Streamlining the Process

From the LM Newsletter Archives

January 27, 2005

Streamlining the Process

by Madeline Fox

How many scrapbook pages would you like to complete in 2005?  One a week, one a day, or simply more than last year?  Upon noticing a tally in the signatures of several scrappers at the end of 2004, I decided to do a count of my own, resulting in a final tally of 87 (12x12) pages, a quite sizeable number considering the time it takes for me to complete just one page.  Meanwhile, the photos that I want to scrap, the moments that I want to document, the thoughts that I want to share, and the memories that I want to preserve continue to accumulate like snow on the slopes of the Cascades.  I needed to dig myself out of this avalanche before beginning my climb to the top.  Getting down to business, I first cleaned and decluttered my scrap space, organized and rearranged my supplies, then looked to the mountain ahead, ready to conquer!  I set my goal for 2005, increasing it by over 30 pages to 120.  How hard could that be?  Breaking it down, 120 pages is merely 10 pages a month, 3 pages a week, one page every 2 days!  Why was this so hard for me?  I’ll tell you why.  I’m obsessive!  I’m indecisive!  I procrastinate!  I rethink my designs, color schemes, accent placement, and even photos!  And I have a family…’nuff said!  So I began to think about solutions.  Here are a few good ones that I plan to utilize in order to achieve my goal this year:

Idea Books-From simple to sophisticated, there’s an idea book out there for everyone and every style.  Some books are designed around a particular product line, such as KI’s Little Book of Big Ideas and Junkitz Unzipped.  Others are geared towards a selected theme, such as Baby, Oh Baby, All About Kids, or the Scrapbook Solutions DVD Birthdays, Holidays and Everyday Life.   For an inspiring and varied compilation of page ideas, complete with creative techniques and fresh concepts, choose one of these new books: At Home, Scrapbooking with Faye Morrow Bell,Designing with Simplicity, or The 2005 PK Powerbook.  Let the layouts in any one of these volumes be a springboard for your creativity, as you utilize their design, photography, and journalism tips and tricks, incorporating them into a page that is uniquely yours. 

Lifetime Moments Gallery-I found one of the greatest resources for fresh and original page ideas right under our noses here at LM…our gallery!  Like an online idea book, the gallery is filled with incredible talent!  When you peruse the gallery, remember to add those that inspire you to your Favorites, thereby creating an unparalleled resource, an idea book filled with pages that you have chosen based upon your personal taste and style!  Browse categories by theme or execute a search of your own.  There is even a section devoted to sketches!  Speaking of sketches…

Becky Higgins Sketches-These fabulous templates for page design are wonderful tools especially when working with a large number of photos.  The sketches help to streamline the layout process, by giving us pleasing page arrangements, ready to be customized by our own choice of papers and page accents.  The new book, Becky Higgins Creative Sketches for Scrapbooking, showcases over 50 new sketches, each with accompanying page ideas from talented readers of CK magazine.  See how a single sketch can inspire such diverse pages.  (TIP: If you don’t have that many photographs, use only one page of a sketch to create your layout.)

Coordinating Products-A tremendous amount of my time seems to go into coordinating the papers, cardstock, and embellishments that I want to add to my page.  Choosing just the right alphabet stickers, colored brad or buttons would have me sifting through my supplies, taking out products I hope will match only to find that they don’t quite go together.  No more worries!  Paper manufacturers are beginning to do a lot of this work for us by introducing lines of coordinating papers, cardstock, AND embellishments.  The most recent KI Collections have a selection of matte cardstock, tags, frames, labels, and acrylic accents that coordinate with their patterned papers.   Basic Greyhas recently added fiber assortments to go with their lines of paper, tag sheets and alphabet stickers.  Doodlebug has assembled one of the most comprehensive collections of coordinating products: cardstock stickers, rub-ons, I-lets, tokens, ribbon, ric-rac, ABCs, 123s, sequins, and buttons come in an astonishing array of colors, made to match their papers!  Another extraordinary product line is the new Studio K from K & Co.  Papers, acetate and vellum combine with frames, words and word tags, tag books, string clasps, alphabets, and full color rub-on transfers.  Metal art embellishments in this line include word strips, photo clasps, page corners, and brads.  In a bit of a different twist, Junkitz is adding papers (to debut at CHA next month) that match their already coordinated Collectionz of alphabetz, labelz, buttonz, swatchz, and twillz!  Halleluiah! 

With an abundance of inspiration and products designed for easy coordination, fast yet innovative pages should be within our reach.  In order to give everyone a jumpstart on their 2005 layout goals, the Design Team this week has been given the challenge of creating pages that can be recreated in 30 minutes or less!  Are you ready?  On your marks, get set…..SCRAP!

If you’re interested in what page goals other scrappers are setting for themselves this year, check out this General Scrapbook Discussion Poll.  Add your post if you haven’t already!  Thanks!

Priorities

We had to leave the photo albums HOME when we evacuated two days ago! We took three cars (the van, Laura's and Julie's), but were still afraid of putting too much weight in the trunks. I absolutely refused to leave without my scrapbooks, baby books, wedding album and one-of-a-kind pics. We decided to take all of the negatives (20+ years worth) instead of the actual albums. I felt terrible leaving the photo albums, but there were just too many, so I put them in plastic bins and off the floor in an interior room, hoping for the best.

It's funny how priorities are different! My neice packed 2 suitcases full of clothes. I brought 2 changes! LOL!

Faux Leather

{LM Archive)

When I first saw this technique, billed as Faux Leather on HDTV, I was intrigued. Supplies were minimal, all things I already had, and the results were beautifully aged cardstock pieces, things I would love to have grace my scrapbook pages. By varying the color of cardstock, chalks, inks, etc., you can achieve the look of leather, antiqued tin, verdigris pieces and more.



Supplies:
1) Cardstock
2) Bowl of warm water
3) Paper towels
4) Rolling pin
5) Rubber Stamps (Read below for notes on choosing stamps.)
6) Thin plastic
7) Chalks, Metallic Rub-ons and/or Inks



Step 1:
Soak cardstock in warm water for at least 15 minutes. To completely submerge you may have to cut into pieces and place a glass on top.

Step 2:
Crumple cardstock, squeezing out water. This is when you make your wrinkles, so be generous when crumpling, but take care not to tear the paper. Gently unfold and smooth out the cardstock on a hard, flat surface. Use a rolling pin, or glass on its side, to flatten and further remove excess water, blotting with a paper towel.

Step 3:
Place cardstock between plastic and the rubber stamp. On carpet or other well-cushioned surface, step on the stamp to impress the paper. More force is needed than simply pushing down with your hand. As an extra step of assurance, I carefully turned the entire “sandwich” over, removed the plastic, and pressed with my fingers to be sure all areas had an impression.

Step 4:
Allow the cardstock to dry completely. It doesn’t take very long, since most of the water has been removed. But, you could use a hairdryer or place in the oven on its lowest setting to speed up the process.

Step 5: The Fun Part!
Depending on the look you’d like to achieve, you can rub an inkpad over the raised surface of your cardstock, apply metallic rub-ons to the raised areas, or do a combination.
Here, I first applied a darker shade of chalk, followed by an application of metallic rub-ons.
The accent pieces (heart tag and photo corners) on the layout, Valentine, Be Mine, were created by using red cardstock, black chalk, and silver metallic rub-ons.These pieces were made using rust (frame) and brown (photo corner and letter stamp) cardstock, chalking lightly with brown/black then applying copper metallic rub-ons.

Notes on Choosing Stamps:

*Stamps with an overall design are great for making textured backgrounds. Stamp again and again, filling all areas of your cardstock. Use textured paper to cover journals or altered books. Or cut to make cowboy boots, vintage shoes and purses, etc.
*Use frame stamps to make frames, corner stamps to make photo corners, snowflake stamps for snowflakes, etc.
*Try alphabet stamps for raised letters.
*Experiment with different stamps. Some designs may be too fine for clear impressions. Try another one!

Come on and experiment. Pick a stamp! Pick a cardstock! Then have fun with your chalks, inks and rub-ons! Please show us what you create by posting in the gallery…and note it here too so that others can be inspired. Thanks!

I Organized!

(LM Archive)

My scrap area is quite small, but still had the propensity for becoming quite a mess! I took the challenge, reorganized everything and here are the results:

AREA:


SHELF:


FLOOR:

New Governor

Bobby Jindal losses to Kathleen Blanco.

I read the papers, keep up with current events, watch political debates, etc. and go to the polls. Now that the results are in, I am so disgusted! Same ole, same ole for Louisiana! We pay our taxes, yet the schools are so pitiful we have to send our kids to private schools for a decent education. Next year, the tuition bill for 5 kids (with the oldest 2 paying part of their way) will be over $20,000!!! And the state remains in the dark ages!

There's this joke..."The fellow is leaving the football stadium, where LSU just whooped Alabama, and he stops to ask for directions back to Louisiana. The guy at the gas station tells me, 'Just go ahead to the next intersection, take a right, hop on the interstate, and when you reach the Mississippi/Louisiana border turn back the clock 12 years. Then you're there!' " LOL! Sounds about right.

Be Our Guest (LM DT)

LM Archives
This was my first design team assignment for Lifetime Moments!

"Felix's Journal":

This page, featuring an old WWI diary of my husband's grandfather, uses scans of its cover and first page in place of photographs. By keeping to a monochromatic color scheme, closely duplicating the color of the journal and its pages, I've lent an air of authenticity even to those accents which were not original ephemera.   Papers, cardstock, print color, fiber and even the postage stamps were chosen with this in mind.  Generous use of metallic rub-ons also helped to achieve this effect!

"Egg Hunt":

These coordinated papers from KI Memories made designing this layout a breeze.  The subtlest pattern was used as a background sheet, while two different designs within the same color group made quick and easy title and journal blocks.  The title block was created by cutting squares with my Exacto knife before matting.  Then the lettering was stamped through the openings and embossed in white.  The color scheme was enhanced by the addition of blue and white buttons along the bottom and the bunny paper piecing at the top.

Dad's Altered Book

(LM Archive)

Last night while visiting my parents, my mom told my sisters and I that she had found some of our Girl Scout troop scrapbooks (1960s!). Digging through the albums in the bookcase we came upon a book of my Dad's...and it was an altered book! Back in his college days, he had taken an old textbook and used the pages to adhere newspaper clippings, pictures, napkins, postcards, etc. It was SO COOL! We found 1940s stuff from the Rex ball, several years worth of ticket stubs (Sugar Bowl, LSU, Tulane, etc.) and hundreds of pictures of co-eds. WTG Dad!