Happy Halloween

I completed this layout for one of the challenges for the Paperclipping Crop Circle. I just love Halloween product. I used a couple of really old products on this one. Well, from 2002-03 anyway. The little vampire and witch are from Cock-A-Doodle Design Co. It was the Page Toppers collection. I had purchased a ton of them on QVC one year. While I've gotten rid of most of them, (after hoarding them and not using them), I hung onto these because they were just so darn cute. For being older product, I don't think they look too bad on this layout.

I hope everyone who celebrates Halloween has a safe and fun one.

Yummy Halloween Snacks

This is not scrapbook related, but it has some creativity involved. Your working with food instead of paper and glue. I found these yummy Halloween snacks at Rhodes Bake & Serve Recipe site. Look at these creepy creations!

 These would be great for Halloween night to snack on between trick or treat runs. Recipes are listed on the site and look really easy.

I'm Always Up For A Challenge

This layout was completed for a challenge at Scrapbookers Anonymous. Sue from Life & Memories is a design team member for them and posted information about them on her blog. They are a challenge blog that encourages and challenges you to use your stash. The older the product the better. We all need to do that more, right? The challenge for October is to use a minimum of  3 different patterned papers from 3 different manufacturers. Easy peasy for those of us that hoard everything, especially patterned paper! So I decided to give it a try. 

My patterned papers are by Making Memories (striped & beige floral), K&Co. (orange rectangle block), and Little Yellow Bicycle (ledger paper). The Making Memories and K&Co. paper I've had for quite some time. The ledger paper hasn't been too long ago. It's a great feeling to mix and match and use up those bits and pieces. I think I'm going to like this site!

Other product used on layout is:  Chipboard & Brad: Making Memories & My Minds Eye, Rub ons: Cloud 9 Design, Word Sticker: Sandylion,  Letter Stickers: American Crafts Thickers

The Path

I did another digital layout today. I think once I have completed a few digital layouts, I'll compose a photo book from Shutterfly. That's the plan. 

Digi Product: Background Paper: Jessica Sprague-HAFH, Frame: Valerie Foster-Wonderlast, Flourishes: Anna Aspnes-HP5

Boo at the Zoo and Today's Layout Inspired by Ali Edwards

Another fun weekend has come and gone. Wow, was it a busy one! We fit in two birthday parties, the state fair, an airplane expo, and Boo at the Zoo. I'm so tired today! But not tired enough to scrapbook a layout.

Today's guest in LOAD is Ali Edwards.  As always she had tons of inspiration to talk about. Just listening to her talk made me want to jump right in and start making a layout. Our challenge was to do our journaling by starting with one word or phrase. I chose "Right Now". And I was able to play with my Rusty Pickle girly pirate paper too. Hannah is a girly piratey type of girl, so it suits a layout about her perfectly.

And just for fun, I'm sharing some photos of the kids from Boo At The Zoo. They had a ball!

Hope and Coen came along too. They all looked so cute!


Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Remembering Jennifer and Fair Fun

The weather is beautiful here in Arizona! I have to brag because it's been so blazing hot that we needed the cool down to help our spirits. We decided to celebrate the "fair" weather by going to the Arizona State Fair. It was half price day for admission and all the carnival rides and games were a dollar. You can't beat that! So we went for a few hours since the girls got out of school early yesterday. We had a blast! The crowds were down and the weather was perfect! And we had barbecue, funnel cake and cotton candy. Didn't have the time or the room for corn dogs and caramel apples.

 

LOAD is winding down now. I've been lucky enough so far to make a layout a day. This one I'm extra proud of.  Not because of any stellar design or product choices. Not even for any profound or award winning journaling. But these are photos that I've been hanging onto for 4 years, waiting for the perfect product and the perfect design. But I'm tired of trying to have every layout be perfect and just right. Today for some reason I thought of these photos and decided to scrap the story. Simple, easy, done.

The photos are perfect alone and that's all that matters. The memories are what's important. The memories are what we celebrate in our layouts. The memories and the photos are all we have at times. Let's celebrate every one!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Trim the Tree

I know just yesterday I blogged about Halloween and Fall decorations, but these little gems are too cute not to share. Check out the link below on Scrapbooks Etc.'s website for the instructions on making these adorable holiday trees.

Trim the Tree

This would be a perfect project to use up your stash of patterned paper or an excuse to buy new pretty holiday prints.

Halloween Decor

It's October 20th today, and we still haven't put up any Halloween decorations. I'm thinking at this point I will put out my Fall decorations with a hint of Halloween mixed in. The girls have been getting antsy the last couple of days about putting up something. 

I received an email from Home Made Simple that has a couple of Fall/Halloween decor ideas that I may make and have the girls get involved. 

 

These look like fun. I'll let you know how they turn out.

A New Friend and Digital Goodness

We have been very blessed to have reconnected with old friends this last month, and with that comes a new friend for the girls. Our dear friends had a baby boy 13 years ago with Down Syndrome. Their life was turned upside down at that time, but has been an extremely happy one despite their obstacles. The girls are thrilled to have a new friend and enjoyed his company very much. We hope to spend much more time with their family in the future.  His name is Jeffery.

Scrapbook wise, I've been keeping busy with LOAD. We are more than halfway done. Lain's guest this week was Celeste Smith. I am in awe of her clean and simple approach to scrapbooking, and am a new fan! She does a mix of digital layouts and hybrid. I decided to do a complete digital layout, and this is what I came up with:

I found all of my digital elements online and they were all free.

Digital Product: Background Paper: Jessica Sprague-Echos of Asia, Wire: Nydia's Scraps Earth Fence Wire, Circles: Anna Aspnes-Painted Circle Splats, Word Art: Katie Pertiet: Scratchy Titles

Here are some links to resources where I find many of the digital elements that I have accumulated. They have many free digital elements that you can download, or many that you can purchase.


Kelly Jo Scraps
Summertime Designs
Shutterfly Digi Scrap Blog
SammyDKreations
RebeccaBDesigns
Free To Scrap


And of course, there is always Designer Digitals. They have a ginormous selection of beautiful digital product.

This layout is a hybrid. I made the photo collage in Adobe Illustrator, printed it out on my printer, and used it on my layout.

I know it will be a long time, if ever, that I would consider going 100% digital. It's fun once in awhile, but I love playing with good old fashioned paper and glue. But it wasn't that long ago that I said it'd be forever before I'd ever use a digital camera over film . . . . Digital and I have come a long way baby!

Halloween Themed Photo Album Scrapbook

I'm pleased to say that I have caught up on my Halloween themed photo album scrapbook. It's a wonderful idea thought up by who else, Stacy Julian. She did a Christmas version that this is based on. I used the same Anthologie album that she used. They are a bit hard to find these days, but if you can get one, they are wonderful. Here's a peek at the album.

This is the outside of the album. They are a nice and sturdy albums that open like a box.

This is the album intro page and the table of contents. I love this album because I can use bits and bobbles here and there and use up my stash. You could use matching product for each page, or you can make each page different. 

I made a intro page for each topic. I copied Stacy's design and punched out square photos and square patterned papers.

And I love the filler pages for these albums. There are 4X6 page protectors as well as 8 1/2 X 11 pages. Here's a couple of pages from the album.

I plan to start on a Christmas version after Halloween. I love these albums because it's a chronological look at one event in our lives. I could also do some individual layouts with some of the remaining photos if I want to for my regular scrapbook albums. I probably will if I find some perfect product that I just have to use!

This session of LOAD has really been keeping me busy. I am loving it though. I'm being more mindful of the layouts that I'm doing, and for the most part, I am staying true to my style versus making a layout just to fit the daily prompt. Here is one of my favorites from today. Our prompt was to use color to evoke the feeling we were trying to convey.

I usually pick my color choices by colors in the photos versus a feeling. But I was very mindful with this layout of what feeling I wanted to bring out. It was a warm sunny day, (but cooler than it had been in AZ), and our first day outdoors, (besides to swim), since our granddaughter Hayley started to walk. I chose yellow because it's a happy color and reminds me of the sunshine. I also chose a warm greens and browns because they remind me of the outdoors and earth. I definitely will be more mindful in choosing colors for my layouts in the future to make sure they convey the feeling I'm going for.

For last weeks Library of Memories Community challenge, we were to make a storage binder layout with one photo and a one word title. I immediately thought of this photo I had of my granddaughter Madyson. I had played with the saturation of the photo in a Jessica Sprague class I took awhile ago, but I hadn't yet scrapped it. She was pouting because she had to wait until her sister's rode a quad first. She was feeling the unfairness of being the littlest and the youngest. It was perfect for this.

You can see other layouts that I've been working on for LOAD at my Flickr site. Always love to have visitors.

Missed Out On 10-10-10

I had really good intentions of capturing 10 photos from our day yesterday since it was 10-10-10. But a fierce headache stopped me cold in my tracks. But here's a glimpse of what I did capture. It was fun while it lasted.

Luckily, our LOAD challenge was taking a minimalist approach, so I didn't have to think about it too much. But even with a headache, it was very hard not using any embellishments. Yes, you heard me right. The challenge was to just use photos, cardstock, patterned paper and a title. We could do journaling as well, but no embellishments. I broke down after I posted my layout and added some brads. It was just enough for me to be satisfied with the layout. I had already cheated and used ink on my word strips and a chipboard "C".

For Saturday's layout, we were to use all the information we have taken in from the challenges thus far and make a layout. I chose a story that I have wanted to do for quite some time. It was quick and easy once I got started. And I cropped the photos so they helped in the story telling by focusing on the "meat" of the photo.

The weekend went by so fast I wasn't able to get to my Halloween theme album that I had mentioned I'd share. Hopefully mid week I'll get to that. I'm also going to participate in Ali Edwards' December Daily 2010 this year. I had done one a couple of years ago and had a load of fun doing it. I'll share both when I start working on them.

I'm leaving you with a very cute story that is suppose to be true. Even if it's not, it's funny.

These guys are funny and pretty darn good!

This makes me smile. Thought I'd share! Have a great weekend!

Birthday Fun and More . . . .

“I think a photography class should be a requirement in all educational programs because it makes you see the world rather than just look at it.”
–Author Unknown    
Source:  Lain Ehmann's Layout A Day (LOAD)

It's been a busy week for us. In between dentist appointments, doctor appointments, school, and birthdays, I found a little time to scrap my LOAD layouts. I'm keeping up with the momentum of the class.  I only had one day that I wavered a bit with the daily prompt, but I was able to pull a layout out of my hat.


The last few days in LOAD, we have really focused in on our photos to tell the story. For this layout, the prompt was to use a film strip somehow in our storytelling. I realized I had the perfect story to go along with this technique. In 2006, they filmed the movie Jerry Maguire here in Phoenix, and my husband got a part as an extra. He was a cameraman who stood next to Tom Cruise in a few minutes during one of the scenes at the end of the movie. I had him type up some journaling about his experience after it happened and had it and a few things in my memorabilia notebook. 

I used a small punch on black paper for the film strip look on the smaller photos. I used my Fiskars punch for the strips around my journaling block.  I'm happy to say that I used some very old film strip die cuts on the larger photos and old movie stickers on my stars! I'm always tickled pink when I can use up old product. I had been hoarding the lovely patterned papers that are from The Paper Loft and Fancy Pants Designs. 


For this layout, we were prompted to make a layout with photos that didn't have people in them and that told a story. I went to my category drawers behind the tab "nature" and found some lovely desert photos I had filed there. This is what I came up with.

Today's prompt stumped me at first. When I read it I went blank. Our layout for today is to be a story without photos. What, are you kidding me? I have all these photos I need to scrap, and you don't want me to use photos! Then I remembered, the most important thing behind my scrapbooking is the story. Photos help in that process, but I want the story to be front and center. Then I remembered a cool layout that Kelli Crowe had done about her fear of flying that I had in my inspiration book. So my creation is a scraplift of her fun layout.

This LOAD session has been really fun so far. There are so many talented scrapbookers participating and the gallery is full of awesome inspiration!


And here's a few shots of Madyson's 8th birthday. We went to Chuck E. Cheese yesterday, then came home and had cake and presents. My husband forgot candles when he picked up her cake, so we used matches as candles. That's why there is a big flame and her frightened face! She received a nice little haul of goodies.

In the next couple of days I will share a little project that I started earlier in the year and that I need to work on some more. It is an ongoing theme album about Halloween. I need to get in that Halloweenish mood. Maybe this will help.

Have a great weekend everyone. Hope it's safe and scrapworthy! 

Thunderbolt And Lightning, Very, Very Frightning!

 And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.
Gilbert K. Chesterton

We did have a full rainbow yesterday evening. It was beautiful, but I was on the road, so I couldn't get a photo of it. 

We are getting pounded with pea size hail right about now. It's been spitting rain off and on for the last 24 hours. But the heaven's have opened and we're getting a beating. Besides the lightning being so close, it's rather refreshing. The temperatures are down in the 70's! It's humid, but it's the 70's!!!! We had forgotten what that feels like here in Phoenix.

Maybe it's the dreary skies that have me in a bit of a creative slump today. I'm participating in LOAD this month, so a slump is not welcome. The topic today was if we liked working with black and white photos. I tend to like color for most of my photos, but sometimes a photo will just scream out to be changed to black and white. One of my favorite things to do is to make the photo black and white or sepia, then add back some color in an element. That's what I did with this photo on this layout.

Luckily, I had this Hiedi Grace Designs patterned paper to help me out with design. I just wasn't feeling it today. I also had some of their pressboard flower stickers that I framed half of the photo with. I threw on some American Craft Thickers alphabet stickers onto a Little Yellow Bicycle decorative border cutout, and that was it. It's all I could muster today. I really do not like feeling uninspired.

Yesterday was a different story. The guest artist on LOAD was Katrina Kennedy. I love how she composes her photos and how she crops them. I used a layout design from my inspiration notebook made by Jessica Sprague for my layout. Jessica's was a digital layout, and I just turned mine into paper. I strategically cropped my photos of my grandson with my square punch and quickly put it together. It is one of my favorites of all my layouts.

Tomorrow is another day. I look forward to see what inspiration it will bring and I hope I'm in a better mindset.

Weekend Fun

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Where do they go? We met up with some dear friends that we had not seen in 12 years. You know how life gets in the way, and you just lose contact. We have thought about them often over the years. My husband attended an event that reconnected him to them and it went from there. We had such a great visit with them and plan on not letting another 12 years go by before we get together again.

I accomplished two more LOAD layouts that I'm happy with. Saturday's prompt was to make a layout that featured something unique about our life. I immediately thought of our living arrangements. While not so unique these days, it's not the "norm".

  

The story is about our son, who is a single father, raising his three girls along with us.  It tells of how we built onto our home so he could live near us and we could share in the care of the girls, yet he could have his own space.  He pays us rent, and that helps us out with all our expenses, as well as helps him to be able to better afford the things they need. I did my journaling again in the booklet style, (see this post), and attached it to the layout. My one great critique of this layout is that my title fades into the background. I should have inked the edges of the letters or something. But otherwise I'm happy with it as is, and won't stress about it.

For this week, we will be focusing in on our photography, and the stories that our photos can tell along with our words. Day 3 we were to find or take a photo that needed little words. I immediately thought of the photo of my husband and our youngest granddaughter that I used on this layout. It has always been one of my favorites.

It's hard for me not to journal on a layout, so I did use word embellishments, and that satisfied my need for words.

And I have to share a yummy little kit that I purchased from Scrapbook Circle .  It is the Spooky Town kit they are offering for October. I don't buy a lot of kits, but I saw it had some of  My Mind’s Eye Spiders Graphic 45 Jaberwakey collection, and  I had to have it! I see this morning it is sold out, so you have to be put on a wait list. I'm so glad I got it. I'm usually a day late and a dollar short when it comes to anything. 

Hope you all have a wonderful week.

And Then There Was A Layout A Day

I was really excited, yet nervous for Layout A Day to start today because I have been in such a slump. Not just with my scrapbooking, but with life in general lately. I excitedly opened my email to see what today's challenge was.  The prompt today was to create a page with "Once Upon A Time" in the title. I immediately thought of the photos I've had since 2004 of my granddaughters dressed as fairy's. Then everything just kind of fell together. 

I realize many of my layouts are designed with the photos lined up all in a row. While I try to fight this linear approach, it's the most natural for me and I need to stop resisting it. So once I let that fact go, I focused on the patterned paper I would use. 


In choosing the patterned paper, my first instinct seems to always go for a color that is predominant in the photo or photos if I can. Again, this works for me, and until I get more comfortable with breaking out of that approach I will most likely continue with this it. I don't work with purple that often, and I had very little purple paper or product. I was happy though when I found this light purple butterfly pattern in my stash from Paper Pizazz.

Now I wanted a secondary patterned paper to give some contrast. For this I decided to take a look at the color wheel. I'm not very proficient at using this tool, but it was the perfect help for me to find a complimentary color to go with the purple. 

In this case I chose orange because there was  a hint of orange/yellow in my purple patterned paper and the earthy colors in the photos. When I checked my orange papers, the one I chose was a muted orange from DCWV that I thought worked well. And since there was so much purple already in the patterned paper and the photos, I wanted to keep that same orange/tan color scheme. The perfect choice seemed to be The Girl's Paperie alphabet letters I had received in a kit and had not used yet. 

The theme of October's Layout A Day class is "Story". I didn't really have a specific story to tell about these photos. We had taken them at a favorite park for Easter. I took a cue from the title, and did my journaling as a fairy tale like story. I like doing this from time to time, and I think it was perfect for this page.

And one thing I am trying to get comfortable doing is clustering embellishments. I did that here somewhat. I'm sure I'll get more daring as I practice this skill. I love when fellow scrapbookers use this technique, but I am really "green" at doing it. 

I'm happy with this page. I've heard it said that the first page you make after being in a slump is the "sacrificial layout". But I'm quite happy with myself. Now if I can just keep it up. Thanks to LOAD, I think I'm back! 


I hope you all have a wonderful and crafty weekend!