Here Comes the Sunshine

Are you loving all the sunshine diecuts and summery papers that are out but need a little inspiration to figure out how to use them?  Well, look no further!  Our On Trend team will have you walking on sunshine in no time at all.  No matter whether it is raining or dreary outside, you can always create a bright sunshiney day on your layouts - just like our Practical Scrappers have done!

 

Practical Scrapper Wendi Robinson used a sunshine paper and divided it up across the page.

Practical Scrapper Julie C. used a sun sticker from the collection "I heart Summer" from Fancy Pants.  She also chose a title with the word "Sunshine".

Practical Scrapper Cathy used Echo Park's Beautiful Life to create this layout with lots of layers, including a layer of the sun's rays peeking out above the top corner of her photo and embellishments.

 

Practical Scrapper Mary Pat used a Snag Em Sun stamp from Imaginisce on her summer layout.

Practical Scrapper Marcia Dehn-Nix used Quick Quotes Just Because to decorate this Dog House Mini from Want 2 Scrap.

 

Practical Scrapper Claude used a fun sunshine diecut for her layout.

Practical Scrapper Lanette used a sunshine-y title and other sun accents on this layout.

Practical Scrapper Malika Kelly cut a sun into the background of her layout and added some hand stitching on top.

Fussy Cutting

Fussy cutting - can I get a show of hands for those of you who wondered just what the heck the term "fussy cutting" meant when you first heard it?  If it makes you fussy, why in the world would you want to do it?!  Well, for those of you who are still just a little unsure what fussy cutting is - it's not something that makes you mad, it is taking a piece of scrapbook paper - or any paper - and cutting specific images out of it, following very closely to the outline of the image.  Think of it as creating a die cut without the machine.  And today, we have lots of wonderful examples of fussy cutting from our On Trend team - everything from the sweet and simple "just right" embellishment to the intricately detailed...take a look:

 

Practical Scrapper Wendi Robinson fussy cut out scallops and added pop dots to make a layered effect, she also fussy cut the heart and lil elephants.

Practical Scrapper Mary Pat stamped several elements, fussy cut them, and turned them into embellishments (banner, just be you, love).

Practical Scrapper Lanette fussy cut lots and lots of Bo Bunny flowers and clustered them together to create this romantic card.

Practical Scrapper Audrey Yeager fussy cut the flowers and doilies on her page to create embellishment clusters.

Practical Scrappers Claude used letter stickers on a piece of cardstock and then fussy cut around the title. She then pop-dotted it to make it stand out.

Practical Scrapper Marcia Dehn-Nix fussy cut the victorian lady and rose from patterned paper in this A Ladies Diary Collection by Graphic 45. Then she adhered them with foam tape to give her layout dimension.

 

Practical Scrapper Krissy Clark McKee fussy cut her arrows along the top and bottom of her layout.  She then fussy cut additional matching pieces that she sewed on top in several places to create extra dimension.

Cards and Layouts Using Word Bubble Phrases

When I think of those little word bubbles my mind immediately draws me back to my childhood of looking at my Wonder Woman comics and stealing my grandparents insert to "the funnies" in their Sunday newspaper. In all honestly here, I have never used a speech/word bubble on a card, layout, or any other project for that matter. It's hard to step away from using things in the way that you are use to seeing them, but if you are going to stay "on trend" you have to be willing to take that extra step. Check out how some of our designers used word bubbles to highlight their projects...

Practical Scrapper Julie add bubbles behind her title.

Practical Scrapper Wendi Robinson used bubble phrases to show her kids talking to each other

Practical Scrapper Claude cut out thought bubbles from patterned paper to emphasize the fact that her daughter loves to talk... a lot!

Practical Scrapper Jayma used Word Bubble stamps to create mini 3"x3" cards. This is a great way to use up your paper scraps!

Practical Scrapper Claude
 

**Designer projects are not always linked in our posts, but you can always find their blogs in our sidebar or in the staff tab**

Baby Layouts

Whether your layouts are made of "sugar and spice and everything nice" or "snips and snails and puppy dog tails", one thing is for sure...those pages of your little bundles of joy are some of the most fulfilling scrapbooking pages you will ever complete.  My children's baby albums were three of the first albums I ever started as a scrapbooker, but they are yet to be complete (I need to get a move on since my children are now 12, 7, and 5).  Why is that you ask?  Because I create so many baby layouts with the same photos that I never get any further.  At the rate I'm scrapping my kids baby albums, I may be lucky to finish them by the time they graduate from college.  After seeing all this baby inspiration it may even take me a little longer ...

Practical Scrapper Julie

based on a sketch by Kristy Lee for ScrapbookSteals.com

Marg Van Patten

 Practical Scrapper Erin

Practical Scrapper Sue

Cheryl Freet

Practical Scrapper Caz Hancock

 

Practical Scrapper Fern

Michelle Battitori

Practical Scrapper Jenny

 

Practical Scrapper Claude

Fay Lyth

 

Practical Scrapper Kerri

 

Pin It **Designer projects are not always linked in our posts, but you can always find their blogs in our sidebar or in the staff tab**

Using Ribbon on Layouts

Monday, you got a peek at some fantastic ideas on how to use ribbon on cards. Today, we share with you some fun, fresh, fabulous ideas on how you can use that ribbon stash on your layouts. Ribbon is a great way to accent color and texture to your pages. It may even be the deciding factor for the little bit of character or charm you want to capture in your layout. Take a look at how our designers and readers use their ribbon to create their flare for their pages...

Practical Scrapper Christa

Addie Otto

Practical Scrapper Aymee

Practical Scrapper Claude

Addie Otto

Practical Scrapper Fern

 

Practical Scrapper Claude

Addie Otto

Practical Scrapper Liz

Pin It **Designer projects are not always linked in our posts, but you can always find their blogs in our sidebar or in the staff tab**

Frugal Finds: Projects with Paint Chips

We're taking a break today from Christmas projects to do a frugal finds feature on paint chips.  We all have them laying around left over from house projects, why not put them to a creative use?  Here's some fresh ideas on how to use them in your papercrafting endeavors!

Erin used a 1inch square punch to make filmstrip style frames for her 1 inch square photos. She used the leftover squares as corners for her border, and to write her journaling on.

Because paint chips aren't acid free, Claude didn't want to use them on a layout so she made this cute 8x8 frame.

Christa used her paint chips to provide a backdrop for her picture.

For her paint chip project, Kerri chose to create a Christmas card with her new "Tucked Tilda" stamp that she colored with her copics. She started by cutting up two of the same paint chip cards (reds) that have three colors in the same hue into 1 1/2" squares. She glued them onto some white card stock creating a 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" square and used her circle nestabilities to cut a circle to fit inside her lacey circle nestabilities. She embossed that cut circle with her one of her snowflake Cuttlebug embossing folders. She then took a solid paint chip (dark green) and embossed it with her other snowflake embossing folder and used it as her background paper. Next, she cut another one of the three color paint chip cards (light green) and stamped with her timber brown Staz-On ink her Happy Holidays sentiment. To finish it off she colored her Tilda stamp with her copics (see her blog for coloring combos used). She added some Studio 18 red bling and some pearls inside the lacey border.

Not a believer that this is all paint chips? Here's a look at the her paint chips in process of creating her card...

Pin It **Designer projects are not always linked in our posts, but you can always find their blogs in our sidebar or in the staff tab**

Print Layouts

***If you are looking for the card contest, scroll down a few posts and share your vote!***

On Monday we shared print cards with you and today we're back with layouts featuring prints.  We've got all kinds of prints from music to books to newspaper.  Here's some fabulous layouts from our readers and designers to get your creative juices flowing with these types of paper.

Jackie Weeks

Practical Scrapper Kerri

Beach, Pool, and Sprinkler Projects!

Are you ready to get wet?  It's time for some water fun and after all the warm weather that has been going on, you are sure to be inspired to take take your camera to the beach, pool, or even your own backyard after seeing the "big splash" that these water projects make.  This was such a hard to choice to pick from all the submissions that I decided on a  top 12 for this feature...

Practical Scrapper Claude

Liz Chidester