My Mind's Eye Blog

Project Life with Shelly- June Edition

Hi there! This is Shelly back this month with another installment of Project Life inspiration. Today, I am showing you that these fun pocket pages are perfect for an event that you have lots and lots of pictures of. You can include all of those must print pictures along with some quick and easy embellished cards.

My son recently had his big end of year Art Show at his school. It’s an evening where the families of the students are invited to walk the hallways getting large doses of fabulous art! With lots of art work on display brought lots and lots of pictures to document it all. I thought a Project Life layout to showcase my son’s hard work would be perfect for this special occasion.

Supplies:Find Your Wings and Fly–Up & Away: Admit One paper, Carousel paper. Collectable Collection– Notable: 6x6 Designer Paper Pad, ‘Memo’ Documented paper, ‘Memo’ Label Stickers, ‘Love This’ Chipboard Stickers. Other: Becky Higgins Design F page protectors, Bohemian Typewriter Font, Corner Rounder, Circle Punch



I really love those ticket papers from the new Find Your Wings and Fly Collection. They are just too perfect for a fun event like an art show! I immediately pulled those papers out. Even though the rest of the collection is beautiful, I knew it wouldn’t really work for a little boy and all of his preschool art. So, I decided to mix in the Collectable Collection to bring in those fun bright boy loving colors to compliment his art.

I used the Find Your Wings and Fly Carousel paper with the black and white tickets as my base for the title card. Knowing that the collection also had the multi colored ticket paper, Admit One, I wanted to bring in some color. I trimmed out a blank colored ticket to overlap the black and white ticket. This gave the title card that added pop of color and also brought the eye right to where it needed to be.

I mimicked the same look from my title card onto the dated filler card. By repeating similar elements in the individual pockets, helps unite the layout as a whole. I also used the 6x6 paper pad and chipboard elements to create a second fun custom filler card. 

Keeping with the repeated theme, I brought the colorful plaid pattern to the other side of the layout by using the journal card from the ‘Memo’ Documented paper and also included a piece of that same pattern on another filler card. I put my trusty scissors to use again by trimming out a blank ticket from the Carousel paper. This gave me the perfect place to include the teachers’ names. This also gave me another opportunity to repeat the look with the tickets.

So there you have another dose of Project Life inspiration. I managed to get 16 pictures on a layout by using pocket pages and still have room to be creative. I love how easy documenting this way can be, yet you can still let your creative side play.

Thank you so much for stopping by today!

Anatomy of a Double Page Layout-Finding Inspiration in a Single Page Sketch

Hello everyone! This is Shelly back with another behind the scenes look at the makings of a double page layout. Last month, I took on the challenge of turning a single page sketch into a double page. After seeing the fabulous May Sketch Challenge from our very own Ronda, I thought I would do it again! Maybe I could inspire some of my fellow Doublers to take on this month’s sketch challenge.


When I see a page or a sketch that inspires me, I grab my notebook to get my own ideas down. The second I saw Ronda’s sketch, I could see two immediate possibilities. I could “stretch the sketch” or “blow up the sketch.” Next step, I search my pictures to see what grabs my attention as the perfect topic for the inspiration piece. I decided a spring summary with lots of pictures was calling my name and would be a perfect fit for the second sketch.

What was so nice about this sketch is that you really could just grab several pictures in various sizes to easily make a collage. After selecting the pictures I wanted to highlight, I picked my focus picture of my daughter riding her bike as the 6x4, picked three other main pictures to be 4x3, and the rest were sized at 3x2. This was easy editing for me. No real thought, because I knew I would just fan them out around the main picture. I almost always have a few extra pictures that I print, but never make the cut onto the final page. Sometimes, they just don’t tell enough of the story or one of the other pictures tells the same story.

With my pictures in front of me, I lay them out using my sketch as a guide. That is when I pull out my pretty papers and select a few that are calling to me for the page. Since it was a spring page, it was only natural to gravitate to some of the vibrate colors from the Collectable Collection.

After pushing the pictures around and playing with pretty papers, this is how it all ended up…

Supplies:Collectable–Memorable: ‘Journey’ Journal paper, ‘Note’ Record paper. ‘Perfect’ Flawless paper, Decorative Stickers, Enamel Dots; Collectable-Notable:‘Love This’ Adore paper; Collectable-Unforgettable:‘Today’ Remember paper; Collectable-Remarkable: ‘Smile’ Grin paper; Decorative Tape Sets;Indie Chic: Twine;Misc: Popdots, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, Silhouette, Sewing Machine

As you can see I kept with the same design, a large focal picture with several smaller rectangles bursting around it. I chose to make those rectangles more pictures, but larger. I like to have my pictures big enough to see what is going on in them. Although it would be fun to use those index prints that you can get with your picture order with this sketch too!

Initially for the background, I had the plan to divide it up into quadrants which was inspired by the stitching in Ronda’s sketch. After looking at it, I thought it would be fun to do a sun burst radiating from the focal picture. I really love this effect! I followed my same process that I did in my very first installment of Anatomy of a Double Page Layout, but this time I went with random widths for each of the rays.

I was also inspired by Ronda’s small strip of decorative tape across her focal picture. I decided to run with that idea, and added a few strips here and there embellished by a few enamel dots. With so much happening on this page already, a colorful burst background with lots of pictures, I chose to go with a tone on tone look. I do tend to do this a lot. It is a fun way to add embellishment to a page without overpowering the entire look of the page.

I moved the title to the side of the page instead of under the focal picture. There was lots of room over there, and I felt that it added some much needed weight. This is where I added a little extra color. I went back and forth about it, but I just love this green polka dot from the Remarkable ‘Smile’ Grin paper that I threw caution to the wind and added a pop of spring green to the page.

Although I love how Ronda had journaling circling her page, I chose to just do a simple strip along the left side of the page. I like to keep my season summary pages short and sweet with just a few simple blurbs of what is going on in the pictures.

So there you have it. Another single page turned into a double page layout. I hope I have inspired some of my fellow Double Lovers to join in on our May Sketch Challenge this month. I can’t wait to see what you all create. Thank you for stopping by today!

Project Life with Shelly- May Edition

Hello everyone! This is Shelly back this month with another installment of Project Life inspiration. Today, I am showing you how to document those holidays with ease using those pocket pages. Once I had the new Kate & Co Oxford Lane Collection in my hands, it just screamed St. Patrick’s Day to me! Those rich colors of green and yellow along with the lovely navy had me pulling out a few of my pictures from our St. Patrick’s Day shenanigans. 


Supplies:Kate and Co-Oxford Lane:Bold Paper, Enjoy Paper, Sticker Accessory Sheet, 6x6 Designer Cardstock Paper pad. Kate & Co. – Cambridge Court: Chipboard Elements, Sticker Accessory Sheet. Other: Becky Higgins Design G page protectors, Becky Higgins White Grind cards, We R Memory Keepers corner chomper, Typewriter

I kept things pretty simple with a few pictures of our day along with scans of my daughter’s signs she left around the house just in case a Leprechaun came to visit us on St. Patrick’s Day. I also included two 3x4 grid cards that had finger art from both of my kids.

So here is how I started it all off…

I started out by setting my pictures over the pockets. That way, I could see where I could put all the pretty stuff. I cut apart the journaling cards from Oxford Lane’s 'Enjoy' patterned paper. I really loved the “Smile” card, so I used that card as my jumping off point.

I wanted to use a 4x6 pocket for the journaling and one for the title card. My plan was to use the diagonal strip for journaling. I wanted to draw the same yellow gingham pattern from the “smile” card to the other side, so I cut a 1-inch strip of the same pattern from the 6x6 paper pad to go on the bottom of the journaling card.

After getting those pieces in place, I realized my page needed a little something else. I added a pop of pink to compliment all of my daughter’s pink she wore. I love how the Cambridge Court Collection’s pink worked perfectly to add that extra pop to pull it all together.

I followed my plan of adding the journaling on diagonal stripes of the B-side from Oxford Lane’s Bold paper. I actually had an incident with a tin can and my thumb. Holding a pen and writing is a challenge for me right now, so I opted for an alternative. I decided to dust off my typewriter that my mom gave me.

I attached the 4x6 card to a sheet of paper, aligned it, and typed away. It is a little messy, but I kind of like the quirkiness. I also added the “Oh So Cute” tab from the Cambridge Court Collection to add that extra pop of pink.

To bring in the pink on the other side, I added the small “fun” circle sticker to the camera. It fit nice and neatly inside the lens.

Keeping with the simple theme, I finished my title card off with one of the speech bubbles from the sticker sheet. Can I say how excited I was when I first saw these on the sticker sheets? They are just perfect for titles, small journaling blurbs, or even fun quotes. I see lots of use coming from these babies!

So have you scrapbooked lately using pocket pages? I would love to see what you have been up to! If you haven’t tried it yet, you should give it a try. I love how easy documenting our family memories are using all of the different pocket pages that are available, yet you can still let your creative side play.

Thank you so much for stopping by today!

Anatomy of a Double Page Layout-Finding Inspiration in a Single Page Sketch

Hello everyone! This is Shelly back with another behind the scenes look at the makings of a double page layout. This go around, I took on the challenge of turning a single page sketch into a double page. Earlier this month, the MME Team was invited to play along with Becky Fleck’s Page Maps Team. The sketch I was challenged to use was a single page 12x12.


This is what I originally came up with…



Now, I am a fan of any and all sketches. They are just so versatile and easy to make them your own. Even when I am looking at a single page sketch, I always see a few variations of making it into a double page layout. You can “stretch a sketch”, “mirror a sketch”, or even just make the single sketch one side of your double layout. The first time I saw this sketch, I immediately thought to “blow up” the sketch. I wanted to use the same arrangement for the pictures, but just make everything bigger to fill both sides of my page. To do this all I had to do was enlarge the size of the pictures.



This was my take on Becky Fleck’s Page Map to make it into a double page. I did add one additional square photo into the mix. Once I chose the pictures for this page, I had one extra picture that I wanted to include. No problem, I just added it!

And this is how it all ended up…

Supplies:Collectable-Notable: 'Love This' title,'Memo'Document patterned paper;Collectable-Memorable:'Note'Details patterned paper;'Journey'Journal paper;Collectable-Unforgettable: ‘Story’ Tale Paper, ‘You Are’ Pleasant Paper, ‘You Are’ Charm Paper, ‘Today’ Remember Paper;Misc: American Crafts Thickers, Silhouette, Prima Chalk Ink, Date Stamp, EK Success circle punch, Stampin’ Up ticket corner punch, pop dots

I was still able to keep the integrity of the original sketch, but still make it my own as a double page. I still did the three main blocks of pattern paper with a corresponding embellishment cluster to substitute for the smaller squares that are paired with each of the pattern squares.

I initially had only the diecuts/journal card on each of the squares. I wanted a little something more to add a little more visual interest. I had just shuffled through my papers, and the hexagon pattern from Unforgettable ‘You Are’ Charm paper was still fresh in my head.

For a split second, I considered cutting those tiny little hexies out. Then reality hit me, yeah right! So, I grabbed my circle punch and began to punch away. I got lots of different patterns with just one piece of paper. Perfect AND easy.

For the journaling, I kept it simple and easy too. I used one of my journaling cards that I had precut from all of those lovely journal card papers. If you haven’t cut up a sheet (or four) of those yet, just go ahead and do it! I keep them all stacked up nice and neat right next to me. Easy to grab when I am in the middle of a page. 

So here ends another post of double inspiration. Hopefully the next time you see a single sketch, you might be inspired to make it your own double page layout. Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life with Shelly- April Edition

Hello everyone! This is Shelly back with another installment of Project Life inspiration. Today, I am sharing another average week in my family’s life using the beautiful Collectable Collection, but this time with a more masculine feel.

Supplies:Collectable-Remarkable: ‘Day’ Daily Paper, ‘Smile’ Beam Paper, ‘Handsome’ Adorable Paper, ‘Smile’ Label Stickers, ‘Authentic’ Journal Card; Collectable-Memorable: ‘Hello’ Title; Collectable-Unforgettable: ‘You Are’ Tiny Word Stickers;Misc: Becky Higgins Turquoise Kit, Becky Higgins Divided Page Protectors Design A & D, Basic Grey letter stickers, date stamp, black Versafine ink, pen, Bohemian Typewriter font



My inspiration for this week came from the diagonal striped card from the Remarkable ‘Day’ Daily paper. I just love the primary colors that popped from my pictures and that card just said “use me!” It is the perfect card to complement this week’s pictures.

I wanted that same diagonal stripe to be carried to the other side of the spread. So I trimmed my 4x6 picture of my son playing in his sandbox down to 3x4, which made room for that lovely diagonal paper. Not to mention, it covered my mistake of not getting that picture printed with a white border right up too!  You just have to love it when things just work out, right?

To tie all the patterns together, I trimmed a small piece of the same green pattern from the label journaling card and the label sticker with the same diagonal stripe to create a banner on the title card. I finished off the layout by adding a touch more of the turquoise using the tiny word stickers. I find myself reaching for those stickers more and more. They just add that extra little something to my layouts.  

Thanks for stopping by the blog today! I hope you are inspired to use the Collectable Collection in your albums, and I hope you will share what you create with us.

Pinspiration Friday

Happy Friday ! We are so glad you stopped by today, it's Pinspiration day !

Every single day, we scour the Internet for inspiring MME projects. We find your work on your blogs, through our FB page,and in online galleries. We pin the ones that inspire us most!

Then once a month we challenge our designers to use one of your creations as inspiration for a layout or card.

This month Tina and Danni are joining us. Here's what they came up with. Enjoy and have a lovely, creative weekend!

 

Inspiration Piece: Katharina Frei

Tina's version:

Supplies: Collectable- all decorative tapes,'Today' and 'Beautiful' stamp sets, 'Today' pins, "Firsts' enamel dots,'Note' layered stickers, 'Im With' Gathering patterned paper; Misc: cardstock,ink, adhesives, Lily Bee and Simple Stories alphabet stickers.

Tina says:Hi!  I love Pinspiration Fridays.  There is so much talent and creativity in the scrapbooking world, and Pinterest is such a wonderful repository of inspiration. I am uber excited to be using this project by the amazing Katharina Frei.  I LOVE the cover of this little notebook.  I love the strips of washi tape, with stamping and line work. 

I used the washi strips as a jumping off point for my layout and created my own background for my page.  I used decorative tape from several MME collections, but they all coordinate perfectly.


I added several stamped images, some of the SUPER DUPER AWESOME enamel dots, my title and the layout was done. And it was done really quickly, especially for me.

I would like to thank Katharina for sharing her creativity and inspiration!  Be sure and check out the MME board 'Inspiring Pages and Cards'.  You WILL be inspired!

Inspiration Piece: Lisa Wilkinson

Danni's versions and comments:This card was designed by Lisa Wilkinson and is amazing in so many ways.  I love, love all the details in this card from the arrows, to the vellum pocket, to the sequins, to the fun stitching. I love how she bounced the arrow patterns off the blue background patterned paper, drawing attention to the pattern "behind" the vellum pocket. 

I love how she used the sentiment "a happy little hi", my first card is completely inspired by the sentiment and "being happy".  I love how she cut arrows from the patterned paper and then stitched them, and YES left little strings because that adds so much character to her stitching.   I could create so many, many cards from this one card and it's been on my "to-do" list and I was happy when I was able to share it with all of you.

I created three cards to share with you today, and can't wait to create several "Easter" cards later in the month using some ideas derived from this card, hope you'll check out that post also!

Supplies:My Girl: Bouquet (A & B sides) patterned paper, decorative brads, chipboard, layered sticker sentiment;Misc: sequins, vellum, machine stitching, Bazzill card stock

My "Hello" card was completely inspired by the sentiment on her card, as I shared with you.  The sentiment, "a happy little hi" made me just that, "happy", so I wanted a card that elicited those feelings.  I chose to use the new My Girl line because it makes me happy. 

I love all the playful patterns and colors in this line.  With all the fun embellishments in this line, it was easy to stick to the "fun" theme and use chipboard, layered brads and layered stickers, to create a "hello" card that would make you happy to open.

I decided to stick with the vellum+ patterned paper pockets against the blue background, as she did in her card, because it's such a fun contrast and makes the pockets "pop".  I stitched the sides and bottom and then filled them with fun sequins, leaving them to move around the card. 


 

Supplies:My Girl: Rainbow, Flutterby patterned paper, chipboard, layered stickers;Misc:sequins, vellum, machine stitching, Bazzill card stock

On my "Smile" card, I chose to allow the "arrows" to be the focal for my inspiration.  I stuck with the patterned paper against the blue background (there are so many, many fun ones in this line) and created my vellum pocket with the arrow patterned paper, stitching a "zig zag" along the arrows for fun. 

The little "twist" in this card is that I filled the bottom with sequins and then stitched the middle of the vellum and filled the top with sequins before stitching the pocket closed and adding my chipboard ice cream cone.  I wanted some of the sequins to stay up top so as not to slide behind the heavier chipboard piece.  I loved the arrows on the "front" of Lisa's card also, so I cut the "smile" arrows from my layered stickers and used them on my card.  I left some fun loose stitching behind the ice cream cone as she did with her arrows and adhered a layered flower sticker to the front.


 

Supplies:My Girl: Flutterby patterned paper, chipboard, decorative brads, enamel dots Collectable: Note Record patterned paper;Misc:sequins, clear envelope, machine stitching, spray adhesive, Bazzill card stock

Lastly, on my Girl Wonder card, I decided to allow the circle elements in Lisa's card to be my focal.  In order to do that, I decided to spray my patterned paper with adhesive, adhere my sequin circles onto the patterned paper and allow to dry. 

 

I then stitched a clear envelope over the top, adhered my fun "superhero" sentiment and a couple of brads and enamel dots to finish the "circle" theme.  I love that the sequins look like a spray of confetti, it feels like a party, which makes me "happy" and that's what Lisa's card makes me feel.

 

 

Project Life with Shelly

Hello everyone! This is Shelly back this month with another installment of Project Life inspiration. Today, I am sharing another average week in my family’s life using the beautiful Collectable Memorable Collection to give my pockets that extra pop of fun.


Supplies:Collectable-Memorable :‘Journey’ Journal pattern paper, 6x6 paper pad, ‘I’m With…’enamel dots, ‘Perfect’ chipboard stickers, ‘Perfect’ tiny word stickers, ‘Note’ label stickers, Collectable-Remarkable ‘Day’ Journal pattern paper.;Misc: Becky Higgins Project Life Olive Edition and Pocket Page Protectors Design A & D, Date Stamp, Versafine Ink.

After flipping through my self-cut journal cards that are from the “Journal” pattern papers, that “So happy together” cards jumped right out at me to sit right next to the picture of my son and daughter smiling so big. That is when I decided to roll with the inspiration of that card with the deep aqua, olive, and a pop of that dark pink.

With my pockets filling up fast with pictures and memorabilia, I pulled out one of the cards from the Collectable Remarkable Journal pattern paper. The line itemed days of the week would be perfect for a quick rundown of the week. So how did I print my journaling that was spaced perfectly for that card? Easy!

Like I showed you last month, I use a Microsoft Word document and insert a 4x3 text box. I create a second text box the size of the space that is available for journaling.

This time, I want my spacing to coordinate with each weekly line. I hold up my journaling card to my screen, and use the Zoom in the bottom right corner of my Word Document.

I scale down my sheet until it is the height of my journaling card. Yes, there is a distortion. The height of the text box is the same as my journaling card, but the text box will be wider looking on my screen.

No big deal there. This still works. I type up my journaling, highlight it, right click, go into the paragraph menu, and increase the spacing until it matches my journaling card.

I then print it off and use my light box (or even a window) to verify it did indeed print off correctly.  I can then run it through my printer just like I showed you last month. Perfect! I have a quick rundown of the week. Sometimes it is nice to just let the pictures do the talking.

I did have one story I wanted to tell with just a little more detail. After flipping through the 6x6 paper pad I noticed the diagonal blue and cream stripe. This was perfect after cutting it down to journal on using the diagonal line as a guide. 

To spice up the card a touch, I added the “Recorded” label sticker. This left me with only one little pocket left to fill. I trimmed a 3x4 card from the lovely green swirl pattern paper from same 6x6 paper pad which coordinated perfectly with my dated title card and embellished it.

Once all the cards were filled, I wanted to add a touch more of the pink across my layout. I added a few of the tiny word stickers to the pocket with my daughter’s picture. These I place right on top of the page protector. My picture wasn’t going anywhere else, but that pocket. So that works for me, just in case I ever need to scan or make a second copy of that picture. I then added a few enamel dots to jazz up my dated title card.

So there you have it, another week in the life at the Jaquet household. How many of you are doing the same? Have you used any of the new Collectable Collection goodies in your Project Life album lately? I would love to see!

Anatomy of a Double Page Layout- March

Supplies: Boy Crazy:Geared Up patterned paper,Stitched patterned paper,Plaid patterned paper,Ready Set Go patterned paper,6x6 pad,chipboard,enamel dots;My Girl:decorative tape;Winter Wonderland:twine;Misc: Silhouette,circle punches,snowflake punches

Hello everyone! This is Shelly back with another behind the scenes look at the makings of a double page layout. This past January, I brought you the first installment of this series. Thank you so much for all the sweet comments, and I am so happy to see that I am NOT the only one creating double page layouts. Go doublers!

Now, I also read some of you have multiple kids and take too many pictures to fit on a single page. I am right there with you! My favorite thing to do to get lots of those pictures onto a layout is to do a Season Summary page for both of my kids.

Yep, I have an album for my daughter and album for my son. I am sure there are some of you who just keep one family album, and some are like me (I hope) who scrapbook for each of your children. Right? It can be challenging to keep up with multiple albums, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. 

Summarizing an entire season onto one layout can knock out three months of memories all at once. Kind of nice! I just make sure I plan and order my pictures for those pages at the same time. The pictures that I use are almost identical, with a couple varied to focus on the individual child.

This past December, I shared a winter layout for my daughter.

Today I am going to share with you my son’s winter layout from the same year. When I started planning for my daughter’s page, I also planned for my son’s knocking out two birds with one stone.

Once I organize which pictures I am going to use, I start with a sketch. If I don’t sketch them out, I will completely forget what I was planning on doing with them when I find the time to scrap them. Sketches are key for me.

As you can see, I have my daughter’s page right there with my son’s page. I had a couple of extra pictures for my daughter and different “kid specific” pictures that were not of the same orientation, so I didn’t use the same sketch. I did use the same 2x3 size for the majority of the pictures and then had the larger sizes for the “kid specific” pictures. Doing blocks of 2x3 or 3x4 pictures for these summary pages can really streamline my process.

On those special days where I have time to scrapbook, I pull out my pictures and match them up with their sketch.

I always start off with a white base to push my pictures around on to get the layout just the way I want it before I add color and embellishments to the equation. I did have two different 4x6 pictures printed for this page. I wasn’t sure which one I wanted to go with as the main picture; the sledding picture or my son looking through the window.

After putting my pictures on paper, I saw that I was able to add them both by trimming down the sledding picture.

Next step is journaling and color! Once I type up all that I want to say for a layout, I know where I can fit it in around my pictures or if I have to switch up where my pictures go. This time, it was easy. I already had journaling from my daughter’s page and it also worked perfectly for my son’s.

I printed it off on a tag which fit nicely next to the focal picture. Then, I get to add my color with pretty papers.

I deviated from my sketch a bit by dividing the left 4x12-inch strip on my page. It just felt like there was too much space above the journaling tag, so I simply trimmed the Plaid Paper and flipped it over to see the yellow circles.  Then I sized each piece to match with the adjacent papers.

The final step is to embellish and title the page. I knew I wanted a big ol’ title on the top of the page over the Ready Set Go Paper, and those fun circle chipboard pieces from the Boy Crazy line were calling to me with a mix of snowflakes.

To ground the chipboard circles, I layered them on top of different sized circles and then mixed in some snowflake punches. After cutting my title out of the grey cardstock, I realized that the letters got lost on such a busy piece of paper.

I tried the title in aqua, but it was still the case. I went back to the grey, and decided to stitch on each letter with different coordinating colors. Perfect, that worked for me.

To carry the circles and snowflakes over to the other side, I did the same thing in the plaid square. Since I used a red circle for layering, I decided to pull the red tag off that I had underneath the journaling tag because there was already enough happening over there with the circle embellishments. I simply added some twine to my tag, attached decorative tape down on two of the pictures, and my page was done.

So there you have it, another scary look inside my creative process of a double page layout. If you’ve made it this far, thank you for joining me today!

Just a side note for all you single page makers, you can still pull some inspiration from me today. If you look at each side of my layout individually, they can totally work for a standalone page too. Double the inspiration or should I say triple the inspiration?!?

From Ordinary to Extraordinary

Hi everyone! This is Karen here for my contribution to decorative tape week.

When the washi tape craze first started, I didn't really understand why these semi-transparent tapes were all that useful. I mean, they were cute, but did I really need them? I think the first pair I bought was more out of curiosity than anything else. What I didn't realize then was that these tiny, simple tapes would add an inexplicable amount of joy into my life.

What's awesome about these is that they're unlike any other scrapbooking embellishment. They are so much more versatile. They can be used in so many more practical ways than just a page. They're also non-dimensional which allows me to use them in my daily life, without worrying they will be bulky or that they will fall off. It's the fastest way to add some wonderful color in to my day-to-day life.

As soon as I realized this, I started covering my journals with these awesome tapes. I use plain Moleskine journals to hold my to-do lists, sketches, journaling, etc. I love the journals but I hate how plain the covers are. Especially cause they are black and color makes me happy. So, now, I just start putting down strips of tape.

Since the tape is semi-transparent, and the black is pretty strong, it takes two layers of the same tape for the true color to show. See how they yellow tape in the photo below is so much bolder than the one above?

I also sometimes layer different tapes on top of each other. Look at the photo below. You'll see the tape with the numbers on it has the yellow polka-dotted tape below it. This makes the numbers stand out that much more.

For the back, where the elastic is, I try not to over-worry. I cut my tape into two small sections and put one above the elastic and one below. Then I put a large piece in the middle. I need regular reminders that perfection is not a goal for me. So having this tiny imperfection at the back of my book is a great reminder.

here's the front of my journal, all covered:

and here's the full book, open:

I added a felt embellishment on the cover just to make it even happier:

And there you go! What was a plain, relatively ugly journal is now colorful and joyful and it makes me happy all day long. I look at it and I smile and feel uplifted.

All from tiny bits of happily colored tape.

Here's what I've come to realize about washi tape: it's a simple product that elevates the ordinary to extraordinary.

Hey guys. Shelly here and I'd love to share some thoughts and ideas,too.

I couldn’t agree with Karen more. She hit the nail on the head.  I love that you can take something from ordinary to extraordinary with just a few strips of colorful tape. I have had this unfinished kids table that I picked up at IKEA a few years back.

It has been sitting in the basement amongst my kids’ little kitchen set up. Recently, we have decided to upgrade my daughter’s bed with a bunk bed.  She is now sleeping high in the sky like the big girl she is. So, what to do with that empty space under her bunk bed?

My daughter absolutely loves to create and write. I decided to pull that unfinished table out of the basement and into her room, but we couldn’t just leave it like it was. I pulled out my decorative tapes and went to town.

It went from blah to WOW in less than two hours.

I first aligned my tapes in the order I wanted them in on the top of the table. I debated if I should go random with colors or a rainbow. My daughter chose RAINBOW! This worked out perfectly. I was able to use all of the new Decorative Tape Sets, excluding the grey and black. It was like it was meant to be.

Leaving the rolls in order, one by one, I put a strip of each across the table trimming off the outer edges with my scissors.

I did have to be careful keeping the tape close to the edge of the previous strip and move slowly and gently. A couple of times I hit a weak spot in the tape and it wanted to rip, but that was mostly because I was trying to move too fast.  If I was watching it closely, I could fix it with my finger tip.

For the last strip, I simply laid it down like the other strips and trimmed the edge with my scissors. It is slightly jagged, but I am okay with that.  I am sure you could just as easily cover the side edges of the table with tapes too, but I decided to just cover the very top of the table.

And just like that, it went from ordinary to extraordinary with just 19 ½ inches of 40 different decorative tapes in a rainbow of colors. My daughter couldn’t have been any happier or a better assistant choosing which pattern to go next in the line of colors.

She couldn’t wait to put her pencils and paper on her desk. I slid it up there to take a picture of it to share with all of you in its new home, and I turned around to see her goodies already in their place. So the next time you see something plain and boring, think about completely covering it with decorative tapes! Go from ordinary to extraordinary in no time.

Disclaimer… I am currently working on putting a few coats of Polyurethane found at any home repair store to protect it. I have two coats on it right now, and the decorative tapes are taking it well. No running of color and the tapes are staying in place. So far, so good! Only time will tell how it will hold up over the long haul, but I am excited to see that the Polyurethane didn’t damage the tapes. My daughter is very anxious to get her table back into her room!

Project Life with Shelly

Hello everyone! This is Shelly back this month with another installment of Project Life inspiration. Last month, I brought you a quick and easy way to document your Christmas memories. Today, I am sharing one of my Project Life layouts using those fabulous “Journal” papers from the Collectable Collection.

I document our family’s everyday life by taking a picture a day and documenting it on a two page spread. Of course, you can choose to document however you heart desires.

To make things simple, I pulled out each of the four “Journal” papers and started to cut them into 3x4 cards. I also grabbed a few other sticker sheets from the Collectable Collection that would also work great for my layout.

For the first half of the week, I used a couple of the Journal cards and pattern paper from the 6x6 Designer Paper Pads.The smaller scale of those 6x6 sheets is just perfect for the small canvases. 

I love to mix my own handwriting and computer journaling on my cards. I think it is important to include my own handwriting, but sometimes it is really nice to type my journaling to fit more on the card.

I have been asked several times how I print on my journaling cards. I know there are several different tutorials out there explaining how to do it, but here is a quick explanation of how I choose to do it.

I open up my Word Document and insert a text box. The example here is a blank 3x4 card. I make the text box 4” high and 2.75” wide to accommodate some extra breathing room. After typing what I wanted to say up, I saw that I had room to add a stamped image.

After shuffling through my stamps to see what would fit on the card, I found the perfect little “Lovely” banner. I measured it out. Then, inserted another text box the same size as the stamp and slid the “banner box” into place so that I could adjust my journaling.

I print it off on to a sheet of paper to see how it looks over the card. I use temporary adhesive on the card and place it in line with the outline of the card. Hint: make sure you remember to turn the lines of your journaling card in your Word Document to clear so those lines don’t print on your journaling card. Trust me; I’ve done it many times.

Now all you have to do is set your paper down so that it runs through your printer the same way, and you have a typed journaling card ready for stamping and embellishing.

I do have to say my favorite card I used was the “You are the best” card.  There really isn’t anything better than Sunday afternoon enjoying an impromptu lunch with awesome friends after church.

I hope I have inspired you to create with the new Collectable Collection “Journal” papers and maybe even try your hand at typing up your journaling too.

Thank you for stopping by!

Supplies: Collectable-Unforgettable:'Story' Journal patterned paper,decorative stickers,6x6 pad;Collectable-Memorable:'Perfect' stickers,6x6 pad;Collectable-Remarkable:'Beautiful' stamps;Misc:Becky Higgins Project Life Seafoam Edition and Pocket Page Protectors, American Crafts Date Stamp, Hero Arts Shadow Ink.