Charged with scraplifting in the first degree

[January 21, 2008]

I've finally managed to eek out a few hours since the holidays to continue work on my Biltmore scrapbook. As with previous moratoriums, I must spend a few minutes re-acclimating myself to my stash and photos and wiping the cobwebs off my tools. It is akin to piddling.

Adam, my faithful companion, is providing me with good company. He's online and just discovered a military patch that has eluded him for years. He's also watching Gunsmoke - one of his favorite TV shows of all time. We're both enjoying some time off work today. We sent Summer to the babysitter to play with her little friends this afternoon. I wish we could have about a month of days like this.

While piddling, I remember that I left off at the Winery tour/tasting, which means I can now move onto the tour of the Biltmore House. I begin by sifting through my pictures, which are quite a few. I might need to edit them lest I have 6 - 7 pages of just the tour. A quick count reveals 24 pictures. I review my stash for mementos and any embellishments. I already know I have the pic of the four of us in the Winter Garden inside the house and the program guide to include. These items may go in a clear portrait sleeve or memorabilia pocket. Because we couldn't take pictures inside the house, I know I'll have a few postcards to illustrate our journey within the house. I've organized the postcards in the order that follows the tour of Biltmore House. I contemplate copying the as-builts to go along with each page. Before I begin journaling this section, I decide to re-read the guide book to Biltmore, to recall the facts, stats and trivia of the house.

The first page will need to contain a title which I haven't decided on. I also want to include one of the smaller postcards of the facade. Because my camera doesn't have a panoramic option or a wide-angle lens, I often try to snap long scapes with multiple exposures. It doesn't always work, but, this time, it worked out pretty well. I use two of the pictures along the bottom of the page. (image 1)




Aunt Judy just returned my call to say that Bob is home now. Uncle Bob had a heart attack over the weekend and was in the hospital. "It's like nothing happened," she said. "He never wasn't himself." Adam and I are both glad Bob is recovering and that the blockage didn't require him to have surgery.

For the title, I consider "Biltmore House" and, using Titletopia, wrap the letters around the small postcard. I would then have room under it to transfer the text from the reverse of the postcard. That would leave the top right of the page for journaling. With my plan in place, I focus first on cropping and arranging my jerry-rigged panorama. I decide to cut around the house, leaving only the edifice itself, reasoning, as usual, that if I don't like it, I always have the other two copies of the pictures. After I cut out the sky using the multi-purpose scissors, I line up the two images and join them at the point of intersection with tape runner. I use a leftover strip of olive single color paper to anchor the image visually. (image 2)




I change my mind re: the large space for journaling. I decide instead to use the brochure on this page with a memorabilia pocket. Scrapbooker's block creeps upon me, and I get stuck rearranging the items, so I take a break to pick up Summer.

[January 26, 2008]

At times, it is easier (for me) to play with a layout mentally, mull it over, while occupying myself with other tasks away from the page itself. After some inspirational reading, I decide the layout is lacking something, a controlled image, perhaps. Now, ordinarily, a background paper with an image would suffice, but, after leafing through the Guide to Biltmore, I decide to create a backdrop which will mimick the sloping spires on Biltmore House. I'll achieve this with varying colors of single-color paper.

This new idea means that both the postcard and brochure are out. Since this is an intro page for the series of House tour pictures, one image, a title and a large journaling box should complete the layout. I set to work on the backdrop, trimming one sheet each of smoke, fog and key lime single-color paper. I cut triangular shapes from smoke and fog, where I've drawn faint pencil lines.

In order to adhere the backdrop, I first need to scraplift the panorama at the bottom of the page. Scraplifting is very simple, especially if you've used tape runner. Slip the multi-purpose tool (or your fingers) under the adhered element and slowly pluck it from the page. If any adhesive is left on the page and you don't want it there, remove it with the pick-up square (or scrape it with any fingernails you might have). Since I need the adhesive, I leave it. I connect the three sections of roof with photo splits. (image 3)



With a pencil (my indispensible tool), I lightly draw in the edges of the shingles. I'm fortunate to have been blessed with some writing ability because if I had to make a living drawing, we'd surely be destitute. As I clumsily make the rhythmic lines, I consider employing a straight edge to help me, but after a couple of the too-perfect lines, I concede they will look too contrived. While I fill in the remaining lines, Summer toddles over and sees me "drawing." She walks over to where her AquaDoodle hangs on the wall and lifts up her arm, indicating she wants the water pen so she can draw, too.

When I'm finished, I go over the roof lightly with my eraser to diminish its definition. After all, the naked eye rarely captures each precisiver line of a rooftop. Satisfied with my above-par work, I'm ready to add the trim. (image 4)




I cut two 1/4-inch strips of key lime paper, line them up, marking where they meet at the top with my pencil. I trim off a little corner of one with the multi-purpose scissors so they easily fit together. Using the mini tape runner, I adhere both strips to the roof. (image 5).



Kathy has come to visit and scrap with me. We chat about having too much stash to sort through when we are working as well as the deplorable state of network TV, including the uncanny longevity of ER and the desperation of shows like The Moment of Truth. Could anyone really be stupid enough to throw his entire life away for a little cash? It violates man's last right to privacy.

To give my page relief, I affix dimensional adhesive to the backside of the previously constructed panorama.

For the journaling, I can't decide which color paper to use: lavender or eggplant. I try eggplant first with the copper metallic fine-tip pen, but the ink doesn't show very well. I write over it with the silver metallic fine-tip pen, and it looks better, but I still don't like it. I start over with the lavender paper and the purple fine-tip pen. I write the passage using journaltopia, so the lines are straight. Then, I add some dimensional adhesive so it is the same relief as the panorama. (image 6)


Kathy solicits my advice on her current page, which is a concert. She has cropped her pictures down, so she is able to fit 12 - 15 on the two-page spread. She has a knack for this kind of stuffing, because her pictures never over- or underwhelm her page. "Should I put the pix of people on one side and the bands on the other or mix them together?" I reply, "I vote for mixing them together because it would be more visually interesting. Specifically, I think a grouping of the five band pictures that are the same size would look great in a horizontal row across the page."

To complete my page, I professionally cut letters for the title "Biltmore House." To make them pop, I ink the edges with the purple round-tip pen, then affix dimensional adhesive to each letter to achieve the same relief. (image 7). I slide a page protector on, thankful to be acquitted.

Biltmore Rewind

Some of you asked me if this is where I started in the scrapbook. The answer is no, it is just where I started blogging about it. For those interested, here are the preceeding pages to the blog entry pages.


Opening Page

For the opening page, I wanted to keep it simple. No pictures adorn this page, since it acts as a title page. For the background, I cut to size tissue paper that the winery packed in my shopping bag at checkout. Many retail stores do this as a way of protecting merchandise once it leaves the store. It's a great memento to save from trips to use in your scrapbook later. I wrote a brief background of the trip (why I went, who I went with, etc) on white ruled paper and then mounted it on a printed sheet from the shades of purple pack. I purchased the stickers that adorn either corner of the journal box at one of Biltmore's gift shops. I created the title using some pre-cut letters and adhered them onto a solid sheet from the shades of purple pack, then cut around them. A three dimensional grapes sticker finishes off the page.


Inside Cover


I saved a note my friend Leslie mailed to me two months prior to the trip. Since this took place before the trip, and I had nothing else to include with it on its own page, I adhered one of the plastic sleeves CM stickers come in to the inside cover of the album, and placed the note card with envelope in the sleeve. Now it is the first item in the scrapbook. I could have also used an 8 1/2 x 11 portrait sleeve or a 7 x 7 refill page to showcase this item.




Page Two

This was a really fun page to do. It was a bit challenging because I had so many elements to fit onto it. I kept the luggage tag, bag claim receipt, boarding pass jacket and boarding pass stubs from the trip. I chose an orange background paper to visually bring out the gate flight number and destination in the picture. Since there was so much space on the boarding pass jacket that didn't need to be visible on the page, I used it as a sub-background for the bag claim receipt and boarding pass stubs. I arranged all the items loosely onto the page, and started adhering everything. To get the brown airport tag at the bottom of the page positioned just right, I used my trusty pencil to mark where the eyelet would go, while everything was laid out on the page. Then, I punched the hole for the eyelet into the journaling box and attached the tag. I did all of this before writing anything on the journaling box. For the title, I used the titletopia wavy template to align the stickers. For the circle charm to the right of the title, I tied a piece of the blue tape runner strip (stuff you're left with after tape runner is used) to the charm, then used a 3-D dot to lift it off the page.


Memorabilia

Portrait sleeves are great for storing bulky or oversized mementos that you still want to remove and look at but also include with the scrapbook. I used a 12 x 12 portrait sleeve and stored some of these mementos on both sides. Another alternative would be to use the CM sticker sleeves, adhere them to your page with the flap side facing you. However, you will still need to remove the page protector, if you've used them, to access the mementos this way. The CM sticker sleeves are also acid- and lignin-free, so they will not harm your pictures in any way.





Page Three

For this page, there were two pictures I wanted to use. We had a spectacular view of the Inn @ Biltmore Estate from the parking lot of the Moose Lodge (where we ate after arriving - it was the first place we stumbled upon - a fun rule to have on trips). I also snapped a picture of the license plate of our rental car as well. The mementos from this page came straight from our room at the Inn. When I stay in hotels, I take everything that even remotely resembles paper. Doing this adds to the amount of periphernalia that I bring home, but some of these treasures are wonderful accents to a scrapbook. In this case, I took the paper lids covering the glasses in our room. I also took one of the notepads as well. Notepads inevitably identify the establishment in some way, and they make excellent "journaling boxes" for a scrapbook. To get the paper lid to lay "flat" I cut it at equal intervals along the circumference. Then I used some slightly raised 3-D dots to give it some relief. I used my circle template pattern to make the circle behind it. Then (so as not to waste the paper) I used the outline of the circle to highlight my makeshift journaling box. The final memento is the guest access card they gave us during our stay. I raised this with 3-D dots as well.


Page Four


By this point, you're probably wondering if I took any photos of myself and my friends while there. Of course I did! For this page, I knew I wanted to journal about what Shannon said after we passed through the Lodge Gate, so I first staked out a spot for my journaling box. Since I didn't get any pictures of the Lodge Gate, I used one of the many postcards I purchased while there. Postcards are a great way to fill in any gaps in your scrapbook where you may have neglected to snap a photo. I wanted to make sure that the description on the back of the postcard was visible as well, I wrote it out on scrap piece of paper and placed it above the postcard. Another way to handle this, if you have room, is to photocopy the back of the postcard (darkening it, if necessary) and place that next to the front of the postcard. Incidentally, I did try this, but the text on the back is a very light green, and no matter how much I darkened it, the text just didn't show up well. If you are including postcards that you or someone else has written on in your scrapbook, I would highly recommend copying the backs. For the photo backgrounds, I used a pink and sage sheet of photo mounting paper from a now discontinued storybox. Finally, I include a sticker about friendship, raised with a couple of 3-D dots. (Friendship grows like a garden bouquet.)


Page Five

We ate at the Bistro near the winery the first night there. I found some cute background paper that features "high-society" ladies in wide-brimmed hats at some kind of tea or club event, socializing (i.e., gossiping). I thought this would go perfectly with this scrapbook. I mount the photos with purple and green mats from the Everyday storybox. On the center photo, I add four green eyelets to the corners. I use a journaling box from the same storybox. I use a piece leftover from trimming one of the mats to support a vellum accent from the Expression of Family and Friends vellum accents pack. To further embellish the page, I add wine bottle and stemware stickers to the page. The bottles are raised with 3-D dots. For the title, I use another scrap of a green mat and cut out the outline of some black letter stickers. I adhere them to the green paper with the tape runner.


Page Six


Leslie is forever misplacing things, and she didn't let us down in Asheville. No, nearly immediately after arriving, she realized she lost her cell phone. This was such a humorous part of our trip, that I wanted to devote one page to journaling about it. I used a sheet of background paper with wine bottles, flutes, etc on it. Then I cut a sheet black ruled paper (now discontinued), and began recounting the events, from the moment she realized the phone was gone to the moment we "found" the phone (it was never really lost). I cut a die-cut of a cell phone from my special machine, and accented the journaling box with it. Below that, I included two experimental photos I took using my cross-hatch filter (Jennifer and Shannon sitting outside the winery). I captioned the photos by tearing a scrap sheet of yellow from the Shades of Yellow paper pack and placing a sticker of a camera next to it.

Now you are all caught up!