Using Too Pretty To Use Supplies

I don't know about you but I find myself putting aside bits, bobs, paper and pretties all the time because they are so "pretty" that I KNOW there is a better project to use them on than the one that I am working on right now.  Really Shere?  What Project is that?  Guess what, the pretties don't ever get used or even looked at again most of the time.  They just get shoved back into the stash lol.  That habit is a changin:)  I am making a pinky swear to use all of the pretties right away from now on out!  No more hoarding!!

To give myself credit, I am much better about this than I used to be.  When my new orders come in they go straight into the rotation instead of straight into the stash!  Saving for later used to be my thing.  Now, it's not unusual to see 1999 Basic Grey on a page with some 2017 Paige Evans.  

Like on this Christmas Page.  It has some really old Basic Grey along with some classic My Minds Eye, October Afternoon and Little Yellow Bicycle (a little Shimelle too:)) sprinkled with the brand spanking new Pink Fresh Studios and Fancy Pants Christmas collections.....

I love that about most of the pages that I'm sharing today.  They have supplies on them that I had been holding on to because I still loved them and wanted to use them.  At the time that they were purchased my mindset was to wait for the perfect project to use that collection/paper/embellishment/whatever.  

This page has a beautiful fussy cut rose from a really old Basic Grey paper.  I used 3 different washi tapes layered under my patterned paper strips on this page for a fun effect.  Love the thread peeking out from under the rose too.......

Purple paint.  Purple is my favorite color but I don't use it much.  Except I have about 25 bottles of purple acrylic paint.  Not even joking here.  Thankfully it is turning out to be a really good neutral color when it's thinned and used to splatter like this.  Who knew?  Not me when I bought it all lol.  Again, very old products mixed very well with very new.  Can you spot the new stuff?  This is not a favorite page but guess what?  It's going into the album.....

I did lots of layering on these pages.  Love it!  This one is from my July 2017 Hip Kit.  I like the fun sprinkle of embellishments down the side of the page.  Seriously.  That typewriter was definitely going into the donate bin but as I was making this page it caught my eye.  I think it looks great on this page and that spot is the perfect place for it......

I did it yall!  I updated this page with the journaling:)  Love it even more....... 

So glad you could stop by and see me on this beautiful Tuesday!  Hope you are having a lovely day😊

Zeroing In On Inspiration

and how it inspires me, why it inspires me, when it inspires me.  All of these whatsits helps me stay productive.  When I say productive, I mean productive!  I've created more pages over the last couple of years than I have since I began scrapbooking back in 2000.  

I gave myself permission to be okay with scraplifting and sharing the work that I was creating in classes as my own (giving credit of course) because, at the end of the day, it is mine.  The ideas belong to the creator of the class or original page, but the work to create the page, select the photos, products, embellishments, etc.  That belongs to me.  I gladly place the pages in my albums with my very deepest gratitude to the generous talents who are willing to so freely share their work.  Thanks to you my albums are full and I am creating.  

I had stalled for a very long time.  Admittedly, life was busy and there was not much time for hobbies.  Life still gets extremely busy but the difference between then and now is that now I make time because I really, really, really want to keep making stuff.  It's that important to me.  

Sometimes the ideas are all mine....

My niece recently took a trip to visit my daughter and man did my girl show her a good time:)  Box seats at a Yankees game, theater tickets, fancy brunches.  Nice.......

Other times I will see a page whose design completely inspires me......

Jana Eubank

Jess Mutty

This page was made with the August 2017 Hip Kit......

Between my husband and my daughter, we have hundreds of photographs that can be used to tell stories that I want to record about our family so having a little help goes a long way towards helping me feel like I am making progress.  

Nothing like making progress on a Monday right?  Thanks for stopping by and hope you had a really fantastic start to your week!!

Adding More Style To My Pages

One of the two main reasons that I've been pulling apart many of the pages that I created when I first started scrapbooking is that I really want to add more style to the pages that I create.  Documenting and storytelling as the main goal is fine but that does not mean that it can't be pretty as well.  Pretty is what makes this a hobby for me.  Otherwise, my photos could just get stuck in a box with a note on the back for future generations to look back on. 

For me,  right now, it's all about making our stories come to life.  Bringing the smiles before you even know the whosits or the whatsits.  Decorating our life memories so that every single time we look at one of our pages (yes, even though I make the pages, they are ours) the moment comes back almost as real as when we lived through it.  I don't know if that statement makes a bit of sense.  What I do know is that although photos make me happy, my scrapbook albums with page after page of illustrated stories swell in my chest and make me go back in time. 

How am I adding this style you might be asking?  One way is with more dimension.  My pages used to be very flat.  Flat colors, textures, journaling and flat photos.  Now I use bolder colors in more interesting ways.  Cream with white or navy with blue to create interesting shadows without creating a ton of bulk.  I sew on my pages.  My photos are better lit and more candid.  I don't tell my kids to stop what they're doing and smile for the camera.  Like the photo on this page about the day my daughter sent me a random text saying that she was at the starting line of a marathon getting ready to start.  The picture doesn't even feature her face.  But it sparked a long conversation between my daughter and I and later lots of my thoughts before bed focused on how bold she is when it comes to doing the things she wants to do.  Later still, this page.....

I also add style by not boxing my pages in.  There are so many shapes out there and so many ways to use them!  My kids know how much I love Disney so they will send me random photos of Disney stuff along with a text or a call about how it's not a sign that we should take our next family vacation there lol.  It is such a random thing but important to me.  I documented it by using triangles to point to this random picture of Disney balloons that one of the kids texted me.....

I could go on and on but I won't.  Since I started to scrapbook with more "style", I am much happier with the pages that I create and with the time that I spend creating.  Why do this if its boring?  Even if it is important family history preservation.  Saving family memories can be done with a box and a notepad in its simplest form.  What I do takes hours so I have to love both the process and the results.    

My last 2 pages to share are both Disney pages.  Shocking right?  Tree of life.  Still blows my mind every single visit..... 

One more page to go before I'm done with my August Hip Kit.  This is the next to last and I'm just about done with all of the paper even though there are still a ton of embellishments and alphas left.  Oh, the alphas.  They are really becoming an issue!  I actually had to use the packaging for the background here.  It was cute so it can't count as a hardship:).  I'm going to print the journaling and place it above the "love this" later.  I'll post another photo of this page with the journaling tomorrow.  Maybe.  This page is so festive it may not need journaling......

Thanks for stopping by and have a fantastic Day!

Catching Up On Kits

For a minute it was on my mind to cancel my Hip Kit Club subscription.  The main reason being the fact that I am 2 months behind.  In the past, when I had subscribed to other kit clubs I would let them sit in the box month after month after month untouched until finally I'd break them apart and add the contents to my stash.  This time had to be different.  And so far it has been.  Every month most of the kit gets used almost all up with the exception of a few embellishments and alphabets.  I don't use near enough alpha's but that's a story for another day!

A couple other BIG reasons I'm considering ending my sub are that they use the same manufacturers and color schemes over and over again.  Which could be good but has gotten a little boring for me.   I'm sitting on the decision until January to see how it goes. 

Don't get me wrong, I've gotten a lot of pages out of my kits.  They are beautiful, they are usable and the design team offers a ton of inspiration.  I even normally get about 10 layouts per kit completed, so they are getting well used.  Not only are the kits well used with the product that they send, there are plenty of leftovers for me to add to my stash or to the giveaway box that I plan to do at the end of the month every month.  It's just that well, they are becoming meh and maybe I can get better bang for my bucks elsewhere is what's on my mind.  But we'll see.  

During the great 12 layout making event Sunday, I realized that I only had 2 pages left to do from my August Kit.  That means that today or tomorrow this sister can start making pages with her September kit.  Just in time for November to be shipped right?  LOL:)

All that being said, let's get to some pages, shall we.  Can we have a moment of silence for the greatness that is Disney?  It is truly amazing!!!  All but one of the layouts that I'm sharing feature photos from one trip or the other so I just may be biased.  I haven't worked with Prima type flowers in a while.  They are amazing on this page and with this Webster's Pages paper....

I'm not sure what Woody was telling the kids but apparently, he had done something pretty amazing because he had them all completely focused on him & eating up his every word.....

Can't have a Halloween page without googly eyes:).  This day was amazing.  Super long, super amazing.  Most of us dressed up (both the adults and the kids) in a combination of homemade, store-bought and everything in-between costumes.  So fun to see the entire family enjoying themselves like this.....

Last not least a sweet page about my now high school aged niece looking adorable at a park playdate......

Happy Humpday Everyone and Thanks for Stopping By!!!

A Quarter Of A Goal

That's what I achieved on Sunday lol.  I got 4 pages completely done and 1 almost done.  I'll take it even if it wasn't 12.  One fun thing about scrapbooking for a whole, entire day is that once you get into a groove, design decisions just start coming so easy!  The more I worked, the faster I worked.  Although my pages did seem to get simpler as the hour got later.  It was about 230 in the morning when I finally called it!

Some of the pages may get some more stuff added to them before they go into the albums but I'm not 100% sure about that.  They may just stay as they are.  Another thing that I noticed is that along with the lesser amount of embellishing, I didn't journal as much either.  Ugh!  Bad habits.  Bad, bad habits.  

Oh well, on to the layouts.  My niece decided to start running track last year.  Turns out she not only absolutely loves it,  she has a talent for it too.  I journaled about her journey right on the photo with an American Crafts Slick Writer......

More Disney photos.  The photo that I wanted to use for this page was too wide for the 2 mats that I wanted to use so I chose a good spot and cut the picture in half to use across both photo mats.  Fun times and that will happen again......

My husband and daughter.  It wasn't valentine's day but most of the words were appropriate so I ran with the paper.  The page talks about how their relationship has grown and changed over the years......

This page is a redo.  Trust me, that other page was not salvageable in any way, shape or form!  The photos came off of a layout that I did back in 2003 or so.  The original lo had 4 photos but I decided to only use 1 on this page.  This was a scraplift of this page on Pinterest.  The background was amazing as it was so I just changed the papers and a few of the details but otherwise followed the design pretty closely.......

My littlest little guy was such a sweet baby.  Oh how I miss those days sometimes.  

That's all for me tonight.  Thanks for stopping by!! 

P. S.   If you are interested in getting a box slammed full of scrapbook goodies, don't forget to leave a comment.  It doesn't have to be elaborate, just hey that stuff looks fun count me in:).  I'll contact you via email for your shipping details on Saturday or Sunday.  

Scrapbook Page Ambitions and A Giveaway

I have lofty goals for this sunny Sunday folks.  To get 12 scrapbook layouts done and out of my queue and to give away a huge box of fun scrapbook goodies.  A more fun to do list has never been created:)!  

The scrapbook page kits are ready to go and my plan is to just follow the script.  The script being the inspiration that I've already selected for the papers that have already been matched.  I get bored super easy so my inspiration has to be varied.  It must be or this girl will be done with creating!  I've picked classes, sketches, blogs, pins, magazines, books and some of my own ideas as jumping off points.  I can do this!!!

And for the giveaway.  At the end of each month, I go through my stuff and destash.  There is enough loot to fill a USPS Regional Rate B box.  It is truly a mixed bag of products.  There is old stuff, new stuff, paper, embellishments, specialty papers and more.  A lot of the paper is from paper pads but there are quite a few sheets of regular manufacturer issue papers.  Here are a few photos:

A ton of embellishments some used, some new and never opened.....

There are at least 50 sheets of 12X12 papers that have not been cut.  Anna Griffin, Basic Grey, Pink Paislee (older lines) Shimelle, Webster's, 7Gypsies, KI and more.....

I'd say about 25 sheets of specialty paper is included as well.  Again, a lot comes from paper pads but some are manufacturer issued too....

If you are interested, just leave me a comment by Thursday, October 26th and I will pick at random and notify you by Sunday, October 29th.  Only in the continental United States please as shipping is too expensive everywhere else.  

Here's a look at some pages that were finished over the past few days.....

That paper is so, so thin!  I had to back it on cardstock for it to be usable but I just love the pattern!!....

The photo is not the best quality but it is such a good reminder of how well me and my sibling's kids get along despite the huge age differences between them.  The older kids get treated like rock stars sometimes bc the littles just adore them:).....

I'm on Paige's Pages #3 and still loving all of the inspiration!  Her ideas are so fun and full of life.  Amazing how she pushes these cute pages out of me.  Love her work!!!!......

I swear it seems as if I live the movie "Groundhog Day".  Week after week, hour after hour the very same chores and to-dos.  It can feel never-ending and I find that I have to remind myself that ordinary is a blessing.... 

I hope to share the pages from today on Pinterest and on the blog sometime next week.  I plan to scrap them all without photos and add photos later.  I don't know why that is the speediest process for me but it is.  

Thanks for stopping by and I hope that you have a Super Sunday!!

It's Fall Yall!

Yesterday it was summer.  Okay, not really but it felt like it.  But today it really feels like fall.  The highs are out of the 80's and 90's.  Thank Cheese.  The trees are starting to color and the new fall shows have been running for a couple of weeks now.  We've been so busy that we are behind the curveball on TV.  Way behind.  But with cold weather setting in it shouldn't take us too long to catch up.  Last night we watched the first episode of the new Star Trek and can I just say Oh My.  I think I'm gonna like it:)

The husband told me that he has to go out of town on business for a few days soon and that means that some Outlander binge watching catch up just might be in my future.  Just saying.  It may happen.  Unless he decides to watch it with me without asking me to commit to Love & Hip Hop or Real Housewives.  THAT would be a no go.  I can watch about 2 minutes of those train wrecks before my eyes start to roll to the back of my head.  Ugh!

Yesterday was scrapbook layout happiness for me, today is about half & half.  Some I love.  Some I like.  This one I love!  I have about 15 bottles of spray mist on my desk so I decided to put them all to use.  Every single one of them.  It was so easy to spatter each color randomly on the page with no thought put into whether the color would match or not.  Seriously full of joy about the results.  It looked so good in the end that I'm going to do a page using the exact same method and not put anything on top of it just so that the splatter is visible.  It came out that pretty.  All of the other supplies are from my August Hip Kit with the exception of the felt balls.  The kit came with some but the tiny ones from my stash are more to my liking.....

Mixed media on kraft cardstock?  The jury is still out on whether this worked or not.  Kind of digging the smokey smudgy look but eh the page is done and either I will grow to love it or I won't.....

Also not sure if I love the chunky black glitter detail in the corners either....

That circle paper from Carta Bella's Trick or Treat line is so, so pretty!  Loved working with it!!  My nephew's cute little face wasn't hard to work with either:).....

Lots and lots and lots of journaling on this page.  I've had this notebook paper journaling card in my stash for a dog's year waiting for the perfect project.  Every now and then that works out because this is that project.  I have a lot to say about my girl, this trip, how she uses her camera to document our lives, how present she is now etc......

This is from Ginny Hughes' "From A to Z" class at BPC.  Still loving the classes yall!  Highly recommend taking them if you want to get out of a slump!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!

Finally Some Cooler Weather!

Last week we were still having 90 degree days here.  In October for Pete's sake!!  The high today was a lovely 61 degrees and was able to sport my comfy sweater and jeggings while sipping a hot coffee on my deck. 

It's hard to believe that Halloween will be here soon but this girl is ready.  Scrapbook.com mailed my order super fast for the first time ever and I have 3 new Halloween lines in my hot little hands.  No little kids in my house to speak of but lots of spooky paper and embellishments just in case my siblings post some photos of a couple random chaps on their social media accounts hint, hint:).

In line with my goal of making journaling more fun.  More done.  I made this page of my daughter with a monster milkshake.  I love the look on her face!  When she sent me the photo, I had to text her and ask her what the heck she had.  I'd never seen a shake like that in my life.  I have no idea how she finished that thing but she said it was delicious.
I made the title by playing around with Microsoft word and some text box trickery to make the journaling frame around the photo.  It took some doing but it was so worth it!  The result is super, super cute....

and be still my alphabet fringe letter heart!  This came out so much better than I had planned.....

From there, my journaling got less and less lol.  On this page, I hand wrote all of the details on that striped Elle's studio card (isn't it adorable?  I altered it a little to match my page by placing red cardstock over the orange stripe that was pre-printed on the card).....

A blurb with some details below the title and some factual stuff on the journal spot in the top left corner and we will call the journaling done here......

Just the facts on this one but I was worn out after doing all of that stitching!  Sewing was a good touch on the page though and really helped the monochromatic cameras stand out.  Next time maybe I'll do them on both sides with my lazy self:)......

This was a good batch of pages.  There aren't many days that I like them all but today is one of them.  Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a terrific Tuesday!

Exactly What I Planned!

Remember that sketch I was talking about a couple of posts ago?  The one with the numbers?  Well, my layout came together exactly as I pictured it in my head.  EXACTLY!  It's not often that a plan comes together like this but man oh man am I in love with this page.  Lots of journaling, a great memory, pretty products.  Perfect:)  There are lots of gold elements that would not photograph well so I took the photo without the flash (you can barely see the vellum covering up the photo in this shot).....

and with the flash.  My preference.  It looks so much softer and prettier.  This was the venue with just the early birds before everyone got there.  I printed the lyrics to the song I walked down the aisle to on the number one and the number 4 has a favorite marriage quote printed on it.....

This is actually a photo that my sister took in Dubai.  It's hard to believe that the desert looks so lush and green.....

The chaps at play on the beach:)  

When we went to Disney, we decided to do a show each day.  Blue Man Group was the only thing available so we took it.  I didn't expect to enjoy it but turns out, this show was the most fun thing that we did that day.  It was a fan favorite and the kids talked about it for the rest of the trip.  Who knew that a bunch of blue guys could make our day?

The last 2 pages were made with my July 2017 Hip Kits.  The summer left me so behind with my kits:(  September and October are still bagged up and although August is ready to go, I haven't made a single page with it!  I hope to work on my first one tonight after I get dinner done.  Wish me luck.  

Anywho.  Thanks for stopping by and happy Monday everyone 😊

So Many Words

Not on these pages lol.  These pages are true to what normally comes from me:)  A brief description on the back with a cool title and a pretty photo.  Yep.  100 years from now when people look at my pages they will know:

•  where we are
•  who we are 
• when we are and 
• what we are doing.  

They may know what we are feeling but probably not.  I am sure that the ball at Epcot will still look like this though......

My daughter is the queen of texting me photos to prove that she is telling me the truth.  As if I never believe what she is telling me.  This time she wanted to prove that she was in the gym sweating it out.  I believed you baby girl and am happy to receive any and all the selfies that you are willing to send me.  Lodge your complaints about said selfies ending up in the family album and/or on the blog elsewhere though:)  Peace out.  Mom 😘

This friends is my first attempt at creating a sketch.  Umm.  Yeah.  I should have done it on paper first.  The basic idea is there so it's not a complete fail but it is much harder than Becky makes it look!  My plan is to fill the numbers 1 and 4 with journaling and the blocks with the numbers 2 and 3 also will be filled with journaling.  We had an event recently that filled my heart with so much to say but until now I couldn't get the words out.  I will post the finished page tomorrow:)  

Thanks for stopping by and have a great night!!!

Journaling Mood Board

One of my biggest scrapbooking weaknesses, other than photo printing and editing, is journaling.  I just don't like to do it.  The fun for me is in creating the page and reliving the memory.  Not writing it down.  That particular task feels too much like an English class assignment.  To keep it interesting and of course, fun, I created a mood board and some sketches to inspire me to journal more this month.  You can check out the mood board below or here on Pinterest and I'll be posting the sketches as I go.  

My goal is to come away with some pages that have more than just surface thoughts and statistical data on them.  The distress of the last month needs to find its way onto a few pages so that when we are ready to look back we can remember all of the feels:  good, bad and other.  

At the end of the month, I want to walk away with a new attitude towards journaling and pages that journaling can be as pretty a part of the design as paper and embellishments:)  It's much more necessary to recording family history too lol.  

The pages that I'm sharing below do not get me started off on the right foot but don't hold that against me.  Other than titles, embellishments and label stickers there is no journaling to be found on any of these pages.  Some of them may get a few words added to them before they get added to their albums though....

Like this one of this fierce looking little girl.  We never thought that she would love cheerleading as much as she does but she continues to happily try out for it each and every year.....

Or this one about our surprise wedding.  I still have a huge stack of photo booth photos calling to make it to a page and that spot just below the photo is perfect for a few words......

These girls were done with us!  I think that if one more person had asked them for a photo......

She was on her way to see us for the weekend and sent me a  photo of how light she packed.  Ha!  Light.....

Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY HUMPDAY!!🎉🙂👏