Kiss and Tell Scrapbooking

#NSD2013: #2Peas Challenge #4 + #BPC Challenge #10 = 4 of Us

The 2 Peas challenge was a color combo and the BPC challenge was to scrapbook about a relationship.

#NSD2013: #2Peas Challenge #10 + #BPC Challenge #10 = Summer Memories: Planning Stage 2013

This layout did double duty for the National Scrapbook Day Challenges at 2 Peas and Big Picture.

And yes I did go back and correct the spelling!

4 Layouts / One Night: How Message Boards Can Help You To Get More Scrapbooking Done!

Last night I made 4 layouts.  Whoo Hoo!  I wasn't even going to scrapbook at all until I saw this "General Scrappin" post at Two Peas.  My Friday night post that lead me to make 7 layouts had inspired someone!  How thrilling!  So I couldn't wait to play along. 

 

NOTE ABOUT THE VIDEO:  That's a flash video which sadly does not play on iphones, but you can also get there by going to ustream and searching "scrapbooking" and my channel is "Kiss and Tell Scrapbooking" there. Ustream is a bit tweaky and there are commercials but it lets me talk for 80 minutes - something I can't do on youtube.

I did usteam for most of the process which is fun, but also slows me down a lot! 

Here are the layouts:

#1 Mischief Allowed:

Here's a detail shot (somehow I didn't get the twinkling of the jems despite being in natural sunlight - you'll just have to trust me that they are sparkly and fun):

And then I made another ustream video and started three more layouts that used scraps for the backgrounds:

 

Layout #2: Never-Ending Yum:  All about unlimited ice cream on cruise ships:

I even went glitter crazy on a chipboard cherry embellishment:

#3: You 2 in 2013:  I made this one with lots of pink scraps and some Primrose Shine Spray from Heidi Swapp:

Here's a detail off my mostly handcut hearts - inspired by a Corrie Jones layout - she did washi strips with white hearts over top:

#4: Making Waffless (remember donkey from the Shrek movies?). 

I made the background paper with scraps of patterned paper strips and I laid them on the already diagonally striped design:

 

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 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.

Get It Scrapped: Trendy Rainbows Color Treatments on Scrapbook Pages

Have you noticed that rainbows are quite trendy right now?  Just peek at Pinterest and you'll find rainbow cakes, rainbow themed parties, and even rainbow hair and nails.  The rainbow trend is easily adapted to scrapbook pages and closet space: 

I used 6x6 paper packs from American Crafts' latest lines from Maggie Holmes, Amy Tan and Dear Lizzy and stitched them to the page (a few weeks before my sewing machine broke - I am seriously missing it).  P.S. Just told my daughter to get her closet back into shape!

Get It Scrapped Post: Trendy Rainbow Color Treatments on Scrapbook Pages

Shimelle's Sketch to Scrapbook Page & Ice Cream for Breakfast Day (March 21, 2013)

I made this page while being a soccer mom - literally!  Complete with Mini Van - its been a long time since college when I met Julie and Bruce - a lifetime ago but they are in my heart so strong today.  I got a quick chance to talk to the reporter, Andrew Dys, who wrote the story about Bruce Rosenberg, creator of Ice Cream For Breafast Day.  I had to call him from the car (something I don't normally do) on my way to get my daughter from her first day of soccer.  Then, in between what seems like a million other 5 minute trips to the grocery store, to karate (three - yes three times), and all over the Sunshine State, I got quick little chances to work on this page.  If you follow me on Instagram you'll know what I mean.  I got the page sketch idea from Shimelle.

P.S. Please join me tomorrow morning as the world - and probably the entire universe - celebrates The Second Annual Ice Cream For Breakfast Day!  Created by my favorite unicorn riding super hero.  Rock on Bruce.  I love you Julie.

Glitter Girl / Shimelle Inspired: 4 Layouts / One Sketch + 6x6 Paper Packs

Glitter Girl's most recent episode included a 12x12 scrapbook page using 4 6x6 patterned papers and this is a page that is so easy to make and so versatile and satisfying in that you can use up so many of those 6x6 papers you've been collecting - I'm assuming you are collecting them like I am.

The challenge was to "Work Your Weakness" as in use the scrapbooking supply you seem to buy the most.  And while I have been hoarding Thickers recently, I've also been addicted to 6x6 paper pads for the past year or two.

I got creative with this layout and tilted it in my "Heads in the Clouds" layout.

So that was a lot of fun - I got so much scrapbooking done in such a short time! 

 

 

Get It Scrapped Post: Stencils and Paint and Scrapbook Pages (oh my!) + "Rock My Vote" layout

 

True Story:  I waited in a big long line to vote for President and a few weeks after the election I got a letter saying that my vote wasn't counted! This instantly made me letter writing mad - except that everything worked out ok imho - so I just made a scrapbook page about the whole thing. 

I had a photo of my kids with a cutout Obama from the Party Story while we were Halloween costume shopping and I paired that with a photo of the letter I received.

Because it wasn't super important to be able to read the letter in the photo I stenciled words forming the title over it and then filled in the letters with copic markers so that if you really wanted to read the words underneath you could.

I created the now trendy arrows with the negative space from a very, very old but loved Scenic Route cut out sheet and I used ink pads to fill in the arrows.

Want to see more stencils and paint on scrapbooking pages from Doris Sander, Christy Strickler, Rosan Santos Elliott, KiKi Kougioumtzi, Amanda Jones, Brenda Becknell, Leah Farquharson, Adriana Puckett, Audrey Tan, Adryane Driscoll, Vicki Walters, Deborah Wagner, and Barb Brookbank?  Head over to Get It Scrapped's Post: Scrapbook Page Ideas with Paint and Stencils.

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

Paper Strips Pinterest Inspiration Board: Layout #5: Me at 42 to Me at 21.

This is my completed "42 to Me at 21" scrapbook layout. 

Take a look at my process for making this scrapbook page:

It is a 12x12 layout and It will have journaling on the back.  And yes I did use an original photo from 1991. I did take several photos of the photo just in case anything weird happened to this layout - since that photo is the only copy.

That was my real hair color (the one I'm trying to duplicate now) and I was something like a size 6 without a wrinkle on me.   And I totally remember that keychain of mine that's on the desk - and that 3 hole punch - OMG I use it at work even now and it has my named taped to it - and it still haas that same little piece of paper taped to it - 21 years later!  wow.  See, cropping out details isn't always a good idea. 

I picked some random odds and ends 6x6 paper pack left overs from the new Amy Tan and Dear Lizzy lines from CHA Winter 2013 - I got them a week or so ago at Whim So Doodle and I've been using them like crazy, I think these are two of my most favorite lines ever.  Ok, actually add in the Maggie Holmes from Crate Paper line in there too - I am just in love with all of it.

I did look at some other photos before deciding on this one of me when I was half the age I am now;  this one seemed to fit so perfectly into that negative space from where I had done some misting of something else earlier today.  Also the story of me being 21 fit in with some conversations and experiences I had today and this will remind me of that.

Then I thought it might be fun to add a photo of me from today since I had just returned from the store where I bought American Crafts Thickers (lots of them); sandals and two giant hats:  see some things never change - I loved hats then and still do now.  Perfect - I printed out that photo after I did a screen capture and then added it to the page.

And then I probably went overboard with lots of sparkly epoxy stickers, but I thought the 2 doilies were perfect (even though they broke the "rule of threes").

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And here's what I plan to print out for the backside of this layout: 

A Letter to Myself at 21 From Myself at 42:

Hey you, beautiful you.  Yes, if you are wondering, you are beautiful - trust me - I still have your image burned into my memory and brain and when I look in the mirror and don't see your fresh faced smile and amazing body - yes, amazing - if you only knew -- well, it shocks the system a bit to see me in the mirror at 42.  There are wrinkles and pimples - pimples I never had in my teens or 20s!  (so not fair!)  And I have an everyday and over the years battle with the scale, I try on pants that I'm sure will be too big and they end up being too tight - I know what to do to get it back to being something that at least resembles me at 21 but at 42, well, its just really hard to get the momentum going; but I do still try everyday.  I'll probably look back at my 42 year old self when I'm 84 (God please let me see 84 and beyond) and think about how beautiful I was now - but its hard to see that in the mirror at the time; know what I mean?  Yes, I know you do.

Many of your dreams came true.  You did meet the love of your life but it was someone you could not imagine when you were 21 - but 4 years from this photo, you would meet him and life would never be the same - its a good life.  You are loved and you love your family.   Those somewhat angst ridden single years weren't all that bad - even if you did spend them with your nose in a book most of the time.

I wish I could tell you to spend more time with your Dad and your Grandparents, that they wouldn't be around forever; but I'm not sure you would have listened  - you had adventures and travels and things to do.  But just maybe you would have (or will listen to yourself on this same type of thing now). 

A couple of warnings:  Credit Cards and Law School Loans are brutal  to pay back - use as little as possible.  Art is a passion, spend more time on it - don't put it on the back burner.  Travel more before you have kids because afterwards, well, its a whole lot more difficult.  Don't over do it on running; but do take a ski trip as often as you can.  Stay away from people who give you a bad gut feeling - trust your gut, you are almost always right about people.  Don't get too serious - you'll want to do that when you become a young lawyer - and don't  tell people to call you "Kathryn" because you think it will make you sound older - it will stick and will never feel completely natural even though it is your given name - your name in your heart is Katie and always will be.  But really, everything turns out totally awesome, so don't worry about these warnings too much - its all good.

I wish I could also say 1. buy waterfront property now and sell it around 2005; 2.  I wish I could give you some winning lottery numbers or tell you to invest in microsoft or apple or facebook when it gets invented. 

I will say it is comforting to see you in a big hat and to know that just today I bought a great big hat, some things never change.  Simple Pleasures - go after then then and now and ENJOY TODAY - then and now.

From Katie at 42; 3/1/13

 

 

 

Paper Strips Pinterest Inspiration Board: Layout #4: Celebrate New Year's Eve 2013 & Get It Scrapped Post: Go To Embellishing Approaches

So funny that my last post was all about how the Critque Class at Masterful Scrapbook Design helped me improve my scrapbooking embellishment skills because today's Get It Scrapped Blog Post is all about Go To Embellishing Approaches with Favorite Embellishment Techniques. 

Despite lots of embellishments on this page in the form of stickers and vellum and patterned paper, there aren't a lot of dimenstional embellishments - that is what I've been focusing on lately:  adding dimensional embellishments to my patterned paper strip type layouts; but this page was made just after the new year so almost 2 months ago now.  Adding some brads and bling could be done even now on this layout, but I'm not in the habit of going back to tweak layouts that I consider done.  And the downside of too much dimension on the page is that you end up with bulky pages and albums and I make a lot of scrapbook pages so these flatter pages that look like there is a lot of "schtuff" on them are still a good thing.

Here's my contribution to the post:

I used a coordinating patterned paper pack from Dear Lizzy to create the long banners of patterened paper strips.  I used a square punch to create the reverse v shapes at the bottom of each strip.

This layout was also a nice place to jot down some family goals for 2013:

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Want more embellishing tips from scrapbookers including Anna Aspnes, Tami Taylor, Doris Sander, Stefanie Semple, Jennifer Matott, Marie-Pierre Capistran, Deborah Wagner, Christy Strickler, and Leah Farquarhson?  Head on over to Get it Scrapped.

Paper Strips Pinterest Inspiration Board: Layout #1 Ski Adventure

In scrapbooking, I find that I really enjoy having a project that lasts a couple of weeks and follows a loose set of rules.  Having a limitation helps my creativity.  In this series, I will be using the "limitation" of using PAPER STRIPS.  I have a Pinterest Board dedicated to Scrapbook Layouts with Paper Strips - have a look and get some inspiration.  If you decide to play along, please post a link to your layout in the comments so I can add your layout to my Pinterest Board.

Here is my first layout using Paper Strips:

Want to play along?  Please leave a comment & a link to your page :)

 

 

 

Another 2 For 1 Scrapbook Page

I've been brewing this idea of doing two pages at the same time as a time saver.  So this time I used The Two Peas Challenge "What I Love About"  as the inspiration for the page and I made two pages based on the same concept and basic design. 

During the last 2 for 1 project, I worked on both pages at the same time; this time I worked on the hot cocoa layout first and the Christmas Layout second.  I still think that doing 2 similar pages at one sitting is a time saver.

I also got out to TJ Maxx to see if they had the American Crafts Thickers for $1.49 - my store didn't but I did find these EK Success Red Glitter Stickers there.

CHA Winter 2013 - Knock Off #1: Gamer

One of my favorite things to do around the Craft and Hobby Association Trade Shows (otherwise known as CHA) is to scraplift the CHA layouts to see how I can accomplish the trendy new looks with my old scrapbooking supplies.  It is a fun creative exercise, I encourage you to give it a try - not because you're never going to get the new items - but because I get all the excitement of the new stuff combined with using what I already have - I love feeling frugal - even if the amount of scrapbooking supplies I have would clearly state that my habit - um I mean hobby - is nothing but frugal!

My Page:  Gamer / The Story:  My son would play video games 24/7 if we let him and he got the WiiU for Christmas - so it was a bit hard to get his attention after he opened that present.

The inspiration?  Maggie Holmes for Studio Calico for CHA W 2013.

What I lifted? 

1. 3 columns of trendy stamped background on white cardstock.

2. A hodge podge of random embellishments.

3. Placement of photo and title and journaling.

What I changed?

1. I think hers was a one photo layout on a 12x12 page (probably to show off the products); I made an 8.5 x 11 page with two photos.

2. She had lots of different types of embellishments from papers and staples and brad and buttons - lots of dimentional items which look great; but I used just the patterned papers for a flatter scrapbook page (more for the way it will fit in an album than for visual interest).

3. Photography:  Her layout looks like a professional photographer (which I think she is) took the photo while mine is a self shot with the point and shoot and a blurry detail shot.  Sure, her layout is much more visually stunning, but my layout tells my real life story with a few shots that I took during Christmas Morning - not at all posed, just an "oh I should capture this" moment.