Christmas Cards

Now, I realize that this is a little late, but better late than never, right?.....  These are the Christmas cards that I made this year.

They are little pouches and I actually used the same design for baby announcements earlier in the year. The finished product is a 5" x 7" card that is made from a 5" x 10" strip of paper with a 4.5" x 6.5" inlay.  To finish up the card, fold up the bottom 3" of the 5" x 10" paper strip.

I've found that double-sided paper with a solid color on one side work best and the pouch format is great for those Christmas pictures!! Happy Scrapping!!

2012: A Year in the Life

So, it's no secret among my family and friends that I've been known to take a picture or two....of normal and, not so normal, things ( I have more than one picture of manhole covers....yes, manhole covers). So, when I saw a recent blog post about a "Photo a Day - 365 Project", I was intrigued and thought this coming year as good as any to take on this kind of project.

The advent of smartphones with their built-in cameras means you always have a camera with you and since I end up doing a "year in review" for our annual Christmas letter anyway, I will be doing all my prep work throughout the year instead of all at once.

If you haven't heard of it, the challenge is to take at least one picture a day. It's very much like a diary, but in this case, a visual one and one that I will be sharing the progress and sketches for the resulting scrapbook pages. It starts on January 1, 2012 and I hope you will join me on this adventure!! Happy Scrapping!

Back from....the Other Side of the World

Hi!  I'm sure some of you are wondering whether I fell off the face of the Earth, but in fact, I just traveled to the other side of the Earth.  Every now and then, my "real" job takes me to far away places....places I've never been and this is no different.  As a result, though, my love for scrapbooking (and being able to post sketches and scrapbook ideas) takes a back seat as I rack up the frequent flyer miles.  :-)

In this particular instance, I spent one week in Little Rock, Arkansas and promptly turned around and spent a week in Seoul, South Korea.  I had never been to Asia before and it was a great experience, so I will definitely be going back (when it's warmer)!!

The good news is....the very long plane ride back allowed me to work on more sketches, so while my plan of handmade card sketches every week during the holidays kind of fell through, there will be more of those and of regular scrapbook pages coming very soon.

I hope everyone has an excellent holiday season and Happy New Year!!

Handmade Cards

I used two of these three templates for Thanksgiving cards.  I used small 4" x 5.5" cards. The same templates can be used for Christmas cards too and are super easy to make!!

Sketch of the Week 2011-11-13

OK....so I "sort of" lied.  Last week, I said I'd be switching to holiday card templates/sketches this week, so you can all start working on cards to your loved ones....and we will!  Just wanted to post one more scrapbook sketch for those of you that voted this week - the winner is a 12 x 12 (Double).  The first card template (and finished product) will follow shortly!

Hope you all have a great week and Happy Scrapping!!

Choubox Sketch Pad

Sketch of the Week 2011-11-06

Since one person made the effort to vote for their favorite format (6x6 Double) five times.....that's what we went with for this week's sketch (12x12 Single was a close second)!! ....and from here on out, since we're in the holiday season, the sketches are going to focus on handmade card templates - either to "Give Thanks" at Thanksgiving or wish friends and family "Happy Holidays".

Happy Scrapping!!

Sketch of the Week 2011-10-23

I oops'd last week and didn't post the Sketch of the Week on the blog!  So, here are both this week's and last week's sketches.  This week's is an 8" x 8" and last week's was a 12" x 12".  The voting results were literally split right down the middle this week, so I flipped a coin!!  Make sure to keep voting for your favorite!

Have a great week and Happy Scrapping!!

Sketch of the Week 2011-10-09

Wedding Vow Layout

One of the most common wedding pictures is of the bride and groom's hands, intertwined, with shiny new wedding bands. It's a simple, yet, powerful picture symbolizing their love and new life together. The vows spoken during the ceremony are equally powerful and the perfect journaling to accompany the "ring" picture, especially if the vows were written by the bride and groom.  The layout itself can be simple....no need for a huge title or lots of embellishments....the image will "do the talking" with the vows serving as an appropriate complement. The colors you use are up to you....you can use "traditional" wedding scrapbook paper in black and white, go metallic to match your rings (with brads and eyelets to match) or use paper that matches your exact wedding colors. You may even want to frame the end product and put it on permanent display in your house as an ever-present reminder of your love for each other. Happy Scrapping!

A Twist on The Clothes Pin Game

We've all played it....whether at a baby or bridal shower. Everyone is handed a clothes pin and you get to take others' when they say the "secret" word. The person with the most clothes pins at the end of event wins. Pretty simple, right?  Well, let's kick the "baby shower" version up a notch and make it something you can put in a scrapbook.

In my twist, everyone at the shower gets a large tag with a ribbon that they can wear like a lanyard. The tag has the baby's name or baby related words on it. Instead of starting out with a clothes pin, everyone starts out with one or two letters on their tag (attached using repositionable adhesive tabs). As you've probably figured out, the goal is to get other people's letters to complete your tag...if they say the "secret" word, you get to take one of their letters. The first person to fill up their tag WINS!!

The great thing about this version is that everyone gets to take their tag home to scrapbook as a remembrance of the event. Have fun and Happy Scrapping!!

Scrapbook Consistency

I was asked the other day whether a themed scrapbook has to be consistent from page-to-page. As with all things scrapbook, I truly believe there is no right answer, but here are some guidelines that I go by.....

Page layouts, with the exception of the Title and Closing pages, should be two-page layouts. This gives you maximum space for pictures and journaling, while focusing on a single topic that allows for a smooth flow in your visual space. Single page layouts are still doable, but, to me, limit what you can put on a page....usually just a few pictures and a title.

Colors should be as consistent as possible, but it also depends on your pictures. If your pictures allow for the use of a few main colors, with coordinating patterned paper for accent, that will allow for a nice color scheme throughout the scrapbook.

As for page order, chronological order fits most themes, but you can always mix it up if you think certain items are more important than time-based order.

Happy Scrapping!!