Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Using Washi paper on your scrapbook LOs


When I first arrived in Japan, I fell down playing softball, broke my wrist and was not able to get any scrapbooking accomplished. However, I was able to go shopping so ideas began to swim around in my head about what I could make with all the beautiful washi (rice) papers I found. Once I got my cast off, this page became my first project.
First, I tore the washi around the edges, which was quite easy to do. It comes in really huge sheets, but I cut mine into 12x12 before tearing. Then the edges were inked and the entire thing was adhered to my background paper.
The photo was then double-matted on SEI papers from the Chocolat collection. I love the colors and feel of these beautiful papers. Before I glued the photo down, though, I took a Mizuhiki crane off of a greeting card and wrapped it around my photo. (more on Mizuhiki later). The title stickers are from the same SEI collection. A bit of bling, some ribbons and blooms and the page is almost done.
The journaling was added by running a piece of the SEI paper through my computer. The right end - though it does not show up well here - is folded over and underneath lies a tiny scrap of my cast. Someday, cast material may differ from the current material, so I wanted to keep a small bit for nostalgic reasons.
For the final touch, I used Daisy D's rub-on stitch tape around the border of the entire page. I didn't put my page in a protector right away, and some of the border tape rubbed off. All in all, I think the Japanese touches are quite pretty!
What is Mizuhiki? Mizuhiki is a ribbon-like paper cord made from washi and cut into long thin strips, twisted into strings then covered with a seaweed glue mixture to stiffen it. After the cord is formed it is polished or wrapped colored metallic paper for hundreds of beautiful color combinations. The finished cord is used to tie gifts for congratulations, condolences, and weddings. Most traditional Japanese money envelopes are tied with fanciful mizuhiki decorative knots such as the crane used in my LO. You can find many resources on the web if you wish to use Mizuhiki in your LOs.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Bios on the Hill










It has taken me some time to do something with the pictures of my time with my grandsons. They are the most charming little boys and we had such fun with them this summer - too short a time really. Such is the life of military families.
I started by crimping some white cardstock, spraying it with Glimmer Mist and building the rest around that. I took the patterned Bohemia papers and tore the edges, inked them with Color Box pigment ink and rolled them a bit for some dimension. I had the twine in my stash and decided to do a bit of lacing with it. I used the dotted mesh as a mat for the photo strip and I think it turned out pretty well. The journaling pulls out from behind that strip.
Not a bad LO for a double-page spread - those are always challenging!

Hope this page gives you some inspiration the next time you take some photos.

Love you boys and miss you!






Monday, October 20, 2008

Pumpkin altered book


Sometimes, things just don't turn out the way I had planned. I don't usually do altered anything as I am completely into preserving my photo memories through scrapbooking. But I saw this altered book on http://cheekymagpie.blogspot.com/ and just had to give this a try. She gives a nice tutorial on how to do this but I made a few alterations to her plan.


1. Cheeky simply says to trim the book, but does not mention a size. I trimmed my book to 3/4" thick, thinking it would fan well. It does not.


2. After removing the cover, I trimmed it to the shape I desired and used it as my template. This part worked rather well.


3. Cheeky used an ink/water mixture to color her pumpkin and I used an ink pad directly to paper. I wish I had taken the time to give more coverage.


4. I used a stick about the same size as Cheeky shows, but sure had trouble getting in to sit in the spine of my book.


5. I added some wire I had sitting around but it is a bit thin and does not give the effect I wanted.




My husband was feeling a bit nostalgic as he watched me work. He remembers his mom making angels from old Reader's Digests when he was a kid. I sure hope her projects turned out better than this one did for me. I think I'll stick to scrapbooking!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Bon Odori


Sometimes, I just don't have the right photo for the feeling I am trying to convey on my LO. For Bon Odori, none of my photos showed us as we danced around the big tower with the drums pounding. In order for me to bring that feeling of Obon to the page, I had to alter my focus photo. First, in Photoshop, I stretched the bottom of one of the photos I had of the tower. Then I cut out images of me and my friends dancing and pasted them on the photo. Next, to fill in some space, I added a haiku that I wrote. Finally, I printed another photo of the tower, trimmed it out and pop-dotted it over the other photo. I'm happy with the final result!
Props to jmoody59 of sbelements.com for giving me this design inspiration.

Monday, October 6, 2008

How-to videos you must see!

Well, it sure has taken me a long time to get posting, hasn't it? I became so busy with moving, unpacking, visiting old friends and sight-seeing, that I have had a bit of scrapbooking withdrawals. Thanks to the Internet, I have also kept myself entertained with these videos that I just have to share with you. One is quite short and one a bit long, but they are both must sees. I know you will relate. Let me know if you don't laugh!

Short one first:

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=_duMORCX0EU&search=snl%20target

This next one is a bit longer, but you are sure to pick up some great tips.

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=nA340VSn2c8