Workspace Wednesday.....Vintage Typewriter

I am so excited for today's Workspace Wednesday post.  I've gotten great response to this new blog series and today I'm featuring one of my favorite scrapbooking tools ever.....and it's something I've gotten tons of emails about.  Let's not hesitate, here's my vintage typewriter:

Isn't she a beauty? You all know I love vintage finds and this one was quite the score.  That I'm able to use it every time I work on a project just makes me all the more happy.  

Here's the details that I know about my typewriter:

Make and Model: 

My typewriter is an Olivetti Underwood Studio 44 manufactured in 1965. There's a great review about this model at this link.  Part of the review says this:"At first glance, you notice the size. For a portable typewriter, it’s rather large. But once you get it on the desk, the sleek lines make it appear more accessible. Olivetti’s are known for their great curves and design. The Studio 44 is no exception. Even the name “studio” suggests an artist at work. This is not your standard office typewriter, but it has the solid mechanicals required for doing work, lots of work."

Manufactured:

Hispano Olivetti Plant in Barcelona, Spain.  Here's another fun article from an Olivetti collector, with a fun photo of the typewriters in a showroom in Italy.  The article says, "Designed by Italian architect Marcello Nizzoli in collaboration with engineer Guiseppe Beccio, the Studio 44's special feel, a perfectly calibrated "resistance" that marks the typing action; not to mention a stability that's close to what you'd get from a standard, are qualities that are pretty hard to beat.  And as an exemplar of Nizzoli's architectural/sculptural stylistic signature, the Studio 44 is a remarkable mod design statement."

I took the photo below of the inside of my typewriter case.  Mine came with the original manual and it's so graphically detailed.  You can tell that an architect designed it. 

Price Point:

This is a hard one because you never know where a typewriter might pop up.  You  might find one at a garage sale for $10 bucks.  A friend called me from a Good Will store and after I said, "Yes I want it!", she paid under $15 bucks for mine, in mint condition.  I see them on Etsy and Ebay starting at $100 or more.  My best advice is to scour the thrift shops often and check online sites every week if you are in the market. Be sure to inquire or test the keys.  I would insist that every key work and not stick if you're looking to use the typewriter for actual typing.  Or make sure that the imperfections can be fixed for a reasonable price by someone who works on them. 

Replacement Ribbons:

Before I knew that vintage typewriter ribbons could be purchased online, I took my ribbon spools to a local office supply store.  When I got them home, the new ribbon spools didn't fit.  So I unwound the old ribbon and wound the new ribbon onto the old spools. A few inky fingers but it worked.  I've used that spool for about 2 years now and am finding I need a replacement.  A quick google search with the make and model of your typewriter will hook you up with lots of results.  I've seen the ribbon I need for less than $10 bucks.  

Now for the fun stuff.  I use my vintage typewriter to do a lot of my journaling for my Project Life.  

Here's some of the products I use, below.

All kinds of labels:

Grid Paper Labels and Notebook Paper Labels are my most used items because they fit easily into my typewriter and are sticky on the back.  I type my journaling then stick them onto my Project Life inserts or photos. I also carry Grid Paper US Map Labels, Notebook Paper Quote Bubble Labels, Grid Paper Arrow Labels, Starburst Grid Paper Labels and Notebook Paper Heart Labels.  You can find them all in my shop. 

All colors and shapes of tags:
Tags are another staple item that I keep handy for my Project Life, cards and gift wrap.  Some of my most used tags are the Medium Manila Parcel Tags and Small White Parcel Tags. I carry lots of sizes int the white and manila tags + I stock a Small Kraft Tag, Small and Medium Gray Parcel Tags and some speciality tag in smaller sizes.  These are all available in my shop as well.

Journaling cards:
Of course I love to use all kinds of 3 x 4 and 4 x 6 journaling cards in my vintage typewriter. Because my handwriting is rather large and loopy, I like to use typewriter journaling because I can tell more of the story due to the smaller typewriter font. I think it looks clean with just a hint of vintage too.  I have a whole stash of journaling cards from various companies.  I design for Gossamer Blue and you can find some of their cards from various kits at this link. I recently helped with the concept design for Gossamer Blue's new Basics Journaling Cards.  Neutral colors with fun lines, grids, dots, ledger patterns, etc. You definitely need these in your stash for Project Life.  I also use them as a fun layer on greeting cards.

How about seeing some of the typewriter journaling in action?  Here's a fun group of photos I compiled that show examples of my typewriter journaling + products I discussed.  

For those that love Instagram or square photos, the Grid Paper Labels fit perfectly below them.  

Here I placed a Notebook Paper Label with typewriter journaling + a date stamp directly onto my photo.  

Here I divided one label to use on two separate photos, in two separate photo slots.  

I used a Grid Paper Label over a photo with some stamping overlapping my journaling.

Here's one of the fun shape labels I offer, the Grid Paper Arrow Label.  If you leave some blank space when you take photos, the labels fit in perfectly.

Perfect for a Valentine themed week, I used a Notebook Paper Heart Label layered with a sticker and enamel dots. 

On to the tags, I used a Medium Manila Parcel tag here with typed journaling + various stickers.  This was stitched on a 3 x 4 journaling card for my 2013 December Memories album. 

Here I used an XL Manila Parcel Tag to fit right into a 3 x 4 journaling slot.  I just trimmed some length off the card, typed my journaling and added a square photo.

A Small Manila Parcel Tag was used on a photo with typed journaling, a date stamp + a piece of a sticker border stamp.  Love this, gosh I need to revisit my past Project Life pages.  I'm finding oodles of inspiration by just going through my albums.

Here was something fun I did with a collage of three photos onto one 4 x 6 sheet of photo paper.  I used the blank area to staple on a Small Gray Parcel Tag with typed journaling + a date stamp.

I love creating a main, dated 4 x 6 insert for my Project Life weeks.  This was a creative one I did with the addition of a "week in review" tag, using a Medium Manila Parcel Tag. Need to do this again because I LOVE it.

Let's not forget good ol' journaling cards of all kinds.  I like ones with lots of blank space because I tend to write a small story of journaling instead of just the who, what, where when.  You can see a little snippet of a Small Manila Parcel Tag stitched to the top too.  You don't have to use the entire tag.  Tuck them in behind photos, trim them down, cut in half..it's all good....and creative too.

Here's a beautiful example of the vintage typewriter journaling.  I love that you can slip a card into the typewriter and you can see right where you are typing.  If I tried to do this on my computer and run it through my printer, it would be one hot mess....and a ruined journaling card most likely.  You'll see the weekly spread that this card belongs to very soon on the blog. 

One more thing...I love to use my typewriter now for easy card and gift packaging sentiments.  It's so easy to slip in scrap cardstock and just type away.  Instead of just the plain "Happy Birthday" sentiment, I can totally get wild and crazy and type something like "Geez Dude, you're getting up there".  People always love those kinds of cards.  Below, I was tame and just typed "Happy Valentines Day".

So that's what I know about vintage typewriters.  I've had lots of emails and questions since I started using my vintage typewriter.  Now's your time to ask questions...I'll update this post with questions and answers.  

Oh, I almost forgot about these...Mini Typewriter Instagrams with "clickety clack clack" sentiments on them.  Fun for cards, packaging, etc.  They were inspired by my daugher Josey.  She heard me typing away one day and yelled downstairs, "clickety clack clack".  She knows how much I enjoy typing away on my typewriter.  I hope you enjoyed today's Workspace Wednesday.  Feel free to link up your workspace in the comments or on Twitter using #workspacewednesday or #hfworkspacewednesday for Marcy Penner's tweets. 

September Gossamer Blue...Project Life Week 30

I'm moving right along in sharing my Project Life weeks and for week's spread I used items from the September Gossamer Blue Life Pages Kit only.  There are still kits left in the Gossamer Blue store so there's still time to pick up a kit whether you are a subscriber or not.  Take a look at the kit contents below....it's jam packed full of journaling cards, embellishments, alphabets, stickers tags, tiny paper clips and many exclusives like our own Traci Reed designs + the exclusive Elle's Studio stamp set (with concepts by me).  :)  All of the cards are double sided for vertical or horizontal orientation.  

Let's get right to my Week 30 pages.  This is my weekly planner sketch which includes no inserts for this week. I have a few ticket stubs saved but those will easily fit into my 2 page layout. 

This is a good time to address the issue of subscribing to just the Life Pages Kit.  Is it enough?  Do you need other kits?  After completing about 4-5 weekly Project Life spreads which included inserts, I would say that you would probably have enough journaling cards to cover most of those weeks...that is if you add in lots of photos like I do.  There are 25 (3 x 4) cards and 7 (4 x 6) cards included in this month's Life Pages Kit.  You'll see with my future Project Life weeks how I added to this kit with other GB kits.  So my answer.....if you only want to get the Life Pages Kit, it will mostly likely get you through the entire month.  

Here's my 2 page spread, I kept it pretty simple this month as we were about to head out for a week long vacation.  

 Here is the left page of my Week 30.  I used a photo in all but one slot.

 This is the right page of my Week 30.  Here I used photos in every slot.

 This is my main, dated 4 x 6 insert.  I used an exclusive GB Life Pages 3 x 4 card in the horizontal format for the top layer along with some stickers, hand cut letters and chipboard accents.

 I was particularly excited about this label stamp from the Life Pages kit this month.  I requested that it be designed to fit onto an address label stamp and Elle did a fantastic job of making it fit perfectly.  The stamp easily works with my Grid Paper Labels and Notebook Paper Labels in the my shop too.  I found that you can run a sheet of my paper labels through a typewriter and get 2-3 lines of typed journaling.  You can see that I used 2 lines below.  There is just the right amount of space for an office type date stamp too.

 Here I used a Life Pages 3 x 4 card and a manila tag, both from the Life Pages Kit.  The word stickers are also from the kit.  A little bit of stitching finishes off the tag.  This journaling card is placed adjacent to a 3 x 4 photo and fits into a 4 x 6 slot.  You can totally use the 3 x 4 cards in a 4 x 6 slot.  I typically will adhere both the photo and the card to a thin piece of white cardstock.

 Some more 3 x 4 inserts with mini Instagram photos.  On the left, I used the A Beautiful Mess app for the chevron pattern and word on the photo.  On the right you can see more stamps from the Life Pages stamp set. I just love the colors in this month's Life Pages Kit.

 If you do decide to purchase other kits, Traci and Lori did a fantastic job in coordinating the colors to match up with the other kit items.  That's what I love about using more than one on my Life Pages...it all coordinates but I am still able to achieve that mixy matchy look I love so much.

Please note the right card....Jordan made a boo-boo in her text message to me and I laughed for a week straight!!

 On the left, I got a hair cut.  It's rare to see my hair that straight so I have to snap photos.  I rarely straighten it like that ever because my hair is too curly.  On the right I had a little fun with a mini sack from the Life Pages Kit.  I trimmed the sack down and stitched it onto a journaling card.  Inside I tucked in movie ticket stubs and a small photo of the movie we saw.  I used a tiny paper clip to hold the items together.  Thank you Lori for including those paper clips for me this month, I love them!

Note: The Conjuring was quite scary....based on true events so it was bone chilling.

 On the right, below, I snapped a photo of Josey's new dresser.  We found this 1920's stainless steel beauty at a vintage sale and got a really good deal on it.  Now I need to find some other stainless steel accents for her room.  On the right, I stamped a journaling card noting how we left for our Colorado trip 10 hours early.  It was a great lead in to Week 31 which captures our vacation.

If you're so inclined, Ali Edwards' Week In The Life 2013 is happening this week.  You can read all about it here.  I opted not to join in this week as I feel I capture my weeks pretty well with my Project Life + I want to catch up on my vacation photos and get my craft room all tidied up for the upcoming Gossamer Blue Daily December kit coming soon.  I love to follow along with everyone's projects though so I'll be watching closely.  

I've also been doing some extensive menu planning this week.  Now that the girls are back in school it makes our schedule a little more crazy.  There are late practices, lots of homework, volleyball games, school board meetings and it all just makes meal times tricky at times.  I've worked out a pretty good plan for all of September and October since our weekly schedule is basically the same every week.  I'll be sharing my new plan soon.  

Also, new kits and other items have been trickling into my online shop.  Thank you so much to those of you who have placed orders.  Thanks for stopping by.  See ya soon.  

Project Life 2013.....Week 17 using arrow grid labels & manila tags

Back to the work week, folks.  As I've been working hard to catch up a bit on my Project Life pages, I've neglected to blog my weeks lately.  So today I'm sharing Week 17 of 2013.  It was April...a time for Spring to come which we saw glimpses of but also more snow and freezing temperatures.  It was also Prom week which added for some fun photos.  

I'll try to keep the chit chat short as I have lots of weeks to share soon.  Here's the 2 page spread.  

The left page where I used a photo from nature as the main, dated week insert.  

The right page which includes lots of photos from Prom night.

Here I used my date stamp to stamp the week's time frame right onto my photo.  I also used a Small Manila Parcel Tag to note the week. 

I also had some fun this week with my Grid Paper Arrow Labels.  I run them through my vintage typewriter for the journaling then stick them right onto my photos.  I used a white thick pen to outline the arrows. So fun to use when there are blank spaces on the photos.  

I used the same idea on this photo, adding a chipboard #4 and a staple.  

Here I used some glittery foam letter stickers with the white pen again.  I've been adding a simple date stamp right to photos lately, using an archival black ink pad. 

Another Small Manila Parcel Tag with a punched Martha Stewart circle, stamping, typing and red stitching.  

I really got on a roll with the white pen.  Here I used it on my weather photo pointing from a question mark.  On the right I printed a mini Instagram of the current weather map with more SNOW!

For these 2 inserts I made use of some journaling cards that I altered previously.  On the right I used half of a Grid Paper Label for typed journaling. 

More altered journaling cards here with typed journaling.  Love this photo of Jordan with her 2 crazy friends.  They didn't get invited to Prom this year so they made a night of it at the local dollar store and Walmart.  Coconut bras made for great entertainment.  

Another journaling card with a little stamping added.  A photo of my nephew, another red head, on the right.  

I'll be back soon to post more Project Life pages, some more of my handmade journaling cards made from the July Gossamer Blue kits + I'm gearing up to share lots of new content starting in August when Gossamer debuts their brand new Life Pages kits.   I might gather up some sneak peeks of the August Gossamer Blue kits too.  Sneaks start today.  :)

Project Life 2013...Week 2 (tell the story)

Hey there, today I have a rather long post about my Week 2 of Project Life.  I have some very special inserts that I want to highlight + today I'm debuting a new feature on my blog called Pick & Choose.  With the Pick & Choose feature I'll be selecting a few projects a month where I show you how I go about picking and choosing items from my stash + my kits from Gossamer Blue.  My hopes is that maybe a few extra photos that show my process might inspire you when working on projects.  

When I start a Project Life weekly layout, the photos are always, always my focus.   You can see below that almost every slot is filled with a photo or two.  I like to lay my photos out like this on top of my page protectors so I can get an overall feel for the layout.  I look for colors or a certain theme that might stand out.  For this week I don't really see anything that jumps out at me so it's kind of fair game as far as what supplies I want to use.

So I lay out items from my Gossamer Blue kits for February.  At this first glance there is a big mix of colors and patterns.

I finally end up choosing the products below for my weekly spread.  The colors were actually chosen to coordinate with my inserts that I'll be doing this week.  I have some photos of my dad with his John Deere combine so the greens and golden yellows really stood out for me.  I knew that I could work some of the more neutral colors into my main 2 page spreads also.  

So this is my finished 2 page spread with my inserts sitting in between.

Here's the 2 page spread without the inserts.  Not overly done with the greens or the golden yellows but  these two pages tie in nicely with my inserts.

The left page.

The right page. You might notice there are lots of photos of people.  Sometimes it's hard to coordinate colors and patterns with these types of photos since we can't color coordinate what everyone is wearing.  I just go with the flow.

On to the individual inserts.  I thought I might show some before and after shots showing you how I chose the specific elements and my thought process.  This is the beginning of my Calendar Cards.  You might recall that I'm now combining my weekly dated insert and my week in review insert onto one 4 x 6 card.  I wanted the green theme to be predominant here so I chose the bold green striped paper. I really loved the January Studio Calico Project Life kit stamp so I used lots of elements from it + one of the back sides of a SC journaling card. To get my green letters, I used a chalk ink pad from a Gossamer Blue kit to color my chipboard letters.  

And here is the finished insert.  Lots of smaller elements like letter stickers, stamped vellum, typed labels, Washi tape and machine stitching.  My Calendar Card is where I'm allowing myself to take a little extra time to get "scrappy" with my Project Life.

For my next 4 x 6 insert I'm working directly on a 4 x 6 photo. I used a simply Grid Paper Label + an Evalicious stamp + typewriter journaling and some Washi tape.

Here is the finished 4 x 6 insert.  By creating a small area for journaling right on the photo, I'm saving a 3 x 4 slot for an actual photo or other story.

The next insert has 2 small Instagram photos side by side.  I ended up typing my journaling right onto one of the photos.  I picked out a more neutral golden yellow patterned paper strip for the top of the 4 x 6 grid card then added some more inked chipboard letters + a little Washi and machine stitching.

Date stamps are usually the finishing touch to any insert I make.  Below is the finished insert.

Here I have more information added right to the photos.  On the left photo I used a Starburst Grid Paper Label with typewriter journaling and stickers. On the right I cut out a portion of a business card and stitched it to the photo.  Josey had her consultation for her wisdom teeth removal and then we had lunch before she went back to school.

Here is where I wish I had my new iPhone solely for the purpose of using the panoramic feature.  I ended up taking several shots from a basketball team dinner then cutting them apart and piecing them together across 4 of the 3 x 4 inserts.

Here's what the final result looks like.  Not too shabby for a homemade panoramic shot.

I had a blank spot in a photo so I added a trimmed down Medium Manila Parcel Tag with a camera stamp image from Evalicious.

I placed a heart from a Gossamer Blue kit in the middle of the camera then stitched over the stamped image.  By cutting down tags, you can add decorative elements without having to use the entire tag.

Next up I had a small photo and ticket stubs from a rodeo we took the girls and some friends to.  I created a vellum pocket with typewriter journaling to tuck the bits and pieces into.

The girls took a cute shot of all of their cowboy boots and jeans.  I used lots of the stamps from the Studio Calico Project Life set and stickers to create the journaling.

Here are those two 3 x 4 inserts side by side.

Now on to the extra inserts I had for this week.  This year I pledged that I wanted to get more stories and capture more emotion for my Project Life.  Well this one was a doozy.  My dad sold off a lot of his farming equipment and will now have the work hired out.  My dad has been farming for over 70 years so you can imagine the emotion that went along with him watching his farm equipment drive off into the distance.  It took me a long time to complete these inserts because I was so overcome by emotion.  I just had to stop several times because I was so sad for my dad.  But I'm so glad I have these pages in my book for my girls and their families to enjoy down the road.

This is the insert which is a trimmed down 12 x 12 divided page protector. The final page size is 10 x 12.  I stitched along the right side to create that 2" wide green border strip.

This is a 5 x 7 insert with somewhat of a title page.  I used more of the striped green paper with the addition of a Seafoam Project Life card which has the typed journaling + I used a Printed Hang Tag with added stamping & stickers.  The color of this tag was a perfect fit for my inserts.

Turning the page, the left side is the back of the above insert.  It holds a 5 x 7 photo which is so meaningful to me.  This photos depicts a beginning and an ending for my dad.  You can read the journaling included in the inserts below to get the entire story.

This insert shows my dad with his first toy tractor that he made.  He was a young boy during the Depression era and his family was dirt poor.  He had to make his own toy tractor and I was brought to tears when he told me he used a cracker box for a barn and cucumbers from the garden with toothpick legs for cows.  It still brings me to tears as I write this.  My dad has come so far and has made such a name for himself with his successful farming.  I am so proud of him for his accomplishments.

Dad sold his big green combine to a 3 generation Amish family.  They came on this cold January morning to drive it away.  My mom and I were there with my dad.  My dad was brought to tears as he watched it drive away.

One Little Word story.....my one little word for this year is find.  I have always told my girls that "things are things, but people are what really matter".  Well on this day I found that sometimes things represent who you are and where you came from.  That little toy tractor that my dad gifted to me on this day found a special place in my heart that I will treasure forever.  And I found that big combine that drove off was a part of who my dad has been for all these years.  Things do matter.

For the journaling below I used my vintage typewriter on Seafoam journaling cards.  I know that it's hard for lots of us to write in depth journaling.  I'm so glad that I got the story down though.

For my green border, I used sticker letters to spell out the John Deere slogan.  I don't know how many times I've heard my dad say this over the year.  We are definitely John Deere people.

This is the back side of the insert with more photos and journaling.  In the sunshine I spied this sprig of dried soybeans.  It was the last remnant from the last crop my dad ever harvested with his combine.  I took the sprig and safely put it in a mason jar to preserve for my dad.  The rest of the photos show the combine being driven away. My mom and I just stood behind and watched my dad.  It was a definite turning point in his life.

For the journaling, I divided 2 grid cards into four spots for typed journaling.  I used a strip of patterned paper to make four quadrants.  I used arrows to direct which journaling went with it's corresponding photo.

And I couldn't help but add in this photo of sweet Charlie.  When I went home this day I was so tearful and sad for my dad.  Charlie stayed right by my side with his little sad face just resting on my jeans.

And now I need another tissue.  Who knew the second week of my Project Life would carry such a meaningful story.  These are the stories that I want my family to remember. My folks are getting older and each and every day spent with them is a blessing.

Thanks for joining me today.  I hope I've encouraged you to dig in a little deeper with your scrapbooking.  Tell a story...get the words down along with the photos.