Scrapping by Design

Under the category of shameless self promotion,  Cyndi L from Layers Upon Layers has profiled me today as an artist, and she’s included some photographs of my work. I’m truly honored to be included on Cyndi’s blog, among the many talented and skilled women that she has profiled in the past.  Thanks, Cyndi!

You can read the post here:Artist Profile: June Campbell

I’ve never considered myself an artist. Today I wondered, not for the first time, how do you define art? How do you define artist?  What is the difference between an artist and a crafter?

Someone told me once that crafters use their skills to create projects that someone else has designed. They follow patterns or instructions, in other words. Artists, she said, create the patterns.

I suppose that makes sense. I do some of both.

Are scrapbookers artists?  Some call themselves scrapartists. When does a scrapbooker become a scrapartist?

What exactly is art, anyway?  Some of the items you see displayed at the Vancouver Art Gallery are not pretty, not pleasing, often crude and vulgar, in my opinion. But they are art, apparently, at least in the opinion of the art experts who plan the exhibits.

This isn’t likely a topic that has any concrete answers, but its surely one that I’d like to see discussed.

Thoughts, anyone?

Heat embossing is a good way to create attractive embellishments, trims or decoration for your scrapbook projects, cards, calendars or other paper craft items.

Heat embossing is easy to do, eye catching, and once you have purchased your Embossing Heat Tool , it is relatively inexpensive. If you don’t have a heating tool, you might get away with heating your stamping powders over the burner on your stove — but this is an awkward solution.  I expect we’ve all tried hair dryers, but they are not hot enough to work.

In the video below, I have demonstrated two heat embossing techniques: one use a watermark ink such as Versamark combined with a colored, opaque embossing powder, and the other using a pigment ink combined with transparent, clear embossing powder.

In addition to the two methods demonstrated, you can also add attractive details to the edges of your matting or other papers by simply running either your Versamark or your pigment ink along the edges of a paper. Then, sprinkle with powder and heat as shown in the video.

What can you do with UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel), assorted micro beads, a rubber stamp and a Formica chip?  You can make your own unique embellishment for your scrapbook or other paper craft project, that’s what.

In case you are new to this, UTEE (otherwise known as Suze Weinberg Melt Art Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) is an embossing enamel with extra large crystals. When applied to a sticky surface, then hit with a heat gun, it melts to form a glossy or pebbled surface. When several coats are applied, you can add items such as small beads or marbles while the enamel is hot. When it cools, the beads are stuck in place.  UTEE is available as a clear, transparent enamel, plus it also comes in  various colors. There are tons of things you can do with UTEE, and I plan on making a video or two demonstrating this product soon.

Formica chips are those countertop samples that you can pick up in home improvement centers.  The pictures shows one that I made for a scrapbook layout. There are various ways you can create Formica Chip Art.

This is how I made this particular one:

1. Paint the formica chip with craft paint. Use as many coats as you need to cover the underlying design — or allow the design to show through if you like it that way.

2. When the paint is dry, stamp an image on the painted surface. Use any color you want.

3. When the stamped image is dry, smear a product like  VersaMark all over the painted surface. VersaMark is a watermark stamping ink. It’s a must-have product in any stamper’s toolbox. The VersaMark creates a sticky surface to hold the first coat of UTEE.

4.  Sprinkle UTEE generously over the sticky surface. Shake the chip to remove the excess, UTEE,  then heat with your heating tool or heat gun.  (A hair dryer does not work). Heat until the UTEE melts. The first coat of UTEE will be bubbly and pebbled, which is an interesting look. You may choose to leave it this way. However, you will need more than one coat if you want to attach micro beads or marbles.  To add a second coat, sprinkle more UTEE over the hot, melted surface. No additional Versamark is needed. If the first coat has already set, you can melt it again with the heat gun, then add additional UTEE. Melt again. The second and any additional coats will be mirror smooth.

5. While your second (or third) coat of UTEE is still hot, sprinkle with small microbeads or marbles. You may need to push these down gently using a toothpick or wire.

6  Tie a ribbon, fiber, lace, cord or string through the hole.

And that’s it. Add this to your layout, matting and blocking as you wish.  In the picture shown, I added a small sticker reading “PEACE” to the finished project.

There is an intersting tutorial on making an Egyptian keychain from a formica chip at this link.

A little while back, I discovered the most rarest of creatures:  a man who scrapbooks and admits it publicly. Alun Maxwell from the UK not only scrapbooks, but has a blog dedicated to his hobby. Do visit Themed Scrapbook Idea.com to take a look at his most interesting layouts and themes.

Anyway, I invited Alum to be a guest poster here. I asked him specifically to give us some guidance on designing for a male audience. Almost all scrapbookers are women; we habitually design albums, cards and other projects to gift the men in our lives. We have no idea how to design for men. Even the scrapbook layouts you see that have a male theme are usually designed by a woman, based on what she “thinks” men like. Alun came to our rescue, and here is his post:

Alun says:

For most guys, the term ‘scrapbook’ conjures up memories of large, scruffy, dog-eared softback books from our distant past, filled with press cuttings of famous sporting occasions, car pics, airplane pics and collectible ‘sporting hero’ cards. These cards were from the set we never quite fully acquired. So when we first hear that our wife, sister, sister-in-law, or mother has found a new hobby called ‘scrapbooking’, we naturally expect to see car pics, airplane pics and maybe some of the collectible sport cards that we never managed to get. Maybe we could swap.

Imagine our confusion when we’re shown page after page of flower, ribbon and button embellishments around ‘umpteen’ photos of our kids. ‘That’s not a scrapbook’, we think to ourselves. ‘It’s not falling apart, for one thing, and where are the sport cards and Bruce Lee photo?’ But eventually we grudgingly admit that there is a certain artistic quality in the work and if only it wasn’t so ‘girlie’ we’d probably admit we were impressed.

Then we’re told that we are to be the subject matter of the next ‘layout’. ‘Layout’? Acid and lignin-free? It’s like another language. ‘You mean it was the acid and lignin that faded my Ford Mustang pics??’

So how can you make a layout for your guy that is going to appeal to him? Well, it strikes me that men are far more linked emotionally to their childhoods than women are. After all, show me a guy of any age that wouldn’t want to play with his grandson’s toys. How many women yearn to play with Barbie? (You can get ‘Divorce Barbie’ these days apparently. She comes with Ken’s house and Ken’s car!) No. As the saying goes, ‘the only difference between men and boys is the price of our toys!’

No, to get guys ‘oohing and aahing’ over your scrapbook layout, here are a few tips:

1. Go for sombre or primary colours. Pastels are a no no.

2. Use embellishments that are evocative of a boy’s childhood. Rub-on and stick-on transfers are perfect, because we spent hours doing that as children. We’ll find it relatable.

3. Avoid embellishments that are evocative of a girl’s childhood. For example, any accents involving sewing are way to near the Domestic Science area for comfort. Likewise, button and flower embellishments are way too girlie.

4. Men are usually a little uncomfortable with unabashed sentimentality. So I’d suggest the journaling was more affectionate than ‘schmaltzy’.

5. We like humour. (Excuse the ‘u’. I’m a Brit.) If the photos can be arranged to create humour from the chronology, we love that.

6. Above all, we like to see ourselves as the ‘hunter gatherer’, the provider, the hero. These days those lines are blurred and many of us earn less than our wives. I think most of us still view ourselves as our family’s protector though, and any journaling that stresses your admiration for us in that role is welcomed – especially when we’re not doing so great with it.

Above all, make sure you include some collectible sport cards. Only kidding.
Happy scrapping!

***********************************************

Thank you, Alun.

I’m a big fan of using items of altered art to embellish scrapbooks, journals, greeting cards and other paper craft projects.

There’s something about taking a piece of junk and giving it new life that resonates with me. I like doing something to turn a discarded or unwanted object into a decorative and eye catching item.  I will use darned near anything that is flat enough and small enough, or that can be cut into sizes that are small and flat enough to use in a layout.

The picture shows an embellishment I made using loop earrings that I purchased for $1 at an Asian market.

I removed the earring wires using wire cutters. Next, I used a rubber stamp and stamping ink to stamp a small leaf image on a square of white card stock. I glued the earring over the stamped image, positioning it so the image is centered in the loop. Lastly, I filled the hole with a product like Crystal Lacquer or Dimensional Magic.

Dimensional Magic seems to be unavailable these days. Too bad. I liked that product. Crystal Lacquer is good also, and still available.

Since there were two earrings, I made two identical embellishments and used both in a double sided layout.

So how about you? What altered art embellishments have you created for your scrapbooks?

As I’ve talked about earlier, there are numerous ways to alter your photographs artistically to use in scrapbook layouts.

The two photographs shown combine paper piercing and a photo altering technique that has no name, at least no name that I’ve aware of. For lack of a better term, I will call this the “jigsaw” cropping technique.

These photographs appear in a layout showing pictures taken at the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival in Washington. I have drawn and cut a “tulip” frame and placed the photos inside this frame.

That is the paper piercing aspect.

The “jigsaw” cropping technique is as follows:

1 Turn your photographs over so the back is facing you

2. With a pencil, draw a number of intersecting shapes, somewhat resembling the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Check on the front of the photo from time to time to be sure you are not drawing lines through someone’s face or through some other key element.

3. When all pieces are drawn and the entire photo is covered with interconnecting shapes, begin at one corner piece and number consecutively, moving across the photo to the opposite corner. Continue numbering on the next row. These numbers are your guide to reassembling the photo afterward. Unlike a jigsaw puzzle, you do not have to spend all day guessing which piece fits where!

4. When all pieces are numbered, cut the shapes using good scissors.

5. Reasemble the pieces, right side up, on your card stock frame. Refer to your numbers to ensure all pieces go together properly. Leave a small space between each piece so a little of the matting shows through.

And that’s it. Simple but effective. Obviously, you do not need to use a paper pierced tulip frame. You can use squares, rectangles or whatever shape you want.  I have used this technique several times. Unfortunately, my best examples were done in scrapbooks that I gave away as gifts. I sure wish I had remembered to take a picture of them first. Don’t you hate it when that happens?

Let me know how you make out altering photographs this way.

Several years ago, I discovered scrapartist Rebecca Luden’s tutorial about how to make an origami rose”. I have made many layouts using this paper folding technique, and have incorporated this rose in scrapbook layouts, greeting cards, calendars and various other paper craft projects.

Thank you, Rebecca for the inspiration. I have demonstrated the origami folding technique in this video.

I’d love to hear about the origami roses that you incorporate in your special projects.

Looking for a special embellishment? Sometimes using clipart in your scrapbook layouts is the ideal solution.

If you have a licensed copy of MS Office, you can usually find all the clipart you need from their online collection. (Run a search for “Microsoft ClipArt). Otherwise, there are tons of clipart resources on the Web.

The thing to keep in mind is that you can alter or modify the clip art to suit your purposes.

In the picture to the right, I wanted a mermaid embellishment for one of my Antarctica expedition layouts. I found this gal at Microsoft’s clipart collection.  I pasted the image into a Photohop file and resized it to the shape i wanted. Then I printed it on card stock.

I went around the outline with a black gel pen, then I pasted shocking pink sequins onto her body. The picture doesn’t really do this justice, but it is quite a nice looking item in real life. I have received many compliments, often from people who cannot quite figure out how I did it. Most are surprised to know it is plain old clip art with a little extra added.

With a little thought, you can find many ways to add clipart to your scrapbook layouts.

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Following along on yesterday’s post, another way I sometimes crop photos is to incorporate them in tag art.

The photo shown appears in the double page spread from yesterday — the blossoming cherry trees in Vancouver. For this photo, I have edited it digitally in Adobe Photoshop CS3, then printed out a long, rectangular shape. (You could also use Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 or most other photo editing software). I have blocked this cropped photo on card stock cut into a tag shape.

Do you know how simple it is to make a tag? You do not need a stencil or other ready-formed shape to do this. Simply cut a rectangle or card stock that is a bit wider than your photo, and about an inch or more longer. At one of the top corners, snip across the corner, removing a trianglular piece of paper. You could snip right to the very center of the card stock as shown in the picture, or you could snip closer to the outer side,  leaving a straight edge on the top of the tag after you have cut both corners.

This cut becomes one corner of your tag. To make an identical cut on the other top corner, take the triangle that you have cut away. Place that triangle over the uncut corner, and cut the identical shape away from that side. Voila! A perfect tag shape. You can punch a hole in the middle and tie ribbon or fibre if you want.

Now refer again to the tag art photograph. Notice that I have used a punch to cut tiny flower-shaped holes in the bottom and top  corners of the photograph. The matting shows through. Punching small shapes in photo corners is another neat way of altering your images artistically.

You can do both of these photo cropping techniques either digitally or in “real life.”

A scrapbooker showed me this cool technique for  cropping scrapbook photos a long time ago. I love the look, and I have used it many times. I call it the “self-framing” technique.

The picture to the right is a snapshot of a layout in which I have cropped the two pictures of a cherry tree in blossom.  I cut into copies of the original photographs to do this.

Essentially, this technique involves cutting your photograph into pieces, trimming as needed, and reassembling in such a way that the photograph forms a border or frame for itself.

In the cherry tree pictures above, I have cut a rectangular shape from the center of the photograph, trimmed around the edges of the inner rectangle,  then reassembled and mounted on card stock.

The picture of the petrel (taken while crossing the Drake Passage from Argentina to Antarctica) is a similar example, but in this case, I have cut a rectangle from each end of the photograph, then reassembled and blocked the image. This technique does quite a bit to liven up these dark, moody, grayish pictures, but without taking away from the layout’s feel or “look”.

 

The albatross picture shows the same technique as the cherry trees.  Note how the cropping helps to emphasize the huge bird in the center of the otherwise bleak water.

The dark and eerie picture of the Drake Passage was taken through the porthole in my cabin.  The photo is typical of the gray sky and gray waters of this remote area of the world. In this image, I have used a six-sided cropping design to add interest to an image that could otherwise be dull and boring in the layout.

The great part about this technique is that you can do it digitally if you’re into digital or hybrid scrapbooking, or you can do it in “real life” by cropping the actual photos.

One word of caution: avoid cutting through key components of a picture.  Unless you were going for a special effect, you would not want to cut through a person’s face, for example.  Remember the purpose of this technique is to give emphasis to a picture, not to take away from the highlights.

If you choose to crop your pictures digitally, most photo editing software applications will give you a look like this quite nicely.

I use various other photo editing and cropping techniques in my scrapbooks and memory albums. I’ll be posting descriptions and pictures from time to time.

What about you? How to you like to crop your scrapbook photographs?