KC Being Down

Hello everyone.
I first want to apologize for how long KC has been down. The programmer and a second programmer and I have been working round the clock since it stopped allowing people to log in. Everyone is stumped. We even uninstalled the update we had added, but it didn't seem to be the problem.

We are still working on it and will hopefully have us back up and going soon.
Thanks for your patience.
Rebecca
Kindred Creations Owner

For The Boys

Under the category of "biggest challenge in scrapbooking", my personal answer has been the same for years: scrapping boys in a predominantly girly scrapping universe.

Don't misunderstand me; I like flowers as much as the next person. I just find that being the only girl in the house and most often the one behind the camera, there are only so many ways I can incorporate them into my layouts. For some time the best advice the pros could throw at us were things like "You're allowed to scrap your boys in pink". Of course we are, and yes, it's a creative idea, but let's face it...how many of our boys would pink really do justice to? Not my car-crazy, tough-truckin' little dude, that's for sure!

On the bright side, being thus limited does bring out the true creativity in us. So here, I'm going to share with you some of my favourite embellishments to use in boy pages:

Stars. One of my all-time favourite embellishments, for both boy and girl pages. The circle of stars here was made by placing a lid on the page and doodling the stars around it. The sparkly stars are from the Junkitz "Extreme Boy" collection, and the larger ones are chipboard. I inked them in blue and white, with black edges, and cut them to fit around each other for the illusion of layers without adding too much bulk to the page.
Cardstock: Bazzill. Papers: Cosmo Cricket, Sassafras Lass, Sandylion, Basic Grey. Arrow: American Crafts. Rub-on title: My Mind's Eye. Rhinestones: Junkitz.





Specialty Buttons. Buttons come in a lot of different shapes and sizes, and the scrapbook industry has come up with some pretty sweet creations of their own in this field. It's not uncommon to find little packages of buttons in different themed collections, like specific sports or holidays. You can either thread them on the old fashioned way or stick them down with adhesive. Lots of options and they're great at filling in empty spaces.
Cardstock: Bazzill. Paper and "best" letters: Bisous. Rub-on alphas: My Mind's Eye. Buttons: Dress It Up.

Metal. Charms, bottlecaps, brads...metal adds texture and character to any page and comes in many forms. One little item sometimes adds just the right touch. In this page I used a "Rough and Tough" push tab by Karen Foster. The mini dump truck is from one of the button collections I spoke of earlier. Cardstock: Bazzill. Papers: Cosmo Cricket. Push tab: Karen Foster. Truck button: Dress It Up. Letters: Cosmo Cricket (cardstock), Basic Grey (chipboard), Technique Tuesday (stamped), My Mind's Eye (rub-on), Chameleon (stickers).

Arrows. Some of you may recognize this from April's round of Layout Tag. Arrows are fun and good for any subject, and I like that they add a sense of movement to a page. To put this particular one in perspective, check out the layout I scraplifted it from. Desi's pink flowered montage is super sweet but as you can imagine I knew it would have to cross the gender barrier once it passed through my hands. So I traded flowers for arrows (these ones are by Scenic Route) and used papers from April's Black White and Red All Over to finish the piece. Cardstock and papers: KC Black & White & Red All Over Kit. Arrows: Scenic Route. Transparency: Hambly. Chipboard letters: Basic Grey. Alpha stickers: American Crafts. Frog button: Dress It Up. Ribbon: unknown.



Found Objects. I just love these. Nothing quite makes a page look more unique than throwing in something not necessarily intended for scrapping. The Disney "Cars" logo I cut from the discarded box of one of my son's playsets. The white shaped sheet beneath the picture is actually the background of a sheet of stickers. I paired these "recycled" items with regular scrapbook embellishments, some taken from the KC "Road Trip" and "Truer Than True" kits, and I was happy with how it came together. It's also interesting to note that in this particular page I actually took the experts' advice and ventured over to the other side by incorporating lace into the layout!
Papers: Scissor Sisters (map), Junkitz (photo mat), others unknown. Cardstock shapes: My Mind's Eye. Rub-ons: Karen Foster, Fancy Pants. Transparency: Hambly. Ribbons/lace/rikrak: unknown. Letters: SEI.

So what are YOUR favourite tips and tricks for boy pages? I'd love to hear 'em!

Inspire inspiration...

Often, we as scrappers find ourselves wrestling with our own creativity... and sometimes we find that we are at an impasse with our mojo. When I find myself struggling, I discovered if I look to my everyday life I can find inspiration in the most unexpected places.

I listen to NPR in my car. I am not sure if everyone is aware that they have brought back "This I Believe". In the 1950s Edward R. Murrow had a radio program in which he sought "to point to the common meeting grounds of beliefs, which is the essence of brotherhood and the floor of our civilization." Basically it is a series of essays in which the writer expresses his or her beliefs on just about anything imaginable! Some are funny, and some will move you to tears...

Let your own personal beliefs inspire your pages and I just bet you will come up with something truly special...

for added inspiration click the link below:

http://thisibelieve.org/

credits: Emily Merrit template,glitter alpha; Katie Pertiet cloud paper& itty bitty alpha; Leiko Beck tar paper, crisp & branched paper; Nicky Ryborg expresso & bluster papers; photo corner from web; typewriter fonts

March Design Team Picks

The slide show at the bottom of the page has been updated and you will find the March Design Team picks. All the ladies did a wonderful job with the March challenges and as usual you made it hard to choose just one from each challenge, let alone a winner from all the challenges! Congratulations ladies, you can all be proud of yourselves!

Want your layout seen here? On the first of May we will be selecting the best of all the Design Team Challenges, and they can be found here. You can only win if you enter, so lets get scrapping!

Technorati Tags: scrapbook,, scrapping,, design, team, picks,,

Adding a Title onto Your Photo

Here’s a fun way to add a title to your layout. It is also very versatile, because you can do it so many ways, both digital, hybrid, and in a paper layout. Add your title right onto your picture, using the image itself. As I mentioned there are so many ways you can do this, digitally, using an outline stamp, or hand cut the title from a second copy of the original photo. In my ‘Spring’ layout I outlined the image after I cut it, embossed and added a drop shadow to give it definition. With the fall image I embossed, and added a drop shadow after I played a little bit with the colour of the layer. If you hand cut a title from the photo you may have to outline or ink the edges to add a bit of definition and I would suggest using pop dots before mounting it back onto the photo.

I would love to see how all of you implement this fun technique. If you do a layout using this technique leave a link to your layout in the comments section. I will randomly draw a name from everyone who leaves a link to his or her layout for a small RAK on May 1^st.

For the Spring layout I used patterned paper from the Lisa Habisreutinger's Challenge Freebie*, Obsidian Dawn brush, and embellishments from the Rustic Elegance Kit*, Black Chancery, Brock Script, ChiselD fonts, and Bucephalus font on the fall photo. (*colours altered by me)

Technorati Tags: scrapbook, title, digital, layout, hybrid, paper