Archive for the ‘Hybrid Scrapbook Layouts’ Category

One of the prompts this week was to use the word “mend”. Rather than use the quote provided this week, I went with a bible verse.

I was thinking about the hard work you do in relationships. Tearing down barriers to communication, and mending hurt feelings, etc.

This is the design I did in Photoshop using mostly graphics from Tracy Ann. The notebook paper leaf is from Tangie Baxter’s Art Journal Caravan steamer trunk. I figured if I ever wanted to journal on this I’d write on that cute notebook leaf. I believe the bird house is from NLD and I filled the heart with some ephemera from Tangie’s trunk. If anyone needs to know about the other items I’ll have to go hunting because my computer crashed before I got to the step of recording the kit names.

And here is the art journal page after the hybrid touches. I used the Copic colored Multiliners, Liquid Pearls for dimension, Spica glitter pens, Copic markers/Prismacolor pencils for shading, and Tim Holtz red distress ink for the edges.

Tangie Baxter at ScrapbookGraphics.com is hosting an art journal online “class.” So far there are close to 300 people taking the class. Some people are doing a traditional art journal w/ paints, pens, collage, etc. Others are doing it all digitally. And still others are doing a hybrid approach. My first project was hybrid. I will probably do some of both, especially since I can do digital so much more quickly.

Here is the digital “canvas” I created:

And here is the completed journal page. I colored it with Copic markers and Multiliners. (Having the “lights” set helped tremendously for blending the shading on out.) Then I used Copic Spica glitter pens for highlights. Tim Holtz Walnut distress ink is used around the edges as are his yellow Liquid Pearls on the quote block. And the feet were heat embossed with a shiny metallic blue. A photo would have done it better justice than this scan because there are lots of glittery and shiny accents.

I also chose this 8.5 x 5.5 size because if I do illustrations it will use much less marker ink and take a lot less time. I have an old day planner notebook that I plan to keep them in. I’ll just do hole punches across the top. It was printed on a nice heavy Bristol smooth vellum card stock which holds up really well but actually soaks up too much Copic ink (not ideal for blending.) I’ll need to experiment to find something just as heavy but will work better with the Copic markers.

I am wrapping up a Bible study at my church on the Book of Esther. We are using Beth Moore’s newly introduced study and it is fabulous! Our last class is next week and I decided to prepare something special for my class. I was born in Kuwait and grew up in Ahwaz, Iran, a short day trip away from Susa where Queen Esther lived in the Palace with King Xerxes. I have prepared a little miniature album with our family photos of Susa and Persepolis. Persepolis was actually much farther North of where we lived, but it was the Summer Palace for Xerxes and his father Darius who preceded him as King.

This is a photo of me with my eldest sister Cheryl at the museum in Susa. It was one of our many trips to this area. Daniel (yes, of the Lion’s den) is actually buried in Susa, there is a Muslim mosque over his tomb. Susa, is also pronounced “Shoosh” and means “beautiful”. Shustar, is another great historical site at a nearby river. It means “more beautiful”. There is an amazing bridge there built by Roman prisoners of war in the third century AD. And another of our frequented day trips was to Choga Zambil, the site of the biggest ziggurat ever found, dating to 1250 BC. If there is interest in the other locations then someday I’ll do a second Mini Album and share it on my blog.

Here is a PDF of the two sided, single sheet layout with pictures of Susa and Persepolis. And, in case the folding instructions on page two don’t make any sense here is a link to the video where I learned to make the mini-album. Cut around the tabs on both sides of the paper before folding it! At 300 dpi, the PDF file is about 20 meg, so click the below image for a draft quality smaller JPG, in case you don’t want to wait five minutes for it to download. Just click on the thumbnail to go to the larger image, right click on the larger image, save it to your hard drive, open it in your photo editing software and print it with landscape and borderless settings. (Note: I revised the PDF so that the back-side is only 150 dpi and at the same time switched out a Persepolis picture. It cut the file size in half. Printing from the PDF will give you MUCH better printed results than by clicking on this preview image.)

If you enjoy my little album please do leave me a comment! I’ll pass it along to my family, as we all have fond memories of our 8 years in Iran. It is a shame that the Iranian government is not very open to tourists from America. There is so much rich history over there. When I did research to make this little album there was very little information on the internet about Susa. I found most of my information in books and newspaper clippings that my parents saved. I told my dad yesterday that I’d love to go back over there as an adult with my camera and he told me about the poor woman who was sentenced as a “spy” just last week!

This Mini-Album was designed by Holly Nester using licensed graphics from the following:

• Christina Renee Designs
• Tracy Ann’s Graphics
• Ruth Davis

No-one may publish this mini-album without express written permission from Holly Nester. Photo Credits to Don Todd and Copyrights to his family. The mini album and photographs may not be used commercially, sold in any manner, or be made available as a download by anyone but Holly Nester.

I have been sharing this in stages, rather than having one big “how to” post. It was very fun to do, though I can’t say it saved me any time! Hopefully they’ll start going faster, it took me several evenings and a naptime to get these two pages done.

But now I have my journalling workflow figured out. I purchased these “filed photo frames” by Katie Pertiet. (She must be my new favorite digital designer because I have picked up a lot of her stuff the past few weeks.) I filled in the hole meant for a photo with white and then stamped a ruled notebook paper design also by Katie on a new layer. I had to do some stretching an manipulating of the lines and the folder so it would fit my layout. I wish her frame had been in layers, that would have made it easier, but I still got it to work just fine.

Next came distressing and assembly. With a dry brush, I painted a very thin layer of white under the edges of my photo block to anchor it into the design. I didn’t want to work very wet, for fear of buckling the scrapbook page. The paint also helped with accenting the words Maui and Kahului to make them pop off the page. The photo paper, patterned mounting paper, and journal block were distressed with Tim Holtz’s walnut brown distress ink.

After adhering all of the elements I doodled around the waves to create a surfy mood. Finally, I added a photo taken on the Cruise ship in port and embellished the layout with some flowers and rhinestones.

It appears that this approach to my Hawaii album is going to work. This is my first hybrid layout and I’ve decided I’m in my element! I have really enjoyed doing the artsy side of card making this past year and wanted to incorporate some of that into my scrapbooking. But at the same time I was pulled toward digital scrapbooking. I’m excited that it is looking like my first hybrid experiment is going to be a success!

The waves in this layout were made with a fun technique I read about on a blog yesterday and I think Tim Holtz used it on one of his 12 Days of Christmas Tags. First I placed the Big and Juicy stamp pad face down on a Ranger craft mat, sprayed it with plenty of water, used my finger to swirl the inks, and pressed some glossy cardstock into the ink. As you cover the paper with ink tilt it every which way to get the ink to run around and enhance your texture. I’ve done this before, but the next step was what caught my attention for this particular layout. While it is wet sprinkle some sea salt on the image. The salt is a resist effect, and it pushes the ink away. You can then let it dry on its own or use a heat gun to speed up the process. With a large sheet of paper you may repeat this process several times until your paper is covered.

After my layout was in place I hand cut the waves to fit.

The titles were cut on the Cricut, after welding the letters in Cricut Design Studio, with Opposites Attract and Printing Press. I really liked how the Printing Press type matched the digital ”sun and surf” stamp.

The “manilla folder” was traced from a real folder which is not made of acid free paper. My next step is to figure out how I am going to place my journalling on the folder. Then I’ll distress all of the elements with distress inks and white paint and share my final layout. Hopefully by the end of the weekend.

In the summer of 2007 my husband and I went to Hawaii for the first time and had an amazing time. I have not started scrapping the trip because I’m so far behind. I decided to get busy during January on a first for me, a hybrid scrapbook.

Hybrid scrapping means it is partially done digitally and partially with papers and other mixed media. The extent of each can vary from as simple as the photos being embellished with frames, to an entire 12 x 12 photo print with some rhinestones added on top of the digital flourish.

I plan on doing something in-between. I saw an idea in a magazine recently (wish I could remember which one) where the pictures were laid out on an 8.5×10 canvas in Photoshop. That photo could consist of one photo or many photos with digital embellishments. Then it was placed on a 12 x 12 scrapbook page and embellished from there.

I’m using a Creative Memories scrapbook with sand colored pages. I plan on embellishing with Prima Flowers, some rhinestone flourishes, Tim Holtz grungeboard, and maybe even some paints. I’ll figure it out as I go.

So, here I’m sharing a work in progress. It is the digital portion of a two page spread. I picked out a very neutral grunged polka dot paper for the background and plan to use various colors of this throughout the album. Most of the graphics were from Designer Digitals because they are having a sale right now on brushes and stamps. I won’t do a whole tutorial just yet, but I will share that Katie Pertiet’s “Watery Brushes” were key to achieving this look.

I’ll share “step two” after it is finished. I’m not sure when, it may take a few tries!