Here's Looking at You

I’m sure you will agree with me when I say that there are some pretty strong views in the scrapbooking community when it comes to journalling.

Now I might be wrong, but personally, I enjoy both the pleasure of creating a beautiful visual memory and capturing the details, but not always at the same time. Am I ‘wrong’ to think like that? Well that is up to personal preference, but I will say, that I feel incredibly lucky to have this creative outlet. We are able to express ourselves with beautiful and functional products that help us capture exactly what we need, depending on how we are feeling at the time. I’m a firm believer in there not being any rules in scrapbooking. If it makes sense to you, that is what is important. They are your memories, in your albums. If you want to paint today and fussy cut tomorrow, go for it! If a project turns out to have more artwork than documentation, does it really matter? This beautiful life hands us fresh starts and new experiences every day. How wonderful to be able to capture them all.

Dear Jaime

I knew from the start that I wanted to tell a story with this project. The photo of my beautiful niece taken on holiday recently, really made me realise just how quickly time passes. It feels like it was just the other day that I was holding a bouncing baby J in my arms! The tones of The Reset Girl collection were a perfect match to boot!

I started off by feeding a 12x12 sheet of ‘Get Your Crafty On’ into my typewriter. I already had the design sort of worked out in my head, so I typed my journalling where I thought it would work best. I then went about creatine some soft detail with the help of some texture paste and stencil. This bird detail serves to strengthen the them as well as serve as a branchy base for my fine feathered friends.

I warned in my little highlights video that I had the urge to fussy cut aaalllll the birdies out of a sheet of Ready, Set, Reset! hehe. I just love them!

I’ve arranged them on a ‘wire’ of sorts. Growing and spreading their wings, just like my niece.

That cute paper airplane is from a pack of So Rad Clear Stickers.

One of my many favourites from The Reset Girl collection are the Library Pockets. How fabulously nostalgic they are! Took me straight back to my primary school borrowing days. I’ve popped my photo inside the pocket and then punched a little hole in the top right corner. For a bit of youthful fun, I’ve threaded a small ball chain through the hole and connected it to a die cut shape from the Bits & Pieces pack.

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By comparison, this next page has very little journalling. Instead, I have chosen some very fitting word labels from the new Carpe Diem Posh collection, to convey my story.

There is LOTS to love about Posh. The gold foil detail, script elements… the pops of yellow. I also love the feather shapes, which turned out to be the main design element in this project.

To begin with, I cut some feather elements using a metal die and Posh 6x6 pad. The leftovers were too pretty so waste, so I used them as a stencil! Using some double thick cardstock (which is great for wet media) I went over the shapes loosely with a water brush pen and some watercolours.

I focused the watercolour feathers in a vertical line through the centre of my page. This allowed me to build up more and more elements around them, using the same shape but in different weights and media.

Some vellum feathers added lots of interest to the background, without overwhelming the eye. I think they add a good sense of movement to the page too - like the many thoughts we have in our heads sometimes.

Another feathery element I added were some washi tape feathers. These are super quick to create yourself. Simply lay a length of washi along some fine beading/floristry wire. (Make sure you have enough so that when it’s folded over in half, your feather is not too short.) Then cut a leaflike shape using some scissors. Finally, cut in at an angle to create the barbs.