Thrifty Thursday 1-22-09

Sometimes we think we need to get really complicated when we are scrap-booking.  My up-line Amy Johnson taught me that in most cases we just need to keep it simple.  Her favorite way to scrapbook is using quick strips. 

 Here are some fun quick strips I made with the sports stamps.  A few of the items are retired, but you can see how to take the same basic idea a create different pages just by how you put them together.  You can save time and money with this simple layout.  Noticed how I just changed the way the strips were layed out and the accent pieces to create 4 different looks.

go-team115010 Just Soccer $13.95

114928 Big Deal Alphabet $42.95

football115006 Just Football $13.95

113510 Schoolbook Serif Alphabet $42.95

b-ball115004 Just Basketball $13.95

114998 Jumbo Outline Alphabet $42.95

play-ball115002 Just Baseball $13.95

Here is a list of some of the other great sports sets including 2 new ones.  You can find all of them on pages 74 & 75 of the spring/summer ’09 catalog.

115008 Just Riding $13.95
115012 Just Surfing $13.95
115014 Just Tennis $13.95

This set is a must have for any sports page.  I think I used it on all ove them.

115072 Sporting $18.95

Click here to start placing your on-line order.

Click here to see more weekly Challenge Projects

Technique Tuesday 1-20-09

I love this all in the family set but often times I’ve heard “I wouldn’t be able to line that up.”  Then I just say it’s easy with the stamp-a-ma-jig.  All you have to do is stamp the image on your imaging sheet then line it up where you want it remove the imaging sheet and line the stamp up with the jig and stamp.  Perfect every time. 

stamp-a-ma-jigHowever this set has lots of little pieces and I didn’t want to wipe off my imaging sheet every time so I came up with this.  I used the little celo bags and stamped one image in each corner (I used StazOn ink).  This way I didn’t need to keep wiping them off.  Then I just saved the bags and I have it ready to go any time I want to use this great set. 

frontThis fun page was created for my sister.  It was the front of the Calender I made her for Christmas. 

family-calendar-close-upHere is a close up of the cute little family.  In the set you can choose the head, body, feet and arms for all the larger family members.  There are also lots of fun accessories you can add as well as a cat and a dog.

101406 Jet Black StazOn Ink Pad $7.95
1101049 Stamp-a-ma-jig $11.95
103104 Small Flat (3×5) cellophane bags $3.95 (50)
113488 All in the Family $38.95
Fun accessories and wheel can be found on pages 76 & 77 of the new Spring/Summer ’09 catalog

Click here to start placing your on-line order.

Click here to see more weekly Challenge Projects

Marvelous Monday 1-19-09

cherishThis great page was done by my up-line Janice Barlow a couple of years ago for Convention.  I have always loved this page.  I just think the colors are beautiful together.  She colored the pretties flowers by putting them in a solution of ink refills and water I think.

Click here to see more weekly Challenge Projects

Stampin’ Sunday 1-18-09

They have announced the Artisan Award Contest again so I’ve been thinking a lot about what I wanted to do.  This is a contest for any demonstrator who just wants to show off her stuff.  I like this contest because it’s based solely on your creativity so it’s great for anyone who got into Stampin’ Up! because they love to create and they aren’t working it as a business, but it’s also great for people like me who works the business and sometimes needs a little push to get the creative juices flowing. 

bugs-kisses-closedI have entered this contest every year since they started it.  This will be my third year.  I haven’t one yet, but I have had several of my items featured on the demonstrator website as well as at Convention.  I love seeing my things displayed and I love knowing that they liked something I did. 

So for this Swapping Sunday I though I would share the projects I made for the last 2 years.  I can’t share this year’s with you until after the contest (because of the rules.)  But i figured I could share the old ones with you.  Although some of the product is retired now I thought they still might inspire you. 

two-by-twoI have shown just a few of the samples here but you can click here to see all of them.

Click here to see more weekly Challenge Projects

Thrifty Thursday 1-15-09

Have you ever tried one of those books where all of the accents are made with one piece of paper.  Well I wanted to give it a try.  I searched for patterns, but didn’t really find one that worked for what I was doing so I just made up my own.  If I can find it I will try and post it for you.

mb-frontThis is a great book to use for gift items, for kids or for something you just want a quick small scrapbook of that you can keep around the house.  I created this book for my son DJ.  It’s of his baseball team last summer.  The nice thing about it is that it’s quick and easy to make so you could make one for each kid or if they are old enough they could make their own.

First you want to decided on a theme.  I obviously used baseball here so I chose the Just Baseball set #109459 $12.95.  I also used the sporting set $109246 $17.95.

Then I picked the colors I wanted to use.  You want to choose 3 to 4 colors that you will used for the entire book.  I used Real Red, Night of Navy and Whisper White as my basic colors.  Then I added Close to Cocoa and Sahara Sand as my accent colors.  I picked my colors to match his baseball team colors and the colors of the equipment.

Next you will need 1 piece of 8 1/2 x 11 paper that you will be stamping on.  I used the Whisper White.  Then you just want to stamp your images on it randomly.  It doesn’t really matter where you stamp them because you are going to cut the paper all up.  I overlapped them a lot because I liked the look of it.

Once you have your paper stamped you will cut it up to the pattern.  Then you will need a piece of 8 1/2 x 11 paper of your accent color.  I have used the night of navy.  You would use the pattern to cut up this paper to go behind your stamped paper.

This book is a 6×6 and has 16 pages.  To save money I attached the pieces to both sides of the paper instead of using two different ones back to back.  It makes a total of 16 pages so you will need to sheets of 12 x 12 cut into 6×6 to give you 8 sheets.

mb-pg-7Once you have everything cut you can begin to assemble the book.  Here is just a sample of one of the pages.  You can click here to see the whole book.  I really will try to find the pattern and get it posted for you as well. 

I hope you try making one of these fun books for a loved one or letting your kids try one of there own. 

Some of the other great sets you could use to to create one of these books are: any of the sport ones, any flower sets, wild about you, bugs & kisses or just try it with your favorite set.

Click here to see more weekly Challenge Projects

Technique Tuesday 1-13-09

These awesome matches were made by my up-line Mindy Bywater.  She did them for a Convention Swap last year.  I think her and Janice used them for a club later because I made the card at one of Janice’s Demo Club nights.  Now your are probably wondering why they would be on technique Tuesday.  Well if you look closely at the ear of the Elephant you can see why.  On all of the animals she has used the beads.

I thought this was defiantly a fun and different way to use the beads.  If you’ve never tried them before then here’s the easy steps to use them.  I usually use both beads when I make things, but here she only used the micro beads.  I believe that we used the crystal effects.

First you want to stamp your image like normal.  Next you want to cut your image out if you are cutting them.  All the animals on the page are cut out.  The card is just on a square.  Once you have cut out your images you are ready to put on the beads.

wild-about-you-pagesI’m going to be bad here and suggest something other than our wonderful powder pals when working with the beads.  The reason is the tiny beads bounce really bad and are full of static.  I sometimes use the large powder pal underneath, but I’ve actually found what works best is a piece of paper folded in 1/2.  I use the grid paper because it’s nice and big.  I like the paper because it doesn’t cause as much static and I can fold it completely in 1/2 and pour the beads back into the container without them bouncing everywhere.

To apply the beads you want to apply just a very thin layer of crystal effects and then sprinkle on the beads.  Don’t worry about spilling some on your paper that’s why we made it so that we could funnel them back into the container. 

wild-elephantShake off any loose beads and set them aside and to dry.  Make sure you let them dry really good.  You don’t want to try and apply them to the page when they are still wet or you will squish your beads and it won’t look good.

If you are doing just a small area like on the giraffe.  (It’s just his tail and the top of his antlers.) The easiest and best way to do it is just to dip the end of the desired part into the beads.  This is a lot less messy and and a lot faster too.

Now you are probably wondering where she got the cute circles from that are on the two stripes.  It’s actually one of the center’s available for the Pick a Petal #109445 $27.95.  Another fun thing she added is all the dots on the words are actually brads.  They would also be really fun to do with the beads.

I hope you try this fun technique at home.  I will show you another time how to use the beads with both sizes.

Click here to see more weekly Challenge Projects