So I'm on a 2 page layout tangent - this one is based on Shimelle's "Double Layout" from 4x6 Photo Love from May 2011. I used papers from a collection and even ustreamed:
It was fun and I do enjoy the 2 page layout - but it does seem like a bit of a space hog - but still; maybe adding a few more into the mix is a good idea.
That was the in progress layout & Here is the completed layout:
I'm on the Masterful Scrapbook Design chat now with Debbie Hodge & Corrie Jones & I scraplifted her Go! Go! Go! Go! Layout (you can see it here by clicking through to Corejones' blog).
Madonna wanna be title & journaling to come.
Journaling Reads: "It is so awesome to me that my girl loves Madonna just like I did. She says her favorite song is Madonna's Like A Prayer - me too sister - Love, Your 80s Mommy 3/18/13."
The Story: My daughter came to love Madonna all on her own and I was actually thrilled - I love Madonna too; and while her songs were a bit racy back in the 80s they seem a bit tamer now - but probably still too racy for my 9 year old - but she loves them and I just can't say no - and she looks adorable as a Madonna wannabe - this was her Halloween costume - that she created herself - hot rollered hair courtesy of yours truly. Awesome.
So I got to ask Corrie where to put the title - I had already started the journaling in the lower left and on the Masterful Scrapbook Design live chat she suggested that the title go right in the middle over the middle photo and overlapping a little onto the two other photos. And presto! Done! Thanks Corrie - your pages in Masterful Scrapbook Design are amazing!
P.S. Of course I used my American Crafts Thickers from Two Peas!
I put together a bunch of "half-baked" layouts yesterday meaning I scraplifted the base of the pages. I used Jen Jockisch's Bonanza as the basis for this page:
Journaling: "1990: My Grandpa Allen Hastings Cunningham never really retired fom being an accountant. But his passion was for ART! This is his upstairs studio at 62 Wilson Street. He was a True Artist!"
He was my favorite.
***
Aside: I'm going to hit on one of those topics you aren't supposed to talk about - religion! I am not particularly religious, but I do feel connected to God in a personal way and on a daily basis and I pray with my children every day; that said, I do feel like I should bring the kids to church more often. Meantime, I am also a fan of lots of different perspectives on God including the LDS Church or more commonly known as the Mormons. They have a bi-annual General Conference and I watch it on YouTube. Here is a link to the talk on family history research, it explains why Mormons are interested in family history research and why family history research has become so easy with the current technology. Here's the Link: Link to Family History Talk by Richard G. Scott at the October 2012 LDS General Conference.
Ok, so The Century Scrapbook Project means one page from 1900 to now - or about 112 scrapbook layouts! That's a lot of layouts.
My goals with this project are to:
1. Document my family's history.
2. Organize the family history documents I have inherited.
3. Start to better understand my family's journey.
4. Share the photos, memories and stories with my family over the holidays.
5. Inspire my family to get more involved with the family history research.
That's it.
Hey wait, I didn't say "make the most fabulous scrapbook pages on the internet" or "use the latest and greatest scrapbooking supplies". Nope, those are not my goals. But making pretty pages is a bonus.
So for speed and aesthetic value, I love to scraplift.
Here's a peek at six of my "half-baked pages" made in one hour from scraplifting from my 8.5x11 Scrapbook Layouts Pinterest Board.
I like to scraplift to try new ways of putting together pages, this one is based on this page by Lexi Bridges that I found on the Two Peas Blog. I think this white background with lots of random scraps has been a trend lately. For the embellishments on this one I mainly used products from LilyBee but I also opened a bag of yellow scraps. I keep random embellishments and scraps in "color bags" - and they are useful for this type of project. I used those "tickets" even though they didn't have much to do with dogs, but I think, in retrospect, maybe I was thinking about the saying "Oh she's a hot ticket" meaning - she's funny - and thought I'd use them anyway since my kids are prone to being silly.
Journaling: "Look Mom! Dandy and I are puppy sisters! Mac could always tame Duke and call him "Duke Duke" in a soft quiet voice until (typcially less friendly) Duke came to him. Duke & Dandy were our first babies and they loved our real babies (and they all grew up together)."
Supplies: Lily Bee & random bits of scraps.
Remember This Blog Post. I started a layout a week or so ago; today I finished it. I was originally inspired by a scrapbooker I learned about on Get it Scrapped; today I remember that scrapbooker's style was highly embellished - I started this page based on the basic structure of one her pages. Today, I didn't look back, I just finished the layout. I'm sure it is lots less embellished than the original. Also, I finished with some different inspiration - there was a digital scrapbooking prompt for the Get It Scrapped design team assignments and my execution of "Allison" has actually very little to do with the prompt, but it got me going to finish this layout. Plus, I've given myself the challenge to work down the design team assigment list - even the ones I wasn't assigned - just to get me back in the zone so I'll actually have something awesome (hopefully) for my actual assignments.
I saw Kim Watson's "Remember This" Layout and was inspired to scraplift it. I think her layout is 12x12 and mine is 8x8; I'll probably do significantly less embellishing but will stick with the general embellishment placement on her page. I'm planning to get some of Allison's own handwriting for the space on the right. I've run out of time to finish it, but here's my start.
I'll post the finished layout sometime soon.
Scraplifting the Winter CHA 2012 Layouts helped me make a bunch of layouts over the past couple weeks:
I've been scraplifting the Winter CHA 2012 layouts for the past couple of weeks and I think I'm done now, here's a slide show of some of those layouts:
P.S. Its flash from Flickr, so if you need the link: FLICKR CHA WINTER 2012 GROUP "THE KNOCK-OFFS". If you are a scrapbooker going through a creative rut and want to do some scraplifting to recharge your creativity batteries: scraplift some of the CHA layouts and then go join the Flickr group and add your layouts - I'd love to see them.
Cheers.
Bella Blvd. Layout by Janna Wilson from Pinterest & The Scraplift:
Thoughts on the CREATIVE PROCESS: Sometimes I like to switch up my creative process by using scraplifting, it provides boundaries and gives me a place to go so I can get layouts accomplished quickly and it provides a means of getting a little something done everyday. Without this technique, I think that when I'm going through a creativity rut, I'd just stop scrapbooking, and the creativity muscle is like any other - it needs daily exercise. So scraplifting gives me a way to "call it in" while I'm experiencing a creative low. Sometimes, however, I do take a total break from scrapbooking when I'm feeling uninspired; but the scraplifting method seems more productive and gives me something to do and think about in the meantime. My Grandfather was a painter and he'd so his own original art, but sometimes he'd copy the masters just to switch it up. Scraplifting gives me that same sort of creative stretching. Seeing all the new products and layouts from CHA 2012 provided some really great eye candy for this purpose. I've been taking inspiration from CHA 2012 - specifically 7 Gypsies, Dear Lizzy and this week Bella Blvd. I think I'm about done with my scraplifting series. I'm ready to start fresh on something else, I'm not sure what yet, but I'll start something new starting tomorrow.
In the meantime, here is #7 and the final layout in the "Scraplifting Bella Blvd." series:
The Scraplift: I made the base part of the page a week or so ago and did the photos, embellishments and journaling this morning. The original layout caught my eye since the girl in the photo looks like one of my best friends from elementary school (Katie Yerrid) and I liked the colors and it looked easy enough to scraplift. This is a nice layout for highlighting one photo and having some creative time with your patterned papers.
The Story: It is Saturday Morning and I'm feeling a bit lonely. My son is playing wii and wanting to go to Toys R Us (I so don't want to go there). My husband is engrossed in the paper and HGTV. And my daughter is off with her BFF. I have the urge to go downtown to the Saturday Morning Market but no one wants to come. I don't really want to go alone today. So I find myself in my scrapbook room trying to occupy myself, knowing I could be working out or cleaning out closets or doing something more productive, but I think my daily creative time is important. So I started out not feeling very creative but I took the base page and started anyway. I came across this three year old photo of my daughter which was taken on a Saturday Morning on our way to to a craft fair on Corey Avenue, St. Pete Beach; back then she was only too happy to come hang out with me; now she's got her own plans many Saturday Mornings. I know that's the natural process of things. But still, I wish my kids thought I was more fun to hang out with - now they've always got their own ideas about what they want to do. Gone are the days when I could just say "get in the car - lets go on wild adventure" and leave the house without a plan but end up having a day full of fun with my kids at the park or craft fair or beach or whereever. So I'm feeling a bit middle aged - like my kids are half way through and I miss their little selves and all the snuggling that used to be part of my daily routine, now I have to practically beg them for a hug and never mind on the kisses, so not happening. I guess all mothers go through this sort of feeling at one time or another but I'm feeling particularly sappy today, I'm going to indulge this feeling a bit but just for a day, tomorrow I WILL embrace a more hopeful, forward moving, productive attitude, but today, I'll lament the fact that my kids are growing up and needing me less and that I'm getting older.
SAPPINESS: One summer while I was in college, I took summer classes at Eckerd and my roommate that summer was Yoko Yokohama, she was from Japan; Eckerd prides itself on being a very small liberal arts school and having students from all 50 states and many countries so the student body was very diverse which was really cool since there were only about 1500 students there when I was there (its my 20th year reunion coming up this spring - ahhh just one more reason to feel really like I'm getting older and time is passing more quickly than I'd like). Anyway, Yoko was the most delightful person, she was like a puppy - all playful and fun and full of energy one minute and sleeping like a baby the next. She was always so happy to see me (and anyone else) and she was sweet and nice and welcoming and had a excitement that was contagious. I could really use a visit from Yoko today, I'm sure she's get me out of think funk I'm in today. Whereever you are now Yoko, I miss you. Ok, back to my original point. One day, Yoko was in a funk, which was very unusual for her, and the conversation went like this:
"Ohhhh, Katie, I'm so SAPPY today." Yoko declared letting out a long sigh.
"Sappy?" I asked, thinking maybe she needed to look up that word again for the correct usage, I'd never heard anyone describing themselves as feeling sappy before.
"Yes, SAPPY. You know, I'm feeling sad and happy all at the same time." She answered.
That made perfect sense, I thought. I remember thinking that I was pretty sure that wasn't the dictionary definition of that word, but that was the best definition of it that I had ever heard. That moment somehow burned itself into my brain and I can remember it quite perfectly, where she was sitting, our dorm room, the entire place in time, even though I have no photos of that summer or of Yoko or our rooom, I remember the whole thing perfectly. Some moments are like that, twenty years later, that seemingly regular moment is still burned into my brain and it is a conversation I go back to when I'm feeling SAPPY, and the memory of Yoko and how happy she made me feel and how profound her words were to me that day, often times the memory helps to get me feeling more on the happy than the sad side of things. Thank you Yoko, you definately left a forever imprint on me.
P.S. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defintion of SAPPINESS is 1. the state of being full of or smelling of sap, 2. the quality or state of being sappy: foolishness. I like that foolish word because of Steve Jobs's speech, so I'm cool with being a bit sappy from time to time - and my Dad used to tap our maple trees for sap and used to make maple syrup and sugar candy, so I'm pretty sure we were in the state of sappiness back then; plus I miss him and all of his sappiness.
Journaling: Main journaling block: "Saturday Morning. 2009 /2012. These photos are from when you used to happily agree to going to the art fair with me. Fast forward 3 years and you've got play dates with your BFF. Missing you today. Love Mommy." Side tab: "Can we rewind a little?"
Supplies: Patterened Paper from American Crafts and DCWV; Fiskars Border Punch; K&Company Tag (at top and side) and other random bits of ribbon, buttons and brads.
Blogging: The act of making this page helped me work out the feelings that I was feeling this morning, but the page doesn't really tell the whole story does it? Thats ok, sometimes my feelings come out better in blog form. When that happens and I really tell the story better in the blog entry than on the page, I just print out my blog entry and either slip it into a 8x11 page proector opposite the 12x12 layout in my 3 ringed album; or I just slip it in behind the layout; either way - the whole story is there for anyone who is interested (or not) in the future. And I feel like I've gotten then feelings out and can clear my emotional slate and move forward. Scrapbooking as self therapy is a good thing because it feels like play and because the process gets recorded so that when I look back at the page I can remember the process and when I write down the process on the blog and print it out, then maybe sometime in the future, it will help my daughter or hers when she's going through a SAPPY time. Or maybe it will help a blog reader who's going through the same type of thing. Any which way, it makes me feel better. And I do. Ahhh. Maybe I'll go to that Saturday Morning Market thing on my own and enjoy a Gyro and being amongst people on this fine day.
Want to read more on the creative process? Check out these books:
P.S. Thinking I'll incorporate some of my One Little Word Class (Ali Edwards / Big Picture Classes) into my weekend and take a photo safari for my word "HOPE" and probably my last year's word "AWESOME" too - I could use a little more of both of those words in my head and heart today.
I have been taking inspiration from the CHA releases, trends, colors, and design team layouts. This week, I picked one scrapbooking manufacturer, Bella Blvd., and made the bases of the pages and each day I finish the layout with photos, embellishments and journaling. Here is the Link to the Bella Blvd. Chevron Layout.
The Scraplift: I mimiced the chevron pattern on the bottom of the original page by taking a striped patterened paper and cutting it - as you can see it is not perfect, but I'm ok with that.
The Story: The kids and I just got back from another ski vacation and we spent almost every waking moment on the mountain, I am thrilled that the kids love skiing like I do. (Now if I could just get my husband on board or on skis.)
Supplies: KI Memories, Fiskars Border Punch, American Crafts Letter Stickers, Smash Sticker.
Last week, I posted that I'd have my CHA Bella Blvd. inspired scrapbook knock-offs up on Sunday {here's a link to that blog post}; we got back from a ski vacation and I've been busy getting back to my daily routine and haven't had a chance to blog until now. So here are three pages inspired by the Winter 2012 CHA layouts from Bella Blvd.:
Scraplift: I have tons of buttons but don't often use them on my scrapbook layouts so it was fun to have a purpose for some of these mismatched buttons.
The Story: Since many of the CHA layouts have only one photo, I picked a photo that was very meaningful even though it is not a perfect photo; it is the first photo taken of our whole family - it was taken in the garage - actually here in my home office / scrapbooking room since we had a little crib set up in here- on the day we brought Allison home from the hospital. Allison is now 8 years old and I didn't do a lot of scrapbooking when she was a baby since I was very busy, so its fun to take out these old photos and scrap them now.
Supplies: I used some DCWV baby themed patterened paper, random buttons fastened to the page with adhesive dots; the red polka dot paper is from Echo Park's basics pack, and the letters were from a dollar bin at Target - they didn't stick particularly well so I machine stitched them to the page.
2. Paper Strips and Buttons Layout.
Scraplift: I loved the design of this page since it uses a big square of patterened paper and lots of patterened strips to give the page a solid base and the diagonal random buttons were a fun addition but don't feel too random, the design of this layouts allows for a lot of stuff on the page, but also allows for photos and jouranling space.
The Story: "The school photo process - what a detail ordeal - not only did they get the orders wrong both times, but we had to do re-takes of both kids - but both kids were picture perfect cuties." The back story is that Mac's hair was so long in the first photo that we got him a hair-cut and had a retake done and Allison's photo pose was weird so that while the photo was cute, the amount of space her head took up in the photo was so small you could barely see her face. So both had to get re-takes and both times the processor got everything wrong about the photo packages - and there were about a zillion photo package options, it was seriously confusing and even though the pictures were done in October, we still don't have Mac's package straightened out so that's still on my to do list!
Supplies: KI Memories patterned paper and Bazzill cardstock, random buttons and epoxy stickers and brads, Sassafrass adhesive border stips.
Scraplift: The original page used a dark blue patterened paper base with a tight design, I didn't have something that worked exactly so I used two different Echo Park papers and stitched them together with the middle strip.
The Story: "CHA 2009: As a scrapbooker, it was a total delight to take an entire week off work and go get totall immersed in the world of my hobby and to learn about the industry and all the players. So total interesting to get an upclose peek into this subculture that I spend so many hours in." In the photo are Tina Cockburn (Simple Scrapbooks & Write.Click.Scrapbook.); me; Angie Lucas (Simple Scrapbooks & Ella Publishing); Diva Danielle (she had a podcast which I'm not sure is still around or not); Lain Ehmann (Simple Scrapbooks & Layout A Day); & Tami Morrison (Funnest Ever Scrapbooker from Simple Scrapbooks & teacher at Big Picture Classes).
Supplies: Echo Park patterened paper, QuicKutz die cut letters, sharpie marker, and random other odds and ends.
That's all for now and now that I'm back to my regularly scheduled blog programming, I'll have the rest of the seven Bella Blvd. inspired scrapbook layouts up one per day for the rest of the week.
Plus I'll have my Project Life Album pages up soon and the travel scrapbook I made during our recent ski trip; and I'll be participating in Ali Edward's Day in the Life tomorrow - which also happens to be my son's 10th birthday - but I'm under strict order that we are not to celebrate (not sure what to do about that command).
Cheers.
I recently took the Ella Publishing Boot Camp and a few of the exercises by Maggie Holmes were instruction in PhotoShop Elements 9. I have owned this program for a long time but I have been afraid to use it, the video instuction in the Ella Boot Camp was very informative and made me comfortable with at least going in to the program to do some more editing on my own with some of my photographs.
Tonight I made a layout based on a Sketchy Thursdays Sketch and then edited the photograph of it in PhotoShop Elements.
So my questions for you, dear blog-reader:
1. Do you upload your layouts to the internet?
2. Do you scan or photograph your scrapbook layouts?
3. Do you edit the photos of your scrapbook layouts before uploading to them your blog or internet sharing site?
4. Can you give me some tips on making my layouts look better on my blog?
Thanks!
Katie Scott.
This challenge was to use an ad as inspiration for a layout. I don't think mine turned out nearly as clever as the BC ad, but I still like the overall effect.
I'm a bit behind on the Ella Publishing Boot Camp because I came down with the flu this week, but I'm on the mend now and catching up on the challenges. I made this layout by stamping the circles in the horizontal border strip in the bottom third - and then I punched patterned paper to fill in the circles.
I don't often stamp on my pages so this was challenging for me even through it was very simple to accomplish. Trying something new - or something you haven't done in a while - is a good thing.
The circles and the papers I used made me think of the seasons - and that there were more than four circles running all together made me think of the seasons in Florida and how my Floridian children don't really get the experience of the changing seasons like I did growing up in New England.
Journaling: Growing up in New England, I felt very connected with the 4 seasons because it was always very obvious from the weather which season it was. The quote by John Keats "The Human Seasons" which goes "Four seasons fill the measure of a year; there are four seasons in the mind of [humans]". I do think the seasons mimic our lifespan and my kids are Floridians and all the seasons blend together. I do my best to take them to other states to see and feel the seasons, but its hard to know withtout experience."
I sort of ran out of space before I could write something better to end upon; but its ok, I'll maybe put this page near the beginning of a seasons scrapbook & then the rest of the layouts will finish this thought that even though they haven't gotten the seasons here in Florida, we have done many things to fill in this gap and the other layouts will exemplify that.
I also did a scraplift of Nichol Migouirk's boot camp layout:
I tried to do this with stamping - but the patterned papers I already had were close enough - somehow stamping always seems like too much effort for me when it is actually not all that time / effort intensive. Do you stamp on your layouts?
On birthdays, I'm not the best at buying cards - actually I think they are a giant waste of money - and I'm not a card maker either. Chances are, however, if you are in my family and its your birthday - I'll make a scrapbook layout about you. I won't give you the layout, mind you, but I will make it and think happy thoughts about you. Maybe someday, I'll put these types of layouts in a digital photobook so that the people in my People We Love Albums will actually get to enjoy these layouts.
This aqua colored patterened paper with the cameras is one of the first pieces of scrapbooking patterened paper I ever bought probably in 1998 - but here it is looking hip and trendy (imho) - in this layout which is a scraplift inspired idea from This Layout from I Heart Penguins .
Chances are, if its your birthday and you are in my family, I'll also make you a birthday border from odds and ends scrapbooking supplies:
Ok, so I'm off to a birthday party for a Virgo - we have a lot of Virgo's in our family (my sister, my mother, my cousin, my sister in law, just to name a few); so I've thought a lot about the commonalities of Virgos and my compatibility with them. I think there is probably a little something to the astology thing - and tarot.com seems to have a general enough but also specific enough daily email horoscope that I've been getting for years and it is freakishly right on every day. So here's what tarot.com says about Gemini's and Virgo's being friends:
"The two of you have keen intellects and enjoy discussing books, politics and current events. Your attitude toward these issues is a little more detached than your friend's, but that's only to be expected. Virgo takes everything to heart, which can be a source of strain in your friendship. Be very careful about making offhanded jokes to the Virgin, for your friend can take such remarks very personally. At times, your pal's anxiousness can get on your nerves, while your frivolity can drive Virgo to distraction. For the most part, though, you can enjoy a fulfilling friendship. Activities like hiking appeal to you both, since Virgo loves the outdoors and you like exploring. Alternately, you could both enjoy bird watching. Hands-on activities like pottery and knitting could also have tremendous appeal for you."
Hmmmm. Here's what a few other sites say:
"A relationship between a Gemini and a Virgo is one that evolves over time. Both friends need to take an effort to understand and appreciate each other. Gemini could often have more than one opinion about everything. Vigo must accept this character of Gemini, and act accordingly. If they could understand each other well, Gemini and Virgo could have a long lasting friendship. Initially Gemini might find Virgo too serious and fussy. Both star signs need to be patient and wait for their friendship to blossom. Gemini and Virgo have an entirely dissimilar outlook of everything. Gemini might find the bare, plain attitude of Virgo drab and monotonous, and Virgo might resent the vacillating and unrealistic nature of Gemini. Gemini could introduce excitement and fun into the lives of Virgo. The twins are quicker in reaching decisions than the virgin, but the virgin is more stable in its decisions. Gemini do whatever suits their fancy for the moment, while Virgo work towards achieving set goals. Gemini must be careful not to be too aloof from Virgo, while Virgo must learn not to censure or rebuke Gemini too much. Gemini might dislike the fussy and exacting character of Virgo, and Virgo might find the fickle and changing nature of Gemini unappealing. Virgo usually concentrate on one thing at a time, while Gemini keep changing their attention to different things. Virgo should not deprive Gemini of their independence. They could always make use of the ideas and innovations of Gemini."
"Gemini is a jack-of-all-trades, a whiz-kid, a trickster and a messenger. Virgo is a technician, an efficiency expert, and a bargain seeker. If you can give a Gemini good communication, social interchanges and a variety of life experience, then you have a better chance of getting their love and affection. If you can give a Virgo good health and the time to do things right you have a better chance of getting their love and affection. TIP: You will be happy when you determine exactly what you want together. Gemini is essentially articulate, versatile and adroit; Gemini likes variety. Gemini is an idea person. Virgo is essentially level- headed with something of a flair for statistics and analysis. Virgo is highly selective and prone to inquiries and examinations. Gemini will find Virgo to be practical, methodical and in possession of natural money handling abilities. Gemini's mind naturally likes to go from subject to subject. Gemini has varied interests and like to keep up with what's going on in the world. Gemini can be the original "quick study" who grasps facts, concepts and ideas; but Gemini can get bored easily and do not like things to drag along. Virgo can be cautious in matters of the heart. Virgo likes to do things for people and tends to be more of a giver than a taker. However, Virgo does need to be thanked. Virgo may feel like Gemini has not one, but at least two different personality sides. Gemini needs open lines of communication. The best friends for Gemini are the ones who appreciate Gemini's sense of humor."
Long Story Short? I think that the relationship between Gemini's and Virgo's can be challenging because I feel like we are totally different beasts; but I've got a lot of these relationships in my life, so like understanding people with their Myers-Briggs personalities - I think its useful to know astrological signs too, even though I'm not sure I totally and completely believe the astrology bit, the common traits do seem to be right on; and September is a busy birthday month for me because of all of the Virgos in our family.
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