Scraps Of Mind

Cuttlebugs and Creativity

Well Summer is in full swing here in Oz. And I’ll be honest with you; I haven’t done much in the scrapbooking line for a few months.

But I haven’t shut up shop entirely. My Tuesday night craft group ensures that I still keep projects on the go.

Last year I introduced Marla to the concept of  Artist Trading Cards and I’ve never seen someone embrace anything with as much enthusiasm as she has with ATCs. She’s joined several swap groups and in a few short months she’s built up a huge collection, filling two binders already. She makes beautiful ATCs as you can see here.

At the moment she’s got a couple of swaps which she’s organising herself, so in a fit of buddy support I’ve volunteered to contribute to them. Here’s one of my efforts on the theme of ‘birds and feathers’. It’s called Soar.

Like many of my ATCs it’s a hybrid of digital and paper/scissors techniques. I find this approach especially useful when I have to make 7 cards all the same. I can design the backgound, duplicate it and print out 7 identical versions. Then add the cut outs and three dimensional stuff. In many cases I’ll print out digital elements, cut them out and mount them with foam tape, mixed in with ‘real life’ embellishments, as I’ve done here.

Cuttlebug Crafting

The group has recently clubbed together and purchased a communal Cuttlebug. I wasn’t that excited until I gave it a try myself.

What a bunch of fun it was! Quite ordinary looking card or paper embossed a gorgeous patterned texture which looks fabulous in card or scrapbooking projects. Or you can create embossed embellishments using card or papers that coordinate with your scrapbook layouts. Here are a couple of cards I made for my niece’s  birthdays and one for another niece’s engagement. I just love the effect.

If you are a user of one of these babies and have some cool ideas for ways to use it, I’d love it if you could share them in the comments below. Often something that seems quite straightforward to one person can sound like a revelation to another. We’re all still pretty new to the world of Cuttlebugs so we’d welcome any suggestions that help to get the most value from it.

What is your favourite scrapbooking tool?

And whilst on the subject of scrapbooking equipment…do you have a favourite piece of equipment that you just love?

Even though I’m in love with the Cuttlebug at the moment, I think I would have to say that my fine cutting scissors are really my favourite piece of scrapbooking equipment.

I love my little embroidery scissors but I recently bought a funny looking pair that have now taken first place on my scrapbooking ‘must have’ tools list. They have no normal handles and you work them by squeezing the single handle which works a spring which works the blades. They really take the effort out of cutting and there’s no more red indentations on my thumb and fingers when I have to do a lot of cutting. And best of all, they make doing really fine and detailed cutting so easy.

Well as you can see, I seem to be drifting back to the more tactile side of papercrafting, after spending the last 18 months immersed in the world of digital scrapbooking. I still like to combine the two wherever possible. Most of my cards and ATCs are hybrid creations. And I think that I’ll always prefer the freedom that digital gives me when creating scrapbook layouts. But I’m really enjoying getting back into the ‘glue and paper’ stuff again.

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Christmas Card Making in July

Artist Trading Card (ATC) Swaps

You might remember me writing about a Christmas Card Making in July event I went to that was a whole bucket load of fun. Well following on from that, Marla invited me over to a regular Tuesday night craft session that she and a few friends hold each week.

I’ve mentioned in previous posts that I tend to be a solitary scrapper as I don’t have any like minded friends nearby. My sister does card making but she doesn’t live so handily as to catch up for regular card making sessions. So you can imagine how pleased I was to be included in this group.

So now Tuesday night is a craft catch up night and I really look forward to it. There’s usually yummy treats and lots of chat.

I’ve just bought myself a little mini notebook computer so I can also do some digital stuff whilst I’m there.

So as the Newbie to the group, I brought along some of the stuff I had done. The others are stamping card makers and fabric crafters but not scrapbookers. Anyway one of the things I brought along was my ATC (Artist Trading Card) album. Marla was intrigued. And in next to no time she became a total addict and had joined several on line ATC Swapping Groups.

She’s pulled me along in her wake and I’ve started making ATCs for some of the swaps myself. Mind you, Marla has gone from 0-60 in an instant. She’s completely by-passed the learning stage and jumped straight to advanced. Her ATCs are absolutely gorgeous (check some of them out here). So the pressure is on!

One of the swaps I joined was for the theme of Orange and the second was a Mystery Image swap where the image was mailed out by the coordinator and you had to design your ATCs using it.

Because you need to make a run of the same ATC for each swap (a limited edition run) I like to use digital techniques as the basis for my design. That way it’s easy to repeat the design. I like to print out some of the design elements separately and cut them out, mounting them on the card using foam tape to add some extra dimension.

And of course there’s usually a brad or two somewhere in there.

I enjoyed making the cards for the ATC swaps but I can’t see myself becoming as involved as Marla. One of the attractions of ATCs for me is that I can make individual projects on a whim when the fancy takes me. And I don’t need to make several of the same thing. I don’t mind doing the occasional limited edition but I don’t want it to become the norm.

But it’s definitely a fun thing to do whilst in the company of like minded friends.

PS. Only two more sleeps before Purple and I are on the  big silver bird to Budapest. Oohh I’m starting to get excited.

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Christmas Card Making in July

Although I have always enjoyed sharing my crafting experiences with you online my crafting, in a physical sense, tends to be done in isolation.

I occasionally have a card making afternoon up at my sister’s place in Wallan, which is always fun and we both enjoy it. But I’ve never really had a group of papercraft-minded friends that I can hang out with. You know what I mean, people who you can talk to about scrapbooking or card making without watching their eyes take on that glazed look and roll back in their heads.

But a few weeks ago I went along to a surprise 50^th birthday party for a work friend of mine and I met his wife for the first time.

Well, it turns out that not only is she into stamping and card making, but she has a bunch of friends who are into it too. She saw the card I had made for Tim (it was a hybrid scrapped card) and recruited me into the bunch.

Yesterday was my first chance to get into it. Marla organised a sensational Christmas Card Making in July Day. And when I say organised, this woman knows how to organise an event.

There were 17 of us in her living room and she managed to cram in work tables for us all, a table with stamps, inks and other stuff which were available for sharing/borrowing, an embossing table with heat guns and embossing powders, and a table with stuff to buy if you wanted to. It was crowded but still comfortable to work in, if you know what I mean.

To get in the right frame of mind the room was all decorated for Chrismas and it was strung with heaps of examples of cards so you could grab one and use it as an inspiration point for your own or straightforward copy it if you liked.

It was a fantastic, friendly day with people sharing stories, tips, techniques and of course food. Just like I had read about in magazines but had not experienced before (my one experience of going to a crop held in a scrapbook store was not a fun memory with the other women there, including the shop owner, sticking to their own clique).

I had a lovely card making day and with all that inspiration around I managed to make five cards. So I was really pleased with my productivity, given that there was plenty of chatting going on.

I think card making is easier than scrapbooking to do in a group situation like this because the projects are smaller and so the need for concentrated focus is not so high. At least for me anyway.

So a big thank you to Marla. You rock.

Do you have any ‘real life’ cropping experiences? Were they good, bad, ugly?

I’d love it if you’d share them in the comments section below.

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Wrapping Up the Celtic Theme

A Contest and a Video

Following on from my update last Monday on the Kilmore Celtic Festival, I came across the video below. It seems a fitting conclusion to my Celtic week.

But first a gift wrapping contest

Yes, you read that right.

Many scrapbookers extend their love for all things paper and decorative and they really go to town when wrapping up gifts. I must confess, I’m not one of these folk. Gift wrapping is a little too ephemeral for me. I like the things I create to last just a tad longer.

However I’ll be the first to admit that a beautifully wrapped present is a wonderful thing to receive.

And Scotch (the sticky tape people, not the alcoholic beverage people) have come out with a contest for all you gift wrapping enthusiasts where you can win $10,000!

To enter, describe in 100 words or less why you or someone you know has what it takes – whether it’s a vast amount of gift-wrapping experience or endless creativity – to be crowned the “Scotch Brand Most Gifted Wrapper” for 2009.  The person who nominates the grand-prize winner will also receive $1,000 for his/her winning recommendation. Be sure to also include the following:

• Your name, home address, city, state, zip code, daytime phone number, fax number and e-mail address (if available).
• Nominee’s name, home address, city, state, zip code, daytime phone number, fax number and e-mail address (if available).
• Whether the nominee is entering as a professional or amateur. Note that anyone who is currently or has previously earned income as a gift wrapper at a department store, specialty store, etc. is considered a professional.

Entries must be received no later than October 5, 2009 and can be submitted by mail, fax or e-mail to: Scotch Brand Most Gifted Wrapper Contest, c/o Hunter Public Relations, 41 Madison Avenue, 5th Floor, New York, New York 10010; fax: (212) 679-6607; e-mail: giftedwrapper@hunterpr.com.

Eight winners will receive a 3-day all-expenses paid trip to New York City where they’ll compete in the practical leg of the competition in a Grand Wrap-Off  between the final eight contestants to determine the winner of the contest and the $10,000 prize.

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, pop an email off to them or visit http://www.scotchbrand.com/ for a complete set of contest rules.

And now to the video

Many of you will recall the popularity of  Riverdance in the 90s. They were a brilliant Irish Dancing Company who toured the World leaving us awed and amazed as they step danced, tapped and high-kicked across the stage. If anyone had a little bit of Irish in them, Riverdance woke it up and really brought it out.

The most well known dancer from the Company was Michael Flately who went on to form his own company called Lord of the Dance.

Well, (drum fanfare) Scraps of Mind is pleased and proud to bring you:

The New Lord of the Dance:

This is very funny

Inflatable Bag Monsters

Remember this classic photo of Marilyn Monroe standing over a hot air grating? I think everybody in the western world, no matter what their age, must have seen this.

Well is seems that a guy called Joshua Allen has taken this concept and turned it into some great street art.

I’m a big fan of good street art. I reckon we need all the help we can get to keep us cheerful as we go about our working lives in the middle of a large city. And livening up the streets with unexpected art has got to be a bonus for every day life.

Anyway, Joshua has created these very cool creatures out of plastic garbage bags and when they’re attached to hot air gratings the the effect is terrific.

Actually my favourite part is when the air turns off and they deflate.

So check out this and see what you think. Read the rest of this entry »