Say It With Word Art -

Posted by MamaK321 (Kristianne):

Word Art is pre-designed and often decorative quotes, titles and scrapbooking page accents that you can use in place of, or to accent, journaling or page titles. If you are having a difficult time finding the right words to say, try some Word Art! Let the Digital Creative Team share some of their favorite Word Art products and show you different ways to make this easy digital element say it for you.

Wearin' Green by MamaK321

Kristianne placed her word art within the journaling:

Travel Story by Jenn Kellams
Jenn used her word art as a simple page accent:

Family by fong33

 

 

Your Sunshine by MamaK321
In this layout, word art makes the perfect title:

 

Create Memories by sarahwhithers
"...no matter how you use it, it can add that perfect look to a page!"

Kenna Bug by Jenn Kellams:

 

Ocean Of Time by MamaK321
"the wordart... is layered beneath the journaling to support the theme."

 

A Lovely Day by Jenn Kellams:

 

Spring is here by MamaK321:

 

 

Cosmo Cricket's Social Club & Glubers !

Posted by Kimandasmo(Cindy):

Join the club. Have you ever heard the name of a line of paper and had it hit a sentimental note? This new line by Cosmo Cricket was like that for me. As soon as I heard the name of the line was Social Club, I knew I had to have it, sight unseen.

All through my years of growing up, my grandmother was always saying she was going to Social Club. The names of the individual papers are just as sentimental, such as Jazz, Martini, Cocktail, Swingin' and Blue Eyes. Cosmo Cricket is always known for its great papers with uniques patterns and this line is no different. It has large vibrant patterns as well as more subtle smaller patterns.

For my first 3 projects I chose to use the biggest social event of the year, for any high school senior, at least. Prom. Some of my daughter's friends got ready for prom at my house, even though she was not going to prom this year.

For this first one, I cut flowers from Blue Eyes, and layered them on top of Swingin'. Added some chipboard flowers from Ready Set Chipboard.

I also added some bling bling, and a few pieces from the elements sheet.

 

This next one is a little more playful. I layered Cocktail on top of Swingin'. I used some of the Butterflies and Doilies to accent the page. The title came from Ready Set Chip.

This scrapbooking layout is a little different, as I wanted to give this to his mom. I found this frame at my local thrift shop and it matched these papers perfectly. This young man was the date to the young lady in the first layout, so I wanted the pieces to be complimentary to each other.

So often we scrap the pages of our memories and put them away in an album somewhere to only be pulled and flipped through occasionally. I wanted this to be different. I want her to be able to put it on a table and see it everyday. I love the way this turned out and plan on doing more pages this way for my own home.

      

For this quick card I used the scraps from the above projects as well as some Social Club cardstock stickers and a piece from the elements paper.

        

My last project I used some of the other colors and designs from this line. The base is Jazz, layered with Martini and borders. It is embellished with Butterflies and doilies and a flower utilizing the new Cosmo Cricket Glubers.

What are Glubers and how do they work? Glubers are various size large glue dots. They work just like smaller glue dots but they are huge! perfect for making whatever type of flowers or other embellishments you may like. I am in love with these and you will be seeing many "flowers" on upcoming projects using the few of these I have left.

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Cindy lives in Florida with her husband and two daughters.  She has been a scrapbooker for over 10 years and is brilliant at creating paper flowers.  You can view all of Cindy's articles in ACOT Resources.

Scrapbooking With Jenni Bowlin Studio

Posted by 4peasinourpod(Pam)

My love for Jenni Bowlin Studios is legendary.  This time around, however, I cowered at the chance to work with her new line.  I actually, if you can believe it, was hoping that one of my Creative Team members would ask me for it, and I could assign it to them.  You see, it almost only consists of embellishments this time around, and I really didn't think I could do it justice.  But.....it is Jenni Bowlin.  So I HAD to try.

Once I sat down, though, things started falling into place.  Jenni Bowlin is a classic scrapbook designer...her lines from season to season are based on the same color schemes, which is incredible.  I could pull alphabets out of my stash to work with, for example...it is true to that vintage quality that makes Jenni Bowlin like no other.

Conveniently, her color scheme matches my daughter's select team basketball colors.  If any of you have athletes that you scrapbook, you know how difficult it can be to create a sports layout.  These embellishments are perfect for this!  The banners and chipboard add color and dimension...and the simple layout is totally focused on the subject at hand.

Here is another athletic layout.  These embellishments are perfect!

one last one....

I haven't used a rub on in FOREVER.  I saw this clock, though, and HAD to have it.  Delaney is my youngest child...and every minute that we have together is precious to me.  She almost died on the day of her birth, so I wanted to make the clock the focal point of the layout.  I wanted it simple and sweet....which is so easy to do, Jenni Bowlin style.

There was only one sheet of paper, but it is BEAUTIFUL.  So I decided to create a layout using a photograph that I took this year on my girls vacation with 3 of the most beautiful women (inside and out) that I know.  This layout incorporates both new and old Jenni Bowlin, as well.

Lastly, I did a quick layout with just a touch of Jenni Bowlin embellishments....the yellow bow.  I love it!

I am in LOVE with these banners and the matching stickers, as you can see.  Please check out all the new (and matching older!) Jenni Bowlin in the Shoppe!

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Pam lives in Wisconsin with her four children and husband.  Besides scrapbooking, she enjoys altering items and making gifts.  Pam is ACOT's Creative Team Coordinator.

April Scrapbooking & Paper Crafting Challenges!

Welcome, April!  Surely the warm breezes and Spring blossoms we have been waiting for are on the way now!  Just as Spring brings new life all around us, this new set of challenges should help bring new life to your scrapbooking... at least we hope so! 

Remember:

- only one LO per challenge will enter you into the points drawing

- LOs cannot be entered into more than one challenge category

- *please* only enter LOs that meet the specific challenge instructions 

Card Challenge - By bluejeans7 (Angela)

Paper or Digital Scrapbooking

I remember back when tags were the "in" thing for scrapbooking. So if you are like me then you have a ton of leftover tags in your stash. So it's time to dig out those old tags for this month's card challenge. I want you to create an Easter card with at least one tag on it.

 

Die Cut Challenge - By Dianedi (Diane)

Paper  Scrapbooking

For the April die-cutting challenge, create a card or layout with your die-cutting machine using ovals as your inspiration! Think Easter Eggs! Create the ovals with a Cricut, Sizzix, Silhouette etc... Be sure to tell us what machine/cartridges that you've used! I've created an Easter card as an example, but you create a card or layout that isn't Easter themed! Have fun!

 

Faithbooking Challenge - By Keling (Sara)

Paper or Digital Scrapbooking

April Faithbooking Challenge - "Faith"

My favourite definition for faith is from a song by Michael Card: "To hear with my heart, To see with my soul, To be guided by a hand I cannot hold, To trust in a way that I cannot see, That's what faith must be."

Grab more scrapbooking inspiration by viewing this month's complete Challenge List for April!  After creating your project, be sure to submit it to the corresponding Challenge section of our Gallery. 

Meet Our April 2011 Guest Paper CT Member!

immom2anc (Kristen)

Here is an excerpt from Kristen's interview:

Name: Kristen (but most of my friends call me Sis, and these crazy monkeys refer to me as Mom). Married to RC for 7 years now (but we've been together for over 12; high school sweethearts). Have 2 sweet little monsters girls and baby boy on the way (due July 2011). We're California transplants living in the Phoenix Valley and LOVING it!

'Love You 4 Ever' using Prima's Madeline Collection

Favorite thing to do with your family? Lay in bed, and snuggle into a movie with the lights out. I love the quiet time and the sweet sound of them breathing next to me.

 'Family Is Everything' by Kristen

What's your favorite scrapping tool to use when scrapbooking? I'm bi-scrapual (both digi & paper), so for traditional scrapping, I couldn't live without my Fiskars Deluxe Trimmer; I don't know how I cut paper before that thing. And with my digi stuff, I'm seriously in LOVE Photoshop CS5! It rocks!

To check out the rest of Kristen's product reveal featuring Prima's Madeline Collection, be sure to read the 'April Guest Paper CT' article on ACOT's Resources Page.

Getting The Most Out Of Your Digital Scrapbooking Kit

Posted by nun69 (Angie):

Angie recently retired from the US Navy after serving for 20 years.  She has been digital scrapbooking since 2006 and a member of our ACOT family since 2000.  Angie enjoys the versatility of digital scrapbooking and hopes to own her own photography business soon.

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Have you ever wondered how different people see different kits? Well, this week the digi CT took 3 kits and highlighted them in more than 3 ways. So if you think a kit is too girlish or too boyish or too themed, you may want to think out of the box before you count it out~

 

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Look at the kits we highlighted and how many different ways we used them....1st up is this Grins and Giggles kit by Bella Gypsy:

 

by Ronny:

 

we also highlighted this FAB 'Elegance' kit by MC Designs~

 

by Brittney:

And last but not least, the 3rd kit by Laura Burger and Marci Reckiner - Cloud Surfing Bundle Pack:

by Janell:

by Angie:

by Sandra {our digi gust CT}:

 

Be sure to check out the '1, 2, 3 What Do You See' article on ACOT's Resources Page to view all of the layouts our Creative Team designed using all three digital kits!  Great job, team!

Scrapbooking With The Botanical Collection By Prima

Posted by JulesinParadise (Jules)

It is Spring and a girl's fancy turns to....why pretty papers and embellishments, what else?  And I found my heart's desire with Prima's Botanical line.  The papers are soft and lovely and so conducive to scrapping almost anything.

This company, which is known for its amazing flowers, has out done itself with this product line.  The rub ons go on smoothly, the flowers enhance the papers and the chipboard shapes and paper cut outs are perfection. 

I had such a wonderful time scrapping a variety of photos with these and still have many more to do.  I am definately reordering this line!  I hope you are not tired of seeing my photos of our Med. cruise.  I could not help myself.  These papers were perfect for our lunch in the Plaka in Athens, our arrival in Salerno, Italy and our day trip up the Amalfi Coast.

The photos on the layouts of Salerno and Amalfi were printed onto canvas paper and enhanced with pearlescent water color paints and painted on Glimmer Mists.  I first sharpen the photo in my Picasa program, then print.  I allow the canvas paper to dry over night, apply the paints and mists with a small tipped paint brush, allow those to dry and spray with an acrylic sealer.  The photos turn out looking like a painting with depth and texture.

 

Last January, our friend from New Zealand, Clare, came to visit the US and spent two weeks with Janet M, Pam B and me here in Paradise.  We spent four days together, thanks to Clare, on Captiva Island.  The tales are many and the laughs continue to this day.  During a morning walk on the beach, I shot this picture of Pam.  She had no idea I snapped this.  I love this candid of her.  I love that she is My Friend.

On one of our last days, Janet M, her husband, Bob, my hubby, Clare and I attended a showing at the Chihuly Glass Museum and, afterwards, had drinks on the veranda of the historic Vinoy hotel in St. Pete, Florida.  It was a beautiful day and thank you Prima for creating the perfect papers for the layout.

I have often thought that many of the papers carried in the ACOT store would be lovely to paper a room or turn into wearable art...so I did.  I scanned the paper, printed it onto canvas paper just as I did for the Amalfi Coast photo and enhanced the color a bit with Smooch.  What this did was add the appearance of texture to the print.

I scanned this and printed it onto June Tailor iron on fabric.  I cut that into squares and placed them on my tee shirt.  I used a permanent fabric glue to adhere the lace trim (Webster's Pages).  The Prima flower is attached with magnets, one glued to the back of the flower and a second one placed inside the tee shirt directly behind the flower.  A woman at a store had one attached to a blouse this way and I've borrowed her idea.  This way, the lovely silk flower can be removed for washing the tee (inside out, of course, on delicate hung to dry).

Thank you, Prima, for making my heart sing!

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Jules is a retired English teacher originally from St. Louis, MO.  Besides paper crafting, she enjoys traveling with her best friend/husband Gene, kayaking and teaching scrapbooking classes locally and nationally.

Scrapbooking With Sweetly Smitten By Sassafras Lass

Posted by megamay (Megan)

This month I was lucky enough to work with Sassafras Lass' new 'Sweetly Smitten' line. The colors in this line are just divine! I love the bright, but not garish, oranges and yellows mixed with the pinks and a pop of teal. 

For my first page, I used a PageMaps sketch, and a photo of my daughter with blue cotton candy. The blue cotton candy plays off of the blues in the paper. I used my cricut to cut the kraft paper into the fancy bracket shape, then since I didn't want to waste all of that background paper, I cut a half inch smaller version of the same shape from the center of the background paper, so I could save it and re-use it.

With the paper that I saved from the page above, I created the next page. I cut the curved parts from three sides, and used them throughout the layout, and used the remaining center and one curved part as the main part of the page.

For this page, I just created a simple grid pattern. I didn't want it to be too busy, so I used the same color pallet throughout.

Finally, for this page, I used a sketch from Pencil Lines, and combined the Sweetly Smitten papers with a few pops of an older Sassafras Lass Line - Nerdy Bird.

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Megamay (aka: Megan) resides in Pennsylvania with her husband and daughter.  Megan has been scrapbooking for over 6 years and loves experimenting with her art.

How To Use Glimmer Glaze By Tattered Angels

Posted by bluejeans7

Now,  I know we have all heard of Glimmer Mist from Tattered Angels, but did you know about their Glimmer Glaze? I know Glimmer Glaze isn't new but for some reason I missed it when it first came out, so I decided to try it for my CT reveal. 

I have to admit that I was a little scared to try something totally new to me for a reveal, but I was also excited.  Just ask Pam, I bugged and texted her a lot.  LOL!  Sorry Pam!  Glimmer Glazes work on so many different surfaces.  You can use them on paper, wood, metal, glass and more!

I Love Being Your Mom:  I started this layout by spraying a sheet of white cardstock with the Chalkboard Teal High Heel and Decadence sprays.  I embossed some metal sheets and then painted them with the Midnight Rendezvous, Emerald Cove and Cowboy Glimmer Glazes.  

I added my title, some doodling around the edges and this layout was finished.  I can't believe that I created a layout with NO pattern paper!  LOL!!

 

Picture Perfect:  Once again I started with a white cardstock.  This time I sprayed it with the Chalkboard Polka Dot Pink, Decadence, Sprout and Firefly.  Then I used a couple sheets of patterned paper from the Bo Bunny Petal Pushers line.  I embossed another sheet of metal and then painted it with the Chianti Glimmer Glaze.  

For embellishments I used some Zva Creative pearls and Prima flowers.  I sprayed one flower with the Chalkboard Firefly.  The other three flowers were painted with the Wicked and Chianti Glimmer Glazes.  Then I added a little of the Pewter Glimmer Glaze for my center.

 

Forever In My Heart:  On my last layout, I used papers from the Basic Grey Lime Rickey line.  I punched and embossed a dozen hearts.  Then I painted half the hearts with the Chianti Glimmer Glaze and the other half with the Midnight Rendezvous Glimmmer Glaze.  I love how these hearts turned out!

 

Altered Boxes:  After making my layouts I decided I wanted to try altering a couple of boxes, one is a tin box and the other is wood.  Glimmer Glaze works great on both metal and wood.  I first painted the tin box with some white acrylic paint to cover the design.  After the paint dried I brushed on a layer of the Sugar Can Glimmer Glaze.  

Then I used a fan brush to add a thin layer of the Cowboy Glimmer Glaze and then sprayed it lightly with the Chalkboard Sprout spray.  On the lid I place some Mark Richards mosaic sticker tiles and a Prima flower.  For the wood box I started with a coat of Cowboy Glimmer Glaze, then added a heavy coat of Sugar Can Glimmer Glaze.  

After that dried, I went in with a fan paintbrush and added highlights of the Chianti Glimmer Glaze.  I also brushed the glass with the Chianti and then metal hinges and clasp with the Sugar Cane.  Some Zva Creative pearls and Prima flowers finish this box.

 

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Angela resides in Kansas with her husband and two children.  Her love of photography naturally drew her to scrapbooking.  Angela's favorite scrapbook manufacturers include Basic Grey, Prima and My Mind's Eye.