New to Paperclipping? A few things you should know: This is a great place to learn all scrapbooking techniques (I've posted more than 100 video tutorials). Several are free downloads, and I consistently release new tutorials every month. Others are members-only, available when you become a member. Finally, I recommend you subscribe to my RSS feed, or the newsletter (the form is in the sidebar) to make sure you get new videos as they're released. Thanks for visiting!
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…
You can download the Quicktime version of this trailer here.
If you don’t have a Paperclipping Membership you’ll be happy to know that today’s episode is free for anyone to watch. In this tutorial I introduce my idea visual memoirs using mini-albums where we can tell a more complete story than what typical scrapbook pages and albums allow.
If you enjoy today’s episode, you might want to consider getting a Membership so you can watch all of the tutorials we release. For example, last week’s member’s-only video gave instructions on how to create the bead-effect on the cover of this mini-album. It also shared information on the various size and types of pages I used.
Paperclipping Members can now watch this week’s episode where I talk about design as a visual language. In it I share some ways to communicate a story that is fun, crazy, hectic, or silly plus a tip on how to avoid design-overkill.
Are you new to Paperclipping? We have free episodes you can watch. Find them in the column to the left or by scrolling down the blog.
You can view the layouts used as examples in today’s episode below:
Because Life Is Too Short
Journaling written to Aiden reads: Blake and Trin are trying to relax on the sofa with Gatsby, and here you are making that totally impossible.
Supplies used: Patterned paper (Creative Imaginations) * Acrylic paint * Cardstock (Stampin’ Up) * Eyelets (Making Memories) * Transparent title (Creative Imaginations) * Epoxy sticker (Creative Cafe) * Ribbon (Stampin’ Up–audience member, Mandi Kehoe) * “Hello Life” digital text frame (Ali Edwards).
If you like this episode, you’ll probably like all of the episodes! Members get access to our archives of almost 100 tutorials. Please visit the Membership Information Page to find out more.
I’ve posted the layouts from today’s episode below…
Red Boots
12×12 Layout Journaling written to Aiden: Man, do I love you in those boots! We bought them for our upcoming trip-camping during the Monsoon Season. I never expected you’d want to wear them everyday: rain or shine * shorts or pants * and even to school. You get a lot of attention when you wear them, which probably makes them even more irresistibly cool to you.
**The polka dot and gold patterned papers are quite old scraps from a time when most everything came in a grungy-brown. Until I did this page, whenever I saw that paper, I felt bogged down b/c it’s so dark and heavy. Look how great it looks, though, with vibrant red, yellow-gold, and bright white!
Do you still have a lot of heavy browns from a few years back? Try using it in small amounts with other papers that make you happy.
After The Feast
2-page 12×12 Layout
I love how flexible these templates are. I think next time I’ll try making three panels instead of two. I’m excited to see what some of you do with the template.
We’ve released today’s episode for Paperclipping Members, so if you’re one of them, you can watch it now. I’ve taken a unique approach to a common problem and I hope you find it helpful and inspiring!
If you ever feel unhappy with your Christmas-themed scrapbook pages, you might be making the common mistake many make when combining red and green. Today we released a Quick Tip for the Members that explains why those complimentary colors are not as easy to pair as you might think–and what you can do to make them truly complimentary–both to each other and to your photos.
If you don’t already have a Paperclipping Membership and would like to see all of the tutorials, click here to find out how you can. Right now Members get $10 off the newly released extended tutorial, The Holiday Altered Book.
This episode, for the Premium Subscribers, ends the series on color and will give you some ideas on how you can make unlikely items work together for you. Below is the final layout from the episode…
Somebody Come & Play
12×12 layout
The journaling reads:
A regular day-to-day activity for Erin and I growing up was to write and perform our own plays. She was the dominant writer, I was the dominant dancer. We were both singers and actors. She was usually the director and I was often the star.
This photo is from a show she wrote called, Somebody Come and Play.” We gathered neighborhood friends to take some parts. I played the lead and sang a song from Sesame Street with the same title as our show. We invited neighborhood parents and charged for tickets. Erin dressed up in her most directorly attire. The House For Sale sign was a prop that she made.
These childhood games were formative in my love for theatre, which dominated my spare time and passions through high school and into college.
Do you wish you could watch all of the Paperclipping videos? Click here to find out how you can.
I hope you enjoy the second Quick Tip in the current series on color. Below is the layout I showed from today’s tip for the Premium Subscribers…
A Minute Before
12×12 Layout
The picture on this layout is of Trinity and her brothers, just outside the dentist’s office after an appointment. The journaling to my daughter reads:
I snapped this shot with my phone just before you had a seizure. I missed the warning signs: you weren’t skipping rocks with the boys. You complained of feeling hot and wanted to go home. I said that was fine, looked down to grab my stuff, and when I looked up again, you were on the ground in a bizarre position. You had fallen down and scraped the shoulder on which you landed. You also scraped your elbow and your knee, but your shoulder? That’s not a normal way to fall.
I still didn’t get that you had had an aura and were in the middle of a seizure. I asked why you fell. You said you weren’t able to control your body. I thought you were reacting to the anesthesia. I helped you up. We went back to the dentist office where you had just gotten three cavities filled.
That’s when you fell again. You were standing right next to me, my arm around you, and you dropped straight down. I grabbed you, saw your eyes–those glazed over hollow eyes–and knew you weren’t totally with me now. That’s when I recognized it for what it was. You still have Epilepsy.
We thought you had grown out of it. One and a half years seizure free is a good amount of time and we were looking forward to taking you off your medication in October. I guess that won’t be happening now. Not this year, anyway.
We’re so happy to announce yet another new feature on Paperclipping: Paperclipping Quick Tips. This tip is a follow-up of the episode on mixing and matching patterns.
While we’re talking about choosing patterned paper, I wanted to answer this question from Terri Bradford: “How do you use (or do you use) your photos in your own process for picking out colors/design with patterned papers? If so, when do they come into play? “
I do factor in my photos as I’m choosing the paper, especially the first paper, but the importance I place on the photo colors depends on what my story is. If the colors in my photo will help me communicate the tone of my story, then I use them. If not, then I decide whether it’s more important to me to use the colors in the photo or the colors that I associate with what was happening. In some cases I just make sure the colors don’t pull away from the photo. Sometimes it’s a compromise, but most often, if the paper I most want to use doesn’t look that great with the photo, I can find a paper to add that does.
The variety of colors that will work with a photo might surprise you. My biggest concern is not to match the colors of my papers to my photos, but to highlight skin tones or an important object in the image. You don’t necessarily need to use the predominant colors of the photos to do that–in fact, many times using the same color in the photo overemphasizes it and it doesn’t look right.
This episode, for the Premium Subscribers, is packed with design principles on mixing and matching patterned papers. If you want to know more about the Premium Subscription, go to the Membership Information Page.
We have some new features for the Premium Subscribers. If you appreciate the difference between the high-quality version of the videos and the ones we post straight on the blog, then you’ll love the new High Definition video feed because it’s even better! You’ll be able to see even more detail on the projects in the video with this new feed.
You’ll want to try it out to make sure they’ll play on your computer. To see instructions on how to subscribe to the premium feed, log into your account at the members area.
Many of you will also be happy to hear that Izzy made a screencast with instructions for Premium Subscribers on how to receive the videos automatically from iTunes. Log into your account in the Paperclipping Members Area to watch the screencast.
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