teleroblog;

us space and rocket center, 8.5x11 

Not in kit:

• Patterned paper: Studio Calico Documentary Collection Looky There, Jet Set, f/Stop, Camera Shy
• Photographer Label: Colorbok Lucky You Collection Cardstock Label Stickers
• Alpha: Basic Grey Max and Whiskers Collection Micro Mono Stickers, Jillibean Soup Old World Cabbage Stew Collection Cardstock Stickers
• Journaling cards: Studio Calico Documentary Collection
• Circle labels: Jillibean Soup Old World Cabbage Stew Collection Cardstock Stickers
• Fabric tape: Studio Calico Documentary Collection fabRips
• Rub-ons: 7Gypsies Zanzibar Collection Word Rubbings
• Stamp: Fontwerks Kate Teague Collection Notes
• Ink: Rubber Stampede
• Other: Mod Podge Dimensional Magic, embroidery thread, staples, masking tape, atom sticker

Recently, my mom found a bunch of photos we thought we’d lost to either raccoons who had to be scared out of the attic or water damage. How amazing that they were safe all along! Photographs mean the world to me, obviously, just like they do to every scrapper, and while they’re just pieces of paper, they are infallible and much stronger than the human memory.

One of the pictures found was the one used in this layout, of my dad and his brothers at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama during a boys’ trip with their dad/my grandpa. I remember being very small and looking at that picture and wondering about it. I don’t think I ever asked where it was taken, because that information was new to me as I created the layout, but I really studied my uncles because I had never met them; I was still living in Berlin at that time and they were in the States.

Thinking they’d look the same, I was in for a shock: that picture was taken in 1984, and I met them for the first time in 1996. Yep. Definite changes!

The best part about making this page? Learning about the little details I didn’t know before, like the customized van my grandpa had that he refused to let anyone else drive (it was his baby) and how four grown dudes fit in that thing all the way to and from the South. Crazy!

The August Bits & Bobs kit is amazing, let me just get that out of the way — packed to the brim with awesome vintage goodies and some cute, newer scrapbooking items, as well. All the maps used in this layout came from the kit (except for the Studio Calico paper in the middle), and so did many details, like the camera in the very center of the page, the old playing card beneath it, the page protector (which I cut up and used as transparencies to stitch on), the ticket, the paper clip — basically everything I didn’t list above in the “Not in kit” section! And there’s plenty left for another layout or two. ;)

Obviously, I put a lot of emphasis on embroidered images, and the big technique used here involved printing off tiny outlines of the USA and Alabama itself, placing them under the transparency, tracing over them with Sharpie pen, and then stitching over the lines with embroidery thread. I used the back stitch, which allows you to see through to the other side and get a glimpse of the knots and ends and overlaps, and I love that. I just love that raw look! I think it really suits my layout.

I’d also been dying to use the cameras from the Studio Calico Documentary collection, so I went nuts and stapled a handful of them down as a border, as well as using the instant camera in the upper left of the page (which is attached by a pretty brad — also included in the kit — and slides away to give easy access to a journaling card and to remove the photo if desired).

The layout was originally intended to be pretty sparse, but I’m still getting used to the 8.5x11 format (I’m challenging myself!), so it turned into a very busy, very active scrapbook page, but I firmly believe it’s much better than it would have been had it been done in a simple fashion! Again, I feel it suits the theme and my style. I’m very, very happy with it, and hope you like it, too!

let’s see nc, ok!, 8.5x11 

Not in kit:

• Patterned paper: Studio Calico Documentary Collection Looky There
• Vintage die-cuts: K&Company cut N paste Collection Die-Cut Cardstock
• Baker’s twine: AR Creations
• Polymer clay buttons: Charlene’s Button Box Tiny Silver Dot Buttons
• Other: Vellum and cardstock scraps, manila envelope

When I saw the way-too-cool North Carolina vintage puzzle piece in the Click Click kit, I knew I had to make use of some cell phone pictures my brother snapped on his way to Mooresville, NC. His friend moved down there to attend school, so my brother decided to help him out while also seeing him off.

It is so bizarre to me that the bright blue in the photos isn’t water — it’s mountains. I have never lived close to mountains, so seeing them in photos is the closest I’ve ever come to witnessing their arresting beauty, and let me tell you — it is arresting! They are so tall and seem to roll on forever and ever, those mountains. Beautiful.

My idea for this layout was to make use of a cut-up manila envelope to simulate said envelope’s travel ephemera contents spilling out. The right hand side is jagged because of this; I didn’t just want to leave the white cardstock showing underneath! It’s also not quite as visually interesting as focusing on the haphazard way the envelope has been “stuffed” and how many layers there are, so I cut off the blank spaces of cardstock which were not collaged over.

Most elements used are from the kit. The letters I cut from fabric velcro badges used to teach the locations of cities and landmarks on a map (I had “Mt. McKinley” and “Buenos Aires,” and since neither of them personally applied to me or to someone I know, I improvised! ;)). As you can see, I used the outline of the Mt. McKinley badge in the center of the layout to draw attention to how hilly North Carolina is. I was also eager to use the blue map patterned paper from the kit, as well as the white polka dotted kraft envelope for my journaling. I love that little hummingbird I snipped from a transparency included in the kit, too — so cute! It really accentuates the summer travel theme. :)