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Using an Overlay |
by Diana Weber, Diana Designs
A scrapbooking overlay is a paper that goes over your layout. The page is filled in around the outside, leaving a hole in the middle for your photos, elements, and papers. Some overlays have images and titles cut out of them, most of the overlays look best on top with a solid color, darker overlays, with lighter paper underneath make the page elements pop. You can use an overlay for a easy way to just add your photo's and your done, or if you want to embellish the overlay, you can do everything you normally do on a scrapbook page you normally build from the bottom up.
You can ink, chalk, pen work, glitz, stickle, add paper piecing's, journaling, poems, etc. In this first picture is an example of a 8"x 8" overlay layout...
I've pop dotted the overlays to the back page, I chalked the overlay, and added extra dolphins on top of the original dolphins, made a paperclip dolphin with a small cutout, chalked and diamond glazed it. If I didn't' have enough pictures to fill the holes, I might have made one of the holes a place for journaling, or a poem about dolphins, water or summer. Since my pictures were smaller than the openings, I matted them to the background paper, the overlay is raised since it is pop dotted, you can't see this in the photo, but it gives it a lot of dimension.
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The second image is an example of where crinkled foil was used behind the overlay the poinsettia, and the words, using a darker color of overlay really makes the words and image pop out, if you would have used a patterned paper, the image would have gotten lost in all the patterns on top.
There are many ways you can embellish the overlays, just like the many ways to embellish your scrapbook pages. So you see the overlays are not very hard to use, think of it as your base to start your page with a added extra of being able to work underneath also.
I'm giving a class on how to embellish overlays on the Cutters Cruise given by Michelle and Sandy. If you are going on the cruise and want to sign up for the class, please e-mail me for more information at akadi14@aol.com, if you are not going on the cruise, sign up before it is full. See the main page of www.paperthreads.com for more info on the cruise. See www.dianasdesignsonline.blogspot.com for more overlays and ideas. |
LINK IT UP! |
Each month we will try to spotlight a favorite link in the crafting world that one or more of our designers love visiting!
When the first machine came out and we began our online journey, trying to find ideas and patterns for all the wonderful paper designs out there, this was one of the first sites that caught our eye and brought us into the world of pop up art! It truly is an artform, and the patterns you find at Marivi's site are just wonderful! While she doesn't allow us to share the cutting files made from her patterns, she does allow us to share the links to her patterns where you can take the pattern and trace it into your program so that you can cut out the patterns over and over again! These cards are guaranteed to knock the socks off of loved ones when they open them up!!
Click HERE to find hours of cutting possibilities!! |
Product Review: Grungeboard |
by Jan Bryson, Sam & Hailey Designs
Maybe you’ve heard all the hype around Grungeboard. I know I have! In 2007 we couldn’t get enough chipboard… could it be that in 2008 the new IT product will be Grungeboard? I decided to try some out and see.
On first look, it’s pretty unimpressive… but then so is chipboard when you think about it. The cool looking part about Grungeboard is the patterns that are embossed in it. The patterns come in Dots, Harlequin (diamonds), Stripes, and Swirls. It also comes in plain. I happened to come by a piece of the Dots pattern. When you feel it, it does feel a bit like chipboard on the surface, but it’s flexible. Now that, plus the patterns, got my attention!
I had heard of a few ways to cut Grungeboard, and I was a little cautious. You definitely need the sliver blade to cut it with because it’s about 1/16” thick. You also need a very (I mean very) sticky mat so that it doesn’t slip around on you. I used a fairly new Cricut mat which I find to be highly sticky. If you have trouble with slippage you might consider applying adhesive to the back of the Grungeboard and/or taping it down.
The sheets are small, only 5”x8”, so you will want to be careful that you don’t let your blade or rollers go off the material. There have been reports of broken blades when it goes off the material and then tries to go back on. In order to keep this from happening, I put a piece of heavy chipboard behind mine on the cutting mat. You can see in the picture how I positioned it.
When loading the material in my 13” KNK, I made sure the rollers were pushed in as to be over the Grungeboard. That’s because it’s harder to adjust the rollers once the material is loaded in the machine. Make sure the rollers are over the Grungeboard about 1” from each edge before you lock them down so that it helps keep it in place.
I started out with a pressure of 400 and speed of 150 and two passes. This didn’t quite make it through on my machine. I finally ended up with a pressure of 450 and four passes to get through it all the way. Your experience might be a little different based on how new your blade is. |
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I cut some basic letters out and I think they look great! One thing I thought would be useful is using the Weed Border function. That way you could use the negative shape as well as the positive shape. I love doing this with chipboard letters and as you can see Grungeboard looks just as good!
For embellishment you can paint, ink, sand, and I’m sure more than that. I used a red chalk inkpad. It looks really good on some of my favorite paper!
Overall I had an enjoyable experience cutting Grungeboard! It cut well and it looks very… well… grungy!
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Freebies for You! |
For a limited time, these files will be available for you to download and to use! Make sure you snag them right away! These files will only be available for a few days before they are removed from the newsletter and added to the store! All files offered here are term restricted, limited to use as detailed in each individual Terms of Use, which is included in each downloaded file. They are not free to be posted elsewhere, or shared in any manner other than that specified in the terms. If you are unsure of the terms of use, please see each Designer's BIO, where their terms of use are posted for you to preview!
SPECIAL THANKS to Diana's Designs, Visual Designs by Chris, Shirley Clark Designs, and BarbWire Designs for offering these great files for a limited time! Please take a moment to visit their stores online!
 
 
EACH FREEBIE IS ONLY AVAILABLE FOR ONE WEEK! |
Funtime: Using a Stencil Bridge |
by Lori McDonald, Beloved Keepsakes
One of the features that I really love in the new Funtime Scrapbooking Software is the "Stencil's Bridge." When I am scrapbooking - one of the things I hate more than anything is having to glue all the little letters on my titles (you know, the little dot over the "i"). But most stencil fonts are not pretty! Hence, when I learned how to use the Stencil Bridge feature, my days of gluing small pieces of letters are gone!
Download the tutorial by clicking HERE! |
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