Scrapbook & Cards Today Blog

April sketch challenge entries...and a winner!

Hello SCT friends! Earlier this month we challenged you with a layout sketch from our new spring 2017 issue and WOW you guys knocked it out of the park in very little time! Here's another look at the sketch we challenged you with:

Here's a random selection of the amazing layouts we received for this challenge. And again...amazing work ladies! 

Layout by Anita Price

Layout by Ava Govloski

Layout Barb Wong

Layout by Bertha Madott

Layout by Cynthia Baldwin

Layout by Gina Moretti

Layout by Jennie Thompson

Layout by Judy Ogilvie

Layout by Majken Pullen

Layout by Nina Frisby

Layout by Serena Gedlaman

Layout by Shannon Yates

And the winner of the Simple Stories Emjoi Love collection is...

Congratulations Teresa! Please send us your mailing address to [email protected] with "April Sketch Challenge Winner" in your reference line and we'll get that prize out to you!

And thank you to everyone who participated in our challenge! We love seeing so many entries. Our next challenge will be announced on Monday so be sure to check in with us!

 

 

Card Cafe Thursday with Julia Stainton!

Good morning SCT readers! I’m Julia Stainton from Ontario Canada. I’m a busy mom of five, will soon celebrate 28 wonderful years married to the love of my life and we live in a century old farmhouse that we are never finished renovating. Over the years, I’ve had wonderful opportunities designing in the crafting industry from working with many design teams, having designs published and working in product design. Each opportunity is a chance to grow and explore my creativity. These days if I’m not designing or creating paper crafts, I love reading, sewing and spending time on Lake Huron.

As far as I can remember back I’ve been crafting and creating, inspired by my grandmothers, who were both very talented seamstresses. In 1999 I found the most beautiful scrapbook in a children’s clothing store and have been hooked on paper crafting ever since.

There are so many different design elements that can make paper crafting unique and fun. For me it’s all about texture and I love incorporating it into my card and scrapbooking designs. It’s easy to do by mixing media together such as several types of papers, fabric, twine and buttons.  Even metals have a texture.

One of my favorite ways to add texture is with felt or stitching. I’ve been sewing since before I started paper crafting so this is a natural pairing for me. Both elements add a wonderful handmade look and when you stitch felt to create your own embellishments, you’ll have your own unique project that can’t be found anywhere else.

Creating stitched felt embellishments is easy and takes much less time than it looks! If you’ve never tried hand stitching it’s a very simple process. Felt is so easy to stitch through, especially if you use 100% pure wool felt. I love the felt from Taylored Expressions as it is so soft and the colors are simply amazing.

The quickest way to create felt embellishments is to die-cut the felt with dies you have on hand. These projects use dies from Maya Road such as the Vintage Button Card Die and the Flower Die set. Once the felt is die-cut, add stitching using a simple straight stitch. That’s up and down through the felt and can also be called a running stitch. I don’t worry about stitching perfection. In fact, the unevenness even adds to the whimsical look. Stitching on buttons is also a fun addition to the felt embellishments and add even more texture to the design.

Once the embellishments are created, they can be added to cards or scrapbook layouts using a hot glue gun or a liquid adhesive.  I’ve layered mine on cards over some patterned paper from the  Simple Stories Domestic Bliss Line and other various scraps.

Supply List: Patterned Paper: Simple Stories, various; Saucy Authentique Life Cards, Authentique Papers; Felt: Taylored Expressions; Lovely Stamp Set: Essentials by Ellen, Jet Black Archival Ink, Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink: Ranger; Gold Bulldog Clips, Dies by Maya Road; Embroidery Floss: DMC; Twine: Lawn Fawn; Solar White Card Stock: Neenah; Tiny Attacher: Tim Holtz

Thank you for joining me today on the SCT blog! You can find more of my work by following me here:

• Belle Papier
• Facebook:
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• Youtube

~ Julia Stainton 

Planning ideas with Maggie Massey!

Hey everyone! Maggie back again with another look inside my 2017 Memory Planner! If you haven't already read my last post on how I'm using my personal-sized Heidi Swapp Memory Planner to document our every day this year, you can find it HERE.

I'm happy to be back on the SCT blog this month to share share a few ideas on how I like to add memorabilia and extra photos to my planner. This personal-size planner is a little smaller than some of the planners I've used in the past...and, while this size is awesome and takes the pressure off when I'm documenting, it's not so awesome when I have a longer, more involved story to tell...or when I have more photos to add. So I've had to kind of change things up a bit to make them work.

Now, I love to document the special things we do as a family...especially when we see new movies, or have a movie night at home. So, when we recently saw a couple of shows at the theater, I recorded them by printing out little mini movie posters and adding them straight into my planner. For the Lego Batman movie, I adhered little die-cut paper binder attachers to my card (so I wouldn't have to punch through the graphics), and added them directly over the binder rings. 

For the Boss Baby “poster” I simply punched the card itself and added it.

And, while I continue to add sized-down photos directly onto my daily pages, I'm also adding “extra” photos to photo sleeves, or I'm punching them and just slipping them over my binder rings.

If the story that goes along with those photos is longer, I'll add an additional sheet of paper, with my journaling/photos on it to my planner...like I did here with the story of a birthday party my younger son attended.

I used a photo template here, sized to fit the dimensions of my planner,  so that I could add a number of photos, and a bit of journaling, to a single page...thus eliminating a lot of bulky pages & printed photos.

Show tickets & restaurant cards simply get punched and added in...

 

...and I did the same with this Thank You card I wanted to remember...

 

Every once in a while I'll adhere a tiny little vellum envelope to my page and slip a photo and a bit of journaling inside...just for some variety.

I love incorporating all of the things that are important to my family and me into my planner...and I love trying new ways to do that. I hope I've inspired you to add to your planner all of those meaningful little photos and stories.

And remember, your planner is YOURS! Make sure it works for YOU!

To see more of my work, and to keep up with my scrapbooking & planning, check out my blog: Midwestern Girl DIY, follow me on Instagram @maggiemassey, or visit my Facebook Page.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

~ Maggie Massey

Tools Today with Aly Dosdall: WRMK Trim & Score Board!

Hi SCT friends! It’s Aly Dosdall back again for another Tools Today post. It’s always such a pleasure to visit you and the SCT crew each month. Today I’m sharing a gift idea that I created with a handy tool that’s really a crafter’s must-have!

Using 12x12 inch patterned paper, and my We R Memory Keepers Trim & Score Board + Triangle Score Guide, I was able to create these modern geometric planters, perfect for holding a small succulent or air plant. Wouldn’t these make a great gift for Mother’s Day, teachers or friends?

My favorite thing about the Trim & Score Board is the convenience of being able to cut and score my dimensional projects with the same tool. Saves a lot of space on my work surface! I also love that it folds in half for storage. Again, real estate in my craft room is precious, so any way that I can save on some space is great.

The Triangle Score Guide is the perfect companion to any scoring board. It allows you to make evenly spaced diagonal score lines, triangles, and more. It comes with an instruction booklet that has lots of project ideas and helpful tips.

Check out the video demonstration below where I share some tips about these awesome tools, as well as a demonstration of how to use them to make these pretty planters.

 

The papers I used to make these planters come from the new Heidi Swapp Magnolia Jane 12x12 Paper Pad. Some of the prints have modern geometric designs which are perfect for this project. Plus I love the pretty colors!

I highly recommend using a strong adhesive for these, such as a hot glue gun or extra strong double sided craft tape. My personal favorite is the American Crafts Sticky Thumb Red Tape. It holds perfectly for dimensional projects!

Thanks for joining today friends! I hope this project has inspired you, and that you’ve gotten to know the Trim & Score Board and Triangle Score Guide a little better. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments below, and I’ll do my best to answer them. Happy crafting!

~ Aly Dosdall

Be sure to see more of Aly's videos on our YouTube channel here!

Find Your Mojo: Use Soft Colours with Mercy Tiara!

 

Good morning! In this episode of "Find Your Mojo" we are using a soft colour palette to create a soft, delicate page. For this project I used products from Stampin’ Up!’s Falling In Love series. Give it a try! 

Reclaim your mojo and share your monochromatic layouts! Don’t forget to tag me so I can check them out! Use the hashtag #findyourmojowithmercytiara so I can check out your pages!

~Tracy Banks

Find other episodes of Find Your Mojo with Mercy Tiara here!

Find even more process videos on Mercy Tiara’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/mercytiara

CardMaps 5 + Lush & Lovely card kit = awesome giveaway!

Good morning SCT friends! It's Friday of another crazy busy week around SCT HQ! CardMaps 5 is on it's way to purchasers and stores, the summer issue is coming together beautifully and some of the team is at Crop & Create Abbotsford this weekend! We also have some special announcements to make about our fall events next week and we're working on all our National Scrapbook Day plans too. Exciting days :)

Speaking of exciting, let's share today's giveaway! 

We've teamed up with PageMaps once again to bring you one of our most loved publications, CardMaps 5! Loaded with inspiration and creativity, CardMaps 5 includes 88 cards, 50 exclusive CardMaps sketches, how-to photos featuring trendy, must-try techniques, step-by-step instructions for every card, free cutting files, and as always, so much more! From everyday sentiments and birthday celebrations to seasonal holidays and cards of thanks, this special issue has all of your card making endeavours covered! 

To go with this issue, we have our just a few of our beautiful Lush & Lovely card kits!

The world is welcoming spring with blooming flowers, chirping birds, and a fresh new start! We’ve captured the essence of the season in our spring SCT Delivered Card Kit, Lush & Lovely! A vibrant mix of patterned papers from Maggie Holmes and Dear Lizzy will bring a ray of sunshine to your craft table, along with coordinated ephemera, tags, gems & trims. So grab your umbrella and take a springtime walk with us through the Lush & Lovely spring!

Fun prize? For an opportunity to win today's give away, be sure to leave a comment below by April 27th! Good luck!

Have a wonderful weekend SCT friends!