Sunday 6 April 2014

Scrapbooking with layered Photos

So (and with apologies to you clever digi scrappers and smart photo book makers) you cut, you stick, you make a page. You sit back, you think - yes, that one's finished. what's next?


Are you a neat, finish-things-off-properly sort of scrapper who deftly slips each layout into a page protector and sets the album back on the shelf? or are you like me? I'm messy. I don't like to close things away just after I've finished. I'm not ready to break up with my latest love straight away. maybe I'll want to add a bit more, sometimes I have a blog post to print out and add to the back. Often I think - ooh, if I just carefully add this to the pile on the side of my desk, I'll be able to start something else without doing any cleaning up at all.

And that works for a while. But it all turned a bit Code Red a couple of weeks back, when an avalanche of carefully collected special moments slid down the side of my worktable and into a big bag full of fabric scraps.Left behind, sitting on the clear space, was a big pack of page protectors. They had been underneath those layouts for weeks. I knew what I had to do then, and I gritted my teeth, and I did it. About fifty pages - probably two a week for the last six months - all put away.

But when you put them away, you can't see them. Nobody can, unless you make a point of offering round a huge heavy album every so often. I have a couple of pages I didn't home with the rest


One is a Christmas layout I made for Little E. It was supposed to be a gift for his mum. Just before Christmas I had spotted - and at a bargain price! - a shelf full of album cover frames, perfect for keeping a layout in. Home Bargains, what a store! I had already filled my basket that day with everything I needed, and a whole lot I didn't, at a price I couldn't resist. So I left the album frames


to come back to. And if Little E's mum is reading right now, she'll be shaking her head. You did it again, Sian, didn't you? You didn't buy it when you saw it and now the moment has passed.

I did try. I went back half a dozen times, to look for a frame to turn a page into a present. But no more frames appeared and I had to find a different surprise for her instead. 

Then, just the other day, I was back (for cheap envelopes, I think) and there they were. Album frames for £1.99. Worth a try? At that price I think so. I'm going to try painting one. If it works maybe I'll keep a spot on the wall for a rotating display and maybe, finally, Little E's mum will have her surprise Christmas present.

But what has all this got to do with layered photos? Well, when Get It Scrapped asked, I came up with a page called "And After"

From High in the Sky: scrapbooking layered photos for Get It Scrapped

using a big photo of a possible display area near my desk, and several little photos of favourite layouts strung on a washing line display. Just for fun. It's an interesting subject, layering photos, and you can read lots more about it at Scrapbooking Ideas for Layered Photo Treatments

Meanwhile, I'll work on not layering another pile of finished pages over the rest of the stuff on my desk.

Happy Sunday!

24 comments:

Jimjams said...

I love the idea of framing a few pages ... must dash to Home Bargains and check out the local stock! TFS

Lovely quirky page ... now where will you put it?

Anonymous said...

Love the idea of framing some for display and I have the perfect place to put them. Ah yes the pile of completed layouts - mine are in a box and I really must file them away, thanks for the reminder.

Jane said...

must check that shop out. I do put my layouts in their albums straight away as i worry I'll spill something on them! x

Barbara Eads said...

Years ago, I bought 12x12 shadow box frames for my grandchildren. I think they were made by Bazzil--long since discontinued. The beauty of these frames is that they had little hooks so you could put many layouts and just rotate them. An added plus was that the could stand alone on top of a dresser---no need to hang it on the wall. I make each grandchild several layouts a year and present them at Christmas. They all enjoy reading each of their stories aloud to the family. They never know what I'm going to choose as their topics for the year. As for my personal scrapbooking, I let the layouts pile up and put them away about every 6 months---like you. I try to keep a couple books out and rotate them so the family can see them.

scrappyjacky said...

Hmmm.....sadly we don't have that shop.....but Wilko sell 12 x 12 frames....a little more expensive than £1.99 though....and I do have a couple of framed pages on the wall.
And I also have a pile of 'finished' pages.....waiting patiently to be put somewhere!!

Jo said...

I let my layouts pile up so I can get on with the next one straight away. It did mean that a couple of weeks ago I had 120 layouts to file away! It took me hours because I don't scrap in order but do file in order, I won't let it get that out of control again!

Ladkyis said...

~sigh~ I always put the layouts into the right album straight away. I can't just leave them. I will say that my albums are always being taken off the shelf and looked at. I suppose that because I have been scrapping for so long - since the 1960s - my family and friends know that there is always something new and they also know that they are welcome to look just about any time they like and the albums are to hand when they choose to look

Susanne said...

Well, I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum from you - I've picked up one of those album covers and never put anything in it. I have two shadow boxes with layouts that are long overdue for switching out. So long overdue that the embellishments are dropping off of one. And that brings me to admitting I'm not a put-it-away-right-away scrapper. In fact, I don't always remember to permanently glue down things I've only temporarily adhered in case I change my mind. That means that I have to mend a lot of layouts when I do get around to putting in them in albums 6 months later. Luckily I just did that and so I could, possibly, turn over a new leaf, or album page protector as the case may be.

debs14 said...

I've seen those album frames in a couple of places and have been known to pick one up, put it down, walk round the shop, pick it up again and then put it down. My son loves vinyl albums and I just thought he might want to frame one of the covers. Maybe I need to go back and actually buy one, who knows what might end up in it!

helena said...

love the idea of the album frames with a LO. Back when I made paper pages I used to have 3 displayed on the wall above my TV so I glanced at them a lot - each time I made a new one I replace the oldest (and put them in a pile waiting to be put into my album!!) I rather inelegantly (but practically) hung them on trouser clothes hangers that hung off a hook in the wall

ComfyMom~Stacey said...

Our Dollar Store sometimes gets 4x4,8x8, & 12x12 frames in at $1-4 each. I try to stock up then. That's the nice thing about digital. I can print my pages at whatever size I need.

Ruth said...

I put my layouts away straight away ~ sigh!
I have a 12x12 album frame on the wall in TBC's room and I'm certain I didn't get such a good price as you have!!

Anonymous said...

I'm of the digi persuasion and I have not perfected the art of printing them out--somehow the printed color isn't the same as on screen. So, in essence, my layouts are put away as soon as I close the program I use to create them. Your stack of projects may be a bit unstable, but it does sound like you get a lot of enjoyment from them. And your idea of displaying on a line is a nice one.

Karen said...

My pages go right into the albums. I don't really have space for them to lay around. Once an album gets pretty full, I put it in the living room so folks can look through it, but then they go on a shelf in the guest bedroom except for my three fave albums which reside in a basket in the living room.

Karen said...

Oh, and I love the washing line across the top of the layout. Pinning that idea!

Cheri said...

I definitely DON'T move layouts to albums right away. I stack them. I have a 12x12 hanging easel thing with about a dozen page protectors in it. I slip layouts in there and you can flip the pages and look at my latest creations. When I print digi pages, I'll even slip a few of my favorites in there to enjoy for a while. The easel sits in my office. I would say I actually move everything into albums about once a year. Yikes. Spring cleaning you know.

Missus Wookie said...

I have a single folded acrylic LO display frame - I always intended to buy more but then by the time I went back it had gone. You just slip the LO in and ta da it is displayed. I keep the latest ones up on the shelves to be admired and then file 'em.

Digi ones I print out occasionally...

Miriam said...

Another beautiful page Sian. I did laugh at the pages falling onto the floor leaving the covers behind! When I did paper scrapping I put the pages away as soon as they were finished but I left the books out for people to look at.

Hazel A.. said...

Oh Sian! I do so relate to leaving pages out; in fact I have them everywhere! Keep telling myself to get them organized but SELF pays no attention and moves on to the next project! Do have a couple easels that I've propped favorites on for everyone to see. Thanks for sharing this and for the very clever layout - another neat idea to "lift!" ;)

Lou said...

The washing line is very effective..lovely papers. I let them pile up too. I never used but these days I do. I received a new album last week so I think it's time to sort the pile and put them away x x I love the idea of framing layouts x

Anonymous said...

I am so guilty of making layouts and then putting them into a pizza box. I have so many waiting to go into an album and have so many albums but I do keep my fav pages in a album that is in my craft area for me to look at when the need arises.

Nathalie said...

Ah! Funny thing is that i do have a lot of layered pages! Piles and piles of them! But layered photos not so much other than maybe print the same twice and place one slightly over the other on a page...

Carmen said...

I'm going to have to google where my nearest Home Bargains is!

I love that page with the little washing line!

Sandra said...

I'll be heading with the rest of the bloggers to find a bargain :)

I have a few layouts on my craft room wall but they're not in frames

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