TLC will be offering a special HYBRID Business Builder Starter Kit. This kit will include the products from both the Papercraft and the Digital BB kits. It will have only 1 bag and 1 set of business materials. All this for just $90 US + shipping ($20 in the US). Taxes will apply where applicable. The value of the kit is over $400!

The promotion runs from April 13 to May 31.

This one is a no brainer!

If you’re new to scrapbooking, it can be overwhelming trying to figure out what kind of adhesive to use on your pages.  The market is full of all kinds of innovative options, and some of them really are superior to others.  For the purpose of this post, we’ll stick to the basics. Adhesives can be separated into two groups wet & dry.  Some of the most common adhesives used for scrapbooking are dry adhesives such as:  tabs, photo corners, dots, foam, glue sticks/pens, adhesive sheets & runners. 

Tabs – these are double sided square shaped pieces of tape. There’s not much to say about these except that they are simple to work with, and work really well, because they can be used for photos or flat embellishments.  These are technically permanent.

 Photo Corners- these are used to position and hold journaling, photos, or anything that has a right angle edge. They are self-adhesive , and you attach them to your pages, while the object you are working with is held under the corner itself. It’s a nice way to frame objects, or create a bit of dimension on the page, and they are available in various colors and designs. These are often used with original photos, since no adhesive ever touches the photo itself. 

 Dots -Adhesive dots are double-sided gel-like circles of various sizes. They are peeled from a sheet or roll, and are great for attaching embellishments that would not hold with conventional glue. Larger dots can hold things like buttons, bottlecaps, or even ribbons. These work really well for sticking items to mats.

Foam -These are factory cut double-sided foam that are fabulous for creating a real 3D appearance to a page. The work well on your titles, or for die cuts. They are generally packaged in various shapes, but also come in the form of a tape that allows you to cut the desired length or shape that you want. These are my favorite. A great use for these is if you have a duplicate photo; you can cut out a portion of the second photo, and use two layers of these foam dots to adhere the cut out on top of the original photo (example cut out a birthday cake or gift, and use the foam to make the cake appear to jump off the page). Email me for better instructions.

Sprays -These are great for making cards with vellum overlays or transparent sections. This adhesive dries clear, so there’s no evidence of it on the finished project. It can be used with regular paper as well, but because it tends to be a bit more expensive, it is usually reserved for items requiring flawless attachment.  This is considered a wet adhesive, but is does have some flexibility until it actually dries.  It provides a light even coverage, but should be used in well-ventilated areas. Another wet adhesive would be rubber cement which is available in an acid-free version, but I would not recommend using it on your layouts. Wet adhesives come in handy for adhering small items or anything that requires precision, because you control the amount you need, and they dry clear.

Glue Sticks/Pens-  AAAhhhh  the infamous glue stick.  This particular adhesive always gets mixed reviews. They are very economical, and they do the job, however anyone who has used them has to admit that after a period of time, the objects end up lifting off of the pages, or the page itself becomes wrinkled. Aside from that, they end up being messy even in the most experienced hands.  In terms of scrapbooking, they are probably better reserved for children, or projects that are not intended to withstand the test of time.   The Pens do come in handy for adhering beads, fibers, and other tiny objects, so there is a place & time for these.

Sheets – adhesive sheets are great items for scrapbooking.  They can be used to create your own stickers, or they can be used as an alternative to sprays if you are trying to adhere a large surface. They are found in two different forms. The one that is intended for use in the common sticker maker machines is found on a roll.

Runners – Tape  runners are the most common form of adhesive associated with scrapbooking. In my opinion, they are the most appropriate even for regular projects, but they have the potential to be wasted in the wrong hands. These are definitely not for use by children without supervision. They are fun to use, and very easy to manage, but once again, are easy to waste.  When applied, it can either appear clear, or some have tiny double sided adhesive white strips or blue dots on the tape.  They are usually refillable, but they are not cheap. Runners can be used without fear of wrinkled paper, or having items fall off the page down the road.

Hermafix - This type of runner  is repositionable for several hours before becoming a permanent bond. It’s the top of the line in terms of runners because of it’s flexibility in use. It’s great for scrappers who like to leave their projects out, and return after finding new inspiration.

Take Home Lesson For Today: there is a great range in products on the market, Choose based not only on budget, but also intended use. Consider position able, or permanent, how heavy is the  item being attached, is the object an original, and how long is the project intended to last.  Make sure the adhesive clearly states photo-safe or acid-free on the label.

TLC offers poppin foam squares, 3L disposable EZ runner dispenser, Hermafix refillable preloaded temporary adhesive, & Scotch brand Vellum tape.

Until the next time,

Wishing you cherished moments

Scrapbook Artistry -Your Independent TLC Consultant   

As I was browsing through a store recently I noticed someone carefully and thoughtfully considering what kind of photo album she was going to purchase. She opened each one, turned it over, and with conviction stepped away from the rack with her album in tow.  I wondered how many of us give such consideration to the album we use for our scrapbooks!   This post will discuss the four common album types used in scrapbooking, and the pros/cons of each.. They are: post bound, spiral bound, three ring, and strap hinge.

1)   Post Bound albums are my favorite. These albums generally come with top          loading sheet protectors covering cardstock pages. They are termed post bound because there are threaded studs/ bolts that pass through the margins of the pages into the binding of the covers. These albums are especially nice because they allow the option of adding to your projects. You can change the order of layouts, or remove layouts completely with a small amount of effort. Because it is post bound, you can also make it expandable by using extension posts that screw into the primary posts. This increases the amount of pages that can fit between the covers. These albums grow with you because you can continue to add to the album over time.  Another great feature about post bound albums is the fact that two page layouts are displayed very attractively because there is no gap at the binding; and the pages lay virtually flat when fully opened. It allows for a seamless spread.

2)      Spiral Bound albums are albums with bindings that resemble the wire bound notebooks use by students. These types of albums are not for the faint of heart. The pages are in a fixed order, and depending on the construction of the wire, they may jam when trying to open and close them. They may be more difficult for a beginner to use, because they don’t allow for a great deal of error in the placement of pictures, or the order of layouts. They also do not allow the use of pop-up because of the style of construction. I have used these albums before in the 6x 8 size, and they make very attractive and practical gift albums; because there is usually no intent to add to the “finished” project. These albums do not come with page protectors, but the finer quality albums of this type will come with acid free interleaving pages.

3)      Three Ring Albums are a practical no bells or whistles type of scrapbooking album. They may or may not come with top loading page protectors, and they look like typical three ring binders found in stationary stores. The real difference however is that they have D shaped rings instead of circular rings. The D rings allow the pages to lay flat. These albums are non-conforming, so any undue pressure or misuse may cause the rings to be misaligned. In reference to storage, they take up much more shelf space. On the other hand, they are really easy to update, & switch pages; and they are the easiest to use.  The capacity of these albums is dictated by the size of the ring, so once it is full, you cannot add to it. You also cannot accomplish a seamless two page layout because it creates a large space between adjacent pages when opened flat. Some may have padded or brushed leather covers, textured surfaces, & sewn edges but they typically have a more classic appearance. 

4)      Strap Bound albums are the most complex. These albums have thicker pages with metal staples/loops constructed into them, and a flexible plastic strap attached to the cover. These straps are actually threaded through each page, so it makes it a bit tedious to rearrange pages; but this feature makes them an expandable album. The drawback is that you would have to remove all the pages to replace or rearrange one page. Depending on the construction, you may have to purchase special page protectors for these albums. They are another nice option, because they also lay flat.

Lesson for today: before purchasing a scrapbook album, keep in mind the purpose of its use, your level of expertise, whether you will you want to add to the project, how it will be stored, and do you plan to use two page layouts.  In terms of cost, I think it would be fair to say you can expect to pay $30 or more for a nice 12 x 12 Scrapbook safe album. There is no right or wrong in choosing album types. Preference dictates, just be sure it is scrapbook safe.  TLC now has a limited edition line of colorful post bound 12 x 12 albums with textured covers and sheet protectors.  We also have our new & innovative pocket purse albums ,our pocketbookz accordion style albums, and our fun minibookz albums & kits. 

Until the next time,

Make a happy memory

Scrapbook Artistry – your TLC consultant

Okay, you heard it here first!!!   before you do anything else, bookmark us and join our mailing list so I can keep you posted of the other exciting product releases.  It's simply awesome.  Did I mention that you should bookmark us?  In case you forget, i'll remind you later in the post

Life Timez  is the name of our new software package that allows you to combine digital photography, video, graphics, scanned ephemera, photo effects, music, and narration to create dvd/cd multimedia productions, OR print them using our exclusive TLC backgrounds, papers, embellishments and more. You can easily create stunning layouts and then print them, process them or burn them to an interactive CD!  This is by far the best scrapbooking software you will find. It incorporates all the best elements of conventional scrapbooking with the innovation of digital scrapbooking, and it's simply a must have. You get a whopping 124 PAGE LAYOUTS -- in 14 coordinating album themes,  well over 900 EMBELLISHMENTS, and more than 200 BACKGROUNDS, including numerous papers, textures, colors and overlays.  Click to insert your digital photos -- it's just that easy!

Join our mailing list  OR

bookmark us & join as a new customer to order your copy! It's available by download too.

 Oh, by the way, Bookmark us

The software is priced at $99.95, but of course if you're join as a consultant you wil lbe able to purchase it at wholesale for yourself and anyone else you would like to give it to. 

Anyone who purchases it via my website either by download or regular purchase, will qualify for  a surprise bonus!

Until the next time,

Happy Moments!

Scrapbook Artistry -YOUR independent TLC Consultant   

The internet is an amazing thing. Whenever I travel, I take my computer along, and no matter how many times it happens it still amazes me that I can keep in touch with friends, family, and customers all over the world.  This post greets you from the beautiful Pacific Rim, and yes it is absolutely breathtaking..

I am an avid reader, and an enthusiastic learner, so I’m always on a quest to acquire some kind of new knowledge on a daily basis. I've researched all kinds of fascinating facts about Scrapbooking, and genealogy, and have decided to make this post a “did you  know post”. If you have anything you would like to add to this, please post it!

The History Of  Scrapbooking:

1)      In the 15^th century, Scrapbooks were actually called common place books.  They initially were books that housed people’s medical information; then later included recipes, drawings, diary entries, newspaper articles and other information that people wanted to share in a “common place”. Scrapbooks were also called savings books.

2)      In 1706, philosopher John Locke published what could possibly be referred to as the first scrapbooking reference book. It was called The New Method of Making Common-place Books. What was interesting to me about this fact is that it was a man publishing a manual on the proper techniques for what would later be called scrapbook journaling!

3)      63 years later Granger books were developed. The original Granger book was actually a history of England in which the author William Granger added an appendix of his own illustrations for the text.  This was a novel concept, and started a trend of its own known as “extra illustrating books”. The actual process of creating new editions of books with updated ephemera became known as “Grangerizing”

4)      By the early 1800’s people had begun to create albums with embossed covers and intricate closures, at this point women began to incorporate memorabilia of all kinds into these albums. One interesting note was the concept of Friendship albums. These were essentially early scrapbooks that women created, and the pages were dedicated to friends. Each page would include a clipping of the friend’s hair that was interwoven with ribbon and flowers, and placed alongside poetry or other memorabilia about the friend.

5)      In 1825 the term Scrapbook was officially defined in a publication called “The Scrapbook’, and by 1826, the craft was very popular. With the advent of photography approaching the mid 1800’s, scrapbooking continued to evolve.  By 1872 famous author Mark Twain had developed and marketed scrapbooks with self-adhesive pages interspersed with non-adhesive pages, and they were sold in Montgomery Ward’s department stores. It was reported that by 1885, he had already made $50,000 in sales from these books! Think about this…even back then, the scrapbooking industry was a booming industry!

6)      Alex Haleys’s “Roots” – a Pulitzer prize winning novel whose story starts from Juffure,  West Africa in 1750, tells the story of slavery in America, and ends in the same village in Gambia several generations later. This novel really renewed people’s interest in their heritage and  the television mini-series attracted over 130 million viewers during its week long broadcast in 1977.  The book itself sold over 1 million copies in its first year. Genealogy research and the concept of lineage and historical preservation became an international household obsession.

7)      The Church of latter Day Saints has also apparently been heavily credited with the awareness of the art of scrapbooking. As part of the church’s requirements, their followers are to document and preserve their family’s history. This requirement undoubtedly attests to the reason why the LDS organization has the world’s largest library of genealogical records and attracts over 1900 visitors per day! According to their records, their International Genealogical Index database has approximately 600 million names of deceased individuals and an addendum with an additional 125 million names; that were acquired from thousands of original birth certificates, christening certificates, and marriage certificates.

But I digress    It is alleged that scrapbooking was well received in the LDS community, and in 1980 at the World Conference Of Records, The Christensen family unveiled 50 volumes of  their family’s history in decorated albums, and apparently the display took everyone’s breath away.

    By 1981 (one year later) the Christensen family opened the very first scrapbooking store in Utah, and wrote the first scrapbooking book called “keeping Memories Alive”

Take Home Lesson For Today:

Scrapbooking still continues to evolve, and the latest technological advances in film, computers, papers etc. allow scrapbookers to combine graphic arts, photography, fine arts techniques, and writing into a truly remarkable and unique art form. All kinds of debates become a part of its evolution. As we strive for speed and efficiency  in our modern world, some have moved towards digital methods as a primary means of scrapbooking. Others have found a fantastic way to combine both digital and conventional methods to create absolute works of art. Much of this is preference, and the fact that we are being creative gives all of us the license to do as much or as little as we choose with our scrapbook pages.  Scrapbooking  is not gender limited, and neither is it age limited. It is a way to document who you are so that people you may never meet will know what made your life story unique.  It is a way to honour your ancestors, and celebrate what will ultimately become your own legacy.   

As your TLC consultant, we are happy to be a part of this ever changing industry, TLC continues to be innovative in the design of its products, and with each new line of products launched; it opens more doors to creative processes.  If you’re new to the art of Scrapbooking, or would like to learn how to scrapbook contact us today to join our Artist’s Choice Autoship Scrapbooking Club

Until the next time,

Have a memorable day 

Scrapbook Artistry

Okay, so we have a blog. now what?   How on earth are you suppose to come up with stuff to say every single day   Well , we're not going to become obsessive with our fun little project; so we've decided to keep things light and fun.  This won't necessarily be a daily thing, but it will be delightfully occasional. 

I've decided that our blog will be part ramble, with maybe an odd rant from time to time ; and part learning. On some days I may be a bit ambitious and attempt all of the above, but don't hold it against me .

If you're new to the art of scrapbooking there's so much that one could absorb about the whole theory of the craft. When I started scrapbooking about ten years ago, It wasn't half the craze that it is now, and certainly not as high tech! 

My earlier projects were constructed from everyday, run of the mill art supplies, leftover fragments of ephemera ( a fancy word for ticket stubs and other stuff you find at the bottom of your purse or briefcase); and just creative cut and paste. The products on the market now have revolutionized the industry. Scrapbooks these days are truly masterpieces of graphic design, and interwoven fine arts techinques.  Not only can you purchase color coordinated themed packs, you can create very ornate journaling using downloaded computer fonts, or predesigned letters/sentiments etc.  It has made scrapbooking a craft to contend with, and the hobby has been reinvented!

With all of these products on the market, it's probably a good idea to familiarize yourself with a very basic concept...that of archival quality/or scrapbook safe products.  Here's a brief breakdown of the concept of what  really determines how protected your  beautiful projects are.

Acid free: if you've ever had a chemistry class, then you would remember that a ph of below 7 indicates acidity, whereas 7 or above is considered alkaline.  When papers are chosen for scrapbooking the acidity is important. If a paper contains acid or is exposed to acid from other elements used on your pages, the paper will become brittle and deteriorate. This can also damage the photos on your pages. In its most complicated form, this term can be analyzed for every single type of paper from vellum to chipboard. The most important point is to look for some designation of acid -free on the packaging. If photo safety is not a concern for you, then enjoy yourself and ignore the rest of this post. If however it is important, consider this: choose paper that has either been neutralized or buffered in the production process to prevent the effects of the acid.

Lignin free: the term lignin free automatically infers that the paper is wood based, and therefore has been processed chemically to break down the cellulose bonds that give the wood its strength. Paper that is not lignin free is at risk of yellowing, browning, and fading! Lignin by the way is a component of plants, and acts as a type of organic glue/sap.  When it is exposed to light it produces phenol as well as acid.

The take home lesson for today is:  look for products that are marked "scrapbook safe", "photo safe", "acid-free", or "Lignin-free".  Be cautious if something only states "archival safe", because this only really applies to how colorfast the product is, and not necessarily its acid/lignin content.

TLC's products are not only archival quality,they are scrapbook safe as well, so all bases are covered. 

Until the next time,

Happy Scrapping!

We hope you enjoy our Web Journal! For quite some time we've been wondering what exactly is all the craze about blogs?  To be honest we still don't really know, but decided to give it a try anyway. Consider this an exercise is progress

We've done the standard preliminaries of listing likes and dislikes under our profile, and just to keep things clean, we've put all the expected things first. There's so much more we could add, but we weren't sure they would qualify.  On top of that list would be cauliflower in the disllikes category, and fabric softener in the likes category   The point is, we're really easy, simple people, and this blog is more about giving our customers and visitors insight into the things that interest us; as well as update everyone on all the exciting things going on with our business.

Feel free to stop by, and leave a comment from time to time.  be sure to remember the dislikes when you post  

Once again welcome. We're a bit lost in cyber space, but hopefully not forever   Have a beautiful day.