design each moment

the artiste

This project has been on my mind for a while now. 
It all started with one of my favorite photos of Atticus.  He loves to paint and be creative and it is something we enjoy doing together.  I also noticed my craft area was filling up with his artwork.

There are many clever ideas available for preserving your child's artwork, and I thought scrapbooking it would make a nice page in his album.

I used the layout "Sweet 17" by Shannon Johnson, in Designing Photo Mosaics and More by Tami Potter, page 56.  This works especially well for artwork done by a younger child because it is still mostly abstract art and can be used like patterned paper. I ended up switching the background grid paper, the inner squares, and the border squares several times before getting it right.  It can be tricky working with these colors and the painted paper has a texture that doesn't want to lie flat.  But I think it was worth it and once I slide it into a protective sleeve it will be just fine.

White grid paper works best, in my opinion, because it is neutral and has that "blank canvas" appeal.

Materials used: 12 x 12 grid paper in white, blue and white cardstock,  metal ruler, craft knife, Dotto adhesive, Lil Chizler, and cutting mat, 1 photo, and four masterpieces!

The colorful text helps pull all the page elements together and was printed using my word processor and glued to the page.

Cut sixteen 2 1/8 inch squares to form the border, paying attention to the colors and shapes in the artwork.  Alternating colors helps balance the layout while still capturing the creative energy!

Inner Harbor

 My cousin Leila came to visit us in August.  We took a day trip to Baltimore and had fun checking out the Inner Harbor.  What a beautiful place!

I was having a hard time figuring out a layout for these pictures, so it was a great time to use the free Alpha Tiles download. Having those letters in place helped tremendously!
I cut out the correct letters, played with them on the page until I got it just right, and then simply filled the remaining space with photos.  (Tip: The tiles are easier to work with when printed on cardstock.)

The photo of Brandon and I in the bottom right corner had funny dimensions and looked better matted.  This gave me an opportunity to bring in yellow as an accent color, which I used along the left side of the page.

Alpha Tiles are a fun way to add interest to a page, especially when you are unsure about your layout.  They make a great starting point and I like how easy it is to print more if you need them!

Materials used: 12 x 12 grid paper in Robin's Egg Blue, yellow cardstock, the free Alpha Tiles PDF available here, 6 photos, and my Mosaic Moments tools: metal ruler, craft knife, Dotto adhesive, Lil Chizler, and cutting mat.

Theresa Talks About the Basics

My daughter-in-law takes the most awesome nature shots and she made the most of her photography skills while visiting the Tropical Dream Center in Okinawa. I wanted to get as many of these gorgeous photos on the page as I could, so I turned to Tami Potter's Mosaic Moments products to help me make this mosaic. There are nine 3 1/2 x5 photos on this one page and the whole layout only took me about one hour to complete.

Want to know how to get started? You'll need some tools: a self-healing cutting mat with one-inch grids; a craft knife with a fresh blade; some repositionable glue; a cork-backed ruler; and some grid paper. SnapNCrop has all the tools you need to get started, plus they sell the pre-printed grid paper in tons of colors. The grid paper makes laying out your mosaic super easy as the spacing is all figured out for you

 

You'll also need to choose nine or ten photos and some cardstock in case you want to mat a photo or leave room for a title. It's best to choose some photos that are close-ups as well as some with a bit of background scenery for visual interest.

Once you have chosen your photos, coat the back with the repositionable glue and choose the photos that you would like to be your main focus. For Paradise Found, I chose three photos and a journaling block to start my page.

Step 1. First, line your photo up on the mat so that one side and either the top or bottom edge are lined up along the dark guidelines on the mat.

 

Step 2. Lay your ruler along the dark guidelines and cut your photo into squares using the craft knife.

Tips: If you are going to cut your photo into 1-inch pieces, be sure
your subject's face falls between the dark gridlines. You don't want to cut into
their face or cut them off at the neck.

 

Once you have cut your photo into squares, it will look like the photo below. I used 3 1/2 x5 inch photos. There will be a bit of extra on one short side and one long side of your photo. You can see in this photo that the squares on the bottom are definitely too small. And the squares on the right are just a tad too small. You don't want to use these. Just discard these bits. If you use 4x6 inch photos, you may not have extra bits.

Step 3. Lay your main photos and journaling block on the grid, then begin filling in the grid with your one-inch squares. Don't be concerned if you cannot fit the entire picture in the empty spaces -- this will give interest to your page.

 

But don't throw out those extra squares just yet as you may be able to use them to fill in an empty spot! In 'Paradise Found' I used bits of green from the top center picture to fill in a space above the bottom yellow flower. I'll bet you did not notice until I told you so!

 

That is all there is to it - three easy steps to a gorgeous page. Have fun with this technique. It is quite easy once you get the hang of it and the final result can be stunning!

advent calendar

Did you know that 12 x 12 grid paper has room for exactly twenty-five 2 1/8 inch squares?
Perfect for making a beautiful, custom Christmas advent calendar!

These are the materials I used: 12 x 12 grid paper in brick, 5 pieces of coordinating Christmas patterned paper, sewing machine, computer/printer (for the numbers), embellishments, ribbon, tape, two photos, and the Mosaic Moments toolbox: square inch punch, metal ruler, craft knife, Dotto adhesive, Lil Chizler, and cutting mat.

The first thing I did was cut out 5 squares (2 1/8 inches x 2 1/8 inches) from each of my 5 patterned papers.  Then I placed them in the order on the grid paper and played with them until I liked the order.
Next, I laid the squares out on my table in the correct order.

Now for the fun part!
I used my sewing machine to turn each square into a cute little pocket:

So just keep sewing each little square on three sides until you have filled up the entire grid.

I used my computer to print a page of each of the numbers, 1 to 25.  I paid attention to the spacing before I printed it out so that each number would have enough space around it to allow me to use the 1 inch square punch.  It saves time and looks very uniform.

I used a font called "Cursif" for a vintage look to compliment the vintage-inspired Christmas paper.

I also used a black ink pad to darken the edges of the squares and give the plain white numbers a little punch.

I spotted this glittery tagboard embellishment at the crafts store and had to have it! It draws more attention to the most important day on the countdown: Christmas Day!

Now the whole point of having an advent calendar is to mark the passing days, so of course I had to make a mini Atticus and a mini Gwyneth to hop from day to day.

I used the 1 inch punch and more coordinating paper to make these sort of lollipop-shaped minis.  I "laminated" them in packing tape to help them last longer.  (If you have a real laminator, that would be even better!)

I taped ribbon to the back so that I can hang it up starting December first.

Let the countdown begin!

patterned paper page: revisited

Remember this beautiful page by Tami Potter?
Well, for today's post, I took her layout and made it in different patterns and colors and added my own photos to show how versatile each Mosaic Moments layout can be!

I used patterned and solid paper by American Crafts, the free journaling PDF, the Clearly Calendar stamping set, 3 photos, 12 x 12 grid paper in Desert and the Mosaic Moments tools: metal ruler, craft knife, Dotto adhesive, Lil Chizler, and cutting mat. 

I am a HUGE fan of that free journaling PDF and it was so fun stamping the date in the lines.
You really should find a collection of coordinating patterned papers and go to town!

pink patterned portrait

The inspiration for this layout came from my mailbox: receiving my new 1 inch punch in the mail!  It is so fun to use, I had to make a page that would involve lots of 1 inch square punches. 

I had this adorable photo of just my daughter Gwyneth available and I thought it would make a great one-photo page.  I had other photos from the same spot/same time but this photo was much more powerful all by itself.
I framed it with two thick strips (2 1/8 inches x 10 9/8 inches), along the top and the bottom.
Then, I centered the matted photo (4 3/8 inches x 6 5/8 inches).
Next, I filled the remaining grid spaces with 1 inch square tiles of patterned paper in coordinating colors, but contrasting prints.  (This is a great time to use your square punch, if you have one, because the pattern can be random.) 
The checkerboard pattern keeps it interesting.  I purposefully used the lighter squares to help draw the eye to my subject.

I stamped the date on a piece of cardstock then cut it out using an oval template.  The curves help balance out all of those right angles and highlight Gwyneth's sweet cheeks!

Using the same shiny gold ink pad, I stamped several large flowers right on top of the other page elements.  The flower shape echoes the flowers in the patterned paper and the subject's dress and the shiny gold ink adds sparkle to the overall look.

Materials used: the fun one inch square punch, trusty Mosaic Moments tools: metal ruler, craft knife, Dotto adhesive, Lil Chizler, and cutting mat, plus 12 x 12 grid paper in Cocoa, pale pink cardstock, 3 different sheets of patterned paper, one photo, gold inkpad, flower stamp, and the Clearly Calendar stamp set available at SnapNCrop.