Kiss and Tell Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking the Cruise: Selfie

Journaling:  "Oh I know this little trick is trendy and overused but I've been doing the selfie since the 1980s - these are from Spring Break 2013."

All this stamping was inspired by Glitter Girl's Stamping episode.  And yes I did that title with crayon - it was getting late and the crayon mixed in with my stamps so I figured it would be quicker than stamping a title and it would be a bit unexpected and imperfect just like stamping and selfies.

Supplies:  Heidi Swapp stamps, Stampin Up inks, Crayola Crayon!, sharpie and cardstock.

 

Scrapbooking the Cruise: Coming Home

I love to travel, but I also love to come home and sleep in my own bed - in fact, coming home is always my favorite part of any trip.  Really.

This page was inspired by Wilna's In the Mood To Scrap page on Two peas, although I couldn't find any rub-ons so my page came out quite differently that hers. 

This will be the last page of my Cruise Scrapbook.

Scrapbooking the Cruise: Keep Calm and Travel On

This layout was inspired by the Scrap Your Stash Challenge at Two Peas by Paige Taylor Evans.

Our spring break cruise trip wasn't perfect and neither was the photo I used for this page so I like this sentiment  "Keep Calm and Travel On"  - even though I know its a bit over-used - for a title or section opener for my cruise scrapbook album.  I've gotten about 16 layouts completed so far!  I'll share my entire album in progress via video sometime soon. 

Meantime, I like the effect of the negative space letters backed with patterened paper - but I will say it was more time consuming that I'd like for most layouts - once in a while it is fun to do a time intensive technique.  I used Heidi Swapp stars stamps and the papers are from Lily Bee, Heidi Swapp, Basic Grey, and Making Memories.

Scrapbooking the Cruise: Ropes Course

Journaling:  "We picked the Carnival Breeze Cruise Ship partly because it had the only ropes course on a cruise ship and it was truly thrilling - we all did it:  Charlie once; Allison and I twice; and Mac did it three times!  He totally mastered it!  Way To Go Mac!  Spring Break Cruise 3/2013."

Scrapbooking the Cruise: At Long Last

My husband and I love boating so we were shocked and more than a bit disappointed when we discovered that our daughter did not like boating, until this past month when we went on our cruise. 

The night before the cruise we went to Naples, Florida and took a sunset cruise after  lots of "please, please, please just go on the boat and yes, we'll buy you some flip flops... discussion to get her to agree to go.  Midway through the sunset boat ride, she announced that she now liked boating.   Hallelujah!

 

Scrapbooking the Cruise: Miami Aquarium / Folder on a Scrapbook Page

Ever come back from a trip with a gazillion photos?  If you are a scrapbooker chances are you answered yes.  Well, me too.  I got inspired to make a layout using a folder to include more photos on one page after watching Lisa Dickinson's video over at Two Peas. 

This page includes 6 photos and the journaling on the front makes it clear that there is a folder:  "Do Not Ever Touch The Sharks:  Do you think we followed this advice?  Take a Peek to find out." and I made an arrow pointing to the tab of the folder, and I added a question mark on the tab just for fun.

Scrapbooking the Cruise: Its A Hobby / Scrapbooking from a Sketch

I discovered something about my son during our recent cruise:  He is a Chess Player!  One night during a formal dinner, I took him out the dining room since he had ants in his pants and we found the library where they had board games and we played chess while I talked the calm back into him.  During the first game, he'd ask questions like "what does this one do" and "where does everything go" and then by the third game he'd beaten me; and I'm not the kind of mom that just lets the kid win at this sort of thing.  I used to play chess with my dad and it took me years before I could even get close to beating him.  After the win, I asked him how he did that and he shrugged and said "It's a hobby."  "It is???" I couldn't believe it. "Yeah, I've been playing for the past three years" he said.  "What?!  How did I not know this???"  And he just smiled and said that he'd played at summer camp.  We ended up playing chess every day of the cruise and on  one of the final days we got to play the giant chess set up on the top deck and of course he beat me again!

This design page is based on Shimelle's Scrapbook Page with a Central Focus Sketch.

 

 

Scrapbooking the Cruise: Flip Flop Shop & Key West

We went on a family cruise on Carnival's new ship the Breeze over Spring Break.  There were ups and downs but overall we had a fantastic time. One of our minor disappointments was that we ended up going to Key West instead of Turks & Caicos, on top of that, my son didn't even get off the boat in Key West and my daughter saw this excursion as a chance to get flip flops rather than seeing the sights. 

My husband had booked us on a catamaran snorkeling trip but cancelled it because it was just too cold and blustery.  So he and I were a little less than thrilled to go to Key West - which is a lovely place - but just wasn't on our itinerary, we did try to make the best of it and we did go to the aquarium which was fun.

Journaling:  "Mac didn't even want to get off the boat and we were all a bit disappointed that it wasn't Turks & Caicos - but Allison used Key West as her chance to score some new flip flops. " "Making the best of our last minute detour to Key West - Spring Break 2013."

 

TRAVEL & VACATION SCRAPBOOKING: Big Picture Classes: Come Away With Me: A Travel Journal Project by Kimberly Lund & Two Peas' Shimelle's "Here There & Everywhere Class" and AWESOME LINK LIST to Ideas about Scrapbooking on the Go and Vacation Scrapbooks.

I was looking through my Big Picture Classes "My Classes" board and I noticed a class I don't remember signing up for:  "Come Away With Me:  A Travel Journal Project" by Kimberly Lund; it looks like it was co-sponsored by Big Picture and the Daily Digi.  My class period time shows that it will be open in my account from 4/25/11 - 4/25/13;  I'm not sure if that means it will end on 4/25/13 - my guess is that it won't since it is self paced, but I'm not actually sure - maybe they are trying to clear out some of the classes since this one does not still appear to be available.  It does make me wonder - how did I miss this?  Or, did I see it 2 years ago and forget about it?  (seems unlikely)  Maybe it was a free class and I thought I'd get to it later.  I'm not sure!  I guess it makes sense to keep an inventory of on-line classes, but, really, I'd rather have the shop do it for me - like Big Picture does, so I can just look at the "my classes" screen and see all the classes I'd ever taken there. 

I try to be an "awesome nerd" but truth is I'm a bit challenged in the computer department.  I have had some issues with losing online classes; for example, I am not sure where my downloaded Ella Publishing ebooks are since my computer crashed last year and I lost 3 years of photos and all those ebooks plus, I'm sure lots of other content.  I'm also fairly sure that I could probably email them to get access again but its just one of those things on my to-do list - actually, that kind of a to-do list is an imaginary one as in "seems like it should be on a to do list" but isn't actually on any to do list of mine.  I normally like to read ebooks or participate in online classes when I buy them and I typcially do, which is why I'm a bit stumped on this Come Away With Me Class.  I did read the Ella Books as soon as I got them and I assure you they are all completely awesome and if you liked Simple Scrapbooks, you will love them.

I also took Shimelle's "Here, There And Everywhere Class" through Two Peas in a Bucket - and I don't know how to find it or get back into it.  I can go to my order history and see that I had the $25.00 credit for the class on 2/19/09; a very sweet blog reader of mine actually won the class over at Shimelle's site and gifted me the class - thank you again Shaquanna!   Unlike the Come Away With Me Class, I do remember taking Shimelle's class and loving it - I even got my European trips (3 of them including 2 semesters abroad and one 3 week Spring Break Eurorailing all over) into albums.  Very Productive - well worth $25!

In Any Event (as my Dad always used to say), maybe I did take the "Come Away With Me" class because when I go on a trip I do make my own form of an Amy Tangerine Day Book and use it as a journal when I'm on the road. Hmmm.  What's funny is that I don't often blog about these types of books, I should probably do a better job of documenting them here.  See, my blog is sort of my "if everything in Florida gets wiped away in a hurricane, at least most of my most important photos and scrapbook pages are on my blog" - emergency back up plan.

***

Meantime, here are some posts to the ways I like to document my vacations and travel (odd #s are other people's ideas / even #s are links to my ideas) :

1. Shimelle's Travel Tips & Scrapbooking Travel Tips

2. Vacation Scrapbooking: How to Reconnect With Your Vacation Memories and Emotions (scrapbooking video links)

3. Noell Hyman's Paperclipping Video: Set Yourself Up for Unique Travel Mini Books

4. How To Make Infographic Maps to Scrapbook Your Travels.

5. Debbie Hodge's Get It Scrapped Post: Ideas for Scrapbooking A Road Trip / Travel

6. Can't Travel Right Now? Scrapbook Your Future Travel Plans and Wanderlust.

7. The Daily Digi's "Digi-Scrapbooking Your Travels"

8. Scrapbooking Places from Your Childhood.

9. Jennifer Wilson: The Simple Scrapper's Guide to Scrapbooking While On Vacation.

10. Vacation Scrapbooking: Coming Home.

11. Paperclipping Roundtable #117: Take Your Scrapbooking To the Beach

12. Map Die Cut Letters for Travel and Vacation Scrapbooking.

13. Ali Edwards' "Thoughts on Documenting Spring Break"

14. Disney Vacation Mini Album (with a video)

15. Paperclipping Roundtable #118: Travel Scrapbooking

16. Making a Pocket Page Scrapbook for Travel Brochures and Ephemera

17. Saturday Morning Vintage's Alaska Travel Mini Book

18. Scrapbook Vacation Spots with Zip Codes as Titles

19. Rebecca Cooper's Travel Photo Check List: Free Download

20. Scrapbooking A Trip from 20 Years Ago & Ireland

21. Kelly Purkey's Travels

22. Finishing Travel and Vacation Mini Books

23. Stacy Julian's Photo Album Scrapbooking: 10 Tips for Vacation Albums

24. Places We Go Scrapbook Album

25. Shimelle (aka. Glitter Girl)'s Travel Photography Tips for Scrapbookers

Happy Scrapbooking & Happy Trails!

A home made day book / smash book from our trip to the Space Coast.

(note to self:  not so many pages next time ok?)

 

Vacation Scrapbooking: Barbie's Dream Condo

My daughter brought her Barbie along with us on our ski vacation.  Of course, Barbie brought her luggage, skis and a few of her children and all sorts of outfits.  Allison assured me that Barbie approved of our sweet condo.  I have an album that started out as "The Adventures of Baby Buttons" all about my daughter's favorite doll and I'm thinking that the second half of that album will be "The Adventures of Barbie"; this layout will probably go into that album.

P.S. The yellow ski bib is actually one of my Barbie's outfits from when I was a kid in the 1970s.

Supplies:  Pebbles, Dear Lizzy, American Crafts, Bella Blvd., K&Company.

Mesa Verde: Spruce Tree House

Title:  Spruce Tree House:  Mesa Verde.

Journaling:  "We almost didn't go.  I had planned a ski vacation and even with a whole week were were only going to be able to get in 6 days of skiing; but after three days, we needed a rest.  I just happened to pick up a brochure and found that the cliff dwellings I learned about when I was a kid were close to Durango.  I'm so glad we made the journey to this amazing place.  Memorable & Awesome!"

Supplies:  Basic Grey & Bella Blvd.

This layout was based on a Starting Point by Shimelle.

We're Back from Colorado & I'm Uploading the Pictures

I took ____ (guess!) photos over seven days in Durango, Colorado.  It was mostly a ski trip at Durango Mountain Resort where over 35 inches of fresh snow just fell; we also got the chance to get over to Mesa Verde to see the cliff dwellings,  we went to Snowdown's Geek Fest, and had a some other fun adventures.   

I did do a bit of journaling over the vacation - I think I got about half way through.  I took a little 6x6 paper pack from Snap Life and used the 6x6 pages for journaling.  I also took a few home made day books but I actually didn't get that far with them, I do plan to finish them once I get my photos back.  I took all of the memorabilia and journaling bits from the trip and put them into a basket that I'll have handy when I scrapbook the trip so I can intersperse that stuff in with the photos.

I am uploading the photos and I will get them on to Shutterfly while I'm at work today.  Later, I will identify the good photos for printing and do a bit of tweaking to a very few if needed. 

I like to make photo books for my kids fairly quickly after a trip so they can share their vacation memories with their friends and family right away.  I like to make a minibook or two and then use the photos for my general 12x12 scrapbooking - which I feel no rush to make but am usually excited to get to. 

Let the vacation scrapbooking begin!

Scrapbook Improv and Using What You Have Available

Have you been watching all the CHA 2013 Winter Releases like I have?  I've been surfing Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube and Two Peas to catch glimses of what's coming out and trendy in the scrapbooking world.  

One of my favorite things to do around CHA is to use what I have to simulate the look of the yet to be released new and trendy CHA Scrapbook Products.  For example, Amy Tan's "Yes, Please" by American Crafts has a stencil template for letters - I have a very old school letter template and I gave it a try.  Normally I wouldn't make a title with embroidery floss, but because it was new and trendy and I don't actually have the latest and greatest yet, it is then fun for me to improvise and use what I have to create the new and trendy look.  Super duper fun.

E-How Mom's Article "Practices of Science Improvisation in School" can easily be adapted to the wonderful world of scrapbooking; just substitute the word "science" for "scrapbooking", check it out:

"Improvisation is the act of creating something or using something in the absence of the ideal tool. [Scrapbooking] teachers often try to teach [scrapbookers] about [scrapbooking] principles through the use of [challenges and sketches], though they do not always have access to the resources needed to optimally perform [scrapbook layouts]. Innovative [scrapbook] teachers can use cheaper products to simulate [trendy new CHA scrapbooking supplies]. [Scrapbooking] teachers can also help [scrapbookers] learn improvisation as an important life skill. [Scrapbooking] teachers can work with [scrapbookers] to come up with ways to improvise, forcing [scrapbookers] to think critically about [scrapbooking design] concepts underlying the devices."

***

One of my favorite Scrapbooking Teachers of late is Shimelle Laine, otherwise known as Glitter Girl, and this week, her challenge included using colors that did not necessarily come from the photos and she used the actual hot off the presses Amy Tan letter stencil thing.  Her video was the inspiration for my page and I used a similar color scheme and did the stencil thing the improv way.  (Yay!)

I also created a vellum envelope for the airplane tickets (vellum is also trendy again - my vellum is from 10 years ago - see I knew I was saving it for a really good reason!).  I used photo corners to look like the new and trendy arrows.  I also used colors that seem to be trendy this year.   So this scrapbook improviser feels completely satisfied using old supplies to look new and fresh.

P.S.  Some of my supplies aren't actually all that old - I went to Whim So Doodle's Garage Sale a few weeks ago and scored $15.00 worth of 2011 and 2012 papers and sticker sheets (lots from Bella Blvd.) for $.10 a page - which means I got about 25 pounds of paper.  I also bought a scrapbook tote for $2.00 to hold all that old but new to me papers and sticker sheets.  So that was only $17 bucks; I should seriously do a scrapbook haul video -- I got a major amount of really cute papers and supplies!

The Century Scrapbook Project: 1920 & a Photo-less Layout

The Elim House on Massachusetts Avenue in Boston in 1920 was called "Elim" referring to Exodus 15.27 and Numbers 33.9 in the Bible.  I printed this Census out very large so that the names and information are legible on the print since they include Howard Fenderson (my great-great-grandfather) and his wife Mary Fenderson (my great-great-step-grandmother) and since it also includes the leader of the Shiloh Movement in Maine: Frank Weston Sandford.   Howard and Mary Fenderson were listed as "lodgers" and as "evangelists".  Frank Sandford was listed as "Lodger (and then they crossed out Lodger) and wrote "head"; his occupation was listed as "Man Of God" while his wife, Helen Sandford (who was herself an evangelist and from a very wealthy family) didn't even get an "evangelist" as an occupation and instead she is listed as "none"; I wonder how she would have felt about that title, they didn't even list her as homemaker or mother.

I used one strip of patterened paper (Studio Calico - this one is scrapbooker Celeste Smith's favorite btw) and I kept the embellishments to a minimum and added a cross and a few brads:

I decided to break my rule about only one page per year of the 20th century and I made a follow up page all about Elim, perhaps I'll use this as a 1902, 1919, or 1900 page since the information on the page references those dates, but for now, it is just going on the backside of this census page in The Century Scrapbook:

Text (copied & pasted from a site about Shiloh, Maine):

2-19-1898 Mr. and Mrs. Cummings decide to devote their  boarding home at 545 Massachusetts Ave., Boston, to Christian work. While a convention is held at the home for the previous 7 days, Mr. S and the students take the home in faith. The Cummings still have a $150.00 per month mortgage to pay on the home. At some point Mr. S. took on the mortgage payments. Mr. S says in reference to 545, "...He (God) gave us the privilege of beginning the purchase (in advance)...".

545 and 547 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts, or "Elim".  Actually, only 545 was acquired at this time, 547 being purchased in the summer of 1903.

In the lead article of Everlasting Gospel , Aug 7-31, 1902 Ralph Gleason [having releaved Charles Holland as overseer of work in North American during Mr. Sandford's absence] indicates the following:

"God has given me a royal company of workers to stand by me in the great financial battle at Elim.  It is greatly on the heart of Mr. Sandford that this home should be entirely paid for and royally furnished by Oct. 2nd.  When we bought this house there was a mortgage on it for about $12,000 which we could not buy until it should expire.  As we would not run in debt we would not accept a deed for the property until the mortgage should be paid."  The previous issue, however, lists Elim at 545 Massachusetts Ave., Boston as one of the movement's centers.

The mortgage is ultimately paid off by the church on 7-4-1919. p35TF 3-1-98 & p181H & p115TF 7-1&15-1900

On this same date (2-19-1898) Mr. S says, "I feel sure that God wants a temple capable of seating ten thousand people in the city of Boston, and that the great, mighty God who said, "Go to," has started a fund with this end in view." p35 TF 3-1-98. (This temple never materialized.)

2-25-1898 Sandford, in a sermon at Elim in Boston, discusses at great length the appearance of Elijah, and the sharing of his authority during the millenium. p.244H, TF May15,1900-June 1,1900 p.96

Elim (Hebrew:) was one of the places where the Israelites camped following their Exodus from Egypt. It is referenced in Exodus 15.27 and Numbers 33.9 as a place where "there were twelve wells of water, and seventy date palms," and that the Israelites "camped there near the water".  From the information that can be gleaned from Exodus 15.23, 16.1 and Numbers 33.9-11, Elim is described as being between Marah and the Wilderness of Sin, near the eastern shore of the Red Sea.

 

Get It Scrapped Post: Road Trips!

Its August and I'm itching to go on a road trip - a real road trip - like for a month, but, alas, it is just not going to happen right now for me.  So, in the meantime, I'll settle on short road trips over to Disney, I know, rough life right?  But really, I would so love to take a road trip up the east coast and end up in Nova Scotia or out west and then drive up the California coast - ahhh, maybe someday. 

That page with my daughter at the wheel was from a couple of years ago - seems that we're creatures of habit and we do this girl's weekend to Disney every year about this time.

I made a double page layout for the Get It Scrapped Road Trip Post.

I used the single page sketch to create a double page layout about our recent trip to Orlando; I changed the placement of the sketch for the left side page.

We live about an hour and a half from the Magic Kingdom so sometimes its a day trip and sometimes its an overnight trip; and many times, we go on a whim.  A rainy day for us means a great day to visit the Disney Water Parks; my daughter and I made an impromptu trip during T.S. Debby.

Journaling: "Can we got to Typhoon Lagoon? Allison wants to know.  "Maybe" I say.  "I Have to check my work calendar and see how much the hotel will be."  Daddy adds "There's a tropical storm coming!"  "Perfect!" Allison declares.  She knows this will mean a much shorter line at the zip line which we remember (after we are all the way in at Typhoon Lagoon) is at Blizzard Beach."  "It was indeed rainy, but that meant we got a bonus day in Orlando and saw the Brave Movie at Downtown Disney + Room Service at Floridays + A shopping trip to Tommy Hilfiger where Allison bought that adorable dress and I got some new bathing suits at Nautica.  We had a fabulous girls weekend.  June 2012."

Supplies: Red Cardstock Patterned Paper (Scenic Route); doileys, maps die cut with Quickutz Metro letter dies; sharpie for journaling; border stickers (Sassafrass).

 

Want to see more Road Trip Scrapbook Pages from scrapbookers including Adryane Driscoll, Debbie Hodge, Brenda Becknell, Tara McKernin, Barb Brookbank, Sue Althouse, ?  Get over to Get It Scrapped's Post on Scrapbooking Road Trips.