BIG Photos? - Week #8

Hi Ladies... This month my Layout is all about BIG photos.. Some times for any reason we have those big photos and they are so difficult to put it in a Layout.. so what we can do is cut our photo in pieces or some times in different shapes add a frame and you make the photo more interesting.

Another thing I like to do is my embellishments.. I love to stamp in vellum.. Have you do that technique? it is so easy and the results are amazing!

Once I stamped my images I fussy cut with my Westcott Titanium Non Stick Scissors and I keep it in a book.. Some times vellum curl and keeping it in a book help!

I have those Pentart Pearl pens and I decided to experiment.. I did some doodles.. I think we can do more than pearls.... 

Supplies used:

Xyron Mega Runner

Westcott - Cutting Mat

Westcott - Titanium Non Stick Scissors

Bazzil Cardstock

Duck Tape - Adhesive Borders

Color Box - Surfacez Multi-Surface Ink

Pentart - Pearl Pen

YouTube - Video Tutorial

Thanks for stopping by!! Hope this inspires you to think of your BIG photos in a different way!

7 tips for Magnificent Monochromatic Scrapbook Layouts- week #7

Valentine's day is over and the focus seems to be shifting from love to luck. The pinks and reds often associated with the holiday will soon be giving way to shades of spring color. Most notably, March seems to be filled with lots of green. St, Patrick's day is associated with both green and gold, so it always seems appropriate to choose it as the main color when I scrapbook March photos. This time around, I decided to challenge myself to create a monochromatic layout using green.

A monochromatic layout can definitely have a lot of impact. Color is a unique tool that can set tone for the page.Creating a layout with one predominant color can help you put the focus on your photos and story. It can also become a muddled mess. I have a few tips for how you can successfully pull off a magnificent monochromatic scrapbook layout.

Tips for Creating a Monochromatic Scrapbook Layout

1.Outline patterned papers or matte them to help keep the page from becoming too busy. Use ink or a marker to edge the papers. Or, as in the layout above, matte them with a piece of cardstock. I chose a cardstock matte in a shade of green just a bit darker than the base cardstock and the color in the patterned papers. You may also wish to matte your photos. The mattes or inked edges will help provide a subtle delineation between each layer of color.

2. Sometimes it is best to use a grid style design. If you find that you are losing the photos in a layer of patterned paper or if the design becomes to busy, fall back to using a grid design. The grid can be a little loose with the embellishments flowing outside of the boundaries.

3. Try to vary your patterns a bit or choose just one patterned paper print. I used a stripe, polka dot, geometric and hounds tooth print on my page. I could have also chosen just one print and filled a grid with it. Essentially, I am recommending you choose a set number of prints and stick with it. Pay attention the weight or scale of each patterned paper. If you are choosing 2 or more prints, you don't want them all to be the same size design.

4.Use texture. Texture adds support for your story. Felt is soft and gives a sense of warmth. Lace is soft. Choose the right textures to set the mood for the page and to add visual interest.

5. Clearly define your focal point. I want to make sure my pictures don't get lost in a sea of green. I strategically placed 3 doilies to create a visual triangle around my photos.

6. It's ok to add a neutral color. Green is the predominant color on my scrapbook layout. I also used white and gold on the page to give the eyes a little break from all of that green.

7. Don't use just one shade of your chosen color. It is a lot more visually interesting to see all of the colors of green on the layout. Additionally, it would be difficult for me to find all of the same colors of green in my supplies. Don't stress about keeping things exact. Look more for motif, texture or pattern that might better contribute to the story.

Creating a monochromatic layout is a great way to use up supplies. You can easily make a kit by just choosing that single color from your stash of supplies. If you were to make a monochromatic scrapbook layout, what color would you choose?

Supplies Used:
Xyron Adhesive

Bazzill Cardstock

Sutdio Calico and Basic Grey Papers

Felt by Bella Blvd.

German Foil

Letters by American Crafts, Sassafrass and Basic Grey

Tag by PinkFresh Studio

Up in the Air - Week #5

For February at Layout-A-Week, the team decided to talk about something we love. For my layout I decided to share a passion of mine that not too many people know about: aerial photography.

I love to take photos out the window when I fly. I will take pictures of the landscape, clouds, sunsets...anything that catches my eye. I've taken pictures of landmarks (like the Manhattan skyline and the Hoover Dam) and even my own home when the plane's route took me over it!

I decided to pull a few photos from my 2015 travels for this layout. I printed one at 5" x 7" as a focal point, and the rest are printed at 3" x 4". This is easy to do with several of the online photo printing companies. Several of them allow this photo size to be created direct from your phone.

This arrangement left two major areas to use for my title and journaling and embellishment, so next I started layering in collage elements to be used for these areas. Some of the elements that I used were pre-printed, and some I created myself with stamping. 

The blue and red shades in this Aurora Petal Point ink pad by Colorbox were a great match for my project's red and blue color scheme. The pigment ink in those pads is the best type of ink to work with my clear stamps to give a good clear impression, especially on a stamp like this with really fine detail.

Once the image was stamped, it was easy to cut it out with Westcott's Titanium Non Stick scissors. 

I chose to leave a border around the edge because it gave me a bit of room for error with my hand tremor from my lupus. 

At the top of the page, I created a simple layered title. The background element is one of the small patterned paper blocks from my Tim Holtz idea-ology paper pad. I used a notebook punch to embellish it. Then letter stickers and a stamped block were added on top of it. The final element is an "air mail" arrow cut from another piece of patterned paper in the same pad, to enhance the aviation theme. 

I followed the same process at the bottom, using one of the small patterned paper blocks with a notebook punch, and layering it with several other elements. The "air mail" element is another piece cut from a patterned paper, and "the view from here" is stamped on another patterned block from the same sheet. 

If you look closely at the tag element, you'll see it has numbers 1-4 on it, with locations. These correspond to Heidi Swapp Memory Planner numbers that I placed on the photos, to help locate as best as possible where the photos were taken. Planner supplies are good for more than planners if you think outside the box - or planner! 

Altogether, the result is a simple layout that gives the impression of being busier and more complex than it really was to construct! 

Supplies:

• Tim Holtz idea-ology "Correspondence" patterned paper pad 
• Kelly Purkey "Take Flight" stamps
• Kelly Purkey "Ready, Jet Set" stamps
• Hero Arts Clearly Kelly "Kelly's Outline Alphabet" stamps
• Colorbox Petal Point Pigment ink pad in Aurora
• Colorbox Archival Chalk ink pad in Charcoal
• Colorbox Donna Salazar Mix'd Media ink pad in Denim
• Colorbox Pigment ink pad in Chianti
• Bazzill Smooth Cardstock in Walnut Cream
• Heidi Swapp Memory Planner Clear Date Stickers
• American Crafts "Everywhere" Thickers 
• Tim Holtz idea-ology "Small Talk" stickers
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Flashcards
• EK Success Notebook border punch
• Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen in Black-S

What do you love that you haven't scrapbooked? 

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