Hi BPC goers! Allison Landy here I a’m excited to be with you here today on the BPC blog.! I’m hoping that my try this challenge to you today is both fun and helpful.
I don’t know about you, but lately I’ve been invited to lots and lots of parties. Here I thought the holiday party-going season was over! But it’s birthdays and anniversaries galore amongst my family and friends. That means I’ve been in need of a variety of cards to share with my hosts. When time is short, I always go back to basics with simple designs.
One of my favorite design principles is the idea that “angles love curves.” It’s a great adage to remember, it’s why we often round the corners of our photos and place them on a square page background. Curved lines add softness to a design, and they give the eye something different to look at. When working with cards, the principle holds just as true. Here’s a card I made recently using this principle.
Imagine if the stamped image in the center were square instead of circular. It just wouldn’t be as “interesting.”
Tonight it’s a birthday party, so I decided to whip up a quick little birthday greeting for my friend. For this card, I wanted to incorporate several sized circles into my design. I was going for an energetic, fun look. So, out came my punches and my brightly colored papers, and I went to town.
Your try this challenge today, should you choose to accept it... is to make a card with the angles love curves principle by using circles somewhere on your card. Remember to load your finished card to the Big Picture Classes sharing gallery or Facebook Album! Be sure to also pop on over to the Simple Stories blog at www.simplestories.com where we are doing a fun give away!
For more card making inspiration, check out Allison Landy's card class here at BPC, Cooking Up Cards.
My paper piercer is always in close reach when I’m working on a project. I love how it makes placing a brad or adding some stitching a breeze. One of my favorite uses for it is to separate the prongs on the back of a brad. Just stick the point of the piercer between the prongs and press the tip down towards the center of the brad. It saves your fingernails, and it helps the prongs to lay flat on the back of your project.
Learn from a pro how to establish an effective work flow for loading pictures from your camera to your computer. Also I share tips on how to clean up the digital mess on your computer.
Hi Guys! Aaron Morris's workshop, It's All About Me,starts soon (March 1st, registration is open now!) so I asked if he would write up a short "all about me" prompt that we could share on the blog...just to give you a little idea of the kind of topics you'll be learning about during class. Here's what he wanted to share with you guys...Thanks Aaron!!
When we're scrapbooking, it's easy to identify the things that make the ones we love special. I could easily rattle off a list of things that make my two little girls absolutely perfect. It's not always as easy to think about the things that make us special, the things that set us apart from everyone else and make our loved ones love us back. Even thinking about it right now, I would have a hard time putting into words what makes me special.
So let's try journaling a little bit about what makes us special. The first thing I want you to do is sit down and brainstorm a list of things that make you special, and be totally honest with yourself. Think about how you are seen in others' eyes, and the person that you try to be every day. Whatever you do - DON'T ask someone else to tell you what they think makes you special. That's cheating, and as a teacher, I am legally obligated to report all forms of cheating to the government. Ok, not really, but it's a much more meaningful exercise if it all comes from you.
Once you have your list, sit down and pick one of the things off your list. I want you to pick the thing that you feel is the most special about yourself. This will be the topic that you will journal about. You are going to focus on writing a whole passage about this one character trait. Sound daunting? I promise it isn't. Here are some questions to get you thinking....
1. Why do you think that this characteristic makes you special?
2. What about this characteristic sets you apart from others in your life?
3. Where did this characteristic cultivate from? Was it a person? How did they contribute to this characteristic being part of you?
4. How does this characteristic impact the ones you love?
5. Why is this characteristic the one that is most special?
6. How do you hope to share this characteristic with others?
Those are just some ideas to get you going. Try and really think a lot about this characteristic. One thing that I find helpful when I am having trouble writing is to just start writing, even if I know it's not good or something I won't include in the final piece. The act of just getting started will get your juices flowing!
So today, I want to give away one seat in my upcoming workshop "It's All About Me." If you would like to be entered to win the spot, in the comments below, tell me one thing that makes you special. It'll be your starting point!
The giveaway closes Sunday night (2/19) at 9:00pm PST. Winner will be announced on Monday (2/20). Good luck!
While looking through the BPC Student Gallery this layout really caught my eye! I loved all teh layers, the stitching, the buttons (I LOVE buttons), and the fact that it was a layout about a student's life! Not about her kids, or her husband, or her mom...but about her! (I'm really bad about creating layouts about myself). Way to go Jennifer! And thank you so much for letting me share your layout with everyone here!
When I asked Jennifer about her layout, this is what she said:
"I did this layout because I was inspired by the photo. I had been doing a 30 day photo challenge, and the day the prompt was to take a picture of what we were wearing, it was Spirit Day at the school I teach at. I made the page as an EVERYDAYpage for the class Twelve. I tend to make linear pages, so I had fun stamping and embossing circles, which are always sort of spirited shapes to me!"
Take the challenge...can you create a layout about something "everyday" in your life?
" I am so bummed that I just recently heard about Project Life. Apparently, I have friends who have been doing this for a couple of years. I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to do this!!! -"
I got to hear Becky speak at The Creative Connection last fall and she shared her vision for Project Life as well as some insight to its evolution. I was truly amazed and am thrilled with her success in creating such an ingenious method for capturing life. Three cheers for Project Life!!
We invite you to join the Project Life community here and exchange ideas with others enthusiasts plus share your creations. (plus it is free)
The winner can pick the color style (from what is in stock) and will receive one of each of the items listed below
Project Life Binder
Core Kit (coordinating with the binder)
Big Pack of Design A Photo Pocket Pages
GIVEAWAY INFORMATION:
To enter, leave a comment below; include your first and last name, and location.
Giveaway closes in 48 hours at 11:00 am PST. Winner will be randomly selected from comments and announced by 2/17.
New to the Project Life concept? Learn more in the short video below.
Learn how easy it can be to do "something with some of your pictures" from the ever inspiring Stacy Julian. She shares five fundamentals of productive scrapbooking with you in this episode and you will be motivated to start organizing your own photos for easy access and hours of memory keeping fun!
1.The Curious Scrapbooker’s Field Guide started February 9th. This class is A.MAZ.ING. May is doing a 12-week workshop that will teach you everything (okay, maybe not everything, but nearly) you could ever want to know about just about every scrapbook supply and technique out there. This really is a timeless class that will be an amazing reference for you to come back to again and again, year after year anytime you have a new product you want to play with…or are just feeling like you need some new ideas! She has 24 videos available week 1 (A-Z reference videos) and additional videos, handouts, etc. every week. This class is a fantastic deal, and you don’t want to miss out!! Registration closes on the 15th, so sign up now!!
2.Heidi Swapp’s 4Expert workshop, The Art of Observation, is open for registration. (If it isn’t open Saturday morning, wait until tomorrow…I promise it will be open soon if it isn’t already). Heidi has been working hard making this class for you, and I know how excited she is to share all her ideas. This is such a personal class for Heidi. On a conference call a couple of weeks ago, she said “I want students to walk away feeling like there’s so much value to them and their lives.” I mean, who wouldn’t want to spend 12 weeks with someone who’s entire goal is to make you realize how VALUABLE you are! If you sign up for class, you’ll get to see Heidi work with a lot of her new fun products . This class is full of good stuff…email clues, observation techniques, photo assignments, project assignments, videos…you have to trust me that this class is so worth your time! Check out her class description and sign up now. You don’t want to let this one pass you by!
Wanted to share a snapshot of our CHA 2012 experience with you all from Stacy's perspective. These are photos she tweeted. Want to read the tweets, have fun?!
People
Booths
Products
and Scrapbook.com recorded a top ten product video, watch it!
I have a little challenge for you today that is sure to inspire AND help stretch your supplies to their full potential! Double bonus! When I get a new scrapbooking tool or artsy medium, I like to brainstorm a list of ideas for using my fun new product. I also like to keep a pack of Avery Shipping Tags on hand to give all these ideas a trial run on a smaller scale before I take them to the next level on a layout or project.
I recently acquired one of Jenni Bowlin Studio's new Grandma's Doily punches by Fiskars. Now this punch can be a little intimidating at first since it's not what we usually expect from a punch. Instead of punching OUT a diecut, it punches a design INto the background paper. Interesting. I thought about this for a while and then got busy creating. Here are the ideas I came up with; I'd love to see your ideas!
Using the negative space from punches is wildly popular in scrapbooking right now. This look will give a nice airy feeling to your work.
My first thought was to make my own stencils with the punch. For the left image I wanted to try paint. I punched a line of three doillies onto a piece of scrap cardstock for my stencil. I then lightly adhered the mask to my tag with removeable adhesive. For best results with paint and stencils use a paint dabber or a very dry paintbrush. Heavy paint use with a stencil leads to bleeding under the edges and a less crisp image.
For the right image I punched the doily six times and then misted it. Again, it is helpful to use a removable adhesive with your homemade stencil. Mist causes warping of cardstock. This warping then allows the mist to go under the design area leading to a fuzzy image. Using the removeable adhesive prevents this problem.
Never throw away your scraps without giving them a thoughtful once over! The tag on the right here was created with stencil that I used with the mist. This has another technique that I like with a negative punch. Backing them with a nice patterned paper gives a nice punch of color.
On the left you see a more traditional use of a punch. Simply punch the negative image into paper, then use a circular punch to create a medallion embellishment that you can use anywhere on your page or project.
This tag has my most complicated punch technique. I wanted to incorporate some glitter into my design which required a little layering. Glitter can also be difficult to work with, so I did a careful analysis of my process before I got started. I find that the less glitter is touched the better.
These are the steps I followed to get this nicely glittered layered medallion:
Punch Grandma's Doily into patterned paper and then punch it out with a circle punch.
Punch a slightly larger circle from a piece of scrap cardstock.
Adhere the cardstock circle to the tag.
Lay the Doily over the circle and pencil mark the center.
Remove the doily and place a glue dot topped with a punched paper dot scrap over your pencil mark.
Paint glue onto the chipboard circle with a paintbrush, avoiding the gluedot center.
Apply glitter and shake off excess.
Layer on the doily, add another glue dot to the center and finish with a pearl or rhinestone.
Now what will you do with all your pretty tags? These would make great Valentine's. They could also be added to layouts, packages, or cards. I've decided to use mine for Coke tags. Believe me, teachers will LOVE this gift!
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