New Year's Resolution

Yes, my plan is to scrapbook more, spend more time with my family, spend less time worrying about the small stuff, finding a full time job.....

Scrapbooking tomorrow. Hopefully. See you then.

Have a safe and fun evening.

Time Management

Well, I ran errands, played with my son, made soup, played Wii with family....

Where oh where did my time go? I need some better time management, so I can schedule some scrapbooking time. I plan to do some tomorrow. Hopefully, it will work out.

Have a nice night.

PLanning Layouts

So, now I have figured out what pages I want to work on next. Now, I am going to check out some paper and embellishments for them and set those aside. This way when I do get time to work on pages, I will have all the material ready to go. Then while the family is watching Spongebob, I will layout the pages with my sketches.

You would be surprised how much time it saves when you layout your pages before you begin scrapping. I use some sites to help with this process. scrapbooks etc. is a good place to get ideas and so is scrapbook.com.

Organizing Pictures

I never realized just how disorganized my pictures were until I tried to organize them. First, I put them in envelopes by what occasion. Then, I sort what pictures I want to use on my pages and which ones I want to put into regular photo albums. Then, I write down what pictures I have in a notebook. The order depends on what pages I want to work on first. Then, I write the sizes and whether they are vertical or horizontal. Later, (hours, days, weeks, or sometimes months later), I sit down with some layout sketches from magazines, friends, online sources, etc. and draw up how I am going to layout the pages using the pictures. Sometimes I choose the papers and embellishments then the layouts and sometimes I choose the layouts and then the papers and embellishments.
By doing this, I save myself a lot of headaches while scrapping. Usually I stick to the layout I have chosen, but sometimes I will change certain aspects of it. However, the stress of figuring out what to do is non-existent when I follow this format.
Hope this helps when you can't figure out what to do with your pictures and how to make the most of your scrapbooking time.

Posting Layouts

Well, my son wants to play and watch some Christmas movies, so I am taking a few hours to spend time with him. Happy Looking!

1st Year Layouts: June

I found this paper and left this layout til almost last. I wanted to do something creative and cute with the monkey edge. So, this is what I came up with.

Then, I wanted to create some journaling with out losing the design, so I put the journaling on strips and used foam stickers to attach it to my page. I think it turned out nicely.

1st Year Layouts: April

This is the month my baby sat up on his own. He did it in Pam & Roger's front yard while we were all out enjoying the spring sunshine. It was a glorious day.

1st Year Layouts: March

For March, I used only a small part of the March paper. Instead, I opted to use more patterned paper than I normally do. I decided the flower stickers matched well and would not take away from my little boy and his stuffed Tramp.

On the right page side, I added another flower sticker and some journaling. I also made sure that March was readable in both pages.

1st Year Layouts: February

Here I wanted to stay away from the traditional Valentine's paper. I found some burgundy weave paper and added hearts, but not too many.

1st Year Layouts: December

I found this beautiful snowflake paper in my stash. I used foam stickers to make the snowflakes stand up.

1st Year Layouts: At the Hospital

Here is the beginning of my son's 1st book. I decided doing all his wonderful pictures would be too much, so I did one double page spread for each month.

I found some great paper that had the name of the month in different colors throughout the page. I matched these pages and that is how I created the color combinations. 



This is his hospital stay. Just a few hours old.

Pictures of Layouts

Okay, so I don't have a $500 camera and our scanner is 8 1/2 x 14. Thus, I am having the most difficult time getting pictures of my layouts for this blog. It is a pain. I have tried several different lighting modes, used the close-up, and set the camera on a solid surface. Nothing seems to work.

My husband is coming to my rescue, something he can do wonderfully. So hopefully soon, I will be posting my layouts.

Til then, check out my other blog for Christmas morning fun at JoJo's Blog.

Cricut .cut files

Okay, so I did some cut files with the DS. They turned out great. I made a Disney word book, a mickey border, and some journals. I want to put the cut files up here, but am not sure how to do it. Any advice would be great.

Thanks.

Perpetual calendar

Yeah! I finally found a blank perpetual calendar. I ordered it from Etsy.com ( http://www.etsy.com ); there was only one left, but if you are looking, keep checking the site. That is what I had to do. Now, if it comes on time, I can make one for my mom for the holiday. I will post pictures as soon as I have them.

Boys Layouts

I will be posting my son's first year album on here tomorrow. Come back and check it out.

Scrapbooks Etc.: Feb. 2010

Yesterday, I received my new issue of Scrapbooks Etc, the February 2010 issue. Of course, the front cover was covered with pastels, mainly pink. I know that Valentine's Day is a love holiday, but I still do not see the need for my pages to be coated in the color promoted to genderize the female and unfortunately, society has done such a great job of telling my boys that "pink is for girls" that they ask me not to use a lot of it. Thus, the first thing I did was to search the magazine for product that I could use on their Valentine pages.


The first ad for new collections that I came across was from Making Memories. There new Valentine's collection, Love Struck, seems to be all pink. (When I go to their site, there is no Love Struck listed.) The picture shows some pink paper with nice brown stripes and some pink with brown polka dots, as well as, some brown and pink ribbon. The rest of their collection is pink, with pink, with more pink. Looks like if I purchase any of this set, it will be two sheets of paper.

Next, is The Little Yellow Bicycle collection, Sweet Love. This collection has nothing but pink. There is one gray foil sheet, but the rest is pink. Maybe they did this to make up for the lack of pink in their Christmas collection, 25 Days of Christmas. This was one of my favorite collections. Very rich, lots of green, red, tan, and blue. A great collection for boy pages. I have saved some for regular pages. Yes, that is how wonderful their Christmas collection is.

Fancy Pants Designs took the holiday in a different direction. Their Valentine's line is called My Family. I went to their web site, but could not locate any new collections after Nov. 2009. (This site is in desperate need of an update.) From the picture in the magazine, this collection is red with green, blue, and beige. A great set for the holiday and then some. This maybe one I purchase some embellishments as well as paper. On the Fancy Pants site I did find a boy collection, of course there is a girl collection also, and it seemed very nice.

The next I came across was for the brand Basic Grey. This collection called Origins has nothing to do with Valentine's Day at all. The colors are wonderful, browns, greens, blacks, and yellows. The picture in the magazine makes the collection look more masculine than it really is. I would not purchase the collection pack, but I would buy paper and embellishments individually. There are a few floral sheets that would work for boys, because of the colors. I especially like Revitalize, Cucumber, Henna, and Mineral Soak.

The Mariposa Collection is the new one from Die Cuts With A View (DCWV). This collection is not on the web site either. I can't get a good grasp of exactly what is in this collection. The ad states, "enchanting butterflies, twisting florals, delicate birdcages, & more." These words alone tell me that I will not like most of the papers. However, the solid paper pack has only one pink sheet, which will be great if it is true and since solid paper is a necessity, I will probably purchase this pack.

The popular brand Bo Bunny is next with its' Persuasion collection. The ad shows blues, greens, with pink. The florals are nice, but the ad only shows two. I went to the web site for Bo Bunny and found nothing for this collection. This site has not been updated since the fall releases. Not only was this disappointing, but the website itself is not a pleasant one to use. To see the collections I had to click on their PDF catalogue which took forever to open. Here is the link to the site if you want to try for yourself: Bo Bunny.

Last, is a Spellbinders ad. They are a company that sells Bazzill Basics Paper. These papers are wonderful. They have a section that I used to check out the new colors for 2010. This site even has a color matcher. It can only match paper from Adorn It, 7Gypsies, and Anna Griffin, but what a great way to find that solid paper to go with my printed paper. Though I don't purchase from any of these collections regularly, this is a wonderful tool.

Well, that is all the new collections advertized in scrapbook etc. from the February 2010 issue. I hope this helps when you are out shopping for those not so girly Valentine supplies.