Cottages and Castles Creative Designs

Journaling and Documenting Family History through Paper Art

Let me start with the fact that I am not the best at journaling in the formal way that we all may think of–writing our daily thoughts or happenings for the day in a journal. I do, however, love to take the time to document and journal about special memories. Family History and genealogy work are some of my favorite hobbies. I could spend hours researching and learning about my ancestors. My other favoritie hobby is crafting. Merging these has been such a beautiful and rewarding experience for me.

Because you are here, you probably love some of these things too! I hope this How-To’s page will help you bring your memories to life like it has for me. In the meantime, you’ll be journaling, doing Family History and creating art all at once!

Creating Paper Art Pictures

Working with paper is one of my favorite forms of creating art. Over the years, I have done art projects of all kinds using paper. Recently, I came across an artist named Clover Robin that uses paper to create picturesque scenes. I bought her book Cut Paper Pictures: Turn Your Art and Photos into Personalized Collage Art. Her processes and techniques inspired me beyond anything I’ve ever done or realized could be done with paper. Using some of her ideas and some of my own, I hope these steps help you get started on your paper art projects!

First, find your inspiration picture. Find one that brings a happy memory back or holds special meaning to you. If you don’t have an original picture, you can use Google Earth to find any location in the world. Type in the address, go to the street view and do a screenshot. This is how I found both of my grandparents homes. I downloaded the picture in Canva and used the erase feature to take out a few cars in the driveways, it erased nicely!

Second, sketch out your picture to the size you want your project to be, trace it with a pen and make a couple of copies. This allows you to start understanding the colors, shapes and sizes of the paper pieces needed.

Third, decide on how you want to create your colors. I have used two methods. The first is using acrylic paints and newsprint paper (Clover Robin’s favorite mediums). This is a fun way to create colors and texture. The second is using the Paint app on a laptop or computer. Visually create the colors within the colorwheel or upload your photo and use the dropper to create an exact color. Use whichever pen or brush in the app that you like best, paint your colors and print!

Fourth, determine which shapes are needed for each color. Cut up the copies of the sketch and trace them onto each of the colored papers needed for the sizes and shapes to recreate your picture and cut them out. Now, you are ready to paste!

Fifth, decide on the type of paper and glue you want to paste onto. I like to use cardstock and a glue stick. You can use any type of paper or glue that works best for you. You can paint a background or leave it plain.

Sixth, start pasting! As your picture comes together, you may need to reshape, add or create new shapes to make it feel authentic to your original inspiration picture. You can use pens to create lines in windows or add other lines that might add to the dimensions in the picture.

And there you go! Your memory or important place in your life recreated in paper form!

Seventh, add it to your family scrapbook or geneaology folders or take a picture of your project and add it to your memories and photos on your favorite Family History or genealogy website. Don’t forget to add your thoughts and memories about the picture! My favorite places to add my memories and photos are FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com.

You can watch videos of my paper art creations coming together on my Paper Art Studio page.