Holiday project tips

The holidays are the perfect time to get more from your scrapbook supplies!  We used the beautiful Christmas/winter product lines from Melissa Frances just to see how many tips we could find to share with you. Our first project was this Christmas layout:

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  Tip #1--Add pearls or jewels to chipboard elements to give them some spice.  The glittered chipboard holly leaves were nice as is, but adding the pearls helps it really stand out.
  
  
  
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  Tip #2--Create embellishments from the product packaging.  The holly leaves were part of a punch out sheet of glittered chipboard shapes.  The photo corner to the bottom left of the photo was cut from a corner of the glittered chipboard packaging (the part that remains after all the chipboard shapes are punched out of it.)  It perfectly coordinates and didn't cost a thing!
  
  
  
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  Tip #3--Use sandpaper to distress stickers and papers.  The "Holiday Bear" label had a shiny surface and didn't fit the vintage feel of the rest of the layout.  Lightly sanding the top and adding ink makes it fit right in.
  
  
  
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  Tip #4--Use your layout leftovers to make a card:
  
  
  

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  Tip#5--Make a vintage star to use on the card!  Ink the edges of a chipboard star.  While the ink is wet, paint the star with Ranger crackle paint so some of the ink blends into the wet paint.  Using a hairdryer to dry the paint will cause it to really crackle (more than air drying does).  Thread twine through button and tie a bow, then adhere it to the star.
  
  
  
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  Tip #6--Recycle household product packaging to make a COOL holiday gift container. Here's how.  Cover an empty clean cardboard package with patterned paper.  We started with this container:
  
  
  

We added our leftover scraps from the layout and card projects to create this unique package just ready to hold candy or other Christmas gift goodies!

Only 60 Days Until Christmas!

With Halloween only a few days away, it's hard not to think ahead and realize Christmas will be here before we know it! If you're one of those who loves the holidays and can't wait to get started on Christmas crafts and handmade gifts, here's a project for you to try-- an adorable Christmas star wreath from Kaisercraft. 

The wreath is comprised of wood stars, ready for you to personalize to create your own special keepsake. 

We couldn't wait to try this project ourselves!  Here's what we did.  The stars are packaged so two stars are attached together with thin wooden strips.  Using very gentle pressure, we broke the thin strip so each star was separated.  To smooth the edge and remove any evidence of the wood strip, we sanded each star.

Then we inked the outside edge and top edges of each star with brown ink.

Using each star as a template, we traced around each and cut the paper just inside the pencil lines.

This step was repeated for each star and the papers were adhered to each star.  For two stars, we used photos rather than paper. Double sided paper works great for this project since the colors on each side are typically made to coordinate.  Once all the stars were covered, the stars were assembled and adhered to the wood circle base.  A liquid adhesive works well to assure the parts stay together.  If you'd like a hanging loop on the back of the wreath, attach it to the wood circle base prior to gluing the stars to it.

For six of the top stars, we added jingle bells.  To do this, we punched holes in the stars with the Cropadile.

We put ribbon through the holes and tied a bell to the top.  Back of star:

Front of star:

The completed project!

Hope you'll give this fun project a try!!

October Page Kit

Just wanted to give you a quick look at the October page kit that will be available later this week.  It features some of our favorite papers from Pink Paislee.  With this kit, not only will you get the lovely papers, but also a complete sheet of matching alphabet stickers, matching rub-ons and a whole set of Pink Paislee specialty brads (including some covered in corduroy!)  The colors work great for fall, and with the alphabet stickers you can personalize the title to fit your photos.  Happy Autumn!

Vintage, vintage and more vintage!

If you love all things vintage, especially when it comes to scrapbooking and cardmaking, we've got some goodies you'll be sure to love!  Check out these beautiful vintage papers from Webster's Pages. You'll be amazed at the high quality and sturdiness of these lovely double sided papers.  Just take a look at a few of their stunning lines we now have in stock:

Also, hope you can join us this Saturday, September 26 to create this vintage inspired recipe book using Graphic 45 papers.  We'll be binding it with the Zutter Bind-it-All, so if you've not had a chance to try using the Zutter, this is your chance!  If cooking and recipes aren't your "thing" this book would also work great as a mini album with a cooking theme.  Rather than recipes, you could showcase photos of special meals or cooking influences in your life.  The book features many tags that can be used for easily removeable recipes or maybe even journaling about past cooking attempts gone awry!  You know, like the time as a teenager you decided to surprise your mom by getting up early and making scrambled eggs for her for breakfast.  And how when the scrambled eggs ran all over her plate, she suggested putting them back in the skillet because "I like my eggs really hot."  Not saying that ever happened to anyone here at Bloomin' Scrapbooks... um no,...absolutely not...!   :-)

Happy Labor Day

Hope everyone had a fun, relaxing and safe Labor Day weekend!

Just a reminder we're still collecting hand made cards to send to the troops in Afghanistan.  Our "card drive" has been extended to the end of September. The soldiers request the cards we make so they can send them to their families here back home.  Many of them are stationed in areas where it is very difficult to purchase daily use items, including greeting cards.  The types of cards most requested by the troops are:

• Cards for children (many of our troops are parents)
• Holiday cards
• Thinking of you
• Love you/miss you

Bloomin' Scrapbooks will supply envelopes for those cards made standard A2 size, approximately 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" (i.e. the size of card you get if you use half of an 8-1/2" by 11" sheet of paper.)  Please remember, no glitter or Stickles can be used on the cards.  Glitter is detected by enemy survelliance equipment. Even a small amount of glitter that finds itself on a soldier's uniform can literally put his or her life in danger.

"Whoo Loves You"

To create the owl: Punch large oval for body.  Punch three heart shapes,

use two upside down for ears and bottom of one for beak.

For feet, punch two small petaled flowers then cut in half. 

Use buttons for eyes.  So simple!

We've got a few cards to show you.  For both stampers and scrappers, this is a great way to use those scraps you may have laying around as well as an opportunity to try out new techniques.  And if you'd like, take a photo of the cards you make then email them to us here. We'd love to feature your creations on the Bloomin' Blog! 

Tip for Making Memories Trimmer Owners

Here's a tip for those of you who may own the "Making Memories Precision Paper Trimmer." In a moment of inspiration (that maybe wasn't too wise!), I decided to use it to cut thin chipboard. After that, it seemed to want to rip any paper I tried to cut, giving it a distressed edge look. Unfortunately distressed edges were not what I was after!

If you've had this happen with this particular paper trimmer, try these steps:

1. Slide the red button (located at the top right in the photo above) in the direction of the imprinted arrow.
2. You can now remove the silver slider bar.
3. Remove the rotary trimmer black plastic part from the silver slider bar. (i.e. remove the black thing you slide when you're cutting; it's the part with the "M" on it.)
4. Check for any tiny strips of paper that might be stuck in the cutting groove in the base of the trimmer. Remove any you find.
5. Here's the cool part! One of the great design features of this trimmer is it's self sharpening blade. When it starts ripping paper, it's usually because the blade has dulled. Take the black casing you removed in step three, and place it in the cutting groove but without the slider bar for now.
6. Move the casing along the cutting groove. As you move the casing, very slightly apply pressure so the rotary blade is moving along the left side of the cutting groove. You may hear a light metal-to-metal sound, similar to the sound a knife makes when it is moved along a sharpening stone. Do this several times to resharpen the blade.
7. Reassemble the trimmer.

Just like magic, it cuts clean and smooth again! Hope you don't find yourself needing this tip but in case you do, give it a try. (And maybe another tip is don't cut a big stack of chipboard with your "paper" trimmer! Ha!)

Welcome Kimber McGray!

We are so excited that within only a few short weeks, we've had the opportunity to welcome two well known celebrity scrapbookers to Bloomin Scrapbooks! If you didn't get a chance to meet Kelly Goree a few weeks ago, you won't want to miss the chance to take a class from Indiana's own Kimber McGray. Kimber's clean, bright and graphic style earned her a spot on the Creating Keepsakes Magazine Hall of Fame. She has designed for several industry manufacturers including Jillybean Soup, Core'dinations, We R Memory Keepers, and Unity Stamp Designs.

So be sure to mark your calendar for her class on Saturday, September 19 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. As an added bonus, lunch is included in the cost of the class. Just take a look at the fun pages she will show us how to create using new products from Jillybean Soup:

Kimber has recently authored "Scrapbook Secrets", a true inspiration for creating amazing scrapbook pages. We do have copies of her book available and we're sure she would love to autograph one for you!

Please call or stop by soon to reserve your spot. Hope you can join us!