Kiss and Tell Scrapbooking

Next Up on Kiss and Tell Scrapbooking's CHA Knock-Offs: Bella Blvd. at CHA 2012

I just pinned a bunch of the new Bella Blvd. layouts from Winter CHA 2012 {click this to see}.

I have started the scraplifting process and made seven of what I called "half-baked" scrapbook pages, I have basically started the page by setting up the base of it: the cardstock and the patterned paper and machine stitching where applicable. 

My next step will be choosing photos, placing them and then I'll go about finding the embellishments and letter for the titles and I'll probably do the journaling last.  This doesn't mean that I can't start with story ideas, however, I like to look at the page and get a feel of it and that will usually spark a story idea.  So even though it seems like story comes last, it doesn't really, story is usually the beginning. 

I'll be posting the finished pages, one a day for seven days, starting on Sunday, February 4th. 

I might even do some ustreaming - especially if anyone is interesting in playing along in a virtual crop?  Leave a comment to let me know if you are interested and if there is interest then I'll schedule one (rather than just turning on the video camera and hitting record which is my normal method).    {click here for the link to the Kiss and Tell Scrapbooking Ustream Channel}

You can also leave a comment with a link to your page on your blog or you can upload your page to the Flickr Group: CHA 2012: THE KNOCK OFFS FLICKR GROUP.

Ok, happy scrap-lifting crafters.

Meantime, check out the Bella Blvd. bargains on Amazon:

Seven 7 Gypsies Inspired Layouts: #3 Cocoa Beach / Photo Tags

Here's another 7 Gypsies inspired scrapbook layout:

How this page is inspired by 7 Gypsies:

1. The blue and red postal diagonal stripes border.

2. The photos in the shape of tags.

3. The neutral, black and white colors with a touch of color.

I had fun in this series using zip codes of places we visited.  I ran out of the number "2" so I used the sticker sheet as the stencil and just left it on there -  I filled in the negative space of the "2" with a black sharpie.

CHA Trend: Hexagons

Scrapbook Pages inspired by the Winter 2012 CHA Trends using older scrapbooking products: 

Hexagons are a definate trend at Winter CHA 2012.  I have long waited for a quilt trend in scrapbooking and have always wondered why we didn't see more triangles, diamonds, and hexagons and other quilt like shapes in scrapbooking since patterned paper is so much like patterened fabric.

We have seen triangles over the past couple of years, but the triangles have been used in the context of banners rather than quilt patterns.  This year, quilt like patterns for scrapbooking are definately in - I'll give a crafty "whooo hooo" for this trend.  But my dilemna?  While waiting for the new products to roll out, I wanted to make some hexagon and quilt like layouts that mimic the new trends.  I have made layouts with handmade hexagons using old patterned paper scraps:   

While it is sort of fun to hand cut shapes, I prefer using nesting dies so I went in search of hexagon shaped nesting dies but only found octagons.  I figured they'd be just as good.  I did make a layout with the octagon shapes, I used the dies to cut both patterned paper and photos.

It wasn't until I got the octagon shaped dies home and started arranging the octagon patterned paper pieces that I realized that hexagons are inherently more awesome than octagons.  Why?  Hexagons fit together and octagons do not (there are little squares left in the gaps).  Hexagons remind of us honey bees, where as octagons remind us of stop signs.  I have hexagon nesting die cuts on my scrapbooking shopping list.  In the meantime, if you have any good links to how to make homemade hexagons, please leave a comment.

The CHA Winter Show Draws Hollywood A-listers - MarketWatch

ELMWOOD PARK, N.J., Jan 25, 2012 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- The Craft & Hobby Association (CHA) is pleased to announce a star-studded line-up of internationally recognized Hollywood celebrities including Tori Spelling, David Tutera, Vanna White, Deborah Norville, Tim Holtz, Mich Turner MBE, and Mark Montano who are all scheduled to attend the CHA 2012 Winter Conference & Trade Show as it returns to the Anaheim Convention Center in Calif., January 29 to February 1.

Tori Spelling, actress, T.V. star and celebrity crafter, recently partnered with Darice Inc., the largest manufacturer and distributor of craft supplies in the U.S. for a do-it-yourself fashion jewelry line, Styled by Tori Spelling. Spelling will make a special appearance at the Darice booth #1901 on January 30 from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. to debut her new product line.

Wedding and entertaining expert, David Tutera will preview the essential guide for the stylish bride and unveil his new Down the Aisle in Style collection from Darice, live Monday, January 30, 2012 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Darice Booth #1901.

via www.marketwatch.com

Hey Scrapbookers: 90210's Tori Spelling & Wheel of Fortune's Vanna White among the celebs at CHA - The Craft and Hobby Association trade show.

Top Ten Links to Winter CHA 2012 Updates

 

I'll call this a "CHA Break"  - I'm tuning in from the office, don't tell the boss {wink}.  Are you a scrapbooker sitting at home watching CHA from the sidelines like me?  Do you want to follow along and see the latest and greatest?  Here are some links to the places I go online to see all the latest CHA action:

1. Twitter:  Type #CHA or #CHAShow into Twitter  and you can see posts from people there, they are posting instagram photos and lots of other great links.

2. Pinterest:  Search for Winter CHA 2012 and instead of searching for pins, put this in as a search for boards and there are several boards on Pinterest.  Here is link to mine:  Katie's Winter CHA 2012 Pinterest Board Link.

3. Play along and enter CHA themed scrapbooking contests at the Two Peas in a Bucket CHA Winter Online Social.

4. Check out the CHA Sneak Peeks at Scrapbook.com.

5. Catch all the latest update from Nancy Nally's Scrapbook Update's CHA Page and Interactive Sneak Peek Table, the table is really awesome if you are looking for something by a particular manufacturer or release date.

6. The Official Craft and Hobby Association CHA Site.

7. Videos from the CHA show floor from Noell Hyman with Paperclipping.

8. You Tube has lots of videos from the show - try typing in CHA Winter 2012 into the search and then modify your search to get the most recently posted.

9. Shimelle Laine is there and has been posting lots of pretty pictures.

10. Paper Crafter's Corner has ongoing CHA updates.

Hope you have fun watching from the sidelines like I do, if you know of any other great CHA links, please post them in the comments.

Seven 7 Gypsies Inspired Layouts: #2 Gatlinburg 37738 / Grid Layout

We took a trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee mid January and even though this winter has been warm, they had snow on the mountain and Allison learned to ski like a pro - we had a fantastic time.  In this series, I focused on Places We Go layouts and I got the idea to use zip codes in the titles so the "37738" is the zip code of the ski mountain Ober Gatlinburg.

What makes this layout 7 Gypsies inspired?

1. The vintage papers.

2. The colors of black and neutral with a touch of red (not so much the blue).

3. The word stickers used like tape so that they appear to be taping up the pictures to the layout.

Here's what the page looked like before all the embellishments:

I forgot to take a photo of this page before I put the photos onto the grid, but here it is mid-process.  I used 9 different vintage patterned papers and cut them into squares and laid them onto a 12x12 cardstock page and then I machine stitched along the seams.  A grid design makes putting together a scrapbook page very easy.

Even More Winter CHA 2012 Scrapbook Knock-Offs

Here are three more CHA 2012 scrapbook layout knock-offs:

My sweet husband surprised me on Sunday afternoon and offered to take me to the craft store and even gave me twenty bucks to buy this Nestabilities octagon die cut.  I wanted to get a hexagon shape, but my local store didn't have them, I guess that's what on-line is for, right?  He also offered to buy me a new 3 ringed binder - I got the red Pioneer which I love; I do not recommend the DCVW red leather-like 3 ring binder (it works fine but it smells really weird), the Pioneer album is a beautiful dream and it smells nice.

Here are the 3 Winter CHA 2012 Scrapbook Knock-Offs of the day:

1. Nikki Sivils layout titled "Noah" using the "Noah" line:

The Lift:  This one was simple, a piece of cardstock, strips of multi colored patterned paper and some QuicKutz letters.

The Content:  Nikki Sivil's page was about her son so I decided to make my page about what my son was up to during last summer.

Supplies:  My background paper is KI Memories and the strips are Little Yellow Bicycle and the QuicKutz dies are from the Marigold line. 

2. October Afternoon Beautiful layout by Stacy Kingman using their Walk in the Park Line.

The Lift:  I had some blue and white flower patterned paper that was similar enough but I didn't have a whole 12x12 sheet of it so I decided to use it as a mat for the 5x7 photo.

The Content:  I also liked the sentiment but didn't want to copy exactly, so I scrolled through my "word up" Pintrest Board and found this sentiment.

Supplies:  QuicKutz letters in Metro; Papers from DCWV, October Afternoon, KI Memories and assorted random bits; the butterfly punch is Martha Stewart and the Butterfly embellishment is from the Dear Lizzy line from American Crafts.  The tickets were some raffle tickets left over from our neighborhood block party.

3. The Hexagon / Octagon Trend is being seen in so many of the releases for Winter CHA 2012; I don't think the original layout is a CHA release and I think the original might even be a digital page but I'm not for sure.

The Lift: The original page used hexagons to form the entire background - here's the thing about hexagons:  they provide complete coverage; where as octagons will leave those little squares inbetween the octagons; I think this difference accounts for hexagons, rather than octagons, being the new trendy shape this Winter CHA 2012.

The Content:  I have lots of photos from a trip we took in October to a farm, many of which had lots of background so that the subject matter of the photos were small, perfect for diecutting into shapes.

Supplies:  Random embellishments, Nestabilities Octagon Die Cuts; Jenni Bowlin ticket, October Afternoon stickers, Martha Stewart and Dear Lizzy Patterned Papers, cardstock. 

The photos from CHA 2012 are starting to show up on the internet - if you have any good links to CHA related photos or videos, please leave a comment with the link.

3 More Winter CHA 2012 Scrapbook Knock-Off Layouts

Get out your square punches and your scissors scrapbookers, its time to lift the latest from Winter 2012 CHA. 

 I admit I am totally addicted to Pinterest, I can't watch tv or do the stepper anymore without having my iphone in hand with the Pinterest app on.  Lately I've been watching the sneak peeks and product releases for Winter CHA 2012.  Since I'm not going to Anaheim, I've been having a CHA knock off party with my scraps.  Click Here for a link to my blog posts about the first three CHA inspired layouts.  I'm kind of on a roll and last night I kicked out three more.

1. Lift of the Handmade Collection from Lily Bee Design. 

The Lift:  The original layout "patchwork" uses a patterned paper with the quilted squares already made; but I made my own. I used a simple square punch, I think I used a size slightly larger than the size of the squares on the "Handmade" paper.  Ok, isn't it just a bit funny that the pre-made paper is called "handmade" but comes already assembled.    

Subject of Page: I took three photos of my kids from each of the last three leap years (2004, 2008, and 2012) to see how quickly they've grown on one page - I love this sort of progression on one page.  I created the banner at the bottom of the photos with various punches and hand cut scraps. 

Supplies:  The label stickers are from October Afternoon and the papers are a mix of American Crafts, Martha Stewart, Dear Lizzy, DCWV, and KI Memories; all of these papers and embellishments and tools used are at least a year or more old.  I think these older patterned papers look new again using the new trends and it was just plain fun to mix them all up in a quilt pattern.

P.S. My daughter's shirt in the 2004 photo is a quilted shirt.

2.  Lift of the Jenni Bowlin JBS Mercantile February Peeks.   The original layout "Backyard Botantist"  is by Briana Johnson.

The Lift:  Here is how I created the triangles from square punched scraps:  I punched a bunch of scraps and then hand cut them in half and arranged them on a piece of cardstock into the quilt like pattern:

Subject of Page:  The original page was about a boy in the backyard which made me think of what my boy does in the back - or more correctly - sideyard; he plays secret agent man and sometimes he'll have stashes of actual treasure.  This photo shows him with his very own "briefcase full of cash" - insert your best Dr. Evil meniacal laughter here.  So I thought the colors of the papers reminded me a bit of money and pyramids have long been associated with money so I turned the layout upside down and used the valleys as mountains so they looked more like pyramids.

Supplies:  Second verse same as the first - these supplies are older product cut with a square punch, one of the papers was actually from a soap packaging from the health food store - I love repurposing actual papers from real life.  I think some of the other papers are My Mind's Eye, Basic Grey, and GDC Studio, but I could be wrong - all of these papers are from scraps, very old scraps.

3. Lift #2 of American Craft's Dear Lizzy Neapolitan.  The original layout is "All Smiles" by Kimberly Congdon.  I didn't intend to scraplift another from the Dear Lizzy line but they made an adorable video and it is just so pretty and seems to be a bit different than the rest of the releases this Winter CHA - it seems soft and happy and it is very easy to work with - at least the knock off version of this line.  (wink).

The Lift:  I hand drew on the back of a piece of patterened paper the pattern for this and then hand cut the pieces.  My pattern came out in the reverse of the original layout and I had some problems with the corners and had to post-trim the papers at the top and then that made the top of the cardstock all wonky, so I did the border punch across the top (which is also a bit wonky), but in the end I like the imperfect-ness of my layout.  If you were trying to recreate this look, I would recommend more precise cutting if you want a more perfect look, but if you don't mind wonky, cut away.

Subject of Page:  This was admittedly a "fluff" page - a pretty photo of my child with not much journaling, but it is fun and pretty and will go in an album about her with lots of pages that do include lots of journaling and stories, so this will most likely be a nice visual rest in that album since I also don't do a lot of technique heavy one photo layouts.  And I love how the sunburst cut of the pattern papers make it feel happy and like it is shining; it reminds me of how my daughter used to sing "This Little Light of Mine" which I should maybe have journaled about on the page, but for me at least that memory is triggered with this page.  And Allison loves to play with those big flowers and for a time she was making lots and lots of them and decorating everything with them, so using those flowers triggers that memory for me too.

Supplies:  Embellishments are all from scrapbook yardsales so I have no idea where they originally came from; the border punch is a very old one from Fiskars, papers are an older Dear Lizzy line, DCWV, KI Memories, My Mind's Eye, and cardstock.  The letters are American Crafts.  And yes, I actually tied all those little bits to the page which was probably the most time consuming part of making this page, but the "stick" from those epoxy buttons was really gone so I really needed something to make sure they didn't fall off the page.

Do you want to join in the CHA Knock-Off Fun?  I have created a flickr group for exactly that, here is the link:  FLICKR GROUP: WINTER CHA 2012: THE KNOCK-OFFS

If you add a page to the flickr gallery, please leave a comment here so I can be sure to click over and check it out.  Now go make a page!

 

 

Seven 7 Gypsies Inspired Layouts: #1 All 50 States (Chevron Stripes / Triangles)

My family made a goal of seeing all 50 states before my kids graduate from highschool; so I imagine this layout as a title page in a themed 12x12 scrapbook that I will at some point put together. 

Mostly, this was a playful page for me.  I made the chevron stripes by punching patterned paper with a square punch and then cutting them on the diagonal to create triangles and then arranging them and pasting them down into the chevron stripes.    I saw this idea on Pintrest as a pattern for a vintage quilt.  It is fairly self explanatory - just start playing with those triangles and you'll see - or leave a comment and I'll do another post with a step by step.

So how is this connected to 7 Gypsies?  It is not one of the most inspired by 7 Gypsies layouts - it was actually one of the last pages I made in this series, but one that I had the most fun with so I wanted to post it first.  But looking back the colors are in the theme of 7 Gypsies - especially the black, taupe/neutral, and white/creme; and there is some hot pink in the new Trusseau collection by 7 Gypsies and I've seen lots of polka dots in the 7 Gypsies lines over the years, so I think it qualifies as 7 Gypsies inspired.  And the typewriter number stickers - which I picked up at the scrapbooking yardsale recently - look very 7 Gypsies to me.

Winter 2012 CHA Scrapbook Knock-Offs

These three layouts were easy to put together, used only older supplies, and were inspired by the Winter CHA 2012 scrapbook sneak peeks:

Ever watch a morning show after an awards ceremony?  They usually have a recap of who was the best dressed and what they wore, and then, a few days or weeks later, they'll have a show about how to get the designer looks on the cheap or from the knock-offs.  Sometimes they will even have the audience guess which look is more expensive and which is the bargain.  I like these shows because they show how you can be fashionable without having to spend a lot and/or without having to buy the new stuff but by repurposing your old stuff.  Now apply this concept to scrapbooking. 

I've been watching the Winter 2012 CHA Trends and Sneak Peeks and Scrapbook Layouts on Pinterest and through Nancy Nally's site with a most awesome chart of the new releases {click here for a link to Scrapbook Update}.  Nancy's chart is interactive and easy to use so you can browse by manufacturer or by release date.  I love seeing the new trends and I've been noticing lots of circles, hexagons, chevron stripes, and other quilting patterns.   I love adapting my old supplies to the new trends so I feel like the thrifty and smart bargain shopper by using what I already have; and it is a fun creative challenge to look at your old supplies in a new way.  If you've never practiced the fine art of scraplifting, I recommend you give it a try - it is a more creative and fun exercise than you might imagine.

I scraplifted some of the sneak peek layouts for the Winter 2012 CHA scrapbooking releases.  Here are  my Winter 2012 CHA Scrapbook Layout Knock-Offs:

1. Lift of the "Jumping With Style" layout from the new American Crafts' Dear Lizzy Neapolitan Line. 

 2. Lift of the "You 3" Layout by Kelly Goree from the new Basic Grey's PB&J Line.

3. Lift of the "Baby Zack" layout by Laura Vegas with the new Bella Blvd's Baby Boy Collection.

If you are not going to CHA but are aware of it, how do you deal with all the excitement of the new scrapbooking releases of CHA (the Craft and Hobby Association Trade Show)? 

7 Layouts in 3 Hours: #7 Circles and Stars & Improv Scrapbooking Concepts

 

I made seven layouts in 3 hours here is the original blog post in this series using a limited set of patterened scraps, the technique of die cutting and the theme of "Places I Love."  Having these limitations allows me to get more done more quickly and I feel like I am playing.  I am less likely to second guess my choices and I'm more in the moment during the process.  This is a technique I learned from improvisational comedy class but can be used in scrapbooking or any other creative process.  The main strategies I use include:  1. Perform on Demand, 2. Set Short Time Boundaries, 3. Just Go With It - the "Yes, And" concept, 4. Stick to a Theme, 5. Use What You Have; just to name a few.  I am working on developing the concept of Scrapbook Improv as applied to scrapbooking - it has definately helped my creative process, I am trying to figure out the best way to show others how the concepts and principles of improvisational comedy can be applied to scrapbooking and creative processes.  More to come on that sometime soon.

This is Layout #7 in the 7 Layouts in 3 Hours series:

Scrapbooking Tips:

1. Use the positive and negative shapes created by die cuts.  I used the stars from the inside of the circles on another layout in this series.

2.  Use an abbreviation as the title for a page, here I used the airport abbreviation for Bangor International Airport.

3.  Try making a bunch of pages with some scraps and then picking photos, especially if this is not your normal process; it is a good creative thing to do things differently - even to do things in a way that is slightly uncomfortable so that you come up with different results than you get from your normal process.

Please let me know in the comments if you enjoyed this series and what tips were the most helpful for you.

7 Layouts in 3 Hours: #6 Die Cut Circle Rings "Bike Rides"

I made these circle rings with some nesting dies and arranged them on one side of the page.  I made the page before choosing the photos and I think all those circles reminded me of bike wheels and our family goes on bike rides on a daily basis so I picked three bike ride photos and love how the rings mimic the wheels.

This is Page #6 in my 7 Layouts in 3 Hours series.

Scrapbook Tips:

1. Use circle rings as journaling spots.

2. Use photos that are related in theme but that were taken at different times.

3. Doodle a little bit, I used a Sharpie to mimic the spokes on a bicycle wheel.

Although I didn't use bicycle images on this page, I have been noticing lots of bicycle themed items in scrapbooking products and stamps:

7 Layouts Inspired by 7 Gypsies

I'll be posting 7 More Scrapbook Layouts Starting on Sunday, January 29, 2012:

I was inspired by the sneak peeks up on Nancy Nally's site Scrapbook Update for the Winter CHA 2012 releases by 7 Gypsies.  I took the general feel of the collections and I made 7 scrapbook layouts with the 7 Gypsies as the inspiration spring board, I used my own old supplies but picked supplies that had the look and feel of the new product lines from 7 Gypsies.  Starting on Sunday, I will share these layouts over the next 7 days.   Here is a little peak at them:

I made more handmade hexagons, used my very old vintage supplies and some products from the 2009 summer 7 Gypsies release, and punches and die cuts.  I kept with last week's theme of travel and made pages with zip codes in the titles.  These pages came together very quickly and easily.  I'll post one of these pages a day starting on Sunday.  I also made chevron stripes with a triangle quilt pattern that I saw on Pintrest, this page was so much fun to make.

What Winter CHA 2012 products are you excited about?  What from your old supplies can you repurpose to mimic the look and feel of the new products?  Leave a comment with what you are excited about seeing and what you do to make your old scrapbooking supplies feel new again.

 

 

7 Layouts in 3 Hours: #5 Grammy's Kitchen

I used a patterened paper with squares on the horizontal and put die cut circles into some of the squares.  Then I machine stitched over the circles mimicing the tea cup cabinet in my mother in law's kitchen, I made the page before choosing the photo or story so maybe the way those circles looked like plates in cabinet helped me to pick the photo and theme, but I didn't set out to do that, it was a happy coincidence.  Having the page already put together gave me a starting place.

Here is Layout #5 in my series of 7 layouts made in one 3 hour session with paper scraps, die cutters, and the theme of Places I Love.

Journaling:  "Grammy's kitchen has looked basically the same since they built it in 1962 when Daddy was about 5 years old & my kids have grown up in and around this same kitchen."

7 Layouts in 3 Hours: #4 Paper Strips with Border Punch

Layout #4 of 7: Patterned Paper Strips with Border Punch:  I love the way all these papers look together even though they didn't come together and don't match - punching them all with the same border punch unifies the papers and gives them a cohesive look:

I made seven layouts with these same scrap papers but I used different die cut and hand cut shapes for each layout to give variety to the pages and to allow myself to play.  I made the pages before deciding what photos and stories I would tell on the pages.

I made 7 layouts in a three hour scrapbooking session using a limited amount of old patterened paper scraps, click here for the original blog post.  To make things quick and easy, I used a color scheme inspired by the Winter 2012 CHA patterned paper scrapbooking releases, I used die cutters, and I used a theme of "Places I Love." 

Here is layout #4:  Bar Harbor Canons

Journaling:  "These canons sit on the lawn of the Bar Harbor Inn looking over Frenchman's Bay and are from 1898.  I sat on these same canons as a child and again as a teenager during summers in Bar Harbor.  These photos were taken in September 2011 in a full circle moment.  So Cool."

It really was so special to me to show my kids the State of Maine where I grew up since it is so different from where they are growing up in Florida.  I feel like they know me better and get the context of my childhood stories so much better now that they have been to my homestate.  Seeing them here makes me so happy and it is fun to sit on those canons and I betcha just about every kid who grew up in Maine or has visited Bar Harbor has sat on those same canons.