Author: Liz Jutila

Hello and happy Saturday, you wonderful, talented, artsy people! Today’s picks are all about the story. I love a good story, well-told. Stories can be told by a single photo (Amy!), or with lots of words (Donna!) or somewhere in between (Heather, Joan, Anett and Kat!). However you tell your story, if it’s got a discernable story, I will stop and read it. And isn’t that just so much fun, when someone likes the story you told?! I hope you like the stories I found today too. This is actually my last blog post for a while, as I am taking a break from blogging, so it’s quite fitting that my last post would focus on what I think is the best gift of scrapbooking: our stories.

This is Liz J., and these are my picks!

My Brother and Me by Amy L

You’ve got to love that camera perspective! This is a terrific all-boy page, with loads of fun elements, great shapes and terrific shadow-work. But it all starts with that amazing photo, and I love how Amy used it to build such a great, whimsical tone to her page. Personally, I find “boy” pages difficult to create, so I really appreciate a well-thought out design like this one, that keeps the focus on the great moment shared by Amy’s little grandsons.

Thanksgiving road trip by Donnatopia

What makes a scrapbook page great? The story. I absolutely loved the way Donna described her family’s impromptu Thanksgiving of yesteryear holiday! (Did you really feed the alligators marshmallows?!!!) This is a terrific two page spread, and you can see the other page here. Love the color combo, and the pointers on page two leading us to the points of interest. Those old black and white photos are so important for preserving these great memories! Great job, and what a blast from the past!

Stinkin’ Lincoln by HeatherH

This one just grabbed my attention with that big, amazingly-cropped photo to the left, looking out onto the page with the wistful, wish-I-was-anywhere-but-here look. (You’ve got to read the story to know how I knew what that look meant. It’s worth the read.) That was a cool design idea, very captivating. Love the use of the real-looking elements like the book plate and ribbon, and the staggered photos with the occasional pop of color (color in an otherwise gray place, I totally got the metaphor!). This page is fab-u-lous. Love the title – both the design of the title and the point behind the title were total attention-grabbers. This kind of page is very inspiring to me.

True Art by Joansmor

I really enjoyed the subjects of this piece. I can just imagine Joan floating around nearby, snapping photos in as inconspicuous a way as possible. Peering over their shoulders to see how the paintings were shaping up… then stepping back so as not to intrude. Love the positioning of all of these photos, and the black & white conversion in the middle made a nice break to rest the eyes. Clever title work too. Loved the whole idea, well executed.

Create Every Day by Anette Galencser

Words to live by, for this audience! This is a delightful design, with an amazing pastel ombre color effect (like little paint swatches, I loved those!). It’s a great use of real life alpha and word art embellishments on this page. Of course, all of the crafty people who frequent this blog will agree with the sentiment (even though I can’t read the text, I got the point!). I love the title in particular, it’s good advice!

Michael Bublé Concert by Kat

Well, who doesn’t love a sexy, great singer, who can also tell a great, ad libbed, funny story?! And she totally won my heart that she went to this concert with her Mom! It felt like I was right there with them, singing along and loving every minute of our great seats! Super concert page (these are harder than they look!). I liked the horizontal design here with the different sized and shaped photos flowing one to the next. Now I’m singing a whole Michael Bublé medley over here…

Those are my picks for this hot day at the end of July! I hope you loved these wonderful stories today, and if so, please click on the linked titles and leave the artist some well-earned praise! Enjoy the rest of the summer! I hope to be back here spreading joy sometime in the future. Happy crafting!

Hello and happy Saturday! Today’s picks are all about shapes, angles, cities and clever design ideas. And, one seriously cute dog. I hope you will all enjoy today’s picks too, come take a look. This is Liz J., and these are my picks.

May stuff by lady22

I always think it ‘s a fun touch when people use calendars as part of layout designs. And this page has two different types of calendars, even better! She created nice balance between the circular calendar and the wreath of leaves. Loved the angle of the dotted paper; it is just amazing what a difference an angle makes!

Prickly by scrapbookmama

That face! This one made me laugh out loud, so naturally it made it into my standouts for today. Love all the detailed paint work on this, she created such a pretty background. Such a fun combination between the dainty florals and the very amusing tone of the photo and word art. I enjoyed this one. Great title!

tiny dreamer by Silver26AK

What a cool rainbow effect this artist created with the cut file! I love the popped up repeat circle, and how it mimics the rainbow padding of the baby’s bouncy seat. I like the use of same-color elements surrounding the circles and in the outer border. This is a great reminder that digital cut files can be used in very creative ways on real-paper pages too. Love the doily and rainbow-effect title work to round this one off.

Extraction challenge by netcooks

A good extraction is always a treat. It’s hard to know which parts of this layout were part of the original photo, and as a result it created an intriguing look. Love the sketchy city in the background, and the wildflowers leading off the retaining wall in the foreground. Can you tell where the extraction ends? Sweet page.

I give you Chicago by mcurtt

And here’s a completely different city look! That is maybe my most favorite title work ever, isn’t that cool? I love the way the C in Chicago is looped behind that great shadowed heart, and then how the title borders and overlaps the photo. The colors on this page just pop out, love that gray/red/teal combination with the black accents. This should be on a travel brochure for the windy city!

Flanders Field by LisaMcG

In honor of Memorial Day, which is coming up on Monday in the United States, my final pick for today is this wonderful tribute to by Lisa showcasing the amazing tribute to the American soldiers from World War II. I absolutely love how Lisa incorporated the text of the famous poem into this beautiful page. Really love the watercolor poppies surrounding the photo, too. This is a very special tribute piece to our fallen soldiers, it gave me chills to look at this one. I always think it’s important to be reminded of the purpose of this American holiday, so we never forget. Thank you, Lisa, for reminding us so eloquently.

Those are my picks for today, and I hope you enjoyed each one as much as I did. If so, please click on the linked titles and leave the artists some much-deserved love! Have a wonderful weekend!

Hello and happy Sunday! Happy Mother’s Day to all of the mothers out there, and also to all of the women in our community who might not have been chosen for motherhood, but who are a nurturing presence in someone’s life. We can all use a little mothering! Today’s picks are all about great placement of patterns, big stripes, and stories. Come take a look!

This is Liz J., and these are my picks.

Brotherly Love by heatherh

I really like the patchwork look that this template provides. But, it takes more than a good template to create an outstanding layout, it takes a good eye. I like the colors, patterns and placement of the papers in the template. The photo conversion worked well to mute the page. The bears are a cute touch!

Purple iris by NAdams

I have a particular fondness for all things paint swatch. This is a cool variation on that, with the grunge and texture she included. This is very Georgia O’Keeffe-esque to me. Do you see the resemblance? I have no idea if this is what the artist was striving for, but it’s what I got from it, and it’s a marvelous relationship in my view!

Live Love Laugh by mom2jackaia

The bold use of the stripey background paper really grabbed my attention here. Love the title work, the cascade of florals down the page, and the cropping and placement of the photos. It looks like these photos may have been from a photo shoot, which can sometimes be difficult to scrap; but, I thought she did a nice job in making the photos more candid by the asymmetrical placement and the elements surrounding them.

Adventure by MamaCake

If you write a story, I will probably read it. Personally, I think there is nothing better in a scrapbook page than the story of the moment being documented. This story was a quite-detailed accounting of their adventure that day, and because she included it all, right down to the overheating truck and the chicken strips, when her family reads this page later they will all fondly remember the day, because of those details. That made me smile. The patterned paper made good use of the template. Love the photo of the kids on the road waiting for Dad to add transmission fluid! You take your shots where you can get them, and this one turned out to be a keeper, and a standout!

love you forever Milo by wendymk

It is a sad day when we say goodbye to a beloved pet. Wendy’s documentation of the life of her precious dog put a nice tone to what I know must have been a difficult day. I love the quality and number of photos, they really captured the personality of her buddy. Loved this page, Wendy, and so sorry for your loss.

Liam by nanascrapper

And here’s another good use of stripes, to hold the journaling! Love that whimsical cluster and the cute little beach stamp. The circular photo worked great against those big, bold stripes. He looks ready for some big beach adventure!

And that’s it for today’s standouts! I hope you enjoyed today’s picks. If so, please click on the linked title and leave some well-deserved praise for our talented friends. Have a great week!

 

Happy Saturday! Today’s post features some great techniques, fun use of elements (lots of butterflies!), amazing artistry, and fabulous shadow-work. I know you will enjoy these picks as much as I did. Please come take a look at today’s standouts!

This is Liz J., and these are my picks.

Happy Birthday Ally by chili

Such a great design, isn’t this? Love the clever use of triangles to tuck some bright patterned paper behind the photos. The recessed shapes behind those layers really helps this pop off the page. I marvel at all the talented white-space designers in our community. This is a great example of making a bold statement with a lot of white space. The photos are fun too, candid and personal.

Unforgettable by craftytam

This page has an amazing collection of elements, artfully placed. I love the contrast to the white space example of the previous standout. Clearly, this was a very special moment captured here. I thought this artist created a wonderful scene by surrounding the photo with all of the beautiful florals, butterflies and ephemera. The stacked papers and ric rac frame the whole piece nicely.

Muguet – lily of the valley by cocodou

It’s always interesting to me to see the different subjects we each document through our scrapbook pages. This is a simple, lovely acknowledgement of the beauty of a flower. I absolutely loved this one. Beautiful and very cool framing of the photo. Loved the texture of the background paper. The brush square mat between the framed photo and the background provided a nice transition between the two. Really gorgeous page.

Travel the World by Paigetaylorevans

I don’t often feature designers in standout posts. But, this one was so unique in how she used the patterned paper and created the background chevrons, I just had to include it in today’s post. This is a real-life paper page, and those chevrons were created with love and effort! (I appreciated the accompanying video, detailing the process!) This colorful, fun background could work for so many themes! Loved how Paige created her travel page here, with the accompanying fun elements, well done.

This is Us by tiramisu

Well, okay, since I’m featuring one designer today, I’ll feature another! I love how this designer used her own kit here. Fabulous, amazing framing of the butterfly, and that shadow-work is remarkable! I love the repeat word and placement of the word art. The seemingly haphazard little black squiggle thread is an important feature of this design. Such a lovely page.

Cousins by agoymerac

I love the way Addie used repeat patterns and elements on this page to create such a dynamic look. The natural tone of the background papers lends itself well to this technique, and helped to showcase the bright photos. Loved the angles! The butterfly evolution toward the middle version is a great trick for keeping the eye focused toward the center of the page where the photos rest. Great design here.

How fun were those? If you enjoyed today’s picks, please click on the linked titles and leave the artist some well-deserved praise. Have a great weekend!

Hello all you wonderful, crafty people! Today’s picks are a lot about nature, great photos, and lovely text. It was a lot of fun checking out all the galleries today, lots of wonderful talent represented all around. I hope you will enjoy today’s picks, come take a look!

This is Liz J., and these are my picks.

So Loved by pagefrocks

That amazing photo really deserved to be the focal point, and naturally it drew me right in. But, I have to say, it’s the journaling that really made me take a closer look. I really felt like I understood this little girl after reading this. I really like journaling that captures the personality of the subject like this. The elements are beautiful, and I like how the photo seems to merge right into those beautiful dark blues of the paper. Nice touches here with the stitched-down title, and the date quietly added to the notebook paper.

Luke by megs1016

I always enjoy a page encouraging kids to think about their world – great text on this one. The border stripey paper grounds this nicely. The alpha and title style really appealed to me, it felt like the division between childhood and growing up. Nice design with the squares of text and mesh bracketing the circular photo.

Outdoors by FILIPPOK

What a great scene! The photo masking blended quite naturally into the beautiful outdoorsy elements. I like how the scene is broken up with the word art and notebook framed flower close up. This is a terrific use of supplies.

Art brings imagination to life mini album page by Gerry Van Der Velden

I am a huge fan of doodling. And when I saw the video watching Gerry put together this mini album page with not only doodling, but scribbling too, I knew it deserved a standout mention! So often we get stuck by spacial, design or technique complexities, that we forget to simply enjoy the process. I highly recommend watching Gerry create this page on her YouTube video. For me, it reminded me why I like to get ink on my hands now and again. I really enjoyed this piece.

Adventures Await by mom2jackaia

I really like this one. The combination of the big, bold slightly-popped-off-the-page word art with the muted-tone photos worked so well! I love all the little accent pieces, particularly the light bulb, which made a nice spot to include the date. The hilly background paper was perfect to set the scene for the photos.

Never stop exploring (Let’s blend 4/19) by bred1269

Well, that got a wow out of me, so naturally it gets a standout nod. That’s a pretty remarkable effect. And, even better, if I read her comments correctly, Beth was new to this style. So wow and WOW, that makes it even more special. Love recognizing when someone is stepping outside their comfort zone to make a marvelous artsy page! This is a great scene she worked with, it really lent itself well to this technique. The little cluster of compass, wood arrow and other elements were just the right not-at-all-distracting elements to round out this page.

Those are the picks for this glorious April Saturday! If you enjoyed today’s standouts, please click on the linked titles and leave the artist some well-earned praise. Have a great weekend!

Hello and happy Wednesday! I love touring the galleries mid-week; some of the best gems of the hobby can be found in-between releases in the middle of the week. Today we have inspirational layouts, good use of tone, and some truly upbeat, feel good pages to share. Come take a look!

This is Liz J., and these are my picks.

I know I can do This by Ellaspace

There is something about a sepia photo that is like magic! It changes the whole tone of the layout to convert the photo to sepia. I love the angles, stacks and shaped edges on this page! I really studied it to try to take it all in. Great colors, great combination.

Buying Books by KimGeling

You really can’t call book buying a failure, can you? We are supporting the authors, the craft, the written word. It’s just paying respect to buy the book, isn’t it? Okay, I admit that I had to check out her “to read” stack, and add some of those to my own list! I love a good story, and a story about stories is pretty much the best idea ever. Great no-photo page. Love the concept here.

Low Tide by AnitaH

If you’ve ever experienced low tide, you understand the ebb and flow that this piece represents. I love the framing and the tone of this layout. I feel like I should step right into the scene and start pushing the boat out of the sand. That’s a fun technique in scrapbooking, drawing the viewer right into the scene. Anita did that well here, a definite standout!

rain by Alannabanana

This layout is by a super-talented scrapbook artist, whose work I have long admired. This page is a great example of her ability to combine whimsy with artistry. I love how she used both the edges and the wide texture of the background paper to draw us into this scene. The title work says it all, we don’t need any more of an explanation. I really enjoyed this one.

Life by Jiruska

I absolutely love that word art! This is a wonderful, inspiring, optimistic, encouraging sentiment. To me, scrapbooking should be uplifting, so I love finding pieces that strive this way. Wonderful florals surrounding the photo, and great shadow-work on this page. Very pretty!

Branson by digi371

I love a good real-life story, with no particular agenda. That’s part of the reason Project Life pages are so successful, it’s just the here and now of life. And that’s what I took from this layout: it’s a simple telling of a wonderful connection, one we can all relate to and appreciate. Great graphic look to this page, and I love the colors in the papers she picked.

And there we have it, the picks for March 20, 2019! I hope you enjoyed today’s picks too! If so, please click on the linked title and leave the artist some much-deserved praise. Have a great rest of your week!

Hello and happy Saturday! Before I get started showcasing beautiful projects today, I am going to mention a blog rule that many of you might not realize. We don’t have a lot of rules, but this one is important, as we try hard to be neutral and spread the love evenly around the many galleries we visit. We don’t allow any advertising on the Gallery Standouts Blog, as it’s a place to share talent, not to try to influence anyone to purchase a product. Many of you who receive the GSO recognition are on creative or design teams that require you to add a banner or watermark somewhere on the project advertising the products, designer or store. I encourage you to keep in mind, when placing the advertising, that if it obstructs too much of the design of your page, the GSO bloggers may be forced to either pass by your otherwise gorgeous design, or try to artfully crop out the banner (as those of you experiencing a cropped-out banner have probably noticed!). Watermarks are nearly impossible to remove and leave the project intact, and as a result will almost always need to be passed over. We’d love to showcase your scrapbook pages, cards and other projects, but the advertising sometimes gets in the way.

Today in the galleries I saw lots of wonderful styles on display. Good feelings, humor, great use of elements, fun photography, and different methods of story-telling. It was a lot of fun to pick today’s standouts, and I hope you’ll agree they are all quite special. Come take a look, I know you’ll enjoy today’s standouts.

This is Liz J., and these are my picks.

March stuff by Tia

I comment often on this blog about how fun it is to see the varied uses of new templates or kits after a release. I loved the different looks given to this kit, and wish I could showcase more of the fun pages I saw! I loved the bold use of the stripey background here. The color combination with the black & white photos was just stunning. Super mix of elements and whimsical papers to create just the right tone for that very special, sweet photo. Loved this one.

Dreamer by jacinda

There is a whole lot to love about this page! That color combination of the seafoam and gray is just beautiful! I love that unusual woven wood background paper. She used the weave to create a unique date spot, I really liked that idea. The shadow-work on this page really makes a difference, particularly for the frame and title. Loved all the girly touches with the lace and doilies. But the best part of this page, for me, is that she turned a photo taken in a not-terribly-perfect setting (the car) into a wonderfully optimistic moment, just by the photo treatment and embellishments. Well done.

Gone Buggy by Debbi Tehrani

There is a word in paper-crafting that many of us really fear: fussy-cutting. (Okay, that’s two words, hyphenated, but you get my point. And you probably get the point of why that word is feared, just by its obvious meaning.) But, it’s precisely because Debbi fussy-cut all of the cute little bugs that she added to this real-life paper page that earned her a standout mention today! That is a lot of work! And totally worth it, because she created a very dynamic, fun sense of movement with the different size circles populated by all those bugs. If I’m not mistaken, those circles are sewn onto the page? Fabulous look, particularly with the small drawn circles to give this more oomph, on top of the whimsical drawn notebook edge paper. Great way to use up brads too, which totally added to the look (I appreciated her accompanying blog post about using the brads!). What is it about boys and bugs? She captured the idea really well in this fun page.

all about that pace… by MarciLB

And while we’re talking about seriously awesome paper pages, this fabulous sports page gets some recognition today for its upbeat, encouraging style from a proud aunt! I loved everything about this page, from the torn paper behind the photo mat, the imagery with the sneaker, the fabulous action shots, the fact sheet, that fun title (Meghan Trainor would be pleased, I’m sure, at the pun!), but most of all for the story. This is what scrapbooking is all about, to me, telling the great stories of our lives. And, congratulations to Michael for running that marathon!

March BYOC challenge by amandaresende

I love really upbeat pages, don’t you? This one made me smile. What a great attitude to start the day, every day of the week. I like the design using the repeat banners of differing styles. Great word art on this page, and just a fun all-around get up and get going reminder. If I had scrapped this I would frame it and hang it in my kitchen to give me a boost as I head out to work in the morning!

Capture the Wonder by justbnsharon

This was the perfect photo for this technique! That burst of light shining in from the left side, combined with the fade into the paper on the right, is just a fantastic effect! Love the inset photos and the pretty elements to round out this design. Nice use of word art under the title.

Alrighty then, those were my Saturday picks, as we get March underway. I hope you enjoyed today’s picks, and if so, please click on the linked title and leave the artist some well-deserved love.