Scrapbook Favorites Book

From the LM Archives: 30 Days of Gifts 2007 - DAY 21: Scrapbook Favorites Book by Madeline Fox, LM Design Team
Since beginning to scrapbook several years ago, I’ve accumulated quite a few albums filled with bulky layouts. It’s unfortunate, but I don’t get to share these pages with my parents or extended family as often as I’d like. The weighty books are not easy to carry around, so they sit, gathering dust on a bookshelf. I thought it would be nice to share prints of my favorite pages in a more compact and easily portable manner by using a Maya Road 4" x 8" Chipboard Binder Album . The landscape orientation allows me to display either two layouts side by side or a two page spread on each page. The chipboard pages are thick, and the sturdy binder just begs to be decorated. I chose fun, colorful papers from KI Memories Pop Culture for the cover and embellished it with ribbon, a Magistical Memories Chipboard   nested star shape, Fancy Pants Fashion Sense heart pins, and American Crafts Thickers chipboard letters. A little sparkle was added to the title with Stickles glitter glue. Instructions: Paint edges of chipboard binder with paint to match or coordinate with the patterned papers for the front and back covers. Let dry. Cut patterned paper for front and back covers, 4 ½ inches x 8 ½ inches, and adhere. Cut 1 inch x 4 ½ inch strip from coordinating patterned paper and adhere near spine. Cut patterned paper for title, 2 inches x 6 inches. Mat on contrasting colored paper and trim. Cut a 3 x 7 symmetrical rectangle from lace cardstock. Adhere title block to this rectangle and attach to front of album. Stick heart pins under title block. Tie ribbon around front cover. Paint chipboard star and attach with beadchain to the ribbon. Cut various patterned papers, 4 inch x 8 inch, and adhere to chipboard pages. Mat prints of favorite scrapbook layouts and add to album pages. Apply stickles glitter glue to title chipboard letters on cover and set aside to dry.

Summer Reading

There was a message on our answer machine last week...something about Kevin winning a prize drawing from the summer reading program. We finally made it over there yesterday when I went to return some overdue books. Wow! I had imagined that he won a GC to Barnes and Nobles or something like that. Nope! He won an ipod courtesy of Cox Communications and Friends of the Library! ALSO, a little wallet filled with coupons for free Krispy Kreme donuts, free Frostys from Wendy's, free McD's fries, hamburgers, apple pies, ice cream cones, and more! Quite a lot of loot for one little boy! He was speechless...and so was I!

Classic Black and Whites

From the LM Newsletter

Classic Black and Whites By: Melissa Thigpen, Design Team Member
Simple, elegant and classic, black and white is a timeless combination that is showing up in collections from several manufacturers this year: Luxe Designs Classic Black, Antique Cream Narratives by Karen Russell, Doodlebug Black & White, Scrapworks Formal Affair, 7 Gypsies Napoli. The patterns run the gamut from delicate and feminine to worn and mellow to big and bold. With so many style choices, the possibilities of black and white go far beyond the traditional wedding pages. Using black and white on your pages may seem challenging. The rules of color do not apply. Like black and white photographs, designing with black and white elements means thinking more in terms of light and dark, contrast, pattern, texture and balance. Balance: Solid black and white both have a lot impact or weight in a design. Black and white patterned paper can have more or less weight according to the ratio of black to white in the pattern. Try combining different patterns ranging from mostly black or white to a 50/50 combination of the two to create balance on your page. Pattern: Because black and white papers are by definition without color, the patterns really take the center stage. Use patterns that reflect the elements or themes of your photographs. When combining patterns, try pairing up angular or linear patterns like stripes, diamonds or text with curving patterns for a great contrast. Texture: Black and white doesn’t mean boring. There are plenty of ways to add texture and dimension to your pages to give your designs more pop even without color. Try using chipboard, ribbon, buttons and brads, die cut elements and papers, silk or paper flowers. Add some sparkles with jewels from Doodlebug or KI Memories and Stickles glitter glue. Color: Color really pops against a black or white background. A black and white design is a great way to make your color photographs shine. Adding a bit of color to your design is another way to add drama to your page. Use a colored ribbon or flower that picks up an important element from your photos as Nancy did in her lovely wedding layout. Black & White Photos:  Sometimes a formal or interesting black and white photograph needs a timeless setting. A black and white page design can provide exactly that. Try matting your black and white photograph with either solid black or white to frame it and keep it from getting lost against any patterned paper you use on your page. So try your hand at going back to basic black and white and see what wonderful pages you can create.
Design Team Examples To view all layout ideas and products used, please be sure to visit the Design Team Gallery:http://gallery.lifetimemoments.com/showgallery.php?cat=9519Classic Black and Whites Or Click each image below to see a larger view! Tracy Cecilie Melissa Madeline Vickie \ Franny Nancy

Something Old, Something New

Design Team Examples

To view all layout ideas and products used, please be sure to visit the Design Team Gallery:Something Old, Something New

Or Click each image below to see a larger view!

Wendy
Miranda
Vickie
Margaret
Madeline
Tracy
Melissa

My LTE

I was quite stunned when The Times-Picayune, our New Orleans newspaper, called me a few days ago saying they were going to publish my letter to the editor. I had written previously about various issues for which I advocate and, quite frankly, considered it a lesson in futility. Hurricane recovery continues to be the hot topic while global issues are relegated to the back pages if it all. Happily, my letter made it into yesterday's newspaper:


Letters to the Editor

As a matter of reference, when my dh showed the article to my mil, she knew nothing about the Darfur region of Sudan...where it was or what was going on there. Nothing. Never heard of it.

(Title was NOT my idea. They read a little more into my letter than they should have.)

***UPDATE***On May 30, the White House announced that they were finally going to implement "Plan B" sanctions against Sudan! Think the Pres saw my letter?! Haha! A better outcome for the people of the Darfur region will require a UN resolution and international sanctions, but at least this is a start.***

Something to Celebrate

From the LM Archives

Something to Celebrate By: Susan Berg, Design Team Member
Happy Un-Birthday to You! Happy Un-Birthday to You!  Birthdays are not the only celebrations in our lives. Achievements in school, at our jobs, anniversaries, graduations, retirements, and religious milestones are all moments worth celebrating. Frequently, though, it is moments like these that we find the most difficult to scrapbook. Such an important occasion, so many wonderful memories and photo opportunities leads to at least a little extra stress when you sit down to scrapbook these times. While the focus of this article centers on journaling, a few pointers before you get to the actual scrapbooking: ** Before the big day, make a list of pictures that you want to be sure to take. If possible, include some staged photos that can be taken before the excitement takes over. While action shots are wonderful, should something happen to keep you from getting those, you will still have the planned pictures to include in your scrapbook. ** Consider having a majority of your pictures printed in a smaller size. Even if you normally scrapbook with 4x6 photos, try using 3 ½ x 5, half sheets, or wallets. This will enable you to include all of those “must have” shots without having your layout look cluttered and cramped and can provide a nice contrast to one special enlarged photo. ** Keep cards and/or letters received on the occasion to include in your layout. If there are too many, or combined with your pictures you have run out of room, consider adding a fold out mini-album or a mini-page between two 12x12 pages, or you can maximize your space with hidden journaling: under a photo or on a pull out tag. But pictures alone can only represent a portion of the importance of the day. Journaling for these events is what will be cherished for generations to come. And for many, this is where we start to falter. Always be sure to include the basics: who, what, where, when, and why. For things like this, the Making Memories Tag Maker is a terrific little item! Print up the information and make it into an attractive tag that can quickly give the vital information to whoever is looking at the layout. There are also several different stamps that make the perfect spot for jotting down a few highlights. For the more in depth journaling, consider writing a letter to the subject of the layout. Let them know how proud you are of them, what you were thinking at that moment, and what you hope this event means for them. With all the different lined paper products out there like Scenic Route Backgrounds and Karen Russell Narratives this is easy to handwrite and make even more meaningful. If your feelings are too personal for anyone who might look through your albums, consider tucking the note behind a photo. This will save you space on the page and allow you to be more candid in your note. Perhaps even more meaningful is to have the subject of the layout contribute to the journaling. How did they feel in preparation for their big day? Why was it important to them? How will this change their future or how they look at life or feel about the world around them? What changes will follow this event and how do they feel about them? If your subject is not very inclined to write their deepest thoughts out for you, consider interviewing them. The Chatterbox Instant Interviews Idea Book (on its second edition) or Scrapbook Trends’ Journaling Your Story can help. If a party or reception is involved in the big event, consider asking the attendees to help with the journaling. How are they feeling about the occasion or the celebrant? Do they have any advice? If they went through the same event, what impact did it make on them? Plan ahead and have something prepared in advance to help get these journaling gems like premade tags and acid free pens to write with, a mini album that can be attached to the layout later, or even just small pieces of paper. Whether the occasion is a baptism or graduation or retirement, you can preserve the feelings of the day with some well crafted journaling to complete your beautiful layout.
Design Team Examples To view all layout ideas and products used, please be sure to visit the Design Team Gallery:Something to Celebrate Or Click each image below to see a larger view! Madeline Franny Wendy Nancy Margaret Tracy Margaret

Surprising Birthday LO Ideas

From the LM Archives

Surprising Birthday Layout Ideas By: Cecilie Malling, Design Team Member
Birthdays are good for you.  Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest. ~Larry Lorenzoni Every day we each get a little older and maybe even a little wiser and once a year we celebrate the day we were put into this world. Since birthdays are recurrent events and every one in the family has one (at least) once a year we all end up with a large amount of birthday pictures we’d like to keep in our albums. And don’t forget while documenting the family of kids’ and loved ones to also document your own birthday celebrations. At birthdays there are often a lot of activities on and even more clutter around which makes it a difficult to get calm pictures but don’t let that keep you from scrapping the birthday pictures. You need to focus on the memories you are preserving and in years to come it will be fun for you and the kids to return back to the pictures and remember the busy feel of the birthdays even if the pictures aren’t the best in the world. Moreover it might be a good idea to only scrap the very best of the pictures and keep the rest in a separate album or you could do a layout with a hidden part or a pocket to make room for more pictures. It might seem an overwhelming task to tackle all the pictures from birthdays and Melissa advises that you use for instance Becky Higgins’ sketches as a starting point for your multiple photo layouts. That way you can either use the sketch with 4x6 photos or use the sketch as a guideline for resizing of the pictures. These two sketches are based on layouts by Susan and me, and I hope they may inspire your next birthday layouts: When you have chosen the best pictures from the latest family birthday you still need ways to calm down the busy pictures and give your layout a focus. This might be done in these ways: - mat the photos on cardstock to frame them against one another - you might opt to use less patterned paper, monochromatic patterned paper or just a few colors to calm the entire layout down - really bring attention to one strong picture by having it enlarged on page one of a double-page, framing it differently than the other pictures or having embellishments point towards this photo: One of the staples of a birthday is the cake with candles and the pictures of the kids’ blowing out the candles might have colors that are muted because the photos were taken in the dark and without flash. Madeline’s tip is that these pictures even with their imperfections make for great pages and that you might bring out the best of muted pictures by using bright or deep colors instead of light or pastel colors: Since birthdays are so happy, fun and bright in themselves adding a bit of shine to your layouts would be just right. In the latest releases a lot of the items have been glittery and these are really fun products that add shimmer to your layouts. If you want your title to glitter the 3 inches highScrapworks Shimmer Alphas have a great glossy glittery effect and there size make them perfect for larger titles. The Melissa Frances Pop-out Glitter Alphas are smaller and have a matte effect but I really like how the glitter stays on the letters and doesn’t rub of on the rest of the page elements. For smaller titles or subtitles the new MM shimmer stickers have a fun variety of fonts and sizes. Not only your titles and texts can be glittered up since there are also a lot of new glittery embellishments available. The new Making Memories Shimmer brads come in various color combinations and they have a pretty matte shine. You can even get a glittering skull to use on a funky boy birthday page or sparkling rub ons might add the right amount of glitter to your layout. If you want to add a little glimmer to elements of your page that doesn’t shimmer on their own you might want to try using either one of the many colors of Stickles or try the Melissa Frances’ glittersthat can be used with glue to embellish or even write text directly on your layouts. What ever you chose do remember to have fun at the birthday and at the later creation of the birthday layouts. Happy Birthday ;o)
Design Team Examples To view all layout ideas and products used, please be sure to visit the Design Team Gallery: Surprising Birthday Layout Ideas Or Click each image below to see a larger view! Cecilie Madeline Franny Nancy Miranda Melissa Wendy