February scrapbooking layouts for Simple Scrapper

Now that January is almost over, winter is that much closer to being over too! Living in Minnesota, I love me some winter, but I love snow more than cold, and we've have little snow and irregular cold too. Sigh. Still, we had one nice spell of winter snow but not too much cold, enough to enjoy an outing. Here's a page I made with a sketch and story starter from Simple Scrapper:

This was a one page sketch I stretched to two to get more photos in. Maybe because I'm thinking about green, but I felt the need to put some green on this wintry page, along with the white, blue, and brown, a perfect combo for a nature outing. 

You'll note I used the map from the nature center as patterned paper on the page. I've started to enjoy doing that. It didn't fit across the 12x12 paper, of course, so I trimmed bits of the map from the unused portion and added them underneath the doily on the right to complete the spread.

I don't add sequins a lot, but sometimes the are the perfect color accent, especially since they remind me of glints of snow and ice.

The next page I made for Simple Scrapper again uses green and white and brown, but the photos come from last summer on a page I made about some neighborhood girls who love my dog:

I've used the term "Lola's fan club" to describe them to my husband, so I made it the title of my page.

Thank you for visiting today! Please go check out Simple Scrapper and look into membership. The community, the classes, and a monthly magazine complement the story starters and sketches that you see I used. All of this makes scrapbooking so much more fulfilling and refreshing.

I'll be back a few more times this week with pages from my other teams, as well as the rest of the layouts I made on my scrap weekend in January.

Almost monochromatic scrapbook page: Shine

I love the January kit for Scrapbook Circle. After I made my pages this month, I went back and made another page using some gorgeous supplies I hadn't yet used.

I loved all the yellow in the kit, so I made a lot of use of that. I also paired it with grey, plus hints of green, a la Frog Prince. Here's some details:

Thank you for checking out my page! I am finishing up the remaining pages from my scrap retreat and will post them when done later this week.

Pages from my scrapbooking retreat: part 1

I had the pleasure of attending a scrap retreat with some friends this past weekend. It was such a treat to get away and do nothing but scrapbook, listen to music, watch movies, eat (lots of that), and socialize. I finished a few pages completely while there. Here they are:

I made a similar page like this last year for Simple Scrapper. I kept some of the same design layout, selected some happy, warm colors, and  wrote the story. The book card and pocket and the October Afternoon Public Library worked really well for this page.

This was the only two-page layout I did this weekend. Again, I used October Afternoon mostly, Saturday Mornings, because I wanted to have warm colors and the food icons fit thematically.

I scrapped a lot of warm colors this weekend; it was about -15 every morning and didn't crack zero while I was away. Warm colors made me happy. Since these photos had primary red-yellow-orange, I went through my papers and started with those colors. I used some autumn themed October Afternoon (Daily Flash Apple Cider, mostly) to embellish.

Another warm page, just more subdued.

I fretted over this one a bit. It's my One Little Word layout, which I always do in January to dedicate myself. My Word is FOCUS, but I added the word "Currently" because of theme and visual interest.  I worried it might not seem like FOCUS was the title, so I framed it. Lots of pink, because I liked the background paper--it's out of focus, which I feel like I have been--and the rest sort of fell into place. The journaling is in the pocket.

Now the colors get a bit cooler since the photos are from warmer times. I used a lot of Crate Paper The Pier for this, plus Studio Calico Wanderlust. When I scrap just a few photos, I like to scrap them in a block; overlapping elements adds some interest.

Cooler colors here too because it was WARM in December when this happened! Seriously. I love the title on this. So much fun.

You'll notice on these pages that I did some serious stash-busting with these pages. I have some OLD products on here, paired with new ones. This might have been the first time I used bits of every container I brought with me on the crop. That made me feel a special bit of pride.

Thank you for visiting my blog! I have another 6-10 pages I started but didn't finish (titles and journaling to finish, mostly). I'll post again when I get those done.

My favorite scrapbooking pages of 2015

I don't think I did a reap of my favorite pages from last year. Although I was less prolific last year, I still enjoyed the process. Here's some of my favorite pages, in no particular order:

This was a recent page for Scrapbook Circle that I finished right at the end of 2015. I love the photo of my boys and used it as a base of a page that described their relationship using different nouns. #EnglishTeacher

Another recent page for Simple Scrapper, this time celebrating my garden. I love taking a one-page sketch and stretching it to two.

Perhaps my favorite page of the year using a heritage photo of me in Germany when I was in college. I reminisce on the song that is the title using a sketch and story starter for Simple Scrapper. Note: travel lines are my favorite themed paper, so I jump at the chance to use them on a page.

This page by Simple Scrapper I played around with circles from the sketch, this time with hand stitching, which I generally did less of this year. Note: More travel paper!

My son at the Bakken museum. I made serious use of stash on this page, starting with an older piece of bella Blvd that made a nice base for the technical page.

Both this and the last were Simple Scrapper pages. I loved that the sketch had diamond shapes, so I was able to use these shape stickers. Lots of machine stitching on this page, which I did do a lot of this year. I need to get my machine tuned up again, and it might be time to get a new one after 20+ years. Parts are falling off.

This page for Scrapbook Circle did something I fell in love with this year: taking inspiration for the page from a product. In this case I was inspired by the grid background paper to journal and embellish as I did.

More travel paper! I used it on a recent "travel" to Minneapolis to one of our favorite restaurants, The Freehouse. Note: this design is typical for me--same size photos in a line--but the huge tags and journaling on the bottom breaks it up and makes it look different.

Another page where I took inspiration from the background paper. I did a lot of big picture scrapbooking. This might have been my favorite because it might have been my favorite shot. Love white space.

Grids are good. Here I put all the shots in a grid, but one didn't fit, so I used it to embellish the title.

Finally, I (finally) got around to documenting my week in the life from the previous year. This might have been one of the only non-design team pages I made, which is a scrapbooking goal I have for the upcoming year: more pages using stash for a little randomness.

So what do I notice from my pages this year? A recap:

1. Color
2. Shape
3. Layers of embellishments
4. Pivotal stitching as a design element
5.  Big titles
6. Journaling strips
7. Designing from product

Thank you for visiting today! And thank you for letting me share some of my favorite pages. I've started some scrapbooking on my own this week, so I will be sharing as I complete more over the next month.

Happy New Year at Write Click Scrapbook!

Hello! It's a new year and a new gallery at Write Click Scrapbook. The theme is "My On Trend," which is a chance for us to share what our personal trends are. Here's my page:

I had the piece of striped brown paper, which was from an old Studio Calico kit, lying around. I got the idea for the page when I printed the photo of my husband and thought to pair it with the mead photo I had already printed and not used for my favorite photos page. I tossed the two photos on top of this paper to get it out of the way, liked the way they looked together, and went from there. This is, by the way, a typical way of creating non-kit pages for me.

Here's some details:

So what makes this page typical for me and my style/trends?

1. Journaling strips (of course)
2. Sewing
3. Different sizes and fonts for the title
4. Patterned paper mixes, especially the 2/3 and 1/3 split
5. More than one photo
6. A circle

I am not the only one who does these things, but these trends make me happy, so I do them a lot without qualms. Scrapbooking should make you happy.

Thank you for visiting today! Please go check out the inspiring pages at Write Click Scrapbook, and start the new year out by creating!

A colorful new year at Scrapbook Circle

This winter has been pretty warm, but we recently experienced some intense cold and snow here in Minnesota. As a result, I love working with bright colors in the winter. The Scrapbook Circle January kit Fresh Start gives me that opportunity. Here's my first page:

I used a lot of the add-on Shine Bright with this page; indeed, I love to use the 6x6 papers as layers for a photo mat. The big number in the add-on inspired my title. Lots of fun embellishments in this add-on too, including the Fancy Pants die cuts and meta badges. Here's some details:

Then a page that celebrates our favorite movie series, Star Wars:

Like the last page I used the add-on Shine Bright for the die cuts and badges. I also used the add-on New Day for the title--the big gold letters were so forceful, they were perfect for the page. The sequin embellishments in the add-on also show up in this page: I removed the adhesive backing and disassembled one to use the sequins sprinkled across the page.

The die cut font in the title is Bebas Neue, which is a good one to cut tiny.

Next is a page that came about serendipitously. I had taken the photo on the left last year, my son's last in elementary school. His first with a school iPad, he was highly distracted and did not perform as well as he could have. The photo on the right I took this year at conference night. He's been performing much better and has been excited about school, so I put the photos together to reflect on his transition in a year. I just happened to see the two photos together, which gave me the idea for the page.

(This may be the time to mention how hard it is to photograph these letters without capturing myself reflected in them!)

I punched the Maggie Holmes Crate Paper Sine Carefree, then sewed them in a frame around the two photos. I liked the whimsy and spirit. This time I used the sequin embellishments in the add-on New Day as is to frame his photos as well.

Finally, my favorite page this month, which I made as a Christmas present for my parents:

This is a favorite photo of the boys from last summer. I used the Crate Paper Maggie Holmes Shine paper called Sweet as the backdrop, then layered the Studio Calico Seven paper and washi on top as a base for the photo The wood and cork from the main and the badges and die cuts from both add-ons surround the photo with happy sentiments.

Not much journaling on the page, just a list of nouns that identify who they are: 2 brothers, 2 builders, 2 black belts, and so on. I used epoxy dots from the main to separate the list.

I always struggle to adhere vellum. These big numbers are dark enough so that using regular dot adhesive works OK, but here I sewed it down  v   e   r   y      s   l   o   w   l   y, turning the page to mimic the number's shape. It mostly worked.

Thank you for visiting today! I hope these pages show you how fun this kit and the add-ons are. Please visit Scrapbook Circle to check out this truly inspiring kit.

Scrapbooking the year's best moments

A few years ago I scrapbooked a page I called "This was the year that..." It was a retrospective of all the noteworthy events from the previous year, using some leftover photos and a leftover kit. I loved that page. Since then, I've done a similar page every year. Here's my page from this year:

Before I made the page, I journaled a list of what I remembered from the year that was notable. I also opened up PSE Organizer and scrolled through the photos to find representative shots. I also rediscovered other moments that I added to my list.

To create the page, I started with the blue circle paper, then dug into my scraps for the trim. (Yellow is my favorite color, so that was a natural choice.) I dug into old supplies and used the corrugated numbers and the die cuts which I hadn't used yet. Of course I journaled on strips, then inked them with yellow because.

Thank you for checking out my page! Stop by later this week for my January work for Scrapbook Circle and Write Click Scrapbook.