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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

Below are seven different challenges for National Scrapbook Day. You do not have to do all of them. I wanted to offer a variety of options so you can choose the ones that best suit you. The more you do, the better your chances of winning. You may repeat the same challenge.

You do not have to be present at the live event to participate in the challenges. I will give out some prizes during the live event to those who are present in the chat. I will award other prizes on the blog on Sunday based on the challenges below.

For each layout or project you upload to flickr, which you must base on one of the following challenges, you will be entered in a drawing for prizes. You have until the end of Saturday to upload your layouts. In the description, please tell us which challenge you used. I will choose randomly from these layouts for the final drawings.

Please do not enter layouts you completed before reading this entry. It’s okay to finish a layout or project you already started as long as you implement one of these challenges.

Challenges:

1. Create a layout or other project using a principle from any one of the Paperclipping Video Tutorials (links are at the right). Upload your layout to flickr. In the description, please share which video you used and how.

2. Recycle an item from your life by incorporating it into the design of your layout. Upload your layout to flickr and tell us what the item is in your description.

3. Begin a mini-book. Choose the photos and a theme. Gather papers, then embellishments, that reflect the theme. Put it all in a pile and photograph it. Upload your photo to flickr and in the description tell us how the products reflect the theme of the mini-book you will be putting together.

4. Words aren’t the only way to tell a story. Make a layout that uses something visual to help tell your story on a layout. Upload your layout to flickr and share with us what visual element you used on your page to communicate an idea or emotion.

5. Use your wonderful scraps. Make a layout that uses at least 3 different scraps of patterned paper. Upload the layout to flickr.

6. Design a layout in this order:
a. Choose the photos.
b. Write journaling on some scrap paper or make notes of the emotion or tone.
c. If you have more than one photo, choose a focal point photo (unless it’s a collage where all photos are equal).
d. Decide approximate photo placement. (Don’t freak out here…you’re free to change your mind at any time).
e. Based on where you think you’ll place your photo, choose paper size and pick your background paper.
f. Choose other papers with colors and/or patterns that remind you of the tone of your layout’s story.
g. Design your layout with the photos, papers, journaling, title. Tape everything down.
h. Add your embellishments last.

7. Design a layout where you cluster at least three embellishments around a title, a photo, or a line.

I will come back tomorrow with a link to the new Paperclipping Flickr Group. You can see the schedule for the three different live events here.

To celebrate our amazing hobby, we’ll have challenges and prizes on National Scrapbook Day during three different sessions of Paperclipping Live, Saturday, May 3rd.

Please join us at any of these times:

8:30 -10:30am

1:00-3:00pm

7:00-8:30pm

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.

I hope you’ll prepare to spend the day scrapbooking with others of the Paperclipping audience and me. During the week before our celebration, I will announce some of the challenges so you can get a head start.

I am preparing a Paperclipping Flickr Page so you will be able to upload your layouts and projects and participate in the challenges. I can’t wait to party with you!

Dina Wakley is an organic, artistic scrapbooker and she recently designed a project for a very unique challenge blog called, Inspired By Amelie. I adore Dina’s project and knew I had to highlight it and Dina as the featured artist and project this week. It is one of the more unique scrapbooking projects I’ve seen in a while.

What I love about Dina’s “Memory Box:”

1. The balance between strong design (the lined up boxes) and free-flowing art (the imperfect stamping and stitching, the dash of red in the backround, the fact that she stitched right over some of the memorabilia as they stick out from their perfect spaces).

2. The gathering of REAL everyday items.

3. The bold, passionate colors.

4. The childhood song, which instantly sent me back to the 1970’s and my childhood.

5. The fact that some of the items overlap, especially how part of the ephemera is hiding behind the page protector.

I had some questions for Dina regarding her project and I figured you would, too. Continue reading to learn more about it.

Interview

You are on the design team for the Inspired By Amelie blog and that’s what inspired this project. Will you tell us about that blog and what it is?
My friend Fauve started the Amelie blog out of a love for the film Amelie. She saw lots of potential for scrapping inspiration in the movie, and she invited a bunch of us to contribute to a challenge blog about it. The idea is to be inspired by the film…its spirit, its colors, its themes.

We have a challenge every month, and every month Fauve lines up a great sponsor for the prize.

What was the challenge that led to your “Memories” project?
In the film, Amelie finds a memory box behind the wall in her bathroom. The box belonged to a boy who had lived in her apartment in the 1950s. Amelie sets out to return the box to its rightful owner.

The scrapping challenge for the blog was to create a memory box of some sort.

How did you decide on the items you put in the page protector?
First I sent my kids on a hunt throughout the house…they brought me a few things (the Legos!). So those things represent my kids. The pieces of film are mine and represent my love for photography and pictures. There are a few coins there from our trip to England last year, and there’s a bit of a map from our China trip two years ago. The mini photographs are from the England trip, too.

The other elements all come from my stash of collage treasures–things that I like and that I tend to hoard, like old stamps and keys and clock faces. The verse that I stamped is from an old playground song that we used to sing as kids.

What were the general steps for putting it together?
Well, at first this challenge to create a memory box stumped me, because I’m really not good at altering 3-D things. Then I got the idea to collect elements together in a scrapbook page format instead of a box format.

I started with the sheet protector–it’s a sheet protector that holds slides, so it’s already divided up into little compartments. I found elements to go in the compartments and then I sewed around them so they wouldn’t fall out. Then I inked & stamped the cardstock, and combined it all together.

How did you attach the plastic page protector to the cardstock?
You can’t see it in the picture, but I stapled it.

What is the technique for getting that red paint look?
I laid down some metal mesh, and I sprayed over it with Terracotta Color Wash Spray Ink by Tim Holtz.

The page protector looks like it was already divided into square compartments and then you stitched more squares through it. Is that right? What size is it and who makes it?
Yep, it’s a protector to hold slides. I got it from Light Impressions.

Will you be putting this into another page protector and then into an album, or did you make it to display on its own?
Good question…I’m really not sure! I will likely find a way to incorporate it into an album.

Inspiration

I can think of so many ways to apply this. Just off the top of my head, you could use it to gather and showcase items from:
1. Vacation
2. Childhood
3. Wedding
4. Birth (yours or your children’s)
5. An ancestor or relative who has died
6. A day’s worth of errands
7. Your current hobby or passion

What could you use this idea for?

To see more of Dina’s scrapbooking and art journaling, visit her blog, Ponderings.
Thank you, Dina, for sharing your unique project with us!

Yes, we do have a video podcast that is just about ready for release. It is a free episode available to everyone–and it’s a good one. We hope to post it tonight, so be sure to come back.

Don’t forget Paperclipping Live tomorrow night (Tuesday) at 6:30pm PST. I will be taking calls through Skype, so be sure to register at skype.com (it’s free) if you’ve had a question you wanted me to answer or have something cool to share with the Paperclipping audience. Calls may be video or audio. Contact me during the live show with my skype username, “noellhyman.”

I will also cover the front of the board book we worked on last week.

I have a backlog of emails with questions I have not answered. I’ll look through those today and will answer them either tomorrow night during Paperclipping Live, or in a blog posting later this week. If you have been waiting for a response from me, be sure to attend tomorrow night’s event or watch the recording later, just in case.

The first members only video is up now. I’m excited about this one because I share some unique new uses for Heidi Swapp masks.

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

Just to remind you, we will also continue to release some free videos. Watch for one in the next week or two.