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?
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.
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I'll have more of the completed pages coming up soon!
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.
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
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 :)
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 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.
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I scrapbooked all day yesterday and I think I did something like 10 layouts.
I'm in Florida and don't want to spend another beautiful day inside especially since my 30 Day Bikram Yoga Challenge is officially over and I'm giving myself a few days off from Hot Yoga.
Today, I'd like to finish the challenges but dont' want to spend all day doing it so I'm now working on a layout that will satisfy the BCP Creative Crop Challenges:
Challenge #3 Reflection Mirrors (photos are taken in mirrors with iphone)
Challenge # 5 Use iphone photos - yep all three photos even show the actual iphone
Challenge #6: I'll be using the sketch provided.
Challenge #7: I stuck with the warm colors on the wheel: pink & red, orange and yellow
PLUS I'm going to satisfy some of the Two Peas Challenges too:
Challenge #5 Bright Colors: check.
Challenge #6 Confetti: I used a circle punch and a border bunch for the smaller circles
Challenge #7 Polaroids: I cut my iphone photos to look like old school Polaroids which is really how I used to take pictures about 30 years ago.
Challenge #9 Chevrons: I used a black text patterened paper to create the chevron stripe and I think it adds to the notion of a phone line / connection.
OK, that should get me almost finished!
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The Big Picture Classes Creative Crop National Scrapbooking Day challenge was to Frame a Photo with Fantastic Embellishments -or something like that. I thought the random embellishments looked a bit like stars in the night and also helped to represent all the people we walked for - too many touched by cancer.
P.S. Just noticed that the way I framed Allison's photo highlights her t-shirt "Life Is Good" - good indeed.
P.S. This layout incorporates my One Little Word This Year which is HOPE.
P.S. RIP Adam Yauch - another lost too soon to cancer. Stupid Cancer. My senior year of high school wouldn't have been the same without the License to Ill cassette. I can sing the whole thing. God bless the Beastie Boys. NO SLEEP TILL (duh nuh nat naaah ) BROOOOOKLYN. Peace.
This page was inspired by Challenge #2 at the Two Peas in a Bucket 2012 National Scrapbooking Day Challenge.
This was fun to put together and I used Project Life grid cards that started out naked.
I added strips of scrap paper, photos, and quotes I love.
So easy and I love this page.
P.S. I hear that the Project Life supplies are back in stock at Amazon - check out these affiliate links - hurry before they are gone again (really - they really sell out - so if you want them - get them now) go hurry!
Happy National Scrapbooking Day - here's my layout #4 or 5.
I'm planning to make a whole bunch today and there are lots of challenges to check out online. Fun Stuff for a scrapbooker like me - and chances are you too if you are reading this blog.
I'll post the links as I go and a few posts down there is a link roundup for all the NSD online festivities.
Here is #10 in the 24 Layouts from One DCVW Paperpack Series!
This layout is all about how my husband set up a video studio for me in one hour after I mentioned that I might like to make some scrapbooking videos again.
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I bought one Die Cuts With a View Patterned Paper Stack
I've challenged myself to create 24 layouts. This is Layout #8!
To make things easier, I took one basic sketch design and created the bones of five layouts and later went back to embellish them and do a bit of journaling.
I wrote the journaling right onto the page so it didn't come out exactly how I wanted, but I'm calling it good. I was trying to emphasize that the tests aren't easy for anyone; but also to highlight that a few belt tests ago my son did have a particularly difficult test and that this time he worked extra hard and afterwards his coach said he was one of the most improved students in 26 years. Off the record, his coach said that many times when kids have a difficult test they give up; but Mac didn't give up, he went back and repeated that test - Blue Belt I think - maybe two tests ago. This time Mac had the preparation for the test down to a science and he really worked hard to prepare and the test was THREE hours long so it wasn't easy for him or anyone else. Charlie and I were so proud not only for how far he's come in karate - two more belts until black belt - but also for the persistence Mac has shown despite obstacles. Very, very, very proud.
Because the message was what I wanted to focus on in this layout, I kept the embellishments to a minimum.
The paper from The Snapshot Stack by DCWV is the bottom notebook paper where the title and journaling rests.
Want to try the Stack Challenge? There are lots of paper packs to choose from and all sorts of scrapbooking companies make them so you can choose your own style. Want to support this blog? Pick up a Patterened Paper Stack or Pack these up through one of these affiliate links:
I've been working my way through one Die Cuts With a View Stack called "The Snapshot Stack" and I've challenged myself to create 24 layouts. Here is #7 completed:
I didn't journal on this one because it seemed kind of self explanatory. The embellishments are from the muffin tin I created for the Stacy Julian Twelve Class I am taking at Big Picture Classes so I just pulled some orange and yellow random embellishments to create a visual triangle. So Simple.
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One basic scrapbook sketch -> Five Scrapbook Pages In Progress:
Hello Scrapbookers! I'm back from my scrapbooking hiatus!
I've been busy living life and making memories. Last weekend I walked over six hours on Treasure Island Beach in the sand in the American Cancer Society Relay for Life; my team raised over $3,000.00! Go Team & A Big Thank You to all of our sponsors!
It is fine with me when life gets busy and scrapbooking gets put on the back-burner; but there comes a point when I feel the need to put scrapbooking back into my daily routine. It has been challenging since along with working, being a mom, and the cancer walk; I'm halfway through a Bikram Yoga 30 day challenge. Bikram Yoga class is 90 minutes, but getting there, doing the class and recovering from the class takes more like 2.5 hours. So my scrapbooking and blogging time has been limited lately, I needed a jumpstart. This is what inspired me:
Layouts by Celine Navarro of The Green Frog Studio: In order to make the most of my scrapbooking time, last night I took a basic page concept from Celine Navarro and used it to start 5 pages of my own. Celine's pages have a common feature in that she uses one large horizontally oriented photo so I went with that concept. I went through my digital images and picked five and printed them out so that they were 8.5 wide. Then I picked the top and bottom patterened paper. I adhered everything together with a glue stick and machine stitching. I also added the titles. Later I will add the embellishments and journaling. Here is what they look like so far:
Having these pages "half-baked" will make it easy to finish them. Having one concept to apply to several pages makes it easy to get several layouts started at one time. Getting pages done satisifies my desire to do some daily scrapbooking. I'll post the finished pages when they are done.
P.S. Yes, all of these pages use papers from the Die Cuts With a View "The Snapshot Stack" so these will be part of my series where I make 24 pages from one DCWV stack!
If you wish to support this blog, please check out one of the following Studio Calico Patterned Paper Packs (Amazon affiliate links) and Thanks!
I challenged myself to create 24 layouts from one Die Cuts With A View Stack. The Snapshot Stack includes 48 cardstock weight patterened papers and sells for $19.99 at the craft store; I picked it up on a 50% off sale for $9.99.
For this simple layout, I wanted a somewhat plain cardstock weight patterened background paper and I tried several and finally decided on the light yellow because it was the least distracting.
During a recent Paperclipping Roundtable podcast, the scrapbookers discussed how much their average layout costs. One guest said she spends about $12.50 per page. I spend significantly less. The DCWV stacks are one way I save money; another is that I use premium papers that I buy from scrapbooking yardsales for $.10 (ten cents) a page or less. Premium papers usually run around $1.00 or more when they are in season. I don't mind using papers that are "out of date" and I like being thrifty. I do spend a lot of money on scrapbooking, but most of my money is spent on printing photos, camera equipment, and adhesives. I also like using tools, like punches and die cuts since over time they save money. Lately, I've been loving the QuicKutz alphabet / letter die cuts.
I'm going to estimate that this page cost less than a dollar to make. Granted I did use my sewing machine and quickutz tool and letters, but I have used those tools for so many other projects that the cost for using them on this page is virtually nonexistent.
Here is the 12x12 page completed:
Journaling: "April 13, 2012 at 8:15 am
I showed you this picture on your morning rush out to school.
You knew what it was instantly and asked "was this last summer?"
And then you said "Ohhh Mamacita Poocharita" which is your pet name for me.
You gave me a big hug. A long hug. Even though Daddy was beeping
to hurry to you get out to the truck where he and Allison were waiting
as usual for you to finish getting ready for school. But you ignored them.
Sockless. Shoeless. Without your homework.
You took some time to give me a really good hug.
And like the wind you rushed to your room to get socks and shoes and homework.
You called out "I Love You" to me at least 25 times on your way out the door.
You say I love you at least 50 times everynight.
It already breaks my heart that someday you’ll be old enough to leave me.
I want you to grow up and live your life.
But I also want to freeze time and live in the here and now forever.
But here we are already past the half way mark. You are now ten.
I love you more than the universe my boy. My sweet baby.
You will always be my baby in my heart.
Love, Mommy."
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Please leave a comment to share how much you normally spend on a layout and to share your money saving scrapbooking tips.
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