Upcycling: Finding & Using Book Pages

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

I've gotten a few questions related to the book pages I've been incorporating into my latest mini album video series. I thought I would take a moment to write a little bit about what I am using and why I am using it.

1. Where did you get the book pages you've been using in this album?

Currently I am using pages from The Quest for the Holy Grail in my mini books and other recent projects {such as the cork lollipop flowers that have been dubbed "Holy Grail Flowes" by my buddy Weezie}. I simply harvested the pages right from the book I used in my Medieval Literature class. It is probably my least favorite book from my least favorite college literature class & while it looks quite aged, the book is probably only about ten years old.

If you're looking for similar pages to use, check your bookshelf first. Any book will do to achieve a similar look: an old dictionary, a trashy romance novel, even a technical manual. If you can;t find anything on your own bookshelves, check out a used bookstore for some opportunities.

2. Are these book pages safe to use in scrapbooks?

No. The paper used to make the pages in paperback books is some of the cheapest, most acid-ridden paper around. Which is why these book pages look so old already, even though they are less than ten years old. The acid has already started taking a toll on the paper and yellowing the edges. So if it is important to you that your books be 100% acid free, you need to stay away from these types of materials. Or you'll need to be sure to spray it with an acid buffering spray like Archival Mist or Krylon Make It Acid Free before including them in your books.

So, harvest those pages from books you didn't enjoy in college! I hated Medieval Literature ~ it was such a mistake to take it. I took it to complement my history degree, because literature is such a good way to learn what people of a certain era were thinking and feeling BUT I didn't like Medieval History either, so it was a colossal waste of my time. {What was I thinking!?}

I think after I am finished using up The Quest for the Holy Grail that either The Song of Roland or Troilus and Criseyde is next. Those might be moe fun to use because they are written in poem format with stanzas and such, so they could give a cool and different look to the projects.

~Kathryn
Life's a beach. Scrapbook it.

Black Friday Giveaway!

Hi, everyone! Welcome back to Life on the {Scrap}beach! I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving holiday yesterday!

Just a quick post today to remind you about my 12 Months of Christmas Giveaway & to share a picture with you of what I'm giving away for Black Friday. I made this set of twelve Christmas cards with matching envelopes:



The front of the card is shown on the left, and the inside of the card is shown on the right. The envelopes are stamped with snowflakes along the side and with "Seasons Greetings" on the back flap.

To be entered to win the cards, simply leave a comment on this post by midnight on Monday, November 30th with what kind of things you'd like to see throughout the 12 Months of Christmas Giveaway: mini albums? thickers? tools? supplies?

~Kathryn
Life's a beach. Scrapbook it.

New Video: Dive into Fall, Part Four

Hi, everyone! Welcome back to Life on the {Scrap}beach! Sorry I've been slow with the new posts lately. Between packing the kits & working on the new DVD, I've been letting some things around here slide {sorry about that, laundry} and the blog has been one of them.

I did edit a new video yesterday evening which I just uploaded over on my YouTube Channel:



I was definitely playing a lot with this album ~ trying new products, new techniques and all sorts of other fun stuff!

~Kathryn
Life's a beach. Scrapbook it.

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 voilà:


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.

New Video: Dive into Fall, Part Three

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

I just uploaded a new video over on my YouTube Channel:



I was definitely playing a lot with this album ~ trying new products, new techniques and all sorts of other fun stuff! Today's episode has more Glimmer Mists I hope you enjoy it!

~Kathryn
Life's a beach. Scrapbook it.

New Video: "Dive Into Fall" Part Two

Hi, everyone! Welcome back to Life on the {Scrap}beach! My greetings come to you from under a pile of Christmas paper and embellishments! :D

I've been working, working, working on the kits and the DVD the past few days, but I did get another video in the "Dive Into Fall" video series posted today over on my YouTube Channel:



I was definitely playing a lot with this album ~ trying new products, new techniques and all sorts of other fun stuff! I hope you enjoy it!

~Kathryn
Life's a beach. Scrapbook it.

New Videos: Scraproom Redo & Fall Mini Album

Hi, everyone! Welcome back to Life on the {Scrap}beach! I hope you all had a great weekend! I had a ton of fun at the crop ~ a big thank you to all of you who joined us!

Today I have two new videos over on my YouTube Channel: an update tour of my scraproom and the first part in a new mini album series with a fall/family theme.

I realized during the last crop that I needed to rearrange my scraproom. The furniture placement that worked so well in the beginning has not been holding up to the changes in my lie very well. Between the videos, and the live crop feeds and everything else, I had put too much stuff on my desk and was getting way crowded, so this is what I came up with:



If you're curious, this is what it looked like before I moved things around yesterday afternoon:



I also posted the first video in a new mini album series: "Dive Into Fall"



Thanks for watching ~ I hope you enjoy all the videos!

~Kathryn
Life's a beach. Scrapbook it.

Today Only: Sale at My Friend's Etsy Shop!

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

I just wanted to do a quick post today and let you know that my friend Jenn is having a big sale at her Etsy shop today! For today only, if you buy one item you'll get a second item 50% off!* Her Etsy Shop is loaded with cute and very reasonably priced items like scrapbook kits, idea books, adorable flannel pillow cases, blankets, wall art and more! Here are a few of my favorites:

"Monkeying Around" Snuggle Blanket and Bonus Throw: {I love monkeys!}



Wall Art:



Teresa Collins's "A Documented Life" Mini Album Kit:



Art Blanche "Gingerbread House" Mini album:



"Mirror Mirror" Mini Album Kit:



Those are just a few of the wonderful items she has for sale, so check out her store and take advantage of today's sale!

~Kathryn
Life's a beach. Scrapbook it.

*Discount refunded after payment.

12 Months of Christmas

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

I have finally figured out what to do to celebrate my 100,000 video views over on my YouTube Channel: starting Monday, January 4, 2010, I will be doing a giveaway on my blog each month for an entire year. Part celebration of my 100,000 video views, part overflowing Christmas Cheer and part sheer whimsy, I am calling it the "Twelve Months of Christmas" giveaway! I will post a new giveaway the first Monday of every month for the entire length of 2010. Sound fun? I think so!

Once again, thank you all so much for supporting me here, and on YouTube and over on "The Beach" ~ it means a great deal to me & so I am excited to be hosting these giveaways! Stay tuned ~ the first giveaway of the "12 Months of Christmas" will be announced Monday, January 4th, and a new giveaway will be announced the first Monday of each month following that! To give you a taste of what's to come, I will also be doing a "Black Friday" giveaway on November 27th!

~Kathryn
Life's a beach. Scrapbook it.

P.S. Remember there's a live crop tonight sarting at 9:00 p.m. Eastern on my UStream Channel with all kinds of challenges, prizes and just plain old scrapping fun!

Christmas Tag Swap!

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

This year I am participating in a Christmas tag swap. We were to make a batch of identical tags designed for use on gifts this holiday season. These are the ones I came up with:


I stamped the reindeer in Tsukineko's Staz-On in "Cotton White" on a transparency. The reindeer came from the "Christmas Silhouette" stamp set by Inkadinkado, which is one of my favorite Christmas stamp sets.


I attached the transparency to 2.25"x4.5" piece of distressed red paper from the Making Memoires "Fa La La" collection with a silver mesh and wire ribbon & punched all four corners to give it a ticket look. To keep the ribbon from getting too bulky, I tied it with some string instead of making a knot in the ribbon itself.


I made one tag for each of the 24 swap participants. Don't they look pretty all sitting there on my scrap desk? It's almost too hard to put them in an envelope and send them all away!


I can't wait to see what everyone else creates! It will be so fun to see all the different tags decorating my packages this year!

~Kathryn
Life's a beach. Scrapbook it.