Lotus Paperie

All good things must come to an end....

2010-03-19T04:30:00.000-07:00

This is probably the hardest post for me to write. I am so sad to announce that today's challenge post is the final post for our beloved blog. I have undertaken a career change (photography) that is consuming almost all the time that I formerly devoted to scrapbooking and while this is a great thing for me personally, it does mean that there just isn't the time available for me to give the right attention to the commitment of blogging. So rather than doing a poor job of blogging and of photography, I have had to make a choice... and that means that this blog will end.

My sincerest thanks go out to each and every designer who has ever worked with us, sharing creativity, inspiration, personal stories and their unique art. I only dreamed that this humble project would grow to be something that included so many people around the world and I feel as though we are all close friends. I will miss you all :)

A very special thanks goes out to Tania Lennox who, over the cours of the last couple of years has contributed in a way that I can never adequately thank her for. Tania, your support, love, kindness, generosity and willingness to do what needs to be done is second to none. You are the only reason I've kept this beautiful project going as long as I have. When I lose faith or focus, you are always there to get me back on track. Thank you so much, my dear friend. The success of this creative endeavour is as much yours as it is mine. Take a bow!

All of you are so special to me and I'll treasure you always. Thank you for all your love and support...and above all else, thank you for your creativity.

Love, hugs & paper
Vanessa

challenge 168

2010-03-19T04:00:00.000-07:00

Sketch week again! I love how the design team used it in such different ways again!
If you are new and want to learn more on how our challenges work here's all the info for that. Play along and have fun with it! :)

Tania

Vanessa

Carol

Gudrun

Eva

Elly

Jeannie

Tuesday Tutorials - ruffled ribbon

2010-03-16T22:01:00.000-07:00

I'm going to show you how to dress up your ribbon for your projects and layouts. Another way to use ribbon...

Supplies:

- ribbon with stitching down the centre of it. You could really add the stitching to any ribbon to make this work.

-thread and needle

-small fabric or paper flowers

-gems

-strong hold glue like diamond glaze

Pull on the middle thread until it's long enough to make a knot. Now push the ribbon towards the knot until you get the amount of ruffles you want. Tie a knot at the other end to hold the ruffles in place. Trim the excess thread off.

Sew your flowers randomly on your ruffled ribbon. Add your gems with your strong hold adhesive to the middle of your flowers. That's it!

Now you have ruffled, decorated ribbon to add to your projects!

Hope you have enjoyed my quick and easy tutorial. If you use this idea on a project I would love to see it, link it up!

Tania

challenge 167

2010-03-12T04:00:00.000-08:00

Hello, we are back with another one. This week we want you to pull out your

Glimmer Mist.

This popular technique is being seen everywhere and we want to see how you use it. For all you newbies that want to join in on our fun here's how it all works.

Let`s get started! :)

Tuesday Tutorials - Dictionary/Music Paper Flowers

2010-03-09T04:00:00.000-08:00

There are a ton of tutorials out there on how to make paper flowers. I'm going to show you one of my own combining a couple of tutorials I've seen.

Supplies:

music or dictionary paper (you can really use any paper)

scissors

mists, I used lime and olive

adhesive

a button or gem for the centre

To start, hand cut a few circles out of your paper. They don't have to be perfect as it adds to the charm. The more circles you cut the fuller your flower will be.

Next spray your circles with your mist. I started with lime first. Partly dry them with a heat gun (until they are slightly damp). Now wrinkle them into a ball, then open them up again. Finish drying them.

Your flower should start looking like this.

Spray with your second colour on each circle. I sprayed olive (a darker green) on the edges. Your flower should now have more depth to it.

Finally use your adhesive and attach each piece together in the middle. Add your button or gem.
I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial. I would love to see your flowers, link them up! :)

Tania

Challenge 166

2010-03-05T04:00:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah! I love sketches :) This week's challenge is a super simple sketch that is just begging to be rocked out in the biggest, baddest way. So all you gotta do is rustle up a photo and a few of your favorite embellishments and you're all set!! Try spinning it 90 degrees or 180 degrees...we wanna see what this sketch does for your creative mojo.

And being the first challenge of a new month, that means we've got our new designer playing along with us! Hooray! Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the post to see what Jeannie did with this sketch.

Do you wanna get in on the creative fun but don't know how it all goes down?? Then visit this link to get the scoop. We're a super laid back crowd 'round here so really, fun's the name of the game.

Vanessa

Tania

Carol

Gudrun
?

Elly
?

Eva
Eva was visiting Chile with her family when the earthquake hit. She has contacted us and tells us that they are all okay but due to delays with flights leaving Chile, she won't be leaving the country until about the middle of March.

Be safe Eva. Take care of yourself and your family. Please let us know how things are going and when you arrive home! Love and hugs! XOXO

Jeannie

Tuesday Tutorials - Masking

2010-03-02T04:00:00.000-08:00

Oh this was so much fun to make! We've all seen masks in our LSS and many of us have them in our stash but do they get much play? I find the biggest limitation with masks is that they are so overtly theme-y that if they appear too often in my pages they begin to be like that amazing dress you bought for New Year's Eve and every time you wear it afterwards everyone says "Didn't you wear that at New Years?". They are obvious and hard to forget. With this tutorial, we're going to make our own masks and use 'em up so they can't be duplicated 100% ever again. Forcing ourselves to be creative, right from the ground, up!

Let's get started. Sketch out a simple shape on scrap cardstock. Cut it out with an Xacto knife and trace it onto another piece of cardstock as many times as you want, planning ahead for however many duplicates you want of this shape on your finished layout.

Next, gather up all the glimmer mists you want to use on your layout. Put a teeny spot of adhesive on all the parts of your shapes. In this case, that was on each leaf. Stick 'em down and get sprayin'. Carefully peel them away and place in new spots around your page wherever you want them. I only used 2 leaf shapes and moved them around the page.
Your leaf shapes will curl like crazy. Don't freak out. This is why we have so many kinds of adhesive, people! Gently peel off your shapes, taking great care to not tear your page. If any glue bits stay behind, grab a white eraser or use your fingertip to carefully remove the stickiness. Patiently wait for it to dry. Or if you're like me, grab your heat gun and git 'er done!

Now that you have negatives of where your leaves were, go ahead and get messy if that's your thing. I busted out some magic mesh, some molding paste & paint, a little Distress Ink and mucked up the edges like crazy. I adhered my photo, cut out some wonky photo corners and stuck my leaves down in the bottom corner of the photo. I rocked a little machine stitching on the leaves which really helped keep their curly selves as flat as I could get 'em and also stitched my journaling lines. A little Dymo label subtitle for good measure and that was about it. Simple, doable and extremely addictive.

~ layout inspired by the magnificent Dina Wakley.

Introducing Jeannie

2010-03-01T04:00:00.000-08:00

Boy, what a crazy month February was! Sasha has packed all her worldly possessions and is embarking on a big move overseas. I'm so happy that we were able to get her to Guest with us before starting on her journey. Sasha, have a safe and enjoyable move and let us know when you get there!!

This month we have Jeannie Lutz joining us. I spotted Jeannie and her gorgeous layouts on SisTV where she's one of the fashionistas...Just take a look at her layouts and you'll understand why! I love how her approach to her art is so fresh and youthful...a bit of a rule-breaker, methinks! LOL Check out her fave layouts below her interview...let's welcome the lovely Miss Jeannie to the team!!!

A- I am a 20 year old student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. I have a fabulous family, a great boyfriend, and the cutest kitten you will ever see in your life. Her name is Moo.

Q-Why do you scrapbook?

A- I scrapbook for a creative outlet. I love the process even more than the result sometimes.

Q-What is on your playlist right now?

A- Currently I’m listening to Christmas music. I do realize it is March. Unfortunately my itunes is on shuffle. Normally I listen to Dave Barnes, Jason Mraz, Erick Baker, Joshua Radin, Josh Kelley, Charles Kelley, Avett Brothers, Metric, Motion City Soundtrack, Bright Eyes, the Killers, and Queen.

Q-Where fuels your creative mojo?

A- I read a ton of blogs and peruse the gallery at Scrap in Style TV to get inspired. I also have all of my scrapbooking stuff out right in front of me at all times. So many times I get inspired just looking at it! I read creative books, magazines and look at other people’s scrapbooks, too.

Q-What projects are on your scrap table today?

A- I’m working on a cool little mini album. I just need to print some pictures out for it! I’ve also got an ATC or two hanging out on my table today.

Q-Which products are currently getting the most action in your layouts?

A- Thickers, as always. I freaking love those little guys.

Q-Tell us about one of your personality quirks (weird habits/rituals)

A- I hate brushing my hair and grooming in general. I would rather just look like crap then endure that.

Q-When you finish working on a layout, do you tidy up or walk away and leave the mess?

A- I usually leave a mess, and then tidy up a day or two later when I’m ready to work again.
Q-Have you ever had a scrapbooking disaster? (spilled paint, burnt w/ heat gun?) and if so, were you able to rescue the destroyed layout?

A- Every single time I scrapbook I have a disaster. Every card or layout I make is just a series of fixing mistakes. It’s probably a very interesting process to watch. I don’t own any Undu or any adhesive removing product, so it really is a challenge sometimes.

Q-If time stood still for just one day, what would you do with the time?

A- Spend time with the people I love, just like everyday!

Q- Please share three of your favorite layouts.

Challenge 165

2010-02-26T04:00:00.000-08:00

Well hello again, Friday! Imagine seeing you again so very soon...hard to belive it's been a week already! Boy oh boy, much has been happening behind this computer screen around my place! I've got a brand new photography business...check it out! Vanessa Falle Photography. It has been so stinkin' busy I can barely catch my breath. But that's a good thing, right!?!

So this is Sasha's last week with us...actually, she's moving to England and all her scrap stuff is in boxes...she will be enduring an extended separation from her scrap stuff :( Hopefully she can make it!! Sasha, you are so inspiring and funny as hell!! Hope you come 'round lots once the dust settles! Have a safe move and be sure to give the blogosphere a shout-out when you get there...so we know you arrived alive!

And I know there are some new readers with us. Check out this link to get the lowdown if you are wanting to play along. This week our challenge is::

USE UP YOUR MISMATCHED ALPHA STICKERS

Our ever-fabulous team has once again knocked this one outta the park. I loved using up all those crazy leftover letters :) Let's see what you do with this one.

Eva

Sasha

Tuesday Tutorial - Coloring lace w/ Glimmer Mist

2010-02-23T04:00:00.000-08:00

Good morning! Today’s tutorial is all about using glimmer mist to colour lace. Here in Singapore, coloured lace is not easy to find, and usually quite expensive. Often, colours are limited. Plus, who has the time or inclination to run out to the store when you’re in the middle of a layout? White or off-white lace, in contrast, can be bought in 25 yard rolls from some of our textile shops, and this is what I use regularly in my layouts.

This tip I’m sharing today will help you use your scrap supplies to effortlessly colour your lace the exact shade you need for your layout. I’m going to use a layout of mine to illustrate. The regular readers may recognise this layout as one that was posted some weeks back. When I first started putting it together, I realized that the white lace just simply did not go with the coloured patterned paper I had chosen.

The lace needed to be a stronger colour to stand out. So I rummaged through my stash of glimmer mist, and found a colour that would achieve the effect I had in mind.

Next, lay the strip of lace on some old newspaper. One sheet of newspaper will not be enough. Use at least several layers as the glimmer mist is going to soak through the first few layers.

Start spraying the glimmer mist on the lace.
Make sure every part of the lace is covered. Some types of lace are more resistant to water (for some reason) so what I normally do is turn the lace over and press it down into the excess glimmer mist that has been sprayed on the newspaper. Dig in and get your hands dirty (glimmer mist dye washes off after one shampoo/bath) and pat along the entire length of the lace. The more dye soaks in, the more saturated and ‘glimmery’ your finished strip of lace is going to be.

When you’re done, turn it back over and leave it on the newspaper to dry.
You may wish to put it on a clean part of the newspaper to aid drying. Alternatively, you can use a heat gun – that is what I normally do as I really want to finish the layout once I start it; in Singapore’s humid climate it will take at least 24 hours to dry fully if left to itself. Using the heat gun, though, tends to shrink the lace a little, so you may then wish to start off with a strip slightly longer that what you actually need, you can always trim off the excess when putting together the layout.
And there you have it, a nice deep brown and ‘glimmery’ strip of lace which you can use on your layout in place of what would have been a while and insipid strip.

This little trick can save you some moolah as you’re basically using items in your stash and you can even bulk buy white lace to save further.
And if you don’t have enough glimmer mist colours, not to worry. Just use the chalk or pigment inks that you use for stamping. The same rules apply, place the lace on several layers of newspaper, and turn the ink pad over and pounce or tap it along the entire length, paying attention to any uneven patches. If the lace appears to be resistant to the colour, just tap harder. As is the case with using glimmer mist, you will end up with a very damp strip which you then dry using either of the 2 methods above. And voila! Lace of the exact shade and colour you need. And it doesn’t end there. You can use several colours of ink to get a variegated effect, or even adjust the saturation along the strip to achieve colour gradation. The possibilities are endless!
So get cracking with your glimmer mist and inks and post the result in our gallery! Thanks for joining us today, and we look forward to seeing you back this Friday when we post our next challenge!

Challenge 164

2010-02-19T04:00:00.000-08:00

It's sketch week! We wanna see what you can do with this.... Our Guest Designer this month is Sasha. Check out her amazing art here. If you'd like to play along with us all the info is here.

Tania Vanessa

Gudrun

Carol

Eva

Elly

Sasha

Tuesday Tutorial - Covered Buttons & Lace Flowers

2010-02-16T04:00:00.000-08:00

Today's project is brought to you by Gudrun Loennecken
Buttons in new coat:

1. for this little project you’ll need some buttons in different sizes (not to small). If you have some buttons you are tired of, or someone with an odd color they are perfect for this matter. You also need some strong liquid glue and scraps of paper. Bookpages, sheets of music, newspaper and notepaper are great.
2. Choose a piece of paper you want to use to dress up your button. Cut the piece of paper so it’ll cover the front and back of the button you want to dress up. Add glue to the button and stick it in the middle of the paper.

3. Fold all the edges so the button is wrapped in paper. It’s ok to add some glue while you keep on wrapping. Stick all the loose edges down.
4. Now you have a beautiful button in new coat – perfect for your papercraft-project.

Lace-flowers:

1. For this cute little lace-flower you’ll need about 15 cm ( 6 inch ) of a lace. My lace is not too thin - 3 cm ( 1 ¼ inch ) is ok, otherwise your flower will be really small. You also need a needle and a thread.
2. Sew along the top edge of your lace. It is not necessary to do small beautiful stitches, because they’ll never show. Just tack the thread along the edge.

3. When you have stitched all along the laces edge, you can make a flower-shape of your lace, and tie a knot with the tread in the middle of the lace-flower.
4. To embellish your beautiful flower you can for example use your newly dressed-up buttons and place it in the middle of the flower. This little flower is great for vintage-projects, and is a fun easy way to make your own embellishments.

Challenge 163

2010-02-12T04:00:00.000-08:00

We are back with another challenge, another up-cycling challenge. :) We want to see what you can do with

tissue paper!

Lovin' how the DT came up with so many different ways to use it.

Also, while we have ya here, check out our guest designer's introduction here. Some amazing talent.

If you are looking for the info to play along, it's all here.

Tania

Vanessa

sorry, I gotta take a pass this week. Have fun with the challenge :)

Carol

Gudrun

Eva

Elly

Sasha

Tuesday Tutorials - Mini Album Madness!

2010-02-09T04:00:00.000-08:00

DIFFERENT WAYS TO MAKE A MINI ALBUM

Hi! Today I’m going to show you different ways to make a Mini Album. When I started scrapbooking I made lots of minis, I love them! They are very cute, you can put lots of photos, tell a story, scrap a whole trip, etc… and they are always the perfect gift!
I’m going to show 4 ways you can put together a mini:
- Basic
- Accordion style
- Magazine style
- “Book style”

BASIC MINI

The basic one, and the one I use the most on my albums is to just make two or three holes and then use a binding ring. If you don’t have these mini rings you can use key chain rings like the ones I used here, they are made from plastic and I found them in a kids game!

Otherwise you can just put some ribbon or string like this one

If you use ribbon or string please make sure not to tie the knot very hard or you will not be able to flip the pages.

ACCORDION STYLE MINI

For the accordion style mini, you will need to cut your papers of the height of the page you want, but you will have to double the length. Every paper will contain 2 pages of your mini so you will have to cut half of the papers. For example: If you want a mini with 8 - 4X4 pages. You will have to cut 4 - 4x8 papers . Use one side paper for this because the back of the paper will not show.

To make the pages of your album crease the pages at half (1). Cover the right side of every page with double side tape (2) and adhere the pages as seen in picture number 3. Complete the accordion (4).
For the covers, cover a piece of chipboard 1/2 inch larger and wider than the pages of your mini with a coordinating paper (1 and 3). *The paper will have to be 2 inches wider than the chipboard also*
Adhere the covers to your pages (2) making sure to insert a ribbon in the back or in the front cover to close it (5).

MAGAZINE STYLE MINI

For the “Magazine style” mini cut your papers of the height of the page you want, but double the length. You will need double side papers for this as the back will show.

Make a crease in the middle of your pages (1). Decide where you want to make the holes (2). Use your hole punch (3) and make the closure with some string or some ribbon. If necessary, use a big needle to pass the ribbon through and decorate the ends with buttons, beads or simply a knot. (4 and 5)
Note: If you have lots of pages you will have to trim the excess of the inner pages. To do this simply use your paper trimmer or a cutting knife. (6)

BOOK STYLE MINI

For the Book style mini you will need to cut your pages following the same steps than the accordion style. You will also have to cut a piece of paper ½ inch wider than the length of your pages for the cover. (2)

Cover the pages of your mini with double side tape. I covered the whole page but you can cover just half … my mistake! (3)
Close all your pages leaving the design in the inside. Adhere the pages. (4).

All the creases will remain in one side of the mini (6).
Fold you mini album (7) and cover with the last piece of paper (8). Do this while your book is closed, otherwise you will not be able to close it!
To cover the creases, cut a piece of coordinating paper and adhere it to the side. Before adhere it insert a ribbon to close the mini (9).
And here are my three minis all together! Now I just have to fill them up!

Wow! How many ways to make minis! I hope you like them. If you use one of these techniques or have a doubt please leave a comment!
Bye! Eva

Challenge 162

2010-02-05T04:00:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah! It's challenge time again people! This week's challenge was to work with the sketch shown below. It was an incredible inspiration point for me to start from. I am in love with the layout I created from it and can't wait to keep riding the inspiration-train! Yeah!

So while we're at it with creating more scrappy goodness, let's not forget that we have the amazing Sasha Holloway with us this month (have I mentioned how much I love her layouts?!?!) and you can read more about her HERE in her introduction post from earlier this week.

edited:: I posted the wrong layout for Sasha. The new (correct) layout is now at the bottom. Sorry for the Oops, Sasha!!

Wanna get in on the action 'round here? You can join us on Flickr with your own terrific pages. Go HERE to find out more. Let's see whatcha got, guys! Rock this one like you do with all the rest!

Elly

Sasha

We have a winner!

2010-02-03T12:47:00.000-08:00

Boy, this was one serious round of voting! Get a load of those numbers!! I think there was some new traffic thru here during our last poll, that's great. So, I won't leave it hanging, the winner is

flillith

So flillith, please email me at {info at lotuspaperie dot com} with your mailing info and your prize will be in the mail to you shortly!

A big fat hurrah to everyone for participating and we are super excited to be taking a look at January's layouts soon, so get your voting muscles ready and be sure to spread the word when the new vote is up. Thanks so much for playing along gang! It's always a blast :)

Tuesday Tutorials - Smashing Buttons

2010-02-02T04:00:00.000-08:00

Ever since I was a little girl, I preferred destruction to construction. My dad used to bring home old, random pieces of equipment that he picked up on various curbs as he drove around to job sites. He would bring them specifically for us to take apart. My favorite was an old typewriter with elegant white-on-black keys – with our screwdrivers and other tools, it didn’t take long for us to completely dismantle it.
So it’s not much of a surprise to me that I like to incorporate distressed, rough edges into my scrapbooking. I am definitely not a Martha Stewart of designer. Clean edges need to be ripped, embellishments crumpled and buttons broken.
Welcome to my SMASHING BUTTONS tutorial!
First, you need a hammer (metal, not anything that is supposed to dampen sound, they just won’t work – too much rebound), some buttons (do you think I have enough?) and a Ziploc or other closeable baggie.

The buttons that work best for breaking are the ones with a lip and a larger inner surface. Buttons without a lip tend to be more structurally sound, but obviously your mileage may vary.

Insert buttons into bag, seal bag, raise hammer and SMASH!!!

It’s quite cathartic, honestly, especially if you’re angry at something that is out of your control!

So after you’re done smashing, you’ll be left with some sizeable pieces, some medium pieces and some crumbs, or button dust. Button dust is kind of what gets left in the corner of the bag, and can be used similarly to glitter.
I really like to use Button Bits (I’m so trademarking that!) as a replacement for traditional embellishments. They can be used to cover an area, as in the Be Mine card, or in place of a tag or other sort of ribboned thing as in the Feb 14 card.

I also used them to decorate the entire side of this little notepad!

You can also use them as a feature, as on the True Love layout, wrapping them with ribbon for a funky look.

Overall, I just like to be different and use button in a different way, because I have SO MANY of them. I hope you enjoy some cathartic hammering!

Introducing Sasha

2010-02-01T04:00:00.000-08:00

Wow. January is over already. Went fast, didn't it? I am really excited by all the changes and newness of this year and I have to tell ya that February is bringin' more! In January, we saw some stellar layouts from our good friend, Stacy Stone and now that her position is opened up for a new guest designer, we're just about vibrating with excitement over February's artist. This girl is funny as s**t and cracks me up steadily. She's about as genuine & real as they come and her layouts are rather fine too! She's a powerhouse of creativity and we're thrilled to welcome her on board for February. Here she is, the one and only Sasha Holloway!

Q-Tell us a bit about you & your family

A- I am a Georgia girl living in a military world. I am married with 2 beautiful boys. 3 if you count my husband. We are currently stationed in NM but getting ready to move to England in a month. We love to travel and get out and see the world.

Q-Why do you scrapbook?

A- I scrapbook because it is fun. Of course you want to leave behind something for the kids and all that but. I love to create and cut up paper it is a free release of therapy for me. I do not follow the rules of this game. I have to keep it fun that way and not get caught up in the crazy artificial hype of it all at times.

Q-What is on your playlist right now?

A- Jay Z “Empire State of Mind”, Duffy “Syrup and Honey”, Pink “Just Like A Pill”, Beyonce “Video Phone”, Alicia Keys “Try Sleeping w/a Broken-heart”, Kings of Leon “Use Somebody” .. need I keep going .. I love love love music.

Q-Where fuels your creative mojo?

A- Sometimes it is the paper, or a picture ... I can surf blogs and just get creative that way it all depends also on my mood and if I have some stuff to get off my chest.

Q-What projects are on your scrap table today?

A- I am working on some random ATC’s, and just personal projects I want to do before I PCS overseas since I will not be able to scrap for almost 2 months. I am okay with it. Sometimes I have to step away from the table or I will get bored ..

Q-Which products are currently getting the most action in your layouts?

A- Of course October Afternoon, Sassafras, Jillibean Soup, letter beads, butterfly punches

Q-Tell us about one of your personality quirks (weird habits/rituals)

A- I have to burp after I drink and or let out a little gas and stuff. Nah I kid, I have to floss after every meal and or brush my teeth twice a day if I am able.

Q-When you finish working on a layout, do you tidy up or walk away and leave the mess?

A- Oh dear gawd I HAVE to clean up .. matter of fact I have to clean up AFTER every thing I create and start with a new and fresh slate ..even if I am going to use it again I clean it up.

Q-Have you ever had a scrapbooking disaster? (spilled paint, burnt w/ heat gun?) and if so, were you able to rescue the destroyed layout?

A- Yes I wasted a soda on my layout that I had created for October Afternoon when I guest designed and LUCKILY I had some of the paper they sent me and I print my own pictures. After I gave birth to a few “f” bombs ..I started over .. whew!

Q-If time stood still for just one day, what would you do with the time?

A- I would sleep to be honest with you .. I would literally get nekkid and sleep.

Q- Please share three of your favorite layouts.

challenge 161

2010-01-29T04:00:00.000-08:00

Oh boy, this is a fun one. I think that these non-sketch challenges really get everyone's juices flowin' and stirs up something creative & magical... This week, our challenge is to

use dictionary/phone book/music paper in our layouts

In other words, take advantage of abundant non-scrapbooking paper that is in everyones houses!!! Hooray for up-cycling :) Get in on the action! find out how here.

This is Stacy's last week with us so be sure to check out her fab layout at the bottom. Not to mention all the incredible layouts between here and there! C'mon everyone...ya ready?

Vanessa

Tania

Gudrun
Carol
Eva
Elly
Stacy

Tuesday Tutorials - Perfect Pearls

2010-01-26T04:00:00.000-08:00

I've decided to whip out my Perfect Pearls and show you a few techniques I like. I did these with my girls watching, they were really diggin' these techniques and want to try some themselves. :)

There are Perfect Pearls and there are Pearl Ex. I have both. The difference between the two is the Perfect Pearls already have the binder mixed in them so they will react/stick to water and ink. The Pearl Ex needs to be mixed with a binder. I mix mine with Gum Arabic (four parts Pearl Ex to one part binder).

Technique #1 - perfect pearls and distress ink:

#1. Ink up your tag (paper) with Distress Ink. It need to be distress ink because the ink reacts to water, you will not get the extra ring of colour using a different type of ink.

#2. Spray some water on your Craft sheet and scoop some perfect pearls onto your brush and mix. Let the perfect pearl water mixture drip onto your inked paper/tag.

#3. Dry it with a heat gun if you are impatient like me :)

#4. I also like to use up the extra perfect pearls by soaking the left overs randomly onto another tag.

#5. End results.

Technique #2 - masking:

#1. Apply mask and cover entire tag/paper with clear embossing or versamark ink.

#2. Use the large brush your perfect pearls came with and pick up the perfect pearls with it. Brush on areas you want that colour.

#3. You can use multiple colours.

#4. Peel off your mask.

Technique #3 - painting:

#1. Supplies... stamp, embossing powder, clear embossing ink, heat gun, perfect pearls, water, brush and paper.

#2. Stamp and heat emboss your image.

#3. Mix your perfect pearls with water and paint your image. The less water that is used the more vibrant your colour. If you used to much water just let it dry and paint it again. The raised embossed edges of your image help to keep the perfect pearls from becoming a mixed up mess on your image, so you don't have to wait for each section to dry.

#4. End result.

Here are some bookmarks I made for my girls using this technique...

Technique #4 - Heat Embossing:

#1. Mix perfect pearls with some clear embossing powder. The more perfect pearls you mix the less raised your image will be. The image will be more shimmery though. Stamp your image with clear embossing ink and sprinkle the mixture over top. Shake the excess off. Don't worry about your Perfect Pearls shimmering all over the paper for now. Your image should look like #2. Heat emboss with heat gun and use a brush to brush off the perfect pearls that are all over your paper, final result should be something like #3.

Technique #5 - dumping :) :

This is one of those techniques you acquire when you think a project just needs a little shimmery mess. Don't worry about being perfect with the steps, this is one that does not require perfection.

#1. Spray some water on your project about where you want the shimmer. Dump a little perfect pearls on the sprayed area.

#2. Spray more water on top until it looks like most of the powder is wet. Dry with heat gun.

#3. End result.

Here is a project that I used this technique with. I did it on every page.

You can see more of this album here. Just scroll down.

It's sort of hard to tell in the photos but the end results are always shimmery pretty additions to your layouts etc.

Have fun with your Perfect Pearls, hope to see your projects using some of these techniques.

Meet you back here on Friday :)

Tania

Challenge 160

2010-01-22T04:00:00.000-08:00

One hundred and sixty weeks!! That is amazing. :) This week we bring you another sketch. Here is the link to how the challenges work if you`d like to play along. Check out our interview with our Guest Designer here while you are at it :).

Tania

Vanessa

Carol

Gudrun

Eva

Elly

Stacy

Tuesday Tutorial (on a Thursday?!) - Stamp Kissing

2010-01-21T12:52:00.000-08:00

So yeah, we're doing this week's Tuesday Tutorial on a Thursday. It's a super awesome, simple technique that's easy to do and if you have a favorite patterned stamp and a great broad, solid stamp, you're halfway there!!

To rock this technique gather up the following::
-patterned stamps (the busier, the better)
-broad stamp with wide space to transfer the patterned stamp onto
-ink
-cardstock
-exacto blade & craft mat

I decided to give my under-used woodgrain stamp & some forgotten alpha stamps a little play for this demo. I made sure I had a light colored cardstock on hand & rich teal colored ink. Start by turning over your patterned stamp and ink it with the rubber face-up. Doing it this way rather than pressing the stamp into the ink allows you to see which spots need more ink without fussing with handling an inked stamp.

With your ink in one hand and stamp laying rubber side up, ink up the rubber surface. Set the ink aside. Work fairly quickly so the ink doesn't dry on you!

Grab your broad stamp (in this instance, I am using my alpha stamp). Carefully press straight down onto the inked surface of the patterned stamp, taking care to not let the alpha stamp slide. Lift the stamp up and stamp onto your paper. With your craft knife, begin trimming around the letters, starting with the holes in the centers of each letter. It's easier to do this now rather than when the outside edges are already cut (you risk ripping the letters otherwise) Once they're cut out, just use them just like you would any other alpha!

Ta Daa!

Time to choose your favorite!

2010-01-17T21:50:00.000-08:00

You know, I love all of you. You amazing artists who willingly share your often very personal layouts in our Flickr Group. Your passion & skill amaze me and your dedication to preserving your families' memories is heartwarming. I just thought I'd tell you all how fab I think you all are.

In the month of December, things are usually pretty dang quiet in the flickr group. We totally understand that you have families to spend time with and most importantly, to make memories with. Yay for memories :) There were, however, a few bad-ass hardcore scrappers who managed to upload their layouts to the Flickr Group for December's challenges. We decided that these three would make for a great race in choosing our favorite layout from the last month of 2009!! Please remember that you are encouraged to share this post info with everyone! We want you tellin' your Auntie in California and your Granny in New York (and everyone in between!). Anyone can cast a vote and you will have 2 weeks to scrounge up all the votes you can!

The poll can be located at the top right hand side of the blog. You have until 12pm PST on Jan 31 to cast your votes!!

Here they are in no particular order.

Flilith

Jules the Bling Princess
IRIT2009

Challenge 159

2010-01-15T04:00:00.000-08:00

Oh geez, I've been into organizing around the house (mostly the studio) that I almost forgot about the challenges. I get so into what I am doing I forget about the world around me, lol. Maybe my spring cleaning will be done before spring!! :D

This week we challenge you to

use a lot of tags.

All the info to play along is here. Also, check out our Guest Designer Stacy, and all the talent she brings.

Tania Vanessa

Carol

Gudrun

Elly

Eva

Stacy

Email malfunction

2010-01-14T08:25:00.000-08:00

Hi gang, I'm trying to get caught up around the studio and have to ship out a few prize packages :) I need Petra Coolen to re-send me email information so I can get your prize out to you. Please email me at info {at} lotuspaperie {dot} com. Sorry for the delay. I blame Christmas! LOL

Tuesday Tutorials - Heat Embossing on Acrylic

2010-01-12T04:00:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! Welcome to another Tuesday on the Lotus Paperie blog and this week’s Tuesday Tutorial! With the new year well underway by now and most of the kids back at school, even us scrapping moms will be able to have hopefully a little bit more time on our hands to get just that little bit more creative with our scrap supplies, and today I’m going to show you how to heat emboss on acrylic.
Many of the scrapbook suppliers have over the past year released clear acrylic albums which are all the rage nowadays. However, due to their see-through nature, embellishing them requires a somewhat careful placement of paper, photos and embellishments, and after a while, there are only so many ways of doing this. Heat embossing the acrylic pages with various coloured embossing powders creates a different effect on the clear acrylic background and can give a different look to the album altogether. How is this done?
First, gather your materials. You will need the clear acrylic albums page , your embossing ink (I used Versamark), embossing powder (I used clear holographic), a heat gun, and, if you have one, a tray to catch the embossing powder.
Lay the acrylic page on a craft sheet to protect your worktable. Gently peel the protective film off one side of the acrylic sheet only, exposing the surface to be embossed.
Using the Versamark/embossing ink, ink the exposed surface of the acrylic sheet. How you ink it depends on how you want the final product to look. If you intend to cover the entire page, then sweep your ink pad across the surface. It does not have to be even, but do avoid leaving patches, unless a patchy effect is what you are going for. In my case, my intention was to emboss around the sides of the page, leaving the center clear. I therefore swiped my inkpad face down over the page , starting from about 1” from the edge and covering evenly.
When you’ve completed inking the page, place it face up in the tray. (If you don’t have one, just use a sheet of rough paper to catch the extra embossing powder.) Sprinkle the embossing powder over the inked portions of your page.
When the entire page is covered, gently lift it off the tray and place it on your craft sheet. (Again, if you don’t have a tray, just lift the sheet off your working sheet of paper and place it on another clean sheet of paper.) Using your heat gun, apply heat to the embossing powder until it melts and adheres to the acrylic surface. Depending on the size and thickness of your acrylic sheet, some acrylic sheets may soften and bend slightly but do not be alarmed, place them flat to cool and you will find that they do revert back to the original after cooling. Do avoid holding the heat gun in place over any one spot for too long as that may cause the acrylic to over soften. Do watch your embossing powder and once you see signs of it beginning to melt, move the heat gun to another spot, working in this manner until all the powder has melted.
And voila! You have your finished product, an acrylic sheet embossed with the embossing powder of your choice. Peel off the protective film of the other side of the sheet and you will have one textured side and one glossy side, with both showing the glitter/shine of the embossing powder you used. Do note that you can even choose to stamp images using your clear/rubber stamps, and for the more ambitious, even try to achieve a stained glass effect with different coloured embossing powders. As can be seen from the finished sheet which I’ve held up to the light, it truly has a lovely translucent textured effect which will make your acrylic album very unique indeed.

Below are a couple of examples showing the cover page (both sides) of an acrylic album which I covered with embossing powder and heated, as well as a page where I stamped swirl images and heat embossed them, and defined them with Perfect Pearls.
And so that’s it from me today, this is Carol, signing off. Hope you have enjoyed this week’s tutorial, and I wanna see all your works posted in our Flickr page! Have a good rest of the week, and do remember to tune in again on Friday for our challenge of the week!

Meet Carol (again)

2010-01-11T04:00:00.000-08:00

She's been on our team for a good long while now and we're just tickled that she's stickin' around for another term. You've read her answers to the questionnaire before but now that we've updated our interview questions, we thought it would be fun to share her answers so you can get to know her just a little more...here is Carol Yeo (again)! LOL

Q-Tell us a bit about you & your family

A- I am still Mom to 2 wonderful kids, boy aged 8 and girl aged 4, and loving wife to my hubby who is extremely supportive of my scrapping. We celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary this past September and we chose to go skiing as a celebration, as we’ve never done that in our lives (we live in a tropical climate – it’s 90 deg F (30+ deg C) year round!) and so we have made plans to go during this winter season. Nowhere too exotic, though, for first timers, our destination will be Club Med Sahoro in Japan, and you all will be seeing pages on snow as this term continues! I can’t wait to scrap snow, honestly… As for work, yes, I still work 3 days a week, and while I know this brings balance to my life, still there are days I wish I had more time to do the things I want to do.

Q-Why do you scrapbook?

A- I started doing this because it looked fun. Truly, what else gives an adult a chance to make a mess with glitter and paint and still be legitimately occupied? Plus I like crafts, and playing with paper. I must confess I never scored well in Art while in school, and I blame it on the fact that I’m left handed and thus to write from left to right you either have to angle the paper, or your head, or both, and this way of looking at the world carried over to art class, and so my vases were always on the verge of tipping over and the bananas… well, let’s just say they didn’t look like any bananas that Nature created!! Back to the point of this, I discovered that with scrapbooking, it didn’t matter which hand I used, I could create works of art, which satisfied a need in me. Plus, I happened upon it at the time when my children were still young enough that I had the opportunity to use all the photographs I took to preserve their stories, and so I jumped wholeheartedly into this hobby and never looked back. Everything I’ve done, for myself and for them, will be my legacy to them.

Q-What is on your playlist right now?

A- So many things. I can’t wait to play more with embossing powders, glimmer mists, and glitter! Let’s see what comes out in the next 6 months.

Q-Where fuels your creative mojo?

A- Everywhere. I could get inspiration just driving the kids/husband/myself around, or even while going to the store. I get inspiration listening to music, a phrase or title will remain in my mind, and before you know it, a page will be forming around it. Coffee joints are always good for my mojo too – I love the smell of brewing coffee and particularly, Starbucks coffee, as those of you acquainted with my previous layouts will know.

Q-What projects are on your scrap table today?

A- I must be honest, and say nothing. I just returned from a nearly 3 week family vacation in Florida, and my table is heaped with all the scrap stuff I bought, yarn, magazines, paper packs… I do have, however, on my list of to dos, a December Daily album, Ali Edwards style. I hope to be able to complete it and show it off before this term ends….

Q-Which products are currently getting the most action in your layouts?

A- Robins Nest page pebbles, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists, and Prima flowers, pearls, and crystals. What can I say? I’m a bling kind of girl. Send them my way!!

Q-Tell us about one of your personality quirks (weird habits/rituals)

A-Ok, here goes. I’m a clean freak when it comes to my bed. I (and all others who come into contact with my bed) must be absolutely clean before getting onto, or into it. That means baths before bed, please! And no sitting on the bed with clothes that have come into contact with surfaces outside of the home. Hubby and children are all trained to change to houseclothes before getting on the bed if we are going to be sprawling there in the middle of the day.

Q-When you finish working on a layout, do you tidy up or walk away and leave the mess?

A- I tidy, for what it’s worth. Remember, though, that one woman’s definition of ‘tidy’ may be another’s definition of ‘mess’. My scrap area is never very tidy at the best of times, but I do put away the products that I pulled out to use, as well as clear any scraps, and keep tools that were used in the project before starting on another. I kinda like to start with a clean slate, if you know what I mean.

Q-Have you ever had a scrapbooking disaster? (spilled paint, burnt w/ heat gun?) and if so, were you able to rescue the destroyed layout?

A- Oh yes. Back in the early days of my scrapping, when my tools were still limited and I hadn’t yet bought my heat gun, I used to heat my embossing powders in the mini toaster oven that I had. The problem with this approach is that you invariably end up toasting the paper as well! That aside, I completely burnt the adhesive rubon I was using even before the embossing powder could melt, and it came out, well, weird, for want of a better word. In the end, I believe I tossed that as it had gone a funny colour, was neither sticky nor inkable, and completely unsalvageable. I bought a heat gun after that episode.

Q-If time stood still for just one day, what would you do with the time?

A- First, I would finish my December Daily album. Then I would do all my layouts. Then finish all the crochet projects I want to do. Drink a lot of coffee in between. And eat ice cream. Then I would make muffins, frosted cookies, and play lots with the kids. Go online and blog, play games, cook for the family, get a foot massage. Get my nails done. Read. Spend time with hubby. And go to bed happy.

Q- Please share three of your favorite layouts.

Challenge 158

2010-01-08T04:00:00.000-08:00

Well now, hasn't this been a mighty fine year so far?! I sure think so. I've revamped my lifestyle a little and have found a little more time than I'm accustomed to having. It's kind of decadent and I must say, it's feeling like it's here to stay!

Please remember to hit THIS post and give our January Guest Designer some love :) I know you've been checking out her layouts and I bet you're inspired by them just like I am...so be sure to share the link to your scraplifts in Stacy's intro post.

If you are feeling like 2010 is the time for you to get off the fence and actually participate in our challenges, by all means read the finer details HERE. Juicy tidbits to be found in that post, I promise!

Alright. Enough jibber jabber. On with the challenge! This week, we're enjoying a fun sketch that I must admit had me stumped for a while. I just wasn't feelin' the mojo but then all of a sudden it hit me. Inspiration fell from the heavens like a bag of bricks, kickstarting my most creative vibes and I'm feeling like I created something pretty fab, if I do say so myself. Check out the sketch & the team's work and don't forget to upload to the Flickr Group. We wanna see you win!

Eva

Elly
Stacy

Before I forget...

2010-01-07T22:12:00.001-08:00

We need to announce the winner of our NOVEMBER challenges (I think it's entirely possible that the holidays might have been to blame for this slightly tardy post!)

Jenneke Knol for her layout, Lovebirds!!

Jenneke, please email me at info {at} lotuspaperie {dot} com with your mailing address.

For those of you who have not yet received your prizes, I will be sending those out. I apologize for the delay. Again, holiday obligations got in the way!

Tuesday Tutorials

2010-01-05T06:44:00.000-08:00

Hey gang,
meant to have a tutorial for you but had fun with a shredded flat tire and my youngest son with a nasty ear ache. Sorry I don't have anything for ya this week :(

Challenge 157

2010-01-01T04:00:00.000-08:00

Wow. Two thousand and ten. Is it just me or does time past a wee bit faster as we get older?? I can't wrap my head around starting yet another decade. I guess it does bring with it lots of possibilities and opportunity but it does get ya thinking about how you used the last one, doesn't it??

One of my fave things about this time of year (and the art of scrapbooking, actually) is that it forces you to just pause. Not to stop, but pause and observe your surroundings and reflect. Absorb the details. Let it all sink in. Not a bad way to operate, really. A little accountability for one's use of time. Now, myself I'm not one for wasting time so why don't we get down to business...the real reason you're reading today's post. You want to know what the challenge is, right??? Well, before I tell you that, first let me remind you that we introduced January's Guest Designer, Stacy Stone yesterday. Go HERE to read about her and to take a stab at lifting one of her layouts. Post the links to your lifts in the comments section of that post.

Also, if you want to get in on the challenges, read THIS and get the scoop!

Okay, enough of that. Here's the deal...this week's challenge is to

USE JOURNALING STAMPS MULTIPLE TIMES ON YOUR LAYOUT

Meet Stacy

2009-12-31T04:00:00.000-08:00

A new year, a new month and of course a new Guest Designer! Avina brought December some wonderful layouts and it was such a delight having her with us...and now it's time for her to gracefully exit stage left as we welcome January 2010's Guest Designer, Stacy Stone!! Stacy has been around lurking in the wings of the blog for a long time. She's one of the few people on my friends list on FB who I've never actually met. I bet she'd be about as fun in person as she is online though.

Q-Tell us a bit about you & your family

A-I am married to my BFF Randy going on 12 years we have 3 beautiful kids 2 boys and a girl we live in Central Alberta i am a mostly stay at home mom i work casual at the local hospital as a lab assistant

Q-Why do you scrapbook?

A-when i was growing up i always asked alot of questions about when i was born and when i was little all the things you could think of i asked my mom never knew the answers she did not keep track i wanted those questions answered for my children besides the fact that i am a creative person and need an outlet

Q-What is on your playlist right now?

A-love various kinds of music country, classical even the young stuff love miley cyrus taylor swift those girls are so cute and talented

Q-Where fuels your creative mojo?

A- good pictures!! i have a photographer for a sister so she helps! I also recently purchased a canon rebel also helps

Q-What projects are on your scrap table today?

A-9 calendars for christmas presents 3 all about me books for my kids for christmas

Q-Which products are currently getting the most action in your layouts?

A-love october afternoon, amy butler paper or material love some independants like evalicious!

Q-Tell us about one of your personality quirks (weird habits/rituals)

A-i like to talk alot not much for adult conversation in my house when i am around others adults i talk alot!!!

Q-When you finish working on a layout, do you tidy up or walk away and leave the mess?

A-most of the time i walk away incase i am not finished

Q-Have you ever had a scrapbooking disaster? (spilled paint, burnt w/ heat gun?) and if so, were you able to rescue the destroyed layout?

A-yes i had a candle burning and did not notice my big plastic container to hold finished layouts was above quit messy noticed it before any real damage was done

Q-If time stood still for just one day, what would you do with the time?

A-breathe spend time with my kids and hopefully its a good moment where everyone is getting along lol

Q- Please share three of your favorite layouts.

Meet Eva

2009-12-30T04:00:00.000-08:00

In the craziness of December I completely forgot to post Eva's introduction post!! Ack! What a faux-pas! Here's the lovely Eva::

Q-Tell us a bit about you & your family

A- Hi! My name is Eva, I’m 28 and I’ve been married for 3 years now, I live in Italy but my family lives in Chile. I try to go there at least 2 times a year because its really hard for me to stay away from them. My husband is the best and he always make me feel loved and tries to make up for the long distance that separates me from my family! I consider myself a very happy person. I love to read, cook, spend time with family and friends, go to the beach and take long walks.

Q-Why do you scrapbook?

A- I scrapbook because I want to keep my memories alive and because for me it’s a way to express my emotions and find answers to my problems. Through journaling I often give vent to my feelings and I’m able to express gratitude and love for the people in my life.

Q-What is on your playlist right now?

A- Right now on my Ipod there’s a mix of Ne-yo, Mariah Carey, Taylor Swift and Bryan Adams… a bit of everything!

Q-Where fuels your creative mojo?

A- I surf the web A LOT! I also look at fashion magazines and search for color combos and sketches.

Q-What projects are on your scrap table today?

A- I’m currently working on a mini album of a trip to Tuscany my husband, my sister and I did in June. I’m also working on Christmas cards, gifts, tags and decorations! I’m really really late this year!

Q-Which products are currently getting the most action in your layouts?

A- Right know I’m a Ki memories fan. I love their bright colors and their designs. I also love thickers and my sewing machine.

Q-Tell us about one of your personality quirks (weird habits/rituals)

A- Sometimes when I’m walking I try not to step the lines in the sidewalk…

Q-When you finish working on a layout, do you tidy up or walk away and leave the mess?

A- Unfortunately I don’t have a scraproom, in Italy apartments are really small and I have to use my living room table to scrap. I have all my things in an Ikea shelf and every time I want to do something I have to put everything on the table and then tidy up everything. I’m kind of constrained to tidy up, but if I could I would leave a everything on the table and tidy up once a week!

Q-Have you ever had a scrapbooking disaster? (spilled paint, burnt w/ heat gun?) and if so, were you able to rescue the destroyed layout?

A- Luckily I’ve never had a “big disaster”, I tried once to use a clear stamp with acrylics…. It didn’t work an the result was a very ugly and partial stamp. I had to repeat the stamp and the result was a mass of white acrylic with no shape… I left it that way… it doesn’t matter to me because when I see the LO I immediately look at the photo and remember the moment and that’s all that counts to me!

Q-If time stood still for just one day, what would you do with the time?

A- I would wake up at around 9 and I would do breakfast in the couch with a blanket while I watch cartoons (Early in the morning I don’t want to think so much so cartoons are perfect!) Then I would tidy up just a little bit so I don’t feel bad all day. If it’s sunny outside I would take a walk or ride my bike for about 40 minutes otherwise I would stay at home and I would search the web for scrapbooking and crafts sites. I would eat something fast and then I would use my time to do a LO, some cards, a sewing project or something sweet like a cake or cookies.

Q- Please share three of your favorite layouts.

A- These are my favourite LO’s.

This is one of my firsts LO’s. The picture was taken 3 days before our marriage in our favourite beach and every time I look at the LO I remember that important step in my life.

This one is the “disastrous” one… The stamp on the bottom right corner is all messy and it doesn’t look very good, but it’s fine to me! I also like the color combo in this LO.

I just have so much fun with this LO! I embossed every heart and all the yellow cardstock.

Tuesday Tutorials

2009-12-29T04:00:00.000-08:00

Hello :)

Ever since I've discovered mists and all the things you can do with them I've been hooked. The possibilities are endless and simple to achieve.

There are a few different brands out there. These are the ones I have. Tattered Angels, Maya Mists and my homemade Perfect Pearls Mist that I will give you the recipe for at the end of the tutorial.

One of my favourite things to do is to use negative pieces of chipboard as masks, so don't throw out your chipboard negatives!

Here is an example I did using the negative circle chipboard and the Tattered Angels mist (brick).

Here's a layout using this technique...
After spraying the Tattered Angels mist (brick), instead of just letting the mist dry on the chipboard I flipped it over and kind of stamped the extra ink on to paper. I love the distressed look of it and it would look great on a tag.

To use the negative chipboard that has multiple shapes when you only want to use one shape, mask off the ones you don't want with scrap paper.

Here I'm going to use a few colours for more texture. I also like to use scrap paper or my notebook to spray on. I lay my tag or whatever I'm spraying on top and put it all into a cardboard box to protect my work area.

I started by spraying the entire tag with Maya Mist (gold metallic) before I laid the chipboard piece onto it.

I then sprayed the Tattered Angels mist (brick) over most of the tag adding some Maya Mist (silver metallic) and a touch of Adirondack colour wash (Espresso). Just play with your colours and see what you get.

You can also use the mists to cover your chipboard with a quick spray. They dry quickly and it's a fast easy way to cover raw chipboard for your layouts.

This is why I use scrap paper or notebook paper behind my projects. You can use this as a background on a layout.

I also love to use the mists to add a touch of colour to layouts, just spray directly to the background using your eye to imagine where it would look good. My layout for this Friday will show another example of this.

Here's the recipe for your homemade mist...

You need:

Spray bottle (mini misters, or you can purchase small spray bottles at Michael's at the same price but 3xs the size, that's what I use)

perfect pearls

distress die re-inker

water

Using a Popsicle stick, add a scoop or two of perfect pearls to your bottle, if you are using a bottle larger than the mini misters you will have to add more. Add a full test tube of re-inker to your bottle. As before, if your bottle is larger than the mini misters you will need more ink. Fill the bottle almost full with water and shake the bottle to mix. You can add more of the perfect pearls or ink after you have mixed it if you think your mister needs more glimmer or more colour. Just shake the bottle to mix again.

Have fun playing :)

Challenge 156

2009-12-25T04:00:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!! I hope Santa has been good to you all. :)

We have another sketch for you and the Design Team has rocked it out once again. All the information to play along is here. If you would like to lift a layout by our Guest Designer, Avina, that is here.

Tania
Vanessa
Gudrun
Eva

Carol

Elly

Avina

Tuesday Tutorials

2009-12-22T04:00:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!
I don’t know where you live, but here in Italy scrapbooking products are really expensive… Shipping costs from the USA are even worse so I try to find ways to make my own embellishments, tools and also stamps! Today I’m going to show you two ways you can make your own stamps spending just a few dollars.

The first stamp is like a foam stamp, to do it you will need:

Craft foam by the sheet (you could also use the foam that comes with some mouse pads)
Design, you can draw your own design or print one. Choose a design with no so many details otherwise it will be difficult to cut. If the design isn’t symmetric you will have to reflect the image before you print it.
Pencil
Scissors
Wood or polystyrene
Adhesive
1) With a pencil, redraw your design and place the paper with the design side down on your foam

2) rub the pencil marks with your finger to transfer the design

3) Cut the design with scissors or a craft knife.

4) Adhere the stamp on the piece of wood, polystyrene or acetate.

5) Stamp!

When I started scrapbooking I made two complete alphabets with this technique!
For the other type of stamp you will need:
Carving Block (I search the internet and I saw one called Speedball in pink)
Carving tools
Design (your own or printed, make sure to reflect the image before you print it if needed.)
Pencil
Scissors or craft knife
Wood or polystyrene
Adhesive

1) With a pencil, redraw your design and place the paper with the design side down on your carving block

2) Rub the pencil marks with your finger to transfer the design

3) Carve around the lines of your design, start with the smaller ones to get into
small areas or for adding details.

4) Use the bigger ones to carve larger areas.

5) Cut the stamp leaving half and inch all around the design.
6) Adhere to the wood or polystyrene with double side tape or another type of adhesive.

7) ink up the stamp and do a trial test. If you’re not satisfied with the results continue carving

I hope you like this two techniques! I would love to see your own stamps! Leave a comment with the link if you make some!
Merry Christmas to all!
Eva

Challenge 155

2009-12-18T04:00:00.000-08:00

This week we are challenging you to

scrap a page without a photo!

I had these tickets laying around from a fun night with my girls but no photos. I still wanted to save the memory. There are lots of memories without photos that I want to save and have always left them unscrapped because I had no photos, but I don't have to... and neither do you. Lets see what you have!

All the info to join our challenges is here.

If you are looking to lift Avina's layouts go here.

Tania

Vanessa
Gudrun Carol

Eva

Elly

Avina

Tuesday Tutorials

2009-12-15T04:00:00.000-08:00

This week's amazing tutorial is brought to you by one of our newest DT members, Elly Burian! Oh yeah, we're super excited to see what she has in store for us this week...looks like fun!
***********************************************************************************

ever since i was a little girl i have loved miniature things. whether it be the dollhouse that i spent hours with, arranging and rearranging, to the silly tchotchkes that came out of bubblegum machines in the 80s. so when i heard of something smaller than ATCs that people were trading, i had to look into it!

inchies are fantastic and very versatile. you can trade them, like ATCs, tuck them inside an envelope for a sweet treat, add them to cards or layouts for a special new look.

first, gather your materials. there are two great things about inchies. one, they are perfect for using up scraps of great paper that you just can't bear to throw away but otherwise don't necessarily use.

two, they're wonderful to use any smaller stamps you may have in sets that aren't big enough for cards on their own. Hero Arts has a bunch of the smaller sets that are perfect for making little scenes with inchies! and Inkadinkado makes a few sets specifically FOR inchies!

also great to have at hand are glue dots for a bit of dimension and pop dots for even more dimension. my small paper cutter is also always in use when i am making inchies.

inchies can be stamped and cut, or cut and stamped. this means that you can create your artwork first and then trim your piece to an inch square, or you can cut your paper to an inch square first and then decorate it! as a tip, what might help to frame your little works of art would be to take a piece of cardboard or even thick cardstock, get a 1" square punch and create a little frame that you can peek through to see how your inchies are taking shape! a 1" square punch is obviously the easiest way to cut out inchies as well!

paper piecing is one of my favorite techniques to use with inchies. first you stamp onto your base paper, usually the inchie itself. then, you re-stamp it onto a coordinating paper and cut the pieces out and pop dot them onto the base image! in this case, the pieces are often quite tiny, so it's best to have some precision scissors to work with. it gives the inchies extra character and dimension.

inchies add the perfect touch to a card. they can be plain, without stamping or other decoration, to showcase some gorgeous paper.

or, you can use one inchie to set a little scene for a great greeting.

i also love to incorporate them into layouts – they are especially great for titles.

at work, at home, anywhere. fast and easy - good for a creativity boost or massaging your mojo. to keep your creative juices flowing, set five minutes aside and do one every day! i even did two at work today with materials lying on my desk!

they're perfect for a short scrapping session, and you can incorporate them into a layout or card if you have more time. you can show off the paper itself or the many stamps you may have, if you're like me. all in all, they're wonderful little pieces of art to create and share.

Meet Elly!

2009-12-14T04:00:00.000-08:00

Well, it took a little while to carve out the time to get the new ladies' introductions ready for you but finally, lo and behold...we have an intro! You've seen the work of our new design team for a few weeks and now here's a chance to get to know one of our newest members, Elly Burian. She has a vibrant, quirky style that is truly eye catching and just thing to wake up your sleepy mojo! Here she is, Elly::

Q-Tell us a bit about you & your family

A- I’m a single gal with an amazing set of parents (Ron and Jennifer), a bratty little brother (Caleb) who managed to marry a wonderful girl (Andrea), and two fantastic kitties. I work at a fantastic company in Middleton, WI that manufactures theatrical lighting. When I’m not scrapbooking or making cards, I read science fiction and play a lot of World of Warcraft (8 level 80s and counting!).

Q-Why do you scrapbook?

A- I scrapbook because I get these little restless goblins in me that are only released when I am being creative. Goblin build up can be very dangerous – they have very sharp teefs!

Q-What is on your playlist right now?

A- Tactical Sekt, Suicide Commando, The Cure, Bauhaus, Joy Division, Switchblade Symphony, Johnny Cash, Funker Vogt, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sisters of Mercy, She Wants Revenge, etc.

Q-What fuels your creative mojo?

A- Mostly color. I am attracted like crazy to bright, bright colors. Also I like to make little stories up in my head about things, especially my cats, as it sort of gives me an excuse to scrap them constantly.

Q-What projects are on your scrap table today?

A- To keep my sanity, I have to clean up my small scrapping area after every crafty session, otherwise the mess gets to me. However, I have many projects waiting in the wings to be pulled out and completed.

Q-Which products are currently getting the most action in your layouts?

A- Sassafras Lass papers reign supreme in my favourites at the moment.

Q-Tell us about one of your personality quirks (weird habits/rituals)

A- I get up daily around 4:30am. I don’t have to be up – I don’t work until 9am. I just can’t sleep past 4:30am or thereabouts.

Q-When you finish working on a layout, do you tidy up or walk away and leave the mess?

A- If I’m done scrapping for the night, I completely clean up my area (which is merely my coffee table) and put it all away. If I don’t, my mental space becomes too cluttered.

Q-Have you ever had a scrapbooking disaster? (spilled paint, burnt w/ heat gun?) and if so, were you able to rescue the destroyed layout?

A- I haven’t really had anything major happen. I have had a lot of smaller “happy accidents”, of course, but the easiest thing to do is just roll with it – I don’t get upset over making mistakes, no one is perfect and it’s not worth getting hung up on.

Q-If time stood still for just one day, what would you do with the time?

A- I would go to one of those child-themed restaurants and play in the ball pit! And then I would do a grand garden gnome exchange – take everyone’s garden gnomes, mix them all up and return random gnomes to random houses.

Q- Please share three of your favourite layouts.

Time to choose a favorite!

2009-12-13T10:43:00.000-08:00

Okay gang, it's voting time!! We've selected three finalists and YOU get to decide who is the favorite for November's challenges. You will have until Dec 27th to make your selection and don't forget to tell the world about this contest. We want to see big numbers. We want voters who've never been to this blog before. Promote your spot in the finals and encourage everyone you know to vote! Let's do this!!

Here are your finalists...

Love Birds
Jenneke Knol

Size 14
Beautifullily

La Liga
Bealitt

Challenge 154

2009-12-11T04:00:00.000-08:00

Well, we've got a bit of a slim week of layouts this time, I'm afraid. Carol is on hiatus and Gudrun is unable to participate this week too...Bummer. Miss you guys!

This week's challenge is a great sketch that is super versatile and I, for one, really enjoyed working with it. Get a load of Elly's layout...she rotated it a quarter turn and got a completely different layout. Love that!

Don't forget, we want to see your layouts so if you aren't sure how to participate, go HERE to get the scoop and if you like a little extra challenge, go to THIS POST and scraplift one of Avina's layouts. Good times!

Eva

Tuesday Tutorials

2009-12-08T04:00:00.000-08:00

Hello, welcome to my first tutorial here on Lotus Paperie! :)

I thought since it's that time of year with Christmas being a couple of weeks away I would show you how to make a paperback tree. These have been around for years and are super easy to make, in fact my kids and I will be making them as soon as their Christmas break starts.

Supplies:

-a paperback book, mine is a french/english dictionary from the thrift store (my daughter wants to use an old music book!)
-exacto knife
-dry adhesive (not shown)

and for the sparkles if you want them:

-glue
-glitter (I used Making Memories copper)

To start carefully tear the cover off of your paperback book. I tore right to the first page that was full of writing so my entire tree looked the same. Count out 30-35 pages (depending on how full you want your tree to look, I used 30 pages but my book was small).

Now pull out your exacto knife and cut out through the spine the pages you just counted. Count out the same amount once again and cut these ones out of the book too.

Your counted pages should look something like this...

Now making sure the spine is facing left start folding the pages. First pull the top corner down and line it up with the spine of the book. Make a fold.
Take the page and fold it lining up to the spine again, like a paper airplane.

The little corner sticking down needs to be folded up so the tree can eventually stand. Finish folding every page.

Now start folding the second booklet of counted pages. Make sure your spine is facing the right this time and fold all the pages the exact same way.

Your pages should look something like this when they are all folded. The tree looks really cute like this or you can add some bling.

Hold the folded pages together like this and layer on the glue onto just the edges that have been folded.

Dump or drag the glued up part in or through glitter or sparkles of your choice. Now pull apart each folded glittered up edge from the other so they don't stick together when they are dry.

Now it's time to put your tree together. Take one half of your tree and apply lots of dry adhesive to both ends of your folded pages.

Stick them together.

And your tree is finished!

I would LOVE to see your versions of this. Link up your trees to this post! :)

Challenge 153

2009-12-04T04:00:00.000-08:00

Oh what a thrill! We have our brand new Design Team to introduce to you! Over the next short while (in between challenges, our new tutorials feature and all the voting) we'll give you a chance to get to know each of our amazing designers one by one.

If you are new and would like to participate in our challenges, go here to get the lowdown on how it all works!

For this week's challenge, I was a little reluctant. I wanted to go back into the (way too large) stash of supplies and dust off something from waaaaay back. The good ol' foam stamps. But I was kinda concerned that they'd look dated. Out of "fashion". But y'know what? I was beyond tickled...I was jumping up and down happy. I forgot about how great these stamps are!! When we moved to Whitehorse and I set up my studio, one of the things it was lacking was plumbing so if I ever dared to use paints, I'd always get stuck hauling the mess into the house to clean it up. (Not as fun as it sounds) so truly, as much as I love paints & foam stamps, avoided using them. But now, I'm set up in the house and I'm not afraid of the paints anymore. I think this challenge reminded me to dig into the supplies archives and bust out some old-school goodness. Why don't you give it a try...

USE FOAM STAMPS

Vanessa

Once the paint dried, I couldn't resist just a little bit of stickles (for sparkle, of course)

Tania

Carol
(Carol is taking a short 2 week hiatus...she's been on the team a looooong time and deserves a break!)

Gudrun

Eva

Elly

Avina

Meet Avina!

2009-12-02T04:00:00.000-08:00

Another month down and can you believe that we're on the final month of 2009?!?! It seems like I just got used to writing 2009 and now I've got to get the hang of 2010. Sheesh, time sure moves fast, doesn't it?

Well, our previous designer, Dena Coe brought us some unbelievable layouts throughout November and we are sad to see her go. Thanks Dena, for all your awesomeness. We truly loved having you on our team and hope that you will be back to participate in challenges with us along with the rest of our wonderful readers!!

Now that December has begun...we have a new Guest Designer to welcome to the team. Avina Lim (AKA Brainybairn!). You may recognize her name in brackets as a regular particpant in our Flickr challenges. We've seen her gorgeous layouts appear over and over and she's been a finalist as well! This is really exciting to have her join us in our challenges for December. We are looking forward to seeing what wonderful artwork she'll produce in the coming weeks and welcome her warmly to our team of new & returning designers.

She shares a bit about herself, her creative process and a few favorite layouts as well. Sadly we are no longer offering the scraplift contest but still invite you to scraplift her layouts anyway and please do share the links to your work in the comments section below.

Get to know her a little::

Q:Tell us a bit about you and your family.

A: I'm a FTWM with 1 little one who's often the subject of my scrapbooking endeavours. I have an extremely supportive husband who understands that scrapbooking is my source of entertainment and a creative outlet that allows me to de-stress.

Q: How long have you been scrapbooking and where did you get your start in this craft?

A: I started off as a card maker but stumbled upon scrapbooking while looking for a LSS that sold Sizzix dies about 2 – 3 years ago. It was through this that I got to teach at a LSS. But I would say that I went into scrapbooking full swing this year.

Q:What inspires your creativity when you are scrapbooking?

A: All sorts of craft! I especially love flipping through vintage craft books and looking at crafts of yesteryear. I'm also inspired by advertisements I see and other people's work!

Q:Describe your creative style

A:I dabble in almost all styles but probably do vintage or clean lines with more ease. But that sounds like an oxymoron, right? LOL! With vintage layout, I tend to go with the flow when I scrap with minimal planning and they usually turn out nice. With clean lines, I can't go with the flow and need to plan BUT I do them a lot faster and I do get compliments for those layouts so that would be considered good too!

Q:What are your three favorite products/techniques right now?

A: 1. Mists 2. Stickles 3. Inks! With all these, anything can be modified to make it your own!

Q:What project(s) are you currently working on?

A: To stay on top of the housework so I can get more scrapping done! LOL!

Q:Describe your perfect day

A: The day where the housework would get miraculously done and I have all the time in the world to play with my family and scrap!

Q:What are your three favorite layouts of all time that you’ve created (published or not)?

Tuesday Tutorials

2009-12-01T04:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our first of many amazing, inspiring tutorials! Join us every Tuesday for a look at new (or maybe just forgotten) tricks & techniques! We'll share things that are perfect for your layouts and your home! In honor of all things crafty, our tutorials will show you just how to make some of the cool goodies our crafty little brains come up with...things from paper crafts to fabric based treasures. We hope that the how-to's get your mojo movin' and of course, we want to see what you do with this amazing know-how! So without further ado, let's get down to it.

This week's tutorial is a really simple one. In fact, this is one of the very first tricks I learned when I was brand new to scrapbooking...it's one of those "oldies but goodies" ones that I go to over and over.

HANDMADE PHOTO CORNERS

Materials::

printed paper
bone folder
scissors
adhesive
paper trimmer

How to::

Here's the scoop. Cut out as many squares as you want corners.
I prefer to use either 1 1/2" or 2" squares.

Fold each one diagonally, tip to tip.
Unfold and fold the other side, tip to tip.

Once you've folded all squares, you should have an "X" folded
into each of your paper squares.
Making a note of which quarter of the squares
you want to be the 'front' of the photo sqare, you'll cut out the quarter opposite.

Now that they're all cut (there should be a triangle missing out of each square),
you'll grab your glue pen or another adhesive that lets you work in small spaces.
Fold one of the triangle flaps to the inside.
Apply adhesive and fold the other flap overtop and adhere.

You should have a pocket left over and
this is where your photo will be tucked into.

Now, before you go sticking these corners onto your page all willy-nilly, here's a tip:: tuck them all onto the photo before you apply adhesive. Once they're all in place on the photo, glue the back and ensure that they're all on straight. When you're happy with the placement of the corners, now you can go ahead and stick everything down to your page.

I love this technique, it allows me to use photo corners that coordinate perfectly with my layout no matter how unusual the colors/prints being used. I hope you enjoyed this quick tutorial. Please share links to your layouts featuring this technique! Thanks for joining me and we'll see ya back here on Friday for the next challenge!

We have a winner!

2009-11-30T20:59:00.000-08:00

Petra Coolen!! Your layout was voted the winner!! Hooray! Please email me (info [at] lotuspaperie dot com) with your mailing info so we can send you your prize! Thanks to everyone for all your votes. It was a super close race! We want to see more of your amazing artwork, everyone. Keep participating! We love it!

Challenge 152

2009-11-27T04:00:00.000-08:00

This Friday marks the last week for our current team. Although change is always exciting it's hard to say goodbye. I know this is something we say each time our Design Team switches hands, but it is so true. Thank-you for all the inspiration gals. :)

edited: If you want to stay in touch with our retiring designers, just scroll down and you'll find a list of all their names in the sidebar. Just click and *presto* you're there!

Before we get started I want to remind you that you still have a couple of more days to lift our Guest Designer, Dena's layouts. Here's the link to that challenge. Also, all the info for the challenges can be found here.

We have another sketch for you. :)

Tania
Vanessa

Marit

journaling :)

Keely

Keandra

Tania D.

Gudrun

Carol

Dena

2009-11-26T04:00:00.000-08:00

Oh this is so exciting! We've selected our new design team and we're just bursting at the seams to tell ya who is going to be bringing you weeks and weeks of inspiring creative magic starting December 4!! It was, as always, very difficult to narrow down the applicants but boy, the gals who are on board for the next term are gonna knock your socks off. Two of them you know already and two are new!

Over the next short while, we'll be introducing each of these ladies to you (or re-introducing them, as the case may be) and by December 4th, we'll be rockin' the new challenges. You won't want to miss out.

But, before we tell you who's on the team, we want to send a GIANT shout out to all the talented ladies who did apply. Your work was lovely and we are blessed to have so many of you share it with us in your applications. We hope that you will be regular participants in our weekly challenges and look forward to getting to know you and your art a little more.

So here they are, our very international Design Team!

Eva Pizarro
Italy

Elly Burian
USA

Gudrun Loennecken
Norway

Carol Yeo
Singapore

Challenge 151

2009-11-20T04:00:00.000-08:00

Check it out!!

We are still accepting submissions to be on the Design Team until 9pm pacific time tonight! So get those last minute submissions in, we wanna see them! The info for that is here.

There is still some time to lift Dena's layouts here. Some very inspiring stuff you might want to check out!

While you are here, please take a minute to vote on your favourite layout for the month of October here.

It's time for the challenge. This week we challenge you to

use the packaging your supplies came in!

I am so excited to share what the DT did with it this week and equally excited to see what you come up with. Here's all the info you need to know to join our challenges.

Tania

packaging used as frame

packaging before

Vanessa
(I don't actually have to tell you what packaging was used here, do I? LOL)

Carol

Gudrun

Marit

packaging

Keandra

packaging #1

Packaging #2

Keely

Tania D.

Dena

packaging

Time to choose a favorite!

2009-11-19T17:19:00.000-08:00

Oh yes people! It's that time :) We had a really hard time choosing favorites for this one. By the way, when did you guys all get so awesome, anyway?

So here's the scoop :: Vote on your favorite in the poll on the sidebar. The winner will be announced in early December.

Wanna see the finalists for October's challenges? Here ya go!

PetraCoolen

Nerllybird

Patricia.Vangelder

So tell everyone to come over and cast a vote. You have till Nov 26 to make your selection.

A massive thank you to each of the wonderful artists whose submissions were in the pool. We appreciate all of your contributions and want to see more! Don't be discouraged if your layout isn't chosen. We try really hard to be fair :)

Good luck to the finalists.

Challenge 150

2009-11-13T04:00:00.000-08:00

Oh no. I'm so bad. I don't have a layout for this week! I have so many irons in the fire with craft shows & now photography clients that my time has fizzled away to absolutely nothing! Please forgive me, my faithful blog readers. I hate it when life happens and I can't get any scrapping done. Not my favorite thing.

But, on with what we can do and that is show you what everyone else has created. I'm sad to not have had a chance to use this week's sketch because I made it and really like the concept. I'm plotting to use the boys' school photos for this layout I think. We'll see...

We've got the fabulous Dena Coe with us this month and her layouts are just to die for! While you're reading this week's post, don't forget to make a plan to scraplift her layouts in THIS POST. Upload the link to your lift of Dena's work in the comments section of the introduction post.

And the biggest news of all, we're on the hunt for a fresh Design Team. Wanna get the lowdown? Go HERE and find out all the details of being on our team. We're accepting applications until the 20th so don't delay, email us your applications right away!

So here it is. This week's challenge. A great, versatile sketch. Remember, when using sketches you can rotate it a quarter turn and completely reinvent the whole layout. Try it and see what happens!

Oh, and before I forget, if you've never participated in our challenges, get the lowdown on how it all works here. You should have most if not all of your questions answered there. If you still have questions after checking out our FAQ, please email me {info at lotuspaperie dot com}.

Tania L

Gudrun

Keely

Carol
Tania D
Keandra
Marit
Dena

Hooray! We have a winner!!

2009-11-09T08:15:00.000-08:00

Brainybairn! You're our winner!! WOOT!

The readership has chosen their winner from the finalists featured on the top right hand side of the blog and now that voting has closed and votes are tallied....we're done! Brainybairn, please email me at info at lotuspaperie dot com and I'll package up your winnings and get 'em into the post for you this week! Congrats :)

Thanks to everyone for participating. We'll do it again very soon (we've got October's faves to post next!) so see ya back here again for another round.

Challenge 149

2009-11-06T04:00:00.000-08:00

Well hello again! Another Friday is upon us and with it comes a little pre-holiday craziness. I am up to my eyeballs in newly-crafted paper goodies for the craft show circuit this year and can't seen to crank 'em out fast enough...taking the morning to create this week's layout was a welcome change of pace. I have been stewing on my page concept for this one for a while and I gotta tell ya, this is probably my favorite recent challenge.

If you're new to our challenges, we recommend that you check out THIS STUFF to help you get the hang of how we do this.

Also, remember to join our network. Click HERE to take you there to create your profile and share your artwork...and not just your challenge layouts! Share everything :) Meet our team and make new friends :)

We've got the lovely Dena Coe with us this month - be sure to get in on the scraplift contest here- and her page is sure to inspire you!

Don't forget, we're also looking for a whole new crew of designers and we want YOU! Check out the full scoop HERE and don't miss the deadline. The next session is going to be bursting with unbelievable creative genius and you definitely will enjoy each and every challenge and activity! There's even a few new things coming up...

Okay. On to the serious business of Challenge Friday.

USE A COFFEE FILTER ON YOUR PAGE

detail

detail

detail

Tania D
Marit detail
Dena

Meet Dena

2009-11-01T04:00:00.000-08:00

This is always so sad...saying farewell to one Guest Designer so we can make room for a new one. Thanks so much for sharing such personal and creative pages, Dani! We loved having you on the team and we hope you stick around and participate in our challenges!

We will be reviewing all the entries in the Scraplift contest of Dani's pages shortly and we're starting another one for November's designer. Speaking of whom, meet Dena Coe. I found her when reading updates on my FB for Webster's Pages (I think it was Websters pages??) and instantly fell in love with her work. She has graciously answered our standard Guest Designer questionnaire below and has also shared three of her favorite layouts. We invite you to scraplift her layouts and upload the link to your version in the comments section below. You have ALL MONTH to share your version so don't delay! Get your work in the running for a wonderful freebie!

So here she is, Dena Coe

Q:Tell us a bit about you and your family.

A: I am a stay at home mom to my 8 year old daughter Zoe. She keeps me ever so busy and on my toes. My man works hard in an office during the day and plays drums in a heavy metal cover band at night. I get to help be his roadie sometimes!

Q: How long have you been scrapbooking and where did you get your start in this craft?

A: I started scrapbooking when Zoe was about 3 years old. My sister dragged me to my first class at a now defunct local scrapbook store. I always giggle when I look at those first layouts with their star shaped photos! I was immediately hooked though and have been head over heels in love with scrapbooking ever since.

Q:What inspires your creativity when you are scrapbooking?

A: I am inspired mostly between my photos and my paper. It starts with those two things for me. But I love to glean inspiration from wherever I can. From websites to billboards to CD covers. It also helps to have some amazing friends who inspire you creatively on a daily basis!

Q:Describe your creative style

A: I would say I am all over the place. I can scrap shabby chic and muted tones one day and the next day switch it up and use bright funky colors and be throwing paint everywhere. My pages tend to reflect my mood.

Q:What are your three favorite products/techniques right now?

A: 3 favorite products would have to be Shimmerz Tuscan Sun Spritz, Webster's Pages Postcards from Paris line and anything Prima!

A: I am all about spritzing my products right now. I love the funky iridescent look it gives to your pages and embellishments. And I am hopelessly addicted to my craft knife and Cutterbee scissors. I love to cut intricate designs out.

Q:What project(s) are you currently working on?

A: I just finished up 4 projects for Scarlet Lime Kits and am going to be working on some fun stuff for Webster's Pages.

Q:Describe your perfect day

A: I get to sleep in til noon. Wake up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee and bacon. Get to stay in my jammies all day and curl up with a blanket and a good book. And a back massage somewhere in there would be nice!

Q:What are your three favorite layouts of all time that you’ve created (published or not)?

A:

Geez that is a hard one! But here are some that make me smile!

Challenge 148

2009-10-30T04:00:00.000-07:00

Hello! :)

We are challenging you with a sketch this week. If you would like to play and don't know all there is to know about our challenges there is a post here to fix that for you. :)

If you are a speedy scrapper you still have a day or so to lift Dani's layouts here. There are prizes :)

And last, but certainly not least, we have a Design Team call out. If you would like to join our team and push your art to the limit, then this is for you. Here is the call and all it's glorious details! :)

Ready?? Here's the layouts from our wonderful Design Team.

Tania
Vanessa

Carol

detail, Carol used glimmer mist on her lace, it was white before.

Gudrun

Tania D

Keely

Keandra made a mini album

Marit

detail

Dani

Wanna be on the Team?

2009-10-28T18:00:00.000-07:00

Hey check it out! It's time for a new design team to spend their time with us for a few months of creative magic and we want YOU! Our current team wraps up their term at the end of November and I know there are more fabulous, talented scrappers out there just itching for a turn with our team. The next term runs for six months from December to May. Interested?

Read the stuff below to find out the details of the Open Call...
***********************************************************************
You are:
creative, passionate, committed and know the importance of deadlines and also that your best work is what you want others to know you by.

You love your art and the excitement of sharing it with others. You also understand that as much as you like receiving praise for a job well done that others do too and are eager to share the love. You are social, positive and enthusiastic...even when you're not really feelin' it.

We (Lotus Paperie) are:
first and foremost, a business but we understand that it's the people who make our business. We openly welcome all your ideas and suggestions, and are eager to make being on the Design Team as positive an experience as humanly possible for all involved. We are deeply committed to bringing creativity & joy to the lives of those who share in our passion for paper arts and all forms of crafting and have great respect for what others share with us. We are a warm and grateful group and eagerly anticipate growing the Lotus Paperie Team!

To make a submission you will need to email the following:
-3 of your best pages, one of which needs to be brand new (never ever published anywhere) and created from the sketch found at the bottom of this post. Please only submit your sketch-inspired layout to this call and we politely request that you refrain from publishing it elsewhere until you hear back as to whether or not you are invited to join our team. We want that page to be a big surprise to all our faithful blog readers, after which time we encourage you to share it with EVERYONE!!!

technical sidenote: please ensure that your images are sent in .jpg format and please don't send humongous files.

-write a brief bio about yourself including your scrapbooking interests/experience, as well as links to your blogs/online galleries and other design teams that you are on currently or have been in the past. Please be sure to include your mailing address & email address in your bio. Please be sure to include a photo of yourself. For our ease of file management, please include your bio as a Word file attached to your email. Please do not send your bio as the body of your email. :)

-email the above items to info@lotuspaperie.com and put "Design Team Submission" in the subject line. Emails received after 9:00pm PST on November 20, 2009 will not be considered this time.

Here's the deal if you are invited to join the Design Team:
-You agree to make pages/projects reflecting each of the weekly challenges posted to the Yahoo group throughout the entire duration of your 6 month term (November 1, 2009 - May 31, 2010). We understand that inspiration can peter out near the end of the term but please try not to let that be reflected in your work or your timeliness of uploading layouts.

-You will commit to doing a tutorial to be posted on the blog. Themes/topics will be assigned when the new team is in place. Designers will alternate weekly so you may only be asked to do 3 or 4 throughout your term. Vanessa & Tania will be doing the actual posting of the tutorials but you will need to write the "how to" part of your tutorial in Word (not the Vista version) with as many photos as you want. More is better. You will email the tutorial to our email and we'll do any editing before posting.

-Artwork can be created all at once or week by week, whatever works best for you. You will not be contacted if your submission misses the weekly deadline (thursday night, 12:00pm pacific time). It sucks if your work is regularly late. We schedule our posts to go "live" at 4:00am on Friday so that our east-coast readers can check out the challenges with their morning coffee. That means we are writing the post on Thursday. We want all the art to be ready for that time.

-You will submit well photographed/scanned digital images of your artwork. You will make efforts to eliminate unsightly glare & shadows from your submissions. Poorly captured images will not be posted however, those who are invited to join the team will be given pointers to help them make the best possible digital reproductions of their work if needed. Please request this information if you need it. Macro/detail images are welcomed to accompany your full-frame layout images.

-You will promote Lotus Paperie on your blog each week sharing your layout with a link to our blog. You will also keep the Lotus Paperie Design Team button on your sidebar with a link. It is important that you maintain your blog because our blog readers do click the links to all the DT's blogs and we want to give them lots of great stuff to read.

-You will not post pages created for the DT anywhere on the web (except for our private Yahoo group- see next point) until AFTER they have been published to the blog. NO EXCEPTIONS. If this is not respected, you will be dismissed and your spot will be available to someone new.

-You will upload your pages to our private Yahoo group. You will receive an email invitation to join the group where there will be an album for you to upload your pages to.

-You will regularly visit our Flickr group and leave positive feedback on as many of the uploads as possible to keep everyone's mojo going. Everyone likes kind words said about their work and it's important for our challenge participants to know that we are seeing their contributions.

-You will participate in the once-monthly request to select your favourite submissions to our Flickr group. You will be asked to email links to your favourite page to us so we can post a poll for our blog readers to vote on. You will be permitted to cast a vote.

-If you need to terminate your position, please try to give us as much notice as possible so that we can find someone else to take your place in the team.

Having said all that, we are regular folks just like you and sometimes things happen that get in the way of our plans. We are pretty flexible and understanding. We want this to work for you as much as we want it to work for us. We want you to be happy so if life gets in the way of something crazy has happened like the dog ACTUALLY ate your page, dude, let us know so that we can come up with a solution together!

international applications are totally okay! Bring it on!!. Please make all submissions by 12:00pm PST, November 20, 2009. The new DT members will be announced in early December and will be introduced throughout December.

One more thing, if you are a new scrapper or you've never been on a Design Team before, don't let that stop you from applying. We want to see everyone's work! Show us what you're made of!

missed one!

2009-10-25T12:27:00.000-07:00

Gudrun's layout got missed on Friday. Woops! Here it is. Gorgeous as always :)

Challenge 147

2009-10-23T04:00:00.000-07:00

Well, if you are like me, you love ribbon of all sorts. And if you love ribbon of all sorts, you very likely hold on to all those pretty ribbon scraps thinking one day you will use them for something brilliant. Well, guess what? Now's your chance. This week we challenge you to actually

use your ribbon scraps!

We still have just over a week to lift Dani's layouts as well. If you are new to our challenges or just need more info here's our FAQ page to help you along.

Tania

Vanessa

Gudrun

Carol

detail
Keely
Marit

detail

Keandra

Tania D

Dani

Time to choose a favorite!

2009-10-22T19:49:00.000-07:00

Late, I know. My bad. We had SUCH a hard time narrowing it down to just 3 layouts. You guys are effin' amazing! Have I told you that lately? You are such dynamic artists and I'm immeasurably grateful that you participate in our weekly challenges. Thanks so much. We are inspired by you and your creativity and we're delighted that you are inspired by our ideas!

Okay. On with the good stuff...

BrainyBairn

Nerllybird
Jenneke Knol

We'll let the poll run for a full two weeks (like we normally would, even tho it's going up late) so that means it closes November 6th at 12:00pm PST. Spread the word and get everyone you know to vote. Blog it, share it on your chat groups/forums/facebook. Rock it! Let's go!

Challenge 146

2009-10-16T04:00:00.000-07:00

Oh how exciting. I am heading off for a delicious weekend with 13 other ladies where we'll scrapbook, laugh, probably drink a little and scrapbook some more! Oh yeah, I'm talking about the weekend retreat at Sundog. It's only 10 minutes down the road from my house but it's so serene and the cabins are beautiful and the food - my god, the food!- it's such a great couple of days away from our regular lives and the result of such a weekend is a happy, mellow, creatively-recharged mom/wife/sister.

But before I head out the door, let's talk about this week's challenge. We've got a super awesome sketch (see below) as well as a few contests.

We've got Dani with us this month as our Guest Designer Check out this post to find out more about her and to see her three favorite layouts. You're invited to take some inspiration from those layouts and share the link to your scraplift in the comments section of Dani's introduction post. You have until the end of the month to get the link uploaded. Go on, you can do it. Let's see your stuff!

If you want to participate in the challenge below but are new to our challenges, please go to our FAQ page to learn more about how we roll!

So now, without further ado...

Vanessa

Tania

Gudrun

Tania D

So about that giveaway...

2009-10-11T12:23:00.000-07:00

Remember that giveaway? Well, I finallly had a minute to conduct my very scientific method of selecting winners...I asked my 10 year old to pick a number between one and five (cuz that's all the entries there were). He picked #3 (for the red ones) and #4 (for the green ones). So, that means that if you are "Christine AKA Stine" and "Jessica" you are the lucky winners! Please email me at info at lotuspaperie dot com with your mailing address so we can get your recipe cards to you! Thanks for playing and congratulations!!

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, by the way.

Challenge 145

2009-10-09T04:00:00.000-07:00

Well hello there Friday. How are you? Things have been soooo busy since the last time we were together. I'm happy to see you again...you always make me feel mellow and ready for a little R&R. Thanks for coming :)

The week was so full of stuff. I had this long list of stuff to get done and I feel like I hardly touched it. But. Today is a new day. Time to re-write the list and make room for new (fun) tasks. The snow is falling and that just makes me wanna hunker down inside with a fire roaring and yummy food bubbling away in the slow cooker. Yum.

This week we've got a super fun challenge. Check it out. All you gotta do is

Use a little color in hand-journaling

That's not too hard, right? I loved taking the time to color in my letters. I wanna see how you guys rock it this week...

Oh, and let's not forget all the other goodness that's afoot right now...like scraplifting Dani's killer layouts which you can see here. Leave the link to your lift in the comments section of that post so we can find it, okie doke? You have all month to upload your creative genius to that post, btw.

And, if you haven't already joined our Lotus Paperie Network (it's a little like FB) please do so. It's super fun to see your layouts and all that jazz!

IF you are new to our challenges, please read this stuff so you know how it all works. You can upload your challenge layouts to your profile on our network but if they're not in the Flickr Pool, they might get missed (one day we'll just do everything in the same place).

Alright. Let's get to it!

Vanessa

Tania

Gudrun
Tania D

Keely
Carol
Marit
Keandra

Dani
(don't forget to scraplift her layouts before the end of the month!)

Random Giveaway Goodness

2009-10-06T12:36:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't love random giveaways? Well, I for one LOVE free goodies!! So today I want to tell you about a friend of mine named Tara from Darling who is an incredibly talented artist with a brand new Etsy shop. She creates some phenomenal cut paper artwork in addition to a plethora of other paper confections...and she wants to share some of them with you!

(PS she hasn't made any sales yet - her shop's that new! Make her day and "heart & cart" - in other words, buy something handmade for the upcoming holiday season for yourself or someone else and mark her as a favorite so you can check back often to see what other treasures she's made!)

Set of 12 4x6" recipe cards
(buy them here)

Set of 12 5x7 recipe cards
(buy them here)
All you have to do is leave a comment telling us why you love fall and two winners will be randomly chosen! Contest will close at 12:00pm on October 8th (that's Thursday, FYI)

Stay tuned to see if you are the winner!
Names will be announced shortly after the contest closes!

Challenge 144

2009-10-02T05:00:00.000-07:00

It's another Friday and we have brought you another sketch, but

let's go over the other stuff first.

We have a new guest designer for the month of October.

Meet Dani here and lift a layout or two.

If you haven't already joined our network come take a peek, sign up, and start loading up your layouts. We'd love to see you there.

You can also connect to us on Facebook.

And finally, if you want to join in on the fun but don't know how we roll, check out this link.

Ok, here it is...

Tania

detail

Vanessa

Marit
detail

Keandra

Tania D.

Carol

Gudrun

Keely

Dani

Meet Dani!

2009-10-01T10:50:00.000-07:00

Wow. The beginning of another month (where did September go, anyway?) and we sadly wave goodbye to our past guest designer, Norma Kennedy. Thanks for joining us, doll. Your pages were a delicious addition to our weekly challenges.

Now that the new month is upon us, we have another wickedly talented woman on board for the five fridays' worth of challenges! Yeah! Meet Dani Johnston. I found her on SisTv - my favorite place to find kick-ass scrappers. Check out her three favorite layouts below and be sure to scraplift them before the last day of the month. Post the link to YOUR page in the comments section below and a winner will be announced in November.

Alright, here she is, the one and only - Dani!

Q:Tell us a bit about you and your family.

A: I am a 24, married with three furbabies. I'm a wedding, event and portrait photographer, which I started doing full time this year. I'm still in school - will probably be for awhile as I have this desire to learn and know as much as possible. College was never about a career for me, I've been lucky that I was able to study and learn my career right along with all my other interests! I call Missouri home and truly do love living here. My husband is my very best friend, we love going on new adventures together. Someday we hope traveling the world is included in those adventures. We have a sad addiction to most all things science fiction. I'm very dramatic, silly and emotional pretty much all the time. I have an amazing family, extended family and lovely friends.

Q: How long have you been scrapbooking and where did you get your start in this craft?

A: I guess I've been scrapbooking about 3 years or so? I got started by discovering a scrapbook magazine in a bookstore. I've always done some sort of art journaling or collage type of craft, but when I saw all the layouts, mini books and projects I realized I could easily apply this sort of thing to what I was already creating.

Q:What inspires your creativity when you are scrapbooking?

A: Hmmm... that's hard for me to describe. Usually it is the photograph I'm planning on working with. I tend to create very emotional pages - most every photo has a huge meaning to me. Even if it's just a photo of one of my nieces or an animal at the zoo. The small stuff was still a moment of my life! I love that I can catch moments in time and have that image, so to create a page around it that expands on it even more is so exciting to me.
Sometimes my inspiration comes from the fact that I really just have something I NEED to say. I find creating these pages to be so therapeutic sometimes.
And then other times it's not really that deep - I'll get a new set of stamps or some pretty paper and I just have to play with it... :).

Q:Describe your creative style

A: I've always sort of just made pages without many techniques or rules. I don't have a paper trimmer. I never really read through anything about beginning to scrapbook. I'm not saying that those things are bad, I just don't take advantage of them, they didn't fit for me. In fact, I've found paper trimmers to be one of the most frustrating tools I've ever tried to use! I think everyone has to figure out what fits and works for them. My pages aren't in order. Everything is usually a mess - which is weird since I enjoy organization and order in most all other areas of my life. I tend to blur the lines between what most people think of as art journaling and what most people think of as scrapbooking. I don't enjoy all the definitions anyways. I just enjoy using images - especially personal ones in the things I create... you can call it whatever you want. If I don't like what I'm making I have no problems starting over, trashing it or just leaving it for another day. I also do a ton of journaling all over the backs of my pages. I tend to have trouble fitting what I want to say just right on my design, so I save all the crazy and long winded stuff for the back! :).

Q:What are your three favorite products/techniques right now?

A: Hmmm.... probably:
1. Inks of all kinds. So fun to spray and splatter.
2. Distress stickles. I can't get enough of the yummy texture. They add a bit of rough shimmer to page.
3. Gesso. So many ways to use this stuff. It saves my pages so many times.

Q:What project(s) are you currently working on?

A: I've actually be going through a ton of old photos, paper clippings I've saved and things like that. Trying to get them all scanned and organized.
I'm planning on making a little mini book for all the cards and letters I've saved over the years. Something very simple, just so they're easy to look through, but not just sitting in a box either.
I'm also planning on tackling all the online classes I've paid for over the past year but haven't taken the time to do! I'm thinking that this is all going to help me push through a bit of a rut I've been feeling for a little while, try some new things!

Q:Describe your perfect day

A: Waking up early, with time for meditation and yoga (hey... you said perfect day, I'm really going to dream something up here!). Eating a really yummy, healthy breakfast. Taking time to enjoy the morning and the weather, whatever it is. Taking the dog for a walk, bringing along my camera just in case. Hot shower - time to do my hair properly and being able to wear what I want, without fear of it being too tight, too crazy or too anything! Maybe go see a movie with my husband or check out a market or festival we've been wanting to visit. Good healthy lunch. Then relaxing at home, my husband would probably pick up a book to read or watch some science fiction show. i would probably just start messing with my supplies, spend a couple hours creating things without any intention in mind. Just creativity for the sake of creativity! Amazing, healthy dinner - with something awesome for dessert like gluten free smores or caramel apples! (can you tell I like healthy meals? I've got a ton of food allergies/intolerances so food can make or break my day.) Maybe a little bonfire with whatever family we've gotten in touch with that day - my family loves to get together for any reason. Then being so tired from it all that we can lay down and actually get a really good nights rest.

Q:What are your three favorite layouts of all time that you’ve created (published or not)?

A: This was not easy to do - I could have included about five more layouts and maybe more than that (does that sound so conceded?). I just chose the first three I found that I loved. I tend to really love most of my pages once I feel they are finished - that's usually got nothing to do with how it looks, much more to do with the emotion on the page. I like feeling like I conveyed what I was feeling when I created it.

We have a winner!

2009-09-30T20:06:00.000-07:00

Well, the polls are closed and all the votes have been tallied. The winner of August's Flickr Favorites is Nerllybird! Hooray! I love this layout. The idea of immortalizing FOREVER the young man committing an unforgettable act...cooking! Yeah!

So, if you are Nerllybird, please email me at info at lotuspaperie dot com with your mailing address and we'll get your prize all packaged up and on its way to ya!

A big thanks to all for participating and let's definitely do this again...next month. If you want a shot at September's Flickr Favorites, please upload your challenges to our Flickr Group and don't forget to tag your layout with the challenge info as per the directions shown on the photo pool main page. You can upload your layouts until the last day before the first challenge of the new month goes up (so for this month, you have until Oct 1 to get your pages uploaded).

Be sure to check out our FAQ page to get the scoop on the rules and all that jazz.

Challenge 143

2009-09-25T05:00:00.000-07:00

It's that day of the week again. I'm lovin' Fridays. :)

This week we challenge you to

use a piece of notepaper.

I had a blast with this week`s challenge. I love notebook paper.

Before we get started take a peek at Norma`s layouts here. Lift them for a chance at a prize.

You also still have a couple of days to vote for your favourite layout. Here`s a peek at those too.

Can`t find info on our challenges? Check out this link.

There is also a Lotus Paperie network set up here, and a Lotus Paperie facebook page set up here.

All right, here we go...

Keandra

detail
This is the second page of Marit's two page layout. The first page is from last week`s challenge. Here they are together...

Keely

Tania D.

Norma

detail

Challenge 142

2009-09-18T05:00:00.000-07:00

It's been an interesting week and there were problems from our Lotus Paperie private uploads for the design team not working properly to Vanessa struck with the flu. So there may be a few things out of place. We are missing a couple of layouts and we will add them as soon as we get it all together. We have most of it here though.

edited:: I dragged my sick self outta bed and added the missing layout :) Thanks guys. ~V

Alright, lets get started with everything.
Check out Norma's layouts in this post and lift one for a chance to win some goodies. Here is more info on that and the rest of the challenges we dish out every week. You can also vote on the current favourites picked from last month here.

We have a Lotus Paperie network set up here. There are all kinds of ideas and there is also a message board.

While you're at it why not join Lotus Paperie on Facebook? :)

Here it is, we are rockin' out the sketch this week...

Vanessa

Tania

Gudrun

Keandra

Marit

detail

Carol

Tania D.

Keely

Norma