CREATIVE CRAFTING

I am not a traditional scrapbooker.  I really enjoy Digital Scrapbooking and I get the same papers, embellishments, backgrounds and layouts as traditional scrapbooking.  The only difference is that I do not have large collections of papers, embellishments and so forth sitting around my craft room waiting to be used.  In other words no clutter, and the way I do things there would be clutter.

About 6 months ago I started using My Memories Suite on a trial basis.  They had a 60 day return policy and I figured if I could not get it to work in that amount of time I would ask for my money back.  Well here it is going on 7 months and I still love it.  So what is My Memories Suite?

My Memories Suite 2.0 is a fun and creative way to keep and share memories, whether you have a Mac or PC. The scrapbooking software’s design tools will help you to build entire albums effortlessly using one of the many installed templates, or designing your very own pages from scratch. Version 2.0 includes 20+ new templates, over 1,500 new papers and over 1,300 new embellishments. There is even a new color swatch library with matching sets of papers and embellishments. And if you’re searching for even more templates, visit My Memories Suite online Design Shop, which offers a growing library of digital scrapbooking templates, papers, and kits to inspire your creativity!

Making mini designs for the dollhouse for any holiday is fun for the whole family, and with a little imagination you will come up with a wide variety of craft ideas for these miniatures The following paragraphs will talk about methods to create 3 mini Halloween dollhouse decorations created by using polymer clay.

Pumpkins are a vital dollhouse mini decor for Halloween, plus they are very easily made from polymer clay plus a knife. You’ll need orange clay and green clay. Basically begin by creating a rounded ball from orange clay. Crunch the ball a little bit to create an dimple on opposite sides of the ball. Now create a little tube of green polymer clay for the mini dollhouse Halloween decor.

Include depth on your dollhouse miniature Halloween design by developing portions within the pumpkin. Work with a knife and begin near the top of the pumpkin and rotate the knife straight down the side of your pumpkin and continue around the pumpkin. Repeat this many times to make segments in the pumpkin and crunch again. Use the green tube as the stalk and push the stalk into the pumpkin using the knife. You can decorate this pumpkin the same way you would a real pumpkin using paint. This one of a kind mini dollhouse Halloween design is fun for the whole family to make.

As an alternative to having to pay high-priced craft store charges to use with polymer clay, begin using these tips to locate low-cost and vital tools right in your own home.

There’s a device for each job, but one of the primary aspects of polymer clay is you can use nearly anything as a tool. There’s no reason to spend high-priced craft store prices to make professional-looking merchandise with polymer clay. Have a look around your own home and find out what you could put together. Will it slice? Are you able to press it into your clay to create a pattern? You’ll be amazed at what you’ll come across when you begin looking. The tiny toothpick is often an very helpful tool when dealing with tiny clay objects.

When going through your home or going to a garage sale, search for items like carving tools, punch tools, and knitting/crochet needles, dental tools. Something for cutting such as razor blades, cutters and any kind of pliers are much more handy than high-priced ‘official’ clay cutters. Toothpicks are ideal to etch patterns into your clay or to smooth rough sides on hard-to-reach places that are far too little for fingers. Old candles as well as, vases, and planting pots may be embellished and made new with clay. Pretty wine glasses, possibly from your collection that is not complete, make attractive pieces with clay vines and flowers twisted about the stem.

For individuals who like the thought of sculpting but have a problem dealing with traditional clay, polymer clay is a wonderful alternative. Polymer clay is not really earthen clay. It’s produced from Pvc material and it is only referred to as clay due to the texture-similar to modeling clay.

One thing which helps it be so exciting is the fact that it’s easily available in numerous vibrant colors. Metallic and iridescent colors are created with the addition of mica to the mixture. Children and grown ups equally find the clay simple and easy to work with.

The clay is cured by baking at lower temps, around 230 to 250 degrees. Once cured, it is actually hard and sturdy. Layers of uncured clay can be put onto the cured item and re-baked devoid of harm to the cured piece. It needs to be mentioned that curing the clay at too high of a temp can produce dangerous gases, but curing at the correct temperatures is only going to produce a slight odor. You can also find air dry variations of polymer clay.

Polymer clay was created during the early 1930s as being a toy maker’s reaction to having less plastic material accessible. However the substance failed to fit the aim and the formula was given to someone who used it to create Fimo. About the middle of the 1960s polymer clay shot to popularity amongst artists. Other brands, such as Sculpey and Modello, emerged as a result. Polymer clay is also known as “Sculpey” clay, even though Sculpey is actually a distinct brand name.

I started scrapbooking late..my kids were already grown.  So now I have a lot of time on my hands.  So last year I decided to see what all the fuss was about.  I had most of the pictures through the years uploaded to my computer files (another bid to drive away boredom), but they were just sitting there and since I am the only one who sees the computer images what was the point?

So a friend who is in to paper scrapbooking got me started.  I enjoyed it, but you need organizational skills, and lots of different papers, embellishments and whatnots.  I don’t have a lot of room so papers were everywhere and I soon found I took more time to clean up my mess than I did actually making pages.  So I stopped, it was no longer fun.  I am of the firm belief that if something you are suppose to be doing for pleasure is no longer fun, then don’t do it.

But I still had all these albums, and stuff!  Some of it I gave to my friend, but I still had a lot left over.  Then I read an article online about Digital Scrapbooking and how easy it was.  The pictures were already on the computer, I had a publishing program that I had used to edit a lot of the pictures already, so why not give it a try.

Like many of my polymer clay projects I find them online. So when I saw this little leprechaun I had to have it. It really is very simple to make and already I am getting a lot of feedback from friends when I wear it.

May your feet never sweat,

your neighbor give you ne’re a treat.

When flowers bloom, I hope you’ll not sneeze,

and may you always have someone to sqeeze!

HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY!!!!

Project Courtesy of Crafts For All Seasons

This polymer clay leprechaun is easier to make than you think! Polymer clay is one of my favorite mediums to work with. These step by step directions will show you how easy it is to create this spirited little character.

Things Needed:

• Polymer clay in the following colors:

• flesh colored or pink

• red

• green

• black

• white

• blue or green (for eyes)

• polymer clay glaze (optional)

• a pin to glue on the back

1. To begin the polymer clay leprechaun, the first step is to condition all the clay. You will need a one inch ball amount of the green and flesh clay. The other colors you will not need very much of. Work that clay and warm it up in your hands, until it is not crumbly and is soft and pliable.

Digital isn’t something I’ve really gotten into yet…Digital scrapbooking design can be a enjoyable method of using graphics software to showcase photos along with other remembrances for the objective of protecting the moment in time.

Digital scrapbooking tools are essential to get in the modern era of scrapbooking that has long been a popular activity of many people throughout the generations. Tools in the previous years have been obvious: scissors, possibly some scotch tape along with a book into which pieces of interest might be placed. Parents maintained photo journals of their children and family members. Some athletes kept a similar journals of their exploits about the arena and adolescent women loved to scrapbook their most favorite idols of stage and screen. But all of the previous scrapping booking guidelines have been thrown out the window with the introduction of digital technologies.

Digital scrapbooking is very uncomplicated. Go ahead and take photos that you would like using a digital camera and download them to the laptop or computer. If an individual has a traditional SLR 35mm camera, the film will get developed and then your photos could be scanned and downloaded. As soon as they are downloaded, the photos may be changed in several ways by making use of digital software. That which was once a simple photo could become something which appears like something out of a favorite publication, particularly once the individual learns how to operate the a variety of digital scrapbooking tools that are offered. These freshly reassembled photos may then be produced and put into attractive bound books specifically created for this function or may be delivered via the internet to family and friends .

Digital scrapbooking design moves creative imagination past the restrictions of paper crafting. Use the strength of Photo Shop to crop, re-size, and include side effects to photos. Then investigate online sources to locate everything from total page designs to enhancements for standard pages, such as backgrounds, three dimensional components, fonts, and downloadable scrapbooking design.

Develop your FREE Family Tree and learn things you didn’t know about your family members. Create a free family tree to follow your unique ancestry and genealogy, complete the holes, and find out more about your own ancestors and family history to help you produce a more comprehensive and in depth history scrapbooking design.

Scrapbooking is not only an enjoyable (and addictive) pastime — it can be a method to protect treasured memories. But there is no need to select Scrapbook Themes just simply because they’re popular or can be bought in a pre-packaged package. It’s more significant to select the memories which you feel are worth the additional work of protecting within a scrapbook which will last a life-time then figure out from that just what the scrapbook style ought to be.