Celebrating one!

Celebrating one for me means my little boy's birthday! All year, I took his picture once a month in his crib. I made sure to have the same sheet on the bed, and put his little beanie baby next to him. It really helps to show how much he grew in a year! (photo above)

I also had his picture taken once a month and ordered wallets of his professional photos. (as well as the 4 months I took his monthday pictures myself) I knew I wanted to do some kind of page layout that showcased all of his months. Here is the finished product. It's amazing how much they change in one year, isn't it?! (below) I was rusty from only scrapbooking digitally, but once I did a page or two, I was back! It was fun doing these page layouts for my son's birthday photos.

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!

This one is so fun! The photographer made him mad when she put his hand in the icing and then put it to his mouth, She was frozen when he started crying, but I yelled, "Take a picture! Take a picture!" Above was the result. I used a 8x10 paper for the mat/background and used just a few party embellishments. I really wanted the title to stand out, so I used white letters and went around each one with a pen. I cut out the paper from beind the photo, since you won't see it anyway, and punched out squares to finish off the page.

Birthday Boy

This page is very much like a page I could do online in a digital album. I love it because it's crisp and clean. All I used were letter stickers of various sizes and a paper background. I just layered the "Birthday" on top of the lighter colored "Boy" letters.

One

I love this page, too! It's so simple. A simple yellow background matched the yellow in his shirt. I used 2 sizes of circle punches to make the open circles and put letter stickers inside. There is one cupcake sticker under the O. This page changed as I designed it, as so often happens. I like the way the word "one" is here because it goes with the jersey look of the shirt he's wearing. This just shows you that you don't need a whole lot to make a page. You just want it to all go together. The less you put on a page, the more likely it is that that will happen.

Happy Birthday puzzle.

This page was born out of my desire to mat these pictures in blue. However, I don't have any more blue paper, so I used the green and kind of made a puzzle mat. That's when I realized that I had a puzzle punch that I had never used! When using a new punch, know that the first couple of punches will have oil on the edges. Do some practice punches that you can toss. Once again, all I have on this page is a small amount of paper, some letter stickers and one party diecut. I want everyone to notice the photos, another reason to keep it simple.

Just for fun: I put a number one or the word one on each page of my son's birthday pages. I started doing this for my daughter a few years ago, and she and others who look at the album, really have fun looking for the birthday numbers.

I'm currently working on my daughter's album when I can sneak away for a few minutes. I am enjoying scrapbooking and trying not to get caught up on the fact that I am so far behind. It's a hobby for crying out loud! If I was all caught up, what would I do with my time? Ha Ha! That's a joke, I always have at least one event being planned, project ideas I want to try, and a room or 2 that need cleaned. Not to mention...the laundry!



Scrap Happy!

Happy B Day!

This is my son, heady with a sugar rush that can only come from eating a chocolate cupcake all by yourself on your birthday!
I have ordered his first online album. I squeezed 100 pages into it and when it would hold no more, I had to fine tune it and have it ordered. Cost...gulp over $150 dollars. Still, when you think about it that way, that is just over a dollar a page and when you add up the cost of printing photos, buying cute embellishments and paper, pages and the album, it comes out to a lot more than $1 a page. Cm's pages alone are over $1 and that is before adding the fun stuff, not to mention a protector. I think the fact that you pay for scrapbook pages a little here and a little there, makes it easier than when you plop down the whole lump sum at once.

I am caught up on his professional album as well, but I forgot to have it out at his party. Man! I worked so hard on that book just so it would be done in time for his party. I like having both books. I was able to do a couple of pages on his haircut in the scrapbook album and include things like his absolutely adorable curls, and his little certificate, stickers that they used to amuse him and even the receipt. Yes, in this case, I saved the receipt. In my defense, it says, "First haircut" on it and has the price...OK, I debated on whether or not to save it and I chose to. I couldn't toss it!

On to another topic: My camera. Well, my camera sustained at least one blunt force trauma on our latest vacation. It isn't doing well. The dents and scratches on the outside are fine. But it's the fact that the flash is askew that disturbs me to no end. Especially in the winter when I have no choice but to take pictures indoors. I need a good flash. This puts more than a little sport into my picture taking! I now am challenged to take pictures that are decent, with the crippled camera that I have. I love a good challenge! Have you ever tried to take a picture of a one year old boy, indoors, in the winter, without a flash. This should be an Olympic sport! Not only do you have to hold extra still as you click , but your subject needs to be holding extremely still as well. I was disappointed not to find a camera under the tree, because I was a pretty good girl this year, and I had really hinted and hinted to my husband that I wanted one. :( But for now, I have to make do with my little canon. Like I said before, I love a good challenge!

Ideas for Birthday pictures:

A picture of the party site all decorated

close up of signs or decorations,
themed plates,
favors,
food set out

the cake

the birthday boy or girl blowing out the candles
( This is tricky! But you can get this shot! Be very aware of the birthday song, and click the second it ends.)

the cake and the birthday person

pictures of everyone who attends
I like to have the person who is giving the present come up and stand or sit beside my child as they open the gift. This serves several purposes. 1. The person is guaranteed a good view! 2. The child knows who the gift is from 3. The child is able to thank them immediately and comment on the gift. (if they can speak!) 4. I can get a picture of them with the birthday girl or boy.
pictures of games being played

make sure to get a picture of the person behind the camera
(we get a family shot usually taken by the last guest departing)

make sure to get a photo of the birthday honoree by themselves!

photos of the gifts before and after opening

Everyone singing happy birthday

The kids faces as the cake is carried out

Scrap Happy!

You're Invited!

Each year, we have a themed birthday party for our daughter. We carefully pick out matching decorations and invitations. I like to include the invitation with the pictures from her party. I have occasionally included a stamp, because the price is interesting, and some years the stamps really go with the theme!

This page, with an invitation and a picture of the family or just the birthday girl, is the first one leading into the birthday party pages.

To do this, you need to plan ahead a little bit and either keep an extra invitation for the album, or ask a Gramma to hold hers for you! That's what I did this past birthday party!

In a Creative Memories album, you can feel safe adding the invitation directly to your page, but just be careful not to have the paper touch the photo in any way.

Scrap Happy!

Licking the Ponies

This is my favorite picture from my daughter's birthday party! Her cake had ponies on it, and as soon as she blew out the candles, she took off the ponies and started to lick the icing off their feet. I like it because it isn't your generic birthday party picture.

I took a lot of the generic birthday pictures at her party, including the classic "the tired and worn out family AFTER the party" shot. That's always because I don't think if getting a picture of the 3 of us until the last person is just about to leave! That's alright, because after 5 years, it's now a bit of a tradition!

Party picture tips:

I always neglect to get more than one picture with my husband and I in it. (the picture mentioned above) This is because I am too possesive of my camera and want to make sure I get the pictures I want. My husband is always so busy feeding everyone, and that's why he gets left out. Moral: If you can hand over your camera to a friend to take the party pictures, please do!

This year, I waited on the porch for the cake to come out. I had positioned my daughter and her friends at the table and was able to get a shot of them looking for the cake, with happy anticipation on their faces!

We played a couple of games, and a friend of mine took pictures while I supervised. We played a hot potatoe game and I like how she took pictures of the dwindling circle. One of my favorite shots was the kids who had gotten out in the game, watching along the railing of the porch.

To avoid the mayhem of gift opening, I had the kids stay in their circle after the game. Everyone retrieved their own gift for the birthday girl, and they would take turns sitting next to her as she opened their gift. (front row seat of honor) This also helped her to know who the gifts were from, and gave me the perfect opportunity to get a shot of her with each guest.

As you can see in picture #1, this year, I had a 5 candle as well as 5 single candles. This gave her more to blow out, and gave me more chances to get the perfect shot of her blowing the candles out, a shot that I hate to miss, but have missed in the past!

Everyone gets a shot of the birthday cake. I do, too! It's almost always decorated as a reflection of what the guest of honor is into that year.

It was raining a bit at the party. But the kids didn't seem to mind. To remember the kids playing in the rain, I took a picture of my girl and her friend with their hands up, enjoying the warm rain.

I always have one or more of my daughter's albums out at the party and try to get a picture of someone looking at it.

One picture I often find I've forgotten, is a picture of my daughter all by herself! (Even the one above was cropped.) So, this year, at the end of the party, I made sure to get one of her, alone.

Scrap Happy!