X-TREME School Glue Stick Project

Elmer's X-TREME Stick Glue

Takeout Box Craft Project

Items Needed for Project:

• Chinese Food Boxes (I bought mine at Oriental Trading Company, but I can’t find them online anymore, so just google Takeout Craft Box and you come up with lots. Check eBay too.)
• X-TREME School Glue Stick
• Jumbo Glitter Glue Pens
• Ribbons, Fibers, Stickers

1. First you need to put the takeout box together according to the instructions. Use the X-TREME School Glue Stick to hold the sides together.

2. The box will look like this when it is complete.

3. Using glitter, ribbon and anything else you can find, decorate your box.

Writing with glitter glue.

Drawing rainbows.

Adding frayed ribbon to box with X-TREME Glue.

Choosing Ribbon

4. After decorating, let the boxes dry before using.

Transformer's box.

Ribbon Box

Rainbow Box

Rainbox/Ribbon Box

We found that if you want to put something on all 4 sides, the best thing to do is to wait for 1 side to dry completely before drawing on another side. If you let them stand upright while drying, the glitter glue starts drips down the side.

The kids all had a lot of fun decorating the takeout boxes. You can use them to put small things in or even as a favor box for a birthday party.

Here is my X-TREME Glue Craft Party Moment!

Disclosure: This project has been compensated as part of a craft recipe project using Elmer’s #collectivebias. All opinions are 100% my own.

What projects could you make with X-TREME Glue for tough projects?

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• Creativity for Kids: Mosaic Picture Frame Review & Giveaway (mommypr.com)
• Summer Craft for Kids: Butterfly Gift Bag (scrappindanielle.blogspot.com)

Related posts:

1. Chalkboard Goal Chart on Elmer’s Foam Board
2. Safeway Box Tops ($25 Gift card + 50 Bonus Box Tops)
3. Project 365: Day 42

Chinese Food Box Craft Project With Elmer’s X-TREME Glue originally posted at Scraps of My Geek Life.

Chalkboard Goal Chart

Goal Chart Craft Supplies

1. Elmer’s Foam Board (any size will do, but we used the 20″ x 30″)

2. Poster Board – Any type of thick cardboard type paper that will fit on your foam board.

3. Elmer’s CraftBond Ultra Stix All Clear glue

4. Elmer’s Adhesive Squares – Permanent

5. Elmer’s X-TREME Glue Stick

6. Elmer’s Shimmer N’Shine Shimmering Shapes

7. Elmer’s Project Popperz  Dual-Tipped Markers

8. Elmer’s Project Popperz Letters

9. Chalkboard spray paint (can get at any craft store, either spray paint or paint can)

10. Stickers and anything to decorate the foam board

11. Chalk/Chalk eraser

Chalkboard Goal Chart Step-by-Step Video

I created a step-by-step video of the goal chart craft. When you see the orange screen with “PAUSE” on it, you can pause and complete the task you just saw. The written tasks are after the video.

Elmer’s Summer Educational Craft Instructions

Lay your Elmer’s Foam Board down on your work area.

Take the poster board/thick paper & trace a shape on the poster board. The shape that you would like the timeline of the goal chart to be.

Cut the shape out and spray with the Chalkboard spray paint.

Adhere your cut out shape goal chart to the foam board using Elmer’s Adhesive Squares and Elmer’s CraftBond Ultra Stix All Clear glue

Decorate your poster board in any way that will be motivational to you. I put a border around the timeline so the edges wouldn’t look so sloppy and I added motivational quote stickers. I used the Elmer’s Project Popperz Letters (adhered with Elmer’s X-TREME Glue Stick) and I added a lot of bling with Elmer’s Shimmer N’Shine Shimmering Shapes.

You can write on the chalkboard area of the goal chart and then when you want to use the goal chart again, erase with chalk eraser and write the new goals on it.

It took about 3 hours to finish it, but that included the drying time between coats of chalkboard spray paint and many interruptions.

You could track many different goals that you would like your children to do over the summer such as:

• Books/pages read
• Outside time
• Exercise time
• Number of lessons completed
• Money earned
• Days of summer vacation

If you make your own chalkboard goal chart, add the link to a picture in the comments.

Disclosure: This project has been compensated as part of a craft recipe project using Elmer’s #collectivebias. All opinions are 100% my own.

Related posts:

1. Get Creative With Elmer’s Tr-Fold Display Board
2. Get Creative! Elmer’s Tri-Fold Display Board #CanYouTopThis
3. Valentine's Card From an Elmer's Tri-Fold Display Board

Chalkboard Goal Chart on Elmer’s Foam Board originally posted at Scraps of My Geek Life.

Digital Scrapbooking

Below are answers to some of the common questions I receive about digital scrapbooking.

What do I need to start creating digital scrapbook layouts?

The biggest investment would be the computer, printer (if you choose to print your layouts yourself) and the software (see next question). You can purchase digital scrapbooking kits, however, you can use a kit over and over again to create many layouts. With paper scrapbooking, once you use an element, it is gone.

What software should I purchase?

There are many different programs available starting from $29 to over $500. If you are just starting out, I recommend you start with a dedicated scrapbooking program because the software will come with some digital kits to give you a head start. A few examples are:

• Digital Scrapbook Artist
• MemoryMixer Version 3 (affiliate link)
• Creative Memories Storybook Creator
• Hallmark Scrapbook Studio

There are several online options which usually include a few digital kits. Often these are to create photobooks or other printed items. A few examples are:

• Smilebox
• Shutterfly
• Picaboo

If you would like complete control over your layouts and prefer to either make your own elements or purchase digital scrapbooking kits from online stores, then the graphic design programs are what you want. The learning curve is the greatest on these, but will give you the most flexibility in creating your layouts.

• Photoshop
• Photoshop Elements (what I use)
• Paint Shop Pro
• iPhoto (mac only)

What do I do with my layouts after I create them?

1. Print at home in various sizes (8×8, 12×12, 8.5×10, etc) and put them into regular scrapbooks.
2. Upload them to a professional printing company (Kodak, Shutterfly, etc) and create a photobook.
3. Create slideshows and burn it to a CD or DVD.
4. Upload them to photo sharing sites (Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket) to share with your friends and family.

What are the advantages of digital scrapbooking over paper scrapbooking?

• Digital scrapbooking is not as messy. It is very hard to scrapbook with little children around because they tend to get into your paper and scissors. You can easily save a layout before it is done and go back to it at a later date.
• The digital scrapbooking kits are purchased once and can be used again and again (by the same person).
• It is much easier to create a page for several people. I have 4 kids and every Christmas, I create one digital layout. Then I put different pictures into 4 different layouts. The layout for my oldest son will have pictures of him in them and I do the same for each of my kids. That way they each have a more personalized layout for their own book.
• A layout can be printed out or burned to CD/DVD as many times as you would like. It is a lot easier to share with your friends and family. I have created slideshows of my layouts throughout the year and sent the slideshow out as my Holiday card.

If you have any further questions, please leave them in the comments below and I will update this post with those answers. In the next few months, I will go into more detail about the different programs, where to get the digital scrapbooking kits and how to begin digital scrapbooking.

If you would like to see a few more examples of some layouts I have created and uploaded, check my layout gallery at NDISB.

Are you a scrapbooker? Paper or Digital?

Credits for scrapbook page: Techno Geek by MIss Mint (background), Fonts/Alphas: , Neutral Date Me kit by Suzy Q Scraps (5 in title & numbers), Fonts are Cooper Black, Chalkduster, CK Ali’s Hand Official, A Whole Year, January kit alpha by Dani Alencar (Geek & glitter), 5 crazy daisy flowers by Melissa Bennet

Related articles

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• Get ScrapHappy with Lain Ehmann – Feb 02,2011 (blogtalkradio.com)
• New Digital Product Releases | 02.26.2011 (aliedwards.com)
• Mixbook Acquires Scrapbooking Service Scrapblog (mashable.com)

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What is Digital Scrapbooking and How Do You Get Started? originally posted at Scraps of My Geek Life.

Preparing For Crafts

When we decide to make crafts, I will usually head to Wal-Mart to buy a few main supplies that I do not have, but I always have stickers. I added “Valentine Crafts” to my shopping list and headed to Wal-Mart.

I decide to buy the black Elmer’s Tri-fold Display board. I think the black would make an awesome backdrop for the pinks, reds and glitter that go so well for Valentine’s Day. I also wanted us all to take a section and decorate it. Using the large Elmer’s Tri-Fold Display board will give us lots of room. I also bought a package of

If I want my kids to participate in a craft, I’ve found I need to make it very simple and I need to just let them do what they want. They get too frustrated if I try to tell them what to do. Plus it’s more fun letting them explore their own creativity.

Creating Huge Valentine’s Cards

We gather all the materials from my scrapbooking supplies plus the few things I bought and lay it all out on the floor so we can all work together.

We start with the front of the card. I used this opportunity to practice some spelling by having the kids help me pick out the stencil letters that we would need to make the front of the card.

There we go! Stenciled letters traced with glitter pens. We had a really hard time finding something that would write on the black background. I couldn’t find anything at Wal-Mart that I knew would show up on the black, so I didn’t buy anything. I had some scrapbooking pens that we tested and finally found 3 that worked.

Tri-Fold Display Board Sections

Next, we split the inside of the Tri-Fold Display board into separate sections for each of us. I got the large center section, the girls got the left and the boys got the right. I then further split the kid’s sections so everyone knew exactly where their section was and no one would fight.

We each searched through my Valentine’s Day and family stickers to make our section of the card. The kids really had fun looking for stickers and loading up their section with lots of stickers. I had to hold my tongue. I really wanted to tell them not to just haphazardly add stickers, but I wanted them to create it themselves so I didn’t.

We added small envelopes to the board and we each wrote little notes and stuffed them in the envelopes. Little treasures for Dad to find. It was really interesting watching them decide which stickers to put on the card. They often picked things that reminded them of their relationship with Dad. Like my daughter used a sticker with a princess because Dad calls her princess she said.

We all added our names to our sections and then we were done. Some of us chose to keep our section free of “clutter.” It was their own choice how to decorate it.

Our Family Valentine Card

This is the front of our card. The bottlecaps on the bottom have letters on them that read, “We Love You.” You open up the card and this is what you see:

It doesn’t show up at all, but there are some word written in glitter pen in each section. This is a true hodge podge of the relationships we each have with my husband. Each sticker or saying was chosen for a reason. It all reminds us of him. I think it’s an awesome way to show Dad how much we love him.

Elmer’s Products Used

• Elmer’s Tri-Fold Black Display Board
• Elmer’s Craft Bond Gel Pens
• X-Acto Stainless Steel Scissors
• Elmer’s 3D Classic Glitter Colors, Large
• Elmer’s 3D Classic Rainbow ‘n Glitter Colors, Small
• Elmer’s Craft Bond Glue Stick

Disclosure: I was compensated by Collective Bias for this Whrrl story and blog post. All opinions are 100% my own.

Related posts:

1. Get Creative With Elmer’s Tr-Fold Display Board
2. Get Creative! Elmer’s Tri-Fold Display Board #CanYouTopThis
3. It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like — Shutterfly Holiday Card Time

Valentine's Card From an Elmer's Tri-Fold Display Board originally posted at Scraps of My Geek Life.

I will choose the 3 that I feel are the most creative and each winner will receive a $100 gift card from Wal-Mart.

Here are the full directions again and remember you can enter all 5 contest, but you can only win once.

Can You Top This? Win $100 Gift Card

My challenge to you is to try create a project using an Elmer’s Tri-Fold Display Board and top mine! Get Creative and win!

The contest ends on Wednesday, January 5, 2011 at 10:00 pm ET. I will choose 3 project that topped me and all 3 will win a $100 gift card. Yes, there are going to be 3 winners on each blog.

Here are the rules:

• Mandatory – You MUST use an Elmer’s Tri-Fold Display Board (foam core or cardboard)
• Mandatory – Post your final project on your blog or as a note in Facebook.
• Mandatory – You must include the hashtag #CanYouTopThis and submit a link to your project in my blog comments by Wednesday, January 5th.
• Optional – You may enter once on each of the following blogs in addition to mine, but you can only win once.
  • Mallery’s Deals
  • Savvy Chic Savings
  • Mommy2k
  • Our Crazy Boys
• Need a little inspiration? Go to the Can You Top This site for ideas.

Disclosure: I was compensated by Collective Bias and Elmer’s in exchange for creating this project and hosting the contest on my blog.

Related posts:

1. Get Creative! Elmer’s Tri-Fold Display Board #CanYouTopThis
2. Elmer's Bag It Forward With School Supplies
3. Creating Memories with Creative Memories #CreativeMemsContest

Get Creative With Elmer’s Tr-Fold Display Board originally posted at Scraps of My Geek Life.

Thoughts?

Feeling Crafty? Would you like to win $100 Wal-Mart giftcard? Check out my #CanYouTopThis challenge to you!

Related posts:

1. Casual Friday Vlog, My Office/Scrapbook Haven
2. Easily Create a Digital Scrapbook with Shutterfly
3. I Did It! I Created a New Scrapbook Layout (Digital of Course)

Hilarious Scrapbook Commercial originally posted at Scraps of My Geek Life.

The Elmer’s “Can You Top This?” round 2 challenge opportunity came just as I was about to create my vision board. I figured it was someone’s way of being sure that this is the year I make that vision board. I am so excited to get started on this project. And the best part is that I get to giveaway three $100 gift card prizes (see the details after the project).

Every year we all set our intentions and every year, by March they are out the door. For 2010, I went through a process of setting my intentions with every intention of reaching all my goals. I even posted them all here so I would be held accountable. Didn’t work!

I just finished reading the Idiot’s Guide to Vision Boards on my Kindle for iPad and the free Vision Board e-book by Christine Kane. I decided this was the year, I’m making one. In the next week I will post more details and resources for creating your visions board.

My Vision Board Project Supply List

• Elmer’s Tri-Fold Display board (foam or cardboard)
• Elmer’s Craft Bond Permanent Tape Runner
• Elmer’s Craft Bond Permanent Tape Runner Refill
• Elmer’s No-Wrinkle Dual Tip Glue Pen
• Elmer’s Craft Bond Adhesive Squares
• Elmer’s Project Popperz Peel & Stick Numbers & Symbols in Black
• Elmer’s Shimmer ‘n Shine Shimmering Shapes Washable Art Glazes
• Elmer’s 3D 10 Classic Rainbow ‘n Glitter Colors
• Elmer’s Project Popperz Classic Colors Markers (8 pack)

Vision Board Craft Plan

1. Write out a list of goals that you would like to achieve (that you would like on your vision board).
2. Find pictures, quotes, words or headlines to glue to your vision board. Magazines work really well for finding pictures and headlines to represent your goals. You may also use pictures that you have or search for pictures online and print them. What you choose is up to you. I started by going through magazines and cutting out anything that appealed to me.
3. Separate all the items you found in step 2 into piles for each of your goals (if you have more than 1).
4. Lay out the items onto your Elmer’s Tri-Fold Display Board. Do not glue them down yet. The order is not important. Do what feels and looks right for you. There are many theories about creating a vision board. My personal theory is create your vision board so that it inspires you. It needs to make sense to you and no one else. I left white space so that I could add elements and decorations after. The scrapbooker in me wanted to make it pretty!
5. Once you are satisfied with the layout of all the items, begin to glue everything down. Use Elmer’s Craft Bond Adhesive Squares to put pictures onto the Tri-Fold Display Board. I adhered all my pictures to scrapbooking paper before putting it on the board. Feel free to be as creative as you would like when adhering your items to the board.
6. Use the Elmer’s Craft Bond Permanent Tape Runner and Refill to adhere larger papers or items to the board. I found this tape runner worked really well for gluing things onto glitter paper which is often hard to get things to stick to.
7. Use the Elmer’s No-Wrinkle Dual Tip Glue Pen to adhere the magazine clippings to the board. The glue is perfect for magazine or newspaper because it doesn’t wrinkle.
8. Add any additional elements or decorations to your vision board. I used the Elmer’s Project Popperz Peel & Stick Numbers & Symbols in Black for the year.
9. Finalize your vision board with your name and label anything that you feel needs a label. I used the Elmer’s 3D 10 Classic Rainbow ‘n Glitter Colors to highlight anything on my board that needed a little glitter. I used the Elmer’s Project Popperz Classic Colors Markers (8 pack) to add my name and put some decoration around some of the goal pictures.
10. Put your vision board in a place where you will see it every day. This is my completed project:

Vision Board Example Video

This video is about 10 minutes long, but I go through and explain in great detail why I chose the different items on my vision board. I won’t be insulted if you do not watch the entire 10 minute video. I created it for anyone who wonders why I chose different items or if you want an in depth explanation of a vision board.

Elmer’s #CanYouTopThis Vision Board Example from Michele McGraw on Vimeo.

My 10 minute detailed explanation of my vision board

Can You Top This? Win $100 Gift Card

My challenge to you is to try create a project using an Elmer’s Tri-Fold Display Board and top mine! Get Creative and win!

The contest ends on Wednesday, January 5, 2011 at 10:00 pm ET. I will choose 3 project that topped me and all 3 will win a $100 gift card. Yes, there are going to be 3 winners on each blog.

Here are the rules:

• You MUST use an Elmer’s Tri-Fold Display Board (foam core or cardboard)
• Post your final project on your blog or as a note in Facebook.
• You must include the hashtag #CanYouTopThis and submit a link to your project in my blog comments by Wednesday, January 5th.
• You may enter once on each of the following blogs in addition to mine, but you can only win once.
  • Mallery’s Deals
  • Savvy Chic Savings
  • Mommy2k
  • Our Crazy Boys
• Need a little inspiration? Go to the Can You Top This site for ideas.

Win an Elmer’s Prize Pack from Sticky Bits

You could also win an Elmer’s prize pack if you add your project to Sticky Bits. Upload a picture of your final project and attach it to the Elmer’s products that you used to create your project. Contact me if you need help with this (michele@scrapsofmygeeklife.com). You can see samples by clicking on the products in the supply list that I used to create my project.

I can not wait to see what you all come up with. I had a lot of fun creating my vision board and I will keep you all up to date on my goal achievements for 2011.

Disclosure: I was compensated by Collective Bias and Elmer’s in exchange for creating this project and hosting the contest on my blog.

Related posts:

1. Elmer's Bag It Forward With School Supplies
2. Create a Visual of Your Word, 2010 Intention Series (Part 4 of Intention Series)
3. Creating Memories with Creative Memories #CreativeMemsContest

Get Creative! Elmer’s Tri-Fold Display Board #CanYouTopThis originally posted at Scraps of My Geek Life.

Shutterfly allows you to easily create a digital scrapbook by using your digital pictures and their templates. Most of the time when I scrapbook, I create my entire pages from scratch. However, sometimes I want to create a gift album or I don’t have time to spend hours creating pages. That’s when I turn to Shutterfly.

Shutterfly Digital Scrapbook

The first time I used Shutterfly, I used their templates and dropped in the pictures from a trip my husband and I took to Miami (alone). It took me about 2 hours from beginning to end. That included decided which pictures to use, fixing them up in iPhoto, uploading and putting them into the Shutterfly templates.

Here is a short video I created to show you the Shutterfly book I created.

Shutterfly is not only for making scrapbooks, you can make so much more. A few examples are:

Holiday Cards
Thank You Cards
Birthday Party Invitations

Birthday Party Tip

A really fun idea for kid’s birthday parties is to take a picture of the guest with the birthday child and the present they brought. Create a thank you card with the picture and the guest has a great memento from the party and you remember the present each guest brought.

disclosure: I received free product in exchange for this post. I paid for the Shutterfly book that I discussed in this review. All opinions are my own.

Shutterfly Giveaway

I also received 3 Shutterfly codes to share with my readers. To enter, leave me a comment below about your experience with Shutterfly and Tweet about this post using my Twitter name, @ScrappinMichele. If you have not used Shutterfly, let me know what your first project with Shutterfly will be. I will pick 3 random winners.

The giveaway will end on September 2, 2010 at 11:00 pm ET. You will have 24 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.

Related posts:

1. I Did It! I Created a New Scrapbook Layout (Digital of Course)
2. Easily Tag Your Photos Using Hot Spots with Picmeleo Alive
3. Memory Mixer Mixes Digital Scrapbooking, Creativity and Fun

Easily Create a Digital Scrapbook with Shutterfly originally posted at Scraps of My Geek Life.

I really wish I could say that I use the scrapbook part of my office every day, but the reality of it is that I do a lot more digital scrapbooking being the geek that I am. I don’t have the heart to get rid of a lot of this stuff and now my daughters are starting to use it. It’s also great for that late night before a project is due and your kid tells you at 8pm that they need construction paper in fuchsia because that is what the teacher said.

Where do you scrapbook?

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Casual Friday Vlog, My Office/Scrapbook Haven originally posted at Scraps of My Geek Life.

I’m going to check out all the sales and freebies out there and share what I find. I’ll be Tweeting with #DSD (hashtag), so be sure to follow me, @ScrappinMichele and tweet me your deals, freebies and blog posts about Digital Scrapbooking.

Kit used – Freebie Superstar by bisonline, After 5 Designs, Font is SBC Jazzed

If you do a layout or have a freebie or a sale or anything related to Digital Scrapbooking, add your link to the MckLinky below.

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Let's Celebrate National Digital Scrapbooking Day Today! Add Your Link! originally posted at Scraps of My Geek Life.