Thursday, September 29, 2011

Tutorial - Corner Punch Circle border

Border and corner punches have become quite the trend in paper crafting circles, but this trend comes at quite a heavy investment. Here's a quick little trick I learned from one of my scrapping heroes, Lisa Gregory, that will help you get the most out of your corner punches. I used a Martha Stewart corner punch, but this same technique can be used with any detailed corner design punch. This tutorial was featured in the July issue of Scrapbook News and review Magazine

Supplies
•Cardstock or patterned paper
•Corner punch
Step One: Cut a circle out of your cardstock or patterned paper. It’s very important to remember that you'll lose approximately an inch of diameter when you start punching your circle; factor this in when cutting your circle.
Step Two: Line your punch up in a way that the corner point is lined up with the edge of your circle as shown above, and then punch your first piece out.
Step Three: Now line the punch up that the corner point is again lined up with the circle edge and more importantly that the right hand edge is lined up with the left edge of the previously punched image.
Step Four: Punch the image out. It’s important to make sure you line the punch up carefully to ensure that the design flows easily from one to the next. Lining the corner point up with the circle edge is what determines the shape of the circle.
Step Five: Continue punching your circle by following the steps above.

Step Six: Once you get to the end of your circle, go back and cut away all the extra bits between each punched image. If your last punched image is not evenly spaced like the rest of the circle, then you can hide the imperfection under some embellishments, as I have done on my layout.

This is a fun and easy way to add some interest to your circles. You can also punch out several smaller sized circles using the same punch to use as accents in your design. This technique does take some practice, so try doing it on some scraps before attempting a larger piece to avoid disappointment.

Friday, September 16, 2011

July SNR publications


Wow, time seems to have run away with me. I can't believe we're in mid September already. I have been crazy busy with all my projects for the fabulous events being held over at SNR that I completely forgot to post on my blog. To save time I'm going to post all the LO's published in the July issue of SNR on this single post. The above LO was done for the Color of te Month call which was obviously orange for July. If you enjoy colour challenges then pop over and make a submission for the Oct/Nov issue which will be purple/lavender
This LO was done as a finished project for my corner punch circle border tutorial I did. I'll be posting the tutorial shortly but I must just give a shout out to my dear friend Lisa Gregory who was kind enough to allow me to use her idea.......You're the best Lisa and THANKS!!
This is one of my favourite pics of my youngest two and they really are little rascals...LOL!. I used my gorgeous vine which I bough a while ago from KatiesKreations4U.com. She doesn't make the individual vines anymore but still has some geat kits. I altered the number (previous tutorial posted) with some alcohol inks and ribbon.

This is a LO I did for the Back to School call. I tried doing a multi-pic LO but I'm really no good at them...LOL! These are just pics of my some from Grade R, Grade 4 and this year Grade 7. Boy, does time fly!!

I used one of my fellow SNR staffer Lucy Chesna's sketch for this LO together with the Bella Vollo Swirlydoos kit. I absolutely adore the colours of this kit and the Gabrielle Bo Bunny papers.....YUMMY!!

This was another LO done as a finished project for a tutorial on using lefyt over chipboard to create borders. I'll be posting the full tutorial shortly.

Thanks for stopping by and keep a look out for some of my tutorials which will be posted at regular intervals over the next couple of weeks.

Friday, September 2, 2011

SPECIAL CALL AT SNR - A MUST READ!!

We want to end the year with a BANG and the best way we know how to do that is to make it all about YOU! This means that a part of the October/November 2011 Double Issue (our largest issue of the year) will be from our readers.

So, if you love to create and you want to share and teach something that is near and dear to your heart, then we want to hear from you!

Are you known for a certain style or can people spot your projects out in a line-up? Do you have a favorite go-to technique or a “quirk” that you just have to do on everything you create? What’s the one thing that people ask you the most, “How did you do that?”

For this very special call, we’re looking for paper crafters of all kinds – paper and digital scrapbookers, card makers, stampers, altered art and mixed media artists and even those who enjoy making home décor, handmade jewelry and gifts!

Here are the details:
Choose a Style or Technique
1) Style – Share and teach something that is important to what makes your style unique, for example, distressing for Shabby Chic or working on a grid pattern for Modern and Graphic.
2) Technique – Share and teach a technique that you knock out of the park and may even be your “signature” technique.

Submit a Tutorial via Our Automatic Submissions Form
1) Tutorial must have at least four steps to be considered.
2) The tutorial must have step-by-step instructions.
3) The tutorial must include photos for each step in the instructions.

Other Info
1) The deadline is October 1, 2011.
2) The tutorial must be original and cannot be currently posted or found anywhere on the internet. For example, it cannot be content taken from a previous post on your blog or a design team or challenge blog you may be a part of.
3) The tutorial can be about any subject, topic or theme you desire. It can be based on any existing trend or technique available so long as it is your own work, created by you, and you give proper credit to anyone you may have learned it from or been inspired from. We do not discourage “scraplifting” as it is a great way for all paper crafters to learn new things and hone their skills, but we strongly encourage everyone to give credit where credit is due. It’s the honorable thing to do.

More details will be available on the automatic submission form.

The automatic submission form will be available as of September 6, 2011, so put your thinking caps on and get creating. We can’t wait to see your amazing artwork and showcase it in the October/November issue!

If you have any questions before the form is posted, please feel free to e-mail us at specialfeatures@scrapbooknewsandreview.com anytime. Thanks and have an amazing weekend!

P.S. Nervous about writing a tutorial for a magazine? It’s completely understandable but don’t worry about it. That’s what editors are for. Just do your very best and if your project is chosen for publication, we’ll walk you through it and make you look fabulous!