Tuesday's Tips

With all of the beautiful shaped albums that are out there to dress how about a tip for applying paper to shaped chipboard?

I trace the paper using the shaped chipboard page and then mark the top of the page on the inside because I find my cutting leans to the right a little ;-). Then I adhere the page in the center first ~ that way I can maneuver the sheet to fit exactly. Finally I apply the rest of the adhesive around the edges. Trim any extra and ink and your page is done!!

Happy scrapin!!

This month Tuesday's tip is a Thursday tip!

Well, thankfully Thursday also starts with the letter "T" and today's tip is about getting your titles to line up to a "T" so we are looking good...

Thursday's Tip

Have you ever been frustrated by not being able to get sticker title letters to line up right? If so, try this: use a clear grid ruler. First draw a very soft pencil line where you want to line the title up. Next, adhere your letters to the ruler affixing only the base of the letters to the base of one of the grid lines in your ruler. (You'll probably want to choose a line that is 1/4" or so down from the upper edge of the ruler.) Adjust the stickers as necessary until they are straight and spaced to your liking. Once you have them straight and ready to go, place the ruler onto your page lining up the grid line you've used on the ruler with the one you traced onto your page and press down the tops of the letters and carefully peel the letters off the ruler to adhere the bottoms of letters to the page. Carefully erase the penciled line.

A couple of other good title tips:

• Lay your title letters out first for spacing. Measure the length of all your letters and determine the center point. Then determine the center of the space available on your page for the title. Add the center letter and work out from there. (For rub-on or sticker title, cut your letters WITH their backing before arranging and measuring letters.)
• If available title "real estate" on your page is tight, be sure to start your title from the right edge of paper and work backwards. This will keep you from running out of room before you run out of title.

Happy titling!

TUESDAY'S TIPS

A quick thanks to Amber for changing the background ~ it's fantastic!!

Hey ~ Cindy and I were thinking along the same line for today's tip!
We came up with some uses for the plastic backing that stickers or acrylic stamps come on.
First, Cindy suggested using these clear backings when you are contemplating a stamped image on your layout. She suggests that you can stamp onto the transparency and play with it on top of the layout until you find a placement you like. Also, if you have several clear pieces, you can "test drive" different colors of ink or paint.
Second, I have been using the plastic to hold my acrylic stamps for stamping, instead of an acrylic block. I like using my hands to apply pressure as I find it helps to make sure the ink reaches all nooks and crannies without applying too much pressure which then smudges the ink (I seem to do that sometimes with the acrylic block).
Third, I have used this plastic for shaker boxes....

Let us know what you think ~ or what you do with the plastic backings. ;-)

Happy Scrapping

Tuesday's Tips

It's a little late (just minutes past midnight here), but this week's "Tuesday" tip is... use a "Glue Book".

What exactly *is* a glue book? It's a book you use when you are working with something messy such as adhesive or paint. The book itself is any old magazine or flyer that is destined for the trash can anyway. Start at an early page and do your messy work, then flip forward page by page as each one becomes too messy to work on. When you are done, toss the book.

I've used this technique for ages since reading it in a now forgotten magazine, but it is fresh in my mind after using a glue book during a make-n-take project at CHA. If you're the curious sort, the booth we used this at was B Line Designs a source of wonderful vintage stamps.

Tuesday's Tips

Tuesday February 5

I have a few little tips....
1. To use loose sparkles (making memories "scrapbook shimmer" or the generic kind you can get at the dollar store), first spread elmer's glue (the kind you used in school, your kids should have some) where you want and then add the sparkles. It needs to dry thoroughly.

2. The next time you wash your rags try this... before throwing them in the dryer, take a few out to dust with! They are the perfect dampness for dusting and won't streak. Try it on your windows, t.v., monitors, furniture and more. You'll be amazed at how much dusting you can get done in a short time!
3. Use coupons as gift giving! It's a good way to be creative with your paper scraps and loved ones and friends will be thrilled. I received some from my daughters and I just love them. I saw someone had a scrapbook listed on ebay that included coupons for back rubs, dinner out and more. You could offer baby sitting services to a family with a new addition (actually ANY family would appreciate it!!), taking a loved one on a special outing, all sorts of wonderful things. I'm making a couple for my girls right now...

till next Tuesday ~ happy scrapping,
Tammy
ps; please add anything that you would like!!

Tuesday's Tips

Well, I hope this is helpful to some...

Today I read a quote under an ebayer's tag (I'm afraid I forget her user name...). She said "If life hands you lemons, grab the salt and tequila and call me over!" LOL ~ I really liked that one. With scrapbooking I know that for many of us, trying to correct our mistakes has created some wonderful NEW ideas and techniques.

The tip I would like to suggest is for paper bag albums. Many times I work on a cover and it comes out less than fantastic. Often the title is nice enough, just not as great as I would like it to be for a cover. In the past I would often try and work with it and change it and it would never be exactly what I wanted. Now, if I find it's just not working, I will use the piece somewhere else in the album and just start over. Then, I always LOVE my cover and have a really nice page in the album (or sometimes on the back).

So, if life hands you lemons......;-)

Happy Scrapping!
Tammy

Tuesday's Tips

Journaling Tips...

Here are a few tips to help, yet again ;-), with journaling:

1. Try getting a different perspective. Ask a family member what they remembered about a shared event. Maybe record an event through a love one's eyes. For example, a wedding day would look very different to a four year old ~ there may be some very interesting details that you never knew...

2. Take a break from journaling! Instead, go through your albums and read your existing journaling. This will help you learn about your style, see what you would like to improve, and appreciate the hard work you've already done. Your focus, on what you want to achieve and how to achieve it, will be sharpened.

Have fun!
Tammy

Tuesday's Tips

Oops, I did it again.....Tuesday's Tip on Wednesday ;-)

I would like to continue with a couple more tips on photography.

Crop with your camera. Imagine what a cute photo you are getting of your little ballerina dancing her newest routine. Then when you look at it, you realize there's a mound of laundry right beside her, in the shot. Now it is easier to crop our photos with the computer, but consider cropping while taking your pictures. To eliminate items from a photo try a different angle. Try standing on a chair or lying down to get that angle. The effects are fantastic. I try to do this when taking pictures of my albums to sell on ebay. It's good practice too.

Happy Scrapping
Tammy

A Word About Stockpiling Scrapbook Supplies

Sorry Tammy, I just had to offer these tips when I saw them. This just motivated me to clean out my scraproom. Something that I have been putting off and dreading...

Did you know that an inch of pattern paper is estimated to be 100 sheets or 75 finished pages?

Did you know that one inch of cardstock is roughly 50 pages finished? How many inches do YOU have? How many pages do you do a year?

Do you have over 12 inches (1 foot) of cardstock or printed paper? Do you realise that is enough paper for 1000 pages? Are you stockpiling for someday when you already own enough paper to do thousands of pages?

Did you know that one tin/set of 100 eyelets makes and average of 20 pages? (And how many sets of 100 do YOU own?)

Did you know that many paper packs and multi sheet slabs usually have 10-20% of their patterns that will not suit you within a pack? (one sheet in 5 may not be to your taste so don't keep it in the stash--share!)

Did you know that each sticker sheet you own will do aproximately a two page layout? If you have binder full of stickers it will equal about 300 pages to use them up?

Did you know that each yard of fiber you own will make 1-2 pages? If you own a skein of knitting yarn, they contain between 100-200 yards of fiber? At that rate it will take you 100-200 pages of JUST THAT SKEIN to use up that yarn ball on layout pages? (SHARE!!)

Did you know that the average gel and writer pen ink longevity INSIDE a pen is one year before it is generally dry or unusable? (Use them up before they DRY up!)

Did you know that playing music when you scrapbook helps your creativity and productivity?

Did you know that starting with a format saves you 20 minutes PER PAGE?

Did you know there are about 500 free sketches online? Watch our links for sites. If you can't find those free ones online to print and refer to, or need ideas for crop parties, get Becky Higgins Creative Sketches book and also her Creative Companion book. Sketches are simply awesome for versatile formats of layouts.

Did you know that shopping once a week at the scrapbook store costs most scrappers an average of $25.00 each trip? (And most of those have enough items at home already to make 1000's of pages.) $25.00 times 52 weeks a year means $ 1300 spent per year.

Did you know that sticker letters cost an average of $3-$5 dollars a sheet now? Buy black so that later you can mix and match later your partial sheets for 'mixed font' titles. It will save you at least a dollar a sheet to BUY BLACK! Why? Because you will eventually get more many titles per sheet that way!

Did you know that one ABC sticker sheet usually makes only two titles before is is 'cast off' by most scrapbookers? Over half the stickers are then wasting away in binders or storage and cloggin up precious storagespace--never to be used again.

Did you know that people will pay $1 each for two punched flowers and a brad or pop dot? (Think Jolees, K and Co, and Paper Bliss) Do ityourself for a fraction of that. It takes only pennies to make a stacked flower from your scraps and chalk the outside petals..... I know you have scraps and brads, eyelets or pop dots! LOL Pay yourself about $20 to $40 an hour and make a few dozen sets instead of buying them.

Did you know that stamping your own twill ribbon with phrases saves you $2.00 a yard? How many premade ribbon yards do you have that you need to use up? Wording ribbon usually works out to 1 foot per page. If you have a stockpile of 20 yards of worded ribbons of all kinds, that means you better get cracking and make 60 pages before you buy more!!

TUESDAY'S TIPS

This tip may help your scrapbooking in a round about way ;-)....I received this in an email and thought it was pretty funny!
#1. Three Little Words That Work
The three little words are: 'Hold On, Please...' Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off (instead of hanging-up immediately) would make each telemarketing call so much more time-consuming that boiler room sales would grind to a halt. Then when you eventually hear the phone company's busy tone, you know it's time to go back and hang up.
#2. When no one is on the other end
This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls and records the time of day when a person answers the phone to determine the best time of day for a 'real' sales person to call back and get someone at home. What you can do after answering, if you notice there is no one there, is to immediately start hitting your # button on the phone, 6 or 7 times, as quickly as possible This confuses the machine and it kicks your number out of their system.
#3. Junk Mail Help
When you get 'ads' enclosed with your phone or utility bill, return these 'ads' with your payment. This allows the company the opportunity to throw their own junk mail away. When you get those 'pre-approved' letters in the mail for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and such, do not throw away the return envelope. Most of these come with postage-paid return envelopes, right? Why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in these cool little, postage-paid return envelopes. If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't on anything you send. You can even send the envelope back empty if you want. It still costs them 37 cents. Let's help keep our postal service busy since they are saying that e-mail is cutting into their business profits, and that's why they need to increase postage costs again You get the idea !If enough people follow these tips, it will work.

I hope no one is offended, but I found these to be funny.

Happy Scrapping
Tammy

Tuesday's Tips

For today's tip we have some tips from PFOP members regarding SANDING! I have never tried it before, but now must give it a go!

First this is what Camille said:
I have recently rediscovered using sandpaper or a metal file to trim the edges of my paper when doing acrylic albums and chipboard. I love the finished look.
Secondly Kristi added:
You can also use it effectively on tins.
And third, Cindy offered:
Sandpaper can also be folded and used directly on photos to create a distress frame.

To me, this sounds like an inexpensive technique that can quickly add dimension and texture to our projects. Please add any additional tips you might like to share that will help us with sanding.

Happy Scrapping & thanks girls!!
Tammy

Tuesday's Tip!

Our poor Tammy is out sick today and so she asked me to post a tip for her. While reading the scrapbook discussion boards, someone posted a helpful thread that she ran across somewhere. I thought that I would share it with you.

Scrapbooking as an Art Form: Ten Principles of Design & Composition

A scrapbook is more than a photo album with a few cute stickers. It's a visual recording of your life and loves. A way to communicate with generations to come.It's also the basis of a multi-billion dollar industry - and it's an art form all in itself.Here are ten basic design principles to guide your own creativity and lend natural balance and flow to your scrapbook pages.

1. Designate your focal point, first thing, by choosing your layout's main photograph. Ask yourself, "Where do I want the viewer's attention to be drawn first?" Then you can choose your supplementary, supporting photographs, if appropriate.

2. Group accents and small embellishments in groups of three or five. Aesthetically, we are drawn to groupings that contain an odd number of items.

3. Place related accents close in proximity so the eye processes them as one unit.

4. Create a triangle on the page, placing photos or embellishments at each of the triangle's three points. Our eyes like that, too.

5. Create sections in multiples of two. Two sections or four sections are more aesthetically pleasing to our eyes than 3 or 5 sections.

6. Apply the "Rule of Thirds." Think of your page as a grid, divided into thirds horizontally and vertically. Place your focal point on one of the convergences of these lines.

7. Maintain balance with the size of your elements. Consider both the size and complexity of your page elements as you distribute them in your layout.

8. Achieve a natural sense of flow by placing the photographs so that the eyes of your subjects turn toward the center of the page - or toward your focal point.

9. Use repetition. Repeat shapes, textures, sizes, colors, or other attributes.

10. Sketch your favorite layouts in books and scrapbooking magazines. Try to determine which design principles are at work to create such visual appeal and work to incorporate those principles into your own layouts.

The first rule of art, of course, is not to be bound by rules. Now that you know the basics of what our eyes are naturally attracted to, see what kind of beauty you can create.

Tuesday's Tips

Well, Kristi got a CRICUT ~ YAY Kristi ~ and it's been the buzz on our discussion board. So.... the ever-so-knowledgeable Cindy has some great advice. Here it is:

So, here are the two tips I learned and they work with the George cartridge that came with early machines (not sure if it still does?)

Trick #1 - Making letters smaller than 1"I think 1" is the smallest setting, if not than just call this the "making letters smaller than lowest setting tip" (hee hee hee). It is so easy that I can't believe I never thought of it and maybe you Cricut girls already are doing this. You use the sign feature! The machine can cut a small letter on a sign and the height of the sign is 1" (or lowest setting) making the letters about half that size. BTW, there will be some extra waste due to the sign being cut too. ALSO, be sure to slow the blade way down for this or your letters *will* tear. If there are other cartridges besides George with the sign feature, obviously this works on those too.

Trick #2 - Making rings (or hollowed out circles)Again, super easy to do but I sure never stumbled on this one on my own. In fact, even after I'd seen these used on a layout and so *knew* it could be done, I still couldn't figure it out. I had two different users try to email me instructions but I just couldn't figure it out until I saw it done in person (I'm a very visual person-lol!) The trick is in using the silhouette feature. (I had been trying to use the shadow feature, which won't do the hollowed items.) So, the great thing is that this works with ALL the basic shapes on George - hearts, squares, triangles, flowers, etc. And if there are other cartridges with the silhouette feature and solid shapes it works on them too. I love it! It is *so* hard to cut nice rings using a circle cutter, and an "o" is usually not a perfect circle if ukwim.So, have fun playing!

Thanks Cindy!
Happy Scrapping

TUESDAY'S TIPS

Oh my, I cannot believe it's Tuesday already!!

Well, looking at my workspace right now, there is no way I could ever be accused of being organized!! LOL

I really do work the best in this state of organized confusion though. It's so different from cooking ~ I like it clean and tidy to start cooking. Scrapping, I do better in my organized chaos. So even chaos needs some organization and the key to that is STORAGE.

I love shopping for scrapbooking almost as much as scrapping (even more according to the amount of supplies I have ;-0)!!

Winners has some great storage items (they're usually right beside the area where you find scrapping supplies!!). I use a hat box for some of my flowers ~ love hat boxes, but don't have any hats.... I found a great jewelry style box for 5.00! The other containers that were the same style, but different colours were 20.00 ~ YAY! And IKEA has great storage solutions. LOVE their little glass jars that sit at an angle. I keep them on my window sill at eye level to remind me what little knick knacks I have. And of course we shoud REDUCE REUSE and RECYCLE, so I love to find little containers at home (eg: starbucks little glass jars are so cute, almost as nice as a prima jar, but free!).

I would love to hear what you all use for storage, or see. Please share!!

Happy Scrapping,

Tammy

Welcome to Tuesday's Tips....

Well, Tuesday is not yet over so I am just in time to leave a tip for today ;-)
Papercraftprincess ~ Cindy had some great advice for journaling. Journaling is one of the most difficult parts of scrapbooking for me personally, but still so important. After reading Cindy's suggestions, I realized there are different levels of journaling. Here is what she suggested:

One is, at the very least journaling should include basic facts like a date, event, location, who is in the pics, etc. We've all seen or heard of someone finding or inheriting old photos or albums filled with unidentified people (probably relatives). So, even if you can't stand writing at least record the facts. Another tip is to use a calendar, journal or blog to record important details, your thoughts or feelings about things you want to scrap. Then you have that source to refer to when it is time to do the page. There are new products out there that make this even easier --journaling spots or tablets that you can jot your notes directly on to and save for later when you do the layout. The journaling is all done --you just adhere the note onto your page/s.

Thank you very much Cindy and if anyone has other suggestions or tips regarding journaling, please post them here.

Happy Scrapping,
Tammy