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Paper Solutions

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As I said in one of my last posts, finding paper that works for some of my projects is proving challenging. So for the last week or so I have been trying different techniques to try and make one of my own.  

 

I thought I wanted to do it with string and I thought that paint would work well and I had the colors I needed.  It didn’t turn out like I wanted.  And I didn’t like the way it weighted the paper down and made it stiff.  I could tell that cutting it would also be a challenge.

So then I decided to try and do it with ink. I went and bought some ink at the local craft store. I tried several different kinds of string because I wanted different thickness to the lines. I talked to an artist friend of mine and she gave me a few suggestions about how to pull the stings and went for it again! This worked a lot better but still was a little too inconsistent for what I wanted.  I thought I wanted it a little more organic or messy but apparently this time I wanted crisp!

The next thing to have control was to try pens.  My friend told me I could get a pen to work with my ink, but I opted to use some of my scrapbook pens.  I liked the control I had with them. Then I did several different patterns to get to the one I thought would work best for my upcoming project. They all look very similar but have a difference in spacing and line thickness.

This is my finished piece!!!

 

Thanks for stopping to read!

Lu

 

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Christmas, Seasonal Kits, Shadowbox

Merry Christmas Shadowbox Insert

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This time it is Christmas!  The biggest challenge with these is finding paper that has a small enough print to work with the small pieces! I’m working on other’s by making some of my own paper designs! Hopefully I can show you that soon! For now just pictures of the Christmas one.

Same thing just in a black frame.

Thanks for stopping by!

Lu

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Uncategorized

More Cards

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So I mentioned in the post with the last card kit that sanding your paper can change the color even if it isn’t white core. Well in this kit I am showing you how that works.

This is the same paper!  The original was just too dark of a tone for the look I wanted. But you can see that once I sanded it it looks perfect!  It’s ok if you sand and it doesn’t come out like you want, try again! As Steve is very fond of saying “It’s just paper dear”

On this card (it is hard to see in the picture) I had a piece of paper that I had tried something with and it hadn’t worked out. But as most of you know I never throw things away! The diagonal folds gave this card a more framed look.  I cut the corners off so that it would fit on the card and not cover up the pretty flowers!

Here are the rest of the set.

 

Remember that cards can go vertical or horizontal!!! Half and half for me this time!

 

Thanks for taking time to visit!

Lu

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Seasonal Kits, Shadowbox

Happy Easter Shadowbox Insert

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The Happy Easter Shadowbox is now completed.  I went with some bright colors and patterns. The things in the middle row didn’t stand out like I wanted them to so I added some ink to the paper before I glued it down.  It is always good to  lay your project out before attaching everything!

 

 

This fits into either the black or white shadow box frame.  Each piece has a magnet on the back to make it stay in place.

If you want to see the other ones I have done, click on the below links:

Autumn Time http://inspirlutions.com/wp/2019/05/15/shadow-box-autumn-time/

Summer Fun http://inspirlutions.com/wp/2019/04/10/new-shadowbox/

Hope you enjoy.  Let me know if you are interested in making one of these.!

Lu

 

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Uncategorized

How We Got Started

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As I thought about what to blog about this week, someone asked me how I got started in all this. I think this is a good time to tell this story! 

 

Way back when I had 2 small kids at home we went looking for a small business that I could run out of our home and have a break from the kids. We went to a business fair thing they were having and met Polly Billings.  She is the reason we are where we are! She also is one of my dearest friends!  She introduced my to Creative Memories. It was a small business that taught classes on how to scrapbook. Scrapbooking was just coming into the craft world.  I signed up and had 1 person at my first class. But that one person had a class and then 2 of those people had a class and well, it just went n from there!  

I think one of the reasons that it worked so well was my philosophy on scrapbooking. I believed that I could teach people the safest ways to scrapbook and then let them decide for themselves what level of safety they wanted to do. I never thought one company could supply everything for every layout, there were just too many different ones! 

I believe that we scrapbook for 3 reasons. I relate it to our children but it has the same benefits for all of us adults too!

First, scrapbooking gives us the knowledge of our roots.  Knowing where we came from is very empowering.  I told the story of one day between my grandmother and my son. Alex was about 3 or 4 and we had gone to my grandmother’s to work on her scrapbooks. My grandfather had passed away years before and neither of my children got to know him. Anyway, Alex came in the room and asked grandma if he could look at a book with her. She got him in her lap and they started to look at one of the books.  She told him about her parents and the house she grew up in and several other things before she got to the page that had my grandfather on it. As she started to say this is grandpa, Alex interrupted her and said “that’s my grandpa Howell uhn, and he’s the one who drove trains uhn?!” There wasn’t a dry eye in the room! 

The second thing is that scrapbooking gives confidence. “I’m so important or special that mom made a whole page/book about me! It also reminds them of the happy things and the struggles. And when they look back and see that they got through that struggle, this one doesn’t seem so bad.

Third, it gives them wings to fly on their own. When my kids look back at my childhood scrapbooks they think I am really dorky. It allows them to feel out of place at the moment but know that they can become cool in the end!! LOL LOL LOL

As the years went by my great customers and friends (most of my dearest friends I’ve met through scrapbooking) would ask me if I knew how to do this or that craft and could I teach them. If I could figure it out or find a class to teach me then I would teach them! So now we do all kinds of crafting but scrapbooking and paper crafts are still at the top of my list! 

 

Thank you for letting me share my passion for all these years! Polly it’s all your fault!!!!

By the way Steve is a Creative Memories Advisor so we have put a link below if you would like to check it out. They are Not the cheapest but the safest and longest lasting albums and base supplies. If you would like to see them in person to see some, just let us know, I have about 50 done on the shelves! And a bunch more waiting to be filled!

Lu

To see Creative Memories product or order it click here

https://www.creativememories.com/cm/stevepenfold

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Uncategorized

Father’s Day

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The shirts were such a big hit for Mother’s Day that I decided to do the boys one for Father’s Day!

 

The biggest issue I am having with this is finding matching shirts, especially for the baby. So Gene’s and MaryLu’s are different but coordinating. And I had to shop on the boys side of the store.

 

Also Alex said that Hope really want a pair of basketball shorts like his. That was hard to find in a 4T.  So again I went to the boys and found an extra small pair.  They fit her!!! Yeah!!!

I also made their cards.

Thanks for visiting my blog!!!

Lu

 

 

 

 

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Cards

Cardkit

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I bought this kit at my favorite store! I just wanted to see what they thought went together and how they said to do them.

There are no instructions or suggestions. This is what comes in the kit. It says it makes 12 cards.

I don’t think that most of this even goes with these card bases. The colors and tones are way off. So the first thing I did was to sort out what I thought would work.

The pieces all came with “pop up” squares already on them.  They didn’t really pop up far enough to tell that you use a pop-up. You can see on some of them I just put tape on them and put them flat down, I didn’t take their “pop up” off.  In this picture, you can see how much more space my pop up leaves.

The next thing I did was try to find a paper that matched or complimented.  This is usually the hardest part of the design.  It is also one of the parts I like doing, especially when you get it just right. My green was just a little off of the shade I wanted so I sanded it.

This is a white core paper and sanding it makes a big difference. Sanding a non-white core paper also changes the color of the paper and I will show you that on a different set of cards.

Finding the right embellishment can be tough as well.  I like to get several out and lay them on my project to see what I like.

The other thing that people ask me is, “Do I measure to get my things straight and evenly spaced?” Those of you that have had a class with me know that is a big NO!! Nothing needs to be that precious. But here are a couple of tips: an odd number of embellishments usually look best, so start by putting one in the center, then but one on each end equal distance from the edge, then find the center between that one and the one you have already in the middle.

I ended up only doing 6 cards because of the lack of embellishments that I felt worked. So at some point, we will come back and do the other 6.

 

Thanks for reading my blog!

Lu

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Workspace

Work Space

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With the loosening of some of the COVID 19 restrictions, we are hoping you will want to come and work on your crafting projects. Whether it is catching up your scrapbook or doing that new holiday decoration we would like to help. If you just need a little help, space away from distractions, or a girls’ night out we are here! 

We thought it would be good to show you the space we have set up for you to come and work in.

The dream is to have a self-standing shop, and to that end, we had the frame built when we had the house done. We couldn’t afford to have it finished on the inside and we will be doing that as we can.

For now, we are set up in the house. This isn’t the first time that the workspace has taken over my living room. When I first started way back in Utah in 1996 we set up tables in the living room as well! We all scrapbooked in it just great! I’m hoping this works out just as well. 

We have enough space to set up 4 8′ tables. We only have 2 tables set up at the moment but can set the others up as we need to.  Now that the restrictions for COVID have loosened a little, I’m hoping you will see a project you want to come and make!!! Bring your girlfriends and have a night out!!!

 

 

Lu

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Cards

Shaker Card Kit

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I saw this card kit at one of my favorite stores and decided to get a couple to put together. I bought several different ones so we will talk about the others later.

This one was a shaker card, meaning you put glitter or something small behind a piece of acetate. Everything was included in the kit to make 6 cards, 2 of each design.

Box that the card kit came in.



I should tell you that I have never made a shaker card. I know how to but haven’t really ever made one.  I didn’t think about how much of the glitter/confetti to put in. The directions didn’t say.  I saw that the kit comes with 6 cards and 2 packs of confetti, so a third of the pack of glitter per card?

Card base and front. Glitter

 

Well, those of you with experience making these will know that it was way too much!!! I didn’t really get it right until about halfway through.

Using the mathematical approach. WAY TOO many glitters!
Left: Correct Amount. Right: TOO much. Lol



My next mishap was the aligning. They had all the adhesive already so I just peeled and lined up the card front. Well, I guess I’m not too good at that either!!! They are all off at least a little! Then at least one side is sticky. My solution was of course good old baby powder!

It has its own adhesive for the cover.
Using baby powder to cover the adhesive overhang.



I’m posting this to tell you all that no one gets it right the first time and that’s ok!!! If you get a card from me and you can’t read the sentiment because of too much bling in the shaker card, know that I love you so much that I wanted you to have a BIG, BIG party!!!!

Full set of shaker cards, in varying degrees of glitterfied!

 

Thanks

Lu

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Aprons, Easy Press, Tools

Little Apron

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I was at my local dollar store and I saw these aprons. They had them in all different colors, and of course, I had to get one in my favorite yellow! I didn’t really pay attention to the size, so when I got it home and got it out of the package I was a little surprised that it was a child’s size! No worries; I will just do something else with it. I got on my Cricut program and designed this cute “little Artist” graphic! I think it turned out very cute!

One of the challenges was that this apron is 100% polyester and says not to iron it. I was worried that it would melt under the heat. And I didn’t want to get anything stuck on my press. So I put a thin towel under it, between the heat pad, and then another towel over the top of it. I also only heated it for 15 seconds! It worked great!

 

The HTV is a shiny purple! The pictures don’t do it justice! lol lol lol

 

 

If you know a little artist that needs this darling apron, it is for sale!! $4.00 And if you need more, I can have them made up in a hurry!!

 

Thanks for stopping by my blog!!

Lu

 

 

 

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