Not Every Page Can Be a Masterpiece or OMG, My Eyes!

Just avert your eyes if the ugliness becomes too much to bear.


[People at My Party 07: The pictures weren't horrible, but I had a layout in my mind that never came out. The patterned paper was the final blow.]

Sometimes pages don't turn out quite like I imagined them. That's OK, my books are filled with lots of pages that would never win a contest or garner comments in the online galleries. They are still good pages that I am proud to have share our stories.

No this post is about those other pages. These are the ones that make it into the book, but cause an involuntary flinch every time they are revealed by the turn page. These are the ugly pages. I made them. They are mine. While I do own up to them, I also admit they are disasters. There can be lots of reasons for it. But it's usually one of two things: a good idea that just never came to be or bad stuff that left little to work with.

Layout Disasters: There are those moments when I am inspired by some awesome technique or layout, and feel like I should definitely give it at try. This often requires a shopping trip for some new tool or special supply (that I convince myself is worth the money because I will use it often). Once I have the new purchase, I start putting it all together. I agonize over the measurements, or the placement, or the construction. Most of the time I can see the disaster looming early on. Yet, once invested, I don't look back. I finish it up, get it in the book, and try to salvage what scrapbooking dignity I still have left.



[Ready for the Water 08: Scraplifted this one. Trust me, this random collection of odd embellishments was stunning on the one in the magazine.]


[Pisces Girls 07: 52 Sketches #26. This sketch and the pages others submitted were adorable. For some reason I picked the ugliest combination of papers possible and never quite recovered.]

Awful Pictures: Then there are the times when I look at the pictures or the papers and try to find some spark of inspiration. It's tough when you look at photos and realize none of them are that great. None deserve to be a focus. I try to find some way to organize them and hold onto the story. I have taken the coward's way out and filed the pictures away forever.


[Cookie Time: This paper was incredibly cute until I decided it needed to be saturated in pink and red. I committed to the stickers, and then realized too late they weren't doing a thing for me.]


[Another Birthday 08: The paper was beautiful and glittery. The pictures were less than mediocre, but everyone was so sweet to celebrate my birthday like this, that I wanted make sure I captured it in the scrapbook. To make it worse, the titles and journaling are impossible to read.]

Either way, when I see these finished pages, I reassure myself that not every page can be (or has to be) a masterpiece. Telling my family's stories isn't a contest; the scrapbook is supposed to capture the memories, not showcase the techniques. While today they may be cringe-worthy, thirty years from now people will want to see the faces and revel in the memories. Guess that means every page, even the ugly ones, are part of the bigger story of my family and part of the story of my scrapbooking journey. Read More...

All That Glitters...

How did I end up OWNING my own jars of glitter? I am really a cardstock and ribbon kind of scrapper. I want to blame Kit, the Glitter Queen, for my descent into the shiny side of life, but the truth is I glitter because my daughter's pictures beg for it. I am not sure how she got to be such a "girly-girl." But there's no fighting her desire to be FANCY and SPARKLY. So we just let her be who she wants to be. She is our princess in every way.

[Princess Through & Through, 2008]

This means that I have given in to glitter. It started small, with a few stick-on jewels here and there. But a couple of years ago, while working on a Diva layout, I was sitting across from the Glitter Queen. She just couldn't let those pictures of the girls all blinged out go without at least suggesting some glitter. I pooh-poohed the idea. Me? Glitter? How absurd. But Glitter Queen just made it seem so simple, so normal, so NECESSARY. I succumbed and had my first tutorial. The page really did capture the sparkly story.

After that, I dabbled in more jewels and stocked up with glitter paper. I mixed the glitter paper in unlikely pages, like the Big Fish page. Then I found Bazzill Bling cardstock. OK, you're killing me with this stuff. It's shiny and sparkly. It comes in all colors. I had to own all of it. I used it for the Cinderella/Halloween page - nothing else would do.

[Big Fish, 2007]

[The Updo and the Upchuck, 2007]

Now I have jewels (circles, hearts, flowers), glitter patterned paper, Bling cardstock, and a set of silver and gold pens I picked up along the way. Then I bought these great metallic pens from Creative Memories. They are terrific for journaling and doodling with shiny touch, especially when paired up with the glitter patterned paper. It seemed like a good match up in The Dolphin and the Unicorn layout.

[The Dolphin and the Unicorn, 2007]

I was heading down that glittery path faster and faster. I bought glitter rub-ons for Halloween AND winter. This layout for Snow Time was perfect with glitter-paper snowflakes and glitter rub on snowflakes.

[Snowtime, 2007]

Then it happened. I went all in. I had Glitter Queen order actual jars of glitter for me. A set of five. I own them. I rearranged my supplies and storage to make a spot just for them. I got spray adhesive. I glitter to do justice to my baby's natural sparkle and shine. I glitter because my baby girl is a princess who deserves to twinkle and shimmer.

I glitter because I can.

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Scrapper Interrupted

I love getting away for a scrapping retreat weekend. The group that I usually get away with was planning for the August 1-2 weekend. I knew months ago that I wouldn't be able to make that weekend work, so I did a different weekend with a small group in July. It was two and half days of relaxed time dedicated to scrapbooking. I worked on my daughter's school scrapbook. She is starting kindergarten this year, and I figured I should probably get that thing done. It took up most of the weekend so I didn't get many page layouts done.

[School Years Scrapbook]

Because I didn't feel like I made much progress on my pages, I went ahead and decided to try the August weekend. I thought an all day Thursday and Friday would allow me to get back on Saturday afternoon for the family activities we had planned. Ah well, the best a laid plans of mice and men.... Instead I got caught up at work until noon and didn't get up to CJ's Cottage until almost 3 pm. Then I got distracted with job hunting. Since I am one of many of the casualties of the economic slowdown and I need a job to finance my scrapbooking habit, it was important. Once I had that stuff under control, it was almost 4:30. Just looking at my stuff and knowing I needed to head home to take care of my daughter at 8. I did finish Family Snow Day and, except for the demise of my white paint pen, On the Ice.


[Family Snow Day 2008]


[On the Ice 2008]

Friday was another stop and start. Got up to the Cottage about 9 am and worked until 2 pm. Was able to crank out the Pisces Girls and Winter's Day (While the idea for the pine cones was Lisa's, it was Mary who dug deep in her stuff and came up with the perfect stickers to cover my mistakes. Thanks, ladies!). Must have had some circle thing going on in my head. Then had to take my daughter to the doctor for kindergarten vaccinations. No fun, but had to be done. Headed back up to the Cottage for the night.


[Winter's Day 2008]

Put the finishing touches on Winter's Day and dug into Egg Delight. It was a such an odd color palette-not Easter or springy at all. Could be because there was 3 feet of snow still on the ground for Easter. The odd colors made the flower embellishments a real struggle. I just couldn't find the right tone. I compromised with Cricut cut flowers out of the patterned papers.


[Pisces Girls 2008 - sketch from 52 Sketches]

I was almost ready to put the Pisces Girls page on my "ugliest pages" list (what was I thinking with that polka dot paper?), when I got a call from my husband. Minor family emergency required that I drive up to meet my sister-in-law 45 miles north on the freeway. Don't get me wrong, I was happy to do it. Lord knows I owe her a hundred times over, and this was no big deal. Just, seriously...while I'm scrapbooking!? By the time I got home with her and my niece, it was past midnight. Decided to spend the night in my own cozy bed and shoot back up to the Cottage early in the morning.


[Egg Delight 2008]

The next morning I was able to ease back in and put together the Lots of Bunny Love pages with the Easter laser cut template I bought two years ago. Not good enough to have the template to make the page quick and easy; no, I had had make the tag on covered chipboard. Why do I do that? Sure the tag is cute, but I honestly think I need a reality check (or a smack upside the head) when I choose these putzy things.


[Lots of Bunny Love 2008]

As my time started counting down, I was able to whip together the Zoom-Zoom layout. Love my little baby girl all dressed up for snowmobiling with her daddy.

[Zoom-Zoom 2008]

Then it was time to pack it up and head home. Just felt like I never quite got my scrapping groove on. Probably should have followed my instincts and skipped the weekend at the Cottage. But it's such a temptation-how could I miss all this:

• the awesome show and tell moments from everyone (Does Bev even remember where she bought some of that stuff? And Roxy is sure quiet, but has more stuff than all of us put together.)
• the glitter queens working on the front step (Yes, Marie did get a splinter in her butt, but she was glittering outside in her pajamas. What did she expect?)
• Amy with her glue gun, giant roll of 3M foam tape, and three packages of black paper (Johnnie says, "It's not really scrapbooking until you can smell the glue gun!")
• the strict enforcement of the "no naked scrapbooking" rule

It was tons of fun. Just wished I could say I got more done. Wait, did I hear there is a special discount weekend right after Halloween?

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Summer Fun

[Independence Day, 2007]

As Independence Day approaches, my family is planning our usual shinding by the lake. It's a very traditional 4th of July celebration including kids, burgers, swimming, sunshine and fireworks. Having the 4th fall on Friday this year will give us a chance watch the fireworks in PR, and have the rest of the family join us at the lake for the day on Saturday. Getting organized for what has become an annual event, got me looking back at the scrapbook pages from last year.

[Floatie Fun, 2007]

Last year we had great weather - sunny, but not oppressively hot - that had everyone glad to be at the lake. My favorite memory was looking out at the lake and seeing the floatie garden that grew there. Not only was the meal potluck, but so were the water toys. We dotted the lake with an exciting array of floaties from the simple noodle to the giant orange spider.

[Meanwhile...Back at the Beach, 2007]

Sometimes I get so caught up in scrapping my pictures in chronological order that I lose track of the fun memories that the pictures represent. Everyone really wants to see the pictures right away instead of waiting six months. To help with that, everyone has been pretty good about posting photos as soon as possible online for others to browse and enjoy. I love that there are others who are way better photographers than I am sharing pictures that I didn't get on my camera. It's immediate gratification while still riding high on the joy of the events. And I get to choose from lots of different pictures for my scrapbooks.

However, I usually scrapbook six to eight months behind the event. The gap in time allows me to think differently about the the design and palette for pages. I spent lots of time this January scrapping these summer pictures. I was far enough from the event that I didn't feel compelled to use the traditional red, white and blue for these. I actually had great fun with the oranges, yellows and pinks that I used in Floatie Fun and Independence Day.

Since I usually just have Olivia pictures, it was such great change up to have so many cute kid pictures to work with. The fresh and excited faces of the babies, boys and girls at play brought a sense of action and motion to the pages that made them a joy to work on. Not to be left out, I did manage to create one review of the day with only Olivia. I am her mommy after all. Using the preprinted paper for Summertime Fun made it a quick page to complete with the added touch of the giant metal arrow brads that Kit couldn't wait to get rid of. (OK, she literally threw them across the table at me like they burned her fingers. Thanks, Kit! One woman's trash is another's treasure.) The focus picture of Olivia in the pink hat was my favorite from the whole weekend and was taken by Gary. Outstanding photo; thanks, Gary!


[Summertime Fun, 2007]

We also knew from a recent retrospective of Char pictures that there just were not enough pictures of Char with the girls. Looking back at Emma with her long hair in darling braids, I wonder how adorable her new short haircut will look in pictures this year. The floral paper was heavy, almost a cardstock. I used a craft knife to cut out the petals and use them as an overlapping frame for the title card. Simple, but I really liked the effect.

[Auntie Char, 2007]

Once the family gathering came to a close, there was still plenty of weekend fun. The next day the kids found lots of stuff to keep them busy before hitting the lake again. The pink Barbie Jeep got a work out. Little Max learned to drive - not really from the best drivers, but at least some of the cutest in Driving Lesson. Later Kris gave rides on the quad - no driving lessons required.

[Driving Lesson, 2007]

[Quad, 2007]

Kris and Kathy talk about their memories of the Logging Camp all the time, but this was my first time to this northwoods historic hot spot. The design for this page is a total scraplift. I just happen to have the right sized pictures for the layout. It was also my first venture into covering chipboard with paper for the embellishments. I liked the way the chipboard adds just a little dimension and flow to the layout to guide the viewer across the page.

[Logging Camp, 2007]

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Travels and Adventures

[I Believe in Fairies 2007]

Capturing the excitement of special events is always a challenge for me. The first difficult thing is sorting through the pictures to find the ones that show action and sense of fun. Usually I have shots that clearly demonstrate my ability to chase after my family and friends and snap remembrances of the back of their heads, sides of their shoulders, and food in their mouths. Not quite scrapping material.

On our last visit to the Renaissance Festival, the visit with the fairy was really a high point for Olivia. Her belief in real fairy magic is strong and meeting one in person was cooler than she could ever imagine. The fairy was pretty photo-savvy and made sure I got at least a couple of great shots. Later in the day the best I could get were a couple of faraway looks of the awesome face painting. The piggyback ride of the girls is still the best shot, even if they do have food in their mouths.

[Day at the Zoo]

Out visit to the zoo yielded even poorer photos than usual since I forgot my camera. These photos are all from my cell phone. Because I didn't have a decent camera, any pictures of animals were out of the question. The only ones that had any potential were from the kiddie carnival and carousel. When I looked at the the pictures, I knew I would have to do something with the blurry ones. They ended up being loads of fun and just what I needed to share the motion of the afternoon.

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Not Really My Favorite Holiday-It Just Scraps That Way

[Pumpkin Grins 2007 - sketch from sketch me if you can]

By looking at the latest volume of my scrapbook, you might begin to think that Halloween is my favorite holiday. That's not really true. Somehow, I ended up with waaaay too many pictures related to pumpkins and costumes. I think that fall offers so many photo opportunities, that I just wanted to make sure I captured the best ones. From that point, the 8 separate layouts just seemed to be inevitable.


[Pink Pumpkin 2007]

Since I sort through my pictures again after I get the prints, I sometimes don't even realize how many stories I have in my planning piles. Once I separate the pictures, I match them up to paper, both patterned and cardstock. Sometimes I succeed in matching up two or three pattern papers. This is also my way of justifying my habit of buying piles of paper for events and seasons I'm not even working on. Since I ususally am scrapbooking 6 months behind, like dipping into my paper stash and finding cool stuff I forgot I bought.


[Pumpkin Boat w/ Insert 2007 - sketch from sketch me if you can]

In September and October I bought every cool and funky fall and Halloween paper that caught my eye. The result is that I have loads of outstanding papers from which to choose when prepping my pages. When I bought the paper, I had no idea what would go with the traditional orange and black color scheme and if there would ever be any way to use the super cool glitter green paper I just had to have.


[It's Mushy Inside 2007 - sketch from sketch me if you can]

While many people I scrap with buy for a specific layout, I just buy for the hope that I will use it. The great polka dot tag on It's Mushy Inside, is two years old--just waiting for the right moment. The sparkly pumpkin rub ons were just too fun to pass by when they ended up in the sale bin in January. The two pages of flocked tags from Pink Pumpkin and Preschool Halloween Party were 40% off and still have plenty for next year. Being able to bring out my collection three year's accumulation of fall and Halloween embellishments and doo-dads and sort through them allows me to be somewhat spontaneous.


[Preschool Halloween Party 2007 - sketch from Racketty Scrappety]

This great sketch gave me a chance to use the awesome spider paper that didn't quite seem to fit anywhere else or match up with any other pictures.


[Witchy Hat 2007 - sketch from Page Maps by Becky Fleck]

By the time Halloween night actually arrived, I had no idea how many fall and pumpkin pictures I had on my camera already. I am sure that I am now known as the neighborhood crazy mommy who takes pictures of trick-or-treating like I am a member of the paparazzi.


[Trick or Treat 2007 - sketch from sketch me if you can]

Seeing Olivia finally decked out in the much anticipated Cinderella costume, I had to capture the before, during and after Halloween. The bright blue of the costume allowed me to deviate from the traditional colors to a bling blue and white page for the the last of the Halloween pages.


[The Updo & the Upchuck 2007]



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Sketchiosity: It's About Sketches

[Faces of Olivia - sketch from Racketty Scrappety]

I love looking at sketches! There are so many talented folks out there willing to share the enormous variety and styles of sketches with scrapbookers like me. For me it's all about choosing the papers and embellishments. I can really make time on a layout once I have a plan. That's where I get hung up - I really need a plan. Once I realized that the generous sketches were handing me balanced and and unified layout plans, I grabbed on. The sketch really allows me to evaluate my photos, identify the story, and match that to a roadmap to success. While I used to skim through magazines and online galleries to find layouts to inspire me, the sketch doesn't intimidate me with the fabulous techniques and stunning photos of other people's families or vacation spots. It is instead a sturdy tool to which I measure my photos against and see if they have what it takes to live in that layout.


[Labor Day Swim - sketch from Racketty Scrappety]

Sometimes, as in the sketch for Labor Day Swim above, the sketch pushes me to think about using the photos differently like irregular cutting of the focal photo and the photo cut off the edge. I seldom have these unique flashes of brilliance on my own and appreciate the fact that the creative types at Racketty Scrappety do regularly, AND invite me to try it on my own. Awesome!

There is such a robust and rich world of free sketches available for interested scrapbookers. I have linked this site to some of my favorites. It's so worth it to visit the sites at least weekly to check out what's new and see the layouts that others have made from the sketches. If these are not sites you have been visiting regularly, then by all means check out their archives. They are gold mines of years of original and inspiring sketches.


[Backyard Restaurant 2007 - sketch by Stuck?!]

At last Friday night's crop I was able to layout, crop and start embellishing three layouts in a very short time with the help of the some great sketches. I was able to convince Kit to take a look at some two-page sketches. Kit and I suffer from the same affliction (no, it's not an addiction to cardstock)-layout paralysis. Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. It's when you set all the pictures from the event down on the table and stare at them without movement or progress for an extraordinary amount of time. You shuffle the pictures around and turn them this way and that. 30 minutes later you decide to just get something down and start cutting. Using the sketches, Kit was able to sort, select, and crop photos for three 2-page layouts in just a few hours. We were both taken with sketches by Chris Greiser from Scrap Me If You Can.

Sometimes, however, I just see something great and scraplift the living daylights out of it to get pages like these two. That still works.


[Face to Face w/ Fluffy 2007]


[Septemberrrrr Swim 2007 - title credit to Kristi Y.] Read More...

Confessions of a Serial Scraplifter

[Genuine Beauty 2007]

When I first started scrapbooking, I would look through the magazines and internet galleries for inspiration and concepts. I saw lots of outstanding and complex work that was clearly out of my league as a beginner. It did introduce me to various techniques and offer different ways to apply them. I was discouraged sometimes by the enormous number of single page, single photo, and oversized photo layouts. They just didn't seem quite reasonable considering the "scrapbook every moment with a million digital photos" kind of style I had adopted.

I'm not sure when it started, but I must have run across a layout in a magazine that did more than inspire me, it screamed, "You could do this, too!" I created a great page "Easter Basket" using the magazine as map. It was really one of my favorites from my daughter's first year album.


[Easter 2004]


[Chocolate Smiles 2006]

I've never looked back. Like Ishmael, my white whale is really an endless series of sketches and shared layouts that make my head spin. Becky Higgins Sketch Book was awesome and gave me permission to take as many ideas as I wanted to use and reuse. While many magazines had a regular sketch features, I didn't really fall into scrapbook love love until I discovered the amazing talent found at online sketch blogs. Wow! These folks have so many awesome ideas, that I can't look away. These artists have truly legitamized my scraplifting tendancies. I never claim to come up with original or unique ideas for my page layouts. I never enter my pages in to contests or submit to magazines, because I know that the design is probably lifted someone else much more talented than I. I have included links to some of my favorite sketch sources; so visit them be inspired!


[Happy as Clams 2007]




[Pizza Time 2006]

Shamelessly, I use the ideas and designs that others post. This I freely admit. And I do take pride in how I am able to make the sketch or design my own. I add my own style and favorite embellishments like ribbon, flowers and brads & eyelets. When I'm done it's mine, but I always know from whence it came. Read More...

Latest Crop Session

[So Grown Up 2007]

Finding time for the casual crop time with friends is always a challenge for me. It seems like we all have such busy schedules that nailing down a time to gather just for a few hours of uninterrupted scrapping time becomes more effort than it's worth. When we actually make it happen, we agree, it's always worth it. One group I know has scheduled a monthly evening gathering at their workplace on a Fridays. It's five hours of casual cropping and conversation. They schedule them for six months at a time so everyone can plan and set aside the time. The group shifts and changes each month reflecting the differences in the lives of these busy women. Depending on the time of year, the room is full and other times it is only one or two in the big room. I am privilaged to get an invite to this group and attend when I can.

I have also taken up their example. Instead of waiting for another invitation, I have been working to gather together the scrapbookers at my workplace. I know they are there; I've recognized the casual knowledge of mini glue dots and veiled references to being "behind on my pictures." Conversations about not being able to find time and getting together are slowly moving to action. We actually scheduled an evening after work. While I was able to finished a few layouts, Kristi spent most of her time getting caught up on thank you notes. Hey, you use the time as you need to. To her credit, she had designed and printed her own notes.

By bringing the pre-matched pictures and paper, I was able to get three layouts glued down. When I had also thought to bring the coordinating ribbon or embellishments, it went even faster. Once home, I was able to finish up the journaling and details.

[Toasty Marshamallows 2007]

While attendance was limited, there were sincere regrets at being unable to come. Now we have the next few months on the calendar. My hope is that others will take advantage of a time written on the calendar and begin to plan for it. Gotta take time to feed your soul! Read More...