Why Does It Work?

Do you ever get on a creative roll and really really feel like you have this thing we call scrapbooking handled like a boss?

Typically, when I experience this feeling it’s because I’ve been dedicated to my crafting process with regularity and have really pushed myself to finish certain projects.

This is one of those layouts—it just works for me. It makes me feel like I have this scrapbooking thing under control!

So let’s ask...
Why does it work?
What is it about this particular design that makes it work for me?

1-The color scheme. Chocolate brown, birdegg blue and lime green sing for me.

2-The title is funky but readable and is unique. I love a title that makes the reader want to know more and I feel like this one does that. I also love a stamped title.

3-There's a specific memory on this page. I love scrapbook pages that capture a memory that I don't think anyone else (namely the boy in the picture) will automatically recall later in life. It's not a monumental moment--it's a quiet memory that could easily be shoved into the background of life unless I write it down. It speaks to who this child is. I like that.

4-This page utilizes a unique accent--a Post it note. That small square of paper with the quotation marks on it is a Post-It note. I love being able to incorporate everyday things (especially office supplies) into my scrapbooking.

5-This page is 8.5x11. I love this size.

Until next time,
--Sarah

The Pretty Pie Stamp

(This post from Thanksgiving of last year originally appeared on my stamping blog, which is being retired.)

It’s Thanksgiving here in the US...time to acknowledge the good things in life and take a day to thoughtfully embrace gratitude. The  Heart 2 Heart Challenge for this week is to build on the theme of “a thankful heart”.

Here’s my entry into the challenge:

My husband is all about the pie at Thanksgiving. This year we are having an abnormally quiet Thanksgiving at home so I made this card for him. (Paper pies are the only kind I make but I did stop by the bakery and pick up his favorites yesterday.)

I hope your Thanksgiving is filled with pie too!
Until next time,

—Sarah

A Hot July Moon

I am not a girly girl but every month a black and white striped box of mostly girly scrapbook supplies from Felicity Jane shows up on my doorstep and inspires me to let the super girly crafty flag fly!

This layout is one of those!



I'm very much in love with those puffy black alphabet stickers--they are so striking and yet, easy to read. I prefer a title thats easy to read.

Part of my recent revival of the blog is a rededication to keepng the story in my pages. To me, a good scrapbook page involves a picture, a title that draws the viewer in, a little bit of pretty and a whole lot of story. That doesn't necessarily mean that the story has to be long or arduious. Indeed, not. The story can be a simple thought or a poingnant quote--as long as the story is there.

In this particular page, I documented the story on the journaling card that's hiding in the glassine envelope.





Until next time,
--Sarah

Spotlighting Techniques--Vellum

To spotlight something is to draw attention to it. 

There are many techniques that paper-crafters use to draw attention to a certain element on a card or scrapbook page. In this previously-shared blog post (from 2018), I have demonstrated spotlighting using velum to create a lightweight visual frame around the element of a card.

Vellum has been a staple in paper-crafting forever and is an easy-to-use specialty paper. It has a variety of uses but perhaps the most obvious is as a frame to give the eye a transitional avenue around something exciting. I use vellum quite often in this manner.

I had to give the Spotlight On Challenge at Heart 2 Heart Challenges extra thought. This is why I enjoy participating in challenges—doing so takes you places creatively. It stretches those crafty muscles.

This time I went super clean and simple using vellum to spotlight the decorative band across my kraft card base. The vellum layer is soft but adds visual weight. I enjoy the impact of repeating images, especially if the color combo is complimentary.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

—Sarah

Choose the Blues

This post was previously shared on my stamping blog for a stamping challenge at COLOR MY HEART in 2018.

The  COLOR MY HEART COLOR DARE #319 is to feature the color blue. Can’t go wrong there. Blue comes in so many delicious shades and variations—what’s not to love? I choose blues quite often.

I went with a delicate blue and a basic dark blue to create this stamped card. Blue is my preferred color pallet and I love this pairing. Do you often choose the blues?

Until next time,

—Sarah

All About the Blogs

So I recently had the opportunity to sit down and chat with The Scrap Gals about the state of scrapbooking blogs and where we see blogs going in the future as a scrapbooking tool and also as just one more form of social media. Its always nice to spend a little time chatting with Tiffany and Tracie about topics we care deeply about and have opinions on.

I've been blogging since 2003, mostly about scrapbooking and cardmaking, with a few family adventures thrown in for some fun. The world of scrapbooking and scrapbook marketing is changing rapidly(and has been for a while) and I have felt for a while that blogs just aren't the prime media outlet that they once were. So many--ok almost all the blogs I used to read regularly have gone inactive or been removed.

 I did a little bit of research in preparation for the show and it seems that crafty blogs surged in proliferation about 2004-2010. Since that time, with the influx of additional avenues of marketing via all the different social media platforms, its become apparent that in order to move forward, there are several questions that have to answered by bloggers:

1. Is my blog just a landing pad or a place to store my extended content? Or is my blog my online home where people who want more of my offerings go? Is my blog to be considered the "fall back place" or is it the "primary outlet"?

For me, with 16 years of content already stored right here, I see my blog as my primary outlet. Lets face it--I'm wordy. I enjoy Facebook and Instagram but I have come to realize that I really do prefer the space to show all the pictures and write down all the words and thoughts. I think I got sidetracked as of late because both Facebook and Instagram offer one thing that blogging seems to lack--instant responses.

2. What does it take to remind people to make the leap from a social media platform such as Facebook or Instagram over to a blog page?

To be honest, I'm not 100% sure. I read a ton of scrapbook message boards and Facebook groups and the general answer to this quandary seems to be "entice me". It seems that a blog will only survive and grow a readership if all the other social media platforms used by that writer are pointing potential readers to the home base and dropping crumbs of inspiration for them to follow along the way. Let's be honest--social media users tend towards a very short attention span. (Myself included!) Where it used to be that people were in the habit of going to individual blogs on a regular basis--now it seems that the habit is completely broken and as a blog writer seeking readers, you have to reach out and almost drag people into your blog space. and you definitely have to make it worth their while with usable content and top-quality ideas.

3. Is my blog a marketing tool for my business or a personal pursuit?

Obviously, this is an easy question to answer. I am not selling anything on my blog--its completely about the passionate pursuit of memory keeping and the paper-crafting life. I'm not marketing a creative business, although I do believe that blogging is an obvious and excellent tool for doing so. I'm a student of marketing in general and yes, blogging is a fascinating way to capture stories and share creative content the on the web with people who are like-minded and searching for creative inspiration.

I think there is great value in being a single voice with a blog offering continuity of style and topic. However, for those who are interested in the use of a blog for marketing a creative business, the team approach to content creation seems to be a very popular option that yields productive results. Obviously, having a steady stream of content from multiple creators (each bringing their own following to the fountain) will enlarge one's reach and do exactly what social media marketing was designed to do--expand the reach of everyone. Its simple math.

I have quite a few friends who are direct sales marketers for crafting organizations. The decline in blog readership doesn't seem to have impacted them the way it has the single-voice blog writers. I think perhaps its because they are finding ways to support each other. If all the Close to my Heart demonstrators are participating in a certain blog "hop", then they are all reading each other's pages and yet none of them will be gaining new customers as a result of their efforts...but big high readership numbers make them feel like they are investing their time into something that "works".

4. What exactly is my goal in blogging?

Certainly there are as many possible answers to this question as there are bloggers in the cloud. I see my blog as a tool to log experiences in paper-crafting, document creative pursuits and have a digital record of the things I've done with paper. If blogging is in fact old enough to have an "old-school" style, that's what I want to do.

One voice, one unique experience.
Documented on the internet, with pretty pictures and all the words needed.

In my chat with The Scrap Gals, I was reminded that there is an intrinsic value to having an online, easily-accessible journal of sorts. If something malicious happened to the physical scrapbooks in my home, I will still have the digital format to fall back on. I like that idea imme

The episode of The Scrap Gals podcast will air in a few weeks. You can subscribe for a tiny monthly fee at www.podbean.com/thescrapgals

So where does that leave me?

--Still believing that blogging (for me) is a contribution to the creative universe in which I participate as a maker and a writer.

--Still wanting to preserve memories and crafty pursuits and watching others who are also doing so.

--Combining all my blog content into one single page. This includes the most recently written content that was shared on my stamping blog over the past year. Links that are no longer active will be removed but the creative projects will still be shared.


Welcome to the reboot!
--Sarah

Stand Up Pages and Cards

Just a quick post about displaying cards and scrapbook pages vertically. I think this easel die by Sizzix and Tim holtz is the most undersold and uber-useful die around!

I’m showing it here with a page layout, but it also works perfectly with cards too.

I use cereal boxes to cut the easels.

Add a strip of adhesive to the narrow spine. 

Expose the adhesive and attach to the page protector. 

When you are looking for an easy way to display a card or layout, the Tim Holtz small easel die is the perfect tool for the job.

Until next time,

--Sarah

(PS This post originally appeared on my stamping blog last year. I hope you find it useful.)

Christmas Cards by Panera

So I’m always on the lookout for extraordinary materials that can be incorporated into my cardmaking hobby and not too long ago the artwork on a paper bag from Panera caught my fancy. I snapped it right up!

After cutting the bag open and laying it out flat...

I made a template with an opening the size of a standard card front so I could see what area would be included on each one. (I just used a piece of plain cardstock to make the template window.)

After moving it around to see how I could get the most number of well-composed card fronts out of the one bag, I made pen marks to use as cutting guides on the bag and then cut them out roughly with scissors. Cleaner, more precise cuts were done on the trimmer.

I managed to get six cards out of the one bag. Here are a few:

There are a few strips leftover for another project. I have long been a fan of red on kraft but now I am totally drawn to green and white on kraft as well.

Thanks Panera Bread for these awesome and useful paper bags!

I'm including this in the December 3 Three Amigos Blog Hop Challenge (#21) featuring the Christmas/Winter/Holiday theme.

Happy Upcycled Cardmaking!

--Sarah

PS This post was originally shared on my stamping blog. I'm consolidating everything to one blog now and removing the links that are no longer relevant. If you see something you just can't live without, send me a message and I'll try to help you source it out. :)

Retired Stamp Love

Stamping has been a part of my life for more than twenty years. (Do I say this too often?) While I understand the need for our favorite stamp companies to retire stamps and move on to new things, it's always difficult for me to move on, leaving the sets I've come to enjoy creatively or sometimes even parting with them in order to keep my stash manageable. New designs are fun, of course, but saying goodbye-- not so much. 

So with this in mind, I'm going to do something here that I have never seen another consultant do(but how I wish they would)--I'm going to do a regular feature called *Retired Stamp Love* where I go back and create with sets that are retired but still loved. 

Why?

For the sheer love of stamping. :)  

Sometimes I'll pair up retired sets with things that are currently available. Usually retired sets can still be acquired on eBay, or through the many Facebook groups that exist for buying and selling second hand craft items. 

Today, in Retired Stamp Love, I'm playing with the stamps from the Sugar Rush Cardmaking suite by Close to my Heart. This set of stamps and matching dies was available

 Can't go wrong with cute donut stamps, right?

This is the Sugar Rush Cardmaking stamp set made by Close to my Heart back in 2016.

The Stamp images that are outlined in blue are the ones that have coordinating dies. As you can see there are several wonderful, universal sentiment images in this set--that "Happy Birthday" is a great size for making paper ribbon. More on that in a moment. 

I paired the Sugar Rush suite from last year with the Silver and Gold suite that is also retired.

--The two lighter brown donuts are created using second-generation stamped images. This is a good technique to use when you need a lighter color of ink that you don't have. (This happens to me often.) To achieve this look, simply ink up your stamp, stamp the image on cardstock, then immediately without re-inking, stamp it again. The second image will be much lighter than the first. 

Frosted donuts can be made in many color combinations. For the above card, I skipped the stamping steps and just used the dies with cardstock. I did use the sprinkles stamp to jazz it up a bit. 

I happen to think the sentiment in this set that says "Happy Birthday with sprinkles on top!" is just perfection. I really like the font that Happy Birthday is written in. It's perfectly sized for carding and can be added to any card design. 

For convenience, I performed a bit of stamp surgery on this image and separated the Happy Birthday from the rest of the sentiment. They can be now be used together as shown above or individually as shown below.

I wanted to make it easy to incorporate this Happy Birthday sentiment into some future projects, so I took just a few minutes and stamped out some paper "ribbon" strips using the Happy Birthday repetitively. Each paper ribbon is about 1/2" wide and 11" long. When I use these sentiment strips, I will add a matching colored gem or sequin in between each phrase. 

So there you have it.

Retired Stamp Love.

Until next time,

--Sarah

PS This post originally appeared on my stamping blog, which is also now being retired. All no-longer-relevant links have been removed. :) If you see a product you like, email me and I'll try to help you track it down.

No Room for the Story

Stories are super important to me and in my world, stories are basically *the point* of scrapbooking. The story matters! Without the story...well it's just not right (to me). However, as people who love page design, sometimes great blocks of written journaling present a design dilemma--

what's a more appropriate use of real estate--the journaling or the pretty things?

#scrapbookerprobsright

So once in a while, I give in to the designer side of my crafty soul and stick the journaling  in a less obvious place--today it's *inside a flap*. 

Yes, that title is stamped on vellum. 

This reminds me...this is another installment in my "If you can make a card, you can make a scrapbook page!" series. Look again. That flap hiding the journaling is basically a card. 

I used a good bit of vellum on this page. Vellum is so dependable. It is always a good way to give your pages points of contrast. It is so easy to use! There are several things I particularly love about vellum. 1) It's easy to run through the printer. 2) It tears beautifully. 3) It tones down busy or bold patterns. 4) It's an easy way to direct the viewer to look at a specific part of a page. 5) You can stamp on it! 

The stamped title on this holiday layout was created using alphabet stamps and my favorite ink--Momento Tuxedo Black Ink. Not all inks work well on vellum, but Momento certainly does and it's readily available at most craft stores. 

(This post originally appeared on my stamping blog last year and links that are no longer relevant have been removed.)

#stampinginthescrapbook

Merry Christmas!

--Sarah