Snippets By Mendi: August 2016

Hi there! It's my turn on the Doodlebug blog today and I'm sharing a set of fun crafty ideas perfect for helping keep your kids entertained in these last few days of summer!

Doodlebug Design Inc. Back To School Crafts Ideas For Kids by Mendi Yoshikawa

I don't know about you, but I'm addicted to stocking up on inexpensive school supplies at this time of year. Unfortunately my kids are never too thrilled with the traditional composition notebooks and other plain looking supplies that go for the best prices so this year I thought it would be fun to have them pull out some of our favorite Doodlebug supplies to dress them up to suit their style!

For mine here I used papers from Doodlebug's adorable Back To School collection to cover them along with some alphabet stickers for a personalized touch. To apply the paper to the notebook, I used Ranger's Multi Matte Medium (the larger version that comes in a jar) and a 1" wide paint brush. I applied the medium onto the backs of my papers and then brushed the medium over the entire surface of the notebook to seal the papers and make the notebooks more durable.

Up next is a quick and easy set of personalized bookmarks. I created these by adhering two strips of patterned paper together (back to back for extra sturdiness). I then trimmed them down to 1.5" x 6" and rounded the corners with a corner rounder. For the papers with a busier print I kept them simple and just tied three strands of baker's twine to the top. For the tone-on-tone prints, I used alphabet stickers and other coordinating stickers from the collection to personalize them.

For my last kid friendly project, I turned to my favorite Doodlebug washi tapes to personalize some basic pens. Their smooth texture and plain white/clear background make them the perfect surface to work with. Also, since they don't require sharpening, you don't have to worry about clogging a pencil sharpener with sticky tapes. ;)

The next time you're kids come to you saying they're so "bored" I hope you will pull out some of your favorite supplies to keep them busy. Simple projects like these just might manage to keep them entertained for an entire afternoon. ;)

Interested in the products I used to create my projects today? To make supplies easier for you to find, I have listed them below (affiliate links included).

Supplies Used (available at Scrapbook.com)

Hi there! I'm so excited to finally be sharing my scrapbook page on the Doodlebug Blog today showcasing one of my favorite Doodlebug colors: Bubblegum! Who am I kidding though? They're all my favorites! :)

Doodlebug Design Inc. Bubblegum Pink 9th Birthday Scrapbook Layout by Mendi Yoshikawa

For this project we were challenged to not only create a monochromatic project, but to take inspiration from another Doodlebug project and make it our own. I decided to create three groupings of embellishments made famous here by the talented Melinda Spinks (seen here, here and here).

I love how these groupings dressed up my page and allowed me to use up some extra embellishments in my stash, but still kept my page looking clean and simple.

To give my circles a little more shape and hide any gaps in my circle, I punched holes using a paper piercer and some circle dies as templates and then hand-stitched around them with some white embroidery floss.

In keeping with the clean look, I added a simple journaling strip which I created using a text box in Microsoft Word with a white font on a black background. I then used the same circle die to trace the edge of the circle onto the journaling strip with a pencil and fussy cut the edges off with my scissors to fit it around the curves of my circle.