Scrap Maps or Page Maps

Ok, ladies after a successful scrapbooking blitz for National Scrapbooking Month, I hope everyone is feeling a little less overwhelmed by their pile of pictures. I personally found having a multitude of pages available very refreshing and believe I am going to start building pages in multiple sets from now on, just to alleviate any backlog I may create in the future. (Now that DH has a new camera (read: toy), I can see the future backlog already coming my way.)

As promised I have loaded all 6 sets of pages above so you can check them out to finish any last details. I am really excited about everyone becoming comfortable with the concept of Scrap Maps or Page Maps b/c the new Fall/Winter SU catalog is going to offer sets of papers that are a great mix of patterns but all one color (Certainly Celery for example) so you could VERY easily build an entire scrapbook without worrying if your colors "work". Also don't forget to use the Scraptitude Color Combo link when you get stuck on a color scheme. The creator (who's name has completely escaped me at the moment) is a genius! How thoughtful of them to share with all of us.

The Page Maps I used to start this blitz had big circles but I chose to use the Doodle This stamp set b/c I love it!! I could have just as easily used a large punch or placed my favorite SU image there instead. Pick your favorites and feel free to use every maps as a guide to spark your creative juices!

I deserve Mother's Day

Today was a zoo adventure with the kids and even though I am still pink and painful from my gardening/sunscreen fiasco on Monday, we had a good time. Everyone is sacked out now in exhaustion. Yeah Zoo! I have also discovered there is a RHINO ENCOUNTER at our zoo where you can actually touch them. DS will be elated. He's wanted to ride one since he first saw them four years ago. I definitely deserve Mother's Day for this one!!! DD enjoyed the beavers this time. They were easy for her to see in the kids cover and it was so cute when she said "I dunno" with disbelief when I asked her where the beaver went when it dove under the water. Our year membership is worth it's weight in gold baby!

I have also been compiling for the scrapbooking blitz this month and I am getting really excited. The colors are beautiful and I haven't found a layout I don't love yet. So there is the slight possibility I might actually catch up on all my scrapbooking this month. Granted the chance is slight but I choose to dare to dream! DH bought a new camera this week, so I expect a new influx of photos asap. Realistically my chance to catch up is probably now or never.

I have decided to commit to pre-making 12 scrapbooking pages at least every other month in prep for all the photos we constantly take of the kids. Surely being able to pop them in a page at anytime will help me get organized finally. Right?

Bottoms Up!!

After an evening of “who’s got the Benadryl?” you would think I wouldn’t be surprised to wake up this morning to find a bare pink bottom staring me in the face. (You’d think, but then you’d be wrong.) I wouldn’t even venture a guess as to what kind of diaper malfunction occurred in the wee (no pun intended) hours of the morning, but I am pretty tired of wrestling my washer this week while it spin cycles our sheets and mattress cover. But oh thank heavens for the mattress cover!

The last three weeks we have been limping along as a family trying to stay well, but just as soon as one of us perks up another takes a nose dive. If this is the outlook for Spring, I am ready for Summer! Yesterday was one LONG day of multiple doctor visits for me and the kids (and poor generous Bx2) but I have hope that the future will include full nights of sleep any day now. DH and I have been limping along with roughly 4 hours of sleep a night for well over three weeks now and I can see the impact. I am cranky. He is cranky. We just want to fall into bed and crash but every time we try, at least one child wakes up wailing. What we wouldn’t give for everyone to get a good night’s sleep.

So while we have been limping along at home, I have tried to stay organized even though my efforts seem to be driven thru a hazy fog. It is fortunate I am not asked to operate heavy machinery too often. The car alone is plenty enough for me to maneuver these days while loading the diaper bag seems almost a bit too complex some days! Right now I am obsessed with conquering the multiple calendars I keep updated around the house. Not that I expect this to truly solve anything, but in my haze it seems like a good place to start.

I will say the High Impact class appeared to go over well this past weekend. Everyone seemed to learn something new and enjoyed making new projects. It even served to reignite my excitement about May being National Scrapbooking Month. Convenient that the first Scrapbooking Blitz is planned for this month. This blitz is very exciting to me personally, as I am in just as much need of a catch-up day as anyone else. The beautiful papers have me particularly excited. So much that I’ve almost had a hard time planning the layouts for fear of missing an opportunity to use them all equally. The double sided nature can help and/or hurt with this dilemma depending on my mood (which changes more often than the wind these days).

Well I’m off to wrestle the dryer now and get more coffee. Thank goodness for coffee. It is the only thing that gets me out of bed some days!!

Class Schedule Posting

Sorry for the delay, but here it is ladies:

High Impact Inspirations Class (noon) 4.21.07

Scrapbooking Blitz for Beginners (2pm) 5.19.07
RSVP by May 2. Cost is $20.

Watercolor Techniques 6.16.07

New Catalog Ideas 7.21.07

Scrapbooking Blitz 8.07

Christmas Card Club 9.07

Trick-or-Treat 10.07

Call or email me for details on any cost to the classes your are interested in.

Additional classes will be offered when requested so let me know what techniques interest you most!

Remember to bring a friend and RSVP!

Classes are expected to be the 3rd Saturday of each month for ease of planning ahead, so mark your calendars.

Inspirations All Around Me!

Ladies,
I apologize for being a bit slow to get out my schedule of classes to everyone. I hope to get that out by the end of next week. It has been such a fascinating week already. I can't say that I'm ever going to miss working outside the home again.

Last night I went to a fabulous inspiration night at Angela's house and now I am just bursting with even more ideas. Angela outdid herself with so many great techniques and the Lemon Butter Gooey Cake was fabulous!!!!

Monday the kids played in the sprinklers until they were icky muddy messes and today they have run around with pillowcases and blankets pinned around their necks for superhero capes. I have to say they have put on a real spectacle for me to watch this week. What a blessing that they are at the age to enjoy each other so much!

Anyway, for the first time the clock does not seem to chase me down each and every hour, and I am feeling so much more at ease with my To Do List this week. I have had so many ideas I am not sure there are enough weekends to hold them all, so I may be polling to see if some people might enjoy an evening class every once in a while. I am specifically planning a Scrapbooking for Beginners class, a Watercoloring techniques class, a Stamp-a-stack card class, and my Christmas Card Club idea is still being ironed out. So many crafts, so little time.

Please let me know if you are interested in something specific and I will be happy to tailor something for your needs. Everyone have a great weekend and keep me posted!

High Impact

Now when I say High Impact, I mean "small cost, big return". If crafting isn't fun, why do it? If you aren't proud of what you make, why bother? If you are finding yourself getting stuck in a rut or always unsure where to start, try using only two colors (preferrably two you love.) If you love pink, buy it in droves.

Pick a neutral that works for you. It could be white, black, green, or chocolate brown. When you surround yourself with the colors you love, you will feel inspired. This goes just as much for the colors on your walls and furniture as it does for your scrapbooks and cards. If you hate green, don't use it. Substitue something else that does appeal to you.

Stampin' Up! has a color wheel you can purchase, but if you are just starting out I suggest using the colors you love. Once you get into your own creating groove, you can work on adding new colors and combinations to jazz things up and keep it fresh. But until then, if you work with pink on pink on pink, keep it up! All that matters is that when the day is done, you are happy with your creations.

Scrapbooking for the Hesitant

I have already converted two self-proclaimed non-crafty people into scrapbooking moms, so I believe any woman (but especially moms) can find something to enjoy out of scrapbooking, if you give it a try. Actually it would be more correct to say my DS and I have each converted someone. When my DS was a toddler he carried a scrapbook over to my friend Cortney and said, “read book of me!” She was so amazed at how much fun and excitement he had showing off the album full of pictures of himself that she wanted to create the same kind of experience for her own child. Honestly I think all sizes of scrapbooks should be called brag books because what mother doesn’t enjoy bragging about her children? So I challenge you to disregard any feelings of craftiness inadequacy and find some way to proudly display your photos!
Post-Pregnancy I realized some manner of scrapbooking was the only way I would ever succeed in getting any of our family photos out of the computer and into any sort of viewable album. (Later I also realized how much I enjoyed sitting down with my DS and our albums and letting him tell our family story.) My favorite part of the scrapbooking format is called journaling. This is where you write a blurb about the significance of the pictures on that page. Journaling allows me to add little snippets about the kids that go along with the photos so I won’t forget all those great details (especially since I already have a horrible memory).
While I fully admit I enjoy scrapbooking, I have to qualify that I go for the simple approach. I like to use the large 12x12 scrapbooks so I can cram as many photos as possible into one page without regard to exact sizing. Or for example, if I have a picture of my baby’s blue eyes, I like them to be HUGE so that I might never forget their exact hue. Plastic sheet covers are also a must for all my scrapbooks. This way toddlers can look through the pages and not ruin the photos with smudgy fingerprints. After these two Must Haves, everything else is all based on personal preference.
For my first scrapbook I bought solid brightly colored paper and a 12x12 scrapbook. Everything else I used was from craft supplies I already had in my home. You can get lost in the embellishment section of hobby stores, but overall I like to keep my books pretty simple. For one, I like to use things over and over to get my money’s worth, so I’m not a huge fan of stickers. Kids, however, love stickers so usually my oldest sets up next to me with his own art supplies and puts stickers on every piece of paper he can find, while we have some “craft time”. (Hint: Be on the lookout for cheap stickers in the Dollar aisle at Target and other merchants like A.C. Moore. With little kids I believe it is quantity over quality when it comes to things like stickers.)
Since my first album I discovered the bevy of fabulous patterned paper, but I prefer the large sets of coordinating papers. (Stampin’ Up! has a beautiful selection if you are looking for some fool-proof supplies.) The papers are great for other crafts like card making as well. As a time-saver, the colors are already coordinated so I don’t have to waste time pondering what kind of paper to buy for a particular occasion. If I hadn’t found these great pre-coordinated sets, I would probably just stick to solid black or dark charcoal. I have yet to see a photo that doesn’t pop off the page on these two colors.
The other reason I’m not a huge fan of many embellishments is that they make the scrapbook LUMPY. Being the tightwad that I am, I don’t like wasting space or limiting how many pages I can pack into one album by having fat pages. The one type of embellishment I have learned to love are my Stampin' Up! stamp sets. I can use them over and over in a multitude of ways without making my pages too lumpy or chunky. Many styles of albums sell additional pages, but there is a limit to how many can be reasonably crammed into the binding without splitting the seams of the cover. I learned this after my DS’s first album developed a split down the seam. His constant use is emphasized by that rip and now I love it all the more. You see, I’m sort of a “warts and all” type of girl at heart.