Eniko's Playhouse

Bon Voyage, Susan Branch!

My lovely friend, Susan Branch, is heading to England next week on the QEII. YES! You heard me correctly...on THE Queen Elizabeth II ! How exciting is that? I've never been on a real cruise (I don't suppose the ferry that carries us back and forth from Martha's Vineyard island to the mainland counts...tee...hee), but if I were to go on a cruise, I would want it to be on the QE II.

If you're not familiar with Susan Branch's work, you should be. She is an extremely talented author, designer and blogger extra-ordinaire! She became well-known for her handwritten and beautifully illustrated cookbooks. Her first one, Heart of the Home, is still one of my all-time favorites! So charming and beautiful, and chuck-full of wonderful recipes, stories and ideas. She has created a magical life for herself, with her darling Joe and her two adorable kitties, here on Martha's Vineyard. (FYI to my scrapbooking buddies...I just discovered that she has put out a wonderful collection of rubber stamps -available through her on-line store).

Anyway, you should hop over & read about how she's getting ready for her voyage to England. I swiped a few photos off of her blog to share with you...too cute to not shine on. So this is her daily inspiration for her trip...she keeps this lovely dress that she wore on her first "Captain's Dinner" on her last QE II cruise, hanging on her closet door-
If what they say is true, that inspiration boards and other visualizations of your intentions and desires help make turn your dreams into reality, then this is a great strategy. Nice going, Sue!

So did you love that hat? So very English and so incredibly stylish! Well, guess what? It even looks better on Sue than it does on that hat box! It's the hat she wore to the Royal Ascot  races a la Eliza Doolittle! Here she is with her handsome Joe:
Gosh, so elegant! Sue always looks great, but she's normally a very casual, comfy, practical dresser, so I got such a kick out of seeing her in all this fabulousness. And I got an even bigger kick out of reading this quote on her blog, which explains why it's great to be well-dressed:
(Illustrations copywrited by Susan Branch)

Isn't that the funniest thing you ever read? She cracks me up! So in one of her recent blog posts, Sue wrote about the art of letter writing and how she saves all her favorite correspondences, and it reminded me that I had made her a lovely thank you card that I never mailed. You may remember that I made this card during the Let's Scrap Leap Around the World Blog Hop in February. Sue is very fond of pretty little vintage tea cups and loves having her girlfriends for tea, so I knew she would love it. So whew! -I finally sent it out, thanking her for all her various kindnesses.
I love the fussy-cut roses (she also loves her roses & collects vintage varieties...the ones with heady scents) and the gossamer ribbon...and the little pin reminds me of her great English hat...surely she must have a hat pin to hold it on with.

So last week, the weekly challenge at Let's Scrap was a cute little card sketch by Debby de Wilde, intended to inspire the members into creative card-making.

"Well, it would be fun to make Sue a Bon Voyage card," I thought. I knew I had some really fun vintage cruise ship themed ephemera, so I went to work with ocean-liner images, Tim Holtz tissue tape, tickets, ribbon and pretty paper that felt like ocean and sky to me.
I loved my take on the sketch and I loved the way it came out, but it just didn't feel like Sue...it lacked the soft, yet practical, femininity that she exudes with every breath. Hmmmm...back to the drawing board, as they say.

I found this truly wonderful Tim Holtz paper that reminded me of a post on Susan Branch Blog. Sue wrote about an antique book that Joe gave her for her birthday, Cranford, by Elizabeth Gaskell. The Old-English images on the scrapbooking paper reminded me of the illustrations in the book, so it was a perfect find! Out came a gorgeous tea-stained ribbon of three-dimensional mini-roses, a sweet little die-cut bird, a little post card, some twine, and a cute ticket that said, "Places to See"...perfect!
A little gathering of tulle, and the addition of a pretty red die-cut rose...yes, indeed... this was Sue!

So Joe will get the more masculine "Away We Go" card, and Sue will receive this sweet little perfect-for-Sue Bon Voyage card...with all my love, my blessings, my wishes for an amazing visit to England...and my dreams of someday joining her at Royal Ascot with my own really great hat!

In love and friendship, Enikö

(I do love your comments, so...they make me happy!)

Scrapbooking Friends at Play

I love little point-and-shoot cameras that tuck away neatly in a handbag...ready to snap a photo at a moment's notice. It enables us to capture moments such as these and saves them forever in our archive of fun activities.

As we await the arrival of spring here on chilly, windy Martha's Vineyard, I am reminded, as I scrap these fun-filled photos, of the abundant opportunities for play during the summer months here. Because we are mainly a destination for summer vacations on our 30-mile island, winters can be a bit bleak once the majority of businesses lock their doors for the season, so it is wonderful to relive summer memories, helping us to "hold on" just a little bit longer.

This particular playtime was at the Opening Night of Trio in Edgartown. In a truly brilliant concept...the newly opened Black Sheep gourmet cheese shop and charcuterie, transforms every summer evening into Trio, a wine and cheese-tasting, small-bites eatery. My friends Cassie and Robin joined me for a wonderfully memorable evening where we laughed and played and ate and drank and laughed and played some more.

-Just a little reminder to keep that camera with you and that spring is surely on its way.

Hugs, Enikö

(Just a little mention that this layout was inspired by a sketch challenge on a great scrapbooking site that I encourage you to join, called Let's Scrap...loads of scrapbooking fun!)

Girlfriends...Those Irreplacable Gems in Our Lives

Girlfriends! -I shudder to think how we would get through life without them...without their love, support, encouragement, and just plain silly laughter. You've seen some of my fabulous girlfriends on my scrapbook pages...here's a little nugget of why I think they're so very fabulous. Check out this hilarious & touching tribute on Susan Branch's blog about her friendship with the enchanting Margot Datz.

Just click here to view:

Susan Branch Blog

(hand-painted & copyrighted by Susan Branch)

If you're not already a follower of Sue's, you should be...her hand-written & illustrated cookbooks and calendars are sheer delight (she's written 14 books!) and her astounding hostessing skills have advanced her to "Domestic Goddess" status nation-wide.

Margot's amazing artwork can be viewed on her website, and her book, A Survival Guide For Landlocked Mermaids, is a must-read for all women -a beautiful gift for girlfriends. (Signed copies are available through Bunch of Grapes Bookstore on Martha's Vineyard.)

Here's how I attempted to capture Margot's spirit on a scrapbook page:
...and this is how I honored the lovely Susan Branch in our buddy Jaime's Memory Book -Sue hand-wrote the beautiful "Jaime's Recipe for a Happy Life":                  (double click to view in larger size) 
Incidentally, both layouts above feature papers from fabulous Graphic 45.

Thank you for letting me share this wonderful part of my life with you...

Hugs, Enikö

 

Scrapbooking Clean and Simple...

Sometimes I just like clean and simple... Today's scrapbooking trends lean towards lots of color, lots of embellishments, lots of dimension, lots of patterned papers, and, alas, often lots of clutter. I designed this layout, titled "Gigi Plays", a while back, but it's remained one of my favorites. -Not only because of the subject matter (my sweet friend Gigi frolicking playfully on Ogunquit Beach in Maine, on a breezy autumn day...my dad in tow), but because of its simplicity.

The color is muted...almost monotone. The embellishments are minimal: a few chipboard shells, a couple of metal brads here...a few seashell brads there. Dimension is added only to the left page, with a dictionary definition of "play", matted & raised by foam dots, and five raised chipboard seashells. There are no clashing patterned papers, only soft background photographs. Most importantly, there is no clutter. Here's a close-up of the left-hand page:
Oh, I forgot to mention journaling... I'm the queen of journaling! I am quite firm in my feeling that each scrapbook layout should tell a complete story -you remember the grade school rule: Who, What, Where, When & How. A great rule! -Always works. But there are a few instances where the story can be told with a minimum of words. You'll notice that in the background above, there is a subtle type textured over the photo of the beach sand and seashells. If you look even closer, you'll be able to make out that the text is in fact a cluster of dictionary definitions of ocean-themed words. So by playfully placing definitions of "play" and "playful" on the layout, there is a cohesive, recurring theme.

Now let's take a look at the right side of the layout:
Once again, the soft text on the image of the beach sand reveals dictionary definitions of beach-themed words, and the word "BEACH" is actually drawn in the sand in the background photo. -The perfect background paper to display photos of Gigi writing in the sand. The words on this page are simple...the word "PLAY" appears twice, both times in soft colors. Over the water on the top, it is rubber stamped, and the bottom right is anchored with a small word sticker. The words "GIGI PLAYS", repeated three times with an inked rubber stamp and fading into the breakwater, is really all that is desired for additional journaling. We get the rest of the story just fine.

In my scrapbook, these pages follow a double-page layout that has quite extensive journaling about this special day at Ogunquit Beach, and the special relationship between Gigi and my dad. It covers all the "who, what, where, when" rules, making it even less necessary to repeat the same information here. But even if these pages stood alone, the important part of the story is evident -Gigi made an elderly friend feel like a kid again on that breezy day in Maine...clean and simple.

Keeping memories alive, one page at a time, Enikö

Scrapbooking a Friendship Album: Part 4

In my last several posts, I talked about the many aspects of friendship that were explored through my latest scrapbook design project. Topics such as "Joy", "Companionship", "Passion", "Spirit", "Nurture", and "Cultivate" have already been illustrated through various scrapbook layouts in the Friendship Album created for real estate agent Carol's milestone birthday. As I share a few more with you, notice how each friend is represented, not only by the poem, personal note, or photos they contributed, but by the title of each layout. I chose these words carefully, each meant to represent the personal connection the friend had to the "birthday girl".

This scrapbook layout represents "Gratitude" -using Webster's Pages beautiful papers and journaling blocks:                                         (click on images to enlarge)

The photos used in the layout below shows friends spending the early morning hours of New Year's Day with Carol on the glorious beaches of Martha's Vineyard...watching the sun rise as it brings with it new "Hope" for the coming year:

Another friend, sent me a trove of fabulous quotes that she said all reminded her of Carol, so I included as many of them as I could on these fabulous patterned scrapbook papers from Graphic 45's Fashionista Collection, and chose the title "Sisterhood":

Lastly, using papers from Webster's Pages again (Can you tell I love this company?), and the title "Splendor," I attempted to capture the sensuality described on the pages, represented by the rich colors, the quotes about seaside dwelling, and the photos of Carol's luscious soups, which she is famous for:

I hope you've enjoyed my Friendship Album series and that it inspired you to take a closer look at your own friendships and how you might describe them. How might you be described by your friends?

As always, I appreciate comments left on my blog, below -thank you.

Passing the torch of friendship, Enikö

 Visit my website -Enikö's Scrapbooks

Scrapbooking a Friendship Album: Part 3

What I loved the most about designing and scrapbooking this Friendship Album, was discovering how differently each contributing friend perceived Carol, the birthday recipient. It prompted me to contemplate how my friends might perceive me, and led me to reflect on the importance of friendship in general.
(click to enlarge image)
Martha's double-page layout was titled "Passion." She created the lovely black & white artwork on the left and chose the gray background paper. Inspired by her work, I designed the companion page on the right, and added all the red embellishments to provoke the feeling of passion in the viewer. Here's a close-up of Martha's artwork:
I love Martha's words to her friend: "To Carol, whose diverse passions lift my spirits." Then she added verses that described the two aspects of Carol's personality that she admired most. On the dancing side of her drawing she added: "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme the honky-tonk life," and on the meditation side, she wrote, "In dwelling, live close to the ground, in thinking, keep to the simple..."

Another friend, Margot, loves the subtle, quiet way in which Carol nurtures and cultivates her friendships:
Margot's loving letter to Carol spoke about how much she admired that quality in her friend, and I added a lovely poem about the virtues of planting a tree to reinforce the message. The scrapbook layout was given a duel title: "Nurture" & "Cultivate" and the photos I used were (appropriately) of Carol's yard and garden. The background paper and flower embellishments support Margot's message and help tell the story.

What words do you think your friends would use to describe the best things about you? What qualities do you admire most about yourself?

Do leave some thoughts in the "comments" below...

Sharing the love, Enikö

Scrapbooking a Friendship Album: Part 2

Exploring the different aspects of friendship became the theme for a colorful Memory Book/ Friendship Album that a group of friends hired me to design for their girlfriend's milestone birthday. In my previous post, I shared two layouts titled "Friendship" and "Companionship" respectively.

These next two layout explore the joy and spirit of friendship and share a love-of-the-ocean theme and reflects the birthday-girl's joy of living on Martha's Vineyard Island...surrounded by water. This layout, contributed by Lowely, is titled "Joy" and her note reminisces about beach parties where Carol lead silly sing-a-longs to entertain the children:
(click on image to enlarge)
I always love using beach-themed scrapbooking paper for beach photographs, because I enjoy matching the horizon on the photos with the horizon on the background paper for a touch of whimsy.

The next layout celebrates friends sharing the joys of sailing. Louise displays a bowl in her kitchen that sports the verses of "The Owl and the Pussycat" which she says reminds her of Carol & her husband, George, so we worked that into her scrapbook pages:
(click on image to enlarge)
I titled the layout "Spirit" and made it fun and colorful. Webster's Pages makes some really beautiful patterned scrapbooking paper with different themes. These are from the "Seaside Retreat" collection and sport graphics of sea creatures and compasses among fruits and flowers...particularly appropriate since Louise owns a flower & party styling business, Flowers on the Vineyard. Louise's sentiment was slipped under a lovely printed sheet of vellum, also by Webster's Pages.

What is your favorite activity with friends? What word would you use to describe it as the title of a scrapbook layout?

Please comment below... Playing it forward, Enikö

 

Scrapbooking a Friendship Album

Scrapbooking for others has many different challenges than creating an album for ourselves. Even more challenging is when the client is not one, but a group of seven friends. After I was hired to design a Memory Book for a mile-stone birthday celebration, it was decided that it would be formatted like a photo-illustrated poetry book, with each friend contributing a song or a poem that reminded him/her of the birthday-girl, Carol. It was so interesting to discover what each friend contributed in the way of photos, memories, and verse and each contribution inspired me toward a different element of friendship.
(click on image to enlarge)
Some of Mary's favorite memories of Carol involved working together at the Agricultural Fair back-in-the-day. Her photos were colorful and reflected the joys of friendship, which I worked hard to capture on her layout. The 3-dimensional flowers mimicked the flowers that decorated their T-shirt stand, and inspired by the hand-made banner Mary is holding in the photo, I added a "Friendship" banner as a title. -It helped set the tone for the entire book. Mary's long, heartfelt letter to Carol was a little too personal for public viewing, so I tucked it into a bright envelope for Carol to read privately.

(click on image to enlarge)
Jaime has known Carol a very long time. They've worked together, traveled together and have been wonderfully supportive friends for many years. Jaime chose the Momma Rose song from "Gypsy" for her friend...you know, the one that goes, "Wherever we go, whatever we do, we're gonna go through it together." -So perfect for their relationship...so I titled her layout "Companionship" and used the colorful papers from Webster's Pages to capture the fun these great friends have shared for so many years. Jaime is quite a romantic and loves flowers, so I was sure to include plenty of floral embellishments.

You're going to have to wait a bit to see the rest of this lovely Friendship Album, but I promise to post again soon. What words describe friendship best for you? What characteristics do you cherish most in your friends?

I hope you'll leave a comment below if you enjoyed this post...thanks!

Sharing the love, Enikö  

I invite you visit my website: Enikö's Scrapbooks

Scrapbooking With Graphic 45 Paper

I've been having a lot of fun working with Graphic 45 papers lately. If you're not already acquainted with this fabulous scrapbooking paper line, it's time you got introduced. In their own words:

"Graphic 45 is an award-winning scrapbook and paper crafting company. We offer vintage inspired crafting products that capture the flamboyant style of the 1920's and 30's - with vibrant color, irresistible texture and imaginative design to create products with decades-old appeal that's both fresh and familiar."

I saw my first sample of this company's papers at the Creative Keepsakes Convention last year in Manchester, NH. I kept going back to their booth until I purchased every paper collection I could get my hands on:  Renaissance Fair, Domestic Goddess, Christmas Past, Le' Romantique, Fashionista...I had to have them all. Beautiful, vibrant papers with glorious graphics on both sides. The problem was that I adored the papers so much that once I brought them home, I didn't have the heart to cut into them. I would just take them out every once in a while when I needed joy or inspiration, and then I would put them away again.

So recently I heard about a Graphic 45 Design Call, requesting scrapbook designers who love Graphic 45 paper to submit samples of their work to be considered for a position on their design team, and I threw caution to the wind and finally broke into my virgin paper pads.

This page was designed in honor of my dearest girlfriend, Margot, a local artist, author and book illustrator, here on Martha's Vineyard. She is also one of the most colorful characters on this little island and as fashionable as can be. I used paper from Graphic 45's Fashionista collection and embellished it with plenty of bling, lace, flowers, tassels, & strands of pearls to reflect her flamboyant, playful fashion style.

I did it! I broke through the fear of cutting into one of my Graphic 45 untouched paper stacks!

Do you have a scrapbooking dilemma? Or is something keeping you from conquering a scrapbooking fear of some sort? I hope you'll share your story in my comments below & I will be showing you more of my Graphic 45 scrapbook layouts in my next post.

Fearlessly scrapping, Enikö

 

 

A Memory Book for a 60th Birthday: Part 8

Ah...Martha's Vineyard Summers...

When I scrapbooked photos of my friend Jaime's legendary beach parties for her Memory Book, I wanted to capture the essence of life by the ocean. We are immensely lucky to live only moments from beautiful beaches and we take every opportunity we can to gather on them. I had some great paper that had photographic images of a Cape Cod-style sandy beach with weathered fencing that was perfect for the occasion. (When I stiched the pages of my double-page layout together in photoshop, I somehow got the intensity of the colors wrong and the color of the sand and sky don't match up here as well as they do in the actual layout.) I love the "Life's a Beach" sticker placed on the bottom of the layout -it actually has real sand and tiny shells attached to it, and adds a great touch.

Another challenge was to tell the story of 30 years of fabulous dress-up parties in just two scrapbook pages. I found a really cool-looking journaling block that was the perfect tool for anchoring the page. I listed all the titles of the crazy dress-up parties we attended through the years and then arranged the photos as if they had been randomly dropped across the two pages. I used a dark floral printed paper thatdid not distract the eye from the photos as a background. This "random" arrangement, together with clever cropping, enabled me to fit 18 photos on my layout! Here's a close-up of the journaling block:

Jaime's scrapbook also included layouts devoted to her family, her catering company, her passion for sailing, and some humorous party shots that are too personal for public posting. One of my favorite layouts is devoted to the men in her life, past and present. But perhaps my favorite page is the final one, in which a very young and very tanned Jaime leans on a balcony railing looking off in the distance as if looking ahead into the future:

I adhered a gorgeous die-cut paper from Webster's Pages to a black background with the beautiful photo of Jaime front and center. I added a simple title: "Celebrate Life" and a couple of silk flowers which completed the story of Jaime perfectly, and offered a fitting closing page to her Memory Book.

On that note, I will end my 8-part series on "A Memory Book for a 60th Birthday". I hope you have found some inspiration and perhaps a little joy in these pages. I will close with a photo of Jaime's birthday cake -an amazing Gingerbread Cake baked by Martha, who appears in an earlier post about Jaime's TGIF girlfriends. The tradition in our circle is that everyone present is invited to place a ring on one of the birthday-girl's lit candles while making a wish, and as the candles are blown out, all the girlfriends' wishes will also come true.

Incidentally, the recipe for this truely delicious ginger cake may be found in Susan Branches 2011 Calendar available through her website and in stores now...a great Holiday gift idea!

 

A Memory Book for a 60th Birthday: Part 7

A cheerful layout designed with lovely patterned papers from Webster's Pages -this one is the story about my 30-year friendship with Jaime. It's not easy condensing thirty years into a double-page scrapbook layout, but I chose some of my favorite photos and shared events and ignored the fact that the quality or lighting was not always ideal. It is the essence of the enduring friendship that is captured -highlighted by simple hand-written journaling intended to remind Jaime of the moments we've shared through the years.

On this closer view of the right-hand page, the subtle message printed on the upper right: "Live the life you have imagined" is clearly visible...and very appropriate for Jaime, who inspires us all to reach higher in our lives. The 3-dimensional flower sticker just above the journaling on the upper left is from another company altogether, but fit in beautifully with the Webster paper.

I cropped the photo of me sitting on the beach with my two young sons into a circle, which not only draws the eye to it, but allows for an interesting placement on the page.

Incidentally, if you don't already own a copy of out dear friend Margot Datz's book: A Survival Guide for Landlocked Mermaids, you should pick up a copy. You'll find some really profound woman-to-woman advice and exquisite illustrations. The photo on the lower right was taken at Margot's book signing, which Jaime also attended, at the Bunch of Grapes Bookstore in Vineyard Haven before the tragic fire destroyed the original building.

I hope this post has inspired you in some way...perhaps to honor a valued friendship in a special way.

A Memory Book for a 60th Birthday: Part 6

So this past month, I've been going on & on about the virtues of using great scrapbooking paper to enhance layouts and to simplify the process when pressed for time. In this post, I'd like to introduce you to another line of printed papers that I am absolutely wild about -  Graphic 45. I found them at a recent Creating Keepsakes Scrapbooking Convention and became completely hooked! (In fact, I just purchased their new Halloween Collection, which has a vintage Alice in Wonderland theme, which I will blog about soon.)

For Jaime's Memory Book, Graphic 45 had the absolutely perfect paper to use for our dear friend Sue Branch's layout. If you're not already familiar with the beautiful line of cookbooks, calendars, quilting fabric, notecards, etcetera, of Susan Branch you must look her up (her website is breathtaking). Her first book, Heart of the Home - a lovingly illustrated, original cookbook written in Sue's own handwritten script, set the tone many years ago for what would blossom into a very successful, lucrative business. So it was not surprising when Sue presented me with beautiful original artwork/ journaling that I was to use in the layout about her friendship with Jaime. Since all the girlfriends consider Sue the domestic goddess of our group, it was fitting to use paper from the beautiful vintage-style line from Graphic 45 aptly called 'Domestic Goddess'.

On the left side of the double-page layout, I used a really charming vintage silverware-themed paper in a pretty steely-blue. I added trim that I cut off of another paper from the same collection & adhered it to the left of the page. I also added the Blue-Ribbon Pie graphic, cut out from the same Graphic 45 line. The canister of sugar and the baking bowl were cut out of a Cosmo Cricket paper called Elements from the Early Bird Collection. I raised them on foam adhesive dots to make them pop off the page. Don't you think Sue's "recipe card" artwork is amazing? Now that's journaling at its best!

In the right-hand page of the layout, I repeated the blue...here again, I cut off the border of a coordinating paper and glued it onto a really cute paper with a teapot design...so Sue Branch! (The queen of vintage teapots & teacups & tablecloths!) I couldn't resist adding the "Domestic Goddess" title, and then added journaling of my own to complete the story. Notice the color choice that frames the journaling block...the touch of yellow ties in with the bowl's stripe, the aprons & the fruit on the opposite page and helps coordinate it with the yellow in the teapot paper. It just makes your eye dance around the layout, but in a comfortable, playful way. (I also used the teapot paper to mat the two photos on the left side of the layout & then punched them up with a touch of the red to pull it all together.)

Sue and Jaime both loved the layout and felt it represented the essence of Susan Branch beautifully. The lesson in this post is that paper selection can truely tell the story of your layout as well as the photos can. Also: clever, inexpensive embellishments can be cut out of patterned paper and used with great success to enhance any layout. The only additional embellishments are the 4 brads that hold on the journaling block...the rest is all paper!

So take a second look at your paper stash and discover new ways to use the lovely patterns on them...Enjoy!

 

A Memory Book for a 60th Birthday: Part 5

If you haven't already discovered the truly delightful printed cardstocks from Webster's Pages, you must logon to their website at http://www.websterspages.com - breathtaking! I am thrilled to introduce this fabulous paper company to you in this post. I stumbled upon these treasures at the 2010 Creative Keepsakes Scrapbook Convention. I was so overwhelmed with the creativity and the sheer beauty of these papers that I could hardly contain myself and couldn't wait to work (play) with them.

As I mentioned in earlier posts, paper selection was extremely important for Jaime's Memory Book project, since I was so pressed for time. The right paper would help me tell the story of each of her girlfriends more efficiently and more completely.

To scrapbook our dear friend Margot Datz, I needed to find something truely special. Margot is a masterful artist, illustrator, author, muralist -and she is a brilliant hostess. Her lucky friends marvel at her colorful, creative summer dinners which she hosts on her magical porch lit with hanging lanterns and flickering candles which highlight the colored glassware and the festive tablesettings.  I chose a cheerful pair of coordinating papers from the Garden Gala Collection by Brandin O'Neill of Webster's Pages, which seemed to capture the essence of Margot's entertaining style.

The colorful lanterns, parasol, birds, and flowers actually feel like dinners feel on Margot's porch. Looking more closely, Margot's name on the upper left-hand corner leads the eye around early photos of this special friendship: Jaime acting as Margot's birthing coach, attending to her at her baby shower, holding her new baby at the beach.

You'll notice that the added embellishments are minimal...I added a few paper flowers and a couple of appropriate phrases (stickers) over the photos. What I did that makes a huge difference, is the matting of the photos in a contrasting cardstock. The matting not only makes the photos pop, but they enhance the look of the overlapping -an important element when it is desirable to include multiple photos on the layout. For the right side of the double-page spread, I continued this trend, but with a different color of matting.

I also highlighted the upper-right photo by placing a gilded frame around it. I added a few stickers (also from Webster's Pages) and added a personal message from Margot to Jaime on the inked journaling block from K&Company. If you look closely, you'll notice the word "HAPPINESS" imprinted on the paper in the lower left. -Sometimes it's these subtle messages -already a part of a great paper's design- that helps the designer tell the story without having to alter it too much.

I also used Webster's Pages from the same Garden Gala Collection for a couple of other girlfriend layouts. Martha Yukovitch is a light-hearted, fun-filled and extremely talented woman and these papers with bright and lively flowers fit her bubbly personality.

The layout of the left page is designed to create order by placing the photos equal distance from each other -in contrast to the free-form layout of the right page.

Again, a couple of strategically placed stickers and a few paper flowers complete the page. It is apparent that I was mindful of the colors of the photos as I paired them with the paper. The blue of Martha's playful gown is repeated in the blue of the flowers on both sides of the layout, pulling them together. The dark red of the flowers on the left page is repeated on the "Party Time" sticker as well as on Martha's name on the opposite page.

This page was challenging because Martha and her husband, Gerry, provided me with the fabulous dialogue bubbles as well as the wonderful journaling card, and my design had to accomadate the tricky size restrictions of the pieces and still work with the rest of the layout. I framed the photo and matted the journaling card, then softened the corners with a pretty corner punch by Martha Stewart.

I hope you have enjoyed post and are as excited about the joys of using beautiful patterned papers in your scrapbook designs as I am. Cherish your memories and enjoy Websters Pages and all its possibilities!

To learn more about Margot's amazing work, visit her at:

http://www.margotdatz.com

A Memory Book for a 60th Birthday: Part 4

Scrapbooking a Memory Book for a wonderful friend is an honor indeed. It turned out to be an extremely healing experience as well. As Jaime's best girlfriends poured over their archives of photographs in preparation for her Memory Book, they were forced to relive their past: first mariages, painful childbirths, unfortunate break-ups, divorces, failed businesses, and deaths of loved ones. Many tears were shed, but not all the tears came from a sad place. As the friends individually rifled through myriad images of the past, they ultimately came to the same conclusion once Jaime's Memory Book was completed: We all went through hell together at times, but there was also much joy. Today, we are all still friends, and we all live beautiful lives. The excersise of returning to the past through our old photos reminded us, in the end, of how lucky we are today. It was a healing, nuturing realization for all of us.

If you've been following my recent posts, you are aware of the challenges I faced as I scrapbooked an entire 40-page Memory Book on an extremely tight schedule for  V. Jaime Hamlin, a very dear friend.

The only way I could meet my deadline (I had a little over a week to put the whole thing together) was to choose highly designed patterned papers that required very little additional embellishments to tell the story at hand. I needed to find scrapbooking papers that embodied the personalities of each of Jaime's closest girlfriends, as she was represented in her own double-page layout. This one was created to honor Lowely.


Lowely is in real estate and also owns her own interior design company, Injoy Interiors. She is a warm, generous soul...fiercly devoted to family and friends. The scrapbooking papers I chose for her are from K&Company. The softness and subtlty of the blue reminded me of Lowely's gentle demeanor, and the background print, which appears to be some sort of long-hand script, reflects her old-school upbringing. Lowely is the girlfriend who sends the handwritten thank you note after a dinner party, and the one who records her vacations in illustrated journals. The blue was also pretty against some of the blue that appeared in her photos.

I cut out the image of Lowely in the blue party dress in the upper right-hand corner of this page because it added a touch of whimsy and broke up the otherwise very orderly layout. The page on the right of the two-page layout holds the title and the journaling:

"Lovely Lowely" is written with gold stickers and is anchored by the bright 3-dimensional sticker to it's right, which reads "Friendship". I wanted to give Lowely's journaling a home-spun feel, so I added hand-stitching in blue & green and raised it with foam squares to give it some nice dimension. I love that the predominently blue papers also sport occasional splashes of color, eliminating the need for further embellishments. I especially love the post office-style stamping near the title...something I may have added myself to represent Lowely's love of travel, but I didn't need to, since the paper was already decorated with it.

Have you poured over your old photos lately? Jaime's sister Cynthia recently shared something with me. After dinner at her house the evening of Jaime's birthday, Jaime showed her family the Memory Book her girlfriends surprised her with earlier that day. Of course, everyone loved it -including Jaime's four sons- and it prompted them to pull all the old family photo albums off of Cynthia's bookcase and spend hours flipping through them, laughing, crying and reliving moments of the past...reminding everyone from where they came...bringing their lovely family even closer together. Your turn.

XO- Enikö

A Memory Book for a 60th Birthday: Part 3

How to honor an amazing group of girlfriends? Let me count the ways...

After putting together the introductory pages of Jaime's Memory Scrapbook (see previous post) it was time to honor each of her "special" girlfriends -the members of the TGIF group, many of who have been friends for decades. I sorted the photos according to which ones each girlfriend sent me (usually marking an event that they shared with Jaime) and added others that centered around each girlfriend's connection with the group or with Jaime.

My challenge was to honor each woman individually, as well as the past she shared with the birthday girl. To achieve this goal with the tight time restriction that I had, I chose my background papers for each layout with extreme care. The object was to find papers that would best represent the personality of each girlfriend while being so appropriately decorative that only a minimum of additional embellishment would be needed. The papers together with the photos,would tell each story. First on my list: Carol.

Carol has known Jaime the longest, and shared a business partnership with her many years ago, as well as a deep friendship. I chose the color scheme because it represented Carol's soft, gentle nature and it went well with the color of Jaime's blouse that she wore in the photo (by Thaw Malin) that would be the focal point of my double-page scrapbook layout.

On the left, 'Burgundy Collage' by Paper Pizazz; on the right, a standard cardstock in a coordinating gold. I tied the two pages together by using a lace cardstock called 'Hula Prince' by KI Memories on both. I also placed a small black & white photo that Carol sent me, smack in the middle of my layout. (I double-matted this little gem so that it would not get lost on the page). It is tricky trimming lace paper, but well worth the trouble, as you can see here, where I used it to mat the focal photo.

I added an oval journaling block, provided by Carol, and embellished it with a paper flower attached with a copper brad. I added a couple of stickers: 'Picture Perfect' & 'Beautiful' to further personalize the layout. On the right side, I told the story of Carol & Jaime:

As our eye travels across the page, the story of these two great friends unfolds, accentuated by one-word stickers. In the upper left, we see the young women traveling together. Moving clockwise, we see Jaime in the kitchen of Martha's Restaurant, where the two girlfriends worked together, then goofing off with Carol and her husband, George. The eye is led to the journaling block, which explains how the two women first got together on Martha's Vineyard, then to a champagne-popping photo which typifies their friendship. The center photo brings us to the present with a recent photo of Carol.

Next, I decided to scrapbook Jaime's best friend, Annie Foley. Annie has also worked with Jaime on countless catering jobs before opening her own catering business: http://www.anniefoley.com I decided to simply title her layout: BFF with chipboard letters that I colored with Tim Holtz's Distressed Ink (Tea) for 'Best Friends Forever'. Because they also have traveled extensively together for decades and still do to this day, I decided to use a travel-themed paper and coordinate it with a graphic-collage designed by Elizabeth Brownd for K&Company in my two-page layout:

Annie is very no-nonsense and practical, so the neutral tones reflected her personality as well as her wardrobe. This time I placed my title page on the right and added journaling on a tag with a natural jute cord. Annie was too shy to journal herself, but I used a quote from her that Jaime repeated and also called her to make sure I had my facts straight.

I inked the matting and the stickers, and stamped the tag, so that everything had a well-traveled, weathered look. On the opposite page, I focused on Annie's love of photography, and distaste of photos of herself.

The velvet flowers with pearl and button centers, reflect Annie's love of velvet and the finer things in life, and a couple of dimensional stickers compliment the scrapbook layout well. Together, they tell the story of Annie's long-lasting friendship with Jaime.

I will continue with similar posts heralding all the girlfriends honored in Jaime's beautiful memory/ scrapbook, so stay tuned and visit my blog again soon. Until then, cherish your memories and happy scrapbooking!

                                                         

 

A Memory Book for a 60th Birthday: Part 2

I'll begin this post by reminding my readers of the importance of honoring friendship. It was the inspired idea of my dear friend, Margot Datz, to hire me to design this lovely Memory Book for our friend of thirty-plus years, Jaime Hamlin, who was turning a regal sixty.

Here is a photo of the TGIF women gathered around Jaime's Memory Book on her birthday:   

Margot arranged for the top seven girlfriends (all members of an unofficial club named  TGIF who for the past 15 years have met regularly at each other's homes), to forward copies of their most treasured photos of Jaime to me. I wrote about the challenges of sorting and organizing over 200 photos in last week's post. As you will remember, I chose to focus the Memory Book on the "Girlfriend" theme. So to honor the TGIF club, I designed a double-page layout describing how the club was formed and included group pictures of the original club members:

I happened to find paper that had a sort of crest on it and was the perfect spot to place the journaling as well as a cute photo of of the maple leaf cookies that Susan Branch baked for one of the TGIF gatherings:

I thought the photo, which also named the original members of the TGIF club, would have more impact on the page if I trimmed it out and glued it on to the bottom of the "crest":

I even added a 7th "cookie" to represent a girlfriend who was missing from the party, by inserting a maple leaf sticker and writing her name on it with white ink.

In last week's post I wrote about the importance of choosing the right printed paper for your scrapbook layouts, to save time by eliminating the need for an abundance of embellishments. As you can see here, printed paper can also act an inspiration for many other things as well, such as: creative play, interesting journaling, color coordination, and theme choice. If I had not found this paper (oops, I forgot to write it down, but I'm quite sure that both papers are from a K&Company paper stack), I may not have found a way to incorporate the cookies into my layout. The fall colors of the paper also fit in with the maple leaf image.

I added the "So Happy Together" sticker and cut out words from a K&Company printed paper that I felt described the girlfriends and their friendship to use on both pages. I also matted the photos to help make them pop off of the colorful & rather busy 2nd  page:

To sum things up:

1. Allow  printed papers to inspire your layouts.
2. Don't be afraid to cut-up paper & to use the words or images as embellishments.
3. Mat photos to make them pop.

Next week, I will cover individual layouts that were dedicated to each individual TGIF girlfriend, and you will see even more clearly how paper choice can make a huge difference in your Scrapbooking.

If you're interested in knowing more about the lovely girlfriends mentioned in this post, you may visit them at:

http://www.vhamlincatering.com

http://www.margotdatz.com/

http://www.susanbranch.com

 

 

 

 

A Memory Book for a 60th Birthday

So I promised to get back to you with a post about my latest Scrapbooking project...

I am fortunate to have a very special circle of girlfriends here on Martha's Vineyard -many of us have been friends for thirty years or more. Jaime, our beautiful regal "Queen", turned sixty years old on September 23rd and the girlfriends hired me to custom design a Memory Book as a special gift to her. As fun and rewarding as the job was, it was also full of challenges. I want to share this amazing journey with you.

Here's a photo of Jaime holding up her treasure, which was presented at a luncheon on the day of her birthday:

The girlfriends emailed me photos from their archives -many of which were non-digital images scanned into computers and were of questionable quality. Retrieving these 200+ photos, printing them out, and sorting through them took hours. I then needed to organize them in a way that would tell the story of Jaime. Because I was only given about a week to complete the book, this was perhaps my greatest challenge. I decided to group the photos in a way that best honored the "girlfriend theme" - I will get into this with more detail later. What I'd like to focus on now is how important it is to choose the right paper for each layout. Since I was so pressed for time, it was imperative that I choose paper that would best tell the story and would require a minimum of embellishments to look fabulous.

The title page was devoted to Jaime's birthday theme: 

I happened to find the perfect "queen-themed" paper, which I embellished with amber rhinestone scrolls and a paper flower attached with a brad. I matted this rather regal image of Jaime on cardstock, leaving a narrow edge of the rusty-burgundy that matched the left edge of the paper, and then adhered it to a gold paper that matched the color of the crowns. I used Martha Stewart paper punches to edge the gold mat, which really made the photo pop.

The second and third pages of the book were a montage of photos of Jaime herself through the various stages of her life in which the girlfriends were involved. Here the challenge was to include as many photographs as possible to tell the tale, without looking too mish-mash. I chose a silver and blue-toned pearlized cardstock from the DCWV Luxury Stack, which was "quiet" enough to not compete with the photos, but luxurious enough to feel royal - the journaling is faint here because it was written with silver ink, but it speaks of her birth 60 years ago and refers to her "sovereignty" among her girlfriends: 

(One of the girlfriends actually sent me a photo that she took of Jaime's tabletop tableau of framed pictures from her childhood -a great way to include her earlier years, while still sticking to the girlfriend theme.)
 
These are the three lessons I would like the reader to take away from this post:

1.) Paper choice is one of the most important elements of Scrapbooking.

2.) When pressed for time, the right paper can eliminate the need for many embellishments.

3.) Layouts can look great even with a multitude of photos on them - space photos evenly from each other and be conscious about providing a smooth flow for the eye.

Until my next post: Cherish Your Memories! And get on with your Scrapbooking!