Using Coaster Block Transparencies for Titles

I love the fun TTT Coaster blocks that come in our kits. Sometimes I have a hard time using them on my pages or figuring out how to make them pop. So I have come up with this flawless technique to pop them up on your layouts and use them as the title for the page all at the same time ( I am pretty sure Monica had this in mind too when she created them as my punches worked perfectly!)

• Gather your coaster block transparencies
• 2 inch punch
• 3-3 1/2 inch punch or circle cutter
  
• 4 inch circle cutter
• Stickles, Rhinestones, gel pen optional
• Letter Monogram, Number stickers or little letters
  
• Glue dots and pop dots

Start with cutting your first circle 2" this will perfectly fit the inside circle of the transparency. Attach with glue dots. Then cut a 3-3 1/2 inch circle for the smaller outside circle. Mine is abot 3 1/4 inches because I liked it to stick out a little from the transparency circle. Attach it with glue dots also. Then cut your outer 4" circle and glue together. Embellish the outer edge with hand drawn stitches, Stickle dots, or rhinestones. Then add a number or letter that corresponds with your page. It could be the date, the year, age, Monogram, saying or anything. Add to your page using pop dots.

Here are a few examples:

Flower Pots

With spring around the corner, it's time to think about spring cleaning. The perfect way to clean and reorganize your scrappy supplies is using flower pots! They add such a bright, cheerful decor to your scrap space. Plus, they are perfect for holding just about every scrappy supply, except paper : ) Here are a few ideas to help with your spring cleaning this year!

I bought these at Micheal's last year:
You can even use cute little buckets like these:
You can buy a flowerpot and decorate it yourself:

This was a present:
This was on clearance from Southern Living:

This is my favorite. It was a gift from my mom:

So have fun organizing and start a new collection of flower pots or add to the ones you already have!! Happy spring!!

Valentine Photo Ideas

Valentines day is just around the corner and whether you are taking photos of you and your sweetie or just your little ones here are some ideas to help you capture the day.

Give your little ones a giant lollipop and let them enjoy!

Capture photos of your child creating Valentines and then them with their creation.


Dress up your cuties on their Valentine best and capture some great photos at a nearby park.


Or on a dock or at the railroad tracks

Autograph Books

Next time you plan a trip to Disney why not plan time to create your own autograph book. All you need is a cardstock or acrylic album, paper, ribbon, and embellishments. You also get some extra attention from your favorite characters : )

Here some examples of books I created for my daughter:


This book is from her first visit to Disney when she was two years old:
**I used a lot of Disney paper in my album. I love that you can buy them in packs.

Here are two albums I made for our trip last fall. I bought mini Sharpie permanent markers and tied them to my album with ribbon. That way we always had a marker and I didn't have to fish it out of my bag!

**Disney's dimensional character stickers are great embellishments to place next to the character's autographs. They are the perfect size!
**Disney also has wonderful sticker phrases and other character stickers that make great embellishments for your autograph book!

For your pages, on a two page spread, you can adhere a solid color cardstock for autographs on one side and a matted picture frame on the other side for a picture with the character. To help yourself remember what size picture you need, write the size with pencil in the middle of your mat. You can also create an autograph book just for autographs. Simply mat a solid color piece of cardstock and adhere a character sticker.

February 2011 Challenge - Alter embellishments

The challenge this month is to alter your embellishment(s). Take your embellishing to another level! There are many ways to do this, interpret as you wish. Here are a few examples:

Add pearls or rhinestones to rub-ons:


Swipe letters with paint:


Tie ribbon or jute to premade pieces:


Stitch a premade tag, add stickles to letters:


Completed layout:


Contest Guidelines:
Deadline is midnight PST February 28th.

Share your layout with us one of 3 ways-
1.Share your layouts in this post and in the user gallery.
2. Include a link to your entry in the TTT blog post regarding this contest.
3. Include a link to your entry in the facebook post regarding this contest.

One winner will be drawn to win a TTT prize pack!
Anyone can participate and you can use whatever scrap materials you want. It does not need to be created with a TTT kit. Two page lo's count as 1 page.

February Monthly Kit Contest

This month the theme is LOVE!!! Do a layout about something or someone you love

Layout requirements:
~Include the word LOVE somewhere on your page.

My example:


The main requirement is that you need to use a kit from Transparent Touches, any kit. Please refer to the rules post in this forum for additional details.

Due date this month will be midnight PST February 28th. Winner will be determined by drawing.

You can enter as many times as you like. 2 page LOs count as one entry.

You can post your pages three ways: share it with us on the message board and in the contest section of the user gallery, or on this blog post, or on facebook, linking your layout from another gallery or your personal blog. I look forward to seeing your entries.

Photoshop Tutorial - wallet prints

Wallet sized prints are great for fitting a bunch of photos on one page, or for a mini-album. Here's how to make them yourself in photoshop elements:

1. Open the pictures you want to make into wallet prints in the editor (press Ctrl-I in organizer).

2. Open a new file in the Editor (Ctrl-N). These are the options I normally go with (6"x4", 300 pixels/inch):
3. Drag 4 files onto your blank file. Don't worry about putting them exactly where they need go yet. Notice that each separate photo is a separate layer in the layers palette (bottom-right). You may also want to close each file once it has been copied onto the new file, this will help your computer run faster if you have low RAM:
4. Drag each photo into your four corners (it should "snap" to each corner). Then go to menu, and under View, select Rulers. Notice this brings up a horizontal and vertical ruler above and to the left of your file.
5. Now using the ruler as your guide, select each photo and then drag the innermost corner until the picture measures approx. 3x2. I leave a small space between each photo to make cutting them apart a bit easier. After you're done, go to Layer, and select Flatten. Notice now that this flattens all layers into one in your Layers palette:
6. Now just save the file. I always select 10 as my quality which doesn't reduce or increase the actual pixel size of the photo. You can see how big your file will be to the right, for printing a 4x6 you probably want at least 200K.



There you have it! I now have 12 wallet prints for the price of 3 4x6 prints!




And here are some examples-

Mini-album:

Layout:

I made these wallets in a 5x7 file so that they are slightly larger than the 4x6 ones:

February 2011 TTT Kits

TTT February 2011 kits are up!

(You do not have to be a TTT kit member to purchase kits and sale items)

If you haven't already emailed me to let me know which kit(s) you'd like for Febryary..please do so. If you would like to order an extra kit, just let me know which ones you'd like and I will put you down for those. I try to keep up with the kit emails as they come in so I know when a kit is sold out...please assume that you got your first choice, unless you get an email from me letting you know that it was already sold out before your email came in. If you have a question in your email, I do try to answer those quickly.

February kits will ship February 10-15th. The DT layouts with the kits will be revealed on the 25th of the month on the TTT blog, User Gallery and our Facebook page.

There are 3 great kits offered for the month of February...plus some great add ons, mini kit and extra things available!


CLICK HERE for more information about TTT kit subscriptions.

CLICK HERE to read the FAQ's about TTT's kits.

To see full list of each kit description, click on the kit names below:

February Kit #1:My Mind's Eye: Fine and Dandy

FEBRUARY KIT #2-- Three misc. boy lines all put into one great kit!
FEBRUARY KIT #3 PROJECT KIT-- My Mind's Eye: Fine and Dandy

Transparency Tuesday!

Every month the design team creates pages with transparency from the Transparent touches store. Sometimes they are full 8.5x11 pages, journal spots, bracket blocks, or the fun ones that come in your kit. If you have never tried a transparency on your pages I suggest you check out all the fun options there are available for you in the store.

Carrie and Chrissy's:

Anna and Nathalie's: