Using Up Your Ribbons, Brads, and Buttons

Hello everyone!  I think most of us can agree that as scrapbookers, we are chronic hoarders of supplies and papers and embellishments!  I know, I for one, can never get enough of all the cute stuff that is out there.  I have had a stash of little embellishments for years and years.  I wanted to share with you today a couple of thoughts on not only creating with ribbons, brads, and buttons, but also how I store these delectable scrapbooky tidbits!

First of all, I have about six large embroidery floss organizers in which I keep my ribbon and small embellishments organized.  The ribbon takes up three of the boxes and I keep each length on its on cardboard spool.  I sort the ribbon by color - one box houses reds, pinks, yellows, and oranges.  A second box is blues, greens, and purples and the third box is all my neutrals and metallics.

I also sort buttons and brads into color families as you can see from the small sample shown in the picture. Sorting these embellishments by color makes finding what I need, when I need it really fast and easy.

There are also brads, buttons, and ribbon embellishments that I keep in their original package until they are down to one or two.  I have quite a few chipboard sticker-backed embellishments that I classify as buttons because of their button-like appearance, such as these from My Mind's Eye.  Maggie Holmes has released two or three collections now with bow embellishments made from ribbon.  And brads can take all forms from simple little painted accents to these cute fabric covered numbers by Cosmo Cricket.

For the layout I'm sharing today, I decided to really challenge myself and stick to ONLY brads, buttons, and ribbon as my embellishments.  I started out by putting down several strips of paper and topped those with my title and my matted photos.

Next, came the fun part:  choosing amongst my embellishments for just the right ones!  Here's a sampling of what I pulled out of my stash.

Ultimately, I used my bits and pieces to create both a top and bottom border.  I confess, I did pull some twine into the mix to dress up the buttons a bit!

 

 

And just for a little variety, here is how I would use the same kinds of embelishments to create this cute little accent tag which could be later added to a card or a layout....

 

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  And I hope you are inspired to use up those little embellishments we all have floating about!


 
  Deedee Horton
   Creative Team Member of SCRAP YOUR SCRAPS 

Deedee's post really inspired me to pull out my buttons. I don't have a huge collection, and most of mine are pretty simple, but I do have quite a few of them and I don't use them much. I am really loving the rainbow trend and I have a thing for clouds, so I decided to make a card with a rainbow theme. I started pulling out patterned paper to make my rainbow, but I remembered Deedee's challenge to herself and put it all back, grabbing my rarely used ribbon instead.

I didn't take photos of the process because I was sneaking in a few minutes of crafting while my children miraculously slept at the same time! Instead I'll explain what I did and show you the finished card:

I used a scrap of pale blue cardstock as a card front and small pieces of redline tape to adhere the top of each of the ribbon strips down. Then I pulled them (mostly) straight and added another strip to the bottom. This means that the middles aren't adhered which adds a bit of movement and dimension to the card. Lastly I chose buttons to match and stuck them on with glue dots. A bit of Glossy Accents squirted underneath assures they won't be going anywhere. Two cloud diecuts, a bit of dimensional adhesive and a Lawn Fawn stamp finished off this super easy card. I put it on a white card base to help the colors pop.

I am definitely going to challenge myself to get more buttons and some of my decorative brads o to a layout soon too! Thanks, Deedee for such great inspiration!

  Tiffany O'Grady
   Creative Team Member of SCRAP YOUR SCRAPS 

Everybody Loves a Party: Using Party Supplies On a Layout

We celebrated my daughters second birthday in June, and after we were packing up I got to looking at all the crepe paper that we have.  I have a plethora of crepe paper, and it was kind of sad that I only use it for parties, since you get sooooo much on roll!  I decided to use it up here to make a cute backdrop for a party layout!

I gathered some patterned papers along with any crepe paper that matched with my photos for this layout.  I decided to make this a two page layout, since this was for my daughters first birthday and I had done a two page layout for my sons first birthday.  I'm not the biggest fan of two-pagers, I just find them more difficult to get a cohesive look in general, but I was willing to give it a try again!

 

(Please excuse the messy glass mat, I use it for painting as well!)  I started by laying down a strip of tape and then proceeded to accordion fold the crepe paper along the tape line.

Here is a close-up of the accordion folding.  Nothing fancy going on here, it doesn't need to be perfect!

Ta Da!

And here it is with all five colours.

I used the finished half to line up where to put the tape so that both sides would match up as well as possible.  This really wasn't a very long process, I just sat down and put on a show while I accordion folded to my hearts content.  (P.S don't get crepe paper wet!  Also, don't feed it after midnight ;p )

Here is the final product! Click on the image to see it larger. 

   Cathy Martin
    Creative Team Member of SCRAP YOUR SCRAPS 

Fall In Love With Your Old Stash Items Again

Do you have items in your stash that you feel like you have fallen out of love of?
At one stage, you purchased because you liked something about it, but now you have forgotten what ever that was. And now you are stuck with these products that you don't know what to do with them, but don't want to feel like you have wasted your money, either.

Well, my name is Carlie Hamilton, and I am determined to use my stash, even those items I no longer love!

In this post I am going to share a few ideas I have to help you to fall in love with your old stash items again.


Alter It To Make It Feel New

With this technique, get your old embellishments and change it so that it feels new again. Cover it with washi tape, or paint it to change it's colour. This is great with things such as chipboard and more. By changing the product's colour, you can turn an obviously outdated product to something that is more in line with your style today.

Another technique that you can do with paper is to gesso over it. Gesso is a primer used in painting to create a surface that is easy to work with. If you don't have gesso (and maybe you don't want to buy it just yet) you could get a similar look with white acrylic paint. Use a paintbrush to create a light layer of paint over your paper, which will dull down the colours and the pattern, giving you a great new surface to work with. If you really hate that old paper, you can make the layer not-so-light!


Consider colours

When I am looking at older papers, often they have motifs on them that I am no longer interested in. But, if you are like me, often you don't want to just throw these pieces of paper away.

One thing you can do is to use this paper to build up layers on your pages. Consider the colours on your paper and look past the motifs. I use these pieces of paper to create matts for my photos or elements on the page. Sometimes I really hate the paper, so I have just a sliver showing. But you know what, it adds a nice bit of depth to my pages, and it is so satisfying using up that old stuff!


Just Use It

Speaking of feeling satisfied, there is nothing like that feeling of accomplishment when you use an old embellishment that you are not exactly in love with any more.

For me, I am not that into eyelets anymore. They are just a bit of a pain in the bum, and I would rather just use an enamel dot, or even a brad. To use an eyelet I have to get out my tools to make holes and set the eyelet... ugh. It makes me annoyed just thinking about the process.

But I do have eyelets left in my stash. I like to mix old products with new things on my pages to keep my stash fresh, so every so often I'll make an effort to use my eyelets. And when I see my old products that just work with my new products, it suddenly looks and feels fresh and new again.

So get out your older stuff that you are maybe not so in love with anymore, and match it up with your new stuff. Placing it on a page, at the very least you will get some satisfaction using up your old stash. But at the most, you will actually find a new love or discover what it was that made you fall in love with the product in the first place.

So get it out and use it!



Carlie Hamilton
Creative Team Member of SCRAP YOUR SCRAPS

Hello everybody, Solange-Isbaha here! I wanted to share a brilliant idea by Janet-CherryPicker, because I thought that it fit perfectly the topic: you can use this idea with scraps, or with papers considering only the color, like Carlie suggested... But of course, you can also use papers you love, like Janet-CherryPicker did!
So here is Janet-CherryPicker's project: thanks for sharing your ideas with us, Janet!

As any good scrapper, I wanna take supplies with me when we travel.
For car trips I used to take along plenty of print magazines, so after they started to
wean I had to come up with something else. I love being able to do something
'scrap-related' for those long car drives. The past few months I have been
using this kit. Super simple, super compant and super fun.

Before leaving, I use these punches and my scraps. I also use a circle punch too.

I punch out many pieces til I get a nice assortment.

Add in my Tombow glue and place it all in a Iris container. It measures about 10.5 "x 10.5".
This is what it looks like when I am using it. Just open and start creating.
It fits perfectly on my lap. No space needed.

While in transit from place to place, I do keep items bagged separately,
After the first trip, I soon realized I don't want to organize this bin every time I open it...lol

And here is what I make. Lots and lots of embellishments.
I have plans for these to go onto notecards for gift sets. But you could use them
for gift bags, tags, layouts, bookmarkers, just about anything.

Some close-ups. I just mix and match whatever is in my bin,
GREAT way to use scraps. I make 2 different sizes of scallop styles. 

 

 

And that is my current 'On the Road' Scrap Kit.
The only thing I bought was the Iris container- Hobby Lobby- the rest is just
'stash' items. Gotta love that.

 Janet-CherryPicker
 Guest contributor for SCRAP YOUR SCRAPS

Adding Interest to Die Cuts

Hi there, Nicole here today to talk about adding interest to die cuts.  These can be pre-made die cuts/embellishments or cut from a manual or digital die cutting machine.  I cannot seem to get enough of using die cuts in my projects.  I love the ease of use, and the small touch of additional interest they add to the page.  My favorite thing to do with them is to make them my own by adding just a few small things to help them support my theme or even just convey a mood or not look flat against the rest of the elements on my project(s).

So lets discuss some of my favorite ways to add interest to die cuts:

• Inking
• Stamping
• Distressing
• Embossing
• Layer additional items

I almost always ink things on my layouts.  Everything from the papers and photos, to the stickers and die cuts.  So you will see this very often in the examples below.

I love adding titles cut from cardstock or pattern papers to my pages, but I often find that they seem to be little "flat"compared to the page as a whole.  Thanks to amazing scrappers online and in classes, I have learned so many things that help titles pop off the page and look cohesive with all the other elements I have used.

Here I have used double layers of the actual cut, inked the edges and stamped over the title:

Double layers, text stamping, ink on the edges (lizard is also inked and stamped).

 

Here I ran the letters through my Big Shot with an embossing folder for some texture and inked with orange ink for a subtle tone on tone effect.  I also layered the smaller phrase on the actual title.  (Additional idea - wrap twine around die cuts, like this arrow)

Here is another example of using an embossing folder on die cuts.  (Additional idea - add Glossy Accents to elements for detail, see watermelon)

I love how text can be both informative and add interest.  Below is computer printed journaling with stamped phrases.

Stamping is a fun and easy way to add information, color and interest to die cut shapes.  Here I also added some hemp twine and a small chipboard heart for additional layers to a pre-made tag.

Here is an example of adding different details to help support your page.  I inked the edges, stamped a phrase, added a sticker and some enamel dots.  Just like you would ink and embellish your page(s), applying some of those same ideas to smaller elements on your projects can help add interest and bring everything together for a cohesive look.

I hope these ideas inspire you to take another look at your die cuts and how they can add more interest to your projects and become more personal for YOU.

 

Nicole Bingaman

Contributor for Scrap Your Scraps

Use up that Ribbon!

When I decided to do a major purge on my ribbon, it was difficult for me to toss out those small pieces.

So I made up my mind that anything smaller than 12" - 6" would go in a jar, everything else got wrapped around tongue depressors. Those tiny, tiny, tiny pieces of ribbon got tossed.
I happened to be on Pinterest and saw a card that I thought would be perfect for those smaller pieces of ribbon. I tried to make it my own and hope you will do the same.

I did not put a sentiment on my card because I felt that this particular card could be used for just about ANY occasion and would be great to have a bunch of these on hand for that spur of the moment when "I need a card."

My card  is standard 5 1/2" x 4 1/4". I then cut my card base 1/2" smaller on the top and on the side. Which of course will then give you a 1/4" frame when put on your card.

I eye balled the center of my card very lightly drew a circle approximately the size of a quarter. I used that as a guide for placing my ribbon pieces. I found that if I kept crossing my ribbon over each other that my card center was becoming VERY thick, so I decided to cut small pieces and just stagger them around the circumference of the circle I had.

Once I was happy how the ribbon was laid out, I found a button, threaded it and glue dotted that to the center of the ribbon. Once again you can use just about anything to get the same effect: washi tape, ribbon, thin scraps of paper, for your starburst effect.

For the center you can use a button or even a flower.

 

   June Geraci 
   Creative Team Member of SCRAP YOUR SCRAPS 

 
When I saw June's post about using up your ribbon, I knew I needed to listen! I hardly ever use ribbon on my layouts and cards.  I'm not sure why, but it just doesn't seem to be my "go to" embellishment.  So I decided to take up June's challenge and use some of my ribbon.

I took a 6x4 card and punched holes on the side.  Then I found some ribbons that matched the colors in the card.  All I did was put the ribbon through the punched holes and tie a knot.  This is what I came up with:

 

I had some fun pictures of my nieces at our Fourth of July celebration.  So I adhered the 6x4 card onto another sheet of paper and added some word art.

  

This is the final layout.  It is a 12x12 pocket page with the top pocket being 12x6 and the bottom having three pockets which are 4x6.

 

 Thank you June for inspiring me to use up my ribbon!

  Sandi Chromey 
   Creative Team Member of SCRAP YOUR SCRAPS 

 

 I chose to grab some different ribbon scraps and make some embellishments for a page I was working on for 3 Scrappy Boys.

 I just put a bunch of strong adhesive on some scrap paper and laid down my ribbon scraps in coordinating colors.
 Then I ran the sheets of paper through my Big Shot manual die cutting machine with a circle steel rule die and it cut like butter!

 

 

   Nicole Bingaman 
   Creative Team Member of SCRAP YOUR SCRAPS