Do you make your own Christmas cards?

If cards aren’t flat enough they need extra postage and may even need to be processed as a parcel… yikes! I’m not paying for that!

If you follow these tips you can make mail-friendly, flat cards that have texture and dimension.

Keeping cards flat can be a challenge. There are so many beautiful embellishments and sparkly things for decorating cards, it’s nearly impossible to resist all of the goodies. 😉

Here’s my top tips for making a beautiful, flat card that has texture and dimension.

Use touchable layers.

Add a little decadence to your cards by using materials like:

• glossy or metallic paper
• glitter paper
• flocking
• velvet
• ribbon
• lace
• dry embossing
• heat embossing with stamps
• doilies

By adding textural elements you create texture and dimension. The great thing is that these kinds of elements don’t have to add a lot of bulk!

Create the look of dimension.

Use items that give visual dimension like:

• washi tape
• stamping
• patterned paper
• paper punches to create flat embellishments or decorative edging
• glitter glue
• Liquid glass or glossy accents
• stitching or faux stitching

Avoid these chunky goodies. (even though they are wonderful!)

I know, they are gorgeous, but these embellishments will quickly make your card too thick and heavy, resulting in extra postage required!

• buttons
• bling and gems
• wood veneers
• chipboard
• chunky bows or knots

Try to enjoy the process of making your Christmas cards! Soon they will be done and in the mail carrying your warm holiday wishes to the special people in your life.

Creative Christmas Bundle 2015

Have you heard the exciting news? The Creative Christmas Bundle is back again this year and it’s better than ever! Included in the bundle are 14 festive projects from 14 fabulous designers… why yes, one of them is ME! 😉  Click here to view more details

Let your creativity shine!

Alice.

It’s been everywhere on the internet these past few days. People complaining about the Starbucks holiday cup.

The offending cup!

Oh no! It’s… red.

I think the whole thing is completely ridiculous, but that didn’t stop me from getting creative with it.

It’s a cup, people! You’re just going to drink out of it and then throw it away!

I decided that I would use the controversy as a jumping off point for a layout about the coffee I drink and my favourite cup!

This is a great way to add some current events, controversy, scandals or social media memes to your layouts, without actually discussing the actual event. (You can do that too of course!)

I used the cup design as a jumping off point for my layout, red background paper and a photo in a green circle.

Journaling reads: What’s in my cup? It’s always a dark roast coffee with 2 milk. Lately I like Caffe Verona DARK from Starbucks. No matter the coffee it’s always in my Princess House cup!

I used white thickers for the title and a white gel pen (the only one I’ve ever found that actually works, the Signo Uni-ball) to add the journaling around the circle and some white detail lines around the edges.

This would have been a great way to play with the gold/white vs. blue/black dress that tormented social media this past February. (Why didn’t I think of this then? P.S. I still say it was gold/white.) 😉

Are you ready to use the next social media controversy for your scrapbook layouts? I’d love to hear your take on other controversies or memes and how you could use them to inspire your scrapbooking!

Let your creativity shine!

Alice.

Are you looking for a unique and meaningful gift idea?

Take a peek at this simple and easy to make mini-album I created as a gift for a Japanese exchange student that stayed at our house.

Koyata was only here with us for a week, and we really enjoyed our time with him. I wanted him to have something tangible to take home as a souvenir, and what would be better than a mini photo album?

Watch the video and then check out at all of the pages in the book!

Here’s a page by page look into the album.

At the end of the post I’ll share tips for creating your own simple mini-album gift.

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In the excitement of Halloween you can get a little busy! Don’t forget to take these 5 photos for your Halloween scrapbooking!

1. Costumes.

Take photos in your costume BEFORE you leave. It’s almost impossible to get photos later. Kids get cranky, adults get cranky, everyone has a sugar rush and is tired and ready for bed. Save yourself the hassle and get photos first! Bonus: Create a cool scene or arrange yourselves in a cool set up.

2. Your house.

Take a photo of your house, showing your cool decorations. If you took the time to put out some cool decorations that will invite all the ghosts and goblins to your house, be sure to take take a photo to give yourself some credit. If you only do a small decoration cluster… do a close up, so it looks more impressive. 😉

3. Jack o’lanterns.

You spend all that time creating your awesome, cool, Pinterest worthy pumpkins, so you’d better grab a photo of them. Okay, if you’re more like me your pumpkins look like you carved them with a steak knife and that you don’t have a creative bone in your body. That’s okay too. Take a photo of your pumpkins or Jack o’lanterns, you didn’t make all that mess, and clean it all up, for nothing!

4. Candy.

A big part of Halloween is the wonderful bags of candy. Don’t miss this classic part of Halloween! At the end of the night we like to scatter everything on the floor for a giant candy shot. It’s even better when you get your kids with the candy.

5. Trick or Treating.

Catch a piece of the fun and take an action shot of your kids trick or treating. One good cheating way to do this without getting a photo of the back of their costumes is to have them ‘practice’ trick or treating at your house!

Need some more Halloween scrapbooking ideas?

Scrapbook Halloween Memories with these 3 tips…

Try a Creative Title like this one…

Have a safe and fun Halloween!

Alice.