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Looking for a pretty way to save up for a rainy day?

Who doesn’t love saving money? Loose change and lonely dollar bills that find their way to the bottom of my purse actually add up quickly when put  in the same place, so I decided to make my own bank using an empty Pringles can. It was easy and fun to do, and I find having a pretty piggy bank inspires me to save even more, I WANT to put money in it!

I began with an empty Pringles can, and painted it black. The beautiful  Butterfly Garden papers  from Gecko Galz  were calling my name and look so pretty wrapped around it.  Wouldn’t something like this inspire you to save those pennies? After awhile, they add up and you can go scrap shopping you know!

“Save it For a Rainy Day Bank” by Rebecca Price

Paper: Gecko Galz “Butterfly Garden: Garden of Beauty”; Adhesive: Beacon Adhesives Zip Dry; Embellishments: Prima Flowers; Paint: Plaid “Apple Barrel: Black”; Ink: Clearsnap “Colorbox Catseye: Aquamarine, Blue Lagoon”; Misc: Ribbon

To see more projects featuring  Gecko Galz  products, check out the  March/April issue of Scrap N’ Art available now!

A Delicious Recipe: Jillibean Soup + Your Creativity

Two things got me through the unusually cold winter that we experienced over the past few months: scrapbooking, and my book of recipes which includes all of our favorite hot soups, stews and chilies.

Jillibean Soup, which I discovered in early January, combines these two loves of mine.  Their wonderfully broad line of coordinating products include everything you need to cook up a fabulous layout or paper project including beautiful papers, ribbons and trims, buttons, acrylic stamps, alphabet stickers and journaling spots.

One of my favorite Jillibean Soup products is their “Soup Staples” papers.  These basic papers include a polka-dot pattern on one side, and a tight graph/check pattern in the same color on the reverse. These staple papers coordinate with all the other Jillibean Soup paper collections, or work beautifully on their own.

In the example layout I created below, I used the “Soup Staples” paper in red, and paired it with the 12×12 Kraft paper that Jillibean Soup also offers.

Tips:

  • I had scraps of Jillibean Soup papers left over from another project.  Since all of their papers work so perfectly together, I used my QuicKutz to cut some flower circles to accent the side of the layout.
  • I used my Heidi Swapp distresser to rough up the edges of the Kraft paper, but the sharp edge of a pair of scissors does the job just as well (be careful not to distress your fingers though!)
  • I layered two of the Jillibean Soup “Journaling Sprouts” to get the perfect look.
  • I stamped directly on the Kraft paper with Colorbox Cat’s Eye chalk ink, and the resulting images were bright and colorful!

Supplies used:
Paper: Jillibean Soup “Soup Staples: Red Sugar, Olive Sugar, Green Stock” “Lentil Soup: Vegetable Broth,” “Alphabet Soup: Alphabet Pasta”; Journaling Spots: Jillibean Soup “Journaling Sprouts”; Adhesive: Beacon “Zip-Dry”, Tombow “Mono”; Die-Cuts: QuicKutz Revolution, “Nesting Flowers” dies; Stamps: Technique Tuesday “Big Timber Line,” Hot Off The Press “Flights of Fancy (heart),” Stampendous “Perfectly Clear Brackets (small flower)”; Embellishments:  Heidi Swapp Ghost Symbols; Stickers: Making Memories “Tiny Alphas,” American Crafts “Thickers”

For more inspiration using Jillibean Soup products, be sure to check out the March/April issue of Scrap n’ Art Magazine, available now!

Fleur de Lis

Fleur de lis can be found in many places.  They adorn coats of arms, flags, banners, sacred items, architecture, and even the current Superbowl champions, the Saints.  My son is involved in Scouts, and the fleur de lis is one of their main symbols as well.  Often in paper-crafting, we see them used in purely decorative instances, but it’s interesting to research the many ways that fleur de lis have been used in history. 

I believe that fleur de lis add a flair of elegance to paper-crafts, and I find that I use them in masculine cards quite often.  Today I’m sharing a card that features the “Fleur de Lis” embossing folder from Provo Craft. I actually used two forms of embossing on this card, machine embossing and heat embossing.  First of all, I embossed the coppery cardstock with the Cuttlebug folder.  After I finished doing this, I applied ink over the raised parts and sprinkled copper embossing powder over the top. After heating it with  my heat gun, I was left with a two tone copper embossed sheet.  Pretty easy, huh?  Just think of all the color/powder combinations you can do with this technique.  Thanks for taking a peek! 

Die-cuts: Provo Craft “Cuttlebug,” Cut & Emboss “Everyday Greetings”; Tools: Provo Craft embossing folder “Fleur de Lis”; Adhesive: Beacon Adhesives “Zip Dry,” The Paper Studio “Foam Dots”; Paper: The Paper Studio “Solid Pearl – Cream, Gold”; Embellishments: Stampendous! embossing powder “Detail Copper”; Ink: Tsukineko Emboss “Clear”; Pens: Marvy Uchida “Paint Marker: Gold”; Ribbon: Ribbon FX
TIP:  A metallic paint marker can provide a great edge to your paper. I use a ruler as a guide to create straight lines. The good thing about paint markers is they work well on dark or light paper because they are opaque. 

A Patty’s Day Treat from Danielle’s Designs!

Hey everyone! I’m very happy to annouce the opening of my very own exclusive store over at Divine Digital! Don’t worry, I’ll still be here making freebies for you SNA subscribers but if you’d like to get even more then please be sure to visit! Click HERE to check it out!

This month at my store it’s March Madness! Every Monday during March, I will be releasing a special product that will only be available for that ONE week and here is today’s item:

So what are you waiting for? Visit my store right now and you will find this cute little CU Patty’s Day Bear waiting for you completely FREE! Plus, I think a little leprechaun might have stuck something special in the folder with him so be sure to take a look! Again, just click HERE to visit! Thanks for all your support everyone, see you there!

p.s. SNA Subscribers, for an extra special treat just for you – be sure to check out page 6 of the current Mar/Apr issue! Oh and one more thing before I go for you subscribers, a new Springtime/Easter kit is waiting for you in the subscriber area – enjoy!

Creative Spaces. A Blog Series. Part 2

This is a continuation of our Creative Spaces series and today, we’re sharing the space of one of our digital team. Nicole creates beautiful digital layouts and gives away digital freebies on her blog. She creates gorgeous work and can do it on her couch! Look where she scraps. She says she loves being in the living room with her family. And everyone knows that the couch is “her spot” when she has her laptop ready to go. I LOVE that she can scrap while laying down, I wish I could do that! Although, it would be difficult with my desktop computer on my lap!!

Join us again next Friday for another creative space from the Scrap N’Art design team! Who will be next? What will you see? Come back and check it out!!!

Saving the Day with Rusty Pickle

Anyone who has a little boy, nephew, or even a younger brother has seen him in “Super Hero” mode – pillow case safety-pinned underneath his chin, running around the living room in his Spider Man pajama pants, on a desperate quest to rid the world of evil.  Heck, even a few of us girls may have donned that pillow case a time or two!

Rusty Pickle’s “Shazaam” line celebrates the Super Hero in all of us.  These brightly colored papers and embellishments, reminiscent of all those colorful comic book heroes and heroines, are bold, bright, and perfect for documenting photos of your littlest crime-fighter.

Being the “out-of-the-box” scrapper that I am, I immediately started thinking of additional ways to use this exciting line.  As I was going through my photo box, looking for pictures to use with the Shazaam products, I found one of my favorite photos of my husband and me.  As I looked at it, I thought of how amazing he is, and how he rescued me from a broken heart when we first met.  Naturally, I knew right then the page I was going to create.

Tips:

  • I wanted the photo to really stand out against the super-bright paper I matted it with, so I used an American Crafts Bold Slick Writer to scribble a black border around the photo.
  • For added color, and to maximize the comic book effect, I used two sheets of paper for the background.  I ripped the top sheet of green dotted paper at an angle, and simply adhered it on top of the blue star paper.
  • I wanted the “Kabooom!!!” burst to literally pop out from the page (just like in comic book art) so I used foam adhesive dots behind it to raise it off the page.

Supplies Used:
Paper: Rusty Pickle “Shazaam: Take That, Super Hero, Flamin’ Hot, My Hero”; Die-Cuts: Rust Pickle “Shazaam: Shazaam Tags, Cardstock Coupons”; Chipboard: Rusty Pickle “Wrong Turn Chipboard”; Adhesive: Beacon “Zip Dry,” Martha Stewart Crafts “Foam Adhesive Squares”; Ink: Colorbox “Cat’s Eye Chalk Ink: Charcoal”; Pen: American Crafts “Slick Writer Bold Black”

Unexpected Combinations

Do you ever look at a layout or piece of art and notice an element that you didn’t expect?  But do you also notice that somehow, the element just brings the whole piece together?  I notice this a lot.  I am very inspired by the unexpected, and I definitely love to mix things up in my scrapping style.  I would personally define my style as “whimsical eclectic,” a variant of freestyle scrapping.  I love mixing up different papers, patterns, manufacturers and styles of supplies in my work.

I feel this type of experimentation with different supplies is what brings out the most creativity in me.  Sure, I love to work with a kit, or collection pack from a manufacturer, where everything has been chosen for me and matches and coordinates.  But it’s when I am pulling loose things from my stash that I feel most creative.

I did a layout as an example for you.  I love the vintage images of Graphic 45 paper.  I really love all things vintage!  But I also adore bright, fun, modern patterns and styles as well.  So, I often mix the two.  Here’s my layout:

In this layout, I’ve combined some Graphic 45 vintage images with some bold patterns from Jillibean Soup and BasicGrey.  I think it creates a fun, eclectic and vibrant layout.

So, the next time you feel in a rut and are maybe tired of working with things that are put together for you, why not try and put together some fun and unexpected combinations of your own?  If you do, please link them up here!  I’d love to see!

Supply List:

Cardstock: Paper Accents “Back In Black: Black Bark,” “White on White: Pearlized Bright White”; Adhesive: Beacon Adhesives “3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue,” GlueArts “Glue Glider Pro”; Paper: BasicGrey “June Bug: Corsage,” Graphic 45 “Communique: Party Line,” “Domestic Goddess: Farmers Market, Simple As Pie,” Jillibean Soup “Lentil Soup: Toasted Cumin,” “Soup Staples: Black Sugar”; Stickers: American Crafts “Thickers: Vera Accents,” Creative Imaginations “Signature Collection,” K&Company Embossed Stickers “Handmade Mini Alpha,” Sassafras “Anthem”; Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink “Walnut Stain,” Vibrance “Black”; Pens: uni-ball Signo “White,” Zig Writer “Pure Black”; Tools: Heidi Swapp for Advantus “Edge Distresser”; Misc: Journaling Card, Handmade Pebbles, Flowers

Check out our new “Earth Day” kit!!

Wow!  It’s hard to believe that today is already March 1st!  I feel like this year is just flying by!  It seems like this has been a hard winter for everyone so I am hoping that March will bring warmer temperatures for all of us.  As we get further into spring, we will be hearing more and more about Earth Day and all the events surrounding it.  To celebrate Earth Day, the fabulously talented Scrap n’ Art designers have created this kit for all of our subscribers.

Click here to subscribe to Scrap n’ Art and get this kit and lots of other great freebies through the year.

Here is a layout I created with the Earth Day kit. My daughter was amazed at how tall the giraffe’s were and she just sat and watched them for the longest time.

I have also created a little freebie for all of you made using the Earth Day kit. Click here to download it!!

And speaking of freebies, Carol Zeitz of cpz designs also has a freebie going into the subscriber forum today. She created this great set of papers, along with the coordinating shaped kraft papers to match. Grab these too and enjoy!

As a newbie here at Scrap n’ Art, I am excited to get to know all of you and look forward to seeing you around the digi world!!

Waiting For “I Do”

The other day, I was at our Cub Scout Pack’s Pinewood Derby with a little time to spare. The Derby was held in the gym of our church, and I was dying to try out the new lense I had just gotten for my camera. So I took a few spare  minutes and went to shoot some photos in the Sanctuary. I got some beautiful shots, both inside and out.

Then, I was just lucky enough to be treated to one of the new Anna Griffin Collections – Cecile, which was just introduced at CHA. I took a few more of the photos I had shot, and incorporated them into this fun (and a little whimsical) layout . . .

Totally unrelated to anything in my life right now (especially since I’ve been married to my darling husband for the past 15 years), but it sure is a great layout for these photos!

Creative Spaces. A Blog Series. Part 1.

We’re starting a new series today. Every Friday (or thereabouts) for the next several weeks, we will be letting you peek into the creative spaces of our team members. Now, as you probably realize, we have some team members who play with paper products, some who are only digital, and some who do both. ALL of our design team members have their own special way of organizing and creating and I am SO excited they have agreed to share photos and tips from their spaces! So here we go. First up is Ami Godfrey!

Ami: “This is the overall picture of my scrap area.  I share a home office with my husband, who works from home.  I have almost an entire wall for scrap storage and space.  I have a large desk, and on top of that is a small cubby bookshelf, lazy susan, and my Cricut.  Next to the desk is a stack of paper storage cubes.  And next to that, is a large cubby bookshelf.  I have everything neatly organized and that helps in a small space.  I know where everything is, and it’s really easy to put things away when I’m done using them because everything has a specific home.  I love my space!!”

Ami: “This is a closer shot of my desk area. I have my alphabet stickers and Thickers sorted by color in the three-drawer containers in the cubby bookshelf on my desk.  Also in that cubby bookshelf:  my Slice, Cricut cartridges (at least until my stash of those grows, LOL!), Inks, Sprays and Stickles, and I also have craft cases full of buttons, brads, and other small embellishments stored there.  On top of that bookshelf is a small basket of odds and ends and a big red bin for ribbon.”

Ami: “This picture shows my paper storage and large cubby bookshelf.  This large bookshelf holds my camera and lenses, clear stamps, cardmaking supplies, scrapbook albums, flowers, photo storage and the top of the bookshelf has a basket of stickers and a smaller basket of stickers.  The star is a recent project I made for Scrap n’ Art!”

Ami: “This shows my lazy susan up close.  This item has been a lifesaver in organizing my desk efficiently.  I have different cups/containers on it that hold adhesive, markers, pens/pencils, journaling pens, scissors, etc.  I can sit at my desk to scrap and have everything I need literally right at my fingertips.  I just give it a little spin to find what I need.  It’s awesome.  I picked this lazy susan up at IKEA very inexpensively.”

So there’s a peek into Ami’s space. I love that she has SO many supplies organized so neatly in a small space! And I really do love that lazy susan idea. I might have to grab myself one of those! I hope you enjoyed this and we’ll be back next week with another glimpse into the creative space of a design team member.

And, if you would like us to feature YOUR space in our upcoming issue, we’ve got the page calls out for the May/June issue. One of the calls is “Scrap Your Space”. You can check out all of our calls here!