Negative Space

Happy Saturday everybody!  I don't know about you, but I love the look of negative space layouts (where there is more "empty" areas of the page than not)...they're a challenge for me because I instinctively want to cover every bit of the paper with goodies but I think the final effect of a negative space page can be pretty striking!  Plus, if you have limited time to scrap, you can usually pull one of these off in about an hour.

Here is my latest negative space creation and a little breakdown of how I put it together.

The first thing I always do is dig through my scrappy supplies and pull out any embellies and papers I think might work with the photos I am scrapping.  It usually ends up looking something like this...

I love white tags because you can design them any way you want to fit them to the style of your page. I covered this one with purple chevron paper and added an eyelet.  Plus you can buy a big thing of them for cheap...it can get pricey to buy pre-made tags and since they're pre-designed, I find them to be limiting.  

You can pick the tools up from any craft store or probably even Wal-Mart or Target.  I like the Making Memories tool kit.  because it comes with more than just the setting tools.  I love eyelets - not just for tags but also to add some depth and texture to your page.  Stay tuned for a tutorial post on how to use them...hoping to get one up this weekend.  

Then I misted my paper...

(I bought some fancy scrapbook misters....I had a coupon...yes, I did just show you how to get a similar effect without the added cost of pre-made misters...but I had a coupon!  Don't judge me. hehehe) 

Staying true to my make-do-with-what-you-have-self, though, I gave this Recollections journaling card a double use by cutting the bullseye portion out and using the two pieces separately.  This is a great way to make your supplies last or to find an element you need when nothing else in your stash seems to work.  Dig through your paper and see what you can find and cut!  

One thing about negative space layouts, for me anyway, is that I DO feel like I have to make up for leaving all that blank space on the page by loading up the embellished area.  So for this I used stamps, rub-ons, doodles, grungeboard, stickers, and an adorable "love" Little Yellow Bicycle stick pin embellie (have you seen these things yet? I'm in love!).  I loaded everything up and used the arrow stamps to direct the eye to the main focus of the page.  

Then, I added some "file" information to the upper left hand corner to document when the photos were taken, how old the munchkin was at the time, and where the hat came from.

Voila.  Layout in about an hour!  Thanks for looking!

Less is more...and a couple of shout outs!

Sometimes, less is more.  As in more time, more curse words, more headache.  For me, that is.  I am one of those people who agonize for hours over the composition of the "simple" scrapbook page.  But in the end it's always worth it.

Case and point.

I love this photo and I didn't want the design of my page to distract from the adorable subject so I tried to keep things subtle...just a few embellies and paper.  Shout out to Recollections Creative Chaos journaling tag stack for helping me pull this page together...super versatile and ridiculously cute.  This pad has every image that is all the rage in design right now...sunbursts, birds, owls, vintage bicycles...and plenty of room for journaling.  And for $2.99 for 30 4 x 5.75" sheets, you get a whole lotta bang for your buck.  I picked up the Fill in the Story note pad too which is awesome for prompting your journaling and documenting of photos. Both are perfect for Project Lifers and traditional scrapbookers.  Here's a couple of close ups of the sheets I used.

The camera card has a journaling spot above it,
which I filled with a note about our day and
tucked behind the photo.

And if you are wondering where that cute little handmade yoyo fabric embellie came from, the "documented" tab, or the majority of the the adorable layering papers...well, wonder no more.  And get over and check out Citrus Twist's March Citrus Twist Kit...I have used this kit on 3 of my last 4 layouts and I've still got goodies left to play with.  Talk about bang for your buck!  If you have been thinking about a monthly kit club, this is definitely one you want to check out.  Citrus Twist puts together the most gorgeous kits packed full of coordinating papers and embellies...and they're also super versatile.  You can mix them with practically every other product in your stash.  And their Design Team is a wicked talented, and super sweet bunch!  Here's a closeup.

Finally I fussy cut the bird on the stand thingy from Recollections Girl and a Poodle paper, added a couple of random papers I had in my stash, and added my own hand sketched and cut butterfly, which I cut on white cardstock, embossed it in yellow, brushed with some really pretty irridescent yellow Perfect Pearl powder and finished off with some white detail embossing.

And there you have it.  Happy Thursday and thanks for reading!!

Didn't your mama teach you to make do with what you have?

So I was working on a layout yesterday for an awesome weekly "case file" challenge to share with the lovelies over at the ever so awesome CSI lab and suddenly something occurred to me.

I have a blog.  And it's pathetically empty at the moment. Soooooo...

Tutorial time! 

First, a little background on CSI.  Color. Stories. Inspiration.  This site is a clever little take on cracking cases...CSI style.  Each week you are given a case to crack.  You are given a "scheme" for inspiration - a scene containing a color palette that you must adhere to, a list of "evidence" that you must choose from (various techniques and embellies), and "testimony," words, phrases and ideas to inspire your journaling.  I'm obsessed.  This group puts out the most fabulous challenges that kick me right out of my comfort zone and make my brain think outside of the box. You should definitely check them out. 

So back to this tutorial.  Here's my layout. 

And here's how I did it.

Once I had a general idea of what I wanted to scrap I needed to pick a sketch.  I had an idea of what kind of design I wanted to use but I pulled up my trusty Pinterest album of sketches and chose one that I could build off of.

This is my sketch.

And this is where I literally started making do with what I had.  I actually used a piece of cardboard for my background paper for this layout.  I love neutral colored backgrounds and I was all out of neutral toned cardstock.  But I had cardboard!

Since I didn't have all that many embellies that fit the color scheme (lime green, medium green, yellow and black) I pulled in color through paint misting, masking, stamping and inks.  You can get fancy scrapbook paint misters if you want...or you can do it my way.  Grab some empty spray bottles, a few drops of acrylic paint (I added a few drops of alcohol ink to the green too), add a bit of water and shake.  Voila.  Misting paints on a budget.

PS.  The misting on patterned paper didn't make the cut.  But I threw it in here anyway. 

Another cool thing you can do to add texture to your background is to incorporate materials traditionally used in canvas art.  Here I used gesso and mod podge and acrylic paint.  Then I started looking around the house for things that had textured patterns I could pull in.  An old dishtowel with a cool honeycomb pattern worked wonderfully. 

And it was free.

Mod Podge is cool to use because you can stamp or emboss in it and it dries clear.  I used the gesso as a base, covered it with mod podge, and stamped some words into the mod.

After that it was just a matter of framing the photo, adding some paper layers, a stamp here and there, some rub-ons, and some doodling details. 

And that is when the well ran dry. 

It needed something to tie it all together but I couldn't think of anything.  The stores were closed because it was a Sunday evening and besides, I was trying to make this thing work with what I had handy around the house. 

Lightbulb moment.  I had magazines.  Flashback to my teen posterboard collages...circa 2004.

(Okay so it was more like 1994...)

And here's the final product.  This was a blast to make and it will be fun to look back on to see where I was at in my 20s...

(Okay 30s...shhhh!)

Color me eclectic

I have no style.  I have a few go-to techniques, but no set style.  (When all else fails, I grab a pen and doodle.)  Photographs dictate my layouts.  What's your style?  Are you a vintage scrapper?  A "flower power" scrapper?  Do you ink the hell out of every piece of paper you touch?  Are you stamp happy? 

Here's a little peek inside my head.  Literally.

...except maybe this one thing.

Most of this blog is going to consist of things that my mom, your mom, your friend's mom, your dad's mom and your girlfriends' moms did NOT teach you.  About scrapbooking. Paper crafting. Mixed media. Photography.  Art.  But one thing that I will give a shout out to my mama for is teaching me manners.  Like proper introductions and what not.  So on that note....

How do you do?  I'm Shawna.  Mother, wife, professional, photographer, artist, reader, tree hugging animal loving lover of love. 

I've been scrapbooking since 2006(ish) and took an almost 3 year hiatus during pregnancy and the newborn through toddler years with the kiddo.  But I am back and right back up to my elbows in inks, glues, papers and pens.  And this is my blog.  Welcome. 

What I want this blog to do is bring together like minded people who are interested in documenting their lives through the marriage of photography and paper art.  That's my fancy way of saying that I'm hoping fellow scrapbookers will come over to my blog to get inspiration, share inspiration, learn something, and teach me something. You can even share scrap your mama DID teach you...if your mom was artsy like that.  I want to pick palettes and inspirational photos and create.  I want to see what you create.  I want to challenge myself to start scrapping about myself again.  To scrap the bad and the ugly. Not just the good and the beautiful. I want my scrapbooking to reflect real life.

I'm not the most tech savvy creature on the planet and this whole "blog" thing is not exactly my forte, so feedback is welcome, appreciated and pretty much begged for.  I'm expecting to facepalm myself multiple times a day until I figure this whole gig out.  So let me have it peeps.  Tell me what you think.  Tell me what you'd like to see.  Spread the word and help me make this blog awesome. 

Happy scrapping!