Digi Daisy Chain

Sneak Peak for Andilynn Designs...

2011-05-26T14:14:00.000-07:00

Hello, neglected blog! And hello, all you readers! Andilynn Designs has a fun kit coming out tomorrow ... check out this super sneak peek by CT member LeAnn:

Curious?? Definitely stop by ScrapMatters tomorrow to check out this fab new kit!

Rosalie

2010-09-03T15:16:00.000-07:00

Wow, too much has happened since I last posted for me to ever catch up! Instead I'll just direct you to my gallery (I finished my sister-in-law's album, so be sure to check out all the pages here) -- and I'll show off just one recent layout, since it showcases the reason I've been so busy:

Rosalie by Andilynn Designs fonts: Scrap Rhapsody, Pea Chrissi shadow styles: Jenn Barrette photo actions: Pioneer Woman

Isn't she adorable?? This little girl is more than three months old now and as sweet as can be.

And how 'bout that layout? After two boys, it's SO fun to scrap with girl colors. This kit from Andilynn Designs, Rosalie, is a perfect girl kit -- or it would work great with heritage pages, also!

There's also some wordart:

And the creative team has designed some clusters (including one that I designed for my Pretty in Pink layout):

And if you've just gotta have it all, check out this bundle:

Andrea has even created a freebie quickpage with the Rosalie kit! Click on the image and you'll be taken to the ScrapMatters store where you can download it -- then just slip your own photo in the frame and add a title and some journaling and you're set!

Happy iNSD!

2010-05-01T10:24:00.000-07:00

Happy [inter]National Scrapbooking Day! My husband's been watching the kids all morning while I've shopped; what a guy! The boys were riding bikes this morning, and my cute little five-year-old son apparently told his little neighbor friend that "it's May 1 -- National Scrapbooking Day!" Ha! He obviously is a kid who's into celebrations.

May 1 also kicks off the Queen of Scrap contest at ScrapMatters, and while I've got plenty on my plate to keep myself occupied with a baby coming soon, I signed up anyway! Who could resist the participation prizes?

And there's even more of a chance for prizes with Andilynn Designs; check it out:

Want more information on how you can get in on this contest? (Also: want a chance to win that template pack I posted about yesterday? Or want a freebie associated with the iNSD ScrapMatters blog train??) Just check out Andilynn's blog!

iNSD Eve!

2010-04-30T10:58:00.000-07:00

It's the day before [inter]National Scrapbooking Day, and the sales have already started! Ooh, I love the big scrapbooking holidays -- it's so fun to go digi-shopping!

But who says you need to spend money? Check out the Andilynn Designs blog to find out how you can be entered to win these FREE templates:

I used one from the template pack to make this layout:

Creatively Inspired Template vol. 1 (slightly altered) by Andilynn Designs Creative Team
Fair Are the Meadows by Andilynn Designs
texture is concrete_vertical_grooves_37293 from Mayang's Free Texture Library
fonts: Clingy, American Typewriter

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Want to see the other layouts I've done the past week couple weeks? I've really been pushing myself to get this album done, and so in spite of being out of town for a few days, I've made some significant progress. I think I have about 10-ish layouts to go (less?) and then I'll be done. WOO-HOO!

This one was fun. The spoon is my favorite! I can't believe I actually had a spoon in my stash; awesome!

Serendipity add-on by Suzy Q Scraps
spoon from Breezy by Britt-ish Designs
stitching and red alpha from My Favorite Valentine by Andilynn Designs
In the City alpha by Sahlin Studio
fonts: American Typewriter, Pea Randa

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I love the unique design here, though I can't take a lot of the credit because I lifted it! I made my own frame by taking an existing circle frame from this kit, duplicating it, and merging it. The mat behind it took a little bit of thinking but wasn't hard: I magic-wanded my new circle-frame I made, expanded the selection by a few pixels, created a new layer, and then filled the layer with a solid color -- then I was able to use that as a clipping mask for whatever paper I wanted. The shadowing of the transparent elements was time consuming (but worth it!) and Britt's new doodly flowers were the perfect finishing touch!

lift of Messy Marvin 2 by Sarah Bennett
Funky Sampler by Sarah Bennett
{MY HAND}iwork: flowers by Britt-ish Designs
fonts: Black boys on mopeds, American Typewriter

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I really like this layout as a ten-year-old boy layout; not sure about it as a baptism-layout! But I'm not about to scrap this in soft pastel colors, you know?

Very fun design. I wonder why I didn't use this template when it came out a year ago. Maybe my taste has changed? Very possible.

inspired by bahamagirls' 2 Playful
Tuesday Template 5-12-09 by WM[squared] Designs
Daditude by Miss Mint
ricrac from So Long to Summer by Andilynn Designs
straight stitching from Be Merry by Andilynn Designs
circle stitching from My Favorite Valentine by Andilynn Designs
Plain 'n Distressed alpha by Designs by Sarah (Sarah Bryan)
fonts: sf Twelve Again, American Typewriter

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I did my own design on this one, and I really like it! I've seen this trend a lot (using two papers in the background) but usually it's the other way, so that a vertical line between the papers is created. Looks like this way works in some cases, too!

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow by Plum Dumpling Designs
fonts: The Doorman, Thornburi, American Typewriter

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Had a lot of fun with this new kit! Aren't the colors fantastic? And the pictures are fun, too. Originally this one a single-page layout but I added a second page when I found more fountain pictures!

lift of Keyr's Winter Play
Shades of Gray by Cori Gammon
scalloped matte created using Paper Shapers by Britt-ish Designs
Stamp My ABC's by Britt-ish Designs
fonts: Thinking of You, American Typewriter

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A quick page to put together, and I love how it turned out! This is a great kit that was a daily download last year.

lift of Jojo and TC's Wedding by kmkarayannis
Stars and Stripes Forever by ScrapMatters Design Team
frame (recolored) from Tomfoolery by Amanda Heimann and Bella Gypsy
fonts: Missed Your Exit, sf Dana, American Typewriter

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These pictures were taken in the evening, so I went ahead and made them even darker with an action. ;-) Despite the almost-black photos, the yellows make this page fun. Oh, and I pretty much LOVE my titlework!

a lift of jolly by kathleena
Midnight Crow by Chelle's Creations
yellow leaf branch from BeautiFALL add-on by ScrapMuss Designs
Date Bits 19 by Misty Cato
sepia action from Pioneer Actions 2
fonts: Haettenschweiler, CK_Ali's_Hand_Official, American Typewriter

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Finally I got to use a kit I got all the way back in November! And I was going to go with a standard "Happy Halloween" title but I thought this was more fun -- besides, it satisfied the Word Up! challenge at ScrapMatters.

template 200 (altered) by Yin Designs
Something Wicked by Sweet Shoppe Designers
fonts: Not His Angel, American Typewriter

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This layout ended up being quite a bit like ones I've done before, but maybe I'm the only one who notices. :-) The doodles plus the ribbon and stitching down the side remind me a lot of a teenager's composition notebook for school.

Another Day by Nikki Epperson
paper doodles from Oh No You Didn't by Krystal Hartley
Going Green Alpha by Misty Cato
fonts: Dibble Dabbles 1, Dibble Dabbles 2, sf No Frills, American Typewriter

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Really liked this kit (thanks, Amy, for pointing me to where I could get it for free!) and was glad to have some pictures to use it for! This template was perfect for it, too, except that it only had spots for "just" seven photos ... I fixed that. ;-)

Cindy's Layered Templates: Freebie #2 by Cindy Schneider
Snap! by Listgirl Designs (Christine Newman)
Bohemian Love by Loloden Designs
Collectible Cardboard by Britt-ish Designs
starbursts from Let's Go Bowling by Andilynn Designs
ribbon from Give It to Me Straight by Amanda Heimann
alpha from Hit the Road by Wild Dandelions
fonts: Stereofidelic, American Typewriter

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Thanks for looking! :-)

Uh-oh ...

2010-04-13T19:20:00.000-07:00

... has it really been since mid-March since I've shared my layouts here?? Yikes.

Well, I've been doing just a little bit (haha) of scrapping. Here are my layouts since last time!

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I've decided it's become easier, generally speaking, to scrap without templates lately. I spend entirely too long trying to find someone else's design that will fit the photos I have; besides, at 150 pages into this album, I've used almost everything decent in my stash already! Rather than alter a template to make it work with my photos, I've been coming up with the designs myself. Often I'll think on them for awhile throughout the day and by the afternoon it comes together pretty quickly. Here's one such example:

Boy Wonder by GG Digital Designs
stitching by GG Digital Designs
Art Box Alpha by Holliewood Studios
Get Real - Realistic Drop Shadows by Jennifer Barrette
fonts: sf Fill Me In, American Typewriter

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I love this layout! Funny since I didn't love it when I started scrapping it. Another case of trying-to-use-a-template-that-didn't-fit-my-photos. I laid everything out once and didn't like anything except the alpha I was using, so I scrapped (haha) the entire layout and came up with something new. This time I started with the titlework (I never start with the titlework ... do you??) and added some fun road-type elements and the whole thing just came together.

Further confirmation of my scrapping-without-a-template movement. ;-)

(Oh, and read this story Julianne shared with these pictures. It's crazy!)

tan paper from Midnight Crow by Chelle's Creations
black paper from Dreaming in Color by Nicole Young
road from Around the World add-on by Britt-ish Designs
Jellies Blooms by Britt-ish Designs
stitching, black and yellow ribbon from So Long to Summer by Andilynn Designs
tag, buttons, and gray ribbons from Losing It by Andilynn Designs
bus (extracted and recolored) from The Journey by ScrapEvangel
Wild Oats bonus alpha by Sarah Bennett
fonts: Jailbird Jenna, American Typewriter

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I liked that I was able to get a lot of rather random pictures together on this page.

Boys Are Trouble by Jennifer Barrette
Autumn Festival Felt Alpha by Ziggle Designs
fonts: Andes, DJB Get Your Fix, American Typewriter

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This one was really fun, and I love that the color scheme was already chosen for me! What great pictures Julianne took, too!

blue background paper and blue ribbon from Happy Hanukkah by Andilynn Designs
ricrac, staples, and some yellow papers from Bright Sunshiny Day by Andilynn Designs
some yellow papers from Way to Be by Andilynn Designs
fonts: Verdana, American Typewriter

IKEA logo copyright IKEA. For this layout, I used the logo found on the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce: San Diego website (found using a Google image search).

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I managed this one without a template, too. I like the titlework. :-)

Pure Perfection by Stolen Moments
fonts: My Own Topher, Waterfalls, Impact, American Typewriter

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If this design looks familiar to you, it's similar to the Valentine photo shoot page I did of the boys, but flipped. Not a lot of extra elements, but with so many photos, I think that's probably for the best.

Lady Scrapalot by Sir Scrapalot Designs
fonts: Howser, American Typewriter

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Julianne took so many pictures this day; even with a two-pager I only used about a third of them. They were all so great! Hopefully I did the photos justice.

Fresh Air by Amy Stoffel
inked edge (trimmed so it looked more doodled) from Building Blocks by Chelle's Creations
P-Day wordart from Called to Serve (April LDS blog train): 3 Missionary Word Art by The Latest Scoop, Too
fonts: Jailbird Jenna, JaneAusten, American Typewriter

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Okay, I gotta tell the story behind this two-pager. Julianne didn't have any MTC (Missionary Training Center) pictures since that memory card was stolen out of the mail, so she solicited her friends when she got home and posted a TON! I wanted to include them in her album, but at the same time, I was not about to go back and scrap 700+ photos from the beginning of her mission! The idea of doing sort of a flashback page to accompany these pictures from the Horbury area sounded like a nice compromise.

Still, it was a daunting task! I spent the time that morning contemplating how I wanted to design this page and came up with the idea of doing black and white photos for "past" MTC photos -- everything would look more cohesive that way.

Despite all my planning, this page still took a long time! Usually I can scrap a layout in 1-2 hours (actually, it's more like one hour now -- I think all my scrapping "practice" has been paying off), but I think this one took more like four hours just because of the sheer volume of pictures that ended up on this layout: eighty-six (eighty-six!) pictures on this two-page spread!

I really like how it turned out and think it will look nice in the album ... and I like it even more now that the memories of making it are not quite as fresh. ;-)

purple background paper from Lucky Me by Miss Mint of Peppermint Creative
teal paper from Definitively Defined (BRIGHT) by Nicole Young
dark purple solid paper from Fresh Fruit by Pamela Donnis
lighter purple solid paper from Under Sea Adventure by Jennifer Barrette
scalloped edge created using Paper Shapers: Fun Mats by Britt-ish Designs
stitching recolored from Fall Frolic by Andilynn Designs
wordart from Elegant WordArt by Bethany
B&W Beauty Action by Pioneer Woman (usually I don't credit actions, but I used this A LOT!)
fonts: American Typewriter, Trajan Pro

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Lately I've been neglecting most of the ScrapMatters challenges. They are great, but I am also mid-project; the pictures I have that need scrapping usually don't fit with the challenges. But I do love the freedom that the Inspiration Point challenge offers -- so much is up to personal interpretation. The challenge this month really did inspire me, and I couldn't resist trying it out! I really like the result.

Fresh Air by Brandy Designs
fonts: Elise, Cafe Rojo, American Typewriter

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I like this layout. Pretty simple to put together but effective, too. And what a cool font I used for that title; why haven't I used it before?? It rocks.

Way to Be: The Works by Andilynn Designs
fonts: Monster Paparazzi, American Typewriter

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This layout was inspired by a layout I saw while cruising the ScrapMatters gallery. I ended up getting a lot more comments on it than usual, even though it wasn't for a challenge or anything -- I was pretty flattered!

inspired by We Are Sisters by kelseyll

Gypsy Girl by WM[squared] Designs
She's Got Curves by Britt-ish Designs
fonts: American Typewriter, CK Becky

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Finally, a layout where I used a template. This page looked kind of empty to me for awhile but now that I've decided which layout will go next to it (another rain one -- keep reading), it doesn't bother me anymore.

Template #52 by Jill and Jack Scraps
Love All Year Long by Jady Day Studios
Jellies Alpha 1 by Britt-ish Designs
fonts: Sunshine in My Soul, sidewalk, American Typewriter

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I really had a lot of fun with this layout! There's a ScrapMatters challenge going on right now to lift Britt of Britt-ish Designs, and lemme tell you, her gallery is totally awesome. I didn't have much trouble finding a layout that would showcase the photos I had.

Next time I need my mojo back, I'm heading to Britt's gallery and lifting something. Seriously, SO FUN.

lift of Britt's Celebrate Mom's 50th Birthday

Happiest Season of All and Happiest Season of All add-on by Britt-ish Designs
damask background paper from Energy by Summer Driggs
Collectible Cardboard by Britt-ish Designs
buttons, black ribbon, and wire squiggles from Losing It by Andilynn Designs
Reuse Recycle Flowers by Britt-ish Designs
Est. Date by Sahlin Studio
fonts: Century Gothic, American Typewriter

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Sometimes I find the "graphic style" of scrapping incredibly hard to execute. Inspired by a page I saw in the ScrapMatters gallery, I laid out these photos on a two-pager ... then struggled and struggled with the titlework. It simply wasn't coming together! I was halfway through pursuing an option when I got pulled away from the computer ... and came back a half hour later to find that Photoshop crashed while I was away and that I hadn't saved recently (I would still have to place the last five photos, in fact!)

I let it sit for a day, and wasn't terribly excited to get back to this page, but pushed through it. I like it MUCH better than anything I was coming up originally. Not my all-time favorite page, but it does show off Julianne's terrific photos rather nicely.

lift of sporte91's Easter Joy
paper by Misty Cato
Fresh and Colorful action by Pioneer Woman
fonts: Stamp Act, CK_Ali's_Hand_Official, American Typewriter

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The next few pages I had queued up all had minimal photos (anything less than four is minimal to me), so I decided to take advantage of some of the new ScrapMatters Tuesday Template challenges. I like how fun this one turned out (and this is the one that will be next to the "Blustery Day" page I posted previously):

Tuesday Template 4/6 by Trixie Scraps
Rainbrella blog train by craft-tastrophic, LDrag Designs, and Sherri Tierney
rainbow paper by Misty Cato
pink stitching from So Long to Summer by Andilynn Designs
9 to 5 alpha by Krystal Hartley
fonts: Century Gothic, American Typewriter

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Another for the Tuesday Template (this is today's Tuesday Template!). I love how the blend turned out against the paper, and the titlework, too (which also used a blend; the alpha is actually black).

Tuesday Template 04/13 by Sarah Bennett
Called to Serve (April's LDS blog train) by Chelle's Creations; ShellyMarie Scraps; The Latest Scoop, Too; and Garden Girl Designs
Simply Stamped Alpha: Charcoal by Andilynn Designs
fonts: Edwardian Script ITC, American Typewriter

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All right; just one more!

Tuesday Template 3/31/09 by Sahlin Studio
Fall Frolic by Andilynn Designs
titlework altered from Words Matter: Fall Frolic by Andilynn Designs
font: American Typewriter

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Phew; all caught up! Thanks for looking!

NEW today: Easter Sunday and Fair Are the Meadows Quickpages!

2010-03-19T10:44:00.000-07:00

Plum Dumpling Designs has a new kit out today, just in time for Easter ... Easter Sunday!

It's got flowers and bunnies and lots of spring, Easter-y elements ... and if you've got boys like I do, it's the perfect kit! There's plenty of masculine blues and oranges and greens and yellows. In fact, my boys actually have shirts in this exact color palette (thanks, Gramma Sue)! Even though the photos weren't from Easter, it was easy to scrap them with Easter Sunday:

Easter Sunday by Plum Dumpling Designs
fonts: Cafe Rojo, Courtney Dorkling, sf Andi 1

Mary even has a freebie quickpage on her blog if you wanna go check it out!

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And also new in the ScrapMatters shop today: Fair Are the Meadows Quick Pages! Yup, Andilynn Designs' creative team put together a great set of quickpages for you using this beautiful kit. Can you spot last week's layout? :-)

And there's a cute freebie associated with this one, too -- head over to Andilynn's blog to find a fun frame cluster that CT member Krista made for you!

Ahh ... donchya just love Fridays? :-D

Catch-Up on Julianne's Album

2010-03-19T10:23:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd share the latest layouts I've done for Julianne; enjoy!

Here's one using some fun Plum Dumpling goodies. Not sure if the comic-book feel really matches the pictures, but I'd say it's close enough -- looks like a fun day!

Mini-Blocks Template Set by Plum Dumpling Designs
Super Villains by Plum Dumpling Designs
All-American Super Hero by Plum Dumpling Designs
fonts: Markus the Cow, American Typewriter

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The journaling on this page came from the caption Julianne included with these stunning photos. I struggled with the elements on this one, but after letting it sit for awhile, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

white paper from Happy Hanukkah by Andilynn Designs
blue paper from it's beauty[fall] by Gwenipooh and PouYou Designs
string from Sunshine in My Soul by Britt-ish Designs
ribbon and staples from He's My Valentine by Plum Dumpling Designs
We're Just Dating vol. 3 by Britt-ish Designs
Tie One On by Amanda Heimann
fonts: American Typewriter, Amelie

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Kind of a simple page; just had to let the photos shine here, too.

Template 33 by Yin Designs (altered)
Pure Perfection by Stolen Moments
fonts: Sunshine in My Soul, American Typewriter

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This page was really fun to do and came together really quickly -- and without a template, even! This funky kit was a lot of fun to play with.

Miss Mary Jane by Jennifer Barrette
Pinky Dinky Alpha by Britt-ish Designs
See Right Through You by Britt-ish Designs
fonts: BlackJack, American Typewriter

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ScrapMatters' latest template for their Tuesday Template Challenge was a perfect match for these pictures. I did have to piece a few things together (I was using a fall kit to scrap these summery pictures!) but I think it turned out pretty good!

Falling for You by Scrap Orchard Designers
string from Fair Are the Meadows by Andilynn Designs
leaves from Be Happy by Moi Designs
Safari Sunset alpha by Mira Designs
Get Real: Realistic Drop Shadows by Jennifer Barrette
fonts: American Typewriter, sf Natalie

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This one satisfies another ScrapMatters Challenge, to lift monsu for Grand Theft Layout. I was totally inspired by her gallery and think I'll be lifting more from her, just for fun. Love the style.

I was debating about whether to include the little "sketch" of Julianne one of the elders had done, and since I was able to magic-wand the whole thing very easily, it made it on the page. ;-)

Lift of monsu's Mushrooms
Pop Goes the World by Dani Mogstad
blue string from Happy Hanukkah by Andilynn Designs
fonts: Glider Girls, Century Gothic, American Typewriter

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One more! Julianne had a lot of great scenic photos from her next area, and I wanted to include as many as possible. This lift (again, satisfying a SM challenge to lift Quiltymom) turned out great for that.

inspired by Presidents Day p.1 and Presidents Day p.2 by Quiltymom
Bohemian Garden Collab with Bella Gypsy by Jennifer Barrette Designs
fonts: American Typewriter, CK_Ali's_Hand_Official

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Thanks for looking!

Fair Are the Meadows

2010-03-12T14:02:00.000-08:00

Either I've got spring fever (quite possible!) or Andrea's just totally outdone herself this time (also possible!) ... Andilynn Designs released her Fair Are the Meadows kit today! It has such pretty color palette; check it out:

Don't you just love all the happy daisies? Wanna see how they look on a layout??

I jumped ahead a bit in Julianne's album to scrap some baptism pictures she had -- spring is a type of rebirth, and so is baptism, so I thought it would work perfectly. Really, really liking the result:

Fair Are the Meadows by Andilynn Designs
Fair Are the Meadows blog freebie by Andilynn Designs
fonts: LaurenScript, American Typewriter, sf Andi 1

Make sure you go pick up the coordinating freebie at Andilynn's blog before it goes into the shop -- that pretty butterfly is part of the sample!

WIN Dates Matter 3 from Andilynn Designs!

2010-03-09T18:13:00.000-08:00

Andilynn Designs has another very-customizable dating element in her shop ... check out Dates Matter 3!

I just used it on a layout I did this afternoon. The frog-themed kit has been available for free in pieces from Digital Scrap Cafe for the past three weeks or so, and I just happen to have frog-pictures for Julianne that need scrapping ... a perfect match! Andilynn's alpha adds to the fun, and since the new dating elements match with anything, it was the perfect finishing touch!

And for once I took a break from the templates (I've been on template overdrive lately) and scrapped something completely from my own head ... while on the phone (actually, my best creativity on layout design seems to come when I'm half-distracted. Is this because my right brain is allowed to create without my left brain interfering??) I'm proud of how it turned out!

Anyway, the layout:

Leapfrog by Scrap with Brooke
Nifty Tile Alpha by Andilynn Designs
Dates Matter 3 by Andilynn Designs
fonts: Black boys on mopeds, American Typewriter

And did mention that you can WIN that dating element?? It's true! Just head over to this post on Andilynn's blog and leave a comment before March 12 .. what have you got to lose?

Spring Cleaning SALE!! And some layouts. :-)

2010-03-08T06:13:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning to check my email and saw a few newsletters .. which led me to the forums ... which led me to this:

ScrapMatters is having a SALE! Ohhh, I really can't resist good digi-scrap sales!!

Plum Dumpling Designs is taking part; take a look at some of the goodies you can grab this week at a discounted price (before they're gone forever!):

Us CT members were shocked and almost sad to see that Everyday Thanks (one of our favorite kits) was going to be retiring ... but the good news is that plenty of people can grab it while it's on sale -- it's SIXTY percent off!!

A couple other on-sale products from other designers get my endorsement, too:

Shimmer and Shine by Jennifer Barrette is 50% off! I got this in a grab bag and still use them ALL the time! I used it on a couple of layouts this week, even.
Everyday Memories by Chelle's Creations and Juno Designs is 60% off! I've scrapped at least three pages with this kit and all three of them are in the running for some of my favorite-ever pages. And again, I scrapped with this kit again this week. It's a great, bright summery kit.
Birds of a Feather by WM[squared] Designs is 50% off! I've used the mini-kit version a couple times and love the fun, funky color scheme.

As for things I'm going to get? Probably "Pure Perfection" from Stolen Moments, "All Stitched Up alpha" by Chelle's Creations, a string collection from Denise Beatty, a template pack from Sya's Blueprints (that one with LOTS of photos), and maybe kits from Jennifer Barrette, G0lden Girls, WM[squared] ... oh gosh, I want too much! (Good thing it's all on sale!!)

The sale's coming at a good time for me because I've been digging into my two-year-old stuff to scrap this past week (and while I feel frugal doing this, it's really not as fun! Haha.) Here are my latest pages:

I like how this mimicked the Italian flag! The template I found was perfect for this.

Blog Template 16 by Misty Cato
Just So minikit by the Heartistic Touch (Irena Alexeeva)
red ribbon from Give It to Me Straight by Amanda Heimann
red button from School Scribbles by Pineapple Plantation Designs
small red flowers and black button from Spiro-Graffiti from Pineapple Plantation Designs
flowers from A Little Bit Country by ScrapOrchard Seedlings

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Here's one using all Andilynn Designs products!

I Love Templates No. 1 by Andilynn Designs
My Favorite Valentine by Andilynn Designs
Losing It by Andilynn Designs
fonts: Digs My Heart, American Typewriter

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This page was a little difficult to scrap, as the story was very serious and poignant but the colors from the pictures are almost fun. I ended up taking quite a few cues from the pictures. Hopefully it's not, like, irreverent.

Inspired by Kim templates by Britt-ish Designs
Fairchild add-on by Britt-ish Designs
Land of Fantasy add-on by Britt-ish Designs
Hooligans add-on by Britt-ish Designs
My Ribbon Jar by Britt-ish Designs
Glitzy Spills and Thrills by Britt-ish Designs
Snipettes: Enjoy the Moment (recolored) by Sahlin Studio
font: American Typewriter

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I did a first version of this without the glitter and curvy text, but it needed something. (I think it still might need something, but I can't figure out what ... so it'll have to do.)

text path template by Britt-ish Designs
Girls Day Out add-on by Trixie Scraps Designs
Sparkle and Shine by Jennifer Barrette
Curvaceous Templates and Text Paths by Happy Scrap Girl
fonts: An Unfortunate Event, CK_Ali's_Hand_Official, American Typewriter

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I took awhile with this page. These conglomeration-type pages are harder to do than single-event ones. I really like the titlework on this one!

Tuesday Template 6-2-09 by Cyndi Price
Let's Camp S'more by Chelle's Creations
fonts: American Typewriter, CK_Ali's_Hand_Official

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I've got another page I finished twice, since my sister-in-law sent me more pictures after I scrapped the first one. Here's version one:

Lift of mighttyjomomma's Caught Your Smile
Everyday Memories by Chelle's Creations and Juno Designs
frame and stamped border from Apple Cart #1 by Ziggle Designs
Sparkle and Shine by Jennifer Barrette
Tabby Dates by Britt-ish Designs
MSS November DAK alpha by Sir Scrapalot Designs
font: American Typewriter

And the redo (I like this version better, actually!):

Everyday Memories by Chelle's Creations and Juno Designs
frame and stamped border from Apple Cart #1 by Ziggle Designs
Sparkle and Shine by Jennifer Barrette
Tabby Dates by Britt-ish Designs
MSS November DAK alpha by Sir Scrapalot Designs
font: American Typewriter

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And one more! This one was tough to scrap because those Sweet Shoppe templates always have SO many layers ... and the kit I picked didn't have that much stuff in it! I had to piece a lot of things together.

I wasn't sure what to title this (something about swings?), so I went back to Julianne's pictures online for inspiration. She had captioned one of the pictures "taking a break on the swings," so instead of the swing angle, I decided to go with the break one -- especially since her umbrella broke in the final pic! I really like how the title turned out.

Cookie Decorating 101 - Jan. 27, 2009 template by Tracie Stroud
Wild Weekend by Miss Mint (Peppermint Creative)
Funky Stripes Collection paper pack by Britt-ish Designs
Naturals by Nydia's Scraps
Borderific by Britt-ish Designs
All Stitched Up by Tracie Stroud
Alpha-Bits by Plum Dumpling Designs
Alpha Beads by Ziggle Designs
Celery alpha by Britt-ish Designs
fonts: American Typewriter, Pea Yar Yar

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There you have it -- thanks for looking ... see you at the SM sale! ;-)

Dates Matter 2 ... and Lots More!

2010-02-26T11:50:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-02-19T07:45:00.001-08:00

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!

2010-02-05T07:00:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-02-03T13:13:00.000-08:00

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!)

He's My Valentine BLOG TRAIN!!

2010-01-29T07:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the fourth stop on the Plum Dumpling Designs: He's My Valentine BLOG TRAIN!! If you've been riding the train, you should have arrived here from Janine's blog and picked up a freebie from both Janine and Cole featuring Plum Dumpling Designs' latest kit, He's My Valentine:

I've got a husband and two sons (we'll even things out a little bit with a baby girl coming in May), and this Valentine kit is just right for us! It's a great mix of tough and sweet, and while blue isn't your typical valentine color, it's the perfect manly touch and makes for some great, unique pages. I had a lot of fun playing with it -- the stamped alphas and elements were my favorite (though, as always, I loved Mary's papers, too)! Here's one layout I did; the blue totally went with my husband's shirt. :-)

inspired by nockosh's crocs
He's My Valentine by Plum Dumpling Designs
font: Century Gothic

I also made a super-cute Valentine card featuring my two boys. I had to bribe them with M&Ms to get them to wear their blue church shirts mid-week, but check out these pics -- wasn't it worth it?! Grandmas, you can expect these in your mailboxes soon; I just picked them at Costco yesterday (and they look SO good printed!)

He's My Valentine by Plum Dumpling Designs
font: Pea XOXO from Karen

And yes -- you've been waiting patiently for that freebie ... here it is! I turned my card into a 4x6 quickpage for you; just click on the image to download from 4shared:

There's still plenty more great freebies to pick up! Head over to Laura's blog next, or if you need to start from the beginning (or just want a list of all the blogs participating in the blog train), you can head on over to Mary's blog.

Latest Pages ...

2010-01-28T10:13:00.000-08:00

Lots for Julianne ...

Family Game Night template by Plum Dumpling Designs (slightly altered)
papers from SO SUNny collab by Scrap Orchard and Sunshine Studio Scraps designers
Flair Freebie by Danielle Young Designs
My Ribbon Jar by Britt-ish Designs
staple from Sunshine in My Soul by Britt-ish Designs
Date Stamp: Classic by Britt-ish Designs
On the Dot alpha by Chelle's Creations
Dotty Numbers by Sarah Bennett
fonts: Century Gothic, smiley monster, American Typewriter

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Yin Template 148 by Yin Designs
Beachside by Megan Turnidge
sandy background paper from O Come Let Us Adore Him by Chelle's Creations
shells from Hawaiian Happy Hour by ScrapMatters designers
Summer Fun wordart by Sahlin Studio
fonts: Not His Angel, American Typewriter

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So Long to Summer by Andilynn Designs (alpha recolored)
fonts: Pea XOXO from Karen, American Typewriter

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Stacked Templates 2 by Britt-ish Designs
Spring Blooms by WM[squared] Designs
pink background paper from Birds of a Feather by WM[squared] Designs
blue background paper from Seriously Cute by Britt-ish Designs
green and blue paper from Color Wonder by Britt-ish Designs
purple paper from Monstrosity add-on by Britt-ish Designs
Watercolor spills by Misty Cato
Doodlie-do: page borders by Britt-ish Designs
Scribbly alpha by Sarah Bennett
fonts: Only By Request, American Typewriter

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...and one for me! This was for a speed scrap at ScrapMatters, and one of the instructions was to lift one of your previous layouts ... I lifted Crazy In Love (do if the design looks vaguely familiar, it's 'cause you saw it here last week!)

Loverly by Sahlin Studio (some things recolored)
pink and red papers and red brads from ScrapMatters Sweet Thing January Newsletter kit by Jeni Hopewell Chelle's Creations
buttons and silk flowers from Berry Merry by Golden Girls
red string and doodled hearts from Pop Goes the World by Dani Mogstad
fonts: CK_Ali's_Hand_Official, DJB Get Your Fix

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AND one more piece of news ... Plum Dumpling Designs has a fun new kit that's coming out tomorrow, and her creative team is doing a blog train to celebrate! That's right -- I'm hosting my first-ever freebie on this blog, so be sure to stop by again Friday morning!

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

2010-01-22T13:06:00.001-08:00

I am all about having lots of versatile kits that will match with all kinds of photos, kits that you find yourself using pieces of again and again.

Plum Dumpling Designs just released just such a kit: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow! It's the perfect answer for P365 pages, for heritage pages, or for everyday memories. Check it out:

And here's a page I did with it:

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow by Plum Dumpling Designs
fonts: Porcelain, Natalie

I had so much fun playing with the elements in this kit, especially! My favorite was the date sticker -- I just know I'm going to be pulling out that date sticker for other layouts, too.

AND there's a freebie add-on over on Mary's blog -- make sure you hop over there!

DigiFinds

2010-01-21T15:34:00.000-08:00

A couple things I've come across this week I wanted to share with my digiscrapping friends:

FREEBIES:

Ikeagoddess used to be the place to grab quality freebies; she hand-picked the best the digiworld had to offer. She stopped freebie-hunting a few months ago, though, but I've found a blog that promises to fill the void: All Things Digital Scrapbooking. Definitely a site to add to your feed readers!

PRINTING:

Ready to print a book? Winkflash has a screaming deal going on right now! I hold off on my printing until their flat-rate book deal comes around (it seems to come up this time of year, and then every couple of months through the first part of the year). Last year I printed all my 2008 layouts with them as 8x8 albums -- they were cheap enough that I could print multiple copies to share with family and to save for my boys when they're older. The 12x12 albums are so reasonably priced, though, that I think I will print 12x12 for me!

If you aren't quite ready to print, keep working at it -- from what I've noticed, this deal pops up every month or two this time of year.

AND SPEAKING OF PRINTING:

I have always been hesitant to order a 12x12 just because it'll end up SO big ... and yet, I want my photos to really stand out; that's why I'm scrapping to begin with! Recently I came across a site that prints 11x11, Inkubook. What a difference that would make! It would actually fit on my bookshelf!! Plus, a book goes up to 120 pages -- again, twenty extra pages might make a world of difference!

I've read good reviews about the quality and it's pretty reasonably priced. It's not the screaming deal you can get at Winkflash, but you don't have to wait for a sale, either -- and hunt around for coupons; I've seen a 30% off one recently!

Seen any great sites or good deals in digiland lately?

Two Pages

2010-01-21T08:06:00.000-08:00

What do these two pages have in common? They were both SO FUN to put together! Every once in awhile I have to take a break from "project-mode" and just create something.

So I think my husband and I should do more long-armed portraits of ourselves because they are always so fun to scrap. These pictures were taken as I was hurrying out the door to choir practice before church.

I had a great time with the bright, bold colors against all the black and white. I think it's very effective here! Those felt circles are freebies so make sure you don't scroll too fast through the credits; I linked 'em up for ya. :-)

Pop Goes the World by Dani Mogstad
orange paper from Wubulous by Amy Sumrall
rainbow paper from Children's Day by Amy Sumrall
Primary Felt: Circles by Pamela Donnis
Edge 2 Edge Songs by Britt-ish Designs
Detention Alpha by Krystal Hartley
fonts: Pea Stacy's Doodle Script, Century Gothic

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I was lucky enough to receive a gift card for Pamela Donnis's stuff (which was how I came across those freebie circles in the previous layout), and ever since downloading April Rain, I've been so excited to get to this page for Julianne! All the rainy-day, springy elements are so cute -- I just piled 'em on. I'd downloaded that doodly Kate Hadfield font ages ago (it must have been last spring!) and was glad I finally had a page where it seemed to match the theme.

I wasn't sure what to title it, though. I was just going to go with "Cool Umbrella Shots" -- Julianne's caption of the pictures -- when Nathan (who was watching me scrap while reading The Hunger Games) said he didn't like that so much.

"What do you suggest?" I asked.

"I don't know ... but you'll come up with something better, 'cause you're awesome like that."

Well, I don't know about that, but I do have access to Google. There's whole lists of scrapbooking page titles on the Internet, and every once in awhile I use that to come up with something.

"Let a Smile Be Your Umbrella" was one of the options that popped up, after an old Bing Crosby song (was it Bing Crosby? Maybe it was somebody else first ... I do know that Oscar the Grouch did a parody of it -- yes, I'm a Sesame Street kid -- and I only know the tune to the lyrics of "Let a Frown Be Your Umbrella.") Anyway, I thought it was perfect for these fun pictures!

lift of Super Messy by .megan.
April Rain by Pamela Donnis
green stitching from Everyday Thanks by Plum Dumpling Designs
Spring Green alpha by Kate Hadfield
fonts: Scrubble, American Typewriter

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I've got one more page I've scrapped this week, but you'll just have to come back tomorrow to see it ... it's using Plum Dumpling Designs' great new kit:

More Layouts (again)

2010-01-17T19:00:00.000-08:00

It's been a little while since I posted layouts, so I thought I'd show you the latest:

All American Superhero by Plum Dumpling Designs
Super Villains by Plum Dumpling Designs
Barcode dates by Plum Dumpling Designs
fonts: The Doorman, Traveling Typewriter

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Tuesday Template 1/12/2010 by Designs by Stefanie
Hit the Road by Wild Dandelions
fonts: Pea Stacy's Doodle Script, American Typewriter

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Losing It by Andilynn Designs
Dates Matter by Andilynn Designs
fonts: Rage, American Typewriter

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A Father's Strength by Tracie Stroud
Give it to Me Straight by Amanda Heimann
Tabby Dates by Britt-ish Designs
Teeny Tiny Christmas Alpha by Britt-ish Designs
font: American Typewriter

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red background paper from Natural Wonders by ScrapMatters Designers (slightly recolored)
black paper and yellow dot paper from Way to Be by Andilynn Designs
yellow polka dot paper from Midnight Crow by Chelle's Creations
dark red damask paper from Old Time Christmas add-on by Sarah Bennett
plaid paper, glitter border, and gold ribbon from Holiday Magic by Kim Higueria
red striped-and-dotted paper and fancy gold trim from O Come Let Us Adore Him by Chelle's Creations
fonts: Harry P, Warnock Pro, American Typewriter

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paper strip template by Sahlin Studio
Natural Wonders by ScrapMatters Designers
Let's Camp S'more by Chelle's Creations
Midnight Crow by Chelle's Creations
O Come Let Us Adore Him by Chelle's Creations
My Ribbon Jar by Britt-ish Designs
Angels Bonus Alpha by Krystal Hartley
fonts: Blackjack, American Typewriter, Amy

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Thanks for looking!

I AM going to finish this project, by golly!

2010-01-09T20:07:00.000-08:00

Still hard at work on Julianne's mission album! I did several pages this week, including three this afternoon. By golly, I am going to finish this project!! (It may take another few months, so don't hold your breath). ;-)

Here's one of my favorite two-pagers to date. Weird, since by the time I finish a two-pager, Photoshop is generally grinding and I'm sick of looking at my layout. I like how I did the journaling; I will have to use the technique again.

Template 165 (altered) by Yin Designs
Hawaiian Happy Hour by ScrapMatters Designers
Remember wordart (altered) from Everyday Thanks by Plum Dumpling Designs
Detention Alpha by Krystal Hartley
fonts: Glider Girls, American Typewriter

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This was a simple page, but I think it's effective -- I like the mix of fonts.

Sweet and Simple No. 1 template (altered) by Jude
Heartstrings by TaylorMade
In The City alpha by Sahlin Studio
fonts: Pea Mystie Caps, American Typewriter

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Originally I thought I'd make this layout totally match the previous one, turn it into a two-pager. It would be quick to just replace the pictures, maybe change it up just a little (different elements, etc.) but keep the same format. Then I realized I didn't have quite enough pictures. I decided to go a different route, then, but this template wasn't lending itself to the pics quite as ideally as I'd hoped (and besides, Photoshop crashed on me three times while I was working on it!) I did manage to get it done, though, and I think it turned out all right.

Freebie 35 template by Chrissy W
Rainy Afternoon by Kim Higueria
fonts: Rage, Rockwell Extra Bold, American Typewriter

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Here's a layout using a just-released mini-kit from Plum Dumpling Designs! I had a lot of fun playing with it and had to pull these two photos out of the "miscellaneous" pile since they matches the colors so perfectly. I typically don't scrap two-photo layouts with this project since it takes nearly as long to do a two-photo layout as a four- or six- or eight-photo one, but I couldn't resist!

I'm totally diggin' the nail-polish alpha -- what do you think??

Shopaholic by Plum Dumpling Designs
Shopaholic Add-on by Plum Dumpling Designs
font: American Typewriter, Boring Showers

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I took this template and tweaked it so much that the template-designer said she'd love to have a template of my layout! Haha! I switched this up from a two-photo design to a (just a sec; lemme count) seven-photo one.

ScrapMatters 1-5-10 Tuesday Template (altered) by Cyndi Price
Tyler by GG Digital Designs
fonts: Mr. and Mrs. Popsicle, American Typewriter

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I have loved every layout I've seen with this kit, and so I finally bought it during Sweet Shoppe's sale over NSD. And then ... I've hesitated to use it. I needed the perfect pictures.

Well, I'm not sure whether these were the perfect pictures or not, but with that bright red phone booth dominating the layout, I thought I'd give it a go.

And yes, once again -- I love this layout. This kit has magical powers, I'm telling you.

lift of Tanya666's Tinkerbell
Pop Goes the World by Dani Mogstad
fonts: Rebekah's Birthday, American Typewriter

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In contrast to the previous page, I needed some papers that were a little more drab (these pictures were from a foggy day) but still with red in it. Luckily I knew of just the minikit -- I downloaded this from ScrapMatters as part of their Christmas gift to their newsletter subscribers.

Template #17 (altered) by Moriginals
Chilled mini-kit by Jennifer Barrette
fonts: Garamond, American Typewriter

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One last one. I wanted the colors to match the "So Cute" page above, as I needed something to go on the opposing page ... and here's what I came up with. Britt's template was a perfect fit for the subject matter!

Pocket Full of Templates 3 by Britt-ish Designs
Totally Loving You by Jady Day Studio
green bg paper, dark pink paper, and leaves from Beautiful You by Plum Dumpling Designs
dark brown paper from Everyday Thanks by Plum Dumpling Designs
fonts: Scriptina, American Typewriter

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Thanks for looking!

More Pages!

2010-01-02T13:03:00.000-08:00

I've got more pages to show you! A few for myself, and then I'm still plugging away on my sister-in-law's mission album. This was my last week as a creative team guest for Chelle's Creations, and I've loved working with her stuff -- I'm so glad I had the chance to be on her team! What a wonderful experience.

To get things going, here's a page using a combination of her two "Building Blocks" templates. I love these because they're just the blocks -- you can arrange them in so many different ways to make your actual layout -- and they come in inked and regular versions. These are so versatile; I know I'll be using them again!

Building Blocks Combo by Chelle's Creations
Space Case by Chelle's Creations
fonts: BlackJack, Boring Showers

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Would you ever guess this was a seafood kit?? I love the colors in it, and that patterned paper is unlike any I've seen -- very fun!

lift of Opening Presents by jendavey
Lob-STAH by Plum Dumpling Designs
stitching from On the Front Porch by Plum Dumpling Designs
fonts: Wish I Were Taller, Century Gothic, American Typewriter, Pea Carlisle

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I loved the titlework on the page I lifted; so clever and something I hadn't tried before. These little alphas (and the matching dates) were perfect for it!

lift of Captivated by you by skyezak
Beautiful You by Plum Dumpling Designs
Date Bits by Plum Dumpling Designs
Alpha-Bits by Plum Dumpling Designs
font: American Typewriter

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A combination of an Autumn kit with a Christmas kit ... I think it works! And hopefully doesn't look either autumnal nor Christmasy (since these pictures were taken in April!)

Tuesday Template 12-29-09 by WM[squared] designs
Midnight Crow by Chelle's Creations
starry background paper, brown papers clipped to waves, tan and blue buttons (tan recolored to off-white), and tan alpha from O Come Let Us Adore Him by Chelle's Creations
yellow ribbon from Let's Camp S'more by Chelle's Creations
font: American Typewriter

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Sometimes I scraplift to satisfy a challenge requirement (e.g. Grand Theft Layout at ScrapMatters), and other times I scraplift just because I happen across an AWESOME page. This one was the latter. I need to use this design again, in my own album.

lift of Eastern State by cnscrap
Yippee Skippee by Britt-ish Designs
branch and some leaves from Sunshine in My Soul by Britt-ish Designs
My Ribbon Jar by Britt-ish Designs
acrylic flowers from Funky Sampler by Sarah Bennett
fonts: Bickham Script Pro, American Typewriter

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I debated about whether I should blog this story or scrap it ... I finally decided to scrap it. I think it will be a fun addition to our family's album, even if I don't especially like that picture of me. I'm trying to make sure I take the time to record these little moments even while falling behind on the big vacations and such -- I know I'll come back and scrap the vacations eventually, but these are the kind of things that will be forgotten if I don't act now.

white bg paper from Sunshine in My Soul by Britt-ish Designs
Doodlie-Do: page borders by Britt-ish Designs
fonts: Year Supply of Fairy Cakes, Pea Stacy Elizabeth, Century Gothic

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I've been wanting to use this kit for its fun colors! Even though it's a holiday kit -- and a Hanukkah one at that (and I'm not Jewish) -- it's one I'll be going back to, just for the solid papers alone. It's on sale right now, too ... lots of stuff on sale over at ScrapMatters!

lift of Thanksgiving 2008 by AbAllen
Happy Hanukkah by Andilynn Designs
Date Stamped by Britt-ish Designs
fonts: Century Gothic, American Typewriter

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Thanks for looking!

Latest Layouts

2009-12-26T19:38:00.000-08:00

December's been a bit slow due to holiday preparations, but I expect to get quite a lot of scrapping done this week now that Christmas is over with. In the meantime, enjoy a look at my latest layouts!

A simple and classy layout for one of Julianne's baptisms:

Lots of Space Template Trio by Andilynn Designs
Night Music by Andilynn Designs
fonts: Missed Your Exit, American Typewriter

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I liked these pictures of Julianne saying "good-bye" to her coat; I thought they deserved a page of their own.

ScrapMatters Tuesday Template 12/8/09 by Trixie Scraps Designs
Let's Polka by Andilynn Designs
Simply Stamped Alpha: Red by Andilynn Designs
fonts: An Accidental Kiss, American Typewriter

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This new kit is packed full of tons of cooking-with-kids fun! The flour splatter is my favorite. Now my page totally matches my kitchen counter!

Homemade by Chelle's Creations
Homemade: Christmas Add-On by Chelle's Creations
fonts: Stays In The Cave!, Century Gothic

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I love how this frosty page turned out. In my album, it'll go next to a previous page I did that used the same template but featured pictures of the kids in leaves ... I took these snowy pictures only a week later!

9-29-09 Tuesday Template by Purple Tulip Designs
Winter Frost by Andilynn Designs
fonts: Tan Patty, Thinking of You, Traveling Typewriter

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And one more page for Julianne! I had this beauty salon kit that I thought would be fun for these pictures. The one trick was that her smock in that center picture was a very vibrant red ... I used the color replace tool in Photoshop to change it to pink so it'd match a little better!

ScrapMatters Tuesday Template 12/1 by Designs by Li
Alvean's Beauty Parlor by Andilynn Designs
font: American Typewriter

Scrapping Streak

2009-12-04T18:27:00.000-08:00

I've been in a scrapping mood lately and have consequently got a lot of pages done this past week or so. Wanna see??

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This was for a challenge at ScrapMatters to use a slogan as a title. I found a few lists of slogans online for inspiration, and the slogan for "Cotton" fit some pictures of Julianne I'd been meaning to scrap. The template I used helped bring this page together fast and really showed off the rich, textured papers in this kit.

Paper Pieces Template Set by Plum Dumpling Designs
On the Front Porch by Plum Dumpling Designs
fonts: Zapfino, American Typewriter

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This page was a TON of fun! When I saw these pictures of Julianne's, I was so excited to scrap them because of the Disney connection she'd made in the captions ... finally I could use some of the cute Mickey-themed stuff I'd downloaded months ago! Plus I got to dig into some of my new Black Friday purchases. Very fun.

Yeah, I just love how this one turned out.

lift of abcmomof4's always so happy
Mouse in the House by Britt-ish Designs
Refreshing Paper Pack by Stacy's Back Door Designs
Glitzy Spills and Thrills by Britt-ish Designs
Sparkle and Shine by Jennifer Barrette
All Stitched Up Vol. II by Tracie Stroud
SO Useful Doodles Vol. 4 by Designs by Sine
String Along by Designs by Julie Bullock
Button It Up Sample Pack by Sarah Morgan Designs
Clear View frames by Armina
rectangle scallop frame from Natural Wonders collab by ScrapMatters Designers
fonts: Times and Times Again, Tanya Script, American Typewriter

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I was so excited when I saw this space-themed kit for only a dollar on Black Friday! My boys love space so I was anxious to use it.

Besides, I've been realizing that while I need to keep plowing through Julianne's album, I also need to take the time to scrap some current stuff for my own family or it won't be scrapped at all (even when I do go back to "catch up"). This is such a page -- the photos are not anything special but the memory is something that is fleeting. I'm glad I made the time to record it.

credits:
Into Space by Faith True
Sparkle and Shine by Jennifer Barrette
speech bubbles from Jokes on You by Sweet Digi Scraps
fonts: Year Supply of Fairy Cakes, smiley monster

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I usually avoid daytime speed scraps but I parked the kids in front of Curious George and shrunk my scrapping time to an hour (you are allotted two) to get this quickie done! Britt (from Britt-ish Designs) was hosting (love her style and her stuff), and I was just dinking around on the computer at that time anyway. I figured it I was going to let the TV babysit my kids I might as well do something productive.

Rather like this page. I wouldn't have thought to journal onto strips, but that was the instruction, and I really like the result.

Also, I did not do the amazing shadow on those butterflies. They come like that in the kit (as well as non-shadowed versions).

credits:
Bright Sunshiny Day by Andilynn Designs
alpha from Thanksgiving Greetings by Andilynn Designs
fonts: American Typewriter, Pea Carslisle

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This page came together nicely. Julianne didn't caption any of these photos or write about this excursion in her weekly email so I took the liberty of copying some blurb from the Internet about it!

credits:
lift of *Kelly*'s *Playground Pals*
On the Front Porch by Plum Dumpling Designs
fonts: Mutlu, American Typewriter, Pea Paula Pepin

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Whipped up this plain-jane two-pager while my oldest was at preschool. I am trying to allow myself to do this style more in this album -- minimal elements with plenty of pictures to make up for it. I mean, the pictures is why I'm doing this album in the first place!! Does it work? (I suppose at this point I was just glad to knock off this layout at last -- there were 50 pictures I had to narrow down from!)

credits:
Template 158 by Yin Designs (slightly altered)
Truly Yours by Amanda Heimann
fonts: Poplar Std, Pea Stacy's Doodle Script, American Typewriter

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I started a guest CT spot for Chelle's Creations! I had a great time working with her new release this week, a template set called Scrap Like Liz (inspired by one of her full-time creative team members). I struggle some with layering and clustering, but these made it easy -- plus, most of the set is for multiphoto layouts (which is practically the only kind of layout I bother with!) ;-)

credits:
Scrap Like Liz templates by Chelle's Creations
Half Moon Bay by Chelle's Creations
ricrac, brown papers, twine, and brown ribbon from Let's Camp S'more by Chelle's Creations
fonts: Perpetua Titling MT, Pea XOXO from Karen, American Typewriter

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Today I took a break from Julianne's album (again) to scrap with my own pictures.

Some people say that fifteen pictures might be too much for a layout, especially a single-page layout. But I say it can be done, and it can still look good! I'm proud of this one; can you tell? (I sort of scraplifted a previous layout I'd done for Julianne here. There were seventeen pictures on that one!)

I didn't really want to include pictures of myself (these aren't particularly flattering, I thought) but I also didn't want to be excluded just because I was the photographer. I would hate to be totally absent from my own scrapbooks. And now that I look at them, they're not too bad (it's great what some cropping and Photoshop actions will do).

Let's Camp S'more by Chelle's Creations
fonts: Pea Yar Yar, Pea Seelekish

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Thanks for looking!

Catching Up!

2009-11-25T17:14:00.000-08:00

I've been scrapping! Not as much as I was this summer, but I'm still plugging away! Wanna see??

This was for a NSD speed scrap. Is it weird to use ladybugs on a boy page? How 'bout a winter-coat page?? I really like how it turned out; speed scraps always push my creativity.

credits:
Lil' Lovebug by Golden Girls Digital Designs
frame and alpha from Where the Heart Grows by Golden Girls Digital Designs
star doodles from Everyday Memories by Chelle's Creations and Juno Designs
paperclips and dots from SO SUNny collab
fonts: Pea Lindsay Unicase, Pea Ninh

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A quick layout for Julianne, using a template and a new kit from my NSD spoils!

credits:
ScrapMatters Tuesday Template 11-10-09 by WM [squared] Designs
Breezy Holiday by Britt-ish Designs
Bursting with Joy: Fall paper pack by Britt-ish Designs
Weathered Fall paper pack by Erica Zane
My Ribbon Jar by Britt-ish Designs
Give It to Me Straight by Amanda Heimann
Stitching by Golden Girls Digital Designs
fonts: Heather Marie, American Typewriter

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The novelty of scrapping with PINK hasn't worn off. I went all-out for this strawberry milkshake page! The photos were fantastic (love the angles -- good job, Julianne) and I think this layout shows them off nicely.

credits:
Tuesday Template Oct 27 by Loribear
Visions of Sugarplums and Visions of Sugarplums Newsletter kit by Andilynn Designs and Haynay Designs
font: American Typewriter

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A simple page packed with pictures. Every once in awhile I just have to do pages like this! It's a good way to make some quick progress on a project. And I really do love that wordart; it made for a quick-and-easy title.

credits:
Cut It Out word art templates by Plum Dumpling Designs
Adventures in Reading by Plum Dumpling Designs
fonts: American Typewriter, Pea Alisha

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This page was created mostly because I wanted to play with this kit! That and, every once in awhile, I have to just scrap for myself.

credits:
Thanksgiving Greetings by Andilynn Designs
Heartland action by Pioneer Woman
fonts: Wish I Were Taller, Mr. and Mrs. Popsicle

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And one more. This page was prompted by the alpha. I know -- weird! When I got it as a show-off gift from Britt-ish Designs, I thought I would never have a reason to use it ... my subconscious must have taken that as a challenge and has been busy thinking of pages I could do with it ever since. When I saw the picture of Julianne with the snake, I knew I could play on the "wild" theme!

credits:
lift of Disneyland Exit by BriarRose59
Peppermint Bliss by Studio mgl
Cheetalpha by Britt-ish Designs
fonts: Will, Wanda's Write, American Typewriter

The Last Julianne Layouts...

2009-11-04T20:46:00.000-08:00

... before she gets home, that is! Of course I am not anywhere close to being done with her album. But I have made progress this week, which is more than I can say for, oh, the entire month of October! Julianne gets home from her mission tomorrow afternoon!! Wow!

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Okay, first up. This layout is supposed to be in that cool, clean graphic style. It was kind of fun to play around with but I'm not entirely pleased with the end result. Some of the problem is that the pictures themselves are blurry (looks like it was dusk when they were taken). The rest of the problem is that I'm not exactly pro at this graphic-style-thing.

I do like my "20 min" with the "20" in blue. I do like that. :-)

credits:
fonts: Lucinda Calligraphy, American Typewriter

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This layout was a lot of fun to put together. I love the kit I used (Everyday by Sahlin Studios -- a freebie in the latest issue of DigiScrapAddicts' newsletter) and the template was a lot of fun, too (so much so that I used it again -- stay tuned).

credits:
Pixie Plate #190 by Neverland Scraps
Everyday by Sahlin Studio
alphabeads by Ziggle Designs
font: American Typewriter

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The previous page is all about an investigator Julianne had; I thought it would be fun to make the opposing page match, since the theme here is that investigator's baptism. I toned down a few of the colors but kept many of the elements and papers the same ... and used that template again, too. This page came together pretty fast since I'd done most of the work already.

credits:
Pixie Plate #190 by Neverland Scraps
Everyday (some recolored) by Sahlin Studio
Sunshine in My Soul by Britt-ish Designs
alphabeads by Ziggle Designs
font: American Typewriter

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I've been looking forward to scrapping these photos, but was a little daunted by them, too. So many fun pictures, and with stories attached, too -- I thought for sure I'd have to do a two-pager to fit it all in. To my surprise, I squeezed it down to a single page! A lot of the credit goes to this great template pack I won over at DSA a month or two ago.

Also, I never have the nerve to do titles like this -- vertically. Not horizontal-turned-ninety-degrees (I do that a lot), but with the letters aligned up-and-down. I try it out all the time and then decide it looks hokey (is that weird?). But I like it here! I was glad to do something simple with my titlework this time while still making it look unique.

credits:
For Ali Templates (slightly altered) by Amy M Designs
Seasonal Sampler - Winter by Shabby Princess
Seasonal Sampler - Holiday 2006 by Shabby Princess
Holiday Magic by Shabby Princess
Moody Blues by Shabby Princess
Crinkled Up alpha by Danielle Corbitt
font: American Typewriter

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Thanks for looking! And welcome home, Julianne!

Finally ... Some Layouts to Share!

2009-10-31T20:15:00.000-07:00

At long last, I have some new pages to share! Technically this first one is from a couple weeks ago:

credits:
Terrible Twos by Plum Dumpling Designs
Scribble Scrabble Alpha by Plum Dumpling Designs
alpha-bits by Plum Dumpling Designs
fonts: eight-fifteen, American Typewriter, Courier

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Then I fell into a scrapping slump for a week or two, and when that happens, I usually just have to pick some photos I really want to scrap and use a template to pull me out of it. Here are some recent pictures of my kids playing in our fall leaves (you know, before winter came! We've got probably a foot of snow on the ground still from our last storm!)

credits:
9-29-09 Tuesday Template by Purple Tulip Designs
Fall Frolic by Andilynn Designs
fonts: Tan Patty, Thinking of You, Traveling Typewriter

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I really like this page. It came together really fast (which always influences my feelings toward a layout -- the longer I spend on it, the less I like it). The colors are fun and I like the "minimal" design. I only used ONE element -- but I think any more would distract from the photos here.

credits:
Way to Be: The Works by Andilynn Designs
Simply Stamped Alpha: Charcoal by Andilynn Designs
fonts: Thinking of You, American Typewriter

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I ended up having so much fun with this last layout. I think it has a lot to do with the fun pictures! I ended up piecing together the elements and papers from a bunch of different sources (all from Britt-ish Designs) and it turned out fabulous, if I do say so myself. And who would have ever thought a mom of two boys would scrap with so much hot pink?? I can't believe I found any in my stash.

credits:
heart paper from Sisters for Life add-on by Britt-ish Designs
pink paper, pink gem, and light blue string from The Bright Side add-on by Britt-ish Designs
blue paper from Glam-O-Rama: Weathered paper pack by Britt-ish Designs
dark blue string from Tale As Old As Time add-on by Britt-ish Designs
blue jewels, white frame, and circle stitches (recolored) from Sunshine in My Soul by Britt-ish Designs
pink circle mat is from a paper in Monstrosity add-on (recolored) by Britt-ish Designs
blue burst from Land of Fantasy add-on by Britt-ish Designs
acrylic burst from Galactic Alliance add-on by Britt-ish Designs
fonts: Oh Photo Shoot!, American Typewriter

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Thanks for looking!

Fall Frolic!

2009-10-16T09:09:00.000-07:00

Andilynn Designs has a new kit at ScrapMatters today! It's called Fall Frolic and it's perfect for all those fall foliage pics, but versatile enough for your everyday pictures, too. That's what I scrapped with it -- some "everyday" pics from Julianne's mission:

credits:
Fall Foliage by Andilynn Designs
fonts: Sandee Script, American Typewriter, Courier

New at ScrapMatters Today...

2009-10-09T10:10:00.001-07:00

I love the new kit that Plum Dumpling Designs released today! It's called "Everyday Thanks", but it's so much more than just a Thanksgiving kit -- it's versatile enough for any of your fall (or whenever) pics! Take a look:

There are so many great papers to choose from in this kit, a wide assortment of fun patterns with some rich solids to match. The elements were the perfect complement to the kit; I especially loved the unique ribbons (always love ribbons) and messy stitches. I just had so much fun working with it; take a look what I came up with:

Everyday Thanks by Plum Dumpling Designs
fonts: My Own Topher, Pea Biggio, American Typewriter

There's a freebie add-on over on Mary's blog -- AND you even have a chance to win the full kit for free! Can't beat that!! Check out this thread over at Digishoptalk.

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Also new in the shop today (and on sale to boot) is a 2010 calendar from Andilynn Designs! It's perfect for a personalized calendar for yourself and your family; take a look:

And see that? It's a "creative team collab" -- that's me! I was assigned to the August page; here's a close up look of the spread I did (my first experience at making a quickpage -- a lot of fun, actually!) Here is the top; it comes with two versions, with and without the wordart:

So Long to Summer by Andilynn Designs
grid and "August" wordart courtesy Emilee Moore
2010 calendar quickpages available from Andilynn Designs

Head on over to ScrapMatters today to see even more great new products!

Don't Forget...

2009-10-07T13:08:00.001-07:00

...the ScrapMatters Daily Download is still going on! The kit is Get a Move On, and while it's great for your moving and remodeling layouts, it's also versatile enough for non-themed pages, too. Take a look at this fun page I did for my sister-in-law Julianne:

credits:
October Daily Download kit (Get a Move On) by ScrapMatters Designers
fonts: Big Caslon, Engravers MT, Bickham Script Pro, American Typewriter

(So I've never actually seen Karate Kid. Does the quote I used for the title even make sense??)

That super-cool blue background paper by WM2 Designs (which I used in both this layout and my "Painting the Bathroom" layout) is what's up for today -- don't miss it!

Plum Dumpling Designs and the SM Daily Download

2009-10-01T09:04:00.000-07:00

So guess what -- I've been accepted to another creative team! Mary of Plum Dumpling Designs won ScrapMatters' design contest last spring and I'm on her first ever CT. Yay!!

I jumped in just in time to scrap with a new collab from Plum Dumpling Designs and several other ScrapMatters designers -- and guess what? You can download this kit for FREE! New pieces will be available each day at this thread in ScrapMatters ... but don't delay, each part will only be available for twenty-four hours! It began today (the alpha is already up for downloading) so hurry on over there!

This kit works great for moving pictures, of course, but I found it works great for those remodeling projects around the house. I especially loved the paint swatches included in the kit -- Mary included the templates so you can drop in your own colors or even your own photos (like I did in this layout below):

credits:
Get a Move On (October's Daily Download) by the ScrapMatters Design Team
fonts: Elephants in Cherry Trees, Century Gothic

When I showed this layout to my husband, he especially liked the staples. Take a close look -- they're those heavy-duty cardboard ones, just like you'd use for moving boxes! Cool, huh?

Christmas in Redcar

2009-09-19T19:46:00.000-07:00

So I didn't leave the house today, but I finished up the last of Julianne's Christmas pictures (at least, I think they're the last ones ... I should double-check). Here they are!

These pictures crack me up:

Holly Jolly by Andilynn Designs
black background paper, paperclip, and chain from Let's Go Bowling by Andilynn Designs
eyelets from Holly Jolly make your own tags by Andilynn Designs
black bow from So Long to Summer by Andilynn Designs
We're Just Dating v. 3 by Britt-ish Designs
Icy Blue Alpha by Andilynn Designs
font: Pea Stacy

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This page might look familiar to some of you. I scrapped this for my own 2008 album! Since it had Julianne's pajama-pictures in it, I thought it would be fine to reuse the layout. I adjusted some of the journaling and added a frame to her main picture.

credits:
Template 63 by Simply Yin
Papers and most elements from Whoville by Ginger Scraps
Glittery alpha and a staple from Fancy Pants by Pineapple Plantation Designs
Alpha beads by Ziggle Designs
Fonts: Stamp Act (”the”), Zapfino (”traditional”), PAss the CheX (”photo shoot”), Pea Yar Yar, and American Typewriter

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And then one more...

credits:
lift of rxdawg97's Cool in the Pool
Be Merry by Andilynn Designs
Paper Shapers by Britt-ish Designs
fonts: Love Ya Like a Sister, American Typewriter

Off to Redcar!

2009-09-17T21:19:00.003-07:00

After about a week-long hiatus from Julianne's album, I'm back with two new pages today!

This page turned out prettier than I thought it would. That's always pleasant! I was lifting from a layout which had so many great elements placed in with the pictures, but that's not my style (mainly because I'm really not so good at the element placement) so I went with a cleaner, simpler approach. I'm really pleased with it!

lift of Let Her Eat Cake by panders77
Boys of Summer by ScrapOrchard Seedlings
She's Got Curves by Britt-ish Designs
Embroidered Monogram Alpha by Danielle Young
fonts are Pea Jenny Script and American Typewriter

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And this layout, in a way, is long overdue. My friend Amy has been digiscrapping for longer than I have and yet I've never lifted one of her layouts. Well, it's about time I did! Technically mine is actually a lift of a lift, but I loved Amy's version better than the original (even if she didn't). She managed to take a single-photo layout that I would have passed by in the gallery (because, as a rule, I don't do single-photo layouts) ... and she turned it into a multi-photo one that looked just beautiful.

I like how my version turned out, with the colors and the black and white photos and the simple title work running into the journaling ... but my element placement seems off. I spent some time messing with it but decided it was "good enough" to go on ... I'm doing that more and more lately.

credits:
lift of bahamagirls' Hard Being This Cute
Strawberry Kisses by Tracie Stroud
fonts are Pea Frankie and American Typewriter

Andilynn Designs!

2009-09-15T19:19:00.001-07:00

Big news -- I'm now creating for Andilynn Designs! (Doesn't that sound fancy??) This is my first creative team (though I do have a guest spot with another designer coming up in December) and I'm really enjoying the experience so far!

I've done two layouts with Andilynn Designs products and I'm so excited with how they turned out. I used sort of a similar theme (yes, I took a break from Julianne's stuff and scrapped a few pages for myself -- it'd been more than a month!) and I used two different templates from the same template pack ... I've done something similar before and they looked so nice printed next to each other in my album! Not an official two-pager but still very complementary.

I love this template pack -- the blocking style is so fun but there's room for a nice BIG picture (or two or three).

I Love Templates by Andilynn Designs
So Long to Summer by Andilynn Designs
fonts: My Own Topher, Pea Alisha, Love Ya Like a Sister

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Technically this is a bowling kit, but you can see it's versatile enough to use with regular photos, too. I thought the bright bursts mimicked the flash from the camera.

I Love Templates by Andilynn Designs
Let's Go Bowling by Andilynn Designs
Tie One On by Amanda Heimann
Nifty Tile Alpha by Andilynn Designs
fonts: Love Ya Like a Sister, Pea Alisha

Thanks for looking!

Out of Bradford!

2009-09-14T21:25:00.000-07:00

I bought Erica Zane's Hard Hat 101 kit a couple weeks ago when it was on sale with the intention of using it for pictures with my boys, but couldn't wait to scrap with it. Construction zone, missionary zone ... it works, right?

template 52 by Jill & Jack Scraps
Hard Hat 101 by Erica Zane
fonts: Guess What. and American Typewriter

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I was glad to have this layout be a little different from the last "home" one. The picture of Julianne pulling out the fish head from the freezer was a fun, unique focal point! :-)

lift of Stefanie's coffee time?
A Forever Family by GG Digital Designs
Stitching by GG Digital Designs
fonts: Cafe Rojo, Elephants in Cherry Trees (for the fish skeleton -- it's the hyphen character), American Typewriter

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I'm so proud of this layout! Seventeen pictures without (in my opinion) feeling overdone, and not even a template or a lift. Oh baby yeah.

papers from contest freebie by Digiscrap Addicts designers
elements from The Bright Side add-on by Britt-ish Designs
fonts: Light and Black, Missed Your Exit, American Typewriter

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For some reason this two-pager took me for-ev-er. I think I started it last Wednesday and finally finished it today. I loved laying out all the blocks and arranging the pictures (that just took me one afternoon) but it's just not that fun for me to put in the journaling, add the elements, and shadow everything ... still, I'm pleased with how it turned out.

lift of Life's a Beach by Plum Dumpling Designs (aka littlehiccup)
Natural Wonders by ScrapMatters Designers
A Little Spring in Your Step by Gone Scrappin' Designs by Lyndie
Yippee Skippee by Britt-ish Designs
Fairchild add-on by Britt-ish Designs
font is Pea Darlin' Deb and American Typewriter

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I won this kit, Hoo's My Boy, over at DigiScrapAddicts! I've had some good luck over there. This kit was very fun to work with!

GirlTalk July 09 challenge Template by Deanna Palmer
Hoo's My Boy by geniaBeana scraps and Kimi's Kreations
font: American Typewriter

And with that, I've gotten Jules OUT of Bradford! Now it's off to the sea ... Redcar!

Three More Layouts

2009-09-04T20:36:00.000-07:00

I've been saving up the silly pictures of Julianne and her companion, Sister Holtz, for a page like this. I figured it could go next to the page of their little "photo shoot" that I showed you last post -- it saves me time not having to pick a new kit, anyway. They fit together in theme already so hey -- got it covered!

Yes, I found the perfect wordart! Hee hee!

Template 8 (altered a bit) by Mandagirl Creations
May Apple Cart by Matahati Designs
title wordart from Elegant Wordart by Bethany
font: American Typewriter

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I've had the idea for this layout in my mind for a long time. Monumental occasion, folks -- this is the first time I used a single photo for a layout for this book since the title page! (Of course, then I go making it look like I have three or four different pictures ... hee hee.) I felt like this was an important page to scrap, even though there was just one photo, because study time is such an integral part of an LDS missionary's schedule.

Now, all the extra frou-frou took me awhile (part of me was relishing in the pink that I never thought I'd get to use from this kit), but it was worth it -- I like the result.

You'll notice that, of course, I compensate for all the white space in this template by filling it with the blended picture. I just don't do white space very well!

ScrapMatters Tuesday Template 09/01/09 by jendavey
Loverly by Sahlin Studio
My Ribbon Jar by Britt-ish Designs
Hang In There by Britt-ish Designs
paperclip from Urban Kiwi by Shabby Princess
fonts: Pea Cammi-Pea, American Typewriter

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This is one of my favorite layouts this week! I just love scrapping on an almost-white background -- it makes the photos stand out so well (and these photos, after brightening them up a bit, were really nice). Plus, this template was really fun to work with; I picked it up at Peppermint Creative, and it's still free -- though if you want it to look like mine, you're going to have to flip it and add a couple more pics! (I always seem to be adding more pics!)

This one's going to look nice in the book, next to the frost layout from last post.

Freebie template #3 by Cindy Schneider
Jack Frost by Golden Girls Digital Designs
white paper from White Christmas by Britt-ish Designs
All Stitched Up by Tracie Stroud
Glitzy Paper Dot Alpha by Britt-ish Designs
Chunky Blue Alpha by Britt-ish Designs
fonts: Tiza and American Typewriter

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Thanks for looking! Hopefully next week we'll get out of Bradford!!

The Latest

2009-09-01T20:12:00.000-07:00

Here are those cemetery pictures I promised! They were tricky to scrap, since Julianne had pre-colored them to black-and-white, but I'm pleased with how it all turned out.

If the design looks familiar, it's 'cause I'm scraplifting myself. (Hopefully I'm not copying somebody's composition subconsciously!)

Boo-ville by Brandy Designs
paper from Feels Like Home by Sarah Bennett
fonts: Howser, American Typewriter

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My favorite part of this layout is the wordart I created in the background: it's an actual e-mail from Julianne, written on the day she took these pictures!

Handcut Template no. 02 by Ashley Kennedy
Rainy Afternoon by Kim Higueria
All Stitched Up by Tracie Stroud
Stained Alpha by Designs by Sarah (Sarah Bryan)
fonts are Courier and American Typewriter

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The photo treatment here really warms up the whole page, I think (thanks, PioneerWoman, for your great actions set ... I think it was Soft and Faded I used here!)

02/17/09 ScrapMatters Tuesday Template by Denise Beatty Originals
Falling for You by ScrapOrchard Designers
buttons by Sarah Bennett
Fading Word Arts: Thanksgiving by Britt-ish Designs
fonts are Mutlu and American Typewriter

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This was a fun page to scrap in 80-degree temperatures! Brrrr!

ScrapMatters Tuesday Template 4/28/09 by Designs by Stefanie
White Christmas by Britt-ish Designs
font: American Typewriter

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I love layouts with a great photo series! This one is no exception.

Also: what do you think of the date tag I made?? I love it!

a lift of Erica Zane's such cuties
May Apple Cart by Matahati Designs
font: American Typewriter

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Today I did this two-pager (had to alter the template to fit on more pics, of course!) I bought this kit a year ago and then hardly used it (I wasn't up to scrapping a bunch of Christmas pictures last year), but the fun, retro look of things really fits the personality of the pictures, I think.

(I know these pictures are small -- left-click on them and it should bring up a new page with a bigger image! You'll have to use the "back" button to get back to this page, though!)

Template 26 by Yin Designs
Santa Baby by ScrapOrchard Designers
fonts: Pea Jenna and American Typewriter

Thanks for looking!

Some Old, Some New

2009-08-26T14:56:00.000-07:00

I've been busy with real life the past few days and haven't gotten to scrap as much as I'd like -- but I remedied that this afternoon.

But first -- a couple pages all the way from last week that I didn't post yet...

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I'd been looking forward to these pictures for awhile, if only because I downloaded the CUTEST bowling stuff a few months ago and have not been able to use it yet! This page came together in under an hour, which is always good.

Template #48 by Jill & Jack Scraps
Bowl-O-Rama by Ziggle Designs (a freebie; get it here and here)
wordart (altered) from Let's Go Bowling add-on by Andilynn Designs
fonts are Jailbird Jenna, Caitlin, and American Typewriter

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The inspiration for the title on this page is directly from Julianne (it was the caption to one of the photos). Luckily I had an umbrella in my stash to dress up this page, too.

Template 24 (inspired by Jacinda) by Chrissy W.
Rain, Rain by Kristin Aagard
dotty orange paper by Amanda Rockwell
diamond red/white paper from Whoville by Ginger Scraps
gradient paper from Color My World paper pack by Chelle's Creations
journal strip papers from Technicolor freebie by mgl Studio
Doodletime by Tracie Stroud
staple from Sun Porch by Amy Teets
Alphabetical by Britt-ish Designs
Detention Alpha by Krystal Hartley
fonts are: Oh Photo Shoot!, Light & Black, Gill Sans Ultra Bold, GG Basic, Baby Bowser, and American Typewriter

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And now for the pages I worked on today. Here's the first one. I love the colors on it but am a little undecided on whether I like the blended photo in the background (the same photo is cropped and used in the upper right block). What's your opinion?

I do love the journaling, though. It's all Julianne's words (pieced together and edited, but still her words); it tells the story with her unique voice. I do this as often as possible, but this page is one of the better examples. Feels much more authentic. :-)

template is NSD 2009 freebie by Jen Caputo
Summer Bling by Matahati Designs
fonts are Tan Patty and American Typewriter

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And a second page. I feel like this is three separate "stories" (i.e., sisters sleeping, sisters writing letters, and big photo shoot) so I'm pleased that the page feels more or less cohesive. And I did it without a template, even! :-D

I just realized I forgot the date; I added that to my copy.

Remember Me add-on freebie by Sarah Bennett
fonts are Pea Stacy's Doodle Script and American Typewriter

Thanks for looking! Up next ... Julianne's CEMETERY pictures!

Horsing Around

2009-08-19T08:50:00.001-07:00

I was just NOT pleased with the horse layout I did yesterday, so this morning I played around with it a bit. I think it's better now. Still not my favorite (partially due to the quality of the pictures, I suppose, which is out of my control) but I think it's good enough that I can leave it alone!

Barefoot Adventures with Daddy by AnnaBV Designs
Mostly Doodles alpha by AnnaBV Designs
fonts are Everytime I Miss You and American Typewriter

And MORE Bradford

2009-08-18T20:46:00.000-07:00

Julianne has these pictures of her and her companion with this tiny little horse outside of Bradford, so I did a search for "horse" on my hard drive to see if, by chance, I had downloaded anything with a horse in it (which had been labeled as such; I am not one who takes the time to tag my stuff). I was surprised to find that I did have a horse!

And that's why I chose this kit. It's a pretty one, but not exactly my style. I'm not really sure if this layout works, and I think a lot of it is the pictures -- they were taken at twilight, when it still seems pretty light outside but your camera ends up with either a blurry mess (see bottom photo) or, by using the flash, creates a scene that looks like it was done in the middle of the night (see the other photos). I thought maybe I'd change that blurry photo to black-and-white (the horse was looking blue, and even though my horse element is blue, it still looked weird); is it better? Or is it worse?? (Here it is in color, if you want to see).

Seriously, this page was such a let down after my last Totally Awesome one; I wondered if I should have even bothered. But I had such a cool idea for a title! I'll keep it; it will help everyone appreciate how cool all the other pages are.

ScrapMatters Tuesday Template 08/18/09 by Linz
Barefoot Adventures with Daddy by AnnaBV Designs
Mostly Doodles alpha by AnnaBV Designs
fonts are Everytime I Miss You and American Typewriter

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In this layout, I did nearly twice as many pictures in half the time -- and without a template (yes!!). And I love it. This was a great kit to work with (and I even got it for free! Do you check out The Daily Scrapper? Worth looking into! ;-) )

My only beef with this page is with how it presents the story (which, admittedly, I don't know most of; I'm at the mercy of Julianne's cursory captions on this one). This elder's companion IS in one of the pictures from this set; it's not like he was MIA or something. But he was sitting on a bench, arms folded, mid-yawn. How could I put that on a page with so much energy?? Yeah, I couldn't, so I left him off. But does it look weird that there's one elder and two sisters here? Then again, if I DID put the companion on, would it be even weirder that there are two elders and two sisters?? I'm sure the members are around, but they're not in any pictures!

Am I overthinking this??? :-P

Sunshine Day by Christie Lemmon and Steel City Designs
journaling tag is from Saturday Special Journaling Freebie by Chelle's Creations
fonts are Wish I Were Taller and American Typewriter

More Bradford

2009-08-17T20:14:00.001-07:00

It's me again! And I've got more layouts to share, of course!

I did this one on Saturday afternoon. I really like how it came together! I hadn't meant to have the pops of color in there; originally I had journaled on the photos; then I did just plain white journaling strips. But it still needed something -- so I clipped bright papers to those strips and I thought the result was fantastic!

Template #121 by ScrappingwithLiz (freebie!)
Seriously Solid paper pack by Sarah Bennett (freebie!)
fonts are Century Gothic, Charlemagne Std, American Typewriter

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In the same vein as the last layout, I began this one by combing through Julie's Bradford albums to find the pictures for this page -- have I mentioned before how difficult it can be to group these pictures together? I breathe a sigh of relief now when I come to a P-Day activity or a baptism or something that are grouped together and are obviously meant to be one page. ;-)

Still, these pictures are definitely fun and this page came together pretty fast since it was a lift (a lift of a template, even).

And technically I don't think Julianne was knocking doors in that last photo there, but there were NO pictures of her on this page otherwise! We can't have that. So I found this picture of her on the streets of Bradford, in the daytime. Works for me.

a lift of virginiajen's Happy New Year 2009
A Little Bit Country by the ScrapOrchard Seedlings
stitching from Where the Heart Grows by Golden Girls Digital Designs
Stained Alpha by Designs by Sarah Bryan
fonts are Eight Fifteen and American Typewriter

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This layout started out like the other two, with me combing through Julianne's albums trying to group ALL her pictures from the Bradford City Centre together, no matter when they were taken. I emerged with about twelve pictures I was trying to cram onto one layout. I was in the middle of trying to make it look decent (I was working without a template and it was not going well) when my computer crashed. Since the boys were up from their "naps" (yes, quotation marks) anyway, I tabled the layout for the afternoon and took them upstairs for awhile.

I happened to talk to my mother-in-law a couple hours later, and she put in a special request for some of the very photos I was working on. Knowing she loved those photos so much changed my perspective on the page; I scrapped (haha) the idea of incorporating all pictures and just focused on this one (well, maybe you'd call it two) event at the City Centre. (Most of the other pics are Christmas ones, and those really can wait until later.)

I also decided to completely start over. Suddenly I knew the kit I was using wasn't going to work, the design wasn't going to work -- so I opened up a new document altogether. (But, in case you're curious and want to see how far this layout really came, I uploaded my half-finished layout that you can see here. I may revisit the design concept later because I think it will work with fewer photos.)

I had seen a great layout a week or two back in the ScrapMatters gallery and decided these pictures would really work with that design, so I lifted it. And I remembered to run some actions on the photos (very helpful). And I picked a kit that was just saturated in color.

And that's how I came up with my new favorite layout of all time. (I think I get new favorites almost every time I scrap. That's a good thing.)

Lift of chia's Flying High
Everyday Memories by Chelle's Creations and Juno Designs
fonts are AL Sandra and American Typewriter

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Thanks for looking!

Making My Way through Bradford

2009-08-14T14:34:00.000-07:00

I've done four Bradford pages (Julianne's second area) in two days. Are you ready?? Let's go!

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After my struggles last week with trying to get my layouts to satisfy ScrapMatters challenges, I decided to take a "break" and just scrap -- my way! And I love how this one turned out! I owe a lot to the layout I lifted; it was fantastic and just my style. May have to use it again!

lift of Cave Tubing by TanyaH666
The Blues by Pineapple Plantations and Ziggle Designs
scalloped mat/border recolored from Playtime by geniaBeana
stitches from Sunshine in My Soul by Britt-ish Designs
Browntown alpha (some recolored) from Britt-ish Designs
fonts are Snell Roundhand and American Typewriter

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I managed to get TWO pages done during naptime, because naptime actually happened yesterday. This one is simple but very pretty, if I do say so myself. I love these flora brushes by Andilynn Designs -- well, I loved them enough to buy them, and then I forgot I had them until I came across them while doing this layout. I'm glad I did. :-)

Template 114 (altered to add MORE PICS!) by Yin Designs
Back It Up paper pack by Amanda Heimann
flora brushes by Andilynn Designs
alpha is from Sun Porch by Amy Teets
fonts are Eight Fifteen and American Typewriter

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I like this layout, too! Crazy. :-) (There were so many last week that I didn't really care for because I'd looked at them too long!)

This is technically a lift, but I was only inspired by a couple of things from the original layout. One was the basic centered design. The other was the cool titlework.

In the original (linked below), the title was behind the main subject of the layout while still being on top of the photo. What a cool idea! However, I didn't know how that would work on my layout -- I had a longish title ("Nikki's Baptism) and the subject (Nikki) is taking up a lot of space in the frame (someone took a good picture; ever let someone use your camera and then feel the need to go back and teach them to use the zoom??). However, this was bad for my little titlework idea, because too much of the title would be completely covered up.

But I had the idea: I'd repeat the title over and over, on a pretty curved line. I struggled with my pen tool (making those curved lines is not something I had mastered at this point, but I got quite a bit better because of this layout). Then decided to repeat the whole line of text again ... yeah, that looked cool! So I did it again -- and again. And I fiddled with the colors. And it looked really cool! I put some of the text layers in front of the other photo it was covering and some of it behind ... and then I realized that it looks a bit like Julianne and company are standing in water! What an appropriate coincidence!

Yes, one of my most favorite titles ever. :-)

Inspired by the titlework of Cole1 by jam1el33:
Spontaneous Delight by Carrie Stephens
stitches are from Sunshine in My Soul by Britt-ish Designs
fonts are Cafe Rojo and American Typewriter

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This one was for the color challenge at ScrapMatters. When I first saw the challenge, I realized the bright, bold color palette we were supposed to use matched pretty well with the kit that was free in last month's ScrapMatters newsletter. For a week or more, I've been waiting for the right pictures to go with it. These happy pics of Julianne and her companion (who's got a bright and fun personality) seemed to fit perfectly!

Everyday by Chelle's Creations and Juno Designs
Crinkled Up alpha by Danielle Corbitt
fonts are Charlie and American Typewriter

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Thanks for looking! I'm having fun plugging away at this album. And I think I'm even making some real progress! Just a week ago, I was scrapping pictures from July 2008; now I'm into September/October. Yay!

Last Day of Worksop!

2009-08-12T23:17:00.001-07:00

I scrapped Julianne's last day of Worksop ... so it's my last day of scrapping Worksop! Haha!

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This layout was fun to do. I thought I'd try to match the red in the door, but instead I decided on green (a complementary color to red) to make the red really pop. I like it.

ScrapMatters Tuesday Template 08/11/09 (altered) by Man in the Moon Designs
Love Life by Sahlin Studio
fonts: barcode font and American Typewriter

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Then I went crazy -- I decided to essentially turn the previous page into a two-pager. The subject? All the little photos that were cute and/or pretty but not enough for their own layout! TWENTY pics on a page, baby! (Though I had to leave out seventeen more that had also been filed in my "miscellaneous Worksop" folder).

Tuesday Template 08/11/09 (altered a LOT) by Man in the Moon Designs
Love Life by Sahlin Studio
wordart is from Everyday by Megan Turnidge
fonts: American Typewriter

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We're off to Bradford!

Coinciding of Transfers

2009-08-11T20:41:00.000-07:00

My sister-in-law Julianne just got transferred to a new area out in England yesterday -- just as I'm just about to her first area in her album. Only, what, four or five more to go? (Yikes, this is a huge project!)

So here are the latest pages.

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Not my favorite page. Is it the colors? I played with it for awhile and improved on it but don't love it. But not every page is meant to be loved. It's fine enough, I decided.

In the Neighborhood by Casey Krause
Dirty Boy alpha by Misty Cato
fonts are Elise and American Typewriter

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A tricky page because I tried to make it meet some guidelines for a formula challenge over at ScrapMatters. This took me entirely too long considering there are so few pictures on the page (yes, for the purpose of this album, I've decided that that's "few").

The page started out with just three pictures, though, and it looked a lot better ... but then I realized I'd forgotten the picture of the decorated white board. Stylistically it looks kind of weird to have it there (I tried to balance it out with the journaling tag, but I know -- it doesn't quite work), but I thought that pictures should take precedence over art.

I do love this kit, though. I'm glad to have an excuse to use it.

Stars and Stripes Forever by Chelle's Creations, WM[squared], and Designs by Tater
Saturday Special journaling tags by Chelle's Creations (freebie in the ScrapMatters store)
Teeny Tiny Christmas Alpha by Britt-ish Designs
fonts are Blackjack and American Typewriter

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I took a break from scrapping over the weekend; I felt mildly frustrated that I wasn't "getting anything done" but it was rejuvenating, too.

Monday I sat down and cranked this out -- it one came together so fast, and without a template, too! I LOVE it! It's my favorite from this batch. I was so proud of myself for telling two stories on one page without it looking silly. And I learned a new Photoshop technique, too (I love the Saturday Special over at ScrapMatters). YAY. Love this page (did I say that already??).

Birds of a Feather mini and Birds of a Feather add-on by WM [squared] designs
Garden District bonus alpha by Pineapple Plantation Designs and Misty Cato
fonts are Everytime I Miss You and American Typewriter

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I was on such a high from the last page that I made the mistake of starting this one right away. Well, I guess my mistake actually was doing it in conjunction with that silly formula challenge at ScrapMatters. You see, some of the instructions really threw me for a loop ...

Use a template with an odd number of photos (it's Yin to the rescue!). Use shapes that aren't circles, rectangles or squares (I toyed with this instruction for forever and finally settled on the flower-shaped button). Use ribbons and staples and buttons and tags (played around with ALL KINDS OF STUFF for FOREVER). Turn something upside-down (which is why my title is weird. It's interesting but I know people are going to look at it and go, huh?? Don't blame them.). Use blue (this really doesn't work with my color scheme, but I finally decided that navy would not look too distracting. Stacy and Clinton say navy would go with anything. Right? Right??)

By this point, I was most definitely off my "scrapping high" and ready to just forget the challenge altogether. But I'd come so far ... and there was just one more instruction to go: shrink EVERYTHING (except the background) 10%. Well, I did it and it looked terrible. So I tried 5% and it looked slightly better, but I still had to play around with my elements for another fifteen minutes. I may or may not be disqualified since I didn't shrink it as much as I was supposed to, but yeah, whatever.

Now I really do like this layout; don't get me wrong. Fun colors and pictures and whatnot. But it was NOT worth spending an entire afternoon on.

Also: I hope I got enough of the pictures on here. I know -- there's NINE pictures on one page -- but she took a ZILLION. I felt bad leaving so many out!

Template 56 by Yin Designs
Family Ties blog freebie by Jeni Hopewell
tag and ricrac from Sense of Adventure add-on by Happy Scrap Girl
red button from Button It Up! sampler pack by Sarah Morgan Designs
green flower button from Mint Chocolate Chip freebie by Haynay Designs
staple from Sunshine in My Soul by Britt-ish Designs
Iron Alpha by Elegant WordArt by Bethany
fonts are smiley monster and American Typewriter

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You'd think I'd want to stop scrapping after that, but I was determined to finish my scrapping on a good note for the day. I whipped up a layout as quickly as I could, with no thought to whether it would satisfy a challenge. It doesn't, and I don't care. It came together in thirty minutes.

I didn't think I really liked it all that much, but this morning when I was looking through the gallery, it caught my eye -- cool multiphoto layout; I like the colors and design, I thought as I clicked on the thumbnail -- and then I realized it was mine. Haha! Well, I'm glad I like it!

Love Lives template (altered) by Fei-fei's stuff
Bursting with Joy: Fall paper pack by Britt-ish Designs
embroidered monogram alpha by Danielle Young
fonts are Blackjack, An Accidental Kiss, and American Typewriter

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Now here's simplicity at its finest. I used just a plain black background, simple fonts, and even blocking style. This is the best way to get a TON of photos on the page, I've found -- and a bonus: it's quick.

This actually does satisfy a challenge: to use a haiku in your layout. Never tried it before; I like it here.

Sparkle and Shine by Jennifer Barrette
Doodletime by Tracie Stroud
fonts: Arial and American Typewriter

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The count for her album is at 22 layouts now. Originally I thought I'd shoot for 100 or so, to fill up a Winkflash book. Now I'm not sure whether it will fit in one book. :-P But seriously ... more than 100 pages? I'd better not think about it!

More for Julianne (again)

2009-08-05T19:12:00.001-07:00

Susan said she was anxious to see the latest in Julianne's album, so here they are!

This layout can't help but be awesome just because of the pictures. Aren't they great?? So Julianne.

But here's my question: are opaque gray tights really so fashion-backward? Because I totally had a pair when I was in college that I wore every Sunday throughout the winter ... for years. I thought they were great! And they really held up well. Of course, this was, like, ten years ago, so maybe they really are that bad now. (Man, I'm old.)

Tuesday Template 7-28-09 (altered a bit) by WM[squared] Designs
15 across, 42 down by Ziggle Designs
several papers from Dinner Party by Shabby Princess and Sara Carling
staples from Apple Cart #1 by Ziggle Designs
Polkee-dawt alpha by Britt-ish Designs
fonts: Century Gothic, Jailbird Jenna, and American Typewriter

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I struggled with this next layout. Don't get me wrong -- the pictures are beautiful and I am pleased with the overall result -- but I was scrapping while my kids were wreaking havoc.

Okay okay -- here's the whole gruesome story:

First off, naptime was a total bust at my house that day. So was "quiet time," really, though the kids did seem to be somewhat entertained playing in the toy-pit that is our basement while I scrapped at the desk in the corner. So I went ahead and started on this page.

I was trying desperately to turn a four-photo layout into a nine-photo one (I was looking to lift a layout I spotted in the gallery because I loved how she stacked her background papers). But how could I do this without totally covering up the stacked papers that I loved so much? And besides -- scenery pictures are really hard to scrap, I've decided. Typically the reason you take them in the first place is to show the beauty of it, and I didn't want each little photo to be overwhelmed by all the others ... but then I didn't see any other way around it (because it also seemed pointless to scrap each of these photos by themselves)! The whole thing was enough to give me a conniption.

Meanwhile, my two-year-old had stopped playing with his toys and was tearing apart daddy's nice headphones. Nathan is generally laid back about the kids touching his things -- but the headphones are sacred. I felt sick when Logan showed me the ear piece ripped off and wires exposed.

And then, a minute later, my computer abruptly rebooted itself and I hadn't saved ... not a thing. An hour's work down the drain!

It probably was a mixed blessing in disguise, because while I went upstairs to cool off, I was able to see in my mind how I could get this layout to work. Awhile later I came downstairs and rebuilt the page in maybe half an hour.

And Nathan's headphones? He soldered them back together. With his soldering iron. And they work. (Yes, he's the man.)

So. All's well that end's well, I guess.

Here's the famed (infamous?) layout (which I actually really like):

this was inspired by kimbytx's Doctor M
Natural Wonders by ScrapMatters Designers
staple is from Sunshine in My Soul by Britt-ish Designs
fonts are American Typewriter and Clingy

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This one was more therapy-scrapping than anything else. After the last layout, I wanted something that would come together quickly and easily. Ask any scrapper which kind of layout is easier -- one with nine photos or one with three -- and I'm guessing they'll all say three. This was the case here, and while this doesn't give me as big a bang for my buck photo-wise, it was a layout I could do in under an hour.

A lift of becca372's "cutest"
Where the Heart Grows by Golden Girls Digital Designs
font is American Typewriter

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The boys did take naps today, and while Josh's was way too short, I was able to get the bulk of this done while they slept.

It was really quite lucky that I chose this kit -- I try not to spend a long time picking when I'm doing these pages, so when I saw Julianne's green shirt and Sister Lomax's blue one I went for this blue-and-green kit I knew I had stashed away. Then I saw the gradient paper (and the gradient string) and the arrows and thought, hmm -- how appropriate for scrapping this transitional page! It matched the journaling well (which I adapted from a few paragraphs from her e-mails and photo captions ... this is what I've been doing for all the pages, actually, and I'm indebted to April for all her work in getting that up and archived on the web so it's accessible to me!)

One more thing regarding my color scheme -- the bottom right picture was SO distracting originally, what with its bright sunny colors: the door was red, the bench was a vibrant teal, the window sill was lemon-yellow. I used the selective-recoloring trick from a past Saturday Special and, voila -- instant paint-job! I so wish I could Photoshop my house!!

Template 10 by Scrapmuss Designs (ScrapMatters' Tuesday Template for 08/04/09)
SYTYCD Week 1 by Studio Flergs
Give It to Me Straight by Amanda Heimann
My Ribbon Jar by Britt-ish Designs
Date Stamped by Britt-ish Designs
fonts are Elephants in Cherry Trees and American Typewriter

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Thanks for looking! (And remember: command-S is your friend!)

Some Catching Up

2009-08-01T20:59:00.000-07:00

All right, time to catch up on layouts! I've been scrapping up a storm lately!!

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So ... I love this one. One of my favorite layouts of all time. The design, the element placement, the colors -- yeah. Love this. (Is that vain??) It earned a spot in the gallery standout thread at ScrapMatters.

Jokes on You by Sweet Digi Scraps
We're Just Dating v.2 by Britt-ish Designs
fonts: Year Supply of Fairy Cakes, You Are Loved (for the "5"), American Typewriter

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This one I did for a color challenge at ScrapMatters, and I LOVE how the colors turned out! The 60-30-10 rule in the tutorial that accompanied the challenge really worked. And the template I picked turned out to be awesome -- the cut paper looking like planets was a happy accident that I was happy to reinforce by painting "stars" across the paper using one of Photoshop's standard brushes.

Queen of Scrap template by Denise Beatty Originals (modified)
Natural Wonders (a lot recolored) by ScrapMatters Designers
Teeny Tiny Christmas Alpha and Glitzy Paper Dot Alpha by Britt-ish Designs
earth is from Earthday by Plum Dumpling Designs
ribbons from My Ribbon Jar by Britt-ish Designs
stitching from All Stitched Up by Tracie Stroud
font is American Typewriter

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A page for Julianne's album. The bulk of these papers and elements were downloaded from kits for DigiScrapAddict's So You Think You Can Design contest.

Recycled! by Lindsay Riches
Junk Drawer by Fernlili's Digital Designs
tape from Adventures in Reading by Plum Dumpling Designs
flair by Melanie Fuller (from Ellie's Angels blog)
fonts: You Are Loved, Pea Carlisle

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I did this for a speed scrap on Thursday night, and what a speedy scrap it was! It started at 7:30, but I had forgotten about it until I uploaded the previous layout at about 8:15 and noticed that thread in the "new posts" of the ScrapMatters forums. But I couldn't sit down and scrap -- we had to put the kids to bed (which has become quite the ordeal since my youngest moved into this new bed ... he was fine the first few nights, but it's gotten worse; what's up??) Anyway, I didn't sit down to scrap until ten minutes to nine, and I had until 9:45 to complete and upload my layout. Typically it takes me at least ninety minutes for a layout -- so I was a little rushed! But I made it ... with five minutes to spare. What's my secret? Well ...

It definitely helped to read the instructions before putting the kids down, so I was thinking about things for about a half hour before I started (and changing my mind over and over and over about what set of pictures to scrap).

It helped to kind of "lift" my previous layout -- I used a lot of the same techniques (which I figure is fine, as they aren't even going in the same albums).

And it definitely helped that the host of the speed scrap, Rachelle of Chelle's Creations, totally scraps in my style -- more about the pictures and journaling and less about the frou-frou. (There have been times that I think about joining the speed scrap, see that the first instruction is "pick ONE picture", and I give up right then and there. Sometimes I enjoy that kind of challenge, as it's so different from my typical layout and I like to try new things and grow, but lately I just have too many layouts that need to get done, and none of them are single-photo layouts!)

Anyway, the instructions included things that might be a struggle for some scrappers -- at least five pics, at least 50 words of journaling, etc. -- but those are almost second nature to me. (The other rules were easy to follow, too: things like adding blue and/or gold to the layout, using brackets, using paint splats, having a title and a subtitle).

Um, I think I've taken almost as much time to write about this layout as it did to actually create it.

paper and brackets: Natural Wonders by SM designers
Glitzy Spills and Thrills by Britt-ish Designs
Sparkle and Shine by Jennifer Barrette
fonts are You Are Loved and American Typewriter

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I was so excited to have finished that speed scrap, and not just because I knocked off a layout I've been meaning to do for months ... the participation prize was a beautiful (beautiful!) paper pack. When I saw this particular paper, I knew just what to scrap with it. Doesn't it look like water??

tilt template by Britt-ish Designs
Color My World paper pack by Chelle's Creations
Sunshine in My Soul and Sunshine in My Soul add-on by Britt-ish Designs
My Ribbon Jar by Britt-ish Designs
Pinky-Dinky alpha (recolored) by Britt-ish Designs
font: American Typewriter

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Thanks for looking!

More for Julianne

2009-07-27T21:55:00.000-07:00

I whipped up three (count 'em ... THREE!) layouts for Julianne's album today, and I like them so much I must show them off on this here blog immediately! :-)

First up is the page that will lie next to the MTC page. She doesn't have many MTC pictures since that memory card was stolen, and while I felt terrible about that at the time, I'm finding a definite silver lining now ... there's less for me to scrap! I thought I'd do a temple page since about a third of the MTC pictures that were "donated" from friends from the MTC were temple pictures.

This page came together SO fast ... seriously, I don't think I've ever scrapped something this good in under an hour before. And I like how well it turned out; I think I might have to use the technique again -- a simple page with a big impact:

inspired by cnscrap's Remember This...
Seriously Solid paper pack by Sarah Bennett (this is a freebie -- Google and grab it!)
fonts are: Susie's Hand, Traveling Typewriter, and American Typewriter (for the journaling and the line of pink dots)

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And I have been a little daunted by this set of pictures from the very beginning of this project, but I think these pages turned out quite nicely.

inspired by Cyndi146's Rae's Bday
You, Stylish Lady! by Matahati Designs
red paper and glittery heart-flower from Celebrate Love minikit by Fei-Fei's Stuff
fonts are Amelie and American Typewriter

Scrapping Friends and Relatives

2009-07-23T20:08:00.001-07:00

Lately I've done little, if any, scrapping of my own immediate family. Between Julianne's mission album and birthdays and birth days I've come up with lots of layouts that feature other people instead. Funny thing is, I like doing those almost as much as I like doing my own.

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Here's a project I did for a friend whose birthday was this week (I can now post it here without fear that it'll ruin the surprise!):

Inspired by Aly templates by Britt-ish Designs
Natural Wonders collab by ScrapMatters Designers
Peel-and-Stick alpha by Misty Cato
Word Circles by Britt-ish Designs
Hoopla freebie by Jackie Eckles

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And here's a little quickie card I made up to celebrate the arrival of a new nephew:

Rock-a-Bye Baby by Golden Girls Digital Designs
circle wordart from Itty Bitty add-on by Britt-ish Designs

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I've done lots for my sister-in-law Julianne's album (see my previous post for more details on that):

a lift of scrappurple's Thanksgiving_8
papers are from Wubulous by Amy Sumrall
ribbons are from Give It to Me Straight by Amanda Heimann, My Ribbon Jar by Britt-ish Designs, and Everyday Memories blog freebie by Chelle's Creations
orange string is from Everyday Memories by Chelle's Creations and Juno Designs
pink string is recolored from Make a Splash by Chelle's Creations
In the City alpha by Sahlin Studio
We're Just Dating vol. 1 by Britt-ish Designs
staples are from Sunshine in My Soul by Britt-ish Designs
fonts are AL Sandra and American Typewriter

ScrapMatters' Tuesday Template 07-07-09 by Trixie Scraps Designs
The Cool Dad by Jeni Hopewell
Red Card Alpha by Misty Cato
Hang in There by Britt-ish Designs (recolored)
fonts are Vaguely Repulsive and American Typewriter

Inspired by Wendy templates by Britt-ish Designs
Enjoy the Journey by WM[squared] Designs and Dirty Feet Designs
zigzag ribbon is recolored from My Ribbon Jar by Britt-ish Designs
string is from The Bright Side add-on by Britt-ish Designs
fonts are clingy and American Typewriter

Teacher's Pet by Bren Boone Designs
Teeny Tiny Christmas Alpha by Britt-ish Designs
fonts are GROBOLD, Blackjack, American Typewriter
map is from Google Maps

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This page was technically for me. I mean, it'll end up in my family's album and everything. But seriously, look at it: it's mostly pictures of my brother and his wife and his two (adorable!) daughters, who were visiting for the Fourth of July.

Word Strip Template freebie (altered) by Sahlin Studio
Stars and Stripes Forever from ScrapMatters Design Team
the red flower paper strip is from Snippettes: Enjoy the Moment by Sahlin Studio
fonts are Keyboard Plaque, Digs My Heart, smiley monster, Clingy, and American Typewriter

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Yes, I think it's safe to say I am never going to run out of things to scrap.

But I enjoy it so much, that's a very, very good thing.

For Julianne

2009-07-13T13:05:00.000-07:00

My mother-in-law has been asking for awhile now that I do a book for her youngest daughter, my sister-in-law Julianne, who's on a mission for our church in England. The project was too daunting for me to consider until just a few months ago. Was it Queen of Scrap contest at ScrapMatters that inspired me? The fact that I actually completed over 35 layouts during the month of May? The fact that, as part of the challenge, I actually finished the ABC album (my first real project)?

Whatever the reason, my mother-in-law's eyes got pretty wide when I started up a conversation with her last month: "if I were to do an album for Julianne..." And then, excitedly, she went into detail about what she was imagining. She piled on the praise and I was determined that I really could do this.

Well, I could do it when I had a moment. After I caught up a little.

But summertime, I've discovered, is not a time for catching up. There's too much fun to be had! Too many vacations, too many outings, too many everyday moments that look so much better in natural light. Too many memories to preserve, and too little time to preserve the memories since we're so busy making them.

So I've put my pictures aside for a moment (I'll probably go back when I need a change of pace) and started on Julie's. Here are the first three:

ScrapMatters Tuesday Template 06-30-09 by Purple Tulip Designs

Lil' Love Bug by Golden Girls Digital Designs

We're Just Dating v.2 and My Ribbon Jar (for just that red flower ribbon) by Britt-ish Designs

fonts: Pass the Chex and Traveling Typewriter

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This is a lift of tuttle's "Learning to Crawl"

Love Life by Sahlin Studio

stitching from Where the Heart Grows by Golden Girls

brown town alpha by Britt-ish Designs

font is traveling typewriter

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Sunshine in My Soul by Britt-ish Designs

block alpha is from Natural Wonders by Scrap Matters Designers

script alpha is recolored from All My Loving by Tracie Stroud

font is American Typewriter

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I am loving how these are turning out so far; I think she'll love it, too.

Cake

2009-07-04T11:35:00.000-07:00

ScrapMatters is having a sale right now, and even though I just bought a grab bag last week, I had to go spend a few dollars over there. 30% off, like, EVERYTHING. Sheesh; how am I supposed to resist??

So here's a layout I did a few days ago. Most everything is from a kit that I won by Casey Krause, a new designer at Gotta Pixel (and she's on the Creative Team at ScrapMatters, too). This is the second time that I won something over at DigiScrap Addicts! (The first time, I won a copy of Bella Scraps ... back when Bella Scraps was a downloadable PDF.) Casey's "In the Neighborhood" kit is so cute and colorful and just perfect for two little boys.

credits:

Handcut template no. 2 by Amanda Kennedy

In The Neighborhood by Casey Krause

stiched border: All Stitched Up II by Tracie Stroud

string: The Bright Side add-on by Britt-ish Designs

ribbon: Girl Power add-on by Chelle's Creations

glitter design: Sparkle and Shine by Jennifer Barrette

fonts: Jailbird Jenna, American Typewriter

Two Lifts and Two Templates

2009-06-30T21:10:00.000-07:00

I love coming up with my own composition, but I also love taking an already good composition (from a template or just a layout I've seen) and letting that jumpstart me into a layout. This post is filled with all of the latter method!

This layout I did from a template. I LOVE a good multi-photo template!

credits:

Scrapmatters Tuesday Template 6-2-09 by Cyndi Price

blue bg paper: Woodland Fantasy add-on by Erica Zane

green bg paper, string, pink gem, purple button, yellow frame: The Bright Side add-on by Britt-ish Designs

circle elements, yellow flower, glitter splatter: Sunshine in My Soul by Britt-ish Designs

pink diamond-centered flower: Fairchild add-on by Britt-ish Designs

green/white ribbon: Monstrosity add-on by Britt-ish Designs

purple ribbon: Give it to Me Straight by Amanda Heimann

scalloped stitching: All Stitched Up Vol. II by Tracie Stroud

Party Girl alpha by Britt-ish Designs

fonts: I'm Bored, American Typewriter

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This is a lift of a layout by another scrapper -- I just loved the blocking style (blocking is such a good way to get lots of photos on a page while still looking clean and not cluttered). And the hanging elements in her original were fun -- I gave it my own little twist and put a title and date dangling from a tag on the page.

credits:

lift of Manassas Christmas Parade p1 by melanie3boys

papers are from:
HeartStrings by Taylormade Designs
worn out: brights by Cuppycake Designs
Beauti-FALL by ScrapMuss Designs

Hang in There and Date Stamped by Britt-ish Designs

stitches and brads from Where the Heart Grows by Golden Girls Designs

font is American Typewriter

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Here's another lift. The original layout was actually only a double-photo layout; I took more liberty with this lift than usual but took many of the cues from the original.

I'm especially proud of my titlework on this one!

credits:

Lift of Picklejuice_7's Family12

Papers from Catch of the Day by Pressed Petals (alamama)

Stitches and string from Where the Heart Grows by Golden Girls

Fonts are My Very Own Topher, Pea Lindsay Unicase, Pea Sadie

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And I've had the idea for this layout for awhile -- longer than I've had the picture for it, that's for sure. The title makes me laugh (I think it's really clever!) This is not my typical style, but I wanted to go with something very clean and graphic as though it had come out of a magazine. I spotted a template the other day that seemed like it would be perfect for the idea that was forming in my head for this layout ... and here's the result:

Usually I can't stand one-photo layouts but I don't mind it here. Why? Because, first of all, it's a good photo (hello, cute!) and second, it fills the page. I should do more like this; I really like the whole feel of the layout (and this was quick to put together, too! Yay!)

credits:

BDay Template by Molly Schneider from jessicasprague.com (freebie now expired; sorry!)

Seriously Cute mini-kit by Britt-ish Designs (pretty much everything is slightly recolored)

top right paper from April Morning by Miss Mint

bottom right paper from Sprung paper pack by Amanda Heimann

fonts: Baskerville, Glider Girls, My Own Topher

journaling reads:
Gramma Sue finds the cutest matching clothes for the boys. She bought these particular shirts at OshKosh for Easter, and while it was a bit too cold for short sleeves in April, they are perfect for summertime!

Besides the matching shirts in the picture, I can thank Gramma Sue for the corduroy pants Logan was wearing and even the navy blue ones Joshua had on (they were Logan's first). That's pretty typical, actually; Gramma Sue really does supply a good proportion of the boys' outfits every day! What can I say? She has great taste in clothes!

Wardrobe provided by: Gramma Sue Outfitters

Fairyland

2009-06-16T14:37:00.000-07:00

Whew! I came home from vacation last week with a memory card full of pictures. How do you scrap all those memories without turning it into an album of its own?? It took all afternoon and evening yesterday, but I managed to get the first two-pager done of pictures from Fairyland ... and while Photoshop was grinding and growling at me by the end with all the layers it had to deal with, I really love the result (click on each page for more detail):

credits:

Template 87 by Yin Designs

Sunshine in My Soul and Sunshine in My Soul add-on by Britt-ish Designs

Saturday Special Journaling Freebie by Chelle's Creations

string from Birds of a Feather by WM[squared]

alphas: Natural Wonders kit by ScrapMatters Designers; Glitzy Paper Dot alpha by Britt-ish Designs (and credit for the idea of using two alphas goes to a recent Digi-Dare)

Hang In There by Britt-ish Designs

fonts are American Typewriter, Pea Shannon, Pea Randa

Tours

2009-06-13T07:57:00.000-07:00

So by the time we got home from vacation on Wednesday, I was feeling downright antsy about scrapbooking! It had been twelve days since I scrapbooked and I missed it SO much. Does this mean I'm addicted??

I whipped up these pages in on Thursday afternoon while the boys napped. I felt like the two events kind of went together, since they both happened the same week and they both were tours of some kind and Logan was front-and-center for both of them (it made me proud to see how well he listened and how interested he was and how he was not shy about asking questions ... even if the questions didn't really make a lot of sense!) Of course, the tours were of two markedly different places. I decided to use the same template, rotated, to loosely match the two pages together, with different kits to reflect the feel of each tour. I think they'll look really nice printed next to each other in my album!

credits:

Inspired by Wendy templates by Britt-ish Designs

papers are from 15 Across, 42 Down and Bowl-o-Rama (white background paper), both by Ziggle Designs

buttons and tag are from School Scribbles by Pineapple Plantation Designs

Doodletime by Tracie Stroud

Fonts are: barcode font, BlairMdITC TT (most of the journaling), Boring Showers (in red), BoyzRGross (in green), and Courtney Dorkling (in blue)

credits:

Inspired by Wendy templates by Britt-ish Designs

Sunshine in My Soul by Britt-ish Designs

Mostly Doodles alpha by AnnaBV Designs

fonts are Jailbird Jenna (title), American Typewriter (journaling and handmade wordart) and Amelie (scripty font in the handmade wordart)

Thanks to Stephanie W. for taking the family picture with her nice camera :-)

Thanks for looking!

More Speed Scrappin'

2009-05-30T20:32:00.000-07:00

ScrapMatters had another weekend of Speed Scraps, and I managed to make it to two of them! Here's what I scrapped today...

The first layout was a real challenge: the very first instruction was to pick a kit (yes, kit before pictures) that is somehow totally not your style. I made it really hard on myself by using a kit with quite a bit of pink in it (we all know how pink it my nemesis), with kind of soft, whimsical elements. Picking the photos to go with it required quite a bit of digging, and Joshua might never forgive me for scrapping his baby photos in borderline-girly colors, but I nevertheless love how this page turned out. How fun to step outside my scrapping box!

credits:

All My Loving by Tracie Stroud (DigiScrap Addict's So You Think You Can Design contest, week 3 ... download it for free here!)

fonts are American Typewriter, Clingy, and Howser

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This one was a challenge for me in a different way: I was supposed to go simple. Some people rejoice at this instruction; I freak out and busy up my page as much as possible while still trying to follow directions. Notice how I picked a busy background paper, included way more elements than I needed to, and practically handmade my own alphas from fonts since I wasn't supposed to use actual alphas. So much work, but worth it to me -- because I do really like how this turned out, too.

credits:

background paper, buttons, ruler ribbon: Squiggle It Too by Robin Carlton

brown paper: Natural Wonders collab by ScrapMatters Design Team

string, staple, ricrac: Sunshine in My Soul by Britt-ish Designs

black and white ribbon, circle frames (one recolored), yellow ribbon, and button used in titlework: Yippee Skippee by Britt-ish Designs

wordart: Edge 2 Edge Wordart by Britt-ish Designs

fonts: The Doorman, Pea Swimmy Script, Cafe Rojo

Two Two-Pagers

2009-05-28T14:58:00.000-07:00

I love the way two-pager layouts look printed, in actual albums; the continuity is breathtaking.

And yet, I think I've only done, uh, one other two-pager for this entire year. Well, here are two more! Two-pagers are ambitious -- they really do take me about twice as long as your average layout -- so you're seeing four days worth of work.

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Here's the first -- pictures from a Memorial Day weekend wedding. When I set out to scrap these photos, I began digging through my stash for a template -- something with soft curves (to reflect the beauty of the day) and something with a zillion spots for photos (obviously). I soon realized I wasn't going to have anything that fit the bill so I started drawing out shapes with my rounded rectangle tool (with a few circles for good measure) and made myself a template (I do this fairly often, actually, but usually it's just for simple blocking -- so this was a step up for me).

Then it came time to pick colors (or, rather, find something in my stash that matched the established colors in the pictures). I tried out quite a few different things before hitting on just the right color combo by combining two different kits. Then came the elements from those kits (I always struggle with elements, but I think I did okay here) and the ribbons for continuity across the page (Britt's "My Ribbon Jar" is the staple of a good chunk of my layouts, if you haven't noticed -- best $3 in digi-supplies I've ever spent). My computer was grinding every time I saved as it had something like seventy Photoshop layers (per side) to deal with.

The layout was stunning ... and then I wrote all over it. ;-) Yes, it's still pretty,but it's not quite as visually amazing as it was (the white space was setting off the photos very nicely). But do you think I'm about to erase all those written memories?? Nuh-uh!

Sunshine in My Soul by Britt-ish Designs

pink papers, pink flowers, and wordart from Loverly by Sahlin Studio

most ribbons from My Ribbon Jar by Britt-ish Designs (one was from Sunshine in My Soul)

In the City Alpha by Sahlin Studio

Glitzy Paper Dot Alpha (recolored) by Britt-ish Designs

stamped heart border is from a paper from the Sisters for Life add-on by Britt-ish Designs

We're Just Dating by Britt-ish Designs

fonts are Susie's Hand and Pea Johanna

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The second two-pager is, technically, not a two-pager -- the design does not continue over two pages and they stand alone as separte layouts. But they are variations on the same theme (Logan's preschool) and they use the same color scheme, kit, and alpha. I've noticed in my printed album that even this kind of continuity makes for a visually-pleasing two pager. Even the pages in which I used the same template twice (with different photos -- obviously -- and different kits) or where I even just used the same alpha for my title look nice next to each other.

The first was for a "Ten Things" challenge at ScrapMatters and earned a spot in the Gallery Standout thread!

credits:

Teacher's Pet by Bren Boone

Doodletime by Tracie Stroud

My Ribbon Jar by Britt-ish Designs

fonts are Arial Black, Arial Narrow, and BBD_Teacher's Pet (part of the Teacher's Pet kit)

And the second is for a ScrapMatters technique challenge -- selective blurring. I've used this technique before, but it had been a long time, and it really helped the main photo, I think.

credits:

ScrapMatters Tuesday Template (January 27, 2009) by Geeky Diva Designs

Teacher's Pet by Bren Boone

bear, leaf, and some buttons from Yippee Skippee by Britt-ish Designs

papers for photo frames from DigiScrap Addicts contest freebie by Pineapple Plantation Designs and Bren Boone Designs

Chubby Alpha by Andrea

fonts are Arial Black, Arial Narrow, and BBD_Teacher's Pet (part of the Teacher's Pet kit)

I realized after I uploaded this that I hadn't dated it. Oops! It's fixed in my copy. :-)

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There you have it -- thanks for looking! (And reading to my rambling!)

Catching Up

2009-05-20T20:57:00.000-07:00

There's a bunch of layouts I've done that, for one reason or another, I haven't gotten around to posting. Time to play a little catch-up!

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I did this one early last week as a gift for my niece. It matches her little sister's. Hopefully I'm not ruining the surprise by posting it here.

credits:

General inspiration and blending help from a tutorial by Misty Cato

Paper is from Fairy Fresh by Cuppycake Designs

Kiss Me, Sweetheart alpha by Ellie Lash (slightly recolored)

Ricrac ribbon from All I Want collab by the Sweet Shoppe Designers

Ribbons are from the My Ribbon Jar by Britt-ish Designs and Give It to Me Straight by Amanda Heimann

Button by Atomic Cupcake

Flowers are recolored and from Outre-mer by Scrapdoll

Sprinkly things are from Baby Cafe 08 Summer-time by Lencula and Schaarka

Pioneer Woman’s B&W Beauty action

Font is Susie’s Hand

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Here's one I did last week (Thursday maybe?) that I totally just forgot to post (both here and my other blog). This was for the scraplifting challenge at ScrapMatters. A few days after I did my layout, I took a look at this scrapper's blog and found that she actually made a template from her original layout! So -- if you like this design, pop on over to Trying to Be Crafty and get the two-page template pack.

And the colors! Aren't these fun? This was a participation prize for a challenge from National Scrapbooking Day (NSD). Am I allowed to use pink in a boy layout (and a boy layout where one boy is wearing a RED sweatshirt at that??) I say yes (obviously).

credits:

This if a lift of Li14's Ryan's Place Park.

Birds of a Feather minikit by WM [squared] designs

9 to 5 bonus alpha by Krystal Hartley

circles down the side are from the ScrapMatters NSD challenge freebie: paper shapers by TheWerners

font is Rockwell

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This one came together rather quickly and easily last Friday evening -- strange since I didn't have much of a design idea when I started.

credits:

Winter Sampler from Shabby Princess

Background paper from Moody Blues by Shabby Princess

Snowflake paper from Shabby Snow by Jenna

staple from Sun Porch by Amy Teets

fonts are Stencil Std and Rockwell

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And I did this yesterday for a speed scrap! It was a single-photo challenge (which is a challenge for me!), had to incorporate vertical and horizontal paper strips (check, check, check-check-checkity-check), had to use wordart. The toughest prompt came late in the challenge: use glitter or bling. Bling? With this as my color scheme?? But then I found those cardboard flowers with the jewels on them (Britt-ish Designs' Reuse Recycle Flowers) and realized they were perfect (and besides, technically those squiggles are glitter squiggles, even if they aren't particularly sparkly).

Kudos to Kim Higueria, who made this great kit to work with -- I especially loved the rich, fun papers. This is the first time I've scrapped with her stuff, which is a shame because we were briefly in the same ward together when we lived in Wymount (my one claim-to-fame in the digiscrapping world -- the only digi-designer I know in real life!) I do think I will be returning to this kit again; it's a good one.

credits:

Papers, ricrac, frame, journaling box, glitter squiggles, and paperclip from Rainy Afternoon by Kim Higueria

buttons from Button It Up! Sampler Pack by Sarah Morgan Designs (from Funky Playground Designs' latest contest)

Reuse Recycle Flowers by Britt-ish Designs

"Moment" wordart by Dirty Feet Designs

"I [ ] you" wordart from Unscripted: Simply Put by TaylorMade Designs

Stitches by Gunhilde Storeide

fonts: Susie's Hand and American Typewriter

I used Pioneer Woman's "Heartland" action (and then some selective coloring)

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*phew* That's all for now. Thanks for looking!

A Fun Challenge

2009-05-12T20:20:00.000-07:00

I like doing the challenges at ScrapMatters; they get me doing things a little differently than I would be doing normally. Take this layout, for example, that I did for a "roadmap to scrap" (a formula challenge):

credits:

papers from DigiScrap Addicts grand opening contest kit

Glitzy Spills and Thrills by Britt-ish Designs

Word Circles (recolored) by Britt-ish Designs

scalloped frame altered from Beautiful Mess by Elizabeth Quintana

stars from Teacher's Pet by Bren Boone Designs

The first thing about this layout you probably notice is the colors: the instructions said to use at least four rainbow colors with the embellishments (so, four in addition to any neutrals ... well, and pink, but that's rarely a problem for me, scrapping my boys!). When I was imagining the colors I'd use for the layout with these pictures, I'd seen something very orange in my mind. I'm glad I went with the colorful one instead; it creates a whole different vibe for this page!

The directions said to use scallops, so I pulled out some scalloped frames from my stash. I never use frames, and I never use frames skewed from the picture. And I LOVE how it looks! I should do this more often.

I used wordart, as per the instructions. I hardly ever use wordart. But somehow, this simple wordart seemed to sum up just what I wanted to say ... and so I refrained from journaling beyond just the bare essentials (obviously, as a history major, I can't not date my pages!). I even refrained from titling, unless you count the wordart as a title. (And yes, this is so unlike me.)

I thought I was finished, but then I saw that the instructions said to use an element at least five times. I found some stars that kind of (kind of) matched the doodly feel of the background paper and arranged them on my page. And now I can't imagine how I thought the layout was finished without them.

So -- try a challenge (and there are a lot of them out there) ... they'll really freshen up your scrapping!

Yes, More Pages

2009-05-06T20:38:00.000-07:00

I've been scrapping a lot lately -- a LOT. The Queen of Scrap contest is going on at ScrapMatters, and I've got six layouts for the month of May so far -- fourteen more until I earn the great participation prize ... a huge kit in with which I can do even more scrapping! (Okay, yes, I'm addicted. But! All of these layouts took less than two hours to do -- I am really getting faster at this! I figure that I spend no more time scrapping than the average person does watching TV or something.) (Also: I justify myself that six layouts is nothing compared to the twenty-something other people have! I think the leader has twenty-eight right now. Six days; twenty-eight pages. WOW.)

Here are two layouts I did Monday with pictures from my husband's recent trip (the first was a lift; the second was a speed scrap AND a lift ... and it earned a spot in the Gallery Standout thread at ScrapMatters):

credits:

Lift of "Balloon Animals" by TheWerners (Grand Theft Layout 04/29/09)

Enjoy the Journey by Dirty Feet Designs and WM[squared] designs (March 2009 ScrapMatters Newsletter freebie kit)

Dark blue paper from Worn Out: Boys by Cuppycake Designs

Date Stamped by Britt-ish Designs

String by Gunhilde Storeide (freebie)

fonts: Jailbird Jenna, American Typewriter

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credits:

lift of sahlink's The Color of Easter

Enjoy the Journey by wm[squared] designs and Dirty Feet Designs

Ransom Alpha by Bren Boone Designs

String from The Bright Side add-on by Britt-ish Designs

font is American Typewriter

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This layout I did on Tuesday for the NSD Template Challenge at ScrapMatters (a blast from the past -- Christmas 2007):

credits:

NSD '09 ScrapMatters Template Challenge by monsu

All I Want by the Sweet Shoppe Designers

Crackled Stitch Alpha (recolored) by Dirty Feet Designs

All Stitched Up by Tracie Stroud

fonts are Susie's Hand and American Typewriter

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And here's the only one in the batch in which I came up with the composition myself! I did this one this afternoon and evening for the Everyday Magic challenge at ScrapMatters:

credits:

Summer Bling by Matahati Designs

Smirk alpha 3 by DigiTreats

Glitzy Spills & Thrills by Britt-ish Designs (my show-off gift this week!)

fonts are Glider Girls, Gentle Redhead, and American Typewriter

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Thanks for looking!

Speed Scrappin'

2009-05-02T21:23:00.001-07:00

To celebrate National Scrapbooking Day, I hit the Farmer's Market at ScrapOrchard (great deals for a dollar!) and the 40%-off sale at ScrapMatters ... and then, after some serious unzipping and filing, I squeezed in a couple of speed scraps at ScrapMatters. Here are the results of a few hours of work today (I really liked how they both turned out -- though it's out of my comfort zone to scrap with black and white photos, a requirement for the first one, and to only use one patterned paper, a requirement for the second):

credits:

Inspired by Christy templates by Britt-ish Designs

Yippee Skippee by Britt-ish Designs (NSD Grab Bag)

Polka Dot alpha by Britt-ish Designs (NSD grab bag)

Playdate alpha by Tracie Stroud/Megan Turnidge

paper clip from got-a-date: strips by Britt-ish Designs

splatter from Love, Life, Nature add-on by Sya's Blueprints

fonts are American Typewriter and Susie's Hand

help with the black & white photos by Pioneer Women's actions

credits:

for Speed Scrap #96

All I Want collab from Sweet Shoppe Designers

All Stitched Up II by Tracie Stroud

font is American Typewriter

And yes, I've decided I'm going to start going back in time -- the above layout is from 2007 (I started scrapping in January 2008). This is because I am actually caught up with my scrapping! I know I have a few family members that might want me to take on some special scrapping projects, too, and I've decided I'm ready for them ... a little at a time, anyway. So, to my real-life friends and family: if you'll choose the photos you want incorporated in a layout, e-mail 'em to me (full-size, please) and I'll scrap 'em for you (in my own time and one at a time). My own 2009 photos will take priority but I should be able to do a few more layouts on top of those.

To top it all off, my layouts have been showcased the past couple weeks:

1. Apparently Bella Scraps liked my "Sunday Clothes" layout well enough to include it on their blog. But they never e-mailed me about it (and I checked my spam folder and everything). Am I published, then? Maybe.

2. I was included in the gallery standout thread at ScrapMatters for my layout "Goofy"!

3. I won the a ScrapMatters challenge with my "Peek-a-Basket" layout -- the scraplift challenge, lifting Linz. My prize is just an extra point for the month of May (which then equates to a coupon to the ScrapMatters store).

Out of the three spotlights, the third one is the one that put me on cloud nine. :-D

Two from Templates, Plus a Lift

2009-04-30T20:19:00.000-07:00

I've been neglecting my blog, but never fear, my I haven't been neglecting my scrapbooking!

I did most of this page a couple of weeks ago, but waited on to finish because I needed to wait on that last photo.

credits:

ScrapMatters' Template Tuesday 04/14/09 by sahlin studio

Parfaitement Imparfait! by Kawouette designs

Black Ice alpha by Danielle Corbitt

font is American Typewriter

In all honesty, I really didn't know whether those seeds were going to sprout or not, but of course Logan always believed ... and so when I saw those little sprouts poking through the dirt, I thought of that verse.

---

Here's another from a template; I did this one yesterday and today. (And yes, these may be the cutest pictures EVER.)

credits:

ScrapMatters' Template Tuesday 04/14/09 by sahlin studio

Zip-A-Dee-Do-Dah by Plum Dumpling Designs

heart is from Hearts by Andrea

splatter from The Blues by Pineapple Plantation Designs / Ziggle Scraps

fonts are Cafe Rojo, Pea Yar Yar, and Rebekah's Birthday

---

And one more, which I scraplifted (check out the original layout here):

credits:

A lift of Linz's Caught in the Act

Some papers and ribbons from Welcome Home by Erica Zane (this free mini-kit is available at ScrapMatters by uploading a few layouts to the gallery and introducing yourself in the forums).

The rest of the papers and ribbons from Fairchild Add-on by Britt-ish Designs and My Ribbon Jar by Britt-ish Designs

Button from Fairchild add-on by Britt-ish Designs

Reuse Recycle Flowers by Britt-ish Designs (if you use any -- ANY -- Britt-ish Designs product and e-mail Britt with the "Show-Off" layout, you'll get a free gift every week; this was the gift from a few weeks ago)

Dots from Loverly by Sahlin Studios (from the ScrapMatters Design contest)

Screw, string, tag, and recolored alpha by Little Man by Purple Tulip Studios (from the ScrapMatters Design contest)

Doodletime by Tracie Stroud

Circles border (recolored) from Playtime by geniaBeanie scraps (again, from the ScrapMatters Design contest)

Tape from Adventures in Reading by Plum Dumpling Designs (one more from the ScrapMatters Design contest ... yes, many of these links are still active!)

Rubberband by Gunhilde Storeide

Hearts by Andrea

fonts are scrap kids and American Typewriter

Goofy

2009-04-21T14:28:00.000-07:00

It seems that, every week when I share my photos with my family via Picasa, there is one in the batch of Nathan being silly -- sometimes he's already doing something silly and holds the pose while I grab the camera; other times I'll just have the camera out and, after taking pictures of the boys, Nathan makes a crazy face for the camera. My sister-in-law April suggested awhile back that I make a layout of all his goofy faces, and I loved the idea. Now I've finally gotten around to doing it.

And yup, it had to be a two-pager ... I had that many silly pictures. :-)

credits:

Where the Heart Grows by Golden Girls (ScrapMatters)

Word Jumble by Penny's Miscellany (Penny Springmann)

CircleLove Wordart by CPZDesigns (Carol Zeitz)

Stitched heart from Love Life by Sahlin Studios

fonts are smiley monster, The Doorman, and Susie's Hand

Even though this design is fairly simple and I am getting pretty speedy with Photoshop, this still took ages to put together. There's just so many details: placing the pictures and papers, placing the elements, titlework (including creativing the "sticker" effect for the word "goofy"), burning the edges of the papers to grunge them up just a touch, shadow work ... *phew* Not to mention saving this a zillion times over in different sizes so I can upload the .jpgs where they need to go.

But I look at this layout and think -- it was worth it. Every one of these pictures make me smile, and I love looking at them all at once.

And I love my husband. :-)

Sweet Addiction

2009-04-18T20:04:00.001-07:00

Have you ever played Tetris for so long that you start seeing places to put certain blocks in, oh, the spaces between words on a page, for instance? It's starting to happen with my digiscrapping -- I'll close my eyes for a moment, and see flashes of layout designs pop before my eyes.

Yeah, so maybe I'm addicted. Starting this blog and diving into the digicommunity (well, ScrapMatters, anyway) has made me more of a compulsive scrapper than ever before. But I figure there are worse hobbies, right? Right. (If I need an intervention, I'll let you know.)

Today I scrapped a very springy page. Quite the contrast to the foot of heavy, wet snow (more?) we got the past two days. This page is very similar in style to the Space Odyssey page (and I may just have to do a few more like this; I really like how they turn out). Also, I tried my hand at burning the edges of the papers, which I'd done last week on a layout (This Is Just You) -- thanks to a tutorial on the ScrapMatters blog today, this layout's "burning" looks quite a bit better to me.

credits:

Spring Has Sprung by Mickey D Designs and Jeni Hopewell (April ScrapMatters Newsletter kit ... this kit had a lot of pink and purple in it, but I managed a boyish layout!)

got-a-date: strips by Britt-ish Designs

staple from the SO SUNny collab

Silly Willy alpha by ScrappyWeiss

MSS November DAK alpha by Sir Scrapalot Designs

fonts are smiley monster and American Typewriter

I stapled the butterfly again, since nobody told me not to. ;-)

Good News and Two Layouts

2009-04-16T16:36:00.000-07:00

What to do when the kids are sick? Scrap, of course! And then blog about scrapping!!

First of all, I was cruising around DigiScrapAddicts the other day when I noticed this thread in their April Scrap-Off. Mostly you enter your own layouts into each category (there's about a zillion categories), but there is one category -- People's Choice -- where scrappers can nominate their favorite layouts by others ... and Reeka Jean (a regular over there and at Scrap Orchard) picked my layout Lucky Charms as their favorite! I'm shocked and incredibly flattered because that gallery over there moves fast and there are a lot of really talented scrappers ... and a lot of their standouts just don't scrap in my style. I figured there was no way I would even get a nomination, but now I can't help getting a little starry-eyed about the prize: $20 gift certificate to Misty Cato! Love her stuff. (But yeah, I'm not getting my hopes up.)

A couple days ago (or was it just yesterday?) I scraplifted a layout ... it's been awhile since I did that. I read a tip somewhere that makes scraplifting a cinch: download the image your lifting, then drag it onto your layer and turn the opacity waaay down; then you can place your photos and elements exactly where they need to go. (Did that make sense?)

So. Check out shutch's original here ...

... and then come back and take a look at how I lifted it:

credits:

Love Life by sahlin studio (ScrapMatters Design Contest round 4)

My Ribbon Jar by Britt-ish Designs

Plain 'n Distressed alpha; designs by Sarah

fonts are American Typewriter and Susie's Hand

Since I didn't have to worry a whit about composition, I had time to play with the kit ... the blue doodly flower was originally just stamped on a paper, but I pulled it off with the Magic Wand; then I made my own frame from one of the papers, using the burn edges to grunge it up just a little (thanks for that tip, Amy).

And one more thing -- I love this freebie kit by sahlin studios done for the Design Star contest at ScrapMatters. I used it on my last layout, too, and I decided yesterday that I ought to use the color palette as inspiration for the colors in my bedroom. (Now I just need some bravery ... I have yet to paint anything in this house, or even hang many pictures.)

Okay, one last layout ... and I love this one. I'm channeling some Yin Designs here, I think. ;-) It's kind of empowering to do it without a template.

credits:

Blast Off collab by GingerScraps Designers (WyldWeb Designs, Spinky Dink Scraps, Graham Like the Cracker, Plum Dumpling Designs) ... this was a blog train from a few weeks ago

Date It Tags by Golden Girls

Peel and Stick Alpha by Misty Cato

Ransom Alpha by Bren Boone

Font is Pea Johanna

A Good Layout

2009-04-13T20:25:00.000-07:00

As I scrapped this afternoon (in between cuddling my two boys, who are in a more cuddly mood having come down with sudden colds), I pondered this question: What makes a good layout?

I think, as a general rule, I'd answer that it's the composition. I love seeing layouts that have photos arranged well, with elements delicately placed.

Yeah, I'm always underestimating the power of some fantastic pictures.

And so it is in this layout: it's simply my good-looking brother that makes the layout so nice to look at! I didn't feel like I needed a whole lot of elements (count 'em -- I used only sixteen layers this layout -- which is, like, a new record low for me). The photos shine on their own.

credits:

love life by sahlin studio (Scrapmatters designers challenge round 4)

I used the actions Fresh and Colorful / Quick Edge Burn by Pioneer Woman

font is American Typewriter

Easter Eggs

2009-04-11T18:05:00.000-07:00

Dying Easter eggs is one of my favorite Easter traditions. Every year, my mom boiled a dozen eggs, and my brothers and I each got four to decorate how we chose. There was always a football egg, a Sheldon egg (from Garfield and Friends), a world egg, and an egg that was marinated in the dye until it was a deep, rich, metallic color.

This year my kids were very excited to dye eggs -- and we had a lot of fun!

I love how this page turned out. The photos started out pretty good due to some nice natural light. I managed to squeeze all my favorite pictures on, without a template and without blocking (my fallback non-template method).

credits: most everything is from "Not very serious Eastermania" by Aprilmouse and Hanulienka Design, featuring Lencula and Sarahh

dotted swirls: Summer Garden by Mandy Mystiques

doodled borders: One Fine Day by Matahati Designs

"dye": Mostly Doodles alpha by AnnaBV Designs

"Easter": Chubby Alpha by Andrea Dumalski

numbers: Ransom Mini Alpha by Bren Boone Designs

fonts are Century Gothic ("how"), Smargana ("to" and "eggs"), and smiley monster (for everything else!)

Purple!

2009-04-10T18:47:00.000-07:00

The new free kit at Peppermint Creative came out today! I love Miss Mint's kits; they are ones I keep coming back to, and they are ones I choose for special projects (Joshua's first birthday card was done using Wild Weekend, and I used Kindergarten Crafts for more than one layout). A thanks to Amy for pointing me to the first free kit of hers I downloaded (was it Painted Season?)

This kit, April Morning, is beautiful ... and overwhelmingly purple! I am very glad I had some great pictures of my niece Kaylee that needed scrapping so I had an excuse to use this kit. (Between this layout and my last one, which featured my other niece Emmy and a few bright pink squares, I am on a streak of girly scrapping! It's kind of fun.) :-)

So here's what I did with the new kit:

credits:

Fun Hunt Template by Cyndi Price (for the Tuesday Template Challenge at ScrapMatters)

almost all the papers and elements are from April Morning by Miss Mint

one purple paper from Oogi Boogi by the Sweet Tart Team at Digital Candy

heart alpha (recolored) by Vicki (A Work in Progress) for Scrap N Art

glitzy paper dot alpha by Britt-ish Designs

ribbons are from My Ribbon Jar by Britt-ish Designs (one recolored)

staple from the SO SUNny collab

fonts are Susie's Hand and Pea Shannon

(What do you think ... is it inhumane to staple the butterfly to my page??)

Scrapping Nirvana

2009-04-09T14:41:00.000-07:00

I'm flummoxed. I'm flattered. I'm FAMOUS.

Check this out: this week, my gallery is being scraplifted for the "Grand Theft Layout" challenge at ScrapMatters! This is no random draw-from-the-hat kind of prize; somebody actually likes my layouts (yup, layouts, plural) enough to consider them worth imitating for their own albums ... and encouraging other people to do the same. Ever since I learned I would be featured (which was on Tuesday morning) I've been on cloud nine. Nathan (who excited for me, too) asked if I'd hit Scrapping Nirvana yet, and I admitted that this feels pretty close! :-)

So yeah, the fact that I'm being singled out on one of my favorite scrapping sites is just awesome. If you're a digiscrapper and are looking for an online home, ScrapMatters is it -- there are tons of great challenges, quality designers, and people actually look at and comment on the gallery. (Yes, I'm serious. No more posting your best layout and having to fish for compliments in the forum. People actually make a point to "leave some love" here.)

And I love the focus on scrapping what matters. To most people on that site, that means including journaling and some kind of date and often more than one picture. Looking at some of the "artistic" layouts I find on those "Gallery Standout" blogs are nice, but when it comes down to it, I really couldn't scrap like that. (Also, I find it interesting how many Mormons are on this site and wonder that's why I feel at home there. It's not like anybody puts it in their profile, but they have such challenges as "blessings" challenges -- scrap your many blessings, you know -- and people are including pictures of Primary activities, baptisms, temple weddings, baby blessings, etc.)

So. This afternoon, I decided I had time to squeeze in one of the most fun and fast challenges over at ScrapMatters: the SPEED SCRAP! Joshua watched me work on a good chunk of this layout while he snacked on cheese sandwich crackers (Logan was at a friend's house, which was how I even considered that I could participate). As I worked, Josh kept saying voicing his approval; I'm not sure if it was "whooooa!" or "wooooow!" that he kept saying, but either way I liked having my little cheering session nearby while I worked!

In two hours (and since I was late, I had more like ninety minutes), we were supposed to come up with a layout that met the following criteria (each of these steps was revealed in ten-minute intervals over the first hour):

1. Use something (or complete your entire LO) from one or more of the Design Star Contest kits.

Round 4 links are still active: Click here to go to the gallery – Download links are in the credits section.

You can use kits from round 2 and 3, but most of the links have been disabled.

2. Choose 2 or more photos (you can repeat a single photo if you’d like)

3. Use a minimum of 5 papers in your LO: patterned or solid

4. Add a title using an alpha for all or part of it

5. Add some ribbon (or just one!)

6. Include a fastener of some sort

7. Add some finishing touches like dates, journaling, embellishments, shadows, etc

I came in and they were up step three already. Yikes; FIVE papers? And I hadn't picked out what to use from the downloads (hadn't even unzipped most of the stuff, actually), nor had I picked any photos. Photoshop was giving me problems, too (had to quit out of it a couple of times). I felt at a loss at how to get started, and then (while I was downstairs getting Josh more crackers), I saw the basic design for my layout in my mind. (When I'm scrapping without a template, layout designs often come to me in this way!)

I managed to upload in time (luckily there's that fifteen minute grace period for uploading; I needed it). Here's the finished product:

credits:

Adventures in Reading by Plum Dumpling Designs (ScrapMatters design contest)

Staple Fun #1 and #3 by Gunhilde Storeide

Mostly Doodles alpha by AnnaBV Designs, available at ScrapMatters

fonts are Pea Lindsay Unicase and American Typewriter

And, as a sidenote: ALL of these are a free download!

Yeah, so I was noticing that while the composition style matches with what I typically do, the COLORS are way different! I rarely use anything this bright and don't think I've ever used anything this fluorescent. I think it's fun, though, and am glad Emmy wore her bright pink coat so I could have an excuse to add some pink to my page (a rare treat when scrapping two boys). :-)

Less Is More

2009-04-07T16:56:00.000-07:00

Part of me thought, "I should scrap these photos. They tell a story, one about everyday life with my boys."

Part of me thought, "I shouldn't scrap these photos! What am I thinking? You can only see my boys in silhouette! What kinda junk pictures are those to scrapbook??"

And another part of me thought, "oh, forget it -- Beth, it's taken you less time to put this layout together than it did to answer this debate! Anything you can scrap that fast is worth scrapping!!"

credits:

Fonts are Amelie and Lesli. (Yeah, that's my credits for this one; the rest is ALL me!)

Do you ever second-guess yourself on whether your layout looks "finished" enough? I considered playing with this layout, adding some frou-frou of some kind ... and then I decided:

In this case, less is more.

A Pretty Blue Alpha

2009-04-04T21:31:00.000-07:00

I love Holliewood Studios' Art Box Alpha (a freebie on her blog!) ... so much so that I've used in the last two layouts I've done! Here's the layout I did yesterday (in which the alpha seemed to echo the creativity of the puppets my boys were playing with):

credits:

Template 5 by idziBitsy Designs

Boys of Summer by the ScrapOrchard Seedlings

Funky Retro paper pack by ShanScraps Designs

Art Box Alpha by Holliewood Studios

Hand Stamped Brushes by Michelle Coleman

My Ribbon Jar by Britt-ish Designs

---

And here's the layout I did today (this time I was playing off of the "wet" look of the alpha ... and besides; it was blue):

credits:

Rain Rain, A Little Blue, and Bubble Bath by Kristin Aagard

Art Box Alpha by Holliewood Studios

My Ribbon Jar by Britt-ish Designs

Talk is Cheap by Scrap N' Art

PawPaw's Hand by Polka Dot Plum (for the button)

font is McPhatty

I love the cut paper look that seems to be coming into vogue lately (My Lucky Charms, a layout I did a few weeks ago, was from one such "cut paper" template) and this is my first whack at it all by myself. I like the slightly crooked shapes. How funny that we go digital, where we can create things to be exact, and yet we try to make it look imperfect.

And, though I'd had my alpha picked from the beginning, I couldn't decide on a title. "Car Wash" is the familiar phrase that sounded nice to my ears, but I kept hearing my son's little voice in the back of my head: "you mean the van, Mommy!" -- he corrects me every time I say "car" instead of "van"! Thus I toyed with the idea of changing my title to something like "Van Wash" or "Washing the Van" -- but then it came to me to just use Logan's phrase that was ringing in my head as a "subtitle" in the form of a talk bubble (I knew I'd downloaded those for a reason!) I love that it captures even more of Logan's personality this way.

So. A success! This is the kind of thing that, someday, when I'm all caught up on my scrapping and fulfilled all my other hobbies and responsibilities, I would like to make into a template.

Until then, you're stuck with scraplifting it. ;-)

In Search of Adventure

2009-04-01T14:06:00.000-07:00

Hi there! I'm a longtime blogger and can't even call myself a newbie digiscrapper anymore (I started -- well, started in earnest, anyway -- in January 2008), but this is my first blog devoted entirely to digiscrapping.

I want to get more involved in the digital scrapbooking community. Someday that might mean creating my own templates from my layouts, or joining a creative team, or getting published in a digital magazine ... or, sheesh, at least having an up-to-date gallery on any given forum.

But for now, it just means starting this blog and sharing my layouts on it!

This layout (which I did in under an hour -- that's much, much quicker than usual for me!) is perfect for the "adventure" of a new blog!

credits:

Text Path Template by Britt-ish Designs (for an old, old Template Tuesday at the ScrapMatters blog)

High Flying by Misty Cato (I bought this with the DigiFiles 2)

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

2009-01-22T14:05:00.000-08:00