Halloween mini

Happy Sunday everyone!  It's been a slow craft month around my house because we have all been so very busy.  From Mom and Dad all the way down to the toddler in the house.  We barely have time to eat at the dining room table, much less belly up to the craft table.  That is one reason why I love applying for DT spots.  It keeps your mojo flowing even when you don't have time to go looking for it.  :)  

This week at Anything But a Card our theme is Halloween or Fall.  So if you aren't a big fan of Halloween, you can create anything (as long as it's not a card!!!) that uses beautiful shades of fall.  As for our house, with three little monsters running around, we LOVE spook day!  I had the idea of creating a mini that will let us look back on each year's adorable costumes!  I can't share the inside pages just yet, because I was experiencing photo print fails all over my office, but stay tuned.....

As always, I want to share this with the challenges that helped inspire my project.  So make sure you click on over to Divas by Design to play along with their 'Spooky' theme challenge! :)

Thanks for visiting!

♥Christy

The secret to hairbows....

The reason I say the 'secret' to hairbows in the title is because it truly has been the best kept secret that these things are so easy, so cheap, and so FUN to create all on your own.  You can walk into a super store and pay $3-$5 for a set of these... and if you go into a boutique-type store you will likely pay $3-$5 a piece.

If you are just jumping into crafting you will have to investment in a glue gun, alligator clips, ribbon and fun embellishments.  I found decorative buttons work best (not the kind with the 2-4 holes, but the bulky ones with the shank on the back) and if you walk into a craft store there are literally THOUSANDS to choose from.  If you are like me and have an entire Hobby Lobby's worth of scrapbooking supplies, you will only need to purchase alligator clips.  My local Hobby Lobby and Joann's were both out of stock, but they did sell them and they were slightly cheaper (and had multiple size selections) than Walmart if you used one of their handy-dandy 40% off coupons.  I found the ones I use in the tutorial below at Walmart for $2 for 6.  All of my ribbon is from my stash and a great way to use up pieces that are too small for a scrapbook page.  Every single embellishment I used above is from my scrappy stash as well.  I raid my buttons (you may need to cut the shank off most), my brads (these also require you to snip off the posts), my 'silk' flowers (don't use the paper kind), gems, and felt embellishments that are left over from pages I've created.

Watch my the video tutorial below, but before you get started check out my trouble shooting tips list below it.  If you give it a try and run into any problems, leave a comment and I'll figure out a solution and add it to the list.  If you have any smart tips I've missed, please share that in the comments as well and I'll gladly add that too!!!!  :)

• You will need to seal the ends of your ribbon with either a fray stop product or carefully with a flame. 
• You can experiment with any ribbon, but the very best results I've gotten have all been with grossgrain.
• If you make a mistake, you can pull up an embellishment, but then you need to pick off as much dried glue as possible and what is left behind can be remelted by touching the metal tip of your glue gun to it.
• The thinner your hair, the smaller the alligator clip you will want to use.  
• ***IMPORTANT*** Make note of where you part your hair, some embellishments have a definitely top or bottom to them and if you place the clip to the side of your hair, you'll want to make sure you attach the top embellishment facing the correct direction so that it's not upside down when you wear it.  
• This is a great project for any store-bought clips you may have that have gotten dingy, ruined or lost a piece.  Just pull off everything down to the clip and clean it up smoothly as best you can, and rebuild with pieces from your supplies.  
• When using these hairbows for smaller kiddos, try to to be cautious of what embellishments you use.  Find things that don't look like they will pose a choking hazard.  My youngest daughter is only 2, but with all of her sensory and texture issues, we can barely get her to put food in her mouth, much less choking hazards!  hahaha
• Keep an eye out at garage sales and thrift stores.  You will pay on average $3 a package for a set of buttons at a craft store, but can walk out with a selection of them second hand for pennies a piece.
• *STOP* Before you throw out that cute outfit your child stained beyond recognition, check to see if it has any cute buttons or sewn on embellishment that can be removed to decorate a hairbow.  I JUST cut a glittery embroidered heart off of a t-shirt my daughter put a hole in and it's about to become a super-duper cute clip!  

I created these for my contribution to this week's BLING challenge at Anything but a Card, so I dug out the sparkliest embellishments I could find (that and because my older daughter is the very definitely of a princess and all her things MUST sparkle) , but you put together the ribbon and embellishments that will match what you are trying to create and give the video another play while trying to make one of your very own!  

Thanks for visiting!

♥Christy

8 ways to add texture to your layouts

The challenge this week at Anything but a Card is to add texture to your projects.  Since gussying up scrapbook layouts is something I struggle with, I thought I would tackle that!  I'm always scared to add more and distracting away from my photos, but when I'm oogling the fantastic creations in the magazines, blogdom and on pinterest I almost always gravitate towards the ones that have a ton of little touches that jump off the page.

I started by making a list of 8 things that can add texture to your layouts (or any off the page project as well!) and then I tried to incorporate them into this project.  Wish me luck....

Layer, Layer, Layer: The first step to adding texture to your projects is to layer.  It may seem like you are using an awful lot of papers and even wasting some by cropping down perfectly useful 12x12 sheets, but adding varying layers to your background helps add depth to the basic layout.

Embossing: Whether you are busting out your heat gun, or running some of your elements through your trusty Big Shot (or Cuttlebug), embossing on your project instantly adds texture to any piece you incorporate. 

I used a Tim Holtz gears embossing folder on a tag.
I also embossed and cut out an acetate shape in my cluster.

Stitching: Stitching is something I avoided in crafting for years.  To say I'm inept with a needle and thread is an understatement.  I once attempted to sew a button back on a shirt for my hubby and managed to SEW THE SHIRT CLOSED?!?!?!  Oh yes I did!  But after a few bloody thumbs and tears I realized that stitching is a way to add another pattern to your layout without actually adding to the busyness.

Stiching a grid  was my favorite touch.

Varying Mediums: Yes, this may sound crazy coming from a self proclaimed paper hoarder, but if you create a layout with nothing but cardstock and patterned paper you are missing out on a world of possibility.  It's hard to look beyond that for me because pinterest is filled with 1001 things you can make from paper with a snip of your scissors or crease of your scorpal, but when your embellishing ventures out into ribbons, burlap, cork, corrugated cardboard, etc you will create a visual appeal that you just can't seem to master with paper alone.  ---see pic below---

Glitter: Glitter, sand, or any other kind of literal texture is a no brainer.  Take a basic embellishment or even  lettering and add a coat of glue and glitter and it instantly takes it up a level.  ---see pic below---

Add Dimension: The last suggestion (well, almost) I have is to not stop your layering at the photograph.  After your carefully cropped and matted photos have been secured make sure you add another layer of fun embellishments.  Flowers, buttons, brads, gems, whatever floats your boat....

I used several different mediums, a burlap heart, pearls, ribbon,

glitter, flowers, acetate, flower soft on the leaves, and organza.

Rough It Up: There are so many shabby chic and steam punk layouts in the blogosphere that can show you how to do this right and make it look stunning, but even if you just add a touch of this technique it can add texture to any scrappy style.  Tear your paper, crumple and then flatten it out, distress the edges...just get a little gritty with your supplies.  :)

I distressed the edges of all my paper elements.

Faking It: Now sometimes having a ton of padding on a layout just won't do.  It can make the project a little bulky for an album and definitely can start adding up the $$$ which isn't something you may want to do for every project.  A way to 'fake' a look of added texture is through stamping.  The best kind for this in my opinion is the Tim Holtz-esque looks you can get from taking things you wouldn't consider scrappy materials, inking them up and then pressing them down haphazardly around your project.  

I used distress ink to stamp with bubble wrap for a subtle look.

To make yours stand out more you can use paint even!

I hope some of these tips helped give you new things to try.  It certainly pushed me to create a project that I love by trying things I NEVER would have thought to do if I hadn't made my list of things I was challenging myself to incorporate.  A few other challenge blogs helped me come up with ideas of things to add texture to this project and with our DT leader's okay, I'm going to share this layout there as well.  :) :)

Shopping Our Stash - Embossing (these embellishments are years old except the bling)

Divas by Design - Layering (I used 4 layers of patterned paper on top of my base.)

Southern Girls - Bling (my flower centers and pearl strip)