Week 4...school preparations

Bit of a mixed week for us.  After completing my long list of "summer jobs" (you know, cleaning kitchen cupboards, sorting out all the kids clothes, having windows cleaned etc etc) I finally got some real quality time to catch up on my reading.  I love getting books for gifts (still prefer real pages to reading on the ipad) but even more I love being able to sit down and read them in one or two sittings.
Lots of prep work for going back to school.....and Master 5 got his first pair of glasses....how both of our boys need glasses is beyond both us and the optometrist as Jason and I have perfect vision (must have skipped our generation).
And the BIG news on the scrapping front.......I upgraded from a Selphy to a Picturemate .....again, this was influenced by the discussions on the PL FB group here in Oz.  So easy to use and no need for borders....unless I want to use them....which often I do.
Happy scrapping,
Amanda

2013 Week 3.....and those extra photos

What a great week to be at home!
We had a family day out with friends at the Adventure Park in Geelong.....it was hot but so relaxing. Adults and kids enjoyed themselves and the photos are so bright and happy.
The weekend was a very busy one...taking the boys to see Brickvention (a huge Lego convention) on Saturday and then to the Australian Open tennis on Sunday.
We took a heap of photos....too many to put them all in here.....so where are they?

As well as this 'Family' PL album, I am also doing separate albums for each of my two boys.  They won't be week to week, they will be monthly, with photos from whatever we did added in order.  This allows me to make use of extra photos we take, as well as include more photos of each boy.  I'll blog their albums as a monthly item......note to self to finish January!

Happy scrapping,
Amanda

2013 Week 2

Week 2....as you can see, my 4x6 photos have colour borders around them....why? Well, i have a Canon Selphy and it doesn't print true 4x6 photos.  So if I just put the photos in they keep falling out.  How annoying is that?  So I end up trimming a bit more off the photo to create a bit more obvious border.
BH didn't do her cardstock packs for the Seafoam kit (have I said how much I love this colour palette?...awesome!) so I set a challenge for the lovely Jodie from Polka Dot Creative http://www.polkadotcreative.com.au/ to custom make a cardstock pack for me to match.  A lovely box arrived and I spent an enjoyable hour or more cutting and rounding 36 12x12 sheets of cardstock.....ended up having to put a band aid on my thumb to be able to finish.
I also started using gorgeous flair buttons from Gail at  http://www.etsy.com/people/greatestview - again, I chose products that I thought would go with Seafoam.
Loving how easily these pages came together (once I'd dealt with all my "what about" questions.
Happy Scrapping,
Amanda

A slow start to 2013 - Title and Week 1

I thought I was all ready to start 2013, but turns out I wasn't.  I had lots of ideas in my head but translating them to the page just didn't work.  First I had to wait for my kit to arrive.  Then I couldn't decide on how I wanted the title page to look (too many fabulous ideas on the Australia FB PL page).  Then I couldn't decide what standard format I wanted to use each spread, or how I wanted each weekly title card to look, and whether I could do a "Week in Review" card seeing as I didn't 'do' digital.
And can you believe that all of these things hampered me because I wanted to keep things SIMPLE?
I did print my photos off and put them in the pages though.  So when I made decisions.....it was relatively simple to complete the pages.
So here is my title page....

And here is my week one spread.

Some things to note.....I want to use the 4x6 title cards in the kit but they are a little plain on their own....so each title card will have a doilie of some description and an embellishment or two.  The dates will go in the box.  I want to add a circle with "Week X" but haven't worked out how I am going to do that yet.
The Week In Review card was only added mid Feb when I downloaded a trial of Adobe Photoshop and bought the Cathy Zielski's templates (Love them).  Now I just have to buy Photoshop for the rest of the year!
I haven't journalled about my uncle's passing yet - it's a little too raw still - but it will go in the folded 4x6 below the photo.  I also received the service booklet and printouts of the readings from my aunty in the UK this week so they will go in as an insert.
So that is how I started the year.....now to blog weeks 2 onwards.
Happy scrapping,
Amanda

2012....what to do about you...?

Hi....hope you are enjoying my much needed updates here.
At the start of 2012 I made the decision NOT to print any photos during the year, and instead focus on scrapping photos that were sitting in my drawer waiting to be dealt with.  I have been going on a scrapping retreat with some wonderful ladies twice a year, so I knew I could get a lot done (except on both occassions last year we did less scrapping and more just relaxing and spending time together).
Of course, during the year I discovered Project Life and I also did a major purge of my photos so things could be tackled differently.
So, on the 27th December I decided to order all the photos from 2012 from Snapfish, and create a 2012 album using PL.  Not a week by week or month by month album, but an album of events in order as they happened.
While I waited for the photos to come back, I ordered more 4x6 cardstock from Crafthouse (cause I put my Selphy photos onto backing board this is the easiest way to do it) and decided on the kit I would use....Cobalt.  I have to admit at this point that I had a number of kits already so I didnt have to wait for this.
When the photos came back I tackled the album as follows:
1.  Sorted photos into event groups, with the different size photos in each group also.
2.  Worked out which page protectors to use (i was amazed at how many were vertical not horizontal) and which order photos would go in.
3.  Cut photos and rounded corners to fit in the page protectors as needed.
4.  Put photos onto backing cardstock and straight into the pockets.
5.  Filled in the remaining pockets with journalling cards and filler cards.
6.  Start journalling.
And this is where I am up to.  I have done some pages and these are at the bottom of the post.

I have learnt a few things during this process.......
Firstly.....it works....you really can catch up if you have a plan and all materials at hand
Secondly......the album, all done with Cobalt and with backings to each photo is kind of dark...I need to find some embellishments and things to lighten things up
Thirdly...I feel really motivated to do more

So, don't look at all you have to do and decide it is too big a task.....look at it and work out a way to break it into chunks you can deal with and deal with those chunks as time allows.
I don't know how long it will take me to finish the journalling but it will get finished.  I can pull the album out, get a journalling pen and do a few pages after dinner while watching tv....how easy is that?

Have a great day and happy scrapping....Amanda

Dealing with Hubby's photos

How many of us have 'stuff' that we hold onto for sentimental reasons? I'd say most of us do.  How many of us have 'stuff' that our parents kept for us, thinking one day we'd want it?  A lot of us.
So what do you do when all that 'stuff' gets delivered to you (cause the in-laws don't want it taking up their space any more)?
When this happened to hubby a few months ago I asked him to consider whether he really needed it all.....trophies and medals from sports that he hadn't looked at in over 15 years and photos he hadn't looked at in just as long.
So....we photographed the trophies and medals, sorted the photos (blurry ones, people he couldn't remember who they were and duplicates were all thrown away) and I have made an album for him using the SNAP range from Simple Stories and a few BH cards too.
Hubby still has to do the journalling, but the two massive tubs have been reduced to one, and his memories are now sorted and are being looked after.

Here are a few pages....minus journalling of course.

Thanks for looking and happy scrapping....Amanda

End of 2012................

Well, the end of 2012 just flew by didn't it?  I changed roles (again) at work and am no doing something a little different....but the change has meant I have had to learn a lot and focus a fair bit more than I usually have to.
In terms of scrapbooking..........I did a few traditional layouts but October and November were more about re-organising my craft space (still a work in progress....just can't get it how I want, making Xmas cards and donig a lot of sorting.
I was reading some older posts on Becky Higgins blog and one really struck a chord with me.....that we are not other people's memory keepers.  I had a large drawer of old photos....me at different people's birthdays, weddings, and lots of other people at other people's events.  I asked myself why did I have all these photos sitting in a drawer?  Well, because they weren't important enough for me to scrap or do anything else with.
So I spent an entire afternoon with all the photos on the floor and sorted them.....photos I definitely wanted to scrap were put into individual 12x12 page protectors in their groups, photos that were other people I didn't know were tossed, blurry photos were tossed, duplicates were either sent to parents/grandparents or tossed. It was a big job, but at the end of it I ended up with 224 photos tossed, about 160 photos kept to scrap and about 30 photos sent to people.
I know some people would think how could you destroy photos......once I got started and had a goal in mind it was pretty easy.....and I feel a LOT better for doing it.

But on to projects.....I thought I would give December Daily a go...but that I would use PL for it. I used the Echo Park Photo Freedom "Dear Santa" range, as well as some great flair buttons from an etsy store called Greatest View and the Elf on the Shelf stamps from the delightful Kellie Winnell.....Give a Girl a Blog!

We had a lot of fun with our elves on the shelf...as you can see below....

 

 

I did the final week of December using 'normal' (ie not Xmas themed) papers but havent taken photos yet.

I have a few blog posts to do today, just to catch up on things, including things I am catching up on while I am on holidays from work and how I am approaching 2013.

Be back soon,

Amanda