Project Life: Scrapbooking the newborn pictures

So I am going back in time with my Project Life. I probably didn't have the time when he was a new born to 'Project Life' it and I was still a die hard scrapper then - albeit I had downsized from 12 by 12 to 8.5 by 11. These photos would have each had their own page with journalling and embellishments.
But early January I decided to switch and when I started loving the little pocket scrapbooking I realised I have so much of The Baby's first six months to catch up on.
Plus a huge wallet (or rather wallets) of photos needing a home.
My lovely instagram friend, Ashley, sent me some cards to start me off. She sent me a mix of Dear Lizzie 'Fifth and Frolic' and Maggie Holmes 'Flea Market' cards and these are mainly what I have used on these newborn layouts. 

Some techniques that I enjoyed trying on this layout:

• Mixing up the gold sparkly and gold metallic thickers for the 'proud' caption. It really wasn't because I had run out of some of the letters.
• The heart border and the star were created using the negatives from stickers with washi tape underneath. Love this technique.

My second layout is all about my parents being first time grandparents. These are the first pictures of each of them holding Ellis; after they had busted their way through the strict visitors hours by claiming to have travelled from 'very far away' and having to return shortly.
The harassed midwife came though and said she had a very distraught grandmother on her hands who was demanding to see me. The 'Australians' visiting from far away. This made me smile as my dad is from Belfast and has a strong Ulster accent and my mom is South African and still has a hint of this in her accent. I wondered what kind of stories they were telling to get to see me!
I understood why my mom was so keen to see me as the last she had heard at 10 p.m the night before was that things were not going well. I wouldn't let The Belgian out of my sight and so she only received the call at about 5 a.m reassuring her that both mother and baby were fine. She'd had an awful night pacing the floor and arrived at 9 a.m wanting to give her 'traumatised' daughter a big hug and they wanted her to wait till 2 p.m. This is a bit unreasonable on the very day her grandson was born.
It turned out they weren't telling fibs to see me. They had travelled from Shropshire (although they were staying in a hotel up the road) and the midwife must have confused the South African accent for Australian. 
However, they did return at two for another cuddle and she came in to change my dressing and really gave them a look. Lets just say there was no love lost between her and my mother.

Techniques I used on the cards:-

• washi tape and a punched star stapled on for that rustic look
• a line of stamped camera
• some patterned cards used as is with no extra embellishment as the other cards were quite busy
• twine tied around one of the photos 

So are you Team Midwife or Team Grandma?

Haha! 

Project Life for Beginners: Getting Started

Now if you're a seasoned Project Lifer this post will be a bit redundant, but I have just converted to Project Life and a few of you have been asking me about it and so I thought that I would share some of my ideas.

There are four basics that you need for a Project Life album:

• Project Life ring binder - I have my eye on this one 
• A Project Life Core Kit (cards) - I am lusting after this one 
• Special pocket page protectors - I got these ones 
• A pen

And that is all...
So that is why many people are preferring it over 12 by 12 layouts - less 'stash' and therefore less expense.
If you just used these basics you could create a layout like this one:-

 However, the top layout was jazzed up by thickers, washi tape, stickers and stamps. This is where the cross over to scrapping is handy as you will have all sorts of exciting supplies to use. 

I am loving it at the moment because:

• It is quick and easy.
• You can do it little and often.
• It is not as daunting as a big 12 by 12 layout with a blank page
• I take far too many pictures of The Baby and I can feature more of the everyday moments of our lives.
• It can be as simple or as complicated as you like.
• I can use all of my supplies up.
• The journalling cards are the sweetest thing ever.
• You can use the little souvenirs you keep - like napkins, business cards and receipts.

Below is the first layout I completed for Project Life. Lots of other Project Lifers seem to struggle with the title page, but I managed it first time. I am a bit unhappy with the lining up of the photo. 

I jazzed it up with polka dot thickers by American Crafts (check out ebay or TK Maxx for bargains).

 

And sequins, which you can get from most craft shops and also sewing or fabric shops. I remember when we were younger we used to buy our sequins in a shop that sold glittery dance outfits and feather boas. It was like every little girls dream.

The 'problems' I have encountered so far:

• printing of photos. From what I have read this is every Project Lifers nightmare and a lot 'give in' and print from home for ease. Our ink is quite pricey but I have been printing some of my phone pictures off on it and the cartridge seems to be lasting quite a while. I really want the Canon Selphy as you can print wireless from your phone straight to the printer. I also succumb to the photo booth in Boots which charges 40p a print - however they do mini prints so it works out to 10p each. My friend uses Tesco and informs me it is 35p a print. I also do big orders on snapfish and photobox and try to keep an eye out for offers. It depends how you are approaching it - the traditional way is a weekly approach but I am going with a monthly approach and am being fluid on the dates etc as I feel this doesn't matter as much as getting the memories recorded.
• It could get quite samey and seem restricting at times. I think because I have the variety pack of page protectors I can change up the layout and photo sizes to keep it interesting. You also, in theory, need to plan your layouts before you order your pictures so that the pictures are the right way up and co-ordinate with the pockets.
• Making the front and back match up. Some journalling cards are smaller than others and some have rounded corners whilst some are square and so you can get ugly random corners poking out. I plan to get a corner rounder punch to combat this.
• It could get a bit monotonous and 'square.' I tried a sequin pocket to combat this and it was a bit of a nightmare as they kept escaping into other pockets. 

I love Finding Nana's blog - it has loads of good ideas and advice for approaching Project Life.
My Project Life pinterest board has loads of drool worthy layouts and my free printables board is useful for printing off some freebies - the 'celebrate the everyday' card is a free printable that I printed at home onto white card.

So, what do you think? 

Could 2014 be the year for you to start Project Lifing it?

Or do you keep your memories in other ways?

Waiting for the world to change...

I thought that this layout would be apt for my current situation.
Almost 41 weeks pregnant and sweating it out in this crazy heat wave.
Hello England! Where has this heat wave come from? It normally rains at this time of year.
I have an appointment on Monday, but hope things happen naturally before then.

This picture was taken on our three year anniversary break to the Lake District last summer.
I was sat waiting for the miniature railway train to arrive.
The journalling is about how in 2012 we learned the art of patience as we struggled to get and stay pregnant. The story about this is here.

I made the chevron mask using cardboard packaging from other supplies and thensprayed with bronze mist. It only lasted one spray as the cardboard went soggy and the lines weren't as crisp.

 

It was embellished with cute heart washi tape and an Amy Tan Stamp. Plus I created a tag for the journalling and added some cute flair to give the layout some more dimension.

And the wait continues...

Saturday scrapping...

So before I head out to enjoy the sunshine I thought that I would share a couple of layouts I have been working on recently. They both feature pictures of my mother and I, doilies and 'homemade' embellies. As I have been scrapping with limited supplies recently (due to packing all my scrapping stuff away to make space for the nursery) I have been more creative with what I do have out - as I don't fancy routing through all my boxes to find a more suitable embellishment!
This first layout uses some scraps for matting the photo and ribbons stapled on to make the middle picture 'pop'. I used the doilies and border stickers for the main embellishment and a big title with oversized letter stickers - which have been in my stash for quite some time. The pictures were taken over mother's day weekend in March.

The second layout is from Christmas Day 2012. Unusually for me I barely took any pictures - but the main reason was that I was about 11 weeks pregnant at that stage and was sick not once, but three times, on Christmas day - a record for my pregnancy! But not one to be proud of!So my big camera stayed in its camera bag most of the time whilst I lolled around feeling sorry for myself. I know that I look really rough in this picture - but feel it captures my mood that day!
The funny story behind the picture is that I'd asked for Jamie's 15 Minute Meals book and then at a food fair in London saw a great deal of a year's subscription to Jamie's Magazine and his book and lots of extras for a really cheap price and so got it for my mom! So we'd brought each other the same present.
I used kraft, red and yellow non-Christmassy papers but I felt that the kraft and the red gave the page a festive feel. I love the little tag poking out and it has journalling about the presents on it.

Hope all you lovely ladies have a great day in the sunshine (if its sunny where you are!) I only have three weeks of work and only 33 days till D-Day. Ahhh! Exciting and scary!

Saturday scrapping: Layouts inspired by Jennifer Grace Creates

Didn't you all just love Jennifer Grace's Onwards and Upwards blog hop last weekend?

One of her challenges was to go up, and up, and up. There was a few options and I went with the one to use a photo inspired with the idea of flight - I immeadiately thought of some photos from a trip to London earlier this year to visit my sister. We went to a food show and as we left we noticed that we were at the launch pad for the Emirates cable cars across the Thames.
I used American Crafts and other travel ranges and layered 'up' as was one of the other prompts in this challenge.

I also used the Dear Lizzie Range to create the layout below of our Mother's Day celebrations. I keep meaning to post the recipe for the honey cake pictured below top - it was so yummy and I was so impressed that I could create an actual layer cake as opposed to cupcakes. This layout was also created with the 'up' prompt in mind and I used the chevron paper to use arrows on the page. 

Lastly the above layout of our mother's day meal. I used the 'to be inspired' prompt of using triangles to create direction on a page. I used Studio Calico wood veneers and Amy Tangerine stamps to decorate this layout and some other American Crafts papers to layer it up. I have a thickers and lettering shortage at the moment and so created the title using leftovers from several sheets.
These prompts all worked well with the way that I like to scrap and I am pleased with them.

What to do with paper too pretty to hide?

Are you like me? Do you have some pages you'd just like to stroke and admire and are always reluctant to actually use? I've been hoarding this gorgeous camera paper for ages and so was delighted when Shimelle's most recent sketch to scrapbook page was all about making the most of a really great patterned paper.
I used a picture from our honeymoon and used my travel stamps washi tape. I kinda messed up the page trying to do a line of embossed Amy Tan cameras, that turned out not to be very straight and so I tried to salvage it with a Martha Stewart star punch.
I'm not entirely sold on the pink and the green together, but I think it works.

The second layout I tried with this sketch is also a travel one. It is all about how the desserts in Thailand were often a dissapointment - until we got to MBK centre. It puts English food courts to shame and the desserts were all beautifully presented - as we do eat with our eyes after all.
I am a lot happier with the colour scheme on this one - I've never really paired brown and purple before, but I think it really works. A technique I've picked up watching lots of scrapping videos over at two peas is distressing, tearing and rolling the edges of the photo mat to make it really stand out. I have been watching a lot of scrapping tutorials as I have had a really bad cold and hacking cough - the poor baby!

What techniques have you been loving recently?
I've been getting messy with paints and have lots of brand new layouts to share with you soon!

Memory Mondays: Pad Thai in Thailand!

So in the back end of 2012 I ran a mini series (albeit a bit hit and miss) called Messy Mondays and some of my favourites are here and here. I was trying to think of a new idea for 2013 and have decided that my word of the year will be: REMEMBER.
One of the main reasons that I scrapbook is to capture the memories. I have been ill a lot recently and so have been revisiting some of my old diaries and love to look back at the funny little stories and memories from my teens and early twenties - usually about which boy I was crushing on and what he'd said to me and what he'd worn to a party. Actually I liked to make little sketches of the outfits I wore to big events and these are funny to look back on.
So Memory Mondays will be all about the story behind the layout.

This layout is all about my love of Pad Thai Noodles when I visited Thailand, back in 2007, with some friends.

The journalling reads:
"They were a total steal at only 20p and they were made fresh right in front of you. I liked mine with egg, extra chilli and peanuts. Here Cassie and Emma are enjoying their night time snack."

I busted out some old stash and used lots of stickers and my amazing travel themed washi tape with lots of passport stamps on it. I also used a title, sub title and a little journalling spot to explain the 5 w's behind the layout.

10 Things I love about this epic double page...

All the way back in June this sketch by Shimelle caught my eye and I decided that although I sometimes find double layouts a bit intimidating and laborious I had some photos that I have been keen to scrap and so I decided to give it a go.
So the ten things I love about it:
1) The use of strips from this great cupcake 12 by 12 and how easy it was to also cut cute little embellishments with it.

2) The title - it is a favourite quotation of my sister's and I from the film How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. It went so well with these picutres of my husband making his own cupcake in WhoDelicious in Santa Barbara and had to use a 'frostinator' to put the icing on the top.

3) The step-by-step process made by my dymo label maker. It helps to bring the layout together and to tell the story of the visit.

4) That cheesy grin in the first picture. The funniest part is that he usually hates cupcakes and suddenly he turned into a little boy just cos he could decorate it himself.

5) The use of the rule of three with the stamp to guide the eye.
6) The pinkness and girly look of the layout - it matched the vibe of the cupcakerie and the girly topic of cupcakes but then 7) the blue tiny polka dots add a more masculine touch.
8) The border stamp of mini hearts to pull it all together. So cute!

9) The banana frog mini cupcake stamp to create little clusters to guide the eye along the layout.

10) The fact that the lady behind the counter asked him to join her behind the pink curtain - possibly the funniest statement for a cheesy American lady to say to a sarcastic cupcake hating Belgian. My sister and I still laugh about it and it was last summer now!

I also love how different it is to Shimelle's khaki travel layout and that it why I love to use sketches as a starting point and to put my individual stamp on it.

Polka dots on the Big Sur

Layers and layers of polka dot cardstock and button tape are the main design features on this page. We enjoyed having a photo shoot hanging on the edge of a sheer drop. We call it extreme photgraphy - anything for a good shot.
I think if you use the same type of pattern of print then it will all work together. Despite the catwalk this autumn being all about clashing prints - I am still one for being matchy matchy.

 I continued the polka dot theme with the thickers and switched it up with green glittery thickers. I used my trusty dymno machine for the journalling.

Have you ever taken a risk to get the perfect pic?