Kiss and Tell Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking with Triangles & Staying in the Creative Zone

I made this triangles strip on a page a couple of weeks ago. 

I keep these "half-baked" pages in a folder.  When I'm feeling inspired, I don't always go to the folder and I make pages from scratch.  But sometimes, like today, when I'm not feeling particularly inspired, I go to the half baked pages folder. 

Before starting, since I knew I was feeling a bit creatively sluggish today, I decided that I would just blindly pick one page and use it - that no matter what it was I'd just pick it and use it.  If it would have been something I didn't feel like I could work with then this may have been more difficult and, while I'd be breaking my own rules, I might even allow myself to pick a second, but not a third.  But happily, this was an easy page base to work with.  I also had that photo collage strip already made and it just happened to be the firt in a drawer of enlarged photos so I decided I'd just go with it rather than digging through the drawer.  Then I added a title and a bit of journaling and this is a good page for my "Project Lifetime" album which has only one page for each month or season. 

Is this my favorite page ever?  Nope, but it is ok and I do like it.  What is more important for me is that I'm keeping myself in the process even when I'm not super inspired.  If I let it go for a day or two, sometimes that can turn into a week or two; and I prefer to be creative everyday so this is a good way to keep me in the creative zone.

How do you keep yourself in the creative zone when you aren't feeling inspired?

 

DCWV #21 Layout & It's Full Bleed :)

Ok Scrapbookers, True Confession here.  I'm a bit tired of that old Die Cuts With a View Stack.  I still like it, but I'm thinking its about time to put it away for a while until it feels new to me again.  But before I do, I'm committed to completing the 24 layouts.  This is #21 and I used the yellow-green paper as a base cardstock page, the weight of the paper is very nice, it is cardstock weight so you can use it for a solid base for your page.  What has been exiting me lately is the concept of "full bleed" so the photo strip in this layout is full bleed - meaning going to the edge of the page - or at least that's how I'm defining this concept for my scrapbooking purposes and play.

 

So I think a strip of photos that show a series is a great way to accomplish full bleed, my more favorite is a huge photo on 2/3 of the page or on one page of a 2 page layout.  In order to get the huge photo, since I prefer to send my prints out to printing at home, I'll have to do a bit of pre-planning to accomplish this.  This morning I did picked two photos from yesterday - I took these after we got home from the mall.  She is seriously proud of the hat and the suspenders btw & I picked out that shirt but it was the only thing I picked out that she liked.

Let me say we almost never go to the mall - like its been years - so it was a nice little happy experience for me and my daugther.  She had a rough day with her friends at school and it reminded me of that Taylor Swift song "The Best Day" (which my daughter and I love) and the song lyrics tell the story of how when she was young and kids were mean, her mom would drive her to another town and they'd go window shopping and she'd forget all about those mean kids.  So the mall trip was an intentional memory / quality time kind of experience that I wanted to create and it was awesome.

So I'm planing to print up these two photos for the purpose of some full bleed layouts.

Later, when we got home, I inadvertently hurt my daughter's feelings - I was thinking about this when I was listening to  Nancy Nally & Noell Hyman's Paperclipping Roundtable podcast, you can listen to it for free by clicking here - This week's show is about school scrapbooking. 

I left this comment over at Paperclipping:

On the topic of whether your kids will care about your scrapbooks: 

My experience with this: I recently inadvertently offended / hurt the feeling of each of my kids:  {1. I was talking to my sister about my son and saying oh he's always on the computer lately..., I was talking while my kids were swimming in the pool and I didn't think they could even hear me and I wasn't saying anything offensive but my son made a bee line out of the pool and came over soaking wet and told me not to tell people how he was!  2. Last night after taking my daughter for some retail therapy - something we don't normally do but she was thrilled about - when we got home we watched the Simpsons and Lisa & Marge were shopping & Lisa didn't like anything Marge was picking out - and I said - oh that's just like us at the mall!  }    Maybe my kids are just a bit dramatic, but the thing I noticed both times is that they don't like for me to make sweeping statements about how they are.  Maybe its an age thing.  I hope so.

My concern:  My scrapbooks are full of layouts where I make sweeping statements about how they are, what they are like, etc.  I seriously hope that someday they will LIKE them and not be offended by them!   I know I've inadvertently offended members of my extended family with scrapbook layouts, not because I wrote anything negative, but because they didn't like the way they looked in a photo or because I put it on my blog (I've stopped that btw).   I betcha I'm not the only one who does this sort of thing.

Show Topic Idea:  (maybe?)  How not to inadvertently offend people with well meaning scrapbooking.  and/or The effect of your scrapbooking on your own life and that of your family &  friends.   -  Maybe Stephanie Medley Rath would have some insightful things to say about this.

Do you have any thoughts on this topic?  Please share in the comments here or over there.

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Full Bleed! Taking your photos to the Edge of the Scrapbooking Page

Taking photos to the edge of the page - what a cool little design trick that I've never really explored before - until last night!  This concept was one of the challenges in Elizabeth Dillow's Twelve Design Challenges in the Big Picture Classes I'm taking AND it was coincidentally the topic of an article I read at Get It Scrapped by Debbie Hodge (click here for the "Bleed Edge" article there).   

I was super inspired and made seven of my "half baked" pages using this technique and I gathered almost 200 examples on my Pinterest "Full Bleed" Board.   I still have about 4-5 more that I'd like to get started.  AND! I even finished one of these layouts last night!

I had that 5x7 photo from a long time ago, I had played with the colors on the computer and printed it with a focal color on her face with black and white in the rest of the photo.  The colors came out really intense and while her eyes are really very blue, they look a bit unnatural and I could never figure out how to use that particular print on a page.  While I was looking for photos to use for the full bleed approach, I figured I'd use it since I was just "practicing" this new to me concept with these pages.   

SCRAPBOOK TIP!  Having the mindset that you are just "practicing" with your pages gives you more creating freedom!  Chances are when you "practice" you'll come up with pages that you never would have otherwise and some of them you will end up adoring, like I do with this one.

 

Journaling: "Vision:  Its not about how you look, its about how you see. (adapted from a Henry David Thoreau quote).  / You have your own unique vision and you are so sure of yourself.  You come up with the most creative ways to do things and you make observations that let us know that you are a deep thinker."

And yes, those paper strips are from my new 6x6 Amy Tangerine paper pack - the neon-ish colors worked perfectly with the overly bright focal colors on this photo.

I have been scrapbooking for a long time so it is so fun to have a new perspective, to learn something new, which has really been there all along. 

Want to learn more about design priniciples to use in your scrapbooking?  Check out these affiliate links:

I'll have more of the completed pages coming up soon!

Hey Twelvers: DOZEN DAY Scrapbook Layouts Videos *** PLUS A Winner for the 200,000+ Blog Page Views!

SCRAPBOOKING LAYOUTS VIDEOS - PALOOOZA!

I got a comment from Rhonda who is a scrapbooker who is in the Big Picture Class with Stacy Julian. 

Kate, Your presence is requested on the TWELVE CHIT CHAT board to help us learn how to produce our own videos for class!!! Thx, Rhonda

Stacy makes videos called "Dozen Day" in which she shares the last 12 layouts she made and explains them, so the students in class want to do some too.  Here was my answer to Rhonda:

Hi Rhonda! OH Funny :) Ok.  I have videos on ustream which I film with a Microsoft web cam and I film the 10 minute videos for you tube on my husband's ipad. I have also used my iphone on the fly - like when I was skiing - to film and upload. I am not technically awesome by any stretch so when I have glitches I call in the computer man (aka my husband) to fix things. I'll check in to class now. P.S. I'm in my scrapbook room now and am torn between making a scrapbook page or an art journal page. I would love to combine those two worlds more.

And then I made my own Dozen Day Scrapbook Videos (scroll down or head over to You Tube through one of those links below).

PLEASE NOTE:  That I really tried to keep the videos under 10 minutes because my iPad condenses them to under 10 but I went over a bit so when I uploaded them I labeled them as  #1, #3, #5, #7, and #9 in case I had to add in supplements - I didn't - so they are labeled with ODD numbers only on You Tube but there is 5 (five) of them.

Video #1 (#1 on Youtube): {video link}

 

{video link for the tail end of #1 - start around 1:15 I think}

 

Video #2 (#3 on Youtube): {video link}

  

Video #3 (#5 on Youtube): { video link}

 

Video #4 (#7 on Youtube): { video link }

 

Video #5 (#9 on youtube): {video link}

 

 Want to make videos of your own and support this blog?  Click through to the affiliate link here - once you over at Amazon, if you make any purchases (so you don't have to buy the stuff below)  you can buy anything and means I'll get 4-6% and that goes to support this blog (which costs about $150.00 /yearr to typad - so it would be cool to have the blog at least support itself :)

  

This is the one I use fpr  ustream videos - and I thinkI paid $100+ at Best Buy, so it looks like Amazon is less expensive. I used the iPad for the videos up top.

And NOW FOR THE BIG (or 6x6 inch) PRIZE - dun daaa naaa naaah!  The WINNER OF THE POST for the 200,000 blog hits is

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Laura T. said...

Laura - please email me your address at katiescottscrapbooking@gmail.com and I'll send you some papers from the 6x6 kits I bought last weekend from Heidi Swapp / Sugar Chic; Heidi Swapp / No Limits; Amy Tangerine / Sketchbook; Crate Paper / Story Teller;  and some older Basic Grey / Basics White and Infuse and Offbeat and probably some other stuff too!

P.S. I don't work for any scrapbook companies so this is just stuff from my stash - but that I think you'll like. 

P.S. Hey scrapbooking companies - if you ever want to provide me some free stuff to give away on the blog... just email me or leave a comment!

Thanks for visiting my little space on the internet :)

Katie.

How to Art Journal with Scrapbooking Supplies

I love scrapbooking. I am busy.  I also love art.  I am busy.  There is only so many things I can do.  I have to choose.  Somewhere along the way I decided I didn't have enough time for art.  I've resisted art journals, even though I secretly know I would love it.  I've been afraid it would steal me away from what I'm up to already.  Its a temptation I've been resisting (and not the paint kind of resisting).

Are you a scrapbooker like me who just doesn't want to open the pandora's box of art journaling because you are afraid of the time, space and supplies you'll need to add it to your already full plate?  I am.   But Here Goes:

I think maybe I've stayed away from paint because when the kids were small whenever I pulled out paint it quickly turned into a giant and fun, but giant mess for me to clean up so over the years I think I've been less motivated to get out the paints because of small children's short attention spans and the seriously quick way kids and paint can get everywhere.  My kids are a bit older now and I think my daughter would really love some art classes and for me to pull out the paint on a more regular basis; she's been in the paint on a daily basis for at least a month and she's been really good about cleaning up after herself.  So maybe its time to get back there to art or at least dabble a bit again.

I signed up for an art journaling class next weekend, I signed up my daugther too.  We are both excited.  My mind is already full of ideas about how I can use my scrapbooking supplies in art journals.  Face it scrapbookers, we seriously already have most of the stuff.  I'll dip my toe in and report on my art journaling journey. 

Tell me, do you art journal?  How do you mix it and/or keep it separate from your scrapbooking?  I would love to hear from you.

 

P.S. I'll have a winner on the 200,000 blog hits soon! 

P.S. Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day!

 

1DCWV Stack = 24 Layouts: Layout #20: Almost @42

1 DCWV Stack = 24 Layouts:  Layout #20:  "Almost @ 42"

This one was inspired by the Memory Making Monday series over at the Two Peas in a Bucket site.

Journaling:  "It is May 11th & I can't believe that I let May 6th pass me by because usually I freak out a little bit on that day since it marks "one month till my birthday".  I'm not where I'd like to be on many fronts, especially with my weight loss goas, but I am still here and trying and LIFE IS GOOD.  I have a family who is happy and healthy and our home is full of love andmy life is a good one.  HERE AND NOW.  Love Mom / Katie 5/11/12"

P.S. I got crafty with the numbers and used the negative spaces and then sketched them in with red pen.

 

 

Scrapbook File: May 2012 / May 2008 {using Project Life Journaling Cards}

Scrapbook File:  The Month of May 2008 & May 2012:

I took an old chipboard folder from some photo paper and covered it with patterned paper to create a folder to compare a collage of photos from May 2008 with one from May 2012.

I used journaling cards from the Clementine Core Kit from Becky Higgins' Project Life Line.

 

 

Today I'm off to the Whim So Doodle Scrapbooking Garage Sale - I'll be sure to show and tell my bargains very soon!

Meantime, if you'd like to support this blog and check out groovy scrapbooking supplies, then please click through to one of the following affiliate links:

 

How to Use Symbols and Instructions in Scrapbooking {+ DCWV #18 + #19 Layouts}

I'm taking Elizabeth Dillow's Big Picture Class called "Twelve Design Challenges" and I thought that this class would be all about scrapbook sketches.  I was surprised when I discovered that the challenges were more like concepts than sketches.  At first this stumped me a bit, but I think I'm getting my groove with it and I'm now loving this class especially since it is getting me a bit out of my comfort zone!

One of the prompts was to use symbols on a page.  To figure out what symbols to use, I did a search of Pinterest to get some ideas, there I found the recycle and the the sign language symbols so those were the starting point for the #2 and #3 layouts.  Last night I created a "Counterfeit Kit" and I had that phone block (Studio Calico) so I decided to use that as a symbol and tell the story about how I don't usually answer the phone at home.  So all three of these pages started with the prompt of using a symbol - by starting there I got to tell some stories that I probably wouldn't have otherwise.  I've been reading the Book of Awesome to my son before bedtime and I'll just say, the prompt thing?  AWESOME!

Here are the layouts:

1. Leave a Message at the Tone:  The symbols here of the phone and the home are from some Studio Calico patterned paper.  These two symbols reminded me of how we don't typcially answer the phone at home and we actually say that on our answering machine! 

 

Supplies: DCWV The Snapshot Stack so this is #18 of my self imposed challenge to make 24 LAYOUTS FROM ONE DCWV STACK (the quote bubbles); I also used papers from Studio Calico (the symbols), October Afternoon (journaling spot), & Margie Romney Aslett's paper (the banners).

Journaling:  "Hello, You've reached the Scott Family and we don't typically answer this phone, you can try the office or our cell phone or email is a good option....."  "We have a long message on the answering machine and rarely answer the phone."  "Hello, This is Kathryn, ... yep its, me, Katie."  "You can try my cell, but I don't usually answer it."  "Try me at the office or schedule a phone conference."  "I talk on the phone all day at work so when I get home I let the machine get it so we can relax with the family.

2. The Story of the Green Coat:  This layout was all about that Reduce-Reuse-Recycle concept and it made me think of my thrifty Grandma and this coat. 

Supplies:  American Crafts Cardstock and letter stickers which are felt green which is perfect for this coat because the coat has a bit of a felt like quality although I think it is probably wool.

Jouranling: "Allison Grace:  My Granma Grace was thrifty and she saved everything.  She grew up during the Great Depression and those childhood lessons stuck with her and my mom/your grandma Chris and I both inherited a fair share of Grandma Grace's tendency to hold on to things "because you never know when you might need it someday".  This cot should get the Re-Use Award since my mom bought it at a thrift store in Calais, Maine in the 70s when I was little and I wore it during the cold winter months in Maine.  You wore it one cold day in Florida and I'm saving it for your girl! - Love Mommy 5/2012  (photos Winter 2009)."

3. Baby Sign Language:  I found these baby sign language reference images in Pinterest and when I went to look for a photo of Mac from when he was little and we did sign-language with him, I found this big photo that I cut around waaaaaay back in the day (2004), so I decided to use it since the way this photo is cut ( a decidedly dated scrapbooking technique)  also reminds me of when my son was young.  He was such a cutie.

Supplies:  The background paper is cardstock weight and it and the jouranling spot and "remember" tab are from the DCWV The Snapshot Stack so this layout is #19 in my challenge series.

Journaling:  "When you were a little guy, we taught you sign language and hands down your favorite sign was theone for "MORE!"  I love you More!  Love Mommy 5/12 (photo 5/04)."

Have you ever used symbols in your scrapbooking, I really loved this concept and I would love to hear more ideas about types of symbols to use? 

Please leave a comment.

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How To Use Monochromatic Color Schemes to Pile on Embellishments in Scrapbooking

How to Use Monochromatic Color Schemes to Pile On Embellishments in Scrapbooking:

Do you have trouble figuring out how to use lots of embellishments on your page?  I do and often times I skip using embellishments on scrapbooking pages altogether. 

One technique I use to get lots of embellishments on a page is to go monochromatic.  These three pages use this trick.  Notice that the embellishments are actually snow flakes and stars, which have little to do with the themes of these pages;  but that doesn't seem to matter since the color of the embellishments match the color of the backgrounds so that the type or the theme of  the embellishment becomes less important than the color of the embellishment.

1. This page started as an October Afternoon Sketch - full disclosure here, I made the base of this page a while back and I thought it was October Afternoon but maybe it was Studio Calico, I can't seem to find it on Pinterest now - if anyone has the link, please leave a comment!  Anyway, the page was made of all sorts of random blue paper strips in a sunburst pattern.  This seemed to be perfect for the excitement and the pride that my daughter had about her first BIG rollercoaster ride.  I used the blue snowflake brads to replicate all the gears on the rollercoaster, what do you think - does it work?

I also adapted a brown picket fence embellishment to a white embellishment that looks to me like a rollercoaster track, here's how I made it:

Fun right?  I don't think I would have made this but for the monochromatic theme.  Removing lots of color choices helps me to focus on using embellishments in more creative ways.  And that's fun from time to time.

2. This page was inspired by Challenge #6 by Elizabeth Dillow in the Big Picture Class "Twelve Design Challenges".  The challenge was to make a monochromatic page that had an absence of color - to use black, white, grey, or another neutral.  I liked the main photo since it faded to white so the main color on this page comes from the phto of my daughter and the tiny photos in the strip at the bottom include a lot of grey from the road, so grey worked well for this page.

 

This was Allison's first time around the block on the rollerblades she got for Christmas.  I was on rollerblades too but we didn't get any pictures of me this time (I'll have to remember for next time).

3.  The third page was probably inspired by a Lisa Day rainbow page that I saw on Pinterest and I had it in mind when I was making the page, but didn't reference it specifically; I've seen some other layouts recently in this same theme - stripes of color with embellishments in each stripe with that color.   There was another layout like this on the Two Peas Gallery recently and it had something to do with instagram or something like that.  Anyway, if you think of a rainbow of colors as stripes of monochromatic places to put like colored embellishments, its easy to put together a page with lots of embellishments.  Rather than using embellishments on this page, however, I used my Quickutz star in a cirlce die cut to make the paper embellishments. 

 

These three monochromatic layouts that came together in two hours total.  That's an average of 40 minutes per page.  I usually scrap a bit faster but I took my time and had fun with these pages, and my kids were scrapbooking with me so I think I was a bit slower than normal, which is totally fine.

Have you made monochromatic pages?  Try a few with like colored embellishments, it is fun and easy.

If you wish to support this blog and pick up some colorful embellishments, click through to one of these affiliate links:

   

 

3 years later

Have I mentioned that all of my digital images from 2010, 2011 and 2012 are gone, baby gone?  I'm trying not to freak out about it or stew on it.  Charlie has sent the harddrive to the computer man and we still haven't heard back. 

In the meantime, I'm getting a funny peek at the digital photos from 2009 and before.  I came across this old layout and paired it with a photo I took this past weekend.  I think when I get the photo print back I'll do a sort of copy of the 2009 layout. 

Meantime, my fingers are still crossed in hopes of getting 3 years of digital images back, I hope, I hope, I hope.  Here are a few more layouts from 2009:

Want to avoid my problem of losing digital images and support this blog?  Check out these affiliate links and back it up!

 

 

 

 

How to Wrap Up One Month on One Scrapbook Page

Scrapbooking One Month At A Time / Project Lifetime:

I do Project Life and I do regular scrapbooking.  In the last couple of years, I've also started doing a page to wrap up a month or season and I'm putting these pages in an album called "Project Lifetime".  I think I heard this term associated with the Becky Higgins Project Life, but I'm not for sure on that.  The concept is to have one album spanning many years, like the five year journal.  So here's one page that's going in that album, a quick, simple page that doesn't need to go through a bazillion details; the main thing is that it just needs to be done!

I did have fun making this border of triangles and my son even mentioned that he thought it was very pretty!

P.S. If you'd like to support this blog and stock up on Project Life supplies while they last at Amazon, click through to the following affiliate links:

 

My Last National Scrapbooking Day (2012) Layout!

This one incorporates photo pockets to include 12 4x6 photos on one scrapbook page! 

The Big Picture Classes Creative Crop Challenge #9 was to use a pocket on a page.

And with that, I'm putting National Scrapbooking Day Weekend to bed. 

Night Night.

National Scrapbooking Day Layout: Merry and Bright

Christmas Scrapbooking out of season, this page was fun to make.

This layout was inspired by the Two Peas in a Bucket "morph" National Scrapbook Day challenge AND the Big Picture Classes Creative Crop Challenge #12 to use "kraft" in two different ways on a page.  I made those paper ribbons with a square punch to edge them at the bottom - a trick I saw on Pinterest - it works perfectly.

 

 

Easter Stuff (Discarded Stuff Layout)

The National Scrapbooking Day Challenge for this one was from my fellow Floridian Mou Saha - and her challenge was to use "cast off objects" on a page.  I had lots of stuff from Easter, and the circles forming the negative space (another one for the Two Peas Challenge #8 Negative Space) was also lying around - and that's how this page came together.

I'm thinking I'm about done for the day - how did you do with National Scrapbooking Day?

A Two-Fer: Road Trips Scrapbook Layout for National Scrapbooking Day

 

I made this page for the Two Peas in a Bucket National Scrapbooking Day Challenge #3 "Paper Piercing" AND for the Big Picture Classes Challenge #4 "Use Twine" (I know the embroidery floss at the bottom is not twine - but BPC always encourages substitutions and I don't have any twine - gasp!).

Actually, this layout also qualifies for the Two Peas Challenges #7 "Polaroids" and #8 "Negative Space".  Seems like NSD is flying by so I'm making sure my layouts fill more than one challenge category.

Are you participating in the National Scrapbooking Day Challenges?  Have you made one layout that satisifes more than one challenge?  Leave a link, I'd love to see.