Posted in paper crafts on May 22, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Last few days have things have been cooking in my head. Finally got the time to put things to paper. Today I made 3 cards and two layouts. In my cards I used two pieces of pretty paper that I bought a few months ago and waited for the perfect project.
I started a web album with google, picassa web albums. Mostly these are my latest projects but I am also using these for my best photos.
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Posted in photography on May 16, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Had a house full of my husband’s family for the weekend. Took advantage of this to take some pictures of all of us.
I also took pictures of my sister in law and her kids, the photos turned out great.
Then I had her take a few photos of my little family. Not as in love with these but it’s the thought not the perfect photo I wanted. My little boy was more interested in playing with the tripod.
Posted in minibooks on May 16, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Here’s one of my latest designs of a mini book on a ring. I combined my favorite photo shop brushes by Jason Gaylor .
For this book I created my square photos in photoshop by placing them all on a 4×6 canvas. Each section has cardstock background, patterned paper, photo, and topped by a transparency page.
Supplies: Bazzill card stock and black polka dot brad, Heidi Swapp flower, patterned paper C’est Deco by Rhonna Ferrar for Autumn Leaves. Transparencies printed in photoshop using japanese floral brushes by Jason Gaylor
Posted in scrap thoughts on May 16, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
I know that to most people the idea of scrapbooking is that it is a silly hobby for housewifes or “crafty types” to get into. The idea that it’s just cutesy papers and stickers on a page with photos of jr’s 1st birthday. Or collecting all of your vacation pictures and writing silly commentaries about your trip. I think scrapbooking is just like this and it’s more. It’s a hobby where you can make your projects, cards, or scrap books. It can be sweet and lovely, or it can be edgey and artsy. It’s however you want to express yourself.
That being said, why should you scrapbook?
1) to record the stories you want to remember or that you want to pass down
2) document your daily life, the average day in your life
3) document special occasions, life changing moments
4) gather and collect old stories and photos and bring them together to tell a personal history
5) deal with the ups and downs of daily life
These are not unique to me, nor are they a complete list. Look in nearly any scrap mag, book, or website and you will find similar lists.
I used to scrapbook a few years back and then just fell out of the habit of it. Instead I packed a sketch book that was my journal/scrapbook of places I had been to things I had seen. I started a pregnancy journal, and it evolved into a scrapbook of sorts. Then I gave birth to my twins and really started to scrap again. But even with the joy of new babies to take picutures of, I wasn’t passionate about scrapping at least not the way I am now. Last summer I visited my family’s farm and started going through old photos to sort and scan onto my computer. After 4 generations of my family in the same house there was quite a collection of really old photos. Old photos without any information on them and no one alive who remembered who these people were. That made me sad, sad that no one knew the stories of those faded images, that there was no record who those people were. And this is what made me passionate. I decided from now on I would record my story and my famiy’s life story.
So now when I get photos in christmas cards and letters I do something with them. I am not saving any photos that don’t have information on them. I admit that these pages are not real complex and may not have a lot of extra do-dads but they tell the story and are in a safe place.
My other reason to scrapbook is that I like to be creative. I need to be creative. And right now, paper and scissors is filling that need.
Posted in organize on May 16, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
I admit I have clutter issues. My husband says I have “comfort clutter” this is clutter that follows me around where ever I go. My system is mostly based on good intentions and piles. One thing that contributes to my clutter is scraps of paper. I have a paper holder that should help with this but it still gets out of hand. So in response to Ali Edwards challenge to “clean up the clutter” I went though all of my scraps. I organized them by color and any piece that I couldn’t punch a 1 in square out of I tossed. Then I took a hard look at what I was keeping and those papers that I haven’t used for a long time I put in my kid pile. I then sorted out all of my patterened paper pulling out those papers that I don’t like and proablby wouldn’t use again. These went to my kid pile. The kid pile is a collection of leftovers and other scrapbooking stuff that I either don’t like or won’t ever use. Now when I have kids visit who want to craft (or when my babies get bigger) I can grab this one container with the stamps, ink pad, stickers, cardstock, and p paper that I know I won’t use. Much of this stuff was stuff I bought on sale (I’m a sucker for sales) or things that I won at a crafting event. Just cleaning up my papers really made me feel more in control of my clutter.
Some other ideas I am implementing: using a plastic drawer system to keep things like blades, adhesives and rub on together. My categories are labeled as follows: adhesives, sharp, rub ons, embellishments. These are all in my drawer unit. I have also put a ring on all of my making memories rings to keep them with each other. 
