Scrapbooking with PSA Essentials

I started scrapbooking when I was pregnant with my daughter Molly as a way to journal life events in a creative and crafty way.  Only three years old, she already enjoys looking back to “when she was a baby” through her scrapbooks.   Now I am busy working on my son, Connor’s. 

Scrapbooking means a lot of different things to people.  Some people take snippets of life – a theater ticket, a napkin from a special event, buttons from first outfits and incorporate them into layouts.   Me – I like to have a more graphic representation of an event.  Just a few photos, some design accents and a little journaling go along way.   I almost always incorporate stamping into my designs now and I use my PSA Essentials Peel & Stick stamps whenever I can.   Check out a few of my latest pages I have been working on!

This page is in Connor’s scrapbook telling him about his mom and dad.  I’ve used a lot of stamps here from PSA Essentials Bouquet Toss, Smirk Kiss Me Now, and Mr. & Mrs. Peel & Stick.    I’ve also used the “xoxo” stamp from PSA’s Love Birds.   The balloon design was really easy to do.  I just stamped a few different stamps onto cardstock and cut with my circle cutter, then arranged and made “string.”   I love incorporating twine from The Twinery into my layouts – I think it adds texture and visual interest without being too layered.

This page tells Connor about his sister, Molly.   I’ve used stamps from PSA Frenchie in here to illustrate Molly’s girlie and playful side.  I also stamped “m, l,l,y” from PSA Vanilla Peel & Stick and used the inner ring of my Wallace style stamp “O’Regan” for the “O” in Molly’s name.

These two layouts celebrate the “non-shower” my friend Susan and my mother held for me.  Susan had a custom stamp made:  “2^nd Children deserve a party too! – Baby 2.0.”  I was strongly against having a shower were guests brought gifts (being my 2^nd child) but Susan insisted we needed a party.   The theme and stamp were quite funny!  The stamp is in the “Christi” style which can be personalized for any occasion, as all PSA Essentials stamps can.  See all the things Susan and my mom did with this stamp here and get ideas for your next party using a PSA Stamp here. 

Since he has been born, I haven’t had a ton of time to work on new layouts but I have ordered by photos from Shutterfly and I am working on the scrapbook this week.  I have a long to-do list of pages!   Surely I will be using PSA Carriage, it’s a Peel & Stick pack that’s great for scrapbooking about little ones.   Isn’t he cute?!

We have thousands of Peel & Stick stamps – for each occasion and holiday so I’ll be working my stamps into my pages.   I’ll be sure to update this post with new pages as I get them done! Happy scrapbooking - I've got lots to do! 

4th of July Scrapbook

My near 3 year-old daughter calls the 4th of July "America's Birthday" thanks to my good friend, summer babysitter, and delinquent design team member, Susan.  She came home from Sussie's house before the 4th telling me all about the American flag, flag cakes, fireworks, and how excited she was to celebrate America's birthday.  Got to love it!   We spent the 4th at my parents house and did our own "fireworks" show because 9:20pm might as well be the middle of the night for a kid her age.   She knew no different and it was perfect!

Where has the time gone?   With the 4th having come and gone you'll soon be reading posts about the fall and back to school...Gasp!  Time to get started on your scrapbook layouts.   If you're struggling for ideas and need some inspiration, our talented scrapper Kim Schofield has you covered. 

She's used stamps from PSA Topiary - one of my favorites is the heart flag.  She's also used PSA Fancy Flakes - rarely seen for summer crafting.   She's also used the beautiful Fleur de Lis from PSA Frenchie.  I love that she's used 3 different stamp packs here.   If you're limited at home- you can make this work with just a few of our stamps, too!

Share your scrapbook layouts with us on our Facebook page and let us know what did you do for the 4th of July? 

Father's Day Scrapbooking

How was your Father’s Day?  Ours was spent at the pool as a family and then with our extended family at my in-laws for the afternoon and dinner.  I am so lucky that my parents and my in-laws get along so well.  We generally spend holidays all together – Mike and I never have to choose which family to spend the holiday with.  Here are a few Father’s Day pictures that will one day make it into my scrapbook.   And by one day, I mean probably in a year when I have time to scrapbook….

Kim Schofield on our design team created a layout for Dad’s.    I love the red, white and blue color scheme and the position of the pictures.   She’s used a stamp from PSA Life’s A Beach – the “surf’s up” compliments the beach photos perfectly.

Here’s a detail of the paper – love these cutouts!

To recreate this layout, you will need:

·         Stamps – Surf’s Up image from PSA Life’s A Beach

·         Designer Paper – Bo Bunny

·         Dies – Sweet ‘n Sassy

Have you started scrapbooking Mother’s Day or Father’s Day? 

Graduation Layout

Graduating high school is one of those times in your life you’ll remember forever.  For me who went to The University of Michigan with 6,000 people in my undergraduate class, my college diplomas (yes, I like people to know that there are two…) were mailed to me.   High school graduation was different.   It felt monumentous.   It wasn’t just because of the accomplishment of completing school, but because I graduated from my parents and was leaving my friends.   I graduated and became an adult (sort of), headed off to college later that summer, and truly survived on my own. 

This epic time in someone’s life is certainly worthy of a scrapbook page if you’re a scraper.   Here’s an idea by Kim Schofield.  She’s used our new Asian Symbols and Asian Icon stamps available only at Smithsonian Museum Stores.   This was the perfect collection for Kim’s friends daughter who majored in Chinese. 

Here are some close-ups of the stamps.

Supplies used:

·         Designer Paper – Graphic 45

·         KaiserCraft – Rhinestone Swirl

·         PSA Essentials Asian Symbols & Asian Icons available only at Smithsonian Museum Stores: & ).

·         Grad Letters – Idea-ology (Tim Holtz)

Welcome Home

I used to travel considerably for work.  Before I joined PSA Essentials full-time in November 2010, I worked for a marketing company that was based out of California.  I frequently traveled to LA for trainings and meetings.  My territory was the Mid-Atlantic so I covered South Carolina to Washington, DC and also sometimes Boston and New York.   I was on a plane at least 3 times a month, some weeks gone for 5 or 6 days at a time.   The job was thrilling and rewarding but also grueling.    With Molly and my family now, minimal travel for work is ideal.

I can’t imagine traveling like that again with a family, but some people don’t have an option.  Kim Schofield created a 2-page layout of her family welcoming her home from a business trip last June.  She doesn’t travel all that much for work either, but she says, “a short break from the ordinary is fun, but being at home with my husband and children is my favorite place to be.”  Well said & ditto!

I love the great airport pictures of the boys in this layout.    She’s stamped the airplane from PSA Rocket and the “Business trip” from PSA Mom’s Calendar Peel & Stick pack. 

I love how she stamped onto paper, cut the plane out, and then adhered with 3D foam.  Gives it dimension and a pop!

To recreate a layout like this, you will need the following supplies:

·         Stamps: Airplane (PSA Rocket)  and “Business Trip” sentiment (PSA Mom’s Calendar)

·         Designer Paper: Echo Park

·         Letter Stickers: American Crafts & Michaels

·         Cloud Dies: Sweet ‘n Sassy

·         Felt: Papertreyink

·         Brads: Stampin’ Up!

·         Trail stamp behind the planes – Papertreyink

·         Large scallop die – Papertreyink

Share your latest creation on Facebook with us – we want to see what you are up to! 

Easter Scrapbooking

My favorite crafting (and one of my favorite family holidays) is over…. So it’s time to get cracking on my scrapbook layout for Easter 2012.  I have lately found it is best to get it done immediately after the holiday, otherwise I put it off and then I’m not feeling as creative, or I don’t remember the details as well.  A lot of the seasonal holiday stuff goes on sale right after too, so this week Easter stuff should be on sale.  Another reason to get scrapbooking!

Kim Schofield has created a layout idea for us.  I love the way she’s arranged the three photos. 

She’s created an Easter Egg Banner from the egg stamp on PSA Topiary Peel & Stick stamps, colored them up, adhered to mini flags, and hung from twine from The Twinery. 

To recreate this layout, you’ll need the following supplies:

·         Designer Paper: Bo Bunny

·         Stamps: Easter Egg from PSA Topiary Peel & Stick stamps, by PSA Essentials 

·         Coloring: Copics

·         Letters: Grungeboard

·         Stickers: Bo Bunny

Share your Easter 2012 or latest layout on our Facebook page so we can see what you are up to when you’re done!  

Valentine's Day Scrapbooking

Another holiday blew past us!  As you take down any decorations you put up, get rid of the wilting flowers, and polish off the last of the chocolates, start thinking about how you will scrap Valentine’s Day 2012.   Lucky, you don’t have to think too hard.  Kim Schofield has given us a great idea for a layout today. 

Kim used 4 layers of different papers and played with geometric shapes.   She kept it simple with just one photo – sometimes that’s all you need to capture the event.  She stamped several times from Smirk Kiss Me Now Peel & Stick stamps by PSA Essentials.   I love the ribbon tape – “happiness is family, happiness is together, happiness is homemade, happiness is sharing.”  

Here’s a close up of the Smirk Kiss Me Now stamp kissing characters, “living happily ever after” and “happiness is…being loved” sentiments from that collection.   She colored up the characters to make them come alive. 

She stamped “Kiss Kiss” also from Smirk Kiss Me now.    Look closely, you will also see the lips from PSA Frenchie Peel & Stick.   She’s stamped it with a blush pink ink using and her acrylic blocks. 

Hope this gives you a little inspiration for scrapping your Valentine’s Day 2012, and hope you had a great “holiday!” with whomever you chose to spend it with.  

Winter Scrapbooking

Well, you are either loving PSA Stamp Camp this week or have tuned me out completely! We are featuring great ideas to get a jump on (or wrap up) your scrapbooking! See this great way to document your winter adventures today on our final day of Scrapbooking Week. Kim Schofield calls this one "better together" and I just love her chosen color scheme! The cool blues, navy, white and black is such a great color combination for the season. The black and white photography is so classic - any picture feels vintage with this black and white finish! The whole layout feels a bit chilly – in a good way - doesn't it?

Kim has stamped from PSA Fancy Flakes and even embossed them to set the stamp and make it stand out! This is an extra step but really makes a difference. Check it out.

She's also stamped from Peanuts Snow Day. She's colored snoopy on his sled up with her Copic markers and really brought him to life!

This page is a true work of art – between the stamping, the embossing, ribbon tying, and cutting out of the stamp – you can tell that Kim spent HOURS on this layout! Use it as inspiration even if you don't have hours – replicate parts of it! To replicate, you will need:

• Designer Paper: Little Yellow Bicycle
  
• Stamps: PSA Essentials: Peanuts Snow Day, PSA Fancy Flakes
  
• Tissue Tape: Tim Holtz
  
• Ribbon: May Arts
  

Hope you have enjoyed Scrapbooking this week! Back to cards, crafty home décor ideas, and new year's resolutions next week!

Scrapbooking Thanksgiving!?!?

If you are behind on scrapbooking 2011 and haven't had a chance to get to Thanksgiving, use this as a jumping off point. Already completed Thanksgiving? Use the layout as your base – replace the colors, patterned papers and sentiments with the theme of your choice. Kim Schofield has a great design here for your inspiration. There's a lot going on here, but it manages to be organized! She's stamped the wreath from PSA Topiary Peel & Stick.

See a close-up the stamp here! I like how she cut it out with an X-Acto knife and adhered it with 3-D foam stickers. It gives it dimmension and emphasizes it!

To recreate this layout, you will need the following supplies:

• Designer Paper – Imaginisce
  
• Cardstock - Bazzill
  
• Additional sentiment stamps – Ali Edwards
  
• PSA Essentials Topiary Peel & Stick stamps
  
• X-Acto
  
• 3-D Foam Stickers by Helmar USA
  

I just love the Ali Edwards sentiment ones. They are so great for journaling and scrapbooking! What do you think of this layout?

Scrapbooking: Halloween?!?!

All week long, we have been talking about scrapbooking. A few days ago, I stressed the importance of getting your pages done early – right after the holiday so the memories are fresh. Well as we all know – that's just sometimes not possible. Life gets busy and suddenly you find yourself four months behind on your scrapbook. (I am living proof!) No worries, luckily you can still get all the supplies you need year round at your local craft store, and we are here for some good ideas. Here are two Halloween layouts by Kim Moreno – just in case you need to work on those.



I adore the layers, use of dies and the photo booth presentation of photos. Doesn't it remind you of a photo booth? She's used PSA Essentials stamps here – the "boo" and the orange pumpkin are from PSA Haunted Shack Peel & Stick. You can also notice the "Happy Halloween" near "boo" from PSA UBU Happy Halloween. This is the outer ring of the stamp!

For this one, she's used the skull from PSA Haunted Shack and "boo" once again. She really has a knack for artsy, interesting design. I love the paper cut like ribbons and the twine tied around the orange patterned paper. Your eye doesn't get stuck in one place – it's moving all over the page. And yet, it's not too busy.

Feel free to take these layouts and modify the papers and colors and stamps to fit whatever holiday or event you are working on. Use the layout as a template for your creation!

Scrapbooking Life's Little Moments

Scrapbooking is such an artistic way to journal life's major events and holidays like Christmas. But it's also a great way to journal the not-so-major, everyday life events. Like these ones from our design team member Kim Moreno. Even with her five children, she managed to find the time to scrapbook her son's track meet and do a layout about friendship for her daughter. It's these every day type of events and moments that really document life! And she does it so creatively.



In this one of her son's track meet, I love the series of three pictures. She's stamped "Well Done", "You Rock" and "Keep it up" from PSA Super Star. Such a great stamp set for this page!

Here Kim has used vibrant colors and adorable pictures of her daughter and her friend. She's stamped from Smirk Caffeine Confidents, the two girls and the sentiment "Fabulous friends." This layout is simple and elegant and really tells a great story of friendship!

What scrapbook layouts are you working on?

Scrapbooking Christmas – Day 2

Yesterday I shared a great layout idea by Kim Schofield to help document your 2011 Christmas holiday. I think it's important to try and get your holiday scrapbooking pages done right after the season. If you wait too long, they get too far down on your to-do list and the memories aren't as fresh in your mind as they were months ago. Plus, it's a great time to find holiday crafting stickers, paper and other products on sale right now! If you can find the time this January, get inspired with this other great idea by Kim.



For this whimsical layout, Kim did a lot of stamping. She's stamped using PSA Fancy Flakes Peel & Stick stamps in the background on the white in blue ink, and on the red in darker red ink. She also stamped the "happy holidays" letter, the star and the Christmas trees from PSA Tree-O Peel & Stick stamps. She's also stamped the date – "25" for December 25^th using PSA Archive Peel & Stick stamps. Way to use three different stamp sets in a project, Kim!

Here's a close up of the stamps:

I love her use of patterned paper – the stockings stuffed with teddy bears are a perfect pair to the young boys in the picture. The scalloped stripped paper adds visual interest, and the white ribbon adds texture. She's layered it on here and done a great job. Here's a list of the supplies, in case you'd like to replicate:

• PSA Essentials Fancy Flakes Peel & Stick
  
• PSA Essentials Tree-O Peel & Stick
  
• PSA Essentials Archive Peel & Stick
  
• Copics to color in stamps
  
• Imaginsce patterned paper
  
• Ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon
  
• Stickers by Jillibean Soup
  
• Journaling used with computer paper & computer
  

Happy Scrapbooking!


 

 

Scrapbooking Christmas - Day 1

Sigh…. Christmas is over… you're faced with the daunting and annoying task of taking down the tree and decorations. Also on your to-do list: documenting all the wonderful holiday memories in a creative way. If you are a scrapbooker, check out this great layout by Kim Schofield. She's used a variety of photos, layers, patterned papers, sentiments, words & stamps to create this layout.

She's stamped from PSA Vintage Snowman. The 5 pieces of holly and the wrapped present are great embellishments and really help contribute to the overall theme of the layout. She's colored them all up with her Copic markers to make them come to life and stand out.

Great layout idea, Kim. Tell us what ways you are planning on documenting your 2011 holidays today!

Thanksgiving Layout

Kim Schofield used an antique approach to documenting her 2010 Thanksgiving. She used designer paper by Reminisce to set the entire tone. Some might consider such an ornate paper over the top, but it really conveys Thanksgiving! She used PSA Romance Alphabet letters to stamp "Thanks" which coordinate beautifully with the paper. I love how she documented the food… she did three close up shots of the delicious food and used ribbon journaling tags to document everything.

Here's a close up of the stamped "Thanks." She's used Ranger gold ink with her acrylic blocks. Proof positive here that you do not need to use our stamper all the time! Our Peel & Stick stamps really do work just like any other clear stamp – use them with the acrylic blocks if you like!

Let us know what you think about this layout today!

Full of Memories Blog Hop

Welcome to the KinderStampO Blog Hop! We are so excited to be a sponsor of this event. If you aren't familiar with PSA Essentials Personalized & Peel & Stick stamps – here's the skinny: We manufacture personalized self-inking stamps – think return address labels for your holiday cards, or a stamp with "handcrafted by" and your blog address to stamp the back of your cards. We have patent-pending Peel & Stick technology and thousands of stamp designs, so you can switch out your personalized stamp with designs for the holidays, birthdays, sentiments, and we have licensed designs, too! Hello Kitty, Peanuts, UBU…. They're all so fun. Use our stamps on the PSA Essentials stamper to get crisp, clean and quick impressions – or use with an acrylic block. They work just like any other clear stamp. Still want to know more? Go to www.psaessentials.com and check out all of our Peel & Stick packs.

We think keeping memories alive are important – and the best way to do that is scrapbooking. Our design team member Kim Schofield created this great layout or Halloween using PSA Essentials Peel & Stick stamps. She used the adorable UBU Happy Halloween characters in this fun layout.

KinderStampO has collected lots of great prizes for this hop – and we are giving away 1 Stamper, 3 Peel & Stick packs of your choice, and an alignment tool. This is an $80 retail value! Please leave a comment on this blog about what you like about our stamps, or this great layout – and be sure to become a follower of PSA Stamp Camp or fan on Facebook for an extra entries to win.

Want to buy PSA Essentials? Here's the best deal out there. 2 Preppy Girls is offering 25% off all Peel & Stick packs! Head on over to this adorable store to check out the merchandise – from monogrammed car decals, to monogrammed aprons and tennis bags, they've got the cutest stuff and the best deal on Peel & Stick packs out there right now.

Now hop to Elisa and here's the line-up in case you get lost.

Jessica: www.KinderStampO.com

Libby Cobb O'Regan: http://www.psastampcamp.blogspot.com/

Elisa: www.perpetualstew.blogspot.com

Jennifer: www.glittermyday.blogspot.com

Linda: www.myquillingnest.com

Martha Galvez: http://pattisscrapingtime.blogspot.com/

Jessica Baker: http://jessbippitystamps.blogspot.com/

Sigrid: http://www.lovescrapreflect.blogspot.com/

Corri Garza: www.buglvr.blogspot.com

Madison: http://funkycards.blogspot.com/

Pam: http://pammejo-scrapbookflair.blogspot.com/

Sandra: www.365daysofcricut.blogspot.com

Back to School Layout

What milestones do you scrap?   Our designer Kim Schofield teaches her two sons at home and treats going back to school just like other mom's who send their kids off to school.    With true pride!   She scrapped her son starting the second grade here.    What I love most about her scraping is all the detail and layers.   There's a combination of color, texture and patterns. 

Kim is using a variety of Tim Holtz products – I love the ticket stamp die and the grunge board letters.   And how cute is the tiny banner?   She's used PSA Super Star stamps for the "A+" and the "Super Star" and PSA Vanilla Peel & Stick stamps to spell out "back to school."  

I bet her kids are getting a top notch, first rate art education, in addition to everything else!  What a fun layout. 


Supply spotlight:  PSA Stamps – Vanilla and Super Star.   Tissue Tape & Grungeboard Letters: Tim Holtz/Idea-ology. Tiny Banners Created with a banner die from My Favorite Things.  Tickets Created with Ticket die from Tim Holtz.   Tickets stamped with stamps from Tim Holtz/Stampendous.   Designer Paper: Pink Paislee.   Brads: Create Impression