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How to Make Ephemera Fit With Your Design – 205

paperclipping 205

Does ephemera mess up the pretty design of your pages?

Do you tend to stick to just photos and scrapbooking products because the memorabilia doesn’t fit in?

I’ve felt this way at times.

Not long ago I took all the stuff my parents had saved for me and organized it into a system to make it easy for me to pick through for scrapbooking. As I did this I found myself feeling so completely loved by my parents on a whole deeper level than what my childhood photos do for me.

There’s something exquisite about an item you or you parents held in their hands twenty, thirty, or forty years ago.

There’s something intensely special about having an everyday handwritten note that Mom or Dad scribbled on a scrap of paper that was lying around the house.

You feel truly loved to know that all those little things in your life were important enough for Mom to save up for you.

I could tell you that my dad and Grandma called me Lisa for a while because they hadn’t yet committed to my mom’s idea of calling me by my middle name instead of my first. But it means so much more to actually see the name, “Lisa,” instead of “Noell” on cards and notes about me in my first few years.

If the desire for a pretty design has been keeping you from including ephemera on your layouts, just know that all those design principles I talk to you about also apply to making even the most problematic ephemera fit beautifully into your pages!

Once you figure out how to make it work, you will love it.

So go have fun paperclipping with the real stuff from your life!

Shine on,
Love,-Noell

Symphony 6477

P.S.> I just released a new video tutorial that shows how to design great-looking pages with ephemera. I share 4 different types of ephemera that can be difficult to work with and you’ll see me make 3 pages with it.

If you’re a Paperclipping Member you can check it out now!

Not yet a member? Click here for more info!

This entry was written by Noell Hyman and is filed under Scrapbooking Ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • KatieK.

    Perfect timing for this video for 2 reasons. I’m trying to sort boxes & piles of ephemera I saved as well as from both sides of family. I can’t scrap – I hurt my R arm & can’t move it so watching lots of videos is my Rx until I heal.

  • http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

    Oh no! Get better!

    And be sure you watch my other episode on organizing your photos with your ephemera so you don’t one or the other when it’s time to scrap!

  • http://scrappingmariangeles.blogspot.com/ mariangeles_spain

    I just find out how to connect my laptop to my TV with the HDMI cable, and has been the first video I’ve watched!!!

  • KatieK.

    Thanks.
    GREAT idea for the tshirts. Do you have a spy fly on the wall of my attic & crop room? I’ve been saving those too(Tees not bugs) for the patchwork quilt I’m realistically never going to make since I don’t know how to sew, no time to learn & don’t want to spend $ on sending it off to Willowcreek though would love to.

    Your videos are always timely for what’s going on.

  • http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

    How fun!!

  • http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

    Oh, it’s just that I’m a scrapbooker, too! We all run into the same types of stuff and the same kinds of issues! :)

  • ReneeH20

    Great video! Such a treasure trove of ideas. Love the t-shirt idea. My daughter has a bunch of t-shirts from figure skating competitions and soccer tournaments. I am definately going to try that.
    I also loved what you did with the music program. My daughter is also a violist. She started in middle school, has continued on through high school, and now playing in college. I have saved every program. Most of them have the playlist on one side and the names on the back. Her program for her first college performance is a booklet. I don’t want to attach the back, because that’s where the names are. Any ideas on how to attach programs like that?

  • elizaben

    Hey! You finally succumbed to the Silhouette Cameo! Isn’t it a great tool?

  • http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

    In that case, Renee, I usually do one of these things…

    1. use multiple photo turns to hold the last page (or last few pages of the booklets) in place. Then you can just turn the turns and take the program/booklet out.
    2. make a sturdy pocket or buy the pocket pages that Becky Higgins sells on Amazon.com as part of the Project Life products.
    3. fit it into a page protector that is closest in size and trim the protector down if there’s a lot of excess. For example, Trinity has a dance program booklet that is 6 inches wide and 7 inches high. I put it into a 6×12 page protector and trimmed away the extra top of the protector.
    With this option, both the front and the back are visible. If there is an inside page that is especially significant you can make a bookmark to bring attention to that page. I used her competition bracelet and actually taped it into the significant page and have it stick up out of the top of the trimmed protector. But you could make a really pretty bookmark, too. And if you don’t want to tape it to the page, just make it taller than the book so it sticks out.
    Hmmm — that would make a fun episode for the next time I get a program booklet!
    BTW, you could add a bit of embellishing to the outside of the page protector if you feel like the program isn’t interesting enough on its own. That way you don’t alter the program, but you could still have it look scrapbooky if you want.

  • http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

    Yes, I love using it!

  • LoriS

    Hi Noell, I have been trying to catch up on my paperclipping videos and have a design ?. Do you also use the visual triangle principle on every layout. How do you decide which design principle to use? Loving all the videos and the roundtable.

    Lori Shulik

  • Marie-Pierre

    Hi Noell! :)
    For me the problem with using ephemeras is more that I’m not ready to glue them somewhere and give them a definite home. I feel like if they are on a page, they kind of disappeared. Funny right?! It comes to the same issues you were once talking about on the roundtable: scrapbooking old photos is hard because we feel they are too precious. In that case people on the panel agreed that when the photos are scanned, and a digital copy is saved, it’s ok to scrapbook it. With ephemeras, we can’t really do that. You know what I mean? Don’t you feel that way too when you glue an ephemera on to a scrapbook page?

  • http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

    Oh, no — I NEVER feel that way about ephemera. I feel it’s wasting away and taking up space when it’s not being displayed in an album. When it’s scrapbooked I’ve given it context so it becomes more meaningful for me.

  • http://www.paperclipping.com Noell

    Short answer is that I use visual triangles a majority of the time but there are times when I do not. Maybe I should write an article with visuals to show why I WOULDN’T use it, and to talk about how I decide which principles to use.
    Thanks for your questions. I’ll think on it. Glad you love the videos and PRT! Thank you!

  • Marie-Pierre

    Ok, I’ll try to look at it this way. :)

  • Amy K

    That is a great tip for cutting the page protector for access to the program. I have never liked putting the entire program into a page protector. This sounds like just the solution for me.

  • ReneeH20

    I have made pocket pages in the past. Just made one this fall to hold all the parking passes we got when my youngest & I were touring college campuses.

    Love your idea in #3. Will definitely try that. Love the idea of the bookmarks. Great way to draw attention to those pages with her name on them.