Artsy Made Easy

With summer here and day trips and vacations so abundant, I often find myself in a quandary when it comes to scrapbooking these outings. With multiple photos to fit in and so many stories to tell, I sometimes forget to have fun with embellishments. So I challenged myself to explore ideas for adding even more fun into my vacation layouts, and I invited my fellow scrapbooker Lisa Truesdell along on my journey. Care to join us?

	Supplies: star stickers (Pink Paislee) • doily (Martha Stewart) • Letter stickers and brads (American Crafts) • Punches (Fiskars) • UTEE powder (Ranger) • pen (Sakura) • ink (colorsnap) • cardstock • postcards • brochures • 12 x 12 layout by May Flaum
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If you have any brochures, postcards, or other ephemera from your trip, there are lots of fun ways to incorporate them. You can include a pocket or special page protector to hold all of your bits and pieces separately, or you can add them right to a page—whole or in part. I like to sand, punch, tear, and otherwise alter the bits and pieces to work for me.

On this layout, I punched shapes from leftover postcards and brochures. Altering your memorabilia to fit your needs is not only fun, but it's a budget saver too! Instead of buying an expensive sticker to match the character in my photos, I used a star punch to create a totally customized page that won't be like anyone else's.

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Aware of my tendency to skimp on techniques when working on vacation pages, I decided to add in an old favorite to jazz up this page. I sprinkled ultra-thick embossing powder (though any will work) loose on my page in a few spots and then used a heat gun under the paper to warm and melt it.

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As you can see above, this trick creates a sprinkled look you just can't get with embossing ink, and it only takes a minute! Just be careful to not over-heat or burn your paper and to keep the heat gun moving. Also, remember that this technique works best on no more than two layers of paper since the gun has to heat through all the layers to get to the powder.

Because I’m always on the hunt for new ideas, and because I love her work so very much, I asked Lisa Truesdell (a contributor to Ella’s new Eight is Enough eBook!) to share a technique for vacation pages that’s cool without being time consuming.

	Supplies: cardstock (Bazzill) • patterned paper (Studio Calico - map, yellow, globes, Girl's Paperie - banners, red dot) • fabric tape (Studio Calico) • corrugated letters (Making Memories) • stamp (Maya Road) • star pin (Maya Road) • ink (Ranger Distress) • jewels (My Mind's Eye) • tickets (SEI) • spray mist (Maya Road) • stapler (Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher) • 12 x 12 layout by Lisa Truesdell
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Lisa says: “When I'm short on time, I like to stick to a super simple design rather than skip out on some of my favorite techniques. On this page, I stacked leftover bits of paper to create a photo mat for my main photo; I unified them by stitching around the edges. I also added some strips of patterned paper, stamping, and embellishments to the top and bottom of the page to frame the layout. Since I love to use spray mist, I worked it into this page by misting my title letters—it's an easy way to add a little color without any dry time.”

All of Lisa's sewing and paper layering inspired me to have a ball stacking and stitching on a page of my own! To start, I drew a sketch to guide me, knowing that if I had an end design in mind, I’d be able to add layers quickly and purposefully. The photo space on each page of this sketch is 8 x 10, and by dividing it up you could use a few larger photos, lots of smaller pictures, or a combination of the two. Under the photos, I sketched in two 8½ x 11 pieces of paper, as well as thin strips meant for ribbon, and lots of room for little details.

I originally drew a two-page sketch but ended up designing a single page that matched just half of my sketch. To start, I created an 8 x 10 photo collage in a word-processing document. It’s easier than it sounds! I simply inserted eight photos into a blank document, sized them about the same (roughly 2½ x 3¼ inches), and then changed their orientation from in-line to tight. This let me freely move them around the document, and in less than 5 minutes, I was printing!

Supplies: patterned paper (Cosmo Cricket) • Chipboard letters and buttons (American Crafts) • conversation bubble (www.shopevalicious.com) • fabrips (Studio Calico) • tissue tape (Tim Holtz) • journaling star (Jenni Bowlin) • stamp (Catslife Press) • flower (Chatterbox) • ribbon (May Arts) • punches (Fiskars) • black pen (Sakura) • adhesive (Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L) • cardstock • thread • 12 x 12 layout by May Flaum

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After my photo was in place and as I started adding all of my layers, I kept in mind where my title and journaling would be placed, and how I wanted to incorporate little treasures like ribbon and a punched date tag on a fabric sticker. The sketch helped me stick to my plan and finish faster than ever—while having a whole lot of fun along the way!

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Before you start your next vacation layout, ask yourself what you can do to add an extra splash of fun into it. Whether you pull out some paints, layer some elements, add a touch of stitching, or even create your own embellishments, I hope you enjoy the creative time you spend on your pages.

Here’s looking forward to endless scrapbook fun this summer!