Scrapbooking is Changing

What is going on with this hobby passion of mine? 

• Creative Memories is bankrupt (although there is a new simpler line under a new name)
• Archiver's also bankrupt, closing stores all over the country

 (insert temper tantrum, hysterical crying, kicking my legs, and beating my hands on the floor)

• My favorite magazines are ending and some are "online only"
• Favorite websites/stores closing down
• "New" ways of scrapbooking are emerging (hello "pocket" scrapbooking).  Is this really scrapbooking?  

Yet, with today's technology, more photos are being taken than ever before.  It has been decided that the next generation of women, i.e., my daughter, have no desire to scrapbook.  If you ask to see photos of her son, she'll whip out her iPhone and scroll through hundreds of pictures.  I'm the one making his scrapbooks! And...she loves them...but doesn't want to make one?

I read this article yesterday and shared it via FB. 

Minnesota Scrapbook Companies Transformed by Digital Revolution

Heartbreaking.  For "old ladies" like me, is the traditional way of scrapbooking gone by the wayside?   What does this mean for our favorite craft?  Where am I to get supplies?  Where are we girls supposed to gather? The shopping and "gathering" of supplies was a big part of the fun.  Disclaimer:  if I were to live to 100 and scrapbook everyday, I would never use all the supplies I have!

Still...I vow to not quit.  This industry has become a great part of my heart and my life.  I cannot imagine my life without it. 

More Silhouette Love

Today, I wanted to share my very first experience with Heat Transfer Vinyl (HTV) cut with my Silhouette Cameo machine.  When I say this machine is fabulous, I ain't kidding.  I've really gotten to try some new features with it this past month, and I'm more in love with it now than ever.

These two onesies were in Gavin's hodge-podge-box-of-baby-cuteness that Grandma gave him for Christmas.  He coulda cared less, but his mommy loved 'em!

Left side:  What Does the Fox Say, modeled after the viral youtube sensation and the song we play ALL THE TIME, was cut with two different colors of HTV.  I ordered the SISER EasyWeed from Craftvinyl.com.  Loved it!  It transferred like a dream.

Right side:  I <3 Mom, is my original design and was cut with Silhouette's brand of HTV.  I didn't love this brand as much.  It was harder to work with and took FOREVER to transfer.

Both of these were transferred using my regular old iron (which doesn't see much use nowadays) on my kitchen counter.  I used parchment paper as a buffer.

I'm not yet sure how they will hold up to Mr. Seven-Months-Old or repeated washing, but they looked good once...

What's that you ask?  Am I leaving the scrapbooks behind and going into the shirt business?  Ha!

January 2014 | New Beginnings

Hello 2014!

As a new year begins, I've got to get really choose-y about new photo projects to work on through the year. My main photo project this year is to continue Project Life and continue the daily picture-of-the-day practice of collecting photos and stories for my album(s).

But first, a little back-story.

I began Project Life in 2008 when it was Project 365.  I breezed through that year easily, and each of the subsequent years got tougher. Here I am six years later. My 2013 book was current until June.  Then all hell broke loose.  I became a Grandma!  So, naturally I took on the big project of his baby book. Wouldn't it be great to document the first-year-of-his-life?  Oh Grandma, what a great idea! 

ACH!! I'M BEHIND!  I've spent the last few days of 2013, desperately trying to catch up.  I've got lots of notes and a calendar, so everything is preserved, it's just a matter of getting it in the book.

Additionally, I've already purchased my 2014 album and I got the midnight kit as a Christmas gift.  They sit waiting.  Staring at me.  Beckoning.

I will be looking for a better way to keep up with Project Life in 2014.  I may go solely with iPhone photos.  An iPhone and two cameras is just too much.

I'm also researching apps.  I wish I were in the app business.  I'd be rich.

I did see this one recently. It's called Flipagram and it's FREE! It collects photos from your phone, your Facebook feed, and your Instagram feed.  Puts it all nicely into a short, sweet video. You can also put your own music to it.

My first try is a look back @ 2013.

Swoon.

My year in pictures. Makes me cry. I am blessed.

Oh, am I gonna use this for 2014...

For now...I'm back to printing pictures. 

Gavin's First Christmas

Boy, oh boy, are we having fun!  Everything that was old is new again! 

All kinds of "baby's first Christmas" activity going on over here.

Spoiler alert:  I got to be the official photographer for my DD's first Christmas card.  We had planned for a day at the park, but December weather in Colorado is just too unpredictable. Very windy.  We went inside by the nice warm fire.

I got 77 pictures, but I'm only sharing one photo...my fav.

On the 5th, we took our little peanut for his very first visit to Santa.  He didn't cry!  Nor did he pull Santa's beard (good thing, too; as this Santa had a real beard!).

And on the 7th, our dear sweet Grandson celebrated his "1/2" birthday.  He was in a really good mood for his (six month) photo shoot. 

As you can see, I'm really loving the "animation" feature of Photoshop.  Can't stop myself!

Later that same afternoon, we kidnapped the "little kid" for our own Christmas Card photo shoot.  As he gets older, he gets harder-and-harder to photograph.  Besides the never-ending drool, his two new six-month tricks are blowing raspberries and shaking his head (with not much coordination yet).  On any other given day, this Grandma finds those antics hilarious, but not on Christmas photo day! 

"Hey Santa, Grandma needs a wireless shutter remote, please!" 

I won't be sharing spoilers.  Sorry.

Jingle

Confession:  I've had my Silhouette Cameo machine for a year now.  It is awesome for scrapbooking and paper crafting, but I have never used it to cut vinyl (or tried any of the other special uses for it).  Stupid me.

Not anymore!  I am officially a vinyl-er? (made up word)

Oh em geeeee!! Why did I wait so long?

Love it!  Love the product and love the result!

I think this project is a hybrid scrapbook/vinyl project.  The 12" x 12" shadow box was made for the 3D scrapbook pages that you don't want to smash in your albums.  I already consider myself an expert on the machine (disclaimer:  NOT the software) and have used it numerous times in my scrapbooking.  Cutting vinyl is awesome!  I watched many tutorials before I even attempted my first cut, and truthfully, was just to darn scared to try.

Second confession:  the first two cuts were trash.  One was not sized properly for the 8" vinyl and the other was not loaded into the machine properly.  Yes.  I wasted some vinyl.

But...oh the third!  Smooth as butter.  I might also mention that I loved the "weeding" process (i.e., removing all the little bits of vinyl that do not appear in the finished product.  Think "negative" space.)  Tedious yes, but perfect for my OCD.

The vinyl is adhered to the outside of the glass. Maybe I'll learn the "mirroring" technique and try that next time.  I don't know if you can see the detail, but the paper is actually printed with the Jingle Bell lyrics.

Products:

• 12" x 12" Shadow box:  Michael's
• Jingle Bells:  Hobby Lobby
• Jingle All The Way Cut File:  Kerri Bradford
• Paper:  Teresa Collins
• Vinyl:  Cricut

Guess what the girls are getting for Christmas?

Weekly Layout

This week I am sharing a layout about last year's Race for the Cure. Posting this particular layout shows the world that I am 13 months behind in my scrapbooking!  I have pics from the 2013 RFTC as well!  Oh me.

Here's the LO:

 It is based on this past week's sketch @ Let's Scrap:

Yes.  This LO has lots of Pink!  That's okay.  I LOVE PINK!

The Race for the Cure is a big deal for me.  You can read more about the event here.

You will notice that the journaling was copied exactly from the blog post; which I just realized, helps immensely when you are behind in your scrapbooking.  I did not have to rely on my memory. 

I built this LO around the 12" x 12" white FINISH line image from a Cricut cut long ago.  It is actually the leftover/negative paper/pieces (yes, I may have a problem throwing away anything!).  It worked perfectly for this LO and the sketch.  However, I did have to re-arrange the right side of the sketch to make it work. 

I built the entire LO as one big 12" x 24" piece of art. When it was complete, I simply sliced it down the middle!  Yep. Cut right through the pics and the journaling!

I want to show you some of the close-up detail of the LO:

The patterned background paper was a pretty good match, but it needed something to set it apart.  I distressed and sanded the edges.

I hope you can see the glitter-y images!  The "survivor" photo on the rh side is matted with the pink glitter paper and the white patterned pink ribbon paper at the bottom is splattered with glitter!  You will also notice that the big pink ribbon in the center is embossed with silver foil.  The "cure" is from the same set and they are both mounted on pop dots.

After I had the entire LO assembled, I thought that the pink background paper was a bit boring and just too much pink.  So, I had to mask off my photos and embellishments and stamp over a completed LO!  Well...that's sure Not easy!  I actually stamped with a white pigment ink, but the cardstock just soaked it up!  I'm happy with the resulting subtlety it left behind.

I was able to find some pink alphas that matched.  They almost look as though they were cut out from the white cardstock.  All of the different stacked dimensions made for an interesting title.  

Here are the products I used:

• Pink Cardstock:  Coredinations Foundations
• White Cardstock:  Creative Memories
• Pink Alphas:  Basic Grey Euphoria
• Pink Patterned Paper:  Creative Memories "Beautiful" Power Palette
• White/Pink Ribbon paper:  Me and My Big Idea's
• Pink Glitter Cardstock:  Best Creation
• Race for the Cure Embellies:  Creative Memories
• Chevron Stamp:  Stampin' Up Positively Chevron
• White Pigment Ink:  ColorBox Frost White
• Twine: Queen & Co.

Weekly Layout

This week, I'm posting a newly finished layout of some old pictures (March 30, 2012 to be exact). I still had long hair!

I was newly elected to the Design Team @ Let's Scrap and I needed a headshot.  Gosh, I hadn't had pictures taken of myself in quite some time.  Could have been my senior pictures from way back in 19__ (I ain't telling!).  Was kinda fun, but kinda odd being on that side of the lens.  I was caught talking in several of the outtakes...seems I was giving photography lessons to Bill.  :-)
Scrapbooking them was a bit odd.  Anyone else find it hard to memorialize one's own pictures?  A bit self-indulgent.

The sketch I used is from Scrapbook Generation.  It is not followed exactly.  My picture dimensions were a bit bigger, and I moved the journaling to the bottom left.

A closer look:

  

Products Used:

• Textured cardstock:  Bazzill Sparkle
• Alphas:  American Crafts Thickers:  Vanilla, Hugs & Togetherness
• Patterned paper: 
• My Mind's Eye:  Collectable "Wonder" Lovely
• My Mind's Eye:  Lost & Found Two "Sunshine" Adore
• My Mind's Eye:  Miss Caroline Curious Planks
• Embellishments: 
• Stickers:  My Mind's Eye: Lost and Found 3
• Chipboard:  My Mind's Eye:  Lost and Found 3
• Brads:  My Mind's Eye:  Lost and Found Two

I love My Mind's Eye "glittered" products!  They are definitely a fav of mine.