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Archive for the ‘Art’ Category

Paperclipping 106 – Mix Your Own Paint Colors

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Here is the free trailer for today’s episode of Paperclipping for our Members. This episode is all about color and how to mix your own colors from acrylic paint using just a handful of base hues. Even if you’re not into paint, this episode should help you with color in general. One thing to note is that video is not able to pick up the subtleties of color that our eyes see, so you’ll have to rely more on what I explain than what you can see in the video during some of the color mixing portions.

If you’re not a Member, please visit the Membership Information Page to find out how you can get access to this video plus over 100 videos in the archives.

You can see the minibook page featured in the episode by clicking here. By the way, I added a few more pictures of the You Me minibook featured in the recent episode about Visual Memoirs. Below is the one page featured in the episode…
YouAndMe_Section3

You can download the Quicktime version of this trailer here.

Posted in Art, Instructions, Lesson, Minibooks, Podcast, Tutorial, Vidcast, Video Podcast, Vlog, Vodcast, color | View Comments

Paperclipping 102 – Minibook Tips

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

Paperclipping 102 - Minibook Tips
Do you love mini’s? Do you wish you loved mini’s? In this episode I share a minibook idea, an organizational tip, and a technique. This episode is for Paperclipping Members, so if you’re trying to watch it but can’t, you can learn about the Paperclipping Membership by clicking here.

Below are some pictures of the minibook in the video…

You * Me

YouMeMiniBook
This book cover is made by Maya Road and is 9×9 inches. The chipboard pages inside are 8×8.
YouMeHangerCloseup
I found the vintage pieces (the clock face and drawer knob) at my local vintage scrapbooking store, Mystic Paper. The wire hanger is from there as well, but I’m pretty sure it’s not vintage. The spinner arrow on the clock is definitely not vintage…it’s made by Tim Holtz.

Want To See More?

You can see more pictures in the photo set I added to my Flickr page. I expect to have a lot more of this project completed next week and will add more photos then.

I know many of you are working on minibooks for your moms for Mother’s Day so I hope this episode gives you some inspiration and help. If you’re not gifting a book, consider making one about your relationship with one of your children. That’s what my book is about. I’ll share more in an upcoming episode.

* * *

Did you see that Jana Oliveira won the Paperclipping Monthly Challenge for March? You can see her winning page at The Crop Circle.

Posted in Album Covers, Altered Projects, Art, Books, Creativity, Embellishments, Holidays, Instructions, Lesson, Minibooks, Podcast, Scrapbooking, Tutorial, Vidcast, Video Podcast, Vlog, Vodcast | View Comments

Paperclipping 85 – A Tour Of My Scraproom

Wednesday, January 14th, 2009

After lots and lots of requests, I’m finally ready to show you around my scrapbook room and office. It took almost a year to get it to a state I’m happy with. But I believe that’s the best way to decorate and organize a room–to live in it and observe yourself and your needs before making decorative and organizational decisions.

My items are in a places that make sense for me now, so I have lots of tips to share…tips that are more like principles so they’ll help you make your own space work for you (as opposed to me).

Note: You can download the higher-quality episode by clicking here.

Are you trying to organize your space? Watch Ali Edwards’s blog because she’ll be sharing photos of her new room–probably tomorrow.

Interested in more scrapbooking video tutorials? Please visit the Membership Information Page.

Posted in Art, Craft, Creativity, Free, Lesson, Organization, Podcast, Reuse Found Items, Scrapbook Rooms, Scrapbooking, Tutorial, Vidcast, Video Podcast, Vlog, Vodcast | View Comments

Paperclipping 78 – An Altered Book for Holiday Cards

Thursday, December 11th, 2008

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This week’s episode for the Paperclipping Members released a bit late in the day, but you’ll find it worth the wait. It is an extra long tutorial that features some parts of our upcoming Special Edition Christmas project.

The Special Edition tutorial will become available next week and Paperclipping Members will get a discount! Be sure to watch for the announcement along with some pictures of the project. Until then, enjoy this week’s tutorial.

If you are ready to become a Member so that you can enjoy all the features of Paperclipping, please visit the Membership Information Page.

Posted in Altered Projects, Art, Books, Cards, Craft, Ephemera/Memorabilia, Holidays, Instructions, Lesson, Minibooks, Podcast, Reuse Found Items, Scrapbooking, Tutorial, Vidcast, Video Podcast, Vlog, Vodcast | View Comments

An Unsual Approach To Art And Visual Journals

Wednesday, October 1st, 2008

My parents gave me my first journal (for writing in) for Christmas just after I turned 8. Below on the left is my first entry. Feel free to click on the photo, then hit “All Sizes” so you can enjoy the random thoughts of an 8-year-old Noell. The second one is the first entry of my 9th journal, just before turning 15, at a time when I prefaced most adjectives with the word, “like.”

My Childhood Journals

I continued exploring my thoughts in journals through college. I have something like 25 separate books. Now I scrapbook and enjoy a more flexible and artistic approach to recording my thoughts and experiences.

Last year, I took a class from Dina Wakley on Visual Journals. I’ve said before that I never learned anything in any of the scrapbooking classes I’ve taken. Dina’s class isn’t a scrapbooking class. It’s more like an art-experimentation class, and I did learn from her. She gave me some great inspiration to expand on my scrapbooking and explore something more artistic in nature. It is because of her that I started my art and visual journals.

What are Art Journals and Visual Journals?

They’re whatever you want them to be.

The Show

Personally, I see my spiral art books as my “art journals.” They are my place to play with artistic methods–drawing, painting, collaging, etc. I think of my visual journal pages as any visual piece I complete (that is different from a standard scrapbook page) that expresses something I think about. If I made something in one of my art journals that is self-expressive, or that can be used on a self-expressive page, I tear/cut it out to put into my visual journal, or to add it to a visual journaling page. I also add some of my art journal pieces to scrapbooking pages.

Mushrooms

Above is a piece in my art journal. Because there is something personal behind the two mushrooms, there is a possibility that, once I finish it, I may choose to put it in my visual journal. If I don’t go in that more personal direction, I will either keep it in my art journal, or put it with a series of artistic pieces about mushrooms.

I like to use a variety of bases for my visual journal pages. Sometimes they come from my small art journal, like the piece above called, The Show. Other times they come from a piece in my larger art journal, like this one I showed in this week’s video tutorial:

You Learn

After experimenting with some Glimmer Mist and some mesh as a mask on a couple pages of my larger art journal, I decided to use this one as the foundation for an introspective piece with lyrics from Alanis Morissette’s song, You Learn. This song has always thrilled me because it so expresses my view of life.

As opposed to playing the artist, there are times that I just want to capture my thoughts or feelings with a photo and my words. Here is one I did the day I pulled my bicycle out of the garage for the first time after a hot summer:

Dear Bicycle

Obviously, this didn’t come from my art journal. I could turn it into a scrapbook page. But for now, I think I might want to leave it as is as and include it with my other visual journal pieces.

Sometimes I just want to do some art, and then partway through I find myself personalizing it. Here’s another example of that…

Modern Dance

While making this piece, I was aware of how even photographs of modern dance thrill me beyond almost anything else. I decided to pull it out of my large art journal and make it into something about my love for the dance.

At some point I will bind these journal pages together into a home-made book, which makes my approach to visual journaling a little different. I like the flexibility of that idea.

Meet Dina Live

Are you interested in learning more about Art and Visual Journals? Join me on Tuesday at 6:30pm PST for Paperclipping Live because Dina Wakley will be my guest–not a call-in guest, but a real live guest with me in my scraproom. She’ll share some of her journals, tell how she got started doing it herself, and how it has influenced her scrapbooking. She’ll also tell you about the online class she will be teaching later in the month.

I am so glad I took her class. I love being able to explore my psyche and my art all at the same time, with no obligation to make something perfect. Plus, it’s an exercise that reminds us that storytelling doesn’t only happen through words.

Posted in Altered Projects, Art, Books, Creativity, Journaling, Scrapbooking | View Comments

Paperclipping 58 – Glimmer Mist

Sunday, September 28th, 2008

Paperclipping 58 - Glimmer Mist

Have you tried Glimmer Mist? It’s gorgeous, fun, artistic, and easy to use. In this episode I show you a number of examples of masking techniques with Glimmer Mist.

Show notes for this episode are also available.

Below are the projects you from the video…

To see enlarged images, click on each image, and then click the All Sizes button at the top of the photo.

Posted in Art, Craft, Design, Instructions, Lesson, Podcast, Scrapbook-Layout, Scrapbooking, Tutorial, Vidcast, Video Podcast, Vlog, Vodcast | View Comments

3 Ways To Scrap Your Daily Life

Thursday, September 25th, 2008

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?

Posted in Album Covers, Art, Journaling, Minibooks, Photography, Scrapbook-Layout, Scrapbooking | View Comments

Paperclipping 57 – Tissue Paper Background

Sunday, September 21st, 2008

Paperclipping 57 - Tissue Paper Background

A few weeks ago we had a digital, Photoshop-based tutorial. So for this week’s tutorial for the Premium Subscribers, I thought it was time to do something artsy and carefree. I hope you enjoy this step-by-step tutorial with items from your home.

You can learn more about the Premium Subscription, and how to get access to videos like this one, by visiting the Membership Information Page.

Posted in Art, Craft, Creativity, Instructions, Lesson, Podcast, Scrapbook-Layout, Scrapbooking, Tutorial, Vidcast, Video Podcast, Vlog, Vodcast | View Comments

Is The Schoolwork Flooding In?

Wednesday, September 17th, 2008

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.

Posted in Album Covers, Altered Projects, Art, Instructions, Minibooks, School, Scrapbooking | View Comments

This Week At Paperclipping

Monday, September 15th, 2008

This Week’s Video Tutorial

We have a free episode that is almost ready to post and it will be up soon!

Back-To-School

Is there anyone else that still hasn’t started or finished their back-to-school layouts? We’ll end the series this week after a few more posts. I hope this series has helped you identify how to make pages repeating events more meaningful and more enjoyable.

New series: Reclaim Yourself

I am someone who loves, adores–thrives on–having lots of time alone. Yes, I am very social, but I have also always needed to have a lot of time to myself and my attention-demanding thoughts.

When I was younger I could shut away the world and go to my room for hours at a time. When I got my first car I loved to take long rides down winding Kansas roads and fed off the eerie feeling of being totally isolated with a horizon that seemed to stretch to eternity.

Then I had kids.

Almost eleven years later, all three of my children are in full-day school, and I am once again enjoying long stretches of quiet, wonderful, alone time. Last week I took advantage of the chance to tell some of my own stories and explore my more artistic side. And that will be the focus of the next series.

Toward the end of the week, we will begin a “Reclaim Yourself” series. Not only will we scrapbooking layouts about ourselves, but we’ll dig into some art, as well. I am so excited for this and I have enough content that we could take it way into October, so I’ll probably have to save some of it for a different focus-on-the-self week.

Are you ready to pay attention to you?

Paperclipping Live

Even though we are technically still in the Back-To-School series, we’re going to kick off the Reclaim Yourself series on Tuesday night for Paperclipping Live. I will lead you through the beginning of a layout about YOU. To participate with me, you need to identify a story about yourself that you want to scrap. Be ready with a picture or a set of pictures. The photo(s) does not necessarily have to have you in it.

If you don’t already have any photos to work with, you might want to try one of the following:

1. Take a picture of yourself in your bathroom mirror.
2. Take a picture of your {insert modest body part here}.
3. Crop yourself out of a group photo.
4. If your story is about something you typically do or enjoy, take a picture of an object with which you do that activity.
5. Set your camera up with the timer and take a picture of yourself in action. This involves some trial and error, but it’s fun.

Here is an example of each of those (in the same order)…

For our live event, you do not need to choose paper ahead of time because choosing will be part of our process during the show. Just have your papers and products easily accessible, if possible. You will probably also need scratch paper and a pencil or pen to make notes.

We will not take a layout to completion. The point of this Paperclipping Live is to get you to go inside yourself and analyze what colors, patterns, or other visuals, will help you create the feeling you have about your story or layout theme. We’ll be focusing on the process of preparing the layout, but won’t necessarily finish it during the show.

We’ll also be depending a lot on chat-participation, so please register and be ready to share! The show starts at 6:30 pm, PST, on Tuesday night. Click here at that time to participate.

The Paperclipping Challenge

Don’t forget that we now have monthly challenges to help you use the principles and techniques we discussed the month before. Some of you have uploaded your layouts and projects to our Flickr gallery. Others of you are still working. If you haven’t started anything, there is still time. You must post your layout by the end of the day on September 23. That’s a whole week away.

I will choose one person who I think most exemplified their chosen topic and highlight them on the Paperclipping blog. Maybe that will be you? =)

You can read the details of the challenge by clicking here.

Posted in Art, Live Show, Live Streaming, Photography, Scrapbooking, Updates | View Comments

Paperclipping: The Video Podcast | Design Your Story

Archive for the ‘Art’ Category

Paperclipping 106 – Mix Your Own Paint Colors