Dates Matter 2 ... and Lots More!

Happy Friday! I've been working hard on my sister-in-law's mission album this week, but before I get to my pages, let me show you what Andilynn Designs has out today! Check out this new date element -- Dates Matter: Volume 2. It's fully customizable (like a template) so you can make it make it match your layout perfectly ... seriously, the possibilities are endless! Here's the product:



Like it?? You could win it if you go over to this post on Andilynn's blog and leave a comment!

I used Dates Matter 2 on the first layout I want to show you from this week. It dressed up the page just enough that I didn't have to add any elements (definitely a time-saver for me)! I love the fonts I used for the titlework and love this template (will probably use it again ... if you want it, just follow the link to Scrapmuss's blog in my credits ... it was a freebie!).

I noticed after I was was done that, coincidentally, the label "Elder Remington" is next to the picture of Elder Wiscombe shaving (Elder Remington is actually in the picture below his name). Haha! (Um, maybe I'm the only one that finds that funny.)



Project 365 template 6 by ScrapMuss
Let's Go Bowling by Andilynn Designs
Dates Matter 2 by Andilynn Designs
fonts: Bauhaus 93, BIRTH OF A HERO, American Typewriter

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This page was a lift, and I think it turned out nicely! The original is fantastic so I guess I couldn't go too wrong. ;-)



lift of Grampa's Flower by kathleena
Happy Hanukkah by Andilynn Designs (some items recolored)
Night Music by Andilynn Designs
fonts: sf Jeff, American Typewriter, Century Gothic (for the dotted square)

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I had lots of pictures from one outing to scrap, so I did a two-pager for this one:



Building Blocks template (modified) by Joy Revisited Designs by Heather Lee
cream background paper from Fall Frolic by Andilynn Designs
cream paper for large mat from A New Day by Sweet Shoppe Designers
green paper from Funky Stripes Collection by Britt-ish Designs
red paper from Gallactic Alliance add-on by Britt-ish Designs
My Ribbon Jar by Britt-ish Designs
fonts: Elise, American Typewriter

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So during breakfast one morning this week, I was looking through my Ensign magazine ... and I was inspired. I mean, it's an inspiring magazine anyway, content-wise ... but this time, I couldn't help but look at it through a scrapbooker's eyes. The clean, graphic style included text boxes and even photos that had some rounded corners and some straight, 90-degree corners. And it looked cool! I started thinking about how I could create that look using Photoshop, and realized that if I drew a rounded rectangle shape and then "cut" away pieces of the shape with my straight rectangular marquee tool, I could recreate the effect. I tried it out on this next layout ... and I LOVE the results!



Momitude by Peppermint Creative (Miss Mint)
text path from Shaplates Bonus by Misty Cato
fonts: ChopinScript, American Typewriter

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Well, it's time from a break from my usual clean scrapbook style -- this next layout is an experiment in layering/clustering goodness. My secret? A rockin' template! Haha.

I like the colors on this one; I took a cue from the walls in the pictures.



Tuesday Template 2/2/10 by jennamy82
He's My Valentine by Plum Dumpling Designs
string recolored from On the Front Porch by Plum Dumpling Designs
Dating Around by Plum Dumpling Designs
Mini Blocks Alpha by Plum Dumpling Designs
font: American Typewriter

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This layout came together SO quickly (thanks to a cool template) and is one of my favorites this week (and that's sayin' something ... I've had a good scrapping week!)



ashley's hand-cut template (freebie template) by Ashley Kennedy
A New Day by Sweet Shoppe Designers
white background paper from Be Merry by Andilynn Designs
Alpha-Bits Alpha by Plum Dumpling Designs
fonts: sf No Frills, American Typewriter

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So, with this project I'm doing for Julianne, I end up doing a "miscellaneous" layout for each area -- pictures that are worth scrapping but that don't deserve a whole page by themselves (because really, I am already doing PLENTY of pages here ... I think I'm at around 130 now?). The past few areas, I've just resigned myself to two-pagers, but I really wanted to fit this on ONE page since this was to fall on the right side of the book already; if I scrapped a two-pager, I'd have to scrap another page mostly as "filler." I counted the pictures -- I had more than 30. How in the world could I fit thirty pictures on one page?

I went at this page rather mathematically. First, I considered how small I could get away with making a picture. Definitely no smaller than a one-inch square, and certainly bigger than that for many others (especially her district picture). I did the math, and for 12x12 page filled with one-inch squares on the whole thing, that's 144 potential pictures! After that realization, 30 pictures seemed so totally doable!

I let myself have a one-inch border all the way around (giving up 44 square inches of space) and then set up drawing 100 tiny squares on my canvas -- it actually didn't take long to do since I copied-and-pasted existing rows of squares. I merged some squares together for pictures that deserved more focus (I realized I could do this for most pictures, since I had "only" about thirty to scrap) and clipped them to my "template;" then I clipped papers to the remaining blocks.

The page itself wasn't that hard to put together, actually, except for the fact that my computer kept crashing on me (it's not used to having to deal with 100-layer files, I guess). ;-) But I'm proud of this one!



Xtreme Lil Dude by Amanda Heimann and Tracie Stroud
fonts: Jane Austen, American Typewriter

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I've realized that I'm a much faster scrapper if I can use someone else's idea through a template or a scraplift, so I turned to my dear friend Amy's gallery for inspiration. I loved a recent page of hers and decided to copy it.

It wasn't until I was done that I realized that it looks an awful lot like an earlier page I did for this same album ... oh well! I'm probably the only one who will notice, since it took me a half hour to remember which layout it was.



lift of bahamagirls' Water Frozen Unnecessarily
Joyeuse Paques by petit moineaux
fonts: Smitten Kitten, American Typewriter

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And one more layout! (I told you I'd had a successful scrapping week!!) I love this template and have used it twice in my personal album, but can never remember the name of it -- so rather than try to dig through my mess of digi-supplies, I just open up a .psd of a previous layout and slipped new pictures and papers and journaling on it.

The benefits to doing this? I kept a couple of the elements from my first layout, and consequently it was just that much faster to scrap this page!

Love this template (have I said that before??), love these fun pictures, and love the colors ... I don't think I've actually used purple as a background color for any album in this layout so far!



9-29-09 Tuesday Template by Purple Tulip Designs
background paper from Plum Crazy! by Pineapple Plantation Designs
flowers, bling, and alpha from Fancy Pants by Pineapple Plantation Designs
string and beads from Winter Frost by Andilynn Designs
fonts: Unnamed Melody, American Typewriter

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Wow, what a productive week! I just might finish this album before May after all. :-) Thanks for looking!

Mini-Blocks ... and More Layouts!

Plum Dumpling Designs has a couple new products out today ... and if you buy them together, you save! Here's the template/alpha bundle; grab it soon before the deal's over:



I got to try it out earlier this week. It was a lot of fun scrapping outside my normal style (usually I don't have nearly so much negative space):



Mini-Blocks Template Set by Plum Dumpling Designs
On the Front Porch by Plum Dumpling Designs
Mini-Blocks Alpha by Plum Dumpling Designs
fonts: BlackJack, sf Ellie Falling

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And I've been trying to pull myself out of a scrapping slump that's persisted the last couple weeks ... a few templates and lifts should do it! Here the rest of my recent layouts, all for Julianne's album:



Tuesday Template 02-16-10 by wm[squared] designs
Thanksgiving Greetings by Andilynn Designs
Stamplets: Set 1 by Andilynn Designs
fonts: sf Fill Me In, American Typewriter

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lift of snowdrop's Beauty at the Park
background paper from Color Wonder by Britt-ish Designs
paper strips from Color My World paper pack by Chelle's Creations
Clipping Mask #10 by KylieM Designs
ribbons from My Ribbon Jar by Britt-ish Designs
buttons from Santa Baby by ScrapOrchard Designers
blue string from Happy Hanukkah by Andilynn Designs
yarn from Fresh Air by Brandy Designs
rainbow from Rain, Rain by Kristin Aagard
fonts: Porcelain, Prissy Frat Boy, American Typewriter

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And I save my favorite page from this week for the last. These are some of Julianne's favorite pictures; hopefully I did them justice!



scraplift of sibling love by mrsduke2
Rainbrella by Sherri Tierney
green bg and flower papers from Leap Frog Papers by Digital Scrap Cafe
blue solid paper from Sunshine Daydream Solid Papers by Scraps of Ellay
Paper Shapers by Britt-ish Designs
fonts: Tiza, Century Gothic, American Typewriter

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P.S. Have you checked out Sugar Frog Fonts? Lots of fun new handwriting fonts to download ... you'd think I had enough, but I managed to download a dozen or more!

New Releases!

I had some fun yesterday playing around with two new releases over at ScrapMatters! Want to see??

First up is My Favorite Valentine, a new kit by Andilynn Designs:



I love the the colors in this kit. They aren't overwhelmingly sweet -- makes it a lot easier when you've got BOY pictures to scrap!

I struggled a bit with my titlework here. That's not typical for me; usually I feel like I have a bit of a knack for it ... but this time the way I originally had it -- all lower-case, and horizontally aligned -- looked way too plain. Lucky for me, Andrea included both upper- and lower-case in this kit! I changed out the "love" to "LOVE," moved it to two lines instead of one, and it looked better. Then I subbed out the "O" for a pretty glass frame from the kit and slipped in a photo ... and suddenly my ho-hum title was awesome! Yay!



Tuesday Template - 01-26-10 by WM[squared] Designs
My Favorite Valentine by Andilynn Designs
font: Pea Jenny Script

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Next up is Dating Around by Plum Dumpling Designs. This was a participation prize for a ScrapMatters speed scrap last week, but if you missed it, you can pick it up in the shop!



I love dating elements, and these ones are really fun! I experimented on my layout with them a bit and saw a lot of potential to create lots of different looks with it.

I hope you're not tired of these photos yet, but I ended up with so many cute pictures during our little photoshoot last week that I couldn't resist scrapping them. I included the Valentine card, too, since I liked it so much (if you like it too, scroll down a few posts and pick up the 4x6 freebie quickpage!) And I love how this page turned out. I can't believe I got all my favorites on one layout! Yeah!!



He's My Valentine by Plum Dumpling Designs
Dating Around by Plum Dumpling Designs
font: Traveling Typewriter

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Thanks for looking!

PRINTED!

I just finished proofing, uploading, arranging, and ordering the first volume of my sister-in-law's mission album through Winkflash! WOO-HOO!! I still have another album to finish and print, but I'm glad to have made progress.

Prepping to print is kind of a project in and of itself (our upload speed, according to my techy husband, is reeeeally slow), but it's SO worth it (of course).

That's all. I just want to share. :-)

(And if you want to print some layouts, too -- Winkflash's sale is extended to the 10th! The "before" price for the 12x12 book I just did was about $65, not including shipping, which is still a bargain ... so $35 with shipping is a steal!)