Tag Archives: techniques

Oh Baby!

Baby scrapbooks don’t have to cost an arm and a leg to make.  While, there are dozens of budget-busting elements you can add to your memory book, frugal crafters have affordable options as well. For starters, the Internet is teeming with free items you can print in the comfort of your own home.  Scrapbooking websites are filled with an array of free baby book printables, including, but not limited to worksheets, special occasion pages, growth records, decorative paper, quotes and poems. Printable worksheets allow you to document your child’s milestones in an organized manner.  For example, rather than randomly jot … Continue reading →

Document the Day

It’s a snow day around here.  And by snow day I mean, schools are closed, highways are blocked, and I am praying that the electricity stays on so that I can post this without incident. Snow and cold are nothing new in northern Wisconsin, especially in January.  However, when we get hit with a storm as massive as this one, even I venture out to document the aftermath.  Then, I do what any self-respecting scrapbook fanatic does; create a layout employing as many techniques as possible. You don’t need to wait for a major milestone to craft an eye-popping page … Continue reading →

Photographing Kids On Their Level

In order to get great shots of your kids, you need to be on their level. Photos look better when they are taken at the same level as the subject. Since kids are short, you’ll need to bend or kneel down to take photos of them. If your child is playing with cars on the floor, you’ll get a better shot if you kneel down and snap the shot in front of him. Also, keep in mind: *Closer is better: Your subject should take up the majority of the frame. Move in so that you don’t have a lot of … Continue reading →

Spelling Matters for Parents Too

As focused as many of us parents are on our children’s education, we can sometimes be slackers with our own. Just because we have managed to get through high school or even college does not mean that the learning and improvements stop. How can we set an example for our children if we just throw up our arms and say “I’m a bad speller” or “I can’t do math”? We can still work on improving our skills and encouraging our children while we do so. I am not a naturally great speller. Fortunately, I do a lot of reading and … Continue reading →

Combining Different Parenting Techniques

No doubt that you, like most parents, have quite an arsenal of parenting tips and techniques. It does not seem to take long for the average parent to get quite a toolbox to access whenever something pops up with one of their children. Many of us don’t think of ways to shake things up, however, and we can become quite predictable. This can give our kids a better chance at figuring us out and getting a step ahead. Instead of always pulling out the same techniques and consequences for the same misdemeanors, how about mixing things up and combining techniques … Continue reading →

Adding a Bit of Flair on Layouts With Chalk

Chalks, also known as pastels are so much fun to use on your scrapbook layouts. The vast variety of color choices means that you can match it to almost any color of cardstock or embellishment making your pages true ‘wow’ pages. There are definitely some fun and unique ways to use chalk on your layouts. A favorite way is to use it to color in stamped images or clip art. It gives it a light shaded look and depending on the applicator you choose, can be soft or hard color. There are a variety of applicators available, including sets that … Continue reading →

Using Ink Pads to Distress or Add Dimension to Your Layouts

Ink pads are such a versatile supply. They are one of those things that were created for a specific use, to use with your rubber stamps, but they can go so much further than that. They are perfect for adding distressing or adding dimension to your scrapbooking layouts. There are a lot of different ways to use ink pads to create these amazing effects on your pages, one of my favorites, which certainly adds a bit of dimension is to create backgrounds. These papers were made by multiple ink pad swipes across the page. I chose complementary colors that went … Continue reading →

How To Use Distressing On Your Layouts

Distressing your layouts adds dimension and appeal to your scrapbook layouts. It gives the layout an aged look, or a weathered look. There are several ways you can obtain a distressed look, and different materials you can use. Here are a few of the most common. Sandpaper – Sandpaper is fun to use to distress especially if you are using a piece of cardstock with a white core. Sand the cardstock or an embossed image on your cardstock with the sandpaper. Try using different grades of sandpaper to achieve different effects. Inks – There are special inks designed especially for … Continue reading →

5 Fun Scrapbooking Techniques to Try on Your Layouts

There is great satisfaction gained from trying a technique and discovering that it is something that either you are very good at, or that you really enjoy the look of. There are dozens of different techniques available to scrapbookers and other paper crafter’s, but here are five fun techniques to try on your latest scrapbooking projects. 1. Use Brads to decorate or add some festive touches on your layouts. Playing with brads on a scrapbook layout is fun. The two most common uses are to secure a photo or other element in place or to serve as the center of … Continue reading →

Why Does it Work with One Child and Not Another?

Ah, the many mysteries of parenting! Do you ever feel like you have been plopped down in a foreign country without a guidebook, knowing the language, or understanding the currency? Then, just when we think we’ve got it figured out—we have learned a little something about how to manage and motivate one child, we discover that the techniques just don’t translate. Bummer! Why is it that what works with one child does not necessarily work with another? Why is it that everyone in a family has to be so darn different? I like to think of it like a documentary … Continue reading →