Math Man

Usually my ideas for pages comes from a photo or a story, but this layout was inspired by paper.

When I saw this number paper I knew I had to use it on a page about my son.  He has been astounding me with his math skills from a very young age.  During his Kindergarten year I saved one of his math worksheets knowing I wanted to use it on this page, but I didn't have any pictures.  Then during Week in the Life I took some pictures of him working on a math page and knew I had the makings of my page!

My layout design came from this lovely page by Ali Edwards.  I adored the simplicity but also how it used a piece of child made ephemera.

My tag cluster includes one of Ali Edwards digital tags, a plain old shipping tag with my son's initial, and a label sticker.  I used blue gems and edged the shipping tag with the same tone of blue from the star on my son's school paper.

Because I used a second picture in the spot where Ali had journaling I created a skinny strip of journaling.  This may just be one of my new favorite pages!  And in case you are wondering about where this page goes in my Library of Memories I decided to put it in All About Us because it honors a part of my son's personality.  A case could have been made for putting it in Things We Do, but for me the journaling caused it to be more of a All About Us page.  Totally personal preference when it comes to categorizing pages!




















Are you math minded or glad to never have to take a math class again?  Are your kids good at something that just amazes you?  Ever use a school paper on a scrapbook page?  I'd love to hear all about it!

Like Father Like Son

You've heard the phrase, "I shall call him mini me" right?  Well that is my husband and our youngest son.

I saw a challenge over at Practical Scrappers to make a layout with woodgrain paper.  An then the assignment for The Mother Load this week was to make a layout using old supplies.  I knew I could do both in one layout.

And the woodgrain made me think of the word ingrained.  I then started thinking about all the similarities between my husband and my youngest.  I knew I had a layout in the making.







Just so you know, no matter what you see in the photos the background paper is gray.  :)  Sometimes pics don't do a layout justice!

 

No resemblance at all right?  HA!  Same haircut, same ears, same smile, same, same, same!  If it weren't for the 70s sweater on my husband you'd swear it was the same person.

When looking for layout design I went into my Pinterest board and looked for inspiration.  I came across this one by Moon Ko over at Write.Click.Scrapbook.  I loved the look.  So I started to scrap!

As I was digging through my supplies I found this sticker.  PERFECT!  I cut some green paper to back it, and rounded two of the corners.  I wanted to give it some dimension so I popped it up with pop dots.

The left side needed a little something extra so I added this orange tab and a couple of green hearts.  I'm not 100% sure that the photo of my husband was at the age of 3 but he looks so much like my youngest at 3 that I made that assumption.  So I put the dates 1980 vs 2010.

The paper I used to back the pictures is actually digi!  So you know it came from Crystal.  :)  I just printed it out on white cardstock.  LOVE how it turned out!

For the journaling I went into Photoshop Elements and made text strips.  I used more woodgrain paper behind the text.  The journaling is essentially a list of some of the ways my son and husband are alike.

I needed something between the journaling and the title.  So I started digging through by color bins.  I found this piece of Starbucks cup holder and cut it into a square.  Then I got out my bracket punch and punched the edges.  Which made it look like a tree to me.  To make it stand out I used white chalk/ink to edge it.  Then I cut an orange heart for a bit of color.

For the title I started with another text strip.  I didn't have any stickers that would work for the word ingrained so I went back to an old standby, my Cricut.  To finish the title off I grabbed a white pen.










Who resembles who in your family?  Are there any funny characteristics you share with someone you are related to?  Have you ever scrapped those similarities?  I'd love to hear your stories and/or see your pages!

I Wanna Hold Your Hand

Does the title of this post make you wanna sing a little.  It does me!  For as long as my youngest has been able to talk he has said to me daily, "I wanna hold your hand."  And every time I start to sing...I wanna hold your ha-a-a-a-and, I wanna ho-old yo-our hand.  During LOAD this year I decided to create a layout all about it.

I saw this template by Crystal Wilkerson over at Write.Click.Scrapbook one day and knew I would need to use it!  Since the photos I wanted to use were from many different occasions I made them black and white.  Which made this layout a perfect fit for Crystal's template.  I love all the color!

When using the layered version of the template you can clip your own papers to the border.  I love how bright and cheery it looks!

I still used papers from Crystals Spring/Summer line but I had fun playing around with what went where.

I love the paper strips across the bottom.  I don't often make subtitles but this was the perfect place for one.  This is a staged picture but it is a perfect representation of how often my little guy reaches for my hand.  (cue the awwwws)

For the left page I used another of Crystal's templates.  I did add the stitching to make it match the right side.  For the pics I scrolled back through iPhoto and found several pics of my son and I holding hands.  Just more evidence of his obsession.  :)

I've been working lately on telling everyday stories.  This layout is definitely an example of that.  Which makes me love it even more!

Have you ever scrapped about a song that has a special meaning for someone in your family?  Link us up so we can see!

35 things I love at 35

Sometimes when you are attempting to do a layout a day you've gotta take things easy.  This layout was made on one of those days for me.

 One of the LOAD challenges was to create an all black and white layout.  And I did it!   Well, almost.  :)

I was looking for a white paper to use as a mat when I came across this lovely paper.  It has a subtle green pattern.  Which is where my "almost" comes in.  :)

My journaling consists of a simple list of 35 things I love at 35.  Hence the catchy title.  ;)

Have you ever made a page listing things you love?  Leave a link in the comments so we can all see!

Still Needs Snuggles

I've been struck lately by how big my oldest can seem sometimes.  And yet at other times he wants to snuggle like the little guy he is.  I knew I wanted to document that juxtaposition in a layout.

The design for this layout came from one of the challenges at the Creative Crop over at BPC on National Scrapbook Day.  I wish I could link you up to the inspiration page but since it was a class I can't.  I will tell you that the page was made by Suzy Plantamura.

The idea for this page had been percolating for awhile but I had no pics to go with it.  Then when I saw my boy swinging outside I grabbed the camera and snagged a few pics.

To give the page a more masculine feel I cut up a Starbucks cup holder.  I am totally in love with how it turned out!

I love the look of these 12 in bracket squares.  My cricut can't cut anything that large.  But recently I bought just one.  I haven't used it yet, but I did trace it on cardboard and make myself a template.  Now I can have a bracket square anytime I want!  Yay!

There are always a few papers in a pack that do not interest me.  This plaid was definitely one of them.  But somehow it jumped out at me when assembling this page.  And I LOVE how it looks.  Weird how that happens sometime.  Something you don't like can turn into something perfect.

More letter stickers.  I'm sensing a theme here!  :)

Recently I became a member over at Paperclipping.  Noell Hyman makes scrapbooking video tutorials.  Lately I've been noticing how she clusters embellishments and I wanted to give it a try.  I am so happy with how it turned out!  But it let me know that I need more little embellies in fun colors.

And once again I chose to handwrite my journaling.  What is happening to me?  :)

Who snuggles with you?  Have you made a page to document that love?  Link us up so we can see!

10, 10, 10 Challenge

On National Scrapbook Day I participated in BPC's Creative Crop.  Stacy Julian gave a challenge to create a page with 10 products, 10 techniques, and journal with only 10 words.  I was excited to try it out!  So here's the breakdown...

Products: cardstock, paint, digi stamp, brad/eyelets, flowers, chipboard letters, ribbon, paperclip, tags

Techniques: paint, digi stamp, handwriting, folded ribbon, hybrid embellishments, tags as embellishments, visual triangle, eyelets/brads, doodling

This page just makes me happy.  I've never been able to make a two page spread with only one photo.  If I was ever going to do it this pic seemed the one to try it with.

This is only my second time painting on a layout.  And I so love it!  The dry brush technique made a cool mat for one of my favorite photos!

I love anything by Ali Edwards and this digi stamp is no exception.  I made it orange to match the mat and dropped it on top of the pic.  Love Love LOVE!

 Amazing that I could make a page without a photo and only 10 words of journaling.  And I even like it.  :)

To create a visual triangle I added this little cluster of embellishments.  I love the idea of using a tag as the base of the cluster.  Add the date...pretty.

This cluster is the baseline for my journaling.  It also is where many of my products and techniques come into play.

Big chipboard letters a white pen and some thoughts about my baby boy and the layout is complete.  :)

Try it out!  10 products 10 techniques and 10 words of journaling.  It's a fun challenge and creates an amazing page!

I Love You Because...

I've been wanting to make a layout about my husband for awhile now.  And when I saw that Ella had posted a sketch challenge I knew this was the perfect opportunity!

 

This sketch and layout by Donna Jannuzzi were the jumping off points for my layout.

For my two page layout I used the sketch and the adapted layout as mirror images.  The photos of my husband laughing were so classically him that I just had to use them as the focal point of my layout.

Steve is so happy in these pictures and I wanted the colors to reflect that.  Using the design of patterned paper strips in the inspiration layout I was able to layer on some fun colors and papers.  I didn't want the layout to feel too girly so I brought in some mossy green at the bottom.  It also helped ground the layout.

For my title block I dug around in my scrap box.  I came across this paper strip of greens and yellows.  It sorta reminded me of a paint swatch.  I decided to use it as the base.  At first I just centered the metal tag on the paper strip.  But it seemed too boring.  So I found some red paper and matted the tag on it.  Then I put it off center and popped it up with pop dots.  But things still seemed to be floating.  So I made a bracket tag and added the date.  Then I took a gold gel pen and drew some doodles below the paper block.  Just that little doodle line helped the whole title area feel more solid.  This area is also the first point of my embellishment triangle.

In design, embellishments look better if put in a visual triangle.  Near the bottom right corner I added an embellie cluster.  Using the scraps from the paper strip along the top of my layout I cut out some circles and flowers.  To help balance the metal tag I added a brown metal brad to the center of this flower.  Notice that I also doodled here as well.  Sort of defining the line of my triangle.

On the left page I added another layered cluster of items.  This is the third point of my triangle.  Again I cut out some circle and flower shapes from the paper scraps.  And in the center of one circle I place the large polka dotted red brad.

I added a bit more doodling and three brown metal brads.  Again repeating the lines and color from the other points of my visual triangle.  Let's look at the whole layout again...

The embellishment clusters form a visual triangle around the page.  In addition to that I added 3 doodle lines within each embellishment cluster.  I also placed the brown metal color at each point of the visual triangle.  By repeating color, line, and placing them in a visual triangle it creates a balanced layout.

For me, no layout is complete until it has journaling.  For this layout I wrote about some of the reasons I love my husband.  I've never been much for journaling tags.  But recently I've found myself drawn to them.  So I purchased a few sets.  This was my first opportunity to use one, and I love it!  Perfect color and sentiment!