Pick Of The Patch

It's Not All Layouts and Mini Albums

When we talk about scrapbooking, we are often referring to creating layouts or mini albums, but this art doesn't limit us to just that. There are also many items out there that can be "altered". That is changed with paper, rub-ons, flowers and the rest of our stash to make them look differently. I think there are a lot of people out there that don't create layouts and such, but stick only to altering items, maybe they use scrapbooking papers and embellishments, but maybe they don't. Altering items is one of my favourite ways to use my stash. You can make great gifts for people or home decor items; the options are limitless, especially in this time of reduce, resuse and recycle, altering it saves you money and keeps items out of the landfill.

Here, I took a Starbucks Create Your Own Tumbler, which I actually made for my mom as a gift a couple of years ago. I saw it the other day and thought it needed to be updated.So I pulled out the old insert, and used some recent photos of my family, cut a piece of patterned paper to size (it comes with a template), added some flowers cut out of co-ordinating paper, some rub-ons on the photos and bits of paper and I've created a go with her brag book, well brag cup I guess. This project has to be kept very flat in order to fit into the sleeve. And I'm happy to redo this for her every year or so with newer papers and photos. Are you an alterer, if you are share some of your creations with us by linking in the comments of this post. If you have yet to venture into the art of altering, give it a try, you'll be hooked.

Why do you Scrapbook?

I was recently asked "Why do you scrapbook?" A silly question to me but believe it or not there are people out there that cannot understand the passion and reasoning that goes into scrapbooking. I'm sure that many of my "non-scrapbook" friends must think my passion is more like an obsession. I suppose it is! LOL

Many of us scrapbook for various reasons, all different, but very important to us as individuals artists. I say "artists" because I truly believe that scrapbooking is an art. Another medium in which we can express our creativity to share with our families, friends and the world.

I'm going to list a few of my reasons for scrapbooking (not in any particular order because there are too many to list!)

I enjoy the warm feeling and memories that working with photos brings as I create my pages.

I am able to express my creativity in a memorable way.

I am the "storyteller" and "keeper of treasures" , each family needs one of those!

I feel a great sense of joy and satisfaction when I present an album or layout as a gift. Often times I hear more wonderful stories and anecdotes than what I've actually journalled. The gift has resurfaced memories and brought joy... my goal was achieved.

Family heritage - It's a long process that truly is never ending, but I've given our heritage albums a darn good start. I hope that someday the children in our families will be inspired and influenced by what I've created.... perhaps one of them will pick up where I left off.

Friendships - I really cannot believe the number of friendships that scrapbooking has brought to me.  I have found some truly amazing friends.

Think about the reasons you scrapbook, jot down a note of your why's and scrapbook a page about it!

Our Friday night Free 4 All Crop is happening this evening at the store starting at 5:30pm and be sure to check your calendar to see if you're free to join us this month for our card class, canvas creation class, Jo's How do you do that? class and Pam's patch project!  and don't forget to register for our All Day Crop being held on July 25th!  Call the store for details & to register.

A Case of the Summertime Scrapbooking Blues

Hi, my name is Erica and I am a scrapbooker. Well, I was a scrapbooker and I intend to be one again someday, but somewhere between the beach blanket and my summer reading list my inspiration and desire to scrapbook dribbled into the sand, or maybe it was melted by the early summer heat wave. I would love nothing more to have a wonderful layout full of layers and interesting techniques using the latest products to hit our shelves to share with you today, but other than a couple of cards I haven't created anything in the past few weeks; I just haven't been inspired.

If you are anything like me during the summer months and find it hard to get into pulling out your scapbooking supplies and would rather than lounging with a good book and a glass of wine (or is that just me?), then what I'm about to share with you might be a welcome change than another layout or technique you won't get to. I don't want to totally lose my connection to my craft, so I am doing a few of the other things that will make scrapbooking easier for me when my inspiration does return.

Take a Ton of Photos. Not only am I taking loads of photos, I'm playing with my camera and trying to take photos at different angles and even playing with the shutter and aperture. I figure what better time to play than when I'm spending most of my time outside in the garden (snap some macro shots of those ripening strawberries or grand peonies), set up your tripod for pics of the kids in the sprinkler and then get in on the action yourself. Then order up copies of your favs right away so they are printed and ready to scrap when the mood strikes.

Organzie Your Supplies. When you do have a few minutes to spare, say 10-15 minutes. Go through a drawer, shelf or basket and sort through it. Donate what you know you won't actually use, there are tons of school groups, community programs and therapy groups that would love them. If there is an item that you want to remember to use on one of your upcoming summer layouts put it in a basket on your table top so it's close at hand when your inspiration returns.

Read Up. Pick up a new magazine (we carry some in the store) or pull out a couple of old ones and take them to the beach or campground with you. Nothing like some light reading of tips and techniques you've never tried to get one's mojo going. Or heck, just scraplift a layout or two and next thing you know you'll be back into the swing of things.

Shop and Crop. Keep stopping by the store and checking out the new products coming in. Join us for our Friday Night Crop or our All Day Crop on the 25th of June. It's amazing how one (or a dozen) new products and/or being surrounded by other creative types can spur our own inspiration into overdrive. I know I'll be there at the next crop I can make it to.

I'm working on a few of these today and hoping to get a few projects on the go this weekend so I'll have some layouts to share with you in my upcoming posts. Please share with us what you are doing to stay in the scrapbooking mode over the summer. I could use all the help I can get. Here's to banishing those summertime scrapbooking blues.

Glimmer mist on layouts ...

"How do I use glimmer mist on a layout?"  This is a question we hear quite often at the store.  For those of you that know me, you know I am a glimmer mist addict ... I use it on cards and altered items all of the time and I also use it on the occasional layout.  I use it because its quick, it adds colour and glimmer, which adds a very subtle additional dimension to a page, and I do love adding dimension.    Here are three layouts that I have done, two very recently and one about a year ago ... they each show a different use of glimmer mist on a layout. I love using Bazzill "kraft" cardstock ... but on this layout it just looked a little dull ... and as i was going for a circus feel, I simply sprayed ramdon bits of the kraft cardstock with glimmer mist.  See how it adds a bit of sheen to the cardstorck?  I didnt need to spray a lot, just 4 or 5 randomly placed spurts and it completely livend up this layout.  This layout also used the yummy Collage Press "Knave of Hearts" paper and diecuts.

On this layout I used the glimmer mist in two ways.  I sprayed the grungeboard wings with two different pink colours .... I allowed time to dry and kept layering the spray until i got the effect I wanted.   I wanted to add some dimension to the raised clouds which were cut from the same "Knave of Hearts" paper as the background.  So i simply sprayed some glimmer mist onto my kraft sheet, and then dipped a brush into the pool of glimmer mist and painted the edges of the clouds.  It is a very quick and very easy technique.

On this layout I used the glimmer mist to colour the corners of the patterned paper and used the mist and glimmer stencil to colour and create the butterfly on the patterned paper.  Again, a quick and easy technique that  brings and added sheen, dimension and design to the layout.

I am sure that there are literally hundreds of ways to use glimmer mist on layouts ... these are just a few that I have tried.  I encourage you all to get out there and play with your mist, and do use it on layouts ... it is a lot of fun!

Facing your fears ...

... but only fears as they pertain to Scrapbooking ... So here are 3 "fears" that i hear quite often from other scrappers... 1) I can't do tone on tone, 2) whitespace!!!  I can't leave white space!!!  and 3)  I can never use flowers because i only have men/boys in my family.

Tone on tone or monochromatic pages do scare some people ... and sometimes they can look overdone.  When I am using this technique, i tend to use it on the majority of the page instead of the entire page.  That way the intention is clear, but the page does not convey the message of being only one colour.  In the layout below I used white on white, and white over the majority of the page.  It makes it look clean, it makes the other coloured accents and papers pop and it doesnt look overdone.  This works well with all kinds of colour combos ... it's very versatile and again, the photo and accents will be highly visible.

Whitespace ... another toughie ... when i first started scrapping I would literally cover almost every inch of the background paper ... blank corner, toss in a large photo corner ... blank space, toss in a quote printed on velum, or flowers or something chipboard.  Now I am embracing "whitespace" ... which can really be any colour ... and/or pattern .... but essentially it is those wide open spaces on your layout.   I fist started using "whitespace" when I saw that it allowed the viewer's eye to focus on the important part of the layout ... which primarily is the photos. 

Flowers ..... what can I say, I adore flowers in all forms as embellishments ... and yes, you can use flowers on almost any layout, even when you are scrapping your guys. The first thing I do is look for photo opportunities that lend itself to a possible floral theme ... in this case, my Dad, standing in front of a floral banner.  Try photographing your guys in natural surroundings, like green forests, tropical plants, in front of flowering trees & shrubs ... you can add white flowers to snowflakes for a floral winter scene, flowers in orange tones for those shots of walks in the park in the autumn ... so, yes you can use those flowers, just dont adorn their baseball photos with flowers and you will be fine.

Have fun trying some of these techniques, as always, come show us your creations, we would love to see what you have been up to.  If you have any techninques or issues you would like to see covered on the blog, let us know ... we are happy to help you create!!!

all patterned paper and clear embellishments are from the New Basic Grey line "June Bug"