Get Creative with Mini Albums!

Close To My Heartfavorite place, feet, hometown, ideas, kit, memories, Memory Keeping, mini album, scrapbook, scrapbooking, Story by Stacy, Story Starter, storytelling, Where I Stand, workshop Leave a comment

It’s easy to think that memory keeping needs to be done in a straight, chronological line, scrapbooking your photos as they happen … hopefully, but you can share your photos in many other fun and creative ways. That’s what makes the Story by Stacy™ product line so special. As it’s name suggests, these products invite us to explore the stories behind the photos we take to uncover the details that make them personal and interesting. Story by Stacy™ products encourage us to consider taking a different approach, one that focuses on your unique memories of the subject or topic of your album.

A few weeks ago we shared a handful of ways you can use Story by Stacy™ workshop kits for the holidays. If you missed that blog post, check it out here. Because this month’s special features these amazing kits at a discount, we have a few more ideas for how you can document one-of-a-kind stories in the mini album format with Story Starter. Keep in mind, we’re showing you how to do this with Story Starter, but you could plug these ideas into any scrapbooking format. So many possibilities!

Idea #1: Where I Stand

In this mini album, the storyteller has documented some of the places she’s been, but with a fun twist. All of these photos show shoes and the place where she’s standing. The ground you’ve walked on is also part of our journey. These kinds of photos could be taken anywhere, and in this Story Starter album, sharing the memories and stories about her shoes and where she is gives it an unusual AND intriguing perspective. This is an easy one to take photos for since it could be anywhere—standing at work, in front of your house, on a vacation—literally any place that you go. These types of stories showcase your experiences in a new way, and it reminds you of the places you’ve lived, worked, or traveled.

Idea #2: Happy Places

This Story Starter album is full of photos and memories of places that make this storyteller happy. For her, it’s the beach. Each photo is paired with a memory about what makes these places special, and pops of color are added with the bright colors of the Hello Pumpkin Complements and accents of Sapphire and Mint cardstock to match the photos. This is another fun topic because happy places are unique to you! Think about where you feel like your best self—happy, whole, and content. That’s the perfect subject for a happy place themed album.You could create an entire series of Story Starters just to document the places that make you happy. Or, consider ways you can include other people in this kind of storytelling. You could do a Story Starter album with your family members, highlighting the places that each person loves with a photo and their own stories about that place.

Idea #3: Hometown

Another place you will definitely have stories about is your hometown. A mini album like Story Starter is a great canvas for capturing the things that you love about where you’re from, and the writing process will help you document detailed memories about that particular place. Did you notice what’s on our album cover, “(208)”? It’s an area code! Even the area code is something that’s unique to just that one place. Maybe your hometown is famous for something or has a nickname? As you write your memories and gather photos, think about the community, the landmarks, and even the people. How are those things a part of who you are?
The Story Starter format is also a fun place to try including different kinds of small photos. With the 4″ x 4″ size, you could use small instant photo prints, like we’ve done here, to illustrate your memories.

Feeling inspired to create yet? Just in case you need a few more ideas, take a look at the list below and the examples from Stacy Julian, on her blog.

My Playlist
- Music often plays a part in our favorite moments. Think about your favorite songs and write down why you love them. Then use a photo to illustrate the moment. If you don’t have a photo to pair with the musical memory, try including pictures in other ways. You could take a photo of the album cover or the artist. How you listen to music is also part of the experience. Is it on your phone? A record? A casette tape or CD? You could include those kinds of pictures and stories as well.
Memories about Movies/TV Shows
- Are there shows you like to watch on a weekend? Any movies you never get tired of seeing? Just like how the music we listen to tells us something about the time and place we live in, so do the movies and shows we watch. You can probably easily list some of your top faves, but have you ever thought about WHY you like them? Use the Story Starter writing process to think about the memories you associate with the movies you love.
A Day (or Week) in the Life
- Approach this kind of topic in a new way with Story Starter. Start by first going through the writing portion. Take some time to think about what a day or a week looks like for you. What are the highlights? What are your habits or routines? Do any particular sounds, tastes, or feelings come to mind? Then group those memories together and find (or take) photos to represent them.

Check out these blog posts from Stacy Julian, the Stacy behind Story by Stacy™ products. She used Story Starter albums to tell some fun stories about herself and other memories. Click the links below to learn more about each of these topics.

With all of these ways to share your story, we know you have so much to document with Story Starter! This December take advantage of the great discounts on Story Starter workshop kits and their coordinating stamp sets. Get individual workshop kits and stamps at 20% off the retail price or, because we know you’re going to need more than one, purchase select Story Starter bundles at 30% off their retail price! Not only do these make for great gifts, but they’re an easy way to create timeless treasures with your memories. We can’t wait to see what you create, and when you’re done, make sure you share your story!

Recipes:

Where I Stand Story Starter Album
C1725 My Acrylix^® Simply Said Stamp Set, Z4208 Story by Stacy™ Story Starter Workshop Kit—Dots, X6007 Lagoon Cardstock, X6027 White Daisy Cardstock, Z4230 Candy Apple Striped Ribbon, Z2805 Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z1979 Marvy^® Uchida^® LePen™ Journaling Pen

Happy Places Story Starter Album
Z4209 Story by Stacy™ Story Starter Workshop Kit—Stripes, X5986 Mint Cardstock, X6021 Sapphire Cardstock, X6027 White Daisy Cardstock, X7236E Picture My Life™ Cards—Perfectly Imperfect, X7236C Hello Pumpkin Complements, Z3386 Thin Cuts—Block Alphabet, Z1979 Marvy^® Uchida^® LePen™ Journaling Pen

(208) Hometown Story Starter Album
Z4218 Story by Stacy™ Short Story Workshop Kit—Lagoon, Z4208 Story by Stacy™ Story Starter Workshop Kit—Candy Apple, X6027 White Daisy Cardstock, X7236E Picture My Life™ Cards—Perfectly Imperfect, X7236C Hello Pumpkin Complements, Z4159 Thin Cuts—Block Numbers, Z1979 Marvy^® Uchida^® LePen™ Journaling Pen

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December 6, 2018Create, Learn

Create Decorative Borders for All Kinds of Artwork

Close To My Heartborders, cuttlebug, die cuts, die-cutting, dies, floral, flower, fringe, leafs, leaves, Patterns, pull tab, scallop, Thin Cuts 3 Comments

If you’ve ever found yourself at a loss for how to transform plain, straight lines on your papers into sensational, artistic statements, the Decorative Borders Thin Cuts set is the answer! These dies give you so many options for adding fun effects to your artwork. Take a look at all the unique shapes you can get from this one set:

This first photo shows the dies in this set made to cut away the edges of your papers, leaving the rest of the piece in tact. Here you’ll see papers we’ve cut with the small scallop, the fringe border, the large scallop, and the notebook paper dies. Notice that you can repeat these cuts to add the effects to a piece of paper larger than the die, as we did with the small scallop border. Accomplish this by repositioning the die after the first cut and sending it through your embossing machine a second time. Also note the faux stitching detail on both of the scallop borders!

These next two dies are a bit more traditional in that they cut shapes to be used as embellishments. These borders work especially well when layered with other paper strips and accents.

This last group we’ll call our “special effects” dies, for obvious reasons! Rather than cut a complete shape, these borders add patterns while leaving your paper intact. As we saw with the small scallop border, many of these can be repeated over large pieces of paper. Hopefully you also picked out the fun “pull tab” created by the far left die. Let’s get a closer look at what that looks like in artwork!

The pull tab die is a great way to add an interactive element to cards and other artwork. The die is designed to leave tiny connection points down the length of the cut shape, resulting in a perforated paper shape that is easy to tear away, revealing a stamped message beneath. Because this is such a fun effect, we’ve put together a brief tutorial for adding a pull tab to a custom-made envelope.

Start with a 5¾” x 7¾” piece of cardstock for your envelope base. Fold and score the envelope 3 3/8″ up from the bottom.

Next, use a separate 3″ x 5¾” piece of cardstock for the envelope flap. Score the envelope flap 1″ from the top, but leave flat after scoring.

Position the pull-tab die about 3/8″ from the right edge of the envelope flap, centered between the bottom edge and the score line. The die will extend beyond the left edge of the envelope flap, and that is just fine! Once you’ve made sure the die is parallel to the edge of the cardstock, secure it in place using washi tape. Then use your embossing machine to make the cut.

To create the hidden sentiment that will be revealed by the pull tab, cut a 5¾” x ¾” cardstock strip and stamp the sentiment about 1″ from the right edge. For maximum effect, use a different color of cardstock for this strip of paper.

Now attach the hidden sentiment piece to the envelope base as shown. Before gluing in place, check to make sure your sentiment will line up with the pull tab on the envelope flap and position accordingly!

To assemble the envelope, you’ll need two more pieces of cardstock to form the sides of your envelope. Cut these both at 1″ x 3¼” and then score and fold both in half.

DIY Envelope with pull tab tutorial #ctmh #thincuts

Attach the envelope sides and flap to your envelope base, then fold closed, gluing all pieces to the insides of your envelope.

Next add your card and use adhesive to close the envelope flap. When adding adhesive to the inside of the envelope flap, be sure to avoid getting adhesive on the pull tab itself!

There you have it! Have fun adding pull tabs, fringes, and lots of other decorative effects to your artwork using the Decorative Borders Thin Cuts!

Recipes:

4¼” x 5½” Merry Christmas Card (Vertical)
Z4240 My Acrylix® Oh What Fun—Cardmaking Stamp + Thin Cuts, X7238B Oh What Fun Paper Packet, X7238D Oh What Fun Coordinating Cardstock, Z2895 Lagoon Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z6503 Mint Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2805 Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z1263 Bitty Sparkles, Z4216 Raspberry Baker’s Twine, Z4241 Thin Cuts—Decorative Borders

‘Tis the Season Envelope
C1746 My Acrylix® Oh What Fun—Cardmaking Stamp Set, X6027 White Daisy Cardstock, X5986 Mint Cardstock, Z6507 Clover Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z4241 Thin Cuts—Decorative Borders

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December 4, 2018Create

DIY Christmas Ornament

Close To My Heartchristmas, crafting, DIY, favor box, ornaments, Papercrafting, Thin Cuts, tradition 1 Comment

If you’re looking to make some personalized ornaments for your Christmas tree this year, you’ve come to the right place! By combining a few photos with the Favor Box Thin Cuts (die), our Oh What Fun papers, and a couple embellishments, we were able to create a memorable (and sturdy!) paper ornament to hang on the tree.

To make a single box ornament:

1. Use your die-cutting machine and cut a base shape out of white cardstock with the Favor Box Thin Cuts.

2. Cut 1¾” squares out of pattern paper to cover the sides of your box. Cut any photos you will be using to the same size. You will need a total of 6 squares, pattern paper and photos.

3. With adhesive, attach loose squares to the sides and bottom of your base before folding it into a box. (Do not attempt to attach the top piece at this time.)

For the top paper, punch holes where the two outer holes are on the base. The easiest way to do this would be to lay the top flap of your base on top of the square pattern paper and punch out the holes.

DIY Paper Christmas Ornament #ctmh #closetomyheart #ctmhohwhatfun #ohwhatfun #diy #diypaperornament #paperornament #diychristmasornament #papercrafting #diychristmas #chrismtasornament

4. Next, fold your base into a box. The video below will walk you through the process of assembling a favor box, from start to finish. For this ornament tutorial, disregard how the ribbon is attached in the video. We will be doing something a little bit different.

5. With your box folded, we are ready to add the ribbon. Because we will be covering the top of the box with another piece of paper, simply string the ribbon through the two outer holes and ignore the one in the middle.

6. Once the ribbon is in, add the top paper to your box.

Tie a knot at the top of your ribbon and you’re all done!

A single box makes a wonderful ornament on its own, but you can double your fun by stringing two boxes together! To make a double box ornament, follow all the steps above to assemble your bottom box, but before tying the ribbon together, you’ll want to assemble a second box, this time punching holes on the bottom flap of the base, too.

The easiest way to do this is to punch the holes out before folding the base to the box shape. With the holes punched, fold your box up. Before closing the top, take the ribbon from your first box and string it through the holes you punched at the bottom of your second box and tie the ribbon inside. Finish the ornament top the same way as described in steps 5 and 6 above.

These ornaments are the perfect way to get crafty this season with the kids, grandkids, and friends! With the right photos and embellishments, these could quite possibly become a holiday favorite!

Recipe:

Favor Box Ornaments
B1638 My Acrylix^® Modern Typewriter Alphabet Stamp Set, X7238B Oh What Fun Paper Packet, X6027 White Daisy Cardstock, Z6509 Candy Apple Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z4230 Candy Apple Striped Ribbon, Z4190 Red Pearls, Z4173 Thin Cuts—Favor Box

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November 29, 2018Celebrate, Memory Keeping

25 Journaling & Photo Prompts for Recurring Life Events

Close To My Heartbirthday, christmas, document, documenting, fails, gift, Holiday, journaling, journaling prompts, Journalling, list, Memory Keeping, photography, photos, prompts, stories, storytelling, tradition, vacation 4 Comments

Are you in one of those families that go to Disney World once year? (lucky! 🙂 ) Do you spend most Christmas mornings at home in your pajamas? What about a birthday? We all have one every year. Holidays, birthdays, vacations, parties—the good times just keep coming, and so do the stories and photos that accompany them.

Earlier this month we shared a post about New Ways to Document the Holidays. We thought it would be worthwhile to follow that up with some additional ideas and prompts for other recurring life events so that we don’t always take the same photos and document the same stories year after year.

The following ideas can be used to take photos while you’re in the moment or as a place to start your journaling while you’re documenting the memory. If you’re new to scrapbooking or you’re just in a memory keeping rut, the following prompts can help get you going.

VACATIONS:

1. Why are you going on this vacation?
2. How did you get to where you were going?
3. What did you pack for this trip?
4. Did everything go as planned?
5. Who are the people that are with you?
6. Did you meet any interesting folks along the way?
7. What was your favorite meal/restaurant on the trip?
8. What cool souvenirs are you bringing home?
9. Has your life been changed by this trip?

CHRISTMAS/HOLIDAYS:

10. What are you celebrating?
11. Do you have an ornament you love? Where did you get it and why do you love it?
12. What’s a favorite holiday treat? (Include the recipe!)
13. How does your family serve others?
14. Do you have any traditions?15. How does “magic” happen in your home? (Ex. Is there an elf sitting on a shelf somewhere?)
16.What wrapping paper did you pick out, and why?
17. How did you decorate your home?
18. Are there special movies that you watch?
19. Do you have any favorite holiday music?

BIRTHDAYS:

20. Did you get a cake? What flavor? If not, why?
21. What were the reactions to gifts? Was there a favorite?
22. Who did you celebrate with?23. Interview the guest of honor and record their answers
24. Screenshot and document birthday messages from social media
25. How has life changed since your last birthday?

We hope you’re as inspired as we are to use your next birthday, holiday, or vacation to try out some of these memory keeping prompts. You can document your memories in creative ways by taking photos and answering some of the questions we’ve given you here today. Focusing on sharing the details around all of these topics will highlight what makes each vacation, birthday, and holiday particularly special on its own. We’d love to hear your ideas for scrapbooking these types of events. Share them with us in the comments below!

Recipes:

12″ x 12″ NYC Holiday Fails Page
C1725 My Acrylix^® Simply Said Stamp Set, E1042 My Acrylix^® Outline Classroom Alphabet Stamp Set, E1043 My Acrylix^® Solid Classroom Alphabet Stamp Set, X9000 Seasons Mix-in Paper Packet, X6007 Lagoon Cardstock, X5986 Mint Cardstock, Z6503 Mint Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2831 Charcoal Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2731 Charcoal Exclusive Inks™ Re-inker, X7238C Oh What Fun Complements, Z4222 Hello Pumpkin Shapes, Z3314 Black & White Dots, Z4245 Opaque Matte Texture Paste, Z4247 Palette Knives, Z1979 Marvy^® Uchida^® LePen Journaling Pen, Z3503 Cricut^® Artbooking Digital Collection

Cricut^® Shape:
Artbooking
6″ Overlay <g> (p. 62, #M3F0A2)

12″ x 12″ Baking Magic Page
C1725 My Acrylix^® Simply Said Stamp Set, X7236B Hello Pumpkin Paper Packet, X7235B Boutique Paper Packet, X7238B Oh What Fun Paper Packet, X9000 Seasons Mix-in Paper Packet, X6028 Black Cardstock, X5986 Mint Cardstock, X6016 Pixie Cardstock, X6027 White Daisy Cardstock, Z2805 Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, X7238C Oh What Fun Complements, Z4216 Raspberry Baker’s Twine, Z4305 Thin Cuts—Fancy Tags, Z3317 Thin Cuts—Stitched Hearts, Z2027 Mini Stapler, Z1979 Marvy^® Uchida^® LePen™ Journaling Pen, Z1951 Memory Protectors^®Design 4

12″ x 12″ Wonderful Birthday Wishes Page
D1804 My Acrylix^® Your Special Day Stamp Set, E1042 My Acrylix^® Outline Classroom Alphabet Stamp Set, E1043 My Acrylix^® Solid Classroom Alphabet Stamp Set, X7235B Boutique Paper Packet, X9000 Seasons Mix-in Paper Packet, X5990 Carolina Cardstock, X6021 Sapphire Cardstock, X6027 White Daisy Cardstock, Z6505 Carolina Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2831 Charcoal Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, X7238C Oh What Fun Complements, Z4304 Loose Sequins—Silver, Z4241 Thin Cuts—Decorative Borders, Z1979 Marvy^® Uchida^® LePen™ Journaling Pen, Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape, Z3500 Cricut^® Artistry Digital Collection, Sewing Machine

Cricut^® Shape:
Artistry
¾” Banner <New Years> (p. 50, #M41864D)

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November 27, 2018Create, Learn, Memory Keeping

Treat Yourself to a Deluxe Scrapbooking Experience!

Close To My Heartcreative, deluxe, Hello Pumpkin, partial cut, scrapbook, scrapbooking, technique, Thin Cuts, workshop Leave a comment

There are as many different approaches to memory keeping as there are memory keepers. We celebrate every approach and believe that whatever approach gets your stories told and your memories preserved is the best! For some that means pictures and pocket cards tucked into an Everyday Life™ album; for others it means putting together a pre-cut Cut Above® layout; for others, memory keeping also doubles as an artistic outlet incorporating different crafting techniques on a 12″ x 12″ paper canvas. Deluxe scrapbooking workshops provide this kind of creative experience for anyone who wants to add a little more “oomph” to the pages of their scrapbook.

Our Holiday Expressions idea book introduced the first two deluxe scrapbooking workshops, which featured the Boutique and ‘Tis the Season collection. Earlier this month we released a third workshop featuring the Hello Pumpkin papers used in decidedly non-Halloween artwork. Here, see for yourself:

As you can see, this workshop guides you in the creation of two 2-page scrapbook layouts and two single-page scrapbook layouts, all in the 12″ x 12″ size. Each layout is made using a few papercrafting techniques, such as folding, angled cuts, and creative use of Thin Cuts dies to achieve unique effects. Take this scrapbook page, for example:

There’s a lot happening on this page, but we’d like to draw your attention primarily to the circle and heart right in the center of the page. Here’s a quick look at the technique that went into creating this accent.

Starting with a 2¾” square of Peach cardstock, we used the 2¼” stitched circle die to cut only half of a circle. The trick to only cutting half of a shape is all about how you feed the die through your machine. As you can see in the photo above, only part of the circle is sandwiched between the plates, resulting in a partial cut like this:

Thanks to our beautiful two-toned cardstock, when you fold back the cut part, you get a lightly contrasting color. We then layered this piece over a piece of Ballerina cardstock to add another shade and topped it off with the adorable heart sticker. Neat, right? And that technique is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to our deluxe scrapbooking. Take a closer look at the other layouts you’ll make as part of this workshop:

The helpful instructions that accompany the workshop show you how to replicate each technique, guiding you step-by-step through the creative process. If you’d like to try something new for your memory keeping, we invite you to check out the Hello Pumpkin Deluxe Scrapbooking Workshop, and see what deluxe scrapbooking is all about!

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November 20, 2018Create, Memory Keeping

New Ways to Document the Holidays

Close To My Heartchristmas, Holidays, mini album, ornaments, Short Story, Story by Stacy, Story Starter, storytelling, traditions 3 Comments

We are always looking for new ways to document this season, and today we have some ideas to share with you about how to do this, especially with Story by Stacy™ workshop kits! The Story by Stacy™ product line reminds us to consider the importance of the story behind our photos. Each workshop kit gives us new tools to keep our scrapbooking fresh and story-focused. You can use all of these ideas today within a Story Starter or Short Story album, but don’t forget you could also incorporate these holiday album themes into any scrapbooking project!

Let’s get started!

We know you have stories and photos between Halloween and Christmas, from family get-togethers to opening gifts on Christmas morning, but have you considered how even the little things about the holidays have stories? Even your ornaments and decorations have memories attached to them. Where did you get them? Was it homemade? Do they commemorate an event or special moment?

These types of small stories are perfect for a Story Starter album. You can use the Story Starter workbook to help you remember the details about your holiday ornaments and write small stories to pair with a photo in the album. By taking time to ask yourself questions to revisit the memories you have, your story will include the details that make these ornaments special.

The focus of the Story Starter album is, of course, the stories and photos you include, but you can add quick seasonal embellishments using a holiday stamp set to make it even more festive. In the album we’re showing you today, we added Candy Apple and New England Ivy images and phrases to our pages from the My Acrylix^® Christmas Countdown stamp set along with accents of gold shimmer trim. Just these simple additions gave our Story Starter album a distinctive holiday look and feel.

Here are some other ideas for Story Starter albums this season:

People or things you are grateful for this year
Tip: Try using the My Acrylix^®Grateful Heart—Scrapbooking stamp set for words and phrases to stamp in a gratitude-themed Story Starter 🙂

Favorite Thanksgiving or Christmas foods
Check out Stacy Julian’s blog here to see how she created a Halloween Story Starter album AND here for an easy way to document the things your family is thankful for in a Story Starter album.

With Story Starter you can pair individual stories and photos together about the same subject, like your Christmas ornaments, but we know that often you just have a lot of photos you want to preserve in a scrapbook. The Short Story format is the answer for you. If you’re anything like us, you’ve taken many, many, many photos during the holidays, and Short Story can help you document those photos by telling a visual story, almost like a picture book, with a summary at the end.

We’ve used Short Story to scrapbook a variety of photos from this little guy’s first few Christmases. He may not remember all the details as he gets big, but this Short Story album will remind him about the fun things he did every year during the holidays. You can combine the patterned paper and embellishments from the workshop kit with a few stamped sentiments and shimmer trim to give your album that special holiday feel. We paired the bright colors of the Short Story patterned paper with the whimsical look of the sentiments in the My Acrylix^® Oh What Fun—Scrapbooking stamp set.

With Short Story, you could focus on one particular Thanksgiving or Christmas or gather photos over a longer period of time to highlight the things that have been family traditions or fun holiday activities. Do you take your kids to see Santa every year? You could create a fun Short Story album that shows Santa photos over many years, and then write a summary about them at the end of your album. It’s a fun way to see how your family has grown or changed over time and see how your traditions look throughout the years.

Family Thanksgiving or Christmas traditions
Christmas morning over the years
Visits to Santa
Christmas vacations

Documenting the holidays doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Use these ideas to create Short Story or Story Starter albums that you can pull out every year to remember everything you love about this season, including your own holiday stories and photos. If 12″ x 12″ is more your style, that’s great too! You can use any of these ideas in your scrapbooking, just remember to focus on the story.

Recipes:

Ornaments Story Starter Album
D1799 My Acrylix^® Christmas Countdown Stamp Set, Z4207 Story by Stacy™ Story Starter Workshop Kit—Dots, Z6509 Candy Apple Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2835 New England Ivy Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z1985 Gold Shimmer Trim

Christmas Short Story Album
D1803 My Acrylix^® Oh What Fun—Scrapbooking Stamp Set, Z4218 Story by Stacy™ Short Story Workshop Kit—Lagoon, Z6509 Candy Apple Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2895 Lagoon Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2807 Willow Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, X7238C Oh What Fun Complements, Z4304 Loose Sequins—Silver, Z1799 Silver Shimmer Trim, Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape

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November 15, 2018Celebrate, Community, Create, Memory Keeping

Free Thanksgiving Printables!

Close To My Heartbanner, free, grateful, gratitude, Holiday, party, pocket scrapbooking, printable, thankful, thanks, thanksgiving 5 Comments

For many of us, the meaning of Thanksgiving includes a large feast with friends and family, an extended weekend, probably some football, and quite possibly a last look at “normal” life before Christmas decorations cover every nook and cranny of the world. This wonderfully busy holiday is, somehow, already here—just one week away! As hostesses of the festivities, it is our job to make sure that people are fed, happy, and generally having a good time. Doing all of these things while keeping everyone mindful of what they have to be grateful for is no easy feat. And then, because we are also the family historians, or memory keepers, we will want to scrapbook the whole experience afterward.

Challenge accepted!

Since we can’t come over to each of your homes to assist in meal preparation (or the aftermath!), we came up with a printable to help with the gratitude portion of the holiday.

(Download printable cards, here.)

As your guests arrive, or whenever it naturally fits during your celebrations, ask each of them to fill out one of these cards. During a designated time, a lot of people like doing this sort of thing before dinner, have everyone share their thoughts. Make sure to keep the cards so that later you can use them to scrapbook about your evening.

Another fun way to use these printables is within your own family. Have each family member complete one of the cards and then create a banner to display in your home as a reminder of all the wonderful things you have to be grateful for.

Even though Thanksgiving is right around the corner, it is not too late to add some personal touches to your plans! For additional free Thanksgiving printables, including conversation starters and thank you cards, make sure to revisit our post from a couple of years ago, here.

What are some ways that you keep the spirit of gratitude during Thanksgiving? Let’s help each other out—the more ideas we share the better! 🙂

Recipes

12″ x 12″ Blessed Beyond Measure Pocket Scrapbooking Layout
X7237B Grateful Heart Paper Packet, X6027 White Daisy Cardstock, X6010 Mink Cardstock, X6028 Black Cardstock, X6002 Espresso Cardstock, X6004 Glacier Cardstock, X7237C Grateful Heart Complements, Z4215 Fern-stitched Ribbon, Z3371 Gold Pearls, Z4181 Thin Cuts—Stitched Circles, Z1979 Marvy^® Uchida^® LePen™ Journaling Pen, Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape

Gratitude Banner
X7237B Grateful Heart Paper Packet, X9000 Seasons Mix-in Paper Packet, X6027 White Daisy Cardstock, X6011 New England Ivy Cardstock, Z4221 Mink Twine, Z3379 Gold Arrow Clips, Z4242 Watercolor Pencils, Z3224 Waterbrush—Small Round, Z2463 ShinHan™ Touch Twin™ Sap Green Marker, Z2465 ShinHan™ Touch Twin™ Turquoise Blue Marker, Z2456 ShinHan™ Touch Twin™ Mahogany Marker, Z2451 ShinHan™ Touch Twin™ Clay Marker, Z2448 ShinHan™ Touch Twin™ Carmine Marker, Z2452 ShinHan™ Touch Twin™ Golden Yellow Marker, Z2457 ShinHan™ Touch Twin™ Marigold Marker, Z1979 Marvy^® Uchida^® LePen™ Journaling Pen

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November 13, 2018Create, Learn, Memory Keeping

A Journaling Model for When You’re Lost for Words

Close To My Heart6 x 8, album, Hello Pumpkin, Important Things, journaling, Journalling, Margaret Wise Brown, memories, Memory Keeping, method, mini album, model, Perfectly Imperfect, Picture My Life, preserving, storytelling, style, technique, The Important Book 2 Comments

The important thing about memory keeping is preserving our stories.

With how easily accessible cameras are to us these days, we have been trained over the years to take photos of absolutely everything we experience. From an outing with friends last weekend to the coffee you picked up this morning, we are certain you have photos that you love but aren’t quite sure what to do with. You may have posted some of these on a social media channel and received a bazillion likes, but now that the moment is over you would like to preserve these memories somewhere more permanent. As one of our blog readers you know we’re going to suggest to you that scrapbooking is the answer. (And it is!) But, how do we scrapbook and journal about a cup of coffee?

Today we’re sharing a journaling style that allows us to talk about pretty much any topic under the sun that is based on The Important Book written by Margaret Wise Brown. In her book, the author dedicates a two-page spread to individual common, everyday things—like the sky, an apple, grass, and rain. On one page is an illustration of the subject and on the opposite page is a short passage describing it, starting and ending with what she considers is the most important attribute:

The important thing
about a spoon is
that you eat with it.
It’s like a little shovel,
You hold it in your hand,
You can put it in your mouth,
It isn’t flat,
It’s hollow,
And it spoons things up.
But the important thing
about a spoon is
that you eat with it.

Brown made talking about a spoon easy and interesting. If we apply the same principles used to describe this otherwise seemingly mundane subject in our journaling, the occasion will be rare, if at all, where we will be truly stuck with nothing to say.

So, how do we do it? We put together a handy worksheet to help us get started.

(Download The Important Things worksheet PDF.)

First, what is your topic? Write it down. Then, write down as many words and thoughts as you can think of that describe this topic. Your words, your thoughts—this is your story. Next, from all of these things you just wrote down, what stands out to you as the most important? This attribute is how you will start and finish your journaling passage. Use all the other information and details to fill in the middle.

When you are first starting to use this journaling method, stick to the formula on our worksheet to avoid any problems or confusion. As you get more familiar with this way of journaling, then start changing some of the words up (but not the order!).

Here’s a scrapbook layout about our cup of Joe:

The first and last lines in the journaling are the same thought, “The important thing about coffee is how it creates small moments of joy.” All of the in between stuff is insightful into how our friend in the layout feels about coffee, however, there is no question as to why it means all of those things to her. She let’s us know what the important thing about coffee is as she starts to write about it and then circles back to remind us as she closes her remarks.

To help highlight the unique things that are important to you, we paired this journaling model with a 6″ x 8″ album and designed The Important Things Everyday Life™ workshop. (Getting a copy of The Important Book itself, though recommended, is completely optional.)

Each of the eight layouts can feature something that is uniquely important to you, with a large open space on one page for your journaling and the facing page created to add photos illustrating whatever topic you choose to document.

Take a look at these other completed examples from The Important Things album and see how the important thing journaling style is applied to each subject.

The important thing about cookies:

The important thing about friends:

The important thing about my dog, Sophie:

The important thing about rain:

The generic theme of this album and the bright colors and patterns of the Perfectly Imperfect Picture My Life™ cards make this a versatile project to make for yourself, present as a gift, or both!

But, the important thing about memory keeping is preserving our stories.

Recipe:

The Important Things Everyday Life™ Album
E1039 My Acrylix^® Erin’s Hand Stamp Set, CC9900 The Important Things Bundle, Z2805 Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z6509 Candy Apple Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2895 Lagoon Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, X7236E Picture My Life Cards™—Perfectly Imperfect, Z4214 Hello Pumpkin Washi Tape, Z4191 Silver Glitter Gems, Z1979 Marvy^® Uchida^® LePen™ Journaling Pen, Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape

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November 9, 2018Create, Learn

Rolled Paper Monogram Project

Close To My HeartChipboard, DIY, F, Grateful Heart, home decor, Initial, letter, monogram, Monogram Letters, papercraft, Papercrafting, rolled, rolled paper, Rolling Paper 6 Comments

From nurseries and dorm rooms to wedding gifts and everyday gifts, or even your own photo gallery, a rolled paper monogram is a fun way to personalize any given space. For today’s tutorial, we paired one of our chipboard monograms with the beautiful Grateful Heart paper collection.

Step One: What are you making and in what colors?

The very first thing to do is to figure out what you want to spell out, if not just a monogram, and in what color motif. For color coordination made easy, stick within one of our paper collections where the papers and accessories are purposefully designed using the same color palette. If you’re looking to mix things up—say you have some older papers from previous collections that you want to combine with some of your newer stash—the new Love of Color book is a great place to look for color combination ideas.

Step Two: Gathering your supplies.

For this project, other than paper and chipboard letters (and some basics like a ruler, paper trimmer, and hot glue gun), you will need a small dowel pin to wrap your paper around. The larger the dowel, the larger the paper rolls will be. As you are choosing a size, consider that tight rolls are not only harder to achieve but will also create smaller straws, meaning you will need more paper to cover your letter(s). In our example F, we achieved those tight rolls you see using a 3/16″ dowel. It took a total of 40 straws to cover the entire letter.

Step Three: Cutting your paper.

To know what size to cut your paper, measure the width of the letter(s) you are covering and then add 1/8″. Our F has three different widths at three different points. The long side is 2 3/8″, so those papers were cut 2½” wide. The top rung is 4 7/8″ wide, so those papers were cut 5″ wide. And the pieces for the bottom rung were cut at 4¾” because the letter itself measures 4 5/8″ wide. You don’t need very much paper to roll, lengthwise, so be conservative and stick around 2″. Our final pieces measure 2½” x 2″, 5″ x 2″, and 4¾” x 2″. A little tip for when you are cutting your paper, think about the pattern orientation. Make sure that when it’s time to roll your paper the pattern will face in the direction you want it to.

Step 4: Rolling your Paper.

We’re up to the fun part! Grab your pieces of paper and roll away, one by one. Start by wrapping your paper around the dowel and then, while holding the ends with your fingers, rolling it into a straw. If you are using a small dowel, you will want to have a misting pen handy. When the roll is too tight you run the risk of cracking the paper and exposing the white core. If you see this happening, and it’s not the look you are going for, lightly (lightly!) mist your paper with a little bit of water to give it some flexibility.

Rolled Paper Monogram #ctmh #closetomyheart #ctmhgratefulheart #fall #autumn #monogram #papercraft #rolledpaper

When you get to the end of your roll, secure the paper in place with hot glue. Hold it for a few seconds as it bonds and then carefully remove the dowel.

Repeat until all of your paper is rolled into a bunch of colorful gorgeous straws.

Step 5: Attaching your rolled paper.

With a hot glue gun, attach each of your rolled paper straws, one at a time, starting at the top and work your way down.

Your straws don’t have to be perfectly rolled or exactly the same size for the end product to still look awesome. Take a look at this side view of our perfectly imperfect F.

Have we got your creative juices flowing with this one? We’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below!

Recipe

Monogram F
X7237B Grateful Heart Paper Packet, X6027 White Daisy Cardstock, X6002 Espresso Cardstock, Z3238 Gold Glitter Paper, X7237C Grateful Heart Complements, Z3418 Chipboard Monogram—F, Z3386 Thin Cuts—Block Alphabet, 3/16″ Dowel, Hot Glue Gun

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Idea #1: Where I Stand

Idea #2: Happy Places

Idea #3: Hometown

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