Self portrait

There are a lot of times when you want that picture, but there just isn't anyone around to take it. Don't be afraid to turn the camera on yourself.

I love my cousin, inside jokes, being warm and needing to wear sunglasses...

I love My daughter, wearing blue, standing out for a good reason, feeling pretty, taking pictures, and the sunlight in late afternoon.

Having a digital camera makes it so much easier to take a photo of yourself! If you are going to do this, here are some tips:

*It is still important to take the picture from a good angle, I like this one. When you are looking up, your neck is thin! But watch that your nose doesn't look weird in the shot. (yes, I'm serious!)

* you don't have to be looking at the camera to get a good shot.

* Keep trying! After each shot, look at your picture and do it again if it cut part of your head off!

* Watch the lighting! I have taken pictures of myself in the direct sunlight, and that doesn't work well. It doesn't always work too well when you use a flash either, because you aren't able to hold the camera far enough from your face.

* Be careful that your arm doesn't show up too much in the shot! It may take away from the picture.

*If there are 3 of you, hold your heads side by side, literally cheek to cheek, and have the one in the middle take the picture. If one of you is slightly in front of the others, they will look huge!

* Lastly, if you have never done this and have no idea how to, simply hold the digital camera out and face it toward you. This will end up being a close up, remember! Aim it at your face, and make sure you keep your arm steady as you push the button. (Rememember that everything is reversed. I have turned the camera off due to pushing the wrong button more times than I can tell you! If this happens to you, you are not alone! )

Falling from my memory

Ahhh the fall! Leaves falling from the trees, Pumpkin stands by the road, the sweet crunch of a caramel apple....all of these things bring back memories of years past. I feel like last year's ride on the haywagon just happened a few months ago, but I already have pictures from this year's pumpkin patch experience, so it had to be over a year ago! Life gets confusing, especially if you wait a few years to put your pictures into an album! Here's another example! Last night on the news, the weatherman was talking to another anchor about the weather, and that we were getting the first frost of the season. This is unusual, he said, because at this point in October, we have usually had several by now. The anchor said, "I remember that we had snow on Halloween a few years ago." The weatherman says, "Actually, that was 10 years ago!"
If you already have years and years worth of pictures that are collecting dust somewhere, don't stop with just feeling guilty! Put those pictures into an album with journalling telling what was happening. If you are starting a new phase of your life, as a wife, mother, or gramma for example, start scrapbooking those memories and photos now. You will never regret it!

What's that girl doing?

There are always opportunities to take pictures at the Children's Museum! This page turned out just as I'd hoped it would! It really is very basic! I used a perfect fit paper from the Inspirational pack, so the word, "Discover" is already written on there! Then I added the title using letter stickers. I matted my favorite picture (I am really into pictures of the back of people right now!) and that was easy to do because the paper came in the same pack, so it matched perfectly. I cut out the boat that my daughter had made, and that's it!

So, lately I've been scrapping a lot, staying up pretty late, too. It's worth it, though, because I have really gotten a lot done. I just finished the 4th of July, and now I'm doing the 5th of July! Ok, JK. I just did the 5th , too. Yes, it is that bad, if you must ask! I have a retreat coming up in November, so I think I'll get everything done by my vacation! That's my goal!

Thanks to everyone who came to the workshop last night! We had a good time, pumpkin pie and cranberry tea. I stayed up long after the last of you had gone! I finished 7 pages! That isn't much I know, but the 4th of July was hard for me this year due to the fact that I feel I have exhausted every patriotic theme over the past 5 years. Other than that, I have really been inspired and having great page ideas. That makes scrapping so much easier! I have almost 2 books done now, and they need journalled.

Of course, scrapping is not all I have been doing with my time! I have been busy with teaching, meetings and something new, a Creative Memories party that I didn't even drive to Murrysville to do! It's a catalog party, but we just put the info in to my website, and then my customer (the host) sent out e-invitations explaining that everyone could look over the website online and order whatever they wanted and it would be shipped to them in days! She will still get the class credit for sales. This worked out perfectly for everyone involved, since they were all busy, and knew all about scrapbooking already. If you would like to check out my website and see all the new products and even order, click here: www.mycmsite.com/alea

Tip of the day: When you are using a new tool, make sure you try it out on a dud or a scrap piece of paper first. This is especially important if you did not purchase it from Creative Memories. One of my customers found this out the hard way and ruined a picture of her and her husband from the early days that just cannot be replaced.

Scrap Happy!

Filling the page with pictures

We went to the Children's Museum with friends, and I took just over 100 pictures! Of course I picked through them and didn't keep them all, but there were still A LOT of pictures I just had to get printed. In order to save room in my daughter's album, I completely covered the page with pictures and was able to pare our Museum visit down to a mere 4 pages. Above are 2 of the pages. I used the new everyday alphabet stickers to write the first letter of each kid's name. I liked how the super bright and fun stickers went with the pictures and memories. The top page shows the title I made using the same stickers, but also regular letter stickers. Don't worry, I did leave room on the pages not shown here for some journaling!

School Picture Day

I took my daughter to get her picture taken the other day. School photos! We are homeschooling, so I get to pick the company that takes my daughter's pictures! Just an added treat! I love the way they turned out. Something new they are doing is taking close ups so that they can use them in a sort of picture collage. They took a close up of her hands pointing to the globe, her hands folded in front of her, (I loved this because it showed a close up of her shirt and jeans, which I had carefully picked out for her to wear) and other close ups of that nature. I loved the idea of showcasing certain elements like that! I couldn't see paying for the close up of her shirt and pants, but I did take the very same picture in the parking lot as soon as we left!

Tip of the Day: Did you know that at most picture places you can bring your own props? I have been doing this more and more. I used to hate props in pictures because they didn't mean anything! Plus, they often are old and cheap looking, having been chewed on and played with by hundereds of other kids. I still think that some occasions don't need props. You don't want to take away from the outfit or person in the picture. You simply want to enhance. You also might want to write down pictures that you want the photographer to get.

Some examples of props I brought:

boy and girl picture: a live, fresh rose when my daughter and Daniel had their pic taken together

Kindergarten: I brought her school books, new backback, a fun, feathery pen, an apple and the globe

Easter: a giant basket I have that my girl can still fit in, her Easter basket, a marshmellow chick, a new stuffed bunny and a crystal cross

Christmas: a candy cane

Fun with Paper!

Sometimes I just can't find a sticker to go with my pictures! In these photos, you will see shots of pages and page elements I did for the album I made for the 10th grader. (now 11th!) When I can't find the perfect sticker, I enjoy making my own paper decorations!
This paper clown was made using a circle from the cutting system for the head, the flower from the mini punch for his puffy hair, and the star from the mini punch decorates his hat. The hat is a simple triangle shape with another flower punch on top. I free hand cut the collar around his neck.
I added sticker bows to these little bunnies to dress them up a little!
FLIP FLOPS!!!
Another great thing about making your own paper embellishments is that you can custom design them to match your page! Using scissors, punches/makers, and the cutting system, there's no end to what you can dream up!

Blossom

I created this page with the new blossom pack. It's paper fits perfectly on a 12x12 CM page, but I cut it to fit just half of this one. I made a tag with the matching stickers, which are thicker than your average sticker. I matted the sticker with a piece of paper and cut it out with zig zag scissors. Then I punched a hole in the top and threaded thin strips of paper through the hole. I used it as a title by using letter stickers. The tag was really the only page element, and I love how it turned out!

These pictures came about because my mom always used to take our picture in front of her Azalea bushes in the spring. She took my daughter's picture there last year and wanted to stick with the tradition. So this is a sentimental page!

Evening Bubbles

You know those times when you wish you had a camera? Well, I had a moment like that last evening. In the lighting, and just the perfect way my daughter was standing right in front of me when she reached out to pop the bubbles I was blowing, I saw her perfect reflection in the bubble! It would have made the perfect picture! Quickly, I ran into the house to get my camera before the light changed, asking my husband to refill the bubble wand as I raced by. But alas, I never was able to catch that picture. :( It floats in my head instead, taunting me! However, as we played with the bubbles, taking turns watching as one of us ran with the bubble wand while bubbles billowed out behind us, I was able to catch this picture, which I like a lot. I love the way the light is shining, and that my daughter is running toward it. It's some small consolation for not getting the picture I wanted.

I have completed several pages, although I feel stuck right now on a 2 page spread of all the various things we did in May. I just can't tie these 2 pages together, and I so desperately want to. So, I put them aside, because obviously the DVD I was watching was too interesting to pay attention to my scrapbooking!

Scrap Happy!

School in my Pajamas

"Can I wear my pajama's to do school?" My daughter asked me on her official first day of school. Considering that I had spent at least 20 minutes in my bed the night before mentally going through her clothes for the perfect outfit, it was bittersweet to give up my dream and tell her yes. Watching her walk down the steps in her pajamas, carrying her new princess backpack directly in front of her, didn't bring up the smallest teardrop! I knew that she wasn't going away for school, but rather just to the front porch for that traditional "first day of school" picture!

Even though it is only kindergarten, it's time consuming! So, I gave up my picture perfect living room in favor of a table that I can leave my pictures and scrapping supplies out on full time, until I can catch up on her albums. I do feel like I'm making more headway now in her albums, and I'm not stuck away in my basement by myself. Sometimes, you have to do what you have to do!

Hershey Park

When you travel to the land of Chocolate, (as we did right before we went to New York) you discover that even the air is different. It's tinged with a delicious smell....CHOCOLATE! The light fixures on some of the main streets are Hersheys Kisses, both wrapped and unwrapped! Even the roads appear to be chocolate brown, and I'm not sure if that was just my imagination or not! At first, everything seems to be one big commercial for Hershey's, but the longer you stay, the more normal that seems!
We were there in August, and you would expect the chocolate to be melting at that time of the year in Pennsylvania! Instead, it was chilly and rainy. We toured Chocolate World, and rode the "How chocolate is made" ride over and over again because my daughter loved it. It's free and they even give you free chocolate at the end of the ride! In the land where nothing is free, it was a nice change! Because of the rain, our plans had to change slightly because we couldn't spend time at the water park and even the amusement park would have been miserable in the cold rain. But we ended up finding some other surprises! We found a Diner (The Soda Jerk) that was awesome! It was right next door to a candy store, where we went crazy and spent $10 on all kinds of candy! We also went to the Harrisburg mall where we spent a good hour in the Old Pro Bass Shop. Ok, neither my husband nor I fish or hunt, but the store was really cool! My daughter really loved it. They had tons of "stuffed" animals acting out various scenes. ( My daughter and I always looked for the bullet wound.) They had a huge "mountain in the middle of the store that you could climb (with the proper shoes!), and a huge tank of fish. My daughter loved climbing onto the various boats, and we played putt putt with the test clubs! I only wish I had taken some pictures there! One night, we gave in and went to Hershey Park in the pouring rain. We did get a lot accomlished, in spite of the rain, which reminded me of bullets as I rode a coaster in the rain. Ouch! The next day, our last day in Hershey, the rain stopped at last, and we were able to tour the amusement park along with the hordes of others who had been waiting for the same thing! Overall, it was a good trip! You just can't beat the smell of chocolate in the air!

Scrap Happy!

Tip of the Day: If you are going on a trip and can think of specific pictures that you want to take, make sure you write the ideas down, take that list with you, and put it in a place that you will find it when you are there, maybe in with your toiletries!

New York through my eyes

This past week, we spent 2 days in New York City.
My tip of the day is this: If you see a person using a better camera than you are, ask them to take your family's picture! This is us in Central Park.
This is my daughter with the wall of names on Ellis Island,
holding her nose by the stinky subway,
and my adorable family at the Statue of Liberty.

This photo was taken as we walked to the site where the twin towers once stood.
It's loud in the hot subway station!
The tip of Ellis Island, with NYC in the background.
My daughter, who is 5, got a lot out of touring Ellis Island.
The problem for me was that much of New York is the people! You can't just go around taking shots of people without their permission, unless you are paparazzi! I wanted to capture the man squished in the tiny stand on the streets, selling magazines. I wanted a picture of the homeless man sound asleep on the busy sidewalks, the vendors selling fruits, the taxi drivers hanging out of their windows yelling at the pedestrians, the fish stands of Chinatown with their rotating strings to frighten the flies away. So much of New York for me was the people. Some things could not be captured on film or even with video. You have to be able to smell the burning smell at the WTC site, hear the security guard softly singing as you explain to your 5 year old what happened here 6 years ago.

I appreciated being there. I loved seeing the famous buildings, streets and eating pizza slices folded in half at the first pizzeria in America. Seeing the people, who by the way were very nice and eager to help tourists. It was quite an experience!

Boating with a five year old

It was a hot and humid day, when my daughter and I decided to tackle one of the things still left on our "50 things to do this summer" list. We packed a lunch and water bottles, and my daughter brought along white bear and kitty, with a complete wardrobe for kitty in a shoe box, as well as a jewelry box with all the essensials, lipgloss, coins and jewelry. We were loaded down this way, even as we struggled to put on our life jackets and pick up our oars. The instructor told us that if we both leaned to one side, everything in the boat would fall in as it tipped, and would sink to the bottom, never to be seen again! That was enough for my little girl to decide to leave all of her prized possessions safely on shore!

I really think that this talk and talk of the waterfall to avoid had spooked her, and she no longer really wanted to do this, but she was a good sport, and other than very light grumbling, she didn't say anything.

We headed out, in a zig zag pattern, away from the safety of shore. The lilypads and their flowers were interesting, and my daughter was convinced that the fish were holding onto her oar with each stroke. We made our way to the front part of the lake, where I stopped to take 1 or 2 pictures, and as I did, our canoe turned around! It was pretty much the only break I got. Although I took that as our cue to turn back, I found the return trip to be much more difficult than the trip away from the docks. I don't know if it was because I was so much heavier than my 5 year old, or because I was really the only one rowing, or what...but we kept getting turned around by the current and the wind. We even went toward the side shore several times, although as they had told us to, we were trying to avoid the sides due to debri in the water which you can get caught in. I was thankful that we were having trouble on the way back rather than the way out, as I had gotten better at my paddling by now. I may have given up if it had been that hard from the beginning, even though I'm not a quitter.

Each time I stopped for just a second to take a picture of my daughter's back, the boat would turn! I did get quite a workout! I loved feeling the water splash across me as I switched the oar from my left to my right. It felt really good on such a hot day! It was also nice to share this experience with my daughter, even though once she was talking to me and then asked, "Why aren't you talking to me, Mommy?" To which I replied, "Because I'm trying to keep this boat going straight and it takes all my concentration and strength, honey!"

My tip of the day? If you feel it would be a good experience to take your young child out on a boat, you may want to consider a Kayak. This way, you have 2 oars on one, and don't have to switch sides, and the kayaks are smaller, there isn't such a big space between you and your child. I imagine that this would have been much easier.

Princess Day Camp

Last week was a busy, fun one! I had a princess camp at my "castle", actually in my yard. It was great; really a blast! We did all sort of princessy things, and I took hundreds of pictures. After camp was over, I wondered, "What am I going to do with all these pictures?" So, yesterday I made an online album of my favorite pictures from camp. It ended up being 36 pages, and I'm not sure if I'm going to pare it down or not. But it was a lot quicker to make than scrapping the pictures, and I will still dedicate a few pages in my daughter's album for Princess Camp, so I'll get to use the new little girl paper pack which has tiaras and wands, very cute! Scrap Happy!

T- Ball

Last week, I was feeling ambitious and decided to cross one of the things on my longstanding TO DO list off. So, I finished off the 10th grader's last album! (Well, the last one I'll be doing.) It feels great to be completely done. Now I can focus on my daughter's albums.

These pages, of Kristie's T-ball games are very simple, but cute. I tried to make the one shot of her batting look like a baseball card. I left a lot of room for her mom to jot down any memories she might want to add. I just write what I know, which is only what I can see in the picture or what has been left on a sticky note for me.

Pictures are so personal, that of course I have gotten to know this family in a small way as I did the albums. I hope that her mom will make her some more albums, even if she does them online. I have almost completed an album for my cousin online and I want to send it to him as he is in a different country right now. I think it will help him fight any homesickness he might have.

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!

caught in a summer moment

I couldn't have posed this shot if I had tried. The setting is fabulous, the subjects relaxed and having fun, just doing what they do, and I just stumbled apon them. Although they saw me, (even though I tried to be sneaky) I told them to ignore me, and keep saying whatever funny things they were saying. This picture screams "SUMMER!", and it's my favorite picture in a long time. Unposed. I love unposed!

50 Fun things to do this summer

This summer, I created a list of things for my daughter and I to do. They can be anything, from little things like blowing bubbles, to bigger things like going camping. As we complete activities on our list, we check them off. I try to get a picture of us doing them, too. We have learned a lot, and have had fun together, doing things we probably wouldn't have thought of doing, or gotten around to doing, if we didn't have them on our list! We have found the park with the best swing, caught tadpoles, had picnics and hiked. Even after we cross something off of our list, we still find ourselves coming back to do it again, if it was something we really had fun doing! We have gone to so many different parks and waded in several different creeks and had many more picnics than usual! Best of all, we are having fun playing together. And making the memories is the best thing that isn't even mentioned in writing, on our list!

In the pool with Daddy

What a beautiful, sunny, summer day! We had been shopping at the outlet stores in Ocean City, and came back in time to have the pool to ourselves pretty much. My daughter had just started swimming that summer, so we couldn't get enough of watching her swim underwater! She never seemed to get tired of swimming from the side of the pool to her Daddy. Back and forth, over and over again! I just sat in the sun, with my feet in the water, enjoying the sight of the 2 of them playing together.

Tip of the Day: These pictures were taken in the evening, so the sun was not directly over head and didn't create a glare on the water. I loved the color of the water,and tried to keep it the focus by using aqua sticker letters and the little ripple sticker along the side of the page.
I also used a gold flecked page instead of white. I think that helps the page not to look so plain. I love the way the aqua looks with the gold page as well.

Scrap Happy!

At the pool

Going to the pool is relaxing, because I don't take my camera more than a couple of days. If I have my camera, I am thinking like a photographer. Sometimes I wish I had my camera, but with out it I am able to just enjoy living without having to worry about capturing the moment. On this page, I combined all my pictures taken at the pool over the summer. I used a water camera. It was nice not to worry about it getting stolen, and also because my camera wouldn't be sitting in the sun. Since I was filling my page up with a lot of pictures, I didn't use a whole lot of page elements. I did punch squares of water out from pictures I cropped, and put letter stickers on them to spell out the name of the pool. I used paper and stickers from the power pallets, so that they went together and I didn't have to worry about them matching. CM did that for me! I only matted my very favorite picture, so that it stood out.

I have been scrapping lately, as well as taking my business a little more seriously. I just finished Christmas and New Year's. Now I have January and February to do. Remember, I had just gotten my digital camera, so I took a lot of pictures in that short period! I can easily take 100 a day at the Children's museum, although I don't print them all. I also have most of May to do.I still feel overwhelmed, but I shouldn't.

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!