Kiss and Tell Scrapbooking

Speed Scrapbooking: 7 Layouts In One Night

Last night, just for fun and to challenge myself, I started a thread at the General Scrappin' message board at Two Peas to see how many layouts I could make in one night.  Here's the link:  Friday Night Scrapping Message Thread at Two Peas.  Here are the layouts:

1.  CRUISE FASHION: 

I started this one a while back when I bought the clothes for the cruise and so I already had the tags placed on the cardstock so I just had to add photos, journaling and a title.  Easy.

2. GOODBYE ATLANTIS

The layout design for this one was based on this 3 photo layout by Susan Weinroth.

3. SLEEP DAY OR NIGHT:  This layout was inspired by this photo of my kids on the ride home from the cruise and the sunlight was shining in on their sweet little sleepy heads and they were even snuggling (and not fighting!); it reminded me of how they'd fall asleep in the car when they were babies.

I used this 2 photo scrapbook sketch by Jayne 

4. My Girl:  And yes I did finally find a use for that giant Me & My Big Ideas stick figure girl!

Goofy but appropriate for this one:

5. Artsy Girl:  Using another big cartoonish character - this time from Cosmo Cricket:

This one started out being inspired by This Shimelle / Glitter Girl Scrapbook Layout: Try This Journaling Idea but it went a little off the rails.  I made my own pie chart - which mimiced the pie chart my daughter drew - she is always into the trends:

6. TRAVEL TOGETHER: 

I think on this one I started thinking that inking the edges really does slow me down / but looks good - so its a love / hate thing.  This one also doesn't really have a title and that's ok with me since its going into the beginning of our cruise album and its pretty much self explanatory- or at least I think so:  Its about the 4 of us traveling together.

7. MIDNIGHT MINIGOLF!  The last one!  And I think it was about midnight!

I didn't do a whole lot of embellishing (or any) on this one but was inspired to used vellum after watching this "Seeing Double" video by Jen Gallacher at Two Peas.

Yippee!  I'm done uploading (I think the uploading actually took longer than making the layouts!).

Peace out scrapbookers :)

 

Scrapbooking Personality: My daughter is a Scorpio

This page design was inspired by this Scrap Your Stash video by Fevvers at Two Peas.  I turned her ribbon layering design on its side and tried my best to add some embellishments as I tend towards using little to no embellishments but I do like the way they look on a finished page.

This photo just captured my daughter's personality so well - that knowing smile - that cat with the canary in her mouth - the eyes hidden behind her "bangs" which aren't really bangs the way I know them - they are just random long strands of hair intentionally in front of her face - the glow of the sun shining on her no doubt brain on fire with ideas and plans.  And me with the camera wanting to know just why she is smiling like that - what's on her mind - what does she want to get me to do or let her do.  Ahh, our mother - daughter dynamic is so well expressed in this photo even though I'm not in it - I'm behind the camera - but that is telling too because I'm curious like that - I want to know more and she wants to keep me guessing.

Journaling:  "Spring 2013:  Dear Allison:  Oh I know you love a secret and that you think I couldn't possibly know what you are up to - but I can smell you thinking because your brain works a lot like mine does except that I'm not so good with keeping a secret and sometimes that gets me into trouble - like I know you don't especially love it when I say "I am older and I know more than you and I've already thought of whatever plan you are devising."  Just know that I love you!  Love Mommy."

I didn't journal about the fact that my daughter is a Scorpio and I do take astrology with a grain of salt, but there is a little something to the fact that Scorpio's are known for being the most secretive of all of the zodiac signs whereas my sign, Gemini, loves to figure out secrets.  So put those two traits together and you get an interesting and intense relationship where neither of us can totally figure the other one out - although my Gemini characteristics keep me trying - much to her frustration.  Mothers and daughters - and so we continue the tradition of that ever tricky relationship.

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.

The Century Scrapbook Project: 1997 Falling in Love

Ahhhh, there we were in 1997.  Falling in Love.  Taking a Giant Leap of Faith and starting our law firm together (2 years before we got married).  This picture was taken in Northeast Georgia where his parents had a summer house.  We look like babies - at least to me now.  I was 27 and he was 40.  This was before our house, before the dogs, before the kids.  We met in 1995 and married in 1999 and the kids didn't come along until 2002 and 2003.  In my scrapbook album "The Century Scrapbook Project: 1900-present" it is fun to see the last 20 years play out in one page snap shots.

Since I used an original photo on this page, I took a photo of the photo just in case:

Get It Scrapped Post: Update Vintage Looks With Modern Combos On Your Scrapbook Page

I made this layout for the Get It Scrapped blog article "Update Vintage Looks with Modern Combos On Your Scrapbook Page";

“My son is sometimes hard on himself and I wanted to make him something encouraging. I wanted to take a colorful take on a silhouette and tweaked the photo of my son to look like a hyper-colored silhouette.  I also looked for printable vintage arrows on Pinterest and found “14 Vintage and Pretty Arrows.” This page now is in a frame along with 5 other scrapbook pages over his lego desk.  We had a difficult day yesterday so I was happy to see this on the Get It Scrapped blog today; sometimes these pages are as much to boost my family up as they are to boost me up too. 

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Want to see more takes on vintage to modern motifs in scrapbooking from Anna Aspnes, Barb Brookbank, Amanda Jones, Christy Strickler, Deborah Wagner, Leah Farquharson, Sue Althouse, Krista Sahlin, Marie-Pierre Capistran, Amy Kingsford, and Debbie Hodge?  Check out the Get it Scrapped Post.

The Century Scrapbook Project: 1999 Honeymoon at Atlantis, The Bahamas

I have a Pinterest Board called "Centered" with scrapbook layouts that include photos down the vertical center of the page, I find these to be very eye catching and easy to execute.  That said, I rarely do them so I thought I'd make one tonight - it was very easy with the Glitz 6x6 paper pack called "Unchartered Waters" - the only downside to that pack is that the papers are double sided and I love all of the designs and I don't want to cover them up so it is hard to use them!  They are so pretty and fun and I love all things nautical.



I cut the "1999" with my quickutz and then realized that the glitter paper was not self adhesive so I used Therm-o-web's Sticky Dots "die cut transfer adhesive" to get them on there easily.

and then I jotted down a few thoughts about our honeymoon:

The Century Scrapbook Project: 1977

It has been a while since I've worked on my Century Scrapbook Project so I thought I'd get a little bit back into that.  I have about 35 pages done so far; the concept is to make one page for each year from 1900 to now.  I have made some pages pre-1900.  The Century Scrapbook is an 8.5x11 format and I keep it in a regular notebook right now with page protectors from the office supply store.  If you put "Century" into the search feature on my blog you'll be able to see other Century Scrapbook Pages; click here for a peek at my 1970 page.

The layout of this page was based loosely on Shimelle's layout "love locks."  Click here for Shimelle's video "Layout for a Patterned Paper You Don't Want to Hide."  I didn't follow the instructions - but the paper reminded me of yellow manilla envelopes that my Dad always seemed to have and the Baker's Twine really does evoke nostalgia of childhood for me - I also used some actual stickers from spools of thread since I just finished a couple and thought they'd be cute on a layout - so the thread doesn't have a ton to do with this layout - unless you count "common thread" of family - but that's probably a stretch.  I also used Crate Paper's Maggie Holmes line cut out "baggage identification tag" because the layout was about my dad's plane and because, well, after the divorce, we were baggage and we all had baggage.  Good time - I thought that tag was appropriate too - since despite all sorts of childhood family drama - we did have good times too.

And that journaling cut apart screamed 70s to me the orange and yellow flowers with the daisy - hello 70s wallpaper!

Journaling reads:  "Its True.  After the divorce, we did have good times.  I was 7 1/2 and Jenny was 4 1/2 and we were at the small airport outside Calais with my Dad who'd just gotten his pilot's license. (my dad took the photo).  Of course, I brought my Barbie and wore plaid pants and white vinyl boots and a big red coat and Jenny rocked the boy haircut!"  (Jenny will probably snark me for that since I don't think she was particularly fond of the boy haircut my mother kept giving her - everyone - seriously everyone - thought she was a boy! for a long time!)

I had a sheet of Bella Blvd. letter stickers but it only included one "7" so I created "77" with two letter Z's with the bottoms cut off .  Pretty clever right?

Big Picture Classes: Library of Memories Community & Stacy Julian Appreciation Week (March 2008)

The Story {the journaling} :  "So its been about 8 years since I discovered Stacy Julian - I've always been a scrapbooker but Stacy and Simple Scrapbooks really introduced me to awesome modern scrapbooking.   I've been "modern"  scrapbooking since about 1998 but it wasn't particularly cool or fun until I "virtually" met this lady and all of her fun friends.  They've inspired me and help me document my happy life."  (and probably actually make it happier).  "Love my online peeps:  Online Friends - Online Books - Online Learning."

What prompted this?  A combination of a couple things - one being that I found this scrapbook page I made 5 years ago:  Blast from the Past:  "Stacy Julian Appreciation Week - March 2008" made during the grand old days of Simple Scrapbooks:

Side Note On Photographing Scrapbook Layouts:  My scrapbook layout picture taking skills still aren't perfect, but taking that same original photo of the layout and tweaking it in Google's free Picasa photo program:  1. I cropped it to a square; 2. I hit the "I feel Lucky" button; 3. I adjusted the sharpness with the slider tool; and 4. I created a border. And voila - that same layout looks a lot more internet ready right?

Another reason for all this gushing?  I've learned some things over the years thanks to my online friends, online books and online scrapbooking classes and communities.  Today I've been thinking about that and about how I have real feelings for my virtual scrapbooking friends - some of whom I've never and will never meet - others whom I have met in real life - and scrapbooking friends I've met online who become real life friends.  I've been thinking about how Patti Knox's interview over at Debbie Hodge's Get It Scrapped / Masterful Scrapbook Design so touched my heart and that I knew her and Debbie's essence just from listening to them talk to each other about scrapbooking for one hour.  (Click Here for Debbie Hodge's Masterful Scrapbook Design interview with Pattie Knox from November 2012 all about Telling Family Stories and Scrapbooking Old Photos). 

This online scrapbooking thing isn't just about recording your family memories, its also about finding your people.  I know I've found mine.  Its also about appreciating life and thinking about the bigger picture, what you want to focus on and remember and what you want to leave behind.

I've been a fan of Stacy Julian and her Big Picture Concept since her book came out in 2005 and I read it cover to cover on an airplane ride up to see my Grandma Grace.  I took Library of Memories (now called Photo Freedom) in 2007 and took the alumni course every year since.   This year I think my class enrollment turned into a pumpkin and former students had to sign up again so this was the first year I haven't been in Library of Memories / Photo Freedom - it feels weird.  I miss it.  The class is completely awesome in so many ways, but it is so amazing to go on that scrapbooking journey with so many other amazing women - and get to hear and see Stacy Julian videos every week for 10 weeks.  Yep, I miss that.

I am a member of "A Library of Memories Community" which I think was a one time payment of $15.00 for "Forever Access" to get a weekly email every Thursday.  I admit that often times I just get the email and I put it into my "Library of Memories" folder on gmail, but I think if I used it more often my scrapbooking would be even more awesome.

So just for fun, I thought I'd take a look at the Big Picture and Photo Freedom Books today and listen to Stacy's video message in the BPC Class. I took a look at the last Weekly Challenge and it was this:

Creating
It's time to create something with some square-punch pictures! Make a page or a card or a fun note to put under someone's pillow. Square-punch pictures are ready to go and EASY to use. Please note how happy this creative exercise makes you!

So I didn't follow the directions exactly but I did use a couple of square sized photos.

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If you are in A Library of Memories Community there are 4 chats in 2013:

Your chats with Stacy Julian are scheduled for:
Friday, January 25th 2013 at 5:00pm PT
Thursday, May 9th 2013 at 10:30am PT
Saturday, August 3rd 2013 at 8:00am PT
Thursday, November 7th 2013 at 2:00pm PT

Experimenting with Embellishment Organization

I love scrapbook pages with lots of embellishments but often times my pages are very simple and plain.  One reason is that I sometimes can't find the "perfect" embellishment or a particular type of embellishment.    Today I gathered 10 clear plastic shoe boxes and filled each one with a different type of embellishment: 1. Letter Stickers; 2. Dimensional Letters; 3. Brads and Bling; 4. Ribbons and Tapes; 5. Die Cuts; 6. Raw Chip Board Shapes; 7. Journaling Cards; 8. Inks and Stamps; 9. Stickers; and 10. Pre-made Dimenstional Embellishments like chipboard that is already embellished.  I then challenged myself to get an item from each box on a layout.  One easy way I've found to put a lot of embellishment on a page is to go monochromatic.  Here's my first attempt:

Its more stuff than I usually get on a page and a good reminder that its time to do my roots again ;)

CHA Winter 2013 - Knock Off #2: Love

Here's a link to the inspiration for this page:  CHA 2013 Webster's Pages.

What I took from this layout:

1. The basic layout design.

2. The mint + yellow + grey with other colors combination.

3. The one word title placement.

Here's what I changed:

1. I added the die cut hearts in same patterned paper for a tone on tone effect, I used pop dots to make some of the hearts stand up and stand out.

2. I added journaling on the mat of the photo in the form of a short note to my son.

3. I added machine stitching around the layout - mostly to hold down all those paper strips in the sunburst design - I could have used lots more adhesive but the stitching seemed like an easier and better fix.

The Story of this Page: 

Its almost time for my son's birthday which is a week before Valentines Day.  As he is growing up, telling him I love him is probably less frequent than the bazillion times a day we said "I Love You's" when he was small, and is certainly everyday especially at bedtime; but somehow, it seems like heart to heart conversations and declarations of love seem especially important at this age. 

So while I've been on a "scrapbook as many photos as possible on one page" kick, this page seemed like it just needed just one photo.

***

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The Century Scrapbook Project: 2001

I started The Century Scrapbook Project last year and intended to be finished by Thanksgiving with one page per year from 1900-2012.  I have about 30 or 40 pages done and I've extended the time line back before 1900.  I do want to make sure that when people see the book, that they get a sense of our story now. 

My husband and I met in 1995 and much of our courtship and early marriage before kids, and even after kids, involved the water and being on boats.  The boat we are on in this photo, even though you can't see the boat in this photo, was instrumental in the beginning of our family.  I came across this photo and decided it needed a full on fabulous page full of frou-frou scrapbooking stuff - I'll slip the story behind it in the album on regular typed up letter paper. 

Supplies:  Neapolitan Collection Papers; Smash Washi Tape; various stickers including really old ones from about 2001!

And yes, that is puff paint!

 

The Century Scrapbook Project: 2000 Newlyweds

My husband and I recently celebrated our 14th Wedding Anniversary.  I asked my daughter to guess what year we were married and she was shocked to hear that we were married in the year 1999 - which she described as "the year that dinosaurs still roamed the earth"!  So I pulled out this photo of my husband and I around our first anniversary in the year 2000  - thus no dinosaurs in the photo - to include my Century Scrapbook Album (this is a scrapbook that starts in 1900 and goes through the current year).

I did a bit of sticker overload on this layout because I just wanted to play with my scrapbook stuff since I've taken a break from scrapbooking and am just now refamiliarizing myself with all of my crafting things.  I also used some new to me tissue tape from Tim Holtz, it is transparent so you can see what's underneath it.

Get It Scrapped: Using Geometric Shapes on Scrapbooking Pages

I saw this trick with circle cut outs on Pinterest:

I made this for the Get It Scrapped's Post Geometric Shapes for Scrapbook Page Design.  The basic framework of the page came from the "no fail page" from the White Space book we used in Debbie Hodge's critque class.

Get It Scrapped Post: Writing Letters on Scrapbooking Pages

My jounaling on the days of the week tabs are in the form of a letter.

Journaling: "Dear Allison:  Here you are on the 1st Day of Third Grade!  You are confident and you know that this year will require extra effort and work; and there's the FCAT.  I know that you will be ready.  Remember I'm here for you for homework help!  Love Mom!"

For more ideas for using letters on scrapbooking pages go over to Get It Scrapped!

The Century Scrapbook Project: 1837: Grandmother Messer & The Cornelius of Sunderland

My Nana Ruby Fenderson was from Canada, specifically she was from Harvey Station and her maiden name was Grieve, there is a website (Click Here for the Genealogy of the Cornelius Settlers of Harvey Station, New Brunswick, Canada) all about her ancestry and the immigrants from Scotland and England who took the maiden voyage upon the Cornelius de Sunderland in 1837 and settled Harvey Settlement, there were about 154 passengers on that boat and 15 of them are my direct ancestors!

I found this photo of "Grandmother Messer":

And something about the photo intrigued me.  When I first saw it I didn't think I was related to her, since I didn't think we had the last name "Messer" in our family tree, but I printed the photo anyway.  I discovered that she had 9 children and that she was my 3rd great grandmother!

My journaling reads " 1st Generation:  Alice "Alison" Brown married William  Messer on 24 September 1826, she was 31 years old when hse was married.  She was born in 1795 in Ford, England.  Alison and William had 9 children:

(Alison's age at childbirth in parentheses before each child):

(32) 1. Elizabeth Messer (born 25 June 1827)

(34) 2. Ann Messer (born 20 Feb 1829 - died 1840)

(35) 3. Nancy Messer (about 1830)

(37) 4. Walter Messer (9 April 1832)

(39) 5. William Messer (1834)

(41) 6. Thomas Messer (1836 - 1861)

(44) 7. Ann Isabel "Annie" Messer (1839)

(46) 8. Alice Eleanor Messer (1841)

(48) 9. James Messer (1843)

She had nine children from when she was 32 until when she was 48 years old!!!

William Messer became a Farmer on Lot 6E in Harvey Settlement, he had 200 acres.  They were Presbyterians and emigrated in 1837 on the Cornelius of Sutherland when Alison was 42 years old (the same age I am now).

(The red stars indicate the two entries for Alison Brown Messer).

After I made this page, I started filling in my family tree with the information from the site and discovered something somewhat surprising:  Grandmother Messer (also known as Alice "Alison" Brown Messer) is both my 3rd Great Grandmother AND my 4th Great Grandmother!  No, she didn't give birth to herself.  This is how Alison is my Grandmother two different ways:

1. My 4th Great Grandmother: Alison Messer:

Alison Brown Messer and William Messer had Elizabeth;

Elizabeth Messer married Andrew Wood Coburn and they had Charlotte Isabella "Belle" Coburn;

Belle married John "Jack" H. Grieve and they had Frederick A. Grieve;

Frederick Grieve married Sarah A. "Sadie" Wightman and they had Ruby Grieve.

Ruby Grieve was my grandmother whom I called "Nana", she was my father's mother.

2. My 3rd Great Grandmother: Alison Messer:

Alison Brown Messer and William Messer had Ann Isabel "Annie" Messer.

Annie married John A. Wightman and they had Sarah A. "Sadie" Wightman.

Sadie married Frederick Grieve and they had Ruby Grieve.

Ruby Grieve was my grandmother whom I called "Nana", she was my father's mother.

***

So Ruby's parents Sadie and Frederick were second cousins, I think, in other words, Frederick's grandmother Elizabeth and Sadie's mother Annie were were sisters.  I guess Harvey Station was pretty remote and there were only so many potential suitable partners.  I wonder if Ruby knew this connection and I wonder if my Dad knew - he was, after all, doing the family history research and he does have a file on the Grieve family line - I'll have to check on it tomorrow.

***

The other interesting thing is that all of my lines going back from Ruby Grieve were on that boat in 1837!  So I used the backside of the Grandmother Messer page to list out my 15 direct ancestors who were on the Cornelius of Sunderland's Maiden Voyage from Berwick to St. John in the summer of 1837:

"A boatload of English and Scottish people traveled from Berwick to St. John, New Brunswick, Canada holding at least 15 of my direct ancestors:  All Aboard the Cornelius:

1. John A. Wightman (1829-1891) (my 3rd great grandfather)

2. Mary Davison Wightman (1795-1871) (my 3rd great grandmother)

3. John Wightman (1789-1867) (my 4th great grandfather)

4. Ann Winter Piercy (1785-1873) (my 4th great grandmother)

5. George Piercy (1785-1873) (my 4th great grandfather)

6. Mary Piercy Grieve (1831-1916) (my 3rd great grandmother)

7. Patrick Turnbull Grieve (1824-1871) (my 3rd great grandfather)

8. William Grieve (1799-1875) (my 4th great grandfather)

9. Eleanor Turnbull Grieve (1794-1860) (my 4th great grandmother)

10. John Cockburn (1785-1806) (my 4th great grandfather)

11. Elizabeth "Betsy" Leslie Coburn (1788-1869) (my 4th great grandmother)

12. Andrew Wood Coburn (1827-1907) (my 3rd great grandfather)

13. Elizabeth Messer Coburn (1828-1904) (my 3rd great grandmother)

14. William Messer (1799-1874) (my 3rd AND 4th great grandfather!)

15. Alice "Alison" Brown Messer (1799-1877) (my 3rd AND 4th great grandmother!)

***

I'm thinking that The Century Scrapbook Project is definately becoming The Centuries Scrapbook Project!

Making a page about a photo really allows me to think about all sorts of aspects of the person's life and to make discoveries like Alison had 9 children but having 9-15 children wasn't all that unusual back in those days in Harvey Settlement; that women were having children up until they were about 50 years old and that my grandparents were super connected. 

Scrapbooking Your Family History Tip:  When I just look at names and dates in my father's research or even on an online website there is one level of understanding, but when I take the step of making a scrapbook page - even a very simple one - my level of understanding increases dramatically.