Grow Scrapbook Kit | Special Guest Denine Zielinski

Hi everyone! This is Denine, and I’m happy to be here today to share some project planning for the Grow Quarterly Scrapbook Kit. I have created some sketches for many of the kit components, and I also have a video giving you additional ideas and thoughts for some pages.

All of my sketches are done to fit into my 6x8 album, but you can totally modify any one of them to fit your needs. As always, I like to remind you that the digital kit comes along with the physical kit which opens up even more possibilities. If you have yet to dive into the world of hybrid scrapbooking, these kits are a great place to start!

Before we take a look at my sketch ideas, here are some story ideas for this kit. You can totally follow the theme to tell stories of growth. Examples include:

• Personal growth from a specific experience 
• The growth of your family 
• Growing up 
• Your garden 
• A growing friendship/relationship 
• Goals or dreams 
• Growing knowledge or skills 
• Milestones 
• Growing gratitude 
• Overcoming challenges

Of course, the generic nature of many of the papers can work with almost any story at all. 

• Around the neighborhood/house 
• “Right Now” about yourself or someone you love 
• Favorite summer moments 
• A recent road trip 
• Everyday gratitudes 
• Things making you happy at this moment in time 
• Favorite photos

Now that we’ve sparked some story ideas, let’s take a look at some of my sketches. 

IDEA ONE

My first idea is for the 12x12 Outlined Shapes paper. I absolutely love these wonky half circles, and they are just begging to be cut out!  Here are a few thoughts:

• 12x12 Wavy Line paper as a background + fussy cut half circles on top 
• Large photo background that spans both pages + fussy cut half circles on top  
• One full page photo + second page patterned paper and fussy cut half circles on top
• 7x8.25 Currently Growing paper + second page patterned paper and fussy cut half circles on top 

I’m seeing the wonky half circles as a place for my journaling as well as templates for cutting some of the other patterned papers or your photos into that shape.

Below, you can see how these shapes look placed on several of the other patterned papers in the kit.

IDEA TWO

There are so many awesome patterned papers in this kit. Any one of them would make for a great background for your pages, but the first thought that popped into my head was collage! Several weeks back on IG, there was a free Fodder Challenge where participants were introduced to different mixed media + collage art lessons. Unfortunately, the timing of the challenges didn’t quite work with my schedule, but seeing the work of those who participated was very inspirational. 

Grab some of the papers from this kit and play. Cut them up into different sized pieces. Adhere them randomly on a background page. Add some ink or paint or stamping or blending. Do some sewing. I was also thinking that a few of the wonky half circles would be great additions for journaling. You can do this for a one page of a spread and pair it with a full-page photo or go all out and collage two pages! I am super excited about this particular idea.

IDEA THREE

The 12x12 Color Block Squares paper is divided into four quadrants that are perfect homes for your photos/stories. You can pretty much cut this paper down into whatever size you want or leave it as it if you scrapbook the 12x12 size. 

I would cut it down to 7x8.25 and place a photo in each quadrant. I like the idea of different sized photos all meeting in the middle with one of the Window Cards in the center. I would like to use the 7x8.25 Grow Word Art paper as the background for my second page and then add my journaling on top. Oh, and if you do cut this 12x12 Color Block Squares paper down, you can use the scraps as a part of the collage in my sketch from Idea two!

IDEA FOUR

One of the things that I have enjoyed with the AED subscriptions this year is the addition of the directed story papers. They are wonderful jumping off points for our stories. I usually end up cutting them up in some way as I crave dimension and love spicing things up. For this 7x8.25 Currently Growing paper, I imagine pretty much using it as is with the addition of my journaling. 

To add that “needed” dimension, wouldn’t the adorable tiny chipboard flowers be great as bullet points before each piece of the story?  A second page can be added using any one of the patterned papers as a background. If you crave more dimension, like me, you can add your photos with foam squares!

IDEA FIVE

For this spread, I am thinking that I will cut up the large rectangle journaling spots on the 7x8.25 Beautiful Growth paper. As always, this directed story paper can totally be used as is. I was just thinking that placing the rectangles on a slant would be fun! Alternating them with photos cut in the same shape/size would help to mix things up a bit. Perhaps, I could use alpha stamps to put some titles on each journal spot? After creating this sketch, I also thought that using a few of the plastic flowers to embellish my photos would be a fun addition.

IDEA SIX

This 7x8.25 Right Now Shapes paper is another one of my favorites. In my sketch, I am thinking two full page photos next to each other with a transparent page between them. Perhaps even one big photo that spans both pages. I would do my journaling in the wonky “flower”  shapes and cut them out to be adhered to the transparent page. I think cutting several photos out in this shape would be adorable, too. I could alternate the journal spots and the photos on both sides of the transparent page. I would also add some of the tiny chipboard flowers to this spread, perhaps one on each photo along with a phrase sticker from my stash.

IDEA SEVEN

This sketch is an alternative use of the 7x8.25 Right Now Shapes paper. Of course, I can totally create spreads from both of these sketches if I would like. I do have the digital kit at my disposal, after all!  You can do your journaling, cut the spots out, and alternate them with photos of the same shape. You can also leave the paper intact and just pair it with a second page of just photos. Stamp some numbers on the journal spots and photos to help the viewer connect photos to stories. 

Take a look below how these journal shapes “pop” when placed on top of the 12x12 Abstract Botanical paper (swoon) or even the 7x8.25 Botanical paper. Goodness, gracious….such happy combos!

IDEA EIGHT

The 7x8.25 1-2-3-4-5 The Story paper can pretty much be used for any spread where you want to tell five little stories or five pieces of a bigger story. I’m thinking of adding my stories in smaller bits staggered on the paper. I imagine some hand drawn lines connecting the two pages of the spread together. The second page would have a photo collage. I was thinking of adding a strip of the 7x8.25 Leaf patterned paper on the left (or right) side of the second page or perhaps just increasing the size of the collage to fit the whole page. I would also definitely place one of the tiny chipboard flowers next to each number, as well!

The video below goes through each of my eight ideas as well as some additional thoughts/idea that came to my mind after the fact. 

INSERT GROW VIDEO

As always, thank you so much for joining me in my story planning. Creating sketches for Quarterly Scrapbook Kits is so much fun for me, and I can’t wait to start turning them into reality. 

If you’d like to follow along, you can find me on Instagram @denine2 and YouTube @Denine2. You can also download a PDF of all of my sketches below. I hope that I was able to give you some ideas and inspiration to tell your own stories. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions or even to share some great ideas of your own! Happy storytelling, my friends!

Download the planning PDF here.