Stitch and prayer

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Hugz For Scrapbooking

Let's screen the right qualities that find the right Hugz (XOXO) embroideries for Scrapbooking.

Scrapbooking these years affects so many different materials. In the past, old fashioned manus scrapbooking took on a typical expression as each individual imparted his or her ain personal resourcefulness to determination stuffs in order to acquire the right expression and the proper inside information that tantrum into his or her scrapbook penchants and personality. Nowadays, however, there are not only different add-ons Oregon elements for sale, but different, more than cost effectual digital techniques and printable downloads that aid the scrapbooker accomplish a truely distinct expression and experience with their scrapbooks. In fact, with todays digital scrapbook capabilities, personal "real" hardbacked books and full movement picture presentations with music and sound to assist put the temper have got never been easier.

Hugz for scrapbooking is one type of the small kits, spots and pieces that companies sell as embroideries meant to assist do your personal scrapbook creative activities more attractive. Our definition of a Hugz component is simply any little component or embroidery that assists give your scrapbook pages a warm or loving feeling. Digital Hugz such as as hearts, kisses, warm friendly teddy bear bears along with the traditional X's and O's tin even be establish by looking for digital Scrapbook Kits -n- Bits. Hugz elements for scrapbooks aren't really necessary, but they make be given to add a typical expression that imparts itself into making your scrapbook into something very alone and special.

What finds the right Hugz Embellishment for scrapbooking?

1) Color - People sometimes take the right hugz based on their colour theme. But how make these people find the right colour of hugz for their ain particular scrapbooking pages?

a) Subject - Going with the overall subject or templet of the scrapbook can be a pretty important factor. Depending on what color, object, event, person, place, clip line or even the emotion you take to alkali your scrapbook on, you necessitate hugz for the particular loving and warm scrapbooking that volition either complement the colour of the subject or direct contrast it for a superb countervail effect.

b) Emotion - The colour of your hugz for scrapbooking tin also be used to reflect the loving emotion of the memory being portrayed. Remember that there are different readings and feelings for different colors. Here are some of the different readings we have got for colors.

b.1) Red - This colour can stand up for courage, award and loyalty to family. It's also the perfect colour for representing a deep passionate love. The reddish is the colour of blood which also imparts its significance to stand for passionateness and violence. Red is also often associated with nationalism and/or revolution.

b.2) Black - This is often associated with enigma and interior peace. Black is perfect for non-conformism, evil, the dark of nighttime and loss or death. Black is for sorrow and hurting and you can utilize this colour for your hugz when you are putting together a loved one's memory book or when you are scrapbooking pages of a very sorrowful clip in your life.

b.3) Purple - This most often stand ups for royalty and wisdom. The emotions commonly associated with violet is of aristocracy or upper class. Purple hugz for your scrapbooking tin be used on pages you wish to mean triumph over the likelihood and difficult fought ends that you have got attained.

b.4) Pink - The colour pinkish most often stand ups for artlessness and love. Not very well known, but in truth, this is because in much of eastern philosophy, pinkish is used as the visualized colour of the love energy which fluxes from one of the chakras of the human body. A individual with a pinkish aura is often seen as covered in the powerfulness of love.

b.5) White Person Person - White stand ups for purity, glorification and peace. We also commonly utilize it to mean a new beginning. This agency you can also utilize it on scrapbook pages where you desire to demo a metempsychosis in your life or the lives of your loved ones.

2) Size - Scrapbook Hugz or elements of love and heat also come up in different sizes. These sizes can actually mean a batch of things depending on how you set them together. However, it is always up to the craftsman to take their ain specific meaning. Small scrapbook hugz are often used for memories and images with significance usually only known to the crafter. Small hugz are also often used to tag peculiar events and memories that have got a particular sugariness to the craftsman of the scrapbook. Just be careful as this may not always be readily evident or understood by any other readers of your scrapbook. This is where the right journaling tin aid greatly.

Medium sized scrapbook hugz elements may be used to tag any important physical objects or mental images which only a few closely related people may be able to understand at a glance. These scrapbook hugz may be used to tag certain events in a family's life that bears a certain joyousness to the different people involved.

Large scrapbook hugz embroideries are used to tag very important events. These hugz can tag a certain turning point in a person's life or defined mileposts in their personal history. They may also be used to tag of import events which every individual that reads the scrapbook can associate to as being emotionally intense.

3) Shape - Of course, scrapbook Hugz also take the word form of circles, since they originally got their name from the Marks XOXO in a letters and greeting cards, signifying busses and hugs. The circle signifies a clinch and the Ten typifies a kiss. However, makers and digital or computing machine scrapbook component interior designers nowadays have got decided to include a assortment of forms such as as the hearts, lips and teddy bear bears we mentioned early on.

Let's put option it all together...

Scrapbook Hugz are small elements that aid define warmth, love, felicity and success. They come up in a assortment of colors, determines and sizes. How you set them together and usage them on your page, have a big consequence on how the page is viewed and the emotions it conveys back. With just a small knowledge, thought and planning up front, you can utilize this small scrapbook component or embroidery to really assist recollection the memory and emotions that your scrapbook page narrative is trying so very difficult to tell.

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Wednesday, June 27, 2007

New Wedding Ideas to Save Money and Still Capture all the Memories

Your wedding is more than just the sum of the photographs and the gifts... isn't it?

This is the event you have dreamed of all your life. This is the moment that defines a new beginning. This is the time when two singles became 1 family. Shouldn't you capture more than just a few photos and scraps of paper?

How about capturing the memories, complete with the emotions that made it so memorable?

Pictures and names in a book are a good start, but they do little to help you feel all the emotions that were flooding the air during that time. An image can't tell you what mom was thinking as you put on the wedding dress, what dad was saying just before he gave you away or what any of the guests wished for you in the future.

Here's 2 new ways to make sure you capture all the parts of the memory forever... and save some money doing it!

Wedding Wishes:

Remember, our goal here is to not only capture the moments on film, but to really capture the emotions and feelings as well. How do you know what your friends and family are thinking unless you ask them? The questions is, how do you do that when you may not have the time to talk to everyone there...?

How about a Wedding Wishing Well or Bowl? This is really a great idea, and it won't even cost you much time or money. All it takes is a small wooden wishing well, the kind they sell for flower planting, a couple of good ink pens and some note cards. As an alternate, get a big round fish bowl to use in place of the Wedding Wishing Well.

The whole idea is to provide an opportunity for guests to wish the Bride and Groom all the best and happy tidings for the future. And the best time to do this is at the reception... where there's plenty of time and everyone is more relaxed.

Just set up a small table out of the way from the main party. Place the well or fish bowl in the middle and the note cards and pens all around. Then, don't forget to tell the guests about it and prompt them once and a while to be sure and get by the table before they leave.

Everyone needs a little prompting now and again. And, it also shows that it's important to the couple that they capture their personal thoughts.

For a more formal presentation, the note cards can be placed into little matching wedding stationary envelopes that match the Bride's color theme and/or wedding stationary.

Another alternate that fits in well with outdoor weddings is the Wedding Wish Tree. Instead of the wishing well or bowl, a tree is used instead to collect the wishes. There are many types of Wedding Wish Trees and lots of price options. You can purchase metal ones, plastic trees or even fashion your own using blooming branches from your garden or a florist shop. Of course, you can even use a tree in your garden or at the outside location.

The only thing critical is the way you attach the completed memory wishes... you don't want to harm a live tree. My best suggestion is a supply of color matched ribbon strips. Just have your guests roll the finished notes and tie them to a limb with one of the ribbons.

After the wedding events are over, the real fun begins. Now, just take the notes and use them as captions and journaling in your wedding album scrapbook. The notes can even be torn on the edges or framed as embellishments in your wedding scrapbook. That part is up to you.

Any of the wedding wishes that you don't have photos to go with can easily be made into a collage of thoughts and wishes and placed in a page all to themselves. It also makes the perfect opening intro to your wedding memories scrapbook.

The Typewriter Guest Book:

I heard about the Typewriter Guest Book from Martha Stewart. It was featured as her latest discovery for a guest book alternative. I had to admit, I loved this idea for really capturing peoples thoughts and feelings right there at the moment it happened.

All you need to do is to look for an old-fashioned, "inexpensive" typewriter. I have no doubt that you'll find one online (check e-Bay), at a flea market or at your local thrift shop... just make sure it works.

Come the wedding day, set it out on a table in the entry area of the wedding or wedding reception. You may want to put it out at both if you have guests that are only attending one or the other. Now, just load the typewriter with matching stationery.

You could also use long sheets of legal sized paper or even a paper roll, but the drawback to that is that it makes it hard to fit into your scrapbook wedding memory book later. The pages would have to be cut to fit.

Of course, if you plan on cutting them out into individual journal notes... it makes for less paper changing. Digital Scrapbooker can even scan in the pages and cut and paste at will. I actually kind of like that idea...

Now, as your guests arrive, all they do is to type in wedding wishes to the Bride and Groom along with their name and any other sentiment that comes to mind.

The important thing is, no matter which wedding idea you use, is that you are not only capturing images, but the thoughts and memories that go with them. That is what is really going to make your wedding album scrapbook a cherished keepsake rather than just an album of photographs.

Best wishes and a lifetime of happiness...

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Thursday, May 24, 2007

Power Scrapping

From what I read and see, many scrappers are turning away from the high-maintenance time consuming and expensive scrapbook page. I think one thing that has changed in the scrapbook industry is the number of scrappers who have time or even like to spend 2 hours (or even 2 days) on a single page. Most of us have figured out that we are buried under a growing mountain of photos. As my husband pointed out to me last week- digital photography has become a scrapper's best friend AND worst enemy. I snap digital photos like there's no tomorrow because I know I can print out ONLY the ones I actually want. However, because I take so many photos, I now have MORE good ones that I want to scrap. You can't win! So, many of us are buckling down and turning away from the artistic side of scrapping and moving towards the "just get it done" side.

So, how can you use this in your businesses and in your own personal scrapping?

SCRAPBOOK ARTISTS: Sell the angle that your client might not have time to make the artsy pages, but you do! These days, some people have more money than time. You may find scrappers who desire to make an extra-special album for their grandmother's 80th birthday but lack the time. That's where you step in. Perhaps they would rather pay someone to do it for them than take the time to do it themselves! But, even then, use Power Scrapping (and coordinated products) to get the pages done efficiently

STORE OWNERS: Sell the kits that everyone wants. There are a ton of kit options in the scrapbook industry right now. This industry is driven by customers-they are demanding the ease of a coordinated kit so, don't disappoint them. Teach them that the kits make their scrapping more efficient in time saved both shopping and scrapping!

KIT MAKERS: Make your kits as easy to use as possible. Gone are the days when customers want to trace little patterns onto cardstock-they want it all pre-cut with ideas and easy-to-understand directions. It might mean more time for you, but you can raise your prices if need be to cover the extra time!

CONSULTANTS: Have a power-scrapping class. How about a "6 Pages in 60 Minutes" class? Sometimes we need to help people re-tool their brains. For instance, you don't have to mat EVERY photo. Cropped photos on plain cardstock with a quick embellishment can be quite effective. Teach them how to use large flat embellishments like stickers that LOOK lumpy (eyelet pounding takes time) and take up space on the page. Then teach them how to get MORE photos on a page with efficient cropping.

SCRAPBOOKERS: Understand that in 25 years, your grandchildren won't care that you spent 5 hours and $40 on one layout. They just want to see the pictures and the stories. You want your pages to look nice but nice and extravagant are two different periods of time. Take advantage of kits and coordinated products to get your photos and stories on the page as efficiently as possible. Burn-out is the number one reason scrappers stop preserving their memories. And, burn-out most often takes place in scrappers who spend the most time and money trying to make perfect pages. Learn to lower your standards a bit and re-focus yourself on the reason you started scrapbooking in the first place.

There will always be scrappers who want to scrap for the art of it, but there is a growing number of potential customers who don't have the time to think that way anymore. They crave fast and easy, yet still artistic to some extent. Provide them with the tools, products and services to help them achieve their goals and they won't lose their passion for scrapping!

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Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Card Making & Scrap Booking - Best Ways To Use Brads

When I first began card making and scrap booking I though I knew quite a lot however over time I have picked up and learned so many new tips and tricks and I am sure there is plenty more out there to discover.

One of my favorite accessories for card making is brads, they come in all shapes and sizes and a huge variety of colors.

There are so many things you can do with brads, when I first started card making I purchased some silver and gold brads just to see what I could come up with. I mainly used them to make a template for a word stand out, usually happy birthday. Id cut a piece of card into a rectangle then use peel offs for the words, id find some gold or silver mirror card and mount the words on the mirror card using 3d foam pads.

I would then use a pokey tool to make a hole in the word template all the way through my card, id then put the brads through the holes (one at each end) turn the card over and bend the backs of the brads to hold them in place.

Although this made the card look fantastic it meant that when the card was opened you could see the backs of the brads, so I would either make an insert to hide the backs of the brads or I would cover the back of the card front with another piece of card to hide them.

I did this for almost a year until I realized if I put the brad through the first piece of card where my letters or wording was before I mounted it onto the mirror card the brads would already be in place, I could then use double sided tape to attach the mounted wording to the card. This meant I did not go through the actual card itself so there was no need to cover the inside of the card as the back of the brads could not be seen.

It may seem obvious but it was a long time before I twigged that this is a better way to attach brads to cards.

Brads come in so many different colors however its always the way when your making a card that you never have the color you want. I had a go at embossing one of my brads and it worked. Follow the same steps as you would for embossing a stamped image, cover the brad in ink the sprinkle your embossing powder over the ink and heat as normal.

Try not to over heat the brad as this can cause it to become fragile and the backs may snap. Using this method means that you make your brad any color you like.

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