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: 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!

November page for Simple Scrapper: Scrapbooking photos across time

I'm here with my second layout for this month's Simple Scrapper, this time using a sketch and an old story starter. 

I had started taking photos of the boys next to the big movie displays when we went to the theater. I never tagged them, and I unfortunately deleted at least one from Muppets Most Wanted (argghhh!), but I got a good representation of these posers across the years and put them together onto a page to celebrate this family tradition.

I took color inspiration from the photos, using yellow, teal, and purpley-pink.

What a gift it was to find the viewfinder in my die cuts! Most of the other embellishments I dug out of stash, either die cuts or puffy stickers or enamel. (Note: I've been able to use my die cuts more since I rearranged my storage system. I'll share that this month.)

The vinyl title letters were losing some stick, so I sewed them down.

Thank you for visiting! I'll come by later this week to share more pages I made on my retreat. Please visit Simple Scrapper to check out the other inspirational content available, and consider a membership!

Cleaning our the scrap clutter and an album of me

Hello! Summer is coming to an end, and mine has been busy. The month of July was spent preparing for and going on a dream vacation to Hawaii. (Yay!) Since coming back, I've been reading, gardening, cooking, and of course, scrapbooking. I want to go back and share my scrapbooking origins for the summer.

First: I had a lot of planned but unfinished projects (actually just plain unstarted). They occupied our front closet, which had been fine for years, but my boys are teenagers now, and they eat like teens, so we've started a Costco membership and need somewhere to put the food. Since we don't have a pantry,  I had to get those projects done! So I got to work.

Here's how my living room looked at the beginning of summer:

SIDE NOTE: While I did this project, I also discovered a couple new ways to organize my materials to better use them. To the left of my chair, you'll see a wooden file folder that I got at Target: I started storing my purchased paper die cuts in there by color. When I needed a small, flat embellishment, I opened the hanging file folder and sorted through until I found something. I also started keeping a cupcake tray near me with small embellishments sorted by color for quick and easy embellishing:

I got this idea from Stacy Julian's Big Picture Classes class Twelve.

Because I had stored the unstarted projects in mostly Iris containers, I spread out the ones I wanted to tackle in order to clean out the closet. When I did so, I also discovered a bunch of photos and memorabilia my grandmother had left me after her death, things she had been sent or given by me or my family. This made me look for my own keepsake boxes and empty them too, and so I began planning an album about me. As I began, I decided to go even farther and pull pictures from the 6+ photo albums I had of my growing up years and put into this project.

Next, I sorted the photos and mementoes into categories for the album: Infancy, Family, Home, Elementary School, Middle School, High School, Travel, College, Career, Adulthood (or "Adulting"),  Scrapbooking, and Today. In my folly, I thought I could fit them into one album. I swiftly realized I needed at least two, so I pulled out the Handbooks and Handbook Inserts and dividers I had never used and got to work.

Here's the finished products:

The albums are stuffed with photos, memorabilia, and some journaling. I used a variety of Project Life Cards for this

So here's some of the pages in the first album, which goes from Infancy to High School:

I used the Handbook Dividers to separate each section.

The dividers came with some that were full-page pockets. I tended to cut them in half and sew the edges to store memorabilia. SIDE NOTE: The check was for the hospital at my birth. I cost $35.

This is the family section. I added photos of various members of my extended family, plus family mementoes. The first memento is on the next page, a copy of my grandfather's obituary written by his daughters. I shrunk it to fit the page and paired it with the last photo I had of him. He was a quiet, caring man of God, and I miss him

Facing his page were some treasures my grandmother gave me, little slips of paper filler with memories and love. Her photo is on the next page. I lost her last year, and I miss her so much. She helped shape me into who I am today.

I didn't have enough for a while section on my first permanent home (as a Navy brat, that was memorable), so I just put this section in between.

Next comes elementary school!

When my grown up teeth started coming in, I stopped smiling with an open mouth. Odd how I remember that. I also noticed in a lot of the pictures, I didn't wear glasses all the time either, interesting because I am profoundly nearsighted, and I don't remember being half-blind all the time. Vanity...

Next is junior high! I got braces and contacts here, and also, sadly a perm. #80s

High school: still permed.

 
I was pleased to see my catechism in the memorabilia. When my boys get confirmed, I'll tell them of the time I had to walk uphill in the snow both ways for my public examination...

Thank you for visiting! I will share my next book later this week, and the unexpected but fun third book 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.

Layering embellishments and paper

October is incredibly right around the corner, so I thought I'd share my pages for Simple Scrapper that will be in their Spark magazine and give some ideas of how I go about layering embellishments:

This first page I did using the September kit from Scrapbook Circle and a story starter and sketch from Simple Scrapper. The idea of the page was serendipitous: I'm getting ready to print pictures to (finally!) scrap our family vacation to Disneyworld. My son loved Thunder Mountain Railroad so much, he had asked to have his picture taken with it in the background. (Scrapbookers' kids ask things like that, I think.) The photo reminded me of one of me taken when I was a kid for the very same reason. And so I put them together on the page.

Putting two 4x6 photos on a page can be kind of boring, so I layered a LOT to make it more interesting. Here's some details:

When I layer, I start with something flat--in this case, tags and die cuts and sayings cut from patterned paper--and overlap them. I then add something dimensional--a sticker on dimensional adhesive and some epoxy and puffy stickers--and do something with texture--in this case, I stitched the label sticker down and added the gold glitter dots.

I've started using 6x6 pads more; they are the perfect way to layer bits of patterned paper without cutting apart a whole piece of paper. Here I trimmed some tag paper out of the pad and stitched it down.

The next page also uses a sketch from Simple Scrapper and this time a kit from Studio Calico:

Again, I had two photos, this time 3x3. Again I set them on top of layers of patterned paper, but this time I added some Project Life cards to journal on. Here's some details:

I focused most of my embellishing on dimension and texture, allowing the background paper and PL cards to be the flat elements of my embellishing. The dimension came from the wood veneer and the label stickers on dimensional adhesive, and the texture came mostly from stitching and gems.

The rub-on words as a part of the border was a last minute addition. I like embellishing with words, in case you couldn't tell.

Thank you for checking out my work with Simple Scrapper! I hope I gave you some ideas for how to put together your embellishments into interesting layers to add some interesting depth to a two-photo page.