Holidays in a Pocket - Part 3 - The Big Pages

Focusing on the big pages.....and my first single page (that follows on from all those rafting pocket photos) is based on the Scrap365 sketch this month.  I drew the circles in pencil and then had a go at a bubbly inky effect on my paper and pulled out some of the Kaisercraft journalling cards (here) which have beautiful aqua colours that went well with the picture.  I also added in a prima wood veneer which was in French :) perfect for this album and there blue ribbon by Websters and in the colour co-ordinated ribbon that Jill puts in our parcels.  There is some more journalling behind the photo in a glassine envelope - but you don't actually have to do so much on the single page as you have had loads of opportunity on the double page

so one more rafting shot using the co-ordinating papers in the Simple Stories range Good Day Sunshine- I love all the colours and wood in this collection - and it ties your larger pages in with your pockets too.  Another watery background - just with a water colour brush and some distress ink for the colour - the page doesn't get too wet when you use a water brush (honest - have a go :)).  I love the triangle designs that have been around and I layered up my papers with some lace and just distressed the edges.  A little more wood veneer and journal card for the main photo mat - there was so much lovely writing and beautiful geo-tag stuff that I cut some bits out with a craft knife so they could be on top of my pictures.

Holidays in a Pocket - Part 2 - Pocket Ideas....

So following on from my part one getting ready for pockets - here are some more pocket pages.  I like to use handwritten journalling, though you can type too.  In this page I have used a whole rectangle for journalling, but then I have also used little squares of white paper to add journalling directly to the pictures - I drew a little square around the edge to decorate them.  Stamps are also a lovely way to decorate your photos and pockets - I've used a little heart stamp on the bottom pocket, but there are arrows and speech bubbles and lots of stamps suitable for pockets especially in the Simple Stories range (here).

Even though it is a pocket in an album I like to make a title card for each page...these can be messy and splatty too...for this one I used gelatos and water and then some paint.  

Punching and the little geo-tags (which come in the embellishment pack from Simple Stories)....wood veneers come in useful too

Raid your supplies for those little embellishments that go perfectly with your journalling subject (cakes in this case)

Those little journal stickers that Simple Stories make are great as a little photo embellishment.

and the next pocket page - which forms part of a double with a single page I'll show you tomorrow.

Buttons and stickers that follow through with the colours on the page and in the title - don't be afraid to add them to your photos especially when you know you have a copy on your computer :)

Left over stickers from a retreat (bella boulevard) - I loved using the photo corners not for a photo but to emphasise the title

Holidays in a Pocket - Part 1 - Getting Ready and Making a Start

Hello over the next 3 days I wanted to do some post about using pockets, I focus on holidays - but any event - or just life in general can get documented in pocket pages and I think it is a great way of keeping photos out of boxes - as even the ones that aren't perfect for a single page can always be slotted into a pocket.  They are also a great way of documenting and journalling all the details too.

  There are quite a few systems for your pocket pages - American Crafts, Simple Stories and WRMK being some of the bigger ones - and their pockets all fit into the 3 ring hole albums - I like the big D-ring albums and have all 3 of those pocket insert makes in mine.

So...154 photos printed off 6 by 4 - I also got some big 12 by 8s too, Simple Stories Summer papers, and embellishment packs and die cut cards and I'm ready to go.

• I started by jotting in my notebook what happened each day (I did use the dates on the photos for this)
• Then arranged the photos in chronological order, I started to tuck the photos (even if they don't fit as cropping is an option) into my pockets.  I also used the large 12" pages and put photos that I wanted for single pages (generally favourites) in there.
• I bought Simple Stories papers that you can cut into cards, but they also do little booklets as well - so I cut these all out - when I bought the papers I made sure I got some portrait and landscape 6 by 4s as they are on separate papers.

• Dig out your scraps - as they are great for the little cards, stickers and any embellishments.

(I only ordered about the 1st 5 days of the holiday as by then I wanted to scrap - I will sort out the rest when I run out of photos)

little sticker/embellishment clusters (and this is cropped portrait photo so it fits in a landscape pocket)

You can cut a photo to fit across 2 pockets

Paperclips and sequins just to add a little bit more to the cards

....and the Good Day Sunshine Papers are here and Pocket Pages are here

Books about Town

Many of you who know me will know my boys and I like a good treasure hunt! We have followed many a map to find hidden places within our home City of London or further afield on days out. We have pursued Elephant statues, eggs, gorilla's and last year Gromit statues in Bristol. This summer we have filled a day or two following the Books about Town benches trail where a number of benches have been decorated to represent popular books including Paddington Bear, That's not my..., Terry Pratchett, Shakespeare and many more. Today we are off to Greenwich to complete that trail, but with many photos already taken on these days out I find myself looking for multiple photo sketches to inspire me to scrap them at a faster rate!

This page I created using October Afternoon Public Library papers (perfect for scrapping books!!) and I picked up a pin badge in Waterstones bookshop to use as well. I used my Canon Selphy to print four images to a 6" x 4" print so each of my photos measure around 2" x 3". I printed them with a white border and mounted a couple on foam pads. Adding a same sized double mounted journaling block completed the grid of 9 and the rest of the page I worked around these.

Many more layouts to follow of our Book benches trail, hopefully featuring less raincoats!!

Sticker Girl!

I love stickers, I love to layer them up, cut them up and use them in abundance.  If I were a scrapbooking super hero I think I would have to be Sticker Girl (although my husband calls me Gadget Girl but that's another story and possibly another page) and my superpower would be stickiness!

In July, Jill sent the DT some October Afternoon to work with and in my kit I had an assortment from the Public Library and Woodland Park ranges.  I was delighted to receive a beautiful Woodland Park sticker sheet and Woodland Park labels.

 

I knew I wanted to use as many as possible on one layout because they were so cute and was guided in my photo choice by the banner that said 'This is Happiness'.  I thought when are a couple of students more happy than out with their friends with a drink in their hands.

I wanted to show the stickers off to their best advantage and chose a piece of Kraft cardstock for my background and then adhered a piece of patterned paper onto my page, stuck my photo onto the middle of this and then 'stickered' to my hearts content.

 

If you were a Super Scrapbook Hero what would your name be?

Where do you get your inspiration?

A fairly un-crumpled and neat page from me today!  I love October Afternoons Midway collection - it is one of those collection packs where I love all the papers at least one side and on quite a few both sides!  I took the inspiration for the design for this page from the little polaroid camera that comes in the set:

I matched the colours to the rainbow stripes and cut then out of some card stock.  I then just layered up a few papers and lots of the stickers from the pack, the journalling is in a glassine bag behind the photo...and the photo is using another of those instagram filters - I love some of the effects!

Back to School

You may well recognise this page from our recent Cybercrop - it is one of my favourite ones of late and as many children will be getting ready for school and it uses a mist technique that I really like too I thought I'd share it again!

I started with my white card stock and then I tore an A4 sheet  into a wide V shape (I used 2 bits of A4 and mirrored the V with the other one) - as my A4 was a little shorter than 12" I just used scraps and then some light masking tape in a few places to stick the A4 paper in position in my pizza box (otherwise known as my mist protection unit!). I then used a 6" circle mask and placed it at the top part of my page and misted from the middle up, then mover the mask down to the bottom part of the page and did the same (any overlap is covered by the patterned papers).  I then layered up strips of the new October Afternoon Public Library papers, using some of the lovely stickers that come with it too like the pile of books and little tabs and stars. 

Another page I have used this sort of technique on is this one with some of Crate Paper's DIY Shop range