Cutting Into A Collection!

Hello everyone, Jemma here today!

Are you a photo-first scrapper? Someone who selects a photo and then chooses just the right papers, cardstock and embellishments to showcase it? Or do you see a paper collection for sale and fall in love with the colours, textures and ephemera, hoping that the perfect photos can be located in your to-scrap pile?

I'm generally in the latter category, partly because there are no bricks & mortar scrapbook shops nearby, meaning that I generally shop online, and partly because I have years of photos to scrap with so it's easier to start with stash that I want to play with.

However making that first cut in the first sheet of paper of a kit or collection is always a little tricky:

Which side of a double-sided sheet should I use?

Would those stripes be better cut vertically or horizontally?

What if the next page's photos needed this paper design?

What if I run out of a favourite pattern?

Here's a look at my Seven Step Process for cutting into a collection; specifically what I did with the Teresa Collins' My Name Is Collection.

Step One - Look at the Collection

First of all I emptied out all the papers and thought about the sorts of pages I might use them for. Highlights from the A sides included:

• a whole sheet of monthly 3x4 cards for a year-long project

• lots more 4x6 and 3x4 cards with quotes and phrases or space for journalling

• a sheet of 16 fun kraft polaroid frames

• a sheet of words and phrases that could be cut into strips

Flipping the sheets over, I discovered that there were some versatile background patterns amongst the B sides and realised that I would have to choose which 4x6 or 3x4 cards I definitely wanted to use before cutting up any sheets at all.

Step Two - Reserve "Special Sheets"

I'm not a pocket page scrapper but I do like to scrap monthly summaries each year so my first job was to cut up the sheet of calendar cards for this year's album. I'll use these with scraps from the other papers and some of the left-over 4x6 and 3x4 journalling cards. I'm full of admiration for the designer at Teresa Collins - if I had been using divided page protectors the designs are intact on both sides after cutting.

Step Three - Grab Some Photos

I had two (sets of) photos in mind for these papers by now: a selfie of my son's girlfriend plus kitten, and a set of photos from a visit to a match museum last summer.

Step Four - Extract/Discard Journal Cards

I cut the 'Polaroids' sheet to release my favourites (the B side pattern didn't need any special consideration) and chose 3x4 cards from 'Record' that would work with the photos.  I knew I would never, ever use one of the 4x6 cards from 'Love' ("Don't Forget You Are Awesome") so it was an easy decision to cut it free and use the B side instead.

Polaroids                        Record                           Love

Step Five - Start Cutting, Shuffling, Sticking

I decided that I would never use the A side of 'Journal' and therefore paid it no attention when cutting the sheet up. Some paper & card shuffling took place before I decided to add a block from the 'Words' paper to to align with the back of the 4x6 card, again paying no heed to the B side as it was a uniform pattern:

The second set of photos needed a double layout, plenty of "white" space and non-intrusive patterns.  Along with another 'Polaroid' frame, and a 3x4 card from 'Record', I cut two horizontal strips from 'Noted' to stretch across the entire width of my sheets for continuity. Having used/reserved a number of the 3x4 cards from 'Record' I had to be creative with the remainder of the B side and lay short strips of the graph paper just under the photos. It was a real jigsaw!

At this point I did make a mistake and tried to use strips of the kraft ledger paper from 'Tag's before deciding that I hated it and replacing it with strips of red cardstock. No matter though - I need scraps for my monthly pages!

Step Six - See What's Left

OK so that was a single and a double page done and all but one sheet of paper ('Lucky') cut into ... so I cut it up to stop myself being too precious with it!

Step Seven - Go Back to Step Three & Repeat

Time to take stock and start thinking about the next pages ... my yearly album needs some of those reserved polaroids, journalling cards and scraps, but I'm sure that there's at least one more 12x12 to come ... I'll be back!

Are you tempted to cut into a collection? SJ Crafts stocks a wide range of Collection Kits to play with, check them out!

Jemma x

Jemma blogs at Just Jimjams where she recently celebrate her 400th post, pop over there for more inspiration!

Flip Books!

Hello all, Jenny here!

Today I have something to show which really took me out of my comfort zone. Sarah recently received the new Teresa Collins Flip Books in stock at S J Crafts and asked the DT if any of us would like to have a go with one. I had already been looking at these and thought they would be fun to play with so I said "Yes!"

 Only then did I realise just how far out of my comfort zone I had taken my self. Now I’m not ashamed to admit that scrapbooking frightens the life out of me - all that space on a 12x12 sheet? No thank you I’d rather stick to my 6x6 cards! 

But these flip books are great - they are all ready for you to decorate, made from thick black card which is a nice and neutral for any colour scheme. They are available in two different sizes and have a clever built in mechanism so that when the tab is pulled the pages "flip over" one by one.

I decided I was going to use mine to record Aimee’s first experience of horse riding. I chose to use the Glitz Wild & Free papers as some of the papers had horses on and the rest had lovely bold patterns which went with my photos. I didn't mount any of my papers as the black pages looked perfect as a background for the papers, plus it helped not to make the book too thick so the flipping action still worked. Embellishment wise I used some washi tape, some Studio Calico wood grain enamel dots, punched flowers and some chipboard shapes which I coloured with my promarkers and ink pads. 

I'll warn you that the rest of this post is quite picture heavy ... I wanted to show you each page ... if you have any questions please ask by leaving a comment! 

Front Cover:

Inside Front Cover:

Page 1:

Page 2:

Page 3: 

Page 4:

Page 5:

Page 6:

Page 7:

Page 8:

Page 9:

Pages 10 & 11:

Pull Out Page:

 For those of you that have seen my blog will know I generally make cards but I hope this demonstrates that anyone can try scrapbooking using these flip books .... they really are a great way to record those precious memories! 

Don’t forget Annie from the Design Team also posted her flip book including a fab video, you can find her post here.

Jenny makes beautiful projects and shares them on her blog Dragonllew's Spot, check it out and be inspired!

Mother's Day Card and Tea-Lights Gift Box!

Hello everyone, it's Jenny here today!

Mother's Day is coming on the 30th of March, so I've got a little Mothers Day set to show you - a card and a matching box which holds 4 tea lights!  

For my card I started with a scalloped card blank. I cut a 14 x 14cm piece off a 12 x 12" sheet of paper from the new Teresa Collins Daily Stories collection, this sheet is called 'Flowers'. I rounded the corners off and inked the edges with Milled Lavender Distress Ink. The sentiment is a digital stamp from Pink Petticoat which I cut out using Labels 1 Nestabilities Dies, again I have inked the edges. To finish the card off I added a die cut rolled rose and swirl, a tiny punched butterfly and some of the gorgeous Woodgrain Studio Calico Enamel Dots.

Onto the little box... 

Starting with a piece of card measuring 14 x 29cm, score at 8 cm, 16 cm, 18cm, 26cm and 28cm along the long edge, and 1cm, 3cm, 11cm, and 13cm along the short edge. I've drawn up a little template to help to show what your card should look like once you have scored the lines:

The bits I have shaded in purple you need to cut off and discard so that it ends up looking like this:

You can see I have cut out a window with my Labels 1 dies and I have rounded and angled some of the flaps. Behind the window I attached some acetate. Fold the box up the and stick it together remembering to leave an open flap so you can fill it with your tea lights! 

I used some more of the Teresa Collins paper to decorate the top inside and outside and around the edges, before I stuck this down I attached a piece of ribbon the the lid which runs down the back of the box and underneath it to tie the box shut. I've printed another digital stamp to add to the top and decorated it to match my card. 

Here you can see the inside of the box with the tea lights.

I hope you have enjoyed my little project, and don't forget if you have a go at making one leave me a link so I can come and have a peek!

Jenny blogs her gorgeous cards and ideas over at Dragonllew's Spot, she'd love it if you pop by to say hello!

Adding Texture with Cork and Wood!

Hi everyone, Annie here today!

I love using natural materials like wood and cork to add texture and depth to a layout. You can leave them natural, or add colour and pattern to them by stamping, painting, inking and so on. For this layout, I've altered some wood and cork embellishments to suit the style of this page about my favourite Uncle ...

I still had loads of my February Kit left after using it to make my Flip Book Album, so I thought I would use some of it to make a page for Case File #113 over at CSI, because the bright pastels and all the butterflies in the Teresa Collins Daily Stories collection would be the perfect for the page I had in mind. Here are my leftovers ...

The kit included some Wood Veneer Butterflies by Studio Calico and a Prima Wood Word, and Sarah also sent me some Cork Sticker Butterflies to play with, so I thought it would be fun to mix it up and use the cork stickers and the wood veneers together.

I also threw in a handful of Wood Veneer Stars ... I love the contrast between the texture of the wood and the shiny Enamel Dots and Decorative Brads too - they really make you want to reach out and touch the page ... or is that just me?! :o)

The ledger paper from the collection made a perfect background for my layout and I used a couple of the cut-aparts and some scraps and offcuts to build up layers, distressing and inking the edges for extra dimension ...

Now for the butterflies to add a burst of colour and movement to my page ...

... some wood veneers, some cork stickers and some paper ones cut from a sheet of the patterned paper from the collection - these were lovely just as they were, but I couldn't resist experimenting with some Distress Inks, Paints and Stains ...

The paper ones were just inked all around the edges and finished with an enamel dot or pearl in the centre of each one. The wood and cork ones were given a base coat of Distress Stain in 'Picket Fence' and then I used different colours of Distress Ink and Paint to create an ombre effect - it looks much more subtle on the cork as you can see ...

To attach the paper butterflies to the layout, I added foam dots to the tops of the wings, then just a spot of glue to the centre - this lifts their wings off the page for a fluttery effect!

I love the look of the paper, wood and cork butterflies all mixed together and I'm sure there's lots more you could do with these - I might try stitching through the cork ones with embroidery thread and knotting it on the top ... now why didn't I think of that before?! 

Thanks for looking, and I hope you have fun playing with wood and cork on your pages!

Cheerio! Annie x

Annie recently joined the S J Crafts Design Team. She blogs her brilliant projects at her blog: Artyfarty Annie so please take a look there too! 

Flippin' Fabulous Books!

Hi everyone, it's Annie here today with my first post as a member of the SJ Crafts Design Team!

Last weekend I had a lovely time trying out the new Teresa Collins Flip Book Album and I'm delighted with the end result! Here's a little peek ...

Front Cover with layered papers and embellishments from the 
Teresa Collins Daily Stories Collection in the February Kit 

These little books are SO cooool! The clever bit is all done for you, so all you have to do is add your photos and choose whether to keep it simple or embellish to heart's content ... guess which option I went for?!

The bare album is plain black, so would work with any photos, colour scheme and style you choose. To make my book, I decided to use the SJ Crafts February kit which features the Teresa Collins "Daily Stories" Collection - perfect! 

It's hard to see just how brilliant these albums are in a photo, so here is a little video of the Flip Book as it comes, along with the other ingredients I used ...

... and here's another little video showing you how my finished book turned out ...

Here are a couple more pics of the outside of the finished book and some tips and ideas on how to make one of these for yourself ...

Back Cover with an enamel butterfly highlight

Spine decorated with offcut and word sticker

The first thing I did was to work out how many photos I could fit in - I decided on 12 

... after working out roughly where they would go in the book ...

... I got started on the front cover ...

Being a frugal crafter, I "gutted" all the pieces of cardstock which made up the layers on my front cover, and I used the merchandising strips from the patterned papers as decorative borders - waste not, want not!

Here's an easy way to add a knotted ribbon ...

... just tie it in a loop like this, then snip it to the length you need and tuck the ends behind the card before adhering to the background ...

I layered up one of the cut-aparts, a die cut and some border strips, then added a photo of my happy husband and finished with enamel chevrons and a layered butterfly sticker - you wouldn't be able to add this much to the inside pages as it would interfere with the mechanism, but I felt I could go to town a bit on the front cover!

Then I moved on to the inside of my book ...

In the picture above, I've matted one of the patterned papers onto plain cardstock slightly smaller than the album page, then used the reverse of the patterned paper to matt the photo. Being frugal again, I cut the tag into two - saving the other piece to use on another page.

The photo mount was "gutted" as before, not just saving the inside piece to use somewhere else, but also cutting down on the overall thickness of the finished book. I used the extra-strong tape throughout this project, as it will be sent in the post and will need to stand up to quite a bit of handling. I always use a bone folder to burnish it down well, because this makes sure the tape is adhered firmly, and it makes the backing paper peel off more easily.

Another tip I find really useful is to just peel the backing tape part-way off, leaving the ends folded out to the sides as you can see above - then when you position it on the background it will allow a little movement to get it just where you want it ...

... and once you have it lined up perfectly, you can grab the ends and remove the backing tape!

I used a border punch on some of the offcuts of patterned paper and cardstock, using them to trim the facing pages ...

This clock face was a die cut from the kit - it was too white for my page, so I coloured it with Distress Ink in Antique Linen before attaching it to the patterned paper with one of the decorative brads. All the edges throughout the book were inked with Black Soot Distress Ink, because I hate to see raw edges!

I continued to work through the book like this, keeping embellishments very flat now on the inside pages but still using lots of layers ...

There are lots of patterns layered together in the pages above, but they all go together perfectly, finished with some ribbon, a little word diecut and an enamel dot.

In the page below left, I've used the other part of that tag I cut up earlier, as well as some more of the die cuts and cut-aparts. On the opposite page I was a bit crafty ...

... this tag was the right colours and I like the arrow, but it wasn't long enough and the word on it didn't fit my page - so, I cut it up, stretched it out and covered the offending word with an offcut of a contrasting paper - BINGO! - once I add the photo you won't see the join!

By now, my photos were getting bigger and the pages were getting smaller ...

... so I kept these pages very simple and just added some word stickers from the kit ...

Well, I think you can tell that I am totally smitten with these clever little flip books and I will definitely be doing some more - they would make lovely presents for Mothers' Day, or a Brag Book for Granny's handbag or a friends's birthday maybe.

They are available in two different sizes and you can Click Here to find them in the shop.

If you make one of these we'd love to see it - remember to leave a link in your comment or come and show 'n' tell on our Facebook page.

Cheerio for now.

Annie

Annie joined the S J Crafts Design Team last month. She regularly blogs over at her blog: Artyfarty Annie and she would love it if you popped over to say hi!