Playing in the Park

Happy Birthday!!

This layout was a creation of 2 CM ideas. I got the border idea from the sticker package that I bought at a crop, and then the star idea came from a generic layout in a CM idea book. 

The left page started with the border that I made at a CM crop. Then I made it a 2-page layout by adding the border on the right.

Another CM casing.

My niece had a "painting" party for her 2nd birthday. I found these stickers at Hobb.y Lob.by, and thought they were perfect for this layout.

Q&A

The more pages you complete, the further behind I feel. How did you get started?

Getting started is the hardest part. Typically I start out going through my pictures that are on the computer. Fortunately, I already had most of the 2008 pictures that I needed to finish that album printed. If you don't have the pictures printed, take a day or two and go through them. Think about possible themes as you go through them and write the themes out on a list. I have my pictures in folders by themes/events on our computer to make it easier come scrapbooking time. I'm OCD!! :) It takes time to organize them when I put them on the computer, but I've learned that it makes it faster when it's time to print the pictures.

I've also found that if I take the pictures off the camera more frequently it makes the sorting process quicker. Many times, (like after this July 4th weekend, for instance) I took the picures off the camera Sunday night and put them directly into a July 4th folder. Now my card was clean and ready for Monday when we went to a bounce house with the girls. I will take those off the camera tonight and put them in a "Bounce House" folder. My mom waits until she has 300+ pictures on her card before taking them off, and I find even that overwhelming. But, to each their own.

My process for choosing what pics to scrapbook is fairly simple. Every picture goes through a weeding out process, and there's more than one weeding out so that I end up scrapbooking only a few of the pictures. (To me it's overwhelming and very expensive to print everything and then pick and choose pictures to scrapbook.) The first weeding out happens when I choose the pictures I want to upload to Wal.greens. I don't upload every picture. The second weeding out comes once the pictures are uploaded. I look at the pictures I've uploaded and then only some of those are actually printed. And then the last weeding out comes when I'm actually scrapbooking. Sometimes I have grand ideas, but once I actually get to scrapping, I either can't fit them all on the page so some get put aside in the "photo box", or I completely choose not to include the theme in the album altogether.




Did you pick out your pictures first and then search for a theme?

Most of the time I have a theme already in mind when I print my pictures (mainly b/c I've already put them in folders in our pictures folder on our computer). But there are times when I don't have a theme in mind. In those cases, like when some pictures are just too cute to exclude, I have them printed and figure out a theme later.


With your girls albums, are you going in order or are you skipping around?

Yes, I'm going chronologically. I've always done it that way with every album I've done...it just makes more sense.

With our baby album there are definite pages that will go in the album...the nursery, baby shower, meeting for the first time, first smile, first solids, rolling over, sitting up, pulling up, walking, baby faces, bath time, first friends, teeth, colic (for Chipmunk's album), dedication, a picture from each month on a 2-page spread showing how much they have grown, etc... There are other firsts that will be grouped together on an "Other Firsts" page...finding her feet, drinking from a sippy cup, standing alone, first jelly sandwich, blowing kisses, etc... Obviously, that page won't be chronological, but the rest of the album will be.

In the end, it's your album, so you have to do what is easiest and makes the most sense for you.

These were great questions!! Thanks for asking!! Feel free to ask any qusetion you have, and I'll answer as best I can. :)

To Have and to Hold

I LOVE this layout!!! I think it's one of my favs!!!

Engagement pics

After the Yes...Before the I Do

I cased this from a magazine, not sure which one, though. In each flap is a journaling of what we did that month to plan the wedding.

Bridal Portraits

This one is simple, but the part I like most is that I used the ribbon that was around my bouquet the day I had my pictures taken. It's even a little dirty, but it gives it character. :)

Wedding Day

I used flowers from my bouquet to surround the picture.

Scrapping a Move

When we were moving to Baton Rouge I wanted to document the whole process, so I created a "calendar". Each square has a date (though not in numerical order). As something happened with the move (i.e...house showing, house hunting trip, offer made, offer accepted, packing day, etc...), I added a square, so some dates from a traditional calendar are missing.

This layout came from a CM idea book.

America's Favorite Pasttime

July 4th

Happy Independence Day!!! In honor of this great day, I decided to post a patriotic themed page.

This was in a CM idea book as a generic layout (basically showing you how to make the layout but then you personalize it with your own theme), so I tweeked it with a patriotic theme.

Summer Fun

My parents got a new pool back in 2007 (I think), and it was finally warm enough to get in on Memorial Day.

The dog and bone were made at a CM crop with the heart punch. You use 3 hearts in brown and one in white. For the ears, cut one brown heart in half. The place the white heart on a brown facing the correct way, and then place one upside down brown on top of the white. Then draw the eyes, mouth and nose. The bone is made with the mini heart maker by punching 2 small hearts and attaching them on the end of a strip of paper.

Disney

This is our album cover page from our January, 2009 trip to Disney World.

Cars--not an original idea, but an adaptation of one I got from CM.

Monsters, Inc

Finding Nemo

Illuminations at EPCOT...this is a total copy from CM. I loved the layout too much to change it.

Little Musicians

This one is so simple, but it's so cute (though I think I'm a little biased). I cut rectangles and then used a ruler to draw off the keys of the piano. Simple, but fun!

She's On a Roll

This is my niece the day she started rolling from her back to her tummy. I loved the idea so much that I have taken pictures of both of my girls as they were rolling over so I could duplicate it in their baby albums. I will probably do a "before" and "after" picture above and below the pictures of them rolling, but you get the idea.

The funny thing is, I actually got two of the pictures in the wrong order, but oh well! lol