Write. Click. Scrapbook.

Sunday photo+words

 

 — Frederick Douglass

In Review

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

Technique Week - Texture and Layering

Hi Kathy Martin here for our last day of Technique Week and the topic is texture and layering. I love creating dimension and texture and will share with you some of my favorite techniques for doing so. Most of the examples I use are cards since they are smaller and easier to see, but all these techniques can be used for any papercraft project.

One of the hardest things for me to learn when it came to texture and layering was not to concern myself too much about bulk. I always worried that I couldn't send a card through the mail or fit my pages into an album if they were too thick. No worries! Send special cards in bubble envelopes and add fewer pages to your albums.

First let's talk about texture. My favorite way to add texture to my projects is with stitching.

If you want to learn some of my secrets for stitching on paper, click here for Monday's Technique Week post.

Another great way for creating texture is dry embossing. This card was embossed with a Cuddlebug folder.

To add more depth, gently rub an ink pad over the design. For this holiday card I used a white ink pad to give the card a snowy effect.

Don't forget that dry embossing isn't just for paper and card stock, you can emboss accents like stickers or a glassine envelope as shown in the card above.

 
Another way to increase the visabity of dry embossing is by using Core'dinations card stock. The center of the card stock is a different color than the surface making your embossed design visible after sanding. Core'dinations has styles that are already embossed for you or you can emboss them yourself.

Adding self-adhesive corrugated alphabets like these from Pebbles is a quick and easy way to add an embossed look if you don't have the tools to do it yourself.

Using a variety of materials will give you lots of texture.

The above thank you card includes felt, ribbon jute and burlap trim.

Raffia is fabulous way to add texture and is perfect for autumn projects. So is canvas.

You can either use canvas as a background layer or use it to stamp and color on.

How about wood, a crochet doily and vintage mother-of-pearl button for creating texture?

Yet another favorite way I add texture and dimension is shown on the above scrapbook page. I folded the butterfly die cuts in half, added glue to the folded portion only and adhered to the page. I use this technique with hearts and snowflakes too.

Layering is another way to add texture and I love the dimension that can be achieved with it. I often think of layering in terms of a sandwhich or hambuger. A hamberger is much better when there's more to it than the bun and patty. I want tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, onions, bacaon and avacado too! :)

This friendship card includes lots of yummy layers, card stock, patterned paper, die cuts, burlap and ribbon.

Layers on the above 'flowers' card include card stock, patterned paper, ricrac, jute, felt and an adhesive pearl.

For this 'Count Your Blessings' card the layers include card stock, patterned paper, a journaling sticker, more patterned paper, a chipbord cloud and a cluster of stickers, twine and a brad.

Another trick to adding layers and dimension to your projects is to die cut a 'window' that allows you to see the different levels as shown in this butterfly card.

One final example of layering is this three tiered star created with die cuts.

Here's a full view of the page. See the orange fringed border at the top? I like the texture it creates.

I hope I've inspired you this week to play with paper and accents and try out some of my favorite techniques. If you have any questions about a technique, product or tool that I've used this week, please leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer it. A whole book could be written on the topics covered this week as I've only scratched the surface.

I almost forgot to let you in on my biggest secret for creating texture and dimension...3M Foam Mounting Tape. It's easy to forget since it's not seen on my projects, but it's used on almost every one.

Thanks for joining me this week and for your comments. I've been reading everyone and appreciate you taking the time to leave them.

Technique Week - Baker's Twine

Hi! Kathy Martin here. I hope you are enjoying Technique Week. Today's topic is baker's twine. Oh how I love thee, let me cound the ways! Again, as with yesterday's topic, washi tape, I don't consider myself and expert, but I'd like to share some of my favorite ways to use twine.

As part of the Doodlebug Design team, I get to work with the beautiful Doodle Twine and a majority of my projects include at least a little twine. I think of it as a staple like salt and pepper. I like to wrap it around cards.

I often use twine to top tags.

 

On the following Halloween card I used a glue pen to draw a border around my patterned paper and then lined it with twine.

Twine was made for threading buttons, wasn't it?

There's so many uses for baker's twine. How about Christmas ornament hangers?

Twine makes the purr-fect accent on scrapbook pages for kitty.

Recently I participated in a team up between Bella Blvd. and The Twinery and the presure was on to think of some unique ways to use twine. The first project I did combined both common and a not so common ways to use twine.

The most creative use was wrapping the edges of the chipboard cloud accents. 

For my next project I created a scrapbook page frame.

 

To make the frame use a scoring board to create straight lines for your twine. Then punch tiny holes at both ends of each line for threading the twine through.

To ensure the baker's twine lays flat along your scored lines, use a glue pen to trace over them. I did this after the twine was in place by rolling it to the side just a tad.

 My favorite team-up project is this baby card.

I used the same technique as the frame on the above Easter Eggs page.

Did you see all the fabulous ways my teammates used baker's twine last week here on write. click. scrapbook? The entire week was dedicated to twine. Click here if you missed it.

I hope you've been inspired to get crafty with your stash of baker's twine. Tomorrow is the the last day of Technique Week. I look forward to you joining me. :)

Technique Week - Washi Wednesday

Hello! Kathy Martin back today for Technique Week and today is washi Wednesday. I' don't think of myself as an expert since I jumped on this bandwagon a little on the late side, but I've gained a bit of experience being on the Bella Blvd and Love My Tapes design teams and I'd like to share with you some of my favorite ways to use decorative tapes.

For most projects I take the 'a little goes a long way' approach and use just a couple strips here and there as I did on this birthday card.

There are times I go a little crazy with tape and nearly cover my entire project.

I've used washi as a guide for stitching fun designs.

I love the bright colors of Bella Blvd's Designer Tape! Recently I tried stamping on it using StazOn ink.

 How about making a tape banner?

To do this, fold pieces of tape over baker's twine, jute or craft string and cut the ends. Did you know you can die cut washi too?

Die cutting with tape is super easy, just adhere strips to clear vellum and run through your machine. I created the following pinwheel card using this technique.

The washi styles on the above card are from Love My Tapes.

You can run washi covered vellum through the Silhouette too. The tittle and banner on the above page were created that way. For the following page I made streamers with tape by folding it in half lengthwise and then wrapped it around a pencil to curl it.

 

Want more ideas for using washi? I created a board on Pinterest just for washi projects that you can view here. Following are a couple of my most recent pins.

(source)

Isn't this a simple and elegant way to use washi?

(source)

Instead of wrapping tea lights, how about pencils?  Wouldn't this make a great teacher's gift?

Are you ready to play with some washi tape yet? I hope so! :) Come back tomorrow and we'll take a look at a few fun ways to use baker's twine on your paper craft projects.

Technique Week - Die Cuts

Hello! It's Kathy Martin back today with Technique Week and the topic today is die cutting. With the abundance of thin metal dies available there's no end to the creative potential for your paper craft projects. Today I'm going to talk about a few of my favorite trends using thin metal dies and share some examples. These techniques can be used for any paper project, but my examples will be cards since they are smaller and easier to see the details.

Using negative die cuts is hot hot hot right now! I've fallen for this trend hook, line and sinker! On the following two cards I used thin metal alphabet dies from Papertrey Ink for the sentiments and a My Favorite Things die for the butterflies.

To get the most out of your dies, use the positive and negatives as shown on this 'I Love You' card.

For the following Thanksgiving card I used a Spellbinders circle die to create embellishment windows.

Another hot trend is chevron stripes and My Favorite Things makes a set of chevron dies in two widths. Here I mixed both and placed them on my card vertically. Then I used the die to trace chevron lines in between the patterned paper for stitching.

Polaroids are very popular right now and I'm addicted to them! I've found a way to make these popular little picture frames in an array of sizes by using a set of square Spellbinders Nestabilities dies.

I simply select the size square I want, run it through my die cutter and then cut around the sides with a guillotine style cutter. I don't use any specific measurements, I eyeball it. Following are projects with different size Polaroids.

I really like these tiny Polaroids, how about you? Apparently I really like butterflies too. I just noticed that the first three Polaroid card samples have them! ;)

I hope I've inspired you to pull out your thin metal dies and give some of these trendy techniques a try. If you have any questions or want to share a favorite way to use thin metal dies, please leave a comment. Tomorrow's Technique Week topic is all about washi. See you then!

Technique Week - Stitching

Hello! Kathy Martin with you this week with some of my favorite and most asked about techniques for paper crafting. Stitching is one that tops the list so I thought I'd start there. I'm often asked what kind of sewing machine I use because my stitching is so neat. People are usually surprised to hear that I don't use a sewing machine at all, that it's done by hand. Straight stitching along borders is probably my most common stitch and it's done with a pencil, ruler, awl and self healing mat.

 

As you can see in the above photo, I use a ruler and pencil to draw a straight line, then I use the ruler as a guide for peircing holes at 1/8" increments. Once my holes have been peirced, I erase the pencil lines and start stitching. Following is an example. I'll be using cards for sample projects since it's easier to see the stitching. You can use these techniques on any type of paper crafting project.

A straight stitch was used on the above baby card along the edges of the patterned paper strips. I also do a lot of zigzag stitching.

For the zigzag stitch, you need to draw a second parallel line and peirce holes that are centered between every two on the first line. Here's a look at the zigzag stitch on a project.

A lot of my projects combine straight and zigzag stitches and sometimes I'll trace Nestabilities dies for stitching patterns.

For circles and odd shapes, I eye ball the distance between pierced holes. Here's a card I created recently with traced circles.

Do you see the dry embossed border around the die cut circles? You can click on the photo to enlarge it. Nestabilities dies have the ability to dry emboss a border and often times I'll use it as a guide for stitching.

For this baby card I used a circle and a square Nestability die cut shape and stitched around the embossed borders. You can use the patterns on paper for stitching.

Either stitch directly onto your patterned paper by outlining an object with pierced holes or when you are piercing your holes, place the patterned paper on top of card stock to create a pattern.

The above card is an example where I used patterned paper designs for stitching. Next up, I used the hexagons to stitch around.

I stitched the stamped dress image on the next card. There's also a straight stitch border and oval Nestability die cut. 

For the stitching, I use regular all purpose sewing thread from Coats & Clark. I usually use one ply. When I stitch over stamped images or want a more pronounced stitch I double up my thread. You could also use DMC floss.

I hope you found this post useful and that you give hand stitching a try. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments section and I'll do my best to answer them.

Tomorrow's Technique Week topic will be about die cuts. I hope you can join me.

Sunday photo+words

 

Cherokee Proverb

scrapbook!

Happy Saturday! What a terrific week we have had with Monika and The Twinery! We hope you enjoyed all the ideas and found inspiration a-plenty! With another week done, we are just in time for scrapbook! Saturday. Today we have a sketch, a color palette, and a trend alert. Three things to help your pages come alive and come together.

 

SKETCH

This month's sketch comes from Kathy's layout in our gallery. 

I was excited to create my own layout with Kathy's sketch. I knew I could stay pretty true to the basics, but that I would need to put those tilted photos back on the grid (I am not so good with askew!). It came together quickly! I even left the grey and navy as I loved them so much. Hopefully yours will be so fast, too!

If you would like a layered template, all ready for a quick layout, just click here!

 

ROGYBIV

I have been perusing home reno sites this month and saw this color combo 

and knew it needed to be our September color pallette. I love the drenched hues and the bold colors balanced with the soft greys.

Look how great it looks on a layout!

 

TRENDING

This month, there were 6 layouts with doily elements in the Looking Back gallery. Guess that means it's my turn!!

Thank you for stopping by! I hope that you will take a moment to make a layout or three!!

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.