This has been a very reflective and inspirational couple of months.  We recently taught our Deck the Walls workshop introducing a group of people to scrapbooking.  Many of them had never used a trimmer or adhesive runner.  I was working with a group of ladies and they were tentative.  I kept telling them you can’t make a mistake.  Just one more thing I love about scrapbooking.

This conversation kept running through my head. And then I found this layout by Becky Fleck:

Perfect.  I pulled out some of my favorite papers and doilies from Crate Paper, Webster’s Pages, and BasicGrey.  Used my go-to border punches, and 7 Gypsies paper tape.  I love this new font from Quickutz!!  It’s called Winter Wishes, and I used natural cardstock.  Exactly the raw look I wanted as a title for the journaling.   Add a few buttons, and the inspiration from the layout I’m lifting…and ta-da!

The conclusion to my story is scrap-lifting is always a go-to inspiration tool.  Whether you have never used a trimmer, or have been scrapbooking for ten years. 

Post your Scrap-lifts on my Facebook page!  Happy Scrapping!

I liked how the embellishments were lined up in rainbow order and how colorful and cheery the card was. Since I didn’t have those flowers at home, I re-created a similar look using a butterfly die-cut (or a punch would work, too):

I die-cut my butterflies from different papers and added a few gems for my own custom embellishments. I arranged them on my card, added a border punch and a stamp, and it was done. Fast, easy, and cute!

I like how the flower was positioned off the edge of the card. However, instead of using a flower embellishment, I stamped a flower for my card. I simply stamped each petal (any flower stamp would work!) on white cardstock using a brightly colored ink, cut the petals out, and assembled the flower on my card. Add in some letter stickers, a rub-on or stamp, a cute button, and my card is done!

Even thought the papers are a little outdated, I like the design of this card. With a few October Afternoon papers, some kraft cardstock, a couple circle punches, and a cute Hero Arts sentiment stamp, I made a card that’s a bit more modern and fits my personal style a little better.

That’s the great thing about scrap-lifting–you don’t have to copy an idea exactly! You can take bits and pieces of the design, colors, techniques, etc. and turn them into something more “you”. Or, take an older idea and update it with current product to give it a whole new look.

Spend a few minutes looking through Archiver’s idea pages–you’re bound to find a ton of great ideas you can scrap-lift, too!

I take so many pictures, I’m always looking for layouts that are cute and still allow me to fit more than one photo on the page.  I liked this collage of photos that still had space for a title and some embellishments.

I used our Print Station collage feature (you can print up to 4 pictures on one 4×6 photo, each of them being 2×3) and grouped the photos so they still had an even border around them.  This gives the illusion that they are matted, without having to actually mat them.  A really easy layout you could replicate for any occasion…those are my favorite kind

It was so easy to use this concept with travel photos since I had tons of photos to choose from and I needed a lot of pictures on one  page.  I was able to shrink down all of these pictures and then crop them to a 2×2. I LOVE the copier at our stores.  If you haven’t tried it, it’s a great way to get a lot of stuff on one layout.  This page also has one of my favorite products…the white Uni-ball pen.  It’s a gotta have

Get instructions and a product list here.

The use of border punches on the card on the left immediately caught my eye. I own several border punches and have used them in the past to add a single scalloped strip to a scrapbook page, or add a decorative border to the bottom edge of a card, but I never thought about layering lots of punched strips before, let alone layering strips of the same color cardstock. It’s so fun finding new uses for the tools I already love!

I grabbed my favorite Fiskars and EK Success border punches, a few sheets of cardstock, and went to work. I like the way the page turned out and it was so easy to do!

Get out those border punches–or come to Archiver’s if you need some new styles–and give it a try!

I loved the idea of creating a mini album for a holiday.  You don’t need as many photos for a mini album and it’s easy for kids to flip through (which they love).  I created a 4th of July album using Bo-Bunny’s new Block Party collection.  The entire book only took me an hour and a half which is defintely worth the results.  Click here for instructions.  Happy Scrap-lifting!

This page from a recent issue of Martha Stewart Weddings magazine caught my eye. I loved the cluster of small photos and the clean, simple design. I thought it would be perfect for the first page of my Chicago album!

For my page, I shrunk down about a dozen photos (you can do this using Archiver’s in-store Digital Print Station), arranged them on the page, and added a few embellishments and a title. Simple!

This layout is very versatile and could be used in lots of different ways:

• If you have a child who is about to graduate, place their senior photo in the middle and arrange their school pictures for kindergarten through 11th grade around it. Put it in your album–or better yet, frame it for a display at their graduation open house or in your home.
• Pick your favorite 10-12 photos from the month and make a page. It only takes a little bit of time each month, and after 12 months, you’ll have an entire year’s worth of memories in your album.
• Instead of being overwhelmed by hundreds of photos from an event or holiday (like Christmas), choose your favorites or the ones that really capture the memories you want to remember and create a page. Then, put all the remaining photos in pocket pages.

Enjoy!

I thought I could easily decorate my own gifts and tags with some cardstock scraps and stickers.  The projects I made are small and could be used as party favors too!  Super fast and easy (two of my favorite things)!  Another fun tip, try using scrapbook paper to wrap small gifts.  You know we have paper for every occasion!

Click on each item to see a different gift wrapping idea: Elegant pail, Teacher pail, Little Girl pail, Baby gift box & tag, Die-cut flower on gift box, Mother’s Day jar, Fairy gift bag, Kraft pillow box