03.23.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 12:45 pm by PaperDesigns
There are so many benefits to digiscrapping – the way you can personalize all of your papers and embellishments, no reams of paper to store, and it’s much less expensive than regular scrapping. Plus, if your pictures are already on your computer – why not scrap them there?
But I’ve had paperscrappers (which I still am) say – but then you don’t have anything to show! Well, that’s not really true, you could of course burn your digilayouts to a CD or DVD – or even put a soundtrack underneath. You can have your layouts printed out for less than printing yourself. And you can save your digilayouts and put them up online in an online Scrapbook Album (ScrapWow.com has the best one I know of).
But you can certainly create tangible brag books faster and easier than any other way! And once you have one – you can remake that one over and over – as you probably have more than one grandma or aunt!
If you’d like to learn more about how to make this album – please check out my tutorial over on RAKScraps. There’s a whole new world out there – and digi is coming into it’s own!
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03.20.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:25 pm by PaperDesigns
This card was a lot of fun to make. It’s some very pretty paper from DCWV (Garden Party) and I was able to coordinate the wet embossing powder to match the glittery paper. The stamped sentiment reads: Thinking of You. A little ribbon and some acrylic embellishments – and it’s complete! It’s an A7 card, and I made the coordinating envelope to go with it.
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03.19.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:33 pm by PaperDesigns
I really do – I’m sure everyone knows that about me, but there’s something wonderful about making something so practical! Matchbook Style cards are some of my favorite. They open from the bottom tab and flip upward.
Here’s an all-occasion set of four. They’re featured at my ArtFire and Etsy Stores.
Here’s their closeups:
Just so you can kind of see how it flips open and what the inside looks like:
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03.17.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:23 pm by PaperDesigns
I have had several people lately tell me that I need to keep updating Paper Designs By Barbara (the site and the blog) – so I’m working now on just that. The funny part is they’ve asked me if I’m doing anything in the crafting arena! Well…. I am the site coordinator for RAKScraps.com, and 3Scrapateers.com (both full time jobs in and of themselves!), and I get to work with the Designers at ScrapWow.com, as a liaison of sorts.
But, they are right, if I don’t actually set aside time to craft – month’s can slip by! So my friend Jackie, who also is a professional designer (she has an Artfire Store) and I meet every week to get some work done! This finished Solid Walnut Board Book Album is my latest project. It’s featured at my ArtFire and Etsy Stores.
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03.15.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:55 pm by PaperDesigns
This layout doesn’t show what was done to complete it. It started out as two lined manilla color papers! All of that damask print, and newspaper print you see – were stamped on!! There are the accent blue swirls stamped on, and the So Very (Stampin Up) stamp. They Y O U are rub on letters, but the blue swirls around the edges were stamped! It was fascinating to learn how to make all of these papers and embellishments ourselves. The right hand accent paper was perhaps the most wonderful technique of all. We used Distress Ink and just kept layering it on until the background colors where what we wanted them to be – and then added the stamped Damask print on top.
I had so much fun playing in the ink! My husband, daughter and I had Symphony tickets for after the class – so I did my very best to keep scrubbing my hands after every stain! But I had a ball – and couldn’t wait to get home and try my hand at playing with these wonderful products! I’ve owned many of them for years – but I never knew they could be so versatile!
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03.13.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:48 pm by PaperDesigns
This was the first layout we made in the class – we made all of those wonderful embellishments! Using wet embossed flowers – we mixed used Colorwash Spray, mixed in some Perfect Pearls, and then diluted with a little water, and hand painted those flowers. After they dried, we cut them out! Those circle embellishments were first stamped, and then glued onto naked chipboard circles. We stamped our paper with a round swirly stamp, and put the chipboard embellishment inside! Then we made that fun and textured blue dot paper. Those are lovely raised shiny dots!
I added those large scalloped circles – the top ones reads: Seriously and the lower right one reads: Sweet (and don’t I know it) (both from Stampin Up). Now I’ll just add my photos on the 2 blue mats, and another above blue dot paper on the right hand layout. I can’t wait -then it’s all done and ready to load into my album!
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03.12.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:40 pm by PaperDesigns
I have so many new projects I’ve been working on – I hardly know where to start! First let me tell you about a fabulous class I went to last weekend. It was taught by Jen Starr – representing Ranger, Prima, and Tattered Angels (sounds too good to be true right there -doesn’t it?). It was fantastic, and if you get the chance to take a class from Jen – I highly recommend it!
What did we make? This first one I’ll show you is a 2 page Layout:
One of things that made that class so wonderful for me – was all of the techniques we learned. I love Ranger inks, and Tattered Angels Glimmer mists – but who knew you could use them in so many ways? For this layout we learned how to emboss the white lettering, and then blend and mix the colors for painting in the letters! Here I used Colorwash Spray colors from Ranger, and then added some Perfect Pearls in for a little extra glimmer. We made those flower embellishments. That’s Tim Holtz’s Grunge Board (cool stuff) and I colored it again with the Colorwash Spray – blending my colors, adding some Stickles Glitter. I’m not especially proficient with scissors – so I did use Ellison die cuts for the flowers – the Big Shot and the dies had no trouble cutting the Grunge Board. I added a Stampin Up Die Cut (TopNote) for the journaling, and on the darker purple, I’ll be adding 9 (3×3) photos in a grid layout!
So much fun!
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