Color | Paperclipping

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Paperclipping 62 – Make Your Items Work Together

Monday, October 20th, 2008

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!

Paperclipping 62 - Make Items Work Together
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.

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Posted in Design, Instructions, Journaling, Lesson, Podcast, Scrapbook-Layout, Scrapbooking, Tutorial, Vidcast, Video Podcast, Vlog, Vodcast, color | Comments

Papercliping 61 QT – The Color Black

Wednesday, October 15th, 2008

Paperclipping 61 QT - The Color Black
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.

Supplies: Patterned paper (Basic Grey) * Cardstock (Bazzill) * Glitter (Stickles) * Bling (Me & My Big Ideas) * Transparent journal block (Hambly) * Sticker (Creative Imaginations) * Acrylic Stamp (Autumn Leaves) * Ink (Staz On) * Rub-on word “minute” (Art Warehouse) * Beads.

Posted in Design, Instructions, Journaling, Lesson, Podcast, Scrapbook-Layout, Scrapbooking, Tutorial, Vidcast, Video Podcast, Vlog, Vodcast, color | Comments

Paperclipping 60 QT – Clashing Papers

Monday, October 13th, 2008

Paperclipping 60 QT - Clashing Papers

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.

Enjoy today’s Quick Tip!

Posted in Design, Instructions, Lesson, Podcast, Scrapbooking, Tutorial, Vidcast, Video Podcast, Vlog, Vodcast, color | Comments

Paperclipping 59 – Mixing Patterned Paper

Thursday, October 9th, 2008

Paperclipping 59 Mixing Patterned Paper
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.

Below is the layout I made with my paper choices from this episode…
winter_weather_4_summer

Posted in Design, Lesson, Podcast, Scrapbooking, Tutorial, Vidcast, Video Podcast, Vlog, Vodcast, color | Comments

Apologies For Last Night’s Paperclipping Live

Wednesday, September 17th, 2008

Apparently, last night’s show didn’t record. I realize many of you prepared your stories and photos with the plan to watch the recording today. So, I’m going to make it up to you. Next week we’ll cover the same subject, but let’s take it a little further. Let’s plan for even more participation.

If you are willing to call into the show to share your story and photo next week, please email me. I would love to talk with two or three people more thoroughly about how you feel about your story, and which colors, patterns, and symbols/embellishments might help you communicate.

Whether you are one of those that shared with us in the chat last night or not, you are welcome to call in through Skype next week. I would love to have at least two people call in, so if you are interested and can be prepared with at least one photo and a story in mind, please email me…

noell(at)paperclipping(dot)com

Posted in Embellishments, Journaling, Live Show, Live Streaming, Scrapbooking, Updates, color | Comments

Beyond the “First Day Of School” Layout Duldrums

Monday, September 8th, 2008

Are You happy with your Back-To-School Layouts?

Do your first day of school layouts look basically the same, but with updated products? Or perhaps, you’re still using the bounty of school-related stuff you bought three years ago? Are you tired of attaching the same title, “First Day,” every time?

Do your layouts reflect the pride you felt at your kids’ good looks in their brand new outfits? Or your dismay at how big they’ve grown? Or the chaos of trying to take their first-day photos and get them to school on time? Do you relive feelings again when you look at your back-to-school layouts?

Daddy Documents

The journaling reads: This year’s first day of school felt extra-special. Not only did all three of you start at the same school for the first time ever, but Daddy got to join us–again, for the first time ever…which led to the very best first day of school photos ever. And, he brought his great video camera to conduct first-day interviews with each of you. We loved sharing the excitement-including the music and balloons and energy.

Identifying The Stories

I knew I had accomplished my goal when Israel looked over this page for the new school year and said, “Oh my gosh, this totally makes me remember being there and what it felt like.” He got to see the kids off with me for the very first time. This year we have lots of good pictures and lots of good stories.

I took note of the different stories I wanted to tell, and then I looked through my photo manager to view and choose photos. Rather than trying to fit all of the good pictures on one back-to-school page, or choose just my favorite one or two, I identified which photos best told which stories, and allowed the number of stories I held in my heart to dictate the number of layouts I would make, and the number of photos on each one.

Last week you saw one of those layouts–the story of my oldest child, Blake, growing into a young man. This week you will see the rest of the stories, as well as one from last year. Today I’m sharing the one that celebrates Izzy’s being able to join us, and the overall excitement we enjoyed as we all entered the school grounds together.

Choosing The Photos

Notice how the photos in my layout each show a part of the story in the journaling: the three children posing for Dad; the kids entering the school, balloons in the background, Aiden receiving a high-five from a teacher; Izzy interviewing the kids; and of course, the focal-point photo and the focus of the story: Izzy with his camera.

The Products

I didn’t have a good experience the last time I purchased school-themed products. They didn’t reflect my actual stories and I couldn’t work them into my layouts. I decided this year and last year to only get things that I could easily use for other topics as well. So you won’t see many school-specific items on Paperclipping this week. What you will see are elements that reflect my own view of my stories:

1) Energy: Energetic red.
2) Time: The face of an old vintage watch alongside other time-related symbols.
3) Elementary School: The “D is for” prefix to my title, evoking an elementary alphabet lesson.
4) Feelings of Stability With Dad’s Presence: Strong, clean lines between the reds and cream plus strong shapes around the photos.

Note: I did not consciously think, “Dad brings feelings of stability, therefore I will use strong lines and shapes for this layout.” If you will get in touch with the emotional and personal aspects of your story, and focus on trying to reflect them visually, you will often choose design elements that reflect those ideas in a sub-conscious way.

Self-Reflection

Ask yourself, what is different about this year’s first day of school? What stories, incidents, feelings, or reflections dominated the day?

Journaling
How can you translate that into words? Be specific. Talk directly to your kids, or the subject of your layout, in your journaling. If you have more to say than one or two simple sentences, write it out ahead of time so you can make adjustments before you commit pen to paper.

Photos
Which photos best tell your story visually?

Products and Design
How can you translate the ideas on which you reflected into your design? What colors, papers, and embellishments will help support that story and those feelings? Don’t be bound to your school-themed products. If they support your story, use them. If they don’t, then leave them off.

Creating A Visual Memoir

Relax and tell your stories. That’s all this is. Someday you’ll have a collection of back-to-school stories that, as a whole, are a colorful memoir of a parent who watched her kids grow from year to year–of her children as they experience the excitement of walking into the unknown and entering a new phase of relationship, challenges, joys, and learning.

Posted in Design, Embellishments, Journaling, Photography, Scrapbook-Layout, Scrapbooking, color | Comments

How To Make A Vacation Scrapbook: Step 5

Friday, August 29th, 2008

8.5×11 Two-page Layout. Embellished area at the right side inspired by 2 Peas’ Garden Girl, Lisa McGarvey.

Paperclipping has been focused on scrapbooks for a big vacation, such as my family’s recent Disneyland trip. I’m working on my own album, as you work on yours.

Because many scrapbookers feel this project is overwhelming, I’ve broken up the process into a series of steps. But these steps won’t just make it easier on you. They’ll help you identify the rich stories you want to tell about your trip. If you missed the previous steps, here they are:

Step 1
Steps 2&3
Step 4

Step 5: Assess Your Needs

I know the temptation. The temptation is to find that super cute album you saw last week and to buy it for your vacation, without any idea how much space you actually need. That is a symptom of the number of products and projects in the magazines and online. But what do you really need to tell your story? If we are going to center our scrapbooking around the stories we have to tell, we need to start with the story and let that dictate the products.

How Many Pages Do You Need?

You’ve separated your pictures into individual stories. While you may end up changing this around a little (I have already), you should be able to count the piles for an approximation of how many pages you’ll need. Each story will normally equal one page, or one two-page spread.

What Size Of Pages Do You Need?

Approximately how many photos do you have for each story? The answer will be a major indicator for whether you need a 12×12 album, an 8.5×11 or something smaller, or if you can even use a more traditional photo album.

It will help to ask yourself the following questions:

1. Can you reprint some photos into smaller or larger sizes to better tell your stories?
2. Can you crop your photos manually in order to fit more into a smaller space?
3. How much journaling do you have for each story? Will you want to type and print it or do it by hand?

How did I decide on the size of my album? I had a varied number of photos for each of my stories. This meant I’d need some flexibility, making a traditional photo album more difficult (although, I was tempted to do this). I also wanted to type my journaling (for simplicity), and if I were to use 8.5×11 paper, I’d be able to type if right on my background pages.

I have a lot of experience re-sizing my original photos, so I decided 8.5×11 would be my best solution.

What Colors Will Highlight Your Pictures & Reproduce the Emotions Of Your Event?

If you were on top of Steps 1-3, then you should have a good idea in your mind of what the tone of the overall story is, and what colors will help you express that tone.

Originally, I skipped through this step and decided to go with white, just to make the project easier. But as I began working on my first page, I realized white wasn’t connecting with me, nor my story. I decided to find a collection of muted hues with subtle patterns that would give me the choice of warmth (browns and cream tones) or fun (light blue or red).

What Embellishments Can You Add To Support The Story?

Again, with so many wonderful products available to us, it’s easy let some popular or cute embellishments dictate our design, rather than the actual story we want to tell. I’m not saying we shouldn’t use all those embellishments. Just make sure you know what your stories are, and ask whether the embellishments support them or not.

Reuniting with some of my siblings and our parents to relive a regular childhood memory together and with our children was greater for me than the actual Disney park, itself. I decided to use minimal embellishments and instead, make the bounty of photos the real highlight of the pages.

I also wanted a very classic representative of Disney–one that I relate to all the way back to my childhood, since the story of this album is bringing together the past and the present at Disneyland. I decided to make a Mickey Mouse silhouette the main embellishment (and usually the only one) for each page.

Your Assignment

Are you still on track with me on this? If so, your assignment is to…

1. Count your stories (each pile of pictures and their story topics on notecards) to determine the approximate number of pages you need.

2. Look at the number of photos for each story/page and determine the size that will best work for you.

3. Choose colors based on the tone of the event and how you feel about it.

4. Choose embellishments that will help to tell your story.

You are now ready to play!

By the way, although I am now working on the third page for my scrapbook, I have yet to choose an album cover. It’s the least of my concerns because I know the cover will come eventually. It’s the story I’m most interested in.

Posted in Embellishments, Holidays, Instructions, Organization, Scrapbooking, color | Comments

2 Techniques You Can Use On Your Outdoor Layouts

Saturday, July 12th, 2008

Most of my scrapbooking inspiration comes from the mood or feelings I associate with the subject of my layout. I try create a visual expression of how I feel. When I think of the outdoors, I often think of relaxation, play, and whimsy. Below are two techniques for adding details that evoke those three characteristics.

Enhance A Floral Pattern with Beads

What you need: Floral patterned paper, a transparent glue like Diamond Glaze or Glossy Accents, two different colors of beads.

1. Working in small stretches at a time, apply a line of glue about half an inch long along the inside of a petal. Using a pen, pencil, or other pointed tip, pick up one bead at a time and place them in the glue, just inside the outline of the petal.
2. As you place each bead, press it into place with your fingernail. If you use your fingertip it will get sticky and the beads will stick to it.
3. Continue alternating between glue and beads until you’ve outlined the petal.
4. Fill the bud in with a small amount of glue and add beads until they fill the bud.

If you feel like you have some weak spots (perhaps the glue was almost dry when you added a couple of the beads), you can add some glue to the sides of the beads to make them stable.

Add Whimsy To A Colorful Tag With Wire

What you need: A decorative tag, two colors of wire, glue dots, wire tool (optional).

1. Cut two pieces of wire to about 4 inches each.
2. Feed wire through hole of tag and bend wires in half so they straight out from the top of the tag. You’ll have 4 ends.
3. Twist the wires around themselves a couple of times at the top of the tag.
4. Working with one end at a time, twist the wire with a tool or with your finger so that you get a fun spiral. For a playful look, don’t try to make the spirals perfect.
5. Place a glue dot on the bottom side of the top of the tag so it holds the wire in place.
6. After adding the tag to your page, arrange the wire so they stick up in different directions for a totally fun and carefree look.

Combining The Details

Here is another example of the same two techniques together. Don’t they feel happy?

Posted in Craft, Embellishments, Instructions, Lesson, Scrapbooking, Tutorial, color | Comments

Product Pick’s For The Outdoors

Wednesday, July 9th, 2008

Not that you need an excuse to spend more money, but if you want some ideas to take advantage of this outdoor season, here are my picks for layouts and good photos.

Patterned Paper

I love this paper by Cosmo Cricket. I love the fun, bright colors and the happy shapes. It just feels like being outside.

Telephoto Lens

If you have kids in sports, a telephoto lens is a great lens to have. We bought our lens when Blake was in baseball and suddenly we were able to get good shots from way across the field.

These are the kinds of things that inspire me–good colors that match my mood and the season, and great photos. I hope you’re all enjoying the summer and bright outdoors.

Posted in Photography, Product Reviews, Scrapbooking, color | Comments

Questions About The Gridded Layout

Friday, June 13th, 2008

I wanted to answer some questions from Toni about this layout from Episode 46.

Questions

Is the subtle hue on the paper (visible in the top right quarter) painted on, or was it already present in the paper pattern? The hue change was already present on the paper. It is made by Daisy Bucket and is from their Garden Gate collection. It’s the backside of the red patterned paper called, Summer Sweet.

How long did it take you to plan, layout and complete this page? I am a slow scrapbooker (I force myself to work faster on Paperclipping Live, but I really prefer to take my time, enjoy the moment, and allow my brain to wander and think about things) but this was a very fast layout for me. One of my easier ones. I completed it in three different short sittings. As for time, my best guess is maybe 5 minutes; 45 minutes, and 30 minutes.

My Process

Making the grid: I first laid my photos on the Basic Grey mat (this took me 5 minutes at the most), then put it away for a week while I worked on other projects. When I pulled my mat out again, I quickly saw that there was one spot that looked predictable because it formed a sort of checkerboard formation (if you don’t know me yet, I don’t like my art to be predictable–something I discovered as a child when I used to choreograph my own dances for fun) so I moved two of the photos and then I was happy with it.

Transferring the photos to my paper and adhering it was the longest part of putting this layout together, but was so easy because of having had the photos on the mat first. I used a ruler, not to measure, but to make sure the photos were straight. As I transferred each photo to my paper, I sanded the edges.

Adding the details: Next, I knew I wanted to add a happy color so I grabbed a scrap of orange patterned paper (Basic Grey), cut two squares, and placed them fairly randomly. I also felt I needed some circles for variety and found two different circle stamps and a piece of Scenic Route chipboard and put them in a triangular formation.

As I was looking around my room at my stuff I noticed my acrylic letters and pulled out the “a.” It was perfect for adding something into the bottom left corner because it added some detail down there without making that corner too heavy–I wanted the most weight to be at the bottom right corner.

At this point it was all about balancing my color by adding second and third points of a visual triangle for each color. I knew I wanted my title in the empty rectangular space and green would finish one triangle. Adding a swipe of orange paint underneath the title would help it to stand out and complete the triangle of orange. I ran out of green letters so I was happy to add yet another color to my palette (red), and then found two red buttons to balance it. I continued this until it had a nice balance of color and empty spaces to filled spaces.

A magnetic mat is not necessary.

I do recommend you use a grid of some kind because it makes it so easy, but you don’t need a magnetic one. I used the magnets on the video because my mat was upright for you to see. When I did this with my actual photos, though, I didn’t use the magnets, even while I was storing it away for a week.

* * *

Self-Expression
12×12 layout

Journaling: Geocaching on a small mountain, too big for you to go further; waiting for Blake, Trin and Dad to return from the cache. I started snapping shots of you and then you went to work with your expressions.

Album: Although the event of these photos was one of our geocaching adventures for which I have an entire album, this layout is about Aiden and his personality and a quirky thing he did at age 4. This layout will mean more to me in the This Is Aiden album, which I will be featuring on the dvd we will be releasing soon.

Products: Adhesive (Diamond Glaze, Creative Memories Tape Runner, Foam 3-D Dots by EK Success); Patterned paper (Daisy Bucket, Basic Grey, My Mind’s Eye-for circle stamp, K.I. Memories lace paper); Chipboard letters (Heidi Swapp, Making Memories); Stamps (7 Gypsies, Catslife Press); Ink (7 Gypsies, Stazon); Acrylic letter (Heidi Swapp); Chipboard (Scenic Route); Brads (Making Memories); Buttons (Creative Cafe); Sticker (7 Gypsies); Rub-on letters (for Mama–Heidi Swapp); Ribbon (We R Memory Keepers); Flower Charm Buckle (from own stash).

Posted in Design, Lesson, Scrapbook-Layout, Scrapbooking, Style, color | Comments

Results Of The Style Exchange

Wednesday, June 11th, 2008

We’ve been talking about personal style a lot over the last two weeks. Part of our focus was an exchange of products between Dedra Long and myself. We have two very different styles and my hope was that we could try elements of each other’s style and make them our own. This is an interesting exercise to do because it can help you hone in on, not only what you are, but what you are not. It also gives you an opportunity to try something new, while learning to stay within the parameters of your own personal style.

My Layout

Here is the layout that I made using a combination of my products with the ones Dedra gave me. Almost everything in her kit was stuff that I like. The parts that weren’t me were the pink and white heart paper, and the abundance of pink in general as a main color. I added cream lace, lavender tuille, and additional patterned paper to make it my own.

Another way that I dealt with the difficult items was to add a second, warmer shade of pink (which is more of a “me” pink) and to turn the heart paper into an embellishment (I cut out a bunch of hearts and had them bubbling over the top of the lace and paper. In fact, my idea for dealing with the hearts came when I was going through my older layouts for the series on the evolution of my personal style. I found a cluster of hearts on one of my earliest layouts (not shown in my posts) that I loved then and still like now. I like the bubbliness of the circular tops of hearts so that is what I focused on.

Lately, I’ve been wanting to play with more happy colors so it was a good time to work with more pink than usual and to play with more three-dimensionality than I normally do on a layout. I do feel like I’ve expanded my scrapbook repertoire from this experiment.

Dedra’s Layout

Dedra cheated on her project. =)

I had to put that in there. Actually, it’s okay. She really tried to fit all my pieces in but ultimately, it just wasn’t her to have so many patterns, especially in the colors I chose for her, so she left some things out. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Dedra work with these golden browns and I think it’s gorgeous. The layout still screams Dedra, but in a new color.

The beads were also new for Dedra and I love how she added them as an accessory to a very Dedra-esque wire frame in a very playful and whimsical way. I’m curious to know if she plans to use more beads in the future and if she learned anything about herself in this process.

Posted in Scrapbook-Layout, Scrapbooking, Style, color | Comments

My Scrapbooking History, Part 2: Late Bloomer

Friday, June 6th, 2008

A lot of you said after reading Part 1 that you feel better about yourselves having seen my first pages. I was a late bloomer. And just so you know, many of the layouts I’ll be showing you in in this post were the best of their time, or layouts that mark a next-step for me.

Getting It Done Layouts

The next phase of my scrapbooking was a long stagnation. I was busier with a second child and it seems a lot of what I did was an effort to just get it done. Because I didn’t have many supplies I was spending more time hand-writing and hand-cutting designs or letters and most of my pages look like the one above but with even less to them. They were 2-page layouts with lots of photos spread around.

Having a second child spurred me toward more journaling. With two young children developing quickly I realized I had to get those memories recorded. Now you see more stories and pictures on each page, but less decorating.

Time wasn’t the only factor, though. We moved into a house much farther away from the local scrapbook store, we no longer had extra money to spend, and for a long while we shared one car, which Israel took to work. There were a number of years when I was using only leftovers and was missing out on all the changing and development that I would have seen in the stores and magazines if had looked.

Maybe this is why I began to have some moments of rebellion, when I decided to use some of the actual pieces of our lives in place of acid-free industry products…

I love this page, even if I would lay it out differently now and add more colors. Seeing these Einstein images reminds me of a great time when we were going to Einstein Bagels every Sunday morning and then off to the Scottsdale Civic Center to visit the library, read books on the grass, and play by the fountains.

Experimenting With Lumpy Products

One year I got some birthday money and decided to spend it all on scrapbooking products at two of our local stores. Not having been in a scrapbook store in a while, I remember being shocked that the industry had undergone a huge change while I was gone.

I didn’t dare spend my birthday money on magazines so I was ignorant about who initiated the changes and what other people were doing with these new products. And still had no clue about design concepts.

You can see that with after that shopping trip I was back to experimenting with design, colors, and products again, but I had a distinct feeling of dissatisfaction at this time. I wondered if my products were a distraction to the pictures. Understanding design principles would have really helped me.

Learning Through Trial And Error

This surge of new products inspired me to spend more time on my layouts again and I can see where this new attention to details helped me improve my design instinctively. Notice the new use of lines in the last three layouts, including the anchoring line I added to the bottom row of photos in this Thanksgiving layout. They’re still not great but I was learning from my experiences. It’s interesting to see the that I was starting to get an idea of some design elements, even if I didn’t fully get it or know that’s what I was doing.

Scapbooking more sophisticated topics also allowed me to play more with the types of products and colors I like (as opposed to child-themed ones). I can’t help giggling at my tiny dolphins compared to the giant shells and the glue dots visible through the velum. What I do like is that I was starting to find and identify colors I love.

My CM Phase

Most scrapbookers say they started out with Creative Memories and then moved away from it. I didn’t touch CM until I’d already been scrapbooking for six or seven years. I met a consultant who had a fireball personality and she inspired me to start journaling a lot more. For a short time I stopped buying other industry products and purchased mainly from CM.

While I have a lot pages with the older CM look (solid white background with triangles in the corner and from the sides), I usually tried hard for an aesthetically pleasing look. While working on the layout above about Aiden, I distinctly remember my excitement of discovering compartmentalized spaces, using lines, eye direction, and carrying a circular theme from one side to the other.

How Making Cards Made Me Aware of Myself

I also started making cards with my friends using Stampin’ Up products. I wanted to send a homemade card to a friend from high school but none of the cards I’d been making were really me. I couldn’t get myself to send any of them to her. That’s when I first became aware that I was rarely scrapbooking in a way that really reflected me. I wondered if that even was possible. I think you can see that new thought reflected in the last layout and the next few below.

I had so much fun mixing these unlikely pattens together (three different sizes of squares from punched scraps)–something I continue to love doing today.

These muted colors and patterns were so me back then, and still are now.

It was around this time in 2005 that Israel asked me to do something which led to the next big jump in my journey toward personal style. Stay tuned…(But go ahead and leave your observations by commenting).

Posted in Design, Journaling, Scrapbook-Layout, Scrapbooking, Style, color | Comments

The Fine Line Between Personal Style And A Rut

Monday, June 2nd, 2008

It’s a wonderful experience to find your own style (more on that to come, I promise!). Shopping for product gets easier because you have a better idea of what you like and use well, and what you don’t. But if we don’t continue to expand and evolve in small ways, the way our lives do, we may find ourselves in a rut. The same things no longer excite us and we don’t feel challenged.

This is why there needs to be some give-and-take. As you come to know what is totally you-you-you, allow yourself to really delve into that you-ness. But periodically, notice what someone else is doing differently and see if you can adopt a little bit of that them-ness, infusing it into your own style.

Last week on Paperclipping Live, Dedra and I took inspiration from another layout, taking just a couple of the elements we liked and making them our own. For Paperclipping Live this week, Dedra and I will do a Style Exchange, Part Two. But this time, we’re taking inspiration from each other.

The Challenge

I picked out some products that are totally me–earthy, bohemian, full of patterns and color variation–and that I think are totally not Dedra (for the most part):

And Dedra did the same for me:

The challenge is to take these products, perhaps mix them with a few more from our own stashes (Dedra promised me she wouldn’t paint over my patterned paper!), and try to make them into a layout that is truly our own.

Curious to see how it turns out? Join us for Paperclipping Live on Tuesday, June 3 at 6:30pm PST and watch us go to work.

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.

Posted in Live Show, Live Streaming, Scrapbooking, Style, color | Comments

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