I will stand by you always

I’m in the process of putting together a scrapbook for my niece, who recently got married.  She’ll have the official, professional wedding album from the photographer and I decided to do something that would include photos and mementos taken by family and friends.

My brother snapped this shot and as soon as I saw it I new it would be perfect.  I wanted to incorporate this photo along with some of the text from their wedding vows and tried several different layouts that simply did not work right.  Finally I saw a photo of a frame where the cut out for the photo was small in comparison to the overall frame and thought this would be perfect.  The photo is behind the background paper which has a square cut out for the picture to show through.

The photo is actually larger  with the arbor and other people in the picture, so I cropped it close to focus only the happy couple.  Once this was done I had to think about how to incorporate the text of their vows.  I did not want to simply print them out and attach them to the page because I wanted the focal point to be the photo. 

After thinking about it, it simply dawned on me to make the text part of the frame, or in this case, the background paper.  It came together quickly – I just created a document in Photoshop Elements with a blue background and layered the wedding vow text in white on top of it.  Perfect!  Now Lindsey and Matt not only have a wedding day photo, but a scrapbook page personalized with their vows.  Here is a closer look.

To finish it off I added a silk flower (actually two flowers, one on top of another) from the wedding section at JoAnns, along with some prima pearl flourishes.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Scrapbooking kits – do you like them?

As a long time papercrafter I get much satisfaction from taking paper, stamps etc and creating something original  – something all my own.    Cards are {usually} easy and reasonably quick.  Scrapbooks are another story.

I’ve made several scrapbooks of my travels and have to confess it can be a bit of a chore.  I think I have somewhat of a love/hate relationship with scrapbooking.  I love the end result, and generally like making the pages, but it just takes so long!

It’s why I love scrapbooking kits.  And I’m not talking about a package of coordinating paper and embellishments here.  I’m talking about a kit that has the paper, embellishments, a front and back cover AND  a sheet showing the pages put together.

That last comment may seem odd to many of you who relish the creative process of making original pages.  And the first time I went to a class where we did a mini book where all the pages were completed (just add photos later) I had a pang of guilt.  But I got  over it real fast!

At my LSS, Scraphappy Pensacola, they were having a 40% off everything in the store and I came across a kit from Kits2Remember.  There was a completed book on display next to the kit – I love when stores do this!   The kits are the work of Jessica Guthrie –  I took a Bind-it-All class taught by her and learned more in the first 15 minutes of that class than watching the BIA video.

What I LOVE about the kit I purchased is that it contained just about everything I needed – the acrylic for the front and back covers, chipboard for the pages, coordinating paper, ribbons and other embellishments.   All I had to supply was the BIA coils – and photos of course!  With the kit you get a website address where Jessica has photos of all the pages put together!!!!  You can  use her ideas or use them as a jumping off point to make it your own.   I completed the 15 page book in less than 2 hours – now all I’ll need to do is add photos  and journaling at a later date.  Or I can use it as a gift. 

The theme of the kit is travel, but Jessica has other kits in a number of themes in the store as well.

I’ll just give you a sampling of the completed pages.  The kit contained paper from two Theresa Collins’ lines – Travelogue and Family Matters.  The cover is shown in the first photo at the start of this blog.  Here are a few more:

Now  – don’t you just love this idea of taking that ruler/compass and using it as a topper for a tag?  It made me start thinking about other types of objects that can be used as a tag topper!

I love the paper on the pages below and can you tell I love pockets in my scrapbooks?

 

Thanks for stopping by today!

my mind’s eye

I was at my LSS today – Scraphappy Pensacola – and saw the prettiest display of papers and embellishments from My Minds Eye! 

I was just drawn to the display and could not resist making a purchase!  Have you seen the “Lush” line from this company?  Oh my – it is gorgeous and comes in 6 different colors.  I bought a bunch of things in the red version – the red is a deep, rich scarlet color.  Here is a look at the papers:

See the damask paper and the one with the flowers?  Those are flocked papers!!  They are just stunning irl!  I pickup up two of each of these to go with a mini album I plan to make.

Now – it will be easy to do the mini album because they have one ready made – take a look at this:

The piece on the left is a chipboard album – don’t you love that design?  It combines  a damask patter, flowers and a bird and is just beautiful.  And yes – the design is flocked!  I also picked up some of the brads and co-ordinating ribbon as well.

I wanted to buy this in every color they had – the pink and blue versions are soft and pretty, and the black and chocolate are incredibly elegant.  I don’t know how long this has been available, it’s the first time I’ve seen it.

Just wanted to share with you!!

a hybrid scrapbook page

My previous post showed a card with a photo of one of the blooms on our dogwood tree.  The trees are so beautiful – this is their first bloom.

The hurricanes of 2004 and 2005 pretty much wiped out just about every tree we had.  However none of the trees hit the house when they went down, so I’m grateful that this was the only damage we suffered.  Since then we’ve replanted some of the trees – adding  palms, crape mytle and a few fruit trees.  Last summer we planted two young dogwoods, knowing that we would have to wait until this spring to see them bloom.  This past week both young trees were filled with the prettiest pink blossoms.   I thought I would create a scrapbook page to remember how pretty this burst of color looked.  The trees were planted last year on our 21st wedding anniversay…we didn’t plan it that way, it just happened to be the day.  Orvil commented that the trees will always have that nice memory! 

Here is the page I created.  It’s a hybrid page – my first!!! 

I started by created a blank 8 x 8 page in a soft light lavender color – it looks a little more purple in the photo but IRL it’s actually more pink.   Then I typed the words “dogwood blossoms” and “dogwood” in white typeface several times and placed them randomly around the page.  I changed the font size and opacity on a few of  them  so that it would look more like background paper.  Here is a look at the page at this point:

I printed this page out and them stamped the dogwood image (From Stamp Francisco) on two of the corners in versamark.  The effect is very soft and subtle.  Here is a close up of what it looks like.

The dogwood photos themselves were printed on premium glossy photo paper and attached using double stick tape.  The text was computer generated.   The green background paper is from Basic Grey.

I’m happy with how this came out and will put this in my “simple pleasures” scrapbook.

Thanks for stopping by today!

lessons learned from a scrapbooking novice

I’ve been stamping a long time – about 12 years now.  During that time I’ve also dabbled in scrapbooking but  still consider myself a novice when it comes to scrapping.   I finally finished a mini album on Niagra Falls from a trip there last year  here is a quick look.

The album has a clear acrylic cover and back.  The front page uses old SU designer paper.  The title was done used Tim Holz grungeboard letters colored with copics and the rub ons and rhinestones are from K and Company. I used a Bind-It-All to put it together.

I kept the layouts pretty simple to try and focus on the photos.

There are a bunch of things that I finally learned about scrapbooking – I don’t know why it took me so long to realize these things.  Looking back these seem common sense…..

1.  I love my Bind-It-All.  I’ve had it for years and used it on this mini album.  I don’t know why I was buying scrapbook/photo albums all this time when I had this wonderful device in my craft room.   It’s a quick and easy way to put together an album. 

2.  I also love clear acrylic covers.  They come in a variety of sizes, are inexpensive and for my scrapbook here adds a little protection to the front and back pages.  They can also be decorated – I think they look cool!

3.  Mini Albums…..It seems like a no brainer now, but until I took a couple of mini album classes at my LSS my approach to scrapbooking was “monumental”.  We’d go on vacation and visit several areas and I’d have a ton of photos from different places to work with.  So one trip would end up requiring a huge 12 x 12 album with lots and lots of pages.  The task was so overwhelming I just avoided it. 

Then I had the “aha” moment to break down our trips into pieces and do smaller albums focusing on one location.  The 8 x 8 mini album above just focuses on the Niagra Falls leg of our trip and most of the pages only one one good sized photo on each page.    By breaking down our trip into  smaller sections this album was much more manageable.  So I don’t know if an 8 x 8 qualifies as a “mini” but it was just the right size for a photo and text.

4.  Use co-ordinated scrapbook packs.  You may say “duh” – and you would be right!  I used to take each photo and match paper to it then create a page.  My albums seemed to be a mismatch of everything (because they were), instead of the pretty color coordinated ones I always see.   For the album above I used SU paper for the front and back cover and the SEI scrap pack Chickadoo because it had blues, greens and white papers that went well with SU.   The entire album has a nice flow with the color scheme, and I tried to be consistent with the embellishments I used on each page.

5.  Make pages ahead of time.  Again – “duh”!!!  It didn’t hit me to do this until I took those mini album classes!  I could create a bunch of pages in an 8 x 8 size and be ready to roll! 

6.  Focus on the photo.  I have to wonder about those people who do a large 12 x 12 layout that consists of one tiny photo in the corner with a bunch of embellishments around it along with tiny text and 80% of the page is blank.  I always want my photos to be the focal point and can’t understand these types of layouts.

7.  It doesn’t have to be perfect.  It should be a way to record memories and special moments in your life.  That is worth more than perfection!

Thanks for visiting me today!!