Teenagers! They can be a challenge. This post will show you useful tips to make an important connection with your teen and possibly get  a new perspective on how to scrapbook them.

Before we get started lets take a quick peek at what’s new on this Make it Monday!

Hi! Welcome to the Make it Monday Blog Circle.

If you’ve arrived from Clicky Chick Creates you were probably going cuckoo over her Girl Scout banner for cookie sales! (If not don’t forget to check it out!) At the end of this post I’ll be sure your next stop on the Make it Monday Blog Circle.

Back to the problem with teenagers, I mean, the problem with scrapbooking teenagers… 😉

Teenagers can be tough to scrapbook. They tend to avoid photos. They can be a bit moody or emotional. They are busy developing their own style and their independence. They are starting to live a life independently from their parents. (Isn’t that scary?! And awesome?!)

Lately I’m seeing that if you are looking, there are signs of love from teens too.

Perhaps it’s in them trying to help you with your technology.

Sometimes it’s even more blatant, and right in front of you every day, like the topic of this layout I scrapbooked. I can’t believe it took me so long to see it!

It took me awhile to notice that there was a pattern of my son grabbing my phone and taking a selfie of the two of us and setting it as the home screen on my phone.  Now I’m looking forward to the next impromptu photo shoot, knowing that this is a sign of love from my teenage son.

Quick Design Tips:

Create a banner that features extra photos to embellish your story. If you have a word that you can use design to signify – do it! Changing can have changing letter colours, big can be big in size, red can be red in colour. Be creative and have fun with it!

Signs of Love:

What if your teen isn’t grabbing your phone?

You still want to capture their life. As much as your teen may protest by including their life in your scrapbooks you remind them that they are an important part of your life. You don’t want to miss out on this part of life just because it isn’t easy!

If you want to scrapbook a teen you may need to get a bit creative.

• Do they share photos online? Facebook, Instagram, etc. Grab these photos for your layouts.
• Do they text you? You can use photos or the text itself on a layout.
• Connect with them using technology. If you have a teen then chances are that by now you’ve realized they know everything. 😉 Ask for their assistance in tackling the tech in your life.
• Ask your teen their opinions. Teens generally have plenty of them! Start with simple things like music and food and progress from there.
• Listen to their woes and complaints. Not every moment is happy in life. By embracing the tough parts of their life you can meet them on their level.
• Accept that any photos you get of your teen will not be perfectly posed with lovely expressions. You may end up with attitude, faces, and more. That’s okay! This is part of the teen experience.
• Know that if you pull out your camera to photograph your teen you can expect a bit of eye-rolling and disdain. Humour can go a long way to make this work out in your favour!
• Share the power. Your teen may be more willing to share details about their life if you give them the veto card. Ask for their permission before you share layouts or photos you create about them with others. Make sure your teen knows that even though you’ll continue to create layouts about him/her you’ll respect their word on whether or not you share them.

Don’t forget that scrapbooking your teen’s life is a way that you show them affection. Don’t give up! As much as a teen will push away they want to know that you love them and care about their life.

Related Posts:

If you like this post try these posts for more inspiration that will help you scrapbook your teens.

• Let Me Take a Selfie
• Back to School Scrapbooking for Teens
• How to Add Video to a Scrapbook Page
• Scrapbook Your Quirks

Make it Monday

Expect the unexpected… (I’ve kind of always hated that saying. How is it even possible?) Melissa is sharing an anniversary layout with a twist. It’s not what you’d expect! Check it out on Digital Scrapbooking HQ

Let your creativity shine!

Alice.

It’s Friday! Let’s have some fun! Are your priorities like this too?

You can pin this image to your Pinterest boards.

My friend said the secret to having a clean house was to fold laundry while watching TV.

“Sure!” I said. “But then when would I get my scrapbooking done?”

Did you miss the last Fun Friday post: ALL THE PAPER

Alice.

Let’s make a declaration of love… for chocolate! Yum! 🙂

If you are hopping along the Make it Monday Blog Circle you’ll have arrived from Digital Scrapbooking HQ where Melissa is sharing a page with an unlikely photo pairing.

Get your fill of chocolate love this Valentine’s Day.

Journaling Tip:

Scrapbooking chocolate is the perfect time to get creative with your words.

Try these descriptive words:

• irresistible
• luxurious
• creamy
• smooth
• velvety
• decadent
• quality
• tantalizing
• milky
• mouth-watering
• delicate
• rich
• intense
• tasty
• tantalizing
• temptation
• indulge

Do you have another word that is perfect for scrapping chocolate? Please share it with me in the comments!

Journaling reads: The smooth and creamy texture of luxurious chocolate is irresistible! I love the velvety decadence of a quality milk chocolate!

Design Tip:

Arrows and hearts are great embellishments for love or Valentines layouts. If you use current trendy items, like arrows and gold, it will be fun as you create AND it will help set your current pages apart from pages you create in the future.

Your next stop on the Make it Monday blog circle will have you creating quick and easy class Valentine’s Cards. Click HERE to hop to Scrapping Wonders.

If you love tips like these be sure to sign up for the Scrapbook Wonderland email list. This is exactly the kind of creative and useful tips you’ll receive. Subscribe HERE!

Don’t forget to share your descriptive chocolatey words in the comments! I’ll add them to the list. 😉

Alice.

Layout A Day has begun again! I’m excited to be the Feature Scrapbooker for the first prompt of LOAD215! (Thanks Lain Ehmann! You rock!) 😀

The theme for this month is “Once Upon a Time… Celebrating the Stories and Books of Our Youth”, and it’s a brilliant idea that opens so many doors to creativity!

Day 1 Prompt:

We all imagine ourselves as the character in a childhood book. Who did you relate to, or imagine you were?

It was easy for me to imagine myself as the main character of a book as I consider myself to be the star of my own story. I recently realized that many of the values I treasure in myself were also characteristics of my favourite heroine from my childhood, Nancy Drew. I wanted to create a page about myself that would show why Nancy Drew was such a great character for me to admire. This page shows a clue about why I became the person I did!

Let’s take a look at this page I created.

Journaling reads: Nancy Drew was my favourite character from the books I read as a child. She was a true heroine: smart, strong and capable, while still being feminine. I’m so happy I found such an inspiring character that promoted these qualities that I see in myself now.

Creative Secrets! (Title)

I had this fantastic idea for a title. I was going to use words that described the qualities I treasured in Nancy Drew that I strive to achieve for myself.

Great idea!

Now, how do you do it? Hmmmm… 😕

I started by writing down words that reminded me of Nancy Drew. This wasn’t too hard as I was a compulsive Nancy Drew reader for more than a few years! 😉

Choosing CLEVER for my title was actually easy, as that is the first word that makes me think of Nancy Drew.

Figuring out how to add the rest of the words was tricky! I quickly realized that my word choices did not all start with the letters in CLEVER. That’s fine, the words don’t have to ‘start’ with those letters.

Some words were eliminated as they didn’t have any letters that fit. If I really loved the word I used my thesaurus to see if I could come up with something similar that worked. (P.S. You can easily use the dictionary on your computer, or Google, to access the thesaurus, although the good, old-fashioned book version is often even better. It just is.)

As I had so many words… gee, what a surprise… I decided to use three words per letter of the title.

Finally I placed the die-cut letters and stamped out the title.

Yes, I stamped them on the background paper.

Yes, I messed up so badly once that I had to start again. Oops! 😉

Lesson:

It would have been MUCH, MUCH EASIER if I had put the letters on strips of paper, or something that didn’t require stamping on the background paper. What was I thinking?! 😯

Creative Secrets! (Magnifying Glass)

When I decided I wanted to include a large magnifying glass on my layout I was a bit stumped. I created a large circle and added a photo… but it just didn’t look right!

Now what? 😕

Next, I found pictures of magnifying glasses online. I finally came across one for a colouring book that I really liked. I printed it as large as I could and then used it as a guide for creating my own magnifying glass out of cardstock.

To add the shine detail to the ring of the magnifying glass I used a metallic gel pen, and copied the design from the colouring page.

To add the finishing touch I embossed lines onto the handle of the magnifying glass and popped it up with foam tape.

Bonus Prompt Inspiration

As I created this page I realized I have more Nancy Drew ideas that inspire me!

• I want to create a page that talks about how I always had a couple of books on the go in my desk.
• I definitely want to play with a Nancy Drew title, “The Secret of the …” or “The Mystery of…” or “The Clue of..”
• I would also like to share my heartbreak of finding out there was not really a Carolyn Keene. Talk about having your dreams dashed to find out your favourite writer is not a real person! (Carolyn Keene was the name used by the group of ghostwriters who wrote the series.)

Okay! Now it’s your turn. In the comments, tell me which character inspired you. I’d love to hear!

If you are participating in LOAD215 I can’t wait to see how you tackle this prompt.

Like scrapbooking tips, tricks and techniques? That’s what Scrapbook Wonderland is all about! Be sure to sign up for the email list, get the free gift, and regular doses of scrappy inspiration! (Use the blue and pink box below!)

Children’s books are an amazing source of inspiration. In THIS POST I share tips for using design, story and pictures from children’s books to inspire your own scrapbooking.

I’ll BE BACK (did you say that with a Terminator voice? 😀 ) a few times this month to share more layouts inspired by LOAD215 prompts.

Let your creativity shine!

Alice.