If you are scrapbooking about fun and games, why not have a little bit of fun creating your layout? This post will share a playful way to add journaling to your page.

Make it Monday

If you are hopping along the Make it Monday Blog Circle, welcome! You’ll have arrived from Artful Adventures where Kristie is sharing a technique for spring themes. I’ll share the next post to hop to at the end of this post.

Fun and Games

Scrapbooking allows you to stretch your creativity in many ways. One way to do this is to make sure the tone of your layout fits with the topic you are scrapbooking. Let me explain.

In this layout that shows my son, Ryan teaching my cousin, Emily how to play chess I’ve used paper with a checkerboard/chessboard pattern. This would have been super easy to recreate even if I didn’t have the paper, it’s a simple grid of squares.

Okay, that’s kind of fun. What else?

You’ll also notice that the colour tones on the page are quite muted, not bright and lively. This was done to emphasize the mental aspect of chess. It’s a game of strategy, not a game of lively excitement, and I felt that was suited to a more simple colour palette.

Sure. Anything else?

This particular game of chess was Emily’s introduction to the game. Not only is the game difficult to learn but you have to learn how each of the players move. There were a lot of questions! I thought it would be fun to tell the story and share a sample of the questions asked using speech bubbles. Not all of the speech bubbles are part of their commentary as I used some of them for the journaling I wanted to add to the page too.

Great!

I challenge you to get playful with your designs the next time you scrapbook fun and games. Make sure the page you create matches the tone and mood of the game.

Make it Monday

Your next stop on the Make it Monday Blog Circle will take you to see one of Connie’s favourite layered layouts at Clicky Chick Creates. You’ll love the wonder in little faces during Easter egg hunts! 

If you do create a fun layout about games I’d love it if you’d share it! You can post your creation on the Facebook page.

Now go ahead and let your scrapbooking creativity shine!

Alice.

P.S. Ever wanted to tell YOUR story?  The class Scrapbook YOU is designed to help you create an album all about yourself. Get more details HERE.

If you’ve been here before you’ll know that I have a passion for scrapbooking. You’ll also know that I love sharing tips and tricks to help other scrappers make pages that they love.

But did you know….

I use old supplies, and tools ALL OF THE TIME!

I even share old layouts. Layouts I made 5, 10 or even 15+ years ago.

It’s true. Here’s proof.

Fun with Eggs

My Lucky Shoes

Now you might be thinking, “Gee, get with the times!” Or “Why would you show me pages that are dated and old?”

I’ll tell you why.

I share pages that have good ideas, cool techniques, or awesome journaling tricks.

I’m not going to pretend that every page I create is a design masterpiece that is worthy of a scrapbook magazine (if you’re looking there still IS one, it’s called Canadian Scrapbooker and it’s great).

My designs are good. I follow some rules, sometimes. But that’s not the point.

I want you to see real pages. Pages that anyone can make. Layouts that don’t require $20 worth of products. Layouts that share real life.

My life isn’t perfect. Neither are the pages I create.

I consider myself to be a pretty good speller. My grammar is decent, but I certainly won’t win a “best grammar on the Internet” award. But you know what? (Yes, I did just start a sentence with the word ‘but’. Get over it.)

It doesn’t matter! It took me a long time to learn this. I’ve made pages that have glaringly obvious spelling mistakes. I used be very worried about it and I’d go back and fix the mistakes when I found them, but I don’t anymore.

Now, I scrapbook in the present. I don’t have time to go back and redo things I have finished! I’m looking towards the future and capturing the stories from our lives right now. Is a spelling mistake a make it or break it problem? No!

I use old supplies because I have them. I don’t worry about the trends, although who doesn’t like to buy some new stuff? I mix a bit of the new in with the old and keep going. I want to create pages that matter, not pages that are fabulous because they are defined by the current design aesthetic.

If you want to get real with scrapbooking, you want to tell your stories, you want to use supplies that are old, new and somewhere in between, then I think we’ll be friends. I’ll show you the tricks I know to make pages that you love, and we can both move forward capturing the stories of our lives for our scrapbooks.

When I think they are a good fit I’ll share old pages. If you want you can laugh, I do! The great thing about scrapbooking is that it changes with the times. We have new products to play with and new techniques to try. This allows us to get creative and play while we enjoy the beautiful stories that make up our lives.

Are you ready? Let’s get scrapping!

Alice.

P.S. If you are ready to tell your own story and want to make a scrapbook all about yourself : Scrapbook YOU!

Hey! It’s Friday. Normally I like to share a fun scrapbooking quote, but today I have something else that will make you chuckle. I scrapbooked a funny story, and I’m happy to be sharing it here today, with my son’s permission! Lol! 😉

Journaling reads: What a kid! I was floored when I opened this email from his math teacher. I guess that’s one way for Ryan to remember his stuff!

Hi, 
Ryan has been completely out of paper for quite a while. He has been having a hard time remembering to get some so we both though it might be a good idea to ask you to help him remember to bring paper. He has been using some plain white paper but it will be much easier for him to keep his work neat and organized with lined paper. 

Thank you, 

Grade 9 Math Teacher. (name removed)

Did you notice that I din’t use a photo on this layout? When you focus on telling a story you don’t always need to use a photo.

Challenge yourself to share a funny story in your scrapbooks this weekend!

Happy scrapping!

Alice.

Ah! The delight of an egg hunt! I’m excited to share with you a technique you’ll be thrilled to try for your next layout!

Make it Monday (Easter Week!)

If you have arrived from Digital Scrapbooking HQ you’ll have seen Melissa’s lovely Easter layout, made simple with with artsy digital papers. (If not, you can pop over and check it out!) I’ll share your next stop on the blog circle at the end of this post.

Having Fun with Eggs

Here’s a fun way to create a title for your layouts!

Use a photo to create your letters.

Every year at Easter I end up with some less than stellar photos of the boys searching for eggs, but the one great photo I do get is of the carton of eggs after the hunt is over.

Print a large photo or multiple smaller photos to cut title letters.

To create this title I printed one large copy of the egg photo and cut it using a Cricut die cut machine. (These letters are using the “Mickey Font” cartridge.)

You could also print several photos or reprint one smaller photo multiple times.

Outline the letters.

To give the title letters a bit more impact I traced around each letter with a marker. This is WAY easier than trying to matte each letter!

TIP:

Cut out sample letters using scrap paper before you cut your photos. This way you’ll know your title fits and what size you’d like the letters to be.

Obviously you can use this idea for more than Easter. Try photos of other groups of items to create a fun title for your layouts. Here’s some ideas to get you started.

More photo ideas:

• Flowers
• Candies
• Toys
• Jewelry
• Office supplies like paperclips
• Christmas decorations

Do you have an idea of an item that would be perfect for a title like this? Share your ideas in the comments!

Make it Monday

Okay! It’s time for the next stop on this Easter themes Make it Monday blog circle. Your next stop will help you get started with your Easter cards. It’s time! Connie from Clicky Chick Creates shares an egg-cellent shaker Easter card!

Have you created a layout using photos for the title letters? I’d love to see it! Share a link in the comments or come post a page on the Facebook page!

Now go let your creativity shine!

Alice.