Digital Scrapbooking Blog and Scrapbook Inspiration
from DesignerDigitals

In our last Quarterly Sale Chat day, Katie lead an hour long discussion about collage.  The ideas and the inspiration she provided were so rich.  Here is the link to her notes.  You can spend many hours wandering through these links and learning so much. A visual feast.

For this month’s PageKraft feature we are looking deeply into this idea of piecing bits and parts onto one page.

A recent show at the Princeton University Art Museum  featured the retrospective work of Kurt Schwitters.

To quote the web site “Schwitters developed a unique form of artistic practice, one that merged art and life, embraced disparate media, and utilized found objects and printed materials”.

Sound familiar?

I have been very attracted to his work and one piece in particular served as inspiration for my latest PageKraft project.

Mz 601, 1923

This article in the New York Times, March 31, 2011, provides more insight and ideas.
If you Google his name and choose “Images” you will be overwhelmed with the most magical paper piecing you can imagine.

After a recent quick visit to Madrid where I spent most of my time in museums, walking and photographing in the streets ( and eating, of course!) I pieced together this hommage to the Madridleños love of art.

Madrid’s Art

Sharon and I have been almost psychically connected across the globe more than once.  And the day I finished my page she posted this marvelous example of a complex collage.  Check out how she used the layers and the color in the composition which flows so well.

Love Photos Like This

And check out this wonderful layered photo collage from Sam.  The colors and paper use, the shadows and stitching are what brings it into the collage domain.  I love the combo of color and aged paper.

Fish and Chips

PageKraft is more of an inspiration than a challenge but we do have our won Gallery where we would love to see your creations. 

Explore the links above to get more ideas and then give it a go.
Thanks for joining us as we explore our PageKraft.

Following up the idea of seeding words from our last WriteTrue blog post, today we have a special guest, our own Designer,  Cathy Zielske.  In a effort to help move the story onto the page Cathy has begun a new series of templates called Story Guides. 
The first one is focused on the questions of an interview. Here is her example of how she used these directed questions in an interview with her son, Coleman.  You might want to check Cathy’s blog on Tuesday because she will be showing a hybrid version of this project there.

A Conversation with Coleman
Cathy Z

Story Guide 1
Just Linens Paper Pack No 18

I took another turn with the template and followed the idea of a conversation but adapted it to use for a story which occurred just yesterday afternoon. Talk about being in the right place at the right time!!

Score One for the Camera Gods

The template makes it so easy to focus on the story itself and less on the design of the page.
Story Guide 1
Pebble Solid Paper Pack

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I found another interesting source for writing prompts this week.  The Learning Network at the NYTimes published an unusual piece called Passion Prompts: Sentence Starters for Writing About Relationships.  Each entry is derived from an article or essay in the newspaper and restructured as a prompt.  Check it out if you want some creative push for your writing.

I chose this one…..
Times sentence, from “A Love Letter to a Camera”:
I don’t often write love letters to gadgets. But you, you’re something special.
Sentence starter:
I don’t often write love letters to [inanimate object]. But you, you’re something special.

The fact that it was from an article by David Pogue about a Canon camera is ...... immaterial!!

Living Room Love Letter

Documenting a Decade Layered Templates No. 5B
Lil Metal Charms: Love No. 01
Yoga Hand Drawn Brushes and Stamps
ArtsyBlendz Origins Paperie

I hope some of these ideas and Cathy’s new templates do the trick for you…. TELL the STORIES. 

Join us in the PageKraft Gallery and share your responses to the prompts.

Have you noticed the pages in tribute to Vivian Maier? Vivian’s photos beautifully captured moments of everyday life.

Marnie’s Tired Chef is filled with details reminiscent of Vivian’s photography.

Kathie’s Intruder is similar to so many of Vivian’s sleeping people. A quiet, captured moment filled with story.

Vivian’s photos show her talent and dedication to photography. While her photos are obviously created through a combination of technical skills and an eye for composition, something else draws us in. It is the presence of her own image throughout her collection that creates connection. We see her. We get a small glimpse of her, behind the camera. We know, in a fleeting way, a bit of who she is, how she dressed, how she held her camera. Whether it was her isolated reflection or a reflection caught in a busy street scene, we see her.  Her photos wouldn’t be the same if we didn’t have the gift of her included.

Are you in your photography collection? Have you shown what is behind your lens? Pick up your camera. Find your reflection. Shoot. Don’t hide behind your lens. Don’t obscure your face. Capture you. Include you in your photography. It is your face that will provide context and meaning for those who discover your photos when you are gone.

Share yourself in the PageKraft: Write True + Click Gallery.

We are at the beginning of the third week of the new year.  I am still setting my own intentions for my pages during this turn around the sun. In the continuing effort to nurture my writing I want to jump start writing meaningfully on my pages. 

The method of assigning myself one word “seeds”, using one each month, seemed like a good way to move the process along.  I have chosen words which reflect the idea of planting, growing, harvesting and integration, an annual cycle.

I remember telling my daughter when she was very young and frustrated with trying to express herself …“Use your words, sugar.  Use your words.”  Words let us name things, describe reality and hold story. 

I want to be more fluent this year in using my words.  There are recommendations for journaling and excellent tools for writing in the DD shop. This year I will be highlighting some of these great products for our ongoing effort to “word the page”.

I just thought a few assignments would be useful for me to actually fulfill my goal.  Maybe you would like to give yourself your own thought map for wording this year.  Play along.  It will be fun.  Add your pages to the PageKraft Gallery and we can go with you, too.

Here is my first page for this year’s project.  My intention is to enjoy, learn about writing and capture a bit of my own view of the world.

Seed Words

I Declare Paper Pack
Underlined Months Brushes and Stamps
Chronicles Hand Drawn Words Brushes and Stamps
Year 2011 No. 01 WordART
Felt Directives
2nd Hand Memories Element Pack
Vintage Book Paper Pack No. 01
Taped Together Paper Pack No. 04
Scrap Express No. 91

The color you choose for a photo can impact the story as much as the words.

How do you decide which color conversion to use?  Selecting the color can be a gut feeling or a more deliberate decision based on the story you’d like to tell. Whether you choose a preset or an action, you have many choices available.

Using a Lightroom Hawaii 5-0 preset,  I’ve given my photo a 70’s feeling. A sense of nostalgia perhaps? Using this color conversion helps to tell a story when your memories of the moment aren’t as clear or a story comparing today to yesterday.

A deep black and white creates a dramatic feeling. It could work to capture your feelings about the moment. I like black and white when I want the entire subject to be important and not overwhelmed by the details of any of the colors in the photo. Consider using a lighter black and white conversion for a less dramatic effect.

My 5 year old son’s preference was to leave the color in. This is how his little literal mind sees the world, so it makes sense. Leave the color to tell his story in a way he remembers it.

I chose, to use Pattie’s Actions: Duotones to convert my photo to Sepia. I wanted to tell the story of this day and so many days like it.  I like the moodiness that sepia brings and that bit of nostalgia.

Join me in thinking about how your photos color conversion relates the True story you want to convey. I’d love to see what you decide in the PageKraft: Write True+Click gallery.