Grandparents

Here is the second page, featuring the doting grandparents, Abba & Immi. One of the things that's been so amazing to me since becoming a grandparent is how fascinated I've been with these babies. I can hardly take my eyes off them, and could watch them for hours!

This page was very simple. I used a Basic Grey paper for the background, and edged it with brown ink. The saying came on a piece of transparency; I used my Xyron to add the adhesive and backed it with textured white cardstock. The strip towards the bottom was left over from cutting another sheet; I colored and edged it with some inks. Simple!

Happy crafting!
Immi

New Scrapbook

I've started a new scrapbook about N's first year. I'll be posting pages from this for a while. This is the first time I've done anything with an 8x8 format. A while back, I chose the scrapbook as well as some possible papers and embellishments.

Last week I spent some time choosing pictures and sent them off to Shutterfly. When the pictures came in the mail, I decided which ones to use and slid them in the page protectors.

Here's the first page, using a photo taken when she was only a few days old. I love the way the light coming through the window illuminates her precious little face! I layered some textured white cardstock with a watercolor-look paper (edged with blue ink). The rub-on at the bottom of the page is one I've had for a while. The flowers came in a package; they're made from an iridescent fabric. The flower center was punched from a scrap of pink paper.

I think this project will come together pretty quickly, now that I've got all my stuff together. Enjoy!

Immi

Creativity with Words

I recently learned about a site called Wordle. You enter words, and they'll be arranged into a fun piece of wordart. I had some fun with it, and decided to make use of it in a scrapbook I'm doing for a friend. She asked me if I'd scrapbook her wedding pictures, so that's one of my current projects. It's kind of scary to do a project like that for someone else! Here's what I came up with.

Happy creating!

Immi

Birthday Boy

I promised in the post with last year's birthday pictures that I wouldn't wait a whole year before scrapbooking birthday #2. Here are some photos from A's birthday party last weekend. Although A is not quite two, his parents thought that since family from far distances would be in town for graduation, it made sense to have all the fun in one big party. He's still young enough that he doesn't quite "get" the whole party idea, but he didn't seem as startled as he did last year when everyone suddenly started singing to him! Since the cake wasn't quite cool enough, we started off with birthday cookies (plenty big enough for 2 candles!).

It was a lot of fun to watch his reactions to his presents. Some things merited only a quick glance; others received very close attention. It's hard to appreciate so much new stuff all at once; he would have liked to sit and play for a while before moving on to the next thing. The foam blocks needed to be tasted (much to mom & dad's disapproval); the plastic dome-shaped lid to a bucket of sand toys made a great hat. He seemed very intrigued with some He-man figures (chip off the old block), and looked them over very carefully. I also thought he did a pretty good job of sharing with his cousin. What a great kid!

Have a great week, and do something creative.
Immi

Confessions of a Lazy Scrapbooker

I have a confession to make: I'm a lazy scrapbooker. Yes, I know it's shocking beyond belief, but it's true! I admit to you all, that I don't put a lot of time into the majority of my layouts. I look at the wonderful magazines and imagine myself doing work worthy of gracing the cover. The colors are carefully chosen, and each piece of the layout is placed just so. They're so appealing! Then I sit down with my pictures, and I can't summon the energy to make mine that cool. Sometimes I think I'll "scraplift" a layout, but it never quite turns out that way.

Anyway, here's a layout (long overdue) of the A-man last summer, "drinking" coffee from Abba's cup. Don't worry, mom, he didn't get even a taste! It sure looks like he's into it, doesn't it!

My printer won't handle 12x12 paper, so I used a trick I learned in one of those beautiful glossy magazines. I created a text box in Word, and sized it so that it would line pretty much half way on a 12" piece of paper (keeping in mind that Word assumed I was using 11"). I cut off a strip from the big piece of paper and adhered it with a temporary adhesive to an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper. I ran it through the printer, and removed my cardstock strip from the paper. I taped the cut strip to the rest of the page on the back. To help cover up the seam, I used a black piece of rick rack. Guess it pays off to read those magazines after all!

Pull out some pictures, and do a simple layout; as long as you like it, that's what counts!
Immi

Paper Scrap Storage, Part 2

Here is the system I use for my smaller paper scraps. These drawer units were bought at Target, but I haven't seen this size since then. These are a little deeper than the small units available there now. I like these because they're deep enough to hold a half sheet from 8.5 x 11 paper. The labels aren't very clear in the picture; Brown; Reds; Blue/Green; Black; Yellow; White. I don't know why, but I feel no need to keep these in alphabetical order (very unlike me!).


When I need a small scrap for a card, or want a piece to punch a shape, I look in these drawers first. I used to throw them in willy-nilly, but found it a hassle to search through the drawer; I also overlooked a lot of smaller pieces. I started storing the smallest pieces in snack size or smaller (look in the craft store with the beads) zip lock bags within the drawer. This works well for me; it corrals all those small pieces in one place and makes them easy to find. Sometimes I get out a punch and use it on some of the smaller scraps so I have a supply of flowers, birds, circles, etc. This is a great way to use up some very small pieces I would otherwise be tempted to toss.



Happy experimenting!


Immi