Write. Click. Scrapbook.

Scrapolympics Day 4

It's day 4 and we are so very excited for today's event. It's a big one and quite possibly our favorite. Right up there with swimming and gymnastics and our winter scrapolympic skeleton race. We have two teams that are ready and raring to take part in the relay.

The goal for this event is to take the "baton" from your teammate and use it to create your own layout. Then pass it forward and see where the third teammate takes it. For all our competitors today, there is little more exciting than being inspired by one of your favorite scrapbookers. Let's get started.

Team One consists of Amy, Lisa, and Aliza. Here is there awesome relay.

Here is what they each had to say about their layouts and their inspiration.

Amy began with a goal to incorporate the journaling right into the title. Or the title right into the journaling. For her, it all started with the pink card and then went from there! Amy's beautiful layout is proof that you can totally use pink on a boy's layout.

This layout then went to Lisa. She writes, "As you can see I scaled down from Amy's great page. Whenever I do scraplift and/or use another page as inspiration I make them into a page that is me. So I can be super inspired by a page that is super busy with sewing and a lot of embellishments, but that is perhaps not my style." Such a great reminder that we can look beyond the details (or in them) to find things we can use.

 

Lisa's layout then went to Aliza who made hers. She says, "I loved the simplicity of Lisa's page, but I had a large photo and a small story that I wanted to use at the time. So, I simply swapped the elements while keeping the basic design the same; My journaling is a small square, while my photo runs the length of the page. I tried to include some bits of stamping on the edge, as Lisa did, but I am a big scaredy-cat when it comes to stamping. So, I went with washi tape and stickers instead. Using those embellishments  also helped me spread my color scheme around the page."

What a successful swap of sides and elements. And what a terrific sets of layouts from Team One.

 

Next is Team Two, consisting of Jenny, Dee, and Marnie.

Jenny got the race started with a bright and cheery layout with lots of journaling strips and delightfully layered elements around her photo.

 

Dee took this layout and essentially turned it on its side. She mimicked the photo matting, and kept the strips for journaling. The difference in perspective makes it seem like a whole new "sketch."

Lastly, Marnie turned it again (not realizing that is where it began!) for the journaling, but maintained the horizontal photo. She also kept the journaling strips, and maintained Dee's 10 point journaling.

Team Two did a great as well. Much too close to call. We will determine it to be a tie, and we will cross the finish line holding hands like the marathoning German twin sisters. Oh, the Olympics warm our hearts. ♥

Will you join us in a relay? And if you need some teammates, we will gladly play along with you!

Scrapolympics Day 3

Welcome back for day three of our Olympic celebrations.

Today we are participating in the marathon! The women's marathon is already completed and the winning time of 2:24:04 was posted by Jemima Jelagat Sumgong of Kenya. We challenged Marnie and Aliza to see how many layouts they could create in the same time.

Aliza came in strong with two layouts. Here is what she had to say about her marathon.

I totally lost track of time for this particular challenge. I started a few times, and scrapbooked for a "while" each time. Because the fact of the matter is, I can only really complete one layout in a two hour period. I am just slow. Especially because it often takes me a while to write and print out my journaling. However, I did make these two layouts with a two hour stretch in mind. They were probably completed in some time frame that resembles two hours.  I think that is the best I can do.

To keep things moving at a steady clip, I used the same basic color scheme, and some nice simple grids. My first layout, about my son turning 18 and filling out his voter registration, does not have any journaling. I am hoping the photos and title tell the story well enough, because I think I am finding it too hard to write about him right now. He is leaving home in a few weeks, and I just can't. But, on a much lighter note, while not thinking about my son leaving to spend next year abroad, I have been soaking in every moment of Olympic gymnastics. With the NBC app, it is a totally different watching experience, and I love it. 

Aliza, you ran a fabulous race. Though both grids and white space loving, your layouts each feel unique. And we are so sorry your house is losing its eldest teen. :( We are here with tissues and warm embraces for you.

 

Marnie finished two layouts as well. Here is a snippet of her interview:

I really thought I would finish more than two. I have friends that used go to crop nights and would finish ten or twelve layouts. I guess I thought that if I was all alone for a couple of hours with no distractions that it would magically happen. But it didn't. I went at my usual plodding speed. I'm not sure why I thought it would be different, but somehow I thought it would be.

She continues:

I think my proudest achievement was finishing two layouts that don't look at all similar. That's huge for me. I often find that if I make layouts in the same night they resemble each other more than not.

 

How about you? Will you join us in a marathon effort? Collect your supplies, set your timer and see how far you can get in 2 hours! We would love to see your results!!

Until tomorrow...

Scrapolympics Day 2

Welcome back for day 2 in our Olympic celebrations! The beaches here are spectacular, the weather divine, and our fellow athletes are keeping us up late with their tales of running with scissors, and trimmers that just don't cut straight. ;)

We hope you enjoyed day one and are so glad you are back from more. Today we have Synchronized Scrapbooking.

 

Synchronized Scrapbooking

Our second Scrapolympic comes from synchronized swimming.

 

Here is the official Olympic history statement.

An aquatic ballet, synchronised swimming has been delighting Olympic audiences with its grace and rhythm since Los Angeles 1984. It’s a women-only discipline with duet and team competitions.
::source:: 

 

For our Synchronized Scrapbooking event, we have chosen to compete in synchronized duets: reigning in the creativity of an entire team seemed like too much of a feat. Beyond Olympic sized proportions! Writeclickscrapbookland will be represented by two teams who will each take on a sketch and will do their best to stay true to the sketch so as to stay in sync with their partner.

 

SYNCHRONIZED DUETS = PICK A SKETCH, PARTNER UP & FOLLOW THE SKETCH CLOSELY

 

 

Our first team is Amy and Lisa. They worked from a sketch based upon a layout by Cari.

 

First, let's take a look at Amy's layout. She stayed true to the horizontal strips, the three photos, and the decorated top corner. She added a bit of artistic flair to the bottom with a journaling spot. The makes the judges very happy for they expect Amy's layouts to be filled with meaningful words that more than perfectly substitute for any piece of patterned paper.

 

Next, Lisa's layout. Another strong performance by Lisa! She also maintained the horizontal tranquility of the original and gets bonus points for the use of a circle in her upper right hand element. Her three photos are not only perfectly aligned but radiate with floral beauty so divine we can almost smell the lovely aroma.

In her post performance interview, Lisa noted that she hadn't much to say, but that she loved how this page turned out. Before leaving the arena she added, "Isn't it a great thing when something you've created comes out even better than you planned?!" Yes, indeed.

 

Let's take one last look at Team One and their medal worthy layouts.

Writeclickscrapbookland is off to a terrific start on day 2.

 

 

Next up is Team Two consisting of Dee and Marnie. They worked from a sketch based upon a layout by Aliza.

 

Let's first look at Dee's part in the duet. Dee used the sketch to document part of her recent vacation to Portugal. She loved this quiet and relaxed afternoon at the pool and had so many fun pictures that the sketch was perfect! Her journaling talks a little about the afternoon. It looks so lovely. (Do you think we should all tag along next year?) In evaluating her precision, Dee gets high marks for meeting each of the segments of the sketch. Her margins are unusually accurate for someone limited by paper trimmers. Hooray, Dee! Exceptional work!

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (American Crafts) + patterned paper (Studio Calico) + label sticker (Studio Calico) + ink (Stazon) + pen (Project Life)

During her post performance interview, Dee excited explained, "This layout was definitely fun and easy to make. I use sketches quite often to create my layouts, but usually I don’t follow them as closely as I did with this one. But since the assignment was to follow it as closely as possible, I did! ;-) I love how it turned out!" We love it, too, Dee. And you!

 

Lastly, Marnie's layout. She took the opportunity to document some dance photo day candids. Because the sketch was so neat and tidy, the layout didn't get as overwhelmed as it may have with five glittery colorful photos. We are impressed by her restraint, knowing she prefers the single layout photos, we wondered if she was going to switch up the photo block. No deductions will be taken as she stayed in sync with her partner's five photos. And she does receive a small bonus for getting her title to shine in a cohesive way.

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (American Crafts, Just Jamie) + journaling strips (Crystal Wilkerson) + fonts (Bebas, DoodleBasic)

We caught up with Marnie fleeing the arena (perhaps still embarrassed for having fallen asleep during yesterday's events...) when she quickly blurted out that she did have some trouble reigning in her urge to switch out a couple of the photos for patterned paper, but that she couldn't possibly stand another setback. We hear you, and are with you, Marnie. Everyone loves a good comeback.

Team Two finishes strong with excellent synchronicity. Here they are together in stunning beauty.

 

Phew! We survived day two without any falls or disqualifications. We hope the wind wasn't too strong for you and that your papers weren't blown from your table as much as the divers were from the boards yesterday! :)

Until tomorrow!

Welcome back for day 2 in our Olympic celebrations! The beaches here are spectacular, the weather divine, and our fellow athletes are keeping us up late with their tales of running with scissors, and trimmers that just don't cut straight. ;)

We hope you enjoyed day one and are so glad you are back from more. Today we have Synchronized Scrapbooking.

 

Synchronized Scrapbooking

Our second Scrapolympic comes from synchronized swimming.

 

Here is the official Olympic history statement.

An aquatic ballet, synchronised swimming has been delighting Olympic audiences with its grace and rhythm since Los Angeles 1984. It’s a women-only discipline with duet and team competitions.
::source:: 

 

For our Synchronized Scrapbooking event, we have chosen to compete in synchronized duets: reigning in the creativity of an entire team seemed like too much of a feat. Beyond Olympic sized proportions! Writeclickscrapbookland will be represented by two teams who will each take on a sketch and will do their best to stay true to the sketch so as to stay in sync with their partner.

 

SYNCHRONIZED DUETS = PICK A SKETCH, PARTNER UP & FOLLOW THE SKETCH CLOSELY

 

 

Our first team is Amy and Lisa. They worked from a sketch based upon a layout by Cari.

 

First, let's take a look at Amy's layout. She stayed true to the horizontal strips, the three photos, and the decorated top corner. She added a bit of artistic flair to the bottom with a journaling spot. The makes the judges very happy for they expect Amy's layouts to be filled with meaningful words that more than perfectly substitute for any piece of patterned paper.

 

Next, Lisa's layout. Another strong performance by Lisa! She also maintained the horizontal tranquility of the original and gets bonus points for the use of a circle in her upper right hand element. Her three photos are not only perfectly aligned but radiate with floral beauty so divine we can almost smell the lovely aroma.

In her post performance interview, Lisa noted that she hadn't much to say, but that she loved how this page turned out. Before leaving the arena she added, "Isn't it a great thing when something you've created comes out even better than you planned?!" Yes, indeed.

 

Let's take one last look at Team One and their medal worthy layouts.

Writeclickscrapbookland is off to a terrific start on day 2.

 

 

Next up is Team Two consisting of Dee and Marnie. They worked from a sketch based upon a layout by Aliza.

 

Let's first look at Dee's part in the duet. Dee used the sketch to document part of her recent vacation to Portugal. She loved this quiet and relaxed afternoon at the pool and had so many fun pictures that the sketch was perfect! Her journaling talks a little about the afternoon. It looks so lovely. (Do you think we should all tag along next year?) In evaluating her precision, Dee gets high marks for meeting each of the segments of the sketch. Her margins are unusually accurate for someone limited by paper trimmers. Hooray, Dee! Exceptional work!

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (American Crafts) + patterned paper (Studio Calico) + label sticker (Studio Calico) + ink (Stazon) + pen (Project Life)

During her post performance interview, Dee excited explained, "This layout was definitely fun and easy to make. I use sketches quite often to create my layouts, but usually I don’t follow them as closely as I did with this one. But since the assignment was to follow it as closely as possible, I did! ;-) I love how it turned out!" We love it, too, Dee. And you!

 

Lastly, Marnie's layout. She took the opportunity to document some dance photo day candids. Because the sketch was so neat and tidy, the layout didn't get as overwhelmed as it may have with five glittery colorful photos. We are impressed by her restraint, knowing she prefers the single layout photos, we wondered if she was going to switch up the photo block. No deductions will be taken as she stayed in sync with her partner's five photos. And she does receive a small bonus for getting her title to shine in a cohesive way.

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (American Crafts, Just Jamie) + journaling strips (Crystal Wilkerson) + fonts (Bebas, DoodleBasic)

We caught up with Marnie fleeing the arena (perhaps still embarrassed for having fallen asleep during yesterday's events...) when she quickly blurted out that she did have some trouble reigning in her urge to switch out a couple of the photos for patterned paper, but that she couldn't possibly stand another setback. We hear you, and are with you, Marnie. Everyone loves a good comeback.

Team Two finishes strong with excellent synchronicity. Here they are together in stunning beauty.

 

Phew! We survived day two without any falls or disqualifications. We hope the wind wasn't too strong for you and that your papers weren't blown from your table as much as the divers were from the boards yesterday! :)

Until tomorrow!

Scrapolympics Day 1

Welcome to our Scrapolympic celebrations! It is week two of Olympic fervor around the world, and we are so happy to bring back our own Scrapolympics. For what is better to do than scrapbooking whilst watching our favorite sports heroes have a moment of joy.

This year, we will be celebrating with 5 different events, one daily. Like last time, each day will will describe the actual Olympic event, and then we will introduce the write. click. scrapbook. twist to each of the events, showcasing the talents of our own talented athletes, or designers!

The Olympics are a time of unity, celebration, and awe. Seeing athletes succeed after years of dedicated training inspires us to do better. We find parallels to our own craft, as we learn and grow in what we do, we perform better and faster. As the old saying goes, imitation is the best form of flattery. So we imitate their hours spent by spending our own countless hours crafting pages. We imitate their skill honing by learning and studying design, photography, and color theory. We aim for success, just as they do.

Let's get started on our fun fun week of Scrapolympics. We look forward to increasing our Olympic knowledge and creating some amazing layouts together this week.

 

Sprint

Our opening event is the sprint. In the summer olympics, there are many kinds of sprints: the canoe sprint, women's cycling sprint, men's cycling sprint, women's team cycling sprint, and men's team cycling sprint.

The canoe sprint is the least well known to our team. This is what the Rio page has to say:

Competitors race on flat water in kayaks or canoes in this sport, which made its Olympic debut at the Berlin 1936 Games. Twelve gold medals – eight for men and four for women – are up for grabs on Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas.::source::

 

And while the  short distance swims and runs are specifically listed as sprints, we think you will agree with us that they qualify for the theme.

For our sprint today, we will be creating pages as fast as we can.

SPRINT = CREATE A PAGE AS FAST AS YOU CAN

Sharpen your trimmers, pick out your supplies, dress in your most comfortable scrapbooking gear, and get ready. Take a very deep breath. Focus. And go!

Today, representing Writeclickscrapbookland we have Team Quick & Speedy consisting of Lisa Borbély , and Marnie Flores.

 Our sprint team is excited to race for the finish line in record time. On your marks, get set, let's go!

 

 

Writeclickscrapbookland is thrilled to have Lisa representing them on their sprinting team as she is masterful at creating simply stunning pages. She was happy to join the quick and speedy team to be able to to inspire you to make a quick page, too.

 Here is some advice from our expert sprinter, Lisa.

I am a fast scrapper so for me this wasn't a big challenge. But I wanted to show you a few tips on how a page can come together in 30 minutes or under. First, I usually have my title and story when I start a page. Often I print the title from my computer first as I did on this page. I also mostly have my design figured out fairly quickly and for this I often use an old design from myself. We all have layouts that we really love and I re-use the same design all the time. Another tip for a quick page is to keep to one color scheme, then it all goes together without much effort! As you can see I have done some embellishment on this page, so it doesn't have to be bare just because it's fast.

Lisa, not only is your page on point but we love the little panda napkins in the background. And we are wondering what time dinner is... that food looks delicious!

 

 

In the qualification round, Marnie did well. Returning to her tried and true format of horizontal 11x8.5, and making use of one of her favorite product lines, her layout came together in record time.

Here is some advice from our second sprinter, Marnie.

My pages are usually quite plain, but don't mistake that for fast. Fast comes for me when I have a photo I love that has a story behind it, ready to be told. I am also best sprinting in my favorites. Favorite style, favorite products, favorite fonts, favorite comfy clothes. Distracted scrapbooking is molasses scrapbooking. 

 

Marnie, your page is delicate and soft--though we think you should feed that cute dog!

 

However, Marnie ran into trouble in the finals.

 

Sigh. In the finals, time was not on her side. First, her photo dimensions felt off, so she had to resize the photo. Then, she did not like the paper she had selected to go along with her layout and had to go shopping. We all know that there is no sprinting in scrapbook shopping. She had run overtime for so long that she fell asleep mid-event. Egad! Writeclickscrapbookland applauds her for finishing but is headshaking that she fell asleep mid-sprint. Usain would never do such a thing. Ever. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.

 

 Which brings us to the end of day one. Please join us in our week filled with fun and laughter. Gold medal excellence and rainbow ribbons for effort. We applaud them all.

 We look forward to seeing your Sprint pages.

Until tomorrow...