Frantic Stamper Happenings: Lazy Day Ike

by Lis Whiting

Lazy Day Ike

Materials

Paper and Cardstock

Bazzill – canvas texture

Anchorage ( BAZ-9-959 $0.59)
Limeade ( BAZ-5-509 $0.59)
Aloe Vera BAZ-5-506 $0.59)
Amber ( BAZ-4-463 $0.59)

Patterned Paper 12 x 12 ( $)

Stamps
Inks and Embossing Powders
Embellishments (I used different products which are not currently available, but these would work well.)

Prima Flowers, pale green ( PRI-TJ-537753 $4.99)
Doodlebug, Shin-Dig Stickers, Limeade ( DB-S-Shin-Lime $3.99)

Tools

Martha Stewart Punch, Birds ( MSC-PU-42-40022 $14.99)
Cuttlebug Machine ( Pro-cuttlebug $89.00)
Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Oriental Package ( Pro-efkit-asian $36.99)
Fiskars Self Healing Mat ( FIK-craftmat $14.99)
Fiskars Paper Trimmer ( FIK-trim-12port $20.99)
Fiskars fingertip craft knife FIK-KN-6305 $5.99)

I really like scrapbooking. I like to look back on the memories of my life and photos and journaling help me to remember. Scrapbooking also allows others to know my life even after I’m gone.

I have pictures that my mom gave me of relatives that I don’t know. It’s such a shame. Other photos are almost white or stained because of the acid from paper that is destroying them over time. Scrapbooking addresses all of that by:

Using acid free or photo safe materials (Including papers, inks and glues) that safeguard photos so that they last a lifetime
Journaling or recording the who, what, when and where of a picture
Allows me to express myself through this art medium (yes, its an art form just like drawing or painting) and in the process, others will get to know me through my scrapbook art

Really, you only need a few things to start on your scrapbooking journey:

A 12 inch paper trimmer (this way you can work with any size paper)
A black felt pen (acid free) for journaling
Paper
Acid free glue or tape
Your photos

There are a few basics to getting started:

Probably the hardest thing is to get your photos out. Organization can be quite a big deal if you have a lot of photos. My solution is to start with the most recent event you took pictures of; a birthday, a trip, a holiday.
Once you have chosen some photos, spread them out (or look at them on your PC) and look for a color theme. Is there a lot of green grass? Colored flowers? What colors are the people wearing?
The reason for this is simple. You are going to match some of the paper from your scrap page to a color in your photo. This will make that part of the photo “pop”. For example: I have a picture of my dad standing next to his favorite pink rose bush. He is wearing blue pants and a white shirt. If I back my photo with pink, the roses stand out. If I back the photo with blue, my dad’s pants stand out. If I back the photo with green, the grass around my dad stands out. Get the picture? (Sorry, I couldn’t resist the pun.)
The layout is how you organize your scrapbook page. Do you want you photos on the side? The top? Overlapping? You can take a piece of paper and draw out the layout before you start. In my project below you will see this.
The Title of the Page tells in a word or two what the page is about. These titles give you a strong idea of what a page might be like: SUMMER, GONE FISHING, CELEBRATE.
One last thing: You want to decide what size scrapbook pages you want to have. The most common size right now is 12 x 12. You can also find 8x8 and 4x4 easily.

Let’s get started! I took pictures of my kitty IKE. He is an orange kitty and I love him!

Instructions

I decided that since Ike is a brown/orange kitty with light greenish eyes and a little white on his face that I would go with a dark brown 12 x 12 cardstock as a background. This way anything I put on it will really show up and not blend into the background.
I chose several colors of cardstock and patterned paper and placed my photos in front of them to see which ones would bring out the features in the photos (his eyes) the best. I settled on dark brown for the back ground and light green & amber to mat Ike’s picture. I used only amber to mat the photos of Ike’s eyes because I wanted the focus to be on Ike’s picture.
To make the bird border and the patterned paper on the left side of the page:

I took a one inch strip of pale green cardstock and punched the bird border using Martha Stewart punch.

Martha Stewart has done it once again. This punch is BEAUTIFUL!

I cut a 4 ¼ x 12 inch strip of pattered paper that was a slightly lighter shade of brown.

I glued the bird strip to the back of this patterned paper so that the bottom line of the punch just showed.

I glued the paper strip with birds down on the left hand side of my 12x12 page.

The embossed strip:

I cut THREE 2 x 6 inch strips of pale green cardstock.

I embossed each of them with one of the oriental designs that comes in the Oriental package of Cuttlebug Embossing Folders.

I cut away any flat or unembossed areas.

NOTE: I placed the unglued strips of embossed cardstock and my photos on the page to see where things would lie.

After I tested how it would look, I glued the first strip on the bottom of my page in the middle of the patterned paper.

I added the next strip and glued it down.

I finished by gluing down the third strip.

I trimmed any excess away.

The photos of Ike’s eyes:

I took one photo of Ike’s face and cropped it down to his eyes.

I printed this photo out four times.

I matted the amber cardstock on the back of these photos.

I placed the photos down on the left side of my page.

I added Prima flowers in pale green in between each photo.

To make the right side of the page:

I took the photo of Ike and attached it to my amber cardstock.

I cut a border of about 1/8 inch.

I took this and attached it to some light green cardstock and cut a border of about 1/16 inch.

I placed the photo on my page on the right BUT DID NOT GLUE IT DOWN YET.

I took a long package I happened to have (this is what you see in the pictures but you can use a ruler also). I placed the sticker letters on the edge of it LAZY DAY. I was then able to move the title around to see what I liked the best.

Once I had the title where I wanted it, I pressed down and stuck the letters down. I took the bottom edge of the letters carefully off the plastic I was using. Voila! A straight title!