Scrapbooking - The Next Generation

Oh my, where has the time gone to? I know I haven't posted in a while, but I didn't realize how long a while its been. I got sick in February and it seems to take forever to recover. I guess that is what happens when you reach my age. Also, there are a lot of changes going on here on the homefront, that has me kinda spinning my wheels. I hate change...I try to roll with it, but that doesn't always work. Just know, that as things changes, I try to keep the positive aspect in the forefront and not dwell on the negative.

Anyhow, what I have to share today is something so precious to me. I started teaching my granddaughter Deborah to stamp when she was about 3 years old. She loved to stamped. But that is all she would do. Just stamp images (good and bad) on a blank piece of cardstock. But this past weekend, she came to spend the day with me and she asked if we could do a scrapbook page. So, I handed my how to book, "Reflections" and asked her to pick out a layout that she would like to do. I was going to have her do the whole layout by herself (with a little bit of guidance from her Gamma). So, she found the layout she wanted to do. I asked her what pictures she wanted to scrapbook. That was too broad a question for her. But she definitely wanted to an "All About Me" page. So, I asked her what age would she like to scrap, which she said, "Gamma, I think the age of 4 would be perfect."

This is when you're thankful you took the time to organize all those photos. I have all my photos broken down by year, then month, then activity. So, Deborah and I took some time going through each month looking at all the pictures and the fun things we did back then. I think she enjoyed this part the best. We laughed at all the antics she and her brother Matthew did during that time. The pictures brought back some happy memories for her. That my friends, is what scrapbooking is all about!!!

Once the pictures were selected, I gave her free reign to select any papers she wanted to work with. But before she started pulling paper packs out, I asked her, what colors should she be looking for. Deborah is one smart cookie, let me tell you. Her reply was, "Since my shirt is pink, I need to find some pink paper, and there is some brown on my shirt as well, so I'll need some brown paper too. Oh and Gamma, I love flowers so I need to look for some papers with flowers on it." So as Deborah started pulling paper packs from my stash, I set up my photo-editing program on the computer. I printed out some "rough" 3"x4" pictures so we could see exactly how the pictures would go with the papers.

Deborah pulled 6 paper packs and we went through each one and she decided if she liked it or not. It was all a process of elimination at this point. Till it came down to two paper packs, "More To Adore" and "Life's Delight". She selected "Life's Delight".

What a learning experience this was for Deborah! She learned how to coordinate colors, which is really easy when working with Close To My Heart products. She learned how to "dummy up" a page before attaching anything to the page. She learned how to read a ruler, and how to use a cutter and how to read the measurements on the cutter. She learned how to distress the edges of the cardstock with ink. She decided on the picture placement of all the photos.

It was a fun filled day for both of us. And I so look forward to doing some more scrapbooking with my new found partner, Deborah!!

Thanks for letting me share.

Until next time...

Happy Scrappin'!

Leanne

Final Page

Yup, that's right! This is the final page for my grandson's first year album. Now, I'm not one who can scrap in order, but when I noticed I had but a couple more pages to finish off Matthew's first year album, I was ecstatic! All I could think about was completing those final pages. I shared with you last week the final two pager needed for his album. You can scroll down and see. And today, this is the final page. Now, I can move on and work on his second year album and probably more of the other albums as well. If you would like to see all of Matty's pages, click here.

I had so much fun working on this layout. If you're wondering about the title, "Emejota," there is a cute story behind it. Matthew's mother (Kelli) started calling him "MJ" (short for Matthew James), but after a while, Matthew (like most little kids) started to ignore his mother. Out of complete frustration, Kelli one day, blurted out "Emejota" and that got Matthew's attention real fast. For those of you aren't fluent in Spanish (like me, I had to ask why) Emejota are the initials for MJ. That nickname has lasted till recently, when Matthew started in school.

The papers I used came from a previous Close To My Heart's Heart of Winter special, "Days to Cherish". The CTMH colors are: Holiday Red, Heavenly Blue, Buttercup, and Sweet Leaf. The big Sweet Leaf B&T paper scalloped circle I cut out from a pattern from CTMH's "Emporium" workshop guide. I used quite of bit of chipboard on this layout except for the title. Using the font, Miami Nights", I cut out the title 5 times from cardstock and glued them together. It really gives the page more dimension. Its what I like to call "faux chipboard." The real chipboard pieces are from CTMH's Irresistibles™ Pizzazz Chipboard Die-Cuts. These die cuts are so cool!! They have a resist pattern that show through when color is applied. And the little guy on top of the red bracket rectangle is from La Petite, which I bought back in 2005 on clearance for $.94. Don't you just love finding bargains like that? I sure do. Too bad it takes me forever to use them. LOL

Well, I am off on another scrapbooking adventure. Stay tuned for my next set of layouts. I can't believe I have completed 14 pages so far this month and we still have 7 days left in the month. Looks like 2011 is off to a great start!! Thanks so much for stopping.

Until next time...

Hugs,

Leanne

Triple Take

As I was looking through all three of my grandson's first year albums, I realized I had not done a "bath time" page. I have thought many times, of what I've wanted to do for their page, but never completed the page. So, the time had come, I am almost done with their first album and knew it was time to complete those pages. And once I made that conscious effort to complete the page, everything fell into place.

When my friend, Susan, posted a sketch on her blog, I knew I was on the right track. I had been collecting various components for these pages for quite some time. Funny, how I have planned these pages and almost forgot about them. The word paper came from a digital scrapbooking kit. The little ducks is one of my favorites and is a part of Suzy Zoo collection. The bubbles in the background are from Stickerpotamus and the other little embellishments are from Jolee's Boutique. I found them both here. This is the last of the "Dutch Blue" gingham paper I've had in my stash. The borders I punched out with Martha Stewart's "Punch Around The Page" punch. The yellow and blue cardstock is Close To My Heart's "Sunny Yellow" and "Dutch Blue". I cut 2 large "bubbles" out of vellum and used CTMH's "Sky" ink and sponged the edges. Its hard to tell from the photo. They look so much better in person.

These are pages for Benny's album.

The pages above are for Jaden's album.

Of course when I do the twin's pages, I always duplicate them. In my opinion, that's what you do with twins! LOL It just makes it easier. I am sure there will come a time when I will have to individualize their albums, but for now...I don't mind repeating myself. BUT, I loved how the pages turned out for the twins, that I thought I would do the same for Matthew's album as well.

Its is such a good feeling to know, that I am almost done with all the grandchildren's first year albums. Its a small step, but one to take notice. And at the rate I am going, I may have ALL their albums completed when they graduate from college! LOL So, I'll keep plugging along and doing what I can when I can.

So until next time, thank you so much for stopping by!

Happy Scrappin'!!

Hugs,

Leanne

New Year....New Goals

Have you ever had one of those days/weeks where anything you had planned was put back on the back burner because other things took priority. That is how my week has gone. But the good news is...I'm somewhat free of having to set priorities and I get to spend some quality time here in the rubber room.

Since the first of the year, I have been concentrating on getting pages done for my grandsons, Matthew, Jaden and Benjamin. Their first year album is just about completed. I had to order some things for their pages, and as soon as those things arrive, I can get those pages completed. YAY!!! So meanwhile, I thought I would move along into their second year album. I have made a chart for myself to help me keep track of all the pages I've completed and to know what I need to work on to complete that album. Since I'm scrapping for 10 people and everything else, I need that kind of thing to keep my organized and to track my progress.

I felt like I had been neglecting Matthew's books, so I decided to do some pages for him. I also realized I didn't have any pictures of Matthew with his parents. So, these pictures were perfect for scrapping.

This is the first layout I've made using CTMH's new how-to book, "Magic". The papers I used came from CTMH's Heart of Winter "Days to Cherish" special.(retired) The word stickers came from my stash. The big half circle on the left page, is from MyLYB, "Safari Baby Boy". And the words on the pictures are rubons from my stash.

This next set of pictures are of Matthew. He loved this little microphone, that would play so loud, it could be heard anywhere in the house! LOL He still has that toy and still loves playing with it. But that thumb tastes so much better!

The bumblebee paper I used is from Bo Bunny. The sketch is another from CTMH's how to book, "Magic". I believe the other papers are from Bo Bunny, but I am not sure. They came from my stash without their tags on them. The large chiboard letters are from Making Memories, and I painted them with Making Memories scrapbooking paint. I made the bubble buttons from the patterned paper and glued them to painted chipboard. Then I attached CTMH's round "Window Charms" on top of the disc.

I should have started out this post with these layouts. I wanted to finish my Notre Dame layouts before I started on the boys' pages. So, I brought in the New Year finishing up these layouts.

The floral patterned paper is from K and Company, "Ancestry.com" line. The green polk dot patterned paper is from CTMH's "Perfect Day" paper pack. The brown patterned paper at the bottom portion of the layout is CTMH's retired "Fleurs de Jardine paper pack. And the pink is from CTMH's retired background and texture paper pack. The colors are Juniper, Baby Pink and Desert Sand. The scallop edge paper is a punch from Martha Stewart. The flowers are homemade and the flourishes I cut on my wishblade. This marks the half way point of my Paris album. I hope to get another layout done for the Paris album sometime this month.

So, I set my goal once again this year to complete 144 pages. I just fell short about 11 layouts to meet my goal of 144 last year. If I had an extra month in the year, I would have met my goal. LOL If only...LOL. That makes my goal for each month, 12 pages a month. With what I've shared above, I am half way in meeting my goal for the month. But as in past years, I start out strong, but dwindle down half way through. I'll have to think about how to keep the momentum going. I'd love to meet my goal this year and even surpass it. Wish me luck!!

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Until next time,

Happy Scrappin'

Hugs,

Leanne

Happy New Year!

I can see that I am not very good at making New Year resolutions. LOL I had promised myself to post more regularly on my blog. And here it is...January 10, 2011and this is my first post for the new year. I can say I'll try to do better, but haven't I said that before? So, bear with me as I try to figure out a more logical way of posting.
It's not that I haven't been scrapping...I have! I think its when I am on a roll, I hate to interrupt that creativity. But when I have scrapper's block, I get busy looking for inspiration. Oh my, its a vicious cycle I put myself through. So, let me share with you the layouts I did last month.

These first set of layouts were for my workshop last month. We used CTMH's "Mistletoe" WOTG. Now, I like to put a twist of the layout, corp has chosen for us. These two pages, are my renderings.

When I photographed the layouts, as you can see, I switched the layouts. What is suppose to be on the left is on the right and visa versa. I used Martha Stewart's Around the Page punch and punched out the border. Then took the border stamp from the stamp set "B1357 All the Best" that came in the kit and stamped around the page, I really like how the stamp and punches goes so nicely together. I will probably use this again.

So now that I've completed one set of Christmas layouts, I felt the need to do some more. Can we see a patterned happening here? LOL You have to admit...I AM getting those pages scrapped. I also realized that I am almost done with Matthew's and the twin's first year album. Just a couple more layouts and all three of the books will be done. Yippee!! So here is a page for Matthew's first year album.

Some of the papers I used are retired, but I also used some scraps from the Mistletoe kit. It really was a simple layout to put together. I don't know why I waited to complete it as long as I did. But everything here I used from my stash. I am slowly dwindling down everything I have been hoarding. I still have a ways to go...but its getting there.

So, while I was in the Christmas spirit and it was the Season. I realized I had started a 2 page layout for Matthew last year. Somehow, my attention got turned away, but I had kept it close to work on at a later date. Well, that later date had arrived and I completed the layouts from last year's "Jingle" WOTG kit.

Now that I've completed pages for Deborah and Matthew, I turned my attention to the twins. I knew I had quite a few pages to finish for their first year album. So looking through the file of their first year...I found a few I knew I should scrap.

As many scrappers I know, they enjoy using Page Maps' sketches for doing their layouts. I too use Page Maps alot for inspiration. I found another blog that has given me quite a bit of inspiration. The blog is Sketch Savvy and the blogger is Susan Stringfellow. I have used quite a few of her sketches lately. Check out her blog and leave her a comment or two. I know she'd love to hear from you. Click here for the sketch I did above. I flipped the layout so I could use it on the left side. Then you can click here for the sketch of the layout below

These next pages I did for the twins. They were learning how to crawl, and they kept crawling and climbing all over each other. They were the most curious set of babies. And if one of them found something the other had to investigate it as well. Where one was...the other was right there with him. It was easy at that time to keep an eye on them.

The papers I used for these layouts are from DCWV "Linen" paper slab. The flowers I cut out on my Wishblade in addition to the little car in the lower left corner. The flowers I spritz them with homemade glimmer mist (create a shade paint, reinker, liquid hair spray) and scrunched them to give them some dimension on the page.

So this is what I had been up to the last month of the year. In addition to baking cookies, and cleaning and wrapping gifts..all the normal stuff that comes with the holiday season. As the song says, I am so glad Christmas comes but once a year!

I still have more to share, but for now, I have got to go get some housework done. You know, like dusting and vaccuuming and changing the linens on the beds, etc etc etc. The list goes on and on. But, good news...I don't have to cook tonight! DH is going to take me out to dinner!

So, until the next time. Thanks for stopping by. Leave me a comment or two and let me know what you think of all my pages. I would love to hear from you.

Happy Scrappin'

Lots of hugs,

Leanne

Getting into the Spirit

I find I have the hardest time, when working on layouts, is selecting the best photos. I either don't have enough photos for the page or I have WAY too many and its all a process of elimination till I have the correct number of photos for the layout. That process can be quite time consuming. There have been numerous occasions where I just can't get through all the photos to even think of eliminating any of them. So, off to the back burner till I come back to it again.

This past week, its been an absolute delight having my daughter here creating with me. She worked on Christmas cards and I worked on various Christmas layouts. After all, tis the season!!

How many of you remember CTMH's Hollydays paper pack? Well, those papers were part of a workshop I conducted back in 2006. I was able to get Deborah's and Matthew's Christmas pages completed that year! (That doesn't happen very often!!) But I decided to do the twins Christmas pages with this paper pack as well. The first two pages were a breeze. Of course we have the visit with Santa (which they weren't too happy about). And their very first portrait sitting. Then it was selecting the photos for the next two pages that were the hardest. It was of course Baby's First Christmas and I had to select 6 photos of each twin out of 92 photos taken that day. But I did it! I took a deep breath and dove right in and didn't come away from the computer till all 12 photos were selected.

I am only showing one set of layouts, but there are two pages for each of the boys. This paper pack has been retired but its one of my favorite Christmas papers. These pages are not the standard 12"x12", I reduced the size to 9"x9" and use layouts from CTMH's how to book, "Cherish." Another consultant, way back then made cutting files for the ornaments, and I cut them on my Wishblade.

These next set of layouts are pages 3 and 4 of the twin's first year album. Remembering back to that Christmas 5 years ago...oh what fun we had. There is nothing like "Babies First Christmas!" They don't understand, but love the excitement. Oh how fast they learn though!

This first set is of Benny. Look at the excitement in Benny's eyes. The expression speaks volumes.

This next set of layouts are of Jaden's First Christmas. I could not get him to look up at the camera, for fear that everything would be gone! LOL He learned mighty fast how to rip off wrapping paper. But he wouldn't let go of the wrapping paper once the package was open. Too funny!

As for materials use here, all products are from CTMH (now retired) except for the ribbon which came from my stash. I believe I got that from JennD at www.just4funcrafts.com.

Well, I have a couple more layouts to share. I'll try to post again tomorrow. This has been one whacky week. Yesterday, I spent the day tidying up around the house and working on getting these pictures posted. Today, Kelli and I went down to the Base Exchange and then up to KMart to do some Christmas shopping. Then tonight was Deborah's Christmas program. Tomorrow, I have to head to the commissary and Thursday, Kelli and I plan on baking Christmas cookies all day. Christmas parties are Friday. Matthew's Christmas program in Thursday. And Matthew's class will be building gingerbread houses. Lets hope he gets more candies on his house than in his mouth!! Hope to get some good photos to scrap.

Oh yeah...on top of all of

that, Kelli and I will be making the teachers Christmas presents. So that needs to be done before Friday. I'll post a picture of what we do. I'm excited to get started on it!!

I'll see you tomorrow. Hope you have a great day.

Talk to you soon.

Lots of hugs and smiles,

Leanne

Busy, Busy, Busy

Oh my how time flies when you're in the midst of a family crisis. Now, that the crisis (the major portion) is somewhat behind us, I hope to be a bid more active with my blog. Please keep my family in your prayers as we make our way through this. I know with the Lord's help, He will guide us.


Even though I haven't been posting, I have been very very busy in the Rubber Room. This is the place I find solace. And of course, I have to keep my fingers moving. Since my posting (over a month ago) I have been working on layouts for my workshops and continuing to complete some layouts I've put on the back burner.

This first 2 page layout is another page for my Paris album. The pictures I scrapped are of the Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, and Place de la Concorde. The papers are from CTMH's Felicity. The paper flowers are from my stash, and the bling on top of the flowers...I picked up at Michael's.

This next set of layouts was for my November workshop. Its the Hooligan's WOTG kit. The papers and title just matched the twins costumes. I liked the sketch so much, I used Making Memories Halloween tablet and scrapped Deborah's and Matthew's Halloween pics from the same year (2008).

Now, the page on the left, I made identical for each of the boys, but individualized the right page for each of them.

This is the left side of the layout.

This is Jaden's page (the right side).

This is Benny's page (the right side).

Now, I CASED the instructions from the Hooligan's WOTG kit and changed out the papers for Deborah's and Matthew's pages.

Matthew's pages:

It is such a good feeling to have all four of the children's Halloween pages done for at least one year. I am slowly but surely getting caught up on their albums. Now, if I could make time stand still, so I could get completely caught up. But what fun is that? This way, it keeps me very very busy and out of trouble.

I have a lot more to share, so stay tuned. I'll be back and share more of the pages I have completed.

Until next time.....

Thanks for visiting with me, here in my rubber room.

Happy Scrapping!!!

Lots of hugs and smiles,

Leanne