More Trash to Treasures!

How about the ribbon pulls! You got to love them, but to buy them they will cost you some unnecessary bucks!

Why not make your own. You surely have some cans laying around that have them on. Here is what you do.
Oh my they are so easy!!!!! Yes you can make them all yourself! I am going to give you all the instructions and once you have done them you will think it was nothing to create them. So here we go just follow these few instructions.
1. Collect soda tabs from various soft drink cans…some are weirder shaped then others but it is a personal preference as to what you use. You do need to remove the little piece of metal that sometimes sticks to it when you remove it from the can.
2. Wash the tabs with some warm water and dish soap…I usually do it in a colander so it drains as I wash…lay out on a dish towel to dry.
3. Line a box lid with paper towels. Once the tabs are dry lay them on the paper towels with the back facing up first.
4. Once they are all laid out, spray the backs of the tabs with the spray paint color of your choice. I just use regular spray paint that is for metal items. Make sure to cover but you do not have to be so fussy because they are the backs…let dry.
5. Once dry, flip over to front of tabs. Once all tabs are flipped, spray the fronts of the tabs. I try to spray slowly so they do not get bumpy…sometimes they need two coats.
6. Let dry and once they are dry they are ready to slide on your ribbon.

Here is what these cute little things add to your ribbons, not to mention your Scrapbook pages, cards and other projects

What to use these for!

Here is a tag that I made! I used one of my ribbon slides.
The ideas are endless for these cute little pulls. Give this one a try.
Remember they are great for all those swaps you enter!

Article by:

Carol Paskovitch

Trash to Treasure

Have you ever noticed when its for scrapbooking all of a sudden a product that we may have thought about throwing away becomes big dollars to buy. For instance, bottle caps and tabs. This one always gets me. We take them off our bottles and cans and we throw these things in the trash.

One day a thrifty scrapper creates this onderful layout using one of these items and all of sudden they are in high demand. The scrapbooking manufactures take it on and Yippee we can find them everywhere. We can get a package of 12 for about 5 bucks!

OMG! It started out free and I am here to tell you they can still be free! No need to take this one on a pay 5 or 6 dollars for a package.

It just takes a little time and I am here to tell you if you scrapbook you know how to create and you know how to take your time. The biggest thing is to save the caps.

You will need a box. I use a box so that the spray won't get out! Lay your bottle caps on in the box keeping them from touching. Then simply give them a spray with a can of spray paint. Let them dry. After they are dry, check them out and if you think they need another coat so be it spray them down again. Remember light coats will keep it from running. You can do the underside if you wish.

There you go use as required. No problem with this one its not even a tough solution and the best thing is it didn't cost me any money! Except of course for whateve came in the bottle!

Falling Leaves!

Ok So its going to be fall we love all our fall leaves.

Here is a leaf that I have used many ways.

I have printed it off and cut it out.

Downsized it or made it bigger

I have used it as just a template to cut out my own leaves.

I have also taken it in a program and changed its colors

At any rate its great to use over and over again. So I am passing it on to you to save and use at will!

Its a great picture to have to get out to add not only to your layouts but also to your cards and other projects!

Remember you don't always have to buy things. A simple thing like this can add a trememdous amount of interest to you pages!

Product Swap

Most of us scrapbook with a lot of products. Many of us join swaps and other things to get our products.

Mary from Utah has a group of scrapbooking ladies that get together once a month for a day of scrapbooking. When they do they bring in their items that they can't use or maybe have more than one of (We know how that happens) and they swap them out between their group.

Here is how it works: They bring in 3 items and they put them all on one table and then each of them is allowed to pick out one item at a certain time during their class. Then they do it again with their time and then when they leave the pick up their last one.

They save money, and trade something they wouldn't use for some thing they can use!

Most of us have a group or go to crops, so how about trying to incorporate a idea like this to make your group a little more frugel plus add a little fun to the day!


Article by:
Accents 2 Scrapbooking editor

Creating your own words on Ribbon and more!

Love all those ribbons with the words just printed on them perfectly aligned in the center. How about the material with the little sentiments on them? Well this is a very simple task and you can do this all by yourself. No need to purchase and the great thing is you get exactly the wording you want!

Here is a great tip from our reader:

Here is what you do. Go into your program you have for word processing. Print up the words, phrases etc that you would like. Then print it off on a piece of cardstock. Remember for a piece of ribbon you will need to repeat the word all the way down the page. After you print your wording take your ribbon and tape it right over the wording. Carefully tape only the edges down. Then place it into your printer the same way and print. It will print it in the same place and you will have your ribbon centered.

Now for those that are going to want to use a 12" piece of ribbon you will have to change your printer settings. These can be done so read your manual to find out how to do it. For instance for mine I must go into change printer settings, advanced setting and then I choose a 6" x 12" and save. Of course you will have to cut down a 12x12 sheet of cardstock to get that dimension but hey you can use it over and over.

Remember this technique for printing on fabric as well as cork and cross stich fabrick. The possibilities are endless!

Tip sent in from

Corey for Maryland

Scrapbooking with Supplies from home!

Once again there are so many things out there. I personally love the new stuff, but hey lets face it we can't always get what we want, when we want to. So its time to look around take stock and figure out what we need and what we have just laying around our house! Nothing you say, well lets see is there are some thing and ideas on our list that will offer you a few ideas to all the handy things we have just laying around our homes!

Paper Clips, paint them up and use them for a great accent on your pages
Pop can tops: I love these! once again paint them up, throw some ribbon in them and use them as ribbon slides! We will have to show you this idea, you will love it!
Old Puzzle Pieces: Have those puzzles that the kids have lost some pieces to! Never fear recycle them for your scrapbooking. Paint them up or recover them with paper or some cardstock. These are super accents on your pages! Give it a try, I bet you will love them.
Acrylic Paint: If you have ever done any projects for scouts or other organization, or crafts around home, chances are you have a box of acrylic paints! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to use these up!
Yes you can use them in your scrapbooking. Remember the puzzle pieces, paint away, add some glitter and you got yourself one sharp embellishment. The possibilities are endless for this one!
Wrapping Paper: I know they preached the idea that things must be acid free, get one of those pens and you will find out that a lot of things are acid free and safe for your pages. Try some of the wrapping papers. They are gorgeous and will work wonderfully on your pages. Remember if your not sure, just keep your photos away from them.
Old Clothes: Don't throw those old clothes out without looking for buttons, and even eyelets! Look at the material. Blue jeans work wonders on some of the layouts, so don't just throw everything away without giving it a second look. There are many things you throw awy that you can actually use in your scrapbooking.

Got a tip you want to add to our list, send it in and we will use it in our newsletter!
Send them to debbie@accents2scrapbooking.com

Scrapbooking with Cents

Customer Question:

Scrapbooking is becoming so expensive anymore. I would love one of the die cutting machines, but can't afford the 600.00. That is not the end of it paper has shot up, embellishments and everything else. Who can afford to pay $4.00 for one item to put on a page. My question is, with the economy the way it is, and the only enjoyment that a lot of us enjoy participating in is Scrapbooking how can we keep affording the prices of the items we need to do it. Gas is climbing and just to go to the store to get supplies is almost getting out of reach! Can you suggest some help for us stuggling scrapbookers?

Answer:

I hear you! The economy is bad, gas is up and the products are increasing in price. How can a person keep up with getting supplies and doing this craft. Scrapbooking is very entertaining and fulfilling, it has many values to it. So how do we keep up with the ever increasing prices caused by our faultering economy.

Well I know that in our stores we are offering coupons to help with the shipping cost. If you buy nothing but stickers we even ship those regular mail, so we can defer the cost somewhat a bit. With the price of gas even if you only go a few miles to a store you are still spending up wanted money by driving there. If you look at the post office its only $4.60 to get you supplies to you, which if you live in a rural area, is tons better than driving miles for them.

So my suggestion is look for on-line stores to buy your products. Get the coupons. I know that we are trying to help out with the rising costs by offering them. Accents 2 Scrapbooking and also The Scrapbook City both offer coupons every month. Don't be afraid to use them, we offer them to help you out with the prices.

Look over the clearance things. Many are discounted greatly to move stock around. Getting some thing from clearance is not such a bad thing. It doesn't mean the products aren't any good it just means there are newer products the stores are trying to move in. Who knows there may be something in there you don't have and you might just get it at a great price.

Look for places that offer free items. You can find a freebies page at The Scrapbook City. It has a few free items you can download for your project.

One other thing, if you are into digital scrapbooking, there are tons of sites offering free thing there. You can download their papers and print them off. Although the cost of ink is high, it beats trying to get out to get something.

Hopefully we see a break with the rising prices of our economy. I do hope that everyone realizes that shopping on-line can and will save you at least some $$$ with the gas prices. If you just look for the coupons, sales and freebies, I think you will find that you can shop on-line and get some darn good prices!

Article by:

Debbie Ruggles

Paper Scraps--Gotta Keep them

The pages are done and you look around and what do you see everywhere! Scraps of paper! Well let me tell you its a good day of scrapping when you have a lot of scraps to show for it. Now just don't throw those pieces away. Lets put them aside if you have to put just don't toss them in the trash! Use them! Want to stretch those scrapping booking dollars well lets not just throw out the papers that we spent all that money on lets see if we can organize them and then use them for other layouts, projects, cards, die-cuts, punchies, paper piecings, serendipity squares etc.
How to Sort and Organize Your ScrapsThe first step is to set aside a block of time so that you can finish your paper scraps organization project and have everything cleaned up and put away in one sitting. This is where it gets messy! But in the end it is definitely worth it.
Here is how to begin. Sit on the floor with all your papers, turn on the TV and then proceed to sort your stack of papers. Ok so you can use a table or whatever large surface you have. I love doing this in front of a good movie. Sort your paper scraps into piles. Create a pile for each color, and separate colors into piles of solids and patterns.
Now that you have sorted your paper scraps, size up your collection. Its amazing how many scraps you can have. Now if you are like me I like to trim all the bad edges from the papers, so I have nice neat ones. I also put all those little itty pieces in a separate pile. If I am going to be doing serendipity squares, I might just use all of those, otherwise, depending on my mood, I may find them in the trash can!
How to Store Your ScrapsIf you are a scrapper that doesn't have a lot of scraps, then an accordion file will probably work best for you. Find one that has index tabs so that you can easily identify at a glance where each color is stored. Write the color on the tabs and specify cardstock or paper.
For a larger scrap collection, try vertical hanging files in a file drawer. This is what I use! Same goes here, label your folders.
Ok now for the large big time scraps. Get one of those clear drawer files. You got to love these. You can find them at any Wal-Mart, Target etc.Put your colors in these they work excellent! You can see through the drawers and lots of storage. Look around there are plenty of other ideas out there for storage so don't limit yourself. Also using what you have is always better. More money for paper to make more scraps this way!

Now what can I use these scraps for. Well let see! Die-Cuts, punchies, paper piecings, serendidpity squares, cards stamping. You name it you will find something that you need just a little bit of one color. Every layout needs just one more piece of something, so try looking in your files first before cutting another sheet of paper or cardstock!

Article By:
KayDee Designs

How to make your own adhesives for 3-D Embellishments

If you look at the back of some of the cool embellishments you see a piece of what looks like foam that makes it stick out and even sometimes between the layers there are pieces of this stuff! Well you can go to the glue dots and buy a package of these to add to your collection, but they can be expensive, so how can you create the same thing.

Well here was my solution when one of our customers asked us that questions.
I listened to my mom about what she told me a long time ago. Yes I finally took her advice. At the time she only had one of those little Zyrons, the 150. She took one of those foam sheets you see at craft stores for like 50 cents or so and cut it into pieces to fit through her little Zyron. she did both sides and then just cut it into squares to use on her projects.
When she told me about it I just thought it was a lot of work and so opening up a box of pop dots from Glue Dots was a lot easier than trying to do something like that. Well I did it out of necessity when I ran out of the Glue Dots and was in need of some quick! So I tried it and it works. So go ahead and give this one a try. If your like me keep it in the back of your mind and when there is a horrible snow storm and nothing to do but scrap, you see you have no glue dots, maybe you will remember this article!
Now mom has the bigger Zyron and does a whol 8-1/2 x 11 sheet at once.

Another idea I like to use is chip board. It does work and you do not have to cut it to size of you embellishment. There are different thicknesses of chip board. I just cut a square or a rectangle the size I need. Then adhere it to the back of my object and then adhere to the page. Try it out you can almost give anything a 3- D look with some of the things you can purchase.

Article by:
Debbie Ruggles