Most of my scrapbooking inspiration comes from the mood or feelings I associate with the subject of my layout. I try create a visual expression of how I feel. When I think of the outdoors, I often think of relaxation, play, and whimsy. Below are two techniques for adding details that evoke those three characteristics.

Enhance A Floral Pattern with Beads

What you need: Floral patterned paper, a transparent glue like Diamond Glaze or Glossy Accents, two different colors of beads.

1. Working in small stretches at a time, apply a line of glue about half an inch long along the inside of a petal. Using a pen, pencil, or other pointed tip, pick up one bead at a time and place them in the glue, just inside the outline of the petal.
2. As you place each bead, press it into place with your fingernail. If you use your fingertip it will get sticky and the beads will stick to it.
3. Continue alternating between glue and beads until you’ve outlined the petal.
4. Fill the bud in with a small amount of glue and add beads until they fill the bud.

If you feel like you have some weak spots (perhaps the glue was almost dry when you added a couple of the beads), you can add some glue to the sides of the beads to make them stable.

Add Whimsy To A Colorful Tag With Wire

What you need: A decorative tag, two colors of wire, glue dots, wire tool (optional).

1. Cut two pieces of wire to about 4 inches each.
2. Feed wire through hole of tag and bend wires in half so they straight out from the top of the tag. You’ll have 4 ends.
3. Twist the wires around themselves a couple of times at the top of the tag.
4. Working with one end at a time, twist the wire with a tool or with your finger so that you get a fun spiral. For a playful look, don’t try to make the spirals perfect.
5. Place a glue dot on the bottom side of the top of the tag so it holds the wire in place.
6. After adding the tag to your page, arrange the wire so they stick up in different directions for a totally fun and carefree look.

Combining The Details

Here is another example of the same two techniques together. Don’t they feel happy?

Not that you need an excuse to spend more money, but if you want some ideas to take advantage of this outdoor season, here are my picks for layouts and good photos.

Patterned Paper

I love this paper by Cosmo Cricket. I love the fun, bright colors and the happy shapes. It just feels like being outside.

Telephoto Lens

If you have kids in sports, a telephoto lens is a great lens to have. We bought our lens when Blake was in baseball and suddenly we were able to get good shots from way across the field.

These are the kinds of things that inspire me–good colors that match my mood and the season, and great photos. I hope you’re all enjoying the summer and bright outdoors.

I wanted to answer some questions from Toni about this layout from Episode 46.

Questions

Is the subtle hue on the paper (visible in the top right quarter) painted on, or was it already present in the paper pattern? The hue change was already present on the paper. It is made by Daisy Bucket and is from their Garden Gate collection. It’s the backside of the red patterned paper called, Summer Sweet.

How long did it take you to plan, layout and complete this page? I am a slow scrapbooker (I force myself to work faster on Paperclipping Live, but I really prefer to take my time, enjoy the moment, and allow my brain to wander and think about things) but this was a very fast layout for me. One of my easier ones. I completed it in three different short sittings. As for time, my best guess is maybe 5 minutes; 45 minutes, and 30 minutes.

My Process

Making the grid: I first laid my photos on the Basic Grey mat (this took me 5 minutes at the most), then put it away for a week while I worked on other projects. When I pulled my mat out again, I quickly saw that there was one spot that looked predictable because it formed a sort of checkerboard formation (if you don’t know me yet, I don’t like my art to be predictable–something I discovered as a child when I used to choreograph my own dances for fun) so I moved two of the photos and then I was happy with it.

Transferring the photos to my paper and adhering it was the longest part of putting this layout together, but was so easy because of having had the photos on the mat first. I used a ruler, not to measure, but to make sure the photos were straight. As I transferred each photo to my paper, I sanded the edges.

Adding the details: Next, I knew I wanted to add a happy color so I grabbed a scrap of orange patterned paper (Basic Grey), cut two squares, and placed them fairly randomly. I also felt I needed some circles for variety and found two different circle stamps and a piece of Scenic Route chipboard and put them in a triangular formation.

As I was looking around my room at my stuff I noticed my acrylic letters and pulled out the “a.” It was perfect for adding something into the bottom left corner because it added some detail down there without making that corner too heavy–I wanted the most weight to be at the bottom right corner.

At this point it was all about balancing my color by adding second and third points of a visual triangle for each color. I knew I wanted my title in the empty rectangular space and green would finish one triangle. Adding a swipe of orange paint underneath the title would help it to stand out and complete the triangle of orange. I ran out of green letters so I was happy to add yet another color to my palette (red), and then found two red buttons to balance it. I continued this until it had a nice balance of color and empty spaces to filled spaces.

A magnetic mat is not necessary.

I do recommend you use a grid of some kind because it makes it so easy, but you don’t need a magnetic one. I used the magnets on the video because my mat was upright for you to see. When I did this with my actual photos, though, I didn’t use the magnets, even while I was storing it away for a week.

* * *

Self-Expression
12×12 layout

Products: Adhesive (Diamond Glaze, Creative Memories Tape Runner, Foam 3-D Dots by EK Success); Patterned paper (Daisy Bucket, Basic Grey, My Mind’s Eye-for circle stamp, K.I. Memories lace paper); Chipboard letters (Heidi Swapp, Making Memories); Stamps (7 Gypsies, Catslife Press); Ink (7 Gypsies, Stazon); Acrylic letter (Heidi Swapp); Chipboard (Scenic Route); Brads (Making Memories); Buttons (Creative Cafe); Sticker (7 Gypsies); Rub-on letters (for Mama–Heidi Swapp); Ribbon (We R Memory Keepers); Flower Charm Buckle (from own stash).

We’ve been talking about personal style a lot over the last two weeks. Part of our focus was an exchange of products between Dedra Long and myself. We have two very different styles and my hope was that we could try elements of each other’s style and make them our own. This is an interesting exercise to do because it can help you hone in on, not only what you are, but what you are not. It also gives you an opportunity to try something new, while learning to stay within the parameters of your own personal style.

My Layout

Here is the layout that I made using a combination of my products with the ones Dedra gave me. Almost everything in her kit was stuff that I like. The parts that weren’t me were the pink and white heart paper, and the abundance of pink in general as a main color. I added cream lace, lavender tuille, and additional patterned paper to make it my own.

Another way that I dealt with the difficult items was to add a second, warmer shade of pink (which is more of a “me” pink) and to turn the heart paper into an embellishment (I cut out a bunch of hearts and had them bubbling over the top of the lace and paper. In fact, my idea for dealing with the hearts came when I was going through my older layouts for the series on the evolution of my personal style. I found a cluster of hearts on one of my earliest layouts (not shown in my posts) that I loved then and still like now. I like the bubbliness of the circular tops of hearts so that is what I focused on.

Lately, I’ve been wanting to play with more happy colors so it was a good time to work with more pink than usual and to play with more three-dimensionality than I normally do on a layout. I do feel like I’ve expanded my scrapbook repertoire from this experiment.

Dedra’s Layout

Dedra cheated on her project. =)

I had to put that in there. Actually, it’s okay. She really tried to fit all my pieces in but ultimately, it just wasn’t her to have so many patterns, especially in the colors I chose for her, so she left some things out. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Dedra work with these golden browns and I think it’s gorgeous. The layout still screams Dedra, but in a new color.

The beads were also new for Dedra and I love how she added them as an accessory to a very Dedra-esque wire frame in a very playful and whimsical way. I’m curious to know if she plans to use more beads in the future and if she learned anything about herself in this process.

A lot of you said after reading Part 1 that you feel better about yourselves having seen my first pages. I was a late bloomer. And just so you know, many of the layouts I’ll be showing you in in this post were the best of their time, or layouts that mark a next-step for me.

Getting It Done Layouts

The next phase of my scrapbooking was a long stagnation. I was busier with a second child and it seems a lot of what I did was an effort to just get it done. Because I didn’t have many supplies I was spending more time hand-writing and hand-cutting designs or letters and most of my pages look like the one above but with even less to them. They were 2-page layouts with lots of photos spread around.

Having a second child spurred me toward more journaling. With two young children developing quickly I realized I had to get those memories recorded. Now you see more stories and pictures on each page, but less decorating.

Time wasn’t the only factor, though. We moved into a house much farther away from the local scrapbook store, we no longer had extra money to spend, and for a long while we shared one car, which Israel took to work. There were a number of years when I was using only leftovers and was missing out on all the changing and development that I would have seen in the stores and magazines if had looked.

Maybe this is why I began to have some moments of rebellion, when I decided to use some of the actual pieces of our lives in place of acid-free industry products…

I love this page, even if I would lay it out differently now and add more colors. Seeing these Einstein images reminds me of a great time when we were going to Einstein Bagels every Sunday morning and then off to the Scottsdale Civic Center to visit the library, read books on the grass, and play by the fountains.

Experimenting With Lumpy Products

One year I got some birthday money and decided to spend it all on scrapbooking products at two of our local stores. Not having been in a scrapbook store in a while, I remember being shocked that the industry had undergone a huge change while I was gone.

I didn’t dare spend my birthday money on magazines so I was ignorant about who initiated the changes and what other people were doing with these new products. And still had no clue about design concepts.

You can see that with after that shopping trip I was back to experimenting with design, colors, and products again, but I had a distinct feeling of dissatisfaction at this time. I wondered if my products were a distraction to the pictures. Understanding design principles would have really helped me.

Learning Through Trial And Error

This surge of new products inspired me to spend more time on my layouts again and I can see where this new attention to details helped me improve my design instinctively. Notice the new use of lines in the last three layouts, including the anchoring line I added to the bottom row of photos in this Thanksgiving layout. They’re still not great but I was learning from my experiences. It’s interesting to see the that I was starting to get an idea of some design elements, even if I didn’t fully get it or know that’s what I was doing.

Scapbooking more sophisticated topics also allowed me to play more with the types of products and colors I like (as opposed to child-themed ones). I can’t help giggling at my tiny dolphins compared to the giant shells and the glue dots visible through the velum. What I do like is that I was starting to find and identify colors I love.

My CM Phase

Most scrapbookers say they started out with Creative Memories and then moved away from it. I didn’t touch CM until I’d already been scrapbooking for six or seven years. I met a consultant who had a fireball personality and she inspired me to start journaling a lot more. For a short time I stopped buying other industry products and purchased mainly from CM.

While I have a lot pages with the older CM look (solid white background with triangles in the corner and from the sides), I usually tried hard for an aesthetically pleasing look. While working on the layout above about Aiden, I distinctly remember my excitement of discovering compartmentalized spaces, using lines, eye direction, and carrying a circular theme from one side to the other.

How Making Cards Made Me Aware of Myself

I also started making cards with my friends using Stampin’ Up products. I wanted to send a homemade card to a friend from high school but none of the cards I’d been making were really me. I couldn’t get myself to send any of them to her. That’s when I first became aware that I was rarely scrapbooking in a way that really reflected me. I wondered if that even was possible. I think you can see that new thought reflected in the last layout and the next few below.

I had so much fun mixing these unlikely pattens together (three different sizes of squares from punched scraps)–something I continue to love doing today.

These muted colors and patterns were so me back then, and still are now.

It was around this time in 2005 that Israel asked me to do something which led to the next big jump in my journey toward personal style. Stay tuned…(But go ahead and leave your observations by commenting).

It’s a wonderful experience to find your own style (more on that to come, I promise!). Shopping for product gets easier because you have a better idea of what you like and use well, and what you don’t. But if we don’t continue to expand and evolve in small ways, the way our lives do, we may find ourselves in a rut. The same things no longer excite us and we don’t feel challenged.

This is why there needs to be some give-and-take. As you come to know what is totally you-you-you, allow yourself to really delve into that you-ness. But periodically, notice what someone else is doing differently and see if you can adopt a little bit of that them-ness, infusing it into your own style.

Last week on Paperclipping Live, Dedra and I took inspiration from another layout, taking just a couple of the elements we liked and making them our own. For Paperclipping Live this week, Dedra and I will do a Style Exchange, Part Two. But this time, we’re taking inspiration from each other.

The Challenge

I picked out some products that are totally me–earthy, bohemian, full of patterns and color variation–and that I think are totally not Dedra (for the most part):

And Dedra did the same for me:

The challenge is to take these products, perhaps mix them with a few more from our own stashes (Dedra promised me she wouldn’t paint over my patterned paper!), and try to make them into a layout that is truly our own.

Curious to see how it turns out? Join us for Paperclipping Live on Tuesday, June 3 at 6:30pm PST and watch us go to work.

If you’re unsure of the time zone difference, look for your city on this website and then compare it to my city, which is Phoenix.

Remember to register for Skype (it’s free) if you’d like to call into the show to ask a question or share something cool.

On-trend colors tend to change before we’ve even used last season’s products. Do you have items in a color that you loved last fall or winter, but can’t bear to look at now that summer is close?

This week we’ve been altering the actual colors of products. Today let’s talk about how you can alter the feel of a product by surrounding it with a new color scheme. As an example, I’ll use maroon.

Traditional Color Scheme

Above is a very traditional scheme for the color, maroon. While this combination reminds me of Christmas time, it also makes me think of a stuffy and serious corporate office or men’s club. The color feels heavy, not something I want to touch as we flirt with 100 degree weather here in Arizona.

Lighten Up With A Touch Of Whimsy

Notice how this one addition of soft, minty blue adds a whole new tone to that very traditional and serious color scheme. I feel much better about using these colors now.

Non-traditional Color Scheme

We can also take the maroon out of its traditional element and insert it into an overall lighter one. Notice the balance of light to heavy colors in this scheme compared with the heavy pine, dark brown, and maroon of the original one.

My friend, Deb Wisker, picked this grouping of products for me as a surprise and I love that she put that fun shade of blue with those colors. I might not have noticed the colors of paper and flowers on their own, but that blue really calls my attention. This is a grouping I’m excited to play with! (Thanks, Deb!)

Add More Colors to Reflect More Emotions

A characteristic of my own scrapbooking style is my tendency to add one more color part way through my scrapbooking process. Colors represent emotion for me and I often have a number of emotions or tones that I associate with the subjects I scrapbook. Oftentimes while I am working on a layout I sense that the balance of colors doesn’t quite reflect the balance of feelings I have for my story.

In the color scheme above, I added orange. This entire combination now reflects how I feel today as I prepare to pick up my kids from their last day of school. It’s that additional bit of sunny orange whimsy that completes the story of my excitement and energy for a whole new season of fun and relaxation.

If you have a product in a color you’re tired of, try grouping it with fresher colors you’ve never grouped it with before. It could renew your interest in that color and you’ll see it in a whole new way.

As a follow-up from yesterday’s video tutorial, we’re going to look at some more examples using Tim Holtz’s Distress Embossing Powder with products that need a color adjustment or new life.

Felt

First let’s start with a closeup of the felt you saw in the video yesterday.

In the photo above you can see both the original felt piece, along with the altered piece. Click on the photo, then “all sizes” to get a good look at the color variation.

Coasters

I have these coasters that I bought a few years ago; you can see them on the left of the picture below. If we can alter unloved books and bare albums, we can alter a scrapbook coaster, right?

To do this you need:
coaster
paper bag
PVA glue
Sandpaper
a smaller circular design (I used a Maya Road rub-on)
letters (I used Heidi Swapp’s Rub-on letters)
Tim Holt’s Distress Embossing Powder
Versamark Ink
Heat Tool

1) Brush the coaster with PVA. 2) Adhere a piece of the paperbag to coaster and let dry. 3) Cut away excess paper bag and sand edges. 3) Press edges into Versamark Ink and dip into Distress Embossing Powder. 4) Heat with heat tool and then rub with your finger. The powder contains release crystals that will aid in the distressing look. You don’t need to do this on the felt. 5) Add rub-ons after embossing (or you’ll burn away your rub-on’s).

Wings

This is a fun technique where we get to combine the Distress Embossing Powder with another of our favorite products, Stickles, for a magical look.

I had a scrap of paper from My Mind’s Eye with these wings chopped off of a dragon fly. I cut it out, added a dark brown shade of Distress Embossing Powder around the edges for some three-dimensionality. Then added a sparse amount of Diamond Stickles for an iridescent-look you often see in real insect wings.

What can you do with some of your leftover scrapbook pieces? Unless you’ve only just begun scrapbooking, there are probably all kinds of things you can do with your stash to meet all your needs.

Paperclipping 44 - Altering Felt from izzyvideo on Vimeo.

Do you have a lot of felt? If so, I think you’ll love this episode, especially if you also like Tim Holtz.

(Ahem) Yes, I just said, “Tim Holtz.” Did that get your attention? Great, because whether you’re a Premium Subscriber or not, today’s episode is free to everyone and I’ll bet you haven’t seen a demonstration of a Tim Holtz product quite like this.

For the best viewing experience, don’t play that video above the text. Instead, watch the high-quality version. It’s a lot better.

We also have show notes available.

Below are seven different challenges for National Scrapbook Day. You do not have to do all of them. I wanted to offer a variety of options so you can choose the ones that best suit you. The more you do, the better your chances of winning. You may repeat the same challenge.

You do not have to be present at the live event to participate in the challenges. I will give out some prizes during the live event to those who are present in the chat. I will award other prizes on the blog on Sunday based on the challenges below.

For each layout or project you upload to flickr, which you must base on one of the following challenges, you will be entered in a drawing for prizes. You have until the end of Saturday to upload your layouts. In the description, please tell us which challenge you used. I will choose randomly from these layouts for the final drawings.

Please do not enter layouts you completed before reading this entry. It’s okay to finish a layout or project you already started as long as you implement one of these challenges.

Challenges:

1. Create a layout or other project using a principle from any one of the Paperclipping Video Tutorials (links are at the right). Upload your layout to flickr. In the description, please share which video you used and how.

2. Recycle an item from your life by incorporating it into the design of your layout. Upload your layout to flickr and tell us what the item is in your description.

3. Begin a mini-book. Choose the photos and a theme. Gather papers, then embellishments, that reflect the theme. Put it all in a pile and photograph it. Upload your photo to flickr and in the description tell us how the products reflect the theme of the mini-book you will be putting together.

4. Words aren’t the only way to tell a story. Make a layout that uses something visual to help tell your story on a layout. Upload your layout to flickr and share with us what visual element you used on your page to communicate an idea or emotion.

5. Use your wonderful scraps. Make a layout that uses at least 3 different scraps of patterned paper. Upload the layout to flickr.

6. Design a layout in this order:
a. Choose the photos.
b. Write journaling on some scrap paper or make notes of the emotion or tone.
c. If you have more than one photo, choose a focal point photo (unless it’s a collage where all photos are equal).
d. Decide approximate photo placement. (Don’t freak out here…you’re free to change your mind at any time).
e. Based on where you think you’ll place your photo, choose paper size and pick your background paper.
f. Choose other papers with colors and/or patterns that remind you of the tone of your layout’s story.
g. Design your layout with the photos, papers, journaling, title. Tape everything down.
h. Add your embellishments last.

7. Design a layout where you cluster at least three embellishments around a title, a photo, or a line.

I will come back tomorrow with a link to the new Paperclipping Flickr Group. You can see the schedule for the three different live events here.