A Heart Swirl template for your Valentine photos!

I was considering what my next post might be to the "Ideas for Scrapbookers" blog and thought about Valentine's Day.  Since the holiday was so soon and I have a tender heart for this holiday I decided on creating a template with a heart.  I have special memories of Valentine's Day for a number of reasons.  I met my husband in February, and our second date was on Valentine's Day.  It wasn't one of those dates where everything turns out perfect, but it certainly showed me how considerate and easy going he could be.  The date didn't fall apart just because things didn't go as he had planned (we didn't get to eat at the fancy restaurant on the coast with the great view).  I had a great evening because he knew how to make the best of it, and make me feel special no matter where we ate dinner.  That's still true today! 

I am posting two examples of the template, one that is simplified and one that is a bit more complicated.  Here is the simple version.

This layout used just two pieces of the template, they run through the center of the page.  The template can be downloaded at http://ideasforscrapbookers.blogspot.com/

I used paper from the Basic Grey Bittersweet collections to prepare these layouts.  I loved the bright colors in this one.  Since I wanted to keep the first layout simple, I decided to adorn it with fancy flourishes.  This flourish is a Quickutz digital image that is available for purchase from their online store.  I cut the shape using my Klick-N-Kut ditigal craft cutter.  It would, of course, cut fine on a Silhouette too!  I decided to add a flower but didn't find anything in my supplies that was just the right color.  I have read a few posting lately about using coffee filters to make flowers.  I also watched a video of a segmet aired on Martha Stewart where a lady has been making lovely roses with coffee filters.  It got me curious enough to try one myself.  Well this is my first attempt at a coffee filter flower, it's kind of my own twist on the process which I have not yet perfected.  However it was fun to experiment and has great potential since the coffee filter paper is easy to paint, has good texture and will hold a shape once it has dried.  It actually looks a bit better in person.  I scan my layouts, so of course I squashed the flower to scan the layout.

My second layout uses all the pieces of the template.  I wanted to combine a full color photo with black and white photos to create more emphasis on the heart.

For this layout the shapes and picutres were the focus, so I kept the embellishments to a minimum.  I did try a new technique that I read in a nice tutorial at the Swirlydoos website.  The flourish embellishment in the upped left corner I made using 3D paint and clear craft plastic.  It was very easy and actually a lot of fun to do.  The tutorial I watched was located at: http://www.swirlydoos.com/page.php?46.  I found clear craft plastic at Michael's and it was not expensive at all.  They also sell the 3D paint.  The colors I used here are Watermellon and Candy Pink.  I then did my journaling in swirls to repeat the look of swirls on the page.  Most of my patterned paper shapes here have the edges distressed with Walnut ink to improve the contrast on the page.

Thanks for visiting.  Hope you have a lovely Valentine's Day!

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I'm a contributing artist....it's exciting!

I am very excited to be joining the team of creative people at "Ideas for Scrapbookers" as a contributing artist. The group of ladies here are very talented and the website is packed with interesting scrapbook ideas. You can visit us here: http://ideasforscrapbookers.blogspot.com/

There are templates, tutorials, tips and tricks to make your pages stunning. There is a contest just starting for those of you who enjoy a good challenge. You'll need to lift one of the contributing artists and there are GREAT PRIZES. So come over and join the fun!

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Adding downloaded fonts to your computer

I have collected quite a few fonts because I love creating interesting titles on my layouts. From time to time I get asked how to add a downloaded font to a computer. It's not difficult so I am going to share here the steps. I have two computers, one is Windows XP and the other is Windows Vista. Since the steps are slightly different I am going to list both ways.

Windows Vista

1) I like to run a virus scan against any file I download from the internet, so I encourage you to do this if you have virus protection software on your computer.
2) Downloaded font files are generally .zip files and so the actual font files need to be extracted from the .zip file. On your computer, go to Start, then choose Computer. A window with all your computers drives and folders will open.
3) Navigate to the location of the .zip file that has your font. Right click on the file, you should see a small menu, choose "Extract All". The window will give you an option to save the contents in another location. If you don't choose another location the contents will be extracted to the same location that you saved the .zip file. Remember where this is because you will need to find this location to install the font.
4) Close or minimize the window that you have been working in. Then go to Start, then choose "Control Panel." When the window opens, click on the "Font" icon. You should see a list of all your fonts. Just right click in this area (somewhere in the white space, don't choose a font). A drop down menu should appear. Choose "Install New font" from the menu. A window will open. Here you will have to navigate to the folder where you saved the contents of your .zip file. When you are in the right location your font that is available to install will appear in the list portion of the window. When you see it, just highlight the font name and click the install button. That's it.

Windows XP

1) In Windows XP I like to work in the "Windows Explorer" window. To get there go to START, the choose PROGRAMS, then choose ACCESSORIES, and finally choose "Windows Explorer". This window will display all of your drives, folders and files. Navigate to the folder that is holding the .zip file you downloaded. Right click on the .zip file and a drop down menu appears. Choose "Extract All" from the menu. A wizard is going to open. In the first window click the NEXT button. Now the wizard will ask you where you want to put the extracted files. You can use the "browse" button to navigate to a different location if you wish. If you don't choose a different location the files will be extracted to the same location where your .zip file sits. Click the NEXT button and Windows will extract the files. Click FINISH and the wizard will close. Remember the location where the font files now sit. Now close or minimize Windows Explorer.
2) To install the font, go to START, then choose CONTROL PANEL. When the window opens double click the FONTS icon. A window will open and display all the fonts on your computer. Go to the menu bar along the top of the window. Choose FILE, then choose INSTALL NEW FONT. The "Add Fonts" window will open. In the lower half of the window you will need to navigate to the location where your font file sits. When you are in the right location the font name will appear in the upper half of the window in the "FONT LIST". There will be a check box at the bottom of the window that says "Copy fonts to Fonts Folder." Make sure the check box is CHECKED. Highlight the name of the font and click OK. The font should install and you should see an icon for it in the Fonts window.

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"Ideas for Scrapbooker" Guest Contributor

I am so pleased that I was invited to be a guest contributor on the "Ideas for Scrapbookers" blog. It has been so fun coming up with some layouts to share. Pammy has done a wonderful job of creating templates that make pulling together a layout a snap. She has also brought together a group of scrapbookers with a wide variety of skills so the ideas are really flowing at this blog. I chose to use one of the templates Pammy created put together the layout below. This is the Ellipse template and it can be downloaded at http://ideasforscrapbookers.blogspot.com/























Working with the template was interesting and I decided to try my hand at creating a couple of templates I could share. My first thought was to do something easy to use and that had a little versatility. So I chose an octagon shape and divided it up into sections. My final layout using this new template is here, titled "Athens Greece". There are more details on how I used the template on the "Ideas for Scrapbookers" blog.























I did one other layout just for fun. This time I wanted to do something with winter, and snow. So I created a snowflake template and put together the layout here using some very pretty BoBunny papers from their Snowy Serenade collection. The template is 3 pieces, but really easy to use.
























Hope you enjoyed these pages. All of the templates are available on the "Ideas for Scrapbookers" blog at the link above. Thanks for visiting!

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It's been a while...

Life is so full, I have not taken the time to post in recent months. But now I'm focused again on scrapbooking and looking forward to sharing. It's hard to believe the holidays went by so quickly, yet here it is the later half of January! I got a great Christmas present from my dear husband. Since I am such a techie, I have really enjoyed my Silhouette digital craft cutter. However, it was limiting in that it could not cut a 12 x 12 piece of paper, and it struggled with THICK card stock. Well my DH got me a Klick-N-Kut Groove-e which is turning out to be wonderful. It has cut everything I have thrown at it with ease, and since it is 13" wide it can cut the 12 x 12 paper with no effort. Here is an example of the background is can cut. The brown layer with the fern design was cut with the KNK Groove-e.



I still have a lot to learn about the software that came with the machine, however from my initial review of the users manual, this software is going to really make creating some of my own designs much easier. It also has the capability of converting other digital cutting formats, so I can still use all the shapes that I previously accumulated while using the Silhouette. It's going to be fun!

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Dahlia Fold Flower

I ran across a flower fold tutorial posted by Kitty Blevins and had to try this intersting design. As I experimented with the flower I found several posts on the web with variations of the technique. I'll share here what worked best for me.

The flower is usually made with a simple set of circles. I used 1.5" circles that I punched with a Creative Memories punch. I did find examples of this folded flower that used scalloped edges, and that produces a very different look which you might consider trying.

The other thing I liked about Kitty's version of the Dahlia flower was that she distressed all the circle edges. This gave the flower a special look that really made the difference for me. I have made several different versions of the flower now, and each takes on a different look depending on the paper choice and the distress ink.
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For my example here I am starting out with a 2 sided paper that had a big color difference. One side very dark and one side a very light color. I did this on purpose so that it would be easier to see the folds. However, the distressing really doesn't show up on an extremely dark color. So, I have also displayed a finished version of the flower that is a better example of the distressed look. The flower itself can be made with a varying number of petals. I tried versions with 10, 9 and 8 petals. I liked 8 petals the best because the finished flower had a more scalloped look. The 10 petal flower had a finished look that was more circular. I will demonstrate an 8 petal flower here. Aside from the 8 circles for petals, you need one circle to use as a base to attach the petals. I found that a circle 2" or slightly larger provided an easy to use base.

To make a petal, first fold a circle in half. I tried not to put a hard crease in the petal because you are only going to use this fold as a guideline, so we don't necessarily want this crease to show on the finished flower.

Next you will fold in a narrow portion of the petal edge using the center fold as your staring point. You can change drastically the look of the flower by varying how large you make this folded edge.

Repeat this fold on the other side of the petal. You can see that these two folded edges only extend about halfway up the circle.

Now turn your petal over and fold the same petal edges into the center. You should still be able to see your faint center crease to guide the folding. The finished petal will look like this. Complete these same folds for the other 7 circles. You may have noticed that I did not distress my circle yet. I actually wait until all my folding is done and go back and distress the shapes. I do this because you need to distress both the front and back side of the circle, but only small sections. I found if I distress the petal after I folded it, I could tell just were the distressing needed to be placed.

When your distressing is complete you can begin attaching the petals to your base. I draw two lines on my circle base so I can easily identify the center. Then I just hold my petal by the top most folded edges and place the petal on the base keeping the petal point very close to the center of the base circle.

I continue placing petals around the circle. I make sure the petals touch each other, or have a very small overlap. I have used both glue dots and repositionable adhesive (Hermafix) to attach the petals. The nice thing about the repositionalbe adhesive is that I can adjust the petals a bit to get the best look.

Here is a completed flower. With a paper choice that has a medium to light color, the distressing of the flower edges really show up. Hope you enjoyed this. Have fun!

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Distressing & my favorite border punch!

The more distressing I do on layouts the more I love it. I have been expanding the colors of ink I use and recently add the Weathered Wood to my growing collection. In my "Partners for Life" layout I used 3 different colors of distress ink to achieve the look I was after.
The ink colors are Antique Linen, Walnut Stain and Weathered Wood. I use distress inks often alone, but sometimes in combination. Most of the time I use a simple sponge dauber tool to apply the distress ink. On this layout I used the Antique Linen on the very outside edge of my background paper. I then used the Weathered Wood distress ink on the edge of my blue paper on top of the punched border to make it stand out more against the background paper. Last I wanted a mat for the photo that had an uneven edge, but I didn't want to tear it because I wanted a jagged edge that was small. So I hunted around and dug out my old Fiskars deckle edge sizzors which I have had for years. I then experimented with a sample piece of paper before cutting and inking my photo mat. After cutting the deckle edge, I sanded the edge so that I would have a completely white edge on the paper to work with. The close up photo left is how my paper looked before I began inking. With the photo mat I wanted some depth to the look, so first I inked the edge with Antique Linen. I brought the color approximately 1/2 inch into the paper. I left that dry just a bit and then went back and used the Walnut Stain distress ink to add a darker color to the outside edge. On the corners of my mat I pulled the dark Walnet stain a little farther in. The photo mat was about 5/8 of an inch wide so I had some room to vary the distressing. Last I distressed the striped piece of paper with just the Walnut Stain ink adding color only the the very edge to give it depth. I did the same process to my title on the word "Life". For the title this better defined the letters and let them stand out better from the background.

Because I love border punches and the Martha Stweard Doily punch is one of my favorites I wanted to share how I did the corners. The steps I am going to share are what I do with any border punch I buy, so you can apply these steps to your favorite punch.

When I get any new punch and experiment with it for a while I will decide what "look" I prefer for a corner. With the Doily punch I liked how the corner turned out when I let two scallops meet at the corner which gave the corner a more rounded look. Once I figure out what I am after, I just need to give myself two things, first a consistent way of lining up the two edges of paper and second an easy way to measure and trim my paper so I have a result I can reliably repeat. I always start figuring out what I need to do with plain old computer scrap paper. So I am going to show you an example using just that. I have here two pieces of computer paper. On one piece I punched a one side. the other piece I took my punch and cut a single image a short distance from a corner. I did this on purpose because I want to know exactly how far in from the edge of the paper the punch creates its design. I decide how I want to line up the corner design. Here you see red circles that I have drawn around a hole that sits in the design at the lowest point in the scallop. I am going to use this part of the punch design to line up my corner. I take the piece of paper with the single punched design and set it on top of the piece of paper with the punched edge. I make my second piece of paper turn the corner and I line up those two red dots. In the photo at left they are sitting on top of each other. Next I take a pen and draw a line on my bottom piece of paper exactly where the paper edge ends on the top piece of paper. It may be a little had to see in this photo but when I remove the top piece of paper you'll see exactly what I did.

The line I drew is clearly visible here. I will trim my paper exactly where I put this line so that when I put the paper in my punch and turn the corner I can line up the small punched hole in the design with the same hole in the punch itself for a clean corner. To punch the corner you will need to turn the punch upside down when holding it in your hand. I make a note, or keep this scrap piece of paper so I can trim each of my four corners to the exact same distance.

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