Elles Studio Thursday Sketch and Hello Story Week 3

For this layout I decided to combine a little bit of the class and a sketch from Elles Studio. I loved the silver stars and the stitching in this week's video of Hello Story and decided to incorporate that on this layout. The layout is also directional in the sense that it highlights the title and the photo with arrows and that we love our baby forever.

I love all of Elles studio products. They are a lot of fun to use. I cut out the left side of the border from a patterned paper and embellished it with some brads and stars and of course added my journaling there. The title emphasizes timeless love. I totally love this photo of my husband and son that we took at the beach a few weeks back, it displays so much affection and love between the two of them.

Here is my layout:

One of my favorite techniques that Ali used is to stitch on the photo itself directly. I thought that was so cool. I used Amy Tangerine's templates to stitch the hearts and the arrow near the title. I also used up some of my silver brads that went well with the silver stars that I got in the Roundabout Studio Calico kit from Basic Grey. I cut out the title itself with my silhouette. And last but not least all the cardstock is from Cameron Collection from Elle's Studio and so are the circle tags. I love this fun and colorful line.... it is perfect for boys.

Here is a close up of the title and stitching.

Here is the original sketch from Elles Studio:

I kind of rotated it and enlarged the whole center portion to cover the entire page. I am loving it. Hope you like it too.

Have a great day..... and I can't wait for week 4 of Hello Story to begin.

~Neela

Creating the arrow cut file with silhouette

First of all I want to show you the layout that I created using this file:

More details about this layout here:

http://memorablescraps.blogspot.com/2013/07/brothers.html

This is my first Silhouette tutorial that I am writing ever. Hope it flows well and it is easy to understand and you find it useful.

• Open Silhouette Studio Software.
• Open a new file.
• Select the line tool.
• Draw an arrow as shown in the image.

• Select the Replicate Window.
• Click on 'Column of Four'. This will create a total of 4 arrows.

• To create the file that I did, we need another arrow. For this select the last arrow, hit Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V. 

• Now set the spacing between them as desired. I also moved them to the place where I wanted them to cut my 8x11 photo. I also drew a rectangle of 8x11 size just for reference to see where I should place my photo.

• Now select the eraser tool and start erasing the part of the arrows that are outside the photo.

• Select the 8x11 rectangle that represents your photo and delete that because you don't want to cut your photo.
• And there you have it, the final file.

 I am sharing my .studio file via google docs here - Arrows on photo.studio

This is the first time I have ever tried something like this. So let me know if the download worked for you. And I would really appreciate it if you can leave me a comment telling me that you downloaded the file. Based on the interest I can provide more of my files for download in the future.
~Neela

Brothers

We are on week 3 of Ali Edwards's Hello Story class. This week the cue is to tell directional stories and use arrows to tell your story. As usual the inspiration is mind blowing. Not only the philosophical content and her thought process in creating the layout is amazing but also the techniques she uses to create her layouts are so fun. In the end all her layouts are so meaningful, intelligent and tell such a beautiful story.
For this week I decided to create a layout with a giant photo of Arjun and Surya .. my boys. I love this photo and have been saving it for quite a while. This is actually an iPhone photo ... not bad at all huh? The two of them were wearing clothes with such clashing colors that I decided to make it black and white.
For the first time ever I added some digital elements to my photo. Both are designed by Ali Edwards. The GO LOVE GO was given to us in our class and I actually bought the saying that says .... A brother is a friend given by nature... I love this saying. I brought back a little color into this layout with the background paper, enamel dots, stitched arrows and stamped number circles.
I love how Ali does not hesitate to cut into the photos, so I decided to use that technique on this photo. I designed arrows with my silhouette and created a cut file that cuts partial arrows into the photo. I then cut out a single arrow out of a scrap and poked holes in it and used that as a template for stitching the arrows. I then used these arrows to document when the boys were born, their relationship, activities, behavior and what I would like them to be in the future - for some past, current and future elements in this layout.

For the first time, I created a silhouette tutorial and provided the .studio file for download here:
http://memorablescraps.blogspot.com/2013/07/creating-arrow-cut-file-with-silhouette.html

I also haven't loaded up on punches, so for the stamped numbers, I first cut out the 0.9" circles with the silhouette and then stamped them with colorful ink.
I also decided to journal along the border of the page just repeating .... I love you to the stars and back. I used silver stars repeatedly to fill in for the word star.

Here is my layout:

And here are some close ups of the layout:

Materials used:
Cardstock: From Studio Calico Valley High, Jennifer and Roundabout scrapbook kits
Number it Stamps: Elle's studio
Enamel Dots: MME
Silver Stars: Basic Grey, came as part of Roundabout scrapbook kit
Three gold triangles: Came as part of Jennifer scrapbook kit
Sewing: The threads are actually from a cross stitch kit that I bought at Michaels. I never completed it and I don't think I ever plan on finishing it. So I just plundered the threads from there. I also used the mat and tool to poke the holes that come with the Amy Tangerine stitching kits.

Before I die I want to ....

Does this need to have a negative connotation..... absolutely not.... in fact this made me stop and think a little bit. Try to fill in the blanks and it could be a soul searching and soul bearing experience.

I created this layout again for the Hello Story class that is being taught by Ali Edwards. We are on week 2 now. It has been such an amazing experience. Taking the class is forcing me to make more meaningful and thoughtful layouts. It is not that I love scrapping our little every day experiences, but putting more thought and feeling into every layout has been a very enjoyable experience.

Here is my layout on this topic:

 

 

I found it very hard to write or even display in my scrapbook what I deeply feel so I designed this layout with a flap. The words on the right side definitely convey my feelings of what I want to emphasize, learn and do more of before I die on a high level. I am fine with sharing this. Here is the view of the layout when you lift the flap:

 

I will go ahead and fill in my deeper feelings later. I have been giving a lot of thought to what I want to write down.

I pretty much stuck to the structure of the layout that was created by Ali Edwards but changed out the colors and the feel a little bit. I wanted to make it look very festive.

I started off my layout with an inspiration from this patterned paper called Carousal from Crate paper.....

 

 

 

I took plain white cardstock (Bazzill, orange peel texture) and did some water coloring on it to mimic the top half of the colors. I then cut out all the words from the top half of this paper with silhouette and stuck them on the flap.
For the bottom part of the layout, I collected all the washi tape that I had in these colors and stuck layers of it. I then got all my enamel dots supplies in these colors and added them on to the photo. I also got this cool stamp in my Studio Calico Valley High kit. It stamps like a paint blob. I cut out .8" circles with silhouette and stamped the same color gradient on these circles and stuck them in the reverse order of my water colors along the border of my photo and journal block. I added some pink ink along the border of the layout and there you have it..... a completed layout.

There seemed to be some interest in some silhouette tutorials. The usage of silhouette to create this layout was very basic but I thought I will add a tutorial about how to go about creating the text and the flap.  I should add it in a couple of days so do check back. I will also try to add a few more tutorials explaining how I used silhouette to create some of my previous layouts. I will make sure to link them back to the posts.

I also want to link this amazing video that Ali showed us that was the inspiration behind this topic of 'Before I die...'. It is such a touching video by an artist called Candy Chang.
http://www.ted.com/talks/candy_chang_before_i_die_i_want_to.html
Have a great day...
~Neela



 

Hello Me, Hello Chandu

I am in my week 2 of my awesome Hello Story class. This week the class got a little more personal. The instructor encouraged us to record personal information and more in depth feelings. She created fill in the blanks journal templates for us to incorporate in our layouts. I have created layouts to hold this information but I kind of feel uncomfortable filling it for the world to see.

I created two layouts for this post, one of myself and one of Chandu's. These layouts contain one photo from our childhood and one photo that is more current. It contains a journal block of fill in the blanks format. Chandu and I will fill in these blanks later.

I made a 12x12 silhouette file to cut out the cardstock. I then backed it with different patterned pieces of patterned paper. This took the longest time. Everything else on these two layouts is pretty straightforward. I printed out the fill in the blanks journal block on vellum and backed it with photo corners on plain cardstock. This way if we mess up while filling in the blanks, I can just add a new block easily.

Here is a snapshot of the silhouette file that I created:

 

Most of my materials are from the Valley High and Jennifer Scrapbook kits from Studio calico. There seems to be a bunch of patterned paper from Basic Grey, October Afternoon and Studio Calico this time. I selected very very different colors to make both the layouts even though the designs are the same. It was fun to see the outcome.

As for the photo selection process, it was very interesting. I have more photos of my childhood than Chandu does. It was a challenge to get a good one for Chandu. I finally found one that was in pretty bad shape. I had to spend a bunch of time trying to fix it in photoshop elements. What is bad is that we both don't have too many photos of just ourselves even right now. We need to start taking more photos of each other. I picked our childhood photos in taken the cities we grew up in India (Chandu in Hyderabad and me in Bangalore) and our current photos taken here in Santa Barbara where we are living currently.

Here is my layout:

Here is Chandu's layout:


 

Have a positively wonderful day.....

~Neela

 

Elle's Studio - Thursday Sketch

I am playing along Elle's studio Thursday sketch with this layout. We have been going to the beach a lot these days. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous here. I have been hoarding up all the beach photos this season. I have a whole bunch of good ones. I made this layout with one of my favorite photos. It is great to see Surya's anticipation and excitement to get into the water.

Here is my layout:

And here are some close ups:

 

 

 

 

I cut out the sunburst from water color paper with my silhouette. I then painted it with a gradient from blue to yellow. Water coloring on layouts has been so much fun. I only did it when I was kid and I am glad there is a fad for water coloring on layouts going on right now.

I cut strips from Happy moments Cameron paper and stuck it along two sides of the base white Recollections Card Stock. I misted the background with Heidi Swapp Teal colorshine and Taxi mist from studio calico. I found this Sweetest thing My Mind's eye washi tape that went well with the colors and added it to the border.

I then used my July kit and June kit from Elle's studio to add the journaling and little layers. I love all the little bits and pieces you get in these kits. I also stamped the 'this was awesome' sentiment on the journaling card with Elle's studio Saltwater Summer Happiness stamp.

Here is the sketch provided by Elles Studio:

 

Our Travel Timeline

So, if you read my previous post, you know that I am taking a class by Ali Edwards called Hello Story offered at Big Picture Classes. I made this layout based on the content of the class for this week on timelines. The last one I did was that of Arjun and this is about our travels over the last ten years. It is not comprehensive but these trips were some of the highlights.

I again based it pretty much on a layout that Ali had made for the class. Making this layout was an adventure all by itself. I made the templates to cut out the photos in segments on the Silhouette. I learnt quite a bit through this process. What fun! After figuring out how to cut them out, the placement of the photos on the mat was quite important.....as you may be guessing many a photo was sacrificed in this process. But I am so elated by the final outcome of this. I especially love the idea of raising segments of the circle with pop dots. Here is my layout:

 And here are some close ups:

 

 

 

 

For the border I cut strips of map paper from Simple Stories and cloud map paper from Studio Calico and paper pieced them along the border. For the background behind the photos, I used water color paper. I very subtly color washed with the colors of the papers in the border. I could have gone a little darker but better be safe than sorry. I was very happy to find the October Afternoon Sticky keys stickers for the names of all the places we went to. I also incorporated the Chipboard stickers as words for my journaling along the border of the layout. The border paper, geo tags and the chipboard stickers are from the roundabout kit and planetarium kit from studio calico.

It was so cool to go through the photos of all our travels and recollect all the memories, incidents and adventures along the way. However overwhelmed I feel before we start a journey, I absolutely seem to enjoy the experiences at our destination.....

****UPDATE*****
So many people were interested in the silhouette cut files to create the segments of the circles that I decided to add a link to those files here. You can download them for free. If you do, do leave me a comment. Both the files are .studio files that you can open with silhouette studio.
This cut file is best if used for a 5x7 photo - Segments of a circle
This file was created just for practice and it is the complete circle with segments - Divided circles
~Neela

Arjun's Time Line

I have signed up for the Hello Story class by Ali Edwards offered at Big Picture Classes and this is the first week. Let me tell you, it is simply amazing. There is a reason why she is so popular..... I loved all the inspiration and every single layout that she created for this week. She talked about creating layouts based on time lines this week.
So this is my first layout for this week..... I made a layout of Arjun's Time Line... from the year he was born to almost current. I pretty much followed the layout she made but just changed the orientation as I had more photos than she did.
I did quite a bit of stamping on this page that I don't generally do and also messed up a little bit. But that's okay.

Here is my layout:

I enjoyed creating this layout from the start to finish .... from selecting the photos, to deciding how to fit the photos, the stamping and the selection process of the embellishments. I mainly used silver, copper, gold and red accents. I added copper ink to the cork cameras and then added the sequins. I cut out the years and the semi circles with Silhouette. I am loving my Silhouette more and more these days. The possibilities are just endless with this machine. I used stamps from Hero Arts and Unity. I used Brilliance cosmic copper and silver to do the stamping. I used the gold rub ons from We R Memory keepers for Ajrun's initials (AG). Can't believe that the A and G look so different. But once I was committed, I didn't bother changing them. I used Heidi Swapp's gold color shine to mist the white background.... it is not showing up very well in the photo.

I got the cork cameras, sequins and hemp cord with my Studio Calico Kits. These kits are totally awesome too. You should check them out.

Swim Time

I made this layout with Elle's Studio Thursday sketches. Initially when I saw the trend of just one photo per page, I didn't like it. But I have actually started embracing and liking this trend because you can still tell a story with one or two photos and have fun with the artistic aspect of scrapbooking.
I made this layout of Surya still trying to get used to the pool. It took him time to get adjusted but then he started having a lot of fun towards the end of it.
Here is my layout:

I used the Cameron collection and the June kit from Elle's studio, some stickers from Paradise beach collection, Rub ons from fancy pants collection, chipboard doily and Enamel dots from My Mind's Eye. All of these are a fun mix of products and also fun to work with.
Here is the sketch from Elle's studio:

 

~Neela