Mybookinonline.com - scrapbooking - blog - ideas - layouts - products - forums - community - cards

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend here. Spent Thanksgiving at my Aunt and Uncle’s house. Lots of extended family there. Caitryn and my cousin’s daughter had a good time playing together.  The day after was spent mostly shopping.  I didn’t get a lot, but we spent a lot of time out and about. Mostly I bought socks for hubby and I and tights for Caitryn. Exciting, huh?  Well, I uploaded the pictures from Thanksgiving and made a layout from them. I hope you enjoy it.

Sorry for the extended downtime the site had the past few weeks. Server issues, but all has (hopefully) been cleared up. So, let’s start new, for the new school year!!!

Welcome to MyBookinOnline! This blog is a gateway to the bookin’ forums.  On the blog I will post several times a week about tips and techniques related to scrapbooking, scrapbooking products, scrapbooking freebies, and examples of things I (or others) have made on online scrapbook template sites.  If you want to be a part of the fun, please register on the forums. There are many ways to contribute. Tell us a great tip or technique and you could be featured on the blog page. Participate in the Monthly Challenge and your work could be shown on the blog page. Tell us why you like your favorite scrapbook tool or product and you could be featured on the blog page.  Create a SmileBox or a Scrapblog and put the link in the forum yours could be featured on the blog! So, get involved, tell all your bookin’ friends and let’s get this party started!!

Happy Bookin’!

By Jay Moncliff

Looking for a simple, versatile scrapbooking idea that can make your pages interesting and great looking? Try using the color wheel that you learned about in grade school to design well-coordinated eye-pleasing pages that really shine. The simple color theories that you learned in grade school can serve you very well in scrapbooking today, and after reviewing the basics you’ll be ready to create an unlimited number of great looking pages.

Remember the color wheel? Colors arranged in a circle, similar to a rainbow, and all of the colors related? Red combines with yellow to make orange, yellow and blue combine to make green, and red and blue make purple, remember? Visit your local craft store and invest in a simple color wheel to get you going. Most of the art departments will have one, and EK Success makes a fancy one just for scrapbooking. Any color wheel will allow you to use these simple ideas.

Let your picture be your guide in choosing a color scheme for your page. Choose one color from the photograph to be your “key” color. It may be a color from a flower in the foreground, or the color of the shirt your child is wearing. Whatever you choose, it will be the starting point for your color themed page design.

The first color scheme is monochromatic. Say you’ve chosen the blue of your son’s eyes. Since every color comes in many values, choose two or three additional values of the blue color you want to use. You may choose one lighter value and one darker value, or two lighter or darker values, it’s up to you. Now do all of your work on the page in these three colors. The result will be restful, calming and cohesive. Your page will be pleasing to the eye and stylish, no matter how you accessorize.

Choosing two or three adjoining colors is called an analogous color scheme. These combinations tend to be either warm (from the red side of the color wheel) or cool (from the blue side of the color wheel). They are pleasing to the eye, restful and attractive. Certain combinations lend themselves very well to different themes as well. Consider a combination of red, orange yellow and orange for a striking fall layout, or a combination of icy blues and purples for a frosty winter page.

The third basic type of color scheme is complimentary. Choosing colors across the wheel from each other creates contrast and is a good way to make the items on your page stand out. On a blue page, mat the photos in orange and use orange toned accents and your details will really stand out. Red and green are also complimentary, another reason that those Christmas pages are usually so striking. Every color on the color wheel has a compliment. Consider basing your page on one color and accent with its compliment for a striking, impressive effect.

The basics of color theory that we learned in grade school are worth reviewing when you’re looking for ideas to get started on your next scrapbook page. Invest in a color wheel and put those great papers to work for you!

Article gotten here

Reading through my emails tonight, I opened my Simple Scrapbook Times newsletter and saw there is a new Cricut out! Apparently it’s exclusive to Michael’s Craft Stores.

Exclusive to Michaels, the Cricut Create™ Personal Electronic Cutter combines the portability of the original Cricut® machine with the functionality of the Cricut Expression™ machine. The Cricut Create machine is the same size as the original Cricut machine, yet it allows cuts from 0.25-inch up to 11.5-inch on a 6-inch x 12-inch cutting mat. The machine also includes an eight-way directional blade, Portrait mode (to cut taller images), Fit to Page mode (to cut the largest cut possible), Auto Fill mode (to mass produce cuts), Center Point function, and Flip function. An improved display screen and sleek design add greater style and convenience.

The machine includes the DonJuan™ font and shape cartridge, one 6-inch x 12-inch cutting mat, and necessary cords and manuals.

I’ve downloaded this sample pack from Scrap Girls (the lost tooth layout uses things from this freebie). It has a lot of fun stuff in it.

So, I was going through my nightly internet ritual and I came across an interesting end of the month journaling prompt. I found it at the Katie the Scrapbook Lady Blog. It’s called a “round up”.  [Think of this as a sort of "show and tell" about the past month. Answer some or all of the questions to "roundup" memories and great information to use for journaling and scrapbooking.] (direct quote from her blog) So, here are the questions. Answer them for yourself on your blog or just in your scrapbook notes.  I’ll post my answers tomorrow.

Round Up Questions

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?

What movies and/or tv shows did I watch this month?

What special days did I celebrate and how?

What gifts did I give and/or receive?

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

What fun things did I do with my friends and/or family?

What new foods, recipes or restaurants did I try this month?

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

What were this month’s disappointments?

What were my accomplishments this month?

Anything else noteworthy to record?

Round Up Tasks

Backup your digital pictures to cd/dvd and upload them to an online site or two for an extra backup. Send the links to the online albums to friends and family.

Choose photos (or digital layouts) to be printed out and get that done while you are thinking about it.

Make sure your scrapbooking area is cleaned up and organized. Put away new purchases (or organize your hard drive if you are a digi scrapper)

Look over the calendar for the coming month and make note of upcoming events you will want to capture for your scrapbooks.

So, I’m wondering…what would you who are out there like to see on this blog? New products, freebies, challenges, contests….??? Let me know! Leave me a comment, or head over the forums and let me know in the “suggestions” forum. I’m still trying to figure out what works, so I need feedback from my readers!

Thanks and Happy Bookin’!

Ohhhh, I found a great new time waster! Actually, I saw it in Creating Keepsakes magazine, but I checked it out and it’s really neat. What is it? Scrapblog It takes about as long as doing a regular scrapbook page. I started with a theme, but browsed around all the items and used one or two that weren’t in the theme collection. It’s fun to play with and I will absolutely be doing it again. Along with Smilebox, it’s my new favorite online bookin’ thing! Now I just have to try out Picassa! LOL

Anyway, here is my layout that I did.. feel free to comment on this or any other of my posts. Let me know you are out there and what you think!

I put up the Bookin’ Challenge for July on the forums.  Check it out!

I hope everyone out there had a wonderful Independence Day! We hung out at my parents’ house, then went to the nearby lake to watch a fireworks display. This year daughter did pretty well and wasn’t scared of them, she was able to put her hands over her ears at the loud ones. All around good time.

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend.

Happy Bookin’!

Hey, all you bookers out there… the end of the month is quickly coming up and so will end the Monthly Challenge for June. Have you uploaded your summer layouts yet? I confess, I haven’t done mine… but I have a (pretty) good excuse… I don’t have any summer pictures yet printed out (since I am a tradional booker) and all my completed summer layouts are packed away and buried somewhere unknown in the house. so, what’s the excuse for the rest of you?! Do a layout of summer pictures (or pull out a previously done one) and upload it today! I can’t wait to see what everyone has created.