Extreme Paper-Piecing

My favorite thing about scrapbooking is definitely paper-piecing. I'll admit glitter definitely comes in a close second... after all, who doesn't like sparkly things???

So after playing around on Pinterest doing an extensive search of the internet, here are some of my favorite "extreme" works of paper-piecing art, also known as paper sculptures. 

Alice in Wonderland by Cheong-ah Hwang

The Look of Love by Helen Musselwhite

Dragon by Jeff Nishinaka

Little Red Riding Hood by Elsa Mora 

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New Stuff Tuesday

Check out the new stuff in the shop!!

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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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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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Lock and Key Paper Piecing Pattern

Use this lock and key pattern to embellish a picture of the person who holds the key to your heart.

Click on the image above and you will be directed to a version that you can print. Or, copy it into an image editing program to re-size.

*** All free 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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Free Ice Skate Paper-Piece Pattern

This one was inspired by my daughter who figure skates. Since we are at the ice rink 2-3 times per week, I tend to see a lot of figure skates on the ice and thought they would make a great embellishment!

*** All free 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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Free Christmas Stocking Paper Piecing Pattern

The countdown to Christmas is in full swing! If you are like me, you are already scrapping those Christmas pages, getting them ready for the pictures you are sure to take. Here is a cute stocking embellishment you can make yourself and add to your layout.

Click on the image above and you will be directed to a version that you can print. Or, copy it into an image editing program to re-size.

Enjoy!

*** All free 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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Paper Piecing

Paper-piecing is a term known by veteran scrapbookers is also one that brings many questions to novices. Many of the questions we get through email or while at shows are:

"Are these stickers?"
"How do you make these?"
"Do you make these by hand?"
"How long does it take to create these?"

or my favorite:

"Why do these cost so much?"

For those that know, the art of paper piecing involves creating embellishments through the layering of the different parts of the image you are creating, giving it the "3D" effect and a personal touch that a sticker can not. The drawback of this is the amount of time it takes to create each piece, which answers the last question. :0)

When starting your paper pieced embellishment, you can do one of two things. You can either sketch your image or find one on the internet to use, the latter I do not recommend due to copyright issues. Once you have your image, start looking at how to break it up. For instance, if you are creating a Penguin such as the one I created below:

Start by breaking up the image into separate pieces. In this example, the body would be used as the base, then the other parts (such as the eyes, beak, arms, legs) would be your layering pieces. See below:

Once you have the pieces, simply cut them out in the different colors, shade the edges to make them "pop", and glue them together.... and VOILA!

As I stated before, this is a time consuming process, but well worth it when you are done. By now you may be asking yourself, "What if I am not good at sketching?" That is ok. You can find free paper piece patterns by doing a simple search on the web or there are companies that offer books of patterns for you to purchase. For patterns created by A Scrap of Time, click here.

Either way, whether you are a veteran or a novice, break out those embellishment designs and instead of printing or sticking them... Paper Piece them!

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Jack-o-Lantern Paper Piecing Pattern

It's that time of the year and the Jack-o-Lanterns are coming out! Use this free paper pieced pattern to embellish your own Halloween layout.


Click on the image above and you will be directed to a version that you can print. Or, copy it into an image edited program to re-size.


Enjoy!





*** All free 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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Football Paper Piecing Pattern

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL??? Embellish those scrapbook pages with your own paper pieced footballs, or make invitations to that Sunday tailgate party you are planning!

Click on the image above and you will be directed to a version that you can print. Or, copy it into an image edited program to re-size.

Enjoy!

*** All free patterns are provided for personal use only! Please do not recreate for commercial or resale purposes.

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Cocktail Drink Paper Piecing Pattern

There's nothing like sitting outside on a warm summer night, with a nice cold cocktail in hand.

Aaah.....

Oh, sorry... got a little lost in dreamland there!

Anyways... use this cute paper piecing pattern to make a couple of cocktails of your own. Paper ones that is! Simply click on the image above and you will be directed to a larger version that you can print. Or, copy it into an image edited program to re-size. (Word actually works really well for this too!)

Enjoy!





*** All free patterns are provided for personal use only! Please do not recreate for commercial or resale purposes.

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Free Firework Paper Piecing Pattern

It's almost 4th of July!!! I love watching fireworks with the family. Make your own fireworks with this fun paper piecing pattern.

Just like our other paper piecing patterns, simply click on the images above and you will be taken to the large version of the graphics.

Have fun with it!

*** All free patterns are provided for personal use only! Please do not recreate for commercial or resale purposes.

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Free Flip Flop Paper Piecing Pattern

It's Summer time!!! Use this cute flip flop paper piecing pattern to make embellishments for your beach scrapbook pages, summer cards, or pretty much anything else you can think of!

Just like our other paper piecing patterns, simply click on the images above and you will be taken to the large version of the image.

I have had requests to show how to make the embellishments step by step, so I will be posting up a tutorial soon!

*** All free patterns are provided for personal use only! Please do not recreate for commercial or resale purposes.

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