Let’s talk about the last video podcast, Brainstorm A Design, and its resulting layout. Sometimes my results end up quite different from how I envision them at the beginning. In this case, the layout was right on with my initial conception, which resulted from my four-step process.

Step One: Decide What You Want To Communicate. In the video I explained that in addition to the journaling, I also think about the tone or emotion that I want for the layout. I knew I wanted to express: 1) Romance (resulting in the romantic patterns of the four background papers). 2) Passion (the red tones, one of which I had to rub brown ink over to make it work with the other papers). 3) Long-term stability (expressed with the white paper and the black rectangle that contains the photos and story). 4) The complication of relationships and making different personalities work as a partnership (symbolized in the many torn layered patterned pieces).

I planned some of these elements consciously. Some came naturally and I discovered it afterward. What allows this to happen is the process of analyzing my feelings and thoughts about communicating my story.

Step two: Photo Placement. I like to make this the second step because I often do step number one while playing with my photo placement (I do them simultaneously). Sometimes it takes me some time to figure out my story. It isn’t always obvious at first. Moving my pictures around on a template helps me process my thoughts and feelings.

If I start pulling out colors too soon, the papers often distract me from the first two steps, sometimes even pulling me away from a better story. Since most people don’t have templates like mineto work on (shown in the video), you may want to just use some neutral cardstock to play around on until you are ready for choosing color.

Step three: Choose Colors That Help You Communicate Your Story. Since I just explained how step one influenced my color choices, let’s talk about an earlier layout. Defining Me: I Am Creative. I chose not to use the photo as a guide for my color choices on this page. That is because the story I wanted to communicate was about my creative process, not my photo. The colors in the photo do not represent me nor my style of creativity. I am an analytical person, a writer, and I always have words, thoughts, and stories passing through my mind at any given moment. This is the introspective side of me, which I represented with the blue-green paper and its text-pattern.

I also have an outgoing passionate side. I love fun quirky things and quirky people. Orange is my favorite color. To me orange expresses a slightly relaxed and unique boldness. It is in the floral pattern, laced with all the fun bright colors above it. Those colors and patterns are a perfect combination of my different sides that make up my creative process.

But don’t misunderstand. I do not spend hours agonizing over which colors and patterns represent this or that aspect of my life! It just flows that way if I take a few minutes at the beginning (in step number one) to focus on what I want to communicate.

Step Four: Gather Products. This is where I gather all the different possibilities that I might want to use for accents and titles. I don’t have much to say about this right now, except that I usually only use a few of the things I pull out.

Where do we go after these four steps? By this time I usually have a picture in my mind. In the case of the Ten Years layout, I had two different pictures, and combing them was tricky. I knew I wanted the collage background. But I also wanted to put the photos on a white, more modern foundation with a black rectangle containing them. I wasn’t sure if the two ideas would work together. In fact, at first they didn’t. I originally started with a stark-white color. When that clashed with the romantic collage frame, I switched to an off-white speckled paper. It was perfect.

At those times when I do not have a picture in mind, I usually flip through my favorite scrapbooking magazines and books. I rarely copy something right out but it gives my mind some direction.

Ten-Year-Anniversary-Layout.jpg

Originally uploaded by Noell.

Here is the final result of from the layout I started in Episode #2, Brainstorm A Layout! By the time I got the picture of this layout saved for flickr it lost a lot of its saturation. The real thing is much brighter. But I am super happy with my layout.

Let me give you some fundamental information about the layout and then in my next blog entry we’ll talk about how it got from the four-step brainstorm process you saw on the podcast to this completed piece.

Journaling:
This story appeared on www.mommybloggers.com.

Should I reveal my secret? The secret about my husband and myself? Should I risk destroying any credibility I may have with mommy-bloggers who read my work? We are the couple that broke the odds. We’re the couple that should not have made it past our first year. And yet, this summer we will celebrate our tenth year of rewarding matrimony. Ten years, and we’re more in love, and more compatible.

So what’s the secret I’m too foolish not to share? My husband and I got engaged only two weeks after our first date. And no, we didn’t know each other for years as friends before that fateful date. We met the previous month in a gold-level Latin Ballroom dance class. We exchanged a few words as we rotated partners to and away from each other. We practiced together one time at an out-of-class dance lab, which led to the first date, which led to the kiss at the second date, which led to the engagement a week later. The wedding that sealed the deal came two and a half months after that.

Go ahead and say it. My friends did. My parents did. We were crazy. We were naive. We were risky and daring and probably even stupid. But lucky for us, we were right. Everything that I sized him up to be during those short fourteen days of fascination and infatuation were correct.

Ten years, three children and a dog later, he’s still everything.

Thank you…
…to my friend, Mandy of the Pearl Maple blog. I knew that I wanted to collage my entire background, but I had never done that before so I was nervous about starting. Mandy specializes in collage so I asked her about her process. Fortunately, her process of laying pieces down is the same as mine. Then she reminded me that the principles of design are the same for collage as they are for the other styles. It should be obvious, but something we can forget when we’re trying something new and intimidating.

…also to my mentor (unknown to her), Ali Edwards. You can see Ali’s influence in the rectangular black box that goes around the pictures and journaling, as well as in the gatherings of text with organic rub-on’s that are in the top left and bottom right corners.

Products:
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up
Patterned Paper: Rhonna Fahrer, Creative Imaginations, Cosmo Cricket
Stickers: Creative Imaginations, Creative Memories (alpha’s)
Rub-On’s: My Mind’s Eye, Art Warehouse
Transperancy: Hambly
Ink, Stamp: Stampin’ Up
Acrylic Paint: Grumbacher
Font: Helvetica

This one is from Tim:

A well done and informative presentation. Do you think the concept of visual triangles can transfer to other forms of media e.g. PowerPoint presentations or webpage design?

Thanks for commenting, Tim! The answer is YES! The design principles we discuss in terms of scrapbooking are also principles of design in general.

Take a look at these websites and tell me if you can find the triangles in the mastheads.

www.tenzerothree.com
www.visceralindustry.com
www.actapress.com
This one may seem a little tricky. Let the lines of the book guide your eye from one corner to the next to see this triangle.
www.skp-centrum.cz
On this one I see two separate triangles at work in the masthead.

In my podcast, I showed examples of how elements on the page were used as points on a triangle. Triangles in design can also be actual lines, like in the photos on this website. Do you see the lines of the triangle in each photo?

www.tsenos.gr The two main features of the photo that makes up this masthead form a triangle.

I want to give special attention to a web designer I found from the Philippines. I love her design. She has an amazing way of using triangles.

kutitots.com This is Gail's personal website. Pay attention to the triangle in the top left corner. Then look down slightly to the right at the triangle of text and the picture of her with the dogs.

marroxas.com Follow the line from the water, up the arm, to the “Welcome,” and back down to the signature. That is beautiful design right there.

www.splitimagestudio.com This one is gorgeous. See the triangle from the “Welcome,” down to the text below, and over to the wedding couple? Look at the second triangle that the wedding couple makes with their bodies!

hoopwatch.com Again, a combination of lines and points, drawing the eye down the page.

Do you see the triangle in my masthead? What about the triangle on my husband’s site, www.izzyvideo.com?

The 2nd installment of Paperclipping is here. This time, I review some ways to get started with design ideas. Brainstorming your next scrapbook design can be easier if you use my recommended methods.

This episode is in the archives. To learn how to access the archives, please visit the membership information page.

ETA: To see the resulting layout from this podcast, go here.

I didn’t need to try and get myself into a mood of gratitude because it all came naturally as I began the pre-holiday events of the morning yesterday.

*So thankful that I am a stay-at-home mom and get to attend things like the Turkey Trot at my kids’ school. Thankful for the chance to spend one-on-one time with each of my two oldest kids, outside, while exercising!

*So thankful for Blake’s competitive personality and how that made our three times around the school together super fun. Blake: I loved sprinting with you!

*So thankful to see how athletic our son is at eight years old. I couldn’t keep up with Blake in our first two races. Also thankful that he couldn’t keep up with me by the third of fourth. He has the sprinting power, I have the endurance.

*So thankful that both our kids were much more interested in being with me than with their friends.

*So thankful for the hill the school sits on and the views of the surrounding valley, desert, city areas, and rocky buttes, which I got to enjoy on my walk from the car.

*So thankful for time to read The Wheels on the Bus with Aiden, and all of the beautiful art in that favorite book.

*So thankful for baking pies! Thankful for pies.

*So thankful for Israel, who took the kids out to the park after a day of hard work. He has so much responsibility and he shoulders it all.

*So thankful for Trinity’s request to have a “sleepover” in the boys’ room. For those minutes Israel and I spent snuggled up with the kids, all five of us camped out in one little room, laughing and talking. We have the coolest three children; an awesome family.

*So thankful for flexibility and the many chances to design my life to my liking. Thankful for beautiful dishes and gorgeous, festive place settings; that, although I haven’t been able to be the host of a large fancy holiday meal, I can set up our own little formal family gatherings.

Thankful for the inspiration to set the table up for breakfast: nice placemats, special dishes, new cloth napkins with autumn ribbon for the ties, a gorgeous garland wrapped around a giant vase filled with beans and a pumpkin spice candle. Brown, yellow-orange, and green.

*So thankful for colors.

*So thankful for my family. That we get to spend many wonderful evenings laughing and playing games with Israel’s parents, siblings, and grandma’s. That my own siblings will be gathering together for Christmas at my parents house this year. Good times.

It is inevitable. I don’t know if I ever have a shopping trip where I don’t forget something. Like my recent excursion to the scrapbook store where I was going to buy more of that paper for the layout I showed you I want to fix. I bought plenty of stuff. Forget to look for the much needed paper.

So I’ll be heading out to the store tonight, the eve of Thanksgiving, to venture among the last minute shoppers and the few items remaining. I’m sure they’ll still have whipped cream. Right?

I get to make pies for the big family gathering every year. I love making pies for Thanksgiving. Once in a while I prepare a vegetable dish, as well, if I don’t think the vegetables are going to have a fair showing that year. But what I really love to make are the pies. I always make pumpkin, banana cream, and apple. I’d like to add a fourth one to the list. We’ll just see how many I am able to finish today before I commit. I refuse to compromise on my exercising tomorow morning. So if it comes between making a fourth pie and getting a good run in, I’ll choose running.

In fact, today my kids’ school is having a Turkey Trot. I’ll be trotting with my eight-year old around the perimeter of the entire school, and then I’ll do it again when my six-year old has her turn. Awesome! I gave myself a little 15 minute run on the treadmill earlier, just in case the “trot” is not quite enough. I’ll spend the second half of the day in pie-baking bliss.

Taurel left this question in a comment:

I’d be curious to know about what you have in your “basic stock” of supplies and why. I’m thinking of something like the description which one finds in your basic bartending guide (Mr. Boston’s for example) which lists what one needs for a basicly well stocked bar.

Here is a link of basic supplies for those of you just starting out. Every scrapbooker should have the items listed.

Anything in addition to that (stamps, ribbons, fibers, rub-on’s) has only to do with one’s personal style and taste. It takes some time experimenting to know what exactly that is. And of course, in time it changes.

Good luck to all of you who are new to this art. Make sure you drop a comment to let us know how you’re getting along.

And, in case you all have been wondering, the camera has come back! I’m really excited about the next four topics I have planned, so be on the look out for more video podcasts soon!

Rocky Point Mexcio

Originally uploaded by Noell.

This is only a sneak peak of one of the two layouts I worked on yesterday. I am totally happy with my pages, but the process was full of mistakes.

The first mistake happened when I reached for my black pen and instead grabbed a navy blue! Of course, I didn’t notice this until I started writing on the page…

The second mistake happened with the 2-page layout pictured above. I wanted to journal on a small piece of patterned paper (lower left corner) which matched the paper on the upper half of the left side. To tone down the pattern, I put a wash of watered down acrylic paint over it. My mistake was that I completely obscured the pattern, which defeated the balanced effect I was going for by using the pattern in the first place.

Mistake number three came when I wrote my journaling out by hand. There were just too many words and now it looks like a busy mess.

What’s a scrapbooker to do with all these mistakes? Get used to them because they are inevitable in Creation Territory. I’m going to live with the colored pen mistake. Black would look better, but since the color blue is part of that layout, it’s good enough.

I won’t, however, accept the mistakes on the other page. Fortunately both mistakes are on the same piece of paper and the problem is easy to solve. I’m heading over to my scrapbook store to get another piece of paper and I’ll just re-do it.

No problem. It’s all good.

Christmas 2005

Originally uploaded by Noell.

We have officially gone artificial. I bought us a fake over the weekend. But it is a very nice fake; the nicest one its size, in fact. I love real trees, so I couldn’t possibly buy one that was an obvious phony.

Last year’s real tree induced unbearable allergies. It turns out that I’ve always been allergic to trees of all types. I never realized it before because we didn’t had a dog until last year. Turns out I am allergic to dogs, as well. Both a dog and a tree in one house is just too much for me. So the tree will have to go this year because the cute little dog is definitely staying.

I can barely stand the fact that we still have another holiday to hurdle before I can start pulling out my decorations! All I can think about lately is decorating for Christmas, which is surprising because I am behind on my holiday planning. Two of my kids (plus the dog) have birthdays in December, one on New Year’s Eve. My own birthday falls after Thanksgiving. My husand’s is in January. So it is an extra crazy time of year for us.

Normally I begin preparing cards in July and start the major holiday preparations on October first. I only just got started this weekend so I’m super behind. It’s a good solid start, though, and I mapped out a timeline for everything I need to do so I am feeling good about it. I hope I am not fooling myself when it comes to being able to do when I set out to!

So now I have the tree, the timeline, the budget and an almost complete gift list. This week I will tackle a family picture (which we’ll be taking ourselves), homemade cards, and the outdoor Christmas lights (Yes, it is early, but if I don’t do it now I’ll lose motivation. So far I have failed to hang outdoor lights every single year we’ve lived in this home!).

I know my blog is still young and small, but I am curious to know what holidays my readers celebrate this time of year. Do you celebrate a major holiday this season? If so, leave a comment and share what it is!

Do you ever use other things, in addition to your photos, as inspiration for your scrapbooking pages? Music or a magazine grapic are common pieces of inspiration.

This week I am working on a layout that I hope to enter into the Creating Keepsakes Hall of Fame Contest. Which means I can’t show it to you here on this blog, at least not for a long time.

I am scrapbooking about something I am passionate about. While there are many things that could fit that description, there is one thing in the world that I have been most passionate about, and felt the most passion for, my entire life.

And there is one particular genre that became my favorite within this thing I am most passionate about. In fact, there is a company which is my favorite, and a particular piece that inspired the favoritism.

Would you like to see glimpses of that piece? Click here and then click on the button that says, Revelations to download and watch the video. It is this video that is my inspiration for the current layout I am working on and hope to finish this week.