Scrapbooking Without Pictures & More

Usually my scrapbook pages are inspired by photos I have that I want to create pages for, but today's pages were inspired cutting dies!  From the moment I first saw the Made with Sweetness cutting dies, I knew I wanted to create these pages.  I LOVE these cutting dies!  They make such realistic paper fruit!  And since we are still enjoying the jams we made from an abundant crop of peaches from our tree, the memories of making peach jam are still fresh in my mind.  I'm also using the coordinating Homemade Sweetness designer series papers.  

I made two stand alone pages - and a video showing how they were made:

Triple Easel with Sides

 

This card, that I call a Triple Easel with Sides, can look quite dramatic but is really very easy to make.  Simply make a standard easel card (instructions here - see card #4).  After you've scored the card front in half horizontally, slice it crosswise twice, forming two side panels and a center one.  In this case, I sliced it one inch from each side.  Then, set your easel stops such that the two sides stop at a different place than the center one.  

 

I created this card from Blueberry Bushel cardstock and decorated it using papers from the discontinued Wildflower Birthday papers.  You can use any paper from your stash, or find some beautiful new ones here.  

The pink plaid is the reverse of the flowered paper, so it was really quite easy to decorate the front.  I simply cut my pieces the right size and chose the side I wished before gluing them in place.  The focal was a punch out from the paper set, which I added carefully so it was attached only to the bottom half of the center panel. The sentiment was created from Gold Foil Sheets using the Thoughtful Moments Hybrid Embossing folder.  That creates a variety of sentiments that work SO well for foiled papers like these. 

On the inside of the card I have a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Basic White cardstock with two narrow strips of patterned paper on either side.  The strip of Blueberry Bushel cardstock is raised on Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, as are the two additional punch out flowers near the middle.

And here's what the card looks like with the three parts held by their stoppers for display.

Center Step Gift Card

Here I have a quick and easy adaptation to a standard Center Step card that creates a space for holding a gift card.  You can check here for how to create a basic center step card.  I created this center step card as usual, using Blueberry Bushel cardstock.   I used one inch spacing for the sides and steps measurements.  

 

Then I decorated the card front using Balmy Blue cardstock, Basic White cardstock that was lightly inked with Balmy Blue ink, and punch outs from the discontinued Wildflower Birthday DSP.  The sentiment was created using the Thoughtful Moments Hybrid Embossing Folder which is on last chance sale as I write this.  I LOVE this set.  I emboss/die cut a bunch of sentiments using it and inking the embossing folder with Basic Black Hybrid ink.  This gives me a bunch of black and white sentiments to which I can add any color I want for a quick coordinating sentiment.  In this case, I used both Blueberry Bushel and Balmy Blue Stampin' Blends to color the sentiment.  I wanted this card to be a bit understated so it could work for a man or a woman so I didn't add more embellishments - but I DO wish I had embossed the Balmy Blue panels on the sides.  

 

Inside is where the gift card lives: 

 

I simply took a piece of Basic White cardstock that was 4" x 5 1/4" and scored it at 1" (score line parallel to the longest side).  Simply fold up along the score line, glue closed on both sides creating a pocket for your gift card.   Glue to the inside of the card and decorate as you choose.  Easy Peasy!

Focus on Backgrounds

This class is a focus on different ways of creating a card background, and features 3 or 4 cards (depending on how you count)! LOL!  All cards were made using older Stampin' Up! papers that are no longer available, but you can use the techniques to create something from your stash, or find something new that will work well.  Any supplies that ARE still available have links to them.  Here's a video showing how I made these cards - along with a couple of tricks.

Interlocking and Locking Gate Fold Cards

 

Here are two types of Interlocking Gatefold cards and a Locked Gatefold.  First and last are decorated with the discontinued Wildflower Birthday DSP - which includes cut outs and pop outs.  All are basically just a standard gatefold.  It is the decorating that makes the "interacting" or "locking part.  

Acetate Gap Card

 

This is an "Acetate Gap Card" where a piece of the card front is cut away, a piece of that cut for the right side, and the gap filled with acetate.  Though often the gap is smaller, in this case I cut a narrow 1/4" on each side which left quite a large gap. I cut pink strips of cardstock to cover the areas where the white cardstock strips were glued to the back of the acetate.  

 

When it comes to decorating, I've mostly used papers and pop out pieces from the discontinued Wildflower Birthday DSP.  I fussy cut white cardstock to back the elements glued to the acetate so that the glue isn't visible.  As you can probably tell, the birthday cake is glued to the acetate - as is the striped paper.  But the flowers are glued to the inside of the card.  Here's what it looks like when open:

 

 

 

 

Cutaway Sides in 2 Forms

Today I've got a couple of quick fun cards.  I decorated them using the discontinued patterned paper (Wildflower Birthday DSP), pop out pieces from the same paper pack, and die cut/embossed sentiments from Gold Foil using the Thoughtful Moments hybrid embossing folder.

Woven Border Card

Today I've made a Woven Border card.  The weaving along the fold makes a fun detail.  The hardest part is making some ruler marks and drawing some short lines.  Here's what you want to do:

Keyhole Aperture

Today I have a quick card made as a "keyhole aperture".  This is simply a basic aperture or hole in the card front - except that it has a cover over it that is attached with a brad so it can rotate to show the aperture.  The card base was an A2 sized card made from Pool Party cardstock.  Inside are two panels of Basic White cardstock (each cut to 4" x 5 1/4").  

The aperture (hole) was cut with one of the Everyday Arches dies.  I cut the card front using one die and the white backing piece with one just a bit smaller to form a bit of a frame for the aperture.

The card with the cover in place is shown below:

It was made pretty easily using the discontinued Wildflower Birthday designer series paper set from Stampin' Up!   The "cover" is one of the tags cut from the set - matted on white.  I added small pieces of one of the papers near the top and bottom if the tag to dress it up a little bit - along with a greeting stamped toward the bottom in Pool Party ink.  The decorations around the edge were cut from Gold Foil sheets with dies from the Delicate Framing dies.

When the card is open, this is what you see:

 

The die cut piece from the card front is glued to the inside of the card - with a punched out piece that came in the same designer paper set. 

Holy Land Exhibit Layout

Here's a really quick layout made about our visit to the HolyLand Experience.  This time I'm not using a scrapbooking workshop kit.  I’m starting with a sketch from one of the Creative Design Team Sketchbooks that I’ve purchased - along with paper and cardstock that I've pulled.  

Focus on Focals

 

Today I have three quick cards demonstrating different ways of creating a focal.  

A Quick Card

Today I had a quick card making class for some visitors.  While they were working, I created this quick gap card.  It's made the same way as card #3 here.  Basically, after creating an A2 card from a 4 1/4" x 11" cardstock, I cut a large piece off.  Then cut another piece from that that was the same size as what I left.  The final piece was turned sideways and glued to the small piece of card front left - then to the other piece of cardstock that was placed to complete the card front.

I decorated it with papers from the Kintsugi Inspirations DSP, and decorated with bowl & flower die cut from one of the papers using a couple of dies from the Inspiring Imperfections dies.  

I glued the peach colored paper in place before matting it like would have been best, so I used a marker to draw lines around the paper.

I added the bowl, flower, and sentiment with dimensionals.