New layout in Scrapbook & Cards Today!

 Every time a submission call for a magazine goes out, I try to submit. So it was a great pleasure for me that one of my favorite scrapbooking resources, Scrapbook & Cards Today, solicited a page from me! 

The layout I made is a PageMap layout, a two-page design. It was tremendous fun to make, and I hope you will check out the entire issue. Bright colors, helpful hints, and bundles of inspiration. You can find the new issue here.

I'm busy creating Bitmoji classrooms for the most part right now and planning to move from digital instruction to hybrid instruction. At night, I'm trying to keep up with my 2019 albums as well as finishing up my eldest son Rowan's school years album. I have an approaching deadline: he graduates this spring. 😲 Holy heck. 

I have a vacation album completed that I need to edit and post. I'll be back soon with my pocket pages album!

Some more small stories on 8.5x11 paper

Hello! I spent some time recently finishing some 8.5x11 layouts, one about each boy telling a small story in his life. Here are some other smaller format, smaller story-layouts I made recently.

First is a page I did for Simple Scrapper in March, using a couple photos and some big PP banners to share a story about my son's last year in Dinner Theater at church. This was super each to come together once I picked the bright colors. The speech bubble sticker had been handing out in my workspace for a while, so I put it on the page just because it seemed to fit. There's a benefit to not always putting stuff away!

This page commemorates our transition to a new car. I'd taken a photo of my last car before we traded it in, and then a photo of my new car. Again, the FAMILY die cut and journaling card were lying around, so design-wise I started with those and picked homey colors and products to fit.

Another small story, this one my son's final piano recital. It follows basically the same simple design as the previous page. Big strips of PP form a nice base for the page, then strips of journaling stitched down and embellishments that lead the eye across the page.

The story behind this page made me laugh so I had to print the photo behind it and share the story. I don't know how to take pictures on Androids, but my son does, and so we did. This was a perfect page to use these huge die cuts.

One of my favorite photos of my cat. She is an occasional lap snuggle with me and only me. The color scheme led my design for the page.

Finally, a page about my husband. I had this Me Right Now journaling card I loved, but I'd just made a similar page about me, so I didn't know how to use it until I found this unused photo of my husband from Father's Day. I was at my January Scrap retreat at the time, so I called him and asked for his answers and wrote them own (it was also fun to see how many of these I predicted correctly!). A basic strip design with my husband's favorite color, British racing green.

Thank you for visiting again! I hope this gives you ideas of stories to tell of designs to try.

Making progress on pages I was stuck on: Scrapbooking blocks

I am still finishing up sharing pages I started then didn't finish in my scrap retreat in January. These two I was stuck on. I made them, then wrote the journaling, then made no progress,. I'm not sure why I didn't with this first one. It was pretty well complete without journaling. Here's what I ended up with:

To be honest, the only thing, aside from the journaling, that I hadn't finished was the date. Lo, my son had kept the box of the Switch and the receipt--we trained him well!--so when I asked him to find it, we were set. I used an Ali Edwards Story kit for this, plus scraps. I've been using my scrap bin quite a bit for patterned paper.

This page was a bigger conundrum. I'd put together the photo block plus the four clocks of colored paper under it. After I added the journaling, I looked around for something to finish it, and lo, serendipity: We are remodeling the downstairs after a flood, so most of my scrap stuff is upstairs right now. I saw a strip of green paper that looked like lawn, and that gave me an idea. I used them as strips of "lawn" to frame the title, then dug into my decorative brads, which were again right next to me because of the remodeling. After some stitching, I was done. And I love this page much more than when I started.

Thank you for stopping by! I made a few more pages--most brand new!--in my stay-at-home state. I'll share them soon in the next week.

Scrapbooking the year: 2018

I recently went on a scrapbooking retreat. I do every January, and this year I completed my 2018 albums for the family.

Last summer I did a big reorganization/purge of scrapbook pages. I took every page out and organized by year, tossing those that were not meaningful. (Some I put aside to redo, either to make more concise or to reduce business.) I'm in the processor making labels and tags for the cover and bindings, and I plan to buy some albums to replace ones I have to make the look more uniform and to occupy less shelf space.

Long story, but last fall I went though my photo files from 2018 and ordered photos to finish telling my stories from that year. I made the pages at the scrap retreat. Here are some of the ones I've finished so far:

This one was perhaps my favorite, an amalgam of all the weekend outing photos I took of me and my husband. I love the bright colors in it.

This is a layout of a vivid maybe not great memory. Home opener series in sub-freezing temps. I couldn't make it to the end of the game, ergo chilly colors. Hopefully you get the title.

More and more I'm liking to print photos I love then figuring out what to do with them. I had photos from a few girlfriend weekends at The Manor, so I put them together onto a page. I'm loving using Project Life cards either in full or punched out.

This is a similar layout but more poignant. We recently lost our dog to a sudden and terminal illness. I took three character shots I'd never put on a page and scrapbooked her personality.

This was the first page I made at the retreat. I used up an old Ali Edwards kit for it because I loved the colors.

This page is an example of one I've been making more of recently, one put together with photos my husband or son shares with me. This was from the time I was in Maine helping my parents with my younger son. Here's what my husband did with my eldest while I was gone. Printing photos in standard sizes like 4x3 made this page easy to put together.

And this is what I was doing while I was in Maine! I used an About Me PL card for the page and picked pretty papers.

Here's my youngest around the same time. Not really a story, just my favorite photo I took while I was in Maine.

Finally, a page about my eldest in one of his last piano recitals. He still plays but is too busy for lessons.

Thank you for visiting! I have some 8.5x11 pages to share next time. I've been doing more of those for my smaller stories.

Scrapbooking the eldest

I wanted to share some pages from the scrap retreat last spring. (I went on another glorious retreat this fall, and I'll start sharing those pages soon!) Here's some pages I made about my eldest.

Last year (and this!) my son ran cross country. After he was done, he decided to join Nordic skiing with his friends from XC, and he found his real passion. This is a celebration of his times skiing last year.

Next is a small but fun story: my son loves putting fruit stickers in hard-to-find places. That's the not-fun part. The fun part: I found some and, instead of blowing a gasket, I stuck one on him. And took a picture. He had no clue. Revenge is a dish best served cold. With fruit stickers.

On a lighter note: Rowan has become enamored with Bob Ross. He was on Netflix, and he couldn't get enough. So a surprise birthday present for him was a Bob Ross Pop figurine. Another earlier surprise: meeting an impersonator hawking the game at GenCon. The triad of photos was completed when I asked the boys to do something creative before asking for electronics in the summer. He asked for my scrap paper and created this collage. The title was an obvious choice.

Finally, a page about his 15th birthday. He wanted to celebrate at Surly Brew Hall (root beer for him, and he loves their burgers), so we had a good evening celebrating his day. I picked fall themed stuff for the day.

Thank you for visiting! I'll soon share page about my other son, the youngest.

Strong Magic: March Simple Scrapper pages

The pages I made for Simple Scrapper this next month were some of my recent favorites. Here they are:

This was a recent photo I'd kept up in my scrapping space, it was just that much of a favorite. I made this page to share with my parents. I used a Kelly Purkey kit for this page, and I built off of the stars them with sequins. Here's some details:

I used a kit from Kelly Purkey for this called My Universe. The colors are not typically male, but they are bright and cheerful, which matches the spirit of the page.

The stitching I did after I'd drawn lines with a ruler. I'll try to share a tutorial with photos later this month. It was super easy.

I added star stamps from the Kelly Purkey kit. I stamped in Versamark, then when it dried, I lightly outlined them with a thin pen for more definition.

The next project is sort of my mission statement when it comes to entertainment. From Princess Leia to Buffy to Eleven, I love shows with badass women.

I took some screen shots then printed the photo on a 4x6 piece of paper, trimming it before I put it on the page. Then I selected warm colors for the page, reflecting my passion for these stories Here's the details:

Thank you for visiting! Please visit Simple Scrapper--lots of exciting story starters and templates to use this month!

Two-page layouts: really big and really small

This is the final two-page layout I made this past month. This one I knew I would be pairing a big photo with small ones. The big photo involved my son at the starting line of a cross country race. Without a big photo my son would have been lost. Here's what I did:

Like the previous layouts, I had saved autumn die cuts. I then picked out some autumn hued papers that matched the die cuts and then spread it across the page. Here's the details:

Like before, I used Elle's Studio die cuts, plus elements from my Ali Edwards kits and Stampin' Up! Project Life kits.

Here's an interesting note: I had originally designed the page with the pages reversed, but my son said he preferred the pages reversed, and so I did it. It's his memory, after all.

Thank you for visiting while I share these two-page layouts I made this past month! Soon I'll share my Simple Scrapper pages for March. They are some of favorite ever. I can't wait to share them!

Same page different boy

Not too often, but occasionally I make a page about the same subject with both boys Here are the pages I made regarding a virtual eality game they played at the Mall of America. First, Rowan:

(You can sew through chipboard! Just use the hand tool.)

Here's the page I made about Dominic:

I used Ali Edwards kits for both boys, just different ones.

Here's some hints I learned about making two pages about the same subject for different people without making the exact same page:

1. Do them on separate days.
2. Select one aspect of each story you want to focus on, and choose product to fit that subject (the kits I picked were themed FUN for Dominic and LENS for Rowan; those fit each boy's story).
3. Choose background/dominant colors first to reflect the emotion in the pages.
4. Show the pages to your subjects and allow them to give you feedback and ideas.

So those are my pages about the same subject! I hope it gives you ideas to scrap the same idea but in different ways.

Happy New Year! Here's to more scrapbooking

Hello! My first trimester this year has come and gone. Unfortunately, it corresponds with December. As a church musician, I find December to be particularly busy, so I apologize for this late post. Here are the pages I made for Simple Scrapper:

The theme this month was circles. I used the inspiration to scrap a memorable game we attended this year. I put my ancient Coluzzle to work for this page.

The next page was from a sketch. As usual, I added more photos to scrap my son's and my typical Thanksgiving:

Thank you for visiting! I spent December singing, prepping for Christmas, and being sick. I'm still sick (bronchitis), but I did manage to scrapbook over winter break. More posts to follow!

Happy layers on a scrapbook page

The school year has started out. We're not too busy with writing yet, though it's coming soon. Mostly we've been enjoying the start of Dominic's last year in middle school and the start of Rowan's first year in high school. Here's a page I made recently about the two of them and a stint in Dinner Theater:

They'd seen the show for several years and dreamed of being in it, so I want to remember each year they do it. Since it's so dark at the show, I only included one shot of the finale number, which was well lit; the one of the boys I took after.

To lighten the photos, I picked a light background paper and happy-colored Project Life cards to layer over it. They weren't enough, so I added a couple strips of scrap paper. I put the photos on top, then embellished.

Before I stuck everything down, I added some mist for some texture. Here's some details:

I don't have a lot of the Illustrated Faith line, but I was happy to use it on this page.

Some old and beloved Basic Grey layered flowers worked well for contrast on this layout.

After I was finished, I realized how symbolic, albeit inadvertently, the background paper with crosses was. My son the stickler, however, said, "They're pluses not crosses ,Mom." He obviously won't be the English teacher. Sigh.

Thank you for coming today! I hope this gave you ideas about adding colors and layers to capture the feeling on the page, even when the photos aren't stellar.