Scrapping by Design

This Advent Calendar or Count down Calendar is my favorite of all the Advent Calendars I made this season.

I designed it myself, with no scraplifted ideas from elsewhere. I made it using supplies that are readily available everywhere, and it costs less than ten dollars to make.

The little windows or pockets “pooch” out to allow a candy or other small item to be tucked inside.

You can hang it with a ribbon or lie it flat on a cupboard.

A bigger picture and the video tutorial for this hanging advent calendar is at this link.

Bookmark To:

Penguin Poop is an easy Christmas craft project, and one that I think will appeal to kids. These bags of penguin poop are part of my inventory that I’ll be showing at a craft sale on November 23.

I got the idea from Kerry’s Paper Crafts blog. Kerry made Pumpkin Poop. I changed things a bit.

The poem, modified from Kerry’s, reads:

I caught a little penguin
With a rope tied in a loop
It must have really scared him
‘Cause he made this penguin poop.

The penguin is a stamp from Hampton Art. Its heat embossed with black pigment ink and clear embossing powder, then colored with markers.

I cut the offset circle with the Cricut Machine (It’s the O in the George cartridge) and the flower is one of the shapes in the Cricut garden cartridge.

Amazon carries the Cricut Personal Electronic Cutter with 2 Cartridges but ships only to the US. If at all possible, I recommend getting this product from a local craft shop. They are usually great about providing customer support and this machine can be challenging to set up. I bought mine at Michaels and lived to regret it.

The tags are tied to the bag with a twist tie and some fiber. They can  be used as bookmarks after.

These are easy enough to do, and obviously, they are not limited to Christmas or holiday craft projects.  I can see Bunny Poop for Easter,  Cupid Poop for Valentines Day, Pumpkin Poop for Halloween as Kerry did, etc.  Here’s another thought. If your community has a mascot or a theme, Your Mascot Poop would be fun. For example, Harrison Hot Springs, a couple of hours east of Vancouver, has a Sasquatch mascot. Apparently there are a lot of Sasquatch sitings in the area. :-)   Sasquatch Poop would be fun!

Is it any wonder I love crafting!

Bookmark To:

If you’re looking for an easy Christmas craft, these hanging snowflakes from K and Company might fill the bill. They’re made from the “Swell Noel” Snowflakes Paper Crafting kit.

The kit includes Includes six glittered pages; 54 adhesive gems, 50 Mylar snowflakes, and 40 brads.

You simply punch out the snowflake shapes then assemble them as required. I made two big ones, but you can also make smaller ones if you prefer. These two shown are about six or seven inches in diameter. They are quite lovely if hung from high up with a ribbon or string.

Typically I am not very interested in kits because I find it more rewarding to create from scratch. However, Christmas is a busy time of year for most of us.

If anyone wants some lovely hand made decorations that don’t take all day to make, this would be a good choice. You could also sell them individually at a craft fair. I plan to try that.

Two Peas in a Bucket carries these “Swell Noel” Snowflake Paper Crafting Kits.

Bookmark To:

Here’s how to make an Advent Calendar using a Muffin Tin. I want to acknowledge the  I’m Impressed craft store in Vancouver for the idea.

I made this calendar using a mini-muffin tin with 24 tiny cups. I had something of a challenge finding the tin, but eventually found one at a supermarket.   Amazon carries this Norpro 24-Cup Heavy Duty Tin Mini Muffin Pan but they will ship only to the US.

The second tricky part could be finding the magnetic pop dots to attach the papers to the pan. EK Success makes the ones I finally located.

Here is a video tutorial showing how to make this Advent Calendar. You could also make a Count Down Calendar for any holiday or event.

Bookmark To:

The Christmas or Holiday Season is fast approaching. With money tight, many scrapbookers will be faced with budgetary challenges in terms of their scrapbooking and paper draft projects.

These money saving tips for Christmas scrapbooking projects may help:

1. Reduce the Number of Layouts

Rather than using one large picture per layout, as is the current trend, revert back to the previous approach of using several photographs per page.  This lets you include all the pictures you want, but in fewer layouts Fewer layouts = less cost.  You might use one larger picture per layout and several smaller pictures, or you might use two or three larger pictures.

2.  Make Your Own Embellishments

Embellishments can be costly. Very costly, as a matter of fact. Making your own may take a little more time, but the cost reduction is substantial. You also have the pleasure of knowing that you created the embellishments yourself.

For example, you can make beautiful paper poinsettias with a punch and some scrapbook paper. This link has a video tutorial demonstrating how to make paper poinsettias with a punch. You can also make poinsettias freehand by simply cutting a circle and then cutting and shaping the petals in a similar fashion to that shown in the video.

For another example, quilling is an easy skill to learn and you can make attractive little embellishments from scraps of card stock that you have cut in narrow strips.

Stamping with heat embossing lends itself to an unlimited number of items that you can use for embellishments.

3. Spruce Up Your Stash

Rather than buying new paper and card stock, why not see what you can use from your stash? You have been saving your scraps, haven’t you?

It’s a simple matter to alter your papers to give them a fresh, new holiday theme. Locate some papers suitable for converting, then find a rubber or acrylic stamp with a Holiday theme. Stamp the image repeatedly on your paper or card stock. You now have holiday scrapbook paper or card stock to use in your layouts.

Have old Holiday stickers left over from other years? Give them an aged look by lightly sanding them, or jazz them up with some glitter glue or dimensional glue in various colors.

4. Use Your Stash for Other Holiday Projects

I know you have a stash of supplies that doesn’t get used. We all do. Now’s a good time to really put it to work. Use it to make your greeting cards, gift tags, holiday decor, tree ornaments, advent calendars and so on.

5. Convert Left Over Gift Wrap into Holiday Themed Wrap

Do you have rolls of generic gift wrap? Use the stamping technique mentioned above to give it a holiday theme then use it to wrap your gifts. Why buy new when you can use what you have? Plus, you are making it uniquely yours this way.

6. Turn Inexpensive Items into Lovely Gifts

Having scrapbook skills means the ability to give beautiful, original and inexpensive gifts that will be remembered long after store bought ones will be forgotten. When you’re shopping the Dollar Stores or perusing sale items, look at everything with an eye for what can be converted into a paper craft project.

Simple wooden or chip board boxes can be decorated to become beautiful trinket boxes. Clipboards can be decorated with papers and a small mini album containing your favorite photos. Old optical lenses can be come attractive jewelry. These optical lens pendants are an example. Old cigar boxes can become beautiful decorative boxes, albums or purses, etc.

And, when the holiday is over, take a good look at the greeting cards, ribbons and wrapping paper that you received. How can you put them to use in your post-holiday layouts and paper craft projects?

You are limited only by your imagination.

Bookmark To:

I’m on a roll making Advent Calendars. I made another one yesterday. This one is flat and can be hung from a doorknob or on the wall. I plan on making a video demonstration of this project, but its not quite ready to go yet.

I made this calendar with a specific goal in mind. I wanted to design it using items that are readily available to anyone. The Countdown Kits are lovely, but they are somewhat costly and difficult to come by.

This calendar costs about ten dollars to make, tops. It probably costs much less than that if you use everyday items and scraps of paper from your stash. Of course, you can up the price considerably if you want to use ready made embellishments and the most costly papers with glitter and so forth.

For the little envelope/boxes/containers — whatever they are … I spent some time fooling around with paper until I got a design that bunches open nicely. This gives you room to slip your chocolate or other candy inside.

Making hand made Advent Calendars or Countdown Calendars is such fun. Advent Calendars were not a tradition in Manitoba, where I came from. I discovered them when I moved to Vancouver. People here really seem into them — and no wonder! They are charming!

Bookmark To:

It’s that time of year when Advent Calendars or Countdown Calendars are popular items, both for craft fairs or for personal use. Advent Calendars originated with the German Lutherans, who marked the days to the Advent by making a line on a sidewalk, or by lighting a candle each day.

Today’s Advent Calendars are likely to be charmingly playful projects, often containing a gift or message for each of the 24 days leading up to December 25. Countdown Calendars follow the same principle of counting down for 25 days prior to an event of any sort. The event count be a birthday, Easter, graduation, last day of school, Halloween or anything you like.

I made the 3-D Countdown Calendar using the kit from Karen Foster Designs. It’s really quite a charming little item, and its reversible. You can decorate the reverse side of the 25 boxes to count down to any holiday you want. I made my reverse side generic, so it can be used for anything the user wants.

I’m entering it in a craft fair. If it doesn’t sell, I know a cute little boy who’ll love receiving it in the mail.

Here is the video demonstration of the 3-D Countdown Calendar.

Bookmark To:

I love making hand made greeting cards. I am less enthusiastic about the ongoing challenge of finding envelopes to fit them.

Occasionally, I buy the blank cards with matching envelopes that you can get at Michaels and other craft stores. They work quite nicely, but the size is limiting. Also, they are a little on the costly side.

Usually what happens is this: I make the card first, designing it according to how I see the card in my mind. Then I struggle to find or make an envelope that fits it. Here are some of the approaches that I have utilized to get envelopes for my hand made greeting cards:

1. I make the card using scrapbook paper, vellum, old wallpaper, the back side of gift wrap paper or items such as paper placements from the local store that sells ephemera. Check this link for free envelope templates and other templates as well. You can use your photocopier or your computer to resize the templates to whatever size you want.

2. I visit the Dollar Store before and after Christmas and buy boxes of Christmas cards that come with envelopes. I use the cards for making serendipity squares or for other crafting purposes, and save the envelopes. This is truly a good trick. If you are lucky, you may get 20 envelopes for a dollar. Even if its only a dozen to a box, its still a great deal.

3. I sometimes visit stores like the Paper Zone. From time to time,they have packages of envelopes on sale. Last summer I found some beautiful vellum envelopes selling at a very reasonable price.

4 When dealing with large, bulky cards, such as Hollyberryhouse medallion cards, I wrap the card as a package, using any paper large enough. I may include a thin sheet of bubble wrap to protect the medallion during mailing.

How about it, crafters? What tips to you have for getting envelopes for your hand made greeting cards?

Bookmark To:

How about a musical scrapbook layout? Why not make a layout with sound for some special occasion?

I made the layout to the right to enter in a scrapbook contest at our local store. It didn’t win, but it apparently generated a lot of attention. The staff said they were driven crazy by customers pushing the musical sound button that plays “Those Are a Few of My Favorite Things!”.

The layout is whimsical. I meant it to be, because it depicts a whimsical event in my life. I had a tattoo placed on my shoulder, using a flower picture that the tattoo artist drew by hand. I was considerably beyond the age when women usually get tattoos, so this generated some comments in and of itself.

I printed out people’s remarks about my tattoo onto vellum and attached it to the layout. That’s the beige colored scraps of torn paper you can see.

The button is a sound button purchased at Michaels. The musical selection is limited.

Another way to get a sound button would be to dismantle a children’s book or other toy with sound included and use the button for your layouts.

Even better, I have been told that Hallmark stores sell recordable buttons, although I have not found these items locally. If that’s true, you could record your own voice, music or other sound. That would be the best yet. Hallmark does have a line of greeting cards with recordable messages, apparently. This news article confirms it: Hallmark Launches New Line of Recordable Greeting Cards. You could always remove the recording button and use it in your layout instead.

How about it folks? Has anyone else used sound in their scrapbooks?

Bookmark To:

The Fun Times Guide to Scrapbooking and Stamping has a fascinating article called How to Use Feng Shui in your Scrapbooking.

It’s an interesting concept. I had never considered this before. I know very little about Feng Shui. It’s one of those things that I have heard  of and planned to learn more about “some day.”   According to the article, the five elements of Feng Shui are earth, water, fire, air, metal, and wood. All of them are represented by certain substances and shapes. Therefore, to Feng Shui a layout, you would incorporate colors and embellishments that reflect these elements.

I realize I am using Feng Shui as a verb  Probably this is incorrect, but it does seem to communicate the message, doesn’t it? LOL

My first thought is, “Good grief. It’s difficult enough to create a layout that works well without adding the additional challenge of a Feng Shui approach.  By the time you think about page balance, the rule of thirds, the color wheel, using odd numbers of items, etc. — then after that, you  consider what supplies you have on hand and whether you want to use what’s in your stash or make a trip to the craft store  — and after considering all that,  you then add the additional decision that everything has to be Feng Shui’d (if that’s a word)! It sounds a bit overwhelming.

However, just because it could be a challenge doesn’t mean its not a worthwhile concept. As we all know, some of the best things in life come as a result of facing a challenge.

It might be worth trying. First , I would have to learn about Feng Shui.

This book, Crafting for Good Feng Shui: 40 Projects to Bring Harmony to Your Home may be a good place to start.

How about you?  Would you, or have you, incorporated Feng Shui principles into your projects?

Bookmark To: