Think Crafts Blog - Craft Ideas and Projects - CreateForLess

So many of our current trendy crafts include some hand writing.  Crafts like scrapbooking, card making, collage, altered art, and even painting.  At the very least you should be adding your signature to your crafts as the finishing touch!

I don’t know about you, but as my god son would say, “My handwriting sucks!” I hated penmanship in school (dating myself with that word!) and most of the time I’m in such a hurry that I can’t even read what I’ve written.  Heck, I’m so lazy that my signature is just my first inital and last name and even then I’m just scribbling always remembering to dot the i! Many use the computer and its heavenly wealth of fonts to make their crafts neater, but the whole point of being creative is to express yourself through your own mind, heart, and hands.

My most treasured keepsake from my mother is a silly old calendar on which she wrote a little something each day. I treasure it because seeing her hand written words makes me feel close to her again.  If she had used a computer, rub on letters, or sticker phrases, I don’t think the calendar would have much meaning to me. 

Maybe I should have been a doctor, my handwriting is horrible!

Here are some handwriting tips I learned while teaching at a scrapbooking expo:

Practice. Practice. Practice! If you don’t write often, you’ll “forget” how.

Make it easier with light marks to keep your handwriting straight and not marching up and down or slanting.  Keep pencil marks light. A heavy line will leave imprints on your page and be more difficult to erase. These imprints can also affect the way the paper takes colored pencils, chalks and watercolors.

A heavy-handed eraser can take the color off white core paper, patterned or solid. Go lightly!

Small, evenly placed characters look clean and precise.

Concentrate.  Don’t be distracted.  Don’t be doing four things at once. You want your lettering to look good, so take the time to do it right.

Whether you use a template or create guidelines yourself, be diligent about it. A little advance planning goes a long way.

It is great to copy and emulate other fonts or people’s writing, but the point here is to get your writing in your books. So find a style that suits you. Are you someone who loves cursive? Do you write in all caps, all lowers, or a mixture of both? Make sure that your style shines through in your letters.

Sometimes the faster you go, the better the results can be.  Just making sure that you’re concentrating. If you’re trying for a carefree look, make your guide lines, pencil in your text for correct spacing, and then go for it!

Use a straight edge for your verticals. If you’re doing large letters for a title, or even for your journaling, use a ruler to make your verticals. This is a trick architects use to make their printing look prefect every time.

Use shadowing for a great effect. It softens the subtle imperfections in your writing, making your letters look better. Grab a Black and Platinum Zig Writer and create letters that jump off your page.

Do not be too critical of yourself. Hand lettering is not, and will never be, perfect. And it shouldn’t be.

Above is a mini scrapbook page I created for a pet scrapbook I’m keeping.  I used fabric paper and just did a little primitive stitching around the edges.  I wanted to add stitches for texture and to highlight the quilt in the photo. This page was featured on a segment of Creative Living (PBS) for CreateForLess.

I love sewing.  Machine sewing or hand sewing, there is something very soothing about working with fabric, thread, and a needle.  I gathered up a few random tips I’ve learned from my scrapbook sewing experiences and these tips can also be used for other paper crafts!

• When using a sew machine always use a scrap piece of paper (the same weight as the paper you want to use for your scrapbook page) and run some test stitches to get the feel of how your machine sews the paper.
• Experiment with the stitch width of your machine for different looks.
• Sewing machines do a great job for sewing a border.
• Sew on a pocket for your page.  Randomly sew across, up, down, and diagonal creating a unique background paper.
• Use any decorative stitches your sewing machine might have.
• Always make sure there is no adhesive on the front or back of anything you are sewing through.  Adhesive can jam up your sewing machine.
• When hand sewing you might have an easier time if you paper punch small holes where you plan to hand sew.  It’s much easier than hoping your needle can pierce the paper evenly.
• Threads and fibers can be used to dangle charms, paper roses and small buttons.
• When hand sewing you might want to lightly trace your pattern or design onto the scrapbook page or cardstock (for a card).
• Try using embroidery flosses and threads, tapestry yarn, tatting thread, metallic threads and specialty yarns.  The variety makes for a fun textured page or card.
• To keep fibers from unraveling dab just a touch of clear paper glue to each raw end.  You can also use a fray stopping liquid.
• A dab of clear nail polish will hold any knot and keep it from coming through the paper.  Make sure the knot is to the back of your scrapbook page.
• Try mixing colors and textures of fibers for a page.  Use thick fibers to frame your title, captions or photos.
• Don’t throw out your scraps of threads and fibers.  Keep them in a small box and use them for smaller projects.
• Pulling a thread over beeswax or thread conditioner will keep the threads from tangling and knotting.  Beeswax will stiffen thread, while thread conditioner will soften threads.

If you think you can get overwhelmed organizing your traditional film photos you’ll be doubly overwhelmed with how quickly digital images can add up!  It’s important to keep current and keep your digital images organized. I recently vowed to organize my digital photos and I must say I was tempted to just delete everything a few times.  My husband loves to take 5-6 photos of the same thing just to be safe and my eyes started to cross trying to figure out what to keep and what to delete.

I’m trying to organize my digital photos because I’ve fallen in love with the process of making slide show videos out of them.  So in love I even purchased a new computer for myself and after 20+ years of being quite PC, I bought a Mac!  I’ve not had much time to play around with my Mac other than organize the billion photos my husband has taken over the years, but I’m excited about it.  Another way to be creative.  And don’t think I’m going totally digital, I’ve been stocking up on my decorative papers to make cool CD and DVD envelopes!

Here’s my advice for organizing your digital photos and I’ve thrown in a few of our most recent photos for you to enjoy!

Immediately delete any images you don’t want while taking your photos.  This is the first step in organizing digital images.  If you aren’t happy with a photo, delete it, and re-shoot on the spot.

Don’t leave images in your digital camera.  Download the images into a folder that includes the event and date in the folder name.  This is also a good time to delete any images that you don’t want.

A sunset captured in Palau.

Once images are downloaded into a folder on your computer, make an index file.  Create a word document and use it to describe the event, people in the photos, location, date, and journaling.  This is a must! 

If you have time, rename the images to include name, date, location or other reminder of what the photo is about.  This can be done later, but it is important.  This is also another opportunity to delete any unwanted images or to send images to others via e-mail.  The longer you wait to organize digital images the more likely you are to forget the details like location, date, and even people in the photos.

The new addition to my craft studio my husband is building.

It’s a good idea to back-up your photo inventory on a timely basis so you don’t lose any images if your computer has problems.  It’s a good idea to keep different categories of CD or DVD copies too.  

There are several excellent software programs that help keep your digital photos organized.  Programs like Greenstreet Digital Photo Album Deluxe, OnTheGoSoft Photo Backup and Preclick Photo Organizer.  These programs organize, backup, and even allow for digital albums.

A huge grouper we saw diving!

Use subfolders for key events like birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and other annual events that you know you will take photos.  The main folder should have the event name and all subfolders will have the year.  For example:  Main Folder is Maria’s Birthday; Subfolders are 2003, 2004, 2005, and so on. Vacation folders should include location and year with an index that includes specific dates and people.

Ken's 50th birthday.

If photo editing, make sure you keep the original image intact.  Make a copy of the image you want to photo edit and work with that.  The more you photo edit, the more the image loses some quality so it’s important that key original images be kept as backup.

One of our orchids in bloom.

My German Roots

Under the flap, you can read the German translated to English.

Create a family tree as the opening page of this special kind of scrapbook.  There are scrapbook papers designed for family trees, but you can also use genealogy forms as well. Themes to inspire: The Day You Were Born, Family Women, Weddings, Faces Of Our Family Tree, Grandparents, Cousins.

Family heritage color schemes are usually black, white, cream, brown, or green; however, don’t feel tied to the traditional colors.  There may be colors that are significant to your family and those are the colors you should consider.

Try to get journaling from members of the family to include in this type of scrapbook.  Handwriting is very important in a family heritage scrapbook and you should try to preserve every family member’s handwriting even if you must search out samples.

Heritage motifs include trees, leaves, monogram lettering, scrolling, and line art.  Usually embellishment is simple with a focus on photos and journaling.

Family documents are usually included in family heritage albums.  Try to include birth certificates, birth announcements, naturalization papers, wedding invitations or announcements, marriage certificates, death certificates, and any other significant document to your family.

Include a few This Day In History time lines to show how your family fits into the world’s history.  You can download free timelines from many web sites.  Include things like the price of bread, a gallon of milk, or a gallon of gas.

Try to get all branches of the family involved.  You may discover photos and documents you didn’t know still existed.  Plus the input of many family members will make journaling easier and more interesting.

Take a genealogy class or discover more about genealogy online.  There are so many resources to help you keep track of family members. 

Have each family member create their own special scrapbook page to be included in your family heritage album!

Every Family Has A Story…

Although I’ve scrapbooked most of my life, recently I’ve been focusing on family heritage albums and pages.  I found as I was sorting my older photos that I was very curious as to who all these strangers were in my photographs and just how I was related to each one! Genealogy helps us map all our family lines to create family trees.  Family trees make understanding our family connections a little easier. 

A family tree page can make things very straightforward for you.  The page has spaces for writing the names of members of your family tree including the family relationship (grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins). 

You can also use the Family Tree Guidebook, which is an easy to read, easy to understand handbook for helping you create a lush family tree.

I’d also like to recommend the following websites, all of which are filled with great genealogy information, resources, printable forms, and research tips. Cyndi’s List is world famous and very user friendly.  Resources For Family Historians provides endless help in many areas of family research.

My favorite family heritage story is also a little embarrassing.  I wrote a book called, Creating Your Family Heritage Scrapbook: From Ancestors to Grandchildren, Your Complete Resource and Idea Book for Creating a Treasured Heirloom, with an editor I’d been working with for years.  Once the book was published, my cousin Jeff, our family’s serious family historian called and asked me why I didn’t tell him I’d written the book with a relative.  Basically I told my dear cousin Jeff that was the craziest thing I’d ever heard in my life, I’d written the book with an editor who happened to be a friend, not a family member. 

I even called my editor to tell him just how crazy my cousin Jeff was!  Not fifteen minutes later the editor called back to say he’d checked with his aunt (his family historian who happened to be a genealogist) and it was indeed a fact that we were related.  Our great great grandfathers were brothers.  How wild was that!  I humbly called my very sane cousin Jeff to tell him what a brilliant family historian he was!  Families do have the most wonderful stories to tell, we all just need to be quiet and listen.

Do you have a family heritage story to tell?  Have you created a family history or heritage page or scrapbook?  Please share it with us. And if it turns out we are related? I promise not to call you crazy!