Storytelling With The Rainbow Scrapbook Kit | No. 5

As I was thinking through stories I might want to tell using the Rainbow Scrapbook Kit I kept thinking about doing some kind of garden/yard documenting project. I enjoy gardening the same way that many of you enjoy memory keeping as a hobby and I've never really documented a complete growing season (usually I tell a few stories here and there and share images + words in my Instagram account). 

I considered grabbing a blank 6x8 album but then opened up the notebook I used to tell stories last summer and knew right away that a notebook was going to be the way to go for this project. 

As I flipped through last summer's notebook I remember how much I enjoyed using that to document some of my summer stories. I love that it's something I can hold in one hand and something that can be used for simply taking notes as well as creating more "crafty" spreads documenting the story of my yard in 2022. 

I grabbed one of the Art Of Noticing notebooks we offer (the ones in the shop right now are yellow) and decided to dive right in and ended up creating four different spreads that you'll see in the video and images below. I also created another Around The Yard digital word art circle that you can download here. 

Let's dive in to the video to see how this all comes together (I'm so excited to add to this over the growing season): 

Here's a look at how these spreads turned out: 

When I'm working in one of these notebooks for the most part I am building on the pages that are already available in the album. That means sometimes I'm adding pattern papers or photos or embellishments or typed up journaling or handwritten journaling. 

For the first page in my Yard Notebook I wanted to do an introduction - it was also a great time to dive into my stash and see what I have from past projects that would work well for these kinds of stories. I actually ended up with a little pile of things I know I want to add for upcoming stories and that made me super happy. 

When you first open the notebook I added three of the vellum circles from the Rainbow Kit and on top of each I added an embellishment including a chipboard circle, a pleather circle, and a plastic butterfly from The Great Outdoors Collection last year. 

On the second page I adhered one of the pattern papers from the Rainbow Story Kit. On top of that I added a vellum pocket + tag (an add on from last December - definitely planning to add more of those to this project) and printed my intro journaling directly onto the tag (see more about that process in the video).

On top of the vellum pocket I added a chipboard piece from the March 2022 Stories By The Month™ kit (great colors in that one that work really well with the Rainbow Scrapbook Kit) and some chipboard phrases from my stash. 

For my journaling I used the repeated phrase "It's where I/we..." 

On the back of the tag I added the remainder of pattern paper from one of my other projects this past week. 

The grosgrain ribbon added to the tag is from this set. 

After my intro spread I dove right into my first story. My yard almost always begins again with daffodils. 

For this first spread I decided to pair two photos with some handwritten journaling. I love that these notebooks have this framework already printed inside - it allows me to choose if this is a good structure for my story or if I want to cover it up and do something different. Love the options. The large photo is 4.25 inches x 8.25 inches and the second photo is 3.25 x 3.5. The photos are adhered into the notebook using red line tape.

On top of the long photo I added a patch I've had in my stash for a long time from the Design Story Kit. On top of the second photo I added a plastic month abbreviation (this was a recent subscriber add on option). My plan is to incorporate those plastic months into this notebook as a designator for each month. 

The second story I wanted to tell was some basics about the tasks I'm currently embarking on in my yard including planting some new bare root roses and building new raised beds from Vego Garden.

In Photoshop I set up a canvas that was 4.25 inches wide x 8.25 inches tall and collaged my three photos. On top of those photos I added three fabric numbers (recent subscriber add on option). 

In between the two pages of this spread I decided to add two cards from the March 2022 Stories By The Month™ Kit. These are adhered together with a small piece of folded cardstock in the middle that allowed me to adhere it behind the long page of journaling (see the video for more details). 

As I started thinking about the kinds of stories I want to tell monthly in this notebook I think I'll have a lot of fun using pieces from the Stories By The Month™ kits. 

In Photoshop I took one of the digital March 2022 Stories By The Month™ cards and adjusted the size to 4.25 inches across and used the clone tool to carry the same color down the 8.25 inch canvas. I loved being able to add a much longer story onto the same design as the 4x6 card from the kit. 

On the back of the inserted card I added the March Gratitude card and plan to incorporate that card each month. 

Love that I can add to that as the month goes on.

The last spread I did for now is one that documents some of my yard goals/thoughts/focuses for this growing season. 

I used one of the 12x12 pattern papers from the Rainbow Scrapbook Kit as the background (cut it to 8.5 inches wide x 8.25 inches tall and then in half again for each page of the spread). 

On top of the pattern paper I added these tags that I've had on my table for months. They have been waiting to be used to tell a story and today was the day! I love how this turned out. 

On top of one of the tags I cut a piece of Grafix Plastic to the same shape and added a title using the Gold Puffy Alpha Stickers. I also used eyelets to add a little "something" to each of the tags. 

SUPPLIES

• Rainbow Scrapbook Kit
• Epson XP15000 Printer
• Red Line Tape
• 6 Hole Punch
• Rolling Date Stamp
• Staz On Ink
• Corner Rounder
• Tiny Attacher
• March 2022 Stories By The Month™ Kit
• Art Of Noticing Notebook
• Eyelets
• Crop A Dile (for setting eyelets)
• Gold Puffy Alpha Stickers
• Number Tags (past kit/add on)
• Fabric Number Stickers (past add on)
• Vellum Envelope With Tag (past add on)
• Plastic Months (past add on)
• Ribbon
• Plastic Butterflies
• We R Memory Keepers Hole Punch
• Grafix Plastic Sheet