this is why i scrapbook

Shimelle is a scrappy blogger who had this great idea, to make a project that sums up why you scrapbook. i guess i never really documented why i do this. i mean, i have certainly told enough people, and if you pay even the tiniest bit of attention you’ll know that i love to scrap. if you come to visit, any doubt you may have had about whether i am completely obsessed with   into the hobby will quickly be erased when you see my scrap area.

i believe that saying something gives power and meaning to your words and ideas, but  actually recording them adds substance and longevity. this is where scrapbooking comes in. maybe future generations will enjoy looking through my pages and maybe they won’t; that isn’t what motivates me. sure, in the beginning it was part of the appeal. if i remember correctly, the question went something like, “if you could look at a scrapbook that your grandmother or grandfather kept, wouldn’t that be wonderful?” and for me the answer was {and is} yes.  what does motivate me is recording my life in a way that lets me be creative and have fun. scrapbooking does that.

and you thought it was just pretty paper and stickers, didn’t you? ha!

Shimelle is framing this as a contest, and you can read all about it here. if you feel like voting for me {not sure how that will work just yet}  that would be nice, but i really am just happy to have taken her challenge.

i used the covers from an old Reader’s Digest book – very retro pattern:

    

and yes, my sewing machine {don’t look, Mom!} went through the cover and everything.                         

i wanted the pages to be random and not matchy-matchy.  

i added transparencies, brads, and felt.      

the cover from my great-great aunt’s hymnal is one of my favorite pages.

  

i left the margin on the bottom of the ‘happy’ page because i like that the name of the paper collection is “Bloom and Grow”. 

i was going to add strings between the balloons and the people, but it just didn’t look right. so they are crashing down on the last two in line. hee hee.

x

ever since i cut out the black and silver scroll the other night i have been itching to use it! 

the end.

 

and there you have it. thanks for stopping by!

Deb’s birthday surprise

So Deb’s birthday is coming up and Rachel decided to have a surprise crop for her. A totally cool idea for a scrapbooker. Or knitter. ;) A bunch of us got there early and yelled surprise when she walked in the door – and she was! We had a potluck with lots of yummy food, it was just great.

I decided that since I usually over-pack for crops, I would go light for this one. Bad idea. I forgot a ton of stuff, including card stock. I start most of my pages with card stock, so I had a bit of trouble there.

Between the talking, laughing, eating, and browsing, I managed a few pages.

This is me and my brothers at Thanksgiving. We set up a little studio and took photos of everyone. Then our daughters wanted to get photos of us! This is one of my favorites.

This one came together pretty easily. The paper already had the swirl and the bird, so all I had to add was the photo, banner, and title. I know it’s not a good photo, but it’s the only one I have. It’s from my first triathlon last July. Sally Edwards, the founder of the race, gave a pep talk and she said this was going to be the phrase of our race. If we saw someone who was dragging, we’d holler “you go girl” to let her know we we were pulling for her. I thought it was such a great attitude. Yes, I did hear it a few times! Hey, it was my first race.

When I got home and unpacked my stuff, it was only about 7:30 pm, so I made another page. I just love this Craft Fair line from American Crafts. These three girls are all in high school now – it just doesn’t seem possible! Yes, I know that makes me sound old, but it is true. I blinked and my little girl was driving a car. It’s a good thing I scrapbook.

Thanks for stopping by!

layered flowers and 2010 words

So here is the layout I was working on, the one with the layered flowers:

and here is a close-up of the flower on the left:

 

I just love that little kitten button i found in my stash. No idea where I got it.

And here are some photos of the messy and fabulous time my niece and I had:

That's her word for 2010 on the cover and the inside is full of really creative pages.

Here we are:

Here’s my word that I made into a wall hanging:

Lots of wax, glitter, and paint. It was really fun to just go crazy.

I started with this one, but got impatient while waiting for the paint to dry. I almost like it better than the other one.

The flower is made from an egg carton. I saw a tutorial somewhere but didn’t bookmark it. gah. If you know who did it, I would love to give them the credit for inspiring me!

So, which wall hanging do you like best?

three-day weekend

I had a great three-day weekend, mostly because I got to scrap all three days! On Friday the group I create with, the Teas, got together for the first time in about a month and it was fun to get caught up with everyone.My 52Q tags weren’t done yet so I brought them to work on and was really excited to cover them. I used a large sheet of paper that Kathleen had used to practice in painting class. Here are some of the tags:

Yesterday my 11-year old niece came over and we had fun making a huge mess. We used glimmer mist, wax, glitter, paint, and heat embossing. We were talking about what our word for 2010, and she suggested cherish for me. As I thought about it, I realized that it was perfect! I made a wall hanging that still needs to be photographed. Her word is unique, and she used it for the title of a chipboard book that she then decorated. She did a fabulous job!

Today I worked on a couple of layouts, and inspired by Christine Middlecamp, made some layered flowers. If you aren’t familiar with her genius layering, go visit her blog: http://retrospection.typepad.com/my_weblog/. I’ll get a photo and show you my layout as soon as I get it done.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you had a fun three-day weekend too!