Month: May 2020

Fun with Triangles and Squares

Making the “quilt page.”

A few posts ago, I promised to share how to make the “quilt” page that looks quite complicated, but is really quite easy to make. Here are a few I have made for my books:

Credit: Marsha Matyas
Credit: Marsha Matyas
Credit: Marsha Matyas

Materials: All you need is one 12 x 12 sheet of card stock and one 12 x 12 sheet of double-sided paper. For the first time you make this layout, it is best to have a print that is NOT one directional (e.g., no stripes, arrows or columns all in the same direction). A paper cutter is really helpful for this page but you could certainly do it with a ruler and scissors.

Here are two videos that demonstrate how to make it. The first video is by Canadian CM Advisor, Joanne Soltesz. I like how she glues things down as she goes. Click HERE to watch.

For a slightly different view, see Amy Weaver’s video. Click HERE to watch.

The Mini-cannoli Page

Credit: Marsha Matyas
Credit: Marsha Matyas
Credit: Marsha Matyas

You can also fold small squares into a “cannoli” shape and use them to make full page layouts or borders.

I didn’t find a good video on YouTube but here is a link to Amy Weaver’s Facebook video.

If you are not on Facebook, here are my brief directions:

  1. You need a piece of 12 x 12 plain card stock and a piece of 12 x 12 two-sided print paper (I’ll call them Side A and Side B). Avoid directional prints like stripes, etc.
  2. Cut the two-sided paper into 2-inch squares…you will need 24 squares total.
  3. Sort the squares into two stacks of 12 so that you have 12 with Side A facing up and 12 with Side B print facing up. In the picture above, look at the close up on the top right. Let’s call Side A the blue side and Side B the white side with starbursts on it.
  4. Gently fold each Side A square into a triangle but don’t crease the fold. Just make a tiny soft crease in the middle.
  5. Then open up the piece and bring the points to the middle (see top right picture above). Now crease it. Your piece should look like a tiny cannoli with the tips of the shell just touching in the middle! For Side A pieces, the blue will be inside and the starbursts will be on the tiny flaps.
  6. Use a tiny strip of adhesive under each flap to hold it down. You should have 12 pieces Side A pieces.
  7. Now repeat with the Side B stack. Remember to not turn the paper over to fold it. These pieces should have the starburst paper in the middle of the cannoli and the flaps are the Side A blue paper. When you are done you should have 12 Side B pieces.
  8. To arrange them, put one Side A point in a corner of your card stock. Then alternate, being sure your points always switch from Side A paper to Side B paper. Refer to the pictures above if you are confused.

What can you do with them?

Make a full page for a 1-2 pictures, make borders and facing pages, make a cluster in the corners. Whatever you like! They are great building blocks!

What have I been doing?

I have been working on a 2015 album. I do a power layout for a 10-20 pages, then finish those pages, then going back to doing power layouts. I’ve been trying a lot of Noreen Smith’s 1-2-3 layouts…more on those in a later post!

Virtual Events on the Horizon!

Creative Memories is hosting additional Virtual Crops in the coming months: June 12-13, July 10-11, and August 14-15. For more info, follow the CM Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/creativememories/

Disclosure: I’m using the second half of my blogs to share product info in order to reach the most people without asking non-Facebookers to join Facebook!  I am a Creative Memories Advisor and, should you place an order through my page, I earn a percentage of the sale. However, I only recommend the products that I think are really wonderful and would and do use myself.

LAST CHANCE for PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES BUNDLE!

travel-scrapbook-supplies-creative-memories-659180-02

Tomorrow, May 19, is the last day to get this great bundle for $149! (And note that I have a free shipping offer below). In this pack you get…

  • All 3 Planes, Automobiles & Trains Paper Packs
  • All 3 Planes, Automobiles & Trains Sticker Packs
  • All 3 Planes, Automobiles & Trains Laser Cut Embellishment Accents
  • 1 Train Tracks Border Punch
  • 1 Embossed Locomotive Punch
  • 1 On the Road Border Maker Cartridge
  • 1 BONUS exclusive 12×12 Chocolate Traveler Album Cover, which is made of rich chocolate bookcloth and is decorated with a globe and arrow in gold-copper and copper-brown foil

NEW RELEASES TODAY!

A. Cardstock Buffet

cardstock buffet

Starting TODAY and lasting ONLY NINE DAYS – BEAUTIFUL SHIMMER CARD STOCKS PLUS NEW SPRING COLORS. Buy 6 packs (any combination) and get a free pack of Lilly Pad (green) cardstock. See the video here.

B. Little Dreamer Collection

little dreamer

Beautiful new baby materials! Soft colors…lots of sleepy stars…good for boys or girls. Two beautiful embossed albums – green with stars and white with embossed baby shoes . Be sure to check out the Tone-on-Tone papers; they would be beautiful for any album! The video link below shows you all the materials: two album covers, Fast-to-Fabulous pages, print papers, tone on tone papers, stickers, mat pack, embellishments. AND you can buy a gift box bundle with everything, including a tape runner and silver pen. These album bundles have been my “go to” baby shower gift for years! I often make some additional photo mats and borders to personalize the gift a bit.  Click HERE to watch the video!

C. Clouds Border Maker Cartridge

clouds bmc

Perfect for baby albums but also for the Airplanes, Automobiles, and Railroad materials, for Airplane punches, Mountains, etc. Anywhere you have a great horizon on your page, add some fluffy clouds!!

D. S’mores collection – let’s have a cookout!

smores

Paper pack  with earth tones: greens browns, golds, blues. Patterns include camping and outdoors as well as nice neutrals. Also a pretty pine tree album cover and coordinated stickers. NICE! Click HERE to watch the video.

E. True North Collection

canada collection

Canada, eh? How about a beautiful red album cover, woodsy paper pack and coordinating stickers? Check it out!

F. Campfire Punch

campfire punch

This will be great for campfires but also for CANDLES since the flame is a separate piece from the crossed logs (which will be good for X’s on borders). Both the punched pieces AND the negative (open) remainders will work beautifully on pages and cards. See picture below.

As always, I would welcome your order through my CM page. If you order through my page in May, you can get a shipping rebate up to $20. Contact me at  for more info. 

Be safe, be happy, and…be scrappy!

Marsha

The Best and Worst…

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us… (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, 1859)

You might relate a bit more to Dickens’ opening lines today than on most warm spring days. We are living through a time of worsts and bests, light and darkness, and despair and hope. I find myself swinging back and forth on a pendulum…some days cherishing my family being at home all day and getting to have lunch with my husband each day (something we have never done during the work week in 35+ years of marriage)! But part of me wants everyone to get out so I can clean my house and clean out my basement. And, yes, go out to eat…the cover photo was our last “night out” before social distancing kicked in…Chinese food and a Duck Donut! I really miss vacation, too! Cancelling our much-needed fall vacation to SC and trip to IN to visit relatives was so painful, but NOTHING compared to what so many families are dealing with in terms of finance and health. We pray every day for those who are sick but also those who take care of them, AND we pray for all who are keeping the wheels turning in our world to create and deliver food and other essentials. So every day, I’m counting my blessings: We are safe, healthy, well-fed (TOO well-fed), and financially OK. My husband and I can both do our work from home. I pray that the same is true for all of you!

Making Lemons…

lemon meringue pie

…into lemon meringue pie! I don’t like lemonade much, so I’ll make my lemons into a lovely pie! Have you used this unexpected window of time to take at least ONE step forward in preserving your memories? That could be sorting pictures, labeling groups of pictures with dates and locations, printing pictures, or even starting that album you keep meaning to get done. You don’t have to do it all at once, but even a bit of sorting can get you started. I start by sorting pictures into YEARS. If you have digital pictures, did you know that you can find out the date they were TAKEN (not the date you pulled them off your camera or phone and saved them. If you are using Windows, right click on a picture icon in your file folder, then click on the “Details” tag at the top of the menu box (see below). You will see a “date taken” date. For most pictures, that will be the date you took the picture. For older pics that have been duplicated several times, this may not be valid, but it really helps when you can’t remember if that was the 2017 or 2018 snowstorm picture!

photo details menu

How to get started? I have several blog posts below that can help…scroll down and see the titles. If you have specific questions, post a comment or ask on my Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/MarshaScrap/). Also, check out the Creative Memories Everyday Photo Décor Kit below…you can take a single photo and make a beautiful display, complete with wooden stand, in 5 minutes!

What is new from Creative Memories?

I’m struggling to get info out on new products and resources these days…posting on Facebook AND creating email letters AND writing blog posts AND planning for virtual events is more than my schedule allows right now. So, I thought I’d share new product info as part of my blog to reach the most people without asking non-Facebookers to join Facebook! Full disclosure: I am a Creative Memories Advisor and, should you place an order through my page (listed below), I earn a percentage of the sale. However, I only recommend the products that I think are really wonderful and would and do use myself.

A Great Deal…Even without Steve Martin and John Candy!

Have you seen the new Planes, Trains, and Automobiles papers and embellishments? They are PERFECT for travel pictures (see slide show below)! And, for the next few days, you can order them as a bundle and get a FREE cover ($35+ value)! Click Planes, Trains and Automobiles collection for more details. Note…the cover will be included in the bundle as long as they have them…it is NOT a separate item. But, if you want this, do it SOON…these will not last long.

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Mothers Day Specials!

CM rarely puts things on “sale” but for Mother’s Day, they put together some GREAT materials collections and then DISCOUNTED them! Check them out at https://www.creativememories.com/mothers-day-specials.html.

MothersDay_Flyer_0520_US

Here are some details:

  • Blend and Bloom bundle with beautiful spring colors – PAPER PACK, STICKERS, FLOWER EMBELLISHMENTS, FOAM SQUARES AND NEW DOT PEN.  All for $30
  • Remember Rainbow Rush…those amazing colors? This bundle has Rainbow Rush Bold Paper Pack and Layered Title Embellishments, plus a coordinating 8×8 Jade Album Cover and 8×8 White Refill Pages…all for $46.
  • Flourish bundle with COVER, FAST TO FAB PAGES, STICKERS, MAT PACK AND the Global Glow Recipe Template, clips and pen included! All for $69! ($86.50 value).
  • As noted above, the Everyday Photo Décor Kit includes all you need to create three photo décor cards, including pre-cut and pre-packaged die cut photo frames, additional decorative pieces and stickers, three double-sided 8×6 card bases and three wooden stands for displaying your finished masterpieces. You can either follow the super-easy instructions or mix and match the pieces to make your own. You’ll love this kit for sending photo greeting cards, giving as gifts or decorating your home or office with special photos – just create your photo card and slide it into the wooden base to display! Great gift for kids, moms, grandmothers, anyone! All for $7.50 (original $20!).

Have I used these materials…yes! Blend and Bloom, Rainbow Rush and Flourish papers and stickers are all in my albums…but I just ordered all of these except the Rainbow Rush bundle (I still have some RR materials!). And I ordered the full pack of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. I am SET for vacay layouts!

And what does MY lemon pie look like? 

I finished one album, did a partial power layout for another and have completed a number of pages for it. Not as much as I would like and certainly not as much fun working alone, but here are some samples!

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As always, if you are interested in materials, tools, or supplies from Creative Memories, feel free to contact me with questions and/or place an order through my page. 

Happy Scrapping Everyone! God bless!

Marsha