Happy Saturday afternoon to you!

As a Mom of a teenage girl, I know the kind of things my daughter loves to stash in her big purse!  In her own words, “You never know what you are going to need!”

So I created this little notepad and pen holder with her in mind!

A girl must always be prepared in case she wants to pass a quick note to a friend!

Although this tutorial will seem really long, it isn’t difficult.  I put it on a medium level of difficulty.  Let’s get started!

Here are the supplies I used:

• Mini notepad of your choice

• mini pen or pencil with a clip- can be purchased where school supplies are sold (Staples, Walmart, etc.)

• Staples brand Matte Presentation Paper

• Digital papers of choice – I used SuzyQ Scraps And Many More…{Bold} kit
• scissors

• exacto knife

• Adhesive of choice – I used double sided tape

1.  Measure your notepad.  Measure the height, width and how thick your note pad is.  The notepad I am using is 4 1/2 inches x 3 1/2 inches by 5/8 inches thick.

2.  Open your program of choice – create an 8.5 x 11 blank canvas.

3.  Using the rectangular marquee tool (make sure feather is set to 0), we’re going to draw out the template for our notepad holder.  I’m going to be using my measurements of my notepad to create my holder.  You will need to use your own measurements unless I specify otherwise.  Label your layers as you go – it will make it easier later in the tutorial.

4.  On your blank canvas, draw out a rectangle shape – mine will be 4 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches.  Use the measurement guides along the sides your program to help you.  Once you have all the pieces drawn out, you can line each section up side by side.

5.  Add a new layer and fill with a solid color from your palette (I tend to use shades of gray to create my template).  Deselect.  Rename this layer back panel.

6.  Duplicate this layer – rename the copy front cover.

7.  Using the rectangular marquee tool, draw out a rectangle measuring 1/2 inch wide x the same height as your notepad.  Mine is 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches.  Your’s will be 1/2 x the height of your notepad.

8.  Add a new layer and fill with the same solid color as your back panel.  Deselect.  Rename this layer back panel 2.  Hide this layer.

9.  Duplicate this layer – rename the copy layer pen rest.  flood fill with a different color.  Hide this layer.

10.  Using the rectangular marquee tool, draw out a rectangle measuring the same height as your notepad x the same THICKNESS of your notepad.  Mine is 5/8 x 4 1/2 inches.  Your’s will be the height of your notepad x the thickness of your pad.

11.   Add a new layer and fill with a different color.  Deselect.  Rename this layer spine of notebook.  Hide this layer.

12.  Click on your front cover layer in your layer palette and drag it to the the very top of your layers palette.  Hide this layer.

13.  Unhide the back panel and back panel 2 layers in your palette.  Click on your back panel 2 layer, right click and chose merge down.

14.  Next we’re going to arrange our notepad template.  Working on your canvas, move your back panel layer to the left a few inches.

15.  Unhide your pen rest layer and move it to the left lining it up along the back panel.

16.  Unhide your spine of notebook layer and move it to line up along the pen rest layer.

17.  Unhide your cover layer and move it to line up along the spine of notebook layer.  This is what you should have (possibly in different colors than mine) 4 panels:  Back cover, pen rest, spine of notepad, cover layer.

18.  Next we’re going to draw our score lines.  Using the Line Tool with a weight of 2 pixels (which is right next to my custom shape tool on my tool bar)and your color palette set to black, draw a straight line from the top of your notepad template to the bottom.  Simplify the layer.  Duplicate this layer twice so that you have 3 straight lines.

19.  Move one line to cover where the back panel and pen rest meet.  Move another line to cover where the pen rest and spine of notepad meet.  Move the third line over where the spine of notepad and front cover meet.

This is what you should have:

20.  Now we need to add a cutting guide to form the piece to hold our mini pen.   Using the Line tool with the weight of 2 pixels and color palette still at black, draw a horizontal line 1 1/2 inches from the top starting at the right edge of the back panel to the left edge of the front cover.     duplicate this layer and move the second line an inch from the bottom.

This is what your template should look like:

Save your template to use over and over again!!!  Now we’re ready to create our notepad holder!

21.  Using digital papers of choice, add papers to the front and back cover.  Add coordinating papers to the pen rest and the part that will be the spine of your notepad holder.  Don’t be afraid to resize and rotate papers to your liking!.

22.  Next we need to make our score lines and cut lines not as noticeable.  Merge the fold line layers and cut line layers.   Add a new layer above the fold line and cut line layer.   Use your dropper tool to pick up a color from the background papers – one that will show up without sticking out.

23.  Fill the new layer with the color you chose.  clip the color layer to your lines by hitting “control + G”.  Merge down.

Here’s my notepad holder ready to print:

24.  Print your notepad holder using your printer’s best print option.

Tip:  I swear by Epson Matte Presentation paper or Staples Matte presentation paper for the best print.  I always do a tweak to the brightness and contast on my projects before I hit the print button.  It keeps the colors nice and bright when printing.

Allow your printed notepad cover to set to avoid smudging when handling it.

25.  Cut around your new notepad holder.  Score on your vertical fold lines.  Mountain fold the outermost score lines.  Valley fold the center score line – this means that you will fold your pen holder section against the spine of your notepad – in other words fold your cover toward  you on this line.    It will look like this:

Carefully use a craft knife to cut the two horizontal lines – but do not cut through to the back or front cover!  Fold this small piece toward you to form an open square piece like this:

Now let’s assemble:

26.  On the inside of your notepad cover, add adhesive as shown in photo.   Press these to the back panel to form the back of the pen holder.

When looking at your printed notepad cover, the side that has the bigger panel will be the back of the cover.

27.   Add adhesive to the back of your notepad and press in place on the inside of your new cover.

28.  Add your pen to the holder and you’re done!

You can add more to “decorate” the front of your notepad cover if you choose.  You could add ribbons on the inside of the front and back cover so that the notepad ties shut.

To be honest, this one is going in my daughter’s purse and all the extra pretty stuff would just get ruined – besides she iscrazy over polka dots so I didn’t want to cover up these lovely dotties!! LOL

These are really easy to create once you’ve made one – explaining how they are made was much harder than actually creating the notepad holder!!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and give it a try!  I’d love to see it if you make one!

Thank you so much for playing along with our blog party this month! I hope you picked up the free template and the free digital scrap stickers last week. I’m a little late posting the hybrid freebie … hope you can forgive me. And there’s still time to play in the word search game … everyone who participates will receive a discount coupon to my store, so even if you don’t win the $5 coupon, you’re still a winner!

I don’t currently have kids in school … my little boy is only 2 … but when I first saw lunch box notes posted somewhere in digi land last year I was intrigued by the idea. Especially because they can easily be adapted for husbands too! I’ll bet my hubby would love to get a lil’ love note from me in his lunch.

Print them out and use them as-is, or add some embellishments to make them more special. Don’t forget to jot down a personalized message on the back before slipping one of these in a lunch box or lunch sack (or maybe inside a text book or folder, etc.). I’ve also included a clipping mask in the download so you can make your own!

Enjoy!

Hey all! Now if you’ve had a look at this week’s Sneek Peek, you’ll see it’s all about animals this week and I’m going to walk you through one of SuzyQ’s hybrid new releases By the way, if you visit this Sneek Peek blog post and leave a comment you could win one of seven new releases!

Anyway, this is what we’re going to be making today, click on the image to take you to it in store where there’s 20% off for one week! Oh and there’s also a land animals version of the game too

So first I opened up the files in Photoshop and printed out two copies of each of the card pages and one copy of the box. Because glue and I do not get on, I decided to print the playing card pictures and backs onto adhesive inkjet paper (basically A$ or letter sized sticker paper) but you can of course print straight onto card or even paper to stick onto card.
If printing onto adhesive inkjet paper make sure you leave the sheets for about 15 minutes on a flat surface to allow the ink to dry properly and avoid curling.
The box I printed onto 250gsm card. I haven’t got inkjet card hence why the colours aren’t quite as bold for the box compared to the cards.

I decided to make the card box first, so I scored along the fold lines BEFORE I cut it out. I find it easier to do it that way.

Here’s what it looks like with all the score lines

Next I cut it out and folded along my score lines. Did I mention that glue & I do not get on?? lol Because of that I’m using double sided tape to stick my box together. You can see that I’ve stuck tape to the side flap and the small bottom tabs.

Then I stick the box together, using a ruler (or something similar) to push the small bottom tabs down inside the box so they stick properly.

Then I put double sided tape on the Ocean Critters badge to stick on the front and that’s my box done!

Now onto the cards!

First I trimmed the A4 (letter sized) edges of the card backs loosely and stuck them onto 250gsm card.

Then I trimmed all the card backs and fronts into rectangles – leaving the corners square at this point.

Then I peeled the back of the adhesive paper on the card fronts and stuck them onto the card backs, making sure the card backs were the right way up. Once they were stuck together I went through each card and trimmed the corners to make them round and also trim off any excess where I hadn’t managed to stick the fronts on quite straight enough.

And here’s the end result!

And here’s my kiddies playing with the finished game!

Thanks to SuzyQ for creating an awesome project for me to make!

A tutorial for all you ladies who love to hybrid scrap! (And for those of you that haven’t tried it yet … this one is easy! Trust me!)

K, so for supplies, I used some digital stamps (specifically, Digital Stamps: Under Construction and Digital Stamps: Dinosaurs, both in my store at my Scrap Orchard) and some papers and elements from my kit Dino-RAWR 2.

(I apologize in advance that I don’t have a screenshot for every step … forgot. Oops!)

Hybrid Mini Coloring Book Tutorial

1. Create a new document, 7.5 inches wide by 10 inches tall. (This allows for 1/2 inch margins for printing … and allows for 8 pages to the coloring book per sheet.) We’ll come back to this document in a bit.

2. Create a new Photoshop document, 3.75 inches wide by 2.5 inches tall. (This is the size of the coloring page, and creating this document will help us to line up our pages in the large print document.) Fill the background with white (hex code #ffffff).

3. Open one of the doodles. Drag the doodle into your document — if you’re using Photoshop, be sure to hold CTRL+SHIFT while you drag so it is centered in your new document.

4. Right-click on the layer and choose Merge Visible. Drag you document into the large print document.

5. Go back to your small coloring page — undo the merge visible and delete the doodle. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for each page of the coloring book.

6. In the small coloring page document, create a front cover and a back cover. (I used pieces from Dino-RAWR 2.) I chose to create everything digitally, but I could have printed out the pieces separately and attached them. (The reason I didn’t is because I knew my little boy would pull them off, so why bother with the extra effort? LOL!) Drag your covers into the large print document.

7. Once you have all your pages in your large print document, you can arrange them for printing. It helps if you turn on the snap (View > Snap). Then you can get everything to line up nicely. I ended up with 13 coloring pages, 1 “this book belongs to” page, a front cover, and a back cover.

8. Print your page(s). I chose to print on a heavier paper so we could color with markers or even use paint.

9. Trim off the 1/2 inch margins. Then cut the papers lengthwise (measure at 3.75 inches) and then cut apart each page (2.5 inches).

10. I used my Crop-o-dile to punch a hole in the bottom right corner. I picked this corner for two reasons: so I wouldn’t cut off any of the images, and because my son is left-handed.

11. Use a ribbon, string, book ring, or other element to fasten the pages together.

Here’s the finished project again. (Sorry the picture is washed out — too much flash, lol. I was in a hurry.)

And my son coloring.

If you give this a try, I’d love to see what you create!

Happy Thursday everyone!  LuAnn here with a Hybrid tutorial and a freebie for SuzyQ Scraps blog readers!

Have you seen Suzy’s super sweet and adorable new release at Scrap Orchard?

Today’s tutorial (and freebie!) uses part of the collection.

Let’s get started!  Here’s what we’re making today (my apologies on the photo – I’m going to re-photo the mug a little later when the sun hits the kitchen side of my house LOL):

These candy bouquets are super easy and fun to make AND a super easy way to try Hybrid out!!

I’ve made these for Valentine’s day, birthdays and baby showers.   They make a gorgeous decoration on each side of the cake and then can double as the door prizes!

Supplies:

• SuzyQ Scraps candy bouquet printables – download the printables
• Regular computer paper or sticker paper (I always use sticker paper and prefer Avery white full sheet label paper)
• Bag of Hershey’s miniature candy bars
• Bamboo skewers (found in the kitchen supply aisle at Kmart, Walmart, etc near the spatulas/measuring spoons approx. $2.00)
• Mug or container of your choice (mine is from the dollar store)
• Floral Foam block, cut to fit snug in your mug  (purchased mine from a dollar store)
• Low temp Hot Glue and glue gun (again, from the dollar store LOL)
• Adhesive of choice if printing on computer paper
• Shredded paper to cover foam in mug (purchased mine from a dollar store)
• Pre-curled ribbons (Like those that you attach to gifts – I bought 3 curled gift bows for a $1 at a dollar store) – in my sample above, I used 17 of them.

1.  Print the labels provided above.  Let sit for about 15 minutes.  Cut labels.

2.  Center letter or image on front of mini candy bar and then wrap edges to the back of bar.  If using paper, wrap label around candy bar and tape to the back of bar.  Foil edges of mini candy bar will be visible when the candy bar is
wrapped.

Please note: there was a discussion in a professional crafters forum one time where it was mentioned that if you are creating food based crafts to sell, like a candy bouquet, the FDA prohibits covering the original candy wrapper.  Consumers must be able to remove your wrapper to see what the original product is.

In the interest of safety, I never use the Mr. Goodbar miniatures in my candy bouquets due to possible peanut allergies.

3.    Working quickly and on one candy bar at a time – apply a stripe of hot glue down the middle of the back of the candy bar.  Start at the top of the backside of the candy bar and apply the glue to the bottom on the backside of the candy bar. Making make sure the candy bar isn’t upside down on the skewer, lay a wooden skewer in the glue while it’s still hot.  Position the wooden skewer so that the tip is very close to the top of the candy bar, but not showing at the top.  This will give it more support when it is put in the mug.  Let dry completely.  Add skewers to the back of all of your wrapped miniatures.

4.  Fit your styrofoam block/shape to your mug/container.  You will want a snug fit.  I had to cut additional wedges of foam to make it fit snugly.  Apply some hot glue to the foam and cover the foam with some shredded paper, if you desire.  I did half of the surface, added paper and then did the other half.
But don’t use too much or it will be hard to push your wood sticks into the mug.

5.  Hot glue your curling ribbons to the bottom of each candy bar in front of the stick.  (Play around a little to see how you want the ribbon to look before hot gluing it in place)  I put curling ribbon on each skewer.   Allow to dry.

tip:  Sometimes I only put ribbons on the candy bars with the letters and leave the extra candy with the “picture” ribbon-less.  Once the ribbon-less ones are arranged in the mug, I pull other ribbons near them to make it pretty.

6. Arrange your candy bars in your mug/container.  I always start with the wrapped candy that will be in the center of the middle row – in this case the bar with the “C” on it.  See photo for reference.

Some of the skewers for the front of your arrangement will need shortened for placement.   The skewers on the sides of the arrangement will need inserted into the mug at a slight angle for a nice curved arrangement of the bars.  Play around until you are happy with the shape of your bouquet.

These bouquets can be created for $20-$30.  What new Momma wouldn’t LOVE receiving one of these while still in the hospital?

Hope you enjoyed my tutorial and the candy bouquet printables.  I’d love to see what you create with the printables so leave me a comment here if you do!

Let’s take those doodles one step further. I’ve taught you how to color your doodles using fills in Photoshop and using your digital scrapbook papers. Now let’s add a mat to those doodles — the ones you’ve colored in yourself and the ones from your favorite designers that didn’t come with a mat. (I’m all about stretching your stash and making it more useful!)

Adding a Mat to Your Digital Stamps and Doodles

1. Grab an already colored doodle and choose a solid paper for the mat. Pull both into your document, with the doodle on top of the paper. (I picked the track hoe/digger and a black paper from Under Construction, my new collab with simply scraps.)

2. CTRL+click on the doodle’s THUMBNAIL. Marching ants will appear around your doodle. (For simplicity’s sake, I’ve turned off the paper layer by clicking on the eye icon.)

3. Expand the selection by going to Select > Modify > Expand. Choose the number of pixels … 15 pixels gives a nice small border — choose a higher number for a thicker border. Click OK — the marching ants will be expanded around your doodle. If you think you’ll want a thicker border than the number you originally chose, just go back in your Undo History palette and redo the Expand step, this time choosing a bigger number.

4. Fill the selection — add a new layer BELOW the doodle and use ALT+Backspace to fill. As you can see in the second picture, we need to fill the empty space created by the track hoe’s window. (If you don’t have any empty spaces in your fill, you can skip to step 6).

5. Make sure you’re on the filled layer and grab your magic wand, making sure Contiguous is checked. Click inside the area you want to fill — in my case, the empty track hoe window. Expand this selection by using the same process in Step 3. Usually you can use the same number you used before, if your fill area isn’t too close to an edge. If it is close to an edge, choose a smaller number, like 3 pixels. Add a new layer UNDER the other fill layer and use ALT+Backspace to fill. Merge your fill layers.

6. Turn your paper layer back on, move it above the fill layer, and clip it to the fill layer. After getting this far, I decided I wanted a thicker border, so I went back and did steps 3-6 over again, using 25 pixels instead of 15 pixels.

7. OPTIONAL: Add an inner glow to your mat. You’ll find it with your layer styles. Choose Soft Light for the blending mode and 75% for the opacity. Click on the color box and type 282828 for the hex code. Adjust the size of your inner glow … I think I picked somewhere around 35.

8. Finally, merge all the layers together.

I’d love to see what you create using this tutorial. Be sure to link me up in the comments!

Have a great Thursday, and don’t forget to shop Scrap Orchard’s retirement sale — I have 23 retiring products that are 60% off!

Hopefully in July I’ll be back to a more normal blog posting schedule, but for now I’m skipping today’s subject and handing out a freebie. How does that sound?

The fabulous QT LuAnn (aka wildblueeyez) decided we couldn’t have you eating popcorn and candy without something to drink. So she whipped up this free printable.

Click on the image to download. (Note — name on star for preview only; the star is blank so you can add a different name.)

LuAnn is also the mastermind behind these great coordinating hybrid printables currently on sale for 20% off:

If you choose “Buy Together” when you go to purchase, you’ll save an extra 15% on the kit and the hybrid printables (plus, until 7/1, you’ll also get the quick page pack for free — this is a steal of a deal … all 3 products for $7.12!)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

I had never heard of Copic Markers until I started dabbling in hybrid, and while I have yet to buy any and try them out myself, I’ve been super curious about them and want to learn more. Just last week I stumbled across some great tutorials, so I thought I’d share them with you! (And maybe this weekend when I’m “in town” I’ll see if I can pick me up a couple and try out these cool techniques.)

First, though, what are Copic Markers? Straight from the source:
“Copic Markers are the original line of high quality illustrating tools, used for decades by professionals around the world. They are preferred for Architectural design, product rendering, and other forms of Industrial design. They are also popular among the hobby industry for use with models, ceramics and similar projects. We are proud to bring you the highest quality, longest lasting, most versatile markers available anywhere. With over 300 colors, replaceable nibs and ink refills, you will never need to go any further than right here for all your marker needs.”

Apparently they need to add “hybrid scrapbooking” to their list of hobbies.

Now for the cool tutorials. All of these tutorials are by Michelle Houghton and are available over at Get It Scrapped.

How to Buy Copic Markers
So glad I read this article, ’cause now I know what to look for as far as type of marker to buy (probably sketch) and I’ll be better prepared for the price. Love her suggestion to print out the color chart from Copic’s site to keep track of which ones you’ve already purchased. (What am I getting myself into?!)

How to Blend with Copic Markers
A marker you can blend?! How cool is that! I remember as a kid getting so frustrated that I couldn’t mix my crayola markers very well without ruining the paper. Michelle does a fantastic job of offering tips on inks and cardstock, and then goes through step-by-step on how to blend. Love the pictures that accompany each step!

Using the Blending Marker
Some possible uses for the Blending Marker.

And then 3 sort-of-color-by-number tutorials where Michelle provides the image and goes step-by-step through her process of coloring, so you can practice!
Copic Marker Shading with Printable Flower
Copic Marker Shading with Printable Rocket
Copic Marker Shading with Printable Heart

You can find all 6 Copic Marker tutorials together … and I *hope* she adds more soon. So excited to for all the possibilities!

Hybrid scrapping is making itself known in the digital scrapbooking world!  For those who aren’t familiar with hybrid scrapping, it’s just that, hybrid.  It’s combining the digital & traditional scrapping to make something-a page, a card, a box, etc.  SuzyQ Scraps has a fabulous hybrid team!  These girls have amazing talents & go above & beyond with the projects they’re able to create.  I’ve been itching to make some type of hybrid & these QTs give me a whole lot of inspiration.  Take a look…

I’m in love with this mailbox idea by Andrea!  Love that she made it to send a few ‘get well’ goodies inside.

{CREDITS}

Ellie made this scribble pad for her little boy.  I KNOW my daughter needs one of these!  She’s always searching for a pen & any paper to scribble on.  This would be the perfect companion for waiting rooms & other “fun” appointments.

{CREDITS}

Sara made these really cute love notes.  These would be so fun to find in your lunch bag at school.  They’d make anyone’s day.

{CREDITS}

Lori put this batch of soup together.   Looks yummy!

{CREDITS}

LuAnn put this BEAUTIFUL card together!  I love the dinosaur.

{CREDITS}

One more, check out Dalis’  CD cover she created.  Oh my goodness, I love it!{CREDITS}

Hope all the hybrid inspiration has left you wanting to give it a try or inspire you some more!  I’m ready to get out my scissors & glue.

Happy “Thank goodness it’s almost the end of the week!” Thursday!  LuAnn here with a fairly quick and easy treat bag tutorial.

My treat bag was made with a birthday party in mind but these would be super cute as thank you bags, end of the school year teacher gift bags, or any other occasion where a treat bag is being given out.

Here’s what I made using Suzy’s And Many More…{Bold} kit:

and the Suzy’s kit:

I went simple with my treat bags because kids will have these torn apart in 2 seconds to find out what is in the bag!  LOL

Here’s how I made the treat bag band….

Supply list:
-paper bags
-digital kit of choice – I used SuzyQ Scraps And Many More…{Bold} kit
-Epsom Matte presentation paper
- double sided tape or other adhesive of choice
-scissors
-goodies to fill the treat bags!!!

1.  Open a blank 11 x 8.5 inch canvas in your photo editing program.
2.  Using the Rectangular Marquee tool, draw a 2 inch wide x 7 inches long rectangle.  ( I started my tool at the 1 inch by 1 inch mark to make it easier to draw out.)  Leave ants marching.

3.  Add a new layer.  Flood fill with white (or a color that will coordinate with the digital paper you want to use).
4.  Add another new layer.  Copy and paste into selection a digital paper of choice.   Resize and reposition to your liking.
5.  Select none.
6.  Using the Rectangular Marquee tool, draw out a rectangle that is the same height as the first rectangle but is 1/8″ inch narrower on each side:

7.  With the ants marching, hit delete.  This will leave you with a strip of the digital paper along each side of the rectangle.  Select none.  Merge down.

8.  Next we need to decorate our band.    *Keep in mind:  the bottom inch will be notch cut. The top 2 inches of our rectangle will be folded over toward the back side of the bag so if you are going to decorate that area, it will need designed upside down.*
9.  Once decorated, merge all layers except the background.   Duplicate finished band so that you get multiple on each page.
10.  Print using your printer’s best print setting.
11.  Once printed out, cut around edges and cut a notched triangle out of the bottom.
10.  Score each band 2 inches from the top edge.
11.  Score the tops of the paper bags at the 1/2 inch mark and also the 1 1/2 inch mark.  Fold at the 1/2 mark and then again at the 1 1/2 inch mark to give the edge of your bag a finished look.
12.  After filling the bags, add adhesive to the rolled under top of your bag to hold it closed.  Add adhesive to both sides of the band and position on the filled bags.

You can jazz this up as much as you want or leave it simple like mine.  You could tie on some ribbon, pop a few elements using dimensional dots or even leave the band plain and add a decorative scallop circle.

The sky is the limit!  Wouldn’t these would be cute for a baby shower using a white bag with blue and white or pink and white!

Hope you enjoyed this simple treat bag tutorial.  If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them here in the comment section and I’ll get back to you!