Just a bunch of Junkies!

That's right, it was just a bunch of us Scrapbook Junkies meeting last night. The first Design Team meeting was held. Lucky me, it was my month to participate!

Beth kept us super busy making fun ornaments for the store's Christmas tree. We used circles from Christmas paper and pins, buttons, ribbon and anything else we could stick to the styrofoam ball. It was fun to meet the other ladies and see everyone being so creative and eager to meet each other.

Here's a group picture, one of many, I am sure!

Fun little announcement....

Guess who sort of, kinda, made the Design Team at Scrapbook Junkie?

Me!

Why sort of? Well, I came in runner up, but the great thing is, it's not just a title. I get to participate with the official design team about 4 times a year. Plus get the benefits they receive. I was disappointed not to be an "official" design team member, but so glad the Beth still had plans to include me.

["There She is, Miss America" playing in the background...]

Should one of the design team members not be able to fulfill her duties in 2009, I would take up the crown... er... I mean, replace that person on the team.

I will share more about that as time goes on. Our first meeting is tomorrow evening.

Woo hoo!

Handy Altered Tin Tool

I found a great link for a very handy tool for altering tins! Scroll down to the very bottom of the page when you go to that link, and you will find acrylic templates to fit all different size tins. These are excellent for trimming to size around the hardware and the handles.

They also include their own links as to where to find tins for altering.

Also, I have a tutorial I created a couple of years ago when I was on the Scrapbook Dreamer design team. Let me point one thing out though! I have made many, many of these and over the years have developed what I think is the best method. In this tutorial I use ::gasp:: Mod Podge as the adhesive. Let me tell you, it gave me fits! Use glue stick! It's the cheapest, easiest, and least messy, and actually works the best to prevent air bubbles under the paper. The rest of the tutorial is an accurate representation of how I make them.

Have fun!

Altered Tins

In the previous post I gave some pointers on how to alter tins. I thought it would be fun to show some of my altered tins that I have made over the years. I don't even have one of my own. Seems like I never make anything that I keep. But that's fine by me, it's the creating that I love.

These were either made as gifts or commissioned for gifts.



What I find important to the design of these altered tins is to finish off each edge. Notice the rick rack trim on the tin above. And hide the seams by covering with ribbon. It makes a nice transition as well as adding texture.



I think my "huge flower accent" days may be behind me. LOL It's not only clothing design fashions that come and go. Any other kind of design also has items that go in and out of fashion.



I love the Christmas tin I made for my sister and her family. Inside are 10 "file folders". Each one is decorated and has a photo mat to place the Christmas picture for the current year. This tin will represent 10 years worth of Christmases. And this year is the first one that will include a new baby granddaughter.




I like the idea of making these tins utilitarian as well as beautiful to look at. This tin above has a matching address/calendar book. The book was $2 at Walmart and I recovered it to match.

What do all of these tins have in common? The icing on the cake: RIBBON! I had a friend tell me (a guy!) that these tins look like beautiful wedding cakes. The ribbon is the final touch that pulls all of the colors and textures together. As well as adding height to the project.

Notice how all of the ribbons on a tin do not necessarily match each other, but they do match the tin overall. Mix patterns and textures, widths and shapes. All of those extra little details keep your eyes moving over the piece and your brain engaged with the piece.

Think you can leave out a detail and no one will notice? Guess what, your viewer may not be able to verbalize what is missing, but the eyes are searching to pull the piece together. That's why we feel satisfied and happy when we see something that pleases us visually. It all comes together. That also accounts for why we can look at something and know that "something is missing" and not be able to pinpoint it.

Don't you just love how our brains work?

Book Plates

This was a fun little project. We gave my great-niece a book baby shower. I made little bookplates for her to put in each of the books in her library. I got the elephant clipart from Lettering Delights. You can size the clipart to any size and then print it out. I printed the large elephant on heavy white cardstock and did some paper piecing. The book plates were printed on an 8 1/2 x 11" label, then cut apart. The container is a band-aid tin made for altering. I covered it with My Mind's Eye paper.

When covering a tin, use glue stick liberally directly on the tin. Then after cutting the paper to size, press it on and try to get out all of the air bubbles underneath. The great thing about the glue stick is that your paper is still movable for a bit so it's easy to reposition the paper if needed. It also bonds very well and alleviates almost all air bubbles if you cover the project liberally. Any glue stick will work, but I recommend not using the colored sticks that dry clear. I actually had a project ruined because it did not, in fact dry clear, it stained purple. I don't know if it was a reaction to the paper, or the container it was used on. But I learned my lesson!

I don't recommend using Mod Podge. One reason is that it has too much water content and tends to buckle the paper. It is also thin enough that you may get pockets of air from not applying it evenly. The second reason (or is this the third?) is that it gets very messy!

I will plan on posting a tutorial on altering tins, there's more information!

Baby Shower invitation. Cardstock is Stampin' Up! Close to Cocoa and the new Pink. White cardstock was run through my Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dot embossing folder. The elephant stamp is from PaperTrey Ink, "Bitty Baby Blessings". I stamped the elephant on patterned cardstock and cut it out, the ear was stamping on a different paper and cut out and adhered to elephant. Tag is also from a Cuttlebug die.

Welcome!

Welcome to my new "Everything Paper" blog! If you already know me, then you know I am an artist of all things paper. Scrapbooking, card making, altered objects and anything else I can make with paper. I've tried just about everything.

This will be a place where I will share my creations, tips, favorite sites and my passion for Everything Paper.

Hope you enjoy!