Organizing Your Scrapbooking Area

With the hundreds of thousands of scrapbooking papers and embellishments available on the market, it is easy for your craft area to become overwhelmed by scrapbooking supplies. This becomes an especially difficult challenge for scrapbookers who live in small spaces such as apartments or dorm rooms. Never fear-with a little effort you can follow a few easy steps to create a space for your things that is organized, clean, and beautiful.

You will likely need the most time and space to organize your papers. A good option for this is a paper saver, as made by most of the larger scrapbooking companies. Usually made from plastic, these folder-like portfolios are large enough to hold hundreds of papers and include tabs to separate your pages into categories for easy organization. If you find that you do not have enough room in a paper saver, you might also find it useful to invest in a filing cabinet or one of the sets of drawers made especially for scrapbooking. These are available at all craft stores and online.

Once you own a tool for organization, the next step is to decide how you want to categorize your supplies. The option most often used is color, but you can also separate your paper into themes (holidays, wedding, etc) or by marking, such as solids and stripes. You can also use this system to organize flat embellishments, such as die cuts or stickers.

You also need a place to store your tools and embellishments that are not easily filed. One good way of doing this is by using baskets and a shelving system. Store cutting tools in one basket, glues in another, markers and paint in a third, and so on. By buying baskets in bulk, you will save more money then if you use photo boxes, and the display will be uniform and attractive. Remember to label your baskets so you save time when you're looking for a particular item.

If you need to save space, however, a basket and shelving system may not work for you. Instead, keep all your tools and supplies stored somewhere safe and out of the way and keep a "kit" of your most used items close at hand in a photo box, basket, tote bag, or other container. That way when you only have time to do a quick page or two, you can use your kit to complete it and then quickly clean up. On the other hand, when you can devote an entire day to scrapbooking, you can pull your supplies out of storage to complete many pages of your album.

Try to remember that keeping your space clean and organized will make scrapbooking easier and more enjoyable in the future. By labeling your storage containers and sorting your papers, you will be able to quickly find the tools you need. Organization is the key to stress-free scrapbooking and creating beautiful albums.

Written By: Tom Ambrozewicz, one of the pioneers in using breakthrough audio technology on his web sites. You can read, listen to professional narrator reading to you or having MP3 file ready to download if you hate printed files. Check spectrum of scrapbooking tips on http://www.ask-how.info/scrapbooking

Beginners Layout Using Die Cuts

I wanted to do this scrapbooking page as a starting point for scrapbooking beginners to get the basic instructions to complete a layout. Also beginners should also read this post on Scrapbooking Glossary of Terms to help you out with common scrapbooking words..

Materials:
12x12 Patterned Paper - I have used GCD Studios 12x12 Designer Paper - Blue Swiss
12x12 Cardstock - I have used GCD Studios 12x12 Cardstock - Red Independence
Diecuts (or stickers) - I have used My Minds Eye At The Pool title, Snorkel, Bucket, Beach Ball.
3 Photos 13 x 9cm
Double -sided tape (photo corners)

Instructions:
1. First you have to mat your photos, to do this you adhere (stick) your 3 photos to the 12 x 12 piece of cardstock, leave about a 2mm border around your photos, as shown in photo below. Cut out your photos.

2. Adhere two photos 8cm down from the top of your background paper, which is the patterned paper. Then just below these two photos adhere the third photo in the center.
3. Add your die-cut title and images randomly to your page, overlapping the edges of your photos. Using the double-sided tape (or you could use double-sided foam to give your die-cuts a 3D look on your page).

4. You can then add some journaling to your scrapbooking layout by cutting a strip of cardstock 27 x 2cm and adhered it to the bottom of the layout.

Its as easy as that! You can add extra embellishments to the layout, like photo corners, gems or you could also add journaling by hanging tags to the die-cut title using ribbons and eyelets.

Ten Top Tips Thursday

The "Ten Top Tips Thursday" this week are from the readers from my recent competition I had asking for your top tips.

1. Use multiple photos from the same event to tell the story in pictures.
2. Layering different materials on a layout adds texture and interest.
3. Use various embroidery stitches to soften harsh lines and provide a rich texture.
4. Journal around the outside of the main photo to create a funky border.
5. Lay see through ribbon over patterned paper or cardstock to change the appearance and colour. Sent in by: Catherine Denta, Glandore SA
   

1. Baby wipes or Wet Ones are perfect to use to clean your stamps.Age a layout by applying uneven strokes of paint around the edges of photos or cardstock.
2. Instead of journaling about a person in a layout, use a quote and word list to describe the person or event.
3. Weave a strip of paper or card through square clips to make the clip look like a buckle.Use patterned papers with matching tags to create a coordinated look on a layout.
4. Create letter title's by using a large font size like 150pt to print letters then cut the out.
5. Raise journaling by printing on acetate, then add embossing powder and heat on low with a heat gun. Sent in by: Erica Tolan, Castle Hill SA
   

Photo Fridge Magnets

You can make this sweet fridge magnet by using a wooden coaster. Below you will find the instructions to make one of these magnets. You can play around with different patterned papers and embellishments to make gorgeous gifts for friends and family.

Materials:
Wooden Coaster
Patterned Paper
Flower Patterned Paper
Rub-on Words
2 Brads
Magnet
Mod Podge (liquid craft glue)
Sandpaper
Craft Knife

Instructions
Paint your wooden coaster in your chosen colour, the front will be covered with paper so you only need 1 coat, do 2 coats of paint for the sides and back of the wood coaster. Leave to dry.

Mark the outline of your wood coaster onto your patterned paper, then cut out your coaster shape. It doesn’t have to be really neat as we will sandpaper the paper later.

Using your Mod Podge adhere your cutout coaster shape to the front of the wood coaster.

Once mod podge is completely dry, sand the edges to get rid off the overhanging paper, this is really easy to do and gives your end result a professional finish.

Varnish or use your mod podge to seal the coaster. Wait to dry.

To make frame cut a square from the stripe paper 6/ ½ cm x 6 ½ cm and mark 1cm in at all 8 corners and make them line up to the 1cm marks to form the inside square to cut out. Use your craft knife to cut inside frame.

Get photo 6cm x 6cm and adhere to frame you just made. Adhere photo frame to your coaster.


Cut out 4 flowers from flower paper. Layer two largest flowers and pin together with brad, place on the top left corner of coaster overlapping photo frame a little bit. Add extra flower embellishments to bottom right corner of coaster. Add rub-on words to sides of frame.

Using your mod podge glue the magnet to the back of the finished coaster.

Here are a couple of other magnets I have made using different embellishments and different coaster shapes.

New Products from Carolee's Creations

New products online at Everlasting Scrapbooks this week include various scrapbooking products from Carolee's Creations. Carolee's Creations sticker books, paper clips, foam stickers and material accents are the perfect finishing touch to all your papercraft projects.

Carolee's Creations Foam Stickers
These cute 3D Foam Stickers, which include epoxy and jewelled designs will enhance your scrapbooking or paper craft projects. The pictures below are of the Together Flowers and Mia's Flowers designs.

Carolee's Creations Sticker Books

You will never be short of the perfect sticker for your next scrapbooking or paper craft project when using Carolee's Creations Sticker Books. Each Sticker Book comes with 6 sheets of fun and easy to use stickers. Each sticker sheet measures 21cm x 9cm. Choose from designs such as occasions, friends and babies.

Carolee's Creations Paper Clips
These funky Paper Clips are the perfect embellishment for your scrapbooking projects, use them to clip paper and other embellishments together or they can be used as a ribbon slide to join ribbon together. 3 paper clips per design.

How to Decorate Wood Letters

Materials:

Wood Letter
Patterned Paper - I have used Carolees Creations 12x12 Patterned Paper - Winter Bullseye
Cardstock - I have used GCD Studios Rockets Red Glare 12x12 Cardstock - Freedom Stripe
Rub-ons or stickers for embellishment - I used GCD Studios Planes and Trains Rub-ons
Paint
Ink
Tools - Sandpaper, scissors, modge podge (or liquid glue), varnish (optional)

Instructions:
1. Paint your wooden letter in your chosen colour, the front will be covered with paper so you only need 1 coat, do 2 coats of paint for the sides and back of woodletter. Leave to dry.

2. Mark the outline of your wood letter onto your patterned paper, then cut out your letter shape with scissors. It doesn’t have to be really neat as we will sandpaper the edges later.

3. Using your Modge Podge adhere your cutout letter shape to the front of the wood letter.

4. Once modge podge is completely dry, sand the edges to get rid off the overhanging paper, this is really easy to do and gives your end result a professional finish.

5. Varnish or use your modge podge to seal your letter. Wait to dry.

Making Embellishments - From the cardstock cut out 3 circles slightly larger then your rub-ons, ink edges of all three circles. Using your popstick apply the rub-on bicycle, wagon and airplane images to the cardstock circles. Using double-sided foam adhere circles to the front of your wood letter.

Now that you know the basics of covering wood letters with patterned paper you can play around with different ways to embellish these wood letters. Ribbons and flowers are nice to use, or you can use ribbon to hang chipboard shapes and images on.

Scrapbooking Glossary of Terms

Here is a good guide for scrapbooking beginners to get to know some of the most commonly used scrapbooking terms.

Acid-Free
A term describing materials with a pH value of 7.0 or higher. Materials with pH level of 7.0 are neutral and those with pH level greater then 7.0 are alkaline. You should only use Acid-Free products on your scrapbooking pages.

Adhesive
Any substance that allows two or more surfaces to adhere to one another. Adhesives include double-sided tape, foam tape, photo taps, glue dots, glue sticks, sprays, liquid glue and xyron machine.

Album
Available in various sizes, 12"x12" albums are most commonly used in scrapbooking. Choose from a variety of styles like post bound, ring bound and strap hinge. Post bound ones are the most popular as you can add extra pages to them. Albums come with protective plastic sleeves that will house your layouts.

Archival Ink
Dye ink that is fade proof, waterproof, lightfast, acid-free and non smearing. This is ideal for stamping on your pages.

Brads
Similar to typical office brads, but now available in different sizes, colours and patterns for scrapbooking. They can be used as a functional tool or as an embellishment.

Brayer
A craft tool which looks ike a small rubber rolling pin on a handle. Made from sponge and used with plastic stencils to make background paper.

Buffer
An alkaline substance, generally calcium carbonate, added to the paper to make it acid-free.

Cardstock
A general term for heavier papers commonly used as the basis for pages, torn accents, photo matting, journaling blocks and lettering.

Chalk
Used for shading colouring and highlighting accents and titles, paper piecing and backgrounds. Decorative chalks are applied with cotton buds, eye shadow sponges or special applicators especially created for scrapbooking.

Charms
Embellishments for pages that usually dangle from decorative fibres, strings and ribbons.

Cropping
A term used to describe reshaping or re-sizing an original photograph.

Cutters
These include kraft knives, which are used for precision cutting, and have pointed, replaceable blades. There are also specialty decorative scissors that cut anything other then a straight line. Some popular styes include zig-zag and Victorian.

Die-cut
A shape or letter cut from paper or cardstock with a special die-cutting machine. Popular brand in Cricut, Sizzix and Accu-Cut.

Embellishments
A variety of different decorations that include tabs, tags, eyelets, wire, charms, stickers, chipboard, frames, ribbon and fibres.

Embossing Paper
A fine plastic powder that will adhere to wet inks and tacky surfaces. The powder melts on heating to form a raised, glossy finish.

Eyelets
A metal ring for lining a small hole. Used for the passage of ribbon, cord, wire, string or as an embellishment on a layout. Available in a wide range of shapes and colours.

Eyelet Setter
The tool used to apply eyelets and snaps to various projects. With just a few taps of a standard hammer, the setter evenly splits the eyelet or snaps flat to the page.

Fibres and Ribbon
Used for attaching tags, creating embellishments or borders, they are flexible and come in a array of colours, textures and patterns.

Journaling
Refers to everything textual on the page. Can include titles, poems, stories, captions, stickers and phrases that are handwritten or computer-generated.

Lignin-Free
Lignin is an organic substance which, when combined with cellulose, forms the main part of woody tissue. It's important to make sure your products are free of it when scrapbooking pages.

Matting
This term is used when a photo is placed on a larger piece of cardstock that then becomes the frame or mount. This technique adds colour and dimension to your page and it's all about personal taste.

Paper
Available in many varieties including patterned, handmade, textured and specialty, and can be a feature, background or you can print text on it.

Paper Piecing
Paper piecing is collating a range of cut-off paper pieces to create a theme or idea. There are many patterns available, or you can create your own with scanned images or drawings.

Photo Tabs
Used in the corner of a photo when mounting it.

Punches
A hand tool available in different themes and sizes that "punches out" a particular shape, which can enhance the overall look of a page.

Stamp
Rubber impressions that, when pressed with ink, leave a permanent mark. Make sure you use ink that is acid-free, non-bleeding and fade-resistant.

Tag
A piece or strip of strong paper that can be hung loosely by thread or attached to the layout. You can also purchase metal rimmed tags.

Template
Anything used as the basis or guide for tracing a pattern, letter or shape.

Paper Trimmer
Offers precise, straight-edge cutting. Just lay the photo or paper down on the base and slide the blade across it.

Vellum
Normally used as an overlay, it can be patterned or plain and is semi-transparent, giving a great effect. You can also print journaling on it.

Article By: Melanie Pracas

Ten Top Tips Thursday

The giveaway for your top tips has now closed, thank you to everyone who sent in your top tips. In the coming weeks you will see your top tips displayed here.

1. Encase your photo in a circle border created with small flowers, buttons and accents.
2. Apply rub-ons to patterned paper to create a subtle look.
3. Add a subtle element to a layout with a few cross-stiches.
4. Try journalling in a shape to continue the pattern on your page.
5. Ink or paint the edges of your page to bring softness to your layouts.
6. Include small blossoms in your title for a fresh and girly feel.
7. Add a mini book to your page to include more photos and journalling.
8. A wide strip of ribbon provides the perfect border along the bottom edge of a layout.
9. Layer small flowers over larger blossoms for a dimensional look.
10. Its a good idea to take a few photo shots of your surroundings to include on your page, as well as include price lists, postcards and other memorabilia.

Layout Instructions using GCD Studio Rose Colored Glasses

I have been doing lots of altered art instructions on this log, so today I wanted to give you instructions for a scrapbooking page. I have used the beautiful products from the GCD Studios Rose Colored Glasses Range, I love that by choosing products from the same range it makes it so easy to create layouts that flow beautifully and are colored coordinated.

Materials-
GCD Studios Rose Colored Glasses Collection
12x12 Designer Paper - Vines and Flowers
12x12 Cardstock - Tinted Flowers
3 Strips of Patterned Paper - I have used Rose Circles, Flower Stripe and Soft Vines
Self Adhesive Ribbon
Rose Colored Glasses Rub-ons
GCD Studios Glitter Letters
Heidi Swapp Jewels
Brads
Photo 14x18cm
Craft Knife, Flower Punch

Instructions-
1. Using your craft knife cut out the "vines" from the Vines and Flowers paper (the vines that will be overlapping your photo).

2. To cut the strips of paper to go behind the photo I have used 18x8cm Rose Circles and 18x8cm Flower Stripe paper cut into 2x 3cm strips and 1x 2cm strip and 18x5cm Soft Vines paper cut into 1x cm strip and 1x 2cm strip.

3. You can ink edges of the strips to make them stand out and then adhere strips to Vines and Flowers paper by placing the top strip 7cm down from the top right corner about 1cm in from the. Place the rest of the strips down the page in any order, making sure you cover the holes made when cutting the vines in step 1.

4. Cut you cardstock 14.5 x 18.5 cm and adhere photo to cardstock leaving a small border around the photo. Adhere this photo mount to the center of the strip background you made in step 3.

5. Glue down the vines from step 1, covering the left side of your photo. Punch out 9 random sized and colored flowers and stack them into 3 bunches of 3, using the brads pin the bunches of flowers to the 3 large flowers on the Vines and Flowers paper, place jewels to the 2 smaller flowers on this paper.

6. Using a popstick or similar item, rub vines and flowers rub-on to the bottom right of layout overlapping photo and background paper. Add 2 gems to little flowers. Adhere 8cm strips of ribbon to top right of photo then place a brad in the center.

7. For the title, stick the glitter letters to cardstock spelling out the name or word you want, cut out this piece of cardstock. Adhere title 2cm down from layout lining it up with the photo. Rub the "princess" rub-on to corner of title.

Pop Up Cards

Just add number stickers or alphabet stickers to gift cards to easily make a cute and interesting birthday card.

Materials:
Gift Card (homemade card or brought blank card)
Strip patterned paper about 2cm x 17.5cm
Monograms Numbers
Double-sided tape
Flour or powder to take the stick out of the monogram stickers

Instructions:
Get your strip of patterned paper and fold and adhere in half to make a thin 1cm wide strip. With the strip length ways mark and score the lines like the image below.

Now you need to turn this strip into a rectangle by adhering the two 2 1/2cm sides together.

Join the two sticker monograms together as close to the edge as possible and then rub flour or powder over the sticky part of the numbers and the dust the flour off with a cloth to get rid of the stickiness from sticker.

Adhere you number (21) to one of the long sides of the rectangle. Adhere the other long side of rectangle to the back of the open gift card so your numbers are standing in the centre of the card. Now you can easily open and close your card to reveal the popup numbers.

For a fun alternative you could even make your popup card's using 2 or 3 sticker shapes for wedding cards, baby cards and other special occasions .

TLC Runway Scrapbooking Kits

TLC Runway scrapbooking kits are so pretty, and in true TLC style are packed with high quality scrapbooking papers and accents to make it easy for you to create a variety of scrapbooking projects. Runway Kits are available in two styles "Shapes" or "Circles" and come in 7 different collections - Meadow Brook, Playhouse, Retro, Salt and Pepper, Slumber Party, Tressie Collection and Urban Threads. They also coordinate perfectly with TLC Runway Ribbons and TLC Runway Monograms.

TLC Runway Retro Collection





TLC Runway Slumber Party Collection

TLC Runway Meadow Brook Collection

TLC Runway Salt and Pepper Collection

Organising Your Scrapbooking Space

With the hundreds of thousands of scrapbooking papers and embellishments available on the market, it is easy for your craft area to become overwhelmed by scrapbooking supplies. This becomes an especially difficult challenge for scrapbookers who live in small spaces such as apartments or dorm rooms. Never fear-with a little effort you can follow a few easy steps to create a space for your things that is organized, clean, and beautiful.

You will likely need the most time and space to organize your papers. A good option for this is a paper saver, as made by most of the larger scrapbooking companies. Usually made from plastic, these folder-like portfolios are large enough to hold hundreds of papers and include tabs to separate your pages into categories for easy organization. If you find that you do not have enough room in a paper saver, you might also find it useful to invest in a filing cabinet or one of the sets of drawers made especially for scrapbooking. These are available at all craft stores and online.

Once you own a tool for organization, the next step is to decide how you want to categorize your supplies. The option most often used is color, but you can also separate your paper into themes (holidays, wedding, etc) or by marking, such as solids and stripes. You can also use this system to organize flat embellishments, such as die cuts or stickers.

You also need a place to store your tools and embellishments that are not easily filed. One good way of doing this is by using baskets and a shelving system. Store cutting tools in one basket, glues in another, markers and paint in a third, and so on. By buying baskets in bulk, you will save more money then if you use photo boxes, and the display will be uniform and attractive. Remember to label your baskets so you save time when you're looking for a particular item.

If you need to save space, however, a basket and shelving system may not work for you. Instead, keep all your tools and supplies stored somewhere safe and out of the way and keep a "kit" of your most used items close at hand in a photo box, basket, tote bag, or other container. That way when you only have time to do a quick page or two, you can use your kit to complete it and then quickly clean up. On the other hand, when you can devote an entire day to scrapbooking, you can pull your supplies out of storage to complete many pages of your album.

Try to remember that keeping your space clean and organized will make scrapbooking easier and more enjoyable in the future. By labeling your storage containers and sorting your papers, you will be able to quickly find the tools you need. Organization is the key to stress-free scrapbooking and creating beautiful albums.
Written By: Tom Ambrozewicz

New Products from GCD Studios

I have just added to my website hot new products from GCD Studio. These new products are absolutely stunning, high quality and easy to use, with 12x12 patterned papers, cardstock, self-adhesive ribbons, chipboard shapes and alphabet, rub-ons and stickers that all match beautifully with each other to enable you to create stunning scrapbooking pages and altered art projects.

I have available online 5 of the GCD Studios Collections - No Worries, Rose Coloured Glasses, Red Rockets Glare, Planes and Trains and Whoop De Doo. Below you can see some on the products available from the "No Worries" Collection", make sure you check out their entire range from my online store Everlasting Scrapbooks.

Sample of Products from the "No Worries Collection"

As a special introductory offer I am giving you 20% OFF the entire GCD Studio range. So what are you waiting for go to my online store to purchase from this stunning new range at a bargain price!

Melanie

Scrabooking With Memorabilia

Ticket stubs, newspaper clippings, and other forms of memorabilia can add that something special to your scrapbook. Alongside pictures, memorabilia acts as an embellishment, but also helps tell the story of the pictures on the scrapbook page. Memorabilia, unfortunately, is not always safe to use around your photographs because of their high acidity. Don't count these items out completely; there are now many items on the market that can help you include memorabilia while protecting your photographs from harm.

An easy but expensive way to safely add memorabilia to your pages is to purchase an agent that will equalize the acidity of the item. These come in the form of aerosol sprays and work well, but one can of the neutralizer might cost fifty dollars or more, so this is not a cheap option if you have lots of memorabilia to add to your scrapbook. Also, some products are made of better quality than others, but you will not be able to tell if your equalizer is made to last or not until many years down the road. By that time, a low-quality product will have ruined your photographs.

A more effective way to add memorabilia to your pages is to use photo safe plastic pouches. These acid free pockets are clear and can be mounted to your page to hold items while creating a barrier between your photographs and items with high acidity levels. Pouches are extremely convenient to use with items such as locks of hair, which are otherwise virtually impossible to mount to a page. However, it can be difficult to stick the plastic to the page, and you might find that the results are undesirable when the plastic of the pouch clings to the plastic page protector.

Another option that can be used with some forms of memorabilia is to photocopy your ticket stubs, playbill covers, etc onto scrapbooking paper. This is a sure-fire way to protect your photographs from the acid in the original items. Using photocopies can lose some of the effect and memories brought by the original piece, but it's a good option if you want to quickly and safely add some details.

The best and most effective way to add memorabilia to your scrapbook is to create two-page layouts. Keep your pictures on one side and add memorabilia and other embellishments that are not photo safe to the other side of the layout. The plastic protector will save your pictures from yellowing. With this option, always keep in mind that page protectors are double-sided, so put two memorabilia pages back to back to keep the layout behind the first memorabilia page safe. Of course, with this option, you do not get rid of the acid in the item, so your pieces of memorabilia will most likely fade and discolor over time.

The most important thing when choosing a way to add memorabilia to your album is to keep your pictures safe. By protecting your photographs by one of these methods, you can keep your album looking like new for many years, but still include memorabilia to help remember events.

Written by Tom Ambrozewicz.
Tom Ambrozewicz is one of the pioneers in using breakthrough audio technology on his web sites. You can read, listen to professional narrator reading to you or having MP3 file ready to download if you hate printed files. Check spectrum of scrapbooking tips on http://www.ask-how.info/scrapbooking

Ten Top Tips Thursday

The giveaway for the "Ten Top Tips Thursday" that I mentioned in this post is till running, so keep sending in your tips to receive your free scrapbooking products.

Here are your ten top tips for this week.

1. Dry brush onto cardstock then place your rub-ons over the paint to help them stand out on the page.
2. Use a sewing machine to create a grassy area for the base of flowers.
3. For a fun look, mix your handwriting with sticker words when journalling on a page.
4. Doodling is a lot easier if you draw some thick, black, random lines, then simply fill in the spaces.
5. A storyboard of photos is a great way to scrap action shots.
6. Mix and match chipboard letters for a unique title.
7. Cut elements from patterned paper and apply dimensional magic over the top.
8. Use a cluster of small flowers for an interesting photo corner.
9. Use frames left over from alphabet stickers as accents on your page.
10. Use white space in a photo to add a title or journalling.

Check out my Slide Show!

Thinking Outside the Square

I do a lot of altered art projects, and when ever I see something I wonder how I can alter it! So when I saw two Nutella lids I knew straight away I could easily turn them into a mini album.

So armed with some scrapbooking supplies and modge podge I began creating a mini book on my trip to New Zealand. Here is the finished product - I think it turned out pretty good.

Now I just need to fiqure out what to do with this interesting Hubba Bubba Container!