A Scrap of Time

Inspiration

2012-02-24T08:28:00.009-08:00

I often get asked where I get my ideas from... and I can honestly say EVERYWHERE! As you look around you, look at shapes, how things line up against each other, what colors are next to each other. Pictures in magazines, color combinations on cakes, the pattern on a plate, or something in a movie. You will be amazed at what triggers an idea!

Here are some examples...

Cake Image from CakeCentral.com

The topsy turvy angles of this cake made me think of cups stacked inside each other.

Poster Image from MoviePosterDB

From the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas, the curve Jack is standing on inspired the curves in the tree.

And the cup from my favorite coffee place inspired this holiday card.

So when you are trying to think of ideas for your next scrapbook layout, card, or any craft project, take a second look at the things around you... you never know where your inspiration will come from.

Using Those Pinwheels

2012-02-16T07:11:00.000-08:00

Remember our tutorial on making pinwheel embellishments back in June? Here is a really cute way to use them on something other than a page or a card...

I was browsing around and came across these cute little boxes on Style Me Pretty. These are actually cupcake boxes... yummy!!!

Use an Embellishment on a Card

2012-02-11T10:14:00.001-08:00

It's almost Valentine's Day, and what better time is there to make a handmade card to give to that special someone?

A good way to start is to pick out an embellishment to be your focal point... like this cute little cupid bear. Then, choose coordinating papers that you can use to create borders, or shapes that will go along with it.

Have fun with it... whoever you give your card to is going to love it because it came from you!

Lock and Key Paper Piecing Pattern

2012-02-07T19:14:00.000-08:00

Use this lock and key pattern to embellish a picture of the person who holds the key to your heart.

Click on the image above and you will be directed to a version that you can print. Or, copy it into an image editing program to re-size.

*** All free patterns are provided for personal use only and copyrighted by A Scrap of Time! Do not recreate for commercial or resale purposes.

Paper Accented Clothespin Magnets

2012-01-24T07:00:00.000-08:00

I was browsing through some of my favorite blogs, and came across these cute clothes pin magnets over at Not So Idle Hands. Wouldn't these be cute holding up pictures or notes on the refrigerator?

Blurring A Photo Background

2012-01-21T16:40:00.001-08:00

Here is a little idea/tutorial on blurring the background of your photo to make your subjects stand out.

I love this picture of my son and I, but unfortunately we have an extra "friend" in the background. In case you can't tell by the " "... we don't know this lovely lady!

Using a photo-editing software, I started by selecting my blur tool and set the strength level to 100%. Then, I just began going over her image over and over again, until she was as blurry as I wanted her to be.

Then, because it looked a little funny with her being the only blurry part of the picture. I went over the rest of the background a couple of times to blur it a little, but not a lot since I still wanted more of the background detail.

And there you go. Now, instead of the three of of standing out, it's just my son and I!

Free Ice Skate Paper-Piece Pattern

2012-01-16T11:36:00.000-08:00

This one was inspired by my daughter who figure skates. Since we are at the ice rink 2-3 times per week, I tend to see a lot of figure skates on the ice and thought they would make a great embellishment!

*** All free patterns are provided for personal use only and copyrighted by A Scrap of Time! Do not recreate for commercial or resale purposes.

Parties I'm Linking To:

Adorable Snowman Candy Wrapper!

2012-01-09T19:56:00.000-08:00

Isn't he cute??? I took my dog over to Doggy Dos by Terry the other day, and the girls were giving these out. I just have to say I love this dog groomer! They don't use kennels, so my boy is in heaven with all the attention and socialization he gets.

Anyways, it's a Hershey bar inside, wrapped in white paper with a fleece hat and little scarf. It's hard to tell by the picture, but the nose is actually a wooden piece glued on.

I loved it, and just had to share!

Design Inspiration

2012-01-04T16:53:00.000-08:00

When looking for inspiration while designing your layouts, you don't have to look far. A lot of those busy paper patterns on the market actually serve as a great place to start with your design. I talked about busy patterns in my blog posts "How to Use Busy Patterns" (Feb 20, 2011) For example, I found this retro ornament paper that I really liked:

Looking at the background paper, I decided to use the ornaments as my basis for creating the main embellishments...

...and if you look really close, some of those ornaments on the background paper have little snowflakes, so I used those to find my secondary papers.

To frame everything up, I once again used a snowflake paper, but chose a sky-blue to compliment the browns with an extremely light pattern so that it does not take away from the background paper. Put everything together and here's final product.

Are you?

2011-12-19T20:29:00.001-08:00

Well guess what...so are we!!! Head over to our page and add us to your circle.

Visit our page by clicking this link.

Free Christmas Stocking Paper Piecing Pattern

2011-12-11T19:57:00.000-08:00

The countdown to Christmas is in full swing! If you are like me, you are already scrapping those Christmas pages, getting them ready for the pictures you are sure to take. Here is a cute stocking embellishment you can make yourself and add to your layout.

Click on the image above and you will be directed to a version that you can print. Or, copy it into an image editing program to re-size.

Enjoy!

*** All free patterns are provided for personal use only and copyrighted by A Scrap of Time! Do not recreate for commercial or resale purposes.

And The Winner Is.......

2011-12-05T22:01:00.000-08:00

Pam!!!

pam said... hard decision but im going to go with the bridal shower. reson: most occasons that i do it would be faster for me to order verses making the project. this i would find with all smaller ocassions.>>>>>>now if a person always buys premade pages because they dont scrapbook well then it would be a hard decission!!!! They are "ALL" great!

Congratulations!!!! You win a $15 gift certificate to our store!

Thank you to all who participated!

Using a Holly Leaf embellishment

2011-11-28T17:30:00.000-08:00

Here's a way we used a Holly Leaf embellishment to create a nice Winter Holiday or Christmas layout, ours turned out to be the Christmas one. We dug through a Christmas stack that we had laying around and found some paper with a holly leaf print. The holly print was too busy to use as the background, so using just a portion of it still catches your eye.

Our Holly Leaf Embellishment Set has two purposes, one is to embellish the pictures, and the second is to serve as photocorners. Putting it together we added a vintage snowflake print as a base, a simple striped print as a runner, and a matted "Merry Christmas" to finish it off. Here's the final product:

Happy Holidays!!!

Giveaway Time!!!!!

2011-11-21T21:02:00.000-08:00

Ok, here is your chance to win a $15 gift certificate to our store!!!

Here's how...
1) Go to our store, and visit our Premade Pages selection
2) Leave us a comment here on THIS post, telling us two things...

- Which is your favorite Premade Scrapbook layout that we offer
- A layout design you would like to see us offer (i.e. category, topic, event, etc.)

The details...
1)Only one entry per person
2) The contest will close this Sunday, December 4th at Midnight (PST)
3) Please, please, please leave your email address when commenting if you are not logged in with Blogger. I need to be able to contact you if you are the winner!
4) The winning comment will be chosen by using a random number generator at random.org, and will be announced on Monday, December 5th.

GOOD LUCK!!!

Paper Piecing

2011-10-22T10:18:00.000-07:00

Paper-piecing is a term known by veteran scrapbookers is also one that brings many questions to novices. Many of the questions we get through email or while at shows are:

"Are these stickers?"
"How do you make these?"
"Do you make these by hand?"
"How long does it take to create these?"

or my favorite:

"Why do these cost so much?"

For those that know, the art of paper piecing involves creating embellishments through the layering of the different parts of the image you are creating, giving it the "3D" effect and a personal touch that a sticker can not. The drawback of this is the amount of time it takes to create each piece, which answers the last question. :0)

When starting your paper pieced embellishment, you can do one of two things. You can either sketch your image or find one on the internet to use, the latter I do not recommend due to copyright issues. Once you have your image, start looking at how to break it up. For instance, if you are creating a Penguin such as the one I created below:

Start by breaking up the image into separate pieces. In this example, the body would be used as the base, then the other parts (such as the eyes, beak, arms, legs) would be your layering pieces. See below:

Once you have the pieces, simply cut them out in the different colors, shade the edges to make them "pop", and glue them together.... and VOILA!

As I stated before, this is a time consuming process, but well worth it when you are done. By now you may be asking yourself, "What if I am not good at sketching?" That is ok. You can find free paper piece patterns by doing a simple search on the web or there are companies that offer books of patterns for you to purchase. For patterns created by A Scrap of Time, click here.

Either way, whether you are a veteran or a novice, break out those embellishment designs and instead of printing or sticking them... Paper Piece them!

Jack-o-Lantern Paper Piecing Pattern

2011-10-10T07:47:00.000-07:00

It's that time of the year and the Jack-o-Lanterns are coming out! Use this free paper pieced pattern to embellish your own Halloween layout.

Click on the image above and you will be directed to a version that you can print. Or, copy it into an image edited program to re-size.

Enjoy!

*** All free patterns are provided for personal use only and copyrighted by A Scrap of Time! Do not recreate for commercial or resale purposes.

Halloween Embellishments

2011-10-07T08:50:00.000-07:00

October usually brings up memories and thoughts of one thing... HALLOWEEN! Years go by where we take pictures of our children and/or ourselves in our costumes, each year attempting to outdo the last. The challenge, as always, is finding the right picture-to-embellishment combination to ensure your embellishments not only compliment the layout, but help your pictures stand out as well.

Chose Halloween Embellishments that relate to the picture(s), such as items from the picture, and then use them in the layout. Of course you can always run down to your local giant scrapbook retail store, you know which ones I am talking about, and buy a pack of Halloween stickers or a "3D" embellishment that will costs more than your entire layout. But what fun is in that? Get back to the basics of scrapbooking and "scrap" your embellishments. Here are some examples of ones we have made and carry at A Scrap of Time:

Football Paper Piecing Pattern

2011-09-22T17:14:00.000-07:00

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL??? Embellish those scrapbook pages with your own paper pieced footballs, or make invitations to that Sunday tailgate party you are planning!

Click on the image above and you will be directed to a version that you can print. Or, copy it into an image edited program to re-size.

Enjoy!

*** All free patterns are provided for personal use only! Please do not recreate for commercial or resale purposes.

Quick Way To Save Paper

2011-08-31T13:51:00.001-07:00

Here is a quick tip to save paper... and money! If you are doing multiple layers on a page, or a photomat, cut out the middle part of the bottom layer that will be covered by the top layer.

In the example above, I cut out the middle of the blue paper that is covered by the black polka dot paper. I was then able to use those scraps to cut the blue part of the photomats!

How To Use A Color Wheel

2011-08-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

I often hear people say that they do not know how to pick colors for their scrapbook layouts. So, let’s take a look at the classic color schemes, and how to choose colors that will go well together.

Monochromatic
A monochromatic color scheme is made up of multiple colors within the same hue using variations of light, saturation and tint.

Analogous

An analogous color scheme is made by choosing three colors that sit next to each other on a 12 point color wheel. By changing the light and tint additional colors can be added to the group.

Complementary

A complementary color scheme is made by choosing two colors that are opposite on the color wheel. As with the analogous color scheme, additional colors can be added to the group by changing the light, tint and tone of the two main colors.

Split Complementary

A split complementary color scheme is made by choosing two colors that are opposite on the color wheel, and then using the colors that are on either side of them.

Triadic
A triadic color scheme is made by choosing three colors that are equally spaced around the color wheel.

Tetradic (Double Complementary)

A tetradic, or double complementary, color scheme is made by using two complementary pairs. This is the hardest color scheme to pull off. If all four colors are used in equal amounts, it can look unbalanced. It is best to use one color as the dominant, and the others as accents.

New Resources Page

2011-08-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

Yep, we added a resources page to the website! Now you can find our free paper piecing patterns, tips, tutorials and articles all in one place. Take a look here!

Do you have a tip, tutorial or article you would like to share with us? We would love to hear from you! Email us at: ascrapoftime@yahoo.com

Cocktail Drink Paper Piecing Pattern

2011-08-11T09:20:00.000-07:00

There's nothing like sitting outside on a warm summer night, with a nice cold cocktail in hand.

Aaah.....

Oh, sorry... got a little lost in dreamland there!

Anyways... use this cute paper piecing pattern to make a couple of cocktails of your own. Paper ones that is! Simply click on the image above and you will be directed to a larger version that you can print. Or, copy it into an image edited program to re-size. (Word actually works really well for this too!)

Enjoy!

*** All free patterns are provided for personal use only! Please do not recreate for commercial or resale purposes.

Scraps of the Web - Back to School

2011-08-09T10:04:00.000-07:00

Summer vacation is almost over, and it's time for (gasp) school! Here are some fun back to school things I found around the web...

Back to School Labels by Babalisme Meet the Teacher Gift by Saga of the Southwicks		First Day of School Pic by ohdeedoh Homework Station by Roots and Wings Co Apple Cupcakes by Bower Power

Make Your Own Newspaper Gift Bags

2011-08-04T09:44:00.000-07:00

Gift bags can be so expensive, so when I came across a tutorial on how to make my own out of newspaper, I was super excited!

When I was a kid, we had a family friend who would always wrap presents with the funnies section of the newspaper, and we all loved it. Not only did we get the gift, but we got a couple of laughs too! You could vary what part of the newspaper you use according to what the occasion is... the real estate section for a house warming gift, the funnies for kids, etc.

Of course, if you need a smaller bag you could always use scrapbook paper! :0)

Get the full tutorial over at What About Orange!

Scraps of the Web

2011-07-25T10:30:00.001-07:00

I know I missed last week (I'm horrible!)... but I think I made up for it with the scraps for this week!

Clever Place Card Holder by TrouwPlaza Chicken Bacon Pasta by Plain Chicken		Ferb Sandwiches by Hawai`i's Bento Box Cookbook Tattooed Sailor by Dos Family Celery Stamp by Maureen Cracknell Handmade