Saturday 5 May 2012

{Inter-}National Scrapbooking Day 2012

Welcome to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog Master Forgers' blog hop to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day - though as I'm in the UK that should really be "Inter-national" shouldn't it?!

I'm hoping you've travelled via Crystal to reach me, but if not you can catch up with the start of the hop right here.

We've put together some challenges to help you use your stash and I'm looking at my pile of half-used alphabets today.  In this house, half-used alphabets often stay that way, gathering dust and I end up cutting my titles with alphabet dies.  Why?  Because the title I have in mind contains the letter "e" ... or "s" ... or "o"  and those letters are among the first to get used up - no matter how many elextra vowsletter repeats there are, it is never enough!
What can be done about it?  Here are five ways to reduce that pile of half-used alphabets:
  1. Adapt
    It all depends on the alphabet of course but a number of letters can be made to look like others:
    Cut the tail off a "Q" to make "O", turn a "W" upside down to make "M", try a "p" or "q" on their heads for "d" or "b" (and vice versa) or try "Z" on its side for "N"!

    Cutting up stickers to make other letters - Jimjams

    How about cutting off the bottom of a "j" for "i", the top of a "g" for a "y" or snip the tail from a "p" to make a serviceable "a".  "R" can look like "P" with a bit of a trim, and "h" can become "n" or even "u"!  The letter "B" is easily transformed to make "E".
    Then of course there are the numbers that can do double duties: "3" could be turned into a curly "E" as can "8" and we all know that "0" is fine as "O". A flipped "6" or a "9"  might fill in for "g" or even "y" {see above}.  Take a look at your alphabets, I'm sure they are just as versatile as my examples.

  2. Mix Up
    Not enough lower case letters?  Or too many?  Mix them up and choose letters from different fonts to increase the variety.  If they are different colours you can always use paint, ink or pens to add some uniformity.

  3. Layout - Twisted Pineapple Carving - Jimjams
    Pineapple Carving
  4. Be Thrifty
    I have plenty of half-used chipboard and die-cut alphas and often use the outline of a letter that has been used elsewhere - ink or paint it to match the rest of your letters and everyone will be admiring your style rather than thinking that you are a cheapskate!

  5. Layout - Torre Alfina, Italy - Jimjams
    Inked Scenic Route Chipboard alphas
    Layout - Near & Dear - Jimjams
    Luxe Designs Classic Black die-cuts
    Layout detail - Wheely Well - Jimjams
    BG White Chocolate Chip alphas
  6. Cover Up
    Ever bought an alphabet because it was a bargain and then, in the cold light of day, been left wondering when you will ever find a use for letters which are lilac* or primrose* or pink*? {*replace with hated colour of your choice}
    I have!
    Nowadays I buy bare chipboard or white alphabets because I know how easy it is to colour them to suit.  For my older alphabets I find that black ink or paint covers up a multitude of awful colours.  Even those teeny tiny alphabets that are so great for sub-titles can be coloured: here I've transformed butter yellow into a pretty green with a little turquoise ink - just leave it to dry before using!

    Colour teeny tiny alphabets with ink - Jimjams
    This Little Piggy
  7. Feature
    OK, these ideas are all very well, but I still have sheets that are missing everything except an almost unusable combination of consonants with a few "u"s and "y"s, some punctuation and the odd digit! So why not use them as a background - just stick them to a tag, the back of a journalling card you'll never use or a scrap of cardstock.  Then paint them with emulsion, acrylic or gesso before adding some colour if required.  They'll make a great textural addition to a page!!

    Use alphas stickers on tags - Jimjams
    I even went one further with some giant letters from an old sheet of BG Color Me Silly monograms which I covered in tissue paper before inking up!

    Use up large alphas on a 12x12 sheet - Jimjams
My challenge to you is to use up some neglected alphabets in one of the ways I've listed or share one of your own!  You can join in by posting a link to today's CKCB blog hop post.

If you also leave me a comment before May 31st linking your take on my challenge to this post you'll be in the running for a small prize from me (a link back to my blog from yours will double your chances of winning), and, it being {Inter-}National Scrapbooking Day I'm happy to send out that prize anywhere in the world!

In the meantime, please carry on to Jen to see what {I-}NSD challenge is waiting for you there.

27 comments:

JulieJ said...

Hi Jemma - great reminder of some ways out for redundant letters. You're a bit early I think - the blog's not up yet at CFCB. I was hoping to see the kit as some inspiration for what to use for Ginger's mailart.

Mary B said...

wow Jemma some great ideas there and I love the tags think I'll definitely have a go at that.

Kirsty.A said...

I love these ideas. I've been trying to use up alphas this year too. I find using a mix of letters on my Smash book pages a lot less stress than doing the same on a 12x12 layout, so that was my main way of using them.

Anonymous said...

I love these ideas - you know I'm a bargain hunter too so I also have some weird colours in my stash - great ideas :)

Crystal said...

Awesome ideas lady!

Alison said...

Great ideas Jemma...I have a huge pile of alphas needing used up!
Alison xx

Lisa said...

thanks for the reminder to be a bit more creative in using my letters - I do the whole adapting one letter/number into another but your other ideas were great too! Let me see what I can do and I'll try to link up!

Melissa said...

Great ideas - I've adapted & mixed my alphas, but I definitely need to try creating some fun backgrounds with the bits & pieces I have left over on some sheets right now.

LCSmithSAVED said...

I've never done this on purpose! Only in desperation, lol. Can't wait to play with my copious stash of letters :~D

scrappyjacky said...

Thanks for some really useful ideas here....I have so many part used alphas.

Mary B said...

I've done a page and used up some rather bright yellow alpha I used them in two ways
you'll find them on my blog
http://craftycreation.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/i-have-been-joining-in-national-day-of.html

li-bee-ti said...

Great challenge and fab ideas! My problem with the alphas is doubled, since I write in Hebrew (and in English). I adapt alphas (English & Hebrew) very often, and sometimes color them with paint (especially the big chipboard alphas that I have).
Reading your post made me think of my rub-ons alphas. I'll try and make something creative with them...
Thanks for the inspiration.
Have a great scrappy weekend.

Sherri Everett Thompson said...

Absolutely amazing ideas here, Jemma! I have a ton of alphas, too, but very few E's! I seem to always be "vowel-less"! Great challenge-one wll have to think for a bit. :) Happy INSD!

MiliPea Designs said...

Wonderful ideas here! Thanks for sharing! And a great challenge, too, especially with Teacher Appreciation week coming here in the states! Gives me some great ideas.

Maria Ontiveros said...

Happy NSD! I've been working on my week in the life album today. Photos all cropped, matted and in - still needs journaling and a few embellishments.
Rinda

Missus Wookie said...

use the bottom of those 'j's with a 'c' to make an 'e'. Wookie considers such puzzles anagrams and comes up with 'helpful' suggestions for titles. Some of which I've actually used...

Jamie said...

Thank you for this great challenge! I posted my link on the CKCB blog

KindleLover said...

Here's a layout where I hand cut the missing letter from coordinating paper. http://www.studiocalico.com/galleries/60804-reflection-lake

KindleLover said...

Oops, I forgot to add the link to this one, where I used my old alphas to spell "our" and new ones to spell "Nanna" http://www.studiocalico.com/galleries/60807-our-nanna

KindleLover said...

Here's another one: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O9UngGfxa7A/T6dCL_ZX_SI/AAAAAAAAAv0/A-7cg2wshTY/s320/may+6+014.JPG
Mixed uppercase with lowercase, and two colors.

KindleLover said...

http://www.studiocalico.com/galleries/60827-photogenic-silly-girl
One more for today! I let the leftover letters decide the title.

Susanne said...

Oh what clever ideas you have here.

li-bee-ti said...

Here's my take on your challenge:
http://creationswithlove-li-bee-ti.blogspot.com/2012/05/mom-second-round-lo.html
I adapted some alphas for the missing ones. I guess you'll just have to believe me, cause it's in Hebrew... LOL
I hope you'll like it.

KindleLover said...

Thank you for such a great challenge! I used leftover alphas on 8 of my 11 layouts for NSD Weekend, over 36 challenges completed (some not uploaded in time, though, but I still completed 36 challenges!).

happysnapper said...

http://scraphappylove.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/new-leaf.html
done it
love your blog xx

Alison said...

Thanks for the challenge, Gemma - I made a layout using altered alphas here:-

http://alisondj.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/standing-tall.html

I particularly like your pages covered alphas then tissue paper! I will link to the CFKC Blog ...

happysnapper said...

http://scraphappylove.blogspot.com.au/
I did another :)