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Archive for the ‘creativity prompt’ Category

You Must Be Really Really Happy To Have Me – Playing With Templates

Monday, March 19th, 2012

scrapbook layout

Admittedly, that was not what I expected to hear from my husband on our first-date anniversary but this witty, sarcastic and very vulnerable remark is extremely characteristic of him.

Truth be told, this blurb is pretty accurate – I am thrilled to have him in my life.

So I decided to dedicate a full 12″ by 12″ layout for it 🙂

Supply

How To

  1. First I laid out the large Starburst template so that the left edge of the pattern is aligned with the left edge of the background cardstock and sprayed on it, concentrating the mist to the left side. In retrospective, I should have protected the right and bottom exposed edges with some scratch paper…
  2. Then I took a few coordinating patterned papers and outlined the top 1 and 3 lines in the Mini Chevron template with a pencil, on the back of the patterned paper. Next I cut the pattern off – it’s all straight lines so no major scissor-cutting-deftness is required. Perfect for me.
  3. I then adhered the chevron strips, one by one, aligned to the left edge of the cardstock and placed the photo in a way that would conceal the mini starburst shape in the middle of the template.
  4. Next, I adhered the title with a bunch of different letter stickers, all vary in size/font/texture.
  5. I added a strip of washi tape for the journaling and to conceal the spray on the bottom of the page and added 2 more strips at the top left to balance it out.
  6. I then added three flowers and embellished them with a threaded button.
  7. For the finishing touches and to bring the yellowish orange color from the title I added 3 stripes of sequins. All I did was to put a line of liquid adhesive in the middle of 3 of the ‘rays’ and assemble the sequins in a line on it… Again, Pretty straightforward – just for me.


Unleashing The Creative Child Within You
Back when we were kids creativity came naturally to us. Everything was possible and our prolific imagination was the only limit we knew.
Through the years we have grown apart from our inner creative child and along with that – have lost our pristine and utter joy of creation.

In this e-book I will pave your way back to your inner creative child, brick by brick.

“Unleashing The Creative Child Within You” will explain why you became distant from your core creativity and will reveal the secret to getting it back.

With exercises designed specifically to help you find the inner child within you, regain its confidence and unleash it – you are bound to get your mojo back faster than you think.

Get “Unleashing The Creative Child Within You” for your Kindle
for only $4.99.

You can read the Kindle book on Kindle devices, on your smart phones or on your PC or MAC.

Whether You Are … I Will Always Love You – Mini Album Tutorial

Friday, March 9th, 2012

Mini Album Page

This is what I call a ‘just because’ mini album.
I didn’t make it for a special occasion.
I didn’t make it to document a specific event or trip or day [although the pictures were all taken at the same time, on a ferry in Alaska].
I just had a crafty date and we decided to make mini albums with mini photos and I happen to really like this goofy set of photos of my husband making faces to protest against me taking pictures of him… The idea for the mini album just presented itself – no matter how my husband is at a certain moment – I always and will always love him.

Individual Layouts & Supply

This is a very minimalistic mini album. The reason is threefold: 1. Because I love minimalism. 2. I didn’t want to use anything chunky on the pages themselves, other than on the cover. 3. We wanted to complete the project in one crafty-date, after a full day of work.

Mini Album Page

This is the cover page. I used a couple of dimensional flowers by Basic Grey from the Sweet Threads collection. The paper is by Lily Bee Design from the Head Over Heels collection (how suitable…). The fabric letter stickers are Thickers by American Crafts.

Mini Album Page

The paper is by Lily Bee Design from the Head Over Heels collection and the photo ‘mat’ is one of my free printables… The black letter stickers (on all the pages) are from various Lily Bee letter stickers sheets. The cool flower stickers are actually a border sticker by Crate Paper [from their Portrait Collection], cut into 2 pieces…

Mini Album Page

Here I also used the same Lily Bee papers and stickers as well as a paper by My Mind’s Eye from the Everyday Flair collection.

Mini Album Page

Super simple page… I simply used my free printables and the same Lily Bee’s paper and stickers.

Mini Album Page

Same here…

Mini Album Page

More of that Lily Bee paper as well as a few stickers from Basic Grey’s Sweet Threads collection. Plus a couple of my free printables to add visual interest.

Mini Album Page

Same. Same, with some old and thin strips of fabric tape and additional paper from Lily Bee’s Memorandum and My Mind’s Eye Everyday Flair collections.

Mini Album Page

Here I used Crate Paper’s Emma’s Shoppe paper as well as a small mat from My Mind’s Eye Everyday Flair and the same Lily Bee’s letter stickers.

Mini Album Page

Some more paper from Lily Bee’s ‘Head Over Heels’, a strip of an old Anna Griffin paper tape and letter stickers by Prima.

Mini Album Page

Same good ol’ Lily Bee’s ‘Head Over Heels’ paper and same good ol’ Lily bee’s letter stickers. Can you see the lame pun?

Mini Album Page

To spice it up I used Lily Bee’s ‘Head Over Heels’ paper and Prima letter stickers. Just to make it a bit different…

Just kidding.

It’s always quick and easy to use the same collection for a project, that way everything is tied together.

The chipboard I used to make the actual album is by Grafix and the size is just perfect. I cut each sheet in two and it corresponds to a half sheet of patterned paper from a 6″ by 6″ pad or an 1/8th of a 12″ by 12″ sheet of patterned paper. It doesn’t get easier than that…

How To Make The Body of the Album

  1. Cut a sheet of cardstock to a 3″ wide strip.
  2. Score the strip, lengthwise, every ½”. I am using Martha Stewart’s scoring board – it makes scoring at specific increments really easy.
  3. Fold the scored strip in an accordion fold (peaks and valleys) and attach each chipboard page to the edge of each fold.
  4. Cut the extra folded cardstock when you have enough pages for your album (I needed 12 pages for mine).
  5. To make the spine sturdier, adhere the back side of the folds together.
  6. Adhere patterned paper to each page.
  7. Adhere a piece of 3″ by 3″ pattern paper at the spine and over the edges of the cover pages – apply adhesive only on the edges, and not where the spine is.

Easy Peasy.

First Date Anniversary Mini Album

Tuesday, February 14th, 2012

Anniversary Album

On February 22 (2012) my husband and I are going to celebrate 11 years of togetherness. We’ve been married 4½ years and have been having fun this entire time. Our love just gets bigger, stronger and deeper.

Beware, this is going to be a long and picture heavy post…

I made the mini board album from scratch. All I did was to take an 11″ by 3″ strip of cardstock and score it every ½”. Then I did an accordion fold on that piece and attached 3″ by 6″ pieces of chipboard to each fold (plus 2 pieces of hard plastic I purchased 3 years ago in Dublin, Ireland… that I added as cover.) To complete the look I wrapped a 3″ by 3″ piece of patterned paper around the spine. That is all…

Layouts and supply:

[As this is a personal project, in essence, I blurred a few details. Sorry.]

mini album layout

This is the cover page. I just used an old K&Company patterned paper (to wrap around the spine), an old Heidi Swapp paper tape and fabric Thickers.

mini album layout

Here I used an old Anna Griffin paper tape (red) and Crate Paper patterned paper from the Portrait collection.

mini album layout

Here I used another Crate Paper’s Portrait patterned paper and my free printables which I used all through this album…

mini album layout

Here I used Basic Grey’s Oxford patterned paper and my new obsession- washi tape by Sweet Bella!!!

mini album layout

Here I also used Basic Grey’s Oxford patterned paper and another one of my free journaling spots and Prima’s tiny alpha letter stickers for the title.

mini album layout

mini album layout

Here is another one of my journaling cards, used as a page. What happened is that I was “printer-happy” and had more photos than pages, so I fixed that with a few extra pages that I attached to the album with the fabulous washi tape. So simple and effective. I also adhered a piece of Crate Paper’s Emma Shoppe’s paper to cover the back of the journaling card.

mini album layout

Here you can see the “tail” of the washi tape I used to adhere the extra page in place and for the layout I used another one of Basic Grey’s Oxford patterned paper with a fabric tape, so old I don’t even know where is it from… I always love to mix up old and new supply. This is my way of using up my stash without missing out on the new-ish collections.

mini album layout

Here I used the beautiful Crate Paper’s Emma Shoppe’s paper and my own printable Valentine’s Card that you might recognize from yesterday…

mini album layout

Yet another one of the gorgeous papers from Crate Paper’s Emma Shoppe’s collection and some Lily Bee Design letter stickers. I love the size and font of these stickers but I’m not nuts about their quality.

mini album layout

My love story with Crate Paper’s Emma Shoppe does not end. I used here yet another paper from this collection as well as some of that ancient fabric tape and Jenni Bowlin letter stickers (these are good quality stickers!)

mini album layout

Here I used Crate Paper’s Neighborhood paper and you can see the rest of the title with the fabulous Jenni Bowlin letter stickers. This is a layout about my husband’s healthy sense of humor. To demonstrate that I collected a few screen prints of the hilarious things he writes when we chat. Such a great memory.

mini album layout

Here I used another Basic Grey’s Oxford paper as well as 7 gypsies washi-ish tape that I also like a lot. It’s great for journaling!

mini album layout

This paper is from Crate Paper’s Neighborhood collection, which is great for journaling. I used that to list my notorious nicknames that although I don’t like any of them, my husband keeps calling me by them. I blurred them for 2 reasons: 1. I don’t like them. 2. I use some of them as passwords 😉

mini album layout

Here I used Basic Grey’s Life Of The Party paper as well as these Lily Bee letter stickers.

mini album layout

Here I used another paper from Basic Grey’s Life Of The Party collection and some more of these Prima letter stickers as well as two of my own printables. I blurred the journaling here because I listed all the addresses we’ve had during the last 11 years (quite a lot – in 3 different continents).

mini album layout

Here I used some old Making Memories fabric letter stickers and another paper from Basic Grey’s Oxford collection.

mini album layout

Here I used yet another paper from Basic Grey’s Oxford collection [it’s actually the other half of the page I used before…] and some of my freebie journaling spots and a strip of an a-d-o-r-a-b-l-e washi tape.

mini album layout

Here I used another paper from Crate Paper’s Emma’s Shoppe and some old American Crafts letter stickers [=> Remarks in Lax].

mini album layout

Here I used a woodgrain and striped paper from Basic Grey’s Life Of The Party collection and some Basic Grey’s micro letter stickers that are very hard to find at the moment. I also used some old 7 Gypsies word stickers to emphasizes our travels.

mini album layout

Here I used some more of my free journaling labels and paper from Basic Grey’s Oxford collection.

mini album layout

This one is easy. We travel way too much to get extra embellishments in… The background paper is again form Crate Paper’s Neighborhood collection.

mini album layout

Another easy one… The paper is again from Crate Paper’s Neighborhood collection and the letter stickers are by American Crafts.

mini album layout

mini album layout

Here I added another page as a ‘flap’. To attach it I scored ½” at the end and applied adhesive to the scored part and adhered it to the end of the existing page. I added an old fabric tape to make an ‘handle’ for the flap. The papers I used are from Basic Grey’s Oxford collection and My Mind’s Eye’s Everyday Flair collection. The title was made with Lily Bee’s Harvest letter stickers [5 points if you spot the missing ‘l’].

mini album layout

Here I used some more papers from Crate Paper’s Portrait collection and Emma’s Shoppe collection as well as some more of Lily bee’s Harvest letter stickers.

mini album layout

Here I used paper from My Mind’s Eye Everyday Flair collection as well as some more of Lily bee’s Harvest letter stickers and some more of Jenni Bowlin’s letter stickers. I also used some old chipboard photo corners and I also secured the page, after manipulating it too much, with some more of my beloved washi tape.

mini album layout

This is the back side of the page above, so you can see the ends of the washi tape. I also used some more of the old American Crafts Remarks letter stickers and the paper is again from Basic Grey’s The Life Of The Party collection (many woodgrain papers in there).

mini album layout

Here I used another paper from My Mind’s Eye Everyday Flair collection. This is a simple page. It’s mostly about the journaling, which you cannot see…

mini album layout

This is the last page of this album, but it represents our wish for many, many more years of love and togetherness. I used Cosmo Cricket’s chipboard letter stickers (that are on clearance…) and a piece of paper from My Mind’s Eye Everyday Flair collection (which is also on sale).

I hope you are not completely bored by now.
However, if you are still in focus, have you noticed that each and every photo is of the two of us together?

Thank you for stopping by!

Video Tutorial: How To Make A Doily Brush In Photoshop

Thursday, January 5th, 2012

Many people ask me how I make my printables.

My answer is: one layer at a time…

This is how you work with Photoshop.

You start thinking in layers.

I try to come up with shapes and styles and then, by trial and error, I create these on photoshop with the shape tools and all the masks and filters Photoshop has to offer.

Then I add other layers with lines, graph paper, patterns and brushes…

Today I wanted to share how I make one of these brushes I am talking about – a doily brush.

The same technique works with any other flat object. Lace trimmings? Why, yes!

So, without further ado:


[Go here to watch on YouTube and while there, please rate, comment and subscribe.]

I hope it was helpful and that you’ve enjoyed my tutorial.

Make Your Own Planner 2012
Check out Creativity Prompt’s unique self paced workshop: “Make Your Own Planner”. In this workshop you will make a beautiful handmade planner for 2012. Not only will you get the planner kit for instant download, but you will also get a high resolution video tutorial as well as printable instructions to guide you on each step of the way. Either treat yourself or get it to create wonderful gifts for your family and friends.
Join now – for only $12


Unleashing The Creative Child Within You
Back when we were kids creativity came naturally to us. Everything was possible and our prolific imagination was the only limit we knew.
Through the years we have grown apart from our inner creative child and along with that – have lost our pristine and utter joy of creation.

In this e-book I will pave your way back to your inner creative child, brick by brick.

“Unleashing The Creative Child Within You” will explain why you became distant from your core creativity and will reveal the secret to getting it back.

With exercises designed specifically to help you find the inner child within you, regain its confidence and unleash it – you are bound to get your mojo back faster than you think.

Get “Unleashing The Creative Child Within You” for your Kindle
for only $4.99.

You can read the Kindle book on Kindle devices, on your smart phones or on your PC or MAC.

Video Tutorial: How To Manipulate Your PDF Printables

Wednesday, January 4th, 2012

Many of you asked how to resize or recolor the printables I am sharing with you.

I have posted a written step-by-step tutorial before, but there’s nothing better than seeing what I actually do – I am a visual learner too…

So I have made a video tutorial for you guys and I hope that answers all your questions.


[Go here to watch on YouTube and while there, please rate, comment and subscribe.]

Make Your Own Planner 2012
Check out Creativity Prompt’s unique self paced workshop: “Make Your Own Planner”. In this workshop you will make a beautiful handmade planner for 2012. Not only will you get the planner kit for instant download, but you will also get a high resolution video tutorial as well as printable instructions to guide you on each step of the way. Either treat yourself or get it to create wonderful gifts for your family and friends.
Join now – for only $12


Unleashing The Creative Child Within You
Back when we were kids creativity came naturally to us. Everything was possible and our prolific imagination was the only limit we knew.
Through the years we have grown apart from our inner creative child and along with that – have lost our pristine and utter joy of creation.

In this e-book I will pave your way back to your inner creative child, brick by brick.

“Unleashing The Creative Child Within You” will explain why you became distant from your core creativity and will reveal the secret to getting it back.

With exercises designed specifically to help you find the inner child within you, regain its confidence and unleash it – you are bound to get your mojo back faster than you think.

Get “Unleashing The Creative Child Within You” for your Kindle
for only $4.99.

You can read the Kindle book on Kindle devices, on your smart phones or on your PC or MAC.

Currently… An Exploration In Micro Journaling And A Free Download

Wednesday, October 26th, 2011

Currently - Micro Journaling

I am revisiting the idea of micro journaling, not because I didn’t keep up – but because I filled up every single page of my last journal.

Micro journaling is so easy. Nothing profound needs to be written (although some great revelations have occurred). The prompts are provided and are repetitive so you don’t have to think much before documenting a day in your life. Thanks to the ease of keeping up, I now have a treasury of micro memories to leaf through.

Here’s how you can make one for yourself:

Supply

how-To

  1. Cut the cardstock to size. First cut the cardstock in half, to 6″ by 12″ then cut each strip at 8″ and 4″, to make 6 pieces, measured 4″ by 6″ each.
  2. Feed the stack of cut cardstock through your printer, the same way you would put photo paper to print photos at home. I found that using the software that came with the printer is better then using the default printer driver. Start by printing the front page on all pages, then flip the pages (back-side-front) but keep the same orientation they had when you printed the fronts (up-side-up). You might want to try it on a demo page before printing on all your pre-cut cardstock.

    In case you cannot use 4″ by 6″ paper with your printer, or if you simply don’t want the hassle, you can just send the 4″ by 6″ files you downloaded to your favorite printing-service.

  3. Punch the holes, as marked on the printable. I use the bigger setting in my Crop-a-Dile and align the bottom of the punch with the bottom of the marked circle, to stay farther from the edge.
  4. Cut the chipboard to size. The best tool for it is a plain box-cutter… But any sharp knife will do.
  5. Cut the patterned paper to size and adhere to the exposed chipboard.
  6. Adhere the letter stickers to the cover. I put a dab of liquid glue on each letter, despite using self-adhesive letter stickers, to secure it in place. After all, it is a journal that is meant to be used – often.
  7. Bind all the pages together with the book binding rings and start recording.

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Make Your Own Planner Workshop
Check out Creativity Prompt’s self paced workshop: “Capture Your Dream”. In this workshop you will capture, follow and make your dream come true as well as document your journey in a fabulous mixed media mini album.

A Fleeting Moment In Time

Monday, August 29th, 2011

fleeting moment

[Digital washi tape: by Karla Dudley; The rest of the elements are by me…]

I wrote these words as a comment on a blog post on Write. Click. Scrapbook and thought I must share the memory and actual photo with you guys!

Unleashing The Creative Child Within You
Back when we were kids creativity came naturally to us. Everything was possible and our prolific imagination was the only limit we knew.
Through the years we have grown apart from our inner creative child and along with that – have lost our pristine and utter joy of creation.

In this e-book I will pave your way back to your inner creative child, brick by brick.

“Unleashing The Creative Child Within You” will explain why you became distant from your core creativity and will reveal the secret to getting it back.

With exercises designed specifically to help you find the inner child within you, regain its confidence and unleash it – you are bound to get your mojo back faster than you think.

Your inner creative child wants to come out and play, so click here to get “Unleashing The Creative Child Within You” now.

The One And Only

Thursday, August 4th, 2011

The One And Only Layout

My husband has quite a unique personality.
Another reason why I love him so much.

When you ask him something you never know what kind of answer to expect.
And after he leaves a room, you never know what you’ll find there.
I decided to record those funny quirks so I’ll always remember him by it.

To do that I took a few screen shots of our Google chat, our main line of communication while he’s at work.

In those chats you can find one of his accurate but useless answers,
(“when will you come home” “when I’ll get there”)

one of his funny answers
(“we need to eat dinner early today” “So start working on that” “but I don’t have my pots and pans with me…”)

and a snapshot of something only he manages to do – leaving the sofa with one slipper on it and one on the floor…

I love him.

Supply

Unleashing The Creative Child Within You
Back when we were kids creativity came naturally to us. Everything was possible and our prolific imagination was the only limit we knew.
Through the years we have grown apart from our inner creative child and along with that – have lost our pristine and utter joy of creation.

In this e-book I will pave your way back to your inner creative child, brick by brick.

“Unleashing The Creative Child Within You” will explain why you became distant from your core creativity and will reveal the secret to getting it back.

With exercises designed specifically to help you find the inner child within you, regain its confidence and unleash it – you are bound to get your mojo back faster than you think.

Your inner creative child wants to come out and play, so click here to get “Unleashing The Creative Child Within You” now.

Spiced Hot Chocolate

Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011

Spiced Hot Chocolate

A while back I documented a new tradition we started at home.
A very sweet and rather scrumptious one.
[Check out the link for the recipes]
Each evening we drank a cup of hot chocolate and had a slice of cheesecake.
Nowadays, we still eat that light cheesecake quite often, but not every night.
And my husband neglected the daily hot chocolate altogether.
However, I still drink hot chocolate every single day
and I enjoy it very much.

In the layout you can see how there is no equality in our house when it comes to hot chocolate.
I get the big HUGE mug!

In this layout I tried to convey the warmth of the hot chocolate and spices with “comfy” patterns and a lot of colors.

Supply

Make Your Own Planner Workshop
This year you can really make your dream come true!

“Capture Your Dream” workshop is a self-paced, six weeks long workshop, that will walk you through a journey of capturing your biggest dream and making it come true.

In the process of making your dream happen – with lots of inspiration and guided self-exploration, you will also create a mixed media mini album from scratch and learn many tips and techniques – including some photography pointers that will add character to your photos and will help you take better pictures of your projects.

The workshop includes 30 printable PDF lessons with step-by-step pictures and instructions as well as several printable templates you may use in other projects too.

I am confident you will enjoy it and find it helpful so I also offer full money back guarantee while the workshop lasts.

Sock Of The Day

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011

Sock Of The Day

My feet get cold in the winter.
I like warm feet.
Thus I wear socks.
Very colorful socks.
That is all.

What makes you feel at home? What warms you up during winter and what keeps you cool during summer?

Supply

Make Your Own Planner Workshop
Check out Creativity Prompt’s self paced workshop: “Capture Your Dream”. In this workshop you will capture, follow and make your dream come true as well as document your journey in a fabulous mixed media mini album.