Prairie Paper & Ink

A Scrapbook Page Papertrey Style

I don't consider myself to be a scrapbooker - but rather a stamper/cardmaker. However I do dabble with making scrapbook pages here and there (with two little girls it's something I feel like I NEED to do at times! I have to capture the memories somehow!) and lately I have really been enjoying making pages using Papertrey products.

The other day I pulled out a few different items (PT Lavender Moon, Plum Pudding and Vintage Cream cardstocks, cardstock vellum, Guidelines stamp set, Trajan Monogram Edition set, Guide Lines 6x6 patterned paper) along with a couple of black and white pictures and set out to make a page.

First off - something I have learned to make scrapbooking easier is to use BLACK & WHITE (or sepia toned!) pictures - that way you can use any colors, patterned papers etc that you want and none will clash with the pics!

Second - I scrapbook in 8x8" layouts - I really like this size as I don't have to stock a bunch of 12x12 papers plus they're less intimidating to work with than a 12x12 layout.

I started off by stamping the Lavender Moon cardstock with the Guidelines stamps using Lavender Moon ink. After that was done I dotted the centers of each image with my white gel pen.

The vellum was cut about 1/4" smaller than the Lavender moon CS, and about 2" shorter. I used a 1 3/8" circle punch on the Lavender Moon CS, and a 1 1/4" Circle punch on the vellum (you'll see why I did that in a moment).

I used my sewing machine to attach the vellum to the CS, going over it twice and switching the stitches between straight and zig-zag (doing it messy "on purpose" is a LOT easier than trying to keep all the stitches straight!).

I stamped my title (using the Trajan Monogram Edition) onto two strips of Guidelines patterned paper (another tip - stamping the title separately then attaching it to the page is a lot easier than stamping directly on the page (and a lot easier to fix if you screw up!)).

I then adhered the title and pictures and embellished the cardstock as I wanted.

Now - this Lavender Moon CS that I was working with I had cut to 7 3/4" square - and for a reason - I wanted to mat it on the 8x8 piece of Vintage Cream CS, PLUS I wanted it to serve another purpose - which you'll see here:

I applied adhesive (red liner tape - SUPER sticky stuff) to the sides and bottom of the page - making sure to leave the top free of any adhesive.

(That green ruler is from Creative Memories - it was given to me some time ago so I don't know if you can get it anymore or not. I just traced the scallops onto the CS with a pencil then cut them out with scissors)

So here is the finished page. I added Plum Pudding Swiss Dot Ribbon, and sewed on various buttons with string.

And THIS was why I punched the half-circles out of the CS and vellum, and didn't put any adhesive on the top part of the CS:

I had a lot of journalling to go with these pictures, and I really HATE my handwriting (but I think my girls will appreciate seeing things written by me some day) so I made a separate little page that slips behind the scrapbook page.

I used a sheet of the Guidelines patterned paper, drew light lines with a pencil, wrote my "story", then erased the lines. I attached that to a piece of Plum Pudding CS (and it might be hard to see but I stitched around that paper as well), then created a "tab" with a circle of Vintage Cream CS, some ribbon and another button.

I hope you all enjoyed this peek into my creative process while scrapbooking and I encourage you to give it a shot if you haven't! Even though I LOVE making cards and whatnot I get a real sense of accomplishment and satisfaction from scrapping a page or two - I may be YEARS behind with all my pages - but I enjoy the process and would rather not stress over where I think I should be with it - and just have FUN!!

{SUPPLIES}

STAMPS: Guidelines and Trajan Monogram Edition Stamp Sets (Papertrey Ink)

CS: Vintage Cream, Lavender Moon, Plum Pudding, Cardstock Vellum, Guidelines 6x6 Patterned Paper.

INK: Lavender Moon, Versafine Onyx Black.

ACCESSORIES: Sewing Machine, Plum Pudding Swiss Dot Ribbon, Buttons, String, Creative Memories Scallop Ruler, Circle Punches, Ranger White Gel Pen.

LOVE Scrapbook Pages

I got 2 more pages done!! YAY!

I worked on this 2-page layout on and off all day Sunday, finished them Sunday evening then took the pictures of them with my new Light Tent (it's a 24" tent and these are 8x8 scrapbook pages - the 2 of them fit perfectly inside). I have to say I am loving the tent! ESPECIALLY for taking pictures like this - usually I have to take a LOT of shots and have to deal with glare on the photos and not being able to get a very clear end result - with the tent I only took a few shots and it was done! :o)

*You can click on the picture to get a pop-up window with a larger image*

I printed the pictures myself with a Kodak EasyShare 5300 printer - they were 5x7 with a border and I cut the border off so they're a bit smaller than that.

The patterned paper is by My Mind's Eye, and the title was done with my CuttleBug Red Tag Alpha (I embossed some black card stock with Iridescent Ice embossing powder (Stampin' Up!) before die cutting the letters) and adhered to 2 Super Jumbo Scalloped hearts.

The flowers are grey Prima Sprites, and all the bling is from the dollar section at Michaels. The die cut hearts are another CuttleBug die.

I used my Crop-a-dile to punch the holes to thread the ribbon through.

The journaling was done by hand (I HATE my handwriting - but I know that it's something the girls will appreciate when they're older (at least I'm hoping so!)) on 2 Mega Scalloped heart punch outs.

*snicker* I just love these pictures - Josie really IS a total goofball - AND a drama queen - it will be really interesting to see what she's like as she gets older!

I'm a DIVA Again! And a Scrapbook Page Sketch...

GinaK's Design Team was asked to participate in this week's Splitcoast DIVA Scrapbook challenge and I was able to get a couple of pages done for it! (A MAJOR accomplishment for me b/c ever since I did the inaugural DIVA challenge with Papertrey I haven't scrapped a page since! So much for my New Year's resolution eh??)

You can find out more about this challenge HERE <-------click!

These pages came easy for me though - I've had the idea for them for months and so it was only a matter of clearing some space off my desk and getting to work!

I took these pictures back in the summer before we moved - and when Gina released her Make a Wish - Stamps For a Cause set with the dandelion image I KNEW I'd have to use that with these pictures on a scrapbook page!

This is a 2-page layout - the pages are 8x8" (I am LOVING this size - I used to do 12x12 pages and while I like having more room for pictures, I started to dread making them b/c they took up so much room on my desk and it was just getting difficult to be able to get a page done without having every available surface covered! Now that I'm doing this size tho I can do a 2-page layout and it doesn't take nearly as long and doesn't take up nearly as much space! LOVE it!).

I was originally only going to have one 4x6 picture per page, but as I was going through all the pics I had taken I found so many more that I wanted to use! So I came up with this layout:

I cropped the main pictures to 3x5", and the smaller ones to 2.5x4".

GinaK's dandelion stamp was inked up with craft ink, stamped onto the card stock, then embossed with Iridescent Ice (Stampin' Up!) embossing powder.

The letters are all die-cut - I just love how they turned out!

I used a couple of pieces of Pink Passion (SU!) card stock - covered them with VersaMark ink then with Iridescent Ice EP and heated them. Once they had cooled I used my CuttleBug Red Tag Sale Alphabet to cut out the letters I needed.

EDITED TO ADD: Yes I am quite proud of my idea to make glittery card stock to die cut the letters from (at first I was planning on die cutting the letters then covering them with some sort of adhesive and THEN covering them with glitter - but then I thought "there has to be a better (less messier!) way!!" and came up with this idea). For something even EASIER - you can actually buy glitterfied card stock in yummy colors - DoodleBug Sugar Coated CS to be exact - which will definitely be going on my next order from ATS (b/c I STILL had VersaMark and Iridescent Ice EP all over the place....).

I also used that alpha set to die cut 2 small tags (the set comes with a die for one large and one smaller tag) that I stapled ribbon to and slipped behind each main picture to use for the journalling.

The ribbon is from Michaels (I used sticky strip to attach the ribbon to the bottom of the page), the flowers are Prima and I used Dollarama (jumbo) brads and Bazzill Brads to attach them.

If you'd like to use this sketch to make a page (or 2!) and upload it to Splitcoast please use the keyword SBDD10_AmyR so that it's easier to find!

STAMPS: Make a Wish stamp set by GinaK Designs (Stamps For a Cause). CS: Wild Wasabi Textured, Pink Passion (Stampin' Up!). INK: VersaMark, Garden Green Craft Ink. ACCESSORIES: Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder, CuttleBug Red Tage Sale Alphabet Dies, Prima Flowers, Brads, Ribbon.

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Stay tuned - my Friday card sketch will be posted later today!! :o)

People were asking....

I've received several e-mails and comments from people asking how I made the yellow butterfly on the scrapbook page in this post. It's a stamp from the Papertrey Butterfly Kisses set (click on that link and check out the set and you will see which stamp I used) - I stamped it in VersaMark then embossed it with clear embossing powder - that was the challenge I put out for everyone - and THIS particular stamp was great for a challenge like this b/c it (obviously) stamds out so well!

I thought it would be best to post that here instead of answering each e-mail individually - and I will be editing the original post to include this info as well.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!!

I'm a Diva!

Tim's response to that title is "Tell me something I DON'T know..." -------- ROFLOL!!

I'm not talking about THAT kind of Diva (tho I guess at times I can be one - *wink*) - but rather a Scrapbook Diva over on Splitcoast (along with some of the other fabulous gals from the Papertrey Design Team - Nichole, Lisa and Taylor!) today. You can find out more about our challenges and whatnot in this thread HERE <------click!!

Each of us have come up with a different challenge and made a scrapbook page. This is the page I made:

I used butterfly stamps from Papertrey's Butterfly Kisses stamp set along with VersaMark ink and clear embossing powder to make matching embellishments for my page (supplies including the type of patterned paper are at the end of this post).

 

(all of these pictures can be clicked on to get a pop-up window with a larger view).

This is an 8x8 page layout.

EDITED TO ADD: The yellow butterfly is the same as all the other ones - the dotted butterfly stamp was inked up with VersaMark then embossed with clear embossing powder - it ended up looking like dew drops!!

I would LOVE it if any of you would participate in my challenge (you can see that HERE <----click!) - you have until next Friday (Nov 23) to upload your pages to the Splitcoast gallery (make sure to use the keyword that is included with my challenge info post!) as I will be choosing a winner to send this card to:

And of course even if you want to play just for fun I'd love that too!

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Scrapbook Page Supplies: STAMPS: Papertrey's Butterfly Kisses and Beautiful Blooms stamp sets, SU!'s Spunky Alphabet Set (retired). CS: Old Olive, So Saffron, Chatterbox Patterned Papers (Sun Room collection in Light Summer Flowers, Olive Beach Dot and Beach Dot). INK: VersaMark, Old Olive Classis, Brocade Blue Craft. ACCESSORIES: Clear Embossing powder, Marvy Mage Circle and Giga Scalloped Circle Punches, May Arts Ribbon.

Card Supplies: STAMPS: Papertrey's Butterfly Kisses, Beautiful Blooms and Paper Tray stamp sets. CS: Old Olive, White, Chatterbox Patterned Papers (Sun Room collection in Light Summer Flowers, Olive Beach Dot and Beach Dot). INK: Old Olive Classic, VersaMark, black. ACCESSORIES: Clear Embossing powder, May Arts Ribbon.

JUMP

SETS: Island Blossoms, Letterpress Alpha. CS: Whisper White, Pixie Pink, Night of Navy. INK: Whisper White, Pixie Pink, Night of Navy all Craft. ACCESSORIES: Buttons, White Embroidery Thread, Small Corner Rounder.

Here's another one of my early pages - this was when I started to figure out what a layout was lol! When I was done it really struck me how much better a page looks when the photos are laid out properly as opposed to being just slapped on a page!

I used the little flower from Island Blossoms (level 3 hostess set now retired) in Whisper White and Pixie Pink Craft Ink. JUMP was stamped in Night of Navy using Letterpress Alpha.

Journalling (I used a font from one of the SU font Cd's - sorry I can't remember which one!):

When we first started putting Veronica in the Jolly Jumper (at about 3 or 4 months old) she wouldn't do much except swing around. As she got older she would really get into it and would jump for an hour or more. She just loved jumping in it and would go nuts - these pics are priceless with her evil little grin - she was having so much fun!             Summer 2003

These pics still make me LOL - Veronica was a little monkey at that age - there were times we thought the Jolly Jumper would fall over she would jump so high! The faces she made were priceless...

First Pages

CS and INK: Very Vanilla, Pretty In Pink, Sage Shadow, Lavender Lace (all Craft Inks). SETS: Retro Alpha Upper, Welcome, Little One (both retired). ACCESSORIES: SU Buttons (tied on w/ embroidery thread), and non-SU ribbon.

FYI - you can click on the picture and it will pop up in a separate window as a bigger image - HTH!

This 2 page layout was the very first 12x12 scrapbooking I ever did. I had NO clue what I was doing - my only goal was to get the pictures and information on the card stock - I didn't know a thing about layout and color combos or anything else about scrapbooking for that matter!

I used SU's old paper saving template (no longer available) that basically showed how to use an 8 1/2 x 11" sheet of CS over the 12x12 to have an alternate color and where to cut the 12x12 to save on CS.

This was when my oldest daughter was born. We took *tons* of pictures - and I do mean tons - I think we had 3 or 4 rolls of film developed before we left the hospital (I was in for almost a week b/c of complications - everything went well tho).

I picked out my favorite pictures for these 2 pages. I did the letters w/ SU's (retired) Retro Alphabet Upper and the sentiment (on page 2), baby image and flowers on the main pages were from SU's (also retired) Welcome, Little One. The blank square on the first page has personal info that I blurred out.

I used grosgrain I bought at Michaels and SU buttons as embellishments. I pressed the buttons into Craft Inks that matched the CS and dried them w/ the heat tool (it took a few layers of color to completely cover the buttons and I'm pretty sure I sanded them before hand to better hold the ink).

So there you have my first attempt at scrapbooking. Some of my other pages look even worse than these 2 - those ones I may change but I plan on leaving these as is just to remember my first attempt!!

Scrapbooking...

I pulled out the scrapbook last night - so I won't be making a ton of cards like I've been doing lately!!

I scrapbook in spurts - when I do it I go all out and make a HUGE mess and have a ton of fun! I don't get a lot of pages done b/c I take my time w/ it - sometimes spending a whole day on a 2 page layout.

I *savor* every minute of my scrap booking and yes I am like 2 years behind on Veronica's pages (she's 3 1/2) and I haven't even started on Josie's (she's almost 9 months now). In fact I haven't done *any* scrap booking since Josie was a couple months old.

When I scrapbook I don't do many cards - my desk is of a decent size but when I'm doing my 12x12 pages I have NO room for anything else - plus I really do make an awful mess and my "OCD" kicks in and I *can't* work on anything else until it's all cleaned up! I bought 2 clear plastic 12x12 containers at Michael's (for 50% off of course *big grin*) so hopefully that will help me w/ the mess as I can put the page(s) I'm working on in there if I need to do something else.

I *will* be posting pics of my pages - including the old ones. I've done about 40 pages so far and it's come a long way since I first started.

I'm actually pulling apart some of my older pages *shock* *gasp* and re-doing them. I'll take pics before and after tho. I'm not doing it to ALL my old pages - just the few that really look wrong to me. When I first started SBing layout meant nothing to me - I totally didn't get it. I just slapped on the pics and journaling wherever and didn't give it a second thought. *Some* of the pages still work like that but some really are a mess and need to be put in a proper layout to look how *I* really wanted them to. (I know some ppl think it's a crime to re-do old pages but I *have* to do this - there are a few pages that just bug me and since it's my book I'm gonna make them look right! lol).

So that's what I'll be doing for the next little while - this SBing spurt prolly will have some cards here and there as the instant gratification feels so good after laboring over pages for hours at a time!! :o)