Scrapbook Circle Blog

I'm Jolly Over Jenni Bowlin!!!!

2010-03-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Happy Thursday! Today, I wanted to highlight one of the oh so yummy embellishments included in the March kit...the Jenni Bowlin Black Alphabet/Banner Stickers. These are just so awesome and functional! Gotta love 'em!

Now, check out these projects that include the stickers....

Designer: Lisa Andrews
I love how Lisa added her banner stickers directly under the photo. It looks like the photo is holding it up...super cute! Also, note her stamping with cardboard in red...or at least I think it is cardboard. It looks great! Great job Lisa!

Designer: Aymee Gandy
I created this page. I loved the little mini black clothespins that were included with our kit. I decided to tie two small bows and clip them on the clothespins to 'hang' my banner.

Designer: Diana Waite
What can I say? I LOVE this card from Diana! It is just so fun! I love how she stitched on her banner and how she added the clips. Great dimension all around on this one! Fabulous job Diana!

Designer: Jill Deiling

Check out how Jill added peas on the line with her banner!!! Isn't that simply adorable?! Love it! Also, note her flower and how she used the burlap! Jill is one clever crafter!

Designer: Diana Fisher

Last, but certainly not least, check out this beautiful page from Diana. I love how her banner drapes across the page and attaches to the holes in the shaped paper! Another crafty idea! Wonderful page Diana!

Aren't they fabulous?! My fellow DT Sisters really amaze me in the ways they have each used these stickers. They all show how fun and functional these can be. So grab up a set of these today and start scrappin'! If you can, be sure to post your beautiful creations in the gallery at SBC! We'd love to see what you can do too!

Have a wonderful Thursday and Happy Scrappin'! :)

circles are flowers...

2010-03-09T09:31:00.003-07:00

... at least in my eyes they are!

This amazing sheet of paper from October Afternoon is included in the March kit. It is from the new Fly A Kite line, and it is yummy!! I saw "embellishments" when I looked at. This page was full of great ideas.

The back side of the page is just as fab, and I was completely torn. For me, a pattern like this screams background page. I stood there agonizing and choose the circles over the plaid. It was a tough decision, I assure you!!

The Martha Stewart 1-inch scalloped circle punch I have worked perfectly to cut these little circles out. I doubled them up and them smooshed and scrunched them. I stuck them together with Glue Dots and put a bling in the center. Need stems? Just drew them in with a Sharpie.

Perfect "free" embellishments! See the plaid there in the scalloped edge border? Guess I got to use the other side after all!!!

Share your March kit pages and projects with us in the online gallery!!

tip of the day.....

2010-03-08T12:33:00.003-07:00

I wanted to really quickly give you a tip regarding the BURLAP in the March kit. there are TWO pieces! I wish I would've known that before I cut into mine! (I was just so excited to use it!) It is sewn together, so you will need to pick out the sewing bit, and you will have TWO 12 x 12 sheets of wonderfulness! Have fun and PLEASE share your layouts in the gallery!

A stitch in time...

2010-03-06T12:01:00.001-07:00

I had a lot of fun with the My Mind's Eye Scalloped paper in the March kit. I took my little paper poker and popped out all the tiny little dots in the scallop border. Then, with a large needle and some embroidery floss, I quickly stitched around the edges. Here are some pictures.

It really didn't take long at all and I love how it added so much to the layout. So, I know you all have one of these pieces in your March kit -- why not try stitching around it!

Have fun!

Jennie

P.S. We are taking a family trip to San Diego this weekend (I'm writing this Thursday and post-publishing it for Saturday). I'm determined to get a great family photo on the beach or at one of our many destinations. Then, next week, I'm going to make a full 12x 12 layout on the Burlap sheet. That is my goal. Hopefully it will turn out as cute in real life as I see it in my mind. I'll post it when I'm done!

The March Kit Is So Fun!!

2010-03-05T00:12:00.002-07:00

I just had to stop by and let everyone know how much FUN I've been having with the March kit this week! I can't get enough all of the fun primary colors, the banners, bingo letters and especially the BURLAP! I know everyone over at Scrapbook Circle has been going gaga over this fun and classic fabric! Here's what I've done with it so far:

I used the burlap not only as one of my background layers on this layout but I also used a small circle of it to give my lollipop flower some more dimension. How fun is that?? I have soo many more ideas for it, plus you have to check out the gallery to see what the other girls have done with their burlap as well!

Here's a second layout of my son using more lollipop flowers! For some reason these fun March kit papers were just screaming at me to make lollipop flowers out of them. :)

Happy Friday everyone! Stay tuned for more March kit fun!

More Fun With Burlap!!!

2010-03-04T12:01:00.002-07:00

Hey guys! Happy Thursday to ya! I have another fun project, a burlap gift baggie, for you today using the burlap from the fabulous March kit here at Scrapbook Circle!!! I am in just so in love with this burlap! I wish I had 100 sheets of it! It is so versatile and really adds a unique punch to any scrappy project.

For this project, you will need:
1. Burlap
2. patterned paper
3. embellishments
4. ribbon
5. Embroidery Thread/Embroidery Needle (or any needle will do)
Hint! Hint! The best burlap, paper, and embellishment can be found in the March kit! :)

Burlap Gift Baggie

Step One:
Cut 2 burlap squares to 4x4". You do not have to be precise when doing this. The funkier, the better! Once cut, lay them one on top of the other.

Step Two:
Using embroidery thread, stitch 3 sides of the burlap (as shown) to create a 'pocket' for your goodies to slide down into. When stitching, you can use any stitch you would like. I chose to use a basic straight stitch, but feel free to get creative with it. If you want, you could use a sewing machine here as well. I love the look of the embroidery thread though and it gives you an extra pop of color on top of the burlap.

Step Three:
After you have sewn 3 of the edges, begin to slowly pull a few of the threads out of the burlap on each side to create a frayed edge. I love the frayed edge you can achieve by doing this with the burlap. It really gives it a country feel.

Step Four:
Embellish your gift baggie with paper, embellishment, and ribbon. I chose to adhere my paper to the burlap with brads. It is kinda tricky to use adhesive with the burlap, so this is a great time to pull out those brads.

Step Five:
Slide some goodies down into the pocket such as candy, scrappy items, etc. and go hang it on the door of a friend's house. This way, when they get home from a long day, they will have a nice little surprise waiting for them. I plan on hanging mine on my good friend, Kathy's, door so she will see it when she comes in from work.

Here is some pix of the project. I hope you all can see these. I am still at my Mom's house and am using her camera. I tried to get the best pix I could. :)

I slid some Airheads candy down into my pocket. This would be a great gift for the kiddies when they come home from school as well!

The ribbon and rhinestone are from my own scrappy stash. I also added some rhinestones to the girls dresses, which I cut out of a piece of patterned paper from October Afternoon that is included in the kit.

I hope you have enjoyed this project today! It is very simple and so fun! I hope you will give it a try as well!

Have a fabulous day and Happy Scrappin'!

not sure about the burlap?

2010-03-02T05:00:00.001-07:00

I had a whole bunch of reactions when I opened my March kit from Scrapbook Circle. Ninety-nine percent of my first thoughts were, "Oh yeah!!!! I LOVE everything in here!!" Then... one percent, "What am I going to do with this?"

I was thinking about the burlap. I instantly loved it and was confused by it at the same time.

In the end, I decided to use it as a photo mat in most cases. And what I loved most was how the rough texture could be used to contrast a soft and delicate moment.

I edited this photo of dear, sweet Samantha in her tutu to make an even greater contrast between the soft, girly moment and the rough contrasting burlap.

Make sure you upload your layouts to the Scrapbook Circle gallery after you play with your March kit. I'd love to see what direction you take this yummy, confusing, fantastic addition to the March kit.

March Kit has Sold Out

2010-03-01T23:07:00.002-07:00

Wow, thanks to everyone for such a quick sell out of our March kits!

We were very excited about this kit and we are happy to see that you are excited about it too.

There is a very slim chance that we will have a kit become available. If you would like to be put on a waitlist, you can email us.

Don't miss out on our April kit! We have fabulous Dear, Lizzy & October Afternoon paper plus a long list of fabulous embellishments.

You can start a new sub HERE and be sure to not miss out on any kits.

tip of the day.....

2010-03-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share with you a tip that I learned at CHA from the AMAZING Jennifer Mcguire:

Painting with distress ink from D. Waite on Vimeo.

Here is a closeup of the butterflies I made:

Easy Ribbon Tutorial

2010-02-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Happy Thursday! Today I wanted to share a ribbon tutorial with you. I had posted this tutorial on my own blog about a year ago, but I still get lots of questions asking how I do this. So I thought I would share it again with all of you.

For this technique, you will need:

1. Permanent Adhesive (I use the Permanent AdTech Glue Runner from Wal Mart)(Helmar adhesive would work great for this as well.)
2. Ribbon of your choice
3. Scissors
4. Staples/Sewing (optional)

First, I like to take my glue runner and lay down 2 strips of adhesive from one side of the card to the next. I do this directly on top of each other to give me a wide area of adhesive for the ribbon to adhere to:

Next, I leave the ribbon attached to the spool until I am ready to cut it off at the end, which you will see later in the tutorial. I do this because there is no exact measurement that you will need. It will all depend on the distance you are going and how much ribbon you like. I like to start on the left hand side of whatever I am working on. You will take the end of the ribbon and adhere it down about half way up the wide strip of adhesive at the very edge of your card. Press down to secure.

Now, going the other direction, lay your ribbon as show and press down to secure.

You will want to go in a back and forth motion and overlap a little each time. This overlapping will help to hide any adhesive from showing through.

I like to vary the length of mine up a bit for added interest and to make it easier on me! LOL

Once you get to the end, it will look like this...

From here, you will want to cut your ribbon from the spool leaving about 1 and 1/2"...

Fold over...

Then you will want to adhere it all the way to the far edge like you did at the beginning of the technique; keeping in mind to leave about half of the adhesive showing. Press down to adhere.

Then, I like to use my fingers to press down the middle of the ribbon to secure everything really well...

Voila'! You are done!!!

The permanent adhesive will hold this on it's own, but I have also added staples and stitching to the center for extra added interest and security.

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial! I promise, this is so simple and so fun!!! Give it a try on your cards, layouts, or altered projects today! Happy Scrappin'!

handmade tags

2010-02-23T05:00:00.001-07:00

If you're anything like me, you save everything. Especially that "free chipboard" that comes with your clothes. And the nicer brands have sturdy, heavy weight tags on their items.

To make your own HANDMADE BY... tags out of recycled clothing tags you will need:
Tags from clothes
A glue stick or tape runner
Twine or ribbon
Journal spots
Paper piercer tool
X-Acto knife
Emery board or sandpaper

Adhere the paper to both sides of the tag with your adhesive. Trim the edges with an X-Acto knife then file/sand down with the emery board or sandpaper for a smooth edge.

Pierce the paper where the original tag's hole was. Run ribbon or twine through the hole. Tie a bow or knot.

Place the journal spot and write your message, in this case, it is "HANDMADE BY...."

You can personalize it by adding more embellishments. I used ribbon, a dress form stamp from Stampin Up and some pearls from Prima.

When I saw the dress form sheet from Cosmo Cricket's Material Girl line, I knew I was going to use this paper slowly so that I could get the most out of it. I couldn't possibly have used it in smaller pieces. :)

Make some tags with the scraps you have left from the February kit before that March kit hits your doorstep! Show us what you make!! Upload your creations to the Scrapbook Circle Gallery!

Thanks for stopping by today!
-Diana F.

tip of the day.....

2010-02-22T06:00:00.001-07:00

I wanted to talk about glitter today. I have a love/hate relationship with it. I love it because of the bling and just awesomeness of the gleam. The hate part comes in with the mess. So, I challenged myself when I made this layout to use glitter on my black letters.

1. I sanded my letters a little bit.

2. I added my wet adhesive.

3. I added my glitter, I waited for the adhesive to dry.

4. I shook off the excess glitter and added wet adhesive over the top covering the glitter.

The experiment worked! No more messy lovely glitter everywhere! **If you don't have wet adhesive you can also use spray adhesive.**

So if you are like me and have a "stash" of glitter gathering dust. Don't be afraid of it! Use it! :)

March Kit Peeks!

2010-02-21T19:48:00.003-07:00

We are very excited to share our March kit with you! Once again, we've packed the kit with lots of brand new items we know you will love.

Here's a little look at what you have to look forward to in March.We are bringing October Afternoon Fly a Kite, Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety and My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary to you along with some great new embellishments from Jillibean Soup, Jenni Bowlin and more.

The full kit will be posted later this week!

Just one more little peek for you...our April kit is going to be filled with goodies from the new Dear Lizzy line!

Yet another money saving tip!

2010-02-20T18:27:00.002-07:00

Hi! I was so excited about the last post about making my own glue dots (though I didn't have time to get to Hobby Lobby today -- next week), that I wanted to share another money-saving tip that has helped me.

I own a Silhouette (die-cutting machine). I know many of you have Cricuts, Wishblades, and other such things. One thing I hate is spending money on more and more cutting mats! After a few months (or weeks depending on my cutting rate), the mats are no longer sticky and the paper slides all over. But, they can be so expensive. So, I did some research and some experimenting. This is what I came up with and ... so far so good.

I got some Krylon Easy Tack RE-POSITIONABLE adhesive spray. It has to be that, and not the permanent adhesive. Then, I take an old mat that no longer has any stick left on it. I do this outside (fumes). I give it a generous coat and let it dry for an hour or so. Then, it is a sticky (or stickier) as the day I bought it! And, I'm sure I will have DOZENS of applications out of each can. (Use a coupon and it is about $4.). After that I cover it with wax paper (unless I have my original cover still, which I loose frequently).

After trial and error, I found that two generous coats was a little much, but one small coat was not enough. So, depending on how sticky you like your mats, take that into consideration!

Enjoy and happy cutting!

Jennie

Money Saving Tip

2010-02-18T06:00:00.001-07:00

Hey guys! Happy Thursday! Today I have a great money saving tip, that I discovered a few years ago, that I would like to share with you. I know for many of us money is tight these days and if there is any way to save money, we need to do so. This is a great way to help save some pennies when it comes to your scrappy purchases!!!

Do you ever get tired of purchasing those expensive glue dots? Well, no longer my friends! You can make your own a whole lot cheaper!!!

You will need:
1 bottle of Aleene's Tack It Over & Over Glue
leftover roll from glue dots package or wax paper

You can purchase this glue at any arts and crafts store for around $5. I purchased mine at Michael's. I have found that I can make anywhere from 7-10 sets of over 200 dots from one bottle of glue! That's A LOT of glue dots for a small price!

Now, you will want to place the glue onto wax paper or leftover packaging from a roll of glue dots. I chose to save some of the packaging from a previous roll of glue dots that I had purchased so that I could roll up my homemade glue dots when dried and store. You can use wax paper, but I find the leftover packaging works a tad better. Squeeze a small amount of glue onto the paper. You will want to squeeze out a little bit bigger of a dot than you want your finished product to be because the glue will shrink just a tad during the drying process. The glue comes out of the bottle white, but the dots will turn clear as they dry. Let this sit overnight and voila'....affordable glue dots! They work great too!

I hope you will find this to be as helpful and cost effective as I have!!! Have a wonderful day!

journaling spots in the spotlight

2010-02-16T07:05:00.004-07:00

Some of you may have seen this page already on my blog or on the Scrapbook Circle community gallery page. I got a little crazy layering up all of the very spring-like pages in the February kit.

I wanted to focus on the journal spots for today. I know sometimes we have a lot more to say than the small journal spot will allow us room for. I went ahead and clumped them all together and made my bullet points on each one.

Sometimes (and this is a tough one for me) it is OK to be messy with your journaling. I'm the one who will rip a page up and start over if at the very end I mess up the handwriting.

But on this page, it was OK. I was purposely misspelling words and showing how imperfect I can be, so the messiness went with the topic.

So let's see those journal spots!

tip of the day.....

2010-02-15T10:44:00.002-07:00

I wanted to share a video I made this morning making yet another EASY altered flower. Enjoy!

Altered flower from D. Waite on Vimeo.

Making Butterflies

2010-02-13T18:08:00.002-07:00

My new found hobby has to do with my Silhouette cutting machine! I found a great butterfly shape and decided to make my own 3-d Butterfly shapes. It is SO easy.

Here is a picture of the finished product:1) Cut out the shape. I did this with my Silhouette about three different sizes. I'm sure there are plenty of butterfly shapes for the Cricut, and also punches if you want, or free-hand it!

2) Following the advice I got first hand from Donna Downey at CHA, I then spritzed the butterfly and got it damp.

3) I folded the butterfly wings up on each side, leaving a flat area (the body) for the bling.

4) Then, I used my hair dryer on hot and blew the shape dry with the wings folded up. Donna said that if you wet the paper and then make it into the shape you want and then use a heat gun (which I don't have) to dry it, that it will stay in that position!

5) After it was all dry, I added a pop-dot underneath and some little bling on the butterfly body! And, I was DONE!
Here's the whole layout, with all three butterflies. (Can you see all three?)

Have fun!!!!

Happy Friday!

2010-02-12T21:16:00.002-07:00

How is everyone? Getting ready for a fun weekend? I know that I am! :) I've been playing with the Scrapbook Circle February kit all day and soon I'll be going to bed to rest up for a busy busy weekend with my family and friends!

Here are two more layouts that I have completed with the February kit. As you can see, I used a ton of product on these layouts and I still have lots left over!

I have been waiting in suspense to see what everyone creates with their own February kits. Make sure to upload all of your projects into the Scrapbook Circle gallery so we can all admire your work!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! :)

Let's 'TIE' one on!!!

2010-02-11T06:00:00.001-07:00

Hey guys! Happy Thursday! Today I thought I would talk about another one of my favorite techniques: 'lacing up' your layouts and/or cards. This is such a fun and easy technique! There are so many ways to do this such as through the use of eyelets or by punching holes with a hole punch. But I have discovered a new and much simpler way to accomplish this look too...through the use of border punches. There are so many border punches out there that would work for this. I chose to use the Fiskars Threading Water border punch for my lacing on this layout, which was created with the fabulous SBC February kit...

'Grand'ma

All you need to do is punch both sides of your paper and thread twine, lace, ribbon, etc. through the holes like you would lacing up your shoes. You can tie it off with a bow or a knot. So simple!

I hope you will give this technique a try. Be sure to post your creations in the gallery here at SBC so we can see!!!

Have a fabulous day! Happy Scrappin'!

bending the rules

2010-02-09T05:00:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you need to bend the rules. Well, the RULERS, that is!! I just can't seem to keep these amazing ruler strips from the Cosmo Cricket Material Girl line straight. Just can't do it!

Once you get a hold of these hot little strips of paper, fight the urge to let the whole strip be seem. Crinkle it up, fold it, make it messy! It's pretty easy to do, and if you have a tape runner, it is even easier.

Go ahead and fold the piece accordion style over and over until you have gone the length of the strip. Flip it over, run the tape runner along the whole piece, including some places gluing the overlaps together to keep it extra secure. Flip back over and place on the page.

Vióla!! An extra cool 3-D dimension without much fuss that will add depth and motion to any page.

Thanks for stopping by!! Don't forget to upload your February kit creations to the Gallery so we can see what you've been working on!

—Diana F.

tip of the day.....

2010-02-08T09:14:00.002-07:00

banners are HOT right now, you see them on layouts, cards, they seem to be everywhere! While at CHA I noticed in the American Crafts booth where the dear Lizzy line was being displayed some WONDERFUL simple banners. I thought it would be fun to do for Valentine's day, I used part of the January & February kit, some scraps, a few buttons, and my cricut. Here is what I came up with:

I believe the whole thing took about 45 minutes to an hour to make. (I broke it up in two sessions. Before and after church....)

1. First I cut my shapes. The larger hearts were cut at 3" (for the backing) and 2"(for the inner part).

2. I then cut my circles, some are cut at 1 1 /2" & some are at 1 1/4".

3. I ran my Kraft colored circles through my crimper.

4. I set up the order in which I wanted my pattern to go.

5. I set my sewing machine to a straight stitch and began to sew. **to make sure there wasn't any bunching I pulled the end straight. ** Also in between each shape I let the needle go up and down 4 times--to give some space.

6. After I had everything together I glued on my buttons and letters.

Easy, peasy!

Now if you don't have a cricut or slice, or other die cutting machine you can easily do this with your punches or even hand cut your shapes. One more thing I wasn't very technical with how many pieces I cut. I just went with the flow and it turned out. I do have a few pieces left over that I will be using for gift tags and other projects.

Thanks for stopping by!

We Have a Winner!

2010-02-08T08:56:00.003-07:00

Thanks to everyone who played along with out kit giveaway this month.

With the help of random.org, we now have a February kit winner!
Comment number 103 was...
Julie! Congrats. Send me an email with your addy and I'll get your kit right out to you.

We do have two February kits left, so you still have a chance to get one for yourself.

extra distressing

2010-02-07T10:04:00.004-07:00

Hi!

In this layout from the February kit, I tried my hand at extra distressing. I like to distress the edges of my paper sometimes. I run along it with my fingernails for an easy -- no tools -- distress look. For this one, however, I went the extra m

ile. I tore out

chunks from the paper every so often -- just randomly. Here you can see it up close.

It just adds a little bit extra to the distress look. Then, I backed the whole sheet in a matching brown paper to bring out all the torn/distressed look. Hope you enjoy!

Material Girl: Not Just for Girls

2010-02-06T11:52:00.003-07:00

Even though many of the product in our February Kit are from the fabulous Cosmo Cricket Material Girl line, that does not mean that this is only a girly kit. All of the paper is double sided, so you really have a lot of design options.

Here's a layout I put together with the February kit. I love the bright colors and I would say that this is not at all girly.While I was designing this layout, I decided that I wanted to use the October Afternoon label stickers and the bottom of the page, but I wasn't quite sure how I wanted to arrange them. I cut around the stickers so that they still had the backing on them so that I could move them around on the page. After doing this, I decided that I didn't like the blue label at the bottom. Since I hadn't stuck it to the page, I wasn't committed to it.
All of the February kits that have been ordered have shipped. We only have 3 kits left, so get one while you can.