Christmas Scrapbook / Card Making Mix

Are you getting ready for the Holiday Season yet? Are you looking for a really unique and creative way to share a few treasured photo’s or stories with your loved ones (when they visit; or by way of a gift to 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!

Halloween Card Ideas

If you frequent this website enough you must know by now that I (Cijaye DePradine; owner of this site and the primary author) am a huge fan of all things Halloween.  I just love how UNIQUE it is.  I also love how it lends itself to creative minds across the globe.  So for this article…I wanted to feature some of those creative minds.  I am sharing some of my all time favorite Halloween Cards and Halloween Card Ideas – done by others.

That’s right – I do honor others and their fine work – wherever I can!

So here is my first – all time favorite.  It’s a Halloween Card in the Shape and Dimensions of a Coffin.

If you spend the time scrolling down on the Simple Flourishes site – you will find the details of this card.

I think Jennifer did a fantastic job with the entire project.  From the concept of course through to the  fine selection of the paper to the incredibly cool insides once it’s opened.

Way to go Jennifer; you got my attention with this Halloween Card!  Fantastic Idea!

Next in line is…this Halloween Card from Shanna at My Next 30 Years!

This card came about according to Shanna because of a Hero Arts Stamp Collection that she won!  You go girl!

But what got my attention was the insanely creative use of patterned papers here.

I love the hand made texturizing Shanna did on some but not all of the papers.  I love the 3 Dimensional effects with the tree – oh and of course breathing life into the tree with the spooky eyes!  FANTASTIC.

This halloween card is full of ideas.  In fact its awe inspiring.

I absolutely love it Shanna!  And I have that ribbon too!  I might just have to scraplift a little from you and add that ribbon to my halloween card!

You are a phenomenal designer Shanna.  Thank you for showing your work to the world!

Closely following the preceeding masterpieces is from Kim Moreno at Living the Circus Life.

What can I say – there is a common theme among these cards…they are not SIMPLE.  They are creative.  They make ME wonder “How did they come up with the idea for that”?  They make me wonder how creative I can get.

One thing to note when looking for Halloween Card Ideas of your own – and reviewing those done by others – is that many of these designers that do such a fantastic job – are designers by trade.  They know color, they know spacing, they now measurement, they know textures etc.

Some are simply born with these skills – others go through years and years of schooling for it.  These designers can provide you with plenty of Halloween Card Ideas – even if they aren’t halloween cards.

I highly recommend looking at what they do and how they do it.

Analyze every spare space on the project as well as all elements.  It appears that Kim not only cleverly selected the perfect patterned papers for this project but she also brought out the sanding block to sand the edges (perhaps) and she selected the perfect place to set her white eyelets and thread the ribbon and tied that all of with a skull charm!  Nice work Kim.  I love it!

Kim has a LOT more Halloween cards on her site – as well as some fantastic other event cards.  You have to visit!

And finally for today – we have this collection of cards from Love is In the Details

These cards are pieced together from their Midnight Fog Kit. The single card on the left was pieced together by Mel Blackburn and those 3 on the right were pieced together by Lisa Tottle!  Nice work ladies.  You have all inspired me today.

This was one of the best hours ever spent in my life (reviewing Halloween Card Ideas online and choosing my personal favorites).  I am truly beside myself in admiration of your abilities.

Love it!

Happy Halloween All.

Halloween Party Invitations and Digital Halloween Titles

Are you feeling a little anxious about your upcoming Halloween Party – or Halloween Event?  Are you in charge of all the Halloween party planning?  Do you need printable halloween cards and invitations, posters or even titles that you can apply to digital scrapbook pages for display on the projector at your party?

We have just the solution for you!  Our sister site, Halloween Games For Kids has a great supply of digital halloween scrapbook items (titles and other graphics), printable halloween cards and printable halloween invitations READY for download RIGHT NOW.

Go ahead and get yours today!

 

Halloween Scrapbook Challenges

Hallow Scrapbookers….

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!

Halloween Pumpkin Carving

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.

Style At Home Organizing for Scrapbookers

Okay crafty ladies I KNOW you are going to love this one since so many of you have visited my Organize a Scrapbooking Room page,  emailed your comments and idea requests to me personally. I thank you for that PLUS I take your HINTS and offer you this as a follow up….

Today, I received my regular release of the “Style At Home” newsletter and was immediately excited to view the 99 Home Organizing tips they had to share.  You can view the page here: 99 Home Organizing Tips .  What I absolutely LOVE about this list is that it’s SIMPLE, its completely open to interpretation and for someone like myself who is really crafty – it makes me feel like I can take the tips to a WHOLE new level and make them EVEN BETTER than their original form.

For example…

Tip #1 suggests to :  ”Use old baby-food jars to hold spices. Stash them in a drawer upside down so this recycling trick looks sleek, not cheap. ”   Being a Scrapbooker, I immediately envisioned spray painting the lids and creating customized circular label tags that I could adhere to the top with the name of each spice on them.  I also envisioned creating labels for the jars themselves and laying them on their side – label up in the drawer.

This weekend in fact, I turned an old, unused IKEA Billy CD rack into a spice rack.  I love how it looks now, but can totally see the baby food jars looking amazing in them too! I might have to get another for the other side of the Billy Bookshelf I placed beside it (this will balance the display wall out better too). IKEA here I come!

Another thought that just came into my mind as well – is how great those baby food jars would look with my insane stock pile of buttons, brads, clips and fasteners in them too.   I could even see a use for at least 4 more of these IKEA CD racks to display those accents for easy access.

WOW!  What a fun little project each of these would be and how NICE my assortment of accents would look on display somewhere!  Sooo COOL!

Next… Tip #2 was to: “Store all your instruction manuals in one binder in the kitchen or pantry.”  Okay – admittedly I am pretty bummed that I never thought of that one.  I have drawers and baskets all over my house containing warranties and instruction manuals – but placing them into an album (that I could pretty up the cover for) is such a great idea!  I can even go to town scrapbooking title pages onto page dividers so that I can sort the contents by “appliance” or “electronics” — OH YAY!  I am even MORE excited now! Yet another really cool project to do that will make something plain and boring look way better!

Tip #3 was to: “Collect your takeout menus in a binder. Or stuff them into a Ziploc bag and stash ‘em – where else? – on the fridge or in a cupboard.”  Now instinctively I jumped right to the idea of Scrapbooking another customized album for these loose papers that will forever be on an expiration list – but then I was conflicted about how I would sort them so that when they DO expire they would get tossed.  That’s when it hit me!  I remembered the Tickler File (introduced to me by Simply Productive).  The tickler file is a really cool accordion file that  is tabbed by DATE and MONTH.  So using this I would have CHOICE to sort by MONTH first and then depending on what month it is – I could move each stash to the exact DATES each coupon is to expire.  All I need to do with this filer is customize the cover.  Awesome!

Tip #43: “Those ubiquitous Danish butter cookie tins can be both an art project and art storage unit for kids. First let your child decoupage it. Then use it to hold crayons and pastels. ”   I use these for my embossing powders, colored wires and for my brushed velvet glitters. It’s absolutely perfect for these!  A little spraypaint on the exterior and some decoupaged paper piecing / titles and labels etc. goes a long way to turn these handy tins into the BEST scrapbooking supply organizers ever!

Anyhow…I am sure you can find inspiration in this Home Organizing list too.  Please comment if you have something new to add.

 

 

 

Halloween Scrapbooking Ideas

Halloween is FAST approaching and before you know it – it will be here. So what are you going to be doing for Halloween? Do you plan a big halloween party? Do you create your own posters or hand made halloween invitations? Perhaps you create or decorate halloween treat bags? Or even MAKE halloween treats as well?
Whatever you do it must be wildly creative and fun for you; otherwise you wouldn’t be doing it right…

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)

Halloween Fun For Scrapbookers

Okay fellow scrapbookers – I need to share with you how incredibly excited I am that Halloween is nearly here.  At the current time myself and my son are couch ridden with signs of the flu – but just the idea of  Halloween being around the corner gives us the willpower to fight through this.  We want to have FUN this Halloween.   We do every other year – but this year promises to be even better.

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.

Halloween Scrapbook Papers

Looking for the perfect Halloween Scrapbook Papers this year? Want vibrant colors of orange, green, purple and black? Want abstract patterned papers, scratched and dusty background papers, or damask papers?

Well look no further – we have all that you need and you can get all the Halloween Scrapbook Papers you need RIGHT NOW (by digital download)! Don’t miss a moment more searching for papers – we have the perfect 49 piece Halloween Scrapbook Paper package for you! INCLUDING Halloween Brads and Patterned Halloween Flowers! FOR ONLY $3.99

Click to view larger sized image.

Get yours today and make that perfect Halloween Scrapbook Album without any further delay!

Back To School Scrapbook

Are you excited that your child is going back to school in less than a few weeks now?  I know I am.  I am excited for them – and I am excited for myself.  They are bored when they are just sitting around at home doing nothing – and I feel bad that I am working when they do that.  (Even though I work from home full time – I STILL WORK!  I don’t take much time out to PLAY with them when I am in that mode).

I think I am also excited because when they are at school they are PRODUCTIVE.  They are learning new things, using their brains and socializing.  That’s not always the case during summer.  Someday’s they simply lounge around and don’t need to form a complete thought for any specific reason.

So, with all of this excitement – I thought I should be planning ahead for the Back To School Scrapbook I hope to make. Planning is key here!  This year what I would like to do is get really smart and creative about it.  I want to create a Back To School Scrapbook that either looks like a school binder, school agenda or a school annual.

If I take the back to school scrapbook binder approach, all of my background papers will be lined for sure.  I might vary them, ie: single space, space and half, double space or half space and I might even add graph papers. I would probably also make them different colors. White and Yellow for example.

Then I would have to make sure that I have ruler embellishments, paper clips, crayons, pencil crayons, tape, glue and so on.  I would also add one of those cool little zipper pockets for free scraps and maybe decorate it in some cool way.  I will also add TAB’s OF COURSE!  And there will be ton’s of random doodles everywhere.

 

If I make a back to school scrapbook agenda album (from scratch) it will be the same size as the agenda (I might actually have to trim my own papers down and create a custom ring binding for it).  The pages will have days and dates – with lines and a lot of random educational quotes or facts.

It will also have a lot of clipart types of images.  I’d probably choose humorous ones myself since this will be MY version of the school agenda.  And without doubt it will FULL of doodles and cut outs of things!  All of my agenda’s were just full of random stuff.

I may just have to take some of my favorite kids or parenting magazines out of their dusty boxes for this.

I could also do a Smash Book if I wanted to.  I find these pretty reminiscent of all of my agenda adventures as a kid and they are designed VERY similar to the agenda’s now anyhow.

As far as creating a back to school scrapbook annual goes…this one will take WAY more planning time and a whole lot more work. I would literally have to pool together a long list of photo’s to throw into the book.

Maybe in THIS case, each page would be dedicated to 1 of my kids school friends.  With their parents permission I would probably take about 30 different photo’s of them – with all sorts of fun facial expressions and such – and then I would crop them all down to the same size and post them in clean rows and columns just like you might see in an annual.

Another option would be to create a one pager of each of them – with a larger photo and some blocky all caps school font.  I might put their jersey #’s if they are on a team, and a “best known for” blurb under each.  This is probably the most preferred option.  It would certainly be simpler to design.

 

What do you think?  Are you putting together a back to school scrapbook album this year?  If so, what will your scrapbook design be like?  What will go into it?

 

 

 

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