I got a question that was such a good one I decided to share it with everybody in an email.

Irene Dunne sent me a layout for feedback. All her photos and the title were against the edges of the page. She wanted to know how she could fill the space of her layout without moving the rub-on title. I gave some suggestions in my live webinar forMembers for NSD and Vicki Lee sent this question after attending:

“I’ve seen some layouts that have a lot of white space. When is itappropriate to have that much white space, and if you want to haveit, what are the parameters about how big that space can be? The page looked pretty good to me, even with all the empty space, but I know that [you] said that it really needed something there.I
understood the solution, but just wonder about the use of large amounts of white space.”

At the beginning of the session I said that any feedback I give is subjective, not “right.” I wouldn’t say that her page “needed” to have something in the white space — just that I found myself feeling like the layout wasn’t complete.

You see the difference? I told her the result her page had on me,and answered her question for how she could adjust her focal point if she wants to.

So what’s the answer to Vicki’s general question about white space?

There is not a set appropriate amount of white space. There aren’t parameters for how big a space can be, but there are design principle for what seems to work most often for most purposes that tell you what your white space will cause in the viewer of your page.

1. Placement:

If you put your subject one-third of the way in from the edge it feels comfortable and intriguing.

Things on the side feel like they’re side things and not the main thing.

Since Irene’s photos and title were at the edge, the main subjectwas in the bottom corner, and she was asking me for help, I suggested she add a new focal point to the spot that was about 1/3rd of the way up from the bottom, and that she make it black and white so it would blend into the grayish background and preserve her intention of soothing white space.

2. Size:

Here’s the best guideline I can share in terms of size: Do you like it? Is the attention going where you want it to go? Does it feel the way you want it to feel?

The more white space you have, the more your eye goes to that empty space instead of the subject. Also, the more white space you have, the more calming the effect is. Some people find a lot of space too calming — in other words, boring. Others find it peaceful and beautiful.

I’m in the second camp. I love art with a lot of white space. But in photography and scrapbooking I tend to want the subject to stand out more immediately, so my subjects are a little bigger. But if you love the calming experience of noticing the beautiful white space first, and then being eventually drawn into your subject second (because yes, the eye will go there before it’s done looking!), then do it! Especially if a calm feeling will enhance your story!

I’m constantly trying to remind people that design principles aren’t rules. They’re there to help you know what type of effect you cause when you place things in certain ways. You get to choose what effects you want to cause.

With Irene’s subject on the edge, it looked like a border to me and I found myself looking again and again at the center and feeling like the page wasn’t finished yet. At the same time, I really enjoyed her page and how soothing it was. Irene gets to decide whether she’s happy with that result or not.

So if Irene is reading this and thinking, “I was just trying to follow the “rule” of thirds when I asked for feedback, but I actually love the page as it is,” then she shouldn’t feel like she needs to “fix” her layout at all.

Hopefully that helps both Vicki and Irene, and anyone else who’swondered about this!

P.S.> If you think you’d benefit from seeing design feedback on layouts people are struggling with, I added a recording of this webinar to the Member Videos last Friday. If you’re a member you can find it there now. If not, follow the link to learn about getting a membership for yourself.

CLICK HERE.

You can use this audio player to listen to the show:

If you want, you can also right click this link to save the show to your computer manually.

The Panel

• Angie Lucas
• Karen Grunberg
• Nancy Nally
• Noell Hyman

Sponsors

Big Picture Classes: Click here to see special offers from Big Picture Classes!

Everyday Storyteller: Click here to learn about Everyday Storyteller

Picks of the Week

• My Mind’s Eye Decorative Tape
• Doodlebug Designs Create-a-card
• Studio by Claudine Hellmuth Multi-Medium – Matte
• Design technique: Put your main image off to the side of your layout.

(Affiliate links wherever possible.)

How to subscribe…

Did you know that when you subscribe in iTunes (which is free), you’re helping support Paperclipping Roundtable? It’s true. iTunes measures every subscription, so it’s like casting a “vote” for the show. It helps us move up the ranks and helps us grow the audience.

iTunes is free. Subscribing is free, so why not use it to download the show? Subscribe in iTunes (iTunes link) right now so your computer will automatically download each new episode as they become available.

Or you can always manually subscribe to the Paperclipping Roundtable RSS Feed.

Last week I got to attend Ranger University and got certified as a Ranger U educator. It was an amazing workshop — three 9-hour days where we learned 80 different techniques!

See the tags and bags hanging from my organizer in the photo above? Those are the samples I made, one for each of the 80. So I’m excited to share with Paperclipping Members my understanding of how to use all their MANY different technique-oriented products, but in the way I work best…

I’m going to shares ideas for how to translate those products and techniques into modern scrapbooking. You most often see them used for vintage projects, but I like to use them for every day scrapbooking, which is not vintage.

And as usual, I’ll share broad concepts so you can adapt the techniques for a variety of projects, styles, and uses so you don’t feel trapped to copy whatever I choose to do.

But I want your help. I’m curious to know which of these different types of products you’re most interested in. I admit up front that I will ultimately choose the ones that I end up using for layouts and projects I’m most inspired to start making. But your votes will help me prioritize, so I’d love to hear!

Which of these products are you most interested in learning to use?

1. Perfect Pearls
2. Perfect Pearl Mists
3. Distress Stain – blending and other effects
4. Claudine Hellmuth gesso and medium products
5. Adirondack Color Wash
6. Distress Ink – blending and other effects
7. Dylusions Ink Sprays, Stencils, and Stamps
8. Melt Art
9. Adirondack Alcohol Ink – blending and other effects
10. Distress Markers (not shown)
11. Other (please specify)

Just for fun, here are my pictures from the event…

Don’t forget to vote for your Ranger technique hopes and dreams! :) What do you most want to learn?

You can use this audio player to listen to the show:

If you want, you can also right click this link to save the show to your computer manually.

The Panel

• Kayla Lamoreaux
• Tracey Clark
• Nancy Nally
• Noell Hyman

Sponsors

Big Picture Classes: Click here to see special offers from Big Picture Classes!

Everyday Storyteller: Click here to learn about Everyday Storyteller

Picks of the Week

• Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens
• Kata DR-467i Digital Rucksack (Black)
• Olloclip Quick-Connect Lens Solution (Fisheye Lens, Macro Lens, Wide-angle Lens)for iPhone 4 / 4S – OC-IPH4-FWM-R – Red
• Core’dinations Pink Paislee – Modern Prints Collection

(Affiliate links wherever possible.)

How to subscribe…

Did you know that when you subscribe in iTunes (which is free), you’re helping support Paperclipping Roundtable? It’s true. iTunes measures every subscription, so it’s like casting a “vote” for the show. It helps us move up the ranks and helps us grow the audience.

iTunes is free. Subscribing is free, so why not use it to download the show? Subscribe in iTunes (iTunes link) right now so your computer will automatically download each new episode as they become available.

Or you can always manually subscribe to the Paperclipping Roundtable RSS Feed.

How would you like to spend zero time staring at your page trying to come up with a design concept whenever you scrapbook?

What if you could find and choose your patterned papers within a minute or two, and sometimes within seconds?

It was so liberating to discover a scrapbook process that eliminated the awful staring-at-the-age torture, and turned one of my longest steps (choosing and finding my papers) into my shortest ones.

The solution to both of these problems is one simple question:

What is the mood or tone of the story you’re scrapbooking?

Many of the design principles are there to communicate mood, emotion, even very specific ideas. So if you just ask yourself this simple question, your design knowledge will give you all the ideas you need to make a page!

And now I’m organizing my papers according to these principles.

Just identify your story’s mood (energetic, serious or traditional, quirky, playful, stable, peaceful, etc), then go to the papers filed under that mood and its design characteristics.

I can’t promise it will be this fast for you, but it now takes me only as long as it requires to reach my hand over to my paper file and pull out the top 1-3 papers in that file — since I’m finding that when organized this way, whatever is on top will almost work for the page!

No more digging!

Finding the papers used to be one of my slowest steps, but it’s now the fastest.

Not sure how to start, or what those specific design principles are? We shot a video that shares…

• many of the pattern styles and the emotions and moods they evoke
• specifically how I’ve organized my papers this way
• samples of the patterns I put in each of my “mood” files
• some of the recent pages that resulted from many of these “mood” files
• how a layout begins to actually comes together using this process.
• how to test out this new system before you decide to commit to an
  entire re-do.

If you’re a Paperclipping Member you can find this newest video in your iTunes feed or in the Member’s Area!

Not a member yet? Click here to learn more!

Do you have any big stories or events you’ve delayed scrapbooking because you can’t figure which approach you should take?

Maybe it’s a yearly trek with the ladies to a scrapbooking event and you have loads of pictures of the clan traveling together, scrapbooking in the lodge, cooking the meals, and sight-seeing with your cameras. Don’t forget all that ephemera from the stops you took along the way.

Do you scrapbook it by year? Or do you do a page about the fun ride up with everyone squished in two minivans, plus another page about the lodge and its environment, plus another page of all the ladies scrapbooking, etc.

But if you want to make sure every lady and crazy fun moment gets included, you’ll end up with a full-page collage for every single aspect of every single trip.

That could mean five pages for each and every year!

What do you do?

You put it off for another time, right?

No, no, you don’t do that anymore.

Now what you do is get a Memory File box designed by Heidi Swapp. Or you could purchase the equivalent office supplies and make them all scrappy and cute with your current scrapbooking product.

This format is great because you can take a linear approach, such as documenting your event by year, and still be able to highlight all those different activities that happen within each year. This is because the file folders are dimensionally and spatially open — meaning you can make multiple miniature books that you open or pull out for each part of your story.

Here are a few common events the Memory File system could help you with:

• birthdays
• Christmas or other holidays
• visits to grandma and grandpa
• visits from the grandkids
• sports
• dance
• drama or choir
• high school
• your business
• your job
• reunions

I’m using the Memory File to document my yearly trips with Izzy to CHA. We put together a video that shows the three folders I have so far, how I sectioned them out for the different aspects of our trip, and a few techniques I came up with to make them interactive so I could fit my massive number of photos.

If you’re a Paperclipping Member, please go to iTunes or the Member’s Area to catch the newest tutorial!

Not a Member? CLICK HERE!

Click here to learn about a Paperclipping Membership.

You can use this audio player to listen to the show:

If you want, you can also right click this link to save the show to your computer manually.

The Panel

• Stacy Julian
• Wilna Furstenberg
• Nancy Nally
• Noell Hyman

Sponsors

Big Picture Classes: Click here to see special offers from Big Picture Classes!

Creative Passion Classes: The Copic Classes Bundle – Click here to learn more.

Picks of the Week

• American Crafts Amy Tangerine Collection Woodgrain Stickers
• American Crafts – Crate Paper – Pretty Party Collection and American Crafts Storyteller Collection
• Studio Calico Wood Veneers
• The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do To Get More of It
• Heidi Swapp Memory File Collection Memory File Box

(Affiliate links wherever possible.)

How to subscribe…

Did you know that when you subscribe in iTunes (which is free), you’re helping support Paperclipping Roundtable? It’s true. iTunes measures every subscription, so it’s like casting a “vote” for the show. It helps us move up the ranks and helps us grow the audience.

iTunes is free. Subscribing is free, so why not use it to download the show? Subscribe in iTunes (iTunes link) right now so your computer will automatically download each new episode as they become available.

Or you can always manually subscribe to the Paperclipping Roundtable RSS Feed.

You can use this audio player to listen to the show:

If you want, you can also right click this link to save the show to your computer manually.

The Panel

• Kerri Bradford
• Christine Urias
• Nancy Nally
• Noell Hyman

Sponsors

Big Picture Classes: Click here to see special offers from Big Picture Classes!

Creative Passion Classes: The Copic Classes Bundle – Click here to learn more.

Picks of the Week

• Bo Bunny 6×6 Country Garden pad and Bo Bunny 6×6 Ambrosia pad
• Floral Doily Die from LifeStyleCrafts
• My Mind’s Eye Follow Your Heart Collection
• Sweet Afternoon post from Dedra Long

(Affiliate links wherever possible.)

How to subscribe…

Did you know that when you subscribe in iTunes (which is free), you’re helping support Paperclipping Roundtable? It’s true. iTunes measures every subscription, so it’s like casting a “vote” for the show. It helps us move up the ranks and helps us grow the audience.

iTunes is free. Subscribing is free, so why not use it to download the show? Subscribe in iTunes (iTunes link) right now so your computer will automatically download each new episode as they become available.

Or you can always manually subscribe to the Paperclipping Roundtable RSS Feed.

There’s this idea that creativity and artistic abilities comes from some gifted place that only naturally-born artists have.

It’s not true.

Sure, there are some who are instinctively more inclined to the visual arts than others of us, but that really doesn’t mean much when it comes down to your ability to make beautiful things.

Dina Wakely illustrated this when she was a guest on the Roundtable recently. In sharing her scrapbooking process, we saw that her initial steps are spontaneous. But when it comes to putting her pages together into something palatable and beautiful, she draws on the design principles of composition to make it look good and give her pages unity, a focal point, balance, etc.

Someone who had listened to the show said that this logical part of Dina’s process gave her hope because she feels more adept at that part. She’s right to feel that!

Until I started scrapbooking I never explored any sort of visual arts or crafts. I put all of my energies into dancing and performing arts. When it came to visual arts I considered myself untalented and uncreative.

As a scrapbooker I wanted to develop an artistic eye. At some point I began noticing patterns — certain things that consistently looked “right.” Eventually I realized that those patterns I was noticing were design principles. Once I figured that out and I absorbed myself in learning these principles, I was finally able to turn my creativity key!

Learning design principles can help both the naturally artistic and the more logical thinkers:

• Naturally artistic: If you’re instinctively strong in creativity but don’t feel like your work is coming together quite right, the design principles will add an artistic logic to the equation to help you bring your creative impulses into a whole unified piece.
• Naturally logical: If you’re naturally a more logical person who struggles with art, then the logical aspect of the design principles will be your stepping stones into the creative world of visual arts! They will get you to that place in a way that is comfortable and right for you!

If you ever feel like your pages aren’t turning out quite how you wish, ignore the lie that says you’re not artistic or creative enough. That’s not true.

The amazing news is that you CAN improve. You can be a brilliantly creative person and you can learn to make gorgeous things that make you happy.

All you need to do is learn those design principles and how to apply them.

Anyone can do it.

Don’t let the lie about the “natural” artist inhibit you!

By the way, design principles are one of my biggest focuses in the video tutorials for the Paperclipping Membership and we now have 190 of them!

Click here to learn more!

It’s been a while since we’ve had a Photo Stories check-in!

* * *

Photo Stories 2012 is a series to help you easily capture all of your photo stories and have them permanently paired with their corresponding photos. How is that done? Start with this article — The Most Important Word for You to Learn This Year. And how is it done easily? Read How You Really Can Tell All Of Your Stories for my simple method. Next you can view all of the Photo Stories 2012 posts in one place.

* * *

Let’s talk about Easter. Apparently it’s not trendy to scrapbook holidays like Easter. There’s an interesting history to that with many saying they scrapbook “moments” and the every day, but not events.

It can be a hard task since many people feel like the holidays are the same every year. What do you have to say that’s different from what you’ve said already a million times?

Well, this is where your Photo Stories comes in to help, because each Easter is unique, despite the sameness of the traditions. If you wait a while to scrapbook your Easter 2012 — even just a few weeks — you’re not likely to remember the uniqueness. But if you go into your computer where this week’s Easter photos are, you can type in some details while they’re fresh in your mind.

One of my favorite Easter memories from childhood was when we each got a miniature deck of cards in our basket. I loved that we got a toy in addition to our typical candy, so I’ve always liked it when I can find a non-food item for the kids. We don’t do presents for Easter. These are just simple trinkets between $1-$5. But the kids love getting them! They remind me every year how much they love them in the hopes that they’ll get something again.

It’s hard as the boys get older, though. How do you find something for less than $25 for a boy? And this year Easter crept up on us and we didn’t have much time to look. I came up with these bubble wands. A bit juvenile maybe, but I hoped it would provide some nostalgic fun. I’m not sure if these satisfied the kids or not, but I enjoyed the few minutes they spent outside making bubbles.

Easter 2008

Journaling:

We’ve been adjusting our Easter tradition a bit over the least few years. We moved the early morning hunt and breakfast outdoors last year. This year we hid plastic eggs instead of colored eggs (we still colored eggs, though). Blake has played the Easter Bunny with Dad and I before waking up the kids for the last few years. And this year they got more stuff and less candy. One thing remains the same though…total fun and enjoyment of spring.

Note: I have a video that shows me putting the above layout together while demonstrating an easy way to formulate large grid collages like this where you want to have different sizes of many photos. If you’re a Paperclipping Member you can see it in Paperclipping 100 – A Collage Formula.

This is a great formula to use for any holiday or event where you have lots of photos! If you’re not a member, click here for info!

Close – Easter 2007

Journaling:

The other day Aiden told me he wanted another girlfriend. “Who’s your first girlfriend?” I asked. And his answer: Trinity. Turns out he wanted me to give him another sister, since he adores his first one so much. And no wonder…you take such good care of him. I am amazed at how you stick together. At Easter when there were cousins to play with, the two of you stayed up there on the play area, checking out your Easter candy and just being together.

Photo Stories Participant Check In: How are you keeping up with Photo Stories 2012? Take some time this weekend to journal into the metadata of the photos that best document your life from this past week. But before you leave, please let me know how Photo Stories is going for you!

You can use this audio player to listen to the show:

If you want, you can also right click this link to save the show to your computer manually.

The Panel

• Shimelle Laine
• Dina Wakley
• Nancy Nally
• Noell Hyman

Sponsors

Big Picture Classes: Click here to see special offers from Big Picture Classes!

Creative Passion Classes: The Copic Classes Bundle – Click here to learn more.

Picks of the Week

• Ranger Ink – Inkssentials – Dylusions Ink Spray – Fresh Lime
• Strategy: Mix old stash with new stash.
• One Layer Card Series from Kristina Werner
• Heidi Swapp – Embellishment Kit – Sequin Shapes – Disco

(Affiliate links wherever possible.)

Grow Fast by Dina Wakley

Brave by Nancy Nally

Set To Music by Shimelle Lain

At 38 by Noell Hyman (me!)

How to subscribe…

Did you know that when you subscribe in iTunes (which is free), you’re helping support Paperclipping Roundtable? It’s true. iTunes measures every subscription, so it’s like casting a “vote” for the show. It helps us move up the ranks and helps us grow the audience.

iTunes is free. Subscribing is free, so why not use it to download the show? Subscribe in iTunes (iTunes link) right now so your computer will automatically download each new episode as they become available.

Or you can always manually subscribe to the Paperclipping Roundtable RSS Feed.

It’s been a while since I shared a Project Life spread!

In the week before this one I only took three pictures. Everything fit into the left side and the front of a 6×12 page protector. Since it concerns me to have so many massive scrapbook albums, I like to shoot for a single page instead of a double when I can. It saves space and resources.

What do you then do with the following and the other half of the spread?

If I’d had a lot of content, I would have added in some sort of smaller page, but this week I had only four photos + ephemera so It worked perfectly to start Wk 13 on the back of my 6×12 page and extend the week into the right side of that original spread.

I needed just a little more space so I attached a Flip Pocket to the 6×12. It holds my weekly title on the front and a bit of info and ephemera on the back.

I’m a catalog clothing shopper and this is my second purchase of the year. Both times I’ve made a collage with cutouts of what I bought, and both collages resulted in my favorite two pages/weeks in my PL album. I’ll continue to make these pages when I shop again later in the year.

See my other PL clothing collage page here.

Here’s the other side of week 13.

One difficulty I’ve had with this project is finding room for all my journaling. I always have a lot I like to say and it’s a challenge every week to figure out where I’ll put it.

For this week I was originally going to journal into that empty space next to the star but It looked so pretty like that. I decided to add a journal card with a tab behind the ephemera on the top left for the dance event. Then I denied my nature and squished the most minimal of journaling into the small space on the bottom right.

I numbered the photos with the dates and those dates correspond with my journaling notes.

• 26 – Trin assembled Aiden’s roller coaster {alone}.
• 29 – Blake’s last smile before starting braces.
• 30 – Decluttered scraproom. I pulled out all the photos from Nancy and Jerry’s old album to put them in a safer place.
• 31 – Izzy’s short films – Cordones and Awesome Guy – played at the Phoenix Film Festival.

Having tried minimalistic journaling this time, I don’t like it. I might add more details behind a photo.

It’s fun to make additions and subtractions in order to fit the content into the original pages. Here’s what the entire spread looks like with the previous week peeking out to the left of that 6×12 that starts this week’s spread…

One last note –

The sequined arrow and star? LOVE! The photo doesn’t do the star justice, but these are a new favorite! I was so tempted to also add a pink sequined heart on my shopping page but decided that would be overkill. There is such a thing as too much repetition. Instead I used a die cut plaid heart for variety.

Definitely check out these Heidi Swapp sequined embellishments. I bought multiple packs of all three types: hearts, arrows, and stars. Now that I’ve used them I realize I’m going to have to stock up on more before they’re no longer available.

Do you add embellishments to your PL pages? I’ve found them to be essential on most pages to lead the eye around these busier types of layouts. Without them, items in all these pockets end up doing one of these two things:

• Compete for attention and make the page overwhelming
• Look monotonous and boring because of so much repetition with little variation.

To see my method for adding embellishments, Paperclipping Members can view my video tutorial – 187 Scrapbooking Outside the Page Protector.

For tutorials regarding the design principles that will help you with the look of these pocketed layouts, such as contrast, repetition, variation, focal point, and leading the eye, try these:

• 182 – How to Make Misfit Photos Work
• 166 – How to Use Repetition in Your Scrapbooking
• 156 – Contrast and Embellishments in Scrapboking
• 155 – The Dominance Principles and Photo Groupings

YES! Design principles apply to any form of layout, including pocketed pages!

You must have a Paperclipping membership to view the videos.

To find out more click here!

note: some links above are affiliate links.

You can use this audio player to listen to the show:

If you want, you can also right click this link to save the show to your computer manually.

The Panel

• Molly McCarthy
• Stephanie Medley-Rath
• Nancy Nally
• Noell Hyman

Sponsors

Big Picture Classes: Click here to see special offers from Big Picture Classes!

Creative Passion Classes: The Copic Classes Bundle – Click here to learn more.

Picks of the Week

• 3M Scotch Foam Adhesive Mounting Tape
• Donate spare supplies to non-profit organization
• TheMoth.org
• Imagine: How Creativity Works
• Heidi Swapp – Sugar Chic Collection – Banner Delights

(Affiliate links wherever possible.)

How to subscribe…

Did you know that when you subscribe in iTunes (which is free), you’re helping support Paperclipping Roundtable? It’s true. iTunes measures every subscription, so it’s like casting a “vote” for the show. It helps us move up the ranks and helps us grow the audience.

iTunes is free. Subscribing is free, so why not use it to download the show? Subscribe in iTunes (iTunes link) right now so your computer will automatically download each new episode as they become available.

Or you can always manually subscribe to the Paperclipping Roundtable RSS Feed.

If you wonder these things, you’re not alone…

• How can I more easily come up with page designs?
• How do you identify stories and look beyond the who, what, where, and when?
• How do you narrow down the photos to use?

Let me tackle that last one.

You need to ask the right question while you’re choosing photos. What most people ask are, “Which are the good photos?” Or maybe, “Which are the photos I love.”

Most likely you love a whole heck of a lot because your photos show the people you love. Of course you’ll love more photos than you actually need to put on a page.

Everything changed for me when I began to ask this question:

Which photo or photos best tell the story?

While there may be twenty photos I love from one time, there is usually one that brilliantly tells one story, and four or so that really capture a different story. By narrowing it down I can let my photos shine and have pages that feel more meaningful.

You should try it and see!

I shared this process today in a video. You’ll see me put together a layout with four photos from beginning to end, starting with its earliest conception: me choosing the photos and the story!

You’ll see me:

• Find ten unscrapped photos
• Identify the story I want to tell
• Pick which photos to use
• Explain why I chose the ones I did, even when there were others I loved
• Figure out my photo placement
• Choose my papers
• Choose and place my embellishments, journaling, and title.

With this tutorial, Paperclipping Members get to see my decision-making process for every step along the way, including the things I decided weren’t working for the page!

If you’re a member you can find this episode in the Member’s Area or in your iTunes feed.

If you’re not, you might want to give it a try! You’ll get 190 videos immediately – including this one – plus two more every month!

With all those videos, you might assume a membership is too expensive, but we’ve priced it low to make it affordable to just about any scrapbooker.

Click here for more info!

You can use this audio player to listen to the show:

If you want, you can also right click this link to save the show to your computer manually.

The Panel

• Ana Cabrera
• Debbie Hodge
• Nancy Nally
• Noell Hyman

Sponsors

Big Picture Classes: Click here to see special offers from Big Picture Classes!

Get It Scrapped Design Bundle: Click here to learn more.

Included in the bundle:
Scrapbook Page Layering is a new self-paced class by Debbie Hodge. It works through page layering by looking at: layering foundations, layering elements, layering the canvas, and layering embellishments. There are 4 pdf lessons and 5 videos. Over 120 illustrated pages and over 4 hours of video training. It’s for paper and digital scrapbookers and is illustrated with pages by Debbie Hodge, Emily Pitts, Dina Wakley, Lisa Dickinson, and Doris Sander.

Building Pages is a class that presents 12 “foundations” or page shapes. It includes 12 lessons, 12 videos, and 23 page sketches with layered templates for digital scrapbookers. It a popular self-paced class you’ve promoted in the past.

6 complete issues of Masterful Scrapbook Design: Focal Points, Typography, Design Play, Patterned Paper, Color, Texture and Dimension.

Purchased alone, Layering is $36, Building Pages is $48, and the MSD bundle is $60, which totals $144. Through April 10th, PRT listeners may purchase all of these for 50% off, or $72.

Picks of the Week

• Scrapping Teens Week at Write Click Scrapbook
• Silhouette Cameo
• DesignShack.net
• Ikea Alex 6 Drawer cart
• Memory Dock Album

(Affiliate links wherever possible.)

Other Links

Nancy’s call for contributors.

How to subscribe…

Did you know that when you subscribe in iTunes (which is free), you’re helping support Paperclipping Roundtable? It’s true. iTunes measures every subscription, so it’s like casting a “vote” for the show. It helps us move up the ranks and helps us grow the audience.

iTunes is free. Subscribing is free, so why not use it to download the show? Subscribe in iTunes (iTunes link) right now so your computer will automatically download each new episode as they become available.

Or you can always manually subscribe to the Paperclipping Roundtable RSS Feed.

GRAM

   
• Gather
• Re-purpose
• Alter
Match with something new

Need some examples?

Gather

There is power in numbers and that applies to design, too! You can make ho-hum products look stunning by gathering a whole bunch of them together!

Believe me when I say that I absolutely did not like the square and rectangle tags that are now my favorite part of this layout. They had blue velum insides and some of those shapes just seemed odd for a tag. But when I gathered them into a collection and covered them up with papers I liked, I fell in love!

I would buy now more of those tags if I could find them!

Related Paperclipping Video Tutorial – #145 Gather Your Old Products

Re-purpose

Tags are for sharing information right? Not in the case of this layout. I re-purposed my tags to be holding places for my cute little mushrooms, which I cut from a busy piece of patterned paper.

Related Paperclipping Video Tutorial – #149 Repurpose Your Old Items

Alter

The black fence with pumpkins on this mini-book cover are just a small part of an entire 12×12 die cut paper that also featured a haunted house and a large tree. It was too intricate to use as-is. It also had a strange visual texture to it that made it look almost dark grey instead of black. Halloween is supposed to be black, not dark grey!

To make the piece usable, I cut one part away from the rest — the gate with the pumpkins. Separated from the rest of the paper, it forms an L-frame for my mini-book cover. Then I embossed it in true black.

Related Paperclipping Video Tutorial – #178 Transform Old Products Into Ones You Love
See me put this cover together in Paperclipping 154 – Advanced Design with L-Frames

Match with Something New

Everything on this page is old now, but at the time that I made it, that ribbon that bridges the picture and the patterned paper squares were new. The squares were from my old stash. The word stickers and the transparency were old, too, if I remember right.

All it takes is one new item you’re excited about to refresh something else that’s gone stale. I saw the red and the aqua in the ribbon and then picked out older pieces that had reds and aquas. They don’t have to be exact matches! Then I added some neutrals to the mix and it all fit together!

When it comes to older items you’re no longer excited about, the first thing you need to do is make a decision that you’re going to use them. Pull some older items out, and then think of GRAM to help you conjure the possibilities. You’ll find that stash-busting with the old can be just as fun as using something brand new!

I have a lot more video tutorials to help you use up your stash, your scraps, and your leftover kit pieces. If you learn the design concepts in these videos you might be able to save more money than what you spent to purchase your membership!

If you’re a member, you can watch these tutorials after you watch the ones above:

• Stretch Your Leftover Themed Products – Paperclipping 184
• Making Backgrounds Out of Scraps – Paperclipping 172
• Scrapbooking With Scraps – Paperclipping 158
• How to Use Up Unloved Patterned Paper – Paperclipping 157
• One Product Multiple Ways – Paperclipping 152
• Embellish With Clusters of Scraps – Paperclipping 151
• How to Mix Styles – Paperclipping 144
• Expand a Color Palette – Paperclipping 119
• A Use for Old Tags – Paperclipping 109
• Make Your Items Work Together – Paperclipping 62
• Mixing Patterned Paper – Paperclipping 59
• Repurpose Your Products – Paperclipping 56

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The Panel

• May Flaum
• Angie Lucas
• Nancy Nally
• Noell Hyman

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Picks of the Week

• Simply Jane Stamps from Paper Trey Ink
• Pink Paislee London Market Chipboard Buttons
• Prima – Melisse Collection – Flower Embellishments – Meadow Lark
• Grungeboard

(Affiliate links wherever possible.)

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Here are six different types of layers to create on your scrapbook pages, along with the list of “ingredients” from top to bottom!

1. Layer a symmetrical 6×6 introduction + journal page and pair it with a standard 12×12 layout.

Ingredients:

1. clear button
2. polka dot flower
3. ribbon
4. 6×6 transparency
5. cardstock
6. Add journaling to the back and then layer this 6×6 intro and journal page over a 12×12 scrapbook page in a 3-ring binder.

Related Video Tutorial in the Membership Archives – Watch me assemble the top embellishment piece in Paperclipping 177 – Repurposing Stuff Into Scrapbook Supplies. You can see the entire 6×6 page come together in Paperclipping 187 – Scrapbooking Outside the Page Protector.

2. Layer leftover supplies into a “tab” for your page.

Ingredients:

1. round metal embellishment
2. cut-out flower from paper
3. journal spot cropped at edge of background paper
4. scrap of ribbon

3. Layer an embellishment gathering into an L-Frame around your focal point.

Ingredients:

1. shiny bling
2. snowflake
3. decorative pin
4. flower
5. clear tim holtz piece? glued to patterned paper
6. label with date
7. torn strip of patterned paper
8. rectangular text
9. 3 glittered brads
10. 2 transparent snowflakes

Related Video Tutorial – Learn advanced concepts about L-frames in Paperclipping 154 – Advanced Design with L-frames.

4. Create layers in a corner with transparent acrylic pieces.

Ingredients:

1. rhinestone brad
2. colored acrylic butterfly
3. transparent clock
4. 2 transparency frames with flourishes
5. 2 blue glittered brads

5. Create a visual triangle of 3 similar embellishment gatherings with your own hand-drawn flourishes.

Ingredients:

1. flower cut from patterned paper
2. hand-drawn flourishes
3. brad
4. acrylic paint
5. tissue paper flower, embedded by the paint
6. more paint
7. rub-on text

Related Video Tutorial – See how to embed flat items into a background in Paperclipping 178 – Transform Old Items Into Ones You’ll Love.

6. Layer tags into a 6×12 journal page.

Ingredients:

1. journal strips
2. decorative clothing tag
3. manila tags, strings attached
4. butterfly stamp
5. flourish stamp
6. die cut piece of patterned paper
7. contrasting piece of patterned paper

Related Video Tutorial – Learn to put this together step-by-step in Paperclipping 173 – A Journaling Design Technique.

Want to become a layering expert?
Paperclipping Members have enough of my tutorials to create a whole class on this subject! Spend the week focusing on layering by watching these episodes and trying the concepts:

• Paperclipping 189 – Use Stamps to Create Layers
• Paperclipping 188 – Create Tabs with Tags
• Paperclipping 151 – Embellish with Clusters of Scraps
• Paperclipping 168 – How and Where to Place Scrapbooking Embellishments
• Paperclipping 163 – Layer and Texture with Color
• Paperclipping 156 – Contrast and Embellishments in Scrapbooking
• Paperclipping 109 – A Use for Old Tags
• Paperclipping 94 – Embellishment Crescendo
• Paperclipping 25 – Layering Embellishments
• Paperclipping 14 – Cluster Your Embellishments

Not a member? When you join us you’ll get almost 190 videos immediately, including all the ones I mentioned in this post!

CLICK HERE to learn more.

Now go have some fun paperclipping with layers!

Do you wish you used your stamps more in your scrapbooking?

Here’s a secret:

Don’t think of them as stamps.

Think of them as images.

Stamps are just a different medium for adding an image to your page. You add images with rub-on’s, transparencies, chipboard or die cut pieces, stickers, or punched/cut pieces of patterned paper.

If you can make a sticker work on a page, you have what it takes to make stamps work.

Here’s an especially fun way to do it:

Because you can lighten your stamped images they’re especially useful for creating layers on your pages!

Go take a look at your stamps and see which images could be the lower layers of an embellishment gathering!

Want some help?

I’ve done a lot of tutorials about layering, and this week I’m sharing a video specifically on how to create layers with your stamps!

Look for this newest episode, Paperclipping 189, in the Paperclipping Membership Area or in your membership feed on iTunes.

Not a member? Check out all that you get for a very low price when you join us!

Click here for info.

1. Crop the photos down into smaller, irregular random sizes.

I cropped my photos digitally and I didn’t plan my page out ahead of time. This page works because all the pictures are randomly sized — as opposed to just some of them — and they’re laid out haphazardly. The randomness of all of the items, including their placement, gives unity to the quirkiness and tells a playful story.

If you have a Paperclipping Membership you can watch me put the title of this page together and learn about how its design communicates a specific feeling and idea. Look for Paperclipping 170 – Scrapbook Titles That Ramble.

2. Lock cropped photos together into an irregular grid shape.

I cropped these photos manually. They’re fairly random in size and shape like in the previous page, though they’re much closer to regular shapes. By locking them together into a grid like this with straight lines, they create an interesting shape. The resulting alleys in between the photos become lines on the page that anchor everything in place.

If you don’t know what alleys are and how to use them, you’ll definitely want to watch Communicate with Space – Paperclipping 165. To understand the design concept of anchoring, look for Paperclipping 131 – Design with Anchoring Lines. You’ll need to be a member to watch these tutorials.

A little more about the page above – it’s an intro pages for an album, so it doesn’t have journaling. For both of this page and the next I gathered photos that never made it onto a scrapbook page.

3. Overlap the cropped photos into one single structure.

The two circular photos were ones I had cropped years and years ago when it was common to do so. They never made it to a page and for a long time I wondered what I’d do with them. It turns out they provided some nice contrast for this photo structure I created. Again, I’ve made an interesting irregular shape with the photos, but it feels more like one single item on the page, as opposed to many items locked together.

Members can see me assemble this page in my two-part series called, Transform Your Albums Into Unified Stories. You’ll also learn about my intro pages, like the one just above this one, in that series. Look for Paperclipping 175 and 176.

4. Crop your photos extra small and link each one to a journaling box.

Both this page and the next one are scrap-lifts from Ali Edwards’s Yesterday & Today classes. I chose to place some photos on top of the journal box and other photos below to spread the weight in a balanced way.

I also made fewer rows so I’d have the empty space over on the left. This makes the page less symmetrical and allowed me to attract the eye to a starting point with my title, which also acts as a line that leads you horizontally across the page.

Related tutorials: Paperclipping 160 – Designing with Titls

5. Enlarge one focal point photo and crop all the others down into a series.

This page is almost an exact lift from Ali with only my supplies being different. It’s the contrast between the two sizes that makes this page work so nicely. This is based on the dominance principle, which you can learn in Paperclipping 155 – The Dominance Principle and Photo Groupings if you are a member.

6. Form an irregular line.

I cropped these photos to three inches high. I then cropped the width of my top two photos so I could place them side-by-side as if they’re one. This is really just a vertical line, but by staggering the photos the line is irregular which causes more curiosity so you’ll want to investigate the photos and the page more.

It’s also a good way to add white space (breathing room) between busier photos.

7. Form regular shapes, like rectangles and squares.

I cropped these photos into 4×4 squares. I paired two together on the left side, forming a rectangle, and placed the other four on the right side, forming a square. This makes a very clean-lined simple page.

Members can see me assemble much of this page in Paperclipping 184 – Stretch Your Leftover Themed Products.

I typed my journaling onto a 6×12 page and inserted it in-between my two-page spread. Paperclipping Members can learn more about additional pages for journaling in Paperclipping 173 – A Journaling Design Technique. In that episode you’ll see me make an interesting layered journal page with tags and embellishments.

8. Form three rows.

Leave two or three of your photos as full-sized 4×6′s. Crop the width of the others. Form three rows with them, rounding the corners so each pair feels like one row.

This page came from my Train Station Flexible Template – Paperclipping 159. If you’re a member you can also learn about alleys and space. Look for Communicate with Space – Paperclipping 165.

9. Form a 9-square grid.

Crop your photos into 3×3 squares. Lay them out into a grid and use the remaining spaces as places for journaling or embellishments.

10. Form a circle.

This is a page that shows my Monday schedule in 2007. (Looks like I need to add the year to this page!). I added photos, ephemera, and words around the clock to show what I did at what time in a 12-hour period.

This layout was an alternative approach to using my Circular Anchor Flexible Template, which I shared in Paperclipping 120. You get access to all the video tutorials I mentioned in this article as a Paperclipping Member. Actually, you’ll receive a total of 188 videos, plus two more every month.

CLICK HERE to learn more about a membership.

So there you have it! Ten completely different ways to lay five or six photos out, each designed visually to evoke a different tone and tell it’s own story. Is that enough to get you started?