Write. Click. Scrapbook.

Whitney Holley

I'm Whitney and I like to write, scrapbook, and take pictures to capture my story. I'm a mother to 16 month old twins and love spending time with them and my sweet hubby here in Dallas. I'm an avid reader, a yogi, and a lover of all things food related!  In my previous life I was a ballet dancer and still teach when I can. When I get a chance to sit down I love to watch movies and I put my Netflix to good use. Otherwise I'm usually chasing after my children and trying to keep them out of trouble!

 

This page shows my list of goals for the season. Some are work related, some health, some family, but they are all things that kind of keep me focused and keep me inspired. I look at this list while I’m working on the book and I like to go back to past goals and read them as well. It’s a great reflection as to where you were in your life at that moment. It also is a great way to get ready for more intense journaling. I find when I list goals like this, the next thing I want to do is write a longer, more detailed story about my life at that moment. It usually ends up that one goal specifically triggered something inside of me and I can let the words flow much more easily!

Next is a custom wedding mini book I’ve made for a friend. I love creating custom books for people and this line, Kissing Booth by Basic Grey, ended up coordinating really well with her watercolor invitations. I can’t wait to give it to her and I can’t wait to see the stories she adds to it! I’m constantly trying to push people into documenting their story. I believe all our stories are worth putting down, whether with pictures, words, or both!

 

And finally, two layouts that show my most recent quest. When I was younger I got in the habit of cutting up photographs. Today some of my most cherished memories are pictures cut into the wonkiest of shapes! I’ve been documenting how I’m overcoming this obstacle and here are the two layouts I have to show so far. 

I am so happy with how both turned out and love that I got in hidden journaling (tucked behind the photos)on the first page and old letters on the second. These stories mean so much to me and I hated that the shape of some of the pictures was getting in the way of my storytelling.

So that’s how I modern day memory keep! I focus on the story and love finding new ways to get it on paper. My blog is a source of memory keeping for me and I love posting about my family, my cooking, my sewing, and my crafting. I love connecting with other storytellers across the blogosphere and learning how others are documenting their lives! Thanks for letting me drop in today!

Whitney makes minis! You know they are a favorite around here. And making a gift mini to encourage a non-scrapper to begin recording memories is genius! When you stop by her blog you will see reading, sewing, cooking, and scrapping. All with two 16 month olds! However does she do it?? Whitney has a knack for using patterned paper and seems to select just the perfect one for both the story and the photo. 

Mini Cards featuring The Twinery

All this week, our write. click. scrapbook. members showcased projects, layouts, cards and altered items featuring baker's twine from The Twinery. Today is our last day and we hope you've loved it all!

 

Sarah and Monika here with you today to round out the week long party we've had creating with goodies from The Twinery. I didn't count, but it's quite possible that we managed to create at least one project one of the 22 shades of eco-luxe, made in the USA baker's twine produced by The Twinery who have sponsored our posts all week. 

 

MINI CARDS

There's just something about mini-sized crafts that appeal to me and Sarah's set of cards are no exception. She's created a smorgasbord of precious, cute and innovative mini cards with her stash of baker's twine.

Says Sarah, "When I saw the bright colours of the Twinery twine, I was inspired to create a set of mini cards to show off how vibrant they are. I paired the Twinery twine with select QuicKutz shapes, and some stamped sentiments to create a set of fun 3 by 3 cards.

 

Perfect for the Holidays

 

Perfect Just Because 

 

 

Tutorial

Sarah has even shared a tutorial with us on how you can create these mini cuties for yourself!

 

MINI ALBUM

Sarah and Lisa Kisch, another write. click. scrapbook. team member, just happen to be friends in real life. This summer, Sarah's family had the opportunity to visit Lisa on Prince Edward Island. They actually made the trip in part to see Lisa perform in Anne of Green Gables. "She was absolutely fabulous!" says Sarah.

 

 

What a great mini album to remember the family adventures and friendships!

 

AND ONE MORE

If you can bear to give it away, this little wooden container filled with gift tags ready to add to holiday packages makes a wonderful gift item or even hostess gift. Monika even added baker's twine to the tag box.

 

 

By now, I think you can see why I, and our write. click. scrapbook. team members, adore crafting and creating with The Twinery baker's twine. Hoping you all find a little time to craft and create today as well.

Until next time,

write. click. scrapbook. is pleased to have had the opportunity to team up with The Twinery in creating our projects this week. Connect with The Twinery on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Flickr.

The Twinery's twine is made from 100% cotton, it's eco-friendly and made in the USA. Whether you're gift wrapping, crafting or tying up baked goods to give to a friend, their baker's twine adds a fresh, yet nostalgic look to any project at hand! Baker's twine from The Twinery comes in 22 delicious colors and is uniquely twisted against a bright white hue, creating an eye-popping burst of color and a creative embellishment! And all that color lends to a fun, candy-striped look. 

PREPPING FOR A GOOD YEAR day two: sports

Welcome back! I hope you enjoyed your Labor Day yesterday (by not laboring--the irony of which has never ceased to make me giggle!). Are you ready to  roll up your sleeves, dig in, and get dirty? If you missed yesterday, you may want to pop back over there to read the backstory for our week. Go now, we will wait for you...

Did you have a moment to think about your upcoming scrapbooking goals and opportunities? I hope so! I also hope that some of your life will overlap with mine so that we can lean on each other for ideas and inspiration this week!

Today we are going to tackle sports. It is a prime candidate for preplanning as it comes with a schedule.  Which is where we are going to begin.

 

THE SCHEDULE

As we plan to scrapbook a sports season, let's evaluate the season. I am going to chart out our football season. Would you like to take a minute and sketch out your season, too?

Here's mine:

Indoor training begins in February and runs through the last week of school. Then there are two weeks off. And then conditioning begins. Twice a week. Until mid-July. And then becomes daily. Mornings until school starts and then moves to afterschool. Once school begins, practice is four times a week after school. Games are weekly. For about 8 weeks. Then there is an end of season get-together. And then we breathe until February. (Well, actually just turn our sights to soccer...)

 

THE PHOTOS

Sports photos will follow the events. Let's take a minute and pair our expected photos to their events. Here is my list:

For indoor training, there won't be any photos. (It starts at 6:15 in the morning which is hours too early for me. (Besides, it takes place in the gymnasium at school and I have learned to allow my children some boundaries. (hahaha!))) There will be a couple of pics from conditioning. A handful from practice. And tons from the games. We will also order the official school team and individual photos. Oh, and a few from the closing night social.

 

THE PAGES

Now, let's anticipate the pages we will make based upon our knowledge of the photos we will take.

You know I don't love scrapbooking events. But that seems like a necessary evil if I am going to do something with all those pages. But I really don't like making event pages--there's just so little to say. So what if I made a minialbum or a photobook? You know I love those!! And I can build it on a template which seems like a terrific help in saving time and actually getting the photos and memories recorded. I am hoping the minialbum can also be the place where I record the indoor training, conditioning, and practice schedules. I think the official photo, and closing photos would work well here as well. I am going to consider the minialbum the keeper of all things pertaining to the season.

Behind the events, there are going to be pages. Touching ones about life lessons, overcoming obstacles, and having fun. For these, I can use training photos, or unrelated-to-football photos, or borrow from game day photos (knowing I will have so very many!). The scores can go in the photobook. The behind the scenes stories and memories can go on individual pages.

 

PREPPING FOR SUCCESS 

MINIALBUM

Embracing my digi love, I am going to go with a photobook. But I really believe this could be reproduced with a paper mini.

Because I know the schedule, I can go ahead and build the whole book. Here is the format I think I can follow:

1. cover
2. official photo
3. training schedule
4. game schedule
5. game pages
6. closing party

Color will be easy as I will opt for school colors. Pages 2, 3, 4, and 6 will be individual but with consistency. Page 5 (a through g) will be for game days. They will need lots of photos and a few details. 

Let's get started.

Cover

For the cover, I decided to re-cycle a subway art I made for Nigel for his season last year. I updated it a little and will tweak it if I need to before I send the book in for printing. I am hoping, too, that perhaps this could become an annual book with a repeating cover, complete with updates, of course.

Official Photo

I measured the photo from last year so I knew the dimensions. I used the same general format as the cover. And borrowed the gold color from the color of the boys' pants. Page two will be the team photo.

Schedules

I am going to have to find the schedules to add them in, but I did build the pages. I kept the same framework and colors. And am thinking I will add in a little extra stuff when I get the calendar done.

Game Pages

Because I know the schedule, I can go ahead and build the game pages. I knew I would want room for lots of photos and few details. So I came up with this basic design:

I already have all the teams and dates filled out on layered templates waiting for game day! Here is how week one looks all filled in:

(I changed a couple of the subheadings to better match the notes Nigel made for me.) I am so excited to have a way to document the details of the game, and to include lots of action shots. But my favorite part? Feeling like it is going to be successful due to the preplanning!! Woohoo!

 

So far, we have two weeks of games behind us and I have both weeks already documented and ready to go. Which means I am miles ahead of last year. Ooh, having a plan feels so good!

Remember my list of photos? We are all there, with the exception of the closing party. I think it will follow the structure of the game day pages for photos, so I am going to wait to make it.

Just a couple of random thoughts... Were my book not digital, I could make an envelope page for the schedule pages, in lieu of writing out the schedule. Further, I realized in the making of this book, that I really want some practice photos. I am going to take a long lens and hide behind some trees and to get some pictures to help make a better looking schedule section.

 

I really like the idea that the whole season of events is put in one place. From training to season end. And I really love that I already have two weeks done. But most of all, I love that in asking Nigel to write his thoughts on the games, I had a little extra time with him and had a chance to bond with him over something very important to him. And now he knows that it is important to me, too.

 

What do you think? Will a mini or a photobook would work for your sport?

EXTRAS

We encourage sports for our children as it builds both their bodies and their spirits. (And for a teenage boy, it provides a lot of conversation starters!!) The lessons, successes and silliness will all be recorded in the kids' regular albums. Here is one I made after his game last week.

Honestly, there's not a lot of preplanning that can go on with these pages, but when I take out the game day photos and madness, it makes the rest feel very doable.

 

I hope this gives you a couple of ideas for handling the stack of sports photos growing as fast as your little athletes!!

I also hope you will come back tomorrow for another way we can prepare to scrapbook those planned events for our new "year!" See you tomorrow!

An easy minibook

Hi there! I am back with my final Summertime blog post!

I dug out a project from the archives this time. Some of you might have seen it on my blog in 2011, but I think it is still my easiest minibook I have made and wanted to share the idea again. 

Now, bear with me when I try to explain what sort of page protector I have used. I have used one with 6 pockets. Let´s see a photo of it.

 

OK, this mean I can use 6 6x4 photos and use the smaller pockets for journaling or embellishments. 

I have used polaroid square photos for my project. 

These two pictures show the front and back of the pageprotector when laid flat.

Then I folded the page protector like an accordion and I can easily flip the pages.

As you can see this mini is more about the photos than words. 

I used the smaller pockets for patterned papers and small embellishments. When I first made this I used it as a class project for tweens that are not that into scrapbooking and it worked supergood as a beginner project! Maybe this is something you can use at a birthday party or another event with kids or beginner scrabookers?!!

Have fun! And I hope that the end of summer treats you well!

Summer of '89 - a mini album

Hi there everyone! Kelly here (in the middle of the photo, pink shirt), with a flashback from 1989. I was in seventh grade, and I had a wild mane of red hair, complete with fluffy bangs. I wore my t-shirts big and rolled up the sleeves, cut off my jeans to make shorts, and tried to act grown up.

I was recently reminded of this awesome period of time when I un-earthed an old, white photo album with magnetic sticky pages full of photos I had taken. Most of them were of a 10-day science trip I got to go on with my earth science teacher and a bunch of other kids from my school. We were lucky enough to be chosen for an after-school science club, and we were promised that if we worked hard and helped earn money, we could go on a trip at the end of the year. We visited places like Mesa Verde (in Colorado), Bryce Canyon and Arches National Parks (Utah), Grand Canyon National Park (Arizona), Four Corners, and a lot of other scenic science stops along the way. Did I mention it was 10 days on a yellow school bus, camping along the way? It was AMAZING. I'm not sure the chaperones felt the same way, but the students had the time of our lives. It was the longest I'd been away from home. I don't remember if I called home, but I sent some pretty cheeky postcards, and took lots of photos. Not all great. But enough for a mini album, which is what I decided to make with them. 

I got to these photos just in time - the edges were starting to adhere to the pages! Since these were not the most precious photos I own, I decided to put the best of them into a mini I made using cardstock as a base (no page protectors, in other words). I cut sheets of heavy kraft paper in half, and then sewed them together into a book (with my sewing machine). You could use another method of binding, but I was lazy. My machine was right there. I didn't even bother changing the thread color!

Then I went to work, weeding out the really bad photos, and keeping just the ones that told the story of this crazy experience of my twelfth year. Some of the photos made me laugh out loud, because I remember feeling so grown up to have a camera at my disposal. And I can still feel the anticipation of waiting for my photos to be returned to me in the mail after I sent them to be developed (can you imagine?!). I also learned a great lesson on this trip: look behind you before backing up to take a picture. There might be a giant petrified log behind you that you will trip over and get scraped up on. Good lesson.

I grabbed some random supplies from my stash, including a sheet of travel-themed stickers from Making Memories, and a pad of paper from K&Company. I wanted to make my photos fit the time period, so I rounded the corners (because that, for me, is very 80s - isn't it?). By the way, I think I have taken that same photo of Balanced Rock at Arches almost every time I have been there (which is quite a few times!). But it always makes for a great shot.

I used a fine-tip Sharpie for all my journaling, because I wanted to keep the look very casual. I found that I wrote more about how looking at these photos now makes me feel. It's interesting that most of the people I hung around with on that trip were my friends all through high school (and even beyond). A few of the pages:

I included the postcards that I sent home (smart of me to save them!), because they are really hilarious to read. I sewed this one into the center binding, so I could see both sides of it.

Here's a shot of the back cover:

I love making minis like this one, because they tell a very specific story. This one is different for me, because I have gained perspective since I was twelve that adds another element to the story. I wish I knew where Mr. Tuley is now, so I could tell him how much fun I had on that trip, and how much fun I had re-living it this week as I made my mini. I think I'm going to go curl my bangs under and find a t-shirt clip!

 

 

Welcome, August!

This month, we are giving in to the heat, the humidity, and the final few lazy days. We are hoping to put our feet up and breathe in the last sights and sounds of summer: the squeals of outdoor laughter, the roar of the lawn mower, the glorious long golden light of summer evening skies, the warmth of the suns rays on our healthy summer glowing skin. Soon, alarms will be ringing, backpacks will be zipping, and school busses will be arriving. But for now, we will revel in summer's greatest glory: its parting days.

This month our team put together a gallery for you that celebrates all that is summer. Its sights, sounds, memories, and rhythms. We hope you enjoy our hard work and hope it inspires a few pages of your own!

Introducing, Summer Lovin'...

Thank you for stopping by to take in the new gallery. This month, we would love to hear about something that caught your eye as you browsed through our pages. Please leave us a comment or two with things you loved. One lucky comment will take home a few scrapbooking goodies from EK Success! Look for a lucky number on Saturday, August 4th! Thanks, again, for stopping by. We adore you, our loyal, delightful, wonderful readers!

inspired by (part 2)

Happy Tuesday everyone! Paula here with your Tuesday dose of Summertime inspiration. If you checked in yesterday you would have seen Monika's wonderful post. Monika is the unofficial queen of mini books here at Write.Click.Scrapbook and I for one, have been very inspired by her many creations.

I had the honor of being the source of inspiration for Monika's mini book that she created for her son who is in the Navy. I love the idea of sending a mini album to someone - I think I'm going to have to create another Monika-inspired-mini to send to my parents who live overseas.

Today's post is about the mini-album that created based on of one Monika's. She has so many wonderful and varied mini's to choose from it was hard to pick just one but I was particularly drawn to her "my favorite memories of us" smash-style album:

I followed the instructions on her blog and in no time at all I had created a fun smash book of my own. 

Here's a few images from my book - first up, the cover. I mimiced Monika's with the textured cardstock, the decorative journaling sports and stickers. I sewed the book together using my sewing machine (a first for me):

 

Like Monika, I pulled various papers, journaling spots and embellishments from my stash along a color scheme and layered them to create the book. It's a fun way to use up things that have been sitting around for a while (years!):

I love using word strips and labels and I have tons of them!

I hope this inspires you to make your own mini album. Don't forget to click on Monika's details page to see all the extra goodies inside of her album.

Happy mini-making!

inspired by

Happy Monday to you all! Hi, I'm Monika, and at our house, we're getting ready for a birthday party and making sure we have everything on our back-to-school list. Next Monday, our girls will be enjoying their First Day of School. Hard to believe our Summer is almost over.

I think by now, you all know how much I adore a mini book. During last month's Gallery here at write.click.scrapbook. the theme was Perfect Pairings. At one point, I was paired with the amazingly talented Paula Gilarde. Then we added some lovely new members here and we had both had new pairings, but I still wanted to share with you a tutorial from Paula that inspired me.

It's a perfect summertime project and uses goodies you already have on hand...cardstock and photos. Anything else you add is just extra goodness! Here's my mini book...

...and here is Paula's mini book that inspired me. Here's another she shared here at w.c.s. recently.

 

ACCORDIAN MINI BOOK

Since I'm sending this to my son, who's in the Navy, I kept the embellishments simple. Don't worry, he's used to his Mom making mini books for him, so he won't be too embarrassed receiving this in the mail!

So simple that there are just 3 photos and Instagram photos at that.

STAMPS AS JOURNALING TOOLS

Have you ever thought to use all those sentiment stamps you have as a way to journal? I arranged a few stamps around my page and added my own words to fill in the gaps using different colored inks to make the stamp images stand out.

STAMPS AS EMBELLISHMENTS

Another favorite trick is to stamp an image, trim around it and add it to my page...instant embellishment. Perfect for mini books and layouts alike and you can even stamp on patterned paper!

So, excuse me now while I check our school supply list one more time and wonder how we're going to fit in a few more things from our Summer bucket list.

 

 

Summertime Birthday Gift Album

How's your summer going? It's Kelly here today, with a few thoughts on summer gifts for the procrastinator in all of us.

I love summer. I love waking up and not having to make lunches for my kids to take to school. I love hanging out in my jammies until noon, because I don't have to go take kids to school. I love watching my kids splash around at the pool. I love stocking the fridge with watermelon and the freezer with popsicles. In other words, I love the absence of some stress in my life.

So, since I am a bit lazier than usual, I didn't see a few events sneaking up on me: my pop's birthday, and the departure of my baby sister for graduate school (I don't want her to go!). Since I want to make something special for each of these occasions, I searched my stash for something to whip up. And what better than a cute little mini album for each of them?

 

I started with an album for Pop, simply titled, "Dear Pop, thanks for..."

I grabbed a mini album by Making Memories, a few snapshots of Pop taken over the years, a black marker, and a few assorted accents. Then I sat down to watch the end of the Tour de France (love that!) while I glued and journaled. For every photo, I added a sentence or two that began with "Thank you for..."

Here's another layout:

Here's a shot of the front page of the album:

And one last layout, featuring photos of my siblings with Pop almost 20 years ago, and just this year:

I kept the pages simple, with just a few accents on each page. My album was finished in no time, and now I have a great meaningful gift to give to Pop. I'm planning on making one for my sister, too. Just as soon as I eat another popsicle poolside.

Cheers!

 

Vacation by the Numbers

Hello, Emily Pitts on deck today. My family spent a week in the beautiful country of Wales last month, that's me with Harlech castle in the background. We had a wonderful time exploring the Northwestern, Western, and Southeastern parts of the country with my parents.

I'm here with a little follow up from my June gallery Fun Facts.  If you missed, or perhaps don't remember what I wrote, you can check it out here. I knew all those facts I had listed would make a fun mini album, combined with photos and statistics of what we did see. I was right.

And not only was it fun, it was EASY. And if you remember my post from last month, I'm all about simplifying and making my life easy this summer (at least, I keep reminding myself of that fact...)

Why was it easy, you ask? Because most of the thinking was already done for me.

The biggest stumbling block I run into when I think about creating a mini album is how to organize enough photos along the same topic that it will be big enough to be worthy of the name "album." Never mind the word "mini." But with my Fun Facts write up, I knew if I took photos of the castles, the national parks, the sheep, the people, and the coastlines, I'd be set. I was right. It was easy.

I cut a bunch of 4x6 tags and made the section header pages. I kept the design simple, with the same elements (more or less) on each header page. These included a smaller tag, a number, some circles, and a button or brad. I rearranged all these elements as needed, sometimes adding and sometimes subtracting. It was a fun way to keep some continuity, but have each header slightly different. 

For the filler tags, I kept it really simple. A strip of green cardstock, punched with a zig zag border, a date sticker, a half circle for any sort of journaling, and a button or brad. If there was more to say, I wrote on the back of the tag. 

[Photo of the Prince and Princess courtesy of the internet.]

[Mini album made using July's Cocoa Daisy kits: Note to Self and Pencil In]

So here is my suggestion for you, when going on vacation, think of it in numerical terms. How many people live in the city you're touring? How many skyscrapers are in the skyline? How many Broadway plays were playing while you were there? How many cows live in the state? How many pounds of coffee does the city consume? You'll probably have to do some hunting I'm sure, but I bet you could find enough number based facts about where you're going that you could put together a fun mini album. And you could do it fast, like Amy suggests in her post on Tuesday.