ormolu

Journaling with a grid

I'm a very linear sort...in pretty much all aspects of my life. ;) I like clean lines and right angles and everything in its place. It comes as no surprise, then, that when I'm stumped on inspiration, I turn to grids.  In fact, when I initially posted about this field trip on my blog, I used a simple grid to include more photos. Because I dislike reinventing the wheel, I took that blog post and made it directly into a layout (using the exact same photos and journaling). Here's what I ended up with:

Starting from my grid of photos, I turned to Ormolu's awesome digital journaling tags. I mimicked the grid set up and used that for my journaling...coordinating the journaling for each picture on the corresponding tag. I like how it allowed me to include more specifics from my story and also appreciate how it keeps the journaling clear, leaving the viewer without confusion about which journaling goes with which picture. Fun!

(I created this layout, by the way, as a digital one and intend to print it out and include it in my album. I can already see spots, though, where I may actually add a few three-dimensional Ormolu products (like a flair button or fabric swatch) and make this into more of a hybrid layout. You could also just print out these journaling tags and include them directly on a paper layout.) 

So, have you done any journaling with a grid lately? ;)

- Amanda

InLinkz.com

Making A Book From Storytellers

So, I started out with one idea for today's tip and ended up with 2, which works out for me because normally I have zero technique ideas!  I'm not a very technique-y scrapper, so it was win-win for me!

Today what I'm going to share with you is how to make a mini book out of the Storytellers Tags.  When I first saw these I knew I wanted to make a mini book because they are a great size and what better way to insert journaling than with the Storytellers.

I kept my book very simple because it's made out of paper only and no chipboard so I didn't want it to be very bulky and fall apart easily.  I started out using some leftover Photo Refills from my Week in the Life project:

I cut the 2 bottom sections apart and trimmed them down to 3.5" wide x 4.5".  This way you have an opening at the top and you'll be closing off the left side of the sleeve later.

Next, I picked out paper for the front and back cover of the book and trimmed those to 5.5" x 5.5" and misted the opposite side with tan mist.  Set these aside and pick out papers to back the Storytellers journaling tags.  I just picked out papers with colors I liked and felt like coordinated with both the Storytellers and the mini book covers.

Now, here's where things really get exciting so hang on to your tape runner.  I have been wanting to use this ticket for the longest time and haven't been able to work it into any other projects:

 

I decided to deconstruct this and make a mask out of it.  I simply used a craft knife and cut around the edges to separate them.

Now, back to the book.  I put it together with the front, journal tag, photo sleeve, etc, using 2 photo sleeves and 3 journal tags.  I held them together with binder clips, then ran the left side through the sewing machine to bind them all together.

After that I used a Studio Calico fab rip to cover up the stitching and to add more color to the muted front.  I put the title on the front, journaled and voila, a mini book is born!

And the misted silhouette all finished:

Some of the inside pages:

Thanks for stopping by today!  Hope you enjoyed the technique for today!

 

Supplies Used:

Vignette Ticket Booklet

Son.au.von.a.geek Storytellers

Line and Letter Storytellers

Go Dots N Spots

Tip & Technique Tuesday | Elementary ruching of fabric swatches

Welcome to another Tip & Technique Tuesday!

I'm one of "those" people. The ones who fear their sewing machines but love the look of stitching. I've mostly contented myself with the knowledge that my layouts will not be adorned with the lovely stitching that I admire on others' work. I am happy to leave my sewing machine under its cover and hidden away where it cannot sense my fear.

But. For today's layout, because I love you all so much and because my layout was feeling flat and because I just love fondling the awesome Ormolu fabric swatches...I've braved my sewing supplies to do a wee bit of ruching. (Okay, please don't laugh at me if this is completely obvious to you. And bear in mind that I still couldn't bring myself to use the sewing machine. Sorry. It scares me.) Yes, I know many of you are probably old hat at this, but for those of you who similarly find yourself hiding from sewing or just want to see a fun way to use the fabulous fabric swatches, I wanted to share. It actually turned out well and I came away injury free. :) 

So. I simply picked a nice thread in a contrasting color (because if I'm going to go through the trouble of using sewing stuff, I want people to *know* I did, lol). I doubled it up so that my orange would show a bit better and knotted the end. Then, I just started from one side and stitched to the other, using the way simple stitch that they teach you when you're a kid (before you develop your fear of the sewing machine if you're me). I arranged it on my layout as I wanted (scrunching here and there until I was happy, not too scrunched in this case, though I can totally see making these more dimensional!) and then tied off the end. Voila. (Note, the fabric swatches are a perfect material for this...nice and durable but not too thick...so many possibilities!)

I was so pleased with the result that I grabbed a piece of ribbon and repeated the process...making sure to cut my initial piece of ribbon longer than the spot I wanted it, but otherwise just doing the exact same thing as with my fabric swatch. Here's what I ended up with:

Just a simple layout about my boys' first day at our one-day-a-week homeschool program. I love how the very basic ruching adds just enough texture to a fairly blocky layout. And, yes, you can now laugh at the fact that I'm proud of myself for actually using some of my sewing stuff. ;)

- Amanda
 

Ormolu supplies used: 

2-day Hooray Fabric Swatches

Go Ticket Book

Blank Ticket Tags

Tip & Technique Tuesday | Planning Layouts & Titles using Tags

He Goes by Kaitlin Sheaffer

Ormolu supplies used: Go Dots n Spots, Excellence of Love Flapper, Line & Letter Scallop Tags in kraft, white flecked cardstock

Welcome to our very first Tip & Technique Tuesday! 

I have a few little tips and techniques to share that I used while creating this layout.

This layout came about while I was in the car (husband driving) on a mini trip this weekend. I managed to sketch out the basics of how I wanted the layout to form, the journaling and nailed down what type of photo I would be looking for when creating the layout. All in all- it took me less than thirty minutes to make the layout when I got home. Perfect! I always keep a pen and paper on hand with me while I am out and I even tend to carry it around with me at home.

 My favorite notebook as of recently is this wire bound notebook by Whitelines. It has a light grey background and white grid lines so it works great when I want to sketch out layouts or product design ideas. Looking at their website I see they have a new organizational notebook which I think will be the next one I pick up. Love these notebooks- I also see they have hardbound versions and different sizes...definitely will be picking more of these up. 

 

To make the layout I started a new document in InDesign (but this could also be done in Photoshop or even Microsoft Word). I knew I wanted an opening beside the photo for journaling and I also wanted to use a circle tag in place of the letter 'O'. In my document I drew a circle that was the same size of the tag I wanted to use and used that to judge the size of the title. Then I changed the coloring of the 'O' to white so that i would not print out or effect the spacing of the other letters. 

I also knew I where I wanted the photo so I drew a 4x6 rectangle to see how it would look on the page. I quickly realized I would not be able to use the remaining space how I wanted so I resized the rectangle to a 4x4 square to see how that would look. 

Once I saw the 4x4 photo space would leave enough room for journaling and allow me to place a 2x4 piece of patterned paper I started typing up my journaling. 

I also added a yellow rectangle at the top to see how the Line & Letter 'He' tag would fit.

Since it all looked like it would fit just great I went ahead and deleted everything but the journaling and title (making sure I deleted the placeholder for the 'o' which I would use a circle tag in place of). 

 After adhering everything to the layout as planned I decided I needed a bit of texture. I headed to my sewing machine to stitch over the Line & Letter Negative Scallop Tag. Instead of squeezing in the stitch above the word 'He' I decided to stitch over the word to give a bit more interest. 

Then I decided to add the date in the bottom corner of the photo. I cut a piece of a flapper from the Excellence of Love Flappers that complemented Jude's shirt  and stitched it on leaving a bit of an overhang on the photo, which I later used my fingernail to curl the edge a bit. 

Whenever I do stitching I like to use a liquid glue to seal it. I use this little glue pen and just dab the ends before I cut. I love this glue pen and use it on little things all the time! I also use some acid free tape on the back of the layout to tape down extra thread and to 'seal' the stitch. This way the thread doesn't creep into the hole and come undone or get messed up when I slip the page into a protector. 

Another thing I payed attention to while creating the layout were the visual lines. I used the pointy end of the Line & Letter scallop tag to draw a line down to the journaling. Originally I had planned to make the journaling directly below the 'letter o' (aka tag) but when I lined it up that way it lacked interest and threw off the sizing of the photo. Shifting it just a bit and using the scallop tag created more impact and allowed me to make the photo square so I went that route. 

I also chose to use hollow lettering in place of solid lettering for the title since the tag was going to 'fill' the letter 'o'. 

All in all this is one of my favorite layouts I have done lately. It seems to me my favorite ideas come to me when I don't necessarily have time to sit down and scrapbook- but rather I plan it while I am going about day to day tasks and create it when I have that time. My time seems less wasted and I have time to worry about the fun parts of creating a layout like what types of embellishments I will use :) 

- Kaitlin