Birthday layout

I have been reading a lot about photo books. I love the idea of them. They take up so much less space than albums. They cost less, after you take printing ($2.99 per 12x12 page), the album itself, and page protectors. And I did buy one based on the layouts I made about DS#2. I really like it. He likes it. He pulls it out and looks at the pages pretty often- way more often than actual scrapbooks. The only think I don't like is where do you put your ephemera? The artwork he creates? The notes from the teacher? The brochure from the glacier we visited this summer? No where. In the album. That's where.

Anyway, I love the idea of the books, and the look of the books... and frankly, my Mom saw the one I had made and demanded...okay, requested...one for herself- for each kid. So I bought book credits and uploaded most of DS#1's layouts to the site...then I am pretty sure I let the credits expire, dang it. Anyway, while I was looking at my layouts on my hard drive, I realized that I couldn't print a book of DS#1 for 2010 without his BIRTHDAY layout, right?! What kind of Mom forgets to do a birthday layout? One that doesn't scrap in order, that's who. lol So here it is:

{Supplies: template: Simply Yin; The rest of the supplies by Cilenia Curtis at Digital Designer Shop: paper: school kit; photo mask: Watercolor kit; Mesh: BOMH kit; font: Amperzand}

NOW I'm ready to print the photobook!

Inspired

Isn't it fun to scrapbook when you have a story to tell?

This first one is a reminder of the moment when I realized that my heart is here in Alaska, and I don't want to leave.

{Supplies: Papers: Color Play- Bone paper kit, Brushes: Basic Set 1; both by Cilenia Curtis of Digital Designer Shop. Fonts: Modern No. 20 and Zapfino}

This layout, as you'll see by the title, you need to know the story to understand. That's why I named it "Hello, Bear, my name is..."
When my Mom was here visiting this summer, she picked up a flyer about living with bears. This flyer actually said that if you come across a bear, introduce yourself. I'm sure it means to let the bear know you're human so it [should] be afraid of you. But we joked about introducing yourself for the rest of her trip. I love that memory. :) I hope she smiles when she gets this layout in the mail. :)

{ Supplies: beige paper: Color Play- Bone paper kit; brown papers: Basics Set 1; flower elements from the elements kit also called Basics Set 1; chipboard alphas: Chipboard Alphas- Painted; journaling papers: School Kit Add-on Ledger Papers All by Cilenia Curtis at Digital Designer Shop; fonts: Bookman Old Style, CK Ali's Hand}

I'll add the supplies in the morning. I'm wiped out tonight. Night all! *Edited: Done!*

Mt. McKinley

We don't get to see Mt. McKinley from the Anchorage area too often, so this was an exciting day! (Maybe I should have journaled that?)

Anyway, like I said before, I'm taking the Tiffany Tillman's brushes class at Renee Pearson's site. I made this layout after watching the week 2 videos. The swirly dotted brushes are the same ones I made last week and used in the July layout (have I posted that yet? I can't remember...). I also used a grungy brush (from Photoshop) to distress the edges of my rectangle photo block. Then I typed my title and subtitle, and merged all of that together. Then I added my photo on the layer above, and clipped it to my photo mask. That's it!

The hardest part was that I wanted the parts of the swirls that overlapped the block to NOT show up, but I'm not going to tell you how I did that, because there has GOT to be an easier way! lol

{Supplies: paper: Cardstock Basics 2 by Cilenia Curtis at Digital Designer Shop; fonts: Alfredo Heavy Hollow Wide and Bookman Old Style; dotted swirly brushes- ME!!}

What do you think?

New Layout

The kit I used on this layout:

is now in the store! Here is the preview. I love the bright colors & can't wait to use them again!

July 10-10-10

This year I started a Project Life album, using printed photos and the Becky Higgins kit. It lasted until nearly the end of April. It's a great kit- but being an exclusively digi scrapper, I couldn't get it to work for me long term.

My digiSisters came up with a challenge to do 10-10-10 layouts. Ten photos on the Tenth of the month, each month in 2010. Well, it's hard for me to remember to do it on the 10th, so I made it even less stressful and am choosing 10 photos from the entire month that tell our story, and doing a 2 page layout. My Project Life album will truly show our lives- 4 months with time to spare for running to the Walmart Photo Lab and hand journaling every day, and then the next 8 months of 2 page spreads- one for each month!

So I got off to a late start and just did my first 2 page layout- for July. :) Here it is:

{Supplies: Tuscan 1 - Color Studio Art Papers and Tuscan 2 - Color Studio Art Papers by Cilenia Curtis at Digital Designer Shop, font: Helvetica. I can't remember the font for the title, but I'll find out; dotty swirly brushes- ME!!}

Did you read the supplies?

The dotty swirly brushes that I used I made last night while watching videos for a class I'm in called Brushshop 1 over at Renee Pearson. Her place is great for classes. I played around with some paint splotches first for this layout, but Cilenia's papers are so rich and textured already, I just found it took away from the page. So I pulled out the brushes I did for the class. Kinda cool, huh? I love my Wacom tablet and these were fun to make. I might have to make more. Do I feel a freebie coming on?!

Now I may have to go back and do May and June so I don't feel behind. I AM on a roll this week!

4th Grade recap, and a letter to my sons.

My friend went back to work a couple of days ago so I'm watching her kids- that makes four kids in my house WHILE my DH is sleeping. Fun. So we went to their house one afternoon just so they can run, play, and be loud for a little bit.

Since I didn't have internet, but I did bring my laptop, I was VERY productive. I finished a 2 page spread that I had been struggling with about DS#1's fourth grade year- a recap, if you will, AND started and finished a quickpage layout with a letter to my sons. Then I started a layout about details of our home (for a challenge at DDS)- but I need to add a few details. All that in 2 hours!
Here are the finished layouts...

{Supplies: template: Layered Quick Page Template QPT-25 & Series 502 Papers; School Days 1 Bundled Kit; School Days 2 Bundled Kit, font: Prestige Elite Std}

This is a layered quickpage template. I used the template as is, but you can move, change, hide or recolor ANY layer, reuse the bits on other layouts, or add other things to this layout. And it's super easy!

{Supplies: Layered Quick Page Template QPT-27 Simply You, photo taken with an iPhone}

This layout I'd done the night before. It's a preview of a kit that will be coming out this Friday, I think. What do you think?

{Supplies: some photos taken with an iPhone, Pioneer Woman B&W action; papers from the upcoming kit Basics Set #2, painted photo mask from the Watercolor Quickpage kit; the painted element under the photo block: Vintage Grunge Edges kit; fonts: Mom's Typewriter ("Drew", journaling), Pea Lacy Chunky (-isms), Big Caslon (for the numbers)}

It's simple...

It's simple, but it tells the story.

{Supplies: Layered Quickpage Template #QPT-25 by Cilenia Curtis at www.DigitalDesignerShop.com, fonts: Bookman Old Style, Mistral}

I had posted a challenge at DDS to take pictures of your home right now and scrapbook them. It's good timing for me since we will be leaving Alaska in March, and we're getting ready to get our house on the market. I am taking pictures of the details of home, including the octagon window we have in the entry. This layout is not exactly what I had in mind, but the photos were ready and I wanted a quick page. I used a new kit from Cilenia to make it.

These products are from last week at DDS (my laptop was broken, remember?) (BTW THANK YOU TO MY HERO DH for fixing my stinkin' Mac. Again!!) But Cilenia has come up with two things I love for this week:

Look at these awesome frames and word strips as an add-on for the school kit.

{LINK}

And I can't wait to play with this! This is a layered quickpage (like the one I used above). Do you know what that means? You not only get a quickpage (just clip your photo in there and add journaling), but you get all of the pieces you see to take out and use as you like on other projects! Isn't that cool?! Or you can clip your own paper in there as a background! Or you can remove one element and add something else. Or whatever you want! It's not as "take it as you get it" as a normal quickpage, or it can be! Whatever! I love that about Cilenia's "quickpage templates". LOVE IT!

{LINK}

What do you think about layered quickpages?