Lots going on.....

I am currently in the middle of finishing my study for my dr. I hope to finish it by the end of April and gain final approval in May. Gotta pay back those loans you know! Not alot of time to work on scrapbooking but I am teaching others the joy of making pages digitally too.

Hello

I can't believe how much time has passed since I last posted an entry! Well, hopefully I will do a better job of keeping it current.

Bad ME

I have been working so hard on my college homework that I have not been able to post like I would like to be able to. :( Well, this is my last semester of coursework so things should be smoother sailing by August - hopefully!! Until later.....

Scrapbooking Talents at Work

Our family welcomed a new baby in January. Jessica is the sweetest thing and such a pretty baby (ok I am her cousin so I must brag some). Well, her dad's people are not near us - they are from Michigan and we all live in Georgia - and JEssica's mom, Ashley, wanted to send them pictures. It is great to e-mail pictures but there is something about holding one in your hand that you can put on display in your home that is special. Well, I know that baby announcements are expensive (they run for almost a buck each!) and they usually don't even include a picture of the baby either, so I volunteered to make one. I have to admit that having such an adorable picture to use made it easy to decide what the layout of the announcement would look like. I also decided to make them 4x6 so we could print them cheaply at Willy World on photo paper for about 12 cents or so. I love how the background of the announcement turned out and Ashley liked how I put Jessica's name inside the heart near her picture. I am glad that I was able to put my skills to use to create something beautiful for my cousin so that she could share it with her in-laws.

Inspiration for Layouts

Finding inspiration from different sources for layouts is a must to keep the creativity flowing. On the computer screen is a website called Webkinz that my kids love!! You buy a stuffed animal called a Webkinz which has a code on it that gives you access to their website for a year. I was looking at this screen the other day and noticed the way the layout draws your eye to the title. I also like how the little boxes at the bottom of the screen would be an ideal way to add some journaling to make it look interesting on your page. Sometimes I scrapbook just a picture with a title and date, but usually I love to journal because I want to remember the memories and be able to pass it on. I see magazine ad layouts too and get inspiration from them as well and there are even digital scrapbooking sites that have challenges based on the designs of ads. I think this is a really cool thing to be able to do to keep your work looking fresh and to not allow yourself to get too tangled up in - now how would this picture look best scrapped? Like I said, for me it is saving memories not just cutesy-pie art. So tell me - what types of things give you inspiration?

Using pictures as backgrounds

Star Wars Nuts would aptly describe the men in my life! My husband, son, and younger brother all go crazy for the Star Wars movies and love to watch them. So I guess it wasn't much of a surprise that for my son Rhett's 5th birthday he wanted a Star Wars party. I found the plates, napkins, goody bags, banner, and even gift bag for the occasion (I think the elementary teacher in me craves themes to work around too). My husband even MADE the Darth Vader cake - no kidding. I also lucked up and found some hover discs at the dollar store so party favors didn't break the bank. The guests were all family members - his cousins and sister - and they had a great time! To scrapbook this memory I thought about the colors but decided that the pictures captured exactly what I wanted to remember - this was a Star Wars party by request of my little boy. So I decided to play with using a picture as the backgound and found that the picture of al the little goodies on the table made a great background for other pictures that bring the party to life. I turned the transparency feature on the photo editing software up to about 70% or so and the result is a backgound picture where you can see all the makings of a great Star Wars party. Add some lively kids in play shots and the layout celebrating the memory of this party is complete. Looking at this picture reminds me how blessed I am to have my family and much I enjoy my hobby. So, that leads me to want to ask:
What type of memories do your pictures help preserve (like what events are most popular)? What is it about your family that you want to remember forever?

Read Across America Layout

I wanted to share a page that I made about our Read Across America Celebration at my school last week. I love this week for lots of reasons. I love Dr. Seuss books, I love to have a reason to dress silly, and I enjoy the kids having fun while they learn. The background on this page is very busy but I thought it was a little whimsical, just like Dr. Seuss books and sometimes silly is good. I am not usually real keen on cutting my photos into shapes, but such a fun page needed more than just some square photos. Since it was the 50th celebration of the book The Cat in the Hat, I thought balloons were just the right touch for the layout. The bird/eagle in the photo below is Ernie the Eagle which is our school's mascot in case you are wondering what is that all about??!