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Scrapbook Storytelling
E-Zine
Winter 2003
"Because a memory a day keeps the blues far
away."
NEWS FLASH*NEWS FLASH
Starting this January, Journaling Goddess Joanna Campbell
Slan will be writing a new column for Pages of the Heart. You'll want to
check out this new monthly helping of journaling inspiration. Go to www.pagesoftheheart.net
Contents
- Scrapbooking Ideas for Winter
- Page Design Workshop-From Trash to Treasure
- A Milk Jug Ring Shaker "Circle"
- An Ink Pen Spring Reindeer
- Book Review and Giveaway-Living Family History
- Featured Journaling Technique-Wishing...
- What is Scrapbooking?
- New Collage Packet from Cut-It-Up
- Stuff You Need to Know--Contact and e-zine dues information.
Scrapbooking Ideas for Winter:
- Create a "Cuddle Up" page. Seems to me that winter is the best time
for snuggling. Even my teenage son, who normally doesn't want to be in
physical contact with his Mother, likes to cuddle up in the cold. Where
do you and your family members go to snuggle? Do you have a favorite
chair? Blanket or throw? Warming beverage? (We discovered
Butterfingers-flavored hot chocolate this year. Wowzer.)
- Scrapbook your Christmas card list. If you care enough (and are
organized enough) to send a card, why not dedicate a page to your
recipients? Add the addresses, put the list in a pocket and save
yourself some time next year. Explain why these friendships are
important to you. Create a pocket for the cards you receive.
- Journal about your holiday gifts. Remember when your child lusted
after that one hard-to-find toy? How has that changed? Or has
it? Consider: Have you handmade any gifts? Why? What
was so special about the gift or the recipient? I made my brother-in-law
a small "angel dog" ornament as a remembrance of his beloved Chow Chow that
died after 15 years of love and companionship. Have your gift-giving
habits changed? A friend told me that her family decided to quit loading
up on "stuff." Instead each member chose a charity to support. The
other family members then give to that charity-a gift of money, time or other
assistance. "I figured it was cheating to just write a check so I'm
spending the day at the Cancer Recovery Center as a volunteer," she
explained. "It's my sister's favorite charity, so this is my gift to
her." Is that wonderful or what?
***Page Design Workshop***
From Trash to Treasure: A Plastic
Milk Jug Ring and An Ink Pen Spring
1. Gingerbread House--A Milk Jug Ring Shaker "Circle"
Here are the steps: #1) I glued the ring to a piece of copier
transparency. #2) I carefully cut off the excess transparency. (You
won't get it perfectly round, but don't worry.) #3) I glued gift wrap
ribbon around the outside of the ring. This "sealed" the part of the ring
that was broken when I pulled it from the milk cap. #4) I put beads and a
gingerbread man INSIDE the cap. #5) I glued another piece of copier
transparency over the top of the cap, again trimming it when it dried. #6)
I used my circle cutter to make two red scrapbook paper "donuts" to glue on the
topside and backside of my ring. This helped disguise any uneven cutting
of the transparency. Isn't the final product cute? I could have made
the back side of the ring out of paper instead of a transparency, but I like how
the plaid paper showed through.
2. Christmas-An Ink Pen Spring Reindeer
I shop for scrapbook supplies EVERYWHERE. I found this cute Santa
embellishment with his springy arms at Organized Living. (See Christmas http://www.scrapbookstorytelling.com/ezine-pages-2003-12.shtml#christmas)
I added glitter to his beard and white trim, gold embossing powder to his belt
buckle and blue beads to his eyes. He inspired me to make this reindeer to
complete the page. The template for "Reindeer" is on my website at http://www.scrapbookstorytelling.com/templates.shtml.
I took the spring from an old ink pen and secured it to the reindeer with glue
dots to create his neck. The antlers are wire, and the pattern for them is
part of the template.
*** Special Book Review and
GIVEAWAY***
Living Family History: Creating a Multimedia
Biography
Stop. Before you save any more family stories check out this
encyclopedic book by David A. Beardsley. Beardsley has written the most
complete book I've ever seen on the variety of ways we can record our family
histories. He explains the pro's and con's of different options:
scrapbooking, written memoirs, videotape, interactive media, professional
personal historians, and full-fledged multimedia projects. Then he
examines technological resources and software considerations in a conversational
"consider these factors" type of way. Next, he discusses aspects of the
process of getting down the stories, organizing the information and distributing
it to other family members.
Blessedly, Beardsley never goes so deep into "geek speak" that you feel
lost. He's a solid, personable guide through the maze of options a family
historian might have. Sure, the technology in this book will change, but
right now this book is an invaluable resource, a MUST READ before you walk into
Best Buy or Ultimate Electronics and face a young salesclerk who will leave you
feeling tired and STOOpid.
W*I*N a copy of Beardsley's book. Send me an e-mail by January 15,
2004, telling me why preserving your family history is important to you.
Mail it to me at savetales@aol.com and
include your name and postal address. I'll choose one of the e-mails as
our winner. Who knows, I might even throw in a few other books as
consolation prizes.
*****Featured
Journaling Technique******
Your e-mails mean the world to me. I've made many friends through our
correspondence. A few weeks ago, one of my e-mail buddies, Sharon Knopic
sent me this wonderful letter outlining a few of her wishes:
Dear Joanna,
I was thinking of all the wish lists for the holidays while driving
yesterday. I decided, while driving, to make my own "impossible Christmas
list." I ended up in tears, but feeling good. I wished for one
more ride in the car with Mom and Dad and my siblings on a Sunday afternoon,
going nowhere. I wished for hearing Dad's saw going on my back porch
just one more time. I wanted to pick cherries from the back yard with
"Paul, David, and Ralph" and make enough money to get a goldfish. I
wanted to roller skate until I skinned my knees so badly I had to come
inside. I wanted to make toast on a fork on Aunt Beesie's coal
stove.
My list went on and on, and I thought about how much I
wanted THOSE things. Then I ended my page by saying, "But at least I had
those memories." So many people don't have a good father, mother, or
know what it's like to spend family time. And each time we do things,
it's a memory, and may not be repeated.
Just wanted to "share" what you've taught me. Thanks.
~Sharon
What are your wishes? Do you wish for? When you see a cardinal,
do you make a wish? Or did you ever learn to make a wish on red
birds? What do you wish for?
***What is Scrapbooking?***
Have you noticed all the different types of pages showing up in magazines
these days? Recently a Creative Memories consultant came along to my home
with a school group for a scrapbooking field trip. As I showed the school kids
my most recent pages, the CM consultant's eyes got bigger and bigger. She
didn't say anything as I answered the children's questions. After we had
gone through several albums, and the kids took a break to work on their pages,
she came over to me and said, "I had no idea. I've never seen many of
these materials. They are all new to me. I just had no idea."
I feel the same when I look at digital pages in magazines. Wow.
I'm gearing up to try to work more with digital images, but I must admit the
skill and the finished products I've viewed blow me away.
That said, it's important for us to realize there's room for all of us in
the world of scrapbooking-Creative Memories fans, digital gurus, anything-goes
free spirits, pre-made kits purchasers, handmade paper makers, all of
us. Lisa Lee of Pages of the Heart ( www.pagesoftheheart.net) has this to
say about the different types of scrapbookers: We are all here to
be supportive of one another. My belief that ANY scrapping done is SCRAPPING
well done. Regardless of whether it is digital or paper. Regardless if it is
100% hand-created, digital or paper. Let me put this from a paper point of view
(simply because it is a similar point of view as compared to digital scrapping).
A paper scrapper goes out and purchases an album, and several page kits and
other pre-made items--regardless if they were handmade by others or created by a
company and printed in bulk. The paper scrapper then adds photos, journaling,
her memories, and lovingly shares them with others. THAT IS SCRAPPING.
A paper scrapper goes out and purchases cardstock and items, creates
handmade borders, toppers, tags, etc., to create her album's layouts. In fact,
this scrapper even tries her hand at making handmade paper! Then she adds
photos, journaling, her memories, and lovingly shares them with others. THAT IS
SCRAPPING.
A digital scrapper goes out and purchases her PC, Printer, Scanner, Digital
camera, R/W CDs, and a program for creating digital works. She uses pre-made
items from pre-made kits available within the software and perhaps even some she
has obtained from other sources (digital swaps/element sharing). The digital
scrapper then adds photos, journaling, her memories, and lovingly shares them
with others. THAT IS SCRAPPING.
A digital scrapper goes out and purchases her PC, printer, scanner, digital
camera, R/W CDs, and a program to create digital images/designs. She creates
background papers, elements of all sorts and styles. The digital scrapper then
adds photos, journaling, her memories, and lovingly shares them with others.
THAT IS SCRAPPING.
MY BOTTOM LINE: Scrapping is about preserving your memories in a manner and
style that you enjoy and feel comfortable. Scrapping is about putting together
photos, journaling, memories, and then sharing with others. (PERIOD)
It does not matter which style you take on. What matters more than anything
IMHO (in my humble opinion), is that your heart is fully in it, that you enjoy
it, that you are putting thoughts and memories in an archival format for future
generations to treasure.
In my book, for the sake of scrapping--all scrappers were created equal. A
paper scrapper is no better than a digital scrapper. A digital scrapper is no
better than a paper scrapper. A paper scrapper that hand-creates is no better
than one that uses pre-made items. A digital scrapper that makes every piece by
hand is no better than a digital scrapper that uses pre-made items. By better, I
mean--one is not above or superior.
All scrappers have different styles and methods. My heavens!!! The thought
of someone comparing my pitiful scrapping techniques against all of you is
frightening. BUT, as hateful as I feel about some of my work, I still proudly
share what I am able to create. I create everything lovingly and my family
adores the creations that I have put together. To be honest, they like some of
the pages that were total pre-made better than some that I have labored over for
hours to create each individual piece! LOL But I enjoy doing it, so I
continue. -Lisa Lee
Shortly after Lisa shared this with me, my dear friend, Nancy called to
say, "I just made this funky little album to take to my grandparents.
Could you come over to see it? You're the only person I know who'd
appreciate it." I dropped by to see the cutest, most poignant,
personal and loving album you can imagine. Nancy had used photos from
magazines, stickers, yarn, gift cards, and all sorts of stuff. She had
underestimated her talents, and I thought to myself, "THIS IS SCRAPPING."
The story, the love, the saving of memories were all there. No, it might
never appear in a magazine layout, but it would definitely make a lasting
impression on people's hearts.
This year let's make a promise to ourselves. Let's promise that
we won't compare our work to the work of others. Let's decide that
we will keep making pages that tell our family stories, and we will appreciate
all the options we have. Because...THIS IS SCRAPPING.
***NEW Collage Packet from Cut-It-Up***
The Sports Fan packet from Cut-It-Up has everything you need to make a
sports themed collage page. There's an overlay of vellum, a background
sheet of vintage newspapers, die-cuts, lettering, plastic embellishments, paper
for mats, and felt embellishments.
But I still like to add my own personal touch. So, to create Playing
Catch http://www.scrapbookstorytelling.com/ezine-pages-2003-12.shtml#catch
I cut out lettering tags from Paper Pizazz's Tag Art Letters & Numbers to
"write" the word "Playing," and then used Self-Stick Letters in Pointed Brush
from Paper Adventures to "write" the word "Catch." Behind my photos is
blue mulberry paper from Paper Adventures. Adding a strip of red paper to
each photo and securing the strips with eyelets made my photos pop. (For
more information about this collage kit and other products go to www.cut-it-up.com)
I find collage work challenging. A kit like this is the perfect way
to dive in to collage work. Remember, your photos still need to take
center stage, and it's easy for them to get lost on a busy page. Nick
Bantock, the artist who created the Griffin & Sabine series suggests that
collage is the art of playing. He puts down all his playing pieces
(elements) and then moves them around and edits them to get the final look he
wants.
****Stuff You Need to
Know****
Want to share this information? This e-zine is copyrighted by Joanna
Campbell Slan, 2003 and 2004. You are free to forward it in its entirety
to others, but do not reprint it without permission
Payment for this e-zine - You pay your e-zine dues when you share this
publication with another scrapbooking friend. (Had you worried there for a
minute, didn't I?) Pass-along is how this grows, and growth is our goal.
Comments? Contact Joanna at savetales@aol.com. We love to hear
what you think and what you'd like to read more about. We like questions,
too, but give us a while to answer them, okay?
Have a product you'd like for us to try? Send us samples at Scrapbook
Storytelling, 7 Ailanthus Court, Chesterfield, MO, 63005. Phone
636-519-1612.
About the author...Journaling Goddess Joanna Campbell Slan is the author of
Scrapbook Storytelling which has sold 40,000 copies in addition to five other
books on scrapbooking, one textbook on storytelling, and two inspirational
books. Contact Joanna at savetales@aol.com. You can purchase
her books through www.Amazon.com or www.my-memories.net
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