Creative Juice

7h | A Layout

The story : Looking through iPhoto I noticed the pattern of early morning self-portraits. Five days out of seven it's me that jumps out of bed when Lucien wakes up. Even I, a certifiable night owl, can see what a special time of day that really is. 

The process : Once I printed the photos, this layout came together quickly (less than an hour). I knew I wanted to use some Hambly. I was sad to read they are closing and felt like paying homage to a brand that is a personal part of my scrapbooker's story - I served on their design team from 2009 to 2010. Next, I typed out my thoughts onto white cardstock and laid it all out. This layout is a variation of something I love doing - an end to end row of photos.

Then came the yellow Kesi'art flowers and Douceur De Vivre tag. That tag has been cut and waiting to be used for about a month! I love those bunnies. I used them on the last layout about Lucien too. The little flag hold a date stamp. (That too has been making an appearance on just about every layout from this year!)

To finish, a quick heart stamp and signature. I love to sign layouts I make for my boys. Part of making this layout is a creative outlet, but another part is about having a conversation with them. For me, signing makes it legit.

So that's that. I'm pleased with this layout and I don't think I'd change a thing.

 

Sharing Letters & Correspondence, Part I

I have been writing notes to Andrea and Maxi since they were born. Unfortunately, I haven't been consistent about where I write. Various notebooks, computer files and blog posts are home to memories and thoughts I'd like to share with them. Recently I came across a notebook peppered with letters to Andrea during the first six months of his life. The notebook also had many pages of to-do and grocery lists that I didn't necessarily care to keep. My solution? Integrated the notes into his album:

I tore the pages out and placed them in an envelope that I added to the layout above. On the envelope, I printed a message to Andrea.

The Layout

The sketch + color combo + technique came from the second assignment in Celine's month-long crop. I struggled with the color combo (for lack of paper choices in those colors) and would have been fine to stick with colors I have more of. Loved the faux sewing technique she shared with us (I applied it around the punched circles) - a great solution if you do not have a sewing machine. (I was psyched by this coincidence: the circle punches backed with different papers is a technique I wanted to revisit after seeing this layout again while organizing my albums. Isn't that somethin'?)

Have a nice day.

Supplies:
Paper : Hambly;Bazzil, Prima, BoBunny, Little Yellow Bicycle.
Embellishments: Tim Holtz key.
Stickers: Kesi'art.
Other: 7gypsies paper tape, ribbon, white gel pen, round punches.
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Happy Hour is an irregular segment here at The Creative Juice Bar. You can see previous ones here.

Rub-ons as frame

Today I'm sharing a page I made to document our sixth wedding anniversary (which was back in October). It was rather quick and easy to put together.

1. Plan. I cut most of the doilies in half and used the straight edges as a frame for my photos and journaling. I decided the space for the journaling without knowing how much I was going to write. Since I planned on typing it on the computer, it didn't really matter. I planned out the placement before removing the backing from the rub-ons:

Once I was sure of where I wanted the rub-ons, I rubbed on :) :

2. Create. I decided to work the background with a with Glimmer Mists in Starfish and some acrylic paint. I thought it would soften the hard edges. I've noticed I am inclined to use soft color palettes lately and I think it has something to do with being pregnant :

3. Journal. I created a text box of the size of the space left for my journaling in InDesign and typed my thoughts about that day. I printed it on white cardstock and adhered it to the page:

4. Embellish. Love the Prima flower. They're pretty pricey as far as embellishments go, but I don't see myself sitting down and making my own although you probably could. I also added some pearls and a Making Memories tag :

5. Stamp. Sometimes stamps go wrong! Like mine on the bottom left (the pearl got in the way of the acylic block. Oops.) I took a chance and re-stamped over it and it came out fine. Looking back, I probably could have stamped my journaling block before adhering it to the page:

6. Call it done: That's pretty much it.

Easy, right?

Today I'm shopping for birth supplies. Have a nice day

Supplies:
Paper : Hambly graph paper; white cardstock.
Rub-ons: Hambly in doilies in white
Embellishments: Prima flower, Making Memories tag, pearls
Versafine: Toffee
Stamps: Kesi'art clear stamp "Vie"; date stamp.
Other: Glimmer Mists Starfish, ecru acrylic paint
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Happy Hour is an irregular segment here at The Creative Juice Bar. You can see previous ones here.

Rub-ons as background

It's been four months since the last one, so I figure we're due for some happy hour action around here. Today I'm coming at you with some Hambly rub-ons (although any brand will work) as the basis for my layout.

How the idea was born. While cleaning and purging my workspace this week, I came across my long-lost pile of "to scrap" photos. Looking through them, I found photos of our family that were not related in anyway except that they represented each of us in the past months.

1. Rub-ons as your background. The entire sheet of rub-ons provides a nice neat grid to work with. Each rub-on square measures about 1 1/2 inches (3,8cm). Next to the rub-ons I created a journaling spot (backed with Hambly gold metallic companion paper) using white cardstock. I finished my background with a strip of gray ribbon and cardstock along the bottom:

2. Photos. I used a 1 3/8 (3,4cm) inch square punch to make my photos all the same size and backed them with the same gold paper as the journal spot. I adhered them to the grid in a pattern. And left one spot empty, just to mix it up, because mixing it up is a good thing:

3. Embellish your heart out! This part was fun. And easy. I picked out yellow and gray accents to put in each remaining square (stickers, rub-ons, ribbon, badges, alphas...etc):

4. Personalize the journal spot. I stamped along one side of the white cardstock to add color and a base for my journaling. The stamp I used (circled in red at left) reads "ma vie" (my life) so I inked everything but the "ma" for the first stamp and wrote "notre" (our) with a black pen. Since the journaling spot is longer than the stamp, I repeated the stamp a second time. This time inking only the bottom part of the stamp:

5. Write. Right? Next I just jotted down the where, when and what of each photo and called it done:

 

I am happy to have done something with photos that were already printed and ready to be used. Makes it that much easier. There is no stress if there isn't an obvious theme or relationship between each photo, just a glance at the months gone by.

Have a nice weekend!

Supplies:
Paper : Hambly companion papers (in silver and gold metallic); white and gray cardstock.
Rub-ons: Hambly in white (can't find the name of the rub-ons. Will post it as soon as I find it.)
Embellishments: American Crafts alpha, badge, felt; Kesi'art "quotidien" rub-on; 7gypsies 97% complete stickers; cork.
Versafine: Toffee and Black
Stamps: Kesi'art clear stamp "Vie"; date stamp.
Other: black pen; ribbon.
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Happy Hour is an irregular segment here at The Creative Juice Bar. You can see previous ones here.

Hambly Sneek Peeks

Beautiful right? And that's not all of it folks. You can see more peeks over at the Hambly blog.