Fall back into scrapbooking

Once you put scrapbooking at the bottom of your list, it can be so hard to get back into it!

Here is my advice: Don't overwhelm yourself by thinking you need to sit down and start a big project. Start with an achievable goal. Take those envelopes full of pictures out when you are watching TV one night and try to put them into order. The next step is to bring out a tray table and your cutting tools and crop some photos. This could be a different day entirely. Just doing this will get your feet going in the right direction, and you'll be back creating amazing pages in no time!

I like to pull out some of the books I've made and look through them. This often will give me a craving for scrapbooking!

Now, I'm not bragging, but I have been scrapbooking. I am working on my daughter's science and art fair pages from last spring. I'm doing all of my scrapbooking at night, when the kids are asleep. I had laid these pages out months ago and it feels so great to be down to the last few pages I have laid out! WAIT! Before you think that means I'll be caught up........(OH! Sorry, I had to catch my breathe as I was laughing so hard I nearly passed out!) Yeah, I have a long, long way to go until I'm caught up! When I get done with these pages I have laid out, I am going to lay out more pictures on more pages. I'll fill this power layout box up twice more before I am caught up with the pictures I have printed out right now.

That said, I know I take too many pictures, but the other day my 7 year old sat for HOURS and looked through the albums I have made for her. I know that seeing pictures of herself lovingly displayed gives her a sense of how much I love her.

Scrap Happy!

They Don't Make Stickers for That

After I put my kids to bed at night, I often sneak into the schoolroom, where my desk is so covered with scrapbooking supplies all within easy reach. Some nights, I only get 2 pages done, because I'm not inspired or I'm making them far too detailed! But other nights, I can get 5 pages done. There's nothing like an upcoming vacation to make me dedicated to completing my kid's albums!
You just can't find stickers for some of the things I scrapbook! For instance, these pages I have posted are ones that I did in my recent ongoing scrapbooking marathon. Early last spring, we had some bad weather, which blew over one of the 2 massive pine trees in our back yard. We needed to have it taken out and decided to have the other one taken out as well, because if it were to fall over, it probably would have fallen on our house. It was leaning that way already. It was so much fun to watch the men take the trees out with their huge equipment. We even called our friends/ neighbors to come over and watch. The kids loved running from window to window to watch the crane take the huge hunks of pine branches over the house! My daughter even took notes. She also named each of the men names such as "the pirate". The pages above actually go after the pages below.
I used a picture she had drawn of the Pirate climbing the tree. I scanned it onto acid free paper before placing the copy in her album. I also included the note she wrote and taped to the window for them not to take the wood. I thought that was pretty cute. Thankfully, they did take the wood! I had to go through my Christmas stuff to find the pine stickers and for the stand of pine trees. I cut the group of pine trees out of a journaling block. I used the pink gingham to mat the picture of my daughter because A. it's checks reminded me of lumberjacks! B. The pink matched my daughter's shirt. Above: I included the paper my daughter wrote on the experience from her point of view.

Below:
Punches often save me when it comes to embellishing pages that don't have stickers to go with them. In this case, I used the paisley punch (Maker from Creative memories) and made half of pine trees. Since the paisley pines take up more of the page than a usual border, I found that I didn't have enough room to journal. I didn't want to completely give up any of my pictures and that's why I chose to put a piece of vellum over the one photo. I titled it with letter stickers and I will write on the vellum at a later time.

Here is a close up of the paisley tree, which I made just by punching a whole bunch of paisleys and overlapping them, cutting the edges straight and adhering them to the page with the Creative Memories glue pen. Notice my journaling block?

I can hardly believe I took enough pictures for 2 two page spreads, but it was a big day for us! I actually took a lot more pictures, but didn't get them all printed. I had taken pictures of my daughter with each tree before it was cut down, and that's why I wanted to end the story with the picture of her and her friend standing on top of the logs. Be creative! Use that paper! And Scrap Happy!

Everybody loves school pictures!

Actually, I am embarrassed by most of my school pictures. But my daughter's school pics so far have been so cute! I haven't gotten to scrap this year's yet. We had fun bringing props! She wanted her pink poodle and it ended up being an adorable addition.

I bring props for several reasons. The ones that the studio provides are often worn and tacky. I'm sure they're covered in germs as well. Yuck! But really, I like my props to be realistic. Bring things they like, such as their favorite pen or pencil. I always bring my daughter's bookbag, and the books she really uses that year. Another plus to bringing your own props is that you can compliment what your kid is wearing.

As always when bringing props, remember that you are there to get pictures of your kiddo, so don't get hung up on having to order a picture just because it has that prop you lugged in. I brought a manger scene and Christmas cookies along with a mug (among other things) to my daughter's Christmas pictures last year. But I just wasn't loving the pictures that they were in, so I opted not to get them. I'll bring them again this year.

Kindergarten was the first year I could add school pictures to the list of professional pictures I get taken throughout the year. Since we homeschool, my daughter isn't getting her picture taken at school, so I can take her anywhere. I was so happy with these pictures, that I had to buy most of the poses! When it came time to design the pages for these precious photos, I chose a soft pink backround. As you know, I'm a think outside the box person, or I try to be, so this backround paper is actually from a baby girl kit . It's the back of pages with prompts on them for journalling baby's first year. I bought the paper pack because I use a lot of pink, and I liked the colors in this pack. I have also bought the "I Do" paper pack for the same reason, I knew the pastels would look good in my daughter's book, and I figured I'd eventually find a use for the stickers. I actually have already used some of them on my cruise pages. But... I digress!

I want a memory of how she writes her name each year, so I have her write her name on a tag to include with her school pictures. ( I had her do this before I stuck the tag in the book in order to be sure she didn't accidently write on the page!) My mom did this with me when I was little, and it is amazing to watch handwriting change from year to year. Be sure to include the name of their school and their grade. You might also want to add their age. I also used letter stickers to personalize a tag sticker with the school year. The close up of my daughter's hands clasped in front of her was taken by me in the parking lot as soon as we left the studio. The photographer had taken this shot, and I loved it, but no way was I going to pay for a sheet of this picture. I bought them by the sheet, so I had to figure out how many wallets and other sizes I needed to send to all the relatives and I couldn't think of anyone but myself that would want a picture of a close up of my daughter's hands!

Scrap happy!