The best scrapbookers ever! The 2016 Layout-A-Week Team

I am super excited to announce the best scrapbookers ever, the new designers for the Layout-A-Week blog. Please join me in welcoming the 2016 Layout-A-Week team!

Christy has been enjoying the expat lifestyle since 2006 when she and her family sold their home and most of their belongings to move to Nassau, Bahamas. She loves to travel and explore new places. Though originally from Florida, Christy currently resides in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates with her husband, son,two striped island cats and one desert kitty. She began scrapbooking in 2001. Since then, scrapbooking has become both an obsession and a creative outlet.  Recently she has also found she loves  art journaling and mixed media.

When she is not scrapbooking or creating, you can find her spending time with her family, homeschooling her son or playing a video game. She is currently creating for Get It Scrapped, Simple Scrapper, and Layout a Week.

Blog Link: http://myscrapbookevolution.com/

Nancy is the owner of Nally Studios LLC., and the blogger/owner of Scrapbook Update and Craft Critique. An avid scrapbooker for nearly twenty years, Nancy is well-known for her knowledge of industry trends and trade news, and for her no-fuss design style. Her extensive resume includes teaching in scrapbook stores in Michigan and Florida, a long list of blogging & writing credits, and appearances on the TV series Scrapbook Soup. Nancy lives in Florida with her husband, their daughter, and a cat that thinks it's a dog.

Blog Link: http://www.scrapbookupdate.com

Bio:  Hello, I’m Kymona Tracey. Who am I, you ask? I am a women who never slows down and loves it. Yes… I am the energizer bunny’s sister! I just keep going and going (which is something that I am working on, if you follow my weekly wishes on my blog). I am a single mother of two wonderful children who are 8 years apart. My 18 year old son is a true self-made jock who plays every sport you can think of! He is leaving for college in a few months.  My 9 year old daughter is a real life princess who loves anything crafty and girly and absolutely hates anything related to sports. Talk about yin and yang! …but I love it!! Besides running from one activity to another with them, I work full time at a hospital (public health background), facilitate a reading group at work, teach high school students on the weekends and have a huge love of learning new things. I’ve taken classes in photography, web design, knitting, scrapbooking and card-making. I love them all, however, my true passion is card-making. I was introduced to card making back in 2004 and haven’t turned back since. I started out as a hobbyist just making cards for family and friends. People were always ecstatic when they received a card from me. What they did not know was that it made me feel just as special to make a card for them. This passion pushed me into teaching card-making classes at work with a couple of coworkers who wanted to learn how to make projects for their families. In September 2013, I made a big leap and created my blog, Kreative Kymona. Besides being a mom, I think that this has been one of my most rewarding accomplishments. Just being able to share with my world community makes life so rewarding!

Blog Link: www.kreativekymona.com

Bio: Hi! I'm Rose, a 36 year old Stay-at-home, wife, mother of 4, grandmother, professional blogger at Immutable Ramblings and inspired creative. It started as a love for capturing and documenting my family's memories and quickly turned into a passion for inspiring others. The happiness I have found has ignited the desire to encourage and inspire others to explore their own creative expression.

Blog Link: http://immutableramblings.com

I am so excited for you to see what the team creates this year. There are so many exciting things in store! We have every style of scrapbooking represented with these talented team members. Before you go, let us know what style of scrapbooking you do!

The new team starts posting after August 1, 2016. Be sure to sign up to get email updates in the sign up box in the right sidebar.

- Jennifer

Make Your Page Pop With Inked Edges - Week #26

It's Nancy, back with week #26 of Layout-A-Week! Sometimes, the simplest techniques can make the biggest impact. This week I'm going to show you how a delicate touch of inking can make your elements pop!

For my layout today, I'm working with a design from Cutting Pattern #1 of Jennifer Priest's Scrap Free Scrapbooking ebook. I love working with the patterns in this book! It makes it easy to create gorgeous layouts quickly, and with no paper waste.

I started the layout by cutting out all of my patterned papers (from the Pink Paislee C'est La Vie collection) to the pattern's dimensions. The background paper is color blocked, and this template takes advantage of that, creating extra lines in the layout.

But if you look closely at the assembled layout, the edges of my pale patterned papers are disappearing into the background sheet, especially in certain areas of the background pattern. It looks wishy washy.

To give the layout some definition, a simple fix is needed. I got out two colors of my Colorbox Mixed Media Inx by Donna Salazar, one for each patterned paper block. Holding them at a 90 degree angle to the surface of the paper, I very lightly brushed them along the edge of the paper to rub just a slight coating of ink onto the edge of the paper. 

The angle to the paper is the key to success with this technique. I frequently will ink edges by holding an ink pad at about a 45 degree angle to the front surface of the paper. When I do that, I want the ink to bleed over the edge onto the surface and be noticeable on the front of the paper. By holding the ink pad at 90 degrees, it barely touches the front of the paper and you get more a shadow than a noticeable color. 

Here's what my layout looked like after I brushed ink along the paper edges. The edges now look harder and more distinct, but they don't jump out as having been colored. It's subtle, but the layout looks cleaner and the patterns look more separated. 

Once the patterned paper foundation was in place, I added photos and embellishments on top of it. First up, were the photos, the layout's largest element. One 4x6 photo and one 4x4 photo set along the angle of the background paper's design let the line lead the eye right through them! 

The next element - my title - was an easy one with the help of my Cricut machine. The Graphically Speaking cartridge was one of the first ones I bought years ago, and the H20 graphic from it was perfect for a swimming page title! Since the layout was already so busy with all of the patterned paper, I chose simple gray cardstock for making the title. 

The title's alignment and size were very carefully created. At this size (3.5" wide), the H lines up perfectly with the edge of the pink patterned paper while not having the 2 overlapping on the photo. Vertically, I placed the 0 right along the edge of the pink paper, creating a nice (but not too big) underneath the H and the hook on the 2 is then completely on the pink paper. 

It may seem fussy to sweat things like that but small details of alignment help make layouts look balanced and "finished" versus randomly thrown together. And it really only takes a moment to give an extra thought to how all the edges of an item are sitting in relation to other elements. 

There's really only one other large element on the layout, and that's the tag. The tag originally just said "hello" but I stamped the word "adorable" underneath it to tie it in with the photos and the layout better. 

I also added a few 3D embellishments - a button and some sequins from the 28 Lilac Lane "Vintage Findings" embellishment kit by Buttons Galore, where I am social media manager. These embellishments add a pop of shine and color to the tag and give the layout dimension. I also added a few sequins from the kit to the opposite corner of the layout near the end of the journaling. These little touches are easy to do but they are details that really take a layout to the next level! 

With a pattern, and a few perfect details, your photos can take center stage in a quick and easy layout! 

Supplies:

• Pink Paislee C'est La Vie collection (11, 12, 07)
• Gray cardstock
• Cricut Explore Machine & Graphically Speaking cartridge
• Colorbox Donna Salazar Mix'd Media Inx (Chiffon, Pewter)
• Colorbox Pigment Ink (unknown pink)
• Crate Paper Notes n' Things Ephemera Pack
• Crate Paper Notes n' Things Accent Stickers
• Hero Arts "You & Me" acrylic stamp set
• Sharpie Fine Point Pen
• Ribbon (unknown)
• 28 Lilac Lane by Buttons Galore "Vintage Findings" embellishment kit
• Jennifer Priest's Scrap Free Scrapbooking ebook