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Sunday Photo + Words

In Review

Not only was our topic this month The Best, but it also had some of the best ideas. Let's pick out a few of the best ideas for making the best layouts ever!

 

Hello Earth | Aliza Deutsch

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (Bazzill Basics Paper) + patterned paper (Crate Paper) + wood veneer (Lily Bee) + letter stickers (Jillibean Soup) + stickers (MAMBI, October Afternoon, Skipping 5) + metal charm (Maya Road) + tape (October Afternoon) + other (Jillibean Soup) + fonts (Skinny)

Try seeing how much journaling you can capture when you WRITE a clever title. Titles are for focus and for definition. They can really help you tell your readers where your story is headed.

 

 

The Freehouse | Jennifer Larson

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (Bazzill, Fancy Pants Designs) + patterned paper (Fancy Pants Designs, American Crafts, Bella Blvd) + stars (KI Memories) + gems (Studio Calico) + chipboard (Jillibean Soup, Studio Calico) + labels (Studio Calico) + stickers (Pink Paislee) + Stamp (Studio Calico) + ink (Jenni Bowlin, Tsukineko) + font (Gill Sans)

The next time you head out to your favorite restaurant, follow Jenny's lead and CLICK a quick pic of the menu. It will be something that changes from time to time, and it is fun to have a memory marker.

 

 

Top of the Morning | Lisa Borbély

8.5 x 11 | materials patterned paper (Crate Paper) + thickers (Amy Tangerine) + wood veneer (Studio Calico) + tag (Fancy Pants)

Lisa followed some lovely lines of symmetry as she created her page. As you sit to SCRAPBOOK your next page, find ways to build mirrored halves from top to bottom or left to right.

 

 

The Best Dads | Sue Althouse

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (Bazzill) + patterned paper (Echo Park, Fancy Pants, Jenni Bowlin, October Afternoon) + flair button (Jenni Bowlin) + brads (unknown) + title (Silhouette) + border punch (Fiskars) + floss (We R Memory Keepers) + pen (Micron)

When is the last time you got out your brads to SCRAPBOOK? Be inspired by Sue and get them out and use them thoughtfully. 

 

Family Vacation | Francine Clouden

12 x 12 | materials layered template (Crystal Wilkerson) + digital Paper (Karla Dudley) + digital journal Cards (Callaloo Soup) + fonts (Benthem, Century Gothic)

As you gather photos for your next SCRAPBOOK page, consider looking for a group that offers a variety of focal ranges: up close, wide view, and in between. It's a small thing that will help collected photos feel more collected and less posed.

 

 

Best Napping Companion | Marnie Flores

12 x 12 | materials element (Design by Dani) + fonts (Century Gothic, Code Pro Light)

We all take many photos of our pets, but when was the last time you handed your camera to someone and asked them to CLICK a pic of you and your furry friend together?

 

 

Fireworks | Amy Coose

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (American Crafts) + patterned paper (Echo Park, Webster's Pages) + mist (Heidi Swapp) + stickers (Heidi Swapp) + wood veneer (Freckled Fawn) + pen (American Crafts) + cut files (The Cut Shoppe)

SCRAPBOOK titles have been a bit neglected over the past few years. Amy gave hers the sparkle it needed by swapping out the "o". Have fun with your titles and see what you can do to spruce your next one up. 

 

xo | Diane Payne

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (American Crafts) specialty paper (Chickaniddy Crafts, We R Memory Keepers) + flair (A Flair For Buttons) + labels (Studio Calico) + mist (Heidi Swapp) + sticker gems (Studio Calico)

WRITE a love letter. In list form. It takes away a little of the pressure to get it all perfect.

 

 

Best Hat | Valerie O'Neall

8.5 x 11 | materials cardstock (American Crafts) + decorative tape (My Mind's Eye) + alpha stickers (American Crafts) + journal card (My Mind's Eye) + stickers (My Mind's Eye) + enamel dots/shapes (My Mind's Eye) + pen (Sharpie)

WRITE about something that is the best. Why is it the best? How is it the best? What makes it so special?

 

 

Summer | Cristina C. Scrap

12 x 12 | materials paper (Simple Stories, Studio Calico, Cosmo Cricket, Webster's Pages, Fancy Pants) + embellishments (Studio Calico, Pink Paislee, Simple Stories) + stickers (Studio Calico, Amy Tangerine) + ink (Hero Arts) + stamps (Studio Calico, American Crafts date stamp) + pen (American Crafts) + sewing machine + adhesive (Glue Glider Pro, Martha Stewart)

The next time you CLICK that foodies shot, consider Cristina's pic here and look for a background that will allow your food to shine!  

 

Best Book So Far | Celeste Smith

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (Good Foundations by Robin Young; Mega Solids by Amy Wolff) + kits (Between the Pages by Stolen Moments Designs & Litabell Designs; A Bit Worn, Twinkle Alphas by Valorie Wibbens; Finishing Touches by Karah Fredericks; Make It Messy by Kaye Winiecki; Essential Boarders and Frames, Essential Stitches by Laurie Ann; Down the Lane Ephemera by Sahlin Studio; Stuck Alpha, Everybody Dance Now Alpha by Allison Pennington; Blanc Stitches by Amy Martin; Gesso It by Pink Reptile Designs) + fonts (Underwood Champion)

When we WRITE about the books we read, we ofter say whether or not we loved it. But why not do what Celeste did and talk about why we even picked up the book to begin with? It's a great way to add context and depth to your story.

 

 

Super Kid [in a rainsuit] | Carey Bridges

12 x 12 | materials digital kit (Stay Warm by Happy Box) + digital elements (Bare + Necessities Frames No. 1 [Elements] by Creashens, It’s a Colorful Life Elements by Sugarplum Paperie) + digital brushes (Oh Happy Day the Brushes Set 2 by Mari Koegelenberg) + alpha (Best Summer Ever: To Play Outside by Mommyish) + template (Layered Layouts volume 12 by Deena Rutter) + fonts (1942 Report)

Photos like this are what happy memories are made of. When you kids do that wacky stuff that makes you grin from ear to ear, don't forget to grab your camera and CLICK away. Oh me oh my! These photos are awesome!

 

 

Handsome [Non] Stranger | Marnie Flores

11 x 8.5 | materials element (Crystal Wilkerson) + fonts (Bondoluo, Code Pro Light)

Last month we shot from behind and above. This month, try to CLICK from the side. Profiles are stories in an of themselves, providing depth and texture that a straight-on photo cannot.

 

 

Summer Vacation | Jennifer Hignite

12 x 12 | materials Summer Manifesto Templates (Audacious Designs) Summer Brights Papers (Robyn Meierotto) Endless Summer Full Kit (Robyn Meierotto and Gennifer Bursett)

With summer drawing to a close, SCRAPBOOK a compilation page as Jennifer has. Different photos from different days and places. All in one spot. Perfect for reminiscing. 

 

Strawberry | Kate Christensen

8.5 x 11 | materials digital kits (Reflection by Sahlin Studio; Where Love Is: Patterns and Krafts by Rachel Young; Splatterific by Karah Fredricks; Memory Collector Elements by One Little Bird; A Little Bit Worn No.2 by Valorie Wibbens + fonts (Traveling Typewriter, Violation)

WRITE about a time where you found happiness despite the chaos that was surrounding you. We all have hard times, but yet, there are always little rays of sunshine that peek through the clouds. Writing about them helps us remember the good times, too.

 

 

Miss Charlie | Marnie Flores

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Echo Park, Crystal Wilkerson) + elements (Crystal Wilkerson) + fonts (Jacques & Giles, Montez)

WRITE about the reasons your pet is a good/bad fit for your family. Or if you don't have a pet, write about ways you are like/not like your own family. 

 

The Best | Lisa Borbély

 

Lisa used all sort of threes on her page. It is a lovely help to your SCRAPBOOK pages. Think of grouping in three's, repeating in three's and using three focal points. It will make your page balanced and peaceful.

Summer in Review

Hi there, Jennifer here today to talk to you about creative ways to review your summer memories! I just love creating and looking at pages that combine multiple moments in time into one season/month/year in review! Since Summer is the season we are sadly saying goodbye to, so very quickly (here in the US), I thought it would be fun to share some tips and tricks to creating your own summer in review layouts!

At the end of each summer I create a layout to document all the big and little adventures we accomplished! It is a fun way to wrap up all the memories we shared throughout the summer months. Here are my top 5 tips to starting and successfully completing a summer in review layout!

1. Start with the end in mind! This is always my top tip for most everything in life ;) As far as scrapbooking is concerned, I usually start with a design/sketch or template in mind. Multi photo sketches are a perfect way to combine many photos & memories onto one layout! Papers with photo frames area also a fun way to showcase multiple photos quickly and easily! 

2. Figure out your top 10 moments of the summer and document them on a layout! You may have more, you may have less. Use whatever number you choose to help narrow down the photos and memories you want to document. In narrowing down the job it seems more manageable and less overwhelming to get finished! 

 3. Use a grid based design to pull all your photos together! Grids always have a clean look to them and are very pleasing to the eye. You can use a photo editing program to pull all your photos together easily, print them out and add them to your layout as is.Add in a few embellishments and journaling and your summer in review is complete!   

4. Type your journaling out in list form. A summer in review layout doesn't have to be a journal heavy layout, just a quick recap of your favorite moments of the summer! A quick and easy approach to this type of documentation is a simple list. With each photo type a few words about where you went and/or what you did. Quick easy and done!

5. Make it fun! Summer is all about free time, lazy days, sunshine and great memories! So make you page showcase that! Add fun whimsical embellishments, a fun font or alpha, and lots of bright colors!

The most important thing is getting those memories documented so you can always look back and remember what a great summer you had!

Scrapbook | Summer Bucket List Follow-Up

Hey everyone, Diane here doing a little update on my Summer Bucket List that was the featured topic of a post and layout I did in June. Although I didn't actually expect to do everything on my list I was hoping to do about half of them. Needless to say, I've only done 3 of the 9, but summer isn't over yet! The kids are back in school but I'm giving myself a through the end of September to keep crossing things off the list!

 

 

 

 

 

Here was my list:

1. Spend a day exploring in Dallas
2. Make homemade ice cream
3. Go on a picnic
4. Eat a snow cone
5. Go wine tasting
6. Take photos at a photo booth
7. Visit the Dallas Farmer's Market
8. Look for treasures at a flea market
9. Go to a drive-in with the family

The three things I did do were done in extraordinary ways so I'm happy about that!

 

Go on a picnic: Kensington Place, London, England!

Eat a snow cone: at Waikiki Beach!

Explore Dallas: mother/daughter excursion including touring Reunion Tower!

I put together a quick and easy layout of the Dallas excursion with my daughter and will work on the other bucket list items soon!

Even though it is only 3 items so far, it has been a great summer and lots of fabulous memories have been created!

Click | Smartphoneography on Vacation

Hello again! When I posted back in May, I talked about how I used three different cameras while on vacation. Today I want to focus on how I used just one camera on my latest vacation: my smartphone. I brought both my smartphone and DSLR for this 5 week trip back home to Barbados, but after a few days I found myself using only my Samsung Galaxy S4. When heading out for the day with various bags containing picnics, change of clothes and more, adding a big camera bag just wasn't fun. So the big camera stayed home most days! 

Getting Prepared

Before leaving on the trip I made sure my phone was loaded up with the photography apps I knew I would need. Apart from Instagram (which I won't focus on in this post), I also installed two photo editing apps: VSCOCam and Snapseed (iPhone). Both of these powerful, yet simple to use apps are available for iPhones and Android phones. 

I also recommend installing Dropbox, which is a cloud storage service. It will automatically transfer and photos you take to a Camera Uploads folder in your cloud account. The advantage of this is that you can safely delete photos from your phone, knowing they are stored elsewhere.

The last thing I did, and maybe the most important, was to buy a protective cover for my phone. I knew I would be using it on the beach, and had nightmares of it being damaged by water or sand. I opted for a plastic waterproof skin, but would recommend looking into a hard protective case like LifeProof.

Lastly, since my cell provider in France charges ridiculous roaming charges, just about the first thing I did on arrival in Barbados was to purchase a SIM card and a data plan from a local provider. I knew I would have WIFI at my mum's house, so got a small data plan at a fraction of the cost, for using Instagram when out and about. 

Okay, let's take some photos!

The Why of the Trip

There are always many reasons for taking a trip back home: spending time with family, seeing old friends, eating favourite foods. And for us there was also this:

Playing on these beaches as a child (and even a grown-up) is an important memory for me, so I was so happy we could give Kieran similar experiences. 

 I took hundreds of photos of him enjoying the beach.

 Turn Around and Look Up

It's easy to focus on the main event, but even on the beach there's more to see than sun and sand. When I turned inland I saw this

and when I looked up, I caught this

 

Find a common thread

If you are doing a lot of the same activity during your trip (for us it was the beach), find something interesting and unique to do a photo series. 

I loved the design of the lifeguard stations, so took photos of them on different beaches

Off the beaten track

No destination is just one thing, and Barbados is more than just the beach. I was excited to get a photo of the stately trees in a park in the countryside

this adorable shopfront in a back street in the city

and these ducks crossing the road!

Be Prepared

You've heard it before, but I'll say it again: don't leave home without your phone camera! Also make sure it is fully charged and has free space. On that note, if you're travelling to a foreign country, be sure to check if you will need an adaptor for your chargers. Carry a car charger in your bag too, so you can recharge on the go! I would have kicked myself if I couldn't get photos and video of our unexpected encounters with the sea turtles.

 

So before you head out on your next trip, consider that you might be able to capture the entire thing with just your smartphone!

Write: Ten Journaling Starters for First Day of School Layouts

Welcome to our last week of summer posts for the year! I hope your summer is winding down nicely and you (like me!) are looking forward to those first blissful weeks of autumn weather. Amy Sorensen here, with a Write post to get some journaling ideas flowing.

I thought Amy Kingsford's three posts last week about scrapbooking our first day of school moments were so inspiring. They made me think about the layouts I’ve made about my kids’ first days, and those I have left to make, and what I’ve written down, and what I haven’t. I’ve got lots of details about teachers and classrooms and what grade they’re starting…but not enough of the other details. The stuff that makes every day unique.

So I came up with ten journaling prompts to help you write about the distinctive details of your back-to-school mornings:

1. The morning routine. What time did your child get up, and how did that first wake-up-early thing go? What did you make for breakfast? What problems did you have? How was it different this year?

2. The outfit. Not just what she’s wearing, but the story behind it. Why’d she pick that specific outfit? Where did you buy it? What do you think about it? Does it say anything about her current personality, worries, changes? (Substitute “him” for your boys!)

3. The shoes. I can’t explain why, exactly, but for me there’s just something so melancholy about the first time they put their new school shoes on. No more flip flops...no more slide-on-your-shoes-and-race-out-the-door adventures. But structure. And shoelaces.

My journaling and focal-point photo focus on my son Jake’s new school shoes (and their symbolic implications) in this layout:

4. The backpack. I don’t buy new backpacks for my kids every year—I try to get three or four years out of each one. So when they DO have a new pack? It’s pretty exciting. But it doesn’t have to be just the pack. What’s inside? The usual supplies, of course. But maybe a little encouraging note from mom? Or a toy they don’t know you know is there?

5. The supplies. What was on their list? What was hard to find? Where did you shop?

6. The real story. Sometimes it isn’t in the morning or the actual first day. Sometimes the memorable story happens at back-to-school night. Or at 3:00 a.m. the night before the first day.

7. The way to school. Do your kids ride the bus? Walk? Carpool? When my son started junior high, he was so relieved to not have to wait for carpool anymore. He got to walk! (Plus…this photo of him and his older brother walking together? LOVE!) It felt like it deserved its very own documentation:

 

8.  The first-day afternoon. How did your children feel at the end of the first day? What stories do they share?

9. The learning. I love asking my kids what they learned on the first day. My teenagers will always give me a sarcastic answer. Elementary kids are much more sincere, but every answer says something about where they are right now. 

10. The mom. How do you feel about your child’s first day?

I hope your first-day-of-school adventures are good ones!

Sunday Photo + Words

 

 

Sketchbook Saturday

Welcome! Today we are here with our final summer sketch. I hope you have had a lovely summer of memory making. And today we have a sketch to help you have a successful time of memory keeping! This week I have thought been thinking a lot about how much I love scrapbooking and how grateful I am to have a way to preserve our daily life. As we begin three new grades this year, I am so very excited for all that is to come. And on Monday when the house is quiet, I can sit with my scrapbooks and remember times past. To see how much they have changed. And to know that their milestones are recorded. Such peace it brings to know that when I forget the stories it will be okay, as they are written down! 

 

This week, to help me knock out a page and a memory, I made a sketch from Cristina's layout, The Best.

I might have been beguiled by the ice cream: :) No, really, I was drawn to the asymmetry and all the little bits of patterned paper. I thought it would make for a fun sketch and layout. (And I thought maybe it would work as well for four photos as two. We'll have to see...)

 

Here is how the sketch turned out.

 

Here is how my layout turned out.

Oddly, one of the things I loved most was the big title, and then I had a long one that couldn't fit being that big. Sigh. I do love the campfire from Crystal Wilkerson though. Does finding the right embellishment make you as happy as it makes me?

 

Kate used the sketch to create a lovely layout that makes me want to pack up and go back to the beach.

It also made me want to use the sketch again with three photos. So I did!

This was last year. Good to get the page done before this new year starts!

 

If you would like to purchase a limited time offering of the layered template, you may do so by clicking below!

Thank you for choosing to spend some time with us this weekend!! I adore you!

Rainbow Scrap Page

 

Hi there, it's Cristina here with a fun step by step rainbow tutorial.

I recently made a page that I love based on a rainbow inspiration, and I wanted to share with you some thoughts about the process.

This page started with the idea of making a rainbow page. I decided to use a starburst mask and a few of my mists to create a background for my page.

I started with red, then orange, yellow, green, blue, and then only had room on my page for some purple to complete the rainbow. :) After I was done spraying my mists, I searched for embellishments in my stash that matched these colors.

At this point, I went looking for photos to match the rainbow theme of the page. Since I love bright colors - both on scrapbook pages and on clothes - I decided to look for pictures of me wearing the colors of the rainbow. I selected and printed out five of them. At this point, I had to decide how to arrange the photos. I tried alternating the pictures above and below, then I tried lining them up on top of the rainbow, and finally I decided I liked them best arranged at the bottom, but not lined up too precisely.

The final step to complete my page was to add a title - done by stamping in gray - and journaling.

I love how this page turned out, and I hope it inspires you to create a rainbow page!

Scrapbooking Your Back-to-School Story

Hi everyone and thanks for joining me for the last couple of days! In today's post we're going to talk about ways to bring our stories and our photos from back-to-school together on a scrapbook page.

Below I'd like to share a few of the pages that I've made over the years, as well as a few pages made by some of my fellow Write.Click.Scrapbook team members.  

And in the process of taking in a bit of inspiration, we'll also discuss a few specific approaches you could take in your own back-to-school scrapbook pages.

 

1. Scrapbook Your First Day Routine

Here I've paired a few of my favorite photos of my son outside of our house on his first day of Kindergarten with a short checklist of everything we did to get ready that morning.

 

And here I recorded his class' routine on his first day of preschool.

 

2. Scrapbook Your Child's Feelings About Going Back-to-School 

You can just feel the excitement that Jennifer Larson's boys have for going back to school in her page, "Late Summer Joy."

 

3. Scrapbook Other's Feelings About Your Child Going Back-to-School

Amy Sorenson recorded her feelings of excitement, anticipation and even fear in this wonderful double page layout, "His First Day Is Also Mine."

In my page "Can I Come Too?" I chose to focus on my youngest son's feelings about his brother going to school.  While I think he was very excited, he was also pretty lonesome without his big brother and maybe even a bit jealous.

 

4. Scrapbook Highlights From Your Back-to-School

Here Jennifer has combined several key back-to-school memories on a single page.  She's used photos of her boys' first day outfits, shots with their new teachers and one of the two of them together with a list of important details about each. 

And here I've combined my favorite moments from my son's first day of Kindergarten on a 11 x 17" spread.

 

 

5. Scrapbook Your School Pride

And finally Jennifer shows off her school pride in this page--what a fun idea for kids and teachers alike! 

 

These of course are only a few of the approaches that you could take to get your back-to-school story scrapbooked--but they're a great place to start!  

Thanks to Amy Sorenson and Jennifer Larson for sharing their pages with us and I can't wait to see how you choose to record your back-to-school memories!