Shimelle Laine Love

One of the new blogs I started following this summer is by Shimelle Laine.  I love her style and her content.  I don't know how she comes up with it all!  I first heard her speak on The Paperclipping Roundtable.

She has a number of challenges and sketches and starting points that she posts throughout the week.  As I have been working my way through Mother LOAD, I have found Shimelle very inspiring.

Here are two layout I created based on something from Shimelle.

First, I used this sketch:

Here is my creation:

I also used her starting point for one of my layouts.

Here is her starting point:

And, here is where I went with it:

Both of these layout were also for LOAD.  I've loved finding time almost every day to scrap...I'm also ready to spend more time on a few layouts, just for the fun of it!  6 more days of LOAD!  I'll be sharing more layouts soon.

The Mother LOAD: Week Two

14 layouts done! 

I am starting week three of The Mother LOAD at Big Picture Classes.  I have two weeks under my belt.

I'm so amazed that I have kept up the scrapping, even with work being so busy. Sometimes I come home and I think that there is NO WAY I will scrapbook.  Then, I sit down and think that I'll just pick photos, or the paper, or the sketch...and then boom!  I'm almost done.  It has been very liberating and inspiring.

I'm excited to share my layouts from week two.  I'm trying not to over-think things, and to go with my initial feeling.  If I think too much then I start over-thinking and rethinking and not doing!  Lain always says to change up the prompts as much or as little as you need.  Sometimes I start off thinking that I won't follow the prompt, but I almost always do!  I love thinking about it all day and coming home to create something.

Day 8: Create a page about what you need.

Day 9: Use scraps to create a layout.

This layout is based on a Starting Point from Shimelle Laine.  I've really been enjoying her blog, tutorials and inspiration.

Day 10: Use a kit (and a black and white photo--I didn't do this part)

Day 11: Sketch Challenge

Sketch from Lain

Day 12: Use a sub-par photo on your layout.

I added journaling around the edge of the paper.

Day 13: Ritual

Day 14: Stamp on a scrapbook page

This layout looks better in person.  The dirty looking parts are actually shiny bits of loveliness from Perfect Pearls.  I love how this page looks!  I created a poem based on The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown.  I highly recommend reading it (the book) if you haven't!

Now, I've got to get to work on week three!  Check back next weekend for a round-up of these layouts.

The Mother LOAD: Week One

On September 1st I started my first LOAD (LayOut A Day).  I was scared and worried that I just couldn't find the time to scrapbook every day.  I thought that there was no way that I could do a layout every day.

Well, I was right and wrong.  Most days I read the prompt in the morning, think about what I might want to do, and then come home and spend about an hour scrapping. I'm doing quite a few single pages, and I'm enjoying that.  Once again, Big Picture Classes has forced me out of my comfort zone and into trying something new.  I'm liking it!

Lain says to change it up when necessary, and sometimes I did.  But, mostly I used the prompts as a starting place.

Here are my layouts for the first week.

Day one: Scrapbook at goal or aspiration.

Day two: Scrapbook about laughing and who you laugh with.

Day three: Find a photo that you have avoided scrapping.

This is from 2007!

Day four: Scrapbook using your bare minimum requirements.

Day five: Break out of your habits and do something different.

Day six: Scrapbook a self portrait.

Day seven: Way back Wednesday: scrapbook inspired by the early days of scrapbooking.

So, I made it through the first week, and I also have days 8, 10 and 11 done (still working on 9).  I'll post about my progress next week.

Initial thoughts: I can scrapbook a little bit every day.  I'm surprised to discover this.

Shimelle Challenge 2

Yeah!  I actually finished another challenge tonight for Shimelle Laine's blog.  This one wasn't due until Tuesday, so I decided to get working.

This is for the Sketch Challenge.  Here is the sketch:

And here is what I created:

I'm happy with how this turned out.  I've had these photos sitting around to be scrapped for two years, and this was the perfect chance to finish this project.  I spent a little time using my cricut, which was good practice.  I actually cut out the same shape in two different sizes.  I had to practice a bit to get the right sizes!  This was part of the sketch challenge.

Thanks for reading!

Shimelle Challenge

One of the new blogs I am following is Shimelle Laine's blog.  I like her ideas and have been enjoying the content there.  I first heard got to know her on the Paperclipping Roundable.  I loved how she talked about traveling and scrapbooking about her travels.

Last weekend she posted a ton of wonderful challenges.  I thought for sure that I would get at least three done.  Well, I didn't.  But, I did get one done.  It must have been the perfect challenge at the perfect time.

The Let's Go Retro Challenge was to scrapbook a photo from before 2011.  For some reason this was just the nudge I needed to grab a group of photos that I had been stashing to scrap from our old house.  These were photos from 2002-2005 of the front yard.  Now that we don't live there (and haven't for four years!) I haven't been very inspired to scrapbook them. 

But, I picked them up and whipped out this layout, which I actually really like.  Because Shimelle lives in London, I have all of 10 minutes to get this posted and linked!

I wish that I had completed more challenges, but I have been distracted by The Big Idea Festival at Big Picture Classes.  I'm sure that you will see a post soon!

Week in the Life: Saturday and Sunday

I'm finally done!

I am really glad that I did this project, but I am also glad that it is over.  I might fuss with the pages a little and and something when I get them printed, but that will be fun and not necessary.

This is my first time completing a Week in the Life...I learned a lot.  This time I did everything digital, which had its benefits.  However, by the end I was sick of being on my computer.  I don't think that I'll ever really be a digital scrapbooker.  The other thing is that I really like the paper pages that I see from other folks, especially the 3x3 pages (baseball card sized).  Next time, I think that I'll try 8 1/2 x 11 for a change.

At any rate, a lot happened in one week.  It's really special to have all of this documented and I know that I will enjoy looking at it after I take a break from it!

Here are my last two days:
Saturday

Sunday

Thanks for looking!

Now I'm starting to prepare for The Mother LOAD... a page a day in September.  I'm trying to think about what types of things I will want to scrap one page at a time (as opposed to a 2-page layout).

Week in the Life Thursday and Friday

I have been slowly working on my layouts for Week in a Life.  I wish that I had more photos and this is a good lesson for any future attempts.  I felt like I was taking a million photos, but in the end, when I uploaded them I didn't have that many. 

One think that I liked about these pages is that I have some pictures of me.

Here is my creation for Thursday:

And Friday:

I'm working on finishing up Saturday and Saturday.  Thanks for looking.

Week in the Life

This year I decided to jump into Week in the Life with Ali Edwards.  Tomorrow is the last day of the week (Sunday) and I have done a pretty good job of taking photos to capture my week.

I thought that this would be a particularly good week to document (the week was chosen by Ali, but it worked for me!) because so many things were going on.  I would have regular work days, days off and big moments with our friends heading back to Hong Kong.

I purchased Ali's templates from Designer Digitals, and decided that this time I would create all of the pages digitally.  I don't usually do this, but for this project it seemed to make sense.  I may add in some other items later, when I get the pages printed.

My plan was to have two pages per day.  A large focal photo on the left and some sort of collage on the right.

So far I have completed Monday:

Tuesday:

and Wednesday:

Stay tuned for the rest of the week!

Why I Scrap

I am taking two classes right now at Big Picture Classes.  I'm enjoying both of them, even though I don't have quite the time I would like for scrapping (mainly because wonderful friends are visiting).  My first layout challenge for The Mother LOAD: A Scrapbook Marathon is to create a LO about why I scrap.

As I can't get to my scrap stuff (it's also the the guest room and we actually have guests!), I decided to do a blog post.

I've been thinking about this question all week, and there are a number of possible answers. 

First, it is creative, and I just love the beautiful papers.  I appreciate the beauty in the creation and surrounding myself with nice things.

Second, scrapping helps me to remember things.  Really!  Sometimes I forget even important things, but if I scrap the memory it is better stuck in my brain.  Not to mention how it helps when I look through old albums and remember that wonderful time all over again.  This is why I'm trying to spend more time on the journaling; later these words are so important.

Third, and most importantly, I scrap because it brings me closer to those that I love.  When I'm missing a friend or a vacation or want to spend time with a memory, scrapping is the perfect way to do this. 

Yes, scrapbooking is creative, helpful for documenting memories and best of all it connects me to the world around me and the people who make my life so wonderful.

My favorite is to scrap with friends; sometimes they are my friends here locally and sometimes they are my virtual friends in the incredible online community.

Here are some of my favorite scrapbook chicks:

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Back in Action

Wow!  It has been almost three months since I last posted.  What have I been doing???

Well, I have been scrapping, but mainly for myself and for classes at Big Picture Classes.  I've just linked my work directly there, so I don't have to post here.  But, I miss having my blog going, so I thought that I would do a little catch up.

Over the past few months I have taken two classes:

28 Days of Sketches with Lisa Day
May with May with May Flaum

I really enjoyed both classes.  The sketch class was pure motivation and the May Flaum class was completely inspirational.  I am a huge fan of hers, and I find her so real, honest and comfortable in her own skin.  I like that.

The sketch class kept me motivated and inspired, and I even tried to go outside of the lines of the sketch; sometimes I am very literal. Here is one that I really liked.

May with May was lovely.  I looked forward to her emails every single day, and I just loved being a small part of her life.  I was inspired to do something totally new, which was to try masking.  I made this page about a Turkish cooking class that I took.  I love how it turned out.

School just finished, and I'm relishing the long days.  I'm in the midst of Finding Photo Freedom with Stacy Julian, and it is amazing.  She is so incredible.  I love her way with life and people.  The class has really got me going, and I have spent days sorting and cleaning out my scrap area (mainly photos, but then it spreads...).  One of the main HUGE tasks that I have done is sort out all of my negatives and back up disks.  I'm taking them to work to have them in a separate place.  She really made it real that you have to have your back ups somewhere else.  Duh.  I can't wait to do this on Monday.  She is also encouraging me to get rid of some photos.  For some reason I have a hard time trashing photos.  But, with the added help of the class I'm making progress. I think that this is the beginning of something great.

If you aren't in the class, she shares a lot of wisdom on her blog, look for "Library of Memories".

Next up is The Mother LOAD with Lain Ehmann.  I'm a little scared.  More on that later.  Starts June 30.

I'm also hoping to follow along with Ali Edwards and her Week in the Life at the end of July.  The timing is good, as my friends will have all departed, and it might be a good week to capture in time.  I'm enjoying those sort of tasks, as long as they are short.  I'm not up for a year's worth!

Okay, that should get me up to speed.  I'm going to try and post a bit more.  However, it is summer and friends are soon arriving. 

Final Birthday Challenges

Sad but true...Apron Strings Designs has finished with birthday challenges (for this year!).  I had a lot of fun, and got quite a bit done as I played along. 

I didn't think that I would have any time to scrap this week, but I did take a photo every day as I worked on week 11 of Yesterday and Today for Ali Edwards' class at Big Picture Classes (my next class is May with May!).

Then, I was just able to finish up this spread, which worked perfectly for Birthday Challenge #19:

Here is my finished spread...one week in portraits.  Seems so weird to see so many photos of myself.  I might have to flip past that one in the book :)

A big shout out to the other scrappers who have been playing along with the birthday challenges.  You might want to check out their blogs too.
Deanna
Lisa
Patchi
Alison Day
Bexx
Jessica Navarro
Kirstin Perez
Amy C


As always, thanks for stopping by!

More Birthday Challenges

This week Lori really kept the challenges coming.  It is not only fun, but very inspiring.  For some reason the challenges get me started and then I have a lot of fun scrapping.

I am also back at work on my Ali Edwards class at Big Picture Scrapbooking (Yesterday and Today).  Even though the class officially ends this week, I have been very behind.  I went through and made sure that I had downloaded everything, and that I looked to see what weeks really made the most sense for me to complete.  I completed week 12 this week, and started on week 11.  Week 11 requires a week's worth of self-portraits, which is why I couldn't finish it this weekend!  Anyway, there are a couple more weeks that I want to complete, and then I will be done (for me). 

Final score: Weeks completed: 7 Weeks not completed: 4 Weeks in progress: 1

I was reflecting that I really did learn a lot through the class, and in many ways it has changed my scrapbooking far beyond the actual lessons.  I'm allowing myself some flexibility in my scrapbooks (different types of pages, page protectors and organization).  This is fun, invigorating and actually makes the albums more interesting.  I'm still trying to figure out how to make it all work, but at least I'm trying something different.

Okay, so here is my work from this week.

First, the Ali Edwards work.  Week 12 was all about ephemera.  I had this bag of things that I had saved from our Turkey trip, and I thought that this was just about perfect.  I hadn't really known what do with this stuff.  So, I took a divided page protectors, journaling blocks from Ali Edwards, and created something totally new.  I've never done this before, so it also works for the Apron Strings Designs Birthday Challenge #14: Today, do something new to you on your layout:  mists, paint, sewing, decoupage ;), chipboard, hand cutting, building your own embellishments, etc..  I'm still trying to fit it into my album, and I have a plan!  I have a couple more spreads to finish, so now I can work around this.  I think that I may try this idea on a regular basis, and have a divided page protector in every album, holding random stuff from the time covered.  We'll see...

Yesterday & Today: Week 12: Stuff

Second, I felt like scrapping some Christmas photos, and was inspired by some things I saw from some of the other designers.  For Challenge 15: Today create a layout using at least three different patterned papers. I went a little crazy and used about 6 different patterned papers.  I love how it turned out!  The patterned papers make up the strip on the left, the journaling block, the circles and the decorations.  I used some of the strategies that I learned from Nic Howard in her class that I took in the fall.

Finally, for Challenge #17: Today, incorporate a box, or block, on your layout.  I used this beautiful paper from Fancy Pants (Tradition).  I hadn't really known how to use the tree, which I loved.  However, I really like how this turned out.  I was pleased with the effect of cutting the edge of the tree and tucking the square underneath.

I'm not sure how much I will be able to get done next week.  My MIL comes into town and I'm sure that we will be busy together.

Thanks for stopping by!

More Challenges at the Birthday Party

Once again Apron Strings Designs kept me inspired and challenged with their birthday party on their blog.  I was super excited to see that I even won a prize last week!  But the best prize is having time to scrap and create.

My first creation, for Birthday Party Day #12: For your layout today, use at least four 1-2" strips of paper; no flames required was actually a birthday card (with flames!).  I make the background with 5 strips of paper.  I really like how it turned out.  The cake stamp is from {The Stamps of Life}. I have already used this set a ton, and it fun for making birthday cards.

My second creation was for Birthday Party Day #13 Today, use the following sketch from Sketchy Thursdays (love this site) on at least two layouts and I had a lot of fun with this one.  I am still waiting for a photo for the left side (from the birthday boy's mom), but I really wanted to work on this layout.

Finally, I combined my work from my class at Big Picture Classes (Yesterday and Today with Ali Edwards) with Birthday Party Day #11 Today create a layout using 6 or more photos - the more the merrier, right?  :)  I've been a bit behind, but I completed this layout for week 9.  This is a day in my life!  It was fun, and interesting, and I think that I will do something like this once a year or so.  It is a nice addition to what I usually scrap about.

So, that about covers it...I can't wait to see what Lori throws at us this week!

The Birthday Party Continues!

It was a rainy weekend here, and it made for some good scrapping time.  I was inspired by the challenges at Apron Strings Designs...as I mentioned, it is their 6th birthday!  During the week I wrote down the challenges, and then I used that as a starting off point for my creating.

My first project was based on challenge #6: Your challenge for today create a layout using banners.  I have been seeing a lot of banners in layouts, both online and in magazines, but I haven't really done any myself.  I decided to use this challenge for my title page.  I used "banners4all" from the {Stamps of Life} and "funky4lowabc".  I really like how it turned out.

Next, I started with the idea of challenge #9: Today add a bit of chaos to your page by putting something on an angle.  As I worked on the right hand page, I was suddenly completing challenge #5: Today incorporate scrapbook's version of Sprinkles:  Use at least 10 Buttons or Brads or, dare I say, Eyelets on your layout. I hadn't used eyelets in years!  But, it was fun to pound away (I don't have a crop-a-dial).  Here they are together.  This is from our trip to Turkey, and it was fun to look over these photos again.  I actually used a lot of different types of techniques on the right hand side, and after awhile I just wanted to be done.  But, I do like how it turned out.  I especially like the waves on the bottom of the left hand page.

I am trying to get to know my new cricut machine.  I still often have to cut things twice to get the right size.  BUT, I'm loving the letters and using paper to make the letters.  I can see that I might have to start collecting cartridges!

Have a great week :)

Happy Birthday Apron Strings!

This weekend I had a little bit of time on Sunday to dive into my scrapbook stuff.  It felt great!  It was nice to just have a few hours to create and look through all of my things.


At the same time, my favorite kit club, Apron Strings Designs had a number of challenges on their blog in celebration of their sixth birthday!  Wow!  Six years!  Way to go Apron Strings.  It's hard to keep a small business going, and Lori does an incredible job; every month is even better than the previous month and I get to try lots of new things.


So, I chose two challenges that I thought I would be able to get done in the time that I had.  First, I took on challenge #3: "make your journaling more than an afterthought." I knew the perfect layout!  I wanted to write about Big Picture Classes, and all of the fun I have been having.  For this layout I started with my journaling, rather than a photo.  I never do that!  Thanks for the challenge to get me going. Here is my layout.

Journaling Challenge

Second, I took on challenge #2: sketch challenge.  I love Becky Fleck, and her sketches at Page Maps.  Here is the sketch:

And, here is my take. I had a lot of fun, and it the photos brought back wonderful memories from a long weekend in November.

Challenge #2: Sketch Challenge

Did I mention that I have a new Cricut???  That will have to be on another post :) 

Some Updates from Yesterday and Today

I haven't had a chance to update my blog in quite awhile.  Work was crazy busy, and then we went on vacation!

Right before I left for vacation, I worked on a LO for Ali Edward's class, Yesterday and Today at Big Picture Classes.  I almost finished it, but not quite!  So, I had to wait until I got home to scan it and complete the last bits.

This LO is from week 7: "This week we are continuing our focus on telling stories that link the past and the present. We are making connections that make the invisible threads of our lives visible."

Story of Two Friends: Week 7

I'm happy with this LO because I went back through lots of old photos to find four photos taken with my good friend from high school Laurie.  We had just seen each other at Christmas, and we have been trying to rebuild our friendship.  This LO allowed me to recognize the past and the future.

When I got back from vacation I jumped back into class, with the week 8 lesson on perspective and mindfulness.  I had to find 11 photos about me.  I did cheat and add one of my cat, but it made sense.  I went back over left-over photos that I hadn't scrapped, or photos that I hadn't used yet, and I really had fun with the process.  It took a lot longer than I had expected, mainly because there were so many little parts.  I'm happy with how it turned out.

Week 8: Perspective

I had mentioned earlier that I was trying digital LOs.  Well, I got my prints back from Persnickety Prints, and while the quality of the printing was excellent, I wasn't in love with the flat aspect of the digital LOs.  I think that some hybrid scrapping here and there will be good, but overall, I think that I'm a paper scrapper.

Thanks for stopping by!

First Week of Creative Retreat

I'm so enjoying (already) Creative Retreat with May Flaum.  She is generous, inspiring and never makes you feel guilty.  I am really using her class as inspiration, and trying to keep on with my scrapbooking.  It is fun to try new things, and see a different style.

This weekend I didn't have a ton of time for scrapping, but I am still making progress.  First, I created this layout, inspired by one in Creative Retreat.  I didn't know what to do with all of these photos of food from Turkey, but now they are in the album!  My DH came by and said that he loved it!  And, he was excited to have it in the album.  We really loved the food :)

Eating our way through Turkey

I also worked on some cards for this week, and prepared a layout about Christmas using a template for a holiday mini book from Big Picture Classes, created by Kayce Rehn.  This is something different for me, so I am excited to see how it turns out.  It is going to be in a 12 x 12 page protector with 6x4 openings.  One side will be a photo and the other will be from the template.  I think that it will be fun.  Working with Ali Edwards, in her class, is helping me to see that my books can be a combination of many different things.  I like how freeing that is, as well as inspiring.  It opens up a whole new world. 

Holiday Mini Book Images

Speaking of my other class, Yesterday and Today, I have totally fallen behind.  But, I'm about to change all of that as soon as I'm done with this post.  I have to see what is there for this week and get to work.  I might have some time this week, even, as DH has a lot of night meetings.  Cereal for dinner and time to scrap?  Maybe!

Finally, I was super excited to send off all of my 12x12 digital pages to Persnickety Prints.  They are having a big sale right now, and it is the perfect time to order.  These will be my first ever digital pages...so excited to see what they look like when they arrive.