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Top Trends: Meet LeNae Gerig
By Sara Naumann
“I believe in realistic scrapbooking,” says designer LeNae Gerig, author of
LeNae's Scrapbooking Basics. “I love intricate pages, but I'm a busy mom and I want
to make really great pages quickly and easily—that way I spend more time making memories with my family and
friends.”
Meet LeNae Gerig: If asked, she'll tell you she scrapbooks for her daughter,
Lauren. “I want her to have the most complete record I can give her of
our family—so she can pass these memories down to her children.”
But scrapbooking is more than just recording family events. Says LeNae: “It's also about having a
creative outlet. Scrapbooking is about sharing my story. I believe everyone has a story inside, and a
scrapbook is a great place to tell it. I think of the pages as illustrations for my life.”
How does LeNae balance the importance with journaling and story-telling, with making pages quickly and
easily? “For me, it's not about how many pages I can do in a day,” she says. “I
prefer quality over quantity, but I personally don't spend more than an hour or two on a page.”
Lauren at Ten Months
LeNae's Tip:
Here's a trick to adhering the vellum so that the adhesive will never show through: Place the adhesive
behind the matted photo—don't worry about securing the edges, they'll stay in place when you slip
your page into a sheet protector.
Supplies:
Instructions:
- Cut a 9” x 11” rectangle of fall leaves paper. Make an angled tear from 3” to 1/2”
away from the bottom edge. Cut a 9 3/4” x 11” rectangle of ivory vellum. Glue the fall leaves paper
to the top center of the vellum. Tear the vellum at the same angle, but 1/2” wider to make a mat. Center and
glue the leaves and vellum piece to the top center of the wheat paper as shown.
- Crop and mat the photos as shown with one shorter than the other. Mat each on gold, then tan vellum. Tear the
bottom edge of vellum on the longer photo to 1/4” and leave a longer mat on the shorter photo, tearing at an
angle as shown. Journal with black pen on longer vellum mat. Adhere the photos 1 1/4” from the top center of
the fall leaves paper.
- Attach eyelets as shown. Cut the ribbon into two 8” lengths. Thread two ends from the back of the paper
through the eyelets. Tape on the back to secure and tie the front ends in a knot. Trim the tails to 1 1/2”
long with a “V” for a tailored look.
On the Road to Growing Up
LeNae's Tip:
Tearing paper is one of my favorite techniques, but it can be time consuming to make just the right tears on all
four sides of a mat. On this page I tore only one side on each of the mats.
Supplies:
Instructions:
- Cut a 10”x 10 1/2” rectangle of pink gingham. Mat on pink paper, leaving 1/8” on three
sides (cut other side even with pink gingham). Glue to the center of the flower paper as shown, with unmatted side
on left, flush to edge of paper.
- Crop and mat the photos on white. Mat each again on pink sponged, tearing only the right edge as shown. Cut
two 6” lengths of pink sheer ribbon. Adhere one end of each length to the back of a pink sponged mat as
shown. Tie the ends in a knot and trim the tails to 1” long. Mat this on white, arrange photos on the
page as shown.
- Computer journal on white then crop and tear the bottom edge of journaling blocks. Chalk the bottom edges
with light pink. Glue a 1/4” wide strip of gingham to the top of the title block as shown. Mat each piece
on pink sponged and tear the bottom edge as shown. Mat a final time on white and tear edge. Insert two eyelets in
large journaling block and thread two 4 1/2” lengths of satin ribbon through each. Tape the ends at the back
to secure. Knot the ends on the front and trim to 1” long. Knot the remaining length of sheer ribbon and glue
to the gingham strip on the title block. Arrange the journaling on the page as shown.
WOSU Roommates
LeNae's Tip:
I love to add simple embellishments to my pages. These tag Cut-Outs™ are designed to perfectly coordinate with
the papers, saving a lot of time. By adding my own fun touches like a navy blue mats, fibers and my page title, I have
customized the tag to suit my personal design tastes.
Supplies:
Instructions:
- Cut a 9 1/2” x 10 1/2” rectangle from blue net paper and mat with a 1/8” navy blue border. Cut a 6” x
10 1/2” strip of large blue floral paper and mat the two long sides with 1/2” wide strips of metallic silver (using
strips will save paper). Glue the floral piece to top center of the blue net paper. Glue the blue net to the top center of the
small blue floral print.
- Crop and mat your photos with 1/8” borders, using navy blue and then silver. Arrange on the page as shown. Computer
journal in a long column, mat with navy blue and glue to the upper right corner of the page as shown. Cut out a single dahlia
blossom and mount with a foam square to the top of the journaling.
- Cut out tag, mat with navy blue. Punch a 1/2” wide circle from silver and glue to the top of the tag. Punch a
1/8” hole in the center. Cut two 5” lengths of fiber and thread them though the hole. Computer journal a title,
crop and mat with navy and silver as shown. Mount onto the tag with foam squares. Glue tag to the bottom left as shown.
For more layouts, tips, techniques and designer shortcuts, check out LeNae's
book, LeNae's
Scrapbooking Basics. Packed with 59 layouts, the book also includes photography
tips. Penwork techniques, lumpy pages, using vellum, punches and templates and
so much more.
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