Day 14:

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.

And by the way, yes, I’ve skipped Day 4 because I need to scan something.

Random Xmas Photos

I decided to upload a handful of recent photos from the holiday season…


I bought a new set of ornaments this year. They remind me of pomegranates, which remind me of being a kid in my L.A. neighborhood where there was a pomegranate tree. We raided that tree all the time, smashing the round fruit on the street to break them open and expose the red ruby berries…and permanently stain our clothes.


Izzy and I are doing lots of cooking and baking together. So far it’s mostly been cakes, but we did do a batch of amazing Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies from The Vegan Table cookbook.



We’ve been entertaining friends the last few evenings and having so much fun.

I said, “Let’s take a picture of us with our presents in front of the trees…you know, like kids.” Larry totally got into that idea. See? He’s also super happy we gave him the Roku player he’s been dying for. But next time he decides to put on his enthusiastic face he needs to tell us so we can match it.

And by the way, my Tami-Lamb girlie and I are NOT drunk. We’re able to make those faces totally sober. Seriously.


That’s one of my five favorite gifts right there. Love that boy.

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.”

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.

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

Christmas ‘08 Mini: The Decorating

6×7.5 mini book

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 paper I 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.

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 else unusual 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.

Poinsetta on cover * red polka dot transparency * 8×8 book covers * polar bear paper * frosted forest paper * flower-shaped transparent and chipboard page.

Winner of the Altered Books Tutorial

#2 wearetheworld 1 day ago
“The topic of my altered book project would be crafts. I do so many crafts that capturing my favorites in a book would be a great item to pass along to future generations.”

Wearetheworld: please email me so I can get you set up.

If you’ve been waiting to purchase this until after the drawing, you can get your download of the Altered Books Tutorial (or find out more) if you click here. (Note to members: you get a discount.)

Winner of the American Crafts Package

#128 Stephi D. 1 day ago
“I think my first altered book would have to be a journal of books I’ve read, and how they’ve impacted my life if any. Looking forward to the new and improved “Newsbreak”. Thanks ladies and American Craft for the giveaways!”

Stephi, please email me your address. My email is noell@paperclipping.com.

A huge thank you to American Crafts who came to me and offered us the big prize package! What a cool company. For lots of brilliant topics for altered books, just check out everybody’s comments in the giveaway post. There are so many excellent ones. Or, find out more about the concepts of Dedra’s and my books by watching the tutorial.

Be sure to look for the extra episode of Paperclipping that goes out this week to the Paperclipping Members. It should be out later today. For more info on membership, please visit the Membership Information Page.

Download the free video here.

We decided to pull one of the Members-Only episodes out of the archives to share with the rest of the Paperclipping audience for this week’s free video. If you’re one of our members and this episode sparked some ideas that you never completed (or started?) maybe you’ll get some renewed motivation after watching this again. If you’re not a member and you like what you see, you can get a lot more (over 100 plus new ones to come). Please click here to see how a Paperclipping Membership works.

When you’re done, you might want to see more of the mini-book I featured in the episode by watching Paperclipping 103 – Visual Memoirs.

Today’s episode is for the Paperclipping Members. If you want to commemorate the culture of a place you’ve visited or plan to visit, you might want to consider the topic of this episode: create a book with an authentic item that portrays the place and culture. Below are a few pictures of my own book, which I made to showcase photos and items from Rocky Point, Mexico…

Mexico Minibook From A Punched Tin Frame

Scrapbooking supplies I used: Tim Holtz Distress Emboss Powder in Scattered Straw. Versamark Ink. Old Olive and Creamy Caramel by Stampin’ Up. Book Binding Tape by 7 Gypsies. Epoxy sticker by s.e.i. Letter stickers by Creative Memories. Eyelets by American Crafts.

Do you wish you could watch this video? Get access to this and all the others after checking out the Membership Information Page.

While there is nothing wrong with a vacation album or minibook that simply highlights the trip’s activities, there are some trips that add up to more than just that list. Some vacations impact you at a deeper level than the exciting agenda can show.

For today’s episode, I’ll share a vacation minibook I made for a trip like that. I’ll share how I found connections among my memories of the trip that led to a theme which I carried through the entire book. Many of us will have family vacations to document this summer, and I hope this episode gives you a new way to think about how you can approach your album or mini.

This video is available to members only. Learn about a membership here.

Below are a couple photos of the book I featured in the video. You can see the rest of the book in a set on my flickr page by clicking here.

The Two Of Us (In Sedona)

Supplies for these pages: Spiral minibook (7 Gypsies) * Patterned paper and title (My Mind’s Eye, background paper of second pic unknown) * Scroll sticker (Creative Imaginations) * Letter stickers (Creating Memories).

Do you like this free video? You can get access to all of the Paperclipping tutorials if you are Member. Please click here to find out more.

* * *

Show notes for this episode are here.

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.