Write. Click. Scrapbook.

Digging Deeper Day 3

Today I am sharing two examples on how I have used a story in my Project Life album and made scrapbook pages with them. But first I want to show you what Celeste shared with me.

 

She says: Here is week 12 of this year and here is a layout that expands on one of the photos.

I have tons of examples. I tend to include a photo and a sentence in my project life album then elaborate later.

Here is a photo of a page in her PL album. She chose to highlight the story in the upper right corner, like so.

Awesome, right?!

 

 

Here is a look at my 14th week of PL this year. In the following layout I took the story about how I love that I could plant some seeds and that they already sprouted (down in the right corner).

 

Saved my Instagram photo to my computer and simply printed the photo after sizing them in Word. 

 

Gardening is a very big deal for me so it is clear that I will take every opportunity to include stories about that!

This one is an insert I made to hold a few more stories in my PL album for week 14. (Yes, this is the same insert as I showed Monday!) This was the week when my new love got up super early, made me breakfast, walked me to work (at 6.15 am) and we found a heart on the ground :) Turns out he would do that more than once that week!

I really wanted to make a layout that recorded what kind of man I think he is. Our relationship is new and I love the thought of me going back and read about my feelings later.

 

Ok, that is it for today! Be sure to come back tomorrow for an awesome giveaway that has something to do with my theme for the week!

 

 Lisa O

Digging Deeper Day 2

Hi there! Did yesterday's post inspire you to look through your own Project Life album and see stories that needs to be recorded a little deeper or just one that needs its own scrapbook page? I hope so!

I will continue to show you a few examples on this theme today.

I turned 34 in February (and by the way I totally claimed to be 33 in March still!) and I had a few of my favorite people with me for the entire weekend.

It made it into the PL spread for that week. In there I told more the story of that weekend, but I usually make layouts each year to capture more of who I am right then. 

On this layout I shared about how I thought this year was going to pretty much suck (I am going through a divorce) and that I didn't have high hopes of a happy birthday, but that life moves quickly and in happy ways sometimes :)

I think it would be awesome to make an extra insert in your PL album whenever you or a loved one celebrates a new year of life and just jot down somethings about them that tells the story of them right now! 

Christine shared a page she did with inspiration from this PL spread in her album.

She says: I went to an Amy Tan class at my local scrapbook store last year on Week 21. I loved learning and scrapbooking with other women. I made a page at the class that was inspired by that love of crafting.

This is a perfect example of how the story doesn't have to be the same both in the PL and in the scrapbook page you do.

My daughter has a best friend that she has known since they were 2 years old. I printed a photo collage she made with photos of a day they spent together and quickly added a few words about that day in my PL spread. That sparked me to make a layout about their friendship.

One thought that has come up while I was writing these posts is that this has been such a good lesson for me. I feel like I have recorded memories, stories and relationships that I hadn't done before.

At one point a few years ago I said to myself, I am done. I am all caught up on scrapbooking. And while I still think that it was true at the time, I feel like I learn something all the time and my scrapbooking has changed through the years. At first I made pages and pages just to be able to have something to show. Next I did it as a kind of therapy and those pages were focused on me and our everyday life. I believe that it was during 2012 it changed for me. Changed is perhaps the wrong word, evolved is a better way of putting it. I lost both my grandparents during last year and while it was hard times, it got me thinking of all the things I would have wanted to know about them and how lucky I was to be able to hold my grandmothers hand while she passed. I went home that night and wrote everything down, the events that led up to her last breath and my feelings. I am so grateful I did. I will forever know that story because it is written down! Perhaps I would either way, but I am sure the details would fade. 

Do you have stories of your childhood friends? Like detailed stories of how you met and hung out? I don´t, but I love the fact that my daughter now will. 

The Project Life way to record our lives has helped me see the small everyday stories, but has also sparked some really interesting thoughts about what I (since it´s me making the spreads) choose to see as valuable to memorykeep. I, of course love both the smaller, shorter stories and the longer ones that come out of them!

 

Stepping down from the soapbox now ;)

Go do some memorykeeping!

 

Lisa O

Gossamer Blue Mini Album Day #2

Hi Everyone! Christine here to show you what I made with the awesome March main kit from Gossamer Blue! I was so excited when I found out that we were making mini albums with a kit. I’ve subscribed to scrapbooking kits in the past, but always felt bad when I couldn’t use up the whole kit every month. I knew that I would use most of the kit up making the mini album, and that gave me a great sense of accomplishment!

 

 

The best thing about using the Gossamer Blue kit to put together my mini album is that I didn’t have to spend a lot of time worrying about which products to use. All the papers and embellishments were coordinated and chosen already. That meant that I could go right into creating, which is such a HUGE time-saver!

I decided to make a bound-book with my Bind-It-All. I’ve had my Bind-It-All for a few months, but was too scared to use it yet. I was intimidated by it!

Thankfully, I found an awesome tutorial by my Write.Click.Scrapbook. teammate Francine Clouden. Francine de-mystified the Bind-It-All for me and I was able to successfully bind my mini album the first time I tried it! Thanks Francine!

I decided to make a mini album of my favorite things this year. “Things” is pretty loose, as it will include things like hanging out with friends. Instead of putting the title of my mini album on the outside cover, I decided to use the first page on the inside instead. That way the embellishments are protected inside the cover and won’t fall off.

 

I had some shipping tags on hand, so I included a few of them, bound into my album. I used it here for my title. I got to go to CHA in January, where I met many scrapbooking friends, including a couple of my WCS teammates Deb Duty and Jenny Larson!

I used my Silhouette digital cutter to cut “FRIENDS” out of my page before binding my book. I sewed a piece of paper on the other side to make a pocket. This way, the patterned paper shows up to fill the “FRIENDS” cut out!

 

This page documents how much I love my Raskog cart from IKEA. I use it to organize all my Project Life supplies.

 

One of my favorite things is my new iPhone, and the case I got for it that looks like a Polaroid Land camera!

 

Spending time with one of my best friends is my favorite. I used my Silhouette to cut out “ENJOY” before binding the book, similar to what I did with “FRIENDS” above.

 

The other side of the “ENJOY” cutout has a sewn pocket.

 

My brave husband and his sister completed the Tough Mudder race.

 

I have a few blank pages left, where I can add in more “favorite things” this year as they happen. I really love my bound mini-album, and I loved putting it together using the Gossamer Blue kit! It really made the project much easier and faster to tackle. And that, my friends, is a good thing! :)

Click.

 

I don´t know about you, but I am sure ready for some color and happy things happening now after the long month of January. Why is it that I always think that January is the longest month of the year?! I thought I would give you some inspiration on how to take some photos of things or people for that matter, that makes you happy.

I have sets at Flickr that are called Happy things (insert year here). In those sets I include many random photos that makes me happy for some reason. It can be because that person makes me happy or in the example above, I was so amazed and happy about our giant rhubarbs!

I often turn to photography when I am feeling down. Setting out on a mission to find things that makes me feel better. I find comfort in going outside and I open my eyes to the magic that is nature. Some times I find things that is obvious like the sky or a view.

I used some of my wandering photos on this layout. 

But sometimes my eye catches something small or something that needs me to crouch down in the wet grass to be able to capture it. And let me tell you, getting a little wet to get that photo is so worth it!

Other times I go on a hunt for happy things around the house. It can be a peek trough a window, a shelf, the sun shining into the livingroom or simply a clean table.

Jennifer made a page about her beloved iPhone :) 

See, small things can make us happy!

Francine send me this layout and I love the photos!

 

The lovely smiles in Erins layout makes me happy! 

 

 I hope that this post sparks you to look around you and capture what makes you happy right now!

 

 

 

Flair

Hello! Welcome to the final day in embellishment week. Today I'm going to share ideas for using one of the hottest embellishment in the scrapbooking industry right now...flair! 

Flair is fabulous on layouts, but it can be used for so much more. Let's take a look!

 

Flair on Layouts

Besides the obvious of using flair as a decorative element, why not use it for part of the title in your layout. That is exactly what I did on my layout for the January gallery. Take a look at your word flair and see if you can incorporate a piece into your next title.  

How about using word flair as journaling prompts. I had a full set of flair that I used on one layout to record my current thoughts and activities...all 8 of them on one page. I'm going to enjoy taking a look back at this some day to see how I answered all those prompts.

There are many arrow flair designs and they are fun and easy to use. Try using it to direct your eye to a title, a little detail, or a photo. This flair has the words "one little word" and an arrow which directs the eye to my title and my one little word for the year.

You can use flair for the centers of shapes, just like buttons and brads. Celeste used a piece of flair for the center of her snowflake in this layout.

Use them at the bottom of your photos along with a geometric border, like Celeste did here. I like how it anchors the photo and draws your eye across the page.

Flair on Cards

Flair is perfect for cards too. Create a coordinated set using flair. Here is one card of an entire set I made and posted last year. Did you miss it? Visit this post to see the entire collection of cards I made with flair.

 

Flair in Home Decor

I've used flair in my home decor to. It was the perfect finish touch to this piece of framed subway art that I created using my cutting machine.

 

Flair in Jewelry

Did you ever think to use flair in your jewelry? I have always wanted a charm bracelet with all my "one little words" so I decided to make my own and incorporated a few pieces of "one little word" flair in with the charms. Fun, right?!

 

Flair Giveaway

I hope this has given you some ideas for using flair. Would you like to win some flair? Yes! I thought so. The flair I used for all of my projects is from {a flair for buttons} etsy shop.The owner has generously donated three sets of flair from {a flair for buttons}. One lucky winner will receive the following sets:

My Life Words 2 flair set.

My Life Words 5 flair set.

Tell Your Story 3A flair set.

To be entered in the {a flair for buttons} giveaway leave a comment on this post letting us know your favorite way to document your memories. The comments will remain open until 10pm Eastern Standard Time tonight. One lucky number will be selected at random and posted tomorrow. Please remember it is your responsibility to check and see if you were the lucky number. The lucky number will have until midnight on Saturday to claim your prize by sending us an e-mail at writeclickscrapbook at gmail dot com.

I hope you have found some inspiration for using your embellishments this week. Remember to come back tomorrow to see if you are the giveaway lucky number and for our February gallery reveal.

Wood Veneer and Chipboard

Hello everyone! Thanks for coming back and joining me for another day in embellishment week. Today we are going to look at wood veneers, which are wildly popular right now, and the tried and true chipboard. Both come in many shapes and sizes and are a great addition to any layout.

 

Wood Veneer Ideas

The beauty of wood veneers is that they look great all on their own, without any altering. For this layout, I simply accented a couple tags with natural snowflake shapes and also tied twine around one by the title.

Do you see a couple other techniques we talked about earlier this week? Yes! The colored hanging tags accented with snowflakes and the fabric brad used for the center of the "o" in the title. All fun easy ways to add extra touches to your layouts and get all those cute embellishments on a layout to enjoy.

Many of the basic shapes that are available in wood veneers have open centers. Try using the open space to highlight something on your photo, journaling or other important detail on your layout. I used the heart to draw attention to the sun which makes the sky look like it is on fire. It was also the inspiration for the play on words I used in my title.

Wood veneers are easy to alter with spray mist. It is my go-to method for coloring them. For a more intense color, spray lightly, let dry and spray again a second time. On this layout, the brightly colored wood veneer stars frame the photos making them the focal point. The title is also made of wood veneer with a brad used as part of the punctuation!

I took full advantage of the open centers of all the circle wood veneers on this layout. One houses part of the title, one is home to my journaling and the other is backed with patterned paper that coordinates with my theme. A couple veneers were stitched down, which is functional and decorative too.

Finally, look for ways add similar shapes in different mediums for visual interest. Here I mixed stamped asterisk shapes with asterisk wood veneers. I like the way the two work together to lead you through the layout. 

 

Chipboard Ideas

Let's not forget our beloved chipboard. Some manufacturers offer chipboard in colors, patterns and designs that coordinate with their paper collections. Other manufacturers offer natural chipboard giving you the option to paint them, cover them with patterned paper or even leaving them natural.

On this layout, I created a scene with a tree chipboard. To dress it up I added small punched flowers accented with rhinestones, an owl perched on a branch with a kite tied off next to the owl. It's fun to alter the look of chipboard with paint too, like I did with the alphabet chipboard in the title.

With just a few simple touches you can really dress up chipboard that coordinates with a line. I used several pieces to create an entire scene that coordinates with the theme of my layout. I added a couple small details that make a big difference to dress them up. Take for instance the cute egg chipboard banner...the addition of the tied seam binding on the ends really sets it off. I also used a piece of chipboard as the background for the title and layered a small birdie chipboard on top. These simple little touches make all the difference.

Chipboard can be beautiful left natural too. On this last layout, I left the chipboard unaltered but adhered small pearls to create a choker necklace on the silhouette shape. It was just the right detail for my vintage layout.

Thank you for visiting today. I hope you are inspired to get out your stash of wood veneers and chipboard and add them to a page. I'll see you back here tomorrow for our final day of embellishment inspiration and a giveaway!

Click.

In November 2010 our gallery contained layouts with the theme Young me Now me. The idea for the theme came from the site with the same name where anyone can share photos that are recreating a scene from childhood as an adult. If you have a hard time understanding what I mean, here are few examples.

link

 

link

link

It got me thinking that it would be so much fun to do one of these now that the Holidays are coming up and many families see each other. Go check out the site to get some inspiration for more creative photos. Or why not just take a group photo infront of the tree with the same people. 

Lisa Ottosson

WCS alumni Elizabeth Dillow

Katie Ehmann shared this layout in the December gallery this year and I love her photos! 

So, my inspiration for you is to look through your old photos and perhaps you´ll find a fun photo to recreate! If you do, please share in the comments and in our Flickr group!

 

A Wreath

Hello! Emily Pitts with you today, I have a project I'm rather proud of. I have a lot of paper and glue and such, but rarely do I make anything but scrapbook pages and cards. I have bought supplies, like say, a grapevine wreath, to make wreaths in the past, but those projects never came to fruition.

Until this year.

I blame Better Homes and Garden magazine.

I've been subscribing to BHG since I was first married. I love how all the houses they feature are sooooo beautifully decorated. It gives me something to aspire to. I love their gardens, I love their health tips. Occasionally, I'll even make a recipe, or try out a decorating tip or two. But this year, I saw this star ornament and knew I had to give it a whirl.

 

I went to Pinterest and looked for Star Wreaths. So many gorgeous varieties, I was inspired by this one, and this one, and this one.

If you go to the BHG website, you can print off the pattern and directions to make this star. I've tried making a 3D star before, let me save you the trouble, go print this off :) It was so much easier than what I tried to do on my own. Each star took me about 5 minutes to make, start to finish. I used nice heavy duty patterned papers from Authentique's Christmas line, Festive, some Scotch Quick-dry liquid adhesive, my paper scorer, and scissors. So very easy.

Once I finished making a bunch of stars, I wrapped my grapevine wreath in some ribbon and started arranging the stars, overlapping and grouping them. I used my hot glue gun to attach them, then randomly inserted some Maya Road Kraft Shipping Tags between the stars. It needed a little more, so I added some Die Cut Kraft Doilies, also from Maya Road. Finally, I punched a few more smaller stars, dipped the edges in some glass glitter and tucked them in to fill any holes. 

 

I love how it turned out. It's going to be a gift for a friend, but I'm so tempted to make another one for me! It took my about 3.5 hours from start to finish, about the same amount of time it takes me to make a layout.  

I hung it on my door to take pictures and a mom of one of my piano students wanted me to teach a class on how to make one, NEXT year. Wow :) Thanks BHG! 

Pretty Paper: Patterned Paper's Plethora of Purposes

Hi All! Katie Ehmann here with you for a week filled with the beautiful, the versatile, the jack-of-all-trades, the mother of all scrapbook supplies--patterned paper! Pretty paper is what sucked me into this hobby, and it keeps my creative mojo on its toes with its never ending patterns and multitude of uses. I'm pretty sure I have over one billion sheets of patterned paper, each one prettier than the next. Here's what is on the docket for the week:

 

• Monday: Scrapbook Layouts made with 99.9% paper
• Tuesday: Home Decor
• Wednesday: Party Fun
• Thursday: Giveaway Day (!!!) Featuring the gorgeous Darling Dear line from Studio Calico
• Friday: Holiday Trimmings

 

 

So, let's jump in, shall we? Patterned paper is often a key ingredient in the recipe of a well crafted layout. It works as a layer, a graphic element, an embellishment, a journaling spot, a title, or an overall complement to that perfect photo. More often than not, I begin my layouts by weeding through my billion-paper stacks and choosing a few pretty papers that work with my photo. I'll then select some embellishments, arrange everything on my page, add a title, some journaling, and I'm good to go. For this week, however, I decided to challenge myself to create some layouts that used 99.9% patterned paper--as backgrounds, as embellishments, and as titles. And I got some of my talented WCS teammates to play along!

 

Punches and Shapes

 

For this layout I cut strips of paper and weaved them together to create a unique patterned paper background. I embellished with more patterned paper punched into stars, and added a title. Hidden journaling is tucked behind my photo. Using foam adhesive can help turn paper into a dimensional element on your page. Using a die-cutting machine, like the Silhouette Cameo, can quickly turn paper or cardstock into a title.

 

 

I broke out my star punches and foam adhesive on this Halloween layout as well. This time I used the stars and the negatives to add even more interest.  

 

 

 

Emily S. used punches and negatives on her layout, "Daddy Kisses." And could the photo be any cuter? Seriously!

 

 

Paper Strips

 

For the next layout, I used the cut-off strips from the bottoms of 12x12 patterned paper and adhered them in a striped pattern on grey cardstock. I added my brief journaling to one of the strips, added a small button and a die cut shape, and called it good. Super simple, but a fun way to show off this instagram pic from last Thanksgiving. Plus I used those strips that I'd otherwise have tossed in the trash.

 

 

 

I also used left over strips for this layout, but these were created when I used an edge punch to make some confetti. They were so pretty I couldn't bear to throw them away, so I glued them down, added some stars punched from vellum and more paper, cut a title, and again hid my journaling behind my photo.

 

 

 

 

Emily S. also rocked the patterned paper strips in this layout:

 

 

 

 

 

Blocks and Layers

 

Patterned paper can also be used in blocks or in layers on a layout to give it a clean, graphic feel. Deb's layouts use blocks and strips of paper to complement her photos beautifully. I love her bold, graphic, signature style!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emily S. showcased patterned paper on these layouts by also choosing big blocks:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And on this layout by using smaller squares:

 

 

 

 

Amy used smaller, more organically shaped patterned paper pieces on her layout. I love how she used the twine to "tie-in" her title!

 

 

 

Thanks for joining me today! Have you made layouts with 99.9% patterned paper? Leave me a comment and tell me about it! I hope you'll be back each day this week for more pretty paper projects!

 

In Review

Hello and welcome to our final September Saturday! We have had a wonderful month here and hope that you have had as well. While we love our Summertime Dailies, our week long author weeks are near and dear to our hearts, and this month has been spectacular! Marnie got us off to a good start with a week of preparations for a "new year." Then Francine provided us all with a much appreciated photography skills week. Monika spearheaded an inspirational week demonstrating the many uses of twine which lead us right into this technique week filled with Kathy's amazing talents, hints, and suggestions.

And as if that wasn't enough, we had our Saturday workshop challenges. Did you practice adding in details as per Amy's helpful article? Or maybe you were inspired by Lisa's monthly photo challenge? You still have a couple of days before the calendar changes to put together a plan for the month of October... Lastly, Marnie brought you three more page starters, with a sketch, a color combo, and a design trend.

It really has been an incredible, information-packed, inspiration-filled month.

Before we welcome October, as with each month's end, today we are taking one last walk back through our gallery. Let's look back at Looking Back!

 

This month we are going to maintain our lists, but with a twist. Using our gallery layouts, we've put together three lists of ten things we can try on our layouts.

1. make a list of things that you mightn't have expected from your life Diane
2. find a childhood photo and let your mind wander. spend 10 minutes recording memories. Vivian
3. write about something that affected you greatly Celeste
4. find a childhood photo. write down the thing that first comes to mind. Deb
5. relate the story of a skill that was acquired Erin
6. find a then and now photo pairing and record the changes Christa
7. write about a recent event as if it had happened longer before. see how (if) your perspective changes. Alexandra
8. record things about your older children that their younger selves would have loved Amy
9. compare and contrast a photo from now with a photo taken on the exact day two years earlier. Marnie
10. document your ongoing (or everchanging!) food loves Francine

 

1. use a now and a then photo Francine
2. find an photo that you haven't scrapped that shows a snippet of real life Emily
3. gather a selection of photos that span a year and use them all on one layout Jennifer
4. use a photo more than 15 years old Monika
5. find friends who have shown up in photos over the years. put the photos all on one layout. Paula
6. enlarge a closeup photograph Teka
7. find a photo from the same day two years earlier. use both on one layout. Marnie
8. ask your parents for a photo of you as a child with your grandparent(s) Kelly
9. go take a photo of a place you used to live/visit/spend time (even if it doesn't look the same) Katie
10. take a photo of your rearview mirror or side mirror to help emphasize a reflective layout Diane

 

1. use a graphic element three times in varying proportion Katie
2. mask and mist Valerie
3. punch an element out of your patterned paper and then use the punched piece elsewhere on the layout Lisa
4. use patterned paper that helps tell the story of your layout Kathy
5. use a calender element on a page about change Christa
6. use varying shades of the same color Sarah
7. try out a new size Alexandra
8. trim your photos and papers in varying sizes of the same shape Jennifer
9. keep all your page elements in a central column Teka
10. use two primary colors and one secondary Deb

 

30 more reasons to scrapbook!! And to help you create some fun pages we have a new printable for you that accompanies our theme of Looking Back.

You may download it here. And for extra points, see if you can name the tv show that inspired the 90s tag!

Have a terrific weekend and we will see you back Monday for our brand new gallery!