It is hard to believe that it is the last day of November 2012! Time just flies by, whether we are having fun or not!
As December progresses, you’ll begin to see a change in this website as it transforms into what it was meant to be all along! By 2013 it will be renewed, rejuvenated, and ready to bring the same to you, be means of helping you explore your creativity in artful ways!
I hope you are ready for more Artful Adventures here in the Creative Zone!
I hope all of you who live in the US had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! Thanksgiving seems to be the kickoff of our holiday season of thanksgiving/gratitude and giving.
Speaking of giving, this year I participated in the Scrappers Give Thanks 2012 project and want to let you know a little bit about it if you haven’t heard of it previously. This charitable event was designed as a time to come together as an online community of scrapbookers, and give to a cause that has been voted on as a group. This was an idea started by Jennifer Wilson, creator of the website, Simple Scrapper. Previous causes include Operation Write Home and Scrappers Give Thanks 2010.
Scrappers Give Thanks 2012
1 Sheet Mini-Album Tutorial, by Kristie Sloan.
This sample features products from Stampin’Up!
This year’s project gives you a set of tutorials as a “thank you” for your monetary donation to the American Heart Association in memory of digital designer, Eva Kipler, who recently passed away.
Among the tutorials you can find the directions I submitted for the basic construction to make this mini-album from just one sheet of decorative paper or card stock! Donations start at $1, and you may contribute any amount you wish. You’ll find a complete list of the tutorials and donation details here.
Thank you to all the other volunteers who submitted tutorials to the project: Liz Albers, Anna Aspnes, Traci Brennan, Vanessa De Bonis, Katrina Kennedy, Meagan of Meagan’s Creations, Rebecca Mooneyham, Lori Nielsen, Paula Potts, Susan Rizzo, Sharon of Art for Scrapbooking, Dawn Stegall, and Linda Walton.
Here again is a link to the project: www.scrappersgivethanks.org
It was a pleasure working on the Scrappers Give Thanks 2012 project! Cheers to YOUR Creativity! –Kristie
Back view – it is about 1-2 inches deep
What a surprise when your husband brings home something to hang on the wall of the man cave area, and tells you he wants you to “fix it up” for him! That’s just what happened as my guy was on the hunt to select some items for his patriotic/naval themed wall decor.
He found this piece of wall art which had a great cutout of a rope and anchor. It took me some time to decide what I could do with it, considering I was already shocked with how a basically red, white, and blue look was going to fit in with the colors of the furnishings of the room!
Finally, it came to me! I had purchase a giant old atlas at an estate sale, for the purpose of using for mixed media pieces. I went through the pages and selected maps of areas where my husband had either traveled while in the Navy, or where we had lived. I used ModPodge and stuck it all down to the front of the piece.
When it was dry I could easily hold it where light was coming from behind, and see where it needed to be cut with a craft knife.
I used a little more white and blue paint, and then just gray paint around the anchor and white around the rope. 
When that was dry I did detail work with a fine black marker (I think it was Faber Castel Pitt Pen) and added some shading with some Faber Castel Pitt Pens. The sides are painted black to coordinate with some of the other wall pieces that are in black frames.
To me, it seems unfinished and I wanted to add some words to the piece, but he didn’t want anything else on it. Since it was done at his request, I left it at this stage, but I REALLY want to add something else!
Estate sales, thrift stores, and garage sales are great places to pick up old books, maps, and all kinds of great items to use in your mixed media pieces!
Have fun and mix it up!
This the last segment in our discussion on making it easier to get more scrapbooking done!
Step 9: Don’t let supplies get in your way!
It doesn’t really take a lot of supplies, even though you can easily get carried away and overspend. On the other hand, if you’ve collected a lot of supplies, don’t let the volume of what you have on hand confuse your choices. Grab a few embellishments and be done. Just do it!
A simple list of items to start with or keep handy in your grab-‘n-scrap kit:
As you move forward, you may decide the things you enjoy most to add as embellishments. Maybe you love ribbons, brads, buttons, flowers, etc. You’ll better have an idea of the things that go in your grab-‘n-scrap kit! Remember, it’s YOUR kit, and YOU get to decide what YOU like!
If you are a digital scrapper, perhaps selecting your pictures and sticking with a single digital kit may be the easiest way to go. That way you aren’t overwhelmed by the sheer volume of digital elements.
Happy Scrapping!
Do you struggle finding time to create pages? Perhaps you don’t really have a space where you can leave out all your supplies, and you know that by the time you drag everything out and get ready, there would be no time to get anything else done and you would have to put it all away! When it seems you never have time to create a page, that’s when you know you have an elephant. Yes, an elephant! There’s an age old question, “How do you eat an elephant?” The answer is, “One bite at a a time!” Your elephant is scrapbooking, and even though you aren’t going to eat it, you still need to know how to delve in; and that’s one step at a time!
Step 8: Break your scrapbooking into segments.
There is no rule that says you have complete a page all at once! Whether you use an archival quality project sleeve or a 2 gallon ziplock bag, you can grab what you need and have it ready for the final step. Keep the essential adhesives, scissors, paper trimmer, etc. together and you’ll be ready to grab your things and finish your page. If you are a digital scrapper, this will still work for you!