HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

from all of us at Keepsakes

May your holidays be full of joy and cheer
and spent with friends and family dear.

Another Book Club Project!

This project was done by Jenn Claar, one of the Keepsakes design team members. Like the other book club projects for this month, it was inspired by "The Foof~A~Life" published by Autumn Leaves. She made it to give as a gift and designed it to match the nursery decor. Isn't it wonderful? It is also one of the 1st place winners from the Keepsakes Retreat!! Congratulations, Jenn! Thank you for sharing your beautiful work with us!

Scrapbooking Book Club

written by Susan Beth Breuner

Every third Monday of the month a Scrapbooking Book Club meets at Keepsakes. We've changed our format from using pre-assembled books and kits from a third-party company to selecting our own books or magazines and producing something that was inspired by the book. Below are a few results from this month. Lots of fun. All of these projects were inspired in one way or another from the book "The Foof~a~Life" published by Autumn Leaves.

First is my project, a mini tag book with a Christmas theme:

The handwritten words are from the first and second chapters of the Gospel of Luke.

I used a stamp of the baby in a manger on each page, although it is difficult to see here.

It was a lot of fun to put this book together!

I had grand hopes of making eight or nine of these books for Christmas, but don't get your hopes up, because it just didn't happen. Maybe another year.

This next project is from Rosie Faust, a local scrapbooker whom I admire. She takes a lot of my classes, but she knows enough to be teaching practically all of them. She does wonderful work, and is inspiring!

Those are Rosie's hands as she shows us the dimensional aspects of the flowers she hand cut for this page. The folks in the photo are her parents and other relatives, many of whom have passed away - great job of getting them documented so future generations will know a little about them.

You can see some more of her cut work in this photo.

And here you see the interactive journaling block.


And this next project is by Barb Larsen, who travels a long way to join us. It is a photo of her daughter Sara, who is also in the book club. The photo is of her first experience with Chocolate, which has lead to an apparent obsession.

This project was actually inspired by the book we are doing next month, called "That's Life" by Nic Howard, otherwise known as Nic from NZ because she's from New Zealand. Barb is just a bit ahead of the rest of us.

Love the layering of the clock transparency over book paper with the glitter heart topping it off.

The thing that inspired Barb was to run the title up the left side of the page. Very effective!

This project by Jan Astrom is really wonderful! She has a whole story about how the man featured in this project is an ancestor of her husbands, who was a famous shell collector - the photocopied pages from a book are about him and his excellence in shell collecting. Pretty neat family history.

She mounted all of this on a painters canvas - beautiful job!

And the shells are shells that were actually part of the ancestor's collection! Wow! What a family heirloom she has created!

So, book club is inspiring! Believe me when I say that my photography does not do these projects justice! We are having a great time together! And, it insures that nerds like me who could never skip a homework assignment get at least one project a month accomplished - I'm afraid that some months that's about all I can do, although I dream of doing oh so much more!

If you're interested in joining the fun each month, inquire at the store. The book club meets at 6pm on the 3rd Monday of each month. It's a great group of gals and you can see that the books and projects are awesome!

Product Review - Foil Glitter Flock

Have you seen these We R Memory Keepers sets at Keepsakes? I picked one up a couple weeks ago and have had an absolute blast playing with them! They are amazing. The kit consists of two pages of adhesive rub ons and 3 sheets each of foil, glitter, and flocking to use with the rub ons. If you've ever wanted to try gold foil or flocking and have been intimidated - this is for you! It's practically fool proof and comes with instructions to get you started. These rub ons work well on cards, layouts, photos - you name it. It's definitely worth a look. I know I'm hooked on them.

Coordination...

When you want a project to come together quickly, or you need to whip up a gift album last minute, the easiest way to get it done is with coordinating products. K&Company excels at providing you with lots of products in perfectly coordinating lines. They have everything from patterned papers to epoxy stickers to metal brackets and hardware to chipboard letters to vellum quotes to mat stacks to to rub ons to dimensional stickers... They have it all! They even have matching albums so your projects come together in a snap! Make coordinated albums ready to fill with pictures and give them as baby or Christmas gifts. You can't go wrong!!

papers

dimensional stickers

chipboard alphabets, mat stacks, and vellum quotes

The Basics...

Every project requires some foundational elements in addition to the glitz and glam of patterned paper and embellishments. And while choosing the glitz and glam is often more fun than choosing the basics, the latter is often what makes or breaks the finished product. It is just as important, and maybe even more so, to carefully select the unseen or accent materials for a project as it is to choose the right focal piece. So before you begin a project, take a moment to think through the details and the whole project will turn out better. Here are some things to consider:

Foundation

• What is my project built on? Is it a canvas, scrapbook page, card, mini album, altered item, or something else?
• Carefully select your foundational item based on the type of use it's going to get, how sturdy it is, and how well suited to your project it is.
  
• What size project am I working on?
• Make sure you know the measurements of your foundational item so you can purchase the appropriate sized papers, pictures, and embellishments.
  
• What am I going to do with the finished project?
• Is it a gift? Do you know that it will be something the recipient will like or use?
• Will it be displayed in your home, and does the project size fit the place you have in mind for it?

Color and Pattern

• Do you have a specific color set or patterned paper to work with?
• If you already have the patterned paper you want to work with, bring that with you when you purchase the embellishments or cardstock to finish the project. That ensures that everything matches, instead of just "eyeballing" the colors and finding out later that they do not coordinate.
  
• Is it a themed project that needs to coordinate with other items?
• If you are trying to make an album or project that matches a nursery or other coordinated room, bring an item from the room with you when you shop for project supplies.
  
• Are the colors or patterns "loud" and need to be accompanied by accent piece that tone down the overall noise of the project? Or do you need to choose coordinating supplies that draw out specific colors from the palate to encourage a particular theme or mood?

Accent Papers

• Do your accents coordinate with your focal paper?
• Make sure your accent cardstock or patterned paper matches or coordinates exactly with the main color scheme / pattern of your project. Something that is "close, but not quite right" will be painfully obvious when the project is finished.
• Do the textures compliment one another?
• If you are aiming for a soft look, try softly textured accent papers such as mulberry or vellum and tear the edges for a softer feel. If you want a stronger contrast , use solid cardstock or metallic paper and trim it with straight lines.
  
• Do your accents "accent" or do they overpower?
• Make sure your accents do not stand out on their own, but that they bring out the desired aspect of the focal paper or photo.
  

Adhesives

• What sort of adhesive is needed for this project?
• Do you need a sheer adhesive for use under vellum and acetate?
• Do you need a thin adhesive for detail gluing?
• Do you need an adhesive that will cover a large area but dry flat without wrinkling paper?
  
• What sort of conditions / use is this project going to have to stand up under?
• Is the item going to be stored in a humid room (such as a nursery with a humidifier)?
• Is the item going to be handled by many people?
• Does the item have movable parts that will be susceptible to breakage if not adhered properly?
  

Inks

• What sort of ink will you need?
• Will you be writing names and dates or journaling and would need a fine detail pen?
• Will you be stamping with the ink and need a pad, watercolor, or liquid ink?
• Will you be using a distress ink to age paper or photos?
• Will you be heat embossing with the ink?
  
• What surface will you be inking?
• Will you need a permanent ink like Staz-On for stamping on a lacquered surface?
• Will you be inking textured paper or smooth?

Embellishments

• Are your embellishments self adhesive?
• If not, will you need special adhesives such as metal glue or glue dots?
• Will you need special tools to set the embellishments?
  
• Will your embellishments add dimension to your project?
• Do you need to allow for extra space in your album or frame?
• Do you need to make sure you have a page protector to keep the embellishments from damaging the facing page?
  
• Have you made sure that you have all the embellishments you need and that they match or coordinate perfectly with your project?
• Bring your project papers with your when you go to purchase your embellishments to save yourself a headache later.
• Will your embellishments or glues take a while to set or dry?
• Make sure you plan enough time into your project that all of the glitter glue and ink can dry and that the adhesive sets before moving the project or giving it away.
  

Hopefully these questions will get you thinking as you start your next project. Planning ahead really does make the whole project go smoother and faster, with better results! Now... how many of you have Christmas gifts or cards you ought to get making??

This Week Only!!

Keepsakes by Design
Gift Certificate Sale

Friday, December 7th through Friday, December 14th
For every $25.00 spent, we will add 25% at no charge.

There's nothing more perfect for the holidays than a gift certificate from Keepsakes by Design!!
It always fits, it's the right color and it's exactly what they want!
Don't miss out on this chance.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and hope to see you soon!!!!

New Hambly Rub Ons!

Did you see the Hambly Christmas rub ons on the holiday wall at Keepsakes? Great for tags, cards, or scrapbook pages! As with most Hambly products, the possibilities are practically endless... Like this amazing card from the Hambly blog:

Holiday Recipes - SNOW

With a few basic ingredients, you can cook up a marvelous Christmas card in no time! These cards are simple to mass produce, but have beautiful layers that give this card depth! Makes 12 cards.

What you need:

• 2 sheets Hambly Frosty Snowflakes overlay
• 3 sheets snowflake patterned paper 12x12 (any)
• 6 black and white 4x6 photographs
• 2 yards medium width ribbon
• 12 of each small letter needed to spell "snow" (any letter types - brads, stickers, die cut will do)
• 3 sheets (or more as needed) printer paper

What you do:

• Cut each overlay into 6 panels measuring 4x6 inches.
• Cut each sheet of patterned paper into 4 panels measuring 4x8 inches. (hint: cut a 4 inch swath across the bottom of the paper and trim it to 8 inches, then cut the remaining paper into thirds.)
• Print your letter or greeting in a text box measuring 4x5.5 inches. (You should be able to fit four on a sheet of printer paper and cut them apart.)
• Glue your letter to the patterned paper panel approximately 1/2 inch from the top.
  

• Layer your photo and overlay panel on top of the letter, also 1/2 inch from the top of the card.
  

• Punch two holes in the top of the layers, approximately 1 inch apart.
• Thread 6 inches of ribbon through the holes as desired. Trim ends on the diagonal.
  
• Adhere letters "SNOW" to the bottom of the card

This recipe makes 12 cards and can easily be doubled or tripled for more! Cards fit into a business size (No. 10) envelope for mailing and do not require extra postage unless you used dimensional letters. As with all handmade cards, if you are unsure of the need for extra postage, ask your post office.

When the cards are all said and done, you will be left with 3 4x4 squares of snowflake paper. Use them to make a few gift tags or enclosures to spruce up your gifts this year!