Featuring the Mid-Century Border Die and the Fisherman’s Wharf Grid paper from the Dockside Collection

How to Create a Page with Patterned Paper Collections

Scrapbook companies are continually coming up with fun paper collections, ephemera, tags, stickers and more. However, if you’re a fan of Mosaic Moments Grids you may not see them working into your layouts. I continually hear people cry out that they have so much money invested in these other scrapbook options they can’t justify switching to Mosaic Grids. Let me assure you, it isn’t an either or proposition! You can have both. A few good papers can go a long way. Let me walk you through my thought process and the results.

Two elements I began with this week were the Dockside Grid paper “Fisherman’s Wharf” and the 1×5 strip Mid-Century Border Die. I needed to search for a pattern to accommodate the 1×5 die, but there were a few extras I wanted to include so that meant adding them into the pattern search.

These are the papers I was working with:

 

Being double-sided papers gave me lots of options. The sheet that has multiple rows of borders had two I wanted to use, the row of books and the card catalogue drawers. Additionally I wanted to use one of the journal cards on another sheet, “Because every picture tells a story.” It was oriented in a horizontal direction and a 3×4 size. This too is added into the pattern search.

I narrowed it down to Pattern #185 a symmetrical pattern. The pattern would give me a place to prominently display my featured photograph and the 3×4 journal card, but when it came to the 1×5 spot for the border die I was going to have to adapt the 1×6 space in the pattern.

TECHNIQUES

1. Using the Mid-Century Border Die:

 

1. I cut two pieces in the same color and mounted on a 1×6 strip in the same color.
2. Then selecting three colors that were in the row of books I cut three more borders and separated the pieces and filled in the sections.
3. I had a space at each end and this is where I used my second brown border section by adding it to the end making sure it lined up with the end section. If it doesn’t match perfectly try it on the other end.
4. Then add the pieces to fill it in and they will extend beyond the 1×6, but you will then turn it over and trim away the excess even with the strip edge.
5. If you do one side at a time you should be able to use to portion you trimmed away to fill the other end.

Using this technique you should be able to take any of the border dies and extend them as much as you’d like for your layouts.

This pattern also allowed for 2 – 3×3 spots that were perfect for adding pockets for my journaling. I turned them into ‘library card’ pockets to hold library cards with my “stories” and fit with the theme. This will also show you how I incorporated one of my chosen border strips.

2. Using the Pocket Die Set

1. Once again I am cutting two 3×3 pockets in brown with 2 – 3×3 brown backing sections. You don’t ‘need’ a backing; I just prefer a complete pocket on my pages. Assemble.
2. I cut two additional 3×3 squares in caramel as it’s fairly close to the manila color of some library pockets.
3. Attach this section to the brown pocket face.
4. Cut a 3 ¼” section of books for each pocket.
5. Trim away the area above the books and then attach to pocket, and then to the grid.

More with the Collection

The bottom two 2×5 sections in the pattern were just right for using another photo and adding in my other border from the paper collection. This time I took the wood grain paper and cut two 2×5’s and then using the matting die for the 2×5 to cut the photo and a section of the card catalogue drawers. I think the wood background makes the drawers ‘fit in’ nicely.

Another one of the pattern papers was a collage of library cards. I thought this would be nice to fill in the 1” square sections on either side of the main photo. I also thought it would help to hide the smaller size of the 4×5 photo on a 4×6 block and keep the look symmetrical by using it as the mat for the photo. This maintains the grid and the pattern style by fooling the eye just a bit.

Finally, from this collection I’m using one of the cards in the center of the page mounted on a paper tile slightly lighter in color than the pockets on either side. This shade suits the card better but it also gives separation and distinction from each of the library card journaling spots.
If you have other elements with the Paper Collection you choose to use now’s the time to start finding spots to work them in!

JOURNALING

I had every intention to just hand write my journaling, except I got a bit long winded telling my story! So I landed up formatting a bit and using the Teletype font and printed two stories on the front and back of two library cards. Do you remember a few years back when these were a popular scrapbooking item? My daughter voluntarily gave up two of hers for me to use. She told me I’d have to “Tim Holtz” them to fit into the aged look of my layout. They were a bit bright white so a little bit of “Antique Linen” Distress Ink lightly rubbed on the edges and in a few random spots on the front and back did the trick.

You might catch on that they are not full sized. I trimmed them so that they would fit the pocket, but still have a bit peeking out the top to tease the titles for each of the stories. This way it also looks more like an actual library card pocket. It also breaks up the area above and blends them together a bit rather than a much lighter top section and the darker bottom half.

Here are the stories to read in case your interest was piqued!

With My Nose in a Book

As a child I loved to read. I had many of my own books but I loved going to the Library with my Dad. It was a nice old place to visit and explore.
When I was in grade school a new library was being built in the neighborhood. In fact, I passed it each day on my way to school. I still remember the day our class took a field trip to visit. I still remember being in awe of the bookshelves and cubbies full of books. How marvelous!
I made frequent trips all summer long every year to take out my three book limit and then find a quiet spot to curl up and read. I was often chastised for having my nose in a book, especially when there were chores I was neglecting!

Books were my ticket to travel anywhere, anytime in history. It was a wonderful escape and a wonderful adventure!
I thought it would be the best place to work and one day I would!

My Life as a Page

When I was sixteen I began my dream job at the local public library as a page. My responsibilities were to shelve books, read shelves for accuracy, clean and make repairs to books. At the main desk I’d receive returns and sort, check patrons books out and send notices for seriously overdue books.

I loved my job at the library although I didn’t always please Miss Meader the Head Librarian. She was dedicated to her job and as a former DI with the Woman’s Army Corp. in WWII, she kept us all in line. Mostly she objected to my short skirts as being inappropriate for shelving books, but the pant suits didn’t fare much better in her opinion. In hindsight she was right, but I didn’t see that then.

Now I had access to the adult side of the library and all the mysteries I could handle! I loved the card catalogues in their ancient wooden frames and searching for books by shuffling through the index cards with all the details of each volume in the building.

I’d work here until I left for college a year and a half later. My life as a page was coming to a halt. If there’d been a clerk job open I would have stayed on, but alas…no openings and so, off to school I trudged.

So next time you see paper collections that you fall in love with don’t pass them by, you can incorporate them into your Mosaic Moments Grid layouts with just a little out of the box thinking. Should you already have papers you have amassed that need to be put to work, now’s the time to get started!

The next time a pattern in our Pattern Gallery looks like it won’t work with the die you want to use stop and think if there’s a way to alter it just a bit for just a bit more on your page!

When it comes to telling your story have you scrapped about your first job, your school activities or that of your kids? Have a picture of that first paycheck? Or maybe the day they tore down a favorite haunt of yours? Once again, it’s that time of year for back to school photos so don’t forget to take a photo of the kids and their school, it may not be there years from now when they want to take a trip down Memory Lane!

Andrea Fisher