New year resolution simplify with a linking party

Hi Everyone,
I kid you not I was at the Old time Pottery store and they were putting Easter stuff  items out on the shelf in a corner section. We’ve not had Valentine’s day or St Pat day yet. I already feel the year slipping by. How are you doing with your new year resolution?
My resolution this year was to simplify starting next week will be having a huge garage sale and liquidating 85% of my belongings from Living room set to paper pack :)

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Congrats to all the ladies and here’s your badge for your blog…




Our top 5 linking spotlight! Please click on the pictures to visit their blogs!

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Sandee








Beautiful  card:)

Davi Reid

Aww Davi’s friendship card!





Have a great weekend!
Maggie

PS. Don’t forget to sign up to be follower we are looking for #5625  if it’s you email us at cuttlebugchallenge@gmail.com.
Follow us on Pinterest as well :) there's a small pin button now at the bottom of each post. 

Here’s the link of the Linking Party for your twitter, Facebook, and blogs! 
 http://www.passionatelyartistic.com/2012/01/new-year-resolution-simplify-with.html

Shrinky dink Valentine tutorial, crafting with kids!

 

 

 

Good day everyone. Carole sharing a tutorial on how to use shrinky dink material. They are tons of fun and I'm constantly amazed at how much people of all ages enjoy creating with them.

There are a few different styles of shrink film sheets you can buy. I've found clear, matte, white, ink jet compatible, etc. These can be found at Michaels, JoAnn's and probably other local crafting stores. I've found them in both the scrapbook section and the kid's craft sections, so if you cannot locate them ask a store associate to help you find them.

 

 

 

 

The instructions that come with them are simple and easy to follow. For this tutorial I started out using clear shrink film sheets, but didn't like the effect for what I was doing and moved on to the white ink jet compatible shrinky dink sheets.

 

Not having sand paper handy, I used an emery board to rough up the surface of the shrinky dink material.

 

This helps the plastic to hold the ink better. With Valentine's Day fast approaching I decided to use a Love themed stamp.

 

 

 

 

Using Cherry Cobbler Stamping Up ink I stamped my image onto the the shrink film and cut the image out with a pair of scissors, leaving a small border around the image. If you have rough edges use your sandpaper to smooth it a bit. Next I punched a hole in the shape as I wanted to make a charm.

Tip

You must punch the whole BEFORE shrinking! Very important to remember this.

 

 

I've forgotten this step a few times so I know first hand that "hand slap to the head" feeling!  The instructions for shrinking calls for using an oven, but I have found my heat gun is faster and easier to use. I put the shrink plastic shape onto a paper plate covered with aluminum foil.

 

 

 

I turned on my heat gun and held it about 4-6 inches from the shrinky dink shape. In about a minute the shape started to shrink and bend in all kinds of crazy ways.

Do not let this alarm you! It will look like it's going to bend and melt right into itself and be ruined, but it will not. Keep the heat gun pointed at the shrinky dink and the shape will straighten itself out.

 

Once this happens the shape has pretty much shrunk to it's final size. If the shrinky dink is not totally flat at this point, use the bottom of a glass or an acrylic stamp block and flatten the shape as soon as you remove the heat gun from the shape and it is still a bit pliable. This will flatten it nicely.

 

Since I wanted a charm for a necklace I added a jump ring and then a clasp to the shrinky dink. I attached the clasp to a silver jewelry chain I purchased for dirt cheap in the Joann's jewelry dept. And a simple necklace for Valentine's Day.

 

You can also cut shapes from your Cricut, Imagine, Silhouette, Cuttlebug, Big Shot, Grand Calibur, Sizzix machine, whatever die cut machine you have at your disposal. I also like to use punches with shrink film. Especially stamp and punch sets from Stampin Up.

Super easy. You can color this material with inks, pens, pencils, whatever. Have fun experimenting.

 

 

It's a quick, easy and fairly inexpensive craft to have fun with, so feel free to try different things. And please let the children in your life share the fun with you!

 

 

Have a great weekend!

PS. Don’t forget to sign up to be follower we are looking for #5625 if it’s you email us at cuttlebugchallenge@gmail.com. Follow us on Pinterest as well :) there's a small pin button now at the bottom of each post.

Here’s the link of the Linking Party for your twitter, Facebook, and blogs! http://www.passionatelyartistic.com/2012/01/craft-and-hobby-association-with.html

Craft and Hobby Association with a linking party!

Hi everyone,

Craft and Hobby Association convention is right around the corner, have you seen the new releases the mfg. has been showcasing? is there a line that strike your fancy? I’m loving the bright fun colours from GCDstudios. Since CHA is all about scrapbooking, we are excited to have Elizabeth with us today showcasing step by step tutorial on creating a 2 page layout using stamps and the Cricut die cut machine.

Please welcome Elizabeth by leaving her comments or questions.

Hello everyone!  My name is Elizabeth and I blog over at Broken Treasures.  Let me tell you a little bit about myself :)  I am wife to my best friend (who happens to be a youth pastor) which makes me a mentor to some younger women in our church.  I am Mama to three beautiful children ages 5, 4 and almost 2.  I have the privilege to stay at home with my children and homeschool my oldest.  My passions are many (cooking, gardening, reading, blogging, etc.) but my biggest passion is scrapbooking!  I have been an avid scrapbooker for as long as I can remember and absolutely love to preserve my memories this way.
I'm so excited to be posting here today, thrilled to "meet" you all via blog land and hope you will enjoy (as well as learn some new things) the scrapbook layout I have for you. 
Let's get started!





The very first thing I do when I want to scrapbook a page is select my photos.  These can be all of one event, one person, or a theme of some sort.  I like to do pages of each of my children with a photo from each month for a One Year layout.  Another thing I've done is gotten photos of my children in any given day and have titled the page "A day in the life of . . . "  Or the obvious holidays, family photo shoots, birthdays, etc. work well too.  Whatever the occasion, gather your photos first. 





Then I look for a sketch that I love.  These can be found in some great "how to books" like Cathy Zielske's Clean & Simple Scrapbooking or Jeanette Lynton's Magic (and other) books.  I love these because you can take a sketch from the book and make it your own.  Another great place to find sketches is in blog land :)  Places like Sketchy Thursday, 52 Sketches and Splitcoasters offer great sketches weekly to play around with.  Another thing I like to do is look at card making blogs like Mojo Monday and use the simple cards sketch to make a scrapbook layout.  For the layout I'm showing you today I used a sketch from Jeanette's Book Magic. 






Then I gather my materials.  I often look for papers that coordinate with each other and with the photos I want to use.  Lots of places sell kits that are great for this type of thing and I often use them to make my scrapbooking go faster! 
CTMH Workshops on the Go
Keep in mind these kits come with various accessories (some even come with stamp sets!) but if you join a monthly club you often just get whatever they put together - you don't have a lot of choices and I know we all like choices :)
For this layout I used:
Photos
Magic How To Book
Cricut Cutting Machine (with the Art Philosophy Cartridge)
Fiskers Paper Cutter
Close To My Heart Papers, Stamps and Butterflies
Close To My Heart Mocha Opaques, Wood Buttons
Ink: Chocolate, Olive and New England Ivy
**Please note I have provided you with links to all the materials I used for this layout.  I am a HUGE advocate of using what you have and getting the most out of the products you have on hand.  I use mostly Close To My Heart products because it is what I love and what I have on hand.**





Once I have my photos, sketch and materials I begin to cut my papers to size.  This is one of the things I like the best about Jeanette's How-To Books - the sizes of the paper is written out for you so there is no guess work.  For this layout I chose two different patterned papers (A and B), a cardstock (C) and a base cardstock (the page I put all my papers, embellishments, and photos on).




I used my Cricut Machine to cut out several shapes for tags, a heart, tickets, rectangles and circles.  Then I used my paper cutter to cut the dimensions that I needed for each of my patterned papers.  I did change the sketch up a bit to fit the photos I choose but that is the freedom you have with using a sketch as a basis to start from. 




Once I am done cutting my papers and before I begin pasting my photos and papers down I like to prep any and all embellishments that I am going to use.  I personally love the distressed look and often use my distressing kit to sponge ink on the edges of all my papers.  I feel like it really makes the elements stand out. I also threaded some paper through the holes of a kraft ready made border, put some patterned paper through the hole on the tags that I cut out and then pasted a button on the top to finish it off. 




Then I stamped lines onto my tags so that I have a place to record 10 of the things I love about my husband (since this is the layout I am doing) and journal a little bit about the photos.  Photos tell a story but I like to include my own journaling to finish off the story - make it complete if you will :)






The last thing I did before putting my layout together was make my flowers.  I cut them out at 1 1/2 inch and 1 1/4 inch using the Cricut.  Then I curled the edges with my piercing tool and pasted the smaller flower on top of the larger flower off center.  To finish it off I put a medium mocha opaque in the center of a wood button and glued it to the center of the flower.  You'll notice some of my own handwriting on the one photo as well.  I don't like my handwriting but I do include it in almost every layout to give my children something to remember about me and I think it makes the layout a little more personal.
Now I am ready to past my photos and papers down





There is some ink smudging on my paper but not to worry it will get covered with photos and patterned papers.  I use adhesive tape runners, glue sticks and 3D foam tape on my layouts.  Glue dots work well too.  I follow the sketch measurements and use my Versamat to make sure everything is exactly straight and just where I want it to be!  Love this mat!!  I actually need to get another one so I can put them side by side when doing my two page layouts. 




I added some of my own pattern to the paper here with a pennant stamp from the Party Pennant stamp set.
I love how the stamps are crystal clear and are put onto a clear block so I can line them up to make my own design.



I added some opaques in between the diamonds that I stamped.  A quick and simple tip is to use a piercing tool (or needle) to lift the gem off the packaging and then place it right where you want it to go.  I love to do this with really small adhesive embellishments!






I take a ton of photos and often find it difficult to fit them all on to a scrapbook page.  I recently discovered Flip Flaps and love them!  It allows me to add more photos to my layout without sacrificing space on my page.  They are self adhesive so I put them directly over my page protector where I want it to be, you can also punch a hole and slit in your page protector and then have it slide out of your paper that way. 





With the flip flap closed





With the flip flap open! 
I can add my journaling to the tags that I made and slip them behind my photo.  I put adhesive on the bottom and both sides of my photo but left the top open so that I could create a "pocket" for my journaling but again not sacrifice space on my page.




A few detailed photos of my embellishments show how to cluster them.  I usually use an odd number and put them on the layout so they create a visual triangle drawing the eye from the bottom of the left page up to the top of the right page then down to the bottom of the right page and back over to the left again. 





Here is my finished layout . . .

The Left Side with the Flip Flap closed

The Left Side with the Flip Flap open

The Right Side



The whole 2-page Layout
  Thank you so much for stopping by.  I hope you enjoy this layout and have learned some simple tips for making your pages pop!  Have fun preserving those memories and I hope you'll stop by Broken Treasures sometime and say "hi" :)  Have a great week!

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Congrats to all the ladies and here’s your badge for your blog…




Our top 5 linking spotlight! Please click on the pictures to visit their blogs!

  *************************

Sandee







 







Beautiful  snowman cards :)

Davi Reid

Beautiful album cover!





Have a great weekend!
Maggie

PS. Don’t forget to sign up to be follower we are looking for #5625  if it’s you email us at cuttlebugchallenge@gmail.com. Follow us on Pinterest as well :) there's a small pin button now at the bottom of each post.