Adams Acres

Another milestone for my niece she is now 16.  What a big year for her.  Driving and more responsibility as well.  Below is the Sweet 16 card I made for her.  There is a cherry SVG that you will find in the June Download.  You can get the password by joining the email list found in the right navigation bar.

Sweet 16 Card

Inspiration dress

My biggest issue with making cards and scrapbooking is picking colors.  I have a color wheel that helps but I have recently stumbled on another idea.  I was watching PBS while getting rained out at the campground this weekend indulging in a show on knitting and crocheting which another of my hobbies.  The design said find a artist drawing not a picture or another piece of color inspiration and use that to pick you colors.  If you know you like it the colors will work on the page.  He stated that pictures are tough to use this technique with because they are muted and not as defined as a painted picture.  I used the same technique but grabbed the inspiration from a little dress.

Sweet 16 Color Layout

The file for this project contains a color block layout as well as the scal lib it up file.  You will also find the individuals svgs as there are elements of the card that you may want to use on other projects.  When I put this card together I added lots of dimension with the EK Success 3D-Dots.  The quotes around the sweet 16 were difficult to pick up so the Quickutz QuickStik was used as well.  The rest was all stuck together with the Glue Glider Pro.

Amy

This weeks Top Scrapper Award goes to. . .  Amy Tsuruta. You are going to love Amy’s projects. Amy was nominated by Naomi Chokr. She is a mom of 2 lovely children living in the beautiful state of Washington. Amy works full time but I can see by her projects she definitely makes time for her creative side.

What are your favorite projects, cards, sketches, layouts, other?
Here are links to my favoriate cards/projects:

http://tsurutadesigns.blogspot.com/2009/06/hb2u-coffee.html

http://tsurutadesigns.blogspot.com/2009/05/early-bird-hi.html

http://tsurutadesigns.blogspot.com/2008/12/crazy-tasty.html

What are your favorite paper crafting tools and why?

When I’m stamping my favorite tool would have to be the stamp-a-ma-jig. I can’t “eye” things so the stamp-a-ma-jig is important for lining things up for me. I’ve been on a huge glue pop dots kick…the bigger the better! They are perfect for buttons, which I tend to use on a regular basis, chipboard, etc…I like the dimension it gives my embellies.

What is the product line would you cry for if it were no longer available?

This is a tough question for me. I’ve been lovin’ so many different paper lines lately, but I think I’d cry if Sassafras was no longer available. I just LOVE their products…especially their papers. They always make me smile!

What is the level of your paper crafting addiction? mild, average, or over the top

I’d have to say that my paper crafting addiction is over the top…LOL…just ask my kids

Out of everything so far what is your absolute favorite project? Please tell us the who, what, when and how of the project and send pictures if you have them.

I am part of the 365 Cards Design Team. In April we had Scor-it week and one of the projects we were assigned was a gift card holder. Here’s the link to that project on my blog:

http://tsurutadesigns.blogspot.com/2009/04/gift-card-holder-with-twist.html

I am pretty happy with the end result because it was something “with a twist”….it actually went to Naomi

What is on your wish list? This could be a supply, a tool or an organizing product.

It seems like so many people have Cricuts…I’d love one but realistically don’t have the space for it.

Amy’s Quote for today - “…focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.”

~Greg Anderson~

Crocus SVG Card

I love flowers.  If I am not good at growing them I certainly know I can pull out inkscape and create one for my beloved cricut using sure cuts a lot.

Today I have create a happy birthday card with crocus.  Stickles have been added.  This will continue to happen until my supply starts to dwindle.

Enjoy the Crocus.  The file will include the svg files as well as a Scal Library.

June 2009 Free SVG Files

The creators of Sure Cuts a Lot have a companion piece called Lib It Up.  Scal Lib it up is a free download.  Lib it up creates little library files of all your svg or .scut files.  It organizes them and makes them easily accessible via the shapes window in Sure Cuts a Lot.

I have started to incorporate .lcut files in my svg mult cut downloads.  You put the lcut files in the library folder where you installed sure cuts a lot.  Believe me once you get into the habit of using the libraries you will never want to guess about which svg to use again.  I also love the fact that it can theme my svgs so that when I am creating I can quickly see the images of the svgs I have.

Sorry for the delay.  I had a technical difficulty which was my fault.  I order the service to allow me to broadcast my announcements but it didn’t get upgraded until today.  In any event I am happy to announce that the winner of our big scrapbooking giveaway is April Tobias of Ohio.

April your prize was put in the mail today.  I look forward to seeing some of your fabulous creations from the goodies you are getting in the mail.  Don’t fret if you did not win this one.  Karen Foster sent me a giant box of goodies just the other day to giveaway on the blog.  So nice that I would love to keep them in my supply area instead of sharing them.

We will have several different ways to win the Karen Foster goodies.  More on that later.

April Tobias

I wanted to take a second and introduce April.

My name is April. I am 31, married for 11 years, and mom to 3 wonderful children - Christina 13, Ashley 8, and Dallas 6. Just one place I share my layouts and  and this is my first blog but I do plan to build another to add to it whatever and whenever I want.

April Tobias Layout

April Tobias Layout

5.  Favorite scrapbooking organizers.

Just Married

This is a fun piece as it is very versatile.  You can add lots of dimension with pop dots or embellishments.  If you happen to create a wedding scrapbook using this piece I would love to see it.

This is the final cut in the Wedding SVG Trilogy.  If I did this car again, and I will, I would cut to of the backgroud piece twice.  One a little smaller and use the other for a true shadow.  This pieces works with sure cuts a lot. You can find addition wedding scrapbook items on the site as well.

Agin with the Stickles. This is a recurring theme as tleast until I run out.

If youa re looking for papers for your wedding scrapbook I think K & Company has some amazing collections.

Would you do me a favor.  If you like this or any of my SVG files would you click on the stumble me button on the right or use the onlywire button.  I am doing some work to expand the blog so that I can continue to provide free svg files.  Stumbles or social bookmarks will help a lot.  Thank you in advance.

The Just Married SVG is available in our free password protected members area. You can get the password for free by joining my email list. You will receive a confirmation email. Please confirm your subscription. In the 2nd email you will receive a password to access these SVG files. I will be making certain SVG files available to my email list only.

Join Mailing List

If you have May’s password please click here to access the login in page.

I won a gift certificate from scrapbooks.com come last week.  I there were a ton of things I wanted but I couldn’t decided so I put it on hold for a bit until my scrapbook budget could bump my gift certificate up to meet my wish list.

As I am waiting for my budget to meet my wish list I get an email from Scrapbook.com with a link to an item I was on the waiting list for.  It is the Quickutz -  QuickStik Scrapbook Tool.  This is a very inexpensive item but one I was willing to wait for.  This seeming little insignificant tool is a life saver.  I discovered the scrapbook tool at a scrap in April and have been waiting ever since to get my own.

As you know I work with a lot of die cuts.  Some of my cuts get very intricate and have lots of little pieces to pick up and to place in different areas.  Tweezers are OK but this little weapon of creative construction is ideal for picking up and placing without getting glue all over, dropping it, getting your tweezers sticky.  I am not completely sure how it works but it suctions up your little pieces and gives you complete control over their placement.  Then you just put the item where you want it and stick.

I ordered my today with my gift certificate.  I will get a video up when it arrives.  By the way just to make the shipping cost worth the while I did pick up a few extra things.  SHHH…. don’t tell the hubby.

Quickutz - QuickStik Scrapbook Tool
Scrapbook.com

I have a treat for you.  Our first Top Scrapper Award winner is…… Naomi Chokr, pronounced CHOKER just like the necklace.  Naomi, just so you know I would have pronounced it correctly right off the bat.

Naomi shares her wonderful paper crafting on her blog Naomi’s Space.  Please stop in after reading this post.  You will get a kick out of Naomi’s candid writing.  Naomi wins the top scrapper award today for her scrap room.  Scroll down you will see why.

A little more background on Mrs. Choker.  Naomi is  27 years old, married, with one Rabbit named Goofy and one dog named Cece.  Naomi doesn’t have any kids yet, when she does get them I can guarantee their little lives will be well scrapbooked and scrapbooked in style I might add.  She is a research Geek (her word not mine) Analyst by day for Comcast Spotlight the advertising division.  She also carries a graduate gemolgist certificate too.  I think that sounds like a dangerous combo.  I a woman with a scrapbooking addiction and supreme knowledge of diamonds.

I met Naomi on Twitter I believe and caught a glimpse of her awesome and organized scrap space.  I decided Naomi would get the first Top Scrapper Award.  She graciously accepted the award for one of the best scrapin spaces.  She answered all my questions and sent me some wonderful pics of her space.

Naomi’s space is 12 x 10 ft.  Her hubby has let her take over most of the area in this room.  I asked Namoi a few questions about her space so that my readers could benefit from her well supplied and well organized room and this is what she shared.

4.  What tools or supplies do you specifically think about when you designed your space?  For instance I use the cricut machine often so my space has the machine very close to my chair for easy access.

I definitely thought about storage space for my stamps first.  I love stamps and that’s what got me started as a scrapbooker/cardmaker.  So I basically designed my scrap space to accommodate my ever growing stamp collection.  Second, I wanted storage space for all of my ribbons.  I quickly outgrew my rubber maid bin.  Third, I wanted my stickles, glitter, buttons etc to all line up like little sparkly soldier on a shelf.  After that the rest was history.  I figured the best way to create my space was to have a bunch of shelves.  I really wanted to see where everything was.  Lastly, I felt bad taking over the entire room because I still had to share it with my husbands DJ equipment and our dogs crate.  So I took over 3 out of 4 walls.  I try to share.  J

5.  What unique items did you use to create your space that were not necessarily designed to contain paper crafting supplies?  Also let us know where you purchased them and about how much.  This information helps people design and budget for their own spaces.

Using items not specifically created for paper crafting supplies are my favorite.  I always go into stores and try to find cheap items to use as storage.  I love storage items.  Here it goes…..I get excited just talking about it.  I love deals!

*      Plastic Shoe Rack:  I use this to store my punches. Mine hangs over my door. I’ve seen many scrappers do this.  I purchased it from target for $5 on clearance.  I wanted to use towel racks from Ikea that you can purchase for $0.99 - $1.99 but I ran out of wall space.

*      Spice Racks: I use this to hold my wooden stamp, stickles, glitter, little jars etc.  I purchased them from Bed, Bath & Beyond.  Prices range from $7.99 - $9.99 a piece.  Use that 20% off coupon.  I got this idea from my good friend Terry.  I love this because you can see everything without having to knock things over.

*      Mason Jars or Jelly Jars:  From walmart for only $6 for 12 jars.  Cheap!!  I love this idea.  My friend Julie gave these jars to me for Christmas and they hold anything from chipboard to leftover ribbon.

*      Spice Jars:  I use these jars to hold my buttons that I’ve sorted by color.  I purchased the jars from Ikea 4 pieces for $2.99.  They are soo cute.

*      CD Bin:  I love this and these only cost $1.00 from Walmart.  I use this to store all of my CTMH and clear stamps.  It can hold up to 24 CTMH stamps.

*      File folder storage: by Rubbermaid from Walmart about $4-$5 each.  I use this to store my SU, Unity and other stamps that I don’t want to mount.  This holds about 12 -15 sets.
*
Transparencies and Page Protectors: From your local office supply store.  The transparencies are expensive about $30 for 100.  The page protectors are about $12.  Get the heavy duty thick material.  I use the transparencies to hold my stamps that I’ve mounted using vinyl cling and I store them in page protectors.  I love this technique it saves me a bunch of room.  See my blog for additional details.
*
Materials to build a closet  (the closet aisle at Home Depot): this is what we used to build my craft space.  I built the desk first and waited each month to buy a shelf so we would have to spend so much money at one time.  We spent a little over $300 for all of the materials.
*
Dowels: $1-$3 I used these to store my ribbon and wood mounted Unity stamps.

6.  How long have you been doing paper crafting?

I started paper crafting seriously in Jan of 2008.  I’ve only been doing this for a little over a year.  But I was exposed to it when I had to create my own wedding invitations in July of 2007.  I didn’t want to pay an arm and a leg for only 30 invites so my husband and I went to Michaels and designed our own invitations.  I’ve loved it ever since.

7.  If you had to redesign your space tomorrow what would you have done differently?

I would take over the 4th wall.  I could use that wall to add a bookshelf.  I need room to display my creations and projects that I’ve worked on.  I don’t have room for that right now.  But all in all I’m really happy with what I have.  I designed it the way I wanted it and this set up really works for me.

8.  What is on your wish list to add to your space?  This could be a supply, a tool or an organizing product.

My wish is to have all the Thickers, Tim Holtz, October Afternoon and Cosmo Cricket products sent to me as soon as they are released.  These are my favorite items right now.  This may sound bad but I think I have everything in my room that I ever wanted. 

Thank you Naomi for sharing your scrap room with the readers.  I look forward to sharing the sites that you nominated next for the top scrapper award.

Sure cuts a lot is awesome but sometimes it is a task to keep all of your multi cut svg files imported in the proper proportion.  On some of my SVG files like the bride and groom and the school house cuts I have add a little star to help you proportion your images.  Below is a video that will explain how to use the star to correctly size your images.  I also have a second method for people who regularly use inkscape.  I will get that video up as well.