Looking back at my first post

For those of you that weren't with me in the beginning, I thought it would be fun to take a look at my first post ever ( 26 April 2009)

Welcome to my blog

I decided to start a scrap blog..after I failed at starting my own website and make any kind of success at Etsy! So hopefully I'm a little bit better at this bloggy thingy...

There is so many talented people out there and so many awesome scrap blogs, so I can't promise that my blog would have something that doesn't already exist.

But I can promise you a challenge now and then and a few giveaway's and maybe...just maybe, I will inspire someone to do something creative today!

I've been busy lately with family visit from Sweden and spring break and I haven't scrapped in weeks..very unusual for me. The last layouts I did was for Kraft Girl Kits with the April kit;

Pam ( from Kraft Girl Kits) does an awesome job putting those kits together. I just got the kit for May and I will soon be posting a preview of that.



I'm saying bye for now, but will be back shortly..I wanna try to get a hang of this ;)

1 year blog anniversary

Monday April 26 is Scrap A Little's one year anniversary.

Here's some numbers from the past year;

1 YEAR

133 POSTS

OVER 160 000 CLICKS

1 DESIGN TEAM

WITH 5 AWESOME DESIGNERS

1 DOMAIN NAME

3 DIFFERENT HEADERS

13 GIVEAWAYS TO TOTAL STRANGERS

21 SKETCHES

7 CHALLENGES

13 DIFFERENT FLOWER TUTORIALS

15 OTHER TUTORIALS

5 TEMPLATES

568 FOLLOWERS

176 EMAIL READERS

TOP 30 SCRAPBOOK BLOGS

Now I just have to keep it up for another year huh?

Doily flower tutorial from Fon

Here's another borrowed tutorial from one of my awesome DT members.
Fon saw this "how-to" on YouTube (video)
but you know we like photos better than videos here, so let's look at Fon's version. Her photos and words:

How to make misted doily flower.

supplies you'll need:

• 
  
  3 or 4 pieces of doily
• 
  
  glimmer mist (I used two colors here)
• 
  
  glue/gel medium. (I used Golden gel mediums)
• 
  
  a button/bling for the flower center.
• 
  
  a round piece of scrap for the flower backing.

First, lay out all doilies and mist them. I misted mine in the sink, yes, it is mess free as I can clean the sink right away later.

When they are half dry, crumble them to add some texture.

Open them up and they'll look like this:

then layer and glue the centers together

Pinch the center so that you have gather all the pieces nicely together

Turn to its back, put on some glue and add the scrap circle that you have already prepared .

then you can snip off the center part.

Push the doily layers up to make it more 3D.

Then you can decorate it with button or bling.

Wualah!

Isn't that flower just gorgeous!! Thanks Fon for sharing with us!

If you don't want to spend the dough on glimmer mist click here to find out how to make it yourself.

Here's some pretty examples from Fon on how to use the flowers.

Be sure to check out Fon's blog for more inspirational layouts!!!

Paper bag album tutorial by Kristie

Kristie had an awesome tutorial on her blog for those popular paper bag albums.
I asked her if I could use it here, so the following is just copied and pasted from her blog-with her permission of course.
The truth is that I have never done one of these albums myself, but I will for sure try it now. She got me inspired!

Here it is-all Kristie's words and photos.

Tutorial for paper bag album

I am all about saving my pennies these days and here is one fabulous way to do it. Head to your pantry and pull out three paper lunch sacks.

Lay them on top of one another with the middle bag going the opposite way of the first and last. Adhere your bags together however you like. I have used staples, brads, eyelets and stitching but I don't really have a preference for one way over another. It just depends on the look I am going for. This is the quickest way: staples
My daughter makes bazillions of these albums. It is a great kid project! Easy and CHEAP! In the top example I used eyelets so I could tie on some ribbons. The eyelets give the bag the necessary stability to resist the dreaded tear. I also like to stitch the bags together. I begin by actually measuring {gasp} and drawing myself a little guideline:

Then, I clip the edges together so they don't slide on me while I sew

Finally, off to the machine:

Ready for embellishing!

Once your album is assembled, you can begin adding some pretty papers. I used the 3 Bugs in a Rug Simple Pleasures line for this album. I adore this line of papers and embellishments that I got in a My Creative Scrapbook months ago. I like to cover the flaps with different paper than the main bag section but that is just personal preference. My daughter likes to cover the entire page with one paper, making it "more like a book than a flappy album." Her words;)

Sometimes I even leave some of the paper sack exposed

And I also love to add some pockets to hold items like handmade tags. This is a very interactive album.

With the paper sacks, you also get these nifty "built-in" pockets for storing tags, journal blocks, pull-out pages...the ideas go on and on. I have found it is best to glue down one side of the flaps. Otherwise when sliding things it and out...well, let's just say I've met with a bit of frustration and who needs any more of that, right?

before

after

I use my pockets to store extra pages that I made for the album. I made good use of my beloved border punches to jazz up the exposed edges.

***For these type of pull-outs, double sided paper is a must.

On this page, I used a scalloped circle punch to chomp out half a circle to give me a nice grippy spot with which to pull out this slide-out page since I didn't give it a fancy edge. I did pop a circle sticker on the spot where I will pull it, for durability and cuteness...

See the other side of the circle sticker?

And finally, the back of the album. This is where I plan to journal an "About this Family" blurb.

Thank you so much Kristie for sharing your tutorial!!

Make sure to visit Kristie's blog where she has plenty of tips.