Friday, May 14, 2010

Scrap Every Day in May - Week 2

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In the first week of May I got the bare bones of one, just one, scrapbook layout done.  A far cry from one layout a day which was the goal, but an improvement on my pathetic scrapbooking record to be certain.  I've actually spent a great deal of time getting organized, before even attempting to work on my pages.  I got all of the photos I needed for my travel scrapbook printed in the appropriate sizes, and organized everything by page.

My lifesaver this week was the internet.  I'm no expert scrapbooker, and coming up with layouts by myself is intimidating to me right now.  Luckily, I was able to find this site, this site, and this site.  Which all generously provide free layout ideas.  Talk about a lifesaver!

All you scrapbookers out there - do you use any resources to create your layouts?  Or are you a scrapbooking-genius and come up with them all by yourself?  Any hard and fast rules you scrapbook by?

I chose a layout I liked for each page a slipped it in with all of the appropriate photos and such... that way I was ready to go whenever I had a few minutes to scrap.


These are the pages from our trip to Traverse City, Michigan back in (gulp!) June 2007...


efore I became a Stampin' Up! demonstrator I really hadn't used stamping in scrapbooking at all, so I am trying to find little ways to use and experiment with my stamps on my pages.  I used the cute little cherries from the "Tart & Tangy" set to add some embellishments to these pages...


I'm still not loving the journaling.  I'm totally tempted to type all my text on the computer and print on cardstock instead of hand-writing my notes!


And this week I actually got two (gasp!) layouts done.  Progess, I tell you!  This one is from our trip to Mackinac Island, Michigan last year for our wedding anniversary...


I used the "Flower Fancy" stamp set to create the flowered background...


...and the Top Note die for my Big Shot Machine to create the border around the journaling...


You'll notice that both these layouts are lacking titles.  I need to get some lettering stamp sets, and some new font dies for my Big Shot Machine to make those... oh, and probably spend some time on my friend Heather's Cricut as well!

I cut these flowers out with my Big Shot as possible embellishments for these pages, just not sure what to do with them...


What I'm going for here is to just create really basic, clean layouts with all of the pictures and journaling in place so that I can go back later and add embellishments to make them a little fancier.  I figure that the initial layouts are the most time-consuming, and if I can get the bulk of those done I'll have a good start on things.

I'm still a little intimidated - I know that my pages are very elementary looking - but I figure the more I do, the better I'll get... right?

What's your favorite way to embellish a scrapbook page?

6 comments:

Maiden Jane said...

Wow, I think your pages are awesome. For a minute, I thought you were standing in front of a fridge filled with all those bottles! Hahaha...

Lindsey Wolfe said...

Looks great Joanne!

DO NOT type your journaling! Your handwriting is lovely! That is great that you were able to find some layouts online (although the links didn't work in your post.) I've never done that - I just think of them on my own.

My thoughts on the die cut flowers... I would layer three of them kind of falling down the page under your journal block. I'm a fan of using embellishments and layer them even a little bit over the edge of photos or journaling. I think it gives pages more of a together feel.

You should invest in some mini brads. They are one of my favorite and easiest embellishment things. Sometimes all a page needs is a little sparkle. I'm big on the "rule of three" - I think things always look better in threes. Or odd numbers in general.

I would also encourage you to try even double matting your photos. Maybe even just one out of the pages - that way it can give one special picture a pop. On your first anniversary page, for example, you could double mat the picture of you and Travis to make it pop a little more off the page.

Speaking of "popping" I love using pop dots for journal blocks or titles to raise them off the page a bit.

Okay - I'm going to shut up now. Wow - I ramble when it comes to scrapbooking!

LollyChops said...

I think your LOs are really wonderful Joanne (and it looks like you and hubby have some really wonderful times together).

Weekend HUGS!

Joanne said...

Links fixed! Off to the airport I go!

Caroline said...

I also love your handwriting and think it looks great in your scrapbooking! I really need to set aside some time to get my scrapbooks together. This inspires me...
Have a fantastic trip! Safe journey!

Meg said...

I love scrapbooking but I think I'm moving away from it. It's so expensive and so time consuming. I dunno, I miss it sometimes. Your pages are very nice and made me miss it.