Making Memories

Three Designer Challenge - Shawna

This is the last of the three designer challenges. Today we are excited to feature Shawna. Shawna used Making Memories new Noteworthy collection on her page.

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For my layout I used my favorite way to scrap. Technically the layout is still 8.5" x 11". When I do my "off the page" layouts, I make sure they will still fit in my albums.

 

For this page I cut one of the circle die-cuts and two strips from Making Memories Noteworthy patterned papers. I pieced them together and measured to make sure they were still 8.5" x 11". I added my picture and the Noteworthy trims along the side. After doing this, I added some Noteworthy die-cuts. I using some pop dots to give them a little extra detail. I also added a Noteworthy die-cut behind to show green through the die-cut paper. Last I added the Noteworthy Shimmer alpha sticker for my title.

Thanks Shawna for sharing your talents with us.

Three Designer Challenge - Davinie

Today we are featuring Davinie. She used the same Making Memories Noteworthy products to create her own project.

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I often struggle with wanting to use both the A and B side of a piece of patterned paper.  This was the case with the double-sided striped paper from the Delaney collection.  I wanted to use the stripes as the background, but I also wanted to use a little bit of the pink on the reverse side.  I thought both sides complimented the colors in my photos so well.  What I ended up doing was trimming two 1 inch stripes from the right side of the striped paper.  I then layered the flower die-cut circle and the double-sided ledger circle over the space I trimmed out so that you can’t see the space.  I used those two strips of pink paper on either side of the ledger circle paper, B side. 

Because of the design on my layout, the orange strip covered some of the flower detail on the circle die-cut paper.  To showcase it I simply trimmed the flowers from the paper on the lower right and layered it over the top.  I added some orange glittered die-cut flowers on part of the floral pattern to add more glitter to the layout, which complimented the glittered alphas that I used. In addition I trimmed a tip of a flower on the upper part of the circle, and tucked the orange and pink strip underneath it.

After adhering my photos, trims, title, and cutout work, I finished off the layout with some hand stitching around the strip.  I just love the finished look that hand-stitching gives to a scrapbook layout.

Thanks for taking a peek!  Davinie

Three Designer Challenge - Vanessa

For the next three days we are going to feature the work of three talented designers. Today we are featuring Vanessa. They were given the same product, Making Memories new Noteworthy collection, and asked to create a project.

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I love this new Making Memories Noteworthy collection because it's perfect for a girlie layout! The vibrant colors and bright glitter accents add a touch of whimsy to my layout. I wanted it to be simple but visually appealing, with some added texture and layering. That's why I overlapped the ribbons and some colorful die cut accents on the page. I also printed my photo black and white to make it more eye-catching and this also makes the elements on the page all stand out. This is a beautiful shot of my little cousin and I love how the overall layout is clean and balanced.

   

Steps to create the layout:

1. Use the Noteworthy Delaney Stripe paper as the base for the layout.
2. Adhere a 4x6" photo onto the orange side of the Ledger Circle paper and trim the paper down to approx. 4 1/4 x 12".
3. Hand cut the left and right sides of the paper so that it fits within the Die Cut Circle paper and distress the edges.
4. Adhere Die Cut Circle paper to Delaney Stripe paper, add alpha stickers for title and ribbon (I overlapped two different ribbons for added texture).
5. Cut out the word "{Note} worthy" from one of the patterned papers and adhere to photo with a die cut flower.
6. Embellish with more die cut flowers, a journaling block and photo corner (I used Pop Up Glue Dots to make some of the accents stand out more).
7. Punch a couple of butterflies using your scraps of paper and adhere those to the layout.

Thanks Vanessa for sharing your talents with us.

WINNER, WINNER, WINNER

Let's start out Friday on the right foot by awarding some winners. Congrats to the following people who will be receiving a huge supply of Making Memories new Noteworthy collection.

• Emily (Justem)
• Pam Bennett
• Alli

If you are a winner, please email (jweston@makingmemories.com) me so I can send out your prize.

Congrats to the winners. Continue to check out this blog for more prizes, winners, and fun!

Design Challenge - Magazine Inspiration

Inspiration is everywhere. I am always on the lookout for things to inspire my scrapbook pages. Whether it be for color, design, or photography, you can be sure that I'll find inspiration about everywhere I go.

It can come from a color palette on my son's shirt.  It can be seen on a billboard as I'm driving on the highway.  I even love finding inspiration on food packaging!  Among all places to find inspiration, I think that magazine ads are the most common source.  Every day I seem to be flipping through some sort of magazine, and they are packed with interesting advertisements and article layouts that inspire any creative mind.

A few days ago as I was going through the latest issue of Real Simple magazine, this advertisement caught my eye.  I love how simple it seemed, and how it still had a lot of potential to dress up.  I saw the rectangles as photos and patterned paper, and I really liked how the title was split into two areas of the page.

   

While planning out my layout, I knew I wanted to use papers with subtle patterns.  This would enable me to embellish my layout without making it appear to be too busy.  I wanted to maintain the simplicity of the original magazine advertisement, but I also wanted to add embellishments so I kept the background and patterned papers simple.  This kept the focus on my photographs, which is always very important to me while creating scrapbook pages.

Today my challenge for you is to browse any magazine and search for inspiration.  Print ads are usually wonderfully designed and bursting with layout ideas.  Table of contents and article layouts are also inspiring because you usually have all important elements of scrapbook pages there - a title, journaling and photos.  Using magazines for inspiration is wonderful because it quickens your creativity process and allows you to complete more pages in a shorter amount of time.

Start challenge for you is to browse any magazine and search for inspiration.  Print ads are usually wonderfully designed and bursting with layout ideas.  Table of contents and article layouts are also inspiring because you usually have all important elements of scrapbook pages there - a title, journaling and photos.  Using magazines for inspiration is wonderful because it quickens your creativity process and allows you to complete more pages in a shorter amount of you. Enjoy!

Jill Godon

Guest Designers

We have received a lot of feedback from everyone regarding our guest designer feature. We have listened. We decided that we will continue to feature scrapbookers like you on our blog. The purpose of this is to give deserving scrapbookers a chance to show off their work to the rest of the world.

I do want to reiterate that Making Memories does not affiliate, compensate or sponsor the guest designers that are featured on the blog. We are simply using our blog as a forum to feature scrapbookers and their work.

If you want the chance to shine on our blog, leave a comment with a link to your blog so we can see your work.

Thank you to everyone for all the support that you give us. We sincerely appreciate you!!!

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As a bonus for today, here is a great project using Making Memories 5th Avenue program. We used trims and a grommet to accent this page. To do this, flatten the back of the grommet and thread your ribbon through. We tied the lose end by tying a bow.

Check out our idea gallery for more ideas.

Hey Nice Diggs!

Yes, we're catching up to our tech-savvy readers at last, and now offer options on our blog asking you to Digg us, or save a posting to del.icio.us, Facebook, or to add us to your StumbleUpon favorites. (By the way, if you don't Stumble yet, you've got to give it a try. So Addicting!

If none of this makes sense to you (as it didn't to me at first), please watch this video that explains the social bookmarking and sharing phenomenon.

And then, please take a moment to capitalize on these offerings. We're tying in a fantastic prize with your participation. So visit our blog after you've used one of our bookmarking links, and tell us what you did. We'll select three participants at random to receive the new Noteworthy collection. Consider it our way to thank you for digging us!

Winners will be announced on our blog on Friday, May 16th.

Want to Win a Scrapbooking Cruise Getaway?

Crafter's Home is getting underway with their first major group promotional event - a Scrapbooking Cruise Getaway. AND in July they are going to follow this up with a Disney Family Vacation - and the fun will just keep coming.

If you are interested in all the rules and where to enter, click here.

If you win, I want to come with you!!

Layout by Leah

Hi everyone, it's Leah! It's been awhile since I posted so I thought I'd show you a page that I made yesterday using photos from a recent trip. In March, I went to South Africa and taught classes as part of scrapbook road show organized by Scrap Shack Designs. I had a great time and the country was so beautiful, but I am just now starting to scrapbook some of the photos that were taken. This page was made using the Fifth Avenue papers, trims and colorboard stickers - I love this collection! Have you made a page using Fifth Avenue? Post your page in the gallery and link it here in the comments. I would love to see it!

I also made the flowers on the page using the Slice and the Basic Shapes card. This little machine is so cool! Once the flowers were cut, I did a quick machine stitch around the edges using black thread.

 

Before I go, I wanted to give you a couple tips today. Are you a frugal scrapbooker? I like to think that I am. I try to save my scraps of paper and leftover embellishments. I save my large scraps of paper in hanging folders but for smaller pieces I use Ziploc bags. For my long strips of scrap paper, I put those in a Ziploc bag too but to keep those a bit more organized, I used my sewing machine to stitch columns in the bag. For the scrapbook page I made yesterday, I layered a few of these strips of scrap paper.

 

I also like saving my scraps of ribbon and I usually save pieces as small as 5" which I can tie onto a longer piece of ribbon stapled onto my page, like I did for this page. If I really love the ribbon - like this black gingham ribbon in the picture with the jar - I'll save pieces as small as 2" which I can fold and staple on a page. For storing small scraps of ribbon, I use the Making Memories embellishment jar because the wide mouth and shallow jar makes it easy to grab the scrap that I need.

Well, that's it for now - have a great weekend and enjoy Mother's Day! If you have time, drop by my blog and say "hi". And if you're looking for something fun to watch plus scrapbook related, I also have some silly scrapbook videos there. Also, if you want more information about the products I used on my page or the Slice, visit Making Memories website.

Leah

Design Challenge - Eight Photos

Our challenge for today has to do with lots of photos - eight photos to be exact. I love doing layouts with just one or two photos. But once in a while, it's nice to put a lot of photos on a layout. Whether it's to make your photo pile a little smaller. Or to make your layout more meaningful or tell a story more effectively. There are lots of times a layout just calls for lots of photos.

I created this layout using the New Noteworthy collection. I love the bright colors and fun embellishments. I wanted to use the scalloped circle from the journaling notebook, but I felt like I needed a bit more color. So I used tracing paper to trace right inside the scalloped edge of the paper, and then used that to cut out the turquoise pattern paper to fit inside. This added just the right amount of color I was looking for! I also used a small strip of the turquoise pattern paper that was left over from another project. I had cut it using my scalloped scissors and couldn't bear to throw it away. I love when I can use bits and pieces from other projects!

 

So get out those photos and take the challenge - eight photos, that's all you need. And when you're done, make sure you share it with us by posting a link to your blog.

To learn more about the new Noteworthy program visit Making Memories website.

Laura Vegas

One trick that I use when using lots of photos on a layout is to crop the photos all to the same size and then arrange them into groups or line them up. The eight photos I choose to use really didn't match or go together. They were all taken at different times in different places. Once I cropped each one down, it eliminated any excess background clutter and clashing colors. Each photo was cropped 2.25 x 3.5 inches. After I matted two at a time on white cardstock. This same effect can be in Photoshop or a similar photo editing program by making collages and then printing them as one piece.