We’ve just released this episode for the Premium Subscribers where you’ll see me add each embellishment to my Halloween layout, while explaining the principles that make the placement work. You can take a look at the layout below…

UPDATE: Thanks for letting us know that the download wasn’t working. It IS working now. Izzy admits that sometimes even he makes mistakes. =)

Halloween Pumpkin Carving
12×12 Layout

I directed my journaling to my children for this layout and it reads:

Our best pumpkin ever. A joint effort, from the design to the pumpkin itself. The funnest pumpkin-carving ever, at least for me. Thank you, Blake, Trinity, and Aiden–for giving me one of my favorite Halloween memories–A memory to rival even magical ones from my childhood.

To find out how you can watch the Premium Episodes, too, just click here.

Need a unique Halloween idea? If so, I think you’ll like the fun and easy project I share in today’s Quick Tip.

This video is for Premium Subscribers. If you’d like to be able to view all of the Paperclipping Videos, find out how to get a Premium Subscription by clicking here.

Below are pictures of the project in today’s Quick Tip…

Halloween Cards
3.5×5 each

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Supplies: Patterned paper (My Mind’s Eye, Basic Grey, Scenic Route?) * Stickers (Creative Imaginations, Making Memories) * Cardstock (Bazzill) * Buttons, old postcards, party invitations, ribbons).

In today’s free video tutorial, I show you step-by-step how to open up an overlay in Photoshop, resize it to meet your needs, and use it like a journaling box for your text. If you have Photoshop Elements, don’t worry–you can do all the same things in Elements.

Rather than watch the version of the video in the window above, I highly recommend you download the high-quality version instead. Trust me–it’s much better. =)

For my example in the tutorial, I used an Ali Edwards photo overlay, which was a major part of my Week In The Life album. Here are two of the pages from my album using the overlay concept from the tutorial…

A Week In The Life

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Album-Anthologie by Scrapworks

Today’s free Quick Tip features a journaling idea that I used on a digital product by Ali Edwards. In the next Paperclipping episode, I’ll actually show you how to use and adjust that product, so make sure you come back soon.

Pssst–before you play that video up there, why don’t you try the high-quality version instead? You’ll have to wait for it to download, but it’s so much better. Just click here.

Today’s Quick Tip is for the Premium Subscribers–it’s just another reason I love FRED. Below is the layout featured in the video…

Tweens
12×12 Layout

A note to those of you waiting for a free video–the next two will be free and will feature a digital product by Ali Edwards. But if you’re tired of waiting, you can learn about our Premium Subscription by clicking here.

This episode, for the Premium Subscribers, ends the series on color and will give you some ideas on how you can make unlikely items work together for you. Below is the final layout from the episode…

Somebody Come & Play
12×12 layout

The journaling reads:

A regular day-to-day activity for Erin and I growing up was to write and perform our own plays. She was the dominant writer, I was the dominant dancer. We were both singers and actors. She was usually the director and I was often the star.

This photo is from a show she wrote called, Somebody Come and Play.” We gathered neighborhood friends to take some parts. I played the lead and sang a song from Sesame Street with the same title as our show. We invited neighborhood parents and charged for tickets. Erin dressed up in her most directorly attire. The House For Sale sign was a prop that she made.

These childhood games were formative in my love for theatre, which dominated my spare time and passions through high school and into college.

Do you wish you could watch all of the Paperclipping videos? Click here to find out how you can.

I hope you enjoy the second Quick Tip in the current series on color. Below is the layout I showed from today’s tip for the Premium Subscribers…

A Minute Before
12×12 Layout

The picture on this layout is of Trinity and her brothers, just outside the dentist’s office after an appointment. The journaling to my daughter reads:

I snapped this shot with my phone just before you had a seizure. I missed the warning signs: you weren’t skipping rocks with the boys. You complained of feeling hot and wanted to go home. I said that was fine, looked down to grab my stuff, and when I looked up again, you were on the ground in a bizarre position. You had fallen down and scraped the shoulder on which you landed. You also scraped your elbow and your knee, but your shoulder? That’s not a normal way to fall.

I still didn’t get that you had had an aura and were in the middle of a seizure. I asked why you fell. You said you weren’t able to control your body. I thought you were reacting to the anesthesia. I helped you up. We went back to the dentist office where you had just gotten three cavities filled.

That’s when you fell again. You were standing right next to me, my arm around you, and you dropped straight down. I grabbed you, saw your eyes–those glazed over hollow eyes–and knew you weren’t totally with me now. That’s when I recognized it for what it was. You still have Epilepsy.

We thought you had grown out of it. One and a half years seizure free is a good amount of time and we were looking forward to taking you off your medication in October. I guess that won’t be happening now. Not this year, anyway.

Supplies: Patterned paper (Basic Grey) * Cardstock (Bazzill) * Glitter (Stickles) * Bling (Me & My Big Ideas) * Transparent journal block (Hambly) * Sticker (Creative Imaginations) * Acrylic Stamp (Autumn Leaves) * Ink (Staz On) * Rub-on word “minute” (Art Warehouse) * Beads.

We’re so happy to announce yet another new feature on Paperclipping: Paperclipping Quick Tips. This tip is a follow-up of the episode on mixing and matching patterns. But, instead of watching the version above, you’ll get much better visual quality if you’re able to download the high-quality version by clicking here.

While we’re talking about choosing patterned paper, I wanted to answer this question from Terri Bradford: “How do you use (or do you use) your photos in your own process for picking out colors/design with patterned papers? If so, when do they come into play? “

I do factor in my photos as I’m choosing the paper, especially the first paper, but the importance I place on the photo colors depends on what my story is. If the colors in my photo will help me communicate the tone of my story, then I use them. If not, then I decide whether it’s more important to me to use the colors in the photo or the colors that I associate with what was happening. In some cases I just make sure the colors don’t pull away from the photo. Sometimes it’s a compromise, but most often, if the paper I most want to use doesn’t look that great with the photo, I can find a paper to add that does.

The variety of colors that will work with a photo might surprise you. My biggest concern is not to match the colors of my papers to my photos, but to highlight skin tones or an important object in the image. You don’t necessarily need to use the predominant colors of the photos to do that–in fact, many times using the same color in the photo overemphasizes it and it doesn’t look right.

Enjoy today’s Quick Tip!

This episode, for the Premium Subscribers, is packed with design principles on mixing and matching patterned papers. If you want to know more about the Premium Subscription, go to the Membership Information Page.

We have some new features for the Premium Subscribers. If you appreciate the difference between the high-quality version of the videos and the ones we post straight on the blog, then you’ll love the new High Definition video feed because it’s even better! You’ll be able to see even more detail on the projects in the video with this new feed.

You’ll want to try it out to make sure they’ll play on your computer. To see instructions on how to subscribe to the premium feed, log into your account at the members area.

Many of you will also be happy to hear that Izzy made a screencast with instructions for Premium Subscribers on how to receive the videos automatically from iTunes. Log into your account in the Paperclipping Members Area to watch the screencast.

Changes Are Coming Soon

Israel had his last day at work on Friday (followed by a second going away party!) and we are so excited to start a new schedule and format with Paperclipping. Because of these changes, there will be no video tutorial at the beginning of the week. We’re not yet sure when it will air–during the week or on the following weekend–just keep your eyes open and don’t despair if there is an initial bit of quiet on the blog.

One thing you can expect is that I’ll be making most announcements in the Paperclipping forum and in the newly formatted weekly Paperclipping Insider (sign up at the upper right corner), rather than here on the blog. So if you haven’t signed up for either of those, now is the time. =)

Paperclipping Live Group Project

Would you like to participate in assembling a minibook with me? A minibook that you could give as a gift for Christmas (or not)? I have put together a collection for the Unkit club and I will be making a minibook with the products I chose. On October 28, for Paperclipping Live, we will assemble the books together.

If you’d like to participate, head over to the Unkit to see the collection of products you’ll need for your book. You only need one of everything (except the adhesive and the white pen, which Sudie added–I won’t be using those). What’s cool about the Unkit is that you don’t have to buy the entire kit. If you already have some of the products, you can skip those and just get what you don’t have. If you have paper, or brads or ribbons that are close or that you like better, you can use them instead–only get what you want or need.

Plus, I was really happy to see that Sudie is providing a coupon for 40% off of one item. Score!

If you’d like to make the album with me, make sure you order the supplies in time for them to arrive before the 28th. Click here to see the collection and order. (Just a note: I do not benefit from you ordering this collection).

The Oct. 28th Paperclipping Live Minibook Topic: Electronic Love Letters–in other words, email. Who do you love that you also email? Since all of my siblings are spread around the country, email is the only way we are able to talk as a group. And some of our emails are really funny. Each page in the minibook we’ll be assembling during Paperclipping Live will document a conversation over email.

You can decorate your album, without using my topic, but if you are going to use the topic, you might want to print up some email conversations on white cardstock ahead of time. You can also gather some photos of whoever it is you’ve been emailing. You may pick just one person, or an entire group of people–whatever works for you will work for this book.

And lastly, make sure you have some good adhesive, cutting tools, sandpaper, and perhaps some smaller letter stickers that are already sitting in your stash (in addition to the chipboard letters I’ve got in the collection). To adhere paper to the chipboard album, I recommend either photo-tape and a good glue stick, or PVA glue.

Paperclipping Live This Week

Don’t forget that Dina Wakley will be my guest on the show this Tuesday at 6:30 pm Pacific Standard Time to talk about art journals.