It's My Playtime. I Make The Rules.

I always talk about the pages that I make.  Who is in them.  What is going on.  Why these photos were important enough to be scrapped.  But one of the things that I don't talk about much at all and even then usually as a side note, is how any of my pages are built.  Today I'm going to switch it up and talk a little bit about how each of the pages was made.  Just my favorite bits of each so that the post doesn't grow out of control:).

Just to explain the title of this post a little bit.  I am a slow scrapper.  An average page takes me 3 hours to create.  Sometimes, I will work on a single page for days.  I'm okay with that.  Some of the pages that I share take days to create.  That's fine with me.  This is how I enjoy spending my downtime when I have downtime.  Rushing through pages does not make me happy.  I'd rather find time by streamlining my process or keeping my space clean.  That being said.....

This page was roughly 3 hours and although it is essentially very simple, there are lots of layers.  The layers are what take so. much. time.   Not to mention the Silhouette cuts or the machine stitching.  Geez.  The end result though.  It was worth it:).  Such a cute picture of my boys.....

Every page for today has lots of layers.  Plane, Trains has the simplest layers and they just get more complicated from here on.  This next page was a beast.  Everything had to be done in just the right order to get the layers right!  It took me about 5 hours to get the page the way I wanted it.  Insane!!  The banner border at the bottom of the page was so easy though.  

1. using a paper that has a graph print, cut different height & width fishtail banners to fit the width of the page
2.  lightly tack the banners down with wet glue
3.  washi tape about 1/4 inch of the bottom and 
4. lastly sew a line across..... 

If I dream it, my husband will eventually build it.  It takes a lot of convincing sometimes but he can build just about anything.  For this page, I had this blue & cream striped paper but I needed something with a little more pop.  All it took was some bright yellow watercolor and wala.  Instant pop.  The rest of the page was simple.  Looking at it here, I'm considering adding a piece of bright cardstock to border the entire page.  Hmmmm....

 

This last page is from my August 2017 Hip Kit.  I decided to make my own background paper.  Using different mist, paints, and stamps, I created what I think is a perfect backdrop for this photo of my daughter at my brother's wedding.  Love the look on her face:).......  

Thanks for stopping by!😊

Mile Long To-Do List

Planning for a big event can be so intimidating!  I am determined not to get overwhelmed and to stay on track.  I have Christmas planned to the letter.  If we can get the daily tasks done, no problemo.  We are 7 days into our plan and so far so good.  We just have to keep it up.  There are about 25 things left to do but I know that it is the little details that will kill a schedule so those are the ones that are most worrying me right now.  The task that can't be done in advance but that must be done in order for everyone to have a place to sleep and food to eat.  

Thankfully my family is so, so chill.  They will roll with whatever happens and they don't have a problem chipping in and helping when they see it's needed.  I'm the one that will need to calm down lol.  It is really important to me that they are happy that I guess I go a little overboard about making everything perfect sometimes.  

Maybe I should be clear about what I'm talking about?  We are hosting Christmas at our house this year and plan to have 30 loved ones for 4 days enjoying everything that DC has to offer.  Hopefully, that will include a few fluffy snowflakes:)  

Speaking of snow, check out the snow on this page!  This is probably one of my favorite pages of all time.  It's really simple but interesting all at the same time.  I LOVE the sequin border!!!!!  It was super easy to make.  All I did was run a short bead of hot glue and drop the sequins on it (after letting the glue cool just a little).......

Holy bright yellow Batman lol.  This page was another fun one.  It all started with the alphas that I picked up at Target.  They are so pretty!  This is exactly my kind of ride but I had chicken duty:) so had to sit it out and take photos instead.......

If you've ever been to DC cupcakes, you know that their treats live up to the hype.  They are so worth waiting in line for which is why my little guy looks so excited......

My daughter minored in Spanish in college which came in handy while we were on vacation.  Even though Spanish & Italian are different, they are similar enough that it is helpful to be able to speak Spanish.  She was able to understand this very nice couple when they were making conversation with us and eventually offering to take a photo of us all.......

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day tomorrow.  Especially since it's FRIDAY:)

Layout Share

How are you preparing for the upcoming holidays?  

Frantically in this house.  We will have 3 glorious days in which to enjoy a house full of laughter, cheer, food and conversation.  Not at all the quiet that we have so gotten used to now that all of our little chickadees have flown the nest.  

Our guest list has settled to about 30 people, big & small, and the logistics of that can sometimes be tricky but I think we've got it figured out and everyone should have their own little piece of the house that they can retreat to when it gets a little too loud or busy.  The real trick is to make sure that everyone is fed and exhausted:)  We've got plenty of activities scheduled (thanks DC for always having so much to do!) to keep boredom far away from this place.  

The menu is another story.  It came together quickly but I am a little worried that I was too ambitious and that I will not be able to pull it off.  The real key is going to be having most of it prepared ahead of time.  If I can have everything ready to go by Friday 12/22, it will be fun for me as well as everyone else.  If not, well, I'll be a busy girl lol.  Still happy though.  Still very, very happy with all my peeps around me:)  Giving me lots of photos for my pages next year HA!  Speaking of pages, I've got a few to share.  8 to be exact.  

I haven't forgotten about or dropped my budgeting thoughts or projects, I've just won't be talking about them today:)  With 8 pages to share there is not time for that lol.  Although thinking about budgeting did make me wonder about how much each of my pages costs, in real dollars, to make.  Do I really want to know that though?  Hmmmmm.....

This page will be getting the photos redone for goodness sake!  I still haven't figured out how to get Paintshop to print my photos decently if I edit them.  Gaaaaahhhhhh.  My nephew is so cute too.  Anywho.  This page is a favorite.  The blues with the bright oranges and green are perfect......

I purchased a class from Jen Schow and this is one of the pages that I completed for it.  The papers and colors just make me want to scream with joy!  The class is "Zap Your Scraps" and it is delightful.  I didn't use any scraps if that tells you how versatile her classes are.....

Hello September 2017 Hip Kit.  You were so fun and pretty lol.  This cute photo of my nieces and nephews at Disney worked well with all the things on this page.  Love how it came out..... 

This is me trying something different.  A long skinny photo.  My jury is still out on whether this type page is a keeper or not.  Although the photo of my peeps all lined up on this teeny, tiny sidewalk in Italy walking towards the Coliseum is a fave.......

Another Italy picture.  This layout I like much, much better!  Loving the 1/2 circles and the squares together.  And that photo.......

The sketch for this one was by Kristine Davidson on Creative Scrappers.  It was amazing and so fun to create with.  I literally kept 90% of the elements as is because she hit this sketch out of the park!  Loved it!!!!.......

This page is a little different.  These 2.  Oh my.  Sometimes they just do not get along.  My oldest and my youngest babies.  But here they are just being so sweet.  Q just jumped right off of the bridge onto the sand as boys do and my girl took it a little slower.  He turned around and reached his hand up to catch his sister and my husband snapped a photo of it as she was reaching her hand out to let him.  I had to scrapbook it even if the photo was a little strange looking and sweet hugs did not seem to fit at first glance......

On the other hand, these 2 get along most of the time and can usually be found close to each other love/hating:)

I know.  A lot of pages but I appreciate you stopping by to take a look at them.  

Happy Hump Day!!!

Tips That I Always Remember

Before I start talking about scrapbook tips, I want to dig into the buying habits stuff that was brought up in my last post.  My first topic was things that I buy a lot of but only use a little and let me tell you, Stamps!  I have so many stamps!!  In all shapes, subjects, sizes, and forms.  In fact, I just received 2 sets with my last Elle's Studio kit.  Yeah.  I might just want to tone that down a bit because they don't get used much at all.  As a matter of fact, I have to make myself use them when I do remember to take them out lol.  Not because they aren't one of my favorite embellishments.  They are.  Just because they can sometimes be a little overwhelming due to the how easy it is to ruin a page with a misplaced stamp and how hard it is to correct the placement if you don't like where it is.   

2 of my most favorite scrapbook/crafting tips

• Punch/Cut through aluminum foil to keep your punches/deco edge scissors sharp.  Tried and true tip that has kept my tools in tip-top shape for years and years:)
• Buy an ATG gun!  The adhesive lasts forever and sticks like a champ.  This is the best tip ever, especially since I can now find the refills on Amazon for a good price!

Love this page about my son.  I used his graduation shoot photos......

Last Christmas we were able to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular for the first time and it was amazing.......

Hogwarts at Universal.  We were there when it first opened and this was as close as we got lol.  The lines were out of control!  I used my September 2017 Hip Kit Club for the supplies......

This is my favorite photo from this guy's photo shoot. He looks so happy and has such a genuine smile on his face.  Love it.....

Thanks for stopping by and have a happy Thursday everyone!