Write. Click. Scrapbook.

Scrapbooking Over the Fold Day 3: Number of Photos

Jennifer Larson again. I'm so glad you're here sharing more about scrapbooking two-page layouts! Today I'll write about the number of photos I use on a two page layout.

Total honesty: I've never scrapped a two-page layout with fewer than 3 photos. Maybe I did one with two photos once that I can't remember, but one or zero photos? Never. Still, one can scrap a variety of photo amounts with two pages, though the size lends itself nicely to scrapping a lot. Here's some examples of how I've scrapped different amounts of photos.

 

1. 0-4 photos

Like I said, I tend to scrap at least 3 photos on a two page layout. This one I used a one-page sketch from Studio Calico.To make it two pages, I looked at the middle of the sketch and sort of stretched it on either side. I hope that makes sense. Grouping the photos together made them look more substantial on the wide 12x24 spread.

More common for me: I stretch the photos out in a line. Here I made use of Pink Paislee's darlng photo frames to house my small photos and make them more weighty on the page.

This darling layout by Christa Paustenbaugh uses three photos on a two page spread. I love how the title goes across the white space on the starring photo! Plus, check out the banner of fun stuff along the side of the starring photo. So much fun.

 

2. 5-7 photos

This too is more common for me. Like I said before, I love lines stretched across two pages. I've heard once that's a good way to unify two pages, with something stretching across the span. Here I used paper and photos. Still lots of white space.

Another winter layout (Sorry! Snowing here today in Minnesota), this one by Diane Payne. I love so much about the page: the colors (not typical winter), the one big photo framed by smaller detail shots, the die cut paper bookending each side. So many design ideas!

 

3. 8-10 photos

A lot of photos, but doable with some breathing room. Since we went to Space Aliens restaurant for my son's birthday, I followed a space theme, making my photo mat planets and orbits.

And here's another page by Diane Payne, this time with 8 photos. I love how they are housed on polaroid frames, taped down by washi.

 

4. 11+ photos.

Otherwise known as a boatload, this is an amount I do rarely, but it's not too difficult. I trim the photos until they all fit across one block, filling in empty space with patterned paper and embellishments. I think there are about 23 photos on this layout. It leaves not much white space, but there is room for small embellishment clusters and a dramatic title.

Another page full of photos, and as a mother of boys, this one by Diane make me smile! I love how clean the page looks with so many photos stretched on the banner, and the pairing of the old and young photos on the bottom is terrific. Great ideas for scrapping school photos.

 

So glad again you could come back and visit! Tomorrow is a special day: I'll talk about embellishing, which I love!

Scrapping Over the Fold: Two-Page Layouts

Hello! Jennifer Larson here, sharing some of my favorite pages to make: two-page layouts. I make one page layouts, sure, but since I am a mostly sequential scrapper, I record a lot of events, and those pages always seem to have a lot of photos, which makes scrapping two pages easier for me.

 

Here's what I'll be sharing with you this week:

• Day 1 (that's today!): Two-page layout size
• Day 2: Photo selection and size
• Day 3: Number of photos
• Day 4: Embellishments
• Day 5: Journaling

 

On to today's topic...

Page Size

1. 12x12 spread

I have always been a 12x12 scrapper, so these are the two-page layouts I make the most. It's the size I did for this month's gallery page, Everyone's Favorite Meal. Advantages: you can fit a lot of photos, journaling, and product without it looking too squooshed.

 

2. 8.5x11 spread

I do this less often, selecting it when the photos I have would look cramped on one page (either 8.5x11 or 12x12) but would like like they were swimming swimming in a vast ocean on a 12x12 spread. I used this size on the above layout, Future Scientist. I had three 4x6 photos I trimmed a bit of their backgrounds, and when I tried making this into a 12x12 spead, there was just too much open space. If one can feel agoraphobic about a layout, that was me. When I trimmed the papers down to 8.5x11, though, it all looked Just Right.

 

3. 12x18

I got the idea for doing this type of two-page layout from write. click. scrapbook., I believe from Jody Dent-Pruks? (Loyal readers, correct me if I'm wrong and you remember who it was!). My albums are American Crafts 3-ring binders, which mean I can fit all sorts of pages in them. Why not put a 12x12 page next to a 6x12 page? I use this spread rarely, but it's good when my photos are too tall for 8.5x11 but too narrow for 12x12, like I did on this page, Lego Club. I used basically two horizontal stacks of 4x6 collage photos across the pages, then added only one 4x6 vertical collage to the left, the perfect amount and size for a 12x18 spread.

 

4. 8x8 spread

This is my least used two-page layout. With 8x8, I've discovered I need to have only small photos (wallet size, for example) if I want several photos on the page, and since I tend to use a lot of photos on most of my pages, I tend not to gravitate toward this size. Still, There's something sweet and intimate about this size. It's like a page in miniature! This layout, Family Outings, I made for a Big Picture Classes class with Lisa Day a couple years ago called, This is Me. It was terrific, and I was assigned to use an 8x8 sized album, so I got some practice making 8x8 spreads.

 

Thanks for reading my first day of two-page layouts! Please share in the comments which size of two-page spreads you tend to use, especially if there's a size I haven't mentioned!

Welcome, April!

April is here and we're not fooling! We are so very excited that a new month is upon us. This month we are looking forward to Kelly, Lisa, Teacher's Appreciation preparation and Mother's Day preparation. We hope to inspire your spring pages, and help you get ready for the holidays ahead of us.

 

The first also brings us a

This month we are celebrating shapes: circles, triangles, hexagons, squares, stars. Whether the graphic elements be big or small, our pages love them all. Here is a look at our gallery as a whole!

And here are the pages one by one. Please click on over to the gallery to see them bigger, and read the journaling! 

That's it! We hope you have found a layout or two, or twenty, that will appeal to you and your scrapbooks! We look forward to seeing your "inspired by" layouts! And please let us know if you like the new cards.

Creativity is All Around You

Hi, it’s Aliza here this week to talk a little bit about creativity; that spark, that drive, that mojo that gets us writing and clicking and scrapbooking. Sometimes, the ideas and the creations are just pouring out, and projects get accomplished like lighting; Zam! Boom! Pow! Done and done. And sometimes it’s like running a marathon... actually I have no idea what that’s like. So let’s say it’s like folding laundry; it can be tedious, but it gets done by folding one piece of clothing at a time, slowly but surely.

There is creativity around us all the time in many different forms; Children playing, books we are reading, music in the background, and even in the technological products that we use every day.  

Look Around

I love capturing those bits of creativity around me in my photos and scrapbook pages, and I guess I have for a while, since some of these pages are quite old.

There are artists all around you. Some people create things that become part of our collective conscience, which is what I found so moving about visiting the home where a kid grew up, and had an idea for a comic book character that he called Superman.

 

Some artists make creations that bring people joy for just a short while. This guy didn't create anything that changed the world, but he worked hard, he had a vision, and he brought some smiles to people around him on the streets of New York City. The power to move people in that way...well, I call that art.

You Don't Have to Look Far

If you have kids, then you don't have to look far for people who spend their time creating. Some will do it with paint and glue, some with legos or blocks, and some with dolls, action figures, or just nothing but their own body pretending to be someone else. But no matter how they do it, so much of a young child's life is spent in creative endeavors.

Here's my own little super hero creator:

 

Though mostly he told stories with action figures.

 

Francine has several layouts that capture her son involved in some beautiful, messy, artwork:

Amy also has a layout about her daughter's love of art, and it tells the story behind this particular creation.

 

Capture the Aftermath

Sometimes it can be difficult to catch your child in the act of creating. Some of them move fast, and, can you believe it? Some of them don't want to be followed around by a camera?! Luckily, they often leave the remains of their play all over the place, long after they are done. 

 

 So, look around. What art, big and small, moves you? Take a moment to capture it in a picture, a layout, or in your Project Life pages. Take a look through your scrapbooks, and maybe you'll see that you've been capturing it all along.

In Review

Have you had a delightful month? We hope that you have learned much and giggled oft as you have spent your time with us each day. Have we mentioned lately how much we love our readers? Yes, you! We do love having you stop by. 

 

It's that time where we link arms and walk back through our gallery. We hope that you have your comfy shoes on! Let's begin...

 

1. record a trend. Lisa's One Direction layout could fit many of our children's albums right now. Have you taken a moment to record their current media crushes?
2. record something goofy. and then don't add lengthy journaling if it isn't needed. Jennie's layout is perfect with nothing but her title. High-lair-ee-us.
3. make a list of oft heard phrases. Sometimes we hear things so often that we can't imagine that they will one day fade from our memories. Feel free to ask your spouse for help like Diane did.
4. record a conversation line by line. Valerie smartly recorded the conversation and used stamps to help convey the speaker. Darling.
5. write from the heart. Go there. No matter how it hurts. You will be glad later. Christine's layout is proof enough.
6. make a list of the words your baby knows. And then write them out. And one day, scrapbook them, like Paula did!
7. record your tactics. Sarah's layout is a humorous retelling of her persuasion techniques. Too funny.
8. eavesdrop. and then write down what you hear. especially if you have two little people chatting together. You will giggle. Just like Erin did.

 

1. honest photos. Aliza's layout shows us just how fun in-the-moment photographs can be.
2. take a headshot. then pair it with something that you hear. Katie's layout shows us that the photo that you use doesn't need to have been taken at the moment of the conversation that you are recording.
3. hilarious moment recorded. Don't forget to take pictures of the crazy antics of your housemates. Chances are this photo will haunt Christa's daughter for years to come. Perfection!
4. conversation baby photos. You might need two of you for this one. While one engages the baby in a conversation, the other records it. These photos, like Keshet's will become treasures.
5. action shots. They are easy to take and fun to scrapbook. Just pick a few and get going like Jennie did.
6. take a screenshot of your texting convo. Amy's idea is fantastic! As is her layout!
7. take a photo at the beginning or end of an event that you cannot attend. Kelly's photo of her son coming home from camp helps tell the story even though she didn't get to be there the whole time.
8. let your conversation be your photo. Sometimes you don't need a photo. Sometimes you can find one. But don't let the lack of one stand in your way. Marnie didn't.

 

1. use an element unexpectedly. Look at how Aliza uses the polaroid frame with the attached sentiment. It sits empty in the lower right hand corner. Without framing a photo. Interesting...
2. find a small element that helps to tell your story. Like Celeste's car. Helps us to catch that this conversation took place in the car. In case you forget to read the title.
3. embellish with color. Jennifer does a great job with black and white photos, a grey background, and then all sorts of color pops in her embellishments. Perfect!
4. stamp a date with tiny little date stamps. Francine's round little bitty yellow numbers with the red dots in between are the perfect additions for both color and style. Lovely.
5. Christmas photos. Let Amy's layout be some inspiration for you to scrapbook your holiday photos.
6. Let conversation bubbles be your text boxes. Then you can add lots of journaling that is unrelated to each other. Just like Emily did.
7. use enamel dots to support your color story. Deb is a master. Learn from her.
8. edit your photos in an artistic manner to help with your story telling. Christine's layout is so much more fun with her oversized affected photos.

 

Thank you, again, for stopping by! We hope that these prompts will help you make better use of the gallery and all that it has to inspire!

Chatty Cathy

No that title does not refer to my long winded posts this week! Today we are talking about journaling conversations and quotes. I have always found this type of journaling so amusing. My boys say the funniest things sometimes. I have a hard time remembering to write them down so I can remember to scrap them though. Lately, I've been using Oh Life! each night to give a summary of my day. This helps with my Project Life pages and I also have been able to capture a few nuggets from our day including funny stories, quotes and conversations.

Today you are in luck. This month's gallery theme is Conversations that means you have a whole slew of fantastic layouts to garner some inspiration from. I thought I'd highlight a few of them here. Simply click on the image to go to the gallery for a more detailed view.

First up, here is my contribution to the gallery this month. A couple of interesting tips when writing conversations down. If you don't want to attribute each line to someone using NAME:, then you just need to make sure that you include the person that the line is directed to in the line of journaling. As well, I assigned different colors to each person which helps you follow the conversation.

I love how Valerie O'Neall used masks here to designate who is speaking each line of conversation.

Amy Coose offered up this page that has text conversations on it. I love this modern take on how we communicate!

I do have a few pages to share that are not in the gallery this month. First up, Francine Clouden sent me this darling page about her son talking on the phone.I love the series of photos of him on the phone.

I have a few pages that come from deep in my vault of layouts. The first is this page, Chabooska! A funny thing my son Sam used to say when he was 2. One thing I noticed when I look at my older pages is that scrapping simply means that my pages really don't feel dated at all. Look at that conversation bubble from 2006!

 

Next I have another funny from Sam. A little rude perhaps, but my husband is a good sport. We really had quite a chuckle about this. I think the extracted photos and the patterned background give this a cartoonish feeling.

 And so you don't think I only scrapbook using extractions, here's one about an overheard conversation.

And for our last download of the week...

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Today our download is from Snips & Snails Designs at One Story Down. Stephanne is an amazing designer and so prolific. She often creates a fabulous main kit and then offers a slew of really creative add-ons including paint splatters, alphas, and journal cards. Her kits are filled to the brim with everything you need to create the perfect page. She really does a great job including something for everyone. I never need to worry about finding a matching button or another item when I sit down to scrap with her kits. Please be sure to go check out her store and leave her a thank you on her blog!

If you scrap digitally, you should check out the matching kit to these journal cards, Wish You Were Here. It's chock full of fun travel themed items.

I created this page of my son fishing using it. It really is a fantastic kit. The map papers alone are just divine! But I digress...

Aliza Deutsch used the printable to scrap this funny "thing" her son said. Aliza kept that conversation on a scrap of paper and when she came across this photo she knew she had the perfect pairing. I think the photo of him wearing the helmet is hysterical and so fits the page! 

I hope you had as much fun as I did this week. Have fun playing with those freebies. A big thank you to the designers at One Story Down for donating their time and creativity to my week. Those ladies just rock!

Until next time,  

 

The Lost Art of Letter Writing

Letter writing is certainly a lost art. I can't remember the last time I sat down to write a letter. It's all email all the time for me. Letter writing is a great journaling jump start. It's really easy to write Dear Dad and then write your journaling and close with Love, Me. It allows you to get your thoughts down and helps keep the journaling personal and relevant. There is something about this format that helps me write about difficult topics.

Here I wrote a letter to my mother. She passed away in 2000 and she would have loved this get together last year. It was a great way to remember her and get my feelings out about who's missing from this photo.

And not to be forgotten, here is a difficult letter to my father about his cancer diagnosis and treatment. It's hard living so far away and not really understanding all that is going on.

My son was having a particularly tough month. I wrote him this letter that talked about some of the things that were going on and reminding him how much we love him! A monthly letter to your children is a great way to wrap up the month.

I couldn't resist scanning in this thank you card from my 11-year old son. I just love that he took the time to thank me for my help and the personal touch of his handwriting just adds so much to the page!

Our resident journaling queen, Amy Sorenson, uses the letter format to write a letter to her son about his relationship with his sister. I love that she reminds him that she'll be his sister forever. As always, Amy's journaling is poignant and full of great storytelling details.

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Aliza Deutsch writes an amusing letter to her sons about her crazy photo taking habit! She explains the way in which it helps her to see beauty in the world around her.

Here Aliza writes a tongue in cheek letter to the love of her life, her iPod!

 And lastly, Aliza writes a love letter to a favorite eatery, hoping to meet again.

Today's journal cards are letter themed and come to you from Kim at Two More Days at One Story Down. I love the postage stamp theme and the air mail border! A great way to add some journaling to a page or Project Life spread! Kim is new to One Story Down and I'm falling in love with her graphic papers and adorable embellishments. Please stop by Kim's store or her blog and say hello!

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Lisa Ottosson took up the challenge and used two of these cards to write a letter to herself! A fantastic way to journal a bit about yourself. You could even write a letter to a past self or a future self for a fun twist!

Happy Valentine's Day! Maybe you can write a little letter to your sweetie tonight. Be back tomorrow for my last day!

Take care,

List It

I'm an inveterate list maker. I can not survive without lists. They really keep me organized and help me remember what I need to do. I love using lists on scrapbook pages too. I was surprised when I went through my pages to find over 20 pages with lists on them! It was hard to narrow it down. I use lists in a variety of ways in my scrapbooking. I've done top ten lists, lists of books, lists of chores, lists of birthdays, a list of the things we've done in a month or a year, and even lists of names I call my kitty!

 

Lists are just an easy way to get some journaling down without having to labor over paragraphs and grammar! It's easy to write out ten ways you love your son for instance...

or a list of favorite events for each month of the past year...

or even a bucket lists full of things you'd like to do!

Lisa Ottoson shared this list of what is making her happy right now...

Christine Newman shares these two layouts. The first a list of reasons that she loves her husband.

The second a list of things she loved in January. What a great way to do a monthly round up!

Erin Sweeney created this fabulous graphic page that lists five of each of her children's current activities. I love how she used a grid here but broke it up with a variety of sizes.

Lists are central to today's freebie download as well. Nerdy Scrapper Studios at One Story Down created these cute list journaling cards just for you.

 

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Shinta's designs are heavily influenced by her drawings and doodles. She incorporates them into her kits and her papers designs. Her kits are full of whimsy and so unique. Be sure to stop by her blog and check out her store for more cute goodies!

I used the To Do list card in the pack, to document five things that I do everyday. I love how whimsical and handdrawn the card looks.

If you head on over to One Story Down's Facebook page, they are having a Valentine's Facebook hop with loads of free digital goodies. Be sure to click on each name in the LIST! Worth checking out!

Until tomorrow...

 

It's My Favorite

Today I'm talking about favorites, everyone has them right? Favorite books, movies, tv shows, food...the list is endless. Capturing favorites over time is a great way to see how you and your family are changing. When I asked Sam at three what his favorite TV show was, he most likely would have said Barney. Now it's Adventuretime! One awesome part about doing layouts about favorites, you can use photos of the your subject or you can capture the actual images of the favorites with your camera or using stock photography! You can also just focus on one of your favorites right now.

 Here I simply listed six of my favorites and added a photo to represent each one. 

 

For this layout, I compared and contrasted my boys favorites.

 

And this layout highlights one of my favorite Christmas gifts...

Lisa Ottosson contributed a couple pages of her and her daughter's favorites. A little more inspiration for you! We all take pictures of flowers, what a great photo to put on a page about what makes us happy.

I love that she had her daughter use her own handwriting on this page. It really warms up the page and it such a great idea!

 

Francine Clouden included four of her son's everyday favorites on to this page. I love how she accompanies each of them with an interesting photo!

And here is another printable for you!

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Today's download comes to you from Roadside Designs at One Story Down. Suzanne's store is filled with clean templates, fantastic journaling cards, and some really amazing kits. Be sure to go and check out her store & blog. I'm sure she'd love for you to say hello!

Francine used the journal cards to make this fantastic layout about her scrapbook loves. Isn't the stitching she did over the heart just incredible? I had to include the close up shot so you could see the detail!

See ya tomorrow!

Ask & You Shall Receive

Hi there! It's Celeste back again for another week of blogging. This week I've decided to tackle a few jump start ideas for journaling on pages. Sometimes I seem to have loads of photos that don't really tell a story, but I want them in my books with some meaningful journaling. Hopefully you'll gain some ideas for future pages. I'll be sharing layouts from the team and have a few downloadable freebies to share. So let's get started.

Interviews are a great way to learn more about your subject. An interesting idea would be to ask the same set of questions over time. Maybe on a birthday or New Year's or at the beginning of the school year. The questions will really tell a lot about your subject's interests as time goes by.

But where to get lists of questions? I find that if you ask on your favorite forum there is invariably someone who chimes in with a list or page they've created. I've used the sites below before as well.

Back to School Interview

New Year's Family Interview

Memory Jar Prompts

New Year's Questionnaire

Birthday Interview Questionnaire

Half Birthday Interview

I used a combination of prompts from the sites above to create a couple of Q&A type pages. The first of my son...

 

And the second about my niece. I actually called her on the phone and asked her the questions!

 

Paula Gilarde asked her kids a series of questions. Some of their answers will make you go AWWW!

 

Another thing you can do is expand on just one answer and create a page around that. You could even put together a whole mini-album using the answers.When asked what his favorite book was, my son regularly answered the Percy Jackson series. I knew I had to devote a whole page to this in my books and the result was this page.

I promised freebies, didn't I?

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This week five designers from One Story Down have generously provided downloadable journaling cards that you can use digitally or print to jump start your journaling on a page! Today's designer is Kathryn from the Edits. Kathryn not only designs fabulous digital scrapbooking products, she is a fabulous photographer who also has come up with some amazing actions and other tools to make your photos just pop. Be sure to check out her store!

I tasked the lovely ladies from the write. click. scrapbook. team to use these cards this week on a page. Paula Gilarde used the cards in her Project Life album. I always seem to come up a photo or two short each week. An interview is a fabulous way to fill one or two of the blocks on your spread!

I'll be back tomorrow with another idea for you! Until then, happy scrappin'...