Project Life Tuesday: The Beginning

We (my son and I) were so excited to get started on Project Life and then we got struck down with a nasty virus.  So we have a slow start and I didn't get all my photos printed.  But I will share what we have done so far.

 

In the future I will need to work on better ways of photographing my layouts. It has been so long since I worked with paper scrapbooking - I'm out of practice!  First, I have started with the Rain kit since I am a "purple girl".  I doubt I will use it exclusively throughout the year but that is where I am starting. Second, I am not sure how much of other embellishments I will be adding.  I want to keep it simple in the beginning because I don't want to fail. If it becomes too overwhelming, I will start slacking. Also, since I am doing this with my children helping, I would like to keep it so that it is not too difficult for them.

 

Anyway, this will be the cover page.  I am contemplating putting 2014 in some sticker or template cut numbers, but haven't decided.  The sticky notes are telling me which photos, when developed, will go in those slots.  So this page has the photo taken of my children in October 2013 and will have a photo of my family in front of our house and one my son took of my husband and I.  One fun thing with the rain set was a card that said "Cast of Characters".  I had already thought of doing that and so it was a pleasant surprise to find a card pre-made. Another decision I made, to keep it simple, is to write in my own handwriting.

 

 

So, here is my double page spread for the first week. Again, the sticky  notes are for photos that have yet to be developed. I also need to add the journaling for the second page.

 

 



This is the left side of week 1. On the top is a photo from the TV and talking about what we were watching on Netflix while we were all sicky couch potatoes.  The sunrise was what I awoke too on January 1 and my husband and I spent the day organizing old papers.  The lady on the bottom is my Grandma, a few years before she died of Alzheimer's Disease. Her birthday was January 2nd and New Year's Eve was always a big thing for her, so she was on my mind.  Pieces of the past always make up a part of our present, so I thought it was nice to include.  I misplaced my corner rounder that matches with the Project Life cards, so I will go back later and round those.

 

 

Right side of week 1.  Again photos are missing and I need to journal about our experience of everyone being sick.  In the middle are pictures of my daughter and the cutie little guy who brought us the lovely virus!  He's so cute we couldn't get mad.  After I made this page, I forgot that I wanted to make a calendar for each month.  I am debating whether or not to put one in the bottom right corner. I do have the digital edition of Rain and some CU calendar templates, so I am thinking about creating one and having it print on a 4x6 photo at Costco with my other prints, then it would be matching.

 

 

Even though I have had a slow start, it has been fun.  I'm just a beginner at this new way of scrapbooking and I decided I am going to enjoy the process and not be so critical of the product.  My goal is to keep it fun and be engaged with my family.  As a matter of fact, that has been the most satisfying factor for me - my family is getting into it as well - even my cat Tasha!

 

When Project Life Tuesday starts up again, I will be linking up there. What are you scrapping?

 

Layouts To Share

Recently I have begun going through my photos and memorabilia.  High on my priority list is to create an album for my little brother Danny (1967-1973).  This is my favorite photograph of him as a baby.  It really shows his personality, even though he wasn't old enough to sit up yet.  Our Dad played minor league baseball, so the baseball elements were a must.  This layout was created using two of my kits, My Family Tree - Baby Edition and My Family Tree - Baby Edition Add On.  These kits were created to make, soft neutral baby books.

While perusing the Heritage Scrap Gallery, I found this wonderful heritage layout from Creative Team friend Helene (Victoria32).  If you would like to see more of her beautiful artistry, you can find here gallery HERE.  Helene is an avid scrapbooker and all her layouts go into her family albums which she prints up for her grandchildren and family.  What a blessing that must be for them!  In this particular layout I was impressed with all her clustering and layering.  I almost didn't recognize it as coming from my own kit, but it is.  She created this layout with one of my new kits, Family Treasures.

If you post one of your layouts using my kits at the Heritage Scrap Gallery, I would love to see it and feature you as well.  Happy Scrapping!

New Release At Faith Sisters

I created the Outdoors Adventures and Outdoors Adventures Add On kits to scrap all my Pacific Northwest pictures, past and present!  This has been previously available at Heritage Scrap here and here, but is now newly available at Faith Sisters here and here.

Outdoor Adventures Kit



Outdoor Adventures Add On Kit

Thank you for looking and remember to stop by and check out my monthly Heritage Challenge at Faith Sisters!



Made Ya Look Monday

Today at Faith Sisters one of my layouts was chosen for Made Ya Look Monday, which features several layouts that "make ya look" in the galleries. It was a nice surprise when I checked in today.

This is my paternal Grandmother and Hubby fixed this photo for me on PSE in the days before I was working with it. My Grandma had a fight with my Grandpa and tore it. We always laugh though because we knew she couldn't really mean it because she carefully tore just the left side off and not through her face! LOL It's the only portrait picture I have of her. It's her birthday today (January 2nd when I made this), so I felt like making a layout of her.

I used a beautiful kit from Debra Ballance, called Fall Elegance (http://faithsisters.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1393). The journaling page is one of Debra's beautiful Autumn Journaling Boxes (http://faithsisters.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1759). The portrait was taken in September 1946 so I thought the rich autumn colors and designs were perfect for it.

Catching Up On Layouts

Well, I've been busy the last couple weeks working on layouts for Heritage Scrap and it has been a lot of fun. I haven't had time to get them loaded here, so this will be a long photo intensive, catch up post.

Digizines by Teri's lovely calendar kit that makes a small desk calendar that fits into a CD jewel case. Some pages have places for multiple pictures and a small amount of journaling and some have a single photo frame. These calendar templates lend themselves well to heritage photos as you can see here in these layouts. I highly recommend this fun project available here. I made this calendar using photos of my Husband's family for his Sister and she really liked it. My only complaint... I wish it was bigger! I am going to try and print one a little larger to see how it works.

When I saw Jean Daugherty's Master Painter kit, I knew I had to use it for this photograph of my great, great grand Aunt, Grace Hopkins True. Her life was sad in that she lost her little girl Ruth and her husband early in life. But some of her art has survived and I love this picture of her painting - it reminds me of my own Aunt, also Grace Hopkins, painting - same body shape and similar style, even though they never met! The hill on the background paper is similar to what she is painting in the picture. Thanks Jean for an awesome kit! Find the kit here.

This layout was also made from Jean's Master Painter kit and I love the photo real leaves. There were several lovely backgrounds and elements for fall pages, so you don't have to have art pictures to use this beautiful kit.

I was so excited to see Lynn Griffin's Winter Roses kit at Heritage Scrap, so I could play with it. It's so beautiful and like most of her kits, quite versatile. This is my favorite photo of my Mom as a toddler and I have done several layouts with it. I thought it lent itself well to the snowflakes and beautiful snowy designs. Font is CK Child's Play.

These are photos taken this week by my best friend Shelley in Washington state. I used four kits to put this layout together. The main ingredients come from Digizines by Teri's Old Fashioned Christmas page kit, the gray snow paper and the evergreen branches come from Lynn Griffin's Christmas Cottage kit, the letters are from Digizines by Teri's Pink Ice and the silver swirls in the upper corners come from the Faerie Holidays kit. All the kits were from Heritage Scrap.

This is made using the mini Old Fashioned Christmas page kit from Digizines by Teri and the evergreen branches of Lynn Griffin's Christmas Cottage. The child is my Uncle with my Grandparents dog and puppy, Christmas 1957. All available at Heritage Scrap.

I wanted to show how the Christmas kits can be used for other types of layouts. This is my Great Grandma, who worked as a milliner (hat maker) before marrying. The hatboxes inspired me to journal about this. I used the Faerie Holiday Kit from Digizines by Teri available at Heritage Scrap.

This layout was made with the Faerie Holidays kit as well. The picture is my Mom, Grandma Hopkins and I at my wedding ten years ago.

Another layout, this time using Lynn Griffin's gorgeous Christmas Cottage kit (free with purchase before Christmas 08) available at Heritage Scrap. The font is Jane Austen from dafont.com.

My Hubby and I met in the middle of the blizzard of '96! Two years later, almost to the date, we married. Ten years later and we have multiplied and are still happily together. These snowy papers from the Winter Wilderness kit and rich textured ribbons seemed perfect for one of our wedding pictures. The evergreen branches are from Lynn Griffin's Christmas Cottage kit. Both kits are available at Heritage Scrap.

This is my favorite layout to date. I am very blessed to have some special things from my Mom's, father's family. The writing on the paper is from Sedgewick Hopkins, my ggg grandfather and the photos are of him and his wife and children except for the one from a book that is water stained which is an engraving of his grandfather and family. This was a fun layout to do and Silvia Romeo's Old Time Shoppe papers and elements lent themselves well to this layout and theme. Kit available at Heritage Scrap.

Another one from the same kit. I made this layout featuring some unlabeled photos in my files - a great example of why you should label and journal!!! This was made with Silvia Romeo's Old Time Shoppe kit. If you have "mystery family" I do recommend putting them in your album. You never know who might look at it one day and know exactly who they are! One can always hope!

This is my Uncle with their dog Viking and a puppy on my Grandparents porch Christmas time 1957. The porch looked pretty grungy and I thought it matched with the worn paper. I used the Faith Sisters Collaborative "CHRISTmas". The background came from Claudi Designs, the overlay from Digiscrapalicious, The Snowflake like designs from Lifesong Kreations by Karla and the Swirl from Nikki Painter. Kit available at Faith Sisters The font is Euphorigenic S.

Another layout with my Great Grandma as a teenager. I used the Nanna's Armoire Lace alpha from Kate McClellan and Silvia Romeo's Arabesque Revisited kit, both from Heritage Scrap. If I did this over I would probably move the bird a little, because it looks like the beak will poke her brains out! LOL

I love this baby photo of my great Grandma, taken about 1906. I used the soft and beautiful papers and elements available in Silvia Romeo's "Arabesque Revisited", from Heritage Scrap.

Christmas 1969, Page Two

Here is another style of layout with the same picture as the last post. This one I made for Heritage Scrap, using Lynn Griffin's Holiday Home kit. I like how you can use this kit to dress things up or countrify your page.

Christmas Past

This is a bittersweet page as both my Grandma Johnson and my brother Danny are in Heaven. But, it was fun to do something different than my usual style. The bird reminded me of bird ornaments we had during that time. I used the Storybook Christmas collaborative kit from Scrap Artist and the font is Spread Sunshine from Two Peas In A Bucket.