Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

Look at the surprise that came showed up in my mailbox this weekend! Thank you so much to Jennifer, Sally, Amanda, Kim, Cindy, Candi, Susan, Sandy, Maria, Samantha, and Tracy!

They participated in a circle journal group using the Get Together section of the Paperclipping Forum. When I first saw the package in my box I thought it was my scraps from the Scrap Swap. But when I opened it it was this beautiful box full of amazing 6×6 layouts. Each one is so beautiful and I love having a chance to get to know some of you a little better.

Now I remember reading something about them possibly sending their stuff to me but I totally forgot about it. Again, much appreciation to all of you! I means so much to me to have it.

Scrap Swap For Paperclipping Live

Speaking of scrap swaps, we’re having one! Terri Bradford, our moderator for the show, has begun a swap of scraps, which we will work on together during Paperclipping Live on July 29th.

Click here to read the details and sign up. Terri will close the circle on Friday, the 11th, so head right over there to participate.

This Week’s Topic

While summer is the time that those of us from Phoenix are staying indoors, I know most of the rest of you are outside enjoying the sun. This week we’ll focus on the OUTDOORS. From flowers (this week’s video tutorial) to tire swings, all posts this week will feature the outdoors. So will Tuesday night’s Paperclipping Live.

Follow-up From Last Week’s School Focus

Did anyone pull out their piles of stuff from the school year? Have you gotten to work on it? Before we walk away from that topic I wanted to answer another question from Karen:

How much of your children’s school work do you hang onto? I can’t believe how much paperwork/artwork my children (6 and 9) generate! I try to just hang onto pieces that represent original artwork or show the progression of mastering a skill. But I have to admit that I can silly about it at times and think, “Oh…even though this is a worksheet she brings home weekly, she wrote her NAME on it….Awwwwwwww.”

This is a struggle for all mothers, I’m sure. In addition to the original artwork, the original stories (or anything that reveals personality), I also save a few pieces of academic work that often comes as a worksheet. Especially in Kindergarten, there is a lot of progress from the beginning of the year to the end when it comes to that name in the upper right-hand corner.
Remember, though, you don’t have to keep the entire worksheet for that one part that holds significance.

Forcing yourself to fit one year of stuff into a manila file folder will help you whittle it all down. I spend an entire section of the Schoolwork Scrapbook Tutorial showing you how to pick and choose and make it fit, so if some of you feel like you need some help getting through the piles, click here. Which leads me to my next announcement…

Free Live Events For Owners Of The Schoolwork Scrapbook Tutorial

If you own the Schoolwork Scrapbook Tutorial, I will be inviting you via email to some live events over the internet. It will be like Paperclipping Live, except we will be working on our Schoolwork Scrapbooks.

This is your chance to get some extra motivation and some help from me because I will answer your questions through the chat board and over Skype. If you bought (or won) the tutorial, please watch for an email from me at the end of the week. If you do not yet have the tutorial but would like an invitation to the live event, please purchase it by Friday so that you can get on the guest list.

Are you a flower lover? Do you need something new to do with your flowers? Try these two ideas I share in this episode for our Premium Subscribers.

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

Over the last couple of years, I’ve found some wonderful hardware to salvage before throwing away the old backpacks from the kids’ school year.

If A Closure Can Secure A Pocket, It Can Secure A Minibook

Do you see the pink closure on the minibook in the picture above? I cut it out of my daughter’s backpack a year ago(it was on a side pocket) and added some pink wire and a charm. Here’s how it works:

1. Use a utility blade or scissors to cut away the material that encloses the closure. Then cut the bungee-like cord away from the back pack.

2. Add a charm to one end of the cord (if your charm comes from an old unloved bracelet or necklace, that makes it even better!).

3. Put the two ends of the chord together and wrap multiple times with a thin wire.

4. When you’re almost done wrapping the wire, position the charm over the center of the wired area and feed the wire through the ring of the charm. Then wrap the wire one or two more times.

More Backpack Hardware Ideas

Every backpack has its own sweet surprises. While this year’s packs didn’t have any closures like the one above, Trinity’s did have these:

I love the stitching on these.

This mesh will be a great way to add texture to a layout.

I might feed some ribbon through this clasp. You could probably feed two or three narrow ribbons side by side for a fun mix of patterns.

Remember to examine items for potential before throwing them away. It’s at least as fun as shopping. I promise.

If you like this article, please share it with a friend.

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.

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.

In today’s episode for the Premium Subscribers I share an album I made to showcase my children’s handmade gifts over the years for Mother’s Day. I share some tricks for including those items that aren’t exactly easy to put into an album.

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

Do you have a bare album waiting for you to dress it up? Do you want to cover it while I cover mine?

Join me on Tuesday night for Paperclipping Live and we’ll do it together. You’ll have the example of the album you see above, as well as the one I’ll be covering during the live show.

What you’ll need:

Bare Album (American Crafts Modern or BoBunny both make them)
Patterned paper (one full sheet, plus scraps if desired)
Title (Choose between letter stickers, stamped letters, pre-made titles, etc.)
Focal point item (examples are an over-sized flower, a frame, a metal plate; on the album above I used a ceramic tile piece which also serves as my title; an attractive title can also be the focal point).
Coordinating embellishments (rub-on’s, stickers, stamps, chipboard items, ribbons, flowers, etc).
Optional: Paint, gesso, gel medium.
Sandpaper
PVA adhesive (or whatever you prefer to adhere the patterned paper to the cover; many like Modpodge)
Scissors
Pencil
Brayer or rolling pin

Be here Tuesday night (or Wednesday if you’re in the Australian side of the world) at 6:30 PST. If you’re unsure of the time zone difference, look for your city on this website and then compare it to my city, which is Phoenix.

Register for free at Skype if you’d like to call in with a question. If you have a video camera on your computer you can call toward the end of the show (we’ll go until 8) to show us your cover.

Have your kids done the Flat Stanley project in school yet? This is a popular school assignment where students make a large paper “Stanley” and send it to an out-of-state relative or friend. The relative is supposed to send photos, postcards, or souvenirs that represent the location back to the class. It’s a fun way to learn about geography.

My son sent his Flat Stanley to my parents in Kansas City last year and the pictures we got back were priceless. They reminded me of the sense of humor and creativity my parents always had when it came to my own school projects growing up.

I wanted a simple way to tell the story of my parents and Flat Stanley so my kids will know how their grandparents put their hearts into a project. Since the featured subject of the photos was a paper doll, and not my parents, making these into a quick mini-book made more sense to me than scrapbook page. My goal here was not long-term preservation but to tell a story my kids can enjoy right now.

To stiffen the picture-pages, I put thin chipboard between the pairs of front-to-back photos and adhered them together. You could adhere pairs of photos together without chipboard in-between if stiffness is not important to you.

If you do use the thin chipboard, be sure to round your corners before adhering each piece. Paint the edges so each page feels like one piece instead of two or three pieces together.

Involve Your Child

This is where I admit that I jumped on this project and did it all by myself. But now that I think about it, this would have been a very simple thing for my son to help with. Any child can round corners and all children love to paint. Not only would it be great together time, but I could have better reinforced to Blake how clever my parents were.

If your children’s school doesn’t do this project, there is no reason you and your family couldn’t do it yourselves. Click here to learn about the Flat Stanley geography project.