Creative Memories Traditional 411 Blog

National Scrapbook Day Celebration

In 1995, Creative Memories declared the first weekend in May as National Scrapbook Day. This year, we’re celebrating BIG with special events, exclusive products and amazing deals!

Celebrate with us by attending a National Scrapbook Day event in your area or hosting a party! (Contact a Consultant to find out more)

We'll also be celebrating online with Virtual National Scrapbook Day from April 27 - May 5, 2012. Stop by every day to see what's new.

Daily Challenge	Daily Sketch
April 27	April 27
April 28	April 28
April 29	April 29
April 30	April 30
May 1	May 1
May 2	May 2
May 3	May 3
May 4	May 4
May 5	May 5

Winner's List

 Find links to the daily challenges and sketches on our social channels:

Catch Your Kids In the Act!

Hi, all! It's Jen Lessinger. If you knew me in real life, you'd find out quickly that I have a Pinterest addiction. If I need a recipe, I Pinterest. If I'm looking for a fun activity to do with the kids, I Pinterest. If I need to waste 2 hours ... I Pinterest. Ha. 

But I also love to make the projects that I pin on my different boards. This is an example of a project I pinned ages ago, not long after I joined pinterest. I love the idea of catching my kids doing something GOOD, rather than just scolding them when they get caught doing things that are not so great. And this project is super simple, yet totally cute enough to hang in the main living area of my house.

To get started, you will need a 12x12 Page Frame. I used one that I had lying around. Literally. It was lying under my table in my scrapbooking area, buried under paper and fabric. I chose to use the Reflections Tone on Tone paper, along with some White Cardstock. The font for "caught you being good" is bauhaus, and the rest is my much beloved century gothic.

First, print the "caught you being good" on white cardstock. I trimmed a sheet of 12x12 to 8 1/2 x12", then ran it through my printer. That way, the white cardstock is the same height as the 12x12 paper background.

Then I printed my kids' names on the gray side of one of the patterned papers. I trimmed it, rounded the corners ('cause that's what I do) and attached it to the white. The whole thing was adhered to a pretty sheet of teal paper. I like that there is enough pattern to give it some depth but not so much that I see pattern rather than anything else.

Stick that whole thing in your frame. Now: let's make pinwheels! I made mine in 3 sizes: 3 1/2", 3", and 2 1/2". The process for each is the same, though.

    1. Cut a square of two-sided paper.

    2. Cut from the corner in towards the circle, but don't slice through the whole paper.

    3. Stick a foam square in the center.

    4. Pull down the left (or right ... you get to pick since it is your pinwheel) corner of each triangle you just made. Stick it onto the foam square.

    5. Punch a scrap with the  Frame Chain Border Maker Cartridge. Then use your scissors to trim a single "chain" and stick that in the center of the pinwheel. 

 I used the pinwheels to give my frame a little "pizazz." You could do the same with flowers or any other sort of shape that you like. 

Hang it up, and get ready with your dry erase marker. Catch those kids being good!

Enjoy!

 

Circle patterns + Epoxy Stickers = One fun layout!

Hi Scrappers, Nicole here! Have you played with the Shine Collection? I love this collection because it's perfect for little boys! My favorite part of this collection is the Shine Epoxy Stickers - they are so beautiful! Having said this, I sat at my desk one night trying to design a fun layout using lots of Epoxy Stickers and I had an idea. I decided to pull out my Circle Patterns to see if they would work for what I had in mind. I used my Gray Dual-Tip Pen to trace two circles on my layout. I traced one circle using the 2-1/2" Circle Pattern and one using the 3-1/2" Circle Pattern.

After I traced the circles onto my White Cardstock, I decided to mat my photos using the Shine Photo Mats and then adhered them, as shown. Once my photos were placed down, I was able to have some fun! I decided to use my Shine Epoxy Stickers to decorate the outer edge of my circles!

After I finished decorating my circles with the Shine Epoxy Stickers, I added my title and journaling to complete the layout. I LOVE how this turned out and hope that I was able to inspire you to try something similar on your next project!

 

Keep Your Page...in Style

I love to read! 

In addition to my magazine addiction is my book addiction. 

I have oodles and oodles of Nicholas Sparks and Karen Kingsbury! 

And I really have trouble putting the books down. 

However, when I finally am able to put them down, I will literally just close up the book. Or, sometimes, I will search for a receipt that isn't needed to keep my place in the book. 

That was until I figured out how to make these absolutely ADORABLY cute bookmarks. 

All you need is a piece of scrap paper that is 6" x 6" and your Rotary Trimmer with a Scoring Blade! 

Score your paper at the 3" mark, turn it, and then again at the 3 inch mark. 

Score from corner to corner, as well.

Fold you square from corner to corner, to create a triangle. 

Flip one point of the triangle down.

Fold the points down into the "pocket". 

Now is the fun part--add some paper flowers, epoxy stickers, or icon stickers to dress up your book mark. 

Next time you go to close your book, you will have a cute bookmark to mark your page. 

These quick and inexpensive bookmarks would make a wonderful teacher gift, or a gift that a few tween girls could make together at a party! 

Happy Reading, and CREATING!

Pollen-Free Spring Flowers!

Happy Spring! We have been taking advantage of the amazing warm, sunshiny weather as much as possible. The bad news is, with Spring comes allergies.

I don't know about you, but my kids and I suffer from seasonal allergies in a bad way. My poor husband has to put up with our sniffles and watery eyes a lot. But I love flowers! I love the aroma they spread in the air and how vibrant their colors are. But they are not allowed in the house until the pollen reduces.

So, instead of bringing the "real" pretty flowers inside, I am making my own flower assortment to display in my home. This is a super simple project using the ever so yummy Enchanted Power® Palette. The vibrant, bold colors of this collection is absolutely beautiful, just like "real" Spring flowers.

To make the project, I simply used a hot glue gun to adhere the flowers back-to-back on skewer sticks, layered each with smaller flowers and adorned with bling.

Wrap the paper ribbons and title sticker around a small glass jar for decoration or leave blank. Fill jar up with colorful shredded papers and that's it!

It's a great way to brighten up any desk, window seal, book shelf in your home or office. Would even make a great teachers gift. Mine sits on a shelf above my computer desk. I love it there and it adds a lot of color since my shelves are dark.

I hope you are enjoying the beautiful sunshine where you live this month. Happy Spring!

 

Baby Shower Decoration Projects Using Cricut®

Hello Creative Memories fans, I'm super excited to be posting my very first blog post as a 2012 Creative Memeories design team member. I hope you'll enjoy the projects I have and also be inspired to get to your crafty space, pull out those fun Creative Memories products and make something today.

Today's project was brought about because of a personal need of mine. I have a very good friend who's expecting her third child (and first son) soon and I'm part of her group of friends that will be throwing her a shower. The Stork's Delivery Cricut Cartridge was just the inspiration and tool that I needed to jump start decorations for the event. All in all, I made a banner, an altered bag and my favorite...a baby animal centerpiece. Here's more close ups of the projects....

I realy like the layering effect created with die cut elements. It gives the cuts a more dimensional look, plus the Foam Squares makes the layering so easy.


Here's my favorite. There were so many cute baby animal images in the cartridge that I couldn't decide which one to use so I used a bunch of them here. Aren't they adorable?! I just added a skewer on the back of the images and added it to a pot with foam core inside. To cover the foam piece inside the pot, I used some scraps that I ran through a paper shredder and then layered them over the pot.


Here's my banner. I love how with some coordinating cardstock, the Black Dual-Tip Pen and a few Epoxy Stickers from the Divine Power Palette, I was able to create a fun banner that would go well with the rest of the decorations during the party. I also made sure it was a good size that my friend could take it home to dress up her nursery wall with.

Again, going with the dimensional look, I used a lot of Foam Squares to create the layered look for this banner.

Supplies Used:

 It's a boy banner

Cloud Cardstock

Gold Cardstock

Cactus Cardstock

White Cardstock

Epoxy circle stickers from the Divine Power Palette

Black Dual-Tip Pen

1 1/4" Circle Maker

Cricut® Machine

Stork's Delivery Cricut® Cartridge

Tape Runner

Foam Squares

Others: hole punch, ribbon

Cuts:

<itsaboy> 1 at 3 1/2"

<layer1><itsaboy> 1 at 3 1/2"

<layer2><itsaboy> 1 at 3 1/2"

<shadow><itsaboy> 1 at 3 1/2"

Baby Animal centerpiece

Shine Paper and Photo Mat Pack

Cricut Machine

Stork's Delivery Cricut® Cartridge

Tape Runner

Foam Squares

Others- clay pot, ribbon and skewer stick

Cuts:

<BoyZebra> 1 at 3 ½”

<layer1><BoyZebra> 1 at 3 ½”

<layer2><BoyZebra> 1 at 3 ½”

<shadow><BoyZebra> 1 at 3 ½”

<BoyGirfe> 1 at 3 ½”

<layer1><BoyGirfe> 1 at 3 ½”

<layer2><BoyGirfe> 1 at 3 ½”

<shadow><BoyGirfe> 1 at 3 ½”

<Boylion> 1 at 3 ½”

<layer1><Boylion> 1 at 3 ½”

<layer2><Boylion> 1 at 3 ½”

<shadow><Boylion> 1 at 3 ½”

<BoyMnkey> 1 at 3 ½”

<layer1><BoyMnkey> 1 at 3 ½”

<layer2><BoyMnkey> 1 at 3 ½”

<shadow><BoyMnkey> 1 at 3 ½”

<BoyWhale> 1 at 3 ½”

<layer1><BoyWhale> 1 at 3 ½”

<layer2><BoyWhale> 1 at 3 ½”

<shadow><BoyWhale> 1 at 3 ½”

Baby Altered gift bag

Shine Paper and Photo Mat Pack

Cloud Cardstock

Gold Cardstock

Cactus Cardstock

White Cardstock

Fabulous Paper Ribbon

Cricut Machine

Stork's Delivery Cricut® Cartridge

Tape Runner

Foam Squares

Others- ribbon and bag

Cuts:

<blocks> 1 at 4”

<layer1><blocks> 1 at 4”

<layer2><blocks> 1 at 4”

<shadow><blocks> 1 at 4”

<BoyBalns> 1 at 4”

<layer1><BoyBalns> 1 at 4”

<layer2><BoyBalns> 1 at 4”

<shadow><BoyBalns> 1 at 4”

 Thank you for joining me today and I hope you all have a great day.

-Grace Tolman