Write. Click. Scrapbook.

Welcome, September!

September is here. This month, not only will the leaves begin to change; so, too, does our format. We hope you enjoyed this year's summertime dailies. A delightful smattering of technique, permissions, and inspirations, our summertime dailies are a carefree schedule for a carefree season.

But school is back in session and so are we! Our weekly author series return beginning Monday. This month, you can look forward to the reading the wit and wonder of Marnie Flores, Francine Clouden, Monika Wright, and Kathy Martin.

They have four weeks of top notch content ready for you--we look forward to seeing you each day as you stop by for some scrapbooking fun and learning. If you haven't already, you may want to consider subscribing to the our feed, then you won't miss a thing! Just click the subscribe button up there and to the right in the grey navigation bar!!

 

A new month always brings a new gallery! And this month, the theme is Looking Back. September seemed the perfect season to look back and document a change, a memory, or something that you hadn't yet. We hope you enjoy our layouts! And now, you have two ways to enjoy the layouts. You may scroll below, or you may click over to the photo album! The layouts will be full size in the photoalbum and the journaling will be available there, too! But now, you may stay right here and get a taste of each layout. We hope that allows you to comment on the projects more easily and to let each designer know how much you appreciate the time and effort they spend to bring you a little artistic love! Enjoy!

 

The More Things Change | Francine Clouden

12x12 | materials patterned paper (October Afternoon, Studio Calico, Crate Paper) + chipboard stickers (October Afternoon) + stickers (Glitz Design, Authentique) + Bingo Card (Jenni Bowlin) + button + spray inks

A Note from Francine
This page documents Kieran’s abiding love for hummus. He is 8 months old in the first photo, and 21 months old in the second. Looking back at the first photo from the perspective of the second is when I first realized how much he had changed from being a baby!

September Fun Fact
I can’t believe I am saying this but I am actually looking forward to cooler autumn days. Not winter though, never winter!

 

 

Little House | Katie Ehmann

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Echo Park, My Mind's Eye, Tim & Beck for Studio Calico, Simple Stories) + embellishments (My Mind's Eye, Studio Calico, Freckled Fawn) + stickers (American Crafts, October Afternoon)

A Note from Katie
I took this photo of my grandparent's old house a few months before it was demolished. I spent much of my childhood visiting this house, and am so grateful that I have these memories documented. I hand cut the big patterned paper heart with pinking shears and then cut it again, flipping the outer heart to make the contrasting border. I used wood veneer hearts as embellishments to tie the theme together.

September Fun Fact
I love September because it is the start of the college football season and I get to watch my alma mater, the University of Michigan Wolverines play in The Big House! There is nothing like cheering them on with over 107,501 screaming fans! Go Blue!

 

 

Looking Back | Diane Payne


12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (October Afternoon, Pebbles Inc.) + embellishments (October Afternoon, A Flair for Buttons, Studio Calico, My Paper Shop, Milky Way Jewelry, Whisker Graphics) + stickers (October Afternoon, Basic Grey)



A Note from Diane

With the theme this month I thought it would be fun to reflect on where I've been since I was a little girl and what I wish I would have done a little differently along the way. I hope this layout will give future generations a better idea of what I find important.


September Fun Fact

When I was a little girl, my parents took us on two week long summer vacations by car. It brings back fond memories for me and is probably why I love road trips so much!

 

 

Remember | Emily Spahn



8.5 x 11 | materials {Gossamer Blue kit}: patterned paper (Echo Park, Pebbles, My Mind’s Eye) + cardstock (Stampin’ Up!) + buttons (October Afternoon) + resin flowers (Prima) + chipboard buttons (My Mind’s Eye) + chipboard alphabet (American Crafts) + twine (October Afternoon) + die cut (October Afternoon) + metal flower (EK Success) + journaling sticker (My Mind’s Eye)>



A Note from Emily

A long time ago I printed out a bunch of 5x7 photos. I don’t know why I love this one so much…something about the “everyday-ness” of it all. It’s even more special now, as our dog in the photo passed away earlier this year. I love recording these simple ordinary memories.






September Fun Fact

September is my favorite month. It’s my birthday month, but I especially love it because it signals the beginning of fall! I can’t wait for sweater weather, football games, changing leaves, and all of the other amazing parts of fall.

 

 

First Father's Day | Valerie O'Neall

8.5 x 11 | materials cardstock (American Crafts) + patterned paper (Sassafras, My Mind's Eye, and Crate Paper) + circle tags (Elle's Studio) + mask and mist (Studio Calico) + alpha stickers (October Afternoon) + stamp (American Crafts Dear Lizzy) + other (buttons, shipping tags, twine, and date stamp)

A Note from Valerie
I don't have a school-age child yet, so I decided on this photo to look back on from my hubby's first Father's Day. I started with a very neutral black and grey color scheme, but a little color ended up finding it's way onto the layout.

September Fun Fact
I'm canning for the first time ever this year. I've had a garden for four(?) years now, but this is the first time I've had enough excess for canning and been brave enough to try it.

 

 

Then - Now | Lisa Ottosson

8.5 x 11 | materials patterned paper (Amy Tangerine) + embellishments (Sweet Shoppe.com Kristin Cronin-Barrow, iloveitall on etsy)

A Note from Lisa
Late August always makes me look back on the year and several years as my daughters birthday is August 31st. This year she turns 13…

I wanted to quickly add that the now and then circles are from a digital kit that is called For the love of: conversation. It was bought at Sweet Shoppe.com.

Also, when I went to look for older photos of Myrra (the dog) and Stina (my daughter) I couldn´t find any although I know we have several. I really wanted to include some of them on this page, so I dug out our old home videos and took screen shots! The photos are terrible of course, but the memories are surely not! The older photos are held in the glassine bag.

September Fun Fact
Right now I am freaking out about officially being a mom of a teenager!

 

 

A Day to Remember | Vivian Masket

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (Bazzill Basics) + patterned paper (October Afternoon) + mini-album pages (October Afternoon) + die cuts (October Afternoon) + stickers (October Afternoon) + chipboard (October Afternoon) + pen (Sakura) + font (Typenoksidi) 




A Note from Vivian

Mini-album pages, used as both a journaling spot and patterned paper, helped me to pull this layout together quickly.

September Fun Fact

I created this layout while on vacation at my parents’ house, not far from the beach where this photo was taken.

 

 

Third Grade 2012 | Jennifer Larson

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (Bazzill) + patterned paper (Pebbles, October Afternoon) + tags (Elle’s Studio, Studio Calico) + stickers (Pebbles) + floss (DMC) + templates (Bazzill) + pen (Zig)

A Note from Jennifer Larson
I am terribly behind on school photos. Rather than going back over a year to create layouts for each milestone event, I put them all on one page, using a circle ( and many more circles!) to symbolize the year.

September Fun Fact
I teach high school English, and let me tell you, the teachers are just as nervous and excited on day one as the kids are!

 

 

here's the story | Celeste Smith

12 x 12 | materials kit (One Little Bird & Sahlin Studio Worn at The Lilypad) + masks(Robyn Meierotto Cut It Out at Design House Digital) + stitching(Robyn Meierotto In Stitches Neutrals at Design House Digital) + frame (Kitschy Digitals Vintage Photo Frames at Kitschy Digitals)

A Note from Celeste
This is the last photo I have to my mom and dad with me. We weren't much of a photo taking family. I wish I had more! Unfortunately, this story is a little sad. My father is now having chemotherapy and has a long road to travel. We are hoping for the best!

September Fun Fact
My oldest started middle school this year. It's amazing I'm excited and nervous for him all at the same time. Let's hope he catches on to it quickly - he's my forgetful one!

 

 

8 Years | Kathy Martin

12 x 12 | < b>materials cardstock (Bazzill Basics) + patterned paper (Little Yellow Bicycle) + embellishments (American Crafts, Jillibean Soup, May Arts, Bella Blvd)

A Note from Kathy
This October marks eight years since we moved cross country from Hollister, California to North Carolina. It’s amazing to think back through these years and how much has changed and how we’ve grown as a family.

September Fun Fact
There’s actually a Hollister, California, but it’s not a beach community like the famous Hollister clothing company. We lived in Hollister for six years. It’s a small town between San Jose and the Monterey Bay surrounded by world famous farms. Most notorious are the strawberries from Watsonville, but there’s also Gilroy, the garlic capital of the world and Castroville which is the artichoke capital of the world.

 

 

Looking Back | Monika Wright

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Pebbles) + embellishments, letter stickers, border (Pebbles) + flapper, flair button (Ormolu) + sewing machine (Singer) + punch, die cut (Stampin’ Up) + shipping tag, chipboard (craft supply)

 

A Note from Monika 
Looking Back...this month’s theme. So I literally went looking back to a stack of photos that have been calling out for some attention and pulled this photo of my now 20-year old son. This photo was printed 3 years ago at which time I sat down and wrote some journaling about the photo. How’s that for looking back on a photo taken 17 years ago and journaling written 3 years ago finally coming to life on a layout.

September Fun Fact 
I haven’t ridden a bike since I was in my teens. My husband earned incentive points through his company and chose a bike for me, which I am guessing means I need to get my little tooshie on and actually now ride. Watch out girls, Mama’s on two wheels!

 

 

My Fish School Bag | Deb Duty

8.5 x 11 | materials patterned paper (Studio Calico, American Crafts, October Afternoon) + embellishments (Studio Calico, October Afternoon, Prima, My Paper Shop) + letter stickers (October Afternoon) + stamps (Studio Calico)

A Note from Deb
With the theme this month, I decided to go way back. I've been scanning old photos from my mother's house. This was the first day of preschool when I was about to be four. I have such a bad memory so it's really nice to have old photos to help remind me of things I had forgotten.

September Fun Fact
When I was little I so wanted hair like Marcia Brady. I was very happy when I got my first Chi flat iron about ten years ago. Finally I can have straight hair! I've been flat ironing it ever since. I wear it curly (which is better described as frizzy) very rarely.

 

 

Looking Back | Paula Gilarde

12 x 12 | materials template (Meant to Be Layered Template (Katie Pertiet)) + metallics (Lynn Grieveson) + labels (Banner Labels No. 1 (Katie Pertiet)) + title stickers (Wooden Alpha No. 8 (Katie Pertiet))

A Note from Paula
I can't believe I've know these girls for almost 20 years. It makes me feel old! We got together recently and it made me think about all the fun times we had over the years.

 

 

Blessed Love Happy | Teka

8.5 x 11 | materials patterned paper (Jillibean Soup) + embellishments (My Minds Eye) + Bling (Recollections) + Twine (Jillibean Soup)

A Note from Teka
I love using products on a page that are leftovers from other projects. Makes me feel "green". The kraft banner is actually a page left over from a mini I did for Jillibean Soup.

September Fun Fact
I always feel the most creative in the morning after a fresh cup of coffee.

 

 

Little Red Tricycle | Erin Sweeney

8.5 x 11 | materials patterned paper (My Mind’s Eye, Studio Calico, American Crafts) + embellishments (K & Company) + letter stickers (American Crafts) 

A Note from Erin
I printed these pictures 2 years ago, yet somehow they never got scrapbooked. As Mackenzie will be turning five soon, it’s fun to look back at her as a toddler.

September Fun Fact
I lose things. Often. I’ve lost two sets of keys with the remote keyless entry – both after driving home. How does that happen?

 

 

& Time Flies I Christa Paustenbaugh

12 X 12 | materials cardstock (American Crafts, Crate Paper, Echo Park) + patterned papers (Studio Calico) + stickers (Crate Paper) + wood veneer (Studio Calico, Studio Calico) + brads (My Mind’s eye) + chipboard (American Crafts, Studio Calico) + flair (A Flair for Buttons Etsy Shop) + wood veneer (Studio Calico) + twine (Ormolu) + die cut machine (Silhouette SD)

A Note from Christa
The theme for this month came at just the right time for me, but also broke my heart in half too. My oldest is getting ready to start her final year of elementary school so I dug up an old photo from when she was starting her elementary school journey at the ripe old age of 5. I see the physical changes in her, but also remember all the emotional and mental changes too. She’s starting her 4th different school this year and I couldn’t be more proud of how resilient she is!

September Fun Fact
I love September: the crisp air, football get togethers and a regular routine in our house. This year is a bit different though: no crisp air in September in a tropical climate and those football parties will be during the week after the games are already played in the States! It’ll be a new normal for us!

 

 

1976 | Sarah Pendergrast

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Studio Calico, Basic Grey, Jillibean Soup, My Minds Eye) + embellishments (October Afternoon, Studio Calico, Banana Fish Studio, K & Co) + stickers (American Crafts. October Afternoon) + tools (QuicKutz, Silhouette, Martha Stewart)

A Note from Sarah
My design was inspired by a Hambly overlay. I used butterfly punches and die cuts to replicate the design using a yellow gradient.

September Fun Fact
I’m the youngest of five kids, and the closest to me in age is seven years older. It was a happy mix of being a bit spoiled as the “baby” and an only child at the same time!

 

 

Looking Back | Alexandra Sirigue-McLeod

 

Still Here | Amy Sorensen

12 x 12 | materials paisley stamps (Close to My Heart) + round swirly stamp (Hero Arts) + fleur-de-lis and bird on a stem stamps (unknown) + StazOn ink (Tsukineko) + markers (Copic) + clock hands (Silhouette) + ribbon + Samo Sans and Janda Stylish Script fonts

A Note from Amy
For the stamped border, I wanted a colorful swirl of pattern and bright hues.To make it, I stamped with big stamps, letting the images come out a little messy and soft so they could blend into each other. Then I just had fun coloring in all the blank spaces. I wrote the journaling in a similar way, with run-on sentences and ampersands and a stream-of-consciousness feel.

September Fun Fact
My September goal is to finally finish the quilt I've been working on for my seven-year-old. Since he was four. The only good thing about my procrastination is that now I know to make it bigger than I had originally planned. Someone should check up on me!

 

 

Two Years Later | Marnie Flores

8.5 x 8.5 | materials patterned paper (Creativity by Crystal, Crystal Wilkerson) + fonts (Josefin Sans Std, Bebas)

A Note from Marnie
I thought for this month's gallery, I would be putting together a layout comparing all three kids on their first day of kindergarten. But when I opened the folder for Poppy's first day, I saw this picture. And knew that this was the story that needed to be told.

September Fun Fact
I have something every single day this month. And on a couple of days, we have three places to be at the same time!! It's going to be a fun month!

 

Bike | Kelly Jeppson

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (American Crafts) + letter cut-outs (BasicGrey) + circle punch + white gel pen

A Note From Kelly
My parents gave all the kids in my family a cd of "vintage" family photos, and this is one of my favorites from the collection. It's a photo of me and my cousins with my grandpa, who passed away when I was pretty young. We used to all go on bike rides together, with me on the back of Grandpa's bike because I was too young to keep up with the big kids. I know that the photo is grainy - it was probably taken circa 1980.

September Fun Fact
My husband just bought me a road bike - I'm still trying to figure out how to shift! And I think she needs an Italian name, as she's a Specialized "Dolce" model. Any suggestions?

 

Thank you, write. click. scrapbook. team for creating a most beautiful gallery! And thank you, dear readers, for spending your precious time with us! We hope you feel inspired to create some fun today!

A summery color challenge!

Happy Thursday! When I scrapbook I almost always begin with an inspiring color combo. I will choose three to five colors that I like together and pull coordinating product that will fit together.  I sometimes do all of this before I even pick out photos of my layout, which is admittedly backwards!! I happen have an entire pinterest board full of colorful combinations to refer to if I'm ever really stumped.  For today's color challenge, I wanted something summery and light, so I decided upon this fun mix of yellow, orange, aqua, and gray. These also just so happen to be our write.click.scrapbook colors!!

 

(source: design for mankind)

I love the look that is popular lately of using a die cut machine to cut many shapes from a single piece of paper (like Teka's layout in the August gallery). Unfortunately, I do not have a die cut machine, so I decided to improvise and create my own negative shape background. I took a bunch of papers that fit into my color scheme and put them together in a messy quilt fashion. Before I connected them all together, I punched two different sizes of stars out of the paper. I adhered the star background to my cardstock with foam squares to create a 3-D effect.

A few members of the write.click.scrapbook collective also played along and used this color scheme to create some inspiring layouts.  First, Jennifer Larson used not only the colors, but the chevrons as inspiration for her 12x12 layout.  She said, "I love the color combo and used a few of the chevrons too. The color combo on white makes it particularly clean and bright." I couldn't agree more!

Lisa Ottosson created a simple and sweet layout using the color combination. I love how well Lisa incorporates white space, or maybe I should say "gray space"!

Finally, Marnie Flores created an excellent layout using the color combination. I love the the clean lines and cripsness of this layout, and the fact that the blue pool water fits perfectly into the color scheme!

I would love to see layouts you create (or have created in the past) using this color combination.  Upload your projects to our Flickr group and/or share them in the comments. Have a great day!

inspired by (part 2)

Happy Tuesday everyone! Paula here with your Tuesday dose of Summertime inspiration. If you checked in yesterday you would have seen Monika's wonderful post. Monika is the unofficial queen of mini books here at Write.Click.Scrapbook and I for one, have been very inspired by her many creations.

I had the honor of being the source of inspiration for Monika's mini book that she created for her son who is in the Navy. I love the idea of sending a mini album to someone - I think I'm going to have to create another Monika-inspired-mini to send to my parents who live overseas.

Today's post is about the mini-album that created based on of one Monika's. She has so many wonderful and varied mini's to choose from it was hard to pick just one but I was particularly drawn to her "my favorite memories of us" smash-style album:

I followed the instructions on her blog and in no time at all I had created a fun smash book of my own. 

Here's a few images from my book - first up, the cover. I mimiced Monika's with the textured cardstock, the decorative journaling sports and stickers. I sewed the book together using my sewing machine (a first for me):

 

Like Monika, I pulled various papers, journaling spots and embellishments from my stash along a color scheme and layered them to create the book. It's a fun way to use up things that have been sitting around for a while (years!):

I love using word strips and labels and I have tons of them!

I hope this inspires you to make your own mini album. Don't forget to click on Monika's details page to see all the extra goodies inside of her album.

Happy mini-making!

inspired by

Happy Monday to you all! Hi, I'm Monika, and at our house, we're getting ready for a birthday party and making sure we have everything on our back-to-school list. Next Monday, our girls will be enjoying their First Day of School. Hard to believe our Summer is almost over.

I think by now, you all know how much I adore a mini book. During last month's Gallery here at write.click.scrapbook. the theme was Perfect Pairings. At one point, I was paired with the amazingly talented Paula Gilarde. Then we added some lovely new members here and we had both had new pairings, but I still wanted to share with you a tutorial from Paula that inspired me.

It's a perfect summertime project and uses goodies you already have on hand...cardstock and photos. Anything else you add is just extra goodness! Here's my mini book...

...and here is Paula's mini book that inspired me. Here's another she shared here at w.c.s. recently.

 

ACCORDIAN MINI BOOK

Since I'm sending this to my son, who's in the Navy, I kept the embellishments simple. Don't worry, he's used to his Mom making mini books for him, so he won't be too embarrassed receiving this in the mail!

So simple that there are just 3 photos and Instagram photos at that.

STAMPS AS JOURNALING TOOLS

Have you ever thought to use all those sentiment stamps you have as a way to journal? I arranged a few stamps around my page and added my own words to fill in the gaps using different colored inks to make the stamp images stand out.

STAMPS AS EMBELLISHMENTS

Another favorite trick is to stamp an image, trim around it and add it to my page...instant embellishment. Perfect for mini books and layouts alike and you can even stamp on patterned paper!

So, excuse me now while I check our school supply list one more time and wonder how we're going to fit in a few more things from our Summer bucket list.

 

 

Finding your Mojo Online.

My kids like to tease me about being "older than the internet." They can't quite grasp what it must have been like to function without the world at their fingertips. They think that it must have been torture. Wanna know a secret? I tend to agree with them! I'm pretty addicted to having access to information & inspiration 24/7. Like most of you, I turn to the internet when I find that my mojo is lacking. After the usual stops - write.click.scrapbook (duh!), my favorite scrappy blogs, & Pinterest, I've got a list of sites that never fail to get the creative juices flowing...

COLOR - Despite my affinity for kraft cardstock, I do love color! I adore finding a fresh & inviting color palette that I can use in my crafting. A few of my fave colorful sites...

Creature Comforts - simply GORGEOUS inspiration boards - a great source for colors & patterns. 

Pantone - since I work in cosmetics manufacturing, I always have a Pantone book by my side. The Pantone site is a great resource for color trend & color combinations!

DeGraeve - Need a little help matching colors to images? Check out this site! You'll need to upload your photo to an online storage site (Flickr, Photobucket,etc) so that it will have a URL assigned. Input the URL, and DeGraeve will show you what color palette matches the image. Brilliant! (ColorHunter offers a similar tool)

TYPOGRAPHY - Who's addicted to type/text/fonts? I'm totally raising my hand. Clever use of type can make a title just jump off of your scrapbook page. Check out these sites for inspiring type treatments...

Wander - Such awesome typography & graphic treatments!

TYPEInspire - Want more typography mojo? Typeinspire is a great source for clever use of design and type.

FOOD - Huh? What does food have to do with scrapbooking? So much! The staging of food photography is endlessly inpsiring for me. I love studying the use of texture, color, and pattern. Okay, and yes...I also love to eat. A couple of yummy food blogs...

Sweet Paul - Download the Sweet Paul mag, and enjoy! (oh, and search back issues for the crab risotto cakes. Delish!)

Tartelette - my first love when it comes to food photography. Simply divine!

Now it's your turn to tell us...

Where do YOU find inspiration on the web? 

Please note - the blog images used above are borrowed for inspiration only. Full creative credit goes to the blog owners. They just rock my socks off. :)

 

Summertime Inspiration

Hello there, summer readers! Marie here today with a little journey down memory lane. Summer is a hard scrapping time for me. With all three kids at home all the time, we spend our days playing, going to the park, running through sprinklers, and eating lots and lots of popsicles (recently all BEFORE 10am because it has been SO crazy hot here!) That leaves me melting into a pile of tired goo by the end of the day, with nary a bone of motivation to scrap left in me.

So how do I fix this? I went on a little journey. I went back through the scrapbooks and pulled some of my favorite summertime pages.

A few things I notice when I look at these: 1. They are simple-yes I am generally a very simple scrapper, but the journaling is short and sweet, and the products are not varied, just journaling spots and letter stickers.
2. They are colorful! Bright bold colors speak to me in the summer, and the impact gives these simple pages a bit more interest.
3. Even though they are simple, I am instantly transported back to these moments in time, and that is what scrapping is all about for me. 

 

So off I went to the WCS Pinterest page and found this great sketch by Celeste

and turned it into this

As you can see, simple layout, short and sweet journaling, and bright bold colors. Happy summer scrapping-in a flash! 

easy summer scrapbooking with a sketch

Two summers ago I did a series of posts on easy summer scrapbooking where I shared ideas on how to scrapbook when you are short on time.  If you'd like to read those posts you can find the first one in the series, here.  So much of what I shared that week is still very pertinent to my life, since I am the mommy of three boys, one of whom is only 3 months old.  I simply don't have as much time to scrapbook as I'd like.  But when you love something as much as I love scrapbooking, you find a way to work around the problems and just get it done! 

Over the course of my three summertime daily posts, I'll share my three favorite ways to get scrapbooking done quickly, starting today with sketches.  I love sketches, and they are my go-to method when coming up with the design part of my layout.  Today I have a new sketch, layout, and a card to share with you.

First-up, the sketch:

Download a digital template of this sketch, here.

Here is the layout I made from the sketch:

Obviously, I made some changes to the photos, and the location of the journaling, but I can honestly say that this layout came together very quickly.  About an hour all together, which is fast for me!

Lastly, I also made a card inspired by this sketch:

I'll be back next month with another idea for scrapbooking when you are short on time.  Until then, if you feel inspired to create something with this sketch, a layout or a card, share it with us in our flickr gallery, or link to it here in the comments.  I'd love to see what you are creating!

scrapbook!

Happy Saturday! I hope your June is off to a great start! I just returned home from a very fast summer getaway which included one day at the beach!! Ah! I love the beach. The roar, the colors, the smell. Sigh... Nothing better...

I have returned home a kinder, gentler soul. Revived, rested, and ready to dive into the 400 new photos that I took! And to help me out, I need look no further than our June gallery! With three new challenges for us to share, we will put together three new pages in no time!

 

Monthly Sketch

Donna is back as our sketch creator and has put together a sketch based upon Deb's layout.

You may download it here.

 

Four photos here I come... Here is my layout. I rearranged the photos a little, and moved the journaling down, but otherwise, stayed pretty true.

I am excited to share three more sketch layouts with you, too, as a few teammates put together layouts as well!

Celeste is the master of layers and this layout is no exception. But the most amazing part of this is the smudges and masking. Digital genius!

 

I love Donna's colors and patterns and how she added a large grid flag behind the pattern paper strips. Did you notice her little airplane flair? So cute!

 

Lisa smartly recreated the sketch into an 11 x 8.5 by switching out the right side photo with a journaling box. She stayed true to the proportions on the photos. I love the white box and even grid lines on the photos. As darling as her accent!!

 

Design Element: Flair

This month, flair seemed to be the embellishment du jour. Nine different layouts were sporting the trend: Christa, Paula, Deb, Diane, Vivian, Keshet, Kathy, Emily, and Katrina. Perhaps we, too, should try?

Here is my flair!

  Won't you try some, too?

 

Color

As I saw the layouts the first time, I fell in love with Teka's color scheme. I loved the faded hues. Such a soothing combination!

Feel free to add in a splash of raspberry!! Teka did it so well!

 

 

So that's it! Our three challenges. Here they are again! Hope you will play along!

Happy Birthday to you!

And Happy Anniversary too! That's right, today we're scrapbooking birthdays and anniversaries.  With these being annual events and all, it can be hard to come up with new ideas for scrapbooking them. I hope the pages we're sharing today can spark some inspiration!

 

Focus on one great picture, like this of the birthday boy and his cake, and then add in a other smaller pictures to support it.

[By Diane Payne]

 

You can never go wrong with a photo strip!

[By Donna Jannuzzi]

 

Record what made the party special.

[By Marnie Flores]

 

Any memorable events around a birthday?

 

[By Monika Wright]

 

Is there a special story behind the cake?

[By Marnie Flores]

 

What were the birthday highlights? You can stick to just the highlights, or record their entire day.

[By Amy Sorensen]

 

Nothing like a baby eating their first cake! It can be hard to narrow it down to one photo though, at least it was for me, so you can always use a photo strip of additional photos if needed.

[By Celeste Smith]

 

Spending a birthday in an unusual or non-traditional way? 

[By Celeste Smith]

 

And from birthdays to anniversaries...

How did you celebrate your anniversary? Travel somewhere new or visit someplace meaningful to the two of you?

 

When your anniversary rolls around, document your feelings at that time. It doesn't have to be specifically about your actual anniversary, but can be your thoughts on your marriage or on your spouse. 

 

Document how many years you've been married and what you've learned during that time. Or where you've traveled. Or where you've lived. Or things you've accomplished. Or things that have changed. Or things that have stayed the same.

[By Emily Spahn]

 

Hope these ideas will help you scrapbook the birthdays and anniversaries you celebrate!

Happy Memorial Day. And Merry Christmas and Happy Halloween, too!

 Today is the start of my oh-so-cleverly-named Theme Week.  I'm getting back to basics with the pages that likely got you in to scrapbooking in the first place. When I first started, I covered all the big events - birthdays, weddings, holidays and the like. As time has gone on, I've transitioned to scrapbooking life's little moments, my kids personalities and now, Project Life. 

But I still want to capture the holidays, birthdays and sporting events that go on throughout the year. It can get repetitive though, scrapbooking the same thing over and over.  So here are some ideas to help you get motivated, get creative and get scrapbooking. 

We're starting the week off by focusing on holidays.   

First up is this Christmas layout by Diane.

[By Diane Payne]

 

Do your children write letters to Santa? 

[By Donna Jannuzzi]

 

Is there something that occurs each year that lets you know the holiday season is upon us? (For me, it's Russell Stover caramel pumpkins. Yum. They're followed by caramel santas and caramel hearts. They're like my own personal holiday calendar at Walgreens. I must do a page about this. Thanks Celeste!)

[By Celeste Smith]

 

Be sure to capture some favorite presents and document them.

[By Celeste Smith]

 

Celeste captured the fun of stockings on this Christmas layout. (I love stockings. I made some for my girls a couple years ago but I'm not a great sewer, and I'm terrible at hems and my older daughter's is half the size of the younger one's. It barely holds anything. I see another layout in my future!)

[By Celeste Smith]

 

Here's a Hanukkah page by Celeste. 

[By Celeste Smith]

 

You can share some Valentine's Day love, like Amy did here.

[By Amy Sorensen]

 

The Fourth of July will be here before we know it! 

[By Monika Wright]

 

Capture your children's Halloween costumes, like Diane did here.

[By Donna Jannuzzi]

 

I know this is only a few of the holidays we can scrapbook throughout the year, there are too many for just one post! I hope these inspire you to get some holiday layouts in your albums.