Layout of the Week - Quick & Colorful

Some projects are just for fun!  This is one of them.  I've always been wanting to try more of the fun tints on the Costco Photo Center website and this seemed like a fun photo to use.  I love the whimsical look of Andy Warhol's pop art and so does Delaney.  She took an art class last year where she got to create some very cool pieces of pop art!  Thanks to her, I have all sorts of fun, bright pieces around my home.

Since she turned 10 this Spring, I used this photo where a "10" appears to be coming out of her head...don't even remember where this was taken, but it's a fun photo!  Then I used the tints in the editting menu on Costco's Photo Center website to change the colors, saving a copy of the original and then going back to the original and doing it all over again for each color.  I printed each tint as wallets (you get 4 of the same photo, wallet size, for 39 cents...a GREAT deal, if you ask me!)

Next, photos in hand, I headed to Whimzee's to see what I could find.  I knew that my layout needed to be a simple one, with simple papers & embellishments.  I started this project with my ribbon chosen...we needed a sample at the store using this fun white felt flower ribbon from Creative Cafe, so I started with a couple pieces of it.  To add a little texture, I chose the white Bazzill dot paper with it's embossed texture.  Finally to mix in just a bit of color, I used some KaiserCraft rhinestones in colors that matched as closely as possible to my tinted photos.  I ended up with green, blue and red.  I was hoping to find an orange or gold rhinestone to match my sepia photo, but we didn't have any at the store.  So I used what I could find and spaced them out in the centers of the flowers with a few spaces in between.

For a simple layout design, I decided to arrange my photos "Warhol Style" in a square (I know it's a rectangle, but square just sounds better.)  I added a few rows of the ribbon and filled some of the flowers with the rhinestones & I was finished.  I love the look and the layout was super quick.  It's a fun design to use with any photos you have.  Just print out some wallets or crop your photos to wallet or small square size, grab your ribbon and you'll have a finished page!

I know some of you purists will notice I don't have any journaling...but I don't think every photo or layout needs journaling.  Sometimes just a photo or 4 photos tell the story!

Have fun scrapping!

Stop & visit me on Facebook, where I'm putting together a new page for the JulieChats Blog!

Tips

Use a group of 4 small photos and some ribbon or paper strips to create a simple, quick layout.

Try some tinted photos on your next project!

Don't feel like you always have to use tons of printed paper or lot's of color, sometimes neutrals & a little burst of color is all you need.

And DON'T worry if you don't want to journal every page!!!  It's YOUR page after all, there are no rules to scrapbooking!!!

Supplies

Bazzill Dot Paper

Creative Cafe Felt Ribbon

KaiserCraft Rhinstones

Costco Tinted Wallet Photos

Layout of the Week - FRIEND chipboard mini album

I'm excited to share this week's Layout of the Week with you!  But first, I want to apologize for missing all sorts of blogging opportunities last week.  It was Spring Break here and we took Jake in to have hernia surgery on Tuesday.  We were expecting to be home that day, but our wise surgeon advised us to stay overnight in the hospital just in case the little guy needed some extra pain meds.  And thank goodness we did, those extra pain meds let him sleep through just a few of the MANY interruptions...I know that the wonderful nurses & residents have to check in on patients all night long, but boy, it sure would be nice if patients could get more sleep in the hospital.  So my schedule was thrown for a loop last week.  But I'm bouncing back this week, just like Jake...baby steps for both of us!  If you're in the Portland area & in need of an excellent Pediatric Surgeon, I highly recommend Dr. David Bliss.  He's done surgery twice now on Jake and he's a great listener, explains everything so even people who aren't medical geniuses (like he is!) can understand and he's saved the lives of countless preemies, infants, toddlers & kids!

So back to my project!  I created this mini album to celebrate Delaney's 8th birthday.  I did actually get it done a couple months ago, so she did get to see it before her 9th birthday!  I used Bo Bunny's My Word Chipboard FRIEND album and Basic Grey's Lime Rickey collection pack, plus a ton of fun embellishments to create a fun, bright colored album, perfect for Delaney's Tie Dye Slumber Party Photos. (Read all about our Tie Dye Slumber Party activities HERE.)

I used one of my favorite tips to squeeze a ton of photos into this small book.  I created photo collages with Costco's photo organizer program so I could cut them apart and put all different sizes of the tiny photos on my pages.  I love being able to create these collages and use so many photos in such a small format album.

Here are all the fun inside pages!

Of course, since it's Friday, you can join me over at Ann's for her Virtual Girls' Night Out!  I'll be celebrating mine by working the crop tonight at Whimzee's Scrapbook Studio in Beaverton...if you're in the area, call to sign up (we have a couple spots left) or stop by & shop, I'd love to meet you!  Be sure to check out our online community if you're in need of some extra inspiration, we have 300 project photos for you to enjoy!

Tips

Use Costco's photo collages to squeeze a few more photos into your projects!

Don't be afraid to mix it up with bright colors & patterns, it creates a whimsical page!

Use paint to coat the edges of your chipboard albums, it covers up any number of flaws in your (or my) paper cutting skills!

Supplies

Basic Grey Lime Rickey collection pack paper & stickers

Bo Bunny My Word Chipboard Album - FRIEND

So many embellishments...it would take a year to list them all, if you have a few you're wondering about, leave me a comment & I'll get you the manufacturer info.

Layout of the Week - 'Tis the Season!

I'm so sorry I missed posting this layout as my Layout of the Week for last week!  Forgive me!  I was 'a bit' crazy trying to send out packages, cards & deal with Delaney's class party.  Oh, gee, I can hear so many of you who know me saying, "Shocking, Julie took on too many things at once!"  OK, I admit it, YES I DID!  But it's all over now & I'm on to taking on too many baking projects in one week!  But boy those cookies sure taste good!  Apparently my problem with not knowing how to say NO extends to cookies too!

Well, this layout is one of my favorite recent projects.  It's a photo taken last Christmas of Jake in his Christmas jammies just after he opened his Toy Story phone.  He was SO excited!  Who knew he would later eat off the number sign & I would have it handed to me by the nice lady who works in the nursery at our church.  She just laughed, having a little guy just a month older than Jake.  Then she told me what Delaney had said when she found the rubber key in his mouth, "You know, I told Mommy that the phone says it's for ages 3 and up!"  Out of the mouths of babes....  But still, his expression and those two teeth are priceless.

As far as the layout goes, the wood background is from LUXE (which sadly has closed up shop) and the other papers are new this year from Creative Imaginations.  I used three colors & two sizes of the Mark Richards mosaic tiles on this one, along with two different sets of THICKERS.  I'm always trying to create just one more title out of a set of these and darn if I don't use each set on 3 or 4 layouts!  Just mix & match if you don't have enough to write out your whole title.  And if you're, just a bit psycho, about color like I am, don't be afraid to paint them or just add a coat of glitter glue to them.  On the " 'tis," I used red paint & red glitter.  On the "season," I left them brown & added a coat of red glitter.  The "the" is created from Mrs. Grossman's stickers, an old set I have used many times.  The cute little letters at the bottom are some of my current faves from My Little Shoebox.

And do take a look again at Mr. Jake's darling smile, my next post will be yesterday's visit to Santa and he certainly isn't the one smiling!

Tips

Again, I'm mentioning Costco, but they really do make great large prints, like this 8 x 8 one.  Give them a try for your next printing job.

Don't be afraid to mix your font styles in your titles.  Just stay with one or two bold ones and try to stay with the same color or coat of glitter.

When mixing patterns, try a few large rectangle blocks on your page and round the corners for a unique look.

Supplies

Background paper - LUXE Designs - :( not around anymore

Patterned papers - Creative Imaginations

Tiles - Mark Richards

Titles - THICKERS - American Crafts

            Mrs. Grossman's

            My Little Shoebox

Layout of the Week - Kraft Kuts Girl Layout

I take photos of everything! Since joining yearbook in junior high, all my friends & family could count on me to always have a camera (sometimes 2 or 3) ready at a moment's notice.

I think it's important to have photos that capture what our every day lives are like. so this day, I shot tons of photos of my kids on their swings. I ended up with one great shot of each kid. that's why I love digital cameras - take tons of shots and only keep the best ones!

I chose the papers for this layout without knowing which photo I'd use. I just knew I loved the Kraft Kuts Floral bracket paper. Then I chose some solid cardstock to match and used silver nail heads as accents.

Because the paper has such a beautiful bold pattern, I chose just one photo for this page. I wanted to end up with as many of the flowers showing as possible. that's how I chose where to place my photo.

For journaling, I thought I'd try the strip technique. I had seen it a few times in other people's layouts and liked how the little blurbs of type looked on the strips. I needed a change from being the one doing all the writing on my pages, so I "interviewed" Delaney about her swing for this page. It was fun to hear her opinions & comments.

And in the spirit of trying something new, I had my photo printed with a pink tint for this page. If you've read many of my posts, you know I have my photos printed using Costco's website. On their site, you have the option of having your photo printed in all sorts of tints. I'm a big fan of sepia and black & white photos, so I usually stick with those, but I decided to branch out for this page. Since I don't trust the computer screen when it shoes me what a color will look like, I had my photo printed in color, black & white, sepia & the pink tint. Yes, I do tend to go a little overboard (I have been called a perfectionist....). I wanted to be sure the pink tint wouldn't clash with my papers. I was pleasantly surprised & love how the pink tint adds that little something special to this layout.

Tips

When you really love the pattern of your background paper, use just one photo on the page. This lets the pattern share center stage with your photo.

Use strips of paper for your journaling. They let you write down quick thoughts instead of feeling like you have to write paragraphs for your page.

Interview your kids for your journaling. It's fun to look back & see what they were thinking or what liked when the photos were taken.

Go "outside the box" when printing your photos! Try something new, go with sepia or black & white if you always have your photos printed in color. Or go wild, like I did, and try having your photos printed with a tint.

Supply List

Fancy Pants Kraft Kuts Collection Floral Bracket die cut paper
Cardstock in Gold
Cardstock in Pink & Green
Silver Nailheads from Mark Richards
Tinted Photo printed in pink at Costco.com

Layout of the Week - My Birthday

Delaney loves to cook! For birthday last year, she decided she & Dad would bake me a birthday cake. The cake was a first for both of them. I stayed completely out of their way. they baked, frosted & decorated my chocolate cake with chocolate frosting all by themselves. They even took photos of each other as they went.

They were both pretty proud of their creation and I of them. We all had a HUGE laugh when we realized the frosting on top was thinner than the flour on the bottom of the pan!! Just so you know, we've had a "grease & flour the pan" lesson since, stressing the need to dump the excess flour out!

All in all, it was a great cake & a great birthday for me!

In designing this page, I wanted to include all the photos Delaney & Dave had taken of each other during the cake making process. Lately I've been working with the "less is more" philosophy with my layouts, trying to lower the number of photos I use on each page, thereby letting the very special ones stand out. But this time, I just couldn't leave any out. So, I decided to print all the photos of my bakers as wallets. I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I really do love the fact that I can easily choose to print any of my photos as wallets, 4 for only 13 cents, on Costco's website.

With photos in hand, I made a trip to Whimzee's. (Whimzee's Scrapbook Studio, down the street in Beaverton, where I work part time...check out the blog I write for the store, Whimzee's Girls Online...but I digress....) Right there in the front of the store was a new collection that had just arrived, it was perfect. It seemed that Early Bird from Cosmo Cricket had jumped right off the shelf & into my basket. This collection is kitschy & retro, bright & full of pattern, all things I love in scrapbook paper. The cute tags & sayings would be just right with my birthday cake photos. I found two pieces of Bazzill's swiss dot paper to match, dark red & butter (these probably aren't their real names). Loving ribbon the way I do, I loved the way the dark red twill from Creative Cafe reminded me of apron strings. And since I've been caught up in an inking frenzy lately, I grabbed a dark red ink from Studio G's $1 line. Never being happy with just a couple embellishments, I added some mini buttons from our bulk embellishments on another visit to the store.

While I was working on this layout, all the ladies at the store reminded me that I should be very thankful for my wonderful family. They couldn't believe that my husband, first of all, baked a cake with his daughter and second of all, remembered to take photos for me as he did it! Thanks honey! And thanks Delaney for coming up with this great present for mom! :) I love you both!

Tips

I haven't used my corner rounder in a long time, but I had a feeling that rounded corners on my papers would go nicely on this layout. I used my old Creative Memories rounder for the tags, but I wanted a larger curve on my larger paper pieces. Not having extra money in my budget right now to go out & buy a cool new tool, I looked around my work area and found something that would work just as well. For the rounded corners on my larger paper pieces, I flipped them over and traced the curve from the lid of an acrylic paint bottle onto the paper and cut along the line with my scissors! Another MacGyver moment for Julie! I do kind of come by it naturally...you should see what my dad can do with a pocket knife & duct tape!

One more tip...if you're looking for a way to create a cohesive look on your pages, try inking the edges of your page elements. Here, I used a dark red ink to ink the edges of almost everything on my page, including the background papers. Try it sometime, I love the way it brings everything together and gives my pages sort of a "worn" feel.

Supply List

Cosmo Cricket Early Bird Collection: Elements, Ribbon Sandwich, Sunrise & Apron Strings

Bazzill Swiss Dot dark red & butter yellow

Studio G ink dark red

Mini Buttons unknown manufacturer

Layout of the Week - Envelope Mini Album

My mom's 60th birthday was last weekend. For the lady who has everything, I like to create small personal gifts. She has something fun to enjoy and it fits into my budget too, which makes us both happy! For Mom's birthday, I took the kids camping with her & my Dad. So I didn't have much time to work on a project this week. Thankfully, I thought ahead, knowing I wouldn't have a lot of time. I am kind of a control freak...OK, no one I know would say "kind of" about it. So I do TRY to plan ahead, it's just that lately my plans have taken so much longer than I anticipate. I blame it on the kids...but I digress.In my planning, I remembered a cute envelope mini album I made in a class at the store a couple years ago. I had saved it to use as a gift and boy did it come in handy. The album is made of 7 envelopes. Two for the front & back covers and 5 for the middle pages.On the front & back covers, the flaps are turned toward the inside of the album. Small blocks of paper are adhered so that only one side is attached, while the other holds down the flap, this way you can put fun things inside the envelopes. I used them to hold notes from Delaney & me to Mom. I also let Jake draw on a small piece of paper & stuck it inside too.The front cover of this album is embellished with papers, an embossed stamp, silk flowers and a dragonfly charm. Any fun group of embellishments could be used to create the look you want.The flaps are cut off each of the inside envelopes. A slip of printed paper is trimmed to fit inside each envelope. For this project, little metal tabs are added to the slips of paper. Ribbons or small paper tags would also be nice additions.To hold the album together, use a small circular hole punch to punch 3 holes down the left side of each envelope. (I punched one set of holes and used it as a template to punch the rest.) Place a hinged ring in each hole to hold the book together. Embellish the rings with ribbons or attach small pieces of painted chipboard with twine for a fresh look.This album is a great gift to give to someone who will fill it up herself. Or do like I did and fill it with all sorts of fun photos & memories. To coordinate with my album colors, I printed my photos in sepia tone. (This is one of my favorite tips when the photos you love don't coordinate with the papers you love!) I printed a few 4 x 6 size prints and cropped them to fit. But most of my photos were printed wallet size on Costco's Photo Website.

Give this envelope mini album a try the next time you're in need of a personal gift that fits into both your budget and your busy schedule!

Layout of the Week Big Sister...Little Brother...

I put this layout together using the Vita Bella collection from Little Yellow Bicycle. I love how well it matches the shirt Delaney was wearing to have her 2nd grade school pictures taken this day. I took the photos of her & Jake after she came home from school that day. Big sister and little brother, I love these pictures. I used 3 12 x 12 sheets to create this look. I cut the foiled page in half and placed each half over half of the other two pages. The green frames were created from the backside of a paper from this collection. I used foiled and fabric stickers with love & family sayings to complete the layout. The fabric stickers are tags and I added American Craft ribbon to each tag. I used an 8 x 8, a 5 x 7 and wallet size photos printed in a lustre finish from Costco for this layout. I was a little crooked in my picture taking, but I think you "get the picture".

Moments like these, frozen in time, are my favorite things to scrapbook. With close to 7 years between my kids, I am very well aware that the baby stage goes by so quickly. I leave my camera out on the table in the nook, so it's right where I can grab it to snap photos of Jake & Delaney every day, if I want. I used to have it on the nesting end table. But Jake tipped the little one over on himself yesterday and he clears off the big one every chance he gets. So I'm down to one end table with nothing on it. Every time I have to tell him, "NO!" and move him back to his toys, I take a deep breath and remember that I will miss this stage in 7 years. It even brings tears to my eyes just to type this. I try to live in the moment and soak up all of his "baby-ness" that I can everyday. Thank goodness he's a good cuddler, because Mommy wouldn't have it any other way!

Creative Cafe 4th of July Layout

I created this layout when the Creative Cafe collection first arrived in the store. It's still my favorite! The photos were taken on the 4th of July last year. I wanted to use a red, white & blue theme, but I also wanted to be subtle with it. Delaney was so proud that she & our neighbor girl had painted her nails red after the neighborhood parade. She jumped in the hammock to pose for me and to escape from the 105 degree sun that day.

I printed the photos in black & white, so the hammock stripes wouldn't compete with all the patterns in my paper. Mixing coordinating patterns is one of my favorite layout techniques, so I love black & white and sepia tone photos. Using neutral tone photos allows you to go wild with the colors on your page without worrying that your photos won't match with your layout. And since it's so easy to change photos to black & white or sepia on Costco's website, I take all my photos in color and change them later depending on which papers I choose. This photo has great color, I just didn't want to use it on this page. So next time you're printing out photos for a scrapbook layout, take a minute to consider the papers you'll be using on your page, a black & white photo may just make your "nice" page a "stunner"!