A Splash of Fruit: Summer Color Combo

Hi everyone!  I hope you are enjoying the warmer weather, despite the "rain, rain" that doesn't want to "go away."  Well, scrapbooking is a great indoor activity for those rainy days, and my latest article is up on the Scrapjazz website.  I've posted it below also.
Please leave some feedback here on my blog about this article, as well as article topics you'd like to see in the future.  Are you interested in videos?  Are there specific products you'd like more information about?  Let me know, and I'll do my best to cover those topics/products.
Enjoy the article, and remember to be your crafty self!

A Splash of Fruit:  Summer Color Combo

by Jeanette Giancaspro

Fruit is a hot trend in the scrapbooking industry right now.  Several manufacturers are featuring both a fruit theme and fruity colors in their summer lines this year.  Although I’m not a trendy scrapbooker, I’ve always liked bright, fresh, fun colors. 

This layout is from a few years ago, but you can see how I used paper with strawberries and cherries, as well as fruit-colored papers.  I wrote the journaling on a strawberry die cut, and the flowers were part of the paper’s design.  I cut the title with my Big Kick (Big Shot), using a QuicKutz alphabet. The sunglasses, pail and shovel, and flip-flops are Sizzlit dies, and I cut them out of foam.

                   

                                                

This layout is more recent, but the color palette is basically the same.  There is more orange and blue, and a little less green and pink, but the colors are still bright and “fruity.”  Instead of die-cutting the title, I painted chipboard letters to match my papers.  This time I used my Cricut machine to cut the embellishments, and I stamped the fish and the smaller words in the title. 

As you can see in the second layout, these freshly-picked colors aren’t only for “girly” layouts. They work just as well with pictures of the men in our lives.  And they aren’t just for summer either.  The colors in this palette are perfect for birthdays, travel, celebrations, children, and many other themes.

There is an old saying:  “Everything old is new again.”  It certainly applies to the scrapbook industry.  Although the papers that I used are no longer available, the new lines of products have a very similar look and feel to them.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Fruit Stand, by Doodlebug Design

Happy Go Lucky, by Echo Park

Barefoot and Bliss, by Bo Bunny

Feelin’ Groovy, by We R Memory Keepers

Knee Highs and Bow Ties (Bow Ties), by Basic Grey

Now that the warm weather is finally here, I’m sure that many of you will be out and about taking pictures of the fun you’re having outdoors.  I hope you’ll try using some of these fresh and fruity colors on the layouts that you make with those pictures.  

Starting Project Life

Designed by Becky Higgins a few years ago, Project Life is a system, or style, of scrapbooking that involves weekly layouts that chronicle your everyday life.  Photos, journaling, and embellishments are placed in divided page protectors of varying styles and sizes.  Although official Project Life products are available only through Becky Higgins and her affiliates, there are many companies that make products designed for use in Project Life systems.

When I first heard about Project Life, I knew that there was no way that I would be able to take a photo every day and create a layout with those photos every week.  So I never even considered it, although I did admire some of the creative layouts that I was seeing in galleries and on blogs.

It wasn't until this past summer that Project Life became a realistic possibility for me.  I realized that I didn't have to create a layout a week.  I could make a layout a month.  I didn't have to follow any rules.  I could adapt this concept to work for me!

During the eleven years that I've been scrapbooking, I've come to realize that there are no hard and fast rules that scrapbookers have to follow.  Realizing this made it so much easier to start Project Life, because, as we all know, starting a project is often the most difficult part.  So deciding to begin my project in August, as opposed to January, was the first decision I had to make.  The rest came easily.

I chose a 12 x 12 three-ring binder for my album.  Then I decided on divided page protectors by We R Memory Keepers andAmerican Crafts; and I'm using the 4" x 6" landscape, portrait, and mixed orientation designs.  My journaling will be typed, and my embellishments and titles will be simple (the month and year).

The most challenging part of this project for me was, surprisingly, the journaling - not in terms of what to write, but deciding from whose point of view the stories should be told.  Even though I almost always write my journaling to my children, this time I'm writing to myself.

I finally decided to use a journal app on my iPhone, called "Day One," that allows me to write in journal form and add photos to my entries.  This also enabled me to have all of my photos in one place, although I did include photos from my regular camera as well.  It was so easy to keep my journaling in the same format and just print it out. 

The most important thing to remember when doing Project Life is that you can change things around any time you like.  The system is flexible, and there are lots of ideas and products to help you achieve your individual goals.  Before you begin this project, however, you should answer these questions:

• Will you be creating a layout weekly, monthly, or randomly?
• What type of album will you use?
• In what size will you print your photos?
• Which style page protectors will you include?
• How will you approach the journaling?
• What types of embellishments and titles will you have?

I really enjoyed my first month with Project Life, and I hope you decide to give it a try too.