Tips and Tutorials for August My Creative Scrapbook.

Hello everyone! Here are my tips and techniques for the pages I made with the gorgeous My Creative Scrapbook August Creative kit.

Summer Smiles:

I cut the three 4x6 photos of my son running on the beach into little strips. I wanted to get as many photos on this page as possible. I have so many pictures of him running that it was hard to choose just one or two.

After I arranged them, I cut out the waves from one of the transparency waves to anchor the photos down.

I decided to really highlight my son's smile by using two frames. After I cut the photo into more of a square, I used a frame both underneath the photo and above the photo. All of the transparency frames have a little film on the top, so make sure you remove that.

I cut the top frame to fit the square photo. I think it's 4x4.

I found the best adhesive was either my giant ATG tape gun but I had to hold down the sticky part to the frame to get it started. Otherwise, it would just roll up on itself.

Remove the film that is on top.

 I used a photo corner punch on the red heart paper for the corners.

The papers and stickers were arranged as shown. I added a ribbon to one of the post card images I cut out from one of the papers.

I used a ruler and a pencil to draw straight lines for the journaling. I wrote out the journaling with a pencil, wrote over it with a ultra fine Sharpie and then erased all the pencil lines with a white eraser.

Fair Food:

I don't have to mention how much I loved this kit, do I? I say that every month but it's true! So true!

My favorite part about this kit were the frames. I had the best time working them into my pages. I tried very had to think out of the box and use them for something other than placing them on top of my photos. 

For the layout above, I first used two different colors of spray ink on the background. I didn't spray it, though. I took out the spray mechanism and just flicked the ink onto the page.

I used the frame around some food related die cuts. The photo is a picture of my kids in front of a food vendor at the fair so I wanted my page to be just about that.

P.S. In the picture, the kids are actually holding stuffed animals that they won but shhhh...don't tell.

I set up the frame to look like a shaker box. The die cuts are glued down and don't shake.

I used another frame on the right behind the photo. I added some die cuts underneath the frame and positioned some on top of the frame.

I hand cut the pinwheel from one of the patterned papers, tied a ribbon around it and stuck it down.

Some items are on 3-D glue dots for added dimension. 

I glued down everything and then just simply kept placing die cuts and stickers around the page until I felt like the page was done.

Chillax:

Since this page revolved around golf on the beach, I wanted to reflect that in the page by using a sand colored background and circles to represent golf balls.

I used a punch to get the circles for the bottom of the page. 

I cut one of the transparency frames in half and used them to highlight each of the kids near their heads. I also used a full transparency frame on each photo. Don't forget to remove the film on top of the frame.

After I arranged everything, I decided it needed some gesso on the background. I remember the day was not sunny at all. It was very cool and gray. Adding the gesso made it seem a little less sunny and more foggy like the day.

So, my favorite trick after I arrange everything but need to add something to the background is to take a picture and then dump it off. Taking a picture helps me remember how all the little pieces were.

Dump it! Take a picture!

Add some gesso right down the middle of the page. Ahhh, doesn't that feel better all ready?

You can see between the "before dump" photo is different than the final. I'm always changing around and nothing is set until it's actually stuck down. Well, actually that's not always true, either. Several times I remove things (very carefully) even if they're stuck down.

The beach ball, some of the "golf balls" and one of the clouds are on 3-D dots to make them stand out better.

Use a pencil on the journaling card, write over it with ultra fine sharpie and then erase the pencil with a white eraser.

Summer Hello:

I had this picture in my stash for so long. I didn't know if I was ever going to use it. It seemed a little dark and I wasn't very happy about the lighting.

I put it on the background paper and it just worked! I was surprised. I didn't want to put anything on top of it to take away from it. I trimmed the photo just a bit and added the transparency frame underneath it. All I wanted were to dots to show anyway. By putting the frame underneath the photo, it made it much easier to adhere to the page.

After that, I knew I wanted that "SUMMER" piece as the title. I measured my photo and then added additional strips of patterned paper, allowing for a small space in between, to make it all the height as "SUMMER". 

The page still needed something on the bottom, so I attached a ribbon with a bow. I used a mini stapler on the ends of the ribbon. The lemon slice is on 3-D dots as are the clouds.

I just kept adding stickers, etc until it worked for me. 

Thank you everyone for looking and reading. I just love making these pages and it means so much that you take the time to read about them, too. 

Thank you!