Hello everyone! I’m very excited to introduce myself as your new Scrapbooking Editor on the Craft Gossip Network. I’ve been following Sarah’s posts for some time now and I hope I will be able to do as excellent a job, and fill her shoes.
By way of introduction, I thought I would post some random scrapbooking facts about me, as well as some of my favourite scrapbooking tips and tricks.
Random tidbits
- I discovered scrapbooking in 2001/2002 while living in the US. I was immediately hooked, but sadly hooked by bright colours and deco scissors! It didn’t really become a passion until about three years ago. Probably when I discovered the nice stuff.
- I love everything BasicGrey. So much that I buy it all and just hoard the paper. I usually have to talk myself into cutting into it!
- I never know how to define my “style” so I just go with eclectic
- I’m addicted to American Crafts Thickers
- When I’m working on a page and stumped I take a photo of it and look at it on my monitor. Somehow that gives me the right perspective to make changes.
- A few months ago I was doing at least a page a day, but I seem to be in a slump lately. I’m also doing lots of Christmas crafting lately, which might explain it!
- My current favourite colour combo is teal, coral and kraft
10 Scrapbooking Tips and Tricks
- Alcohol free baby wipes are perfect for cleaning rubber and acrylic stamps
- Not sure if a stamp is the perfect design for a certain spot? Stamp it first with a solvent ink like StazOn on a piece of plastic and lay over your project in progress to check. Clear inserts or packaging that come with products are handy for this.
- Glossy Accents by Ranger is also a great adhesive for lumpy stuff and clear elements
- Older stickers and diecuts that you probably won’t use again make great masks. To use the diecuts lightly apply a re-positionable adhesive to the back. Then ink, paint or spray over them
- Place embellishments in odd numbers like three and five for more visual impact
- No more e’s in your letter sticker pack? Try an upside down 3! I’ve done this tons of times. In fact I have also changed a lower case g into a y and an h, and an ampersand (&) into an S. It all depends on the font, so take a closer look to see what you can improvise
- Try using themed products on unrelated projects. I’ve used stickers from a wedding sheet on a layout about pizza and another about dinner guests. This way you get more bang for your buck!
- Punch holes in raw chipboard to make it a more decorative element. The Crop-a-Dile cuts through chipboard like butter!
- Grab five to seven left out items from your desk and challenge yourself to use them on a quick page. You’ll be amazed at what you come up with
- When all fails, use Thickers!
Can you tell me some of your favourite tips and tricks? Please leave a comment below. Also, remember that you can send me your news and info to be posted here by leaving a comment, or by sending an email to scrapbooking@craftgossip.com
Hi Francine, and welcome!
Thank you a million times over for your tips about the alphabet stickers. I have already been doing this in a smaller scale, but you have clearly taken this to a whole new height! LOL
One other thing I do with alphabet stickers is use a pen to add a line and therefore create the letter I want. For example, an upper case F can become an uppercase E by drawing an extra line. A P can become and R or a B. OF course it depends on having a pen that’s the same color as the sticker.
One more sticker tip — certain numbers can become alphabets and vice versa. O’s and zeros are interchangeable, as are ones and I’s.
One last sticker tip — sand them to get an older look. I dislike many of the shiny, glossy stickers but a brisk rub with sand paper gives them a completely different feel.
Also, I like using glitter glue over stickers.
Thanks June for the welcome and those great additional tips! I will definitely be using some of those.
i love your website its very cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i hav 2 full scrapbooks and i need some ideas cause i’m not very good so yeh.
so i need to talk again i have alot of photos but there all of my cousins and i’ve all ready got a page on them so what do i do for another heading
THX, VICTORIA:)