Cooking with scrapbook supplies.

I've posted this over at Love is in the Details today.

Tomatoes are good.  Tomatoes on rye toast with salt and pepper and mayo are even better!  Tomatoes stewed all day over low heat with all kinds of Italian herbs, some Romano cheese, and ground beef, and then ladled over top spaghetti noodles is close to divine, right??

In much the same way as you might cook with various ingredients, you can use your creativity to take your supplies and ultimately, your creations from ok/good enough/it's done, to FABulous, with just a few extra details!


To show you what I mean I did this first cards in three steps.

Example #1 is wonderful for the CAS among us.  Clean And Simple is not always easy to achieve, but one of the best ways to do it, is to cluster elements, leaving dynamic "white" space.  That way says, "enjoy your card, it's exactly how I wanted it to look", rather than, "here's your card, I ran out of time, steam and ideas so I threw some things together".

Chipboard elements are a fantastic way of embellishing a card.  It only takes a little bit besides that, a sentiment and some other element to create a card that looks complete and pulled together.

For the second example, I added the machine stitched lines and a paper doily.

For the final version of this card, I added a bakers twine bow and a variety of paper "brads" and enamel dots.

For ideas of how you can take a plain card and step it up a notch or two, it’s helpful to make yourself a list of embellishments and technique options to refer to as you work.  Depending on your mood, you can opt for one, two, three or more ideas from your list.

Something like this:

Vellum, chipboard, buttons, glitter, staples, twine, tape, bling, felt, doilies, tags, ribbon, stickers, etc.

Dry or heat embossing, color mist, spray, splat, paint, glossy accents, stitching, sewing, border punch, die cut, etc.

There is much more you can add to this list, and the best way to compile it, is browsing on-line galleries, magazines and other design sources, and jotting down specific elements that appeal to you, whether it’s a color scheme or a technique or a physical embellishment.

Before you go, I have one more quick little technique to show how you can elevate a perfectly nice chipboard embellishment to something even more lovely and glam than before!  Once you have your chipboard adhered in place, cover the entire surface with Glossy Accents and let it dry.  Now you have a really elegant finished accent on your card or layout!

I hope you’ve found a few things here to inspire you!  If you create something based on the ideas you glean from this blog, post them in the Love is in the Details gallery so we can love them up!!

Now please excuse me while I go make myself a toasted tomato sammich.