The Great PL Card Massacre

I really should know better than to scrap on the ground and walk away without tidying my things up.

Caleb decided my Project Life cards would be perfect for practicing his newly refined cutting skills. Instead of tossing the pieces into the bin, I pieced the cards back together and stuck them onto a white  background. It's been a while since I've made a 12x12 layout, and this is probably the fastest one I've made, ever. 

Thank you, Caleb, for the surprise dose of inspiration and motivation, but please don't cut up any more of mommy's Project Life cards!

What's Up, Croc?

These photos of Nathan holding his first baby croc were taken last year, and even though I don't have any rules regarding the order in which I must scrap photos, I figured it was high time for me to scrap these ones. I printed them like this to be used together so that was my starting point for this layout.

The layout is really simple and clean. There isn't too much of a story behind the photos, I just wanted to document that moment. I pulled pieces of embellishments from various SC kits, once again trying to use up some of my stash.

Originally, I journaled in pencil around the main element of the layout just to see what it would look like. I ended up liking it, but figured black pen would be too harsh so I left it as is. There's nothing wrong with journaling in pencil, right?

Beach Baby

This was my original piece for the Christmas in July Blog Hop before I decided to challenge myself to use up some of my Christmas stash (the original intent of the hop). I went with the traditional Christmas colour scheme (red, green/aqua, kraft with white and black).

(Click on the image for a larger view of this layout)

I think I made this layout after watching one of Wilna F's videos - I love her style and how everything just comes together so organically.

I was inspired by her use of rub-ons. She said she tries to use up the whole pack in one layout, so I challenged myself to use as many of the rub-ons as possible. I also added some splatters of mist in black and white.

Now that I look at the layout, it must have been inspired by Wilna because of the way she used that mask as a stamp. I'm almost certain I painted the mask with white acrylic paint because of how opaque it is.

Layering the rub-ons on top of the mask was so exhilarating for me - it's so far out of my comfort zone and makes me feel like I'm doing something really artsy and creative.

I also played with lots of layers that popped up from the page - things are just loosely adhered down. It's a look I've been trying to work towards for a long time now.

This was a really fun layout for me to make - it was really freeing for me to be able to create this way and I'm hoping to make more like it soon.

Bananagrams

I'm finally getting a chance to scrap some of the photos that have been sitting in my drawer since... well, a year ago!

Here's Nathan and one of our friends' daughters playing Bananagrams. After watching the adults and older kids play Bananagrams all long weekend, these two budding spellers finally got the chance to play while the rest of us packed the cars.

It was a quiet, non-competitive game. Actually, I think they were just trying to spell as many words as they could with their own pile of letters. I thought it was a nice little moment to document, especially since Nathan was just starting to really develop his spelling around then.

Here's a closer look:

I'm fascinated by the whole layered effect and I'm working on developing this "skill" for myself. The stars were a last-minute addition. I had dumped them out for another project and these ones just happened to land on this layout and I liked how it looked so I spread them out and adhered them. I think it finishes the page.

Journaling is tucked under the photo on that tag because I couldn't figure out where to place my writing and I like how simple it looks. To me, the picture tells the whole story.

Down The Coast

It's no secret that I love going to the beach.

I've always dreamed of living by the ocean. Remember Addison's house in Private Practice? The gorgeous home right on the beach? That's basically the whole reason I watched that show. That was my dream house right there. Well, one of them.

We're not exactly living on the beach but the fact that we're sandwiched in between two amazing stretches of beach and can get to one within an hour, I think we're pretty darn close. 

Before we moved to Australia, a friend who had lived in Brisbane years ago warned us not to get too excited about the beach because unlike tourists who have time to travel to the beach whenever they please, living there would be a different story. 

Yes, we've been very busy over the past 2.5 years, but we've also managed to find time to spend oceanside and for that I am so grateful.

Layouts: Real Life, Right Now

Here's another layout of just Andrew and I from a few years ago. This was taken on Nathan's fourth birthday at Disney. This is what we look like from his point of view. 

I'm really liking the layered look right now and I figure the only way I can get better at it is if I practice. It takes me way longer than anyone in the videos I've been watching but it's such a fun process, I really don't mind. Plus, it's helping me use up some of my stash! I'm really hoping to make some space for the new product that's coming out.

I've been wanting to get into the habit of documenting things that I like, or do, right now. It's amazing how much the things I enjoy change over short amounts of time, and how quickly I forget about them. And another thing I wanted to try was putting together a layout using little bits and pieces. It's almost like one of those I Spy photos.

Thanks to all the NSD challenges for helping me cross some things off my scrapbooking to-do list, and thank you for looking!

Two Thumbs Up and Happy Moments

I have a drawer of photos I keep meaning to scrapbook that keeps getting fuller and fuller. 

It takes me a lot of time to gain enough inspiration to put a page together, and not a lot of free time. But when Andrew took the boys out to the park last week, I knew I had to get something put together or my time alone would be a waste.

So I turned the inspiration dial way up. I had a scrapbooking podcast playing on my iPhone, opened up some galleries and had Youtube videos playing on my iPad, had even more galleries and challenges open on my computer and a copy of Kelly Purkey's Signature Series open beside me and I went to down.

Eventually, I used two challenges on the Studio Calico message boards to jumpstart my layouts.

The pages feel like they're still missing something, but considering it's been months since I've last scrapbooked, I'm pretty happy to call them done just the way they are. What do you do when your page doesn't look finished, but you don't know what else it needs?

This page took me out of my comfort zone a little. Cutting the background patterned paper and using other wonky hand-cut pieces isn't something I normally do. But, I've seen it being done a couple times and I wanted to try it out, so I did.

Layout Process: Doilies and Pearls

I love seeing other people's creative processes, and seeing how things become the way they are.

I thought it'd be fun to document my own creative process as well, so here is a layout I made a little while ago.

Not all of my layouts come together easily and become something I really love, but sometimes they do, and this is one of them.

Somehow all of my wedding layouts have a bit of a vintage feel to them so that's how this one went as well. I started off with my base and sprinkled some ink in a diagonal line.

Then, I positioned a couple doilies.

I actually created the whole layout around these doilies because I've never used them before but I've seen so many gorgeous layouts using doilies so I really wanted to try them out.

I played with the positioning of a few key pieces: the photo, the shipping tag, the die cut circle and the badge. 

I couldn't work out how to get the shipping tag to go through my typewriter without getting stuck so I typed on some vellum and wrapped that around the shipping tag instead. 

Some washi tape was added under each key piece to help ground it a little and add some colour. And I love the look of the twine bow on the shipping tag. You can bet I'll be doing that more often!

And for some finishing touches, I used the rest of the doily that was cut to fill in some of the empty space (Yay! No waste!), added some butterflies punched out of white cardstock and vellum, and went to town with some half-pearls and gems.

This is definitely one of my more feminine layouts but I love it so much. And I can't get enough of those doilies and half-pearls!

Let's Ride

Ever since that day I managed to finish a layout within a couple of hours, I've been scrapbooking a lot faster. 

I'm trying to use more layers to add more variety and colour to my pages and also to use up more of my supply. I'm slowly getting more comfortable with cutting up pieces of paper and combining colours and patterns.

This is my most recent layout; it's of Nathan riding his Ben 10 bike. He got it for his birthday last year, and if I remember correctly, this was from his first time riding that bike. 

Reunited

I'm so excited to share this layout because it came together so quickly. From beginning to end, it took about 2 hours and that's definitely my fastest by far!

I had the perfect working conditions:
1. A quiet house. Andrew brought Caleb to Nido this morning so it was completely quiet. No one asking me questions, standing in my way as I dart back and forth looking for supplies, or stealing my supplies.
2. A clear desk. I finally cleared off my computer desk last night (can't say the same about the floor around it) so I had a large clear space to work on. It also helped that my computer was right in front of me because I tend to click around, scouring the web for inspiration.
3. Sunlight. I think it makes the biggest difference for me, working in natural light.

I sort of wish I didn't splatter ink on this layout, but not much I can do about it now.

I'm just happy I can actually get a layout done in one sitting!

Watching You Wait

This story has waited a long time to be shared. 

I have a smaller version of it in my Project Life, but it's one of my favourite Caleb-Andrew stories so I made this layout for it last night.

I'm trying to push myself to use more of my supplies and make more layouts but I'm the world's slowest scrapbooker and it takes me a long time to actually make something.

To make this layout, I had to sit at my desk three different times (for hours, each time), I changed the background three times before I finally started pulling the pieces together.

How do people make multiple layouts in one sitting? It amazes me.

I'd love to learn how to scrap faster. If anyone has any tips or tricks that help them scrap faster, please share!

2 NSD Layouts

This is my very first wedding layout.

I can't believe it's taken me almost four years to make one. Granted, I didn't start making layouts until this year, but still. Better late than never I suppose.

This one took me literally all day to make.

I wanted it to be perfect.

This next one took me a little while, too, just because I wanted to combine hexagons and pentagons to make a soccer ball pattern.

In case anyone is thinking of attempting the same, just know this: it's impossible to flatten out a 3D shape without some sort of warping.

I have a garbage can full of hexagons and pentagons.

I finally decided the only way to keep the shapes from looking too warped was to do small areas.

The ink splatters fill the white space in a little and wanting to subtly make the title stand out, I adhered it to a piece of overlay transparency. The chicken coop pattern sort of resembles a soccer net so it sort of fits the theme, don't you think?