Retrospect

documenting life, creating art.

Category Archives: techniques


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Boot camp is over, kids!

Yep, Big Picture Boot Camp is officially over. I just barely got my last drill posted yesterday; tomorrow there are drawings for some fabulous prizes for those who shared their projects in the classroom gallery. I want to win something! Okay, that’s not the only reason to get my projects uploaded, however, I didn’t want to be the last one to cross the finish line! The final boot camp section is about storytelling, and our drill sergeant is Ali Edwards. After documenting my observations of my daughter’s day, I added facts and feelings, a photo, and then created this layout about my daughter’s day, sort of like a time-capsule-turned-layout. This will be so nice to go back over and remember when she’s grown and gone. I loved Ali’s example layout; it’s very clean and simple, focusing on the story and the photo.

Now that boot camp is over, I have an itch to create and I feel so inspired by what I’ve been seeing on Pinterest. I worked the night shift at my job last night, and when it was quiet and I took my break, I watched some fun videos on YouTube by Janna Werner and Mercy Tiara. Both scrapbookers show in their videos the process they go through to create a layout from start to finish. I was mesmerized. I was also very inspired because they both made layouts not too unlike the beautiful ones I’ve been pinning onto my “Memory Keeping” board on Pinterest, and watching the videos showed me how I, too, can create something very different from what I’m used to (a much-needed stretch and work-out for the creative side of my little brain!). Once I got home this morning, I couldn’t wait to get started in my scrap studio.

I began with a photo I love that means a lot to me: an old photo of my 17-year-old grandmother that I had scanned into my computer. She just recently passed away, so I thought pulling this picture out and using it on a layout would be not only  a really therapeutic way to deal with the loss, but also a chance to pay tribute to her in my scrapbook.

I started out by cleaning up the worn photo in Photoshop, then printing it out to a 3×4″ size. Next, I went through all my stash and looked for papers that would be neutral, muted, and soft, like Grandma. I then looked for any materials that could add texture to the layout. I grabbed a doily (from the bakery section at Michael’s), a piece of fabric (which came in an old Studio Calico kit from last year), a Maya Road envelope, some polka-dotted vellum (American Crafts–again from an old Studio Calico kit), thread, ribbon (a vintage piece of lacy ribbon from my other grandmother), a Tim Holtz paper clip and his Tiny Attacher and some Studio Calico wood veneer die-cut pieces (including the letters). I threw in some old bits and pieces from my stash that have been laying around way too long (for example, the monthly ledger journal card from 7 Gypsies)…this is a great way to use up old stash so you have an excuse to buy new! I basically created layers by stacking pieces on top of each other until I created a “base” I was happy with (almost like a photo mat with many layers). Before adhering to my background paper, I did some inking with Mr. Huey’s gold mist, glued down some confetti (left-overs from my hole punch) and stitched some hand-cut ‘arrows’ onto the page. Once the ‘mat’ was in place, I just started experimenting with embellishments until I was happy. A few pearl gems here and there, and I was finished. I wanted the photo to stand out from the rest of the page, and I didn’t want it to be bold or loud. I wanted subtle texture and soft colors to make one stop and think. In my opinion, my experiment was a success: I will no longer be afraid to step outside of my comfort zone, and a little messiness can be a good thing. I made lots of mistakes, but I never expected it to be perfect, and that, my friends is the secret! Make a mess. Tear something. Forget to cut the thread. Spill something. Be curious and unafraid: accidents and imperfection can lead to happy endings, after all. I think Grandma would agree.

Papers:  My Mind’s Eye, vellum: American Crafts; envelope: Maya Road; tags & journaling spots: Lilly Bee, Studio Calico, Janet Hopkins, 7 Gypsies, Bananafish Studio; stamp:  Inkadinkadoo; ink: Tsukineko; fabric: unk. (Studio Calico); doily: Michael’s; wood veneer die-cuts and alpha, paint mist: Studio Calico; tiny alpha stickers: Pink Paisley; brad: Basic Grey; paper clip, staples: Tim Holtz; pearl gems: Recollections; lace ribbon: vintage.

Thank you for stopping by!


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Never Say No To A Challenge, or a giveaway!

I love shopping on Etsy. One of my favorites in Saturday Morning Vintage. I just love suspending time “hanging around” looking at the pretty goodies and dreaming. I buy things from the shop now and then, but I admit to being a hoarder….I’m afraid to use things for fear I’ll need it for something special later! But, I’ve been kicking around some ideas lately for a journal; I’m into journals more that layouts, lately, and I’m going through some personal stuff right now and I thought a hand-made journal would be nice to document this journey I’m on. And who would happen to contact me about a scrap challenge right at the perfect time? That Goddess of all that is vintage and beautiful, the lovely Xenia, owner of SaurdayAMVintage! (Yes, Jennifer, there really are fairy godmothers!). Xenia has done this before on her blog in the past where she has fun challenges for her readers. She sends them a package of left-over scraps, and let’s them create whatever they want. I say, bring it on!
Heres the package I received:

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I love the way she packages everything! I have an idea for a journal I’d like to make, and I have a handmade plexiglass clipboard that I’ve been wanting to use. The board measures 6×8″‘ and I put a two-ring binder mechanism on it to me different. I the to my brother Rob’s permission to use his photos because I didn’t have anything appropriate that would fit what I wanted to do, whereas Rob has a wonderful way of projecting symbolism and feelings just emanate from the photos. That’s what I wanted. So I went to work and quickly discovered how fragile vintage papers really are! Thank goodness for washi tape and staples. Some pages became collages as portions of the pages fell apart! Not a problem for me, it simply amped up my challenge mode! I sewed, stitched, colored, taped, punched, and hand typed on the papers, having a great time all the while. The final product (with the disappointing title that is not easy to see…)

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The entire journal may be seen here

Thanks for this challenge! And to anyone out there, do have piles of left-over scraps taking up space in your craft area? Grab them, find some photos, and see what you can do! I invite anyone to bring your photos in the comments, and I will reward you with a free fiveaway!
Thanks for visiting!


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Us 3.

I had a dream, the other night, after looking at Studio Calico‘s newest kit…The vision of Ormolu‘s number tags was in my head, and in my dreams, I saw a vision of the number 2 tag with spray mist in white on it. The minute I woke up, I tore into my Ormolu drawer, and found the tags I had…which did not have the number two. I think I used it. But, I found the number 3, and while the dream was still fresh in my mind (am I that crazy?), I got out my Mr. Huey’s white mist, and went to work.

2" circle punched from scrap kraft paper

I wanted to use the open ’3′ on the tag as a template, so I punched a piece of scrap kraft paper to a similar size, which is 2″.

Putting them together,

I would normally have used repositionable tape to hole the pieces together while I sprayed.  I didn’t, but I would highly recommend it.

I like the look of the spray with the spottiness, but if you don’t , I would paint the tags with an acrylic paint and brush for a different, less mottled look. This is okay for me.

I then gave myself a personal challenge: find 3 unused papers, and 3 embellishments to match, and make a layout with these products. I wanted to use some of Amy Tangerine‘s papers, and more Ormolu embellishments in similar colors. Uncanny, how they matched so well.

This is what I came up with, with the idea of 3 in my mind.

Thanks go to Ormolu and Amy Tangerine for the inspiration! See you soon with the December Daily posts!

I am so very thankful.

 

 


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Sewin’ love.

I’ve always loved sewing on my scrapbook layouts using my sewing machine, but lately, I’ve gone crazy for hand-stitching on my pages as well. I’d seen the trend on various blogs and magazines, but when I started noticing the creative things Amy Tangerine does on both fabric and paper, I really took notice. I’m currently taking her class The Good Life at Big Picture Classes and I’ve learned how to do some of the fabulous things she does. Now, I want to sew on everything!

For a recent mini album I made, I cut a piece of a map showing where I vacationed a week and a half ago, and stitched around the exact area we visited. I got this idea from Pinterest a while back:

This, I could not wait to do. Talk about easy and gratifying. I also wanted to use a large photo of our trip for a layout I attach to our wall calendar in the kitchen area, but I wasn’t sure how to embellish and add to it. I really wanted to keep it simple and let the photo shine, so I stitched a simple design on that, too.

I just wanted it clean and simple, yet it feels ‘decorated’ and complete without too much fussiness. I still find it easier to sew on paper than fabric, especially stretchy fabric, but I want to get better at reverse applique. I picked up some t-shirts at Michael’s recently (2 for $10!), got more colors of cross-stitch floss, and had my mom help me pick out some cute quilt quarters in a rainbow of colors so I can make more cute tee’s like I learned in class:

If you haven’t tried anything like this, don’t be intimidated. It’s really quite easy. I have discovered that when I’m sitting with my husband in the evening, it’s a great way to relax, too. I’ll be back with more on the t-shirts I make. Until then, happy sewing!


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My Coastal Vacation Mini Album

….Or, how not to make a mini album! This is my completed “Scrapbook On The Road” mini album from Ali Edwards that I put together last March. It’s been sitting on my shelf all this time waiting for this very vacation. I have taken a week off to enjoy some good weather, rest, and Hubby’s and my wedding anniversary. We went to the coast last weekend after not being there for several years, and it was wonderful! The stats: I took 479 photos. Yes, you read that correctly. 4-7-9. I used 163 of them in this album. I also took 16 photos on my iPhone, and used 5 of those as well for a total of 168 photos crammed into this not-so-little book. Imagine if I still used film? I found some on Amazon; a 4-pack of 24 exposure Fuji film is around $9-10. I’d still be broke. I am a sentimental fool, and I cannot not photograph! The beauty of digital these days is being able to do what I did without regret, remorse, or having to go into debt. The interesting thing to me is, I deleted photos as I went along on this trip, so 99% of the photos are good and usable. I just cannot put that many into one book! So, I have plenty of good material for use in other projects later on.

Here is the book:

I debated on adding more to the cover, but I'm leaving it alone for now.

I like the look of white on white, but I needed to trace around the letter stickers with a gray pen so they would show up just a little more.

I love these transparencies (left).

This is a real map on the left that I cut and stitched a heart onto. That idea came from Martha Stewart Living.

The tags in the pocket have photos of where we stayed on the back that have been cut into the shape of the tag.

The tag on the right is from My Mind's Eye, and is perfect for things like this.

The photos on the right are from my phone. Left the camera at the cabin!

I tried to add little borders to the white spaces above and below the photo on the left, but it didn't look right. I covered them with this 7Gypsies tape which is only a little better.

The little stickers I used throughout are 'Word Fetti' travel stickers from Making Memories.

To put several photos onto one page, I used my Moirai Compositor in Photoshop CS4 to create a collage.

The Maya Road envelope contains a silly photo my husband took on a tag that I somehow wanted to include, but not on a page. I love using real postcards in my books (right).

The backs of postcards make perfect journal spots!

Pages that look like the one on the right are made from plain transparencies covered with a piece of sewing pattern on both sides and adhered with either Mod Podge, or Gel Medium.

This envelope (right) has business cards from most of the places we visited.

The page on the right is chipboard covered in white acrylic paint. Very difficult to journal on; I went through at least 4 pens.

Lists are fun! This one was a random, spur-of-the-moment decision because the side of the page has those numbers.

Ali Edwards came up with ingenious idea of putting two tags together side-by-side and covering the back with paper to make a unique little page!

That envelope on the right contains the necklace my husband made for me out of a thin piece of seaweed and two little shells shown in the photo directly underneath.

Oy vey! More acrylic paint that was just so difficult to work with! I do love the effect, though.

I loved using Basic Grey's Micro Mini Monogram letters. Perfect size!

This envelope on the right has more ephemera in it like menus, receipts, etc.

I made a pocket out of the bag I got at one of the souvenir shops when I purchased my postcards. I cut it down a little and used a circle punch at the top to put more things into.

The End.

Lessons learned from this:

  1. If you take 479 photos during a vacation, try to weed out the best so that you have maybe 50 or less to put into your mini-album (unless you’re going to make a regular size one, and good luck with that…it may get finished next year.). Put the rest onto your Flickr site, or add a couple of two-page spreads to your usual album.
  2. If you know you’re going to have a lot of stuff to put into a mini-album, don’t use chipboard pages. They add thickness and bulk.
  3. Don’t try to journal on painted pages!! At least cover the page with a coat of gel medium on top, and/or get some super writing pens (lots of them). If I ever discover a pen that will write on anything, I’ll be the first to let everyone know. Not even my trusty Sharpies would write on the paint!
  4. Make sure your holes will be big enough for your binder rings. The Crop-o-dile is a wonderful tool, but the largest hole is only 3/16″ which is not really big enough. I had to re-punch most of the holes, and I did a poor job of it. I don’t know how to get bigger holes in the chipboard pages (except for a Binderie Punch, but it’s awkward). I’m going to campaign for We R Memory Keepers to make a bigger Crop-o-dile hole punch (at least 1/4″).
  5. Plan better. Being spontaneous can be good, but for an endeavor like this, I wish I had slowed down a bit and put more thought into where/how I will put my photos in.
  6. Don’t use glue sticks (at least not cheap Costco ones). I did, and by the time I was ready to put my photos into the book, it was falling apart. I had to use my Scotch ATG gun to reattach things.
  7. AAA maps are a wonderful way to add embellishments: they’re free, and you can cut and punch them to your heart’s desire to add some pretty classy art to your pages.
  8. If you don’t have a Moirai Compositor to create collages on your page, consider adding divided page protectors. There are some which can hold 18 small photos (both sides) and I personally have had success in cutting them down to a size that fits my book. Plus, the page protectors can hold small treasures like business cards, some sand, a shell, etc. (sew across the top to seal).
  9. Taking photos of little treasures I found on the beach was a real boon; some didn’t make it home in one piece, so I at least have a photo of them (you can always print these out small and put some in an envelope if you want to save room).
  10. I probably didn’t need to include all of the meals I had in my book. I did want to remember these meals (especially when we go back again next time), but maybe a scrapbook layout of fabulous meals would have been just as good a way to document that.

All in all, putting this album together was a labor of love (like every scrapbook page!) that I will leave just as it is. Last night I was disappointed with the way it turned out (too thick, messy handwriting, poorly punched holes, etc.), but it’s my documentation of fabulous memories that I put together myself. I won’t change a thing, I’ll just learn from it and do better next time. Happy travels!


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Family makes our house a home.

Amen to that! I am thoroughly enjoying The Good Life with Amy Tan at Big Picture Classes. This week, we are stitching on our layouts, and collecting magazine images to collage and create a “vision board”:

According to Christine Kane, “A vision board (also called a Treasure Map or a Visual Explorer or

Creativity Collage) is typically a poster board on which you paste or collage images that you’ve torn

out from various magazines. It’s simple. The idea behind this is that when you surround yourself with

images of who you want to become, what you want to have, where you want to live, or where you want

to vacation, your life changes to match those images and those desires.”

I have not done this yet, but I do something similar when I cut things out of magazines and newspapers that are significant to me and paste them into my Smash book. Amy is encouraging us to do this on a clipboard, so we can see it more easily, and actually, she has made a pretty collage on a manila envelope:

I will do one of these probably later in the week, and in the mean time, I will clip out things I like and put them on my clipboard. This should be fun!

For stitching on paper, Amy gave us a template to use (a house, which I love) that we cut out, and use to trace around on our layout background.

Once I traced the house onto my paper, I put the paper onto an old mouse pad, and punched small holes every half inch on the lines. I didn’t have the right color of cross-stitch floss to use, so I ended up using some baker’s twine which fit the bill nicely. When I saw this template in the classroom, I knew how I wanted to use it right away, so I grabbed my camera and took some impromptu shots of my husband and daughter, which was easier than I thought (they can sometimes be rather camera shy)! So today I got going on my layout, and after I was finished, dear Hubby informed me that Amy’s layout was gorgeous, and I should have done one like hers! At least he’s honest. ;-)

Stitching on paper is easy, and even if you don’t know how to sew or cross-stitch, you will not find this difficult. I enjoy it, and I will probably end up wanting to stitch on everything now!

There is one other thing I would like to share. Ali Edwards’ blog today is about a “photo walkabout” with Liz Ness of Great Photos Plus. She has video posted there which was really great. Four talented women got together at Canon Beach in Oregon for a photography adventure of sorts. They randomly drew an idea from a box, and following that direction, explored the area in search of images to photograph which would fit the requirement (in this case it was looking for shadows….on a rainy day, no less.). At the end of the day, I’m sure they had some fantastic images. Ali suggested to her followers that we so some exploring and see what we can come up with for our ‘weekend lens’. I just happen to be going to the coast for the weekend with my husband for our 6th wedding anniversary, and we will be taking our cameras along. I am über excited, and cannot wait to see what we can come up with. Of course, I’m not following any piece of paper, I’m going to shoot everything!! See you next week!


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Show and Tell.

I’m catching up on my Big Picture Classes homework this weekend, and I have accomplished quite a bit. I have Four new layouts, thankyouverymuch!

First, “Colour! Or is it Color?”. This week we are focusing on the color green. You know, each week I am finding that I like each color more and more, thanks to this class. I am discovering the importance of color in my layouts like never before. I am certainly appreciating colors more, as well.

He is Content.

I followed instructor Nic Howard’s lead as far as style and composition here. Quite out of my comfort zone, which is good. I am here to learn and push my limits.

Next, “Design Challenges”. This is a truly fun class! The challenges we are given are so unique and interesting. Challenge 4 is to use a vintage type, or font. I love fonts, and I have always found them an important part of the style of a layout.

A Fourth of July party photos I hadn't yet scrapped. Kizmet!

Challenge 5 is to use symbols in our layout. We were given links to a font website for free dingbat downloads, which really  helped. Dafont.com is also a good resource for free fonts and dingbats.

Pause. Christmas photos I never scrapped. I'm batting a thousand.

And finally, “The Mother LOAD”. Basic training for the goal of hopefully becoming a “super scrapper” one day. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. This assignment is to create any layout we choose, but to keep tabs on how long it takes me; what is my process; how do I go about choosing this and that, etc. It took me a long time, and I do not have a method or protocol I follow; rather I am somewhat scatterbrained at times. I don’t think about the order in which I am doing things, or how long it is taking me, or taking any steps to organize anything. I am just doing. One thing I have learned is that I tend to get lost in my creative process. I am so happy, content, focused and creative-minded, I lose track of the time, whether I am hungry, and sometimes what is going on around me. It’s not intentional. But, I do have to admit that there are also times I do dawdle and end up sidetracked looking at Twitter posts, or playing my turn on Words With Friends. Love that game.

Hello Summer, inspired by Ali Edwards.

I feel accomplished today, and it feels good. Yesterday was productive, and today will be too, as I get to work on creating cards for a friend. Happy creating!


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Design challenges 2 & 3

This is a great class to get those creative juices going again. Our instructor, Elizabeth Dillow, offers a challenge prompt every so many days, to create something we may have never tried or thought of before. It’s been really fun, so far. Here are challenges 2 and 3 (number 1 I’ve posted previously.)

using a photo as a background page. This is my silly daughter.

Using orange as the primary color on a page. Never would have thought of it.

Sometimes, stepping outside of our comfort zones is good for us, whether it’s in reference to being artistic and creative, or in other areas of life. Here, it is good for me because part of my love for scrapbooking involves learning and growing. The classes I am taking at Big Picture Classes certainly nurture this. Go ahead and try something different next time you do something crafty. I’ll bet you’ll love it! Happy Scrapping!


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Fun with panorama photos

Earlier in May, I had fun using my Pano iPhone app to take a photo of our Mother’s Day luncheon. How was I going to include everyone at the table, I wondered, and then I remembered this lovely app, and voilá, it worked! I printed out that photo and put it into a layout that used in my May 11 post. It was so easy and fun, I tried it again while at the airport recently with my daughter, because I think the airport is cool. This panoramic shot ended up being bigger than my first one because this one is a complete 360° view. It turned out rather well, I think. If you have an iPhone and want to try it, I recommend the app Pano ($1.99 on iTunes); it does a really nice job of stitching each frame together, and makes the process easy for you with guides visible on the left side of the frame for a seamless flow of shots. This evening I printed out the photo to a 2×22″ size to make a two-page layout by printing each half of the photo on 8.5×11 photo paper using landscape orientation (without borders). I trimmed each half and carefully adhered them to two pieces of 12×12 cardstock. So, how to fill the 1″ gaps on each edge? Just to be different, I decided to make faux envelope flaps, something akin to Maya Road’s mini kraft envelopes. And then–my usual state of “what do I do now with all the usable space that’s left?” confusion. I freeze up when I have too many choices and options for such a nice slice of “real estate” on my page. So I kept it simple and documented just the essentials with rub-ons and stickers, save for one embellishment sticker. I know, I know, chicken! I could have gone for broke and done so many wonderfully artistic things to this layout, but I left it alone and played it safe (what would Ali Edwards have done?). It’s not exciting, not jazzy or spiced up. But it’s a cool panoramic photo that I really like.

FAT: Fresno Air Terminal

Handmade envelope flaps are easy to make using kraft paper, bakers twine, and a small eyelet. Airplane sticker by Evalicious.

Go ahead and have some fun with your iPhone photo apps, or just use whatever photo capabilities you have on your cell phone. While you’re having fun this summer, remember that not having a camera with you does not mean you will miss out on some really great photos. See what you can do, and whatever you come up with, don’t forget to scrap it! Have fun!


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We call ourselves “Longshadow Press”.

Monday we received our final shipment of book-making materials from Bookmakers, Inc. Once we finally determined exactly how many books we will be making, and how much of the supplies will be needed, we plunked down a hefty chunk of change to make it happen. This is a dream of ours: Micha’s beautiful photos+my handiwork= one amazing book (we hope!). We settled on 12 copies, 11 of which have been sold (possibly the twelfth, as well) before they are even made. Once we completed one copy, our first try, we were able to figure out how to improve it; now we’re using it as the “artist’s copy” to show friends what we’re doing, and that’s how we were able to sell what we intend to make.

The last weekend I was not working, we had every intention of cranking out the first complete copies that we could sell. What we turned out instead was one disaster after another. Amazing how badly things turned out, and amazing how calm we stayed! No one was hurt in the process! So, we ended up wasting some supplies, and spending more money than intended, but our goal is to get each copy right and make it as perfect as possible, as if it were professionally made. Ugh. It’s so not easy! A few days ago, however, we did it. We created the first three copies, in their entirety, without any mistakes. We were so thrilled, we treated ourselves to dinner (!!). Three down, nine more to go. Sigh. I have also come to realize that I had not yet taken a photo of the final, completed book, probably because the artist copy doesn’t really count for me. Too many flaws. So, here you go.

Not fancy, nothing award-winning. A simple way to showcase the photos my husband created that will be exhibited at the art museum beginning this August. I am one proud woman. More details on the exhibit will be coming soon; any questions about the book are welcome. Thanks for letting me share!

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