It's the paper addicts dream....ok, nightmare

          I have had the nightmares and woke up screaming in the middle of the night because of it! As I have admitted before I am a true paper addict. My worst fear is that due to digi cameras, filing systems and digi scrappin the manufactures are going to stop printing and selling my beloved paper. It's a little too realistic lately - what with all of the local scrap stores dying one by one. But the hard fact is you need paper to actually scrapbook. Oh sure you can digi scrap all day with the prints on your computer- the same prints over and over again.... or you can spend a fortune to have a virtual library... which loses the whole physical art to me. I love the smell of the undo and the feel of the paper and all the tiny embellishments in my hands. There is something truly satisfying to the artist in me with physical scrapping.
        One of my talents, I am told, is the ability to envision the papers as I am shopping them in the store. I can browse a wall of paper and manage to pick out "good" papers. I have done this now for years.... which means I now have a WALL of paper in my studio. I realize that a lot of people struggle with this part of the process, and this brings me to the topic of the day....

  
How do I buy the right paper?

1. Generally the papers that have themes are my first choices when I am searching for paper because most of my photos are themed in some way. 
2. I will usually shy away from anything with a frame type body on the paper or anything with a large pattern that when cut up loses its impact.
3. Is the pattern so busy or distracting that it will take away from my photos? If so I only need to buy one sheet and use very little of that paper- and generally I do NOT use that paper to mat my photos with. (A strip along the bottom, a thin line at the top or side or a center chunk or circle is all you need)
4. Do I like both sides of this paper? If so I buy at least two sheets-sometimes three.
5. Does it have matching papers and if so do I have at least two patterns I like together?

 
       How do I choose the right paper for my layouts?
       It's all about the pictures folks. Most of you know this. I watch people trying to match their kids shirts or a particular car or something in the photo all the time.
       This is where we scrappers sometimes go horribly wrong. Take a step back for a moment. The whole point of scrapbooking is to draw the focus to the photo. When we match a color in the photo exactly- we actually lose the focal point in that photo. The idea is to compliment the colors in the photo. To draw the eye inward.
       SO, this is where you get out the old fashioned color wheel. Use the color in the photo that you want to accent, as the base color in your color wheel. Then chose your paper from the complimentary colors your color wheel points to. The color you choose from there is where you begin your search for the perfect paper. (Note-If there is a theme to the photos start with theme then find a paper in that theme within the color range of complimentary colors.)
        By the same token if you have a photo with a color that you want to tone down or draw attention away from- you can try to match your matte paper to that color so it draws your eye outward and away from that point in the photo,sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't, there is always digitally changing the photo to sepia tones or black and white.
       This is where it gets easy...this is my true secret. The papers and or embellishments we use to compliment our photos have already been created by professional artists and designers with an eye for color.  SO- tap into their knowledge by using the color scheme already provided for you in the patterned papers you choose for your photos and if needed, one neutral color. It will work for you nearly every time.

Just for a laugh- my little undo.

You know Being a stay at home mom truly is the toughest job on earth.... because everything I do all day gets undone in a matter of minutes, even seconds. I call my little blessing my little "undo". And though only a scrapbooker will really get why I call her undo.... It has really made me realize why I do scrapbook. Because scrapbooking is the only thing I can complete that does not get destroyed in 30 seconds. That is unless I leave a layout out on the table and walk away.... five minutes ago I folded an entire basket of towels.....by the time I got to the last towel, she was busy "helping" me with the first one I had folded.... so much for that task.

This was my facebook status this morning.  Its simple I scrap because it is the only task I can complete that does not get destroyed.... The side story is that a few weeks ago I had slaved over a layout at Archivers for several hours, when I got home I took a picture of it so I could post the photo here, and left the layout on the table overnight because it was too dark in the room where I keep my albums, and I did not want to turn on the light and wake up my little undo with the light as the living room light creeps under her door. Besides, why risk the noise of dropping the album or something like that...Ill just put it away in the morning.  Yup - except in the morning I was so excited to post the layout here that I forgot to put it away and while I was writing, I heard silence. The kind of silence that makes a mom go uh-oh... You guessed it- she was in there "helping you" with my layout. Now undone two year old style. The lesson here? Learn to see in the dark like a cat. 

The other night she was "helping you" in my scrapbook room. The thing that kills me is that she did this two feet from me, she grasped a small container that I had those little bitty brads in and before I could reach out to stop her she had twisted the cover and the itty bitty brads went flying... This was only after the night before when she had done the same thing with my favorite embossing powder... I think I have had enough "helping you" in my scrapbook room baby. I love you, but you are hereby banned from my space.  Thank God for my BFF and her own little scrapbook lesson- about magnets and brads.

This is why I now put my layouts away immediately after taking the photo and why I clean up my scrapbook room between layouts.  Besides my studio is my place to think and who can think in the midst of a two year olds mess?

Review- Embossing vs Impressing

       After 19 years of scrapbooking and several years of stamping, I have forgotten that the techniques I often use were once new to me. Today someone posted a question on a website I often frequent about dry embossing and it set me to thinking, maybe it is time for a review. I have stored at least a dozen embossing plates for several years now and I often forget that I have them. Maybe it was time to use them.
So for those of you new to these techniques...
       Dry Embossing or Impressing- is when a pattern is pressed into a paper creating a raised pattern on one side and the reverse pattern on the back side of the paper. I use the Big Kick/Shot Machine by Sizzix for this. It actually changes the surface of the paper on both sides. If you use white core cardstock, or patterned paper with a white core in it, you can lightly sand the surface for a shabby chic distressed look. This works especially well with dark color paper with the white core. It is also a great trick if you just can't find the right patterned paper in the stores, make your own.
       Wet embossing- is when you use a stamp and versa mark, embossing ink, or pigment ink. You then cover the ink with embossing powder, shake off the excess and heat the powder to the melting point with a heat gun. This creates a raised image on the paper. You can also just dip a shape into the embossing ink pad, pour embossing powder over it and heat for a solid surface of color. (I love to do this on chipboard shapes)
Wet embossing with ABC stamps is my favorite trick when I need white letters and rub-ons just won't do.
         I used a scraplift challenge from cafe mom to inspire this page. Note the dry embossing on the tags.

Old diecuts made new again

The bad news is, I have thousands of them, pre-cut diecuts. With the invention of the cricut my stack of diecuts seemed to go stale. For the longest time I have forgotten how to use them. The good news is, since I started this "use the stash challenge" I have found ways to make that old stack of die cuts new again. This time I added a few various brads, and a piece of magic mesh, popped the die up with foam tape and presto- chango....a new three dimensional embellishment that worked perfectly for my son's cub scout page!
I am giving new life to my old supplies and finding the joy in scrapping again!

 

embellish you cricut cuts!

    Last weekend I was on a retreat with 39 other croppers, and I noticed that the majority of us have fallen into what I call the cricut trap. It's so easy just to cut things out on our cricut and glue the pieces together that we forget the rest of our stash and go cricut! Now I am not saying I never use my cricut, because I do.
     This week I am doing a scraplift challenge from a group on cafe mom. The challenge was to scraplift four elements from a very cute single page layout that included one of those cool in-style trees. The hostess required us to use the embellished tree as one of the elements we use. This inspired me to mix and match a portion of a cricut shape with my own stash, and voila I scored a 900 point page!

I used the tree from the Art Philosophy Close to my Heart cartridge, just the trunk portion. Then cut shapes from magic mesh to create the leaves, added colored vellum punched leaves and brad leaves, topping it off with tiny buttons. I love this mixed look and it really made the page! So go on use your cricut.... but don't forget to add the points from your stash and really make it pop!

 

Too many photos? No problem-make it move!

So this weekend I had a blast with 39 of my closest friends cropping the weekend away in Winter Park! It was a very productive weekend for me, I completed 23 pages, leaving me with only 2 more layouts in my sons school book to complete! I am so excited!

Among the layouts I completed, was a set of photos of my sons' senior capstone project for his final grade in three classes. This layout brought to my mind a common problem we scrappers often run into. As we progress in scrapbooking- we get better at taking photographs, hence we end up with few poor shots to discard and more great photos to include! You see, I went a little photo nuts that night and took a million shots of him making ravioli. I knew I wanted to fully include the steps for this family favorite recipie, but how does one include 21 great shots on a page? You have two choices, create several layouts of the same event; or use Magic... and create an interactive page. My son's senior album is already thick enough, so I went interactive! 

       Close to My Heart's founder Jeanette R Lynton has published four layout books that I highly recommend. One of which is titled "Magic". This book has a ton of interactive ideas and how to's. I chose to use the waterfall technique. Basically- you pull on the designated tag and the photos flip open and turn pages like a book- giving you the ability to include many photos instead of just one or two. 
    Admittedly, it took a few harsh words and two brains- (my good friend Laurence was doing a waterfall on her layout as well and she walked through this journey with me) But really, the concept wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. It did take time, several hours in fact to complete this layout totally, but remember I was matting and including 21 photos, that would be like doing three layouts or more if each layout only included 7 photos. So logically it would take longer than the usual 7 photo layout.
      The trick to using this technique is don't make it harder than it is. Here is the basic instructions.

1. Cut up to 8 photos to the same size and shape, 
2. Matte them on 4 pieces of sturdy cardstock cut 1/4" taller and 1" longer than the photos. Mount the photos back to back-leaving 3/4"+ 1/8" matte on the left side of the front photos and the 3/4" + 1/8" matte to the right side of the back photos so they are like a two sided page in a book. (the 3/4" border is for the binding) (For this example I used 3 x 5 photos with 3 1/4" x 6" matte-leaving a 1/8" border on three sides of the photo and the 3/4"+1/8" matte on the binding side- you can adjust the size to your photos.) You should be able to stack your mattes and flip through the photos like a book if you hang on to the 3/4" strip on the left.
3. Cut one 12" strip that is the exact height from top to bottom of your mattes,( ie: 3 1/4" tall x 12" long ) Use sturdy thicker cardstock for this. I'll refer to this piece as piece A.
4. Cut a second 12" strip from sturdy cardstock that is about 1/8" taller than your mattes. This will be referred to as piece B.
5. Cut piece C -1" x 12" from the cardstock
6. Hold piece B with the 12" length horizontally and piece C with the 12" length vertically. Fold piece C around piece B from top to bottom-and glue the ends of piece C to each other. ( around the 3 3/8" width) creating a belt like piece around Piece B.  (It helps to score piece C at the edges of piece B to make it a smoother fold) Make sure piece C will slide from left to right if you pull it.
7. Lay Piece A with the 12" width horizontally on a score board or your personal cutter with scoring blade installed. Score Piece A vertically at the 5 1/2" mark (or just a bit longer than the length of your photos with matte is.)
8. Continue to score the remainder of piece A vertically at 3/4" intervals starting at the score you just made. (you need one 3/4" interval per matte- so one per two photos total)
9. fold the 5 1/2" length on piece A under the 3/4" intervals.
10. lay Piece A on the table with the 3/4" intervals on top of the 5 1/2 " length
11. Crease each of the 3/4" intervals toward the table (all the same direction)
12. Glue the 3/4" matte of your "page one" photos to the first 3/4" interval after the 5 1/4" fold- glue only the 3/4" binding edge to the 3/4" scored interval, so it acts like the binding edge of a book and the matted photo becomes the loose pages of the book.
13. Slide your "page two" photos under the first page, with the 3/4" matte side lining up with the next interval to the right of the first, and so on until all of your matted photo pages are glued to the intervals in order. One page per 3/4" interval.   When you are finished with this step, it should look kind of like my completed waterfall.... with the photos sticking out 3/4" from each other in a domino type effect.
14. Piece A now becomes your waterfall. Keeping the fold from step 9, Slide the bottom 5/1/2" section of the waterfall between and through Piece B and C.
15. Grasp the opposite end of piece A (under the final photo) and glue it to the top side of piece C. (So the section by Piece C is sandwiched from top to bottom as follows- 3/4" interval side of piece A, Piece C, 5 1/2" end of Piece A. Piece B, the the glued ends of piece C.)
16. Cuss a few times, as you pull on the loose end of piece A and help your photos turn pages by creasing the folds again as they fall open. You may have to work the folds a few times to make it work smoothly. 

Glue the bottom of piece B and the glued ends of piece C to your layout. (the underneath side of the waterfall) 
Good luck!
 

Find the points -layout 1

OK, so now you have the entire list of our stash with the points assigned to them! I thought it might be fun if I post a layout and see if you can spot the points first. So now it's your turn. Post a comment with the total points for this page, listing what they are. (Sorry, Wanda you are not eligible) The winner gets bragging rights and the ability to step up your own layout by using what you have. I'll give you a few hints since it is sometimes hard to tell when something is 3-d....This layout has chipboard circles and the large T is a pre-glitter letter. Can you spot the points?

30 points- Use your stash

These are those wonderful embellishments that we still have tons of- but they are worth 30 points if you use them!

1. Spiral clips & paper clips- shapes we found everywhere years ago!-Try them clipped onto a strip of ribbon, or use it as a pull tag for hidden journaling
2. rub on or chipboard flourish- those flourishes that were all the rage a few years ago- we had to have them and forget to use them!
3. ABC sticker- flat- Yes, you can use them-but score points if you use them creatively. Stick them on painted chipboard, or a button or an acrylic square. 
4. embroidery floss- Just Stitch it! Borders,tags, just three little x in the corner, use it to tie a tag or string some banners- anyway you use it it is points!
5. epoxy stickers- stores call them 3-d or acrylic, but you can improve on them with rubons! Take boring circle bubbles and make it your title with rub on letters.
6. Thickers- very specific brand of 3-d stickers- we have both had difficulty with their adhesive backs- so we decided it was worth points to use them!
7. resist chipboard- Close to my heart sells them- we love them just a little too much- ready to ink, paint- the fun patterns resist your medium and leave a cool effect!
8. Flat word sticker- we bought them by the tons... and forgot about them. Just ordinary stickers with words on them. Dress them up on chipboard or epoxy or use them in the corner of a photo....
9. Plain chipboard letter- we had to buy every font they brought out...cause you just never know when you need it, and now we have to carry two containers of them....so paint them, ink them, emboss them..use modge podge and paper them. Just use them already!
10. Fancy Tape- this is a recent item in stores that decorative tape. It acts like ribbon but it easier to stick down! Glitter tape or fabric tape its fun to dress up a page!
11. Chipboard shapes- any of them can make a page pop! 
12. Beads- those tiny little beads for jewelry making- use them on wire, or embroidery floss for even more points!

The Scrapbookers Theory of Evolution

Believe it or not- Bad photos can make the greatest pages! With my son's school albums nearly complete I realized I still had some photos in his box....boy scout photos. I had started the album and never finished it.The photos have been haunting me for about ten years. I had stopped working on them because they are repetitive, award ceremony, pinewood derby, awards ceremony, derby, etc.... They were also not the best shots due to poor lighting, early digital cameras, and well, let's just admit it- there is really only one photographer in this family.... my hubby has since been better trained. SO the photos were not the best, but as I completed this page last night, I fell in love with it! --And by the way, its a 600 point page!