Graduation Gift Albums

Here's an idea for a quick gift album for the Graduate in your life. Albums that document the graduate's life make amazing gifts but are often very time consuming. If your special graduate has a particular hobby or interest, consider pairing photos of the hobby with life advice. Often our children's interests are great for teaching them life lessons, even if they don't realize it at the time. They will enjoy seeing photos of themselves doing something they love and you get an opportunity to share words of wisdom.

Below is an example of this type of album recently created for my nephew's high school graduation gift. I wanted to give him a keepsake that would document his love of hunting and at the same time reflect how his approach to hunting could also serve him well in his post-high school life. The life parallel's included:

• "Sometimes you have to get your hands dirty"
• "Do what you love"
• "Be Safe"
• "Aim before you shoot"
• "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take"
  

(To be honest, I was initially unsure of how excited an 18 year old boy would be about receiving a scrapbook. Because each page showed him doing the thing he loves, he immediately showed it to all his other teenage friends in attendance!)What are your graduate's passions? Maybe basketball, scrapbooking, 4-H, a musical instrument, restoring a car?? Consider the skills they've developed as a result of pursing it. You'll be surprised at how quickly an album like this can be made. And your graduate will love it!

Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peek of the June page kit, available soon!

Scrap-n-$ave---Use your Leftovers

If you're like us, once you finish a project with papers you love, you just can't bear to part with the leftover scraps. Or maybe you've purchased a package of flowers or other embellishments, used a couple, then end up with many unused ones sitting on your shelf. One money saving tip is to "use your stash." Recently we created a mini book using Graphic 45 and Teresa Collins papers. With the leftovers and a few others scraps that were laying around, we created this vintage layout:

Not only did we use up our scraps, but incorporated some new techniques too. Here are just a few ideas for you to try (see photos below):

1. For the two red flaps on the left of the photo---Use a 5 x 12 inch stip of double sided paper. Cut a 3 inch slit starting about halfway down right side. Fold back the two flaps. Put a pop dot under each flap so it doesn't fold down flat.
2. Tuck goodies under the flaps! We used some flowers and some leftover tags from our mini-book project.
3. Scraps with pictures or other designs that can be cut out make great embellishments, such as the clock with wings in the photo below. We cut this out of a leftover scrap, inked it to make it match the other papers better, added a jewel center (again 20 or so in a package!), then put it on pop dots to make it stand out.
4. Flower centers--using your leftovers is a great way to get creative with flower centers. Here we used a Tim Holtz gear and an extra tag. For one of the flower centers above, we used four mini brads.
5. Newsprint flowers-- Punch or hand cut flowers from patterned paper. Curl the petals of each flower up by rolling them around a pencil. Ink the edges. Use some of your button stash for the flower center. Put a pre-made paper flower underneath (the Kaisercraft ones come 25 or 50 to a package, so this is a great way to use your extras!)
6. Photo frame--The photo frame to the right of the photo started out as a white die cut that never seemed to make it onto any projects. We cut the frame into an "L" shape. After inking it to match the rest of the layout, a journaling stamp was used to randomly stamp lines on it. With pop dots underneath, it really frames the photo. And it's barely recognizable from the original!
7. Stitch your scraps--The script paper scrap at the top of the layout is attached to the page with adhesive. But to make it look more "intentional", create stitches with thread, fibers or twine. It's an easy way to add dimension and visual interest. Try using your leftovers. You might be surprised at the amazing layout you create!
   

Upcoming Classes

Just wanted to share a bit about some upcoming classes.

Thursday, May 14--Page of the Month--We're SO excited to have designer Lisa Dorsey share her talents with us. She has been published in many magazines including Creating Keepsakes, Scrapbook Trends, Memory Makers, Paper Kuts, Scrapbooks Etc., Paper Crafts and several others! Lisa has recently relocated to our area and we are so fortunate to have her here!

Thursday, May 21--Debbie's Favorites--Below are a couple of sneak peeks of the TWO 2-page layouts we will create using Prima glittered and flocked papers. If you've wanted to try Fiskars border punches, here are a couple we'll use in this class:

Happy National Scrapbook Day!

Hope you were able to stop by this weekend to see some of the great deals we have just for National Scrapbook Day. To celebrate the occasion, we wanted to share these free instructions for creating a simple yet attractive scrapbook page and card. For this project, we used the amazing papers from Pink Paislee. If you'd like to replicate this project, we have these exact papers available for purchase. Or "shop your stash" and find four coordinating papers. Don't have a circle shape paper on hand? Simply trace around a kitchen plate and create your own! Here's what you'll need:

Two sheets of this:

One sheet of this paper:

One of this beautiful blue:
One round paper:
And a package of these coordinating fabric flowers:
Let's get started. First cut the floral paper in half, leaving you with two 6 x 12" strips.

Next, cut the circle shape as shown below. Cut the top and bottom of the circle 2-1/4" from the edge. Once cut, you will have two similar pieces, each approximately 9 -1/4" x 2-1/4" at the widest parts. Cut the right side of the remaining circle 2-1/4" from the edge. The resulting piece will measure approximately 6" x 2-1/4" at the widest part. From the remaining part of the circle, cut a mat for a small photo. Save the leftover scraps for cardmaking. From the blue paper, cut two 3/4" x 12" strips. Remove flowers from packaging. Cut two 12" lengths of suede-look ribbon. Stamp blue paper with journaling template stamp and cut out.

Start with the two woodgrain papers as the base for the layout.

Find the 6 x 2-1/4" strip cut from the circle edge. Cut it in half, leaving you with two 3 x 2-1/4" pieces. Adhere each to bottom of layout as shown below:

Add the larger circle strips, being sure to overlap with the edges of the previously placed small circle edge.

Next adhere the floral strips above the circle edges, then adhere the thin blue strips above the floral paper:

Add photos and blue stamped journaling area to layout. For the photo with the plaid background mat, use pop dots to make it stand out. Adhere the fabric flowers and suede-look ribbon using a strong glue such as Crafter's Pick.

And you're finished!

Before you put your scraps away, use the leftovers to make this cute card to let someone special know you're thinking of them today!