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Making a vacation album: layouts

Today is the fourth day I am sharing my process for making a vacation album. Here's the schedule for the week:

Monday: Memorabilia and journaling

Tuesday: Organizing the album

Wednesday: Selection photos

Thursday: Layouts

Friday: Alternate albums

Today I share how I go from photos to finished layouts. First, I make my vacation albums 8.5x11, and I generally use the same design on every page:

When I printed photos for each layout, I printed 2-3 4x6 photos for the title page and journaling (keeping in mind I would have to physically trim them to make them fit) and I printed the full page collage on an 8.5x11 inch print with some white space for a border.

As for products, I tend to select just one line for the album, so I buy it, plus some extra papers and embellishments that I really like and store it with my ephemera. Then, when I am ready to make the album, I don't have to search for products. My vacation album from Disney in 2010 used October Afternoon's Boarding Pass:

My vacation album from South Dakota in 2011 used October Afternoon's Sasparilla:

My album from Maine in 2012 used Fancy Pants' Nautical:

And the album I will make for our 2013 trip to Glacier and Spokane will use Fancy Pants' Happy-go-Lucky.

You can see from my pages that I tend to house the whole page on alternating shades of cardstock and I use strips of patterned paper and clusters of embellishments. Using the same design and one line keeps the album cohesive and easy to make.

And that's my process for designing the layouts! Tomorrow I will share two ways I scrapbook vacation that break the pattern.

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Maximize your stamps Day 5: Non-birthday projects

 Welcome back! Today marks the last day of blogging about how you can use your stamp set from Kellie Stamps.  I hope that you have enjoyed all the tips and tricks as much as I have and that you don´t forget to enter the giveaway from yesterday! Today I wanted to share a few non-birthday related projects from me and the some of the other DT members from Kellie Stamps. Enjoy!

Alexandria made this great pocket page spread! 

The challenge is using theme products for projects that don't match that theme. I picked my photos for the week, and chose one digital stamp for each photo that I could use as a jumping off point for the journaling. I lowered the opacity so I could see a bit of the photo through the words, and placed them in the center of each photo. I made simple black and white 3x4 cards to match, and added simple little chipboard pieces to each photo.

 

Diane is back today sharing this fun pocket page! 

"It's easy to use 'themed' digital stamps on a regular week of Project Life! With just a small amount of modification and a few embellishments, I used a birthday-themed set from Kellie Stamps on a pretty ordinary week. Sometimes those ordinary moments deserve just as much celebration as the big events!"

Diane also share process videos on her Youtube channel. Here is the link to the video for this page!

Julie worked in the Project Life app to make these pages.

Highlighting some of our summer favorites in this Project Life app layout. All of these photos are also in my Little Summer JOY album, but I wanted to bring them into our family Photobook as well because, truly, they're some of our biggest highlights from the summer. Our favorite spots, favorite moments, favorite things.

 

I made this simple pocket page that will go into my regular scrapbooking album. I really think that the sentiment of "celebrate" can be used in so many ways, don´t you?

What did I tell you? I think I can use this stamp set over and over again without getting tired of it! 

Have a great weekend and thank you for stopping by!

Lisa

 

 

Maximize your stamps Day 3 Home decor projects

It´s time for some home decor inspiration all made with the digital version of the "Eat more cake" stamp set from Kellie stamps.

For my home, I like to add simple designs that I can make myself. And it doesn´t get any easier than with a digital stamp! For this poster I simply opened a WORD document on my computer and added the "it´s your day" stamp from the set to the document and centered it. For a little more interest I added a border around the actual image (also in WORD) before printing it. I printed on A4 paper, but I am going to also be printing this on a larger paper size later. Here I have just added some washi tape to attach the poster to my wall. Doesn´t it look fresh and fun?!

Here I have added the same poster into a simple easy frame and put it in two different places in my home just to show you how nice it looks in a frame too!

Kim made this lovely banner with the digital version of the stamp set. 

Besides using digital stamps as photo overlays or bases for journal/filler cards, there are bound-less ways to use these modern, amazing tools for memory keeping. I also created this 'Celebrate' banner. After downloading the whole word,  I split each letter into its own file so it would be easier to maneuver them in my online Cricut software. Enlarging each to about 6 inches tall, I electronically cut each letter in pink and also it's shadow in a darker shade to add depth. Attaching to a white square of cardstock, the short pentagons on bottom part of the flag in stripes and dot grid gold, add just the right amount of accent to this all purpose banner. From birthday parties to everyday instances we commemorate,  it's a welcome addition to our house party decorations!

I have one more quick and easy project to share. These cute flags are so cute to add to a bouquet of flowers as a hostess gift or to a houseplant too.

I just printed a few of the sentiments aligned to the left to have room to fold them in half. Then cut them in strips and cut the little banner edge, folded them in half and with double sided tape I attached them to a grill stick.

See? Quick and easy is my middle name! Well maybe not easy :)

 

What would you make?

May week 1 Challenge: Sketch #1

Happy Friday and welcome back for a look at the last (but first) sketch for this week. 

Here is what I wrote to present sketch #1:  I find that I am using smaller photos on my layouts these days, which is great for several reason; I can stretch both my printer ink and photo papers and it´s also easier to fit more photos on one layout if they are not full sized 4x6. And I do love me a good grid ;)

Here is my take on the sketch. I chose to use a bit larger square photos to make a grid along the side of my layout and then pair it with that yummy striped paper on the left. My title is a digital stamp from Kellie stamps that I printed on my strip of patterned paper and then I added the journaling on my typewriter. 

Marnie used smaller photos and this works great too!

 

 

 

Here is Amy´s layout. Do you see how she changed up her photo sizes? Looks great, right! I am always impressed with layouts with a lot of journaling, but never seem to handle them myself. 

 

I really hope that you liked this week´s challenges and hoepfully you can make something this weekend! After all it is National Scrapbooking day this Saturday!

 

Lisa

 

 

May week 1 Challenge: Sketch 3

Hi! Lisa here again! Today I thought I´d show you my take on sketch #3. 

Here is what I wrote about this sketch in yesterday´s post: This is a mix up of the two above really. It´s still linear with a bit of a grid design, but also fun and easy to customize. You change up the proportions and use a 3x4 journaling card paired with a 3x4 photo. You can also play with more layers and skip the linear and simple design. 

 

I was pretty true to the sketch on this one. I just went with a journaling tag (which looks crocked here, oops!) instead of a journaling block. And used staples instead of sewing on that top embellishment. I love that patterned paper from Maggie Holmes! The pages is about how proud I am of my daughter for handling a situation at school in a really mature way. Proud mamas unite!

Here is Marnie´s take on the sketch. I love how she mirrored the sketch and used more space for journaling. 

Did you make something based on the sketch? Please use the hashtag #wcsmaychallenge if you share one social media, I would love to see your takes! Or just link to your project here in the comments!

Lisa

May week 1 Challenge: Sketches

Hi! Lisa here today! 

I love sketches. That´s a fact. I try to use the sketches that are shared here on the blog as often as I can. I rarely end up with a page or project that is exactly like the sketch and that is partly why I like to use them. They are great starting points if you can use a little nudge to get creative. But you can interpret it just as you like. 

For me a good sketch is one that is easy to turn around and use on many different pages. I´ve made three sketches for this week. 

 

Here is the first sketch. I find that I am using smaller photos on my layouts these days, which is great for several reason; I can stretch both my printer ink and photo papers and it´s also easier to fit more photos on one layout if they are not full sized 4x6. And I do love me a good grid ;)

 

 

Here is sketch #2. I realize these two are similar in design, but the way you can use the photo placements are endless; 4 photos, or two a little larger, one large square or many more in a collage.

Sketch #3. This is a mix up of the two above really. It´s still linear with a bit of a grid design, but also fun and easy to customize. You change up the proportions and use a 3x4 journaling card paired with a 3x4 photo. You can also play with more layers and skip the linear and simple design. 

 

I hope that these sketches can spark some creativity in you! I will be back tomorrow with one of my takes on sketch #3!

Lisa

Ps. Please use the hashtag #wcsmaychallenge if you share one social media, I would love to see your takes!

The elements: Love

Hi! It's Dee and I'm continuing with this weeks series about the elements. Today is all about that fifth element: Love. To me this is the most elemental thing in our lives. It can make us or break us and without it we definately cannot live!

 

As long as mankind exists 'Love' has been an immense source of inspiration. Last weekend I was surprised by my husband with a weekend getaway to Paris and we visited both The Louvre and Musée d'Orsay. Both museums house an extensive collection of art that was inspired by love, whether it be divine love or human love, romantic love or love from a parent to a child. The same goes for music; there are so so many songs written about love! It definately must be the biggest source of inspiration of all times! 

 

One of those songs about love is a quite recent one by John Legend: All of me.

 

All of me loves all of you

Love your curves and all your edges

All your perfect imperfections

 

This song is so beautifully written. In fact my husband and I picked as the song for our first dance as husband and wife. And this song inspired me to make this layout:

 

 

The journaling tells of course about the love I have for my husband. And the picture shows us just after we got married in the cityhall.

 

As I'm sharing this layout about love, let me take the opportunity to share a few more layouts that I've made in the recent past. All of these are from our wedding and thus the theme is definately love.

 

 

Romantic love is not the only kind of love that can inspire us to make layouts though and so I have a few more that are about other kinds of love, like love for children, love for family, love for photos, love for food and love for certain places...

 

 

Do you feel the love?!

 

I hope you will feel inspired to get working on some love-inspired layouts!

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Much love,

Dee

Week of sketches Day 2

Welcome!

I am back today to show you my second sketch that I have worrked with. Let´s get to it!

 

Here is the sketch. When I first started to prepare for this week, I thought I´d maybe make a few sketches myself. But then I stumbled over the Big Picture class Start with a sketch and Jen Chapin share so many fun sketches. I just picked two of my favorites! I´ll share one now and one a little later this week.Note: This is not the sketch from the class! I have done one based on the sketch.

Here is my layout! I used patterned paper cut in strips for the photo mat. This is a great way to use up scraps of your favorite papers. Another option is to use washi tape for the strips or to even paint with watercolors. See, the possibilities are endless! I used a photo I took of a scene at my youngest nieces babtism. It is one of my very favorite photos because it shows just how many people love her! I could have used a color photo, but thought it poped a little bit more with a black and white one. 

Jennifer H also made a layout using the sketch. She used a lovely muted color palette and you can clearly see the sketch inspiration. 

I hope that this gives you inspiration to play!

 

Lisa

 

A week of sketches Day 1

Hello! Welcome to a new week and a new theme. This week we are working with sketches. Today I am going to show you one sketch and how I worked with it.

For me, sketches are a great help to get started with a project. I first had a hard time with them and it would usually help me to see a finshed layout to be able to either lift it and/or be inspired by it. But the more I scrapbooked the more confident I became in my own style and then I thought it was eaiser to use sketches. 

When I first started to prepare for this week, I thought I´d maybe make a few sketches myself. But then I stumbled over the Big Picture class Start with a sketch and Jen Chapin share so many fun sketches. I just picked two of my favorites! I´ll share one now and one a little later this week. Note: This is not the sketch from the class! I have done one based on the sketch.

Here is the first sketch I picked out. It jumped out at me because it uses the elements I usually would use on a layout. A very linear design with the option to use more than one photo is what appeals to me. 

Here is what I did with the sketch! Since I don´t scrapbook in a 12x12" size I didn´t print my photos in squares, but rather 3x4" so it would work with my 8.5x11" size. As you can see I opted to use two photos instead of using all four slots. I think it would be fun to do a series or perhaps family photos too. Instead I used patterned papers for two of the slots. For this layout I had some longer journaling that would not fit on the actual page, so I did what I usally do when I end up with this "problem"; I typed the journaling out and just tucked it behind the layout in the page protector. 

Jennifer H also played with the sketch and I love her page! Using tape for the photos just makes me happy! And I love that she has those colors pop out from the top and bottom. 

 

Ok, so feel free to get inspired and if you do anything with the sketch please share in the comments so I can come see it!

Have a great day! 

Lisa

 

NO-vember

Hello! November is traditionally a month of harvest, or gratitude, but how about we add a little attitude? This week we're going to focus on the NO in November.

What are the ways you can scrapbook "No"'? Here are some ideas:

1. Things you don't like
2. No journaling
3. No photos
4. No white cardstock
5. No patterned paper
6. No stickers

In general, what's something you like to do? And how could you scrapbook without it?

For me, I thought about not sewing on a page--for a microsecond, then I said no. (Heh.) Instead, I decided to leave out my second favorite thing: embellishments. Here's the page:

I ended up using 3 pieces of patterned paper (the October card is from one piece of patterned paper), one set of Thickers for the title, and one set of letter stickers for the dates and numbers of the journaling. I sewed the stickers down to make them stick. (I know the sewing was a bit of a cheat. Sigh.) Even though I desperately wanted to add a button somewhere, I think the mix in patterned papers and the focus on the journaling eliminates the need for added embellishments. Here's a few details:

That was my take on scrapbooking the NO in November. Come back this week to see what Dee, Katie, and Marnie have to share!