The Becker Scrapbook So Far

Hey there.  I know what you are thinking… “Oh no!  Not another scrapbook post.  We want to bake!”  Well, that one is just one blog down the pipeline.  However, I have actually had some readers (two, which is a large percentage of my core readership) tell me that they wanted to see the blank scrapbook I was making for my niece and new nephew’s honeymoon trip through Utah.  So, I have taken pictures of the pages so far.  I love these pictures, and I am proud to show them.
This is the first page. I know it is a little… busy. But I like it. I wanted to introduce an air of excitement. The main paper set I used for this is the Tim Holtz Idea-ology Lost & Found paper stack, but I also picked through my large private collection for anything that had a camping theme.  Unfortunately I do not know exactly what the titles of these papers are, but they were most likely bought at Hobby Lobby.  I included a small just above the title with a large tag halfway inside it for journaling.

Now the pictures are a little more laid back.  This one features stickers, both bought and handmade.  The letters are purchased. The signs in the top corner and down the middles are made.  I cut them from a paper full of them, and ran them through my Xyron machine.
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I like this set of pages.  The first page is pretty blank. I think that the place she is going will more than decorate the page.  I put up a couple of Quickutz suitcase die-cuts to decorate the page, a couple of sticker phrases, and a Tim Holtz sticker of a couple that has similarities to the Beckers.  the second page is just a large matte, for them to fill as they want.  If you look at this picture, you can see that the picture has a pattern.  I think it is a picture of a sweatshirt.

Another two page spread.  This time the large matte is first.  This one was just too cute to pass up.  The second one is another fairly blank page.  I did put more Quickutz handmade die cuts here, such as the US shape, the shovel, and the sign.  I also included a metal finding with a cute sentiment on it.

This two-page spread is more sedate than the others, but I think it is a great spread for travel.  I cut a page with a world map in half, to make the pages match.  The page matte is a wood pattern, so the picture mattes reflect the somber color.  To lighten the mood of the page, I put sticker phrases down, and made a couple of butterfly stickers out of a piece of pretty paper and foam tape.

I just had to use the frenetic papers I had with all the camping signs on them, they were just too fun.  Of course, it did need to be calmed a little.  So I used pickle-colored Bazzill cardstock for both the page mattes and the picture mattes.  All of the accents on this page are hand made, most are Quickutz.  In case you cannot tell already, I have a lot of Quickutz dies.

And finally, at least so far, the two-page spread based on a picture of a Utah mountain range.  I believe the blog about this spread explains this picture wonderfully.  And I love the way it looks.

Below are close-ups of some of the hand made accents I made.  Note that the butterfly is merely two identical cut-outs, stuck together at the body of the insect with a little tape, with the wings of the upper cut-out bent up a little bit.  Looks cool, no?
                      
I think my favorite die cut that I have used so far for this scrapbook is the Swiss army knife.  I used silver metal-looking cardstock for the knife and bits.  And the ladybug… that is just too cute to leave out.
                     

Making a Mountain (Scrapbook Layout)

While trying to come up with ideas for the Utah-based honeymoon album I a making for our recently married niece, I decided to look at pictures on the internet from scenic vistas throughout the state.  I saw one that was just perfectly framed, and it hit me.  it is layers of mountains... I bet I could make a page based on this picture.  The original picture if found at the Bess Realty Group website, believe it or not.
First thing's first.  I collected cardstock from my collection that matched well enough to make the layered colors.  For the sky background and farthest mountains, I used cardstock with white centers, so I could sand them (as I will show a little later).  The rest was from my beloved Bazzill cardstock collection.  And I pulled all my green Ranger Distress inks and a couple of extras (Black Soot, Chipped Sapphire, Weatherd Wood, Crushed Olive, Bundled Sage, Forest Moss, Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters, and Pine Needless).  The rest of the equipment are: a pair of scissors, a fine knife for detailed cutting, a very thin (#005) marker for light details, and a nail file for sanding.


The sky is easy enough to do.  I could just leave the pretty light blue background plain, but I wanted to put a scant few clouds, like in the picture.  So I tore the top off of the file, to make myself a tiny file, and sanded in a circular motion until I got the shapes I liked.  I also used some Q-tips for painting, but forgot to add them to the picture.  Easy.
         

Next, I traced a mountain range on the gray-blue paper, putting the highest peak on the right page, and lowering the left side so it will fall under the next layer.  I cut this out, using the fine blade to get a couple of cuts a little more rounded.  I inked the edges of the mountains with the Weathered Wood ink to disguise the white center.


Before I get to the distressing of it all, I went ahead and cut out the rest of the layers.  Next up is the blue-green paper.  On the left it rises above the mountain in the background, and on the right it is basically on the same level while the mountain towers above it.  I just freehanded a few mounds, making sure that they were not too high to cut off the mountain, or too low to make the front range look weird.  Then the front, light green layer, starts on the right about halfway down the page and just curves down across both pages, until it is close to the bottom left edge.  I used one piece of paper for both the left and right, to conserve.  I hoard my Bazzill paper almost religiously.


Here is, in my opinion, the coolest part.  I cut two and a half inches off the bottom to reduce bulk, but you can leave it in if you want to.  Then I wadded them up into small balls.  I carefully pulled them back out, and didn't flatten.  I used another piece of the nail file to sand certain areas, easily done by sanding the folds, to resemble little snow trails like in the picture.  To make the mountain shadows, I used Chipped Sapphire and rubbed it where I wanted it with my finger.  This gave it a smudgy look, instead of just inking any folds from the crumbling.  When the ink dries, then I flattened it enough to tape it down onto the background.


For the middle range, notice that there are trees on them.  However, they are so small that I was pretty sure I couldn't draw them.  So, I used the cast off paper from when I cut it and experimented with my greens until I found three that looked good to layer over each other.  I chose (Bundled Sage, Forest Moss, and Pine Needless).  I took the lightest ink, Forest Moss, and just slid it back and forth on the page, to give a layer of color to the matte green background.  Then, I took Bundled Sage and a Q-tip.  I tapped the tip onto the ink pad a few times until it was saturated, and then just made lines in areas where trees might be on both pages.  The darkest ink, Pine Needles, repeated these lines, until I had a mess of lines in groups on this layer.  I let it dry and taped it down onto the page.  It looks cool to me.

The bottom range is brighter, with larger trees. I had planned to make some trees with green mulberry paper, but I was unable to locate any.  Maybe mulberry has fallen out of style.  So, I decided to leave it blank.  This will be where any pictures or journaling my niece wants to do will be added.

The final result is very pretty.  And I proved to myself that I can be creative without a template or someone else's help.  And so can you.  Now, go choose a simple picture and amaze me.

Musical Immersion for Sanity

Musical immersion is something I do when I want, desperately, to be creative but just don’t have the time or stamina to do it.  Work is a great example.  I listen to headphones whenever possible to keep myself focused on the job, because music does that for me.  But sometimes I just have an itch to make something (crafters out there understand this) and can’t scratch it at that time.  So I listen to particular types of music that allow my creativity to… how do I put this… feed and be satisfied until such time as I can do something about it.  I let my stifled energy feed of the genius of other creative masters until I can make my own masterpiece (or at least a masterpiece to me).

My favorite genre of music is film scores.  The music is specifically written to put feeling into the movie, to tell us when to cry, when to feel scared, when to be relieved.  It adds an extra level to the actors’ abilities, or gives them the air of more talent than they have.  Many of my favorites are from movies I could not stand, but the composer was just too good to be ignored.  Now, I love pop music, rock, rap, R&B, gospel, and even country and tejano.  These have great rhythms, and tell stories that are catchy.  But a good score makes me feel.

During those times when I have no time to do anything creative, I love to listen to music that makes me feel creative.  I have five go-to film composers that are my source of sanity when I have too much work to do to make something of my own.  These are Rachel Portman, Basil Poledouris, Ennio Morricone, John Barry, and my favorite, John Williams (the links are to YouTube videos of my favorite songs from their catalogs).  Each one brings a different flavor to the table, which I use to slake whichever creative energy is being stifled.  Of course, if you want to do musical immersion, you can choose whatever music gets you going.  I will try to describe how and why I use the composers, but sometimes it is hard to put into words how they make me feel.  So forgive me if some of this makes no sense to you.

“We All Complete” from the movie Never Let Me Go

Rachel Portman is great at the melancholy music, and can take a simple theme to great lengths, which add depth to the movies she is a part of.  Her movies include: The Joy Luck Club, Chocolat, The Cider House Rules, Never Let Me Go, The Manchurian Candidate, The Duchess, and Grey Gardens.  I go to her when I want to be writing but cannot.  My stories are often mired in morality tales, and her sensitivity give me the gravitas I crave when I write.

“Crystal Palace” from the atrocious Conan the Destroyer

Basil Poledouris is a grand, expansive writer.  He uses a strong base for a catchy melody, and then expands it gradually throughout the song, until you are surrounded by his vision.  His credits include: The Blue Lagoon, The original Conan movies, Red Dawn, RoboCop, Quigley Down Under, and Starship Troopers.  As you can see, he is very versatile as well.  I choose Mr. Poledouris when I scrapbook.  His titles are varied enough that I can find something for whatever I want to scrapbook about.  And his ability to form pictures through the sometimes overwhelming use of orchestra is perfect for converting a few pictures into a beautiful page.

Theme from The Mission, played by Yo-Yo Ma.

Brant’s beloved “The Ecstasy of Gold”

Ennio Morricone uses such unique ideas in his music, he is my eclectic guru.  His catalog includes: The Clint Eastwood spaghetti western trilogy, The Canterbury Tales, Once Upon a Time in America, Red Sonja, and The Mission.  He is an Italian composer, and most of his stuff I have never seen and can barely pronounce (his list is huge on IMDB).  In Brant’s favorite song, “The Ecstasy of Gold”, Mr. Morricone takes a simple theme, repeats it, and adds a soprano, some choir wa-waahs, and driving drums to give a feel of desperation that lets you know exactly what those guys are feeling in that scene (from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly).  Mr. Morricone is great for when I just don’t know what I want to do, but want to do something truly unique.

“Train to Johannesburg” from Cry, the Beloved Country

John Barry is a very romantic writer, and believe it or not my go to guy for baking.  Movies that benefitted from this trademark style include: several James Bond movies, Born Free, Somewhere in Time, Out of Africa, Dances with Wolves, and Cry, the Beloved Country.  His signature style, in my opinion, is to take a simple melody and make it more complex through the use of instruments rather than through harmonies and filler.  The melody pulls itself into the orchestra, instead of being held up by it, and creates an expansive feel, as witnessed by the movies he has done.  Simple ingredients and simple directions to make a wonderful palette, full of flavor and a sense of place.  Exactly what I want in my baking.

“Prologue” from Hook, a very underrated film score

John Williams is my favorite!  His use of French horns first drew me to him, because I loved to play his music myself.  You probably already know a bunch of his hits, because he collaborates with Steven Spielberg a lot.  But here is a sample of his enormous catalog: E.T., the Indiana Jones movies, the Star Wars sextet, the Christopher Reeves Superman movies, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the first three Harry Potter Movies, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Patriot, Far and Away… the list of things I love from him is too long to put here.  I go to John Williams for both writing and music composition.  His blending of a full orchestra into one strong voice, separating them into a cacophony of matching sounds, and bringing them back together is better than anything I can do.  And his masterful use of brass instruments to give a feeling of power and dignity for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles has become the theme music for the games ever since.

“Olympic Fanfare” who could NOT love this song?

Ah!  Just writing about him makes me want to go listen to a whole soundtrack right now.  I have to go immerse myself.  You have fun finding your immersion songs.  The list is half the creative fun, you know.