Our Wedding Album

Sam and I celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary today. I use the word "celebrate" loosely as we aren't doing anything special lol! 

We did wish eachother a happy anniversary, and continued our conversation about our non-existent celebrations with him in the study, me in the kitchen, and Minecraft blaring from the television as the boys continued their gaming banter.

I thought today would be a good day to give you a peek at our wedding album which I finished in December 2012, a few months before our 10th anniversary. Better late than never!

Before I get into the wedding album, a quick note to my lovely bloglovin' followers to let you know my last post did not appear on bloglovin'. So here's the link to my last Project Life page share if you would like to have a look.

Okay. The wedding album...

I used a post bound album as it was before I discovered pocket pages, and I have used only a few patterned papers throughout the album. I bought the oriental themed papers many many years ago because I loved the pattern even though I didn't have a specific project in mind. The white paper was purchased specifically for the wedding album. I love the subtle shimmery pin stripes.

This is the cover/title page of the album. Oh my goodness, we look like a couple of spring chickens in this photo!

This is the first LHS page of the album. I printed directly onto the white pin stripe paper and used the gold oriental paper as a border.

For each double spread, I alternated between the red and gold patterned paper for the strip on the bottom of each page. I matted each of the photos on black card stock.

I also included the card that we sent out to guests about the tea ceremony and the significance within Chinese culture. The symbol on the red envelope and the heart sticker means "double happiness" -- the theme for our wedding. 

And the last page of the album are our wedding vows which have also been printed on the pin stripe card stock.

So there it is. A quick peek into our wedding album. I am also very happy to say that Sam loves it too, makes it all worth the time and effort.

Hope you have a lovely weekend! xx

This week's crafty learnings.

Whenever I scrap, I always learn something new. It could be about my own scrapping "style", or I tweak my memory-keeping approach. Or maybe I find a new way to do something, or I find a new technique to try. 

Today I'm sharing my learnings from this week.

1. Finish one event/month for both boys before starting pages for a new event/month.

Because I am scrapping photos from many years ago, I like to gather the prints from the one event/month and then divide them into a pile for Isaac's album, and one for Jacob's album.

I will then complete the layout for one child before moving on to the other child's album. This way, I feel less overwhelmed and have a sense of completion after each spread.


2. Make your own patterned paper with stamps

This was a fun one. Choose a couple of stamps you like, arrange them on a clear block and away you go. 

Here, I have used the cutlery stamps from Amy Tangerine's Ready Set Go stamp set.

Here, I used the Currently mini stamp set from Give a Girl a... the cutest colon stamp I've ever seen!

3. Better alignment with DIY pull-tabs when using double-sided tape

This may not be news for many of you, but I only discovered it a few days ago. I'm a shocker for sticking things down crooked, but this little trick helped me heaps.

I adhered the double sided tape onto my photo/tag. I then peeled back approx 2cm of the backing, and folded it back to create a pull-tab for when I flipped the photo/tag over.

The pull-tabs acted as a "spring" so the photo didn't stick unless i applied pressure. This allowed me to position the photo/tag until it was to my liking.

Then I held the the photo in place with one hand, pulled one of the tabs to fully remove the adhesive backing to stick it down, and did the same to the rest of the tabs. This really helped minimise crooked photos etc. (those pudgy little hands are Jake's)

I'm so happy to have completed the Christmas pages for the boys. Now I can move onto another month!

Why not try making your own stamped background -- the possibilities are endless! 

Have a great weekend everyone, and thanks for visiting xx

Home

You may have noticed, I am in catch up mode with my layouts. And I am going back 8 years to when we welcomed home our first baby. I think mentally, I need to scrap some of those very early photos so I can really feel like I have made a good start. So bear with me for the next couple of layouts, it's going to be all about baby!

I had always thought I would use lots of baby blue cardstock when doing these layouts. But what I'm discovering is that I love the aquas, mints and kraft colour combinations. It is so fresh, versatile and well suited to baby layouts.  

This first layout titled HOME is a photo of Isaac when we first brought him home from the hospital. Oh, so tiny! I chose the Aspen Place paper from American Crafts' Dear Lizzy collection because it has these cute pictures of houses and sentiments such as "no place like home" or "home sweet home". To frame the photo is the flip side of the Aspen Place paper. The journalling is a grid paper from the Simple Stories SN@P Life paper pad and held in place by some washi tape.

Supplies: Paper - American Crafts, Cardstock and Vellum - Stampin' Up! Stamps - Amy Tangerine,

Stickers -  Jillibean Soup.

For the title, I glued the patterned paper onto chipboard and die cut the letters with the Simple Letters alphabet dies (retired) from Stampin' Up! Using the same paper in the title gives repetition and visually ties the page together.

Here's a close up of the patterned paper. So pretty! I also used some stamps from Amy Tangerine and VersaFine ink in Onyx Black. 

I used a circle punch to punch out a sentiment from the Aspen Place paper and I also punched another 3 circles from kraft coloured card stock. I glued all the cardstock circles in a stack, and then glued the sentiment on top. This gives the punched sentiment dimension.  I also lightly sponged the edges of my circle stack with Soft Suede ink (Stampin' Up!) to further add the illusion of dimension. I have also used some washi tape and a sticker from Jillibean Soup.

Thanks again for visiting! I have a few more baby layouts of Isaac to share before I start his toddler years. I love this trip down memory lane - very special!

Memory Keeping

The past couple of weeks have proven to be a time of reflection and refocus for me. I began my crafting journey a few years ago with the intention to create scrapbook albums for my two boys. What has ended up happening is I have become somewhat of a cardmaker - which i have discovered i thoroughly enjoy. But I have become side-tracked and lost sight of my original intention - creating memory books for my babies (who really aren't babies anymore). 

I realised what is important to me is being able to put together a collection of photos and journalling for my boys. Something they can look back on when they are grown up and remember those little moments of ordinary life that will one day become the extraordinary. Things like being taught how to swim by their dad, or wrestling with eachother whilst watching cartoons, or riding their bikes up and down our street.

I have big plans. And big plans = big time investments. But that's okay, I have already made a start, and sometimes starting is the biggest hurdle! 

In my pursuit to find the perfect way for memory keeping, I have spent hours (and I mean HOURS!) surfing the net for THE ANSWER. I have found lots of inspiration. But with more information comes more options, which means decisions must be made! Digital, traditional or Project Life style? 

I am still undecided. For now, I am going traditional.  Here's some of my recent layouts. Let me know your thoughts on memory keeping, would love to hear from you! 

Supplies: Cardstock, Paper, Stamps, Ribbon from Stampin' Up.
Thickers (title) and Date stamp from Amy Tangerine.

These two ultrasound layouts are meant to go side by side - I am really glad I had the originals scanned in. I resized them all in photoshop so they could all be printed at the same size.

I used the Amy Tangerine Thickers (Goodness) for the titles - makes it so quick and easy! I just can't seem to get enough of Thickers at the moment - absolutely love them!

In this next layout, I was experimenting with the layering. I'm quite happy with how it turned out. My biggest challenge was trying to fit the ankle bracelet into the layout without it looking out of place. In the end, I made a small envelope out of patterned paper and it worked into the layout well. 

The next layout uses multiple photos from the one "photoshoot". By using a semi-grid format, I was able to display all your my favourite shots on the one layout and highlight one image by enlarging and placing in the centre.

Thanks for visiting! I have more layouts to share in the next couple of days. Be sure to subscribe (via Follow by Email) to receive new posts straight into your inbox to keep updated :-)

Layout makeover with Patio Party!

PATIO PARTY! This has to be my favourite designer series paper from the new Stampin' Up! catalogue (p165) so far.  In fact, I love it so much, I am ready to order some more!  Aside from the designs being fun and fresh featuring the new in-colours, the designs are so versatile you can use it for a wide variety of project themes!

Initially I was thinking birthday cards and other celebratory themes.  But then i realised it would have been perfect for my BOAT TRIP layout that i did a few months ago!  I confessed to a good friend of mine that I wanted to redo my layout. I was met with an exasperated text message of "Oh, dear Lord!" Besides making me laugh, i knew deep down she knew why I HAD TO DO THIS!

And here it is!  I didn't need to use much of the Patio Party papers for this layout, so it just goes to show these packs really go a long way. I used the Fun Flowers Bigz L die (p193) to make the flower and popped an Antique Brad in to finish it off. I have not veered away from the original layout. All i have done is use a different colour scheme and introduced Patio Party paper to give the layout a makeover. You can view the original Boat Trip layout here.  

I created my own date tag by cutting a small piece of the Crumb Cake card stock and sponging the edges with Soft Suede ink.  I also added the rounded corners with the 5mm Corner Punch (p183). The stamp set i used is So Many Sayings (retired) and again, i used the Soft Suede ink. It's such a simple little tag and so easy to make.  It's amazing how sponging the edges with a darker ink creates such a lovely effect.

  

I used the same technique for the journalling tag. Again, the stamp set i used is the retired So Many Sayings. 

I was surprised how easily i could create a simple embellishment by putting the Patio Party paper through the Big Shot with the Fun Flowers' Bigz L die and then adding in a brad through the centre.

If you haven't explored the beautiful range of designer series papers, my guess is that once you try them, you will wonder how you ever survived without them.  They give projects an instant injection of colour and design detail.

Stampin' Up!® supplies: Stamp Set: So Many Sayings (retired). Classic Stampin' Pad (Soft Suede). Card Stock (Crumb Cake, Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit). Papers: (Patio Party Designer Series Paper). Accessories (Antique Brads)

Boat trip

I realised I was just taking too long to make a page. According to my calculations, if i take 2 weeks to make one page, I would only complete ONE album a year!  This was not good, considering i have mentally planned 6 albums already.

The BOAT TRIP layout is very simple, with not too many elements as I didn't want to OVERTHINK it, and I wanted to make it quickly.  My focus was the photos and the journalling.  After all, the reason I started scrapbooking was because I wanted my children to look at these albums one day and know their story.  

We took these photos on a boat trip whilst i was pregnant (after the morning sickness phase!) with one of those automatic cameras that took film. As it turned out, i didn't finish the film on the day. When Isaac was about 12 months, I came across the camera and took random snaps around the house to finish off the film. I put the film in the car with every intention to have it processed and never got around to it for 6 years! The film must have been damaged by the heat in the car so the colours are very faded.  Strangely enough, I really love the colours in the photos, and wouldn't mind learning how to recreate this effect.

The photos have been cropped down to squares and matted on Whisper White card stock. The textured background was created with the Stampin' Around Wheel stamp (texture design) The Bashful Blue and EarIy Expresso card stock used for the page's bottom trim has been distressed and the edges accentuated using a sponge dauber and Bashful Blue ink.

  

The title was created with Stampin' Up alphabet dies used through the Big Shot.

This simple little embellishment was created with a nautical theme in mind.

Ideally, I would like to make at least one layout per week.  But with so many side projects on the go, I am hoping I become a little bit more speedy in my crafting!  :)

Stampin' Up!® supplies: Stamp Set (Texture Stampin' Around Jumbo Wheel). Classic Stampin' Pad (Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Bashful Blue). Card Stock (Crumb Cake, Early Expresso, Whisper White, Bashful Blue). Accessories (Antique Brads)

Waiting to meet you

I had so much fun creating this page!  With two little boys, i am sure I will be creating many layouts with blues, greens, yellows and neutral colours. I took this opportunity to make this page very girly with plenty of pinks, pretty patterns, flowers, pearls and swirls.

I used the Labels Collection Framelits dies to add to the girliness of the title.  The framelits dies comes in a set of 6 layering dies which means your creative possibilities are endless!
  

I used Stampin' Up's Very Vintage jumbo wheel stamp. Until now, I had been inking up with an ink pad, which meant I was limited to stamping only the circumference of the wheel before the ink started to fade. I recently purchased the ink cartridges which allowed me to create the border for my 12x12 page without re-inking!  

I used the VersaMark ink in the cartridge which gave a subtle watermark effect for the border. The Melon Mambo ink on the Melon Mambo cardstock gave a similiarly subtle and pretty effect.

Supplies: From Stampin' Up! - Stamp Set (Very Vintage Stampin' Around Jumbo Wheel, Reason to Smile). Classic Stampin' Pad (Melon Mambo, Crumb Cake). VersaMark. Card Stock (Melon Mambo, Crumb Cake, Early Expresso, Very Vanilla). Labels Collection Framelits. Accessories (Basic Jewels Pearl).

My baby & me

I can hardly believe that my eldest son Isaac will be 8 years old in just 8 days!  Since he was born, i knew i wanted to put together scrapbook albums for him.  

I have to admit, i am a little bit of a perfectionist, which is why it has taken me this long to start.  I could never decide on a theme, the papers, the layout and the like.

So here is the layout i have done for Isaac's album.  It is only the beginning as I have an entire 8 years to catch up on.  Not to mention starting albums for my youngest, Jake who will be 5 this year!  Heaps to do, but I can't wait to get creating.

Supplies: All supplies from Stampin' Up! Stamp Set (Medallion background stamp). Classic Stampin' Pad (Baja Breeze). Paper and Card Stock (Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Basic Black, Twitterpated DSP). Punches (Modern Label). Medium Sizzlits Dies.