Summer pages for Simple Scrapper

Last time I posted some pages I made this past summer, mostly of last year when I went places still. Sigh. Here I wanted to share some pages I made for Simple Scrapper. First, here were some pages for August:

This one is a page about a birthday trip to Penzey's Spices to buy ANY SPICE I WANTED. Best birthday present ever. I like the deep blue background, which is October Afternoon. I don't have much deep blue, mostly aqua, so that is a patterned paper hole I need to fill. Letter stickers are Pinkfresh Studio and ancient Making Memories. Journaling Card is Elle's Studio, as are the wood words. Doilies are Stampin' Up, which has very nice embellishments. And any time I get to dig into the Embellishment Jar of Antiquity, I feel good. Here's looking at you, brads.

I live within a few hours away from most of my cousins, but I don't see them much, so when I do, I take pictures and commemorate. My cousin Janel is a legit artist, so I journaled about her gallery that she hosted and I attended. I took the product inspiration from the painting behind us, which was hers. The paper I used is an older Studio Calico piece that is just this gorgeous and fitting perfectly. I picked some embellishments to go in a circle, mostly from Crate Paper, and stitched around as a frame (I drew circles first as a guide). I tend to stitch stickers down anyway, mostly because they are mainly Ancient and need adhesive help. Added some Stampin' Up sequins because.

Here's a story from last September, again when I was going places. My husband plays with a swing band,  Westwind Swing Band, and they played at a winery/orchard called Parley Lake Winery. This place was obviously created with scrapbookers in mind, for it is filled with gorgeous sculptures and scenery. I started by enlarging the barn shot to 8x12, nice for an exposition shot on a two-page layout, then printed the rest 2x3 to fit in all around. I used some new Echo Park papers and old embellishments. A note on that: I used some old flair and discovered a lot was started to unpeel, which made them unusable. These worked, but I ended up tossing a ton. So if you've been intending to purge old supplies, start with the flair. That should be an easy job.

This last page shares something else that's kept us busy this summer, our new puppy Chewie, named after this character. Since we lost Lola last December, we've had a melancholy stay-at-home. Once summer hit, we started searching for a new dog, and this pup turned up. He looks like a breed, but he's a big mix. A big mix of cute, I might add. I chose an adorable photo of him and made this journaling heavy. Used up an acrylic alpha from Studio Calico for this. NOTE: when stapling, be sure to hit the letter.

Thank you for returning and seeing my Simple Scrapper pages! I'll remind you that this is a tremendous community filled with inspiration: sketches/templates, a monthly magazine, and classes.  If you need something to jump start your memory keeping, start here!

Re-using old designs

It has been a busy month for me! I collected student papers virtually, commented online, then finished  assessing the papers and submitting my grades. To make it more exciting, my district required me to go in for 4 of the last 9 days of school (while I was in the height of grading, of course!) to clean up EVERYTHING in my room and pack it away to make room for a deep scrub this summer and to help collect student materials. All this after I broke my toe. Gah.

I did some reading, some gardening, and some cross-stitching here and there, but I mostly graded. Now that school is out for the summer, I will have more time. Here's my inaugural summer page:

It is a traditional page I make every year that comes as the last page of my album. I pick my favorite 9 photos from the year and put them in a digital template.

The general design is always the same; the decorations differ. Here I started with an OLD piece of My Mind's Eye paper that was an ombre green/blue design; then I selected the Studio Calico muted cloud paper from my craps to serve as the title block. I used some new better stickers I got from Elle's Studio plus my standard chipboard letters from Jillibean Soup. (I ran out of O's, so thank you, button Stash! That's the best letter to run out of.)

At this point I took out my die cuts, which I organize by color in an office hanging-file folder case, pulled bunches in a few colors that seemed to fit the same muted tones, then played around fitting them in. I borrowed heavily from old My Mind's Eye and Elle's Studio dies.

Since I was doing a color challenge with my CKMB friends online this week, I challenged myself to add color in different mediums too: I stamped the numbers in orange on the right, I used orange thread in my machine instead of white, and I broke out my misting templates and added some painted flourishes.

So that's how I manage re-using old designs: Same structure, selecting basic papers, and then playing with product and techniques to make it fresh.

June pages for Simple Scrapper

Hello! I've spent the last weeks painting our flood-damaged downstairs and commenting on student papers. Now that I've finished, I've been scrapping. Here's some of my pages for Simple Scrapper:

This page was my representation of this month's sketch. I made this page as a rainbow promise for what we look forward to after Quarantine. My husband said "Sports" and my boys said "School" (!) and "Theater."

Creater comment: I fussy cut old Sassafrass paper for the background, then stitched it, and stamped two-tone stamping on the tag with an old Studio Calico stamp to enhance the theme.

This page celebrates my son'd performance at the State Theater on Hennepin Avenue because the school's production of Tuck Everlasting was honored by the Hennepin Theatre Trust. I used lush colors and ornate embellishments to reflect the theater.

Thank you for visiting! I'm almost done with my final overdue vacation album. I'll post pages of that when I finish! Take Care!

Back again! Pages from October scrap retreat

Hello! Once again I went to a scrap retreat and scrapped a bunch of pages. Once again I was overwhelmed by life and haven'tposted them. Sigh. I'll get it together. Here are some pages about me:

I don't like scrapbooking Mother's Day as a stand-alone page, but I do like scrapping it as an event. Here we are playing the card game Marrying Mr. Darcy. I used an old Studio Calico kit for this.

I told one of my boys' favorite family stories, about the time my hair caught fire while camping. I used some October afternoon, American Crafts, and Pebbles camping products.

This page I love. For the past two months our family has been clearing out the entire living space for our family to put in hardwood floors. (And then we put it back, which has basically been the last two months for me. No scrapbooking for me!) I found a few preschool love notes from the boys, so I put them together on this page with a recent photo. I used a KI Memories envelope on the back for the projects and included some of their bon mots in the journaling.

A page I started then stopped because I wasn't sure what to say. I decided to focus on what made it typical and to take some gusses.

Finally, a page about my husband and me and some of our dates in the past year. I like compilation pages like this. Mostly Ali Edwards on this page.

And Those are some pages about me! I'll be back to share some family pages, then a page that shares something tough from the last two months.

Scrapbooking the same event in a new way

Many of the pages I make involve my family attending an event we got to every year. I struggle at times with the design--should I try to make it different or not? Most of the time I keep some things the same and switch the rest up. Here's an example of a page I made about our family attending the State Fair:

I always take a ton of photos at the state fair. I am sort of amazed I got it cut to 7 photos. The same: the big photo of the swing ride that I always take and I usually enlarge and highlight the boys in some way. 

For this layout, I used the January Studio Calico kit. I liked the combo of bright and delicate elements, which I thought would work well for this subject.

Here's some details, starting with the stitched circle of the boys:

I clustered a bunch of tags and stickers, layering them with dimensional stickers for greater interest.

Throughout I also added some sequins from my stash. I liked how they sort of look like candy sprinkles, the kind you will find at the fair.

So in scrapbooking the same event, don't shy away from doing it the same way. Keep your favorite design elements from previous pages, and feel free to adopt what you need to fit the design. And don't be afraid of scrapbooking just a few photos!

Science and Scrapbooking

Since today is Pi day, I thought I'd share my page from the last time we went to the Science Museum of Minnesota.

We have been members for several years, so I take a lot of pictures there. I think on this trip I  took at least 30 pictures. I do a lot of double-paged spreads from those, but this time I thought I'd pick my favorite photos from the Pixar exhibit, then a couple shots from our favorite places--the dino in the lobby and the rooftop porch that overlooks the river. Here's the page:

I had just gotten a series of soda-pop themed papers from Stamping' Up! so I decided to use them because they are bright and happy. I then dug through my die cuts for colorful accents, like the banner from Pinkfresh Studio and the stars, which I think are Studio Calico and Ali Edwards.

Thank you for visiting! Now it's time to celebrate math and eat pie.

Saving photos to scrapbook later

Sometimes I print a photo because I love it, but I don't really have a reason to scrapbook it because I lack story. After some recent conversations with my cousins, I was inspired to write about the important role my cousins have played in my life. Here's the photo and the page:

I used a kit from Studio Calico that had some nice girly colors and patterns, plus some elements from the Ali Edwards kit named FABRIC. I created some strong lines with the papers to balance the frou-frou. I had a lot of story to tell, so I printed it on cardstock, cut it into strips, and stitches it to the page abutting the vertical patterned paper. running horizontal is a strip of vellum that I stapled onto the page. Here's some details:

I know I wanted to create a cluster with all the pretty embellishments in the kits, so once I decided on the design, I clustered them around the title and set the photo on top of it. I decided I needed to make use of some of my rub-ons, so I added a gold heart and some Jenni Bowlin butterflies.

Thank you for visiting and letting me share this page with you! I hope it gives you ideas holding on to a favorite photo until you have a good story to write.

November pages for Simple Scrapper: Scrapbooking heirloom photos and memorabilia

Hello! The trimester has really locked in, and I have a been a grading field for the last month. That put a serious dent in my scrapbooking. Fortunately, I made a date with some scrapbooking friends to scrapbook over the weekend in October at The Scrapbook Manor. It was so much fun, and I did quite a bit. I can't wait to share what I made.

Until then, I'd like to share my pages for Simple Scrapper for November. This first is a pocket album I started to make based off of the theme of letters.

After my father-in-law moved to assisted living, his memorabilia of his wife, their families, and their marriage came to my husband and me. It lay in an Iris container for a while, but the letter story starter for the month got me going on creating an album for this memorabilia. I started with the story of their meeting, which reminded me of those quirky how-we-met stories in When Harry Met Sally, so I chose something similar for the title:

I used up the rest of my old Studio Calico 6x8 album and album inserts for this album. Here's the story page with amazing photos of  Don and Phebe to accompany them:

Before I did the project, I dug through my Project Life cards for ones that looked neutral or vintage-y. I mainly used ones from Studio Calico and Stampin' Up (an old line from Liz Tahamana). Then I went through my embellishments and looked for similar neutral or vintage ones. I put them in a Craft Keeper next to the Iris container with the photos and memorabilia and kept dipping into it for product when I needed it. Here's the letters:

I wanted to keep the envelopes as well as the letters, but they didn't fit, so I slit the sides of the pockets, then cliped the letters in.

The letters are beautifully practical and romantic, relics of Don writing to Phebe with care and devotion as she planned the wedding while he was still stationed elsewhere. He was a wonderful writer, and I'm glad we have the evidence of this.

(Check out the price of the stamp!)

 

The final evidence of their letter success is the wedding, so I finished this section with the invitation and one wedding photo of the couple. Look at how beautiful and dapper they are!

 Thank you for visiting! I'm sorry for the grading hiatus. I still have a bunch to do this term, but I also have many pages to share, and I look forward to sharing them this month. Next will come the other page I made for Simple Scrapper in November, plus the rest of the pages I made on my retreat, including much of the rest of this album.

September pages for Simple Scrapper: Journeys

September's sketches/templates and story starters for Simple Scrapper are incredibly inspiring. Here's what I made:

The sketches in particular were particularly inspirational. I chose this one to make a page for my son's album of his favorite memories from our trip to Hawaii. He picked the photos and created the list. The die cuts and embellishments I chose from the file folders that I had created for my die cuts at the start of the summer. Woot!

The title of Heidi Swapp acrylic letters I used my tiny attacher to staple down. Now, I don't have a long-reach tiny attacher, though I would if it existed. Instead, I punch holes 1/4" apart--the size of the staples--inserted the staples by and and closed them. I won't tell you the number of times I poked my fingers doing this.

Next was the page I made with September's story starter. The theme is Journeys, so I scrapped about the states I've been to in the United States.

Right away I thought of the Studio Calico United States die cuts I've been hoarding in my stash. I've been hoarding them because I didn't want to split it apart. I felt like it was meant to be used as one. I mean, beg my forgiveness, Colorado, but you are a square. So, I decided this would be the heart of my page.

I used the tags to do my journaling. Seriously, I debated for a long time about adding photos to this page, but ultimately decided not to. I like the drama of the map. Here's some details:

I used a DCWV 12x24 piece of corrugated yardstick for the background. To make everything stick, I used glue or glue dots.

Thank you for stopping by! Again, a reminder to visit Simple Scrapper. They have truly inspirational classes, sketches/templates, story starters, and a monthly magazine to help inspire you.

An album of me: Part 3

I'm here to share the final album I made to declutter my photos and memorabilia I had kicking around the house. I used Studio Calico's Handbooks for the first two, but whoops! I'd run out at this point. I did, however, have many inserts from a Fancy Pants Brag Book, so I decided to make an album from those. First, I cut some chipboard, covered it, and punched some holes for the covers:

Then I divided my knick-knacks and photos into sections and used the inserts--photo, journaling, and pockets--for the sections.

In general, I made these sections chronological. I started out with scrapbooking by going online, so that's my first section.

Next, I started developing connection IRL, so that;s my next section.

I love that photo of us in blue. It was at the Pine City Scrapbooking store, a retreat as well and one of my favorite spots.

Now, my style developed strongly by subscribing to kits and using their online resources. I saved a lot of cute cool stuff, so I just put it all in here. Why not?

A favorite memory: meeting some SC peeps to scrap IRL!

Somewhere in here I started submitting and getting published. I didn't have much here for memorabilia, but what I had I included. NOTE: for the title page, I just raided magazines I still had for their subscription cards.

Big Picture Classes was another major influence on me, so here's the page that included the memorabilia for that.

Design teams really pushed my style, so this section memorializes them. For the title page, I trimmed up products I had for the companies I designed for, even a bit.

Finally, CHA, which was a part of my story on design teams.

NOTE: In that lower left photo in the spread above, I totally look like a giant. Gah.

I look like a giant here too! Argh!

Thank you for visiting! Mind you, I have never created a whole album for my hobby before, and I probably never will again, but scrapbooking has left me with so many memories and so much memorabilia, I am glad I took the time to put it in one place.