Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Oh, I So Want This!

Hi, everyone! Welcome back to Life on the {Scrap}beach!

I am not buying many things for myself right now because Christmas is coming and I need to save my pennies for gifts for family and friends. Well, except I did buy printer ink and kraft cardstock and two new glass mats ~ one to replace my glass mat, which broke, and one to have on hand as a spare. But those were not very fun items to be spending my money on, since they're such staples of scrapping ~ not anything new, fun and exciting. Especially the printer ink ~ boring! But, no photos = no scrapping, so it had to be done!

Anyways, besides those three {four?} things, I have been avoiding personal shopping and making a wish list for all the Santas in my life, per their request. I just found something last night that tops the list: Quickutz Santa's Workshop Kit!



As far as I can tell from my online research, this kit includes dies to make the Peppermint Mini Album {3 3/4" x 5 1/2"}, the Wintergreen Mini Album {6" x 3 1/2"}, the Sugarplum Mini Album {4" x 3 3/4"}, the Santa's Workshop Mini Alphabet {pre-foamed cookie cutter dies} and an assortment of additional shapes! Just from looking at the pictures, it looks like the assorted shapes would be great for mini albums ~ I think I see some tabs in there, some book plates, etc.



I recently bought some lightweight chipboard as a mistake. {Hmm ... for someone who claims to have not been doing much personal scrapbook shopping, there seems to be quite a lot in this post about buying things!} I wasn't paying attention when I was ordering more chipboard {I ran out of kraft colored chipboard}. Normally I get the extra heavy weight chipboard & this time I ordered lightweight instead. Which explains why it was so cheap. I decided to try running it through my BigShot with the large piece in my Nestabilities "Labels Eight" set to see if I could use it for shaped mini albums. It was thin enough that the Nestabilities cut it perfectly!

It was too thin to use by itself as an album page, but I just took some Mod Podge and used it to stick two of the sheets together. I pressed them overnight while the Mod Podge dried and I was left with perfect chipboard pages for a new album! Once the Mod Podge was dry, I ran the chipboard pieces through my 7Gypsies Binderie really fast and voilĂ :


For a six page mini album, I needed 12 of the die cut shapes, and I was able to cut 6 out of a single 12"x12" piece of chipboard, so it was not bad at all. Since there were 25 sheets in the pack of chipboard, I'll probably be able to get a bunch of albums and chipboard letters out of this $7.00 mistake!

The album pages were relatively easy to decorate as well because I was able to just run the patterned papers through my BigShot & adhere them down:



I used a liquid glue to adhere them down instead of my ATG to make sure I got a nice, tight, connection. Normally the way I cover chipboard is to cut a square or rectangle with the same dimensions as the chipboard shape. Then I cover the paper with my ATG and trim around the chipboard shape with my craft knife. I'm pretty fast with this normally, but since my craft knife is taking a much needed vacation while I am waiting for my glass mat{s} to arrive {they come today!}, it was fun to experiment with new techniques for mini albums.

Now I know to keep lightweight chipboard on hand to use with my wafer thin dies! And I know that I can make chipboard quickly and easily for any size or shape of album. Or even for totally customizable chipboard letters!

Which means that even though the Quickutz kit above is filled with wafer thin dies, they can still be used to make chipboard albums!

What scrappy goodies are on your Christmas wish list?

~Kathryn
Life's a beach. Scrapbook it.

17 comments:

  1. Kathryn - you're right, those dies look perfect for mini's.....I bought Nestability stackers scalloped circles and think I'm going to buy the bracket ones too (overstock.com!)...it seems much more prudent to try and make as much as my own stuff as possible considering the money you can save by doing so. I always buy the thinner chipboard and bulk it up for pages, then I usually try and use misc. recycled cardboard for covers...hoping Santa brings you the Workshop Kit! Best, Erin

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  2. PS: For Christmas I want a Silouette machine, a Crop-a-Dile Corner Chomper and...maybe a 7Gypsies Binderie?! LOL!

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  3. Great idea Kathryn! I love that Quickutz set.
    For Christmas I want $$ so I can buy what I want or need with my addiction of scrapbooking and mini album making.

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  4. I was looking at those same Quickutz dies too, but I found them kind of small. If they were 6x6 I'd have had a harder time passing them by. But being able to cut the paper the exact same shape would make the process go faster, so that's a big plus...ooh what to do?

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  5. Oh gosh you made me want to get a BigShot even more! Hahah. Where do you buy your chipboard from? Those Nesties are too cute, and a big reason why I want a BigShot is to make my own shaped chipboard pages, but maybe that thin chipboard can run through my cricut! Hmm. :)

    My wishlist ... everything!! Hahah. The Bind-It-All is at the top of my list .. along with stamps! :) I'd love some more stamps. HAhah

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  6. oh my my my the more i look at that kathryn the more i want it lol....my wish list is everything that i see lol well a gift card for everything i want would be nice lol.

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  7. How cool! Love hearing about all these scrapbooking tools.

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  8. Well this year is the first that I haven't mentioned any scrappy items to my husband. I lost my wedding ring in Jan this year. (I know!) So I really want a new wedding set. We've been shopping around and we're hoping they go on sale Black Friday. That is the only thing on my list.

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  9. Kathryn, What kind of paper did you use. I love the christmas trees and the snowman is so cute.

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  10. Hi, Erin! I asked for a Cricut Expression for Christmas, so I have my fingers crossed for that. I would prefer an Expression to the QK Santa's Workshop bundle, eventhought Santa's Workshop is so very perfect for minis. Just wondering ~ did you consider the Cricut Expression before asking for the Silhouette? What made you decide to go with one or the other?

    Dawn-Marie, money is always a good ~ then you get to pick exactly what you want. My family is very resistant to money over gifts, though, and will only give it if the person is dire straights and needs money more than anything else. That's why the whole wish list process becomes so important. :) It does make Christmas morning a lot of fun, though, because there is plenty of neat stuff to see.

    Hi, Daphna! I like to work on smaller mini sometimes. They can be a ton of fun in their own right ~ I finished a 4" diameter scalloped circle mini that was quite tiny. I put eight pages in it and it was packed by the end. The smaller ones can be good as gifts, too! Stocking stuffers or party favors or whatever!

    Phoenix, I love my BigShot! I am glad I had the "mistake" with the thinner chipboard because this is a good way to get more use from the dies I have. I'll bet the thinner chipboard could work in your Cricut. I know Sandra uses thin chipboard in her Cricut, so you might ask her what chipboard she uses and what settings to cut!

    Hi, Bev! I am the same way ~ the more I look at it, the more I want it. Yikes! Maybe I can grab it at an after Christmas sale if it doesn't make it under the tree. :)

    Thanks for stopping by, Amy! Glad you're enjoying the site!

    Lisa, I think that gems take priority over scrappy goodies for me, too. I love jewelry and if I lost my ring I would want it replaced, too! I hope you do find a good Black Friday deal on a replacement!

    Hi, Pam! That collection is from My Mind's Eye and it is called "Be Merry" and it's a really fun collection to work with. Definitely whimsical & lots of fun, bright colors.

    ~Kathryn
    Life's a beach. Scrapbook it.

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  11. I think it's a space and aesthetics issue - the Expression (of which I see only RAVE reviews) requires all those dang diggitty cartridges. I've looked at numerous ones and I honestly only like a small portion of the designs you get with each one. With the Silhouette, you can buy an unlimited download package or pay $1.99 per design - all stored on your computer, no need for cartridges and no chance of getting any shapes/fonts/designs you don't like and therefore won't use.....I found a seller on Ebay who has a great deal on the Silhouette, so I might be buying before Christmas. I'll keep you posted! ; )

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  12. Thanks, Erin! I like a few of the cartridges, nut not the majority of them. I had the same issue with the Cricut when it first came out as you just described. But now that there is SCAL, my plan, should there indeed be a Cricut Expression under the tree for me, is to immediately buy & download SCAL. :D That way I can cut SVG files, fonts AND cut 12"x12" and use any cartridge that may catch my fancy. If it weren't for SCAL, I'm sure I wouldn't have decided on the Cricut.

    ~Kathryn
    Life's a beach. Scrapbook it.

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  13. Hi Kathryn!
    I'm discovered your videos not too long ago and am slowly watching all of them! They are great and you give great tips and techniques! I love the way you put together the seaquarium album. I have the label 4 nestabilities and love it. I use it to cut journaling blocks. But I don't have the label 8 dies.. And was wondering how big is the album you made using your dies with the $7 chipboard mistake??? Lol that sounds like a great scrap purchasing mishap! Thank you for taking the time to making your videos. I surely appreciate it. A lot of times I wonder how things are made in scrap books/mini albums but with your videos snd narration... They are perfect!
    Thanks again. Miranda

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  14. Kathryn - OK, just scoped out SCAL option with Expression....Silhouette can print any font/dingbat you have as well, so for the price ($165 plus a $25 gift card for buying designs), I'm sold! Buying through overstock.com this weekend - I'll try and get my bum in gear to do a video once I'm up and running with it! Thanks for bantering with me on this topic! ; )

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  15. Hi, Erin! Seems you have already figured out what SCAL is. :D Once I learned about SCAL, that leveled the plaing field between the Silhouette and the Expression for me in terms of technology and features. I chose the Expression over the Silhouette primarily because of the wider format. One of the things I intend to use it for if/when I eventually get one is to make my own 12"x12" lace papers and die cut papers. Have fun with your Silhouette!

    Miranda, thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment! I'm glad you enjoyed the Seaquarium mini lbum ~ that's one of my favorites. :D The album I made with the "Labels Eight" die is roughly 4"x6" inches, which is a good size for a mini. I think my $7.00 chipboard mistake is going to turn out to have been a good thing in the end!

    ~Kathryn
    Life's a beach. Scrapbook it.

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  16. Hi Kathryn! I really enjoyed reading ALL the comments under this blog entry! I am becoming best friends with my Cricut, and hope to become
    an owner of SCAL soon.

    The Santa kit caught my eye, especially with the little Sugarplum book!
    Thank you for all of your postings and all of your talents you share with others.
    Hugz- Joyce

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