Storytelling: Free Write

Storytelling is a weekly blog series hell bent on trying to squeeze a little bit more storytelling onto scrapbook layouts, art journals, and other memory-keeping projects. Whether its through pictures, paper, or prose, I'll show you some of my favorite techniques for getting more of your story onto the page. 

Today's storytelling post is about free writing. Free writing is when you just put pen to paper and go, not worrying about spelling, grammar, sentence structure, etc. This is a great way to grab some of those bottled up feelings that can be difficult to write about in a standard, structured situation. I like to think of it as a written down record of the inner monologue that's going on in my head. It's a great way to add some 'right now' thoughts to Project Life as well. Just grab a journaling card and start writing. 

The journaling on this layout in particular was written as sort of a 'pep talk' to myself. I had been feeling a little down and out of sorts (for no real reason other than that's how I was feeling) and writing this out made a world of difference. It is so cathartic to take those words floating around in your head and cement them on a piece of paper. 

Free writing can get emotional (although it doesn't have to be) and you might want to tuck away those words so you can choose who sees them and when they are seen. Hiding your journaling doesn't take anything away from your storytelling. You are the author of your own adventure and you get to choose how you want your story told. If you don't want anyone else to read it, that's your right. 

A big part of telling your story is knowing who your audience is. For me, most of the time with free writing, my audience is myself. I don't care about anyone else, I just want to get those words out on the paper for my own benefit. When I'm finished with the journaling, I'll read it over and see if its fit for anyone else to read, let alone public consumption. If its not; I'll stick the layout or project in a special binder, or hide my journaling in some form (envelopes and flaps are my go-to hidden journaling techniques). But most of the time, my free writing journaling projects go right in with everything else, its all part of my story and who I am. 

If you have something to say, but you aren't sure where to start or what the rights words are, try free writing. Crossing words out is okay too, its all part of how your brain works while writing and its all part of your story!

Have you ever tried free writing? If so have you used it in a scrapbook or memory-keeping project? If you have a project with some free writing that you'd like to share, please leave a URL link in the comments below.

Supplies Used: Basic Grey 'Hey You' Stickers, Basic Grey for Studio Calico patterned paper, Kelly Purkey Alpha Stickers, Sakura Souffle Pen (grey), Sakura Microperm,

Tweet

Social Media Butterflies Blog Hop: April Edition

Welcome to the April #SMBiGblog hop! Each month we feature one of our favorite companies, and host a blog hop of inspiration!. This month, we are lucky enough to have the entire Chic Tags team join us for a BLOGAPALOOZA-- over 20 projects to inspire you! Travel along with us, starting at the Chic Tags blog, which is where you should have arrived from and on to Adrienne's blog after mine. Scroll to the bottom for an awesome free printable! 

Along the way, there are prizes and freebie printables & cut files. Hop along each of the blogs to win some of the Road Trip collection from Chic Tags. One GRAND prize winner will win the Road Trip, Everyday Life II & Birthday Wishes collection! 

My post is one of the lucky prize giveaways!! You could win die-cuts, journaling cards, some of the new collections from Chic Tags-- lots of amazing prizes! All you have to do is comment below telling me something about YOUR favorite Road Trip ever! Get extra entries by following me on twitter, instagram, or facebook, leave an extra comment for each of these that you do! Good luck!

I was super inspired by the Chic Tags products and wound up making a bunch of projects to share with you today, including a quick tutorial for my favorite bookmarks. 

Tweet

Social Media Butterflies Blog Hop: March

This month the Social [Media] Butterflies are featuring Glitz Design, and are so excited and happy to be included in the Uncharted Waters inspiration week. If you haven't checked out their blog, make sure you check it out now: http://glitzitnow.com/blog/

Here is the layout I created for this month's hop:

A couple of notes about the layout: 

• The photo is from outside the window of our airplane when we were coming home from Los Angeles. 
• The background is an Allison Kreft/Webster's Pages white chevron overlay on white cardstock
• The title was stamped (very carefully) with staze-on and then filled in a bit with a Sakura Microperm pen
• The wood veneers were painted with a the same Sakura Microperm pen 

Thanks for stopping by! If you liked today's layout, make sure to follow me on instagram, twitter, and facebook for more great #SMBiGBlogHop inspiration! 

Here's the rest of the hop order: 

Shay http://sbookinshay29.blogspot.com/
Corinne http://corinnesmilovici.blogspot.com/
Trisha http://www.trisha-grace.blogspot.com/
Amanda http://www.somethingsorta.blogspot.com/

Kristin T http://rukristin.blogspot.com/ <--------------------- you--="">

Suz http://livealifeextraordinary.blogspot.com/
Jenny http://mycreativelife29.blogspot.com/
Malika http://www.malikakelly.blogspot.com/
Ellie http://www.adventureswithellie.com
Danielle http://piperloo.blogspot.ca
Jen http://jenritchie.com
Kristin D http://purplestarfishdesigns.blogspot.com
SMB site http://socialmediabutterflies-papercrafting.blogspot.com/

Tweet

Social Media Butterflies Blog Hop: Love

Welcome to the Social [Media] Butterflies Blog Hop! Each month on the 29th day, we're going to be sharing projects that have been inspired via each other and various social media outlets:Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Message boards, etc. Join us for awesome inspiration, new friends, & great prizes each month. Use hashtag #SMBiGBlogHop. 

Because of the short month the #SMBiGbloghop girls are sharing today! Our theme for this month is LOVE! We're super excited that Elle of Elle's Studio is joining us this time around. Leave a comment on any (or all) of our blogs for a chance to win an Elle's Studio prize pack. 

Tweet

Social Media Butterflies Blog Hop: November

Welcome to the Social [Media] Butterflies Blog Hop! Each month on the 29th day, we're going to be sharing projects that have been inspired via each other and various social media outlets:Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Message boards, etc. Join us for awesome inspiration, new friends, & great prizes each month. Use hashtag #SMBiGBlogHop. If you're interested in joining our blog hop, please contact Shay: sbookinshay29@aol.com

Tweet

Hand-Cut & Color: A Vibrant & Quirky Layout

This layout was recently featured in Scrap365 Magazine out of the UK. I submitted it as part of a 'wallet sized photo' call. I'm lucky enough to now be on their design team & writing articles for the magazine. 

I highly recommend submitting to Scrap365. They have a fresh & trendy look and take projects that fit the same bill. So if you aren't having luck with the traditional US magazines, give Scrap365 a shot.

Layout Features

• 8.5x11 Grid Background with a hand doodled border
• Hand-cut squares backed with different patterned paper
• Marker-shaded flower
• Misting and handwritten journaling

InLinkz.com

Questions For You: 

• Have you made a layout about a person who inspires you? 
• Layout Bases: Cardstock or Patterned Paper? 

Tweet

Layout: He Likes it Hot

Happy Wednesday!

Today I'm sharing a quick 8.5x11 layout. I used a silhouette cut-file from Studio Calico's Trendspotting class to cut out the triangles and placed two different sheets of patterned paper underneath the cut-outs. I added my photo, a little bit more paper, some stamping, and some handwriting.

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out the triangle pattern. The same look can be emulated with a craft knife if you don't have a die cut machine. 

To get the raised look, I used several foam dimensional dots around the outside of the die-cut cardstock to make it rise above the patterned paper. 

I layered two sheets of patterned paper underneath the cardstock to give the background a little bit more interest. 

And a little bit of stamping & handwriting at the bottom! 

Silhouette Cameo	Ormolu Flair	Grey/White Airmail Washi	Hey Y'All Stamps
Versafine Onyx	White 8.5x11	Zig Pens

InLinkz.com

PS -- There are a few little site changes that you might want to check out:

• New Me Stuff page
• New Project Life landing page
• New Challenge: A Week in Instagram

Tweet

Misting and Whimsy

Hi Hi Everyone! 

Today I'm sharing this awesome layout I made last week for Basically Bare, and a step-by-step tutorial to go along with it. 

Because my style is generally colorful and graphic -- I tend to be sparse with my bigger/bulkier embellishments; but when I first saw the new faniciful frames, I knew they would make perfect masks to mist with.

 Today I'm going to show you step-by-step how to use basically bare chipboard and/or acrylic to make your own masks for misting.  This technique can be used with any of the chipboard or acrylic embellishments and is a great way to get a bunch of uses out of your product before gluing it down on a final project!

**Warning: VERY photo heavy** 

Post Continues After the Jump

Tweet

Tutorial: Ombre Misting

Today I'm sharing a how-to how to create an ombre-misted background for your layout! This is definitely one of those techniques that looks better in real life, and super duper easy to replicate.

Materials Needed:
- White Cardstock
- Mist (any color will do)
- Misting box
- Paper Towels

Step-by-Step:

1. Start out with a blank sheet of cardstock in a misting box (or on a bunch of newspaper/craft mat/etc).

2. Place a paper towel (I find paper towels are best because they soak up the extra mist and don't drip onto the project at all) over the top of your cardstock, leaving 1-2" uncovered at the bottom. 

3. Take the mist and evenly spray over the sheet of cardstock. Don't worry if it looks really light, the color will get darker as we add more layers. 

4. Move the paper towel up about 1-2" and then mist again. Try to mist evenly, over the entire layout every time. Keep moving the paper towel up 1-2" each time. 

5. Let the cardstock dry for a few minutes (or use a heat gun to speed drying) and then it's ready to go!

The finished layout again with some closeups:

I placed a silhouette-cut background over my ombre-misted background. The lines from the misting are totally covered and you just get the cool ombre effect in the back.

Using a similar-colored transparency as the photo mat reinforces the background color without detracting from the background effect itself. 

This pic shows a little more of the actual ombre look. Looking at the left side of the picture and the right side of the picture, you can really tell the difference in shade, even though it might not seem obvious when looking directly at the layout itself. 

This technique isn't just for layouts, it can easily be adapted to tags, card backgrounds, etc -- the sky's the limit. 

Let me know if you try it out! 

Lots of love, 

K

Tweet