Get It Scrapped! » Craft and Technique

Top 10 Reasons to Learn Hand Lettering Techniques

Debbie Hodge — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:48:01 +0000

by Debbie Hodge

Michelle Houghton’s online class, “Hand Lettering for Scrapbookers, Crafters, and Journalers” starts next Monday. As I’ve been going through the materials and prepping them for her, it’s been occurring to me how many ways there are to use these skills. Here’s a round-up of some ideas.

1) Make great titles for your paper scrapbook pages.

Michelle traced this alpha to the back of her patterned paper and hand-cut it for her page.

SOURCE: Michelle Houghton

2) Make great titles for your digital scrapbook pages.

I scanned a title by Michelle and opened it in Photoshop. I used the magic wand to select and fill all of the area inside letters, and then I clipped patterned paper by Lynn Grieveson to that filled area. Add a drop shadow and nudge it a bit ajar to get a cool effect. You could even make your own alpha.

SOURCE: Michelle Houghton and Lynn Grieveson Nanyang Kit

3) Add another dimension to your art journals.

Teesha Moore is known for her complex and eye-catching lettering on art journaling pages.

SOURCE: Teesha Moore

4) Jazz up your mailbox.

SOURCE: Flickr/mac_filko

5) Make cool menu boards.

6) Embellish cards and send them to your loved ones!

SOURCE: Michelle Houghton

7) Become a graffiti artist.

8) Hand-letter signs and posters and sell them on etsy.

SOURCE: Becky Mercer Art

SOURCE: Mae Chevrette

9) Make primitive-look wooden signs to hang in your home or give as gifts.

SOURCE: SuzsCountryPrims

10) Use them as an excuse to invest in a cool new tool to die-cut machine or stamp maker.

SOURCE: Teresa Collins

SOURCE: HSN

Registration for Michelle’s class closes September 10. All participants will receive a discount toward her self-paced class “Oodles of Doodles” available next week.

So that’s hybrid? Make a border of digital stars topped by gems

Debbie Hodge — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:29:06 +0000

by Debbie Hodge

I love printing digital elements directly to cardstock and patterned papers for my scrapbook pages.

To make the vertical border on “Five Star Attraction,” I opened a photoshop document 12” x 12” and 300 ppi resolution.

I stamped a digital star brush one time, then copied that brush to a new layer and nudged it down below the first (counting how many “nudges” I made). Once I had a series of these on my canvas, I printed it to white cardstock to use at the border between photos and journaling/title blocks. I topped every star with a gold gem.

Using a star dingbat font would be even quicker. Type the alpha character that corresponds to your star and then hit RETURN/ENTER and type another. Adjust the line spacing and then continue on down the page.

Try these stars:

French Revolution Brushes by Sande Krieger

Scribbled & Scripted Shapes by Katie Pertiet

Seeing Stars Dingbat Font

A couple of other digital touches to the paper page are:

The date stamp at bottom left. I printed this to patterned paper from Katie Pertiet’s Digital Date Stamps, Vol 3.
The title oval. I created a Photoshop Canvas of 5” x 3” and filled the background with black. I sent my font color to white and foreground color for brushing to white. I repeated the stars from border and used the Felix Titling font for “Five Star.” I printed the rectangle then adhered it to a chipboard oval, trimmed it with a craft knife and sanded around the edges.

You can learn Photoshop today — and use a 30-day free trial version of the software to do it. Paula Gilarde’s class includes written and video lessons as well as digital papers and elements from Katie Pertiet at Designer Digitals.

So that’s hybrid? Bright summer scrapbook page by Betsy Sammarco

Debbie Hodge — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 11:50:23 +0000

Betsy Sammarco made this page of her niece while she was on vacation! “Hybrid is vacation friendly,” she said, explaining that she doesn’t usually scrapbook on vacation.

She began the page with a Jen Martakis template and American Crafts digital elements from DaisyTrail.com

Before leaving for vacation, Betsy printed the base of the layout with the borders of diamonds. She also printed digital American Crafts flowers in varying sizes on a sheet of cardstock to take with her.

In the evening “while everyone was chillin’ in front of the TV,” she had fun putting it all together. She cut out the flowers she’d printed, added photos, jeweled brads, glitter buttons, and a Jenni Bowlin embellished butterfly!

Layout by Betsy Sammarco

Use Photoshop & digital templates to make invites, announcements & stationery

askings03 — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 07:23:14 +0000

by Amy Kingsford

Making your own digital invitations, announcements and greeting cards can be simple, inexpensive and speedy…especially when you use helpful tools such as digital templates, that most of us digital scrapbookers already have on hand! Read on to see how to use Photoshop Elements or Photoshop CS PLUS a template to make your own personalized greetings, invites, and more.

Storyboard Template by Coffee Shop Actions

Digital Templates are highly versatile and with the number of styles, sizes and places offering them–finding the perfect template is often a snap! Whether you are interested in making your own Christmas Cards this year or you’d like to design your own personalized stationery, digital templates could offer you a fast, affordable solution.

Christmas Postcard using Layered Template No. 38 by Ali Edwards

Personalized Stationery using MultiFoto Layered Template No. 29 by Anna Aspnes

Now lets take a look at how simple it really is to convert any digital template into your very own invite, in just a few simple steps.

Choose a template that is suited to the project you’re working on and open it in Photoshop, I have chosen “Template #11, from Biograffiti’s Gridlocked No. 1.

Next click on the “Image Tab” at the top left of the screen and select “Resize.” Remove the checkmark from the “Constrain Proportions” box and then make sure your resolution is suited for the project you are creating. (Note: If its something that will be printed out, your resolution should be set at 300. If it’s being published to the web, set it to 72). Then finally enter the finished measurements for your project and click “OK.”
Now your template should be resized to suit the project you are working with. Newer versions of Photoshop are content aware and can change the size of a file without distorting the overall image, however if you are working with an older version of Photoshop then you may want to do some tweaking to make sure you are happy with the final proportions of your project.

Papers and Elements from Emily Powers Moonlight Revelrie and Expectantly Yours Kits

Next clip the papers/photos of your choice to the template, and add your elements and finishing touches. In these particular templates from Biograffiti she includes a number key to aid you in your design. you’ll want to delete that key before saving and printing.
Now you’re all ready to print, address and send your invites in the mail!

Need to learn Photoshop? Download a free trial copy and learn easily with Paula Gilarde’s video and written lessons.

If you’re interested in learning more about digital templates then you don’t want to miss Pattie Knox’s Learn Photoshop with Digital Scrapbook Templates. Not only does she walk you through the process of using these amazing tools, but she also shows you how to build on them and make them your own! This class also comes with an amazing complimentary package of templates and digital scrapbooking products—everything you need to get started!

Amy Kingsford is a Get It Scrapped! teacher as well as a happy wife and blessed mother from Northern Utah. She is a creative team member for digital designers ErinInk and Biograffiti and for the Crazy Daisy Kit Co. Check out her work on her blog, Scrappydoo.

So that’s hybrid? Print digital embellishments for vintage-look page

Debbie Hodge — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 14:05:30 +0000

by Debbie Hodge

What are you going to do when you don’t have just the right embellishment for a page?

This is what I do: I search the digiscrap world for something to print.

I began this page with a variation on one of my favorite page sketches/layered digital templates and patterned papers from October Afternoon, Sassafrass Lass, and graphic45 and SEI.

To set my photos off from the busy background I could have matted them with black and white paper. It was much easier, though, to use my favorite digital frames: Rimmed Framers #1 by Katie Pertiet. I layered them over my photos before printing and then trimmed around the frames.

I began embellishing by layering patterned papers and tags and realized I had nothing that represented cats in my paper stash. At iCLIPart.com (affiliate) I found this Victorian image of two kittens.

As with the photos, I framed this with Katie’s Rimmed Framers before printing.

Since there was a butterfly in the image, I looked through my supplies for butterflies. I don’t have one of those great butterfly punches I see so many paper scrappers using BUT I did have some died, punched, layered butterflies I purchased from Jen’s Sugared Songbird store on Etsy, so I added them.

Since I’m a big fan of incorporating repetitions with variety into my designs, I really wanted another butterfly – bigger and different from the small ones. Have you seen these new butterflies by Katie Pertiet at Designer Digitals? I printed one – with a stroke added to the edges and then trimmed and layered it in with my other page elements.

Copic Marker Tutorial #9: Copic Marker Shading with Printable Monkeys

Debbie Hodge — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 17:42:53 +0000

by Michelle Houghton

If you’re new to this series by Michelle, you can find all of her tutorials here: Copic Marker Tutorials.

Are you ready to monkey around?

Hi all, this week I have a fun, silly design to share that will test your control. My youngest daughter loves monkeys so it was a must to have one on the list of critters I am creating. This little guy has long skinny arms, legs, and a tail so controlling your markers and your ink is going to be tested with this one.

When you are ready, print out your sheet of monkeys. This time we have large, small and mirror images of our new friend. Gather up your markers and get ready to play. If you have not read some of the earlier tutorials they give tips on printing and color selection so you might want to read the first three lessons before you begin. Today I am using markers all in the Earth color family. I am using E25, E27, E29, E33, and E37. If you would like a blue monkey any color works!

Step #1 – I started with the tummy, ears, and the muzzle on my monkey. I filled them all in with E33 using small circular strokes.

Step #2 – I added some dimension on all three areas using E37. I am pretending the light is coming in from the upper right so I added the darker color in on the lower left and under the chin where a shadow would be thrown. The photos will show before I blend the two colors together so you can see where I have put the darker hue. I went back with E33 and using small circles again blended the two colors together.

Step #3 – I can not work quick enough to do the rest of the monkey all in one sweep so I started with the rest of the head and the tail. I used E25 and filled both areas in completely.

Step #4 – I came in with E27 to begin the shadows, again working in from the lower left. I am going to add a third shade on these areas so I am pretty generous with this second layer. I went back with E25 to blend these first layers together.

Step #5 – One more layer for the head and tail, I added E29 to darken the shadows even further. I used this last color sparingly in the deepest shadowed areas. I went back with both E27 and E25 to blend the color in.

Step #6 – On to the body, I started over with my E25 and filled in the arms, legs and body.

Step #7 – Adding the first layer of shadows with E27 is next. Be careful on the feet and toes adding shading in these little areas is tough but really makes the difference between a good versus great image. I went back and blended with E25.

Step #8 – The deepest shadows on the body are next, I added E29 along the undersides of arms, legs and to the left side of the body. I finished up blending back in with E27 and E25.

Step #9 – So I thought I was done, but was told by both of my daughters that there was no way that the eye area should remain white. So one last change: I went back with E33 and filled in the eye area. This got their seal of approval so I am calling it done!

My older daughter came up with the cute idea for the card, at least the saying and I know one of the bigger monkeys, or two, will end up on a layout in the future. Hope you had fun with this one, I sure did. If you have requests for types of images you would like to see I am always looking for new ideas so post or e-mail me and I’ll see what I can do.

Michelle Houghton is a teacher at Get It Scrapped as well as a busy wife and mother of two beautiful girls in Iowa. In her life before motherhood Michelle was an art teacher and loves continuing to share her art through scrapbooking techniques. This next year you will be able to see her work at Scrapbooking.com and in Memory Makers Big Idea Book. You can check out her doings on her blog Scrapweaver. AND . . . be sure you’re on our mailing list so you get first notice of her upcoming classes. Oodles of Doodles starts July 19th and is a great lead-in to Michelle’s fall class, “Handwriting for Scrapbook Pages,” and an as-yet-to-be-named Copics class.

Ideas for a summer travel kit for your kids

askings03 — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 16:26:37 +0000

By Amy Kingsford

Ok so the summer is almost over, but do you all have one last camping trip or family vacation planned before your kids head back to school? If not…no worries this fun kit will keep your kids busy year round–whether they are at home or away. Use the following ideas to build a collection of board games, card games and word games that can all be stored inside a space no larger then your average sized lunch pail and can be transported and played just about anywhere!

Supplies Needed

Lunch Pail
Multicolored Glass Pebbles
Recycled Food Can
Dice
Deck of Cards
Timer
Disc Magnets & Magnet Sheets
Laminating Pouches
White Cardstock
PC and Printer
Dry Erase Marker
Piece of scrap material
Misc. Papers, Stickers, Embellishments, Alphas.

NOTE: When deciding on the games to include in your travel pail, you are limited only by your space and your imagination. However, the idea is to make these games portable and suitable for travel, as well as tailored to your child’s age and preferences. The following tutorial aims to help you address a few obstacles and help you to consider how you can make this kit more versatile—rather than to tell you how to construct your travel pail step by step.

You will want to resize your printable boards, scorecards, etc. to a size that will fit inside of your pail. Consider resizing them to a size that is roughly a half inch smaller than the pail itself.
You may want to consider laminating your boards and scorecards—not only to improve durability—but also so that they can be reused with a dry erase marker, thus cutting down on the amount trash generated, as well as, the amount of scorecards you’ll have to carry with you.
Try magnetizing your game pieces and using your pail as a playing surface, to avoid any jostling or shifting of game pieces, that might occur during travel.

Use a single deck of cards for several games (i.e. memory, old maid, go fish, etc) instead of purchasing game specific card decks.
Consider using dice for games you may not usually use them for (i,e, bingo, board games, etc) to cut down on the number of pieces in your kit.
Use multicolored glass pebbles attached to magnets for game pieces that can be used for several games (i.e. checkers, connect four, tic tac toe, etc.) instead of having separate game pieces for each game. Determine the game you would need the most game pieces for (i.e. checkers or bingo) and create that number in each color.
Consider compiling an instruction booklet that contains the instructions for all of the games included in your pail, in the event of any questions.
Construct a shuffle cup (for shaking dice, shuffling alphas, etc.) from a recycled food can by washing it in your dishwasher, removing the previous label and covering it with your favorite paper.

Create game pieces from embellishments, stickers, etc. from your scrapbooking stash–keeping your child’s favorite characters or objects in mind.
For extra personalization, try designing your own game, tailored specifically to your child.
Create multiple pails for multiple children to ensure there are enough game pieces, as well as, adequate playing surface.
Include a scrap piece of material that can easily be washed, to use for wiping the scorecards/boards clean.

Ideas for Games (Click on links below to download instructions/printables)

Yahtzee-print out scorecard and laminate; use shuffle cup and dice.
Battleship-print out game boards and use magnetic game pieces and the inside of your pail to keep your boards invisible from your opponent.
Connect Four-create a table in Microsoft Word, print it out and laminate it.
Pictionary-use a blank laminated piece of cardstock.
Hangman-use a blank laminated piece of cardstock.
Tic Tac Toe-print out and laminate game board.
Checkers create a table in Microsoft Word; print it out and laminate it.
Go Fish-use regular playing deck.
Crazy 8s –use regular playing deck.
Travel Bingo –print out bingo cards and laminate; use magnetic game pieces.
Connect the Dots- print out and laminate game board, use dry erase marker.
Memory-cut down your deck of cards to include a sufficient number of pairs and then shuffle, or print out and laminate printable pieces.
Trivia Games-create your own board game and trivia questions or print a premade board/cards and laminate.
Letter Roll-print out scorecard and laminate; use leftover chipboard alphas from stash inside of the shuffle can to draw a letter.
Scrabble-print out and laminate game board and alpha tiles.
Phase 10- print out scorecard and laminate
Old Maid-use deck of cards and throw in a Joker as the old maid.
License Plate Game-print out checklist and laminate
Travel Scavenger Hunt-print out checklist and laminate
Puzzle- place magnetic strips on the back of each piece so that it is easier to assemble while traveling.

Or check out the following sites for more game ideas and printables:

Games and Activities from Nick Jr. Website

Fun Travel Games and Prinatbles at MomsMinivan.com

Good luck piecing together your very own travel pail and REMEMBER…with this project you are limited only by your imagination!

Amy Kingsford is a Get It Scrapped! teacher as well as a happy wife and blessed mother from Northern Utah. She is a creative team member for digital designers ErinInk and Biograffiti and for the Crazy Daisy Kit Co. Check out her work on her blog, Scrappydoo.

4 Creative Cutting Techniques for Your Scrapbook Pages

Debbie Hodge — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 13:39:05 +0000

by Michelle Houghton

Michelle’s class Oodles of Doodles starts this Monday, July 19th! It’s full of specific how-tos for embellishing pages with your own hand-drawn touches.

Grab some spare prints of your photos, patterned paper with design you love, a good craft knife, cutting mat, and a great pair of scissors–and get ready to do a little cutting. I’ve got how-tos and ideas for cutting your papers and photos for cool effects on your scrapbook pages.

supplies

craft knife

Make sure your craft knife or X-Acto blade fits your hand as well as it can. Detailed cutting takes pressure which is hard on the hands. There are many nice knives made these days that are easier on your fingers than others. Most importantly, however, is to make sure you have a sharp blade. Almost all craft knives have disposable blades, and if you have not changed yours recently—or if you didn’t know it could be changed—now is the time to do it! You will be amazed at how quickly a blade wears down and how much easier it is to cut with a fresh blade!

cutting mat

You will need a mat to cut on top of. If you do not have one yet, look for a self-healing mat, which can be used over and over and not get all lumpy-bumpy from your cuts. The size of your mat is personal preference. I like my 12” x 12” mat because I do not have to continually adjust my project to stay on top of it. Smaller ones work just fine for most projects.

scissors

I have two pairs of scissors. I have standard Fiskars paper sheers that have blades about 4” long. For most of the cutting I will be talking about in this lesson, however, I use a smaller pair of Honey Bee micro scissors by EK Success. I procrastinated buying these. I didn’t get why everyone had them! I cut everything with my X-Acto for years, and, as my hands become more and tired, I knew I had to try something different. I love the control and the detail I can get with these little scissors. I cut as much as I can with them, and then I only get my X-Acto knife out for tight corners and interior shapes.

1) adding paper to chipboard alphas and embellishments

This basic technique might be one that a lot of you are already using, but it’s always fun to see how someone else does things and learn any of their tricks that make the cutting easier or different looking.

I love chipboard. It seems I say that a lot. I think I just love scrapping! I love chipboard though. I love the dimension it adds to the page, and I love the variety of shapes and styles that are available. I buy both naked and covered chipboard and use them both regularly.

If my chipboard is naked, however, there is the dilemma of what to dress it up in. Should I go for some ink, paint, or leave it bare? For today let’s look at dressing it up with paper.

Pick out chipboard and paper to cover it with.
I frequently ink or paint the edges of my chipboard to jazz it up a little bit. It doesn’t matter if you cover onto the front or the back, the paper will cover the front and no one will see the back.
Do a double check to determine which side needs to face up on both your chipboard and your paper. Nothing ruins a day like gluing your chipboard to the side of paper you want facing up! I use a tacky glue and smooth it across the entire top of my chipboard. I then adhere the chipboard to the back of the patterned paper, adding pressure for a few seconds so it gets a nice even bond. Now you need to let it dry. Yes, I know, patience required.
Using your scissors start cutting around your chipboard. Move your chipboard not your scissors. For the most part your scissors should stay pointing straight out from you while you move the chipboard into them. Make slow, continuous cuts—especially around the curves.
When you cannot reach any more with your scissors get out your X-Acto blade and cutting mat. Watch the hand that is holding the chipboard steady and be sure you are not cutting directly toward it. Cutting often takes pressure, and, if you slip, it’s better not to slip in the direction of your fingers. (Speaking from experience.) Go through and get all of your corner and interior shapes with your blade. Cut the corners from the peak out in both directions to get the cleanest cuts. Think of it in terms of making two cuts instead of trying to curve your blade into and back out of a tight corner. Start the blade in the corner and pull it out and away from the corner. Then go back into the corner and pull out to the other direction.
To finish, I use a file or sandpaper to smooth over the edges of the paper, rounding it over the chipboard. It cleans up the edge and makes it look like you bought it this way.

2) pop-up photos

Many of us started scrapbooking this way many moons ago, chopping into our precious photos, cutting them into shapes, using decorative scissors to round the edges, and cutting out the people and places we were capturing on film. Of course, most of us did not have digital photos then and are regretting cutting into our precious prints. (This is me regretting, not necessarily you. I’m pretending I’m not the only one, so play along.)

In the meantime, the scrapping world has gone in the opposite direction. Many of us are barely cropping photos let alone cutting into them with an X-Acto. Gasp! Today we are going to learn two fun techniques for cutting photos. If you’re worried at all about cutting into a shot, make sure it is one that can be replaced. I think you’ll find the results fun and worthwhile.

You need two copies of the exact same photo. Print two yourself or order a duplicate when you order prints–they must be identical.
Choose which portion of your shot you are going to pop up. Typically this will be the main subject–perhaps a person, flower, or your pet Fife. Begin cutting tightly around your subject with small scissors. We want to cut as closely to the image as possible. You might cut off the flyaway hair or a wrinkle in the clothing. Just get as close as you can and go slow!
Remember when cutting a detailed item like this to hold your scissors steady in your right hand pointing away from you, and then hold your photo in your left, moving and turning it into your scissors. Keep nice slow even pressure going on your scissors so they keep cutting as you turn your image. You will find you have a lot more control this way.
When you have gotten everything you can with your scissors, go back in with your X-Acto knife. Get the details, and get the interior spaces that need to be cut out. Remember to start from the corners and work out.
Use several pop dots to back your newly cut image and place it carefully right above the exact same image on the second photo. It will look like your person, flower, or Fife is jumping right out of the shot.

Another option is to use a single print and just pop the cut-out portion right off the layout. Use steps 2 and 3 and then attach it to your page.

3) creative collage for a photo series

In this technique I use several photos that I am trying to blend or merge together. If I was better on the computer I am sure there are many ways I could do this in Photoshop, but I am not, so I work with my hard copies.

Find 2 or more photos you would like to overlap. Successful ones usually have similar backgrounds or groups of people or panoramic landscapes: they flow together in some way.
Figure out how you want to overlap your photos. Lay them out and start shuffling them around on the page. Make sure they are going to fit on your layout and make sense.
One by one start cutting into the photos to be trimmed. There might be several at the bottom level that do not get touched. Start at the top layer and work your way down cutting away the portions you want to eliminate from your photos. Use the same cutting method as above working from the bigger chunks with your scissors and then into the details and interior cuts with your X-Acto.
If the rest of your layout is ready to go adhere your images to your page. Don’t forget to start with the bottom layer first and work your way up.

4) cutting patterned paper

The other thing I love to cut into is patterned paper. I love patterned paper that has big swirls or patterns on it but then sometimes have a hard time covering it up with my photos.

My solution is to cut out the portion of the paper that I like and layer it over parts of my photos. There really is not a whole lot of “how to” here. We have talked about how to do intricate cutting with your scissors and X-Actos so here are two examples of cutting into patterned paper and layering it over elements on my page.

On the layout “The Girls,” I only wanted a small portion of my page to lift over my images so I used my X-Acto to cut around the branches and flower on the one side of the tree. I backed my paper with cardstock so you wouldn’t see a hole underneath the raised branches and then I used pop dots to lift the branch and blossoms up and over the ring.

On “We Love to Read,” I cut around the floral image to the right and layered it on top of several elements on the page. Notice that unlike the technique of cutting out photos, this is much looser cutting. I am not trying to go right up along the edges of the image. I also cut out the large butterfly at the upper left hand side of the layout from the same sheet of patterned paper. Again, I popped it up, lifting it over several elements on the page. I inked the edges on both the butterfly and the floral print to define their edges before adhering them to the page.

Michelle Houghton is a teacher at Get It Scrapped as well as a busy wife and mother of two beautiful girls in Iowa. In her life before motherhood Michelle was an art teacher and loves continuing to share her art through scrapbooking techniques. This next year you will be able to see her work at Scrapbooking.com and in Memory Makers Big Idea Book. You can check out her doings on her blog Scrapweaver. AND . . . be sure you’re on our mailing list so you get first notice of her upcoming classes. Oodles of Doodles starts July 19th and is a great lead-in to Michelle’s fall class, “Handwriting for Scrapbook Pages,” and an as-yet-to-be-named Copics class.

Ideas for Machine Sewing on Scrapbook Pages

Debbie Hodge — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:21:22 +0000

by Michelle Houghton

If you’ve never sewn with a sewing machine before, check out Michelle’s article on Preparing Your Sewing Machine for Sewing on Scrapbook Pages. And . . . if you’d like to create some cool doodled paths for your sewing, check out Michelle’s upcoming class, Oodles of Doodles.

Machine sewing on scrapbook pages is a great homemade touch. Read on for ideas and how-tos for getting your machine fired up and stitching on paper.

Prepare your page

Before you start sewing on your scrapbook page, you need to have the layers you are going to sew tacked together. The more you can keep adhesives out the needle’s path the better – so try to tack photos and papers at their centers or away from where the stitching is going to take place. If you are doing more than just an outline or edging you might give yourself some guide lines with pencil but know that going back to erase might be impossible so make them very light.

Practice first

On my machine there are three main types of stitches: straight, zig zag, and decorative. With all of these, the stitch length may be varied.

Like any new skill you might want to practice first. Get out some scrap paper similar to what you want to sew on, and give it a try. Sew straight lines and curved lines. Make a sharp corner by stopping, lifting up the presser foot while the needle is in the paper, pivoting the paper 90 degrees, lowering the foot, and sewing in a new direction. Experiment with speed, stitch length, and styles while you are at it. One of the benefits to sewing on paper is there is no need to hit reverse to secure your stitching you just go straight into forward. At the end of this lesson I will tell you how to finish all your threads off to the back of your layout.

Stitch borders

Borders are an easy addition to any page. You can use your stitching as a border to the entire layout or you can use it right on top of photos and elements on your page to add outlines.

On “Teach Your Children Well,” Debbie used a zigzag stitch to attached the floral patterned paper mat to the page.

layout by Debbie Hodge

On this fun layout of my girls and my parents all squashed in a play tent I used stitching around the edges of my photo and patterned paper squares. I then tore and rolled the edges of the paper which added to the effect that the stitching was helping hold the paper to the page.

layout by Michelle Houghton

Stitch on embellishments

A decorative stitch over embellishments—handmade or store bought—can add one more layer to their appeal. I used both a scallop shaped stitch and an irregular zig zag stitch on top of handmade felt trees on my “All Here” layout. To do these I had to go very slow to get the smaller circles and I did them before I attached them to the page so I did not have to maneuver the whole 12×12 through the machine.

layout by Michelle Houghton

Stitch titles

Add your title with machine stitching. Here is a real challenge! We have gone over how to include hand drawn titles so start with those skills and up the difficulty level by creating them with your sewing machine. For my title on “My Eyes,” I first lightly wrote out the “eyes” on the blue block of paper, then I went over the letters two times with a straight stitch. I used a lot of handwheel control on the corners and had to adjust by lifting the presser foot and pivoting my paper several times, but I love the result of the silver thread for the title.

layout by Michelle Houghton

Stitch down ribbons and trims

Adding ribbon and trims with a sewing machine is logical. Ribbons and trims are sewing notions themselves, so adding machine stitching on top of them just feels right. When I added the felt ric rac on this layout from a family gathering I tacked down the ric rac in two or three spots and then went over it with a straight stitch in contrasting thread. I also did some small border zig zag stitches to tie it all together.

layout by Michelle Houghton

Add ruffles

You can also add ruffles to your page with ribbon and trims, even with pleated paper. Stitching along the top edge of your ruffles helps to tack them down firmly and give them a finished look. On my layout “Full of Grace” my machine was not too happy with me. Not only was I stitching all over the edges of just about every layer of this layout, but I then added all of this gathered ribbon. For the ribbons I actually ran a tape runner the full length of where the ribbon would go and then attached the ribbon gathering as I went. To finish, I sewed a single straight stitch down the entire length of each ribbon. So I broke one of the cardinal rules of machine stitching on pages and went over a lot of adhesive. That rule is meant to help keep your machine and needle in good working order, but if you hit adhesives now and then, you probably will not ruin anything. You might get a little sticky and have to change your needle, but, to me, a beautiful layout is well worth this cost.

layout by Michelle Houghton

Finishing your stitching

Once you have added machine stitching to your page you have one final step before your stitching is complete. You should have long threads on the front and back of your layout that need to be dealt with. If you start and/or finish your stitching at a page edge, you can tuck them around to the back, but that’s not often the case for me. To finish, I turn my page over and gently pull on each thread that is hanging from the back. As you pull gently on one, a small loop should pull through from the front side of your layout. Pull this loop all the way through to the back of your page. Trim the two threads to about 1 to 2 inches and tack them down to the back of your layout. Repeat this with every thread on the back of your layout. When you turn your layout back over to the front there should be no more loose threads.

Michelle Houghton is a teacher at Get It Scrapped as well as a busy wife and mother of two beautiful girls in Iowa. In her life before motherhood Michelle was an art teacher and loves continuing to share her art through scrapbooking techniques. This next year you will be able to see her work at Scrapbooking.com and in Memory Makers Big Idea Book. You can check out her doings on her blog Scrapweaver. AND . . . be sure you’re on our mailing list so you get first notice of her upcoming classes. Oodles of Doodles starts July 19 – and after that she’ll be teaching Handwriting for Scrapbook Pages, and an as-yet-to-be-named Copics class.

Copic Marker Tutorial #8: Copic Marker Shading with Printable Dragon

Debbie Hodge — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:21:03 +0000

by Michelle Houghton

If you’re new to this series by Michelle, you can find all of her tutorials here: Copic Marker Tutorials.

So here he is, my favorite image so far, meet Izzy! He was intended as a dragon but I realize he could double as a dinosaur or even an alligator. I did something a little different today on your print out, instead of changing size I changed direction to give you some options on positioning Izzy. So when you are ready, print out your sheet of dragon/dinosaurs or change one to suit you, and gather your Copic markers to have some fun. Click to download printable pdf of “Izzy.” I used BG72, BG75, BG78, R83, R89, Special Black 110 and I needed the colorless blender to complete my image.

Izzy has a lot of separate body parts so I took one part at a time. By shading only one section at a time my ink stayed wet and blended much more easily. However for your tutorial it seems a little redundant to repeat the same three steps over and over for all five sections. So instead I will give the basic instructions and include photos of each of the body parts on each of the steps. I divided Izzy into five sections his belly, arms, legs, tail, and head after each step I will show you a photo of how each of these sections looks at this point. Clear as mud? Excellent! Let’s get started.

Step #1 – Let’s start with our lightest body color, I am using BG72 for my Izzy. I am shading the majority, if not all, of the work area with this lightest shade using small circular stroke to get nice even coverage.

Step #2 – Next you add your middle color, for me this is BG75. On my example I have the light hitting Izzy from the front so my middle shade will come from the back to the front on all the different sections. Some of the areas to notice are where one body part runs into another, often times creating extra shadows, for example in between the toes, or at the top edge of the back leg. Go back in with your lighter marker and using those small circular strokes blend your two colors together where they meet.

Step #3 – Last on the main body add your darkest shade, on mine BG78. Again this will come from the back and underside of Izzy. There are some smaller details on the face in particular to add dimension to all the bumps. This third shade is very small, remember it is used only to push that edge one step back not your whole image. Go back in with your middle and then your lightest marker to blend your colors together.

Step #4 – Once you have completed all 5 sections of Izzy going through steps 1 through 3 over and over again you can move on to his scales and a new color! I chose a deep red for my scales but he could have any color running down his back. The scales are small so I only used two markers and this time because of the color I worked in reverse. Reds tend to be a little trickier to work with so you might want to experiment a little of to the side if you love your image so far. I started with my darker shade on this step, R89, and filled each scale, I did three scales at a time.

Step #5 – Next I came in with my lighter shade, R83, and this time added highlights. Work lightly and brush your marker from the highlighted edge into the scale. This step takes very little ink so tread gently.

Step #6 – After all of your scales are completed fill in Izzy’s eye and nostril. I just used 110 Special Black for this but you can vary this as well. I needed a tiny bit of clean up in the corner of his eye and mouth so I used the colorless blender and “pushed” some of the ink that had bled over back into it’s lines.

All done and ready to pop out of a card for a friend or grace a scrapbook page. Have fun with Izzy, and special thanks to Isaac who inspired him!

Michelle Houghton is a teacher at Get It Scrapped as well as a busy wife and mother of two beautiful girls in Iowa. In her life before motherhood Michelle was an art teacher and loves continuing to share her art through scrapbooking techniques. This next year you will be able to see her work at Scrapbooking.com and in Memory Makers Big Idea Book. You can check out her doings on her blog Scrapweaver. AND . . . be sure you’re on our mailing list so you get first notice of her upcoming classes. Oodles of Doodles starts July 19th and is a great lead-in to Michelle’s fall class, “Handwriting for Scrapbook Pages,” and an as-yet-to-be-named Copics class.