Login | Manage Account | Join
Remember the old borders we used to make for the sides of our pages years ago? They were often intricate, time-consuming, and sometimes even a distraction from the photos.
Edge gatherings are similar to borders, but they’re much easier to put together and they’re way cooler.
They’re also not so cumbersome. Click to read more…
I’ve started working on my class for the online event, True Scrap 3! I’m really excited about my topic, which has to do with my method for choosing embellishments and paper for pages and projects. The method makes it easy, fun, and meaningful all at the same time!
What’s my topic? Hop over to this page to see! You’ll get to see the topics of all the other awesome teachers, too!
You won’t be able purchase a spot yet, but you can join the “Breaking News” email list so you’ll be sure to get special offers and discounts!
Click here for the True Scrap 3 Sneak Peak/Teacher Announcement!
I don’t buy a lot of themed products except for the Christmas theme — in that case I do buy a lot, at least for me. And that means I have leftovers every year. I bet you do too.
Ever wonder how to make them fit together onto a page?
I’ve just released a video tutorial with lots of tips on stretching leftover themed products, such as Christmas ones, to fit together on your pages.
Here are some of the things I share:
This episode is for the Paperclipping Members. Are you interested in a new year of scrapbooking with techniques and design concepts that will help you with every page you make? That’s what you’ll get immediately with today’s tutorial, plus more than 180 others!
Click here to learn about membership.
Get better use of your products and make pages you love! Start your membership today!
Are you ready to scrapbook your Halloween before we dive into Thanksgiving and Christmas? In case you need a few ideas I thought I’d share sixty-five of my own for you to choose from!
I know most scrapbookers get their ideas from sketches and the layouts of other scrapbookers. But I think there are easier methods and these methods will you get you scrapbooking faster. Not only that, but you’ll never run out of scrapbooking ideas again!
It’s hard to believe, but it’s true: If you get accustomed to these ten methods, you’ll find that your scrapbooking ideas will be endless! Click to read more…
Do you ever have stories that require lots of journaling, but your idea for a page doesn’t leave you enough room?
This happens to me all the time. I’m a journaler. And I love the artistic part of scrapbooking, too.
It suddenly occurred to me one day that we can mix the two more easily with one simple solution: Combine a 12×12 page with a 6×12 page, which is what you see above.
I feel so free now! I no longer have to expand my layout to a full two-page 24×12 inch spreads whenever I have a few pictures, a fun idea, and too much to say!
It all started with this layout…
I wanted to compare my childhood swing sets with current ones. I had four photos and the story. Plus I wanted to give an explanation for each photo.
I really didn’t need two 12×12 pages, but a single just wasn’t going to cut it, even with the simple clean design.
Suddenly it became my easy fix, even for more artistic and free layouts…
I decided to design this first as a single page that could stand alone.
And then I designed the journaling portion to work with it. The balance of the design works either way! I get to share it as a single page or a double, depending on the situation. And, in fact, I’ve already shared it both ways for various reasons.
All you need are 6×12 page protectors. I use American Crafts.
Here is a closeup of the front and back of my journaled page for the top layout:
In this week’s episode for the members I show how to make this journaled tag page, along with my tips for easier journal strips.
You can watch this episode and many, many more videos right now when you sign up for your Paperclipping Membership! Click here to learn more!
I had this ugly, plain boring lampshade and I just painted what I call, “Abundance Circles,” onto it.
BEFORE
The idea came from this doodling on a receipt in my car…
Doodling the random things that catch your eye can lead you to lots of different ideas later — especially if you keep your doodles together some place. I keep mine in my scrap journal and my sketch book.
The doodle started when I was pulling out of a parking space, and an unusual pedestrian path caught my eye. I grabbed a receipt and sketched it on the far left, and then I had a spontaneous desire to add the circles and make it a tree. I was feeling whimsical.
I liked the tree top, but not the trunk, so I tried again on the right side of the receipt. And you can see that two days later I tried again a third time and was really happy with the results. I made a note that the tree top felt like abundance to me. Later when I flipped through my book and saw it, I added a note saying I was calling my tree an Abundance Tree.
Later I sat down with a Copic Multi-Liner and tried making a tree that I could actually use for scrapbooking and mixed-media art. In the process I devised a trunk I really loved, though my tree ended up looking more like a mushroom. I made a mental note that the circles were too tight and tried again, this time adding color with my Copic Sketches…
Here’s another example of where doodling has led me to an eventual hand-made embellishment for scrapbooking…
Grocery List Doodle: Happy Mushroom Colony…
Refining the Happy Mushroom Colony in my Scrap Journal…
Making a Happy Mushroom Colony as a Scrapbook Embellishment…
I’m sure I will eventually use my abundance tree in a scrapbook or mixed-media project, and I’m already making more.
The key is asking yourself the question in the first place — “How can I translate this piece of inspiration into something else?”
I’ve been asking myself how I could translate my Abundance Trees into a painting project. Because I had the question in my head, I got the answer when I saw this dress on Elsie Flannigan. I saved the dress to my Art Inspiration board on Pinterest and decided I would use it as inspiration to dress up my boring lamp shade. I practiced first in my art journal…
I didn’t try to copy the pattern on Elsie’s dress. I took one more look at it before pulling out my paints, and then closed the picture. There are two reasons I rarely try to copy directly when doing artistic projects…
This is how I use inspiration for my scrapbooking as well. I almost never scraplift, but I sometimes do think back to a layout I liked recently and I recall the overall idea of why I liked it. If you do that, you benefit from the inspiration of others, but you’ll make projects that are completely your own.
So now, from noticing a pedestrian walk and and doodling it into my scrap journal, I’ve developed some art I can use for scrapbooking, for mixed-media projects, and for painting projects as well. It’s amazing how it all flows for you when you pay attention to your environment, act on your observations and idea bursts, experiment with them, develop them, and ask yourself how-questions.
I’m just playing here, but these ideas are germinating into something.
Play = New Ideas.
I’ve learned from this to keep my Copic-play on the right side of the book only, and to space these colored doodles out by a page. The blue and grey from the previous page bled all over my little mushroom colony.
But sometimes those mistakes lead to interesting discoveries. I had doodled this butterfly with a regular ink pen. When I colored it in weeks later, some interesting texture showed through.
Do you see it? Compare the black texturing in the wings of the main butterfly with the lack of it on the smaller ones on the left.
Where did it come from? This little owl is showing through into the ink on the butterfly. The poor owl got colored in the wrongest way from behind. But now I know that if I want some interesting texture mixed into my Copic markings, I can draw something on the back side.
