Rachel's HobbyBlog

Target $1 Bins

2008-07-23T03:49:00.003-04:00

I was looking through the $1 bins at Target and found that they have some great stuff there! They actually had a lot of scrapbooking/ craft supplies. I found stickers, letters, magnets, tags, brads, pages, diecuts, scrap packs, and all kinds of stuff! It was really neat! I highly advise looking through these great deals.

Let's Make Shirts!

2008-07-23T03:41:00.002-04:00

There is a fun website where you can buy, sell, and make products! You can design shirts, mugs, posters, and tons of products for yourself. You can also open up a shop and sell your products to others for free! YOu can make a profit off of your items, but the shop itself costs nothing to set up and nothing to create products! I think it is a lot of fun and lets you get creative!
Check it out here:

Hang up your own artwork

2008-06-29T21:15:00.003-04:00

I had drawn a couple of pictures of the beach with some oil pastels. They turned out pretty neat, so I saved them. The other day, my mom decided that they should be on display. She painted 2 frames black and hung a picture in each frame. She then hung them in my room. You can see them as soon as you walk through my bedroom door. They look really nice! I highly recommend doing this with your own artwork, even if it isnt perfect. Every time someone comes into my room, I feel proud of myself for creating something everyone can enjoy. And no, they dont look silly or childish. They're really nice. Hey, maybe I should try to sell some on Ebay! haha

The Dollar Tree Rocks!

2008-06-29T21:08:00.002-04:00

Yes, the Dollar Tree is amazing. And they actually have some stuff we all could use! They have stickers, pages, posterboard, foam pages, and other scrapbooking accessories. And Everything in the store is $1!!! Yes, one dollar! You will never pay more than a dollar for anything in the store! Their items may not be as great as a craft store's, but if you use your creativity, you can save yourself quite a bit of dough! Plus, they have some packs that come with stickers, 2 pages, tags, and some vellum quotes, all for one dollar per pack! Amazing.

Cutest Baby Idea Ever!

2008-06-01T23:12:00.002-04:00

My cousin took some black and white pictures of her baby. They were just pictures of his ear, or his foot, part of his face, or just random body parts. Then she put them together in a frame. The frame was like one of those windows that people paint and decorate. She just put the pictures in random order in each pane and it turned out so so cute! It was a really unique project and it looked very professional. You should try it and post you pictures of your project here!

New Camera!

2008-05-19T23:18:00.002-04:00

I guess the most important part of scrapbooking is taking pictures, and I finally got my new camera today! Its just a Kodak Easyshare, but It will work just fine for my pics. Its 8MP and so far works just fine! It is also very easy to use. I highly recommend getting a digital camera for your own use if you are going to be scrapbooking! I dont really have much to say, but I havent blogged for a while and I am excited about my camera. Have a lovely day and happy scrapping!

Favorite Scrapbook Technique of All Time!

2008-05-01T02:39:00.002-04:00

The other day, I bought a stamp pad. However, I have no rubber stamps. I was scrapbooking today, so I got a little creative. My stamp pad that I bought had gold, black, and silver ink in it. The scrapbook I am making is a little memory book for my boyfriend. I had a background page that was white with raised lettering that said a bunch of "love" stuff lol. Well, I decided to add some color to the page, I should use my stamp pad. I dipped my first three fingers, one per color, into the stamp pad. I then pressed my finger on the page, redipped it in the ink, tilted it 45 degrees from the first mark, and pressed down again, making a heart out of two fingerprints. I did this with all three colors in random places around the page. It turned out so cute! It is probably my favorite scrapbook page I have ever done! Pictures are coming soon!!
Another thing I did in that same scrapbook was put a background on half of the page and then I put on shimmery pink lipstick and made kiss prints on the other half of the page. That looks pretty cute too.
One last thing: the tip I gave the other day about making your own rubber stamps- I had the idea of using old medicine bottles and caps for handles since I don't have many film canisters anymore. Get creative; I'm sure you have tons of supplies for projects like this lying around your own house!

Shop Around!

2008-04-26T02:48:00.003-04:00

Today, I went into Joann Fabrics and saw the Xyron sticker machine for $26. I saw it the other day at Walmart for $19! I also have seen special deals on the cricut, which, by the way, I hear is really great! TV specials for the Cricut can save you a ton of money. In stores, you will probably spend 3 times the amount you would spend for the offer on TV. I will say, though, that Joann often has good deals for things. Stickers and scrapbook accessories were all 40% off today!! Short post, I know, but thats all I have for now! So shop around before you buy anything expensive!!

Rubber Stamping

2008-04-25T01:47:00.005-04:00

I just came across an idea for rubber stamping! I know rubber stamping is fun for creating scrapbooks, cards, letters, or any craft project, but stamps can get pricey! A lady at http://www.dcrafts.com/ suggested making your own! All you do is cut out a design from fun foam (available at Wal-mart-cheap) or use a design fun foam has already created. Attach the foam to film canisters or another small object that could be used as a handle. Be sure to put the design on backwards so it shows up right when you stamp it! : ) Then either brush on some paint ro dip it in a regular stamp ink pad and stamp away!!

Romantic crafts :)

2008-04-25T01:36:00.003-04:00

The 25th marked 8 months my boyfriend and I have been together. We are going to be far away from each other this summer, so I decided to make him something. I got special markers and popsicle sticks. On each popsicle stick, I am writing a reason why I love him. I am going to include a stick for every day we can't be together this summer. But I have one dilemma: I don't know what to do with the popsicle sticks! I already gave him a box like the one I described earlier this month, so I obviously dont want to reuse my ideas. Do you have any ideas? I will update and let ya'll know what I came up with.

Ps. I have already made him a photo frame, a no-sew blanket, and the photo box!

Wal-mart goodies!

2008-04-25T01:21:00.002-04:00

Ok, yes, I am a Wal-mart junkie! I was looking through their craft section today and I found some really interesting things! First of all, they always have a nice clearance area. You never know what you might find there! A lot of times, they have left over Christmas goodies on sale for like 50 cents or less! Who could pass that up?!? Plus, if you are creative, you can find uses for that stuff all year round.

Next, I'm sure you all have seen the scrap packs they sell. They come with a variety of paper, cardstock, letter cut-outs, etc. Those are cool. And I found one today that had transparent pages with quotes on them. Those were really nice-looking.

But here is the big one: I found this thing that looked like a paint can, but it was filled with scrapbook supplies! There were tons of tags, cut-outs, letters, and really great stuff in those cans! The only issue I had with them was that the cans were $15. But considering everything you get in the can, I'd say it is totally worth it! If I had $15 on me at the time, I would have snatched that right up! It looked like it could make your entire scrapbook and then some out of one can. I was impressed!

Fun Craft Projects for you and your Kids!

2008-04-21T02:45:00.003-04:00

I found some of these crafts from hobbylobby.com and marthastewart.com! The first one I would like to suggest is a crayon wreath. It is really cute and would make a perfect gift for your child's teacher! It is difficult to explain, so you might want to check out hobbylobby.com for that one!
The next one I thought was cute is a little easier. To spice up your child's bedroom, you could take a feather boa and glue it around a plain mirror. Simple, cheap, and a project your daughter is sure to love!
Martha tells you to make your own clock, but I think you could buy a regular white clock and this project would be much easier! Just take buttons of different colors, shapes, and sizes, and glue them over the numbers on the clock. Once again, it is simple but it turns out really cute!
Next, you can attach your scrap fabric to flip-flops in 1-inch strips. Your kids will love to wear these! Be creative on how to attach the fabric. Hot glue it, sew it, it won't really matter once it is finished! Oh, and just put the scraps on the part of the flip-flops that stretch across the top of the foot!
To help your children with their ABC's, you could collect leaves from outside. Place them between heavy books to flatten them out. Then arrange the leaves on a page to form an object or animal familiar to the child. For example, you could shape leaves into the wings of a butterfly, and then write Bb on the paper and it is a creative way to make alphabet cards or whatever you come up with!
I hope you are now inspired to do something creative!!!!

Croppin' the night away...

2008-04-15T04:47:00.003-04:00

A Crop: where people get together and scrapbook. It's like a track meet for scrapbookers. If you are going to go to a crop, you will need a scrap tote. Trust me, this will make life a heck of a lot easier! Look for a tote designed for scrapbooking. Search the net. You are going to need one with a lot of space and a lot of compartments. Before going to the crop, try to get yourself organized. Put everything in your tote that you will need, and put it in a logical place so that you can easily find what you need without dumping the entire contents of your tote on the floor! Make sure you take plenty of supplies, too. Seeing other scrapbookers at work is a great way to get inspiration for your own scrapbook.

Go out on a limb; throw your own croppin' party! You will really have fun and learn soo much!

Great Scrapbooking Resource!

2008-04-15T04:35:00.003-04:00

I just visited scrapbook.com and I would recommend it. There are many scrapbookers there and a lot of them give tips and tricks. There are also places to buy scrapbooking merchandise or materials. It is just a place for scrapbookers to communicate with each other about scrapbooking! There is a lot of information there, so if I were you, I would check it out!

I also visited PageLamp. They have some clip art, backgrounds, templates, etc. I think the clip art is a good idea. You could just cut out small objects and use them instead of stickers. hmm cheap decorations. I like that.

Fantastic Photo Box

2008-04-15T04:13:00.002-04:00

I once made this box and it turned out really nice. I was thinking that we could all make a box like this and it would serve not only as a creative project, but also as a place to store our photos for our scrapbooks!
This is what I did: I went to Wal-mart and found just a cheap box in the craft aisle. I painted the entire thing blue, inside and out. I then had some silver, glittery stars that I bought from Walmart for super cheap! They were from Christmas so I think they ended up costing about 50 cents! lol but I put a star on the top left corner and a star in the bottom right corner of the lid. Then I put stars around the actual box by each corner. There were 2 on each outer surface on the box.
Wal-mart can actually print digital pics in a wallet size, so I picked 4 pictures of my boyfriend and I that I had printed in wallet-size. I angled these on the box in between the stars. I also ironed on white letters that spelled out my boyfriend's name and put that across the top from the bottom left corner to the upper right corner of the lid. You have to be careful with this though. It might be better just to glue letters on there! The last thing I did was glue a piece of ribbon around the edge of the lid. And voila! It was finished in no time and looked very nice! My boyfriend uses it to store our keepsakes in. I was thinking it would make a nice photo box, but you could put anything inside it or even put a gift inside it instead of wrapping the gift!

Digital Scrapbooking, Free Backgrounds

2008-04-10T00:08:00.002-04:00

Personally, I think the wallpaper store idea that I discussed in my last post is the best way to find backgrounds for your scrapbook. However, there are some places to find backgrounds specifically designed for scrapbooks. The places i checked out were Smilebox and Picaboo, based on some search results. I thought that Picaboo seemed easier to use and they have a tour that shows you what to do. Both sites have many backgrounds to choose from, though. I like to just print out the background and glue my pictures on the page. However, with these sites, you can digitally insert your pics right onto the page and send them or print them out if you so choose. Which site do you guys like best: Smilebox, Picaboo, or some other site??

Learn to be Frugal

2008-04-09T23:08:00.003-04:00

Scrapbooking goes by this name for a very simple reason: it involves using scraps! Anyone has the money to scrapbook as long as they are frugal!

I heard today that some people like to use wallpaper as their background pages. You just search for wallpaper stores and then browse their wallpaper selections online. View it at its full size. Copy and paste the wallpaper you like into a word document and print it out. And just that easily, you have a ready-made background for your next scrapbook page!

If a button falls off of your shirt, save it. Eventually you could have a collection of buttons and other little knick-knacks that could help add some pizzazz to your pages! You could also use your child's construction paper scraps instead of actually buying cardstock. If you would like to sscrapbook pictures of your children, you could even use some of their colorful scribbles as the background! I once had used ribbon for another project. Once i was done with that project, i saved the ribbon and used it for my scrapbook. There are many, many ways to use things you would otherwise throw away in your scrapbook! Just have fun with it, and think outside the box!

Anyone else with frugal ideas? Please share them with us!

Cute Friendship Quotes

2008-04-08T03:07:00.002-04:00

Here are some cute friendship quotes that you can use in your scrapbook to tie a group of pictures that include you and your friends together:

Cute face. Chubby waist.

I don't know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot. - Marilyn Monroe

A brunette and a blonde with an inseperable bond.

Most girls prefer to blend in. We prefer to make a scene.

Best friends are sisters that destiny forgot to give you.

My friends are the craziest idiots I know. But I love them.

True friends are hard to find, harder to leave,and impossible to forget.

I'm surrounded by angels, I call them my best friends.

We may act like immature idiots, but atleast we're having fun.

Pretty girls turn heads. Me & my girls break necks.

Without blonde momentsLife would be so dull.

My Opinion of Digital Scrapbooking

2008-04-02T01:07:00.002-04:00

I used to think this was cheating, but sites for digital scrapbooking really can be useful. You can send your digital scrapbook to family and friends in other parts of the world, which is cool. But those sites also offer freebies and you can get some nice layouts for your scrapbook. I would just print out the layout and then add your picture instead of inserting a digital image onto the page. I would also add my own flair to the page by gluing on buttons, ribbons, and other little knick-knacks to spice things up! And with these additions, you get to use your creativity and it won't look like you cheated by just downloading things off the internet! lol I don't yet have a favorite website for this, but search for some and let us know which ones are your favorites, and which ones give the best/ most freebies!!!

Shadow Boxes

2008-03-31T01:45:00.006-04:00

Now this is a little different take on scrapbooking because, well, it doesn't involve using a book. All you do is put your picture inside a display box and create a background. For example, if you have a picture of your family on the beach, you could put some sand and some shells in the box to create some scenery for your picture. You can find different types of display boxes at different locations, but this place obviously specializes in display boxes: http://www.shadowboxesdirect.com/. Click on Shadowboxes- For memories. This will take you to the correct type of display boxes you might need for this project. This idea is also nice for holding things of special importance that might be too large or bulky for a scrapbook. Medals or other 3-dimensional objects of importance make lovely shadowboxes that can be displayed around the house. You memories will be shared with all who enter your home!

Gathering your Pictures

2008-03-22T00:37:00.002-04:00

Obviously you are going to need to decide which pictures should go in your scrapbook. First, I like to decide which pictures are a must for my scrapbook. Set those in one stack and put a rubberband around them. Put other pictures that you could use, but aren't sure if you are going to in another stack and rubberband those. Then get the pictures you are not going to use out of your way! Set your second stack out of your way as well, but be sure you can access them easily.

Then take your pile of "musts" and separate them according to event. Put them in chronological order, or some other order that will help you to find the pictures you need quickly and easily. Try to use only good-quality photos that need little to no cropping, as cropping can sometimes cause uneven edges, which looks sloppy. Make sure everyone in the shot looks good. I sometimes tend to focus on myself in pictures and make sure it is a good picture of me. But don't neglect the others in the photo! You will want them to enjoy your scrapbook just as much as you do, and a bad picture of them can really ruin their day! Trust me, they will not want everyone and their brother looking at a dreadful picture of them from here 'til eternity!

Concentrate on the FUN aspects

2008-03-20T00:25:00.004-04:00

Ok try not to get too technical with your scrapbook. It is okay to have silly pages! This picture is a page I made of my boyfriend and I playing in the snow. We hadn't gotten any snow, but i always wanted to build a snowman with my boyfriend. Therefore, this picture came to being!

Cutting and pasting and making collages is a lot of fun, and can easily be added to your scrapbook pages. Mixing pictures from magazines with your own pictures is always fun! Try putting your husband's face on a hunky guy with his shirt off. Put your face on a supermodel. or even put your face on your husbands body, and vis versa haha have fun with your project! It will be much more entertaining both to work on and for everyone else to look at!

Faithbooking and Journaling

2008-03-16T20:09:00.006-04:00

Faithbooking and journaling involve using ticket stubs, stories, poems, song lyrics, quotes, and other things that describe your life or your faith. I think these are tremendous accents to your photographs. Use matting, or just a border made of cardstock, around your writings to make them stand out, yet blend with the whole concept of your scrapbook. This really adds a whole other dimension to your scrapbooking! You can try doing a collage of ticket stubs from you and your spouse's first dates. These are fun because years later, you can look back and see which movies you went to see when you were younger! You can also either handwrite your writings or type them using different fonts and colors. Put a border around your writings, tilt it to the side, and overlap it with a picture that correlates to the writing. Doing this creates a much more memorable scrapbook.
You can even try adding your artwork to the album. Use it as a fun, interesting background to your pages! Or, insert small clips of your art into your book to complement your pictures. If you need help getting started with painting, Click Here! or Click Here! For example, pictures from your family vacation would work lovely with your painting of the beach!

Page Designs

2008-03-10T02:04:00.005-04:00

Page designs are very important when scrapbooking. You don't want your page to look messy or like a child did it. Having said that, there are many ways to design a page.

I typically use pages that are clutter-free. I put just a couple of pictures on a page. Putting more than a couple of photos can make your page look crowded and not uniform. You want the page to look clean and professional. I have even created pages on simple white backgrounds. Of course I added card stock and writing to my page, but the basic background was plain white. I have also created pages that included only one photo on a page.

If you like multiple photos per page, there are still ways to achieve a professional look. Choose a simple background, make a collage of pictures, and include nothing else. A page with a lot of pictures doesn't need stickers or anything that is going to confuse the eye and create a mess.

I have also created pages with 4 pictures. I usually put a picture in each corner and then a label of the event in the center of the page. I allow the corners of each picture to touch the corners of the label in the center. This creates unity on the page. Unity is key!! And that means that overlapping is key! For more ideas, sayings, quotes, and fun things to add to your scrapbook, Click Here!

Basically, you can put as many pictures on a page as you want as long as you keep it clean! Put everything on the page and rearrange everything before gluing anything down. Experiment with different ways of presenting the photos. Overlap different objects. If anything looks a little bit funny to you, try it out somewhere else on the page, or remove it from the page and rearrange the page to not include that object. Try not to be set in your ways. And most importantly, have fun!

Gathering supplies

2008-03-06T06:07:00.003-05:00

Supplies are an important part of making your scrapbook unique and exciting. This is a list of many items that can be used in your scrapbook. Pick and choose which ones you will need for your individual project. Remember, only buy things you are going to use. Scrapbooking can become quite expensive!
Ok, now the list:
scissors- both regular and the ones that cut in a design pattern
glue- glue stick, glue gun, maybe even tape
stickers
letter stickers
cardstock
pages
a book
tags
pictures (of course)
magazine cut-outs
small objects, such as buttons or beads
objects that will add texture
glitter
glitter glue
page covers
design templates
paper cutters
Cricut (never used it, but it looks cool!)
As you can see, there are a lot of articles that caan be used for scrapbooking. Shop around, though. The Dollar Tree even has some things you can use! They have stickers, pages, and other craft supplies. I like to look at Wal-Mart. they have a nice collection of items you can use. You can try shopping at specialty stores like Hobby Lobby, but there is so much stuff there that it may be overwhelming and you may end up spending a fortune! Have fun gathering supplies, and try not to go overboard!

Scrapbooking 101

2008-03-06T05:53:00.004-05:00

Scrapbooking is one of the most rewarding forms of entertainment in my opinion. Scrapbooks are fun, and can be enjoyed and added upon for years to come. However, scrapbooking does not come so naturally to many people, myself included. People like us need to learn a few tricks of the trade in order to produce a quality scrapbook.
My first bit of advice is to get organized before you begin! Decide on a theme for your scrapbook. What I mean by this is decide whether you want to do a family album, a wedding scrapbook, your child's first birthday, etc. Then gather all of the photographs you wish to use. Chances are, you are not going to use every picture that you pick out, but you need to have a nice variety of pictures so that you can choose which pictures look best on which pages.
The next step is to build upon your theme by gathering supplies. Gather lots of colorful paper, stickers, etc. before you begin so that you have a basic outline of how your scrapbook will look as a finished product. My next post will contain a list of materials you may need before getting started.
Next, decide how you are going to organize your book. Will it be in chronological order, ordered based on the people in it, ordered with related events grouped together? Whichever way you choose, you need to have a plan so that you book creates nice transitions and it flows. One page needs to lead into the next, and your page designs shouldn't clash. For a collection of great page designs and layouts to use, Click Here!

My Make Money Websites!

2008-03-05T00:40:00.001-05:00

Everyone wants their piece of internet success. well, let me be the first to tell ya that the internet probably ain't gonna make you rich.
But there are a few sites that will pay you for easy tasks. These are my favorites:

http://www.mylot.com/?ref=rposta07
myLot pays you to post in forums and for referrals. Trust me, there is plenty to post about!

http://www.bigstockphoto.com/?refid=X3ZIrbgYdq
This one allows you to upload photos and people then purchase your photos and you receive the profits.

http://r.yuwie.com/rachlynn88
You get paid to participate on Yuwie. It is a social networking site such as myspace, facebook, etc.

They give you a new phone number connected to your old one. When someone calls your new number, they play a short add, connect the caller to your phone, and then pay you!

If you register with the following websites, you get paid to click on ads and for referrals. Easy money for daily tasks... Go there every day, click on ads, get referrals, and the money seriously will start to add up!

http://bux.to/?r=rposta07

http://fast.sc/signup.php?ref=rposta07

http://www.buxa.co.uk/?r=rposta07

http://www.cashwebs.net/signup.php?ref=rposta07

http://hits4pay.com/members/index.cgi?rposta07

http://e-serwis.biz/?r=rposta07

I would recommend downloading Roboform before signing up with all of these. It will make sign-up fast and easy!

Hope you enjoy these! More money-making websites to come soon!