Lately, I just love these alphabet stickers by Sassafras Lass:
I recently used them on the cover of this fun mini album, featuring my husband and my favorite things about him:
And, they were also perfect for this 10-minute layout about my adorable nephew:
I can't help but love everything Sassafras Lass!
And it's already time for the next installment of Must-Have Monday!
Featured this week: My favorite albums, and once again, they're made by American Crafts.
I absolutely adore these 12"x12" customizable 3-ring albums. I use these for about 90% of my scrapbook pages. I am a big fan of the "Family Fun Library" system made popular by Stacy Julian, and I use these albums to hold the bulk of my pages: "All About Us" layouts in blue albums, "People We Love" layouts in pink albums, "Places We Go" layouts in brown albums, and "Things We Do" layouts in green albums! The pink and blue albums definitely get the most use, with the brown album really needing some new pages - apparently I just don't scrap enough about places!
I love these albums because they are so durable, and I can customize them to match my own style. Way to go to American Crafts for creating another great product!
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Welcome to the very first installment of Must-Have Monday! From now on, every Monday I'll be sharing one of my "must-haves" with you. Most of the time, you'll find a review of a favorite scrapbooking product, but sometimes I may choose to share just one of my favorite little pleasures of life. To celebrate the first ever Must-Have Monday, I'm going to share both! When it comes to scrapbooking, one thing I really just can't live without is foam alphabet stickers! My favorites are the Thickers by American Crafts. (I just purchased this font and can't wait to play!) A few of my favorite layouts using Thickers, both from about 6 months ago: |
Though American Crafts Thickers are my favorite, I also enjoy creating with the cheaper foam alphabet stickers that are often found in the kid's section of craft & hobby stores. They usually come in clear plastic buckets for around $6.00. Many brands are available, though Creative Hands is my favorite. This layout, from January, is probably my favorite using those letters:
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And, as promised, something else I can't live without: I seriously love McDonald's. I eat gluten-free, and so fast food can be hard for me to come by. But our local McD's always does a great job of getting me the double cheeseburger "no bun" meal that I've come to love. |
...is how I feel with my new QuicKutz Silhouette.
I have been wanting a digital cutter for a long time, but always held off for one reason or another. I definitely wanted one that would hook up to my computer and cut fonts, rather than use cartridges. Portability wasn't a huge issue for me, as I don't go to that many crops and such - and when I do, I tend to pack light.
I finally "caved" and picked one up from QVC last week, when it was featured as the "Today's Special Value." Sometimes I think shopping at QVC is kind of a double-edged sword. I believe in supporting my local scrapbook stores, so buying from a mass merchant doesn't always sit quite right. There's really no way a LSS retailer can match the prices QVC offers, so I think that in some ways, it's very unfair. BUT - push comes to shove, I am still a consumer with bills to pay. QVC made owning a Silhouette possible for me, so I took advantage of that.
Installation and setup was actually fairly difficult. I'm not sure if it was something I did wrong, or a Silhouette issue, or my computer. I was surprised because I'd heard only good things about the setup process. I got it all "installed" - but it wasn't cutting correctly, the machine kept freezing or randomly ejecting the paper. So I rolled back the computer, uninstalling everything, and tried again. The second time, everything worked like a charm - not a single problem. It cuts wonderfully and I'm so happy - diecut fonts without the work & expense of the traditional diecut systems. Hooray!
I made a quick card as my first project:
The branch was a downloaded shape from QK, font was installed on my computer. SO easy - love it!
So, yesterday at Memories on Fifth, I picked this up:
Computer Tricks for Scrapbooking by Jessica Sprague.
I have not been this excited about an idea book in a long, long time. I tend to be an "idea book junkie" - I love to have all the latest & greatest, especially from the Creating Keepsakes & Simple Scrapbooks teams. I'm not generally one to scraplift, but I just get so inspired seeing the work of others. It's so great to see how other people are recording their life stories. But this book - I can directly use, step by step, to physically try new things with my scrapbook pages - and it's been a long time since I've felt that way about an idea book.
For those of you not familiar with this new special issue of Creating Keepsakes, it's basically a hybrid how-to. Hybrid scrapbooking is the art of using digital scrapbooking/photo techniques and combining them with paper pages - creating a mixed (hybrid) effect. I have really enjoyed pages like this for a long time - they tend to "wow" me over and over...it's hard to tell where the digital ends and the paper begins. Two scrapbookers in particular that do this very well and inspire me over and over again are Jessica Sprague (the author of this book and 2006 CK Hall of Fame Winner) and C.D. Muckosky (who happens to have contributed to this book, and is last year's Creating Keepsakes Scrapbooker of the Year award winner.)
In my last post, I talked about how I wanted to try more digital scrapbooking techniques, and posted my first (somewhat embarrassing) attempt. Although, in my defense, it's a 6x6 page and I hadn't ever used a digital scrapbooking kit before. ANYWAY, I have had trouble with wanting to enter the digital world, because I like to "feel" my pages - get messy with paint, iron-ons, fabric, embellishments, etc. But there are some seriously cool things you can do with a computer - and I've stayed away from it because it's somehow not as "tangible" to me. Now, though, with this book - you can have the best of both worlds. Digital techniques for adding WOW to paper pages in 3 steps. I'm loving it.
About 7 or 8 years ago, I felt like I could do anything with Photoshop (and little known fact - I designed website graphics for Olympic Figure Skating Champion Tara Lipinski's website, but that's a whole other story). But I've fallen away some from a lot of the more advanced techniques since then, and am now looking forward to diving back into the "hardcore." I love that this book makes it simple to add the "wow" to the pages without a lot of headaches...can't wait to try out some of this stuff.
Seriously, I'm just SO excited about this. In the world of paper scrapbooking, I feel like I haven't learned anything REALLY new in a long time. I mean, yes, I absolutely get inspired by the work of others all the time. And I like seeing new approaches to page topics and new ideas for the basis of a layout. And, as I mentioned, I'm a total idea book junkie, so obviously I get charged up by seeing new ideas. But in terms of actual, tangible physical techniques, it's been a long time since I've done anything really different. And now, with this, I can try something REALLY different - and still have a touchable, tactile page.
I'm looking forward to sharing my results with you, so stay tuned. In the meantime, go get a copy of this book. I've haven't been this excited since The Big Picture.
Small stuff. Anyone who knows me even a little understands that I *so* sweat the small stuff. I don't mean to. It's just a personality quirk, I suppose. Some minor thing goes wrong, and I'm a mess. For days. It's quite annoying. I get that little things don't matter. I really do. I lay in bed at night stressing and analyzing. I can't fall asleep. It can be anything. A simple comment made at work. Wording in an e-mail. The finishing touches I need to make on a scrapbook page, a manuscript, anything. Small stuff drives me crazy. And, sometimes, I think I miss out on the big stuff because I'm paying too much attention to the little things that shouldn't matter.
Dan & I went out the Coralville Lake yesterday to take some portraits...I needed a few good ones (at least one!) for an upcoming project. The weather was beautiful, and I was really happy to have some quieter time with Dan. It really allowed me to let go & de-stress, and forget about the small stuff for a little while. In between shots (or while Dan was perfecting his lighting)...I was just goofing. It was so great. Dan caught some silly moments on film (or should I say, on digital?):
And, of course, I turned the camera on the two of us:
I love these shots. They capture the silly me, the real, I'm-not-obsessing-over-dumb-things-right-now me. Happy me. This is the me that loves life. This is the me that loves the man I'm going to marry. This is the me that loves to play.
I love it when scrapbookers learn from each other. I love it when books change me, and when classes open my eyes to new ways of thinking. This is what I love about Big Picture Scrapbooking. Over the past several months, I've taken several BPS classes. (I also had the priviledge of attending a few of Stacy Julian's classes in person this past March. And if you haven't read Stacy's book yet, I don't know what you're waiting for!) Big Picture Scrapbooking has taught me the value of capturing life's little moments in my scrapbooks. My silly moments. Moments like these. Do these outtake, silly, crazy photos belong in my scrapbooks? Yes.
As most of you know, I've always focused my scrapbook pages on relationships and emotions. Holiday layouts are last on my list to create. So when Big Picture Scrapbooking launched, I was so excited. I felt like--at last--there was a resource for people who scrapped the way I did. I've been scrapbooking this way for a long time. And I've been teaching it for awhile myself, both locally in Iowa City, as well as in my writing. But I love how much this site has unexpectedely taught me. I've learned about color and how I emotionally respond to it. This caused me to completely redecorate parts of my home, pick out different clothes in the morning, and paint and scrap in new color combinations. I've learned that I'm innately creative, and that all I have to do is be open to the possibilites. I've learned to create art just for me, and just for the sake of creating. I've learned to love the process of creating, and not just the final product. (And as a scrapbooker who is constantly working to meet various deadlines...this was pretty great!) I've learned to play.
Of course, I've picked up some design tips along the way, and I've made some wonderful gifts and projects. But, really--truly, and I know this sounds silly--Big Picture Scrapbooking has made me a happier person. Stacy Julian, Paula Wessels, Kayce Rehn, and the rest of the BPS team are not just excited about scrapbooking. They are excited about life. And this is why they scrapbook. Not to organize photos. Not to capture each and every holiday. To celebrate life. Their families. Their hobbies. Them. This excitement is infectious. And I've caught it.
I know I sound a little silly right now. But those of you who know me well will get it. I'm a person who stresses a lot. Deadlines. Details. Small stuff. A person who sometimes forgets to smile. To learn to find time to create, laugh, and believe in myself? Well, it's a pretty big deal. I wouldn't have thought it could come in the form of a scrapbooking class. But it did.
So to Stacy, Paula, Kayce, and the rest of the BPS team and all of its teachers...thank you. This is scrapbooking at its best, folks--with a little bit of patterned paper on the side. So what are you waiting for? Get in the picture.
And, so now, it's time to head to bed. Finally able to rest tonight. Life is good.
Finally, to those of you who are wondering, we did finally get a good shot in the midst of all the silly photos. And, yes, I'll scrap this one, too:
