Have you been waiting to hear about Ali Edwards newest book, due to release any day now?

Listen to this week’s podcast (audio only) as I interview Ali and she shares all the secrets…

Interview With Ali Edwards on Sharing Your Story

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.

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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.

Last Week

It was a fun change of pace to have Liz and Jackie as call-in guests on Paperclipping Live last week. I know it was hard for you to see their projects in that little tiny corner window, but fortunately, they posted them on their own website, IllustratingStories.com and you can see them here.

Both techniques came from the book, Lifelines. They look really cool and really fun, so I’m excited to try them some time.

This Week

This coming Tuesday night I’ll be working on an acrylic album. The album will feature all those pictures I took when Liz and Jackie challenged their readers to take a photo an hour for a whole day.

If you’re interested in making a similar album, read about the challenge here so you can have your photos ready to work on during the show. I’m using a semi-clear album by Maya Road and I printed my photos in wallet-size.

Don’t forget: Paperclipping Live is Tuesday night at 6:30pm, 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.

Remember to register for Skype (it’s free) if you’d like to call into the show to ask a question or share something cool.

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.

Paperclipping 41 - Everything is Fixable from izzyvideo on Vimeo.
Here is another free video. See what I did to fix the cover of the altered board book I worked on during Paperclipping Live.

You can watch the higher-quality version by clicking on this link.

Here are photos of the stunning mini-albums that Dedra made, which I showed in the most recent episode of Paperclipping. I’ve thrown in a few extra pages that you didn’t get to see in the video. I just can’t resist.

Dedra was recently the guest designer for a cool new challenge blog called, Creative Therapy. Since we’re all fans, I thought I’d send you over there to tell them how fabulous we think she is.

I’ll post my own layouts from the video episode a little later.

There are three types of books on scrapbooking:
1) Idea books: most people buy these for ideas to “scraplift.” Actual text or explanation is minimal.
2) Technique books: you buy these to learn new and tricky techniques. The focus is on step-by-step instructions with samples.
3) Concept books: these are heavier in text than the other two types and range in topics from design to organization instruction to scrapbook philosophy.

601 Great Scrapbook Ideas is an idea book. It is a thick book with more layouts than you’ve probably ever seen in one place before; six hundred and one layouts, as a matter of fact.

Expectations From An Idea Book

There are two things you should expect from an idea book for it to be worth your money. It should have fresh examples of topics most people scrap: birthdays, holidays, toothless grins, graduation, and all those other life events. This is the reason most scrapbookers buy idea books.

I realize this is a generality, but unless the book specifies a different type of audience, it is marketing to its average demographic.

I also expect the layouts to be scraplift-able; meaning, you could figure out how to replicate the layouts, since that is why people buy the book. Because there are no instructions, the layouts shouldn’t be too complicated.

Does 601 Meet Expectation #1: Layouts On Subjects We Typically Scrap?

There was one thing I was looking for to know whether 601 met my first expectation for an idea book that targets the typical scrapbooker. I wanted to know if the Christmas layouts had normal Christmas photos, as in, multiple photos of that morning when the lighting is imperfect and the “models” have just woken.

I turned to the Christmas section and saw the usual perfect single photo layouts featuring one gorgeous child gazing at the tree. Sure, they’re beautiful pages, but is it the kind of layout most of us are putting together after Christmas?

I turned the page and found three layouts with multiple photos showing children with their presents on Christmas morning…exactly what I was looking for. Plus there were multi-photo layouts on other topics regarding that holiday. I was surprised and happy to see a normal Christmas that was well-represented, as were Halloween and vacations. In fact, every holiday I checked had both single and multi-photo layouts.

This books isn’t where you’ll go for a lot of multi-photo two-page spreads with 4×6’s. There are more single page layouts with only one or two photos and those layouts with multiple photos used pictures that were cropped down.

But, the layouts cover almost every topic you’ve ever seen…even teenage boys and no-kid layouts make a strong appearance in this book.

Does 601 meet expectations #2: Are layouts scraplift-able?

The layouts in 601 don’t require step-by-step instructions for unusual techniques. They are simple to replicate yet interesting and diverse in style. The editors chose the right layouts for this type of book.

Do I recommend this book?

This is a great resource for those scrapbookers who need help coming up with layout ideas. If you struggle to put a page together on your own, then 601 Great Scrapbook Ideas by Memory Makers is the book I would recommend for you. You won’t find such a comprehensive book of layouts anywhere else.