Free digital scrapbooking supplies

In my never ending quest to save money on my scrapbooking I've been wanting to start digital scrapbooking. Well I'm happy to say I now have a laptop... yeah.... don't ask me any nerd questions about it... it's a laptop, it works.... it's new.... that's all I know...

Now the really hard part starts.... I have to learn how to digi-scrap..... I have a program on my laptop that will apparently do this... but I don't know anything about it... so it'll be a while before I'm completing layouts worthy of being posted.

On a brighter note I found an excellent resource site where you can download some backgrounds, brushes and embellishments. http://www.mistypink.net/

They look totally original to me and I think rather pretty. See what you think.. Let me know!

What Goddess are You?

I was just reading Angie Pedersons Blog http://angiepedersen.typepad.com/blogofme/ and she's talking about doing a layout for her "About Me" book on the Goddess she identifies with? I followed this cool link to : http://ynr.blogthings.com/whatgoddessareyouquiz/outcome.php

and got the following rating:

You Are Aphrodite!

A total shining star with a ton of admirers And no wonder: you live life to the fullest! When things get bad, you can easily take off to a happier place But occasionally, you need to deal with problems head on

What Goddess Are You?

It's lots of fun give it a try.... I might go explore a layout on this theme now...... mmmm

Layout: What do you do?

This is the layout I completed last night. I love these photos taken on our holiday to the sunshine coast in september 2006. My son picked an ice-cream flavour called strawberry shortcake... but then as sometimes happens.... he didn't like it... so his solution was simple... share with his sister. Luckily she didn't mind!

I thought I'd try a technique for hidden journalling that allows you to open the journalling box despite the rest of the layout being inside your page protector.

Here I've used the smallest photo as the 'book cover' for my journalling. This section is raised off the layout via magnets that allow this photo to be on the outside of the page protector. This is a really cheap layout with the magnet costing $2 for a set of 6 (pairs), my chipboard letters (share) and arrow are off the back of old notebooks and the "bling" comes in a packet of 50 pieces for $2 and the larger blue bling flower is off my daughters/ hairclip... so all that's left is a piece of cardstock, two pattern papers, one plain paper, doodling pens, adhesive and ink for the edges.... total cost: $3.50.

Lots of scrapbooking Planned!

I'm feeling very lucky. I'm scrapbooking tonight. I have a plan for a friend to come over next Friday and scrapbook (she's a newbie so it's fun sharing techniques and info) then the following weekend I'm having a scrapbooking day with my best scrapbuddy..... aaah bliss can it get any better than this?

I'm working on a layout at the moment of my kids sharing an ice-cream. It's one of those moments I'll want to share with them when they're teenagers and hate each other ... lol... anyway I'm pushing my usual design style a bit. Since doing the challenges for the design team I'm finding I'm stepping out of my comfort zone more and more. In this case I'm using three pattern papers. They're co-ordinating papers so I didn't have to "match" them myself but I would usually only use one pattern and two plains or if using more patterns I would use them in small sections or blocks... this one is a layered effect with lots of inking and chipboard.... I'm even using a fourth effect on the chipboard by painting it.... so I think creatively I've grown....

I haven't grown out of my miserly ways though... thank goodness! Today I scored three "bling" flowers off my daughter's hairclips.... I get tired of purchasing so many hairclips! But now it doesn't matter so much because I only buy ones that I like the accessory for my scrapbooking... this means when (notice I say when and not if) the hairclip breaks I have get a new embellishment.... yeah thank goodness for shoddy workmanship....

I'll upload the layout I'm working on tomorrow for your feedback.

Favourite Techniques

Well I've finished my cards for the design team application and one of the questions was a bit of a challenge for me ... You had to make a card using your favourite techniques.... This was a little difficult for me to pin down at first because I wasn't sure what my favourite techniques were... I guess Stamping is a favourite as I use it all the time.... but after that it got a little more challenging..... I usually have a concept or idea that I'm working with and will use whatever techniques I feel will compliment that layout best. This time I went with Stamping, Doodling, tearing, inking and shabby... So now we just have to wait and see. (keep your fingers crossed for me!)

I did start to think though if my albums do share any common elements. So I sat down and looked at them with fresh eyes. I couldn't really see any common techniques that I use alot except for stamping. And the only reason I use stamping more than anything else is because it's a really economical way to do a tittle. Do other scrapbookers have favourite techniques?.... and why?

For your own design growth I highly recommend looking at your work history. Just open them up (chronologically -in order of first finished to last done) and look at the techniques you've used. Which ones work... Which ones don't.... Which ones make your photo's POP! What layouts do you love and which ones aren't you happy with and WHY? If you can train yourself to be able to identify what is wrong with the layouts you don't like you'll be able to produce more layouts you love first time around.

Try to avoid making a list of things you'll go back to redo... lol. This exercise is just to help you identify good and bad design elements. I'm sure you'll notice how your style has changed. This is one reason alot of people say you shouldn't go back and retouch any old layouts. So you can see how your style and design eye have altered.

I'm from the camp do whatever you like. I personally will go back and retouch my layouts (whenever I get time) to make each page as good as I possibly can... That way my decendants will get beautiful keepsakes from me.......

In fact I did this with the cards I finished today. I looked at them for a while and suddenly added something to one of them that just makes it POP! So I'm definitely o.k. with retouching your work.

Application for a Design Team

Well as a few of you know I'm applying for a design team. It's very exciting. The challenge this week was to make some cards. I don't do this very often. I have such alot of scrapbooking pages to complete so I'm usually focusing my time on working on the backlog of photos' waiting for me. So this was rather nice. A chance to be creative for the sake of being creative! I wish I could put my work up here so you could all check it out and vote for the ones you like best. As usual when I press my creative button I get carried away and do way more than I was asked to do... then I have to chose my favourite.... Very hard! Oh well the challenges finish this week so I should be able to put up my work for you all to critque in..... a couple of months.... (lol... don't worry if I;m accepted I'm sure I'll be able to upload them sooner) In the mean time I'll be waiting with all my fingers crossed for the results....

To keep myself occupied I've been doing alot of writing lately. If you click on the link (http://www.helium.com/search/search?search_query=kyra+patterson) it'll take you to a page of my submitted articles. I find it very therapeutic and would recommend to anyone to jump on there and write some articles. It's kind of healing..... and you get paid for your work (not much ...but every cent helps when you're looking for an income stream to fund your scrapbooking habit)

Well I'm off to work on that layout of my son's first day of school. I finally found some papers I like and have gotten all the photo's printed. Then I need to do my daughter's first ballet class..... See now why it's so hard to do the backlog... I keep getting new and totally yummy pages to do... Oh well someones' gotta do it.....

Card Making Magazine

Today I hit the mother load of good value purchases. I purchased this magazine at my local newsagent. At $11.95 it is a bit steep but pretty average for scrapbooking magazines here. But here's the good news. With my magazine I received a double sided embossing template..... FREE... as welll as three pages of free papers and pictures to use for making cards and then I noticed as an added bonus that the packaging the magazine came in has a butterfly and hearts printed on the plastic... so I think I'll get a use out of the plastic wrapping as well!

I find magazines to be one of those purchases I'd prefer to do without as I can definitely think of better things to spend $11 on... but when I get a free stencil and free papers with it.. how can I resist?

But if you'd like to minimise your magazine purchases I suggest you borrow them from the library to peruse whenever possible. Also if you have to buy magazines buy them with a friend or take the yearly subscription saving and share it with someone else. One of my girlfriends was given a yearly subscription for her birthday last year and this was the gift that just kept on giving. The yearly subscription gift was a set of tester sized ink pads in every colour imaginable, then every month she received a magazine in her mailbox and every edition had a free giveaway. This was definitely the kind of gift I could get very jealous of.... Except I got to look at all her magazines after she finished so it was hard to stay envious....

I definitely think borrowing the magazines from the library though is the way to save the most money!

Alphabet Stickers, Rub-Ons, Templates

I find Titles can be the most expensive part of a layout. When I first started scrapbooking I bought alphabet stickers (yes I began with a Creative Memories Consultant), then I tried one set of rub-ons and frankly had a heart attack at the price.... Now I've moved onto Templates.

I find it much cheaper to cut my titles out of patterned paper than to use stickers or rub-ons.

Though if you're looking for a way to make your alphabet stickers go further save the backgrounds once all the stickers have been removed and either carefully cut around each letter or cut out a square around the letter. This is great cause it allows you to use each sticker sheet twice.

I use my fiskars alphabet template all the time! It allows me to quickly and easily cut out the letters I need for my tittles. I also utilise chipboard letters. I have purchased a set of chipboard letters ($2 at the discount shop) which I use as my template for cutting out more letters on the back of old notebooks etc. I can then either paint these or cover them in paper.

I don't however recomend stencilling straight onto your layout... As per my previous layout http://cheap-scrapbooking-ideas.blogspot.com/search?q=covering+my+mistake where I stencilled straight onto the page and made a BIG mistake. In this case though my attempt to cover my mistake actually added to the page and I think looks better than the original concept... but you never know what might happen if you make a similar mistake and can't find a way to cover it up.

But to save money on titles I definitely recommend taking the time to cut them out of paper. Go through your scrap paper stash! This is a great way to use up your left over pieces of paper from previous projects.

One squished bottle top

You know, I always say to new scrapbookers that they should view the world around them as a possible source of supplies and today was a perfect example of this. I was walking across the road when I saw a squashed bottle top. The bottle top has a snowflake on the top of it so I'm going to use it as a Christmas Page embellishment. I'd love to do a blue layout of something skiing related but as we don't get snow here I figure my chances are pretty slim of getting a snow photo anytime soon.

Because it's been out in the elements for a while and obviously driven over it has a lovely "aged" effect.....

So watch where you're walking.... you never know what FREE scrapbooking find you're missing out on... lol

Junk Mail.. Love it... Hate it!

Junk Mail.... you either love it or hate it! I personally Love it! I go through it all and check out the sales, then the latest colour schemes and trends I'm seeing and then I check out the composition of the ads. For instance I saw a great ad today for ladies clothes and they had put four photos of clothes across the page and then the fifth block was for writing. Each of the photos had a white chain of leaves and flowers running right across the top and then the fifth block continued the same leaves and flowers across and then around the top right hand corner to run slightly down the right hand side but this time it was black. It looked so effective. I can't wait till I start digital scrapbooking now!

Yes I'm still waiting to start. Gotta get a laptop for me.... Oh well... they say good things come to those who wait. And I have so much regular scrapbooking to do first so I guess it's a good thing....

Besides what would I do with all the things that come into my life and are recycled as scrapbooking supplies if I went totally digital? For instance today's junk mail bought a fake cr card and a fake $5 bill. ...... mmmm I'm sure I've got some photo's of my girlfriends and I away on a mummy's night off up the coast ... shopping till we dropped... PERFECT!

The cr card is great cause you can either use it as a cr card on a layout or you can paint it and decorate it and turn it into a regular tag with a few embellishments. Plus it's in my favourite category.... that's right..... FREE!!

You could do the same thing with all those business cards you get handed at networking do's. Sometimes I cut out the pictures off them to use on my layouts or I decorate the back and use it as a regular tag. But it's all FREE!!!!!

Old Calendar's come in handy.

In my never ending search for ways to recycle everyday things into scrapbooking supplies I found an old Calendar with some gorgeous photos.... That got me thinking. It's an old Anne Geddies Calendar (I love her work) with stunning photo's of babies, as hers always are. Well I didn't want to throw it away..... so what to do with it?

Well I've taken the pictures out and am using them as backgrounds. I did think though that the pictures would probably overpower any photo I stuck in the foreground so I'm planning on placing vellum over the pictures then placing my photo's on top and them. I've also cut the little pictures off the back page (thumbnail sized ones) and I'll place that on the top as an embellishment after I Diamond Glaze it.

But then flipping through the calendar I thought how cool it would be to take a page of the calendar and use it as the journalling for a layout. Utilize the Year, Date and Day with the message on the calendar (i.e. Jordan's 2nd Birthday) and use this as a background or as a journal box for me to write in the little boxes. Anyway just a thought at this stage I'm off to try and put it into practice.

Embroidery on a layout tutorial.

Of the past few days I've been talking about embroidery on a layout and emdoodling. If you're interested in trying a bit of embroidery on your layouts but don't really know where to start..... I suggest you go to: http://www.crafttvweekly.com/player.html?wid=82 and watch the webisode "I'm in Stitches by Tricia Morris". This is a great tutorial showing several different ways you can achieve either a hand stitched effect to your pages or the illusion of one.

The thing I love about all the webisodes you find on this site (craft TV weekly) is the tutorial nature of the shows. You can easily go away from watching one of these webisodes and reproduce the techniques you learn. I also love the innovative ideas they come up with. Their ideas and designs are not only very practical for scrapbookers but also unusual and definitely original. But my most favourite thing about these webisodes is....... (yep you guessed it......)They're FREE!

The difference Embroidery makes on a Layout

As I mentioned before my sister-in-law is a very talented embroiderer. She has graciously allowed me to show you some of her work. This should give you some idea of how you could use embroidery on your work.

This is a picture of her layout before the addition of embroidery.

This is the layout after the addition of embroidery.

And these photos show how the leaves were positioned and done.

And this photo gives you a close up shot of the finished embroidery. I think the addition of embroidery to the page gives the layout "pop". It just makes it really jump out at you... don't you think?

Why being a scrapmiser doesn't mean you lack supplies.

Being a scrapmiser doesn't mean you have to miss out on the newest crazes. In fact I think it can mean the exact opposite. By saving money on my supplies I can then take my budget and put it towards that new tool or other scrapbooking supply that I really really want.

For instance by saving money on my cardstock (by buying in bulk) I then have more of my budget to spend on other things, like stamps. I have a $10 a week habit. If I need to buy cardstock or paper then it has to come out of that $10. If I want a $30 tool then I have to wait three weeks before I can have it. I have a jar where I put my weekly scrapbooking allowance. If I'm out and I spend $2 then I have to take $2 out of the jar and put it back into housekeeping. If I have alot of change in my wallet I will add that to my scrapbooking jar or if I find change in the washing... you bet ya it goes in my jar (that's my "tip" for doing the washing... makes it a bit less of a chore and a bit of a hopeful pocket hunt.)

I highly recommend this form of budgeting. By keeping strictly to the budget I am able to curb my spending considerably. If you want to scare yourself a bit, get an envelope and throughtout the year place all your receipts for scrapbooking purchases in there. At the end of the year take them all out and add them up and you'll probably be shocked at how much you spent over the year. I also find that this makes me stop and consider my purchase more carefully. When I first started scrapbooking I purchased lots and lots of sticker ($2 a turn but not such a great bargain now 2 years later when they still haven't been used). It is very difficult to purchase without a layout in mind and I have found this kind of purchasing leads to alot of supplies sitting unused.

So what to do with them? I suggest a swap with other scrappers in your area. Or better yet put together a pack and sell them on ebay. That'll give you more dollars to spend clear of your usual budget.

I also keep a wishlist for my friends and family so that when they're buying me a birthday present they know exactly what to get me or if they'd prefer a list of shops I love to buy from so they can get me a gift voucher.

By being careful with the supplies I do have and not being wasteful, sticking to a budget, letting my friends and family be my enablers, swapping or selling any unused items, shopping with a friend and buying in bulk I not only save money..... I ensure that my stack of supplies is impressive enough that I can create at any time of the day or night I like without a trip to the shops!

What's your coloursign?

If you're thinking of doing a layout on your starsign here's a great website to help you with the colour of your layout based on your birthday colour.

http://www.colorstrology.com/colorstrology_sniffer.html

First it works on the month of your birth.
Mine is Pagoda Blue. According to the site: Deep and meditative, this colour signifies wisdom, truth and optimism. Pagoda Blue lends vision and trust to those who wear it.

Then on the date: Mine says: "Sensitive yet courageous, you are a force with which to be reckoned. people find you entertaining and quick witted. there may be a tendency for you to juggle and get stuck doing two things at once."

It's definitely fun though so check it out.

Embroodling is hot right now!

I thought I should add an addendum to my post about embroidery....I didn't mention Embroodling.

Embroodling is one of the latest crazes. It's a combination of doodling and embroidery and I love it because it is relatively cheap (all you need is a pen a sewing needle and some thread) and it gives a lovely hand finished look to your layouts.

If you want to save even more money on your layouts you could pick up those little free sewing kits from the hotel rooms.... or get a travelling friend to do it for you. That way you don't even pay for the thread!

This is also very handy if you're trying to save money on adhesives by sewing elements to a page at least now the sewing is free also.

How bout cutting out paper or cardstock that won't be seen. So if you're creating a photo mat for instance? Cut the centre out of that photo mat so you can reuse that cardstock either on this layout or another.

Of course the only way to truly get value out of your scraps is to have them grouped by colour or theme and easy to access.

Looking for unique ways to adhere things to your layout (like sewing) without using glue is also a great way to save. Slicing photo corners into your background or photo mat is a great solution. As is the use of staples. You can also tie things on without using any glue....... What's your ingenious way of making things stick without the use of glue?

My application for a DT.

Well ..... as you know on Friday Night I started my submission for a DT application. Then on Sunday I began another. I got a little inspired and off I went! So now I have a dilema. Do I submit both pages and hope I don't get penalised for not following instructions? Or do I chose one? This is very hard! The worst part is I can't put them up here for y'all to vote on.... So I would have to chose between them...... I'm torn! I'll let you know what I do when I figure it out.

I do hate it though when I have to choose between two things I love equally. Usually I solve this by asking someone for their opinion and evaluating my response. If I'm crushed cause they chose A then I'd choose B. It's very ornorary of me I know! But that's just what I'm like.

It's been a full couple of days with lots to do to get the layouts finished just how I wanted and then move onto my next idea. I've been doing a bit of embroidery on one of these layouts.

I have to say it is a fantastic way to add a hand finished look instead of all the store bought embellishments. I did some 'french knots' as the dots on some doodling (though the doodling is actually the journallying) if that makes sense? If not you'll have to wait around 3 months before I can show you sorry.. competition rules.

Embroidery is a beatiful way to add to your layout but if you're not very talented at it (like me) I suggest checking out some online tutorials. I myself can't wait till my sister-in-law moves back to Australia. (She's a talented Cross Stitcher) So I'm hoping she'll be able to give me some lessons. I'm much better at learning by watching someone else and then attempting it with them to guide me. So if you're like me in this respect I'd suggest going to your local nursing home and seeing if there's a kindly old lady who'd like to teach you. (Afterall I can't very well call myself the scrapmiser if I'm suggesting expensive tutorials to you now can I?

As a 'scrapmiser' I definitely think doodling is a great technique. It's so cheap! (All you need is a pen and your imagination!) I've been experimenting with my doodle genie. It allows me to start my doodling with an outline and I can then add to it or not as I please. But you don't need one of these to doodle. You can do it freehand. Let your mind wander and follow your thoughts where they lead.... Or check out some of the work of others and get ideas...you can't really scraplift in this case though as it is too much like copyright infringement for my liking.. your decision though...

Look MUM no training wheels!

Well as this blog is a mix of my scrapbooking projects, my tips on how to save money and a little window into my world I thought I'd share this video with you of my son riding his bike for the first time without training wheels..... I think he did really well!

Friday night scrapbooking!

OMG the week just flys by! It's Friday again.... I'm about to start my Friday evening and my DH is taking my kids out for a while so I can do some serious scrapbooking. I'm trying out for a design team so having just received my first challenge I've got some creating to do.

The theme is all about me...... mmmm what to say... Sometimes this is hard, sometime easy. I've got a few ideas for what I'll talk about... Lets' face it I'm never really short for words.. It's a gift of mine! lol My mum used to say that I could talk under 6 feet of wet cement! So if I'm honest it's not really about finding something to say as it is about deciding what not to say... that probably doesn't make much sense....... I guess what I'm trying to say is there are things about me... things, experiences that make me who I am.... but they're a little too raw at this point to adequately put into words or to add to a scrapbook page that could get published....

I don't usually like editing myself like this. But then usually my pages are for my children and eventually their children. The whole point for me is to leave something of myself for my children to remember. So they can remember how I felt about things. The sorts of things I would say and do and hopefully it will make it easier for my great great grandchildren to learn about me. Cause I sometimes find it hard to accurately describe the love and warmth I felt from my mother and grandmother or the love my mother felt for my children. I WISH THEY"D BEEN SCRAPBOOKERS!

How do other scrapbookers handle the publishing issue? Are you brutally honest to a flaw or do you edit yourself?