How To Make A U-Hinge Album and Fun Facts!

I adore papercraft projects. They bring back memories of my Nana. At Easter, Nana created handmade paper crafted Easter baskets for us with the most beautiful easter eggs. She instilled in me so much...one was a desire to create handmade items because of how her gifts of herself made me feel. 

FUN FACT: Today is National Egg Day, I didn't even know that was a thing, ha-ha!

Tricia, from Club Scrap shares great techniques for creating this sweet u-hinge embellished paper crafted photo album. She makes it look so simple to create this project using minimal supplies, organized methods and beautifully finished embellishments to really wow your recipient. She even shows in the beginning of the video, a simplified method to keep your project moving along by sorting your supplies early on.Thanks Tricia!

Obsessions and Addictions

Do you have an Obsession or Addiction? 

I've heard friends talk about their chocolate obsession... others say they have a favorite Latte addiction... Others are into being a Gym Rat so much that yup I believe they are also obsessed- even addicted to that adrenaline rush. I'd have to say that as obsession's go I am coming  pretty close with my love of Youtube's varied topics!

 

No matter what your need or interest, I have found it on Youtube. 
Need a little happiness? Check out babies laughing.
Need to feel close to animals? Wow you can watch newborn eaglets in the nest! 
Are you trying to repair your broken appliance? Yes I learned how to repair my microwave by watching Youtube!
My Youtube topic list has grown so long I cannot find the correct topic when I want to save a great video. Hmm, now have duplicate topics. Yikes! 
Really though, I love, love, love Youtube! 

I can be watching a demonstration of a unique new gadget one minute  and then another moment see what people around the world do with plastic containers to repurpose them. 

A recent favorite though is the  arts and craft trade.There are many great demonstrations showing  exciting and new products and how to use them, also new ways to use products that have been around for a while. Today I was watching one of my favorites. A show demonstrator, Tim Holtz at Creativation 2018. Tim was showing off their new color additions to the Alcohol Ink line. I would use the old advertising jingle and say "You've Come A Long Way Baby"! 

I've bought and used alcohol inks before.... Sadly they would evaporate so fast I'd only get a few uses from it. They were fun but some of the redesigns that Tim demonstrates pumps me full of enthusiasm to go out and buy this whole set AND the cool tin to keep it in!! Another item I have not used before was discussed, Yupo paper, a synthetic paper. I am excited to try this product. Check out the video, if you are obsessed with creating paper arts, a collector of new and fun craft and supplies or just enjoy surfing Youtube check out this video below.

So-oo any friends want to explore some of these newer Alcohol Ink techniques? Come on over, "Lets Play."

Did You Know?...Tips About Stockpiled Scrapbooking Supplies Part 5

This is the final post of my  multi-part article where I been sharing tips and tidbits concerning stockpiled scrapbooking supplies. I really learned a lot from a very wise crafter who did some amazing mathematical calculations to determine time and use correlations of her craft room supplies to arrive at how long it would take to use up her current supply.  

•  Did you know that one ABC sticker sheet usually makes only two titles before is is 'cast off' by most scrapbookers? Over half the stickers are then wasting away in binders or storage and clogging up precious storage space--never to be used again. Perhaps using your stickers as shown will give you some relief from the guilt of the previous statement. 

• Did you know that people will pay $1 each for two punched flowers and a brad or pop dot? (Think Jolees, K and Co, and Paper Bliss) Do it yourself for a fraction of that. It takes only pennies to make a stacked flower from your scraps and chalk the outside petals..... I know you have scraps and brads, eyelets or pop dots! LOL Pay yourself about $20 to $40 an hour and make a few dozen sets instead of buying them.

DYI Paper Flower Tutorial

• Did you know that stamping your own twill ribbon with phrases saves you $2.00 a yard? How many pre made ribbon yards do you have that you need to use up? Wording ribbon usually works out to 1 foot per page. If you have a stockpile of 20 yards of worded ribbons of all kinds, that means you better get cracking and make 60 pages before you buy more!!

Here are two links for tutorials to try this out. Link 1 Link 2

We've learned quite a lot from our calculator inclined scrapbooking friend but what I like to remember most though is:

Did You Know?...Tips About Stockpiled Scrapbooking Supplies Part 4

Today as we continue to reveal details in this multi-part article about stockpiled scrapbooking supplies I hope you'll find these facts an figures helpful and perhaps even inspiring. What originally made me think about MY stockpiles of supplies was that I  had come across these figures in a scrapbooking article on a now defunct site a number of years back. It shocked me and made me laugh all at the same time. 

Sweet girlfriends, especially those of you who like to plan and organize, I know you have wondered these thoughts yourself but just did not have the information.These calculations and insights are for all of you sweet girlfriends with the plan and organize bug... Yes I agree, they are truly important. (Because friends share all the juicy details, right?)

• Did you know there are about 500 free sketches online? Here are just a few links I have come across. Lots are free online to print and refer to, or for ideas for crop parties. Scrapbooks etc sketches Scrapbook.com sketches 52 Sketches 52 Weeks

• Did you know that shopping once a week at the scrapbook store costs most scrappers an average of $25.00 each trip? 

(And most of those have enough items at home already to make 1000's of pages.) $25.00 times 52 weeks a year means $ 1300 spent per year.

• Did you know that sticker letters cost an average of $3-$5 dollars a sheet now? Buy black so that later you can mix and match later your partial sheets for 'mixed font' titles. It will save you at least a dollar a sheet to BUY BLACK! Why? Because you will eventually get more many titles per sheet that way! Hmm so you are not thrilled with black? 

(Well  I'm thinking for those of us who have wanted to justify our purchase (past or present of the electronic cutter, yippie the cost of masses of sticker sheets has made the cutter practically pay for itself, right?!)

Or if you just aren't into the idea of buying an electronic cutter, how about this as a solution to all those orphan stickers.

Did You Know?...Tips About Stockpiled Scrapbooking Supplies Part 3

Have you been following this multi-part series as I reveal the details I learned from a very wise crafter who did some amazing mathematical calculating to determine a time and use correlation for her craft room supplies?  

What made me think about my stockpiles of supplies originally was that I  had come across her very informative (and funny) scrapbooking article from a now defunct site a number of years back. It was all about stockpiling scrapbooking supplies.

I realized scrapbooking is contagious...I caught this bug from my friend Cathy who spread it to many others including my friend Viv and we haven't been able to shake it. Oddly we have caught a second wave of this bug and it manifests as a need to organize all this stuff. We have almost as much fun organizing our "stuff" as we do playing with it.  

• Did you know that the average gel and writer pen ink longevity INSIDE a pen is one year before it is generally dry or unusable? (Use them up before they DRY up!)

• Did you know that playing music when you scrapbook helps your creativity and productivity?

• Did you know that starting with a format saves you 20 minutes PER PAGE?

 A favorite method of mine is to use Trish Morris method called Assembly Line Scrap Booking or ALSB for short. I am able to put together whole albums quickly with her techniques!

Did You Know?...Tips About Stockpiled Scrapbooking Supplies Part 2

Recently I began a multi-part article where I shared some Tips and tidbits about Stockpiled Scrapbooking Supplies. We've all seen our girlfriends craft space and slowly shook our heads thinking how long would be before SHE would run out of supplies. Why would I be contemplating such a thought? Well of course because I want to connect for some shopping therapy! 

What made me think about my stockpiles of supplies originally was that I  had come across this very informative (and funny) scrapbooking article on a now defunct site a number of years back. It was all about stockpiling scrapbooking supplies and OH boy did it have the details. The kind of details that says "hide the credit card" so I thought and I thought to myself don't let my DH see this, he'll veto every visit I plan from now until  the apocalypse. 

But for you my sweet girlfriends, especially those of you who like to plan and organize, I will share the authors calculations and insights (because friends share all the juicy details, right?)

But dear friends, lets be real...over the holidays our favorite stores have amazing sales and of course our families need gift suggestions anyhow, right?  So let's keep all these calculations and wisdom in perspective! 

• Did you know that one tin/set of 100 eyelets makes and average of 20 pages? (And how many sets of 100 do YOU own?)

• Did you know that many paper packs and multi sheet slabs usually have 10-20% of their patterns that will not suit you within a pack? (one sheet in 5 may not be to your taste so don't keep it in the stash--share!)

• Did you know that each sticker sheet you own will do approximately a two page layout? If you have binder full of stickers it will equal about 300 pages to use them up?

• Did you know that each yard of fiber you own will make 1-2 pages? 

• If you own a skein of knitting yarn, they contain between 100-200 yards of fiber? At that rate it will take you 100-200 pages of JUST THAT SKEIN to use up that yarn ball on layout pages? SHARE!!

Did You Know?...Tips About Stockpiled Scrapbooking Supplies Part 1

Today begins a multi-part article where I will share some tips and tidbits about stockpiled scrapbooking supplies. 

What made me think about my stockpiles of supplies originally was that I had come across this very informative (and funny) scrapbooking article on a now defunct site a number of years back. It was all about stockpiling scrapbooking supplies and OH boy did it have the details. The kind of details that hint at "Don't let my DH see this, he will veto every Scrapbook Convention I plan to attend for the next 7 years." (Attending those conventions means an automatic increase of my craft supplies by 10%)

But for you my sweet girlfriends, especially those of you who like to plan and organize, I will share the authors calculations and insights (because friends share all the juicy details, right?)

 

• Did you know that an inch of pattern paper is estimated to be 100 sheets or 75 finished pages?

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• Did you know that one inch of cardstock is roughly 50 pages finished? How many inches do YOU have? How many pages do you do a year?

• Do you have over 12 inches (1 foot) of cardstock or printed paper? Do you realize that is enough paper for 1000 pages? Are you stockpiling for someday when you already own enough paper to do thousands of pages?
  
  
  
   Does it still count it it is well organized?
  
  
  

I'm pretty sure I could provide supplies for a scrappers retreat!

What Is Card Candy And Do I Need A Card Crafters Glossary?

I have crafted since the dawn of time, (well since the dawn of my time anyway) and I am surprised that even after 50+ years of creating crafts I still stumble upon new descriptives!  Did you ever wonder what all those crazy acronyms we use stand for? me too, I even wrote a specific post about them, take a few minutes to check this out ;) 
Loyal friends and followers you know how I love hanging out at Swap-bot ... Well today I stopped by to see what new and fun swaps were posted in my areas of interest and surprise surprise I found an intriguing swap in Scraptopia for a Card Candy Swap.  What?? Wouldn't you know the swap host threw out an unfamiliar term so off I go in search of "the" proper meaning for it...gotta make sure I fully understand what I would be swapping LOL.Thank goodness for the internet! For most everything else I found really detailed glossary. What a rich resource and additionally a wonderful service to our service people. SO-oooo after searching and searching on the internet what the heck is Card Candy? Well I DID find some fun sites... Stamping With Loll had a drawing for folks who left a comment to her blog...He very own handmade Card Candy. What a cool enticement! I'm loving the idea! Well done Loll! On another site I saw a person describing a fun Stamping Event and it included a class teaching the recipe for her Card Candy...perfect! So let me see if I can define Card Candy for YOU...

   card can·dy

     kärd/ ˈkandē/ 

      noun 

     A group of objects often made from thick, stiff paper or thin pasteboard, fabric etc.        designed to sweeten the handmade card it is added to.

     In particular card candy is used for decoration on he handmade card to enhance,                sweeten or dress it up. 

Oh-hhhh so Card Candy can take a card from plain to pizazz. I understand now :)

I made some of my own CARD CANDY.

Would you like my recipe? I'd love to share it with you. 

Recipe

Cardstock: Black, Light Red, Dark Red, Gold, White

Paper: Recycled Sheet Music, Red with Lace, Red Dark print

Punches: Stampin Up XL Fancy Flower, Stampin Up Boho Blossoms, Stampin Up 1 3/4" Scallop, 3/4 circle punch, 1/4" circle

Dies: Stampin Up Top Note, Cuttlebug Scallop Flower 1 1/2" & 1 1/4", Framelits Stampin Up Hearts A Flutter, Stampin Up Bigz L Fun Flowers

Other: Gold Brads, Red Star brads,Stickles Ice Glitter Glue, paper piercer, glue stick.

Top Note Large Flower: Cut 1 Red Dark print,Cut 1 Recycled Sheet Music with large 5 petal flower with Stampin Up Bigz L Fun Flower. Punch 1 Recycled Sheet Music with Stampin Up Bigz L Fun Flowers punch. Punch 1 Stampin Up Boho Blossoms in black. Add Ice Stickles accents to petals. When dry, layer petals, add Boho multi petal as a flower center, Pierce through all layers and add gold brad. Glue to center of Stampin Up Top Note diecut from white card stock. Repeat just the flower & flower assembly for each large additional flower.

Flower Pennant: Cut pennant from dark red cardstock using Framelits Stampin Up Hearts A Flutter set. Punch 1 Gold Stampin Up Boho Blossoms multi petal flower and 1 more with Recycled Sheet Music. Punch a black 1/4' circle. Glue gold flower to pennant, sheet music flower next then black 1/4" circle. Repeat process for each pennant desired.

Flower Scallop Square: Cut 1 Red with lace square, 2 1/4", punch 1 Stampin Up 1 3/4" Scallop from black, punch 1 Cuttlebug Scallop Flower 1 1/2" from dark red print, punch one 3/4" circle, punch 1 gold 8 petal flower from from Boho Blossoms, light red paper and punch 1 from Boho Blossoms, layer and glue in that order. Pierce a hole at center, add red star brad at center. Repeat for as many as desired.

Flower Scallop: Die cut one Cuttlebug Scallop Flower 1 1/2" from light red, & one 1 1/4" from red with lace paper. Punch one 3/4" circle and one gold 8 petal Boho Blossoms. Layer and glue in that order. Pierce a hole in the center, add a red star brad. Repeat for as many as desired.

YUM YUM! Enjoy the CARD CANDY!

Neighbor Christmas Treat Bags

Each year as the holidays approach I am on the lookout for clever ideas to create a gift to share with my neighbors and friends. I love Christmas and giftgiving but it can be physically taxing to get all of my preparations and shopping done. Each year I look to getting my tasks done earlier so I can spend time doing fun activities, hanging with family and friends. In July I saw a wonderful little hand made container...so-ooo perfect for those special homemade cookies, candies and other created surprises. I decided right then I needed to try it out then get my thoughts recorded so when the holidays came I would be ready with the idea. I'm a visual learner and I was so grateful to the folks at Cosmocricket for their How to Fold a Treat Bag Video Tutorial. And....Ta-da!!! I've found the perfect treat for my neighbors I though but when it came time to work on the treats I changed my mind and went with a chocolate dipped mini pretzel because of all the fun possibilities in decorating and flavoring them. I can't wait to hear what my neighbors think of them :)

Here are my results...Isn't it cute!!

Tag Inspirations

My scraproom finally has room to move about... It took several days of sorting, putting away and finally a 3/4 turn of my crafting table and I've been stirred to create.I guess you could say creativity has been adequately "mused".

I've been hanging out at Swap-bot searching for some swaps to challenge my self and of recent, tags skinnies, inchies, and ATC's have been on my mind.
My recent addiction has been incorporating my rubber stamping, collage and all sorts of ephemera into these tiny canvases. I have been on a kick with all things French and recently have added several Eiffel Tower stamps to my collection so it was calling me to use it for the May Gift Tag: May Flowers Swap. I've got another upcoming swap to use these new stamps in too so I'm off to work on some more projects ;)