I have a small collection of random scrapbooking tips to share today. They have been submitted to over the last little while:

If you’re going to work with glitter, here’s a great tip or two!
Before you start, take a dryer sheet (you know… a bounce sheet) and wiped down all your items: tray, your paper and your working surfaces. It takes the static charge off so you won’t have as much “stray” glitter when you shake off your page!
Use a dry fine tipped paint brush to brush away those stray pieces of glitter from your paper. ~Ally 

When heat embossing, heat your project from underneath to get a “cleaner” even finish and to keep the embossing powders from blowing around. To get a sharp image when stamping a project, lay a 1/4″ dense foam pad under the paper that you are stamping. If your gel pens stop working but still have lots of ink in them, remove the cartridge and put it in hot water for a few minutes (don’t allow the opening to get in the water) this will soften the ink and allow it to flow again.  ~Jackie

When you are going to paint, emboss, bead, cut little pieces from paper, place a piece of Glad Press n Seal to the table you are working at. When you are done, simply pick it up and throw it and all the little pieces away. It hs also protected your area for the paint and embossing crystals. ~Jen

When I am doing a layout where I use a large piece of cardstock as the border, I cut out the center of the page that will be covered and I save that paper for something else. This also works for photos. You can cut out a smaller shape of the hidden cardstock and save it.Cutting out the extra paper also makes your completed pages lighter and your overall book lighter.

They are often times when you want to remove the adhesive from a portion of a sticker. The best way to do this is to sprinkle baby powder on the area that you want to remove the adhesive from. If you are trying to remove the stickiness from a portion of a sticker that is overlapping from your page, be sure to stick the sticker to your page before sprinkling the baby powder, or you may remove the adhesive from the wrong part of the sticker.

You can add texture to a layout in so many ways. One fun and easy way is INK. You can straight distress, of course, but one fun way is to take things with interesting patterns, ink them up, and use the item as a stamp. Bubble wrap is perfect for this. Cheesecloth wrapped over something sturdy (like a stamp block) is fun too! ~Erin

You can send in your random tips to me at thynner5@yahoo.ca to earn a ballot in this month’s blog prize draw!!

~Tara~

This week I wanted to show you how to use those gorgeous Cuttlebug embossing dies in other way other than just embossing.

Supplies:

1. cardstock
2. ink
3. embossing folder
4. brayer
5. die cut machine

Steps to a Cool Effect

1. Gather your supplies together.



2. Evenly load the brayer with ink.  Try rolling it across the pad in multiple directions for more even coverage.
3. Roll the inked brayer across the surface of the RAISED side of the Cuttlebug die.  The brayer works great in this case because it gives you even coverage of the raised surfaces and doesn’t allow excess ink to drip into the grooves.

   

4. Carefully lay your piece of cardstock on top of the inked surface.
5. Send the sandwiched folder through your die cut machine.
6. Use the inked and embossed cardstock to create a card of your own design.

Supplies: Cardstock; Bazzill, Prism, Doodlebug.  Stamp: BasicGrey.  Inks; Ranger,  Tsukineko.  Pearls: Hero Arts.  Pen; Creative Imaginations. Ribbon; Must Be Sold-by-Spool.  Die Cuts; Spellbinders (Nestabilities).  Tools; Cuttlebug embossing die.

Since a new month has begun, don’t forget if you complete a challenge, use a spot lighted font, create a page using our word of the week or complete any of the other challenges during the month, link us up or send your projects to Tara at thynner5@yahoo.ca for a chance to win.

Good luck!  I would love to see what kind of creations you create with the technique.

I found these great Card Making Tips in the Resources section. They were submitted by Kate

Beginning Card Making Tips 

• It can save you a lot of time to buy pre-scored or folded cards (and yes, they do even make them in square sizes). This will obviously cost you more money than just making the card base out of cardstock yourself, but it can be a real time savings. AND you can buy packs of them that also come with envelopes, so you don’t have to worry about finding the right size of envelopes for them.

• When designing for quantities: keep things simple - don’t do things that require several steps. For instance, I tend to avoid heat embossing if I’m making more than 15 cards (unless it’s for something special like a wedding and I have lots of time to do it!), because of all the steps involved in the process. (If you do want to do heat embossing, do it in steps like in my first suggestion) I also avoid things like rub-ons and dry embossing, because they tend to take a lot of time to do.
• Things that work GREAT for making quantities of cards: punches, colored staples (glue can be annoying if you have to leave a lot of time to dry), stickers, decorative edged scissors or punches, and rubber stamps.

• Avoid tying bows with ribbon, because they can charge you extra for mailing something with a bump. Instead, consider just stapling ribbon down, or weaving it through slots.

If you have any tips or techniques you would like to share with us please email me at thynner5@yahoo.ca and put “CCAS Blog Tips” in the subject line. Everytime you do you will be entered into the monthly draw.

~Tara~

I think one of best words in the English language is the word HAPPY. So this week’s challenge is to use that simple word, HAPPY.

HAPPY:

Here’s a page I made using the word happy…

Everything in the page is using the Scrapperie’s May kit, “La Cage aux Folles”. The lacey edge was made using a Fiskars edging and embossing punch and some sandpaper.

Don’t forget to post your challenge pages to this post or send Tara an email at thynner5@yahoo.ca with your included images. For every challenge you share with us, your name will be entered into the monthly prize draw. Good luck!

I have always wanted to try my hand at embossing but I was intimidated by the process. I am a bit anal and like things to turn out the way I want them too. When they don’t, I tend to get frustrated. Embossing looked like it was tedious.

This past weekend I picked up some great tips while chatting on the Message Board at The Scrapping Bug. I would like to share some tips I learned from the many talented gals there.

“The melting process should only take a matter of 30 seconds or so… maybe a bit more if the gun has just been turned on for it’s first use.” ~Ally

“Hold the tip of your gun about 6 inches away from the surface of your paper.” ~Ally

“I usually make little circles with my heat gun…just so the paper doesn’t get overheated “~ Amanda

“Tweezers are your best friend while embossing!! Saves the fingers from getting burnt!!!”~Amanda

“One other tip for embossing…whatever you’re going to emboss, rub it with a USED dryer sheet before stamping and putting the powder on…this aids in the powders NOT sticking where it’s not supposed to (I’ve had this happen before and with black powder it just looks dirty….) “~Amanda

“When I heat emboss, I sometimes heat the powder from under the page, this way it tends not to burn so quickly just in case you hold the heat gun in one spot too long.”~Audrey

I think Anne-Marie sums it up best when she said, “Practice makes perfect.”

I am now a little less intimidated with the embossing process! I may have to invest in some supplies and give embossing a try. I wonder if the Embossing Fairy feels like dropping some supplies my way?

I was also able to find a great step by step tutorial on heat embossing in the Resouces section. Check it out: Heat Embossing 101

If you have any tips or techniques you would like to share please email them to me at: thynner5@yahoo.ca and put “Blog Tips” in the subject line. If you do then you will entered into the monthly Blog Prize Draw!

~Tara~

 Texture – Add it Today!!

Texture is a way for you to add all kinds of visual interest to your cards and creations. You can add texture in all kinds of ways, through stickers, layers of paper, felt or fabric, embossing, paper crimping or crumpling, chipboard shapes and even by using 3-D molding paste.

One of the easiest ways to make any item have more visual appeal and prominance is to pop it off your page. The easiest thing to do to create this effect is to use a 3 dimensional adhesive like foam dots. Simply apply the dots to the back of your image and stick them to your page. The little owl below has been raised off the card face by using foam dots.

Another simple and fast way to add texture is to use embossing. That could include heat embossed images or dry embossing techniques. There are a lot of companies making embossing plates that you can fit in your die cutting tools for making quick work of creating an embossed surface. The card below displays a panel of dry embossing, highlighted by inking the raised portions of the embossing texture the embossing stands out more prominantly.

Chipboard shapes are a quick and easy way to add dimension to your creations. Raw or decorated, these images add that pop to your cards and pages. In the example below, the chipboard cat shape has been applied right over top of the row of felt images.

Felt and fabrics are a fantastic way to add texture too! Imagine the feel of burlap or cotton or stick with a growing trend in the industry and use felt. The image above uses an adhesived backed felt repeating image as a backdrop. Quick and easy and super textured!

Why not add some more dimension by crimping or crumpling things? This too is a quick way to create an eye popping effect. The little leaf below has been die cut from a piece of cardstock, doodled on and then sent through a paper crimper. Layered on the adhesive felt swirls and popped up using foam ahesive, it adds the feeling of a swirling leaf!

Don’t forget about adding other dimensional items, like ribbons and brads. These simple items add a lot of texture and can be very colourful and eye catching too!

Inking is a great way to add the illusion of dimension. Simply ink the edges of your card, image or the edges of your page to add the look for a more dimensional feel.

So why try some of these today on your cards, projects and page creations!

~ Ally ~