Scrap with Ally

Saying Goodbye...

For a variety of reasons, I decided last month to resign from my design team positions at WeScrap and Scrapbooker's Club House. This was a very difficult desicion. I have been feeling very strapped for time and energy lately. With a brand new puppy and winter coming, I feel the need to take a step back and focus on family and myself.

I plan to continue scrapbooking, and am in fact looking forward to trying out some new things and sharing them with you regularly here on my blog. Free from deadlines and design requirements, I look forward to re-discovering my own unique style and finding new directions for my scrapbooking. Though I will miss my friends and design team mates at both sites, I'm excited about this newfound freedom to create just for me.

On this same note, I will no longer be regularly posting "Must Have Monday" posts, but will share these types of posts on a random basis. I also look forward to posting a Q & A based on the questions all of you shared last month.

To close, I'd like to share a couple of layouts from my last kit for Scrapbooker's Club House - I'm sure none of you will be surprised to see that photos on both feature my sweet new puppy!

Both of these layouts were made with the October kit, which is now available for purchase at SBCH - hop on over and check it out!

Live Fearless...

Stop on by Scrapbooker's Club House to view the inspiration for this layout and take my latest challenge.

Supplies include this beautiful background paper from Rouge de Garance (the pattern shown when you visit this link is the reverse side), plus patterned papers from Stampin' Up and Rose Moka. I also used  word stickers from K&Company's Sea Glass collection, decorative tape from Heidi Swapp, chipboard letters from EK Success, and a date stamp.

Celebrating Joy

In honor of Labor Day, I've decided to take a one-week break from Must Have Monday.

In the meantime, I'd like to take a quick moment to share a new favorite layout of mine:

For me, this layout is all about a journey I've been on for the past year and a half. Life changed for me when I got diagnosed with celiac disease. I got healthier. Possibilities began to emerge, and I realized that I could be happier, too. I spent a great deal of my young life feeling negative and boxed up. I expected the worst, and so I got it. About 6 months ago, I decided I wanted something more.

If negative thoughts bring negative outcomes, the reverse must be true with positive thoughts, right? I started using daily affirmations by Louise L. Hay. I began by listening to an audiobook of power thoughts to and from work, every day. I noticed a change immediately. Family & friends noticed within days. I repeated this pattern for about a month, until I gradually listened less and less. Now, I rarely listen, but I do enjoy flipping through this beautiful book if I'm having a low moment. Thinking positively has become second nature to me. The cynic is long gone. And my life has changed so deeply. I am so much happier and am living more freely and more fully.

This scrapbook page celebrates my newfound joy while reflecting on the past. I had such an emotional time creating it, and I just love the result. I created this layout using supplies from the September kit at Scrapbooker's Club House. (To see the rest of my creations with this kit, check out my SBCH Design Team gallery.)

Introducing Rose Moka...

Last month, I had the joy of designing with some of the latest papers & stickers from Rose Moka Design, a new company based out of Canada. Their papers are high-quality and feature some of the most beautiful, innovative designs I've seen in a long time.

In addition to the Waiting for Gracie layout I shared last month, here are a couple of other projects I created with the kit:

I loved creating this fast & fun page, which came together super-quickly. These days, I'm all about creating pages in 30 minutes or less, and these great products helped me create a page that I love in no time at all!

This altered box is a new favorite project of mine! It's been over a year since I've created an altered item - hard to believe, I know! I created this box to sit on my desk at work and hold some of my favorite happy notes and such.

Now it's your turn...

Want to create some Rose Moka projects of your own?

As part of my new blog design & features, I plan to do a series of Q & A posts. So just leave a question for me, about scrapping - or anything - as a comment on this post, and you'll be entered to win a small package of Rose Moka papers & stickers!

The winner will be announced on August 25, my next Must-Have Monday! Be sure to check back to see if you've won. (To be sure you won't miss the announcement - and to be sure you don't miss any future giveaways - you can subscribe to my blog using the box in the right sidebar.)

Waiting for Gracie

Meet the newest member of our family!

Gracie is a beagle puppy, born Monday, 7/14. She'll be ready to come home to us when she's 8 weeks old. In the meantime, our breeder has been wonderful enough to share photos. Which, as a scrapbooker, I seriously appreciate! :)

The patterned paper & small alphabet stickers on this layout are from Rose Moka Designs, the awesome July sponsor for the iTeam over at the International Scrapbooking Association. Thanks to Rose Moka for some amazing papers & stickers! I'll be sure to share more layouts with all of you next week! And I might be thinking of a giveaway....

California Backyard

I've been meaning to share this layout for awhile now! I had a lot of fun with it.

For a long time now, I've been wanting to create more layouts about my own childhood, particularly all of the places I lived growing up. Here's a layout celebrating my backyard in California, where we lived when I was 5.

This came together pretty quickly - these days I am all about just creating freely and without judgment - which means that a lot of my pages are coming together faster than ever before as well!

I originally created this for Celebrity Sketch Extravaganza week at Scrapbooker's Club House - thanks again for having me, ladies! :)

In Our House...

being silly rocks.

Blog Scrapbooking

So often, I use my blog to share projects & scrapbooking ideas.  Sometimes I forget that while blogs are great for that, they are also designed to share life.  Feelings.  Events.  Moments.  In an unscripted, informal, instantaneous way.  I love that.  Some of my favorite posts have been simply to share ideas & photographs.  Sometimes the project just isn't there yet, and I'm caught in a moment that simply strikes me.  Scrapbooking is, after all, about recording life.  I think that in the same way, a blog can become another tool to do just that.  A virtual scrapbook of sorts.

When I started my blog, it occurred to me that certain posts might evolve into scrapbook pages or albums.  I've happily converted two favorite posts recently, and thought I'd share the results.

This layout was based on a post from October '07 about my visit to the Martin Luther King, Jr, historical site in Georgia.  The original post can be found here - I used my original text for the page journaling.

This layout was based on a post from just this past March.  Once again, I used the journaling text right from my blog with a few small changes.  The original post can be found here.  The supplies for this layout were all part of the April 2008 from Little Daisy Scrapbooking, generously shared with me as a design team member for the ISA - I'll be sure to share my other layouts with you soon!  And perhaps another giveaway....you never know!  :)

When It All Comes Together

I love that feeling. When you're working on a scrapbook page and everything just feels right. Your photos, your journaling, your design. It's funny, because I think when this happens, layouts come together faster than ever. I've had this happen a few times lately, but never as much so as this past Wednesday night.

I could not possibly love this layout any more - it's probably one of my new favorite layouts EVER.  It's not my typical colors, and it's fairly simple.  But how I love these photographs.  How I love this journaling.  The top photo is my dad at age 2, the bottom is me at age 2.  I love putting together photos from different times in our history and making the connections.

Love, love it when it all just comes together.

PS - All supplies for this layout except the alphabet rub-ons came from my May 2008 "Blueberry Smoothie" kit given to me by Create My Keepsake to design for the ISA.  Thanks for a great kit!

Scrapbooking tunes: Chely Wright

Holy Cardstock, Batman!

So, this afternoon I finally got a chance to sit down and play with my "Around the Block" March kit from Coordinates Collections.  I've been a member of CC for awhile now, and it has been my best kit club experience ever!  The kits are affordable (with plenty of add-ons for those who want more), and I love the choice of 2 kits each month.  SO much fun.

I created 3 layouts from the kit - and I used cardstock on all 3, which is so rare for me.  I am definitely a patterned paper girl, and many of my layouts don't use cardstock at all.  It was fun to change things up a bit.  My favorite of the 3 actually uses no patterned paper at all!

The featured quote is "Every day is worth the time it takes to live it." - which was said by my husband.  He is so great at embracing life every day, I am definitely always trying to keep up!

This was a fun one to create, featuring my niece, Anna.  She is so silly!

And to finish up the trio, a quick layout featuring my nephew, back in February - all ready to watch his first NASCAR race!

Scrapping music for this session: Jordin Sparks & Leona Lewis.