Today’s article is a Guest Post from Dee who’ll be sharing some ideas on making collages that will hopefully spark your creative imagination.

Collages and Colors

A collage is similar to a mosaic style piece of artwork, crafted from paper, card, moving boxes, photos or any other paper-based medium (and if you’re digitally minded you can create great collaged scrapbook layouts on your computer, but that’s another article). The pieces are glued together, on a larger piece of card stock or plywood to create a bigger over-all picture. Paper-based collages can be an extremely effective medium and a wonderful form of self-expression.

Photo Collages

Step by Step Digital Scrapbook Intermediate Tutorial 9 shows you how to make this photo collage layout. Just click on the layout to go there.

Photo collages are a fun way to create a montage of your pictures of your favourite people, places or landmarks. Take a photo showing a person you want in the collage and cut out the person, along with any background that you wish to keep. Place the cut-out on a piece of clean card or paper and leave it where you would like it to sit in the final draft. Cut out all your other favourite items and place them in the best possible position on the card, until it is totally filled up. Move the pieces about until you are happy with their positioning and the way they overlap each other, then use a safe (acid-free) glue to stick them to the card. Once they are all stuck down you can use a photo frame with glass to protect your photo collage and have it remain in excellent condition for many years. If you’re making a scrapbook layout one of the elements you should incorporate into your collage design is your title. You might print this out on your computer and cut it out, mount it on some card and add to the mix. Or you might use some chipboard alphas which you can cover with paper or paint. If you use large alphas it’s a nice idea to use them for your journaling too. Just keep is short and simple so it doesn’t become too crowded.

Color Collages

Abstract art is mostly color and shape based and is a great way to teach children how to be artistic. You can use colored construction paper for these types of collages and you can either make up a picture or just stick random colored pieces to the artwork. There doesn’t need to be a real sense of composition on these kinds of collages because what you are trying to create is a colourful, eye-catching collage. You can choose either pastel or primary colors, pattern wallpaper or gift wrapping paper. The choice is yours. Anything which is bright and contrasting, effective and eye-catching and highly artistic will capture yours and other people imaginations. If you use paper which is sealed—like wallpaper—you can also opt to varnish it afterward and protect it.

Fabric Collages

Fabric is another brilliant medium for making collages. You can choose any type of fabric that you prefer, whether it be old sheets and pillow cases, old dresses and shirts or old jeans and trousers. Drapes material is also another idea. It really can be anything suitable. The best form of backing for a fabric collage is ply wood or hard board. You should always use a suitable glue that will not burn the fabric or cause it to discolor. You can also use staples around the edges and complete the piece of artwork by adding beading, to make a make-shift frame—or simply use a picture frame.

There is no limit to what you can create when you make a collage. It really is about what comes out of your imagination and what you want your finished piece to look like. You can make a collage to fit an entire wall, or just make smaller version to use as pictures or scrapbook layouts.

Dee is a travel writer and amateur photographer who loves a good scrapbooking session, especially when she feels the need to reminisce about the time when photos weren’t all stored digitally (God rest polaroids!)

Other related articles:

Capture the moment in a photo collage

Scrapbooking Techniques & Tips – Make a Photo Collage Layout

Scraps Of Mind - All about scrapbokking, digital scrapbooking and hybrid scrapbooking

Here’s a bit of fun I thought you might like to play with.

If you go to this website here

http://weavesilk.com/?a

You can play with this little thingumy that lets you create this cool looking sort of silk by dragging your mouse around.

The web app is created by Yuri Vishnevsky as an experiment in generative art. And he’s set it up so you can play and create your own art silk (digitally of course) super easily.

It’s a bit of a time soak as once you start playing the time just seems to slip away. But it’s a lot of fun.

Pop over and give it a go.

And Yuri’s also created some digital silk wallpapers that you can download if you like the look.

Scraps Of Mind - All about scrapbokking, digital scrapbooking and hybrid scrapbooking

How would you like to win $10,000 for wrapping some presents?

Sound good?   Read on . . .

The 3M Company who own Scotch Brand are holding their 14^th annual gift wrapping contest in December this year. Entries close 18^th October 2010 and the winner of the Scotch Brand Most Gifted Wrapper walks away with $10,000.00.

Now that would buy a whooole lot of scrapbooking supplies.

So if you’re someone who extends their passion for scrapbooking to off-the-page gift wrapping projects, or if you know someone who does, then click over to the competition website and find out more about it.

Scotch Brand Most Gifted Wrapper for 2009

To enter all you need to do is complete a form telling the organizers why you or someone you’re nominating, are a gift wrapping guru and share your best gift wrapping tips. You can upload a couple of photos if you like, but that’s not mandatory.

And you’ll need to tell them whether the nominee is a professional or an amateur gift wrapper. I’ll be honest, I didn’t realize there was such a thing as a professional gift wrapper, but apparently a professional is someone who has earned an income as a gift wrapper at a department store. Hmmm . . . I once worked in a garden nursery and we used to gift wrap the potted plants. Does that make me a professional gift wrapper? I don’t think so.

Anyhoo, even if you’re not so great in the gift wrapping department yourself if you’re the person who nominates the winner you get $1000 for just putting in the nomination.

So check out  the competition website This might be the opportunity for you or a friend to actually get a cash windfall from your papercraft creativity.

And wouldn’t that be very satisfying to point out to your significant other?

Scraps Of Mind - All about scrapbokking, digital scrapbooking and hybrid scrapbooking

Well Summer is in full swing here in Oz. And I’ll be honest with you; I haven’t done much in the scrapbooking line for a few months.

But I haven’t shut up shop entirely. My Tuesday night craft group ensures that I still keep projects on the go.

Last year I introduced Marla to the concept of  Artist Trading Cards and I’ve never seen someone embrace anything with as much enthusiasm as she has with ATCs. She’s joined several swap groups and in a few short months she’s built up a huge collection, filling two binders already. She makes beautiful ATCs as you can see here.

At the moment she’s got a couple of swaps which she’s organising herself, so in a fit of buddy support I’ve volunteered to contribute to them. Here’s one of my efforts on the theme of ‘birds and feathers’. It’s called Soar.

Like many of my ATCs it’s a hybrid of digital and paper/scissors techniques. I find this approach especially useful when I have to make 7 cards all the same. I can design the backgound, duplicate it and print out 7 identical versions. Then add the cut outs and three dimensional stuff. In many cases I’ll print out digital elements, cut them out and mount them with foam tape, mixed in with ‘real life’ embellishments, as I’ve done here.

Cuttlebug Crafting

The group has recently clubbed together and purchased a communal Cuttlebug. I wasn’t that excited until I gave it a try myself.

What a bunch of fun it was! Quite ordinary looking card or paper embossed a gorgeous patterned texture which looks fabulous in card or scrapbooking projects. Or you can create embossed embellishments using card or papers that coordinate with your scrapbook layouts. Here are a couple of cards I made for my niece’s  birthdays and one for another niece’s engagement. I just love the effect.

If you are a user of one of these babies and have some cool ideas for ways to use it, I’d love it if you could share them in the comments below. Often something that seems quite straightforward to one person can sound like a revelation to another. We’re all still pretty new to the world of Cuttlebugs so we’d welcome any suggestions that help to get the most value from it.

What is your favourite scrapbooking tool?

And whilst on the subject of scrapbooking equipment…do you have a favourite piece of equipment that you just love?

Even though I’m in love with the Cuttlebug at the moment, I think I would have to say that my fine cutting scissors are really my favourite piece of scrapbooking equipment.

I love my little embroidery scissors but I recently bought a funny looking pair that have now taken first place on my scrapbooking ‘must have’ tools list. They have no normal handles and you work them by squeezing the single handle which works a spring which works the blades. They really take the effort out of cutting and there’s no more red indentations on my thumb and fingers when I have to do a lot of cutting. And best of all, they make doing really fine and detailed cutting so easy.

Well as you can see, I seem to be drifting back to the more tactile side of papercrafting, after spending the last 18 months immersed in the world of digital scrapbooking. I still like to combine the two wherever possible. Most of my cards and ATCs are hybrid creations. And I think that I’ll always prefer the freedom that digital gives me when creating scrapbook layouts. But I’m really enjoying getting back into the ‘glue and paper’ stuff again.

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Artist Trading Card Swaps

Christmas Card Making in July

Scraps Of Mind - All about scrapbokking, digital scrapbooking and hybrid scrapbooking

You might remember me writing about a Christmas Card Making in July event I went to that was a whole bucket load of fun. Well following on from that, Marla invited me over to a regular Tuesday night craft session that she and a few friends hold each week.

I’ve mentioned in previous posts that I tend to be a solitary scrapper as I don’t have any like minded friends nearby. My sister does card making but she doesn’t live so handily as to catch up for regular card making sessions. So you can imagine how pleased I was to be included in this group.

So now Tuesday night is a craft catch up night and I really look forward to it. There’s usually yummy treats and lots of chat.

I’ve just bought myself a little mini notebook computer so I can also do some digital stuff whilst I’m there.

So as the Newbie to the group, I brought along some of the stuff I had done. The others are stamping card makers and fabric crafters but not scrapbookers. Anyway one of the things I brought along was my ATC (Artist Trading Card) album. Marla was intrigued. And in next to no time she became a total addict and had joined several on line ATC Swapping Groups.

She’s pulled me along in her wake and I’ve started making ATCs for some of the swaps myself. Mind you, Marla has gone from 0-60 in an instant. She’s completely by-passed the learning stage and jumped straight to advanced. Her ATCs are absolutely gorgeous (check some of them out here). So the pressure is on!

One of the swaps I joined was for the theme of Orange and the second was a Mystery Image swap where the image was mailed out by the coordinator and you had to design your ATCs using it.

Because you need to make a run of the same ATC for each swap (a limited edition run) I like to use digital techniques as the basis for my design. That way it’s easy to repeat the design. I like to print out some of the design elements separately and cut them out, mounting them on the card using foam tape to add some extra dimension.

And of course there’s usually a brad or two somewhere in there.

I enjoyed making the cards for the ATC swaps but I can’t see myself becoming as involved as Marla. One of the attractions of ATCs for me is that I can make individual projects on a whim when the fancy takes me. And I don’t need to make several of the same thing. I don’t mind doing the occasional limited edition but I don’t want it to become the norm.

But it’s definitely a fun thing to do whilst in the company of like minded friends.

PS. Only two more sleeps before Purple and I are on the  big silver bird to Budapest. Oohh I’m starting to get excited.

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Artist Trading Cards

Scraps Of Mind - All about scrapbokking, digital scrapbooking and hybrid scrapbooking

Although I have always enjoyed sharing my crafting experiences with you online my crafting, in a physical sense, tends to be done in isolation.

I occasionally have a card making afternoon up at my sister’s place in Wallan, which is always fun and we both enjoy it. But I’ve never really had a group of papercraft-minded friends that I can hang out with. You know what I mean, people who you can talk to about scrapbooking or card making without watching their eyes take on that glazed look and roll back in their heads.

But a few weeks ago I went along to a surprise 50^th birthday party for a work friend of mine and I met his wife for the first time.

Well, it turns out that not only is she into stamping and card making, but she has a bunch of friends who are into it too. She saw the card I had made for Tim (it was a hybrid scrapped card) and recruited me into the bunch.

Yesterday was my first chance to get into it. Marla organised a sensational Christmas Card Making in July Day. And when I say organised, this woman knows how to organise an event.

There were 17 of us in her living room and she managed to cram in work tables for us all, a table with stamps, inks and other stuff which were available for sharing/borrowing, an embossing table with heat guns and embossing powders, and a table with stuff to buy if you wanted to. It was crowded but still comfortable to work in, if you know what I mean.

To get in the right frame of mind the room was all decorated for Chrismas and it was strung with heaps of examples of cards so you could grab one and use it as an inspiration point for your own or straightforward copy it if you liked.

It was a fantastic, friendly day with people sharing stories, tips, techniques and of course food. Just like I had read about in magazines but had not experienced before (my one experience of going to a crop held in a scrapbook store was not a fun memory with the other women there, including the shop owner, sticking to their own clique).

I had a lovely card making day and with all that inspiration around I managed to make five cards. So I was really pleased with my productivity, given that there was plenty of chatting going on.

I think card making is easier than scrapbooking to do in a group situation like this because the projects are smaller and so the need for concentrated focus is not so high. At least for me anyway.

So a big thank you to Marla. You rock.

Do you have any ‘real life’ cropping experiences? Were they good, bad, ugly?

I’d love it if you’d share them in the comments section below.

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Scraps Of Mind - All about scrapbokking, digital scrapbooking and hybrid scrapbooking

A Contest and a Video

Following on from my update last Monday on the Kilmore Celtic Festival, I came across the video below. It seems a fitting conclusion to my Celtic week.

But first a gift wrapping contest

Yes, you read that right.

Many scrapbookers extend their love for all things paper and decorative and they really go to town when wrapping up gifts. I must confess, I’m not one of these folk. Gift wrapping is a little too ephemeral for me. I like the things I create to last just a tad longer.

However I’ll be the first to admit that a beautifully wrapped present is a wonderful thing to receive.

And Scotch (the sticky tape people, not the alcoholic beverage people) have come out with a contest for all you gift wrapping enthusiasts where you can win $10,000!

To enter, describe in 100 words or less why you or someone you know has what it takes – whether it’s a vast amount of gift-wrapping experience or endless creativity – to be crowned the “Scotch Brand Most Gifted Wrapper” for 2009.  The person who nominates the grand-prize winner will also receive $1,000 for his/her winning recommendation. Be sure to also include the following:

• Your name, home address, city, state, zip code, daytime phone number, fax number and e-mail address (if available).
• Nominee’s name, home address, city, state, zip code, daytime phone number, fax number and e-mail address (if available).
• Whether the nominee is entering as a professional or amateur. Note that anyone who is currently or has previously earned income as a gift wrapper at a department store, specialty store, etc. is considered a professional.

Entries must be received no later than October 5, 2009 and can be submitted by mail, fax or e-mail to: Scotch Brand Most Gifted Wrapper Contest, c/o Hunter Public Relations, 41 Madison Avenue, 5th Floor, New York, New York 10010; fax: (212) 679-6607; e-mail: giftedwrapper@hunterpr.com.

Eight winners will receive a 3-day all-expenses paid trip to New York City where they’ll compete in the practical leg of the competition in a Grand Wrap-Off  between the final eight contestants to determine the winner of the contest and the $10,000 prize.

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, pop an email off to them or visit http://www.scotchbrand.com/ for a complete set of contest rules.

And now to the video

Many of you will recall the popularity of  Riverdance in the 90s. They were a brilliant Irish Dancing Company who toured the World leaving us awed and amazed as they step danced, tapped and high-kicked across the stage. If anyone had a little bit of Irish in them, Riverdance woke it up and really brought it out.

The most well known dancer from the Company was Michael Flately who went on to form his own company called Lord of the Dance.

Well, (drum fanfare) Scraps of Mind is pleased and proud to bring you:

The New Lord of the Dance:

This is very funny

Scraps Of Mind - All about scrapbokking, digital scrapbooking and hybrid scrapbooking

Remember this classic photo of Marilyn Monroe standing over a hot air grating? I think everybody in the western world, no matter what their age, must have seen this.

Well is seems that a guy called Joshua Allen has taken this concept and turned it into some great street art.

I’m a big fan of good street art. I reckon we need all the help we can get to keep us cheerful as we go about our working lives in the middle of a large city. And livening up the streets with unexpected art has got to be a bonus for every day life.

Anyway, Joshua has created these very cool creatures out of plastic garbage bags and when they’re attached to hot air gratings the the effect is terrific.

Actually my favourite part is when the air turns off and they deflate.

So check out this and see what you think.

Cool or what?

Scraps Of Mind - All about scrapbokking, digital scrapbooking and hybrid scrapbooking

Just lately life seems to be just work, work and still more work. I’m sure you know the feeling.

I really felt I was getting stale so I decided to block out an afternoon of  ‘me’ time and get reconnected with my ‘touchy feely’ self.

I decided to make some Artist Trading Cards, which I haven’t done for a very long time.

I love ATCs because they’re a like miniature scrapbook layouts but with their own unique challenges. For example, the tiny canvas size you have to work with means that you need to be very careful in how you design your card to maintain a balance of color and element ‘weight’.

But having said that, ATCs don’t usually take very long to make so it’s a sort of instant gratification thing. Perfect to lift those jaded spirits.

I make both paper based ATCs as well as digital ones. Although my preference is for paper based ones because each one is totally unique.

One of the cool things with ATCs is that you can make a series of them; each different but with a common thread or theme. I had a fit of the patriotics so I made this Australia Series.

Click on the thumbnails to see the full size ATC.

These were made using Hybrid Scrapbooking techniques. I scanned Scrabble tiles to make the title and used a photo I have taken of Sydney Harbour bridge and a Map of Australia downloaded from the Internet. Then I just assembled each card together with some ‘real world’ embellishments from Hot off the Press.

I love making hybrid ATCs because you’re never lost for the right embellishment. That’s one of the beauties of the digital world.

But I wanted to do a paper scrapped ATC as well. I find ATCs are a fantastic way of using up tiny scraps of scrapbooking leftovers. I know that the theory is that you can use them up by making greeting cards. But somehow my cards never seem to include much in the way of leftovers.

Anyway with this Lilac Heart ATC I used some gorgeous Japanese paper borders that I had. And I cut out the background from some of the silver trellis so that it could extend across the background card. I really liked how that turned out.

Then in a fit of scissor inspiration I cut out some of the tiny flowers from the paper to use as stand alone embellishments with my scrapbook flowers, added the lilac heart to be a visual title and voila.

I usually make my ‘real world’ ATCs using the paint chip swatches you get from paint shops. That way I get a range of colors and they’re easy to trim to size. I generally stick two back to back for added weight.

Remember if you’re going to have a go at this, the accepted size for an ATC is 2.5 in x 3.5 in or the size of a normal playing card. You can design it in landscape or portrait mode.

Well naturally after making some paper based and some hybrid based ATCs I had to do at least one in digital format.

I find digital ATCs are a great format to experiment with different techniques. That’s what makes them so much fun for me.

I had a great time playing around with different filters and styles for this Glow ATC.

And don’t forget of course the other really cool thing about ATCs is that you can swap them with other ATCs around the world; building up a great collection of different styles from different people. As well as having some super mementos from fellow traders.

If you’re going to give this a try yourself, don’t forget to stick a sheet on the back (or write directly onto the back of the ATC) with all the details of the card. Generally this includes:

• Name of the ATC
• Name of the Series if it is part of a series and which number in the series it is.
• Date it was created
• Your name
• And it’s also a nice touch if you sign the back as well. After all it’s your piece of art, so you should sign it.

And then you can start swapping and trading around the world. I keep my ATCs in a Flickr Gallery and use that as my base to trade from. But you can also join a number of trading groups on various sites and also at Flickr.

Let me know if you decide to give this a go. I’d love to see your ATCs. And maybe we can do a trade.

Remember ATCs can be created in any medium. It’s the size that’s imporant (hmmm…where have I heard that before?) So you don’t have to be a scrapbooker to join in. And given the number of different crafts that Scraps of Mind readers play with, that should produce some fantastic ATCs.

And if you already make ATCs feel free to leave a link to your gallery in the comments section below.

Other Related Articles:

Artist Trading Cards

Trading ATCs

3 Different Techniques for making Artist Trading Cards

Scraps Of Mind - All about scrapbokking, digital scrapbooking and hybrid scrapbooking

A couple of weeks ago I ran a Survey to try to find out how many readers did multiple crafts and what they might be.

Well it turns out you’re all very busy people.

I had 30 people respond to the survey and they voted on 99 crafts!

That means that Scraps of Mind readers are doing an average of three different crafts each. Obviously some are doing less and some are doing more. But that’s what it averages out at.

After collecting the data from the survey and from the comments you left below, this is the list of crafts that you came up with:

	Votes
Card making	14
Crochet	12
Scrapbooking – paper	12
Other	12
Beading	11
Scrapbooking – Digital	11
Knitting	7
Cross stitch	4
Doll Making	3
Quilting	3
Embroidery	2
Drawing/Painting	2
Ceramic or Glass painting	1
Patchwork	1
Weaving	1
Spinning	1
Dyeing	1
Sewing	1

Wow! That’s quite a list.

Here’s what it looks like in total:

Given that Scraps of Mind is mostly a Scrapbooking blog I was surprised to see that although the two scrapbooking categories are high up on the list, they didn’t take out the number one and two positions.

So I guess not everyone who reads Scraps of Mind is a Scrapbooker.

I find that very flattering. So thank you to all my readers, both scrapbookers and non-scrapbookers. I really value your taking the time in your day to visit.

And I wish you well with all the wonderful crafts that you pursue.

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Where Do Blog Readers Come From?

Scrapbook a Patchwork Quilt

Scraps Of Mind - All about scrapbokking, digital scrapbooking and hybrid scrapbooking