Challenge #12: Flip Flaps & Page Protectors

Challenge #12

Guess where I am??? On my bi-annual SCRAPBOOKING RETREAT!!! I look forward to my fall and spring retreats all year...and this year should be amazingly-super-de-duper fun because my sister-in-law, cousin and Aunt are all coming! (Although my best-friend and partner-in-craft could not make this one because she has a new baby!). I am sure we are having a blast and getting LOTS scrapped!

Anyway... on to the challenge!
WHAT FUN!

I had never even heard of a "flip flap" until I became a member of the Lasting Memories Design Team. I happened to get a promotional package from Close To My Heart in the Spring and there were these strange little picture sized page protectors that I didn't know what to do with. When Karen suggested a "flip flap" challenge I thought she was crazy...then I remembered those little things.

I AM HOOKED.

These added so much to my page, not to mention I was able to add 4 MORE pictures to my layout without it looking stuffed and overcrowded!

Want to know how they work? Read on!

During the Christmas holidays we held a surprise book-signing and book-reading to celebrate my Mother's latest novel "And the Beat Goes On." I chose to use these pictures because I had a few extra shots that I wanted to fit onto the page, but didn't seem to have room. A flip-flap was the perfect solution!

For this layout, I began by picking my pictures and colours and came up with a basic layout.

Then I chose the pictures to be used in the "flip-flaps" and layered them several times. You will need to leave one side "un-stuck" so that you can insert the flip-flap like so:

Attach your flip-flaps. You will end up with 3 pictures that take up the space of ONE on your layout!

I didn't only put pictures in the flip-flaps... I used some memorabilia and a beautiful sticker poem I found called "She Who Believes in Herself."

I used my "Paper Doll Dress Up" Cricut cartridge to make a city-scape and a pterodactyl. "Dream Big" and "Extra Extra!" are Creative Memories stickers.

The toughest part about useing the flip-flaps is making sure that they will be accessible even once your page protectors are in place. Because I use Creative Memories pages, this was not very hard. They are side-loading, and therefore if you position the flip-flaps right against the edge of the page, there is no need to create a hole for them to go through.

Carefully slide your pages into the protectors, leaving the flip-flap open until the page protector is in place.

And there you have it... a great page with some extra pizzaz!

Flip-Flaps CLOSED

Flip-Flaps OPEN:

Have you ever used flip-flaps?? I'd love to see what you have come up with! Link your "Flip-Flap" layouts over at Lasting Memories...and be sure to hurry...you have until Saturday for this challenge!!

Happy Scrappin!

Challenge #11: Handmade Flowers

 Here we are on Challenge #11 at the Lasting Memories Layout Challenge Blog! 

This week's theme is " Handmade Flowers."

To make my flowers, I used my Cricut and the "George & Basic Shapes" cartridge and cut out two different flowers in several sizes.

 I then took a sponge and some 'Close to My Heart' ink to the flowers, giving them a distressed look.

 Then...crumple, crumple, squich, squash! Make them look like real petals by adding some dimension...

 

Now carefully unfold the squished flowers!

 Attach them together using a brad and tada! A beautiful handmade flower!!

 I used my lovely new flowers on a layout I have been working on for a "pre-wedding" book for one of my Hubby's cousins who just got married.

 

 

Hope you enjoyed learning how to make flowers! It is super fast and easy, so give it a whirl and then let me know how it went!

Don't forget to check out what the rest of the Design Team came up with at Lasting Memories!

Happy Scrappin'!

Challenge #4: Simplicity

Can you believe we are already on Challenge #4? I can't...that means summer is almost over! And... I will be home from holidays tomorrow. Boo. I'll tell you all about it later this week...

SIMPLICITY

I think this describes my usual scrapbooking style pretty well. I like my layouts to have straight, sharp lines, simple titles, and not be over-crowded. I actually came up wth this layout when I was working on the last challenge, so it has "stamped" elements as well... but I thought it represented "simplicty" to a T.

The pictures are from October 21, 2007- My Univeristy roommate and I did a photo shoot... she had lately become really interested in photography and needed a model. She actually did my wedding the next summer and I love her photos! Whay to go Laura!

You will note that this layout has stamping incorporated into it... and if you read my posts from the last challenge, you will know about my stamping-in-my-scrapbooks phobia...it must be lessening!!

This page represents simplicity in it's looks as well as in the nature of the pictures... enjoying nature = simple.

This page uses Close To My Heart paper and ink, and Stampin' Up! stamps. I also used my cricut and my "stamped" cartridge.

I started by choosing a blue paper (Close to my Heart paper pack "Sasaparilla") that would compliment the blue sky in my pictures, but not be overbearing. I then stamped the outline of leaves in a coordinating blue ("Lilac Mist" from Close To My Heart) all over the entire page.

Next, I used "Grey Wool" ink to very sparingly stamp the overlapping leaf imprint, adding just enough colour to really make the page stand out.

 I chose a really nice light brown from the same 'Close To My Heart' paper pack and used it for matting pictures, as well as cutting out my cricut images.

 I cut out "2007" and a "happy tag" and then used white paper to cut out the letters for "Autumn." I really love how these simple words bring to life what is happening... the pure enjoyment of autumn.
I then used another "Stampin' Up!" flower stamp for something 'extra'. 

For the rest of the layout I used large blocks of paper, simple matting and cleam cut corners and lines. One circle-cut picture adds some dimension to the page. 

A simple layout, yet very pleaseing to the eye. I love how it turned out!

What can YOU do using simple techniques such as random stamping and large blocky pieces of paper?
Don't forget to check out Lasting Memories to see all of the wonderful layouts my Design Teammates have come up with for this "Simplicity" Challenge!
Happy Scrappin'! And remember, link your "Simple" layouts on the Lasting Memories Blog for fun and a chance to win!

I should be driving home from holidays tomorrow... so I'll let you know all about our trip in the next few days!!

Creative Thinking with Pris- Stamp Your Layouts!

Today is the first ever "Creative Thinking" post at Lasting Memories, and I am the very first poster! Check it out!!

This was a tough challenge for me. Mentally. As a rule, I don't stamp in my scrapbooks. I am paranoid about ink rubbing off on the plastic page protectors (happened to me once!) so I usually shy away from stamping near my precious pics!

I was very surprised to find that I love Love LOVE this layout! Here is how it went:

Despite my stamping-in-my-scrapbook apprehensions, I DO own quite a number of stamps and some very lovely Close To My Heart ink pads (which I use when I {very rarely} make cards).  At first I was only going to use my giant snowflake and 'Barn-Red' ink, but I was soon enjoying stamping and needed to add 'New England Ivy' snowflakes as well. It then evolved, and I ended up stamping "a very merry Christmas to you" on a side-bar piece of paper as well.

I randomly stamped snowflakes, in varying shades (this is the famous "keep stamping till you run out of ink" technique). The biggest problem with this sort of thing, is knowing when to stop. Your page can very easily become over crowded. LESS IS MORE!!

I used my Creative Memories "Tag Maker" punch on a bunch of pictures, and attached small pieces of white ribbon to each one to make them look like Christmas gift tags. I randomly stamped "a very merry Christmas to you" in black ink on this red side-bar piece of paper, and then attached some of my picture tags on top of it. 

I used my handy-dandy cricut and "storybook" cartridge to spell out Christmas Eve with the same red paper, lovely!

This "Special Day" sticker is from Creative Memories, mounted on a white piece of paper, cut out, and then mounted on green paper. I also used several Creative Memories holly stickers to add a little 'something.'

And there you have it... a lovely stamped page!! I just may use stamps in my scrapbook again, who knows!!

 

Be sure to leave a comment letting me know if this was helpful. I would love to see what you come up with!

DON'T FORGET... to link your own "stamped" pages over at the Lasting Memories Layout Challenge. This challenge ends Friday, August 13 at 11:59 EST... so get out those stamps and scrap to your heart's content! For inspiration, check out my Lasting Memories Design Team & Schedule page above... you could be the next 'Top 3' winner! Good luck!

CHALLENGE #2: Buttons & Bows!

Welcome to the second Lasting Memories Layout Challenge!! To see all of the lovely layouts from my Design Teammates, hop on over to the Lasting Memories Layout Challenge blog.

This weeks theme is "Buttons & Bows." I don't usually use alot of ribbon in my layouts, and I can't remember if I have ever used real buttons, so this was a fun challenge for me! Both the Ribbon and Buttons I used came from a Close To My Heart package called "Miracles".

Last November we had a huge celebration for my husband's Grandmother's 90th birthday! These are some pictures from the event and I thought the buttons added a cute/fun element to the page.

 There were both large and small buttons in the package, so I decided to use them all. I secured the ribbon around the red paper, and then pop-dotted the buttons on top. They ended up sticking up quite high off the page and I love the 3D element that it adds.

 

 Since this week's challenge theme was "Buttons & Bows," my original thought was to make the buttons appear to be like a 'bow' on the ribbon. I am not sure that it turned out looking that way, but I don't like bows, so I just stuck with buttons anyway!

 Since I don't use ribbon very often, I usually struggle with making it stick/stay and still look nice. When I do use ribbon, I wrap it around paper, and secure it to the other side with double sided tape runner. Any tips for how to use ribbon more efficiently, or more frequently with less frustration? I love tips!

Don't forget to head over to Lasting Memories and link up YOUR OWN "Buttons and Bows" layout. You just never know what you might win!

ENJOY!