Thursday, December 31, 2015

Laura's Monthly Reveal | Bo Bunny

Laura here,  sharing my latest reveal for ScrapMuch?, a smidgen early so as not to conflict with the newest sketch challenge starting tomorrow! So stayed tuned for that.

I was given some goodies from the Sleigh Ride Collection by Bo Bunny.


Basically, I got most of the papers from this collection pack and the stickers, too

Plus this great chipboard pack!

This collection is perfect for Christmas and winter photos, and has a unique blue, brown and gold colour combo.  It was super fun to play with!

Just prior to creating my pages I was playing with my Silhouette software and I created a few Celtic designs, beginning with a knot and getting a little more elaborate from there.  Turns out they were perfect for my creations with this collection!  I guess I was embracing some of my Irish and Scottish sides

NOEL

I based this layout around the wreath I created from a ring of Celtic knots.  We actually snapped this photo the weekend before Christmas, it is not often that I scrapbook something that fast!


I added a pretty blue button from my stash as well as some Doodlebug twine, to help finish off the holly leaves that I die cut from two of the patterned papers. I added a bit of Ranger texture paste to the leaves, background and the trees.


The wood-grained trees were fussy cut from a patterned paper and I just love them. The numbers stickers are left over from the Simple Stories collection that I created with for my December reveal.


I layered two other patterns below the Celtic knot wreath, a beige colour behind the whole design and a softer blue beneath just the heart shapes.  I really like the way they look together all layered up.


JOY

For this next page I was so excited to use this Celtic knot tree that I created!  It is cut from a wood-grained paper and it actually looks like it has snow on it!


Again I added a button as well as some Doodlebug twine to adorn this page.  I turned down one of the corners just to pull in an extra bit of pattern.  It is an easy, old school trick when your page needs just a little something.


I added a bit of dry embossing to the grey cardstock frame that I layered behind all of my other elements.


'Joy" was fussy cut from one of the papers, it is a little hard to tell but I added Glassy Accents to the letters to help them pop.


I cut a few stars and covered them with Cinnamon coloured Stickles to adorn my tree, they look so pretty!


A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

I couldn't resist trying out a double pager, I really wanted to use some of these great patterns as a bold background! These photos were taken last year, I hope to get more this year!


I used a lot of the chipboard embellishments on this page, layering them up for lots of impact.


The tree that I used as a title piece was fussy cut from a pattern, as was the deer head.


Here are some more of the fabulous chipboard accents layered up.  I couldn't resist adding a Doodlebug twine bow around the reindeer's neck.


ZAMBONI

When I snapped this photo and posted it online a friend mentioned that Timmy shovels like a Zamboni, ironically it was his nickname the first year he played hockey - mainly because he fell a lot!


I created a pine bough cut file just for this page, I love the soft wispy look it adds.


I added some texture paste behind the central focal area on this page, I love the way it mimics the snow in the photo.

Thank you so much for visiting today!

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Embossing Buttons | Tutorial

I have a new little tip to share with you all today!

A while back when I was making this card, I didn't quite have the right button to use.  Well, okay I have hundreds - but none were what I wanted, you know how it is!


So I pulled out my Zing metallic gold embossing powder...


... and gave a plain old wood button a quick coat.


Now it is glam!  Such a s easy way to get coordinated buttons!

Thanks for visiting!

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Kit Club Tuesday

Hi there!

Elaine is sharing a gorgeous two page layout with us today, created from this month's premium kit!


AS you can she she made good use of the kit contents creating a layout that features some family photos around her Christmas tree!  Just perfect!

Glad you stopped in today!

Monday, December 28, 2015

January Crops

We hope that you all had a lovely Christmas and were able to spend time with your families!

Today we want to update you on our January Crops!  Come on out and get started scrapping those holiday photos - we know that like we did,  you probably took a lot of them!

Here are the details for our January dates:

  January Day Crop

When: Sat. January 9th 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
 
Where: Salvation Army Church
33 Diana Ave. Brantford, Ontario

Cost of the crop is ONLY $25+hst and includes snack, lunch, refreshments and a small gift for all attendees!

Bring your supplies and get ready for a day of scrappy fun.
Register Here.

 
January Pizza Crop


                                                 When: Friday January 22nd  5:30pm - 12:00 am

Where: Salvation Army Church
33 Diana Ave. Brantford, Ontario

Cost of the crop is ONLY $25+hst and includes pizza, refreshments and a small gift for all attendees!

Bring your supplies and get ready for a day of scrappy fun.
                  Register here!

 
We hope to see you all soon!

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Inspiration on Thursday and a very Happy Holiday to you!

Hi there!

We have one more quick bit of inspiration for you today!






We are just adoring these Holiday cards by Eileen with the pops of pink!

Before we sign off for the day / week (we will be back again on Monday), the team here at ScrapMuch? would like to send you and yours a great big wish for a very happy holiday season!  We have thoroughly enjoyed sharing this last year with all of you and feel blessed that you have shared so much of your time with us.

Simple Happy Holidays Graphic

Thank you for visiting with us today!

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Silhouette Studios DIY Print and Cut Feature | Tutorial

Hi there!

Laura here with a fun tip to share! I recently mass produced some Christmas tags using a DIY print and cut feature, and decided that I should share the process with you, you can use this technique to mass produce cards or invites or party decor - so be sure to think outside of the Christmas box - or even to produce a single custom item!  But if you are in need of a bunch of tags in a hurry - you will know how to get them without getting dressed! lol!

For the sake of this tutorial I will be using a digital stamp as my image, please note that wherever you see the word "image" you can use any jpeg or pmg image of your choice.  The possibilities are endless really: you could use an actual photograph to make a personalized item; you could use an image of a favourite character (say for a party invite); you could use a free clipart; anything really - let your creativity lead the way!  Or if all else fails ask a little person, they are full of great ideas! hehe!



The first step is to get the image of your choice onto your computer's hard drive, if you are using a photo from your camera it is pretty basic, you could download an image from the internet or like me if you are working with a digital stamp you will need to scan your coloured image via your printer into your computer  (see scanned image above, note I coloured two of the same digital stamps).


Next you will open your Silhouette software and click FILE, OPEN and then look for your image on your hard drive. Once your image is in the software program, you can resize it to suit your project.


I used the knife tool to trim off a little of the excess white space around my images, this helped me to snug them up a little closer together.  You may or may not need to utilize this step.


Now open your "design page settings" window; this is where you will configure your page to your printer settings.  For example, my printer only prints a max size of 8.5 x 11 inches so that is what I chose, and I opted for the portrait view.  If it wasn't already, the piece of "paper" on your "mat" on the screen will now appear as 8.5 x 11 inches, in the orientation of your choice.


Next you will want to open your "Registration Marks" window. it is necessary to add registration marks to all print and cut creations.  Your printer will print the lines and squares as shown on the above image.  Then your Silhouette will scan then or "read" them to determine where to cut.  It is a super cool option within the software and I am sure your will figure out many uses for it down the road!  There are two style of registration marks, it doesn't really matter which you choose, I keep it simple and most often choose option 1.


Now we are on to the fun part!  From your library of cut files choose (or create) the shape you want to work with.  As I mentioned I am making Christmas gift tags, so I chose a tag shape.

Bring your shape onto your working area ("mat") and place it over your image and resize it using the corner handles around the shape. Or choose a specific size using the "scale"  tool window 


Once your shape and image are set up as desired you can duplicate them on your page for as many cuts as you want or can fit.  **Be aware that you must have all of your shapes remain within the Registration Mark boundaries or the shape will not cut properly. (You will notice that I set my tag so that it trimmed off the bottom and the left arm of the snowman, because I wanted to leave some white space on the right side to add in my handwritten to's and from's.)

Now you are ready to send your page to your printer.  There is a printer option at the top left side of your software screen (in case you were not aware) to the left of the copy and paste buttons.

I typically print on smooth light weight cardstock for this type of project, but the choice is yours.


Once you have your printed sheet place it onto your Silhouette cutting mat as shown in the image above (providing that you chose portrait mode for your printer), and feed it into your machine.



Now you are ready to cut, but if you are concerned that the Silhouette may cut around your image and your shape, you can double check it by opening the "Cut Settings" window. The areas that will actually cut should become highlighted in red.


Choose your paper type and then hit the "send to Silhouette" button.


As it is coming out of the Silhouette I can see it has cut exactly where I had envisioned when I was planning this whole project!


Here is a little closer look at the cut lines.


And after pulling off the excess paper you can see that I am left with 4 prefect tags.  You may want to make your tags smaller, I like them on the larger side.  Now I just have to repeat these steps until I get enough tags.  **Note - you can print as many copies as you need at once and then feed them through the cutting process afterward.  You do not need to print and then cut one page at a time. I did 20 tags, or 5 pages in one sitting.


Are they not the cutest!  Don't forget to save your work to your hard drive, that way you can use the file again.


And check this out I already put them to work! I love that I only really needed to colour one image to get an endless supply of tags.  I even revisited my file to create Christmas cards a week after creating my tags.  I simply changed out the tag shape and used my coloured image again!  It saved me so much colouring when I was short on time!

Now you can see how easy this really is, and how you can use this function to create so many wonderful custom things.  I use it to make sentiments for my handmade cards (because I do not love stamping); you could make a card with the recipients image on it, or party decor in your little ones favourite character or theme. And on and on!

Thank you so much for visiting today!
Laura
xo

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Kit Club Tuesday

Hi there!

How about some inspiration for a couple of sweet last minute cards for today's Kit Club inspiration post!


Elaine creates stunning and unique cards with her kit contents!  What are you creating?

Thanks for visiting!

Monday, December 21, 2015

Manufacturer Spotlight | Simple Stories

Hi friends! 


Simple Stories  is back in our Manufacturer Spotlight, they have once again hit it out of the park with their wonderful Claus & C. collection!


You can see the full line up of this collection here, you will notice that much of it is retired, it has sold out - yes it is that popular!  WE still have limited quantities of some of this collection in stock, so if you are crushing on it like we are, you should probably touch base with us!

On the Simple Stories blog you can see some gorgeous inspiration using this collection ; like this post with 2 great layouts and this post with a fun December Daily.  Plus you can check out Laura's reveal here in case you missed, or her December Daily part 1 video here.

And they are having a DT Call should you wish to throw your hat into the ring!  I cannot find a link to the application process, but I have an email with all the details in it and I am happy to forward it to you!

Have a great day!






Saturday, December 19, 2015

December Daily Part 1 with Laura

Hi there!

It is Laura popping in for a little visit on this Saturday before Christmas!  Can you believe we are less than a week away from the jolly old guy visiting us?

I thought I would share my December Daily album, well the first half of it!  This video is about 15 minutes long and almost as long as I can get in one upload on You-Tube.  I will share part two after my album is completed, which should be after Christmas.

I used mainly the Claus & Co. collection from Simple Stories, and added in a few items from my stash. blending old and new is a great way to get to play with new product while still using up your leftover or hoarded goodies!


I hope you enjoy it, thanks for visiting!

Friday, December 18, 2015

Sketch-y Friday with Team B - December 18 2015 & Our Christmas Card Inspiration Week Finale

Hi there!

It's Friday and we are just one week away from Christmas, we know that many of you are super busy this time of year but we hope to see you link up in our challenges.  Today we are launching our very last challenge for 2015, but don't worry you still have until the 29th to play along!

We are also sharing the last batch of Christmas Cards in our whole week of Christmas CArd inspiration!  Keep reading for today's cards

And now, here is your sketch....



And here is your Team B inspiration!



Sara

 Wendy

And now for our Christmas Card inspiration share, we are rounding out the week with some super cute card by Eileen!







Here is a run down of our Sketch-y Friday rules.  Just link up your creations in our sidebar to be entered into a random draw for our monthly prize.    You have until December 29th, at midnight to participate in any of this month's sketch challenges, each linkup tool will remain open until that date!  You may take some artistic license with your adaptation of the sketches, however if you choose to use a double page sketch for a single page layout you may only enter once per sketch, not once per side.

If you are playing along with more than one challenge you will need to link each of them up via a separate blog post for the link up tool to work. (International participants may be required to pay some shipping fees.)  Good luck, we cannot wait to see what you create!

 *note - If you are playing along using Flickr the team will no longer be leaving comments, due to changes in Flickr policies and passwords.  However, we will be checking out your entries for sure and you are definitely eligible for the prize draw. Our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

Thanks for visiting!