There's a monster in my scrapbook!

I've been working on my daughter's birthday party pages. Her party theme was Monster's Inc. To both challenge myself and also to add a little cohesiveness to the pages, I have been using the same 4 colors on all of her birthday pages. These are the official monsters Inc. colors, light but bright blue for Sulley, lime green for Mike, and Orange because that seems to be a color associated with the movie! I'm also using hot pink because my girl was wearing bright pink. It is an odd combination, but is turning out to be very appropriate for a birthday party! It also is tying the pages together marvelously! I've been using more letter stickers on these pages as well. They keep it looking less cluttered.
Tip of the Day: I already mentioned creating a theme of some kind for events that have multiple pages. Last year for my daughter's birthday, I created a tag for each page. I used all kinds of tags, small ones, and some more elaborate. I had a lot of fun with it and since it was carrying over onto all the party pages, I didn't have as much trouble coming up with new ideas.
I have a friend who used the same title box for all of her day beginnings on her cruise. She had a rectangle of water colored paper which she secured to the page. Then she used a smaller rectangle of vellum and secured it onto the water paper. Now there is a border of the water paper clearly all around the vellum. She used letter stickers to write the date and location and placed that on the vellum. It looked sooo nice!
Scrap Happy!

I hate my pages!

Have you ever gotten to the point where you just can't come up with anything creative? That's where I feel like I am right now. I've been stuck in the land of no creativity for some time actually. When I do the pages, I just feel like they are so... blah. But when I look at them later, I realize that I really do like them! I stayed up past 3am working on my daughter's birthday pictures. I have been working so hard on everything else, that it really feels relaxing to work on her pictures. ( I just wish I could come up with some awesome page ideas) If you are stuck in a rut, like I am, you might want to consider page ideas that come in a binder. CM sells them! You can add to your collection every season when a new pack comes out. I'll let you know if I start creating betterpages the next time I write!

Tip of the Day:
To slide your page protectors onto a well embellished page smoothly, just lay a piece of paper right up against the page and the page protector will slide right on! Then simply pull the extra paper out.
Scrap Happy!

Scrapbooking for ME!

Yesterday, I said, "Forget it!" I took some time for myself, and just went to work on a few pages of my daughter's album! It was great! My personal goal is to catch up on her album before our little vacation in August, so that when I get home from the beach, I can do it right away! You know how some things are easier to do than others? My beach pictures are like that! I relive it as I scrap it! I also take very good notes when I'm there, so that of course makes it much easier to journal when I sit down to scrap 2 weeks later.

Tip of the Day: One of my favorite beach page ideas is this, tear tan paper in a strip and place it along the bottom of your page with the torn side up. Place a few seashell stickers, maybe a bucket on it's side in the "sand" you have just made, and all you need are the pictures. It's so simple, yet looks so cool.
Scrap Happy!

No time to scrapbook!

Running a business, cleaning my house, taking care of my little one, laundry, and my husband's softball games. What do all of these things have in common? They are my reasons for not getting any scrapbooking done this week! But the week is still only halfway gone!

Tip of the Day: I got this tip from my friend, and customer, Dana. Using the CM cutting system, cut a circle out of your page. Obviously, the next page will then show through. You can then place a photo on the next page that you will be able to see through the hole. I did a book for someone of their son's baseball career. I placed his first little league photo on the second page of the book, in the left hand top corner of the page. I cut the facing page, and then continued to cut circles in several pages, so that you could still see his first photo for several pages. Be careful, because after 4 or so pages, you can no longer see through once you have placed page protectors on the pages. I had several of these "Focus Photos" throughout the book, because this book was mostly made up of news articles, and I wanted to keep the photo idea fresh. I did a Mentor theme for his book, so I started the front page with a picture of him and his grandfather, who taught him to play ball, and using several pictures of him with his parents as "Focus Photos" throughout the book.You might want to use the larger size book when using this idea, because it does tend to take up a lot of space on the page.
Scrap Happy!

Monday, Monday

It's the start of another week, and I was able to work on the 10th grader's album again this weekend. Both Friday and Saturday, I spent hours on it. I'm really happy with how it's looking, even though I'm not using a Creative Memories album, and I have no idea how to insert the extra pages in this one. I also don't like how the 12x12 sheets of paper don't fit right on the page and I have to keep cutting each sheet. Everything is designed to fit together with CM, and it seems to save me a lot of time. I have hardly made a dent in the box of photos, and I am only at the end of her preschool year! The good thing is that once I finish a page or 2, I will be done with this album, and then I can start using CM albums and pages!

Tip of the Day: Get your pictures developed in the 4 inch size instead of the 3 1/2 x 5. It's easier to crop the larger photos, and it's easier to see everyone's face in group photos.
Scrap Happy!

Fast and Thrifty

Yes! I finally was able to get pictures in order and start the album I told you about! I completed 9 pages in 4 hours last night, and didn't end up leaving my friend's until after 2 am! I made simple pages, and that's how I completed them so fast. I still have a long way to go! I have a scrapbooking night tonight, so I hope to complete 9 or more in the next 5 hours.

Tip of the day: When I mat a photo, I hate to waste all of the paper that will be behind the photo where no one can see it anyway! What I do is measure and cut the "mat" out, and then cut the center rectangle ( the part that will be hiding behind the picture) out with a 12 inch trimmer. This takes a few extra minutes, but I think it's worth it!
Scrap Happy!!!

life strikes again!

I was going to try to start my customer's album by today, but I failed! I have a good excuse though! My daughter became really sick and wanted to be held constantly. I did pick up 3 more rolls of developed film before that happened, so now I have even more incentive to finish this other book, so that I can work on Kennywood pictures, as well as pictures my daughter took on her own little camera. (It's her very first roll!) I hope to get together with 2 of my friends to scrap tonight.
Tip of the Day: Set aside time to scrapbook! Make it a priority! Put it on the calendar if you need to! Making plans to go to a friend's house and just scrap until you can't see straight, will help you keep the time set aside to just scrapbook. You might even want to turn your phone off! I have workshops in my home twice a month. Anyone is welcome, and I have scrapbooking supplies there to purchase. I also hand out page ideas for everyone to take home. If you are interested in having a bunch of friends over to scrapbook together, I can come to you, bringing a box of stickers, paper and tape runner refills! I also have a thank you gift for the hostess, and crop talks for everyone. If you're interested, write to me at aleasalbums@yahoo.com .

starting from scratch

The hardest part of scrapbooking, is actually starting the newest project! Once I have the pictures sorted and I have sat down to actually put them in the album, then it is easy! It's just the initial overwhelming start! I have an album to start for one of my customers. It's been on my own personal to-do list for 3 days now! I hope to be able to tell you that I have started it by the next time I write!
Tip of the day: If you have years worth of photos in boxes, you probably are daunted by where to start! The easiest thing to do is to purchase the Power Sort box from a CM consultant. I was able to help my mom sort BOXES of photos in just 4 hours. You should have seen all of the empty envelopes we threw away! Imagine the guilt that we threw away along with those empty photo envelopes! Whew!

scrapbooking ideas and revelations

I have a confession to make! I'm now 2 months behind in my daughter's album! I try to create an album for her, and an album for myself. My own album is now a year behind. Here are my excuses: First, I take way too many pictures! I can't help it! I just don't want to forget anything she says or does. She has 2 books for every one year of her life. Secondly, I do other people's albums. Enough said! I just don't have time to put my own pictures into an album.

A HA! Now you're thinking, how do you have time to write about scrapbooking then? How can I resist?! Writing and scrapbooking are both passions of mine! So, my writings in here may be short, but I want to share a little bit of my experience and ideas.

Tip of the day: make sure you journal in your albums! You might hate your handwriting, but it is a part of you. Imagine getting the mail and spreading all of the envelopes out on the kitchen table. You'll see bills, and flyers, but what jumps out to you? An envelope with handwriting on it! How many times have you looked at a handwritten envelope and known immediately whom it was from? You recognize your mother's handwriting because it's a part of her! What will your handwriting mean to your children when you have passed away?
That's it for today! Scraphappy