OLW

Gigi's Tips & Techniques #4

reduce, reuse, recycle & create :)

i've been delving into my recycling pile A LOT lately...
there is carboard & chipboard gold in there!!

but seriously...next time you are flattening a cereal box or tissue box to be put in the recycling bin, stop & take a look at it...it's got lots of potential!  add a bit of that patterned paper and some embellishments & you'll be on your way to a cool creative project!
this kind of thing is great to do w/ kids too :) 
(and i'd love to hear any recycling ideas YOU have too!  post 'em up in the comments :)

here are some recent projects i've created recycling chipboard & cardboard from the bazillion boxes that my family goes through:
for these 2 wall hangings i used a nice side of a box & painted or collaged away
(did the same for my GROW project)

i also love using the not so firm chipboard of, say a tissue box, to back patterned paper pieces...it is perfect to lend just the right amount of heft to your projects...
i did that for the bird & the birdhouse pictured above as well as the butterflies on my CREATE project & the clouds on the little guy below:

even the sleeve of my starbucks coffee isn't safe...lol!  i used some of those circles on my TODAY layout...and on the layout below, in addition to making flowers, i swiped some paint on the ridged side & "stamped" some great texture on my cardstock :

& inspired by the fantastic, kara, i created this little journal out of the side of a box...just add some patterned paper to one side, some paint to the other, a little embroidery floss to bind it all together & voila!  (step by step photos for this journal are posted here)

if you are anything like me, i'm sure you'll never look at a piece of cardboard the same again!  lol!  oooh the possibilities!  so next time your kids polish off the 47 millionth box of cereal you'll be smiling knowing that that box will soon be turned into a cute sign for their bedroom door :)  HAVE FUN!!!   

and wow...you all are really doing AMAZING stuff w/ today!  i've been cruising around at the work linked thus far & wow....outstanding stuff everyone!!
make sure to have your today project linked up by this friday in order to be in the running for that great kit!

happy day everyone!

xoxoxo

gi

Word Up #26: TODAY

i have begun to have a love affair with today...
seriously...

those of you who are SISters over at Scrap In Style TV know that each day i start a thread called "today i will"...and it has been cool (& a lot of help organization wise) to have someplace where i can sit for a few minutes & create my plan for the day...lots of it is all that mundane house-wife-y stuff...the laundry, the bills, vacuuming, call this person, don't forget that, etc...its all that stuff of the everyday...yeah...not too exciting lots of times...but despite it's lack of luster, i've learned immensely from it...

today holds such promise & possibility...
today holds such hope...
today can be anything you want to create for it...
today can hold great power...
today can be the start of something big...
today can change your life...

so i'm thinking now you don't think my love affair is so wacky :)
take this quote for instance...
it is sure to help you change your mind about today & your power to use it:

This is the beginning of a new day.

You have been given this day to use as you will.

You can waste it or use it for good.

What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it.

When tomorrow comes this day will be gone forever; in its place is something that you have left behind...

let it be something good.

<----Amby Nic Montage

now go, take today by the reins & USE IT!  maybe even create....TODAY! :)

load them up here by midnight on the 16th pretty please :)  This weeks sponsor is Dixie Pieces!  They have offered up their adorable May kit for our selected winner.   Go check it out!

xoxoxo
gigi

Gigi

Amber

Jessi

Karla

Lynn

Ronda

 

Tiff

GROW Favourites

so thanks!! a big HUGE thanks to all of you who played along with us for GROW!! we having you guys share with us your creativity and your lives!! and the best part is seeing our site GROW thanks to your support!! so without further adieu, the winner of the Lotus Paperie monthly kit is....

Denise - USA

and don't forget to check out these amazing creations as well!!!

See you on Word Up Wednesday

Jessi's tip/technique #4

hey everyone!!! this week's tip is in HOT demand!!! and i am a firm believer of ask and you shall receive!!! you asked...so here it is....PHOTO STRIPS!!!  these are one my favourite things to use on a page...they are versatile for so many themes and styles and a great way for us one photo scrappers to get more than one photo on a page...or to repeat one photo for a strong effect!! so how do you do it??? easy....

open the photo or photo's you want to use AND a new canvas. I make my new canvas 8x12 at 300 resolution (walmart prints an 8x12 size and i upload mine there as it's cheaper in printng off than to do so at home, plus i don't have a really good photo printer at home, lol!!). just make sure you size your NEW canvas to, is a size printable by whatever means you are using, for example if your home printer only prints 8.5x11, than make your canvas 8.5x11.

next size your photo. i usually size mine to 1.5x2 at 300 resolution, you can definitely do bigger of smaller. in this example i show you 2.5x3.5 at 300 resolution


using the move tool drag your photo to the NEW canvas.

repeat dragging your photo to the NEW canvas, lining up the photo's in a vertical line. i line mine up using my eye and the arrow keys, but you can use the ruler that comes in photo shop

in this next photo i am showing you the difference in your strip if you use a different size. this is a 2.5x3.5 beside a 1.5x2

once you have your strips created, you need to flatten your image

once flattened this is what you will be left with

so now you can save it and upload the photo's to a photo printing place like walmart or print them off at home.


okay....i am feeling generous today...so here is another one of favourite tips!!! a fabulous way to get a TON of photo's onto one page!! use your index prints!!! most places do a 4x6 sheet of index prints that show at a glance what photo's you had printed off in that package. SAVE THEM!! i use mine all the time...use them as is or i cut them apart and use some prints from this package and some prints from that package...the possibilities are endless!!!

here are some links to others who have created fun pages with strips...
ronda's K&V
lynn's a moment like this
so there you have it!!! hope you fun with your photo strips...if do create some...lets see!!! don't forget about getting us your GROW creations linked up to us by Friday May 2nd!!!
ciao!
jessi

Word Up #25: GROW

GROW. grow love....grow strength...grow faith...grow strong...grow indifference...grow knowledge...grow up...grow apart...grow together...grow a little...grow a lot...grow in adversity...grow everyday. i love this word!! and i will admit that this word is completely inspired by the milk commercials...do you remember them?? they were great! totally profound and totally in keeping with the power of ONE LITTLE WORD. i have found myself using the phrasing and idea from those commercials repeatedly in my scrapbooking. it makes for some great journaling!! and in this world that is changing constantly...growing...this word is so diverse...and i have to say, a favourite word of mine. it can speak of so many things...so...go!! grow some creativity!!!

This week's sponsor is Lotus Paperie and we got to play with this FABULOUS kit.  And you can possibly get your hands on this kit.....just have your projects link up here by midnight, May 2nd, 12 am mountain time (- 7 GMT). 

ciao jessi

Jessi

Amber

Gigi

Karla

Lynn

Ronda

Tiff

BEST Wordsters Favorites

WOW.....you all pulled out the BEST for us.  So many fantastic projects to go through this time and you left us in amazement.  We love that you put yourself out there week after week. And for all those new wordsters, we hope to see you back here.  Now is the time we picked winner, and believe us when we say that this is the HARDEST part of our job. 

So this week's selected winner and recipient of the awesome Studio Calico kit is......

Jo-Anne - Netherlands

and these other Fantabulous projects also caught our eyes......

Thank you all who participate, we truly love seeing all your creations.
Don't forget to check back here on Wednesday for the next WORD up!

Karla's Tip/Technique #4

It's time to use some scraps! For my technique I'm going to show you all how to make a really cool tile effect. I used this technique just recently on this miniBOOK I made for All Moments Remembered April kit.

Here's how to get the look:

*First off you will need you supplies.

Here I have my paper, heat gun, embossing powder, scissors, adhesive, a card, and paper trimmer. So lets get crackin'...

1.) Your going to cut your paper into thin strips. Varying the width makes the results more unique.

2.) Add some adhesive to one of the strips. ( you can add it to the card/layout as well or even use a glue like Mod Podge a little at a time.)

3.)  Cut strips  as you go along  for whimsy.

4.) Now, sometimes ( you will :) have small gaps. Fill those up with paper but try to make the paper 'fit' in the gap. Not overlap. This way your finished project will look flat and clean. It will take a bit of practice but it's fun :)

5.) I decided to have my tile design at the bottom of my card. So to make my long pieces stop exactly where I want them to I use my ruler and trim them right over my card. ( using scissors does not work as well ) I make sure I have a sharp blade and I don't press to hard at all. This works beautifully.

6.) After my tile design is done, then I add embossing ink over it by turning my pad over and smooshing it about. ....love this part ^-------^ Then I pour my embossing powder over the whole thing. Be generous to assure you get it all :)

7.) I heat the embossing powder with my heat gun. Some of the crystals blow off but that's ok you want that textured look. I also heat some parts less than others which makes the powder melt into small beads. They look like water...love it :) If you want a completely shinny smooth surface then heat thoroughly + add more powder + heat again.

...so yep, that's it! Here are some more examples of perfect tiles with squares.

wooooeeeeee...I made this all the way back in December of '06! Loved it then and still do ^-------^ I used my square punch to punch out squares if many different pattern papers then shoved them together. It made a quick, easy and beautiful christmas card. ^-----^

Here I punched the squares with my punch and sewed down the seams. There are a lot of ways you can jazz tiles up! The rectangle tiles can be a bit tricky but I tell ya what...the square ones are just too easy for the look LOL!!!!!  I hope you all are inspired to try this sometime yes?

Happy Scrappin' guys!

-out

Word Up #24: BEST

Hey guys, I'm up! This time around I chose the word BEST. It's such a wonderful and powerful word. So much so that I I chose to go simple and create a small album to contain some of the BEST moments of this year. Can't wait to see you all scrappin' along side us! This weeks sponsor is the amazing Studio Calico, a kit company that neat!!  Remember to get your creations linked up by Friday, April 18th, Midnight Mountain (GMT -7)

Wishing you the BEST of creative wishes!!!

-Karla

Karla

Amber

Gigi

Jessi

Lynn

Ronda

Tiff

BLESSED favorites

Hey wordsters!!!! Once again you all amazed us  with your talent! We love to see all the different takes on every word! Each and every layout is total inspiration for all of us! SO Thanks to all of you for playing along each week! Here is our winner for this time around! you will receive a prize pack from Memorable Seasons as well as a shirt from our cafe press store!

Kimberly Brimhall - Texas

And here are some others that caught our attention....

Be sure to come on back on Wednesday for our next 'word up'!

Lynn's Tips &Techniques #4:

So..... I was thinking about my technique for this week when someone asked me this question..."How do you create?" Do you start with the picture or the paper....(in this case it is the paper, because it is so darn cute.... crowns and stripes and girly things....love it!) How do you get it to look Grungy? So I thought rather than try to explain because I really don't know, I thought I would just show it for this weeks technique.....So let's do a 6 x 12 layout... do it bigger if you want! Get out some paper and follow along or just watch.....Let's get started.... At our local scrapbook store they just got in the new line from Teresa Collins.... love the stuff and well lets just say they have to re-order lots of it....

I almost always ink and distress my paper
I use Tim Holtz distress inks always and for this layout i used antique linen, pink and black.
I use my ink pads directly on my paper....Ink it, sand it and using heidi swapps distresser... grunge it up....

add pictures, I used film strips, which I love right now... thanks to Jessi for showing me how to do these! Love them....can you tell? The paper on the right side I just cut it out of a 12 x 12... then I sewed around the outside edge of the paper.

Next add another picture over top of the film strips. Then I added a photo frame from the "french  Laundry" line from Two Peas. I resized the frame and then printed it out on transparency.

Next I added some stamps on the left side of the layout from a great new company... (well I don't know how new they are!) They are called "art declassified" Love them! Then I took another ne of the papers from Teresa's line that had strips of little quotes.... I cut them up and added them to the bottom of my layout, over top of the picture.

add a few flowers and a little bit of Bling at the top and VOILA..... you have a grungy, dirty layout! Have fun!
Be sure to show us your creations and link your layouts for the word "blessed" by this Friday at midnight!

Lynn