A Page in the Scrapbook of Heather Walls

15 July 2007 (afternoon)

Album: Trip to Biltmore Estate, August 2006
Coverset: Premiere Coverset 12 x 12 Ruby

The first thing I need is scrap paper to record my notes on for this post. I look around and see nothing useful nearby. I really don’t want to go upstairs and risk waking Summer up, so I scrounge a sheet from the trash I tossed away earlier. Unfortunately, it has already co-mingled with other trash and it’s useless. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I spot my stack of packing slips from my recent CM order folded on the dining room-turned-scrapbooking buffet and decide they’d make a great makeshift booklet.

For this page, I start with three photos: one of our room at the Inn, one of the fog that settled on the Estate the next morning and one of the view from our window after the fog lifted. I have one piece of memorabilia to include (a trivia card left on our beds for the turn-down service). The photo of our room contains a bit of my purse on the right side. I think that detracts from the focal point of the picture, so I crop my purse out with the Personal Trimmer. The other two photos are fine.

I lay all of these out onto the page and select a journaling box. I choose the color of the journaling box (from the Cottage Storybox) to coordinate with the color of the bed spread in one of the photos. I choose the size and orientation based on my layout so far (image 1).

During this process, Adam walks into the room and notices me sort of staring at the table. He says something like “Are you daydreaming about scrapbooking?” he asks. “Nope,” I respond with a half-smile, “just trying to think of what I want to do next.”

I then remember I have quite a bit to journal about on this page as well as another piece of memorabilia to include. (I want to cut the image of the Inn with the pool from one of my brochures.) As a result, two of my pictures get pushed to the next page, and I select a larger journaling box in the same color. Now, I have room for a title plus sticker or other embellishment (image 2).

I am not planning to use any background paper on this page because it is Gold Dust and the speckled texture works well with the items I’m including.

Summer is awake. Adam brings her downstairs, and I fix us a snack: cheese and watermelon. Summer eats all of her cheese and most of her watermelon. She looks cute with the melon balls tucked inside her cheeks. I resist the urge to take a picture. I clean her up, and send her to the living room to play with Adam.

Back at my scrapbooking table, I start thinking about how I want to title the page. Selecting a title can be one of the most challenging aspects of scrapbooking, especially if there is limited space. For this page, I know my title needs to be succinct. Fortunately, the theme of my page relates to “bed” which is a short word – at least in English. I think: I might be able to improvise on the phrase “time for bed” by using icons instead of letters. I search my stash and tools and come up with a clock + the number 4 + a moon with a hat = time for bed. Since I am able to professionally cut these icons myself, I choose paper in colors that would coordinate with the colors in my photos and the other items on the page (baby blue, yellow and brown). I use leftover scraps and adhere all of them to the cutting mat. I cut each image individually, because each one is on a different cartridge.

After removing the icons from the mat, I assemble them and add them to my layout (image 3).

Summer toddles over. She wants to get in my lap (and get into my stuff!). I show her what I am doing. She is more interested in the pencil than my scrapbook page. Adam lures her back to playing, so I can finish up.

I have some space below the trivia card on my page. I’d like to find a sticker or vellum accent to go there. I have a set of stickers that fan open like a Pantone color guide. I think there might be a sticker in there I can use, but I can’t remember where I put it. (See – it pays to be organized!) I look through my drawers, on the table and inside my pink plastic project tote. Not in any of those places. I look in my nearly empty CM canvas bag. I don’t see it, so I continue looking elsewhere. Eventually, I go back to the bag, and find it hiding at the bottom. I flip the sticker set to the friends section and see a sticker that is about the right length. It reads: “Life is a journey, not a destination.” This is the one I want. I set it to the side.

I adhere the sticker to a piece of blue paper and cut it so it’s just the right size for my leftover space. I notice the left and right edges of the sticker have a sort of scalloped shape, so I use a pair of decorative scissors to mimick that design around the blue paper (image 4). The scissors don’t make a perfectly clean cut on the longer sides, so I use my all-purpose scissors to finish the job.

Next, I write in my journaling box. I want to use a fine-tip pen for precise writing. I choose an ink color that is similar to the other colors on the page, but not too similar to the color of the journaling box. I also want a color that will be readable against the box. Based on what I’ve done so far, blue seems to be the obvious choice, but, not to be too hasty, I also consider green, brown and gold. Since gold is a metallic pen, it might not show up well on the box. Green is not a predominant color on my page, so I think it will stand out too much. Part of the title and memorabilia are brown as well as the sticker, but because blue is near the three other corners on my page, and it’s brighter than brown, I opt for that to balance out the accents.

Our niece Katie is on the phone with Adam. She wants to talk about our trip to NYC later in the year. What time will we leave that morning? What time will we get to NYC? Will we have time to walk through Central Park? What is the name of the place we were going to go to for lunch? What time is the show? What do I need to wear? I help answer her questions from the table. I’m so happy she is excited, but I'm so easily distracted.

Back to journaling. Now that I’ve selected an ink color, I consult my travel journal for some guidance on what to write. (A travel journal is an excellent item to take on a trip. You can record thoughts and details that are long lost after you get home.) After journaling, I realize I forgot to mention the name of the creepo guy from the elevator, so I asterisk the word “guy” and, at the bottom of my journaling box, I add a small footnote: *Niles. (image 5)



This is a good time to mention that it is okay to make mistakes. Mistakes often serve as the platform for a new idea (necessity is the mother of invention), but they also lend a personal quality to your scrapbook. So, don't be worried about making them!

Now, I adhere all of the items to the page using the Tape Runner. I start with the icons that comprise the title. Then, the journaling box because it’s the item closest to the page (it overlaps nothing). I adhere the photo next, then the trivia card, followed by the mounted sticker. I run the image of the Inn with the pool through my sticker maker. That image completes my page. I wipe the photo with my photo polishing cloth, slide on a Page Protector, and I’m done! (image 6) Time to make dinner!