Art Girlz Scrapbook Nook

GRAD U 8 -- Scrapbook Pages

Do you find yourself driving down the road and trying to make sense of some of the license plates? UR2CLOSE -- that's obvious! BRUSH'EM -- a Dentist around town had that one!

I don't really text. I guess I would rather talk to someone, and I get rather frustrated to type out all those words ... I suppose you are supposed to write something like this: I GRAD U 8'd!

Having fun with the license plates & texting idea -- and mixing in a little bit of a Scrabble board, these 2 pages were born.

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This child is SO NOT Girly, but I just had to use some girly & feminine papers and embellishments. Especially when they are from one of my favorite brands of paper: IMAGINISCE. For these 8x8 pages, we used the papers from the FOR PEEP'S SAKE collection. The papers are soft & subtle, feminine, and have GLITTER printed into the designs. The "glistening" you see in the photos is the glitter in the paper.

I know the paper collection is called "For Peep's Sake" -- and you are just thinking chicks & bunnies. One of the designs (reverse of the stripe) has a small overall pattern including chicks, bunnies, and other spring things. BUT, most of the papers are more generic than the name of the collection would suggest. Don't judge a paper collection by it's name!

Another wonderful thing about these papers is that they are DOUBLE-SIDED. The papers are nice and sturdy and could be used for any project.

The DRAPIN' DAISIES paper was used along the bottom of each page, while the reverse side of COLOR ME HAPPY was used (stripes). There is also some of the reverse of Drapin' Daisies as photo mat and punched label for the date.

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Scraps of papers were used to punch tag shapes, a few small pieces of Magic Mesh were added, scraps of ribbons added here & there, flowers and of course, BLING.

I layered the flowers. Some are Bazzill, some are Prima, some are paper, some are silk. Just mix and match.

Color was the main way we chose the flowers, then we looked at the textures. This is a departure from my normal pages where the flowers would ALL be same, perhaps different sizes. But no garden has all the same flowers, right?

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A close-up of the top right of this page shows the detail (explained below).

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The Rhinestone BLING was used in several ways.

For the center of flowers, various sizes were chosen. The same color was used for the centers to tie all the various flowers together.

The smallest rhinestones in the set (Doodlebug Design) were used to make a circle around my DD receiving her diploma. Yea, you can hardly see her. At least with the rhinestones, your eye is drawn to that part of a very busy photo!

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A close-up of the title reveals it's meaning: Graduate, You Are Great! You have to read it like a Scrabble board. The letters in the title are from various alphabets -- again, mixing & matching shapes & colors.

A Gel pen was used to make the square shape around each letter. WE LOVE the gel pens. Some fun ideas on how to use the gel pens coming (along with the clear button ideas).

SBPS #10 -- Puppy Love Scrapbook Pages

I participated in a "secret scrapbooking sister" swap at Split Coast Stampers. I received photos from Cathy ("tahitiancat" on SCS) and made pages for her. Sent them out ... and I'm waiting to hear how she likes them!

I received great pages from Kerry ("kerry3k" on SCS). My boyfriend's dog was pregnant ... I took her in, gave her a home, loved her and kept her. Cammie had 7 healthy puppies -- all of them found good homes. We kept "mommy" (Cammie) and she is now my dog. My sister has Marley. Not sure where they got that name from, but that dog is very loved by my niece and nephew.

The pages that Kerry made for me are GREAT! I only need to add a few journaling notes -- it's complete. It is already in my photo album. I'm waiting for some inspiration for the journaling.

Here's the 2-page layout (12x12 size) that Kerry sent me. LOVE it!!!!

Couldn't be more excited. Now the girls and I all want these pages in our album!

Grandma's Roses

I have very few photos of my childhood because my father always used slide film. They have tons of slides, but unfortunately with moving several times, humidity and age (ok, not THAT old!) they are fading. I also remember those flash bulbs and how they were so HOT!!!

I don't think I have any photos of me and my grandmother together as she passed away when I was only 13. But I remember this photograph of her in the rose garden ... it always sat on the fireplace mantle. For as long as I can remember, this photo was there.

Grandma's Roses didn't come out exactly as I had planned. But it's here. I will make other pages for my daughters books. My niece is named after Grandma -- "Naomi".

I used Stampin'Up! stamps: Roses in Winter (which is my VERY favorite stamp set EVER), and the collage alphabet. The background paper was lighter, but I took a sponge with some re-inker and smudged it all over to make it look old.

I didn't have any rose flowers, so I added these Prima flowers. I have seen some wonderful cards & other items made with "Roses in Winter" where they made the flowers 3-d. I'm going to have to try that.

So, today I share with you Grandma's Roses.

To Swap or Not to Swap? Part 2

Still undecided if you should join a swap? Our May 20th post, To Swap or Not to Swap? shows a 2-page spread that a secret scrapbooking sister made for one of my daughters. Loved it as it arrived, but added some bling.

Today the scrapbook pages are also from a swap, but these came without photos. The idea of these swaps is to make a layout that someone can just drop their photos into and go. A little more on this idea later.

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This page is from a "Bohemian-look" Page swap. The only items I added were:

* cork letters for title

* chipboard word "girl"

* a few jewels (thanks to Doodlebug Design)

The rest of the page was already here. Stamped flourish, large flower, and even intricate cutting of the paper (which I slid the bottom photo under. It reminded me of one of my daughters, and she loves it.

Would I have ever created this page on my own? No, because I have a different design style, but I really like this premade layout (and would like to CASE it sometime). Here is the benefit of pre-designed layouts: you just grab a few photos, add a title and some embellishments (if there aren't any already).

We hold Crop @ the Beach weekends and have a lot of fun. To make it more productive and to be able to bring less STUFF, we encourage the scrappers to come with pre-made layouts. Each time we hold one of these weekend crops we teach how to make a pre-made layout. Usually you are making for 4x6 photos -- and this makes it much easier too.

Here is the second page (right hand side). Notice how different it is from the first page? Notice the use of completely different papers? At first, I was not sure what to do, but I showcased one photo, and had some fun with the ages & names.

What do you do if you run out of alphabet letters or numbers? Improvise. Here I ran out of 7's, so for the year (2007) I used 200 ... and the word seven. Quite a departure from my usual style, but I'm lovin it.

That is another reason to swap -- an opportunity to leave your usual style behind. It can also help you break out of a creative rut and give you the opportunity to scrap pages you would never have created on your own (even if you DO follow a sketch).

I need to add some journaling, but the only thing I added to this page was a photo, a few jewels (on right hand side of photo), cork numbers and name tags. The gorgeous center flower was already attached and layered!

I do not know who created these two pages, she did not sign the back. If you made these pages for the Bohemian Swap, let me know!

I love them, my daughter loves them.

To Swap or Not To Swap?

THAT IS THE QUESTION!

Swapping: the act of exchanging scrapbook pages, stamped images, cards, etc.

I'm not sure how swapping got started, but it sure is fun. I have a whole stash of cards from swaps. I also have many 6x6 scrapbook pages. Why do I swap? Why should you try it?

I swap because I get stuck in my own "style rut". My scrapbook pages tend to be more linear and usually more simple than some of the pages I see in magazines. These pages are more works of art than scrapbook page. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

So ... to swap or not? Scrapbook pages usually take more time and paper to make than cards. There are different types of swaps ... I've shared some of my swap ideas with you previously: "scrap page in a bag", 12x12 page layout (no photos), and one of my favorites is a Secret Sister Scrapbook page swap.

You send photos to a hostess -- they might already be printed or sent electronically. You take these photos and any ideas that the "little SB Sister" has -- like what colors they like / dislike, who is in the photos, dates, places, etc.

I find this type of swap fun because you actually receive completed pages. And your big sis will probably have a completely different style from yours. To really get the most benefit from a swap like this, you need to be open to differences in ability and style.

I recently swapped some winter photos from 1993 (yes, I'm a LITTLE behind). My big sister was "Buckeye Stamper" (Caroline) on Split Coast Stampers. While this site started out to be a site for Stampin'Up! demonstrators and SU! JUNKIES (!) to share, many of the stampers and scrappers have branched out and use other materials & stamps.

I received my pages and totally LOVED THEM instantly! I could have just added a little journaling and put them in the scrapbook as they arrived.

But ... you CAN change some parts of the pages, add embellishments, etc. That's what I did with these pages. Remember, I loved them just the way they were ... but I felt I needed some BLING! on them. And I didn't think I could do a winter page without STICKLES glitter glue by Ranger. You just GOTTA have some Stickles on the page. "Buckeye Stamper" had made a half circle design of die-cut snowflakes. I wanted to show them off a bit more, so I put a dab of STICKLES in the center and placed a small rhinestone in the center (glitter and glue at the same time). Used a mix of Doodlebug Design Jewels and Queen & Company Jewels. Doodlebug's are self-adhesive, and Q&Co are not. But still no mess with the easy to use stickles.

 

The rhinestones and crystal stickles are easier to see in real life (IRL), but I think you get the idea here ... I alternated between pink and clear rhinestones.

The adorable penguin die-cut is a QuicKutz die. Used Doodlebug Design "Sugared" papers (glittered paper -- YUMMY!) to make him really pop. A dimensional glue dot also helps! He got a rhinestone at the top of his hat and his nose.

Then I took out my PINK STICKLES and wrote over the title with the pink glitter glue. The title was just fine as it was, but like I said ... I just HAD to add the bling. Using a fine tip black marker, outlined the letters. I added the words "Having" and "much" with an American Crafts' Galaxy marker. These markers are SO cool! These pens have an opaque paint-like ink that allows you to write with no mess on both light and dark surfaces. Like a paint pen, only way better (no smell). Added a large (flower) clear rhinestone for the "O". Added a journaling note, a blue gingham background to the center photo, and photo corners made of paper & ribbon. A few of my favorite embellishments.

Added some embellishments to this page too:

* used blue gingham paper like on first page. Used it for photo mats.

* Added journaling in the block that was left blank, it was perfect.

* added a large die-cut snowflake (using the Doodlebug Design SUGARED PAPERS again). Added some pink and silver ribbons and added a bow to one of the photos.

* carried the rhinestone & stickles to this page -- added one to the center of each snowflake die-cut.

I added embellishments not because the page needed them, but to add some bling -- that's my favorite embellishment right now, can you tell?

A big thanks to BUCKEYE STAMPER for the great 2-page layout (12x12) that she made for me. My daughter loves these pages, they've gone into her scrapbook for all to see.

To answer "To Swap or Not to Swap?", I say have some fun and SWAP.

Pet Scrapbook Pages

I've had many pets throughout my life. Growing up, we had a dog, gerbils, rabbits, and ducks. Now I have 1 dog and 3 cats. I missed taking photos of some of the dogs I've had since I was grown and on my own. I think I may have 1 or 2 photos of each of them.

But that isn't the case for "the Princess". She's the Princess of the house, rules over all the other animals ... and she knows it! Her name is PAWS. We sometimes laugh and say she looks like the Chick-fil-A cows ... but she's a black & white (Tuxedo) domestic shorthair cat.

This cat belongs to my younger daughter, who is also a "princess". Interesting how animals take on the personalities of their owners!

Having fun with the cats and the camera one day, we snapped some photos of Paws playing with the dog's tennis ball. Not sure why they are so infatuated with the dog's ball, bones, or toys.

Made an 8x8 scrapbook page to go into my PET ALBUM. Used some of my favorite papers from My Mind's Eye. LOVE, LOVE their papers. The embellishments are some 3-d "Rain Dots" and some 3-d stickers from a set called "Girl's Night Out".

The color is a bit off in the photos, but the background is PINK, the papers are pink print. A printed acetate overlay (from My Mind's Eye) was stapled over the photo -- you can see the scallop design around the edge of the photo (photo was mounted on black cardstock).

To attach the clear overlays you can use tiny glue dots and put them in places where there is printing, OR use something like staples, brads, eyelets, fastenater staples. Our page has colored staples.

I'm not sure that Paws is exactly "Wild & Crazy". She's the Princess! She does NOT go outside, because you get your feet dirty, or wet, or eeeuuuwww ... there might be something yukky in that grass!

She prefers to have a liesurely afternoon on the screened porch. Watching (and chattering at) the birds at the feeders. That's about as much excitement as she's going to want.

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The edges of the pages and printed papers were inked in black to go with her hair color ... and the page is PINK because she has a PINK DIAMOND collar (okay, maybe it's rhinestones, but don't tell her that).

The girls had some fun with a package of RAIN DOTS adding them to the right side of this page. And they couldn't help but add the "You sexy thing" fabric patch on this page. Paws has so many expressions, it's really fun to catch her with the camera.

So, now you have met the Princess. She will come and meow to get on your lap, and hopefully you are not reading a book or doing ANYTHING, because she's going to get up in your lap and move the book (or even the laptop) out of her way!

We love you Paws!!!

A Clearly Cute Book -- National Scrapbooking Day Kit

Ah ... the best laid plans ... are sometimes turned upside-down. There was a cable outage yesterday in a 5 county region. Of course, we happen to be right in the middle of that area. Wondered why the cell phones kept showing "no service" all day and the computers could not access the internet. The cable outage meant wireless internet was out too!

We are back up today and hoping to stay that way. A day without e-mail is like a day without news.

We've got a special project to share with you. A 3x5" clear acrylic book with some adorable coordinating papers from ScrapWorks!

We purchased some acrylic books and went about having some fun with them. I have really enjoyed making small "gift" books (and the pop-up box was totally fun too). The acrylic books combine the fun of a small mini-scrapbook with the "peek through" potential that the clear pages in these books offer.

A few comments that we'd like to start out with:

** we prefer to use GLUE DOTS instead of other adhesive types as they stick very well to the acrylic and were less visible;

** plan your design to take advantage of the "see through" potential of the pages; and have fun! No Rules!

This is one of the samples we made with a tag book. It is made up of 4 clear acrylic pages with a ring at the top. Since all the photos we wanted to use were vertical in orientation, the book flips open at the top (instead of the side like a normal book).

If you want all your pages going in the same direction, plan the photo placement before adhering anything down. Gather up embellishments. If using brads or eyelets, make sure you can not see the backs of them on the other side of the page.

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Here is the first page you come to when you flip open the cover. You can see a little of the red felt flowers from the cover peeking through the clear area at the bottom of the page. Since these papers were made to coordinate, we did not worry if there was red showing on a predominantly blue or pink page. Depending on the papers and style you like, you might want to plan your layout differently.

I mentioned about checking the layout of the photos so that the "book" opens in the same direction. Another open for a vertical book is to have all the photos going in the same direction (the ring binder at the top) and just fold & flip each time. We designed this book in a way that you can see 2 pages at once (top page and bottom page).

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If you like this mini book, you'll LOVE our special National Scrapbooking Day (NSD) Kit!

The next page in the book is a completely different color scheme (see the ring binder at the top of page) but it works because the papers are all coordinating.

You'll notice that all the area in our book is for photos. You may want to have your photos printed in wallet or smaller sizes. This way there would be room for journaling or some other description, such as dates & names. But since this is a Mother's Day gift for my mother (affectionately known as "Nana" to my daughters), the girls and I decided to just use photos.

Notice how we rounded the corners of the papers? Since the  book had rounded corners, we did the same with the papers to give it a more polished look. The kit we have for NSD has a "postage stamp" edge and there is more room for photos and papers -- the tag book loses space due to the top of the shaped tag.

The papers we used are two sided (print on one side and solid on the other). This makes these very versatile as you can use them for backgrounds, a mat for the photos and more. The fun part about working with a clear book is that you can use one piece of paper -- since it shows through on the other side!

See the cute STRIPE background on this page? It is the reverse side of the paper from the previous page showing through! VERY ECONOMICAL and fun too!

These papers have combinations of all of our favorite colors: pink, red, blue & brown. You really can't go wrong with that combo, add a little green and you've got it covered.

The green background on this next page is the reverse side of one of the prints. If you do not like the see-through side, you can always cover it. Make sure that you place glue dots on strategic places so they are not very noticeable.

Some scrappers use a Xyron to put adhesive evenly all over the back of their photos or papers. If you are the type of person that like to put your papers & photos down and move them around -- don't try the Xyron adhesive route!

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You might think we like flowers, buttons & brads? Maybe just a little, huh? Different textures and materials all add to the playfulness of the book.

 

Since these books are so small, you are really not using that many embellishments. They go together quickly. The most difficult part is deciding what photos to use and how to showcase them. We also used some of the rain drops on the beach page. A little more "clear" fun. How about using the rain drops or other clear adhesive jewels to show through from front to back? Check to see if the adhesive obscures the embellishment. If you adhere something and wish to remove it, the glue dots come off the acrylic very cleanly -- not easily, but cleanly once they do release.

The last inside page (you can decorate the back "cover" too. A photo from Christmas fits well here due to the green background and the red print. Valentine paper? Not if you use your imagination and creativity.

A piece of Felt Fusion (Queen & Company's FELT FUSION and felt shapes) cut from a wide strip makes a quick and fun accent. Add a button for the center, and adhere a rain dot in the middle of the button. This looks SO much cuter in person.

Would you like to make your own book? We've got a new kit just in time to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day.

Get yours today at Art Girlz Scrappin Attic, Ltd.

We'll post our Kit of the Month later today along with another special sale.

Happy Scrappin!

Using One Photo per Page? Go Large!

I've still been working on special pages for my own scrapbook, after all these years of making books for my girls! My book will have few photos, but I'll be investing in large photos. You know those photos that remind you of a special time, or they had that perfect smile, or their favorite "blankie".

This photo was so spontaneous and one of the very few of my daughters and my (one and only) niece. This was taken the day before my cousin's wedding. It was summer and the weather was beautiful & sunny. Not sure WHY I went with the bright colors, but I fell in love with these papers (Rhonna Farrar), the background is Bazzill BLING. How I love the BLING.

The flowers show the possibilities for making different centers: one is a brad, another a button, and the third is 2 flowers layered with a brad in the center. I'm all into flowers! Not only am I a paper addict, I'm a Prima flower addict!!

I used the same technique for this title as I did on another page I made about a year ago ... threading the ribbon through holes in the top of the tags. I'm not finished with this -- it will be a 2-page spread as I need alot of space to journal our trip and the party. We drove almost 600 miles up to New York State for this wedding and semi-family reunion. Although it was only 8 years ago ... my daughters have already forgotten so many of the details. And this is precisely why I encourage everyone to bring a journal with them whenever they have their camera! Write down some of the little things: special or silly things. The scrapbook pages will mean more to your family in the years to come.

Another photo from the same wedding -- and it was so difficult to get both girls smiling in the same photo!! I found the vellum quote in a book from DCW. I haven't finished it as I am preparing some lace and small butterfly charm to add to the left of the tag (an odd number of embellishments is more appealing to the eye. It's like the rule of thirds -- dividing the page or card into thirds. Or using Gallon, Quart & Pint formula for color combos.

Although these photos are taken at the same event, the first one is very playful, so I chose playful & colorful papers. The second page is more "formal" using polka dot background with a floral / paisley strip of paper across the top. The flowers are even more formal looking -- these flowers look like dogwood blooms.

While it is more expensive to have 8x10" photos printed, choose photos that are worthy of the attention. If using digital photo files, make sure that the file will produce a good, clear print at such a large size. Usually 35mm negative film can be enlarged to almost any size.

Many of the scrapooking magazines are featuring scrapbook pages with one central photo -- these are usually no larger than 5x7". But go bold! I might find a nice frame for these pages and hang them in my office! Remember, scrapbook pages can be home decor.

Using REALLY Oversize Photos on Scrapbook Pages

I went to a crop this weekend. It was at Archiver's -- and they give us a page kit. It's adorable new paper from K&Co. They also have a layout that they've designed for the papers. This kit had a VERY OVERSIZE photo on it.

Large photos like this are usually quite expensive to have developed. And I wasn't sure I wanted to put that much money into a page I might not like ... so they have a color copier. The paper in the copier is made to print photos ... and we increased our little 4x6 photo to a 8x12. The layout called for the photo to be cropped to about 6x12.

My page is not completed yet, I think I may run a title across the top of the photo (the dark area). I think instead of putting this into a scrapbook, I'm going to do something else with it ... like frame it.

It's quite an easy layout, and obviously the photo takes center stage. A vertical photo that has extra area on the sides (so that it can be cropped to 6x12) is needed, but you could make it any size.

I love the papers with the shaped edges. The pink paper on the left (with the curved edge) has all 4 edges curved. But to maximize the shape, cut only a strip about 4 inches wide so that you have plenty of the paper for other projects.

I'm certainly not going to make tons of scrapbook pages with 12" photos, but I had fun with this one. See what you can do. And try a color copy on some photo paper!

Turn a 6x6 Page into an 8x8 page

Over the past few years I've taken part in a number of scrapbook page swaps. Most of these have been the 6x6 size. This size is quick and easy to make and swap. While there are many possibilities for these swapped pages, lately I have been primarily scrapping in 8x8 or 12x12.

What do you do with ALL those 6x6 pages?

You can try the PROGRESSIVE SCRAPBOOKING TECHNIQUE.

1) You make a 6x6 page; 2) Layer that onto an 8 1/2x11 page; 3) layer all onto a 12x12 page.

Here's an example of a finished 12x12 Progressive Page. Can you find the 6x6? the 8 1/2x11"?

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But, we're doing 8x8. What can you do with those 6x6's on a page only 2 inches larger? A LOT!!!

The cute "PRINCESS" page (white) was a 6x6 I received in a swap. (Sorry I cannot give credit to the scrapper as there is no name on the page). I loved this page as soon as I received it -- it fits my younger daughter Perfectly!! I have been waiting to use this for just the right project. I used photos from our trip to Disney World. Added some of Queen & Company's FELT FUSION (self-adhesive felt) -- just love it! Cut it into pieces (like we did one our pages) or use as a felt strip.

Add some buttons, ribbons, brads and some printed papers. Very quick! I'm so glad to be able to use this 6x6 page because I do not own the stamps that were used on the page.

Do you have something on your photo that you'd like to hide? Try adding the flowers and buttons overlapping onto the photo, like we did on this page! Embellishments are so wonderful for hiding those yuky things you didn't see when you took the photo.Our completed 2-page layout just needs some journaling and it's completed. And it took only about 15-20 minutes. So go ahead and join some 6x6 swaps. You'll be on your way to creating a 6x6 book, 8x8, 8 1/2x11 or even a 12x12!