... just Laura

My Week Facebook Style: A Creating Keepsakes Layout

Once again, my week got away from me. I'm pretty sure the month of January got away from me, just like the month of December did. Lol. The last two months have been a crazy blur. Between work, scrapbook work, the holidays, winter break, school, soccer, band, etc, we never seem to know if we're coming or going. Luckily we are finishing a few things up that will free up a bit more time in our days. Give us a little breathing room. We're all playing catch up and getting things back on track. As best we can. 

As seen in the January/February 2013 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

I realized I hadn't gotten around to sharing this Creating Keepsakes layout yet. I was asked to create a two page layout, incorporating Facebook status posts into my journaling. What seems like ages ago, I used to occasionally do these "Facebook Style Randomness" posts on my blog, where I would round up a bunch of my status updates and put them all together in one post. It was a way to catch up on little odds and ends in my life, for those of you that aren't on Facebook.

So when I got this assignment, it was easy enough to pull up just those posts, and find one that would work on a layout. I looked for a post where I had a decent number of status updates to pull from. I also made sure that I would have photos to support several of the status updates.

 

I was working on this layout right after Summer CHA, so I picked out several of the Bella Blvd patterned papers that we were coming out with at that time. I choose papers from the birthday collections and the fall collection, along with some of the new buttons.

I chose to print all of my journaling (or my Facebook status updates, I should say) and my photos in squares, since I was going with a grid design on my two page spread. I created text boxes in my word document and copied my updates into the boxes, formatting them to fit.

I had a few of these photos in my blog post to go with the updates, and some of the updates I had to find photos for.

I also added digital frames around the text squares. Don't ask me what frame, because I honestly don't remember. I made this layout forever ago.

See that little wood grain Facebook logo? By the time I had all of my status updates printed out and my photos printed out, I ended up with one empty spot on my grid. So I thought a Facebook logo would be nice to add in there. But the usual dark blue one you see wasn't going to work. I just googled "brown facebook logo" and ended up with tons of them to chose from.

I guess it is true. If you can't google it, it doesn't exist!

Creating Keepsakes: Creative Spaces Vol 2

There's a new special issue out from Creating Keepsakes magazine, and it's all about creative spaces. I love getting to peek into other scrappers spaces and to see how they organize their scrapbooking supplies. I'm an organizer at heart, so I eat up every nook and cranny of every photo. You just never know when you might see an idea from someone else that will end up working perfectly for you, your supplies, and your space.

 

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I was asked to share a little something about organizing or my scrap space today. I really should give an updated look at my space, since it's been a few years since my last share. But it's a true mess right now and needs some loving attention. So I thought I would share an extention of my scrap room ... my scrap island.

Some of you might remember when I had my scrap space in our upstairs loft. The piece of furniture I would get asked about the most is my scrap island. It's huge, at 4 feet by 8 feet in size. When I moved my space back to the downstairs bedroom, my scrap island (which is now used for like 10 different purposes) ended up in the playroom (actually the living room/dining room area, which is our "playroom" for my daycare business). It's only about 10 steps away from my scrap room, so I'm always working on the island as well.

For years, I've just had piles of stuff on this island. I try and make it look neat and organized, but it still comes off looking like "piles" and kind of like a random mess. It's such a large island, that it's hard to make it look semi decorative, but still have room to work. A few months ago Sarah decided to get rid of the desk in her room, and this white wooden hutch piece was sitting on top of the desk. I wasn't willing to get rid of it, since it's an old Pottery Barn piece.

I had it sitting on the island until I had time to take it out to the garage, and it finally dawned on me that I could make it work right where it was. I positioned it in the center of the island, pushed further to the back since I don't work on the backside of the island. I added a few decorative greenery pieces to the sides to use up even more space and try and make it look more homey.

The great thing about this hutch piece is that it has two small drawers on each side, and 4 compartments across the center. I had some old metal tins that I got in the dollar section at Target ages ago, that fit perfectly in the compartments. I use those to store extra adhesives and small tools so that when I am working on stuff out on the island, I don't have to drag all the basics out from my scrap space. I shove larger things (like an extra Xyron sticker maker) in the drawers.

I love, love, love that my external hard drives fit in one of the drawers. I was always stuggling to find a good spot to store these, since I do use them constantly and like to have them handy. I have three external hard drives in that bottom drawer. Perfect! I have some extra camera stuff in the top drawer.

This aqua wooden tray was something I found at Hobby Lobby. I have it in two sizes, and this is the larger one. It had been off to the side of the island all along, and when I realized it tucked into the open area in the center of the hutch perfectly, I was thrilled. This tray holds totally random stuff, and it always changing. Usually, I have completed layouts stacked on one side that I add to as I create.

Right now, I have a CD I need to put away, Alyssa's music and academic blocks that she earned at school that need to go into her school album (decided against a letterman's jacket, knowing she wouldn't wear one), copies of scrap magazines, paperwork that needs to be put away, extra photos, etc. Just random stuff. But I like that it looks organized, all because it's in a tray!

And I topped off the hutch with this fun "Happy" sign. Because after years of this scrap island looking like a misplaced piece of massively large furniture, it now looks like it has a purpose. Which makes me HAPPY!

 

Creating Keepsakes: Scrapbooking Babies & Toddlers *Giveaway*

I'm excited to see the newest special issue from Creating Keepsakes finally arriving on newstands! Scrapbooking Babies & Toddlers is a special issue that I think most of us out there can find inspiring. While my girls are both teenagers now (still not sure how that happened!), it wasn't too long ago that they were in the baby and toddler stages themselves. I still love to go back to those old photos of them, as itty bitty little things, and use them on my layouts. No matter how big our kid have gotten, I think this issue can still come in handy, as most of us are never really caught up in scrapping our photos and memories.

As seen in the Scrapbooking Babies & Toddlers special issue, from Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

Here's a peek at one of my layouts in this issue. I didn't plan it this way, but I have three layouts in this issue, and none of the three feature photos of my own children. Lol. I borrowed these photos (taken of her brother and sister-in-law) from my friend Krista Lund, who is an amazing photographer. 

 

Creating Keepsakes Blog: Guest Blogger

I thought I was a guest blogger on the Creating Keepsakes blog today. Turns out, it was yesterday. I can't even keep track of what day it is anymore, which feels a little pathetic. Lol. Anyways. On to a little layout share.

CK has lots of kits available in their store. In fact, I've worked with a few in the past, and even designed a kit from scratch. This new one is called It's All In The Details, and along with the kit you get full instructions for making two 12x12 layouts. I was asked to create another layout with this same kit.

And this is what I came up with. The kit included 2 sheets of patterned paper, from Crate Paper, with tags and journaling blocks that could be cut apart. So that's how I started this layout. I just cut into those two papers and put together what I thought would be a good mix for a layout.

Since a lot of the tags and journaling blocks that I was drawn to had more of a travel theme, I pulled out a few photos from one of the CKC's that I taught at last year. I've had them printed and in-the-works on another layout, but just never got around to finishing it. It was easy enough to swap them out.

I think I used a little bit of everything in the kit on this page. I mixed the two different alphabet stickers for my title, and layered tags and chipboard pieces onto additional tags and chipboard pieces.

I still love to rough up the edges of my papers to add texture to the page. And I still love, love, LOVE my pop dots.

Would you like a chance to win this kit for yourself? Just head over HERE to the CK store and check out all of the kits that are available. Then head over HERE to the CK blog and leave a comment telling them your favorite kit. A winner will be chosen on Monday!

Creating Keepsakes September/October 2012

It's been a while since I've had a layout share from CK. Or a giveaway. I finally have something to share and to give away, now that the Creating Keepsakes September/October 2012 issue is out.

I created this layout for the "Fast Pages" column, meaning that the layouts can be created in 45 minutes or less. I worked on this assignment shortly after Winter CHA, when I had just gotten a hold of the new Dear Lizzy Neapolitan collection, and a bunch of the new My Mind's Eye collections. I really loved how the two went together so nicely.

I chose to scrap these photos of Sarah that I took on her 10th birthday, which was 3 years ago. I really loved the wood paper and how it looked with the other sherbet-ey papers against it, so I used that as the main part of my background paper.

The Dear Lizzy paper with the little polaroid frames on it was a favorite of mine, so I cut several of the frames to use on the layout. I distressed the edges of all my papers and polaroid frames to add texture, and adhered some of the photos and frames with pop dots for dimension. 

The title was from the My Mind's Eye collection. I simply added a few torn pieces of washi tape on either side of the die cut title, along with a staple to secure it to the layout. That brown ribbon is super old, and I believe it's from American Crafts.

Creating Keepsakes has generously given me a copy of the September/October issue to give away to one of my lucky blog readers. Just leave me a comment to be entered in the random drawing. I will announce a winner on Saturday!

Creating Keepsakes Blog: Trends Talk Guest Blogger + Tutorial

Once a month, on the Creating Keepsakes blog, there is a Trends Talk feature, with one of the Dream Team members. This month, it's my turn, and I choose to talk about accordian pinwheels.

I've been spotting these fun accordian pinwheels all over the place. And just recently I finally started to incorporate them into my layouts. But there are so many other fun things to do with them, and you can see lots of examples in my blog post HERE.

For those of you that might be new to making these fun pinwheels, I put together a quick and simple tutorial:

You can totally make these without a scoring board. But having one will definately make it easier. Mine is from Stampin Up, but there are a few other brands out there as well. I cut 12 inch strips of patterned paper to make the flowers. I varied the widths of my strips, from 1.25 inches to 2 inches wide. I found that this size works best on my layouts.

I used a border punch along one side of the paper strip, just to give the edge a bit of interest. If you do this, you'll just want to be sure that the punched edge ends up on the outside of the flower.

The scoring board makes it so easy to score the lines along the strip of paper. I made my score marks every quarter of an inch.

I scored along the backside of my paper, since it was easier to see than on the black side. Look at those perfectly lined up score lines, all ready for folding.

Next, you're going to accordian fold the paper strip. Folding it over one way, and then the other way. Back and forth. If you don't have a scoring board, you can start at this point, and just do the accordian folding on your own, without score marks. The folds don't have to be perfect and straight, so don't stress over it if you aren't able to score your paper.

You would continue to fold all the way down the strip of the paper.

Next, you want to adhered the two ends together, using a strong adhesive that is really going to hold. I use glue dots, which hold pretty well. You can even staple the ends, if you're not super picky about the staples showing a little bit.

You're going to want something to adhere the flower too, once you get it into the right shape. I use a circle punch on a scrap of cardstock, and then put some strong adhesive on it. I just happened to have these jumbo sized glue dots, which worked really well.

This is where you have to show your folded paper strip who's boss. Start with it standing up, as pictured above. You'll want to kind of bunch up the edges on the top, and start pushing them down in the center.

As you push down the center, the outer edges will start to flatten out

And poof, you'll have a flower. But hold onto it, or poof, it will pop right back up and you'll be right back where you started ;)

You will need to carefully move it over, onto your punched circle with adhesive. It doesn't exactly go on there neatly, so just play with it, and squeeze the center edges together and push down to secure.

Then you can add some fun embellishments to the center of your flower to finish them off.

For the flowers on my layout, I added die cut cardstock flowers that I had left over from another project. And then a threaded button to finish it off.

 

Living The Dream: A Big Picture Classes Giveaway

The Creating Keepsakes Dream Team was quite busy a while ago, putting together a fun workshop that is being offered through Big Picture Classes. It's called Living The Dream. Today, we are all hosting a blog hop, to let you know more about this fun workshop, and to also give you a ton of chances to win a free spot in the class.

Are you living the dream? Whether it's landing that job you always wanted, accomplishing a goal you set for yourself, or having the family you hoped for, so much of the lives we lead today began as things we only dreamed of yesterday. Celebrate how you truly are living your dreams with the inspiring ideas in this 20-day class, taught by the ten members of the Creating Keepsakes Dream Team!

The Creating Keepsakes Dream Team is made up of ten women from all over the world who are the creative power houses of Creating Keepsakes magazine — contributing their photos, scrapbook layouts, and more to each issue. They are selected from hundreds of scrapbookers as an exclusive design team each year because of their talent, style and reliability. Each Dream Team member has a unique style and enjoys exploring and documenting her dreams.

How it works:
First you'll receive ten days of inspirational emails that will give you a photo prompt and a journaling prompt. This will help you really think about what your dreams are, and where those dreams started. During the next ten days you'll receive a handout from each Dream Team teacher that will give you the instructions and inspiration to complete a layout that documents the different ways that you're living your dream.

Your dreams are important. Spending time remembering the dreams you had when you were younger and recognizing how those dreams have been fulfilled (in the way you thought they would be, and in totally different ways than you dreamed) will inspire you, and hopefully inspire others as well. We hope that you'll join us in this 20-day workshop to connect with these talented instructors as well as enjoy the opportunity to not just count, but scrap your blessings.

The Living the Dream Workshop Includes:

• Supply suggestions in each email (using supplies that you most likely have on hand)
• 10 inspirational emails with photo and journaling prompts (one from each Dream Team member)
• 10 colorful handouts with layout ideas and examples
• 10 layout sketches, available as a PDF and a PSD layered template
• Expert instruction and techniques to try on your layouts
• A gallery full of additional layout inspiration from each Dream Team member
• Welcome message and welcome audio from Jennafer Martin, Editor-in-Chief of Creating Keepsakes magazine.

Class starts on June 28th, and lasts for a full 20 days. Registration is open now, and the cost is just $20!

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I chose to focus on friendships for my part in the workshop. I am only allowed to show you one little, tiny peek at my layout. You'll have to take the class to find out more about it, as well as what my other nine fellow Dream Teamer's have come up with for you ;)

There are lots of stops along this blog hop, and it all starts on the Creating Keepsakes Blog. Along the way, you will find different blogs linked at each stop. There are 13 blogs total, including the CK blog, so you'll have plenty of chances to win! Next up on the blog hop, please visit the following two talented Dream Team members:

Linda Barber & Maggie Holmes

I am giving away one free spot in the class, right here on my blog. Just leave me a comment to be entered in the random drawing. I will leave comments open until Sunday evening, and will announce a winner on Monday, June 4th. {Disclaimer: If a single person wins more than one spot in the class, from different blogs, another name will be drawn} 

So Fast - A Creating Keepsakes Layout

I'll be honest. National Scrapbook Day came and went, and I didn't do a single thing related to scrapping. In fact, I havn't scrapped a thing in almost two weeks. I wanted to throw something new up on the blog, so I figured I would share my other layout from the Simple Scrapbooks special issue from Creating Keepsakes.

As seen in the Simple Scrapbooks Special Issue, from Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

There are a few articles in this special issue called "Keeping Scrapbooking Simple", and they are broken down to how many supplies you used. I created this layout for the "7-9 Supplies" article, and was asked to use just 7 products total for my page. The catch was that each patterned paper counted as 1 product. I love my patterned paper, so right away, I knew that at least 3 of my products would be patterned paper.

I started out with the die cut paper from Studio Calico. I just loved the cut out circles, and thought it would add lots of interest to what would end up being a "simpler" layout. I layered it over a neutral graph paper, so it wasn't solid white peeking out of those circles. Then for my third patterned paper, I choose a bright blue paper from Pebbles, to pick up the blue in Sarah's shirt. My fourth product was the green ribbon, used to seperate the patterned papers on the page.

My fifth product was the corrugated alphas I choose for my title. I choose red alphas, because I knew I would be using the dimensional butterflies, and a few of them were red. The butterflies were my sixth product. They are layered, with 3 different colors/patterns/papers, and come with the rhinestone brads already in the centers. I wanted to add a few matching rhinestone brads to my ribbon, to mimic the butterflies. So those three brads in the ribbon were my seventh product.

If you see this layout in the Simple Scrapbooks special issue, it will look a bit different. You won't see the computer printed journaling, and instead will see hand written journaling strips. Turns out, my computer font was a "product", and I had to switch it out. Bummer, I know. LOL. I know our handwriting is important to see in our albums, but I also feel like my own handwriting ruins the clean and linear look of my layouts. This is still the version that I love, so it's the version I'm sharing :)

Supplies Used:

CK Club: NSD Countdown Kitchen Challenge

This week, on both the Creating Keepsakes Blog and the CK Club Blog, we are celebrating the week leading up to National Scrapbook Day with the theme "scrapbooking around the house". Each day this week, we are focusing on one room of the house. There are activities, tips, challenges, and prizes, on both blogs. Today, we are visiting the Kitchen, and I volunteered to do the Recipe Challenge over on the CK Club blog.

If you've never done a recipe challenge before, you're in for a special scrapbooking treat! Sometimes it's really easy to get stuck when you have a scraproom full of beautiful papers and accents. Forcing yourself to use a few specific items on your scrapbook page is a great way to switch your creative gears! Today, we are giving our challenge a little bit of a kitchen twist! Think of your supplies as ingredients. Pull out a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, just like the recipe calls for. Then follow that recipe, as you assemble and mix your ingredients together, to create a perfect layout!

The Five Ingredients:
1. 3 patterned papers - measure out 1/3 of each paper, to use on layout
2. 1 all purpose title - letter stickers or die cut title
3. 1 perfect photo
4. 1 baker's dozen journaling strips/blocks/tags
5. 3 sprinkles of embellishments - button and/or brads

The Recipe:
Step 1: Start with 3 patterned papers. Measure out 1/3 of each paper, to use on your layout.
Step 2: Add 1 all purpose title, using letter stickers or a die cut title.
Step 3: Find 1 perfect photo, and combine with the layout.
Step 4: Computer print or hand journal 1 baker's dozen journaling strips/blocks/tags.
Step 5: Sprinkle on 3 clusters of embellishments, such as buttons and/or brads.

All you need to do for this challenge is to create a scrapbook layout using the five ingredients, and keeping to the basic recipe. Upload a picture of your layout to the Club CK idea galleries and you could win some scrapping goodies! For all of the details and cut off dates, go HERE.

CK's Simple Scrapbooks Special Issue

Creating Keepsakes has a new special issue that just came out, called Simple Scrapbooks. I'm sure a lot of you remember Simple Scrapbooks magazine, which came to an end a few years back. This special issue is filled with tons of ideas for simplifying our scrapbooking process.

As seen in the Simple Scrapbooks Special Issue, from Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

My layout was created for an article about scraplifting. I was given a layout from a previous issue to lift, and I choose the flowers as my main focus of the scrap lift. I'm sure this would make more sense, if you had the issue and could read the article. LOL. Trust me, I lifted the flowers. The original layout also had lots of layered pattern papers along one side. I got the same look, by using a large piece of a pattern paper that was all borders. One piece of paper, versus combining lots of strips of paper. Same look, less time.

The pre-made flower embellishments, from Basic Grey, made this layout super quick and easy to create. The flowers are all 3-D, and have lots of dimension and layers, and even tiny rhinestones on them. I just took them out of the package and stuck them down. Easy peasy.

I just randomly came across these number die cuts, from Pink Paislee, while digging for the flowers. It was a very random decision to use these, and I choose a totally random number to use.

I used those number die cuts, to come up with my title. "Reason No. 714 Why I Love You". And then I came up with my journaling, based off of the title.

 

creating keepsakes may/june 2012

have you gotten your hands on the new creating keepsakes may/june 2012 issue yet? it's got a gorgeous layout by stacy cohen on the cover. you can also find some additional online extras HERE, such as contests, downloads (you must download the sketches!), and additional techniques that are found in this issue.

As seen in the May/June 2012 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

speaking of wedding layouts and sketches, i have a wedding layout in this issue. and it was created for the sketch column, which you can find on page 27. i scrapped some gorgeous wedding photos of my cousin rachael and her new husband ryan, taken by heidi-o-photo.

all of the papers i used, including the lace paper, are from basic grey. i loved the rich colors of the burgundy and green's that they used in their wedding decor. so pretty together. then i added in some silver and pearls, to help give the layout an elegant look.

i wanted another silver flower on the second page, to match the netted one on the first page. so i took some satiny trim, by pink paislee, and created my own little flower. just a little trick i picked up teaching some flowers classes at CKC 2 years ago ;)

 

fun & games - a creating keepsakes layout

i have a layout share today from scrapbooking ides for every season, a special issue from creating keepsakes.

As seen in the Scrapbooking Ideas For Every Season special issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

for this assignment, i was asked to create a layout with a gameboard inspired background. and it was supposed to be winter themed. this threw me a bit. after all, we don't have "winter" here where we live in california. so we certainly don't have many winter themed moments. then there was the "gameboard inspired background". what could i do with that?

after much thinking, i came up the perfect board game to use as inspiration for my layout. scene it! it's one of our favorite games to play, here in this house. we have a wide variety of scene it games. a few disney channel versions, disney movie version, nickelodeon channel version, twilight versions, etc.

i started by taking out one of the game boards, to use as a template for my layout. i knew i was doing a two page spread. and it turned out, that the game board was the PERFECT fit! i set two sheets of blue cardstock side by side, lined up the board on top, and then traced the board onto my cardstock. i cut those out, and then adhered them to my pages.

i used a white grid pattern paper for the base of my pages. i wanted a clean background, to let everything else stand out. the grid just adds a bit more interest, than plan white cardstock. i also added a few strips of black/white pattern paper, and a embossed red cardstock, along the tops and bottoms of my pages.

then i got to work finding photos to add to my "gameboard". since the girls (and admittedly, both joe and i as well) are huge disney channel and nickelodeon channels fans, i set out to find our favorite shows and stars. google images was my friend for this. i typed in what i was looking for, and then searched for the best photo i could find, in a size that would copy well for printing. for our favorite tv shows, i looked for great cast photos whenever i could.

i then pulled up each photo in photoshop, and resized them all to 1 inch x 1 inch. when i placed each photo onto my full sheet to print, i copied each one several times. i think i printed each photo 4-5 times, just to be sure i would have enough photos to go around the gameboard. after they printed out, i used a 1 inch square punch to punch out each photo.

i then set out to arrange the photos around the board. i spent forever on this part, trying to get them all lined up perfectly. i adhered each and every piece, using pop dots, for extra dimension. my "fun & games" title was cut with my silhouette, from black cardstock. i simply centered it across the two pages, and cut it where the pages meet, before adhering it.

i also cut some circles from a few different shades of blue cardstock, using a circle cutter. those mimic the circles on the actual scene it gameboard. the arrows were cut from the same red embossed cardstock that i used across the top and bottom of the pages. i simply dug up an old chipboard arrow, and traced it on the backside of the red cardstock, and then cut them out.

two things i have to point out about this layout, just because i thought they were kind of funny. this was supposed to be a "winter themed" layout. i was told that playing boardgames could be a winter activity that we do, which still makes this a winter themed layout. except that, after i had send this in, it dawned on me that the girls are wearing tank tops/tshirts in their photos. kind of a giveaway that i took these photos during the summer.

and when i sent this layout in, i was asked if i would be able to provide photo releases for all of the people in my photos. i had to laugh when i emailed back and said that they were all actors and actresses, and that i found all of their photos on google. i did NOT laugh when i was asked to provide links to all of the places where i had found these photos, which led me to google search them all over again. lol! i think it's also a great way to tell who has kids and can name all of these stars and shows, and who does not have kids (or your kids aren't quite old enough yet for some of these) and has no clue who the people in these photos are :)

yearly intro pages - a creating keepsakes layout

happy new year's, everyone! i was such a bad blogger last week. and then i had every intention of blogging before the year ended. i sat here on new year's eve, with a blank post pulled up, just waiting for me to write something. i was at a loss for words. i didn't have any photos or layouts to share. nothing. plus, i was sick all of new year's, with a terrible head cold. so i just decided to let it go, and come back in the new year. to hopefully do better at blogging, taking more photos, and scrapping more layouts. 

As seen in the January/February 2012 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

i created this layout for an article about using calendar products on our scrapbook layouts. when these diecut calendar papers came out, from ki memories, i stocked up a bunch of them. but i hadn't gotten around to using any of them. so i knew right away that i would use a few of these for my assignment. i took on the task of creating title pages/divider pages for our albums.

i organize our albums chronologically. the girls each have albums, with any pages about just them. and then i have family albums, which hold all the layouts that feature both the girls, or our family as a whole. i have large envelope protectors inbetween each year, so that i can keep them easily seperated. and so that i can slip in any memorabilia from the year, until i figure out what to do with it. but i like the idea of creating an intro page for each year. i have done something a little similiar in the past (see HERE), but this is a simpler version of the idea.

i choose this month border shape, and cut it out with my silhouette. since this is an into page to the entire year's worth of layouts, i liked the idea of having the months go all the way down the side of the layout. i added a wide ribbon next to the border, and embellished with a few buttons. i searched through my photos for the year, and choose a favorite photo of each of us. four simple photos.

when it came time to add the year, i knew i wanted to use something cut with my silhouette. i couldn't find the year i wanted, so i emailed the fabulous kerri bradford, who so kindly whipped up this "twenty eight" for me. she also created the "two thousand nine" that is seen on the following page. i cut these shapes twice, from two different colors of cardstock, and offset them just a bit when adhering them to the page. then i typed up some of the high-lights from the year, and added the journaling strips to the intro page.

i had created two layouts, to show another take on the same general idea. but they only ended up using one of the layouts in the magazine.

i'm really hoping to get some new layouts to share soon. but it's also CHA time, so i'll be creating up a storm for that, and won't be able to share my projects until the end of the month. i am swamped with work for bella blvd right now, and getting the design team all set up with assignments for booth projects, using the adorable new products that will be debuting at winter CHA. i think you're all going to love them!

halloween pretties - a creating keepsakes layout

i figured i would share my other layout from the scrapbooking with fabric & notions special issue, from creating keepsakes. this is technically my last layout share from the 2011 CK issues.

as seen in the Scrapbooking with Fabric & Notions Special Issue, from Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

i was asked to use satin material on a layout. when i think of "satin", i think of something dressy or fancy looking. i was picturing cream or white satin fabric, and i'm so NOT a fan of cream. i headed to joann's, in search of satin, and was pleasantly surprised to find lots of gorgeous, bright colors to choose from. i had NO clue what photos i wanted to use for my layout, so i just choose some colors that stood out to me. i went with the aqua, green, and brown. so pretty!

later, i remembered the girl's halloween photos from 2 years ago. both their costumes had a lot of aqua in them, and sarah's had a touch of brown. i figured the green could pick up the little bit of greenery in the background of the photos. when it comes to scrapping halloween photos, i'm not really about using your typical halloween colors. so i knew this would make a fun, colorful layout.

i searched for quite a while to find some pattern paper for this layout. i didn't want anything too overpowering, and this trees paper from studio calico just kept calling me. no matter how many other papers i tried out, i kept coming back to it. so i just went with it. for my title, i used some chunky brown glittered chipboard letters from making memories, along with my favorite loopy alpha stickers from doodlebug.

edited to add: i just noticed i have white loopy alpha stickers on my two page spread photo, and brown loopy alpha stickers on the other photos. i guess that gives away the one change i had to make to this layout, before it was sent to the magazine. lol! the white looked good in person, but the brown definately stands out more in photos and in print. i really should have re-photographed the entire spread.

when it came time to use the satin, i knew i would keep it fairly simple. i have done some work with fabric before, but have never really used satin material before. it wasn't the easiest thing to work with. i did my best to cut fairly straight strips of each color, and then did zig zag stitches across the edges. i embraced the imperfection, and tried to make it fun looking.  

i also found that the satin fabric was tricky to adhere. i used glue dots on the bottom piece (the green). but since the brown was overlapping the green, it wasn't really adhereing. so i started the brown pieces again, and stitched them to some scrap strips of cardstock. it was much easier to adhere that way.

i also machine stitched around my journaling tags, and tied some small strips of the satin fabric to the tops.

i had the shiny satin fabric and the glittered chipboard letters. to add just one more little "bling" to my layout, i sprinkled on some of these colored sequins. i happen to have some in aqua and green, so i used mini glue dots to adhere them. 

birthday pool party - a creating keepsakes layout

i just wanted to say "thanks" for everyone's comments on my last post. it's nice to know that i'm not the only one that occasionally just has to shut down, and ignore the world for a few days. well, not really the world. just the things that i didn't want to think or worry about anymore ;)

as seen in the Scrapbooking Holiday's and Celebrations Special Issue, from Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

when i was asked to create a summer birthday layout, i was all over it. my birthday is in june, sarah's is in june, joe's is in july, and alyssa's is in september (which is still summer around here). and the majority of my family and joe's family all have summer birthday's as well. most of our parties end up being pool parties. so i dug around and found a birthday/party that i hadn't scrapped yet.  

what i came up with was sarah's 8th birthday. i knew i wanted a lot of photos on my layout. i always end up with tons of photos, and i do my best to get at least one photo of each guest. i don't think everyone ended up on this layout, but all of her closest friends did. i always try and include a few photos of the birthday girl opening gifts, and at least one photo with the cake. i printed 9 of my photos at 3x4's, and 3 of them at 3x3's.

for my title, i used a favorite mix of alphas. chipboard alphas, which in this case, i used bella blvd. and my favorite alpha stickers by doodlebug.

i'm not even going to admit how long i spend arranging these three stickers. i tried so many different configurations, as if it was a major life decision. lol!

i choose pattern papers from the beach babe collection from fancy pants for my layout. the colors worked perfectly with all the girl's swimsuits. and i thought the fishies were so cute, because we have always said that sarah is truely a fish in disquise. that girl can swim the entire day, and never get tired. i thought the little "bikini brigade" border strip was really fun too.

i printed my journaling on the backside of one of the pattern papers, that had a distressed solid yellow on it. it was easier then trying to find yellow cardstock that matched perfectly.

to add a little "birthday" feel to the "summer" feel of the papers, i added some fun birthday stickers from making memories and carolee's creations.

now that i finished sharing a summer layout, i really need to get on the christmas wagon here. lol! my pre-lit tree only has about half the lights working. and we don't have the patience once again to try and figure it out. so i'm stringing a few strands of lights on it, to fill in the gaps. which reminds me why i have a pre-lit tree to begin with. because i detest stringing lights ;) i need to get one more strand, and then maybe i can decorate it. it's been set up for 5 full days, and still doesn't have ornaments on it. hopefully, i can work that in this weekend. in between 3 soccer games, and a christmas parade.

CK Club - Pinterest Challenge

Today, I have the opportunity to host the November Pinterest Challenge over on the CK Club website. I really do hope you guys join in on the fun and would love to see how the various images had inspired you.

I choose four images for this challenge. I intended to just use this first image (source), for the inspiration for my layout. I loved the taller, narrower prints. And the black and white prints, since I don't scrap black and white photos much anymore. 

Somewhere along the line, I decided to use this second image (source) as part of my inspiration as well. I didn't incorporate all the colors, but I think my layout has a lot of the same colors mixed in.

I printed up these old photos of Alyssa, and made them 3.5 x 7.5 inches. It was a bit of a challenge to find images that could be cropped in this taller, narrower size. Especially, since I tend to crop in so much when actually taking my photos. But I found these three photos that worked.

Since I printed my photos in black and white, I was able to choose any colors and papers that I wanted to use. I decided to go with the Summer's End collection from Fancy Pants. I like that it picked up a lot of the colors from the second Pinterest image that I had chosen.

I cut a bunch of strips of the pattern papers, ranging from 1 inch wide to 2 inches wide. I cut them in varying lengths, and trimmed the ends to mimic flags. I distressed the edges, and then adhered them across the page, overlapping them just slightly. I adhered a strip of ribbon, to cover up where the photos and the pattern paper strips meet.

For my simple title, I used some text printed chipboard alphas from Bella Blvd. While I do usually journal on the majority of my layouts, every now and then, a layout doesn't really need any extra words on it. I felt that "spunky" summed up these photos nicely. I threaded some buttons and glue dotted them to the ends of the ribbon to finish off the page.

To see the rest of the images from Pinterest that are included in the Challenge, and get all the details on how you can join in the challenge, click HERE. You have until November 24th to play along with us.

the news is out

i was excited to see this up on the creating keepsakes blog today:

i have loved being a part of this team of talented designers, and am super happy that i was asked back for another year on the CK dream team! we've already been hard at work on the first part of 2012 stuff, and i can't wait to see what the rest of the year has in store for us! you can see the announcement HERE.

p.s. you might notice the blog looks a little different. not saying it'll stay like this. just feeling like i need to freshen it up with a new look. it's a work in progress. way too many choices, and it takes me forever to make decisions on things like colors and fonts ;)

photos on the farm - a creating keepsakes layout

i have two layouts to share with you, and i was going back and forth between which to share first. i decided to share the one that is featured in the new scrapbooking with fabric & notions special issue, by creating keepsakes, first. then tomorrow, i will share the second layout, and you'll see why they sort of belong together.

as seen in the Scrapbooking with Fabrics & Notions Special Issue, from Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

i was asked to do a layout that featured stamping on canvas. i came across a full 12x12 sheet of canvas, and i knew i would use that somehow for my title. the canvas reminded me of these photos of the girls, along with my friend deneen's girls, that we took about a year and a half ago. deneen had a co-worker that lives on a small farm here in town, and she let us come and take photos of our girls on her property. i had yet to scrap any of these photos, and figured this was the perfect opportunity.

i had fun pulling the colors for this layout from my photos. i pulled the pink from sarah's shirt, and the aqua from alyssa's shirt. i pulled the green from the tractor and added in the yellow just for fun. the green paper is actually from the mistables - resist collection from pink paislee. there are shiny parts of the papers, that act as a sort of "resist", so that the papers are perfect for misting and inking. for these strips of paper, i rubbed some green distressed ink all over them. the rest of my papers are all from my mind's eye. i love mixing up colors and patterns into fun combinations.

i decided to cut my canvas into flag banner shapes, which are so popular these days. i dug out some super old foam stamps, from making memories, and stamped my title onto the canvas pieces using brown acrylic paint. with the chunkier font, the paint worked perfectly. once they were dry, i did a little machine stitching around the edges of each flag.

for the scalloped border strips, i used one of my favorite stamps from hero arts. it's a shorter stamp, at about 6 inches wide. so i just stamped it four times, and then pieced two strips together on each page of the spread. with the photos and embellishments overlapping the stamped border, you really can't see that they're two seperate pieces. i stamped the border onto white textured cardstock using versarmark ink, and then heat embossed with a brown distressed embossing powder. this gave lots of texture to the strips.

i layered together a few flowers and bottons for my embellishments. the large paper flowers are older ones from making memories, and the canvas printed flowers are from jillibean soup. i had the aqua paper flower, and used that on the second page to pick up the aqua pattern paper on the first page. however, i didn't have a yellow flower for the first page, to pick up the yellow pattern  paper from the second page. so i took a white paper flower, and misted it to match.

check back tomorrow, to see the second layout ;)

CK's scrapbooking holidays & celebrations: GIVEAWAY

not only did the scrapbooking with fabric & notions special issue come out this past week. but we have another special issue, by creating keepsakes, that hit stands. this next one is called scrapbooking holidays & celebrations.

Whether your holidays and celebrations are casual get-together or formal events, this special issue from Creating Keepsakes magazine is sure to be a trusted source of scrapbooking inspiration! The gallery of 50 outstanding ideas is a quick source of scrapliftable layouts, and you'll also discover ways to make your relationships shine on your scrapbook pages, photo-taking tips to catch meaningful moments and details of your celebrations, and journaling ideas to capture the points of view of your loved ones. Learn ways to create easy holiday accents and even ideas for storing your holiday-themed supplies. Pick up this issue today for non-stop scrapbooking inspiration for all your celebrations during the upcoming year!

here's a peek at one of my layouts in this issue. actually, it's my only layout in there. lol! when i was asked to do a summer birthday party layout, i was all over it. with the girl's having june and september birthday's, the majority of our birthday parties have been pool parties. i'll share more about this layout soon.

i have a free copy of this special issue to give away to one of my lucky blog readers. just leave me a comment, and i will randomly draw a winner on friday morning.

CK's scrapbooking with fabric & notions - GIVEAWAY

creating keepsakes has a new special issue out, scrapbooking with fabric & notions, and it's starting to hit stores this week.

Discover how to enhance your scrapbook layouts using buttons, fabric, thread, and other materials from the sewing world. From using quick, pre-made accent options to creating beautifully sewn backgrounds, we'll help you learn the ins and outs of adding homespun textures to your layouts with patterns, step-by-step instructions, and more. You won't want to miss this "sew" special issue from Creating Keepsakes.

here's a sneek peek at one of my layouts in this special issue, where i incorporated silk fabric into my page design. my other layout involved canvas. it was interesting to go from working with such a delicate fabric, to a heavy duty piece of canvas. i'll share more about both of these layouts one of these days.

i have a free copy of this special issue to give away to one of my lucky blog readers. just leave me a comment, and i will randomly draw a winner on friday morning.

she is always ready - a creating keepsakes layout

i'm making this short and sweet today. it's been a long, draining week, and i don't have it in me for a big post about anything. but i wanted to at least stick something cute up here.

as seen in the Budget Friendly Scrapbooking Special Issue, from Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

i can make this short and sweet, because there's not much to tell about this layout. it's 8.5x11, which isn't a normal size for me. i can count on one hand the number of times i've created in that size. i had a very strict sketch to follow for this. down to the paper sizes and everything. which made creating this layout pretty straight forward.

i wanted to use the happy go lucky collection, from pebbles. at the time, this was a brand new collection, and i just loved the colors and patterns in it. mixed with some favorites photos of alyssa from years and years ago. which oddly, i'm not sure i have ever scrapped before. 

hoping this weekend turns out better then this week has gone. i'm trying out a new girl for a haircut today. it's one of alyssa's soccer coaches. cross your fingers and toes for me. here's a funny thing. i was out doing one of my taxi-mom routes the other day, and i checked to see where this salon was located. turns out, it's in this building where they used to have oral surgery. odd, right? i know this, because i have been in that building twice in the last 5 years or so, to be put to sleep and have teeth pulled out. so i don't exactly have fond memories of the place. lol! let's hope this trip there is better.

then we have 5 soccer games this weekend. it's end of season tournament time for sarah. so 4 games for her, and 1 last game for alyssa. then alyssa has tournament time next weekend, with 4 games. busy, busy. and joe just got transfered to a new store. so new, it's not even open yet. we're not happy about it at all. it's a longer commute than he was already doing, and more money in the gas tank, which was already obscenely high. and in preparation for the store opening, he has to work a late day shift until they open. which is hugely different than the night crew hours he's worked for 8 years. it's weird that he's not here all day and all evening. and the girls haven't seen him since monday night. weird change, that we didn't ask for. but we're dealing with it.

ok, that wasn't short and sweet. lol! hope you all have a great weekend. i'll be back next week with some christmasey shares. and i'm pretty sure i have a giveaway going up on monday ;)

the deals that make a home - a CK layout

it's been a while, since i have shared a layout from one of the recent issues of creating keepsakes. i have a few piled up, that are all ready for sharing. and a few that should be coming out any day now, and then will be ready for sharing. 

as seen in the October 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

for this layout, i was asked to "try a new angle" for my story. i was given the example of, instead of scrapping all about a cruise you took, to scrap about the food you ate on that cruise. i really thought and thought about what i was going to do for my layout. i'm not actually sure how i came up with the idea for this page. but i decided to scrap about my home. but not my entire home. just the deals that make up my home.

instead of taking photos of our home, and a few of the rooms, i took some photos of decor items around the house. actually, these were all things from downstairs, in the family room and kitchen mostly. i'm not convinced that our home really looks all that put together. i tend to collect things here and there, and then just kind of plop them somewhere, until i eventually find a home for it.

i love looking for deals on things, when i'm out shopping. when i find something that's super cheap, or on some fabulous clearance rack, i feel like i won the lottery. even if i have no clue what i'll do with it, i will usually purchase the item, knowing that at some point, i'll find the perfect spot in the house for it. this means that i usually have little corners, with random decor items all piled up. they might sit there for a few weeks, or even a few months, before i get some cleaning/decorating bug, and move things around.

i love that text paper from october afternoon. seriously love it. and i'm running very low on it, which is so sad. i used a mix of alphas for my title, in different colors, fonts, and textures. the red corrugated alphas from jillibean soup, the brown ledger alpha stickers from making memories, and the aqua tiny letter stickers from bella blvd. the house diecut and tree die cut are from october afternoon as well, and i added the corrugated tree branch piece from jillibean soup, which fit perfectly.

i added some digital frames to my photos, before printing them out. i choose the curled photo frames by mary ann wise. these would probably look better on a digital layout, with a colored paper background. that way you could really see the curled edges of the photos. to cut these out, and still keep the look of the curl, i had to leave a pretty good sized white border around the photos. but still fun to do a little hybrid scrapping.

i used lots of journaling spots from jillibean soup, so that i could write where the item was from, and approximately how much i paid for it. yes, i do remember stuff like how much something cost. the woodgrain paper is also from october afternoon, and the red and aqua papers are from bella blvd.

the main thing that i remember about this layout, is that i only had a few hours to make it. i'm sure i had at least a week's notice, for this assignment. but this was right smack during the time i was traveling to colorado, to film some DVD segments for the magazine. i put in sooooooo much time preparing for the filming, and the huge amount of projects that i had to create for that, that i just didn't have time to get this done before i left.

so by the time my flight landed and i made the drive back home, it was really late. like midnight-late. and i still had to make this layout, and have it turned in by the morning. those 8:00am deadlines always kill me, with the time change, since it means 6:00 or 7:00am for me. lol! so i powered through and stayed up until like 3:00am to create this layout. i think i turned it in, not totally done, and just told them my intentions for what was left.

guess it worked itself out though, since it got sent off, and looked cute in the october issue ;)

creating keepsakes nov/dec cover

have you received your creating keepsakes november/december 2012 issue yet?

i know this isn't the look/colors you'd expect for a december issue. you're probably thinking chrismas, right? well, don't forget it's a november issue as well. and i just love that CK decided to go with a fall color scheme and a thanksgiving/baking themed layout. i have to admit, i'm more partial to fall colors, than i am christmas colors.

and i also love that they asked me to design the cover layout! i was given such a cute photo to work with, and personally, i love how it turned out. this issue is full of ideas and inspiration for thanksgiving, christmas, and winter layouts. you won't want to miss it!

old fashion rivalry - a creating keepsakes layout

today, i'm finally able to share this fun layout that was in the september issue of creating keepsakes. i cut it super close on the deadline to submit this, and apparently only took one photo of it. and i never took more pics, before i mailed it in. then it got held up coming back to me. it finally found it's way home last week, and i was able to get more photos of it.

 

here's the september 2011 sketch. i love working with sketches, and figured i would give it a try. i think i've said this before, but i tend to follow sketches, exactly as they're shown. recently, i have tried to mix it up and alter sketches, just slightly. but this is one i worked on AGES ago (beauty of the magazine world. lol!), and i think you'll see that i used this sketch as-is.

 
as seen in the September 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

since this sketch had lots of 4x6 photos, i knew i had to find something to scrap about, that had lots of pics to choose from. i remembered this photos of joe and alyssa, that i had taken a while back. joe is a die hard LA dodger fan, and alyssa is a huge SF giants fan. actually, i'll let my journaling tell you what the photos are about :)

 

 

the sketch had this fun scalloped border across the bottom of the pages. i decided to use my silhouette to cut these, from some blue tone-on-tone pattern paper. even though i had had my silhouette for about four months, i still hadn't used it. working on this layout, was the first time that i actually took it out of the box and tried it out. i also cut those sketchy stars, from the same blue pattern paper.

 

back on the original sketch, months ago, there weren't any sizes on the photos. so i really did some quess work, trimming a bit here and there, and layering the photos all together. i kept going, until it all fit together nicely, and looked like the sketch.

 

i love these skinny fabric thickers, from american crafts. and on my buttons, i added mini brads to two of the buttons holes. i love doing that, instead of threading them all the time.

 

these two smaller photos of alyssa look so dramatic, don't they? lol! after all these years, she knows how to turn it on to the camera. but her and joe really were watching the game, through the window, while i took photos of them. when the dodgers happen to score, this was her "reaction" for the camera.

speaking of alyssa, today is her birthday! i can't believe that she's turning FIFTEEN YEARS OLD today!

never going to happen: a creating keepsakes layout

i have a layout share today, from the september issue of creating keepsakes.

 
as seen in the September 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

for this assignment, i was asked to use a themed collection, to do a non-themed layout. i'm really big on this idea. that just because a collection is geared towards a particular theme, doesn't mean you can't use it for everyday layouts. i decided to use bella blvd's cute pet collection for my layout. now, we don't have pets. you could say, that pets are the reason we don't have pets. alyssa is allergic to them, so it's not something we'll ever have to consider. 

 

when i first created this layout, i debated putting an "X" over the cute little doggie. like saying "no dogs allowed". i'm glad i didn't keep that, since he's too cute to cover up :) 

 

did i ever mention that i bought stock in these doodlebug loopy letter stickers? love them! not usually on their own. but paired with chipboard letters, they're so fun!

i'm desperately trying to get back on track, after coming home from CKC last weekend. i had such a great time, and i'll have to blog about it later. usually, i can swing a day off, when i get back, to sort of re-adjust myself. that didn't work out this time. which means i worked the 2 days before i left for texas, then spent 5 days traveling, teaching, and working my tush off, and then i worked 3 straight days after that. let's just say i arrived home at 10:30pm, on sunday night. and i had daycare kids here by 7:30am on monday morning. including a 5 month old, and a 20 month old that isn't feeling well. i'm SOOOO looking forward to having tomorrow off from the day job :)

CK keepsake kits: party time kit

i got something fun in the mail a few days ago, and it came with a little something extra to share with one of you! creating keepsakes has a lot of new keepsake kits in their store right now. there are some really fun mini album kits, lots of card kits, and then some layout kits. one of them looks a little something like this:

 

this is the party time kit, which came out just a few weeks ago. back at the beginning of the year, i was asked to put together a birthday kit. from start to finish. i had a few quidelines, as far as how many papers, and what types of embellishments to include. but then i got to just run with it, and see what i came up with. 

 

and this is what i came up with. this is the photo that i took of my "kit", when i sent it in to get approval. i didn't have the buttons on hand that i wanted to use, so that's the one thing that's different in the actual kit. i loved the fun, brightly colored papers. i wanted this to be able to work for girl or boy themed pages.

 

here's a full shot of one of my sample layouts. in the kit, you get the full instructions, to re-create my three sample layouts. all completed with just the contents of the kit, and no special tools or supplies. or take the kit, and run with your own ideas, to create fun party layouts. OR. you could get even crazier and use this kit for something entirely different, and not have a party theme at all.

creating keepsakes was generous enough to send me an extra kit, to give away to one of my lucky blog readers. just leave me a comment, and you'll be entered in the random drawing. i'll leave the comment open until saturday night, and will announce a winner on sunday.

hawaii - a creating keepsakes layout

i have a layout to share today, from CK's scrapbooking tips & tricks: summer fun & travel issue.

 

as seen in the Scrapbooking Tips & Tricks: Summer Fun & Travel issue, from Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

i was given the assignment to create a summer/travel themed, using the colors red, orange, and yellow. a "fire" color scheme. and i also was to incorporate glitter paper. i admit, i stressed over this assignment quite a bit. lol! i tend to stress when i think i don't have photos that will work with what i need to do. it wasn't until the day before this layout was due, that i realized i had photos of alyssa from her trip to hawaii with her dad and grandparents four years ago.

 

i knew i would be using my glittered cardstock, by american crafts. i choose not to use the orange, only because the shade was all wrong, when matched up with my patterned papers. i also knew that i wanted to make a sunset, with my papers, across the top of the layout. i used some scrap paper, to sketch out the sunset design. i made a mark, where i wanted the center of the rays to hit. and then i drew lines to the edge of the paper, to create my rays. i cut each one out, and traced it onto my cardstock, and then cut those out.  

 

then i re-assembled all the pieces, and adhered them all down to the base of my pages. then i machine stitched along each ray. if this sounds confusing and time consuming, you'd be right to think that. lol! it did seem to take me forever to get that part of the layout done. my pattern papers are from fancy pants and making memories. the fun "summertime" circle accent was hand cut from a sheet of the fancy pants paper, and placed on a sun that i diecut with my slice machine.

 

the majority of my embellishments are all from little yellow bicycle. the canvas border, the canvas stickers, journaling blocks, puffy sticker. the flowers are from making memories, and the buttons are from fancy pants.

 

i just noticed i must have taken this photo before i journaled my layout. lol! i wanted to add some more color to the edge of the second page, so i cut some circles from the red, orange, and yellow papers. it's an easy way to add splashes of color, and also gives you a nice spot to cluster embellishments.

CK budget-friendly scrapbooking + GIVEAWAY

creating keepsakes has a brand new special issue hitting stands this week, called budget-friendly scrapbooking.

 

"Prepare to make your stickers, papers, die cuts, and more go further than you ever imagined possible. With the tips and tricks in this special issue from Creating Keepsakes, you'll learn how to create beautiful scrapbook layouts using your scrapbooking leftovers and minimal supplies. Whether you're a new scrapbooker or have been creating for years, we'll show you how to stretch your scrapbooking budget to its fullest."

 

here's a sneak peek at one of my layouts featured in this special issue. the idea was to use a themed collection, to create a non-themed layout.

 

and here's another insider look into the issue, which you can purchase HERE.

i have a free copy to give away to one of my lucky blog readers! just leave me a comment, to be entered in the random drawing. i will leave comments open until thursday night, and announce a winner on friday.

CK - 100 photos in a night

the creating keepsakes september 2011 issue, has an article called "scrapbooking 100 photos in an evening", written by deena wuest. i remember when they asked us for some brainstorming ideas, on taking on the idea of scrapping 100 photos in one evening. is it do-able? i didn't even have to think about it. YES, it's totally do-able! so when i was asked to contribute to the article, i already had a plan of what i wanted to do, design wise. 

 
as seen in the September 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

now, what would the theme of my pages be? i wanted to do some sort of "year in review" type album. but not the normal month-by-month set-up. i thought it would be fun, to break down the year, into themes. 10 photos on a layout (2 page spread). 10 layouts total. that equals 100 photos. easy.  

my first theme was "favorite school moments". instead of doing individual layouts, for different types of school moments (band, projects, friends, graduation), why not combine some of your favorite moments onto one layout? it's a great way to sum up the entire school year, and touch on all the highlights of the year.

 

my design plan, was to choose 10 photos for each spread. one of those photos would be my focal photo. a favorite photo from the bunch, or one that was special for a particular reason. for my "favorite school moments" layout, i choose this photo of alyssa, from her 8th grade graduation. it was a very big night for her, and a very proud moment for us, as her parents. along with the one larger photo, i would include my journaling, a title block, and the rest of the page would be made up of patterned paper.

 

my plan for the other 9 photos, was to create a digital template in photoshop, and print them all as one 12x12 collage. i went with a simple grid, 3 across and 3 up and down, for my first template.

 

and then i used that template to create the second  page of my spread. i pulled up all 9 of my photos, and dropped them into the collage, cropping each photo to fit the space. once i was done, i uploaded my finished collage to costco, and had it printed as a 12x12 photo. that's all this page is. 9 photos, just like that!

 

i used my silhouette to cut out my title. i LOVE the "moments" title piece, and how it has the thin outlined piece that goes on top of the regular title piece. since my themes, for the 10 layouts, all revolve around moments, i could easily cut "moments" over and over. it's not like using letter stickers, where eventually, you're going to run out of letters. and if you're planning ahead, you could even cut out "moments" ten times at once, to save some time. i also cut out "school" with my silhouette, and added the "2010 favorite" with tiny alpha stickers.

 

i knew i would need a lot of room for my journaling, since i was summing up the entire school year's highlights. once i knew how much space i had for my journaling, i made a text box in my word processing program, and typed up my journaling to fit the space. i printed it out onto some white graph patterned paper, and added it to the page.

 
as seen in the September 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

i also created a summer themed layout. "favorite family fun moments". a little inside secret, is that my title was originally "summer moments". i think someone else had a title similar to that, so i was asked to change it. that's how "family fun moments" came to be. 

 

for this layout, i choose a favorite photo of alyssa and sarah, in the swimming pool. this was at my brother's house, at a family get-together. i went with fun, bright colors for my papers. this time, i printed my photo as a 5x7, and went with a horizontal photo. just like on the first layout, i decided where i wanted my photo and my journaling, and then built the title piece and patterned papers to fill up the page.

 

i created a second photo collage in photoshop, for this layout. i still went with a grid design, but i varied the sizes of the photos, to add some interest.

 

and here's how my other 9 photos for the layout looked in the collage. printed as a single 12x12 photo, which completes the second page of the spread.

 

keeping the design simple, and minimizing the thought that goes into being original on every page, i cut my title once again with my silhouette. i originally had "summer" cut with the silhouette, but when i changed it to "family fun", i choose to just use some letter stickers.

 

i did add a very simple embellishment to this layout. i used a template to create a whimsical sun, from my coordinating pattern papers. and i added three pre-threaded buttons to the center.

 

journaling printed on yellow pattern paper. we didn't do a whole lot during the summer of 2010. so i choose to journal about some of the girls favorite things to do during the summer, which goes along with the photos i choose.

some of the other ideas i had for this type of themed "year in review", were favorite sports moments, favorite work moments, favorite birthday moments, favorite holiday moments, and favorite everyday moments. i actually had my list of 10 themes, that would make up 100 photos, and now i can't remember what else was on my list.

and for your scrapping convenience, the two digital templates that i created are available on the creating keepsakes website, for you to download. you can find them HERE. how easy would that be, to take these 2 templates, and print up 10 collages. with 9 photos on each, you'd have 90 photos printed in a matter of minutes. half the work would be done :)

a few of my fellow CK dream teamers have shared their takes on this article in the past few days. visit nichol harper's blog to see her mini album sized "year in review album". i love the 8x8 size that she choose to use. and visit piradee talvanna's blog to see her super fun CHA photos, that she scrapped using divided page protectors. you might even see me on a few of her photos ;)

what i am doing - a creating keepsakes layout

i wanted to share a layout that i did for july/august issue of creating keepsakes, about 10 months ago (i seriously had to do the math on this. that seems like forever ago). i was asked to create a layout for the "peekaboo, i see you" article, written by mou saha. a few of the layouts, along with mine, ended up in the online section of this article, which can be seen HERE.

 
as seen in an online article for the July/August 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

i was asked to create an accordian style element on my layout, that would allow you to include lots of photos, but not overwhelm the layout. when i got this assignment, zachary was about 10 months old. he had this one week period, where he started to do a lot of things at once. crawling and standing up, being the biggest things. i had taken a ton of photos of him one day, and i thought they'd be perfect for this idea.

 

so this layout is about what he was doing. right then and there. at 10 months old. i used some of my favorite foam letter stickers from american crafts for my title, and then added some smaller letter stickers from making memories to finish off the title. if you see this in the online article, you'll see the green letter stickers outlined with a thin brown marker. they wanted them to stand out more. i used a fun mix of star embellishments (lots of old product) to embellish that upper corner.

 

the papers and stickers are all from pebbles. this was an older boy collection, that i had always loved, and was glad i had the perfect chance to use it. i'm a huge fan of blue, green, orange, and brown for boy layouts.

 

i decided to print out my focal photo as a 4x6, and then print all my other photos in the 2x3 size. i wanted to make my accordian style book to go the entire 12 inch height of the layout. the actual width of the book is 2.5 inches, so it doesn't take up a lot of room.

 

i started with a sheet of 12x12 green pattern paper. and then i scored it (top to bottom) every 2.5 inches. that allowed me to have a nice, clean fold. i would fold it over one way, and then the opposite way on the next fold. like when we used to make paper fans as kids ;)

i did end up wanting an extra fold in there. with the extra half inch on all my folds, the paper wasn't quite wide enough to get as many folds as i wanted. so i just took an extra sheet of paper, and adhered it to the last fold, to extend it out. not sure that makes sense. but i'm not sure how to explain it. lol! i basically just added paper, to make it the size i needed.

 

then i adhered the backside of my last fold, to where i wanted it on my layout. i have a total of 12 photos on this accordian booklet. 3 on the front. and then 3 photos, in each of the 3 folds. i adhered the 3 photos, top to bottom of the paper, adding in a block of 2x3 pattern paper.

 

and then i added some letter stickers, to describe what zachary was doing. playing. standing. crawling. i also added a few stickers. i kept all flat papers and stickers, since the accordian book already adds some bulk to the layout.

 

i forgot to add, that before i adhered my accordian booklet to the layout, i figured out where i wanted my ribbon to go on the book. i used a few glue dots to adhere it to the back of the book, and then adhered the book to the layout. when i had the book all completed, with photos and stickers, i tied the ribbon on the front to keep it closed. i also added a small metal clip up at the top of the book, and dangled a cute little felt star from it with a beaded metal chain.

hard to believe i created this a full 10 months ago. now, this same little boy, is running in circles all over this house. it's hard to picture a time when he just stood next to the table, holding on for dear life ;)