New projects are fun

It’s been over a week since I posted; too busy doing life to record it! I’ve been up to my ears in projects for Kaiser’s June (or is it July? Can’t remember) Release, which is fun, but doesn’t allow for much free time.

Even so, I managed to start a new mini album. Now I know I new-year-resolved to finish off other minis, but let’s face it, new projects are much more fun than old ones. J Besides, I wanted to do it while the memories are fresh. (That’s my justification and I’m sticking to it.)

This is my ‘building our new house” mini:

Inside I’ve just done a main photo of the house itself at each stage so far (taken from the same spot on the property), with one smaller “people” one beside it. So now, whenever someone asks “how’s your house going?”, I can whip this out and SHOW them. All very exciting!

Funny thing: the chipboard house by the title was actually from a pack of variously sized arrows. I was feeling pretty darn pleased with myself and mentioned it to Husband when I showed him. His response? “Oh. I thought it was an arrow…” C’est la vie…

One last thing. That quote stamp is from www.catslifepress.com  Have just discovered this site and I love it! Their stamps are sublime and their service outstanding. Just sharing the love….

Strawberries and the grinding of teeth

Isn’t it funny how some layouts come together so willingly, while others are so…stubborn, they make you grind your teeth in frustration?

Layout Nine was definitely a teeth-grinder. I swear it was like trying to feed a fussy toddler; everything I offered, it threw back at me. I think it’s had three different backgrounds and heaven only knows how many embellishments. Flowers, stickers, chipboard, ribbon, even bling – all were refused. I loathe feeling rejected by my own creation…

Still, taking the Big Picture Perspective, the story is told. And for every layout I look at and think, “meh”, there’s another that makes me smile. Besides, (with due apologies to Scarlett O’Hara) “tomorrow is another page.”

Ciao for now, and may all your layouts this week be well-behaved! J

A scrapbooking epiphany

In the grand total of two weeks that I’ve been a’blogging, I’ve made a discovery. (I’m fairly certain this won’t be at all revelatory to anyone else out there, but for me it was a light bulb moment!)

In the nine years I’ve been scrapping, roughly 99% of it has been spent at my dining room table on my own. I have one or two Scrap Friends I’ve occasionally gone to a crop with, but typically, scrapping is a solo event for me.

Now here’s the moment: Sharing my stuff online; having people-other-than-family taking a look and leaving lovely comments; discovering this Whole New World of incredibly talented and creative people encouraging and sharing with each other; all this made me realise that scrapbooking is a community thing. And this amazing hobby/lifestyle is enhanced and made richer by sharing it with others.

Now, you’re possibly thinking “Well, duh!” But I never got this before! And now I do J.  So thank you all, for helping me to see it. I get it. I love it. This is scrapbooking times a million….

And so to Layout 8:

I’m trying to live up to my new camera and take better photos this year. I usually point and shoot, then crop like crazy on the photo kiosk. But this one I framed before I took it. New concept, that. Then I played around a bit with the colour levels….Techno-fear?? Ppffftt! What techno-fear?!?

Until next time, then. Have a wonderful Monday. J

Here’s to Fridays…

I love Fridays. I love knowing the week’s to-do list is pretty much over (bar the ironing); I love that “first-day-of-the-holidays” kind of feeling; I love settling into the (mostly) slower weekend pace. And I love feeling that there’s time and space for creative play...

Layout 7 is a “Friday” one – just playing about with paper and bits until it feels right. There are lots of reasons to scrap, I know – recording for posterity, celebrating and commemorating, etc – and they’re all important and valid and ‘worthy’. But the “Friday” layouts are the ones I do simply because they make me happy. And, come to think of it, isn’t that the place where all the other reasons spring from??

Here’s to play and scrap happiness! And here’s to Fridays…

On not reinventing the wheel

I’m a big fan of Ali Edwards’ philosophy, “don’t make it more complicated than it needs to be.” When I find a layout that works, I tend to use it over and over again. With different colours, papers and what-have-yous, no one seems to notice that it’s the same basic format. (Or if they do, they’re politely refraining from comment.) So here are Layouts Four, Five and Six – my version of not reinventing the wheel.

They all have the one large photo, larger mat, and horizontal row of embellishments beneath. Even the same background. End result: same but different. J 

These pages are standards for me, along with birthdays and Christmas ones. I like having an overview of their year at each age; it includes anything relevant – interests, dislikes, traits, achievements, etc. Plus, it takes the pressure off having to do a page for every little thing. This way, if I get to do the specific pages, great; if not, the memories are recorded before they fade. All good.

Here’s to making it easy!

A thankful kind of week

First of all, I want to thank all of you for visiting – it’s been lovely to make some new friends and catch up with old ones. I very much appreciate the comments too. J Isn’t blogging fun! I should’ve started this years ago…

It’s been a thankful kind of week all round, actually. Our youngest turned five (Five! Where does the time go??) amidst great excitement, and I sent up a little prayer of thanks every time I thought about where we were this time five years ago. Here’s life, as it was then:

Ten weeks early and a six week stint in hospital.

And here’s life, as it is now:

I get hung up on the little things occasionally, so it’s good to have a reminder every now and then to be grateful – there’s always something to be thankful for, huh?

Moving right along; here’s the third layout for the year:

Orange, in these kind of tones, is one of my all-time favourite colours to scrapbook with. It’s funny - I never go near it in real life, but paper-wise it’s become a bit of a go-to for me. Probably because I have twice as many boy pages to do as girl ones, come to think of it! Yellow’s the same. I can’t ever wear it without looking seriously ill, but it’s such a happy colour, I’m drawn to it for all sorts of layouts. Actually just finished a mini album of 2011 goals – all yellow. Might post that next time.

Until then, then. Happy scrapping!