Swinging

Here is a layout I actually made a few months ago. It's just a simple one that I did with a paper pack so it all matches.

By the Month

I saw this idea in some magazine and then saw an awesome layout. I photocopied the layout and put it in my envelope of photos so I'd remember when I came to do my layout. As I get more organized (and caught up), I'm going to start doing that more. Photocopying a layout if I have an idea of how I can adapt it and then putting it right with the photos I want to scrapbook. Of course, I'm still behind, so that's likely something for down the line.

Anyway, each month, I took a photo of Nathalie holding the same bunny so I could see how she had changed and grown. Then I created a layout with those 12 photos. The sample layout had some cool milestones recorded so I looked back and found some and did that too. I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

Giggle Candi

I loved the little flower Candi card I posted last week so I wanted to try to incorporate that into a scrapbook page. I worked on it on Friday, when my sister was over, and we were in play mode (as opposed to get it done mode). In the end, I love how it turned out!!

I stamped a bunch of flourishes and added the flowers. Then I knew I needed something along the top, so I just cut three pieces of coordinating paper (I love paper packs!). I wanted something along the right side, so I added more Candi (this time in black) and then a rub on on the left.

Not Coming Home Outfit

My sister came over on Friday and we scrapbooked most of the day. We haven't done that in so long! And there was no pressure. We just played and created. Neither of us were trying to finish a project under a looming deadline and so I just putzed around more than I would have.

My mother has always bought the coming home from the hospital outfits for my kids. And since the first two were 9 lbs 3 oz when they were born, she figured a 3-6 month size would be fine for #3 since aren't they supposed get bigger each time?? Well, Nathalie was 6 lbs 13 oz, so the cute little dress was way too big and didn't fit her until she was 8 months old. But we had a fun photo shoot then.

I really like the look that some people can do with their titles using different fonts and different chipboard letters and stamps. I'm not very good at it since I don't have a huge collection of chipboard letters and it takes so much longer. But I attempted it with this layout and I love how it turned out. The NOT was done with chipboard. I wanted shiny white chipboard, but couldn't find the right letters in my white stash. So, I inked them with Versamark and then embossed with white embossing powder. Since I almost never emboss, I didn't have a nice white; it was more of an off white and I wanted it to be shinier, so I ended up adding some Irridescent Peacock Powder that added a bit of shine to it, so overall, I like how it turned out. Then the rest of the lettering was done with various rub ons that I had in my stash.



The collage I did in Photoshop so I knew that the pictures would be cropped exactly as I wanted them. And it's so much easier to make sure everything is even that way. Then I just upload it to Costco and have them print it.

Dinner's on Me

As with all kids, Nathalie made one heck of a mess when she ate. I had fun doing this layout and it didn't turn out exactly how I wanted (although I can't remember now how I wanted it). I think that's a good lesson that even if it's not exactly how we had in our mind, then that's OK. We seldom remember what that image was, but rather, we cherish the memory that we did record.



The red and orange combination was really hard for me since I do mostly monochromatic. I'm trying to get outside my box, but it's really tough!

Nathalie Squares

I was flipping through the latest "Creating Keepsakes" and found this simple layout that I just loved. It's just a plain paper with squares of patterned paper to form a background. A couple of embellishments and a photo. Just up my alley.

So, I grabbed one of my Basic Grey packages and chose 5 sheets of patterned paper that I liked. I knew that anyones that I chose from that package would go together, so I just picked the ones I liked best. I cut a bunch of 2x2" squares and inked the edges with Dark Brown Chalk Ink. I stamped a couple stitches borders and added a sticker or two and the matted photo. I really like how it turned out and it really was so quick.

Bathtime

It's funny to go back and scrapbook these old photos. They're only 2 years old, but I have already forgotten what Nathalie was like as a baby.

This layout is so outside my colour zone. It's done in lime green which is not a colour you would find in my favorite palette. Not by a long shot, but I'm trying to branch out. The paper is from a paper pack (Dots & Stripes) by Echo Park Paper. There are 3 or 4 packs, each with different colours. Again, it was easy to grab two pieces of coordinating colours, but different patterns and know that they would go together.

More Kioshi

My cousin, Debbie, came over to scrapbook last night. It was a great motivation to get going again. I had so many photos left over from the sleeping layout that I wanted to create a second layout with just a title and pictures. I found some paper and matching cardstock and then sat and stared at what wasn't coming together.

I gave up on that combination and tried another. Still nothing. Finally, I put it all away and grabbed my Kioshi pack and got something down. I was sort of copying a layout, except that mine looked nothing like the one I started out to copy which made me laugh. The only thing that I ended up taking from it was four paper squares. It was easy to get matching papers since they all match in the package.

Then I felt like I was on a roll, so I created another quick layout of Nathalie's smile. I used the same paper package. I wanted to share both layouts so you could see how I've used the Kioshi packages on another 2 layouts.

Hush Little Baby

It's been forever ...

I do think that I might just have that as my first line permanently on my blog since it seems to be true.

I keep thinking that I will do something to do with stamping or scrapbooking every day, but unfortunately, three kids and a business seem to get in the way most days. So, I will just do what I can do I guess.

To start out, I'll just keep it brief and post a layout I did of Nathalie sleeping. I love watching babies (and kids) sleep, so I had way too many photos for one layout, so I think I have to do another one since the photos are too cute to not use.

For now, though, here is the layout.

I broke my cardinal rule

For those who know me, they know my cardinal rule is keep it simple. There are many sub-rules such as:

1. No embossing
2. No cutting
3. Do not ever use glue because it is messy sticky stuff that gets everywhere and makes your fingers stick to everything

Those cover just about any circumstance, but the keep it simple part generally covers it all.

I hate glue (can you tell??) and I'm too lazy to emboss and I am cutting challenged. So, really, the rules are out of necessity.

That said, I created a layout the other day that broke my cardinal rule about keeping it simple. I was doing a Santa layout for Nathalie and my new Cricut cartridge (Life's a Party) had a Santa you could cut out. It looked cute and it seemed like such a good idea at the time. Well, to make that work, you need to cut out 455646546 different layers and make sure the cardstock all goes together. Then you need to piece it all together and glue it down. Major infraction of the rule.

Of course, once I started, I wanted to see if I could in fact do it and I did and I actually kind of like how it turned out. I have all these Cricut Cartridges and mostly just use them for letters which is a bit of a waste. So, I am going to try to cut out other things too and actually get some good use out of them. But I'm going to have to wrestle all of that with the cardinal rule. It might just need some adapting.

4 Months

I haven't had time to craft in the past few days as work has been busy, but here is a layout I did last week. With each kid, I've taken a picture of them around 4 months with the same pose. It's cool to see how different each one looked.


It's just a simple layout with an 8x10" photo and then matted. I inked the edges of the white cardstock and added a title, buttons and a little metal quote thing because that space needed something.

Love

I was flipping through old photos of Nathalie looking for inspiration to scrapbook. I hadn't scrapped in quite awhile and I was having trouble getting back into the swing of things. I grabbed this envelope which has pictures of the early days and thought it would be fun to scrapbook. I found a layout in a magazine which provided inspiration and just started. Overall, I was happy with how it turned out. I had a bunch of these acrylic embellishments that I bought a couple of years ago because I had to have them, and I haven't used them, so out they came too. I coloured them with alcohol inks and in the end, the layout came together and I was very happy with it.

Coming Soon

I had many ultrasounds with Nathalie and wanted to create a page which showed her. Of course, I can't generally make out what is in those fuzzy black and white images, but since I had the pictures, I wanted to do it.

I tried several times to make the layout work and it wouldn't. It just didn't look right. And not in the "I don't love it" way, but in the "This looks awful" way. I didn't mind how I had the photos arranged, but the paper wasn't working. It was late, so I walked away.

I went back to it the next day and swapped out paper another one or two times before settling on the brown. It was still missing something, so I decided to mat it on black. OK, I'm starting to like it better now.

In the end, it came together, but what a struggle. Seriously. But when it's all said and done, I really like it, and I can move on!

The Pressure to Be Perfect

Now that I'm done Eric's album, I really need to start Nathalie's. She's 18 months now and I don't have anything done for her. I'm even further behind in Kayla's, but I want to work on Nathalie's next.

I need to start with the cover page. The first thing anyone will see when they open her album. And I want it to be perfect. I want to look at it and almost cry because I love it so much.

OK, maybe not cry, but I want it to be perfect. So, I've avoided doing it at all. I've just come off Eric's album where I haven't done a lot of embellishments (can't really do flowers and flourishes in a boy's album) and so I'm in a bit of a creative standstill. I'm so far behind, that a lot of my pages are just embellished with paper and so I wanted to pump up the volume a bit.

So, last night, I sat down in my craft room, determined to start. I grabbed the 8x10" picture of her just an hour or two old. And I sat there. Nothing I thought of or planned seemed good enough for this little perfect baby.

I almost put it away with the thought that I'd be inspired tomorrow, but I persevered and just made a simple page. In the end I like it. I don't think I love it, but it's still a reflection of who I am and where I am today and that's OK. I let go my need for a perfect, elaborate layout and just let it flow.

And in the end, I survived. And the layout is done and now I can move forward.