Jillibean Soup Bean Talk

Layouts on Thursday!

Happy Thursday Jillibean Soup friends!  Jillibean Soup's 2 Cool For School collection is full of blues, greens, and grays.  Even though it can be used for a lot of life moments, it's a really awesome for boy related moments like today's layouts.

Good Times Together Layout by Marielle LeBlanc

Supplies:
Jillibean Soup
Patterned Paper:  2 Cool For School/Boys Rule, Too Legit, Wild Child, Bite Size Bits
Pea Pod Parts:  2 Cool For School
Puffy Stickers:  2 Cool For School
Soup Labels:  2 Cool For School
File Cards

Other:  Thermoweb tape runner and Zots, DMC floss, navy craft paint, sewing machine.

Son Layout by Nicole Nowosad

Supplies:
Jillibean Soup
Patterned Paper:  2 Cool For School/Boys Rule, Too Legit, Awesome Dude, Way Cool, Wild Child, Mad Skills, Bite Size Bits
Die Cut Alpha:  2 Cool For School
Pea Pod Parts:  2 Cool For School

Other:  JustNick Studio cut file, black ink.

Have a great day!

Boot Scootin' Layout Tutorial with Melinda Spinks

Hello and welcome to the Jillibean blog! It's Melinda with you today and I have a few tips to share on how I place lettering on my layouts so they fit perfectly within the allocated space. I can assure you I never ever get it right the first time!

 

Today's layout also incorporates 'triangles' which just happened to be this month's design team challenge and I must admit I was a little bit disappointed the challenge wasn't 'circles' because I have been busting to use this gorgeous new patterned paper. Well as you can see, I gave in and used it anyway so then I had to work out how to marry circles with triangles!

 

 

I would love the ability of placing my title on the page prior to adding all the photos and embellishments because then I wouldn't have the issue of trying to make it fit... but whoever does that? So I've had to come up with a way of being able to test out the length of my title without sticking it straight to the layout and ruining a perfectly good set of alphas. I know lots of people place their lettering onto a ruler but that doesn't work when you aren't using straight lines. So I use baking paper!

 

This allows me to work on my title without the letters being permanently 'stuck' to my layout. If the title doesn't fit I can change the wording or move the placement with ease.

 

When I have my title all worked out and it fits the space perfectly I simply transfer it directly onto my layout. The beauty of using baking paper is the easy removal of each letter and you don't lose any of the adhesive along the way.

 

 

In a crazy whim I decided to hand cut triangles into the patterned to form a random pattern around the layout without distracting too much from the design... in other words I was after subtlety. Once all the triangles were cut I realised they needed a little lift just to give them a bit more appeal so I placed my sheet of baking paper under each set of triangles and lightly inked the ends of each one with white.

 

So next time you're out shopping add some baking paper to your list and have fun playing around with your headings... without the worry!

Supplies:
Jillibean Soup
Patterned Paper: Cool As A Cucumber/Awesome Avocado, Cool Cucumbers, Trendy Tomatoes
Pea Pod Parts: Cool As A Cucumber
Coordinating Label Stickers: Cool As A Cucumber
Alphabeans: Grilled Gray, Tart Teal, Whipped White, Yam Yellow
Placemats: 12 x 12 White Mini Journaling Frames
Wood Veneers: Halloween

Other:  Embroidery Thread, White Ink.

Life Album with Melanie Blackburn

Hello, Melanie here with my final installment of my Life Album.  Today, I'm sharing week 35 and I decided to focus on creating cards with mostly Alphabeans and white cardstock.  Even though there are alot of creative options available to create a Life Album, which are all very nice and convenient, a spread can also be created with very little supplies.

For this spread, I used plain white cardstock, which is ideal for journaling.  The Alphabeans purpose was to create titles, which highlight the different activities or moments in the spread.  I mostly used the small font, which is perfect for spreads.

As a filler card, I used a business card from the cupcake shop.  I like to keep ticket stubs, business cards, and other ephemera that capture the moment that took place.  I have to say that my family also pretty good now at giving me items that I might want to include in our album.

I do like to keep a cohesive design to my spread.  to achieve this I used products in the same color palette and triangle accents, which I included throughout the spread. 

Supplies:
Jillibean Soup
Patterned Paper:  Chilled Cucumber Soup/Peeled Cucumber, Sherry Vinegar, Croutons
Coordinating Shape Stickers:  Chilled Cucumber Soup
Pea Pod Parts:  Chilled Cucumber Soup
Clear Stamps:  Cold Avocado Soup/Large Set, XO
Alphabeans:  Banana Yellow, Yam Yellow, Grilled Gray, Tart Teal, Whipped White

I hope that you have enjoyed by Life Album series.  I am not giving up my Life Album, I just had to reorganize things a bit.  Thanks for all of the wonderful comments over the past months; you have all encouraged me in one form or another to continue my Life Album.

Life Album with Melanie Blackbun

Hello everyone.  I'm happy to report that I am somewhat caught up with my Life Album spreads.  I love looking back at the previous weeks and remembering all the little details of our day to day.  Today, I am sharing week 32, which was a busy week.  Between my middle daughter's birthday and our first week of vacation, I had a lot of pictures.  This is exactly why this week's spread has very little journaling and pattern paper.  In terms of design, it was a very simple week for me.

To document this week's activities, I decided to only use two journaling cards and create a short resume on each page of the highlights of the week.

This week's date card was created by using the new calendar stamp from the Christmas Cheer Chowder collection.  Then, using a fine tip pen, I circled the days of the week.  I do love this fun calendar stamp, especially that it can be used on any month of the year. 

I have to admit that Wise Word stickers are one of my favorite items to use on my spreads.  Most of the time, I will make it part of my journaling, just like below.  I decided to highlight the word happy to reflect my daughter's fabulous expression.

I love using layers on my projects, but since I prefer not having a bulky Life Album I like to create layers with stickers.  I will often pair label stickers with Alphabeans and sewing.  Just another fun way to create a unique embellishments.

Supplies:
Jillibean Soup
Patterned Paper:  Chilled Cucumber Soup/Bite Size Bits
Pea Pod Parts:  Chilled Cucumber Soup
Coordinating Shape Stickers:  Chilled Cucumber Soup
Coordinating Label Stickers:  Chilled Cucumber Soup
Alphabeans:  Grapefruit Pink, Organic Orange, Whipped White
Wise Words:  Happy White
Clear Stamps:  Christmas Cheer Chowder/Large Set

I hope you enjoyed this simple spread.  As always, I would love to see your spreads.  Make sure to share your spreads with us on our Facebook page.

Life Album with Melanie Blackburn

Hello everyone!  I'm back with week 28.  Yep, I'm still behind and, yep, I'm still ok with it.  I just spend 2 hours editing and printing a months worth of pictures.  I think a life album marathon is in my very near future.  In the meantime, I'll share what I've done so far.  Week 28 was typical with regular day stuff, but we did celebrate Alexia's first birthday during the weekend.  Her birthday is not until the following week, so I'll also document it in week 29.

We had a very girly birthday party for Alexia.  I wanted to keep this theme going through the spread.  The interesting part is I didn't use a very girly collection.  I used the Happy Camper Stew collection.  The B sides are very versatile.  You'd never know I used a camping theme collection to do a first birthday spread.  This is just an indication of the versatility of the Jillibean Soup products.

The date card has to be one of my favorite items to create when I do a spread.  It often feels like I'm creating a mini layout.  For this card, I removed the frame part of the placemat and simply tucked the 'hello' portion underneath the patterned paper.  This is a quick way to embellish a card or a picture.

Even though the 'hexies' were released last year, I still very much love using them on my projects.  Some things just don't go out of style.  For this card, I paired the hexies with simple embellishments and a year stamp.  This is another quick method to to create a simple original card for a spread.

I had alot of pictures for Alexia's birthday.  Even though they took up most of both pages of the spread, I still wanted to keep them together.  This is why the pictures of her party are mostly located at the top portion of both pages.  This creates a cohesive design to my spread and is more efficient way to tell the story.  I hope you are able to keep up with your life album.  Make sure you show us your work by commenting on our Facebook page.  I always love to see the projects that are shared on the Jillibean Soup page.

Week 28 by Melanie Blackburn

Supplies:
Jillibean Soup
Patterned Paper:  Happy Camper Stew/1 Part Camping Gear, 2 Parts Adventure, Scores of Smores
Coordinating Shape Stickers:  Happy Camper Stew
Coordinating Label Stickers:  Happy Camper Stew
Alphabeans:  Whipped White, Yam Yellow
Hexies:  Memorable, Remember
Wise Words:  Smile White
Placemat:  Kraft Frames

Other:  Silhouette America cut file, American Crafts glitter paper, Studio Calico flair and wooden camera, misc. enamel dots.

Guest Designer Loredana Bucaria

This month, Loredana Bucaria is Jillibean Soup's Guest Designer. 

Loredana was introduced to scrapbooking in 2003 when a friend and her traveled to Funfair Park, where she was attracted to all the fun colors and die cuts.  Since then, she has made a long internet research about this hobby and was really luck to discover a wonderful world!

Since then her life has changed!  Scrapbooking has become her lifestyle and helped her through bad moments, like her dad's death.  She met good new friends around the world by internet, all thanks to scrapbooking.

She loves scrapbooking because it makes her feel happy and free.  She forgets all the ordinary worries and all the bad thoughts.  Only the page, the photos, the story exist!  She loves to be sitting in her chair with a closed door to the scraproom, and be in her scrapbook space with her music in the background.  Her scrapbook pages are full of colors and sometimes unusual materials.  All for the fun and relaxing!  She has a big dream-to teach around the world, which could really change her life because she would do what she would really want to do!  In Italy, she has an online website and she has organized an international convention of scrapbooking and mixed media for three years (2008 through 2010).  She knows the most famous scrapbookers and has enjoyed everything so much!  It has been a dream come true. 

She is joyful and so full of things to do, but she loves her everyday life.  She got married last July to the love of her life and has a cute home that she improves day by day.  She loves her life, even though she is not a Hollywood star:)

She loves to play with the colors, the paper smell, and the little things to use!  She can define her style  as colorful, pretty, clean, and full of little details!  She loves to play with paper.  Currently, she is on the following design teams:  Sizzix UK, Bella Boulevard, Chic Note Tags.  She works for Celine Navarro's blog and for a UK magazine.  She is crazy for letter stickers, label stickers, kraft paper, and envelopes.  She can keep saying alot of things because she adores this magical world!

Be sure to check out her blog!  Today, she is sharing pages from her life album.

PL Week 26 by Loredana Bucaria

Supplies:
Jillibean Soup
Patterned Paper:  Irish Farm House Soup/Sliced Turnip, Bite Size Bits; Chilled Cucumber Soup/Sherry Vinegar, Yellow Tomatoes, Bite Size Bits; Soup Staples II/Yellow Salt, Gray Salt
Coordinating Shape Stickers:  Chilled Cucumber Soup, Irish Farm House Soup
Coordinating Label Stickers:  Chilled Cucumber Soup, Irish Farm House Soup
Pea Pod Parts:  Chilled Cucumber Soup, Irish Farm House Soup
Alphabeans:  Kut Kraft
Bean Stalks:  Mustard/Olive Baker's Twine
Wise Words:  Happy Yellow, Gray Smile

Thanks Loredana!  Have a great day!

Life Album with Melanie Blackburn

Hello!  Melanie here to share week 27 of my life album.  Week 27 was fun.  We celebrated Canada Day and had a very busy day.  This is why the Canada Day festivities are the main focus of this spread.  We did have two other activities or moments that were included in this week's spread.  I decided to group these two moments together at the top left of the spread and the rest was dedicated to our Canada Day's activities.

To accomodate the other two events of the week, I decide to change the location of the intro card to the bottom left.  I found that this created a more cohesive flow throughout the spread.  The "odd" items at the top and a the remaining activities through the spread.

After reviewing the pictures of the activities I had taken, I realized the majority of the pictures I wanted to use were vertical.  I was very happy to have purchased a mixed pack of page protectors.  I haven't used this format very much, but they were the perfect design for this spread.

As usual, I always try to design some fun cards to insert throughout my spread. I really enjoyed making the "today was awesome" card, which was created using Wise Word stickers and Alphabeans.  It adds a fun and personalized element to my page.

I wanted my intro card to coordinate with the red theme of the pictures.  Therefore, I used the Irish Farm House Soup collection.  The color palette of the papers and stickers were the perfect match for my pictures.

I created the birthday card using a basic white journaling card, Alphabeans, and my typewriter.  I have to admit that I spent quite some time type searching for a "Happy Birthday" stamp, when all along the solution was sitting on my work desk.  This could also be created using your computer and printer.

When documenting a major event, you shouldn't be afraid of letting that event take over your spread.  I would just be careful to make sure that all non-event activities are grouped together and follow the color scheme or are converted to black and white.  I've also enjoyed journaling directly on my pictures, which I did with my typewriter.  But again, this could be done with your computer and photo editing software.

I hope you enjoyed seeing this week's spread.  I always love to hear your thoughts of this process.  If you want to see any technique in particular, please make sure to let me know by leaving a comment.

Supplies:
Jillibean Soup
Patterned Paper:  Irish Farm House Soup/Barley, Beef Stock, Bite Size Bits
Coordinating Shape Stickers:  Irish Farm House Soup
Coordinating Label Stickers:  Irish Farm House Soup
Pea Pod Parts:  Irish Farm House Soup
Alphabeans:  Diced Denim, Tomato Red, Roma Red
Wise Words:  Smile White
Corrugated Shapes:  Words

Other:  Studio Calico journaling cards, MME Enamel Dots, Studio Calico Flair.

Life Album with Melanie Blackburn

Hello!  Melanie here sharing week 23 of my Life Album.  This week, I challenged myself to create my own decorative cards by using stamps, pea pods, and stickers.

I find that the decorative cards bring a unique element to the spread.  I adapted them to reflect the theme of my spread and used coordinating colors to create a cohesive design.

I enjoy very much using 4x6 pictures in my spreads.  I especially like it when these pictures have a lot of white space, which I love to fill with a fun quote or journaling.

To create the decorative cards, I used premade 3x4 cards (but white cardstock would also be suitable) and used a multitude of stamps and stickers to create individual designs for each card.  I used a masking technique for the everyday card.  I enjoy overlapping the designs of the stamps.  To create the 'xo' card, I used the full sheet of the alpha stamps from the Irish Farm House set 2 collection.  I removed the 'x' and the 'o,' stamped the remaining alphas in yellow, then stamped the 'x' and the 'o' in teal.  Each of these cards brings a fun, whimsical accent to my spread. 

Supplies:
Jillibean Soup
Coordinating Label Stickers:  Chilled Cucumber Soup
Cooridinating Shape Stickers:  Chilled Cucumber Soup
Pea Pods:  Chilled Cucumber Soup
Wise Words:  Happy Blue, Smile Yellow
Alphabeans:  Banana Yellow, Yam Yellow, Mushroom Gray
Clear Stamps:  Chilled Cucumber Soup/Set 1 and Set 2; Fresh Vegetable Soup; Irish Farm House Soup/Set 2
Unity/Jillibean Soup Stamps:  Sweet and Sour Soup, Hearty Barley, Neopolitan Bean Bisque

Other:  Studio Calico PL Cards, Jenni Bowlin ink, Studio Calico Flair Badge, MME enamel dots.

I hope that I've inspired you to create your own decorative cards.  If you do, make sure you share them with us via our Facebook page.

Life Album with Melanie Blackburn

Hello everyone.  Melanie here today to share a spread that is very special to me.  This spread features week 20, which was our first family trip as a family of 5.  We've been dreaming and planning our first trip as a family of 5 for a very long time.  Last year, I camped only once because I was pregnant.  So, this camping trip with a 10 month old was even more special!  To make this spread even more better, I used the new Happy Camper Stew collection, which coordinates perfectly with my camping pictures!!  I like to think this line was created especially for me:)!

Once again, the Bite Size Bits were the perfect addition to my spread.  The quotes and sayings coordinated perfectly with my pictures.  Even though this spread is low on embellishments, there are still a lot of detail with the stickers and die cuts.

I enjoy working with the mini word stickers and the Happy Camper Stew stickers are ideal for a journaling accent.  In order to highlight key words in the journaling, I decided to incorporate a couple of stickers throughout the card below.  The photo was edited using an awesome app called Beautiful Mess, which allows users to add words, doodling, and captions to pictures.  It's a very fun app to use for a spread.

As I mentioned above, the Bite Size Bit cards are ideal for a spread.  The saying of the cards in this collection are adorable!  I especially love the card below.  We do have a very small camper, but it works for us.  We all pile in, get comfortable and hang out.  My is just missing a cute banner like the camper of the card.  LOL!

One of my favorite items to create is the date card.  Even though it is a repetitive card from week to week, I try to present it in a different way.  For this week's card, the Shape Stickers were used to showcase the date.  They were the perfect size for my date stamp.

This new collection is wonderful!  Of course, it's ideal for camping pictures.  But, it could also be used for traveling/vacation.  I'm already looking forward to our next camping trip!

Supplies:
Jillibean Soup
Patterned Paper:  Happy Camper Stew/1 Part Camping Gear, Scored of Smores, 4 Part Great Outdoors, Bite Size Bits
Coordinating Label Stickers:  Happy Camper Stew
Coordinating Shape Stickers:  Happy Camper Stew
Pea Pod Parts:  Happy Camper Stew
Alphabeans:  Banana Yellow, Organic Orange, Roma Red

Life Album with Melanie Blackburn

Time is flying by and it is already Week 22.  Before starting this spread, I took a moment to look at my 2013 album and see what I've done this year.  I love looking back and remember those little moments, see how much my baby has grown and all the milestones achieved.  I just love reminiscing and sometimes it's just what I need to give me inspiration to complete another week.

I've come to the conclusion that the magic number of pictures for my spread is 12.  Almost all of my spreads have 12 pictures.  For me, it's a balance that just works.  This leaves plenty of space for journaling and embellished cards.

I love adding stitching to my projects, including my spreads.  It's a quick way to add texture to a card or picture.  The picture below had alot of distracting items in the background.  I decided to hide these items by layering hearts with a wise word sticker.  Then, I also added some stitching for extra detail.  This takes away the focus from the items in the background and onto my family.

I really enjoy the date card below.  I used circle stickers and die cuts of various sizes and layered them along the card.  The recorded sticker was perfect for the date.  Again, I finished the card by adding stitching. 

Another good staple for creating diversity in the spread is using stamps.  I just love the quick quote below, which I thought was a perfect match for the speech bubble.

Overall, this week's spread was pretty simple.  My goal was to show that using good staple items such as stamps, stickers, and diecuts can go a long way and add alot of interest to the spread.

Supplies:
Jillibean Soup
Patterned Paper:  Neopolitan Bean Bisque/Bite Size Bits; Fresh Vegetable Soup/Chicken Base; Soup Staples II/Yellow Salt
Paper Pad:  Neopolitan Bean Bisque
Pea Pods:  Neopolitan Bean Bisque
Coordinating Cardstock Stickers:  Neopolitan Bean Bisque
Alphabeans:  Banana Yellow, Whipped White
Wood Flags:  For You
Corrugated Shapes:  Words
Wise Words:  Happy, Smile
Unity/Jillibean Soup Stamps:  Hearty Barley

Other:  Moment Cards by Nicole Reaves for Studio Calico, MME enamel dots, Silhouette Cuts, American Crafts POW glitter paper, washi tape.