July Class

Dawn and Jo - who are teaching the July class on Wednesday 1 July have sent a picture of the layout they will be teaching, plus a list of materials and tools that you will need to buy.



Although this is a girl layout, because you are bringing in your own papers and materials you can obviously adapt it to a boy layout or a holiday layout or whatever you would want it to be.

This is the list:-

3 patterned papers-I have used a spot,a stripe,and a flower - all 12 x 12

1 plain paper - 12x12

Contrasting thread

Lots of buttons

Small alphabet stickers

Chipboard letters

Tools needed: basic cropping kit plus

Ink pad

Paper piercer

Needle

Foam pads

Sandpaper/distressing tool

Large scallop scissors (I’ll bring mine, and some templates for different shaped backgrounds)


The cost of the class is £2 and we will taking names and payments at the June class.

June Class

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 3 June when we will be continuing with our Album Track class.

Louise will be teaching this class and we will be doing 6 layouts - don't panic - you will be able to do 6 in the night.

The theme of this next class is Favourites (although this is only a prompt/idea, you can use any photos you want). If you do want to follow the theme, here are some ideas of what sort of favourite things you could take photographs of:-

perfume
make up
toiletries
films
music
places
food
drinks
shops
things in your home
books
tv shows
recipes
restaurants
or anything else that is a favourite of yours.

If you have any stamps, inks, letter stickers, punches, decorative edge scissors, please bring them along with you, although the Club does have a good selection of stamps and punches that you can use to embellish your layouts.

Also, make sure you bring your offcuts of paper and cardstock from the last class, so you can use them on the next few layouts.

If you didn't come to the last Album track class in March, don't worry, you can still start in June and Louise, Ailsa and myself will have our albums with us, so that you can either draw or photograph the layouts you missed in March and do them in your own time.

The class is free of charge, but don't forget to bring along your cardstock, paper and photographs (although you can add photos at a later date).

Ellie from ModScraps will be bringing along her shop, so if you need anything you can always buy it on the night.

Jane Dean Saturday 2 May

Jane Dean will be teaching the class on Saturday and has sent us a sneak preview of this fabulous project;

This class was created by Karen Burniston in the USA and Jane has the licence to teach it here in the UK. The class 
can be adapted to either winter, family or travel themes. 
9 sheets good quality cardstock (can be all the same colour or matching colours) 
(Alternatively 8 pieces of 6x12 chipboard and 1 sheet cardstock plus paint 
to cover chipboard) 
6 sheets matching patterned paper 
Book rings or bind it all tool & wire 
 
All photographs can be added later 
 
Tools: 
Adhesive. I use glue sticks to cover the whole area, PVA glue and a 
brush 
will work well but obviously it's not acid free. Each page is made by 
covering the surface of 12x12 cardstock and folding it in half. Once 
dried 
it adds strength to the pages. 
Double sided strong sticky tape 
Scoring tool 
Sharp cutting knife and spare blades 
Pencil 
Metal ruler 
Cutting mat 
Rubber 
Scissors 
Ink pad to ink edges of paper if required 
Hole punch or bind it all 

For more information contact Louise or Pam.

Alison Docherty

Our next class is on Wednesday 1 April at 7.30 pm.

Alison Docherty from Cardiff is teaching the class. Alison has taught at the Club a couple of times before, and has a nice simple, graphic style and her layouts appeal to most people. A picture of her layout is on the blog. Although - there is a choice of colour ways of blue or pink and you can use hearts instead of stars, if you would like to.




The cost of the class is £5.

Could you either email Louise on bubblesmonster@aol.com or go down to Country Clutter in Chepstow to put your name down and pay for the class. Could you also indicate whether you would like to do a pink or blue layout.

Our class in May is going to be an all day Saturday class, still in Chepstow Rugby Club. Jane Dean, who regularly appears in Scrapbook Inspirations magazine is coming from Canterbury, Kent. The class, which is a mini book, has actually been designed by Karen Burniston and Jane has the licence to teach the class. The cost of the day is £6. You will have to bring your own materials, and as soon as we have the list, we will email it out. In order to keep costs down, you will need to bring your own lunch, although the bar will be open and we will bring along tea and coffee.

If you would like to do this class, could you also make sure your name is down at Country Clutter or by emailing Louise.

Photography ideas... a message from Maz

Hi Album Trackers! Pam has recently emailed those of you who have expressed an interest in joining in with the album track classes; a year in your life. You might like to take photographs of some of the following;

- your wardrobe
- your shoes
- tip your handbag on the floor and just take a photo of it
- jewellery
- take photos of things you do every day
- your make up

- your toiletries

- driving

- what do you eat for breakfast

- do you do exercise or do you take a dog for a walk

- do you use a computer, if you do take a photo

- take photographs of things you treasure (ie. a special ornament, a teddy, a piece of clothing)

- maybe take photos of things you do that other people might not know about you or your life

- take photos of things that really matter to you

- do you wear a uniform for work

- do you like to have a certain drink during the day (ie. glass of wine in the evening!)

- do you wear glasses or contact lenses

- do you wear slippers in the house, if you do take a photo of them...



Sometimes I take my camera around with me all day just to record the daily details- it's amazing what little snippets you can record just by having the camera with you all the time!
I think these little chunks of our daily lives will be priceless to look back on when we're older; for me, photography is not just about the high days and the holidays!




Try taking things from different angles- above, below, sideways... try snapping the detail- a label on a winebottle; your child's hands, dog's nose....



If you'd like more inspiration, you can see more on my blog Diving For Pearls. Follow this link or this link for ideas for photographing the every day.

If you'd like any help with ideas or tips on photography, please do get in touch- I'd love to hear from you!

Love
Maz x

2009 - year of the Album Track!

As you may have already heard, we have decided to do something a little different this year. We have had some people say to us that they have lost some motivation, feel they are in a rut with their scrapbooking, or don't quite know how to get started, and meanwhile the photographs are piling up waiting to be scrapped, next to a mountain of scrap supplies- but many of us have the same problem-no mojo!
So to kick start some renewed enthusiam and creative spark, we are going to run an 'Album track'. This means that for 4 evenings throughout this year we will hold classes to quickly, simply and effectively get some pages done and dusted and ready to go in an album. By the end of the year, you will have an album of scrapbooked photos. What more could you ask!

The first session will be in March, then in May, July and October (these evenings might be subject to change). The idea is that hopefully everyone will complete the album on themselves and scrapbook your life as it is right now in 2009, so you have a statement of your life, what makes you tick, what makes you laugh, things you like to do, things you hate to do, who's important and what is important in your life. Although if you would like to complete the album for somebody else, that is absolutely fine, you might just have to make some minor adjustments with photos, and the prompts and ideas we will be giving out.

We plan for you to complete 5 layouts in each of the evenings - I can almost hear you groaning and saying no way - but trust us, 5 will be a doddle!!! By the end of the 4 classes you will have a complete album of 20 pages. You can then of course add to it yourself, if you want.

The classes won't cost anything at all, but you will have to provide your own materials. We are looking into the possibility of bulk buying some American Crafts D ring albums and different sized page protectors, and getting some discount because we are buying in a large quantity. If you are interested in having one of these albums, could you please go and talk to Alison Boalch at February's meeting as she will be ordering the albums, we can't give you a definite cost, but it will be around the £15-£20 mark (which will include the album and the different size page protectors).

Otherwise if you already have an album that is lying around empty and you would like to use it, that is absolutely fine, or alternatively you might like to source your own album.

You will also need to bring along with you to the first track class in March about 10 sheets of cardstock and some patterned paper. Don't stress out about the colours - in fact bring along the cardstock that you have had sitting around for ages - maybe all the odd colours. They don't necessarily have to match one another, but it might be a good idea if some of the patterned paper blended with some of the cardstock. You will only need a couple of sheets of pattered paper initially or bring some of your off cuts, they will work equally well.

If you have alphabet stamps at home, bring them along as we will be stamping on the cardstock (to be economical!!). The Club has some stamps for you to use. Also bring a few basic ink colours with you ie black and brown.

The classes will fall roughly into different categories, but some will blend from one class to the next.

These are:

1st Class
All the personal stuff - a photograph of yourself to start the album off (or with your family)
This could also include - taking a photograph of your wardrobe, your shoes, tip your handbag on the floor and just take a photo, jewellery, take photos of things you do every day - like make up, what you eat for breakfast, get someone to take a photo of you driving (but only if you can drive!!), do you take a dog for a walk each day, do you use a computer every day, take photographs of things you treasure, maybe take photographs of things other people might not know about you or your life.

2nd Class

Favourites which might include - perfume, make up, toiletries, films, music, places, food, drinks, shops, things in your home or anything else that is a favourite.

3rd Class

Family - close and extended, friends, important people in your life, car, special events that might be happening this year.

4th Class

Home - take photos of rooms in your house, food in your fridge, work, garden, special places you might have visit or visit on a regular basis, and most importantly a largish photo of yourself for the end of the album (perhaps a 6 x 8 or 8 x10).

These are only ideas and give you a rough framework in which to work and take relevant photos. Just take photographs of your everyday life, they don't have to be fantastic arty photos, just as long as they illustrate things that are important in your life. 6 x 4 photos will be absolutely fine (apart from the final photo). But obviously if you are going to complete a 6x6 album, you might need to reduce your photo size.

For the first class bring along as many photos as you want, we would recommend maybe around the 15 mark as some pages will have more than one photo on them.

SORRY to have gone on for so long .... but we were keen that you have the overview of this album track class, which will help you think about the photos and the pages you might want to include. Any questions please email me and I'll try and answer them.


I hope you come along and join in with these classes - it will be a real achievement at the end of the year, to have a complete album.

Maz will shortly be writing a post about some ideas and tips for taking great photographs and helping to make this album really special.

Keep watching- and lets know us if you have any queries, sugestions or general comments! We love to hear from you!

Stop Press! Amber has added more kits and you now have a choice! So there are loads more spaces if you haven't booked yet.