April Guest Designer - Chris Penaflor

1. A little about Chris: I'm a stay-at-home-mom to five children, and have been married to my high school sweetheart for 18 years. I grew up in San Diego after moving here from the Philippines with my family when I was two. I began papercrafting after being introduced to rubber stamping by a relative about five years ago. One of my first scrapbooking layouts was created for a stamping call from Memory Makers Books. I gave it a try, and it was published in their stamping idea book. After going to a local scrapbooking store and seeing all of the patterned papers available, I stopped stamping my own backgrounds and started scrapbooking with all the pretty papers! Now I am an official patterned paper, Prima flower, and ribbon and lace hoarder, and couldn't be happier! :-D

2. Contests Won/Publications
I have been published in Memory Makers, Memory Makers Stamping Idea Book, Scrapbook Trends, CARDS, Simply Handmade (formerly Paper Crafts), the Stamping Idea Book (by Scrapbook Trends), You're Invited Idea Book (by Scrapbook Trends).

3. One product you can't live without
I would have to say it's a tie between my Tonic guillotine paper trimmer and my 3M ATG adhesive gun. I use these tools everytime I create a project, and couldn't be without either of them!

4. When are you most creative and why?
I'm most creative in the late night hours. It's the time that I usually have all to myself after having spent the evening with my husband and putting our children to bed. It's also the most quite time of the day in our house!

5. Any other hobbies besides scrapbooking?
I love to ribbon embroider, but haven't had much time to do that much lately. I also enjoy reading non-fiction books that encourage a closer relationship with God.

6. Describe your scrapbook style
I have an eclectic style which depends upon the materials with which I'm working. However, I usually gravitate towards elegant, classic styles with lots of floral, glitter, and bling-y accents.

7. Messy scrapper or organized room?
Definitely messy! I love having a variety of materials and supplies around me when I create. Unfortunately, I also end up creating a messy environment when I'm done!

8. If you could be anywhere right now?
On a Mediterranean cruise with my husband finally being able to visit places like Venice, Rome, Nice, and Barcelona.

9. 3 Random Things about you
1. Except for a year when I taught at a private school, I have not worked outside of our home since our oldest child was four months old!2. If I had a choice to live anywhere, I would choose to have a home in the mountains near a lake. Unfortunately, I have no knowledge of living off the land so there would have to be a grocery store nearby or a way for me to order things online and have them delievered to me! LOL!3. I cry easily when I watch touching movies, and my kids know that I need to have tissues nearby when watching them!

You can see more of Chris' work in her gallery here at the Stash or on her blog.
Blog
Gallery
Chris is also lucky enough to own her very own Scrapbook Retreat house!
Scrap Retreat House

Stash Favorites

As I work on my pages lately, I notice that I'm drawn to clocks.

They can be a great way to display the time a baby was born on your layout, stamp a background - the possibilities are endless. While everyone else is using animals, I'm turning to clocks.

Check out these products from Maya Road.

Rubons:

Stamps:

Sheers:

Triangular candy box tutorial

Here's a simple way to make use of those paper scraps you have at home. A quick and easy candy container for a thank you gift or even to hold a love note for that lucky someone.

Here is what you need:

1) one piece of paper at least 4 by 6 inches.
2) Double sided tape

Start by measuring and cutting out a piece of paper 4 by 6 inches. Single sided paper is fine. If you don't have a whole piece that size, you can join 2 pieces of paper to form a 4 by 6 inch paper.

Add a thin strip of double sided tape to one end of the short side. Add 2 more strips of double sided tape on the long side as shown in the picture below.



Remove the backing for the tape on the short side and join the short edges together as shown. You should get a paper tube.



Notice that the 2 strips of double tape will be on each end of the tube. Now remove the backing from one of the tape at the tube end and press down the end to seal it.



You will end up with something like a toothpaste tube.



Now is the time to start stuffing the tube with some lovely candy, chocolates or even a little note.



Remove the last piece of tape backing and seal the edge.



Make sure you seal the last edge in the opposite direction from the first edge so you get the tube to form a triangle. Just like the one in the p



Now all you have to do is to add some embellishments to personalize it. Have fun.



If you have any questions, please post a comment here.

Monday Markdown

Cats Life Press stamps are now 25% off.

There is a new Newsletter going out today filled with information. If you aren't currently signed up, make sure you do that today!

Newsletter Signup

The winner of the April Guest Designer Spot will be announced in this newsletter.

And the winner from the comments on this post is: #29

RobinV said...
I would love to see tutorials on stamping or inking.
March 30, 2009 9:22 PM

Robin - email me at admin@yourscrapbookstash.com.

Its not too late to add your comment here. We have a lot of great suggestions and some we've already started working on. The incredible design team has also come up with some cool techniques to show you. Keep checking back each week to see the tutorials we have planned.

New Product Alert!

Since I have a boy, I usually snap up any papers geared towards boys. I know a lot of you do the same.

So, when I saw the new Just Chillin' line from Making Memories, my mouth dropped. Not to mention they had guitars in this set! Guitars!! My husband is a guitar junkie (yes, he has a guitar 'stash') so of course we're teaching the little man to play guitar.

On to the good stuff! They coordinated this line for both boys AND girls. Glitter for the girls and foil for the boys. So many great papers in this set - you'll find something you just can't live without!

I'm almost done entering the product so you can shop and I'll be back later to upload pictures. You can see the CHA pictures in the MM Gallery.

Enjoy!

Oh, almost forgot - along with this order, we managed to get some really cool 'vintage' Making Memories papers. An older release of theirs but one I still love to hoard. Their Ledger Papers. We have just a few of these in stock so if you love the ledger paper look, grab them while they're still here!

Cool *NEW* Product

Okay, when I saw this, I knew I had to have it. Something to add to my stash. And hopefully you'll want to add it to yours!

Decorative tapes by Tape Swell. I carry them on the roll and by the yard. Rolls measure either 2 inches x 30 yards or 4 inches x 15 yards depending on what kind of tape it is.

Or you can get it by the yard - much cheaper!

Seriously! How cute is this tape?!?!?

We also have 2 great tutorials this week that I don't want to bury under this post.

See how Wendy came up with a cool way to distress chipboard.

And I posted a bunch of ideas for using Glossy Accents!

Glossy Accents Tutorial

One of my favorite products is Glossy Accents (now known as GA) by Ranger. My husband jokes that I would GA the entire house if I wasn't monitored closely.

If you're familiar with this product, you may know the many ways this product can function for you. Here are just a few techniques - some I tend to use on a regular basis.

Covering chipboard.

GA dries clear and soft - almost like an epoxy covering. Here I took 2 pieces of chipboard. Each one will show a different technique. I use the Cats Eye chalks for this. You can use regular stamp/ink pads but make sure you give the ink time to dry. GA will soak up the ink if its still wet and you'll get a marbelized look.

So, ink your chipboard.

Next, decorate it. For the holly, I just drew some accent lines. The Christmas Ornament is coated with a thin layer of GA and then I sprinkled some Pink Paislee Pixie Stix lose glitter.

Set your holly aside to dry. When its dry, you have your embellishment. I'm really bad about bubbles. Use a straight pin to pop them before they dry.

Your Christmas Ornament can be left alone to dry or you can add another coat of GA to seal the glitter and give it a finished look.

Rubons:

Rubons and chipboard - two staples in scrapping right? Want to make them pop off your page?

Take your rubon and rub it on to the paper you want to use. I tend to use a light colored cardstock so my colors come through.

I used a regular colored pencil to color in the leaves. Again, you can use watercolor pens, paint etc to color in your rubon. Just make sure it dries.

Apply your GA and let dry. Don't worry about staying in the lines because you're going to trim the excess cardstock away.

Making your own embellishment:

Sometimes you need a little extra something on your page right? I was using up all of my chipboard trees from Maya Road too quickly and it was getting costly. I love the way they look, but I tried something new.

Here are two different versions of a tree trunk.

Version 1:

I stamped the tree trunk and then coated in GA. Let dry. Again, don't worry about the GA and staying within the lines. You're going to trim it away.

Version 2:

Ink a section of paper with whatever color you need. I used brown for the tree trunk. I quickly cut out a trunk shape with my craft knife and coated with GA. You can draw freehand any design you want. I needed trees for a layout so this is what you're seeing.

Here are my three different trees all dry:

The best thing about GA is when its applied to paper, the paper curls up just enough to give you the dimension. You also don't have the bulk of chipboard. I like to cut things from patterned papers like flowers. Add GA to them and you have just a little something special on your layout.

Here are some links to more Glossy Accents samples. I hope you take the time to try at least one of these techniques.

Together Layout - coated the chipboard after inking it

Where did the Time go layout - here I stamped the clock image on the kraft cardstock. Next, I stamped the same clock image on another sheet of kraft cardstock. Each clock was cut out and then coated in GA. The GA clocks were then adhered over the stamped image with pop dots to give it more dimension. I used the Tim Holtz distress inks and put the GA on before it dried to get the vintage look.

Back 2 School card - October Afternoon journaling card with the apple printed on it. To make the apple stand out, I put a thin layer of GA on it.

Best Wishes card - coated chipboard stars with ink and then added GA.

Tree Card - I used the same trunk idea as I did above just skinnier trunks.

Chipboard heart pendant - Maya Road chipboard heart. This comes from the Love keychain set. I painted the entire heart red and then coated with GA. While GA is still wet on one side, drop a small crystal in there so it sets. Make sure you coat the sides with GA too so you have a ready to wear necklace.

Home Sweet Home layout - Butterflies are cut from Websters Pages paper and then GA added. It makes the paper curl up just a little to give these butterflies some dimension on the page.

If you have any questions, please post a comment here or you can email me at admin@yourscrapbookstash.com.