Blue Ribbon Layouts

This is the perfect layout to end this month of July! I should recognize the kids in these pictures, but I don't (Alas!) so give me a holler if these layouts are yours so I can give you credit!

These layouts use the Blue Ribbon paper pack and the easy instructions for them can be found in the Imagine book from CTMH. The artist used Dutch Blue cardstock as the base and 3 different B&T papers along with mattes from Holiday Red to give just enough accent to make the pictures pop. The American Pride is a sticker from Me and My Big Idea company and is accented with decorative brads.

From Cindy Hardy

Cindy Hardy shared her designs from a collection of pictures from a recent vacation. She used 2 full sheets of B&T from the Simple Pleasures pack as her base page here, and tore a Desert Sand card stock in half (with extra tearing) to make the "beach" part of the layout. The cardstock was also wrinkled slightly and distressed with Cocoa ink on the raised areas as well as the white torn edge.

In keeping with the look, she tore and distressed the journaling card and the matte for it. She added some stamped, distressed images and Cricut lettering for the title.

Sarsaparilla Layouts

Yes - Stinkin' Cute! The left layout was a make and take from one of my Open Houses. It was super simple! Just a 4 x 11 B&T with a 3 x 10 plaid B&T overlapping it - all vertical. A Bamboo cardstock strip 2 1/2 x 12 goes horizontally across the other two pieces.

(I think this is Alissa's layout, but if you recognize it as yours, let me know!) She continued the theme onto the second layout, using larger pieces (7 x 12 and 7 x 7, but the same overlapping genre) and matching stick ease throughout both layouts.

Layouts using leftovers

Some of my customers save every single scrap of paper they cut. It occurs to me that they can be terribly valuable and this layout is a perfect example of what you can do with just a little bit of old paper.

First, Lynn started with Topiary cardstock. She had a scrap of old paper (the one with squares) that was about 1 1/2 x 12. Using Creative Memory cutting system, she cut the strip almost in half with a wavy edge and made a parallel cut on the larger of the pieces.

For the top, she used a piece of retired mono-chromatic paper (also topiary), but you can duplicate this look by random stamping with white daisy. Our pigment ink comes out very opaque, and will be totally dry in a couple of hours. (Or use the heat tool to set the color in a couple of minutes!)

Lynn brought in a second color (sunny yellow) with the Cricut letters and the mattes for the picutures.

Kym Glass Layouts

Kym used some level 1 papers from the Majestic Blue paper pack. Level 1 packs can make scrap-booking so FAST and EASY!

When I first started my Close to My Heart business, I used Level 1 kits to make 112 layouts for my daughter, Breana's, book. It took 9 days - not 216 hours, but 9 regular days where I cooked and took care of my kids and taught classes and ran errands!

So take a look at these layouts. There's a Cricut double title at the top of one, some stamping from the "New Horizons" paper pack on the right layout, a little ribbon at the bottom. In fact, aside from those accents and some matting she added, there's only one other piece of paper she cut - the 8 x 6 (or thereabouts) B&T under the picture on the right layout.

Precious Baby!

Special thanks to Lisa Navarre for sharing these precious layouts!

Lisa used the Boom-di-ada paper pack to scrap-book her precious baby girl. I love the way the pinks in the clothes is drawn out from the pinks of the "boom" paper.

The layouts here are deceptively simple. The right was created with a 7 x 12 piece of B&T (design) paper on a 12 x 12 Garden Green cardstock. She added some matching stick ease and a matte and accents drawing in some orange to the layout. The right layout was even simpler, using a 4 x 12 cut of striped B&T on a 12 x 12 Garden Green cardstock. She added a couple of pieces of stick ease here as well and matted one of the pictures in Hollyhock.

Well-Rounded Layouts

This double layout was the workshop activity that I had for a recent retreat. I had a LOT of fun putting this one together! I used the big circle and the regular circle templates from coluzzle and mixed a couple of different paper packs to complete it. I used the dot paper and the striped paper from the Good Times paper pack. I coupled that with the paisley paper and the multi-colored dotted paper from the Magic Moments paper pack.

With some many colors, virtually anything could've worked well as the accent color, but I had cranberry. Cocoa would've been a better choice, but sometimes I have to use what I have! The sweet leaf is the back side of one of the papers.

As for techniques, they are rather self-explanatory. Except for the largest circle, (where I used a dinner plate as a template) I used the coluzzle. On the journaling spot in the upper right, I folded the paper first and aligned the fold on the inside of the circle I was cutting so it would remained attached.

Layout by Cindy H.

Cindy used a B&T from a required paper packet coupled with some brightly colored cardstock to get this look. I love it!!!

The file folder was a coluzzle template. The small letters are the mini-type font stamped in white. She used a spiral clip and a library pocket and book card for her journaling with a star paper clip (from Office Depot) and some polka dot ribbon.

Her larger letters are from the Boutique font.

I LOVE the way all these primary colors blend together on this page. It makes for a great layout!

Notebook Layouts

I would never have thought of using the Notebook design papers on a wedding layout, but Sarah did an awesome job with these. She printed her journaling, a quotation, on vellum with rounded corners and attached it to the layout with pewter photo hangers.

She used the photo clips from the chocolate medley on the second page of the layout to highlight a picture. At the bottom of the page, she highlighted her letters - cut from a Cricut - with Hollyhock paper and printed out the definition of family to complete her page. This she attached using eyelets at the bottom of that page.

Final Vellum Techniques

For the last example, I made soft folds in the vellum, rather than the hard ones that I used when I made the stained glass look. I rubbed them with a Moonstruck stamp pad on the front of the vellum and stamped the dolphin image on the back of the vellum. After the dolphins were dry, I highlighted them with water-color pencils in gray and blue and smeared them with a water brush pen. I completed the waterish look by tearing the vellum and distressing the edge, also with Moonstruck ink. To complete the artwork, I placed the stamped vellum over a cardstock with the stamped image of the whales.

More Vellum Techniques

Stamping with vellum can lead to perfectly ingenius designs. I flat-out LOVE the dolphin picture in the second example. I did something like it using a snowman on some cards I made this last Christmas. To create this effect, you'll use some appropriate stamp (something that would go with water or ice, or you could even use letters). Stamp the image at the top half of the card - onto the cardstock base. Stamp the image again on the bottom side of the vellum (stamp it and turn the vellum over after it is totally dry) to make the mirror appearance. For the dolphins, I enhanced the vellum by "painting" with the water brush using Outdoor Denim ink on the NON-STAMPED side of the vellum and, after tearing the edge of the vellum, distressing that edge with the same Outdoor Denim inkpad.

Vellum Techniques

I love using vellum on my layouts and on cards and years ago, I even taught a workshop on the techniques that can be used with it. It can be a little tricky, but I have some tricks to working with it.

• Use it as your medium for journaling. You can write on it, allowing plenty of drying time, or just print your journaling out onto it from your computer. Vellum sheets will go in most printers just like regular paper.


• Adhering vellum to your project can be the trickiest of all! If I have paper on my vellum like in the example, I'll adhere the vellum to the base using Mono-adhesive right under the paper. If there isn't any paper on the top of the vellum, I'll use another method of connecting the vellum because I just haven't found an adhesive that doesn't show through. I often use brads or eyelets in the corners or use something of the same in the middle and incorporate it into my design. As a last resort, I'll use the tiniest of dots of Liquid Glass to adhere the vellum and then put another on the top of the vellum as decoration.
  


• Make sharp random folds in it to give your artwork a stained glass effect like you can see in the example. You can even color the different sections with markers, intensifying the effect. Chalk or "paint" with a water pen dipped in ink for a more transparent look to the color. CTMH sells several stamps with a stained glass feel too them. Stamping them in black on the top of the vellum after coloring the bottom of the vellum completes the stained glass picture.

Blessing Book

Some friends at our church are moving away and I was torn as to what to do for them. One of our mutual friends suggested a blessing book like she had seen at a shower. Well, that really jazzed me! I got online and began looking up all sorts of quotation websites. I found some great ones - mainly when I "Googled" inspiration and quotation. I also found some great scriptures when I added that word to my search.

Some of them I printed directly off of my computer, but some of them I just wrote up myself using a calligraphy marker. This booklet wasn't hard to make, with 9-inch flaps. I created it by using 4 12x6 inch pieces. I scored 2 of the pieces at 3 inches and again at 9 inches. These 2 pieces I adhered to a 6 x 6 square (which makes up the back of the booklet) so that they were side by side.
Once those two pages are created, make two more exactly the same way. Adhere them directly on top of the first two pages sticking down only the 3-inch flap, side-by-side, just like before. You can see in the picture with the flowers how the flap on the back page, covered with the pink and green plaid, is sticking out on the side.

Once your book is finished, it will have 4 pages, 2 on each side of a 6 x 6 base. Each page is 6 x 6 with a 3 x 6 flap that folds out.

At this point, your 6x6 base has a back cardstock cover and two layers of side-by-side cardstocks (3 x 6 flaps). Use another 6 x 12 piece, scored at 3 and 9, to cover the base. The flaps are folded in, like the picture below and connected with ribbon, a paper strap, or cut stamps like mine shows.


Inside my base flaps, I put yet another 12 x 4 cardstock - this time scored at 4 and 8 in an accordion fold. In this last "locked" booklet, I wrote my regards as well as the poem by Robert Frost called The Road not Taken in this section.

I've seen this type of project done in Christmas paper with little elves all through it. I think it would be great for a baby book using the CTMH paper pack called "Sweet Pea" or a kid book using the new "Animal Cookies" paper pack. For mine, I used a CTMH limited edition called Key to My Heart. I never miss out on the limited editions - especially those with stamp sets included like this one. I LOVE that key and keyhole set! These papers are some of my favorites, and I wish they were still available. BUT, they are very similar to the CTMH Perfect Day papers. Woohoo!

Father's Day Gift Album

I made this up for a workshop coming up this weekend. I got the idea from our newest Idea Book.

I decorated the new 4 x 6 binder first with inks. I sponged it all over with Garden Green, then edged it and distressed the sides of it using Barn Red ink. I distressed the B&T's (from the Back Country Paper pack) with Barn Red as well.

I stamped the letters in Outdoor Denim on Barn Red cardstock and added brass brads and a piece from the new Color Dimensional Elements "Adventure" set to finish off the cover.

This is an example of the inside pages. They are all similar, although each has its own, unique layout. I sponged both sides of each page with Bamboo and edged it with Garden Green. I used both Garden Green cardstock and Back Country B&T paper to matte the pages and added pictures and note.

Each double layout holds a picture of one of my kids and a letter they wrote to their dad. I used more of the "Adventure" Color Dimensional Elements throughout the book, too. Also, to protect the pictures, I put them into envelopes from Clearbags.com. I folded them up behind the picture and adhered them using 3D sponge squares.

Even though it doesn't show, the inside of the front and back covers were set up just like the front cover. I sponged them with Garden Green and distressed them with Barn Red. I used the green B&T that looks like a wood grain for the inside decor. For the back cover, I used the tree paper, centered, over the distressing.

Graduation Album

This great book was easy to put together. Ann didn't want an actual album, but she did want to commemorate the graduation of her brother. We created this using a 12 x 12 cardstock for the back and front covers, page protectors for the inside pages, and a 12 x 4 inch cardstock as the binding for the book. We tied inexpensive tassels that she found in the fabric section of Walmart for the binding. She used a tag and some tassels that she found in the lighting section for decoration on the front.

Each page told a different piece of his journey and saved the memories of his special day. We used an old CTMH kit for this, but our new Silhouette paper package and stickease would be perfect for this project. You can easily add the school color to the pallet by adding some detail stamps to the paper and using matching cardstock as photo matting.

Layouts from Christy

This is another set of layouts from Christy. Notice the silver hinges in the layout with the wedding cake. You can actually use those hinges by cutting a slit in the page protector and threading the "lid" through the slit. I have used things like that before, however I always make the picture the base of the section - under the page protector. I let the "lid" be journaling, artwork, or souvenirs.

In the bottom layout, that issue is remedied with the use of acid-free envelopes from clearbags.com. You can add a stack of pictures to your page just by attaching the protective bags and again, cutting a slit in the page protector to let the stack pull through.

If you try one of these ideas, please share it !

Chelsea's Baby Shower Layout

Chelsea shared this layout. I think it's a great example of using invitations in your layouts. The most important aspect is to make sure you use papers that will coordinate with the invitation. The pink shade that Chelsea used doesn't exactly match the colors on the invitation, but it coordinates - it doesn't clash with the shade.

I'm not a color guru, but I've learned so much about it since I started this journey with CTMH. For instance, this pink has purple overtones. They're not obvious at all, but if you put this pink next to one with orange overtones - like a salmon color - you would see a distinctive and often unpleasant difference.

In this case, while the colors aren't exact, the shading works well together with all the pinks being of the purply variety. The brown she is using is sort of a dark chocolate and also doesn't exactly match, but goes with the brown of the invitation. Browns also have shadings, from green to orange tones. This brown is rather green in tone, but not extremely. She embellished the brown cardstock with an impression machine that did a dry-emboss pattern on it. The "Love" label is from the Cricut, I think. I have the vague impression that it was a temporary label that she planned to switch out with something else, but I may be confusing her with one of the other guests. I think, if it were me, I would stamp the "LOVE" on some of the plain brown cardstock - that hasn't been impressed - in White Daisy. I would cut it out in an oval shape and maybe even edge the oval in the white daisy as well. Then I'd further accent it by raising it on a 3D foam square.

I really like this page! It is simplicity itself, starting with a solid, brightly colored base and having no other paper than a diagonally set design sheet. The only other papers on the layout are small-print mats for the pictures. What a quick way to introduce a section of pages from a singular event!

Perfect Day Double layout!

Brandy used the Perfect Day paper to make this cute double layout.

You know, when I first started scrap-booking, my pages were generally the same: white base, photos on cardstock mattes, title, journaling or captions, and stickers - lots of stickers! How things have changed!

Brandy has used a colored base to start with (Desert Sand) and shows it as a frame on the right layout and with turned-down corners on the left layout. (BTW, did you know that the Perfect Day paper has a design on the back that will show when you bend down the corners?)

No stickers here! Just stamped images and sentiments, ribbon, a paper flower, and accents used to make the tag ties. Scrap-booking has come a LONG way!

Perfect Day layout from Brandy

This paper pack has become a favorite with my club members and retreaters. In this layout, (looks like a variation on an Imagine design?) Brandy also used some of the matching stickease. Checkout the strip on the top left corner, as well as the sentiment and circular embellishment at the bottom. (Could those be pockets??)

The details are really attended to in this layout. The paper tearing at the top is echoed at the bottom and all cut edges are distressed with inking.

This paper highlights the newest colors from CTMH: Tulip (the dark pink), Sorbet (the orangey pink), Juniper (the bluish-green), and Creme' Broulee (the creamy yellow). I can't wait to see this layout when it is complete with pictures!

Limited Edition!

This awesome Key to My Heart paper pack/stamp set is only available until February 5!

Thanks SARAH for sharing these pages! I LOVE them!

The colors are our new ones: Sorbet, Juniper, Tulip, and Creme Brulee. However, if you're seeing this AFTER 2/5/09, don't dismay! This color scheme (and close to it) is available in the Perfect Day paper pack and also some of it is available in the Unforgettable paper pack!