Owscream

Nothing says summer like a trip out for ice cream! I just had to honor that tradition with a scrapbook page!

Recognize these photos? I used them to make a collage for my 120 days album. But I also wanted to use them for their very own scrapbook page. Can I just say that I so love digital templates?!? Making pages can be so quick and easy!

Design Inspiration: Digital template. No more inspiration needed. :) You can download your own here.

Color Inspiration: The papers and banners all came from Crystal Wilkerson (who else?). The papers are from her Color Combo #2.

For the ice cream cones I used one of Crystal's banners. Then I added the ice cream tops. I really had a lot of fun with this section of the layout!

But a page, for me, isn't done until I've told a story. So here is the story about where the title comes from!

What's your favorite summer tradition?

So Like Your Mother

"You are SOOOO like your Mother"  My husband says this to me often.  And I take that as a compliment.  And truth be told, that's how he means it too!  I felt like it was time to honor my awesome Mama with a layout!

When my Dad had his stroke back in December I decided I'm not taking no for an answer when it comes to snapping pics.  I refuse to let my wedding photos be the last ones I have of my parents.  So I've started snapping photos of everyone more often.  Recently I grabbed this one of the two of us together and knew I wanted to use it.

 

During preparation for Mother Load Lain challenged us to make 4 "snack packs."  We were to put together a handful of embellishments and journal block that we liked and that coordinated.  At the time I put the "snack packs" together I had no idea what I would use the for.

Color Inspiration: When I pulled out the first snack pack and saw the pink I knew it would probably be a layout about me.  The embellishments and journal spot inspired my color choices.

Layout Inspiration: My layout design was inspired by a sketch over at ScrapHappy.  But once I chose the paper, the pattern inspired the placement of my layout elements.

When I saw the colors of my embellishments I knew that this paper would be a perfect match.  I didn't want my photo to cover up this lovely little butterfly so I did some fussy cutting to allow the corner of the photo to tuck behind the butterfly.

I clustered my "snack pack" embellishments around the corner of the photo.  I love the depth they add to this lovely paper.

This little butterfly seemed to be screaming for some bling.  So I added Diamond Stickles to the body and the center of each little flower.  Then I stamped the word cherish to finish it off.

To bring the bling across the page I also added it to the bottom of the journaling block.

I screwed up the title.
:(  And I was so mad to have messed up on this pretty paper.


So I had to figure out what to do to fix it.  I loved the white letter stickers on the white background.  And I wanted the sub title to be small and delicate.  But the first time I tried I started WAY to far over and used black.  It looked awful!  So I cut a strip of white paper to cover it up.  But it just looked like I stuck white paper on to fix a problem.  :)  So I used a gray pen to write the sub title and put a strip of gems along the rest of it.   To make it look more purposeful I brought the edge of the journal block up to the edge of the paper strip.  Not perfect, but fixed...and I still like it!  :)

What can I say, I just love my Mama!




























Have you ever messed up a title?  What were your creative ways to fix it?  Which of your parents do you take after?  Leave me a comment!  I'd love to hear all about it!

Finding Photo Freedom

I have been participating in Stacy Julian's Finding Photo Freedom class (aka Library of Memories) over at Big Picture Classes.  It has been an amazing experience!  It has caused me to organize my photos in a new way and to think very differently about how to organize my layouts.

Until now I have kept strictly chronological albums.  I scrapped out of order but kept layouts in order in my albums.  Now I am going to try Stacy's approach of organizing them into categories: All About Us, People We Love, Things We Do, and Places We Go.  I plan to use this system moving forward but I'm not going to go back and pull all my old layouts to sort in this way.  I'm leaving well enough alone!  :)  So for right now I have all layouts in one album, just divided by category.  As it starts to fill up I'll move each topic into it's own album.  Which is where these title pages come in...

I kept the layout design the same for each title page.  It was inspired by a classmate in Finding Photo Freedom.  I made the photo grid in PSE printed it out and backed it with paper.

I've assigned a theme color for each category.  So on the title page I used that color in the title block, on the photo mat, the ribbon and the tab.  Then I used the other three colors on the accent squares.

On the accent blocks I used versamark ink to stamp hearts and one word.  It can be hard to see in the photo because it is tone on tone but I love how it looks in person!

I also found a quote for each category.  Some were in a Quote Stack book I had so I printed the others on vellum so that the style would match.

And there you have it.  My new title pages for each category in my Finding Photo Freedom/Library of Memories album.  Yipee!




















How do you organize your albums?  Have you ever made a title page for an album?  If you were to divide your pages into these categories which one do you think would fill up first?  I'd love to hear your thoughts!

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!

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!

Step Up for Down Syndrome

Since I started LOAD (Layout a Day) this month I've had lots of opportunity to scrap.  Then I signed up for Lisa Day's Big Picture class 28 Days of Sketches.  I thought it would be great inspiration for all the LOAD layouts I'm making.  Then I participated in the Creative Crop over at BPC on National Scrapbooking Day.  Phew!  Lots of scrapping going on around here!  Which allowed me to get to work on some pics I hadn't had time to scrap yet.

We participated in the Step Up for Down Syndrome walk last September.  But when I saw that one of the Creative Crop challenges was to create a layout using banners I knew these pics would be perfect!

The yellow shirts were so bright I decided to use white paper for most of the layout.  Gave the eye some visual rest in the midst of all the busyness!  But for a little added fun I used this yellow gingham paper as a border around the outside edge.

This digi banner by Crystal Wilkerson was perfect for a race layout!!  And printing it out then cutting around the flags and adding it to my page makes it a lovely hybrid layout!  Love that!

On this page I was able to add two 4x6 pics.  One of us altogether and one of a smiling Emily!  :)  And there was still plenty of room for a title and journaling.

When you are doing a layout a day you need ways to make it simple.  Letter stickers are definitely one of those ways!  Another Crystal Wilkerson banner on this side of the page to highlight the title!

For someone who does not like to handwrite my journaling I'm sure doing it a lot lately!  Draw some lines and write away.  Working well for me this month!  Maybe I'm changing my ways!  :)

Do you support a charity?  Have you ever scrapped about it?  Share a link in the comments and give the cause on your heart a voice!

CARS

I've got two boys.  Therefor I know the movie Cars by heart!  Anyone else with me?  Recently, in promotion for Cars 2, there was an event in our town with life size remote control Cars characters.  My boys were totally stoked.  It was crazy busy and the boys were super disappointed that they couldn't get closer to the cars.  We went across the street for dinner and noticed as we were getting ready to leave that the crowds were almost gone.  So we went back and actually got to see them use the remote controls to load the cars onto the semi truck.  So cool.  And so worthy of a fun scrapbook layout!  :)

My layout inspiration came from this one by Moon Ko over at Write.Click.Scrapbook.  I was specifically looking for something that used white space (per our LOAD challenge today).  And thought that with a bit of tweaking this would do the trick.

I grabbed my sketch paper and started working on a sketch that would allow me to use the photos I wanted to while maintaining a band across the page.

This page is a fairly literal lift of the original layout.  Featuring my favorite photo of the event.  (not that you can tell...at least I hope you can't...but I did a ton of editing in this photo to get rid of the black ribbon keeping us from getting too close to the car.  the clone stamping tool was my friend! this way it looks like they were right next to McQueen!)

I chose to use arrows to imitate movement through my favorite photo.  I loved the black patterned paper.  It reminded me of tire tracks.

This page uses a ton of white space.  I also got the chance to add in my money shots of our two favorite cars.  I plan to frame McQueen and Mater for our playroom.  And I'm using these pics on keychains I make and sell on facebook at MB Photography and Design.

As I was searching for patterned paper to use in my color blocking I decided that graphic patterns in stoplight colors would be a perfect fit for this layout.  And I LOVE how it turned out!!

Once again I used the old draw some lines and journal technique.  :)  Worked like a charm!

What movie are your kids, or you, obsessed with?  Have you dedicated a scrapbook page to it?  Leave us a link in the comments so we can all share your obsession!