February Flock kit

Have you played with flock. It's a whole bunch of fun and adds great texture to a layout!

Background on Flock
Add texture and a velvety feel to any project with Flock! Flock is a very fine fiber that is used to add dimension and fuzzy accenting to scrapbook, stamped, or other projects. It comes in a variety of fun colors for any of your projects. Glitter can be mixed in with the flock to create sparkly accents for a dramatic effect. Pre-mix different colors or added glitter before flocking the project. Flock can be adhered to a variety of materials simply. Use on small areas and items or large areas of patterned papers for a great effect. Used on portions of an image can make the details of the image really pop.

• Use a glue pen or glue adhesive (high tack glue works the best) to outline or fill areas you want flocked. This can be used on an already stamped image, a portion of patterned paper, or on a hand drawn image you create. Keep the amount of glue as even as possible on the surface so the flocking will adhere evenly as well and not look lumpy. Spoon the flocking powder over the glued area and tap off the excess. Press the flock lightly into the glue with your fingers. Flock can be layered with a variety of colors. Start with your darkest color first and apply the lightest color of flock last. For more dimension, create layers of flocking with the same or a different color. Flock as described above. Once dry, add another thin layer of glue to the flocking and add more flocking on top following the same procedure.
• Flocking looks wonderful with double sided stickers or images you cut from red tacky tape/sheets. Use on single sided stickers (such as flourishes) by pressing the sticky side into flocking and tapping away the excess. Use glue on the other side to adhere to your project. Thin red tacky tape can be used to create flocked stripes on a project. Flock one sticky side of the tape by pressing flock in with your fingers. The other side of the sticky tape can be adhered to the project.
• Enhance punchies by using red tape sheets (double sided adhesive sheets) on cardstock that matches your flock. Punch out your shape, Press the sticky side into the flock and tap off the excess. Peel off the release tape on the other side to adhere to your project.
• Use flocking on chipboard shapes to add dimension. Use double sided sticky tape or high tack glue. Stack layered shapes for even more effect.
• Flocked areas can be stamped using a permanent ink pad. Flock your object first. Make sure the flocking has had a chance to dry and the excess has been tapped or brushed off. Stamp your image into the surface of the flock.
• Flock your brads! Use an embossing pad, high tack glue, or sticky powder to adhere flock to the surface of the brad.

A common use for flocking powder is in a stamped project. To flock an image, the following methods are suggested:

Using a glue pad:

• Stamp the image using a pigment ink, VersaMark, or embossing pad on to your paper.
• Pour the flocking fibers over the stamped image and tap off the excess.
• Let it sit to dry. To speed up the drying process, a heating tool can be used by heating through the underside of the paper and away from the flocking (the fibers may blow off if heated from above.)

Using sticky powder:

• Stamp the image using a pigment ink, VersaMark, or embossing pad on to your paper.
• Pour sticky powder such as Heat & Stick from Stamping Up or Stamp 'N Bond embossing powder over the image. Tap off the excess powder.
• Heat the image until the powder turns to glue (starts to turn shiny.)
• Immediately sprinkle flocking powder over the image and press in lightly with your fingers.
• Let dry completely. Tap or brush off the excess flocking.

Cautions:

• If highlighting with chalk on the same project, be careful not to let the chalk near the flock. Once it settles on the flock, it is impossible to remove.
• Let dry completely before adhering to your layout.

For the project:
From the Cosmo "Gothic" paper, two of the black images are cut to flock as well as two 4" x 12" strips for the layout. Use liquid glue to fill in the black patterned areas of the cut images. Spoon flock over top, pressing flock into the glue. Brush off the excess and set images aside to dry. Print a title on "Burning Embers" cardstock using a computer and fill in lettering with glue and flock as above. Trim and ink edges as desired.

Cut two 2" x 12" strips from the "Burning Embers" cardstock. Cut the Cosmo "Ominous" paper in half into two 6" x 12" strips. Layer the "Gothic", "Ominous", and "Burning Embers" pieces onto the "MacIntosh" cardstock as shown in the layout leaving a slight margin at the top and bottom of the two pages. Mat pictures with black cardstock and assemble layout as shown. Be sure the flocked images are dry before adhering to the layout.

Tags: Flock, Scrapaholix

January Fingertip Craft Knife kit

I am much better these days at not needing the latest and greatest tools. I have bypassed many a tool that has caught my eye. When it was decided that we would be using the fingertip craft knife for January kit, I was skeptical. Boy was I wrong!

This knife is great! I remember printing on reverse and using an exacto knife to painstakingly (or do I mean painfully?) cut out the words.

Back to the fingertip craft knife. It puts control in your hands much like using a pencil. Use your hand's natural motion and weight to make cutting easier. Just loop the craft knife over your index finger for a more controlled cutting experience.

For this layout: I used the light blue cardstock as the background. I also took this great green paper by Crate paper and cut it in half with the craft knife. I took the right side piece (that I was not going to use) as a template to cut out a duplicate on the cream cardstock. I pieced together and cut a thin curve from brown cardstock to cover the seam.

From the patterned paper, I cut out several designs using the craft knife. the two large flourishes fit perfectly to make a heart and hte other pieces served as anchors on the layout. I wrote "41" on the cream cardstock and used the craft knife to cut out around it. The rest of the wording was done in marker.

The craft knife was so easy to use. There were no numb spots on my fingers and the cuts were much smoother than using a conventional craft knife. I am sold on this gadget and you will love it too!

Tags: Crate paper, Scrapaholix, Fiskars

December Scrapaholix kit

I love this kit! Rarely do we do a holiday theme. The chipboard and papers from Sandylion are perfect (these are also discontinued by Sandylion but we have them for the kits!) I created this cute one page layout and several cards. I still have enough materials leftover for 3 cards. The coredinations burgundy cardstock is beautiful and sanding the edge gives a nice effect. I think the rest of the layout is self-explanatory as one paper is cut down to see the burgundy cardstock, and the other paper is torn as an accent piece. Chipboard pieces and brads round out the layout.

Here is the image of the cards:

You can use the materials and the chipboard to create tags for presents or decorate containers to make little gift containers for presents!

Embossing kit

This months kit includes a template and two embossing tools. We are using the coredinations cardstock which has a different color core than the outside. To do the layout, choose a section of the template you want to emboss and place it on the front side of the cardstock. Turn it over and emboss those areas. You can rub the embossing tool on waxed paper to make it glide easier on the cardstock. When finished turn it over and sand the embossed raised areas. A neat trick is to take a glue dot and place it on the head of the embossing tool and then stick a small piece of sandpaper there. Your embossing tool has now become a small sanding tool! I used the black coordinations as the embossed accent strip and the grey and black coredinations and white bazzill bling as backgrounds. It is hard the see, but I also embossed hearts in the title.

October kit - fragments

This is the October kit from Scrapaholix-USA. This layout is so easy to create. I cut 1/8" off two sides of the destination cardstock and matted it on the black cardstock. I cut out a 10 3/4" diameter circle from the red paper. This will fit inside the circle on the "destination" paper. Cut one end of circle off in order to see the word destination. I used the remnant of the cardstock (after the circle was cut out) to use as a template for cutting my pictures. They follow the circle. I printed text describing where, when, and who as well as what we did. Smear some glossy accents on the back of the fragment and place on the text . You may need to move it a little to remove bubbles and adhere (I also came back to push down from time to time.) I did the same with a fragment and a saying from the "Are we there yet?" paper. Glue the fragments down on your layout.

Tags: Tim Holtz, scrapaholix

Scrapbook Journaling Techniques

written by Sherry DiPaolo

Here are some great ways to add your journaling to your scrapbook pages.

Tell the whole story. Write out or type on your computer the entire story of an event that happened in the pictures you are scrapbooking. I did this with photos I had of my 2nd son after my 3rd son was born. When my 3rd son was born I got him a baby doll so he could care for his baby while I cared for mine. I thought this would be a great learning experience for him. So each time I cared for my baby he did the same for his. We bathed our babies, fed our babies and swaddled them to sleep together. This time in our lives was so precious and meaningful I had to capture it in his scrapbook. I almost always use my own handwriting so here I painted the area white and wrote away.

Interview members of your family to create an album that will be cherished by all. In this layout I asked my son Dominic why he loves his big brother and then wrote down his responses and scrapped various pics of the 2 of them together. I also did if for my oldest Primo and asked him the same question about his little brother. It's a great memory and I know they will cherish each other's responses forever.

Senses are good attribute to remember about the day. What were the sounds of the events, What did you eat? Was it a warm summer night, or a cool winter day? What's the most exciting or funny thing that happened that day?

Begin an ABC journal in which you journal about your life in ABC form. Relate each letter of the alphabet to a certain time and date in your life your child’s life.

Consider predictions for a child's future. You can create a letter written to your child on her birthday, the first day of school, middle school or high school graduation, and wedding day. Then when she has her first child they can view them together.

Let your subject know what is happening in the world around you. What are the news topics? Write a letter explaining about your child's world including:

Who the President it? * What is the cost of gas, milk, and bread? * What are their Favorite movies, TV shows, toys, songs, etc.?

Add the newspaper to your album, and use archival mist for preservation.

Add things that your subject likes to do such as pictures they loved to draw as a child.

Add poems or quotes that fit the theme of a page or the idea of a photo.

For a page with photos of someone at a particular age add info relating to that person during that time. E.g., on a baby page of 6 mths include what he was able to do such as crawl, LOL, or stand up.

Write down words to a favorite song, prayer or poem and use them in a decorative border around a page. I did this with the song "I Hope You Dance" by Lee Ann Womack. I typed up all of the words and put a decorative border around it because the words are so meaningful to what I wanted my son to always think about in life.

Collect memories from friends, relatives, family members, neighbors, etc. to give more dimension to an album.

Be sure to journal everyday things from your life. They may seem ordinary but the biggest part of your life is the day-to-day activities and they should be remembered. I do this a lot. I love scrapbooking the everyday events and funny photos I have of my kids.

Create a list of favorites. Our preferences change as we grow up, so do this once a year with each family member. Use this technique on a birthday page.

Create a list of bullets of what your child was able to do during his first year. I did this with all of my boys. Their first 2 albums have a page for each month. Here is one of Gino's pages when he was 1 month old.

Create a dictionary style definition with the words used to describe the photo.

Sometimes you don't want your journaling to be the focus of your page. Use hidden journaling to provide extra room on your layout, allow your photos to be the focal point, and conceal sentiments you don’t want to share with everyone. Use pockets, mini file folders, small cards, or hinged flaps to achieve this hidden look.

Journal around your photos. This is a nice design technique to make your journaling flow with the design of your page.

Scrapbook Journaling

written by Sherry DiPaolo

Do you journal on your scrapbook pages? If so, do you do it when the page is complete or before you even start the layout? Scrapaholix offered a Journaling Kit in 2007 and it was a big hit with club members and instructors. Journaling is so important and this was a great way to get scrapbookers thinking about how and what to journal.

Journaling is one of the most diffibult thing for many scrapbookers. It’s one of the hardest parts about scrapbooking. It's difficult for all levels of scrapbookers to decide where to place the journaling, how to write it, what to write, what font to use, your handwriting vs. the computer, and so on.

Journaling, however, is the most important component of scrapbooking. It’s what sets it apart from a plain photo album and tells the story, the emotions, and the feeling that goes along with your photos. This is how future generations will remember who you are both by how you physically look and how you feel life.

Many scrapbookers often say “I can’t write.” or “I’m not creative enough.” or even that “I don’t journal because I’ll do it wrong or make a mistake.” You need to know that you can write and YOU are the only one who can tell the story. Always know that there is no wrong way to journal. Just write what you feel and that will always be right. Find your own style and go with it.

Once you get going and start writing you always do a fine job. It’s the content of the words that is most important, not the look or the mistakes you may make, or the font and color you choose. It’s your feelings that shine and that is what I know scrapbookers alike want to convey from their journaling.

Here are some really cool ideas on how to journal.

Journaling can be simple, and it all depends on how involved you want to get with it. You can simply list bulleted items, a single sentence, or perhaps tell the entire long, but interesting, story.
I take a lot of photos of my kids. While I’m taking them I’m visualizing how I will scrap them later. I think of what I want to say and how I’m feeling at that moment. When I pull the photos out to scrap them I remember those thoughts. They make me smile and I want to share that with my boys and all who read them. I want my boys to know what their lives were like when they were growing up and how much I love them.

The best way to make journaling simple is to keep good records of your photos. Keep them in order either by date, name, theme, etc. It’s a good idea to include the Five W’s, which are:

1. Who: Who is in the pictures? Who is taking the pictures?
   
2. What: What is happening in the pictures? Is it your child's first birthday, a wedding or an Easter egg hunt?
   
3. When: When was the photo taken? Try to include the month and year, but if it is detailing a birthday, include the specific date. You'd be surprised how the details get lost over the years.
   
4. Where: Where is the event?
   
5. Why: Why is this happening?

It's also important to convey your feelings when scrapbooking. How did you feel when your husband proposed?, When your children were born?, or When your child graduated?

Lastly, use your handwriting as much as possible. This makes it more intimate and true to your feelings.

Be sure to check out my next post on Scrapbook Journaling Techniques, Ideas on How to do it.

Start up a Scrapbooking Club

written by Sherry DiPaolo

Wouldn't it be nice to have someone to scrapbook with you?

I love to scrapbook with other people. It makes for a nice evening of conversation and a great way to share your life stories. I used to scrapbook alone until I became a Scrapaholix Instructor. I love being an instructor. My club meetings are always so much fun and I look forward to them each month. Have you thought about starting a scrapbooking club? If so consider joining up with Scrapaholix and becoming an instructor, but if that isn't for you, you can still start a club anyway. Here are some helpful tips to start your own club.

How often do you want to meet? How frequently do you want to hold your club? Weekly, twice-monthly, monthly?
It's best to get a consensus from group members as to which day and time works best. How many people do you want in your scrapbook club? The group dynamic varies greatly if you have 6 or 30 people. Decide in advance how many people you think will comprise an ideal group.

Where do you want to host the crop?
You can start out at your home, or you can ask if the scrapbookers in your club would like to rotate houses. For larger groups, consider churches, community centers, or hotel conference rooms. Often churches and businesses will be very receptive to providing space for this type of gathering. Scrapbooking is a fun, family-oriented activity, which places of worship and community centers generally love to embrace.

Do you want to charge membership dues?
Scrapaholix Clubs are free, but you do want to charge for the kits and your teaching. Most members charge between $10 and $20 and this includes the monthly kit, your technique teaching, light refreshments, and access to your tools and other goodies you may provide. If you have to pay for your scrapbooking space, you'll want to recoup those costs.

What will you serve?
You can serve food - or not. Try to keep things simple. Maybe have coffee, soda, or water (be sure to have diet or sugar free beverages). Don’t choose foods that are messy or require your members to wash their hands with each bite. We don't want our pages to get messed up. If you're going to serve finger food, use toothpicks. And for the chocolate fix - M&Ms are wonderful because they really do melt in your mouth and not in your hands.

How structured would you like your meetings to be?
Scrapaholix Clubs are an international network of classes, or "clubs," and crops, which provide a social learning environment for Scrapbookers. Each club is run by you, the enthusiastic instructor, who each month have a “meeting” where you “teach” a new scrapbooking technique with the support and assistance of Scrapaholix. The goal is to promote and develop the craft of scrapbooking and to provide an opportunity for members to learn and express their creativity through memory keeping.

What is the best way to set up the meeting space?
Make sure the lighting is adequate and that each guest has enough table space. You can set everyone up on your dining room table, or if you have the space, create a more elaborate configuration. One idea is to create a square from 2 8” tables and 2 6” tables. This configuration will comfortably accommodate a number of scrapbookers.

It's fun to have some community tools on one table, too. You should have the basics, such as, trimmers, Coluzzles, Eyelet Setters, Crop-A-Dile, etc. Have idea books and magazines and have sample layouts posted on your computer or a table for members to view. You will also want to place small baskets or bins around with an assortment of paper “scraps” for the group to use and add to. Have small wastebaskets in various places for garbage scraps to keep the area neat, organized and clutter-free. Try setting a relaxing (or energizing) mood with music.

How will you find club members?
If you don't already have a group of scrapbooking friends (or you want to find more), simply announce your group in the community. Word of mouth is the best way to do this. Ask your friends to bring their scrapbooking friends to your club. You can also post flyers and announcements in libraries, grocery stores, community centers, etc. Check to see if your local newspaper will run a free ad in the Community Notes section. For example: "Free Scrapbooking Crop. All levels of experience welcome. Instructor/designer on hand to answer questions and provide instruction. Come have fun and meet new friends. Time and location. Your contact info." You can also send email invites to all your friends with Evite.com. Simply pitch your crop night as a "girls', or mom’s night out."

Now that you have this information to get you thinking, try and move forward with this idea by joining Scrapaholix or just setting up your own little club. Visit our Scrapaholix website today.

Scrapbooking with Beads

written by Sherry DiPaolo

This month's Technique with Scrapaholix is all about beading. Our USA Leader, Louise Maine, has posted 2 layouts on this blog. You can also see many more sample layouts on our Scrapaholix Gallery. The Club Instructors did an awesome job using this techniqe.

Do you want to learn how to scrapbook with beads? If so, check out our Scrapaholix site and find a club near you. If you don't see one, check into starting one in your area.

This month's lesson will focus on how to incorporate beads into your layout. They add such a beautiful element to any page, whether it be for a boy, a girl, a family layout, or even a pet. Yes that is true...beads don't always have to be associated with femininity. The beads that come with this months Scrapaholix kit are seed beads and you get 3 packages in yellow, white, and pink.

What are seed beads? A very small bead about the size of bird seed. These are primarily used for covering the surface of an object. They range in size from 10/0 to about 22/0. The larger the number, the smaller the size. A 10/0 is often used by beginners. Most people work in 11/0 or 12/0. Beads smaller than 13/0 are rarely made today (some 14/0 are still in production). The very small sizes are hard to find and hard to work with). Most places stock sizes 10/0 - 13/0. Seed beads were introduced after 1840. Note that seed beads are sometimes called "rocailles." Seed Beads may be used for simple stringing, or as spacers between other beads in scrapbooking. Larger seed beads are used in various scrapbooking layouts for embellishments. All beads can be attached with fibers, wires, or glues.

When you participate in this month's Scrapaholix class you will be learning how to adhere the beads with threads and glue, so I want to add in a little more info about using wire.

When I think of beading I typically think of adhering them with wire. That's the beauty of Scrapaholix, they teach you new techniques and ideas and this month they taught me about using threads and glues.

Now back to wire...I think we all need to know a little about what wire is made up of and which ones to use. So I found a great post by Kimberly Chapman. This site is a how-to on several craft projects and for our use, beading and wire. I will summarize what she says about wire and you can check out her site for more details and other craft information.

Wire Sizes and Metal Types:
Wire is measured in gauges. The higher the number, the thinner the wire. The most common question asked about wire is how to know what size to use, and the most common answer is, "It depends on what you're doing with it."

The type of metal the wire is made out of matters. Steel wire is harder and therefore more rigid than copper wire. If you are using copper wire, opt for a higher gauge where more support is needed. For places where serious support is required, use steel.

32 Gauge (Lacing Wire):
This wire is about as thick as general sewing/beading thread, and about as strong. It has decent tensile strength when pulled straight, just like thread, but as soon as it gets kinked it is prone to breaking. It can be cut with scissors, but it does ruins the scissors' edge (use a pair exclusively for WIRE USE ONLY).

Do not use this size of wire to make petals or leaves, as they will be completely floppy, just as if you'd made them using thread. Rows will not hold against each other, even with small beads, and the entire petal/leaf will sag when it is attached to a stem. If you make an embellishment like a flower petal/leaf you can use this wire if you are then going to glue it down on a page. The floppiness won't matter in this case.

The reason this size of wire is often called "lacing wire" is because that's what it's really good for; lacing together rows on wide petals and leaves, or binding petals together at their bases. It is so thin that it hides nicely between beaded rows, especially if you use a light colour such as gold/brass for light beads and a dark colour such as green for dark beads. To learn the techniqe of lacing, check out Kimberly's site.

26, 24, 22 Gauges:
These gauges are best for petals and leaves. If you're using soft copper wire, 22 or 24 gauge is best, as 26 might be too floppy once a lot of beads are on it. If you're using steel wire, go for 24 or 26, as 22 can be difficult to bend and shape, and will more quickly make your hands sore and tired. You need wire cutters to cut this wire; some scissors may cut it if you work really hard and they absolutely destroy the scissors.

All three gauges fit most size 10 or 11 beads. Use a mix of cheap plastic beads from craft stores (which are usually size 10) and more expensive glass beads in size 11 from specialty bead stores. 24 gauge is a nice middle ground bead for most projects, but keep some 22 and 26 around in case you need something thicker or thinner for a specific piece.

18 Gauge (Stem Wire):
At this thickness, the wire is quite stiff and far too big for beads. This wire is used to attach petals and leaves to, thus forming the stem of each flower. For heavy flowers, one piece of stem wire may be insufficient; you may need to tape several together unless you can find even thicker gauges at a reasonable price.

You can bend 18 gauge wire with your bare hands, but to form loops or solid angles, you will need pliers. You will need wire cutters for sure, but it's not terribly hard to cut. Several pieces taped together takes some serious effort to cut with wire cutters, so it's best to cut before taping.

Now that you know what thicknesses and sizes wire come in you are ready to get scrapbooking. Kimberly has more in depth information for more elaborate beading techniques so be sure to check out her site. As for scrapbooking with beads, when you go to your Scrapaholix class you will learn about beading with threads, fibers, and glue. So sign up now for a Scrapaholix Class near you.

Bead kit - string them up!

Use cardstock as your background. Mat your photos in green bling cardstock. Cut the following rectangles: 5" x 6" from Urban cosmos "suburb" and 4 1/2" x 8" from Urban cosmos "metro". String beads using a strong thread or embroidery thread to fit the desired area on your layout. Thread your string and come up through the backside of the layout. Add your beads and finish off by going through the front to the back with the needle. You can tack down areas of the stringed beads and tie off on the back. Use additional beads to add dimension to the centers of the flowers (difficult to see) by using glossy accents or another strong clear glue. Make a line of glossy accents along the corners of pictures and roll beads into place to make a photo corner of beads.

Bead kit - adding glam...

This layout was a lot of fun. Before cutting, I decided on three flowers that I would cut out of the Urban Cosmos "suburb" paper. One is next to the title, and the other two are on the bottom on each side of the 2008. The background is a sheet of the yellow bazzill. I cut a piece of the "suburb" paper approx. 7" x 12" (make sure you know where you will be cutting out the flowers on the leftover piece - you can always hide a cut out flower with a picture as I did). Trim the 7 x 12 piece so that you have a border of cardstock showing on the three sides. Paper tear the Urban cosmos "Metro" paper to overlap. Trim on the three sides to match the border around the layout. Glue in place. I used yellow cardstock to mat the pictures. Glue your cut out flowers on your layout taking care to only glue centers and leaving edges unglued. Use glossy accents or a strong clear glue to cover the area you want to bead. Roll the bead into the area. Pink beads were used on the top flower, yellow on the bottom left, and clear on the bottom right.

What Scrapbooking won't you do?

written by Sherry DiPaolo

Do you find yourself totally against a specific technique or way of scrapbooking? Some people won't use ink, others won't use glitter, and still others won't use clear pages. What won't you do? Scrapaholix is a great place to learn about new techniques and maybe it will help you to do the things you "won't" do.

Scrapaholix is a Class-in-a-Kit club that teaches you how to do new and exciting things with your scrapbooking pages. Scrapaholix is comprised of clubs around the world and there are many in the United States popping up all the time. These clubs are manged by an Instructor and they teach with a hands-on approach.

Each month Scrapaholix creates a uniquely designed kit of products based around a particular technique. The Instructors receive their kit 1 month prior to the debut of a kit, and they use it to prepare their class. The instructors then demonstrate and teach the technique at the club meeting and members have the opportunity to try out the technique using the kit. The kits contain everything scrapbookers need to make 2 to 4 layouts using the techique.

This is an excellent opportunity to learn something new and trying out something you thought you'd never do. An added bonus is you get to scrapbook with your friend and meet new ones too! Some of the techniques taught by Scrapaholix are:

Grungeboard * Acetate Pages * Glossy Accents * Chipboard * Ribbons * Stitching * Making Clear Albums * Using Templates, and so much more!!!!

Visit our webpage at Scrapaholix and find a club near you.

Don't see one close to you? How about starting one up. Check the website for details and contacts to get your club started today.