Smile Brother | Yearbook 2013

I've been working on this one on and off for some time now. I basically scraplifted the LO with inspiration from here and here, but I had to make the digital template from scratch. I'm a little proud of myself for figuring it out and putting all the chevron pieces together. I would love to know how to make the ends of the papers curl in Photoshop Elements, but I'm not even sure it's possible. Probably, but I just don't know how yet.

I love these two boys. They are such a joy. And I love how Otto always calls Atlas, "Brother".  I never encouraged it, but that's just what Otto calls him. It's cute.

Looking forward to working more on our family Yearbook.

Frank Lake | Yearbook 2013

 

 

Three more for our 2013 book.

Absolutely LOVE the minimalistic look of the top page. It could almost be an album cover! This is, I think, the best photo yet this year! These were taken the day before Easter, in March.

April Review | Yearbook 2013

I've finally done some catching up enough to get out this review page for April. This coming week I'm wrapping up piano lessons and having our year-end recital. Otto started swimming lessons a few weeks ago and is completely loving it! {I'm so glad, because we're not really a swimming family, but I want the boys to learn} Atlas was very sick last week, and Otto had his 4th birthday party. I'm looking forward to next week when things will slow down a bit, and the boys and I will be off to visit the cousins again. I love visiting the cousins because there aren't any other nightly distractions for me there - I don't have laundry, cleaning, organizing, tidying, etc - and I can get some digi scrapping done with my sister-in-law. So looking forward to that.

Atlas Sunshine | Yearbook 2013

Here's my little sunshine!

I mostly used a Facebook Hop freebie from Sweet Shoppe Designs for this one. All their designers pitched in and there were some amazing kits!

From You Are My Happy Collaboration: Paper: Melissa Bennett, Studio Basic Designs, Sugarplum Paperie; Elements: Jady Day Studio, Kristin Cronin-Barrow, Zoe Pearn, Meghan Mullens, Melissa Bennett, Llilla Designs; Journaling Card, Word Labels : Meghan Mullens, Jenn Barrett, Julie Billingsley, Juliana Kneipp, Misty Cato, Mari Keogetenberg
Other: Background Paper: Miss Tiina; Hexagon Cutting Mask: Robyn Meierotto; Woodgrain Brush: Just Jaimee; Actions/Styles: Shadows: Gennifer Bursett; Folded Paper: Mommyish

Getting Started | YearBook 2013

 

It's taken me three months to finally make up my mind how I want to do our Family Album this year. I knew I wanted to do digital, so I researched several different companies and finally decided on the company, the size of the book, and the layout style I want to use throughout the book. I decided to use the same template (which I made) for each month's review, then use Project Life style templates for extra pictures, and add scrapbook layouts as I go. Here are the first four pages for our Court Family Yearbook!

I've been downloading the Storyteller collections from Just Jaimee and I LOVE them! They are fun, colorful, and have so many useable products in them. I love the variety of items she has, and that she puts the same categories in each collection. For example, each  storyteller kit this year has had a pack of messy borders, which I have totally used here!

{TIP: If you sign up for her newsletter, she sends subscribers a special price when the kit first comes out!}

I figure if I use the kits from Just Jaimee almost exclusively for the Review pages, there will be a better continuity to the entire album.

 

As you can tell, not much happened in January or February this year! There just wasn't much to tell! We were sick for most of January and February was spent catching up! Just to illustrate how little we did, here's a look at the number of photos we took each month:

January: 63

February: 95

March: 259

Big difference, right?!

So now that I have a plan, I will hopefully be turning out more and more pages! Stay tuned.

PS. What book printing company do you love?

How to wash dishes Otto style I Digi LO

A digital layout on a Sunday night. I've been looking at pictures the last several days, with a 2012 mini album in mind. I'm super excited, but it will require a bit of prep before I can get to it. But too much prep gets too boring, so I had to scrapbook one of the best photos of last year, and this one was it. Totally happens all the time even still. My silly boy.

{Papers: Juliana Kneipp, L.Grier, Sarah Schmutz; Mask: Karen Funk, Robyn Meierotto; Embellishments(button, labels, date strip): Megan Turnidge, Creativity By Crystal, Juliana Kneipp; Tag: Gennifer Bursett; Fiber: Shabby Princess}

In the Christmas-Making mode

It's been busy around here, getting ready for Christmas. I like to hand-make or "home-made" many of my gifts - a tradition handed down to me from my parents. And because pretty much everything I've been making these days are Christmas presents for some who may read this blog, I can't post any pictures yet!

I do miss scrapbooking, and hope to get back to it after the Christmas rush. Looking forward to a scrapbook day with my SIL. Here's a LO I did before all my Christmas preparations began, but I just haven't posted it yet!

This year has been somewhat exciting, seeing the joy on the boys' face, and being able to do more with Otto. We do an "activity advent", where we do some sort of Christmas activity each day. This morning, we baked some plastic ornaments - a project you'd think Atlas would enjoy as well, and he did... for about a minute. Then the beads were unceremoniously dumped on the tray, and the crying commenced (he woke up WAY too early this morning and is currently down for his second nap of the day!) Now, I say "somewhat" exciting, mostly because I get all excited to do a simple craft with Otto, and sometimes it works out, but most of the time, he's either entirely uninterested or he is occupied for only a short while. I need to remind myself that he is 3 and actually doing pretty good considering. We have been to the Santa Claus Parade (out in the cold!) and Story Time with Santa. Otto and I went to "Christmas at the Hive" at a local honey farm. We've made a foam gingerbread house, several ornaments, watched several new movies, and read lots of Christmas books. Christmas is still wonderful, no matter what age.

Otto and Paisley On Bikes | Digital LO

Paper: DDE(Digital Design Essentials); Font(O, P): Sahlin Studio; Word art (loving): Paislee Press; Date stamp: Katie Pertiet

I'm on a Scrapbook/Crafting retreat this weekend and I've got lots of "business" to do (aka NOT scrapbooking), but I just HAD to do some scrapping! So here's the first page of the weekend.

Edited: This was the ONLY page I did this weekend! But I think it is my favorite Digital Scrapbook LO to date. It is so simple and minimalist. I love it. Still learning the ropes, but I feel I'm getting better all the time.

Seriously Happy|Digital LO

Template(modified slightly): Nini Goes Digi; Arrows with stiching: Pink Trike Design; Paper: Echo Park, This&That Charming; Frames, Washi Tape: Gennifer Bursett; Yellow Alpha: Design By Dani  

Journaling reads: Atlas has 2 different faces when he's playing: serious or happy. Whichever face he's making he doesn't go halfway. Serious and contemplative or happy and smiling. At the playground Sept 2, 2012.

Cousins, Monkeying Around

I issued a challenge to my SIL Karley to do a LO using pictures of our kids at the playground. For me, it's easy to fall into the habit of always organizing my scrapbook supplies (traditional or digital), because most of the time, I need to start a LO with a clean slate, meaning that my scrapbook area has to be free from clutter, and everything in its place. On the computer, it means that all my files need to be tagged and organized before I feel that I can scrapbook. The beauty of doing digital scrapbooking, though, is that my "desk" is virtually clean. All the time. So, all I have to do is stop organizing the files and get right to it! So I challenged Karley and myself to do just that. And here is my LO of the cousins. All said, it took me about an hour to complete. Love that. And when you use one kit to get the job done, it's a breeze! (kit: Just Jaimee, Spring Freebie Collection. You can grab your own on her site here. She has some really cute designs. Shadows from here: Gennifer Bursett, Toolbox Shadows V.1 found here.)

Zoo Fun

I took a template challenge from Sahlin Studio and came up with this. I love how digital can be so fast in completing and then sharing. And I didn't have to wait for weeks to get all my crap together to order (and pick up!) photos from Costco or Walmart. I actually did a traditional LO on the weekend, but I probably won't ever get around to taking a photo of it... because I'm lazy like that. So I'll share this one with you instead.

If you are into digital scrapbooking, go check out Sahlin Studio, where I got the template, papers, and most of the elements I used here in her new freebie, Fleetwood. Thank you Sahlin Studio! You can find her August monthly template challenge, with free template here. And while you're there, check her archives for past template challenges.

Thanks for stopping by!

Let's Go Fly A Kite

Digital LO #7

I'm getting there, and this digital is getting more fun as I go along. I recently bought a new program, ACDSee, and took the ACDSee Organization Class(for Mac, but they also have for Windows) at Jessica Sprague and have found the whole digital process going faster and easier! Yay for technology!

Fun in a Box

Another digital scrapbook layout. I'm getting better at this.. I think! I'm really enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. Now to convince Andy that I need a laptop. A Macbook. Sounds like a hard sell because it is.

Digital Success!

Atlas's First Breath

I went away last weekend on a women's retreat with some girl friends. I took my computer to sort through all the pictures and get my iPhoto all organized. (After I got my photos back, many were doubled, etc.) I was also excited to try my hand at some digital layouts. I took a few classes awhile back (from here) but have only done preset pages, and have made a few small invitations for various things. This was my first attempt at starting a digital LO from scratch. I'm so pleased with the results and found it very satisfying! I loved being able to start a LO with pictures I just came across in iPhoto without having to wait till I got them developed. I still absolutely LOVE traditional scrapbooking, but this is fun as well.

Big Brother's Watchful Eye

Little Pink Bucket (I will add journaling after it is printed)

2011 Orr Family Reunion

Little Spout