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

You are my Sunshine

 

There is a new sketch this week at Let's Scrap and this is my one page take on it. I started out thinking I would do both sides of the sketch since I have so many pictures from this trip but then I got the sunshine idea from C's shirt. I used Bazzill Kraft and Sassafras papers for the layers and the flowers.

Here is Cheri's beautiful sketch: 

  

Some details you might be interested in:

 

The yellow daisy is felt, cut with my Sizzix. The orange and yellow flower is also cut with my Sizzix, then inked and layered. The pink, blue and yellow flower is a folded creation that I learned from the amazing Helen Croft. You can find Helen's tutorial here. 

 

I also used some fun and very bulky trim that I got at Joann's. Getting it to stick was quite the project but finally, with a little Beacon's felt glue, I won the war. I just went around the square turning and folding my edges at the corners.

The photos of C were taken last summer at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. We really enjoyed our visit and I took the opportunity to take just a couple ;) photos of the kids. Here is my favorite layout from the trip:

 

I was so tickled with the MAMMOTH size of those chipboard letters!

Happy Scrapping! 

SCRAPSTREET Discovery Drive!!!

So far, 2010 rocks! I woke up on New Year's Day, grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down to check my emails. The very first one was from Lindsey Krauss at Scrapstreet Magazine. It began like this, "Dear Kristie, You've been discovered." Talk about a jaw dropping start to the New Year!!! I just kept re-reading the email and thinking, "Really? On New Year's Day? Really?" So head on over and check out the super sweet article that Lindsey Krauss wrote about me over at Scrapstreet. It still feels like a dream but every time I pull up Scrapstreet, the article is really there! What an honor, thanks again Lindsey!!!

Tuesday's Tips & Techniques: Spellbinder Storage

I have just recently discovered SPELLBINDERS Nestabilities! {I hear some of you laughing out there!!!} What a fabulous tool for card making AND scrapbooking. Once I bought my second set I realized I was going to need a safe and sound storage system to keep them handy and flat.

Here is what I came up with:

 

This is a heavy duty binder that I picked up at Target for a totally different purpose. I love that it is pink, transparent and TOUGH!!!

I keep my Spellbinder dies in DVD pockets that I had leftover from my clear stamp storage system. I got those pockets at Office Depot where I found a great selection of storage products for binders.

  

This system worked great for me ---and then I noticed out there in cyberland that several others use magnetic paper behind their dies. I was undecided about whether or not to bother. Then I ran into some magnetic paper at Hobby Lobby and I had my 40% off coupon. {Do you all know how to find and print the weekly coupon? Go here} So, home I came with the magnetic paper, which I quickly chopped down to size.

 

Super ssimple and now my dies stay perfectly nested.

  

 They slip right out of the pocket

 

and I can quickly and easily choose just the right size for my project.