Working with themed products on a scrapbook page

Hello! We are DAYS away from getting replacement carpet, which means this weekend I will be able to access my crafting supplies again. Phew!

Since most everything was packed away, I've been limited to what's on hand, which is mostly scraps. Still, I hooked the Iris containers that hold my camping and travel supplies before they were packed. Here's one page with limited supplies that I made about a mountain biking trip my son made with his aunt:

I started with the background paper, which is so gorgeous I didn't want to cover it. (I know what the collection is! But I had to pack up the Iris containers when I was done, so there is no hope for figuring it out until I put everything back this weekend.) Instead, I pulled a 6x6 paper made and put some circles to mat the three photos (I cut the google maps photo into another circle!).

Everything else on this page came from the travel or camping Iris containers, except for the title, which was tucked away in my wood veneer collection and was perfect for the page.

I liked being limited by what I could use. It spurred my ideas. Not that I'm sad to get my good supplies back, but there is something to be said for only being able to use what you can reach.

Same scrapbook design, different looks

I scrapped a couple pages recently that I love but made me laugh. Here are the pages.

First, I scrapbooked my SIL coming out to craft and visit last January. It took me a long time to put the page together, but I started with the circular family history page, then picked a teal piece of cardstock then a strip of patterned paper to separate it. After that, it was easy to figure out how to tuck and layer the photos and embellish.

The scalloped chipboard I picked because they were lying around near me, and I though the color contrasted enough to look good. In the same drawer were the only remaining Prima flowers I had, and lo! They worked. I finished the page with leftover label stickers, buttons, and sequins.

(Design note: the embellishment cluster in the middle of the page exists because I accidentally dropped a photo with adhesive on it on top of the photo and had to cover the smudge. There are no accidents, just unplanned opportunities for additional creativity.)

Next is a page about an outing with a friend of mine:

(On a side note: I'm enjoying scrapbooking outings a lot right now. Scrapbooking allows me to travel!)

I had these photos, then picked the yellow paper to match the house and the woodgrain to match the brick. After I laid it out, I realized I'd basically made the same page! How is it different?

1. I only had three photos so laid it out sideways instead of vertically.
2. I used embellishments to frame the photos instead of setting them up in a visual triangle.
3. I added a Journaling tag instead of journaling across the page.
4. I used a less dramatic title.
5. I used more colors!

Still, the general layout of the pages is the same. Even though I didn't consciously strive to use the same design, the photos and papers led me there, but other decisions happened that made these pages unique.

Thank you for stopping by! Please use these pages as jumping off points for completing your scrapbooking layouts.

Two-page layouts for Simple Scrapper

The last time I posted, I shared some single pages, smaller ones. Today I'm sharing something that's maybe a little trickier but perhaps more satisfying for me, two-page layouts.

On the design team for Simple Scrapper, we seldom get two-page designs. Still, it's one of the members' most favorite inspirations, so I try to use two-page designs as much as I can.

This first was a glorious, two-page sketch. I didn't have to do much--I subbed the journaling blocks for photos and added an embellishment/journaling cluster. It was a lot of fun digging through my word stash for the left side.

Next is a manufactured two-page layout, recording the story of our epic winter last year, which may have been the start of memes overtaking photos on my phone.

I say manufactured because I put together two single-paged sketches to create this spread. To do this successfully, you need two contrasting sketches, then pick something to unite the pages: Color, embellishments, paper (see my curves and snowflakes).

Instead of contrasting two sketches, you can also do what I did with a layout I recently posted: take one sketch and stretch it over two pages.

Here the left side was the sketch; I sort of mirrored/tapered it on the right side. Again, similar colors and products.

Thank you for stopping by! Hopefully this gave you ideas for scrapbooking two-page layouts.

Some more small stories on 8.5x11 paper

Hello! I spent some time recently finishing some 8.5x11 layouts, one about each boy telling a small story in his life. Here are some other smaller format, smaller story-layouts I made recently.

First is a page I did for Simple Scrapper in March, using a couple photos and some big PP banners to share a story about my son's last year in Dinner Theater at church. This was super each to come together once I picked the bright colors. The speech bubble sticker had been handing out in my workspace for a while, so I put it on the page just because it seemed to fit. There's a benefit to not always putting stuff away!

This page commemorates our transition to a new car. I'd taken a photo of my last car before we traded it in, and then a photo of my new car. Again, the FAMILY die cut and journaling card were lying around, so design-wise I started with those and picked homey colors and products to fit.

Another small story, this one my son's final piano recital. It follows basically the same simple design as the previous page. Big strips of PP form a nice base for the page, then strips of journaling stitched down and embellishments that lead the eye across the page.

The story behind this page made me laugh so I had to print the photo behind it and share the story. I don't know how to take pictures on Androids, but my son does, and so we did. This was a perfect page to use these huge die cuts.

One of my favorite photos of my cat. She is an occasional lap snuggle with me and only me. The color scheme led my design for the page.

Finally, a page about my husband. I had this Me Right Now journaling card I loved, but I'd just made a similar page about me, so I didn't know how to use it until I found this unused photo of my husband from Father's Day. I was at my January Scrap retreat at the time, so I called him and asked for his answers and wrote them own (it was also fun to see how many of these I predicted correctly!). A basic strip design with my husband's favorite color, British racing green.

Thank you for visiting again! I hope this gives you ideas of stories to tell of designs to try.

Making progress on pages I was stuck on: Scrapbooking blocks

I am still finishing up sharing pages I started then didn't finish in my scrap retreat in January. These two I was stuck on. I made them, then wrote the journaling, then made no progress,. I'm not sure why I didn't with this first one. It was pretty well complete without journaling. Here's what I ended up with:

To be honest, the only thing, aside from the journaling, that I hadn't finished was the date. Lo, my son had kept the box of the Switch and the receipt--we trained him well!--so when I asked him to find it, we were set. I used an Ali Edwards Story kit for this, plus scraps. I've been using my scrap bin quite a bit for patterned paper.

This page was a bigger conundrum. I'd put together the photo block plus the four clocks of colored paper under it. After I added the journaling, I looked around for something to finish it, and lo, serendipity: We are remodeling the downstairs after a flood, so most of my scrap stuff is upstairs right now. I saw a strip of green paper that looked like lawn, and that gave me an idea. I used them as strips of "lawn" to frame the title, then dug into my decorative brads, which were again right next to me because of the remodeling. After some stitching, I was done. And I love this page much more than when I started.

Thank you for stopping by! I made a few more pages--most brand new!--in my stay-at-home state. I'll share them soon in the next week.

Scrapbooking with paper strips

I have trouble getting rid of paper strips. I keep my narrow strips in a spaghetti holder.

Every now and then, I like to use strips of paper to make up the bulk of the page. (When I make these pages, I call myself a stripper. Heh.) I did that with the following layout. I had an 8x12 photo, so I only had some narrow space at the top and bottom of the page, so I dug through my strips and picked them in three hues for contrast: blues, neutrals, and brights.

Blues alone were too blah, so I had to pick some colors for contrast.

And here's my final page:

After I selected my strips, I went through my stickers to find colors and shapes that would match and contrast. Some I stitched down for interest and practicality (some of my stickers only stick with hesitance).

Thank you for visiting! I will be sharing a couple pages I made recently with what I call bulletin-board scrapbooking later this week.

Fixing mistakes when I scrapbook

This may just be me, but it seems like at lest half the time I spend scrapbooking involves figuring out how to fix my mistakes.

Sometimes I have to redo the whole page--my son swung a water bucket over my already-stitched-down photo grid, which I had to rip stitches from, reprint, and redo. Other times I need to replace individual elements--a photo, an embellishment, some paper. Still other times I switch out my original plan--remove the damaged item and replace it with something else. Most of the time, though, I end up masking the problem, like I did with this page:

I forget what had happened--I had dropped something with adhesive on it onto this photo, and the adhesive stuck quite visibly. Fortunately it wasn't over anything important, like his face, so I planned an embellishment cluster to mask the adhesive. Sometimes design follows principles; other times design follows OOPS. Here's the completed layout:

I used a lot of Project Life materials from Ali Edwards for this. The trim along the top and bottom is actually a 4x6 PL card I tried into strips and stitched down. If you look close in the middle, you can see that the right and left side letters don't match, but I picked like colors on both sides of my strips to make the mismatch harder to see.

I stitched the title down because I didn't trust the vinyl letters to stay.

I love this Venn diagram card, which sort of inspired the story I'd tell with these photos.

Thank you for visiting! I hope I gave you some ideas for fixing mistakes that don't involve redoing the whole page. Go ahead and share some of you most frightful crafting disasters.

Using cards on a scrapbook page

Hello! We just returned from our summer vacation--Hawai'i!--and I plan to share the scrapbooking I did while I was there. Until then, here's what I did before I left.

I've written about this before, but I make pages for my parents. I bought them a frame to put them most recent page in and an album to put the older layouts in. Recently, I made a page for my father for Father's Day using a recent beloved photo of my boys.

The papers I picked out when I sorted through scraps. (I do that a few times a year and bring it to my sons' former day care; the kids use the pretty paper to practice fine motor skills--cutting--and their former teachers love to see how much my boys have grown.) I thought these patterns would look good together, so I use them as my backdrop.

When I recently organized my supplies (more to come), I found this card that I had saved, maybe to use on a page. It went color-wise with the papers, so I thought I'd overlap it on my photo and use it for my title. I used some journaling cards that I'd also uncovered in my organizational spree, so I underlapped those with the photo, told my story, and embellished. My dad loved it. I'm happy that the pages I send him allow him to follow the boys growing into men, even though my dad and mom live so far away.

Thank you for visiting! If you scrapbook for gifts, or you use cards on your pages, please share!

Two layouts, same subject

At my scrap retreat this spring, I made two layouts for my boys, both on the same subject, each for their own albums. I almost never do this, but they went to sleepaway camp for the first time, so I wanted their albums to have their own layouts. How did I do it?

1. I purchased digital photos from the camp. I notice a lot of places do this. I then resized them into smaller photos to fit each boy's page.
2. I dug into my themed paper. I don't have many themes, but I do have a Camping bucket. I pretty much exclusively used that one bucket to simplify product selection.
3. I used a dramatic piece of paper for the background. Each layout has a dramatic piece of paper as the background, and the only way to make this work is to leave large portions uncovered. 
4. I used basically the same design. It's hard to see, but both pages basically have all the photos smooshed to one side, and the rest of the space is open. The side is what differs.
5. I had the boys do the journaling. When they returned from camp, I gave each boy a piece of paper, and I asked them to write their favorites from camp. That was my journaling, and it should spark some memories. The hardest part was reading the handwriting and understanding it months later.

Here's my youngest son's page, the first I completed:

Most of the products on both pages are October Afternoon, which is no longer releasing its camping line. You might be able to get it in a warehouse sale.

My eldest son's page I finished later since I had to cut the title, and that is a chore for me. I'm a pathetic cutter:

Each boy's page had 11 photos, which is a point of pride for me. Lots of detail and lots of stuff, but the lines keep them from looking busy.

Thank you for visiting! I have more vacation pages for the whole family I am planning on sharing. Stop by later!

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.

Scrapbooking the year's best moments

A few years ago I scrapbooked a page I called "This was the year that..." It was a retrospective of all the noteworthy events from the previous year, using some leftover photos and a leftover kit. I loved that page. Since then, I've done a similar page every year. Here's my page from this year:

Before I made the page, I journaled a list of what I remembered from the year that was notable. I also opened up PSE Organizer and scrolled through the photos to find representative shots. I also rediscovered other moments that I added to my list.

To create the page, I started with the blue circle paper, then dug into my scraps for the trim. (Yellow is my favorite color, so that was a natural choice.) I dug into old supplies and used the corrugated numbers and the die cuts which I hadn't used yet. Of course I journaled on strips, then inked them with yellow because.

Thank you for checking out my page! Stop by later this week for my January work for Scrapbook Circle and Write Click Scrapbook.

Finishing projects day 1: school mini-albums

Hello!The end of summer is around the corner, and I'll be starting a new year with a new teaching prep. My boys will also be in middle school, so I'm anticipating less free time, at least at first. As a result, I'm trying to finish as many projects as I can this summer.

I've actually accomplished quite a bit--I organized the garage, taped and speckled some wall holes in the house, and begun harvesting the garden and cooking (marinara, anyone?). Now here's a list of some of my scrapbooking projects I had to tackle:

1. Finish creating the boys' 5th and 6th grade school album pages
2. Edit and print photos from Custer S.P. (2011)
3. Create mini albums with thank you cards from school
4. Finish the Disney album (2010)
5. Update the Easter mini-album
6. Complete the iScrap class/album
7. Complete the Get Messy class/album
8. Ask Derick to finish journaling his London album
9. Complete 5 Vacation Faves (2015)
10. Create cards for my Dad
11. Rowan school album photos: 3rd, 5th, and 6th; class photo 4th and 6th
12. Dominic school album photos: 2nd, 4th, and 5th;class photo 3rd and 5th

I'm on my way, as you can see. I completed three things on the list, and I'm within a day or two of finishing 3 more. As a motivational push for me, I am going to share my projects as I finish them. First, the mini albums: I had to clean out my office desk last spring at school since the area was being turned into new classrooms. I found 17 years of thank you notes in the desk and decided to make them into mini albums to keep them more solidly. Here they are:

These first two mini albums include thank you notes given out for teacher's appreciation day. Students send them to teachers they want, so I kept the ones that were the most specific. Because they were the same size, they were easy to scrap I used some older Jillibean Soup kraft file folders to house them. For color, I lined the inside with some bright patterned paper (I dug into my scrap piles for them) and used a bunch of bright, non school accents.

Next are some actual cards.They were irregularly shaped, so a little more difficult to fit in mini albums. Here's what I did:

For these mini albums I did dig into my school themed Iris container for products. I pulled chipboard mini album covers from a 7gypsies mini album for the one on the left, covered it with paper using my 5-inch Xyron, and embellished the cover. The cards are not bound in there, by the way: the ribbon is holding it altogether.

On the right I wanted to use the Report card paper for the covers, so I trimmed some spare cardboard to fit, used the Xyron again to adhere, decorated and tied together with the ribbon like I did with the last album.

Finally, I needed something bigger for the actual letters and printed-emails I've collected through the years, so I used an actual manila folder:

Again, I lined the inside with patterned paper scraps, and for the outside, I dug into the school themed Iris container to finish decorating it. (Note: once I got to this point, I realized I had used basically the same design on each mini album. Different products, but same design. Huh.) Like I did with my first two mini-albums, I used a binder clip to close this. Easy-peasy!

Thank you for letting me share some of my projects! I'll share more this month as I complete them. I doubt I'll finish it all, but boy, will it feel good to empty out more project containers that I've been storing the half finished projects!