Write. Click. Scrapbook.

Love week | Day 1

Hi there! Lisa O here for a whole week of blogging! I am going to talk about love :) that is one of my favorite words! Anyway, as Valentine`s Day is coming up next week, I thought I would just share lots of ideas around that theme.

First, I am well aware of that not everyone celebrates Love day (I am married to one!), but as I have thought about it throught the years, I want to do something special on that day. And I hope that I can inspire you to make something cute anyway!

 

I am going to share crafts, printables, decor ideas and a few layout ideas.

Well, let's get started! 

Ok, I had these mini embroidery hoops that I picked up at the thrift store. I removed the embroidery that was there when I bought them and just sat there for a minute or two...what should I do with them? I thought. Then I went to bed. Ha ha! Sometimes inspiration is MIA when you need it the most isn´t it?! But, when I woke up the next morning I remembered a scrap of fabric a friend send me a while ago. I decided to make 3 simple wall art pieces using that fabric.

I added the red fabric to 2 of the hoops and chose a white fabric to go in the third. I then stamped, using one of my paper stamps, onto the red fabric + one that I cut out and adhered to the white fabric. For some variety I handsewed a button to one of the hoops. Voila, a simple decor idea! 

 

A few weeks ago I went on a walk down the beach and as usual my pockets were filled with rocks I just had to take home :) I also came across a few pieces of driftwood. I used one to make a wall decoration. First I added letter stickers to the driftwood. 

 

I then painted over the letters with black paint. I could ofcourse go with red or pink or whatever color, but I thought that black would be a cool contrast to the wood.

 When the paint was dry I peeled the stickers of.

I am sorry for the horrible picture, but I just couldn´t get a better one :(

 

Our new collective member Diane Payne shared this lovely and simple decor!

 

For the next project I pulled out my sewing machine. I punched old bookpages with my scalloped circle punch and some various red-ish patterned paper with a small heart punch. I then simply sewed everything together one string at the time. Last year I made this with hearts I had cut by hand from old books and I didn´t take that down until the Christmas decorations went up :)

 

In 2010 I made this shadowbox as a weddinggift for a dear,dear friend. I began with painting the actual shadowbox white and then added pink accents as their color was pink. I also trimmed a few photos to add to some of the boxes. I love how it turned out. You could make a smaller version, a family version or maybe do one with embellishment and words for Valentine´s Day.

 

And here is a fun little poster that you can Download and print for yourself! (Note, I know about the typo in the instructions for this pdf! sorry!) I have made this using digital goodies from Crystal Wilkerson! She is awesome! I hope that you enjoy this!

Idea: print this put much smaller and add to your scrapboooking layouts and even your Project Life. 

See you tomorrow!

Welcome, February!

Our new gallery is live! The theme this month is Music. Please enjoy the layouts. And we would love to hear from you if you love them!

 

Sadly, we say goodbye to Clouds. Her clean and simple, yet artistic style will be missed. Thank you for all the technique tips, Clouds! We wish you the best.

Happily, we have two new members of the family! The adoption papers are in and it is official! Please put your hands together and welcome, Diane Payne and Emily Spahn.

We are so very excited to have them in our write. click. scrapbook. family and are thrilled for you to get to know them more. Their pages are happy, colorful, thoughtful, and incredibly well-designed. We feel very lucky to have them!! Please leave them a quick hello and then race off to check out their bio pages and to see their work in our gallery!

Thank you for stopping by! February may only have 29 days but it will be jam-packed with love and inspiration so please stop by each and every day!!

write.

Hello, and welcome to January's write. Saturday!

One thing I love about creativity prompts is how they can take people in such different directions. This month's gallery theme was "today" and when I browsed through it, I was seriously amazed at how we each put our own unique spin on it. From Karen's writing about a small moment with her son to Christa's journaling about her upcoming grand adventures—and everything in between!—it's inspiring to see all the places a little word like "today" can take us.

Another useful thing about using one idea to create more is how the original idea helps you do something you might not otherwise have done. Today's journaling prompts hopefully will help you do exactly that: journal about something you've been meaning to write down but haven't yet. They're each inspired by a layout from the January gallery.

 

One Vacation Moment

I don't know about you, but when I write the journaling for vacation photos, I tend to take a long time. There is so much to tell! Rather than trying to cram all the stories into just one layout, get specific.  Write about one small moment within the scope of an entire vacation. It might be the magical moment, the experience you knew while it was happening would be the one that made all the pre-vacation stress worth it. Or maybe it's something you remember, looking back. You might not even have a photo of the moment—and that's okay! Write the journaling, then find a photo that fits well enough.

Ann did this in her Today She is a Princess layout. Think about all the experiences you have at Disneyland—yet this moment with her daughter had to be better than anything else. (Even, I'll bet, Space Mountain!) In a decade or two, Kira might not remember anything else from the trip—but this is unforgettable!

Marnie and I both used this "one moment" idea to create our layouts.

When my family was last in California, we took our kids on a whale-sighting cruise. I didn't get the fabulous photos I was hoping for, and my camera battery actually died, but the words help me tell the story anyway!

 

Marnie also took one moment from a recent vacation and let it be the reason for this layout.

Everyday Messes

Documenting the everyday details of our lives is one of the best thing about scrapbooking. Your perspective on those little details changes when you make a layout about them. Write about one of the little piles or messes you usually find around your house. Think about both where the mess comes from and how you feel about it.

Donna's These Days captures the pile of shoes, helmets, and jackets that are the evidence of happy childhood hours. A house with such a pile is an exuberant, child-filled home! What do your home's messes reveal about you?

Celeste played along with this prompt. She focused on one little mess: shoes. I love this layout because it reminds me that the shoe mess is universal!

In my messy layout, I focused on my three hot spots—the places in my house that always accumulate clutter. (I hope I'm not the only one who has those!) But I also pushed a little bit to think about what those hot spots say about me and how I really feel about clutter in the first place.

 

Dramatic Weather

The goings-on of the great outdoors is something that's easily overlooked in our layouts—until the weather grabs your attention. It's when a storms surprise us, derail our plans, or cause unexpected damage, great stories are made.

Celeste's Today layout documents the aftermath of Storm Alfred this fall. All those fallen branches! Can you think of a weather-related story (it doesn't have to be as dramatic) you've never told before?

Last year, we were hit with five inches of wet, heavy snow—on May 24! It was incredible. I'd already blogged about the damage, but I realized I'd never told the story for my son Kaleb, who was with me when the damaged branches came crashing down. It's his story, too, and I'm glad to get it told!

 

......................................................................

Isn't it fun to see how one little word, "today," generated such a variety of topics! I hope one (or all!) of these prompts will get you thinking in new directions. To recap, here are our journaling challenges:

As you ease back into your everyday, January routines, I hope you'll find some time to write a few stories you haven't before. We'd love to see the results!

2011 Highlights!

As the year draws to a close, we are grateful for a year filled with new additions, a new look, and new features. We hope that you have loved everything we have created for you! As a finale for the year, we brought back a few fan favorites!

What a terrific year it has been. We can only imagine what next year will bring... Thank you, dear readers, for being here every step of the way!

Then & Now

Greetings from snowy Montreal! Ann here, blogging from my mother's house where we are visiting my family after spending three blissful weeks in Florida with Mickey and all the princesses. It was our 2nd trip as a family of four so I made a point of re-creating many of the same pictures that we took during our previous trip. As a result, I have a plethora of Then/Now pictures that really show how my kids have changed in the last 4 years.

My favourite one of those is the Santa picture from the American pavilion at Epcot. I used the picture from 2007 and the one from 2011 to create my yearly Santa picture page. I cannot see many changes in Santa and Mrs. Claus but my kids sure have grown!

After creating this page, I came up with a few additional ideas for holiday themed Then/Now pages:

• Christmas pajamas: my kids get a new matching pair every year, it would be fun to look back and see all of the different ones from years past.
• Letters to Santa: would it be great to see how their handwriting evolved and what they asked Santa to bring each year? 
• Christmas cards: each year I create a digital Christmas card that I print to send to family and friends. I can already picture a layout showcasing all of these cards!

I have tried many times to complete a December Daily album and am not ashamed to admit that I failed miserably every time. However, this Then/Now theme is giving me hope. Yes indeed, perhaps there is hope for this mini-album challenged gal ;) Hum....wheels are turning, gotta get scrapping!

write. click. scrapbook!

This is the Saturday where we get to put it all together. While you may not have had time yet to do your play along layout, I couldn't resist Donna's sketch, and Crystal's new kit, so I carved out a few precious moments and put one together. I opted for a bokeh photo and a childhood memory to round out the challenges.

Thanks for stopping by. Now go finish shopping! teehee!!

Merry everything and happy always!

give.away.day. featuring PENNY SPRINGMANN DESIGNS

Today we have a real holiday treat for you our dear readers! We are please to present

with Penny Springmann. Penny Springmann is a self-taught digital scrapbooking designer living in the mid-south with her husband of 15 years, 2 wild and crazy sons (8 and 7), and a brindled mutt, Gary the girl. When she’s not designing, Penny enjoys reading, running, hiking, playing, shopping, and cooking.

Penny began digital scrapbooking in 2003. From the beginning she created her own brushes, backgrounds and elements since there really wasn’t much out there in terms of product and she enjoyed tinkering in Photoshop. However, Penny didn’t begin selling her designs until spring of 2006. Currently, her designs are sold at My Digital Stash and Sweet Shoppe Designs. You can find Penny's blog on her site pennyspringmann.com

Penny's favorite product is actually a line of products, her 12 Month Collection. This collection has grown each month in 2011. The collection consists of a massive neutral base kit that is supplemented by individual month kits throughout the year. In addition, each month also includes  4 12×12″ coordinating templates to scrap the month’s photographs. This collection is perfect for scrapping  P52 or P12 or everyday scrapping, you don't want to miss this kit!

Look what the write.click.scrapbook team members did with the 12 Months: January kit!

Marvelous Marnie Flores created this sweet layout of Poppy waiting for the bus during the first snowfall. The fun snowflakes and curvy alphas really make this page pop!

And the pink in this kit really spoke to Marnie. She couldn't resist scrapping this great photo!

Sensational Celeste Smith set out to show that this kit is indeed a "boy" kit too! She created this lovely page using a template. A quick way to get your mojo flowing!

Sweet Penny is so unbelievably generous! Today she is giving away a treat for every single one of you! She put together a lovely word art kit for free for you!!! Just double click the image to begin the download.

This word art kit is perfect for sending a New Year's card or adding a title or element to a digital or hybrid layout. Our own, magnificent Monika Wright made this adorable New Years' card. Such a clever use of the countdown numbers in the free kit from Penny!

Amazing Amy Sorenson created this fabulous page that uses the word art as part of her fun title!

Last but not least, Penny is giving TWO lucky readers a ten dollar gift card each to her store! So head on over to her store and take a peek around, come back here and tell us what you would choose. Comments will remain open through tonight. Two lucky numbers will be posted tomorrow. Please remember to claim your lucky number before Saturday at midnight. Good luck and happy crafting!

scrapbook!

Gallery Walk

I have the pleasure of loading the gallery each month, which means I get sneak peeks of all the layouts as they come in. And then I get to spend some time with each project as I post it and edit the materials' lists. But even still, when I pull open the gallery as a whole, my knees swoon, just a bit.

Like every month, there is something in each project that catches my eye. Let's go in order of appearance.

Lisa's canvas: First, I love red polkadots. And tiny ones remind me of my favorite swiss dot dress when I was little. But my favorite part is Lisa's ingenuity in decorating a stamped doily. I would have been tempted to buy an actual doily, which would not have had the same simple glory that Lisa's stamped doily attains.

Aly's layout: Such a brilliant use of cards. I love how some of the circles are names, others photos, other designs. I think the mixture provides such good balance. And helps us to see how eclectic gatherings help tell stories.

Christa's layout: My favorite part of Christa's layout is how she used border punched paper to create shelves for her pictures. This subtle tie in to her subject unifies her story and photos and design. So clever.

Aly's layout: First, the pictures are perfect. I have had three small children and this very same situation, but never thought to bend down and snap a picture of the ornaments on the floor, or the giant grin of the culprit. Times like this I remember how important it is to visit our site often for reminders of all those photos we don't want to miss!! (Such a shameless plug!! teehee!!) Second, did you notice Aly's use of the photo corners? A quiet means of defining the photos as a whole.

Celeste's layout: One of Celeste's greatest strengths is her design strength. She flexed her muscles for us again this month. Notice how everything about her layout is linear: the squares, the even spaces, the white space. And then, there's the photo. Tilted just so. Thereby drawing our eye in. And with tilt, the ninja's eyes become horizontally even with the squares, thereby providing one more bit of balance and symmetry.

Aly's layout: Did you read the journaling? It talks about a moment of quiet. I find most of my quiet holiday moments are spent staring at the lights on my tree. I feel a layout coming on!

Lisa's layout: Aside from the scrapbooking side of things, I might need some of those cookies!! hee hee. Lisa has such a way with her photos. (My favorite might be the kitty next to the elf!!) It's not just the photos she takes, but her angles, her lighting, and the details. Oh, the details.

Christa's layout: First, do you see how unseasonal the colors in this layout are? Not very Christmas-y,but really lovely all the same. And can you spot the triangle? The bottom of visual triangle is the left hand side of the layout (top to bottom). The apex of the triangle is the photo of Jed. This triangle wouldn't work without the tape at the bottom of the page in the lower left hand corner. Cover it up, for just a moment, and evaluate the difference. See? I told you Christa was clever!!

Kelly's book: I love the idea of a page or two representing each year of celebrations. I have made similar birthday books, but never thought to do it for Christmas. This is so very smart. And how fun to look at each year as it grows. Thank you, Kelly, for such a terrific idea!

Keshet's layout: Oh, food shots! What's not to love? I have taken photos of the neighbors' and teachers' treats in the past, but rarely seem to get them on a layout. I love how Keshet's layout show a close-up photo and then one in full packaging. Perfect.

Paula's layout: Paula's photo grouping is just perfect. And did you know that you can have this too? She used a digital photo cluster to put it together. These can be used for paper layouts, too by adding your photos, printing it out, and then trimming the edges. Adding the notation on the bottom of the photos makes it even more purposeful. And the layers on the title? Lovely.

Cheryl's ornament: Only Cheryl could transform a dollar store ugly plaque into this darling little creation.

Cheryl's plate: Or a plate into this? And if you try this at home, be sure to add shadows to the layers so that you can tell who is in front. It's the same as if you were using stickers. One on top, one below.

Francine's layout: The title is terrific and tell so much of the story. Good titles are so effective. I have been keeping track of the books we have checked out of the library on Pinterest and I know that a layout like this will be a perfect capture of our visual list! Something I love about Francine's layout is how the title is big and bold, and the flourish is big and bold, and the photos are just so tiny.

Lisa's layout: I love this one for its content. Have you a similar book? A place where you keep all your ideas together? Have you thought to photograph it and add it to your scrapbook? These items that make up our world are so fleeting. And yet, so basic for us. Perhaps you could look around your life and see if there's something you do often that hasn't yet made your scrapbooks!

Lisa's layout: Did you notice the texture of the blue ribbon beneath the photo? and how the ribbon isn't completely adhered, thus providing even more texture? The velvety softness adds to the warm glow of the lights. And again, Lisa's photos are well-composed so that the twinkle lights glow softly.

Marie's layout: The visual triangle on this layout is more like a pyramid, coming up and out of the paper. The stacked layers make the photo rise up and out of the page, catching your eye before anything else. And Marie was right on target in getting down level with the baby to shoot the photo at the appropriate perspective.

Monika's layout: Monika's design is one of my go-to designs. It works seamlessly for horizontal 4x6 photos. I probably have more than 20 layouts with nearly the same design. And, no, that's not lazy, just practical!! Further, did you notice the woodgrain tape? So hip!

Emily's layout: For a layout about a santa collection, Emily's layout is remarkably and delightfully void of santas. Rather, the title is the story and the photo is the evidence. The trees prove the season and the colors lend a cheer. Especially helpful with a black and white photo. And have I mentioned how real Emily's pages seem? And always have a twist of wry humor.

Donna's layout: Donna chose to use two patterned papers as her backdrop, though not in equal proportion. When she added her photographs, she put the narrow photo on the wider pattern, and the wider photo on the narrower strip. This slight adjustment creates flow from the vertical base of the visual triangle (the left hand side of the layout) up and through the triangle to the middle of the page on the right side. With the edge of the landscape photo crossing over onto the patterned paper on the left, the layout becomes cohesive and level.

Amy's layout: This is a wonderful reminder to get our memories on paper even if it means we must wait for the photo. And if you know what size it will be, you can create an whole layout and even place it in the proper album. Who said layouts need photos?

Amy's layout: Being a fontophile and a stickerphile, I have always wanted to create a layout like this, but have never been able to determine how to do it. Now I know who I can ask! I love the boxes and how she hand drew them. And I wish we lived close enough to visit my mom and help her decorate!!

Alexandra's tags: Such a clever way of documenting our homes. Tags relieve the pressure of having a particular number of items and are fun little canvases to decorate. And once we get some snow or put up some lights, I am totally taking Alex's suggestion to document our outside homes.

Thank you for going gallery walking with me. I hope it was helpful to evaluate the little things that make the layouts work so well.

 

Saturday Sketch

This week you have a chance to recreate Donna's layout. She put together a sketch for you that is also downloadable as a layered template. Enjoy!

Thank you, Donna! From all of us!

 

Printable

School ended for us yesterday. Which means Thursday was spent elbow deep in white chocolate popcorn. Having 16 teacher gifts to put together, I thought it might be easiest to print tags. So I made tags.

In case you need them ...

... you may download them here.

 

Thank you for stopping by and spending some time with us! We appreciate you and hope you are doing well on your holiday preparations. Next week will be filled with more December Dailies. Can't wait to see you here!

Favorite Quotes Calendar

Hi there, it's Celeste sporting a new 'do! Calendars make great gifts for friends and family. This year I put together a printable calendar base for you that you can display in an empty CD case. Please download the file at this link. The file includes blank printable PDFs for each month of 2012. As well, I’ve included digital templates so you can make a calendar like the one I did or use them as a starting point for your own creation. I also created a PNG file of digital stamps for each month. You can use these and create any size calendar you’d like!

For my calendar, I decided to collect some of my favorite quotes and share them with my friends and family. I chose the Quatrefoil #2 Paper Pack and Spring/Summer Labels element pack from our dear friend Crystal Wilkerson. Lucky for me Crystal included 12 different colors in the pack, perfect for my calendar! I simply added paper to the tops of my bases and then a label. Using the font Rockwell, I added my quote on top of the label. Easy peasy!

By creating my calendar digitally, I can print out a slew of them to give to relatives and friends. Here's my calendar in its CD holder. If you wish to display your calendar like I did, you'll need to find an old CD case you no longer need or buy some new empty ones. Follow these directions to create the CD case holder for your calendar. You could also purchase magnetic clips from Staples so that the calendar can hang on the fridge.

I shared my calendar templates with Monika Wright. She created these fabulous 4x6 calendars and is sharing three amazing display options.

January shows the calendar embellished with some baker's twine from The Twinery and attached with cute mini clothespins. February has the calendar inserted into an inexpensive frame, this one from IKEA and embellished with ribbon...and you know you have plenty of ribbon in your stash to change out the ribbon to match each month's featured color! And for March, shop your paper scraps, adhere a bit to the top of the calendar and display on a small easel, this one from the Dollar Tree. In the extra space, jot down any important dates that you don't want to forget.

If you'd like to use these free downloads for your own office space or craft room, Monika has made them available on her blog, and will have the next quarter's calendar downloads available mid-March.

 

Cheryl Overton made a calendar using the digital template. I love how she used the artisan shapes as spaces for her photos. Her calendar is amazing!

Marnie Flores made a wall calendar incorporating all twelve months onto one poster. She created 12 boxes for photographs from each month of this past year. Marnie created her poster in a 16x20 size for her kitchen, and then had two extra printed in 8x10 as a little Christmas extra for the grandmas!!

If you make a calendar, be sure to share it with us in the Flickr gallery. Happy Holidays!

Welcome, December! & give.away.day. featuring OCTOBER AFTERNOON

This month we wanted to celebrate the love and effort that we take decorating our homes for the holidays. No matter what the celebration, it seems there is always room for a little festivity!! (Or a lot, hee hee!!) Sit back, relax, and enjoy peering into our Holiday Homes.

 

 

December is here and we are thrilled to announce the return of our daily posting schedule! Much like our summer months, each day will feature a new author and a new topic. Our team is thrilled to inspire your December to be filled with paper crafting, scrapbooking, and photography. So, while the weather outside may be frightful, our site will be delightful...

 

 

But, wait, today is Thursday. And you know what that means...

To celebrate the start of December and the holiday season, we're kicking things off with an exciting give.away.day. We know that many of you are working on winter or holiday projects and would love to add to your stash of winter- and holiday-themed products, so...without further ado...we bring you October Afternoon's Holiday Style collection!

If you haven't already clicked on the link or the images above to get a closer look, the Holiday Style line features twelve double-sided patterned papers and a large variety of embellishments certain to add holiday style (get it? :)) to all of your projects. With the mix of patterns and products in this collection you'll have lots of opportunities to document your favorite memories of winters and holidays past and present and will have lots of bits leftover for cards, gift tags, etc.

Here's a layout Vivian created using die cut embellishments from the Flower Sack (clever Vivian cut them in half to stretch them!) as well as Word Stickers and Little Flyers.

An added bonus today: check out today's post on the October Afternoon blog to see the sketch upon which this layout was based.

October Afternoon is really close to having 10,000 followers on Facebook. If you haven't already headed over there to like them, please do so and let them know that you were sent there by Write. Click. Scrapbook. A little birdie told me that there might be a prize or two or more when the magic number appears.

Interested in a chance to win Holiday Style? I thought so. Go ahead and leave a comment on this post telling us what is your holiday style. Comments will remain open through tonight. One lucky number will be posted tomorrow. Please remember to claim your lucky number before Saturday at midnight.

 

 

 

Before you go, we have some sad news. Beth, Melissa, and Marcy are leaving us. I have worked with Beth since 2006 and I can't imagine my scrapbook life not including her. Not one bit. Beth is not only a fantastic designer but also an amazing woman, friend, and mother. Melissa has been with us since we launched. I first noticed her name attached to a layout with tiny footprints. It was love at first sight!! And I carry her camera strap on my camera so I will have an excuse to think of her everyday! And Marcy, my fellow Canadian, is leaving far too soon. Her pages are top notch. We are sad we won't have a chance to get to know her more. But also know that we will see her often. Happily so! We will miss you all and look forward to stalking your blogs to keep up!

 

 

That's it! Don't forget to pour over the new gallery, to visit October Afternoon, to return to leave your comment, and to include a heartfelt goodbye to Beth, Melissa, and Marcy. What a day! What a month! December is going to be awesome!