My Sweet Baby

One of the reasons I got into scrapbooking was for the fun of it. But as I began doing this addictive hobby, I realized there was another reason to love it. I get to tell my story in the way I want to tell it. I have my own style, use my own words and pictures to convey what I want my future grandchildren to know about me. Another reason I scrapbook is for the here and now and to document important moments when they occur. I began scrapbooking because my daughter will want to know about me as well as events that happened in her life that she may forget about or not realize ever happened. Here is another design from Smilebox I created. When my daughter Elizabeth was little (she is now 12) she loved her pacifier. A cute story I tell her is when she was old enough to do without it I casually tossed it to the bottom of her toybox one day when she wasn't looking. Mommy told her it was lost but we would get another one. Well, that worked but she totally forgot about it. When she was about three, we decided to clean out the toybox and get rid of some toys she no longer played with. Much to my dismay and surprise, at the bottom of the toybox was the pacifier. "My paccey! she shouted. And with that, she plopped it into her mouth! Thank you Elizabeth for those joyous mommy moments!

When you get lemons.....SQUEEEEEZE!!!

The other day I was so busy with life. I was so busy that I almost allowed myself to get depressed, anxious, nervous, and all that other stuff that comes with busyness. I have been working diligently learning all the aspects of my new job; CPR and First Aide training, computer tests, and med training which is coming up this next week. Not to mention, the assignments at the University of Phoenix that I have to keep up with all week and make sure my participation is up to par. Well, before I let it get the best of me, I scrapbooked! I recently signed up with a kit-of-the-month club. When it arrived, I tore into it. Suddenly, those lemons that life seemed to be giving me turned into liquid gold! I can see myself now admiring the beautiful papers, gorgeous embellishments, and all the other imenities that came with the kit. I grabbed a box of photos that have been patiently waiting for me and got busy. Here are some of the ideas I came up with:
Bloom shows my daughter and nephew playing on the tractor pretending to work on the farm and All Girl shows my daughter and her friend petting horses. I am still working on the new digital camera I received for Christmas. Maybe one day I will master the technique of photography. So when life is about to hand you some lemons...well, you know what to do!

He the Man!

My great-nephew Gabriel is such a treat to be around. I love taking photos since I got my new camera for Christmas. Although he doesn't like to pause and get his picture taken, he did for me this one time. Gabriel's sister has not yet graced us with her birth (March 28th due date). In the meantime, he is our little man. He is so sweet and I absolutely adore him. I used PhotoShop Elements 4.0 to make this layout. If you want instructions, I can make a step by step tutorial on how to use PhotoShop Elements to design a layout similar to this.

Weddings

Brides are always beautiful and they are a great treat to make scrapbooks for. Before Christmas, I finally got my very procrastinating little sister to fork over her wedding photos. She didn't have to ask why. I made a beautiful scrapbook as a Christmas gift for her and her husband. My sister and I have about eighteen years between our ages; she is more like a daughter to me than a sister at times. Weddings are always a big event. For wedding scrapbooks, a clean design is usually recommended. Papers are often white, ivory, black, and lots of vellum is recommended. But if you go digital, Smilebox has several designs to choose from. All you have to do is find your photos you want to use and plop them onto the page. You can email your finished scrapbooks to friends and relatives, add music to them, blog them, and print them off from your computer. Smilebox takes a lot of the work out of digital scrapbooking for me. I highly recommend anyone who has not tried it to give it a shot. Other programs for scrapbooking are PhotoShop and PhotoShop Elements which are two more that I recommend, although there is a learning curve associated with these. You can also use Microsoft PowerPoint to make scrapbook pages. Microsoft has lots of clipart to use as embellishments. So if you are fortunate to get the opportunity to make a scrapbook as a wedding gift, Christmas gift, or just for yourself, remember to keep the layout clean, simple, and elegant. Less is more in terms of embellishments. Also, if using black and white, changing the photo to black and white is recommended as well. Good luck!

Scrapbooking About Hobbies

One thing I rarely do is scrapbook about myself. Its usually about family holidays, traditions, friends, and relatives. Rarely do I ever dedicate a page solely about me. One way to incorporate yourself into your scrapbooking, which most people fear (journaling about themselves), is to design layouts of you working on other hobbies. For these layouts, the focus is on me but also on my hobbies of knitting and crocheting. This way you incorporate yourself into the layout but the focus isn't entirely on you but focuses on characteristics about you. You can scrapbook about cooking, sewing, photography, whatever appeals to you. I think its important to scrapbook about yourself because those who come after you will be fascinated with your work, and want to get a personal glimpse of who you were as a person or individual; what you liked, what you disliked, etc. So try to incorporate yourself into your work without being the main focus, if you are uncomfortable talking about yourself. In these two layouts I discuss the fact that I had fun making projects for my soon-to-be great-niece who is to be born later this month. Have fun with it!

Twogether

I met my friend Heidi when we worked as daycare teachers. We hit it off immediately and have become very close. I think we have helped each other through some hard times by being there for one another, encouraging each other, and supporting one another along the way. Heidi and I are very good friends and I hope to remain her friend for a very long time to come. She has really been there for me and I dedicate this page to her. She makes me laugh, and I truly miss her when we are not together. Thanks Heidi for everything you have done for me and for being such a great friend to me.

What is the One Product I Must Have?

Recently, I was discussing scrapbooking to a very new beginner; someone who has never delved in scrapbooking, period. She asked, "What is the one product that you cannot live without?" I thought about that for a moment or two. For me, I use a lot of products on traditional scrapbook pages that most don't even consider. So, Archival Mist by Krylon (spray paint manufacturer) is the one thing that must go on my scrapbook layouts! Since I am not sure of the acidity levels in these embellishments I use, spraying them with Archival Mist helps protect my photos which are the most important thing on a scrapbook layout, in additon to journaling. Journaling and photos go hand in hand. Journaling tells the who, what, when, where, how, and why of a photo. These are the most important aspects of a scrapbook layout. Forget about decorating papers and designing them the way scrapbook designers do. They have years of knowledge in design layout. The most important thing for a beginner is to use what you have. But make sure that what you use is acid-free and lignin free and if you are not sure, use Archival Mist!

This is the typical mesh I would save to use on a scrapbook layout. Of course, I would mist it with Archival Mist before adhering it to my page. I save all kinds of things to put on my pages. Mesh is great for masculine pages.