Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

By Cardmaking & Scrapbook Layout Contributor, Peg from the blog Peg’s Crafting Corner.

Q1. How do I create a vintage look on a layout or card?

A1. A good starting point to achieving a vintage look is by inking the edges of your projects in a brown or sepia ink. Another easy thing to do is to distress the edges of your paper. Once you have them distressed you can ink the distressed edges or leave them alone. If you are doing any stamping on the project you can stamp the image in the brown or sepia ink to give it an old look. Using tan, yellows or brown papers, too, is another great way to achieve a worn, vintage look.

 Q2. Do you have any organization tips?

A2. CreateForLess carries a large selection of organizational and storage items for all of your craft supplies. Some of them are created to fit into your craft space to store things like small tools, ink pads, embellishments and other things in. There are some storage pieces that are designed to help you store your paper especially those 12 x 12 sheets. Don’t forget that sometimes you will want to take your supplies with you so those made with handles and divided sections are good for on the go.

 Q3. What can I use to temporarily mount unmounted stamps?

A3. Tack ‘N Peel are reusable sheets that help your rubber stamps cling to the acrylic or wood block and are the perfect answer to using those unmounted stamps. The adhesive side creates a bond between the sheet and the block which helps keep the sheet from moving and when the stamp is applied you don’t have to worry about it falling off or moving while you stamp the image.

 Q4. How do I keep the intricate pieces from sticking in my dies?

A4. The answer to this is an easy one.  Blue Painter’s Tape.  Since it’s made not to permanently stick and won’t harm surfaces it’s a great choice to use on your dies.  Simply cover the intricate areas on your dies before placing the paper over the top.  Run it through your die cut machine and once you’re done pull the tape off.  Those little pieces pop right out!

Q5. I like to use my distress inks and spritz them with water to use on things, but my paper curls up.  What can I do about that?

A5. The first thing is to make sure that you are not oversaturating the paper.  Watercolor paper is good to use for this technique as it is made to hold water without becoming too wet.  It is made so that when water is placed on it the water sits on the surface and doesn’t bleed the color into the fibers making them less intense and since all the liquids aren’t absorbing into the paper it doesn’t have the chance to saturate and cause the paper to curl.

By DCWV Diary

I knew just the thing to work on this afternoon to get me out of my manic Monday…the Mango Frost Stack & Embellishments!  The colors in this stack are gorgeous…tangerine, yellows, melon pink, greens and blues. A super versatile line of stuff if you ask me!!!

I really love this line because of all of the fun embellishments that coordinate with it!! It’s like candy in my scrappy candy store

Used a 1 3/4 circle punch to punch out circles to fill my 12×12 page. I punched 2 circles from each pattern and got a total of 49 circles.

A great way to get the adhesive on all of these little circles, my Xyron Creatopia Machine! LOVE THIS THING!!! Had no idea all of the things it could do!!

This is how it came out of the machine, just peeled back the clear top and all had a perfect layer of adhesive.

It’s just too pretty, had a hard time covering any of it up!! This is definitely a “happy stack”

And here is the finished page! Just added 3 pictures and 2 embellishments. Love how different this layout feels because of the circles. It’s like making your own patterned paper!

It’s National Scrapbook Day! Take this day to celebrate because it’s an official Craft Holiday. Spend time with your paper stacks, embellishments and photos!

Looking to share your layouts? Enter your scrapbook layout in our Scrapbook Layout Contest to win a shopping spree! The entered layouts will be voted on by the most Likes on our Facebook page to determine the top 3 prizes. Like CreateForLess to stay in the loop!

Enjoy these creative layouts!

By Cardmaking & Scrapbook Layout Contributor, Peg from the blog Peg’s Crafting Corner.

The New American Crafts Neapolitan Dear Lizzy Collection is so scrumptiously fun that my imagination went wild when I received it.  I am so excited to share some of the fun new things in the line with all of you!  I know once you see it you’ll have to have it.  I heard recently the colors of this line being described as candy coated and after hearing that I knew the perfect picture I had to use to create this layout. 

Many years ago, I went to school and became a Certified Chocolatier and had this picture of one of my chocolate pieces lying around waiting to be scrapped. After hearing the comment about the colors in this paper line I knew I wanted to use it to go with this picture.  Think of all of the fun pictures that you have waiting to scrap yet and you will soon find that many of them are just waiting for the new American Crafts Neapolitan line, too! 

The New American Crafts Neapolitan Dear Lizzy Collection Used Here:

• American Crafts Neapolitan Dear Lizzy Patterned Paper- Lucky Laugh & Cheerful Notes
• American Crafts Neapolitan Dear Lizzy Large Tags
• Thickers:  Neapolitan Dear Lizzy- Splendid
• American Crafts Neapolitan Dear Lizzy Brads
• American Crafts Accent & Phrase Stickers Book
• American Crafts Ruffle Paper
• American Crafts Neapolitan Vellum Sheet:  Sparkling Smile
• Additional Craft Tools Used:
• EK Success 1″ Circle Cutter
• Martha Stewart Travel Trimmer
• Martha Stewart Scoring Board
• Favorite wet glue: I used Tombow Mono Aqua Glue
• Favorite Taper Runner

Often striped paper just isn’t the look we are wanting on a layout, but it could be and we just don’t think about it.  Turn the striped paper so the stripe runs horizontally.  This will always give your layouts a new and creative look because we often don’t think of turning a striped paper in a different direction.   The pastel stripes in the Neapolitan line make it fun to do that! 

I love the new Ruffle Paper in the line.  It can be used as a whole sheet for the background of a layout or trimmed down like I did here and used as an embellishment strip.  It is easy to use in a paper trimmer and can be trimmed as long or wide as you want it.  How fun is that? 

I used my Martha Stewart Scoring Board to score the Ruffle Paper every 1″ and then folded peaks and valleys so that it would stand up off the paper to create a raised dimensional look.  I added two strips of wet glue on 2 of the peaks and glued my picture which was adhered to the dotted paper from the Cheerful Notes sheet. 

I punched a circle from the Sparkling Smiles Vellum sheet and put one of the fun matching brads through it to create a layered look and to fill an empty spot on the layout.  I love that the paper punches so easily and the additional look that is added by using the brads in it! 

The stickers are fantastic!  There are so many different sayings and pictures to add just the right touch to any card or layout.  I had no trouble finding a saying that would work with my chocolate shoe picture.  In fact, I had trouble deciding what one to use so I included several and by adding one of the tags (you get 12 in the package) it allowed me to add more stickers.  

I can’t say how much I love the letters.  The whimsical cursive letters are perfect for titles or whatever you imagination dreams up!  The smaller foam ones add a sharp contrast to the cursive ones to make a statement.  It just doesn’t get any more fun than that! 

The new American Crafts Neapolitan Dear Lizzy line is so much fun all you will want to do is to create with it and not do anything else!

By Cardmaking & Scrapbook Layout Contributor, Peg from the blog Peg’s Crafting Corner.

Around my home we always seem to have great opportunities to take pictures of wildlife.  Every year we have several different types of butterflies that enjoy these purple phlox I have planted.  Butterflies are one of my favorite things to take pictures of and make into layouts.  Often though, it is hard to see them in a picture.  Do you have pictures like that?  Where there is so much in the picture it’s hard to see the subject?  There’s a fun way to draw attention to them in your layouts…frame them!      

Supplies Used:

• Bo Bunny Gabrielle Flight 12 x 12 Paper
• Butterfly Embellishments from the Gabrielle Line
• Coredinations Black Magic Cardstock-Orange
• Coredinations Sanding Tool
• Dust Buddy Tack Cloth
• Lagoon Stickles
• EK Layering Heart Punch
• EK Large Butterfly Punch
• Light Yellow Cardstock
• Light Orange Cardstock
•  Orange Coredinations Hocus Pocus Cardstock
• Heritage Cricut Cart
• Cricut Die Cut Machine
• Favorite Adhesive and Tape Runner

     Start by attaching your photos to your layout using your favorite tape runner. 

Punch 1 heart per picture on your layout from the light yellow cardstock using the EK Layering Heart Punch set to the middle heart and lay aside the solid heart to use on another project.   Take the open heart pieces, which will be the frames for the subjects in your photos, and go around the top of the heart with the Lagoon Stickles.  Lay all of the pieces aside to dry.  

Using the EK large butterfly punch, punch 2 butterflies from the orange Coredinations cardstock and sand the wings  with the sanding tool inward leaving the body of the butterfly and antennae black.  Wipe off the pieces using the tack cloth to remove any leftover dust and then run a line of Lagoon Stickles down the center for the body and allow to dry. 

Next, you will use your cricut and the Heritage cart to cut the words “Butterfly Love”.  Set the size to cut to 1″ and cut the words, “Butterfly Love” using the font key on the keypad and the light yellow cardstock. Then, cut them again using the font key and the shadow key turned on together to cut the letters from the light orange cardstock.  Adhere the font letters onto the shadow cut letters using your favorite adhesive. 

Assemble all of the pieces on your layout using your favorite adhesive and tape runner.  Don’t forget to place your hearts around the subjects in your pictures that you love.  On this layout I placed the word “butterfly” unevenly to make it look like  it was floating like a butterfly would; which added extra interest to the title, too.  Have fun adding special features like this to your layouts, also! 

Next time you have the opportunity to capture great photos don’t hesitate to get them even if they are further away.  When you do your layout you can add a frame to bring attention to what you love about the photo! 

By Cardmaking & Scrapbook Layout Contributor, Peg from the blog Peg’s Crafting Corner.

I have fun experimenting with different scrapbooking materials and one bad habit I have is to save the packaging from the embossing folders that I buy. One day, I came across them and decided to try making my own embellishments with the leftover packaging. I used my Cuttlebug Embossing Machine, a floral embossing folder, my favorite color of Stickles & viola

Supplies Used:

• K & Company Spring Blossom 12 x 12 Paper Pad
• Yellow and Blue Cardstock
• Stickles:  Glam Pink, True Blue, Firefly and Yellow
• Tombow Mono Liquid Glue
• Weathered Wood Distress Ink Pad
• Martha Stewart Monarch Butterfly Punch
• Fiskars Fingertip Craft Knife
• Self Healing Mat
• Cuttlebug
• Fancy Corners Embossing Folder Set
• Favorite Tape Runner
• Scissors
• Ruler

Remove the packaging from the embossing folders and cut a piece large enough to fit the folder with a pair of scissors.  Run the folder through the Cuttlebug using the “A” plate and 2 “B” plates.

This is what you will have after doing this step. 

On the reverse side, the debossed side, color in the pattern using the Glam Pink and Firefly Stickles.  Allow to it to completely dry.  If you have some areas that you missed you can go over them again to fill them in.  Use the Yellow Stickles to put a dot for the flower center on the embossed (top) side of the piece.

We often use a mat behind the photo, but I have a second way that I like to bring on the attention…by adding a frame around the picture.  Begin by measuring just the picture; not counting any border that you have left around the outside. The photos I used measured 2 7/8″ x 2 7/8″ so I cut a 3 ½” x 3″ piece of yellow cardstock.  Next, measure the photo from the edge to the side of the actual photo and then measure that on the all sides of the cardstock and connect the lines.  It will give you a frame that looks like this. 

Using the penciled in lines as your cutting guide, cut the inside of the square out using the Fiskars Fingertip Craft Knife and self healing mat.  Remove the center piece.

Adhere the photos using a tape runner and put the frames over the photos using either a dot of Tombow Mono Liquid Glue or a little tape from the tape runner on each corner.  Also, adhere the dried Stickled embellishment you created to the center of the layout using small dots of glue on the areas colored with the Stickles so it’s not seen. Let dry.   

Punch 8 butterflies using the Martha Stewart Butterfly punch and blue cardstock.  Ink the edges of 4 of them with the ink pad.  Layer the pieces to create 4 butterflies and add the True Blue Stickles to create the bodies.  Once these are dry, glue them to the corners of the frames using the Tombow Mono Liquid Glue. 

You know have a finished layout using recycled items. It’s a great way to create fun embellishments and to recycle the packaging from the tools you buy.

By Cardmaking & Scrapbook Layout Contributor, Peg from the blog Peg’s Crafting Corner.

After a while we tend to start giving our layouts the same look or have the same sized pictures so they start looking like the ones we’ve done before. The same numbers of embellishments are on each one, everything is smooth on it or has only one layer to it and they become boring.  How do we change this? 

 I started thinking about the things I’ve learned and used it to create this layout.  One of the first things I was taught is it is more pleasing to the eye to have 6 to 7 items in a grouping.  If you notice in nature flowers most often have 5 or 6 of petals on them and that’s what makes them pleasing to the eye.  For the layout, I grouped 7 flowers using the Que Sera Sera Cardstock and Acetate Die Cuts by K & Co. together.  One thing to note is most packages of embellishments contain an even number of items so it is always best to buy 2 packages so you have that odd number in case you want it. 

Another way to give your layout its own personality, is to give it texture even if it’s on the paper you are using.  Here I was able to match the dots of the Watercolor Bouquet Paper Pad to the Wild Raspberry Flowers and Butterflies patterned paper (the backside of the paper is the one I used) for my layout.  I also added more texture by running my letters through the Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots Embossing Folder which helped take away the smooth, plainness of the paper.  The background paper is already smooth so by creating a texture on the letters it will help tie it all together. 

Layering items and adding items of different sizes including pictures layered on other pieces of paper will add more of a visual effect to the layouts.  Something sticking up off the page always draws attention. A photo lifted off the paper or chipboard pieces such as the butterfly from the Abrianna Chipboard Chipbox by K & Co. are great things to use to add dimension.    

One of the most important elements to creating a scrapbook layout is color.  If the colors are inviting to the eye the more time that is spent looking it over and enjoying it.  Too many colors that don’t flow together can be too overwhelming.  A good rule to go by is to pull the colors from the photos.  There doesn’t need to be a lot of different colors in the photo, but even 2 colors that are utilized are a good starting point.  Remember that you can also choose just a couple of colors and do various hues of those colors to add interest like I did with this layout. 

Remembering these 4 simple things will help you in giving your layouts a personality of their own.