Rethinking Scrapbooking

If you have read my blog long enough (Hi Mom and Dad), then you will remember when I posted scrapbook pages. For the past 5 years or so, I have been making more cards than layouts. One of my barriers to regular scrapbooking has been printing the photos as we used more and more digital photography. I have tried digital scrapbooking with Photoshop Elements and My Digital Studio, but that was sporadic. I have been interested in Project Life, but I have not developed a system to regularly create this type of album. I may have finally found my solution because now there is a Project Life App for iPhone. It is quick, easy, and not too expensive. Here are some of the pages I have created in just a week:

Of course my first in-app purchase was the kit designed by Stampin' Up! Next I will have my 12x12 pages printed and then slip them into our scrapbooks. I like this option since I can mix in other types of layouts. This was the last traditional layout that I made over the summer with the one of the Stampin' Up! Project Life kits.

Project Life by Stampin' Up! supplies used:

Everyday Adventure Project Life Card Collection

$15.95

Everyday Adventure Project Life Accessory Pack

$9.95

Project Life Journaling Pens

$4.95

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

Introducing Project Life by Stampin' Up!

If you have read my blog long enough, you may have seen some scrapbook layouts here. I started scrapbooking in 2005 and blogging in 2007. In 2008, I started stamping and making cards. Even though I have not scrapbooked much in the last couple of years, I have tried some Project Life products. Recently, I was rethinking about how to preserve our photos, stories, and memories. It was like Stampin' Up! read my mind...



I am really excited that Stampin' Up! will be offering this simple scrapbooking solution! You can begin ordering some Project Life products on May 1 with more products coming on June 2. I will share updates here and on Facebook.

Lawn Fawn: Into the Woods Collection

I received some happy mail on Thursday when my Lawn Fawn order arrived.

I ordered the 6x6 paper pack and some embellishments from their new Into the Woods collection and love them! I also ordered the 6x6 paper pack form the Dewey Decimal collection since I had eyed it for months, and is it now on sale.

Alex helped me make a card yesterday before a birthday party. We had fun making a card together but did not have a chance to take a picture.

I decided to take some time this afternoon to make another card with the items. I was inspired by a card that I saw on Pinterest recently.

I wanted to use my scraps, but decided to make two scapbook layouts instead of another card. It has been a while since I made traditional scrapbook layouts, and I really enjoyed it.

Next I am eyeing the Peace Joy Love collection to scrap our photos from last Christmas. I am also happy to find how well these collections coordinate with the ink and card stock that I have purchased from Stampin' Up!.

Digital Layout

I have been reorganizing my craft supplies and am inspired to do more scrapbooking. To start, I enjoyed making a digital page inspired by the current challenge to use brads from Pixel Maven's Retreat.

Supplies Used:
My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up!
Designer Series Paper/Flirtatious - 3     
Seam Binding Ribbon/Crumb Cake - seam binding (re-colored)     
Seam Binding Ribbon/Crumb Cake - seam binding knot (re-colored)     
Antique Brads - brad 1     
Night of Navy brad (re-colored)     
Melon Mambo brad         
1.25 Square Punch
Card Stock/Wisteria Wonder

I edited my photo and added the frame at Pic Monkey, which is a fun and easy to use website. This was my first time recoloring embellishments in My Digital Studio, which is a neat feature.

Interview with Alex

I found a fun idea on Pinterest to interview your son or daughter around her birthday each year. Here is Alex's interview at age 4:



1. What is your favorite color? Yellow
2. What is your favorite toy? Spiderman
3. What is your favorite fruit? Strawberries
4. What is your favorite tv show? Super Why
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Blueberries
6. What is your favorite outfit? Super Fire Shoes (his new sneakers)
7. What is your favorite game? Super Fast (He described it as a police man game.)
8. What is your favorite snack? Crackers
9. What is your favorite animal? Elephant
10. What is your favorite song? A lull-a-bye (did not specify which one though)
11. What is your favorite book? Cars and Trucks and Things that Go by Richard Scarry
12. Who is your best friend? Corin
13. What is your favorite cereal? Cheerios Kix
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play with Finn
15. What is your favorite drink? Water
16. What is your favorite holiday? Summer
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Moosey
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Pancakes
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Peanut butter and jelly
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Firefighter

I made a quick digital scrapbook page with his interview and a recent picture.

Grateful for you

Yesterday we enjoyed our first Thanksgiving in California. We had a low key day since we are still moving the last of our stuff from the apartment to the house. (It is easy to forget how much stuff you have in your kitchen until it is time to move it all!) We enjoyed lunch and time with John's brother. We bought prepared food from Trader Joe's, so we did not cook a whole turkey this year.

I am still setting up my craft space, but I did make a digital layout with some of my favorite pictures from 2012. I upgraded my Stampin' Up! digital software to MDS 2 since it is currently on sale.

I am also grateful for the long weekend (and so much more)!

Home

I need to pack up my crafts supplies for our upcoming move. Luckily this move is less than 3 miles instead of 1600 some miles! During this transition, I can work on some digital scrapbook pages. This one was inspired by a song that I heard at the beginning of the month:



I made a digital scrapbook page using My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up! and a digital stamp from Ali Edwards. I really like photo collages right now and used a variety of photos from this year.

Visits

Last week was my brother's birthday, so I was looking through some photos from his visits to Texas and California over the years. I used some photos in a collage for a quick digital scrapbook page.

It only took me a few more minutes to make another photo collage on Shutterfly and send it to Brendan. Even if you do not scrapbook or do not have time to scrapbook, photo collages are a nice way to put together some photos.

Everyday Photos

I started scrapbooking to record a large life event, our wedding. I enjoyed scrapbooking more than I expected, so I have continued to scrapbook in various forms for the past seven years. In that time, I have seen an emphasis on recording everyday photos and stories. Ali Edwards does a wonderful job of this, and her annual Week in the Life project goes in depth into everyday life and routines. I participated in July 2011, but missed the project in April 2012. I was starting a new job around that time. I decided to try the project this week along with Stephanie at Scrapworthy Lives. My job is still new and busy, so I did not have the energy and focus to take as many photos as I had originally planned. I still took some photos this week and will share them on the blog soon.

I have also participated in Ella Publishing's Take Twelve Photo Challenge a few times this year. Even though I have missed a few months, I have gotten some great photos of our everyday life in a new place. I am happy to have found a couple of approaches that work for me. I never tried the "Project 365" approach of taking a daily photo since I did not think that I would keep up with it. I tried Project Life as a weekly layout project at the beginning of this year, but I did not get into a flow with it. I like the products and plan to integrate some into my scrapbooks and may try the photo books.

As I collect our everyday photos from life in Texas and California, I plan to print them in some photo books. I have been happy with the photo books I have purchased through Shutterfly. I signed up for their emails about sales, so I don't have to pay full price. The latest deal is for 50% off of hard cover photo books with the coupon code BOOK50 though July 25, 2012. I don't think that you have to be a "scrapbooker" to enjoy recording photos and stories from your everyday life!

Pictured: Sunday morning breakfast with Alex.

Take Twelve: July

Last Thursday was July 12th, which means that it was Ella Publishing's Take Twelve Photo Challenge for the day. I tried to capture some everyday photos of our life.

When I got up, John was still sleeping after working late the night before. Alex was allowed to watch some videos on my computer through Netflix while I walked the dogs and got ready for work.

Busted Paddy! Dogs are not supposed to be on the bed...

Busted Frida! Dogs are not supposed to be at the table either...

This is my favorite outdoor lunch spot at work for the summer. I tried to sit on the other side of the building, but a squirrel kept staring my down. This side is peaceful, except for the construction noise from the student union expansion. I am used to construction on college campuses by now.

I really like the salad place on campus for lunch.

This is my office at San Jose State University.

The summer weather is mild in the South Bay of California compared to San Antonio. We get a few hot days, but the heat wave does not last very long.

Alex made a kite at school and was flying it around the apartment complex as we walked the dogs. John had to work late, so we met him for dinner and then went home.

It was a good night for a treat. We walked to McDonald's for hot fudge sundaes.

Messy Man!

Time to brush our teeth before bed.

We did not move our TV to California and have not replaced it yet. We've gone 6 months without TV and do not miss it too much. We watch shows and movies through Netflix, Hulu and iTunes.

How I Started Scrapbooking

I started scrapbooking to save money. I know that the scrapbookers who read my blog right now are probably laughing at this! It turns out that scrapbookers are more known for collecting supplies than saving money. Here is the story...

Before my wedding, I saw a scrapbook that a friend made of her honeymoon and really liked it. I was familiar with scrapbooking and had probably attended a Creative Memories party at some point. My wedding was my motivation to start scrapbooking. The formal wedding albums from my photographer were expensive. I decided to just order prints and make my own scrapbook to save money. (It is ok if you are still laughing at this...)

Once we got settled into living in San Antonio, I started learning more about scrapbooking. I visited a couple of scrapbook stores and bought a kit at Barnes and Noble. I practiced with my kit and some other photos, but then I decided to take classes. I wanted to learn more before tackling my wedding photos. I took classes, made layouts, and finally made a wedding album a couple of years later. By that time, I had become a "scrapbooker" and had started collecting supplies. I found a hobby that I really enjoyed and later added stamping to my paper crafting hobby. Looking back, it would have been less expensive to buy the fancy album from my wedding photographer, but I am so glad that I became a scrapbooker in my process of trying to save money.

My story was inspired by Sian's Story Telling Sunday (a few days late) and a question asked on the Two Peas in a Bucket Facebook page for (inter)National Scrapbook Day. I won a $10 gift certificate to the Two Peas store for sharing my story. I started my cart at their online store and of course it will exceed $10...

Take Twelve & Lots of Links

Last week, I used the Take Twelve Challenge from Ella Publishing to document one of my last days as a stay-at-home mom. I actually found it challenging to get 12 unique photos of our day. I made a digital layout using My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up!, some digital elements from One Little Bird Designs, and some digital stamps from Ali Edwards/Designer Digitals. I edited the photos in Pic Monkey, which is my new go-to site for photo editing since Picnik is going away soon.

I thought about lining up the photos in a grid, but I went to the scattered look instead. I am thinking that all of the words and details will show up when I print this as a 12x12 page. For now, you can click on the image for a larger view.

Participating in memory keeping projects reminds me to take more pictures of our daily lives. Next week Ali Edwards is putting together her Week in the Life project. I enjoyed participating last July, but I do not know if I will be up for it with my new job starting. (I will probably decide on Sunday evening.) Eventually, Week in the Life would make a good Shutterfly photobook. You can get a free 8x8 book through May 21st with this promotion.

Guest Blogging

I am so excited to be a guest blogger at Scrapworthy Lives! Stephanie Medley-Rath combines her love of sociology and scrapbooking at Scrapworthy Lives. Her dissertation for her PhD in sociology focused on the scrapbook industry. She is a sociologist, college instructor, blogger, and working mom. Her Fashion! series of blog posts was inspiration for me to share my thoughts on fashion and scrapbooking. Please check out my post and layout there.

Pretend Play

Since this layout is 8 1/2 x 11, I scanned it for a better view. I have been working on some layouts to add to Alex's scrapbook. I also want to combine my scrapbooking and stamping more often.

For this layout, I used my new stamp set, Critters Every After from Lawn Fawn. The stamps are great for coloring. For the scrapbook layout, I chose not to color them. I did not want my stamped images overtaking my picture or journaling.

Here is another look at the layout (click on picture to enlarge):

Here is another look at the supplies I used: (I love the kraft cardstock with white zig-zags!)

InLinkz.com

Lawnscaping Challenge #29: Sketch

I want to combine my stamping and scrapbooking more often, and I used Lawnscaping Challenge #29: SKETCH for some inspiration. Here is the sketch:

Here is my layout:

I find it challenging to get good photos of my layouts. I found the photography tips in Kayla Aimee's new (free) e-book helpful. Unfortunately, we are having a rainy week, so it is hard to find good light right now. I am the crazy lady on my small front porch taking a picture of a card or layout propped on a kid's chair. Did I mention that I live on a (somewhat) main road?

Supplies Used:

InLinkz.com