design each moment

Six Ways to Make Birthday Pages Sing!

 

 

Six Ways to Make Birthday Pages Sing!

Celebrate!

I love to celebrate Birthdays…as long as they aren’t mine! We have always tried to have a family gathering and cake for each of the kid’s birthdays. I’m always there with my camera. My photos however, are not always the greatest. Sometimes it’s hard to capture the right moments, have good lighting and not have a lot of distracting background “noise.” I want to make a great page to remember the day. So I’d like to share six ways I found I could use to make this page “sing!”

 

1. I used one of Mosaic Moments FREE downloads for my title and a journaling block poem. I printed CELEBRATE  in ten colors, a slightly expanded rainbow array of bold bright colors. Then using the CELEBRATE letters I used a 1” square punch and punched one letter from each color and applied it to the bottom row of the White 12” x 12” Mosaic Moments Grid Paper.                                                                                                                                                       
2. Next I took a 1” strip from each of the colors and ran them through a variety of embossing folders. Then cut to size, in this case I chose to cover three tiles (3 ¼”) for each color; you may like to alter the size of your candles. Adhere with dotto adhesive.                                               
3. Next, you’ll need to light those candles, and our Sticky Face Stickers will do the trick. Now with the 1” Sticky Face squares I used Martha Stewart’s gold glitter, which is a very fine blend and rubs onto the sticky surface very nicely. The result is a very smooth glimmer look. Then with my X-Acto knife I cut a diagonal to get two corner tiles for two flames.  Taking 10 1” White Paper Tiles to match my background paper.  I adhered the glitter half squares in the same corner for all and then to the page. Using a tile to match your background grid will help to give an open feel to the page.
   
   
   
4. Next, I returned to my FREE printout for a poem block to begin my top edge. I chose to use red to carry the color pattern all the way to the top, but there were nine other colors to choose from…which will be perfect to have handy to do another birthday page with all the remaining pieces.                                   
5. Now I wanted a date to be included and chose a white on black year Four Letter Cornerstone and removed the black and replaced it with color tiles to match the pattern underneath each number. I also chose a birthday cake to fit my theme and the top right-hand corner. Again, I chose a white cake and substituted the base color black out for a 2.125” square of color from my last column color in the scheme.                                                                                                    
6. My final tip is the bling! I’ve been watching Paulina of Pretty Pink Posh play around with sequins to bring some extra light and bling to her cards, and thought I’d finally include them on a scrapbook page. Using a variety of colors to match my design, I picked just a few to scatter on the empty tiles, a few on the poem block, and a few more in the dots of the cake cornerstone. Don’t overdo it, make it look like confetti falling down. I used Alene’s Tacky Glue to adhere using only a dot of glue.

I chose photos and then cropped them to focus on the subject, getting rid of background distractions (lounging adults!) for some of the better moments of our birthday celebrations for my granddaughter and son’s joint birthday party. Now I have one page that really reflects a celebration, instead of too many disappointing photos, I have a page that ‘sings!’

 

So now it's up to you! Choose your color scheme, embossing folders, bling and photos and create your own melody! We'd love to have you share your work with us on our Facebook page or over at www.journella.com on the Story Board. 

see you soon!

andrea

Science Fiction Inspiration

This is Part 2 of March's guide to creating a page based on the popular science fiction book, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." Last week we listed different ways to draw inspiration from the story and the science fiction genre. 

Below is our Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy inspired page:

We love those famous words spoken by Buzz Lightyear - "To Infinity and Beyond!" Creating a science fiction themed page is a great time to go all out! You can have fun creating different cut outs and experimenting with different textures. 

I used the following materials to create A Sci-Fi Lover's Guide to Disney" -  Black Mosaic Moments 12x12 grid paper, and Huckleberry and Green Paper Tiles. Embellishments include: Black glitter Paper, Metallic Silver Chalk Ink, foil leaf on  Sticky Face squares. 

I enjoyed testing products and using them in unconventional ways. 

How I used the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy as inspiration:

My Inspiration List

• Title: I was inspired by the Book Title (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) so I  created my own version of the title - "A Sci-Fi Lover's Guide to Disney"

• Colors: My main Colors were Black (Since it reminds me of images of outer space), Blue, Green, (I wanted to colors to brighten up the image since it is a more humorous story) and Silver (this reminds me of metals). I also included purple as an accent color to add a little whimsy to my page.

• Science Fiction Font: If you look at the main title, this is clearly a Science fiction inspired font. (This is Space Age, you can download it for free here.) The font alone says "this page is all about Science Fiction". Note: Use the Special fonts for your titles only - use a basic font for the rest of your journaling since it is easier to read.

• Phrases: I used a phrase often seen with this book ("The answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything: 42"), but made it ""The answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything Disney". I used this as a subtitle to let the viewer know this page is all about tips at Disney World. This fits with the overall theme of the page.

• Icons & Imagery: For this page I mainly used imagery of stars and planets - relating to travels in the galaxy. I used a glitter paper to represent the starry sky, and used several sizes of round punches to represent planets. Several of the circles were made by using Sticky Face Stickers and adding Foil leaves on them - this makes the circle look like little moons. 

This is close up shot to show some of the imagery. I have several circles representing planets. I also used special stickers to make certain images pop for a 3D look. I wanted to make the character, a photo of Stitch (cut into a silhouette) look as if he is popping out at you!

 

 

 

• Texture:  I definitely used some shine! I used foil leafing to add shine. This added great texture since it looks like a shiny metal and craters on a moon. I also created texture by adding a metallic silver chalk ink onto Paper Tiles. I was inspired by one of the photos last week and made it look like a distressed silver metal. Here are some close up shots of the textures on this page:

 

 

• The Theme I incorporated into my page is based on a traveling theme. In "Hitchhiker's Guide," the main characters use an actual guide to help them during their travels. My page is a guide on how to have a Science Fiction Adventure at Disney World. Here I give tips and descriptions of each of the rides and entertainment.

 

Books are a great source of inspiration. I love how choosing a book can help me to be more creative and use my imagination. Consider using your favorite sci-fi movie or book as inspiration for your next scrapbook layout. Adding a theme is fun and your page will stand out in your album since it is so unique!

 

Show Me the COLOR!

March continues its advance toward spring and of course, the flowers and showers of that time of year. Working on a rainbow technique using watercolors last week kept me thinking of ways to make the very most of this color palette in scrapbooking. So we’ll continue the theme with two more projects.

Spring arrives on March 20^th, and we are often buried in snow and windy weather with only hopes of warmer days, green grass and budding flowers. As the rhyme suggests April follows with showers and May with her flowers. I’m hoping that given this idea, you will be able to plan ahead to take wonderful spring photos and try this out for yourselves.

I love taking photos of the flowers in my garden each year. I love to observe the details of each variety. Some photos are better than others and then there are some that are absolute favorites. So what do you do with them all? Wouldn’t you love to have a nice page of blooms to enjoy in your scrapbook or to mount on your living room wall? 

Let me show you one way to make your photos the star of the page and bring the rainbow in in a subtle way. Then let me take the same photos plus a few more along with a variety of papers from a coordinated pack and really let the colors of the rainbow playfully dance across your page.

 

Page One

I have printed 25-2.125”squares of flowers in Red (3), Orange (3), Yellow (4), Blue (4) and Violet (6) shades. Additionally I included 5 green foliage plants/trees to represent the colors of the rainbow. ROY G BIV is an acronym for the sequence of hues commonly described as making up a rainbow: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet and my guide for this collection.

 

• I cropped the photos in my photo editing program (ACDSee) that I wanted to include into squares focusing on eliminating anything that was distracting from the flower surroundings and saved them as a square keeping the original copy untouched.
• Then I used a template I had created in Print Shop 20, a program I’ve had forever and you probably do too, to print multiple photos at a time. To create a template  begin with a blank 8.5 x 11” page and use the  guide lines and rulers to create a page with 1” squares separated by 1/8^” spaces. This general template allows me to print any photo to the exact size I want to cover the right amount of tiles, and is helpful for doing several economically on one 8.5” x 11” page.  
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• Once you create this template be sure to name it and save it to reuse again and again. With every project you create with it if you want to save those to print later, or another time, rename it something else to save the project and your template will remain original.  
• For the larger squares I relied on my X-Acto knife, my Mosaic Moments Self-healing cutting mat, and metal cork backed ruler to trim them away from the sheet, but the 1” squares were easily punched out using an EK Success 1” punch to accomplish the task.
• I decided I really liked the way the colors of the photos popped off of a Black Mosaic Moments 12 x 12 Grid, and thought it helped to visualize the rainbow as I arranged the colors in order from the top left corner to the bottom right corner.

Once again, following Tami’s philosophy of letting the photos you take be the focus, “to use…photos to decorate the pages,” you can see how stunning the colors can appear when presented this way.  

   

Page Two:

• Taking the sheet of 1” printed squares and punching them out is the beginning.
• Next cut your paper selections into 1” strips. I used an 8x8” pad of coordinating papers (I chose The Basics by The Paper Studio from Hobby Lobby,) that had 5 patterns for each of the colors. One strip of each was more than enough. 

• For this one I wanted a playful feel to the page and chose to go with the White 12” x 12” Mosaic Moments Grid Paper where the added white in the patterned papers added to the openness of the white space.   
• Arrange your photos on your grid in a pattern or order that pleases your eye. Think of them first as a color and second as a flower; don’t be afraid to rearrange them until you have something that pleases you.

 

• Once all the photo colors are arranged begin with the red papers and cut a few 1” tiles from your 1” strips of paper. Keep each of the colors in the block area that you have planned for each color. Directional patterns need not remain in one direction only; stripes can be vertical or horizontal. 

• When you have all the patterned paper in place, look at it from above, even take a picture and view it on your camera to get another perspective. Does it feel balanced?  Is this how you want it? Want to move a few photos…go right ahead! Are there too many dotted papers in one area, is that what you wanted, if not switch it around. Same pattern different color tiles sitting side by side? That’s okay if it appeals to you, just be sure before the final step…
• Attach each tile with adhesive. You’re done!!

 

Now, that wasn’t too hard. Do you like your results? Frame it! Or add it to your scrapbook for spring. If you work this pattern on a 6 x 6 or 8 x 8, you can incorporate that piece into a larger 12 x 12 layout. Maybe only use a portion of this technique on a page; maybe use it to create a frame around a few focal photos…the possibilities are endless. AND…don’t forget to share it with us on our Facebook page or on the Story Board at Journella.com!! 

A final note, while I have used flowers to build this floral rainbow, it’s a style you can accomplish with just about anything and a little planning, so why not search for the rainbow in your neighborhood?

Thanks so much for dropping in, we'd love to get to know you too!

Show us your Color!

andrea  

 

 

Watercolor for Mosaics

Watercolor for Mosaics

This week I thought I’d like to explore a new medium to incorporate into scrapbooking, watercolors. It’s a new trend showing up in cardmaking and digital scrapping and there are lots of ways for you to incorporate this colorful trend into your Mosaic Moments Grid pages too. Let me show you two ways to get you started.

St. Paddy’s day {yes, it’s Paddy (m.) not Patty (f.)}  is just around the corner and it’s always nice to join in the various celebrations. So why not try this watercolor technique to spruce up your pages for any celebrations you may be having?

I have chosen two very easy ways and two different styles with two different backgrounds. All these two by two’s and pretty soon I’ll be loading up the Ark, which is what brings me to my next item, a rainbow! It's origin is in a symbol of a Biblical promise after the Flood, to never destroy the earth by water again.

Now let's briefly jump to how it got tied into the Irish! 'The Irish in the 17^th century, understanding how light was refracted, would say in regards to finding the end of a rainbow, “that one was as likely to find a pot of gold as to find the end of a rainbow.”  In time the two ideas got joined together and so will often appear in St. Patrick’s Day celebrations often accompanied by a wee Leprechaun!  

So set aside the Irish myth for now and make these rainbows a reality in your scrapbooks!

The Paints:

• Although you can use some of the fancier watercolors or my personal favorites the twinkling H2O’s, a simple inexpensive set of watercolors like Crayola’s will get the job done.

Prepare your paper:

• I am using Canson Watercolor Paper 90lb. weight, but any brand will do.
• You may like to cut the paper down to the size that will give you just the amount of squares you will need, or larger to have enough for more than one project.
• I suggest you tape (masking or painter’s tape) the paper edges to your work surface. This will help to control the curl of the paper once it is wet. (learn from my oversite!)

 

For the First Technique:

• Begin by applying a few drops of water to pool on each of the colors you plan to use to soften them up.
• Use a sponge brush and clear water to lightly cover the page.     
• While the surface is still wet, begin with the red, then orange etc. (ROY G BIV: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet). I chose a sweeping stoke at an angle as I laid down each of the colors in that order, allowing them to blend together. Keeping it wet will help it to blend together nicely. Fill in the entire page up to the edge of the tape.
• Once the page dries, remove the tape. If the page has buckled with the application of the paint, you may want to iron the pages or weigh it down with something heavy. Books overnight work well.
• Cut the page in 1” squares.

For the First Grid:

• For this project I took one 4” x 6” photo and divided it into 1” squares, EXCEPT for the very center of the photo.
• I left that photo in a 2” square and mounted it on a 2-1/8”square Mosaic Moments Wildberry Pie Paper Tiles so it would fill the center of the an 8” x 8” Black Mosaic Moments Grid.
• All the rest of the pieces were added leaving only a row of squares at the top and the bottom of the grid. 
• From the watercolor paper I used the top row and the bottom row to fill those squares in. Use a strong adhesive as the watercolor paper is heavier than your regular cardstock paper.

photo: 'Just over the Rainbow Bridge,' Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

This leaves three rows of watercolors to use on another project. Doing it this way allows for the illusion that the rainbow pattern continues from the top to the bottom.

 

For the Second Technique:

• I took another section of paper and wet it down as in the first example. I let it dry. I began laying in the colors in shorter strokes close to a square shape. This time I made the colors a bit more intense by using less water and filling the brush. You can see in the photo above, the first two columns of colors are drier than the last two.
• I worked quickly to get the colors laid and blended from color to color. I worked in columns red, orange, yellow then yellow, green, blues, and another with blues to purples.
• Again, allow to dry, iron or weigh it down to flatten the page if it’s needed. Cut sections into 1” columns and create squares as needed.

For the Second Grid:

• I used a White 8”x 8” Mosaic Moments Grid
• I chose photos of my 5 kids and printed and cropped them to 2.125”.
• I arranged them in the spots I wanted them to appear.
• I printed a quote on a paper tile and placed it in the corner.
• I randomly placed the various watercolor tiles in the blank spots. Use a strong adhesive as the watercolor paper is heavier than your regular cardstock paper.

The quote was one my daughter provided trying to inspire me on this project. I couldn’t decide what photos to use and once she sent this on…and I checked the source…one of the K-Pop groups some folks around here have been following, I decided I’d do one with photos of the kids when they little, trying to get them all around the same age.  This will be one of our inside jokes!  

Here’s the quote: "I think you’re magical, I think you’re wonderful, Because of you, my heart is colorful. In the black and dark world, the moment I try to close my eyes, you make my life colorful." 

If anyone has added color to my life…it’s been my kids. They are my rainbow; they are my pot of gold.

If you have hesitated to venture into the area of watercolors, I hope this shows you how easy it can be. Give it a try, it won't cost a lot to do and be sure to show us the pages that you complete, either on our Facebook page or over at the best spot around for sharing your creative works of art, www.journella.com.

 

Be sure to stop in again next time as I keep playing around with some colorful ideas for your scrapbook pages this spring. These are some of the things giving me ideas! How about you??

 

Thanks for stopping by…andrea