Are some of you still struggling with the idea of scrapbooking about yourself? If so, I have an easy topic to start you off: make an account of your day. Here are three very different versions of this concept…

1) Record Your Activities For The Day

Over-Inflated
12×12

I took my camera around with me one day and snapped just a few pictures. I also recorded all of my activities and their times.

A grid-type layout is a simple solution for this type of page, but if you’re feeling artsy, consider a free-style approach. I gave a step-by-step tutorial on how to make this background to the Premium Subscribers.

Main journaling reads: I must have an over-inflated sense of how much I can accomplish in 24 hours. My to-do list is always too long and I never come close to checking all the items off, even though I really pack it all in as tight as I can.

Journaling in the cloud-like spots: (a schedule of everything I did one day–same day as the pictures).

***A note on acidity: I am pretty sure tissue paper is highly acidic. I would never use it on a layout with old photos, or any I can’t reprint. On the other hand, I have no problem using modern photos, such as the ones on this layout. Since there are so many pictures of myself and my children that are on safer papers, and since I back up my digital photos, I won’t mind if photos like these reach an early demise.

2) Summarize A Typical Day

5am To 5pm
12×12

Whether you work full time or stay at home, some of us have a typical schedule. This was my regular Monday schedule last year. Instead of listing the schedule with words and times, I placed pictures (and a few words) onto the clock according to the time I did them.

The day starts at 5am and circles all the way around and ends at 5pm.

Note: I elevated some of the circles with foam dots and some with a double layer of foam dots. This is great for dimension.

3) Take A Photo An Hour

Semi-Transparent Acrylic Mini-book
2-28-08

Some of you may remember when I took the challenge from Illustrating Stories to take a photo every hour for one day. I decided to turn this project into a minibook. Each hour and it’s picture gets their own page. The tabs tell what time it was when I snapped the photo. I will share the entire minibook soon. This is a sneak peek.

There are so many ways to document an average or typical (or even an atypical) day: lots of words, lots of photos, on a layout or in a mini-book. If you struggle to get comfortable scrapbooking about yourself, this concept is an easy non-threatening one. What are you waiting for?

My latest Schoolwork Scrapbook–photos of the inside pages still to come.

Many of you have the Schoolwork Scrapbook Tutorial and have already used it to make your children a book that displays some of their work and art. Others of you are planning to make your first books at the end of this school year. But do you know what to do with all that stuff your child is bringing home now?

The Problem

Originally, I had a high-quality file folder for each of my children to keep their work in while the year is progressing. I found that not only did everything not fit into my folders, but they were too much trouble to deal with when I was in a hurry cleaning up, and instead of putting stuff in them, I ended up stacking all three of my kids’ work together in the cabinet on top of the fie folders. This was much easier for me, throughout the year. But when the school year was over there was a little confusion sometimes as to whose work was whose.

The Solution

At the end of the summer I held a live event for those who own the tutorial, and one of the geniuses in the audience shared a wonderful idea. (Terri, was that you???). She suggested using those giant zip-lock bags that many scrapbooking kits come in.

I started doing it this year and it’s working out perfectly for me. They’re easy to open, easy to label, and a great size. If you’re swimming in school and art work already, you might want to try this.

What Is The Schoolwork Scrapbook?

For those who are unfamiliar with my Schoolwork Scrapbook and the special edition tutorial that gives you step-by-step instructions, you can find out about it and see detailed pictures by following this link.

This is the story of my daughter’s dance growth this past school year.

I found this photo book, brand new and wrapped in plastic, at Goodwill. It had a big, ugly blue ribbon on it and was covered with a very un-trendy looking label that disguised its potential. I removed the white paper inserts that filled each page so that I could use it as a transparent album.

I love the canvas cover and the fact that I can protect my photos behind the plastic while still getting the dimensionality of a regular mini-book by placing embellishments on the outside of the plastic pages.

* * *

Ballet & You Now

Products used: Patterned paper (Close To My Heart, Creative Imaginations); Gaffer tape (7 Gypsies); Flower (unknown source); Stickers (Creative Memories, Creative Imaginations, 7 Gypsies): Transparencies (Hambly, Creative Imaginations, My Mind’s Eye); Word stickers (K.I. Memories, Ali Edwards for Lisa Bearnson’s KOTM); Brads (Making Memories, Creative Imaginations); Stamp (Ali Edwards for Lisa Bearnson’s KOTM); Ink (Staz-on); Rhinestones (Heidi Swapp); Rub-on’s (Art Warehouse, Anna Griffin); Glittery embellishment frames and flowers (Making Memories); Ribbon, buttons, and tulle from own stash.

Are you interested in using more acrylic and transparent products? Have you been curious to try an entire transparent mini-book but felt intimidated? This video for Premium Subscribers will give you some tips and tricks for dealing with all of those transparent issues.

If you’d like to learn more about the premium membership so you can have access to all of the videos, click here.

As a follow-up from yesterday’s video tutorial, we’re going to look at some more examples using Tim Holtz’s Distress Embossing Powder with products that need a color adjustment or new life.

Felt

First let’s start with a closeup of the felt you saw in the video yesterday.

In the photo above you can see both the original felt piece, along with the altered piece. Click on the photo, then “all sizes” to get a good look at the color variation.

Coasters

I have these coasters that I bought a few years ago; you can see them on the left of the picture below. If we can alter unloved books and bare albums, we can alter a scrapbook coaster, right?

To do this you need:
coaster
paper bag
PVA glue
Sandpaper
a smaller circular design (I used a Maya Road rub-on)
letters (I used Heidi Swapp’s Rub-on letters)
Tim Holt’s Distress Embossing Powder
Versamark Ink
Heat Tool

1) Brush the coaster with PVA. 2) Adhere a piece of the paperbag to coaster and let dry. 3) Cut away excess paper bag and sand edges. 3) Press edges into Versamark Ink and dip into Distress Embossing Powder. 4) Heat with heat tool and then rub with your finger. The powder contains release crystals that will aid in the distressing look. You don’t need to do this on the felt. 5) Add rub-ons after embossing (or you’ll burn away your rub-on’s).

Wings

This is a fun technique where we get to combine the Distress Embossing Powder with another of our favorite products, Stickles, for a magical look.

I had a scrap of paper from My Mind’s Eye with these wings chopped off of a dragon fly. I cut it out, added a dark brown shade of Distress Embossing Powder around the edges for some three-dimensionality. Then added a sparse amount of Diamond Stickles for an iridescent-look you often see in real insect wings.

What can you do with some of your leftover scrapbook pieces? Unless you’ve only just begun scrapbooking, there are probably all kinds of things you can do with your stash to meet all your needs.

Paperclipping 44 - Altering Felt from izzyvideo on Vimeo.

Do you have a lot of felt? If so, I think you’ll love this episode, especially if you also like Tim Holtz.

(Ahem) Yes, I just said, “Tim Holtz.” Did that get your attention? Great, because whether you’re a Premium Subscriber or not, today’s episode is free to everyone and I’ll bet you haven’t seen a demonstration of a Tim Holtz product quite like this.

For the best viewing experience, don’t play that video above the text. Instead, watch the high-quality version. It’s a lot better.

We also have show notes available.

Does the idea of designing a cover scare you? There are at least two factors at play here. Because it is the cover, the first impression, we feel more pressure to make it perfect. We’re so exposed on the cover!

But there are also some differences between a cover and regular album pages. On the covers there are rarely pictures or journaling. That often only leaves us with a title as the starting point. But even if the elements of the design aren’t the same, the principles are. This means we need a focal point to design around, just as we do when we’re putting together a regular page.

What is the focal point on a cover then? It can be the title. It can be a major design element. Or, of course, it can be a photo or group of photos if we protect them with something.

The Title As The Focal Point

Notice how the cover above is almost the same as the cover below, yet I put them into different categories. Because the title in the layout above is bigger and has greater color contrast, it holds your attention longer. Below, the flower-like design element is what gets the attention, again, because of size and contrast of color.

A Design Element As The Focal Point

Photo(s) As The Focal Point

Once you’ve established what your focal point is, all the other applicable design principles come into play: visual triangles, anchoring, the Rule Of Thirds, etc.

If you’ve been needing to make a cover but have been nervous to try it, I hope these examples and explanations make it easier. You can share your creations in the Paperclipping gallery on Flickr.