Tuesday's Tips & Techniques: Acrylic Paint Storage

Today I have a really quick tip...I love acrylic paints! I use them for tons of projects, lately painting chipboard is my favorite. I have collected quite a few colors and so I thought I'd share my cute storage solution with you! I found an antique soda bottle crate at an antique store many years ago and it is just perfect for holding my paints!

I thought about mounting it on the wall but it is sooooooo heavy that I decided it was better to simply lean it up against my wall.

This way it is easily transported to my kitchen island or the garage where I do most of my painting. The handles are really handy for carrying it;)

 

I just love to use items in ways other than their intended use, especially antiques. So if you have any fun storage tips, I'd LOVE to hear them!

Happy Scrapping,

Tuesday's Tips & Techniques: Paper Bag Albums

I am all about saving my pennies these days and here is one fabulous way to do it. Head to your pantry and pull out three paper lunch sacks. 

Lay them on top of one another with the middle bag going the opposite way of the first and last.

Adhere your bags together however you like. I have used staples, brads, eyelets and stitching but I don't really have a preference for one way over another. It just depends on the look I am going for. 

This is the quickest way: staples

My daughter makes bazillions of these albums. It is a great kid project! Easy and CHEAP!

In the top example I used eyelets so I could tie on some ribbons. The eyelets give the bag the necessary stability to resist the dreaded tear. 

I also like to stitch the bags together. I begin by actually measuring {gasp} and drawing myself a little guideline:

 Then, I clip the edges together so they don't slide on me while I sew

Finally, off to the machine:

Ready for embellishing!

Once your album is assembled, you can begin adding some pretty papers. I used the 3 Bugs in a Rug Simple Pleasures line for this album. I adore this line of papers and embellishments that I got in a My Creative Scrapbook months ago. 

I like to cover the flaps with different paper than the main bag section but that is just personal preference. My daughter likes to cover the entire page with one paper, making it "more like a book than a flappy album." Her words;)

 Sometimes I even leave some of the paper sack exposed

And I also love to add some pockets to hold items like handmade tags. This is a very interactive album.

With the paper sacks, you also get these nifty "built-in" pockets for storing tags, journal blocks, pull-out pages...the ideas go on and on. I have found it is best to glue down one side of the flaps. Otherwise when sliding things it and out...well, let's just say I've met with a bit of frustration and who needs any more of that, right?

 Before

 After

I use my pockets to store extra pages that I made for the album. I made good use of my beloved border punches to jazz up the exposed edges.

***For these type of pull-outs, double sided paper is a must.

On this page, I used a scalloped circle punch to chomp out half a circle to give me a nice grippy spot with which to pull out this slide-out page since I didn't give it a fancy edge. I did pop a circle sticker on the spot where I will pull it, for durability and cuteness...

See the other side of the circle sticker?

And finally, the back of the album. This is where I plan to journal an "About this Family" blurb.

Happy Scrapping!

Design Team Call!!!

We are having a DESIGN TEAM CALL time over at LET'S SCRAP!!! Show us your take on the above sketch and you might be the next member of our team!

We have a call out for 4 talented ladies that have ample time in May, June & July to be on our Design Team!

Requirements would include
*Posting a layout from our sketch each week {FUN}
*Posting 2 challenges {MORE FUN}
*Posting 2 'Questions of the Week' {EVEN MORE FUN}
*Being VERY active on our site {a minimum of 1/2 hour per day}

If this is something you think you'd like to do, please email us your take on the sketch to dance@tekstar.com no later than April 16, 2010. Please provide your blog or web-addy where other layouts may be seen. Our new Design Team will be announced on Friday April 23. The sketch can also be found here letsscrap.ning.com. This is a international call.

Good LUCK!!! 

Tuesday's Tips & Techniques: A Ribbon Skirt

I have been long struggling with ribbon storage. It multiplies so much faster than I can contain it.  I have my beaded trims in jars and that works great for them. I have my ric rack in jars; again, works great for that. But my ribbons...I need to see them to use them so imagine my delight when I ran across an idea for storing them on a dress form in Creating Keepsakes. I grabbed my Hobby Lobby coupon and ran out the door to get a gorgeous little iron dress form I had been admiring but wouldn't buy since I didn't "need" it. Well, now I needed it!

Creating the "skirt" only took a few minutes. The ribbons are simply folded in half

 

and the loop is pulled around one of the bars

Then the ribbon tails are pulled through the loop

Done!

To take a piece of ribbon off the form, I just grab it by the loop and pull. Easy peasy and super cute in my scraproom.

I already had another wall-mounted dress form that holds flowers and packaged ribbons so this new one fits in just perfectly!

On Page 77...

in this magazine is my first paper publication!!! Off to scream into a pillow~

Sketches galore!

It's reveal day over at Let's Scrap and this is my layout for the week. This is one of my favorite sketches from Cheri!

Come on over and show us your take on the sketch. You could win this:

The scoop on my layout...

My favorite part of the fair is the Little Farmer's section. The kids get to go through all the motions of being a farmer; from gathering grain, planting, harvesting and getting paid. At the end they get to use the "money" they earn to buy an ice cream or a chocolate milk. So fun!

Oh and there is a FAKE cow to milk! And rides too, of course. Papers are Bo Bunny, and the giant scallops are created with a deep punch from Martha.

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Scrap-a-Little!!!

There is also a new challenge posted at Scrap-a-Little. This month is a sketch challenge based on this fun sketch by Helen:

You have until the last day of the month to link your layout!

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And finally, my take on Julie Bonner's sketch {last month} at Magpie:

 This is made with brand new Prima papers and flowers. I punched around the edge with the CUTEST Martha heart edge punch. You guessed it, got it on sale after V-day!

Tuesday's Tips & Techniques: Tissue Paper Flowers

 Tissue paper flowers are super easy to make and super nice to the budget too! I started by using my scalloped circle Spellbinders to cut out a variety of sizes of circles. However, these flowers look FANTASTIC when the circles are cut by hand and not perfectly in a circle, kwim?!? 

Yes, I did emboss some of my circles here. I was just playing with a new embossing folder. 

 Next, I sprayed my papers with a bit of Glimmer Mist. I do this for a couple reasons...it give a nice bit of added color and thus depth to the finished flower AND it helps to mold them into shape.

This is the fun part! Mold them into shape by squishing them into little balls. Yes, really! Once they have dried a bit {you don't have to wait until they are totally dry} flatten them out enough so that you can layer them on top of each other. Be careful with damp tissue paper, it rips easily.

I like to staple mine in the middle, it's quick and easy and doesn't show in the end anyway. Then scrunch them into a flower shape. This is where you can decide how full you want your flowers. 

I use a bit more Glimmer Mist at the end. This really sets the shape. If you don't have Glimmer Mist or don't want to use it, I bet water works just as well!!!

 Ta-Da!

 Happy Creating!
Kristie