Layout Share - My Love

Lately, I've been working on scrapbook pages for my 2014 album, and this one is about my sweetheart and how he is always there for me.

My Love

I used a sketch from this class by Jen Schow and Tracie Claiborne, which I highly recommend, and the supplies are from the last bits of a little kit I put together with papers and embellishments from Jilliebean Soup and Shimelle for American crafts.

Sketches + kits + a great subject make scrapbooking easier and more fun than it already is!

Currently Me Mini-Album

I spent my (inter)National Scrapbooking Weekend fighting off a cold virus, resting in the recliner, and wishing my physical energy matched my creative motivation, augmented by all the inspiration online. Yesterday, I felt well enough to start on eight challenges from the Awesome Ladies Project's NSD online crop, creating a Currently Me mini-album, which I finished today.

I started with the Awesome Ladies Currently Me kit, and I added letter stickers, a package of puffy stickers by Fancy Pants, three colors of Distress ink, black Archival ink by Ranger, several Story Stamp sets by Ali Edwards, a few bits and pieces from the odds and ends dish on my table, and a length of camera ribbon given to me by my friend Sandi.

That camera card being so adorable, I used it for my front cover:

I also used two letters from a package of Thickers to add some pizzazz to the title.

And here are the pages of the mini album:

Name/Date/Place

Watching

Reading

Listening

Making

Feelings

Planning

Loves

Generally, my tastes run in a different direction from the graphic style of these supplies, but I wanted to challenge myself to use this kit, stretch my color/style comfort zone a bit. It took just a few hours to put this project together, including the taking and printing of photos, and I had such a blast working on it. I love how it turned out.

Big thanks to the Awesome Ladies Project for the online crop, inspiration, and challenges that lead to me documenting some current details of my life.

Happy iNSD and a Layout

Today is (inter)National Scrapbook Day, and I had the grandest intentions of participating in a few challenges, even though I was feeling under the weather. As it happened, whatever virus is flitting around my body stole all of my energy, and I couldn't do any crafting today.

Fortunately, I still have a layout to share from a couple of weeks ago.

Hello, Adventure: You and Me Together

These two pages tell the story of an adventure I had with my Mom back in 2014. With other folks from the nursing home, we visited a beautiful park and got to embark on a boat ride that took us around a lake with lots of beautiful scenery. Mom was a great lady, always up for some fun, and this is a happy memory of her, of us spending time together, that makes me smile.

Here are views of the individual pages:

Here's hoping I'll be back with some newer creations tomorrow.

Happy iNSD!

Getting Artsy

I created this layout a few weeks ago, after I'd made the little hydrangea embellishments from a stamp and distress stains, and then the three tags. I also tried the cellophane "smoosh" technique on the background, and though I was a bit unsure of the result, it ended up working for me.

As a scrapbooker for about 11 years, now, I'm still exploring and developing my style. Playing with colors and mediums and making my own embellishments is what I'm really into right now, what I hope to do a whole lot more in 2017.

Pocket Page Protectors

A couple weeks ago, I finally finished the scrapbook layouts documenting the vacation I took with my husband to Florida in 2014. Because I took and printed a lot of photos of this epic trip, I used pocket page protectors to include as many photos as possible without needing more than the five volumes the documentation of these memories filled up.

Madeira Beach

I started with a traditional scrapbook page, somewhat simple, to contain two of my favorite photos and some journaling.

One side of the pocket page, which contains more journaling, a bit of memorabilia, more photos, and very light embellishment.

And the back of that pocket protector with a little more journaling, even more photos, and a little more embellishment. Love!

Incorporating Memorabilia

Going on vacation, even if it's a short weekend getaway, almost always means I come home with at least a few pieces of memorabilia. Tickets, pamphlets, tourist guides, maps, receipts, I collect all kinds of little bits and pieces reminiscent of my adventures, and not only when I'm on vacation. I like to incorporate memorabilia into my scrapbooking because it often includes additional detail of whatever I'm documenting.

Here are three layouts I created with different kinds of memorabilia from my 2014 vacation to Florida.


Beach Gear Shopping

For this layout, I didn't have a photo. We shopped for our beach gear at Target, and I probably could've found a picture of a random Target store, maybe even the specific one we visited, online, but I decided this small bunch of tags from the items we bough, along with the receipt, were sufficient for visually telling this story about our shopping trip before we hit the beach.


At the Beach - Pure Joy

This page contains only one piece of memorabilia, our parking tag/receipt for our delightful visit to the beach. The layout would have worked just as well without the memorabilia, but I included it because it provides details that aren't included in the journaling.


Epic Vacation

(Apologies for the not-so-great photo)

Part of our Florida trip was four days at a Disney resort, and a few days after we returned, we received a thank-you card from Disney, including a drawing of Mickey Mouse. I created this two-page layout for my 2014 yearbook to reference our epic vacation (which was documented separately), incorporating the note and drawing on the right side, and the envelope on the left.


I'm always looking for good ideas for using memorabilia in scrapbooking, so feel free to share in the comments.

Spring in Full Bloom

Maybe these trees are the same every year, and this is just the first year I've been so captivated by the profusion of blossoms.

Such flirtatiousness!

The blooms start out as tiny pink buds, and once they're open, the pink is all gone.

These photos were taken just a few days ago, and already, the flowers are just about gone, the petals turned to wet confetti by wind and rain, while newborn leaves take their place.

While autumn remains my favorite season, spring definitely has its appeal.

Right Now - May 2017

It's a new month, and I'm using it as an opportunity to start blogging again. While I'd like to blog every day this month, I make no promises. I'm historically not great at any kind of everyday challenge, but we'll see if I can at least blog more often than once every several months.

Let's start off with what's going on in my happy life, currently:

Reading: Really, not much. I go through stages when I hardly read at all and miss it so much. Occasionally, I do read articles in the Washington Post online, but even that doesn't happen as often as it did just after the election last November.

Cheering: The many, many people across these United States who are making their voices heard in marches and at town hall meetings of their Congressional representatives. Their influence is making positive change happen and helping keep the government from making harmful policies that would adversely affect us all. Keep up the good work, fellow citizens!

Watching: The Rachel Maddow Show, Scandal, The Resistance with Keith Olbermann, Big Bang Theory, and I just started the Iron Fist on Netflix. Not sure if I'll keep up with that one or not just yet.

Learning: Mixed media canvases, both by watching videos from the latest May Flaum class called In the Details, which I highly recommend, and by jumping in and doing it.

Planning: To clean out our garage and unload some of our stuff from the storage unit, particularly books, CD's and DVD's.

Working: Thinking about what's next in the arena of work.

Making: All kinds of scrapbook pages, and yesterday, I had an afternoon of play, using three new Distress oxide inks I bought a few weeks ago, as well as some texture paste and stencils. I am thinking about making a junk journal, and I will post photos/details about that if it happens.

Avoiding: A long overdue trip to the dentist. Those visits are never good news.

Eating: Not as well as I should, but I intend to change that.

Buying: Sandals for the summer, possibly new cell phones before summer's end. Paper-crafting supplies, especially with MegaMeet coming up in a couple weeks, and I can hardly wait!

Trying: To get inspired to cook more often.

Drinking: Coffee and water, as always. The occasional hazelnut steamed milk from Starbucks, and also the occasional beer after a bit of a hiatus.

Enjoying: So many things! The spring weather, including the rain. The absolutely gorgeous spring blooms everywhere I look. A new (to me) podcast called Pod Save America. Drinking coffee in the morning with my sweetie. Participating in the Awesome Ladies Project.

Hoping: To be able to keep up a steady blogging momentum throughout the month of May and beyond.