Tag Archives: tutorial

DT: Making of a mini

Posted on September 21, 2010 by crazydaisy

 

 

September Mini Tutorial

Katie here! If you’re a Crazy Daisy regular, I think you know by now that I love making supplies my own. One of the best ways to do this, I’ve found, is to challenge myself to look at the monthly mini in a new way. This time, I thought, “What haven’t I done before? What would look cute with this album?” Pair those questions with the desire to use a piece of cork board I had laying around, and you get an idea!

 

To create the two mini cork boards found in my album, follow the steps below:

1. Separate your pages. Order them all by size. For the cork boards, we’ll only be using three medium bracket and three large bracket pages. So: Not the front and back cover, nor the two little bracket pages.
2. Decide what shapes you want your boards to be and draw them in with pencil. One of my cork boards is a thick, rectangular shape, while the other is thin and much smaller. You’ll want to use the heaviest of each set of pages to be the backing of the cork board (the chipboard won’t buckle under the glue and you won’t have problems with pushing thumbtacks completely through). Take one of the two lighter pages of each set and draw rectangles on them. You can either freehand — which is what I did before straightening my edges up with a ruler where I needed to — or you can trace a template. Then, using an X-Acto knife, cut the shapes out so that you are left with two frames. Use the frames as a guide to trace onto the remaining light pages, leaving the heavy pages intact (they’ll only provide backing).

3. Use the center blocks which you cut out with your craft knife as a guide to determine how big the pieces of cork need to be. Tracing around them with a Sharpie works best for this part. Then, cut the cork to size.

4. Adhere the two cardstock frame pages from each set together, and then back them with their respective chipboard pages. Double sided tape works best, but you could also use liquid glue — if you do, make sure to allow the glue to set properly by placing the boards underneath a stack of heavy books; otherwise, they’ll warp.

5. Using strong liquid glue — Elmer’s Craft Bond is awesome, but Aleene’s Tacky Glue would also work very well — adhere the cork in place. The pieces should fit right into their little frames.

6. Seal the edges of the boards by using Mod Podge. This is optional, but I feel it makes things look more cohesive!

7. Next, I decorated my pages by using foam stamps and yellow acrylic paint, stamping words which remind me of fall.

8. Decorate the rest of your pages to follow suit, and there you have it! Your own, customized, spiffy fall mini. :) Now all you need to is embellish! Have fun.

 

 

Posted in Scrapbook Designers, Scrapbook Kits, Scrapbook Supplies, Scrapbook Tips | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments


DT: Using Rub-ons

Posted on September 17, 2010 by crazydaisy

Tricks for Using Rub-ons

Though Amy (Kingsford) used the August Main kit for this little tutorial, it applys to every kit. There are so many great ways to spice up your pages with rub-ons and nearly every kit we ship out has some rub-ons in it.

Here’s a few ways Amy used rub-ons to enhance her pages:

1. Use them to dress up your photo clusters.

 

2. Make your own tags.

 


3. Create a fun scene on your background paper.

 

The following tips will help you get a clean transfer with each and every one of your rub-ons:

 

• Avoid storing your rub-ons in a place that gets extremely hot or cold.
• Use a hard flat surface on which to perform your transfers.
• After performing the transfer use the backing sheet from your rubs to place over top and rub over the image again to seal the image securely.
• When cutting your images from a sheet of rub-ons, leave a small border around the image, to help you determine if the edges of your image are sealed properly.

Have fun with this month’s kit and maybe you can look through old kits to find rub-ons you can repurpose for future projects.

Posted in Scrapbook Designers, Scrapbook Kits, Scrapbook Supplies, Scrapbook Tips | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment


DT: Making your own stencils or masks

Posted on August 17, 2010 by crazydaisy

Making your own stencils or masks

By Kelly Hansen

I’ve always been one to try different techniques on my pages to make them interesting. One of the things I like using is scrapbooking mask by Tim Holtz,and Heidi Swapp. Unfortunately, some people are afraid to try them because they can be expensive.

 

 

This month I got creative. Using my Cricut machine (picture above) I cut my very own custom stencil. I cut out the days of the week just the way I wanted them displayed on my layout.

 

 

Using the negative space of the stencil, I taped down all 4 sides so It wouldn’t slide around when using my paint. I also glued down the negative space of the letters. Using the paint (you can also use glimmer mist, inks) I painted (picture above) over the days of the week.

 

This is what the finished product looks like (picture above). Making your own stencil/mask allows you to be creative in so many ways. This was a great way to accent my title without having to use big letters from a alphabet set. Here’s the finished layout:

 

 

 

Posted in Scrapbook Designers, Scrapbook Kits, Scrapbook Supplies, Scrapbook Tips, Scrapbooking Inspiration | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off


DT: Using Up Extra Photos

Posted on July 12, 2010 by crazydaisy

Using Up Extra Photos
By Mara Campbell

If you are anything like me, you take lots of photos. Seriously, tons and tons of photos!! I get mine developed online, so I have to spend some time deciding and figuring out what I want to get make into prints. It’s not always easy, so I usually end up with lots of extra prints that I don’t use. And I don’t like to waste photos! When I saw the cute little star mini album in the July kit, I knew exactly what I was going to use it for. It seems I always have extra photos of my kids doing sports. Soccer, softball, baseball, track…I always have too many prints. So I decided to make an All-Star mini to use up all those photos that didn’t make it onto layouts.



I covered the cover with patterned paper, used my star punch to create a place for my title, and did lots of inking. I also added some small letters for my title (not included in the kit).



I added a title page that will tell what this book is all about and the date ranges of the photos in the book. That way I can add photos without being stressed about journaling and keeping things in perfect order.



My kids love looking at sports photos of themselves in this little album. And it was the perfect spot for all those extras. So the next time you have extra photos lying around, consider making a mini album with them!!

Happy Scrapping Everyone!


Posted in Scrapbook Designers, Scrapbook Kits | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment


DT: Paint by Numbers

Posted on July 6, 2010 by crazydaisy

Paint By Number: 5 Easy Ways to Use Paint on Your Layouts
By Amy Kingsford


Paint is a fun way to bring a bit of contrasting texture and color to your layouts, if your motivated to punch up your layouts then give these few tips a try:



1. Create our own spray mist by just adding water!
Combine some acrylic paint and distilled water in a small misting bottle … shake and spray, for a glimmer try using a metallic paint!

2. Get Edgy and add a fun border to your pages.
For a subtle effect use a dry brush and take long strokes across the edges of your page; For a bolder look try sponging a bit of paint around the edges.



3. Use a stencil or mask for layouts that are paint PERFECT.
Use masking tape to secure your stencil or mask to your surface and then paint over it to create your design.

4. Drop it or dab it on for a controlled messy look!
Using a bit of toilet paper, dip it into your paint then transfer it to your paper by letting it drip or by actually smudging it onto your lo. For more dramatic splatters with the same amount of control, try using an eyedropper.



5. Use paint to create fun backgrounds and mats.
Stroke your paint directly onto your background for a dynamic textured mat.

Looking for more fun ideas for using paint on your layouts…check out all of the painted perfection available for your inspiration from my favorite artsy scrapper: Dina Wakley!


Posted in Scrapbook Designers, Scrapbook Supplies, Scrapbook Tips | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment


DT: DIY Pebbles

Posted on June 29, 2010 by crazydaisy


DIY Pebbles

By Amber Zimmerman

Hello! I am bringing to you DIY pebbles, like the Prima (above) ones out there. :) I adore these little things and use them up fairly quickly. I can’t get enough of my embellishments. For me, embellishing a page is the best part!


You will need these glass pebbles (I purchased mine at Michaels, but you can get them at any craft store and you can also find them at Wal-Mart where you would find vases and artificial plants). Make sure you use clear ones (above), although you could really use any color as long as it’s translucent.



The most fun part is picking out your patterned paper. These papers in our June kit had some really fun patterned paper that was perfect for my “pebbles”.



Once I chose my paper, I placed the pebble on top of the design I wanted to use (above)  and traced around it.



I then cut it out and used Aleene’s paper glaze glue (below) to glue the paper to the pebble.


Don’t worry about the paper being too big. You can trim it once it is adhered and the glue has dried. I also sand it after trimming it a bit.



Now comes the fun part . . . using it on a page/card or furthering your embellishment with punches, etc. To give you an example, I used my punches and layered them and glued my pebble on top (below).




You can leave it like that (which is super cute), or add it to the center of a flower which I chose to do. Now you have a ready made embellishment! Happy creating! :)



Posted in Scrapbook Designers, Scrapbook Kits | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment


DT: Mini Book Tutorial

Posted on June 16, 2010 by crazydaisy

 

Go Vintage: A Mini Book Tutorial

By Katie Turner



 

Step 1:

Gather your materials.

You’ll need the following from the kit:

* Kaisercraft Journal
* Kaisercraft Devonshire Collection Victorian Rose patterned paper
* Pink Paislee 365 Degrees Collection Daydream patterned paper
* Scenic Route Providence Collection Cottage Street patterned paper
* Lace trim

Other materials you’ll need include:

* Corrugated cardboard for the journal’s spine
* Wood grain contact paper
* Craft Bond or PVC glue
* Mod Podge
* Acrylic paint
* A couple paint brushes
* Binder clips or clamps
* An interesting vintage image to use for your cover — I chose a peacock illustration from a vintage book

 

Step 2:

Cut your cardboard. Depending on thickness, cut one or two 1 cm x 21.5 cm strips; to match the thickness of my journal cover, I glued two strips together, one on top of the other. Once the spine is finished, cut your contact paper into one 12 cm x 21.5 cm piece, two strips of 3 cm x 21.5 cm, and one 32 cm x 21.5 cm piece.

 

Step 3:

Take your 12 cm x 21.5 cm piece and center the covers of your journal on it just like in the above picture, leaving approximately 1.5 cm between them. Be sure that the front cover is facing outward instead of inward (the leaf design should be on the lower left). Place the cardboard spine in the space between the covers, centering it so that there is a sliver of space between either side of the spine and the covers.

 

Step 4:

Next, either place the covers and spine (which should now be connected by the contact paper behind them) on a large sheet of contact paper and trace around to determine the size you’ll need to cover the inside completely (which may be more exact if your journal doesn’t match my dimensions number for number), or use the 32 cm x 21.5 cm piece you cut earlier.

 

 

Step 5:

Adhere it on top of your covers just as they are, being sure to round the corners if you used the pre-cut piece of contact paper. Set aside.

 

Step 6:

We’re now dealing with the paper block, which includes lined pages and two cardstock end sheets. Use those end sheets as templates to trace on the Kaisercraft and Pink Paislee pages; you’ll end up with four end sheets total, two of them containing the orange Kaisercraft pattern and the other two containing the blue Pink Paislee pattern. Adhere the two orange sheets over the outside of the end sheets; one will have punched holes on the left, and one will have them on the right.

 

Step 7:

Stack your pages together using the end sheets to sandwich the lined pages. Use binder clips or clamps on either side of the stack to keep your pages firmly in place once you have jogged them and made sure they are all lined up. Next, brush Craft Bond or PVC glue on the spine of the paper stack, being sure to fan the pages out (the way you would when shuffling a deck of cards) so that the glue will stick to every page. This is important as it prevents your book from falling apart later on!

 

Step 8:

After smoothing out the journal’s spine (and making sure the contact paper sticks together in the spaces on either side of it), use an X-Acto knife to cut the newly formed wood grain leaves and stem out of the design so that you will be able to see through them again.

 

 

Step 9:

Adhere the blue end sheets onto the inside covers, centering them and making sure that you can see the front sheet’s orange back through all leaves on the front of the journal. Then, slide your dried paper block into the journal, centering it.

 

Step 10:

Using your remaining 3 cm x 21.5 cm wood grain contact paper strips, adhere the covers to the end sheets of the paper block… And the basic structure of your journal is complete! Now, embellish to your heart’s content. I used blue acrylic paint, the Scenic Route patterned paper, lace trim, and the image of the peacock to make the cover pretty. :)



Posted in Scrapbook Designers, Scrapbook Kits | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments


DT: Scalloped Frame

Posted on May 28, 2010 by crazydaisy

Layout Tutorial

By Katie Turner

 

 

Here’s a tutorial I created based on the layout I made using the sketch from Sketch Inspiration!

1. Choose your background paper. I chose to use the beautiful My Mind’s Eye Life Stories Roses patterned paper (probably my favorite sheet in the May kit!). Then, position your photos where you want the frames to be in the end. Since I used a sketch at Sketch Inspiration, my positioning is based on that. I used vertical photos instead of horizontal, though, and also used 2×3 instead of larger sizes.

2. With a pencil, mark the paper where the corners of the photos meet it. Set the photos aside.

3. Using a paper piercer or an X-Acto knife (my weapon of choice), poke small holes through the marks you created in the previous step.

4. Turn your paper over. Using a ruler or a straight edge and your pencil, connect the holes. They will match the dimensions of your pictures, so when I was finished, I had two 2×3 rectangles in the exact place I’d positioned my photos earlier — just on the back of the paper.

5. Using a scalloped template (whether it’s something like I used or a punched border you created with a scalloped edge punch), trace petals inside the rectangles you just drew.

6. There’s no particular way to go about this; the size of my template allowed for roughly three scallops on the top and bottom edges and two scallops on each side.

7. Using an X-Acto knife, cut out all parts that won’t be needed. These include wherever scallops meet — most of what you’ll be tossing will have a triangular or diamond shape. Be sure not to cut everything out; you’ll want to cut the sides only down to where the scallops begin, meaning that you won’t cut the outermost top or bottom edges at all, and only the corners of the sides, before you reach the part where the two scallops jut out toward the middle.

8. Once you’ve done that, go ahead and fold outward, using the outermost lines you drew as a folding guide.

9. Using a toothpick or a coffee stirrer, curl the petals upward. Your basic frames are complete!

10. Mat your photos on matching kraft cardstock — I used the back of the My Mind’s Eye Life Stories Pink Damask patterned paper. My matting resulted in about half an inch of kraft cardstock visible on each side of the photos.

11. Place adhesive on the kraft border around your photos and adhere to the back of your background paper, carefully matching the photos up with their frames. And that’s it!




Posted in Scrapbook Designers, Scrapbook Kits, Scrapbook Tips | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments


DT: The Leftovers

Posted on May 11, 2010 by crazydaisy

Hello there. Happy May. If you haven’t gotten your May kit yet … no worries. We’re sure you still have some leftover goodies from your April Kit to create with and the wonderful Miss Amber is here to show you just what you can do with them:



 

The Leftovers

By Amber Zimmerman


Hello!  By now you’ve all received your kits and probably have created some pages with it. I made 5 pages and still had some cute embellishments and papers left over that I wanted to use. I just loved the embellies that Jennifer and Kimberly included in the kit and had to figure out a way to display them where they were the stars of the show. :) Well, since I am a “list” person it didn’t take long for me to come up with something. I love to write lists. I have them all over the house. List of things to do today, list of things to buy for photography, list of meals for the week, etc. My mind is a creative storm of ideas, but they come and go so quickly that if I don’t write them down somewhere I may lose it in the great abyss of my brain forever! So I set to work creating a “message board” if you will, of creative ideas.



The first thing that I gathered were my leftover supplies. Most important was the Hambly transparency, as that would be where I write my ideas (photo above).



Second, I used a vintage book that I purchased at a garage sale for 10 cents. I took off the front cover, and that was my base. I picked out my papers and arranged them how I liked them. I secured the Hambly with double sided tape. I used the cute woman chipboard and inked it. Once it was complete, I used my crop-a-dile to make the holes and found some vintage seam binding to use as my “hanger” (photo above).



To make the scallops, I used one of my go to Martha Stewart punches (photo above). I punched out the circles and arranged them on the edge of the book cover with double sided tape (photo below).



To completeit, I used a dry erase marker (photo below)  to jot my ideas as they come to me. My little “message board” is a bit busy, but you could easily use the Hambly alone with just a few decorative brads and buttons so you would have more room to write.



And here’s a look at the finished product:



I thought I would share one of the links to the idea that I am determined to complete this summer for my kiddo’s room, it could also hold scrap supplies!


Posted in Scrapbook Designers, Scrapbook Kits, Scrapbook Supplies | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments


DT: Mini Book Tutorial

Posted on April 30, 2010 by crazydaisy

April 2010 Main Kit
Spring Mini Book Tutorial

By Katie Turner

1. Take your mini book apart. Needle-nose pliers will help with bending the coils back enough so that you can twist the wire out of the binding holes.

2. Set aside the back chipboard cover and three sheets of the cardstock pages. On the front chipboard cover, draw a line 6 cm (2.4 in) from the bottom. Do the same with the remaining pages after clamping them to ensure they don’t slip. Set the front cover aside.

3. Grab the American Crafts Remarks journaling stickers and cut out the bottom sticker (right below the cloud sticker). It should have a caterpillar and a branch on it. You’ll want to leave the backing on for now; just cut around the outside of the sticker, being sure to snip into the corners.

4. Center the sticker (with the backing still on it) on the lower part of the clamped stack of pages, below the line you drew earlier. Trace around it. You’ll notice that the leaves from the branch extend below where the bottom edge of the sticker should be – don’t worry about it! We’ll fix this in the next step.

5. Flip the journaling sticker around and finishing tracing.

6. You’ll end up with a slightly bigger, fancy rectangle, which is exactly what we want.

7. Now for the most time consuming part – you’ll need to cut out the window from each page in the stack, except the last two, which will be the base to make sure everything is nice and sturdy at the end of the project. You can use an X-Acto knife (which is why the pages are clamped) or trace the window on all the remaining pages and cut them out with sharp, detail-oriented scissors, like Cutterbees. It’s up to you! It doesn’t have to be perfect, so don’t fret.

8. Here’s what it should look like – don’t forget to leave those bottom two pages alone! Set the stack aside.

9. Pick up the chipboard cover, which is the one that should have the line drawn on it. An X-Acto knife is pretty helpful for the next step.

10. Gently cut along the line until the bottom piece of chipboard falls away. You won’t be needing it anymore for this project.

11. Grab the sheet of October Afternoon Thrift Shop paper – with the floral design on the front – and flip it over. Adhere the chipboard cover to the back.

12. Cut around the cover using your X-Acto knife, and you’ll end up with the base of your front cover!

13. I like to re-punch covered holes right away to make sure I know exactly where the holes are. The Crop-A-Dile is perfect for this!

14. Take your beautiful Hambly overlay with the elephants on it and adhere it on top of the floral paper. I used the top left corner of the transparency for this part, so that I’d end up with an elephant on the lower right of my chipboard cover. Remember to re-punch your holes!

15. Turn your cover over and adhere the floral paper to the back of it as well. Once again, punch, punch, punch. I also used a sanding block to sand the edges of the paper to smooth everything out, but you don’t have to.

16. Remember those three pages we set aside earlier? Grab those and trim them 6 cm (2.4 in) from the bottom. They’ll end up being the same height as your cover. Set them aside again.

17. Pick up your back cover and mark which side is the inside of it and which side is the outside; this is important because the punched holes of the front and back covers will need to match up in the end.

18. Adhere the Little Yellow Bicycle Sky Blue Check paper to both the inside and outside of the back cover. Mark the inside and outside again to help you to remember how to put things back together; if you use a pencil to do this, you can just erase the marks after you’re all done.

19. So, this is what you should have in front of you: The back cover, the stack of pages with two whole sheets on the very bottom and the rest containing windows, the cover-length pages (three in total), and the cover.

20. Bind it all back together! Twist the coil back in and then use your pliers to bend the two end wires back so that your book won’t come undone.

21. Decide which photo you want showing through the window and trim it accordingly. I left a little of the scenery to the left of mine because I’ll be embellishing that area later.

22. Adhere your photo to the back of the last page containing a window; you could also adhere it to the front of the first whole page on the very bottom of the stack.

23. Before we adhere everything together, let’s embellish the edges of the book so that we’ll have some cute edges sticking out , creating visual interest and something fun to look at. Take some of your Melody Ross cards and cut the edges off them (many are scalloped) and adhere those edges on random pages. Stagger them for more variety! I even cut one edge into small strips and adhered them along the bottom of my book.

24. Once you’re satisfied with how things look, adhere the pages together, except for the following: Leave the three shorter pages free – I just flipped them up and out of the way along with the cover – as well as the very first page with a window; we’ll be gluing the latter down later. For this step, I used Mod Podge, but you could also use dry adhesive like a tape runner. Just be aware that if you keep applying adhesive in the same places (i.e.: the edges), you’re going to create some bulk. That is okay! We’ll be decorating the edges of the pages later on. If the bulk bothers you, though, you’ll want to vary where you apply your adhesive. For example, on one page it’ll be on the very outside edge, the next an inch to the right, the next two inches to the right, etc.

25. I cut a rectangle slightly bigger than the window out of the American Crafts Remarks packaging – for this step you could use anything clear, though. Think acetate, a sheet of transparency, etc. I then adhered it to the bottom of the very top window page.

26. Afterwards, I decided to embellish the open area to the left of my photo with a Flair badge, so I lifted the outermost page and stuck the badge down inside the window. Once you’re satisfied with how things look, go ahead and glue the top page down. Your basic window is complete – aside from the embellishing, of course!

27. Next, I painted the edges of the window, as well as painting vines down the sides of the stack of pages that were adhered together. I painted the edges of my album completely green. This complements the roses I made out of thin strips of the pink cardstock also found in the kit. To create the roses, I simply distressed the edges of the strips and then coiled them together. Wrapping them around a toothpick is helpful!

28. If you have any imperfections you’re not happy with on the sides of your book, gluing the roses down over them will fix that! I also added some of the Little Yellow Bicycle Border Stickers to the bottom of the window and on the cover before I embellished it with the Prima letters. Embellish to your heart’s content!

If you end up using this tutorial, or are inspired by any part of it, please let me and the other Crazy Daisy girls see what you did with it! We can’t wait to check out your projects. :)


Posted in Scrapbook Designers, Scrapbook Kits | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments


← Older posts