Gift Card Tag

 Need something quick and easy for the last minute (hate to shop) shopper like me…yes I have been know to get to the stores early on Christmas Eve morning with both my girls and be done by  lunch time (you can get some really good deals). But then you have to go home and wrap for three hours…Oh wait what if I just hit the gift card department and make it easy and fast.

  Well that’s what I wanted to share with you….What I did with the gift cards when I got home.

  I started with Movers and Shapers dies from Sizzix – tag and bookplates and cut one tag out of Coredinations “Whitewash” collection. Place in an embossing folder and run thru the Big Shot. I then use the sanding grip the lightly sand just the top off the raised parts of the tag. This works great with this paper because it is one color on the front and has a different color core.

Next, cut a slit in the tag.



Shown here on a plain tag

Now cut another tag from decorative paper to place on the back of the first tag. Place your glue only at the top and along the side and bottom so that you create a pocket for the gift card.
  I brushed the edges of the tag with Distress Ink-Iced Spruce and punched a hole at the top. Next I cut a 6 inch 3D paper rose with  My Minds Eye "Be Merry" paper and my Silhouette. You can also cut by hand. Gently roll the edges of the spiral shape with your fingers. Now roll the spiral shape inward starting with the "tail" part on the outside. It is easier if you use a toothpick to start the rolling process.
Roll as tight, now let go and watch in un-roll some and begin to look like a rose. Place a small bit of glue to hold it together (hot glue or "Aleene"s Fast Grab Tacky Glue)

I embellished with some greenery scrapes and netting. Oh and be sure to add some Stickles (life is better with a little sparkle).


shown here with the gift card in the pocket

 Scraphappy has a great Gift Card department and you can get all the supplies you need to make you're own gift tags. Just have fun (and use some of that scrapbooking stuff that you already have)!
Happy Scrapbooking!!  Linda

Products used:
Coredinations "whitewash" collection
My Minds Eye "Be Merry"
Distress Inks, Barn Door and Iced Spruce
Stickles
Sizix Flourish embossing plate
Big Shot

Mix It Up...with Patterns!

Have you noticed all of the great patterns you can find in Scrapbook papers?  There are some fun trends out there right now...who knew that Scrapbooking would resemble fashion, with all of the fun, new trends that come out??!!  Christy has some adorable papers in the store right now from Jillibean Soup's Christmas Eve Chowder line.  It has a variety of patterns from stripes, flowers, text paper, and houndstooth (all of which I included on the following layout) and there are also, cute little penguins, stars, Christmas trees, and skiers.  If you are intimidated by mixing a lot of patterns, take the approach I did on this layout.  Choose a solid background (white is always a great choice, but you could also choose a color that coordinates with your patterned paper) and then add in the patterned paper in small doses.  I used my patterned paper on this layout to create a banner, a scalloped border at the top and bottom of the page, and a ground for my journaling block.  So you get a lot of variety on your page, but the patterns don't overwhelm or fight with one another.

 

Products Used:

Paper:  Jillibean Soup & DCWV
Letter Stickers:  Jillibean Soup, My Little Shoebox, & October Afternoon
Embroidery Floss:  Janlynn
Brads:  The Paper Studio & Bazzill
Baker's Twine:  The Twinery
Pen:  Zig
Font:  CK Going Places
Punches:  Marvy & Martha Stewart
Pearls:  Kaiser Craft
Stick Pins:  Little Yellow Bicycle
Edgers:  Provo Craft
Other:  Wire
 

Traditional or Contemporary?

How would you describe your Christmas style?  Me?  I think I would probably be 50/50.  I love the old fashioned Christmas papers, but there is just something really fun about the contemporary bright colors and patterns, too!!  So, why not have both?  You certainly have a great selection to choose from in the store!

If you are a more traditional kind of gal, there are some amazing papers from Simple Stories.  Their 25 Days of Christmas collection would be a perfect choice for you!  There are also some yummy Fancy Pants Designs papers that have the old, timey Santa.  Who wouldn't love those??!!  Just to get an idea of what you can do with these papers, here is a layout I created using the 25 Days of Christmas collection (and a few other bits & pieces from the store).

Now, let's say you're more of a Contemporary Christmas crafter!!  Well, you're in for a treat too!  There are some completely adorable papers from Jillibean Soup that are right up your alley.  I haven't used any for a layout yet (definitely planning to, though), but played with some on my December Daily and I absolutely loved them!!  And how about a little challenge??!!  Why don't you talk a walk through the store and look for papers and embellishments that aren't necessarily Christmas-themed and get creative by using those on your layouts.  I did just this exact thing with some of the beautiful My Mind's Eye papers.  Take a look at this layout:

How fun is that??!!  Not technically Christmas-themed papers, but I think it works!  And here's a little tip...pick your papers and then find one or two Christmas-themed items to add to your page to tie it all together, like I did with the Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly chipboard alphas.


I hope I have inspired you to get creative and crafty with your Christmas and holiday layouts!  Remember, the #1 rule in Scrapbooking is JUST HAVE FUN!!

Did you know you can now Shop ONLINE?!:)

Guess WHAT?! Scraphappy just opened on online store!! You can now shop for some of our goodies in your jammies! We have added some of our kits and a few other items so far, much more to come. There are videos on our You Tube channel showing the projects that the kits make. Then, you can purchase the kit at our website, scraphappypensacola.com. Thanks for sharing this with your out of town friends!! If there is something you would like to see on the store site, let us know!


Visit Scraphappy's New Online Store!

A Christmas Shadow Box

Hello Crafters!

It's officially December now! Is everyone ready for Christmas? I know I am. The tree is up. The lights are on. The stockings are hung. The presents are (not) bought and (not) wrapped - which means that it's time to play, right? Today we are making a quick and easy home decor project that is great for showcasing your ever-growing collection of Christmas photos. I've actually made 2 of these so far. My mom saw the one I made for the store and asked me to make her one, too. Which brings me to the next idea - these make AMAZING Christmas presents for grandparents. Just use a 4x6 photo of their favorite grandchildren with Santa, wrap it up, and Voila! Santa pictures on Gramma's desk at work for her friends to oooh and aaah over! Perfect! (And it only takes 30-45 minutes to make! Quick, easy, and fun!)

First, gather your supplies: a 7 Gypsies shadow box ($9.95 at the store - comes in black or white!), poinsettia flowers (25 in a pack for less than $2! My kind of embellishment!), some Christmasy patterned papers (I used some from Theresa Collins, My Mind's Eye Lost and Found Christmas, and Basic Grey), black cardstock, label stickers from My Mind's Eye (I think I've used some of these on just about every project I've done the last few months - I'm in loooove), a big, pretty brad, bakers twine (5 yards for $1!), Tim Holtz Distress Stains in Forest Moss and Antique Linen, and some Distress Stickles. (You can see some 7 Gypsies tags in the photo below, but I ended up not using them.)

Now comes the 'hardest' (lol - j/k) part of this project - trimming. You need to measure the little squares on the side of the shadow box and cut 3 squares of patterned paper to size (I think they were just under 2 inches square, but I'm not positive).

Punch out the 'December 25th' element from the Theresa Collins Christmas paper. It is very white. I wanted more of a vintage look on this project, so I used my Anique Linen distress stain to color over the white. My label is now ivory! Perfect!

I also decided that I didn't want the white dots on the Theresa Collins paper to be white. I tried the Antique Linen first, but then decided I wanted it to be green. Forest Moss worked perfectly. You can see the difference between the original white, the Antique Linen, and the Forest Moss in the next picture, so you can pick whichever look you prefer.

Next, apply a thin layer of Distress Stickles to the poinsettia petals with your finger. Distress Stickles work best with a light touch. They are designed to appear like glittery, glass flecks of color on your element. If you want a thicker look, let your first layer dry, then apply an additional layer, instead of making your first layer thick. While the Stickles dry, layer your 'December 25th' punched circle onto some black cardstock (I die-cut mine into a snowflake shape for a bit of variety) and then onto a larger punched circle of patterned paper. Poke the brad through your flowers, attach it to your tag, then tie some baker's twine around it.

Now matte a few label stickers on cardstock or patterned paper. Place about 1/3-1/2 of a label on each of your patterned paper squares and adhere into your shadow box. If you want to add chipboard monograms or other decorations to your squares, be sure to do it BEFORE you adhere them into the shadow box (Trust me. It just works better this way. Learn from my mistakes :)

Glue on your 'December 25th' tag element to the edges of the shadow box using Diamond Glaze or another clear, liquid glue.

Lastly, adhere your photo into the box to complete your project.

And now I would like to remind you that ScrapHappy's 3 Year Anniversary party is coming up next weekend, on December 10. We'll have a photo booth, make-and-takes of Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas, sales, and a birthday cake. Come shop and play with us as we spend the day crafting together! I look forward to meeting you!
- Cori

In A Funk?

Do you ever get in a scrappy/crafty funk? A place where you just don't feel like you'll ever pick up a piece of paper again? That place where you know those pictures and supplies are haunting you, calling your name in the middle of the night? Yeah, I've been there. For two long, lonely months, I was there.

I tried a lot of different things to get out of it. I hung out at Scraphappy, I cruised all the usual spots on the internet, blogs, etsy, supply stores. I looked at sketches and layouts, cards and altered stuff. I even BOUGHT more supplies from Christy, thinking something, anything would pull me out of it. I just wasn't feeling inspired.

I even had projects planned, things I KNEW I WANTED TO CREATE. I just couldn't make myself do them. I didn't WANT to go in the art room. I didn't even want to look in there. At one point I just closed the door and didn't even think about it.

My friends were worried. They tried intervention. They invited me to crops. They took classes with me. I was just going through the motions. One friend even suggested maybe I was depressed. But I didn't feel that bad. The rest of my life was pretty good, I just couldn't create.

Then one day I was cruising my usual four or five blogs that I read EVERYDAY and I came across this in Tammy Tutterow's blog. "WOW!" I remember thinking, that is really cool! I LOVE THAT TECHNIQUE!!! I think I can do that!!!! So it stayed in the back of my mind for a few days. I knew I had most of the supplies, I knew I would probably have time to do it during Thanksgiving weekend. So after I put off and put off, I knew IT WAS TIME!

I started off by finishing some cards I'd started in Nikki's Christmas Card class. Which, btw, if you haven't taken one of her classes at Scraphappy, you NEED to. So in between cooking chicken dumplin's and cuddling with my granddaughter, I finished those cards!!! BIG SIGH of relief! Because trust me, those babies were the elephant in my craft room.
After Miss Amalia went home and we had supper, I put on my Brave Girl boots and trudged in to the art room. I WAS GOING TO DO THIS!!! I debossed, I inked, I dried, I slathered Rock Candy Crackle paint til I was covered with it. AND I CREATED!!!! IT FELT GOOD!!! OH WHAT FUN!!!
In the process, I discovered a new technique with lots of possibilities. I found a new product I love, love, love! Perfect Pearls Biscotti Mist! If you don't have it, go to Scraphappy and get some! Oh what shimmer!!!
The pictures do not do this technique justice. Check out Tammy's Blog and give it a try!!! You'll be glad you did!
Here's my first tag.

And my second. In both I used supplies from Scraphappy, Tags, Tim Holtz Distress Stains in Faded Jeans and Picket Fence, Distress Inkpads Evergreen Bough and Chipped Sapphire, Perfect Pearls Biscotti Mist, Poinsettia Flowers and some leaves, buttons and gems I had. I also flipped the tag over and inked the "embossed" side, to give it a two sided effect. Think of the debossing possibilites and get out of a FUNK!

EZMount!!

Are you running out of space and looking to convert some old woodblock stamps into easy-to-store cling stamps? Or do you have some unmounted rubber stamps you're looking to use?
We highly recommend EZMount Static Cling Mounting Cushion! It is SOO EZ!!!!

Don't believe me? Check it out in the video below! :)

We sell EZMount here at Scraphappy.. only $4.50/sheet!

p.s.

EZMount sticks wonderfully to acrylic for easy storage!

Stop by Scraphappy to pick up your EZMount & let us bind an acrylic book together for you!

Happy Stamping!