Mandy Collins, also known in the art world as “Pearl Maple,” is a talented collage artist. Particular to Mandy is her tone-on-tone cream vintage designs.

Mandy teaches at her local scrapbook store and at the Kit and Caboodle traveling road show.

She is on the design team for a new company called Rapt in Paper and has had publications in Somerset Studio & Legacy/Memories and a contribution to the exhibit, Collections and Collaborations’ Women’s Caucus for Art. You can also see her art in The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Altered Art by Allyson Bright Meyer.

Today Mandy is sharing a beautiful project, along with instructions and tips for a quick completion.

Three Panel Hanging Message Center

(The following is by Mandy Collins)

Appealing but practical gifts that can be assembled quickly are an important part of any crafter’s repertoire.

This 3 panel hanging message center uses 2 of the photo frames from the Kaiser Accordion Book, scraps of cardboard, ribbon, buttons and tags left over from other projects.

(For a complete list of the supplies, scroll down to bottom of post).

After pulling the bits and pieces together that suit the color range and theme, the whole project takes less than 30 minutes to create.

Instructions:

Step 1)Paint or ink the two photo frames.

Finishing the edges of 3d objects with a darker color helps to create depth. The fastest way for me to achieve that is with a colored pen.

2) Stamp and Emboss frames.

A paint resist technique like crackle glaze can take some time to dry. Embossing is a fast alternative to creating texture and interest.

I particularly like the Opals powders with many rich vibrant colors to choose from and as the name Opal implies, you can blend their colors without them becoming muddy for a lovely variegated finish.

3) Create the three squares.

While the photo frames are cooling, cut 3 pieces of heavy weight cardboard or chipboard to 5 inch squares. Cover the squares with paper and ink the edges. File tabs were used on the green version to add a message about making time to enjoy life.

4) Attach the squares with Ribbon.

When gluing the ribbon on the back of the squares, the fastest way to ensure they are evenly spaced is to use a ruler.

5) Embellish.

People often ask how I pull collages together. For me the rule of 3’s works easily and painlessly. For the most part it is only one or two colors in use in my assemblage and a very simple theme, in this case coffee time! Anything more than 3 it starts to get cluttered, the message is muddled and who has time for that?

If I am using two colors it will be one theme, or with two themes I will cut it back to one color to equal 3. It sounds ruthless but it is fast and works easily when deciding what embellishment is getting on board.

6) Add backing.
One thing that is worth taking time for especially if you are making a gift is to ‘back it up’. The back side of a hanging project may not see the light of day too often, but is that any reason to leave your plain old cardboard hanging out? It takes little time to cover the back with scraps of left over paper from other projects.
Most importantly – don’t forget to sign and date your creations.

Visit Mandy’s blog to see more of her gorgeous projects.

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Supplies:
2 photo frames from Kaiser
Heavy weight cardboard 3 pieces 5 x 5
Coordinating pattern paper x 2 sheets
Paint or ink
Embossing powder and stamp
Ribbon for hanger
Wide Ribbon 12 inches long
Cardstock strip of 4 inches for die cut tabs
Sizzex or pre-cut tab shapes
Buttons and embellishment
Clip and message pad
Red : Cosmo Cricket 2006 Christmas Paper Wonderland First Gift & Holiday Cheer Green : Walter Knabe Big Paper Block

Liz and Jackie at IllustratingStories.com just issued a challenge to take a photo every hour. Later on they’ll post a project idea using the pictures.

I’ll be posting my hourly photos today on Flickr and attaching notes to document the day-to-day parts of my life. If you want to join in and you post your photos online, leave a comment with a link to your photo page.

Note: Start this tomorrow if it’s too late to do today!

Update: I saw this quote on Ali Edwards’s blog and had to add it here. It’s’ so applicable:

Nathalie Goldberg: Learn to write about the ordinary. Give homage to old coffee cups, sparrows, city buses, thin ham sandwiches. Make a list of everything ordinary you can think of. Keep adding to it. Promise yourself, before you leave the earth, to mention everything on your list at least once in a poem, short story, newspaper article.

…or a scrapbook page.

Some layouts call for a feeling of intimacy. Watch today’s episode for some tips on how to create that tone for your pages.

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

I also included show notes for this episode.

We’re live tonight at 6:30pm MST (5:30pm PST).

At the end of last week’s session I began a new two-page layout with five photos. I chose the cardstock and photo positions. Tonight I hope to finish the page.

Join us and chat by clicking here.

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

There are three types of books on scrapbooking:
1) Idea books: most people buy these for ideas to “scraplift.” Actual text or explanation is minimal.
2) Technique books: you buy these to learn new and tricky techniques. The focus is on step-by-step instructions with samples.
3) Concept books: these are heavier in text than the other two types and range in topics from design to organization instruction to scrapbook philosophy.

601 Great Scrapbook Ideas is an idea book. It is a thick book with more layouts than you’ve probably ever seen in one place before; six hundred and one layouts, as a matter of fact.

Expectations From An Idea Book

There are two things you should expect from an idea book for it to be worth your money. It should have fresh examples of topics most people scrap: birthdays, holidays, toothless grins, graduation, and all those other life events. This is the reason most scrapbookers buy idea books.

I realize this is a generality, but unless the book specifies a different type of audience, it is marketing to its average demographic.

I also expect the layouts to be scraplift-able; meaning, you could figure out how to replicate the layouts, since that is why people buy the book. Because there are no instructions, the layouts shouldn’t be too complicated.

Does 601 Meet Expectation #1: Layouts On Subjects We Typically Scrap?

There was one thing I was looking for to know whether 601 met my first expectation for an idea book that targets the typical scrapbooker. I wanted to know if the Christmas layouts had normal Christmas photos, as in, multiple photos of that morning when the lighting is imperfect and the “models” have just woken.

I turned to the Christmas section and saw the usual perfect single photo layouts featuring one gorgeous child gazing at the tree. Sure, they’re beautiful pages, but is it the kind of layout most of us are putting together after Christmas?

I turned the page and found three layouts with multiple photos showing children with their presents on Christmas morning…exactly what I was looking for. Plus there were multi-photo layouts on other topics regarding that holiday. I was surprised and happy to see a normal Christmas that was well-represented, as were Halloween and vacations. In fact, every holiday I checked had both single and multi-photo layouts.

This books isn’t where you’ll go for a lot of multi-photo two-page spreads with 4×6’s. There are more single page layouts with only one or two photos and those layouts with multiple photos used pictures that were cropped down.

But, the layouts cover almost every topic you’ve ever seen…even teenage boys and no-kid layouts make a strong appearance in this book.

Does 601 meet expectations #2: Are layouts scraplift-able?

The layouts in 601 don’t require step-by-step instructions for unusual techniques. They are simple to replicate yet interesting and diverse in style. The editors chose the right layouts for this type of book.

Do I recommend this book?

This is a great resource for those scrapbookers who need help coming up with layout ideas. If you struggle to put a page together on your own, then 601 Great Scrapbook Ideas by Memory Makers is the book I would recommend for you. You won’t find such a comprehensive book of layouts anywhere else.

We have a new video podcast tutorial prepared for you but because of a few technicalities we will be releasing it late. I hope to have it up tonight or tomorrow night.

Also, look for a book review that I will post either this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

To hold you over until then, you can read my most recent interview on a great new scrapbooking blog called, Illustrating Stories.com. There are a lot of fun things to explore on this website and both Jackie and Liz are fabulous people and inspiring scrapbookers. Check it out!

During the Paperclipping Live, some of you have commented that I combine interesting and unusual colors and patterns. It’s true that I find a lot of pleasure combining the unexpected, and not just with scrapbooking. If you want help venturing into unknown color and patterned territory, I have four tips to make it easier.

1. Keep your scraps of patterned paper together in one container.

When you let your patterned pieces mix together, the shuffle of paper will show you combinations you would never have paired on your own.

2. Trust your gut

If you like the pieces together, it probably works. Personally, I don’t think through technicalities of whether something matches or not (although I will share them with you in the next two tips). I just look for colors and patterns that remind me of the emotions and tone I want for my page, and then I lay the choices together to see what I like.

If the patterns feel right together, I use them. Most often when scrapbooking, I need multiple colors and patterns before I feel I’ve expressed all the dimensions of emotion that I have for my topic.

3. Look for one common color among two different patterns.

If you just can’t trust your gut, this is a little “rule” that isn’t a real rule, to help you decide whether your patterned picks work together. If you notice the orange flowered pattern in the layout above, it shares a color with every other paper on the layout except white and red. The leaves match the green numbered K.I. paper. There are tiny light green dots that match the green and cream polka dotted paper. The background is cream, also matching the polka dots. And the orange works with the little bit of orange flowers in the turquoise paper (some of the flowers are pink and some are orange).

When it came down to that last turquoise paper, which is the riskiest choice, I just needed to add another color for my palette to feel complete, and turquoise was it.

4. Vary your patterns.

If you’re still unsure about pattern mixing, it helps to get a variety of patterns types, for example, one polka dot, one floral, and one stripe.

Notice I deliberately chose not to do that. I have two florals. The “rule” of mixing two of the same type is to vary the scale; one large floral and one small floral. I used two florals of the same size. I just liked it together, so it’s okay. But I also recognize that the two florals together don’t give me the same “matched” feel that the floral with the polka dots give me when side-by-side. The varied-patterns rule helps for a more universal taste. It helps you feel comfortable when you’re unpracticed at mixing florals.

But ultimately, it’s your art and it’s your choice. If you’re a bit quirky like me, you might choose two floral patterns of the same size that don’t totally go together because they just make the layout feel complete to you.

Do what you like. Be brave. Use your head for important things, but trust your gut when it comes to combining patterns.

I had this request for a Paperclipping topic:

“I’d love to see an episode on what energizes and inspires you when you create your pages. We get a personal glimpse of this on Tuesday nights when you are live. What I am wondering is if you read magazines, have an inspiration binder, collect quotes, or tear out ads from mags that inspire you with a design concept. What inspires you and how do you use it in your art/scrapbooking?”

I get my creative energy and and inspiration from all kinds of sources, but when it comes to actually sitting down to scrapbook, my inspiration is a combination of the photos and stories I’m preparing to share, the emotions I feel regarding them, the products I have on-hand, and the store of mental images that float in my head and heart.

In other words, I don’t usually bring other people’s art to my table while I am actually scrapbooking. I don’t collect images in an inspiration binder like a lot of scrapbookers do. But I do read magazines and study others’ art very analytically and I learn a lot of general principles that way. I let the images and thoughts swim in my head so that when I come to my table I have a new combination of ideas.

5 Things That Inspire me

1. Reading Non-Fiction While On My Treadmill
I usually come up with new page topics this way. The exercise releases endorphins, while at the same time I’m learning and thinking about life and the world. I find that very inspiring.

2. Clothing and Fashion
I love the color combinations and interesting bead-work, stitching, and patterns.

3. Art
This is a big one. Abstract or modern art, collage art, handmade items in etsy shops, all inspire me. When looking at them, I like to imagine how I can translate similar ideas into my scrapbooking.

4. Music, especially when driving
My mind is most free to explore music and lyrics while in a car. Music often brings to mind concepts for layout topics and journaling. But the rhythm and dynamics of music also translate into visual ideas for me. Maybe this is a topic we can explore in a future posting.

5. Scrapbooking Magazines
There are three main ways I learn from looking at the scrapbooking of other people. When I see layouts I like, I ask myself why it works for me. I figure out what makes the design strong and how scrapbooker achieved what she did. If I find myself saying I don’t care for a layout, I also ask myself why. This helps me figure out what my own tastes and preferences are. I also look for ways that other people do things differently from myself so that I don’t fall into a rut.

That is an important idea; that we can benefit from layouts that have totally different styles and subject matters than what we like. There is always something to learn from other people.

There are so many other ways I get my inspiration. Anything visually pleasing attracts my attention and I always stop to explore the different elements and how they come together to make an alluring visual. It could be a craft item, a movie (I love the way good videographers frame their shots), non-scrapbooking magazines, architecture, dance choreography, or photography. All of these artistic forms have given me ideas.

The elements of design and the things humans find aesthetically pleasing are the same from one form to the next. It’s just a matter or learning how to translate those ideas into whatever art form you do.

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Like This
12×12 Layout

Supplies: Patterned paper (Making Memories, My Mind’s Eye, other unknown) * Chipboard letters (Heidi Swapp) * Transparency (Hambly) * Chipboard embellishment (Scenic Route) * Bling (Me and My Big Ideas, Heidi Swapp) * Rub-on (7 Gypsies) * cup of milk embellishment (cut out from a cereal box).

We’re live tonight at 6:30pm MST (5:30pm PST) . Join us and chat by clicking here.

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

Paperclipping 32 - FRED from izzyvideo on Vimeo.

In this episode I review a fabulous product that I’ve been testing all week. I can’t wait to introduce it to you.

For better viewing, download the high-quality version. I also have show notes available.