Getting Ready To Party

Are you ready? It's almost 2013! Whether you are celebrating with your little family like we are, or having 50 of your closest friends over, here are some great ideas to help you get ready for tonight.

I found these gorgeous party hats over at the Spellbinders blog. You can get the full tutorial and whip up some fun hats using your beautiful scrapbook paper.

You can get all the info on these yummy looking meatball sliders at the Better Homes and Gardens website. I think I'm looking forward to these more than I should... and they are done in the crockpot so they can get cooking while I'm making my hats!

Ok, who am I kidding? I'm definitely looking forward to a strawberry champagne cocktail the most! You can find the super simple recipe at the Food Magazine website.

So, put on your party hat, have a little nibble, make a toast and give your loved one a great big kiss. Have a fun and safe New Year's Eve!

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Christmas Gift Layout

The presents are all opened, the food is all eaten, and you have a ton of new pictures just waiting to be scrapbooked!

Here is a quick layout for you to make that will get you started... 

Get a 12x12 piece of Christmas or Winter scrapbook paper and a coordinating piece of 12x12 cardstock. You will also need a small piece of white or cream cardstock... smooth texture would be best.

First, cut 2 - 1 1/4" strips of your coordinating cardstock and ink the edges if you like.

Next, save the bow pattern and open it in a photo-editing program, or Word. Adjust the size to 5.61" high by 7.21" wide, so the bow is 5 5/8" wide. I know, weird sizes by that's how it worked out. =0)

Print, cutout and trace the pattern onto the back of your coordinating cardstock. After cutting out the pieces to your bow, you can choose to ink the edges... this will give it a little dimension and make the layers stand out. Next, glue the pieces of your bow together.

Cut a 2 1/2" x 4" rectangle out of your white cardstock... I like to ink the edges with silver. As you can see, my silver gets a LOT of use! 

Next, write "From: Santa" on your rectangle to make it a tag. Or, you can write To: and put the name of the person or family that are the subject in your pictures.

Now it's time to put everything together!

Place one 2 1/4" from the top, and place the other 2 1/4" from the right side (or left, if that is what you prefer).

Next, WITHOUT any glue, take your tag and lay it on the page and then lay your bow over it. Get the placement of the tag that you like and glue it down. Be sure to not glue next to the edges, that way you can slide your pictures underneath when you place them.

I like to use foam adhesive or pop-dots for the bow so that it gives it extra dimension. Whether you decide to use that, or to glue it flat to the page is up to you, and great either way. Just like the tag, you just want to be sure to not glue the ends of the "ribbon" so that you can slip your pictures underneath them.

Last, but not least it's time to add in your pictures. You can either place 3 - 4" x 6" pictures like I did, or you can cut them smaller and add more photos to the page. 

I would love to see your version of this layout! Send me pics!!

*** All free layouts and patterns are provided for personal use only and copyrighted by A Scrap of Time! Do not recreate for commercial or resale purposes.

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Zuppa Toscana Soup... in the Slow Cooker!

The mornings are starting to be a little chilly... in Southern California, that is the first sign that Fall is coming! It has been so hot, I can't wait for the weather to cool down... not to mention I have this really cute pair of boots that I got at the end of last season and I have really been looking forward to wearing them!

Anyways... along with the cooler weather comes the home cooked comfort food. One of the best things about this is that a lot of them can be cooked in the crockpot, and we all know that means less time cooking and more time scrapbooking! 

This copycat version of Zuppa Toscana is done in the crockpot, and SO GOOD! I found the recipe at Get Crocked, and you can find the entire thing here.

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Back to School Time

It's school time again! My kids started back last Thursday and so far they both LOVE their teachers... AWESOME! They weren't too sure they were happy to go back, but once they saw their friends again, it was all good. 

And of course, since it's the beginning of school I had to get the annual pictures right? Yeah... it's not as easy as it used to be! For some reason my kids don't like hamming it up for the camera anymore. I did manage to get a couple though. I always like doing nice ones, and then doing a couple with them making funny faces or goofing around. I put them, along with some journaling into our School Days scrapbook page set... perfect for those first day pics!

Have your kids started back yet?

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Accents

 What are paper accents? Well, these are the small details you place within your layout or on your embellishments that give them that little extra eye catching “pop”. These range from the sparkly stuff such as small pearls and rhinestones to other items like ribbon, brads, and eyelets that give the page or embellishment a little dimension.

For instance, here is a basic paper pieced flower that has no accents.

The edges are all inked to give the flower some dimension and even in this state it is a pretty embellishment and ready to use on a page. But as we all know in the scrapbooking world, we can’t stop there! So by adding a small pearl or rhinestone in the center of the flower…

…the embellishment now has some added dimension and will only improve the overall look of your layout.

So break out those small accents, get creative, and have some fun!!!

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Scrapbook Humor

"The art of scrapbooking" by Porter Mason
http://portermason.com/bassistwanted/2010/03/15/the-art-of-scrapbooking/

This was just too funny not to share! Happy Friday!!!

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Pretty as a Flower

Two of my many favorite things in the world are pink daisies and my daughter. One day I had my pink daisy embellishment on my craft table and I just happened to put my daughter's school pictures down right next to it. 

Pink Daisy Paper Pieced Embellishment

This gave me a great idea for a simple layout to use for both! Digging through the stacks I found some pink flower paper to use as a background and a brown polkadot paper to use as a base. To help tie the embellishment in, I just used the colors from the embellishment to frame the photo and the "Pretty as a Flower" label. Instead of having the flower "free-floating" on the page, I decided to give it the look as if it was growing out of the ground by placing it behind the label. I think it turned out really cute!

Pretty as a Flower Framable Scrapbook Page

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On The Ice - Hockey Premade Scrapbook Pages

Here is our newest layout! We are a huge ice family... I know, weird since we are in Southern California. It's true though, we are actually at the ice rink 4-5 nights a week between hockey and figure skating. My husband even started playing goalie again, and it has been great watching him and our son play together. I put this layout in my book, and used a picture of the two of them on the second page...

I used the small space for some journaling. That is the nice thing about premade pages... even if there is not a specified space for journaling, you can write (or in my case print using a handwriting font) on a piece of paper and then crop it to fit on one of the photomats.

Go check out the pages in the "Sports Premade Scrapbook Pages" section of the store. If you don't have any little (or big) hockey players, check out our other new layouts!

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Flank Steak Fajitas

Photograph from 100 Days of Real Food

You're probably wondering what that delicious looking Fajita has to do with scrapbooking... 

(And I do mean delicious, I've made these a couple of times now.)

Anyways, these are done in the crockpot, so that hour or so you normally spend making dinner... yep, you can now SCRAPBOOK!! You can get the full recipe at 100 Days of Real Food. 

You're welcome!  

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Beach Pic

Summer is one of my favorite times of year, and being a true California girl, the beach plays a major part in that. I could spend all day every day out on the sand... of course that would make scrapbooking a little difficult, so may 6 out of the 7 days!

Even though this picture was taken a couple of years ago, it is definitely one of my favorites of the kids. They love, love, love jumping in the waves!

Our Hibiscus framable was perfect for this pic! It has the beach look, without the waves getting lost in the design... and I have to say, it looks really good sitting on my end table!

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Raster Screen

Photos by The Technique Zone

This is such a awesome technique I found over at The Technique Zone! This would be great for an entire 12x12 page, or the background of a card. So many different options!

Using torn masking tape, layout a diagonal grid (or any other pattern you like). Apply chalk over the entire surface ensuring that you work it into the edges. Remove the masking tape, and you have a beautiful background. You can get the full tutorial here.

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How To Fix An Ink Pad

If you use ink pads like I do, then you probably have an issue with the pad coming unattached from the base. This was driving me crazy, not to mention it was wasting the ink that was left in the pad that was no longer usable! I have tried many different types of glues and adhesives to reattach the pad, but since it was wet with ink, it would never stick.

So, I Googled it, and came across a blog entry by The Frugal Crafter that said to use original Gorilla Glue.

I tried it for myself... and IT WORKED!!!! 

Gorilla Glue actually instructs you to dampen the surfaces you are intending to bond together, so the ink in the pad wasn't an issue. You only need to use a little bit, because it expands as it cures... so don't use too much! I put a little dot in each of the four corners and one in the middle, and that was plenty.

I'm so excited to be able to get every little bit of ink out of the pad, and I'm sure you will too!

Happy inking!

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Follow Us On Pinterest!

Do you love to "pin" as much as we love to "pin"? You can now follow us on Pinterest! Here is our link... http://pinterest.com/scrapoftime/. If you need an invitation leave me a comment, or send me an email.

Here are some of our latest pins....

                                                                        Source: etsy.com via A Scrap of Time on Pinterest

                                                                         Source: etsy.com via A Scrap of Time on Pinterest

                                                                     Source: scrapbook.com via A Scrap of Time on Pinterest

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Cute new stuff!!!

Have you been to the store lately? Go!!! There are some super cute new cards and embellishments... if I do say so myself! :0)

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Easy Decoupage Frames

I was looking around on Pinterest this morning, and came across this really cute picture frame... I clicked on the link, and it was a super easy, step-by-step tutorial. I love the paper she used!

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Paper Birthday Cake

I just got my weekly Scrapbook Etc. newsletter in my email box. I open it up, and the first thing I see is this fun paper birthday cake! How cute would this be as a decoration for a birthday party, or to put on a co-workers desk on their special day?

Love it!!!

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Inspiration

I often get asked where I get my ideas from... and I can honestly say EVERYWHERE! As you look around you, look at shapes, how things line up against each other, what colors are next to each other. Pictures in magazines, color combinations on cakes, the pattern on a plate, or something in a movie. You will be amazed at what triggers an idea!

Here are some examples...

Cake Image from CakeCentral.com

The topsy turvy angles of this cake made me think of cups stacked inside each other.

Poster Image from MoviePosterDB

From the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas, the curve Jack is standing on inspired the curves in the tree.

And the cup from my favorite coffee place inspired this holiday card.

So when you are trying to think of ideas for your next scrapbook layout, card, or any craft project, take a second look at the things around you... you never know where your inspiration will come from.

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