Photo Organising

It has been a busy two weeks but I have been able to get little snippets of time here and there to work on some pages and do some photo organising.

I finished another holiday page. This one was a little summary of our time at Santa Monica Pier, which Ashleigh loved. Especially the ferris wheel ride at night. The panorama shot is from Ashleigh new camera she got for her birthday, it is a great feature we used many times on our adventures.

I have also started on two new pages using some great silhouette cuts. I should have at least one of these to share next weekend.

This weekend I spent Saturday afternoon backing up all my 2011/12 photos and getting my master photo database up-to-date. Then, because I have only been working on Project Life this year I went through the last three years of photos and updated my master list of scrapbook pages to make. I was surprised how many pages I had made last year so the to-do list wasn't that long.

Going through the to-do list it was interesting to note that all the big celebrations like Christmas and birthdays are still to do as well as the pages for Ashleigh's School of Life album. These are the pages I find most difficult, I think it is because we have so many photos from these events and it is hard to narrow down to a few to scrapbook.

But I have my love of creating and scrapbooking back and I am excited to record our stories and memories.

Merry Christmas

It is now Boxing Day here in New Zealand and I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and hope Santa was good to you all. I was lucky enough to get a very cool bright yellow vintage typewriter from my Santa which made me very happy and I have used it already today on a layout.

We had a relaxing day at home with family, spending lots of time outside in the sunshine and eating way too much as we all do on Christmas Day.

Today has been a very lazy day and with the busy run up to Christmas now over I have been able to get some scrapbooking done and have finished my last Harvest Moon layout I started over a month ago.

This is from my nephew's third birthday we were lucky enough to go to in Melbourne earlier this year. All the letter stickers, border stickers, wood veneer banners and button are from the Harvest Moon December kit. Other supplies include Bazzill cardstock, Elle Studio birthday pennant, Crate Paper fabric brad, Sassafras brad and Divine Twine in brown.

After seeing everyones December Daily albums over the last month I will share tomorrow my plans for recording our December. Although I have only got a couple of pages started I have been taking lots of photos everyday and writing down the details of our days in preparation for putting it all together once Christmas was over.

Be the star...

Here is my second Harvest Moon sneak peek using the Bo Bunny die-cut paper and sticker that I just loved.

The middle photo and be the star sticker are both attached with pop dots to lift them up and add some dimension to the page. I also added some washi tape both top and bottom and stitched some of the Crate Paper buttons to the top die-cut.

These photos were also taken the week we were in Melbourne for Paddy's 3rd birthday. He was given this light saber for his birthday and knew exactly what to do with it. The poses and face expressions were so cute!

New Scooter

I haven't had time to do much scrapbooking this last week but this is a layout from a few weeks ago using some Studio Calico kit products and again some very old product from my stash.

This layout also uses another Bite Size Scrapbooking inspiration layout, number 40. I had a little trouble bringing this one together but it has grown on me and it is another special little story remembered.

I have the new December Harvest Moon kit sitting on my desk and a page half way finished. Hope to make time tonight to finish it up so I can start sharing some sneak peeks...they have put together another fantastic kit, more for the boys this time.

MME So Sweet

It has been a very busy week with little time for playing in my scrap room but I did manage to get my layout for the My Mind's Eye Challenge finally finished. And I love how it turned out.

I used the My Mind's Eye product from the Harvest Moon November kit and the Studio Calico Mind the Gap kit as well as some MME bling. I also used a very, very old Autumn Leaves authentic tab from my stash and I tried the other misting technique I mentioned last week which I love the look of on this layout.

It has been so good to be using little bits of my very old stash on each of my last few layouts rather than it just sitting there gathering dust...I just need to keep it up.

Mists and Masks

Harvest Moon now has Studio Calico Mister Huey mists and butterfly mask in the shop and I thought I would share some layouts using both. I really love the added dimension misting gives to my layouts.

This layout uses a combination of the September and October Harvest Moon kits. Before I laid everything down I randomly misted the background to tone down the white cardstock a little bit. I love this collage of photos and the banner along the bottom is one of my favourites.

This one uses just the October Harvest Moon kit. I placed three circle masks on the cardstock and misted the complete page with grey and white mist then with my circle cutter I cut the patterned paper to fit in the circles leaving a frame of plain cardstock. This was one of the first photos I took on my iPhone and played with in Instagram....I do love that app.

This is an older page using a Heidi Swapp mask that I placed on the background, misted and then layered the photos, journalling and other product over, which added a fun touch to this layout of Ashleigh and her friend playing in the sprinkler. The new Studio Calico butterfly mask will give you a similar look by placing the masks from largest to smallest up the side of your page.

Here is a flower mask used on the cover of a chipboard mini album and then painted over. This is another great look and another example of the many ways these masks can be used. I made this mini album in an Ali Edwards class when she came down under to Wellington, New Zealand a few years ago....all the classes were so much fun.

I have also been learning some other techniques with mist to give you more of a paint splatter look which I can't wait to try.

My Mind's Eye Challenge

The latest blog challenge is up at My Mind's Eye. For this challenge you must use brown and you can use any My Mind's Eye product but the layout must include at least 80% My Mind's Eye products. Here is the sketch.

If you purchased the November Harvest Moon kit there is some great My Mind's Eye product in this kit. I have already completed three layouts with the kit but I still have a ton of product left so I am going to give this challenge a go. I will post my take on this sketch before the deadline on Sunday November 20th.

Whether you have the latest Harvest Moon kit or you have a stash of My Mind's Eye product I hope you can join me and I look forward to seeing your take on this sketch.

{Sushi Making...}

We had a very busy weekend with a funeral, Guy Fawkes and everyday chores but in between all that I did manage to get a layout started and finished, and not just a single page but a double page spread. It came together very quickly with the use of a layout/sketch by Laura Vegas from the September 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes and the Studio Calico kit 'Into the Woods'. 

I also used some very old product from my stash...the 'love' letter stickers by Making Memories and the chipboard and felt hearts. I always feel good when I use some of my very old, very large stash, even if it is a very small amount.


Although I find event pages such as birthdays and christmas the most difficult, I think just because of the number of photos you take and trying to narrow it down to a handful of photos to get on a page, I do love doing double page spreads. I love getting lots of photos on a page that come together to tell a story.

{Pippi Longstockings...}

It is almost time for the Harvest Moon November kits to go on sale and here is my third layout with the kit. By adding a background cardstock that matches the t-shirt Ashleigh is wearing in the photos it has produced a totally different look from my previous layouts with the kit.

I also misted the background with Mister Huey white just to tone it down a little bit and I added from my stash the Jenni Bowlin circle title spot and the bling on the butterflies. I inked the butterflies to match the background and photos and to help tie it all together.

I love this page but it is definitely busier than my normal look.

This is also my take on the Sketchy Thursdays sketch for 10.27 that Caz posted on the Harvest Moon facebook page this week. As always my final page looks nothing like the original sketch but I do find it helpful having a sketch to start from.

{You are my sunshine...}

So excited to share my second peek of the Harvest Moon November kit. I really do love the colours in this months kit, the yellow/lemon and teal do work so well together.

I kept this page very simple as I didn't want anything to detract from the photo, which I adore. Everything on this page is from the kit and I used one of my favourite punches from EK Success, Double Embossed Dotted Edger.

On Thursday I will share another peek, this one is a totally different look and it does double duty as my take on the Sketchy Thursday sketch Caz shared earlier this week on the Harvest Moon facebook page.

{First November Sneak Peek...}

I was lucky enough to pick up my November Harvest Moon kit on Friday night and finally got a chance to play with it today. I was so pleased to finish my first layout with the kit today and have even started on another one which I will share with you in a few days.

All product is from the kit except the Narratives by Karen Russell Negative Strip which I have had in my stash almost since I started scrapping eight years ago and the mini brads. I have always loved the negative strip but have never found just the right photos to use them with, until now.

I also used my EK Success punches - Bumpy Road and Circles Large, my Making Memories Slot Punch tool to punch the half circle slots on either side of the photo strip and a Techniques Tuesday Ali Edwards stamp above the photo strip stamped with Malted Milk by Jenni Bowlin.

I have had these favourite photos from 2006 printed for a very long time and I'm so happy that I finally have them scrapped - this kit was just perfect.

{Weekend Scrapping...}

Over the long weekend between jobs and cleaning that had my focus I managed to get one more layout completed with the September and October kits from Harvest Moon.

Almost a month ago I was in a scrapping rut and needed some inspiration to tell some stories. I was reading Stacy Julian's blog and she mentioned Bite-Sized Scrapbooking. This concept by Kim Byrns, delivers by email, scrapbook page tutorials to you each week in three bites. It was free to join so I thought it was worth giving a go to see if it would help get me out of my rut.

I think it helped, although this is the first layout I have created from one of the sketches, I have been busy creating other pages over the last few weeks. This page is from bite-size sketch number 036 and now looks nothing like the original sketch other than the placement of the two horizontal photos but I am really happy with how it turned out.

Everything from Harvest Moon September and October kits except brads, Sassafras and mist, Studio Calico Orchard and White.

{School of Life...}

Many years ago I discovered Stacy Julian's School of Life concept which I fell in love with to record and remember all the little details from Ashleigh's school life. I started her School of Life album from the first day she started pre-school. Then I found Becky Higgins school kits which I brought and used for Ashleigh's second year of pre-school. Then I found Nichol Magouirk's blog and style of scrapbooking which I totally admire and love.

I scrap-lifted Nichol's school page from earlier in the year to make the double page spread of Ashleigh's second year of school. And the page uses a number of elements from the Becky Higgins school kit but just not in the way the kit was designed to be used. The pocket is from KI Memories and was perfect to hold the certificates, important school papers and reports she received over the year. The year two title is from a Kerri Bradford Studio digital die-cut kit.

I have also changed up Ashleigh's School of Life album to include her class photos, year end certificates and any other school related scrapbook pages I have completed over the year ie school camp, calf club and any field trips etc.

It is definitely a work in progress and I still have another part year of pre-school/year 0 and year 1 of school, but I think I have found a great way forward which is simple to duplicate the basic principal each year.

{A Day in My Life...}

While I was looking back through my photo archives to find the correct date for my 'No Worries' photo I found these photos I had taken of our new premises and my office when I was doing 12 on the 12th back in 2008.

I thought they would be perfect for the Harvest Moon 'A Day in the Life...' challenge as these photos are a great representation of where I spend my working life, now four days a week.

I absolutely love how this page turned out...I used both the September and October kits from Harvest Moon and I love the colours and having this story on the record.

The photo montage and page is scraplifted from Two Peas in a Bucket design team member, Fevver. Additional supplies to the kits are the background misting with Studio Calico, Orchard, the shipping tag and the October Afternoon mini alpha stickers.

{October Harvest Moon...}

I finally have my October Harvest Moon kit pages to share. I loved the colours and embellishments in this kit. Cindy did a great job putting the kits together this month.

My first page uses an old photo I have had printed and sitting around waiting to scrap for a few years and the 'No Worries' title card from My Minds Eye was perfect for this page.

This page is a loose scraplift from a page I found on the internet but now I can't find who's page it was. I used masks for the three large circles and then misted the background with Studio Calico Warm Calico and Calico White. The page all started with the Amercian Crafts Day Dreams - Sunny Days blue grid paper which I absolutely love.

Tomorrow I will share my take on the Harvest Moon latest challenge to scrapbook 'A Day in My Life....'.