Monday, October 7, 2013

School layouts, Artbooking style

I played with the Artbooking cartridge to make these layouts the day before school started- Aug 18th- and I just now got the pictures onto the pages.  The whole school starting thing set me back just a bit, LOL. 


This is the left-sided page of the first layout.  See how the top red has a hole cut out?  That's because I cut the background of the bottom "hello" piece out of there.  After all, that top red piece will be covered with photos and nobody will ever know that hole is there.  Have you ever done this?  I have very limited resources so being frugal is always important to me. 

 
Here it is, covered up.  Even though I made the pages the day before school started, I didn't take the right pictures; this was supposed to be a horizontal 5x7 but I just plain forgot when I was snapping photos.  Oh well.  I made it work anyway.  I added minimal embellishments since the background piece is so very busy. 
 
 
And this is the right side of the two-pager.  I used a star border stamp for some of the details on the corners and near my title. 
 


Using the Artbooking cartridge is SO easy!  I used one button along with a couple of function keys and hit shift a few times, and everything cut out proportionally.  It just couldn't be easier. 



 This is the left side of the next two-pager.  Once again, I repeated photos because I didn't take enough on that morning!  I used another CTMH border stamp around the blue because it was too boring, and I didn't want to add a whole lot more.  Stickers, journaling are from my stash (Creative Memories, I think).  And I used a white pen to outline the title so it would stand out a bit more.



Right side of the two-pager.  Since I'm volunteering at my son's school to help the kiddos make personal yearbooks, I have pictures of all of Nick's classmates.  The ones I decided to include are the kids who have been in the same class together since pre-K.

 
I used Stickles to accent the apple a bit.  And there you have it, four pages that I made in less than 30 minutes thanks to the Artbooking cartridge. 
 
***
So about the yearbooks, I first got the idea from Becky Higgins (visit her blog post HERE).  Her oldest son is the same age and grade as my Nick and she's been doing classroom personal yearbooks for years now.  This is only my second time and I'm not following her as closely this time as I did the last time, Nick being in parochial school.  This is what ours look like (I'm making the teacher's myself):
 

I chose simple three-ring binders purchased in bulk at Sam's, and the front cover will be a page that the kids can sign for each other with well wishes at the end of the year.


Cover page:


Prep work:
 

Each kid has their one zip-lock bag where I can divide up and distribute their materials.

 
 
This whole yearbook project is more about journaling than anything else, and they will be getting a writing grade for it, besides a grade in art class.  Taking the pictures, designing and printing the pages, and getting everything prepped is quite a bit of work, but I love it.  I absolutely love it!  And I love being a part of Nick's classroom for one morning per month.  That part is just priceless.  
 
 
If you'd like to make something similar in your child's classroom, I'm happy to share my page designs with you.  Just leave me a comment below with your email address and I'll get the Word files to you.
 
Blessings,
 
Martha

1 comment:

  1. Love, love, love!! I'd rather be playing with the artbooking cartridge than reading the book I have to read right now! LOL! :D

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