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Monday, August 29, 2011

Back to school: a special Mini Album for a special teacher

It's time to go back to school! I always have mixed feelings about going back to school, I want the house back to myself, but I love spending time with them and I enjoy the time off from all the driving, baking, volunteering…. This time of year always reminds me of my son's first teacher. She was one of a kind! She was his teacher for four years and she is largely responsible for his amazing progress. We all cried when it was time to say goodbye. Luckily his new teacher is just as great and the class gets to meet their old teacher when she comes to visit.

I wanted to make her something special when she left, something to help her remember all the wonderful moments they shared during those four years. I decided to make a special mini album in the spirit of learning. Each page is dedicated to a letter in the Hebrew alphabet, total of 22 letters. The title of the page begins with a specific letter that is also embellished or emphasized (don't forget that Hebrew is read from right to left). The theme of the page coordinates with the title. For example: the bowling page is titled "bowling" (in Hebrew).








































You can easily make this book in English, just remember to start taking pictures from the beginning of the year so you can capture all the year in your mini album.

Einat

Friday, August 26, 2011

Ins(paper)ation: Beginnings

"Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working" Pablo Picasso

We will be celebrating the Jewish New Year in about a month. This time of year always gets me in a special beginning mood. I get the motivation to start new projects, make changes around the house, make resolutions for the new year ahead and make plans for my life, my business and myself. This layout was inspired by this mode of new fresh things. I was thinking of all the new things this coming year will bring and I remembered I had an old photo of the best beginning ever…a new baby! This is the ultimate beginning of them all, a new person, a start of a new life. This photo is of my best friend's daughter, a daughter she has been waiting for a long time and that has brought her new happiness and love.

 
 
 

 


















In this layout I've used felt shapes to give it a soft, gentle, baby feel. I also added lace and tulle that emphasized that soft cuddly feeling. I cut the photo into a flower shape to match the title and embellishments.

 



































Have great beginnings!

Einat

Monday, August 22, 2011

33 ideas for a wedding

I love writing for eBooks, it's one of the greatest advantages of the internet: you can have a complete idea book for free straight to your computer. You don't need to worry about space or the environment! I was asked to contribute to a great eBook: "33 Summer Wedding Ideas".





















My contribution was wedding layout with a full set of instructions and a materials list. The eBook is full of great ideas and inspiration for a beautiful wedding. Although it's titled 33 Summer Wedding Ideas you can create all the projects for any type of wedding. Just change the colors and you can add a personal touch to a winter or spring wedding. If you want to design your own wedding scrapbook my layout can be a perfect start! You can download the eBook here.

To all of you who are getting married, congratulations!

Einat

Friday, August 19, 2011

"Wishes" Mini Album

In one month time Jews all around the world will celebrate the beginning of the new year. So, it's just about time for me to start working on my New Year's projects. This mini album is a present for a dear friend and it's all about wishes. Each page of the album is a wish from me to her. Here is the first page (I promise to share all the other pages after I have given it to her):











































This wish starts on one side of the page and ends on the other: "Find the…one". The entire mini album is made from Glitz's Whatnots, paper layers and transparencies. The minute I saw them I decided they were perfect for creating this mini.

Now…the part you have been waiting for!

                                                                                      
The winner of the Summer Card Contest is:
Krista's Paper Cafe! 
Congratulations!! Please email me your address so I can send you your goodie bag!


Thanks everyone for entering!

Einat

Monday, August 15, 2011

How to use your scraps tutorial – FaveCraft Blog Hop

It's time to go hopping again! Today all my designer friends at FaveCraft are posting about a project finished on the 15th. This time I want to share with you my Free Spirit layout and an easy fun technique to use your scraps or better yet your wrappings.





















In this age of recycling, some of the companies are creating wrappings that we can use as embellishments or paper in our projects. This way instead of throwing the wrapping away, we can use it in our project and help make the environment cleaner. In my layout I used a prima small stamp wrapping as an accent. The bright turquoise color complements the other colors on the layout and the scalloped edges add dimension and interest. The scalloped edges were originally part of the wrapping, so I didn't have to change it. It even had cute birds on it that were just right for the a layout theme.






















Try to think of more ways to use your leftovers and scraps and help keep the planet cleaner.
keep on hopping to see more wonderful creations and inspiration!










Einat

Friday, August 12, 2011

101 Flowers Tutorial #6: Button Flowers

I love buttons. They add a soft, homey gentle touch to every layout as well as texture and interesting dimension. There is another special reason I like to use buttons in my creations. They were a gift, a gift from my late grandmother. My grandmother used to love her sewing and she had a huge button collection. It was all organized in small boxes according to color, shape and size. After she passed away my dad and aunt went through her things and found her buttons collection. Knowing me, they knew I would want to have that collection and they gave it to me. Ever since then I know that whenever I use a button from her collection she's up there smiling. So, in honor of my grandma's collection today's flower tutorial is all about buttons.


All you need to make all these flowers are different shapes, sizes and colors of flowers:

1. Use two flowered shaped buttons on top of each other with a round button in the center to create a dimensional button flower.

2. Use different sizes and colors of round buttons to create a layered flower.

3. Stamp a transparent button and adhere it on top of a color button for a transparency effect. Find out how to stamp a button here.

4. Combine different materials. Create layers using plastic and metal buttons.

5. Adhere very small buttons in the center of a very large button to create the look of stamens.

6. Create a flower from multiple flowers arranged in a pattern.

All these beautiful flowers will give a unique, special and interesting look to any layout or card.






















Don't forget! You can still enter the Summer Card Contest and win a great prize. All can find all the details here.

Einat

Monday, August 8, 2011

Summer cards contest

All this sunshine inspired me to add to the heat and challenge you to a summer contest.
The rules are really simple:
1. Create a card with a summer theme. It can be for any occasion but it has to have a summer feel to it.
2. Post about it on your blog.
3. Add your card to the contest to the link at the end of the post.

Here is mine, a sunflower card I made for my mom for the Jewish New Year.






















The contest will continue through out the week. I'll post the winner next Friday.

The winner will win a surprise goodie bag! I can tell you it will have ribbons, flowers, stamps, ink, rub-ons, stickers and many more surprises!! It will be a really good goodie bag. Here is a little peek.















Einat



Friday, August 5, 2011

A sunny picnic – 3 part technique corner (How to make grass, tree and landscape?)

Picnic is one of my favorite things to do. Eat, play and have fun outdoors, in the shinning sun, in the gentle wind and the tall beautiful trees. Every time we go out on a picnic we discover something new to do. This time we found a green field with wheat up to our waste and a yellow flower field next to it. A perfect spot for some photos, don't you think?



















This is a DT layout for My Punch which has three different techniques:

How to create grass?

For this technique all you need is a green wide ribbon. Pleat the ribbon and adhere it to your layout (if you want to create the landscape don't adhere it yet). The pleats create movement like the moving grass.














How to create a tree?

To create a tree use scraps of brown and green card stock. Cut a tree trunk with three branches and ink the edges. Then cut three green circles and ink them too. First adhere the circles to the layout and then adhere the trunk. To finish your tree add a little bird or a nest on one of the branches.






















How to create a landscape?

I created the landscape in layers from a few elements. The first layer is a strip of green paper. On top of the paper I adhered the following elements according to this order: ribbon, pleated grass, picnic word sticker, torn strip of scrap paper. to finish the scene I added flower stickers and buttons.















Three for the price of one! Next time you will know what to do with your picnic photos.

Einat

Monday, August 1, 2011

Quilling – not just on cards

I have a really good friend who likes crafts and art. We always give each other handmade gifts and it's a big problem for me figuring out what to give her. In the past I have made for her mini albums, frames, a magnet board and other home décor pieces but this time I was stuck. I finally decided to try something new. I love quilling, I like to embellish my cards with it and even my layouts, but I wanted to see if I can embellish a box with it. 



















First, I covered a wooden box with two coats of acrylic paint. Then I created my quilling shapes and adhered them to the box. My main problem was how to make sure that the quilling shapes would last. A box is something that is displayed and needs to be cleaned, and quilled shapes are very gentile. My solution was liquid lacquer spray. I sprayed the box with the quilling on it. After it dried, the spray gave the box a beautiful glossy finish and hardened the paper. What a discovery!




















By the way, my friend loved it!!


Einat