as it’s this weeks theme now I know you can buy these books already cut out ready for you to decorate but I thought it would be nice to personalise them a bit more (you could even do names).

2. I printed mine out on the computer, chose a plain font I used Arial and in the                     biggest size possible, I used “Word Art” to print it and also changed my paper size to Landscape and then made the word that bit bigger on the paper the finished size of my letters is 3½ ins high. When you’re happy print it out. You can also use large chipboard letters (such as basic grey) as templates, if you have them.

3. Cut out your letters.

4. Cut your strips of chipboard to the height of your letters, mine are 31/2 ins high and there are 5 letters in my word, so 5 pieces of chipboard.

5. Get your letters and use them as templates to draw around each letter.

6. Cut out!!

7. Next step is to trim down each piece so that you can see all the letters, because at the moment they are all the same length. So start with the last letter “M” and place the “A” on top until you are happy with the position then turn over and mark where you need to trim the chipboard do this with each letter until you have them all done and end up with something that looks like this.

8. Next step is to make holes. I used my crop-a-dile, but if you don’t have one a goof hole punch will do, I started with the first letter, “D”, and punched my holes and then positioned it on top of the next letter and marked where I wanted the next lot of holes to go. I did this with each of the remaining letters. Then I added my book rings (you can use ribbon if you don’t have book rings)

9. That’s it that simple, now it’s ready to decorate (I used gorgeous “Love Elsie” papers but you can use scraps of paper, whatever you have!) When it’s decorated you can add eyelets to the holes if you want a really professional look. I didn’t bother when I was using bookrings but if I was using ribbon I would have put the eyelets on.

Hope you enjoyed the class and if you want to see some more pictures of my mini book and another version pop over to my blog. www.myhandsgetjealous.blogspot.com 

#64 Resolutions

Welcome to the first of many tutorials from Scrap West, we really hope you have a bit of fun trying out the techniques and maybe learn a thing or two. If you decide to join in then leave a link in the comments to where we can see your version of the tutorial. Enjoy :)

Resolutions - We all make lists.... shopping lists, top 10 favs, to do lists and at this time of year we often think about the list of things we would like to achieve in the new year. So this year why not create a list of your aims and scrap your New Year Resolutions. You don't need a photo for this LO and can use any papers in your stash. This LO is an 8x8 but you csan adapt it to suit your personal style. This is a great LO for using up scraps of paper :)

1. If you have a paper in your stash that has a florish, perfect! If not, then stamp a few flowers or swirls on cardstock or plain paper. Use a pencil to draw your cutting line, follow the pattern and add a little extra curves to create a frame.

2. When you have finished cutting out your frame, ink the edges and make sure it spans the height of your main cardstock.

3. For your lists, get a page with ruled lines, A4 pages for 12x12 (and loads of resolutions) or as I used a A5 page cut down to fit your LO. Ink the edges

4. For the quotes either use individual letter stamps or print out from a computer, remember the dimesions of your LO, it is just below the half the height of your LO. Cut out, with a sharp scissors curve the corners and ink. If you like you can do some simple stitiching  doodles with a black pen.

5. Cut a heart shape from cardstock, and cover with a lightly patterned paper, this is about half the height of your quote.

6. Assemble your quote embelishment however you like, I added a folded flower from Heidi Swapp behind the quote. I also added a little bling to the heart.

7. If you have chipboard letters perfect, if not print out a large "r" from the computer and use it as a stencil by cutting it out, place on some cardboard (back of an A4 pad), draw around the edge and cut. Cover with patterend paper and sand the edges (especially white core PP)

8. For the date, cut a small rectangel of card and write or stamp your date. I always leave plenty of room for gluing under my cardstock.

9. To assemble the LO, I used a strip of complementary paper for behind the list, glue your date first to the back before you glue it down. Next glue down your ruled paper, mine is at a slight angle. Next is the curve frame and your quote embelishment - you can use foam pads for this to give some dimension. The title is a strip of PP with handwritten title, if you nervous of doing this, practice on a few strips until you are happy. Glue it down along with the monogram.

Now here comes the difficult bit, hee hee, writing your resolutions. If you are confident to write straight away then off you go, however if you don't know if it will all fit then get another ruled page, place over your LO and outline the available space with a pencil on your practice sheet. This way you get an idea of how much text you can put down.

Best of luck and I can't wait to see your versions and your resolutions!

Eva x

#63 Reflections

Before we show this weeks theme just to let you know that next week Scrap West is trying something a little different...... what about a tutorial a week? Instead of a theme each of the Scrap Westies are going to post up a technique or class. Join in and post a link to your version :)

So back to this week: It is the time of year we reflect on everything, the past 12 months or even our aims for the coming year so keeping this in mind this weeks theme is called "reflections". Annamarie and I are posting up links to something we both have been inspired by, hopefully you will too!

Annamarie -

This week I used an idea from Ali Edwards blog http://www.aliedwards.typepad.com/ to create a photo mosaic.  It contains 16 different photos of my daughter from 2007 and is a fantastic reflection of her personality and experiences throughout the year.  This would look brilliant in the centre of a 12" x 12" layout or as the index page of a mini book as you can choose how many photos across and down and also the overall size of the mosaic.  I saved the finished mosaic as a jpeg which means that I can print it out easily or add it to my blog.

The mosaic is really easy to do.  You can either follow the instructions from Ali's blog or go directly to the Big Huge Labs Mosaic Maker and take it from there. Another really handy thing is that the Mosaic Maker automatically crops in on the subject meaning you don't have to crop or edit the photos yourself.

Lainey

Eva

For the next 4 weeks I am taking part in a class across the waters on the Big Picture Scrapbook website. I choose this particular class to loosen up and get more creative, its called "Got Paint?". It started last night but you've got another week or so to sign up. Its taught by the most talented Emily Falconbridge, she is so cool, really creative. Check out the website for more details http://www.bigpicturescrapbooking.com/gotpaint.php

This weeks class is all about paint techniques using textured cardstock and acrylic paint. The resulting pages are made into an Art Journal for future reference and to decorate as we would like.

#62 My favourite Colour

Well the big man has been so hope you are all happy with your Christmas pressies. This week we celebrate the theme of  'My favourite colour' (thanks Carrie). As it's Christmas we are a bit quiet this week but hopefully a few more will be back next week for the theme of 'Reflection'. As always join in by linking your work in the comments section.

Happy New Year everyone - hope you have a bright and creative 2008!

XXX

Audrey - Creams & Browns

Lainey - Duck Egg Blue & hot pinks

#61 Christmas

Well, we're in the final few days and counting down 'til Santa arriv es!  Hopefully you'll get a chance to do some crafting over the holidays after he's been here.  Don't forget to take loads of photos over the next week or so and remember that the next few days are just as important as Christmas Day itself as it makes your layouts much more interesting if you have the preparations for the big day in photos too.

Hope you enjoy this week's theme - it's "Christmas" appropriately enough!  And finally a huge big Happy Christmas from all of the ScrapWest team to you and all your families.  Many thanks for following our blog throughout the year and thanks to everyone who left comments and joined in.

Audrey

Jackie

Ruth

Kate

Lainey (DLO)

Annamarie

Eva