Let me tell you more about snow, because we had more snow again. That day we went to that wedding, it snowed again. But as always, winter’s giving me a hard time, teasing me about getting up my hopes for a real snow adventure, but in the end, it’s just another layer that barely covers the ground. Oh, how I miss those snowy days from home, sigh.
I’ll have to take comfort in the snow pictures my mom is sending me from home these days. I guess that is as good as it gets!
Font lovers, take heed! I found this website the other day, which has a large collection of awesome free fonts. And what’s best about them, they’re all commercial use fonts. So, if you’re looking for more great fonts to add to your collection, don’t miss it! There’s all sorts of handwriting fonts, script fonts, typewriter fonts, etc. … some of which I’ve never seen on any of the other big free font websites. So, if you haven’t checked out this source yet, you might want to do that!
Who of us hasn’t stumbled upon a pretty scrapbook page in one of the galleries, and thought, Oh man, why haven’t I come up with the idea for this page? That, however, doesn’t mean you still can’t use that idea on one of your own pages. The solution to the problem? Scraplifting, duh! But there’s more to scraplifting than scraplifting, if you know what I mean. There are lots of ways, in fact of how you can lift someone else’s layout.
No. 1 | Whole Layout
Probably the most common way of scraplifting (at least for my part) is to reproduce the whole page. You take a layout, look at the way papers and elements are arranged, and then you copy that straight onto your own canvas.
No. 2 | Clusters
Another way of scraplifting is to take one cluster and reproduce it on your own page. This could be the main cluster of a composition, but leaving out other details, or it could be parts of a cluster. Lifting clusters of other great scrappers can help you improve your own clustering abilities, since you are – by the way – learning from a “master!”
(Note: I used the title work for inspiration, but added my own clusters of embellies.)
No. 3 | Composition
A third way of scraplifting is to simply copy the composition of the original without reproducing every single detail. Look for the various clusters on the page and position your own clusters in a similar way.
(Note: I used the split page design, and arranged my cluster in the same place, but my cluster looks very different, and I added another cluster at the top.)
No. 4 | Topic, Title, or Photo
A fun thing for me is to find inspiration with someone else’s topics. Take a look at the left layout below. I loved the idea of how a photo of feet in socks were used to scrap about a very normal day in life. I ended up using that idea on one of my own pages, recently.
(Note: similar photos in both layouts)
No. 5 | Combining Two or More Layouts
I’ve done that, too, in the past: taking the things I like from various layouts and combining them on a page of my own. The result is you get a page that really looks like it’s your own design completely.
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(Note: ideas from both layouts were taken to create my own page.)
No. 6 | Using Parts of the Page as Inspiration
What has become most common for me when I look for inspiration is that I find a page I like, take a couple of ideas, maybe the main composition, but then I just forget about the original layout and I start doing my own thing by adding paper layers, rearranging clusters, repositioning titles and journaling, etc. The possibilities with this type of scraplifting are endless.
(Note: the only thing that’s somewhat the same, is the heart in the center, with the two word strips, and the artsy feel to the page. No one could ever tell that the left page was what I started from.)
Tip No. 1:
Also, try rotating a page as you’re lifting, or rotating only parts of the composition.Tip No. 2:
Use templates as inspiration for composition etc.
I know, the sending of my Christmas cards has taken quite a bit of space on my blog these last two months. But guess what I just found out!
They arrived! My Christmas Cards arrived. After almost two months, and after I’d already given up all hope and thought all was lost.
Of course, they’re too late for the season, but at least they did arrive at last (though it makes me wonder what took so long again this time). Last time I sent Christmas cards, they arrived after 10 days (which I thought was fast), so I’d thought three weeks would be plenty of time for them.
But I guess, after having thought all that work of creating those cards had been in vain I’m not complaining. At least they did arrive at last!
While pretty much all of us love the special occasions in life, things that make our lives fun and exciting, to be honest, most of our lives take place in the everyday routine, the mundane things. But usually, its the little things which take up most of our lives that get neglected the most in our journaling and scrapbooking. So, today, I came up with a couple of journaling prompts that will help you slow down for a moment and think about the simple things in everyday life. And of course, I already reflected myself, and here’s the page I came up with:
 Little Pleasures |
I told you that I was going a friend’s wedding this weekend, and here’s the proof! And since we’re talking of weddings, it reminds me: have I ever told you about weddings in this corner of the world? Well, one thing I can assure you – they’re very different from a German wedding, or any other Western type wedding for that matter.
For one, they’re usually over by around 2, 2:30 pm in the afternoon. But of course, they start earlier. The real ceremonial part takes place early in the morning (about 6 am) in private, in the bride’s home (without the family of the bridegroom), and the official part is just all about giving exchanging presents (yes, the couple is required to give presents to the parents, but then they also receive the present of an apartment and a whole lot of cash by the parents of both parties). Anyhow, the main part is the big lunch meal, and then everyone disperses, bride and bridegroom change, go home and spend the rest of the day with family and/or friends at home.
Sounds different than what you know about weddings? I agree. But at least you get to do something else later on that day. Or sleep, when you haven’t slept much the night before (as was the case with me).
Snowflakes are like kisses sent down from heaven.
~ Unknown ~
Traveling by train in China is a very peculiar thing. The first challenge you’ll have to master is obtaining a train ticket, which can get really tricky.
On that part, I was lucky this time, because my friend booked our tickets online, so I didn’t have to bother about it.
It was also unlucky, however, because the only train tickets he could get was tickets for an overnight train, and I never sleep well on trains. It further was unlucky, because my name doesn’t go well with the Chinese system, and however that worked out, but as soon as we’d gotten on the train, someone had figured there was something fishy about us. Because we hardly had sat down, when a train officer stopped by to check about the names on our tickets. (Now note: the average train ticket doesn’t have a name on it, and ours only did, because my friend had booked it online.) The problem was that the name on the train tickets (which were the correct names according to us) were not the same names as those in the records of this train officer person, however that happened.
After long discussions they finally decided to just ignore the matter and see whether someone else would show up to claim our spots. No one did.
Now, I could tell you more about sleepless nights and bunk beds, of rattling noises, and of trains that go south first, before turning north where they’re supposed to go (making this trip take twice as long as actually was necessary). But I guess, these will be stories for another time!
Let’s get back to paper to digi business. I went on a search for another nice traditional scrapbook page to scraplift, and found myself this:
Darling Dear by blinksoflife
And because I liked this page, I took it as the basis for a page of my own, and out came this …
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Now, see, the beauty of scraplifting is that you don’t have to everything exactly according to the original layout. You have that which is called “creative freedom!” For me, that creative freedom usually looks like this: I find myself a pretty page I like, and I use it as a springboard for inspiration. Usually, however, the end result turns out really different, because either add extra things to my page, or take away what was on the original. The end result is a page that reflects your own personality and scrapping style. Despite it being “merely” a scraplift.
Now it’s your turn! Why don’t you go and find yourself a pretty page from one of the traditional scrapbooking galleries and start working on a page of your own?
Credits:
Let the Games Begin by Libby Pritchett & Kristin Cronin-Barrow
Half Pack 70 by Cindy Schneider
Font: DJB Preppy Side by Darcy Baldwin
