Scrapbooking across two pages

Hello! I've been putting together some two-page layouts with lots of photos. I thought I'd share some of them.

First, here's a page about my father-in-law's funeral two-years ago:

Here I did what I typically do when I have a lot of photos: I print them in standard sizes, in this case, 3x4. It made the most sense to line them up across the page, so I did. That left two spots for the journaling. For embellishments, I took inspiration from the flowers next to the flag and I used my Stampin' Up! punches with scraps to make the flowers.

Next is a page about a camping trip last year:

When I scrapbook a trip where I took some good vista shots, I print one big with the idea I'll use that on one page, then fill the other with smaller shots. I did that here, but you can see the photos don't fill the space in an even grid. I struggled with that for a while and thought about reprinting the photos as squares to make an even grid, but the orientation of the photos just didn't work. Taking a shot of the whole family manes I have to print it horizontally! Instead, I added a line of embellishments in between. I'm happy with the result. Most of the camping supplies come from my Camping Iris container, and most were Simple Stories, though the lovely coral paper was Pebbles.

Finally, here's a page I did for March Simple Scrapper:

This is one of my favorite sketches from Simple Scrapper: a triangular grid of Project Life cards. However, I'd printed my photos as wallets, smaller than PL! So I trimmed the PL cards to match the wallets. The background paper is one I love from Lawn Fawn. I have bought so much of it. It makes me happy.

Thank you for visiting! I hope this gave you ideas about incorporating multiple photos on two-page layouts.

Back again! Pages from October scrap retreat

Hello! Once again I went to a scrap retreat and scrapped a bunch of pages. Once again I was overwhelmed by life and haven'tposted them. Sigh. I'll get it together. Here are some pages about me:

I don't like scrapbooking Mother's Day as a stand-alone page, but I do like scrapping it as an event. Here we are playing the card game Marrying Mr. Darcy. I used an old Studio Calico kit for this.

I told one of my boys' favorite family stories, about the time my hair caught fire while camping. I used some October afternoon, American Crafts, and Pebbles camping products.

This page I love. For the past two months our family has been clearing out the entire living space for our family to put in hardwood floors. (And then we put it back, which has basically been the last two months for me. No scrapbooking for me!) I found a few preschool love notes from the boys, so I put them together on this page with a recent photo. I used a KI Memories envelope on the back for the projects and included some of their bon mots in the journaling.

A page I started then stopped because I wasn't sure what to say. I decided to focus on what made it typical and to take some gusses.

Finally, a page about my husband and me and some of our dates in the past year. I like compilation pages like this. Mostly Ali Edwards on this page.

And Those are some pages about me! I'll be back to share some family pages, then a page that shares something tough from the last two months.

Scrapbooking the art of film

Hello! The month of February came and went pretty fast. I did a lot of scrapbooking, so I wanted to start sharing what I did.

This next layout I wanted to share since its inspiration, Guillermo del Toro won the Oscar last night. We've seen some of his films, and last year an exhibit of his personal art and inspiration went on exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. The boys and I got tickets and went, and it was worth every penny. Here's the page:

The walls in the exhibit were bright, bloody red, and the ceiling was black, so I chose that for my page. I dug into my Halloween stash for nondescript creepy and somewhat amusing products--since so much of his work is comic inspired, the whimsical items seemed appropriate.

A lot of the things in the exhibit were things you did not want to turn your back on. For example, those eyeballs in the entrance gateway blinked. The boys didn't want to stand in front of them because they could hear them closing and opening. The H.P. Lovecraft statue looked real, which was really unsettling too.

Another uncomfortable turning-our-backs moment: that hologram in the lower right. Yikes.

Here's some close-ups of the embellishment clusters in particular:

Those flair buttons my husband got me when he traveled to London and visited the Globe theater; they mostly reference the Scottish play, which starts with witches, so I loved using them on this page.

This photo might be my favorite. I'm glad I captured the boys underneath the arm of the Pale Man. It just looks cool.

I used a lot of Pebbles (the chalk speech bubble), October Afternoon (labels and brads), 7Gypsies (vintage stickers), and Bella Blvd (most words and cute images).

To create the design, I added the strips on the bottom, then created the photo collage on the right. I had many fewer photos on the left, so I arranged them the best way I could, leaving space for title and journaling.

And that is my creepy page of creepy photos from a fun time at the art museum. And congratulations to Guillermo del Toro for his Oscars win!

Two-page layouts: Products, memorabilia, and a grid

For the past month, I have scrapped several two-page layouts. I shared one the other day. Today I wanted to share the next page I made.

Like the last layout, I started with autumn die cuts I had pulled as I sorted and color-coded my die cuts. This time All of my photos but one were the same size, so I picked a couple pieces of patterned paper from my scraps as background and set the photos up as a grid. Here it is:

This commemorates a trip to a local orchard with a cider house. While we were there, we enjoyed the sights and tastes, but the boys particularly loved the scavenger hunt for the gnomes all around the barn. Each gnomes had a shaped punch (scrapbooking tools--hooray!) that they used on their game card, and the completed card earned them free apples. Nice! I made sure to put the cards on the page.

Here's a closer look:

To enclose the memorabilia, I adhered the die cut with dimensional stickers to tuck the cards behind.

About the gnomes: they came from Pebbles die cuts, I believe. When I saw them, I set them aside to use on this page. The apples I cut from Bella BLVD and adhered with dimensional stickers. Lots of die cuts from Elle's Studio too.

Thank you for visiting! I hope this gives you some inspiration in scrapping an event photo layout. Back soon with another two-page layout!

Two-page layouts: starting by sorting

Hello! I have spent the last month with several tasks. Professionally, I read many student arguments, commented on them, and conferenced with the students. I also have a student teacher, who is doing fine work. Personally, I visited my home to see my dad, who is in rehab after a stroke two months ago. While there (and stuck in Detroit because of our mammoth snow in Minnesota on my way home!) I read a few books: Arcadia, The Art Forger, and Underground Airlines (I'm in the middle of four more: Rabbit, The Snow Child, V is for Vengeance, and The Ladies' Room). I also scrapped, more slowly than I wished. Here I'd like to share a bit of what I did.

First: I scrapped autumn photos, most of which were two-page layout amounts. I liked scrapping these warm photos in this bitterly cold month! To prepare, I sorted my die cuts into a hanging file holder by color. When I saw dies that were autumn themed, I put them aside to use on these autumn spreads. Here's the first one I made:

The autumn dies I put aside to use were the Elle's Studio journaling tag, the Pebbles circle and hearts, and the words. My son picked out the background paper, which was nice. I think he did a good job of selecting paper for this walk in the arboretum. Here's some closer looks:

I picked the Voluptate font for the title because it matched the die cut words so well. Looking back, I wished I'd adhered the FAMILY a bit lower, but it's fine as it is.

And that's my first of three two-page layouts! All of them started by my sorting and putting aside die cuts that were autumn themed. Later this week I'll share the rest of the pages, plus some news about an exciting restart in the crafting world!

Vacation album: pocket pages

A few days ago I wrote about a vacation from 2011 that I FINALLY scrapbooked and put in an album. That was the typical way of doing it for me. The next album I had to make was a weeklong-trip to Itasca State Park in Minnesota, not as lengthy as our typical vacations. as a result, I decided to try something new and do a pocket album. This is REALLY new for me--I've never done a whole pocket album--and here is the result:

I started by selecting my products, mostly The Great Outdoors Project Life set of cards, plus digging into my Camping bucket of supplies. The I selected the album, a 6x8 Daily Flash Album by October Afternoon. I went through the different pocket protectors to see the options, then planned the pages according to how many photos I had of each event. If I took a lot of photos, I used a page protector with more space. Here's a sketch of my planning:

And here's the album:

Like most vacation albums I make, my first page is a title page and table of content. Unlike most albums I make, my title was a photo of the State Park sign, and I handwrote the journaling, including the contents.

This album I did a little different from my usual album: I didn't use the same products for the title each time. Since Project Life cards are rounded, I tended to round the corners of what backed them and some of the photos, but not always. If there were odd shaped pockets, I tended to fit them with patterned paper from the same line From Pebbles called Lakeside, my favorite camping line ever.

Hiking was the big story, so I did a 4-page layout.

One thing I learned about these small photos: you need to pick something with a noticeable subject for them. I think I did this for the most part, but the prints turned out a little dark, so some shots are a bit harder to see than I would prefer.

One thing I learned: Measure the pockets! Not all are the exact size they seem. For example, the big photo sleeves are a bit bigger than 6x8. I sized all photos  (excepting 4x6's) on standard-sized templates using Photoshop Elements. I just had to do bigger than 6x8 for the big ones. I put those on an 8x10 print.

I like using dimensional accents on my pages, but I couldn't do that too much in this album. My embellishments served purposes on some of the photos: this tree crest, for example, covers garbage cans, and the label cluster on the previous photo covers a lady's bottom. Here's the rest of the pages:

Some of the smaller pockets I filled with patterned paper. Others I trimmed up Project Life cards and rounded the corners.

Again, my typical final page on the back cover, using an envelope to store maps and other memorabilia. I added a sticker on dimensional just because.

Thank you for coming back to see my more recent vacation album! I still have two vacations left to scrap, but I feel much better about finishing what I have left. I hope I gave you ideas from this project!

5 Vacation Faves 2013

Every year I make a mini album of vacation immediately after coming home. I ask everyone in the family what their 5 vacation faves are, and that becomes the album. This year I started keeping last year's albums on the coffee table, so Dominic in particular couldn't wait to assemble his favorites list.

Here is this year's mini album:

I used Pebbles Lakeside collection for the bulk of the mini, plus some October Afternoon letter stickers in two collections (there are not enough 1s and 2s in just one collection) and a random 5 from my Thickers collection. The mini itself is a pocket album from Graphic 45. (It was pretty hard to tie the album shut--only one string, and one end was bound to the cover.) I unbound the album from the rings and removed one envelope page (I only needed 4 plus covers) then rebound it after I'd adhered all the patterned paper and used my fingertip exacto to cut out holes for the rings. I planned on putting the journaling in the pockets.

Each page contained a photo of each family member. I cut them into circles to make them fit in the album (plus, this year I forgot to have a photo taken of me solo, so I cut out the other people in my photo. May I be forgiven that.). I added some embellishments around the photo and one to the facing page.

 

  

Dominic's photo was tricky: I wanted to include the cup, which was actually a can we used as a cup while backpacking. To do so made the circle extend beyond the photo, so I trimmed a circle from the patterned paper and used it to complete the circle.

And the journaling I made on cardstock with my favorite Hero Arts journaling stamp; I backed it with a really cool piece of camping paper from Pebbles and made it into a tag by trimming two corners.

ETA: This journaling card belongs to one of my boys. I didn't swim in my underwear. :-)

Thank you for looking at my mini album! This is one of my favorite projects that I make, I think because I get everyone to provide the journaling so it's not just from my perspective. I encourage you to consider this kind of journaling, even if it's not for a mini, even if it's for a topic other than vacation.