I had such a great birthday yesterday, and I just have to tell you about my scrapbooking birthday card !

My sweet husband found this card at Target and helped our son create it. My heart just melted when I saw this!!

The card was already cute and scrappy looking, the boys just needed to add photos and fill in the blanks. I especially love the page below:

Chris asked Gabe how he wanted to finish the sentences and wrote his answers in for him – so CUTE! It’s funny to see what kids come up with for answers. “You give me flowers” … really? I don’t remember doing that (maybe it’s a hint hehe). And if you are wondering about the one that says “You make laptops with me”, he is referring to this craft we did together – so cool that he loves crafts just like his mom !

Hope you’re having a great week! ~xo Jess

We have a winner for our gift card giveaway! The random number generator chose number 25:

Which means the winner is…… Bernice!

By: Bernice on July 20, 2009 at 8:31 pm:

I would just love to win a gift certificate. I was excited to read that they even ship to Canada! There are a lot of things on there I would love to have, and thanks to them for the chance to win a gift certificate.

Congrats Bernice! You will hear from me soon .

Anybody in the mood for some shopping? I have something special for you this week! An online living room furniture company, www.livingroomsdirect.com, is offering a $60 gift card for their store to one lucky Scrapbook Ideas reader this week! All you need to do for your chance to win is to leave a comment on this post sometime between now and Sunday night (July 26th). The random winner will be announced on Monday, July 27th. **NOTE: They ship to US and Canadian residents only at this time.**

I know what you’re thinking – what does a furniture company have to do with scrapbooking? Well, after browsing their huge online store, I found all kinds of goodies there, even scrapbooking and craft supplies! Here are some of my favorites (but of course the winner can use the gift card for anything at the store):

Hmmm, can you tell I have storage solutions on my mind right now? I have been slowly but surely working on getting my craft room organized lately, it had gotten way out of control! Speaking of which – I have looked in at least six stores trying to find stamp pad storage and/or horizontal pen storage and have come up with nothing!! Right now all of my stamp pads are stacked up in a basket, so I have to take them all out to find the colors I want and then stack them all back up to put them away. And my pen storage situation is even worse. Do any of you have any ideas for me?

P.S. The Shutterfly book came! Once I take pics I will be back to show you .
~xo Jess

I finished my latest Shutterfly photo book! This is the first book I’ve made which does not include scrapbook pages or photos of people – it’s actually a collection of some of my favorite flower photos from the past few years, and I LOVE it!

You can click on the image below to virtually “flip through” the photo book:

I just can’t wait to see this new book in person! It is one of the new soft cover books available in the 8×8 size, which are more affordable but still allow you to customize the front and back covers and spine. I will take pics of it when it comes and let you know how it compares to the other styles I’ve tried. Speaking of which, I have posted my other Shutterfly photo books at my new Scrapbook Ideas share site, so now they are all available to flip through for ideas . Click here to check it out!

Do any of you have a Shutterfly site? If so, please share the link – I’d love to see your projects! These sites are really cool and easy to customize – I will be updating mine with more of my Shutterfly projects soon – feel free to add yourself as a member to my site if you want to be updated regularly .

Oh, and I also wanted to mention that I added a new coupon for a free collage poster or $5 off your Shutterfly purchase to the sidebar.  If you’re interested but you’re reading this via email or feed – you can click here to be taken to the site and get the coupon code .  Enjoy! ~xo Jess

* Update: people are asking some good questions in the comments section and I decided to put my answers right with the questions, so be sure to check them out below*

Happy Monday everyone ! For my USA readers, I hope you had a wonderful 4th of July holiday, we sure did! I posted a few pics of our fun weekend at my Lovely Lovely Things blog.  I just wanted to pop in to let you know about a couple of hot tips:

Summer Sales at Shutterfly

I found out that Shutterfly is having some great summer promotions where you can save up to 30% off on things like the photo books, prints and 18 month calendars! I put a link to the promotion in my sidebar  – sorry email subscribers, you will have to actually come to the site to access this . But hurry – the promotion only lasts until the 13th of July!

FREE Photo Editing Software

My sister Rebekah clued me in to this great photo editing software called Photoscape, which you can download onto your computer for free! She loves the fact that is is very simple to learn to use (unlike Photoshop, which she is a little overwhelmed by). I took a few minutes to check it out, and I love all the great features! Here’s an example of one of our weekend photos before and after a quick editing session with Photoscape:

Before:

After Editing with Photoscape:

Don’t get me wrong, I am not about to give up my Photoshop anytime soon, but for those of you who are interested in doing photo editing, but don’t have the time or budget for Photoshop – this could be the solution!

That’s all for now, hope your week is off to a great start !  ~xo Jess

I know, I know… for a site called “Scrapbook Ideas” there sure have been a lot of cards and other crafts here. But I think there must be enough of you out there who dabble in multiple paper crafts like I do, that I can get away with it . Why limit yourself to only scrapbooking when there are so many other wonderful things you can do with your craft supplies? Plus I love the instant gratification of sitting down to complete a whole card from start to finish, and the joy I *hope* it will bring to the recipient. Another great benefit of expanding my horizons to include card making has been that it is a less intimidating way to experiment with new crafting techniques on a smaller scale.

A Birthday Wish (handmade card)

Supplies:

From Prima: Coquette Collection paper (#602017), Caliope Collection paper (#602239), Whispered Words (#812010 and #812027). Non-Prima supplies: Distress Ink by Ranger (vintage photo), chalks, stitching, glitter glue, white cardstock.

Steps:

1. Trim the patterned papers to a size just a tiny bit smaller than your card front. Cut around the floral design on the Caliope paper, removing the top portion, and adhere the lower portion to the Coquette paper. TIP: try to avoid using adhesive along the outer edges, as you will be sewing them shortly.
2. Sew a border around the outside edge of the patterned papers, with a sewing machine as I did (for tips on machine sewing paper, check here), or by hand. If you sew by hand, it helps to pierce the holes in advance – I just place the card on an old cushioned mousepad, and use a paper piercer or needle to poke all the holes.
3. Use chalks in coordinating colors around the outer border of the card, then ink the edge of the card and the papers.
4. Adhere the papers to the center of the card, and adhere the card greeting to the papers.
5. Add some glitter glue to select areas of the floral design on the Caliope paper.

Here’s a simple project idea I tried recently which was small enough to slip into an envelope with a card. These were quick and easy to make and I used mostly supplies I already had around the scraproom – yay !

Magnetic Notepads

Supplies:

• Small cardboard-backed notepad
• Magnet (adhesive backed would be a plus)
• Paper flowers and/or other embellishments
• Hot glue gun or other adhesive

Steps:

1. Adhere the magnet to the back of the notepad. A thin, flat magnet would be best, since the idea is that the notepad can be written on while hanging up. You can purchase adhesive backed magnets or just use those free magnets you get as advertisements (that’s what I used, since I always save them and have plenty on hand).
2. Decorate the top of the notepad with paper flowers and a gem (the ones I used are by Prima), or use any other embellishments you like!

Tip: I love using my hot glue gun for projects like this – I just add a dot of hot glue, then quickly place the paper flowers on top and use the gem to press and hold it all together for a few seconds until the glue is dry. It works because there are tiny holes in the flower centers which allow the glue to adhere all the flowers and the center together at once!

Have fun, and let me know if you make some of these! Oh, and depending on how bulky/heavy your notepad is, you might need a bit of extra postage on your envelope - so keep that in mind if you plan to mail them .

Here are a few scrapbook pages I made almost a year ago, but forgot about sharing them here until now. Most of the supplies I used are from Fancy Pants Designs and Prima – I also used lots of glitter glue ! I know you’ve seen most of these photos before, but sometimes I can’t help using my favorite photos again and again in new ways – is that so wrong?

Tips, Tricks and Ideas:

• When using glittered embellishments on a page, try adding glitter glue to paper cutouts as well for a cohesive look.
• If you want to print your title or journaling directly onto patterned paper, be sure to use a font that is bold enough or large enough that it can be read easily. Using light colored paper helps a lot too.
• Try sanding the edges of your photo to create an instant grungy border.
• Add your own doodled words to title and journaling for a totally unique look (as I did in second page for the words “Little” and “Fairy”, and for the title and journaling in the last page).
• To add fairy/angel wings to a photo, use a craft knife to carefully cut along the outline of the subject. Then insert the edges of the wings into the slots, adhering them behind the photo. 
• When using extra thick double sided cardstock, it helps to use brads and staples to hold down curled paper edges – plus it adds even more interest and contrast to the edges. Experiment with different brad shapes and textures - and you can even push some brads in from the back of the page for a fun look!
• If you have a diecut or chipboard shape you’d like to use on your page but the colors are all wrong, try coating the whole thing with glitter glue like I did for the green heart on the last page (above).

My family is on their way to visit so I should be getting the house ready, not procrastinating at the computer right now, but when I saw today’s challenge at shimelle.com I just had to join in .

I am a huge fan of Shabby Chic style decor, so the guest bedroom in our house is just as pink and pretty as you can imagine . I realized this morning that now is a great time to take some photos in there, because soon that room will be transformed into the new baby’s nursery (OK, so it will still be very Shabby Chic, but it will not look the same as it has for the past 5 years).

These photos make me want to pull out my lovely pink scrapping supplies and finish some more of my wedding pages . I am totally inspired by all flowers – especially roses and of course, by any shade of PINK!

P.S. Here’s a fun fact for you: The search engine term “Shabby Chic” is one of the top ten searches that lead people to this site, and it’s the only one in the top ten that is not scrapbooking related. As of right now, it has lead to over 2,280 visits!

Here’s a birthday card I made for my sister-in-law a little while ago. It’s a fun mix of grungy and delicate, earthy colors and bright colors, digital elements and physical embellishment. (As seen on the Prima blog)

Digital Supplies: Prima Sprites 2 Silhouettes – YELLOW

Physical Supplies: By Prima: Sprites 2 (#517144), Butterfly (#528355), Center Kisses (#520717). Other Supplies: Kraft cardstock, distress ink by Ranger, glitter glue and black ink.

Steps:
In Photoshop, I created a new document with the same dimensions as my blank card. I opened the Sprites 2 Silhouettes – YELLOW digital image, rotated it 180 degrees, and positioned it on the front of the card. I used the custom paper size option in my printer settings to enter the card dimensions. Before printing, I checked my print preview, to be sure that things were lined up correctly. Then I printed the image right onto the blank card and embellished it with Sprites flowers and a butterfly!

Tips and Tricks:

• The digital silhouette I used for this card was designed for the yellow Sprites flowers, but it still works – don’t be afraid to experiment!
• When I printed my digital image, the printer messed up and made black smudges of ink on the edges of my card – that’s when I decided to go with the grunge look . I used more black ink to ink the rest of the card edges, plus some distress ink and glitter glue. I ended up loving it!
• Even though I was going for contrasts between the bold flowers and grungy background, I still inked the flowers with a little distress ink to help them fit in with the rest of the card.

P.S. I usually try to avoid using my own handwriting – especially on the fronts of cards,  but I thought this one was just funky enough that it would look like the messy lettering was intentional .