Message in a Paper Box | scrapbooking, cards, and papercrafts!

Trying new things

March 8, 2012 § 1 Comment

Just a quick share for today. I tried a few different things on this layout that I have not ever done before in the past. Firstly, I used paint. I went around the edge of the kraft background with a white paint dabber. I also used the same paint to stamp the images of the boat on the top right corner. I also tried tearing my paper instead of using a refined edge. I am really liking these techniques! Why did I do these things? Well, I wanted to add some subtle white highlights. None of my usual techniques were doing much to enhance these pictures. When I tried to add white highlights by using papers and such the result was too harsh but the subtly of the of the paint and the torn edge just work! Have you tried anything new lately?

Stavroulitsa

B-Side Phobia Overcome!

March 6, 2012 § 1 Comment

Right before the holidays I purchased a couple of Simple Stories paper collections; Happy Day and Year-O-Graphy. I’ve been really intrigued by the Simple Stories style concept and wanted to give their papers a try. Three months later I finally decided to break open the plastic packaging and put these papers to use. Why was I reluctant? I have b-side phobia. What is this you ask? I will explain:

B-Side phobia:

A type of anxiety disorder defined as an irrational fear in which the sufferer commits to great lengths in avoiding the use of fabulous, double sided scrapbook paper for fear of having to choose between the two designs.

I actually had to have an internal dialogue with myself so that I wouldn’t feel bad about gluing down the side of the paper I wasn’t going to use. I kept thinking, “It’s okay. You can always re-order that paper”…and so timidly, I began to cut apart the designs.

Sigh. I LOVE THESE PAPERS! Simple Stories takes a theme and basically creates cut out elements based on the integers of 12. So what that means is that you get a paper pack full of squares and rectangles (in 2×3, 3×3, 3×6 6×12 etc) that you can use to fill or “block off” a page. The company’s motto is “Scrapbooking Made Simple” and truly it is! I decided that I would use the Happy Day papers to make a couple layouts of my son’s first birthday. In this first picture (below) I made a 12×12 layout on which I included all the pictures. I had added a small journaling spot to the bottom left corner initially but decided it wasn’t spacious enough for me to write my message. I then found this great 6×12 element and printed all my journaling onto that. Amazingly, I didn’t use a single thing other than the collection stickers to embellish this layout! Not one button or brad, nor a ribbon in sight. I didn’t think embellishments were necessary as the paper itself provides so many details that beautify the page.

A 12x12 layout and a 6x12 page for the journaling

The second set of pictures I used are also of my son’s first birthday but of the actual party that we threw him a few days after his birthday. This is a double page layout. Again, I didn’t feel the need to add anything extra to these layouts other than a few stickers that came with the collection pack.

Here is the first page of the double page layout

the second page...no journaling yet...thinking about it still

I love the one element on this second page that says, “Life’s short. Eat Cake”. In the picture my little chocolate covered one year old had just devoured of a big piece of cake an he looks so satiated! I haven’t added the journaling yet to this page. I wanted to add it using my own hand writing. That in itself is another fear I need to overcome! Hopefully someone out there will feel inspired and finally use one or some of the “special” papers they have.

Stavroulitsa

Sew Neat Twine Storage

March 3, 2012 § 1 Comment

Hi there! I’m finally back to blogging and I have a “craft room organization” project to share with you all. I have over time accumulated a large collection of baker’s twine. I prefer to buy lengths of multiple colours rather that spending the same amount on just one spool. I also have quite a bit of twine that matches various paper collections..I can never resist buying the matching embellishments! Well, this is what my stash has started to look like:

I was storing all my twine loose in a pretty candy jar but it has over time become a tangled mess! I decided that it would look really nice if I wound it on wooden spools. So one day I came across some Maya Road wooden spools on sale at an online store and ordered them (with a bunch of other stuff). This is what I got:

Umm…yeah…*Note to self: READ PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS! I have about 30 different colours of twine that are in 15-20 yard lengths each! These spools wouldn’t even suffice for 1/2 yard! Oh, well. I stuck them a jar and forgot about them. Then it hit me! I had a bunch of mini ribbon spools that I had saved from my recent “ribbon re-organization”. I was storing my ribbons on their original spools in a drawer BUT I wanted something prettier so I de-spooled them all and stuck them in apothecary jars.

I’m always on the look out for apothecary jars. I currently have 6 but I use the one to hold chocolates. Right now there are chocolate Easter eggs in the one on the far right. Yum! Since there aren’t enough jars for me to sort my ribbons individually in ROY G BIV order I have temporarily doubled/tripled up the colours. As I was saying…I had a bunch of mini ribbon spools:

I started to wind the twine on these spools and I think it looks great!

Only problem is that not all the spools were deep enough to allow for all the twine to fit. Ugh!!! I decided to try and “fix” them. While rummaging through my supplies I came across a sewing themed collection from Jillibean Soup-Homemade 6 Bean Soup. This collection has a patterned paper that is filled with vintage spool labels…

I cut some out with my scissors and then just kinda sat staring at them cause although they were really applicable to my current project I still had nothing to wind the twine onto. I did have a gazillion mini wooden spools though…this is what I divised:

I glued three mini spools together, slapped a 1 1/4 inch chipboard circle on each end and then topped off with a vintage label from the Jillibean Soup collection. Crafty right? I just love how my twine looks now! Sew neat and pretty too!

I hope you enjoyed my post! I will definitely be posting more regularly so don’t forget to check back often or subscribe so that you don’t risk missing out on anything good. Oh! If anyone has any ideas for uses/projects for the remainder of the mini wooden spools let me know. Thanks for stopping by!

Stavroulitsa

Owl Birthday Party

October 27, 2011 § 4 Comments

A couple weeks back my daughter turned six! In celebration of this grand event I started the preparations for her party about a month in advance! Our theme for this year for a couple reasons was “owl”

* Reason One: She started grade one this year and the owl is a symbol of wisdom…

*Reason Two: They are just so darned cute! I had to talk her out of having a Poodle Party but she loved the owls in the end…poodles next year.

So, for her party I made invites, decorations and the favour boxes; one version for boys and one for girls:

the invites were owl wands

My inspiration for the invites cames from an owl die cut available in the silhouette on-line store. It’s the “animal owl card” by Samantha Walker. I used the silhouette studio software to turn this cut file into a customized printable design. Next up are the party favours. I was inspired to make these after I found a printable template for owl boxes over at 3 Eyed Bear. You can check those out at this link.

I just printed off the version available at 3 Eyed Bear, cut it out and used it as a template. My favour boxes are made out of chocolate brown construction paper. I used the silhouette studio software to print out the eyes and pattern for the belly. For the bellies on the boy version owls I used some patterned paper from my stash. My favourite part of these little owls was their back side…

I used coloured copy paper and a 1/2 inch circle punch to make the tails. These little boxes were open bottomed and to fill them I just placed a bunch of treats into a cellophane bag, scrunched it up and stuffed it inside the owl.

Next up are the decorations. I used the same owl that I made the invitations with but I printed it out really big to stick on the walls:

Lastly, I made flower garlands to hang. I wasn’t able to capture a good picture of these at the party but you can see one of them in the background below. I took a close up of the flowers for a better view. The pink and fuchsia ones are made out of crêpe paper and the orange flowers were made using what we here in Greece refer to as “kite paper”. I’m pretty sure that “kite paper” is glassine paper and its easy to find here in a rainbow of colours!

That is it! It was really time-consuming to make all these things but in the end totally worth it! I even made the cake myself! You can’t tell from the picture above but the cake was a total flop…literally. The owl on top is actually a giant cake pop. Even though my husband suggested I leave the owl off the cake and put it on at the last-minute I didn’t listen. The poor thing toppled over and sank into the cake on the way to the party. At least the cake pops turned out okay.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stavroulitsa

*If you live here in Greece visit Yummy Yummy Sugar Shop for all your cake, cupcake & cake pop decorating supplies.

Two mini’s to share…

April 30, 2011 § 4 Comments

Mini #1

Hey everybody! It has been a LONG time since my last share and so as a treat I thought I’d do a double post. My first mini is a spring one. I didn’t make this mini myself but I’m certain you’ll all agree that it is so cute!

a spring mini...our colt minutes after being born

On the Wednesday before Easter our pony Elena gave birth to her foal. It’s a colt and my husband lovingly named him Goliath (nothing is set in stone though and we are open to suggestions on a better name). Elena was given to us about a year ago and since then she has taken on the role of stable “security guard”. My husband will quite often leave her out to graze freely and if she hears the slightest noise by the entry gate she is on it! People are coming and going from the stables all the time and if Elena knows you then you are safe although she has been known to charge and chase unfamiliar visitors around. Like the poor man who came to get some horse manure; he drove through the gates in his truck and got out only to see a crazed Elena running towards him at full speed! The poor guy ran about the olive grove a couple of times trying to avoid Elena’s wrath before seeking shelter in his truck. At this point, exhausted and confused, he decided to honk his car horn for help. My husband emerged from one of the stables wondering what all the noise was only to see this fearful man sitting in his truck and Elena standing next to the car door glaring at him! I never expected a pony to be so aggressive, especially after religiously having watched all the “My Little Pony” cartoons as a child!

Mini #2

Now for the actual mini album. My oldest goddaughter turned 12 last week. It is always a struggle for me to buy her a gift as her family owns a kid’s clothing store! I have bought her anything and everything but clothes in the past and considering that I bought her the “traditional” gift of Easter shoes so recently I was really stumped! After having harassed her and her sister’s to clue me in on what she’d like or want (to no avail), I finally decided to make her a mini. I had recently purchased the Cosmo Cricket “Upcycle” collection and it had the perfect colors and theme for a pre-teen girl!

My inspiration for this mini came from a sheet of paper from the My Mind’s Eye “Life Stories” collection.

I have been hoarding the entire “Life Stories” collection for quite some time now just waiting for a perfect project to use it on and after seeing this sheet I had the perfect idea. I would make a “time capsule” mini for Angela! My idea was to cut out all the elements from this sheet and use them as prompts for her to record her life at the age of twelve! I just love how this mini turned out. It is just perfect for a girl her age on the path of self discovery. The good news is that she LOVED it and thought it was so cool! She even hinted that it would be cool to have a mini like that for her birthday every year so that she could record her life. On to the pics now…there are a lot!

front cover

I loved all the colors on the spine and so I left it bare adding only the one tab to attach the charm

I made the charm myself using elements from the Upcycle collection and gluing them to a Tim Holtz fragment charm using glossy accents. I added the crystal to the center of the little doily while the glossy accents was still wet.

page one & two

pages 3 & 4

Pages 5 & 6

pages 7 & 8

Pages 9 & 10

Pages 11 & 12

last 2 pages

Also, here is a better view of the card I made using papers from the same collection. The sentiment is from the Hero Arts Birthday(4) cling stamp set. I stamped using versamark ink and then embossed with white embossing powder. The card is a money holder card and measures 4 1/4×6 inches.

Angela's b-day card

I made an accordion fold pocket to hold the money I added to her card.

here is a view of the pocket

That is it for now! Hope you all enjoyed my post for today.

Thanks for visiting,

Stavroulitsa

Little Cowboy Layout

March 27, 2011 § 2 Comments

Here’s a quick share of a layout I did recently from way back when my son was only two years old. Although I haven’t been posting lately it doesn’t mean that I haven’t been scrapping! Its just that I have been using lots of pictures of my husband in my layouts lately and he doesn’t like being on my blog…what a pooper he is:). Oh well. This layout just kinda worked itself out. I had the bandana paper from a K&Co paper stack and chose just to tile the pictures and patterned paper in a simple way. The vintage looking embellishment in the middle is also from that stack. I cut the sheriff star using my silhouette SD and added the word “carnival” using rub-ons and the year using stickers. The word “little” at the top of the page was made by gluing twine to the page. I first penciled in the word then added glue and stuck the cord on top. I also changed the color of the thickers used at the bottom of the page by inking them with blue jean distress ink (they were originally white). That is it for now…be back soon with more!

Stavroulitsa

Where inspiration comes from…

February 25, 2011 § 2 Comments

Flipping through my box-0-pics I came across 3 photos and decided to create a layout with those. I chose a few summer-ish papers and then started to go through my other stuff to try and pick out some matching embellishments. Throughout this process I was thinking in the back of my mind what I wanted to say about this moment captured in time. What would I journal about? What title would this page have? I had to figure something out, these pictures had really good lighting! And then I came across this:

from Echo Park's "Sweet Summertime"...I think

I liked what it said, “It was a perfect summer afternoon…”. That phrase encompassed exactly what I remembered about those pictures of my son. Nothing exciting or special happened that day those pictured were snapped. We were visiting my parents and decided to be tourists for a day and see the museum. It was such a nice day though and we took our time getting to the museum entrance enjoying all the green grass and shady trees that adorned the grounds. I tried really, really hard to use that journaling card in my layout but it just wouldn’t fit in with the mood I was trying to create. A big wall suddenly emerged. I took a deep breath, made a coffee and began to search through my papers again. Would it be considered plagiarism if I used the phrase on the card in my title without using the actual card? That question went through my head and I actually stopped to seriously consider it! I kicked myself for being a such a dork! Plagiarism? Really? This is scrapbooking, not writing an essay for Dr. Hawkins’ ENG 304 class! I took a deep breath, embraced that the phrase on that card was going to be my title and got busy creating.

So here it is! Not only did I use the prompt from Echo Park’s journaling card in my layout but I added the name of one of their collections to my title as well! All the papers used are from DCWV’s “Green Stack”. Scrapbooking is fun! Don’t get caught up in the little details!

Thanks for stopping by,

Stavroulitsa

Some Goodies…

February 24, 2011 § 2 Comments

I entered the Memories Trend February challenge this month and was one of the winners! (click here to see that post) Thanks to all that voted for me and thanks to Memories Trend for their generous gift! I received my prize in the mail today and it was awesome! It included 12 sheets of patterned paper from Fancy Pants, Bella Blvd, and Kaisercraft. A 12×12 sheet of journaling stickers from Bella Blvd, a die cut from the new Stella and Rose collection by My Minds Eye, a pack of KI Memories new felt puffies (they are so cute), and a pack of Blooms a Bella by Bella Blvd! Wow! Did I mention that everything in the prize pack was a new release…most of which aren’t even in stores yet.

Thanks for such a great prize!

Stavroulitsa

In following with yesterday’s post…

February 19, 2011 § Leave a comment

…today I have another birthday layout. This time it’s of my daughters 2nd birthday which was Dora themed. I avoided using the Dora papers I had bought for this layout at all costs! Back when I bought them I hadn’t really started experimenting with scrapbook styles and although I wasn’t too keen on using them for a layout even then, I figured that in the least I could make decorations or favors out of them. Neither happened!

So there it is! Not a single piece of Dora paper used! What I did use was some paper from the Fancy Pants “Love Birds” collection and some older embellishments from Making Memories’ “Whimsey” collection. In case you’re wondering about the title; when their birthday falls on a week day I’ll usually bake a cake (the one in the pic is a castle by the way…hillarious!) and invite the cousins over for a small celebration. I follow-up with a bigger party (all the family) over the weekend. Any excuse for a party, right!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stavroulitsa

Spiderman Party Layout

February 18, 2011 § 2 Comments

Every year a bit before each of my kids’ birthdays I ask them if they want a theme for their party. Naturally they do. For his fourth birthday my son Mano wanted a spiderman theme. I truly don’t mind spending countless hours making my own decorations, a pinata,cake and favors for a theme party but I refuse to use spiderman, barbie, bob the builder or dora papers in my layouts! I love those characters as much as my kids do but I would rather give a layout my own “special touch” rather than use commercial/branded character pages. So, for the Spiderman birthday layout I struggled! I wanted to include spiderman-ish elements but I didn’t want the theme to overpower the fact that these were birthday pictures. I kinda knew what I wanted to do BUT I had to narrow down the pictures (I had over 25) and my Silhouette was giving me a hard time cutting out some of the elements. The web border I wanted to use was too detailed and always came out torn so I ended up printing it and cutting it out by hand.

The Amazing Spiderman...layout

I think I did well and accomplished what I wanted. The clouds, sun, trees and pennants give a happy and festive feel to the layout while the webs holding up the pennants, the web borders, the buildings (spidey-man swings off these) and the little spider assign that there was a theme to the party.