"Walks with Ranger" Mini Flipbook

I made this little flipbook as a present for a friend a couple of months ago but I didn't see her until Friday when I was finally able to give it to her. She has loved local walks with her dog Ranger during the past year and posted lots of photos on Facebook. I decided to take twelve of them, one per month, and turn them into a flipbook that she can stand on her desk. 

I started with a tutorial video from Ellie Walton in the Paper, Scissors, Story Facebook group, but having watched it and understood her method, I made mine to be larger and changed the fastening. The covers of mine are 4x6 with the photos inside being about 3x4.

I decorated the cover as if the book is landscape, 

but once open you turn it to portrait orientation and convert the fastening to a base so the book can stand up with the pages flipping over the top. 

There's a photo for each month, with all the pages being double-sided. You can see January to June on one side and then turn it round to see July to December on the other side.

Supplies

Cardboard & Tyvek - Recycled Packaging 

Paper - K & Company

Letters - Simple Stories

Word Stickers - Maggie Holmes/Crate Paper

Brad - Unknown

Dots - Nuvo Drope

Ink - Ranger

How Cute

I've reached that point in my NSD scrapbooking where I pull old pre-printed photos from the albums to work with the challenges, rather than making pages I would have made anyway and tweaking them to fit.

The challenge in question is 'Pointillism' in the art-themed series from For the Love of Pretty Paper, which was to use primary colours and lots of small punched or die-cut shapes. I chose a single sheet of checkerboard paper for my primary colours, die-cut a pile of hexagons from the middle and used the edge squares to frame my page.

I matted a photo of my three younger cousins (taken in our grandparents' back garden) on pieces from my scraps box and arranged my hexagons on the page around it. My chipboard title is an Amy Tangerine piece which I didn't originally think I would actually use, and I added three flowers from the same set as part of my embellishments. They didn't photograph very well, but all three do have gold middles. The yellow glitter enamel dots were an online purchase and quite a difficult yellow to use, so the fact that they matched this yellow paper meant that I piled them on here, whereas my usual preference is for my trios of dots to be  three different colours.

Supplies
Paper - Daisy D's Playtime, Simple Stories Urban Traveller, American Crafts/Amy Tangerine Better Together

Chipboard - American Crafts/Amy Tangerine Shine On

Washi Tape - Ebay

Enamel Dots - Ebay

Ink - Memento

Paint - Golden

Tools

Big Shot & X-Cut Hexagon Die

I Spy Cake

I'm combining a multitude of elements in this page, driven by NSD challenges at the two sites I decided to follow this year. 

Firstly the 'Fauvism' challenge at For the Love of Pretty Paper asked us to use any two options from complementary colours, a single-coloured paper and a sketch by Lisa Sikorski, and I managed all three. 

Secondly, Hey Little Magpie set a tic-tac-toe challenge, and I chose the left column - one photo, a border punch and stitching.

My single photo is one my husband took of our son eyeing up the cakes after a family funeral. My colour scheme was largely driven by the strip of tea cup paper, which is a branding strip that I thought was too nice to throw away. I considered rotating the sketch to suit a portrait photo better, but that tea cup strip dictated that I kept to the original version.

Aqua sits opposite peach in the colour wheel and I had a 6x6 floral paper that combined the two colours; the rest are all single colour papers.

Supplies
Paper - American Crafts/Shimelle Head in the Clouds, Dovecraft Princess Fairytale, OneCanoeTwo Twilight, Make & Create Moments

Letters - Heidi Swapp, Simple Stories

Sticker - American Crafts Shimelle

Enamel Dots - Freckled Fawn, Eyelet Outlet

Thread - DMC

Ink - Ranger

Mist - Heidi Swapp

Tools

Fiskars Circle Template

American Crafts Scalloped Border Punch

Yes to University of Sussex

I called my 2019 album 'done for now' more than a year ago, but there was a gap in my daughter's story that I wanted to remedy. We looked at various universities for her, including Sussex where she ended up but, although I took photos on some of those visits, I didn't take any at Sussex. Thus the scrapbooks go from us looking at other places to her starting at Sussex without any mention of our visit and her decision to make it her first choice.

When I realised this, I decided to take photos when we collected her at the end of the spring term (March 2020) but Covid disrupted that and I eventually took them in March this year. I particularly wanted spring photos so that they would match the time of our original visit and the trees and flowers would look right.

I took four photos of the buildings that surround Library Square, and used them for the 'Conceptual Art' challenge at For the Love of Pretty Paper. This challenge was an oddity as we had to work from a printed list of instructions without seeing a picture of what the final layout should look like. I'll admit that I didn't follow all the instructions, but I felt it was more important to make a page I liked then to stick to them rigidly and be less happy with the result.

For comparison purposes, here's the original page made by Karen/Scrapdolly who also wrote the instructions.

It all felt too left-heavy to me, so I pushed everything to the right by extending the paper across the top of the page, adding an extra square on top of it and spreading out the layering of the vertical papers and photos. I also rotated the banners at the top of the page, added some labels at the bottom left and dropped the line of bunting.

I also linked up with Hey Little Magpie who set a much more straightforward challenge to use three or more photos on a page.

Supplies
Cardstock - Bo Bunny, UK Crafts

Paper - Pink Paislee/Paige Evans Whimsical
Enamel Dots - Pretty My Page, Freckled Fawn

Tools
Silhouette Portrait

Big Shot
Dovecraft Label Die
X-Cut Pennant Die

Roman Ruins

Back in the days before NSD, I was working on pages for my 2018 album. I didn't manage to fit many of those to the challenges that were set, but I do have another page from Cumbria. 

As we left Muncaster Fell and walked back to Ravenglass, we passed the remains of a Roman bath house, one of the tallest Roman structures still standing in northern Britain.

I've got a pile of scraps from other Cumbrian pages, so I just added the map print background for the 'Constructivism' challenge from For the Love of Pretty Paper - use scraps and build up layers.

Looking at the page now, I realise that there's no embellishment on it, so I may go back and add a few more pieces, or I may just leave it as it is.

Supplies

Paper - Authentique Abroad, We R Memory Keepers Quoted, We R Memory Keepers Good Day Sunshine, Simple Stories, Basic Grey, atd, Little Yellow Bicycle, Laura Ashley

Letters - Simple Stories

Ink - Ranger

Tools

Fiskars Postage Stamp Border Punch

Census 2021

I've been roaming through the photo archives for some of my recent pages, but now I'm coming right up to date with a page for my 2021 album. 

Here in the UK we complete a census every ten years, and that happened in March. Previously we've completed paper forms but this year's was the first to be done online. I didn't take any photos, but it's something that I decided to document anyway; I used the census logo and a laptop cut-file from Paige Evans, printing the logo to fill the screen space in the cut-file.

I prepared a few things in advance of National Scrapbooking Day, which included cutting this file and pairing it with the number print paper. I had thought it would work for a challenge to use numbers but that didn't come up this year. Instead I diverted it to fit a Textile Arts challenge at For the Love of Pretty Paper where one of the options was to hand-stitch on a page.

Supplies
Cardstock - Bazzill, Craft Sensations

Paper - My Little Shoebox Robots Unplugged

Journal Card - Project Life Boys Rule

Cardstock Stickers - Jillibean Soup, Tim Holtz

Puffy Stickers - MAMBI, Studio Calico

Enamel Shapes - We R Memory Keepers

Washi - Little B, Unknown

Thread - Anchor

Tools

Silhouette Portrait & Paige Taylor Evans Laptop Cut-file

Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch

Lockdown 3 - Endgame

As the title suggests, this page is for the third national lockdown in England, which ran from 6 January to 28 March this year. I've made a page for each, with the same supplies and the same cut-file in my title each time. My actual page design has varied but each one has a photo of our house, a pocket behind the photo for hand-written journalling and a large pocket in the layers of the page (the left side this time) for a printed timeline of events.

I subtitled this page 'Endgame' as the vaccine rollout makes me feel that we may soon have this coronavirus under some sort of control without resorting to another lockdown in the future. It won't go away, we may well have new restrictions next winter, but it's something we will have to live with rather than eliminating it from the planet.

Of course, this page covers another NSD challenge -  this one was the art of architecture from For the Love of Pretty Paper where one of the options was to scrap about being at home. 

Supplies

Cardstock - UK Crafts

Paper - Photoplay Living the Quarantine Life, Photoplay Boarding Pass

Letters - October Afternoon

Washi Tape - Pretty my Page

Enamel Dots - Altenew, Pretty My Page, Carta Bella

Ink - Ranger

Tools

Silhouette Portrait

Big Shot & Dovecraft Label Die

American Crafts Notebook Border Punch

Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud

This is the third of three pages from a fortnight in Ibiza back in 1985. Things were very different with film cameras; I can't imagine only taking five photos these days, more like five hundred.

I'm still working my way through the art-themed challenges at For the Love of Pretty Paper, and made this page for a bonus Performing Arts challenge - using a large title which is also a song lyric (two of the four options to choose from).

The photos are of my parents in a mud pool (which we children refused to go in). I had my thumb in one so cropped both down, and realised that the scenery behind them lined up if I overlapped them (which covered a bit more of that thumb).

I've made all my Ibizan pages on white cardstock with a gold doodled border. This time I covered part of the background with a stripy paper and arranged paper strips above and below my photo block to echo that stripy pattern and to hold my title.

Supplies
Cardstock - UK Crafts, American Crafts
Paper - Rosie's Studio Salt & Sunsets
Letters - Rosie's Studio
Die-Cuts - Rosie's Studio Salt & Sunsets
Enamel Dots - Studio Calico, Eyelet Outlet
Ink - Ranger
Mist - Tattered Angels
Paint - Golden

Tools
Silhouette Portrait

That Green Jeep

I'm back with the second of three pages from a 1980s holiday in Ibiza. We hired a car one day to explore the island, and this page has a photo of my parents in that car, an open top jeep.

I used an NSD sketch from Hey Little Magpie with another art-based challenge from For the Love of Pretty Paper. This one was Classicism which asked for lots of paper, one of three colour palettes and a classic technique.

I'm using Rosie's Studio's Salt & Sunsets collection for my Ibiza pages, which is close to the Mystique colour palette from the challenge. I chose a white cardstock background to match the previous page but still used plenty of paper, five patterns in all, and I picked inking my paper edges as my classic technique.

Supplies
Cardstock - UK Crafts, American Crafts, Stampin' Up
Paper - Rosie's Studio Salt & Sunsets
Die-Cuts - Rosie's Studio Salt & Sunsets
Ink - Ranger, Memento
Mist - Tattered Angels
Paint - Golden

Tools
Big Shot

Make & Create Alphabet Dies

Dovecraft Label Die
Rosie's Studio Stillwater Stamp Set

Sea Days / Ibiza 1985

I have loads of seaside photos from my childhood (we just took pictures on days out and holidays back then) but the colours in them tend to be washed out and they really don't look good with modern bright beach-themed paper collections. I've been looking for something to suit them and came across Rosie's Studio and their Salt & Sunsets collection whish was just perfect. It arrived the day before NSD, so I put it to good use scrapping all FIVE photos from our holiday in Ibiza back in 1985. Film was precious.

This is the first of three pages, with photos of my siblings in the sea, and I'm ticking off the 'Suprematism' challenge from For the Love of Pretty Paper (all this year's NSD challenges are art-themed). I'd never come across suprematism but it's a form of abstract art characterised by the use of basic shapes on a white background. 

We were asked to use a white cardstock background, a large patterned paper shape and some doodling. I cut a large scallop shell for my shape and doodled the crucial lines that make it actually look like a scallop shell. I popped my photos on top (matted on white cardstock to match the background), added a strip of paper below them and ran a line of seashell die-cuts along the bottom edge.

I ended up with two titles on the page (or title and sub-title I suppose). I intended it to be 'Ibiza 1985' which would also act as an introduction to the pages that follow it, but the space above my photo was crying out for something extra.

Supplies
Cardstock - UK Crafts
Paper - Rosie's Studio Salt & Sunsets
Letters - American Crafts, Rosie's Studio

Numbers - Pinkfresh Studio
Die-Cuts - Rosie's Studio Salt & Sunsets
Ink - Ranger
Mist - Tattered Angels
Paint - Golden

Tools
Silhouette Portrait

Getaway

I've ticked off two more NSD challenges today; I'm glad that both groups I'm following have a two-week deadline as it's a less pressured approach.

The first is a simple one from Hey Little Magpie to be inspired by a grid, and the second is the 'Land Art' challenge from For the Love of Pretty Paper. All their challenges are based on different art forms and for this one I chose two map papers and a travel theme from the options available.

My photos are from a cruise to Iceland, Greenland and Norway back in 2017 (one per port of call) which I placed in a grid with a map paper to hold embellishments in the sixth square. This is just a summary page for my annual album; the holiday has one of its own as well. I based that album around Photoplay Paper's Boarding Pass collection, which made it the obvious choice for this page.

Supplies
Paper - Photoplay Boarding Pass, Heidi Swapp No Limits
Title - American Crafts

Die-Cut Leaves - 49 and Market

Phrase Stickers - Tim Holtz

Globe Sticker - Photoplay Boarding Pass

Washi Tape - Unknown

Enamel Shapes - American Crafts/Shimelle

Ink - Ranger

Tools
Fiskars Postage Stamp Border Punch

Just a Minute

This page is nothing to do with the radio programme of the same name; the title was inspired by the fact that these two photos of Brighton beach were taken just one minute apart but have very different looks. 

I'm combining challenges again, starting with a mood board from Hey Little Magpie. I'm not usually a fan of mood boards, but this one was easy with these photos on my 'to scrap' pile. I pulled the beach theme and woodgrain from this one, along with aqua and beige for the colour scheme. I even squeezed some butterflies onto my page.

I also took on the 'Minimalist' challenge from For the Love of Pretty Paper, using straight lines of washi, paper squares and stamping on my background. The use of squares led to a third challenge, one of the April sketches from Lottie Loves Paper. 

I rotated the sketch to suit landscape photos and used old woodgrain, beach and zig-zag papers for my squares.  Obviously my photos are much bigger than those in the sketch, but I have the main elements from it on my page. I've translated the stars into stamping, and moved them to be beside my photos.

There's no journalling at present as this is a page for my daughter's university album and she will do that, but I did add the time to each picture in tiny number stickers.

Supplies
Paper - OneCanoeTwo Hazelwood, DCWV Linen Closet, Sandylion Seashells, My Mind's Eye, Bo Bunny

Numbers - Creative Devotion
Ink - Ranger, Memento

Tools
Scrapberry's Compass Stamp

Studio Calico Stars Stamp

Heidi Swapp Inspire Stamp Set

Heidi Swapp Arrow Stamp
American Crafts/Amy Tangerine Stamp Set

Make & Create Stamp Set

Big Shot

Make & Create Alphabet Die Set

Network Festival

I find the sheer number of NSD events and challenges that are published these days to be overwhelming, so I stick with a couple of groups, For the Love of Pretty Paper and Hey Little Magpie, and combine their challenges whenever possible.

For the Love of Pretty Paper's 'Pop Art' challenge involved the use of bright, bold colours with repetition, and Hey Little Magpie asked for a mixed media background. The brightest photos I had printed were from my daughter's scout camp when they dressed as characters from Scooby Doo complete with cardboard Mystery Machine.

I made my background with blue ink and black stamping, and mounted it on a blue paper to give it a bright border. I matted my photos on identical papers for repetition and placed them above and below a central title. I added a diagonal line of small embellishments in my three colours to finish. There's no journalling yet as I want to check something with my daughter first, but I'll do that in black pen, either below the bottom photo or possibly around the edge of the page.

Supplies
Cardstock - UK Crafts
Paper - Sandylion Blue Stars, Unknown Scraps

Washi Tape - Unknown

Puffy Stickers - Elle's Studio, MAMBI, MRI

Enamel Dots - Echo Park

Ink - Ranger, Dr Ph. Martin

Tools

Silhouette Portrait

American Crafts/Shimelle Sparkle City Stamps

1982

Saturday was National Scrapbooking Day but many places kicked off their celebrations on Friday evening. I have a pile of photos from 2017 and 2018 printed, but nothing that suited the first challenge I tackled.

All this year's challenges from For the Love of Pretty Paper are art-themed, and their warm-up was Photography, with a choice of scrapping a large photo, a small photo or a favourite photo. Sounds simple but I have nothing large printed (perhaps an oversight) and I've scrapped my favourites so it had to be small and I went back to my childhood with this old school photo of my siblings.

I mounted it within a frame to increase its size on the page and cut part of a bookshelf cut-file (a Paige Evans freebie from her Facebook group) to span the width of the page. I chose a multi-coloured paper to cover the bottom part of the page and backed the books of the cut-file in the individual colours. I didn't have much journalling for this one, just their names and ages and the school name on a couple of labels, which I layered over a stack of paper strips to echo the books above.

Supplies

Paper - My Mind's Eye Wild Asparagus, Simple Stories Awesome

Numbers - American Crafts/Amy Tangerine

Puffy Stars - Bella Boulevard

Enamel Dots - Echo Park

Ink - Ranger

Tools

Silhouette Portrait & Paige Evans Bookshelf Cut-file

American Crafts Notebook Border Punch

Big Shot & Dovecraft Label Die