Easter pics and tips

I mentioned to my friend that I wished I could borrow her new bunny to take to the studio when I get my kids pictures taken. She suggested I just take the pictures myself. So that's just what I did!

I love how this one shows the difference in size between the 2 of them! There isn't much that's green yet in my yard for the background, that's why I stood looking down on them for the picture to get the grass as the background. A sheet on the ground protected their Easter clothes from grass stains.

I knew that for the proper lighting, I should take the pictures while the light was soft in the morning, or in the late afternoon, when the sun is heading down. I took the pictures too late n the day, so some really great ones suffered from too much light and were bleached out.

But I was still able to get several pictures that I love.

Now moving on to dying eggs. My son was only a couple months old last Easter, so this is all new to him. He was positively AMAZED when we dropped an egg into the cup of dye. He stared into it until we lifted it out, now a whole new color!

My daughter liked that this egg came out dyed differently than she expected it to.

We did egg dying on the nook. I like taking pictures here, because my daughter can be on the other side and higher than I am. Plus, there is a light directly above us, so the flash isn't always needed.

Here are her precious dyed hands and our year egg. This year, we bought 36 eggs to dye. We can never eat that many hard boiled eggs, so I only boiled some of them. Leading up to Easter, if we needed to use an egg, I emptied it by poking a dime sized hole in the bottom of it. When we died these hollow eggs, we just had to take extra care to fill it with the dyed water when dying it, so that it wouldn't float. Taking it out was also tricky as we didn't want to dump the dye from the hole outside of the cup. We also used eggs that had been neither emptied nor boiled! We were careful with handling them and didn't break a one! We also made sure to keep them seperate. They worked just fine.

The Easter egg hunt: When concealing eggs, I sometimes hid them in a way that my girl would be walking towards me, finding the eggs in one plant after another so that I can be sure to catch her finding one. Knowing where they are hidden is an advantage, too. It is such a challenge to get good pictures of the kids hunting for eggs because they move so fast!

What a sweetheart! She was so happy to find Razzle candy/gum in her egg.

"OH!" So there's something in these things!"

On Easter Sunday, I let my little man eat his chocolate bunny in his good clothes! Look how serious he is! He ate almost the whole thing in one sitting and freaked out when we cut him off!

And then this is my loving daughter, wanting me to take her picture with her white chocolate cross. How could I refuse?

Easter pages

Last year I took so many pictures of my daughter in her Easter dress. It was special because it was the first time she had picked out her own dress. I think she is so beautiful! When it came time to do the pages, I had a lot of fun, using sticker packs from most of the power pallets on the many pages. On this page, I included shots I had taken of her dancing around in the yard. I love it!

For this page, I used my pink pen to do most of the embellishing, framing the photos with it ....

and matching it to this sticker. This was where I got all the inspiration for this page. Since I didn't have any other stickers that would match this one, I made my own flowers.

This page was probably my favorite because it screams "KID!" It's just so colorful! I used the CM primary paper from one of the power pallets and started the word "jellybeans" with one of the everyday ABC stickers. I like how the papers all match in the pallets. It makes it super easy to mat a picture. Notice that I also cut the eggs so that I could have the bottom of the picture slip underneath them. I tossed a couple of jellybean stickers up in the corner and I was all set.

All the embellishments here are Creative Memories, and no, I do not sell it or get paid to mention them. I simply like the quality!

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It's the little things

Happy Easter! I am very excited about Easter this year, so I even got my little girl a whole Easter outfit! Of course, I had to take her outside on a nice day and get a picture of her from head to toe. I actually don't like this picture much. It looks like a snapshot. This isn't the only way to capture her from head to toe!
This picture is better than the first, because it is closer! Also, since I took this picture in the shade, it isn't just her face that's shaded, and there aren't any weird shadows on her face from her hat. Even the background is better, more green and alive.
I like to remember the details. Her little hands in the too big gloves, clutching that purse she is so happy with. I remember being her age and having a little, white purse for Easter.
She loves this flower on her hat. So much so that she always wants to wear her hat backwards, so that the flower and bow will be in front.
And here are her toes! When I talked about getting her some new shoes to go with her Easter dress, she said that she just wanted to wear her red, sparkly shoes. I really think that they go nicely with her dress, and best of all, it's very J.

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A Border of Pearls

I am always trying to find new ways to decorate my pages. This string of pearls wasn't all that challenging. Here's how to make it. Punch out the beads with a circle punch. Use the wavy trimmer, and cut a very thin strip of paper to string them on. Use a heavier paper, not the thin paper, which will tear if you try to cut it in a tiny strip with the trimmer.
Using the sharp point of one of the blades from my cutting system, I poked one slit in each pearl.

Then I simply strung the pearls on my "thread", and used tape runner on each one to secure it on the page. An observant scrapbooker might have noticed that the pearls curl at the top. This is because I wanted my necklace to look just a bit different than the wavy trimmer pattern, so I cut my silver thread a bit short and just layered the beads to roll off the top of the page. I didn't need the "thread" as the pearls were closer together.

Remember what we are celebrating!

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Easter's on it's way!

Here is a picture from Easter last year. I used the paper that reminded me of basket weave to mat the picture of my daughter checking out all the goodies in her basket. Then I doublematted it using a piece of plain, pink paper. I used the straight trimmer (pictured below) to make a pattern on the paper. I laid the paper on the trimmer, then used my multipurpose tool to rub the paper until the ridges showed through. This just gave it a different texture. It made the pink paper match the plaid paper as well.
What pictures will you be taking of Easter this year? I usually get my daughter's picture taken professionally in her Easter dress. Then one day we have my "nephew" come over and we hunt for plastic eggs in the yard, then dye eggs together, and open resurrection eggs. So, of course I get pictures of all of that! On Easter day itself, it's nice to get pictures at church, especially if your church puts flowers up front like ours does. They make a nice background. I usually don't take a whole lot of pictures on Easter day, but sometimes it's nice to get pictures of the family at the table together. Everyone usually is dressed up a little, and that makes it easier to get pictures, since no one is complaining that they didn't brush their hair, put make-up on, and that sort of thing! I used to try to get pictures of my family out in front of the church, too. it's most important to take pictures of what matters to you. What do you want to remember? Take pictures of that! And when you scrapbook it, remember to journal!

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Bigger means better

I love to include 8x10s in my albums. Now that I have my digital camera and have to order each photo rather than just getting the whole roll developed, I occasionally order larger sizes, such as 8x10s and 5x7s of pictures I want to show off a little more. This really works well for group photos, so that you can see everyone. I encourage you to work with larger pictures as well. Especially if you use a 12x12 album. If you look closely at the picture above, you can see that I have used corners on my picture, rather than taping it into the book. I did this because I used to remove pictures from the book and place them into frames in my living room, and then replace them in the book. Now that I've realized that my pictures can get damaged while in the frames, and that it is hard on the pages, taking them in and out, as well as hard on the photos corners, I have decided to stop doing this.

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Easter past

One year for Easter, I decided to use one distinctive paper to co-ordinate all of my pages. The colors lent themselves nicely, because they were bright and Eastery! I kept the pages simple, using the paper as borders for pages and mats for pictures. I used the cutting system to cut perfect eggs in various sizes, and used the same letter stickers throughout. For the last picture seen here, I took a picture of one side of the table and then my dad stood where I had been to take a picture of my side of the table. I then sliced the photo and positioned it on the page, leaving a strip of space between people to make this "panoramic" shot of our family dinner.

Coloring Eggs

A lot of times when people see my pages for the first time, they comment on how simple they are. There really isn't a whole lot going on, but then again, there doesn't need to be! I love straight lines, a well placed sticker, and descriptive writing. I also like titles, and pictures that tell the story.Last week, a fellow scrapbooker was looking at a page I'd just finished and she said, " See, that's what I need to do. Just make plain pages! Then I wouldn't be so far behind." Inside, I cringed! NO! Don't say THAT!!!! I still spend a lot of time choosing paper colors and matching stickers with the pictures. I hate to think of my pages as plain, but if you call them simple, that describes them just right!

Tip of the day: Want some ideas for different Easter pictures?

* take pictures of the kids facial expressions as they open the plastic eggs filled with goodies.

* take close ups of their tiny hands as they hold eggs in their hands to color them with a crayon before dying them

* Toss the colored eggs in a basket and have them hold it for a photo. (usually I do this in her Easter dress)

*Take unposed pictures of your kids looking for their Easter baskets, your toddler chewing on the only egg he found, and your angel pouring the cups of dye together to overflowing. Basically, take pictures as life happens

*I always take a picture of my daughter at church. One year, I made sure to have the stained glass windows in the backround, often I take her picture on the stage after service, in front of all the lovely Easter flowers. Sometimes I take a picture of her with her little friends, who are dressed in their Easter finery as well. If it's nice, get a picture outside of your church. The doors of our church make a beautiful backdrop.

*I always take a picture of my daughter with her filled basket. That might not be original, but I like to write down what is inside it each year, and I like a picture to go with that. Her tastes change so much from year to year, that I already get a kick out of looking back at what I got her last year!

*In Crayon, my friend writes her child's name on an egg, along with the year (07) and takes a close up of it every year.

*Any tradition you have should be documented. If you read the Easter story to your kids, have someone catch a few pictures of that. Take pictures of what you want to remember!

Scrap Happy!

Past Easter pages

Something I have always wanted to do is show you some of my past page ideas. These are from LAST year's egg hunt. It's hard to see from these pictures of pictures, but my daughter has some animal print on her dress, which gave me the idea for these pages. I'm always trying to think of something a little different!

Hunting for the best!

Happy Easter! Yesterday, I had an Easter egg hunt and Easter activities for my daughter and Daniel. I tried to get some different shots, trying different angles and such. I was satisfied with the results for the most part! I still haven't figured out how to take good action shots on this camera! I had a hard time trying to get pictures of my daughter finding eggs, simply because she moves so fast!

Now that I have my new camera, I have fallen hopelessly behind on my scrapbooking! I'm taking more, and I think better pictures, and photography has shifted slightly ahead of scrapbooking.

I was able to scrapbook this weekend, though! Two nights in a row, I met with friends and set aside time to scrapbook. My problem was that I can work for hours, not feeling like I am happy with the pages I'm making, and then I start to get better at them about 2am. Then I don't want to stop, even though I know I'll be sorry in the morning!

I am currently scrapping my Disney vacation pictures. This should be pure fun, but it isn't! For one thing, I made a mistake on my retreat, and it took me all of Friday evening to fix it. I had laid out all of my pages, planning it so that I have my 2 page spreads , and everything is just so. I have to tell you that I don't do that for everything, but Disney trips are very special to me! So, when I was on the retreat and combined what I had planned to make 2 pages, it threw everything off!

Another obstacle is that I decided I wanted stitch to be on every page. I couldn't get stickers that I was happy with, so I purchased a coloring book at Disney World, colored the pictures I wanted with colored pencils, and then my husband scanned them, shrunk them, and printed them out on acid free/lignin free paper. I then meticulously cut them out and have been adhering them carefully to each page with tape runner. I don't just stick them anywhere of course. I try to make them go somewhat with the theme of the page. (sigh) Yes, it's not easy, but I think J will like looking for the Stitches on every page. For those of you who don't like Stitch and wonder WHY I'm doing this: At Disney World, Stitch is supposed to be running all over; he even takes over on the wake-up calls! So, I have wanted to include him on every page for a while now, years! I just couldn't figure out how to do it! Also, I figured this year would be the perfect year to do that theme because we stayed at the Polynesian resort, "home" to Lilo and Stitch.

Tip of the Day: If you have a mild case of OCD like I do, you might find it helpful to write down a plan for your pages.On a blank sheet of paper, I simply draw little rectangles, each one standing for a scrapbook page. Using a pencil, I fill in each rectangle with a title, something that will let me know what is supposed to be on the page. This way, if I end up having 2 pages of pictures of the parade, I can make sure I put them facing each other. Pencil is important because I rarely get it right the first time!

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a collection of assorted thoughts!

I'm just thinking back to where I was a month ago! I was warm, because I was in Disney World with my husband! I was looking forward to a week of parent's only and our first cruise! Now it's all in the past! (sniff) I still have to scrapbook the pictures so that I can show them to everyone and mainly so that we can relive the cruise by looking at the pictures and reading everything I'm sure to forget very soon!
I have been scrapping my daughter's book and I'm working on her easter egg hunt pages and just finishing them up. I did something a little different this year. I wrote "on the PROWL for Easter eggs" and I decorated with a leopard print paper and some animal footprint stickers to compliment the dress that my daughter is wearing. I still might put some egg stickers on the page, but as of right now, it doesn't look very Eastery!

I like the pages I've done in the last few weeks so much that I spent an hour looking at them and showing them off at my workshop on Friday!

Tip of the Day: Try to think outside the box! I always hear, "I would never have thought to use that sticker there, but it works!" You aren't always going to find the perfect sticker for what you are doing. Sometimes you buy a sticker pack and are stuck with stickers you think you will never use. But you may be able to use them in ways you don't expect. I love to finish a sticker sheet off by using that sticker I have had in my possession for 2 years! What I am trying to say is that there don't need to be flowers in your pictures for you to decorate the page with them!

Scrap Happy!

Egg hunt

Our annual Easter egg hunt was a little different this year! We always go to Hailey's for the hunt, and dying of the eggs, but this year, we hosted it for the first time! It was fun stuffing the eggs and hiding them. It was really special because this year, Hailey has a little person of her own to hunt for eggs! So, we had the kids hunt, as we ran around videotaping and taking photos of them! My daughter was giddy with excitement! She giggled like a maniac as she raced around the yard gathering many more eggs than her basket could hold, because the baby really didn't get it and as soon as he found an egg, he just sat and tried to chew on it!!! It was great, and when my daughter said," This is fun easter egg huntin' at my house!" I had to run inside to write it down on the calendar exactly the way she said it! As it got darker, we brought the kids in to dye eggs, and that's when the baby decided he had had enough fun and just wanted his bottle and his daddy. My daughter was still having the time of her life, and she hadn't even thought of opening the plastic eggs she had found outside yet. She did most of the dying, and there wasn't a lot to be done, as I only boiled 14 eggs! We can never eat all the eggs we usually dye, and I feel so bad tossing them all out every year! We knew it was time to clean up when she started mixing the cups of dye, and overflowed one of the cups! I was in my picture taking rut, clicking away and only feeling like I had maybe 5 that turned out OK. I hate this!

Easter Memories and traditions

Growing up, I knew the real reason we celebrated Easter. In fact, in my family, we went to church on Easter Sunday, as we did every Sunday. But other than that, we didn't celebrate. We didn't have easter egg hunts and visits from the easter bunny. We very rarely had an easter dinner. I have pictures of us from one Easter when I was in my early 20s, and my boyfriend at the time, now my husband had given me roses. I have pictures of my siblings and our family dressed up, and then a picture of my little brother holding a piece of pizza over half his face, our easter dinner! I remember that Easter was very special, and I loved to steal away to my own little church in the woods, where daffodils grew. Nowadays, I still avoid the Easter bunny, because he is just a distraction of what Easter is all about. My husband and I hide an Easter basket for my daughter, but it's from us. (That is the one thing I missed as a kid!) She has gone on egg hunts, and dyed eggs, but mostly because it was important to my friend Hailey, so she organizes this and invites my girl. I love dressing my daughter up in a special dress, squeezing into our full church, looking at the stained glass windows, and celebrating that my Savior is alive! We have Easter dinner with our families now, both my husband's and mine together. One new tradition I have personally, is watching the Passion of the Christ. I do this prior to Easter, to be in the right mindset. I do it alone, because it's rough and I sob through a lot of the movie. Easter is special to me, a time of new life and new commitments.

Tip of the Day:
Easter page idea:
I have a page of pictures from church one year, and I made an empty tomb for the page and wrote, Jesus is alive! I put some flower stickers right outside the cave. I made the cave with the cutting system, using an oval for the tomb, and cutting the bottom off to make it flat. I made the stone in front of the tomb with the circle punch, and layered the hole it left in yellow. This makes it look like the yellow is in the cave.

Cm has a new pack of stickers that is called Delicate Days. I can't wait to use them this year!

Lambs, flowers, chicks, bunnies, crosses, stained glass, baskets, nests and eggs all work with the Easter theme!

Scrap Happy!

A little bit of this...and that!

Stolen moments of scrapbooking are getting me far! I just did 8 pages yesterday in 2 hours. I was working on the book for the 10th grader. I am aching to get to my daughter's pictures, before my husband and I get back from our getaway in early May. The only problem is that Creative Memories is coming out with all new Disney stuff! I wish it was coming out earlier than May, because I want to use it now! It is so cute, and It feels like it was made just for me since I am the Disney Freak! There is an album, a Mickey maker (punch), and papers, it even looks more grown up! So, maybe I'll use this stuff for my cruise, since it is a Disney Cruise!

I am also very excited, with March being over, because I signed 3 consultants, plus one that just signed up for all the stuff in the kit! I am signing another consultant this week, as well! I am very happy that my business is doing so well! It's the reason I'm able to ge on this Cruise! I really feel blessed.

Tip of the Day: With all of the flowers outside blooming, and smelling so yummy, I'm starting to think about Easter pages!
*The cutting system has an egg shape that I use for Easter eggs, just using marbled papers and others.
*I have made an Easter basket out of paper and stuck stickers in it, as well as some green grass, created by cutting green paper really thin.
*For a "Dying Easter Eggs" page title, I used white letter stickers and colored them in pastel colors for a dyed look.
*One year, my daughter got a giant chocolate egg! I have a whole page dedicated to it, with the page title how she used to say it, "Choc-O-lot" I used brown paper to make several sizes of eggs. I think brown and pink, like the color of my daughter's dress that year went really well together!
*I made some of that plastic grass you get for easter baskets, by shredding pink paper very finely. I taped it using double sided tape and stuck it to the page in a nest shape. I stuck an egg sticker in it, and a chick sticker just nearby.
*If you run out of "g" letter stickers like I did at Easter, just use a lower case "q" (Cm makes their sassy ones without a hook in the back) and a comma, and cleverly cover the spot they meet with a sticker or die-cut.
*Last Easter, I stuck with my new favorite scrapbooking theme of making all my pages of an event go together. I used 2 pieces of paper from the textile pack on every page for the whole month of March.
I'll put more Easter Page ideas on another day's blog!

Scrap Happy!