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Below is the layout I featured in this week’s tutorial…
Creativity In The Making
2-pg. 12×12 layout
Journaling written to my friend, Dedra Long reads: Shooting our DVD together — that was a blast. It was hard work, definitely. But we had FUN! I remember laughing and laughing with you, even though I can’t remember what was so funny. By looking at the photos, it was clearly something about hair. Clearly. I’m so glad we did these two long days of video shoots. It was one of my favorite Paperclipping memories.
Supplies: Creative Imaginations Die Cut Paper * 7 Gypsies yellow polka dot paper * Tattered Angels Glimmer Glass (Nature) * Tim Holtz Idea-ology Type Charms * Prima Rhinestone Flourish * Basic Grey yellow rub-on’s.
Above is a closeup of the technique part of this episode.
This page was all about color balance. The reds in the patterned paper were too warm for the cooler red and blue tones in the photo. To make the photo work with the paper I added red Stickles glitter to three of the flowers in a triangle around the photo. That red glitter matches the ornament (it might be hard to see the glitter in the photo) and now the warms and cools like totally fine.
I also wanted to bring the cream color from the sticker, and the white from the flourish and #14, over to the other side. That’s why I chose the white trim for the floral chipboard page and the cream colored tag. Here’s what the page looked like before I added the content:
Day 15:
This day was all about finishing up a huge day of work before letting go (mostly) and taking a long holiday break. I wrote a note about it and inserted a printed up version of part of the work I did that day, which was to finish up my Holiday Photography Email Course for the Paperclipping Members.
Day 16 & 17
The Day 16 page is cut from one of those page protectors from Becky Higgins’s Project 365 album last year.
On the 17th, Izzy and I finished the bulk of the Christmas shopping so I wrote a little note about that and stuck the kids’ Christmas lists inside. They were actually pretty telling lists. Trinity requested all kinds of stuff like “lots of love” and “a delicious breakfast.”
Coming Soon
This week’s Paperclipping episode will be available by the end of the day today (hopefully sooner than that). Please watch for the newsletter soon if you’re signed up. Also, keep an eye open for some hints about our new upcoming show, The Paperclipping Roundtable.
Journaling reads: This is the 1st video shoot of the month and between now and Jan, the camera will be battling the Christmas tree for space.
I adhered the metal tags and their ties, plus the number 1 to the outside of the plastic page.
Here is the original empty page…
Day 2-6
I posted 2, 3, and 5 in this post. Days 4 and 6 are still missing stuff so I’ll have to come back to them later.
Day 7:
Journaling reads: Blake’s birthday felt like Christmas morning. He didn’t sleep much the night before and then he woke us up at 5am wanting to start the day (we made him go back to bed another hour). Once we got up the first thing we did was give him our gift — our family tradition. It all happened with the glow of the Christmas tree while it was still dark outside. At his request I made Cocoa Spice Muffins and for dinner we went to his favorite restaurant (Olive Garden) where he stuffed himself on soup and mushroom ravioli’s and could only eat a few bites of his cake.
That circle on the red part of the card is around the number 7, for the day of the month.
Days 9, 10:
Day 8 is another incomplete page so let’s move on to day 9…
The journaling on Day 9: So Proud of My Dancer…You got to have an extra 2-hour dance rehearsal this week in preparation for your upcoming concert…and that was in addition to your dress rehearsal on Monday. And just like me, you love the extra rehearshal time, even though it meant breaking yoru regular play date (again) with your best friend, Nicole.
Here are the originals…
Once again, I’ll be back when I can to post more. Thanks for looking.
I’m waiting on a photo for day one, so I’ll have to come back to it later. I’ll come back to post the other days as soon as I have some more free time. Thanks for looking!
Day 2
Day 3
For this day I began with the journaling of a story on the first side and then put the accompanying photos on the next pages…
Journaling on the above photo says, “Haven’t seen one of these faces in a while. Thanks for pulling it out again, buddy.”
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This week’s episode is the last for 2009! Many thanks to all the Paperclipping Members, whose memberships make it possible for us to produce these tutorials.
This week’s episode is for members only but anyone can click on the video above to see the trailer. There’s also a Quicktime version of the trailer here. If you are new here, you might want to watch the free tutorials available in the left-hand column. Anyone who would like to see this week’s video, plus the other 130 episodes in the archives, can find out how to become a Paperclipping Member by clicking here.
Supplies for New Years Album: Many thanks to Stampin’ Up for providing their Glassy Glaze Enamel and the Bashful Blue cardstock. Reminder to Members: watch your emails today or tomorrow for an invitation to sign up for a one-week email course of seven daily lessons for holiday photography.
December Daily: My focus over the last couple workdays has been on the email photography course. I will post pictures of my album over the next few days here on the blog. I just need a little more.
Remember that great tree I decorated for Halloween? (Advantus makes it and the designer sent me one to try). You can get it on sale today only for a great price. Normally it’s $29.99 but today it’s only $17.77 as long as it’s available.
You can get it in Vanilla or Bronze (which is what I have–it looks black). I thought I’d let you all know since many of you liked it after I did a four-part series on decorating this tree for Halloween. I saw that someone used it as an event calendar for Christmas and I cannot wait to use it for Valentine’s Day!
Disclaimer: The links to the products will take you to my affiliate store with Scrapbook.com. If you purchase it through my links I will make a commission.
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We’re releasing a free episode this week. That means you don’t have to be a Paperclipping Member to watch it. If you like it, you might decide you want to see all the others, in which case, you can hop over here and find out how to do that.
To watch, you can either click on the video above or download the Quicktime version.
Below are the layouts that I featured in this video tutorial…
Drum Drum Drum Drum
12×12 layout
The Prima Venice white flower and Pearls & Crystals flourish mix with the playful paper images and combine elegance with childhood play in just the way I wanted so that I could replicate the feel of my mother’s gorgeous home and the children playing inside of it. Imaginisce gave me the Jolly Jingle and the Warm Woolen Mittens papers.
The Buckland Women
8.5×11
Journaling reads: It’s amazing to realize we’ve never had any real girl time together–not all four of us girls–not with the gap between our ages. It was short, but I’m so glad I got to have a little time to myself to visit my family this year. To watch them in their new homes. To see them mother their children and grandmother their grandchildren. * Lindsay * Mom (Grandma Buckland) * Erin * Noell *
Christmas ‘08 Mini: The Performances 6×7.5 mini book
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Personal family videos are all over the internet these days. We put such an emphasis on photos in the scrapbook industry, but videos are just as much a part of our stories as pictures are.
We’ve now released this week’s episode to the Paperclipping Members and in it I share some different ways Izzy and I started to incorporate the fun videos we take of our family and friends into our scrapbooking.
If you’re not a member, you can click on the video above or download the Quicktime version. You can also watch the free videos available in the left column. Then, if you want more tutorials, just click your way over here.
Imaginisce give me the paperI used for these two pages. If you click on the link you can purchase it through my affiliate store. The bow is a classic Dedra Long bow which I’m fortunate to have learned from the Altered Books DVD we made.
The cover of the minibook I featured in this episode will appear in one of the January tutorials and I will post pictures of it at that time.
(note: I got the idea for this vintage aluminum tile background from Dedra Long in our Altered Books Tutorial. Imaginisce gave the poinsettia (minus the button) to me from their new Christmas line.).
Ali Edwards conceived the December Daily project three years ago. The idea is to create a minibook ahead of time with a page for each day. Then everyday in December you find a way to add your picture(s), journaling, and/or memorabilia to the pre-assembled book. These pictures are my 2009 book:
You can see my entire album (before I add the events of each day) in the December Daily set on my Flickr page. This post only showcases a handful of my pages.
5 Tips For Super-Fast Assembly
Are you worried about finding the time to make your own? I flew through the assembly of mine and when I reached the last page I was sad because I wanted to do more. Here are some tips that made this one of my fastest minibook projects, even though it has the most pages of any I’ve ever made before:
1. Do it mindlessly.
Okay, how often does anybody tell you to do something mindlessly. Never, right? Well, I’m telling you now, don’t think through this one. Don’t ask what you might be doing on what day or how to make the page gorgeous. And if you do the other tips, mindlessness will be no problem.
2. Divide your Christmas supplies into five piles:
a. Whole Sheets
These usually come 12×12 and can be paper, transparencies or fabric b. Alternative Page Foundations
These can be scraps, envelopes, pocketed page protectors, other minibook pages, and anything elseunusual that you might want to use as a page foundation. c. Numbers d. Small Spots
These are to place numbers on. Some ideas are circles, very small frames, or tags e. Embellishments and Ribbon
3. Crop your whole sheets all at once.
Cut your whole sheets down to the size of your album pages. Don’t worry about page placement or embellishing while you do this. Don’t worry about how many you’ll need. Just crop all the papers you want in your album and know that you’ll use the alternative page foundations (that 2nd pile) to make up the difference.
4. Mix cropped whole sheets with your alternative page foundations.
Remember, we’re still working mindlessly here. Just start interspersing them with the alternative page foundations. The only thing to think about is variety. That’s it.
5. Add numbers and trimming all at once.
Are you starting to see the pattern here? We’re doing this in assembly line fashion, which you probably learned in elementary school is the fastest way to make a stuff, right? Now that you’ve mindlessly put your pages in order, you can add the smaller details.
If your page is from a scrap that is smaller than the regular minibook, you can give it a decorative edge, or some trimming. Don’t think hard about what to do, just know that you have these options and choose the first one that comes to mind. If your ribbon is in your embellishment & ribbon pile, you can grab it quickly and add it to a page edge without thinking or searching. Then add the next number to the page.
If your page is the size of your minibook, give yourself a break and just add a number (perhaps on a circular spot) and move on to the next page.
Two keys here: MINDLESS WORK & ASSEMBLY LINE.
Oh, and don’t forget to have fun basking in all that Christmas-color goodness. Click here to see my entire book.
Edited To Add: Someone requested links to supplies I used. I have not bought any Xmas items this year (Imaginisce items are the only brand new ones because they gave them to me). I’ll link the items I can still find available below. Note that I’ll receive a commission if you click and buy.
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If you’re not a Paperclipping Member, you can click on the video above or download the Quicktime version to get a look at my two holiday tables for this year. The full tutorial has already been released to our members.
Because I get so many emails asking where to get the supplies I use, I am trying an experiment. I just signed up as an affiliate with Scrapbook.com and I will try posting links to many of the supplies I use. If you click on the links and purchase any of the products, I will receive a commission. The price of the products remain the same for you. I’m concerned about having the time to do this regularly, but we’ll give it a try…
Place Tags
Imaginisce I-Top tool
Many of you saw me experimenting with the iTop Tool during Paperclipping Live using two pieces of fabric and the large-sizedbrads. The bulkiness of two fabrics made it a little more tricky to put the brad together the traditional way. In today’s episode you’ll see that I figured out a different way to put these together using the iTop Tool. It was so easy I was able to make my last 8 brads in less than ten minutes.
(disclaimer: Imaginisce sent me the iTop Tool and all of the related pieces for free so I could review it).
A Question For You
If you’ll take a minute to leave a comment, I’m curious to know: Do you decorate your table for holiday meals? If so, do you decorate your holiday tables pretty much the same way every year, or do you like to change it up and design a new table every time?
This week’s episode for the Paperclipping Members demonstrates tips and principles for turning a boring and symmetrical multi-photo layout into a much more interesting page with asymmetry. Watch the page come together and see the difference design know-how can make!
If you’re not a Paperclipping Member you can click on the player above for the trailer to this tutorial, or click here to watch the Quicktime version. You can also watch the free videos we have in the column to the left (you’ll probably need to scroll down a little to see those). If you like what you see, you may want to head over to this page to learn how you can watch the rest of our tutorials.
Below is the scrapbook page I featured in this episode…
Actors
2-pg. 12×12 layout
Making Memories was definitely my manufacture of choice for Halloween products this year. They made the witch boots paper and the charms you see in the layout above. The gorgeous laser cut paper at the bottom (Basic Grey) and the black-on-black flocked damask design that stretches across the page toward the top (Doodle Bug) are not Halloween-specific but definitely contribute the style I was going for.
These black flowers that hug the photo series (a tiny one layered on top of a larger one), plus the framed boots with small flower, are variations of two of the Halloween ornaments I designed for the tutorial here and here. Journaling reads:
Trinity – You made up the “Freaky Doll” idea when Nana said you could borrow her purple wig (something she usually wears Halloween night) and that very bizarre mask. That pink girlie dress and the striped tights were perfect final additions to complete the look. Great idea, girlie.
Aiden – While most of the school doesn’t come in Halloween costumes (rules), the kindergarten was invited to dress up like a character from a book. You picked a skeleton book we own and I used it as a model to paint bones on some old black clothes. You didn’t want to paint your face (too uncomfortable) and I was cool with that decision.
Blake – You got some good 1-on-1 time with Dad while he painted Zombie makeup on you, You love being a monster and really getting into character. Usually you’re done that with masks but this year you were excited to finally get costume makeup on your monster face. Something you’ve wanted for a while.
This week’s episode has been released for the Paperclipping Members. If you’re not a member, you can watch a trailer of the tutorial by clicking on the video above.
In this in-depth video I show you step-by-step in Photoshop Elements how to…
Isolate a subject in your photo so you can give it/him/her special attention.
Boost the color of your subject while making everything else black and white.
Make your subject stand out more by darkening your background and boosting the highlights in your subject.
Make your subject stand out by blurring the background.
Smooth the edges of your isolated subject so it doesn’t have that yucky “cut-out” look.
You’ll be able to do the above with your own Halloween zombies, their bloody sores, or with cute little girls at tea parties (below)–whatever you think needs special attention above its background. Check out this Before/After example where I left Blake’s sores and tongue a subtle red and brought him forward from his background, then see the layouts below for two examples:
To see what it takes to become a Paperclipping Member so you can watch episodes like this one, please visit the Membership Information Page.
Below are the layouts I featured in the episode…
The Making Of A Zombie
Journaling to Blake reads:Your makeup is on and you have no problem getting your act together, getting into character. I love how you love playing the part.
Girly Tea Time
Journaling to Trinity reads:I had such a fun day with you at this tea party. We looked at art on the street, shopped a cute gift shop and tried hats and teas. Fun girly day.
Want to try it? Once you do it you’ll want to do it all the time. It’s fun. Enjoy!
Today’s episode, for the Paperclipping Members, is a fun way to use up your extra three-dimensional flowers to make some really cool ornaments (or embellishments if you choose to scrap with them instead!).
This is part of a four-part series. Part 1 and Part 3 are free and don’t require membership to watch. If you’re not a member, you can click on the window above to get a preview of this tutorial. You could also watch the Quicktime version of the trailer here. And of course, there are several free videos which we have available in the left-hand column. If you like what you see and you want more, please click here to see how you can get access to 125 tutorials plus on-going members-only episodes as we continue to release them.
Note: Thanks to Nancy Horkey, designer of the Tree Of Life featured in this episode, who gave me my own tree. You can find these trees at www.my-treeoflife.com or in many local craft and scrapbook stores.
I’m so glad we did these two long days of video shoots. It was one of my favorite Paperclipping memories.
