Special Guest Artist!!

Hey all, happy Friday. I am a special treat today, a guest artist named Angela Holt. Perhaps you have seen her products before? They are amazing chipboard designs which are being sold at an online shop, Want 2 Scrap!! Angela is super talented and creates the most beautiful projects. Today she put together an online video tutorial which is such a cool idea. I am a visual learner, so this is just perfect for me!! Don't forget to visit Angela on her blog here. She has many more tutorials online and on her blog!! Let's get to know her!

I have been in the crafting industry for over 15 years. I have tried almost everything out there and found my true craft calling in Mixed Media and Paper crafting of all types. I live in the South in a little town called Greenbrier, TN which is only 20 mins away from Music City Nashville.  I share my life with my Husband, my only daughter and my 2 cats and little Chihuahua mix.  When I’m not playing my life roles, I go head first into my crafting. I’m an online crafting Educator, designer, product developer and artist, I’m also CHA Design Member and I have my own line of products with Want2scrap. I deeply love to bring my Southern personality to my online live classes to bring innovative techniques and designs. When I’m not doing my show, I love to awaken my crafting senses by trying out techniques and creating a few news ones. I love to meet and greet fellow artist and crafters alike. I find it most rewarding when my work and design inspires others to step outside their crafting box and craft something new and exciting. If you would like to know more about me and my professional crafting end of the world, visit my blog. I also invite you to like my fan page and to send me a friend request on facebook so that we can share in this crafting journey!! 

Link to the video demonstrating how to do the technique which is called Ribbon Weaving.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE9FwoX4TKI&feature=plcp

Link to my show:  http://www.ustream.tv/channel/create-with-angela-holt-designs

Link to my Blog: http://www.angelaholtdesigns.com

Link to my Facebook Page: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/create-with-angela-holt-designs

Angela Holt
Professional Craft Artist, Designer, Educator and Product Developer
CHA Designer

Special Guest Artist - Cathy Lane

Hello everyone, I have another special guest artist to share with you all! Today I am sharing a post by Cathy Lane who creates some of the most beautiful pages that are generally  in the style of  shabby chic. I love the feeling I get when I see her pages, it reminds me of my childhood and my warm blankets and lace!  I literally sit and scratch my head wondering, "how did she do that?". You can pop on over to her blog to see so much more. Get ready for another wonderful guest artist post by Cathy Lane!

I am a scrap-booking addict of epic proportions. I live in a little sea-side village off the east coast of Kwa-Zulu Natal in South Africa . I share my life with my hubby and seven dogs and I count myself very lucky to have them. I have a beautiful daughter who is now 24 and whom I am very proud of and love dearly. I am also godmother to little Isabella, my niece whom I also love to bits. Whilst scrapping is my number one hobby, I am also an avid reader and I am happiest when I am at home surrounded by the familiar routine of every-day life.  I am inspired by so many things and I see opportunities everywhere and I don’t think my thirst for knowledge will ever be quenched. I am also very fortunate in that I have made so many friends through the common love of crafting and sharing ideas. 
blog: http://a-stroll-down-memory-lane.blogspot.com/

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String Art Tutorial

To start with, decide where you would like to position the string art. Draw two light pencil lines as per the illustration directly on to your paper. 

Make tiny little holes 1cm apart on each line

If you’re doing this for the first time, it helps to number the holes as per the illustration to eliminate confusion.

Thread your needle with the required colour thread (I usually use embroidery thread) and insert your needle into the  back of hole number 12 on the vertical line.

Bring the needle to the front and thread a few beads (3 or 4 will do fine) and then insert needle into hole number 1 on the horizontal line.

Then insert needle from the back into hole number 2 on the horizontal line, bring it to the front, thread another few beads and insert needle into hole number 11 on the vertical line.

Insert needle from the back into hole number 10 on the vertical line, thread beads and insert needle into hole number 3 on the horizontal line.

Insert needle from the back into hole number 4 on the horizontal line, thread beads and insert needle into hole number 9 on the vertical line.

And then you continue in the same pattern: No.8 vertical to number 5 horizontal, number 6 horizontal to 7 vertical,  6 vertical to 7 horizontal, 8 horizontal to 5 vertical, 4 vertical to 9 horizontal, 10 horizontal to 3 vertical, 2 vertical to 11 horizontal, 12 horizontal to 1 vertical. Fasten your thread with tape to the back of the work.

Don’t forget to thread a few beads as you go along.  Once you have completed the string work, you can then adjust the positioning of the beads as and how you would like them to be as they are loose on the thread and can be moved.

 

Have fun and enjoy!!

 

Regards

Cathy Lane

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Thanks so much Cathy for your great tutorial!!

Special Guest Artist: Sarah R.

Hey! It's Pam here sharing another special featured artist. I love to showcase special talent and our artist this week creates beautiful one of a kind projects. Her name is Sarah and you can see her blog at http://sarahs-scrapbook.blogspot.ca/ . Make sure you take a blog hop over there to see it! Sarah is sharing a really pretty tutorial on how to make fairy houses. Take note at how cool this turned out from just beginning as a bird house!  First let's get to know Sarah a little better!

Hi There! My name is Sarah and I live in Ontario, Canada. I am a married, working mom to one beautiful little boy. I started scrapbooking a few years ago, and immediately fell in love with it. I absolutely love the creative process of putting together a scrapbook page. I love trying different (non-traditional) materials and new techniques; one of my favorite things to do is to make handmade embellishments, particularly flowers. Although most of my work is layouts, I also love using my scrapping supplies for other crafty items (e.g. holiday décor).  I love working with sketches and also scrapbook challenge sites – so much so that I recently started my own Challenge Blog called “The Paper Mixing Bowl”. I’m having a lot of fun designing sketches/challenges and working with the blogs international Design Team.

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Once Upon a Springtime Fairy House

I was so excited when Pam, the owner of the Ideas for Scrapbookers blog, asked me if I'd be interested in being a featured designer on the blog sometime - of course my answer was YES! I actually had this little project in mind for a while - so this was the perfect impetus for me to actually sit down and do it! I love using my scrapbooking papers for off-the-page projects, such as home or holiday decorations, so I decided to create a lovely little Fairy House using Graphic 45's "Once Upon a Springtime" collection. It is so easy to take a cheap item, like the miniature wooden birdhouse I got for $1.50, and turn it into something beautiful using just your normal scrapbooking supplies! I hope my project inspires you to try your own off the page project!

Here is a little step-by-step how I created my Once Upon a Springtime Fairy House!

1. Paint the plain wooden house using an acrylic craft paint in Antique White.

2.  a. Cut a strip of paper the height of the main 'body' of the house and punch a hole for the bird-perch. 

     b. Mod podge the back of the paper strip and adhere it to the birdhouse. 

     c. For the large hole in the birdhouse, I simply cut a starburst pattern into the paper and folded the points inwards. 

     d. Finally, coat the paper with Mod Podge.

3.  a. Punch out a heck of a lot of leaves - I used the Martha Stewart Rose Leaf punch.

     b. Curl the edges of the leaves - I used a thin paintbrush.

     c. Attach the leaves in graduating layers using liquid glue.

4.  a. Brush the tips of the leaves with mod podge and sprinkle on glitter. I used DecoArt Glamour Dust - it is so pretty and very fine (and unfortunately doesn't show up well in the photos).

    b. "Stamp" the perch and white edge of the base with Perfect Medium and Brush on Perfect Pearls (I used Green Patina).

    c. You'll also notice that I wrapped some ribbon around the edge of the birdhouse where it meets the base - I thought this gave it a nicer finish at the edge. I used the same ribbon at the top of the birdhouse for the hanging loop.

5.  a. Fussy Cut a fairy from an 8x8 sheet of the Once Upon a Springtime paper.

     b. Coat Fairy with Mod Podge and adhere to birdhouse with 3D foam adhesive.

     c. Add floral embellishments - I used the Spellbinders Shapeabilities Bitty Blossom die to create the roses for the fairy house. I simply wrapped them around a paintbrush to roll them into the size/shape I wanted and then used a glue dot to keep them together. I added a pearl bead to the centre of each flower.

     d. Add other embellishments using Mod Podge - I used the "Once Upon a Springtime" tag elements for the "title" piece and round postmarks. 

Here are a couple of photos of the final Fairy House from different angles!

Thanks so much to Pam for having me as a guest on her blog! I had so much fun with this project that I think I might make a couple more and create a little set!

Materials Used:

Patterened Papers - Graphic 45 Once Upon a Springtime Collection - 12x12 Once Upon a Springtime, Enchanted Forest, Butterfly Kisses, Tags; 8x8 Once Upon a Springtime; Simply Surfaces Mini Birdhouse; DecoArt Acrylic Craft Paint - Antique White; Celebrate It Ribbon; Spellbinders Shapeabilities Die Bitty Blossoms; Jenni Bowlin Studios Pearl Beads; Perfect Pearls Pigment Powder - Green Patina; DecoArt Glamour Dust; Mod Podge - Matte; Glue Dots - Mini and Craft

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Thanks so much to Sarah for being our guest artist this week! :) 

Special Guest Artist: Lourdes

Hey there all, it's Pam sharing a special guest artist with you named Lourdes. She has been a featured artist once here before and you can see her amazing post on created Chinese Lanterns here.  You can also read her bio at that link as well. To read up on all of the neat thing Lourdes is creating now, please visit her blog here: http://tarjetasydetallitosenpapel.blogspot.com/ . Lourdes is sharing a cool distressing technique with us today. I love the look of old distressed embellishments. Today you can learn how to create them as well!! She creates such neat projects.. enjoy this tutorial!!

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How to create backgrounds: coffee staining

By: Lourdes

Materials:

·         Tissue Paper

·         Spray bottle with water

·         Coffee

·         Tray

·         Absorbent paper

Instructions:
1. Place the wrinkled tissue paper in the tray
2. Spritz water on the tissue paper

          3. Sprinkle the coffee over the moistened tissue paper
4. Spread with your hands, the coffee over the whole surface. Leave it in the tray for 10 minutes.

          5. Then, carefully remove the paper from the tray and put it over an absorbent paper.
6. Place another absorbent paper over the stained paper and leave it dry 4 hours

     
  7. Once the paper is dried, remove carefully all the coffee grains and VOILA!

You can use it as background for your scrapbooking projects, cards or even tags, as the example showed here

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Thank you Lourdes for sharing you time and talent with us!

Special Guest Artist: Sheila Burns

Hey, it's Pam here sharing a special guest artist with you. Her name is Sheila and she was a featured artist once before when she shared some great projects with us which you can see here. You can also read more about her on her intro post which is also on that link. Today Sheila is sharing her more of her ideas with us in a post about color and ombre. This post is such a cool idea and one I want to try b/c the results, as you will see, are gorgeous plus I can use that Bazzill monochromatic cardstock I have!! I am so glad to have Sheila post again at IFS... you can also learn more about her on her blog: http://parttimepretties.blogspot.com/ . There are tons more ideas on there so hop on over there right now. Now onto her post!

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As I look through magazines, stores, and pinterest, ombre seems to be everywhere---food, fashion, home décor, and even fingernails! 

Ombre is defined as having colors of tones that shade into each other.

 

I love to incorporate new trends into scrapbooking, so I started thinking about ways to add an ombre touch to my projects.  Sure, you could take the time to find and cut scrapbook paper into just the right shades.  Me, I like to do things the easy way.  So, at the hardware store, and a local paint store, I grabbed tons of paint swatches.  The shades are already all there for you and arranged from lightest to darkest…

 

 

Above is a swatchbook that is fairly subdued in color, but if you have ever painted a room in your home, you know the possibility of hues is almost endless! 

 

 

I chose some brighter colors to make this card:

 

 

This was soooo simple!  All I did here was cut strips from the paint swatches, and glued them on in order of color value.  I didn’t match up the ends.  I cut the little sentiment out of some bigger printed paper, and backed it in more “paint swatch”.  I cut the butterfly out of a bigger paint sample, and  to dress it up a little, I inked the edges in hot pink and stamped silver polka-dots on it.  A little bling in the middle (I don’t think it is possible for me to do a project without some kind of bling) and a stapled ribbon along the bottom, and I was done! 

 

 

The next card is much more simple:

 

What inspired this card was actually the little “hello” badge.  I have had it forever, and started thinking it needed something more.  So, cut out some tulle circles, some twine, and a flower I die-cut out of a cardboard box (that’s the other thing about me---I don’t throw stuff out!).  It needed more…so I decided to use, I use larger paint swatches in graduating shades as background.  I finished it off with a little piece of washi tape.  Though it is simple, I feel that the swatches make the badge POP. 

 

And last, but not least, I used some greens and yellows and some punches and went wild!

 

It was so much fun to layer the greens and the yellows, and also to use my collection of punches!

 

The best part about this particular way of using ombre?  It’s FREE!  So get to the hardware store and get scrapping!  Have fun!

 

 

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Thanks bunches for sharing your neat ombre ideas with us again, Sheila!!

Special Guest Artist: Karen Anderson

Happy Friday. It's Pam here sharing a tutorial by a super talented artist named Karen. She has been featured a couple of times with cool tutorials such as a Punched Poinsetta and Braided Tape Border. Please get to know her more by reading her bio here. She has a unique style of style scrapbooking and lots of great ideas to share on her blog: http://totalpapercrafts.blogspot.com/ .  It is such an honor to feature her innovative project today. Sit back and enjoy this great tutorial by Karen!

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The launch of new products and materials is something that always excites me as I am definitely a 'technique geek', I'm always on the look-out for new things to use and new ways to use them.  Now I've told you that you can probably imagine just how excited I was when glassine paper hit the craft scene a little while ago. You can find glassine in a coated kraft colour and also in a thinner white version, I began chatting about both types in very exuberant terms during my classes and quickly discovered that lots of my students didn't know how to use it.  Since then I have included glassine in a few classes and it has been hugely popular so I thought I'd share some ideas with you today.

You'll need some glassine paper, in this tutorial I used the kraft version but you can use white in exactly the same way for a more delicate finished effect.

I used an embossing folder, a die-cut machine and some flower dies to create textured glassine flowers.

Cut a piece of glassine paper to fit your embossing folder. 

Place the paper into the folder - you can actually do multiple layers at the same time, I have done two layers with the kraft glassine and up to four layers of white.

Pass the folder through your diecutting/embossing machine

Remove the glassine paper from the folder to reveal the embossed effect - raised areas become lighter to highlight the effect.

Use the embossed glassine with dies to create flowers, multiple layers can then be stacked to create a dimensional embellishment. In this scrapbook layout 

I coloured the glassine first with Distress Ink which I set with a heat gun and then followed the steps above to emboss and die cut the flowers.

In this second double page layout I used white glassine and added colour by inking it after the embossing stage to highlight the raised designs on the flowers and leaves. 

I hope that I have given you some ideas of how you can use glassine paper in your scrapbooking and papercraft projects.  It is so simple to work with making it a breeze to create stunning effects - if you are inspired by this feature then please share with us what you have created, we'd love to see what you come up with!

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Thank you so much, Karen, for sharing your ideas here once again!!

Past Guest/Featured Artists

Hi everyone! Here is a listing of past featured artists! I am so honored to have featured all of these wonderful scrapbookers! These scrapbookers have worked SOOO hard on providing great tutorials, templates, and other ideas! Please make sure you check out each link!!

Alia M.

Alicia Giess

Allison Cope

Amanda S.

Amy B.

Brenda R,

Chelle

Cheryl Nelson

Christine H. 2nd post

Chrstine H.

Cindy Childress

Cindy deRosier

Cindy deRosier 2nd post

Cindy deRosier 3rd post

Deanna Boston

Dolores Schaeffer

Frank Garcia

Gabrielle Pollacco

Gerry V. Gent

Gladys C.

Hannah

Heather

Heidi Sonboul

Helen Croft

Irit S.

Jennifer D.

Jennifer Priest

Jessica S.

Jill S.

Jillian Deiling Cassity

Juliann M.

Karen A.

Kari S.

Kelly Massman

Kris

Krisi

Larissa

Libeeti

Linda C.

Lisa Blastick

Liz Qualman

Lourdes

Lydia Siegel

Lynn

Marilyn R.

Marlene

Melanie J.

Missy Whidden

Mira 2nd post

Mitra

Monika Wright

Nancy Hanttula

Nancy Keslin

Pam B.

Pia

Piradee Talvanna

Robbie Herring

Sandy A.

Sara Zenger

Sharon F.

Susan Dupree

Suzanne

Tessa Ann Watte

Vicky A.

Zulma

*Special Guest Post* by Marlene!

Hi, I'm happy to be back.  Your recent showcase of grandparents inspired me.   This page was done using Sketch #2 by Heather Landry.  Her sketches are fun to work with because the designs are so clean and they are so adaptable.  Heather made the sketch for her Life Is Incredibly Beautiful lay out, she used 4 x 6 photos but I was able to easily adapt to 3.5 x 5.  The papers are Basic Grey "Life of the Party".  

The flowers were made using this tutorial from IFS http://ideasforscrapbookers.blogspot.com/2011/02/sweet-rose-tutorial.html.  Since I used a Cricut (Simply Sweet cartridge) I cut three different sized flowers which had the bonus effect of reducing some the bulk of the flower (although beautiful did not go well with my flat page).    To keep the red flowers from blending into the red mat behind the photos, all of the edges were inkied then I applied a small amount of bleach to a craft sponge and lightly skimmed a sheet of med./dark red paper to create a varied color pattern.  After the flowers dried, as per the instructions, the flower was still a little bulky for my flat page. To solve that issue, a piece of waxed paper (wax side down) was put over the cuts, then with a very hot iron I quickly pressed the flowers.  It created a dark(er) line over the high points and shaded the flowers even more.   Unfortunately, the lines made by the waxed paper do not show up well in the photo, but don't let that stop you from giving it a try.  

Heeding the warning to allow the flowers to try is very important, because of that step the flowers responded well to adjustment even after pressing.  My words of caution are to make sure you are wearing something that doesn't matter if you get bleach on it.  Change your shirt!

Some days my handwriting is better than others, today was an other day.  I did not like my list of all the people in the group shot.  I cut a piece of paper to cover that corner, anchored it with a flower so the info is there but not my handwriting.  One of the flowers was deliberately placed over a particularly vexsome cousin  - you know "if it's not in the scrapbook..."  Flexibility is key to happy scrapping. 

   

 

Thanks for looking.  Marlene (click here to see Marlene's previous post and gallery)

 

 

Featured Artist Friday - Sheila Burns

Hi everyone, Sara here to introduce you to a wonderful new scrapbook blogger, Sheila Burns!  Sheila is a long time scrapbooker but a newbie to being a scrapbook blogger. I adore Sheila's unique creativity! Her hand made flowers are adorable and she has away of making something out of nothing!

Lets get to know Sheila!

Hi! I am a mom, a wife, a teacher, a crafter and a reader (in that order, I think!)  I am fairly new to the world of blogging and online scrapping challenges and such, but I am loving every minute of it!  I am inspired when I have the chance to interpret challenges to reflect my own style.  In addition to scrapbooking, I enjoy sewing, using my glue gun on anything that doesn’t move, and making flowers.  I especially like to take throwaway stuff and try to incorporate it into my layouts (old earrings, cereal boxes, etc.).  

 Today Sheila is going to show you how she took an empty Macaroni and Cheese box and make it into a mini album - Yup, you read that right!!!! Take a look!

I don't know about you,  but my kids love macaroni and cheese, cereal, and our "snack cupboard" needs restocking every few days.  I am constantly flattening these and other kinds of boxes for the recycling bin. One day, when I had an excess of the boxes, I thought:  "Hey, I am throwing away good chipboard here." I decided to make something with them. I ran them through my sizzix machine.  I covered them with coordinating papers, and here is how my mini-album turned out: 

I didn't happen to have any ring binders available, so I tied my Lowe's twine (see, I TOLD you I use it for everything) in the three little holes, and the album opens and closes just fine.  I also used twine for the center of my flower.

The album was four pieces thick. Here is a shot of the inside:

I just love how it turned out.  Then, I had one extra piece.  I wanted to make my older daughter something, because it seems like most of my scrapbook pages are about my younger daughter lately.  I made her a little "sign" to hang in her room.

To see more of Sheila's creative ideas visit her Blog!

Featured Artist Friday - Missy Whidden

Hi everyone!  Its Sara here today to introduce you to a very talented scrapbooker Missy Whidden!  I have known Missy for about 8 months and I just love her style! She has the best attention to detail in her layouts, each layout is so unique.  One of Missy's favorite things to do is mist!  I am pretty sure you will find multiple mist colors on all of her layouts! To top that off Missy makes all her own mists!!!

Lets get to know Missy!

My name is Missy Whidden and I’m 35.  I’ve been married to Marshall for 11 years, but we’ve been together for 17.  We were college sweethearts!  We have two gorgeous little girls, Reese (4) and Paige (2).  We live in the tiny town where we both grew up, and all of our family lives here, too.  I’m a former English teacher and am now a stay-at-home mom.  When I’m not scrapping, I teach spinning classes at our local YMCA.  I love working out and helping people reach their fitness goals.  I also love to read and play with our girls.  I fell in love with scrapbooking five years ago when I was first pregnant.  My mother-in-law asked me to help her make a baby book for my husband, and I was instantly hooked!  My work has definitely evolved over the years and I’ve discovered so many cool things!  I love bright colors, patterned paper, homemade embellishments & glimmer mists, inks & stitching.  I love working with sketches.  I’m not afraid to try new techniques, and that makes it hard for me to define my “style.”  My main goal with each layout is to make sure the photos take center stage and aren’t overshadowed by too much.

Here is some examples of Missy's 'Misting Majic' and she has lot of great ideas to share about each layout!

To create the large, drippy circles, I first took a plastic cup and cut the bottom end out.  I placed the larger end onto the paper and sprayed my mist heavily into the smaller end of the cup.  Once the circle is covered in mist, I removed the cup.  To make it drip, I help up my paper and sprayed the mist really close onto the circle.  You can do this without the dripping, or make it as light or dark as you want!  After the circles were dry, I began to assemble my pictures, paper and flowers.  I love creating background like this because each one will be different, and you can customize the colors!

For this background, I used an old empty package of pop dots!  Once they’re all used up, you have this square of empty circles, so why not use it for a mask?  I just placed it at various spots on my paper and misted through the holes.  I also just spritzed here and there…I didn’t want it to look uniform at all.  I knew I wanted a grungy look for this layout since it was about my daughter looking like she’d just gotten into fight…haha!  I used lots of black ink to smudge it up.  I matched my background circles with some patterned paper with circles.

I created this layout for a blog challenge that required us to use a color palette of red, yellow and green.  Typically I wouldn’t use those colors together, so I decided to create a watercolor-type background using those three colors.  I first cut out a large square from cardstock to use as a mask.  I placed that over my white cardstock so only the square was visible.  I misted my three colors all over the open square and then took a bottle of water and sprayed it lightly, causing the colors to blend.  I really love how it turned out…and I would never have found this in a store.  I love how mists allow you to create a one-of-a-kind design!  Once my square was done, I was able to embellish the page with small 2x2 squares of matching patterned paper.  I also made two accordion flowers that I topped with buttons.


To find out more about Missy and she her work visit her Blog!