Let's Talk Tuesday: Handstitching 101

I've gotten lots of questions and comments about the hand stitching that I've done on a lot of my projects recently so I thought I'd do a post all about hand stitching!

 Until recently I've done all my hand stitching on my own, without a template. I'd draw a simple shape with a pencil prepoke my holes and then stitch away. This is how I did the stitching on this layout:

For this layout I used a die cut as a template. I prepoked the holes around the die cut and then stitched.

 On this project I used a stitching template from American Crafts. These are one of the more expensive tools that I have on hand but I must say they are worth every penny. They make hand stitching so fun and so EASY.

 Aren't those leaves adorable? They're a little more than I wanted to draw so I used a template.

And last but not least remember that you can always draw or write what you'd like to hand stitch. All you have to do is write on your piece of paper lightly with a pencil, then poke the holes and then erase the pencil marks before you stitch. Poke holes closer together to make a curve and further apart when you're making a straight line.

Here are a few tips to make your hand stitching successful:

•  Always prepoke your holes (use either a needle or a paper piercer).

• Split a strand of embroidery floss in half (so you'll be using 3 threads). If you use all 6 threads at once it may tear the paper.

• When you start stitching tape the thread to the back of your page to hold it in place, tape the end of the thread when you finish as well.

Do you hand stitch on your projects? or do you prefer to just use your sewing machine?

Paper Crafter's Library: Scrapbooking Projects as Home Decor

Happy Monday to you! I'm so excited to show you the full reveal of the projects that I created for the Paper Crafter's Library. I've known for a few months that this feature was coming up and I spent a lot of time trying to decide what I would like to feature on their blog. I finally decided that I would like to share a set of layouts and a couple of different ways to display them.
I love creating layouts to display in my home. I created these three layouts of my kiddos to display in my living room. Displaying layouts in addition to or instead of framed photos is so much more personal. It not only tells the story of the photo but it also shows my passion for memory keeping and love for my hobby. The display doesn't have to be fancy, one way to display them just uses plain small clothes pins and a string. 

I love the idea of being able to switch layouts out as I create them. When I take these down I will replace them with newer projects.

The second option is displaying them clipped to a clipboard with the clipboard either hanging on the wall or on an easel.

 

Baseball
Supplies Used:
Patterned Paper: Crate Paper, Chipboard: Crate Paper, Letter Stickers: American Crafts, Enamel Dots: My Minds Eye, Die Cuts: Crate Paper, Flair: Studio Calico, Date Stamp: American Crafts, Adhesive: American Crafts, Shipping Tag: Office Supply, Sewing Machine: Singer, Thread: Coats & Clark, Stapler: American Crafts, Wood Veneer: Crate Paper, Cardstock: American Crafts, Pen: American Crafts, Ink: Clearsnap

 

This clipboard sits on an easel in my living room. I change out the projects that I display there often.

Third Grade
Supplies Used:
Patterned Paper: Crate Paper, Die Cuts: Crate Paper, Gems: Crate Paper, Stapler: American Crafts, Letter Stickers: American Crafts, Die Cut Machine: Silhouette, Digitial Die Cut File: Lori Whitlock, Adhesive: American Crafts, Sewing Machine: Singer, Thread: Coats & Clark, Enamel Dots: My Minds Eye, Vellum: Crate Paper, Shipping Tag: Office Supply, Flair: Panda Eight Designs, Metallic Paper: Chickaniddy Crafts, Gems: Crate Paper, Pen: American Crafts

His Little Bike

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Crate Paper, Wood Veneer: Crate Paper, Chipboard: Crate Paper, Die Cuts: Crate Paper, Stapler: American Crafts, Washi Tape: My Minds Eye, Date Stamp: American Crafts, Enamel Dots: My Minds Eye, Letter Stickers Studio Calico, Acrylic Letters: Crate Paper, Font: Lori Whitlock Perfect Type, Sewing Machine: Singer, Thread: Coats & Clark, Adhesive: American Crafts, Flair: Studio Calico

Do you display projects in your home or do your projects go directly into albums? Or if you're like me do most of your projects go into very large stacks until there's no more room to stack them and then you finally spend an entire day organizing and putting projects into albums? ;)

Mother's Day Gift idea with a Tutorial

It's almost Mother's Day. I've been working on a little surprise for my mom. I often give mini albums as gifts, especially to grandparents. Grandmas and Grandpas always love pictures of their grandkids! This Mother's Day I wanted to shake things up and try framing a mini album so my mom can display it at home or in her office. It's very simple to frame a mini album. Today, I'll show you how :)

I made my own album out of cardstock. I needed to make sure that it fit in the frame. The frame I wanted to use holds a 4x6 photo so I cut my cardstock a little bit smaller and made sure to leave room at the top for the rings that hold the album together. I have 3 kids and I wanted each of them to have two pages  in the album (one for a photo and one for journaling).

Most of the supplies I used for this album came from Dear Lizzy's Polka Dot Party Collection.

 

Each page was simple. On the top page I included a photo and on the bottom I created a page with a journaling pocket and card. Each of my kids wrote a message to their Grammy and placed it in the pocket.

When the album was complete I punched holes in the top. I held the pages together with some paper clamps while I punched the holes.

After I had the holes punched I covered the back part of the frame. The portion behind the glass where the photo would go with patterned paper. (I left the glass out of the frame entirely.)

I attached the album to the frame with double sided tape

That's all there is to it! My kids are so excited to give this to their Grammy because they helped to make it.

And here's the finished project:

What do you think? I think my mom will love it. The entire project took me about an hour. Not long at all.
Thanks for stopping by today!

Let's Talk Tuesday {Lines}

If you're looking for the American Crafts Blog hop & GIVEAWAY you can find it HERE
Hey there! I'm so glad you stopped by today! Today I'm starting a new blogging series called Let's Talk Tuesday

In this series we'll talk about anything and everything related to scrapbooking (including but not limited to); design, product, tools, and techniques. I would love to feature your questions and comments in this series. Please click the "contact me" button to the right if you have any questions or comments.

The first topic for Let's Talk Tuesday is lines...
Lines you ask? Yes, lines. When I create a layout the first thing I think of is where do I want my line of focus and which direction do I want my line to go. Then I start creating a line with my photos, embellishments, and journaling across that line on my background paper.

My goal is to always have a line (or lines) to draw the readers eye across the page. I also try to add the focal point of the layout (usually the photo) directly into the line or very close to the lines.

I drew lines in Photoshop to a few of my older layouts to show you what I'm talking about. Let me show you some examples of a horizontal lines:

 This layout draws the eye across the page with the line of question marks to the right and left of the photo. 

 On this layout I wanted both the title and the main photo to be on the horizontal line.

On this one the photo and the main embellishments (the circles and the flower) are on the horizontal line.

Next, let's talk about diagonal lines. This is probably my favorite way to design and the way I design most often. Starting at one corner and working my way to the opposite corner with the focal points of the layouts falling very close or directly on the line.
Here are a few projects that start on the top left corner and go all the way to the bottom right corner:

 My main photo and title are both on the line.

 The photo in this one is right on the line with the title falling just under the line. The embellishment clusters draw the eye on the diagonal line.

All three major elements of this layout are on the line; the title, the photo, and the title.

Here are a couple of examples of layouts that start at the top right and go to the bottom left:

Once again on both of these layouts it's the embellishment clusters that lead the eye across the page.

Sometimes when I create layouts that are a little more complex I create more than one line. On these two layouts I created three lines with my focal points laying on at least one of the lines:

 This layout has the title and the photo within the lines. The journaling is outside of the lines but I wrote it with a silver pen so that it didn't distract from the photo and title. I wanted the focus to remain on the silly photo of my niece.

 When I create a project that has three embellishment clusters I *almost* always make sure my title, photo, and journaling are touching or are within the three lines. That is the case with this layout. *just a little note, this is probably my all-time favorite layout*

I hope you learned a little bit about lines today and how they work. Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions for "Let's Talk Tuesday" Simply click on the "contact me" button that is to the right and I'll get back to you ASAP!

Count Your Lucky Star at Paper Issues

Happy Monday! I'm back from a girls weekend with my sisters and my mom. We had an amazing time shopping, eating, and getting lots of laughs!

One of my favorite parts of our trip was a visit to the American Crafts offices/warehouse. It was amazing to see how things work behind the scenes. There warehouse is huge! I got to meet so many amazing people and even peeked in on a meeting about upcoming collections. The whole building was filled with inspiration. I left there so inspired and exited about what I learned! I think learning about what goes on behind the scenes will help me to do a better job! My sister-in-law snapped this photo just as we were leaving.

 It's not a great photo but I'll take it. (I should have taken my big camera though.)

Before I left I created a fun project for the latest issue at Paper Issues. There's a new issue starting today! It's all about Counting your Lucky Stars. I used tons of stars on this project from Bella's Lucky Stars Collection, the March Swag bag from Paper Issues, my Silhouette, and THIS font from Lori Whitlock. Lori is sponsoring this issue so if you link your project HERE you'll be entered for your chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Lori's store.

When I sketched this page out I didn't intend to have anything behind the photos. When I got the photos and stars on the background The photos seemed to get lost in the business of the stars and strips. I added a strip of patterned paper behind the photos but I didn't like the look of that either so I decided to do a water color wash with gelatos. I love how it made my photos stand out but it's not overwhelming either.

Thanks for stopping by, I so appreciate it! If you have any questions please let me know! I love hearing from my readers! Have a great Monday!