DIY Smashbooks

Hello, Scraphappy Fans!

How many of you know what a 'Smashbook' is? It's this really cool premade album filled with patterned papers that you can take your pictures and everyday-bits-of-life (aka ephemera) and just 'smash' them (or glue them) into. You can make it as organized or random as you want. You can fill it from beginning-to-end. Or you can open to a random page and stick stuff in wherever it makes you happy. The only problem with a premade book like this is that you have no control over what the actual papers are. What you buy is what you get, so I'm going to show you how to make your own. Now you can pick the papers and patterns YOU want inside your book.

First step: Pick your papers. I chose the new summery, tropical-themed papers from Graphic45. Now I don't know about you, but I always think these papers are beautiful to look at, but when it comes to actually USING them, my mind goes blank. Fortunately for me (and now you, since I'm going to share), at CHA the Graphic45 people demo'd how to use their papers in a DIY Smashbook!

In the center of the previous photo, you can see some blue rectangles. Those are clear acrylic sheets that I decided to use for my covers. There's several sizes available at the store, and they are all quite inexpensive. To use the acrylic, just peal off the blue protective film and decorate however you choose. I wanted the edges of my cover to stand out, so I mixed some spray mist with white acrylic paint and painted the edges.

Next, I trimmed my papers to fit in my book. I used several sizes, including some pieces that I die-cut into scallops to add some fun variety.

There are many ways you can bind your book - jump rings, ribbon, etc. I wanted to play with a toy I received for Christmas: a book-binding machine. There's a similar machine in the store that you can use whenever you want. Just buy the binding, itself, and have fun playing!

Follow the directions on the machine to bind your book, then add pictures, embellishments, and journalling to truly make the book 'yours.' Here's a look at my finished book and some of the interior pages:

Supplies:
- patterned paper - Graphic45
- clear acrylic
- white acrylic paint
- letter stickers - October Afternoon
- black washi tape
- Cinch binding machine and spiral binding
- Smooch spray mist
- Instax photos
- die-cutter - Big Shot
- scallop die - Spellbinders

New Heidi Swapp - Some Layouts to Share

I went to Scraphappy last week and was delighted to find the new Heidi Swapp line had come in. I immediately 'claimed' some of the papers and embellishments as mine to play with. Here is what I came up with: The first is what you're used to seeing from me. The second...well, let's just say I've been hanging around a certain other Design Team member/friend a lot lately, and she's rubbed off on me ;)

Supplies:
- patterned paper - Heidi Swapp, My Mind's Eye
- letter stickers - Heidi Swapp (neon), Sassafrass (blue)
- banners, word stickers, epoxy embellishments, label stickers - Heidi Swapp
- date stamp
- Stickles
- brads

The Big Picture

I went through several ideas, when I was thinking about my post for today.  There are so many great trends out there right now - banners, misting, graphic shapes, wooden accents...the list goes on and on.  And then, I thought of something I haven't done on a layout in years...at least over 2 years ago...using a large photo!  Most of the photos I tend to use, are 4x6 and smaller.  This always works great for me, because I like creating multi-photo layouts, but keeping them as single pages, instead of extending to a double page layout.  But, you still have the option of using multi-photos, with a large photo on your layout, too.


For this page, I printed an 8x10 photo of our little guy playing in the mud.  This was such a perfect photo, because he just happened to look my way the moment I snapped it.  I really wanted to highlight this photo and using the larger photo was just the right way to do that.  And because I had some empty space/white space on my larger photo, I was able to add two smaller (wallet size) photos on top of my large photo.

I decided to keep my embellishments on this page to a minimum, because the photo was the focal point of my layout and the orange, chevron patterned paper added a lot of visual interest to the page.  Just a couple of buttons, some washi tape, and some black accenting...and voila, you're done!!  That's another great advantage to using large photos...makes putting your page together quick and easy.


So, I challenge you to take on a large photo, with a bold visual pattern on your next layout.  The chevron paper on this page is from the Plumeria line by BasicGrey and Christy carries the full collection kit in the store.  This collection is great, because you can pull papers to work with feminine or masculine pages, which is a cost effective way to use your supplies.


Products Used:


Patterned Paper & Stickers:  BasicGrey
Cardstock:  Bazzill
Washi Tape:  SEI & Heidi Swapp
Buttons:  Blumenthal Lansing
Punch:  EK Success
Font:  Eurostyle

Recycling on Your Layouts

I don't know about you, but I'm always looking for ways to save money. One of the ways I do this is by reusing items in my home as often as I can, especially in my scrapbooking and memory keeping projects. And I don't know if you knew this, but this coming Saturday is National Scrapbooking Day - a whole day dedicated to this hobby we love. To combine the two interests (recycling and scrapbooking), Christy gave some old books of upholstery fabric swatches to Ashley Horton and me and asked us to make flowers out of them. If you are coming to the store's crop on Saturday, you might find a few of these flowers lying around (hint hint hint)...and if you're not coming, then you'll just have to settle for looking at my pictures here on the blog.

First up: My Supplies...fabric swatches, my BigShot (Any manual die-cutter will work. You just need to adjust the thickness of your cutting pads to account for the fabric and whatever dies you are using), flower or scalloped-circle dies (I used Spellbinders Nestabilities), and brads, stitching, Glubers, or whatever else you want to hold your flowers together (I used brads. Ashley finished others with stitching and other decoration, but you'll have to come to the store Saturday to see hers!)

When you cut your flowers, try to put your dies as close together as possible so you can get several flowers out of a single swatch.

Once you've cut your flowers, take them to your desk and find some supplies and a photo to match (Sorry the photo is sideways. My computer is refusing to rotate my pictures today).

One item I found on my desk is some leftover embellishment packaging. Seriously, how awesome are those acrylic casings that embellishments come in? I save nearly all of them. What can you do with them, you ask? So many, many options. You can stamp on them with staz-on ink (so you can move a stamped image around on your page and not worry about 'messing up' the page). You can die-cut them and make clear embellishments (Anybody remember Heidi Swapp's old Ghost shapes? Now you know how to make your own!). Or you can adhere other embellishments to them to use as a shiny, clear background (like I've done here with some My Mind's Eye embellishments).

And here's how I put it all together. In addition to the fabric flowers and clear packaging (sorry about the glare), I also used the B-side of a product code strip from a piece of patterned paper on this layout. So many recycled bits and pieces on here. Makes me happy.

I hope I've given you some ideas on how to recycle and save some money on your projects. Please feel free to put a link in the comments to any projects you may make using these ideas. And don't forget to enjoy National Scrapbook Day!

Supplies: fabric, Big Shot die-cutter, Spellbinders nestabilities, brown ink

- patterned paper - Dear Lizzy, Studio Calio, Echo Park, Lilly Bee

- letter stickers - Studio Calico

- brads - Bo Bunny

- washi tape - Hambly

- 'jeweled' frame - My Mind's Eye

- butterfly stickers - Studio Calico

- staple - Tim Holtz

- yellow acrylic heart - Heidi Swapp

Want to be a Scraphappy Design Team Member?!

Alright ladies, we're seeking new Design Team Members!
We're looking for scrappers, card makers, mixed media artists, experienced and/or beginners!
Deadline to apply is May 5, 2012.

Design Team Responsibilities
Design Team members will be responsible for submitting at least ONE layout/card/project (Tag, Mini Album, etc.) once per month or as we get in new paper lines and/or products.

During major crops or special events, Design Team members will be there to help us do make-n-takes, play games, teach classes (if desired), etc.

Design Team Compensation
All Design Team members will receive a DT Discount from Scraphappy. :)

How To Apply:
E-mail the following information to Christy at scraphappypensacola@yahoo.com by Saturday, May 5, 2012.
Name:
Address:
Phone:
Scrapbook Page Layouts: Attach .jpg files of your three favorite scrapbook page layouts or projects.
Answer this question: Why should we pick you to join our Scraphappy Design Team?

The contact information, 3 layouts (or projects), and question answer listed should be submitted together via email to Christy using the subject line "Scraphappy Design Team Application."

Thanks!!! :)

Out of Context

Often times, with new product releases, we look at a line and think, "That's cute, but it's kind of theme-y, so how could I use that?"  Here's an idea I like to do:  take it out of context.  For example, when Basic Grey debuted their new Konnichiwa line, I thought to myself, now that is one cute collection.  Only problem...there was an Asian theme to the collection and I had no photos that I could coordinate with it...or did I?  When I finally saw it in person at Scraphappy, I decided that I HAD to have it!!  And have it I did!  Once I started looking through the papers, I loved the colors and patterns even more.  So I decided, that with two girls, I could definitely make these papers work for their layouts.  Here is what I did with some of the collection on one of their birthday party layouts:

 
Obviously, this page has nothing to do with an Asian theme, but the fun colors and beautiful flower patterned papers worked great with all of the colors in my photos.  And one thing I really love about this collection, is the awesome patterned papers, that are perfect for fussy cutting (which is basically cutting an element from the pattern paper, to use as an embellishment on your layout).  I cut several of the flowers out and added brads and some hand cut leaves, for quick, easy, and cheap embellishments.  I also love the alpha sheet that is included with this line.  I had fun mixing the smaller and larger letters together, with the circle alphas!

So next time you are browsing through the store and see something that you think is really cute, but probably wouldn't work for your needs...think again!  Take those themed collections "outside of the box" and it may just surprise you to see what you come up with!

Products Used:

Sketch:  Sketch Support (Scrapbook Generation)
Patterned Paper & Stickers:  Basic Grey
Thickers:  American Crafts
Brads:  The Paper Studio
Buttons:  Michael's
Baker's Twine:  The Twinery
Embroidery Floss:  Janlynn
Punch:  Marvy
Edgers:  Provo Craft
 

Playing with New My Mind's Eye

Hello, World!

It's the first Thursday of the month, which means it's time for my regularly-scheduled blog post! I know you've all been waiting with baited breath, right? Lol.Anyhow, I hope everyone has had a chance to check out the new store location. Personally, I love it. It's closer to my house, it's well-stocked, and it's closer to my house (have I mentioned this already?) - which means more opportunities to shop and buy all the new products that are coming in. Remember all those lovely pictures I showed from CHA in January? Well, I have good news for you: the Winter CHA releases are starting to hit store shelves! And ScrapHappy has a lot of it! Yeah for enabling! When I was there last week, I was able to pick up some of the new Basic Grey and Echo Park lines, in addition to some of Rhonna Farrer's lines for My Mind's Eye.

First up, a few layouts for you to look at: Baa Baa Baby Jesus is a layout about my youngest and her friends before they sang in our church's Children's Christmas Program and the sheep song they sang. I wish I could convey the hilarity of their performance. But at least I have this layout to remember it by.

This next layout uses a quote from Dr Seuss. October Afternoon offered the quote as a free Silhouette svg file for easy cutting. I stamped the butterflies with a Jenni Bowlin stamp then layered the quote over it. The people shapes are Studio Calico wood veneers, and the kitty button is from October Afternoon.

 And finally, a new magnet board that can be used for everyday messages and note-taking. I cut the days of the week on my Silhouette and inked them with grey ink before Mod-Podging them to the board. The magnets themselves are recycled from my Love Notes magnet board that I showed you at Valentine's Day. All the supplies are available at ScrapHappy.

I hope you've enjoyed the projects today. Let us know if you have any requests or questions.

- Cori