Shaping Up

Supplies: teal patterned paper (BasicGrey), blue and grey cardstock (Bazzill), green paper stars (Bo-Bunny Press), acid-free Kraft notebook paper (Earthbound), rocket template (October Afternoon), flowers and gems (Petaloo), label stickers (October Afternoon), thread (DMC), chipboard stars (DCWV), blue alphabet stickers (BasicGrey), round teal alphabet stickers (Heidi Grace Designs), template for journaling lines (Creative Memories), black pen (Zig), teal pen (Sakura Gelly Roll).  This page was created for palette #61 on the Color Room site.

Personal die-cutting systems are extremely popular right now.  If you are trying to live green, though, you might have resisted buying a die-cutter.  They are big machines, which means that they take a lot of resources to manufacture and ship.  Many are also electronic, requiring a power source in order to function.  I am one of those people who has so far resisted buying a die-cutting machine.

Please do not misunderstand me.  There is nothing intrinsically wrong with these machines.  If you own one and love one, that is great.  But for those people who chose not to buy a die-cutting machine, here are some ideas for other ways to make cool shapes out of paper.

One idea is to trace around a shaped object.  Trace it on the back of your paper, then cut carefully on the traced lines.  For my "Sci-Fi Family" layout, I traced around a chipboard rocket shape to create the spaceship that houses my title (above).  Of course, I could have just used the chipboard rocket, but I'm saving it for a mini-album, which will appear in another post on this blog.

Another idea is to fussy-cut shapes from patterned paper.  That is how I got the green stars I used for each family member's initial (above).

This layout is a bit unusual, in that it has no photographs.  Our family loves science fiction, and I try to create at least one layout per year about this hobby.  Sometimes journaling can tell the story better than photos can (above).

I had so much fun creating the "trail" of the rocket (above).  Until a few weeks ago, I had never tried hand-sewing on scrapbook pages.  Now, I seem to be growing quite addicted to sewing on my pages.  I did not use any sort of template to plan my stitching on this layout--I just eyeballed it, for a natural look.  Combining the stitching with chipboard and gems was also fun!

Before I go, here is one last detail shot (below).  I love the way that this October Afternoon label sticker combines apple green and grey--two quite different colors.   I used it to add a little, encouraging message at the bottom of my layout.  Sometimes, it's the little things that matter most.  :)