Write. Click. Scrapbook.

Welcome, June!

Five years. It's been five lovely years. 60 monthly gallerys. Thousands of comments. Hundreds of layouts. And 1825 posts. And through it all you have been here with us. For that we thank you. And adore you!

 

As we do each new year, this month's gallery is a look back at the year we have left behind. Please join us in welcoming our new gallery, Inspired by Year 5.

 

City Kid | Aliza Deutsch

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (Bazzill Basics) + patterned paper (Studio Calico, Cocoa Daisy) + brads (October Afternoon) + letters (Jillibean Soup) + wood veneer (Cocoa Daisy) + stickers (Echo Park, My Mind’s Eye) + stamp (Cocoa Daisy) + fonts (Burst My Bubble)

A Note from Aliza
This layout was inspired by two parts of Marnie’s recent color week. First, there was one layout with two simple strips of patterned paper, and loads of glorious white space. I kept that in mind when making this super simple layout. Also in that week, Marnie wrote about the color combination of blue and green: “Denim blue and green. Stormy sky and trees. Nature made it perfect. I just borrowed it.” I liked the words so much that I borrowed it too.

June Fun Fact
Summer. Yay. That’s all I can say.

 

Happy Smile | Marnie Flores

12 x 12 | materials patterned papers (Glitz) + elements (Glitz) + fonts (2Peas Graham Cracker)

A Note from Marnie
This layout came from Jina Jean from our September gallery. I love everything Jina does: her colors are amazing, she is a layering master, and she is really good with the little add on details. I am so glad she is part of our team!

June Fun Fact
All of our activities/sports are year round, so summer really just means no school. But I'll take it!

 

Just Add Water | Francine Clouden

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (Bazzill Basics Paper) + stickers (Scenic Route, My Mind's Eye) + canvas diecuts (BasicGrey) + diecut (Glitz Design) + spray ink (Kesi'art) + sequins (craft supply) + sewing machine

A Note from Francine
I was inspired by two layouts from the September 2013 gallery, Hug by Jina Jean and Sweetness by Monika Glod. I loved the stitching details and diecuts from Jina's layout, and the blown out black & white photo from Monika's. I used my sewing machine to make stitched "waves" on my background, and spray inks to make a beachy background.

June Fun Fact
One day at the beach is never enough for me. Our next vacation at the beach has to be at least a week long!

 

Playful | Sue Althouse

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (American Crafts) + patterned paper (Echo Park, Jenni Bowlin) + buttons (Queen & Co.) + butterfly punch (Martha Stewart) + title (Silhouette) + floss (We R Memory Keepers) + 12x12 die cut (Jillibean Soup) + foil gold butterfly (Jenni Bowlin) + mini pearls (Doodlebug) + typewriter (Remington)

A Note from Sue
This layout takes inspiration from Amy Coose's Number of Photos Week from this past April. My layout uses four photos that are different sizes: a 4x6 focal point photo and three supporting photos that are 3x3, 3.25x3.25 and 3x3. It's a different way for me to think about working with an even number of pictures.

June Fun Fact
I love stuffed animals and especially puppets. They make me feel like a kid again!

 

You Make My Heart Smile | Lisa Borbély

8.5 x 11 | materials tags (Cocoa Daisy, Fancy Pants Designs) + flair (Panda Eight) + stamp (Cocoa Daisy) + stickers (My Minds Eye) + heart (Simple Stories) + wood veneer (Studio Calico)

A Note from Lisa
This layout is made with the March sketch. I have loved working with sketches this year and I have made several layouts with our sketches. I was drawn to this one because it is out of my comfort zone. I usually have white space around the photos + papers etc. But the sketch had interesting elements.

June Fun Fact
To make more sense of the journaling you should know my fiancé has MS!

 

The Last Time | Amy Sorensen

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (American Crafts, Crate Paper, Echo Park, Pebbles) + alpha stickers (BasicGrey) + date stamp (Cocoa Daisy) + fonts (Bario Regular, Arsenale White)

A Note from Amy
One of my favorite things this year at wcs was Marnie's Scrapolympics week. 
It was my favorite for a couple of reasons:
1. The cleverness of the events just made me happy!
2. I love seeing how scrapbookers take inspiration from each other.
3. My assignment was so helpful! I did the Pairs Skating event, and I studied Jenny Larsen's skill with using one big photo on layouts. It's an approach I had long admired but not ever really done successfully. Pushing myself to examine how Jenny implements color, pattern, and a big photo helped me gain strength with that approach. Big photos are my current big obsession!

June Fun Fact
I'm running my fourth Ragnar Relay race this month. I'm hoping not to fall during the night run like I did last year!

 

Say Cheese | Amy Coose

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Heidi Swapp, My Mind's Eye) + labels (Chic Tags) + stickers (My Mind's Eye) + pen (American Crafts) + cutting machine (Silhouette Cameo)

A Note from Amy
This layout is about meeting Richard Rawlings at a Dallas Mavericks basketball game. It was seriously a dream come true for my hubby, who is a huge fan of his show, "Fast and Loud."

June Fun Fact
I am looking forward to a fun summer with my big kids around more and lots of time at the pool. Remind me that I said that when I'm tired of being a maid and chauffeur by the second week they're home.

 

The Family Pi | Jennifer Larson

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Studio Calico, American Crafts) + stickers (Studio Calico, October Afternoon) + brads (American Crafts) + thickers (Studio Calico) + flair (October Afternoon) + die cut (October Afternoon) + rubons (Studio Calico) + wood veneer (Lily Bee) + chipboard letters (BasicGrey) + paint (Jenni Bowlin) + ink (Jenni Bowlin) + pen (Sharpie) + punch (EK Success) + epoxy stickers (Studio Calico)

A Note from Jenny
I was inspired by Cristina C. Scrap’s May layout using a pie chart. I drew a circle and gave it to each family member and asked them to draw a pie chart for what was important to them. I then added it to the page, paired with a photo of each of us. Some notable moments: my older boy didn't have family at first, but later removed “biking” to replace it with “family”; my husband noted that neither of us put work on our wheel (I truly love my job!); and my younger boy noted that we hadn't put God on our charts, but God was the crust.

June Fun Fact
I am a gardening fiend and cannot wait for summer!

 

Sweet Girl | Jina Jean

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Lawn Fawn) + stickers (American Crafts, Heidi Swapp) + diecuts (Elle's Studio, American Crafts) + label (Chic tags)

A Note from Jina
This layout was inspired by Stephanie Bryan's "Moments" layout in the January 2014 gallery. I tried to make pastel ruffles using tissue paper and watercolors for this layout.

June Fun Fact
Oh! My birthday is just coming up.

 

Finals | Laura O'Donnell

12 x 12 | materials digital kit (Light Bulb Moment by JustJaimee and Stolen Moments) + font (Remington Noiseless)

A Note from Laura
I was inspired by Francine's week of blogging about Instagram to scrap a recent photo from my daughter's Instagram feed along with the text she added to her photo for the journaling.

June Fun Fact
I’m changing up my Project Life to the 6" x 8" Handbook size for the summer. I already started with Memorial Day Weekend, and I love the smaller size!

 

Lunch This Week | Carey Bridges

12 x 12 | materials digital kit (Celeste Knight's Honeysuckle) + journal cards (Celeste Knight's Honeysuckle Journal Cards) + digital elements (Pixels & Company's Bermuda Triangle Collab, Gennifer Bursett's Miss Molly Elements) + washi tape (Scotty Girl Design's This Year 2014 Summer Washi Tape) + word strips (Scotty Girl Design's In the Kitchen Word Art) + font (1942 Report)

A Note from Carey
This layout was inspired by Christine Newman's Jumpstart Week during May 2014 and Christine's photo-inspired layout Sunset Stroll. I utilized the same polaroid format for my photos, and like Christine, I also pulled colors from my photos to select papers and embellishments. The grid format also was very appealing to me, so I followed her design and embellishment placement closely as well.

June Fun Fact
I can't eat breakfast sausage or sausage biscuits without dipping them in pancake syrup. The sweetness is so yummy!

 

Happy Anniversary | Cristina C. Scrap

12 x 12 | materials paper, flair, sequins, stamps, mist (Studio Calico) + ink (Versamark) + embossing powder (American Crafts) + modeling paste + sewing machine + cut file (Christine Newman - listgirl)

A Note from Cristina
I love the cut file designed by Christine Newman last July. I used it as a stencil with modeling paste. I love the texture it adds to my page!

June Fun Fact
I’m looking forward to a trip home to see our families at the end of the month!

 

Hello Lovely | Amy Kingsford

8.5 x 11 | materials cardstock (Digital Design Essentials) + patterned paper (Digital Design Essentials) + buttons (Digital Design Essentials) + brads (Digital Design Essentials) + labels (Digital Design Essentials) + stickers (Digital Design Essentials) + wood veneer (Digital Design Essentials) + washi tape (Amy Kingsford, Digital Design Essentials) + fonts (Century Gothic)

A Note from Amy
I made this layout using the write. click. scrapbook. sketch from November 2013. This sketch was based off of a beautiful page made by the lovely Diane Payne and tackles two design features that are a little out of my comfort zone--a grid design and the use of circles. I'm not sure why, but for the longest time I've struggled with using grids and circles in my own pages, but I love the clean, yet energetic look they bring to this page. The grid design allowed me to use plenty of bold colors and patterns on my page, while the use of multiple circles help to soften the edges a bit.

June Fun Fact
June is a busy month here in our house, filled with adventures in remodeling, potty training, swimming lessons and travels. This doesn't leave a whole lot of time for scrapbooking but it will provide plenty of fodder for future pages I'm sure!

 

Keep Calm | Celeste Smith

12 x 12 | materials digital kit (Shine On by Lauren Grier & Erica Zane)

A Note from Celeste
I was so inspired by Sue Althouse’s week on go to designs. Nothing like having a few in your back pocket to get you out of a rut! I used the rectangle on a square idea for this layout. It’s just fabulous having a few different places to start!

June Fun Fact
I have six thirteen year old boys coming to my house for a sleepover the first weekend of June. I’m hoping that their love of gaming keeps the ruckus to a bare minimum. A girl can dream can’t she?

 

Sweet & Spicy | Kate Christensen

8.5 x 11 | materials digital kits (Adiamo by Scotty Girl Design; Boardwalk: Wood Grain by Laura Passage of Wishing Well Designs; Every Little Bit: Neutral Paper Pack by Deena Rutter) + frame (Summerific Frames by Creashens) + alpha (Endless Summer by Sugarplum Paperie) + mist (Mess it Up V.3 by Dawn by Design) + fonts (Pea Lex Valentine, CK Mama O, Century Gothic)

A Note from Kate
I was inspired by Jina's layout from the January 2014 gallery. I loved the huge ampersand and the pretty sequins all scattered about the page.

 

Five | Valerie O'Neall

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (American Crafts) + decorative tape (My Mind's Eye) + chipboard frames (Crate Paper) + chipboard numbers (Sassafras) + enamel shapes (My Mind's Eye) + phrase stamps (American Crafts, Crate Paper, Studio Calico)

A Note from Valerie
This layout was inspired by one of Christine Newman's from her Jumpstart week. I liked the variety of papers she used, but instead of patterned paper, I decided to use decorative tape.

June Fun Fact
What a great feeling to be done with preschool drop-off and pick-up every day!

 

Sprinkler Dog | Marnie Flores

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (One Little Bird, Troublemaker) + twine (Splendid Finns) + journaling blocks (Creativity by Crystal) + fonts (Bondoluo, Century Gothic)

A Note from Marnie
This layout is based upon two. The idea of a rectangle inside a square came from Sue Althouse's design week where I learned that 8.5x11 layouts fit perfectly inside 12x12 layouts. For the rectangular layout I looked to Lisa's layout from our June 2013 gallery.

June Fun Fact
School finished yesterday! Woohoo!

 

Thank you for a stopping by to see our lovely gallery. Please leave us a comment telling us your favorite thing about the last 5 years! We would love to hear it!

Anniversary Week - Day 5

Welcome to the last day of this Anniversary Week! Today I am sharing some ideas for anniversary gifts.

Some of these projects don't require photos, and others do, so you can pick the project based off of what you have available.

Let's start with a photo-less project. Here is a set of personalized coasters I made. I bought the tiles at Lowe's and covered them up with different digital papers.

Last year my in-laws' celebrated their 50th anniversary, so I collected a bunch of photos from their family and friends and made a photo collage. We had it printed and framed for them. They loved it!

Next, I want to share two frames I decorated. These make a great gift too. I got the frame from Michaels and it's very easy to cover up and embellish.

This other frame was from the dollar store, and I covered it up with paper.

Finally, I wanted to share the wall heart-shaped photo display I put together. I prepared photo and paper squares of ~3 inches side and arranged them in a heart shape. I just love how this looks in our living room!

I hope you enjoyed all the anniversary inspiration this week!

 

 

Anniversary Week - Day 4

Welcome to Day 4 of this Anniversary Week! Today I want to share some mini albums I made to celebrate some anniversaries.

The good news is that if you are successful in getting photos for the pages we talked about on Day 1 and Day 2, you will have all the materials you need to put together a mini album as well.

First, I want to share the mini album I put together to celebrate our first ten years together. In the background you can also see the matching card I made.

Each of the inner pages features a photo of the two of us.

More recently, I made a mini album based off of some journaling cards by Sahlin Studio.

On each numbered page I hand wrote the highlights of that particular year.

I hope you enjoyed the mini album inspiration. Come back tomorrow for some anniversary gift ideas!

 

 

Anniversary Week - Day 3

Welcome to Day 3 of this Anniversary Week! Today I will be sharing some inspiration for anniversary cards.

I find it especially meaningful to give a homemade card to celebrate the sweet milestone of an anniversary.

Some of the tips I shared on Day 1 still apply to cards. In particular, focusing on the numbers is always a nice way to build a card.

Here's an example from me for our 6th anniversary.

In this card, Laura cleverly used a bingo card for her in-laws' 49th anniversary.

For my in-laws' 50th, I made a card that featured gold - the color of the 50th anniversary.

Kate made this lovely card with a bold word art.

Laura made these two cute cards with animal couples.

Finally, this is the card I made this year for my husband.

Come back tomorrow for some mini album inspiration!

 

Anniversary Week - Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of this Anniversary Week! 

Today I am sharing some inspiration to document the big milestones. The tips from yesterday (let the photographs speak, feature the numbers, and tell the story)  apply to these pages as well.

 

One Photo Per Year

My first tip is to include a photo for each of the years. In this page I made to celebrate ten years with my husband I included a photo from each year we were together, and numbered them.

I wanted to use pictures taken roughly one year apart, but I didn't have them, so you will note pictures taken both in winter and summertime. It was very hard to find a photo of the two of us together during those first few years - that was long before my scrapbooking days begun! Now, I make sure to take a picture of us at least once per month.

A grid design is also a great idea for this type of pages. Here's one I made that also features the numbers prominently.

 

 

Then and Now

Another idea is to feature a picture from your first year together, and the most recent photo.

Come back tomorrow for some anniversary card inspiration!

Anniversary Week - Day 1

Hello and happy Monday! It's Cristina here and our theme for the week is Anniversaries. I figured this would be a fitting theme for this week, given that write.click.scrapbook's 5th anniversary is coming up, and it happens to be my wedding anniversary as well. :)

Throughout the week we'll be talking about documenting anniversaries and relationships, how to scrap milestones, anniversary cards, mini albums, and ideas for anniversary gifts.

Documenting Anniversaries

Here are a few tips for your anniversary pages: focus on the photograph, feature the numbers, and tell a story.

Focus on the Photograph

This tip is simple enough: just let the photo speak. Here is my Second Anniversary page.

 

And here is our Third Anniversary.

 

 

Here are some more lovely examples by Carey.

 

 

Feature the Numbers

I also love to feature the anniversary number on my pages.

Can you spot the number 5 on my Fifth Anniversary page?

 

The numbers on my Sixth Anniversary page aren't as subtle. :)

 

Here is Laura's 15th Anniversary page. I love how she used a paper with numbers to highlight her title.

 

 

Tell A Story

Another tip is to add some journaling about your couple, or about what you did on your anniversary. For my Fourth Anniversary page, I wrote a couple sentences to document how we celebrated it.

 

In these two pages, Aliza told the story of a very special surprise her husband made her on the 20th anniversary of the day they met. He's a keeper!

 

In this page, Kate documents how they celebrated their thirteenth anniversary.

 

Carey recorded a poem her husband wrote for their anniversary on this page. (He's a keeper too!) :)

 

 

 

Documenting Relationships

All these tips work not just for anniversary pages, but also to document relationships in a broader sense. On this page, Sue uses numbers to list all the events she has been through with her husband, and celebrate their 30 years together.

 

And on this other page, she journals about her husband's qualities.

 

 

A Word About Taking Photos...

As you may have noted, all my anniversary pages feature photographs of my husband and me. But I don't think I am the only one with a husband who hates being in photos.. am I? So I wanted to share a few tips on how to get those photos taken.  

1. Choose your camera wisely. My husband has a particular aversion to my D-SLR, while he is much more ready to take iPhone pictures. So I pick my battles and only insist on using the big camera when I feel it's worth it.
2. Be prepared. Whenever I want a photo with my D-SLR, I know I need to plan in advance, set up the tripod, etc. and have everything ready to snap quickly.
3. Keep it light. Don't expect to take 100 shots, one or two good ones will suffice.
4. Set the mood. The best way to get some good pictures with my husband is to make him laugh. I remember a particularly tough photo session - I had my tripod set up, the cherry trees were in bloom, but he was in a lousy mood. But while I was taking a couple shots of him alone, he started taking a selfie, and I took a photo of him taking a selfie, and that made us laugh. After that, everything went smoothly and I got some great shots (check out my Sixth Anniversary page above for proof).
5. Share/Motivate. Show him the previous photos you took and how you documented them, and perhaps he will be moved to take new photos. (Sadly, this one doesn't work at all with my husband..)
6. Bribe. If your husband is anything like mine, he'll be open to posing for a few shots in exchange of something he wants - in our case, it's usually a nice meal ;).

I hope you enjoyed these tips and the inspiration! Tomorrow we will be talking about how to scrap milestones!

25 maj 2014

In Review

As we go take one last look at our annual Everydaily gallery, let's take a moment and cherish all those things that make our ordinary lives extraordinary. What are the little things that make our lives special. What happens in your life that is unique to you. What would you list in a manual if you had to leave instructions for someone to take over your life for a week.

As we gallery walk this month, we are going to focus on those things that our team chose to write about. We hope you will take notes on the design and the photography, too, but our few minutes together are going to look at the stories that were captured. (Don't forget if you want to read the journaling, you may click over to the album.)

Let's get started.

 

I {heart} Chickens | Kate Christensen

8.5 x 11 | materials digital kits (Stated by Sara Gleason) + digital patterned paper (Pure Happiness by Sahlin Studio; My Cup of Tea by Allison Pennington) + thickers (American Crafts) + tag (Tag You're It by Robyn Meierotto) + mist (A Wonderful Day by Sahlin Studio) + arrows (Wood Veneer: Arrows by Sahin Studio) + butterfly (Fickle by Karla Dudley) + fonts (Traveling Typewriter, Courier New)

 

Have you a pet? regular or unusual? How do they greet you? How do you feel about them?

 

Everyday, a Good Morning | Lisa Ottosson

8.5 x 11 | materials cardstock (Bazzill) + patterned paper (Studio Calico, American Crafts) + letters (Jillibean soup) + transperency (We R Memory Keepers) + word stickers (My Mind's Eye) + stamp (October Afternoon) + ink (Versacolor) + digital stamp (Rhonna Designs)

What is something that you could not live without in the morning? or at night? or at lunch?

 

Mornings | Christine Newman

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (Studio Calico) + patterned paper (Studio Calico, BasicGrey) + journal cards (Studio Calico, Evalicious) + alphabets (American Crafts) + die cuts (Pink Paislee) + washi (Studio Calico) + sequins (Studio Calico) + tabs (Evalicious) + paper clip (Evalicious) + stickers (Basic Grey, Evalicious, Crate Paper) + stamps (Kelly Purkey, Studio Calico) + ink (Studio Calico) + enamel dots (Studio Calico) + flairs (Evalicious) + punches (EK Success, Fiskars, Martha Stewart, Marvy Uchida) + stapler (Tim Holtz, Swingline) + adhesives (Scotch, Glue Dots) + scissors (EK Success) + pen (Sakura)

Is there a time of day that you carve out for just you? What do you spend that time doing? or what would you if you had that time?

 

Everyday Photographs | Cristina C. Scrap

12 x 12 | materials Scrap Your Stash Sketch 5, Good Eats word art, Happy Place word art (Digital Design Essentials) + Photo Booth kit (Paislee Press) + fonts (American Typewriter, Castro Script, Silverfake)

How do you divide your time? your energies? your photography subjects? Which meals show up most often? Which places to you visit most? 

 

Best Weekend Ever | Amy Sorensen

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper, embellishments (American Crafts) + pens (Sarasa) + KB Simple Brush and Core Sans fonts

Have you ever kept a log of your adventures for a whole day? hour by hour? or event by event? Or try a whole weekend!

 

Trading Spaces | Diane Payne

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Webster's Pages, Studio Calico) + flair (A Flair For Buttons) + stickers (Studio Calico, American Crafts) + thickers (American Crafts) + labels (Studio Calico, BasicGrey, Crate Paper) + chipboard (BasicGrey) + stamps (Pebbles, Studio Calico) + ink (Studio Calico)

What is your job these days? How did you get there? Do you like it there? What do you love about your job? What do you wish you could change aobut your job? What do you miss about an old job?

 

Everyday Run | Jennifer Larson

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (American Crafts) + patterned paper (Studio Calico) + epoxy sticker (My Mind’s Eye) + chipboard (American Crafts, October Afternoon, Studio Calico) + die cuts (October Afternoon) + stickers (Studio Calico, Sassafras) + ink (Jenni Bowlin) + pen (Copic)

Are you a fitness nut? Or a couch potato? Or someone who laces up their shoes every day despite not loving it? But you do it? Or have you a sports injury? or did you have one long ago that rerouted your dreams?

 

Sleepy | Celeste Smith

12 x 12 | materials digital kit (Lauren Reid: Hush Little Baby) + fonts (Bohemian Typewriter)

Have you recorded the sleeping habits of your pets, your family members or yourself? Any early risers? or would you all hit the sleep button endlessly if you could? Does someone crawl into your bed night after night? Or go to sleep with a book and a flashlight in hand?

 

A Collection of Notes | Aliza Deutsch

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (American Crafts) + patterned paper (Crate Paper, BasicGrey, Webster’s Pages, Chic Tags) + enamel dots (My Mind’s Eye) + brads (My Mind’s eye) + thickers (American Crafts) + flair (Two Peas in a Bucket, Evalicious) + wood veneer (Cocoa Daisy) + stickers (My Mind’s Eye, Jillibean Soup) + tape (Octpber Afternoon) + other (Jillibean Soup) + fonts (Linenstroke)

Do you save the notes you find lying around? Those written to you or by you? Love notes, shopping lists? todo lists? doodles? Do you keep the notes or take their picture? Have you thought about what those notes mean to you or represent about your relationships?

 

2013 Knitting | Sue Althouse

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (Bazzill) + buttons (October Afternoon) + washi tape (Queen & Co, Bella Blvd., My Mind's Eye, Freckled Fawn) + alphabets (American Crafts, October Afternoon) + number stickers (Jillibean Soup) + mini pearls (Doodlebug, Freckled Fawn) + chipboard banner (My Mind's Eye) + flair (A Flair for Buttons) + floss (We R Memory Keepers) + tools (Silhouette Cameo, Remington Typewriter)

Some call them hobbies. Others outlets. Or maybe passions. No matter the name, have you taken pictures of you hard at work doing something you love? home renos? crafts? athletics? reading? anything that is important enough to occupy your time is important enough to make its way into your scrapbook!

 

Technical | Jennifer Larson

8.5 x 11 | materials cardstock (Bazzill) + patterned paper (Bella Blvd, Studio Calico, Fancy Pants Designs) + buttons (October Afternoon) + stickers (Studio Calico) + ink (Jenni Bowlin) + font (Times New Roman)

Define your child's interests in three phrases. Or their strengths. Or their quirks. What makes them unique. What do you think they will be when they grow up and why? What could they not live without? Is there a family connection or it is a wild gene?

 

Top Chefs | Francine Clouden

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (Bazzill Basics Paper) + patterned paper (American Crafts, Crate Paper, Studio Calico) + stickers (Cosmo Cricket, Crate Paper, Studio Calico, ) + letter stickers (October Afternoon) + wood veneer (Studio Calico) + rub-ons (Chatterbox, American Crafts) + spray ink (Kesi'art)

Is there something that your children do with your spouse that makes your heart melt? Is there something you enjoy doing with your spouse? Or something that you remember doing with your mom or your dad?

 

Bright Side | Carey Bridges

12 x 12 | materials digital kits (Bright Side of Life Collaboration and Add-on by Anita Designs and Ninigoesdigi) + template (Life Story March Template Album by Karla Dudley) + font (Arial)

Who is the sunshine in your household? Who isn't? What is the impact on your cheerful person in your family? What is your belief on attitude? born with it? choose it? make it?

 

Everyday, Strawberry | Jina Jean

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Pink Paislee) + stickers (Pink Paislee, Simple Stories) + diecuts (Pink Paislee) + foam alpha (American Crafts) + flair button (Gossamer Blue) + plastic embellishment (Crate Paper)

How do you meal plan? Or don't you? Are you a creature of habit? Or a sty a new thing everyday sort? What would you eat if you had all hte time and money in the world? What would you never eat, no matter what happened?

 

Everyday Moments | Jennifer Hignite

12 x 12 | materials A Life Recorded (Karla Dudley & Audrey Neal)

What do you remember about your children from when they were young? Could you make a list of 12 things that they did over this past year that were impactful upon them? Or perhaps just 5 from this last week?

 

On The Go | Jennie McGarvey

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (American Crafts, Bazzill) + patterned paper (Teresa Collins) + vellum (Webster's Pages) + stamps (Scraptastic Kit Club) + ink (Studio Calico) + die cuts (Teresa Collins) + scrapbook kit (Scraptastic Kit Club) + pen (Sharpie) + paper clip (from my stash)

How many miles did you drive last week? or just today? Is there a path that you follow every single day? Do you carpool? Do your kids take the bus? Do you drive them? What about the after school events? How many hours do you spend chauffeuring?

 

After 8 Days | Aliza Deutsch

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (Bazzill Basics Paper) + patterned paper (Cocoa Daisy, BasicGrey, Studio Calico, Pink Paislee, Amy Tangerine) + brads (My Mind’s Eye) + letters (Jillibean Soup) + labels (October Afternoon) + stickers (Doodlebug, Evalicious, My Mind’s Eye, October Afternoon) + tape (October Afternoon) + other (Jillibean Soup, Cocoa Daisy, American Crafts) + fonts (Linenstroke)

Do you love vacation? or coming home best? What is something that you miss when it's gone? How does the house seem after the tree comes down after the holidays? How quiet is it when the kids go back to school? 

 

Every Day| Amy Sorensen

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Authentic, BasicGrey) + alphabet stickers (Fancy Pants, Imaginisce) + alphabet stamps, ink (Close to my Heart) + font (Wire Type Mono)

What things do you or your kids do every day? Think of 5 things that happen each day. What 5 things matter most to them? What could they not live without? Do they complain? Do they worry? Do they do something really well?

 

Everyday Allday Helper | Marnie Flores

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Paislee Press) + journaling strips (Crystal Wilkerson) + font (Eller, Intro Condensed)

Do you have a shadow? A helper? A right hand man? (or girl?) What role do your children play in your lives? Is there a nurturer? a referee? a leader? a comic? What traits are you passing down without intention? What habits are your creating in your families? 

 

Before we go, please join us in saying goodbye to Christine Newman and Jennie McGarvey. They began together and we felt so blessed to have them with us. We will miss them as they move forward with other adventures. Thank you, both, for all that you have brought to our team and for sharing your amazing talents with us! We will miss you both!

Go To Designs: Shelf

We’ve come to our last day of Go To Designs. I hope you’ve enjoyed the inspiration and the variety of working the same basic design in so many interesting ways. For our last design, we will turn to the Shelf. What exactly do I mean by a shelf? It's a horizontal border that does not span the full width of the page, used to showcase key elements. Think of a fireplace mantle with an attractive display. 

 

The shelf lends itself very well to a clean and simple style. Both my layout about meeting a stray cat and Laura O’Donnell’s Christmas page are clean, yet colorful. Marnie Flores floats her photo on a shelf that mimics the brown paper packages, tied up with string. (makes me want to break into song!)

 

 

If clean and simple is not your style, the shelf is easy to dress up, as I demonstrate on these next two pages. Just add more patterned paper, throw in some border punches, embellishments and a bit of misting, for instance. Placing the photo on the shelf keeps it the center of attention.

 

 

Patterned paper borders are only one way to create a shelf. Lake Superior is one of my favorite shelf pages. I used a layering technique with paper scraps and tags, and I like the extra dimension the strings and brads bring to the page. A playful string of quilt shapes topped with wood veneer adds interest to my shelf on a layout about family heritage.

 

Cristina C. Scrap did away with patterned paper to create her shelf. A playful ribbon border is attached with brads to hold her page elements.

 

 

Finally, there is no rule that something always has to be sitting on the shelf. Sometimes hanging down is a fun option, as Cristina demonstrates.

 

 

If you'd like to see a collection of shelf designs collected from all over the online scrapping world, here's a link to my Pinterest board. So are you ready to give the shelf a whirl? Or maybe this is already a Go To Design in your arsenal? It's very handy and versatile!

Go To Designs: Rectangle

Today’s Go To Design, the Rectangle, incorporates a rectangular inner canvas upon a square canvas. The principles are based upon the idea of the golden ratio and its implications for appealing design. But all that math aside, using a rectangle is a sneaky way to incorporate an 8.5x11design on a 12x12 canvas.

Placing all the major elements within the confines of the rectangle creates a strong, unmistakeable design. On my page about an outdoor concert, I used misting to ground the rectangle to my square background. Just like the singer's performance, I wanted this layout to be simple, yet elegant. Jennifer Hignite uses a playful blocked design on her layout, This Boy, and allows a few embellishments to break the borders. Marnie Flore’s beautiful simplicity captures the peacefulness of her photo on her page about My Sleeping Beauties.

 

Layering borders to divide a 12x12 background into two rectangles, then placing the design on the larger side is an easy method of creating something close to an 8.5x11 canvas. Amy Coose and I used pattern paper, while Laura O’Donnell employed a pocket page approach. Love that large photo!

 

Stacking two 4x6 photos vertically is another way to form the rectangle, as I did in this layout. The title, journaling and embellishments spill over onto the 12x12 background.

 

Using a portrait oriented photo turns the design on its side and creates a horizontal rectangle. This design would also lend itself well to pocket-style products.

If you'd like to see a collection of rectangle designs collected from all over the online scrapping world, here's a link to my Pinterest board. Besides the usual 12x12 pages, it's where I pin 8.5x11 layouts. They are perfect for rectangular inspiration! Are you inspired to try your hand at a rectangle design on your next scrapbook page? Is the rectangle one of your Go To Designs?