Spin & Be Merry
Two-page 12×12 Layout

Below are two sets of instructions for layering embellishments the way they are on the layout above. You don’t need to have the same products. Look through your own stash to find items with similar characteristics. If you don’t have a lot of embellishments, look for designs you can cut out of patterned paper.

Top Left Cluster

I used this pair of birds on a branch as a way to pull attention to my focal point photo.

1. Nestle the bird duo with a word that supports the layouts’ story.
2. Highlight the word with a circular embellishment.
3. Apply foam dots to the back of your bird embellishment to raise it on the page.
4. Place the entire set on top of an area of patterned paper that you’ve lined with a ribbon (like rik-rak).

Lower Right Cluster

I cut this trio of flowers from the K.I. Memory Lace Cardstock.

1. Highlight your “bouquet” with half of a circular shape, like this screen-printed transparency by Hambly.
2. Add three-dimensional buds to your flowers with brads or epoxy stickers.
3. You can extend the plant-life on your page by adding a subtle transparent grouping of leaves. Mine are a soft orange and come from My Mind’s Eye.

When layering embellishments, start with a focal point piece, like the birds or the flowers. This doesn’t mean the embellishment will be the focal point of the page–just the focal point of that cluster. Find smaller pieces like words or buttons to gather around the focal point, and a shape, such as a circle, to act as a frame.

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.

Below are four 8×8 layouts that go in the Geocaching album pictured above. I love the philosophy of scrapbooking as a way to tell stories, and for me, that means not only in the individual pages, but through the overall album as well (the upcoming Paperclipping DVD deals with this in a more in-depth manner).

The story of this album will probably be divided into four topics: 1) What Is Geocaching–what it is, what we do, what we find; 2) Why We Like It–all the great things we get out of geocaching as a family; 3) Our Adventures–these layouts will focus more on the adventures of some of the hunts; 4) Being together–pages that focus more on us hanging together.

Coordinating A Themed Album For Flow And Simplicity

All of the pages in this album will use colors from the palate I chose for the cover. Some will lean heavily on just one color and others will have a combination. Also, every page will have the same top corners rounded.

The following four pages all fit into the Why We Like It section.

My (Non-) Outdoor Guy

Journaling: Geocaching means getting to see my man with a GPS in hand, and a little scruff on his face, braving the wild outdoors. =)

Jump

Part of the adventure is for you kids to explore the outdoors. A lot of the time it’s just Dad and I looking for the cache while you kids play, and that’s totally cool with us.

Geocaching With Grandma Gertrude

One of the cool things about geocaching is that we can do it anywhere. So when we took a little vacation to visit Grandma Gertrude, we introduced her to our new hobby and found a few caches in her little town in the parking lots of places she regularly visits. She was shocked and it was fun for us to share.

Dig

One of the cool parts about geocaching is discovering the parts of our community of which we were unaware before. The Riparian Preserve and this play archaeological area is one of these places. It was so fun looking for, and discovering, these dinosaur “fossils.”

Telling a complete story through multiple layouts is so fulfilling. By using a ringed album, you can tell your stories in any order you choose. This way, it doesn’t feel like a giant overwhelming project. I didn’t think about the subcategories of this album until I began to see the pattern of themes when I completed three of these four layouts. By diving in wherever I felt like it, the overall direction of the album revealed itself.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

Look at the surprise that came showed up in my mailbox this weekend! Thank you so much to Jennifer, Sally, Amanda, Kim, Cindy, Candi, Susan, Sandy, Maria, Samantha, and Tracy!

They participated in a circle journal group using the Get Together section of the Paperclipping Forum. When I first saw the package in my box I thought it was my scraps from the Scrap Swap. But when I opened it it was this beautiful box full of amazing 6×6 layouts. Each one is so beautiful and I love having a chance to get to know some of you a little better.

Now I remember reading something about them possibly sending their stuff to me but I totally forgot about it. Again, much appreciation to all of you! I means so much to me to have it.

Scrap Swap For Paperclipping Live

Speaking of scrap swaps, we’re having one! Terri Bradford, our moderator for the show, has begun a swap of scraps, which we will work on together during Paperclipping Live on July 29th.

Click here to read the details and sign up. Terri will close the circle on Friday, the 11th, so head right over there to participate.

This Week’s Topic

While summer is the time that those of us from Phoenix are staying indoors, I know most of the rest of you are outside enjoying the sun. This week we’ll focus on the OUTDOORS. From flowers (this week’s video tutorial) to tire swings, all posts this week will feature the outdoors. So will Tuesday night’s Paperclipping Live.

Follow-up From Last Week’s School Focus

Did anyone pull out their piles of stuff from the school year? Have you gotten to work on it? Before we walk away from that topic I wanted to answer another question from Karen:

How much of your children’s school work do you hang onto? I can’t believe how much paperwork/artwork my children (6 and 9) generate! I try to just hang onto pieces that represent original artwork or show the progression of mastering a skill. But I have to admit that I can silly about it at times and think, “Oh…even though this is a worksheet she brings home weekly, she wrote her NAME on it….Awwwwwwww.”

This is a struggle for all mothers, I’m sure. In addition to the original artwork, the original stories (or anything that reveals personality), I also save a few pieces of academic work that often comes as a worksheet. Especially in Kindergarten, there is a lot of progress from the beginning of the year to the end when it comes to that name in the upper right-hand corner.
Remember, though, you don’t have to keep the entire worksheet for that one part that holds significance.

Forcing yourself to fit one year of stuff into a manila file folder will help you whittle it all down. I spend an entire section of the Schoolwork Scrapbook Tutorial showing you how to pick and choose and make it fit, so if some of you feel like you need some help getting through the piles, click here. Which leads me to my next announcement…

Free Live Events For Owners Of The Schoolwork Scrapbook Tutorial

If you own the Schoolwork Scrapbook Tutorial, I will be inviting you via email to some live events over the internet. It will be like Paperclipping Live, except we will be working on our Schoolwork Scrapbooks.

This is your chance to get some extra motivation and some help from me because I will answer your questions through the chat board and over Skype. If you bought (or won) the tutorial, please watch for an email from me at the end of the week. If you do not yet have the tutorial but would like an invitation to the live event, please purchase it by Friday so that you can get on the guest list.

Are you a flower lover? Do you need something new to do with your flowers? Try these two ideas I share in this episode for our Premium Subscribers.

If you’d like to learn more about the premium membership so you can have access to all of the videos, click here.

Summer break is a great time to look back through your school-related photos from the previous year so you can scrap them before next year’s school events muddle your memory.

Scrapbooking A Child’s School Project

Journaling to Aiden reads: Today you brought home a dinosaur egg from school. Really, it was a rock in plaster. But not your your mind. For you this was the real thing and you were ecstatic.

You came at this egg very seriously, asking me for tools. I set you up with a screwdriver and hammer. You worked on it forever. So serious about it. My favorite part was the look of sheer unbelief when you first revealed the rock–ahem–dinosaur egg. A favorite day. For both of us.

The canvas:
For this page I used Photoshop to crop most of my photos into 2-inch squares. After print them, I arranged them in a stream, or a long canvas of their own. I love the story-telling quality of the linear progression: 1) Happy Aiden with his tools; 2) Broken pieces of plaster as he pounds with his hammer; 3) A surprised look as he makes his first break-through; 4) More pounding; 5) A look of amazement at his totally exposed egg.

Scrapbooking A Page From College

Journaling reads: It cracked me up to find that both Brandon and Nicole had fallen asleep while they were studying. Is that Gina and I making fun of them later in a sleeping dog pile???

My favorite way to place multiple items on a page (in this case, three photos and a comic strip) is to create their own square-shaped canvas, filling any gaps with patterned paper or journaling boxes. These spaces are a fun place to gather embellishments that support the story. For this story, I chose stickers with words that say:

* Due Date * To Do List * Little By Little the Time Goes By * Friends * Memories *

Note: Because I didn’t write down my roommate-story right away, I am no longer sure of the details. If that happens to you, don’t let that keep you from telling what you think happened. Share a detail as a question if you’re really not sure.

Whether you tell your story as a progression with a photo stream, or in the pockets of a mosaic square, creating a canvas within the canvas of your layout is a fun and interesting way to tell a tale.

Karen asked me if I’m naturally inclined to save things. I responded that I am the opposite. I’m a minimalist that likes to get rid of things and I’m not quick to buy stuff. Because of that minimalist nature, I have always used my current resources to fit my needs, so that is the natural part of me that makes it easy for me to re-purpose old items into something new.

I later realized I am a natural saver of a different kind of stuff. I have always saved LIFE-STUFF. Memorabilia. I remember being a little girl and discovering the mystery and wonder of other people’s leftover stuff. Letters. Diaries. Pictures. Things. I’ve always journaled, always saved everything from my life, always put them in books, binders, boxes, and photo albums, even if it wasn’t in the most organized and aesthetically pleasing manner.

Below are a few of my old pre-industry school-related scrapbook pages, which I intend to organize into a modern scrap album. You can see examples of the stuff I saved.

High School

In the midst of my funky photo collage is a dime. Do you see it in the corner of the colored picture? The story behind it is at the surface of my memory–I’m sure it’ll come to me eventually.

I was quite the socialite and loved receiving and saving flowers and balloons and happy-grams and other fun stuff from my friends.

On these pages are tickets to some shows I either attended or performed in, autographs from a skater band we saw in concert, the lid of a box of candy, a pass to attend another school with a friend for the day, stuff from a florist shop from which we regularly patronized for each others’ birthdays.

College

Obviously I didn’t do any journaling in my photo albums. I reserved that for my actual journals (which I also sometimes spruced up with memorabilia and the occasional photo). One of my favorite ways to tell a story in my albums was through comic strips that correlated with the event.

Calvin & Hobbes made regular appearances in my albums, but the Far Side shows up, too. On the above page I was telling the story of finding my roommate, Nichole, and my friend Brandon, both asleep when they were supposedly studying (top photo). That’s us in the bottom pictures making fun of them on another occasion.

I also saved letters and notes and scraps of paper on which we scribbled silly songs we wrote. On the pages above is a note some friends left on our door after we accidentally stood them up (oops), photos of our snow wars where we barricaded each others’ front doors, and an eviction threat the apartment posted afterward (or was that part of the joke?).

Other People’s STUFF

When I was in 5th grade, one of my teachers brought a box of gum wrappers from her childhood that she had folded and connected and turned into a chain. I remember being fascinated by the colors and design of the wrappers and realized that someday my children (or somebody) would be interested in the product packaging of candy and other stuff from my own childhood. Not only did I save some wrappers, I saved stuff from restaurants I enjoyed with friends, and other trinkets that would illustrate the styles and trends of my time.

What will our kids be interested in seeing from their childhood and schooldays twenty years from now? If you’re still in school, what can you keep that illustrates your life as a student? It’s amazing how even the fonts and colors you see on packaged items mark the time period. In the long run, things aren’t as mundane as they might seem.

Over the last couple of years, I’ve found some wonderful hardware to salvage before throwing away the old backpacks from the kids’ school year.

If A Closure Can Secure A Pocket, It Can Secure A Minibook

Do you see the pink closure on the minibook in the picture above? I cut it out of my daughter’s backpack a year ago(it was on a side pocket) and added some pink wire and a charm. Here’s how it works:

1. Use a utility blade or scissors to cut away the material that encloses the closure. Then cut the bungee-like cord away from the back pack.

2. Add a charm to one end of the cord (if your charm comes from an old unloved bracelet or necklace, that makes it even better!).

3. Put the two ends of the chord together and wrap multiple times with a thin wire.

4. When you’re almost done wrapping the wire, position the charm over the center of the wired area and feed the wire through the ring of the charm. Then wrap the wire one or two more times.

More Backpack Hardware Ideas

Every backpack has its own sweet surprises. While this year’s packs didn’t have any closures like the one above, Trinity’s did have these:

I love the stitching on these.

This mesh will be a great way to add texture to a layout.

I might feed some ribbon through this clasp. You could probably feed two or three narrow ribbons side by side for a fun mix of patterns.

Remember to examine items for potential before throwing them away. It’s at least as fun as shopping. I promise.

If you like this article, please share it with a friend.

We’re spending the weekend in Pine Top and Show Low, Arizona. Last night our friends, Rhonda and Kelly, got married in the woods outside of a cabin. It’s been a fun and relaxing time with the kids and with friends. And with my camera.

Video Tutorial

There won’t be a video this week but we’ll resume next weekend with a tutorial for the Premium Subscribers. If you want to learn more about the Paperclipping Premium Membership, click here.

Blog Topics

Most everyone’s kids are out of school now so I’ll be sharing some end-of-the-school year tips. Don’t throw anything away yet. Trust me.

Schoolwork Scrapbook Tutorial

If you haven’t ordered it yet, this is a great time to get the Schoolwork Scrapbook Tutorial so you can make a book that displays all your students’ cool stuff. To learn more about the tutorial and see pictures of the project, click here.

Paperclipping Live

I’ll be sharing my favorite products during Paperclipping Live on Tuesday night, 6:30pm PST. This will be the perfect night to call the show using Skype if you’ve had something you’d like to share or ask.

It’s been a crazy and hectic month and the time I spent getting caught up last week left less time for blogging. I’m looking forward to regular posting this week and I’m excited to share some fun ideas and projects with you!

My favorite detail of this layout is the sun, which is, in part, the result of a happy little accident. I used foam dots to raised my sun off the paper but the beads weighed its edges down so it actually has a rounded puffiness to it that I just adore–perfectly child-like. I wish the photos showed it better.

Take Advantage Of All Angles

Notice the totally different effects between laying beads flat and lying them on their side. You can get two different looks with one product.

Glisten

Stickles have proven themselves to be 100% versatile, from the glitter of Christmas time to the glistening reflection of the summer sun. I love products like this that provide multiple uses for multiple purposes, making a huge impact from just a small amount.

I bet the designer of greenish-blue paper never thought of water while creating it, but look how wave-like it is?

A Wet Look

Add Glossy Effects or Diamond Glaze to the top of an element on your page for a wet look. It takes a steady hand to do long, thin lines like this, though, so you may want to practice beforehand. I had a little trouble with mine.

The economy is tight right now, at least for Americans. You don’t have to hit the scrapbook store, though, to find just the right summer products for your layouts. Search through your current stash to find items that emulate aspects of summer on this year’s pages.

* * *

115 Degree Summers
8.5×11 Layout

Supplies used: Cardstock (Bazzill); Patterned paper (Creative Imaginations); Glitter (Stickles by Ranger); Clear glue (Glossy Accents by Range); Letter stickers (Creative Memories); Beads (from own stash).