Bringing My Scrapbook Page Titles To Life

I've found that making my titles a living breathing part of my scrapbook page is not just about making it bigger or more colorful.  It's about making it an actual part of the page and a part of the story.  

Yep.  It's just that simple.  

It's also not mandatory for a great title to contain Thickers, stamps or die-cutting machines either.  The title for this page was super simple but it works so well on this page because it mimics how my husband and I are posing in the photo.  A standard letter sticker title would not have been as good for this page because, well,  it's what I always do!  This way I get a little color along with a word arrow that points right at us......  

This page has a super fun title that mimics how much fun we had this particular Christmas Eve.  Our oldest kids weren't with us so we had to send them photos and facetime with them.  They wanted us looking surprised, specific angles, etc.  The title tells when we are and the subtitle tells what we are and why.  I bounced them around the page a little but made sure to mat all of the "title" pieces on red cardstock so that they stood out together.  All of my supplies came from November 2016's Hip Kit....

Paige Evans is a scrapbook machine!  I love her "Paige's Pages" class over on Big Picture Classes!  This page is from her 3rd in that series.  I love the font of this title.  I love the big snowflake.  I love the subtle shine & wrinkle of the letters in the title.  Pure title joy and nothing dead about it.....

My dad is the BEST!  Whenever you see him, it is always surrounded by his kids or his grandkids.  He's amazing and one of the most loving and giving men I have ever met.  Whenever I talk to him and ask him what he's doing, it's most likely helping someone.  When I was doing this page, I wanted the stars to help the title.  Boy did they!  Came out so much better than I thought it would but Dad, seriously, we've got to get you to start looking at the camera!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Thursday:)

Feeling The Love...

even though Valentine's day is more than a month away:)  The year has started off very quiet and with no travel plans at all this entire year it's looking to stay that way.  I'm going to miss seeing my family as much as I normally do but it will be a much-needed break for both my budget and for us.  

We will not just be sitting around the house staring out of the window though.  There are big plans in the works for both our personal lives and for our business.  It is very difficult to grow a business when you travel as much as we do.  Something that I did not take into account.  On paper, everything works out beautifully.  The numbers look solid.  The time is manageable.  In reality.  Not so much.  

This year is going to be a reset year.  I'm taking time to reflect and to grow.  Not just my business but me.  Lots of red flags got raised in my life last year and when that happens time has taught me that I HAVE to slow down and evaluate what is going on.  It may be time to make changes.  Big changes.  Inevitable changes that it is important to be ready for mind body and soul.  So goodbye planes, trains, and automobiles.  Hello yoga, business workshops and grind!  

In honor of a new year, here are some new pages.  I don't do many pages about my son's sweet piggy Mia but she is really old and we don't expect her to be with us much longer.  The brown one in the photo, sweet Shelby, passed several years ago...

The photo on this page is from 2007.  My little guy was never far from me and would climb on my lap whenever I sat down for years and years.  I think he was like 10 when he finally stopped!  My last baby so he got away with it:).  The inspiration is from Ginny Hughes "From A to Z" class over at Big Picture Classes....

We try to make it to the Cherry Blossom Festival most years.  Don't ask me why bc it is a major pain in the ass!  I guess the photos that my husband takes?  IDK, we're nuts!  But the background came out fantastic for this page.....

My favorite page of the day hands down.  Me and the hubby in Rome.  Love the photo, Love the page.  Love our life together.  The struggle was real to get here but so worth it.  He is so worth it......

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Tuesday!

Cozy Winter Scrapbooking

We have a couple of inches of snow in the forecast which normally means soup in the crockpot, nowhere to go and a fire in the fireplace:)  

Good, good times!

I've got some super fun super bright supplies on the way and plan to spend some time figuring out what to do with this stuff once it gets here....

Revisiting one of my favorite projects, the tried and true giant explosion album, is at the top of the list.  How cute would these papers be for a Gingerbread House?  

Thanks for stopping by and if bad weather is on the way for you too, stay warm and get lots of projects done! 

Must Watch TV

Star Trek Discovery.  Season 2.  This Sunday.  I cannot even begin to clear my schedule fast enough........

Color Combos With Wow Factor

One of my favorite things about pushing paper around is the pure color joy I get from all of the things.  There are so many colors available!  It's mind-boggling when you think about it, which I try not to because I'm easily distracted and can spend hours just thinking about mindless stuff lol.  

Color doesn't scare me one bit.  In fact, I love to mix and experiment with different combinations just to see if they will work.  Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.  It's perfectly okay if a combination doesn't work since I'm working with paper, I can just rip it apart (or toss it depending on the type of adhesive I used) and try again.  But when it does work.  Aaaahhhh.  Magic.  

I Loved all of the colors that I worked with on these pages.  Some were traditional and not surprising at all, like this one with typical blues and yellows......

This one is a little edgier with black and red thrown in with the blues and yellows......

Here I started to veer away from safe with navy and turquise, bright green and red all together on a cream & white based page.......

I don't think there is anything traditional about the colors here!  This was a new set of colors for me with the pink, peach green, gold & brown but I just love the way this page came out!

I just wanted to stop in for a quick layout share and hello.  I hope that you all had a very merry Christmas and that the New Year rolled in exactly the way you wanted it to!  

Thanks for stopping by!!

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!

Not A Traditional Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Rome.  Rome!  The Italians don't celebrate Thanksgiving so I had to keep reminding myself of the importance of the day while we were there.  Not to be thankful mind you.  That I never forget.  But how unique it is that an entire country takes the time to focus a single day on being thankful.  And has been doing it for many, many years.  It's a beautiful thing:)

It is very hard not to be thankful in Rome, the city is so, so beautiful!!  Here are just a few photos that I took on my phone.  They haven't been touched up or edited so I cannot wait to see the after photos on a page.....

The half-shadow, half-light photos are so intriguing to me.  Many of the pictures that I took are in that style.  

Rome was mad expensive so the trip has gotten me to do a few budget reevaluations since we've been back.  

Keeping it Thankful!  My motivation is not to stop buying things just to save money.  My motivation is to stop buying things for the sake of buying things.  I want to buy things that I will use and that will be useful to me and my family.  Saving money is a bonus:)  

I narrowed my categories down to a few that will work for me and think that I'm going to focus on things that I: 

• Buy a lot of - Use a little of
• Buy a lot of - Use a lot of
• Buy a little of -Use a lot of
• Buy a little of - Use a little of 
• Buy just right (the sweet spot)
• How to get everything to buying just right and save a little cashola

If I can find a happy balance between buying and using, that's what I'll consider a success.  I've already started doing this in other areas like the kitchen and nail polish and it really has worked.  

Before we left, I did a few pages that I didn't get to post.  2 from Big Picture classes and a couple just because.  

Most of these pages are just meh for me.  Mostly because of the stress of getting ready for such a big trip.  That kind of pressure just freaks me out and I can't relax until we are all landed and settled in at the hotel.  This page is about my nieces visit this past summer.  Loved having these girls here and the time went way to fast..... 

We have lived all over the place and our kids have really been good about adapting and making the best of the changes.  New schools.  New friends.  New weather.  New environments.  Never close to family.  Never any complaints from them.  So grateful for all of their support......

Paige Evans Big Picture Classes Paige's Pages 3

I used my September 2017 Hip Kit to create this page.  I loved how Magdalena let her numbers fall off the edge and pool at the bottom of the page and did the same with my stars....

Big Picture Classes Magdalena Hanell Creative Titles

Fall in Rome.  I have no other words for this page than those.....

Thanks for stopping by and happy Hump Day!!!!

Layout Share

Oh photos.  The most difficult thing that I deal with as a scrapbooker is not that I don't like the pages that I create, but that I don't like the quality of the photos that I can get out of my editing software.  I know, I know.  If I improve my photography skills I won't have to rely so heavily on editing to fix my pictures.  Most of the time the photos are better but they still need to be tweaked.  And many of the photos that I use are from years ago from before I even began to scrapbook or owned a digital camera so those are really crap!  

Why am I talking about this today?  

This layout.....

and this one...

in addition to these 2 other pages.....

Would all make me so much more happy if I could get my dang photos to edit right!  The last 3 aren't so bad but the first one ugghh.  The photos came off of Instagram and they were impossible!  My friends, I will be taking a photo editing class soon.  For reals because this cannot go on.  Anywho.  

Thanks for stopping by and I hope that you have a fantastic weekend!