Monthly Archives: July 2015

Basing It On The Paper

Basing It On The Paper

Some days, when you’re wandering through the scrapbook aisles in your local Joann’s, you find something you have to have, even though you don’t know exactly how you’re going to use it. For me, that’s usually paper.

This paper was one of the things that reached out and jumped into my basket. I was powerless against it. As a family with a huge stash of Lego blocks, how could I not bring it home?
last day of nine ||noexcusescrapbooking.com

When you start your page based on the paper, building up from it is fairly easy. You can choose photos and story based on the colors and theme of your paper, as well as the embellishments.

What made me really happy about this page? Finally using up some of these Boy Oh Boy die cuts, that I got a long time ago while visiting my brother in California. I had bought them to go with a certain paper I knew I had back home, but when I got home, the two blues clashed so much I couldn’t use them together. Ah, the trials and tribulations of a scrapbooker.

One other thing of note before we move on for the day.

Be creative with your letter stickers. This title consists of one L, two Vs, an 8, a T and D, an X, an O, 2 Fs, 2 Ws, and an I. Some days you just have to make what you have work. Today was one of those days.

Do you have any paper that just jumped into your stash without you noticing? What are you going to make with it?

Quotable Vellum

Quotable Vellum

When I first started scrapbooking, you know what was hot? You know what everyone needed to have on their pages? Quotes printed on vellum. You know how often I actually used those vellum quotes? No more than a handful of times.

Well, now that total’s up to six.

got a penny ||noexcusescrapbooking.com

After thumbing through one of the many vellum quote books I own to familiarize myself with the types of quotes inside, I perused a stack of recent photos I’ve printed to find one that would work with a quote.

The one I decided on is a tiny bit blurry, and weirdly cropped, but it works with the idea of “What is this kid thinking?”

All the other items on the page came from one of the kits I put together last spring. I have got to get cracking on those kits and use them up!

So what do you think? Does the quote add to the theme and story of the page? Do you have any vellum quote books in your stash? What are you going to do with them?

If you don’t have any, do you want some? Pick a theme, and I’ll send you a few, just leave a comment below!

 

 

Ribbon Crazy

Ribbon Crazy

That last page barely made a dent in my sticker pile. How about using up a few more, and maybe some ribbon too?

bloom || noexcusescrapbooking.com

While looking for photos to use with the themed stickers, I came across this gorgeous one in the pile. It was too beautiful to resist.

Using spring themed stickers didn’t require any thought, but deciding to add ribbon to the page made for some interesting problems, especially once the tulle was added to the mix.

To create this page, after spritzing a few colors of mist and letting them dry, I ran a line of adhesive down one side of the page, and carefully (or not!) scrunched up the tulle onto the adhesive to create a ruffle. Then the two grosgrain ribbons were given a layer of adhesive, and attached on top of the tulle. Then, because one yard of fiber on a page isn’t enough, I added a few loops of orange fiber, and taped the ends down on the back. Because I’m a freak, I then added a few staples from my tiny attacher to each end in the hope that at least one attachment option will last.

bloom detail ||noexcusescrapbooking.com

Then it was time to add the stickers, which were slid under the tulle, and the photo was adhered on top of the tulle. A tiny bit of journaling, and a title, and the page was done. Except it needed a visual triangle. Well maybe need is too strong a word. It felt like it needed a tiny bit of something, so I dug out some resin flowers.

Since they were a deep, Christmas red, I gave them a quick coat of acrylic paint, to help them fit the page better.

The cool thing about the tulle? It looks like it takes up a lot of space, but once in a page protector, it will hardly add any bulk at all. Love that!

So how about you? What’s your favorite fiber to add to a scrapbook page? How do you like to use it?

Themed Stickers

Themed Stickers

Three stickers down, seventy zillion more to go!

screen time || noexcusescrapbooking.com

The robot themed stickers from Cosmo Cricket were the starting point for this page, and led to me choosing these photos for the story they could relate. The paper colors and patterns are based on colors found in the sticker set, and the gears were the perfect finishing touch.

Now tell me, does this page look dated or does it look timeless? Do the stickers from 2008 make you cringe, or do they help tell the story? That’s what you should be thinking about when making a page, no matter when the supplies were manufactured or bought.

You know how you’ve got ancient stash? Don’t you think it’s time some of it got used?

Don’t worry about whether or not it’s going to look stylish years from now. I guarantee it won’t, but if you’ve got photos you love, and words that capture your story, how stylish it is won’t matter.

No more hoarding! No more excuses!

Go make pages!

Stash Dive

Stash Dive

I have been creating paper crafts for just about 20 years now. Well, I did do a little stamping before that, but I didn’t really start obsessing over paper crafts till 1997 or 1998. Probably more like 1998, so only 17 years, but still! That’s a long time to be collecting paper crafting supplies.

You want to hear something crazy?

I have never de-stashed. Never. The closest I got to de-stashing was giving away a bin full of scraps last year, and throwing away markers that have given up the ghost. That’s it.

You’d think I’d feel overwhelmed by all the choices and sheer amount of stuff around. But I’m not. All the random stuff is inspirational. Re-discovering old things, and using them up has become a fun challenge, especially since I’ve put myself on a very severely limited craft budget this year.

You know what, let’s spend the next couple weeks digging through my stash, and coming up with fun things to do with it.

There’s tons of wordfetti and vellum quotes and rub-on words that are begging to be used on a page.

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And so many alphas that have barely been used, or partially used, and missing key letters. There’s got to be something I can do with these, right?

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And how about the giant drawer full of ribbons and fibers? Surely these deserve to see the light of day again.

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So many themed stickers! I’ve learned my lesson. I don’t buy these any more, unless I have a specific project I’m going to use them on immediately. But there are still tons of useful things in here. I did use some spring stickers in my PL album recently, but still! There are a lot more to use up!

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And paper. So much paper. I love it. I still want more. But it’s time to use some of it up, don’t you think?

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So do you think I can use these things, and still have pages that look current, or even better, timeless? Let’s see what we come up with!

And you, yes you fellow stash hoarder. Why don’t you play along, and find some ancient things in your stash to use on your pages! Come on, you know it will be fun!