Saturday, October 10, 2009

Scrapbooking Ideas and Solutions - Punch Art

Scrapbooking Ideas and Solutions - Punch Art

Punches of all kinds have been a staple tool in the scrapbooker's kit for more than a decade. The fact is that they have been around so long that they tend to be left unused in the back of drawers. With all the wonderful new embellishments that are available for pages nowadays, the punches seem to be a thing of the past.

There are a lot of ways to breathe new life into your old punches that will have your layouts looking modern and stunning.

Idea Number 1:

Paint your white card stock or one of the cards that you take out of a new album in a color, pattern or technique of your choice. Use two background pages for a single page layout and three for a double layout. Punch your pieces out of one of the painted pages and use them to embellish and add final touches to your finished master piece.

It looks great if you leave the punched out pieces popping up on the page by sticking them down with spongy backings. Your punch outs will match your background. If you don't do painting, you could do the same thing with any of your background paper choices.

Idea Number 2:

A plain sheet of card stock looks great decorated with a mixture your punch outs and those same shapes cut out of the middle of small squares of paper. Positioning punch outs on the background of your card stock gives a 3D effect and ads interest to your page.

You can also use punch outs from the same card stock as your background, and it will look as if your layout has been dry embossed. In this way you can create your own unique backgrounds that nobody else will have.

You could also use a theme with your punch outs. For example, photos of a country side walk could be enhanced by using punches of dark green leaves.

Idea Number 3:

Another pretty idea that I saw, was punch outs attached together by threading string through them like they were beads and you can use the string to hold up your journaling or photos.

Idea Number 4:

Use a punched out shape to attach string by punching a hole in the middle of it and attaching to your page with an eyelet, and then threading string through the middle for whatever purpose.

Idea Number 5:

If you have a flower design on one of your punches, you could punch out a few flowers and place them one on top of the other to make a pretty 3D flower embellishment. All you do then to finish it off is punch a small hole in the middle and stick the flower down with a brad. You could then bend the petals up towards you to make the flower stand out.

So scrappers, don't let those punches lie around in drawers unused, with a little imagination, you can make them go a long way.

For more creative ideas, visit http://scrapbookideasandsolutions.blogspot.com

Michel Maling
I love Scrapbooking and I love Online Marketing. Two completely different fields, but both require passion, hard work and ongoing dedication.

http://scrapbookideasandsolutions.blogspot.com

Scrapbook Ideas and Creative Scrapbooking

Scrapbook Ideas and Creative Scrapbooking

Many people have a passion for scrapbooking and always want to learn new scrapbook ideas on creative scrapbooking.

Creative thinking always discovers a way out and a person who create a new ideas always exercises his creativity in every aspect of life. People want to channel out their personal aesthetic and creative true talent. Every person has a such gift and can use it in daily routine.

Scrapbooking is a great way to encourage your creativity and make scrapbooks in your own creative manner. You also able to use creative scrapbooking as a finest and innovative way to preserve your cherished memories. Creative scrapbook ideas allows easier to tell the life story and capture the mood and all aspects of the events and bring it to life.

You can create your own scrapbook ideas in a different ways. You have photos of wedding moment, baby shower and other cherished moments. Start to combine photos and journaling together to expend your ideas and thoughts. Combine this elements with different layouts, quotes, stickers and other embelishments to make your unique project.

Try to learn and use new techniques to enhance your pages. New designs and techniques can add to your scrapbooking skills some creativity. Play around with your photos, favorite pics. Try to change particular arrangements of pages elements, color schemes, your scrapbook strategies.

Do not compare your work to it of someone else. Your art of work express your personality, your own creative scrapbook ideas. Be the best judge for yourself and your creative scrapbooking talent.

You can simply get a common ideas from other and create your own more amazing scrapbook ideas, new themes, new designs. Contemporary scrapbooking supplies makes all your dreams alive. You can get a lot of fantastic ideas from craft books, scrapbooking magazines, catalogues, Internet. Be free to use them. Go ahead,go wild.

Creative scrapbook ideas are everywhere, they can come to you at any minute, even a daily routine can spark great ideas. So get ready to catch them and realize in new creative project. For more inspiration you can visit eBay auction to view what scrapbook suggestions other folks are offering to buy.

Visit Amazon stores to search most popular scrapbook items. It is a great chance to find more wonderful ideas. Try to consider an unusual sources of inspiration. Example, visit your local library, visit an art exposition, visit a creative scrapbooking party.

Creative scrapbooking is a great chance to find yourself or express other people who you are. Use creative scrapbook ideas and do not forget that scrapbooking become now an art.

I am a scrapbooking fanatic and I love creative scrapbook ideas. Scrapbook Ideas

Monday, September 28, 2009

Hold a Scrapbooking Party

Hold a Scrapbooking Party

If you're looking for something new and fun to do with friends, you might consider a scrapbooking party. This is a great way to get everyone together and work on your favorite designs. You might have one large scrapbook project that you're all doing together or you might invite everyone to bring their own scrapbook projects along so you can work on them together.

When you have a scrapbooking party, everyone can bring along any scrapbook items and tools they want to share with others and this is a great way to expand the tools that you use. You can also get great ideas for new designs and templates from others who attend your party.

If you're planning a scrapbook party, here are some important things to keep in mind or plan for:

  • Who will you invite?
  • Send invites out in time for everyone to plan properly
  • Plan for snacks or a meal during the party
  • How long will the event last?
  • Be sure you have a lot of clear space for supplies and decorating (such as a large kitchen table)

You may also want to print out some scrapbook themes or templates which can be found free on the Internet for use at your party and to help others get new ideas. If you have books or articles about scrapbooking, it can be fun to pull these out in case others haven't seen or read them before. You may also want to come up with a fun game or activity that you can do with your scrapbooks to break the ice and lighten the mood.

These types of parties are also a good idea for children, sleepovers, family get-togethers and a pastime during holiday events. If the people attending your scrapbook party don't all know each other, be sure you remember your host manners and introduce everyone as well so they feel more comfortable.

Make sure you stock up on scrapbooking supplies before the party. And tell everyone they can sign up to win a Cricut cartridge

Scrapbooking Ideas and Solutions - Using Envelopes and Folders

Scrapbooking Ideas and Solutions - Using Envelopes and Folders

In order to keep our newspaper cuttings, that first lost tooth or that special lock of hair in our scrapbook layout without the acid damaging our photos in the long run, we have to think about using envelopes or folders on the layout. Envelopes are also great for journaling and special messages you want to store that are private.

There are loads of commercially made templates to help you make great envelopes and similar items, or one can buy books of printed templates. There are also some great online internet sites that provide downloadable templates for tags, files, folders, cards, matchboxes and envelopes and what's more, they are free. Try ruthannzaroff.com or stampington.com, just to mention two of them.

When making an envelope from a template, you have a lot of options and things you could do. You could maybe make the envelope from the same paper as the layout, or use a contrasting color or texture.

Vellum and wrapping or wall paper are great as well, just bear in mind that they may not be acid free. If using a patterned paper, ensure that the pattern runs the right way on the finished envelope.

When you have traced and cut out your shape, use a ruler and an embossing tool or bone folder to score the fold lines for a neater fold. You can use various ways to fasten your envelopes. Some are just folded in, and some are secured with a flap, but others will require a stronger fastener.

Buttons and Buttonholes can also be used or sealing wax for a permanent closure. There are beautiful fasteners that can be purchased at craft shops. Ribbons and miniature pegs also make attractive and decorative fasteners.

Make your own fastener by cutting out two small card circles. Punch a hole in the middle of each circle and attach to the envelope with eyelets or mini brads. Then wind a string or fibre around the circles in a figure of eight to finish.

Another great idea is to chalk around your envelope to make it stand out on your layout and give the item more depth. Experiment by using more than one envelope on your layout, even if they don't hold anything, they can still be attractive.

Photo's can also be mounted on the front of files and envelopes. File folders can be bound together to create mini books to go on your layout or to be used as a stand alone project.

The scrapbooking ideas and solutions you can do using templates is endless and you will be amazed at your creativity when you see what a little folding and scoring can create.

For more ideas visit: http://scrapbookideasandsolutions.blogspot.com.

Michel Maling

Passionate about Scrapbooking

http://scrapbookideasandsolutions.blogspot.com

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

5 Tips to Creative Scrapbooking

5 Tips to Creative Scrapbooking

Creative Scrapbooking is achievable with the right tools, materials and techniques. It used to be exclusively available to professional scrapbookers and artists only. However, with the invention of affordable new scrapbooking materials and tools, designing a creative scrapbook is no longer a myth.

Nowadays, scrapbooking newbies can easily learn how to create a creative and artistic scrapbooking design through readily available books and dvd courses. They can also register through scrapbooking event and classes held in their neighborhood.

Here are 5 useful tips to a creative scrapbooking design:

1.Pay Attention to Theme Selection

Choose a theme based on the event that your scrapbook is dedicated to. Special events such as wedding, baby showers or Halloween are high on the list but you are not limited to this.

Depending on the objective and the person that you are paying tribute to, your scrapbook theme can be very simple or complex. For example, if you are scrapbooking about you first car, you might choose a theme with your new car being the focal point. You can include photos of yourself holding the car key.

Your chosen theme must reflect this so that you can create the mood and feeling of that particular moment.

2. Use Embellishments

You can decorate your scrapbook using embellishments to add some special touches to it. A good example is using fabrics or plastic flowers to highlight your gardening scrapbook. These can create a 3D effect around your main focal photo.

You can buy them in the craft and hobby shops. They come in different designs and sizes. Having said that, you can also get them at second hand shops and garage sales, sometimes at a much cheaper price.

You can do a lot of creative scrapbooking design with embellishment - the limit is your imagination.

3. Don't Forget Stickers

Stickers are a favorite among scrapbookers because they are very easy to use. They are fun and can be expressive too. All you need to do is peel the backside paper and after that you can directly stick them on your scrapbook pages.

Stickers come in many different designs, colors and characters. Popular cartoon characters, bubbles and signs are just to name a few.

Some stickers can cause damage to your photos. You should always check if it is lignin and acid free. Sometimes it is listed at the back of the package so don't forget to read the small print. If in doubt, you might want to ask the store assistant for more information.

4) Try Tearing Your Paper Instead of Cutting It

We normally use special scissors to create the wavy effect on our scrapbook pages. The effect is identical and it is much easier to control.

Why don't you tear your paper instead? You can achieve natural torn effect and you can use it as a border on your scrapbook pages. I'd suggest you practice tearing on normal paper first before you actually start doing it on your specialized scrapbook paper.

Well, you don't want to waste your precious supply, do you?

5) Consider Embossing

If you haven't heard the term embossing, it is actually referring to painting using heat. It adds colors and shine effect to objects.

It is actually very easy to use. What you need to do is sprinkle some embossing powder on the area that you want to emboss and just heat the powder until it melted. I find it easier to use hair dryer to apply heat but maybe you have other methods of your choice.

The 5 tips above are very easy to do. With some practice, it can definitely help in your creative scrapbooking project

Sue Sulong is passionate about scrapbooking. If you truly wish to succeed and learn more useful tips about creative scrapbooking, then you must visit her site at Creative Scrapbooking Tips.