Sunday, January 25, 2009

The Best Things in Life Tip Sheet!

Soem important tips and ideas for your "The Best things in Life" set:

Doing a close, careful trim will allow you to snuggle your phrases closely together on your block and stamp once to get them properly aligned and spaced evenly.
Many of the phrases allow room to do a careful cut with your scissors or hobby blade between the words to separate the stamps for more versatility in creating sentiments (such as "can make" and "come from"). The best way I've found to do this is to hold the stamp between my thumb and forefinger of my left, bend back which pulls the words away from each other making the gap in between larger so I can safely cut my images without worrying about cutting through them. If you are not comfortable cutting some of these, DON'T, I don't want you to ruin your image! Just use a marker to ink up the individual words when you need them. :)

Some fonts do not allow enough room to snip apart, see the binder sheet. I chose to leave "the best things in life" together for example, also italicized greetings like waiting for and your family I'm not going to try to cut (a couple can still be cut apart, like "on sale", I just forgot to do that one)

A grid line block works like a dream with these! I strongly recommend the round blocks that Gina K sells. This is lined up on the medium sized 3.5" block, so you can see this medium sized block can hold quite a few greetings. Below you can see one I did on the largest 4.25" round block, still enough room to place a coordinating image!

The best things sentiments are made to use together or separately and fit almost all the Nestabilities shapes. Use them as your focal point with some beautiful DP for a quick and elegant card or a photo for a scrapbook page, or pair them with some of your favorite Gina K images:

The best things in life
aren't things
are dreams:
Take Flight, all our floral/nature sets
caffeinated: My Cuppa Joe
priceless
friends:
Hand in Hand, Best Friends
memories: Kindred Spirits, Hand-in-Hand
shared: Thinking of You, Kindred Spirits, Hand-in-Hand
babies/your family: How Sweet it is, Kindred Spirits, Hand-in-Hand
shoes, purses, on sale, involve shopping, pink : Retro Boutique
birthdays: Sweetest Blessings, How Sweet it Is
covered in chocolate: Have a Cookie , Sweetest Blessings, How Sweet it Is
worth waiting for: King of the Grill (fishing rod or grill! LOL!), sets with babies
worth working for: hammer!
have fur : all the sets with furry animals! (we have a ton! from every illustrator!)
come in a tin/in small packages: What’s in Your Tin? Sets, Festive Labels
come from the heart/God: nature sets

but there are really too many list, words like “memories” could be as varied as “Just So Sporty” or “Christmas Blessings” for a scrapbook page, etc, have fun getting really creative here!

Tons of longer phrases you can make:
Ex: “the best things in life are memories that can make you laugh & cry” (great for scrapbooking, no need to journal on that page!: )
Or silly ones like:
The best things in life are pink shoes on sale!
And short phrases that DON'T always inlcude "the best things" stamp, like "friends are priceless" and “babies are worth waiting for”

You can also split the phrase up: “the best things in life…” and end the phrase inside the card.


"The best things" can be stamped at the end of the phrase to change it up: "shared memories are the best things in life!"

Vary the placement of the words and change up your layouts by snipping the individual words apart and placing them all over your card or page for a fun collage or ransom note style!


Have fun using the "dot dot dot" to build suspense and get the reader turning the page and exclamation point when you need some extra emphasis! or leave it off when you want a more subtle message :)

Or even single words on tags: almost all single words in the set will fit the Nestabilities Tag Dies.

Stamp a single word or phrases onto your photos in black or white ink.
Stamp the phrases you want from the set on vellum to create a stunning quote overlay for your photos.

Ink up in your phrases in mutliple colors with markers to emphasize certain words, or try highlighting a stamped word by scribbling over it with a color from your color scheme.
Pop up one word from the phrase to make it stand out.
Ink up "the best things" stamp with a marker, omitting the "s" in things to go with a singular word "PINK...the best thing in life!'

or omit "in life" occasionally just to change your greeting up!


Ink up just "best" to stamp with "friends" (or "friend")

Make a focal point out of a list of "your best things" from the set with "..." at the end, the inside will read "...the best things in life!


Fun projects beyond cards and scrapbook pages:

Create a calendar for your wall or desk with a different best thing each month.


Create an altered block with a sentiment and photo on each side, doubles as home decor!

Start you day off right with a simple magnetic poetry set for a tin or the fridge by stamping out all the individual words, you'll never run out of sentences! Decide whether to wake up to something inspirational like: "The best things in life come from God", or a reminder to drink your coffee with: "caffeinated things are best!" The family will love leaving silly phrases for each other like "babies have fur" or "shopping memories...priceless!"

Stamp up random pages in a blank book with the different phrases to create a dream or inspiration journal. Create matching bookmarks for friends customized with their best things

Look around for tins you have of ANY shape, not just the Altoids tins, to create "memories in a tin", "birthday in a tin", etc

Quickly create sweet gift wrap, tags, packaging, etc, from little boxes, bags and envelopes with the teaser: "the best things come in small packages!" (or PINK packages! LOL!)

I could go on and on, but want to save some surprises for the blog! I've already mentioned some projects which you will be seeing examples of here soon. Hope this at least get you started! Please spend some time looking at the set and come up with a sentence for me! I'll pick one person's comment and send that person a card! :)
Have a great day!

18 comments:

  1. I love your tips Melanie! Now this is yet another set I HAVE to get to use with the tee's and hoodie's!

    Thank you so much for these wonderful tips!

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  2. This new sheet really covers a lot of life!
    Here's my phrase and idea: Best friends covered in chocolate ...are worth the laugh!
    Using the Slumber Party set, you could also stamp chocolate cupcakes, and colour the little girls with chocolate on their faces.
    I'm sure this card would bring a smile to someone's face, as we have all "been there" with daughters and friends sleeping over. LOL
    Sharon

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  3. Great tips, Melanie! Chocolate is probably the one thing I have the hardest time resisting, so here's my sentence:

    Things worth waiting for aren't covered in chocolate!

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  4. Oh Melanie, you are so wonderful and creative! How do you come up with all these brilliant ideas? I ordered this set along with a couple of the other new sets and I can't wait to get them!

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  5. Love the ideas. You are always so full of inspiration. I imagine your mind is on constant over drive and I thought mine was busy ;o)

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  6. Great words in this set! You know I may be just one of the luckiest persons in the world or a rubber stamp is really hard to destroy. Having cut apart many stamps (rubber and polymer) I find that I never have even so much as nicked a rubber one when cutting it in a bit unusual ways. Ya just have to dare do it ;)

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  7. Oh I can't wait for my set to arrive- i guess I will have to play with my other sets while I wait. Printing the tips to add to my stamp case.

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  8. Awesome tips Melanie! I especially like the magnetic poetry in a tin (or fridge).

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  9. I would treasure a card from such a talented artist as you!!! The tips are awesome!!

    My card would read:

    Purses, shoes, chocolate, small packages, dreams & memories ... All waiting for you ON SALE!!

    Thanks for the great ideas!!

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  10. This set has endless possibilities. I have a commitment today, otherwise I would sit and create phrases. I just love games like this. I came up with one I want to share: "The best thing in life is..."(outside) and then "you!" (inside). I'm sure that most others will think of this one too! That's because it is a perfect sentiment;)

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  11. Too many possibilities and I'm on my way out the door, so will start with one.

    Priceless memories....involve friends, family and dreams worth waiting for.

    ps I love Sharon's phrase - best friends covered in chocolate...are worth the laugh!

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  12. The best dreams in life can make priceless memories...like everyone's comments...especially yours!
    Jan

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  13. Ohhhh so many awesome phrases and sentiments!! I LOVE the idea of journalling with them!!!! Can't wait to get this!!

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  14. Thanks for the tips for this wonderful new set. Can't wait to get mine. My sentence would be - The Best Things are shared... (inside) either With You or With Family & Friends. So many chocolate phrases come to mind too. Endless possibilities.

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  15. Where's the "with" I need with....

    Dreams worth waiting for are best shared (with) family and friends

    or to go cute for my dreas - Dreams worth waiting for are best shared with family and friends with chocolate!

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  16. How about this: take time for chocolate! That would make a wonderful girlfriend card!

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  17. Thank you for the tip sheet Melanie.I love that there are so many stamps in this set and so many different ways to use them.

    Mary

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  18. Melanie,
    Those tips are great. I am going to order these next month. Great ideas and I love how most fit on the nesties tags. just perfect!
    you are so incredible!

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