Write. Click. Scrapbook.

Go.Shoot.Now | Photo Challenges

Good Friday morning! Are you ready to go out there and shoot some photos? well good, because I have some assignments for you. Just over a year ago I wrote this post about shooting from varying angles, and today I am challenging you to do just that. 

 

 

1. Capture the details

I talked about this in my post from yesterday. I really love zooming in on the details of an activity or my surroundings. These are the photos that make for great introspective journaling, because you can use the photo as a symbol of something bigger. Here is one that I took this summer

When I scrap this photo I can talk about not only this specific cheesecake, but also my love for cheesecake in general. Or maybe about how making cheesecakes used to be my specialty, but lately my husband has been the one making them and wowing everyone!

Here is a layout that Deb made using a close up shot of her favorite summer treat.

2. Shooting from above

Taking a portrait from above gives such a different perspective of your little one. In this case it showed just how little he still was just one year ago.

This is the layout I made using it (you might remember seeing it here)

If your little one isn't that little anymore, you can always achieve this by standing on a chair. Or how about the window upstairs like I did in this shot of my guys having breakfast outside?

3. Shooting from below

Steps are great for getting this kind of shot.

Here's one that Christa took of her daughter

 

4. Quirky Family/Group shot.

What do you do when you want to take a family shot but don't have a remote or a friend to help out? Find a mirror of course! This is still one of my favourites from last year

You can see how I used it in a layout here in our gallery from August.

Here are two more

 

So go crazy and look for reflective surfaces everywhere!

 

5. Wide Angle Landscape

Have you heard about the Rule of Thirds? 

The guideline proposes that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections.^[2] Proponents of the technique claim that aligning a subject with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the composition than simply centering the subject would

Say what? Basically you imagine your viewfinder to be divided up like a tic tac toe game, and use the lines or the intersection of those lines, to position the focal point of your photo.

Source

For landscapes this means not placing your horizon line in the middle of the photos, as we are naturally inclined to do, but along one of the lines as above.

 

Before I say good bye, I want to link to two of my favourite photography resources. The first is a standard photography book: Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. This is the book that really helped me understand shooting in manual. If you want to learn more you should definitely check it out. The author does a much better job of explaining it than I did!

The other is more scrapbooking related: Real.Life. Photography by Rebecca Cooper, available from Ella Publishing.

One last thing: I didn't touch on photo editing at all because it is such a large topic. But if this is something you would like to learn more about, let us know so that we can address it separately in a future photography week!

Thanks for hanging out with me. And Go.Shoot.Now!

Tips for Getting the Photos You Want

Good morning! I hope that some of this information is starting to sink in and that you are seeing some results? Today I want to move on to sharing some more practical tips that I have picked up over the years. I'll focus on the two main areas we scrapbookers take photos: everyday life and special moments. At least those are the ones I document the most!

 

 Some general tips

• First, keep your camera handy. I pretty much take mine with me every where I go. And I try to remember to keep it close by when at home.
• If you'll be taking lots of photos at home get familiar with the lighting and best settings for indoor photos. My most used settings for photos indoors during the day are : ISO 400; white balance : daylight; and I use Aperture Priority mode with an aperture of 3.5 or less. This works for my house but you will have to experiment to see what works best for yours. 
• Take lots of photos! In this digital age it is possible to take lots of shots because there's no film development cost. 

Events and Special Moments

I am not a huge event or seasonal scrapper, but I do take lots of photos of those occassions to share with friends and family. This is especially true for Kieran's birthday parties. My approach is to take lots of broad photos to tell the story, but I also make sure to zoom in on little details as well.

In this photo I tried to capture the entire scene of his second birthday party. I also wanted to capture details of the decor. Tip: Do this part before the guests arrive!

Also be sure to hand your camera off to someone (or have a photo savvy friend also taking photos) so that you get to be in some photos too! In the former case I will adjust the settings on the camera first, usually leaving it in Aperture Priority.

Of course you have to get in close for those epic moments! The following photo is from his thrid birthday party.

To see even more photos from this party you can hop over to my personal blog.

Kieran started school last week, so that was another special moment to capture. I made sure to get a couple of broader type photos like these

But also some classic "all dressed and ready to go" shots in front of our door.

 

Everyday Life

Hands down, my favourite kind of photos to take are those that capture everyday life. There's no real formula for this, as everyone's life is different, but keeping your camera close by and ready to go is the key. By ready to go I mean making sure it is already on your most useful settings, so that when you grab it to capture something, you can click away without worrying too much about fiddling with buttons. My advice is to use either Aperture or Shutter priority depending on what's going on. When my son is just playing with his toys or eating, or some other relatively calm activity I will use Aperture Priority. If he is chasing cars and trucks around or we are outside I will use Shutter priority because I know he'll be moving around quite quickly!

Once again, I try to take broader as well as detailed shots

(I stood on a chair to take this one)

 

While it is fun to see this shot that includes a good bit of the living room,

what I really wanted to capture was Kieran inside the tub, so I zoomed in (actually since I was using my 50mm fixed lens, I moved closer to him)

This is most likely the photo that I will scrapbook to tell the story.

Sometimes I even get closer in

I love taking photos of little hands in action!

There are times when you have to move fast. You just grab your camera, keep clicking and hope for the best. Like this day when Kieran "raced" his Papa home on bicycles.

 

 

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 (Click each thumbnail to see the series)

When I realised what was happening I ran for the camera, and put it on continuous shooting mode. Most modern digital cameras have this option which comes in handy when you want to take a series of fast moving photos. In this mode you simply hold the shutter release button down and the camera will fire off a series of shots as fast as it can. Check your manual to see how to find this setting on your camera. These are certainly not the best photos I have ever taken but I wouldn't have missed having them for the world!

 

Do you have any questions about any of these photos, or would like to know something about getting a certain kind of shot? Please ask away in the comments. And start studying up, because tomorrow I will issue my final assignment!

More about ISO and the Exposure Triangle

So, you're back? I'm taking this to mean that you had some fun yesterday and you're rearing to go to learn more? Did you try playing with the different settings, including the ISO to see what happened? Today I'll talk a bit more about ISO, then I will move on to showing some photo examples.

If you tried changing your ISO while keeping your aperture the same, you might have noticed that it affected the shutter speed. Remember on Monday I said that ISO measures light sensitivity? To explain it in practical terms you can think of ISO as your light gatherers, bringing the light into the camera. An ISO of 200 would be twice as many light gatherers as an ISO of 100. This means that you will need the aperture to be open half as long, which means your shutter speed would be half what it was at ISO 100.Still with me?

This is why you use a higher ISO in low light conditions.When the light is low, you need as many light gatherers as possible in order to use the fastest shutter speed possible, otherwise you will end up with blurry photos, (remember that a slow shutter speed can't freeze the motion and you will see motion blur). Conversely on a bright sunny day you use a low ISO such as 100 (some cameras even go as low as 64!) because with the abundance of light, you don't need as many light gatherers and you will be able to have a pretty fast shutter speed to get a correct exposure (and avoid blur).

At this point it is also useful to remind you that you also control the amount of light entering your camera with the aperture - how wide the door is open. In low light you usually want to have the lens as wide open as it will go. Ironically this corresponds to a LOW aperture number (the technical name is an f-stop but I never think in these terms so I am avoiding using it!). So you would set your aperture to the lowest it can go. This would depend on your lens. If you are using a standard kit lens the lowest available is usually 3.5, with the lens zoomed out as far as possible. My favourite 50mm lens will go as wide open as 1.8.

I urge you to take your camera and go out to practise. It takes time for this part of it to click, and it will only truly click with lots of trial and error. Believe me, I have lots of very blurry and dark photos to prove it!

Now for some examples to illustrate.

Shutter Speed

One of the ways I love to use to see the effect of changing shutter speeds is to take photos of flowing water. I do this everytime I am near to a river or stream! This summer I took these two shots.

High (fast) shutter speed

In this shot my shutter speed was 1600 (technically 1/1600) and you can see that it practically froze the water. You can almost see the drops splashing up!

In this second shot I slowed it down to 1/10 and now the movement of the water is blurred, giving that milky white appearance.

A couple weeks ago at the park Kieran amused himself by running laps around me. I just had to try to capture his enjoyment. My first few shots were a wash, with too low a shutter speed 1/60

It's kind of cool because you can definitely tell that he was moving, but it wasn't exactly what I was going for. So I upped the shutter speed to 1/160

You can still tell that he is moving, because there is still some slight blurring, but this photo really captured what I wanted.

Just so you know I took over 30 shots in this five minute period and most of them were bad. But I was able to get this awesome one in between as he flew by me and gave me a happy grin.

Totally worth it sitting there shooting like a maniac while people looked at me like I was crazy.

Aperture

Here are a few examples illustrating what you should expect with changing apertures. Apart from the aperture controlling how much light gets into the lens, it also plays in role in what your background will look like. The technical term for this is Depth of Field (DoF). A wide depth of field means that pretty much everything in the shot is in focus, that's what you get with a high aperture value like 16. A narrow depth of field means that only very little is in focus - the result of a low aperture number.

To illustrate

 
(Click on the photo to see it larger)

In the photo on the left, with the aperture set at 6.3 most of the strawberries are in focus. In the photo on the right with the aperture set to 3.5 you can see that the starwberries towards the back are softly blurred.

Here are some photos of Kieran at the park. The aperture changes from 8.0 to 3.5 to 2.2.

Can you see how the grass in the background changes while he remains in focus? In the first photo, you can actually make out blades of grass, but not in the last one. And in case you're wondering my other settings were: ISO 200, White Balance - Shade, and Shutter Speeds 1/80, 1/320 and 1/800 respectively.

So, still with me? Now it's your turn to go and play some more! Tomorrow I will share some of my tips for shooting in various circumstances, including everyday shots and events. Is there an area you'd like me touch on? let me know in the comments! And as always feel free to ask any questions you might have.

Aperture.Shutter Speed.ISO | The Exposure Triangle

Welcome back! Did you get a chance to try out playing with your white balance yesterday? One thing that I didn't mention, which was brought up in a comment by Laurie, is that apart from the built in settings, you can also set a custom white balance. How each camera does this will vary, but it basically involves taking a shot of something that is pure white, then telling your camera to use that as a reference point when taking photos. I tend to mostly use my built in white balance option, but if I am in a location with mixed sources of light, I try to do a custom white balance shot.

So today we're going to get into a bit more detail with exposure. Basically I am going to show you how you can shoot in manual mode. Eeek! Trust me it is simpler than you might think. If you bought a fancy new camera thinking that now your shots would be perfect, but are disappointed by the results you get from using the auto or P mode, then this will get you excited!

As we learned yesterday correct exposure is controlled by aperture (the opening) shutter speed (how clickly it is closed) and ISO. These three together are comonly known as the exposure or photography triangle. Your camera will have buttons and dials to help you control these three things. Since every camera is different, this is where you will need to go get that manual! (Note, I will address point and shoot cameras a bit later on).

The first thing you need to do is set the photo mode dial at the top to M

Source

Now look through the view finder and you will see a set of numbers at the bottom that looks like this

The number at the left is the shutter speed, the next one is the aperture. Then comes the exposure scale. For the moment I only want you to pay attention to the little arrow in the middle of the scale, and the black bar at the bottom, what I called the sliding bar. This little bar is what tells you that you have correct exposure. When it is in the center as shown that's when you press the shutter to take the shot!

So here we go. Choose a well lit but shady spot and a subject, be it a person or object. Set your white balance to shade. Set your ISO to no higher than 400. Point your camera at the subject. Adjust your aperture to 5.6. Look to see where that little bar is. Now adjust your shutter speed until that bar is bang snack in the middle. That's it,take your shot!

It will probably take you a while to get used to all these manipulations and you will feel clumsy at first, but it will get better! The more you use the buttons and dials, the easier it will become. Now for your second test I want you to change your ISO, either increase it or decrease it. Leave your aperture at 5.6 and make a note of what happens to the shutter speed value in order to once again have a correct exposure. What did you notice?

If you're comfortable, now go ahead and use a different aperture OR shutter speed and then adjust the other to get correct exposure. That's it! You're shooting in manual!

But Francine, you ask. What if I don't have time for changing all these settings? Well this is where you ask your camera to do some of the work for you.

 

Aperture Priority

You can set your camera to aperture priority (Either A or Av on your dial) and you choose the aperture you want, and the camera will automatically select the shutter speed to get the correct exposure.

What aperture to choose? Well if you want those lovely, buttery soft blurry backgrounds use a low number. I tend to use 3.5 or lower whenever I can, to get that nice blur in the background. If you want to take a photo that includes a clear detailed background use a higher number.If I am shooting a landscape then I will use 11 or 16.

 

Shutter Priority

If you are photographing an active child, pet or sports, you might want to use the Shutter priority setting (S or Tv). In this case you select the shutter speed and the camera will automatically change the aperture for a correct exposure. As a general rule of thumb the lowest shutter speed I've found that will freeze action and not cause blur is 160.

Where does ISO come in? If you played around a bit with changing the ISO, you might have an inkling what role it plays. Because this is already a lot of information to absorb, I will talk more about ISO tomorrow.

 

Point & Shoot Cameras

If you have a point and shoot camera you can also achieve better photos by taking your camera off auto. Lets look at the dial again.

Yours won't have the  letters, but you will have a bunch of different symbols.These are the ones you should find on any camera.

The head in profile is the setting you can use for portraits, and this is the one to use for getting nice blurry backgrounds.

The mountain is the setting for taking landscape photos or if you want to capture a clear detailed background.

The flower is for macro shots: getting close to stuff! Pay attention to your focus though!

The running man is for fast moving subjects

The moon and star is for taking photos at night.

Some cameras include even more symbols, so be sure to check your manual to discover what they mean and how you can use them.

I think that's enough for today! Please do leave any questions in the comments.

Click.Click.Click - It's Photography Week!

Good Monday morning everyone! Are you ready to talk about photography with me this week? I love love love using my camera to capture our daily life, as well as things in our wider world. It's a raging passion, and one of the things that people know about me is that I will always have my camera where ever I am. I've learned a lot, and improved my photography over the last several years, so I thought it would be fun to share some of it with you this week.

 

While I don't think perfect photos are necessary for scrapbooking, I do know that I am more excited to scrapbook my "better" photos,  and I know that my team mates at WCS (and probably you too!) feel the same way. As is stated in our raison d'etre

 

We believe that understanding photography and design make scrapbooking a little more fun.

 

So let's start off with some photography basics shall we? I know, I know, but my photography really took off when I started paying attention to the technical aspects. Camera manuals aren't fun, but it is important to learn how your specific camera works. Here are five important terms that I will be referring to this week.

Exposure: The amount of light that your camera captures when you take a photo. Getting a correct exposure means that your photo isn't too dark (underexposed) or too bright/blown out (over exposed). Exposure is controled by the following three things.

Aperture: The size of the opening in the camera lens. A large aperture means lots of light gets in. A small aperture means less light gets in. Think of this as a door opening and closing. A wide open door will let more light into a room, than a door that is ajar.

Shutter Speed: How fast the aperture closes to stop the light from entering the camera, thus effectively taking a shot. To continue the door analogy, you can close your door quickly (fast shutter speed) or slowly (slow shutter speed)

ISO: The light sensitivity of your film, or these days your camera sensor. A low ISO like 100 means low sensitivity to light. A high ISO like 800 means a high sensitivity to light. In practical terms you use a low ISO when there is lots of light, and a high ISO when there is very little light.

Tomorrow I will delve deeper into these three things and how they work together to control the final exposure of a photo. For today I'd like to focus on the first thing that really helped my photos get better.

White Balance: This setting controls the warmth or coolness of your photo. Most modern cameras will have a range of options for your white balance. Common ones include: Sunny/daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten and  Florescent. Adjusting this setting depending on the kind of light you are shooting in, will make a world of difference to your photos.

Have you ever taken a photo indoors under artificial lighting and wondered why it was so yellow, or so blue? Unlike our eyes camera sensors cannot adjust how it sees light, unless we let it know what kind of light we are shooting in. If you only take one thing away this week, let it be that you start adjusting your camera to have the correct white balance. Here's an example of what I mean, two photos of our cat Mozaique.

In the first photo there is a yellow cast, which I corrected in the second shot by changing my white balance to Tungsten.

Here's another example showing the opposite problem. In the first photo the incorrect white balance resulted in a photo with a blue tinge

Once I chose the right setting, the next photo I took was nicely warmed up and the colours are true to life.

Both these photos are straight out of the camera with no editing. Amazing what a difference changing that one setting made!

It is also important to change the white balance for outdoor photos as well. Light on a cloudy day is not the same as light on a sunny day. And light in a shady spot is different too! During vacation this past summer I took this photo of our cheese safe hanging from a tree in a shady spot.

As soon as I looked at the LCD screen I could tell it was too blue, too cold. I quickly checked and saw that my white balance was set to sunny. I changed it to shade and took a second shot

Ahhh, much better. Now that looks more like a lazy summer day in France!

Your assignment for today (yes, there will be assignments) is to go dig your camera manual out from where you stashed it and learn how to adjust the White Balance setting. Take some shots using the wrong setting, then correct it to compare! Many digital cameras will be set to Automatic White Balance by default. Take a photo this way, then change it to the correct one, and see what a diference it makes.

Until tomorrow: Happy Shooting!

P.S. if you have any questions please ask away in the comment section below.

 

Welcome, September!

September is here. This month, not only will the leaves begin to change; so, too, does our format. We hope you enjoyed this year's summertime dailies. A delightful smattering of technique, permissions, and inspirations, our summertime dailies are a carefree schedule for a carefree season.

But school is back in session and so are we! Our weekly author series return beginning Monday. This month, you can look forward to the reading the wit and wonder of Marnie Flores, Francine Clouden, Monika Wright, and Kathy Martin.

They have four weeks of top notch content ready for you--we look forward to seeing you each day as you stop by for some scrapbooking fun and learning. If you haven't already, you may want to consider subscribing to the our feed, then you won't miss a thing! Just click the subscribe button up there and to the right in the grey navigation bar!!

 

A new month always brings a new gallery! And this month, the theme is Looking Back. September seemed the perfect season to look back and document a change, a memory, or something that you hadn't yet. We hope you enjoy our layouts! And now, you have two ways to enjoy the layouts. You may scroll below, or you may click over to the photo album! The layouts will be full size in the photoalbum and the journaling will be available there, too! But now, you may stay right here and get a taste of each layout. We hope that allows you to comment on the projects more easily and to let each designer know how much you appreciate the time and effort they spend to bring you a little artistic love! Enjoy!

 

The More Things Change | Francine Clouden

12x12 | materials patterned paper (October Afternoon, Studio Calico, Crate Paper) + chipboard stickers (October Afternoon) + stickers (Glitz Design, Authentique) + Bingo Card (Jenni Bowlin) + button + spray inks

A Note from Francine
This page documents Kieran’s abiding love for hummus. He is 8 months old in the first photo, and 21 months old in the second. Looking back at the first photo from the perspective of the second is when I first realized how much he had changed from being a baby!

September Fun Fact
I can’t believe I am saying this but I am actually looking forward to cooler autumn days. Not winter though, never winter!

 

 

Little House | Katie Ehmann

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Echo Park, My Mind's Eye, Tim & Beck for Studio Calico, Simple Stories) + embellishments (My Mind's Eye, Studio Calico, Freckled Fawn) + stickers (American Crafts, October Afternoon)

A Note from Katie
I took this photo of my grandparent's old house a few months before it was demolished. I spent much of my childhood visiting this house, and am so grateful that I have these memories documented. I hand cut the big patterned paper heart with pinking shears and then cut it again, flipping the outer heart to make the contrasting border. I used wood veneer hearts as embellishments to tie the theme together.

September Fun Fact
I love September because it is the start of the college football season and I get to watch my alma mater, the University of Michigan Wolverines play in The Big House! There is nothing like cheering them on with over 107,501 screaming fans! Go Blue!

 

 

Looking Back | Diane Payne


12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (October Afternoon, Pebbles Inc.) + embellishments (October Afternoon, A Flair for Buttons, Studio Calico, My Paper Shop, Milky Way Jewelry, Whisker Graphics) + stickers (October Afternoon, Basic Grey)



A Note from Diane

With the theme this month I thought it would be fun to reflect on where I've been since I was a little girl and what I wish I would have done a little differently along the way. I hope this layout will give future generations a better idea of what I find important.


September Fun Fact

When I was a little girl, my parents took us on two week long summer vacations by car. It brings back fond memories for me and is probably why I love road trips so much!

 

 

Remember | Emily Spahn



8.5 x 11 | materials {Gossamer Blue kit}: patterned paper (Echo Park, Pebbles, My Mind’s Eye) + cardstock (Stampin’ Up!) + buttons (October Afternoon) + resin flowers (Prima) + chipboard buttons (My Mind’s Eye) + chipboard alphabet (American Crafts) + twine (October Afternoon) + die cut (October Afternoon) + metal flower (EK Success) + journaling sticker (My Mind’s Eye)>



A Note from Emily

A long time ago I printed out a bunch of 5x7 photos. I don’t know why I love this one so much…something about the “everyday-ness” of it all. It’s even more special now, as our dog in the photo passed away earlier this year. I love recording these simple ordinary memories.






September Fun Fact

September is my favorite month. It’s my birthday month, but I especially love it because it signals the beginning of fall! I can’t wait for sweater weather, football games, changing leaves, and all of the other amazing parts of fall.

 

 

First Father's Day | Valerie O'Neall

8.5 x 11 | materials cardstock (American Crafts) + patterned paper (Sassafras, My Mind's Eye, and Crate Paper) + circle tags (Elle's Studio) + mask and mist (Studio Calico) + alpha stickers (October Afternoon) + stamp (American Crafts Dear Lizzy) + other (buttons, shipping tags, twine, and date stamp)

A Note from Valerie
I don't have a school-age child yet, so I decided on this photo to look back on from my hubby's first Father's Day. I started with a very neutral black and grey color scheme, but a little color ended up finding it's way onto the layout.

September Fun Fact
I'm canning for the first time ever this year. I've had a garden for four(?) years now, but this is the first time I've had enough excess for canning and been brave enough to try it.

 

 

Then - Now | Lisa Ottosson

8.5 x 11 | materials patterned paper (Amy Tangerine) + embellishments (Sweet Shoppe.com Kristin Cronin-Barrow, iloveitall on etsy)

A Note from Lisa
Late August always makes me look back on the year and several years as my daughters birthday is August 31st. This year she turns 13…

I wanted to quickly add that the now and then circles are from a digital kit that is called For the love of: conversation. It was bought at Sweet Shoppe.com.

Also, when I went to look for older photos of Myrra (the dog) and Stina (my daughter) I couldn´t find any although I know we have several. I really wanted to include some of them on this page, so I dug out our old home videos and took screen shots! The photos are terrible of course, but the memories are surely not! The older photos are held in the glassine bag.

September Fun Fact
Right now I am freaking out about officially being a mom of a teenager!

 

 

A Day to Remember | Vivian Masket

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (Bazzill Basics) + patterned paper (October Afternoon) + mini-album pages (October Afternoon) + die cuts (October Afternoon) + stickers (October Afternoon) + chipboard (October Afternoon) + pen (Sakura) + font (Typenoksidi) 




A Note from Vivian

Mini-album pages, used as both a journaling spot and patterned paper, helped me to pull this layout together quickly.

September Fun Fact

I created this layout while on vacation at my parents’ house, not far from the beach where this photo was taken.

 

 

Third Grade 2012 | Jennifer Larson

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (Bazzill) + patterned paper (Pebbles, October Afternoon) + tags (Elle’s Studio, Studio Calico) + stickers (Pebbles) + floss (DMC) + templates (Bazzill) + pen (Zig)

A Note from Jennifer Larson
I am terribly behind on school photos. Rather than going back over a year to create layouts for each milestone event, I put them all on one page, using a circle ( and many more circles!) to symbolize the year.

September Fun Fact
I teach high school English, and let me tell you, the teachers are just as nervous and excited on day one as the kids are!

 

 

here's the story | Celeste Smith

12 x 12 | materials kit (One Little Bird & Sahlin Studio Worn at The Lilypad) + masks(Robyn Meierotto Cut It Out at Design House Digital) + stitching(Robyn Meierotto In Stitches Neutrals at Design House Digital) + frame (Kitschy Digitals Vintage Photo Frames at Kitschy Digitals)

A Note from Celeste
This is the last photo I have to my mom and dad with me. We weren't much of a photo taking family. I wish I had more! Unfortunately, this story is a little sad. My father is now having chemotherapy and has a long road to travel. We are hoping for the best!

September Fun Fact
My oldest started middle school this year. It's amazing I'm excited and nervous for him all at the same time. Let's hope he catches on to it quickly - he's my forgetful one!

 

 

8 Years | Kathy Martin

12 x 12 | < b>materials cardstock (Bazzill Basics) + patterned paper (Little Yellow Bicycle) + embellishments (American Crafts, Jillibean Soup, May Arts, Bella Blvd)

A Note from Kathy
This October marks eight years since we moved cross country from Hollister, California to North Carolina. It’s amazing to think back through these years and how much has changed and how we’ve grown as a family.

September Fun Fact
There’s actually a Hollister, California, but it’s not a beach community like the famous Hollister clothing company. We lived in Hollister for six years. It’s a small town between San Jose and the Monterey Bay surrounded by world famous farms. Most notorious are the strawberries from Watsonville, but there’s also Gilroy, the garlic capital of the world and Castroville which is the artichoke capital of the world.

 

 

Looking Back | Monika Wright

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Pebbles) + embellishments, letter stickers, border (Pebbles) + flapper, flair button (Ormolu) + sewing machine (Singer) + punch, die cut (Stampin’ Up) + shipping tag, chipboard (craft supply)

 

A Note from Monika 
Looking Back...this month’s theme. So I literally went looking back to a stack of photos that have been calling out for some attention and pulled this photo of my now 20-year old son. This photo was printed 3 years ago at which time I sat down and wrote some journaling about the photo. How’s that for looking back on a photo taken 17 years ago and journaling written 3 years ago finally coming to life on a layout.

September Fun Fact 
I haven’t ridden a bike since I was in my teens. My husband earned incentive points through his company and chose a bike for me, which I am guessing means I need to get my little tooshie on and actually now ride. Watch out girls, Mama’s on two wheels!

 

 

My Fish School Bag | Deb Duty

8.5 x 11 | materials patterned paper (Studio Calico, American Crafts, October Afternoon) + embellishments (Studio Calico, October Afternoon, Prima, My Paper Shop) + letter stickers (October Afternoon) + stamps (Studio Calico)

A Note from Deb
With the theme this month, I decided to go way back. I've been scanning old photos from my mother's house. This was the first day of preschool when I was about to be four. I have such a bad memory so it's really nice to have old photos to help remind me of things I had forgotten.

September Fun Fact
When I was little I so wanted hair like Marcia Brady. I was very happy when I got my first Chi flat iron about ten years ago. Finally I can have straight hair! I've been flat ironing it ever since. I wear it curly (which is better described as frizzy) very rarely.

 

 

Looking Back | Paula Gilarde

12 x 12 | materials template (Meant to Be Layered Template (Katie Pertiet)) + metallics (Lynn Grieveson) + labels (Banner Labels No. 1 (Katie Pertiet)) + title stickers (Wooden Alpha No. 8 (Katie Pertiet))

A Note from Paula
I can't believe I've know these girls for almost 20 years. It makes me feel old! We got together recently and it made me think about all the fun times we had over the years.

 

 

Blessed Love Happy | Teka

8.5 x 11 | materials patterned paper (Jillibean Soup) + embellishments (My Minds Eye) + Bling (Recollections) + Twine (Jillibean Soup)

A Note from Teka
I love using products on a page that are leftovers from other projects. Makes me feel "green". The kraft banner is actually a page left over from a mini I did for Jillibean Soup.

September Fun Fact
I always feel the most creative in the morning after a fresh cup of coffee.

 

 

Little Red Tricycle | Erin Sweeney

8.5 x 11 | materials patterned paper (My Mind’s Eye, Studio Calico, American Crafts) + embellishments (K & Company) + letter stickers (American Crafts) 

A Note from Erin
I printed these pictures 2 years ago, yet somehow they never got scrapbooked. As Mackenzie will be turning five soon, it’s fun to look back at her as a toddler.

September Fun Fact
I lose things. Often. I’ve lost two sets of keys with the remote keyless entry – both after driving home. How does that happen?

 

 

& Time Flies I Christa Paustenbaugh

12 X 12 | materials cardstock (American Crafts, Crate Paper, Echo Park) + patterned papers (Studio Calico) + stickers (Crate Paper) + wood veneer (Studio Calico, Studio Calico) + brads (My Mind’s eye) + chipboard (American Crafts, Studio Calico) + flair (A Flair for Buttons Etsy Shop) + wood veneer (Studio Calico) + twine (Ormolu) + die cut machine (Silhouette SD)

A Note from Christa
The theme for this month came at just the right time for me, but also broke my heart in half too. My oldest is getting ready to start her final year of elementary school so I dug up an old photo from when she was starting her elementary school journey at the ripe old age of 5. I see the physical changes in her, but also remember all the emotional and mental changes too. She’s starting her 4th different school this year and I couldn’t be more proud of how resilient she is!

September Fun Fact
I love September: the crisp air, football get togethers and a regular routine in our house. This year is a bit different though: no crisp air in September in a tropical climate and those football parties will be during the week after the games are already played in the States! It’ll be a new normal for us!

 

 

1976 | Sarah Pendergrast

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Studio Calico, Basic Grey, Jillibean Soup, My Minds Eye) + embellishments (October Afternoon, Studio Calico, Banana Fish Studio, K & Co) + stickers (American Crafts. October Afternoon) + tools (QuicKutz, Silhouette, Martha Stewart)

A Note from Sarah
My design was inspired by a Hambly overlay. I used butterfly punches and die cuts to replicate the design using a yellow gradient.

September Fun Fact
I’m the youngest of five kids, and the closest to me in age is seven years older. It was a happy mix of being a bit spoiled as the “baby” and an only child at the same time!

 

 

Looking Back | Alexandra Sirigue-McLeod

 

Still Here | Amy Sorensen

12 x 12 | materials paisley stamps (Close to My Heart) + round swirly stamp (Hero Arts) + fleur-de-lis and bird on a stem stamps (unknown) + StazOn ink (Tsukineko) + markers (Copic) + clock hands (Silhouette) + ribbon + Samo Sans and Janda Stylish Script fonts

A Note from Amy
For the stamped border, I wanted a colorful swirl of pattern and bright hues.To make it, I stamped with big stamps, letting the images come out a little messy and soft so they could blend into each other. Then I just had fun coloring in all the blank spaces. I wrote the journaling in a similar way, with run-on sentences and ampersands and a stream-of-consciousness feel.

September Fun Fact
My September goal is to finally finish the quilt I've been working on for my seven-year-old. Since he was four. The only good thing about my procrastination is that now I know to make it bigger than I had originally planned. Someone should check up on me!

 

 

Two Years Later | Marnie Flores

8.5 x 8.5 | materials patterned paper (Creativity by Crystal, Crystal Wilkerson) + fonts (Josefin Sans Std, Bebas)

A Note from Marnie
I thought for this month's gallery, I would be putting together a layout comparing all three kids on their first day of kindergarten. But when I opened the folder for Poppy's first day, I saw this picture. And knew that this was the story that needed to be told.

September Fun Fact
I have something every single day this month. And on a couple of days, we have three places to be at the same time!! It's going to be a fun month!

 

Bike | Kelly Jeppson

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (American Crafts) + letter cut-outs (BasicGrey) + circle punch + white gel pen

A Note From Kelly
My parents gave all the kids in my family a cd of "vintage" family photos, and this is one of my favorites from the collection. It's a photo of me and my cousins with my grandpa, who passed away when I was pretty young. We used to all go on bike rides together, with me on the back of Grandpa's bike because I was too young to keep up with the big kids. I know that the photo is grainy - it was probably taken circa 1980.

September Fun Fact
My husband just bought me a road bike - I'm still trying to figure out how to shift! And I think she needs an Italian name, as she's a Specialized "Dolce" model. Any suggestions?

 

Thank you, write. click. scrapbook. team for creating a most beautiful gallery! And thank you, dear readers, for spending your precious time with us! We hope you feel inspired to create some fun today!

Summer Memories and Your Camera Phone

Happy Monday everyone! Paula here with your daily dose of inspiration from Write.Click.Scrapbook. We're in the throes of summer activies but I know that for some people it's already back to school time (I can't even begin to think about that right now!). I've been hanging out with my kids all summer doing all kinds of fun stuff and this year I've given my camera a break. Instead I've been using my iphone to take snapshots when I want. I decided to share some of the layouts I've created using only photos from my camera phone.

This first one is a round-up of some of the fun activities we've done this summer. I like to do something like this every year because even if it seems like we end up doing the same thing  there usually is something that's a little different - like the Olympics this year.

Most of these photos are from Instagram - it's so much fun!

Here's another layout I made this summer using some iPhone photos:

Why don't you try creating a layout using your camera phone photos!

 

Sunday Photo + Words

Click.

Welcome to this months Click. post where we focus on the photos in your projects! This time I saw a few cool multi photo layouts in the gallery. I thought I´d give some tips and tricks on using photo mosaics in your scrapbooking and even home decor. First, I define a photo mosaic to be multiple photos in any way really. It doesn´t have to be 36 square photos, but can also be 3 photos for example. Let´s see some pages!

 Christa Paustenbaugh

Above, Christa used 6 photos on her 12x12 layout. The different shapes and sizes makes it interesting for the eye, especially her focal photo that is really front and center.

Erin Sweeney

Erin created mosaics with 8 photos in different sizes. And doesn´t it look great with a full grid of photos!

Marie Taylor

 On Maries page she used more of a storyboard type strip with her photos. I also love to use the same photo but in different ways like on this page below.

Here I used a favorite photo of my daughter in both black and white and color. It makes the page a little more interesting and add some layering too.  

An easy way to make a mosaic of photos is to use the indexd size when you print. On my printer I can simply print the index of a file with a puch of a button. Research your printer and I am sure you can find a way. Ofcourse this can be easily done just printing out small versions of the photos and piecing them together by hand.

 When we go on holiday or even as in this case on a weekend trip, I take alot of photos that I wouldn´t scrapbook on their own, but together like this it tells a whole story of our time spend. This mosaic was made at bighugelabs using 36 photos and i left one square blank so I could add some text there after I had printed it out.

Here is another example of a trip recorded with a mosaic. This is also from bighugelabs! To create this I used the 4x4 with large center option.

As you can probably see I am big fan, so I have also added a photo collage/mosaic to my Project Life album here and there!

I have also made collages where I have printed it on a 6x4 card and just slipped it in the page protector.

 

It is a super way of including lots of photo in one or two pages without crowding the page.

When I print my mosaics I usually open them up in Word and there I can resize them as I want before printing them.

I want to give a few more tips:

Lately i have used picmonkey for most of my photo editing. They also have lots of cool mosaic shapes and sizes. Here are a few examples.

Here is the typical before and after version :)

Here i have used the Pinter-etsy option, which is awesome to use on blogs!

 

Here are a few more examples where I have used mosaics in scrapbooking!

We have this framed in our house...

and here is the page I did with the same mosaic.

A birthday collage and here is the page I made with it.

Ok, I think you all get the picture (pun intended!) that using photo mosaics are great to include in your scrapbooking!

 Now, go and play with some mosaics and consider uploading the pages to our Flickr group!

 

In Review

July is finishing, the Olympics beginning, and school is just around the corner. With so much going on, this month's theme, Five is Fun! is perfect as we take our limited items and create some simpler works of art to help us complete some summer pages and document those memories before they fade away into a summer sunset.

Let's put on our fanciest flip flops, and our most comfy summer whites, and stroll through our gallery one last time. Together. The way we like it best, no?

 

Before we begin our prompt lists, let's do a bit of trend spotting. There are many multiple photos layouts this month; 12 in fact. 5 use grids. 6 use linear stacks. If you copied each of these 12 layouts, you would be scrapbooking 57 photos. Imagine how freeing it would seem to have 57 photos properly preserved?

For a mid-summer gallery, the colors are also light and bright. Lots of pastels and muted brights here. Right on trend according to Project Runway this week!

Let's get to our lists! First up, journaling prompts.

1. have you a dream? (Francine)
2. thoughts on the gender of your children (Deb)
3. the personality of your pet (Lisa)
4. a way that your child is changing (Emily)
5. a Fourth of July tradition (Celeste)
6. documenting something you have been waiting for (Diane)
7. look deeper at a field trip detail (Vivian)
8. a current creative stage of you or your child (Kathy)
9. document how a tradition began (Paula)
10. a treat and why you love it (Teka)
11. different aspects of your child (Valerie)
12. capture a moment of zaniness (Emily)
13. look at your child. what do you see? (Sarah)
14. party details. bare bones. (Donna)
15. journal the start of a conversation. the photos will be the end. (Erin)
16. record a gratitude to your child (Marnie)
17. document a special relationship (Christa)
18. a summer delight (Amy)
19. something that makes life good (Monika)
20. a list of a few goods and bads from a day of vacation (Marie)
21. record some details from a touristy day (Kelly)
22. your thoughts as you look back at an old photo (Alexandra)

 

And your photography prompts:

1. stand by a window for a selfie (Francine)
2. take a portrait shot of each of your kids with the same background on the same day (Deb)
3. take a series of photos to help better tell the story (Lisa)
4. be higher than your subject (Emily)
5. have your subjects lay down and stand over them (Celeste)
6. use a fun filter (Diane)
7. take two: one up close, one far away (Vivian)
8. use a white background for a detail shot (Kathy)
9. get a series that help tell the story (Paula)
10. foodie photos. yum! (Teka)
11. block a chunk of time, patiently sit and capture expression changes (Valerie)
12. before you clean, click! (Emily)
13. take an everyday shot of someone you love (Sarah)
14. the birthday candle, before and after (Donna)
15. look back through your photos and match them up for a page (Erin)
16. same subject, front and back (Marnie)
17. look for a moment that you can capture the essence of relationship in a photo (Christa)
18. summer food eating action shot (Amy)
19. set your scene with near, far, up, down, left and right (Marie)
20. tourist day: remember the people pictures, too (Kelly)
21. remember to add in the background for an additional bit of preservation (Alexandra)

 

And lastly, 22 things to try when you scrapbook this month:

1. use an unlikely thread for a banner (Francine)
2. rounded corners on your photos, squared corners on the mattes (Deb)
3. use the negatives of a punch (Lisa)
4. create a photo strip by reusing the same photo 3 or more times (Emily)
5. keep your layout in the upper half of the page, with lots of breathing room below (Celeste)
6. try a black photo matte to help your colorful photo pop (Diane)
7. emulate a graphic on your photo with paper (Vivian)
8. enlarge a photo with unusual proportions (Kathy)
9. have a perfectly centered and symmetrical layout (Paula)
10. use patterned tape on top of patterned paper. i dare you! (Teka)
11. jump the gender gap with products (Valerie)
12. tip your photo away from the lines of your layout (Emily)
13. use a reference point in your photo in the background decor (Sarah)
14. keep an uniform margin in a block of photos (Donna)
15. let an embellishment aid in your storytelling (Erin)
16. use a ribbon in lieu of a patterned paper (Marnie)
17. journal round your photo (Christa)
18. use a graphic element three times (Amy)
19. place your title over a strip of washi tape (Monika)
20. place your photo grid on the lower left hand corner and then use your journaling and embellishments to create a visual triangle (Marie)
21. journal on our photos (Kelly)
22. use those old decorative scissors! (Alexandra)

 That's it! 66 ideas to keep your juices flowing and pages coming!

 

As a thank you for the time you have spent with us this month, our lovely Monika created this printable for you and our Five is Fun! theme.

You may download it here.

Thank you for stopping by! Have a terrific weekend!