Bountiful Buttons

From the LM Archives

Bountiful Buttons By: Melissa Thigpen, Design Team Member
Buttons, Buttons, who’s got the Buttons? The LM design team, that’s who! For a while buttons seemed to go out of vogue as they seemed to be associated with country and cute. Now they are back and the design team is finding some sophisticated, funky and graphic applications for the latest batch of buttons to hit the store. What is the latest in buttons you ask? My Mind’s Eye has released Tres Jolie, a collection of gorgeous buttons of many shapes, sizes and textures. These come in little glass jars that are perfect for displaying buttons that come in colors like Bonjour Vert, Mon Cheri Bleu, Je t’aime Corail and Oui Oui Peche. For a wider range of colors, Autumn Leaves has a Bag of Buttons to match each of their three new collections, Foofala Bella, MOD Primary and Rhonna Farrar French Twist. Or for something different, check out the new wooden buttons sets from Sweetwater. The buttons coordinate with theClassic, Sprinkles, Squeeze and All about me collections. The sets come with wooden buttons and stickers that fit in the center of the buttons. Don’t go by the image in the store, instead take a look at the layouts by Madeline and Vickie to see the true cuteness of these buttons in action. But what to do with all of these buttons once you have them? Well, as one team member commented recently, buttons are very handy little items for some of the following purposes: Frame a photo or element in buttons. Create a button border. Anchor a tag, journaling strip or other element with a button. (Notice how Miranda used buttons to accent and anchor several elements in her layouts.) Create a shape (heart, star, square, etc.) from buttons. (Cecilie creates a trio of circles using two Heidi Swapp bling circles and repeating the shape with a third circle of buttons.) Use buttons to accent a patterned paper design. Use one or more buttons as a flower center. (This is a staple technique. Notice how Madeline uses it on one of her layouts. And her favorite variation is to tie narrow ribbon through a button hole for added decoration.) Scatter buttons among other elements as an embellishment. (Miranda uses a scattering of buttons on her Doodle Butt layout.) Substitute buttons for "o" or the round parts of other letters. Anchor or accent the edges of photos or shapes with buttons. Tie a tag to a button. Tie an envelope closed with two buttons and some string or ribbon. Use buttons as a bullet points for journaling. Anchor the folded corner of a paper. Create a pull tab for a journaling card with a button (and maybe a folded over ribbon or paper strip as well). Use buttons to accent the scalloped edge of paper or element. Embellish large letters with buttons. Yes, buttons are very handy indeed. Then again, one of my favorite things to do with my buttons is to dump them all in a big glass jar, set it on my scrap table and enjoy how pretty it looks. On or off your pages, you can never have too many buttons.
Design Team Examples To view all layout ideas and products used, please be sure to visit the Design Team Gallery: Bountiful Buttons Or Click each image below to see a larger view! Melissa Miranda Madeline Vickie   Tracy Sonya Cecilie

Terrific Ribbons and Trims

From the LM Archives

Terrific Ribbons and TrimsBy: Franny Lesniak, Design Team Member
What is it about ribbon that is so very alluring? I don’t know about you, but when I see a pretty ribbon it’s hard to look away. I want to feel it, stroke it, and own as many varieties as I can possible get my hands on. If you are like me - bewitched by ribbon - then you will want to pay attention to the new generation of ribbon that is finding its way into the hearts (and onto the shelves of the Lifetime Moments store) of many-a-scrapbooker. It’s not as if we haven’t seen it all before - or so one might think. But alas, the newly available ribbons and trims present a fresh twist on an old standby. Fancy Pants and Making Memories (soon to be arriving at LM) have taken crocheted and lace trims a step beyond the traditional white and ecru shades that one might scavenge from her granny‘s sewing basket.American Crafts and Maya Road have “Journeyed East“, taking printed ribbon and velvet blossom trim, ribbon and ric rac to all new horizons. This new generation of ribbons, trims, and lace are now available in richer hues, more vibrant colors, and positively luscious textures. There are so many ways one can incorporate ribbon embellishments on her layouts. Our Design Teamput their creative minds to work - here's a few of our fun ideas: gather and stitch wide trim in a fan shape to make a flower weave thin ribbon through holes in wide trim or lace knot the ends and hang embellishments off the edge of your page machine stitch small strips of various ribbon to create a border create gathers by running a thread through ribbon and pulling knot two ribbons and criss cross them to frame your corner fold and make a flower If you still find yourself stumped as to how to make use of your ribbon, here are a few ideas (fromShimelle’s list of 101 Things to Do with Ribbon - you can find her whole list here in PDF format) to get you jumpstarted… Make a flower with loops of ribbon plus a button in the middle. Use ric rac as the stem for a flower accent. Use frilly ribbons with rustic elements, mixing girly trims with twill tape or a wooden tag. Grab your favorite ribbon of the moment and work your entire layout around that inspiration. Print your photos in black and white so you don’t have to worry about color clashes and just have fun. Take my word for it - this new generation of ribbons and trims has some positively delectable offerings!  If after my testimony you still have a smidgeon of remaining doubt, the old adage holds true in this case… seeing is believing.
Design Team Examples To view all layout ideas and products used, please be sure to visit the Design Team Gallery: Terrific Ribbons and Trims Or Click each image below to see a larger view! Franny Melissa Madeline Wendy Nancy Margaret Vickie

Jet Setting Trends

From the LM Archives

Jet Setting Trends By: Sonya Shaw, Design Team Member
With winter fading slowly behind us and spring finally approaching us, 'tis the upcoming season for traveling, fun in the sun, and of course, who can forget -- the photo opportunities! Whether you have big plans for spring break or have a fabulous summer getaway planned, this month’s features are full of tips and helpful articles to help you along the way. If you're like me, while on vacation I tend to pick up every little ticket stub, brochure and other misc. memorabilia. Stacks upon stacks of it can accumulate, and often we are posed with the dilemma of how to keep track of and store all of this fabulous memorabilia that we have collected from vacations. It can be an overwhelming process, but don’t let it overwhelm you! Be prepared in advance and have fun scrapping those memories once you get home and have settled back in. One tip I have for saving memorabilia is to use big manila envelopes or big zip baggies (like the ones LM puts our orders in). If you are visiting more than one place or city, you might find it’s better to use more than one envelope. I have done this for years, and not only are they easy to just throw stuff into to keep it all together, but they fit perfectly inside your suitcase’s lid pocket. In an ideal, organized world, we all might bring with us small note cards or a notepad to jot things down while still on vacation. If you can, stick a few note cards into the manila envelope in advance to jot events and moments each evening, that way you won’t have to spend so much time when you get home remembering all those moments. If you weren't able to steal a few minutes to yourself while on your trip - then once home, take 10 minutes and jot down a timeline, including all the places you visited, dates, etc. while it’s still fresh in your memory, and don’t forget to include any other special memories from that place as well -- things said or done that you don’t want to forget -- and place it into your envelope or baggie along with the memorabilia. This will save you so much time once you get your photos printed. Then breathing easy, you can sit down, envelope in hand, pull the timeline out, arrange the memorabilia to match the coordinating photos, and you are ready to go! Now that you have all of your memorabilia, timeline and photos together, the only thing left to do is to figure out how to incorporate all of this information into your albums. For some this can be very intimidating, what do you do when you have hundreds of photos but you want to make sure they all make it into the album? Here are a few tips to help you create layouts quickly and easily. My first tip is to try to squeeze as many photos as you can onto a page. If you want to journal make sure to leave a space for journaling or incorporating some of the memorabilia. Crop photos, but be sure not to crop too much away – and be sure to keep the stuff you love within the photo. You wouldn’t want to crop out that fabulous landscape if it’s breathtaking! If you find you are still at a loss for space, try hidden journaling or pockets to store some of the memorabilia. Another tip I have for adding photos is layering -- the more you layer the more you can fit onto a page. I for one often have a ton of photos I want to include on a layout, and let’s face it, sometimes it’s so hard to pick my favorite ones! Here is an example from my gallery from this summer which is a fabulous example of how to incorporate several photos onto a layout. These are all 4x6 photos - notice how I layered them within the corners, where there really isn’t anything but white space anyways. Don’t be afraid to journal in the white space of your photos. Another ideas, is to do a mini album, such as I have done for this weeks article. I used a plain alterable board book. And for mine, there just wasn’t enough room to include all the photos from our pumpkin patch trip, so I added more photos within the pages. Below are examples and step by step instructions. If you have any questions regarding these, please feel free to contact me. I would be ever so happy to help you out. I started by cutting a strip of paper that was left over from my scraps. This can be any size you wish and varies depending on the size of your photos versus the size of your mini book. Fold the strip in half, lengthwise, and adhere one side to the back of the photo you wish to show on the outside, as seen below. Next, select the next photo you wish to use, and adhere it to the backside of the the first photo. (for mine I use a very strong glue, so they will have strength – and no chance of coming apart on me at a later time). Select yet another photo you wish to use, and attach it to the strip of patterned paper, opposite the side you were just working on, as seen below. Flip the photo over, and you should see only the back side of the paper strip, such as: Fold it together and you are ready to adhere you last photo to it like so: Now that you have your added photos you are ready to insert them into you mini-book. For some they may have a better way, however for mine I wanted them to be able to fold out and viewed as though they are meant to be there. So I cut a smaller strip as seen below, and attached it to the inside of my book like such: Using 2 sheets of patterned paper, photos and a few embellishments, it only took me about 2 hours to complete. Easy and simple to do! Try it, you’ll have fun with it, and you don’t have to do it with just photos, the possibilities are endless, and remember to always have fun with it! Still feeling overwhelmed and not quite sure where to start? Check out the store for some inspiration! The manufacturing companies are making it so easy for us! Bravo to them! They are coming out with mini books galore, paper and entire lines of embellishments to match. No muss! No fuss! How fabulous is that? To name a few, there is the *NEW* and fabulous Westminster Collection by Tinkering Ink, also just added to the store is Pebbles Travel Collection! And available on pre-order, don’t miss out on this new line arriving in April, called, Love, Elsie! Along with the other lines, I am especially excited and can’t wait for this to come in! Did you happen to see the airplane mini-album! How fabulous is that? To see the rest of my mini-album book and the other photo inserts I made, check out my gallery, and while you're at it check out all the fabulous ideas, tips and tricks the design team put together this week! So many wonderful ideas, so inspiring, and now that I am inspired, I am off to gather photos and scrap! Can’t wait to see all those fabulous vacation pages, and/or mini albums you complete! Happy Scrapping, and even moreso Happy Vacations!
Design Team Examples To view all layout ideas and products used, please be sure to visit the Design Team Gallery: Jet Setting Trends. Or Click each image below to see a larger view! Cecilie Wendy Margaret Sonya Nancy Vickie Franny Madeline