A new hiking place

Another hiking page today.  This one features a hiking area that definitely isn't new but new to us.  This old quarry is a place I passed occasionally during my childhood. Apparently the county built a park there a few years ago but we only learned about it recently.  It is a well maintained park with well marked trails and rails in the high areas.

For the page, I arranged the photos vertically to emphasize the arrangement of the park trails and the view.  I used some fun, cheerful embellishments from My Mind's Eye that gave the page color.

Here's the process video:



Thanks for watching!

Lost?

When I was in junior high, we had to take California Achievement Tests every year here in NC.  There was always a section on maps where you had to read a map and answer questions.  I loved it.  That was my favorite part and usually best scoring part.

Years later when I began traveling for business years before GPS, I would get my rental car map and off I'd go.  It was fun to me to explore a new city.  Then I worked for a company where I had to travel to people's homes often in the mountains with just the homeowner's directions.  Challenging but I only got so lost once that I had to call for further information.  Even now I can go back to places I've been once 10 years ago.

All of this is on paved - or mostly paved - roads.  Put me out in the woods and it is a different story.  When we go hiking I'm dependent on the trail maps and markings and am not very good at reading those.  There is a park near here though that has wonderful markings with a large trail map posted at each numbered cross point.  The park is bordered by a river on one side and a highway on the other. How could you get lost?

Well, I did or at least turned around twice!  I was a bit frustrated with myself but we enjoyed the walk so much.  The layout I did is a bit more playful than my normal hiking layouts.

I wanted this one to be about that funny thing that happened rather than the environment so I chose Simple Stories papers and stickers from Life in Color.

My new class "The Living Page" is all about making choices to bring out the memories from your photos you most want to convey.  Check it out on the Class Page

Here's the process video:



And here is the sketch:

Thanks for watching!

Make your Scrapbook pages come Alive!

It's here!  My new class...

One day my husband was looking at a beach themed page I had created and he went “ah, I feel like I’m there.”  Yes!  That is just what I want him to feel when he looks at that page.  I want him to feel the warm sun and the spray of the water as he is playing in the surf.  I want him to chuckle at me in my goofy beach hat.  Isn't it wonderful to have a hobby that can completely recreate a memory of a day at the beach?

Yet, my pages haven't always been this way.  Sometimes I get consumed with all the fun tools, pretty paper, cute embellishments and don't really tell the story.  Later on when I look at the page, I see all the cool product but I have to really hunt for the story.  Yet, you CAN use all those cute embellishments and still tell the story you want to tell.  Using my scrapbook product to support my story and recreate the memory is what this new class is all about.

This, my 6th on-line Scrapbooking class is particularly special to me as it shares not only techniques but a philosophy I have about scrapbooking.  By thinking about our supplies just a bit differently, they can make our pages come alive for us.  When I look back on my pages, I want to be in the memory, to feel the way I felt when the photo was taken.  It is why I titled this class “The Living Page.”

I want to share with you how I choose a background for a page, select colors, find a clever and revealing title, arrange the elements of the page, choose embellishments, and set the tone.  We don’t have to worry about every single one of these for every page.  As you ask yourself many of the questions in the class PDF, you'll find that the choices for your page start to flow naturally.  It isn’t more difficult to create a page that helps tell the story.  It is often more rewarding.

This self-paced class contains:

• 11 lessons
• 10 brand new layouts shown step-by-step in the videos
• 5 hours of HD video
• A 25 page PDF containing prompts, notes and suggestions for each lessons, 10 sketches, and a supply list for the step-by-step projects shown.

Most lessons also begin with additional examples of past layouts that utilize the principles of that lesson.  I've included a few examples where I missed the boat, too, as a way of showing how a few changes can create a page that is more meaningful.

This class combines theory and practice.  It also includes lessons on capturing someone else's memories, vintage photos and using memorabilia on a page.

While I practice this philosophy in many of my regular process videos, this class shares all of the thoughts behind my product choices - the Why and the How.  The videos are longer and more detailed than my weekly process videos.

I hope you will join me to fully bring your memories alive on your scrapbook pages.

Click here to purchase the class

I love teaching and I love sharing ideas.  Thank you for supporting my classes.  

Hidden Journaling under a 5x7 Photo

Announcement:  New class - The Living Page - is coming next week!  Stay tuned for more details...

In July, one of my cousins was visiting from the midwest.  Another cousin and I took her to the Biltmore House for her first visit.  It was a lovely day for just us girls.

For the page, I added Silhouette cut hinges to the top of the 5x7 photo.  The journaling is hidden underneath.  The other smaller photo is part of the embellishment group.

I've created a somewhat formal page with a few fun trims.  Here's the process video:


And here is the sketch:

Thanks for watching!

A Whimsical page with 6x6 Papers

It's fun to do a fun page.  This one uses Saturday Dear Lizzy 6x6 paper pad and Stampin' Up! Soft Sky cardstock.  I hand drew the raindrops and the sun rays adding some outlining for fun.

If you like to use 6x6 pads, check out my Sensational 6x6 Paper Techniques class.

Here's the process video:


And here is the sketch:

Thanks for watching!

Mass produced holiday cards minus boredom

I used to design my holiday card and then make 30 or more of that one design.  Yawn!  I would get so tired of it by the time I was done.  I like some variety.

For this year's family and friends cards, I'm using the adorable Merry Mice set from Stampin' Up! and some Doodlebug Santa Claus is Coming to Town 6x6 papers.  One card also uses music paper which you can find in my Etsy shop.

The video runs nearly 20 minutes but it covers some of all of the card designs and how to use the 6x6 pads with as little waste as possible.

Process video


Here's the sketch:

I've made 22 cards so far. Thanks for watching!

The Perfect Paper

Sometimes the perfect paper just drops into your lap.  If you take my next class this photo is going to look familiar to you in a few weeks.  Not to worry, it won't be exactly the same photo and definitely not the same story or papers.  In that particular class lesson there are going to be 4 photos on the page.

This is the posed photo to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of our first date.  It was nearly Christmas and I was wearing a red sweater as I had been on our first date.  This one might be a bit larger than that one but we need not recreate everything exactly :-)

I just got in a wonderful box of goodies from My Mind's Eye's warehouse sale.  If you missed the Shopping Haul video, check it out here.  In the box were some Record It collection papers that so perfectly went with this photo and story they could have been made for it.

So the page went fairly fast as you can see in this process video:



The new class is coming along well and should be up in a couple of weeks.

Thanks for watching!