8×8 Scrapbook Pages

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Technique Thursday: Crafters Workshop Templates

Technique Thursday is back … a little late, but better late than never, right?!

We took last week off because most of our customers were attending the Great Lakes Mega Meet, a scrapbooking convention in Novi, MI.

And, this week time just seemed to get the better of me, but never fear, I will be at Capture A Memory from 2-6 p.m. today sharing some things you can do with templates from The Crafters Workshop.

These templates have been around for years … I have some that are several years old … but my style has evolved in a way that I am using them now more than ever. As an added bonus, they are not expensive (about $5 for the smaller ones) and they are thin plastic, so they are easy to store. I keep them in their packaging and hang them on the side of my desk.

They come in a variety of styles and designs, but you will see some of my favorites here.

Naturally, you could take a pen or marker and trace the patterns, like any stencil. But, you can also use alcohol ink

or airbrush them with Copic Sketch markers

 

or color them with Distress Ink

or spritz them with Glimmer Mist or Perfect Pearls Mist or use embossing enamel

TIPS:

I use Removeable Glue Dots to help hold the template in place.

If you only want to use a portion of the stencil, use sticky notes or tape to seal off the area you don’t want to use.

Clean the stencils like you would normally with the product used … use hand sanitizer with a high-alcohol content to clean off alcohol inks or Copic markers. Use water to clean off Distress Ink. Use rubber stamp cleaner to clean off permanent inks. Just be careful to rub gently … some of the stencils have tiny parts that may get bent if you scrub too hard.

Don’t be afraid to layer them or go back over the image with rubber stamps for a vintage or shabby chic look.

Have fun!

I hope to see you today from 2-6 p.m. at Capture A Memory in Flint Township.

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Time-Saving Die Cut Tip

I am a lazy scrapbooker.

I like complex pages, but I don’t like to spend a lot of time on them. If there is a way to shorten drying time, cut out a step or do it quicker, I am likely to discover it.

As I was creating a page for Dies Direct, I thought of two ways to save a bit of time on the die.

I was using the luggage tag die from Dies Direct. The die has a tiny border that adds dimension. But, lazy cropper that I am, I never want to take the time to cut out the die twice with two different colors of paper. I suppose I could have trimmed my paper and run two different colors through at the same time, but I came up with two other options.

For the first one, I ran each of the little pieces through my Xyron. Then, while still attached to the backing, I colored them with Distress Ink and then attached to my tag.

In the second option, I used the paper left over after cutting out the die as a stencil and, using Distress Ink, stenciled the pattern onto the tag.

After journaling, I covered both with Diamond Glaze and added a brad.

In the end, I liked the first option best, but because I wasn’t thinking when I did the journaling, I used the second option on my page. Here’s the finished page …