Frugal Friday Tip: Using Memorabilia on your layouts

It's Friday again and I submitted another Frugal Friday tip for the Scrap Our Stash challenge blog. I'd love to see how you've incorporated these tips into your layouts and projects! Be sure to share them with us over on the challenge blog (email them to Kathy directly--her email is Scrappinpsycho@live.com) and your layouts might also be featured on the blog! :)

My tip today is to use your memorabilia or everyday scraps on your pages. They can be used as design elements or as accents. The memorabilia adds so much more character to the layout and helps to completely tell your story. If you are worried about your pages being acid-free, then be sure to spray your memorabilia with acid neutralizing spray.  Other fun memorabilia types to use on your layouts could include plane tickets, emails, movie stubs, menus, drawings, programs, maps, receipts, clothing tags, shopping lists, stickers/labels etc. Use your imagination and see what you can find around you that helps complete the story you are telling with your pictures. The best part is that these items are usually free and have the appropriate logos or names already on them.

For my "Neuhaus" layout, I punched the circles from a box that the chocolates came in and added them to my layout as accents. The pamphlets that came with the chocolates showed what types of chocolates were included in the box, so I glued the pamphlet directly to the top of the layout, then popped the punched circles up with foam squares so the pamphlet would easily tuck behind the circles and stay closed in my page protector. 

Here is the pamphlet at the top opened up fully... 

The smaller squares under the photos were actual tags that were wrapped around some other chocolates we purchased from the same shop, and the green ribbon with the name “Neuhaus” on it was the ribbon that was wrapped around the box to keep it closed.

Here is another layout that will go next to this Neuhaus layout in my travel album. It is a 6x12 page size and was perfect for holding the last few pictures and memorabilia I had saved from another brand of Belgium chocolates--Leonides.  The brown ribbon running down the length of the layout was the one wrapped around the box and the gold foil sticker that I mounted on cardstock and attached to the layout with foam squares is the actual label that is pictured on the box that keep the box sealed closed.

The brown damask paper from this layout and from the 12 x 12 Neuhaus layout above are both left over from the Joseph's Coat technique I featured earlier on my blog in this post with directions. Be sure to click that link if you would like to know how to create this type of paper.

On my "Kinder Eggs" layout, I used the foil wrapper from the actual chocolate egg, and also the folded paper that showed the variety of toy car colors that were included inside the egg's plastic center. My egg held the yellow smart car.

I wrapped the foil around a piece of scrap card stock, then cut it down to size to fit onto my layout. I only glued the foil along the edges. Once it was folded around the card stock, the card stock gave the foil some strength so I was able to smooth it out and the the words were easy to read.

I matted the folded toy paper that came inside the egg with orange pattern paper and mounted it to the bottom of my layout. Then I was able to add my photos around those elements. You can also see that I outlined the photos and the edge of the die cut pattern paper background to give more of a finished look to the layout. This die cut pattern paper already had the blue print on the inside and the green postage stamp border around all four edges, so it was a perfect way to quickly frame my layout. The added orange colors help to keep focus on my photos and memorabilia.

I added my title with American Crafts Thickers (black felt) slightly overlapping the photo to tie everything together. I love the texture these stickers give to my layouts!

My journaling areas were added with stamped images from Purple Onion Designs (rectangular ledgers stamped in black ink onto white card stock scraps). I cut one of them apart at the top to create a smaller area for my date and added some black ribbon tied in a knot to finish it off.

In my next layout, "Our Flight", I used our plane boarding tickets for memorabilia along with some photos I took of our flight home from the plane window. I didn't worry about the tickets not being acid-free, but I did keep the tickets from touching my photos on the layout, and I created a pocket for the menus that I saved from the meals we were served while on the plane.

I used a Martha Stewart border punch (3 Dot edger) to create a border to be used on my layout. This helped to soften the lines of my layout and pull everything together with a lighter color.

I added a printed fabric sticker along the top of the layout near my title. This sticker was from the Making Memories Passport collection. My title was created with American Crafts Thickers (blue vinyl) and Making Memories glitter stickers (silver) and I staggered the letters for interest and to fill the space I had open along the top corner of the layout.

Hopefully, this gives you a better idea of some other fun ways to use memorabilia on your layouts.

Frugal Friday tip: Custom Colored Gems and Pearls

Do you ever run out of the right color of gems or pearls when working on a project? I have and one of my favorite tips is to just buy the clear gemstones and white pearls and then custom color them with permanent markers.

Sharpie makes quite a variety of colors to choose from, and the Bic Mark It brand has the bonus of being acid free!

 

To begin, you just color a number of gems while they are on the storage sheet. To get in between the gems or pearls, you can bend the sheet or cut the amount of gems you'll need for your project off the backer sheet and color them separately.These gems and pearls have a line of adhesive underneath them, so you just make sure you cut through the adhesive layer too, so they are easy to stick to your project later.

To use the gems individually, just cut between two gems with an exacto knife, making sure your cut goes all the way through the adhesive layer. Then you can use the exacto knife to pick up the gem and place it down onto your project. When you have the gem in place, use your finger to press it down firmly and gently remove the exacto knife at the same time with your other hand.

Now that you know how to color and place your gems and pearls, let's back up a step. To create your stamped image for this card, ink the stamp in Pine Needles Distress Ink, then flip your stamp over so you see the rubber image side.

Now take a black marker and use the brush tip to color over the green ink by following the outline along the outer edge.

When you stamp the image, it will have two tones--black and green. Cut around the stamped image leaving a small white border. We'll add the "berries" to the image next with the red gems.

 

 

To add a little 3-D gloss to the leaves, use some Glossy Accents from Ranger and liberally coat the leaves with the glue. When this liquid goes on the image initially it will appear slightly milky in color, but it dries completely clear and with a cool glassy raised effect.

 

Now we'll add some color to the edges with a sponge and a brown inkpad (Brushed Corduroy). Just dip the sponge into the ink and flick the edges of the stamped image. The more you go over an area, the darker it will be.

This is what it should look like when you are done with this step:

To complete the 3x3 card, stamp your "Merry Christmas" sentiment on the brown cardstock with black ink. This layer will be glued to the bottom of the card, then add some matching pattern paper along the top. Both of these layers have been sponged with black ink along the edges.

 

The holly berry image is adhered to the card with foam tape, and a layer of stickles glitter glue is added around the border just inside the black outline. Stickles were also added to the black line under the saying along with a red gem.  These little 3x3 cards are the perfect size for gift tags or quick notes.

You don't have to stick with one color of gemstones or pearls on your project. For this next card, I used several colors (yellow, green, red) for my gemstones.

The stamped image was colored with colored pencils, then blended with gamsol (odorless mineral spirits) and a paper blending stump. I added the gemstones in the centers of the images or where a dot would have been in the image. The other areas were also highlighted with some stickles glitter glue for more sparkle.

 

I cut around the stamped image, layered it onto a black piece of cardstock, then punched the bottom edge with a border punch, and rounded the top edge with my corner rounder. The red ribbon was tied around the black cardstock layer along the top, then that whole layer was attached to the white card base with foam tape. "Merry Christmas" saying was stamped underneath this layer and a red gem was added to the center of the line. The bottom edges of the white card base were also rounded with my corner rounder.

The last card uses the same concept, but instead of using gemstones, I used pearls in two sizes and colored them in red and green and also used some as plain white.

 

This card was also pretty easy to create. The reindeer stamp was stamped with brown chalk ink, then I added my colored pearls to the image and cut around the image closely. I used foam tape to adhere the reindeer to the green layer of cardstock, then drew faux stitch marks with a white pen. I also used the same border punch to create a frame for the top and bottom of the mounted image, and added a row of stickles glitter at the intersection of the green and red paper layers. Stickles were also added at various places on the main stamped image for extra glitter.

I hope you will enjoy creating your own custom colored bling!