Thursday, November 17, 2011

Beginner Scrapbook Supplies - The Essentials Part 1

NOTE: As you read through, these essential items, you will see that I am starting to use the common “scrapbooker language” and abbreviations that you will come across regularly. I have put these in bold in each section so that you become familiar with them!! Now, to begin with you need some place that is safe to store your completed works and works in progress.

1. Album As you explore the world of scrapbooking you will see that there are many album options – some of which are tiny, some large, and some can be made by you as part of your scrapbooking project. In terms of starting out, I recommend purchasing an album of some kind. There are many choices for albums depending on your personal tastes and scrapbooking preferences. Here are a few:

* 8.5” x 11”

* 12” x 12”

* mini-albums are available in various sizes such as 6x6

Albums can be bound in different ways. Some common album binding options are:

* Three-ring – a notebook-style metal ring mechanism that holds page protectors in the album. Album contents can be adjusted easily.

* Post-bound – two to three metal screw and bolt-type posts hold album contents into place. The album must be disassembled to add or removed pages. Post bound albums can be expanded into a larger album either by adding in more screw extensions or exchanging the screws out and using the snap-load system which is similar to the strap-hinge (see below).

* Strap-hinge – Though not as prevalent as 3-ring and post-bound albums, these albums have two to three nylon straps than lace through sturdy staples on the pages designed specifically for strap-hinges.

Scrapbook Album Tip: Your album decisions should be based on personal preference. If you are not sure what to do, start with an inexpensive 12x12 as it will still hold your 8x8 and other smaller pages until you really have a feel for the size you enjoy working with the most!

2. Page Protectors are the “sleeves” that your pages will drop/slide into for safe keeping. Many albums come with a few page protectors included. Page protectors keep your layouts from being handled, while still making it easy to view them and hold them all in one place. You will want to buy more protectors as your album grows. Different album manufacturers use various styles of page protectors.

On average, either 8.5” x 11” or 12” x 12”albums will hold 35 full page protectors. If you use a lot of embellishments of memorabilia, and create thicker layouts (LO’s), your album will not be able to hold as many pages. It is important to use only archival-safe protectors to avoid damaging your photos and memorabilia. Page protectors are available in either clear (shiny) or non-glare protectors. Clear protectors best show off the true colors in your layouts (LO’s) while non-glare protectors are easier on the eye as they reflect less light off the page while you are viewing it.

Scrapbook Page Protector Tip: It is important you either buy extra page protectors at the time of purchasing your album, or make sure when you are ready to buy more page protectors that you buy ones that are made by the same manufacturer as the album you are putting them in.

3. Cardstock (CS) is the heavier weight solid coloured paper that is often used as a background or to support the rest of your layout. It is versatile and affordable. There are hundreds of colors available that make it possible to create beautiful color combinations in layouts. There are different kinds of cardstock (CS) including some various textures, and you can also get cardstock (CS) with coloured, black or white cores. When you rip the edge of your cardstock (CS) or sand a layer away, the middle core will appear – and depending on the type of cardstock, it could be a different colour then that of the outside.

Every scrapbooker needs a supply of black, white, and neutral CS as they are used quite often. Until you become comfortable with your personal preferences and scrapbooking style, I suggest you purchase a multi-pack of various colours that you feel you would use – look through some of your photographs and see what colours you are most attracted to. Often you will want to match the colours in your photos with your papers so this is a good starting point! Once your supply of a particular multi-pack color is depleted, you can restock with individual sheets of CS or purchase packs.

Scrapbook CS Tip: CS is also available in single sheets so choose just a few sheets to start with – basing your choice on a set of photos that you wish to scrap first!!

4. Patterned Paper (PP) adds more color, movement and theme support to your layouts and is half the fun of scrapbooking!! Every scrapbooker needs a good selection of paper with patterns and/or shapes. Feel free to mix and match patterns and colours. There is no need to stick with one manufacturer or one colour palette as there is much overlap in the colours and patterns available. The most important thing about all your papers (and embellishments) is that they are ACID FREE – so beyond that, anything goes!! Most often, companies will have an entire line of coordinating products –including patterned paper (PP), embellishments, fibers, die cuts, stickers etc. .

Scrapbook PP Tip: Some companies even make kits from their coordinating paper lines which can be a good place to start for a beginner – especially if you aren’t sure about your scrapping style just yet!!

5. Adhesives are used to hold everything in place on your layout. There are so many kinds of adhesives that I am sure I will miss mentioning some of them here!! Adhesives are available in double-sided tabs and tapes, liquids, and glue sticks. The type of adhesive you choose depends on what you are gluing and where you are gluing it. Be sure you choose adhesives that are scrapbook friendly they will be acid free.

Another very important consideration is to NEVER put adhesive on an original heirloom photo or snapshot. This can ruin the photo which is irreplaceable and we don’t want that happening to you!!!! We are there to preserve those special memories…. Not ruin them!!

A. Photo Corners, as you might recall were used years ago as the only way to adhere photos to an album page!! Well they are back and are relatively popular because they come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colours, like white, pastel, black and metallic gold and silver, as well as pastels like light blue, light green, pink and even clear. I mention these as an option to using any adhesives directly on old or heirloom photos. They make a great way to adhere older photos directly to your pages, as the photos can be removed from between the photo corners very easily.

B. Tab or Strip (ATG) Adhesives are the most commonly used scrapbook adhesives and the most basic of the necessities you will need when starting out as a scrapper. The tab adhesives are ½ inch squares, double sided, sticky on both sides. They can be rolled out from a dispenser or placed on a surface by hand. Usually the tabs are permanent however, you can gently lift them without doing much damage if you are careful and do it quickly enough so they haven’t been firmly attached.

The strip adhesive is more like a glue strip that must be applied directly to the paper. This type of tape runner can be both permanent and temporary. Adhesive tape runners leave behind a continuous tacky strip when dragged across a surface. It can be removed if you carefully rub it as it is similar to rubber cement in that way. These tape strips are great for applying adhesive to round or shaped objects as you are not restricted to making a straight line with tape gun. An ATG or Adhesive Transfer Gun, is a quick and easy way to dispense adhesive tape. The tape itself is supported by a backing film and is a pressure-sensitive adhesive pre-applied to a special liner. The gun allows the tape to be applied cleanly and easily. There any many kinds of strip or ATG adhesives: Scotch Adhesive Transfer Tape Dispenser, Scrapbooking Adhesives EZ Tape Runner, and Tombow Permanent Tape.

Both of these kinds of dispensers have refills that you can purchase, so you are not throwing away the entire “handle”. You simply empty the paper the tabs or strips are attached too and drop in a replacement refill cartridge.

C. Liquid adhesives such as – Zip Dry, Mono-multi liquid glue, Tombo mono liquid glue pen, Zig memory system glue pen, Scotch quick dry etc. Liquids go on clear – or with only a small tint that disappears as it dries - and give you smooth even coverage. This type of adhesive is great when adding small embellishments as you have good control over the amount of glue you dispense, especially with the glue pens.

D. Glue sticks – such as Scotch brand, UHU, are a very basic adhesive for scrapbooking. They are inexpensive and go a long way. That is the pro side. The con side is the sticky finger part, which is not exactly an advantage when using it to glue photos. Personally, I have found over the years that items glued with glue stick haven’t held up well and some of my embellishments actually dry out and come loose from the page. As a beginner it is ok to try out glue sticks but down the road I would invest in other different kinds of glue.

E. Xyron is an adhesive inside of a Xyron machine that will attach a sticky side to the bottom of any item that you run through it. There are a wide variety of sizes and types of adhesive if offers and it works without heat. It can be used for almost any type of flat embellishment, paper or photo. Although I have never used a Xyron I know they are quite popular and have a few friends who use and love them!!

F. Glue Dots come in various sizes and thicknesses and are made by many different companies. They are great for adhering all kind of embellishments. These are very strong and are great for non-porous or heavy embellishments including buttons, ribbons, photos, flowers, metal embellishments, letters, etc. Make sure that you don't try to peel the dot off of the paper. Take whatever you would like to stick and push onto the dot and it will automatically peel itself off and stick to your embellishment or photo. They usually come on a plastic roll or a sheet. Some are made for use with specific paper types such as Vellum adhesives. These are very small and are almost impossible to see through the Vellum and are called Glue Dots for Vellum (Note: Vellum is a very opaque/semi-clear paper that is used in scrapbooking.)

As mentioned, glue dots also come in various thicknesses called pop dots – and we are going to look at these at their own category.

Scrapbook Adhesive Tip: When you use any kind of adhesive, remember that less is more. It isn’t generally necessary to coat the entire back side of anything you glue to a layout. Just because an adhesive comes out in a strip doesn’t mean you have to put it all along a paper edge. You can put a little in each corner and some in the center, and it will stay in place. However, if the piece you are gluing is bulky and/or heavy, you may need more adhesive.

6. Pop Dots are a small piece of foam about 1/8 inch deep with glue on both sides so they can be use to adhere an embellishment to a page and help it “pop up” or lift off the page to give it extra dimension. They can be either round or square. Usually purchased in the Regular 1/2 inch size, there are also also Mini Pop Dots available at 1/4 inch wide. If you have something too small for the size, these can always be cut up into smaller pieces. You can also use multiple Pop Dots to add various levels of height to your project.

Similar to Pop Dots is foam tape. The difference is that the tape comes on a roll and can often be found in wider widths than the larger ½ inch pop dots. The similarity is that it still has the dimension of a Pop Dot and the foam tape can be layered to give different heights just like the pop dots can.

Scrapbook Pop dot Tip: If you have used up a sheet of Circle pop dots, don’t forget you still have the foam & tape left from around the Pop Dots. These pieces can be cut and used and it’s okay because no one will actually see the back of the item you are attaching with the Pop Dot leftovers.


Thanks for stopping by. Hope you come next week for part two!!

Monday, November 14, 2011

Here is a 6x6 page tutorial using paint, left over stickers and slick stick by Crayola. This is the first part of The project. You can find the other parts on my You tube page. I hope this teaches you how to add paint and different Art media to your scrapbook pages..

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Here are some layout I recently finished. I thought That we could look at the design of the layout and Make similar ones. I wish I new how to make a sketch. That is one of my goals to do this year. I also wanted to ask what are some of the things you would like to learn following this web page? Do you want to learn how to implement paint into your layouts? Maybe a bit more about design? I was also thinking about teaching a few stamping techniques. There is a lot of talented contributors on this sight. I am pleased to be apart of it.. Please help me serve you in ways that will help you and teach you. Lorrie Jonas

Friday, November 11, 2011

Remembering our Veterans: Operation Write Home; Send homemade cards for our troops to use



Today in the United States it's Veteran's Day.

Veteran's Day is a federal holiday and you'll find many government offices, businesses, and schools closed on this day.

This day is a time to remember all those who have served our great nation. We'd like to take the time to thank you for your determination and courage for without it; we wouldn't have many of the privileges that some can take for granted.

Yesterday, the Marine Crops celebrated their 236th birthday.



From the Boston Herald...

As Reichenthal screamed, his squad ran to help.

“They came over to me and they took one look at me and it felt like they froze, but it was only a few seconds. They dragged me to the helicopter and they kept knocking me on the face. They knew if I were to go unconscious, I’d probably be dead.

“It puts life into perspective when you almost die—when you really almost die, not just your cell phone is out of service or something. When I walked again, it was the best feeling ever.

“Not a lot of people know what goes on anymore. They have no concept of it ... They need to be reminded of what we do and remember what we do ... There’s some guy out there, laying down, dragging his buddy to a helicopter.”

Reichenthal spent six months at Bethesda Naval Medical Center and has undergone 26 surgeries. He took his first steps in May, and as part of his rehab at Brockton Veterans Affairs hospital, he’s learning how to snowboard. He hopes to start college next fall, and someday would like to teach history. Yesterday, he was honored by Boston’s Semper Fidelis Society on the Marine Corps’ 236th birthday. In a quiet moment, he pointed with pride at the Combat Action Ribbon and the Purple Heart on his chest.

“These I earned with blood.”


Here in the United States restaurants like Applebees,  Chili's, Denny's, Subway, and many more are offering free meals for our veterans.


For those of us who enjoy paper crafts one way you can show your appreciation is sending handmade cards to Operation Write Home. Operation Write Home sends these beautiful hand crafted cards to our troops. These cards are used by our troops to send to their loved ones. Isn't that a great way to share our love of handmade cards?

In the past, my daughter and I've sent cards, along with care packages, to our troops through AnySoldier. Since I've learned about this organization, we'll be sending a batch of cards to Operation Write Home. It's a simple way to let the troops now we're thinking of them, and that we appreciate what they do.

If you want to send cards to Operation Write Home, please stop by their website.  Make sure you read Operations Write Home's guidelines since there's certain things that can't be sent (such as cards with glitter glue), although it's too late to send our troops Christmas cards, stop by their deadlines page, so you can know the holiday schedule for 2012.

Thanks veterans, your service is appreciated not only on this day, but the others also. Thank you

Opal
Celebrate Life





Chalk in a new fun way!

Powdered Chalk
Hi everyone today I am here to bring you a fun Technique.

I am sure that you all have worked with chalk before, but have I got something that you are going to love. It is called Chalk-ah-lot and it is powdered chalk. This is a great product as you don't have to spend time scraping chalk off those little squares. This is so convenient and can be used fast and easy. There are several ways to use this chalk. Here are a few ways to use it. Chalk to paper using a Versamark water stamp pad, mix chalk with glue, mix chalk with bubbles, mix chalk with shaving cream, mix chalk with paint and more.




Today, I am going to show you one technique on using this powdered chalk. I am going to mix it with paint. Today I am using Buzz N Magic Paint made by same company that sells the powdered chalk.

Here is the list of supplies that I will be using:

4X4 acrylic block
2 q-tips
Chalk-ah-lot in the color of Foggy
Baby wipe
and my image Dancing mouse
As you can see I printed out the mouse three times in different sizes.







Just to let you all know that this chalk comes in so many colors it is hard to choose. You will have to be like me and get them all. And to say a little goes a long way is an under statement. Once you try Chalk-ah-lot you will not want to go back to the cake form of chalk.
First of all I take the paint and I put a small amount on my acrylic block and then take a little of the chalk and mix it right in. I use one of my q-tips to mix it.





Mix it to the color you want. If you want the color darker just add a little more chalk. Notice I have now snipped the tip off one on my q-tips that is for easier painting as I paint with the q-tips. You don't have to use them but they are easier for me.


I have now painted the first mouse and you can see the color on the paper nicely. I then finish them all up. You can add other colors to this if you wish. I am only using one color in this example. Once your images are finished clean up is a breeze. I just take a baby wipe and the paint just comes off.










There super easy to clean up and you will have a nice finished image. Hope you enjoyed this technique on how to use powdered chalk.
You can find Chalk-Ah-Lot here and they also have a new challenge blog coming in January!   Be a follower and play along with them to win chalk and or stamps. 

Thanks for stopping by today!
Tammylee

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Burnt Paper Technique


This is called the Burnt Paper Technique but I like to call it the Vintage look. :)
 This was taught by Ranger Ink and thought I would share because you can use it around your stamps, on tags, any kind of paper.
(Anything in parenthesis is the way I do it otherwise the stuff is Rangers directions so I wanted to give you an option on how you want to proceed.)
I used this paper/stamp but accidentally cut in the side of his poor head.
But I think he'll be okay in the long run.

Steps:
A. Take a white piece of cardstock paper,  in this case a white piece of stamped on cardstock paper.. Begin on one corner and tear all around the edges always tearing in the same direction. 
Obviously I cut the paper too short, poor Bloopy. So this shows that you need to make sure you leave plenty of room.

B. Take a cut square of Cut 'n Dry Foam  and spritz with water. Ink the square with Distress Ink-Antique Linen. Transfer ink onto paper coloring it over the entire surface.
(You don't really have to do the entire surface since you are planning to color the stamp AND I ended up using a makeup sponge and didn't spritz it to color around.
But if you were doing a tag of some sort then you would want to do the whole thing of white paper.

C. Re-spritz square of foam and repeat inking procedure with Vintage Photo and this time color about 1/2'' around the edges.
(I take the distressing pad and go around the edge about 1/2'' instead.)

D. Re-spritz with water and repeat inking procedure with Walnut Stain and this time color about 1/4''  around the edges.
(Again I just use the ink pad alone for this.)

E. Last using pad-direct-to-paper technique, ink the paper lightly around the most outer torn edge with Black Soot.
This digital stamp came from Sweet Stamping Treats.

Now I will show you a picture of a tag I made using the same technique but not using a stamp but you could definitely adhere a digi to it and it would look great!




Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Stickles Week (or Glitter)

This week is Stickles Week at A Crafting Start!  Or, some used Glitter instead!  Our featured DT Member this week is Dyane (below) who kicks off the examples this week!  If you create something using Stickles or Glitter - let us know!  We will award you with one of our Blog Banners!
 Here's Tameko's Card for this week!  So colorful!
 And Erica's!  LOVE the rainbow of colors, here, too!
 Here's Fab's!  I LOVE the rolled up sides!
 And Gaby's with the rich colors next to the black and white!
 Pretty!  Pretty!
 Here's Jamie's project for this week!  LOVE it!
 Karen did two projects and they are festive and fun!

 Here's Karen S's with some awesome coloring and tasteful glim and glam!
 And Lisa's Winter Charm!
 Here's Lynn's Sparkling True!
 Opal outdid herself this week!  So sweet!
And Sarah's is awesome for the season and this week's challenge!  Way to go girls!  Now it's your turn!  Let us know in comments the URL to your project!  Thanks for participating!

Friday, November 4, 2011

"Stickle" Your Fancy

Greetings! 
There are several ways to add bling, pizzazz and va-va voom to your creations.  One of those ways (and my favorite way) is to use Stickles.  What are Stickles?  Well, they are glue and glitter in one and you know with that combo you can’t go wrong.   
Sttickles is produced by the Ranger Ink company and they come in almost 50 different colors from Cotton Candy to Icicles.  They also offer designer colors including designs by Tim Holtz. 
Stickles add a bling or pop to your project and a little goes a long way, trust me.  Like anything, too much Stickles can be a bad thing, because it can ruin your project and will take forever to dry.  Remember, Stickles is glue as well as glitter so you want to use it sparingly.  They come with an applicator which helps you control the amount of product coming out.  However, I’ve found that it is good to practice squeezing the bottle so that you can get a feel for how much pressure is appropriate for the results you want to achieve. 
You can purchase Stickles at pretty much any craft store and the prices usually range from $2 - $3. Here’s a snapshot of the different colors offered in both the basic and designer line.  Also, if you follow this link you can get a color swatch to begin your collection of Stickles.  I see some colors I don’t have...I feel a shopping spree coming on. lol

Hey, before you run out and purchase your Stickles you may want to also invest in storage for them.  I picked up this handy dandy carrier at my LSS (look this up on the Library Language page). 

Here’s a creation I made using Stickles.  I hope it inspires you to try them out, because it is an inexpensive way to add bling to your project. J  Check back here next week to see how the DTs use Stickles in their projects.



This Holly image comes from Meljen's Digital store and I used Stickles to make the little stars and dots in the background pop and on the holly berries.  I didn't use a lot because there wasn't a need for it (in my opinion) and remember Stickles will take a long time to dry if you use a lot.  Practice makes perfect...soooooo practice getting a feel for squeezing the bottle and you will be a Stickle Junkie like me in no time!


Now get to creating...

Candy
a.k.a Purple Card Lady
a.k.a. Stickles Junkie
http://www.purplecardlady.blogspot.com/

Remember:  There are no mistakes in card making, only opportunities for creativity!




Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Digi Stamp Week!

 Hello readers!  Welcome to A Crafting Start's very first Design Team Post!  This week our DT's theme was to work with a FREEBIE Digi Stamp!  The featured DT Member of the Week this week is Tameko!  She kicks things of with the team projects this week!  So, again...Above is Tameko's Project for this week!
 Here is Tammylee's cute Baby Card!
 And this colorful card was created by Candy!
 Here's Charlie's nifty Card!
 Dyane went with pretty this week!  LOVE it!
 Fab was FABulous with some Halloween and feathers!
 Gaby did this great card!
/
Jamie got her BLING on this week!
 Carla-Rae went festive!
 Opal's is purely HUGGABLE
 Sherri went a little vintage a little steampunk!
 And our OTHER Sherry (B) has 3 projects for this week...
 Here's another for Sherry B
 Jennifer created her own colorful background and went with a Silhouette Digi
 Karen was CUTE and Festive
/
Laura W was creative with different shades and a sentiment digi stamp
 Lisa went with Thanksgiving, too!  'Tis the Season, eh?
 Liz was wise creating something with an owl!
 And Lynn has two great cards this week!
We would LOVE to see what YOU Create using a Freebie Digi Stamp!  For all participants creating a project with digi stamp, linking to us, and posting their direct link in comments will receive A CRAFTING START Participant Graphic to showcase how ever they wish!  

Visit our Design Team Tab for our DT Links and visit their blogs for more great project ideas!

Remember to add your direct URL in comments!  Thanks for visiting!