Happy layers on a scrapbook page

The school year has started out. We're not too busy with writing yet, though it's coming soon. Mostly we've been enjoying the start of Dominic's last year in middle school and the start of Rowan's first year in high school. Here's a page I made recently about the two of them and a stint in Dinner Theater:

They'd seen the show for several years and dreamed of being in it, so I want to remember each year they do it. Since it's so dark at the show, I only included one shot of the finale number, which was well lit; the one of the boys I took after.

To lighten the photos, I picked a light background paper and happy-colored Project Life cards to layer over it. They weren't enough, so I added a couple strips of scrap paper. I put the photos on top, then embellished.

Before I stuck everything down, I added some mist for some texture. Here's some details:

I don't have a lot of the Illustrated Faith line, but I was happy to use it on this page.

Some old and beloved Basic Grey layered flowers worked well for contrast on this layout.

After I was finished, I realized how symbolic, albeit inadvertently, the background paper with crosses was. My son the stickler, however, said, "They're pluses not crosses ,Mom." He obviously won't be the English teacher. Sigh.

Thank you for coming today! I hope this gave you ideas about adding colors and layers to capture the feeling on the page, even when the photos aren't stellar.

Finishing details: sewing on a layout

Since my sons have gotten interested in RPG, I've wanted to scrap about their interest, particularly my youngest, who is particularly obsessed. I took some photos and put them together on this page:

I used some old travel paper from Basic Grey, plus a few other random ephemera from the travel bucket of supplies, but it still looked unfinished. That's when I decided to add some sewing. Here's the final page:

Hard to see, but I added some machine stitching, on the top, left, and right, plus on the letter stickers. Here's some details:

I often like stitching down border edges and letter stickers. I've also started stitching down photos as well, on both sides of the page for balance.

A funny story about that cluster of embellishments:I lost the bottom photo while I was scrapbooking. I eventually found it in the bucket of vacation patterned paper, but until then, I stuck down the top photo and put down some cork arrows, figuring I could lift them up and slide the lost photo under it. The reality, though? Cork doesn't unstick well. It actually crumbles. So I had to try to remove crumbles of cork, then figure out how to cover it up. I used a border sticker, some other cork, and a few embellishing stickers. Plus stitching, of course.

That's my page, without stitching and with! It is hard to see but I like the texture it adds. Do you sew on your pages?
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February pages for Scrapbook Circle: Only You

Hello! I have enjoyed working with Scrapbook Circle's February kit Only You. In a perfect example of serendipity, my kit arrived the day I left for my January scrap retreat. Hooray! My first pages there were from this kit, then I finished them when I got home. Here they are:

One of the things I loved about this kit was how coordinated the papers were, not just for Valentine's Day, but for pure happiness in general. I used a sunburst template to cut my favorite papers and then sew them down on this joyous page about my boys and why they love each other.

The acrylic words in the main kit worked well for a title. I misted the background so they would stand out more.

The kit also came with some sequins. I used most on another page, but I dropped many that I kept finding all weekend. Every time I did, I glued them on this page, LOL! I also punched circles from scraps to add to the confetti joy.

Though there were many joyous papers, two fit together in a different way, so I used them on the following page about my sons' love of tinkering and their subscription to Tinker Crate:

I used a lot of embellishments from the add-on I got, Date Night. I liked how versatile they were.

The next page I made with what I had left over when I got home, another page about my boys. I like doing pages with numbers, so I used the numbers from the main kit to guide my journaling their story by numbers:

My eldest came up with the title. Thank you, Rowan.

Next a love and smooches page about my husband using photos from a trip to one of his favorite restaurants, the Happy Gnome.

This was the page I used the rest of the sequins on, making a shaker bag for decoration, using a clear bag that held another embellishment in the kit. More of the add-on appears on this page:

Finally, a page that took me a while to get to look exactly how I wanted it to look. We visited the Science Museum in Boston last summer and went to the Pixar exhibit there. I took my favorite posed photos from it and put it on the page:

I initially wanted to used square photos, then cut them into smaller circles, which worked better. I again picked my favorite papers to accompany the photos on the grid.

Until I added this gold frame, the grid was a little dull. Breaking the grid created more interest.

Thank you for visiting! I hope you go to visit Scrapbook Circle and check out the kit Only You and its add-ons, especially Date Night. I used up almost every bit and am left with only bits of yummy embellishments I can continue to use on other projects.

My favorite scrapbooking pages of 2015

I don't think I did a reap of my favorite pages from last year. Although I was less prolific last year, I still enjoyed the process. Here's some of my favorite pages, in no particular order:

This was a recent page for Scrapbook Circle that I finished right at the end of 2015. I love the photo of my boys and used it as a base of a page that described their relationship using different nouns. #EnglishTeacher

Another recent page for Simple Scrapper, this time celebrating my garden. I love taking a one-page sketch and stretching it to two.

Perhaps my favorite page of the year using a heritage photo of me in Germany when I was in college. I reminisce on the song that is the title using a sketch and story starter for Simple Scrapper. Note: travel lines are my favorite themed paper, so I jump at the chance to use them on a page.

This page by Simple Scrapper I played around with circles from the sketch, this time with hand stitching, which I generally did less of this year. Note: More travel paper!

My son at the Bakken museum. I made serious use of stash on this page, starting with an older piece of bella Blvd that made a nice base for the technical page.

Both this and the last were Simple Scrapper pages. I loved that the sketch had diamond shapes, so I was able to use these shape stickers. Lots of machine stitching on this page, which I did do a lot of this year. I need to get my machine tuned up again, and it might be time to get a new one after 20+ years. Parts are falling off.

This page for Scrapbook Circle did something I fell in love with this year: taking inspiration for the page from a product. In this case I was inspired by the grid background paper to journal and embellish as I did.

More travel paper! I used it on a recent "travel" to Minneapolis to one of our favorite restaurants, The Freehouse. Note: this design is typical for me--same size photos in a line--but the huge tags and journaling on the bottom breaks it up and makes it look different.

Another page where I took inspiration from the background paper. I did a lot of big picture scrapbooking. This might have been my favorite because it might have been my favorite shot. Love white space.

Grids are good. Here I put all the shots in a grid, but one didn't fit, so I used it to embellish the title.

Finally, I (finally) got around to documenting my week in the life from the previous year. This might have been one of the only non-design team pages I made, which is a scrapbooking goal I have for the upcoming year: more pages using stash for a little randomness.

So what do I notice from my pages this year? A recap:

1. Color
2. Shape
3. Layers of embellishments
4. Pivotal stitching as a design element
5.  Big titles
6. Journaling strips
7. Designing from product

Thank you for visiting today! And thank you for letting me share some of my favorite pages. I've started some scrapbooking on my own this week, so I will be sharing as I complete more over the next month.

A colorful new year at Scrapbook Circle

This winter has been pretty warm, but we recently experienced some intense cold and snow here in Minnesota. As a result, I love working with bright colors in the winter. The Scrapbook Circle January kit Fresh Start gives me that opportunity. Here's my first page:

I used a lot of the add-on Shine Bright with this page; indeed, I love to use the 6x6 papers as layers for a photo mat. The big number in the add-on inspired my title. Lots of fun embellishments in this add-on too, including the Fancy Pants die cuts and meta badges. Here's some details:

Then a page that celebrates our favorite movie series, Star Wars:

Like the last page I used the add-on Shine Bright for the die cuts and badges. I also used the add-on New Day for the title--the big gold letters were so forceful, they were perfect for the page. The sequin embellishments in the add-on also show up in this page: I removed the adhesive backing and disassembled one to use the sequins sprinkled across the page.

The die cut font in the title is Bebas Neue, which is a good one to cut tiny.

Next is a page that came about serendipitously. I had taken the photo on the left last year, my son's last in elementary school. His first with a school iPad, he was highly distracted and did not perform as well as he could have. The photo on the right I took this year at conference night. He's been performing much better and has been excited about school, so I put the photos together to reflect on his transition in a year. I just happened to see the two photos together, which gave me the idea for the page.

(This may be the time to mention how hard it is to photograph these letters without capturing myself reflected in them!)

I punched the Maggie Holmes Crate Paper Sine Carefree, then sewed them in a frame around the two photos. I liked the whimsy and spirit. This time I used the sequin embellishments in the add-on New Day as is to frame his photos as well.

Finally, my favorite page this month, which I made as a Christmas present for my parents:

This is a favorite photo of the boys from last summer. I used the Crate Paper Maggie Holmes Shine paper called Sweet as the backdrop, then layered the Studio Calico Seven paper and washi on top as a base for the photo The wood and cork from the main and the badges and die cuts from both add-ons surround the photo with happy sentiments.

Not much journaling on the page, just a list of nouns that identify who they are: 2 brothers, 2 builders, 2 black belts, and so on. I used epoxy dots from the main to separate the list.

I always struggle to adhere vellum. These big numbers are dark enough so that using regular dot adhesive works OK, but here I sewed it down  v   e   r   y      s   l   o   w   l   y, turning the page to mimic the number's shape. It mostly worked.

Thank you for visiting today! I hope these pages show you how fun this kit and the add-ons are. Please visit Scrapbook Circle to check out this truly inspiring kit.