Making Memories

Sewing Challenge - Week One

This month Joscelyn from Honolulu, Hawaii (lucky girl!!!) is going give us some tips and tricks for sewing on pages. Each Thursday in July, she is going to give us some tips and tricks for using sewing on pages. Sewing isn't a new technique, but a great one if you have not already given it a try. So let's give it up for Joscelyn.

To make sewing on pages easier, I enjoy following lines within my project because it is harder to mess up. In my example today, I have sewn around Making Memories die-cut papers. Before you start sewing, make sure to adhere your die-cut paper to a piece of cardstock. Also adhere a photo on your page.

The first step is to grab your paper piercing tool. It’s always easiest if you poke the holes on your page first because it’s easier to make the holes even and it allows you to follow the pattern you make. If you want you can use a pencil first to make the small dots before you actually poke the hole. Poke the holes around the die-cut paper and the photo.

   

After you have pokes your holes, it’s time to start sewing. Thread your needle with embroidery floss and loop the thread in and out of each hole. Tip, it might be helpful to use a thimble so you don’t poke your finger.

After you have gone around the entire page, you will repeat this step so you can fill in the empty spaces with thread. It’s helpful to sew around the die-cut paper before you start sewing around your photo so you only have to change your thread once.

The last step is the easiest - embellish!

I used the following items Making Memories products on this project.

• Addie die-cut circle paper from the new Noteworthy collection
• Chipboard alphabet stickers and Epoxy shapes from the Animal Crackers collection
• Paper piercing tool
• Foam pop dots, Olive Copic marker, embroidery floss in purple and green, square punch, and pigment journaling pen: Other

Your challenge for this week is to try sewing on your pages. Start by sewing around a piece of die-cut paper or a photo. Come back next week to learn more.

Joscelyn

Travel Album Challenge - Week 4

Welcome to the 4^th and final week of our month long challenge!  If you’ve been following along, or better yet – joining in, you know that we have almost completed an entire album in 3 (60 minute or less) sittings.  The final steps will be completed in one last 30-60 minutes session.

Last week, I hinted that you may want to begin thinking about journaling for your album.  This week, we’re going to go ahead and add the journaling.  You can easily add your journaling in a number of ways.

You could:

1. Hand-write on tags or pre-cut pieces of paper
2. Hand-write directly onto your page and/or photos
3. Type and print your journaling – then trim and attach to pages
4. Type or hand-write your journaling and tuck it behind photos or between your pages (this is an especially good option if you have very personal thoughts or experiences you want to include, or if you simply have a lot of journaling to include)
5. A combination of any of the above

I chose to use option number 5 for my album.  Some of my journaling will be handwritten – directly onto the tags or journaling blocks which were included in the passport kit I am using for my album.  Other portions of my journaling will be typed, printed, cut into strips (because I love my journaling strips), and added to my pages.

   

I also decided to add some of the pamphlets and other memorabilia to my album by tucking it behind the pages…it doesn’t bother me that it sticks out a bit – but if it does bother you, you can either copy it and decrease the size or simply fold it.

One other addition I decided to include is a pocket page.  I had one blank page at the end of my album – so I thought it would be the perfect place to include a few extra photos, some postcards, and our itinerary…I simply cut a sheet of patterned paper and glued it around the sides and bottom – quick and easy.

 

After your journaling is complete, you may want to take a few minutes to further personalize your album cover.  Adding a photo or some embellishments to the front cover is easy to do, and adds a nice touch.  Depending on the type of album you are using, you may be able to tie ribbons and/or embellishments around the spine.  I always add my name and/or date to the back cover of my album as well – to me, it’s the perfect final step in completing my mini-album.

I hope you’ve enjoyed participating in this month’s challenge – and hopefully you’ve even created an album of your own!  Now you can sit back, relax, and relive some of your most treasured memories by flipping through your album – an amazing album you created, front to back, inside and out, in less than four short hours.

Wendy

Travel Album Challenge - Week 3

It's time for step number 3 in our 4-step album challenge and we are well on our way to having a completed album.  Today we’re going to combine our work from weeks one and two by simply adding photos to the pages we completed last week.

Your photos are probably organized in the order you want to present them in your album – if not, go ahead and do that quickly.  Next, lay out all of your completed spreads so you can see them.  Look at the first set of photos, choose the background you would like to use for these photos.  Arrange them on the spread and attach them with adhesive.  Now move on to your next set of photos and continue this process until all of your photos are attached to your backgrounds.  This shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes, after all, most of the work for this step was completed during weeks 1 and 2.  Now is also the time to add additional embellishments if you’d like.   I was even able to work in bits of memorabilia (pamphlets, tickets, etc.) here and there during this step.

While you are arranging photos and embellishments, start thinking about any journaling you might want to include on your pages.  We’ll add the journaling on our last step, but now is a good time to start thinking about it.  Next week is our final week – the week we’ll have a completed album.

Disclaimer: If you’re looking closely at the photos on my pages, I would like to make a few points. 1) These photos were taken a very long time ago with an inexpensive camera and with absolutely no photography knowledge or skills whatsoever.  2) They are still important to me – they may be “bad” photos, but the memories and experiences they represent are “good” and therefore worth saving.  3) Not only were the photos  taken a long time ago, they were also developed a long time ago – in the old traditional 3 ½” x 5” size – I am opting NOT to scan and reprint my photos at this time.  4) There will be no comments made (or accepted) pertaining to any clothing or hair styles portrayed in these photos.:))  Thank you.

Wendy Anderson

Travel Album Challenge - Week One

Hi everyone. I’m excited to be hosting another month-long challenge here on the blog this month.  This is going to be a good one too – we are going to create an entire album again – only this time, we are going to do it in four 30-60 minutes sessions!  Seriously.  It can be done – I’ll prove it to you!  Are you in?

This month I thought it would be fun to tackle a stack of vacation photos – I’ve been sitting on a pile of photos and memorabilia from a vacation Brad and I took almost 13 years ago – I haven’t scrapped a single photo.  I know, it’s sad!   But by the time this month is over, I’m going to have a fabulous little album all about our trip.

Notice I didn’t say I was going to scrapbook EVERY SINGLE photo.  I’m not.  I don’t need to.  I’m going to include enough photos and just enough journaling to tell about our trip.  I can always go back later and add more photos, more journaling, more detail.  I can always create more pages with more, more, more…but for now, I want to get it all in one place and have our vacation album finished.  I want my kids to be able to look at photos (no matter how bad they are) of a little trip we took before any of them were born.

So, I guess step one in this process will be just letting it go.  Don’t stress about including every single photo.  Don’t stress about writing a novel.  Just relax and have fun putting SOME photos and SOME journaling into a cool little album.

And now, since I know step one didn’t take a full 30-60 minutes, we’ll also do step two this week.  Step two is to gather the materials you want to use for your album.  The easiest (and speediest) way to do this is to use a kit.  Making Memories just came out with a fabulous 8”x8” Mini Book Kit for the Passport line – perfect for a vacation album like we’re doing.  You can also gather some coordinating product to add to the kit.  Don’t stress about adding a lot of extra product though, because limiting your selection will make the process much easier.

Okay, let’s also add step three today.  Step three will be to gather or print the photos you want to use for your album.  Choose the photos that best convey the story you want to share in this little book.  You might not want to share every detail – but focus on certain parts of your trip, however you want to do it is fine, just decide now and gather those photos only.  My album has 12 pages – front and back.  I want to put two photos on each page – so I’m going to choose 24 photos.  (Notice the stack of photos I have of this vacation?  Way more than 24, but I think 24 is plenty to share the story of our trip – so I have some narrowing down to do.)  Also, if you want more continuity throughout your album, you can consider converting your photos to black and white.

That's good for today - session one of our four-session challenge. So after today's session, you should have the following:

1. Let go of the idea that you need to scrap every single photo/thought in this particular project (that was easy!)
2. Gathered your materials for your album (remember using a kit makes this a snap.)
3. Gathered your photos – have them ready to add to your book. (this one might take a bit more time but you should be able to complete this step well within the 60 minute time limit.)

Wendy

Have fun.

I hope you’ll join me this month!  If you do, please leave a comment and a link to your blog so we can enjoy this journey together! :o)

Design Challenge - Month in Review

If you are anything like me you take more pictures than you have time to scrapbook. Sound familiar to anyone? I have been trying to take photos of the "everyday" things that happen in my life so I can remember - the result is lots of photos. Instead of trying to scrapbook all the photos and events separately, I created a little book that allowed me to have a month in review.

   

My challenge to you is to find your favorite photos and create a month in review book or page for yourself. I used the Making Memories 5th Avenue collection for my book.

Here is a closer look.

Keisha

Design Challenge with Paper

This week I have a very interesting challenge for you with a technique that I haven't used very much myself. It's very simple though... printing your pictures on the patterned paper!   First of all, I positioned the pictures I want to print. I use Photoshop Elements, but any photo editing software will allow you to open a blank document the size of your paper (I used a 12x12 page - but I know most people only have a 8.5x11 printers). Now copy your picture to the page and position it where you want to print it. Remember that you can use a 12x12 paper just cut it to 8.5x11 so it will go through the printer. After you print the picture on the paper you can design your page so that a trim or a border cover the cut.

I just thought it would give an interesting twist on a page if the pictures were printed out on patterned paper. As you can see on my page, the girls have fishnet faces! :  ) I used Making Memories new Noteworthy papers, trims and embellishments. The pink paper is from Making Memories Garden Party collection.

Next you can use some Making Memories Magnetic stamps to stamp some words. I thought it would be cool just to see how many WORDS I can use and therefore the page is titled: "Words." I cheated a little on this page because I stamped the words on a page and scanned it into my computer and super imposed it on the photo. The good news is that you don't have to have Photoshop skills to get this look on your page.

So, after all this talk, my challenge to you is to create a page by printing your picture on the patterned paper.  Oh and surprise! I will be giving away a BABY LOVE book today... just leave a comment. If you want to participate in the challenge, link your page in the comment section.

To learn more about the products that I used on my page, visit Making Memories website.

Wilna

Design Challenge - Magazine Inspiration

Inspiration is everywhere. I am always on the lookout for things to inspire my scrapbook pages. Whether it be for color, design, or photography, you can be sure that I'll find inspiration about everywhere I go.

It can come from a color palette on my son's shirt.  It can be seen on a billboard as I'm driving on the highway.  I even love finding inspiration on food packaging!  Among all places to find inspiration, I think that magazine ads are the most common source.  Every day I seem to be flipping through some sort of magazine, and they are packed with interesting advertisements and article layouts that inspire any creative mind.

A few days ago as I was going through the latest issue of Real Simple magazine, this advertisement caught my eye.  I love how simple it seemed, and how it still had a lot of potential to dress up.  I saw the rectangles as photos and patterned paper, and I really liked how the title was split into two areas of the page.

   

While planning out my layout, I knew I wanted to use papers with subtle patterns.  This would enable me to embellish my layout without making it appear to be too busy.  I wanted to maintain the simplicity of the original magazine advertisement, but I also wanted to add embellishments so I kept the background and patterned papers simple.  This kept the focus on my photographs, which is always very important to me while creating scrapbook pages.

Today my challenge for you is to browse any magazine and search for inspiration.  Print ads are usually wonderfully designed and bursting with layout ideas.  Table of contents and article layouts are also inspiring because you usually have all important elements of scrapbook pages there - a title, journaling and photos.  Using magazines for inspiration is wonderful because it quickens your creativity process and allows you to complete more pages in a shorter amount of time.

Start challenge for you is to browse any magazine and search for inspiration.  Print ads are usually wonderfully designed and bursting with layout ideas.  Table of contents and article layouts are also inspiring because you usually have all important elements of scrapbook pages there - a title, journaling and photos.  Using magazines for inspiration is wonderful because it quickens your creativity process and allows you to complete more pages in a shorter amount of you. Enjoy!

Jill Godon

Design Challenge - Eight Photos

Our challenge for today has to do with lots of photos - eight photos to be exact. I love doing layouts with just one or two photos. But once in a while, it's nice to put a lot of photos on a layout. Whether it's to make your photo pile a little smaller. Or to make your layout more meaningful or tell a story more effectively. There are lots of times a layout just calls for lots of photos.

I created this layout using the New Noteworthy collection. I love the bright colors and fun embellishments. I wanted to use the scalloped circle from the journaling notebook, but I felt like I needed a bit more color. So I used tracing paper to trace right inside the scalloped edge of the paper, and then used that to cut out the turquoise pattern paper to fit inside. This added just the right amount of color I was looking for! I also used a small strip of the turquoise pattern paper that was left over from another project. I had cut it using my scalloped scissors and couldn't bear to throw it away. I love when I can use bits and pieces from other projects!

 

So get out those photos and take the challenge - eight photos, that's all you need. And when you're done, make sure you share it with us by posting a link to your blog.

To learn more about the new Noteworthy program visit Making Memories website.

Laura Vegas

One trick that I use when using lots of photos on a layout is to crop the photos all to the same size and then arrange them into groups or line them up. The eight photos I choose to use really didn't match or go together. They were all taken at different times in different places. Once I cropped each one down, it eliminated any excess background clutter and clashing colors. Each photo was cropped 2.25 x 3.5 inches. After I matted two at a time on white cardstock. This same effect can be in Photoshop or a similar photo editing program by making collages and then printing them as one piece.

Design Challenge - Music Lyrics

Music.  It can stir emotions that are deep down inside us.  It can make us laugh.  It can make us cry.  It can make us remember things we thought we’d forgotten.  It can transport us to a different time.  The influence music can have on our emotions is amazing. 

This morning I was listening to one of my favorite Pandora stations when I heard the song “Miracle” by Celine Dion.  As soon as I heard it, the image of each of my little babies came into my mind and I knew I had to create a scrapbook page.  This was one of those pages that actually came together pretty quickly – I know it’s fairly simple – but it’s exactly what I wanted.  The words are perfect – except that I have four little miracles, instead of just one. J 

I used lots of Noteworthy product on this page –  paper, chipboard letter stickers, flowers, trims, journaling book pages, and buttons.  Of course, I had to do a bit of machine stitching, and the buttons are stitched on by hand.  The lyrics are printed directly onto my background and the title is an older sticker from the Defined line.

So now, I challenge YOU to create a page that includes lyrics.  You don’t have to include the whole song as I did – it can be one line or even just a title…just include song lyrics somehow.  If you take my challenge, leave a comment and a link to your page – I’d love to see what you come up with!

To see more inspiring ideas visit Making Memories website.

Wendy