The Everyday Scrapbooker

Hi everyone! Wondering where I've gone? Join me over at www.theeverydayscrapbooker.weebly.com to stay on top of all my crafty endeavours! I also have a group over at Facebook under the same name (the Everyday Scrapbooker) and I'd love for you to join me there too, for contests, weekly challenges and just general FUN!! When you stop by, say hi, so I can say hi back!!

Non- Traditional

The past few weeks has been in a state of familial chaos the last few weeks with Kyle working such crazy hours. When spring break is finally here, I see him sleeping for a couple days solid to get his body back into a normal routine! Last night, he got up at 1 to head into work. He's got to go back tonight- but this time, he's got to be getting ready at midnight. He'll be heading to Valleyview, which is a good 4 hours form here. Oh, the life of an oilfield worker! (And their families!)

So, other than Thursday night, I've spent a considerable amount of time in my craft room. My mojo must have found me, because I churned out three entire layouts last night. Can you believe that?! I'm slightly flabbergasted! I wonder what tonight will bring?!

Our Easter plans are slightly on hold for the moment; I do plan on baking a cake today- with the girls' help, of course- but otherwise its going to be a normal, quiet weekend for us here. We are hoping to make next weekend our 'Easter' weekend; my parents will be back home (they are currently on vacation right now) and Kyle should be done work. If he isn't, at least it'll be his regular weekend off. He's going to need a break by then!

While I'm on the topic of Easter, as I was heading to bed last night, I wandered into the kitchen to grab a little shot of juice to whet the whistle, and two of my fridge magnets caught my eye. They struck a chord deep within me, but I couldn't say why exactly it was so profound to me. They are two birds- doves (I think. But, I affectionately call them chicks)- and they're facing each other. One is yellow, the other is white. The word "Easter" jumped out at me when I saw them.

Just one of those 'hmm' moments, I guess.

Kyle is big into drag racing. He has his own race truck, that he enjoys tinkering on and plans on (slowly) improving, as finances and time allows. We haven't raced much since moving back to Alberta, but we did occasionally attend the race track in Estevan when we lived in Saskatchewan. Some of you may know that already. He's joked, time and again, that his girls are going to grow up to be funny car race drivers. Yeah.Right. Not if I can help it! I don't mind if they drag race, and start out racing rails, but they are--WILL NOT--race funny cars. They're too fast and too dangerous. He also jokes that I should take up drag racing. I've got a better reaction time than he does (heh heh). It could possibly be on my bucket list.

The first layout I finished last night is a perfect example, in Kyle's defence, of why the kids should learn to drag race. They love speed, they love playing racing games on their daddy's iPhone, and they love pretending to 'race' around the house in a cardboard box. That's what Addison was doing in my 'Race Car' layout. Kyle would push the box up with his toes and make car sounds, pretending to race the kids around the world.

Up until the very last minute, the title for this layout was going to be 'Pretending'. Then, after I got the journalling done, I realized that the title didn't really explain what this layout is all about. Instead, it would have been confusing, and the whole point would have gotten lost in the shuffle. So, I gently peeled off the alphas, and edited the title to read 'Race Car'.

You're probably wondering where the journalling is. Its there, but its hidden! I'm on a flip book craze lately, and this layout is no exception. The layout I scrap lifted this one from (which means copied, basically) didn't include room for journalling, so I had to be creative and make room for it. I made the flip book to 1) save paper- so I wasn't throwing out any paper that could easily have been used up; and 2) I wanted lots of space to write in, since my writing is so big and fluffy. There. Killed two birds with one stone!

The main color scheme I wanted to follow on this layout was kraft (brown), red and blue. The yellow makes a terrific accent color, and actually steals the show. The blue and brown are so muted, while the red and yellow are so intense and dramatic, I love the contrast between them. They also provide a great contrast between Addisons' personality (which is quiet and laid back), while the bright, vivid colors helps highlight the intensity of race car driving.

Also, one last little note: the blue floral paper in the background was created using a Creative Memories paper tearing tool. Remember how I mentioned in a previous post that my paper trimmer is incredibly dull and tends to tear thin paper? Yeah- that's what happened with this patterned paper. To camouflage the torn edges, I embellished with the paper tearing tool. I love the look here!

One of the best things about having girls is that I can have make overs with them! I'm a girly girl. I like having my hair all pretty, some make up on, and pretty clothes. I like to feel good about myself, and getting dolled up and painting my nails (once in a while) helps me achieve that. The girls really enjoy it, too. So, one day, during play time, we sat down to have a little make over. They were all.over.it like a pig in mud. (And, I can hear the girls saying to me 'but, I don't want to be a pig'). We have yet to understand what that phrase means! Heh heh.

I scrap lifted a layout I had seen on the Jillibean Soup blog for this particular project. It works perfectly to frame and highlight the star of my layout: the picture of Addison. This picture is a personal favorite of mine! I'm in love with it! It isn't the best- her one eye is covered, but that's what makes it so great. My blush brush is perfect to highlight the theme of my layout. MAKE UP!!!! (That, and her sweetly, toddler-done smudged lipstick).

The last layout I created was using the newest sketch to be posted to the LCOM (Lets Capture Our Memories) blog. If you want to play along, you can find the sketch here. I'm pretty sure I'm going to submit this layout to their challenge. When I saw that my friend Melissa had posted it, I knew instantly that it would be perfect for this layout.

I am not a big fan of halloween decorations. I'm more of a harvest type of gal. That's what I'd rather decorate my house with, because I love the warm, inviting, deep colours this time of year boasts. Not that I have anything against halloween decorations, or anyone out there that enjoys decorating for the holiday. I just don't like the dark connotations of it. Does that make sense? Anyways, it just boils down to personal preference. So, when it came to creating this years' halloween layout, it wasn't about using traditional halloween colours; it was all about coordinating with the girls' costumes!

The girls dressed up as fairies for halloween. At first, we were going with butterflies (that's what they'd asked for), but since the weather was incredibly cold that weekend, I ran to the dollar store, found tiara's to wear over their toques, and little wands, and VOILA! they were fairies. Later on (after the pictures in the layout were taken), I put the girls in snow pants. It slowed them down quite a bit, but at least they were warmer!

I had a lot of fun creating the title cluster on the bottom left portion of my layout. I love the mixture of alphas and sticker phrases, journalling spot, buttons and tags. Its very eclectic and personally a lot of fun! IMHO. To help draw the eye around the page, I included the date in the upper right corner of my layout. A goal to always keep in mind when you're creating is to follow an invisible grid in your mind; divide your layout into threes and try to embellish where those lines interect, to create a design 'sweet spot'. Its effective, but a technique I sometimes find hard to do.

What do I love the most about this layout? The non traditional color scheme! The colors I used are everything opposite to halloween and fall, and I think its fantastic!!

Lifestyle Photos

Good afternoon! How is your Thursday going? Its another beautiful day here- we're above 10 degrees again this afternoon. The windows are cracked a bit again today, letting some of that wonderful fresh air into the house to freshen things up again. I love it!! We waited until nearly noon for Kyle to come home--he was gone for a good 16 hours last night! Yikes. He says there's a possibility he could be going out again tonight; if not, he's got a rig move going on tomorrow. In a way, I hope he doesn't have to work until tomorrow. He's going to need the rest. Switching from day to nights to days again is going to wreak havoc on his internal clock. I don't envy him at this time of year at all!

To keep myself busy last night, I created another layout, and the finished product came about by chance. Sort of. I desperately need a new blade for my paper trimmer, but Walmart doesn't carry the replacement blades (yet they carry the paper trimmer, itself. Go figure). Grrr. (On a tangent, its like training pants. They have potty training underwear for the littles, but don't carry the plastic liners that a toddler wears over top of them. S.M.R.T. If you ask me.)

Cutting regular weight patterned paper is taking chance into your own hands- the cut could be crisp and clean, but more likely, its going to be ripped and torn and plain messy looking. Which, it was. So, I decided to roll with it. I broke out a piece of sand paper (which I haven't used in a coons age), and distressed the edges of all the paper in this layout, including the pictures. I was going for a shabby chic sort of look. I don't think I mastered it at all, but I do like the distressed look. Actually, I love the distressed look. I need to do it a little more often. I love the personality and character it adds.

I began with a plain piece of white card stock, and used a tooth brush (of all things) to paint on the background. I like the dry brushing look it lends. I tried the splattering technique first, but haven't quite gotten the hang of it. I scrapped that idea and just painted the old fashioned way (except for the tooth brush part). I cut the squares of patterned paper to the same size as the pictures, which is 2x3--which I find works incredibly well for an 8.5x11 size layout, if you want multiple photos--then embellished them a bit using stickers, a photo corner and what was left of the patterned paper I used behind the white card stock.

Lastly, the numbers of the date didn't match my color scheme (which I pulled inspiration from Pinterest for), so I painted them up, too. I used a small paint brush to add color, then took a dry paint brush and dry stroked them to help some of the color pop through, but not too much. It also adds a bit more texture to the layout, too. IRL it almost looks like wood grain.

The inspiration for my layout came from Pinterest (it originally came from the JBS blog, I do believe), but there was no way I was going to be able to stretch my title work across the top of the page. I split it up- part of it along the top of the spread, and the last half along the bottom of my spread. It helps carry your eye right to the bottom of the layout. I think, though, if I were to tweak it a little more, I'd add some more deep brown accents to my layout, as another way to help draw a persons eye around the page. I can't help but feel the eye gets stuck on the date.

Meh, oh well. Work place hazard :) I'm still in love with my layout!!

I may or may not attempt scrapping again tonight. It all depends on what my husband wants to do and how he feels. If he needs more sleep, I'll be back in here crafting up a storm. But, if he feels lively enough, I'm going to chillax with him, instead. I've missed him these last two days!

Fulfilling Project

I am finally nearing the end of our boudoir/lifestyle photo session scrapbook pages. In a way, I'm kind of sad that I'm at the end (I have only one layout left in this series), but in a way, I'm incredibly satisfied. Not only did I scrapbook these pictures for the girls to look back on, and see what fun their mama and auntie A had, but I also got a special mini album and layout done for my best friend. That's about as fulfilling as scrapbooking can get. And, nothing is more rewarding!

I'm now contemplating making a layout of our day just for myself, to hang on one of the walls in our house. I just might have to do that!

The layout I completed last night, the one you'll find here, finally deals with the whole point of our day: our photos! As part of my package, I got to have a few lifestyle photos done, so those are in plain view on this layout. I wasn't comfortable sharing my boudoir photos with the world wide web, so I got creative with the sketch I used, and the layout I created.

This is my favorite part! In the sketch, a tag with journalling was added to the right side of both pictures. Since this layout didn't require any journalling, I switched it up and made this cute little flip book, which is tied closed with lace ribbon. I used the lace ribbon to mimic the outfit I was wearing in my boudoir photos, which is partly white lace. If anyone wants to see the hidden pictures, all they need to do is untie the ribbon, and flip through the book. For a little bit of a teaser, I made each succeeding page a tad bit longer (also so the pages are a bit easier to flip). I also switched the placement of the journalling tag- rather than the right side, I put my flip book on the left side of the layout.

The outfit I wore for my boudoir photos is black and white, so I wanted to stick with a color scheme that highlighted those two colors. I found a color scheme (on Pinterest) that added yellow as an accent color, so used varying shades and tones of yellow and light brown/ to accent this layout. Once again, I carried the lace theme throughout the layout, using a lace doily in the background.

When it was time to add the title work, I began wondering what type of alpha would be best to use. I wanted to add a bit of a glamorous air, since both A and I felt pretty glamorous all dolled up, so pulled out my dollar store glitter alphas. There wasn't a second 'O' in black, so I cut a part a lower case 'd', to make the letter 'O', and consequently a letter 'I', since I wasn't able to find that in black, either. Once in a while, it helps to think outside the box!

Its a very simple design, but that's the way I like it!

All About Family

Once again, time has gotten away from me! Where does time go?!

I want to highlight a few of my favorite layouts from my scap binge last weekend. I got so many done, that there's just way too many to post here.

You'll be able to find all my layouts in various places- either here, here or here. My Pinterest also includes all the items that inspired me, too.

First up, First Snow. Way back in October, the first flakes of snow fell. The girls and I got all dressed up and headed outside to make our very first snowman, and attempt showing them how to make snowballs. Both turned out to be a project for mommy only, but we still had fun. They love catching snowflakes on their tongues- that was something else mama taught them while we gallavanted in the snow.

I absolutely love the papers I chose to use on this layout. Blue and red is another fave color combo. And the patterns on this one? Out of this world! I just LOVE it!!! All papers used are Jillibean Soup, from the Winter Tortellini collection. Oh, except for the one strip of blue polka dot paper that's punched. That's from Carta Bella (Merry and Bright Collection).

Another favorite is my Family layout. The content is fairly intimate; its another layout dealing with my struggle with Post Partum Depression. A song that has come to mean a lot to me during this period in my life is I Will Not Give Up, by Jason Mraz. I wanted to find a design that saved a lot of room for journalling (so I would write out the lyrics to the song), and the one I chose for this layout met that requirement beautifully.

My favorite part about that layout is all the white space! Its short and sweet, and to the point. A lot like me, now that I think about it.

You are Beautiful. We frequently tell our girls that. We may be a little biased, but I think its 100% true. My hope is that if the girls hear it enough throughout their lives, they'll believe it, and not think less of themselves. Part of that hope is also instilling in them the trust that their mama and daddy are incredibly proud of them (which we are), and we tell them that often, too. I never heard it much from either of my parents growing up; I don't want my children growing up without hearing those important words from the most important people in their lives.

The sticker sentiment that makes up the title on this layout sums up how I feel about both of the girls perfectly. I couldn't have said it better myself!

Next comes my Cozy layout. Its another layout of Neruda, the cat we're taking care of for my sister. She just looks so snug and cozy all curled up under the curtains like that! All I had to do was lie on the floor (a short distance from her), zoom in, and snap away. She didn't even notice a thing! Lucky for me :)

The title is my favorite part of this layout. It has a real home spun, cozy sort of feel. LOVE!!

Lastly begins the Boudoir photo layouts! I won't actually post any pictures of my boudoir photos, but I will post (and scrap) some of the lifestyle pics I had done with my bestie (I was able to sneak a few of those into my boudoir shoot, too). All the layouts I've done of those up to date are located in the three links I provided at the top of my post.

Enjoy and take care!

~a

Four

Happy Wednesday, all!

It was an incredibly productive scrappy kind of weekend for me. If you can believe it, I completed 22 entire layouts, some of which I've submitted for publication to Canadian Scrapbooker, and the rest of which are slowly being uploaded to my online gallery at Scrapbook.com. Its too much work (and unfair to everyone there) to bomb them with that many layouts at once! Ha!

And, instead of starting at the beginning, I'm just going to share with you the four I uploaded tonight. If you'd like to see the rest of the layouts I made, just head over to my Facebook page or my online gallery at Scrapbook.com. That'll be way easier- for all of us!

The first one up tonight, is of my sisters' kitty, Neruda. We are babysitting her. I'm sure I've referenced her before. Anyways, I'm glad I'm starting to get some layouts in of her, because next week she's going back home to live with her mommy! I'm sad! I don't want her to leave. She's crazy, but I like having her around. I'm sure I've mentioned that before, too. She's added a lot of color to our household- more than there was before. I've told Kyle that the next pet we own needs to have a larger than life personality like this cat. I'm not sure we'll know what to do with ourselves after she's gone.

The sentiment at the bottom of this layout, Each day, my heart grows fonder, is sooo 100% true. We took to each other like butter on bread. She's been my little pal these last 7 months. She hangs with me every night when I scrap, and when there's a quiet moment without kids hanging around, she's cuddled in my lap. Or getting stuck in my drawer.

I'll share that story another day. Its worth a little chuckle, if not a belly laugh, for sure.

The next layout, Addison the Builder, has a bit of a story behind it. Just lately, we've been coming across signs and whatnot all over the place that references Bob the Builder. On our way home last Friday after dropping the kids' at their grandparents, I happened to see a sign for a welder entitled Bob the Welder. LIke, seriously. So, when I came across the sketch for this layout, and began thinking about a title, I couldn't resist playing on the Bob the Builder theme.

Addison is our little builder. She'll stack anything and everything, and when it tumbles over, it just makes her giddy with delight. She squeals and shrieks with incredible happiness. She loves it! She may just grow up to be our engineer! Or someone that destroys buildings for a living. Who knows.

The card sticker at the bottom of the layout, on the right, is actually symbolic of Addisons' age when this picture was taken (2 years old). I'm glad I thought to put that on there, considering it was just recently the girls' birthday. If I hadn't, we'd be wondering come next year, how old she was- two or three? I can just see it. LOL

Finally. That's the title of my next layout. I'm not sure, but I think this might be a cycle that every little girl goes through. At first, they didn't want me to touch their hair, unless I wanted to unintentionally start world war 3. Then, they gradually grew to be ok with it, and now they finally like it. They might not let me do their hair every day, but more often than not now, I'll be able to get a pony tail or two or three into their hair. I'm a happy mama!

On this layout, I punched the butterfly 5 times and stacked them to give it more dimension, and journalled on the circle. I also included some stamping in this one- the purple card stock has flowers on it, and the pink card stock has the hearts. All of which (both stamps and ink) are Stampin' Up.

The last layout I'll share tonight is one of my absolute favorites. Ever make a layout that you're so incredibly proud of, you think you need to frame it? Yeah, that would be this one.

Its all entirely Jillibean Soup- from the Country Pumpkin Chowder collection. The only thing that isn't Jillibean, is the tiny scallop sticker border on the journalling spot. That's Stampin' Up, I do believe. If not that, then its Creative Memories. This one is called Thanksgiving. And yes, its all about Thanksgiving!

What's so special about it? Everything :)

Go. Go now and check them out! You won't be disappointed. {I hope}.

Till next time,

~a

Scrap-A-Thon

Hi everyone! SOrry I wasn't around this weekend- I was scrapping my heart out!!!

Literally!

This is going to be an uber short post--I'll be back tomorrow night and for the next couple of days, sharing all 22 layouts I made over the last three days.

Yes, you read right.

Twenty- two layouts. Phew!!

And, I could make another 22 more if I had three more days...

Love you all, and thanks for dropping in!

~a