Digi Scrapbooking

I've been trying to make good use of the heat wave. Since I've been staying inside during the hottest part of the weekend days, I'm using the time to make my way through a couple of free online classes for Photoshop Elements. So here's my first practice page. The lesson was to take a "quick page" template and add your own photo, title and journaling.  I liked how it turned out and it was super easy!  And the class came with a package of the cutest digital supplies.  Looking forward to playing with those supplies a little more on other pages and even cards.

Even though I have Stampin' Up's My Digital Studio, I wanted to try my hand at digi scrapbooking with Photoshop Elements since there are so many free templates and supplies floating around the web. Turns out that was a good decision as I just found out that Stampin' Up no longer supports My Digital Studio (as of June).  That was kind of a bummer. I really liked that product.  It was easy to use and having everything match my real life stamps, papers and embellishments was a big plus.  From what I can tell, the application will still work but as new operating systems and versions of Java come out, there's a chance that it will stop working.  Guess I'll just have fun until then.

Hope everyone is staying cool.  See you back here soon.

With Sew Much Love

As a contrast to yesterday's "beginners" page, here's a picture of my latest scrapbook page.  I think I'm starting to find my style.  Much like my cardmaking, very clean and simple, very linear.  The focus is on the story the pictures and journaling tell with splashes of fun with color and patterned paper.

This page is a tribute to my Mom and her amazing sewing talents and the amazing energy and love she had for raising her family.  

Although I don't really like my handwriting, I want to do a few pages that have my own handwriting on them because it feels much more personal.  I found that I loved the handwriting in my grandmother's scrapbook.  Somehow it made me feel like I knew her better.  So hopefully those that read my scrapbooks will feel the same.  But I find I have so much I want to say in the story that it doesn't always work to include the journaling on the page itself.  So the 6x12 pages are really working out nicely.

Here's a shot of just the journaling page.  I tried to include some dates in the descriptions of the clothes to help mark the times.  Since my old photos are dated I had to go to the web to find the general dates for "ponchos", "smock tops" and "bell bottoms".  Now that was a fun ride down memory lane!

The Beginning

I've been going back and photographing some of the scrapbook pages I've made so I can get them posted here as sort of a backup.  This one really tickled me.  It was my very first scrapbook page.  Well sort of. . . .

Even though I kept a scrapbook in high school, it wasn't quite the same as the scrapbooking we know today with all the beautiful patterned papers, sketches, embellishments, etc.  

My sister-in-law decided to be a rep for Creative Memories for a little while and I bought a bunch of supplies from her.  An 8.5 x 11 album, cardstock diecuts and stickers.  

I have to tell you when I look at this page it just makes me giggle with how goofy it looks compared to the scrapbook pages I'm making now.  

Because I switched to 12x12 scrapbooks a few years ago for my "event" and travel scrapbooking, I mounted the original page on some larger cardstock with yellow border trimming.  It wouldn't be a Sandy page if it didn't have yellow on it somewhere - she's all about the yellow :-)

Even though I'm not in love with the page, I love the subject matter.  It was Sandy's birthday and Thoryn and Abby came over to the house to celebrate.  We had such a wonderful cozy February afternoon.  Here's a couple of close-ups which helps make the journaling a little more readable when you click on the image:

It will be interesting as I post other scrapbook pages to see how my style has evolved.  Sometimes it seems like I'm still a beginner but when I look at this page as the beginning and compare it to my latest page (which I'll post tomorrow) I can see I really have grown.

6 Weeks to the Finish Line

Well it's been 6 weeks since the last Gal Pal post - the one where I foolishly boasted that I was going to finish a set of scrapbook pages that I had been working on since the winter.  Can't even remember now what the heck got in my way but I took advantage of the rainy Saturday to really get serious and get them done.

The topic was our 2006 trip to Palm Beach, Florida.  Allan was working on a project there and it was the very beginning of our romantic relationship.  I flew in for what turned out to be a very romantic weekend ;-)

The pages are very full and very busy - more so than I wanted them to be from a design perspective - but in some ways that's very reflective of the weekend.  We did a lot in just 2.5 days.  

I had a hard time putting these pages together.  They seemed so personal and I wasn't sure how best to tell the story.  The emotions and intimacy of that weekend made me feel a little vulnerable as I knew the pages would be in our Travel scrapbook album.  Earlier in the year I purchased the Romantic Scrapbooking Class from Paperclipping - which also hosts the weekly scrapbooking podcast I've been listening to.  It helped a lot to normalize those feelings and figure out how to move forward with telling our story.

I think now that I have this one behind me, the rest will follow a little more easily.

Here's a few close ups of each page and the 6x12 page insert I used to journal the story and store the ephemera from the trip.  I used lots of old paper scraps and embellishments so that felt really good.  I'm almost done with my reorganization project - another that's been 8 months in the making.  Hopefully I can get some of those pictures posted soon and share what I've been up to in the Coastal Craft Room :-)

Finish Line

Here's a little sneak peek of a scrapbook page I've been working on for some time now.  I'm determined I'm going to make it to the Finish Line and get 'er done this weekend!  Check back in on Monday to see how I did.

Looking forward to playing hooky this afternoon and going to Memory Lane for Betty's alcohol ink class.

And Val, really looking forward to our Melting Pot class tomorrow!  Are pot holders required?! :-)

Hope you have a good weekend.

P.S.  Good luck to all my friends who are running their first half-marathon in the Missoula Marathon on Sunday.  Crossing that Finish Line will feel great I'm sure!

Gratitude Journal

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, here's a pic of one of the pages in my Gratitude Journal / Memory Log.  I did this to experiment with some scrapbooking techniques I've been wanting to try.  It felt a little safer and less intimidating doing that experimentation on a small page format and something that was for my eyes only.  I know Staci always laughs at me when I say this, but somehow a 12x12 page just seems to scary.  I can handle a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card front just fine and even this 5x7 doesn't scare me.  But put a 12x12 in front or me and I just freeze.  Weird, huh?!  Better get over it soon as I've got lots of pictures to scrap and lots of memories and stories to capture.

3 days and counting :-)

Getting Ready

This is a scrapbook page I did a few years ago.  It's the title page to what is our Travel Album. I stole the title from one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books.  

It seemed fitting to revisit this page as we spent a good portion of the weekend planning and list-making for our upcoming trip to Hawaii.  

Hope you all had a good weekend too.  

(More on the Harold and the Purple Crayon theme of this page to come. . . )

Baby Webster

Hi Gal Pals!

Hope you had a good Veterans Day today.  Although Cricut Man had to fly back to Alaska which made my heart a little sad, I did end up having a good day and a productive one too.

After a couple of hours of house chores, I spent the rest of my time in the craft room and made this scrapbooked picture frame for Baby Webster - Wenonah Jane Webster - who will actually turn 8 months old this week.

Kelly, one of my teammates, was pregnant when we left for Florida this spring and had the baby while we were gone.  I had such good intentions of getting the gift done as soon as I got home but sadly that didn't happen.  And then it seemed that the more time passed, the more I struggled with the design inspiration.

But Kelly, who is UM's Writing Center Director, and I have been talking recently about family story telling and particularly about the stories of the women in our lives.  Just the inspiration I needed.  

I made these "pages" to insert in the frame, but included a formatted journaling page on the back of each page with the hopes that as Kelly changes out the pictures in the frame as Wenonah grows, that she'll write some of her thoughts about her baby girl on the back of the page and slip it into a 5x7 photo album as part of her own memory keeping. 

I cropped up the photo birth announcement Kelly sent this spring and dug through my paper stash for coordinating colors of purple, pink and coral.  I don't have much baby paper but found some really pretty papers in my Stampin' Up papers and 6x6 paper packs that coordinating perfectly.

I had so much fun pulling out embellishments.  Some pearls to highlight the corners of the picture.  Used a clear button on top of some patterned paper tied with some baker's twine.  Found a cute little metal flower from SU.  Used my file label punch and a Tiny Tag "Love" stamp to tag the photo.  Found some pastel mini-diaper pins and a pink metal heart to finish off the embellishing on the first page. 

I used one of the fonts from Free Font Friday (CK Amour) and started each journaling page with a "W", the first initial of her first and last name.  Changed the font color to Sahara Sand to match the colors on the pages.

I love Winnie the Pooh quotes and thought this one I found on a Pinterest board was perfect.  I covered a chipboard heart with another patterned and added a small metal embellishment to balance the metal on the coordinating page.  The little bird on the leafy branch was a part of the original announcement but I cropped it to use as an embellishment.  I pulled out the purple from that to anchor the page with a textured purple paper I had.

There was some yellow-green in the clip art/quote - which in my perfect world I would have liked to change - but that wasn't possible.  So in order to balance the color on the pages I introduced the same color in the center of the metal flower and in the color of the "Love" stamp on the coordinating page.  "Color Balance" - is that really me talking?!  It's amazing how much I'm learning from all the scrapbooking videos I've been watching lately!  WhooHoo!  Maybe I'm ready to tackle my Grandmother's scrapbook afterall?!

See at the shop!

Thanksgiving Mini Album

 

Remember the little mini album I was working on last week?  Here's how it turned out.  Had to use my last little wobbly turkey :-)  Although I have to fess up about a big creative deviation I had to take.

 

Originally I wanted it to be a hostess gift for my neighbor who invited us for dinner Thanksgiving Day.  I thought it would be cool to have everyone at dinner write a note of Thanks to her and document what they were grateful for.  Kind of a nice keepsake - even though I know the guys would have just rolled their eyes.  I guess they should be thankful they were spared from having to do that as I messed up the construction of the album. 

 

Even though Debbie told me not to adhere the ribbon on both covers, I did it anyway - not out of stubbornness mind you, but just because I wasn't paying attention.  And lo and behold, she was right - the accordion folded part of the album didn't unfold.  Dang it!

 

But I saved it by adhering the back / open part of of the folded pages together and then cutting on the front folds.  That turned it into a conventional little book which Cricut Man and I will use to preserve some Thanksgiving pictures and thoughts for this year.

 

Gotta love those Creative Deviations, huh?!

"Baby" Noah

I wanted to share with you another album page I made with the most recent pictures of Allan's grandson, Baby Noah - not such a baby anymore.    It’s a pretty “clean and simple” page.   I loved doing it.  But it made we realize how far behind I am with creating pages for some of the pictures his parents post each month.  That’s me though. . . so many fun ideas but not much time to bring them all to life :-(. 

 

Working on scrapbook pages always gives me the time to think about the person I’m scrapbooking.  So I had plenty of time to think about . . .”I wonder what he’s like?. . .I wonder what makes him giggle. . .  what’s his favorite toy right now?. . . .what we’ll he be like when he’s all grown up?”  He’s a beautiful boy and it will be fun watching him grow.  I'm so thankful that Natasha and Cameron have been so good about posting pictures each month on Shutterfly.  It makes us feel a part of things even though we’re so many miles away.

 

P.S.  Staci - those red, white and blue "candies" really came in handy for this page, don't ya' think?!