This is the Feed Address for Paperclipping Newsbreak. If you want to automatically receive new shows as we release them, please subscribe to this feed address. An easy way to do this is with iTunes. You can click on the following link which will open iTunes on your computer and allow you to subscribe: Subscribe to Paperclipping Newsbreak in iTunes for free

Here are some links to the things we talked about in the episode…

• CHA Craft Supershow for consumers
• Coupon Code for the book, Easier Than Ever Scrapbooking 2
• The @themediaisdying twitter account
• Becky Fleck’s PageMaps website
• Ali Edwards’s website

You can listen to the show right now using this audio player:

Or you can download the show to your computer using this link:
newsbreak001.mp3

To qualify for Lain’s giveaway, head over to the Snippets Page to get a sampling of some of the stories in her book. Then come back here to this post and tell Lain which story you most identified with, or which one made you laugh the hardest. Lain will give a copy of Snippets or the special issue to four of you.

You have until Thursday night to leave a comment.

You can order Lain’s book at this link–just in time for Christmas. It’s such an affordable gift idea at only $9.99. Learn more about Lain and all the many ways to enjoy her on her website, GetScrapHappy.

Changes Are Coming Soon

Israel had his last day at work on Friday (followed by a second going away party!) and we are so excited to start a new schedule and format with Paperclipping. Because of these changes, there will be no video tutorial at the beginning of the week. We’re not yet sure when it will air–during the week or on the following weekend–just keep your eyes open and don’t despair if there is an initial bit of quiet on the blog.

One thing you can expect is that I’ll be making most announcements in the Paperclipping forum and in the newly formatted weekly Paperclipping Insider (sign up at the upper right corner), rather than here on the blog. So if you haven’t signed up for either of those, now is the time. =)

Paperclipping Live Group Project

Would you like to participate in assembling a minibook with me? A minibook that you could give as a gift for Christmas (or not)? I have put together a collection for the Unkit club and I will be making a minibook with the products I chose. On October 28, for Paperclipping Live, we will assemble the books together.

If you’d like to participate, head over to the Unkit to see the collection of products you’ll need for your book. You only need one of everything (except the adhesive and the white pen, which Sudie added–I won’t be using those). What’s cool about the Unkit is that you don’t have to buy the entire kit. If you already have some of the products, you can skip those and just get what you don’t have. If you have paper, or brads or ribbons that are close or that you like better, you can use them instead–only get what you want or need.

Plus, I was really happy to see that Sudie is providing a coupon for 40% off of one item. Score!

If you’d like to make the album with me, make sure you order the supplies in time for them to arrive before the 28th. Click here to see the collection and order. (Just a note: I do not benefit from you ordering this collection).

The Oct. 28th Paperclipping Live Minibook Topic: Electronic Love Letters–in other words, email. Who do you love that you also email? Since all of my siblings are spread around the country, email is the only way we are able to talk as a group. And some of our emails are really funny. Each page in the minibook we’ll be assembling during Paperclipping Live will document a conversation over email.

You can decorate your album, without using my topic, but if you are going to use the topic, you might want to print up some email conversations on white cardstock ahead of time. You can also gather some photos of whoever it is you’ve been emailing. You may pick just one person, or an entire group of people–whatever works for you will work for this book.

And lastly, make sure you have some good adhesive, cutting tools, sandpaper, and perhaps some smaller letter stickers that are already sitting in your stash (in addition to the chipboard letters I’ve got in the collection). To adhere paper to the chipboard album, I recommend either photo-tape and a good glue stick, or PVA glue.

Paperclipping Live This Week

Don’t forget that Dina Wakley will be my guest on the show this Tuesday at 6:30 pm Pacific Standard Time to talk about art journals.

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

We have a free episode that is almost ready to post and it will be up soon!

Back-To-School

Is there anyone else that still hasn’t started or finished their back-to-school layouts? We’ll end the series this week after a few more posts. I hope this series has helped you identify how to make pages repeating events more meaningful and more enjoyable.

New series: Reclaim Yourself

I am someone who loves, adores–thrives on–having lots of time alone. Yes, I am very social, but I have also always needed to have a lot of time to myself and my attention-demanding thoughts.

When I was younger I could shut away the world and go to my room for hours at a time. When I got my first car I loved to take long rides down winding Kansas roads and fed off the eerie feeling of being totally isolated with a horizon that seemed to stretch to eternity.

Then I had kids.

Almost eleven years later, all three of my children are in full-day school, and I am once again enjoying long stretches of quiet, wonderful, alone time. Last week I took advantage of the chance to tell some of my own stories and explore my more artistic side. And that will be the focus of the next series.

Toward the end of the week, we will begin a “Reclaim Yourself” series. Not only will we scrapbooking layouts about ourselves, but we’ll dig into some art, as well. I am so excited for this and I have enough content that we could take it way into October, so I’ll probably have to save some of it for a different focus-on-the-self week.

Are you ready to pay attention to you?

Paperclipping Live

Even though we are technically still in the Back-To-School series, we’re going to kick off the Reclaim Yourself series on Tuesday night for Paperclipping Live. I will lead you through the beginning of a layout about YOU. To participate with me, you need to identify a story about yourself that you want to scrap. Be ready with a picture or a set of pictures. The photo(s) does not necessarily have to have you in it.

If you don’t already have any photos to work with, you might want to try one of the following:

1. Take a picture of yourself in your bathroom mirror.
2. Take a picture of your {insert modest body part here}.
3. Crop yourself out of a group photo.
4. If your story is about something you typically do or enjoy, take a picture of an object with which you do that activity.
5. Set your camera up with the timer and take a picture of yourself in action. This involves some trial and error, but it’s fun.

Here is an example of each of those (in the same order)…

For our live event, you do not need to choose paper ahead of time because choosing will be part of our process during the show. Just have your papers and products easily accessible, if possible. You will probably also need scratch paper and a pencil or pen to make notes.

We will not take a layout to completion. The point of this Paperclipping Live is to get you to go inside yourself and analyze what colors, patterns, or other visuals, will help you create the feeling you have about your story or layout theme. We’ll be focusing on the process of preparing the layout, but won’t necessarily finish it during the show.

We’ll also be depending a lot on chat-participation, so please register and be ready to share! The show starts at 6:30 pm, PST, on Tuesday night. Click here at that time to participate.

The Paperclipping Challenge

Don’t forget that we now have monthly challenges to help you use the principles and techniques we discussed the month before. Some of you have uploaded your layouts and projects to our Flickr gallery. Others of you are still working. If you haven’t started anything, there is still time. You must post your layout by the end of the day on September 23. That’s a whole week away.

I will choose one person who I think most exemplified their chosen topic and highlight them on the Paperclipping blog. Maybe that will be you? =)

You can read the details of the challenge by clicking here.

It’s a bit awkward answering so many questions about myself, but we had a good time, and we filled up the entire night with these questions! Feel free to watch the recording.

Since so many of you like to watch the recorded videos of Paperclipping Live, I decided to embed them right into the Paperclipping blog so you don’t have to go hunting for them.

Here is last night’s show, where we used a previous scrapbook page that was great for using scraps as a template for a new one.

Look at the surprise that came showed up in my mailbox this weekend! Thank you so much to Jennifer, Sally, Amanda, Kim, Cindy, Candi, Susan, Sandy, Maria, Samantha, and Tracy!

They participated in a circle journal group using the Get Together section of the Paperclipping Forum. When I first saw the package in my box I thought it was my scraps from the Scrap Swap. But when I opened it it was this beautiful box full of amazing 6×6 layouts. Each one is so beautiful and I love having a chance to get to know some of you a little better.

Now I remember reading something about them possibly sending their stuff to me but I totally forgot about it. Again, much appreciation to all of you! I means so much to me to have it.

Scrap Swap For Paperclipping Live

Speaking of scrap swaps, we’re having one! Terri Bradford, our moderator for the show, has begun a swap of scraps, which we will work on together during Paperclipping Live on July 29th.

Click here to read the details and sign up. Terri will close the circle on Friday, the 11th, so head right over there to participate.

This Week’s Topic

While summer is the time that those of us from Phoenix are staying indoors, I know most of the rest of you are outside enjoying the sun. This week we’ll focus on the OUTDOORS. From flowers (this week’s video tutorial) to tire swings, all posts this week will feature the outdoors. So will Tuesday night’s Paperclipping Live.

Follow-up From Last Week’s School Focus

Did anyone pull out their piles of stuff from the school year? Have you gotten to work on it? Before we walk away from that topic I wanted to answer another question from Karen:

How much of your children’s school work do you hang onto? I can’t believe how much paperwork/artwork my children (6 and 9) generate! I try to just hang onto pieces that represent original artwork or show the progression of mastering a skill. But I have to admit that I can silly about it at times and think, “Oh…even though this is a worksheet she brings home weekly, she wrote her NAME on it….Awwwwwwww.”

This is a struggle for all mothers, I’m sure. In addition to the original artwork, the original stories (or anything that reveals personality), I also save a few pieces of academic work that often comes as a worksheet. Especially in Kindergarten, there is a lot of progress from the beginning of the year to the end when it comes to that name in the upper right-hand corner.
Remember, though, you don’t have to keep the entire worksheet for that one part that holds significance.

Forcing yourself to fit one year of stuff into a manila file folder will help you whittle it all down. I spend an entire section of the Schoolwork Scrapbook Tutorial showing you how to pick and choose and make it fit, so if some of you feel like you need some help getting through the piles, click here. Which leads me to my next announcement…

Free Live Events For Owners Of The Schoolwork Scrapbook Tutorial

If you own the Schoolwork Scrapbook Tutorial, I will be inviting you via email to some live events over the internet. It will be like Paperclipping Live, except we will be working on our Schoolwork Scrapbooks.

This is your chance to get some extra motivation and some help from me because I will answer your questions through the chat board and over Skype. If you bought (or won) the tutorial, please watch for an email from me at the end of the week. If you do not yet have the tutorial but would like an invitation to the live event, please purchase it by Friday so that you can get on the guest list.

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.

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.

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 to show us your cover.

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.

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!