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Layered Diagonal Flexible Template – Paperclipping 211

Thursday, February 14th, 2013

paperclipping 211

Ever feel like people don’t spend as much time gazing at your scrapbook layouts as your pages deserve?

What is it about some pages that cause people to stop and really look?

Well, it can be a number of different things, but one of the big characteristics that draw people in are layers.

When you have layers, you have some things hidden, only partially peeking out.

And that causes mystery.

People love a mystery. Just look at the popularity of the TV show, Lost. It was one mystery after another that kept the audience coming back, episode after episode and season after season.

Hyman (closeup2)

Layers Suck People Into a Scrapbook Layout

The more layers you have on your scrapbook layouts, the more time someone needs to spend trying to “solve” all those layers. And the longer you can keep them at it, the more they’re interacting with it and making an emotional connection.

So if you want to engage people longer and get them to connect with your scrapbook layout and your story, try creating some layers.

Want a little guidance or inspiration?

In this week’s episode of Paperclipping I share a new Flexible Template: Layered Diagonals. It’s a template for creating layers on your pages. If you’re experienced with layers, this might give you a new way to make them. If you’re new to it, it’ll give you some direction to give you confidence and get you going!

You’ll see me put together two pages — both full of layers. You’ll learn more about the design principles that go into them, too.

This scrapbooking video tutorial is available for members in the Member’s Area and on iTunes.

Click here to learn more!

Shine On,
Love,-Noell

The Cheater’s Guide to Scrapbooking Ephemera

Thursday, February 7th, 2013

There’s a rumor going around that it’s hard to include ephemera (memorabilia) on pages.

They say it makes the page ugly, or it’s hard to work it in with your favorite papers and products.

Well, I have some secrets for how to include all those rich bits of life while still knocking out fantastic layouts.

If you’ve struggled at all with ephemera and memorabilia, consider this your cheater’s guide…

Fold Double-Sided Patterned Paper and Slip It In.

We Are the Tooth Fairy (full spread)

Most of the time I don’t hide it (see below), but there is some seriously ugly ephemera inside this super cute pocket.

We Are the Tooth Fairy (closeup)

There’s some kind of gunk on it, and it’s hard to make sense of it without a back-story anyway. The story makes more sense if you just read the journaling. But the precious handwriting and the real item that went back-and-forth between our own hands is here for my son to enjoy when he’s delivering money for the teeth of his own babies.

Since the ephemera is 8.5 inches wide, I cut patterned paper to the same width, folded it so the inside of the back back would show above the front, and punched a half circle. This allows the ephemera to peek out so you know it’s there. Then I stuck it into an 8.5×11 page protector, which I then cut down to the proper height.

We Are the Tooth Fairy (full spread, pg. 3)

When you do this you have an excuse to use even more of your favorite paper supplies!

Hold It In Place Without Adhesives.

My 3rd Birthday

If you don’t have photo turns, try clear photo corners or large-sized brads instead and let the ephemera sit (un-pierced) on top of the brad stems, but underneath the edge of brad.

Lisa Noell (pg4)

I did something similar to this with this original photo. Three of the corners sit in clear photo corners. One corner is held in by the beak of a cute wood veneer bird. That part of the bird is not adhered, so you can slip photo out of it.

Dominate the Ugly with the Beautiful.

Declared Intentions

Granted, I partially hid the ephemera in an envelope, since it’s 3 tiny notes torn from corners of scrap paper. But I also wanted those pieces to peek out. And as you see, the biggest piece that shows itself is a rather hideous super-bright yellow.

Does it ruin the page?

It doesn’t, for two reasons…

  1. There’s enough of all the other colors that they dominate it.
  2. As we learned in my video tutorial #182 – How to Make a Misfit Photo Work, you can make any monstrosity disappear by putting it in or near the middle.

Declared Intentions (closeup)

Design Your Page Around It.

Love Potion #9 (closeup)

Oh yeah — here’s another piece of ephemera in that same hideous bright yellow. Sometimes you just can’t choose what your family members write their treasures on.

And this note, with Izzy’s addition to my grocery list, is really a treasure. How sad if I had chosen not to scrapbook it because the color is ugly.

I decided to go with the crazy color and find another, more palatable, vibrant hue to accent it.

Leonardo da Vinci

Here’s another example of working the ephemera right into the design. I started with my main design pieces: two photos and the torn drawing. I formed them into a structure: a visual triangle, and designed the rest of the page around it.

Want to know how the ephemera adds to the design, instead of detract from it?

  • The ephemera provides the title.
  • The top edge leads the eye to the focal point photo.
  • The bunting embellishment leads the eye to the drawing.
  • The torn edge leads the eye to the bottom photo.

love SHARE (closeup)

On this layout I worked with the post-it note from my son as if it were a second photo.

Make It Open-able.

Symphony (closeup)

We all have programs.

Make the inside easily accessible by cutting slits in the page protector around the top, bottom, and open side of the program. To make it even easier to open, attach the plastic and front of the program with an embellished clip so that the top of the click sticks out of the protector.

Symphony (closeup)

You can work the program into the design of the page by adding embellishments over both the inside of the program, and the background paper. From a design standpoint, this anchors the program to the page so it doesn’t feel like it’s plopped on — a common reason scrapbookers avoid ephemera (unnecessarily!).

Give it it’s own page protector as a pocket.

Lisa Noell (pg3)
This newspaper article sits in a 6×6 page protector. No adhesive necessary.

And thank goodness, as adhesive would ruin this 40 year old treasure my mom clipped and made notes on.

Underneath this protector is a 12×12 pocket that holds four more pieces of valuable ephemera. Both protectors have patterned paper inside, but nothing is taped.

Lisa Noell (pg1)

Embellish the Outside of the Protector.

Tell Tale Heart
This is a great way to keep the ephemera in it’s original condition, make it easily removable, but still have decoration.

Treat It Like a Focal Point Photo.

Dance Company Description
At the beginning of a dance year, our studio put out a handbook that let’s dance parents know our standards, and gives descriptions of the teams their dancers might aspire to being in. If you or your child is on a team, in a club, or part of an organization, you probably have descriptions available somewhere too.

I love organization descriptions because someone else has already done the writing for you, and that person has better knowledge of the description than we do.

Make a Pocket From a Screen-Printed Transparency.

Tiny Baby

I put the “pretty” ephemera on the main page, as part of the overall design. Then I made a 6×12 page on the right for the not so pretty stuff.

Alter It

Here’s a super thick program. I tore out the non-relevant pages (there were many).
NYCDA - inside program
Here’s a super thick program. I tore out the non-relevant pages (there were many).

Then to bring attention to the most important page (with Trinity’s dances) I glued her convention bracelet in as a book mark. On a part of a page that was insignificant I added a journaling box.

Show It Off, Bare-Naked.

NYCDA
When you turn the page (the program inside of a page protector) you see an award certificate. There’s nothing added to it at all — it’s bare naked in it’s original condition.

Notice how I took the green-blue color from the certificate and made it the accent color of the opposite page to make the whole spread flow.

Make It Your Background

Owl City: First Concert
I cut a concert t-shirt down to 12×12 and adhered it to cardstock. Then I added my photo and goodies right on top.

Of course, none of this is really cheating.

But if you want to pin this to your Pinterest wall it can still be your guide. Maybe we should call the the Expert’s Ephemera Guide instead of the Cheater’s Guide.

Want to be an expert at including the real scraps of life in your scrapbooks, and give your stories texture and intimacy? Go match your ephemera with your scrap-able photos and start scrapbooking them together using any one of the methods above.

It’ll add a whole new layer of realness and story that you will always love.

Want some inspiration to listen to as you give it a try right now?

Hear me talk with three other well-loved scrapbookers about how they use ephemera on the Paperclipping Roundtable.

Shine On,
Love,-Noell

P.S.> A majority of the scrapbook pages in this article were assembled on video in tutorials for the Paperclipping Members. Think you might like to watch them?

Click here for info!

Add Techniques to Your Paper Scrapbooking – Paperclipping 210

Wednesday, January 30th, 2013

paperclipping 210

A lot of us have technique-oriented scrapbooking supplies, but not all of us use them so much in our scrapbooking.

Does this sound like you?

It’s not because you don’t want to — it’s just that it doesn’t ever seem to fit in with your process of using pre-made fun, trendy papers and coordinating embellishments.

Am I right?

My goal all last year was to find ways to make techniques a natural part of the scrapbooking process, even when we already have lots of pre-made goodies. I even went all the way to Ranger U to get certified with them.

Here are a few quick tips:

  1. When purchasing color mediums, look at your favorite paper colors and choose similar ones for your mediums, rather than choosing what someone else (ie. Tim Holtz) is using for their own projects.
  2. When you learn and like a new technique, keep a sample of it with basic instructions. Put all your samples together so you can easily flip through them. Since Ranger U I keep mine on tags held together by a big book ring.

But how do you really start using it?

Last week I mentioned that you can turn to techniques when you don’t have the right papers for the kind of background you want, and I shared 36 layouts as examples.

This week I want to share how you can make techniques a part of your regular process for when you DO have a great line of paper you love. I made a video that shares this process. In the tutorial I walk you through the assembly of a layout so you can see the process in action. You’ll learn a fun technique, as well.

Declared Intentions (closeup)

Get more out of your paper lines after watching this video. Get more out of your inks, stains, stencils, stamps, and die cuts, too!

The video is for Paperclipping Members and is now available in the member library.

CLICK HERE for info about a Paperclipping Membership.

How to Mix Patterns – Paperclipping 209

Thursday, January 24th, 2013

paperclipping 209
Do you end up with many leftovers from your scrapbook kits or from manufactured paper lines?

One of the more valuable skills that comes from having a good design eye is to be able to mix and match patterns from different lines. You can take your products so much further if you create new “lines” or “kits” by mixing and matching what you have.

When you identify which of your different products look great together, it’s possible to actually use up entire lines and kits! ;)

Lisa Noell

And check out what a different look I was able to get for the two scrapbook pages in the pictures for this post. Two very different looks for two very different stories, even though both layouts began from the same scrapbook line.

Try it today, or this weekend!

Pick a line you love, and then find some leftovers that have lost their luster but that will match some of your new exciting line. Then tell me if you don’t feel renewed excitement in the older products as well!

If you need to expand your skills for mixing patterns, you’ll love the newest video I just put out for Paperclipping Members. Members can find this video in the Member’s Area or on iTunes.

Not a member? Join us now to get immediate access to 209 video tutorials, including today’s video on how to mix patterns!

Click here for info.

Thirty-Six Scrapbook Layouts with Technique-Based Backgrounds

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2013

love SHARE (closeup)

When I went to Ranger U last year to get certified to teach how to use Ranger products, it was with a very specific goal: I wanted more ideas for how to adapt these fun techniques for everyday scrapbooking in a modern mainstream style.

We usually see them used on tags, in vintage projects, on cards, or in art journals. We don’t see them used in scrapbooking all that often, which is too bad, since they’re so much fun! Plus…

Of all the technique-oriented products, I recommend Ranger for scrapbookers. Ranger has the best ones with the highest quality.

Here are 36 scrapbook pages with backgrounds I made from technique-based products such as Distress Inks and Stains, Perfect Pearls, spray mists, paint, stamps, stencils, and masks…
Click to read more…

Product Remix: Dear Lizzy – 5th & Frolic

Thursday, January 17th, 2013

We Are the Tooth Fairy (closeup)

Sometimes you run across a perfect scrapbooking line. Dear Lizzy’s 5th & Frolic is that line for me right now. It’s like a siren, constantly beckoning me into my scraproom, and I’ve been choosing to scrapbook those of my stories that 5th & Frolic will help me tell.

Are you loving this line, too?

But what about our other products that are just a little older and may not be exciting us quite as much?

Do we abandon them?

No! We mix them in!

Below are a bunch of products you might have. Look at all you can do with this product remix!

First is a sneak peek of a page I’m still completing for an upcoming video tutorial for Paperclipping Members…
Product_Remix_DearLizzy

  1. Dear Lizzy: Neapolitan
  2. My Mind’s Eye: Be Amazing and Be Happy brads
  3. October Afternoon: Alpha’s
  4. Amy Tangerine: Glitter Foam Thickers
  5. Heidi Swapp: Sugar Chic

Anything not numbered is 5th & Frolic.

Product_Remix_DearLizzy2

  1. Dear Lizzy: Neapolitan
  2. Heidi Swapp: Sugar Chic
  3. My Mind’s Eye: Be Amazing and Be Happy brads

I have a 3-part system for storing patterned paper and my main way to store and choose it is choose my by the mood of the patterns to help me tell my stories visually. I organize the rest of my scrapbooking supplies by design function or theme. But I also like to have periods, often related to a holiday or season, when I pull out some specific supplies I want to dive into for a while. In that case, I keep them in 1-3 piles on a table for quick access and easy remixing!

Right now, it’s my Dear Lizzy’s 5th & Frolic, along with some of my older lines I want to put a bigger dent into. You probably have some of these, too. Look how well they go together…

Product_Remix7
Project Life’s Clementine + Dear Lizzy’s 5th & Frolic – My camera decided to emphasize and exaggerate the subtle variations in the blue greens and pink reds. While they still look good together as pictured, in real life they’re very similar.

Product_Remix_DearLizzy3
If you still have Dear Lizzy’s Neapolitan line, you can mix them right in with your new 5th & Frolic. They go so well together you’ll forget which is which!

Product_Remix5
Pull out just the blues, greens, golds, and tans from your 5th & Frolic set to pair with My Mind’s Eye: Follow Your Heart, Be Amazing. Boy layouts!

Product_Remix6
Or keep the pinks, too, and put it all with some My Mind’s Eye: Follow Your Heart, Be Happy.

Product_Remix4
The leopard and zebra stripes might be a little too sassy for the sweet tree swing and jars of hearts by Dear Lizzy, but look at the rest of Heidi Swapp’s Sugar Chic papers! It looks as if Heidi and Liz chose their color palettes together!

Product_Remix9
Focus on the blue-green, golds, and tans to mix 5th & Frolic with My Mind’s Eye: Lost & Found, Sunshine.

Product_Remix8
Or use the pinks and tans with My Mind’s Eye: Lost & Found, Blush. I think that look so, so sweet!

Click here for a glimpse of a layout I made with these pinks, and see how it contrasts with the original line.

You probably have other supplies in your own stash, as well. And don’t forget your technique products.

What do you have that you can mix in with the 5th & Frolic pieces?

Not comfortable mixing and matching product lines and patterns? I have lots of videos on this subject in the membership, and this month I’m going to do a new tutorial for Paperclipping Members on how to mix patterns.

CLICK HERE to learn about a membership!

Motivated to start playing? Have fun with your own 5th & Frolic remix!

Shine On,
Love,-Noell

Matching Dies and Stamps from Heartfelt Creations at CHA 2013

Sunday, January 13th, 2013

This is a stamper’s dream! This company worked with Spellbinders to create the most fabulous stamp and die cut combinations! These aren’t just your basic single stamp with die sets. There are a handful of stamps to coordinate with each die cut. So you can get lots of layers and varieties from each combination!

I’ve already got lots of ideas buzzing around in my head!

Amy Tangerine’s New Products at CHA 2013

Sunday, January 13th, 2013

Amy Tan shows us her new Amy Tangerine product line called “Yes Please.” This is one of my favorite lines I’ve seen at the show so far!

Tim Holtz Shows New Alterations Die Cuts at CHA 2013

Saturday, January 12th, 2013

Tim Holtz has some great new die cuts and he shares them with us, along with some fun ways to use them, in this video.

Tim Holtz Shows His New Stamper’s Anonymous

Saturday, January 12th, 2013

In this video Tim Holtz shares his new stamps from Stamper’s Anonymous and tells the story of how most of them came about! We also look at some projects made with the stamps for a bit of inspiration!