Autumn Leaves

Ah, the leaves have fallen and the winter winds are blowing in. *chill* Sorry about that! Here are some pages I did to remember those beautiful leaves of autumn. This page was kind of a collection of pictures taken around the same time. On a walk, we found these very cool leaves, and I took a picture of them. I simply silhouetted them and used them to center both pages. I also used my leaf punch to create a bottom of the page border and to add a little color to the page. Notice I used white facing black pages. Yeah, I just liked how the leaf in the middle contrasted differently on both.

Leaves! My daughter decided she wanted to rake the leaves and jump in them. Her daddy helped, and she had so much fun raking them, jumping in them until they were scattered, and then raking them again. I used a blue backround because she has blue in her shirt. It was getting dark, so the pictures aren't the best quality, but they show the happiness on her face. Classic!

This page was done years ago. My scrapbooking style was just evolving into the way it is today. this blue is one of my favorite blues and I actually use it in my scrapbooking quite a bit. I cut out the leaves by hand (using a stencil) and then used a pointed, yet blunt edge (like the cap of a pen) to give the leaves some texture.

I am a scrapbooking machine! I am guessing that I have to complete 3-4 pages a day in order to get my daughter's albums caught up before Baby comes. So I am proud to tell you I whipped out 11 pages yesterday. Leaving my things out on the desk in my room really helps and so does the kicking of the baby, reminding me it will be here sooner than I can prepare for it!

I'm planning on going to a Croptoberfest next Saturday. Does anyone want to come?

Scrap Happy!

Pumpkin Patch Layouts (part 2)

Ah, the Pumpkin Patch! Such a fun place of discovery! These pages are pretty plain. I used cool paper in brown, which looks great with the orange and tan that you find at a pumpkin patch, and stickers from one of the power pallets to match. I always ask someone to take a picture of me with my family, so that my girl can remember that we were all there.



This page below was of a field trip we went on last year. It was a different pumpkin patch, and I knew we would be going with my husband a few days later to "our" pumpkin patch, so I didn't plan my daughter's clothes the way I normally do. Still, I like how the purple looks with the orange. It's fun! I also crammed 6 pictures onto this page, but by silhouetting 2 of them, it doesn't look cramped.

This is another page from the pumpkin patch, but we are doing different activities in this page than choosing a pumpkin. I used the square stickers to go with the window in the play house. I continued the square them, leaving all of my pictures with straight edges, and even using the checked purple paper. The reason I matted each picture was that when they laid right against the purple, they looked washed out. The burnt orange checked paper created enough of a barrier to preserve the colors in my photographs.

There are so many memories in these pages! Scrap happy!

Pumpkin Patch layouts (part 1)

What I like about this page layout is mostly the pictures. I used pumpkin orange paper for these pages, which you will see isn't my norm. In the top left hand corner, I matted my picture from on top, cutting the lined part out of a journal block. I also cut my daughter in a silhouette sitting on her pumpkin. I like that i took a picture of her pumpkin all by itself.

Don't underestimate the outfit you have your child wear! This yellow sweater was chosen not just for it's warmth, but for the way I knew it would look next to the pumpkins and straw! For the page above, I used a natural page and used a paper apple embellishment I'd gotten from Croptoberfest to go across the top of the page.

The polka dots on this page might be pastel, but they match perfectly with my daughter's sweater, as well of the fun lightness of the day! I used horseshoe stickers in each corner of the pony picture to draw your eye to it.

I seriously plan my daughter's outfit more carefully for the pumpkin patch than for other activities throughout the year! I love the pumpkin patch, because I always get the greatest pictures! I don't know if it's the time of year, the background or what. Notice that I used orange alphabet stickers right on my picture. I helped to draw them out by using black letters underneath making a "shadow". I also matted my favorite picture on the page with the orange paper, and used a strip of this same paper as a thin border for both pages in this 2 page spread.

We have made going to the pumpkin patch our tradition for the last few years. Of course, we go to the same one, early in October or late in September, so that it's still warm. We like to get a carmel apple, take the hayride to the pumpkin patch, and let our daughter choose an overpriced pumpkin, which is worth it, just because we get to take it from the field. We always take home a jug of Cider, sweet memories and a lot of pictures!

My blog next week will include more pumpkin patch layouts. I like to make my layouts different from year to year, and that can be difficult because I usually use only Creative Memories products. One way to get cute products that change from year to year is by going to Croptoberfest, a fall, all day scrapbooking fest. Included in your fee are little fall themed page embellishments, and there are usually exclusive fall items that you can buy then that won't be available other times. I missed Croptoberfest this year, but I'll point out some of the products I've gotten there on my page layouts. Lately, Creative Memories has also been putting out sticker sheets for each power pallet it comes up with. This is nice because you can get the fall stickers and they will all look different. it gives us more of a variety! For instance, you could order the fall stickers from the jewel pack and the pastel pack, and they will be different. Some people don't realize that you can order just the fall pack, you don't need to order the entire power pallet. However, if you order the whole pallet are you will always have paper to match your stickers.

Scrap Happy!

My Lil' Pumpkin!

Picking a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch is a BIG deal! We walk all over ALL of the patches, making sure we find the perfect one. My daughter does the choosing, but we point ones out from time to time. After I took this top picture, I told her, "You don't have to pose, honey. Just live your life and I'll take pictures of it."
This pumpkin was the hugest one we found, and was the one she wanted. But it was so heavy, we were afraid of what it would cost, not to mention, it would be a load for Daddy to carry! As she bent down to try and pick it up, I leaned over and popped this picture. Cool! The best one today!
Once home, we took some posed pictures with her chosen pumpkin.The one above was actually taken last. She had gotten up, thinking we were done, and was using her pumpkin as a seat when I called her name. What a cutie!My Little Pumpkin!

On a totally different note, I have finished scrapping book #17 of my daughter's 6 year life. I am just up to her 6th birthday party, which was at the end of May. So that should tell you how far behind I am. I figure in 2 1/2 or 3 more albums, I will be caught up. This is not an exaggeration, rather a rough estimate! (Remember, we have a vacation to C.A. that I have to scrapbook!) I also received the digital Princess camp album in the mail this week! It is so awesome! I love it! I did make one major mistake, writing a girl's name incorrectly. Oh No! I feel horrible about it! But I only did it once. Still....

Scrap happy!

Bobbing for Apples!

I'm scrapping, quilting, knitting and being kicked from the inside out! Just a reminder that my little one will be here before I have time to complete everything that needs done. Having my scrapbooking things out all the time has been nice because it's easier to get a page or 2 done.

I'm including a page from last year's Harvest time. I used pink and orange paper for the Harvest party in my daughter's album. On this page, I traced a red apple diecut to make apples in lighter colors that would match the page.

I generally do use a lot more pink than the average scrapbooker, just because my daughter wears a lot of pink! This time, I thought it would be a little unusual to use pink on an autumn page. That's why I wanted to do it. I achieved this easier than you would think, using one of the Page Pallets kits from CM. Since the orange and pink were both in the same pallet, they really blend nicely together. To make it easier for myself, I used the same 2 paper colors for the whole Harvest Party. This not only makes it easier, but it keeps the whole event connected in your album.

Well, I am going to wrap this blog up so that I can make a pumpkin pie! I've been craving one lately. Scrap Happy!

Three months to go!

I have to admit that I saw a picture like this in a baby photography book, and that's where I stole the idea. I loved it! The hardest part about taking this picture myself wasn't the aiming of the camera, but covering the rest of me up so that I was decent! I used a black sheet behind us, brought in an extra light, and opened the blinds a little (as much as I dared!) for some natural light.
Wow! So much has happened in a week! I have been using the Cm program, Storybook plus and LOVING it! I can't believe all the stuff you can do with this program, it blows every other kind of digital album away! I am almost done with my album, including journaling. I'm just trying to get the Disney princess embellishments I've had trouble ordering. I have done just a page or 2 of Jae's traditional album this week, even though I did leave everything out and plan to do the same in the upcoming week. I actually preferred to do the digital album!!! It was just so fun figuring out all the features! You can add pictures and text anywhere you want to, which is pretty awesome! You can mat your pictures, use so many fonts, enlarge your pictures and text, even make tags, shadow, change texture (just by sight, it won't actually feel different), and so many other things I won't even get into here! I do have to say that because of all the options, it can take quite a while to do an album, although it always has taken me a long time to do a CM digital album, probably because there are so many more options than the other guys. UPDATE! When I wrote this last night, I hadn't finished the album yet, and now I have. I went to the Cm website and found my consultant's website and ordered the princess embellishments. Let me tell you , it was pretty easy! This is just a download, so it cost me just $4, no shipping. I could use it immediately, too, and believe me, I did! It was awesome! I had so much fun, and stayed up til 3am. UG! But I couldn't tear myself away. I reviewed my book carefully, and it's a good thing, too because I had some things that were too close to the edges and needed adjusted. I kept a scrap piece of paper and wrote down the page numbers and what needed switched and then saved all that for today. So, I ordered my album at last, and it is probably the best one I have ever done. (updated on Oct. 5th)

Anyway, I still have found plenty of time to do all the other things in my life, including hobbies! I started on the back of my daughter's quilt and I am making headway with the baby blanket, probably because I tried to work on it for an hour a day this past week. I like knitting because you can do it while watching TV. I also ordered a bunch more pictures, and am just waiting for them to come in and swallow me up! Seriously, I am so behind I don't even want to try and figure out how much I have to average a day in order to be done by my due date!
Scrap Happy!