Project Life Tuesday

Happy Tuesday!

I’ve been working on my Project Life pages again… so enjoying getting back into this project.

A little background

This year, I’m doing my Project Life album digitally. I’m using Creative Memories’ Storybook Creator software and Becky Higgins’ Turquoise Edition (for the most part) I’ve also purchased these nifty little overlays that allow my pages to look like true pocket pages (I’m loving them).

I’m planning to print my pages as a book – hopefully, it will all fit in one volume and take up less space on the shelf than the 2009, 2010, 2011 & 2012 versions which are 2 volumes (2 3” binders) each!

This week’s pages

Still catching up from earlier this year, but making progress feels good. These pages cover the end of January and the first part of February.

I used the January kit from The Lilypad for most of the elements on this page. I just love the pop of color and how it coordinated with all of the other blues and greens on the photos.

I’m also in love with the fonts – one was from Fonts for Peas from Kevin & Amanda. (Pea Captivatingly is the bold font) And one was from the Digi Files from the Daily Digi, but I found it at The Sweet Shoppe now. I really like the handwriting script.

The last page documented Big Girl’s retreat weekend with her friends from church. She had such a great time – they got to meet Seth Condrey on Saturday night before the evening session.

That’s it for now – slowly but surely I’m making progress.

Project life Tuesday (thoughtsalonglifeshighway.com)
Project Life 2013: Week 10 (confettiandink.wordpress.com)
Project Life 2013: Week 9 (inspiredlifewithjess.wordpress.com)

Crawling out from under a rock

Sorry for the silence on the blog lately. I have been sick with a rotten case of bronchitis for the past week. It came on rather suddenly and pretty much knocked me off my feet for a week. I’m on the second round of antibiotics now and am starting to finally feel more like myself again.

No menu plan this week. I kinda sorta have a plan, but really am leaving it open as it will depend a lot on how I’m feeling.

I did manage to do a tiny little bit of scrapbooking last weekend – I got two pages (somewhat) done – think I may tweak them a little more before I’m finished with them, but thought I’d share with you anyway. The other four pages I can’t remember if I shared with you already or not, so I thought I’d share them today.

I downloaded the newest version of Creative Memories’ StoryBook Creator(4.0) and am in love. It is the best of the old SBC+ and Photoshop Elements all in one. Lots more power, lots more flexibility but the same user friendliness that CM products are known for.

I can’t wait to spend more time in the software and play around a bit. One of the things I have discovered that I REALLY love is the fact that it handles all my non-CM content so much better than before. I just pointed the software to the folder where all my digital content is and presto! it was available in the software. No more creating packages and all that jazz. That was one of my biggest headaches with the old CM software because I have A LOT of digital content. So this makes me really, really happy. Worth the price of the upgrade alone.

I’ll continue to play around and try to get a review posted soon. If any of you are using the CM software, let me know what you think!

A little bit of scrappin’

I have been on overload this week. Lots going on at work and at home.

So, I managed to carve out a few minutes of time last night to do a little therapeutic scrapbooking – to give my brain some creative time and my body a little rest.

Here are the pages I did. Not many, but it sure was nice to get some done. I am hoping to do more this weekend.

I can publish CM SBC+ templates if anyone is interested… let me know!

A goodie for you

I had a little time this weekend to create a couple of templates. I thought I would share with you.

Here is the template:

The embellishment is from Creative Memoires’ Digital Freebies page. Have you downloaded any of theirs? Some of them are really nice. I especially like the flourishes that you can find there.

And here is the page I created with the template:

The paper and snowflakes are from Jen Allyson’s blog.

If you haven’t checked out her new digital scrapbooking store, you should. Design House Digital, it’s called. There is some beautiful stuff out there. I go browsing and I just want it all!

So, here is the template, if you’d like to download it to play with. (it’s for StoryBook Creator 3.0)

I’d love to see what you do with the page! Post a picture of your layout!

Coming out of the Haze

There is nothing quite like being sick during the holidays. After all the cooking, cleaning, baking, preparations and anticipation, my body simply decided it was done. Quit. Finis. Full Stop.

Thank goodness I have a very understanding, loving, and compassionate family. SuperMan did most of the cooking (including our delicious Christmas Day dinner) and general taking care of things. The girls were so well behaved (for the most part) and just played with their new toys and patted me on the arm as they went by. Me? I spent most of Friday and Saturday either on the sofa or in my recliner in a snot-induced haze. Gross imagery, I know, but true.

I am finally starting to feel a little more like myself, although I think a trip to the doctor is still not out of the running.

However, yesterday, SuperMan took the girls for an afternoon outing with friends. They went to see the new Alvin & the Chipmunks movie – The Squeaquel (I love that play on words!). They had a great time and then MB went to spend the night at a friend’s house. They were supposed to be staying here, but we decided there were too many germs in our house so they moved the party.

While they were gone, I thought I would do a little reading or scrapbooking. Turned out, I got to do both. I am reading Dan Brown’s new book: The Lost Symbol. It is very engaging and from about page 50, I was hooked. I have been carrying the book around under my arm everywhere I go in the house this weekend (from the couch to the recliner… from the recliner to the couch :-) and reading every second I can. Basically, it’s similar to the other Dan Brown books although this time it’s not focused on the Catholic Church – it’s about the Masons. Pretty interesting.

Anyway, I also sat down to do some digital scrapbooking (my scrap table is covered in Christmas paper right now and I didn’t feel up to cleaning it off) only to find out that the new “patch” of the StoryBook Creator software I’d installed had completely erased all the links to my content. Argh! So, I spent close to two hours re-linking all the files. While this probably was a good thing in the long run (it cleaned up my mis-mashed linking I had before) it was SO not how I wanted to spend my afternoon of silence and solitude!

Once I finished that chore, I was determined to get some scrapbooking done. I managed to finish the album I’m making for my brother (shh, it’s a secret!) and did a little work on the one for my mom. Then, I started on some pages on my family album. Here are a few I did:

This will be the cover page of our 2009 album. Do you get the reference?
I love the simplicity of the design –
and the fact that I managed to fit 12 pictures from the year on one page!

I think this one speaks for itself concerning the topic.
All of the elements are freebies (including the paper) that I found online in October.

Here are larger pictures of the pages:

I have been wanting to do something special with MB’s field day pictures. I think this turned out pretty well.
I used one of the free CM templates (Great Escapes) and doctored it a bit to make it less ‘travel’ oriented and more sports oriented.

Here are larger pictures of the pages:

I don’t know if I will have time today to do more scrapbooking, but I am hoping to. Next on my list of things I want to scrap are Ang’s graduation pictures, our trip to the pumpkin patch, and the Girl Scout hike the girls took in November. I am really enjoying not constraining myself to crop chronologically… although I am a wee bit concerned I may miss a few pictures here and there. But heck, when you take close to 200 a month some months, you are bound to miss one or two, right?

What have you been up to?

Technorati Tags: Scrapbooking,Creative Memories,StoryBook Creator,Digital Scrapbooking,Journal Your Christmas

Puppy Love

I’m finding more and more inspiration for scrapbook pages in reading online blogs and looking at websites selling pre-made digital templates. Because I’m not using PhotoShop, most of those templates are not much use to me. It is easier to make my own in StoryBook Creator than to figure out how to re-layer the many files that are sent with a downloaded template. (I’ve tried it on a few freebies and decided it was way more trouble than it’s worth)

What I have been doing, though, is much like what we do when we’re scrapbooking traditionally. (and I use this technique for both digital and traditional pages) I simply “eyeball” the page and make my own version using rough estimates on what sizes the pictures are and where the embellishments are placed. This challenge has been fun and I have been enjoying seeing if I can reproduce what I see online with some relative semblance of accuracy.

Here’s an example: I saw this layout from Designer Digitals:

And decided to create this layout:

You will notice I took some creative license with my design. I didn’t add the dotted/stitched border. I added an additional embellishment. I had planned to put a background in there once I was finished, but then I decided I liked the clean look of the white page, so I left it.

I’ve been thinking about doing a page on Sydney for a while, and have been waiting for the right inspiration to hit. Well, one look at that layout and I was ready to go.

Inspiration can come from many places. You can be inspired by a picture, by an advertisement, by colors, fabrics, sunrises, etc. The trick is to be open to the muse and either act on it right away or write your ideas down so that you can act later.

These Hands

These Hands…

Are Strong and Tough
Yet Gentle and Loving
Work Hard and Rough
and Caress so Softly
Represent Making a Living
and Safety and Security
These Hands are Tough
… Yet Fragile.
We love these hands.

Memory Jogger for Scrapbookers

I just found the coolest tool. It’s called “Log Your Memory.” It’s a daybook/journal for scrapbookers. The idea is to give you a single place to jot down things you want to remember and scrapbook. Maybe a page layout idea, a quote from your kids, a song to journal about, photos to take, etc.

There are weekly challenges and questionnaires to get your creative juices going and help you think about areas you may not have scrapbooked about before.

I’m constantly tearing pages out of magazines – layouts I’ve loved, color schemes or design ideas – I am going to add these to my Memory Logbook. There is a downloadable ebook that you can print yourself at home, or you can purchase a bound or spiral version as well. I got the downloadable version and am planning to put it in a 3-ring notebook with some pocket pages to hold all those ripped out pages and doodles or scribbles of ideas I have.

Of course, there are monthly and daily planning pages, too. You can make this your regular planning calendar if you want.

What a cool idea!

Scrapbook Layout Inspiration

Happy Tuesday, y’all…

It’s raining here. Nasty, wet and cold. My youngest is at home with me – she has the sniffles. We are snuggled up in the house and I’m trying really hard to remember that I work full-time and stay focused on work. What I really want to do is grab a blanket or two, light a fire, make some hot tea, and snuggle by the fire with my little Doodlebug. Maybe that will come in just a little bit. Must get a few more things done.

I thought today I would share a layout idea that has inspired me. I found it over at Ella Publishing Company’s website. They have a neat new eZine that has some pretty awesome ideas in it. I’m finding great inspiration for layouts, color schemes, you name it. One thing I’ve learned over the years is to always be on the lookout for things that catch my eye. Once I find them, I either take a picture, save it on my PC, or put it in a folder I have of scrapbooking ideas.

Here’s my folder –

I just rip pages out of magazines and save them here. When I sit down to scrapbook and need a little inspiration or help getting the creative juices flowing, I just rummage around in the pile of ideas. That is usually a good way to get me started.

I used to subscribe to tons of scrapbook magazines. Now, not so many. I have found that I can get the same inspiration from looking at blogs and other scrapbook related websites (like Ella’s) to find (free) ideas. So, I have started an electronic version of my idea “folder” as well. This is a little simpler – it’s just a PowerPoint file that I copy/paste images into whenever I see an idea that inspires me.

Here are some places for you to consider as you search for ideas for yourself:

Designer Digitals – they have challenges that are awesome. If you are a digital scrapbooker, the downloads that come with the challenges are pretty awesome, too. If you are traditional, consider getting the downloads anyway. You can always print them on your own cardstock or re-create the layout, etc. on your own. The ladies at DD are really talented and I always find a few things I want to try over there.
Ali Edwards – always has awesome ideas. Check her blog out (if you haven’t already) – it is well worth the visit.
Cathy Zielske – I love her no-nonsense style of scrapbooking. Clean lines, lots of whitespace and capturing the essence of a story.

Okay, enough rambling…. Here’s the original layout that inspired me:

Here’s my version:

And, here’s a bonus for you – a link to a template you can use in StoryBook Creator + (3.0) if you are using that for your digital scrapbooking. (as soon as I get Photoshop Elements, I’ll include those, too. Not in the budget yet, though)

Send me your pages! I’d love to see what you do with the idea!