I found this on Susie Lafond’s blog, Gathering Bits of The World.
Archive for April, 2011
The Artist’s Creed Video
Friday, April 8th, 2011A Scrapbook Layout – Step By Step
Thursday, April 7th, 2011The layout I shared on the Roundtable was one (of many!) that I put together with lots of doubt! It’s still not my favorite page, but it’ll do! I took pictures of each step as I went back-and-forth on a number of issues that were bugging me. I thought I’d add visuals of those steps for you to look at after hearing the Roundtable episode (or possible during, or even before!).
1) Photo placement –
I’m a big believer in deciding on the best placement for the photos before choosing the backgrounds, since patterns and colors are distracting. I’ve been doing it for years and later learned that most designers first design with a grey scale before they add the variables of colors and patterns to their design.
2) Journaling -
Unless I know my journaling will only be a sentence or two, I like to write it out ahead of time. The journaling equips me to make product choices that support my story.
This was my clan!
For the first four years of elementary school we walked, mostly with these same kids. It depended on the year because some were too young or too old in other years.
We had fun, and these guys were necessary allies against the school and neighborhood bullies!!
Eventually my school shut down and we got bused to a farther school after that.
3) Background paper -
Numbers seemed appropriate for a story about walking to school.
4) Lightening it up -
I didn’t like how dark and heavy the background — it wasn’t telling my story. So I decided to make it a side piece. I chose a patterned paper with a white background and added a yellow glimmer mist around the edges to make it work with the number paper.
5) Matte -
I decided to matte the photo with a color that emphasizes the important part of the story in the pictures. I wanted the focus to be more on us kids and less on the morning glow of the California sun, so I picked a blue piece of paper as a matte. Then I stamped numbers to the bottom of the blue matte in order to carry the number theme throughout the page, and also to cut away the excess. This cut away bottom allows the yellow and blue to interact and feel more like a cohesive team.
At this point I also felt that the slightly tilted photo positioning didn’t work with the new matte size. I changed them to a straight up-and-down overlap position.
6) Toning it down -
The ink I used for those numbers was too bright! I tried to make it blend by stamping again with yellow ink, which was a totally lame attempt at a comeback.
7) Toning it down again and making it blue instead of green! –
I tried one more time by adding a pale blue distress embossing powder.
Success!
8) Tacking embellishments up in possible positions -
I thought I would do three in a vertical row where the papers intersect so I tacked some options up there.
And this is the point at which I began to feel very unhappy with my layout. It’s so dark and heavy and more serious than the story calls for. WAY more serious. I considered starting over but forced myself to move things around for a while. I also scalloped a paper edge to lighten the tone and cause more interaction between the dark, dark brown and the yellow paper. This also gave me more room along the left side to add my journaling.
Closer.
Finally I moved over to the right and started a page with a white background, bright, happy colors, and a looser composition — something I was so craving!
That satisfied my need. So I went back and finished my page…
It’s not one-hundred percent what I would choose, but I think it’s alright. Or at least alright enough.
PDS042 – Morgan on a Mushroom
Thursday, April 7th, 2011How has your digital scrapbooking evolved over time? That’s what we’re talking about in today’s show…
You can use this audio player to listen to the show:
You can right click to save the file.
The Panel
Sponsor
“The Very Basics” from GetItScrapped.com: Click Here to check out the class. And don’t forget the coupon code APR2011TDS at checkout which is good for the first 50 people to use it in the month of April.
Picks of the Week
- Apple Keynote for motion scrapbooking
- TopazLabs.com Plugins
- QuoteGarden.com
- ZeFrank.com/youngmenowme/
- Hootsuite.com
(Affiliate links wherever possible.)
How to subscribe…
We’re in the iTunes directory so you can just click on this link to go there and subscribe,… or if you want to do it the hard way, you can subscribe to the show’s RSS feed.
PRT063 – Strangely Obsessed and Sick Group
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011In this week’s episode of the Paperclipping Roundtable, we each share the steps we took while scrapbooking specific layouts (you can see them below the audio player). Check it out…
You can use this audio player to listen to the show:
If you want, you can also right click this link to save the show to your computer manually.
The Panel
Three-Day Scrapbooking Event – Live Online
Have you checked this out yet? Noell is participating, along with Ali Edwards and several more scrapbookers.
Sponsors
GetItScrapped.com:“Art Journaling 103″ from Dina Wakley and hurry because coupon code APR2011PRT is only available to the first 50 people who use it in April. (The coupon code is good for any class from GetItScrapped, not just the one we talked about.)
Big Picture Classes: Click here for the promo code to save 10% on any class at BPC!
Picks of the Week
- Bella Blvd Sophisticates by Stephanie – Letter Stickers
- Big Brand System – Layout Category
- Creative Memories Cutting System
- Glimmer mist some paper and then slice it up.
(Affiliate links wherever possible.)
How to subscribe…
Did you know that when you subscribe in iTunes (which is free), you’re helping support Paperclipping Roundtable? It’s true. iTunes measures every subscription, so it’s like casting a “vote” for the show. It helps us move up the ranks and helps us grow the audience.
iTunes is free. Subscribing is free, so why not use it to download the show? Subscribe in iTunes (iTunes link) right now so your computer will automatically download each new episode as they become available.
What’s On Your Scrapbook Table Right Now?
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011
What is the value of a cheap folding party table from Walmart? Monetarily, it’s about $38. But the real value? My big long ugly table allows me to work on multiple projects at once! And I LOVE that!
What You See From Right to Left
I know we usually explain things from left to right, but please bear with me on this one. It’ll do your creative brain some good to go backwards anyway!
Far Right - a scrapbook page about Trinity and a little phase she’s been in lately. During this weekend’s True Scrap event I’ll be sharing the step-by-step process of how I put this layout together (I’ll show it with photos) in terms of design and the principles involved in each step. If you’re interested in this event, you’re running out of time, so please sign up quickly!
Mid Right - the next scrapbook page just to the left is my story about walking to school with my crew in 1980. I went back-and-forth on this layout so many times. I’ll share this process with you this week on the Paperclipping Roundtable. In a couple days I’ll also post photos here on the blog of the layout from beginning to end!
Far Left - a stack of my art journals, plus one lying open to a page I’m working on (I have four, and I’ll share those some time next week hopefully). In that same spot on the table I was also spray-misting pieces for the first layout on the far right of the table.
Big Ugly Empty Tables
For a long time I kept a regular stash of items on my table — tools I need every time I work, adhesives I use the most, my tray of scraps, and a basket of new and old products I wanted to use (which got ignored and did not work for me at all!).
Now I keep nothing on my table except the current projects I’m working on. That leaves me plenty of room to scrapbook one or two pages on one side of the table and do artsy projects on the other side.
It turns out this seems to be the most perfect way for my particular manic creative brain. It goes along with my theory that by acting on ideas when you get them, instead of waiting or adding them to a list, you increase your creativity.
So this is how I’m facilitating my desire to be able to work on multiple projects at once. You can read this article to see how I organize all my unfinished projects.
Are You a Speed Crafter/Artist/Scrapboooker? Or Are You Slow and Thoughtful?
For years I’ve thought I was slow because I need to take many step-away breaks while I’m working. I’ll be chugging along and then suddenly I just need to let my brain twirl around for a few minutes before I’m ready to pick up again.
Now I realize I work up a feverish speed if I can have multiple different projects around me. For example, I’ll be working on a scrapbook page and hit one of those moments when I just want to stop and let the ideas mix around in my head for a few minutes. So I push my chair-on-wheels down to the other end of the table and look at my art journal and have an instant idea for a page I had been feeling stuck on. Then while I’m putting that new idea into action on my art journal page, I’ll suddenly come up with a solution for the middle layout on my table!
At that point I might interrupt my art journal to jump over to layout number two, or I might finish what I was doing first and then jump over as soon as I’m done. Inevitably, that process will then spur the next idea for the first layout I was working on. Overall I’m zipping up and down my table, back-and-forth, getting lots of idea bursts and making things happen.
So now I know I was wrong about myself all those years. I am a Speedy Gonzalez under the right circumstances for me.
So, back to my original question…
What’s on your table right now? What are you working on?
And…
Can you work on more than one thing at a time like I do? Are you fast or slow and thoughtful? Have you experimented with different processes?
Feel free to add to the conversation by leaving a comment!
(affiliate link above)
Scrapbook Storage for Pre-cut Die Cuts
Monday, April 4th, 2011
Last week after sharing where I keep my die cuts and how I’ve made them easier to get in and out of their packages, I got this question:
Julie K in Taiwan
More good advice as always. I’d be interested in knowing how you store the cut outs from your die cuts. Do you cut multiple pieces at once? I tend to trade with my friends, but I’m starting to get quite a collection of cut out die cuts and I’m not sure how to efficiently store them. Right now they’re all in a box, along with a bunch of commercial die cut cut outs. Any tips for that?
Should I Pre-cut Multiple Die Pieces
When I was a brand new scrapbooker, my mentor friend brought me to a scrapbook store in Utah and we spent an evening cutting dies from the store’s collection. I was happy to pile up, since there wasn’t very much in the way of scrapbooking in Arizona at the time.
Not long after that I signed up with a die-exchange internet group where we exchanged pre-cut dies with each other.
What did I learn from this experience? I learned not to pre-cut dies.
I never used these cuts. Never!
Okay, wait — I don’t claim to know the answers for everybody. If you already do this and have had great success with it, then keep doing it. I can’t help but believe most of us won’t end up using most of them, though, and would better benefit from scrapbooking a page or editing photos than from punching die cuts we may never find a use for.
That said…
Storing Pre-cut Die Pieces
I do end up with some extras here and there. Sometimes it’s because the die automatically cuts more pieces at once than I actually want to use. Sometimes it’s because I need to demonstrate for a video tutorial. So yes, I do have some extra pieces –
Here’s what I do with them:
I treat my extra die cuts the same way I treat store-bought embellishments.
This is my embellishment box. I have a tin container for random items that don’t fit in with any specific group and that’s where my four pre-cut die leftovers go.
If I had enough to fit within a group, I would group them. So that’s what I would recommend you do if you have a lot. Here are a few possible ways to group:
- By function: borders vs. images vs. letters vs. flourishes
- By image subject: birds vs. butterflies OR winged things vs. hearts
Right now, I have packages of chipboard paisleys, butterflies, flourishes, and acrylic hearts. To me, those are the same things as my die cuts, the only difference being that the store-bought items have packages and my own die cuts do not. So I treat them the same.
Do you do something different? Does it work for you to pre-cut multiple pieces? Please join in the conversation and share what works for you by leaving a comment!
P.S. For the wine lovers who are wondering — No, I’m not a Chianti fan. And don’t give me no Pinot either. I love reds. Just not those reds. :)
