Write. Click. Scrapbook.

A Different Kind of Family History

Good morning, everyone!

Marie and I are so excited to be co-hosting this week—since we are sisters, we thought it would be fun to share all kinds of family projects this week; some you can tackle independently, but lots more are designed to get family members involved whether they scrapbook or not. We want to emphasize that everyone has memories, funny stories, and heartfelt wishes to share—don't let a little thing like "not being a scrapbooker" get in the way of creating a family history that can be enjoyed right now and for generations to come.

Before we get started, we need to preface our week with two pieces of information:

1.) We often refer to ourselves as Willis Sisters, because Willis is our maiden name. There are three of us; me, Marie, and our youngest sister Katherine. Katherine does not consider herself a scrapbooker, but we think that's silly because a.) she is an excellent blogger/documentarian, b.) she takes fantastic photos, and c.) she likes family stories as much as we do.

2.) We have a reputation for occasionally being collectively... crazy. : ) We already know, so no need to point it out again, thankyouverymuch.

First up today: a little album I made that collects all our funny (and crazy) sister stories in one place. It doesn't exactly fit the description of a typical scrapbook, but we're working on broadening that definition this week anyway. This is more a gussied-up anthology.

 

Here is the opening page (I apologize for the sorry state of my scanner's cleanliness.)

I saw a Venn diagram posted on Tumblr not long ago and it inspired me to make my own. Perfect as an introduction for this collection of stories!

I collected already-written stories from my blog, Marie's blog, and Katherine's blog and reformatted them in a way that unified the album. We all had fits of giggles re-reading all these stories. These are some entries about our shared ridiculous startle noises that more often than not, becomes fodder for blog entries (and now albums). Sadly (or happily?), there are many more—this is just a sampling!

A little caption of black paper with white text pulls it all together and makes it easy to add more stories that will inevitably happen in the future!

There are sections for our funny startle noise stories, our vigilant consumer advocate habits, and other stories that we find hilarious (though others have accused of being eccentric or downright weird. Hmph.) Like this one, in which the small Willis sisters sold Girl Scout cookies to dead people. (You can read about it here and here. It's not quite as bad as it sounds...right?)

••••••••

A few years ago, Marie and her husband BJ created a little book to give for a gift that included some creative poetry, family songs, and other funny bits of family lore.

It's a small paperback book created through Apple's iPhoto photobook service. What a treasure to have some of these things both from our family growing up and our own individual families collected into one place! Marie recently created a page using one of the poems included as her journaling:

Now these rules might not make sense to all of you, but to us? Priceless. Of course, our rules aren't necessarily supposed to make sense to all of you—the point is, it's really fun to get together with your siblings or parents or cousins or aunts and uncles (or all of them!) and make up a list of the funny family rules that apply in your family and turn them into a page. Collaboration is not only good for the soul and the funny bone, but it's also a priceless way to document more than just one angle of the story. 

Marie thought it would be fun to turn some of those rules into some décor for her children (my niece and nephew) to enjoy; each sign is printed and framed near the play area in her house. And I know you are wondering, yes, the first and last of the signs are actual rules in our house growing up. And the middle sign was some advice I gave her after she prematurely told her four-year-old that she didn't have to have quiet time anymore. That has since changed.

Tomorrow Marie will share a few ideas for why two (or more) memories are better than one! Thanks for stopping by today.

Charming Gardeners

photo and quote selection by Monika Wright

Camp Crafts with Kelly & Angie: Day 5

To finish out our camp week, we're going to make flaming fabric roses (to be worn as brooches or hair accessories). These floral creations will look lovely whether you wear them high in the hills or out on the town. And they're technically only "flaming" for a very short time, so they're perfectly safe to wear in your hair. Trust us. Have we steered you wrong so far?

These little beauties are so easy (and require so few supplies) that they really can be completed entirely while at a cabin or on a camping trip. In fact, we're both in charge of different youth camps this summer for the teenage girls in our respective church congregations, so you could say the project below has been (literally) tested in the field.

All three of these examples are held together with standard scrapbooking brads (one is an embroidered brad by K&Company). You can opt for the singed look or not; it's up to you!

See? Barely any singe here. Apart from brads, you can also finish the centers with buttons, simple stitching, or anything else you can find in your scrapbook stash.

Are you ready to get started? First, choose your fabric. We've tried sheer organza (about $5 per yard on sale) from JoAnn's and $2-per-yard satin (pictured above) from WalMart. If you're only making a couple of flowers, you won't need more than 1/4 of a yard. Cut at least five freehand circles out of your chosen fabric, in graduating sizes. These can (and should) be imperfect.

Next, light a candle. If you use a jar candle, make sure it's barely used, so the flame is easy to reach.

Now singe the edges of all five circles. You don't actually have to touch the fabric to the flame, especially when working with the sheer organza. The trick is to slowly approach the flame with the fabric until you see its edges start to curl and melt; then rotate the circle until the edges are uniformly melted.

To finish your flowers, layer the petals back together. Above, Angie stitched one rose (red) onto a barrette. For the pink example, she used hot glue to add a pink button to the center and a pin to the back. Both of the gray examples show silver brads that have been pushed through the center of the flowers and then bent around a barrette (one has also been hot-glued for added stability).

Now, wear your wearables! (But please, allow the glue to dry first. Unless you like your flower so much you wanted it to be a permanent hair accessory. And we have to say, we wouldn't blame you.)

Well, folks, this concludes our parade of simple crafts that can be created either for or at a summer camp. We hope you had as much fun as we did. And in parting, we'd like to leave you with one of our favorite songs to sing around the campfire:

The Princess Pat (The Princess Pat)
Lived in a tree (lived in a tree)
She sailed across (she sailed across)
The seven seas (the seven seas)
She sailed across (she sailed across)
The channel, too, (the channel, too)
And she brought with her (and she brought with her)
A rig of bamboo (a rig of bamboo)...

Wait, you don't know that one? You're lucky. How about this one:

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
And the rain fall softly on your fields.
Until we meet again (we meet again)...
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

We can feel the firelight now.

Have a great summer!

 

p.s. Keep in touch! You can find Angie at angielucas.com and ellapublishing.com, where there is a woeful lack of mustard usage in her regular crafting. And Angie has been trying to convince Kelly to start a blog for years, since every time Angie goes to Kelly's house, she sees at least 15 new sewing, scrapbooking, or crafting projects that are totally blog-worthy. Won't you join in trying to convince Kelly too?

Camp Crafts with Kelly & Angie: Day 4

You knew it was coming; you just didn't know when.

That's right, children of the '80s, we're going to make FRIENDSHIP BRACELETS today!

Unlike the creations you may have woven in Elementary School, these embroidery-floss wonders will be made with a cardboard loom. And you won't believe how easy they are. They're especially easy to pick up and put down at any point, which is handy when you're out camping in the woods and get called upon to chop some wood, or go on a hike, or reapply bug spray for the 300th time.

Here, Kelly models a finished floss bracelet. The ends have been threaded through an oversize button and tied off, but you can just as easily tie it in a regular old knot.

This is how it starts. From left: a bracelet that's just getting started, a bracelet that's completely woven and ready to be removed from the loom, and a finished bracelet.

Set Up:
Cut a cardboard circle about 3 inches in diameter.
Cut eight evenly spaced notches around the perimeter of the circle.
Poke a hole in the center with scissors.
Choose three colors of embroidery floss.
Cut seven lengths of embroidery floss about as long as your arm, from your extended fingertips just past your elbow. (Angie likes using three strands of one color, and two strands of the other two colors.)
Tie all seven strands of floss into a single knot, about 2 inches from one end.
Poke the knot through the hole in the center of the cardboard.
Slip each strand of floss through a different notch in the cardboard circle, leaving one notch empty.

Get Started:
Hold the loom with one hand, making sure the empty notch is at the bottom of the circle.



Now, count three notches counter-clockwise from the empty notch, and pull that strand of floss over the top of the loom and slip it into the empty notch, as seen below.

Angie pulled the green strand past the yellow and blue strands and slipped it into the open space. Exciting. Wouldn't you like to see her do it again? But first, notice that she has rotated the loom so the empty space is at the bottom of the circle again. (Trust us; it's easier this way.)

This time, the yellow floss loops up and over a strand of green and blue floss. Let's see that one more time. Again, Angie rotates the loom so the empty space is at the bottom of the circle.

And she's looped a strand of blue floss up and over a green strand and another blue strand. Riveting. Absolutely riveting, right?

Repeat the above steps over and over and a round, woven bracelet emerges from the bottom of the loom. It's like magic!

Now go forth and weave. Tomorrow, we'll be playing with fire. Literally.

and the giveaway goes to . . .

Ah! Another week of flooding memories. Falling in love with boys playing guitar around a camp fire. Songs (with actions, yes indeed!). Snipes. Tents. Floods. Bears. Bugs. Cold showers. Leeches. Strange footprints on the table in the morning. Ghost stories. Giggling in the dark. Such wonderful memories. And I am married to someone who thinks camping is a motel instead of an hotel, so I have learned to appreciate all those of you who shy away from "dirty" (aka REAL - ha!) camping.

Thank you for all your comments, and thank you, Sassafras for a generous giveaway this week! Without further ado....

Well, of course, I, too, had to google those lyrics. I thought I had a pretty good repertoire of camp songs, but I had never heard of this one. But it has been officially added to the list of must-learns. And learn it, I will.

Congratulations to Mandie Wade. We are super excited for you to fall in love with Sweet Marmalade as we have. Please email your mailing address and phone number to us at writeclickscrapbook at gmail dot com before the clock strikes 12 on Saturday. That is the curfew and giggling after hours will not be tolerated. :)

And for camp food, I'll see your banana boat and raise you an orange cake. Cut the top 1/4 off an orange (this will be the cap). Dig out the innards with a knife and eat them. Then fill the empty orange "bowl" 2/3rds full of white cake batter. Place cap on the orange. Wrap in tin foil, shiny side in, being careful to note which is the top. Place in the coals for awhile (who wears a watch to camp??) and then take it out, open the foil, remove the cap, and dig in. The orange flavor sneaks into every single bite of fluffy cake. Ah! A tiny bit of tasty camp heaven.

Stay tuned for more fun camping antics with Angie and Kelly!!

give.away.day. featuring SASSAFRAS

Great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts*, it's

and we must must must have a giveaway. Even on camp week. Especially on camp week. So gather 'round the fire and put your sticky s'more hands together for

Sassafras has kindly put together a fantastic giveaway that includes their bright and summery Sweet Marmalade line.

And to help inspire you, here are some examples of things to make with Sassafras Sweet Marmalade paper. (Though we'd appreciate if you would please wash your hands before touching. We'd hate to end up with chocolate and marshmallow smears on the paper!!)

First, up, Paula, Angie, and Marie made some layouts.

 

Emily and Angie each made a card.

And Emily made this sweet and whimsical flower garland.

Monika is going to cute-tify our homes for certain with her bright ideas. Look how fantastic this looks!

Next up, an altered frame.

And for her son's cute girlfriend, off to college, she made all a whole collection of goodies.

Please take a minute and hop on over to the Sassafras blog where you can see more delicious creations by their fabulously talented team. Sassafras has a brand new line about to be released, Indie Girl, which mixes a soothing rose in with teal and chartreuse for a winning combination. Or check out the wee bundles (my personal Sassafras favorite) for the newly released Nerdy Bird, Apple Jack, and Cherry Delicious collections.

If you would like a chance to take home some Sweet Marmalade papers and extras, please leave us a comment sharing a camp experience, song, activity, or loathing. Comments will remain open until 8:00 pm PST. One lucky number will be chosen at random and posted tomorrow. Be sure to check back as it is your responsibility to claim your lucky number by midnight Saturday!

* This might just be my favorite camp song of all time. Here are the rest of the lyrics. (I only wish you could hear me singing it!!)
Great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts,
mutilated monkey feet,
contaminated vulture's beak.
All topped off with puked up parakeet,
and I forgot my spoon...
I'll use a straw.

Camp Crafts with Kelly & Angie: Day 3

Good morning, sunshine! Hope you have remembered to wear sunscreen and bugspray this week - we would hate for you to be miserable at craft camp. Today we have a project that would be perfect if you have a few unused photos lying around, and some stray bits of pretty stuff, like paper and ric-rac.

That's right: personalized photo pins/buttons/badges. Perfect for reunions, camp, or a party of any kind.

(Kelly says: "When my grandma turned 80, the family held a huge party for friends and family and I made a bunch of pins with grandma's face on a $1 million dollar bill. They were a hit!")

 

For this crazy fun craft you will need:

• Some sort of base or backing for the pin, like a circle of chipboard, or a clean plastic lid from a milk or juice carton
• photos, patterned paper, cardstock
• bits of ephemera or pretty stuff like buttons, ric-rac, glitter
• stamps and Staz-on ink, if you would like to add words
• glue, like craft glue or hot glue
• pin backs
• circle punches, scissors, and a paper trimmer

This is really an "anything goes" type of project, so have fun! Kelly used photos of her dog relatives to make some great pins, and created a cameo by taking sillouette photos of her oldest son Luke and then tracing the outline onto chipboard. That would be a fun activity for a family reunion - guess the sillouette or ancestor? This would also be adorable with baby pictures of grown-ups or vintage family pictures or just the funniest photo of yourself that you can find.

After you decide on the photos, layer on cardstock, or use a 1" strip of patterned paper to fan fold for a ruffled collar. Buttons and ric-rac are always an option. Use what you have for these mini-masterpieces!

Once you have your design glued together, attach a pin back and wear your badge proudly. Much snappier than those "Hello My Name Is" sticker badges, don't you think?

And what is on the treat menu for today? S'mores cookies, of course. These are from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food. All the gooey goodness and no campfire needed! http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/smores-cookies

(Kelly made these at home, but they weren't very photogenic. They taste just like S'mores - and are really fun to eat.)

Don't stay up all night playing tricks on your bunk-mates. We'll see you tomorrow for another fun day of crafting.

 

P.S. Thanks to Angie for all the great photos of our projects this week. She's amazing with a camera!
 

Camp Crafts with Kelly & Angie: Day 2

Good Morning Campers! Now that you are properly attired for camp, let's get to the best part: craft time! We know you probably have fond memories of boondoggle keychains and leather working, but you won't find those at this camp. Instead, try making a few things that you might actually wear or display after camp.

Big necklace charms are everywhere right now - grab a few supplies from your stash and make some for yourself. You will need:

• Blank wooden circles, squares or other simple shapes (between 1" and 1 1/2")
• Acrylic paint
• Mod Podge or other clear sealant/glue
• Scraps of patterned paper or fabric
• Stamps, rub-ons, stickers
• A drill
• Leather cord, necklace chain, or hemp cord

To make these striking accesories, paint the wooden shapes and let dry. Use punches or scissors to trim paper or fabric to fit the shapes. Use Mod Podge to attach, and then coat surface to seal. As an alternative, skip the paper and use stamps or stickers to adorn the shapes. Bonus for nature lovers: use some of those wildflowers you pressed at camp instead of paper.

After your new charms dry, use a drill to make a hole at the top. Use a jump ring (silver jewelry ring) to attach to cord, or simply thread cord through the hole.

You might not be so excited about wooden charms? There are some cool clear acrylic charms by Tim Holtz that also work for this project. You can adhere fabric to the reverse side, or use rub-ons or stickers on the right side. The possibilities are limitless!

While you are waiting for the Mod Podge to dry, you might need a treat. Might we suggest making ice cream in a ziploc bag? It really works! Visit crafts.kaboose.com/ice-cream-in-a-bag.html for the recipe.

See us tomorrow for a project that would be fun for campers, or family reunion-ers, or just you and yours. You can use even more stuff from your stash!

Can't wait to see you again tomorrow!

Camp Crafts with Kelly & Angie: Day 1

Welcome to camp week!

Secretly we both wanted to be camp counselors as teens, so we thought there would be no better time than the present to fulfill our dream. This week you will learn how to create fabulous wearables (lots of them from supplies you can find in your scrapbooking stash) that can be created either at or for camp, whether it's a family camp, a church or community camp, or even a huge family reunion. So put on your camp shirt and let's get started!

Wait, you say, you don't have a camp shirt? We will have to do something about that. Find a nice clean t-shirt and try out one of these techniques that go way beyond tie-dye.

Most of the time, mustard stains on a shirt are something to avoid, but in this case, the bright yellow condiment is perfect as fabric paint. Angie used vinyl letters she cut out with her QuicKutz Revolution as masks on her t-shirt. After slipping a piece of cardboard inside the shirt to protect the back, Angie adhered the letters to her shirt and used a foam brush to paint over the letters with good old French's. After the mustard was dry, she removed the vinyl cutouts and washed her t-shirt. A few Bead Dazzle iron-on flowers from SEI (only $1.99!) complete the cheerful design. (And, no. She does not smell like a hotdog when she wears the shirt!)

Before committing her design to the lovely, bright-white tee above, Angie tested the mustard technique on the old scrap of white fabric below. She cut two letter "A's" out of vinyl, out of adhesive cardstock, and out of regular cardstock. As you can see, all of the materials worked about equally well as masks, although the vinyl (topmost image) was a bit easier to reposition and remove—and it was far less absorbent.

If you aren't in the mood for condiments, try melting crayons onto your shirt instead!

Kelly let her kids try out this technique that is usually used to make stained-glass designs on waxed paper. Find all your old crayon stubs and peel off the wrappers. Use a simple pencil sharpener to make a collection of wax shavings from your crayons (use a muffin tin to separate black shavings from red). Put a sheet of chipboard or cardboard inside your shirt to keep colors from bleeding through. Place your shirt on a table and sprinkle shavings in any pattern you like. You could use a marker to make an outline of your shape if you need a guideline. When you like how it looks, place a sheet of waxed paper or freezer paper on top of your design and press with a hot iron (no steam) for about 30 seconds. Let your shirt cool a bit and then peel the paper off. When you wash the shirt (in cold, please) some of the wax may flake off, but the dye from the crayons will remain.

Kelly helped 2-year-old Gabe design a colorful, lowercase "g" on his little shirt.

Josie, age 5, opted for a cupcake design.

And finally Luke, age 7, turned his crayon shavings into a convincing (and slightly  menacing) fish.

Tune in tomorrow for DIY necklace charms that use up all those paper and fabric scraps you've been saving.

Until then, Kumbayah, our friends!

p.s. Unlike most of the rest of the Write.Click.Scrapbook. team, we (Angie and Kelly) enjoy the great fortune of living just 15 minutes from each other in the suburbs of Salt Lake City, making it easy to get together for co-blogging fun! We actually met 13 years ago while working in the Writing Center at Utah State University, and we've remained close (geographically and otherwise) ever since.

Baby Bird