Friday, May 31, 2013

Scrapbook Ideas for Laser Tag Photos

Many families enjoy playing laser tag because it is an exciting way to spend time together. If this is an activity your family participates in regularly, you may have photos and mementos from these events that you would like to preserve so that your children can revisit them in the future. Scrapbooks are a creative way to preserve photos and mementos of life's most precious moments. Even with only the most basic supplies, you can create beautiful laser tag-themed scrapbook pages that are visually intriguing and subject-appropriate.

Glow-in-the-Dark Pages

Scrapbook Ideas for Laser Tag Photos
Scrapbooks are a creative way to preserve photos and mementos of life's most precious moments.
At many laser tag facilities, the game is played mostly in the dark; there are usually a number of glow-in-the-dark items or graphics around the arena for decoration and navigation purposes. Recreate this effect by composing your laser tag scrapbook pages on black construction paper. Use a sturdy photo glue to adhere your photos into place. Once your photos are in place, use craft supplies like glow-in-the-dark paints and highlighters to add glowing decorations to the page. The page will be visually intriguing in the light and your kids will have fun looking at their scrapbooks with a flashlight in the dark too.

Themed Scrapbook Pages

Many laser tag arenas are decorated around a certain theme, like space travel, jungle war or alien invasion. Similarly, you can use one of these themes to create your laser tag scrapbook pages. Adhere your photos to your craft paper of choice and decorate them according to your chosen theme. For a space theme, small plastic glow-in-the-dark stars are great, as are stickers, pictures and drawings of planets, aliens and spaceships. Using a theme to create a decorative scrapbook page will give the page flair and cohesiveness.

Laser Illusion Pages

The game of laser tag involves the use of lasers which are aimed and '"shot" at opponents to score points. The lasers are luminescent and colorful, and these characteristics can be easily recreated in visually exciting scrapbook pages. To create page decor that looks like lasers, feature a thick, black piece of construction paper as your scrapbook page and use neon-colored chalk, gel pens or even yarn to create straight lines randomly on the page. The lines should be of various lengths and angled in different directions to really give the page a laser feel. Create your laser lines before adhering your pictures to avoid marking on your photos.

Paint Splatter Pages

Laser tag is played in the dark and is an exhilarating mix of darkness and flashes of color. Play up these components of the game with splatter paint-themed pages. Using dark-colored paper and neon paints, splatter paint on your paper with a paintbrush. The paint will create intriguing patterns on the paper and, after it dries, you can apply your pictures and mementos with craft glue as normal. Splatter painting can be messy so this activity is best done outside where there will be less cleanup.

Tap Your Creativity with Digital Scrapbooking

All of us are fond of pictures as they capture our memorable moments. Whenever we view these images, we tend to become nostalgic. But, sometimes, just checking out the simple album of photographs might become an unexciting and boring event. Therefore, the activity of scrapbooking came into the limelight, and it was enjoyed by various people of all ages and classes. The main reason is that it enables them to stock up photos in an album and then attach a comment. The comment is usually something that matches the mood captured on the photo. Many people have found this medium to be the most effective in keeping the memories alive. Even though they cannot remember the person every day, the scrapbook helps them to relive the whole situation where the photo was captured. With the advent of computer, digital scrapbook got prominence and newer and more exciting ways got unveiled.

Tap Your Creativity with Digital Scrapbooking
Apart from creativity, the advantages of digital scrapbooking are that it is more convenient and less messy
You are entitled to accumulate all the photos and albums on the computer's hard drive, and the digital scrapbooking will allow you to attach graphics on them to enhance the outlook of the simple photographs. Additionally, you can also create a digital scrapbook with a theme work. While you are using the graphics and themes to adorn the picture or an album, you are actually tapping your creativity. There is no training available for creating a digital photo album; all that is required is your personal approach and emotions. Once both the factors are added in the creativity aspect, you will notice that you have reached the heights of originality. Without any special or prior knowledge about graphics, you will be able to design a beautiful digital photo album. In case you find any difficulty, then a simple, affordable and high quality solution to your scrapbooking needs is at your service.

Apart from creativity, the advantages of digital scrapbooking are that it is more convenient and less messy. You will notice that unlike conventional scrapbooking, this completely avoids the use of any paper cutting or pasting work. Once you have created a digital scrapbook, you might fall in love with your design and collection. And, you would be eager to have it in a physical form.

Your wish will be granted, thanks to digital photo printing. It is easy to do because there are various service providers that are dedicated to deliver the superior quality print outs in their sequential order and even bind them together for proper storage. Moreover, you can even add colored papers to the digital photo album. Similar to traditional scrapbooking, the digital scrapbooking will also let you write comments on them.

Other than that, you can even upload your striking digital scrapbook online so that your friends and close ones can appreciate your creativity and beautiful collection of photographs, even though they reside on the other side of the world. So, be it a wedding album, or birthday parties' photographs or graduation pictures; digital scrapbooking will keep all the memories alive.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Important Scrapbooking Materials For You

Keeping a useful supply of scrapbooking materials in stock should be a vital thing of any scrapbooker's to-do list. Experienced scrapbookers know that a great idea or motivation could strike them at any given moment, so it could be immensely annoying to go to your work space and realize you are low on papers or embellishments.

Keeping a useful supply of scrapbooking materials in stock should be a vital thing of any scrapbooker's to-do list. Experienced scrapbookers know that a great idea or motivation could strike them at any given moment, so it could be immensely annoying to go to your work space and realize you are low on papers or embellishments.

Important Scrapbooking Materials For You
Experienced scrapbookers know that a great idea or motivation could strike them at any given moment

However, it would be not practical to keep all the scrapbooking materials you could find at your neighborhood craft or hobby shop, and so I have prepared a list for you to learn what are the most important supplies that you should always have in your work space.

  • Albums - This is the base of all your pages, so it's a no-brainer to include this as one of the most essential things to always have on hand. You don't have to purchase lots of them; simply think about what you normally scrap about or what your preferred themes are, then keep a few albums on hand (two to three would be ideal) to accommodate those. If you can, also try to have a minimum of one album in a 8 1/2" x 11" size and another one in a smaller 8" x 8" size.
  • Page Protectors - It will not be appropriately named a scrapbook if it didn't have page protectors on it. Such materials are what keeps your pictures and templates secured and safe for years to come, in order that your children and also grandchildren could enjoy your masterpiece in all its glory. There are generally two types of page protectors offered - clear and non-glare, thus I suggest keeping one or more of each.
  • Paper - Whether for backgrounds, layers, or other things, you need paper if you need to create a scrapbook. Designed or textured paper alone may be used in a lot of imaginative ways to both act as backgrounds and embellishments together, so be sure to have lots around.
  • Glues - Just put, glues are what keeps your photographs and embellishments in place, right where you want them to be. Of course, you cannot use just any kind of adhesive; at the very least, you'll need something to secure your photos into place without destroying them over time. Choose the ones that are non-toxic.
  • Scissors - Another important scrapbooking item that you should have with you and ready to go. Many people use tools like an exacto knife or a paper cutter, but a good pair of scissors are able to do the job if you don't have the others. Keep the scissors sharp and clean; making use of old scissors which are not quite sharp will run the possibility of damaging your paper or photographs.
There are other scrapbooking materials that you might need in the future, like cutting mats, colored markers, pens, pencils, plus a few types of paper and adhesives. Nevertheless, you may buy these supplies at a later date, after ensuring that the most necessary materials are now on hand and ready for usage all the time.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

School Scrapbook Ideas Using Moxxie

Moxxie scrapbooking supplies provide you with everything you need to create school-themed scrapbooks. The company makes products that are grade-specific and that reference school milestones such as preschool graduations. There are generic school items such as school buses and chalk boards so you can create pages that reflect those special moments that are specific to your child.

School Scrapbook Ideas Using Moxxie
School Scrapbook Ideas Using Moxxie

Papers

Choose school-themed paper such as Moxxie's grade-themed papers or use Moxxie's solid papers in your school colors. Add complementary papers. Choose colors that match the predominate color of the pictures you're using in your school-themed scrapbooking pages or choose papers that match the colors of the classroom for a personalized look.

Card Stock

Choose Moxxie's card stock for journaling. The card stock pieces are cut into small squares that make it perfect for writing memories of special school events such as assemblies, award ceremonies and field trips. Card stock is thicker than paper but it will go through your printer so you can type your journaling tags.

Kits

Choose school-themed kits from Moxxie such as "School Zone" or "Senior Prom" kits. Kits include everything you need to complete several scrapbook pages. They have coordinating papers, journaling tags, stickers and embellishments. The only thing you need to add is your pictures.

Embellishments

Moxxie makes several school-related embellishments. Most are rub-ons that celebrate such things as the first day of school, team spirit, school dances and graduation. Moxxie also has rub-ons that are decorative that match their school-themed embellishments. Use the decorative designs to enhance photographs and tie two pages together for a larger layout.

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Learn More About Scrapbook Photo Album

An effective way of keeping photographs is by organizing it in a photo album and this is great but if you want to add a little twist you can make a scrapbook photo album. This may be time consuming compared to stacking the photos in an album but admit it, this is more fun and you can add your own taste and style in keeping your photos. Creating a scrapbook is priceless because it is done by you and every minute you spend in making the scrapbook is precious not only because you have exerted so much effort into making it more "personal" but also because you have added love into it.

  • Gather all materials for the scrapbook making like special paper, scissor, stickers, ribbons and colored pencils. Make sure that you are using an acid-free paper to prevent damaging the pictures.
  • Make a theme or a timeline when making your scrapbook photo album. Example, if you decide to display your photos on your wedding day make sure that you have stickers, printouts or special paper that coincide with the wedding theme. You can also include your wedding invitations, little souvenirs and wedding gift cards given by the guests in your scrapbook.
  • Avoid using newspaper clippings with your photos instead have it photocopied using an acid-free special paper. Remember that some newspapers and magazines can damage a photograph because of the acid content of the paper.
Pictures can be ones window from the past and the one thing that is of concern to all of us is how to make photos last longer. There are so many products available in the market these days that can help prolong the life of a photograph. Consider, for example, a photo mat. It may seem a very simple construction of paper or wood but it is actually very helpful in protecting your photos and the picture frame. Many don't realize how important it is to make use of a photo mat because they do not know the importance of this innovation.

Learn More About Scrapbook Photo Album
Printed paper is best used as an accent rather than a background, as it's often "busy" and your photos may not show up well on it

You can also use an acid-free photo albums, many companies already realized that using an acid-free material to store photos is important to keep the pictures in its original state that is why you should make sure that you work with acid-free products with your pictures.

Scrapbooking has skyrocketed to the top of the list of favorite hobbies of Americans. I recently read that there are more scrapbookers than golfers in the United States! Scrapbooking helps you to preserve your memories, organize your photos and perpetuate your family history. Maybe you've decided to jump on the bandwagon, but you have no idea how to get started.

So what supplies do you need to begin scrapbooking? The number of scrapbooking supplies available can be overwhelming to the beginner.

First of all, you need an album. Make sure it's made from archival quality materials. That way it won't harm your precious photographs. There are all kinds of albums, but my favorite is a 12x12 album with clear pages open at the top (called top-loading.) With this kind of album, you make your page on a sheet of 12x12 cardstock and just slip it into the plastic page, which will protect it. There is no need to buy page protectors separately.

Next you'll need paper. Get several colors of plain cardstock. This can serve as backing for your pages as well as paper on which to mat your photos. You may want to invest in some printed paper, too. Printed paper is best used as an accent rather than a background, as it's often "busy" and your photos may not show up well on it.

You need adhesive with which to attach photos and embellishments. I prefer tape runners, which are easy to use and dispense small pre-cut pieces of double-sided tape. Some people like to use glue sticks, squares of double-sided tape or some sort of cement. Just make sure it is photo-safe.

Of course, you need scissors to cut things out. Another great investment that I use constantly is a small paper cutter. Mine cuts paper up to 12x12. I use it to trim photos as well as paper.

The last thing you absolutely have to have is pens. Buy ones that say they are archival quality or photo-safe. You may want both fine-tip and calligraphy-type pens. You'll use these for captions, journaling, and dating pictures.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Simple Scrapbook with Retired Rubber Stamps

Simple Scrapbook with Retired Rubber Stamps

What Is A Simple Scrapbook?

Simple scrapbooks are projects where a lot of the work is pre-designed and completed. All the scrapper needs to do is add some embellishments and pictures and the page is ready to go.

To know what a simple scrapbook is, one must know what a complex scrapbook is. A complex scrapbook has many elements and layers that involve many accessories, pieces of equipment and costly embellishments. To create a simple scrapbook, the scrapper will abandon all the time consuming and complicated elements. All that is needed are a sharp scissors and some good adhesive.

These are some of the elements that can help a scrapper to create a simple scrapbook.

Have the Basics

To have a simple scrapbook the scrapper needs to just have the basic elements. Attractive quality paper is the base. Then include a heading of the theme for the page. Add a mat that will support one nice photograph. Add the photograph to the mat. These are the basics of a scrapbook page. Anything beyond these basics is simply for fun and creativity.

Pre-Cut Mats

Using a pre-cut mat is an excellent way to add dimension and emphasis to a focal point on a scrapbook page. What makes it simple is that the scrapper doesn't need to cut the frame to size and often not do the layering. The pieces are already created. It just requires add the picture and adhesive.

Sticker Borders

A fast element to add to the page is a border, but the easiest border to add is a sticker border. To add this element the scrapper doesn't even need to add adhesive to the border. It is as simple as peel and stick.

Pre-cut Die Cuts

Cutting individual die-cuts can be time consuming and can require purchasing a lot of templates. A simple version is to buy packages of pre-cut die cuts. These can be purchased in themes such as birthdays or vacations. Then the scrapper only needs to add adhesive to make the items stick to the page. No time consuming cutting.

Sticker Letters

Using self-adhesive letters can be a great way to add simplicity to a scrapbook. Select the main letters for the heading desired and add it to the page itself or to a boarder piece and then add to the page. This is much faster than doing a lot of die cuts or journaling to say the same thing.

Metal Accessories

Metal Accessories such as grommets and eyelets can take time to add to a page. They usually require a matt, punch and other tools. To make the scrapbook page simple, purchase papers, mats, and notes that have the metal effects already incorporated. The result will look like a lot of time and effort was put into adding these effects, but the company did all the work for the scrapper.

Pre-designed Pages

A very simple way to make a scrapbook is to purchase a pre-designed flat paper scrapbook. These books can be purchased easily. They have headings and borders as well as printed embellishments on the pages. It does not have dimension, but it is especially a great option for children who wish to make their own scrapbooks without spending a lot of time on them. All that is needed for these scrapbooks is pictures.

Scrapbook Kits

Another great option instead of taking the time to design pages personally is to purchase a pre-designed kit. With this purchase the scrapper will receive a scrapbook, matching papers, stickers, borders and embellishments. The concepts of the pages are already created. All the scrapper needs to do is arrange the pages. What makes this a simple scrapbook is that most of the thinking and designing is done for the scrapper. Pages can be put together in minutes and it will look like hours were spent on the pages.

Small Accordion Books

Thinking small can be a great way to make scrapbooking simple. Accordion books are basically pieces of cardstock that have been folded like an accordion and then tied. It makes it easy because the pages are small. One picture will fit on the miniature page and the next page can be used for embellishments. A mini-accordion book can probably be put together in about one hour. These are fun books to make for moms and grandma's to keep as a purse pocket scrapbook.

Simple Themes

It is best to complete a simple themed project first. Beginning with a big even such as a wedding day can be a rough start just because there is an awful lot of material to scrap. A simple scrapbook also means selecting a simple theme. Instead of choosing to scrap the entire wedding, instead just do a small book about the honeymoon or a bridal shower. Divide the theme down and this will make the scrapbook a little simpler.

Enjoy using these simple scrapbooking tips and the idea of making a scrapbook will appear to be an easy project.

Finding Those Scarce Retired Rubber Stamps for Scrapbooking and Crafting

Are you having trouble finding just the right rubber stamp design? Of course, with creativity, you can always manage to create your own designs and shapes, but there are probably some unique rubber stamps that you might have missed buying when first released, but can be found a few months later, in the retired category of rubber stamps. With a little persistence, if there is a rubber stamp set or design you are looking for, it will often have a second life, making it possible for you to find again.

Retired stamps are those art rubber stamps that have been kept aside by stamp illustrating companies, as new designs have now arrived. Retired stamps are usually released annually by the company, for resale, in that particular category. Because they offer unique designs compared to what is available in the market, retired stamps are very popular among buyers.

Usually, the retired rubber stamps will be a small or large set of related stamps with a specific theme. Popular retired stamp themes include: animal themed sets, children or babies, and flowers and nature. Hard-to-find sets with very specific and unique designs will also have an increasing popularity after their retirement, since a specific design subject may be few and far between. In fact, it may be such a unique theme or interest, that there may be only one set every created for that design.

However, even the 'retired' category rubber stamps are only offered for a specific time period. If you missed the time frame when the stamps are offered directly from the company, you still have some other alternatives. One great choice is joining online groups or clubs that specialize in rubber stamp sells and trades. There are many rubber stamping tip groups, but you are better off finding those that only do product trades or sells, as you'll have the best selection to choose from. Another solution is to check out rubber stamp specialty websites, as there are several who specialize in a specific company's retired designs.

If you are yearning for a specific retired rubber stamp design, don't give up! A great way to find these treasures is to start a want list, and keep it handy while you're cruising online or browsing rubber stamp groups. If you see a stamp or set that looks familiar, you can always refer to your list, and snatch up the appropriate rubber stamp. Remember, retired doesn't necessarily mean gone forever.