One Sheet Mini Album, Part 2 – Any Size

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Kristie Sloan

I promised you I would show you how to make the One Sheet Mini-album using any size paper. So here it is. I hope it’s not too confusing, but I think that you will get the idea and understand how you can size your pages and number of pages according to your sheet size. Disclaimers: 1.) I do not anticipate any cinematography awards for this. 2.) There is a reason I am not a hand model. If you missed the first video with the instructions, you can see it here.

During the rest of this week I’m going to share some information about some online classes and give you a chance for a special deal on those classes for the next few days. These could make some great gifts or you might like to just take advantage of them for yourself!

The first week of January will begin our series of using our supplies in different ways. Whether you’re stuck with a lot of supplies you’re just not using and have a lot on hand or you just want some ideas to use your supplies in different ways, I think you’re going to enjoy the series.

If you make some of these I hope you come over to the Artful Adventures Facebook Group and share what you’ve done we would love to see it. Speaking of the Facebook group, I hope that you will come over and join the group. It’s a group meant to share what you’re working on. I hope that we can encourage each other to try new things. Design and techniques can flow from one art to another. You can’t think of yourself as “just a scrapbooker,” or “just a stamper,” because it requires thought and design, which actually makes you a scrapbook artist, or a card designer! What if you add in even more art techniques or types of products you use? Wouldn’t that be fun and perhaps make you feel even more creative? Well get ready because we are going on some Artful Adventures!

Organizing Your Arts and Crafts Space

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Kristie Sloan

Before we get started using the supplies we have on hand to create fabulous and fun things, I thought it might be a good idea to talk about organization in our creative spaces.

Photo credit: chrissy.farnan @ flickr.com

Whether you only have a corner of a room, a closet, or a whole room, you will get the most from your creative time if you have some organization. Some of us are not that organized by nature. Plus, throw in the fact that many creative people are very visual and like to be able to see what they have available to work with, and you have the potential for a real mess!

Don’t dispare! If you don’t have any idea about where to begin, we’ll offer some help! One of the biggest things to know, is that you should NOT run out and buy a bunch more stuff to put your supplies in — unless you truly have to have some help in sorting through it all. If I’m on a big sorting mission, I find that cardboard file boxes from the office supply store are great. You have to fold them into its box shape, but they have holes for handles, and tops if you want to fold those up as well! That way, you already have some boxes if you decide you need to take some of your stuff to donate!

Use what you have first: baskets, shoe boxes, larger boxes, plastic kitchen boxes, etc.
One of the best ways to organize is to put like items with more of their own kind so they aren’t lonely. That way, all your ribbon is together, buttons, brads, paper, stamps, dies, punches…. you get the idea.
Once you find out how much you have of anything, you can deal with deciding where and what it will live in. Remember, it’s okay to actually purge! If you have a giant bag of yarn and you haven’t used it in the past ten years, you probably don’t need a whole bag of yarn! Keep a couple of skeins on hand and donate to the thrift store or a friend who will use it!
As you decide how to containerize your items, still use what you have for now! Don’t invest a lot of money until you really settle on your space and layout. Think about whether you like to be able to see your supplies or have them hidden away. That will help you determine what kind of storage you should be considering. Also, think about using vertical space, going up can creative a ton of extra storage!

Here is a nifty video from Lain Ehmann showing us around her craftroom, you’ll see how she has grouped her items together for convenience.

Lain has hosted True Scrap which is a virtual online getaway for scrappers/crafters and has had some wonderful classes. Now you can get the classes by Aby Garvey for just $9.99 each! What a great gift for yourself or someone else who may be considering getting their arts and crafts area organized for the new year! Click on the links below for details!

Classes by Aby Garvey, just $9.99!

Scrapbook Organization Your Way, (scroll down to her name)

Solutions for Small Scrapbook Spaces

Audience Participation Time

What is your favorite tip or item that that has worked well for organizing your arts/crafts supplies?
What do you most struggle with?

One Sheet Mini-Album

Posted on December 14, 2012 by Kristie Sloan

Here is a quick way to make a mini-album from just a single sheet of paper. This episode will show you how to create the booklet from either cardstock or patterned paper. Double sided patterned paper is my favorite for this project because you get to see both sides in different areas of your little book!

Although this sample has a definite holiday theme you can create one for any occasion, or any reason! You can use little pictures, sayings or quotes, journaling, a tiny art journal… you get to decide!

What better way to use bits and pieces to embellish this little album, than pull from your stash! Plus, what are you ever going to do with all that patterned paper you are “saving” for just the right project! Come on, use one! This IS the project a perfect piece of paper has been waiting for! Wow, say that fast several times! Create something fun, and then come over and join and post to our new Artful Adventures Facebook Group.

The next episode will show you how to use different sized of paper, other than a 12×12 sheet. You will also learn how to determine the number of pages and the page sizes when creating your one sheet mini-album from any size paper!

A printable tutorial, along with 13 other great tutorials is available upon a donation to the American Heart Association through, “Scrappers Give Thanks 2012”. Hurry, it’s only available through December 25, 2012!

Would You Like to do More with your Supplies?

Posted on December 11, 2012 by Kristie Sloan

Image courtesy Flickr/chrissy.farnan

Have you accumulated more arts and crafts supplies for your favorite hobby than you know what to do with? Would you like to find some ways to use them?

Whether you like to scrapbook, stamp, make cards, art journal, create mixed media, or any number of other hobbies, you probably have a stash of items that you are not really using on a regular basis. This picture depicts a very tidy space, but many of us don’t have things this organized (and you know who you are)! The fact remains, if you’re not using your stash of goodies, they are just taking up valuable real estate in your space! If you are like most hobby enthusiasts, there is no telling how much money you have invested in these items.

This isn’t about making you feel guilty for not utilizing all that great stuff. Instead, it’s about creating a plan to use it up! We often get in a rut and use the same products over and over, and the rest just begin to collect dust. In part, Artful Adventures is about helping you find new ways to use stuff you already have on hand! We are going to dig in and find what you have, and help you find some ways to use it up!

As we get ready to do that, I would urge you to get started by finding out what you have. Put like with like so that you begin to see what you really have. Once you begin to do that, you’ll know what you have and it will be so much easier to move forward. That way, as we talk about ways to use different products, you’ll know if you have it on hand, or if it looks like something that could work with others things you have, you won’t end up having duplicates.

I’ll confess right now that my arts and crafts items have finally made their way into a single area, and it so much more efficient! However, I had been carrying items all over the house and using them when the mood hit me. I am afraid that method has cost me several black markers I was using on some lettering projects. Ouch. I still hope they turn up before I need them and end up replacing any or all of them!

Not only are we going to talk about ways to use products, but we’ll talk about using them to cross from one thing to another: (come on say it with me) whether you want to use it in scrapbooking, stamping, card making, mixed media or art journaling!

What kinds of products do you have that you just aren’t using these days? Leave a comment and let’s see what we can do!

Five Golden Letterings Class, with Joanne Sharpe

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Kristie Sloan

Joanne Sharpe is such a gifted artist and teacher and I would be remiss if I did not share her wonderful free class she is doing now! It is called Five Golden Letterings and is yours to enjoy at no cost!

She is already on day 3 of the class, so if you watch the videos, you’ll have an idea of what you may have on hand that you can already use. You could also use the techniques you’ll see and use whatever colors you want! Shhh… I won’t tell you didn’t use gold!

So far she has shown some great ways to spiff up some wrapping paper, gift bags, and cards! It’s amazing how a handful of supplies can be used to de-stress and make something artful and useful all at the same time! You are sure to pick up a some ideas to artfully add some special touches to your holidays!

Stop by and check out her Five Golden Letterings class! Then come back and share with us what you’ve made!