Paperclipping: The Video Podcast | Design Your Story

Last January I scraplifted for the first time in five years. Maybe more. It was just one innocent lift of a class assignment from Ali Edwards, but then that spiraled into five! Over the the next few weeks there might be a few more, too.

Why did I stop scraplifting in the first place, and why have I started again?
Well, if you’ve ever scraplifted, you might have run into a few frustrations. Have you experienced the following?

• Your lifted version didn’t capture the look that you loved so much in the original and you don’t know why.
• As much as you loved the original when it belonged to so-and-so awesome-scrapbooker, it feels uncomfortable now coming from you. Your page looks just as great as the original, but that original page fit the original scrapbooker’s personality. It turns out it doesn’t really fit your own and you have a vague sense of discomfort (or worse).

Do either of these sound familiar?

Way back before we started Paperclipping I decided I didn’t want to lift other people’s pages, in part for those very reasons. I set out to master the principles of design, become a truly independent and self-reliant scrapbooker, and learned to find my own style so I could express myself through the design of my story.

That’s what the Paperclipping Video Tutorials and membership are all about — expressing yourself by knowing how to design your own stories through visual communication!

Then I Took Ali’s Yesterday & Today Class

I don’t have a lot of time to devote to other people’s classes. So when Ali gave out her assignments for her class starting last January, and I knew I needed to do be able to do them quickly because of my other obligations, I decided to lift again. And here’s the reason I am enjoying scraplifting so much more now than I did years ago –

Scraplifting works better when you have a solid grasp of design principles.

Even if you don’t struggle with the two frustrations I listed above, you will find scraplifting to be much easier and fun if you understand the principles of design.

Here are some examples of why:

• You’ll know which designs will be better at communicating the appropriate tone for the story you have to tell.
• You’ll know why something that worked on the original layout isn’t going to work on your own because of the differences in your photos, your supplies, or your story.
• You’ll recognize when the colors of your photos will create an off-balance if you use the same colors of paper from the original.
• You’ll notice ahead of time that if your pictures are a little more busy — if they have more people, for example — then you might need to adjust the types of patterned papers you’re using to compensate.
• You’ll know how to adjust the weight of your lines, space, and the scale of your items to accommodate for any changes you make to the page.
• And of course, you’ll know what changes you’ll need to make to feel like you own the story.

Last week I showed you a layout I scraplifted from Ali’s class. I shared the changes I made to meet my personality, story, and design needs. Below are two more layouts I scraplifted from her and her class. Again, I’ll detail my own adjustments . . .

The Facts and the Feelings (My Dad has Parkinson’s Disease)

(Need to see a larger version? Click on the photo, then click Actions > View All Sizes).

Changes I made –

• The entire right side of the page is my own design. Ali’s right side had one big piece of ephemera. I wanted to add photos that pictured the active things I remember my Dad doing before he got Parkinson’s Disease. I also had a lot more journaling than she did.
• The journaling on the left page was much longer than Ali’s. I made my photo shorter in length so I could fit it, and then increased the scale of the digital word art, “The Facts and the Feelings,” to match the length of my journaling. I didn’t use the frame overlay that Ali used because it didn’t fit the dimensions of my photo.
• I moved the “The Story” word art to a spot that balanced with my photo better, as well as to the right side of my page. There is a visual triangle of circles from the metal pieces on the left, to “The Story” at the top and finally to the “Courageous” metal piece on the right. There is also a visual triangle of yellow. This gives the page balance.
• Because of my longer journaling, I didn’t have room for the strip of patterned paper underneath the photo that Ali put on her layout. It worked better for me to put it at the top of the right page instead. In that spot it unites the two pages together.
• Ali’s main color was pink, whereas mine is yellow. There is a tiny hint of yellow in my pants in the focal point photo, and there is yellow hue scattered around the very bottom photo. Since those photos are farthest apart from each other in the spread, yellow was a good color to use to unite the entire group. Plus, it’s the color I most associate with my childhood.
• These pages are 8.5×11. Ali’s were too, but she mounted hers onto pink 12×12 papers. I thought about mounting mine onto yellow 12×12′s but I didn’t really feel like it — I already like it the way it is. Since I didn’t see any papers in my stash that felt right I was happy to decide just to keep my pages unmounted.

Just to clarify — am I saying that my changes make the page better? No, not at all. No way. Huh-uh. I love Ali’s pages. I made my changes to suit the needs of my photos, my journaling, my overall story, and in order to be authentically me.

Here’s one more –

At Home

Changes I made –

• The assignment was to choose completely random stories for this page. I wanted to tie my stories together. I’m the kind of person that sees connections where most others don’t (just a funny little quirk and benefit common to many of us with ADD!). I’m happy and comfortable with connections. I’m not as comfortable with presenting random and unrelated ideas. I chose a connecting tie for my stories. They all describe different aspects of living in my childhood home in L.A.).
• In Ali’s original layout, her photos + journaling columns stretch from end-to-end of the layout and there was no title. I made a title instead of one of the columns. I used the Rule of Thirds to position the height of the title and arranged it as a horizontal line that directs the eye left to right.
• I turned the page into an asymmetrical design by putting that title in place of one photo + journaling column. While Ali’s personality leans toward symmetry, asymmetry is much more in line with mine.
• Ali positioned all of her photos above her journaling while I placed some of mine below. This is the kind of randomness I am comfortable with because the other elements of the design tie them together. I did this to add more energy. Also, it places more focus on the journaling than the photos, which works for me here.
• I anchored my photo + journaling columns to the bottom of the page while Ali anchored hers along the top. (This means, mine all come from the bottom of the page and end at different heights on top. Hers are the opposite. My story is about home so I like the idea of the stories being grounded.
• I changed the color sources. In Ali’s original layout, there was a space between the photos and their journaling. She put a strip of colored ribbon or patterned paper between each photo and it’s journaling column. Some of my stories were too long and I couldn’t fit anything in between. So I found a totally different way to add color. I used a cream background instead of white, which, again put the focus on my journaling. I added a transparency of blue circles to the bottom third of the page, and I made little blue houses.
• I chose to go with just one subtle blue color, rather than multiple colors like Ali’s. This worked better to offset the fact that my photos are up and down all over the page. If I had used more colors or brighter colors, the page would more likely look scattered and unfocused. By using just one subtle color I added unity and harmony to the page.

(Note for those who take good detailed looks at layouts — I did intend to add numbers to the number section of the journal boxes. Turns out I forgot! I will be adding those numbers before I stick the layout into its album!)

Want to learn about design?

Design is the main focus of a Paperclipping Membership! You’ll learn techniques and get new concept ideas, but the biggest impact a membership will have on you is confidence, independence, and scrapbooking self-reliance! This is because my focus is on sharing the principles of design so you’ll know why things work the way they do!

You can start your journey toward design mastery and scrapbooking self-reliance. Just click here to begin!