Vacation photos

We were lucky enough to escape the Fort St John winter for a couple weeks this Spring Break.  We came home with hundreds of photos and so many memories to document. 

I spent the first week home going through my photos and selecting the ones I wanted to scrap.  I uploaded them to Unforgettable Memories photofinishing and picked them up the next morning.  While I was in the store I selected papers and embellishments for my layouts.

Next I spent some time going through the photos grouping them. Over the past couple of weeks I've been putting together papers and embellishment to go with each group of paper and writing up the journaling. 

Now I'm ready to scrap my photos.  My first layout is below.

The right page is from a Fancy Pants line called "summer's end" and is from their fall line, but I loved the frames down the side where I put my journaling and one of my photos.  I used my exacto knife to cut around part of the frame and tucked my photo through the slits. 

The back side of the Fancy Pants paper is a pretty yellow pattern which went so well with what I was wearing that day, so I've used it for matting and a border on the left edge.

I found my inspiration at a South African challenge board ~ Scrap Around the World. Love the turquoise and, of course, the butterflies. I also used the words in the top left corner (minus the 'it').  My title is 'Don't overthink, just let go' which is pretty much how I felt as I was dropping over the edge.  I wasn't nervous watching my family go over, but when it was my turn I started freaking about the time I had to fall backwards over the cliff.

I've used Simple Stories "Urban Traveller" line for matting and stickers.

Check out the travel words I've used above and below the three photos of me dropping into the jungle. There are lots more of these words on the sticker sheet by Simple Stories.  On the same sheet are four different alphas, two of which I used for my title.  

Love my butterfly punch.  It is like a border punch but cuts out both sides so you end up with a lacey strip of butterflies.  Check out the punch section for more neat designs.

Here I've used a little texture paste and one of my Tim Holtz stencils. I drizzled turquoise paint and sprayed some gold mist through the stencil after the paste had dried.  I love the rough texture against the delicate vellum leaves I punched.  I also love that wood camera

Crop night

I had a great night cropping at Unforgettable Memories a couple weeks ago.  I managed to finish the layout below, and almost finish two more, plus have a set of papers and embellishments together for a double pager. 

 The photo is of my two cute little boys snuggled on the couch reading. It is 1997 and my babies are just three years old.

 

I started off by swiping white paint across the white cardstock.  If you want paint drips to be clear and vibrant it's a necessary step.  The ink will soak into the cardstock before it makes nice drips if that base coat isn't there. Make sure the paint is dry before spraying.

 

The little canvas sticker letters are Prima.  They come in a great variety of colours.  Check them out at Unforgettable Memories. 

 

The flags and pennants layered under the 'The Good Life' sticker are all from the same 'Fancy Pants' line, as are the patterned papers. It all goes so well together!

 

 

 I've been dying to find a spot on one of my layouts for these chipboard kites...

Another Fancy Pants layout

I started with a light blue piece of cardstock and some glimmer mist.  The dark misting is done over a piece of baby word cutouts.  Can't read it, but I like the splotchy look. I also sprayed yellow and turquioise mist over my leaf stencil, though it doesn't show up well on the scan. Take a look the next time you are in Unforgettable Memories to see how it looks IRL.

 

I layered some strips and scraps and then added some banner pieces from The Good Life Banner sheet.

 

 

Some closeups...

 

I layered a banner piece, a popped up sticker and a triangle I punched with my triangle punch. 

 

 

Some more banner pieces and punched triangles.  And some bakers twine in red.  There are loads of colours of bakers twine in Unforgettable Memory. 

 

 

A closeup of the layers of strips and pieces.  The white boxes is a leftover from a package I bought months ago.  The black tape is by Calico Scraps; a piece from their fabritape sheet.

 

I used another of the pop up stickers in the bottom right corner as my title.

Fancy Pants "The Good Life"

I am definitely getting more of this line the next time in the store.  The papers are such great designs.  I think my favourite is the yellow zigzag I used for the base of my first layout below.

The photos are from 1999. Daniel has just run the jeep into his bike.  The look on Breanna's face is priceless. Now he's behind the wheel of a real car and I get to sit in the passenger seat. 

 

Here are some closeups...

 

The black arrows and the vehicle below are Thickers.

 

The smaller alpha is Prima and the larger one is a really fun font.

 

 

The key is from the same Thickers sticker sheet. I randomly stamped the cogs on my page and splattered some 'soot' glimmer mist.

 

I layered the different patterns using popdots between a couple of the layers. The flags are from the coordinating banner sheet.

 

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I used the same line on another page about the jeep.  This page will go in Duncan's album.  The page above is for Daniel's album.

 

When I was in Unforgettable Memories picking up the papers I also grabbed the coordinating sheet of banners and a package of 3-d stickers. Love this little banner...

 

I had a partial package of Imaginisce puffy stickers laying on my desk waiting to be used up.  The colours were perfect with this Fancy Pants line and the theme went with my photos so I used them.  I love when I get to use up old stock on new layouts.

 

 

I did a little stamping on my layout.  My cog stamp you can see above and a cute little dragonfly beside my journaling.

 

The next time you're in Unforgettable Memories be sure to check out Fancy Pants' "the good life" line.  I love these papers for kidlet layouts. So fun and bright.

Fancy Pants summer line

Fancy Pants has some great designs for holiday photos.

I love the statues on this paper.  There are chipboard statues as well.  They were perfect for the pictures of my sister and her two boys in front of these massive pillars at their resort in Mexico. And the massive bottle my nephew is hugging.  I bet his Dad set him up for that photo op.

This layout has been on my desk for a couple weeks. I've been putting bits on and taking bits off. I've decided it's finished.  Here are some closeups...

 The ruler is from Crate Paper's school line.  'My little one' is a My Minds Eye chipboard piece. The photo op tag is from an old Making Memories travel sheet. I love the big, turquoise, metal flowers.  They come two to a package and I used both on this layout.

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My nephews look tiny in this photo with the pillar tower above them.  To make sure they didn't get lost I clustered some embellishments beside them.  Prima flowers, a stick pin and October Afternoon washi tape. Last time I was in Unforgettable Memories there was loads of different designs of washi tape scattered all around the store. I picked up quite a few.  Not quite all of the designs, but most of them...

 

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 I haven't done too many layouts without banners on them lately.  This mini banner is made with 3 chipboard pieces and a length of jute.  Easy as 1 2 3.

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This October Afternoon washi tape I picked out has the days of the week on it.  I know it will be a popular one on future layouts.

Simple Design

Throughout the years I have randomly changed my design strategies.  Sometimes I follow trend.  For example over the years I have cut photos into cute shapes, layered flowers, misted, inked, used buttons, matted photos, ripped paper, layered paper...

Currently I am trying to mix old with new stash and just get the important photos scrapbooked.  Sometimes it feels like I have not done enough or the layout is incomplete.  But really I am just liking the look of clean lines, more negative space, fewer but most important photos and journaling. 

 

I like how the beach photos pop off the Cosmo Cricket background paper.  The big chipboard wave is from my stash. Sometimes these large chipboard peices are hard to use.  This layout was so simple it needed something.  I think this wave adds movement and some dimension to the design.

 

Jen Louie challenged me to use this peice of paper.  I tried several photos and thoughts out for this paper.  Nothing was right.  Then I picked up this photo and it just seemed to fit.  I love how the photo and design is simple but so effective when added to this great peice of paper. 

 



 

Some great photos of swimming at the outdoor pool in Hudsons Hope.  A simple 10x10 sheet of blue dot paper and a large scallop that I cut free hand, a journal spot, some word stickers.  Bam, done!

 

Keepin it simple and getting caught up one layout at a time!



Fancy Pants sumnmer papers

I used the new Fancy Pants summer line on this layout.  Messed up the background paper with some stamping and misted over a chipboard bird.
 

I love all the bits and pieces with this line.  The banner pieces are fun to mix and match...

Prima has some gorgeous big blooms, like this white one.
The cheesecloth is sprayed with blue mist.

I punched out some black butterflies from some scraps and then used the negative spaces as another element.

The letters are Prima.  When I spotted them I had to snap up both sheets that Unforgettable Memories had in stock.  There is red and brown in one package; green and black in the other.  Loads of letters of each colour so using all those vowels in 'sightseeing' isn't a problem.  I'll be using this set on many more layouts.

I also used some smaller Prima blooms and the package backing from one of Prima's flower packs.

Get ready to scrap all those summer vacation pictures and pick up some Fancy Pants today!

Keep on track with your resolution!

A month of 2012 is already gone. Have you started to slack off on your new year's resolution? Join me on Saturday, February 11 at 1:00 pm to complete this resolutions class. For $25, (or$20 for members) you can rejuvenate that goal and do a page about you! My goal has to do with health and going to the gym, but you can choose anything you want. The title is cut with Quickutz and you can personalize it with the letter stickers below.

I love these letter stickers from October Afternoon! They are inexpensive and they give you so many letters! I've used my set on a few layouts and I still have e's left! I can't stand it when those run out; the pack is basically wrecked at that point for me.

Call the store at 350-785-2711 to sign up now. See you there!

Fun with glitter.

There are so many sparkly embellishments available. I love them. When I picked out the glittery Prima butterfly to go on this layout I decided I needed more glitter on my page. This is what I used...

1. Glue Pad.
2. A tin with the right circumference for the circle I wanted. (This one is a Maya Rd tin; I think it had felt birds in it.
3. Glitter. I used Making Memories glitter in a copper colour.

I laid out my page and then used the tin and a pencil to lightly mark where I wanted my circle.

I dipped the edge of my tin into the glue pad; just like you would a stamp.  After I moved the photos and mattes out of the way I stamped down with my tin on to the pencil mark I had made earlier. After lifting the tin off the paper I sprinkled a good thick layer of glitter over my circle.

This is how my pages looked after I shook off the excess glitter.

And here is the completed layout.

I think the circles really add to the finished page. And it was a really quick easy addition to create.

Help with colour

One of the most time consuming parts of scrapbooking for me is deciding on what colours work together.  So when I came across this website I immediately bookmarked it.  The Colour Room puts out a different palette each Friday. 

Here is this weeks palette...

The Color Room also provides a sketch for those of you that like sketches.  I didn't use the sketch on my layout but it's an option I might try in the future.

Did you notice my two little birds?  I made those with the new stamp and punch set I mentioned in my last post.  I'll show you some more examples and how I did them in my next post.

Changing it up.

I made this layout yesterday.
The patterned papers are the scraps left over from my last couple of layouts. They were mostly long, thin strips so I put them along the side. I wanted to use a border punch as they've all been gathering dust for the last few scrapping sessions. Sp I didn't tear the papers; the one torn piece is the short rectangle across the bottom and even that's not very messy.

I used one of my Fancy Pants diecuts for the journaling and found some 'lifejacket orange' flowers to drop randomly on the page.
It's a completely different style from my norm. I left it lying on the table most of the day trying to figure out how to 'mess it up', but finally decided to leave it as is. I don't HAVE TO use ink or spray or distress the edges. I CAN create a layout with clean paper and clean lines.

Does it look too neat?

I challenge you to 'change it up'.  Try a different style from your norm.  Explore.  Create.  Enjoy.

2 page layout

I was playing around with my camera while taking a rest break during Paddle for the Peace. From lying down on the sandy beach I got some neat shots of Daniel and the boats through the weeds. I think the different perspective looks really interesting...

I used Bella Blvd patterned papers and some pieces of a cork sheet(love the texture). The weed is from a Hambly Screen Prints sheet, the Explore card is by Tattered Angels(I also sprayed their Glimmer Mist randomly on my background) and the yellow die cuts are by Fancy Pants.  I punched my butterlies out of some Prima packaging.

Eight

That's how many bears we saw on the river in one afternoon. I had to scrapbook about it.  I've never seen more than 2 bears on any one boating trip so to see eight was amazing. I used a big 8 from my set of Tim Holtzes grunge board numbers.  It is sprayed with green Maya Mist and then swiped with brown ink around the edges.

I sprayed the white cardstock across the top edges with 'Frost' Glimmer Mist and inked the corners in brown.  The photo is layered on an 8" x 8" piece of Harmonie patterned paper.  I really like Harmonie's wood cutouts.  Make sure you check them out the next time you're in the store.  I used the 12" tree and owl on a layout last week and here I used leaves and a scroll from the last set I bought.  The leaves create a corner for my photo.  I've layered them over a Fancy Pants diecut.  Did you spot the Prima packaging tucked in over my photo?

The scroll woodcut is nestled in amongst a pile of green Chatterbox buttons.

I glued a couple of buttons over the Basic Grey rub-on lace over my title.

I also used a piece of a Hambly Screens acrylic sheet. That's the black weeds growing up the side.  I can't believe I didn't spot the Hambly stuff earlier.  There is a wonderful butterfly sheet I want to pick up on my next shopping trip.

I hope something amazing happened to you and your family this summer. Don't forget to document the event for your scrapbook.