Create Your Own Embellishments

Hi Everyone,

Just recently I bought a couple of packages of some really cute, fun embellishments.  When I got them home and opened up the package, I took a closer look and realized how simple these would be to make myself.  

So out came my supplies ~ scissors, decorative scissors, scrap pieces of paper, 1" circle punch, 1 1/2" circle punch, 2" scalloped and circle punch, and adhesives.  I found some 1" circle free printables that I thought would work great for this project.  I went through my paper scraps to find some strips that would coordinate with all these circles.  I assembled them using a foam dot to put the two different circles together and make it pop.  Here are the finished products: 

For these, I used just one strip of paper and my 2" scalloped punch to make them look just a little different.  

These embellishments are simple to make and could be used to dress up your 3x4 and 4x6 Project Life cards, use on a layout, or for card making.  I took one of the embellishments and  added it to a 3x4 card I cut from a larger index card backed on a crimped piece of blue card stock:

I hope I've inspired you to start using your stash to make your own embellishments.  Let your imagination and creativity run loose and have some fun!  Thanks for stopping by.  

 


Sandi 
Creative Team Member of SCRAP YOUR SCRAPS 

Small Business Spotlight: Things That Shine

Today we have the pleasure of teaming up with Things That Shine, a great Etsy shop owned by Ashley Calder. She has a post on her blog today too, so hop on over there and give her some love!

A little about Things That Shine:
Your place for scrapbooking embellishment kits and washi tape by the foot! Things That Shine offer unique collections of beautifully co-ordinated embellishments for your layouts or Project Life/ pocket page scrapbooking spreads. We carefully collect and assemble your kits with just the right amount of everything -- we do the time, so your memories can shine!

A little about Ashley:
Ashley is an author, scrapbooker, former scientist, and is rather fond of shiny things. She lives in Ontario, Canada with her husband Paul, their four daughters, and three cats. Her store, Things That Shine, offer unique collections of co-ordinated embellishments. You can see Ashley's work on her blog, Things That Shine, see stuff she likes on Pinterest, and see cats, kids and usually a messy desk on Instagram.

The Challenge:
We are so excited that Ashley and Things That Shine are sponsoring a challenge as well, and several of our contributors had a great time playing along. The challenge is to go to Pinterest, find an image that you love and that inspires you, and make something based on it! You are welcome to use the images that inspired our team, or to use your own Pinterest boards for inspiration. Upload your entry at the link below by September 1st.

The Prize:
One lucky participant will win a Happy Day Kit from Things That Shine! Doesn't that just look gorgeous?

Link Up Your Entry Here!

If you play along, here's a badge to display on your blog if you'd like:

Ashley was kind enough to send some goodies to a few of our contributors, and here are their takes on the challenge.

Cathy Martin

Hi there, I was so delighted to get participate in this fun Pinterest challenge issued by Ashley Calder, our sponsor for the month and the owner of the terrific shop Things That Shine on Etsy.  If you haven't checked out her shop do it now, right now!  She has so many terrific and unique embellishments for scrapbooking/cardmaking/pocket scrapping, etc.  As part of her challenge I received a package from her containing a variety of fun embellishments to work with.  Here is a quick pic of my haul from Things That Shine!

There were actually a few more awesome pieces, but some little girl got into my package and I'm now missing them.  The good news though is that, if they haven't completely disappeared then I'll still have some of her awesome stuff for another layout!

As part of her challenge we were to be inspired by our Pinterest boards, so I went through my extensive board of scrapbooking inspiration and found this photo from the Studio Calico gallery.  Check out the original here.

And here is my layout inspired by that layout and Ashleys products:

Her items were so eclectic and unique that I loved finding ways to incorporate them into my vision.  I used pretty much exclusively her items with a few pieces from my stash thrown in.  Thank you so much Ashley for this opportunity, and I can't wait to pick up some of her wonderful products!

   Cathy Martin
    Creative Team Member of SCRAP YOUR SCRAPS 

Nicole Bingaman

I chose a few of the items sent to me and some scraps leftover from a kit club to create a 4x6 and 3x4 pocket card to send to a friend.  I loved how easy it was to find coordinating elements and create some interesting and simple cards.

 

Nicole Bingaman

Contributor for Scrap Your Scraps

Deedee Horton

I am so excited to have had the opportunity to participate in a challenge from Ashley Calder at Things That Shine.  She sent me the most beautiful little pieces to create with!  Per her challenge, I pulled up an image on Pinterest that really inspired me. 

I love the variation of color in this piece and since I had a variety of colorful items to work with from Ashley's kit, I decided this would be a great background inspiration for a layout about my niece drawing with colorful sidewalk chalk.

With the exception of the confetti, letter stickers, and scalloped punches everything came from Things That Shine.  I'm really happy with how the layout turned out and hope that you've found as much inspiration from this Pinterest challenge as I have!

 

  Deedee Horton

   Creative Team Member of SCRAP YOUR SCRAPS 

Mandy Reedyk

Hello Everyone!

These two layouts are a challenge from Ashley Calder.  She was kind enough to send these goodies from her Etsy Shop  (Ashley Calder and the Things That Shine) so I could play along with the challenge. There were lots of inspirations from Ashley's Boards on Pinterest. Here is the PIN from Ashley's  boards that inspired the first layout, an this is one PIN from one of Ashley's boards that inspired my pocket page.

These are all the wonderful goodies I received from Ashley Calder!

As it seems lately with me I started my layout with some water colouring.  Just a bit of Gesso as the base so that my water colouring did not go though the paper and then some pink washed watercolours in a few different shades.

Some pretty pink sequins from my embellishment goodies from Ashley sprinkled around the top left corner and bottom right area.

I used three bright pink doilies in the background to ground my photos.  I also used this pretty flowered envelope to stick in the larger kraft tag.  I used some of the twine that had held the blue tulle   together from my kit to loop through the top of the tag.  

I die cut the word YOU and then heat set the neon pink super fine glitter from my kit. 

I also die cut the circle LOVE die and used the centre of one of the extra doilies as the background for it. I used the light pink crinkled streamer on the bottom of my photos.

Here is the final look at the finished layout.

Here is a second layout I created with most of the left over embellishments that I received from Ashley.  It's a pocket style layout.

I stapled three of these adorable tags from Ashley onto a 3x4 water coloured card and stamped on them using some black ink.

Lots of pretty shades of pink sequins from Ashley.  Again I just spread them all around this pink water coloured 3x4 card.

This 3x4 card is from a strip that my younger daughter had water coloured and given me to use in a layout.  The floss that I used are both from Ashley.  I loved the colours of both.  So pretty.

This 3x4 blue water coloured 3x4 card was also stitched on using more of the blue floss from Ashley. 

Ashley also sent me some pretty shades of green sequins that I used on this 3x4 card as well.

Just a little more bling with the sequins for my title 4x6 card.

This is the finished layout.  

I want to thank Ashley Calder for supplying these amazing and fun embellishments for me to create with.  I loved playing around with all the goodies.  You can visit Ashley's Etsy Shop (Things That Shine) and purchase some absolutely awesome embellishments to use on your next project.

Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY SCRAPPIN'!

Mandy Reedyk

Creative Team Member of SCRAP YOUR SCRAPS 

Thanks again to Ashley Calder and Things That Shine.

We hope you found some inspiration here today and that you will join in our challenge!

One sketch/several ways

Hello! Solange-Isbaha here. Today I wanted to share with you how I adapt sketches to fit my needs: I don't mind to use a cardsketch for a layout, a layout sketch for a card, or any of them for a mini album cover, a tag... anything!

Here is the sketch I drew (it started like a tag sketch in my mind):

Lastly, I kept seeing more and more beautiful projects with denim pockets, and I created a Pinterest board about it. This is what inspired my sketch!

But finally, none of my projects followed closely my own sketch...

So I had this mini album: I was stuck about how embellish the cover. So I decided to use a sketch.

I moved the lace along the striped bande. I also moved the doily (smaller) onto the pocket and I made the pocket straight, but for the other items, I kept them about the same than on the sketch.

The doily is embossed with white embossing powder.

Then I decided to make a card. The tip when using non cardsketch for cards id to drop out items, to not have a too busy card. 

This sketch wasn't really busy, but I couldn't make the doily fit on it, so I didn't use it. I still wanted something round to balance my sketch, so I used a button instead.

I also didn't use the tag, but I still wanted the ribbon, so I tied a ribbon onto my denim poket.

I added a frame, because I love frame, and because I wanted more colors and more patterns on my card, and I find that frames are usually an easier way to do that without overwhelming the project.

I gathered all my embellishments on the top of my pocket (inspired by my Pinterest board), and I used hearts instead of stars, but only because I wanted to use my favorite new stamps!

As the denim pocket was tilted, I felt that I needed to moved the sentiment on the right to restore the balance.

And here are two different projects inspired by the same sketch. I hope you enjoyed my tips and if you're inspired by my sketch, please, let me know.

   Solange-Isbaha

   SCRAP YOUR SCRAPS Contributor

Trending....Watercolor in Scrapbooking..Using Watercolors As Your Background

Hello Everyone

Today I'm sharing some layouts I've created with using Watercolour.  It seems that watercolours are everywhere in the paper crafting world.  I have been seeing a lot of watercolour patterned papers from a lot of manufacturers as well as designers using watercolour techniques in card making as well as scrapbook layouts.  I love the look of watercolour and so I wanted to create some backgrounds for my layouts using my watercolours.  I just have the Mr. Huey's watercolor palette and the Simply Art watercolour palette.  I am not an artists at all when it comes to paints etc. ... that's my mother-in-law who is very talented!  I just wanted to play around with different colours and see what I'd come up with.  I did not use any patterned papers.  Only white 12x12 card stock as my base.  I also did some stamping, sequins and thickers and chipboard stickers to finish the layouts.  For all of my layouts I used a thin coating of Gesso so that the water would not soak through the card stock and would sit on top.

Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY SCRAPPIN'!

  Mandy Reedyk
  Creative Team Member of SCRAP YOUR SCRAPS