Making Use of Feature Papers

You know those beautiful papers you get in some collection kits, where they feature a corner or design element printed right on the paper? I love those papers -- My Mind's Eye makes a lot of them -- but it can be hard to figure out how to use them without covering up those beautiful designs.

The So Cal kit from Studio Calico featured a couple of these papers. In order to showcase those printed feature elements, I used my Kiwi Lane designer templates. I was able to layer my border strips around the design, while combining the colors and papers to coordinate perfectly. The end result is that the printed element looks like an actual embellishment for the page.

On this layout, I used the printed feature element on the background paper to incorporate with my title and date cluster. By layering the embellishments together, it looks like a cohesive embellished piece on the page.

The next time you have a paper that you're hoarding because of the beautiful printed design element you just don't want to cover up, try using your Kiwi Lane designer templates to work around the design, bringing it in as an integrated embellishment for your page.

Vacation Layout with Pocket Inserts

When it comes to scrapbooking a vacation, I take a few different approaches. I often do a photobook (from Shutterfly, usually). But I also like to do at least one scrapbook layout per vacation, and usually more, to highlight the various parts of the trip. I keep these layouts together in a Vacation album. We love to look through and see all the vacations and trips we've taken over the years as a family, all in one place.

Today, I'm sharing a layout of our trip to visit Universal Studios in Orlando a few years ago. I had so many great photos from that trip (I did a whole layout just on Seuss Land), but I wanted to create just a single layout for the park itself. With all the great photos that I didn't want to leave out, using pocket inserts was a perfect solution.

I used a few fun papers from my stash, along with a few Universal Studios-themed elements I'd picked up for this purpose. I used my Kiwi Lane designer templates to layer the papers in fun border style.

The front page showcases the Universal Studios entrance and my favorite part -- Jurassic Park.

The back page has a photo collage, pieced together from 4x6 photos, framed off with the borders made with the Kiwi Lane templates.

After trimming the border pieces to fit on the front page, I was able to use the leftover pieces to decorate the pocket inserts.

All-in-all, I was able to feature 17 photos on this layout. That's a lot of photos. Because of the pockets, it doesn't feel like I tried to squeeze too much onto a single layout. I love how it turned out.

The next time you have a lot of photos from a vacation or event, I challenge you to use pocket inserts to add more photos to your layout. You will love the results.

Front Row Kit from Studio Calico

I have quite a stash of Studio Calico kits. Their kits are always great, and Studio Calico's Front Row kit (Feb. 2013) was no exception. I went back to this kit recently to clean out my kit stash a bit and make room for new ones. I had used the kit already, so I had just enough left to create a few last layouts before calling it done.

This first layout is based on a layout by Amanda Jones in the Silhouette 101 class at My Creative Passion. The circles here are a cut file from that class. I backed the circle with various patterned paper from the kit and foam-dotted the circles and the photos up off the background.

The stitching around the edge gives this simple layout a nice frame.

I added just a few simple embellishments to finish off the page -- along with a few little stamps from the Front Row kit.

Next, I was inspired by a video at Two Peas by Jill Sprott to use lots of frames on a layout. I had a bunch of frames sitting on my table from working with Studio Calico's Roundabout kit, so I used those along with the Front Row kit to make this layout.

The photos are straight out of my category drawers -- a photo organization method taught by Stacy Julian as a place to store your extra photos, the ones left over after you make a page. Those photos are organized by categories (as the name implies), so I was quickly able to find photos of each of us and all of us together.

I'm addicted to stitching lately. I sewed another frame on this page. Love how it looks.

With these two layouts, I officially finished off my Front Row kit from Studio Calico, making room for more kits to come. :)

Quick and Easy

Quick and easy is a good thing when you don't have a lot of time to scrapbook. However, quick and easy doesn't mean boring. When you're pressed for time, you can put a page together quickly by concentrating on a few elements that make your page feel special -- not rushed.

On this first layout, I had a kit from Polka Dot Whimsy that included lots of ribbon and fabric strips. I hadn't yet used them on a layout, so I decided to go all out and use them all on a single page. I just stitched each ribbon or fabric piece down on cardstock, matted my photo and added a few simple embellishments.

Love that fabric flower -- it was a premade element in the kit.

Quick and easy -- but definitely not boring.

Next, I created this layout very quickly with a collection kit from Echo Park. I simply used strips of paper for the background, a large focal photo, and sticker embellishments from the kit.

The kit included some cute star stickers, so I created a few more with my paper punches.

Again, quick and easy, but also fun and heart-felt.

When you don't have a lot of time to scrapbook, you can still create great pages quickly. Just concentrate on putting a few special elements together to get a look you love.

Using Up Your Button Stash

I have a huge collection of buttons. Remember about 2004 when buttons were just the rage for scrapbook pages? I still love how buttons look on my pages -- but I have to make myself dig out my button stash and use them up every now and then.

I just finished taking Shannon Tidwell's Sassy Scrapbooking workshop at Two Peas. Loved it. I have always loved Shannon's style -- she's been a Garden Girl there forever -- and in this workshop, she shared so many ideas that can really push your scrapbook layouts out into that fun and sassy style she is known for.

In one of the chapters of Shannon's class, she shared a layout where she created a huge star across her page with pom poms. I was inspired by that layout to create this first layout by creating a small heart from buttons right on the photo.

Not quite as large and amazing as Shannon's layout, but I love the soft, sweet look of the buttons.

So on this next layout, I really went all out to create something large and amazing...it might be one of my most favorite layouts ever.

The papers and stamps are from the Studio Calico Front Row kit (Feb. 2013). Love those stamps! It's a set that says "This is how our story begins" and "Let's go on an adventure" plus two arrows, all in a handrawn font - perfect for adding just a little something to your layout. The heart stamp is from the class kit from Studio Calico's Pop Off the Page class (I think?).

And then those washi flags - love them. Shannon shows how to make these in her class too. I added some drops of mists and also stitched around the border of the page twice, something Shannon talks about in her class. I don't get out my sewing machine often enough, so this was a great reminder at how easy and awesome it looks.

I love this layout so much. I love the photos -- one from when hubby and I were dating and one from earlier this year -- and I love the big, bold heart.

Finally, I was inspired by another layout idea in Shannon's class -- she cut up apart a sheet of tickets and cards to create a border across the top of the page. So, I created this layout using the same cut-apart idea plus a border of buttons across the bottom to balance it out. Since the buttons were already out, I figured I should just keep using them...

These photos are of my hubby just before entering his senior year. Our boys thought these photos were hilarious. ("Why do they have him leaning on a column like that?! It looks so fake!") They just don't understand trends and style yet. LOL.

The cards and tickets across the top are an easy and fun way to use those 12x12 cut-apart sheets. I will have to do this again.

And I do love the buttons across the bottom...

Thank you, Shannon, for such a great class. I have even more ideas and inspiration ready to go for future layouts. If you haven't taken Shannon's class yet, you should definitely do it. I loved it!

Studio Calico June 2013 Layouts

I really loved the Studio Calico kit for June 2013 -- Roundabout. I already shared the Project Life layouts I created with the kit. Today, I'm sharing the 12x12 layouts I created with the main kit and one of the add-ons.

This first layout is based on a layout video Jen Gallacher posted a few weeks ago. I loved her layout and wanted to recreate a version of it with the Roundabout kit.

I love how colorful everything ended up being. I had some trouble figuring how to adhere those letters since they're transparent, but staples worked great and added some nice texture.

Next up, another layout based on that same video by Jen Gallacher. I loved it so much, I had to do it again...

On this version, I add more photos. It worked great, while still keeping the sketch of the layout intact.

Next, I created a layout inspired a different Jen Gallacher video. I love the page divided in half with all the file folders at the bottom. I cut the folders with my Silhouette.

A first for me (or at least it's been many years) -- I printed my journaling in a fun typewriter font. Jen does this a lot in her videos and I love the look. I will be doing this again soon.

I created the title with my Silhouette too. For the "Destination" part, I added an arrow through the middle to hold all the letters together. I think I saw that idea on a video by Nichol Magouirk. A great way to use any font without having to weld the letters together completely.

The kit included this awesome summer chalkboard paper (I think it's from Pebbles?). It was too beautiful to cut up, so I built up a mat with paper scraps to showcase just one great photo.

Love the bright colors against the black and white...

The frame stamp and the July font stamp were from the Roundabout kit too. Love both of those...if you look closely, you will see that Adventure frame in three out of the four layouts here. I was pretty proud of myself for stamping so much this month.

And one more layout before I called this kit done. This layout was a fun mash-up of the various papers and elements in the kit. Those black camera are transparent and when I first got them in the kit, I wasn't a big fan. But I love them on this layout.

That's it for the Roundabout kit from Studio Calico. Such a great month from them. I loved the brighter colors and summery travel elements.

What have you been creating? Link it up in the comments, and I will check it out. Thanks!

Then & Now

I love creating layouts that showcase photos from different times in our family's life. This is something I never did much before taking Stacy Julian's class at BPC -- Finding Photo Freedom. I just finished up an alumni version of the workshop this past spring, and it was a great way to refresh my photo systems and add in a few new tools. I highly recommend this class -- it has changed my photo organization and scrapbooking life completely.

So in this layout, I featured two photos from the same spot at Legoland California. The first photo is from 2007 and the second is from 2012. When we returned to Legoland last year and saw that lion, we knew we had to get another photo of the boys. I love those little faces peeking out...

Most everything is from a Boys Rule kit from last year -- the papers are in the Basic Grey Clippings collection. Love them - very neutral and go with anything. I used my Kiwi Lane designer templates to lay out the papers in a central stripe down the middle.

The camera die cut was included in the Boys Rule kit, along with the elements and stickers. I created the title with my Silhouette, adding an offset as a mat (love that feature).

Love this layout! It is so fun to see photos from two different times on a single page.

I challenge you to create a layout using photos from two or more time periods. You will love the results...