Okay. Now seriously – if you want to make something really special for mom this year (or even a very close friend, like I did) and you want to challenge your scrapbooking skills to new lengths…I’ve decided to pin some great ideas and layout challenges for your enjoyment:

Mothers Day Scrapbook Challenges and Cool Craft Ideas

Need a little more inspiration to add to your page too?

Check this long list of Mom Poems, Mom Titles, Quotes, Cards, Pages, Products and so on from Scrapbook.com

(Yes, you can plan for your own mother’s day as well… but lets focus on your mom right now.)

You could treat her to a spa day for sure.  What MOM doesn’t appreciate that.  But what if a spa day is a little out of the price range?  Or what if that’s NOT your mom’s sort of thing?

The answer is make a Mothers Day SCRAPBOOK of course.

You can make 1 page or you can make an entire album.  You have time.  Your scrapbook for mom can also be as simple or as intricate as you want it to be.  The only rule is: it must be FOR MOM!

So ask yourself the following questions before you get started:

1) What is moms main character  type?

2) Is she classy & formal in an old fashioned way? *If so, then she would probably like a very classy scrapbook page or album.  Possibly with soft and elegant floral print papers and lace, pearls or jewels for embellishments.

3) Is she corporate and business like? *If so then mom would probably like a very modern contemporary look and feel.  This mom’s scrapbook would include lots of geometric shapes, structured / neutral color blends (blacks, whites, reds, & grays or browns, beige’s, whites or blues, gray’s and whites with brown accents etc). Nothing too crazy when it comes to embellishments though, so keep it simple.  Stick with one ribbon per page, or a few simple tabs (office style or ribbon style).  She might also appreciate hidden journaling (under pictures or embellishments).  (Keep this one clean and organized).

4) Is she casual and / or down to earth? * If so, your moms scrapbook can probably include any color theme (including those above) and any embellishments can go!  This page or album can be as simple OR as cluttered as you want it to be.  Have fun; these are my favorites.

5) or…would your mom be pegged more as a WoodStock Woman or a Merrit Music Fest Kinda Gal? *If you answered WoodStock you should probably take advantage of the great psychedelic works out there.  Tie Dies, Pop Art, Wild Multi-Colored Geometrics. Etc. Lots of vibrant colors, paisleys, peace symbols, and even the more earthier elements like hand made accents.

*If your mom is a Merrit Music Fest (Country Music Festival) kinda gal…she might appreciate some of the more rugged types of Scrapbook items.  Sure she will appreciate a few flowers (wild flowers of course) and some foilage – but she will also dig the distressed, crackle, mega texturizing that you can do to the pages or accents as well.  She will probably appreciate accents like mesh, leather, suede, big buttons, brads and random objects.  Don’t be afraid to throw some charcoal and wood into the mix as well.  Let alone the old pop can and fruit tin tabs. (Those are great!!!).

Whatever Mom is like, make sure that when you make your Mothers Day Scrapbook (page or album) for her that it stays true to who she is.

Happy Scrapping~!  Happy Mother’s Day!

P.S. Don’t forget to post your finished scrapbooks for mom on our gallery.  We would LOVE to see them!

ScrapbookingDirections.com is getting ready. We’ve combined the amazing joy we have for Card Making with the admiration and pride we take in Scrapbooking.

Together – these two skills create the perfect Christmas Cover Story.

The Christmas Cover Story is a Scrapbook Page – using a HandMade Card as a cover to the “story”.  (In other words; when the card is opened; there is a Christmas Photo (usually of the kids and Santa) and there is a warm Christmas story by way of a journaling piece on the opposite side of the card as well.

This is a great way to profile the artistic side of scrapbooking and card making – - and turn the page into an interactive experience for viewers.

As alternatives to keeping this page to yourself and locking it away in your scrapbook album (behind the covers and under a protector) – you may wish to present it as a gift to someone else.

If so…you could attach 2-3 pouches of Hot Chocolate inside the card with a warm and cozey sentiment for the holidays.   OR you can turn the card into and envelope of sorts for wallet sized photo’s of the kids (as a Christmas Gift).

**If you DO exercise the alternatives – you will most probably need to adhere the page to a canvas (purchased at a local craft store) – and package it with care so that nothing falls out of it or gets ruined in transit.

The details and step by step instructions behind this cover story will be shared in a Christmas eBook by FaveCrafts.com this year and we are very excited about the opportunity.

We will be doing a lot of external giving and sharing this year in fact.

Stay tuned for more!

We are finally down to the last few days before Halloween and our Scrapbooking Minds are starting to spook even us out.  We are dreaming up new layout ideas, new scrapbook page designs, new everything and anything Halloween.  But then we are hit with the “I can’t get started” bug. So what do we do?

We stop – and do a Halloween Scrapbook Challenge.

All you have to do for our Halloween Scrapbook Challenges is complete the challenge of your choice – post a summary of it here (in the comments section) and provide a link to the Image in a public gallery (you may use ours or another) and that’s it.  We will select our favorite….THEN…

Our winner will receive a free Christmas Scrapbook Digi-Kit and will be featured in our newsletter,

PLUS our top 25 winners of all challenges – will be featured in our Scrapbooking Directions Favorite challenges book – and they will ALL get that book for FREE!

Halloween Scrapbook Challenge #1 (WebSite Challenge):

Take inspiration only – from this image from Better Homes and Gardens and make it your own.  Share your finished scrapbook page with us (by leaving a comment with details here) and check back for our chosen winner.  Note: To win – you have to come up with the most creative evolution of this page as possible. That’s it, that’s all. Enjoy.

Halloween Scrapbook Challenge #2 (Image Idea Challenge):

Now this one is going to be a little trickier.  I am assuming this will be an Advanced Scrapbooking Challenge for most of you – but I encourage everyone to try!

The goal…to incorporate this backlit filigree idea (from Martha Stewart.com) into one of your scrapbook pages.

Perhaps you want to do it in a Scrapbook Title  – in a mat behind one of your primary photo’s or perhaps within a photo itself?  Hmmmm….what will you come up with?

We can not wait to see!

Again – please come back to this page and leave a comment detailing what you have done – and a link to a photo display of the final project.

We are very excited to see what you come up with!

Are you up to the Challenge?

Happy Halloween Scrapbooking!

]]> http://scrapbookingdirections.com/2009/halloween-scrapbook-challenges/feed/ 0 http://scrapbookingdirections.com/2009/halloween-pumpkin-carving/ http://scrapbookingdirections.com/2009/halloween-pumpkin-carving/#comments Thu, 08 Sep 2011 16:42:48 +0000 Cijaye http://scrapbookingdirections.com/2009/?p=1405 If you are creative and crafty chances are very high that you are one of those types of persons who LOVES to go all out on the holidays and use your skills to create decorations around the home.  You probably set the scene with your homemade crafts for outstanding conversation pieces.   If Halloween were your holiday of choice, I don’t doubt that the care and attention you would give to Pumpkin Carving would be no different.

If you are interested in creating pumpkin carvings of your favorite celebrities, Scrapbooking Directions is very excited to say that NOW YOU CAN! We have teamed up with our sister site (halloween games for kids) to bring you one of their affiliate partners.  The pumpkin carving stencils you will find at Ultimate-Pumpkin-Stencils.com are pretty awesome. On the most part they are bang on!  They have all sorts…from Ellen Pumpkin Stencils to Lady Gaga Pumpkin Stencils as well as the entire Twilight and Glee Cast.  There are literally hundreds of different Pumpkin Stencils so we have no doubt that you will find the one you are looking for.  Click the image below to check for your favorite carving stencils today.

P.S. HalloweenGames4Kids.com is affiliated with this company not only as part of a revenue sharing agreement, but the owner of both ScrapbookingDirections.com and HalloweenGames4kids.com is actually a colleague of the owner of Ultimate Pumpkin Stencils. We would not recommend them if they didn’t have the highest possible standards in online business and customer service.  You are in good hands purcahsing through them.

So we decided to show you OUR Halloween Fun side too. Here are our top 3 Halloween Decorating Ideas to get the fun started today….(there will be more to come as the days go by).

=========================================================================== Hanging JackOLanterns Anyone?

Find as many of these regolit lampshades from Ikea ($4.00 USD) as you can fellow crafters and get the orange, yellow and black paint out so that you can turn your lampshades into REALLY cool pumpkins for display in or even outside the home on halloween eve. They are just soooo cool! They scream Halloween don’t they? EXTRA COOL TIPS: Try hanging these shades from a string of other lights (such as white christmas lights or halloween bulbs bought at specialty stores) and get the light flowing too. Also – if you want to get the kids REALLY going – add some Glow In The Dark paint for the eyes and mouth! ===========================================================================

NightMare Before Christmas Tree Of Your Own?

Now what about this. Start looking at that pot holding the ultra chic branches for design in the house a little differently for this Halloween… Why not turn them into your own personal “Nightmare Before Christmas” tree – and get the decorated sachets or remodelled (painted in halloween colors) christmas balls up! TIP: You may also want to make your own ghosts with stuffed cheese cloth or linen and wraphia nooses around the neck….and hang those too. ===========================================================================

Try This Mini Scrapbook Album with a BIG Spookiness About It.

Your halloween mini scrapbook album could be really creepy like this one … or it could be full of fun colors and cooky critter accents. Its entirely up to you what you do with your mini album for Halloween. If you get started your Halloween Mini Album today – and you have a solid plan for that Halloween Scrapbook Album – when you get the kids ready on Halloween you will know exactly what photo’s to take, why and in what sort of modes (tones , colors, angles, fstops etc)…and all you have to do is print, crop and place them later! TIP: We have the perfect Halloween Scrapbooking Papers for your album too! ===========================================================================

Halloween Scrapbook Titles In Need?

Try these Halloween Scrapbooking Titles in that Mini-Album too! With a little cracked glass, glossy accent or 3D foam – you can take these digital images to a whole new dimension on your Halloween Scrapbook Pages! ===========================================================================

What about READY made Halloween FUN STUFF for the Kids?

On another note; if making the time to be a creative designer or decorator this halloween is NOT on your side but you still want to have fun this year – in a creative way …you may wish to consider our Ultimate Halloween Party Collection for some cool treats! Included in this Halloween Party Kit are 96 pages of Halloween Games for Kids. Over 200 pages of Halloween Recipes and Crafts for ALL AGES, Halloween Safety Tips and 3 Free Printable Halloween Cards /Invitations. All for the incredibly low price of $14.99 (before discounts are applied)!!! ===========================================================================

Happy Hallo-Scrapping Crafty Peoples… :O)

Here are a few reasons why:

1. We have way more Halloween Games to play this year.  Thanx to our updated Halloween Games Book
2. We also have quite a few more Halloween Cards to choose from – which we tend to give out to close friends as we invite them out to our Halloween Party
3. AND we have recently moved into a new area – that boasts of the best Halloween Trick Or Treating and Halloween Costumes every year.  I wrote about it in my Halloween Fun For Kids Blog - but long story short – we have been forewarned by our new neighbors to expect 350 children in Halloween Costume at our door this year – and to anticipate the outdoor noise levels to be pretty high.  I am all for a block party I tell you that – but I am even more excited to get out there and start taking photo’s!  I can’t wait!  I suspect this will be a Halloween to remember for sure.

I hope you have a great Halloween Planned as well.

Warmest regards. Cijaye DePradine.

This summer however, I have become re-inspired.  The sun in British Columbia has been no where near as frequent as I like, but I HAVE taken full advantage of it.  I have not yet been able to dedicate the time to create my scrapbook pages on the summer fun – but I thought I would take the time to share my summer scrapbooking ideas with you – and even ask you for yours so that we can inspire each other.  Are you okay with that?

Okay, so here it goes, here are my Summer Scrapbooking Ideas for 2011:

1. Summer Scrapbook Album #1 – This would be a summer scrapbook dedicated to all of the amazing new recipes I have tried.  I have lost 10 pounds over the summer because of them and I have become so much more confident that I believe I owe it to myself to celebrate those recipes and remember to use them again next summer!  *My favorite is a Long Island Smoothie!  (A vodka smoothie is good too).  For some reason, these hard alcohol’s helps speed up my metabolism – and when I combine them in a blender with banana’s, strawberries, mango’s and orange (or apple) juice and some ice – it’s like the PERFECT summer drink!  I love it!  Another favorite recipe of mine that is most definitely going into the summer scrapbook album has to be the  Almond Butter Smoothie!  I usually do the same ingredients as above (minus the alcohol and mangos) (perhaps with mixed berries instead of just strawberries) and add about 1-2 heaping tablespoons of Almond Butter as well as a tablespoon of Hempseeds and voila – a MEAL TO GO!  This magical smoothie is so full of yummy goodness and it fills me up for at least 4 hours afterwards!  It’s amazing and I feel like a million bucks drinking it!
2. Summer Scrapbook #2 – The entertainment album.  It’s no secret to anyone who knows me that I am a MASSIVE entertainment geek!  I love my music! (Reggae, Reggaeton and Hip Hop/R&B mostly, but I also like the soulful sounds of artists like Colbie Caillat, John Mayer, Adelle, Xenia (from the Voice) and so on).  I make 1-3 new summer compilation CD’s of my favorite songs every year too. *Copies of these would HAVE to go into the album for sure!  I also LOVE my movies.  I recently spent an hour and a half posting my movie reviews via Flixter (to my facebook wall).    So I was thinking that this particular summer scrapbook album could profile all of my favorites – possibly even lyrics and artwork. And give me a place to archive those CD’s (that I know I will love for years to come anyhow).  PLUS I always find myself say “what song was that” or “what movie was that” etc.  Creating an album like this would give me an easy way to look back.
3. Summer Scrapbook Album #3 – Our Family Adventures.  This one is a given of course. Everyone needs to have one of these. Even if you didn’t take a whole bunch of photo’s while on your summer adventures – you can still reclaim the memories by getting photo’s from the locations themselves.  For example, we went to California just a bit before summer this year.  We shopped till we dropped AND we spent one day at Universal Studios.   I am just now collecting all of the photo’s from the shopping malls we went to (because some of them we most definitely intend to RETURN to) – and I am also collecting photo’s of the rides at Universal and some of the professional photo’s of it that I couldn’t possibly have taken myself.   We’ve also done some trips to the waterslides, some mini-golfing, some scenic drives and tried out some new restaurants this summer.  All while putting down some SERIOUS renovations on our land.  This summer is FULL of great stories and the summer scrapbook I intend to piece together will be a great one.

I still feel like this is not enough though.  What am I missing?  What are you doing with your Summer Scrapbooks?  Maybe I can get some more ideas from you.  I would love to hear them.

That’s why I spend an AWEFUL lot of time reviewing what other people do in scrapbooking.  I collect books, supplies and tools like there is NO TOMORROW.  I can’t get enough scrapbooking and paper craft ideas that’s for sure.

This is a multi-billion dollar industry that appeals to many creative people.

If you aren’t creating scrapbook layouts – maybe you are making cards with

scrapbooking supplies.  If you aren’t doing either, perhaps you are designing scrapbook papers or embellishments or creating new machines like the  AccuCut or CuttleBug.

Or maybe you are taking it all to this whole other level!  Perhaps you are making paper mushrooms or paper houses – because they are super cool to look at!

But if you happen to be one of those people who just like to see it all and get inspired by it all…then there is absolute MUST see site for you!!!  Be prepared to have your MIND BLOWN however…this stuff is absolutely FANTASTIC!

Check it out CuttleBug Embossing Die Cutting Everything fans … I had to share this link!  I was blown away from first SIGHT!

This site is a great review of cuttlebug’s capabilities but also a fantastic sourceo of ideas for all of you diecutting, embossing maching fans.  You will love it.

Kudo’s to you Maggie Lamarre: Owner of http://cuttlebugchallenge.blogspot.com/ , you are offering great value with your blog! 

FYI: If you click to visit this blog, you may find yourself clicking on an off of the site to view some of the projects – but it’s definitely a site worth bookmarking as it will lead you to all of the great cuttlebug samples tips and ideas you could ever need!

This is for sure!

So, we think we’ve got it.  It’s not an outrageous concept.  It’s probably been thought of by others already…but for us here at ScrapbookingDirections.com is the scrapbooking idea of the day that simply had to be shared.

Here’s what we’ve come up with…(hope you like it!)…

But first, let us ask…

Have you ever wondered how you can use your Digital Scrapbooking Pages outside of the your computer, online galleries or print on demand books?

Have you ever thrown in the towel on putting your ALL into creating digital pages because printing them is simply WAY TOO costly?

Well…

NOW you can take your digital scrapbooking (and even paper scans) to the next level – beyond computers, galleries and POD books.  You no longer have to PRINT your digital scrapbook pages either – to enjoy them!

Starting today we want to send you on a brand new mission with your Digital Scrapbook Pages!

Now…you can design them to the MAX and display them right in your home for everyone to see!

Are you ready for your mission?  If you wish to accept, your duty today is to honor your Digital Scrapbook pages and load them up to your Digital Photo Frames!

AHA!

The bigger that frame the better of course~!

But how creative!!!  Now you have a REAL reason to try digital scrapbooking if you haven’t already!  Now you have a REAL reason to put effort into filling up that digital picture frame with STUNNING images…not just your personal library of photos!

But what if you want your digital scrapbook pages to display in something bigger than a standard 8×10 frame?

What if your NEW DIGITAL PHOTO FRAME is your 27 or even 40 inch LCD, HD TV? What if you load your scrapbook pages onto a USB stick and display them all RIGHT THROUGH YOUR TV!!!! (Like a screen saver!).

How cool would that look?

I bet you are dying to know if you can make this happen now…so don’t let us stop you!  Check your Television for a USB input!  Many of the newer ones have this!  And if that fails, you can always put your images on a DVD and display it like a screen saver this way (through your DVD player/PS3 system or whatever).  You could even load music with it this way too!

Whatever you do though…we want to know about it!!!

PLEASE do come back and tell us about it if you were able to create success with this!!!  We want to hear everything!

Happy Scrapping!