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Sunday Photo + Words

Sunday Photo + Words

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Happy National Scrapbooking Day! To celebrate, today we're focusing on poetry. 

But wait! Was that a groan I heard? A rumble of "how can poetry and scrapbooking and celebrating all be mentioned in one sentence?"

Because I know:  for many, the word "poetry" inspires anxious memories of writing exam essays on confusing poems, trying to explain what the poet is trying to say. (I always hated that "What is the poet trying to say?" question. The poet isn't trying to say anything, she's saying exactly what she meant.) Or a professor droning on about Prufrock or Tintern Abbey or Hiawatha.

But poetry doesn't have to be dry or boring or difficult. Nor do you (now you're a grown up) have to write an essay about it. Instead it's a wellspring of scrapbooking inspiration! (Both for journaling and for embellishments.) It depends on the kinds of poems you're reading, but poetry adds a certain something to your layouts that nothing else can.

Back when I was teaching high school, I shared at least one "delicious poem" with my students every week. By "delicious" I meant the sort of poem that makes you say "mmmmmmm" when you're finished. The goal wasn't to analyze or argue anything, but to experience—to be surrounded by something aurally beautiful, to get caught up in imagining an image, to admire a perfectly exact metaphor. (Yes! A watermelon is like a buddha on the fruit stand!)

Those delicious poems are perfect for using on scrapbook layouts. Of course, you have to find them first! Some sources for poetry:

The Writer's Almanac on NPR.

     Every day, Garrison Keillor reads a poem and then talks about some interesting bits of literary information. (You can have the almanac sent to you by email every day, or you can listen instead.) He is perhaps the master of delicious poems: the ones he shares are usually accessible but vivid all at once. Similarly, try his "Good Poem" books: Good Poems, Good Poems for Hard Times, and Good Poems: American Places. 

Poets.org

     This website has poetry organized by subject. You can also listen to poets reading their work.

the 811 section.

     Go to your library's kids' nonfiction department and wander down the 811 aisle. This is American poetry written for kids and is a perfect source for scrapbookery inspiration! You'll find anthologies about different topics as well as discover new favorite poets. The more lighthearted aspect of (some) children's poetry makes it especially useful for layouts about your kids. (821 is the British poets if you're on that side of the pond.)

Go forth! Find some poems you love, and then use them on your layouts. They're a deep source for all sorts of layout inspiration; here are a few ideas to get you started.

 1.  Use a small part of a poem as your layout's title.

 

For this layout's title, I used one line from Gerard Manley Hopkins's poem "Spring." I confess that I've used different parts from this poem on several different layouts. It's an infintely useful poem!

 

2. Use some of the poem as a subtitle:

I used a very small section of a much longer poem called "Elegy in Joy." Don't feel like you have to use all the poem's text. Sometimes (quite often in fact!) just a stanza or even a few lines will work with your topic. (See item #6 for more about this layout.)

3. Use the entire poem.

You can: type it out without any line breaks and create a text-based patterned paper. Print the poem on a journaling card. Print it in four long strips and make it a page border. Integrate it into your design by repeating an embellishment within the text. Print it in a huge font so that some of the end and beginning words print off the page. Choose a landscape, floral, or other photographic image that relates to the poem and then print the text on top of the image by creating a text layer in Photoshop. Print the poem in light grey text and then print your journaling on top of it. Create a piece of subway art, like this one:

Download May 2013 write saturday emily d:

Or you can always just print it out in a regular font size and stick it somewhere on your page!

4. Journal about a poem your child learned in school, like Celeste did in this layout:

 

5. Include a poem that your child wrote.

 

Journal about how the writing made you feel, like Paula did.

6. Use the poem to inspire your journaling. 

My "Seeds" layout (number 2 above) came about when I read the Rukeyser poem. It made me start thinking about beginnings and endings and how things change, so I wrote a draft of the journaling and then went in search for some photos to go with my first impressions. There's a fairly large difference between the draft and the final journaling, which is OK; the point is that the journaling was inspired by the poem.

7. Write your own poem.
I know, it sounds intimidating, but it's really not. It's not as if your Pulitzer depends upon it; it's just a different way of writing! Poetry is not much more than a set of structures and ideas you can use to shape your thoughts, but within the structure lies the creativity. You can write a free-verse poem, as Lisa did in this layout:

Or try some rhyming verse:

(I shared this layout before, on February's Write Saturday.)

The structure of the little poem in this layout was inspired by a children's book. Since I already had the form, the lines came together quickly---I crafted it in my head while I was shoveling snow!

Don't be intimidated by poetry. It's one of the most useful scrapbooking "supplies" you can use.

What I've learned from my Mother

Welcome back to our Mother's Day Celebrations and Preparations! I am here to tackle the topic, "What I've Learned from my Mother." Sounds like a simple enough task, but I sit here wondering, "Hmm, where to begin? It's hard to know where to start, because, well, human babies learn about the world right from day one, through all the interactions and experiences with their environment and those around them. So we have learned from our mothers (and fathers, but we'll talk more about that in June) in countless different ways. And, as a mother, there is so much we want to teach our children before they move off on their own. How, oh how, to capture it all?

 

Tell A Story

Somtimes it's hard to wear your heart on your sleeve, or on your scrapbook page, but by simply capturing a story, you are saying, "This made an impact on me." And, a story about a person can capture their personality much more easily than putting all your thoughts and feelings into words. Here's a specific story about my mom; she recently fell and hurt her shoulder, and in her own retelling of the events of that day, her unflappable positive attitude came through. And that is just one of the reasons, my sister gave my mother the name, "Miss Mary Sunshine."

I feel quite lucky to have been surrounded by that positive energy and outlook throughout my life.

What about you? What story can you tell about your mother that refelcts who she is?

 

Describe a Memory

Is there a food, ritual, or object that always makes you think about your mother or grandmother? Take a picture of the item, and simply describe the memory it evokes. I am always reminded of my grandmother when I make Charoseth for Passover. Here, it's not about capturing a grand, life lesson, but rather a small moment, where all I learned was how to peel apples and chop some walnuts. 

 

Looking Forward

Lisa and Amy both scrapped about what they have or hope to have taught their own children. 

Amy said that Mother's Day always makes her stop and think about how she's doing as a mom, and this was what she thought about. I suggest you read it closely. There are life lessons for all of us in there, and it's kind of a tear jerker. (Her daughter is off to college soon!)

 

Lisa, cleverly, asked her daughter to write down a few things that she learned from her. Her answer says, "to be nice to others, craft, take photos."

 

When Lisa mentioned that she asked her daughter this question, I shuddered to think what my sons would answer if I posed the same question to them. I knew they would use it as an opportunity to mock me. But growing up with Miss Mary Sunshine, I guess I have learned not to take things too seriously, and to enjoy  a good laugh. So, when my son answered, "I learned that Totty is the better parent," I scrapped it anyway. One of the things I enjoy most about motherhood, is being surrounded by people who make me laugh. Even if it is at my expense. 

Mother's Day Gift Idea: a Card

For today' gift idea, we are kickin' it old school, with a simple Mother's Day Card:

Thanks for joining me today! I hope you have found some inspiration here this week to document the mothers in your life, and, perhaps, to reflect on your own role as a mother. I think I have found enough inspiration this week to keep me going until next Mother's Day!

Mother's Day Celebrations

Each night as I tuck my girls in, we read a book, say our prayers, and then sing song after song until they fall asleep. (Yes, I know. I'm indulging them. I am certain that I really only a year or two left of snuggling them before bed, so I am taking full advantage of the love!!)

One of the songs that sticks in my head is one I grew up singing, Mother, I Love You. Here are the lyrics:

1. Mother, I love you; mother, I do.
Father in Heaven has sent me to you.
When I am near you, I love to hear you
Singing so softly that you love me too.

2. Mother, I love you; mother, I do.
I want to help you because I love you.
I want to mind you; I want to find you
Happy and smiling because I love you.
Mother, I love you; I love you, I do.

I often find myself humming it during the day. And it totally makes me think of my mom and how much I DO love her. I hope that if I sing it to my girls enough then they will grow up and sing it and think of me kindly, too!! Not a bad strategy, no? And one day hopefully they will get married and have kids that I can sing to, too. 

 

LAYOUT IDEA: GRANDMOTHERS

Grandma layouts don't need to be just sappy bits o' love. Sometimes you can let them just capture the real deal. My oldest and his grandma like to banter--they are both teaser-types; there is much guffawing when they are together! We got to spend two days together in March. And for their parting together pic, this is what we got:

Silly, no? I love it. I also have a whole selection of blurry photos from Nigel doing the duck and dip to avoid the kissing love. Another relationship trait/quirk/regular that needs to be recorded.

 

Another idea for a grandma page is to document similarities. We all love to fit in with our families; seeing how we are alike gives us such a sense of belonging!

 

And let's not forget how much we love photos of grandmas with their tiny babies. LisaO made this sweet layout.

Mmm. Love that.

We have a few teammembers who have lost grandparents lately. They all would like to remind you to take more photos. And be sure to get in those photos.

 

MOTHER'S DAY GIFT IDEA: BIRTHDATE ART

This year, why not make something personal? How about a bit of wall art that respresents all the grandkids? Depending on how many grandkids there are (one of the kids in my sunday school class has 90 cousins - this might not work for her!), a list of birthdays is graphic, fun, and helpful!

And if you don't have grandkids yet, you could make one for your mom that has the birthdays of all the kids in your family. Or all the people in your family. No rules!! I've even made them for special events in a couple's life. Anything that is important to your mom or grandma would work!

 

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you are enjoying our week. Please stop back tomorrow for our final day of preparations!

Welcome, May!

Hello May! We are so happy to welcome a new month and a new gallery! This month we look forward to our final month of weekly blogging. We were be learning from Francine, Amy, Christine, as well as have help from our team preparing for Father's Day. We can't wait!

A new month brings a new gallery.

May is the month we celebrate the Everyday. Those things that make up our every day lives. The little things that might get lost in our scrapbooks and our memories. Our schedules, our routine. Project Life is a wonderful way to capture the details of our lives. And our scrapbooks are a great place to record some of the details as well. Our team has put together some amazing layouts. We just know you are going to be inspired to create some just like them!

As a reminder, if you would like to see the layouts a bit bigger and with the journaling listed, please hop on over to the gallery album.

Without further ado, may we present... Everydaily III!

The Family that Types Together | Aliza Deutsch

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (American Crafts) + patterned paper (Jenni Bowlin, Pebbles, Elle’s Studio, Simple Stories, Cocoa Daisy, Webster’s Pages) + buttons (Fancy Pants) + thickers (American Crafts) + labels (Chic Tags) + stickers (My Mind’s Eye, Glitz Designs, Simple Stories) + fonts (Linenstroke)

A Note from Aliza
This layout lists a couple of random reflections about technology and our everyday lives.

May Fun Fact
I am currently obsessed with finding inexpensive rock climbing shoes.

 

Love To Run | Christine Newman

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (American Crafts, Wausau, Bazzill) + patterned paper (American Crafts) + mask, mist (Studio Calico) + die cuts (American Crafts) + stickers (American Crafts) + paper clip (Freckled Fawn) + stamp (American Crafts) + wood veneers (Studio Calico, Freckled Fawn) + ink (Prima, Palette) + pen (Sharpie, Sakura) + twine (The Twinery) + digital cutter (Silhouette America)

A Note from Christine
When it comes to everyday type of photos, it doesn't get more everyday than this. I exercise almost daily and feel weird if I don't run or workout for a couple of days. I love to eat so working out is a necessity. It also helps me feel less stressed and sleep better.

May Fun Fact
When I was little, I collected scratch-n-sniff stickers. I think I still have some old ones in a box somewhere. I want them to bring those back!

 

Everyday | Celeste Smith

12 x 12 | materials kits (Life's a Ride by Valorie Wibbens, Dayplanner by One Little Bird at The Lilypad) + washi tape (Tape It! by Pink Reptile Designs at The Lilypad) + journaling cards (Happy Note Cards by Gina Miller at the Lilypad) + word art (Life 365 by Karla Dudley at Pixels & Co.) + template(Simple Scrapper Premium Membership)+ font (Underwood Champion)

A Note from Celeste
When I thought about everyday this year, I just couldn't get past the fact that our daily life includes music. My son, Adam, plays the saxophone almost every day either practicing, attending rehearsals or performing. I added the clock stamp and washi to symbolize the time he spends. The musical staff is just clip art that I clipped some digital paper to.

May Fun Fact
My niece is a Bat Mitzvah this month. I'm looking forward to the family gathering together and hearing her give her Torah portion. It is sure to be a special day.

 

Every Day | Valerie O'Neall

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Crate Paper) + tags (Elle's Studio and American Crafts/Dear Lizzy) + stickers (Crate Paper) + alpha stamps (Studio Calico/Hero Arts) + other stamps (Ormolu) + enamel dots (My Mind's Eye) + wood veneer (Studio Calico) + fabric brad (American Crafts) + ink (Memento) + other (Silhouette SD & date stamp) + font (Rockwell)

A Note from Valerie
This layout came together really fast for me this month. I love using my Silhouette for title work (font is Rockwell). These photos are from 2011, but can you believe two years later, this train set is still what my son plays with everyday (best. gift. ever.)!?

May Fun Fact
I was completely anti-texting and anti-smartphone for such a long time. I've only had a plan with texting for two years now, which is so unusual for someone of my generation, but I am now the proud owner of an iPhone.

The Reader | Katie Ehmann

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (American Crafts) + patterned paper (Kesi’art) + brads (Crate Paper) + thickers (Amy Tamgerine) + tag (Dear Lizzy) + stickers (Amy Tangerine, Dear Lizzy) + die cut (Silhouette Cameo, Studio Calico + stamp (Amy Tangerine) + ink (Versafine)

A Note from Katie
This layout perfectly captures the everyday of my oldest daughter, who is in Kindergarten and is learning to read! I sewed some leftover letters in a random pattern to mirror the letters on the background paper.

May Fun Fact
Every time I play the lotto (which isn’t very often) I seriously think I am going to win, and am crushed with disappointment when I don’t. Some may think that I’m foolish, but I just think I’m an optimist!

 

The 4 O'Clock Stare Down | Diane Payne

12 x 12 |materials patterned paper (Studio Calico, Echo Park, Basic Grey, Simple Stories) + buttons (A Flair for Buttons) + thickers (Ameican Crafts) + labels (My Mind's Eye, Twine & Ink) + stickers (American Crafts, Pebbles, Basic Grey) + pen (American Crafts)

A Note from Diane
At first I was unsure what to document as a daily activity. When the dogs were anxiously waiting to be fed one evening it dawned on me that I should record their daily ritual.

May Fun Fact
In just a few short weeks school will be out. I'm looking forward to a little less structure and sleeping in on the weekends.

 

InstaLife | Lisa Ottosson

8.5 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Backside of Cocoa Daisy March Kit Ad card, Jenni Bowlin) + brad (Dear Lizzy) + flower (homemade) + stickers (Scrapworks, American Crafts)

A Note from Lisa
When I prepared for this month´s theme I was a bit puzzled about what I would do. As I am doing Project Life every week I record our everyday lives in there. Then it hit me! What is the one thing that I use to catch photos of our everyday? Instagram. Right now we Instagram the heck out of our lives. In my journaling I talk about how we say to each other several times a day: That is going straight up on Instagram!

March Fun Fact
I have to remind myself to use my DSLR these days! I am so happy with my iPhone camera!

Errands with Boys | Jennifer Larson

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (Bazzill) + patterned paper (Cosmo Cricket, Glitz, Basic Grey, Studio Calico) + buttons (Company Name) + thickers (American Crafts) + tape (Glitz) + enamel dots (My Mind’s Eye) + stickers (Basic Grey, Studio Calico, My Mind’s Eye) + ink (Jenni Bowlin) + chipboard (My Mind’s Eye) + photo frame (Basic Grey) + die cuts (Studio Calico) + twine (Martha Stewart) + fonts (Times New Roman)

A Note from Jennifer Larson
Since my husband travels periodically for work, I become a single parent at certain times of the year, shepherding my boys solo to their various activities. This month I examine those various activities and the fact that my schedule circulates are them. Though it’s a time crunch, I love the time in the car with my boys, particularly our conversations. To remember these errands and the accompanying stress and joy, I printed various photos I took of these errands with boys and put them together on one page.

May Fun Fact
Every Mother’s Day, we go out to eat Chinese food.

 

Everyday Moments|Amy Coose

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (Bazzill) + patterned paper (American Crafts, Pebbles, Basic Grey) + flair (Greatest View) + wood veneer (Freckled Fawn) + tags (Chic Tags) + enamel dots (My Mind's Eye) + mist (Heidi Swapp) + pen (American Crafts)

A Note from Amy
This layout really shows my everyday, and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Journaling
No matter how hard it is having a baby again, there is nothing I'd rather be doing each day than this.

May Fun Fact
I love these pictures of me getting some good snuggle time. It makes me so happy that I had the chance to experience baby snuggles again. 

 

Rise and Shine | Celeste Smith

12 x 12 | materials kit (Rise & Shine by One Little Bird at the Lilypad) + template ( Plant Your Story: Journaled {volume two} by Sara Gleason at the Lilypad) + font (Century Gothic)

A Note from Celeste
My morning routine just wouldn't be the same without a cup of tea or coffee. Even though I get up in the dark, I make sure that I have an extra ten or fifteen minutes to sit and enjoy it. Notice the floral elements, as a mom to boys, I get my flower fix whenever I can!

 

Everyday | Jennie McGarvey

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Lily Bee Design, Studio Calico) + stickers (Studio Calico) + alphabet stickers (American Crafts) + labels, tags (Chic Tags) + pen (American Crafts) + fonts

A Note from Jennie
My layout has been a while in the making. My son has been wearing exclusively Angels (his favorite baseball team and baseball is his favorite sport) shirts for a while now (two years or so?) and I wanted to make sure I captured that before he moved onto something else or varied his wardrobe.

May Fun Fact
I rarely use the computer for journaling. I prefer to handwrite my journaling, but will occasionally use a typewriter if the project calls for it.

 

Have a Good Day | Deb Duty

12 x 12 | materials) patterned paper (Simple Stories, Teresa Collins, Cosmo Cricket, Fancy Pants, Webster's Pages, American Crafts) + flair (Hello Forever) + chipboard star (Pink Paislee) + alpha (Heidi Swapp, Little Yellow Bicycle, Glitz Design) + labels (Studio Calico) + ink (Hero Arts) + stickers (Studio Calico, Basic Grey) + stamps (Studio Calico) + sequins (Studio Calico) + resin stars (Freckled Fawn) + metal clip (Prima) + cork arrow (Studio Calico) + inventory tag (vintage) + pen (Micron)

A Note from Deb
I took this photo as my boys walked out the door for school while I held on to our dog so she couldn't escape just like I do every morning. I love capturing these simple moments that seem so ordinary at the time, but will one day be just a memory.

May Fun Fact
I generally don't like any scary or intense TV shows, but after my boys introduced me to The Walking Dead, it has become my new favorite. I still can't believe I actually enjoy a show about zombies, but it's just so good!

 

A-Okay | Kelly Jeppson

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Elle’s Studio) + paper elements (BasicGrey) + alpha stickers (Doodlebug Designs) + burlap + washi tape (7Gypsies) + big brad (Studio G)

A Note from Kelly
Life for a mom can be pretty mundane, but at the end of the day, I’m always happy to see the smiling faces of my three kids. It makes it all worth it!

Journaling
Today I might…make breakfast, pack lunches, find homework, socks, shoes, lost toys. Drive to school, to scouts, to soccer, to the store. Eat standing up. Do laundry. Check email. Vacuum. Answer phone calls. Bandage scrapes. Walk the dog. Clean up messes. Make dinner. Stay up late reading. But it’s all a-okay with me, because I get to be your mom.

May Fun Fact
Before we had children, I convinced my husband to get me a Mother’s Day gift because I would be the mother of his future children! Pretty smart, I must say.

 

The Best Part | Sarah Pendergrast

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (October Afternoon, Crate Paper, American Crafts) + epoxy dots (My Minds Eye) + stickers (American Crafts) + letter stickers (October Afternoon, Basic Grey, Heidi Swapp) + labels (Basic Grey) + washi (Freckled Fawn) + pen (American Crafts)

A Note from Sarah
I snapped this shot one day after school, when the two of them were particularly happy to see each other. This photo reminded me that that no matter how glad I am that they are in school during the day, the best part of my day is the after school pickup.

Journaling
No question, one of the best parts of my day is picking you guys up after school. It’s a huge perk of being a stay-at-home parent. I get to hear about recess, see test scores you’re proud of, and watch you hang out with your friends.

May Fun Fact
I’m super excited to start a new volunteer job this month as an urban nature monitor. I will get to count turtles, dragonflies, butterflies etc. that reside right in the middle of our city.

Little Moments | Francine Clouden

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Tim & Beck, American Crafts, Crate Paper, Studio Calico) + chipboard letter stickers (American Crafts) + candy buttons (Studio Calico, BasicGrey) + spray ink (Studio Calico) + clear stamps (Studio Calico, Hero Arts) + rub-ons (American Crafts) + baker's twine + stamping ink

A Note from Francine
Baking with Kieran has become an every day activity because he really loves to bake. We now bake his snacks together most weeks. 
A technique tip: that pink garland under the title was made using letter Vs from my sheet of chipboard letter stickers.

May Fun Fact
After six months in the new house I think it's time to reorganise my scrapbook room!

 

Almost Everyday | Paula Gilarde

12 x 12 | materials LayerWorks No. 175 (Studio DD) + Stay Here kit (Katie Pertiet) + I Heart Stories Wordart Brushes (Ali Edwards) + Wooden Stickers Alpha No 1 (Katie Pertiet) + Painted Text No. 1 (Katie Pertiet) + Instamatic Frames No 3 (Katie Pertiet)

A Note from Paula
Or at least everyday we can, we try to walk the 30 minutes to school. Molly loves it!

 

Everyday He: | Amy Sorensen

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (My Mind's Eye) + alpha stickers (American Crafts, Jillibean Soup, Echo Park, Teresa Collins, Bella Blvd, My Mind's Eye) + die cuts (Silhouette) + circle punch + quilt star punch (Fiskars) + fonts (Satellite, The Only Exception)

A Note from Amy
The real story about this layout is something on the back. To get all of the daily details, I wrote a list of questions for my son Nathan, and asked him to answer them. When I found the paper (he left it under my keyboard and went to bed), I discovered that he'd written his answers AND a sweet note to me. The combination of his handwriting and his note was just so...NATHAN to me. I made a little pocket for the back and stuck the note in it with my response. I do a lot of hidden things on the backs of my layouts. Who knows if anyone will ever see them? But I like knowing they are there.
To make the little banners that back the words "goes" and "to," I punched with the quilt star punch, and then trimmed off the two vertical strips. Voila: instant banner!

May Fun Fact
My oldest kid is graduating from high school this month. HOW did I get to this phase of my life?!?!

 

Hanging Out | Marnie Flores

8.5 x 8.5 | materials patterned paper (Crystal Wilkerson) + fonts (AmerType, Mathlete, CK Jot)

A Note from Marnie
Santa brought a bar and a beam to my house this past December. The bar sits in our front room and welcomes everyone who visits. And my monkeys love it. (One of them averages 3 hours a day on her bar!) I can't even begin to explain how breathtaking it is to watch them do their tricks. They amaze me!!

May Fun Fact
My kids get out of school in May for the first time ever. I grew up going to school until the final Friday in June. (I like to joke that I went to school for an extra year: 1 month x 12 years...) I can't believe that in less than a month we will be on vay-cay-tion!!

 

That's it! We hope you enjoy the gallery! Please leave us word and tell us what caught your eye!

In Review

This has been such a fun month. After mini month, it is always refreshing to be back to layouts and projects. And such amazing layouts we have had.

Kelly started us out with a burst of spring. Then Jenny helped us with our two page layouts, and Lisa sparked our imaginations for digging deeper into our project life albums. Then this week we got ready to say thank you to our teachers. 

 

With just 3 days until our new gallery, it is time to look back at our April gallery, Shapes.

This month's theme lends itself nicely to evaluating the layouts for design magnificence and skill. Let's go one by one and and pull out some design elements that work and which can help you create stronger layouts.

That's it! Please enjoy your weekend and your scrapbooking and we will see you Monday with a new theme week!

scrapbook!

Spring is here! It's official. It might feel more official if there wasn't a freeze and frost pending all weekend, but I am so happy that the grass is green and the trees in bloom that nothing could bring me down!!

 

I love scrapbooking. I just haven't said it lately, and wanted to. I was very touched by Lisa's week, and her thoughts on memory keeping. I feel energized and renewed in my commitment to make pretty pages! I hope that our three scrapbook! Saturday starters will help you want to make some, too!

 

THE SKETCH

This month, Diane created a sketch

based upon Lisa' happy layout, New Family in our April gallery, Shapes.

Want to see some awesome variations? I thought so...

 

Celeste added an extra matte below her photos, and deleted the row of vertical triangles on the right hand side. I love how the spritzing behind the photos and mattes softens the layout and draws your eye inward.

 

Lisa swapped triangles for a strip of washi and used one horizontal photo rather than two vertical, but otherwise stayed pretty true to her original. I love the bursts of yellow against the black and white. (I am having a bit of a love affair with that exact shade right now!!)

 

Aliza played this month, as well. She stayed very true to Diane's sketch, and it looks like it was the perfect starter. This layout has a sweet story... I encourage you to read it!

 

Our next variation comes from the sketchmaster herself, Diane. I love how she uses two sizes of triangles. And how she outlined a random assortment of the tiny ones. Clever. And it captures a great story of how our world is changing.

 

And here is mine. I added a couple of extras and moved the journaling to the side. I was impressed at how versatile this sketch felt.

Thank you, Diane, for the sketch this month! If you would like to download a layered template you may do so here! Please leave us a comment if you take a turn with the sketch so that we might see your good works!

 

ROYGBIV

This month the color palette

is based upon Deb's Shapes layout, Happy Dog.

It's got that lovely color of the year, emerald! I loved how the colors pop so well on the white!! (Though without the white it looks a little in your face, no?)

As I went to make my layout, I realized that I loved the little color sampler and I just went ahead and added it to my layout!

Do you think it looks okay?

 

TRENDING

This month there were several layouts with repeating layered shapes creating corner to corner movement. Katie, Jennie, and Lisa have the most obvious examples.

You can also see it the layouts from Erin, Aliza, Celeste, Valerie, Diane, Paula, and Lisa. Sometimes it is more subtle, or goes from top to bottom, rather than corner to corner, but the pattern is there!

 

Here is mine. I had fun making this one! I went with squares, a bit by accident, but am pretty happy with how it ended up!

I hope that you have had a fun Saturday! Thank you for stopping by! I hope to see your layouts when you are done!! 

Digging Deeper Day 5

It is my last day of hosting the blog today. It has been so much fun sharing my thoughts with you!

One thing I haven't touched on yet is where the scrapbook pages go when I've finished them. Maybe that is because that is something I am still trying to figure out. When I started doing Project Life and had realized it is the right way for me to document our lives, I thought that I would include any scrapbook pages right in there. But that hasn't happened. Perhaps it is the format? My PL album opens up so that my spreads are landscape sized and not as you would open a book. The scrapbook pages would normally be horizontal so you would have to turn the album to be able to read the journaling. I keep a separate album for the pages and I think I will continue doing so.

I asked Christine of her thoughts about this because I know she does include her pages in her PL album.

She says:
I sometimes include full page layouts in my Project Life album because I've made pages that relate to the story in my album.  I don't see a reason why they shouldn't be kept together.  Before I started doing this, I had all these self-imposed "rules" about Project Life that made it inflexible for me.  When I finally let go of that and realized that Project Life is MY album and I can put whatever I want in there, and there are no rules to it, it felt so freeing!  I don't do Project Life on a weekly basis, so combining it with full page layouts makes a lot of sense for my album.

What are your thoughts on this? Please share in the comments!

 

Speaking of Christine, she shared this page. 

 

She says: My page was using a photo that was taken on my birthday last year. When I looked at my Project Life page for my birthday week, it triggered the memory that I wanted to scrapbook the photo that was taken on my birthday.

It doesn't always have to be the same story as in the PL, it can sometimes just be the photos that makes you want to make a scrapbook page.

The image above is an insert from my PL spread that featured Easter. We celebrated with my family out of town and we Instagrammed the heck out of that weekend :) It was only right that I used as many of those photos as I possibly could! When i sat down to journal about our holiday, it hit me that although we almost always celebrate the same way, I have never made a scrapbooking layout about our traditions. Said and done!

The journaling talks about this year's celebrations, but as we have the same traditions every year, it also serves as a record of how we celebrated Easter during these times. I love that I made this and I know I will make many more about other traditions in the future!

The spread above is from the week of Valentine´s day this year. I wanted to highlight how much I love that day. So I did a minialbum and put it straight into the album.

The mini is made by a pocketed page protector and I have folded it up. This is a photo of one side.

And here is the other side. I accidentally put one of the cards upside down ;) but you get the idea! This could a great way to include an extra long story, right?!

That is it folks! My blogging week is over and I have had so much fun with this theme. If you have any questions or comments please share!

Lisa O

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