Another Scrapbooking Project

I think I am a glutton for punishment because I have been working on yet another massive project for a gift. Last time it was all of my mother's pictures, this time it is all of the childhood pictures of my husband. Since I am coming to the close of my efforts, I thought I would share a few layouts. so far it is 2 albums thick and is a mixture of pocket pages and full 12x12 layouts. Sorry for the glare - I didn't take the pictures until I had already put them into the page protectors.

I didn't use any specific collection - I typically just pull things together from my stash that look like they will coordinate and go from there.

Christmas Friends

Hello all, I thought I would pop in this evening to share a layout that I made recently. Every year, many of our friends have begun sending us photo cards for Christmas. Since I don't want to just throw them out, I cut the photos out and use them on layouts. I have an entire binder dedicated just to layouts of friends.

I used Shimelle's original collection, as well as MME decorative tape and some red sparkly Thickers. The heart punch is a small punch that my cousin gave me (I think that it came from the Michaels dollar aisle).

Hubby's Graduation

This is a looong overdue layout share. My hubby graduated with his Master's Degree in Theological Studies in April of this year. I actually finished these layouts a couple of months ago, but totally forgot that I hadn't processed the photos or shared them here.

I used several sheets of pattern paper from Lori Whitlock's "This and That" collection, as well as scraps from her "For the Record 2" collection. I used woodgrain chipboard thickers, green foam thickers, some of my favorite glittery-gold foam thickers of all time, and small red letter stickers from Webster's Pages. For embellishments, I used miscellaneous pieces from various different collections.

The third layout shown below has a large pocket that I made to slide in the graduation ceremony program and a few other mementos. While I often cut up mementos and use them as ephemera for layouts, there are some things that I like to keep in original form. However, I do not like clutter - at all - so what better way to save it then to slip it in its own scrapbook layout???

Charleston Vacation Layouts

Sorry friends for the lapse in posts. I will most likely not be posting very often for the next couple of months. I had a recent escalation in some of my health problems and will be having to scale back a lot in the different things I do and do a lot of resting and therapy/pain management appointments, but I thought I would pop in to share some layouts I did a few weeks ago, before all of this recent stuff started. I finally pulled out the pictures I had printed from the trip to Charleston, SC that my hubby and I went for vacation a couple of years ago. We had so much fun. For these layouts, I used primarily Crate Paper, with some Basic Grey papers as well. I used several different Studio Calico wood veneers, some enamel dots from Teresa Collin's, and some other gems from Hobby Lobby. For alphas, I used a number of different lines: Fancy Pants, Lilly Bee Designs, Tim Holtz, Heidi Swapp, Lawn Fawn, Basic Grey, letter stickers from the Target dollar aisles and American Crafts DIY lettering. I also tried some Jenni Bowlin products for the first time, with some of her red lined cream labels and gold rub ons. I used some wash tape from My Mind's eye and Studio G on a few of the layouts too.

Even though these layouts are quite different, color scheme wise than I usually work on, I really like how they turned out!

I am also trying to get better at journaling little bits on my layouts so that I can look back and read memories that I don't want to forget :)

OSnapGonzo YouTube Giveaway

Hello All, today's post is a little different than what I usually post, but Sandy (osnapgonzo on youtube) is having a super generous giveaway (a selfie photo printer!!!) on her youtube channel and is graciously allowing those of us who love to watch her videos, but don't (yet) do our own videos post a response on our blogs. 

The prompt is to share a layout from when we first started scrapbooking, then a layout that represented a turning point in our style and what it was that prompted that change and then a layout of how we scrapbook today. I have shared many layouts from this last year on my blog and on Facebook, but this is the first time I have ever posted on, much less even photographed some of my early, early efforts.  I started scrapbooking as a young teenager. With no money of my own to spend on a lot of scrapbook supplies, re-using what I had was huge for me. I would cut apart bags, use regular colored printer paper, scrounge around the house for whatever I could find.  The layout from that period I am going to share is pretty much put together on a piece of purple printer paper, with the handles of a gift bag and stickers used for my embellishments. I had two pictures on the layout that I used regular tape to adhere to the page. I think this layout is a little over 10 years old, because it is from when I was still in high school.

I really had two really major influences that brought about change in my scrapbooking. 1) I got a job and suddenly had a little more money to spend on my hobby, but we were still newly married and paying off debt so I honestly still didn't spend very much, but I did splurge from a paper pack from Walmart here and there! :) My layouts were still very one dimensional at this point. I hadn't yet found YouTube and the wonderful world of embellishments, so my layouts were still quite simple! I did look at magazines and such, but I hadn't really made a significant change to my style of scrapbooking.

Which brings me to the thing that REALLY changed the way I scrapbook!!!! I found youtube for scrapbooking. I had watched youtube videos for a few years for card making, but early last year I took on the enormous project of organizing and scrapping my mother's entire collection of pictures (i'm talking her childhood, my dad's childhood and all of the pictures that had accumulated since their marriage and having kids!)  Needless to say that after about 30 layouts I was having some serious inspiration challenges. Since I already looked to youtube for inspiration in making cards, I looked up scrapbooking layouts and found Shimelle Laine! OH.MY.WORD…. That woman is an amazing teacher and scrapbooker!  Isn't she!?!?!?! She totally changed the way I scrapbook because she not only gave ideas for layouts but really got me thinking about the concepts of building layouts. Several months later after I had watched everything she'd created on YouTube I also found nicolejones911 and MercyTiara. Nicole and Tracy gave me the push confidence  to just go ahead and cut into those gorgeous papers I had been hoarding, hating the idea of accidentally wrecking a page and wasting it. Tracy (MercyTiara), Nicole and Shimelle really got me thinking about beginning to journal on my layouts as well. From their inspiration, I arrived where I am today with my scrapbooking!

Hope you enjoyed!!! And thanks Sandy for such a great giveaway!!!!

Having fun with Dear Lizzy's Lucky Charm Collection.....

Hello friends, just thought I'd pop in and share a couple more layouts I created over the last several months, using the Dear Lizzy's Lucky Charm collection that I scored for a great deal at craftydeals.com. I have never bought an entire collection before, but for 22 dollars (including shipping... I had a 10% off coupon for first time order), I just couldn't resist. I have been eying this collection for a looooong time, but just could never justify to myself spending all of the money, but at such a great deal, I finally gave in and got it :) The only thing not from the Dear Lizzy collection are the Enamel Dots, those are from one of My Mind's Eye Cute & Paste collections.

There are just some pictures of hubby and I from the last few years.

College Graduation Layouts

Okay, so I'm not sure if I mentioned this here, or on Facebook, but a couple of months ago I ordered about 150 pictures from Shutterfly and have been catching up on the last 5 years worth of layouts (I am a creature of habit, about every 5 years the amount of ephemera gets to a point where my OCD refuses to ignore any longer and I get in a scrapping storm, which leads to another 5 year break in scrapbooking, lol). I have shared some layouts from my wedding showers and today i thought I would share some layouts I did from my college graduation (which took place 6 days before my wedding actually. :) )

For these layouts I used two different Echo Park collections, one by Lori Whitlock and the other by Allison Kreft (I love pretty much anything either of these ladies create), as well as some papers from a K&Company Amy Butler paper pad and Hobby Lobby's paper line, the Paper Studio. I also used some Colorbok die cuts and thickets from a few different lines. I also used some letter stickers from basic grey, a polaroid overlay from heidi swapp and some adhesive backed blue lace from the Recollections brand. All other embellishments were stickers from the Echo Park collections. I have really been enjoying going back and re-visiting these very huge events in my life and all of the memories from these events. It's been fun.

Sorry for the glare on some of these pictures. I forgot to photograph the layouts before I put them in to the paper protectors.

More 8 1/2 x 11 Layouts

Continuing on with my wedding shower pictures, below are several layouts that I did from the Wedding Shower that the church my husband is from threw for us. It was a little intimidating for me at first, because I am not a natural "people" person and the idea of being there with so many people I didn't know at all was a little overwhelming, but the ladies were so friendly and sweet and hubby came with me, so we had a great time!  These layouts were done with products from the Dear Lizzy's Lucky Charm Collection. This first layout is my absolute favorite picture of all the Shower pics that I've scrapped! Overall, I've really loved working with this collection and am really happy with how these layouts have turned out. I didn't plan on using the divided photo protectors, but I had them laying around from how I used to store my acrylic stamps before I changed my storage system and thought I'd step out of my comfort zone a bit and try to work with them. In the second layout, I actually cut up the invitation and glued the details down on to a 4x6 card.

I am trying to get better about adding journaling to my layouts. I don't naturally like to right down the inner workings of me, but I've been making more of an effort to capture the memories so I have them for years to come.

Hah, I am finally getting my wedding shower pictures scrapped!

Okay, so I scrapbook in spurts. About every 5 years, the amount of memorabilia I save started driving me absolutely buggy, so I have this obsessive drive to get all of it scrapped and I scrap until I have it all down... and by that time I am waaaaaay over scrapping and another few years pass, lol.

Well, this year I worked on my mom's pictures and decided to get moving on my own as well. I signed up for Shutterfly and as a new user, I got my first 50 photos for free and then 19 cents a photo afterward, so I printed up 150 pictures and got busy! Which brings me to my title, I have finally completed all of my wedding shower layouts from the photos that I got printed, yay, and thought I would share those with you. I used the Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm collection for them. I recently found the entire collection, including thickers, chipboard pieces, stickers, sticker banners, 12x12 paper pad, medium sized patterned paper tags, and die cuts! it was $20.99 with a flat rate shipping, but being a first time user I got 10% off my purchase, so in the end I got the entire collection that would be like 60 dollars in the store, I got for a total of like $22.50(ish). I was so pumped because I have LOVED this collection since it first came out, but refused to pay full price for the products and had renewed inspiration. I have totally loved playing with this collection. :)

Anyhoo, on to the pictures. Today I am sharing the photos from the shower that my best friends threw for me. I pretty much used the Lucky Charm collection, basic 81/2 x 11 card stock I had in my stash, some rhinestones from Studio G and some My Mind's Eye, Cut & Paste enamel dots. Hope that you enjoy! I did something a little different with this set of pictures. I had some photo protectors, so I used some of those for a number of the pictures and picked a few of my absolute favorites to do a complete layout.

What I have Been Doing.....

-- If you entered my giveaway, check the previous post to see if you won! One of the winners has contacted me so far, and the other winner has until Friday or I will be drawing another name! --

Well, today I used my lunch to edit a whole bunch of pictures of scrapbook pages I have been working on for the past month or so and will be sharing them with you all over the next week or so. Most of these are going to be 81/2 x 11 pages, since that is what I scrap in for my own albums. Today, however, I am going to share a few 12x12 pages that I put together to add to my mom's albums for Christmas. She doesn't know about them, so I am posting only here, not on Facebook. These are pictures of a cruise to Canada that I went on with her and a few older women from our church fellowship. For these pictures I used one of every single sheet from a paper pack that my dear friend Anita sent me last month! I love the colors in these papers, and am planning a home decor canvas with several papers that are left in the pad. It is going to require a huge mess being made though so I haven't really had the time to devote to it lately.

Anyhoo, on to the pictures!!! I had the name of the paper company in my head, but it is now escaping me, so I will try to remember to update this post later when  I have it in front of me! I used products from multiple different lines, including Studio G stamps and rhinestones, American Crafts thickers, Darice washi tape, Jillibean Soup banners, Heidi Swapp rub-ons, Echo Park stickers, Colorbok ephemera and a leeetle bit of Crate Paper patterned paper from "The Pier" collection.

Photoless Scrapbooking

Today I thought I would share some layouts I made using only memorabilia I saved from different events. While I love scrapbooking pictures, sometimes I don't always remember to take pictures, and sometimes I like to let the memorabilia be the focus of a layout.  The layouts I am sharing today were created using Allison Kreft's "Everyday Eclectic" collection from Echo Park and Crate Paper's "The Pier" collection. I also used Thickers, letter stickers from the dollar aisle at Target, enamel dots from My Mind's Eye "Cute & Paste" collection, rhinestones from Hobby Lobby, Jillibean ephemera and Studio Calico camera wood venires. Enjoy! 

Bad, Bad Blogger....

I have just been the worst blogger ever this summer!  But, fear not, I shall be sharing some pictures today of some scrapping I've been working on for my own albums. I am a little weird in my scrapping routine. Every 4 years or so, I get the bug and then scrap through ever piece of memorabilia I'd saved in that 4 year period of time. Well, this year I think it was working on my mom's enormous scrapping effort that had me kicked in to scrapping mode for so many months that I just couldn't kick out of it, so I started delving in to my own photos and memorabilia.

Unlike my mother's albums, which I did in 12 x 12, I did these in 8 1/2 x 11. It's just easier for me to store, and it is so much cheaper than the 12x12s. I simply get fashion binders from places like walmart and a 50 pack of page protectors. I actually get quite a bit of life out of my papers this way as well, since I end up with such large scraps that I can often get multiple layouts out of a couple of 12x12 pieces of patterned paper.

Anyhoo, I have been sharing these pictures on Facebook and I've had some interest in seeing the pictures on the blog, so I thought I would start sharing. I will only be sharing my own photos though, not those of my friends and their kiddos as I don't have their permission to share those with the whole world. :)

I will not post ALL of them today, but for the next couple of weeks I will try to share my very favorites. While some of my pictures are scrapped with all papers and embellies from a single line, most of them are a combination of all kinds of supplies, both old and new. I don't really store anything by collection, just simply go through my supplies and pull out what coordinates. I have been really using my stash up this year. I had 270 12x12 layouts from my mom's albums and I have filled up 2 entire 1 1/2 inch binders full of 8 1/2 x 11 layouts of my own!

This first picture is one of my sister and I, using recollections card stock, echo park 3x4 journaling card, thickets, letter stickers from the dollar aisle, and papers from a 2012 Echo Park collection by Allison Kreft called "Everyday Eclectic." I absolutely love this line and may have to pick up another collection pack the next time I go out of town to a place that has a Hobby Lobby!

The rest of the layouts are from Hubby and my honeymoon 5 years ago! These layouts use a combination of collections and embellishments. I really love trying to coordinate as much as I can between different lines and designers.

Hope that you are all staying cool in this crazy heat wave!

And I am Done!

If you happen to be a friend of mine on Facebook, you probably know that I finally finished the scrapbooking project for my mom and few weeks ago. I gave them to her earlier this month and am so happy to be done with the project, especially now that I will be starting a new job in a week. I still want to do a process post, sharing how I organized everything and how I decided to separate the layouts into albums, but for now I thought I'd share a few more photos with you. Most of these layouts are pictures of my church family growing up.