Fall Pumpkin Hybrid Tutorial
By: Mary Jo Johnston

Need a fun, creative centerpiece for your fall or Thanksgiving festivities? We’ve got one for you! Go grab the Plumberry Harvest Papers and the Plumberry Harvest Elements kits and let’s get creative!

Supplies Needed:
2 Brads
3 Plumberry Harvest Leaf Elements (Printed and Cut)
5-6 Plumberry Harvest Printed Patterned Papers
Paper Trimmer
Stapler
Glue

Instructions:

1. Print several, double sided patterned papers onto cardstock. *(It’s important that you print the papers on both sides because the inside of your pumpkin will be visible.)

2. From the patterned paper, cut (10) strips 1.5” wide x 10” long.

3. Stack the strips one on top of the other and secure them together using a small brad.

4. Loop the opposite end of each paper strip around so that a circular shape is formed.

5. Secure the paper strips together using the second brad.

6. From the patterned paper, cut (1) strip 1.5” wide x 5” long. Loop the ends together and secure with a staple. This will form them stem. (I used the brown patterned paper, but you could use any color of your choice.

7. Glue the stem to the top of your pumpkin.

8. Choose (3) leaf elements, printed and cut, and glue to the top of your pumpkin and stem as shown.

Display your pumpkin with raffia or additional paper leaves and use a centerpiece at your next festive gathering!

I’m back and I’ve brought goodies!;) Ok so that fall kit I promised didn’t exactly make it in time for the DSD sale last week so I’m honoring the DSD sale prices and putting it and ALL new releases up for 30% off . But hurry, hurry because this offer is ONLY available until Thursday November 13 (midnight EST).

So check it, check it OUT! We’ve got the new and uber delicious Plumberry Harvest Papers and Elements, two sets of splatter painted Craft Flowers, some Thanksgiving Stamps which are great for cards and crafts, PLUS some cool cardboard Retail Frames with AND without shadows. AND (I might add) that the frames are saved with shadows both horizontally AND vertically. And the BEST part is that you can just grab it ALL in one nifty Bundle Pack and save EVEN more. (Feel free to insert that ‘Home Alone’ face again, if needed).

Now here is the best part. Cindy designed this AMAZING (and I mean AMAZING) collection of Quick Pages to cover all your most important yearly events and occasions. Each set has 9 original pre-made pages with 9 coordinating journal pages. These are great as a quick holiday gift or even a complete album for the family, grandparents, friends etc. Plus the pages are all pretty general, so the Easter can be used for Spring, the New Years can be for any party occasion like an anniversary and the Thanksgiving pages also work as general fall pages.

Check them out!
Year of Memories Quick Page Collection - Set 1
Year of Memories Quick Page Collection - Set 2
BUNDLE & SAVE: Both Sets.

Happy Shopping!

Happy HALLOWEEN Ladies!! Hope you are all having fun out and about with your little monsters. Tomorrow is Digital Scrapbooking Day (DSD) . It’s actually a real day - I’m not just making it up. LOL! So sleep in and then send the kids to sort their candy and come and check out all the new loot here at PC!!! Woot! Woot!

Pick up the new Kooky Spooky Paper and Element Pack and of course you cannot MISS the Feltabet Alphabet - Spooks set. The google eyes and dragon scales are included separately so taht you can decorate your own words/letters however you want. PLUS the cutest monster doodles around are in an exclusive add-on mini kit called Monster Mash. Pick it ALL up in the Halloween GRAB BAG here.

PLUS! Mint Chick Shanta Silver designed these ADORABLE mini treat bags. I created the ones in the product demo below and was soooo thrilled with how they turned out. LOVE them! Check out Shanta’s creative designs below (the cute colorful ones). These are so awesome because you can either totally design your own OR use the 8.5×11″ print ready project sheets with the papers AND tags shown in the demo to create the exact bags pictured. I’ll be putting out a set with Christmas, Birthday, Valentines Day papers too, so if you’d like them pre-desgined for you….STAY TUNED!

PLUS! Don’t miss Cindy and Trisha’s PRE-MADE ALBUMS. Perfect holiday and birthday gifts for the inlaws. AND (yes, there’s more!) Check back over the weekend for a BRAND new FALL kit!

Ciao for now!

Boo Card
By: Claire Skeps

I love interactive cards and books. However, sometimes figuring them out and doing them could take a degree in Engineering. But there is no need to be afraid of them. I went over some fun and easy ways to make some Pop Up Cards in my last post. So to follow up, here is another easy and fun way to make your message pop!

1. Create two 5×5 documents for the inside. Add orange and black paper from Witches Brew on both with the black up against the side of the document so when you add them together on the card they will make a 5×10 black square. Create word art by typing “But don’t you love it when it is!” with “1942 Report” font onto the green paper from Canvas Basics, Fresh and cutting into a strip. Add your new word art strip to one of the inside pieces.

2. Create another 5×5 document for the outside. Add the paper, word art, flourish, and pumpkin from Witches Brew.

3. Open the template (see download below) and clip the black paper from Witches Brew to the shape. Size the BOO from the Yellow Plastic Alpha by enlarging the letters to 150 Percent.

4. Print and cut out the Inside, Outside, Shape, and Letters. Create a 5×5 Card from Cardstock. Glue the Outside and Inside pieces.

5. Score the middle and sides of the shape. Glue the letters to the top of the shape. Line it up the middle score of the template to the fold in the card.

6. Place towards the top of the card and make sure the letters don’t stick out of the bottom of the card when it is closed. Glue the side flaps down.

You can use the shape to create all kinds of fun cards. You can add “Happy Birthday” instead of “Boo” or “Congratulations.” So easy you can try it today.

::DOWNLOAD POP-UP SHAPE

Share your pop up cards (for ANY occasion) in the gallery with us! We’d love to see what you create. And remember to leave the website space blank when leaving a comment so the spam filters don’t get ya! ;)

Using IrfanView to Open and Save Layered Files as JPEGs

It’s Megan again! I’m here with a quick tip on saving your layered files as JPEGs for printing or for web.

Sometimes, my scrap program (Photoshop Elements 5) can be slow to load layered files. I don’t always save full size or web sized JPEGs right after I create my pages, so I have found IrfanView. It is a free program capable of opening all kinds of different images, including your layered PSD and TIF files. I can simply right click on my layered file in Windows Explorer and select Open With>IrfanView. Unlike PSE, it opens the file in seconds. You can then save it as a full size JPEG or resize for web. I always use IrfanView to resize for web because my pages come out clearer than when I save for web with PSE.

I have found this to be a valuable resource and a great time saver!
I hope you find it useful too!

Aloha Mint Fans, it’s Joscie with a quick little mini book.  I got this new Sizzix Die that cuts a fancy label shape and I knew immediately I’d like to use it to make my own chipboard mini book. Since it’s Halloween time, I figured, why not do a little mini book featuring the costumes of Halloweens gone by? 

click images to enlarge

First I designed each page in PSE with a Halloween costume picture or jack-o-lantern picture.

I added Halloween wordfetti from the Witches Brew kit and a little number to represent the year.  I also added the name of the picture on the bottom of the wordfetti.  When I was satisfied with all the digital elements, I printed them on matte photo paper. 

I also printed two sheets of SK8r Boy orange dotted paper for the covers.  I trimmed into 4.5” strips and run them through the big shot to die cut the pictures.

I also cut 5 label shapes out of chipboard.

I adhered the pictures to the chipboard using a glue stick and brayer.

I punched a hole with a crop-a-dile and set a large eyelet in each page.

I used a binder ring to hold the pages together.

I added a piece of Making Memories ribbon to the ring and glittered letters to the cover.  I attached a felt flower and brad to the cover with a dimensional glue dot.  I stamped the back cover with a personalized stamp.

You could do this project with ready made chipboard albums if you don’t have access to a die cutting machine.  I hope you’ll try it out and share your results~ J