Anna At 11 Months : Scrapbook Layout & Glass Bead Gel Embellishments
Tags:Today I am telling a little story about Anna at 11 months.
This layout is a good example of combining a bunch of different techniques on one page: photo enlargement, hybrid scrapbooking (printing out some of my new twill strips from Designer Digitals and adhering them), playing with Golden Glass Bead Gel and UTEE to create my own heart embellishments. All this while telling a story about what's happening with Anna right now.
Here's a look at my process:

STEP ONE : Re-size an image to 12 inches wide in Photoshop (300dpi). Change the canvas size to make it a few inches taller to accommodate the twill strips. Open, drag, and drop the twill strips onto the large canvas. When I can I like to get a couple things onto a page at one time before printing.

STEP TWO : If you have an over-size printer you can print at home or upload to your favorite developer. Here at home I am using the HP Photosmart B8550 Inkjet Photo Printer
and the above image was printed on 13x19 photo paper from Office Max.

STEP THREE : Trim your photo and twill strips and grab a 12x12 sheet of cardstock for your background. This cardstock will be completely covered so it doesn't matter what color you choose.

STEP FOUR : After printing and trimming and cutting a strip of cream heart pattern paper I decided to play around with some of Tim's Grungeboard heart shapes (from the Elements package).
STEP FIVE : Paint all the hearts. I used Delta in Antique White.

STEP SIX : After letting the paint dry I coated three of the hearts with Golden Glass Bead Gel. Above you can see an image of what it looks like inside the container - essentially it's a gel medium (basically an adhesive) mixed with tiny glass beads. I applied it liberally with a paint brush and let it dry.
On the other three medium sized hearts I used a small dot stamp and embossed with clear UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel).
STEP SEVEN : I printed my journaling onto the cream heart pattern paper and after all the hearts were dry and the beads were set (I let them sit overnight) I adhered them with foam dots.
Here's a look at the scanned image of the layout (scallop ribbon from American Crafts):
JOURNALING :January 10, 2010 : My dear sweet Anna girl, today you are 11 months old and man how we love you so! Here are some of the things you are doing right now: (1) Crawling super fast, especially when attempting to get into your brother’s bedroom and get your hands on his legos. You are definitely speedy but you also like to stop along the way to see if anyone is watching - this is also a very quick stop + look move. (2) When you aren’t crawling you are standing & cruising along furniture and grabbing at anything and everything. You seem especially fond of magazines, books and computer cords. (3) You got a fun push toy for Christmas and have been having a fun time walking with that around the living room and up and down the hallway. (4) Eating so many things! You pretty much eat what I eat and you drink from a sippy cup (but you definitely want my glass of water instead). (5) You have developed a fondness for a white stuffed cat and a little giraffe-blanket we call your snugglie. (6) You LOVE looking outside and going outside and always seem ready to venture out. (7) And the books. One of my favorite things is your interest in looking at, turning the pages, and being read to anytime. It’s so fun to watch your interests changing and growing and your personality developing. Love you.





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85 comments
what a cutie!
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She is SO beautiful! I must be feeling emotional today, because looking at this has made me think back and miss like crazy the time when my girls were this little! Such a precious time, and it goes by so quickly! Enjoy every little minute! Your page is amazing!
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Ali,
This is why I love you style--so simple...I have always felt like I should include several photos for a months overview with the journaling.
Emily :)
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This is very nice, Ali. I always enjoy your photographs and the techniques shown here are inspiration for me to do some shopping for new mediums! Thanks for sharing.
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Sweet layout! Just wondering if you will being doing anymore Tuesday Tutorials?
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Ali, I love that layout. The photo of Anna is beautiful; great angle and pretty colours. I really like full width photo layouts, something I wouldn't have thought about doing a while back, but now they are my favourite type of layout. You've given me the inspiration to go and make one straight away - thank you!
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Totally am loving this!
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I love this layout. It's such a gorgeous picture of your daughter. Love the perspective. Beautiful layout, nice and simple, not detracting from the photo. Love it.
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HBO movie - TEMPLE GRANDIN I think that is the name. True story about an autistic women, who has an extrodinary mind. Movie looks interesting - you should check it out
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Anna is just the cutest little girl! Hard to believe it's been almost a year! And your layout is amazing.
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Thank you so much for letting us watch Anna grow. I think she'll be our first woman president!!!! She's got my vote already.
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When you printed out the journaling, do you do a custom size on your printer or do you do a standard size? How do you not waste cardstock? Could you explain that part of your process? I really enjoyed seeing your hybrid workflow. I'm slowly but surely (since Y&T class) beginning to "get" doing hybrid. But it helps to see your examples of it.
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Hi Kathleen - I cut the pattern paper (the journaling is printed on pattern paper) before running it through the printer. In this case I cut it to about 5 inches tall x 12 wide. I run a test print on regular printer paper and then adhere the pattern paper onto the printer paper and run it through again.
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Hi Cheryl - I did lighten this photo just a bit because the color was not great :).
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Hi Ricka - on this one the twill is a font. I do use a Wacom Tablet for inputting my handwriting onto the computer.
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Hi Krista - I have not used any 12x12's yet. One of the things I have been trying to do is to add other elements onto the 13x19's before printing.
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I love this :) She is adorable! I can't wait until Little Edward comes next month!!!My very first baby. My hubby and I have waited a long time for this!
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Hello,
I've always wanted to email you but I don't know much about the computer,even my husband wasn't sure. We worked on it yesterday though and I think I've got it. I've been reading your blog for over a year and love your style of scrapbooking so clean and simple. Your family is beautiful, love hearing aobut Simon who is like my son Sam and my daughters & I love watching Anna growing up. My one daughter will be 13 the day before Anna turns one. Time sure does go by fast. Thank you for sharing your beautiful photos and especially all your ideas.
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Ok it's Dawn again, just had to say yes it worked. It may seem like nothing to other people but this has been bothering me for a year. Just had to express my happiness when I see your work. I will be posting more often now that I know how too. Have a good week.
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Hi Dawn - welcome to the world of commenting and thank you for the kind words above :).
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